Chapter 9

D.E.O. mission control was already bustling with activity by the time Kara and Oliver arrived there. Both Alex and J'onn gave the two cold looks, but Jeremiah fixed Oliver with a glare that the archer could read all too well. It was a look not all too dissimilar from the one that Oliver used to direct at Thea's boyfriends, one that told him Jeremiah was blaming Oliver for corrupting his daughter and for taking her from him. Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver recognised Mon-El giving him a not all too different glare, one that had jealousy written all over it.

J'onn's briefing didn't take long. It was a pretty simple play, Oliver noted. A strike team, led by Supergirl, Mon-El, and Agent Danvers, to secure the bomb and take down any and all Cadmus personnel on site. Jeremiah would remain onsite at the D.E.O. and direct the disarming of the bomb remotely. Then, J'onn turned his attention to Oliver.

"Mr. Queen, I might not be fond of you operating in this city, but this is an all hands on deck situation. I'd like you to accompany Supergirl and the strike team to secure the bomb."

Oliver met Kara's eyes, briefly amused to see that she seemed content with that suggestion. They only held each other's gaze for a second, but Kara seemed to recognise what was going through Oliver's mind immediately.

"I appreciate the offer, Director J'onzz." Oliver opted for formality given that he knew he had already pissed off the Martian once that day. "But I still have my doubts about this bomb threat. If it is a diversion I want to be able to deploy as quickly as possible to the real threat."

J'onn didn't seem all too pleased at Oliver's decision, but he said nothing before turning his attention back to his agents.

"You've all got your orders. Move out!"

Kara met his eyes once again as she moved with the other agents headed into the field, and Oliver offered her a reassuring nod. He could see in her eyes that she had the same doubts as him. The bomb threat appearing less than an hour after Kara's fight with Alex couldn't have been a coincidence. The elder Danvers sister must have told Jeremiah, and the bomb threat appearing so suddenly had to be a distraction. The threatening look that Jeremiah gave Oliver as soon as everyone else's backs were turned confirmed that suspicion.

XXX

The strike team reached the location of the radiation signature in minutes, in which time Oliver had changed into his work clothes once again. Quiver on his back and bow in his hand, Oliver felt much more in control as he stood beside J'onn watching the feeds from the agent's body cams.

"Alright, I'm in position." Alex's voice came over the radio. "Dad are you there?"

"Right here, Alex." Jeremiah confirmed.

"Okay, standing by for your instructions once we get inside."

"Be careful," Jeremiah played the part of the concerned father a little too well, and Oliver felt his doubts about the bomb threat grow once again. "Anything happens to that bomb before you disarm it, the whole city could go."

"Nothing's going to happen." Alex assured them.

"Let's stop them once and for all girls."

Oliver watched, hand tensing around his bow as Supergirl stepped forward, standing before the entrance to the building.

"Ready when you are, J'onn." Kara spoke once she stopped.

"On my mark," The Martian said, his gaze intent over the body-cam footage. "3…2…1…Engage."

The video feed turned white for a split second as Supergirl's heat vision blasted through the rolling door and the agents flooded into the warehouse. It didn't take long for the agents to sweep the building, the chorus of "clear" coming through the radio feed in no way a surprise to Oliver. To Jeremiah's credit, Oliver noted, he did appear a little shocked by the absence of the bomb, but Oliver was confident in Jeremiah's acting abilities.

"Something's not right." Supergirl's voice came over the radio.

"J'onn, please advise. There's no sign of the target." Alex spoke.

Oliver turned his attention to Jeremiah immediately. The older man was already backing away from the mission control area. Before Oliver could even speak up Jeremiah was crossing the room and heading for the elevator bank, as Alex's voice continued to question the situation from over the radio. Jeremiah caught J'onn's attention next, and the Martian moved in step with Oliver as they followed Jeremiah.

"What's going on?" J'onn questioned with a growl in his throat.

Oliver almost went to draw his bow but hesitated, reluctant as he was to do so, he opted to follow J'onn's lead.

"Why can't I read your mind?" The Martian growled as the elevator doors slid shut, and Jeremiah disappeared from view.

Both J'onn and Oliver growled in frustration, the Martian giving the archer a somewhat apologetic look before phasing through the ground. Oliver didn't let the surprise at J'onn's sudden new ability shake him, instead focusing on catching up to them.

"Winn, where is he?" Oliver shouted across as he called another lift.

"Floor 23, the server room!"

Oliver didn't hesitate before jumping into the elevator and taking off after Jeremiah and J'onn. As soon as the lift pinged to a stop, Oliver ran out, heading down the corridor he knew led to the room where he had seen Jeremiah breaking into the D.E.O. systems but a few hours earlier. No soon as he turned the last corner, he saw J'onn breaking through the doors to the server room, colliding with the far wall in a shower of glass.

Moving as quickly as he could towards the Martian, Oliver slammed the button marked 'Lockdown' on the wall, the corridor turning red with flashing lights and the blaring of the alarm filling his ears. Oliver didn't have time to make it to J'onn's side before Jeremiah walked from the server room. He immediately moved to draw an arrow, but Oliver's hand didn't even reach his quiver before Jeremiah had grabbed him by the throat and lifted him towards the ceiling.

"What are you?" Oliver choked out.

He hadn't expected a reply, and Oliver's hand flew to his quiver, gripping the first arrow he could find and jamming it into Jeremiah's other arm. Whatever granted Jeremiah such strength in one arm clearly didn't extend to the other, and the older man dropped Oliver with a grunt of pain. Oliver's drop to the floor was particularly ungraceful, the archer landing on his back with a grunt. As he came to his senses, Oliver watched on helplessly as Jeremiah deflected a hail of bullets and then attacked two D.E.O. agents with his enhanced-arm. Once the agents were down, Jeremiah retreated back into the server room.

Scrambling to his feet, Oliver moved to J'onn's side.

"J'onn!" Oliver gripped him by his shoulder, and the Martian grunted into consciousness. "Can you stand?"

J'onn was quick to his feet, rage in his eyes. "I can fight."

Before Oliver could blink, J'onn had taken off after Jeremiah.

"What have you done!" He shouted as he entered the room.

"J'onn, please, stay down." Jeremiah pleaded as Oliver came up beside J'onn. "I don't want to hurt you any more than I have."

"He asked you a question!" Oliver growled as the drew an arrow.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" J'onn bellowed.

"What I had to!" Jeremiah shouted back.

It was then J'onn noticed the mechanisms that made up Jeremiah's right arm, visible through the bullet-torn fabric of his shirt.

"Oliver was right." J'onn roared. "You are a Cadmus man!"

"J'onn, please, it's not the whole story."

"We will not let you leave." J'onn transformed as he spoke, and Oliver had to fight his shock at the revelation of the Martian's true form.

"You don't have a choice."

J'onn leapt forward before Oliver could fire off an arrow, the narrow room limiting his option for attack. Oliver held his ground, bow drawn as the former friends fought, waiting for a clear shot at the traitor. It wasn't until J'onn was knocked back against one of the servers that Oliver could leap into action. He let his first arrow fly, the sharpened projectile burying itself into Jeremiah's non-enhanced shoulder, then he charged. He knew he couldn't beat Jeremiah in a straight up brawl, Oliver had seen the power of that enhanced arm level a Martian, but Oliver had no intention of brawling as J'onn had.

Not blinded by his anger, Oliver focused his training, skills he knew Jeremiah Danvers didn't have, to orchestrate their fight. He carefully blocked attacks from the enhanced arm with the reinforced materials of his bow, and his fits made connections with the soft tissues of Jeremiah's gut several times over. As they fought, Oliver caught glimpses of the computer bank, of a device attached to one of the monitors, Jeremiah was downloading something from the D.E.O. database. Then, Jeremiah swung his enchanted arm overhead, bringing it down heavily on Oliver, forcing him into a defensive position as he used his bow to push back against Jeremiah's enhanced strength with everything he had.

"This is on you," Jeremiah snarled. "You turned my Kara against me, made them doubt me. You forced our hand."

"You brought this on yourself." Oliver ground out, feeling his strength waning. "But I am going to stop you."

Oliver bow creaked under the strain of Jeremiah's super-strength and Oliver could see what was about to happen before it did. The sound of shattering metal rang out as the core of the bow split in two, and Oliver was forced to take a step back to avoid the enhanced limb from connecting with him. Knowing he had little time left before his aching muscles gave out under the pressure of super strength, Oliver kicked out at Jeremiah, his heel connecting with the older man's shin and sending him staggering back a few paces. With the brief window he had created for himself, Oliver reached into his quiver and grabbed an arrow, throwing it like a dart at the computer bank. The head of the arrow buried itself into the fragile screen of the nearest computer monitor before the explosive payload detonated, tearing the databank to shreds. As soon as he turned back to Jeremiah, Oliver knew it was too late. The Cadmus agent was on top of him, his enhanced fist flying towards him.

Oliver didn't even feel the blow connect before his vision went black.

XXX

Kara had rushed the strike team back to the D.E.O. as soon as the coms had gone quiet. When they arrived back though, she knew they were too late. Most of the agents wouldn't look her or Alex in the eye, only one of them had directed the sisters to the med-bay. As soon as they walked in the damage was clear.

Winn was sat in one of the chairs, looking on glumly at Oliver and J'onn who were laid up in bed. J'onn looked more worse for wear than Oliver, the Martian's face was covered in bruises and cuts that were quickly healing thanks to his powers.

Kara quickly moved to the other bed where Oliver lay, still in his Green Arrow uniform, not a cut or bruise visible on his face. Looking up to the monitors, Kara briefly wished that she paid more attention to Alex so that she knew what any of the information displayed there meant. She turned her attention to Oliver himself, her x-ray vision allowing her to scan over his wounds. The damage didn't seem too bad, especially compared to J'onn, the bruises that were forming were serious and Kara knew it would take some time for him to recover, but it seemed Oliver had gotten off lightly. If he had been injured the same way as J'onn, Oliver might not have recovered.

"What happened?" Alex's voice snapped Kara from her thoughts.

"Jeremiah, he…he got the jump on them." Winn answered as he walked towards the sisters.

"He couldn't have." Alex argued.

Kara couldn't help but feel sorry for her sister. Alex wanted so badly to believe that her father hadn't been changed by the near two decades he had spent in Cadmus custody, even with the evidence right in front of her, she still didn't want to see the truth. It was almost painful for Kara to watch as Alex went through the same torrent of emotions that Kara herself had felt earlier that day.

"Hey, look, even if my dad has turned there is no way he could have overpowered J'onn." Alex finished.

"Yeah. That's what I would have thought." J'onn groaned as he slipped back into consciousness.

"Oh, thank Rao you're okay." Kara sighed, moving from Oliver's bedside to J'onn's.

"Jeremiah's arm, the one we thought had nerve damage, it's been enhanced. Cybernetically." J'onn told them, visibly fighting his pain with every word.

"Like Hank Henshaw?" Kara asked, feeling the rage bubbling inside her again.

"Jeremiah isn't who he was. I'm sorry." J'onn continued sadly, knowing what the revelation would do to Alex.

Kara watched as Alex's whole visage shifted. Her sister visibly went through what Kara remembered going through when Oliver had explained the truth to her. The disappointment, the betrayal, the anger, it was all there.

"Not as sorry as Cadmus is going to be." Alex bit out.

"We'll find him." Kara assured her.

"I might be able to help with that." Another voice groaned, and Kara wheeled around to see Oliver groggily returning to consciousness.

"Oliver," Kara breathed, rushing to his side, her hand slipping into his instantly. "Are you okay?"

The archer grunted with something of a smile on his lips. "I've had worse beatings, I'm just sorry I couldn't stop him."

"No, no it's not your fault." Kara reassured him. "We didn't know he'd been enhanced like that."

Alex was quickly by Kara's side, sharing none of the sympathy or concern that her sister showed.

"You said you could help find him." Alex spoke firmly. "How?"

"I tagged him with tracking nanites." Oliver gestured towards the quiver that sat on the floor beside his bed. "You can get the frequency from the other tracer arrow in my quiver."

Alex nodded her thanks and dashed to Oliver's quiver, searching through it for the arrow in question.

"Thank you, Oliver." Alex finally found the arrow in question and headed from the room to track down the signal.

"We'll find him." Kara assured Oliver and moved to follow her sister.

Kara had hardly turned her back when she heard Oliver grunting in pain, and she spun around to see him struggling to get up from his bed.

"Oliver, what are you doing?" Kara rushed back to his side and began to push him back into bed.

"I can't let you do this on your own." Oliver grunted as he tried to fight to his feet.

Kara felt a surge of adoration for Oliver in that moment. Even beaten and injured, he wanted to fight, he wanted to help her. Kara took his hand in her own once again and squeezed it lightly.

"Oliver, you don't need to do this," Kara pressed. "You've done so much already, you need to stay here and recover."

"Can't…do nothing." Oliver ground out as he once again tried to get up, but Kara easily pushed him down.

"Stay here." She spoke far more firmly that time. "We'll be back before you know it."

Reluctantly, Kara let go of Oliver's hand and moved to follow her sister, giving Winn a pointed look that told him it was his job to keep Oliver in bed.

Cadmus was going to pay.

XXX

The next time Oliver awoke it was closer to sunrise than sunset, and he felt heavy grogginess throughout his body. It took a while for him to fully adjust but he recalled everything that had happened. After Kara had taken off after Alex he had tried to follow them, and Winn had gotten one of the D.E.O. doctors to sedate him. He hated that Winn had done that to him, but with the benefit of rest and a clear head, Oliver didn't hold it against him. Feeling better for his time in bed, Oliver dragged himself to his feet, realising that he was still clad in his Green Arrow suit, and headed towards the exit to the med bay. He spared a glance towards the bed beside his own, seeing that J'onn was no longer in it.

Moving still felt difficult, and the pain in his chest from Jeremiah's knockout punch still reverberated through him. Forcing the pain down, Oliver headed for the mission control area, where he could see J'onn standing over various screens of information.

"J'onn." Even speaking seemed heavy to him at that moment as the Martian turned to face him.

As soon as J'onn met his eyes Oliver knew what had happened. Jeremiah had escaped. The sad look in J'onn's eyes was one Oliver knew, it wasn't sadness for himself, but for Kara and Alex, the women he considered daughters of his own.

"How are they holding up?" Oliver asked.

J'onn sighed heavily before answering. "Alex is strong, and she's got Maggie, but Kara…she shouldn't be alone right now."

Oliver didn't need to be told twice. Moving quicker than he probably should have done giving the aching sensation throughout his body Oliver headed to the storage room, swapping his suit from the first pair of casual clothes he came across, then down to the D.E.O. garage, climbing onto his loaned motorcycle and heading into the streets. The route to Kara's apartment was burned into his brain, but with the empty streets and his need to get to Kara, Oliver pushed the limits of both his bike and his reflexes. The wind bore down onto him, without his suit the cold night air bit into him, even with the added protection of a leather jacket.

The journey to Kara's apartment was thankfully short, and in minutes after his departure from the D.E.O. Oliver was knocking on the door to 4A.

"It's open." He heard Kara's voice weakly through the door.

With a heavy sigh, Oliver walked inside, pushing the door shut and locking it behind him. Kara was curled up on her sofa, draped in a blanket, her face blushed red and stained with tears. She didn't look up at him as Oliver moved closer, he supposed that was because she already knew it was him, Winn had once told him that Kara memorised the heartbeats of the people she cared about.

"Hey." Oliver spoke softly as he approached the sofa and fully took in Kara's form. "J'onn told me what happened, I…I am so sorry Kara. I promised I'd help you find your father and…"

Kara finally looked up to him then and meeting her eyes broke Oliver's heart. There was a level of pain in them, one Oliver had never let himself feel through his anger, a vulnerability that Oliver refused to admit to. And there was Kara, strong, brave, incorruptible Kara, showing him that maybe letting himself feel like that didn't mean the end of the world.

With a resigned sigh, Oliver moved to sit on the end of the sofa, the space free as Kara had curled up into herself. Thankful to be off his feet, Oliver ran a hand through his stubble searching for the right words.

"I know that there's nothing I can say, so…I'm going to listen." Oliver continued, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "What do you need?"

"Just…" Kara sucked in a heavy breath. "Be here with me."

"Okay." Oliver whispered, leaning back on the sofa, and picking up the blanket. "Come here."

Kara looked across to him for a moment, her eyes searching his for confirmation, and then began to move. Shifting both herself and the blanket, Kara moved so she was curled up against Oliver's side, her arm across his chest and her head pressed into his shoulder. Her grip around Oliver tightened as Kara let out another sob, and Oliver's own arms curled around her at that, pulling her into him, as if he could just hold her close enough then all that pain would go away. As Oliver's hand began to stroke up and down her back, Kara looked up at him, once again meeting his eyes.

Oliver saw it then; what Kara had been looking for a moment ago. She wanted to know if he still felt what they both had felt almost a week prior, the kiss that had almost been, the raw emotion they both had felt. She wanted to know if he was just feeling sorry for her or if he really did care. Oliver leant down, almost ready to give in and admit to her everything, but he knew it wasn't right. Instead, he caught himself and pressed his lips to the top of her head. Meeting her eyes again, he saw an understanding in then, and Kara dropped her head back down to curl up against him again.

They hardly had a moment to enjoy the others embrace before Kara's phone began to ring. Oliver looked to it immediately, seeing it sat on the coffee table that ran parallel to the sofa.

Winn.

"Kara, you don't have to…"

She ignored him and grabbed the phone without hesitation.

"Winn. Did you figure out what Jeremiah stole from the D.E.O. computers?"

Oliver couldn't hear his answer, but from the shift he saw in Kara's eyes, it couldn't have been good news.

"Okay," Kara answered. "We're coming in."

As soon as Kara put the phone back down, Oliver placed a hand on her back, slowing her down.

"Kara, what happened?"

She turned back to him, the sorrow in her eyes replaced with purpose. "Cadmus has a list of all the alien's in the country."

"So, what do we do?" Oliver already knew the answer.

"We get up." Kara answered bravely as she got to her feet, heading for her room to change into her uniform.

"That's my girl."