(A few notes on the timeline. I've moved everything in the MCU up 2 years which means the events of The Avengers takes place in 2014 instead of 2012. This story is set a few months after the end of season 2 in the Arrow timeline.)

There was a man wearing a suit and sunglasses and he was currently sitting in Felicity's chair.

"Who are you?" Oliver growled.

"How did you get in? I built that lock myself; it was supposed to be unhackable." Felicity looked at the man with a mixture of irritation and interest.

"And it probably would have been, had you had the proper materials made available to you." The man stood, pocketed his sunglasses and smiled at her. "Plus, I just hacked Tony Stark's security system a few hours ago. The world is in danger and I'm here to ask for your help."

"No offense," Oliver growled, "But I don't have a habit of helping anyone who breaks into my base."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I wasn't asking for your help." The man looked at him with disdain. "Fury asked specifically for Ms. Smoak." He stepped forward and held out his hand, "Phil Coulson, Agent of SHIELD."

Digg stiffened, while Oliver planted himself in front of Felicity.

"You just mentioned Tony Stark. Why would you need Felicity if you already have him?"

"No one 'has' Tony Stark." Coulson gave Oliver a tight smile that, while polite, implied his patience was wearing thin. He turned back to Felicity. "I can't force you into anything, but believe me when I say that the fate of the world is at stake."

"You want me to help you save the world. From what?"

"That's classified until you agree to help us." Coulson explained.

"Why should she trust you?" Digg asked.

"You trust ARGUS, Sergeant Diggle; at least enough to ensure the protection of your ex-wife and unborn child. SHIELD is a bit like ARGUS, except instead of terrorist plots we deal with real threats to world security. Plus we have cooler toys." He began walking towards the door of the lair. "I'll give you 5 minutes to think, but I need an answer. If you do decide to come with me, you'll have to leave immediately."

The team waited until the door closed behind Coulson before the argument began.

"I thought SHIELD was a myth." Digg said shaking his head.

"Oh they're real." Oliver growled, "And Waller hates them."

"That actually sounds like a point in their favor." Felicity said softly.

Oliver and Digg turned to look at her. "You can't seriously be considering this." Oliver gave her a look of disbelief.

"The suit did say the fate of the world hung in the balance." Roy pointed out. "But I make a point of not trusting anyone who wears sunglasses indoors."

"Don't encourage her, she's not going." Oliver rounded on him angrily.

"You're just pissed they don't want you." Roy retorted

"We can't just allow them to swoop in and take her away. They don't need her." Oliver began raising his voice.

"Is anyone going to bother to ask me what I think?" Felicity crossed her arms.

"Felicity –" Oliver sighed.

"What gives you the right to make my decisions for me?"

"It's too dangerous." Oliver growled.

"And sending me in as bait for Slade and his army of Super soldiers wasn't?" Everyone fell silent. It had been 2 months since the Slade incident, but no one liked to talk about it. She looked around the foundry. This place had been her home, but lately it had begun to feel alien. Ever since Laurel had discovered Oliver's secret she'd been showing up at random interval asking for favors. While Oliver was willing to overlook the fact that she'd tried to have him taken out by an armed SWAT team, Felicity was less forgiving. Then there was the elephant in the room. Those 3 words Oliver had said before leaving her to be captured by a super-powered psychopath. They hadn't been part of the plan and Felicity had known he wasn't lying when he'd said them, but he'd never mentioned it again.

"Felicity."' He began "there has to be someone else they can call, they don't need you."

"How long will this take?" she aimed her question at Agent Coulson who had just returned.

"A few days at most, though if we don't succeed there's likely to not be anything left to come back to." Coulson said. "Does this mean you're joining?"

"Yes."

"If anything happens to her..." Digg said

"I give you my word; I will do everything in my power to keep her safe." Coulson smiled as Felicity nodded. He turned to face the rest of Team Arrow. "I suppose it goes without saying that nothing from this little chat leaves this cave. We don't want a public panic."

"Where are we going?" Felicity asked as they made their way into a black SUV. Coulson handed her a tablet.

"I suggest you familiarize yourself with these files, you'll need to know the team you're working with before you get to the base. We have one more pick up to make before we rendezvous with the base."

"What is it you want me to do?" She asked. "I'm sure SHIELD has tons of hackers and computer specialists."

"We needed someone who could think outside the box." Coulson smiled "And Fury was impressed with your use of the SHIELD satellite during the Slade Wilson incident."

"Waller had shut down access to anything else." Felicity blushed.

"No one's ever been able to find our frequency before let alone hack it with barely a trace. We also know it was you who created that algorithm at MIT not Cooper Seldon." He gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "You deserve to be here Ms. Smoak, just as much as anyone else in those files."

"Agent Coulson." The driver said. "Our ETA to the jet is 2 minutes and I just got confirmation from New York that Captain Rogers is standing by."

Felicity started. "Captain…Rogers?" she looked at Coulson in surprise. "You don't mean…"

The agent was practically bouncing in his seat with excitement. "Read the files Ms. Smoak." He grinned. "You have a lot of catching up to do."