Notes: I've moved events from the second day of The Scientist to take place as part of Saturday evening here and cut out one of Barry's scenes with Felicity entirely as a result, but I do think it all flows pretty well. Though I'm cutting out the part where Roy gets knee-capped with an arrow, I am leaving in the parts involving Sin's missing friend, as Max's fate is going to be used to advance the plot in future installments of this series.
Chapter 2
Oliver can feel the weight of his mother's eyebrows raising judgmentally the moment he walks into the house with Barry.
Thea is nowhere in sight, but she's probably busy with Verdant. She's taken really well to running the club for Oliver - he's not sure she's going to let him have the club back when he finally untangles himself from QC, but considering Verdant's business is up under her care that's probably for the best. Seemed both Tommy and Thea were a lot better at running businesses than he was. Possibly because they weren't moonlighting as a vigilante.
"Mother, this is CSI Barry Allen from Central City. He's been helping look into that break in at QC last night." He gestured between the two. "Barry, this is my mother, Moira Queen."
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Queen," Barry greeted politely, nervous smile on his face as he offered to shake her hand.
Moira took the handshake politely and gave Barry her polite press smile. "Likewise, Mr. Allen. A CSI in Central City is a little out of his way in Starling; what brought you all the way out here?"
"I, uh," Barry stammered, "I was..."
"He was in town for the day and happened to be in the area when the investigation was going on this morning," Oliver cut in, rolling his eyes. "His hotel lost his reservation, so instead of making him take the late night train back to Central, I offered him one of our guest rooms. He did help out a lot in the investigation - caught things Detective Lance would have missed otherwise."
"Of course you couldn't let him take the train this late," Moira agreed, her smile thawing out to something more genuine. Turning to Barry, she continued saying, "the chairs are absolutely terrible to sleep on. If you come with me, I can show you to your guest room next to Oliver's room. I'd love to hear a little about the investigation, if there's anything you can tell me about it?" To Oliver she added, "call your sister and let her know we're having company for dinner, won't you?"
Oliver watched in amusement as Barry followed after Moira, who started asking questions about his work and could he tell her a little about the break in investigation and what does a mass spectrometer do anyway? Barry seemed to unwind almost immediately, happily trailing after her while discussing science.
His mother is most definitely plotting something and Oliver's probably going to regret this later.
Pulling out his phone, Oliver hit the speed dial for Thea's number. She answered on the second ring with a chipper, "hey Ollie."
"Hey Speedy," he responded, grinning as she made an irritated sound. "How fares Verdant?"
"Busy as ever. Sin showed up. One of her friends went missing, so Roy and I are going to help poke around. See if we can find him." No wonder it didn't sound like the club in the background.
Oliver grimaced. "Be careful, stick close to Roy."
"I can take care of myself," Thea objected. "I've got my mace."
"I'd feel better about that if you'd stuck with your self defense classes from middle school," Oliver retorted dryly.
"So would I," she admitted. "I think it's time I took that back up."
While that didn't make Oliver feel better about her wandering the Glades now any better, it made him hopeful that future Oliver would be able to worry less. Unlikely, but he could hope.
"We've got a guest for the evening. Out of state CSI who helped out with investigating the break in at QC last night. His hotel lost the reservation, so I sicced mom on him." That earned Oliver a laugh. "She's going to want you home for dinner."
"Ugh." Thea sighed. "I'll be there. I'll be late, but I'll be there. Do you think she'll mind if I bring Sin along with Roy too?"
Glancing upstairs and lowering his voice he asked, "do I need to start easing mother into the concept of ethical non-monogamy? Seeing as she's familiar with the unethical version, it shouldn't be too much of a leap for her." Admittedly, he was getting dangerously close to hitting the walls of his own glass house there, but he knew Thea would appreciate the pot shot in hindsight.
Thea choked. "I hate you."
"You love me."
There was a long pause and then Thea sighed. "I dunno. Maybe?"
"Just in case, then."
Moira Queen is terrifying. Nice enough to Barry, but he has no doubt that were he to ever get on her bad side she'd eviscerate him with absolutely zero remorse. Still, she's letting him sleep in her guest room and join her family for dinner. So Barry's definitely not going to complain.
He might even send her a Christmas card and a little gift. Something inexpensive but heartfelt. Maybe a glass snowflake charm?
(She's mothering him a little bit, Barry can tell. And it makes him miss his own mom a little. Makes him more inclined to like Moira Queen too.)
Dinner is nice. Thea is far more like her mother than she probably realizes, her boyfriend seems very nice, and her friend - girlfriend? - was also very nice. And Barry is maybe, just a little bit, overwhelmed by it all. But somewhere along the way he starts thinking of Oliver by his first name. Kind of hard not to when you see the guy being teased by his friends and family over spaghetti and garlic bread.
Barry heads upstairs with Oliver afterwards, planning to read for a while and then go to sleep. But, somehow, they end up talking about the Vigilante again. More specifically carbon vs. aluminum carbon composite arrows.
"But with the composite arrows he'd have greater penetration," Barry argued.
"I'm sure he thinks he penetrates just fine," Oliver retorted.
They both paused a beat. Barry snickered. Oliver got a wide grin on his face as he cracked up.
"I am so glad Thea left instead of staying to mock us for this conversation," Oliver said, still laughing.
"Thank you," Barry said, putting as much sincerity into the words as he could, "for letting me stay the night. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome," Oliver replied warmly, and maybe Barry was imagining the way Oliver's eyes swept over him. But then the other man took a step back, placing himself on the other side of the bedroom door. "If you need anything, my room's next door and Thea is across the hall. Don't hesitate to wake her up in the middle of the night first."
"Truly, siblings are the same everywhere," Barry replied with a laugh. "Night, Oliver." He heard a 'goodnight, Barry' in response as he shut the door.
One quick change into pajamas later and a short visit to the en suite bathroom later, and Barry was ready to curl up with his tablet and a good forensics journal. Which then became the Star Wars: I, Jedi book he'd started re-reading on the train that morning. Eventually, though, Barry's eyes wouldn't stay open any more. So he plugged in his tablet and his phone and went to sleep.
It felt like he'd only just shut his eyes when someone started shaking him awake. It was still dark outside as Barry peered up blearily at... Tommy Merlyn?
"What?" Barry'd have asked more, but Merlyn put a finger to his lips in a classic shushing gesture.
"There's an emergency and I need your help. Quietly."
They could hear Oliver grunt with pain over the comms and the screech of metal. "Ol-Arrow, what happened?" Tommy demanded, trying to do better about keeping names secure over the comms. He was trying to get Felicity and Dig in on it too. Oliver was Arrow, Felicity had Overwatch, Dig was Spartan, and Tommy had just about smothered Oliver for suggesting Oz. Unfortunately Oz had stuck.
At least Felicity had the decency to make werewolf jokes instead of wizard jokes.
"The guy's definitely strong. Threw me and the truck door across the street," Oliver replied, though his voice was strained. "I'm fine. Going to retrieve my bike and head back to base."
Tommy swore under his breath, but sat back. He hated this. Oliver needed it, needed to be the vigilante, and Tommy was trying to be supportive. But he hated the way his friend came back from nights like these covered in bruises. But the nights when Oliver came back with more than just bruises were worse by far.
Of course, when Oliver does get back, his shirt comes off to reveal some truly awful bruising on Oliver's side that Felicity tapes up for him.
Tommy hands Oliver some aspirin and a bottle of water and gives the other man a blank look until he finally accepts both.
"Dig, you and Tommy were right to ask if I'd knew more about this than I was letting on. I've seen men with abilities like this before." Oliver zipped up his gray hoodie and dropped onto Felicity's abandoned chair.
"You have?" Dig frowned, crossing his arms unhappily. "Where?"
"The island." Oliver took another slow drink out of the water bottle Tommy'd given him. "My second year marooned there, we... I came across the remains of a Japanese World War II military project. It was a serum, codenamed Mirakuru, intended to create human weapons."
And that was what his friend on the island was injected with. Why Oliver had to kill him. Tommy closed his eyes and just... tried to keep calm. For Oliver's sake.
Dig, however, was not calm about this. "Human weapons," he echoed incredulously. "What's next, aliens?"
"Next year," Tommy quipped, getting a snort of amusement from Felicity and irritated looks from Oliver and Dig.
"I'm being serious," Oliver insisted. "I saw things in those five years that... some of it just defies explanation." He swallowed hard, gaze growing distant. "There was this doctor. Ivo. He came to the island to recreate the serum and test it on people. The ones that survived... their endurance, reflexes, and strength were all enhanced."
"And you think this Ivo's in Starling City?" Dig asked, tone gentler, having realized they'd hit on something traumatic for Oliver.
"He's dead," Oliver responded flatly. "So is everyone that he injected with the serum. I burned the last of his version of the serum. But that doesn't mean someone else couldn't have found the recipe. And with a centrifuge and a large supply of blood... someone wants to make more of it. A lot more."
"Why couldn't you have been marooned on Aruba?" Felicity muttered, distressed.
Tommy patted her arm and tried not to make a startled eeping noise when she latched onto his hand. She had a strong grip for a computer nerd. He squeezed back gently, rather liking the way her hand felt in his.
"There's a third component," Oliver told them. "A strong sedative. There are a number of sedatives that would do just fine, so I doubt figuring out which one they're using off a blood sample would be helpful, especially since that's probably what they were out stealing when you picked them back up on traffic cams. But I did plant a tracker in the truck before I got thrown out."
Felicity slipped her hand out of Tommy's and shooed Oliver out of her chair. "I'll pull up the tracker, see if I can find their lair," she confirmed, fingers flying across the keyboard.
Oliver's phone rang, but Tommy snatched it from him and checked the caller id before answering.
"Thea, my favorite sister," Tommy trilled happily, "how can I annoy Oliver for you?"
"I thought he'd still be flirting with our house guest," Thea replied, but her voice was a little shaken sounding.
"The guy went to sleep early, Oliver came crying to me about his lack of game. What's wrong? Your voice is all weird."
"I don't lack game," Oliver grumbled. "I've got priorities."
Dig snickered.
"Sin's friend Max went missing last week. We just... found him. Um... he's dead. Cops think it's an overdose but... you have to be clean to give blood and he regularly gave to blood drives. Something stinks about this." Thea sounded really upset about it all. "I'm gonna stay the night at Roy's with him and Sin."
"Alright, text your mom so she doesn't stay up all night waiting for you," Tommy said. "What made the cops think the guy overdosed on something, though?"
"He was bleeding from his eyes before he died," Thea answered.
"Do you want to talk to Ollie?" Tommy asked, ready to hand the phone over.
"Just... let him know we found Sin's friend and it wasn't good, okay? He knew I was headed back out to look for him with Roy and Sin after dinner, so..."
"I'll pass it along," Tommy promised. They said their goodbyes and Tommy dropped the phone back onto the desk.
"What will you pass along? What was that about an overdose?" Oliver demanded.
"Thea said one of Sin's friends had gone missing. Said she mentioned that to you earlier?" Tommy tilted his head to the side, waiting.
"Yeah, artist by the name of Max. They checked out his place before dinner, found some fliers for a blood drive last week. Roy thought Max might've gotten jumped leaving the drive and they were planning to head over to where it was held to find out more after dinner. I wasn't thrilled, but Thea and Sin wouldn't wait," Oliver replied.
"Well, they found Max. Probably near the where the blood drive happened then; you'll have to text Roy for the particulars. Apparently Max's eyes were bleeding before he died, so the cops are calling it an OD," Tommy finished reporting dutifully. Oliver was already reaching for his phone.
"That was a symptom of the Mirakuru," Oliver said. "The initial effects led to most of Ivo's subjects dying in horrific pain, even with the sedatives keeping them docile. But what happened to those who survived... was worse."
"You think they gave Mirakuru, or a version of it, to this Max kid? Just like our mystery thief." Dig looked pensive. "Do you think they're using the blood drives to identify likely candidates and snatching them for some kind of... super soldier program?"
"Yeah. I'm going to need more info on the drives," Oliver said, still texting with Roy. "It was one of those Sebastion Blood's drives."
"Ugh, I hate that guy," Tommy grumbled.
"Laurel seems to like him," Oliver teased absently.
"And I'm pretty sure we're both proof Laurel has terrible taste in men," Tommy retorted. "I was right about Rochev, wasn't I?"
"Gonna have that PI of yours look into him?" Dig asked.
"Not yet. Dibny's caught up in something in Central City anyway. Hartley asked for his info." Tommy frowned, using his own phone to pull up the website for the monthly Sebastion Blood Drives. "If his blood drives are tied up in this super soldier program, looking into him may turn into a Team Arrow problem anyway. Better to wait and see for now."
"The truck's found its home," Felicity announced. "Except, I don't think its the actual lair. They must've been heading out to pick up the sedatives and not on the way back after stealing them because..." she showed them a picture on her screen.
"What is it?" Dig asked, leaning over her shoulder for a better look. "I don't see any signs."
"ARGUS isn't exactly one to advertise. It's a relief bunker. ARGUS has depots like this all over the world. They actually emptied this one out after the Undertaking, but it definitely would've been restocked by now. Full of non-perishable foods, blankets, temporary housing, medical supplies... including high grade sedatives."
Oliver was already reaching for his uniform. "I'm on my way."
"Oliver," Tommy cut in. "This arrow you brought back." He picked it up and twirled it like a baton. "Felicity what would cause the arrowhead to bend like this on contact with a person?"
"Their muscle density would have to be at least 120 pounds per cubic foot." Felicity doing the math in her head like that was pretty hot, actually.
Well... Tommy did always have a thing for the smart ladies.
"That's almost the same density as common concrete," she continued. "You can shoot him, Oliver, but your arrows probably won't even slow him down."
"I've been someone like this before," Oliver insisted.
"That's what concerns me," Tommy muttered under his breath.
Dig had followed after Oliver in a car, just in case. Standard procedure if something went down over a certain distance from Verdant, ever since Tommy officially joined the team. And a good procedure too.
If Oliver needed backup then it put Dig within easy reach with his guns and a mask of his own. If Oliver needed a quick escape or evac, well... Dig was within easy reach with his guns, his mask, and a getaway vehicle that could potentially carry the unconscious body of one Oliver Queen.
Like right now.
By the time Dig got to him in the ARGUS facility, Oliver was already unconscious, some unidentified syringe full of a red liquid sticking out of his leg. Dig had removed it carefully, capped it, and then took both the syringe and Oliver back to the car. But whatever the chemical in the syringe was, some of it had clearly gotten into Oliver's blood stream... and he was not reacting well to it at all.
"His pulse is weak, but it's there," Felicity was saying while Tommy was fretting, though off to the side where he wouldn't get in the way. "The syringe is coded," she added, turning away from where Oliver was still laying in the car. "I might be able to hack in to find out what it is, but given what their system is like... by the time I find out what he's been poisoned with, he'll be dead."
"We're going to have to take him to the hospital." Dig moved to shut the car door... but Tommy stopped him.
"No. If we do that, everyone will find out he's the vigilante. We have another option right now."
"Barry," Felicity breathed, clearly tracking Tommy's reasoning.
"He's a CSI, not a doctor," Dig objected.
"But he knows poisons and their symptoms as well as how to treat them. Better Barry than the hospital," Tommy insisted. "Get him inside," he pointed at Oliver. "I'll get Barry. Somehow."
Dig studied Tommy for a long moment and then nodded, motioning for Felicity to give him a hand while Tommy ran off to Queen Manor to fetch their visiting scientist.
Given the speed at which Tommy returns with Barry Allen, Dig's has no doubt that the speed limits were ignored on the way there and back.
Barry hesitated only few moments when he realizes that Tommy's brought him into the Arrow Cave - dammit and now Tommy's got Dig calling it that too - before hurrying over to join the others with Oliver. "What happened to him?" He glanced at Tommy, "you said someone was poisoned..."
"He was injected with this. We're not sure how much or what it is," Dig said, giving Barry the syringe. "I'm not going to be able to identify it off this alone, though based on the color there's only a handful of things it might be." He shook his head and grabbed a light, which he used to examine Oliver's pupil response. "Make that three possible diagnosis..." Then he pinched Oliver's skin. "Two," he muttered.
The equipment started to beep loud and fast as Oliver's heart struggled with the chemicals in his system.
"Start chest compressions," Barry ordered and Dig followed the directions without hesitation. "I need access to his arm," Barry added, politely shoving Felicity out of his way to get a blood sample. "Got it. He's suffering from intravenous coagulation. The syringe is full of clotting agent and now it's causing his blood to thicken. It's maple syrup," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Shit... do you guys have a rat problem?"
"What?" Tommy asked, startled out of his daze by the non sequitur.
"A number of rat poisons are also anti-coagulants. He'll need a high enough dose to thin his blood out, but low enough that it doesn't turn around and kill him instead," Barry held Tommy's gaze.
"Right, okay. Yeah, rat problem indeed." Tommy fetched the poison from where it was kept on a low shelf and brought it over. A few moments later, Barry was injecting the poison into the IV. And...
And it was working.
Thank god, it was working...
"Oliver, have you forgotten me?"
Blinking his eyes open, Oliver stared up at the ceiling. Was that... was that Shado's voice?
"He's awake!" Tommy called, squeezing Oliver's hand and coming into view. "How you doing, buddy?"
"My chest hurts," he rasped out, sitting up and then... freezing. "What is he doing here?" he hissed, glaring at Tommy.
"Your blood was turning into the equivalent of maple syrup and Dig had to give you chest compressions to keep your heart going. That's why your chest hurts so fucking much," Tommy replied, the expression on his face brittle and fixed. "So your options were the hospital where everyone would learn you're the vigilante. Or inviting the nice scientist to come save your life. So before you throw a tantrum about how it wasn't our choice and so on and so forth, keep in mind that you were busy dying. So yes, it was our fucking choice. And we picked the one most likely to keep your secret, but also less likely to keep you alive. So you'd better fucking appreciate that."
Oliver wants to shout back that it's his life and his choice, but... he can't really refute the fact that Tommy's already shot down that argument. He just... he vetted Dig and Felicity before letting them on his secret. Barry was cute, but they barely knew anything about him.
"Now, put a smile on your face and thank the nice man for saving your life," Tommy said tightly, turning and walking away from where Oliver was laying.
Oh, yeah, Tommy was extremely pissed off. And, oddly, that made Oliver's own temper start to ebb. Not that he felt any less uneasy about Barry knowing his secret but, well... he wasn't about to go off the rails at people who just wanted to keep him alive either.
Grabbing his gray hoodie, Oliver gingerly pulled it on and swung his legs over the side of the table. He offered Tommy a rueful glance, but the other man was staring off in the wrong direction, hands clenched into shaking fists. He was not looking forward to the conversation they were clearly going to be having later.
"You know, I didn't really think having Tommy on the team would be a good idea at first," Dig mused. "But he's actually pretty good at making you shut up and listen. It's a miracle."
"Funny, Dig," Oliver grumbled. "Thanks for helping keep me alive," he added, giving Felicity a significant look too. She smiled back.
The only one left was Barry, who was wringing his hands nervously.
"Thank you Barry," Oliver said.
"It was just lucky you had a source of warfarin in easy reach," Barry said, offering a hesitant smile. The box of rat poison sat rather conspicuously on the table beside him. "Not exactly medical grade, though, so you really should get checked out by a doctor... but I guess that's not really gonna happen."
Oliver shook his head. "Nope."
"Right. So... what happens next?" Barry asked.
To be perfectly honest... Oliver really had no idea.