Arrow - Short stories

Story Extract 1: A Demon's Invitation

Oliver opened the door to the basement staircase and began the descent to the newly christened arrow cave. Night had just begun to drift over the hard steel forest of starling city, blanketing its streets in darkness. Providing the perfect cover for another night in the hood. Another night as the Arrow.

As he trudged downward, Oliver began to notice small droplets littering the metal steps, smears on the banister on the wall. On closer inspection he found, to his horror, it was blood. Crimson droplets littered the staircase like a sadistic breadcrumb trail, right down to the metal doorknob of the basement. Fear hit Oliver in the chest like a speeding car, knocking the breath from his lungs.
"Felicity? Felicity! Diggle?!"
Flying downward he crashed into the room, heart pounding. The whole space was turned inside out, computer equipment and metal tables strewn on the floor, broken glass crunching underfoot. Venturing forwards, the clues to what had happened became clearer. 2 bodies, clad head to toe in black lay motionless on the ground, arrows sticking from their bodies like grotesque hedgehog spines. On closer inspection Oliver found their tails to be red. Obviously someone had put up a fight.

A scuffle of noise distracted Oliver from his investigations. His whole body tensed, muscles rigid. Silently grabbing a bow from the smashed cabinet to his left, Oliver drew an arrow and crept forward, tiptoeing around the rubble as not to make a sound. The noise had come from behind an upturned cabinet, and as he drew closer Oliver readied to fire, Rounding the corner in one swift movement, he laid eyes on what, or more accurately who, laid there.

It was Roy.

Oliver dropped the bow in an instant and crouched down next to where Roy sat, back against the cool metal of the storage unit. He was barely conscious, a large, ragged wound torn across his abdomen, spilling crimson onto the floor. His bow lay on the floor beside him, empty of arrows.
He needed to get to a hospital. Hooking one arm under Roy and using the other to pull himself up, Oliver began to move him. A loud, pain filled groan escaped his partner, who in the process had woken up and was looking around the room with wide eyes.
"They...They've taken.." Roy spluttered through gritted teeth, his discomfort catching the words in his throat.
"Don't try to speak it'll only hurt worse" Oliver replied, hauling the body of his partner heavily onto the table, earning a torrent of painful abuse in the process. Rushing over to the medicine cabinet on the other side of the room, Oliver rifled through its contents with a quickening sense of urgency, pulling out bandages and a half full bottle of morphine. Roy was breathing heavily, trying and failing to prop himself up on his elbows and move. Blood trickled in a steady stream over the glass countertop, dripping among the crushed glass littered around them. As Oliver pulled away the soaked tatters of Roy's t shirt to reveal the wound beneath, the seriousness of the situation dawned on him. This was a sword wound, plain to see. He could almost see the long swipe of the blade as it cut its deadly path through the flesh of the boy in front of him. Who would have incentive, motivation to do something like this? Who did he know that used a sword? The League of Assassins.

Gathering a wad of bandages from the pile at his side, Oliver began to staunch the flow of liquid, applying pressure to Roy's abdomen with both hands. Roy stiffened and cried out in agony, fists clenching. Binding the makeshift padding with another set of bandages, Oliver filled a syringe with painkiller and was about to inject his injured friend when Roy grabbed his arm and grimaced, eyes deadly serious.
"It was Rah's Oliver, he didn't come here to destroy things, to injure me. He came here for Thea, for Felicity. "
"He's got them Oliver, and you have to get them back..." a fit of strangled coughing quietened his talk, and pained by his suffering Oliver stabbed the needle into his arm. Roy went limp and relaxed, releasing his breath in one long exhale.

A cruel cocktail of panic and anger swirled in Oliver's chest. If Rah's had Thea and Felicity, he had them for a purpose. Not to threaten him, or he would have killed them already. As the two weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment, Oliver's suspected he was using his friends as a bribe to talk. And Roy, Oliver thought, looking at the pale skin of his accomplice on the table beside him, incentive to move quickly. Perhaps a warning also, of what would become of the women he loved most in the world if he took his time.

The morphine in Roy's veins worked its magic, and with a groan, he was able to lift himself up into a partial sitting position and swing his legs over the table edge. The effort of movement took its toll quickly though, the substantial blood loss from his injury making him weak and
almost unable to stay upright. Oliver rushed over and tried to push him back down but he wouldn't listen.

"Roy you have to..."
"Oliver stop. You need to get Thea and Felicity back and with Dig at ARGUS I'm the only one here to guide you in"
The voice of his partner rang with the stubborn determination Oliver recognised all too well, but it faltered at the edges, just another painful reminder that the partner who leaned wobbly upright against the table next to him was a fragile version of the real thing.
"Roy I'll be fine I'm sure, now, I'll get you to a hospital and then go collect felicity and the..."
"You don't understand" Roy growled, frustrated, "Rah's, he's got them someplace just outside Starling, left the co-ordinates in here.You've got an hour or he'll hurt them Oliver, and a detour to the hospital means you definitely won't get there in time. I won't let Thea get hurt over me, I won't."
The clenched fists of his partner betrayed the discomfort morphine couldn't erase, the ache and anger that no medicine could cure. Roy was still in love with his sister, Oliver knew that. No reassurance less than Thea home safely would be enough to make him back down. He almost smiled at that. The kid certainly had one hell of a heart. Just how he felt about Felicity, Oliver realised. Looks like the decision was already made.

Oliver sighed and reluctantly helped Roy over to one of the less smashed computer desks left in the basement.
Grabbing a bow, a quiver of arrows and a couple of slightly more lethal weapons, Oliver walked over to the green leather suit in its glass case, one of the only items that the league had left unscathed. Guess Rah's knew he'd need it, Oliver thought, eyes darkening. Looking back at Roy Oliver relayed his conditions.
"You stay here, guide me in until I've found them. I've contacted Dig and he'll be here as soon as he can. When he arrives your going straight to the hospital you understand me?"
Roy nodded, knowing the deadly seriousness in his mentors voice.

With one last glance at the smashed and abandoned base he was leaving behind, Oliver grabbed his suit and ran back up the basement stairs, the bloodstained trail leading him upwards. No one else would be hurt tonight. No one but the one responsible for so much suffering.

Time to see the Demon once more.