Oliver walked into the bunker, smelling of sweat and C4. Felicity was standing in front of the glass case that held Laurels' Black Canary costume. They would often linger near it when they needed a reminder of why they were doing what they were doing at night. Oliver sighed, he felt somehow more exhausted tonight, than most. Felicity turned around, the tears that were about to escape from her eyes making their way back in.
" I just miss her so much sometimes, you know?" She sniffled.
Even though it had been nine months since Laurel was killed, the wound of grief was an everlasting one, especially for Oliver. Her death was so unexpected, it was almost like Damien had stabbed each one of them in turn.
The team had coped with her death as best they could; by supporting each other.
Even so, every member of Team Arrow had their own personal hell to go through.
Digg had been shocked at the betrayal of his brother, which had ultimately killed Laurel. He had gotten revenge in the end, even if it was against his morals. But then, Andy had gone completely against everything he had once stood for.
Felicity blamed herself too, because she hadn't been there to help. She thought that somehow, she could've changed the events of that dreaded night but in reality, no one could.
Thea had always seen Laurel as the big sister that she never had. After all, they had gotten through the grief of their loved ones by leaning on one anothers' shoulders. Laurel was there for her during one of the hardest times in her life; Thea just wished that she could've done the same now. She had ended up leaving and finding peace, away from Star City.
Quentin had dived head first into denial, thinking that the lazuris pit could bring his baby back to life. When his flicker of hope was blown out by Nyssa, he drowned himself back into the bottle. As far as Oliver knew, Quentin was in rehab, trying to get through the pain without alcohol.
As for Oliver, he never got through it and probably never would. He had lost Laurel. His Laurel. She was the reason that Oliver had survived Purgatory. She was the ADA by day and the Black Canary by night. If anyone ever deserved to live, it was her.
Oliver walked over to Felicity and rubbed her back, while muttering words of comfort into her ear.
"We got Darhk and his Ghosts." Oliver whispered." He can't cause anymore suffering."
An alert went off on one of the computers as Felicity perked up and jogged over to her beloved desk.
"What's that alert about?" Oliver asked, shoving the painful memories into the back of his mind.
Felicity typed a few lines of code and confirmed," When we were first dealing with Darhk, I set up a program that would track any known location of The Ghosts or Darhk."
"So… why is it going off now? We got rid of them months ago." Oliver asked, wearily.
"It says here that there is a cabin in the woods that's emitting high levels of dark matter, specifically in the last eight months. It's just going off now because in the past two days, there have been conspicuous drug deals out in front of the forest. By the angle of the street cameras, the drugs were all ones that cause phycological pain and suffering. My guess is someone must've seen it and sent in an anonymous tip to the police. They put the tip into their system but they have been too slammed to take care of it."
Felicity paused, fiddling with her bracelet," I know you've had a hard day but can you go out in the field just once more? It's just, I'm getting a feeling that this one is important."
Oliver felt the same feeling. It was like hope mixed with sadness mixed with urgency." Of course. Call Renee and Rory, we might need backup for this one."
Laurel drew in a shaky breath, as she attempted to pick herself up from the floor. Only, she couldn't. She was too weak. So, she just laid there, wishing, hoping, praying that death would take her. The Ghosts had made sure that she survived that stabbing, even if everyone she ever loved didn't.
They had tortured her, violated her and dulled her down so much that she didn't even know who she was anymore. All she felt was pain, suffering and fear. Fear because she knew no one would come looking for her. Fear of The Ghosts, coming in and torturing her.
She closed her eyes. She could barely keep them open for a minute anyway. But every time she closed them, all she could see were her family and her friends yelling at her, telling her how much of a failure she was and that they didn't love her. Laurel wanted to cry, she wanted to scream but didn't have the strength to. She hadn't stood up in months, even if she wanted to, she couldn't.
She had cement- heavy cuffs around her ankles, wrists and neck. They were connected to even heavier chains that bounded her to the wall.
There were remains of her clothes, her attackers' clothes and shards of glass, scattered amongst the floor.
She was in a constant state of distress. She was violently shaking all the time and her mind was scattered and broken. The Ghosts had been injecting her with drugs; she didn't know which ones, only that they were excruciatingly painful. She had given up.
When she was first brought there, she still had hope that Ollie would come and find her. That he would know where she was and that she was suffering. Sadly, she had given up hope for rescue months ago.
As she stared in the dark, she could hear voices. They sounded angry, or even nervous. Though, Laurel couldn't be sure whether the voices were real, or in her head. The voices were getting louder and Laurel whimpered; she couldn't take the anxiety that one of The Ghosts were coming for her.
She tried to block out cacophony of sounds that were penetrating her eardrums, as she heard arrows being drawn and released. What, Laurel thought. The last time she had heard that was the night that she had been kidnapped.
That little flicker of hope re-lit itself inside of Laurel as she listened as intently as she could.
Oliver nocked his bow and fired three arrows into the Ghosts' chests. Oliver felt good, knowing that he had just rid the world of another rotten soul.
He then proceeded to walk over the bodies and to the front door, knocking it open with his bow. The cabin was extremely messy. There were whisky and beer bottles scattered across the floor, along with used needles and various torture weapons.
"Felicity, whatever's going on here, I think someone is being held captive and tortured. There are torture weapons, women's clothing and all sorts of experimental drugs," Oliver reported.
He heard Felicity type something into her computer and say," Okay, I'm scanning the property for heat signatures. Wild Dog, Ragman, can you go through the back and take out the guards?"
"Yep," they replied.
Oliver could hear the other two vigilantes running through the back, killing Ghosts. Oliver heard something shuffling behind him. He nocked an arrow and swiftly spun around, shooting a Ghost straight in the chest.
Two more came down the stairs as Oliver knocked them out with a roundhouse kick. As Oliver fought the wave of Ghosts, Felicity radioed in," Guys, the only heat signature in there that you haven't taken out, is in the second bedroom. Only, if it's a body, I'm not sure if it's still alive."
"Okay, Felicity. I'm going to check." Oliver carefully walked over to the second bedroom, as Felicity told him. He walked over to the door, which had several heavy locks on it. Since they were old school, Oliver took them and the door out with an explosive arrow.
As he peered in, he saw that the window had been blocked off with steel bars. There wasn't any furniture, however, the person lying on the floor was unmistakable. Oliver knew those beautiful green eyes from anywhere.
"Laurel?" He breathed.
The figure lying on the ground murmured back, "Ollie. It's me."