Absolute Zero

Chapter 4

"Oliver? Everything ok?" I said meeting him by the stairs.

"That uh, rat poison. Does it have any side effects?"

"Excessive sweating and in some cases it can cause someone to-"

"Hallucinate?"

"Yeah. Are you hallucinating Oliver?" His silence was my answer. "Let's go back to your uh, basement. See if I can figure out what to do." He nodded his head and we headed back.

~o~

We got back and explained what was going on with Oliver and went to take some blood and run a few tests.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" Barry asked while I started getting ready to take Oliver's blood. "Why no mask? I mean I don't mean to tell you how to do your vigilante-ing, but the grease paint thing... it's a poor identity concealer."

"So find me a mask that conforms perfectly to my face and doesn't effect my ability to aim while on the run."

"You should look into a compressible micro fabric. It could be great."

"You sure you shouldn't have gone into the fashion world Bar?" I said drawing blood from Oliver and getting ready to check it out.

"I found Cyrus Gold." Felicity said.

I started doing my thing while everyone talked about the bad guy.

"Don't worry." Barry told Felicity when the boys left. "We'll figure out what's wrong with Oliver."

"How about we let the person with experience doing blood related tests figure out what's wrong?" I said.

"Are you ok Becca? You are awfully grumpy today."

"Just feel like we should just go home once this is done."

"Ok?" Barry then left me to look over Oliver's blood and figure out what exactly was going on.

~o~

"So, any plans for Christmas?" Barry asked Felicity.

"Lighting my menorah." Felicity said and I noticed Oliver coming downstairs.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" Felicity asked.

"Fine...Just a little bit crowded at my house and I... wanted to come down here to get a little privacy."

"Yeah. Come one Barry we can watch the countdown at Big Belly Burger."

"Your blood work is almost done just give me a few minutes." I said and he nodded his head.  Only a few minutes after Barry and Felicity left I had everything set. "It'll show the results for you. Any questions just call ok?"

"Alright. Thank you Becca." Then I left him alone.

~o~

We all came back to the basement and saw Oliver cleaning up glass.

"Did somebody break in?" Felicity asked.

"No. This was me. Sorry." Oliver said and I went to the computer.

"Your blood work is done." I said.

"So you know what's in my system? How to help me?"

"There's nothing in your blood Oliver. It's clean." I turned around to look at him. "Nothing's wrong."

"Then why am I hallucinating?" Oliver said angrily.

"I don't know Oliver. I really don't. Barry?" I looked at my brother for any ideas.

"I don't know either. I mean, whatever your problem is, it's not pharmacological, it's psychological."

"It's in my head." Oliver said.

"Oh my god, Oliver!" Felicity called him over and told him detective Lance was in the hospital and he rushed out in his uniform.

When he came back he began to sharpen his arrows.

"I think they're sharp enough." John said.

"Apparently I'm not." Oliver said turning around. "Diggle do you think I'm losing my mind?"

"More than the rest of us."

"I saw... Slade Wilson. Slade was my friend, on the island and... like Shado he is dead because of me. Mr. Lance just told me that not every death in this city is my fault. Fine. There are plenty that are."

"When I got home from Afghanistan, I... saw a ghost too. Survivors guilt. Why us not them?"

"I know why?"

"Then the why is not your problem."

"How'd you make your ghost go away?"

"I figured out what they were trying to tell me."

"Which was?"

"That's for me to hear, Oliver. You have to figure out what yours are trying to tell you."

"Guys we got something here." Felicity said and everyone went to the computer. "I scanned the key Lance gave you and traced it serial code back to the manufacturer."

"This particular key fits a locked gate somewhere on Crescent Circle in the glades." Barry said.

Oliver looked over at his bow and grabbed it.

"Where are you going?" I asked him. "You can't go out there in your condition." 

"I have to stop this."

"Oliver Gold left you half dead which is 50% better than how he left detective Hilton."

"Felicity. I don't have a choice. I'll come back."

"Promise me." He said nothing and left the four of us there.

~o~

Barry and I would have stayed but he had to get back to Central City. I told the others I would come visit as soon as I could. Barry was excited we were going to be home in time for the particle accelerator. He wouldn't shut up bout it on the way home. We weren't in time to get to S.T.A.R Labs but we still had a good view from Barry's lab.

He called Felicity to tell her we made it safe.

"Hey." He said. "Yeah we made it back to Central City in time but we missed the cut off live at S.T.A.R Labs. I caused us to be late, as usual." We walked inside to find the roof leaking horribly again. "But in the spirit of not being late again, uh, if you ever decide that," Barry looked at me for a minute. "That guy isn't the guy for you, if you decide that you wanna go on a date, with someone else, uh, you should know that, that guy, will be on time. Oh hey and I left something for Oliver. Hope he likes it. Bye Felicity." Then they hung up.

Could you sound anymore awkward?" I said laughing at him.

"Can you not make fun of me? Just once?"

"I'm your twin Bar. It's my job." He turned on the computer to the accelerator news broadcast.

He added an article to his board. I stood next to him and looked it. We looked at each other for a moment and smiled. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, telling him we'll free our dad. Then Barry heard something on the broadcast and turned around concerned. 

"What is it Bar?"

"Something's wrong." Then suddenly the power went out. We looked out the window to see and explosion.

"Barry come on we need to go to the first floor." I grabbed his hand and started to drag him when he decided to fix the opening in the roof. Suddenly everything we shaking and I noticed all the liquids in the room started floating in the air. "Barry come on." I grabbed his hand as he looked up and glass shattered above us and the next thing I know everything is black.