Sharper Points

By Michael Weyer

The hardest thing about being able to move fast was trying to be slow.

Felicity was realizing that as she made her way through the streets of Starling City to reach Queen Consolidated. Back in town a day, she'd settled into her apartment, time for a long nap and woke up later than planned. She could be down the street in minutes but pretty sure that would get too much attention around here. Thus she was trying to find a transport, adjusting her glasses again as she walked in her usual business skirt and blouse.

She racing to a nearby can when a heavyset man in a suit cut her off to open the door. "Wait, wait!" Felicity called out. "That's mine, I saw it first!"

He just shrugged. "Sorry, next time."

Felicity moved fast to grab his arm, the man startled at her strength. He opened his mouth to yell but he saw Felicity's pupils dilate behind her glasses. "You're going to let me have this cab. Take the next one."

The man backed up, a bit dazed as Felicity got into the taxi. As it pulled into traffic, she couldn't help but giggle as she realized Caroline was right, vampirism definitely had its perks. She settled into the cab, staring out as she considered what she'd been told.

"Senses can be a lot," Caroline was saying. They were standing in the backyard of the massive mansion in New Orleans, the sun just setting. "But you can control it. You just need to filter it out, try and make sure you don't listen too much to everything."

"It's hard, I mean, really hard, I try my best but I can hear so much and smell so much and I can see a lot too and wow, I am really rambling, more so than usual."

"If you were a rambler before, it's only gonna get more from here on in. Remember, natural personality is magnified."

Felicity rubbed at her temples, feeling a headache growing. "Just...God, I can smell the swamp from here."

"Wait until you go to a restaurant," Caroline said with sympathy. "But you just need to learn how to handle it. Focus on yourself first, then you can handle your surroundings."

Felicity closed her eyes to take a few breaths. "I'm breathing even though I barely have a pulse..."

"Ignore it," Caroline cut in. "Just focus on yourself first, get it together and you can get used to the senses better."

"This really works?"

"Did for me. Once you can walk without getting overwhelmed, we can work on the blood-lust."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't worry, you won't be a raving beast."

"Except that time of the month..."

"Oh, didn't I mention? Vampires don't get periods."

"Is it odd I suddenly want to kiss Katherine Pierce?'

"You're not alone."

Felicity shook herself free as the cab pulled up to the familiar building. Paying her fare, she exited to prepare for a new stage in her life.

Oliver Queen had a unique musk.

Caroline and Rebekah had both warned Felicity of a side effect of newly enhanced senses, which was that you would catch the odors of others far sharper than normal. Thus, Felicity was able to tell that Oliver's body gave off...something. It may have been his years on the island or just a natural thing but it added to his already intimidating and highly attractive appearance and made it a bit harder for Felicity to keep her mind on business.

She looked at him through her glasses, which were now simply paned glass. She didn't need them but as she'd told Caroline, having a secret was hardly new here. Felicity could keep up appearances as much as she needed to, the daylight ring a definite help. As much as it hurt to not tell the truth to Oliver, Felicity figured the man had more than enough on his plate to worry about his assistant becoming one of the undead.

It took Felicity a moment to realize he was talking to her and quickly got herself back on track. "Oh, ok, so, um bombing patterns." She turned to type into the computer. "Not seeing obvious right now but I can run some software to figure out any possible targets."

Oliver nodded. "Sounds good." He paused to look her over. "Are you ok? Just seem…off."

"Oh, fine, fine," Felicity quickly brushed him off. "Long flight, long night, first day back, Barry in a coma, it just takes getting used to."

Oliver nodded to the ring on her hand. "That's new."

"Yeah, just picked it up as a souvenir," Felicity quickly brushed it aside. She rose up. "I'll get cracking on this then!"

Oliver watched her go before turning to frown at Diggle. "She seem…different to you?"

Diggle shrugged. "Guess Allen's condition still affecting her."

"Maybe," Oliver mused. Something was nagging at him but he couldn't quite put it down. He shrugged as he headed to the boardroom. "We need to get back to training."

"By which, you're just working the ladder while I watch again?"

"It's routine."

The nightlife of Starling City wasn't something Felicity had ever embraced before. She was more comfortable at home going through the Internet with a glass of wine than hitting clubs or such. But here she was, walking down an alley on one of the seedier parts of town, not far from what was left of the Glades. She felt nervous but tried to control it, shuffling the hood over her head as she paced about in her coat and jeans.

She double-checked the paper before coming up to the small storefront. It appeared no different than most of the places on the street, a bit run-down but still clear enough for business. Felicity entered the door, a bell ringing as she examined the various shelves of pharmaceuticals and other sundries, your typical drug store by any normal view. But her nose could detect something over the usual scents that hinted at its real purpose.

Behind the counter was a handsome man who appeared to be in his thirties, dark hair a bit long, dressed in simple slacks and a dark shirt. He looked up as Felicity entered and by the way he stiffened, she knew he knew what she was. "Um, hi," she said. "I'm Felicity."

"I don't need to know names," the man said, his voice strong with traces of an accent.

"Right," Felicity nodded quickly. "You're…" She looked at the paper. "Andrew Blake?"

The man glowered and Felicity worried she had broken some rule. "Who gave you my name?"

"Um, Elijah?"

Blake's frown lessened a bit. "Ah. Of course." He moved to a nearby shelf, sliding some false paneling over to reveal a refrigerated safe. "New?" he asked as he entered a combination into the keypad.

"Yeah. Is…that important?"

Blake shrugged. "Just making sure you're not feeding on your own. I try to make sure the vampires in this town keep quiet, don't cause much fuss. We've got enough with that Arrow character. I haven't' lived 500 years just to be expose now."

Felicity licked her lips. "Um, no problem, I'm keeping it quiet."

"Good." Blake removed a few bags of cool blood. "Preference? Human, animal, specific type?"

"Um, I guess animal is okay." Felicity could not believe she was having this conversation.

Blake looked through the bags to pick the right one. "Your choice. Most prefer human, better taste but that can be addicting and we know how bad that can turn out." He placed a set of bags into a small cooler and brought it over. "Cash."

Prepared, Felicity reached into her purse to take out a wad of bills and hand them over. Blake swiftly counted them out before handing the cooler over. As Felicity took it, Blake grabbed her hand to yank her in, his eyes flaring. "As I said…Do not cause trouble in this city or I'll take care of you."

Swallowing, Felicity yanked her hand back. "I'm just trying to get by, ok? Live a normal life."

Blake's face softened, almost becoming sad. "There's no such thing anymore. Not for you."

"I can try."

"And you'll fail." Blake leaned in. "You'd best accept this now. This life of yours? It's over. How long until the people you know realize you're not aging? You're going to have to learn to start over again and again and that anyone human you get close to is going to grow old and die while you remain the same. What few friends you have that are like you? A lot of the time, you're going to wish you'd never met them. Your existence is going to be hard and lonely so best to just face it now and learn to live with it."

Felicity set her jaw as she brought herself up. "Maybe that's you. But it doesn't have to be me." She took the cooler from him. "Some of us don't see the world so bitter and harsh. I don't know what the future is but I'm not going to become like you."

Blake smiled thinly. "Not yet. Wait a hundred years and see how it feels."

Felicity just shook her head before turning to go. Blake watched her leave and smirked, reflecting once more on how the young always had to endure hardships before accepting the truth.

Felicity was halfway to the subway when she sensed them. It was still amazing that she could hear heartbeats and smell the sweat of these men before they came out of the shadows. There were four in total, all young but tough, dressed in dark outfits and sporting a few tattoos. One held a knife, two others clubs as their leader stepped in front of Felicity. "Dangerous for a little girl to be alone out here."

"Good thing I'm not a little girl," Felicity said as calmly as she could.

The man nodded to her cooler. "What you got in there?"

"Planning a kegger," Felicity fired back. "Sorry but invites only."

The man chuckled. "Feisty. I like that." He extended his hand. "Just hand it over and we'll let you walk out of here."

"Nah, think I'll keep it." Felicity moved past him as the man grabbed her arm. She moved forward only to have him grab her from behind. On instinct, Felicity reached her hand back to grasp his and threw it backward. He screamed as he felt bones in his arm break and stumbled back, clutching her arm.

One of the club-wielding men rushed in and Felicity dodged to smash the cooler across his face, a shattering indicating the breaking of his nose. He fell back as Felicity saw the other man chasing her with the club. In a blur, she dodged out of his way, the man swinging empty air. Before he even knew what was happening, Felicity kicked him in the back of the leg, a cracking echoing and the man howling as he fell, clutching his shattered kneecap. She grabbed the club out of his hand and slammed it across his head, sending him down in a heap.

A sharp pain hit her in the back and Felicity gasped as she spun around, reaching to feel the knife buried between her shoulder blades. The last thug's face went from a grin to shock as he saw Felicity's black eyes and veined face in full. The distraction was enough for her to run forward and smash him with a pair of punches that sent him sailing a few feet before collapsing in a heap.

Grunting, Felicity's hands found the knife and yanked it out. She let it drop as she took a few breaths to steady herself. She adjusted her glasses before grabbing the cooler and quickly headed to the subway. As she did, she pulled out her cell phone to quickly dial 911. "Hello?" she said, deepening her voice as much as she could. "There are some men at the corner of 11th and Hastings, it looks like they've been injured, they may be criminals but at least deserve attention." She quickly hung up while tapping some keys to make sure the call couldn't be traced. Brushing back her hair, Felicity made her way down the stairs to the subway.

"Well, damn."

Jumping a bit, Felicity spun around to see a figure staring at her. She quickly recognized the young woman with the short black hair as Sin, that friend of Roy's. The girl was smirking in her usual dark jeans and jacket, crossing her arms. "Here Roy told me you were just some techie girl, who knew you had that in you?"

Cursing under her breath, Felicity moved quickly, locking her eyes on Sin's. "You're going to forget you saw that."

Sin blinked but shook her head. "Um, no, I don't think I will."

Felicity frowned, removing her glasses to try again. "You never saw me here."

"Yeah, I did." Sin just smirked.

Felicity frowned deeper, looking her over before understanding flashed in her face. "You're…on vervain."

Sin chuckled. "You guys on the nice end of town may be blind to it but we in the Glades have known about vamps and such for a while. I got caught by one when I first came here, would have died if Sara hadn't saved me."

"Sara knows?" Felicity gawked.

"Seems she has…experience," Sin stated. "Come on, my place isn't far, we can talk more there."

Shaking her head, Felicity followed her a block to a rather run-down apartment building. Sin unlocked her door and entered, Felicity trying to follow but suddenly found herself stumbling back as if she'd hit a wall. She frowned as she reached to what seemed thin air and pressed against it. Sin turned to see her, taking a moment to laugh quietly to herself. "Sorry. Come in."

Felicity felt the barrier fall and entered, shaking her head. "Damn, that's actually real."

Sin smiled as she sat down at the table. "I know you're a good sport so not worried about you sucking my blood."

"Not really into that personally," Felicity said. "It's…well, gross when you get right down to it."

"I'll try to avoid it myself." Sin looked her over. "Don't worry, I'll keep this quiet. Sara might suspect in a bit but I won't tell her."

"I appreciate that," Felicity said as she mentally added yet another layer to her "who knows whose secret" file. It was swiftly growing rather large.

"You met Blake?"

"He's…interesting."

Sin's smile faded. "Don't cross him. He keeps out of things mostly but he can be brutal. After the quake, a bunch of vamps tried to hunt, figured it'd be easy pickings in the chaos. Blake tore them apart. And I mean that literally."

"And…no one really knows?"

The smirk returned to Sin's face. "This is Starling, honey. Folks are used to looking the other way. And you honestly think of vampires when you consider the threats around here?"

Felicity had to admit that as she looked at her watch. "I should get going. But thanks for the talk."

"Any time," Sin stated. "Something tells me you need to vent now and then. And the girlfriend quota around here isn't exactly stellar."

Felicity smiled and nodded as she picked up her cooler to go. She had to shake her head as she exited the building, marveling once more at just how bizarre it was that you kept connecting with the oddest people in this city.

On a rooftop above, the figure lowered the sniper rifle he had been holding for the last ten minutes and touched his finger to his headset. "Deadshot to Waller. You got all that?"

"Confirmed," a strong female voice echoed through the connection.

The man shook his head, light glinting off the lens covering one eye. "That girl looks eighty pounds soaking wet and she tossed those guys around like rag dolls while walking off a knife wound. The hell is she on?"

"Something I want to find out. Back to base now."

In her office, Amanda Waller shut off the communications link as she studied the video from Deadshot's feed, pursing her lips. She had assumed that if anyone in Queen's party was worth looking at, it was Diggle. But the skills that Smoak had just shown were something Waller definitely paid interest to. She tapped her fingers on her keyboard as she moved the video link into a folder elsewhere on her computer.

SHADOWPACT.

For those wondering, Andrew Blake is from the cult DC series "I, Vampire." So Felicity is back in Starling and doing her best to settle into her new life but as you can tell, factors are working to pull her in new directions. Again, all comments welcomed and hope to have new updates soon, especially with Felicity and Sara.