A short single chapter thing that has bugged me for days. Not sure where it came from or where it was really going to go, but this happened and... I like it. So here it is freshly finished for you all to read (and hopefully review). Enjoy
Disclaimer - The people that own Arrow are the people that own Arrow. I am not one of those people.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Felicity cracked her neck and winced, her fingers flying over the tiny keyboard of her back up notebook, the deep green machine buzzing away as it ran the numerous operations the blonde had running.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The noise cut into Felicity's chest like a knife, each beep signifying Oliver's life continuing beside her while he lay in a medically induced coma to allow his wounds to heal. Four new wounds covered his skin, four bullets ripping into his back from the two muggers that had targeted Felicity as she'd walked alongside Oliver and Diggle.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
It had been her idea to walk from Queen Consolidated to the nearest Big Belly Burger restaurant. Seventeen minutes past three in the afternoon and warm summer sun pulled the option to walk past her lips when Diggle had appeared with the car and it hadn't taken much to find herself walking between the two men she trusted most.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
She hadn't been looking when Oliver suddenly tensed beside her and Felicity was barely able to register his bulk slamming into her before a volley of gunshots rang out and she was on her back with Oliver's weight bearing down on her.
That had been five hours ago. Five hours of terror and fear and horror at the knowledge that Oliver had turned to protect her instead of defending himself. Five hours of being sat beside Thea's scared face, the tiny woman staring at the double doors into the operating suites with her eyes wide and her lip trapped between her teeth.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Her notebook had appeared an hour ago, Roy's eyes watching for Diggle as he'd slipped the device to Felicity, the silent request to find the two shooters for him to take down. The silence from Diggle had hit Felicity more than any words could have done, but she had gotten too far into the chase to be able to step away and she'd tuned out the hushed arguement between Roy and Diggle quicker than she'd expected.
She had one identity, one life staring at her from her screen as the one life she wanted to think about lay motionless beside her. No database was safe from Felicity tonight, her simmering rage surfacing in short bursts before being buried again and she'd vowed to Oliver's still form that she'd have both men paying for their actions before the night was up.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Her fist flew into the air when she finally uncovered the second mugger's identity an hour later, the piercing eyes she had been momentarily faced with staring out from the screen at her.
A snuffled snort from where a snoring Roy lay wrapped around a sleeping Thea pulled her back into the room and Felicity turned her attention to the bed and Oliver's stillness. A resolve flooded into Felicity and she grabbed the now flat bottle of cola and downed the remaining contents. Leaning towards the screen, she growled softly and got to work.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The early morning sun was peeking through the sky scrapers out the window when Felicity found herself at the crossroads. She had the exact locations of both men before her, satellites and the city's CCTV network surging through her small, but powerful notebook. Both men stood casually against a railing, neither knowing that circling above them was an armed drone that Felicity had borrowed.
Felicity found her chest tightening at the realisation of her three choices. One, call Lance and have him take them down. Two, wake Roy and guide him to them. Three, launch the missile that sat under the drone's wing, dishing out the type of justice that she'd spent months tugging Oliver away from by reducing the remote location to a smoking hole in the pavement.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Her hands started shaking when she heard herself sob, her face turning to where Oliver lay recovering from wounds caused when he'd protected her over himself. Wounds she knew were his own choice, but wounds that felt to her as though they'd come from her hand. He was willing to sacrifice himself for her, give the ultimate gift.
For her.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The sound of keys being clicked echoed in the room as Felicity Smoak made her choice.