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STAR CITY, POLICE PRECINCT
Felicity Smoak
Quentin and I stand together in the last standing precinct in Star City. All of them have been raided and taken over by thugs and Joe’s mercenary men backing them up. I watch Quentin grab the important things in his office and pack them up in a bag, the photos of his children all together, the coffee mug that Drake sent him with his band logo of a black canary on it.
There is only so much time until Joe’s men raid this precinct and we’re on borrowed time. All the remaining police officers hide out with us, and I have a plan to escort them into the bunker to hide out.
“They’re here.” A police officer interrupts us and enters the room as we begin to panic.
“Get them out.” Quentin commands me as he chooses to stay behind still looking for some valuables in his office. There isn’t time for this, he needs to take what he loves the most and go.
“What about you?” I ask him confused as I’m not leaving the police Captain behind, especially if it’s Quentin. Drake would kill me if I’d leave him behind.
“I’ll follow from behind.” Quentin says rushing me out and I look behind me to see all the police officers armoring up with their weapons. The wall blows up and I see Joe Wilson walk out with his blade looking around. The police officers begin to shoot as some evacuate and I hide behind a desk.
Joe’s men walk out behind him with sticky bombs in their hands and place them on the walls around the building. I try to sneak away and make my way out taking Quentin’s word and then hear a click behind my head. I begin to panic as I don’t have anything to defend myself with, neither know how.
“Please don’t kill me.” I say as I’m basically useless. The mercenary man looks at me and I turn around facing him and then I hear a gunshot and see him fall. I tremble as I’m pretty sure I’m dead.
“Am I dead?” I close my eyes tightly and I feel a hand grab on to my shoulder.
“Let’s go!” I hear Quentin’s voice and I open my eyes to see him with his gun and box of memories. He drags me out and we all run out, evacuating the remaining SCPD to the Arrow Bunker.
When we arrive the bunker is packed with injured SCPD officers and they all heal each other, taking care of each other like a family. I take my seat on my chair by my computer looking at it as I begin to search for Drake with my program, ‘The Machine‘.
The program crashes once again and it makes me frustrated. I go back into its coding and change it up a bit, creating a new algorithm. An algorithm that hopefully wouldn’t let it overwhelm itself and crash. I’ve programmed The Machine to be human like, almost like Barry’s Gidian.
“Still trying to find Drake?” I hear Quentin’s voice from behind me as he walks up looking down my computer. “What is this?”
“A program that I’m working on. It’s an anti-crime. Designed to stop crime before it even happens.” I tell Quentin and he looks at me confused. “I’ll tell you all about it when it’s finally working. Maybe I’ll even give it to you if we make it out from this.” I tell him as there is so much future. Quentin chuckles and shakes his head as he isn’t hopeful. Maybe this time the villain wins.
“I worry for him sometimes.” Quentin says talking about Drake and I stop coding and pay attention to him.
“Why?” I ask wanting to understand why. Drake is unstoppable, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
“I worry that this life might be too much for him. He’s lost, a lot.” He says and pauses. “I’m more worried that this might cost him his life and I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s my last one, he’s all I got.” He confesses his biggest fear to me and that as well is mine. Losing Drake, would mean losing apart of this city. He’s the key to keeping this city in peace. Often times I feel like I’ve forced that responsibility on him by bringing him back.
“Sometimes I’d wish he’d never come back to Star City. That he would hang up the jacket for someone to take over and have a shot at something normal for once.” I confess to Quentin and he sits next to me giving out a small smile. He chuckles at the idea of it and I smile lightly.
“Sometimes I’d wish that too. Maybe I’ll have grandkids one day.” He says and I remember something awhile back this year.
“When I went on vacation with my mom to Italy, we were in this beautiful beach town. We were both eating at a restaurant and it felt so peaceful for once. No crime, no League of Assassins, no HIVE, absolutely nothing to worry about. It felt good and then it made me realize, what it would feel like for Drake to feel that. He has the entire city and world on his shoulders. I fantasized what it would feel like to see him be free.” I say remembering that specific summer day in Cinque Terre. “I remember looking around that restaurant and seeing two men sitting in front of us. They looked just like Oliver and Drake, and they were happy.” Quentin smiles at the idea of them together and he accepts it. Oliver has been in Quentin’s life for almost as long as he can remember, through the bad and good.
“I hope after this, I can convince him to leave Star City for good. I’ll pay for their Italy trip, just so your fantasy can be fulfilled.” He says with a happy thought and I scoff. “But for now, we need to focus on what the hell we can do while Drake is out.”
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