The sun peeked through the ivory lace draped windows, cascading the bedroom with glorious light. Birds sang their sweet songs outside. The jade leaves on the tall trees shook slightly with every small gust of wind. It was a beautiful morning.
Felicity slowly opened her eyes. She was encompassed in stark white bed sheets. They felt cold and crisp against her exposed skin. Goosebumps appeared on her arms. She shed a small smile to herself, looking to her left, spotting a man laying face down, his scarred and tattooed back exposed.
His eyes suddenly opened. He must have sensed her.
"Morning." He showed his perfect set of teeth. None of them were out of place. They were perfect, just like everything else about him.
"Good morning," she chimed back. They shared another soft kiss.
The two normally started their domesticated life off this way; soft good mornings, followed by endless love throughout the rest of the day. It was their life. Their wonderfully blissful, love-filled life. Their evenings, however, were a little more stressful.
[Later that night]
"Oliver, you're coming up on the truck now. Be careful of the gunmen. Spartan, back him up."
Felicity's pink manicured fingers were typing away furiously at the computer keys. She was alone in their vast "arrow cave," although Oliver refused to call it that.
"Got it, Overwatch." Felicity's heart still did hurdles over the mention of her codename.
Suddenly, large black cars appeared behind Oliver and Diggle. Felicity continued to clack away at the slate grey keyboard.
"We have a problem," Diggle chimed in. "We have to lose them."
Panic suddenly started to wash over Felicity like a large blanket, suffocating her. "Give me a minute."
Felicity placed her head in her hands and cradled her face. She took numerous inhales and exhales, trying to calm herself.
"Overwatch! We don't have a minute!" That voice belonged to Oliver. Her Oliver.
"Overwatch! Felicity! FELICITY."
She snapped out of her trance immediately. Her heart sank at the footage being played aimlessly on her computer screen. Oliver and Diggle's motorcycles were overturned and lying dead in the street. Glass was shattered everywhere. Blood splattered various portions of the concrete, like an abstract painting. Diggle lay face down, his helmet resting askew by his leather combat boots. He was bruised and battered. She looked around for a vision in green, with a hood. She looked for Oliver's motorcycle.
"S-Spartan?" Her voice was scratchy, like sandpaper. Her throat felt clogged. Her heart started racing.
"He's gone, Felicity. They took him."
Oliver was nowhere to be found.
[3 months later]
"I'll take a nonfat latte with two espresso shots, please."
"Tough day?" The barista flashed a seemingly sincere smile.
Felicity reciprocated, albeit faking it. "Something like that."
"What's the name for that?"
"Felicity."
The Grind and Jolt Cafe was relatively empty. Stars painted the navy sky, adding some light to the relenting darkness. Felicity reached into the pocket of her blue wool coat and retrieved her phone. She scanned various news outlets, coming up with nothing. It started ringing. Diggle's face lit up the screen.
The barista handed Felicity her coffee. Felicity simultaneously handed the barista money, before storming out of the cafe like a cat stalking its prey.
"Please tell me you found something?"
"Hello to you too." Based off his tone of voice, Diggle sounded exasperated and tired, two emotions the entirety of Team Arrow have been feeling for the past three months.
"Sorry." Felicity looked around at the empty streets of Star City. Most people at this time of night were tucked away at home sleeping or reading a book or binge watching Netflix. They didn't have to deal with all this. Those people had the luxury of being normal. She took another sip of her coffee, which left behind a vibrant pink lipstick stain.
"We're worried about you, Felicity. We want to find Oliver too, but these past three months, you've been…."
"Unhinged!" Thea, Oliver's younger but equally as badass sister, rang out.
"I am not unhinged." A ping noise echoed from her phone. She immediately checked its origin.
"Felicity?" Diggle sounded annoyed.
She stared at a text message from Curtis Holt.
- Meet me A.S.A.P. Got a lead on O.Q -
"Let me call you back." Felicity immediately hung up the phone and hailed a taxi. She tossed her coffee, which she had barely taken two sips from, into the nearest trash.
"Where to?" The cabbie asked, his tone layered with disinterest.
"Palmer Technologies."
The drive seemed to last forever. Felicity's head was spinning. Her throat was dry. Her heart felt like it was jumping in and out of her chest. She rushed up to the penthouse floor, where Curtis was waiting in the lab.
"What did you find?" She spit the words out like they were poison.
"This." He typed fast on the keyboard and after a few seconds, live surveillance footage of an abandoned warehouse lit up the screen like Christmas lights. The only object in that warehouse was a single chair and the only person was sitting in that chair, tied and bound, unable to escape.
"Is that?" Felicity's breath hitched. She tried to take in more air, to alleviate the sharp pain forming in her chest. Her heart was still racing.
"I wasn't sure at first, but then I zoomed in on this." Part of the man's shirt was torn, around his right hip. A portion of a tattoo stuck out. It looked like a Chinese character.
"His tattoo." It came out breathy, and surprisingly calm, from Felicity's quivering lips. "That's him."
"I have the coordinates right here." Curtis pushed a highlighter yellow post-it-note towards Felicity. Not wasting any time, she tightly hugged him, staining his jacket with her newly fallen tears.
"I owe you." Felicity rushed out the door a mere three seconds later, leaving Curtis smirking behind her.
Her heart still heavy and running a marathon, Felicity placed a call to Diggle, who picked up after the second ring.
"I need you to enter in some coordinates for me."
"What happened?" His genuine concern allowed Felicity to softly smile to herself for a brief moment.
"Curtis found him."
There was dead air before Diggle spoke again. "What are they?"
Felicity read the coordinates off. She heard Diggle and Thea conversing in the background, their voices echoing inside the enormous Arrow cave.
It was Thea's turn to speak. "Got it. These coordinates belong to an abandoned warehouse off Brighton and Fourth. Looks like it was an old shipping warehouse before it shut down five years ago."
"I will call a cab and meet you guys there. Hurry."
"Here." Diggle swiftly handed Felicity a tranq gun.
Her expression was one of fear. "Digg, I don't know how to shoot a gun."
"You're a genius. You can figure it out. Just point and shoot." Next to her, Thea placed her quiver on her back and grabbed her red bow. "Stay behind us."
"Someone seriously needs to teach me self-defense" Felicity muttered to herself.
Diggle, Thea and Felicity slowly stalked into the warehouse. They stopped around the corner when they heard voices.
"Oliver Queen. You, my friend, are a tough one to track down."
"No!" Felicity whispered. "That can't be."
She peered around the corner and froze. Cooper stood determined. A sinister expression was glued to his psychopathic features.
"We're not friends, Cooper." Oliver slowly lifted his low-hanging head. A small gasp escaped Felicity's lips. Despite his hair being cropped short, Felicity was taken aback by Oliver's expression. It seemed to resemble animosity. It was cold as ice.
"I'm aware." Cooper started pacing. "I'm here for the same reason you're here."
Oliver laughed. "You're here to kill me? I'm not surprised."
Suddenly, a slap was placed on Oliver's face. His left cheek was now splattered red.
"Don't be a smart ass. All I want to know is who sent you. You give me that info, and I'll let you walk free."
Another chuckle left Oliver's chapped lips. "It's never that easy. If I tell you, you're going to kill me anyway." The trail of his eyes went down to his feet before he began speaking again. "I want to know something too, Cooper."
In one swift movement, Oliver undid the ties that bound his hands. He punched Cooper hard across the face, and pushed him up against a post with one arm. His newfound strength was tremendous.
"Why the hell did you waste my time?"
Felicity, Diggle and Thea saw Oliver snap Cooper's neck.
"OLIVER!" Felicity began to run towards him. Tears started violently streaming down her face, falling onto the concrete floor. Diggle and Thea chased after her.
She stopped suddenly, due to the expression plastered on his face. He looked confused, like he didn't recognize her.
Felicity shut her eyes behind her square-rimmed glasses and raised her tranq gun. She pulled the trigger. She heard gasps emanate from Diggle and Thea behind her, and she heard a loud thud.
Felicity slowly opened her eyes.
"Well, that's one way to say hello." Thea lowered her bow.
Diggle lowered his gun. "Let's get him home."
Felicity sighed, defeated. "If he even recognizes it."
Her gut felt tied in a knot, unrelenting and unwilling to loosen. She had a bad feeling. This Oliver, the one that was being carried out of the warehouse by Thea and Diggle, was not her Oliver. Her Oliver was gone.