AN: Okay. So this gets me caught up to what I am posting on AO3. I actually have no clue where exactly the story is going, so if anyone has any thoughts on what you would like to see, let me know in a review and hopefully it will inspire my muse.
With this chapter, we finally get to see Oliver's POV and for some reason his POV is really working for me better than Felicity's right now. I'm sure that will change once they meet (which will be at least 2 chapters).
Chapter Three: Back from the Dead
Eight months. It had been eight months since Agent Felicity Smoak had gone undercover in Starling City as an IT tech at Queen Consolidated in search of information on increased activity from the Bratva. Eight months of dead ends and surprises. Eight months of finding out the Oliver Queen was in fact alive and well in Russia, but yet his family still thought he was dead. Eight months that had driven Felicity crazy with her inability to find out any information she could on Oliver Queen.
Needless to say, she was frustrated. However Oliver Queen survived the plane crash, the information was not on the internet, or if it was, it was protected by someone who had her level of ability in cyber security. Her search into any and all Bratva connections in Starling City were going better at this point. She had identified a dozen or so potential Bratva connections with businesses. She wasn't sure if these people were actually part of Bratva or just people that the Bratva used when conducting business in Starling City. At the top of that list right now was Adam Hunt, CEO of Hunt Multinational.
Fortunately, after the initial shock of seeing exactly how bad the cyber security at QC was, she was able to update their systems dramatically. Not that she ever got any platitudes for that since her manager Caleb Waterhouse had taken all the credit for it. She didn't let that get to her though, since it allowed her to remain under the radar to conduct her investigation. Which was what she was doing on a sunny Saturday morning, when her phone rang.
"Hey, Ash. What's up?" she answered without preamble.
"Turn on your TV, Smoak."
Curious about his request, she did as asked and felt her eyes grow wide at the breaking news story. "This just in," said the newscaster. "Oliver Queen has been found alive in a small, native village in Siberia." The TV showed many shots of the Queen heir bundled up in coats made from animal hides.
"What?" Felicity said into the phone.
"That's the thing. We know that the man was in Moscow last year, but it looks like he is making a comeback. The initial reports are saying that he survived the plane crash and was found by a tribe that abhors technology in Siberia. If that was the case, then why would he have not been found closer to the site of the crash? The thing is…he was found hundreds of miles away."
Felicity quickly switched over to her Bluetooth headset and began to type away. "Have you found anything in the Russian government's servers?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. From the chatter that I am founding, the Russians were caught unawares as well. The chatter, well, let's just say that most of the chatter is reflecting shock. The particular tribe that he was discovered with is one that only gets outside visitors once in a decade at most. They live completely with the land and have no technology whatsoever. The closest town to them is almost a thousand miles away."
Felicity didn't say anything as she brought up multiple boxes, trying to figure out what was going on, but she couldn't find anything beyond what Ash had told her. "This is very weird," she muttered.
"Yes, it is. Vendler wants you to focus your attention on the Bratva. You know that we suspected that they had a hand in the plane coming down, but why they would keep Oliver Queen alive? What purpose would that serve?"
"So, I need to try to get into the Bratva's servers. I can try, but whomever they have doing their cyber security is as good as I am. It's not going to be easy." Felicity paused. "Maybe, if I can tie one of the people I've identified as possible Bratva in Starling, I can use their computer to hack into the main system. Okay. I've got my work cut out for me. Later, Ash."
"Call if you need me," Ash responded as he disconnected the line.
Felicity just took off the Bluetooth and lost herself in the code.
#
Oliver Queen walked off the Queen family jet to bright flashes of light from surrounding paparazzi. He squinted and flinched as reports began to call out his name. After five years of anonymity, the return to the limelight was disconcerting at best, terrifying at worst. Thankfully, a security team surrounded him and without a further thought he climbed into the waiting limo to be whisked off to Starling General Hospital. He was dreading that, but he knew that it necessary. He hadn't talked about his time away to anyone and he preferred not to, knowing that the experiences that he'd had changed him down to the core.
Growing up, he had both respected and resented his father. Robert Queen had been a hard man and nothing that he had done had ever garnered the praise that he so desperately craved. So, he acted out. Flunked out of every Ivy League school that his father had paid is way into. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew that he was not cut out to run QC.
It was only on that fated trip to Russia that he had been taken in the man's confidence that he was actually a member of the Russian mob. The Bratva. The night before the crash, Robert Queen had confided in him that it wasn't only QC that he would be taking over, but it would be his spot in the Bratva in Starling City. He had also confided that a cancer had taken over the Bratva in Starling City. A new Captain had been announced and that man had plans to dismantle the city as it stood. Robert Queen had objected, but his was a minor role in the mob and his concerns had been overlooked.
The next day, Robert Queen was dead and Oliver Queen was stranded in the frozen tundra of Siberia. After five long years away, he had discovered that no one in Russian knew who the supposed Bratva Captain that his father had mentioned and the Bratva had denied any responsibility for the crash. So, now he was back in Starling City, a changed man, looking to find out what secrets the city held.
When they finally arrived at the hospital, he held on to his temper as they did a complete physical on him, asking him multiple times about the multitude of scars that crisscrossed his torso. He refused to answer any of those questions. Finally, two hours after it begun the physical was over and he was pronounced in good health (understatement, he was in the best shape of his life), but with scar tissue that comprised twenty percent of his body. As he was getting dressed, his mother finally was allowed in the room. She entered in a flurry of tears and hugs.
"Oh, Oliver," Moira Queen said as she held the tears back and wrapped him in her arms. "My boy, I am so glad that you are alive."
"Hello, Mother," he responded, turning in her arms.
She gasped as she saw his Bratva tattoo. "Что, черт возьми, произошло с тобой?"
"Я присоединился к семейному бизнесу," he responded as he buttoned up his shirt.
Moira sniffed lightly. "We never wanted this for you," she said softly. "You were not meant to join this business. Robert always said that he was going to keep you and Thea out of this."
Oliver just shrugged. "He was murdered, Mother. That is not something that I can take lightly. Heads will roll and I will take control of the Bratva in Starling City," he responded flatly.
She recoiled slightly at his tone and looked into his eyes, realizing in an instant that her fun loving son had changed dramatically. Slowly, she nodded. "Then I will support you, but I just ask that you keep Thea out of this."
Oliver shook his head. "She deserves to know. With my rank…the whole family will need to be aware of what is going on and what steps they need to take for protection," he said lowly, understanding from his time away that stepping into a Captain role in the Bratva was stepping into the limelight. Other members of the Bratva would be looking to him, especially since he was one of the handful of non-Russian born men to have the rank.
"But," Moira started, but she broke off as the sound of heels clacking in the hallway.
"Ollie!"
He smiled a sad smile, at the sight of his baby sister all grown up. He had lost five years of watching her grow and become a woman. Now, here she was, on the cusp of womanhood, looking so much like the Thea he knew, but completely different. Without hesitation, he opened his arms as she flew into them, shaking with repressed emotions.
"I'm so happy you're alive," she whispered into his shirt.
"Me too, Speedy. Me, too," he whispered right back into her hair. He felt her take a fortifying breath, before she drew away from him, flashing a typical Queen family public smile. "Let's get you home."
"Lead the way," he replied as he grabbed his jacket.
Thea led the way out of the room, but Moira put her hand on his arm briefly. "There are some things we need to discuss when we get back to the manor."
#
Felicity followed the news religiously over the weekend. Watching for news of when Oliver Queen would return to Starling City. Once she got the confirmation that he would arrive early Monday morning, she began to hack every website, every server that she could think of. As Ash had told her, the Russian servers were a dead end. They were every bit surprised as the rest of the world, which surprised her since she had video proof that the man had been in Moscow eight months prior. She went back to review the security footage that they had found, but it was no longer there. Obliterated, really. She could find no trace of the footage or of any near that location that matched what she had downloaded.
After striking out with the Russians, she tried once again to infiltrate the known Bratva servers, but could get no farther than underground black market websites. She felt a reluctant admiration for the Bratva computer tech that was responsible for their cyber security. Instead, she made plans to see if she could get someone into Hunt Multinational to try to hack in from there. She was just typing up her report when her computer pinged, letting her know that the plane carrying Oliver Queen had landed. Checking the schedule that she had gotten from the QC servers (you would think that Moira Queen would know better than to send a supposedly private schedule through email), she quickly hacked into the hospital to get a real time update on the doctor's findings.
Once that was done, she hit one on her speed dial and waited for Ash to pick up.
"DC Morgue. You kill 'em, we chill 'em," Ash answered.
"Does that ever get boring, Ash?" Felicity greeted him with a giggle.
"Nope. What's up, Smoak?"
"Nada, right now. I've got searches running for the recently deceased man, but I've still come up with bupkis. Time for plan B."
"You need someone inside Hunt Multinational."
"Yep. I'm sending you an email now, so hopefully we can get someone inside so that I can piggyback off of their servers to get into the Bratva servers."
"Vendler has been preparing for this. She was just waiting for you to cry uncle. I'll be on the next plane out."
Felicity felt her eyebrows raise. Vendler must be serious if she was sending Ash, who was only second to herself in hacking abilities, to Starling City as well. "You staying with me or are we keeping this at an I don't know you/you don't know me game?"
"We don't know each other. We want to protect your identity as much as possible and I'll only be in town a week a most. That way, if my cover somehow gets blown, you will still be in play. Vendler also wanted to say that she is sending a few agents along as well. Don't know who, so don't ask, but they want someone with other skills in town if you need help. This could get out of control very quickly. And expect a call from her soon. Got anything else for me?"
"Nope. I'll keep you up-to-date on anything I find out. Just let me know when you're going be in, and oh, when you're here, you have to try a Big Belly Burger. They are just amazing."
"Will do. Later!" Ash said before hanging up.
Felicity let out a heavy sigh as she hung up. This just keeps getting better and better, she thought as she began to crawl through all of the news reports to see if she could find any more information on Adam Hunt to help Ash out when he got into town.
AN: So...what'd ya think?
Okay, first off. I do not speak Russian and the one person that I know that speaks Russian is not available to proofread for me. All of these translations are from Google translate, so if you are a native Russian speaker and these are wrong, please let me know and I will correct them!
Edit...Thank you to nerrisdk for the updated translations!
Что, черт возьми, произошло с тобой? – What in the hell happened to you?
Я присоединился к семейному бизнесу.– I joined the family business.
Also, poll time. I know that I am bringing at least 2 characters in as CIA. Who do you want to see? I know for sure that Tommy will not be either Bratva or CIA and I do want a male and female CIA agent. There is one catch though. I cannot have both Dig and Roy as CIA. One or the other. :) Since this is a few chapters away...I want y'alls thoughts on who you'd like to see. :)
Next chapter should be up in a couple of days at most, but I want to get a few chapters ahead in writing so I can start updating consistently every couple of days.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!