Arrow: Visceral Barrage Part 1

Healing

The city lights illuminated the dark room, revealing outlines of furniture and the path into the bedroom. The lone man slowly stepped across the living room and continued down the hallway toward his destination. He kept the lights off to conceal his presences as he made sure not to disrupt anything in the apartment, securing that his visit would go unknown. He entered the main bedroom and quickly scanned the nearby surfaces for his objective. A single folder lay on the table across from the bed, next to a laptop and a stack of old magazines. The man carefully examined the folder and the documents inside it. He very precisely removed the contents from the binding and replaced them with another set that almost identically resembled the originals, for the exception of the information the new pages contained. The sound of the front door opening snapped the man's attention toward the hallway. He heard the distinctive sound of women's heels clicking down the wood floor, springing him into action. He quickly placed the folder where it originally sat and placed the real documents into his jacket pocket as he moved into the nearby shadows and dissapeared from sight. The light flicked on as Felicity entered her bedroom and moved toward her bed. She sat down and sighed, feeling the last of her adrenaline fade away as she removed her shoes and rubbed her tense neck muscles. Felicity stood up and moved into her bathroom, turning the shower on before returning to the sink. The man slowly moved out from his hiding spot and caustiously moved into the hallway as Felicity tended to her personal hygene, unknown of her intruders presence. The man quickly and quietly exited her apartment with leaving a single piece of evidence to suggest his visit other than the information he had swapped in the cold case file on Felicity's desk.

The following day seemed to drag on for every member of the team. Felicity and Diggle remained at their stations for the entire work day, neither venturing out for lunch or meetings. Oliver completed his tasks from his apartment and used the down time to mend his injuries as he planned for the coming night. Laurel had found herself incredibly distracted all day, not being able to get any real work done. Her mind drifting back to the past months and how her night life was truely affecting her and her belief in what she was doing. Roy spent the majority of his day helping Thea add the finishing touches to her holiday party. His thoughts trailed to his relationship with his mentor ever since he had returned from the dead and how the two acted now. When the team finally met at the Foundry later that evening it was a quiet relief for them all to be back, not wanting to admit that the day had nearly killed them.

"Where's Felicity?" Roy asked as he carried a box of supplies away from the stairs.

"She's on a date...but she'll meet up with us later." Oliver began as he turned away from her station, trying to hide his anger for still not being able to tell her the truth about Riley. Laurel sat next to Diggle near the center of the room, each checking the other's wounds.

"So do we have a plan now that Visceral has a team?" Roy asked as he moved back toward the group, catching everyones attention.

"I mean, this changes things...alot." Roy added, crossing his arms as leaned against the table. Laurel and Diggle nodded in agreement, each thinking of what to say.

"It does...but change isn't always a bad thing." Oliver began, catching his team offguard as he stood before them.

"Over the past few months things have been different. And it's been difficult, for us all." He continued, clearly having trouble finding the words to express himself.

"When I got back...I didn't know what to expect." He said looking to his teammates.

"I mean you guys had kept fighting when I was gone and...I wasn't even sure if you needed me. I wasn't your leader anymore or your teacher...I wasn't sure what I was." Oliver continued, his friends looking to him with their full attention. Each of them stunned to hear Oliver fully express his feelings as openly as this.