September 8th

The Foundry, Starling City 18:01 PM PST

As they walked into the Foundry, he heard the familiar sound of the salmon ladder bar and rungs clanging together. Roy was training, and he had been training very hard over the past several months, Oliver wanted to tell the young man he was proud of him but he hadn't reached that level of brotherhood with him just yet. Roy was swinging to gain momentum, he'd made it passed four rungs, as he tried for the fifth the bar missed and he fell onto the concrete with a groan and a thump.

"Roy!" Felicity's heels clacked as she hurried to the young man on the floor, "are you ok?"

He stood and rubbed his shoulder, nodding.

"One day buddy," said Oliver with an amused smile. Roy was excelling in his training; this version of him was far more skilled and focused than the mirakuru-induced version.

He still needed to perfect his aim and parkour manoeuvres, but his street savvy knowledge was an asset in itself and had helped them on several occasions. Oliver found himself enjoying the company of the younger archer during their missions. They'd established a rhythm he was pleased with. The topic of 'Thea' however, was off-limits between the hero and his young apprentice. Roy had no clue of the rampage he'd gone on during his drugged phase, and Oliver was reluctant to break it to him.

They heard a squeal, turning they saw Felicity balancing herself on the computer desk as if she had nearly fallen, and then picking up a forgotten tennis ball off the floor.

"Oops sorry, must have missed that one," said Roy with a sheepish look and retrieved it from her hand.

"Yeah, you missed a few," she grumbled finding another two beside the computer tower. "I appreciate that you're using your free time to train, which apparently you have a lot of," Felicity added with a hint of disdain, "but please keep your toys away from my computers, just keep everything over there and we won't have an issue, got it?" She scolded, pointing to the training space.

Oliver could sense the frustration beneath her reasonable tone. The IT girl worked with the outmost efficiency and had put a large amount of effort into maintaining and upgrading the Foundry's system, some of it which she had done with her own money. To have it littered with tennis balls annoyed her beyond sense, but it was understandable.

Roy held his hands up, "Sorry mum," he snarked and Felicity narrowed her eyes at him.

Before this could boil into an argument, he stepped towards her chair keeping his tone friendly, "Moving on. What do you have for us, Felicity?"

"You weren't going to start without me were you?" A voice they all knew well said from behind them. Diggle strolled into the lair with a bright smile on his face. The team had not seen him in a fortnight as he spent quality time with Lyla in preparation for their baby.

"Diggle!" Felicity exclaimed, giving him a quick hug clearly ecstatic to see him.

"I was worried these two would tear one another apart without me," he joked, gesturing between Felicity and Roy.

Feigning nonchalance, Felicity shrugged, "Us two? Nope not at all, nothing to worry about".

"It's good to have you back, Digg," said Oliver, truly glad to see his friend, though a pang of guilt hit him as he realized what he had to discuss with the soldier after tonight's mission was complete.

"Check this out," John turned on the news, the crime rate in the city was the lowest it had ever been in two decades. "Crime is close to zero in the city. Soon, there are only gonna be two types of criminals left, the ones we put away and the ones that are running scared."

"We're getting there, some are still hiding," said Oliver.

"So who're we crossing off the List tonight?" John asked, rubbing his hands together, looking forward to the adventure.

Their attention was focused on Felicity as she pulled up the information for the briefing. "Partners Matthew Flint and Vern Skinner, owners of the Wildcat Boxing Ring. Ted Grant's the local heavy-weight boxing champion there".

An image of a silver stadium lit in blue lighting appeared on the larger monitor, a wildcat logo growling above the main entrance. The name Ted Grant in particular was familiar to Oliver.

"The Ted Grant?" He burst out like an excited child, surprising his team and himself. "I'll never forget his first pro-match". How could he? It was one of the fondest memories he'd had with his father. "He struck his opponent out in under a minute! If anyone can solve a problem with their fists it's definitely this guy. Le-gend," he enunciated, pumping his fist in the air.

Felicity glanced at him with a bemused smile, "I've never seen you fan boy about another man before." She caught his eye for a second, before gesturing back to the monitors.

"Anyway, so after surveillance and a few recon missions, I found this."

They studied the video reel and caught what she had discovered; guns, lots of them being loaded onto a truck from an obscured backdoor entrance of the stadium.

"They're using the stadium as a front for illegal arms dealing," deduced Diggle.

"Another fishy piece of information," she clicked another tab which opened a police report and a news story. "Grant's mentor Ellis Smith aka 'the Socker' was murdered two days ago in his home. the M.E.'s report says it was poison, one of the prime suspects is Grant himself."

Oliver found this too much of a coincidence; Flint and Skinner's handiwork was definitely all over this. But then something else Felicity said caught his attention.

"Wait… we never went on recon missions to Wildcat Stadium," he frowned at her.

She gave a casual shrug, "I took the initiative".

"Felicity!"

Both Roy and Diggle were snickering at his loud reprimand, neither one was as shocked as he was that she had conducted research without their knowledge. He wasn't annoyed that she had taken initiative; he had just assumed she had gone over to the Boxing ring and spied on them herself, putting herself in danger, and he couldn't allow that. She quickly disproved this.

The IT girl waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't worry Oliver, it was unsurprisingly easy to spy on them," she said, almost bored. "I just 'borrowed' NSA satellite footage, compiled data from street cameras and hacked into Skinner's phone records, easy-peasy." Unable to argue with any part of her sentence he stayed quiet.

"All you guys have to do is take the muscle over there and stop Flint and Skinner."

Oh we're just the muscle now are we? He wanted to tease, but then Diggle read out a news alert on his phone.

"I think that's going to be a problem, the stadium's going to be full tonight. Ted Grant's final boxing match, before he retires for good."

"Then we'll need to be very quiet," he said flatly.

"Alright. Diggle, Roy; search the Stadium's storage and facilities for the weapons. I'll interrogate Flint and Skinner and find out if they had anything to do with Ellis Smith's murder."

With a plan in motion the team started getting ready.

Mentor and apprentice were changing side by side. Roy was putting his red mask over his eyes. Oliver noticed the rack of untouched flechettes in Roy's bag. "Aren't you going to bring these?" He asked.

Roy shook his head, "Where am I going to put them?"

He frowned in mild surprise, the answer was easy; "In your quiver of course," he zipped his jacket up. "As an archer you should consider it an advantage to literally carry a bag around, leaves the rest of the body free so we can turn side to side and aim with fluidity. The enemy can come out from anywhere, and these could come in handy." Oliver handed the flechettes to Roy.

"I haven't practiced throwing them," said the younger archer, doubtfully placing them in his red quiver.

"I remember when you used one to stop Joseph Falk from killing you, you just have to aim," he advised. That was my first encounter with Roy, he realized with a touch of pride, look where he is now.

Oliver breathed out and flexed his fingers in their leather gloves. He needed to relax his muscles for the same reason as he'd told his apprentice, to 'aim with fluidity'. He directed the surge of adrenaline within him to calm and focus himself. Only when he felt the tension leave his shoulders did he know they were ready.

Together they strapped their quivers over their shoulders and then their bows. The synchronization was uncanny. Flint and Skinner had no idea what force was coming to them.

Emerging from the back he found himself looking at Felicity across the room. She was magnetizing and it was not the first time he'd ever felt drawn to her. He would have liked to say it was merely because he cared deeply for her, and that was true for every member of his team. But there was something about Smoak, she was both invigorating and distracting, and he couldn't help it, ever since they put Slade on the island…

Felicity turned in her chair and caught him staring, then stood and approached him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So are you going to put the fear of God into Grant's sinister managers or just ask them if they killed Ellis Smith?" But she already knew the answer.

Oliver gave her a wicked smile, "I'll ask nicely."

She chuckled and smiled softly, then looked at her shoes as if she was contemplating something. Reaching out she clasped his forearm. "This probably goes without saying, since I've been saying it a lot but—be careful."

He put his hands over hers and squeezed it gently, he shouldn't make any false promises, especially in this business, but she needed to hear it, and he would do that for her.

"I will."

Glancing at his other teammates lingering, he swiftly retreated from her and retrieved his comm device off the table. It was time to go.

Wildcat Boxing Stadium, Starling City 19:22 PM PDT

"Ladies and Gentleman! Good Evening and welcome to the Wildcat Boxing Ring! Tonight is the night where two rivals fight to prove who the real champion is!" The commentator announced from the centre of the ring, the spectators roared and gave a thunderous applause.

From the front row seats to the nose bleed section, the stadium was packed. Felicity could practically see the adrenaline and anticipation radiating off of them from her screens. She could feel some of it in her too.

"On your left, all the way from Keystone City, it's Luke 'The Lion' Atterson!" The commentator held out his left hand to one corner of the ring. The aforementioned boxer thrust his gloved fist in the air, inciting an enthusiastic fan base to scream and cheer, holding up posters of their favourite boxer.

"And on your right, Starling's very own, three time heavy-weight boxing champion, it's Ted 'The Wildcat' Grant!"

Wildcat threw his gloved hands up, the crowd went wild, and from the numerous purple and white Wildcat paraphernalia present, it was obvious his fans occupied most of the seats. Felicity wondered if Oliver would have attended the legendary boxer's final match if he wasn't currently busy being the Arrow.

"The match is starting soon," she told them over the comms. Their communication system had been upgraded with the addition of Roy to the team. She could switch between the three men, or speak to at least two of them when it was required, and so could they.

...

"Where should I go?" Roy asked as he drove on his motorbike down Jefferson Avenue.

In the beginning his costume had made squeaky noises and was uncomfortable to move in, but now it might as well be second skin. He mind and body was in the zone and he really didn't want to mess up. Half because he wanted to show Oliver that his vigilante skills were improving, and half for himself. He had come far since Slade's attack on the city and…Thea. He was so engrossed in being a hero that it was hard to imagine his life outside of the costume, and remembering life before Thea was even harder because it was nothing he ever wished to return too.

Some days it was easy to delve into training and forget her, wherever she was in Europe back-packing… but other days, it was as painful as taking an arrow to the knee.

"Take a left at Jefferson Avenue, there should be an enclosure of trees fenced off from the street," Felicity instructed and he snapped back to the mission.

"Is it guarded?" He inquired, parking in a nondescript corner. He could see the enclosure and Digg's van nearby.

Diggle answered, he had arrived before Oliver or Roy for surveillance, "affirmative, two guards. Hold up, there's a truck coming to the garage door, wanna bet it's carrying over a hundred AK-47 rifles?"

"That's a bet anyone would lose," said Roy.

"How do we know these guards are in on the arm's dealing? They could just be stadium security," Diggle wanted to know.

Oliver appeared over the comms, "we don't, just do what's necessary."

...

He parked his bike in an unobtrusive corner across the parking lot, Felicity reporting in his ear. "Oliver, the offices are on the third level, only Flint's inside there thoug., I have eyes on Skinner he's watching the match from the bleachers."

"Anyway we can get him away from the match? I'd like to hit two birds with one stone if possible," he asked running towards the stadium.

The IT girl had to correct him, "in your case an arrow, but whatever you want. I'll send a message to Skinner's phone."

He opened the side door. "I'm in the building", Oliver nocked an arrow and readied it. Felicity checked the cameras; currently the hallways were empty of threats she informed, he lowered his bow.

"There should be a fire staircase, third door on your left. I've tricked Skinner to go to the training facilities below ground."

Then Diggle entered their conversation, "Oliver they're setting up a trade right now."

"Stop it Digg! Roy get Flint, I've got Skinner."

The training facilities were dimly lit but he was trained to move in the pitch black. He padded stealthily amongst exercise equipment towards the basement window that let in pale blue light. The sound of running footsteps outside made him move faster, he stayed in the shadows, waiting.

...

Vern Skinner was puffing and sweating having run from his seat in the ring all the way down to the gym. He spun around looking for Flint in the darkness to demand what the hell was going on that he had to exert himself so strenuously.

"Flint, where the hell are you?" He flicked the light switch on. The sound of glass shattering made him spin as the gym fell back into darkness.

"What the—"

And into the slate of light, the Arrow stepped forward.

"Vern Skinner, you have failed this city!" He intoned, God-like.

Vern's mouth emitted something that sounded like a mouse squeaking. Fumbling for the walkie-talkie in his suit pocket he made a run for it as the Arrow leapt from his ledge gracefully.

"Shit! Warren! It's the Arrow, it's—he's here you morons! Get—GAHH!"

The walkie-talkie that was in his hand a moment ago was now pinned by an arrow to the wall. Cautiously he turned, squeezing his eyes shut, and held his hands up in surrender.

...

"I know about the weapons Vern, and it ends tonight, call off the deal!" The Arrow demanded.

Vern stumbled on his words, until he finally managed, "I-I can't—"

"Oh really?" Oliver taunted and loosed two arrows at the manager's feet making Skinner perform a little dance for him.

"Flint's in charge of that, I never wanted anything to do with—"

"Betraying your partner already? I have a feeling you killed Ellis Smith!"

"Ellis Smith?" Vern asked, confused, fear making him forgetful, but then he remembered.

"He found out what you were doing and you killed him, with poison!" The Arrow had found it effective to attack his targets with direct and incriminating questions.

Vern shook his head adamantly, "It wasn't, we—"

Again, it was Diggle who talked over the comms to all of them, "Oliver, we've got a problem, the cops are here. Get out now!"

Only Felicity could tell them exactly why the cops were here, "The police are swarming the ring, and they're arresting Ted Grant!"

The Arrow stepped closer to Vern, as it was with most of the names of the List, he found himself truly enraged by their nefarious actions. "You framed Ted Grant for the murder of Ellis Smith!" He smacked Skinner across the face with his bow, only hard enough to make the manager fall to his knees.

It was enough that Vern confessed, "Smith knew! But I didn't want him to die! We misjudged the potency of the poison, and Ted, he found out, we had to—"

"Transfer the deed for the Stadium to Ted Grant, and confess to the murder of Smith, stop dealing weapons and you won't have to get a second visit from me, deal?" He said with menacing tones whilst pointing an arrow in Vern's face, his arms flew up to protect himself. Seeing that the mission was successful, his ear caught the cry of police sirens. It was time he left.

"D-Deal," mumbled Vern, but the Arrow was gone.

...

Oliver clambered up the stair case taking three steps at a time to get the ground floor. He regretted having spent too much time with Skinner. He froze when Felicity shouted; "Not up the stairs! The whole perimeter is packed with cops!"

He cursed, "I'm stuck in the stair well."

Her eyes scanned for another safe exit on the cameras, but unfortunately there wasn't one, unless…

"There's always the—"

"—Window, got it," he finished, retreating a few steps to get a running start. He sprinted and covered his upper body and face with his arms just as he crashed into the glass, there was a weightless sensation that ended quickly as he landed lightly on his feet.

Broken glass was still raining on him when Oliver heard gunfire.