Arrow: Fracture Part 3

Blood Work

The shuffle of feet against the concrete floor danced throughout the Foundry as Felicity scooped up medical supplies from different cabinets. Diggle and Lyla waited behind as they quickly inspected the others wounds, thankful that they were only superficial and not life threatening. Artemis anxiously rocked back and forth underneath Felicity's desk, the sudden arrival of the team members and their overall shaken senses were easily understood by her canine senses.

"What happened out there?" Felicity asked as she began to apply a cleaning solution to one of Diggle's wounds.

"The League showed up." Diggle quickly replied as he titled his head to allow Felicity to finish her work on his cut. The sudden pause from her trembling hand caught Diggle's attention as he gently grabbed Felicity's hand and assured her.

"Oliver's fine. He said he just got hung up." A calming breath exited Felicity's lungs as she finished her first aid treatment for her friend as Lyla moved in to double check on her husband's condition.

"What about Curtis?" Felicity asked, still catching up from the distorted information she gathered during the failed operation.

"They got him." Diggle answered, failure hanging from his voice as he spoke. The sound of unannounced footsteps on the steps above caught everyone's attention, especially Artemis who had leapt in front of Felicity and hunkered down into an attack stance. The sudden low growl of the German Shepherd cut all other noises short including the footsteps from above.

"Quiver." Oliver's voice rang out from above through the silence. The trigger word instantly disarmed Artemis from his defensive state just as Diggle had taught her. Thankfully his experience in the military covered slight K-9 unit training, allowing him to put that knowledge into effect with the team's fury member. Felicity gently knelt down and placed a hand on Artemis to assist in her calming as Oliver slowly continued down the steps as not to upset their anxious dog. Artemis visually lowered her guard at the sight of Oliver, knowing she wouldn't need to defend the others from one of their own.

"Good girl." Oliver quickly said, acknowledging Artemis's protective nature of Felicity as he gently tugged her muzzle. Felicity wasted no time as she wrapped her arms around Oliver and pulled him close, putting aside all fear of the League getting the better of him once again.

"I'm alright." He whispered, holding Felicity close as he tried to halt her trembling.

"What happened?" Lyla asked, unsure why Oliver had arrived so late.

"I ran into Detective Warren." Oliver replied, moving to return his bow to its case.

"I'm guessing he didn't want to discuss local sports statistics with you?" Felicity joked, using the attempt at humor for herself more so than Oliver.

"Not exactly, but we don't have time to worry about that now. We need to track down the League and get Curtis back." Oliver responded, knowing that with the League involved the would have to move while they could.

"I already setup a tracking system when we found out Curtis was the target, but it hasn't been able to find him since you guys went after him." Felicity stated, returning to her desk to once again alter the parameters of the search algorithm in hopes of tracking down her friend. Oliver sighed as he searched for a way to get a step ahead of the League, something he knew was most likely not possible.

"What about Paul?" Oliver asked, glancing to his teammates.

"He's safe. We have him in an ARGUS safe house." Lyla explained, confident that the League or HIVE wouldn't get to Curtis's husband and be able to use him against him. A sudden series of footsteps on the metal steps snapped everyone in that direction as Riley loudly announced himself.