A/N Just a quick one-shot. I do not own the characters, images, or storylines of ARROW. No copyright infringement is intended. Also, hacking is a hobby...that I do NOT engage in, or encourage.
John Diggle greeted her that morning with an odd look. Felicity was used to interpreting the veiled meanings behind the varied expressions of her boss and his bodyguard. Once Oliver was safely ensconced behind his desk—he'd asked her for coffee just to test her mood and she'd managed to refrain from any rude gestures—Felicity had tried to motion for Diggle to come to her desk. He'd briefly shaken his head. Oliver's blue eyes fixed on the pair immediately, of course.
"What are you two up to?"
"Nothing, Mr. Queen. Ms. Rochev will be here in five minutes."
While Oliver was meeting with Rochev, Diggle had a meeting with the Queen Consolidated security team. Felicity sat at her desk sorting through database files while trying not to glare into Oliver's office. She knew from experience that he'd catch her looking and react. He needed to focus on thwarting whatever nefarious plans Isabel Rochev was concocting. To that end, Felicity played the role of conscientious employee instead of distracting her boss. Her phone buzzed, providing a needed distraction.
Talk to you later. Oliver can't know. Have to wait until he's away.
"Away" was their shared euphemism for "out shooting criminals with arrows". While Felicity acknowledged that the ever-perceptive Oliver would certainly pick up on any huddled conference that she and Digg had, she also knew she'd be worrying all day. Diggle's need to speak with her privately presented a mystery. She hated mysteries.
When Felicity reached the Foundry that evening, she was inordinately happy to see a red arrow sticking between the bricks. Roy Harper needed to meet with Green Arrow. Oliver would be "away" long enough for Diggle to stop being so mysterious. As soon as their team leader was out the door, the perky blonde twirled her chair around.
"Spill it mister. What had you walking on eggshells all day?"
"Sorry. This involves Thea and you know how he gets." He walked over and handed her his phone. "Open any of the links listed there."
Felicity instantly recognized the problem. The Queen family was no stranger to negative publicity. Thea Queen had endured more than her share of nasty tabloid stories. Since the earthquake, though, she'd kept her head down, determined to stay out of the spotlight. Any recent gossipy stories about Thea tended to focus on her (assumed) strained relationship with her imprisoned mother. Sadly, the site Felicity stared at in shock wasn't devoted to paparazzi photo shoots of drunken celebrities or the scandals of the rich and infamous.
"Oh, no," she whispered. Appalled, she closed the browser window. The next link on Digg's list was even worse. "Why would anyone do this? Has she seen this?"
"She showed me this morning when I arrived to pick up Oliver. Can you take the sites down before he gets wind of this?"
"You know he'll find out."
"I know, but hearing about naked pictures of your sister is far better than actually seeing them."
"I'm not sure, and I'm not going to sit here and do a close inspection," Felicity shuddered to show how she felt about that prospect. "But I don't think these are actually pictures of Thea. Not her body, anyway."
"I don't think it matters."
"Right. Sorry." Felicity localized the domains of each of the offending sites. She started sqlmap injection attacks, trying to locate which of the sites' users had posted the offensive images. "As soon as I locate the offenders, I'll take the images down." She pushed her glasses firmly into place while looking up at Digg. "Then we have to decide on a fitting punishment."
"Punishment?"
"There are levels of damage I can inflict. Some of it is even legal." She waved her hand in the air. "Well, it's a gray area, but technically legal."
"What kind of damage are we talking about?"
"Basic reverse harassment like signing the perps up for every type of junk mail known to man and changing every online photo to something involving kittens. I can progress from there all the way to zeroing out their credit reports, starting foreclosure and repossession proceedings, registering them on sex offender databases, and adding them to FBI watch lists. Those last things, by the way, are Gitmo-level illegal. But I'd totally do it for Thea."
Diggle stared down at her, expression blank. "You know, I've never been able to decide which of you is more terrifying when angry."
She grinned. "Definitely me. Monitor Oliver's coms, for me, ok? I'm going to be busy with this."
She'd been working for an hour when Oliver came stomping down the Foundry stairs. "Felicity! I need you to find out everything you can about these sites. Roy gave them to me." He handed her a slip of paper. He'd just finished storing his bow when he caught the look between Diggle and Felicity. "What? You two are hiding something."
Felicity crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the trashcan across the room. Diggle whistled his appreciation of her shot. She winked at him.
"Hey! Did you not hear me? I need you to…"
"Do I tell you how to shoot arrows into people? Huh? I'll have you know that Digg and I are quite capable of carrying out our jobs without you hovering. You're a micro-manager, Mister Queen."
He stared at her, flabbergasted. "Digg? Did you let her have espresso after midnight, again?"
Diggle chuckled. "I found out about the websites this morning, Oliver. Felicity has already removed the pictures—"
"Oh, not just the pictures of Thea. I crashed one of those sites permanently. They aren't ever coming back. EVER."
"Yeah, so, situation handled."
"I want to hurt these guys, Digg."
"Trust me, man, they'd much rather be shot by you than endure the hell Felicity will be putting them through."
Oliver looked at Felicity. She was practically beaming. He inclined his head. "Thank you."
"No problem. Teammates, remember? Besides, I hate cyber bullies. Excuse me, I've got to finish this program."
Diggle, on his way out the door, paused beside Oliver. "Be very sure you stay on her good side. Always."