Arrow: Fracture Part 3

Shadows

The stars overhead shined brightly over the city, illuminating the dark ally as Team Arrow walked triumphantly away from another victory. Every mercenary had been rounded up and secured for the SCPD to take them into custody with the shipment of illegal weapons they were planning to sell to a fictional buyer that Felicity had created. Roy's tip from Cindy about a small group of ex-military turned freelance soldiers wanting to make quick money in the Glades had proven worthwhile. The team walked proudly away from the warehouse housing the soon to be incarcerated mercenaries as they headed back for their vehicles.

"You didn't say it." Thea announced, somewhat disappointed from the realization of what hadn't happened after stopping the mercenaries.

"We've been over this." Oliver replied as he laughed slightly, avoiding his sister's hopeful gaze.

"Yeah I know. The Arrow used to say that and now that you're the Green Arrow it wouldn't help the image that you're trying to create for yourself, but you can't tell me that it wouldn't have been perfect to stand over that jerkoff and say You have failed this city." Thea added, making sure to deepen her voice for the last part. Oliver laughed, enjoying the fact that his once hardened sibling who would've found little joy in anything was now joking about his former catchphrase.

"It always did have a nice ring to it." Felicity added, glancing to Thea in support.

"Right? It just seems like a missed opportunity." Thea ended, deciding that her hope of hearing the old warning probably wouldn't happen again.

"Thea does bring up a good point though. Every hero needs a catchphrase, it's kinda their thing." Roy began, hoping Thea wouldn't catch onto his sarcasm so soon.

"Is this like your nemesis theory?" Thea asked, knowing how to best cutoff her boyfriend's sense of humor.

"The nemesis theory is the truth!" Roy exclaimed, ready to defend his reasoning.

"Think about it, you can put on a mask and fight crime all you want, but you're not really a hero until somebody has a vendetta against you. I mean Oliver has Slade Wilson, Digg has HIVE, I have the Red Dart, and even Felicity has that Bug Eyed girl." Roy explained, doing his best to get his point across without crossing a line.

"Her name is Buy Eyed Bandit, and I think you're missing the point of a nemesis sweetheart. They're not a good thing to have." Felicity corrected as she turned to her friend in the hope of talking some sense into him.

"That's my point. We do the right thing, not the easy thing and having a nemesis only makes our job that much more difficult. Having a nemesis is just a right of passage for people like us." Roy finished, deciding he had gotten his point across.

"So just because I don't have a nemesis you're saying I'm not a hero?" Thea asked, turning to Roy and almost daring him to answer with her challenging gaze. Roy paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to defend himself.

"That's not what I said...I just meant that you weren't at the same level as us." He managed to say, knowing as soon as he spoke it would only make matters worse.

"Amd what level would that be?" Thea asked, knowing she had successfully backed Roy into a corner from which he couldn't escape.

"Little bit of help here guys." Roy begged, glancing to Oliver and Diggle for assistance.

"Nah you're doin' fine on your own." Diggle replied, smiling at his young partner's mistake.

"Thanks, I can really feel the teamwork." Roy joked.

"Speaking of teamwork, maybe now would be a good time to bring up how deviating from the plan is dangerous to the entire team." Oliver began, doing nothing to hide his frustration with Felicity's decision to leave her post at the van during the operation.