Chapter 18- A Bomb and Running Out of Time

Anna rubbed her arms briskly. It was starting to get cold and even though her plaid shirt had long sleeves, the material was thin. Anna and Felicity looked in shock as Oliver took a labored breath. Felicity touched his face. "Oliver? Oliver! Wake up!" Felicity said, cupping Oliver's face gently. Oliver's eyes opened and in the purplish light, he looked half out of it.

"Hey. Agh! Ohh! Are you two okay?" Oliver asked, crying out in pain as he looked at Felicity and Anna.

"Oh, good lord. You're okay," Anna said, the relief washing over her.

"I think the wound reclotted. Ugh," Oliver groaned as he got to his feet.

"Careful. Hey," Felicity said as he looked around.

"Felicity, Ann, I don't- I don't know that I can get us out of here," Oliver said, looking pretty hopeless.

"Well, it will give us some time to talk about something, like this crazy idea that you enjoy killing. That's why you disbanded the team, isn't it?" Felicity asked as Oliver sat and coughed.

"Yeah," Oliver said.

"Oliver, you said that I don't know the kind of man that you are. I wouldn't have fallen in love with you or wanted to marry you if I didn't know exactly the kind of man that you are. Chase tortured you for a week. You are the toughest person I know, but anyone- anyone would have admitted to being a tap-dancing flamingo after what he put you through," Felicity said.

"Adrian Chase didn't make me a killer," Oliver said.

"No. Five years in hell did that, 5 years dealing with the city's worst did that. You have spent a decade dealing with horrors that most people don't even realize exist, and the fact that that didn't turn you into a monster proves exactly the kind of person that you are," Anna said.

"I don't know what kind of person I am, Anna," Oliver said. The brick wall blew out and a Wall-EE type probe came flying in as the dust cleared.

"Curtis?" Felicity asked.

"Not just Curtis," Lyla Diggle's voice came into the room.

"Are you guys okay?" Dinah asked.

"Me and Felicity are okay. Oliver is a little hurt. We could use your help," Anna said.

"About that. We got a new problem," Rene said.

"The bunker's generators have a doomsday scenario failsafe. Assuming a catastrophic attack, they're tamper-proof, so no one can stop them from turning back on," Curtis said.

"Wait. Why would you want to stop them?" Oliver asked the question Anna was thinking.

"The methane. The power coming back on will spark it," Felicity said as Anna felt the blood drain out of her face.

"If we don't get the air vents back online first somehow," Diggle said.

"You guys are sitting underneath a...4-story bomb," Curtis said.

"Great. The voice of doom is heard throughout the land," Anna said softly.

"How long do we have before the generator kicks back on?" Oliver asked.

"And blow you up? About 12 minutes, but don't worry," Curtis said with fatal optimism.

"Heh, too late," Anna snarked.

"We have a plan, kid," Curtis said.

"I'd love to hear it and still be alive in 12 minutes," Anna said softly.

"Okay. Oliver, you, Anna, and Felicity make your way to the elevator shaft. Dinah and Rene should be there soon," Diggle said. Oliver picked Felicity up and they slowly made their way down the bunker hall to where the elevator was.

"Slow down. Slow down," Felicity said as she tightened her arms around Oliver's neck.

"We don't have time to slow down," Oliver said. Anna reached up and touched Oliver's head. Blood came off on her hand.

"Yeah? Well, we don't have time for you to bleed to death either. OK?" Anna asked as Oliver started walking again.

"That's a good point. That's good," Oliver said as he collapsed.

"Oliver!" Felicity said.

"Ollie!" Anna said, slapping Oliver's face lightly.

"Oliver. Agh!" Felicity ground out as Oliver slapped her.

"Oliver. Oliver. Curtis, Oliver's down. We need your help!" Anna said frantically, the blood trickling from Oliver's mouth.

"Hang on. Coming to you," Curtis said. The probe came down the hall and hovered in front of them. A needle poked out and Felicity grabbed it.

"This looks like the Death Star interrogation droid," Felicity said.

"I loaded it with 20 CC's of adrenaline. You or the kid will have to inject that into Oliver-" Curtis started to say. Felicity plunged it into Oliver's chest and he woke up with a gasp.

"Whoa!" Curtis said as Oliver bolted awake as if he had been electrocuted.

"I'm okay!" Oliver said.

"Nowhere close, but we gave you enough adrenaline to get us out of here," Anna said as Oliver gasped.

"Good. OK. All right," Oliver said in choppy sentences.

"OK. Yup," Felicity said as Oliver picked her up again and they made their way down the hallway.