Home. Heart. Hero.

An Unwanted Hero

Pain is a cruel and unrelenting. Pain was the first signal to his brain when Oliver came to. It seemed to pulsate through his whole body, but much of it rested on his upper shoulder. He let out a groan before opening his eyes to find that he was lying on a pillow.

"You're alright." a familiar voice assured suddenly startling him. Oliver turned his head to look up to Diggle who was standing above him. "You were shot, but you're fine."

"Katie-" Oliver said suddenly lifting himself as memories of the days events seemed to come flooding back to him all at once. He remembers the car and then the gun shots. Katie was in his arms, she was safe, because he had her and now, now she was nowhere in sight. He ground his teeth at the pain as he reached over a hand to press against the bandage on his back. "Where is she?" Diggle simply nodded his head behind Oliver and the man turned to see her curled up in one of the chairs asleep. "Is she alright?"

"More or less. She has questions, but I figure you already knew she would" Oliver turned back to the man hearing a tone in the man's words. "You know if you were going to reveal this secret to her you could've given us some warning."

"It's my secret-"

"It hasn't just been your secret for a long time now Oliver." Diggle countered and Oliver turned back to the woman. "We should've at least been able to give some input." Diggle looked over to the woman as well. "She told you not to trust her, and you showed her your biggest secret. This could all blow up in your face."

"It won't." Oliver stated sliding off the table, grimacing at the sharp pain in his shoulder. "Why does this hurt more than it usually does?" he looked over to Diggle who just sighed.

"The bullet you were shot with didn't come out the other side." Diggle replied before glancing over to Katie. "Good thing you're friends with a doctor. We got to witness our own little fucked up surgery, right here." Oliver simply nodded before grabbing a t-shirt that lied nearby. "I wouldn't-" Oliver didn't listen as he lifted his arm to put on the t-shirt. Diggle figured it was painful, but this was Oliver. Pain seemed to be his middle name. "Alright, suit yourself. Did you get a look at the shooters?"

"No, there was no time. We were too open and I needed to get her out of there" Oliver replied as he stood to his feet. "Where's Felicity?"as if on cue the woman's footsteps were heard rushing in, and soon she appeared holding bags of food that she sat down where ever before rushing over to him.

"Are you alright?" Felicity asked looking him over with concern. "Should you be up, she said you're not supposed to move for a while."

"I'm fine." Oliver said placing a hand over his shoulder. "Martin Ellis, what do we have on him?" Felicity's brow furrowed as she looked over to Diggle who shrugged.

"You were shot. You nearly bled to death in front of us and you don't think that warrants a breather?"

"I don't have time for a breather." Oliver said walking around the woman over to the computers. "Whoever is after her has failed twice, usually on the third time they make sure that doesn't happen." he looked over to Felicity who hadn't moved. She stared at him for a moment before stalking over to her chair where sat before typing away.

"Fine, I've found out some interesting things about Martin Ellis and you won't believe this, but he works for you." Felicity said bringing up the man's file. "Or at least he used to. He was a liason between your father and Katie's father. Once Jacob fell into the coma, Ellis was out of a job."

"You know I think I remember him." Oliver said leaning into the picture. The man's face seemed familiar. "I must have seen him around the company or at a party or something. He seemed harmless."