Arrow: Slade's Return

8

Oliver lunges at Slade like a snake, quick out and back in a flash. When he ran for Slade, Joe stepped in and hit Oliver back, sending the tablet in his left hand onto the ground. Oliver landed on his behind but got back up quickly. Oliver shoots for Joe now. Literally, shoots. He loads his bow and sends an arrow, actually, several arrows to Joe. Whom catches or blocks all of them. Oliver becomes more enraged and runs for Joe. They exchange punches, kicks, and a few whacks with a bow hit Joe in the head. Still, Joe puts up a nasty fight. Meanwhile, Slade stands and watches. Joe grabs Oliver by the chest, spins, and throws him into the cement wall. Oliver lays still on the ground. When he looks up, Slade is standing over him.

"Hurry, kid. Unless you want them both dead." Slade says. Oliver angrily gets up as Slade backs away. He considers running for Slade again, but decides against it, because Joe is near him. Oliver runs in the opposite direction instead, out the door, grabbing the tablet with the video of Laurel on the way. He shoots a grappling arrow into a nearby building.

*****

When Oliver is finished giving the bad news, he joins Felicity on their sofa. There are tears in Jonas's eyes and a crack in his voice when he asks, "Why would he take Lacey? How does he even know who she is?" Everyone assumes it's a rhetorical question and stays silent. "Oliver?" Oliver looks at him with his sad, watery azure eyes. "Do you think she is already dead?" He asks.

"Jonas," Oliver says, "I think if Slade says I still have time to save her, then I still have time to save her." Felicity holds Oliver's hand with both of hers.

"What about Laurel?" Quentin asks. "Are you going to save her?"

"Of course." Oliver says.

"Well how are you going to save both? I mean isn't that the whole point of this? To make you chose one or the other?" Quentin asks. Oliver and Felicity stand and Oliver grips Felicity's warm hand.

"I can save both." Oliver looks at everyone. "I just can't do it alone."

*****

"Let's just hope she still has her cell phone with her and this isn't a trap." Diggle says. Him, Roy, and Thea sit in a black van, Diggle in the driver's seat, Roy in shotgun, and Thea standing with a ducked head in the back. They're looking out the windshield at a vacant house. Diggle in his usual 'no disguise' disguise, Roy in his Arsenal get up, and Thea in her Speedy suit, black and navy blue leather with a blue hood and a black mask. Diggle looks down at the computer sitting in between him and Roy. On the screen, a red dot glows right in front of them on the map Felicity sent.

"Unless Slade physically harmed her, there is no way Lacey would give up her phone." Jonas's voice comes from the ear pieces. They all smile.

"Guys, be careful." Felicity says. "And that goes for you too, Oliver. I know you think your invincible or whatever but you can actually die and that would suck. Trust me, I've thought you were dead multiple times. It doesn't feel great. Well, I'm sure it doesn't feel great for you either, because, ya know, you actually did almost die those few times...." She drifts off when she notices there's been no polite and sweet interruption from her husband.

"Oliver?" Roy asks into the com. No response.

"Quentin?" Jonas asks. No response.

"Dang it." Felicity says. "Their coms are offline. It must have happened when they entered the library where Laurel is."

"Felicity get into those security cameras. We need an eye in there." Diggle orders.

"On it." Felicity's fingers fly across the keyboard of her Mac. "They're down. All of them are down."

"We have no way of communicating. Dang." Diggle says.

"What the heck is going on in that library?" Felicity says, more in the form of a statement than a question.

"Should we go? See what's going on?" Thea asks.

"No." Jonas says. Felicity looks at him to explain. "If you don't save Lacey, no one will. Oliver and Quentin have this. We just need to give them time." Felicity closes her eyes and breaths deeply.

"What do you want us to do, Felicity?" Roy asks. Felicity opens her eyes.

"Get Lacey and bring her home." Felicity and Jonas look at each other. "She has a brother waiting for her."

"Okay." Diggle says. Roy, Thea, and Diggle get out of the van. They walk across the street to the empty house. Weapons in hands, ready to fight anything inside, they open the door and walk in.

*****

Diggle, Roy, and Thea walk into the Queen's mansion with Lacey. When she see's Jonas, she runs into his arms.

"I was so worried about you." Jonas whispers into her ear.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Lacey says. Felicity hugs Diggle, Roy, and Thea.

"You guys are okay. That's good." She says. Thea's forehead wrinkles,

"Still no word from Oliver?" Thea asks.

"No. Their coms are still dead." Jonas says as he breaks from his little sister's embrace. Roy and Diggle frown.

"Should we go?" Diggle asks Felicity.

"Yeah." Felicity looks worried. Diggle looks at Roy.

"We'll bring Oliver and Detective Lance back. Promise." Roy says. He hugs Felicity again and then him and Diggle walk out the door.

*****

The Arrow and Detective Lance enter Starling City Library. Bow drawn back and finger ready to pull the trigger, they comb through the first wing of the library. They run into four guys armed with assault rifles but take them out easily. They comb through the second wing. This time, six guys. It takes a little longer, but the two men succeed at knocking them all out. And lastly, the third wing. "This is a big library." Oliver whispers.

"Oh yeah, you've never been in it, huh? Lived here your whole life and you've never visited the city library." Quentin jokes. Oliver looks at Quentin and smiles. They come up to the middle section of the wing. They sneak behind bookshelves as they hear some of Slade's men talking up ahead.

Laurel, sitting tied to her chair in between two bookshelves, is accompanied by five armed men, one armed Slade Wilson, and a video camera on a tripod. In between the nearby bookshelves are a total of ten other armed men. Oliver and Quentin jump out from behind the bookshelves and fight Slade's men.

One after the other, they kick and punch and shoot. Never to kill, of course. Slade unties Laurel and holds a blade to her throat while Oliver and her father fight to free her. They've knocked out most of the men when Oliver speaks,

"Let her go, Slade." Oliver says as he hits the gun out of a man's hands.

"I don't give up that easy, kid." Slade says. Oliver and Quentin finish fighting the last man and turn to Slade.

"Oliver. Go." Laurel says slowly.

"Let her go." Quentin says.

"Dad, take Oliver home. Now." Laurel says.

"I'm not leaving you, Laurel." Quentin says.

"Two against one, Slade. I like those odds." Oliver says.

"Yes, what a pity, those men. I thought they might last a few minutes longer." Slade says.

"Enough! Slade, let Laurel go." Oliver says. Slade cocks his head.

"Alright." Slade says. He removes his blade from Laurel's neck and pushes her forwards in a swift motion. He runs in the opposite direction. Oliver and Quentin rush to Laurel.

"I'm fine. We gotta get out of here." Laurel says while quickly standing up.

"What's the rush?" Oliver asks.

"There's a bomb." Laurel says. Oliver and Quentin's eyes widen. They start running for the middle wing.

*****

Roy and Diggle get out of their car and run for the library entrance. They're about 30 feet away when the timer hits 0:00.