Whumptober Day 28- Beaten
The sight that greeted Felicity when she stepped through the door of the SCPD holding room made her breath catch in the back of her throat. Oliver looked even worse in person than he had when she'd seen him on the news. His face was busted, covered in a crust of dried blood, spots of it staining the collar of his grey henley. His knuckles were bruised, and it looked like Diaz might have broken his nose. In other words, he'd been beaten to hell and back, and it was a miracle that he'd come out of it still breathing.
I warned him, Felicity thought, not sure if what she was feeling was bitterness at being ignored or fear of the fact that she'd almost lost Oliver because of it. But when she crossed the room to sit down across from him, when she took his bruised and bloody hands in hers and watched him slowly register her presence through a haze of pain, any words she might have said on the matter died in her throat.
"You warned me," Oliver said in a soft, strained voice, speaking them for her. "You told me that Diaz is a thug who doesn't care about honor, and that if I went in there to fight him, there was a good chance I wouldn't come back out. You were right, about all of it, and I should have listened to you." At any other time, Felicity would have taken the time to appreciate the effort it must have taken Oliver to admit that he was wrong, knowing how hard that still sometimes was for him, but Dinah had only been able to get her a few minutes with him before he was to be transferred to Iron Heights to await trial, and she didn't want to waste time playing the blame game.
"Please tell me you have a brilliant plan," she said, the exact same thing she had said to him the last time they had found themselves in a situation like this, three years ago. Last time, his response had been "I don't even have a regular plan", and she could only hope that this time was different.
"I wouldn't say it's a brilliant plan," Oliver said. "But it's a plan." He didn't elaborate, but Felicity wasn't sure that she wanted him to. Maybe it was better that he not say anything. In here, even with the camera shut off, any number of people with less than noble intentions could be listening. It was enough to know that there was a plan, even without knowing any of the details.
