Hello everyone. Here's another update just as the long weekend comes to a close. Thanks again to those who gave favourited, commented, and read this. I'm so motivated thanks to you guys. With work and no time offs, I might end up updating over the weekends.

Some of you might be getting antsy as I haven't introduced a certain archer. Don't fret. He'll be coming soon (I promise to make it worth the wait). I'm setting the stage for his return. You've seen Jessica's/Felicity's power last chapter when she saved Roy. You'll see it again in this chapter and a hint of her other power.

I don't own anything and any mistakes will be revisited and corrected as much as possible. Thanks again and share your feedback! Have a great week!

Mysteries Leading to More Mysteries

It has been 7 months since Felicity started working at Queen Consolidated – so far, so good. She's been involved with a number of technical projects in the IT Department and Applied Sciences Division and has impressed her colleagues and superiors. She hadn't been able to work directly with Walter but there's enough on her plate to keep her busy. More projects meant long hours, not that she minded as it helped her mind focused and busy.

She found herself dead tired on a Friday evening after pulling all-nighters in the past week for an upcoming release. She just finished ordering a pizza and figured she'd get a quick shower in before her food arrives. It took her 15 minutes to shower and wore an MIT hoodie and lounge pants. She decided to relax in the couch, turn on her television when the sound of a single pair of hands clapping, echoing throughout her living room, bouncing off the walls, assaulted her.

"Hey, get off him" Jessica charged at the two men who were beating up a lanky teenager. She punched the bigger one in the stomach and kicked the other – both went down and groaned in the ground.

"Get away from him and never come back, or I'll call the cops" Jessica yelled. With that, the two scrambled and ran away. She turned back to the trembling teen and noticed he had a cut on his forehead and a bruise forming on his cheek. Jessica was going to ask if he was okay until she heard the sound of clapping and turned to the source.

"Leave him he's fine." the man who showed up at Barker Library. Killgrave was his name. "Yeah, he's fine." she responded.

"Oh Jessica, I was just debating where to eat and then there you are, performing feats of heroism. Come closer." he waved her over. She left the kid's side and walked closer to Killgrave. "Tell me, did you enjoy beating those thugs?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Yes." she answered without any hesitation. "Why?" Killgrave followed up, eyes squinting awaiting her response.

"Because I helped someone, I made a difference." she answered honestly with a smile on her face. Clearly thrown off, Killgrave responded with "Well, how noble".

He held his hand out in front of her and said "There's a fantastic Szechuan place right around the corner. You like Chinese. Come on. Come on. It's time for me to know everything about you". She took his hand and walked to the restaurant with him.

Felicity gasped and turned her head quickly as she was roused from a flashback by a knock on her door.

She shook her head and grabbed the baseball bat by her umbrella stand before checking her peephole camera. When she saw it was the delivery guy, she let go of the bat and grabbed the bills to pay the seemingly bored man. She grabbed 2 slices of pizza and grabbed the bottle of Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon which she was saving for a special or stressful day – obviously the latter was going to happen first. Felicity had Doctor Who playing in the background, and turned on her laptop. Since she was caught up with work, she'd do a bit of research on The Queens and Queen Consolidated. In one of the news articles, she read that the Queens Gambit sank during a heavy storm at sea in 2007.

Felicity couldn't ignore the doubt growing in the depths of her gut. Her mother, Donna Jones, ingrained in her to always trust her gut. And trust it she will. She makes a note to look into the wreckage, search parties, and location of debris. She may not know where to start but knows she'll eventually get to the bottom of it. Whether it's Jessica Jones or Felicity Smoak, either persona hates mysteries. She needs to approach this with a fresh set of eyes and a clear mind, so for now, she'll finish her pizza and binge-watch Doctor Who.

It turns out, she may have just found the opening she needed to dig deeper into her "personal" investigation. On a Monday night, she was informed by Evelyn that Walter Steele had asked for her. As soon as she hung up with Walter's assistant, she freaked out and catalogued her work for the past 7 months. She concluded she didn't do anything wrong, if anything she was a major contributor and value creator to the company. Huffing, she marched her way to the executive floors, determined to say her piece – she may be new but it would be a mistake to let her go.

"Why am I being fired? I am without a doubt the single, most valuable member of your technical division and that's including my so-called "supervisor". Letting me go would be a major error. " Felicity exclaimed in an indignant tone.

"I agree, Ms. Smoak, which is why you're not being fired." Walter responded, somewhat (just somewhat) amused.

"I apologize, I assumed when you brought me up here, it's because…" she responded sheepishly, but Walter interrupted "It's because I wanted you to look into something for me – a variance of $2.6M on a failed investment from 3 years ago. It was authorized by my wife. I was hoping you could find out some of the details of the transaction for me. Discreetly." he said as he passed her a folder.

Felicity nods at him and moves to leave "Will do. I'm your girl." she turns back to Walter to clarify "I mean - I'm the girl for this task. I'm not your girl-girl. I wasn't making a pass at you. Thank you for not firing me." She extricates herself from the awkward hole she managed to dig herself into and focuses on her new task. She's buzzing in excitement and couldn't wait to get started. The more she found out about this investment, this thing she was seeing called Tempest, the more suspicious and determined she is.

Felicity was finally able to squeeze herself in Walter's schedule 2 days later. She wanted to speak with him as soon as possible but he wasn't available.

"Mr. Steele, I have some information for you." she said getting straight to the point, doing a mental fist pump for not getting distracted. He gestures to the seat in front of him and she started sharing her findings "The company she invested in doesn't exist." Clearly caught off-guard, Walter responds "I don't understand."

"There was no investment. The money was used to set up an offshore Limited Liability Company called Tempest." she continued.

"I don't recall that name being under the Queen Consolidated banner." Walter countered. "Because it's not – there is nothing registered with the Secretary of State, no federal tax records, no patent applications filed. But in 2009, Tempest purchased a warehouse in Starling City." Felicity explained.

To the untrained eye, Walter seemed to be calm about all of this, but to her, she can practically feel the distrust emanating from him and sees him trying to put whatever puzzle pieces he has in his mind together. Breaking himself out of his own thoughts he took the folder that Felicity slid towards him and said "I appreciate your diligence on this, but, uh, I believe it this is just a simple misunderstanding between my wife and I. Everything will be resolved, I'll see to it."

Felicity breathed out and decided to go all in "Actually, there was something about the money transfer that felt hinky to me. The money your wife withdrew from the company, I wasn't the only one who tracked it. She was being shadowed by another entity, and whoever it is, they're good. NSA good. But, as you know, I'm good, too. So even though they left almost no trace of their presence in our system, I did manage to find one thing. Well, one image. Does that symbol mean something to you, sir?" she asked, pointing to a piece of paper in the folder she gave him.

"No. What means something to me is one of my employees prying into my wife's private business without authorization. And should it happen again, I'll have you suspended. Is that clear?" he asked firmly, no trace of friendliness or levity in his tone. She knows how to pick her battles. This is far from over so she just responded with "Crystal" and left. What's clear to her is that Walter is having his own doubts about The Queen's dealings and she hates mysteries too much to let it go. She'll keep her distance from this for now but will check her notes on her findings.

After her "mini confrontation" with Walter, she decided to clear her head and drive around the city. Tonight definitely calls for mint chip. She parks her car to the store's lot and heads to get some groceries and mint chip. She exited the grocery store after 20 minutes and was in the process of loading her bags into her mini cooper when she heard a muffled conversation, a whimper, and a shout-whisper.

Trouble - definitely trouble. In her haste, she closed the trunk of her car, dropped the rest of her groceries, and ran towards the noise as she became more certain that she was hearing an escalating argument. In the dimly lit part of the lot, she sees a Bentley a distressed young woman being yanked out of the driver's seat of the car. This looks like a drug deal gone bad, that is about to get even worse. "Hey, cut that out you're hurting her." She yelled as she ran to a stop in front of the car. Felicity eyes the younger woman who tried to put some distance between her and the man, effectively allowing him to get behind the wheel. "Mind your own business you bitch" he yelled at her as he shuts the door.

She turns to the whimpering girl, "Is this your car?" the girl doesn't answer at first until Felicity repeats "Hey, is this YOUR car?", the girl nodded. As the man started the car and turned on the headlights, Felicity put her hands in the hood of the car. "Get out of the fucking way, bitch or I'll run your head over." the man screamed.

She smirked and said "I'd like for you to try" as she began to lift the car. She hears an "Oh my God" from the girl who now was crouched behind her. "What the fuck is this shit?! Put me down you freak." the man shrieks, terrified at her demonstration.

"It's not a good idea to insult someone who literally has your life on their hands." she said as she lifts the car a foot higher before unceremoniously dropping it and yanking the man out of the driver seat. "I was just trying to make a quick trip to the grocery store but no thanks to you, dipshit, I have to make another trip. Now, you're going to give this young lady her car keys, apologize, give back the drug money, and stay the hell away from her." she demanded as she gripped him and held the guy face down on the hood.

"No way, that little bitch owes me money for my product." Felicity exhales and turns to the girl, "Hey, princess, whatever it is that he's trying to sell you, give it back. NOW!" The shocked girl grabs a small plastic bag with white powder in it and hands it over to Felicity. "Here, take your god damn product and give her money back".

As Felicity let go of the man, he made the mistake of trying to run but she grabbed the back of his neck and shoved him in the hood of the car. "I don't think you heard me, I said give back her keys and money and THEN stay the hell away from her. Money now and if you're lucky I'll let you leave with a bruise at best. You've seen what I can do. Don't try to make contact with her. Ever." The man reaches for his pocket, grabs a wad of cash, and runs away.

Felicity picks up the car keys and the cash and turns to the girl. "You were lucky. That guy would have robbed you and left you in the middle of The Glades for who knows what. If you have any sense of logic and self-preservation, you'd take this as a wake-up call and stop this whole thing." she said with authority as she hands the girl her stuff. "Thanks. I appreciate your help, I really do, but you don't know me or what I've gone through" the girl responded with attitude.

"Let me guess, rich girl went through some trauma and drama in life, decided to turn to drugs as a cry for help and/or a mean to escape. Is that close enough for you? Also, mind your tone - I just saved your life back there. I get it, life sucks and humanity is an asshole, but getting into drugs and engaging with questionable individuals will just fuck you up even more." she countered, starting to get annoyed. She was about to leave when she heard a quiet "You're right. Sorry". She felt bad but glad that she seemed to have gotten through the kid.

"Hey" she said softly. "Do you need me to call anyone? You're not hurt, are you?" The girl shook her head and said will just head home. "I don't think you're in any condition to drive. I'm Felicity Smoak by the way. I would also appreciate it if you could just keep whatever you saw between the two of us." she said as she extended her hand to the girl who upon closer inspection can't be more than 4 years younger than her.

"I'm Thea Queen. I won't say anything as long as you don't say anything about tonight" the girl negotiated as she shook Felicity's hand. "Only if you promise not to dabble or get into this type of crap again. I'm serious; this should be your wake-up call. I'm not judging but it'd be a damn shame for someone with a lot of potential to waste away." Felicity offered.

The girl eventually acquiesced and asked if Felicity could drive her home as she could get someone to pick up her car in the morning. "Of course, this person had to be a Queen" she thought to herself. Felicity looked around and found no cameras around the perimeter – a prime location for a drug deal, of course. "At least there's no need to delete any footage" she thought.

As they head back to her car, she noticed the mess created by the pint of mint chip that she dropped as she came to Thea's rescue. She throws away the bag and tells Thea to come with her inside the grocery store to pick something up.

Clearly, the cashier didn't care about what happened outside. She bought 4 cartons of mint chip. As they got in her mini, she hands a carton and spoon to Thea and tells her "Mint chip helps. Indulge". The younger woman nods with a small smile on her face and shoves a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. They barely talk and Thea chimes in every now and then with directions.

As they pulled up to the Queen Mansion gates, Thea hands back the carton of ice cream, but Felicity refuses. "You need that more than I do, and I have like 3 more cartons. I suggest you stock up. I'm not trying to save you, but if you feel like you need to talk to someone who isn't a therapist or anyone familiar to you, you can give me a shout. I can keep secrets, don't worry. I also work at your parents' company so I guess it'd be easier for you to find me at QC." she says as she scribbles her number on the grocery receipt.

"Thanks, Felicity. I guess all of humanity isn't an asshole if someone like you is willing to help someone like me with nothing in return. I might take you up on that offer. Drive safely. Good night." Thea bid her goodbye and waved the carton of ice cream as Felicity drove away.

"I guess they are right, nothing good happens in The Glades." she muttered to doesn't slip her mind that her exchange with Thea was similar to one that she had with her best friend/sister, Trish, years ago. The other doesn't want to be saved, while it was still her who didn't want her abilities to be known by other people. No matter what she does, her past finds a way to creep up or mirror itself into her present.

She learned 2 things tonight: 1) there's definitely a lot more going on with The Queens and she might have just scratched the surface with Tempest, and 2) don't buy mint chip ice cream anywhere in The Glades again.

She was so wired and her brain wouldn't stop playing the events of the past few hours so she decided to turn around. She parked at a safe distance from a warehouse. Thankful of her abilities, she decided to shoot up and perch from a ledge as she found a black car pull over in front of the warehouse. She saw Walter exit the vehicle and tried a couple of passwords to open the warehouse. He finally got the doors to open.

Felicity made sure no one else was there and silently stayed in the shadows while keeping a good distance from Walter. She couldn't believe what she saw inside - the wreckage of Queen's Gambit. Based on his reaction, Walter couldn't believe it either. She was somewhat comforted that whatever this is, Walter isn't an active participant. If anything, he was just as suspicious as she was. Felicity hastily left to ensure Walter doesn't see her. She was glad she parked over 2 miles away from the other side from where Walter came.

She drove away and passed through downtown to be safe before finally driving tried to clear her head once she got home, but she couldn't, everything was still fresh – from Tempest, to Thea, to The Gambit. "What the hell is going on?" she thought as she stared at her laptop while eating ice cream.

Two weeks after the incidents with Thea and the warehouse, she was asked to go to Walter's office. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Steele? Did I mention, it's almost Christmas, and many of the suicides this time of year are due to sudden and unexpected joblessness?" she asked.

"Relax, Ms. Smoak, I want you to find out all you can about this notebook - where it was made, how it was purchased, and what it could mean." Walter clarified, handing her the notebook and as he saw her nod in acceptance of the new request, he continued "I asked Josiah Hudson, our head of security, to look into the same subject matter. He died the next day under questionable circumstances. What I may be asking of you could be dangerous. This mystery, are you sure you want to do this?".

"I hate mysteries. They bug me. They need to be solved." Felicity responded with conviction then left. Felicity studied the notebook. It's plain and she then thought, it could only mean one thing: a hidden message. Through elimination, she thought of different ways to hide writings on a notebook. She ran to the Applied Sciences Division and borrowed a black light fluorescent tube and bingo: the writings, more specifically, a list of names became visible. She made sure to create a database of the names in her personal and heavily encrypted laptop. The next day, she relayed the information to Walter who looked surprised. She informed him that she was looking into more information on the notebook and will keep it in her possession until she has more details. He agreed.

Felicity found herself staring at the database of names on her laptop and the information she found regarding Tempest. "No wine, I need to be lucid for this, as much as I don't want to be sober because of the severity of this thing. This isn't something I can walk away from now. Whatever this is, I need to get to the bottom of it and know the endgame. Whatever they did or are planning must be massive that they would go through all that trouble to deal with Robert Queen." she whispers and clicks on the photo of Robert Queen with his son, Oliver in a news article reporting their death.

"You're cute." she mumbles looking at Oliver's photo. "It's too bad you got mixed up in this mess and you're, you know, dead, which is obviously a lot worse for you than it is for me. I really need to stop talking to myself." she babbles to herself and decides to put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

Felicity looks back at the database and decides that she'll start looking into the names and investigate any questionable activities and anything that could tie them to each other. "Okay, Charles Davenport, you're up. Let me see what you have done to earn yourself a spot on this mysterious list. It's time to get cracking." she mumbles as she starts clicking away at her laptop.