Fifty Feet South Part 1/2 PG Olicity
Fandom: Arrow
Title: Fifty Feet South Part 1/3
Author: Zenamydog
Rating: PG:13+
Characters/Pairing: Olicity, Ray.
Warnings: Spoilers for anything aired in the US
Beta: jdsampson
Word Count: 5,319
Disclaimer: Not mine, yada yada… No profit made.
Summary:
Authors Note: My first fic in ages and my first fic in this fandom. Please be gentle. :)
Fuck was the first word that came to mind the moment Oliver opened his eyes. His head hurt and his right ankle was killing him. He’d been on his way to see Felicity. She had called him... Oliver blinked and tried to clear the fog from his brain. There were boulders around him and rocks on top of him, but he could move them.
He stood up, taking most of his weight on his left leg as he scanned the scene. How long he had been out for? There were fire engines and police cars everywhere. He could see a triage tent being set up on the main street as he started to climb through the rubble. There were Paramedics everywhere and sirens that rang loud in his ears. He switched the pain off a second later when he thought about Felicity. Did this explosion have anything to do with why Felicity was desperate for him to meet her? He cupped his mouth and yelled, “Felicity!” knowing there was no possible way, she’d yell back.
From his vantage point, he could the devastation. The explosion had taken out the whole side of the building. He’d been far enough away to have been thrown clear, but where was... There was no possible way to know. None.
“Hey?” A Paramedic ran towards him. “Are you okay? We have critically wounded and if you’re okay? ... Get yourself to one of the Triage tents. You’re probably in shock.”
Oliver shook his head, still dazed. “No... My friend, she’s... She’s still in there somewhere.”
The Paramedic looked over Oliver’s shoulder at the concrete destruction behind him and his face softened. “The army’s here to help with search and rescue. I believe there are private troops coming in as well. Look...” the Paramedic spoke softly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing in earth quakes. There are always survivors. Don’t give up hope, but leave the search and rescue to the experts, okay? Go find a nurse to tend to your injuries and then register your girlfriend as missing.”
“I said friend,” Oliver snapped.
“Okay, friend...” The Paramedic smiled sympathetically. “Whatever the case may be, leave it to them, okay?”
A strange numbness started to envelop Oliver as he watched the man walk away. His brain was still trying to decipher what was happening. Most people were in the lobby when it all went down and that was clearly where most of the rescue effort was taking place.
“Oliver!” A familiar voice rang out from behind him. “Hey,” Diggle said as he jogged to him. “Are you okay?” He reached out and placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “We were worried.”
“I’ll live, but we have to find Felicity. She called me and asked me to meet her here. She sounded... worried about something.”
Diggle looked at his phone as he tapped his earpiece. “I’ve got Oliver, but Felicity isn’t here.”
“Roy?” Oliver asked and Diggle nodded holding the earpiece tighter to his ear. “We’ve traced her phone. That’s how we located you. Yours must be around here within a few feet, somewhere.”
Oliver furrowed his brow and reached into his back pocket. He couldn’t believe it. He pulled out the phone and cut his finger on the smashed and broken screen. “This is toast,” he said looking at Diggle in question. “How were you able to ping it?”
“I didn’t say we pinged it,” Diggle countered. “Felicity... she put tracers on all our phones, remember? Must be six months ago. The phone doesn’t need to be active for it to work. She wanted to safe guard us so we’d always being found. Or... at least the phone would be.”
Oliver searched his memory banks for a moment and wondered how he had missed that. “Glad she did,” he said simply as he got his bearings. “How far?”
Diggle’s face fell. “The signal from her phone is about fifty feet south but...”
Oliver just took off. He heard the ‘but’ however Fifty feet south rang louder in his ears. Felicity was fifty feet south. He ran, ignoring the throbbing in his ankle. His mind screamed, ‘fuck’ again, when he reached the thirty feet south mark. There were big slabs of twisted iron and concrete for as far as the eye could see. There seemed no way around or through it.
The noise was starting to get to him as he attempted to climb over the barriers that prevented him from reaching fifty feet south. He grimaced as he placed his full weight on his right ankle again. Walking was one thing, but climbing these beams were going to test him. He took in a breath and stilled his mind as he took another step up. Felicity was in there.
“Oliver stop!” Diggle yelled and he sounded out of breath.
Oliver looked down. “Is there another way to that position?” He could only hope.
“I’ve got Roy working on it!” Diggle looked up at him and the regret in his friend’s eyes made Oliver’s heart palpitate. “Oliver, it’s now 19 feet south, but... it’s also eleven feet down.”
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“No no no no no...” Felicity whispered out through dusty lips. She looked around her and more importantly, she looked above her. There were two steel beams in a cross pattern a few feet over her head. One leaned heavily against the wall she had her back to. At least she thought it was a wall. “Maybe it’s a roof,” she mumbled to herself, in an effort not to totally lose it. “Like in the Poseidon Adventure. The whole thing got turned upside down and they were all going the wrong way.” She shifted her weight and rolled to her side. “Thing is...” She kept talking as she got to her knees and started to crawl forward. “This is a building not a ship. So if...” She trailed off when she moved out from what was towering over her. She gasped at the realization she owed her life to those two beams. The tons of concrete, rubble and steel resting on them would have seen her another statistic in whatever was going on.
Out from under the beams she could stand, but there was very little room to move. It was dark, but for a crack of light shining through the smallest of opening.
“Help!” Felicity tried to scream, but her dry throat caused her to cough, instead. Once, twice, but it was the third cough that moved the lose pebbles under her feet and caused dust to fall from above. This wasn’t stable. “Oh God, I can’t even scream.” She swallowed hard and looked around.
“You’re kidding me,” Felicity said a moment later with a glint of hope in her voice. She’d caught a glimpse of something small and shiny. “Is that...” She moved forward and got back down onto her knees. There were two protruding boulders of concrete and between them sat... Felicity grinned. “Not kidding.” Her phone was only a few feet away. Help was on its way.
“Okay.” Felicity moved to lean up against one of the boulders. Was there any chance the phone wasn’t smashed to pieces? It was still in its safety cover and she’d payed a fortune for said cover. She had a tendency to drop things and she was sick of replacing phones. Still, she mused as she reached between the two boulders to retrieve it. She didn’t suppose it was covered for explosions. “Come on,” she panted as she tried to stretch further. “Damn it.”
When her third attempt failed, Felicity searched for something to drag the phone closer. It was only a few inches out of reach. If she could just... “Whoa,” she said as she brought her hand to her head. A wave of nausea brought her to her knees again and she vomited. It was sudden, but all she wanted to do now was lay down and sleep.
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He felt better, somehow stronger in his green Arrow costume. He definitely felt better with a bow and arrows on his back. He was grateful that Diggle had it all in a van he’d parked on the side of the road. He was even move grateful that Diggle had remembered the one arrow he needed. It had an explosive head, like the one Laurel had used in a similar situation. Now, if he could only get to her position.
When Oliver walked into Palmer’s office as the Arrow, he hadn’t expected him to be quite so accommodating.
“What do you need?” Ray asked from behind his desk. He looked pale and there was no smile on his face this time. “All our land moving equipment has already been deployed and I’ve got a private army coming in from Central City. Every resource we have is available, just name it. Is it something specific or could I---,”
“I need your helicopter. I want you to drop me in the there. These are the coordinates.” He handed a piece of paper to Ray.
Ray looked at the paper and then up at Oliver. There was a question in his eyes and Oliver knew what it was.
“That’s where your IT girl Felicity Smoak’s phone is. With luck, Felicity will be, too.”
Ray paled even more, if that was possible. “She’s much more than an IT girl,” he said and stood up. “But then again, you know that. I’m not stupid. I know she helps you out now and then. Runs traces, that type of thing.” He moved out from behind the desk and there was a challenge in his eyes. “Let’s go. It’s on the roof. I’ll pilot.”
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Oliver looked down at the devastation below him and wondered how anyone could have survived, but he did and that was enough to give him hope. He had to have hope, because without it... if he knew for sure... if Felicity was... Oliver tapped his earpiece. “I’m going in.” He looked back at Ray and gave him the thumbs up before jumping out of the door. It was uneventful and a moment later he was standing on top of the piles of concrete rubble. He unhooked the tether to the helicopter and watched as Ray flew out of sight. He had an hour. Ray would refuel and be back in an hour.
“You’re close. Turn to your left,” Diggle’s voice came through loud and clear. “About three yards and then straight down.”
Oliver closed his eyes for a moment. Fear was starting to well in his chest. He moved the three yards and looked down. There was a small crack and Oliver shone a flashlight into it. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the light reflect off of something and that something was Felicity’s phone.
“Felicity!” Oliver screamed into the small opening. “Felicity can you hear me?” He waited a beat and called out again. Still no answer, so he started to move the slabs and steel. He needed to get down there. He needed to find her.
Desperation gave him strength as he lifted and moved more than he should have been able to. Adrenaline did that. It gave you super strength and he was glad of it as he picked up and threw anything and everything that was in his way. It was finally worth it, when a larger opening, one he could fit through, was exposed.
“Have you got eyes on?” Diggle asked.
“Only her phone,” Oliver replied as he set himself up to climb through the hole. “I’m getting ready to go in.”
Diggle sighed. “Be careful. Good luck.”
Oliver poised himself for the jump. Eleven feet wasn’t that high and he could see the bottom, but... He had to find Felicity. She could be hurt, kept creeping into his thoughts. The, she could be dead, wasn’t allowed in, though. He needed to concentrate and bring his A game.
The thought made him fearless, but it also played with his memory. He remembered why he was cautious though, the moment his right foot hit the ground. The pain travelled up his leg and into his hip. It made him fall hard to the ground and he grimace. He tried to control his breathing and ignore it, but it was something else that dulled his nerve ending. The sight of Felicity’s unmoving body, only a few feet away.
“Felicity,” he said as he dragged himself towards her. His voice was shaking at the sight. “Please,” he said out loud as he gathered her up in a sitting position against his chest. “Hey... hey.” His heart beat slowed a little when he knew she was breathing. “Okay, that’s good.” He pulled her in closer. “That’s good,” he repeated as he wiped the hair from her face and felt her neck. “I’m gonna get you out of here. It’s gonna be okay.” He hit his earpiece again. “Diggle, I got her. She’s alive, but her pulse is really weak.”
“Is she conscious?”
“No. She’s got head injuries. Must have knocked her out.”
“Okay, try to rouse her if you can. She shouldn’t be sleeping if she’s concussed. Can you get her to the surface? Palmer’s ETA is about forty minutes.”
Oliver looked up at the hole he’d jumped through. If Felicity was awake she could stand on his shoulders. “Hey!” Oliver patted her cheek. “Felicity you got to wake up. I need your help to get us out of here.” He patted harder and shook her head by the chin, but there was no response. He was going to have to get her out, without her help. “Okay,” he said as he moved out from under her and gently placed her head on the ground. If he could make the opening larger then Palmer could just winch them both up. Oliver stood and grabbed his bow. With a push of a button it opened out and locked into place. If he could just get the right angle...
Oliver hit his earpiece. “Diggle, she’s not waking. Palmer’s going to have to winch us both out. I... I can barely stand, I’ve done something to my ankle, but I can make the opening bigger and he can lower a stretcher to us. Hang on...” He pulled the arrow from its holster and loaded the bow.
“Oliver, stop, wait!”
“What is it?”
“If you’re planning on making that opening larger with that explosive tipped arrow, then you gotta find another way.”
“Why?” Oliver frowned.
“News is just coming in. There are gas leaks all over that immediate area. They’ve started to evacuate the surrounding neighbourhood. If you let that go...” He didn’t need to finish that sentence.
“Gas leaks?” Oliver immediately started to sniff. “Did that cause the explosion or did the explosion cause the leaks?”
“The chicken or the egg?” Diggle replied. “They don’t know yet, but there are bomb squads everywhere, just in case.”
“Oh God, Diggle,” Oliver knew he sounded scared. “If she’s unconscious because of the gas...”
“They call it the silent killer.” Diggle’s voice was low and full of regret. “But she’s breathing on her own, so that’s a good thing.”
Oliver scrunched his eyes and shook his head in an effort to clear his thinking. “I’ve got to get her out of here.”
“I called Ray; he was already on his way back. ETA seven minutes.”
“I’m not sure she’s got seven minutes, Diggle,” he said and there was bitterness in his voice. He wasn’t mad at Diggle, he knew that, but the frustration was building to panic.
“What about you, Oliver?” Diggle asked. “It’s often odourless, but can you feel any effects? Drowsiness? Nausea? Are you having any problems breathing?”
“Nausea, but I’m pretty sure I’ve broken my ankle, probably in more than one place, so I’m not surprised.”
“Oliver, Ray’s asking for radio contact, I’m going to patch him through.”
Before he could respond, he heard a crackle and then Ray was talking. “Hello? Are you there? I... I’m sorry I’m not sure what to call you. They said you found her, Felicity Smoak. Is she okay?”
“She’s alive, but we need to move quickly. I’ve broken my ankle. I was hoping to have her on the surface, but the opening will only allow one person through at a time and I can’t make it any wider. You’ll have to drop the line directly into the hole.”
“Roger that,” Ray said. “You should be able to hear me by now.”
Oliver listened and sure enough he could hear the distinctive sound of propellers whipping through the air. “You’re going to have to get in close enough,” Oliver shouted as the Helicopter flew closer and got louder. He could tell when it was directly overhead. “Can you see where I came through?”
“No! The chopper’s stirring up too much dust. The camera’s no good. I’m going too infrared. By the way, your friend---,”
“Ray, you have to back off, you have to get that helicopter out of here!” Oliver screamed suddenly and there was no mistaking the urgency in his voice. He raised his hand and threw his body over Felicity’s as debris and small stones started to fall. One of the beams holding the concrete slabs up shifted and made a loud creak. It was buckling under the weight. “Back off! Back off!” he yelled again. “The whole place is shaking, it’s going to collapse!”
Ray responded and the loud whooping sound faded quickly and was replaced by Ray and Diggle’s worried enquiries.
“Hey!” Diggle dominated the signal. “Speak to me!”
“Hello, Arrow? Are you there, are you both okay?” Ray spoke next. “Red Hood managed to get down there. Has it stopped shaking?”
“Red Hood?” Oliver frowned for a moment and was then relieved when the ground beneath them stilled.
“It’s stopped.” He got to his knees and looked down at Felicity. His eyes widened and he couldn’t hold back a grin, when she began to cough.
“Hey, hey...” Oliver helped her to sit up and spoke softly as she coughed and hacked and coughed some more. He pulled out a small flask and handed it to her. “Here, take a sip. Slowly.”
Felicity’s breaths were shallow and her skin was a ghost like pale, but she still managed a small smile. A gesture that went straight to Oliver’s heart and he smiled reassuringly as she sipped the water. “You came,” she said so softly, he almost didn’t hear it.
He touched her cheek with his fingers and looked at her. “Of course I did. I’ll always come for you, Felicity. No matter what.”
“Oliver? Are you there? Roy’s on the surface. You should see a rope any minute.”
“Do you realize you just called me by name?” Oliver snapped, acutely aware Ray was also on the feed.
“Ye of little faith. It’s okay, he’s offline,” Diggle explained.
“Oliver, Felicity, can you hear me!” Roy’s voice echoed through the space.
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Ray wasn’t sure how the guy on the radio or the guy in the Red Hood, fitted into all of this, but he was kind of offended when the radio guy suddenly cut him out of the conversation. “That’s no way to treat an ally,” Ray muttered to himself. He hit a few switches and a separate dashboard swivelled into place in front of him. He touched the screen and it started a scan. He told it to look for the last know frequency used and it did. A moment later he was, what could only be described as, eavesdropping.
“Do you realize you just called me by name!”
“Ye of little faith. It’s okay, he’s offline.”
“Damn it,” Ray said out loud. He was disappointed. Curiosity had turned into a need to know. He wanted the Arrows identity the moment he realized that Felicity was working with him.
The radio crackled and then the Red Hood was calling out, “...ver, Felicity, can you hear me!”
“Damn it,” Ray said even louder when he missed the first part. He only heard Felicity. Closing his eyes, he took in a breath. Felicity... It hit him then, he was being a jerk. These guys were trying to save her life and he was worried about who they were. It didn’t matter who they were for the moment as long as they bought Felicity home.
“Can you see the rope and harness?” Red Hood asked.
“Got it. Give me a minute, I’m sending Felicity up first. She’s awake.”
Ray grinned. “Yes!” He punched the air. She was okay.
“Okay, Roy, she’s ready to go.”
Roy? Roy? The Arrow called Red Hood Roy. Ray couldn’t help himself, but right now he needed to officially be bought back into the conversation. When the three of them were on the surface, it was his job to get them out of there, without causing a mini-earthquake.
Concentrate, he told himself as he flew closer. The radio guy told him to stand by. He grinned. “Hover-by?” The smile slipped a second later as he came to terms with having people’s lives in his hands, again. He’d had two tours of Iraq as a Chopper Pilot, to prepare him for this. This was going to be a piece of cake. He sucked in a breath. “Yeah, right.”
“Ray! Ray! Are you there?”
Ray unmuted himself. “Ahh, yes. I’m here. Are they okay? I’ve got a 50 foot rope ready. Upside, it should be enough that I don’t disturb too much. Downside is I won’t have absolute control over the ascent. There’s quite a variable around wind velocity and weight when you are using that much rope. The swing can be---,”
“You’re right,” the radio guy interrupted and suddenly sounded concerned. “That swing can be fatal. Ray, you know how to handle that Chopper, right? You’ve done two stints with the Navy.”
How did you know that, ran through Ray’s mind, but he bit his tongue. This was clearly a well established and cohesive group. Of course they would have run checks on him. Most likely it would have been Felicity who’d done so. “I’ve got it handled,” he said confidently, even though he didn’t feel it. The slightest miscalculation could see them swing into the side of a building.
“We’re all on the surface,” Red Hood informed. “Felicity’s weak, she’ll go first.”
“It’s a double harness, someone should fly with her.” Ray hit distance vision on the panel and smiled. This Helicopter had been worth every penny of the 4.2 million he’d paid for it. Probably a steal considering he could now see and hear everything that was going on a mile below him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Arrow said to Red Hood as he tried to lift the strap of the harness over him.
“No way,” Red Hood insisted. “You’re hurt. I’ll be find here until someone come gets me.” He grabbed the harness and placed it over the Arrow’s head.
Felicity was leaning heavily against the Arrow as he turned to face her. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered to her as Red Hood clicked the final buckle. “Okay, Ray, good to go.”
“I’ll be back for you before you know it,” Ray reassured as he took up the slackness of the rope. “Okay, let’s do this.”
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“It’s going to be okay.” Oliver leaned in close and wrapped his arms around Felicity. “Close your eyes and hold on to me.” It was loud, but with the chopper three storeys above and their faces so close together, they could hear each other.
Felicity looked at him. She had no other choice, really. They were harnessed together, front to front. There was no looking away. “Are... you sure?” she asked and he noticed the slur her words.
He took a tighter hold of her as she closed her eyes and nuzzled into his neck. “I trust you,” she whispered into his ear.
As their feet started to lift into the air, Ray came through on his earpiece.
“Okay, guys, now for the compulsory safety speech. Please ensure all buckles are well fastened and that you keep your hands and legs inside the harness at all times. There’s a small side wind of approximately 3.4 miles per hour, which means we’re going to have to clear the Rider building, before I can set you down. I’ve arrange for an ambulance to meet us there. In the mean time, hang back and relax, enjoy the ride. Some people pay hundreds of dollars for this kind of adrenaline rush, you know. Oh... and do your best not to swing around. ETA three minutes and 30 seconds.”
Felicity opened her eyes for a moment and immediately went back to her face against his neck. She tensed and shifted in the harness. “I’m scared.”
“I know, it’s okay. Stay as still as you can. Just stay as relaxed as possible. It’ll be over soon.” Oliver looked down and watched Roy and the ground disappear in the distance. They were going straight up. “Don’t be, scared. Seems your new boyfriend knows what he’s doing.”
Felicity snapped her head back to look at him. “He’s not my new boyfriend.”
“I saw you kiss him, you know?” Probably not the best time to disclose such a thing, but he needed 3.5 minutes of distraction.
“He kissed me,” she corrected. “Besides, what does it matter to you?”
There was a moment when they stared at each other. Felicity defiant and Oliver pensive. They were high off the ground and about to get higher as they passed over the Rider building. They were tied together, swinging from a rope, from a helicopter, piloted by his competition for her affections. For that moment, though, he couldn’t see or feel anything but her.
“It matters to me,” he said with more honesty that he knew was there. “A lot.”
Felicity sighed. “Well this is a whole different level of ‘dangling’ maybes, Oliver.”
Oliver grinned. He couldn’t help it. Even concussed and scared witless, she still managed to joke. Again, not the right time, but he did it anyway. He kissed her, wet and opened mouthed. Every part of his body seemed to relax when she started to kiss him back, but then she stopped suddenly.
“Wait. You’re... you’re just trying to distract me?” Felicity said, pushing him back.
“Is it working?” he said softly.
“Not quite as well as you shirtless. Now that’s a real distracter.”
Oliver grinned and watched as the wind blew her hair all over her face. Her lips were dusty and her face dirty, but he couldn’t remember her ever looking more beautiful. “Felicity, I lo---,”
“ETA 30 seconds ,” Diggle crackled in his earpiece.
Oliver touched the earpiece to activate it, but kept his eyes firmly fixed on Felicity. “Copy that.”
“Okay, guys, we’re here,” Ray chimed in. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Oliver responded and drew Felicity to his chest. “I got you.”
There was an ambulance in sight and Oliver could see the big makeshift X, that the helicopter was going to land on. He tensed for the impact on his leg, but wasn’t totally surprised when their feet hit the ground with feather-light impact. Palmer was clearly a good pilot; he had to give him that.
“We made it,” Oliver said as he unbuckled himself and pulled back. He gasped Felicity’s name when she went limp in his arms.
The two ambulance officers rushed forward to help, but Oliver already had her out of the harness and on the ground. They all but pushed him out of the way as they started to check her for breathing and examine her injuries.
“She’s crashed,” the lady Officer said.
“What? No, no, no...” he said more to himself than anyone else, when they started CPR. “She was just talking to me. She was just...”
“I’ll get the defibrillator,” the guy said and Oliver shook his head. Not after all of this. This wasn’t happening.
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Oliver was on a gurney waiting for the plaster around his foot to completely set, when Diggle found him. He’d been right. Two broken bones and a compound fracture meant he was out of action for at least 6 weeks. That, of course was the least of his troubles.
“Hey,” Diggle said as he walked over. “How you doing?”
“Felicity’s in surgery,” he stated staring at the ceiling and pretty much ignoring Diggle’s enquiry about himself.
“Yeah, I know.”
Oliver looked at him this time. “Has there been any word? I’ve been stuck down here for the last 2 hours getting this thing put on.” He gestured to his foot.
Diggle’s face changed. It was subtle, but Oliver had seen it before. “You have, haven’t you? You know something.” He sat up and swung his legs over the side. “What’s going on?”
“Look...” Diggle explained. “I haven’t heard anything you probably don’t already know, but... The nurse said there’s a lot of internal bleeding and...”
Oliver’s eyes widened. “Diggle?”
Diggle shrugged. “... and we should expect a long wait.”
Oliver felt hot tears well up in his eyes. “She seemed fine. I was talking to her, John.” Oliver looked at his friend with shear confusion in his eyes. “I kissed her. I was about to tell her I loved her, but---,”
“Well hello there,” Palmer said he entered the room. “How’s the leg?” He still looked drawn, but his customary smile had returned to his face.
“...but HE interrupted,” Oliver said under his breath.
“I just came to see how you were. I couldn’t believe it when I heard you’d been caught up in the blast, too. I also wanted to let you know that you can be assured Felicity is in the best of hands. Dr. Crosby has arrived and is scrubbing in as we speak.”
Oliver frowned. He had no idea what Palmer was talking about.
“Dr. Grant Crosby?” Diggle seemed to know. “From Metropolis?”
“Yes. That’s the one. I had him flown in the moment I found out that...” Ray stopped mid sentence and they could see him just trying to breathe. “I’m sorry. It’s just she means a great deal to me.”
Diggle raised an eyebrow when his phone rang. “Sorry... Excuse me.”
“Us, too.” Oliver looked at Palmer and there was a challenge on his face. “She means a great deal to us, too.”
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Ray sighed. It took everything in him not to say something, but this ex billionaire playboy turned vigilante, clearly did care about Felicity. “I know you do,” he said softly. “I just wanted to let you know.” He started to walk away when Oliver spoke.
“Ray?” Oliver stepped off the gurney and hobbled towards him. “Thank you. I... I heard about everything you did to save her and I’m grateful.” He held out his hand and Ray took it.
“Thank you, too,” Slipped through Ray’s lips. This man had literally pulled her from the wreckage.
“I didn’t do anything, except get my foot broken.” Oliver grinned.
Ray just nodded. He still had hold of Oliver’s hand and he let go. “I’ll check in later,” he said as a way of awkward departure. He would analyse the dynamics of it all a little later. Right now though, he and Oliver had had a moment. Bonded in a common appreciation for the life saved. That was good. He needed Oliver’s alliance.
Yes he knew Oliver was the Arrow. Felicity had said his name, twice. It all made perfect sense, now. He hadn’t needed radio contact. All he had to do was face a beam directly below him and he could hear every word. Now was not the time to ponder on it too heavily, though. First he needed to be sure Felicity was okay. From what he’d found out, they were still trying to stop the bleeds.
It was going to be a long night.
To Be Continued...
Title: Fifty Feet South Part 1/3
Author: Zenamydog
Rating: PG:13+
Characters/Pairing: Olicity, Ray.
Warnings: Spoilers for anything aired in the US
Beta: jdsampson
Word Count: 5,319
Disclaimer: Not mine, yada yada… No profit made.
Summary:
Authors Note: My first fic in ages and my first fic in this fandom. Please be gentle. :)
Fuck was the first word that came to mind the moment Oliver opened his eyes. His head hurt and his right ankle was killing him. He’d been on his way to see Felicity. She had called him... Oliver blinked and tried to clear the fog from his brain. There were boulders around him and rocks on top of him, but he could move them.
He stood up, taking most of his weight on his left leg as he scanned the scene. How long he had been out for? There were fire engines and police cars everywhere. He could see a triage tent being set up on the main street as he started to climb through the rubble. There were Paramedics everywhere and sirens that rang loud in his ears. He switched the pain off a second later when he thought about Felicity. Did this explosion have anything to do with why Felicity was desperate for him to meet her? He cupped his mouth and yelled, “Felicity!” knowing there was no possible way, she’d yell back.
From his vantage point, he could the devastation. The explosion had taken out the whole side of the building. He’d been far enough away to have been thrown clear, but where was... There was no possible way to know. None.
“Hey?” A Paramedic ran towards him. “Are you okay? We have critically wounded and if you’re okay? ... Get yourself to one of the Triage tents. You’re probably in shock.”
Oliver shook his head, still dazed. “No... My friend, she’s... She’s still in there somewhere.”
The Paramedic looked over Oliver’s shoulder at the concrete destruction behind him and his face softened. “The army’s here to help with search and rescue. I believe there are private troops coming in as well. Look...” the Paramedic spoke softly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing in earth quakes. There are always survivors. Don’t give up hope, but leave the search and rescue to the experts, okay? Go find a nurse to tend to your injuries and then register your girlfriend as missing.”
“I said friend,” Oliver snapped.
“Okay, friend...” The Paramedic smiled sympathetically. “Whatever the case may be, leave it to them, okay?”
A strange numbness started to envelop Oliver as he watched the man walk away. His brain was still trying to decipher what was happening. Most people were in the lobby when it all went down and that was clearly where most of the rescue effort was taking place.
“Oliver!” A familiar voice rang out from behind him. “Hey,” Diggle said as he jogged to him. “Are you okay?” He reached out and placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “We were worried.”
“I’ll live, but we have to find Felicity. She called me and asked me to meet her here. She sounded... worried about something.”
Diggle looked at his phone as he tapped his earpiece. “I’ve got Oliver, but Felicity isn’t here.”
“Roy?” Oliver asked and Diggle nodded holding the earpiece tighter to his ear. “We’ve traced her phone. That’s how we located you. Yours must be around here within a few feet, somewhere.”
Oliver furrowed his brow and reached into his back pocket. He couldn’t believe it. He pulled out the phone and cut his finger on the smashed and broken screen. “This is toast,” he said looking at Diggle in question. “How were you able to ping it?”
“I didn’t say we pinged it,” Diggle countered. “Felicity... she put tracers on all our phones, remember? Must be six months ago. The phone doesn’t need to be active for it to work. She wanted to safe guard us so we’d always being found. Or... at least the phone would be.”
Oliver searched his memory banks for a moment and wondered how he had missed that. “Glad she did,” he said simply as he got his bearings. “How far?”
Diggle’s face fell. “The signal from her phone is about fifty feet south but...”
Oliver just took off. He heard the ‘but’ however Fifty feet south rang louder in his ears. Felicity was fifty feet south. He ran, ignoring the throbbing in his ankle. His mind screamed, ‘fuck’ again, when he reached the thirty feet south mark. There were big slabs of twisted iron and concrete for as far as the eye could see. There seemed no way around or through it.
The noise was starting to get to him as he attempted to climb over the barriers that prevented him from reaching fifty feet south. He grimaced as he placed his full weight on his right ankle again. Walking was one thing, but climbing these beams were going to test him. He took in a breath and stilled his mind as he took another step up. Felicity was in there.
“Oliver stop!” Diggle yelled and he sounded out of breath.
Oliver looked down. “Is there another way to that position?” He could only hope.
“I’ve got Roy working on it!” Diggle looked up at him and the regret in his friend’s eyes made Oliver’s heart palpitate. “Oliver, it’s now 19 feet south, but... it’s also eleven feet down.”
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“No no no no no...” Felicity whispered out through dusty lips. She looked around her and more importantly, she looked above her. There were two steel beams in a cross pattern a few feet over her head. One leaned heavily against the wall she had her back to. At least she thought it was a wall. “Maybe it’s a roof,” she mumbled to herself, in an effort not to totally lose it. “Like in the Poseidon Adventure. The whole thing got turned upside down and they were all going the wrong way.” She shifted her weight and rolled to her side. “Thing is...” She kept talking as she got to her knees and started to crawl forward. “This is a building not a ship. So if...” She trailed off when she moved out from what was towering over her. She gasped at the realization she owed her life to those two beams. The tons of concrete, rubble and steel resting on them would have seen her another statistic in whatever was going on.
Out from under the beams she could stand, but there was very little room to move. It was dark, but for a crack of light shining through the smallest of opening.
“Help!” Felicity tried to scream, but her dry throat caused her to cough, instead. Once, twice, but it was the third cough that moved the lose pebbles under her feet and caused dust to fall from above. This wasn’t stable. “Oh God, I can’t even scream.” She swallowed hard and looked around.
“You’re kidding me,” Felicity said a moment later with a glint of hope in her voice. She’d caught a glimpse of something small and shiny. “Is that...” She moved forward and got back down onto her knees. There were two protruding boulders of concrete and between them sat... Felicity grinned. “Not kidding.” Her phone was only a few feet away. Help was on its way.
“Okay.” Felicity moved to lean up against one of the boulders. Was there any chance the phone wasn’t smashed to pieces? It was still in its safety cover and she’d payed a fortune for said cover. She had a tendency to drop things and she was sick of replacing phones. Still, she mused as she reached between the two boulders to retrieve it. She didn’t suppose it was covered for explosions. “Come on,” she panted as she tried to stretch further. “Damn it.”
When her third attempt failed, Felicity searched for something to drag the phone closer. It was only a few inches out of reach. If she could just... “Whoa,” she said as she brought her hand to her head. A wave of nausea brought her to her knees again and she vomited. It was sudden, but all she wanted to do now was lay down and sleep.
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He felt better, somehow stronger in his green Arrow costume. He definitely felt better with a bow and arrows on his back. He was grateful that Diggle had it all in a van he’d parked on the side of the road. He was even move grateful that Diggle had remembered the one arrow he needed. It had an explosive head, like the one Laurel had used in a similar situation. Now, if he could only get to her position.
When Oliver walked into Palmer’s office as the Arrow, he hadn’t expected him to be quite so accommodating.
“What do you need?” Ray asked from behind his desk. He looked pale and there was no smile on his face this time. “All our land moving equipment has already been deployed and I’ve got a private army coming in from Central City. Every resource we have is available, just name it. Is it something specific or could I---,”
“I need your helicopter. I want you to drop me in the there. These are the coordinates.” He handed a piece of paper to Ray.
Ray looked at the paper and then up at Oliver. There was a question in his eyes and Oliver knew what it was.
“That’s where your IT girl Felicity Smoak’s phone is. With luck, Felicity will be, too.”
Ray paled even more, if that was possible. “She’s much more than an IT girl,” he said and stood up. “But then again, you know that. I’m not stupid. I know she helps you out now and then. Runs traces, that type of thing.” He moved out from behind the desk and there was a challenge in his eyes. “Let’s go. It’s on the roof. I’ll pilot.”
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Oliver looked down at the devastation below him and wondered how anyone could have survived, but he did and that was enough to give him hope. He had to have hope, because without it... if he knew for sure... if Felicity was... Oliver tapped his earpiece. “I’m going in.” He looked back at Ray and gave him the thumbs up before jumping out of the door. It was uneventful and a moment later he was standing on top of the piles of concrete rubble. He unhooked the tether to the helicopter and watched as Ray flew out of sight. He had an hour. Ray would refuel and be back in an hour.
“You’re close. Turn to your left,” Diggle’s voice came through loud and clear. “About three yards and then straight down.”
Oliver closed his eyes for a moment. Fear was starting to well in his chest. He moved the three yards and looked down. There was a small crack and Oliver shone a flashlight into it. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the light reflect off of something and that something was Felicity’s phone.
“Felicity!” Oliver screamed into the small opening. “Felicity can you hear me?” He waited a beat and called out again. Still no answer, so he started to move the slabs and steel. He needed to get down there. He needed to find her.
Desperation gave him strength as he lifted and moved more than he should have been able to. Adrenaline did that. It gave you super strength and he was glad of it as he picked up and threw anything and everything that was in his way. It was finally worth it, when a larger opening, one he could fit through, was exposed.
“Have you got eyes on?” Diggle asked.
“Only her phone,” Oliver replied as he set himself up to climb through the hole. “I’m getting ready to go in.”
Diggle sighed. “Be careful. Good luck.”
Oliver poised himself for the jump. Eleven feet wasn’t that high and he could see the bottom, but... He had to find Felicity. She could be hurt, kept creeping into his thoughts. The, she could be dead, wasn’t allowed in, though. He needed to concentrate and bring his A game.
The thought made him fearless, but it also played with his memory. He remembered why he was cautious though, the moment his right foot hit the ground. The pain travelled up his leg and into his hip. It made him fall hard to the ground and he grimace. He tried to control his breathing and ignore it, but it was something else that dulled his nerve ending. The sight of Felicity’s unmoving body, only a few feet away.
“Felicity,” he said as he dragged himself towards her. His voice was shaking at the sight. “Please,” he said out loud as he gathered her up in a sitting position against his chest. “Hey... hey.” His heart beat slowed a little when he knew she was breathing. “Okay, that’s good.” He pulled her in closer. “That’s good,” he repeated as he wiped the hair from her face and felt her neck. “I’m gonna get you out of here. It’s gonna be okay.” He hit his earpiece again. “Diggle, I got her. She’s alive, but her pulse is really weak.”
“Is she conscious?”
“No. She’s got head injuries. Must have knocked her out.”
“Okay, try to rouse her if you can. She shouldn’t be sleeping if she’s concussed. Can you get her to the surface? Palmer’s ETA is about forty minutes.”
Oliver looked up at the hole he’d jumped through. If Felicity was awake she could stand on his shoulders. “Hey!” Oliver patted her cheek. “Felicity you got to wake up. I need your help to get us out of here.” He patted harder and shook her head by the chin, but there was no response. He was going to have to get her out, without her help. “Okay,” he said as he moved out from under her and gently placed her head on the ground. If he could make the opening larger then Palmer could just winch them both up. Oliver stood and grabbed his bow. With a push of a button it opened out and locked into place. If he could just get the right angle...
Oliver hit his earpiece. “Diggle, she’s not waking. Palmer’s going to have to winch us both out. I... I can barely stand, I’ve done something to my ankle, but I can make the opening bigger and he can lower a stretcher to us. Hang on...” He pulled the arrow from its holster and loaded the bow.
“Oliver, stop, wait!”
“What is it?”
“If you’re planning on making that opening larger with that explosive tipped arrow, then you gotta find another way.”
“Why?” Oliver frowned.
“News is just coming in. There are gas leaks all over that immediate area. They’ve started to evacuate the surrounding neighbourhood. If you let that go...” He didn’t need to finish that sentence.
“Gas leaks?” Oliver immediately started to sniff. “Did that cause the explosion or did the explosion cause the leaks?”
“The chicken or the egg?” Diggle replied. “They don’t know yet, but there are bomb squads everywhere, just in case.”
“Oh God, Diggle,” Oliver knew he sounded scared. “If she’s unconscious because of the gas...”
“They call it the silent killer.” Diggle’s voice was low and full of regret. “But she’s breathing on her own, so that’s a good thing.”
Oliver scrunched his eyes and shook his head in an effort to clear his thinking. “I’ve got to get her out of here.”
“I called Ray; he was already on his way back. ETA seven minutes.”
“I’m not sure she’s got seven minutes, Diggle,” he said and there was bitterness in his voice. He wasn’t mad at Diggle, he knew that, but the frustration was building to panic.
“What about you, Oliver?” Diggle asked. “It’s often odourless, but can you feel any effects? Drowsiness? Nausea? Are you having any problems breathing?”
“Nausea, but I’m pretty sure I’ve broken my ankle, probably in more than one place, so I’m not surprised.”
“Oliver, Ray’s asking for radio contact, I’m going to patch him through.”
Before he could respond, he heard a crackle and then Ray was talking. “Hello? Are you there? I... I’m sorry I’m not sure what to call you. They said you found her, Felicity Smoak. Is she okay?”
“She’s alive, but we need to move quickly. I’ve broken my ankle. I was hoping to have her on the surface, but the opening will only allow one person through at a time and I can’t make it any wider. You’ll have to drop the line directly into the hole.”
“Roger that,” Ray said. “You should be able to hear me by now.”
Oliver listened and sure enough he could hear the distinctive sound of propellers whipping through the air. “You’re going to have to get in close enough,” Oliver shouted as the Helicopter flew closer and got louder. He could tell when it was directly overhead. “Can you see where I came through?”
“No! The chopper’s stirring up too much dust. The camera’s no good. I’m going too infrared. By the way, your friend---,”
“Ray, you have to back off, you have to get that helicopter out of here!” Oliver screamed suddenly and there was no mistaking the urgency in his voice. He raised his hand and threw his body over Felicity’s as debris and small stones started to fall. One of the beams holding the concrete slabs up shifted and made a loud creak. It was buckling under the weight. “Back off! Back off!” he yelled again. “The whole place is shaking, it’s going to collapse!”
Ray responded and the loud whooping sound faded quickly and was replaced by Ray and Diggle’s worried enquiries.
“Hey!” Diggle dominated the signal. “Speak to me!”
“Hello, Arrow? Are you there, are you both okay?” Ray spoke next. “Red Hood managed to get down there. Has it stopped shaking?”
“Red Hood?” Oliver frowned for a moment and was then relieved when the ground beneath them stilled.
“It’s stopped.” He got to his knees and looked down at Felicity. His eyes widened and he couldn’t hold back a grin, when she began to cough.
“Hey, hey...” Oliver helped her to sit up and spoke softly as she coughed and hacked and coughed some more. He pulled out a small flask and handed it to her. “Here, take a sip. Slowly.”
Felicity’s breaths were shallow and her skin was a ghost like pale, but she still managed a small smile. A gesture that went straight to Oliver’s heart and he smiled reassuringly as she sipped the water. “You came,” she said so softly, he almost didn’t hear it.
He touched her cheek with his fingers and looked at her. “Of course I did. I’ll always come for you, Felicity. No matter what.”
“Oliver? Are you there? Roy’s on the surface. You should see a rope any minute.”
“Do you realize you just called me by name?” Oliver snapped, acutely aware Ray was also on the feed.
“Ye of little faith. It’s okay, he’s offline,” Diggle explained.
“Oliver, Felicity, can you hear me!” Roy’s voice echoed through the space.
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Ray wasn’t sure how the guy on the radio or the guy in the Red Hood, fitted into all of this, but he was kind of offended when the radio guy suddenly cut him out of the conversation. “That’s no way to treat an ally,” Ray muttered to himself. He hit a few switches and a separate dashboard swivelled into place in front of him. He touched the screen and it started a scan. He told it to look for the last know frequency used and it did. A moment later he was, what could only be described as, eavesdropping.
“Do you realize you just called me by name!”
“Ye of little faith. It’s okay, he’s offline.”
“Damn it,” Ray said out loud. He was disappointed. Curiosity had turned into a need to know. He wanted the Arrows identity the moment he realized that Felicity was working with him.
The radio crackled and then the Red Hood was calling out, “...ver, Felicity, can you hear me!”
“Damn it,” Ray said even louder when he missed the first part. He only heard Felicity. Closing his eyes, he took in a breath. Felicity... It hit him then, he was being a jerk. These guys were trying to save her life and he was worried about who they were. It didn’t matter who they were for the moment as long as they bought Felicity home.
“Can you see the rope and harness?” Red Hood asked.
“Got it. Give me a minute, I’m sending Felicity up first. She’s awake.”
Ray grinned. “Yes!” He punched the air. She was okay.
“Okay, Roy, she’s ready to go.”
Roy? Roy? The Arrow called Red Hood Roy. Ray couldn’t help himself, but right now he needed to officially be bought back into the conversation. When the three of them were on the surface, it was his job to get them out of there, without causing a mini-earthquake.
Concentrate, he told himself as he flew closer. The radio guy told him to stand by. He grinned. “Hover-by?” The smile slipped a second later as he came to terms with having people’s lives in his hands, again. He’d had two tours of Iraq as a Chopper Pilot, to prepare him for this. This was going to be a piece of cake. He sucked in a breath. “Yeah, right.”
“Ray! Ray! Are you there?”
Ray unmuted himself. “Ahh, yes. I’m here. Are they okay? I’ve got a 50 foot rope ready. Upside, it should be enough that I don’t disturb too much. Downside is I won’t have absolute control over the ascent. There’s quite a variable around wind velocity and weight when you are using that much rope. The swing can be---,”
“You’re right,” the radio guy interrupted and suddenly sounded concerned. “That swing can be fatal. Ray, you know how to handle that Chopper, right? You’ve done two stints with the Navy.”
How did you know that, ran through Ray’s mind, but he bit his tongue. This was clearly a well established and cohesive group. Of course they would have run checks on him. Most likely it would have been Felicity who’d done so. “I’ve got it handled,” he said confidently, even though he didn’t feel it. The slightest miscalculation could see them swing into the side of a building.
“We’re all on the surface,” Red Hood informed. “Felicity’s weak, she’ll go first.”
“It’s a double harness, someone should fly with her.” Ray hit distance vision on the panel and smiled. This Helicopter had been worth every penny of the 4.2 million he’d paid for it. Probably a steal considering he could now see and hear everything that was going on a mile below him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Arrow said to Red Hood as he tried to lift the strap of the harness over him.
“No way,” Red Hood insisted. “You’re hurt. I’ll be find here until someone come gets me.” He grabbed the harness and placed it over the Arrow’s head.
Felicity was leaning heavily against the Arrow as he turned to face her. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered to her as Red Hood clicked the final buckle. “Okay, Ray, good to go.”
“I’ll be back for you before you know it,” Ray reassured as he took up the slackness of the rope. “Okay, let’s do this.”
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“It’s going to be okay.” Oliver leaned in close and wrapped his arms around Felicity. “Close your eyes and hold on to me.” It was loud, but with the chopper three storeys above and their faces so close together, they could hear each other.
Felicity looked at him. She had no other choice, really. They were harnessed together, front to front. There was no looking away. “Are... you sure?” she asked and he noticed the slur her words.
He took a tighter hold of her as she closed her eyes and nuzzled into his neck. “I trust you,” she whispered into his ear.
As their feet started to lift into the air, Ray came through on his earpiece.
“Okay, guys, now for the compulsory safety speech. Please ensure all buckles are well fastened and that you keep your hands and legs inside the harness at all times. There’s a small side wind of approximately 3.4 miles per hour, which means we’re going to have to clear the Rider building, before I can set you down. I’ve arrange for an ambulance to meet us there. In the mean time, hang back and relax, enjoy the ride. Some people pay hundreds of dollars for this kind of adrenaline rush, you know. Oh... and do your best not to swing around. ETA three minutes and 30 seconds.”
Felicity opened her eyes for a moment and immediately went back to her face against his neck. She tensed and shifted in the harness. “I’m scared.”
“I know, it’s okay. Stay as still as you can. Just stay as relaxed as possible. It’ll be over soon.” Oliver looked down and watched Roy and the ground disappear in the distance. They were going straight up. “Don’t be, scared. Seems your new boyfriend knows what he’s doing.”
Felicity snapped her head back to look at him. “He’s not my new boyfriend.”
“I saw you kiss him, you know?” Probably not the best time to disclose such a thing, but he needed 3.5 minutes of distraction.
“He kissed me,” she corrected. “Besides, what does it matter to you?”
There was a moment when they stared at each other. Felicity defiant and Oliver pensive. They were high off the ground and about to get higher as they passed over the Rider building. They were tied together, swinging from a rope, from a helicopter, piloted by his competition for her affections. For that moment, though, he couldn’t see or feel anything but her.
“It matters to me,” he said with more honesty that he knew was there. “A lot.”
Felicity sighed. “Well this is a whole different level of ‘dangling’ maybes, Oliver.”
Oliver grinned. He couldn’t help it. Even concussed and scared witless, she still managed to joke. Again, not the right time, but he did it anyway. He kissed her, wet and opened mouthed. Every part of his body seemed to relax when she started to kiss him back, but then she stopped suddenly.
“Wait. You’re... you’re just trying to distract me?” Felicity said, pushing him back.
“Is it working?” he said softly.
“Not quite as well as you shirtless. Now that’s a real distracter.”
Oliver grinned and watched as the wind blew her hair all over her face. Her lips were dusty and her face dirty, but he couldn’t remember her ever looking more beautiful. “Felicity, I lo---,”
“ETA 30 seconds ,” Diggle crackled in his earpiece.
Oliver touched the earpiece to activate it, but kept his eyes firmly fixed on Felicity. “Copy that.”
“Okay, guys, we’re here,” Ray chimed in. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Oliver responded and drew Felicity to his chest. “I got you.”
There was an ambulance in sight and Oliver could see the big makeshift X, that the helicopter was going to land on. He tensed for the impact on his leg, but wasn’t totally surprised when their feet hit the ground with feather-light impact. Palmer was clearly a good pilot; he had to give him that.
“We made it,” Oliver said as he unbuckled himself and pulled back. He gasped Felicity’s name when she went limp in his arms.
The two ambulance officers rushed forward to help, but Oliver already had her out of the harness and on the ground. They all but pushed him out of the way as they started to check her for breathing and examine her injuries.
“She’s crashed,” the lady Officer said.
“What? No, no, no...” he said more to himself than anyone else, when they started CPR. “She was just talking to me. She was just...”
“I’ll get the defibrillator,” the guy said and Oliver shook his head. Not after all of this. This wasn’t happening.
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Oliver was on a gurney waiting for the plaster around his foot to completely set, when Diggle found him. He’d been right. Two broken bones and a compound fracture meant he was out of action for at least 6 weeks. That, of course was the least of his troubles.
“Hey,” Diggle said as he walked over. “How you doing?”
“Felicity’s in surgery,” he stated staring at the ceiling and pretty much ignoring Diggle’s enquiry about himself.
“Yeah, I know.”
Oliver looked at him this time. “Has there been any word? I’ve been stuck down here for the last 2 hours getting this thing put on.” He gestured to his foot.
Diggle’s face changed. It was subtle, but Oliver had seen it before. “You have, haven’t you? You know something.” He sat up and swung his legs over the side. “What’s going on?”
“Look...” Diggle explained. “I haven’t heard anything you probably don’t already know, but... The nurse said there’s a lot of internal bleeding and...”
Oliver’s eyes widened. “Diggle?”
Diggle shrugged. “... and we should expect a long wait.”
Oliver felt hot tears well up in his eyes. “She seemed fine. I was talking to her, John.” Oliver looked at his friend with shear confusion in his eyes. “I kissed her. I was about to tell her I loved her, but---,”
“Well hello there,” Palmer said he entered the room. “How’s the leg?” He still looked drawn, but his customary smile had returned to his face.
“...but HE interrupted,” Oliver said under his breath.
“I just came to see how you were. I couldn’t believe it when I heard you’d been caught up in the blast, too. I also wanted to let you know that you can be assured Felicity is in the best of hands. Dr. Crosby has arrived and is scrubbing in as we speak.”
Oliver frowned. He had no idea what Palmer was talking about.
“Dr. Grant Crosby?” Diggle seemed to know. “From Metropolis?”
“Yes. That’s the one. I had him flown in the moment I found out that...” Ray stopped mid sentence and they could see him just trying to breathe. “I’m sorry. It’s just she means a great deal to me.”
Diggle raised an eyebrow when his phone rang. “Sorry... Excuse me.”
“Us, too.” Oliver looked at Palmer and there was a challenge on his face. “She means a great deal to us, too.”
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Ray sighed. It took everything in him not to say something, but this ex billionaire playboy turned vigilante, clearly did care about Felicity. “I know you do,” he said softly. “I just wanted to let you know.” He started to walk away when Oliver spoke.
“Ray?” Oliver stepped off the gurney and hobbled towards him. “Thank you. I... I heard about everything you did to save her and I’m grateful.” He held out his hand and Ray took it.
“Thank you, too,” Slipped through Ray’s lips. This man had literally pulled her from the wreckage.
“I didn’t do anything, except get my foot broken.” Oliver grinned.
Ray just nodded. He still had hold of Oliver’s hand and he let go. “I’ll check in later,” he said as a way of awkward departure. He would analyse the dynamics of it all a little later. Right now though, he and Oliver had had a moment. Bonded in a common appreciation for the life saved. That was good. He needed Oliver’s alliance.
Yes he knew Oliver was the Arrow. Felicity had said his name, twice. It all made perfect sense, now. He hadn’t needed radio contact. All he had to do was face a beam directly below him and he could hear every word. Now was not the time to ponder on it too heavily, though. First he needed to be sure Felicity was okay. From what he’d found out, they were still trying to stop the bleeds.
It was going to be a long night.
To Be Continued...