Arrow ~ Next of Kin ~ Part Two

***

Oliver switched the news off and turned to the group sitting with him at the table. "Becky, can you get the fire chief's latest report, please, and could . . . would you mind putting in an order for some coffee? One of the big boxes of coffee, please. Thank you."

Oliver, Thea, and Quentin watched the council members leave, then Quentin cleared his throat. "So, I guess being the Green Arrow involves something of a learning curve."

"We don't know the circumstances surrounding last night," Oliver told him.

"Yeah, but we know how it's gonna play out," Thea pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Oliver frowned.

Quentin pulled out his phone when it buzzed, and he barked in laughter. "Wow. Speak of the devil. Got to admire her sense of timing."

"Who?" Oliver asked.

"Pollard," Quentin answered. "She's seizing the moment. She's using last night's disaster as a pretext to introduce her anti-vigilante legislation to the council."

"Does she have the votes?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know."

"Can you make sure she doesn't?"

Quentin and Thea exchanged glances before nodding, standing up to go do just that.

***

Dig waited for Dinah finished twirling her bo staff before he cleared his throat. "Hey. Can we talk for a second?" Dinah didn't say anything, but he took that as his cue to keep speaking. "I just wanted to say thank you for having my back with the team." She nodded in response, and Dig kept going. "Now, truth be told, I was a bit surprised, considering you – "

"Well, don't be surprised," she told him. "And don't think I said what I said for you. I said it because this team needs a leader. Without a chain of command, we're easy pickings out there."

"OK," Dig nodded, following her back through the lair. "I guess that's why you decided not to tell anyone about my injury, right?"

"It is," Dinah confirmed. "But honestly, as worried as I am about your hand, after last night, I'm a little more worried about your head."

"I know," Dig sighed. "Hey, Dinah, I know. Look, every time I've had to give orders in the army, on this team, there was always someone there backing my plays. I'm not used to making the hard calls alone. No one is more disappointed in me than me."

"Well, next time, get it right," Dinah told him. "Our lives depend on it."

There was a beeping from the computers, then Felicity whooped. "She shoots, she scores!"

"What do we have?" Dig asked, he and Dinah running up to join her, Curtis and Rene coming from the other direction.

"OK, these are our new friends back in 2015," Felicity gestured to her screen. "But last night, you said there were only five."

"You think when that leader went rogue, not everyone went with her," Rene guessed.

"Woof, Wild Dog for the win," Felicity nodded. "Three of her original members defected back to the CIA for a little while, at least."

"What do you mean, for a little while?" Dig frowned.

"OK, 'cause this guy and this guy," Felicity pulled up photos, "were both killed in separate poison gas attacks last year, one in Mosul, one in Tripoli. The video footage is . . . it's really gruesome."

"Well, poison gas can't be a coincidence," Dinah sighed.

"No," Felicity agreed. "I mean, ISIS is linked to both of them, but I'm pretty sure this is how Onyx likes to solve her problems."

"So she staged two terrorist attacks just to settle a grudge?" Curtis frowned.

"No, not just a grudge," Dig shook his head. "These are the only two that can pin her to the stolen gold."

"Bingo," Felicity nodded.

"All right, so she's wiping out defectors."

"Got one left," Felicity pulled up another photo. "Rob Reynolds, whereabouts unknown."

"Yeah, but you got to figure Star City or somewhere close by," Rene pointed out.

"Well, I'm guessing we should worry what this gas could do to a populated area," Dinah said.

"Oh, yeah," Felicity nodded, typing a command and pointing to another monitor. "Look."

The five team members walked over to look, all of their eyes wide as they took in the multiple bodies being covered in white sheets.

***

Oliver knocked on William's door, seeing him absently twirling a pencil. "Hey, buddy," he said.

"Hi," William smiled.

"How's it going?"

He sighed. "Fine."

"You still worried about the test?"

"Yeah."

"Anything that I can do to help?" Oliver asked, walking further in.

"Uh," William scratched his head. "Do you know quadratic equations?"

"Wow," Oliver blinked. "Um . . . those sound vaguely familiar, but then again, I wasn't the most enthusiastic math student, so . . . "

William sighed. "What would help is if I can talk to anyone who can help me right now."

Oliver nodded, considering. "I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks, Dad," William smiled as Oliver left.

The doorbell rang the moment Oliver left his room. Frowning, Oliver headed for the door and opened it, blinking when he saw Rene on the other side. The other man spoke first. "Got a minute, Hoss?"

"Sure," Oliver nodded, letting him step inside. "This about Pollard's bill?"

"No," Rene shook his head. "Uh, sorry, I've been out of the office. No, this is about John."

"What about him?" Oliver asked in concern, folding his arms.

"It's not working out," Rene said bluntly.

"You talking about last night?"

"I'm talking about something – !" Rene started raising his voice, and Oliver pointed towards William's room, raising an eyebrow. Rene nodded and took a deep breath, lowering his voice back down. "I'm talking about something a hell of a lot worse than what happened last night. That poison gas could kill