Part 5

"Oliver: we've got trouble!"

More trouble? Was that even possible at this point?

Feeling somewhat out of sorts, injured, bleeding and so very relieved Oliver and his family were - if not safe – fine. She glanced sideways at said women and felt sympathy curl in her gut when she caught Thea in Moira's arms. They were swaying. She was pretty sure they'd been staring at both her and Oliver before Diggle had arrived but too much was happening to give that much thought. For now the threat of death had seemed to take some of the fight out of them. Understandable really…

Diggle proved that you could take the man out of the bodyguard but you couldn't take the bodyguard out of the man. After practically bulldozing out the back door of their black van and declaring to Oliver that 'bad' was soon going to become 'worse', the first thing he'd made sure to do was secure his charges. The charges he'd made his own with unconscious affirmation from Oliver.

Your brother's family were your own after all.

"Mrs Queen, Miss Queen," he announced, already moving both women swiftly forwards with his hands on their upper backs. "We need to move."

Oh God. Hands clenched inside her hoodie's long sleeves Felicity caught Dig's eye. "What's going on?" Glancing from her to Oliver, who didn't need to ask any questions since the look on his face was all the question Diggle needed to speak up.

Being very un-Diggle-like he gave off an air of anxiety as he nodded towards Slade's immobile form, immediately stating. "He's not alone." Tone tight, the white of his eyes looked too bright in the darkness about them. "I was ambushed on the way here. Luckily the men he's recruited don't know shit about splintering their marks." Ushering the Queen women away he led them to the back of the vehicle. "I managed to veer them off course but for how long that lasts…" He shook his head, a whole world of meaning conveyed in a single look as he glanced back at the pair of them. Though the thought was left hanging by a thread the sentence didn't need finishing.

"You two okay?"

She bit her lip, barely hearing him.

Slade's men… Where they Mirakuru enhanced? Watching as Dig was distracted by the Queen women - he tried to seat Moira down with a belt deftly attached across her stomach - Felicity's mind ran an imaginative scenario. If Dig managed to steer them away from us by, God forbid, crashing or reverse flipping their cars it still would only buy us a few minutes. What if they attack when we're on the road? All of us crammed into a single van? We'll be target practice…

"Oliver?" It was Thea's voice, looking over John's shoulder, pale faced and intimidated. Her hand was reaching out to her brother who stood approximately 20 metres away. She wanted him near, wanted her family – what was left of them - together. Moira didn't look any better; both were refusing to be pushed fully into the vehicle without him.

Eyes flickering towards him Felicity saw the archer already nodding, giving them a reassuring glance before stepping into her personal space and reaching for her. Both his hands found places to park: her waistline and her forearm, securing her against him. She stumbled; blearing at him questionably. "O-Oliver?"

He moved forwards, forcing her to walk with him in short, quick strides. "We're going." His grip, steady but gentle, moved to curve round her hip and wrist, almost carrying her. His eyes flickered to hers. "Now."

She could practically feel the tension coming off him in waves. "I'm fine." Well, she wasn't really but in the long scheme of things it wasn't all that bad…

"Don't argue with me on this one Felicity." It was a growl of authority, one laced in worry.

Squashing the urge to eye roll at the man – sure, she'd been slashed by a madman but 'Ever the Hypocrite Oliver' had been through much worse himself - she allowed - yep; 'allowed', I should get that crochet on his leather pants or something - him to pull her along. She also tried not to focus on the warmth from his hands seeping through the material of her sweater onto her abnormally chilly skin…

Because it made her realize she was beyond freezing.

This is bad isn't it? Her body temperature had plummeted. It isn't good, that's for sure.

And he must have felt it too for, even at their pace, he managed to move in closer to her as if to provide body heat through sheer force of will alone. The intrusion of this peace of perfection however came in the shape, or rather sound of her mobile phone going off on its usual bender.

Behind her.

Both of them froze. "I must have dropped it." She muttered, knowing she couldn't leave it here with the enemy and attempted to turn and retrieve it-

-He was too fast. A hand now sliding to her stomach he tugged her gently back into him so that her butt was pressing against the top of his very firm thigh – Felicity, stop it! 'Sword wounds' did things to her apparently. "Felicity." She could already hear the 'we don't have time' spoken in his 'grr' voice.

She rotated her wrist against his hold, letting him know that, no matter her condition- this was her choice. "Go on, I'll be right behind you." She really wanted her phone. It was like seeing Oliver without his bow. Which she just had come to think of it. Oliver firing a pistol had not been on the top-five-things-to-see-before-I-die list but it had been pretty-

The whisper thin brush of his fingers as they slipped down her wrist to entangle with hers halted her thoughts that were being streamed by the dozen. "I'm coming with you."

"Oliver." It was Diggle. And behind him was Moira struggling with her seatbelt as Thea tried to exit the van once again in an effort to be closer to her brother.

The look on Oliver's face was voice enough: lips stretched thin and pressed together, his eyes were the selling point. They looked so torn, split between helping her and making his family secure, so blue and filled with that genuine care and consideration he held for the human race regardless of what said race had put him through in years previous. It was the main reason that Felicity automatically trusted him that first time he asked for her help.

He really was a good man.

Lifting her free arm she placed her hand on his bicep, lightly pressing. "I'll be fine. They need you right now."

His head and gaze snapped to hers. "More than you?"

The words made her swallow… because in all honestly what she wanted from him right now he couldn't give. And she had no right in asking for it. So she didn't.

"If you can honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you're fine right now…" His tone visceral but also quiet and soft, made her blink. Made her mouth slowly open. Oh. But she found herself nodding anyway, yes flickering towards his ever present family and back again.

"Yes." She was fine. Indicating towards the hand grasping hers he got the point and let out a deep breath.

"You have a minute Felicity."

He let her go.

She was already moving away, back towards the shrill sound of her mobile as it once again began to till. "I'm coming, I'm coming…" Note to self; stop talking to inanimate objects when surrounded by living, breathing people.

The trek back – not that that it was much of one – felt much longer.

By the time she finally reached the place she realised, feeling like the dumb blonde in the truest sense, that the phone ringing wasn't her own. Checking the ground, her hands automatically began to pat herself down before closing her eyes when the solid presence of her cell was felt in her left pocket.

Blame it on the blood loss, the threat of death, Slade Wilson, Oliver hugs, Slade Wilson…

Slade Wilson.

The sound of the phone ringing started again.

Frowning Felicity opened her eyes and turned to stare at said man's unconscious form.

Where a tiny bluish light could be seen from his open coat pocket where a mobile seemed to have fallen out onto his chest.

You have got to be kidding me.

Ignoring the creepy sensation of her cell and his had the same ringtone she moved towards him, slowly, carefully, feeling that something was suddenly so very off. Glimpsing Oliver in the background she found he had his hands full – literally – with Moira, who was telling him something and Digg had disappeared into the front of the van.

It would be stupid wouldn't it? To walk over there and search the bad guy's pockets? But it would take just a moment and… whoever was ringing him might give them a clue as to the man's endgame. Other than to cause Oliver a lifetime of misery that is. How nice of him. It made a very non-violent person like Felicity want to kick the man in the crotch.

I'll do it – not kick him in the crotch - I'll just go over there, it'll take maybe three seconds to see who's calling him and then make my way back to Oliver. With as many times as he'd been shot, plus drugged, she couldn't see how Slade would be conscious or capable of any movement besides speech. Remembering how Oliver had put half a dozen rounds in the man she knew that Slade, being a Mirakuru monster, could have easily withstood such few bullets. He had been barely moving earlier. Maybe the drug hadn't left his system after all.

Maybe. Hopefully.

Too late; she was already there.

Swallowing she let herself look the man over, covered in blood as he was he still cut an intimidating figure. But he was still unconscious so she took a breath and knelt down next to him.

"Be a good bad guy and stay asleep." She reached for the glowing receiver and immediately saw a picture of Isabel in all her sharp toothed glory flashing across the screen. She cut it off with a swipe of her thumb and twisted to shout out to the group that they may have a further problem.

Which meant she didn't see it coming.

Having the wind knocked out of your stomach? It really was a different kind of pain to evaluate.

The force of it made her abdominal muscles spasm, made her lungs expand to far too fast from the shock, made everything inside her halt for a moment, made her shake and mouth fall open as an odd, quiet strangled noise croaked from her gullet. Her eyes slammed closed for a significant second before flickering wide open and fearful to glance down…

Slade's fist was embedded against her belly.

"Let's see how the kid deals with this."

It was like another slap to the face.

Said so cruelly, those words, however confusing, dealt in that rough tone and the depth of the soldier's manic obsession with making Oliver and every blade of grass associated with him pay for his extreme loss, had Felicity slowly raising her gaze to his. Trembling she watched his brown eyes and found every example of humanity to be had within those depths. Too bad they were all undesirable facets of a whole she never wanted to see again.

Her middle throbbed, her back screamed with pain every time she tried to lift her arms above her chest line, her cheek pounded and she wanted to go home. She looked every bit the wrangled mess Slade probably saw her as. But that just meant he didn't see the final arrow in her hand coming until the needle was lodged deep into the arm he'd launched at her.

He jerked, teeth clenched tight. Blinking hard and fast he still managed to smile a wicked slate of pure malice that had her tremors upscale to shivers. Foreboding. "The night's… just beginning love." His words were slurred. "I… have friends too."

Then he yanked his arm back causing her a moment of sharp pain that surprised her as he finally rolled over and fell back into unconsciousness. Hopefully this time he'd stay there a while.

I… have friends too.

Stumbling backwards she stood, still staring down at the madman. Her mind started working at a million miles per hour, her heart racing.

Isabel's face on his mobile. 'I was ambushed on the way here'. More men, maybe more vehicles, possibly infected with Mirakuru. Oliver was bleeding, wounded. Knowing that he was a power house, as lethal as they come didn't change that fact. Digg would be driving, Thea crying, Moira… completely unhelpful.

She blinked. Once. Twice.

Right…

And without thinking – again – about how insane she was obviously becoming she made a mad dash for the back of their van. With Oliver now over the threshold, well within the interior, his hands securing a calming Thea into the seat beside her mother he was easily too far inside to stop her.

Watching him with every bobbing step in her sprint she bit her lip, wishing by sheer force of will that he didn't turn around.

If wishes were horses.

Catching his brief, reassuring smile to his kid sister he turned – oh good – ever so slightly as Felicity neared and those eyes, flickering towards her and narrowing in confusion almost made her stop. Mouth opening she saw him about to speak as that slow, serious frown of his began to work its way between his brows. Instinctively he knew that something was wrong.

He always does with me. Barely decelerating, she reached the set of black doors, almost flattening herself against them as he began to straighten, standing, the index finger and thumb of his right hand coming together. A shiver of apprehension flew through her the moment he took a step forward. "Felicity-"

Shoulder flaring, her hands slapped against metal and then she was gripping each handle, pulling back against them.

"No…" Again he knew, his head moving from side to side and shock delaying him for a moment before he abruptly dived forwards, towards her, knee be damned, reaching to push against the doors. Her eyes briefly caught his. "NO-"

-She slammed the doors closed in his face, twisting the lock of the handle latch.

"No!" Flinching at the pounding coming from inside as Oliver beat against the barrier she tripped backwards. "Felicity!" She forced herself to ignore his shout - I'm sorry - to leave, already running again down the length of the vehicle.

"Felicity, don't!"

Sprinting past the driver's seat she whammed her shoulder into Dig's window. Beyond the partition he'd twisted around, facing the inside, reacting to Oliver's shouts but whipped back at the sound of her elbow hitting the windshield. He frowned and she shouted to him, wide eyed, sending him a clear message. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

Hand trying to release the lock mechanism his expression turned from puzzlement to worry. "What-"

Her finger tapping against the glass stopped him and she pointed beyond him, watching as he reflexively looked in that direction before she was sprinting away again - this time the way she'd arrived, through the tall grass.

Diggle had about three seconds to register that the glare of car lights through the openings of green, the roar of a harassed engine being forced to wade a car the size of a small truck through a couple of hundred metres of bushes and grassland before his mind started working and his foot crashed down on the accelerator, literally burning rubber.

"No, Digg!" Behind him Oliver's voice was so very far from stable and the frightened cries from his mother and sister were only adding to the strain. "Felicity's still outside!"

Teeth clenched together Dig swerved, avoiding the other car by inches as it trampled its way through the shrubbery. He heard Oliver crash not so gracefully into the side of the compartment. "Sorry man; no can do."

"DIG!"

"I can't Oliver!" He threw over his shoulder, gripping the steering wheel like his tether to sanity. "She's already gone!"

"Go back for her!" The command came from about a foot behind him and Dig knew he had about two seconds before the man took the wheel by force.

Dammit. Again he ran the wheel, moving their van away from green-land and dirt road and back onto tarmac. "Listen-"

Before he could speak another word Oliver's palm crashed into the dashboard, his other hand wrenching back on Dig's shoulder. "OLIVER LISTEN; SHE'S-" In his peripheral he saw something that made him thank God for his or her timely interventions. "She's already at her car!"

Intense, livid and confused (not a great combination for a fire starter such as Oliver) blue irises focused on deep brown. "What?"

Keeping eye contact with the man whilst employing his crazy driving skills was more difficult than he made it look. He didn't need Oliver blowing like a canon. "There!" Dig pointed out the side window to about fifty metres ahead of them, to their right where Felicity's tiny car went pelting down the roadway and praying, for the love of God, that Oliver would just take a breath of calm. "See? She's fine man. It's okay…"

The man was panting, staring in anxious bafflement at the steadily accelerating vehicle. "What is she doing?" And oh, by the look on his face it's obvious the Arrow wasn't a happy camper."Why did she split from us?!"

"I think she's trying to break them off." Dig was reaching, he knew it. "Splinter. You know, multiple targets being more dangerous to go after? Since they obviously don't know anything about how to do that…"

"I didn't realise a red mini posed such a threat." It was a snarl, a croak of something Diggle hadn't expected to hear from his friend, comrade, and brother.

Oliver was afraid.

But it wasn't fear for himself.

John cleared his throat. "I think she knew." With a jerk Oliver ripped his gaze from the road back to Dig's. "I think she knew that something was going to happen."

"But how…" It lasted maybe two seconds but those two cold moments of realisation transformed his face from pained bafflement to fearful comprehension. His eyes watered not with fear or sadness, but with trembling rage.

Eyes flickering to Oliver, to the rear-view mirror, to the side window in an endless cycle Dig spoke. "What is it man?"

It was explained in a solitary word. "Slade."

"What are you talking about? He was unconscious!"

"I don't know! But it wouldn't be the first time he's deceived people like that." The older man had moved so slowly before, still being drugged, and if Oliver hadn't been injured, what happened after that… wouldn't have. Gritting his teeth Oliver opened his mouth to continue when he saw, since his eyes hadn't once left the progression of the mini, another car; this one black as well, roll out of nowhere up ahead.

It sped up, veering right, directly into the path of the red mini.

Apprehension stirred in his gut and he was one second from forcing the side door open and shooting iron into the enemy vehicle. "Dig, speed up-"

Before he could finish the black car crashed side on into Felicity's, both cars derailing to opposite sides of the road.

There were no words from him. No sound. It was as if someone had forced a fist down his oesophagus to pull at the muscles in his chest: they contracted so forcefully it actually hurt, cutting off the flow of air. There was a moment, such a small moment were time seemed to slow and he watched, his eyes raging at the sight, fascinated and terrified as Felicity's car skidded, still in motion, across to the other side of the road and the other car-

"Well I'll be damned…" John's hoarse voice muttered as they both watched the black car be defeated by its own momentum. It almost twirled, eventually flipping sideways, screeching off the tarmac and onto dirt path into a nest of heavy shrubbery.

Oliver stared, wide eyed, deep fear and shock keeping him frozen in time. It wasn't supposed to be like this. For it to be Felicity… But her car simply continued down the road, albeit a little wobbly. He could hear the beat of his heart thudding in his head, the flow of blood thundering in his ears making sound impossible to discern.

…Not even the tell-tale shudder and pull of the van moving much too fast as it manoeuvred away from the gunfire he could now hear echoing around them from outside could break the white noise in his brain.

Felicity…

Diggle was shouting. "Hold on!" Taking his foot off the acceleration he forced the van backwards, shooting a path directly parallel to the second vehicle in hot pursuit of them.

But as usual there were only two people on the planet that could make or break Oliver Queen.

"Mom!"

Blinking back to himself, Thea's voice behind him forced Oliver into action.

His hand grabbed at Dig's sidearm, "hey, what are you-" and before Dig could finish Oliver forced the left side door of the van to slide open, wind whipping against his face as they sped past the enemy.

"Oliver!"

It wasn't the best time to be distracted by his mother so Oliver simply allowed his body to fall sideways, catching his weight with his right arm so that half of him leaned outwards into the night.

With his left arm he raised the pistol.

"It's alright Mrs Queen…" He heard Dig say, perhaps calming his mother or his sister who were probably attempting to reach him.

He sighted down the barrel…

"He's done this before."

And pulled the trigger twice.

CRACK, CRACK!

Each bullet tore a hole into the back tyres sending the black vehicle into a skidding, sliding death ride.

Quickly pulling himself back inside he gritted his teeth, feeling every inch of the car crash from earlier score fire through his ribs. Heaving a breath he slid the door home and his eyes caught sight of his mother and sister, both holding hands, watching him with expressions filled with astonishment. With fear. He closed his eyes, his hands pressing himself away from the door and his family until he reached Diggle again.

"You got them." The man stated before Oliver could ask. "They won't be moving any time soon."

"Not unless they decide tonight's the night to give chase." It was a morose thought but he knew that if Slade decided to, he and his family wouldn't last the night.

Not like this.

The speed meter progressed. "Depends on what he was after in the first place."

Blue eyes flickered away. To turn my life into a shell of what it is, after trying so hard to rebuild some form life for myself? To gift me with misery, to take away the people I hold most dear? Those I love the most, to make it so that when my time finally comes that I'll be begging for death… only for him to not grant me one?

Before he could stop himself his hand was inside Dig's jacket pocket, pulling out his friend's phone.

He couldn't help it.

"Hey man, what are you doing?"

Oliver's voice was hoarse, unspent emotion turned against him as he pressed buttons. "Calling Felicity."

"While she's driving?"

He didn't answer, choosing instead to simply press the cell to his ear, his eyes riveted to her small car ahead of them.

When she didn't immediately pick up he pressed his lips together to hold in the agitated whine building up in his throat, nails and fingers digging into Dig's headrest, leg jigging on the spot anxiously. Five seconds in he was two away from jumping cars, screw his injuries, when the line clicked and he heard her voice.

"Dig?"

It was a rasp of fear, of pain, soft in tone and he could hear the relief there as well.

A lance of something painful shot through his chest. "It's Oliver."

"Oh… Hey you."

Hey you. Different. And there was something about it which had him swallowing. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine. Well, all things considered…"

She sounded like she was in pain. "Felicity."

"Oliver, really I'm-"

"If you say 'I'm fine' again I won't be." Felicity in pain wasn't something he could deal with like a sane person.

There was a momentary pause. "Okay then, I won't."

"Good." He could practically see her huff and gritted his teeth. "Now pull the car around and get in the van."

"Er, Oliver the van is in motion, besides I'm fine right here."

"Felicity, you were just in a car crash. Usually people get the police involved or an ambulance-"

"I wouldn't exactly say that today is a normal day…"

"Felicity!"

"Oliver-ah!-" Her gasp hissed down the line and he felt like throwing up. "Oh." It sounded as if she'd moved the wrong joint at the wrong time.

"You're not alright." In his peripheral he glimpsed Dig shoot him a look of concern. "Just turn around, we'll take care of the rest."

He heard her take a shallow, hitched breath. "The car barely grazed me. I mean sure, my arm hurts a little but that's pretty light compared to what could have happened."

Teeth set, lips pressed tight, he nodded - not out of agreement, no, but disconcertedly, regardless of the fact that she couldn't see it. "You're not helping."

She continued onwards as if he hadn't said a word. "Besides it isn't the best idea to have all of us in the same place."

"Are you trying to make yourself a target? Was that your plan?"

"What? No! God no, I have no plan really: completely plan-less. I just thought having more than one target would make it easier for you to handle them. And er…" Her swallow was loud enough to hear down the line. "Okay, is there any way I can say this without you blowing it all out of proportion?" Her mutterings quickly turned to ponderings. "Though you'd probably have every right? Of course you wouldn't, why would I even think such a thing? I should just-"

Every word she spoke made increased the dread still swirling inside him. "Felicity!" Her reply was lightning quick.

"I just got off the phone with Slade."

It was like a bomb just went off inside his skull. "What? What happened?!" Why her?

"Actually nothing happened." As if she could sense his scepticism she continued at speed again. "Really, he just said 'I'm calling a ceasefire; you get three days, no one else will come after you' and then he hung up."

"Why was he calling you?"

"Maybe because he destroyed your cell?"

Or maybe it was a reminder that Slade was everywhere, could go anywhere and he'd powerless to stop him. His fingers pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't like this."

"I don't think we're supposed to." Yes, she sounded shaky and tired and afraid; they were the undercurrents to the bravery in her voice. His eyes closed. "Are you alright?" She asked quietly after a long moment.

"No." He replied; the volunteering of the honest response shocking her if her silence was anything to go by. "I need to get a foothold here." So he grasped at something tangible, something he could change, could make better. "And I'll feel better once I get a better look at your injuries."

"…Okay. Just make sure your mom's alright, and Thea-"

"I need you to be safe."

It just slipped out. Why?

"Oliver I will be." Despite everything there was a smile in her voice and something in her tone… a fondness. "I'll be with you."

With me.

It took him one second to decide. "Meet us at the mansion."

Getting off the phone – but not returning it – Oliver remained standing behind Dig. He took in a breath, let it out.

Dig?"

"Yeah man?"

"Did you know Felicity could use a crossbow?

He blinked, arched a brow. "Crossbow? She used a crossbow?"

Oliver nodded to himself. "Never mind."