Green Arrow - Emerald Archer

Chapter Nine

"A Vertigo bomb?" Diggle exclaimed, speeding down the highway.

"Yes," Oliver confirmed grimly. "One that will poison the city with a substance that is fatal enough in the containment of a tiny pill. Imagine what it would be like if that was mass-spread around Star City."

"It would be chaos," Diggle breathed. "So how do we stop it?"

"That's the million dollar question."

"You don't know."

"No, I don't. I didn't have much experience with bombs on Lian Yu."

"Then maybe you should have thought of that before provoking a massive company into making a bomb."

"China White is evil. This would have happened with or without me."

"Maybe, but we still need to stop it," said Diggle, bringing them back to the situation at hand.

"Go back to the bunker," Oliver ordered. "We'll find out what to do from there."

--

"The bomb was already released, but there isn't enough toxin in the air yet to affect anyone. We need to find the source and shut it off before the amount of toxin increases," Oliver wrapped things up.

"It sounds simple enough," Diggle replies. "But how are we going to find the source?"

Oliver paced the room for a few seconds, thinking. Then he stopped.

"I've got it. Queen Industries. The tech there will let us pinpoint the location where the toxin is the strongest. Then we'll know where it's coming from."

Diggle smiled. "You're good, Mr. Queen."

"I usually allow people who save my life to call me Oliver," he replied.

"Well then, Oliver. Let's shut down this operation."

--

Diggle stands guard while Oliver picks the lock into the tech section of Queen Industries.

Oliver had become rather good at breaking into places, and this one was no different. They really needed to update the security at the place. He and Diggle continued into the tech section and walked into a room with several computers and other handy gadgets.

"Here we are," Oliver muttered.

Then something made him freeze. They weren't alone. Oliver could feel it. He motioned for Diggle to stop moving and slowly continued into the room. Sure enough, someone was sitting at one of the computers, their back to Oliver and John.

Oliver aimed his bow at the person while Diggle went to get his attention. The guy spun around after getting tapped on the shoulder and bounced up out of the chair, the headphones he was using hitting the floor. It was merely a teenager.

"I- I'm sorry," he stutters. "I only wanted to use the internet, I..." he paused. "Wait a second, you're that Hood dude."

"Yeah," Oliver said, deepening his voice, not that he needed it. "So scram, kid."

Diggle had already sat down at one of the computers, and was staring at it blankly.

"Oli- uh, I mean Hood-dude?" Diggle said.

"What is it?" Oliver replied, looking away from the kid.

"We might need the kid," Diggle said. "Unless you know how to use these things."

As it turned out, Oliver really didn't know too much about computers, and definitely not enough to track a drug through the city.

"Hey, kid?" Oliver called.