Once getting the approval from Diggle and Felicity, Barry got to work trying to save Oliver.
"Hold him!" Barry instructed as Oliver was beginning to spasm.
"He's not going to make it." Diggle let out, holding Oliver down.
"He will." Felicity told them. "We just have to find out what's in his system."
Barry then began zooming around Oliver checking him over.
"Alright I can think of four…" he told them before checking his eyes with a flashlight. "Three possible diagnosis for why his body is reacting this way."
He looked over Oliver again and began narrowing down his options.
"Two," he let out before turning to Diggle. "Start chest compressions."
Diggle did so as Barry grabbed a syringe and drew some blood from Oliver's arm. After taking a look at it, he finally knew what was wrong.
"Got it." He informed. "He's suffering from intravenous coagulation."
"What?" Felicity asked.
"His blood is unnaturally clotting." Barry elaborated. "It's like maple syrup."
"You can save him right?" Felicity asked.
Barry froze for a moment, trying to think of what to do next. Suddenly, something in the cave caught his eye. He ran over and picked up a box of rat poison before running back over.
"Fortunately you guys have a rat problem." He remarked.
"You kidding?!" Diggle let out, furious. "That'll kill him!"
"He dies if I don't!" Barry countered.
"Felicity." Diggle said turning to her.
She paused, but just for a moment.
"Do it!" she told him.
Barry nodded before getting the right amount of poison out.
"Ok, just the right amount of this stuff will thin his blood out enough to get it circulating again." He told them.
With that, Barry injected Oliver with the poison, hoping it would work.
"Let go Oliver." A voice rang out in Oliver's head.
He slowly turned to the side to see the ghostly image of an old friend.
"Shado?" Oliver whispered.
"Don't fight anymore." She told him as she stretched out her hand. "Stay with me…"
Oliver was about to reach out to her before falling unconscious again.
…
Sometime later, Oliver woke up to the sight of Barry standing over him in the red suit of the man he encountered at the warehouse. He instinctively grabbed hold of his throat, attempting to choke him. Diggle and Felicity ran over and pulled him off.
"Oliver let him go!" Diggle told him.
"What the hell is going on?" Oliver asked.
"You we're injected with a strong-acting blood coagulant." Felicity told him.
"You would have stroked out," Barry continued. "But fortunately you had a very effective blood thinner handy. Warfarin, better known as rat poison."
"So you poisoned me?" Oliver asked.
"The kid saved your life Oliver." Diggle told him.
"I think this is the point of the life-saving where you thank the person that did the life-saving." Felicity added.
"You told him who I am?" Oliver asked turning towards them.
"Actually, I found that out on my own." Barry explained. "Your hood fell off after you were attacked, and I saw your face. That's when I brought you here."
"How'd you even know I was operating out of here?" Oliver asked, still irritated.
"I didn't." Barry told him. "I checked anywhere that could server as your base when I found out who you were. Your mansion, Queen Consolidated-"
"You were in my home?!" Oliver let out.
"I was trying to get you somewhere safe?!" Barry countered. "So what, yelling at me for being thorough is the thanks I get for saving you? What's next, an arrow in my back?"
"I'm considering it!" Oliver yelled.
"Don't worry he's kidding." Felicity interjected. "Look, how is this any different from when your mother shot you and came to me for help?"
"Your mother shot you?" Barry asked, confused.
"Or when Dig down here when he was poisoned by curare?" Felicity continued.
"The difference is I did my homework on both of you!" Oliver countered. "I don't just tell people easily."
"Hey, you don't have to thank me," Barry interjected. "but you're not entirely blameless here. You accused me of killing my own mother!"
"What?" Felicity let out.
"The blur you told me about sounded a lot similar to you moving at 'high speeds'." Oliver told him.
"It wasn't me." Barry insisted. "Why would I keep searching for the impossible in the world? Why would I save you if you suspected me?"
"Then tell me, Barry Allen, Who. You. Are." Oliver let out.
Barry let out a breath before speaking again.
"Alright," he replied. "I guess I do owe you all an explanation. What do you know about the S.T.A.R Labs Particle Accelerator explosion?"
Oliver turned to Felicity in confusion.
"Not too long after you left, S.T.A.R Labs founder Harrison Wells launched a Particle Accelerator in Central City." Felicity explained. "It um… didn't end well."
"Yeah well there was a massive storm that night," Barry continued. And as the accelerator blew, I tried to close the open roof in my lab. That's when I was struck by a bolt of lightning. A bolt of lightning that put me in a coma for three months. When I woke up," he held up his hand and began vibrating it at super speeds. "I was able to do this. My body was super charged. My cells able to regenerate at an immeasurable rate."
"Whoa." Felicity let out.
"I had a cousin who was hit by lightning once." Diggle shared. "He just developed a stutter."
That got a few smirks from Barry and Felicity.
"So why keep it a secret?" Oliver asked. "You're living proof the impossible is possible, why not come forward with it to help your father?"
Barry paused for a moment.
"… because I wasn't the only one affected by the accelerator that night." Barry told him. "When it went off, it unleashed several unknown elements into Central City, Anti-matter, dark matter, X-elements-"
"But those are all theoretical." Felicity interjected.
"That's what I thought," Barry replied. "But it's true. The wave spread through out Central City creating hundreds of, meta-humans."
"Meta-humans?" Diggle asked.
"That's what we call them." Barry answered. "After seeing how dangerous these kinds of powers could be in the hands of criminals, I decided to try and stop them."
"By becoming a super powered vigilante?" Diggle guessed.
"Pretty much." Barry confirmed. "That's why I came out here. We thought the thief was a meta-human affected by the accelerator outside of Central City."
"Hate to break it to you Barry but the man we fought didn't get his strength from a particle accelerator."
"Really?" Barry replied, curious. "Then how we he able to break down a steel door with his bare hands?"
"By being injected by a World War II Japanese super solider serum." Oliver told him. "I've seen how dangerous it can be before, and now he has everything he needs to mass produce it."
"Then we have to stop him." Barry declared.
"And 'we' will." Oliver told him. "You can go back to Central City so you can fight other speedsters and bank robbers who can fly."
"I actually haven't encountered any flying meta-humans," Barry told him. "but I have fought one that can control the weather."
Oliver just gave him an irritated look, forcing Barry to snap back into focus.
"Sorry." Barry said. "Look no offence Oliver, but the last time you fought this guy, you were almost toast. I can help."
"How?" Oliver asked. "By running around him really fast?"
"I can ID him." Barry told him, causing Oliver to raise an eyebrow. "The thief touched your skin when he grabbed your neck. I was able to absorb the residual oils from his skin which, when added to a gel based polymer, might be able to recreate his finger print.
Oliver just stood there, genuinely impressed. Before he could respond though, he heard his phone vibrating. He picked it up and saw a text message from Thea.
"I have to go." He told them before walking off.
Barry just heaved a sigh after everything was said and done.
"Well that went well." Barry let out.
"Never meet your heroes, right?" Felicity commented.
…
A little while later, Oliver returned to the Queen Mansion to see his mother setting up some holiday decorations.
"Mom?" he called.
"Thank you for coming sweetheart." She replied, turning to face him.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
"I don't know." Moira replied. "Your sister locked herself in her room, and she won't talk to me."
"Don't worry, I'll talk to her." He reassured before noting the decorations all around the house. "… it's Christmas."
"Yes," Moira confirmed inhaling deeply. "Though, after how our last gala we threw turned out, I think we're gonna skip our annual Christmas party."
Oliver just nodded in response before heading over to his sisters room. As he approached the door he began knocking.
"Thea, it's Ollive." He called out. "Open the door."
"Not now Ollie." Thea called back.
"Speedy, open the door!" he insisted.
"Is mom with you?" she asked, walking towards the door.
"No." Oliver confirmed, slightly confused.
Finally, Thea opened the door.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked.
"I didn't want mom to see." Thea told him.
"See what?" Oliver inquired.
Thea finally opened the door fully to reveal Roy on the bed with an arrow through his leg and Sin sitting next to him.
"What happened to him?" Oliver asked, entering the room.
"The vigilante decided to use him as target practice." Thea remarked. "You're right, that guys a psycho."
"Why didn't you go to a hospital?" Oliver asked.
"In this city, an arrow's the same as a bullet if you want the cops involved." Roy told him.
"And mom actually likes Roy." Thea added. "But something tells me she'd revoke his tree trimming invitation if she found out he was messing around with the Hood."
Oliver nodded in agreement as he walked over to Roy.
"Roy," he told him. "This is gonna hurt."
"My angers dulling the pain." Roy remarked.
"This will dull it better." Sin told him, holding up a bottle of whiskey.
Roy took a drink from it before Oliver took it and poured some on his wound, causing Roy to groan in pain. Oliver then wasted no time wrapping a towel around the arrow and slowly pulling it out.
"Put pressure on it." Oliver instructed as he put Roy's hand on the towel over the wound.
While Roy was keeping pressure on it, Oliver took out his phone and dialed up Diggle.
"Diggle I need you to come up to the Queen Mansion." Oliver told him. "Roy's been shot… with an arrow. It's a long story. Look, just bring the first-aid kit to Thea's room…thank you."
Oliver then hung up and turned back to the others.
"Roy, my driver, Mr. Diggle, he has medical training from his time in the army." Oliver told him. "He's gonna patch you up."
"Thank you." Roy replied.
"It's the… least I can do." Oliver told him. "Look, I don't know what the three of you are up to, but maybe the vigilante was just trying to keep you safe."
"By shooting Roy?" Thea asked, awestruck.
"I… I'm just saying." Oliver offered. "Maybe you should let this go."
With that, Oliver walked out of the room leaving the three of them, all determined not to let this go.
As Oliver walked down the hallway, he turned a corner and came face to face with Shado again.
"Shado?" Oliver let out as he walked towards her.
He put a hand to her cheek and he felt her. She seemed as real to him as his own sister and her friends we're not to long ago. Still, there was doubt.
"You can't be here." He told her.
"I had to see you." She replied. "Had to warn you."
"Warn me?" Oliver repeated, perplexed.
"You can't fight what's coming," she told him. "Put down your bow. Take off my father's hood."
"I wear that hood to honor your father." He insisted. "To honor you."
"If you wanna honor me," she replied. "Stop fighting… and live. Or everything you love will die."
Oliver just stood there, taking in his old friends words.
"Ollie?" Thea asked, causing Oliver to turn and face her. "Who were you talking to?"
Oliver turned back to see there was no one there. He wasn't sure how or why he saw her, but he was sure that he needed answers.
…
Back in the cave, Barry was looking around, slightly geeking out that he was in the lair of the Green Arrow.
"I still can't believe that Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow." Barry marveled. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't be, I mean, it was a bit obvious. Oliver returns from five years on a deserted island and in the same week a vigilante in a green hood showed up. I mean, come on."
"We did take steps to divert attention away from Oliver." Diggle told him.
"Right, I remember that." Barry recalled. "Regardless, this is still pretty cool."
"You run around Central City at over three hundred miles an hour and a guy with a bow and arrow impresses you?" Felicity asked.
"Well, Oliver got here first." Barry replied. "Plus you guys have taken down some pretty nasty characters. Like Dollmaker, Count Vertigo, Dodger, The Huntress."
"We never kept score." Diggle remarked.
"Well, I did." Barry admitted.
"Barry!" Oliver called out entering the cave. "The rat poison you gave me, are there any side effects?"
"Uh… yeah." Barry answered. "I think hallucinations, maybe. And excessive sweating. Why? Are you sweating excessively?"
"You're hallucinating?" Felicity guessed. "What are you seeing?"
"… a girl named Shad that was with me on the island." Oliver answered.
"So you did train in a jungle environment," Barry surmised, walking over to him. "hence the green. I knew it!"
Oliver just stared at him, making Barry feel uneasy.
"Hey, let me draw some blood," he offered. "See what's up."
The two walked over to a table so Barry could do his work.
"Hey can I ask you something?" Barry spoke again as he got to work drawing Oliver's blood. "Why no mask? I mean, I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, since I'm still new at this, but the grease paint thing… it's a poor identity concealer."
"You mean unlike your oversized hood?" Oliver jeered.
"Well…" Barry tried to respond.
"Find me a mask that conforms perfectly to my face and doesn't affect my ability to aim while on the run, then we'll talk." Oliver told him.
Barry was taken a back a bit, but was willing to take the challenge.
"I'll see what I can do." He replied.
"Found Cyrus Gold." Felicity spoke up.
"Who?" Oliver asked as everyone turned to face her.
"The living weapon you two tangled with." Diggle answered. "The kid did manage to pull his print off your neck."
"I've had facial recognition software scanning closed circuit cameras all over town." She told him. "He's at the corner of Delgado and 25th right now but we're just about to lose him."
"What else is at that intersection?" Oliver asked.
"A parking lot, a market, a motel." Felicity listed off.
"Could be where he's held up." Diggle proposed.
"I got this." Oliver said, turning around about to take off.
"Barry then sped right in front of Oliver's path.
"Oliver," he spoke. "If you're suffering from hallucinations, you may not be in the best shape to fight this guy. Why not let me handle him?"
"No offense Barry, but you seemed to have trouble with this guy last time as well." Oliver reminded.
"Fair enough," Barry admitted. "But still, if your minds not fully in it…"
Oliver took a moment to consider Barry's words.
"Fine." He relented. "But I'm coming as back up."
"Alright then." Barry replied.
"I'll come too." Diggle volunteered. "Never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes."
"Great!" Barry replied as they started heading out. "And don't worry Oliver. As soon as we get back, I'll figure out what's wrong with you."
"You'd be the first!" Felicity called out.
…
Meanwhile at the DA's office, Laurel was looking over a card that came with some flowers sent to her.
"Secret admirer?" Thea asked as she, Roy, and Sin walked in.
"No," she dismissed, putting the card down. "Actually, they're from my father. What brings you by?"
"We need your help." Thea told her. "Cindy's friend was murdered, but the police aren't going to investigate. They said that he ODed, end of story."
"I'm guessing it's not if you're here." Laurel assumed.
"Check this out." Sin said, handing her a flyer for the blood drive. "He earned extra money donating blood. We found it in Max's apartment. They wouldn't have accepted his blood if he was using, right?
"Max went missing the same day as the blood drive." Thea added. "If he did donate blood there, maybe they at least know something that happened to him."
Laurel considered all that she had heard, and admitted to herself that something seemed off about this.
"I'll ask around." She told them.
"Thank you, Laurel." Thea replied.
…
That night, Diggle and Oliver drove up to the motel where Cyrus Gold was held up. Diggle got out to investigate while Oliver stayed inside.
"If you get bored I keep a book of crossword puzzles in the glove box." Diggle joked as he made his way inside.
"That's not funny." Oliver replied.
Once inside, Diggle opened the door and had his gun at the ready as he made his way inside. Hearing something, he swung around and saw Barry standing in front of him.
"Whoa!" he let out. "Easy! I was just checking the perimeter. We're all good."
Diggle just lowered his gun in annoyance.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Just never gonna get used to that."
Barry just shrugged as he put a hand to one of the lightning bolts on his helmet.
"Oliver can you hear me?" he asked.
"Loud and Clear." Oliver replied. "What do you see?"
"Rooms clean." Diggle reported. "Really clean."
Diggle and Barry kept looking around the room for clues. Barry saw a book on the counter and went over to take a look.
"Hey look at this." Barry called out as he took a closer look. "'Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday'."
"'Christened on Tuesday, married on Wednesday." Oliver continued. "I know the poem. It symbolizes the seven stage of life. From birth to death."
"Makes you wonder what stage this guy's in." Diggle remarked.
"Sickened on Thursday or worsened on Friday I hope." Barry replied.
"Afraid not." A voice called out.
Barry turned around just in time for Cyrus to back hand him, sending him flying into a wall as he made his way over to Diggle. Diggle unleashed several shots into Cyrus' chest, but they didn't seem to do anything as Cyrus grabbed Diggle's arm and twisted it, causing him to cry out in pain. Barry quickly got to his feet and dashed towards him. Cyrus let go od Diggle's arm in time to close line Barry, causing him to tumble to the ground.
"Get out of here!" he cried out.
Barry dashed at Cyrus again as Diggle made his way out a nearby window and onto the fire escape leading to the street below. Cyrus took another swing at Barry, but he just ducked under it. Barry then unleashed several speed punches to his chest, but they seemed ineffective. Cyrus then grabbed hold of Barry's arms and twisted them both, causing him to cry out in pain. Cyrus then kicked Barry in the chest, causing him to fly out the window Diggle went through, and tumble off the fire escape and onto the ground below. Diggle ran over and helped Barry to his feet as Oliver drove up. He put Barry in the backseat to lay down before getting in the front passenger seat.
"Go go go!" he told Oliver as they drove away as fast as they could.
"You two ok?" he asked.
"Don't worry about me," Barry replied, groaning. "I heal fast. How are you Dig?"
"In pain." He replied bluntly. "That guy picked me up like I was nothing."
"Felicity, call for back up!" Oliver called.
…
Later that night, Quinten met with Green Arrow on an abandoned rooftop. As Quinten got there he saw Arrow on the edge of the roof facing away from him.
"Smoak said this was urgent." Quinten called out as Arrow turned around. "What's up?"
"We… found the man who robbed the Queen Applied Sciences Division." Arrow told him, handing him a file. "His name is Cyrus Gold. He is extremely dangerous."
"The CSI kid from Central City…" Quinten responded. "he said this guy was like a monster."
"He is." Arrow confirmed.
"Well what is it, steroids?" Quinten asked.
"Worse it's…" Arrow began to reply.
The words died coming out of his mouth as he saw something behind Quinten. Another ghostly figure, but this time of someone else. His old friend and brother in arms; Slade Wilson. Arrow could hardly comprehend what he was seeing.
"Well, assuming I believe you," Quinten continued. "Why come to me?"
"I've been compromised." He reported.
"What does that mean?" Quinten asked, feeling confused.
"It means I'd be a liability." Arrow told him. "You have to take my word on this detective. Gather as many men as you can, and do not hesitate to kill Cyrus Gold. Because given the opportunity… he'll do the same to you."
Taking another look at what seemed to be the ghost of Slade, Arrow wasted no time firing a grappling arrow and descending off the building to the street below. Once on the ground, he pulled his hood back in shock, trying to comprehend what was happening to him.
Welp, this might be the longest chapter I've written for this story. Hope you're liking it, and I hope my integration of the Flash has been working so far. Stay tuned for more to come!