Teamwork

Chapter 8 - Missing

Oliver spent almost ten minutes pacing the foundry floor before he finally gave in and texted Diggle. He knew his partner was keeping an eye on Felicity and he appreciated it more than Diggle probably knew. I'll have to make sure and to thank him soon. Oliver thought as he texted his the other man.

Is Felicity still safe at home? – Oliver

She hasn't left all night. Nothing interesting happening. – Diggle

Can you please go check and make sure she's okay. – Oliver

Sure man, you okay? – Diggle

Please just check! – Oliver

Diggle knew something was going on with Oliver. He didn't normally just tell him to go check on someone when he knew Digg was keeping an eye on them. He climbed out of his car and walked to the front door of Felicity's apartment building. He could just imagine what Felicity was going to say to him when he knocked on her door. She would yell at him for being there, get onto him for sitting outside her apartment, and then probably invite him in for coffee. He walked up the stairs and down the hall to her front door.

He quickly pulled his gun as he approached her apartment door as he saw that it was pushed closed but not latched. He slowly stepped inside, keeping an eye out for anything that was out of place, for someone that didn't belong. As he slowly stepped into Felicity's apartment he noticed that the alarm was turned off properly.Whoever came in here either did it after she came in and turned off the alarm, or found a way around it Diggle thought as he moved further into her apartment. Stepping through the kitchen he noticed her cell phone, purse, and tablet still sitting there. What didn't belong was the gallon of Mint Chip ice cream and spoon that was on the floor. As he continued to clear her apartment his heart slowly dropped as he came to realize that Felicity wasnotin her apartment where he left her. Felicity, where are you? Diggle thought before he realized that he still had to tell Oliver. Oh man! Oliver's going to kill me! 

Oliver was pacing the lair waiting for Diggle to get back to him. He had a sinking feeling that something incredibly bad had happened to Felicity and waiting to find out was driving him mad. He finally made the decision that he wasn't going to wait, he would just head out there himself, and changed into his Arrow suit. He was just strapping on his full quiver when he got the call from Diggle.

"Oliver, man, she's gone." Diggle said quickly, knowing he was about to get an earful from Oliver.

"What do you mean she's gone? I thought you were watching her!" Oliver almost yelled. He had trusted Diggle to keep her safe, and now she was gone.

"I'm sorry man. She didn't come out the front and no one suspicious went in either. They must have gone out the back." Diggle responded. He felt horrible because it was his job to watch and make sure Felicity stayed safe tonight. Instead she had been abducted right from under his nose.

"I'm on my way. Be there in less than five minutes." Oliver said very curtly. 

Diggle started searching the apartment while he waited for Oliver. He knew that his partner was furious with him, and rightly so. However, no one could be more upset with himself than he was.I can't believe that I let this happen. They were counting on me and I let them down. It's my fault that Felicity was taken.

As Oliver pulled up to Felicity's apartment on his Ducati he was doing everything that he could to keep his anger under control. He quickly climbed the fire escape right outside her living room window, climbing though to see Diggle closely examining the front door.

"Diggle." Oliver called to his partner.

"Oliver, someone broke in and disabled the alarm. They reset it and hid in the apartment until she got home. Looks like maybe in the bedroom as the lights were on in here and she would have noticed if someone was here before she pulled out the ice cream if they were in the living room or kitchen." Diggle quickly explained what he had found in his search through the apartment, not missing the look of concern and anger on Oliver's face. "I'm sorry man. It's my fault she's gone."

"No." Oliver said, the anger still clear in his voice. "Slade is to blame."

"How do you know Oliver?" Diggle asked, wondering if his partner had information that he hadn't shared yet.

"I just know." Oliver said as he turned to go back out the window. "Call Lance to give him a heads up then meet me at the lair."

Diggle shook his head as Oliver jumped off the fire escape to the streets below. It was obvious that Oliver wasn't taking this well. Of course not, his girl is gone Diggle thought. He pulled his phone out and called Detective Lance. The man answered on the second ring.

"Mr. Diggle, is everything okay?" Lance asked, it was really early in the morning and he was starting to get tired but he fully woke instantly at the man's next words.

"Felicity is missing. She has been taken from her apartment." Diggle explained quickly. "Make sure you are keeping a close eye on Laurel."

"Right. I'm with her now. I'll send some uniforms over to take a look and see what we can find." Lance stated as he walked to Laurel's bedroom door, checking to make sure she was still there, sleeping, where he had left her. "Any idea who took her?"

"Oliver says it was Slade." Diggle explained as he headed back to his car to go back to Verdant.

"Noted. We'll keep our eyes peeled and I'll call you if I hear anything." Lance assured Diggle.

"Thank you Detective." Diggle said before hanging up. He drove quickly back to the lair. He wanted to make sure that Oliver didn't punish himself for Felicity being missing.

As Diggle walked down into the lair he heard Oliver talking to Roy, explaining what had happened and instructing the younger man to keep a very close eye on Thea, Moira, and Walter who were all at the Queen Mansion. Right after he hung up Sara walked into the lair.

"Oliver!" Sara stated, clearly worried. "Dad told me what happened. What can I do to help?"

"Do you know how to work her GPS program and search engines?" Oliver asked. He knew the basics but didn't want to touch Felicity's computers if there was someone more capable of using them.

"Yeah, she's showed me a couple of times." Sara said as she walked to the computers and sat down in Felicity's chair. "Give me a few minutes and I'll see what I can find for you."

Sara started working away at Felicity's computers. She pulled up the program up and accessed Felicity's GPS's. The one in her phone clearly showed that it was still back at her apartment, however, she was having difficulty finding the one in her industrial earing that she always wore. That probably meant that Slade had either found it and destroyed it, or something was blocking the signal. She set the computer to send an alert to all their phones if and when it came on, as well as sending her coordinates.

Turning back to the rest of the Team Sara clearly saw the look of anger on Oliver's face. It was clear that the fact that Felicity was missing was definitely taking a toll on his self-control. If we don't find her soon he's going to turn back into the Hood and start dropping bodies again. 

"Oliver, you need to calm down." Sara said, she knew that pacing around the lair, again, would not get anything accomplished. "You pacing around down here is not going to get us any closer to bringing her home. Is there anything that you can think of that would give us a clue as to where she could have been taken?"

"It's Slade we're talking about here." Oliver said, clenching his fists by his side. He was about to punch something because he was supposed to be able to protect Felicity, instead he is the reason she is missing. "She could be anywhere."

Just as Sara was about to respond to Oliver's words there was a sound from the computer. Sara turned back to the computers, quickly typing and bringing up a couple of screens before turning to Oliver and Diggle again as she spoke.

"I know where Felicity is!"