Arrow ~ Divided ~ Part Three

***

"Charges are in place," Dig announced, bending down to pick up his bag.

"So are mine," Oliver nodded, walking away from one of the beams.

"And mine," Slade jumped down from the next level.

Dig pursed his lips, then asked, "Oliver, you sure about this, man?"

Oliver blinked, looking back at him. "You don't sound like are."

"If we do this, Cayden James will bring his whole group here," Dig pointed out.

"And?" Oliver prompted.

"And Cayden will bring Oliver. I'm no place close to a hundred percent – "

"Which is why the wizard, Siren, and I will be here backing him up," Slade interrupted. "Not to mention Kara."

"Except if Cayden pulls out a dampener again, Laurel loses her biggest punch," Dig pointed out. "Look, the rest of the team – "

"There is no rest of the team," Oliver shook his head. "We don't them. Slade could take all three of them at the same time, no problem, and that's not including what Malcolm is capable of – and you've seen them fight before, John. With Laurel and Kara? We pack a punch that Rene, Curtis, and Dinah could never hit. We've been over this before."

"I know, but we've also been over other things, like you and the League of Assassins, me with my secret," Dig shook his head. "Hell, you and Slade, you and Malcolm, after everything they've done to you. Oliver, the best partnerships are built on forgiveness, man."

"I earned mine by sticking to Oliver's side through Prometheus," Slade folded his arms. "I chose him and Kara over my own son. Malcolm has proven he has changed ever since Kara saved his life on Lian Yu. We have both had every chance to turn on Oliver again and again. We never have."

"Slade has a point, but you know what else, John?" Oliver narrowed his eyes. "I got arrested in front of my son, got dragged away in handcuffs because of something that Rene did. I don't know how to forgive it. I tried. John, more importantly, what's Cayden James been up to? He has known our identities for knows about my fiancée and Laurel, where they come from, and something I never would have concerned me like it does now – he knows about Slade and Malcolm. He has the ability to release to the public that two of the most infamous mass murderers in Star City's history are alive and back in the city. And yet, he hasn't outed us. Why?" Dig frowned thoughtfully, and Oliver nodded. "This started with you, with me, and with Felicity. Now we have the most powerful hero in our universes and three of the most skilled vigilantes that have existed on our side. Whatever comes our way, we can handle it. I believe that."

With nothing else left to say, Oliver headed out. Slade and Dig exchanged glances before Slade followed after Oliver, Dig sighing and rubbing his forehead before doing the same.

***

Rene returned to the living room, blinking when he saw Curtis take a bite from his snack. "Are you actually eating the old crogurt?" he asked in disbelief.

"Shut up," Curtis shot back, not looking up from his work. "Your old is my delicious. How's Zoe?"

"I don't know," Rene sighed. "I just . . . need her to feel like everything's going back to normal. I hope it is. It'd help if you could delete whatever the D.A.'s got."

Curtis paused, then looked up at Rene incredulously. "We just found out that Cayden James had the bunker bugged for a couple of months, so maybe we should just take a little break on saying incriminating things like that out loud!"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry," Rene winced, putting his hands behind his head and pacing. "I'm just anxious is all."

"I know," Curtis sighed. "But unfortunately, they have a backup of all these files, and even worse, the records are saying that they have hard copies."

"Damn," Rene seethed.

"Yeah, I know," Curtis nodded in agreement. "But I'm inside the system. I'm just trying to find – whoa!"

"Whoa what?" Rene asked when Curtis perked up.

"I think I just found something," Curtis answered with a grin, typing on his computer. "Yeah, there's a record on how Watson found out you were Wild Dog. There's an audio recording."

Rene's eyes lit up. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well, that depends on if you're thinking that Cayden James leaked an audio file of you from the bunker to the FBI," Curtis grinned. "Is that what you're thinking? That's what you're thinking, right?"

"Yeah," Rene nodded.

"Good. We're on the same page."

Rene's door suddenly flung open, and Rene turned, frowning when Dinah stormed in. "Don't you knock?"

"Don't you lock your doors?" she countered, dropping down into a seat.

"You look like you were just in a fight," Curtis frowned, seeing her rumpled clothes, then stood up quickly when he saw the bloody side of her face. "You just in a fight!"

"With who?" Rene asked in concern.

"Vince," Dinah answered angrily. "I confronted him. He did this and ran."

"I'm so sorry, Dinah," Curtis swallowed.

"It was my fault for believing in him in the first damn place and for confronting him, exposing the fact that we know about him and Cayden James," Dinah seethed. "That's my fault, too. Sorry."

"Curtis and I were just talking about James and the bunker being compromised," Rene told her.

"Yeah, and how that might have led to being compromised," Curtis added.

"You think Cayden provided Samandra Watson with her case?" Dinah's eyes widened.

"That's the theory," Curtis nodded.

"A good one, though," Rene pointed out.

"Yeah, but if Cayden had audio and video on all of us, especially Oliver, why would he just tee up, Rene?" Dinah frowned.

"It figures he'd go after the most handsome and charming," Rene quipped.

Curtis sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well, maybe when Oliver finally takes down Cayden James, we'll figure out al the details of his master plan."

"Why assume we're gonna wait for Oliver?" Dinah asked. "What are we gonna do here, we're gonna sit around and wait to see how this all plays out?"

it plays out, you mean?" Rene corrected.

"Are you guys serious about this?" Curtis looked between them. "About taking on Cayden James and his super posse?"

"I let Vince walk once," Dinah narrowed her eyes. "I'm not gonna make that mistake again."