Athena and the League of Assassins (An Arrow: Season 3 Fanfiction)

Chapter 4: We Lost Him

At the hideout... 

Oliver and I walked into the hideout, him hanging up his bow and me placing my multiple daggers on the rack. 

'We had him, Diggle,' Oliver said. 

'The way you look, he almost had the two of you,' Diggle replied. I gave him a glare. 

'Where's Roy?' I asked. 

'Out canvassing,' Felicity said, walking by with a cup of coffee as Oliver massaged his injured shoulder. 

'Tell me about the driver of the car,' Oliver asked, coming to the computer workbench. 

'His name is Erlich Kelso. He just got out of Starling General -' Oliver interrupted her. 

'And where are we with Lacroix?' 

'Ditched his burner,' Diggle chimed in. 

 'I'm searching the city for any calls made to Quebec.' Oliver came alongside her.

'We used that to track him once; he's not going to let it happen again.' 

'All right, so why don't we stop searching for Lacroix and start searching for his targets?'

'There's gotta be a connection with his victims,' I said. 

'Already on it,' Felicity replied,' then got to work at the computer. Oliver gave a look, half-masked by pain, but I wasn't sure what it meant. He walked away, still rubbing his injured shoulder. 

Oliver, Felicity and I were in the hideout later, the two of us sitting on chairs, Oliver rocking back and forth and me bouncing my knee up and down. 

'Why isn't this working?' Oliver asked. 

'It is,' Felicity said, leaning on the chair opposite us. 'It's running an NSA algorithm aggregating the victims' personal information using every government database known and unknown.' 

'Well, it's taking too long,' I spoke up, biting my lip, worrying it between my teeth. Oliver was already standing, and I stood too. 

'Sara's killer is still out there, which means that every minute that we waste down here -' Oliver said, but was interrupted by Felicity. 

'I know!' she shouted back to me, tears welling in her eyes. 'You two don't need to tell me as if I don't already know.' I strolled away, letting out a groan of annoyance. 

'You're right,' Oliver said. 'And I - we apologise. I just need your A game right now, Felicity.'

'And I don't have it!' she exclaimed to Oliver. 'My friend - our friend - was shot with arrows and fell off of a rooftop. Her body is upstairs right above us in a freezer because we don't know what to do with it - with her.' She took off her glasses. 'So I am so sorry, Oliver, if I have feelings, but maybe if you and Evelyn did too, we -' Oliver turned, tears welling in his eyes, and I looked up at Felicity. She looked at the two of us. 'Sorry. That was mean. But this is Sara we're talking about. Your Sara. How can the two of you stand there being so cold and rational? Especially you, Oliver.' 

'Because we don't have the luxury of falling to pieces,' I said, leaning against one of the workbenches. 

'Everyone is looking to us to handle things, to make the right decisions,' Oliver said. 'Everyone is looking to us... to lead. If we grieve, nobody else gets to.'

'You're still human beings, Oliver, Evelyn. You're allowed to have feelings. I know sometimes that it's easier for you two to live under those hoods.' 

'We're not,' I replied defensively, but somewhere lying behind my tone was a silent resignation that I wouldn't admit. Oliver and I turned to the bench where Sara once laid on, the luminous bench now empty. 

'Earlier today, I was looking at Sara, I realised something,' Oliver said. 'One of these days it's going to be me.' He turned back to Felicity, seeing a tear slip down her cheek. 

'It could even be me, Felicity,' I said, my voice softer now. 

'And this...' Oliver began to say, letting out a deep sigh, 'this life that I've chosen, it only ends one way.'

'So that's it? The two of you are just going to spend your life hiding down here in this cave, waiting to die?' She walked forward to the two of us. 'I'm not going to wait with you, because if there's one thing that today has taught me, it's that life is precious.' She sniffled. 'And I want so much more in mine than this.' She sniffled again and walked away from the two of us. 

Oliver and I stood in the hideout while Oliver called Thea for the millionth time. 

'You've reached Thea. Leave a message,' her voice said over the answering machine. 

'Hey, Thea. It's me, again,' Oliver said. 'And I don't know if you're getting these messages, but I would really like to talk to you. So please, just call me back. Bye.' He clicked off the call. I met his eyes and he slowly shook his head. 

'It's okay, Ollie. I miss her too.' He gave me a sad smile. 'Come here.' He came towards me, and I pulled him in for a hug. 

'I'm glad I've got you, Ellie-bear.' 

'Me too.' Just then Diggle walked in, and the two of us broke apart as Oliver came to the computer workbench. 

'Lyla has multiple teams trying to get an angle on Lacroix,' Diggle said. 'Where's Felicity?' he added. 

'She needed some air,' Oliver replied softly, still looking rather misty-eyed from his earlier interaction with Felicity. 

'And what do you need, Oliver? Evelyn?' he asked, looking at the two of us with concern. 

'I just need Thea to call me back.' Diggle placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and walked away to another desk. Then Roy spoke up. 

'That's not gonna happen.' Oliver's head raised slowly to meet Roy's eyes and I snapped my head up to give him an accusing look. 

'Why? What do you mean?' Oliver asked. 

'What the hell did you do?' I asked threateningly. Roy walked up, passing Oliver a little note. I attempted to snatch it from him, but my older brother glared at me and unfolded the note, eyeing it. Oliver's eyes were still glazed over with grief. 

'It was during the siege,' Roy said, making us look at him. 'We were going to run away together, but I couldn't leave without helping you fight. And when I came back, she was gone. I didn't say anything because this is my fault. She knew I was lying to her the entire time. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about the letter. I know that I should have.' 

'Okay,' I said. Roy walked away, silently, the three of us saying nothing.