"Come on, Felicity!" he growled. "Don't give up on me now. Do not die! I don't give you permission." Pushing down harder, it was all that he could do to staunch the bleeding. He counted to ten, his fingers on her pulse point in her neck. It was there, but so very feint that his eyes closed in cold, frozen fear of what on earth he was supposed to do next. It should have been simpler than this. It had not been a simple mission, but it should not have been like this. She should not have got shot and they should not…

Shaking his head, he slapped her gently and yet firmly on the face. "Wake up!" She mumbled something incoherent. "Stop dreaming, Felicity and wake up!" he ordered. Whether conscious or unconscious, Felicity chose when to follow orders. She was choosing to not follow them today. "You should have stayed in the lair." His voice was a whisper as he shook his head in regret. He never should have allowed them to bring her, but he had needed her.

He always needed something from her.

Right now that need was for her to stop bleeding, keep breathing and wake up. She was the only one who could get them out, but he had stopped caring about getting himself out the moment she had fallen, her blood seeping out everywhere.

Her breathing slowed again. He slapped her again and her eyes flickered open briefly. "Oliver?" she whispered with a smile before randomly adding, "Chime."

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Screeching the car to a stop, Roy and Felicity got out quickly; Roy left the keys in the ignition for their escape. He hurried her over to where Sara was hiding, near to the entrance to the mansion of a mobster, drug dealer, pimp that Felicity had linked to the Mirakuru, Jorje Cellino. There were answers within his home that Oliver needed, but Oliver had encountered a small problem and Felicity was called to the site.

Felicity turned to the wigged woman. "He's in there?"

Sara nodded. "One of needs to stay out here and keep watch."

"Both of you," Oliver commanded through their ear pieces. "Felicity will be safer in here with both of you out there."

"You know where he is?" Sara asked.

"I gave him the building plans," Felicity reminded her.

Sara checked the watch on her wrist. "You've only got another ten minutes before that place locks down. I won't be able to come in and rescue you." The look on the youngest Lance was one of failure of something that had yet to even happen.

"We'll keep you guys safe from out here," Roy promised. "But once you're in there, you're on your own." He looked as if it were the worst scenario in the world, to be on a mission without him. In the few short months, Roy had come to care for Felicity far more than any other member of Team Arrow.

"She won't be on her own," Oliver's voice said in their ears again."

Felicity nodded at her two friends and walked calmly in through the front door.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

"Oliver?" the voice said through his ear piece and he dipped his head for a moment, his eyes closed for the smallest second of respite. It was Sara.

"Yeah."

"We've managed to break through the comms silence, but only until the frequencies change again."

"How long?"

"About ten minutes. Maybe twelve." Diggle was still in the lair and it was his computer skills that had managed to get them talking again. For now.

"What happened?" Oliver and Roy asked at the same time. Oliver's was a demand, Roy's a plea.

"They came out of nowhere," Sara explained. "Half a dozen. We held them off as best as we could."

"One of them got into the mansion before the exits froze." It was the failsafe security measure that the pimp, drug dealer owner had set up. Anyone could get in, with the right expertise, but no one could get out once the alarms sounded.

"I noticed," Oliver grumbled.

"Felicity?" Diggle asked.

"She got shot." There was a long silence as the three of them not trapped inside questioned silently if that meant she was already dead. "I don't think I can stop the bleeding."

"Where are you?" Diggle asked, looking at the plans on the screen in front of him. Not that it would matter too much.

"Still in the office. There's nothing I can use." She's going to die.