Frosty Arrow

Chapter 24

"So, how was your talk with Ruve?" Oliver asked Thea when she returned.

"She said to tell you to look into something called Reddington. She said you'd know what it means." Thea said, causing Oliver and Laurel to look at each other.

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" John asked.

"Reddington is where Darhk held you three last Christmas. I'm willing to bet that whoever took Nora is related to one of the victims that we didn't save." Oliver said.

"I know that look. Do not even think about going there Ollie. We didn't have time to rescue all those people, especially since they were under Darhk's control. You know better than anyone that you can't always save everyone and that was a time where we just couldn't." Laurel said.

"I don't just blame myself for that. If Malcolm had given us proper League support, we might've been able to do something." Oliver said.

"Well then, you got justice for them by killing both Darhk and Merlyn." Thea said.

"Something tells me that whoever did this doesn't see it this way. Felicity, can you?" Oliver asked.

"I'm already working on hacking into Reddington now, along with the files Ruve turned over to Argus." Felicity said.

"I'll go check out the crime scene with my dad, see if there's anything they missed." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"Good idea, chances are that whoever did this was sloppy." Oliver said and Laurel nodded as she walked out.

"This takes priority over Chase for the time being. We need to find that girl." Oliver said to Felicity, who nodded.

"Thanks for letting me help dad." Laurel said.

"Hey, I figure it doesn't hurt to have an extra set of eyes on this." Quentin said as they walked around the site where Nora had been kidnapped.

"I really hope we find Nora. Thea's really worried about her." Laurel said.

"Really?" Quentin asked.

"Yeah, I mean, Thea was about Nora's age when Robert died and we both know the kinds of nonsense she got herself into after that. I think she wants to try keep Nora from going down the same sort of path she did." Laurel said.

"Well, if there's a chance that at least one member of the Darhk family doesn't become an evil pain in the ass, I'm all for it." Quentin said as Laurel noticed something.

"Speaking of Darhks, it looks like Nora put up a bit of a fight." Laurel said as she pointed out some blood stains near the phone.

"Should've known that kid's a fighter." Quentin said.

"What I mean is that this blood might help us ID her kidnapper." Laurel said.

"It looks there are two samples. One is Nora's and the other is her kidnapper." Quentin said as he quickly moved to take some samples before handing them to Laurel.

"Something tells me your team can get this DNA tested a lot faster then we can right now." Quentin said and Laurel nodded as she took the samples from him.

"I'm sure Felicity can kick back something." Laurel agreed.

"I got something." Felicity said as after running both blood samples through the computer's database.

"And?" Thea asked.

"Well, one sample as we suspected came from Nora Darhk, the other however, came from her." Felicity said as she pulled of an image of teenage girl.

"Who is that?" Thea asked.

"Evelyn Sharp." Felicity said

"Mom and dad's bodies were found two days after Christmas." Felicity said.

"Cause of death hypoxia." Laurel said.

"Could be HIVE's gas chamber." Oliver said.

"Oliver, every single person there was there by their choice." John said.

"Still." Oliver said.

"What about Evelyn?" Thea asked.

"Class president, academic decathlete, gymnast, basically a 16-year-old badass in the making. She never even missed a day of school." Felicity said as she checked the records.

"Until her parents met Damien Darhk, I'm guessing." Oliver said and Felicity nodded.

"So, Darhk killed her parents, now she wants revenge by killing his daughter." Thea said.

"Except she's not going to get the chance. Felicity, do you have a picture of Evelyn that we can pull up?" Oliver asked.

"Already running facial recognition on her now and since she probably had no idea that Nora was talking to a member of the Green Arrow's team when she abducted her, she probably didn't bother wearing a mask." Felicity said.

"Let us know as soon as you get a hit." Oliver said as Thea began pacing.

"Hey, Speedy, can we talk?" Oliver asked and Thea nodded.

"Are you okay? I get that you're worried about Nora, but." Oliver said.

"Ollie, Nora reminds me so much of me." Thea said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Did you forget that I was around her age when the Gambit went down?" Thea asked.

"That's what this is about." Oliver realized, Thea's passion for helping Nora beginning to make sense to him.

"You know that path that took me down. I mean yes mom was there, but she was grieving in her own way and I pushed Tommy and Laurel away when they tried to help. I felt so alone in the world and I would've done anything to stop feeling that way. I did drugs, I drank, I shoplifted, I became the worst version of myself. I don't want to watch Nora make the same mistakes." Thea said.

"And you will make sure she doesn't." Oliver said.

"You mean that?" Thea asked and Oliver nodded.

"I do. I never really understood why you were so interested in Nora Darhk before, but now I do. And I think that you can make sure that takes a better path than her parents did, just like you did." Oliver said.

"What about you. I think that you've definitely stepped out of the mom and dad's shadows." Thea sadi.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure I've necessarily taken a better path than them. Thea, you've only killed one person and you didn't even know you were doing. I've honestly lost track of how many people I've killed over the past 9 years and I knew what I was doing the whole time." Oliver said.

"And every single person you've killed deserved what they got. This city is a better place because you killed them. The world isn't so black and white Ollie. I would've thought that you of all people would know that." Thea said as she walked away from him.