Chapter 3:
Sitting in her pyjamas on her couch in her tiny apartment, Felicity pressed the bag of ice into her neck as she tried not to relive every second of what had happened. After she had gotten out of her nice long shower, she had found a message from Diggle on her answering machine telling her to take the night off and rest until he called her in the morning. Feeling a little exhausted, she decided to take him up on his offer as she settled in to watch an old movie on the tv as she curled up under a blanket on the couch for the night. As she waited for the movie to begin, her muted TV showed updates of the kidnapping saga as she tried to imagine life as an inmate if she ever got caught. She didn't regret what she had done, but she did hope that she had the stomach to see it through. Lost in thought, the knock at the door caught her off guard as she jumped in her skin and then pulled her blanket up tight around her chin. For a moment, she thought about fleeing out the back door, and then she remembered that she didn't have a back door, but maybe the bedroom window would do?
"Who is it?" She asked nervously, praying it wasn't the cops as she decided to make her move.
"It's Oliver." Oliver! She repeated, her mind raced, they still hadn't had a proper conversation since the hospital. Things between them were still very complicated. "Felicity?" he called again when the door remained closed several seconds later.
"Coming." She called out as she hid the ice pack behind cushion on the couch and straightened her top. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and tried to act calm. "Oliver!" She announced in a relaxed tone.
"Felicity." He replied, checking to see that she was all right, and looking around to make sure everything was ok. "May I come in?"
"It's late." She reminded him,
"I know." He apologised, "But I was watching the news tonight and I saw the strangest thing." He opened lightly,
"Oh." She gasped, a guilty expression on her face.
"What were you thinking?" He asked as he pushed passed her and invited himself inside. She shut the door behind him and watched him as he stopped inside her living room and turned to face her.
"Don't be angry." She begged him.
"I'm not." He lied, "I'm concerned." He said looking her over, she was clearly a little shaken by the ordeal. "You could have been hurt, or worse." He reminded her as he looked into her eyes, tears in his own. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she subconsciously rubbed her neck as the dull throbbing continued.
"Oliver I…" She began to explain.
"You were hurt." He said rushing forward to check out her neck, his hands almost releasing the tension on their contact as his ouch sent her into tingles.
"It's nothing." She shook her head, removing his hand and stepping away.
"Damn it Felicity." He yelled at her, "Don't you understand that if anything was to happen to you…" He stopped himself short, he'd promised himself that he wouldn't lose his temper.
"I do, but you and I, we're not together. I'm not your responsibility." She reminded him again,
"I'm never going to stop caring for you." He inhaled sharply, "I saw the footage." Oliver stammered as the words struggled to come out, "If Digs had hesitated a moment longer." He paused, "Then you wouldn't be here to have this conversation with me."
"But he didn't, and I am." She said taking his hand, which she was surprised to find was slightly shaky.
"Felicity, I'm dying inside without you" he faltered.
"I know." She apologised placing a hand on his chest, "But I'm not ready. It's not the right time."
"Will it ever be?" He asked with baited breath.
"There's always hope." She smiled at him. "I never stopped loving you Oliver, I always will. I just don't know if I can live with you, with all of this. I need to know if I can be more than some fancy IT girl who caught in your orbit."
"Felicity you ARE so much more than that and I can only hope that you get to realise that someday." He reflected as he looked around, the silence in the room was killing him. "I should go." He said heading for the door, "Just promise me that you won't do anything else reckless. Please." He begged.
"If I do you'll be the first to know." She promised him as she watched him leave, one more time.
"John?" Felicity shouted out into the darkly lit room as she came down the steps with a freshly made burger and fries. "I brought you something to eat." She offered as a bribe knowing that he wasn't going to be happy with her.
"What's he doing here?" Digs asked Felicity, mad she had betrayed his confidence as Oliver made his way down the stairs behind her.
"He wants to help." She assured him as she put the burger down and tried to gauge how angry he was. "He saw the news."
"Is that true?" Diggs asked Oliver, hoping that he had changed his mind and wasn' looking to alk them out of it.
"You need my help." He told him, as authoritative as usual.
"We're doing just fine without you." Diggle professed, pointing to Ruve as proof.
"YOU ALMOST GOT HER KILLED!." Oliver yelled at him, his blood boiling in his veins. Felicity took his arm to try and keep things amicable. She knew deep down that they needed him and that it had taken a lot for him to offer to come here and help. Diggle didn't reply at first, he knew there was truth in his words. He had spent half of the night trying to free himself of that same guilt.
"Oliver wants to work with us John, not against us." Felicity promised him, "He brought us a lead."
"What lead?" Diggle asked, intrigued what Oliver had learned that they hadn't.
"I found the guard that was paid off by Darhk." Oliver began, "He told me Darhk's operation is in the Glades somewhere. He wasn't specific as to the actual location."
"How?" Diggle looked at Oliver, wondering who had been brave enough to turn on Damien Darhk and HIVE. One look at Oliver's face was all Diggle needed to see that the answer was clear. "I'm sorry man, I know how hard that must have been for you."
"Actually it wasn't and that's the problem." He said regretfully. No one said anything as they reflected internally on what their friend had just done for them. "Welcome aboard." Diggle shook his hand to ease the tension before he took his burger and sat down to eat it. Felicity hacked into another database to bring up the location of every possible building with underground access in the Glades. The list was extensive but she would work on it through the night if she had to. Oliver still felt a little uneasy but he grabbed a chair and sat opposite Ruve, studying his opponent and plotting his next move. Damien Darhk would be unstoppable once he found out who had her, this plan of theirs, when they had one, had to work. There would be no turning back now.
"What are you thinking?" Felicity asked as she came to stand beside Oliver. He had barely moved from his seat in the last hour and a half other than to check that Ruve Adams still had a pulse. The distant look in his eyes had chills running through her veins. He was right, she knew so little about his time on the island, and what Oliver had had to do to survive. Not like Diggle who had been to war himself and seen the results first hand. All she knew was that whatever he had become, had left his body scarred and his spirit broken. She knew he had been on the Island with Slade Wilson, they had been friends once. She couldn't help but wonder how much of Slade Wilson was in Oliver, afterall he had been Slade's apprentice. Was Oliver the psychopath that everyone had first thought the vigilante to be? And once unleashed, would there be any way for the Oliver Queen she knew, her Oliver to survive?
"Darhk's going to know we have her, he'll be looking for her." Oliver started the conversation as Felicity watched him, watching Ruve.
"We thought of that. I put a signal blocker in place just in case." She assured him,
"It won't be enough." He worried. "Once she wakes up and we learn all we can from her. We can't just let her go. She knows too much. Darhk will know that too."
"I guess we never thought of that." Felicity hesitated, she never really stopped to think about what next, her emotions, her grieve and anger had been controlling her decisions lately.
"You've painted a target on both of your backs." He warned her, looking to meet her gaze. "He'll never stop hunting you."
"What do you suggest?" Diggle asked joining the conversation as he rounded the corner and entered the room. Although h didn't need Oliver to tell him what he already knew.
"We have two options." Oliver informed them, "We either kill her, or we lock her away somewhere that none can ever find her."
"Like Lian Yu?" Felicity asked with innocence.
"Merlyn knows about that now. It's not secure." Oliver pondered aloud,
"Where else could we send her?" Felicity asked, slightly worried.
"I have no idea." Oliver exhaled frustrated, "But whatever we decide we need to do it fast." He warned them as the woman in front of them started to stir. "Darhk's men will be looking for her soon if they aren't already."
"Oliver Queen." Ruve spoke his name smugly, "You have no idea just how much trouble you have brought down on yourself." She threatened him as she sat up, rubbing her wrists where the handcuffs connected her to the chain in the wall.
"On the contrary." Oliver counterpointed her threat, "I know exactly what to expect from Darhk, which is why I'm not going to be holding back." He warned her, "If I was you I'd start praying, cause no one else is going to save you." He provoked her, walking slowly to the table he had pre prepared earlier and rolling up his sleeves ready to begin his interrogation. Felicity shuttered as he picked up the knife with ease and began his questioning technique. "Felicity, You should go." Oliver pleaded with her, he didn't want her to see him like this.
"I'm not going anywhere." She insisted as she tried to prepare herself for what was to come.
"Please Felicity." He begged her again,
"No!" She stood firm. "I asked you to do this, I need to see it through." She objected. As Ruve stood strong in her conviction not to answer any of Oliver's questions, she watched him cut at her flesh in a variety of ways to make death last for days. She wanted to run away, top throw up but she didn't. Oliver needed her support, needed her strength to get him through this, of that she was certain. No matter what he did she would never look away. She pushed the bile deep down as her Oliver disappeared and Slade's apprentice returned. Looking across to Diggle, she could see that he too was finding it hard to watch, but he didn't flinch.
"Just tell him." Felicity demanded as Ruve continued to sit there, silent, refusing to say a word. Oliver had held a knife to her cheek, leaving several small incisions. He'd put an arrow in her leg, twisted it to inflict pain and even broken two of her fingers on her right hand but she still wasn't talking. Felicity wondered what kind of insanity this was and how far Ruve was going to take this.
"This isn't working Oliver." Diggle said frustrated as Oliver put down the knife and took a break, "We need to do something."
"I know." He gritted his teeth, torturing a woman was something he never thought he would be capable of doing, and the fact that the torture he had inflicted hadn't yielded any results was making him a little more than uneasy.
"You should know that I'll never talk." Ruve grinned at them as they turned from where they were huddled in discussion, to look in her direction. "But I will promise you one thing." She toyed with them, "Unlike your late friend, when Damien gets through with you, you're going to wish you had never been born. You're going to die screaming." She laughed at them. "Especially your pretty blonde friend there." She winked at Felicity.
"ENOUGH!" Oliver bellowed picking up his bow, "Either you start talking, or you have no value to us as a hostage."
"Then shoot me." Ruve called his bluff. "There isn't a place on this earth you can hide from him." She warned him, "He'll kill her slowly, and he'll make you watch." She continued.
"Don't listen to her." He instructed Felicity who was already retreating slowly as the fear threatened to consume her. She could imagine Damien Darhk, sucking the life out of her as the blood drained from her face. The pain in Oliver's eyes as he watched, helpless to save her. The guilt in Diggle's soul.
"Do you want to know how he'll do it?" She asked Felicity, as an arrow hit her in the chest and her lips fell silent.
"Oliver, tell me you didn't…" Diggle asked running to check she had a pulse. "Oh thank god." He sighed as he found her sleeping off a tranquilizer dart.
"Felicity." Oliver placed a hand on her cheek which was as white as a ghost.
"I'm ok." She lied, feeling faint.
"No, you're not." He said guiding her to a chair as Diggle got her a glass of water.
"She's right." Felicity babbled as she sipped on the drink, "He killed Laurel, he's going to kill us too. What were we thinking?" She asked looking at Diggle.
"Don't let her get into your head." Oliver tried to calm her. It was easy to forget after all they had been through that she wasn't a combat veteran. Felicity was tough, tougher than all of them combined, but the light inside of her could never truly understand the atrocities of war. "She's just saying anything she has to in order to get the advantage." He educated her, "She wants to scare you."
"Well it's working." Felicity mumbled as she wiped another tear from her eye with the tissue Diggle had given her.
"We aren't out of the race yet." He said, looking at Diggle, "We still have one card that we haven't played." He told her, "You need to trust me. Ruve Adams will talk and she will see justice for what she has done."
"What is it?" She asked looking for any sign of hope.
"You're not going to like it." He promised both of them, the idea that he could think of taking such an action sickened even himself. "But in times of war we are sometimes forced to do the unthinkable."
"You don't mean?" Diggle hesitated, "That's crossing a line that we can't uncross. We need to be really sure that we want to go there." He warned him.
"What is it?" Felicity asked confused as she looked from Diggle to Oliver.
"Her daughter." Diggle confirmed aloud, "Ruve Adams doesn't seem like the self-sacrificing type."
"Pray you're wrong." Oliver told him as he still sat in front of Felicity, holding her hands in her lap. He looked up into her eyes trying to gage her level of disgust, seeking her approval. "I don't see any other choice here."
"Then do it." She said with a shaky voice, "Do what you have to do." She told him again with more conviction.
"Do you understand what it is that I have to do?" Oliver asked her. He needed to know that she understood what was about to happen next.
"Torturing a woman is unthinkable, torturing a child is inconceivable but there is more at stake here than just our lives. We are fighting for the survival of millions of lives, for Star City." She justified their action. He was caught off guard at how her response saddened him. Rising to his feet he kissed her on the head before heading for the exit. "She should be out for at least another hour." He informed them. "If she wakes up before we're back." He looked to Felicity, picking up a small dart gun and handing it to her. "Shoot her with this." He ordered, "And do not engage her in conversation."
"Ok." She promised. Sitting up straighter, ready to keep watch over the bunker.
"And I want you to take this." Oliver added, pulling out a small knife from the back of his belt. "Don't hesitate if you need to use it." He insisted.
"I won't." She promised, feeling the cool blade on her finger tips. "Now go. I'll be fine."
"We won't be long. I promise." He lingered a moment, before grabbing his bow and follow Diggle up the stairs. He would fulfil this mission with a heavy heart, but he would do it to the best of his ability he told himself as Diggle started the van and he jumped into the passenger side. They didn't speak a single word to each other the whole way there.
"Where is my wife?" Damien Darhk bellowed as his many henchmen moved about at a busy pace inside his makeshift command centre.
"We have no idea." They reported, "There is no trace of her or her kidnappers, they've gone dark."
"How can somebody disappear without a trace?" He questioned them. "Look harder."
"We have exhausted almost every lead." The henchman responded with a tone of fear in his voice. "The CCTV didn't get a clear image, the SUV was stolen and there are no traces of the kidnappers identities left at the scene. There has been no ransom demand."
"There won't be. I know who took her and why." Darhk finally twigged. "Oh, of course, why didn't I think of that before?" He asked himself.
"Find Oliver Queen. I want him and everyone he's ever known in my presence within the next hour."
"Sir?" The henchman tried to understand his new order.
"You heard me." He ordered again vexed that he was having to explain himself, "I want Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak and I want them NOW!" He demanded, "They will pay dearly for threatening my family."
"Yes sir." He stood at attention and then turned to leave.
"Bring me my daughter." He asked another of his minions. Darhk knew Oliver had an aversion to hurting woman and children but he wanted to keep her close just in case.
"She's with the nanny." The minion informed him.
"Get her. I want her here where I can protect her." He insisted, clenching his fist as he imagined wiping the smirk off of Oliver Queens face. "Nice move Oliver." He smirked to himself, "I didn't think you had it in you." He whispered to himself, a little glad to finally have a worthy opponent.
"Diggle talk to me." Oliver said as he kept guard on the roof top opposite. They had agreed that John should be the one to go in so that Oliver could come in as back up should anything happen. They also hypothesised that Johns face would be less well known to any staff who may be in the building, as opposed to Oliver's especially since Oliver had ruled out going in as the Arrow so as not to scare the child.
"We're on schedule." Diggle replied as he made his way down the hall to her sleeping quarters, "Are you ready?" He asked his friend.
"I'm in position." He confirmed as he fired the arrow into the side of the building and tied the cable to an anchor nearby to enable Diggle's escape. Within moments Diggle appeared at the window with a sleeping child in his arms. Grabbing the cable John glided across the street below to where Oliver waited to catch them and take the child from him. Gently, Oliver carried her to the waiting van nearby and placed her inside. Making sure to hide their identities at all times, Oliver prayed the girl stayed sleeping, thanks to a mild tranquiliser he had given Diggle to inject her with, until they had her safely locked away. As much for their safety as for hers. For what he had planned, he didn't want her to be awake, if all went to plan it would be over and done before she even knew that something was wrong.
