The Ocean Arrow

Bad Timing

Percy

My eyes glanced over to my right, when I recognized a figure hiding in the darkness. "Oh, hey, it's Rag Man!" I grinned while the familiar face raised from the shadows.

"Rory?" Oliver asked while he tilted his head towards where I pointed too.

"Hi, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" he came out, giving us a thin smile. He walked towards us, ruffling his hair. 

"What're you doing here?" Oliver asked, looking between Felicity and Rory. Considering Felicity was the one who made Rory leave the team in the first place, we were both shocked at the fact that he was back and they were on speaking terms once again.

"Uh, didn't you tell them already?" He questioned, turning his head towards Felicity.

"Felicity?" Oliver looked at her expectantly, tapping his foot against the floor rhythmically.

She just twiddled with her fingers and stumbled on the fact that she wasn't telling us something, something important.

But something in my mind told me something was wrong. I suddenly looked around the room, realizing we were missing someone.

"Where's Rene?" I looked at Felicity dead in the eye and she gazed off somewhere else, avoiding eye contact.

Rory and Felicity didn't even bother not wincing at the sound of their friend's name and that's when I realized why she was being so suspicious.

"Yeah, so about that...." she began but Oliver cut her off.

"He got compromised, didn't he?" Oliver shook his head as if he already knew the answer to his own question.

She just nodded her head and bit her lip, looking down at her shoes.

"And you probably came to help Rene with his little side-mission, right?" I asked Rory and he just replied with a swift nod of his head.

"But I thought you guys were in a little argument or something because she supposedly blew up your village because she thought it was better option than directing the missile towards a place where there were more people at risk. And she basically murdered your father and all your friends and the only reason you survived was because of those magical rags?"

Oliver kicked me in me in the shin and gave me a look while the room went silent.

I think I said something wrong.

"Yeah that's the gist of it," Rory replied between his clenched teeth, and I laughed awkwardly.

"We can't let my guilt distract us from helping Rene," Rory set down his mug on the table and stood up straight.

"I'm glad we got our priorities straight, but now I think it would be best if we actually started to go find Rene, don't you think?" Oliver sternly stated, looking the three of us in the eye.

"Yep, that's probably the best thing to do," Felicity replied to Oliver for everyone else and we all got to work.

———

Rene

(TW: Mention of blood, torture, and other stuff.)

My body felt like fire.

Every punch after the other made my bones crack under the pressure. I don't know how much longer I could take it.

The cold metal feeling of the brass coming in contact with my skin hurt like hell. With every hit, more blood I had to spit out. I was convinced I already broke a tooth or two.

Pain ripped through my chest, and I began coughing up blood. The red crimson fell dropped from my mouth and stained my white tank top. I grimaced, clenching my teeth and trying my hardest not to break under the pressure.

They kept asking me questions I didn't know the answer to or I just didn't feel like answering. However, the more I disobeyed, the harder of a beating I'd get. My breathing was shallow, and my eyes felt heavier than a rock. But every punch managed to wake me up.

The questions kept on coming, and so did the hits. After awhile, I didn't even bother listening to them.

One of Church's lackey's started dragging a bucket towards me, water sloshing from side to side before it dropped to the floor. He lifted the bucket over and me and the freezing liquid fell over me, bringing me back to my senses. I began shivering at the temperature, and with my body already shaking from my wounds, I was probably convulsing at this point.

"How are ya feeling, my friend?" Church sat across from me, his jacket splattered with my blood looked like paint in a blank canvas.

"You can keep coming with the foreplay, but I'm never giving you what you want!" I struggled against the ropes weakly, but it never hurt to try.

"You remind me of this one guy I tortured once," He began, and I immediately got bored. "He was bigger, a bit broader in the shoulders. Heh, I don't know, but I was talking to this son of a gun just like you and we've been talking for the past day or so."

I'm starting to believe 'talking' wasn't the best way to describe what Church did to that other guy.

"My knuckles hurt, even with the brass. I needed a shower, and I was tired but this guy was not giving me what I needed. Not unlike you. So I said to myself, 'Tobias, make this guy feel pain like nobody who's ever lived.' And then it clicked."

"It isn't the pain that breaks people. It's fear. . . fear of that pain, of what that pain might bring in the future. And what happens next!" He clasped his hands together loudly, and stood up from his chair. He was about to leave the room when I spoke up.

"You aren't gonna finish the story?" I sneered at him.

"Huh?" I felt him pause in his tracks. "Oh! I got what I wanted from that guy. But hey," he walked up from behind me and whispered in my ear, "you might want to think about that the next time I ask you a question." And he patted my head, harder than expected. Like a dog.

Then again, my name was Wild Dog. . .

————

What college do you guys want to go to? Or if you are already in college or finished college, what college did you go to or which college are you at?

OKAY BYE