Disclaimer: Not mine
In the show, Oliver continued to remain isolated even from his friends, most of the time, refusing to let anyone in, and with poor relations with his loved ones and people around him. In this fic, while Oliver has a lot of issues, still, as anyone would have after the five years he had, he is in a munch better place mentally and socially, and is able to deal with people better. So a lot of the overreactions, poor judgements and miscommunications of canon, as we've seen, just don't happen.
The Siege of Starling City
By Kylia
Chapter 9: The Impossible Laid Bare
Senator James Mackenzie: Director Henshaw, why was the DEO not involved in Central City the moment it became clear that metahumans were extant in the city? Are not Metahumans by their very nature 'Extranormal' and thus under your division of ARGUS's jurisdiction?
Division Director Hank Henshaw: At the direction of Director Waller, I did send several of my agents to Central City to investigate the reports and establish a permanent presence in the city, but I recalled them after General Eiling asserted priority in the city and the then Secretary of Defense backed him. As ARGUS nominally operated under the DoD at the time, Director Waller decided it wasn't worth starting a turf war given the situation, especially given the circumstances on the ground in DATA EXPUNGED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY.
-Partial declassified excerpt from the 2016 Closed Senate Hearings about the 'Eiling Affair', released pursuant to a FOIA request in 2020 by the Central City Citizen.
Queen Manor, Starling City
December 2nd, 2013
Apparently even with the whole multi-million dollar lab at his disposal, identifying the sedative in the Mirakuru-soldier's blood had taken a day, and then some. According to Sara, Barry was confident it would be finished in a few hours, but...
Well, Felicity seems pretty happy he has the time to be here for this. Oliver sipped at his glass of grape juice. The staff at these events understood now not to serve him actual wine - OIiver refused to let anything dull his reactions, especially right now - but Oliver Queen, CEO, had to look a bit the part. And that meant drinking expensive wine, so they found a juice that at least to a casual observer would look like wine.
Well, Felicity had complained a few times about how much helping him had killed what little social life she'd had, so he didn't begrudge her this.
"It would seem owe you a bit of an apology," Rochev's voice was behind him, and Oliver turned, sipping at his glass again. His co-CEO had dressed well for the occasion, between the necklace, earrings and dress, every inch the high-powered woman at an event. Her look reminded him a bit of a few old photos he'd seen of his mother, from before he'd been born.
"Why would you say that?" Oliver asked.
"Well, I told you to stop thinking like a son, and more like a CEO, but maybe more people in the city are willing to give your mother a second chance than I thought." Rochev gestured around the ballroom. It wasn't as crowded as the events from before the Undertaking, especially ones when Oliver was a teenager, or a perpetual college dropout.
But... it was a reasonable cross-section of Starling City's elite. All here to celebrate Moira Queen's well-earned acquittal.
"Well, your warning was...not entirely wrong," Oliver allowed. He had hoped more people would come than this. "And you were trying to help."
"I still won't work with her as co-CEO," Rochev added, carefully. "There are limits to how much risk I'm willing to expose this company to, especially since we're finally getting the stock price to go up steadily."
"I don't you'll have to worry about that," Oliver murmured. His mother had made her disinterest in taking her position as CEO back clear, even though some of the board had been amenable. He saw Thea standing alone - hadn't Roy been dancing with her like five minutes ago? "Excuse me." He handed his half-empty glass to the bartender and went over to his sister.
"Where's Roy?" Oliver asked quietly. "Was he- uncomfortable with... all this?" The first time he'd invited Laurel to an event like this, she had been very uncomfortable surrounded by Starling high society. And she'd had the preparation of going to Balloi Prep and rubbing elbows with the upper crust for years anyway.
And the leap from her middle-class home to Queen Manor would have been ever so slightly less than the leap Roy was making from his background in the Glades to...
This.
"No - no..." Thea shook her head. "One of his friends, back in the Glades. They used to know each other, way back, and one of her friends has gone missing. He's been trying to help her find him... he went to go give her some moral support." She crossed her arms in front of her chest for a moment. She seemed very unhappy with this, more than just 'I'm at a party without my boyfriend' unhappy.
"Do you not believe him?" Does she think it was a sign he was cheating? Oliver wouldn't have pegged Roy for it. But if he was... Oliver resisted the urge to tighten a hand into a fist. He didn't exactly have a lot of room to throw stones if - if - Roy was cheating, given his past, but Thea was his sister, so...
"I do - I just..." Thea let out a sigh. "I don't think his friend likes me all that much. So between that and... appearances, I'm here. I'd rather be with Roy, wherever he was." She gestured around her.
Oliver relaxed. Even allowing for his rap sheet, Roy seemed a much more responsible kid than Oliver was at his age. Especially in the last half-year.
"We need to be here to support Mom," Oliver told her, and Thea rolled her eyes.
"I know. And I'm glad Mom didn't... I'm glad she got off, and that at least some of her old friends came out to support her, but all this..." she shook her head. "Do we really need a string quartet? And to blow money on the super expensive wine and these expensive decorations and..."
Thea let out a breath. "Ever since I started dating Roy... I mean, I'm not saying being rich is evil or something, I like my nice things but... do we really need to be this rich?"
"If you want to start giving away your trust fund when you turn 21 and get control of it, I'll support you all the way," Oliver joked. "I'll even let you crash on my couch." Then he frowned. "I don't... I don't disagree with you." Having money gave Oliver options, resources that he'd used, that Laurel had used, as they fought to protect this city, but the obscene wealth afforded to him as a Queen - even if he had put most of what he had into saving the company at this point.
"Unfortunately... we have to maintain some appearances" Oliver held back a sigh. Apart from his penthouse, and the stuff he needed for his work as the Arrow, Oliver didn't exactly have a lot of expensive needs, so he tried to put as much of his money as he could into the Queen Foundation. But there was only so much that could do and -
Well, there were reasons other than public image he supported Sebastian Blood. The man was the only major politician in the city trying to help the poorest people of this city.
"When Laurel gets back from Central City, maybe you can talk to her. You could do some volunteer work with the Foundation, or one of the charities we work with? And I am serious - you don't have to keep your entire trust fund to yourself once you get it." Oliver assured her.
"I don't plan on it, but... I mean, is this fair? That we're this rich because our great-grandparents got lucky?"
Oliver shook his head, "Well, if you believe what Dad always said about how we got started, it wasn't all luck, but... no. I don't think it's fair."
Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center
December 2nd, 2013
One day, Vanch, I am going to laugh while I watch you get the goddamn chair. That thought, as pleasant as it was, was cold comfort against the feeling of revulsion deep in her gut.
Can I really call myself a cop after this? Any and every misgiving she'd had about all the laws she'd broken helping Laurel and Oliver paled against this. She'd stolen evidence, she'd obstructed justice, lied on official paperwork... the list went on.
Sara cleared her throat, forcing down the bile that threatened to rise. Two kilos of heroin, sitting hidden in her car.
Stealing it from the evidence warehouse was simple. All she needed was an exuse, a case to look at and then she was allowed into the storage space. There were cameras, but not enough, not in every aisle, and not in the aisle she needed.
Two kilos. You'd think it would be harder to slip that inside a coat pocket, given the sheer amount of money that represented, but nope. One bag in one pocket, one back in the other.
Bulky coat, move with a purpose like you belonged, and you could get where you needed...
It shouldn't have been that easy to steal evidence. And there wasn't much Sara could do to fix that. How could she go to the Commissioner or anyone else in authority and go 'any detective with an excuse can get in and steal stuff from a shelf that has no camera coverage' without implicating herself?
Vanch would be calling with instructions on where she wanted it, and god knew what else. Knowing him, it would be something worse.
Sara closed her eyes and took a slow breath, pushing open the door to the Applied Sciences center. She had something more immediate she needed to do, she had to focus. As she stepped inside, she saw them. Barry and Felicity had come back right b\here after the party at Queen Manor - which she'd had to miss - and Felicity had texted that Barry was close to isolating the sedative as she'd left the evidence warehouse.
Lanky or not, Sara had to admit that Barry looked sharp in his rented tux, and Felicity looked nice as well in her dress, her hair done up. They make a cute couple. Sara wondered if anything would come of it once Barry went home, but it wasn't really her business.
"Yes sir," Barry said into his phone, pacing back and forth. "Yes, I am aware that this isn't the first time." Pace, pace. "Yes sir, I do value my job, very much so." Barry nodded, and Sara could only guess that his boss had seen through Barry's claim of food poisoning. I wonder how? And he'd been caught lying about this before? How was Barry still employed as a CSI?
"I'll be on the next train. Tonight. Yes." Barry hung up the phone, and looked at Felicity, then blinked as he realized Sara was there as well. "Well - my boss just found out I lied about the food poisoning, so-" Barry cleared his throat. "If I want to stay employed, which I do..." He trailed off. "The results came back right before Director Singh called - the sedative in the man's blood is Ketamine."
"Thank you. Would it help if I called your boss and explained you really have been helpful to the SCPD?" Sara offered, but Barry shook his head.
"I still lied about being out sick. And you're bending the rules to let me help you-"
"Because you got me the results I needed. So thank you." She held out a hand, and Barry accepted it, giving her a firm handshake. "If you do end up losing your job in Central, I'm sure the Crime Lab here in Starling could find a place for you."
Barry laughed a little, giving a quick glance over at Felicity. "I- Thank you." He shook his head. "But I think I like Central City too much. Starling... well, there's all the rain and -"
"All the violent crime?" Felicity offered.
"No, no - I just - a lot of the best labs in the country are based in Central, not to mention the new Star Labs particle accelerator..." Barry shook his head. "I'd rather stay closer to the action. Not that - not that there aren't good things about Starling." He cleared his throat, eyes darting to Felicity for a moment.
"I'll leave you two to say your goodbyes. Thanks again Barry." Sara nodded, quickly returning to her car and pulling out the secure phone for vigilante work.
"It's Ketamine," Sara said, once Oliver answered. "That's a controlled drug, and with how much blood this guy stole -"
"There can't be a lot of places that have it in large enough quantities." Oliver agreed. "Thank you. I'll take care of it."
"Be careful. Have you had any more luck getting ahold of Laurel?" Sara hadn't actually tried calling her sister herself, too distracted by guilt.
"None. Her phone just keeps going to voicemail. Does your mom know where she is?" Oliver was trying very hard not to sound worried, but - Sara noticed it. Probably because she felt it herself.
"No," Sara let out a breath. "All she says is that she and Laurel had an argument in the morning yesterday, and then Laurel left, saying she was going to stay in a motel for a few nights, then never called back or anything. Mom went into panic mode once I told her that neither of us could reach her."
Sara took in another breath. "What do you think is -"
"I don't know." Oliver shook his head. "I don't know, but I know Laurel can take care of herself. If she's turned off her phone, or let it run out of battery or - whatever, it's for a good reason."
"I'll keep trying. Just - just stop this guy before he hurts anyone else, please. And - Ollie, be careful."
"I'll stop him." Oliver promised, hanging up.
Alley Near Verdant
December 2nd, 2013
There was only one place in the city that had enough Ketamine for all the stolen blood: an ARGUS disaster bunker on the edge of the city. The only question was if he was going to get there fast enough.
This delay, the piece of black cloth left behind by Roy saying he needed to talk to the Black Canary - a signal that was only supposed to use if it was urgent -was costing him time, but Oliver owed it to Laurel to at least hear him out.
Oliver saw his sister's boyfriend waiting, and Oliver dropped down into the alley. "What is it?" Oliver demanded of the other man, letting the voice modulator do it's work.
Roy stiffened, "You're-" He shook his head a moment. "Where's the Black Canary?"
"She's unavailable," Oliver answered. "Do you have information?" That was how Roy had been helping her, and doing well on that score, as well as taking seriously the idea of training to fight better. The idea of actually inviting him onto the team though, as Laurel seemed increasingly willing to do-
That would risk Thea finding out. Unless he tried to force Roy to break up with her, and that seemed like a recipe to make his sister hate him for a long while if she found out about that part.
"No - I need her help. I guess your help - is she okay?"
"She's fine. I'm short on time, Harper. What do you need?" There was only so much he could do, and the Mirakuru soldier took precedence, but - he couldn't burn Laurel's bridge with him unless he had no choice. He'd hear Roy out.
"Sin. She's the Black Canary's friend too. She couldn't get in touch with her either, so she reached out to me, to see if I could. I couldn't either but -" Roy started, then, "One of her friends. The cops think he OD'd, but - Sin thinks, hell, I think it was murder."
Roy and Sin? He had to follow up on this, one way or the other. "Why do you think so?" Oliver could look into it - heartless as it was to think, if this friend of Sin's was murdered, then at least... at least he could see to it tomorrow, after he'd stopped this super soldier.
"One, he wasn't an addict. And two..." Roy took out his phone and turned it to Oliver. It was a photo of a young man, dead, blood come out of his eyes like he'd been crying the stuff as he died. "This doesn't look like any OD I've ever seen, and living in the Glades, I've seen them all."
Mirakuru.
A rejected test subject. Not only was someone continuing Ivo's work, whether they realized it or not, but they were also continuing with his ethics. Using people up, and tossing them out like garbage. Sin's friend was probably poor, homeless or nearly so. Perfect prey for anyone looking to test a serum like Mirakuru.
Is the one behind the experiments our thief, or is there someone behind him? Taking someone empowered by Mirakuru prisoner would be impossible, so if there was someone else...
"You're right that it wasn't an OD." Oliver said after a moment. "You need to stay away from this." Oliver added.
"You know what this is?" Roy demanded. "You know what happened to him?!"
"I do. And it's more dangerous than you can handle-"
"I'm not helpless!" Roy shot back, keeping his anger under control, but barely so. Oliver stiffened, readying his hand to grab and arrow and load the bow if Roy needed a warning off. "Being the Black Canary's eyes on the street isn't exactly safe, and I know you like to spend more time going after white collar criminals and their private security, but here in the Glades, we live with danger every day!"
"This is bigger than you, or Sin's friend's death," Oliver growled. "If you get involved, you will get hurt."
"What happened to him?!" Roy demanded. "I have to tell Sin something. People in this city are dying, and I can't just keep standing and watching and gathering information!" He was nearly yelling now.
"Whether or not you're ready for more is up to the Black Canary," Oliver shot back. Oliver couldn't tell Roy everything - or even all that much. The other man didn't seem willing to back down. "Whoever killed Sin's friend was using him for medical experimentation," Oliver finally said after a moment. "Because he was poor, and disposable and they thought he wouldn't be missed."
"That's - that's insane! You -" Roy started, protesting. Oliver wasn't surprised. People didn't just disappear off the street to be used in medical experiments. Not even at it's worst did that happen in the Glades, not like that. It was the sort of thing up there with urban legends about waking up in a bathtub full of ice and missing a kidney.
"You're serious."
"I am. I'm already working on stopping them. So don't get involved."
"You don't know who exactly they are, do you? If you did, they'd already have arrows in them." Roy realized, proving he was entirely too clever for Oliver's taste right now. "If you knew more about how Max got taken, where he was-" Oliver cut him off, before he could go on:
"Harper, I mean it, if you get involved, you will get hurt." Didn't this - Oliver wasn't trying to shut him out.
"I can handle myself," Roy said confidently. "I promised the Black Canary I'd be here eyes and ears, and I'm going to do that. If-" Roy cut himself off as Oliver pulled an arrow from his bow and aimed it at Roy.
Oliver let the arrow fly - it passed right by Roy's right shoulder, missing him by barley an inch - or it would have, had Roy not moved to dodge. It wasn't a terrible move, ducking to the left, and down, nearly dropping into a roll to get away before he realized he wasn't being shot at anymore.
"What the hell was that!? You could have-"
"I missed on purpose, Harper." Oliver growled. "I can't stop you from looking into this." he wanted to, but short of shooting an arrow into the kid's leg and crippling him until he healed, Oliver couldn't think of an option.
"No, you can't," Roy agreed. "You're insane."
"The Black Canary said you were taking training seriously. She was right." Oliver explained. "But you're still not prepared for this." Could anyone be?
"What is this? Why are you so sure I can't handle myself?" Roy demanded, then shook his head. "No, I don't care. I can handle myself, I know how to be careful." Roy turned, starting to walk away, then, "Max went missing the day of the Blood Drive last week, here in the Glades. He donated blood for extra cash."
The perfect place to find a victim. That drive was sponsored by Sebastian Blood, but... anyone could have snuck into that, to grab someone as they were leaving.
"...thank you," Oliver finally said.
"No more warnings about how in over my head I am?"
"You can't see daylight from where you are already, but I can't stop you, so I won't. Just think about the reasons you have to stay alive and uninjured." Oliver did not want Thea to lose her boyfriend, or for Roy to end up seriously injured if he went up against the kinds of people that were willing to meddle with Mirakuru, or anything even close. "Watch your back."
Roy bit his lip a moment, then nodded. "You too, Arrow. You- you're my second favorite, you know? After the Black Canary." Roy turned and hurried away, down the alley.
I think that embodies the phrase 'damning with faint praise,' Oliver considered. There were just two vigilantes.
ARGUS Disaster Depot, Starling City
December 2nd, 2013
The depot door was already broken open when he got there. Delayed by Roy. But the sugar truck, a replacement door in place of the one that had been ripped off before, was still out there.
He thinks he can do this, be this conspicuous, because nobody can stop him. And right now, no one could. No one but him.
Oliver scanned his surroundings as he stepped in, slowly, eyes alert. If he could find the Mirakuru soldier first...
But he also needed to know who was behind this. If they were taking people off the streets to test their work... this was a network. An organization. Not just a mad scientist and one super soldier. He can't be taken prisoner, but-
A bolas arrow could buy him time.
The shelves loomed overhead, lined with crates, barrels, boxes, all sorts of supplies that would be needed in the event of a major terrorist attack, or worse. But they didn't use the supplies here after the Undertaking. Not needed, or had Waller decided the secrecy being maintained was worth it? Knowing her, it could have been either.
Oliver stepped carefully, slowly - movement, above, a sound, and Oliver picked up his pace, darting forward and turning - a crate, larger than him, crashed down where he'd been the second before, and Oliver could see the other man on the tops of the shelves.
Was he waiting for me? Or just anyone? Oliver didn't have time to worry about that. He fired., Again, and again, arrows missing, hitting the metal railings of the shelf-tops, as the man dropped down, then down again - another miss, and the super soldier was on the ground in front of him,
Oliver fired again, standing on front of one of the shelf supports - he reached to his quiver, hand tightening around a Bolas arrow. A punch - easily telegraphed, and Oliver moved out of the way. The Mirakuru soldier might be strong, but he was a brawler, not trained any anything, relying on just brute force.
Nothing like Slade. Slade had been a deadly combatant before Mirakuru, and a monster after. This - this man was all force.
As his opponent turned, bracing to charge at him, Oliver notched and fired the bolas arrow in one fluid motion, hitting his mark, wrapping around his neck, sticking him to the metal pole behind him - at the last second, despite the force of the cord, the other man got his hands around the cord, holding it tight.
"Who are you!" Oliver demanded. He only had a few seconds. Oliver readied another arrow. The eyes. The neck. But he had to hit, and he had to hit in just the right spot.
At this close range, there was no room for error. If he missed, the other man was on him. One good blow, just like before, and Oliver knew -
He needed to keep the other man at bay.
"Merely a follower." The man spoke with an almost apocalyptic zeal, pulling against the bolas.
"Of who!?" How much could he get from him? Oliver stepped back, hands on another arrow, ready to fire.
"My brother," was the reply, as informative as anything else a true fanatic had to say. Some sort of cult, dedicated to... what? Super soldiers? Laurel would know what to say, what to ask - the League had more experience attacking and destroying cults, she'd -
She's not here. I need to find out what I can.
"Was he the one who gave you the Mirakuru? The one who injected you, made you stronger!?" Oliver demanded, nearly yelling.
"No." The soldier ripped the bolas off his neck, "he saved me with it!" He charged, but Oliver was faster, two arrows, one after another, hitting him in the feet, sticking him to the ground, at least for a few more moments. Oliver pulled back as his opponent tried to grab him, punch him, roaring in frustration.
Oliver fired, getting the man in the shoulder, but then he ripped the arrow from his shoulder and threw it at Oliver - Oliver ducked, but so to did the mirakuru soldier, snapping the arrows off in his feet -
Shit. Oliver fired again, diving back, missing entirely as the other man charged. Oliver ducked and rolled to the side, heart pounding in his ears as he fired again - he hit, in the other shoulder this time, but it didn't slow him down. Oliver jumped, grabbing onto a shelf above. Just a little distance, just a little time to go for the eye, the throat, pin his hand.
"We were warned about you, and your tricks," The Mirakuru soldier growled. "My brother knew you'd come." Oliver pulled up, onto the shelf-
A hand, around his ankle, at the last moment. Oliver kicked - his heel connected with something, it felt like the other man's nose, but even as something crunched under his boot, his one foot felt like he'd kicked solid concrete, and then - Oliver was flying, crashing into plastic barrels.
Vision blurred, pain flaring around his body, Oliver pushed himself up, rolling a little as he saw the outline of the other man coming at him. Oliver braced, knowing he couldn't get to his feet - the kick came, Oliver rolled as it hit, the blow still knocking all the air out of his body, but it threw him back with less force-
The other man was on him again, Oliver barely noticing him move- Oliver punched uselessly at the other man's face as he was lifted, - Oliver kicked with both legs, one hand grabbing the front of his armor, lifting him up - the drag on the armor, tightening the material, it was around his neck, not quite choking - air cut off a little, Oliver gasping -
Oliver's feet connected with the man's chest, to no avail, but with his other hand, Oliver reached back, once, twice, finally grabbing the fletching of the arrow he wanted, needed-.
"There's nothing you can do but fail, Arrow. My brother will transform this city!" Oliver pulled out the flashbang arrow and averted his eyes as he set it, one second, and threw it at the soldier's face -
Snarling as it went off, Oliver felt his body sail through the air again, throne - and then his back hit something, many somethings, plastic, collapsing -
Sharp, a prick in his thigh, ears throbbing, eyes shadowy - averted or not, the flashbang did it's work -
He couldn't tell the fate of the other man, but no follow up blow, no additional attack came -
Breath - Oliver's chest was tight, throat - breathing shallow. He tried, struggling to his feet, but his body refused to respond, to work -
He barely managed to move his hand enough, pressing the emergency beacon at his collar.
Oliver stilled, saving energy, trying, needing to keep his breathing steady. Vision slowly returning, shapes, outlines, colors - two syringes, his leg, somehow emptied under the force of the impact, breathing...
He had - he had to stay conscious, as long as he could. He had -
I can't die. Not now. Not like this. I won't-
Oliver just needed to buy time-
Needed...
To buy...
Time...
Greyhound Bus Station, Starling City
December 2nd, 2013
Gut churning, Sara slammed the door to the bus station behind her as she stepped out. She'd made sure there were no cameras, no witnesses -
Vanch had picked without cameras too. She was no good to him suspended from the force, or arrested. But then- he could have his own cameras. She'd checked, done everything she could -
But whatever she did, she was giving him rope to hang her with.
I just need an opening. Some... Sara had left a bug in the locker with the drugs. Vanch would spot a tracker, but a bug might pick... something up. A clue. A snatch of conversation, a bit of a phone call. It was a slim chance now, but all she needed was for Vanch to slip up.
Sara dialed the Burner Vanch had called her from half an hour ago. He'd ditch it soon, if he hadn't already, but she might be able to at least -
"Cyvus Vanch, Blackmailer Extraordinaire, how can I extort you today?"
"Do you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice, you son of a bitch?" Sara snarled, unable to help herself. Damnit. Sara -
Sara couldn't keep antagonizing him. Not if she wanted him to drop his guard. But he'd never buy an attempt to be friendly. And she couldn't stomach it. There was no way she could try to fake some sort of rapport with the bastard.
On the other hand-
Vanch chuckled, "No, I really don't, Detective. I take it you've done what I asked?" Sara breathed in sharply, closed her eyes a moment, and spoke again.
"Yeah. It's done." Sara managed to keep her voice level.
"Ah, there we go. Keeping that temper under control now, are we? Nicely done. I don't have any more favors I need done right now. I do have some information about Brick's new operation, but I don't think you've quite earned that yet." Vanch chuckled. "Keep behaving, and I think some mutual 'friends' of ours may find themselves a little full of holes and with broken eardrums, no?"
"I told you before. They're not going to just take out your competition for you."
"We'll see. We'll see." Vanch hung up, and Sara got into her car, resisting the urge to toss her phone against the asphalt, watch it break and-
Sara had barely started the car up when another call, on a different phone came. Felicity. Sara pulled it from her inside jacket pocket, bringing it to her ear. "Felici-"
"It's Oliver. He's-" Felicity's voice was choked, frantic, "He lost. He's hurt - I don't know what got in him, the syringes are coded and the computer was destroyed I can't look up to find out-" The mental whiplash from one mood to the next as Sara cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear was almost enough for Sara to feel it, feeling her throat catch, her rage at Vanch melting away - Felicity didn't sound like -
Something as wrong. Very wrong.
"Felicity, start from the beginning, slow. What happened to Oliver, is he-"
"He's alive, but - he's barely breathing he -" Felicity cut herself off, trying to take a breath, but it was mostly shallow. "We're leaving the Argus depot - Oliver lost. The... the super soldier got away, with the Ketamine, and - he must have thrown Oliver into boxes of syringes. He got jabbed with two, and most of the contents got in." Even after the attempt at a breath, and with more information, Felicity was babbling almost. Almost too fast.
"What did he get hit with? What-"
"That's the problem. I don't know! They've got some kind of ARGUS code identifying what's what, and the computer that could look them up is broken! Without knowing what he got hit with, what's making him - we can't take him to a hospital. Not like this. But - Sara, I -I think Barry could figure it out."
Barry?
Sara almost rejected it out of hand. Barry wasn't a doctor. And they couldn't just tell him that Oliver was the Arrow, that she was helping him. He did work for the police, even if in a different city!
"Please, Sara, it's this or the hospital, and then - he's outed as the Arrow! And then Laurel would be next!" Felicity pointed out, and Sara gritted her teeth as she realized the hacker was right about that too.
A hospital wasn't an option. Oliver and Laurel had all sorts of supplies in the Foundry, ready to use for almost any eventuality for exactly that reason, but if they didn't know- and Oliver was out of his herbs from the island that he'd been able to use before.
It was a hail mary.
But it was the better option. If the Hospital was the only option - she wanted Oliver to live, even if he got caught but -
"Barry said he was leaving. He's probably already on the train to Central City by now!" Even as she said it, Sara was already pulling out onto the road. The train station was a block from the bus terminal - she could check.
"Barry - everything he's told me - he is absolutely terrible at being on time." Felicity said hurriedly, a small laugh, sounding almost hysterical given the frenetic energy of her voice. "The last train to Central left ten minutes ago, and he would have had to take the bus from the Applied Sciences center to there - there's a good chance he-"
"I'm already on my way. If he's there, I'll get him. Are you sure we can trust him?" And yet, they didn't have much choice...
"You heard him talking about the Arrow yesterday, and about his mother - he's..." Felicity laughed again, another little hysterical giggle, "He's practically an Arrow and Black Canary fanboy. And - I can't be one hundred percent sure, but do you know of anyone else we can-"
"No, I don't." Sara interrupted. "I'm there, if he's there, I'll get him and bring him to the Foundry, one way or another. Just keep - just keep Ollie alive until we get there. Please." Sara hung up the phone, then immediately dialed Laurel again as she pulled into the train station parking lot, the late hour meaning there were almost no cars. She barely even let the car stop before she opened the door, getting out.
Come on Laurel, pick up the goddamn phone already!
Voicemail. Voicemail wasn't like Laurel to - to be so unreachable! And now - now of all fucking times?!
"Laurel, answer your phone, turn on your phone" Sara hissed into the speaker, "Oliver's hurt, he's - there's Mirakuru in this city, or nearly so and I'm about to effectively out you to a CSI so - pick up already!" Sara hung up, pressing on the red end call button harder than she needed to and barreled into the lobby of the train station. The lights at the ticket counter were off, the lobby's lights were mostly off and then-
"Barry!" Sara called out, seeing him there, sitting on a bench, half-hunched over, hand on his forehead, she ran towards him.
"Detective Lance-" Barry looked up, anxiety and confusion warring on his face as he stared at her, eyes wide, baffled-
"I need you to come with me. Now." Sara snapped. "Get up, bring your stuff, we have to go, now." Sara grabbed Barry's arm and pulled him to his feet, ignoring his protest.
"Detective, this - what the hell? I need - I have to get back to Central, I can't help with your case-"
"The next train doesn't leave for Central until 8:30 am," Sara gestured to the sign above the ticket counter, digitally displaying tomorrow's train times. "Barry, I need your help, I need you to come with me." She spoke as quickly as she could and still have her words come across clearly, letting go of Barry's arm - for now.
"What - what is this about, Detective? I can't - what do you need me for? I have to-"
"Barry, you can come with me voluntarily, or I can make you come with me," It took all she had not to shout the words at him.
"Am I under arrest?" Barry's mouth was agape, too confused and lost to really protest as Sara grabbed his bags. With her free hand, Sara pulled back her jacket and revealed her handcuffs at her belt.
"Do I need to put these on you to get you to come with me?" Sara forced herself to take a breath. "Barry. I need you to come with me." she said again, voice quieter, a little less hard-edged. "Please."
Barry opened his mouth, hesitated, and she could almost see the back and forth that had to be happening in his head, and then he closed his mouth, took a breath, and nodded. "Okay. I'll come with you."
The Foundry, Starling City
December 2nd, 2012
"Verdant? What - isn't that Oliver Queen's nightclub?"
"Yes, it is. Your point?" Sara said as she opened the door, gesturing for Barry to follow him. The club above was active, but Sara ignored that, leading him around to the alley in back, the back entrance to the basement. As she reached the door, she turned, then faced Barry, covering the keypad.
"You're going to have questions. A lot of them. Save them for after."
"After what? I already have a ton of questions, Detective," Barry countered, and Sara shook her head.
"You'll see." She opened the door, gesturing for Barry to go in first. They were halfway down the stairs when he saw it. Oliver, on the table - barely breathing, attached to a heart monitor that was going slow, terrifyingly slowly. Sara's breath stopped for a moment as she saw him. The arrows, freshly forged, and waiting to be loaded into a quiver. The two mannikins, one holding Laurel's unused costume, the other empty. The boys. The tonfas, the computers, the training gear-
And Diggle, and Felicity. Diggle, standing by the table, watching Oliver, jaw set grimly, and Felicity, pacing frantically, looking on the verge of tears.
"Please, Barry. Save him." Felicity locked eyes with him, her voice urgent, but without demanding just... raw.
Barry stared for a moment, then nodded. "What happened? What's wrong with him?"
"We don't know - he was - he got injected with something, some kind of medicine, but too much, or just when he didn't need it or-" Felicity explained. She held up two syringes, and Barry looked at them.
"I don't recognize this coding. Right, okay -" Barry took a breath. He ran a hand down his face. "I - I've ever worked on a dead person. Right, right, right," Barry approached the table, examining Oliver. "I need a flashlight, or penlight or-" Felicity grabbed one from the cart and handed it to him, slapping it into his palm really. Barry took it, peeling open one of Oliver's eyes and shining the light in.
"Okay, okay... what's his pulse?" Barry asked Diggle, who gave a number. It was slow. Too slow, or it sounded like it - Sara didn't know. Barry went over to the cart, then grabbed a clean syringe, a needle, "There's a couple of possibilities - I need to check his blood. Pull up his sleeve," Diggle complied, and Barry was about to stick the needle in when the heart monitor went off.
Oliver was coding.
"Hold him down!" Barry pleaded, and Sara rushed to the table, her hands on one side, Diggle's on the others, holding him in place - Barry stuck the needle in, pulling out a small sample of blood. He held it up to light. "Intravenous coagulation."
"Which would be?" Sara demanded, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the heart monitor going off.
"His blood is clotting, it's unnaturally thick, like syrup. We need to thin it." Barry ran to the cart, looking at it. "Start chest compressions, now." He added, and Sara switched to holding Oliver down on both shoulders, or trying to as Diggle started doing just that.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Barry looking around, desperately, one hand going through his hair, down the back of his neck and then he walked quickly, over to the corner, picking up a box of -
"Rat poison? Are you kidding, that'll kill him!?" Diggle demanded, still compressing Oliver's chest.
"It's a natural blood thinner, and it's the only option you have. Just the right amount and it will let his blood circulate properly." Barry very carefully added some to water, looking back at Oliver, biting his lower lip - into another syringe a bit of the mixture went. Breathing quickly, shallowly, Barry injected the mixture into his arm. The heart monitor was still screaming at them, Oliver still coding, Sara couldn't breath herself, Felicity had her fist over her mouth, looking like she might start biting into her knuckles, Diggle was still compressing -
Suddenly, a beep. Slow. Small. Again.
Barry sagged and Diggle stopped the chest compressions.
"You got his heart going enough... the warfarin in the rat poison should be able to do it's work now," Barry murmured, and Felicity let out a soft gasp of relief as she nearly fell into one of the chairs. Sara could finally breathe, and she did, letting out a long, slow breath. She pulled away from the table.
He's alive. She didn't have to tell Laurel - whenever the hell she answered her fucking phone! - that Oliver was dead. She didn't have to find a way to give the same news to Thea, or god forbid Moira. No funeral, no...
And I don't lose my closest friend I'm not blood related to. Because Oliver wasn't just her sister's boyfriend. He'd always been a friend, even, when they were younger, that friendship had been initially predicated on Oliver's friendship with Laurel, and they'd always been closer as friends even before dating.
But after the last year, working alongside Oliver and Laurel, helping them, keeping their secrets...
Ha. Even in the privacy of her own brain, the laugh sounded hollow and sardonic. I suppose Felicity isn't the only one this work has killed the social life of. What friends Sara had had on the force, or even outside of the SCPD, she barely socialized with. She hadn't exactly been dating a whole lot even before Laurel and Oliver 'came back from the dead', but since she started helping them...
I haven't even had a one-night stand. Sara hadn't realized just how much of her life had become bound up in this, the work.
If Oliver had died... she'd have lost a friend, and she'd have lost... a whole lot more than that, really. It would have destroyed her sister, and it wouldn't...
It wouldn't have left me in all that great a position either.
But Oliver wasn't dead. Sara let out another, longer breath, as she really let that thought sink in. She looked around again, and saw Barry and Felicity hugging, tightly for a long moment, and then Barry pulled away.
"Barry." Sara called over to him, and he looked at her. "Thank you." She told him, voice soft. Then before she even realized what she was doing, she'd stepped over a few paces and hugged Barry as well - not as tight, or as long as Barry and Felicity, just a moment of...
Heartfelt gratitude.
"Thank you." She said again, pulling back from Barry.
"You're welcome." Barry nodded. He looked at Diggle, and after a moment, the two men exchanged a handshake. Barry looked around the Foundry, then at Oliver, the green arrow outfit still on him. "So. Oliver Queen really was the Arrow? The SCPD had it right that one time?" He looked over at her, then the Black Canary costume on the mannikin.
"...oh." Barry murmured. He was putting two and two together. It was unavoidable, really. He took a breath. "I'm leaving this basement alive, right?"
"You are." Felicity said quickly, standing up, then she glared at her, then Diggle. "He is."
"He is." Sara agreed. She looked at Barry, swallowing. "Our choices were taking Oliver to a hospital, or the hail mary play. Felicity trusted you. I trusted you."
"I won't tell anyone." Barry promised, and as far as Sara could tell... "I... the Arrow and the Black Canary are doing good work. And... I mean... you guys trusted me. With - this." He gestured around them. "I won't betray that trust."
"That's good to hear," Diggle nodded.
Barry looked over at Sara. "You said to hold the questions until after. I have...a lot of them."
"There's a lot that it's not our place to answer." Sara cautioned. She looked at Oliver's still unconscious form, but at least she could see him breathing now. It was bad enough they'd told Barry Oliver's - and Laurel's - identity but... there was a lot Sara knew neither of them would want a stranger to know. There was a lot Sara didn't know, just surmised, or guessed. Inferred. Deducted. Hypothesized. She listed off a few more synonyms in her head.
"That said..." Sara took a breath. "Ask your first question?"
The Foundry, Starling City
December 3rd, 2013
It had been some time since Oliver had woken up to an unfamiliar face looming over him. As he opened his eyes, vision still blurry, he felt the hard surface of the table in the Foundry underneath him. Not a hospital.
The face above him - who - who was in the Foundry that wasn't supposed to-
Oliver lunged, wrapping his hand around the throat of the man - the gasp from the other man as Oliver cut off his air, and then Olver realized he was familiar. The CSI - the one who had lied to get involved in-
What is he doing here!
"Oliver, let him go!" Sara shouted, and she and Diggle were on him, pulling his hand off Barry, pushing him back, away from the CSI. Oliver pushed their arms away from him, sitting up, swinging his legs off the table as Barry moved away, Felicity moving to stand between them.
Oliver took a breath, mind racing as he quickly inventoried the situation.
One: He was alive. They'd gotten to him, the Mirakuru soldier hadn't killed him, and he wasn't in a hospital.
Two: None of his bones actually felt broken. His ribs ached, his back felt like he'd been hit by a truck, and his whole body was sore just standing up. Nothing he couldn't deal with.
Three: Barry Allen was here in the Foundry, and Sara, Diggle and Felicity didn't seem surprised, and had defended him. So they'd invited him in.
Four:...
Oliver took a breath. Barry's here, he knows my secret, and if he knows Sara knows - It wasn't that hard of a stretch from there that Barry would guess Laurel was the Black Canary. They had no right to tell him, no right to put Laurel in danger-
But Sara wouldn't have done it if she thought Barry would put her sister in danger by telling anyone. And Diggle and Felicity...
Oliver forced himself to take another breath. If Barry's here, it's for a very good reason.
"I'm sorry," he told Barry after a moment. "I didn't expect to see you here and I-" Oliver inhaled. "And I overreacted."
"I'll say," Barry shot back, voice raised a little, as he rubbed his neck, then he flushed, other hand running down the back of his head. "But - yeah, I guess... I guess that makes sense."
"Why is he here?" He looked to the others. Felicity had a guilty look on her face, turning away from Oliver for a moment. Then she set her jaw and looked back at him, meeting his eye.
"When we found you after you activated the beacon, you'd been injected by... something." Felicity held up two syringes. "No idea what was in them and the computer system was too damaged to look up the codes. You were barely breathing..." She looked away. "And the hospital wasn't an option."
"So Felicity suggested Barry." Sara supplied. "He saved your life."
Barry cleared his throat, "I was able to figure out that whatever got in you served as a strong-acting blood coagulant. Fortunately, you had a good, fast-acting blood thinner on hand." He gestured to the box of rat poison on the table next to him, and Oliver nodded, slowly. Warfarin was a blood thinner. He wouldn't have been able to figure out a safe dosage on his own, but he supposed it made sense a trained CSI might be able to.
"Not that I'm not grateful but..." He looked at them all - Felicity, Sara, Diggle. "You told him."
"It was that or let you die," Sara shot back.
"It wasn't your secret to tell." Oliver shot back, then he exhaled. "And by telling him - he knows-"
"Yeah, he knows about Laurel too," Sara agreed. "Not hard to guess once he knew you were the Green Arrow."
"They haven't actually told me that much about either of you," Barry volunteered, raising his hand a little to catch Oliver's attention. "For what it's worth."
Oliver wanted to yell at all of them, for risking... everything. When they had added Diggle, Oliver had vetted him to make sure. Laurel knew Sara and spent months trying to make sure Sara could be trusted with this. Felicity too, carefully leaving breadcrumbs and testing just how much she could be trusted.
But he couldn't -
"Thank you," he told Barry, simply.
"You're welcome." Barry nodded hesitantly. "You - you're not going to put an arrow in me, right?"
It would be simpler. But unless Barry was actually going to tell anyone...
"Are you going to tell anyone? About me? About the Black Canary?" Oliver stepped forward, legs still shaky under him,
"I would never," Barry replied, and Oliver searched the other man's face. There seemed to be no deception. "I understand... I understand what it's like to want to find solutions outside the law."
His mother. Sara had given him a summary of Barry's side of the story, about what had happened to his mother. How his father had been framed.
Someone, moving within lightning. It sounded impossible, but Oliver had seen the impossible before. And the impossible was back here in Starling City all over again, so...
"And you... you're both doing good things, for Starling. Violent Crime, not counting the Undertaking itself, or what you and the Black Canary do to criminals, is down in Starling City by 23%, and people are almost half as likely to die in robberies, muggings, carjackings or as bystanders to fights between criminals." Barry went on. "That's over the last year."
Oliver frowned a moment, brow furrowing. That...
It wasn't that he didn't know - or at least, hope - that things were doing better, but... was he right?
"It's not all perfect - multiple casualty attacks are up by-" Barry continued, then he cleared his throat. "Sorry. I uh... I study a lot of crime statistics."
"I haven't run the numbers, but he sounds about right," Sara nodded.
"I mean... so yeah. I won't tell anyone." Barry concluded.
"Good." Oliver nodded. Barry seemed to be completely honest, sincere. That was good. Oliver heard a phone buzzing, and realized it was his, sitting by the computer. He picked it up, the text from his mother asking him to come see her. "Is Laurel on her way back?"
"Still can't get ahold of her. Mom's freaking out. She must have turned her phone off, or let it run out batteries or - I don't understand, but..." Sara shook her head. "It was all I could do to convince Mom not to report Laurel missing. She's told Dad, and now he's freaking. This isn't like her."
"No. But... there's an explanation," Oliver knew there had to be one. Laurel was fine. She could take care of herself, given anything that was going to happen in Central. After killing the Count, she'd needed time to process. The fight with her mother just... threw her off, or something.
It was... it had been over 24 hours since he'd first tried and failed to reach her, but...
"But, we have to focus on the situation here. The Mirakuru soldier - he got away with the Ketamine. He has what he needs to mass produce the serum now. We have to stop him."
"I might be able to help with that," Barry offered, holding up a small piece of... plastic? It almost looked like tape, or the container of a band-aid? "Felicity and Diggle said it looked like you'd been choked when they found you, so I checked, and there are oils leftover from the... super soldier's hand when he grabbed you." He chuckled softly, "I can't believe I'm actually saying that." Then he cleared his throat. "Sorry. But... with the right materials, I might be able to get some useable fingerprints."
Making himself useful immediately.
"Good." He took a breath. "I need to - I'll be back as soon as I can. Until this serum is off the streets, we have to focus on this."
"I'll walk out with you," Sara offered. "I need to fake a police report that explains why Barry isn't back in Central." Oliver looked over at her, then at Barry.
"My boss realized I didn't have food poisoning last night, and told me if I wasn't back in Central on the next train, I'd be fired. I missed that train... why is why I'm here, but..."
"I called the CCPD and claimed that Barry, despite not being here on official CCPD business, had become a material witness in my case and I needed to keep him here for another day, maybe two. The Captain there - I'm not sure he believed me, even once I convinced him I was actually from SCPD, but he told me he wanted a copy of the relevant report once it was written so..." Sara shrugged.
"Thank you for that, by the way," Barry told her. "For... you know, lying on a police report for me. Because - I'd like to keep working as a CSI."
"Lying on a police report will be the least of my sins at this point, Barry." Sara shook her head. "I'm sure you're used to hearing this from detectives but if you can double-time it on those prints?"
Barry cracked a smile, "I'll go as fast as I can."
Oliver nodded again, and he walked up the stairs with Sara, out the side exit. "I may have another lead. One of the side effects of failed Mirakuru injection can be bleeding from the eyes." Oliver explained quietly. "Almost looking like tears of blood. It turns out, a friend of Sin's turned out, just like that." Sara frowned, then slowly nodded as she registered the name, remembering who Sin was.
"Before I went to the ARGUS depot, I had to talk to Roy. He left a sign that he needed to speak to the Black Canary, that it was an emergency. I had to at least see what it was about. Apparently Sin reached out to him when she couldn't find Laurel, when her friend went missing."
"And he was given Mirakuru?"
"Roy showed me a picture he took of the body. It's Mirakuru," Oliver swallowed. "I tried to warn him off, but he didn't seem entirely interested. Either way, he did say that this friend, Max, went missing at Sebastian Blood's Blood Drive last week. It would be a perfect place to find people to test the serum on. Only the healthy could get their blood drawn." It burned at Oliver to think someone might be using Sebastian's effort to improve the city, to help save lives and fill the city's undersupplied blood banks as a way to find test subjects for Mirakuru.
"You want me to see if anyone else went missing around the event?" Sara asked, and Oliver nodded. "I can check, but... Sin's a street kid right? Was her friend another street kid, the kind of person..." Sara hesitated, then went on: "The kind of person no one would miss?"
Oliver knew Sara didn't actually believe those words, or mean it that way, but he still hated the phrasing. Everyone mattered - there was only so much that could be done to help everyone, help all the people in the city, but no one was a nobody.
"Just find out what you can. Maybe someone reported someone... strange hanging around. Nothing actionable, but-"
"I'll see what I can do."
The Foundry, Starling City
December 3rd, 2013
Though his mother had made her unwillingness to serve as CEO or even take up any responsibilities in Queen Consolidated clear, she had been moved by the fact that as many people as they did showed up to celebrate her acquittal with her. While his mother had decided that she didn't think there should be another Queen Christmas Gala, wanting a smaller, more intimate gathering, she had begun drawing up plans for events in the coming year.
She had then drafted Oliver into helping provide some assistance in drawing up the schedule for those plans, even turning his own argument that if things were returning to normal... Oliver had wanted to at least turn those events to be fundraisers, or at least some of them, for the Trust, but Moira had pointed out that acquittal or not, it might not be best to associate her name with an event like that. Especially if Oliver wanted to keep working with Sebastian Blood.
And then there's what she had to say about Sebastian. His mother's little lecture there had been... missing so much about what was happening in the city. She was worried Oliver was too publicly close to the Alderman.
'I understand the need to rehabilitate the family name and to get him to stop being so aggressive against you and our family, but at the same time, Alderman Blood is exactly the sort of class-warfare, rabble-rousing politician that scares off businesses from this city. And he's hardly the sort of man a Queen should be friendly with.'
She had been more nuanced than that in the details, but the point was it was fine to do charity events, but as Blood's campaign for mayor became closer to being publicly official - and rumor was he'd be announcing within the next few days - Oliver shouldn't be seen as being so close to him.
He'd tried to make her understand - Blood was the only person in the city's government speaking for the people of the Glades, the people his mother had hurt. And she still thought Oliver needed to distance himself. For the good of the company, and the good of the family's reputation.
And yet, you still don't want to actually take up any position in the company. Oliver hadn't said it to her, but if she was going to insist on forcing him to stay as CEO, he wasn't going to let her dictate to him how he acted as CEO. Working with Blood had worked well for the company's public image, improving stock value, which pleased Rochev and other investors, and it let him actually do some real good for the city instead of constantly just trying to get richer for the sake of being rich.
All in all, the whole conversation, amidst everything else happening, was leaving a sour taste in his mouth.
"Do we have anything?" Oliver asked, as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Knowing they probably hadn't gotten much sleep, he had brought coffee for all three of them. "I don't know how you like your coffee, so I just got you a regular, and some creamer and sweetener," Oliver said, as he set the coffee down in front of Barry.
"Oliver Queen, bringing me coffee?" Barry blinked, "Just when this day couldn't get more surreal." Oliver held back a quiet laugh at the other man's words as he handed Felicity and Diggle their preferred coffees.
"You saved my life, I think that merits a bit of coffee," Oliver offered.
"Thank you," Barry sipped at the drink for a moment, then nodded. "I did get some fingerprints. Felicity's running them now." He cleared his throat. "Look, I know it's none of my business, but I have to ask, just so I know if my guess was right: Did you train in a jungle or forest environment?"
"...what?"
"The hood." Barry explained, gesturing to his costume on the mask. "Green isn't actually a great color for urban camouflage. There's - there's a lot of theories, on the internet, about why you use green, and I've always thought that it's because you trained in a forest or jungle environment. The way you use your grapple arrows and ziplines to maneuver on to and off of the high ground, it all - it all made sense, anyway."
Oliver cleared his throat. Oliver knew that people talked about the Arrow and Black Canary sometimes. Hell, when he'd first started, '#starlingcityarcher' had quickly become a trending topic on twitter - and that had been... weird. And there was speculation about the Arrow's identity all over social media. Oliver tried to avoid it as much as he could.
"People talk about my tactics online?"
Barry started at him for a moment, as if baffled by the question, then nodded. "Uh. Yes. They do. And argue about it. A lot." Barry's eyes widened, "I won't - I'm not going to tell anyone you told me or - I just... I have to know."
"...yes. I was. A forest environment." It wasn't why he wore the hood, but it was why the hood was green. Yao Fei, and then Shado had worn it. And now he did.
"I knew it!" Barry did a little fist pump, then, "In your face HanShotFirst1991!" Then he flushed, hand on the back of his neck again. "Sorry. Like I said, I won't tell anyone, I just..." Barry cleared his throat. "If I didn't just kill all my credibility, can I ask a more practical question?"
Oliver inhaled slowly, then nodded. The kid was helping and... seemed earnest. It was... kind of refreshing actually, in a weird way. Really weird. And...
"Why don't you wear a mask? I mean... I don't - I'm not trying to tell you how to sharpen your arrows - though you really should switch to a carbon-aluminum composite - but... grease paint doesn't do that much to actually hide your identity." Barry cleared his throat again. "I mean - you know this, I'm sure."
"I do." Oliver nodded. A mask was fine for Laurel, given that she fought her enemies up close. But Oliver's needs were different. He'd tried it, knowing a mask would do better. It hadn't worked very well. "But any mask I'd wear would need to conform perfectly to my face, so it wouldn't impair my ability to aim while on the move."
Barry nodded slowly, "That... that does make sense. I didn't think about it from that perspective..." he started say something about 'Compressible microfibers', but as he spoke, Felicity spoke up:
"Found him!" She moved away from the computer screen, a face now on it. "Our super-soldier is Cyrus Gold. His prints are in the system from a short stint in prison when he was 19 for robbery, but he's been a remarkably model citizen since then. I don't have an address yet, but I'm digging, and I'll run facial recognition on feed from traffic cams. Maybe we'll get lucky that way too."
Oliver nodded. "Good." Of course, even if they found him, Oliver needed another option to even the odds. He'd tried keeping a distance, but that hadn't worked as well as he'd thought. If he really could get the drop on this Gold, then he could win, but that... well, he couldn't count on that. He had to plan for if he was the one surprised, as he nearly had been before.
The flashbang did its job. But I can't just rely on those to stop him. They don't last for long, and they're a double edged sword. But..
The flashbang arrows were a good start. There's no time to design a whole new type of arrow...
But there might be time to improvise. Badly, but he needed something to even the odds.
He couldn't expect another hail mary to save him if he lost again.