1 Week after Mid-Season Finale
Felicity searched feverishly for any trace of the trackers she had long ago downloaded to all their phones and hacked various satellite feeds- people did not just disappear. This was not happening, no, no, no. She didn't care if this was the umpteenth search she'd ran, something had to turn up.
"Diggle, come in, Diggle!" she yelled into the headset.
"Oww, Felicity you're in my ear, remember?
"Sorry, I just…have you found any trace of Merlyn? He's the only one who might know something."
"I'm doing all I can, Felicity. We've been at this all week. I have a feeling wherever he is, Malcolm Merlyn doesn't wanna be found."
"Well, that doesn't mean we can just give up! We need to find Oliver and he's the best lead we've got!"
Diggle didn't say anything. He knew Felicity wasn't in any state of mind to be reasoned with, but he had known the minute Oliver failed to return home the next day that their worst fears had been confirmed. Roy had taken longer to accept the truth but after a week of waiting and proactively searching, he'd started to believe it too. They both knew Felicity had to come around eventually but her desperate grip on hope was painful to watch.
"Tell you what, Roy and I will meet you at the Foundry in 10 minutes, okay? We can regroup and figure out what to do from there. Unless you need more time to take off from work?" Diggle said, half hoping she'd say she couldn't get off from work at all, but knowing what her answer would be.
"I'm already here. I didn't go into work today."
"Felicity…"
She could already hear the note of concern in Digg's voice and could feel a lecture about her health coming up, so she pretended not to hear and disconnected. It was the 4th day in a row she'd stayed home, if you could call the foundry a home. She knew Ray was worried at her unusual string of absences and she could see the concern that constantly occupied both Roy and Digg's faces, but she really didn't care.
At this point in time all that mattered was Oliver and bringing him home, because he was not- nope, she wasn't even going to think it. He had to come back so she could yell at him for telling her he loved her right before leaving, for hardly giving her the time to process it, and so… so she could tell him she loved him too. He had to come back.
"Oliver, where are you? Please be okay. Please, please, please," she prayed silently. That was also something she'd started doing again. She wasn't particularly religious save certain traditions that she held on to for nostalgic purposes, but since Wednesday that prayer had become the repeated chorus in the back of her mind.
Upon entering the Foundry, Roy and Digg found Felicity blinking furiously with her head turned slightly away from them as if to hide the water in her eyes that looked suspiciously like tears.
"You slept here again?" asked Roy.
"Well…yes," began Felicity defensively.
"Felicity, why are you doing this to yourself? You know this isn't healthy, not to mention I know what you mean when you say you 'slept' here. This really has to stop," said Diggle, not letting her finish.
Felicity hung her head like a small child who'd been scolded. "It's just…" she started again in a small voice.
"Just what?" asked Roy kindly.
"I thought this would be the first place he'd come back to after…"
Roy and Diggle shared a look. "Felicity, I think it's time-"
Catching the dangerous flash in Felicity's eyes, Roy interrupted Diggle, "-that you started sleeping in your own bed in your own home. When Oliver comes back." He threw Digg a significant look. "Who do you think he's going to blame when he sees the state you're in?"
Diggle crossed his arms, thinking it was time she accepted the facts, but he also knew he didn't have the heart to look her in the eyes and tell her so. So, he let Roy keep up the façade, wondering what would happen when it finally crumbled.
"Oliver knows I make my own choices," said Felicity. "And I can be just as stubborn as he can, if not more, so the two of you can quit worrying about me and devote more of your time and energy to looking for him! If you haven't forgotten, he happens to be our friend! I can't believe you guys are so ready to give up on him!" She whirled around to face Diggle. "I know you think he's dead, but he's not! I know he's not! I would know if he was! I would know!" Her voice broken and threatening on a sob, she stomped out.
"Diggle what are we going to do?" whispered Roy, not trusting his voice to speak any louder lest it break.
Looking at the lost puppy expression on his face and remembering the look Felicity had just given him before storming out, Diggle wished he had an answer that could make everything okay. Something that could bring the light back to Felicity's eyes and give Roy back his drive. Something to rid the dejected helplessness from Roy's face and the excruciating pain from Felicity's, but all that came out was,
"I don't know Roy, I don't know."
2 Days Later:
"Roy! Can you hear me where are you right now?!" Felicity's urgent voice in his ear shook Roy out of his daze.
"Yeah, hey, I'm here, outside Thea's place."
"Isn't that a little stalker-ish?"
"Oliver said keep an eye on her," Roy answered, suddenly defensive.
"Not like that, he didn't," Diggle chimed in with a teasing air. "What's going on, Felicity? Why the bat signal all of a sudden?"
"Technically it would be the Arrow signal- but that's not my point," said Felicity cutting off her own babbling, remembering a certain someone who would've normally stepped in by this point. Diggle and Roy could have too, but they'd missed Felicity's babbling and her abrupt little stop hurt more than either would have liked to admit.
"I found Merlyn," she said.
"Where is he? I can be on his tail in five," said Diggle speeding up subconsciously.
"I'll meet Dig there," said Roy, already running toward the Motorbike Oliver had gifted him.
"From the looks of it, he's 7 or 8 miles away from both of you, so it shouldn't take long for you to catch him. About two rights away from you, Roy, and Digg, you should see him after the next stoplight. That's strange…," said Felicity, trailing off.
"Yes, I suppose it would appear strange to you, Ms. Smoak," said Malcolm Merlyn.
Felicity turned around in her chair slowly. "What. Are. You. Doing here?" she said slowly as she reached for the weapon nearest her. Just her luck it happened to be one of Oliver's bows.
"Oh, please, there's no need for that," said Merlyn cordially. "I only stopped by to deliver some news about a mutual friend of ours."
Felicity raised the bow, arms shaking she notched an Arrow (how on earth does he make it look so easy?). "Oliver was no friend of yours." She glared at him daring him to say anything else.
"Wasn't he, Ms. Smoak?" said Malcolm raising an eyebrow. "I think you've forgotten that I've known Oliver since he was a boy. I watched him grow up; he was as much my son as Tommy was. So, if you'll forgive me, I believe I retain at least some right to call him friend," said Malcolm patronizingly.
"You lost any such right a long time ago," responded Felicity.
Oh, she wished her voice would stop shaking. She hoisted the bow higher, arms now beginning to ache. Where were Dig and Roy?
"I think we've had enough polite conversation, please get to point before I shoot you in the face, sir," said Felicity, changing tactics to mirror his mockingly pleasant tone. It wasn't her best comeback but under the circumstances it was as best as could be expected.
"Oliver Queen is dead," said Malcolm.
"What's strange? Felicity? Felicity?! Come in!" Roy panicked into the ear piece.
"I think comms are down," said Diggle. "Come on, you know what that means."
"I'll meet you there." Roy sped off changing directions heading toward the foundry.
They arrived to the sound of a series of arrows being fired. They entered the Foundry to see Malcolm Merlyn nimbly dodging all of Felicity's terrible shots. They stood there for two seconds dumbfounded at Felicity's sudden surge of strength. Felicity herself had no idea where the random upheave of adrenaline came from.
"Oliver." Arrow "Is." Arrow "Not." Arrow "Dead!" the last arrow ricocheted off the railing and nearly hit Merlyn in the head, but he ducked swiftly and walked right past the two staggered men in the doorway and left. Finally waking up, Diggle and Roy ran down the stairs toward Felicity, who had apparently not run out of arrows yet and was still aimlessly shooting while repeating the aforesaid sentence over and over.
"Felicity! Stop! It's us!" cried out Roy. "Merlyn's gone, Felicity! You can put the bow down now!"
But Felicity whirled on Roy, instead. "You think he's dead too, don't you! You both think he's dead!" She held the bow up pointing the arrow toward each of them in turn.
"Felicity," began Diggle slowly, starting toward her the way one might approach a wounded animal. She pulled back the arrow still glaring at both of them.
"We don't think that he's dead, Felicity," said Diggle. She loosened her hold slightly. "We know he is."
For a minute, Roy thought she was really going to shoot them, but then all of a sudden the arrow clattered to the floor and she lowered her arms, looking as if she'd just dropped the weight of the sky. Diggle crept toward her slowly and Roy followed suit.
"He's not dead," she barely whispered. "He can't be."
And suddenly the bow fell from her hanging hands and she was clinging to Digg for dear life as sobs wracked her body. Digg just held her and looked over her head at Roy with an expression on his face that said he'd finally broken.
Roy knew that no matter how much Digg talked about accepting the facts and being practical, somewhere, deep down, they both had held on to Felicity's insane hope. Some part of them was convinced that so long as Felicity believed, they could keep up the naïve optimism a little longer. It was all that had kept them going until now. And now…Roy didn't know what would happen now. So he crept up behind Felicity and let Diggle envelope both of them in a hug and finally let the tears fall that he'd been holding on to for a week.
"I never got to tell him," she said as they all sat on the floor in the foundry not facing each other because the pain they felt doubled when they looked at one another and saw it mirrored there.
"But he knew," said Diggle.
"Yeah, you didn't have to say it Felicity. He knew anyway," said Roy.
"Maybe, but I still wish I could've said it," said Felicity with a shaky sigh. "It's dumb right? I mean what difference would that have made?"
"It's completely stupid," agreed Roy. "But I also completely know what you mean."
"How could he do this to us?" asked Diggle
Felicity and Roy looked up.
"He didn't have a choice," began Roy.
"No, he didn't," Felicity interjected. "Because of Malcolm Merlyn." Felicity was surprised at the hatred in her own voice. She didn't know she was capable of sounding so venomous. But the anger felt good. It felt like something to do. Team Arrow looked at each other.
They had a new Mission and they all knew what it was. Malcolm Merlyn had to pay the price for what he had done. Regardless of the cost.
*Cue Dark Team Arrow AU