Once you get back in the swing of writing, it gets much easier to write extra characters in . . . imagine that.

Vincent starts his extremely dangerous missing, Kara, Mon-El, and Imra have very clear opinions on New Team Arrow, and Laurel finally gets to chat with Evelyn.

***

When Curtis, Dinah, and Rene emerged from the elevator into the bunker, they were greeted by the sight of Oliver and Kara by the railing on the tech level, Mon-El on Kara's right, Dig leaning against the metal beam on Oliver's left, Imra behind them. Felicity and Querl were by their stations. And all of them were watching them enter. "Nice," Curtis smiled nervously, trying to ease the tension. "Love what you guys haven't done with the place."

"Because your approval is what we strive for." Kara's voice dripped with sarcasm, making Mon-El smirk.

"Let's get this over with," Dinah grumbled.

"We, uh, turned your room into a home gym because," Felicity began, a smile on her face, which began to fade because of the dubious looks given to her by the three others. "Because this extremely awkward situation needs to be masked with humor."

"Why?" Querl knitted his eyebrows in confusion.

"I think what she means to say is welcome back," Dig cut in.

"We have the inside man, you have the tech," Rene shrugged. "That's the only reason we're back, Hoss."

"You're down a few members," Curtis remarked, looking around.

"J'onn, Alex, and Winn are at the D.E.O. right now and are trying to make progress on another bigger problem," Oliver said. "Lena is . . . " He looked at Kara, watching her bite her lip and look down. "Similarly occupied," he went with, because while he didn't know what exactly Lena's plans were regarding Sam, he knew she would do what it took to try and get her friend cured of Reign.

"And your attack dogs?" Dinah asked snidely.

"Watch it," Kara's eyes narrowed to slits.

She would have barged forward if her fiancé hadn't put a calming hand on her arm. "Otherwise occupied," Oliver deflected. "But it's important to our situation."

"But it wouldn't surprise me if they simply wanted to avoid the room," Imra folded her arms.

Dinah bristled, looking at the woman who had barged in on their operation when Cayden's attacks just began. "Oh?" she asked. "And why's that?"

Imra just tapped the side of her head. "You're broadcasting," she answered simply. "I'm getting a headache just being in the same room with you lot, and I haven't gotten past your thoughts of . . . oh," she blinked innocently. "I probably shouldn't say that."

Mon-El's laughter turned into a coughing fit at the disturbed look on Curtis's face and the utterly stupefied looks on Rene's and Dinah's. "Ah, my wife," he grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, I'm enjoying this."

"That makes one of us," Kara muttered, and Oliver squeezed her arm comfortingly.

"So you're reading our minds?" Dinah snapped.

"It's hard to ignore someone shouting at you," Imra raised an eyebrow coolly.

Dinah shut her mouth with a click, fuming. "Could we get back on topic before this gets any worse?" Dig looked between the two women.

"Is Vince on site?" Oliver changed the topic.

"Should be as of five minutes ago," Dinah nodded curtly. "That is if everything goes according to plan."

"You sound like it might not," Dig observed.

"Vince said he doesn't have access to the server room, so if anyone spots him in there, he's gonna have a lot of explaining to do," Dinah pointed out.

"We've got eyes," Felicity announced, and Querl pulled up the camera footage from Vincent onto the large screen.

"Can I talk to him?" Dinah asked.

"Yeah."

Dinah rushed to the screen, everyone else walking over to view the footage as well. "Hey, Vince," she took a deep breath. "You get any kind of bad feeling here at all, you abort. You hear me?"

"Don't worry," Vincent told her. "I'll see you soon."

"He's at the server," Felicity said as he arrived at a door.

They heard a rattle or two, then Vincent huffed. "The door to the server room's locked. You guys have a solve for this?"

"06141998," Querl answered promptly.

There was an incredulous pause as even Oliver and Kara looked at the Coluan in surprise. "You sure about that?" Vincent asked.

"By my calculations, there is a 95.872% chance that is the code," Querl nodded. "It is also his son's birthday, which is a typical human password to use."

"If you're wrong, he's dead," Rene frowned.

Querl turned around in his chair and gave him a bitch face that made Oliver smirk. "I won't be wrong."

Vincent typed in the numbers, then tried the door again. When it opened, both Vincent and Dinah sighed in relief. "Good work, Brainy," Mon-El smiled proudly.

"Thank you," Querl bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"OK, Vince, you're in the red zone," Felicity told Vincent. "Just let the sniffer do its thing."

Vincent plugged the sniffer in to start downloading, and Querl blinked as the bar came up. "Oh, my . . . eighty terabytes."

Felicity blew out her breath in a rush. "You guys can get comfortable. This is gonna take a minute."

***

Vincent sighed, tapping his foot impatiently, then froze when he heard a questioning voice behind him. "Mr. Sobel?"

Vincent slowly turned to come face to face with Cayden, hearing two swears simultaneously from his comms. "Frak!" Felicity seethed.

"Oh, Sprock," Querl sputtered.

"I think we need to talk," Cayden said coldly, narrowing his eyes. "All of my people have specific domains. I don't believe that I.T. is one of yours, which means you would not have a proper passcode to enter."

"How much data's been copied?" Oliver asked.

"Twenty percent," Curtis answered.

"No, but Mr. Sheck did," Vincent finally spoke to Cayden, trying to buy more time. "He was a little more loose-lipped than you'd like. Rest in peace."

Cayden frowned, walking closer. "Still doesn't explain what exactly you're doing in here."

"We got to pull him out," Dinah panicked.

"Dinah, not yet," Oliver began.

"Oliver!" she snapped.

"OK, wait," Felicity cut in. "Vince, if you want to stay alive, repeat exactly what I say."

Vincent took a deep breath, then did as Felicity told him. "You think just because I can handle a gun doesn't mean I know the difference between a trans-polymer hybrid and a fiber optic cable." Cayden blinked in surprise, and Vincent went on, gaining confidence as he went. "I'm just impressed. I wanted to know how you maximized the data throughput. Sorry. I should have asked first."

Cayden considered him thoughtfully, then finally said, "Perhaps." He sounded a bit impressed as he spoke. "I may have underestimated you. It seems that you have more skill than I gave you credit for."

"I keep telling people I'm more than just a pretty face," Vincent shrugged.

"Eighty percent," Imra said.

"Keep him talking," Felicity urged.

"Funny thing is," Vincent improvised from there, "I underestimated you, too."

"Is that right?" Cayden tilted his head.

"When you recruited me to help you take this city from Oliver Queen, I didn't think you'd have the resolve to do what was necessary to make him fear you," he nodded. "I was wrong."

"Does that mean that you also fear me, Mr. Sobel?"

"I'd be a fool not to."

Cayden scoffed. "Such flattery. Are we done here?"

"Yeah, we're good," Felicity said. "Take the sniffer and leave."

Vincent nodded. "After you."

Cayden turned and headed for the door, and Vincent quickly snatched the sniffer device and followed. When he walked out, he saw Cayden looking at his phone. "It appears that Mr. Knyazev has returned from the port," he said. "Join us in five."

He headed off, not expecting an answer. "Absolutely," Vincent spoke through gritted teeth, watching him leave.

"You were amazing," Dinah praised.

"Yeah, we'll engrave your Oscar when you're out of the building," Felicity said.

Vincent sighed in relief, nodding and turning. "Heading out now."

He was almost to the next hallway when one of Cayden's henchmen stopped him. "Hold up," he ordered. "Mr. James wants to see you."

Vincent looked side to side first; when he confirmed the guard was alone, he shoved him against the wall and delivered two sharp punches, one to his neck and the other to his face. When the guard was dazed, he shoved him carelessly to the floor, the guard slumping unconscious. "Did I teach you that move?" Dinah sounded impressed.

"I taught you that move," Vincent smirked, heading for the door. When he was outside, he pulled the sniffer out. "All right, transmitting now."

"It's coming through," Felicity told him. "Man, this is the motherload. Brainy, I'm gonna need your help to process this."

"I am at your service," Querl answered.

"Now get your ass back to Helix," Dinah told him.

"On my way," Vincent nodded, dropping the sniffer and crushing it under his boot.

He made it to his motorcycle when he heard the door open behind him, then Cayden's voice. "Mr. Sobel!"

Vincent hid a grimace and turned around. "Sorry, I got a text from my girlfriend," he lied. "She's at the hospital. Thinks it's appendicitis."

"Well, I'm sure the doctors are doing everything they can," Cayden brushed it off. "I need you here for a rather important assignment."

"Yeah?" Vincent raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Rooting out a traitor."

Behind Vincent, Anatoli held a tazer to Vincent's neck, and the metahuman spasmed before dropping to the ground, shocked into unconsciousness.

***

"Intriguing," Querl hummed as he worked on the computers. "Cayden James appears to have a lot of junk in his server."

"I wonder how many brilliant people are actually slobs," Felicity tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Not Lena," Kara snorted.

"Anything yet?" Oliver asked.

"Well, if by anything, you mean the location of the bomb," Felicity grimaced, "No. Not yet."

"OK, how much longer is this gonna take?" Dig frowned.

"Yeah, how much longer do I got to be here, because I'm starting to get PTSD," Rene complained.

"There's the elevator," Mon-El pointed without looking. "Have a nice night."

Oliver hid his amused smile quickly as Rene glared at Mon-El's back. "Maybe an hour," Felicity shrugged.

"Or possibly less," Querl added, not looking up from his work.

"I'm gonna head back to Helix," Dinah told them, walking to the elevator.

"I'll go with you," Rene volunteered, quickly hurrying after her, pointedly ignoring Mon-El and Oliver exchanging smirks behind him.

***

Vincent spent a few seconds staring into the barrel of the gun aimed at him by Anatoli, then his gaze slid as Cayden walked behind the Russian. "You were always the enigma, Mr. Sobel," he said as Diaz tied Vincent tightly to a chair. "The vigilante willing to ally himself with criminals to take out other vigilantes. I must confess, I never totally bought into it. Given your background as an undercover operative, I would have been a fool to. I don't strike you as a fool, do I?"

"No," Vincent shook his head. "You are coming off a little crazy, though. I've done good work for you. I got no love for Oliver Queen, you know that."

"I don't know anything for certain," Cayden countered. "That's what this is for."

He nodded to Diaz, and Vincent braced himself when he heard the sound of a knife. Diaz stepped in front of him, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged the blade of the knife slowly against his cheek. Vincent gritted his teeth, a groan of pain slipping through as Diaz made a shallow cut.

Cayden stepped forward, and Vincent glared up at him, already feeling the cut heal. "I must admit, that is fascinating," he remarked.

"You can torture me all you want," Vincent growled. "You'll keep getting the same answer. I didn't do anything."

"I admire your tenacity, but even a man who's difficult to kill cannot withstand torture," Cayden told him, turning to Anatoli. "At least, not forever."

Anatoli nodded smugly. "In my country, we do things a little . . . how do you say . . . dirtier?"

Vincent averted his eyes, and Diaz smirked. "We'll give the two of you some privacy," Cayden nodded, leaving.

Diaz turned the blade over in his hands as he left; Anatoli put down his gun and walked over to a rack, cracking his knuckles. "Okie dokie," he said, pulling back the cloth on top, and Vincent tensed when he saw the variety of tools underneath. Anatoli picked one up and admired it, then glanced at Vincent. "Where shall we begin?"

Vincent gave him a dirty look in reply.

***

Laurel walked down the hallway of one of the more abandoned warehouses in Star City, her phone pressed to her ear, pretending she was talking on it. "I'm here," she said quietly. "Is she still following?"

"She's right on your six," Malcolm answered through the comms she was really speaking into. "Just keep moving."

"All right," Laurel nodded, opening the next door on her left. She shut it behind her, making sure she heard it click before walking further inside, taking a few deep breaths, then ducked out of sight.

Sure enough, she heard the door open a few seconds later, followed by hesitant footsteps. The closer they got, the more nervous Laurel found herself. If they made just one wrong move . . . "She's in," Slade told her.

Laurel took one last deep breath, then stepped out from where she hid. "Evelyn," she began, then panicked when the dark-haired girl immediately balked and turned to leave. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" she held up her hands. "Don't . . . please don't go."

Evelyn froze, then timidly turned around. "This was a mistake," she swallowed, eyes darting all over the place.

"I think if you really thought that, you wouldn't have spent the past few nights following me," Laurel told her, carefully taking a few steps forward, keeping her hands in Evelyn's line of sight. "I think you want to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Evelyn shook her head.

"Then don't," Laurel shook her head. "I'll talk. How about that?" Evelyn folded her arms and fidgeted on her feet, but she didn't leave, so Laurel took that as a good sign. "I've been dealt a bad hand most of my life," Laurel told her, having to pace as she spoke, otherwise she wouldn't be able to stand still. "My dad died getting my birthday cake on my thirteenth birthday. There was the Gambit sinking on Earth-2, and Oliver's father made it out, but not my boyfriend. I took it . . . hard," she let out her breath slowly. "And I made decisions that weren't right. I tried to move to Central City, start a new life." She turned to look back at Evelyn. "Then December 11th, 2013 happened."

"The particle accelerator," Evelyn whispered.

Laurel nodded. "And I got this," she rubbed her throat. "And from there, bad decisions were practically my life. I became a criminal, then I met Zoom. I can't tell you the number of buildings I've destroyed for him, how many people I probably killed because they were inside when I brought them down. I came to Central City with him to help him conquer this Earth, but as you know, the Flash and his team were able to stop him. I got locked up in their cell block, and I thought that was it for me." She stopped and turned to look at Evelyn. "You know what happened next." Evelyn swallowed, but nodded. "I am not asking you to decide right now whether I'm right or wrong, or if working with Cayden and Talia is right or wrong," Laurel told Evelyn, walking closer to her, stopping when she saw Evelyn looked ready to bolt. "We all make choices that can take us on a downward spiral, and there can be a point where it all falls apart and it's a hell of a climb back up. It's hard to be a hero when no one expects you to be. The easier path is to be a criminal. My shatterpoint was when I learned Chase brought Oliver's son to Lian Yu. I still don't think I'm done climbing out of the hole yet." Evelyn swallowed hard, backing up, and Laurel took a deep breath, saying the rest of what she wanted to say. "I don't know if you've had a shatterpoint yet or not, but all I am asking is please . . . if you want to talk to me again, you can. And there is somewhere for you to go if you need out."

Evelyn gulped, then asked in a very shaky voice, "Are you done?"

Laurel stared at her for a second, then sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm done."

Evelyn nodded, taking a quick look at her watch before turning and running. Laurel watched her go, then sat down on the nearest flat surface and put her head in her hands. She heard quiet footsteps approach, then almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You OK?" Slade asked as Malcolm sat on her other side.

"I don't know," Laurel answered, staring at a random spot on the ground. "What did I just do?"

"I think you gave her an out if she needs it," Malcolm answered. "And what she does next is up to her."

Laurel closed her eyes, then nodded as Slade squeezed her shoulder supportively.

***

There were simultaneous exasperated sighs from Kara and Mon-El as the elevator dinged open again, but Oliver was alert the second he heard Dinah's panicked voice. "Vince didn't make it back to Helix."

"Did he reach out to any of you?" Rene asked, following her out.

"No," Oliver shook his head.

"Eureka!" Querl suddenly exclaimed triumphantly.

"Boom goes the dynamite!" Felicity followed up, turning and raising her hand for a high five, which Querl looked blankly at. "Oh," she reached over and took his hand, then high fived it. "That's how you do that."

"Oh," Querl nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Curtis cleared his throat behind him. "Maybe not the best choice of words, considering the circumstances."

"Oh," Felicity smirked, she and Querl turning in their seats to look at them, "if by circumstances, you mean locating Cyaden's bomb, then yes, we just did."

"Yes!" Kara whispered, closing her eyes in relief.

"Where?" Oliver asked.

"Warehouse district, 10th and Valley," Felicity gestured to the screen.

"What exactly are we walking ourselves into here?" Dig frowned.

"Unfortunately, it is a surveillance dead zone," Querl shook his head. "We don't know because we can't see."

"No surprise there," Rene muttered.

"The place is massive," Felicity whistled, looking the schematics over.

"Then we need everybody," Oliver nodded. Mon-El and Imra nodded in agreement, though Dinah, Rene, and Curtis looked at him in slight surprise. Oliver just raised an eyebrow in response. "It's your city, too," he reminded them. "Everybody. Agreed?"

The three exchanged uneasy looks, then one by one, started to nod. "I'll call the others," Kara stepped back, pulling her phone out.

The computers buzzed, and Querl paused, hands above his keyboard. "I did not do that."

"No, you didn't," Felicity swallowed, hearing groans come through. "That's Vince. He just activated his comms."

Anatoli's voice cut through Vincent's sounds. "The pain stops once I have my answers."

"Vince," Dinah breathed in horror, Kara looking up from her phone, eyes wide. "Oh, my God. We need to help him!"

"Hey, look," Oliver turned ot her. "Like Vince said, James is constantly moving the bomb. This might be our only chance."

"He's being tortured!" Dinah protested.

"And he can handle it," Dig reminded her. "With his healing abilities, they can't do anything to hurt him permanently. As far as we know, this could be a trap."

"Once the bomb is rendered safe, we go back in, we get Vince," Oliver told her.

"He has already been made!" Dinah snapped. "By the time we get there, that bomb is gonna be long gone!"

"How do you know that?" Mon-El asked.

"You are not part of this!" Dinah glared at him, making Imra glare right back at her. "And I know it! Look, we all got him into this, we should all be getting him out!"

"Oliver," Kara said quietly, looking up from her phone. "The D.E.O.'s handling an alien threat right now. It's just us here."

Oliver took a deep breath, then nodded, not breaking his gaze from Dinah's. She swallowed, then spat, "Fine. I'll do it myself."

"Dinah, Vince would not want you to do it this way," Oliver stepped to stand in her way.

"Don't you dare!" Dinah snarled viciously. "You damn well if it was Kara out there, if it was Lyla, this wouldn't even be up for debate." Oliver gritted his teeth, unable to argue with that because yes, he agreed. "Vince is my family, and I am not letting him die," she told him firmly. "Not again."

Oliver took a deep breath, then nodded in understanding, stepping aside to let her pass. "Dinah," Curtis began as Dinah headed for the elevator.

"You're not talking me out of this, Curtis," Dinah growled.

"We know," Rene nodded. "That's why we're coming with you."

"You're our family, too," Curtis told her. "We'll save Vince." He looked at Oliver. "You guys save the city."

Oliver seethed, then looked at Mon-El. "Are you with us?"

"You have my word," he nodded.

Oliver sighed, then stepped back further, allowing Curtis and Rene to follow Dinah. "Then we need to suit up," he said. "Now."

***

Laurel sighed and pulled her phone back out when it chimed, and when she saw the message, she sat up straight, knocking Slade's hand off her shoulder. "Oh, my God, they found it," she grinned.

"Found what?" Malcolm asked.

"The bomb," Laurel answered, scrambling to her feet. "We're going for it."

"Finally," Slade smirked, he and Malcolm exchanging satisfied looks as they followed her.

Laurel grinned as she left, happy to be able to concentrate on something else. She just hoped she wouldn't have to run into Evelyn again on the opposite side of the field after she had just gotten a chance to talk to her.

***

Oh, boy . . . next chapter's gonna be a doozy.

Hopefully I'll finish this episode before I go back to school next week!