Chapter 2: The Fall

A few weeks had passed since Oliver and Thea had made amends, and Oliver was gratified to find that he and Thea had quickly reestablished a comfortable rapport. The two grabbed lunch at the campaign office together multiple days last week and they even managed to have a few normal movie nights, the last of which saw Felicity join them. Laurel and Digg seemed relieved that their team was back together patrolling, and Felicity was quick to have their comms reset. It felt like things had resumed their right rhythm.

As the team headed out to respond to an evening break-in at AmerTek, Thea even agreed to team up with Oliver. Oliver was pleased to know he had gained enough of her trust back to patrol at her side again.

Oliver and Thea slunk around the back of the AmerTek building. Oliver indicated a ladder up the side that would give them roof access. Thea nodded and alighted onto the ladder.

Felicity called over comms, "Spartan, Black Canary - good news, the burglar is headed straight towards you. Bad news, the burglar is headed straight towards you."

Through the comms, Laurel called out, "Freeze!" Oliver could hear some scuffling sounds, then Laurel, dismayed, asking, "Where did he learn to do that?"

Diggle grumbled, "I'm thinking Cirque Du Soleil."

"He's headed for the roof." Laurel, winded, reported through comms.

"Thank you, Black Canary," Felicity said. "That is your cue, Green Arrow and Speedy."

Thea in her red Speedy leathers ran, keeping pace with Oliver. She asked as she vaulted over a rooftop ledge following her brother, "Is she -?"

"Overusing our code names?" Oliver finished. He jogged down the roof past air conditioning units with Speedy on his heels. "Yep. Indulge her."

Without missing a beat, Thea rejoined, addressing Felicity, "We got him, Overwatch." Thea and Oliver leapt from one roof peak down to the next.

Felicity let out a pleased giggle, her warmth filling the comm channel. "You have no idea how much I love hearing that."

Oliver responded, deadpan, "I think we do, actually." Oliver and Thea paused, looking at their new surroundings. "Two rooftop doors." Oliver reported, seeking Felicity's guidance.

Felicity's voice noted, "Floor plans show that the staircase splits a level below you. He could come out either door."

Oliver and Thea shared a look: then, with a nod, they split off, Oliver sprinting to the one on the left while Thea jogged to cover the door to the right. As Oliver neared his door, he heard a banging sound and turned to see the door before Thea had popped open and the black-clad figure of their thief sprung onto the roof. The thief paused as he noted Thea coming towards him. The thief and Thea squared off, each reading the body language of the other. Then the perpetrator spun around and took off towards the edge of the roof line. Thea sprang to cut him off from the other side of the building's roof exit.

Thea managed to get in between the thief and his exit path and took a swing at his head with her bow. The perp ducked and struck out with a punch towards Thea's stomach which she parried with her arm. Two more swings came in quick succession, blocked by Thea's bow. Thea landed a knee into his thigh and ducked under his rejoining punch. His next punch was sloppy enough that Thea was able to take a full spin and, kicking him hard, knocked him over the roof's railing. He landed on his back on the opposite side of the railing on a narrow ledge, nothing but a multistory drop below.

Oliver approached the fight at a jog, noting that Thea was cornering their perp handily. He reduced his speed to a walk, observing Thea as she lightly sprang on top of the railing, balancing easily and drawing her bow at their target.

Thea announced over comms, holding the perpetrator in her bow sights, "Got him."

As Oliver looked on, he noticed a slight bobble in Thea's stance. She seemed to steady herself. Then, to Oliver's horror, Thea keened forward dangerously. Oliver screamed, "Speedy!" and broke into a run. Oliver leapt over the railing as his sister plunged over the side of the building. Oliver, grasping onto the railing with his right hand, thrust the other out and snatched Thea's arm before it vanished below him.

Oliver clung on, grunting as Thea's limp form pulled Oliver's body taut. The burglar spared his two occupied pursuers a glance before pushing his way to his feet and breaking off at a sprint. Oliver couldn't have cared less, as he used all his strength to slowly tug his sister back up to the rooftop.

As she reached his level, Oliver let her rest on the narrow edge while he hurdled back to the safe side of the railing. He leaned over and scooped Thea into his arms, pulling her to safety. Oliver glanced to see their thief vanish off the rooftop before returning his attention to his sister. Oliver called over comms in a panicked voice, "Speedy's down! Our thief is on the move."

"What happened to Speedy?" Laurel demanded, voice matching pitch with Oliver's own.

"I don't know!" Oliver said quickly, still in disbelief by how quickly the situation had turned. "She had him in her sights and then she just … passed out. She nearly fell off the roof!"

"We're on our way," Diggle's firm voice consoled.

"I'm taking her to the truck," Oliver stated firmly. "Meet us there." Oliver stood up and pulled Thea back into his arms, disturbed that she had yet to rouse. The fact that she was breathing and didn't seem to be seizing or experiencing any other type of outward symptom provided some relief, but not enough.

Oliver anchored his line onto the roof top and belayed himself and Thea carefully to the ground. Detaching, he jogged towards the truck and motorcycles. Diggle and Laurel reached them moments later, Laurel not slowing down until she was directly in front of Thea. She ripped off one of her gloves and settled her fingertips over Thea's pulse point in her neck and seemed to relax slightly at what she found.

Felicity called over the comms, anxious for a report, "Can someone talk to me? What's Speedy's status?"

"She's still out cold," Oliver reported. "Let's get her back to the Bunker. Black Canary, can you get Speedy's bike into the truck?" Laurel nodded and left to do so while Diggle climbed into the driver's seat of the truck. Oliver gently set Thea onto the passenger seat and buckled her limp body in. He met Diggle's gaze and gave a firm nod. Oliver hopped down and climbed onto his motorcycle beside Laurel, who was already mounted on hers. The truck's lights ahead of them flickered to life and then the procession navigated from the warehouse grounds towards the main roadways.

Minutes later, Diggle's voice came over the speaker. "Speedy's up."

"Speedy?" Felicity demanded, voice bleeding with anxiety. "What's your status?"

"Kind of confused," Thea's bleary voice mumbled through comms. "Tired. But okay, I think. What happened?"

Oliver grimaced as he guided his bike behind the truck, remembering the sight of his baby sister tumbling over the roof's edge. "Your temporary nap almost turned into a permanent one. You passed out on the edge of the roof and fell off. I was barely able to catch you."

Diggle explained, "We're taking you back to the Bunker."

Thea groaned, "Oh, no, can you just drop me home? I feel kind of awful."

"That's exactly why you should stop here first," Felicity noted. "We should really check you out."

"No offense," Thea argued, "But none of you are going to be able to tell me anything more there than you could if I was at home. In my nice, soft bed." It was clear from the sound of the speaker that Thea was directing her pleas straight at John. "Please?"

"Green Arrow?" Diggle asked, knowing better than to make this decision for Oliver.

Oliver sighed, frustrated, but knowing they didn't have anything better to offer Thea even if she did return to the Bunker. Not one of them had any particular medical training besides their decent first aid knowledge. "Fine, we can take you home, Speedy."

Laurel and John stood in the entryway of Thea and Laurel's apartment, watching the open door of Thea's room where Oliver was quietly talking with Thea. Laurel could feel her stomach twisting in anticipation, like there was something she was missing, something more than Thea just being tired. Thea had seemed better recently, or so Laurel had thought. Things were improving and Laurel wasn't prepared for this kind of setback.

"I just don't understand," Laurel whispered anxiously. "She was doing well. She's been sleeping better, she's been focused. What happened?"

"I find it interesting that she had our perp in her sights before she lost consciousness," Diggle noted.

Laurel turned to look at Diggle, realizing that he was onto something. "What would that mean?"

"When Thea's bloodlust acts up, it's usually in the middle of a fight," John stated thoughtfully. "Always at a time when she has an opportunity to kill. It's like the opportunity to kill causes her bloodlust to flare up."

"Sure," Laurel agreed confused, "but she hasn't had problems with bloodlust since we were in Nando Parbat. She was even able to control it with Lonnie Machin!"

"What if it's still there," Diggle mused, "she's just pushing it down? And because she's not giving into it, it's affecting her."

"God," Laurel murmured. "It that's the case, how bad could this get?"

John met Laurel's concerned gaze and then peered back at Thea's door. "Wish I knew."

Once Thea was settled, Oliver, Laurel, and Diggle returned to the Bunker, exiting the elevator to find a serious Felicity spinning her chair around to greet them. "How's Thea?" Felicity asked somberly.

Laurel responded, tugging her gear off of her shoulder, "She's okay. She's resting at our place." Not that leaving Thea home alone after passing out from unknown causes had felt right to Laurel.

"She said it was just exhaustion," Oliver added.

Digg directed his question straight at Oliver, challenging his statement. "We don't believe a word of that, do we?"

Oliver stopped and turned to meet Digg's gaze, fixing him with his own. Oliver didn't answer for a moment as he attempted to puzzle out what Diggle was implying before giving up to ask, "What else could it be?"

Digg and Laurel shared a glance before Laurel suggested Diggle's earlier theory. "The Pit." There was clear concern in her eyes.

Oliver seemed taken aback, quickly denying the possibility. "The bloodlust makes her feral, it doesn't make her lose consciousness."

Felicity urged her chair towards Oliver, clearly trying to reassure him, adding, "And Thea hasn't gone aggro in months."

"Exactly," Digg agreed as he let Oliver and Felicity in on the theory he had batted around with Laurel. "Maybe this is some sort of side effect of her white-knuckling her way through it."

Felicity looked towards John, considering it, but clearly not convinced. "Still seems like a bit of a leap."

Laurel watched as Oliver turned away from the group, shifting his weight in a subtle show of agitation. She spoke up, asking gently, "Ollie, what are you thinking?"

Guilt permeated Oliver's voice as he explained, "That I should have done a better job of keeping an eye on her." He shifted his weight again, still refusing to look at the rest of his team and Laurel could almost feel him shouldering this new weight of failing to watch out for Thea. Oliver added something from his earlier conversation with Thea. "She … told me the bloodlust came back two months ago and I didn't even know. I've been focused on the campaign and trying to track down Darhk..."

Oliver finally turned around and caught Felicity's disbelieving look. Felicity asked, waving a hand in the air for emphasis, "How is it that you always manage to blame yourself for everything?"

"That's his superpower," Digg said, deadpan. "'Guilt Arrow'." Felicity gave Oliver a small, amused smile.

Oliver seemed discomfited by the amount of attention he was receiving from the team and was clearly unwilling to be absolved of his guilt. He smoothly changed the subject, asking if their thief had gotten away with any other tech. Agreeably, Felicity provided an overview of the network mapper the burglar took from AmerTek and how it might be used. As the team discussed the tech's uses and potential future targets, Laurel did her best to focus in and set aside her concern for Thea for the moment.

Oliver felt antsy as he made his way up the elevator to Laurel and Thea's apartment. Freshly showered and changed, he felt better prepared to try to dig into what was going on with Thea. Frankly, he wasn't sure what seemed worse: that a healthy 21-year-old would suddenly pass out from some unknown medical issue or that it would be related to the mysterious magic that had given Thea a second chance at life. Either option held a sense of foreboding for the unknown. Oliver fiddled with his key in the lock and slipped inside.

As Oliver passed from the entryway into the living room, he caught his first glimpse of Thea since earlier in the evening. Thea sat on the couch with her legs drawn up to her body, leaning her head onto one arm and resting with her eyes closed. Even in the dim light, Thea's face looked a little too pale and drawn. Oliver was dismayed to note she still looked ill, her hair stringy and her forehead damp with sweat.

"Hey," Oliver said gently, causing Thea to open her eyes and pull herself up. Her eyes darted to the side and as Oliver paused his steps into the room, he could sense the extra presence. Oliver looked over, to find Malcolm Merlyn perched on a chair with a magazine held loosely in his hand. Something twisted in Oliver's stomach as he noted Malcolm's somber expression. Malcolm fixed Oliver with a steady stare absent of the measuring, scheming expression that typically lit up Malcolm's face.

Oliver let out a little sigh at having his planned conversation with his sister impeded. Making a conscious effort to ignore Malcolm, Oliver said gently to Thea, "I just wanted to check in, see how you were doing."

Without giving Thea a chance to answer, Malcolm stated tersely, "Well, I think the answer to that question is fairly self-evident." Malcolm glanced towards Thea, who still had been unable to make more than a passing effort at moving in her seat. Malcolm seemed distressed by that single glance, and, taking a sharp breath in, continued, seriously, "Thea's bloodlust is the balancing of an equation. She was given life and now she needs to take it."

Oliver was annoyed at Malcolm's insertion into his conversation and replied hotly, "Malcolm, we know that already." Oliver turned back to Thea and addressing his sister said, "What we don't know is-"

Malcolm was on his feet in an instant, cutting Oliver off, voice jumping in volume. "What you don't know-" He paused what was clearly meant to be a diatribe: another glance at Thea and the slight grimace of pain on her face was all it took for his voice to drop. "What I didn't know until Thea collapsed-" Malcolm drew in a shaky breath, eyes glued to his daughter, before glancing back at Oliver. "Is that if the life she owes doesn't come from taking others, it will come from the life of the host."

Oliver's stomach became leaden at Malcolm's words. When she passed out … Thea's life was … draining away?

"Please do not refer to me as 'the host'," Thea quipped, attempting to break the somber atmosphere.

Malcolm was anything but amused. "This isn't a joke," Malcolm chided Thea tightly. His eyes flamed with emotion. "If you don't indulge this bloodlust, you will die."

"I don't understand," Oliver murmured, his heart pounding with fear. He desperately clung to the idea that Malcolm was projecting wild ideas onto a less-than-lethal situation. Thea had just been fine earlier that day. Right? "Thea, I thought you were doing okay," Oliver asked softly, the confusion bleeding into his voice. Thea met his gaze, her own eyes wide and weary, but she gave no answer.

Malcolm decided to answer in her stead. "Because the bloodlust was temporarily blunted," Malcolm explained as he moved from his original seat to a new position standing beside Thea at the head of the couch.

Oliver was feeling lost by the entire conversation and the day's sudden turn. Oliver asked, "By what?"

Thea, who had remained mostly silent until now stated softly, her voice croaking with the effort it was taking to speak, "Damien Darhk." Oliver had in no way been prepared for that answer and he fixed Thea with a look which clearly demanded further explanation. Thea took a breath in. "When we rescued Andy from HIVE, I-" Thea drifted off, closing her eyes, as if loathe to finish this story. "Ran … into him. He tried to kill me with his magic death touch thingie, but it didn't work on me." Oliver felt like his eyes would bust out of his skull with how hard he was staring at Thea. Thea could have been killed by Darhk …

Malcolm continued, never minding Oliver's need to acclimate to this new information. "What it did do was stop the bloodlust," he said before adding ominously, "For a time."

Shaking off his shock that Thea had had a showdown with Darhk which Oliver had known nothing about, Oliver quickly declared to Malcolm, "We need to find Damien Darhk and make whatever he did to her permanent."

Thea glanced towards Malcolm as if to make sure he had this one covered before she closed her eyes again wearily. Malcolm answered Oliver as though he were talking to a child. "Oliver, even if that were possible - even if you caught Damien in a more cooperative mood - he and his HIVE have gone to ground. Or haven't you noticed?"

Oliver's phone vibrated in his pocket, the sound of the ring piercing the tense mood of the room. Oliver kept his eyes on Malcolm as he fished his phone out of his pocket. Oliver glanced down to see Laurel was calling. He answered it with a short, "Yeah."

Laurel announced, "Our sticky-fingered friend just pulled another job at Cadmus Tech."

John added, "He's two blocks east of you, headed south."

Oliver quickly shot Digg and Laurel's plan down, explaining in a low voice as he glanced towards his sister's drawn face, "John, I can't right now."

Laurel felt the need to add, "He stole a weapon this time."

Oliver could see from Thea's face that she had something to say and pulled the phone away from his ear. Thea said softly, her voice weak, "Just go." She gave the faintest shrug of her shoulders and said consolingly, "Nothing's gonna change here in an hour."

Oliver met her eyes and then looked away, shaking his phone as he tried to decide what to do. Finally, he pulled the phone back to his ear and told Digg and Laurel, "I'm on my way. I'll call you right back." Oliver hung up the call. "Thea, I will be back and we are going to figure this out. Okay?"

Thea's eyes showed she either didn't believe him or that she was too fatigued to respond. Oliver felt a sick feeling in his stomach wondering if there was a way and, even if there was, if Thea had enough time while they found it. Oliver could not remember ever seeing his sister so still - her entire being seemed to scream that she did not have a lot of time. Oliver swept in close to plant a kiss on the top of her head and then he strode out the door, redialing Laurel as he walked.

When the phone picked up, Oliver said sharply, "Talk to me. Where am I going?"

"Were you with Thea?" Laurel asked quickly. "How is she?"

"Let's just focus on our burglar first. Which way?"

"Head south," Digg directed as Oliver quickly moved to follow. Winding past a few city blocks, Oliver found himself next to a loading dock. "Where am I looking?" Oliver asked.

"We're working on it," Digg called back.

A black clad figure leapt from a shipping container onto another. "Got him!" Oliver shouted before shoving the phone into his back jeans pocket and giving chase. Oliver and the burglar leapt over buildings and supports. Oliver climbed atop a moving truck, closing the distance between them. As Oliver neared, the figure stumbled and spun in a circle to clock where his pursuer was. Oliver overtook him and with a forceful shove, knocked the other man over a fence and hard to the ground, leaping after him. Oliver yanked the gaiter covering his face down and gaped in shock. Oliver questioned, "Roy?"

The eyes of his friend looked at him coldly and Roy Harper drew his fist back and clocked Oliver in the face. Once Roy was clear from Oliver, he ran. Oliver just watched him vanish into the night.