Arrow to the Heart {4}

Chapter 6

Ever since Curtis cleaned up Ray's message, Lydia never left Curtis's lab and she's been up for the past few days trying to figure out Ray's location. Curtis walks into his workspace to see a bunch of empty energy drinks, empty coffee cups, and cups of noodles on the ground and Curtis says, "I thought I said you could use my lab if you clean up after yourself." Lydia says, "The keyword being "after," which assumes finished, which clearly, I am not." Curtis scoffs and says, "Well, how's it going?" Lydia groans and Curtis says, "That well?" Curtis says, "Do you have that playing on a loop?" Lydia says, "I've been trying to trace Ray's message back to its point of origin, but he must have ping-ponged it off of like a thousand servers, and the back trace algorithm won't compile, which means there's no way of finding him, and--" Curtis cuts Lydia off and says, "Okay! You need to stop right now." Lydia says, "I can't." Curtis says, "You have to. You are no good to Mr. Palmer in your current state. Now, how long has it been since you took a break?" Lydia says, "I dozed off for about two minutes about an hour ago, does that count?" Curtis hears footsteps and he looks over to see Oliver Queen and he exhales, "You're married, he's straight, you're married, he's straight, ahem." Lydia looks at Curtis confused until she follows Curtis's gaze to Oliver, and she realizes with a chuckle. Lydia says, "Oliver, this is Curtis Holt. Curtis, this is Oliver." Oliver smiles at Curtis and shakes his hand and says, "Curtis! Lydia's told me a lot about you." Curtis says, "Same." Curtis holds his hand up and Oliver says, "Curtis? What are you doing?" Curtis says, "The Green Arrow showed up right about the time that you came back into town. Nah, it's not you, though. Jaw's not right." Oliver says, "That's what I keep telling people. Would you give us a minute?" Curtis says, "Sure thing. Nice meeting you." Oliver says, "Nice meeting you, too." Curtis walks away and Oliver clears his throat and softly says, "Hey. I thought that you were going to come by the campaign offices to go over the finances." Lydia says, "I thought that meeting was on Wednesday." Oliver says, "It is Wednesday." Lydia looks at Oliver and says, "Oh." Oliver says, "What's going on? I feel like I haven't seen you in days." Lydia plays Ray's message and Ray says, "I'm alive... and I'm in trouble." Lydia stops the message and Oliver says, "That sounds like--" Lydia cuts Oliver off and says, "Ray. Because it is Ray, because Ray isn't dead." Oliver says, "What? That's impossible. Ray was--" Lydia cuts Oliver off and says, "Killed. In an explosion that blew up the top of this building six months ago. But that's obviously not what happened, because he sent this message six days ago, and dead people don't generally do that. Ray's alive. He's out there somewhere. I have to help him." Later, Lydia and Oliver walk into their loft and Lydia angrily says, "I tell you Ray's in trouble and your first response is, you need a shower." Oliver closes the door and says, "And a nap. You're not going to be able to help--" Lydia cuts Oliver off and says, "Oh, stop. You're starting to sound like Curtis." Oliver says, "Well, Curtis is a smart guy. Did Ray's message indicate what kind of trouble he's in?" Lydia says, "If it did, it would have been the first thing I told you." Oliver says, "Okay. Is there anything that I can do to help?" Lydia says, "Well, have you magically learned to code in the last 73 hours?" Oliver says, "No." Lydia says, "It was a rhetorical question." Oliver smiles and says, "I know." Lydia sits down on the couch and grabs Oliver's hand and says, "I will, however, accept your undying support and backrub." Oliver says, "You can have both as soon as you..." Lydia says, "Shower." Oliver says, "And take a nap. Come on, I'll even join you." Lydia's phone vibrates and she stands up. Oliver says, "What?" Lydia says, "I set an alert just in case the back trace program ever finished compiling." Lydia rushes over to her laptop and Oliver says, "Lydia..." Lydia says, "Two seconds!" Lydia opens her laptop, and she says, "It's been taking forever." Then the computer starts glitching and Oliver says, "What are you doing?" Lydia lets go over the keyboard and says, "Absolutely nothing." The computer glitches out and they see Ray's face and he says, "Lydia, Lydia, is that you?" Lydia says, "Oh, my God, Ray!" Oliver says, "Ray, where are you?" Ray says, "I don't know. And if that wasn't enough, I think I'm being held against my will." Lydia widens her eyes and says, "What?!" Ray says, "Yeah, they want my suit, or at least the tech. The good news is the tech is useless to them in my current condition." Oliver says, "Ray, if you have your suit, then why don't you just--" Ray cuts Oliver off and says, "Bust my way out? Yeah, that's not really happening." Lydia says, "What, the suit doesn't work?" Ray says, "Actually, it worked a little too well." Later, Lydia and Oliver are in the bunker with Laurel and Lydia relays Ray's message. Laurel says, "John is never going to believe this." Oliver says, "Neither is Thea." Laurel says, "And, well, Ray is---" Lydia cuts Laurel off and says, "The size of a tater tot. Ray modified his suit with the same nanites I injected into him after Ra's shot him. It's a long story involving a lot of molecular physics. The bottom line is that Ray jury-rigged a short-range message burst that was intercepted by whoever's holding him captive." Oliver says, "Ray thinks they want the suit for its technology, but they can't use it while its small." Laurel says, "And while he's small, it's like looking for a needle in a city of haystacks." Lydia says, "Ray has something he thinks could help." Lydia plays the message and Ray says, "Back at Palmer Tech, I've got schematics for a machine that should be able to resize me." Lydia pauses the message and Lydia says, "Well, now that you're both filled in." Lydia gets up and starts walking away. Oliver says, "Where are you going?" Lydia says, "To Palmer Tech to pull up the schematics for Ray's device." Oliver says, "I'll come with you." Lydia stops and turns to Oliver and says, "Why? Are you going to build the thing?" Oliver says, "No. There must be some other way I can help." Lydia says, "There isn't." Lydia walks away. Later, Lydia's at Palmer Tech in Curtis's workshop with Curtis looking for the schematics to Ray's device. Curtis says, "Dr. Ray Palmer got miniaturization to work. He made the space between atoms shrink. I mean, this is like solving cold fusion and ultimate theory. Do you have any idea how amazing this is?" Lydia says, "Yes. But the fact that Ray is being held hostage and could be killed at any moment because he is the size of a Cheeto has dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. Can you build this?" Curtis looks at the screen and says, "Yes. Um, all the materials are here at Palmer Tech, um, except for that. That is a quantum manifold." Lydia says, "Never heard of it. Where do we get one?" Curtis says, "Only one place-- the manufacturer. They hold the patent on it-- well, actually, 16 patents." Lydia raises her voice and says, "Curtis! Where?!" Curtis says, "Kord Industries. I'd ask them to do us a solid and loan it to us, but..." Lydia sighs and says, "They're our biggest competitor." Curtis says, "The good news is, things can't get any worse." They hear a woman shriek and Lydia says, "You just had to say something." Lydia turns to see her mom who has a big smile on her face. Her mom says, "There you are!" Lydia says, "Mom." Lydia walks over to her mom and her mom hugs her and Lydia says, "What are you doing here?" Her mom pulls away and says, "Well, I went to your office, Miss CEO, and your assistant told me you'd be here. So... here I am." Lydia says, "Not here-here, Star City here." Her mom says, "Well, Oliver told me that you've been working nonstop this past month, so I suggested a visit from your mom is exactly what you needed and guess what?" Lydia says, "What?" Her mom says, "He agreed." Her mom looks to Curtis and says, "Oh, hi. And who are you?" Curtis smiles and says, "Hi. I'm Curtis Holt." Curtis shakes hands with Donna, and he continues to say, "It is an absolute pleasure to meet you." Donna smiles and says, "Oh!" Curtis says, "I can see where Lydia got her beauty from." Donna smiles and says, "Aww, thank you. If she hadn't dyed her hair brown, we'd look like sisters." Curtis says, "Oh, you guys do. I've seen pictures of Lydia with her blonde hair, and I have to agree." Donna looks at her daughter and says, "So, what do you want to do first? A trip to the mall, mani-pedi?" Lydia says, "You know what, you must be exhausted from your flight. Why don't I get a car to take you back to my place?" Donna says, "A car? No, baby, I-- I came here to see you." Lydia says, "I know! And you will. It's just that, right now, Curtis and I are trying to figure out how to build a very important piece of equipment or someone could die." Donna says, "Die?" Lydia nervously chuckles and says, "Metaphorically speaking!" Lydia turns her mom around and Lydia looks at Curtis and says, "You start constructing the machine, and I will get you the manifold." As Lydia pushes her mom out, Curtis says, "But it's proprietary! How are you going to do that?" Lydia looks at Curtis and whispers, "I'm not!" Curtis smiles and says, "Awesome. The Green Arrow's going to be kicking some ass tonight." Lydia says, "If I don't kick his first." Later, the team's suited up at Kord Industries and Lydia's with Oliver on the roof and he says, "I thought it would be a good thing." Lydia scoffs and says, "A good thing? What are on earth made you agree to this?" Oliver says, "Well, you know, your mom doesn't really take no for an answer." Lydia says, "You've faced down Mirakuru soldiers and the league of assassins. Are you honestly telling me that you couldn't say no to my mom?" Oliver says, "She said she missed you and then she texted me one of those emojis with the single tear." Lydia grabs Oliver's arm stopping him, she says, "You have been texting with my mother?! How long has that been going on? We are not done with this conversation." Lydia presses her ear where her comm is and she says, "Okay, guys, I hacked the security panel, but it needs to be accessed from the inside. Only problem is that the building's interior is protected by pressure sensitive flooring, which means you're up, honey. Once the loading dock's doors are open, you'll have 90 seconds to find the manifold and Amscray before men with guns show up." Oliver shoots an arrow into the shaft and grabs onto Lydia's waist, and they fly down onto the ground, and they split up. As Lydia's looking for the device, Oliver says, "I'm at the panel." Lydia says, "Punch in 4, 5, 8, 7. Clock's running." Lydia looks at her screen and she says, "Something's wrong. The security cameras are coming back online." Oliver says, "I've got it." As the cameras cut off and Lydia says, "No, don't you understand?! If Kord upgraded their security, they probably improved their response time." Lydia hurries up to find the device and she walks into a shelving area, and she says, "Wait, I found it." As Lydia grabs it, the alarm goes off and the security start firing their guns. Lydia ducks and she runs away and finds Sara beating the crap out of a security guard and she says, "Sara, stop! Sara!" Sara stops and Lydia grabs Sara's arm and says, "We have to go. Now!" Everyone runs away. As they make it back to the van, Lydia's screen glitches with Ray's face and he says, "Hello? Is anyone there?" Thea points to Lydia's arm and says, "Your arm just spoke." Lydia looks down to see Ray and Ray says, "Any luck with the schematics? I realize the quantum manifold could present a challenge." Lydia softly chuckles and says, "Nothing a little late-night shopping at Kord Industries couldn't solve." Ray exhales says, "Oh, that's great. Thank you, Lydia. Now we just have to figure out how to--" Ray cuts himself off and Lydia says, "Ray, you still there?" Lydia lets out a soft gasp at who's behind Ray and the screen cuts off. Laurel looks at Lydia's face and she says, "Lyds, what is it?" Lydia looks up at team and she says, "Damien Darhk has Ray." Later, Lydia, Oliver, and Diggle are in the bunker. Lydia says, "I can't believe Darhk has Ray! How are we gonna get him back?" Oliver says, "It's actually good that Darhk has Ray." Lydia scoffs and says, "This would be the same level of delusion that made you think my mother coming to town would make me feel better?" Oliver says, "Because it's Darhk, that means that we have an asset." Diggle says, "Lance." Oliver says, "I'll ask him to get a us a location." Lydia says, "And what if between then and now, Darhk decides to squish Ray underneath his shoe?" Diggle says, "If Darhk wanted to hurt Ray, he would have done it by now." Oliver says, "Dig's right. We stay focused. We get Curtis the manifold, keep him working, and we unfortunately just have to wait and see what your dad finds out." Lydia says, "I hate waiting and seeing. I have to do something." Oliver says, "Your mother's in town, spend some time with her. We could do dinner. I'll cook." Lydia scoffs, "You already made dinner plans with my mother, didn't you?" Oliver says, "What? No. Yes." Lydia scoffs, "Oh! Oh, my God! It is like a sickness with you!" Oliver says, "It wasn't intentional we were having a nice conversation; the subject turned to cooking, I mentioned that I make a spectacular Chicken Cordon Bleu. She said she'd never had one. It's just dinner." Diggle says, "He's right, Lydia. Besides, you look like you haven't... eaten or slept." Lydia says, "A man's life, a friend's life is in danger. And you want me to go have dinner with my mom and think everything is, okay?" Oliver says, "I promise you that there is nothing that we can do until we get what we need from your dad and Curtis. So, dinner. 7:00pm. I'll be there as soon as I'm done with your dad." Oliver walks away and Lydia huffs annoyed.