Lost and Found

19. Attempt One

PART ONE: FAMILY VALUES

CHAPTER NINETEEN: ATTEMPT ONE

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TEAM ARROW, STARLING CITY, USA

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Oliver had intended to discuss with Felicity what information she had unknowingly sold her soul for but when they returned to Starling Barry Allen was there and waiting, Cisco at his side. Cisco's grin faltered when he saw their grim expressions as they joined the team in the basement. But Barry was the first to vocalize his concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing,"

"Don't worry about it," came both of their responses at once. Diggle gave them a knowing look, glancing at Barry and Cisco as if they were the only reason he wasn't privy to the secret. Barry and Cisco looked at them with an expression of mild surprise.

"Well, I think we've figured out something to work against the meta-wolf, check it out!" Cisco grinned, turning and pulling an arrow out of a hard black case behind him. He twirled it, eyes bright as he stared at it in wonder. He held it out with both hands for Oliver's appraisal.

"An arrow?" Oliver responded skeptically, picking it up and fingering it's weight and shape.

"But not just any arrow," Cisco said, finger pointing at the tip. "This is a silver tipped, exploding arrow." Now they were all interested, crowding around Cisco's invention. "We've laced the whole shaft with silver, plus we added extra explosive to it, not to mention the actual tip, which is, obviously silver as well. We were going to just plate it but-" Cisco started rambling, obviously enthralled with his work.

"Cisco," Oliver stopped him, "this is great, but will it work?"

"Yes," he responded confidently. "It should," he added.  "The silver will slow the regeneration of the cells and the explosive should cause enough damage that combined, they'll prevent the meta-wolf from getting back up. All you have to do is twist this part," he said, indicating the end of the arrow, "and let it fly."

"So I guess the only thing we have left to do is find this thing." Oliver said, eyeing the arrow with a new confidence.

"Already done," Cisco responded. Oliver's head snapped back up to him, a curious look on his face. "By using the tissue samples Felicity gave us we were able to trace the signature of the energy the meta-wolf is producing. Only a few things operate on that level and by process of elimination, we've determined that it's holing up in the Glades. From satellite images, it looks like an abandoned warehouse."

They stood in a stunned silence, starling at Cisco as he looked at them all with confusion. "What?" Oliver laughed and shook his head, and Barry tried to cover his smile with his hand.

"Thanks Cisco, it's great work," Felicity said quietly, her voice lacking the confidence it had before and turned the tone of the room down a few notches.

"Well, I guess I'll get suited up then," Oliver declared, putting the arrow back into it's case and heading immediately for his green suit. Felicity slipped over to her computer silently and started booting systems up, checking communication and tracking on both Oliver's motorcycle and the van Diggle would be accompanying him in. Or so he declared, Oliver would have the last say on that.

Cisco watched her screens fascinated as she flipped through windows so fast he could hardly keep track of what monitor she was on. Oliver returned and grabbed the new weapon, adding it carefully to his quiver. In another quick three steps he was standing beside Felicity fiddling with his earpiece, speaking and waiting for her nod to ensure it was functioning properly. Before leaving, he leaned over and put his hand on her shoulder. "We'll talk about everything later. Try not to worry about it, we'll figure it out alright?" she looked at him with sad eyes and he resisted the urge to lean in and kiss her before finally turning away.