Teamwork

Chapter 45 - Sparring

Roy punched the training dummy in the lair again and again. He had come here with Felicity so that she had someone to look out for her so she could do whatever it was that she was currently doing and Diggle had things at the Mansion to handle before he would come out and meet them. He was mad, confused, worried, and felt intense guilt at the moment and was trying to channel that into the punches aimed at the dummy in front of him instead of elsewhere.

"Be careful Roy." Felicity said when she noticed how hard he was punching the training dummy. "Don't hurt yourself."

"I'm fine Felicity!" Roy said with a bit more force than he intended. He then immediately felt bad as he could tell that he had hurt her with his tone of voice. "I'm sorry Felicity. I didn't mean to snap at you." 

"It's okay Roy." Felicity tried to smile at the young man. "You've been through a lot and you're still adjusting to not having the Mirakuru anymore. You'll be okay!"

"She's right." Diggle said as he descended the stairs.

"Of course she is." Roy mumbled quietly to himself. "I don't really want to talk about it right now." He said louder to his Teammates as he turned back to the training dummy.

"Would you like to spar?" Diggle asked as he returned Felicity's slight smile and nod in his direction, letting him know that she agreed that it was a good idea. "I need a workout and sparring sounds like just the thing."

"Sure." Roy said as he continued to beat up the dummy. "Whatever."

Diggle stripped out of his shirt and met Roy on the mats. He could tell that something was bothering the younger man and he hoped that he would be able to help with whatever Roy was dealing with. They sparred relatively quietly with only a few grunts and groans for a few minutes before Diggle finally started the much needed conversation.

"How are you holding up Roy?" Diggle asked as he dodged a right hook.

"I'm fine." Roy responded as he dodged a kick from Diggle. "Why do people keep asking me how I'm doing? It's not like I was the one captured by Merlyn, injected with Vertigo, poisoned with curare, had an arrow shot through my shoulder, a bullet in my side, electrocuted, and whipped - twice. Nope. I was safe and sound back here at the lair with Sara. I was the one who was captured by Slade, knocked out while in his custody, cured of the Mirakuru in front of my girlfriend who didn't even know about it, and then dumped on the side of the road." Roy's voice was gaining volume and his attempts at hitting Diggle were getting more forceful as he let his anger out in his sparring. 

"No, I was simply the kid who was used to try and drive a wedge between Thea and Oliver. That's the only thing I'm good for, driving wedges between people. I'm useless!" Roy was yelling by time he finished and was so distracted by his anger that Diggle had him in a headlock just as he finished ranting.

"Roy, you need to calm down for a minute." Diggle said calmly as he released the hold he had on Roy.

"How can I be calm?" Roy asked, his voice still raised. "I'm useless. I have no skills to bring to the Team anymore. I couldn't help you guys when Malcolm took you, Slade used me as bait to draw in Thea and Oliver so he could torture them, and now I don't even have the advantage of the strength from the Mirakuru!"

"That's not true Roy." Diggle said carefully, not wanting to add to Roy's anger. "You do have skills to bring to the Team."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure the only reason Oliver let me on the Team in the first place was because I had been injected with the Mirakuru and he was afraid I was going to lose it and go on a rampage through the city!" Roy argued as he turned and stalked across the training mats.