Arrow: Fracture Part 3

The Wrong Sort

A uncomfortable wave of silence washed throughout the Keep as Diggle descended the concrete steps, his footsteps breaking the dimly lit emptiness below him. His wounded expression trailed upward to find Felicity sitting in isolation behind the desk, her legs tucked tightly against her chest. Diggle gauged her unfazed reaction as a sign of her most likely monitoring his entrance via the security system, it wasn't until he rounded the desk that he saw her glazed and red eyes. Felicity rested her chin on her knees as she stared blankly at the monitor before her, articles and files pertaining to the president of Telasaur Inc. littering the screen. Diggle quickly pieced together that Felicity's revelation earlier that day had yet to allow her the ability to come to terms with the horrible news.

"Couldn't sleep?" Felicity asked, half distracted by her own thoughts.

"No." Diggle answered, pacing around.

"Where's Oliver?" He added, noticing that the Arrow suit was absent from it's mannequin.

"Out, running down any leads on where Sanderson may be hiding. But he's probably just processing the fact that his girlfriend's father is a mass murderer and terrorist." Felicity explained, wiping away tears as she spoke of her father. Diggle raised an eyebrow at the thought of Oliver questioning his relationship with Felicity for any reason, especially one as petty as the sins of her father. The statement lead him back to his own conversation he had with his own wife earlier that night however, reminding him that trust was in fact a sensitive issue.

"Yeah well, at least you didn't know the truth...he can't hold that against you." Diggle stated, turning away and balling his fists at the thought of his brother's death and the situation surrounding it. Felicity glanced up to her friend and detected the pain in his voice and body language, filling her with more dread at the sight. A deadly silence crept into the space between their thoughts, planting the seeds of rage and dispair. The inner workings of a dangerous desire began to take hold of both the wounded souls in the bunker, the world had just punished them both for believing in a peaceful solution to their war and they both allowed that sting of reality to lead them into darkness.

"He needs to pay for what he's done." Felicity began, her voice harsh and scarred. Diggle slowly turned to his friend and kept silent, forcing himself to allow his teammate to dig deep for a uncharacteristic plan of action.

"If we don't stop him...I refuse to standby and let him hurt anymore people." Felicity corrected, her tone final and unforgiving.

"There's only one way to stop a man like that...and there's no coming back from that." Diggle warned, his conscious needing the consent before it could continue. Felicity kept her eyes to the side as she replied.

"I can live with it." Diggle had the urge to warn his friend of her intentions, knowing she wasn't thinking clearly and would eventually regret the type of thinking but he couldn't bring himself to fight it. The rage within him was feeding off Felicity's suffering and using it to propel their desire forward.

"Oliver won't agree." Felicity muttered, her only second guess coming from the reaction of the man she loved when he learned of her atrocious actions.

"He doesn't have to." Diggle replied, fully dedicating himself to the rage that was guiding him.

The neon lights inside the elevator danced off Thea's tired face as she prepared herself for the task at hand. Roy nervously stood beside her, his thoughts on the nest of criminals they were about to stroll into. Riley frantically typed commands into his phone as he insured the tether connecting it to the elevator control box was secure. Thea watched as the floor numbers lit up, signalling their ascent to the top floor of the skyscraper.

"Why do bad guys always meet on the top floor?" She asked, hoping to ease the tension.

"Quick escape routes, isolation, area control and denial." Roy quickly answered, not skipping a beat as if he were being quizzed by his mentor on the tactics of warfare.