The Arrow & The Huntsman [The 1st Installment of DC HEROES: CHAMPIONS OF EARTH]

[145] It's Okay to Ask For Help

PRESENT-DAY...

Dearden finished sewing up the last of Oliver's stitches, concentrating solely on the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor to keep him calm as Felicity, Aaron, and Diggle hovered over him.

"Good job—" Felicity said shakily, "I think."

"His heart rate is elevated, but at least the bleeding stopped," Diggle said, glancing at the monitor.

Dearden set the medical instruments back down in the tray and removed his surgical gloves. "Well, thank you for all of your help, Felicity," he said, friendly as he began walking away from Oliver, grabbing a handful of throwing stars from off one of the metal counters before heading for the side entrance of the lair.

"And where are you going with those?" Aaron asked, raising his eyebrow warily.

"I'm not going far," Dean sighed. "I'll be right outside if you need me."

Then he walked out of the Foundry, leaving the others distraught and confused.

"Is he always like this?" Felicity queried, pointing her gloved finger at the spot where Dearden previously stood.

"Unfortunately, yes," Diggle answered. "But he was right about you."

Felicity turned to look at Diggle curiously. "How so?"

"You kept your head on straight," Diggle replied, with a small smile.

Felicity chuckled as she removed her gloves from her hands and said, "Well, I always wondered how I'd react if I found my boss's brother shot and bleeding inside my car."

Aaron grinned at Felicity as she spoke and then subsequently caught herself and stuttered adorably.

"Not that I helped because he's my boss's brother," she blurted out, as she made her way around the operating table. "I'd help anyone who was shot and bleeding in my car."

Diggle looked between Aaron and Felicity curiously, a rogue thought crossing his mind before he shook his head slightly, and redirected his attention to the elephant in the room. "I was thinking all of this would be more of a shock," he voiced, noting the small smirk playing across Felicity's lips as she looked around the lair. "What, are you saying you called this all along?"

"I'm not saying anything," she retorted coyly as she grazed her fingers along the shaft of one of Oliver's green-tipped arrows, before returning her gaze to the other two men. "Except Oliver and Dearden brought me a laptop riddled with bullet holes, then Oliver had me trace a black arrow, and Dearden—admittedly much more subtle than his brother— had me research a company involved in armored car heists. I may be blonde, but not that blonde."

"Yeah, Oliver's not to great with cover stories. Dearden's a little bit better at it, but I suspect that's because he's been doing this type of thing much longer than Oliver has been," Diggle huffed.

"Yeah, although, the one Aaron and Dean came up with for the "pharmaceutical lawsuit" was a bit more dubious," Felicity giggled.

"Okay, but when you consider that our first option was saying it was an energy drink hangover cure, the pharmaceutical lawsuit suddenly doesn't sound so bad," Aaron replied defensively, eliciting a chuckle from Felicity and Diggle.

"So what was really in that vial, anyway?" Felicity questioned.

"Vertigo," Diggle said.

The blonde genius perked up excitedly. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, her eyes briefly meeting Aaron's when he approached her. "I mean, I didn't know it was Vertigo for sure, but I definitely knew it wasn't something that could cure a hangover."

"Yeah, well, we needed it analyzed so that we could take down The Count, and Dearden and Oliver trusted you to help," Aaron smiled.

Felicity gaped in surprise as she took in this new information. "That was you and them?" she stammered.

"And you, Felicity," Diggle chimed in. "Without you, we never would have found him."

Felicity opened and closed her mouth repeatedly struggling to find an answer to Diggle's statement before finally choking out a response.

"Why me?"

"Well, they're both stubborn as hell," Diggle confided. "And as hard as it is for them to admit even Oliver and Dearden need help sometimes."