These Prison Walls (An Arrow: Season 7 Fanfiction)

Chapter 27: Tracing the Program

Star City. 2040. 

Mia walked through the hideout to see Felicity at one of the main computers, typing on the keyboard. Roy, Dinah and Evelyn were out, hitting the streets, attempting to find the contact that Felicity supposedly had, their only lead to destroying ARCHER for good. 

'Looks like your mystery contact is as good at covering their tracks as you are,' Mia remarked. 

'I know. Which is why she's so dangerous... and annoying.' William walked into the room. 

'So, I think I finally found out a "Plan B" to keep us hidden from ARCHER while we try to destroy it,' William announced, taking over the keyboard next to his mother's keyboard. He pulled up DNA signatures enveloped in red. 'Blindspots. Just like the one Keven Dale used to mask his DNA.' 

'The only way this is going to work is if we copy the exact root code that was used in the original.' 

'Okay, well, how do we do that?' Mia asked. 

'Well, we'd have to steal it from Keven Dale's computer,' William replied pointedly, looking at his sister. 'In his office at Galaxy One.' 

'Oh, I suppose I could break in,' she replied. 

'No, no. I'm sorry. Not you,' he shot back. 'Me. I mean, Keven Dale already recognises me as a fellow CEO, and besides, I think he'd be a lot more agreeable to me than... you. You know, a little flirty flirt while I hack into his computer, and then we'll get what we need. Look, I know it's a risk.' 

'A big one,' Felicity said with clear worry in her tone, and she turned to William and began to walk away. 'One I am not willing to take. We have a "Plan A". Let's stick to it,' she replied. 'As I said, just leave ARCHER to me.' 

'You know, you're still treating me like I'm 13,' William said, stopping his mother in her tracks with his words. She sighed and turned back to her son. 

'What do you mean?' 

'I mean that you're doing the exact same thing to me now that you and Dad did all those years ago. Leaving me out of things and then getting rid of me. Aunt Evelyn never did that to me.' 

'Your father and I, we never wanted to let you go.' 

'But you did, and then even after everything that happened, you still stayed away like I wasn't even part of this family.' 

'And I thought we had problems,' Mia chimed in, letting out a nervous laugh. 'I'm just gonna go do - anything else.' She walked away, and Felicity walked towards William. 

'William, I am so sorry. I realise now that we made a terrible mistake, a mistake that I am going to regret for the rest of my life, but we really thought we were protecting you. We just wanted you to have a normal life.' Just then the computer chimed and she turned to the computer as it read out in big, bold letters: TARGET FOUND. William stared after his mother, then scoffed, walking away. She turned back from the computer to see his retreating form leave the room. 

Star City. Present-day. 

The team, minus Evelyn, walked through the hallways filled with debris and rubble in an attempt to find Oliver. 

'At this rate,' Rene remarked, 'we won't find Oliver until sometime next week.' Just then, their communications began crackling loudly with static, and Felicity's voice came through. 

'Team Arrow, do you copy?' Then the voice came through louder, and clearer. 'Team Arrow, do you copy?' 

'Overwatch, is that you?' John asked through the comms. 

'Yes! Is that you?' 

'You have me, Roy, Rene and Dinah. We're safe.' 

'What about Evelyn?' 

'We left her behind,' John replied. 'She had a really bad injury and told us to come back when we'd rescued Oliver.' 

'And Oliver?' 

'He was in another part of the building. We... we haven't been able to contact him,' Dinah replied over the comms. 'I'm guessing you haven't either.' 

'No, but his comms unit is still online and active, so if it wasn't crushed, it means he wasn't either.' 

'We'll find him,' Roy said. 

'I know,' she replied. The team began to move away, but then Felicity said over the comms, 'You should know, I don't know what Emiko is planning, but she gave the SCPD the footage of Roy in the subway tunnels. And they think that we are behind whatever the Ninth Circle is plotting.' 

'So lying to the SCPD to cover for Roy was for nothing,' Dinah said angrily. 

'Not to mention our reputations and everything we've built this year,' Rene said. 

'Yeah,' John cut in. 'Let's move.' 

On the below floor... 

'You've always been good at this kind of thing,' Tommy said, standing behind Oliver. 'Remember when we were kids and you learned how to hotwire my dad's car?'

'Well, I got grounded for an entire summer?' 

'Yeah, because you did it three more times.' He picked up his bow and an explosive arrow. 

'It's a good thing I only have to do this once.' He drew the arrow back into the string and released it, but to no avail, only creating a shower of sparks. 

'You might only be making this worse,' Tommy replied, causing Oliver to give him a look. 

Oliver placed the small arrow on a rock ledge in the wall, preparing to fire another arrow in an attempt to escape. 

'Again, I would like to point out how structurally unsound this building appears to be, so maybe upping the payload is not the best idea,' Tommy warned Oliver. 

'It's a risk I have to take,' Oliver replied. 'This is it. After this, I'm out of options.' 

'Are you, or is this just typical Oliver? Now, come on, man. Don't you ever wonder why you keep finding yourself in positions like this where things just keep getting worse?' 

'I'm here for one reason and one reason only - Emiko.' 

'Right. Emiko, your half-sister.' 

'Her being my half-sister doesn't matter,' Oliver snapped. 'What matters is finding her and stopping her before she hurts anyone else. It's a strategy you should appreciate.' 

'Why, because of what my father did to the Glades?' 

'No, Tommy, because of what he did to you!' There was silence before Oliver spoke again. 'Any idea what it's like to - to run a scenario through your head a million times, just wondering if you could have just listened to me a little bit sooner, but you didn't because you were blinded by the fact that he was your father. Maybe you'd still be alive today.' 

'But I didn't listen, and I didn't make the right choice, at least not until it was too late. Because I was stuck, Oliver, in my own cycle, my father's cycle, just like you are, and just like you will continue to be if you don't break free!' 

'No. No, you're wrong. This isn't about me. This is not about my father. This is about Emiko, and the choices that she made, they are on her.' He picked up another arrow, nocked it in the string, and set it loose. The explosion knocked him back in a massive flash of light.