Hey guys! This is my first new story reguarding the Arrow TV Show, which I watched and loved and is obsessed with because of the encouragements for me to watch it by a dear friend of mine, and so...
Enjoy!
PS: The timeline and events in this fanfic does not follow the TV Show's so don't be surprise if any sudden changes happen and don't presume anything because I'm mixing it all up :)
"The Phantom Hacker strikes again after a week of inactivity and this time his target was Judge Steven Perry - " The reporter said and Oliver Queen glanced over his shoulder at Diggle.
"A corrupted judge who accepts bribes from criminals to give them from none to limited prison time," he said, arms crossing over his chest.
Nodding, Oliver raised a little hard cover notebook with names scribbled onto its yellowed pages and flipped through the List, searching for the name Steven Perry. And he found it. "Whoever they are, they definitely have this." He closed the thing and tossed it carelessly onto the table before him.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Diggle said behind him. "Maybe the Phantom Hacker picks out the names based on the person's crimes and financial income in order to distribute most of that income to to the ones who needs it? Maybe it's justice in his eyes." He shrugged as Oliver stared at the TV screen.
"Maybe. But doing so doesn't mean good to anyone except if you're the one who's getting the money," he spoke, pushing himself off of the table to face his friend, his brows furrowed and his mouth was set into a grim line. "What he's doing is making him out to be a criminal."
"And he isn't?" Diggle raised an amused eyebrow at Oliver and recieved a look in return.
"Whoever he is, no matter how good he is at hacking and covering his traces, someone's going to catch him sooner or later. It's just a matter of time and even if the police did dig a little deeper and found out why he's doing it, there are those who are careful at hiding their crimes and he'd just be leaving a mess for us to clean up."
"I think we've established that last point. After the last two names he hacked and you off-ing them both, people are starting to get suspicious."
"Exactly, that's why we need to find this guy and put some sense into him."
"Not to turn him to the police?"
"He means well, Diggle, he just needs someone to stop him from getting in our way," Oliver said. "and put away."
"And how are you gonna find him? No offense, but you aren't exactly as half as tech-savvy as those who are looking for him. How are you going to track a hacker whose alias is the Phantom Hacker? You don't even know if he's really a he."
Under the scrutinizing stare of one called Mr. John Diggle, friend, bodyguard, partner-in-crime, Oliver thought about the ramifications as to how he was going to track the elusive Phantom Hacker down and knock some sense into him. Then, it hit him.
"You remember Felicity Sm - "
"Felicity Smoak? You've been going to for analysis of evidences masked by crappy lies? Yeah, I think I remember her."
"Just go get the car, Dig," Oliver said in an exasperate tone and Diggle laughed. "And just so you know, your B.S. stories are getting worse."
"I'm well aware."
"That's why I need you help to find who this Phantom Hacker guy is," Oliver said, bracing his weight against the table by his arms and leaning toward the IT girl who sat in her chair, her body angling away from him away as she looked him suspiciously with a hint of humor in her intelligent blue eyes.
Felicity Smoak was an employee in the IT department of Queen Consolidated and has been the to-go girl for Oliver whenever he needed to get some "research" done on someone, to get a criminal's bullet hole riddled laptop salvaged, to decrypt the information stored on a security fob,... the norm. Today, she was dressed a form fitting fuchsia colored blouse accompanied by a dark grey pencil skirts which hugs her legs perfectly underneath the desk. Her half black, half lava pattern was perched on her nose as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and narrowed her eyes at him, wanting to seem serious but it probably just came out as her giving him a funny look.
"So what you're telling me is that you want to track this guy down because you're afraid that he'll go after your family next?" She said quickly in a rushed breath, her words mixing and stumbling onto each other as she spoke but somehow every syllable came out as clear as if she hadn't been spitting out words faster than her brain could process. " 'Cause you know, he might be working with the Vigilante and that guy's not so bad, either. I mean, he's still a criminal and all but isn't he like, bringing the bad people to justice but it's not like I like his way of doing it. It's illegal. Still, the Phantom Hacker, he could mean well but I mean, I wouldn't know 'cause - "
"Felicity," Oliver said, a smile gracing his lips and she clamped her pink mixed with a shade of purple lips shut before rushing out a "sorry".
Diggle just chuckled quietly beside Oliver.
"Look, I'm going out on a whim looking after my family here. Maybe the guy has good intentions but maybe he doesn't. Stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor, it sounds like a good thing but we don't know if the rich people he's stealing from are all bad and the good he's giving it to are all good so please, help me catch him," he said, his own pair of blue eyes looked straight into her, conveying the sincerity of his request, which, of course, was total and absolute B.S.
"I don't know…" she said, looking indecisive. "Isn't the police all over the case? His and the Vigliante? And Malcolm Merlyn, he's offering a fifty grand for any useful information that might help the police with the investigation and all of the tech guys, who might be better than me but you know, it's a small possibility, are all over the Phantom Hacker's trail… They're like, the pros and they can't even find him then what are the chances that I will?"
"Felicity, you are the smartest person I know. If there's anyone out there that can do this it's you," he said, his voice soft and convincing. "Plus, they haven't caught the Vigilante yet and he's been at it for almost five months, I worry that they won't be able to catch this guy in time, if he ever chooses to hit my family's bank accounts next that is."
"Why? Have your family committed a crime?" she blurted out and immediately pursed her lips together as Oliver frowned at her. "Not that I'm accusing your family of anything, it's just that it's a logical thought, I mean, it's not logical that your family had committed a crime. It's just that we were talking about rich families getting attacked by the Phantom Hacker and most of them being bad and your family is rich and… I'm going to shut up now." She stopped and took a deep breath while Oliver and his bodyguard just stood there, watching her.
Felicity moved her eyes back and forth between the two men standing before her, crowding her space and interrupting her work and let out a breath.
"Okay, I'll help you," she said, her shoulder sagging in defeat.
"Great," Oliver said, looking to Mr. Diggle and grinning. "Call us if you find anything."
"Okay," she said, reaching out for a file on her desk and opening it. "Oh and I did what you ask and found that the solvent used in your buddy Kevin's hangover cure - " her eyes darted to Oliver, who had straightened himself and was looking oh-so-very innocent " - was run off water originated within a ten block radius of where East Glades meets the bay. Now, I don't know about you but I'm pretty particular about what I put in my body, too and my advice is that don't drink your buddy Kevin's hangover cure." She told him, snapping the file shut and extending it toward him. "It's more likely to give you diarrhea and a trip to a hospital than curing your supposedly hangover."
Felicity then smiled at him mockingly as he smiled back at her with a small nod. "I will tell him that he should do better if he wants to start an energy drink company. Thank you for your efforts."
She nodded sarcastically and replied: "No problem."
After that, they left the Queen Consolidated building and went to the Foundry to tend to other important businesses.
Three days later, the Phantom Hacker struck again.
This time, it was Justin Adkisson, a businessman who uses his facilities to launder money for criminals and get 15% of the amount. But the police didn't know that. All they knew was that a privileged rich guy had just been robbed off of his money and that the Phantom Hacker had just once again committed a felony, leaving another mess for him to clean up because technically he was going to have to deal with this Mr. Adkisson sooner or later and he really didn't feel like giving Justin the chance to garner any sympathy from anyone.
After all, they were the good guys in this whole ordeal. Well, kind of. And their goal was the same, except one was reckless and misguided.
People say that third time's a charm and my, my was the name Justin Adkisson scribbled inside the little notebook that he found in his dad's pocket after carrying him halfway into the island, Lian Yu, to bury him.
"You can survive this, make it home, make it better, right my wrongs, but you got to live through this first."
That was the last thing Oliver's dad, former CEO of Queen Consolidated, had told him before he shot himself in the head to give his son the best chance at survival because there was only enough food left for one person to live.
They were going on a cruise on the Robert's yacht, the Queen Gambit, when a storm rolled in and wrecked the ship, causing it to sink to the bottom of the ocean, leading the death of his father and those who were on the it and condemning him to five years on a hellish island, fighting for survival.
Oliver didn't even call Felicity, oh no, he went straight to her cubicle the minute he heard about the attack on the news, wanting to catch this guy more than ever. The thought of having to deter from his plans just to go bringing another name which was set aside for later on just to justify the Phantom Hacker's actions was getting on his nerves.
"Did you get him?" Oliver asked as he rested one hand on the back of her chair and the other at the edge of her desk, bending over so he could see what was going on.
Apparently, what was going on was a bunch of computer code, many tabs opening and closing and more computer codes.
"I picked up on his trail just before he started to cover it up. This guy's good, whoever he is. Really good," Felicity said, typing away on her keyboard with her eyes flitting from one corner of the screen to another nonstop. "I've been monitoring the bank accounts of the rich and guilty in the city. You've gotta be amazed how many people are so willing to break the law to earn some additional cash these days. I think I'm starting to lose my faith in humanity."
Oliver glanced at her and noticed that their faces were inches away from each other but it didn't seem as if she cared, or maybe she had other things on her mind. Felicity was wearing long gold leaf-shaped earrings that sways back and forth every time she moved her head. Her blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail and her glasses were slipping on the bridge of her nose before one of her hands stopped typing abruptly and came up to push it back.
"Almost got it…" she said and he snapped out of his trance, turning back to the computer screen just to see the thing suddenly turn black and shuts itself down. "Hey! What the hell?" she exclaimed, typing something onto the keyboard but the computer wouldn't start up. "Gah, I almost had him!" Throwing her hands up in the air, she threw herself back into her chair and stared at the screen disappointingly. "You don't know how many bank accounts I had to embedded alert if anything funny happens to it. How long it took," she trailed off miserably, almost pouting.
Oliver didn't say anything for a while, just standing up straight and taking a deep breath. "It's alright, Felicity, you'll get him next time," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and peered down at her.
"Wait, you're still asking me to help you?" She asked, looking at him in confusion. "I failed, Oliver. The damn dude is too good." She broke eye contact, picked up a pencil and threw it at the screen.
"Hey, hey." He turned her chair around to face him, crouching down so that he was at her level and putting his hand on the handrests. "You did your best this time and maybe you've learned something that might help you catch him in the future. You're amazing, Felicity, and one time failure doesn't disprove that fact."
She let out a sigh. "I guess it's just been a while since I had any competition." A laugh came out of her and he smiled.
"But do you have any inkling of where he might be?"
"Well, I got so far as the east sector of the Glades before that jerk shut down my computer," she said turning her chair around as he stood back up.
"Sounds like he's a poor man himself," Oliver said. "He could be doing this whole thing as a scheme to get some money for himself so he wouldn't get caught."
"Like killing a whole lot of people at once but the intended target was just one particular person," she said, kicking the CPU monitor hard with her high heeled feet like it was junk from then on out.
"That's it." He snapped his fingers. "We create a list of names that the Phantom Hacker has been distributing his stolen money to and check to see if any name repeats itself."
"Yeah, but some of the people who had been receiving money from him doesn't even have a bank account," Felicity said, looking up at him. "Then there's the matter of how are we suppose to create that list? Suppose I hack into the police's records to take a peek but they doesn't even know each and everyone the money went to."
"Just a minute, how is he getting the money to the people who doesn't have bank accounts again?"
"Well, my guess is he's transferring it very discreetly into a ghost account offshore somewhere then withdraw from it then hand it out to the people personally," she told him, her expression thoughtful for one moment then she shook her head. "Aren't we going to tell the police about this? Or Malcolm Merlyn? 'Cause fifty grand sounds like a pretty good number to me." When she saw the look on his face, she quickly added. "That was a joke, I'm not really that into money. I mean, I am, who isn't but not that into into money. Just enough money. I mean, I was just joking."
Oliver nodded at her absentmindedly before speaking. "I'm sure the police will have the information they need sooner or later if they haven't already. For now I need you to compile a list of names of the people who had received any money from an unknown source. Find about about the personal money drop off if you can and try to find the ghost account, too. Maybe it'll lead us to him."
"Wow, you're willing to go through a lot to look after your family," she remarked.
"Family is everything," he said with a grin before striding away from her desk in his pale grey shirt and dark wash jeans and jacket.
"If you say so…" she trailed turning to the monitor and began messing with the wires, trying figure out a way to fix it.
That night, he wandered the streets in the east sector of the Glades hoping to hear something regarding the Phantom Hacker and overheard a man, Harold Kirkson he would later find out, telling his friends that he found ten grand stuffed into an envelope in his mail box. The man sounded extremely grateful and would not stop rattling on and on about what life he and his son could have from now on while the others listened and looked at him with greed and envy in their eyes. Telling Dig to tail the man, Oliver went to the Foundry to change and grab his gear.
Over the phone his bodyguard told him that the house the old man lived in was one that looked as if it could cave in on them any time. And he wasn't wrong. The whole thing was a disaster waiting to happen. Just a shift in the wind current, a little earthquake, a little heavy rain or a light storm, that man and his son would have been dead.
One more point for the Phantom Hacker.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a group of men approaching the house, clubs and metal shafts in their hands.
He let go so far as to knock on the door, push their way inside before Diggle found the fuse box and turned it off, drowning the house in complete darkness as Oliver went through the door, making quick succession of the first one by the window with the possibility of escaping and the one who was picking up the money. The third one, who was threatening Mr. Kirkson put up a fight, throwing impulsive punches and very poorly aimed kicks which he dodged, making the guy stagger back forcefully with one punch and subduing him completely with an arrow through his shoulder.
Looking up at a very terrified Mr. Kirkson, he said: "Hide the money."
The man nodded then scrambled to take the envelope from one of gangbanger's hand before running off.
Kneeling down beside the resisting man on the ground, he could faintly hear the police sirens in the distant and quickly said, his voice mutilated: "Before the cops get here tell your buddies over there that you attacked Mr. Harold because he did something to piss you off. I don't care what you come up with just don't mention that he received ten grand from an unknown source or I will find you and I will end you, understood?"
"Fuck off," the man said, spitting at him but missing by a mile.
At the speed of lightning, he took an arrow from his quiver, nocked it, then shot the man in his other shoulder. He let out an earsplitting howl of pain. "Do we understand each other?" He asked.
"Yes, yes, alright," the man rushed out, his hand clutching his arm.
"Remember, if it's prison you fear, fear me more."
Then he went out through the window, got in his car and drove away. Back at their "headquarters" with the TV on turned to the news channel, Diggle asked him: "So you let him keep it."
"He needed it and Justin Adkisson didn't," Oliver said, sitting in front of the monitor and watching as the business man unlocked the front door to his luxurious home and walked in.
Diggle nodded, a smug smile on his face and he leaned against a table with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Oliver. "Sounds like you agree with this guy," he said. "Maybe you should just give the guy a break and let him do his thing."
"So that he'll steal from someone else on the list, making me go after whoever it is to justify his name - "
"Actually, he's not."
" - then get caught and end up in prison just because he means well," Oliver said, swiveling his chair so that he can look at Diggle. "If we're going to be suspected working together, might as well make it true."
The corner of Oliver Queen's friend's mouth lifted up at the corner as he shook his head in disbelief. "You want to recruit him."
"In a way. We need someone to help us with tracking people and getting the records and information we don't have. We may have to stop the whole hacking into bank accounts and stealing money and giving it to the poor thing but this should help him feel like he's doing some good."
"Not to mention the police are looking after him to know who's next on your agenda."
"But let's not forget the fact that he could still be doing this for his own good," Oliver added, frowning.
He need facts, he need information or he was going to go crazy. He needed a plan of action, he needed to know what the Phantom Hacker's goal really is and what he was really up to and to do that, he needed time but he wasn't a very patient person. Resilient, yes, but not patient. He needed Felicity Smoak to give it her all to get the information he needed and maybe he was going to have to give her a little push.
"Let's just wait for Felicity to do her thing first, shall we?"
"Exactly. Now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Diggle, I have a corrupted businessman to bring to justice."
What's'ya think? Love me or hate me, leave a review telling me why so that I can either cry in heartbreak or smile in happiness :0 Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading! And also, tell me whether or not I should continue with this idea. :)
Jen out!