Arrow: Reckoning Part 2

Intact

The self inflicted trial for Oliver's soul had opened his eyes to what he could become if he allowed himself to, which he vowed then and there on Lian Yu to never again lose himself to his other side. His crusade would take a toll on him and he would still have much to learn, but Oliver knew he was now ready to return home. The remaining few months of isolation passed by as he trained every day, sculpting himself into a weapon. He studied his father's list every night, reading the names one by one. Life beyond his mission seemed only an after thought as he waited for his escape off the island. Finally a nearby fishing boat pushed him to act, igniting a signal fire and meeting the men on the shore. Oliver watched as the boat neared the island, his thoughts thinking back on the past five years and what they had revealed him to truely be. He had managed to escape the past five years of Hell with as much of his soul as he could, but he knew the true battle was only beginning.

The silence woke him, the uneasy sound of nothing frightened him when his last moments awake were filled with nothing but pain and despair. At first he thought the worst, fearing he had failed to stop Slade and that he and Felicity were both dead. His eyes snapped open and met the blinding bright light coming from the window behind him, illuminating the white room around him. An intense sting in his chest and abdomen prompted him to move his hand and inspect the pain but he stopped upon the sight of a bushel of blonde hair resting on his arm and side. Felicity lay silently with her head on Oliver's stomach and her hand clutching his with a fierce grip. A smile lit up Oliver's face as he looked down at her and kept quiet, not wanting to wake her. He looked around and determined he was lying in a hospital, his wounds still somewhat fresh from the feel of it.

"She's been there since she woke up." Diggle began, standing from his chair beside the bed. Oliver smiled as he gripped Felicity's hand tighter.

"Feeling better?" Diggle asked, appearing beside him across from Felicity.

"Much." Oliver replied, glancing back to Felicity. He did his best to piece together what he remembered, but still had no recollection of anything beyond crawling over to Felicity in the factory.

"What happened?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the sleeping woman beside him.

"When I couldn't reach either of you I went back to the Keep and didn't find either of you there. So I tried finding you with Felicity's tracking system, but Slade must have disabled both of your trackers when he took you two." Diggle began, edging closer to the bed.

"Then how'd you find us?"

"Felicity hacked a top secret ARGUS satellite and tasked it with watching a specific location, a location that she met Slade at. ARGUS didn't take too kindly to someone hacking into one of their secret satellites but they pieced things together pretty quickly and tracked Slade to the factory, then they told us." Diggle explained as he smiled and looked down toward Felicity.

"Slade didn't think she would have enough time to track him...guess he was wrong." He added, chuckling to himself at how smart and clever their IT girl really was. Oliver ran his fingers through Felicity's hair and reveled at how amazing she was before being pulled back into reality.

"And Slade?" He asked, somewhat frightened to hear whether or not the madman had been captured or if he was even alive after his defeat.

"Alive, and in ARGUS custody. He'll be moved as soon as he's stable." Diggle gladly answered, proud that his friend had once again beaten the odds and defeated his nemesis without taking his life in the process. Oliver sighed as he felt a sense of calm flow over him, the battle was over for now and he could rest. He had fought for his soul and won, proving once again that he was a hero. Felicity stirred as she tilted her head and smiled upon seeing Oliver's face looking back at her.