A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to comment on the story so far. It's always pretty daunting posting a new fic, so it's always lovely to get some encouragement. :D

I'm rushing off to work now, so I won't dilly dally. This chapter has a fair amount of action in it, which isn't my most fave thing to write (I get bored writing it), so hopefully it'll make sense to you. We're going to take a few chapters to warm up to where I'm ultimately going with this story but if you like the thought of a jealous, out of control and vulnerable Oliver, then this fic should tick a few boxes for you. ;)

Hope you enjoy…

CHAPTER TWO

Oliver sprinted past Diggle and Felicity, having just run from one end of the vacant area to the other. He slowed down and circled back around to where Felicity was looking at the read out on a speed gun. "How did I do?"

Felicity looked up at him and grinned. "41 mph, not too shabby."

Without the suit Oliver was a naturally fast runner but there was no doubting the suit took it to the next level. He wasn't even out of breath.

"I mean, you're no Barry Allen but it's still pretty damn impressive," said Felicity blithely.

"I'm no Bruce Wayne, I'm no Barry Allen," noted Oliver wryly. "If I was a lesser man I might be getting a complex around now."

"Hey Felicity, looks like you're going to have to start working on making an exoskeleton to protect that delicate ego of his next," said Diggle straight-faced. "Apparently Oliver bruises like a peach."

Oliver sent him a wry look. "Helpful as always, thanks, Digg."

"I live to serve."

"Now that you're warmed up, how about we test the agility of the suit?" said Felicity. "You can do that crawling up buildings thing you like to do so much."

"It's called parkour," said Oliver.

"You can call it Calliope if you want, but just please be careful," said Felicity firmly. "The suit it going to enhance your muscle power. You'll need to compensate otherwise you'll break your neck." She gave him a worried look. "Not the point of the exercise here."

"It'll be fine," said Oliver confidently. "Don't worry. I know the physical capacities of my body."

"But you don't its capacity with the suit on," fretted Felicity. "So just go easy, okay? At least until you get the feel for things."

"Stop fussing, Felicity," said Oliver easily. "I adapt quickly to new stimuli in my surroundings. I'm a chameleon like that." He looked over at the scaffolding lining part of the wall of the massive, three story warehouse behind them. Some of the platforms in the scaffolding still had piles of large concrete blocks which had just been abandoned along with the warehouse. "I'll get up onto the roof of that warehouse using the scaffolding." Oliver eyed the distance. "Normally it'd probably take me about twenty seconds. We'll see what the suit can shave off that." He looked at Diggle. "Are the cameras all set?"

Diggle held up the remote control for all the cameras. "You're ready for your close up, Marilyn."

Oliver walked over to the warehouse and craned his head back, looking up at the scaffolding, looking for the best place to aim for first. There was a platform about fifteen feet off the ground and that looked like a good place to start to Oliver because he wouldn't have been able to make that kind of jump normally. He tensed his muscles, looking to propel himself upwards. Oliver's feet left the ground and just kept going. A surge of warmth enveloped him from the suit and Oliver found himself shooting past his mark and he just kept going on his upward trajectory, crashing through another platform above his intended one which sent him careening towards the warehouse and suddenly he was on the roof of that warehouse but it was only a temporary stop. The impact had the suit causing a recoil of energy and Oliver bounced off the roof and crashed down onto a window ledge below, falling off that one onto the next one down before finally the ten feet or so to the ground, landing face down.

"Oliver!"

He heard Felicity's panicked cry as the dust settled around him and then she and Diggle were kneeling beside him. "I'm okay," he grunted.

"Are you sure?" worried Felicity. "You're not hurt anywhere?"

"Well, my pride has seen better days."

"Good news, Chameleon," said Diggle. "You beat your twenty second mark on the way up. Better news is you were even faster on the way down."

Oliver gave a little groan as he pushed himself up off the ground and stood up, dusting himself down. "Okay, the suit had a little more juice than I gave it credit for," he conceded.

Felicity stood up as well, a concerned look etched on her face. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," said Oliver dryly, "my face broke my fall, so that was lucky."

"Oliver, I warned you," said Felicity unhappily. She was helping dusting him down. "You need to adjust your output otherwise the return input is going to be too much for you to handle."

"I'm seeing that," he said dryly. "Okay, let me try that again."

Diggle had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "At least we know you've got a good handle on gravity."

Oliver gave him a disgruntled look. "Don't you have cameras to look after?" he pointed past Diggle. "One has fallen over."

Diggle turned around to see one of the cameras had indeed fallen over. "Okay, I'm on it. Just don't do anything hysterically funny before I've got it fixed."

Oliver put his hands on his hips. "How is me falling down a funny thing?"

"Trust me, when you watch back the tape and I add the funny music to it, there is no way it's not going to win America's Funniest Home Video," said Diggle teasingly.

"This comedy routine isn't going to win you employee of the month, you know," said Oliver flatly.

"Just as well I don't work for you then," said Diggle easily as he walked off.

Oliver looked back to Felicity who was still looking a little anxious. "Felicity, I'm—"

"Fine, I know, you keep saying."

"I've got my eye in now with the suit. I'll do better this time." He looked over at Diggle, calling out to the other man. "Ready?"

Diggle gave him the thumbs up.

Oliver put his hands on Felicity's arms and moved her a little out of the way, up against the warehouse wall. "Just watch. I've got this." Oliver mentally prepared himself, factoring in what he now knew about the suits capacity. Once again he launched himself at that initial platform but with a lot less power. He landed on it with no problem and then immediately gave an agile leap to the platform and the next. In less than ten seconds he was on top of the roof again, this time completely in control. He grinned down at Felicity. "How was that?"

"Better," said Felicity with obvious relief, craning her neck to look up at him. "Way better."

Oliver looked around for his next challenge. Approximately thirty feet away was the water tower. Oliver backed up a little and then threw himself across the distance. He miscalculated slightly, making the jump but smashing into the metal wall of the tank. The suit took the brunt of the force and left an indent in the metal.

"Oliver!"

"No problem," said Oliver, recovering quickly. "Just didn't have enough room to stop myself." Suddenly the water tower gave a shudder and Oliver looked down to see one of the four supports creaking and moving a little.

"Oliver, I think you should get off that thing!" said Felicity anxiously. "It doesn't seem very sturdy."

Oliver had to agree but before he could react, the weakened metal leg compressed down, lurching the tower violently to the right. Unbalance, Oliver was forced to hurl himself from the tower back onto the scaffolding. The shot of adrenalin he had from the quick motion had him applying too much force again and he overshot the mark, missing the platform and careening into more scaffolding supports. Oliver just managed to catch one of the cross bars of the scaffolding, stopping himself from falling any further. He looked down, stricken to see Felicity trying to scurry out of the way of a mass of falling concrete blocks he'd knocked from their perch in the process. His breath caught in his throat as she narrowly avoided being buried under the blocks, only the bottom of her coat jacket being caught under the rubble instead.

"Look out!" yelled Diggle, just as Oliver heard an almighty crack behind him. His head snapped around in time to see the water tower give way properly now, one of its damaged supports twisting over on itself and sending the large metal silo crashing towards the earth and heading directly for Felicity.

"Felicity!" yelled Oliver, watching in horror as she desperately tried to pull her coat free from the pile of concrete blocks to get out of the way. Oliver didn't think, he just reacted. He let go of the scaffolding rail he had a hold of and tucked his arms close to his body so he could free fall as straight and fast as he possibly could to get to her before the mass of hurtling metal did. Oliver had no way of knowing if the suit could absorb the impact the three story drop would have on his body but he didn't care. He just needed to get to Felicity. Hitting the ground, there was a flash of warmth over his entire body but his bones didn't crumple, tendons didn't snap. Oliver launched himself at Felicity, desperate to get her free but it was already too late, he could feel the force of the air being pushed away behind him as the water silo was about to hit them both.

"Oliver!" screamed Felicity, her face contorted with fear as she could obviously see the fate which was going to befall them over his shoulder.

Oliver threw himself at her, holding his body protectively over hers, palms flat against the brickwork behind her on either side of Felicity's face. Her eyes were wide and full of terror in that split second as they locked gazes and then Oliver felt the enormous metal water tank impact against his back. He gritted his teeth, using every ounce of muscle strength he possessed to absorb as much of the shock as he could. The suit glowed through his clothes, lighting up at the surge of extreme energy exchange. Oliver's arms shook as he dug deep to find the strength to keep the avalanche of metal from crushing Felicity where she stood. Clouds of dust billowed up around them as the water tower finally came to rest. "Felicity," he grunted, red-faced from the effort it had taken to keep himself lifted away from her. The water tower gave one final lurch, forcing Oliver up against Felicity hard as his arms gave way. Felicity gave a strangled gasp and Oliver realized he was crushing her. Over two tons of warped metal was pressing him in against Felicity and she had a brick wall behind which had no give in it either. The suit was protecting him but Felicity had no such defense. Her stricken gaze held his as all the color drained from her face. Felicity's lips moved but no sound was coming out because there was no air left in her lungs.

"No!" said Oliver in distress, pushing back as hard as he could against the metal at his back but it was no use, he couldn't budge that much mass, even with the suit. Felicity's eyes were rolling back in her head and Oliver realized he was going to watch her die right in front of him unless he thought of a way out of this for the both of them. "Felicity, no!" His own breathing was constricted but he didn't let himself think about that. Instead he focused on the only possible exit he could think of. Oliver balled his fists and jerked back his right hand before pile driving it into the brick wall behind Felicity. Bits of mortar and brick exploded around them as his exoskeleton-enhanced punch did real damage. Oliver threw a punch with his left hand now, making inroads into the wall on the other side of Felicity. She was hanging limply against him now, not moving at all, head lolling to one side. Oliver started to pummel frantically at the wall, throwing as much of his strength into each punch as he could muster. The wall behind Felicity started to crack, bricks shattering with each blow and then suddenly Oliver had done enough damage that the wall actually gave way. Felicity fell backwards against the crumbling slab of wall and Oliver followed, both of them hitting the ground but Oliver made sure he didn't land on top of Felicity again, managing to push himself off her and roll to one side.

"Oliver! Felicity!"

Oliver could hear Diggle's concerned calling out of their names in the distance as he attempted to get past all that metal and bricks but Oliver's attention was only on Felicity. He didn't take his eyes off her pale face as he scrambled to his knees and leant over her. "Felicity," he said urgently. The lack of color in her cheeks was scaring Oliver and he hastily put his ear to her lips, desperate to hear her breathing. There was a faint wisp of warm air against his skin and Oliver could have cried from the relief. He lifted his head and cupped Felicity's cheek. "Felicity, open your eyes." Oliver's thumb stroked her dust-covered cheek, trying to encourage some color back there. "Felicity, you need to open your eyes and look at me," he ordered her intently. Oliver found himself unable to catch his own breath as Felicity lay so frighteningly still on the ground but then she gave the faintest of groans, eyelids flickering. Relief surged through Oliver, making him feel giddy. He bent down and pressed his lips against her forehead. "Thank God," he whispered shakily against Felicity's still cold skin, "thank God."

Diggle appeared over the top of the wall of metal, sliding down the other side to rush to both of their sides. "Are you two alright?" He was on his knees beside Felicity, taking her hand as she slowly came back to full consciousness.

"Felicity passed out," bit out Oliver, his jaw hard. "I was crushing her."

Diggle looked more than a little disconcerted. "How the two of you weren't pulverized into patty cakes I don't know."

Oliver's eyes were still on Felicity as she gradually came to. "The suit absorbed the impact, let me punch through the wall."

"Damn but that's a hell of a way to test the capacity of that thing," said Diggle unsteadily.

Didn't Oliver know it but Felicity was opening her eyes now and that was all he could think about. "Lie still," he ordered her quickly as she struggled to sit up. "Take a minute to catch your breath."

Felicity blinked up at them, looking between their concerned faces. "Wh-what happened?" Her eyes went a little wide as she suddenly remembered. "The water tower." Felicity looked suddenly fearful. "Am-am I dead?"

"No," said Oliver quickly, "you're not dead."

Felicity looked at him uncertainly. "Are you?"

Oliver smiled. "No, I'm not dead either."

"That's good," she said dazedly. "That's good that were both not dead." Felicity went to prop herself up on her elbows.

"Easy," Diggle instructed her as both men put a hand to her back to help support her.

Felicity looked around at the carnage, at the twisted metal of the water tank and the fact she was lying on a section of brick wall. "Did-did you punch your way through the wall?" she asked in disbelief, obviously trying to piece together what had happened.

Oliver nodded. "Yes."

"Damn," said Felicity shakily, "my suit kicks ass."

Oliver's smile widened. "Yeah, it really does." The exoskeleton had saved both of their lives tonight.

Felicity sat up properly and then gave a bit of a groan, clutching her hands to her chest.

"What is it?" asked Oliver, instantly concerned. "What's wrong?"

"You've broken my boobs," groaned Felicity, face screwed up as she put protective hands up against both breasts. "Ow!"

"Are you sure it's not your ribs?" asked Diggle, face lined in concern. He looked at Oliver. "We should get her to a hospital for x-rays."

"I don't need x-rays," protested Felicity as she gingerly rubbed at her chest. "It's definitely my boobs. I feel like they've been pushed out my back."

She went to stand up and Oliver was right there, arm around her, supporting her. "Diggle is right, we need to get you checked out properly," he said determinedly.

Felicity pushed her glasses up her nose and blew some lose hair out of her face as she carefully straightened up. "And tell them what? That I've sprained my boobs when Oliver Queen ground me up against a brick wall?" she asked sarcastically. "Yeah, no, I think I'll pass on that one. The tabloids are going to have to find another meal to dine out on."

Felicity dusted herself down and to Oliver's great relief she didn't seem to be suffering any kind of permanent after effects from the blackout. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Felicity looked at him, her own gaze sweeping over him. "Are you sure you're okay?" she countered. "You just took a couple of tons of metal to the back. Maybe you've broken ribs or something?"

"No," said Oliver, "I'm fine. The suit took the brunt of the impact."

Suddenly Felicity was back in scientist mode. She put a hand to his chest, feeling several different places. "And you didn't overheat?" she asked intently.

"No."

"I have to analyze the data on this," said Felicity excitedly. "There is going to be so much to look at."

Diggle half-smiled. "I guess you really are fine," he said in relief. "Listen to you getting your geek on."

Oliver grimaced. "I think I'd still be happier if we had someone with an actual medical degree confirm that."

"We don't have time for that," said Felicity dismissively. "I need to get back to the Foundry and start analyzing this data."

"I think you should take the rest of the night off," said Oliver intently. "You almost died tonight."

"And what's the most important part of that sentence?" she challenged him.

"Died," said Oliver without hesitation.

"No," said Felicity in exasperation, "almost, I almost died.

Oliver shook his head at her. "Felicity—"

"Come on," she interrupted his concerns, "you need to get out of that suit and then we can go back to the Foundry. I want to get started."

Oliver and Diggle exchanged resigned looks and gave in. The two men helped Felicity climb back out of the rubble and then they headed back towards the van.

Felicity looked over her shoulder at the carnage they were leaving behind. "I wish there had been a camera on to capture you going through the wall," she lamented.

"Capturing the moment for science wasn't my biggest concern right then," said Oliver as they arrived back at the van. "Making sure I didn't crush you to death was my main priority."

"And I appreciate that," said Felicity quickly. "It's just it would have been cool to record it to study later. I guess we can set the wall thing up again." Oliver sent her a sharp look and she continued on quickly. "Sans the part where I'm being squished into a smudge on the wall by the chest of a local billionaire."

"But not tonight," said Diggle firmly. "Oliver's right, I think we should quit while we're ahead."

"But the data," protested Felicity.

"It isn't going anywhere."

"I'm too wired to just go home to bed," she argued.

"That's just the adrenalin from a near death experience talking," said Oliver knowingly. "Trust me, when that leaves your system you'll want to take it a bit easy."

"You two can argue in the van," said Diggle. "I'm going to get the rest of our equipment."

Oliver climbed into the back of the van and held out a hand to help Felicity up. "The suit," she reminded him. "I need the suit." Felicity then turned her back so he could start undressing. As he did, she pulled out her lap top and started bringing up data. "I can't believe how the suit performed tonight. I'm so excited. Lucius is going to be blown away by how well it managed under extreme situations."

Oliver quickly stripped off his clothes. "It'll be even better when the suit isn't the thing which caused the extreme situation in the first place," he noted wryly.

"Hey, no throwing shade at the suit," said Felicity sharply. "I warned you about compensating for the excess energy distribution but you didn't listen. It's designed to give you more energy back then you put in and you have to make allowances for that."

"I thought I was." Oliver pulled back on his t-shirt and sweat pants. "I just need a little more practice. But next time I want you a good distance away. I'm not taking any more risks with your safety while we test this thing."

"I have to be up close and personal to evaluate the suit," said Felicity as Oliver moved around to take a seat across from her in the back of the van.

"Felicity, it's too dangerous. Tonight was a narrow escape. I'm not letting you put yourself in that position again," said Oliver determinedly.

"Aeschylus."

Oliver's eyes narrowed. "Did you just sneeze?"

"Aeschylus was an author of Athenian tragedies around 455BC."

"Okay," said Oliver slowly.

"He died when a tortoise was dropped on his head from a great height by an eagle who mistook his head for a rock which could crack open the tortoise's shell," she explained.

Oliver blinked. "And again… okay."

"My point is that death and danger can happen any time, any place and anyhow." Felicity gave him a pointed look. "And you're the last person in the world to give the 'it's too dangerous' speech. You're always throwing yourself into harm's way."

"That's different," he protested.

"It's different because you're doing it for a reason and you believe in that reason," pointed out Felicity. "And that's how I feel about this suit and the potential it has for keeping you a whole lot safer out on the streets than you are now. The potential benefits far outweigh the possible dangers."

Oliver knew he wasn't going to win this argument which he found deeply frustrating.

Felicity smiled. "Gotcha, haven't I?"

"I'm regrouping," said Oliver stubbornly. "Give me a moment."

She patted his leg. "Take your time. You're still not going to win this argument."

"You don't know that," he grumbled. "I could come up with something brilliant and turn this thing on its head."

"Of course you could," she said, indulging him. "And while you're waiting on that epiphany of counter-argument brilliance, I'm going to start analyzing some data."

Oliver watched Felicity turn her attention back to her lap top. He studied her profile, trying not to think how close he'd come to losing her tonight. Felicity was intent on dismissing it as nothing but Oliver had been the conscious one, the one who'd watched her slipping away from him. Even though this wasn't the first time he'd seen Felicity in danger, Oliver couldn't escape the fact that it was getting harder and harder for him to dismiss it all as part of the job Felicity had signed up for. Oliver remembered that very first night when he'd turned up in Felicity's car, shot and bleeding to death and asking her to take him to the Foundry. He'd survived that night because of her and he remembered Diggle's concern about bringing Felicity into the fold. Oliver had told him that he could protect Felicity, keep her safe, no matter what. He'd been so sure that was true but as their lives became more dangerous by the day, Oliver was beginning to really feel the fragility of that promise.

"You're staring."

Oliver gave a little start at Felicity's vague accusation.

"Have I got something on my face?" Felicity put a self-conscious hand to her face.

Oliver shook his head. "No." The he realized she did. "Actually, you've got a smudge right there." He touched his cheekbone.

Felicity scrubbed away at the mark. "And were you ever going to tell me about it or just let me walk around looking like the little match girl?"

"I thought it looked cute on you."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Nice to know I have a way with dirt. That should pave the way for a bright future for me."

The van dipped as Diggle climbed back on board, all of the cameras in hand. "Okay, we ready to roll?"

"Yep."

"Yes."

Diggle climbed into the front, taking the wheel and Oliver took the passenger seat seeing as Felicity was clearly going to be all about her lap top on the drive back to the Foundry. Diggle started up the van and they were pulling away. Oliver looked back over his shoulder at the carnage they'd left behind. "I wonder if anyone is going to ask questions about that?" he pondered aloud.

"Let's hope not," said Diggle wryly. "Either way, it was a victimless crime, which, in Starling City, is pretty much a win."

Oliver had to agree with that logic as Diggle drove them along the row of docks to get them back on the main road back into town.

Suddenly Felicity's voice came from the back. "Hey, is it just me, but should abandoned warehouses have less of a peopley-motif going on?"

Both he and Diggle turned around to look out the window to where Felicity was pointing. There was a row of warehouses to their left but behind them, there was another row and through the gaps of the first row, there were a lot of black vans moving around and glimpses of people scurrying about.

Diggle slowed the car down to a standstill and turned off the headlights so as not to advertise their position. "There is certainly a lot of activity."

"Guess we're not the only ones looking for a little privacy," said Oliver grimly. "But something tells me their motives aren't quite as pure. Diggle, pull the van in behind that warehouse."

"Oliver, what are you doing?" asked Felicity in concern.

"I'm just going to have a quick look to see what is going on." He reached into the back of the van and grabbed out his hooded sweat shirt, putting it on.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Felicity looked at Diggle. "Digg, tell him."

"Felicity's right. You're not even in your Hood outfit."

"Or the exoskeleton," added on Felicity.

"No time." Oliver glanced over his shoulder at all the activity. "They're pulling out very fast. I need to go now if I've got a chance of seeing just exactly what is going on in that warehouse." He grabbed his bow and quiver next. "I won't be long. This is strictly recon only. Digg, bring the van round up ahead there. I'll just have a quick scout around and meet up with you there."

"At least take a communicator," said Felicity unhappily, handing him an earpiece. "We can stay in touch that way, in case there is any trouble."

"There won't be." Oliver had a thought. "Hand me one of those cameras too. There might be something worth keeping a record of."

Felicity handed him the camera and shook her head at him. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"It'll be fine, don't worry." Oliver climbed out of the van and pulled the hood of his shirt up to hide his face. "We'll rendezvous in five."

"Be careful," Diggle instructed him.

"Always," said Oliver, his mind on the task at hand now. He started to jog towards the decidedly unabandoned warehouse, intent on finding out what exactly was going on. Instinct told him it was going to be nothing good.

And as always, his instincts would turn out to be right.