Chapter Text
I burst into the warehouse and started running from room to room, searching for the hostages. Finally, in the last possible room, I found Dad and Dig. They were both still unconscious. I started tapping my dad’s face, trying to get him to respond to me, and he finally started coming to. I did the same for Dig until he came to as well.
“Ryder?” my dad asked groggily.
I went over to him. “Yeah, Dad, it’s me. I’m here.”
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a…”
But before he could finish his sentence, I was surrounded by six armed men. This was going to be fun.
They immediately began shooting. I dropped down to the floor, as two of them managed to shoot each other. Two down, four to go. I aimed an arrow at the light fixture on the ceiling and we were plunged into darkness. The idiots kept firing their guns. I felt a bullet graze my shoulder. I estimated where the shot would’ve had to come from, and shot in an arrow in that direction. I heard the man collapse. Three to go.
The men finally stopped firing their guns, leaving me unsure of the position of the last three men. I grabbed a flare arrow (Cisco called it a flarrow) and shot it at the wall. The room lit up for a brief second, allowing me to get the positions of the three men. I was able to take one out before he moved his position too much. Then I heard soft grunting, like someone had run into something. I locked onto his position, and took him out as well. One to go .
I heard a thunk and turned toward it. I attacked the person.
“Ryder-it’s me.” Dad said.
“Oh, sorry.” Dad had somehow taken out the last guy. I pulled out my tablet and turned on its flashlight. Dad had a red mark on his head. Guess he head-butted him. I helped Dad get untied and then did Dig.
“Have you guys seen Don?”
“No. Why? Is he captive, too?” my dad asked.
“Yeah. The feed was coming from here, though, from both cameras.”
“We’ll help you find him.”
“Overwatch?”
“What’s up, Anna?”
“I have Green Arrow and Spartan, but I can’t find Don anywhere. He turned off his GPS so I can’t trace him.”
“Or Luthor turned it off, like he did for Green Arrow and Spartan.” Right.
“I’m sending you the information on a camera feed that Luthor was running from Don’s location. See if you can backtrace it better than I could?”
“On it.”
“How’s the team doing?”
“Luthor managed to get the chemical in the water, but they dumped in the neutralizer. We’re safe.” I breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Good. Over and out.”
I turned back to Dad and Dig. “Can we search this warehouse again? See if there’s anything I missed?”
We split up and went to search the warehouse. I got nothing again.
“Ryder?” my mom said.
“Copy.”
“The signal is definitely coming from that warehouse. I hacked into it and Don’s still there. You must be missing something.”
“Pull up the specs on the warehouse and send them to me. I need to be sure I’m not missing anything.”
Dig’s voice came over the comms. “I’ve checked the roof. Nothing up here.”
Dad affirmed that the second floor was all clear.
My tablet pinged and I saw that Mom had sent over the specs. I looked them over. Nothing to indicate that we had missed anything, except a small boiler room in the basement. But I hadn’t seen any doors or indication that there was a way down there. I stood over where the supposed room would be. If there wasn’t a way down there, I would make one.
I took out an explosive arrow, backed up, and fired it at the ground. It blew a hole in the floor. I lowered myself through the hole and then dropped myself to the ground. The only light came from a single bulb. There were heaters and ducts everywhere, but eventually I found a small space where Don was sitting across from a camera and a meta dampener.
I put my fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. He was alive. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. I shook him and called out his name until he came to.
“Ryder?”
“Hey, champ. How’s it going?”
“Ryder, don’t, it’s a trap!”
“Don’t worry, I already tripped the wire. It’s fine.” I paused, and then realized I should say what I wanted to say before things got complicated again. “Don, I’m so sorry. I never should’ve kept that secret from you. I just wanted to make sure you were safe, and that meant coming on this mission.”
“Let’s go home.” It wasn’t the forgiveness I sought, but it would do for now.
“Sounds perfect.”