Green Arrow: Eternal: S1E12: Recovery

Oliver was out of costume now, doing some basic training. He didn’t want to fall asleep - in fact, he wouldn’t let himself. Not until he was sure Black Canary was alright. So he had been working out for the past hour now.
“You’ve been awake for the past eighteen hours with no rest.” Naomi said, walking over to him as he put down a weight - the building was locked down, so Oliver had the gym to himself. “You keep this up, your lack of sleep is going to catch up with you and you’ll choke yourself.”
“I’m not sleeping until she’s alright.” Queen replied.
“Suit yourself.” Naomi yawned. She held out a cup. “Coffee?”
“Thanks.” Oliver nodded, taking the cup and drinking a bit. “Urgh… hate to admit it, though, but the lack of sleep is catching up with me. I doubt I could go on patrol like this…”
“Which is why you should get at least a little rest.” Naomi stated. “I wish I could myself, but I’ve gotta stay up as your support…”
Oliver worked over to the side of the room where a radio rested. He decided to change the channel to one of the many news stations to see if there was anything new happening.
“...in a shocking situation, one of the many homes lining Fifth Avenue has been set alight through some unknown means.” the reporter on the radio said. “What’s most shocking is that the fire appears to be coming from the medical facility of Doctor Pieter Cross, a renowned local doctor and physician.”
Oliver dropped his cup of coffee. Fortunately, Naomi quickly caught it. “Pieter Cross… That’s the doctor you left Canary with…”
“Mid-Nite, what the hell happened?!” Oliver shouted, running towards the parking lot. He grabbed the Green Arrow suit from the rack he had it hanging on, pulling it on as he ran. He grabbed the gauntlets and boots, pulling them on as well, before slapping the mask on his face. He ran out to the underground parking lot, and Naomi was already at her computer when he got there. As the elevator came down, he tapped his foot impatiently. When the elevator doors opened and the bike was revealed, Green Arrow hopped on and drove off before the doors could even try to close.

Green Arrow drove down Fifth Street at a rapid speed, seeing the smoke rising from the place he had been only a few hours ago. As he drove closer, he noticed the firemen finishing up the extinguishing and the police investigating the scene. The archer stopped the bike, seeing a familiar face.
“Officer Pike!” Green Arrow exclaimed. “I need immediate access to the scene.”
“Why? Does this event concern you?” Pike asked.
“Greatly.” the archer replied. “You see, my partner was being treated here.”
“Black Canary, you mean?”
“Yep.” Green Arrow said. He ran inside, and Officer Pike shouted at his fellows to let the vigilante past. When the bowman got to the operation room, he saw Dr. Cross lying down on top of a table. “Pieter! Are you alright?! What-”
“Green Arrow!” Pieter tried to sit up, but groaned and fell back in pain. “Stupid… I’m a doctor, I should know that I can’t make any sudden movements. Listen. I brought Black Canary out here to do some operations in a more open area and make sure she was all patched up. I locked down the samples, but that was when someone attacked the lab. Someone that was able to make me feel like the world was spinning upside down. Whoever it was, they took Black Canary and set fire to this place. I… fell over and caused a knife to fall into my side. I safely removed it and did some self-patching, but it’s still an injury… I’ll need some proper help in order to get it fixed up like I need it to be.”
“Was it Count Vertigo…?” Green Arrow thought. “It must have been. Canary was swaying due to those psionic waves or whatever of his. Do you know if he left anything behind?”
“I’m afraid not.” Dr. Cross said. “I’d advise you go home and rest for now. It looks like you’ve been up all night. I’m going to be getting some rest anyways.”
“...alright.” Green Arrow nodded and began walking off, clutching his bow tightly. “Get well soon, Pieter.”

Oliver and Naomi had both decided to take Dr. Cross’ advice, and headed back home once everything was all packed away and secured. Due to it being nearly morning, they both decided to call in sick. Naomi texted Henry, giving a reason why they wouldn’t be there that day, and crashed at home. Thankfully for Oliver, his father was out so no questions were asked.
When Oliver woke up, it was nearly 5:30 PM. The former billionaire groaned. His back was still hurting from the previous night.
The pain was instantly forgotten, however, when he saw a text from Naomi.
We’ve got something on C and V’s location.
What is it? Oliver texted back. He recognised in an instant that C and V were referring to Black Canary and Count Vertigo.
Not safe to say over chat. Meet up at the normal place?
Sure. Oliver turned off his phone and ran to catch the next bus. He needed to be at Q-Core quickly.

When Oliver arrived, he saw Naomi already typing away on her computer. “What is it?” Oliver asked.
“Something’s started trending on your fan forums.” Naomi replied.
“I have a fan forum?”
“You’ve got a huge fanbase - it’s to be expected.” Naomi stated. “Now check this out.” She went to r/GreenArrow, with a pinned message at the top from a user known as disillusion. It was a video. Naomi started it.
“I hope this message manages to reach you, Green Arrow.” Count Vertigo said. He was standing in the middle of a dark room, a bag over the head of someone next to him tied to a chair. “By the time it does, I’m sure you’ll have seen what I did to Doctor Cross’ office. Apologies for that, but I felt I needed to send a message - a message not to mess with Count Vertigo. And what was my purpose in that? Taking a captive.” Count Vertigo removed the bag, revealing Black Canary - unconscious, but alive. “That doctor is certainly good. He managed to remove the entire dose of Vertigo. Despite that, however, he couldn’t stop me taking Black Canary. Now I know that the two of you have been serving almost like partners lately. That’s why I believe this will be an effective challenge to you.”
“Challenge?” Oliver asked.
“Ssh!”
“I challenge you to meet me at the pier one day after this video goes live, at 9:00 PM. You know where I’m talking about - the place we fought before.” Count Vertigo explained, snapping his fingers. “There, you shall duel my champion for the right to free Black Canary. Either you win and the girl goes free, or she wins… and you die.”
The girl that broke into Q-Core then stepped out beside Count Vertigo, glaring at the camera.
“I hope to see you there. And let your aim be true.” Count Vertigo gave a smile before the video cut out.
Oliver clenched his fist. “I’d say we should get to work with preparations. We’ve only got about three hours.”
“My thoughts exactly. Which is why I called in some help.” Naomi said.
“What do you mean by-?” Oliver was unable to finish his sentence, as the door opened with a man walking in. Oliver turned around to see who it was.
“Doctor Mid-Nite, reporting for duty with Team Arrow.” Mid-Nite said, already in costume. “Let’s get you ready for battle and me ready for backup.”
Oliver looked at Naomi, who just shrugged. “He can be the field medic. Always useful to have.”
Oliver sighed. “Well then, Pieter…” he held out his hand. “Welcome to Team Arrow, as you called us. Our first mission? Save Black Canary and take down Count Vertigo.”
“Let’s do it.” Dr. Mid-Nite firmly grasped Oliver’s hand, shaking it.