Oliver stared at her in disbelief. She was alive. Just barely.
"Felicity, I- I found Laurel," he exclaimed.
"What? Laurel? Our Laurel? You- you found her?"
Oliver had taken his eyes off Laurel for two seconds and they had closed.
"Yes. Felicity I need you to get an IV set up with some blood. We have the same type so just use that."
Oliver was trembling. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had unknowingly left the love of his life to be tortured.
His voice shaking, he continued." Get blankets, food, anything you think that can help her."
"O- okay, Oliver. I'll have it set up," Felicity said, she too was in an utter state of shock.
"And Felicity?"
"Yes, Oliver?"
"Call Quentin. He should know that Laurel is alive."
"Roger that," She said.
Carefully, Oliver nocked an explosive arrow and shot it at the chains that were bound to her. Once they were broken, he walked over to a trembling Laurel and scooped her up.
When his warm hand touched her ice- cold flesh, she flinched. Oliver started to cry. Laurel was broken. She had huge ring- shaped bruises around her ankles, wrists and neck, where the cuffs had been. She was bone- thin and was as light as a feather.
There were long scars all up her arms and legs and, on her stomach, there were purple and blue bruises. All over her beautiful body, there were open, bloody wounds. She was as pale as a ghost and her face looked sunken in.
Quickly, he jogged out of the cabin and to the van. There, he met John, Renee and Rory.
"Is that- Is that Laurel?" John broke down into tears as he spoke.
Since Renee and Rory had never met Laurel before, they hung back, cautious.
Oliver and John carefully laid Laurel's limp body into the very back seat, before exchanging a long hug.
Yes, they were trained soldiers but even soldiers, have emotion.
Laurel saw him. She couldn't believe it. He had come to rescue her.
"Ollie, it's me," Laurel whispered, using every ounce of strength that she had left.
She was so overcome with relief that she let herself go. She closed her eyes and let the positive endorphins release throughout her body.
She heard Oliver say something but she was so tired, she didn't know what.
Then, there was an explosion close to her head. Her thoughts became a little blurrier, as Oliver bent down and picked her up.
Instinctively, she flinched, trying to get away. She then remembered that it was Ollie.
He won't hurt me, she thought. But then again, she didn't know anything for certain anymore.
She let herself be carried out of the room and outside. The sweet smells of the outdoors paraded their way into Laurels' nose.
She heard more voices approaching her. Stiffening up, she started to panic. After the last nine months, she was so afraid of everything. Even Ollie didn't give her a sense of comfort, like he had done all those months ago.
Were they The Ghosts? The bone- chilling though went through her head. She tried to identify the voice that was talking. To her, it didn't sound like a Ghost.
She was then slid into a cushy, warm, what she could only assume was a van.
Oliver slid in behind her, cradling her head in his lap. She tensed up. Everyone who had touched her in the last nine months had been torturing her. She would let him try to calm her, even though Laurel didn't even know if that was possible anymore. It would take a long time for her to adjust.
They were moving fairly fast, probably because of her. Oliver murmured encouraging words into her ear; convincing her to stay awake, and to relax. She could guess, by how lightheaded she was, that she had lost a lot of blood and desperately needed more.
When he started to stroke her hair, she hummed in disapproval. It was too much. He stopped but kept on murmuring.
After some time, Laurel didn't know how long, they stopped and Oliver quickly picked her up and ran somewhere. They went into a building, then down an elevator. Her senses were so fuzzy, she had no idea what was going on.
She was then lowered onto what felt like a couch, with fuzzy blankets on it.
She could sense that there were people shuffling around her. They were whispering instructions as a needle went into her arm. Laurel had had this feeling too many times before. She somehow gained enough energy to attempt to push away the needle, in distress.
"Laurel, it's okay. It's just an IV pump." Oliver soothed.
Laurel was already spent, so she just went limp again.
As it turns out, though, it wasn't just an IV pump, it was a sedative.
Slowly, she could feel herself slipping away. Her mind went blank, as she passed out.
Barry took a sip of his beer. Even though he technically couldn't get drunk anymore, it felt good to be spending time with his friends, especially Cisco.
Over the last couple of months, they hadn't been on speaking terms. The long and short of it, was that Barry had gone back in time to save his mother, and in doing so, caused a bunch of side effects to the future.
One of the side effects being, that Cisco's brother, Dante, was killed by a drunk driver. Cisco had blamed Barry for Dante's death for so long, until a friend of his showed him that everyone makes mistakes, especially when it came to family and protecting them.
"I know! And the way she just lasered those aliens? It was totally badass." Cisco exclaimed.
"Yeah Barry, I'm so glad that you found Supergirl. Even if it was by accident," Caitlin said, taking a bite out of her burger.
"I know, getting to save the world from aliens, fighting alongside other heroes, it just feels so great." Barry said, reminiscing about the alien takeover.
"And, there haven't been any more metas to fight since we took them down! It's amazing, you know, getting a break." Caitlin said, sighing happily.
"Yeah, we haven't had a break in awhi- "Barry was cut off by his cellphone ringing.
"Saved by the bell," Cisco joked, as Barry picked up his phone, only to see that it was Oliver.
Barry pressed the connect button and brought the phone up to his ear.
"Hey Oliver, how are you doing? I didn't expect to get a call from you so soon," Barry said, glancing over to his friends to make sure that they were listening.
"It's Laurel." Oliver started speaking, but then stopped, seemingly unable to go on.
Barry pressed the speaker button on his phone, as he set it on the table and said," Laurel? I thought you said Damien Darhk killed her."
Cisco and Caitlin were both staring at Barry, the shock being evident on their faces.
Oliver gained his ability to speak again as he said," Yes, we found her being tortured. We need your help. She's dying, Barry. Please."
The three friends looked at each other, appalled by the idea that Oliver would think any less of them.
"Of course, Oliver. Me, Caitlin and Cisco will be right there. We won't lose her again." Barry said, earnestly.
The three were then sped off by Barry and taken to S.T.A.R LABS.
When they arrived, they were greeted by Iris, HR and Joe.
"Hey, you guys. I didn't think that you'd be back so soon," Iris exclaimed, walking over to peck Barry on the cheek.
Barry just looked at her with a haunted gaze.
Iris, being Barry's girlfriend immediately knew that something was wrong.
"Babe, what happened? What's wrong?" Iris questioned.
Barry took a second to gain his composure as Caitlin said," Barry, can you explain? Me and Cisco have to get as much supplies as possible and quick."
Barry and Caitlin looked at each other with a look of understanding; if there was a chance to get someone back, from the dead, then they would make sure that they didn't waste it.
"Yes, of course, Cait." Barry agreed, as Caitlin and Cisco began shoving IV pouches, needles and medication into a box.
"Explain what?" Iris asked, confused and a little bit worried. If they were stuffing medical supplies into a box, that must have meant that someone was hurt.
Barry took a deep breath and began," So we were sitting, eating dinner, when I got a call from Oliver. I was confused at first, because we had just seen each other, until he said that he found Laurel."
Iris, Joe and HR all stared at him in disbelief. They hadn't known Laurel very well, but they had mourned her death like she was the closest family. All except for HR, who had never even met her.
"What? Laurel is alive? I thought Oliver told us that she was killed by Damien Darhk." Iris exclaimed.
"That's what I told him. He just said that they had found her being tortured." Barry sighed, close to tears.
"But that means that she was being tortured for nine months. How is she still alive?" Iris questioned, once again, her reporter self becoming evident.
"Well, she won't be alive for much longer if we don't get there soon." Caitlin said, both her and Cisco bringing the now full boxes over to where Barry was standing.
"Yes, Babe, I'll tell you more when I come back. We can't lose her again." Barry admitted.
"Totally, yeah, of course." Iris said.
"You guys can do it. She concluded, hugging Barry.
Barry, Cisco and Caitlin all nodded, as they were again sped off by Barry, this time with three boxes full of medical supplies.
Leaving Iris, Joe and HR to ponder and send prayers Laurels' way.
Oliver couldn't take his eyes off of her. He was flabbergasted. He had never wanted to see her like this, in this type of pain.
He had no idea what she had endured in the past nine months. But he was sure that, Laurel wouldn't be the same.
She had tensed up whenever he had touched her and had ceased to relax. She was clearly exhausted just by pure worry and anxiety of people coming to get her. She wouldn't let him stroke her hair and had actually summoned up enough strength to try to push away a needle, something that the old Laurel would never try to do.
Oliver knew the side effects of being tortured and preyed upon; they weren't good.
She likely had PTSD and anxiety, at the very least. Yes, almost everyone that Oliver knew had some sort of mental disorder, mostly from being a vigilante and witnessing death and torture. But there were few people that Oliver had encountered, that had gone through extensive torturing.
Oliver had called Barry, because Team Arrow needed the help of Team Flash. Barry, because he had experience with certain types of wounds and marks and could hopefully identify them, Caitlin, because she was a doctor and could provide medical care for Laurel and Cisco because he was like a scientist. He knew stuff about dark matter, which Oliver thought would be important, here.
All Oliver hoped, was that Laurel could come back to them, alive.
If she was broken, then Oliver would help to fix her.
Though, truth be told, Oliver had never fully healed himself, he just hoped different for Laurel.
All of the sudden, there was a woosh, as a red streak of light flew through the air. Barry, Caitlin and Cisco all dropped down, as papers flew every which way.
The three newcomers wasted no time, as they set down the boxes that they were holding.
As Caitlin was dragging a box over to an open space, she said, "Okay, can we move her to a table or something?"
The team all exchanged uncertain glances, as Caitlin continued," She can move back right after. It's just, it's much easier and efficient if we can do her tests on a flat surface." She reassured.
"Yes, of course." Oliver said quickly, before grabbing one of the wheeled tables from the science area and wiping everything off of it.
Notepads, pencils, pens and the loose documents that weren't already on the ground, were now askew.
He then pushed the table, that was just large enough for Laurels' body, over to Caitlin. Then, with the help of John, he gently picked her body up and laid her down on the table. Oliver proceeded to lean over and give Laurel a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Just, please be careful with her," Oliver asked, worried.
Even though Caitlin was under the pressure and stress of doing her job, she completely understood where he was coming from. If it was Ronnie that they'd found, on the verge of death, she'd want them to be as careful and as gentle as possible.
So, she just nodded, starting to unpack the first of three boxes, which consisted of IV pouches and tubes.
Carefully, Caitlin inserted a butterfly needle into Laurels' left arm, while simultaneously attaching an IV pouch to an IV stand, that they'd also brought with them.
She then continued to run a series on tests, unknown to Oliver. However, if Caitlin was running them, then he knew that they were important.
"Caitlin, thank you." Felicity said, meaning every word of it.
"Felicity, you don't have to thank me. She's family. And there's nothing that I wouldn't do for them." Caitlin responded, the ghost of a smile flashing across her face.
Tonight, the Arrowcave had an aura; hope.