Arrow: Fracture Part 3

Wolves of the Shadows

The coat hangers rambled around as Victor ripped a group of his belongings from the coat rack. His breakneck packing had left his dorm room in shambles, loose clothing and other garments were lying all around the floor. Victor stepped over them without notice or care, his mind unable to focus on anything other than getting home as soon as he could. Felicity cautiously stopped in the open doorway, almost in shock to see her friend in such a way. Victor wasn't a cleanfreak by any means, but he was disciplined and always kept his room and belongings in some type of order. The news of his brother's horrible incident had clearly broken him in more ways then one, especially given his recent absent from school all together. Felicity slowly entered his room and closed the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" She nervously asked, unsure how to start the conversation. Victor continued to pack as he replied.

"I'm leaving. I'm going home." Felicity had feared that her friend was attempting some type of unannounced trip to Atlantic City or some place similar to help get his mind of things, but she hadn't anticipated this.

"For how long?" She asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

"Forever." Victor quickly answered, slamming a pile of clothing into his already full travel bag.

"You can't just leave. You are one year away from getting your engineering degree." Felicity stated, hoping to change her friend's mind.

"It doesn't matter, my family needs me and I can't help them here." Victor said, pausing at his desk.

"You can't do this to yourself or them, after all they did to get you here." Felicity said, trying not to push too far. Victor slammed his fists onto the desk out of frustration.

"I can't stay here! Why should I get to sit around here all day while my brother suffers." Victor began, as he tried to calm himself.

"I'll go back home and get a job at a factory or something. Atleast then I'll actually be helping instead of just wasting my time up here getting lectured by professors who aren't even here half the time." He added, throwing a pen down at the desk covered with unfinished assignments and notes. Felicity paused as she tried to find a way to reach out to her hurting friend and help him think clearly before he made a mistake that would ruin his life.

"You know he wakes up every morning and falls down...he wakes up and can't remember that his legs are gone because of phantom syndrome or whatever, and he goes to stand up but he falls. Everyday." Victor explained, his eyes filling with tears. Felicity slowly approached her friend, hoping her next words wouldn't cross a line.

"Your brother sacrificed so much so that you could have a different future than him, and your parents did the same. They all gave so much to get you here, so that you could have a different life...so that you could make a difference in the world." Felicity began as she comforted her friend.

"Please don't let their sacrifices mean nothing by leaving." She finished, her pleading expression cutting straight to Victor's core. He knew his selfish actions of leaving were simply that, he was running away from dealing with the pain of what his family was going through instead of finding a way to help them that they would actually want. Victor buried his head onto Felicity's shoulder as he began to cry, needing a friend as he faced his troubles. Felicity hugged her friend, hoping she was strong enough to help him get through this painful ordeal.

The dull thud of bullets ripping apart the exterior of the immobilized SUV woke Victor, slowly bringing him back into the ambush he was caught in the middle of. The bark of automatic weapons filled the air, cut short by the brief callouts from the remaining ARGUS guards still alive and fighting. Victor quickly noticed that the vehicle had been severely damaged in the attack and had flipped onto it's top, slightly crushing the SUV. He slowly rolled around, trying to free himself from the tight confines of the crumpled vehicle, only to find that both his legs were pinned underneath the top of the seat. Thankfully the cushion hadn't caused too much damage, but it was forcibly holding both his legs against the roof. Victor reached down to try and free himself with his right hand, noticing that his left hand was still trapped under a pile of debris. He quickly pryed his arm from under the collection of weapon crates and supplies that had been flung around after the crash. Victor snapped his left hand out from under the debris and froze upon inspecting it. Nearly half of his hand and forearm had been cut to shreds and burned, leaving behind a weakened bloody mess. Victor felt his pulse skyrocket as he struggled to piece together a plan to stop himself from bleeding to death. He wrapped his arm in what remained of his wartorn jacket, hoping it would be enough until help arrived. A sudden explosion rocked the already destroyed vehicle, ripping the rear of the SUV to pieces. The section of the vehicle over Victor's pinned legs bloomed into a volatile display of metal shards and twisted pipes, slicing into the trapped man. Victor felt his lower legs being penetrated by several unknown objects, causing him to scream out in pain just as another explosion rocked the vehicle and silenced him.
The gunfire caught Felicity's attention as she regained consciousness in the overturned SUV. Her fingers brushed aside broken glass shards as she struggled to free herself from the rough position she had landed in.