13. Friend in need…

Maybe it was only Vera's imagination, but the team of her badass friends created an approximation of a circle around her and Claire; the weakest parts. Vera really, really didn't like the idea, but she knew it was the truth. Also, having C4 at her feet felt worse.

"That's strange. He has something I haven't encountered with the Hand before. It sounds like… Kevlar of something, he's wearing a hood. There are tiny blades attached to the… suit. Lots of them, throwing stars…. Bow, arrows, some kind of an explosive substance," Matt whispered, his face twisted in concentration.

Vera's rapidly beating heart skipped a beat.

"Wait, what?!" she hissed incredulously, hope flickering. Was it possible…?

Even Vera could tell the quick footsteps now and she inconspicuously moved from the middle of the circle – not as inconspicuously as she thought apparently, because Matt took a step to his right, blocking her path, turning his head to side as if he wanted to say 'don't even think about it, what the hell are you doing'. He reached for one of his billy clubs.

Vera got a glimpse of green as the person appeared, string of his bow stretched to shoot. Vera gasped, trying to break free alongside Matt as their whole group tensed in anticipation.

"Whoa, whoa! Don't shoot!" Vera yelped and touched Matt's protective arm, which was still blocking her way, attempting a comforting gesture, a silent plea to let her walk out, because oh. My. God. "Or throw things! Or punches!"

Vera could tell the exact moment Matt slightly relaxed; while he was still ready to attack, he was taken aback by her outburst and he hesitantly let her step out. The archer, seeing she wasn't held against her will and none of them was about to attack, lowered his bow and returned the arrow back to his quiver.

"Vera," he greeted shortly, voice disguised, deep and gravelly.

She chuckled incredulously, crossing the distance between them. Not one of her friends said a word, shocked silence being their only reaction. Vera threw her arms around him.

"You came!"

She could tell he was thrown off by her familiarity, but he hugged her with his free arm, gloved hand gently resting between her shoulder blades. It occurred to Vera how inappropriately she reacted to his arrival and made this completely awkward, but to hell with it. He came.

"Well, it sounded urgent." Vera would swear she could hear a pleased note in his voice. She smiled through her tears. He was the one to break their hug, sensing it had lasted long enough.

"Thank you."

Oliver smiled under the hood warmly. Vera hesitantly eyed the group she had left; they were all staring, clueless. Matt returned his weapon to its place, recognizing Vera trusted this man; enough to run into his arms, apparently. Her cheeks flushed as Matt's head tilted in wordless wonder.

Colleen snapped from her trance first. "Who the hell is that?"

It worked like charm.

"Is that the Hawkeye guy?" Luke questioned.

"No," sounded stereo from Jessica and Matt. Matt had met Hawkeye before, so it was somewhat knowing, yet puzzled. Jessica probably knew better too, considering her observation skills.

"Well, who is he then?" Colleen asked exasperatedly, throwing her arm in his direction.

Vera slowly made her way back to them, getting ready to explain. Oliver followed.

"You're the archer she stitched up."

Vera grinned at her fiancée – brilliant, brilliant fiancée, who might have a chance now, because Terri sure didn't see any archer in her vision. There was hope.

Vera saw Oliver nodding peripherally. "Yes."

"You called him," Matt accused her, but to her surprise, it didn't sound angry. She slowly walked to him. Well, she didn't call Oliver directly, but….

"That I did. Because I'm-" -not watching you die. "…we need all help we can get."

"You—… okay."

Vera's eyebrows shot up, stopping in front of Matt. "Really? Just like that?"

He shrugged despite the obvious tension in his shoulders.

"I trust your judgeme-" He froze, reaching for his weapon once again. "Someone else's coming."

"I brought a friend. I hope that's okay," Oliver grunted and Vera turned to him, astonished.

He did not only come by himself but actually brought help?! That was— he was a do-gooder, wasn't he? He really was a hero. Vera fought the urge to hug him again. They might actually keep each other save like this.

"You're kidding? You brought more people to help and you're asking if that's okay?"

Another archer, dressed in red, appeared behind his shoulder. He was smaller than Oliver, speaking both his height and broadness of his shoulders, but he was obviously a fighter too. Plus, he had a bow. He didn't even need to be a fighter per se – as far as he didn't let anyone get too close.

His outfit was pretty similar to Oliver's, but Vera had to admit the red and black looked really cool – or maybe she was just biased. Which was totally relevant in this situation. Uhm. Maybe it was the leg holster with billy clubs attached to his calf? Not relevant, not relevant…

"Oh boy, another guy with a thing for red leather," Jessica sneered and Vera knew she was rolling her eyes, her face screaming I'm so done with all this shit, even without looking at her.

"It's Kevlar," a new mechanical voice rasped, stopping by Oliver's side. The rather tough look was completely ruined by an awkward wave. "Hey, guys."

Oliver opened his mouth just to close it. Vera guessed the red one was still in training and Oliver was done with him too. "Right. I don't know much. But I assume it's all of us against the rest?"

"There's one guy down there, he's a friend. Blond. Little bit of a beard. You'll be probably able to see a dragon tattoo on his chest," Vera explained shortly, glad Oliver had broken the awkward silence. Because. Mission.

"A guy with a dragon tattoo is a friend?" the red archer questioned.

"Yes," six voices answered unison and the red guy raised his hands in 'no harm' gesture.

Vera cleared her throat. Focus. Mission. "Right. So, just quickly – bulletproof." She pointed at Luke.

"Luke," he said simply, nodding. Vera smiled, continuing.

"Super-strong."

"Jessica."

"Enhanced senses. Pretty much a ninja," Vera introduced shyly, unable to resist the urge to smile.

"Mike."

Jessica rolled her eyes, muttering jeez under her breath. Vera ignored her and pointed at Colleen.

"Badass with a sword."

"Colleen."

Vera wavered. How should she be introducing Claire? Like shortly? "…just badass on her own."

"Claire." She shot Vera an amused smile before returning to her serious mask. Which, okay. This whole thing was far from a laughing matter.

Right. And now the guests. "And, guys, that's— uhm… that's-"

"Arrow," Oliver came to her rescue, solving the dilemma for her. Of course he wouldn't give away his name. It wasn't like Matt in disguise gave away his own either. Which was a little ridiculous, because she was confident Oliver knew Matt's identity. Because of Vera, obviously, which… not the time.

"Right! And…?"

"Arsenal," the other archer offered and Vera sighed in relief, happy they got this over with. Though she wouldn't mind if they stayed here, postponing the inevitable to later – possibly to never.

"Jesus, these names," Jessica complained, sighing too.

"Hey! And what do you do?" Arsenal demanded, curious.

Vera looked at him, slightly embarrassed. Sarcasm was the way to go? Probably. "Me? I just go along and look pretty."

She saw a flash of his teeth from under the hood. "Well, you're doing a great jo-"

Oliver stopped him with a simple gesture, lips tight. "Don't-"

How was it so quiet in here that Vera heard Matt's teeth clicking together?

"Well, I just know all of them. And I attract all the trouble, so you should be safe."

"She's badass too," Claire announced, unimpressed. "Let's get this show on the road. Colleen, you know where to plant it?"

"Yes."

"Good, you're coming with me."

"What?!" Colleen snapped her head to her, incredulous. "No! I'm coming with them. Last time I stayed behind, Danny got drugged and kidnapped!"

"What kind of this shit-storm sound like staying behind?" Jessica questioned, 120% done.

"Colleen, they have superpowers and bows with arrows."

"I have a katana and I'm more than capable of fighting!" Colleen argued with Claire, as stubborn as a mule. Vera understood her, she felt the same. She wasn't leaving Matt either.

"Exactly. Me and Vera? We need your help way more than they do."

"Wait, what?" Vera turned to the nurse as well, shocked. "I'm not coming-"

"-with us," Matt finished. "Vera, please. The only thing I ask for now-"

"No!" she snapped, panic taking over. She was not leaving him, that was not why she had come here!

"I'll have his back, Vera." Vera jumped at the sound of Oliver's mechanical voice. She gaped at him. Well, he caught up fast. She hadn't had the time to tell Felicity about the vision, but apparently, she had sounded desperate enough. "I see my help is needed, but I understand the reason called is personal as well. And I came here for it. I'll look out for him. You have my word."

Well, when he put it like that… if Vera would come down with them, Matt would be more likely to get injured, his focus split, constantly checking up on her, not minding his own surroundings. On contrary, if he would know Vera was safe and would have Oliver by his side…

"O-okay. Alright."

For a second, she wondered how Matt kept his mouth shut when they were talking about him needing a back-up, making it sound as if he was the damsel in distress in this situation. He was, but he didn't know that.

"How the hell did you two meet again?" Claire questioned, watching the green archer from head to toe.

Vera thought for a moment. There was no way to sugar-coat it. Also, her brain was running oh like three pieces of Reese's, she had not enough energy to actually come up with something creative.

"He appeared at my window. I let him in, lent him my phone, told him to take his pants off-"

"What?!" one mechanical voice grunted at the same time like Claire and Luke. "You what?!" "Sweet Christmas."

"That's actually true. She told me to do that," Oliver hummed, slightly amused.

"Jesus, Vera," Matt spluttered and Vera realized how idiotically that sounded out of context.

"It wasn't— come on..."

Jessica couldn't help but comment. "One of them thinks she looks pretty, the other one she saw without pants… lover boy over hereis running around in fetish gear… you're fun."

"Please, this whole group is funny," Vera noted, allowing herself to have one more moment of self-protecting sarcasm.

Jessica made a face that hinted Vera that she had to admit she wasn't exactly wrong, considering.

"Anything we should know?" Arsenal pried. Vera rolled her eyes, explaining.

"I'm with M-Mike. Claire dates Luke. Colleen dates the guy downstairs."

"And she?" he beckoned to Jessica.

"None of your business. But I used to… date him." She shortly beckoned to Luke.

"And we kissed," Claire admitted, pointing at Matt subtly.

Vera couldn't see the archer's face, but she was pretty sure it screamed shock. He was freaked out

Oliver cleared his throat. "So, the plan? I understand you want to split."

"Oh, yeah. The girls here are blowing up this building. You're cool with that, right?" Jessica asked sarcastically while being – sadly – deadly serious.

Oliver spun to her in disbelief. "You what?!"

"It's… complicated. I don't like it at all. None of us likes it much actually. But that's the plan. They go underground to fight ninjas, and we are apparently planting bombs to stop a deadly ancient organization of people who might not be people anymore," Claire explained dryly.

"That's insane."

"It is. We've been over this. Let's go," Colleen cut off the discussion, grabbing the bag.

Vera spent another precious seconds looking at Matt's figure disappearing behind the corner, throat tight, her chest in a vice. This could not be the last time she would see him.

Claire grabbed her hand as the reception got illuminated in blue and red of the police cars lights.

"Come on. We need to move. They take care of each other."

Vera sighed, her throat tight like never. "I hope you're right. I really, really hope you're right."

Claire was holding the blueprints, giving them directions.

"For what it's worth, I have to believe they will take care of each other too," Colleen noted and the three women exchanged sympathetic looks. Well. They all needed to believe, right? Except Vera was the one who had an actual reason to worry.

"Well, they better," Vera huffed, swallowing the hysteria that was climbing up her throat once again.

"And we'll take care of each other," Claire reassured them both. "Now right."

"And do you remember what we talked about at the police station? What you two told me? Maybe you were wrong, maybe you weren't. But I hope you know that me coming with you? It's not because I think you're weak. You might not have the ability to hear heartbeats or throw people across the room, you're not the one making the headlines, but that doesn't make you less of heroes."

They fell into reverential silence, only interrupted by the sound of their footsteps. All things considered, they did make quite a team. Sure, Colleen was an ultimate badass with a sword, who would be able to fight to protect them… but in case she would fail, Claire was here to help with any injury. Vera… well. She was somewhere in the middle, little bit of this and little bit of that; or she hoped so. She could be flexible.

"You're gonna make me blush," Claire joked lightly, earning a short laugh from the other two women.

"Ditto. Though I did make a headline once and let me tell you, it sucks," Vera hummed, remembering the Collins case that seemed to be following her around.

They took two more turns. "I think this should be-"

Light jogging sounded behind them, causing them jump. Colleen shoved the bag to Vera's hand and pulled out her sword, ready to defend – or attack.

And then the red archer appeared, bow and his free hand raised in harmless gesture.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Colleen hissed at him, returning her katana to the case.

"The Arrow sent me," he offered innocently like a good baby archer in training respecting the order of the elders.

Vera glared at him, eyes narrowed. That wasn't right.

"Mike sent you," she corrected him, immediately knowing it was the truth. Anger bubbled in her chest.

"Fine, yes, Mike sent me and the Arrow agreed-"

"They need you more than we do!" Vera exploded, irritated, feeling the icy fingers of fear and nausea rising in her stomach. Again. If these feeling had ever left; she wasn't so sure about that.

"…and the Arrow told me to tell you he would protect Mike with his life," he said slowly, taking few steps closer to her as if he was approaching a wild animal. Which was actually kinda fitting. Vera was furious; it had looked like she had achieved something that might save Matt and now he was raining on her parade. "I had to promise Mike doing the same with you, by the way."

Vera's heart jumped at that. Of course Matt would ask him that. She should have seen it coming; she was much closer to the fire then he would like, it made sense. What was surprising though was that Arsenal had probably promised that and Matt had let him go; which meant the red archer hadn't lied. Which… huh.

Colleen sighed, rolling her eyes, pushing the door open. "Let's go."

They entered the engineering works of some sort, looking around, searching for the main pillars. The bag strings burned in Vera's palm, her stomach rolling over. This was insane. This was-

"Here," Claire pointed them the right direction, the four or them following her instructions immediately; some of them more willingly than the others.

Vera lowered the bag carefully, zipping it open. She thought she might actually puke when seeing the C4 again. She was a bomber. She was a fucking bomber and she was momentarily helping with blowing up the building that was supposed to bury her fiancée. This was not okay. She wasn't okay.

They started planting the explosives on their place; Vera's hands were shaking violently, tears stinging her eyes.

She yelped when someone yanked her arm, pulling her aside; the sound of horror was perfectly muted by a gloved hand attached to a black-red long sleeve covering her mouth.

"Someone's coming," the disguised voice of Arsenal whispered to her ear when they were safely hidden behind one of the pillars.

If Vera didn't just have a small heart attack and the purpose of hiding wasn't to be hidden and quiet, she would thank him. He released her, understanding she wouldn't scream or expose herself. She quickly scanned her surroundings, seeing Claire hiding together with Colleen.

"Colleen," slick voice called out and Vera saw the two other women soundlessly sigh in defeat. Guess they both knew who that was. Vera had no clue. The red archer pulled out an arrow from his quiver. "I will find you..."

Colleen drew out her katana, the action followed by Claire grabbing Colleen's hand and shaking her head violently. Vera made a disapproving gesture too as Colleen met her gaze. Then the former member of the Hand focused on Arsenal, shaking her head as well. Do not engage.

Colleen stepped out from her hideout and Claire had not much of a choice – she let go, hiding as a back-up, her face pissed off.

"No need," Colleen reassured the man. "I'm done hiding."

"Colleen," the man greeted her, sickeningly pleased. Vera eyed Claire, afraid for her new friend, who was gradually erasing the distance between her and the mysterious man. "We meet again. I told you, our fates are aligned."

"Except it isn't fate. I came here to end this."

Vera could feel Arsenal tense behind her, shifting his stance to have better view and proper position to shoot when needed. Vera appreciated it, moving out of his way. She closed her eyes, trying to persuade herself that the guy, whoever he was, was outnumbered without knowing so.

Claire's ringtone cut the silence, making Vera, Arsenal and the woman in question jump twenty feet above the floor. What the actual-

Claire quickly silenced it, but it was too late.

"Did you come here for me?" the man mocked Colleen, wry tone dripping with a threat. "Or did you simply follow? I trained you to believe in yourself and your purpose. It's not too late to come back to us."

Oh god, this guy was so a member of a crazy ninja ancient organization with the way he spoke. Colleen didn't respond at all.

Until she did, lunging at the man with her katana.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I'm cheating with the crossovers again. Sorry. You can re-read Vera-Oliver meeting in the fic 'Keep On Hoping' (set during Matt's time away with Stick in 'Damned If I Don't').