#you fed me nemo curled up alone and in pain in a corner

[sinvulkt-art]

Nemo fanart for @ash--00 ’s amazing wingfic Trône de Chair et de Sang

[withgraceandlight99]

The Sound of an Arrow - Chapter 25

Read of AO3 - General Audiences - Olicity AU - The Sound of Music AU

A/N: One more cliffhanger...then a few chapters without one. So no one kill me. :P 

The Bratva kidnapped Annie.

The little Annie Queen.

The one who told her today that she didn’t like Finding Nemo because the mama and the babies died.

The one who didn’t like the dark because that’s where monsters lived.

That’s who they kidnapped.

The most innocent of all the Queen children. The one who cried the most.

Felicity cuddled Piper in her arms as they both cried. The second youngest clung to her as if she was a lifeline. Ellie had run out of the room as soon as the TV went black. Harper held onto William. Roy had his arms wrapped around Clayton and Thea. And Oliver just sat there. She couldn’t see his face, but he hadn’t moved since he tried to stand up. His first instinct had been to get up and go to Annie. To save his daughter.  

And now someone needed to save him. Get him back here. Because right now Annie didn’t need her daddy. She needed the vigilante. Arrow. Bratva assassin. She needed a killer. A man who would do anything to get her back. Alive.

She transferred Piper to Thea and moved to the gate that separated the criminal from the normal people. As her hand reached for the unlock button, a police officer stepped in her way.  “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you can’t go over there.”

“Don’t you think that rules don’t apply right now? Oliver’s daughter is kidnapped. I need to go to him.”

“You are not going to touch him until we say that you can.” The man took her arm. “You’re not even family.”

Maybe not, but today she was. Felicity jerked away from his grip and slammed her hands against his chest. “You get the hell out of my way, mister. That man is my family. And the girl who is missing is my family too. So back away.”

Surprise etched in his features, but he opened the gate for her and backed away. Felicity rushed to the desk and dropped to her knees next to him. “Oliver!” She grabbed his handcuffed hands. They were ice cold. “Oliver, you have to listen to me. We’re gonna get her back. She’s not dead. She’s gonna come―”

“They’re gonna kill Annie.” He stared straight ahead, unblinking. “They’re gonna kill her just like they killed my wife.” He sounded robotic, as if each word came from somewhere programmed to deal with situations like this. Felicity shook her head. No. She needed him right now. They all needed him. Not some deathly, accepting version.

“You can’t think like that. We’re not going to let it happen.”

“They’re gonna kill her, Felicity.” His eyes found her face, and the robotic voice broke down to a whisper. “They’ll kill her.”

People were beginning to the leave the courtroom. Officials herded the jury out, while Carly moved the out-of-it Queens and the family towards a side door. Adam Donner ran to them, almost slamming into the desk when he came to a halt. He unlocked Oliver’s cuffs and tucked them in his pocket. “I am so sorry, Mr. Queen. Miss Smoak. I…I can’t imagine what’s going through your mind’s right now. We’re going to get you into a private room so that you can be with your family. The feds have already been called. We will get your daughter back. I promise. Felicity, you can meet us in room five with the rest of the family.”

“Thank you.” She turned around and caught Harper, who erupted into a sobbing tantrum. Felicity curled the girl close to her body, shielding her from the cameras that still wanted pictures. They needed something for the front page of their tabloids tomorrow, didn’t they? More proof that the Queen’s fall from grace had been anything but graceful. More evidence of the loss. The horror of finding out that a child; a sister, was taken. By the very people who killed her mom. She turned around and caught Harper, who erupted into a sobbing tantrum. Felicity curled the girl close to her body, shielding her from the cameras that still wanted pictures. They needed something for the front page of their tabloids tomorrow, didn’t they? More proof that the Queen’s fall from grace had been anything but graceful. More evidence of the loss. The horror of finding out that a child; a sister, was taken. By the very people who killed her mom.

They needed to get out of here before she took all her anger out on those cameramen. Felicity shielded Harper from the photographs as they walked to the door and out in the hallway. Room five was only a few footsteps from the courtroom. When they came in and shut the door, Harper went straight to her dad, who buried his face in her hair. The kids, minus William, who dropped to a chair and cried alone, crowded around him. Felicity went to stand next to Thea, who crossed her arms.

“Makes you wanna put on a leather suit of your own and go stab some knives in peoples’ chests.” The words were laced with venom, but when the kids moved away from Oliver, Thea stepped up and gave her brother a hug. “I’m so sorry, Ollie.”

Oliver nodded and then opened his eyes and met Felicity’s gaze. The man she knew and loved had returned, but there was no assassin or vigilante there. He was a tired man. Tired of the pain and death that he’d stumbled through for so long. She glanced at Adam who stood in the corner. “Could you, uh, give us ten minutes alone, please?”

“In any other situation, no. But this situation is far different than any I have ever dealt with, meaning you can have some time. Soon we’ll need your statements, as well as evidence. The police are on their way to your mansion already.” With that, he shut the door. Oliver collapsed into one of the chairs and reached for Piper, who cuddled onto his lap. As his arms enclosed around her, he closed his eyes for a second. When they opened, they found the rest of the kids. “We’re gonna get Annie back.”

“How?” Ellie crossed her arms. “They said no one would find her. She’s gone.”

“No, she’s not. You can’t think like that.”

William scoffed. “Where are you getting your optimism? Because Annie’s going to be dead―if she isn’t already―because of you. You got us into this mess and you didn’t even think about what would happen to anyone else. Except yourself.”

“That’s not true, William, and you know it,” Ellie shot back. “He did it to protect us.”

“And look where that got us all. A dead mother. Missing sister. Our dad in prison. And the only people raising us are a nanny who’s got as many issues as us and a bodyguard who never signed up for any of this!”

Oliver closed his eyes and hung his head. Felicity looked at Diggle, who shook his head. What could they say that would make any of this better?

“William!” Harper stood up, her defiance growing by the second. “Daddy became the hood because Mama told him to. He joined the Bratva because he didn’t want to lose us.”

The oldest Queen son spread his hands. “And where are we now?”

“I’m sorry.” The words came out in a whisper. With tears in his eyes, Oliver looked up at his son. “I’m sorry, William. I did what I thought was best, but it turns out that it was wrong. This is all happening because of me.”

“Oliver―”

“No, Felicity. He’s right. Everything that is happening right now is my fault, and I’m going to try to fix it.”

“There’s no fixing this, Dad.” William shook his head and moved to the door. “You can’t. Maybe you should just stay here and not wreak anything else while people try to find our sister.”

Oliver let out a long breath and nodded. “C-Can all of you go out, please? Dig and Felicity, stay in here. Speedy, you can if you want. B-But I need all of you to go out.” He set Piper on her feet. “Please.”

Ellie kissed his cheek and whispered, “I love you,” before she led the kids out of the room. Oliver settled back in the chair and gripped the arms. “They’re not gonna be able to find her.”

Felicity wrinkled her eyebrows. “Who?”

“The feds. The police. The CIA. The FBI. No one’s gonna find her.” He looked up at them with the eyes of a man who could snap a person’s neck and not feel any guilt. A man who had already lost so much and couldn’t bear to lose anything else. Especially a daughter. “But I can.”

She could see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one. “Hold on, Oliver.” She whipped out her phone and in thirty seconds, disabled the recordings systems. “Okay. Go ahead. We’re all clear in here.”

“I need you,” he aimed his gaze at her and then at Dig, “and John to get me out of here.”

Felicity scoffed. “Oliver, how on earth do you propose that? You’re a criminal. You can’t just…walk out of here.”

“No, but with all of your help, I can. There’s no one who knows the Bratva like I do. And there’s no one who knows how to work computers like you. You can find the location quicker than any of the FBI agents that will be working for hours to just find one clue. I’ll need you to―”

“There are literally two other people in the room, Ollie. Can Dig and I do anything or is it just you and Felicity gazing into each other’s eyes?”

He clearly chose to ignore the last part of that sentence. “I’m gonna need my suit.”

“Good luck, cuz they took the one at the house.”

“They never did find my lair.”

Thea groaned and turned away. “Of course. Okay, Roy and I will go get the suit. We’ll take Ellie. And any other things you need. Weapons? Like…guns? Arrows?”

“I’ll give you a list. Dig―”

“I’ll find a way out of here.”

“And I’ll find Annie.” Felicity worked up a smile. “Got it.”

“Thank you. All of you.” He stood up and looked around the room. “I’ll just stay here. Like William said―”

“He’s grieving and he’s angry. That’s not a good combination.”

“But he’s that way because of me. I brought this darkness into their lives and he’s angry at me because of that. There’s no changing that, Felicity. I’ve tried, but…” he sucked in shaky breath. “There’s nothing that I can say or do that is going to make him feel any differently. He believes that I killed his mom, and that I’m responsible for this too. Maybe up on the witness stand I can defend myself and tell people that I killed in self defense…but this? I can’t, Felicity. There’s nothing to tell William or show William that he’s going to believe.”

“We honestly don’t have time for me to say something that will drastically change your mind. But I’m going to say this.” She put her hand on his arm and stepped up close to him. “We are not in this situation because of you. It’s because of the Bratva. They are at fault right now, and no matter what your ticked off son says, it’s them we need to channel our anger at. Not at you. Okay?” When he nodded, she pulled away and clapped her hands. “Okay. Let’s go. Thea, call me. No, actually don’t. Wait.” She grabbed his arm again as an idea hit her. “What about the Flash? He can do a lot of things, and he’s fast enough that he could scan the entire city before I even put a finger―”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’? Even if you had a falling out, don’t you think he’d come out of hidey hole for this one?”

“I mean ‘no’ in the sense that he’s incapable of being a speedster at the moment. He couldn’t help even if he wanted to, and I’m sure he’d like to.”

Well, that was off the table. Felicity glanced at the clock. They had three minutes left before people would barge in here with questions. Questions that this…team would be answering on their own. Everything needed to be mapped out by then. “Oliver, write down everything you need. Including directions. We don’t really know where this.”

He took a seat and grabbed a pen and paper. Thea read over his shoulder, and after a few seconds, an expletive came out and she slapped his face. “Oliver Queen!”

“What?”

“That’s where your lair is?”

“Speedy, be quiet. You’re not helping in any secretive factors, so shut up. That’s where it is. End of story.”

“I ran a club there for three years and I didn’t know?”

He muttered a, “Sorry”, before continuing his writing. In thirty seconds, he handed the paper to Thea. “You’ll have to look around in there for a few things. Maybe look them up in the inventory. Don’t touch or look at anything you don’t need to look at. There’s no safeguards and I don’t need you stumbling on anything you don’t need to find.”

“Oh, that makes me feel really good.”

“Just go.” Oliver waved his hand. “It’d make me feel better knowing that something’s being done.”

“The good news is that things are being done.” The door opened and Captain Lance stepped in. Thea cast him a glare before leaving the room. “First of all, let me say that I am so sorry for what’s happening right now. I could never have imagined that this would happen. So I’m sorry that we didn’t think that it would. Anyways, we’re doing all that we can to find her.”

“It’s not gonna be enough.” Oliver stood up and walked to the cop, his eyes steely. “Nothing’s gonna be enough unless I help.”

“You can help by giving the search party information. You’re our best bet for that.”

“I’m talking about the skills that I have.”

He scoffed. “Absolutely not. That’s called letting a criminal roam free in the streets. No one’s gonna let that happen. You’ll give information, but that’s it.”

“Quentin―”

“Don’t say anything else. I’m already going to be putting extra security on all of you. No one’s going out of a guard’s sight. Maybe three of them.”

Good thing Thea left already. Felicity forced herself not to smirk but couldn’t help but share a look with Oliver. “Mr. Lance, I can assure you that I am not a threat. I am, however, in need of a major pee break, and I have a little bit of a problem with my, uh, monthly flow. Not to be graphic, but I forgot my purse in the car and I am in major need of something, to, uh, stop it.”

Diggle muttered an “Oh my God” while Oliver covered his mouth and turned away. Lance’s eyebrows stayed high as he stared at her, and then nodded. “Okay. Go do whatever you need to do. You’re lucky I have daughters.”

“Then I’m sure you know what I’m going through. Plus, I have pretty bad cramps right now which is not helping with any of this. Thank you, Mr. Lance.” She left the room and headed straight to the car where she left her tablet. And absolutely zero tampons. Thank goodness that happened last week. She took one of the back doors and ran to the van. A lone paparazzi guy spotted her and strode over. Great. Just the person she wanted to see.

“Miss Smoak, can I ask you a few questions?”

“Ah, no thank you, sir. We’re kind of in a family crisis at the moment and I don’t really have time to―”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

She slung her purse over her shoulder and slammed the door. “No.”

“I think you have something to tell me.”

Time to start walking. Now. Felicity’s heels clicked on the pavement as she ran to the door. The man didn’t follow her, but he continued to yell questions.

“Are you now a part of the Queen family? Are you and Oliver secretly married? What about the kids? Will you stay on as their nanny if Oliver is sentenced? Or will you adopt them?” His questions faded away when Felicity slammed the door and leaned against it. These people were figuring it out, weren’t they? They knew how much she cared for the family. Could that be used against her or them in the future?

You can’t think about that right now. Annie Queen needed her magic fingers, not her spiraling head that liked to spiral a lot these days. Felicity snuck down the hall and entered a bathroom. She took a seat on the tile floor and opened her tablet. They left Annie and Raisa at home at eight thirty. The video started at two thirty. Meaning…Felicity gulped. She could’ve been missing since eight thirty-five. And no one would’ve known.

If they found Annie, how much trauma would she have to deal with the rest of her life? On top of everything else that had happened. Felicity dropped her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “God, wherever she is, keep her safe. Please.”

                                               *******

“I’d seen pictures of this place.” Ellie looked up at the ‘Verdant’ sign as Roy pulled the car into the empty parking lot. “But I never imagined it could hold a lair.”

“Me neither.” Thea stepped out of the car and led the way to the side door. She unlocked it, and hurried down the hallway to a steel door with a keycode. “When I bought the place several years ago, Ollie told me the basement was flooded, and he installed a lock on the door so that drunk people would find their way down there and drown. I always believed him. Turns out he was running a secret organization right under me while we went five years without speaking.” She rolled her eyes as she typed in the code Oliver wrote down. “Typical Ollie.”

Ellie went first. What would she find down here? She’d imagined a place filled with weapons and darkness. And it was dark. Until Roy flipped the lights on. They lit up the room as computers started up. “This was not what I was picturing.” She walked to the middle of the room and spun around, taking in the sights. “At. All.” Her dad created all this? Never had she viewed him as someone who built things. Sure, he could put together a few Playmobile sets but that was it. This…he’d built a Batman cave down here, complete with pictures of their family by the computers. He’d been down here after he came back from the island, because the picture that they took at the gala was sitting in the middle of several other family photos.

Roy read off the list of devices they needed to get. “What the heck is a taser arrow? How is that a thing?”

“I don’t know but that’s what Ollie said to get. Five of them. So maybe try not to hurt yourself with it, okay?”

“I see the arrows here…oh wow.” Ellie stood in front of the glass case, her eyes glued on the suit. She’d seen the pictures of her dad in a suit, but never up close. This was different than the one that the feds found in the bedroom. This had more holsters and more shine to it. Even on the mannequin it looked majestic. “Y’know, I remember reading about the hood. It happened to be a night I was mad at Daddy because he was two hours late picking me up from dance. And the past five years…he’s gone all the time, and he’s missed birthdays and pick-up times and left during dinner. I was always so mad at him but now I realize…that he was saving someone’s life.”

“And looking mighty cool while doing it.” Roy whistled. “Wowsa. Maybe I should volunteer to become a vigilante.”

“Not funny. Ellie, take the suit off and pack it in this box.” Thea twirled the bow around. “Ollie said that this thing breaks down, but I’m not sure―oh.” She set the now small bow in the box. Ellie folded the suit and set it on top.

“Is that all we need?”

“I got the tasers and the…” Roy held up a bunch of little arrows. “Baby arrows?”

“Flachettes, according to this.”

Ellie walked around the lair, checking out all the things that looked weird. Some of the stuff had to be from a movie. To the right of her dad’s glass case, there was something similar covered by a sheet. This was definitely from a creepy movie. And just like the dumb person on the screen, she reached up and pulled it down. “Holy crap.”

“Shut the front door.” Roy came to stand by her. “That’s the Flash’s suit.”

“One of them, probably.” She touched the suit and grinned. “I wish Daddy let us in on the secret because the Flash is pretty amazing.”

“Red is so much cooler than green. But don’t tell your dad that.”

“Guys…” they turned at Thea’s voice. She leaned over a computer, her eyes wide. “I think I figured out who the Flash is. Or was. I’m not so sure.”

“Is he hot?”

“I’m married. I can’t say if he is or not. But he’s…good looking.”

“Dear God.” Ellie glanced at Thea, and then at Roy. “That’s Barry Allen.”

“Either that or a doppelganger.” When the ladies shot him looks, Roy shrugged. “What? I know things.”

“The weird things apparently,” Ellie muttered. “That’s Felicity’s best friend. And there’s no way that she knows.”

“And we’re going to keep it that way.” Thea shut off the computer and turned away from it. “Ollie told me not to touch anything that could be important, and this was why. And it also explains why Felicity said that she got the job so easily. She knew Barry, Barry told Oliver that he knew a nanny, and Ollie trusted him.”

“Because they worked together.”

“Okay, you two. Let’s move past our freaking out and go. You’re going to be taking the car; I’m gonna take the motorcycle.” Roy winked at Ellie. “I’ve always wanted to ride one, and I think that Oliver’s gonna need that.”

Thea sighed and tossed the bag over her shoulder. She put her hand on Ellie’s back and steered her to the exit. “Ordinarily I would yell at you, but we’ve got a niece to find. Well, Felicity’s got Annie to find. And as soon as she does, Ollie needs to go.”

                                                *******

“It’s been four hours. What if she’s dead by now?” Piper cried against Oliver. It had been like this since they put him in an interrogation room and gave the Queens permission to go in there and talk to him. He had provided all the information that he could and now, until Felicity found something, he had to just sit here and try to calm his kids down. Which wasn’t working, because he wasn’t being convincing.

“We’re gonna find her, Piper, I promise.”

“What if she’s dead? What if she dies?”

“She’s not gonna die, Piper.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Sweetheart…” Oliver put his hands on the back of her head. “I know that because I have faith. It’s not a lot, because I’m still learning, but I do have it. I have enough to have faith that Annie will come back to us. I don’t know how, but she’s gonna come back. Okay?”

“Usually Felicity does that speech.”

“Well,” he kissed her forehead and smiled. “She’s started to rub off on me.”

                                                    *******

“Miss Smoak?” The guard waved his hand to request Felicity to remove her earbuds. “The expletives are getting a little out of hand. Is your favorite cook losing that bad on MasterChef?”

“Oh, you have no idea, sir, so shut up.” She put the earbuds in and switched back to her other screen. After four hours of searching, her eyelids hurt from staring at the computer for the entire time, only glancing up when one of the kids came into the room or the annoying guard asked her questions like that one. She told him the truth; he had no idea how this was. How much she wanted to throw her tablet across the room and smash it into the wall.

All they had―her and the police―was that Annie had been taken at ten o’ three in the morning. And they got that from Raisa. Four hours of typing and contacting every dark web artist that she knew and they couldn’t find anything. Whoever did this was good.

Typical of the Russian mafia. Of course they would…“Oh, God.”

“Ma’am, do you want me to―”

“No, shut up. Just shut up for five seconds, will you? All I need is like ten seconds without you talking. Which I realize contradicts my last sentence. I need to go.” She stood up and glared at the man who stood up also. “Back away, buddy.”

“I’m assigned to keep you here. Your…whoever is an assassin.”

“And an assassin is the only person who is going to get Annie Queen home. So move away.”

“Miss Smoak.” The man’s hand reached towards his walkie-talkie. “You need to calm down or I’m going to call this in. You’re staying here. End of discussion.”

“Fine.” She slammed her hand on the table and dropped back to her seat. In ten seconds, she had the walkie talkie communications down. With a sweet smile, she stood up and walked to the window. The sun had set an hour ago. “Sir, I’ve only lived in Starling for several months. What is that building there?”

“The really tall one?”

“Yes. My eyes hurt, and I can’t really get a clear look at it. I know it’s stupid, but I need to take my mind off everything and MasterChef doesn’t work right now so I need to think about―”

He swooped down next to her. “It’s Malcolm Merlyn’s building.”

“Ah, thank you. So much.” She spun and slammed her fist into his jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. “Dear God that hurt.” But the pain in her hand couldn’t be thought of now, even though she was pretty sure she just broke it. Felicity took the keys from the guard’s carabiner, grabbed her tablet from the table, and left the room, making sure to lock the door. She snuck down the hall to Oliver’s room. She smiled at the two guards who apparently didn’t realize that she’d been regulated to seclusion for the past few hours, and slipped in. Piper and Harper sat in there with him, a book of some sort between them. Math.

“Oliver.” She whispered his name. He lifted his head, and caught the urgency in her eyes. With a few words, the girls took the book and left. She disabled the security cameras and recordings and took a seat. “I’m gonna need you to tell me everything you know.”

“Okay, but you need to tell me what I know first.”

“The deal. The deal that Adam Donner put on the table.”

His forehead wrinkled. Either she was crazy, he had too much heartbreak for his life, or she was so on point that he didn’t even know what to think. Felicity leaned forward. “There’s a connection there. I can’t find any information anywhere. But hold on.” As Oliver leaned back in the chair, the exhaustion wearing him thin, she grabbed his hands. “There has to be a connection there, Oliver. Something happened between the government or whatever. I was just thinking…why can’t I find anything? None of my friends can either. That means the Bratva is good. And not good in that way. They’re―”

“The FBI came to see me.” Oliver’s eyes widened. He pulled his hand away as his face went white. “Oh, God, Felicity. It was right under my nose and I didn’t see it.”

“What was?”

“They…they wanted to know. About the Bratva.” His mouth opened but he couldn’t form the words. Just shake his head. Felicity whipped out her tablet and started entering any and all the information that Oliver had just told her. They’d been played. Oliver had been anyways. Whatever had happened, this was―

“William was right. This is all my fault.” His voice cracked on the last word. “I gave them what they wanted. I told them every bit of information I knew so that when the time came, they could out-smart me. Annie’s gonna die because of me.”

“No, no, Oliver. She is not going to die. And it’s not―”

“Felicity, stop it.” He kept himself away from her. “There’s no way we’re gonna find her. Don’t you understand? It’s over. A man came to the prison saying he was the director of the FBI. I believed him, and after a little coercing, they got me to tell them everything I knew about the Bratva. And it was them. They didn’t knew what I all know, but after that day, they did. No one is going to be able to find her.”

“But you didn’t tell them about me, did you?”

“They know about you. I’m sure they know. They know everything. No one is gonna―”

She stopped listening. Oliver was spiraling. Rightfully so. But that couldn’t happen. Not after all they’d been through. Not after what she’d done. “Oliver!” That got his attention. “Listen. I just decked a member of the police department. I left him lying in the room they put me in.” Could his eyes get any bigger? “I just committed a crime. And I’m going to commit a bigger crime when Dig and I break you out of here. So don’t you dare give up and start whining. Because I will punch you. Or…something. So sit up, stop crying, and help me for God’s sakes!”

Oliver just stared at her for several heartbeats before he took a deep breath. The sullen expression disappeared almost entirely as he drew himself up. “Okay.” He crossed his arms. “What do I need to do?”

“You need to get prepared to break out of here. Because I’m gonna figure out where their base of operations is.”

“And how are you gonna do that?”

“With my magic fingers. Now shut up. When did they come to the prison?”

“June fifteenth. The day we kissed.”

“I need information about what I don’t know.” She cast him a small smile before focusing all her attention on finding information. “Sure the Flash can’t help?”

“He’s injured.”

Her fingers flew across the screen as she drew up information from that day. “At three twelve, a man by the name Fred Alexander visited. Ring a bell?”

“No, but is there a picture?”

“Just lots of…got it. Security cameras come in handy every one thousand years.” She turned the tablet towards Oliver, who nodded. “Perfect. And last October, a Fredark Alexia was a suspect in a murder in Italy. The man who was killed was…ah.” She showed Oliver the picture, smiling when he looked at the tablet and then up at her. “That’s where you were, right? Before you came home and I yelled at you?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how I didn’t recognize him.”

“That’s because he can change people.”

“What do you mean ‘he can change people’?”

Felicity continued to read information that only she could find. “He’s actually a man by the of…” she scanned the document written by a woman named Amanda Waller. “Gendark Paul. What a boring last name. Anyways, this man is highly renowned throughout the world for being able to assume other people’s identities. He calls himself Human Target. And this ‘Gendark’ is a member of the Russian Mafia.”

“So basically he’s―”

“Don’t ask questions I’m not going to be able to answer. I’m tracking the phone that was last associated with him, according to A.R.G.U.S. Don’t ask what that is; clearly you haven’t met Dig’s girlfriend. Alright. Five days ago, this phone was deposited somewhere in Starling.”

“No, that’s not Starling. It’s a mile from the mansion.”

“They were spying on us.”

Oliver muttered something under his breath in Russian. “B―The Flash has been injured for a month. They’ve been spying since then.”

Tingles ran down her fingers. Felicity took a deep breath. She could not feel fear right now. All that mattered now was finding Annie. The panic could be dealt with later and everything that came with it. She refocused on her tablet. “I can possibly find a hide-out of some sort where we can find Annie. Just hold on for a few minutes, okay?” God, help me. They needed some help, and the best place to get it now was from up above. Her magical fingers could only do so much. Please help me.

Ten minutes later, she pumped her fist in the air. “I got something. I have no idea what it is, but it’s something. And all signs point to the Bratva being stationed there. Temporarily.” When Oliver planted his hands on the table, she stopped him. “Oliver.”

“No, Felicity, I need to go.”

“I know, but…” she glanced towards the door. “What about all those trained CIA agents or whatever they are out there? Why not tell them and get help?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because if the Bratva even smells something wrong, they’ll kill my daughter. I can’t trust anyone else but myself. I’m the one who knows how to take down a member of the Bratva because I was trained by them. Whoever is out there was not. Meaning I’m Annie’s best shot at getting out of there alive.” Oliver stood up. “Get Dig. I need to go.”

Clearly they weren’t negotiating it, and even if they were, she didn’t have the energy to argue with an angry man like him. Felicity got to her feet and opened the door. A guard stood there with a Taser. Before she could scream, a hand slapped over her mouth and pushed her down as a fist went over her head. The man fell to the ground. Oliver jerked Felicity back up and took her out into the hall. “Get Diggle. Now.”

“O-O-Okay.” She scrambled to get her tablet open but before she could send the message to their bodyguard, he appeared in the hallway. His gun glinted in the light.

“Let’s go! We’ve got twenty seconds to get out of here!”

Oliver grabbed Felicity’s arm and squeezed. “I’ve got a com in my suit. You need to get one of your own and get the frequency to work with mine. That way you can tell me where to go. Got it?”

The fear and panic grabbed ahold of her. She was sending the only man she wanted to love out into an unknown territory, knowing that he might not make it back alive. In an hour, two Queens could be dead. Because she gave him an address. When Oliver yelled her name, she nodded. That’s all she could manage. She let go of his hand and watched him run down the hall just as the SWAT team swarmed her. She raised her hands, muttering under her breath as they pulled her hands behind her back. At least Oliver got away. It would take him a while to get out of the busy area and head towards the location, meaning she had a while to convince the cops to let her go.

Because that was her life now.

                                               ********

“I might be a bodyguard but I’m not very well suited for this.”

“I know, Dig, but you gotta get me out of here.” Oliver drew up at a corner and peeked around. No one. “We’re good.” He cocked the gun―the non-lethal one―and stepped into the open. They had two more hallways to go, and then he could go find Annie. If the cops didn’t get Felicity. His heart tugged. He’d left her there to get arrested. No way she wouldn’t be. Diggle too. His sister as well if they found out she went to get his suit.

“John―”

“Don’t think about it, Oliver. We’ll deal with it. But first you need to get Annie back.” Diggle took the lead as they ran down the hall. “Once we get out, Roy’s there with a motorcycle. The suit’s in the back.”

They came around the corner and were met with armed men. Oliver pushed Diggle to the side and fired the tranquilizer bullets into six of them and took the last two down before they could fire a shot. When his friend took a moment to just stare at him, Oliver shrugged. “There’s a reason why the Bratva didn’t slice my head off the first day. I could do stuff.”

“And you’re confident you can get Annie back with those skills?”

“There’s no other option.”

“There’s the SWAT team. And the FBI.”

“I can’t trust anyone else, Diggle. For all I know, these people here could be working for the Bratva.” And with the newest information about ‘Human Target’ he didn’t know who to trust. This man could become anyone; could be become Felicity? One of his kids? After seeing what Barry could do, and what this other speedster could do, he’d stopped doubting the impossible. The idea that someone could transform into other people didn’t seem crazy anymore. “I need to get my daughter back, and I’m going to. No matter what the cost.” Annie deserved a life that her mother had been denied. Even if it meant turning himself over to the mafia, which in turn meant ending his life. Tonight, she would come back. And she would be alive.

Oliver pushed open the door and stepped into the dark alley. Roy stood next to the motorcycle, a gun in his hands. Ooh, boy. He would be dead before he even left. “Hey, Roy. Don’t shoot.”

“Bike’s ready; I filled it up with gas, and your suit and bow are here too.”

“Thank you.” Oliver slung the quiver over his back and set the bow on the front. “I need you two to get Felicity out of those handcuffs. I need her to get Annie. You have a good twenty minutes to do that.”

“Got it. Now go. And Oliver.” Roy sent him a hard look. “Both of you get back here in one piece, okay? I can’t handle anymore death and neither can my wife.”

He couldn’t promise anything, but he nodded before sliding the helmet on. Oliver flipped the bike on and roared towards the street. Three SWAT vehicles pulled out behind him. He smirked. Motorcycles could go twice as fast as trucks, and even with the entire city in lockdown, he could get out of here.

And get his daughter back.

                                                           ******

“You do know that you just committed a crime that can send you to prison?”

“Very well aware, Captain Lance, but if you haven’t noticed lately, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get Annie back and you clearly are not. So I, along with some others, got Oliver out of here so he could go save the person you are unwilling to save!” The anger heated up at the end. Felicity slammed her handcuffed hands down on the table. “You aren’t going to get Annie Queen back without Oliver Queen, and he’s more skilled than anyone else in this entire place. Watch the videos. Annie’s best chance is her father.”

Lance crossed his arms. “Says the person who just committed a felony.”

“I don’t care!” Felicity kept her hands still; she knew from Oliver’s struggle that the hands didn’t move much and it looked like weakness. “Don’t you see? I don’t care. I’ve put my entire life on the line for a year now to save the Queens. Do you think I’m just going to sit in a room with a guard and watch MasterChef while a little girl is kidnapped by the mafia? Do I look like someone who is going to do nothing? I have skills. Dig has skills. And Oliver has skills that are a heck of lot more dangerous than anyone else. So we broke him out.”

“Dad!” The door flew open and Laurel stepped in. Lance rolled his eyes.

“No. No, you are not going to be involved in this.”

“Yes, I am. Because I am Oliver’s friend. The one I kissed back in grade school, remember? And I’m a lawyer. And even though I’m not on that case that caused Annie to get kidnapped, I’m on this case. And you’re releasing Felicity.” She slapped down a piece of paper Felicity could only guess would tell Lance to take the cuffs off.

“You can’t do this, Laurel.”

“Yes, I can.” She stepped up to her father. “I will because I’m going to do what’s right. And if you wanted to do the same, you’d take those handcuffs off Felicity so that she can get Oliver to wherever he needs to be. Now.”

Felicity closed her eyes when Lance swore and leaned over the table to take the metal off. “Thank you, Laurel.”

“We all need her back, and some of us realize it might be by the means of some vigilantes.”

“I’m not exactly a vigilante.”

Lance scoffed. “You are now, Miss Smoak. Like it or not.”

Not anything she wanted to hear right now. “Okay, I need computers. And a com device. Oliver has one, and that way I can communicate with him.” Felicity rubbed her wrists. Thank goodness for being out of those. How did Oliver ever handle it? Besides the fact that he could hide discomfort better than anyone. She glanced at the two Lances who just stood there. “Like now.”

“I know where we can get everything you need. And Dad,” Laurel turned around. “Call off the SWAT teams. Let Oliver do his stuff.”

“Just because he kissed you in grade school does not mean you are entitled to put all your faith in him.”

“No, but Felicity believes in him.” Laurel flashed her a smile. “And that’s good enough for me.”

They left the room together. Laurel led the way. They passed several mouth-open people. Felicity ignored them. She needed a computer. And five minutes later she got one, and a com. She programmed it to Oliver’s and turned it on. “Oliver? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah. I’m heading towards the location.”

“Yep, I see you.” She glanced back when Ellie and William entered the room. “Can I send you directly to the place?”

“I have my suit on if that’s what you’re wondering.” The faint echo of the motorcycle reached her ears. “They let you out.”

“Turn left on West Boulevard. You’re ten minutes out. I’ve got a lot of cool recordings going on for whoever’s there at the building. They’ll never see you. And yes, I’m out. Obviously. Take a right at the intersection.”

There was silence for several minutes. Thea and Diggle joined them in the room, followed by Harper and Clayton. Piper stayed with Roy and Tommy. Felicity continued to give directions, but after a while there were none to give. Only a straight road to the warehouse. When Oliver neared the place, he cleared his throat. “Hey, Felicity?”

She pressed the com further in her ear and leaned forward. “I’m here.”

“I love you.”

She bit her lip to force away the emotions rising in her chest. In her heart. Oliver was saying goodbye. And rightfully so. She knew how dangerous this was. How easily he could be killed or how quickly he would turn himself over to the Bratva in order to save Annie. For so long she’d been hopeful, but for one split second, she needed to be honest with herself. With him. “You want me to tell the kids that?”

“Not right now. Let them believe that everything’s gonna be okay. If something happens…tell them that I’m sorry. And that I love them. Especially William.”

She glanced back at Oliver’s son, his arms crossed, just staring straight at the wall. Every few seconds his jaw twitched as if he were holding the pain back. “Okay. I’ll do that. And Oliver…” she watched as the bike got closer to the destination. “I love you too. But please, for all of our sakes, do everything you can to get back here. Because…oh, God.” She was going to cry in front of everyone. She lowered her voice. “Because I wanna marry you.”

Felicity could almost see his smile, but he switched personalities. Just like that because it was completely normal to him. “I’m here. What are you seeing on the computers?”

“Readings are telling me that they’re in the middle. There’s a…okay, Oliver. You’re going to have to listen carefully. And I can tell you that this is definitely the place.”

                                               ********

Standing outside the building, Oliver braced for the inevitable bad news. “What’s wrong?”

“The whole area is rigged with explosives.”

He swore. “Of course there is. Because they know how much I hate explosives.”

“Well, they haven’t met me yet. But thanks to some software I borrowed from Lyla, I can tell that the explosives up top are not real. And I was just able to disable the ones on the fire escape. The only problem is getting there.”

The Bratva didn’t know about the newest arrow Cisco designed for him, did they? Oliver locked the arrow in and pulled back the drawstring. “You sure they’re disabled?”

“I’m sure. I’m not getting any readings around here.”

“Hold on.” In three seconds, he landed on the roof and walked to the fire escape. “I’m going in.”

“Do you need my help?”

“Not right now.” All he needed was his head and his bow. And a heck of a lot of help from the miracle giver. Oliver cracked open the fire escape and slid in. Everything needed to be done at the Flash’s pace in order to keep himself undetected. Felicity’s fake video footage would only last so long. Oliver crept along the corridor, firing tranq arrows at each guard he came across, catching them as they fell to stifle the noise.

He couldn’t snap anyone’s neck. If he wanted to give himself any hope of winning the trial, he couldn’t kill anyone.

Though not making it out was becoming less of an option and more of a reality.

Just as long as Annie made it out of here.

Oliver continued to move towards the middle of the building. In the distance, men were talking.

And then he heard Annie’s voice. His heart clenched, and then erupted into a million pieces of anger.

“Jack is the prettiest dog in the world so shut up!”

“If you don’t shut up young lady, we’ll gag you again. Or maybe I’ll just shoot you.”

She screamed. A gun cocked. Oliver clutched the bow and ran towards the sound of his daughter’s cries.

“I’ve got a―” Oliver hurled a flachette into the man’s throat before he could speak any further. He jumped over the body and continued running. Annie’s screaming increased.

“No! You can’t kill Daddy! Don’t hurt my Daddy!”

They’d found him. Oliver dropped back against the wall to catch his breath. He slid an arrow into the drawstring. Get Annie out. That’s all that mattered. His body could handle a lot, but his daughter couldn’t. Oh God the trauma she would deal with the rest of her life because of this. I’m sorry, sweetie.

He fired another flachette at the next assassin and peeked around the corner. Annie sat in a chair, her hands behind her, staring up Anatoly who aimed a gun at her head. Bile rose in his throat. Oliver raised the bow to fire at the gun, but someone clipped his knees. He fell to the ground and lost the bow. A knife pressed against his throat.

“Twitch, and your daughter is dead.”

“Let her go and you can do whatever you want with me.”

“We’ll see.” The man yanked Oliver up and dragged him down the stairs to the open area where Annie sat. She swung her head around and yelled, “Daddy!” just as Anatoly fired a shot at her leg.

“No!” Oliver screamed louder than Annie as the bullet found it’s place. He slammed his elbow into the man behind him and rushed forward.

A gun fired.

Pain exploded in his abdomen.

Oliver collapsed to the ground next to Annie, who screamed his name. But he couldn’t get up. The bullet had rendered him helpless.

“Don’t hurt Daddy!” Despite her own wound, Annie’s words continued to come, but they’d become shriller, as if each word was her way of expressing her pain. “Get away from him!”

Oliver closed his eyes and tried to steady his breath. Get up. He had to get up or they were both dead. But he couldn’t.

“Let’s get rid of this.” Anatoly yanked away his com and smashed it.

C’mon, Oliver. Felicity’s face flashed in his brain. Life is precious. And you should want so much more than this. He did want so much more, didn’t he? Just to see his family happy. One way or another. It starts with not losing hope in yourself. He could do this. Even with a bleeding-out stomach.

“Don’t…touch her.”

Anatoly laughed. “What are you going to do about it?”

He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, biting back the cries of pain that tried to come out as the fire spread throughout his body. “You know what I can do. So don’t. Touch. Her.”

“We had a deal, Mr. Queen. You continue to work for me, and I leave your family alone. You broke that.” The gun cocked again. Anatoly raised it to Annie’s head. “I might be the one holding the gun but you’re the one who fired it.”

His hand squeezed around the trigger. Oliver scrounged up the last remaining bit of energy and jumped to his feet in front of Annie. As a gun fired from above, he flung a flachette into Anatoly’s neck. The bullet crashed into his stomach, knocking him backwards, but the man who’d killed so many people―including the woman most precious to him―fell to the ground, an arrow through his neck.

Oliver grabbed Anatoly’s gun as it fell and fired a bullet at the sniper in the rafters, and then at the remaining assassins in the room. As each of them fell, the life was sucked out of him. He couldn’t stop it. Neither could he call for help. The com was Felicity’s way of tracking him. There was nothing. No option but to gather Annie in his arms and try to make it all the way to the court house. That was the only place with help. With his family.

“D-D-Daddy.” Annie cried. “D-Daddy, my leg hurts.”

He dropped the gun and reached for the knife at his hip. “I know, sweetie.” He needed to get her help. She would bleed out first. Yeah, she would bleed out first. He could make it, but Annie might not. Right? She’s not gonna make it if you don’t get her there. “B-But don’t worry.” He slit the rope off her wrists and lifted her into his arms. Her body pressed against his bullet wounds, stifling the blood. Oliver closed his eyes for a second and let his head drop to her shoulder. Because of his daughter, he was gonna make it to the court house.

With her legs wrapped around his waist, and her little body pressed against him, she would keep him from bleeding to death.

                                                            *******

“I can’t.” Felicity put her hands on her face. “I can’t handle this anymore.” She glanced up at Ellie, who kept her hand moving on her back, her face crinkled with worry. “When did they go out to look?”

“Half an hour ago. And no, there’s been nothing.”

“Maybe they were killed.”

“Felicity, you can’t―”

“Ellie, I can’t be positive anymore. There’s nothing left in my heart for that.” The screams that had come over the coms still echoed in her ears. And then the ‘crunch’. That hurt the worst. They lost communication with Oliver. There weren’t any trackers in the suit or the bike. They knew nothing, and until they had contact from the SWAT team, there would be no confirmation.

“I think we need to prepare for the worst.” William sat in the corner, arms crossed, his eyes glassy. “Maybe I’m not the best at this whole vigilante thing, but it sounded like they were both shot.”

“Head shots make people go pretty quick. Some are a little longer.” Felicity winced when the pain in the kids’ faces grew. “Not helping, but at least we know that―”

“I think I’d rather live my life knowing that they died quickly.” William stood up and walked to the desk. With his arms crossed and brow furrowed, he looked so much like his father, down to the hair. He glanced at Felicity. “Cuz if they got shot anywhere else, they’d bleed to death.”

“At least they weren’t alone.”

Felicity braced for the bitter comment that would come from William, but instead his voice cracked when he whispered, “Yeah.” It wasn’t anything but still it was something. Maybe Oliver’s wish would come true; in death, there would be forgiveness. She reached over and squeezed William’s hand. He held on for a few heartbeats before letting go.

“I think―”

Someone ran down the hall, followed by several armed men and women. Felicity pushed herself up and followed Ellie out. “What’s going on?”

“There’s movement on the street!”

William met Felicity’s eyes. Without saying anything, she knew what he was thinking. Asking. Begging. Needing it to be his dad or his sister.

It wasn’t possible. But then again, they’d all prayed for a miracle, right? Maybe this was it. Felicity pushed her way through the crowd of guns and people to get to the front of the pack. She ran down the steps but stopped at the bottom to collect herself for one split second. The police force rushed past her, guns raised, all pointing at Oliver, who walked towards them, one agonizing step at a time, carrying Annie. Even from the distance, she could see how the little girl clung to him.

Ellie let out a cry. “They’re alive.”

As the SWAT team surrounded Oliver, Felicity ran to him. Blood smeared on his face, and with each step, he grimaced. For a second, he swayed, but regained his balance. “F-Felicity…” her name came in a gasp. He pried Annie’s hands away from his neck and began to turn her around. The little girl screamed, and clawed against him.

“No! No! I want to stay here!”

“No, honey.” Oliver shook his head. “You need to go to Felicity. She’s…she’s gonna…” he lost his breath for a moment. “She’s gonna get you help.” She continued to scream as Oliver pulled her away and transferred her to Felicity. A little hand slapped against her face; blood smeared onto her bare arms.

Felicity let out a cry as the blood dripped down to her fingers, and then to the ground raised his hands in the air per the police officer’s request. As he lowered himself to both knees, she looked down at him. He wasn’t all there. His head lolled to the side as someone cuffed his hands behind him. Like the criminal they thought he was.

“Please…he’s hurt.” Her words got lost in the mess of handcuffs and Annie’s crying. She cupped her hand on the back of the little girl’s head and pulled her close. An ambulance backed up towards them as several medical personnel ran towards the group. To Annie.

Two police officers pulled Oliver to his feet. He swayed, but took four steps. As he moved into the light, Felicity screamed. Blood spread up and down his jacket, and down to the green pants. Red pants, now. He’d been shot. In the stomach.

And he still managed to get Annie home.

Just like he said he would.

It took two seconds for someone to realize the injuries that the alleged criminal suffered from, but it was fifteen seconds too late. Just as the woman called to stop, Oliver’s knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground.

“Oliver!” She could do nothing to help. Annie refused to let go, even as the blood continued to pool around them. Medical personnel got to Oliver first, their devices ready to perhaps keep him from dying right on the sidewalk, the courthouse’s lights the only way to see anything.

But it was William who was the first Queen to get to him.

The boy who had refused to visit his father in prison for five months; the boy who called his father a murderer was the one who knelt over Oliver’s body, screaming ‘Daddy’ over and over again.