I never thought it would take me more than a year to update this behemoth of a story. I am forever grateful to those of you who continue to read this, as well as to those who spare the time to leave a few words. You keep me writing. So, from my heart to yours, here's another chapter. XOXO

Chapter 18

Central City, Undisclosed Secondary Location, 12:30 am

Captain Singh's voice broke the silence in Team Arrow's newest makeshift quarters. Felicity had been monitoring the situation in S.T.A.R. Labs via Cisco's comm link plus her special backdoor into their systems, while her bots mined all possible databases for both their suspects' credentials. Lyla had come through on Caitlin's abductor but Felicity was making slow progress on the plant lady.

The captain's frustrated outburst jolted her into looking at what her bots had obtained. Still nothing. As she heard Cisco stall, she asked her two companions for what they were missing. "Where else do I need to look? Seriously! Where do I begin looking for someone who doesn't exist anywhere else except in meatspace?"

Digg and Oliver stopped rigging their temporary armory at her question. Digg pointed at Oliver as he replied, "Maybe you should look in the formerly-dead-people database."

Felicity narrowed her eyes suspiciously at his snark but that was quickly overtaken by the idea that had her fingers flying over her keyboard.

Unknown Location, 12:30 am

She was in hell. Caitlin was sure of it. Her captor had taken her to a dingy room one floor down from where she had woken up.

From what she could see from the flickering lights, the room was set up like a laboratory. A few outdated equipment lined the single workbench. An old computer sat at the end.

"Why don'tcha have at it?" her abductor dared as she caught the hope that bloomed in the doctor's eyes.

Suspicion had Caitlin visibly raising an eyebrow.

The hag cackled. "You sure are a hoot," she smirked as she showed Caitlin the frayed end of the Ethernet cable that hung listlessly from the computer.

Despite her glee, she forced Caitlin down on a rickety stool and smacked a sheaf of papers in front of the physician. "This," she explained while getting down to business, "is all we have. We need you to figure out what went wrong."

"And if I don't?" the doctor challenged as her anger rose. A quick glance at the top page had told her that it was some sort of genetic report. She had an inkling that these papers held the missing links to the data she had gathered earlier. But whatever, she thought. She has had it with all this shit. She was pissed and she was very nearly done.

"I left a surprise for your friends," her captor giggled, "and I don't think I need to remind you just how much I love a good prank!"

There was a crazed edge to her mirth that chilled Caitlin to her bones. She took a deep breath to center herself. They needed her for something and she needed to bide her time. She needed to come up with a plan of her own. "All right, but I have a few things I need from you," she said as she began to put that formidable intellect of hers to good use.

"You're in no position to bargain," the clown lady retorted.

"You have more to gain than I have to lose. Take your pick," Caitlin countered without missing a beat.

Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, 12:35 am

She didn't know where she was.

She took a second, then two to drink in her surroundings, to run her hands, to use her senses.

She was being held inside a box – a cold, stifling, metal box. Her skin, deprived of the wet, ardent feel of freshly turned earth, grated on her. The sterile air suffocated her.

The sudden bright flash had her squinting. She supposed she ought to be thankful for the fluorescent lighting though. It was one of her best artificial sources of energy.

Now bathed in light, she walked the six steps that spanned her prison. Hmmm, she thought, this was interesting.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

Captain Singh absently rubbed his face as the others looked on at their captive getting curious about her surroundings.

The city was ill-equipped for this onslaught, he thought. Maybe he needed to throw out the rulebook.

Given what Joe had said, this was certainly a situation that begged for it. If they could capitalize on this deception, then he would relent - not because it was expedient but because it could give the CCPD the break it needed against the proliferation of powered individuals. Would it really be so bad to wish that there were more good ones than ones bent on destroying his city and the world?

In his mind, this had already become a sting operation of sorts, even if he just happened to stumble upon it.

"Might be a good idea if we disguise our voices," he heard Joe say.

Singh took that as a cue to jump back into the conversion, so he turned to ask Cisco, "Can we do that?"

Cisco nodded as he pushed one of the buttons on his remote to reveal a hidden control console.

"You think it would make a difference?" Singh asked Joe. He may be the captain but despite whatever he had said and done up to this point, this was still Joe's case, and he was willing to cede judgment calls to the people who knew the facts inside and out.

Joe answered in the affirmative.

"Then do what you must," Singh said.

Central City, Undisclosed Secondary Location, 12: 35 am

"Arrrrrgh! I am running out of expletives," Felicity growled as she threw her pen at her screen. She had been thwarted yet again. When Digg told her to look at the "Formerly Dead", she instead went on to look at missing people - an index that she had thoughtlessly and carelessly left out of her original search. But filtering through the NamUS database netted her no actionable intel. Pulling up Caitlin's on-going CODIS search also got her the same.

Before Oliver and Digg could react though, a double beep came in. It was Laurel checking in.

"You guys up for a run through? We think we've got your cover up and running," she said as she put them on speaker.

"Loop us in," Oliver said as he came over behind Felicity's rigid form. He reached out and gently squeezed her shoulders until he felt her body relax a little.

"Wayne Enterprises just opened a subsidiary there and had a launch party. I can't imagine QI not getting invited," Thea said.

"Thea? I thought you were back in Verdant?" Oliver asked.

"Left the guys to close shop. Besides, Laurel called for help with your covers," Thea answered.

"Huh, Wayne and I aren't exactly on speaking terms," Oliver commented as he brought the conversation back on track. He and the Gotham billionaire didn't really mix.

"Really? You calling him Brucie Baby all throughout our preteen years kinda made me wonder if there was something more there…" Tommy smirked. Thea's laughter could be heard in the background.

Oliver just rolled his eyes. It was actually Big Baby Brucie - not that he wanted to revisit that. And never mind that Bruce taunted him back by calling him Rollie Pollie Ollie. He just didn't need a reminder of the douchebag he was.

"All kidding aside," Laurel said, "It gives you a little more solid ground to stand on and a more press-friendly reason for being there."

"And it would actually raise your profile as a couple," Thea added. "I know you guys want you you on the down low but this can only be good for QI."

"I wasn't even invited," Oliver confessed.

"We were," Felicity chimed in, earning her a raised eyebrow from Oliver. Felicity just shrugged. "Well, technically, I was. I mean, you would've been my +1. I have a standing invitation to any and all WE parties…"

The other eyebrow went up. Oliver knew deep down that Felicity had this irrational crush on Bruce Wayne, but he didn't know about the all access pass to his parties.

"Felicity Meghan Smoak! You have been holding out on me, girl! To think we could've gone to every WE gala and snagged Bruce!" Thea exclaimed.

Oliver sighed. Thea. He had almost forgotten about her crush, though. Whenever possible, little Thea trailed Bruce Wayne like an ant on candy.

"Mr. Fox always makes sure I'm on the guest list. I haven't even met The Ba-ad Boy of Gotham," Felicity caught herself before unwittingly outing the Bat as she squeezed the hand Oliver had left on her shoulder. "But yeah. The WayneTech launch party works. What I'm more interested in is how we could get to the other perp - because that, that will help us find Caitlin." There was more than just a small hint of exasperation in her voice - and it was enough to quell whatever mirth the previous conversation held.

"Well," Lyla chimed in, "maybe we're looking at this wrong."

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked wearily.

"With the way the timeline looks, the perps looked like they circled back to get Barry," Lyla mulled.

"Laurel pointed that out earlier," Digg stated.

"Yeah, but where were they before all of this? They were here, weren't they? So, what were they really doing here? Who were they after in Starling?" Lyla posited.

And that was when everything clicked - the drug, the toxin, South America - even the goddamned Botanical Gardens. What. The. Royal. Frak. "Jason Woodrue," Felicity said, "It has got to be Professor Jason Woodrue."

Central City, Southern Docks, 12:35 a m

A lone shadow stood amid the jungle that haphazardly spilled into the previous bareness of the Southern Docks. There at its feet was a peculiar object that had been carelessly discarded on the lush forest floor.

The specter bent to take a closer look, the only light in the dense darkness emanating from its seemingly ghoulish eyes.

A glove.

Then a grumble.

Then as quickly as it appeared - night.

I know I haven't been the best at keeping this story updated. But I do try and I will try harder. Residency sucks. But, as always, my lovely, lovely readers, don't be shy about leaving comments. Kisses!