Post-season 3.
I do not own DC, Arrow, or any of its characters. They're being borrowed purely for the purposes of this fanfiction story.
Yes, I know the two tagged characters hardly show up in this first chapter, but they will.
Read. Enjoy.
Everything starts with a hostile takeover.
John Diggle, Lyla Michaels, Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen stare at the television set announcing the intentions of Merlyn Global to acquire Palmer Technologies' ownership of Queen Consolidated.
"That sounds like something I should know, isn't it?" Felicity asked, mostly to herself, as she pulled out her tablet from her bag and started searching through her email and files for any data related to the news item.
John glanced at Oliver. "Did you know about this?"
Oliver gave him a placid look. "Do I look like I know about this?"
"That's how you look all the time, man, I don't even know if you have more than one facial expression anymore." John noted, before turning his attention back to the TV.
The report didn't say who was spearheading the takeover, or the conditions involved, but what they did reveal was that Thea Queen, via her lawyer who tried to look as if she didn't miss working in the District Attorney's office, was aware of the takeover but didn't know any of the details, since she only inherited her shares and wasn't part of the day-to-day business of running the business, leaving it to Merlyn Global and Queen Consolidated shareholders and boards of directors to figure out.
Felicity, head of the Queen Consolidated arm of Palmer Tech, after being handed the reins by Ray Palmer himself, would have liked to have been informed.
Oliver, whose calls to his sister (and his sister's lawyer) went unanswered, could only stand and watch as the corporate world played out with his father's company as its prey. Inevitably, though, Laurel Lance had to take his call and admit that she had known about the backroom negotiations for a while, but she had left it to the business lawyers in charge of Thea's assets to handle the takeover.
There's a lull in the crime wave of Starling, too, so he had time to watch the proceedings.
In the end, it takes less than a month for the deal to push through, the negotiations handled by professionals, Felicity ensured a measure of compensation for the takeover, and a bare minimum of jobs would be lost: the people behind the takeover made it known that their intent was to stabilize the leadership of Queen Consolidated, not to throw its workers out into the employment market when the economic standing of Starling City was still in recovery after a turbulent past few years.
Most of the layoffs happen in the upper echelon of the board, the people who made money in letting just whomever buy into Queen Consolidated, the people whose management had even allowed such a takeover to be possible.
It's too good to be true, and everyone knows it, even Felicity and her infinite optimism.
"That's not usual, right?" Felicity asked, glancing around the table. "Nobody does a Santa Claus takeover, right?"
"It's weird." John said bluntly, and Lyla nodded her agreement.
"And we're sure there's nothing underhanded in this?" Oliver, ever vigilant, questioned.
"It's all above board," Felicity told him. "Just like Laurel said."
Yeah, but Laurel Lance and Thea Queen weren't exactly their biggest fans at the moment, especially of Oliver's, so their words weren't exactly indubitable.
"Have you heard from Thea?" Lyla asked them.
Felicity shook her head. "I got corporate email ensuring I'll keep a job, being major stockholder and everything, but that's about it."
"Laurel said she's on vacation." Oliver said tightly.
Which makes sense, with the lull in crime, that one half of Starling's other vigilante team could take some time off.
That there was even another vigilante team was a thorn in Oliver's side, because he had refused to train Laurel and later Thea out of a sense of protecting them, but it had only led them to rebel against him and start their own crusade, against his wishes and without his guidance. And it pained him to admit they seemed to be a good unit, given how neither had appeared with more than the usual limp or bruising, and had not contacted him for major help, medical or otherwise.
Then again, for all he knew, they could have outside help.
"Have we heard from Merlyn on all this?" John finally asked, because that was the elephant in the room that they hadn't bothered to raise until now.
"Well, technically he's dead so he can't be orchestrating this on Global's side." Felicity pointed out.
"He could have plants," Lyla suggested. Off the confused looks of her company, she elaborated. "People he placed on the board as proxies."
They turned to Felicity, who shook her head. "The major players have been on the board for years, but not from the beginning. Other than Merlyn Global, not a lot of them have ties to Starling or Malcolm Merlyn. I've checked. Thoroughly. This looks clean."
"Well, as long as you still have a job." John said.
As her head of security, he had a reason to be concerned about Felicity's employment.
And it was the reason why he was present a few days later, when the current head of the board of directors of Merlyn Global was scheduled for a meeting with Felicity, as a sign of good faith between the old and new owners of Queen Consolidated.
Lilian Tate was a formidable presence, even seated on the couch in the executive lounge of the Queen Consolidated building. Her gaze was sharp and calculating, contrasting her delicate features and soft and wavy dark hair. She sat relaxing on the couch, but something about her form reminded Felicity of a cat, ready to pounce and attack at any given moment. She was dressed impeccably in a cream suit that Felicity would bet was tailor-made and never wrinkled (and probably cost more than Dig's annual income), a contrast to Felicity's own off-the-rack clothes.
The older woman eyed Felicity impassively as she approached the couch, the disdain subtle but nonetheless present.
"Hi." Felicity greeted, coming up to her, and stepping back abruptly when Lilian Tate stood up and, in her high-heeled stilettos, came up to a significant height difference. "Oh! Wow, you're tall."
"Felicity Smoak, I presume?"
Oh wow the foreign boarding school accent was hard to place. Switzerland, maybe? It was hard to misplace the European accent, muted as it was, and Felicity suddenly wished she had known Lilian's name for longer than a few minutes so she could have done more research prior to this meeting. As it was, she had been given a name just minutes before she arrived at the lounge.
"Yeah. That's me. I'm…" Wow. She had not yet learned to not babble when she was nervous. "You must be Lilian Tate."
"Yes." Ms. Tate — because she was definitely not going to refer to this woman as Lilian — motioned for Felicity to sit, and Felicity glanced quickly behind her to ensure John was in the room, especially since she noticed that Lilian Tate had three other people in the room with her. All nondescript, generic muscular bodyguard types, all probably capable of killing her by batting an eyelash. Tate regarded Felicity. "I'm glad we finally got to meet, now that this business of the merger is settled."
Merger. Felicity fought not to scoff in incredulity because, really?
"You understand, why it had to be done this way. It's hard to make a clear decisions when there are various other people and factors at play." Tate continued, her tone light, but the way she was studying Felicity belied the lightness of her tone. "I understand you are involved with Mr. Queen?"
Felicity startled, because that was… a little out of left field?
"It's alright. We did due diligence when we started this." Tate assured her. "I bring it up only because I want to reassure him, as we did his sister, that we aren't going to make drastic changes to the business of Queen Consolidated. It's rather well-running, despite the changes and turnovers and upheavals of the past few years. Divining it from Palmer is merely to ensure its stability, as well as to separate it from the technology focus of Raymond Palmer's interests."
"You've talked to Thea?" Felicity asked.
"We had to, considering she is the one most likely to make money out of this merger." Tate pointed out. "She's quite the head for business, that one. I'm relieved she hasn't yet attended business school, or else this could have been much more difficult. Her lawyers were very adamant about her interests."
"Oh. That's… good, I guess." Felicity conceded.
"She did warn me of her brother's… obstinacy." Tate noted. "How he would likely cause trouble, given the, shall we say, circumstances of this acquisition."
"He's kind of kept out of the loop." Felicity admitted.
"Yes. Being driven out of the board of your own company could do that." Tate drawled.
Felicity frowned, confused, at the sneering tone in the other woman's voice. "He cares about the company."
"Considering his own lackadaisical appointment of Isabel Rochev to controlling the company, I would have to say I'm surprised at that assertion." Tate observed.
"You know a lot about QC, don't you." Felicity mused, realizing only now just how the goings-on in the management of Queen Consolidated must have looked to an outsider.
"I make it a point to know everything I need to know," Tate replied coolly. "You would know something about that, wouldn't you, Felicity Smoak, MIT Class of 2009."
Felicity paused, because oh holy hell Lilian Tate knew more than just the goings-on of Queen Consolidated and Palmer Technologies.
If she was aware of Felicity's defense mechanisms going up, Lilian Tate gave no indication. "Climbing the corporate ladder on her back, if rumors suggest licentiousness." She cut a glance at Felicity. "Your work suggests otherwise, and I strongly recommend curbing such habits before it becomes a reputation."
Felicity balked at the veiled accusation. "I'm sorry, what? That's… that's really not—"
"As I said," Tate cut her off, "your work suggests otherwise. What you do in your hours off-work is none of my concern, but it would be a pity if your talent is overshadowed by such a demeaning reputation." She raised her hand in a dismissive wave. "I am concerned, however, that your first order of business upon being handed the reins of this division of Palmer Technologies is to go on an extended vacation with your boyfriend."
"That's not—" Felicity shook her head. "I'm— Who are you?"
"I am your new corporate master, Felicity Smoak. Pay attention." Tate glanced at John. "You too, Mr. Diggle. I am not Isabel Rochev, serving my own interests masquerading as a ruthless corporate mastermind. I am not Raymond Palmer using one division of Queen Consolidated and dismissing the rest of the corporation to pique my own mind. I run a business, and you both are a part of it. I would like to keep you both on board, but I will not tolerate the intrigue and catastrophic machinations of Oliver Queen's involvement. I understand you are both his friends, or acquaintances, but he is a silent, and honestly easily bought-out, shareholder of the company. I would hate to have to remove Oliver Queen from any kind of ownership of Queen Consolidated. Am I clear?"
Crystal.
"She's scary." Felicity told Oliver, taking a healthy drink of her wine, while John nodded his agreement to Lyla. "Like, the kind of scary you only see in movies, and stuff." She turned to Lyla. "Do they feed extra-scary steroids into boarding schools, because she's really scary."
Lyla frowned, and gave John a confused look, as if to ask if she looked like she went to a boarding school.
"You work for an intelligence agency, you would know." John pointed out.
Oliver was focused on another matter, however. "She's talked to Thea?"
"Yeah, I guess that's a thing?" Felicity shrugged. "Like Thea would make tons of money, something. I don't know." She pouted at him. "She really loathes you, though."
"What?" Oliver looked surprised.
"She does." John nodded. "She really does."
"I've never met her." Oliver said defensively.
Which, it turns out, didn't matter.
"Does she have double X chromosomes?" Laurel Lance asked wryly, digging into a container of Chinese takeout, watching Felicity work her computer magic. "Because that's usually all it takes to loathe Ollie."
Felicity wished she could be offended, currently dating the guy, but given the events of the past year she couldn't really refute that. She glanced away from her screen to regard the Black Canary. "Have you met her? Lilian Tate?"
Laurel shook her head. "That's a corporate thing. When I signed on to be Thea's legal representation that was where I drew the line. But Thea seemed to like her enough, when they met."
"How's Thea?"
"Are you asking for you, or for Oliver?" Laurel asked warily.
Felicity frowned. "I care about Thea, too."
Laurel smiled weakly. "For you I can divulge that she's well and eating healthy. She's, quote, having a time, which is some kind of terminology I don't entirely understand if it's positive or negative and I'm almost afraid to ask."
Felicity eyed her. "And for Oliver?"
"For Oliver, and I'm quoting my client here, 'he can stick his entire collection of arrows up his own–'"
"Okay." Felicity cut her off, because that's a visualization she didn't want to imagine. She turned back to her monitors before she paused and turned back to Laurel. "Have you heard from Nyssa?"
Nyssa. A delicate topic, given the reason why she was no longer in Starling City. Felicity had known that Nyssa al Ghul was training Laurel, but had underestimated the bond of friendship that had formed between the two women. At first she had assumed it was merely because they both missed Sara, Laurel's younger sister and the woman Nyssa loved, but Laurel's vehemence against surrendering the woman to the League of Assassins had told a different story.
The League of Assassins, that had married Nyssa off to Oliver, in a high-stakes gambit that ended with Oliver and Felicity driving off into the sunset and Malcolm Merlyn as the new Ra's al Ghul.
"No." Laurel admitted sadly. "I can figure out why, but it sucks that she can't even send an email."
"Well, you know, what's she going to say? 'Back from murdering some murder-y fellow. Enjoyed tea and biscuits. Cheerio.'" Felicity said.
Laurel gave her a blank look. "Nyssa's not English."
"I wouldn't know. Scary international assassins with vague accents don't exactly encourage lengthy conversation." Felicity said defensively. Her monitor beeped, and she pointed at it to Laurel. "Does this look like your suspect?"
Laurel peered over her shoulder. "Yeah, that's him."
"Why are we tracking his internet activity?"
"He's one obsession away from escalating from peeping tom to serial killer, I'd like to have him in jail, or preferably prison, sooner instead of later." Laurel explained. She pointed at a link on Felicity's screen that looked like an encrypted website. "What's that link?
They both recoiled in disgust at the split-second view they had of the screen before Felicity managed to close the window.
"Yes please. Jail please." Felicity made a face, saving the information onto a USB drive and handing it to Laurel. Before Laurel could take it, however, Felicity pulled her hand back. "You know, we could hold off on these secret rendezvous that interrupt your dinner if you and Oliver would just make up and we can be one big happy vigilante family."
"Sure," Laurel reached out and took the drive anyway. "But I'm not the one whose head is competing for space with his arrows up his own—"
Yeah.
For once since this whole thing started, Felicity doesn't need to balance her corporate life with her secret life as computer support for a vigilante team because, well, she tries hard not to, because Lilian Tate has appointed her own people to head Queen Consolidated and they're often in the boardroom, just within view of Felicity's own office, going over whatever it was that business people did.
She never thought she would miss Walter Steele the way she does.
The usual thugs come to Starling City, bringing their own brand of criminality to town and keeping Oliver (and Dig and Laurel and the sometimes-present Thea and even Lyla) busy. Ray left town a while back, and sometimes Felicity wondered how much more efficient they'd be if they still had the man with his ATOM suit, but that would be like wishing Barry Allen was still in Starling, a product of her wishful thinking because, based on what Cisco told her, Central had its own band of crazy.
It's all cut-and-dried, wash-rinse-repeat, with the occasional call for help for, and from, The Flash.
And then a familiar face saves Laurel and Thea's asses from getting it handed to them by a lunatic impervious to pain.
Because, really, just because they were impervious to pain didn't mean they were invulnerable, and one could always trust an assassin to hit someone where it hurts.
Nyssa al Ghul looked good, for someone whose expression turned murderous whenever she heard the name Oliver Queen, but it wasn't her brief presence in Starling City that caused a stir.
No, that acclaim belonged to whomever pinned a poster of a Northern night sky in the middle of the Foundry.
It was a riddle, clearly, but Felicity was the only one who was even remotely interested in constellations, but she couldn't figure it out either.
Laurel and Thea found the poster intriguing, when they came by for a briefing on a series of failed crimes that had its perpetrators tied and suspended from nearby buildings. It was occurring without their knowledge, and Oliver wanted to figure out who was horning in on their vigilantism.
Laurel sat down on the table that usually housed Oliver's arrows, ignoring his scowl at the action. She indicated the poster. "Who's into astronomy?"
"Someone put that up while we weren't looking." Felicity told her.
Laurel raised an eyebrow. "Someone got in here without you knowing? Security feed?"
"Nothing. Looped."
"Someone hacked your security?"
"Please. Rub it in." Felicity drawled.
"Why are we here, anyway?" Thea asked. "I mean, whoever this guy is, he's stopping crime and unlike an idiot who called attention to his vigilantism, actually keeps them alive for the police to handle, with hard evidence no less. Why is this a concern?"
"Because we can't encourage this kind of behavior." Oliver grit out.
"Too late." Thea muttered, without looking at him. She zeroed in on the poster. She tilted her head, and frowned. Felicity, John, Laurel and Oliver watched as she absently made a trace in the air.
"Do you know what that is?" John asked curiously.
Thea glanced at him, and shook her head. "I think..? I don't know my stars very well. Cassiopeia, that's obvious. And Perseus, and… Andromeda?" Thea pointed.
Felicity glanced at the poster. "Well, that… doesn't make things clearer."
Oliver cleared his throat. "Guys, can we focus?"
"Thea's right." Laurel interjected. "Whoever this guy is, he's not messing with our own work, and he's playing by the rules. Besides, the last time an unknown vigilante worked our streets, it turned out to be Sara."
"It's not Sara." Oliver pointed out.
"Obviously." Laurel retorted. "Look, what do you want, Ollie? We all focus our energies on finding this guy and let other criminals get away?"
Oliver groaned in frustration. "That's not—"
"We're really not focusing on figuring out who's sneaking into the house that vigilantism built?" Thea questioned curiously. "Because last time some jerkface went small picture on all of us, Roy faked his death, I actually died, and Nyssa had to marry a douchebag."
Later, after Thea and Laurel left without confirming or denying they would help in pinning down the new vigilante in town, Felicity and John expressed their concern.
"Your sister hates you." John said simply.
"Yeah, is that still part of the Lazarus Pit rage, because I'm a little scared of Thea right now." Felicity agreed.
Oliver didn't know.
But he could only deal with one problem at a time, and the Foundry hadn't been broken into since the poster had gone up (he slept there, so he knew), so the new player in town had to be the focus of his attention.
Until Lyla stopped that plan. She took one look at the poster, and frowned. "That's…"
"We don't know, either." John told her.
"No," Lyla shook her head. She pointed. "That's Perseus."
They all turned to look at her.
"Thea already told us that." Felicity told her.
"But it's wrong." Lyla she walked closer to the poster, and pointed to the center of the poster. "See, here? Beta Persei. That's Algol. But there's two of them."
Nothing.
"It's the Medusa's head." Lyla explained. "The head of the demon. There should only be one head, but this poster has two of them."
"The what?" John asked, the familiar phrase causing everyone else in the room to freeze.
"The… oh." Lyla froze as well, suddenly realizing what she'd said. "Oh." She looked to Oliver. "Algol. Ra's al Ghul. This is a League thing, isn't it?"
"There are two heads of the demon?" Felicity asked, alarmed. "Is that possible?"
"Why would there be two?" John questioned. He looked to his wife, but Lyla only returned his gaze with concern. "Are you sure?"
"You don't think…" Felicity paused, and shuddered. Every possibility she drew upon was not ideal. She turned to Oliver, who was looking at the poster stone-faced. "How can there be two?"
Lyla indicated the poster with a tilt of her head. "It's the most famous star in that constellation. Thea didn't tell you?"
"No." Oliver's jaw was set. "She didn't."