***
Roy and I were speeding down the highway after van that had just been involved in a robbery. "This bike is sick!" Roy voice came through my earpiece with excitement.
"Ok, not supposed to be having fun right now." Felicity scolded from the hideout.
"Sorry!" Roy apologized. "But this is so much better than having to share one with Diane."
"No, sorry is what you'll be when Oliver finds out you took out his motorcycle." Felicity replied, I ignored their bantering as I sped up on my bike.
"Ok, I've got him headed your way." I told Dig as we headed the tunnel. "Aim for the engine block."
"This suit is too tight." Dig complained as he came into view on top of the tunnel. He began to shoot arrows and he kept missing every shot.
"If they make it to the tunnel, we're going to lose them." Felicity warned.
"You're not helping." Dig added as he aimless continued to shoot arrows. Knowing that theses guys were going to get away I sot an arrow towards one of the guys who was shoot at us. He tumbled out of the van and Roy did the same to the guy beside him. The van sped off with the driver, and I sighed in defeat.
"I'm more of a glock kind of guy." Dig argued as he came towards us.
"I didn't say anything." Roy said as he knocked both of the guys out. "Let's take them to Captain Lance."
***
"Two caught, one got away, but even Oliver messes up sometimes." Felicity said as she updated our database of criminals that we've caught, here attempts at being encouraging falling flat.
"Any luck finding Oliver?" Dig asked her.
"We'll it would be easier if Diane would just tell us where he is." Felicity remarked s she practically glared at me.
"I can't, there are many ceremonial places that they could have used." I told them, not wanting to meet their eyes. "Anyways if I did tell you, you all would want to go looking for him."
"That's exactly the point, we have to go look for him!" Felicity yelled at me.
"And that's exactly why I can't tell you it's dangerous." I countered, not going to give into her request. "You have to understand that Oliver wouldn't want us going after him."
Felicity stepped closer to me fury bright in her eyes and her fist clenched at her sides. "How can you be okay with not going after him!"
"You think I don't?" I said in disbelief. "Of course I want to be there with him. But I have to look after this team, and going out there could get us killed."
"Whatever, I have every reconnaissance satellite I could hack, which is a lot, looking for him." Felicity said abandoning our previous discussion. "So the second he steps outside, we'll know."
"If he steps outside." Roy commented, earning glares for us because of his bluntness. "It's what we were all thinking."
"I'm not. It's only been three days." Felicity said picking up her belongings. "I have to head to my other office for a bit."
We all watched as Felicity practically stormed out of the room. "Ok, I know it's only been three days, but how much longer before we actually have to start worrying?" Roy questioned as he looked at Dig and I.
"I started worrying the moment he left the city." I admitted.
"Kid, honestly what are the odds of Oliver coming back?" Dig asked, and I couldn't fully meet his eyes knowing that any answer varying to truth would be to painful to hear.
"Let's not think about this right now." I could them gathering as much strength as I could. "Right now out top priority is catching this guy."
***
"The three cop shooters we took on last night; I've been trying to find the one that got away. Jose Anton." Felicity began to explain as she pulled up his criminal file. "Anton is attached to a new crew working the Glades, the head of which is this gentleman."
"I know that guy." Roy informed as he looked down at the newly pulled up profile. "That's Danny Brickwell. His street name's Brick. But I thought he was in Iron Heights."
"He was. Until a week ago. And then the case against him imploded. By which I mean every single witness suffered some sort of fatal accident." Felicity replied dryly. "Three guesses as to who the police suspect in those cases."
"Jermaine and Harrison Fisher and the guy who got away last night." Dig replied as he looked down at their files.
"So they kill witnesses in order to get Brick out of prison, and then shoot a cop to do what?" Dig asked in confusion, and honestly I have no idea what the answer could be.
"Well that's what we have to find out." Was my only reply, it was staring to seem that what looked like and easy case was actually more complicated that we initially believed it to be.
***
"According to Laurel, Fisher's lawyer called Brick with the time and the place of the outgoing call." Felicity quickly informed us as she began to type away at her computer, her tone towards me still cold and filled with resentment. I couldn't help but wonder how long this was going to go on.
"Can you trace that call back to where Brick is?" I asked not really caring about how she was going to do it.
"At least where his phone is." She replied as she pulls up a satellite image. "His burner phone, to be exact. It's at a warehouse in the Glades."
"We'll check it out." Roy assured as we both began to suit up.
"I'll have to talk to you from Palmer Tech. I'm crazy-late." Felicity informed as she quickly made her way out of the room.
"Let's go." I ordered as we all set up in the van and drove t the address that Felicity gave us. "I've got eyes on the target warehouse. But no signs of life. Felicity, do you see something I don't?" I asked as Roy and I stood on top of the building.
"The warehouse doesn't have any security cameras, but someone disabled all the traffic cams on that block, which probably means you're in the right place." Felicity informed us, Roy and I shared a quick nod before we got to our positions.
"In position." Roy confirmed.
"Clear." I said and we bot descended to the inside of the building. We unhooked ourselves from our harness and began to make our way towards the center of the warehouse where two tall trash bins were located.
"How are things going greenie?" A familiar voice came though my ear piece. Roy and I stopped in our tracks, indicating that he heard it too. I wasn't very sure how I should react to this or how it was happening at all considering the Felicity designed this communication system to be unhackable.
"Cisco?" I questioned in a hushed tone. "What are you doing?"
"Woww...nice to hear your voice too." Cisco commented sarcastically. "And if your asking I hacked into your guys network."
"Felicity's going to kill you." I warned him.
"Hey we were kind of in the middle of something?" Roy commented beside me.
"Is that a guy? Diane are you with a guy?" Cisco exclaimed from the other end causing me to roll my eyes. "Because if you are... I forbid you to do it."
"Cisco, I know I said you can call me any time, but nows really not the time." I told him trying not to sound to harsh on him because it really is nice to hear his voice again.
"Are you okay?" Cisco continued. "You seem...tense."
"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot lately." I admitted as I continued to walk further into the warehouse with Roy a dew steps behind me. " Look...I'm following a lead and..."
"Say no more." Cisco said I waited for a second and when he didn't speak up again continued to walk towards the black trash bins that were filled with smoke.
One of the bins was tipped over with burnt body parts. Roy pulled me back protectively as he took as closer look. "It's not big enough to be Brick." Roy observed and I put my hands on my hips.
"Yeah, I know." I relied, slightly annoyed at the fact that he pulled me away.
"What's this?" Roy said as he walked over to the next bin. I looked into it to find the burnt up phones to our luck. "They burned their burners."
"Burning evidence, to tie up loose ends." I replied with a sigh, once again we ended up in a dead end. I looked inside again and notice a half a piece of burnt up paper.
"Evidence of what?" Roy asked as he looked over my shoulder in an attempt to catch of glimpse of what I was holding.
"I have no idea." I admitted as I looked at the number on the paper. "These just look like numbers."
"We should call up Felicity." Roy suggested and I nodded my head in response. "Lets go then."
"We found this." I told Felicity handing her the paper inside of an evidence bag once we had all returned to Verdant. "What looks like some industrial blueprints."
"Hmm. These numbers look completely random. I can run a pattern recognition algorithm." Felicity said examining the paper. We headed down to the hideout and we all simultaneously stopped at the sight of the door of the hideout being open. For a second I let myself hope, that maybe he made it out. "Oliver? Oliver?!"
We all ran down the steps of the hideout, but we found ourselves standing in front of the man that we hate most. Dig immediately pulled out his gun and pointed it at Merlyn. "Could you put the gun away? They don't scare so much as annoy me." He replied with a smirk, which only cause Dig to point pull out another gun. This time he put both his hands up and walked towards us slowly. "I've only come here to talk. Would it be possible to do that?"
"Talk about what?" I questioned taking a step forward needing him out of this room now before I killed him for everything he has caused.
"Oliver." Merlyn answered bluntly, leaning against the table. "I need to know is he still alive?"
"He's alive." Felicity said confidently.
"Have you heard from him since he went off to face Ra's al Ghul?"
"He's alive." Felicity repeated yet this time there was uncertainty in her voice.
Merlyn looked around the room with pity before his eyes landed back to me. "If he were, I suspect you would have heard from him by now."
"Unless Ra's took him prisoner." Roy suggested just as Malcom Merlyn was about to leave the room.
"The Demon's Head does not take prisoners." He replied as he walked past us and left the room. I took a step towards his direction, but Roy got a hold of my hand. I didn't really know what I was going to do I was just glad that Roy stopped me.
Felicity walked over to her computer and began to analyze the evidence we found at the warehouse. "What are you doing?" Roy questioned as we all instinctively stepped closer.
"I'm running the pattern analysis on that list of numbers you guys found." She replied attempting to keep her voice from showing any emotion.
"No, I mean, what's the point?"
"Malcolm Merlyn didn't tell us anything we don't already know. Nothing has changed." She replied and although she tried to keep her voice firm it faltered.
"You're right, Felicity." Dig admitted, and from the tone of his voice I knew he was going to begin a lecture. "He didn't tell us anything new. But he may have been right all the same."
"I know you guys think I'm in denial." Felicity concluded, knowing exactly that was what she was doing. "But if there's one thing Oliver taught me he taught us is that sometimes, all you can do is keep pushing forward."
"Felicity's right, Oliver trusted us with protecting this city and that's exactly what we're going to do." I reassured knowing that Oliver would never want us to back out of a fight. "Whether he comes back or not we have to continue what he started"
"All right. I've got the M.E.'s report." Laurel announced as she came down the steps and into the hideout.
"Did they ID the body?" Dig asked now putting is attention back where it has to be.
"Jose Anton." Laurel answered as she put the report on the table next to Felicity. "Career criminal with ties to Danny Brickell."
"I think Brick severed those ties pretty thoroughly." Roy commented as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Is everything ok?" She asks noticing how tense we all were, with all that was happening I forgot to tell Laurel, she had a right to know. Especially considering her history with him. "Where's Oliver?"
"He went to fight the head of the League of Assassins." I answered softly, Laurel looked around at all of us in disbelief almost like she expected one of us to reveal that it was only a joke.
"What?" She said softly.
"And we haven't heard from him since he left." Dig continued and Laurel only shook her head in disbelief.
"There's something else Malcolm Merlyn stopped by for a little chat." Roy decided to inform, I knew that out of everyone in the room this would affect her Oliver always did say that she was the love of his life, and something told me that Laurel felt the same. "He says Oliver's dead."
"And you guys believe him?"
"Look, Laurel, Merlyn said..."
"There isn't one thing that Malcolm Merlyn can say that any of us should believe. This isn't the first time that I've heard that Oliver was dead." Laurel said confidently as she looked at everyone in the room in the eye with hope. "He's been back before. He'll be back again."
***
"Any luck?" I asked Felicity eager to find anything that could lead us to Brick even when the possibility of that seemed less likely be the minute.
"The number pattern is consistent with cataloguing numerics." Felicity replied as she continued to look at the numbers on the screen.
"What kind of catalog?" Roy asked intrigued.
"If I knew, I would be telling you." She replied with annoyance, Roy looked at me in shock of Felicity's attitude and I shrugged in response.
"I'm sorry to interrupt." A familiar voice said behind us. We all turned around to once again face Malcom Merlyn.
"We really need to change the locks." Felicity commented in anger.
The familiar hatred and resentment that I have always associated with Merlyn returned as walked over to him. "What do you want Merlyn?"
"As you know the League conducts matter of significance such as duels on grounds sacred to its beliefs." Merlyn said to be before to looked over to the rest of the team. "I went there. And found this." He said as he placed a bloody blade on the table top. I felt my heart stop just at the sight of it. "It's Ra's' custom to leave behind the instrument of death as a memorial to honor the fallen."
"Merlyn, did you see Oliver's body?" Dig asked taking a step forward. I closed my eyes and pursed my lips together knowing that this was confirming our worst fears.
"It fell into a ravine. His remains were unrecoverable, I'm afraid."
"Then how do we know that's Oliver's blood?" Roy asked skeptically although it was clear at this point they were are grasping at straws. Trying to hold onto the last remaining bits of hope that we could. Even if we were all aware of how pointless it was.
"Because after I leave, you'll test it. And after you confirm that it is his blood, you'll exhaust yourself with conspiracy theories as to how I planted it or how it's all a lie." Merely began to explain with false remorse. "And after enough time passes, you'll be left with one inescapable truth that Oliver Queen is dead."
"This is your fault." Felicity claimed as she stepped towards Merlyn. I walked forwards and picked up the blade that was on the table, still not able to believe that Oliver was truly gone. "Oliver went there because of you, because of what you did to Thea. You made her a target for the League so he would have to challenge Ra's just to save her. You killed him."
"You are right." He agreed. "And I will live with that guilt for the rest of my days. I am truly sorry. I can see how much you loved him."
"Save it, Merlyn." Dig exclaimed stepping forward. "You're enjoying this."
"Miss Smoak is correct. I orchestrated the matter to eliminate the death warrant Ra's placed on my head. Oliver was that way." Merlyn explained carefully, in a way that made himself seem completely innocent. "His death means my own."
"You're right." I said as I walked up to him blade in hand, I slammed his face against the aluminum table quickly turning him over and placing Ra's' blade against his throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right this second."
"Because that isn't what Oliver would have wanted." Merlyn said as he held his hands up. "After all he did all of this to protect me."
"Wrong, he did it to protect Thea." I countered, at this point I was surprised that no one was attempting to stop me. "So, try again."
I dug the blade just deep enough to not do any serious damage but enough to draw a small amount of blood. "Okay...okay it isn't what he would have wanted." Merlyn breathed out. "Daniel he wouldn't want to see you this way."
"Shut up!" I yelled in anger. "Don't you dare talk about him."
"We both know that the guilt you carry isn't just for his death." Merlyn continued as his eyes strayed to where Roy was standing. "I did it to relieve you of the burden of having to choose."
"Last chance Merlyn."
"Fine then do it for yourself." He said a small smirk appearing on his face. "We both know that if you kill me, if you avenge the deaths of those you loved it will only torment you. You are not the cold blooded killer that you once were, and because of that I know that you will not kill me."
I looked at him in shock, somehow he always found a way to get under my skin. I felt frustration building up knowing that I wouldn't be able to do it. No matter how many times I tell myself that I will, I never do. And that thought alone has been eating me alive all these years, that thought makes me a coward. I've always been a coward even if I make myself seem strong on the inside I'm weak and thats something that will never change. I slowly put my hand down and took a step back. Merlyn straightened himself with a look of satisfaction clear on his face.
"Like I said you wouldn't do it." Merlyn repeated I put the saber back on the table and turned back towards him. I wouldn't kill him, but I had to release all that hatred towards him, so I stepped forward and punched him in the face. Merlyn covered his face as blood began to flow from his nose, satisfied I stormed out of the hideout. For the first time since Oliver left I felt myself completely break down, I ran to my car and shut the car door. I slammed the steering wheel in frustration before I leaned my head against the steering wheel and began to cry.
After a couple of minutes I felt pathetic crying alone in my car so I drove off to the apartment. Once I was inside I closed the door behind me and sighed, I walked over to the cabinet where Roy and I kept a bottle of whiskey, the one that we've had for years and only used when we were going through tough times. I grabbed a glass and headed towards the roof, being inside made me feel trapped with no escape and all I wanted was to be left alone.
I sat down on one of the lawn chairs that Roy and I set up, I pulled my knees closer to me as I filled my glass this the amber liquid. After two shots I realized that alcohol wasn't going to erase my problems, the hurt ran too deep. I threw the bottle and it shattered a few feet away from me. I pulled my knees closer as I groaned in frustration, resting my head on my knees I began to cry softly.
A cold breeze hit and I zipped up my jacket, suddenly I hand rested on my shoulder and I quickly turned around. "It's just me...its just me." Roy said as he pulled up to my feet. "Come let's get you to bed."
"I don't know if I can do this Roy." I muttered as I turned my body to face him while he looked up at the ceiling with a distant look.
After a moment Roy turned to look at me before reaching out and brushing the hair our of my face. "If anyone can its you. You're the strongest person I know."
Taking his hand in mine I laced our fingers together knowing that we both needed each other's strength. "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't even be able to get out of this bed every morning."
"I know you are so not a morning person." Roy joked causing us both to chuckle, and for a moment it almost felt like it was just the two of us again. And although I loved our lives with Oliver and Diggle, there were times I desired that it was just the two of us again because everything was simply back then.
***