A/N: Finally got this chapter done. Man, I haven't had a day off since I've started posting this fic and I'm starting to flag somewhat, hence the longer times between update. Sorry 'bout that, guys. Only one more day of a 14 day straight stint of working and then I get to collapse in a heap.

Nothing incredible to say before letting you read this chapter, so just make up something for yourselves, eh?

See you at the end…. :D

CHAPTER SIX

Oliver walked back down the corridor from his latest meeting that day without any real enthusiasm. Felicity was still mad at him, refusing even to make eye contact after the pay rise debacle earlier that day. Diggle seemed to be finding all of this mildly amusing and Oliver felt like he couldn't take much more. He had a lot more at stake in his life than what Felicity chose to do with her free time. So why was it consuming his every conscious and unconscious moment? There were bad guys to be taken down, the usual family dramas and seemingly endless fall out from his time on the island which should be front and center in his mind but instead his world had been reduced to the secret Felicity was withholding from him. It was all Oliver could think about and that was a dangerous thing in his life. Oliver's footsteps slowed as he heard the sound of Felicity's laughter coming from around the corner. He was glad to hear the light-hearted sound. Maybe Diggle was right and Felicity had gotten over the misunderstanding about her pay already? Oliver certainly hoped so. Felicity being mad at him wasn't something he particularly enjoyed.

"Of course I'll clear my schedule for tonight."

Oliver froze and then peeked around the corner to find Felicity on her cell phone, sitting at her desk. Only, it wasn't her usual cell phone. This one was yellow and she was smiling as she talked to the person on the other end.

"You're my favorite customer, I'll just rearrange the others," continued on Felicity blithely. The person on the other end must have said something in reply because Felicity laughed again. "I bet you say that to all the girls," she said teasingly. "How does ten o'clock tonight sound? Does that work for you?" Felicity nodded. "Great, I'll see you then." She hung up the phone and put the yellow cell phone back in her bag as Oliver ducked back behind the corner so she couldn't see him.

Favorite customer? What did that mean? Oliver swallowed hard, not even wanting to think about it. What could Felicity be selling that men were ringing her on a special phone and setting up meetings in the middle of the night? Oliver closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the paneling of the wall. Then, as a wave of frustration came over him, he pulled his head back and slammed it against the wall. On that exact same spot on his forehead which he'd banged twice already today. The thing was though, the physical pain felt like a relief from the mental anguish Oliver was putting himself through. His jaw hardened. This was getting ridiculous. Enough was enough and Oliver was done tying himself up in knots over this. One way or the other, he was going to get this sorted and over and done with.

#

Oliver determinedly strode into the Fallen Angel just before ten o'clock that night. It was pretty much as his dream had predicted. If you'd seen one strip club, you'd seen them all. Oliver scanned the crowd, looking for Felicity. He was done tip toeing around this issue and he was just going to face it head on. If Felicity was indeed working here, which seemed inevitable at this point, Oliver was simply going to make her stop. He didn't care if it was going to be kicking and screaming but Oliver wasn't leaving this place without Felicity. She was already mad at him, she may as well be mad at him over something which would finally allow Oliver some peace of mind. Felicity wasn't going to come back to this place after tonight. Oliver didn't care if he was going to have to lock her up somewhere, this was her last night at the Fallen Angel doing whatever the hell he couldn't bring himself to think about. In the back of his mind, there was a small voice protesting his high-handed tactics but Oliver gritted his teeth and ignored the tiny voice of reason. There was no good reason for Felicity to be working in a place like this and whatever she was telling herself, Oliver knew her reasoning was wrong. He wasn't crossing a line, he was drawing one and making sure Felicity was on the right side of that line. That made him a good and concerned friend, right? Or possibly a deranged, controlling mad man. It was a fine line… apparently.

Up ahead of him, Oliver caught sight of a blonde ponytail in amongst all of the people. His stomach clenched. Felicity. In between the crowd Oliver caught glimpses of the back of a glittery thong and matching bra and she had little angel wings attached to her back, like all the other girls working there. Oliver gritted his teeth, just wanting to get Felicity out of here as fast as he could. He pushed his way through the crowd, not taking his eyes off that blonde ponytail. Felicity was following a man who was making a bee-line for one of the little curtained partitions that were dotted along both walls of the club. Oliver knew what that meant. It was a place where men could pay for private dances from the girls. He quicken his pace, knowing there was no way he was going to let that happen. They were almost at the curtained cubital when Oliver caught up with Felicity. He grabbed her wrist to stall her. "Felicity!" he said as he swung her around to face him. The blonde woman looked up at him with surprised brown eyes. Oliver immediately let go of the stranger's wrist and took a step back. "I'm sorry," he said hastily. "I thought you were someone else."

The woman smiled up at him. "I can be anyone you want me to be, honey," she purred. "But you've got to wait your turn." She glanced over her shoulder at the man who was standing at the cubital, looking a little impatient. "My dance card is kinda full right now."

Oliver shook his head at her. "I'm not looking for a dance. I'm looking for a girl."

"Felicity?"

"Yes." Oliver hesitated, still hoping he'd gotten this all wrong. "Is-is she around?"

"Felicity doesn't work the floor," the woman informed him.

Oliver felt a little of the tension leave his body. "She doesn't?" That had to be a good thing.

The woman made a vague gesture towards a set of stairs across the room Oliver could see leading up to a second floor. "She works upstairs, select vistors only. Do you have an appointment with her?" She looked him over. "Because you don't look like her usual type."

Felicity had a type… and he wasn't it? Oliver really didn't know how to feel about any of this. His head was spinning with more questions then he'd had walking into this place which he hadn't thought possible. "She's upstairs?" said Oliver. "Right now?"

"Yeah, came in about an hour ago but she's got someone with her now," the woman warned her. "You won't be able to go up."

"Oh, I'm going up," ground out Oliver, a muscle ticking in his jaw. This was officially worse than he'd originally thought it was. Dancing for men was one thing but entertaining them in a private, upstairs room was a whole new level of unacceptable. The idea of locking Felicity in a room somewhere and not letting her out until she saw reason was beginning to sound less crazy and more like the best thing for everyone involved. What the hell was she thinking, getting involved in this kind of world? Oliver still had no answers but he had the solution. He stalked his way over to the staircase which the beginning of was partially hidden away behind a standalone wall. The entrance of the staircase actually had a swinging door in front of it and Oliver pushed his way through, only to have a man, all dressed in black, step out and put a hand on his chest.

"I'm sorry, sir," said the muscle-bound man with no neck who looked to be of Islander descent, "but this is a by invitation area only."

Oliver gave him a confident smile. "I'm invited. Felicity is expecting me."

The man looked skeptical as he looked Oliver over. "I don't think so."

Oliver hung onto his smile but his expression hardened a little. "Well, I do think so." He went to move past the other man.

The security guard put a hand and stalled Oliver again. "Felicity is already with a client and she didn't tell me she was expecting anyone else, so you're not going anywhere."

Oliver's eyes narrowed menacingly. "And what, you're going to stop me?" Sure, the guy was big but Oliver had fought bigger and if he needed to, he'd lay this guy out if he was stupid enough to actually try and stop him from getting to Felicity.

The man just smiled. "Nah, that's not my job."

"Good," said Oliver flatly and made a third attempt to brush past the other man but was once again stalled as the man held up a hand and called back over his shoulder.

"Hey, cuz, we got someone who doesn't understand plain English here."

Oliver looked past the security man's shoulder to see a large mass detach itself from the darkness and lumber its way over towards them. Oliver kept his face expressionless as a man, who looked to be related to the first security guard, stomp his way over to them. This man had to be well over seven feet tall and looked to be about the same across. He was the biggest human being Oliver had ever seen in his life.

The first security guard smiled at Oliver in amusement as he jerked his head towards the other man. "It's his job."

"There a problem, LB?" asked the giant.

LB looked Oliver over. "I think so, this one doesn't look too smart, BB."

BB swiveled his enormous head back to look at Oliver. "How about it, little man?" he asked easily. "You going to make the smart choice or the dumb one?"

Oliver drew himself up to his full height, which was basically inconsequential compared to this man mountain and squared his shoulders. His eyes narrowed menacingly. "I'm going upstairs and I'd recommend you get out of my way."

BB sighed heavily and shook his head. "Looks like you're right, cuz," he said, talking to the other security guard. "This one isn't going to be smart at all."

LB shrugged. "Have fun. Call me when you need me to collect the body." With that ominous offer hanging in the air, LB walked out the swinging doors, leaving them to it.

Oliver held up his hand to BB. "I don't want any trouble and I don't want to hurt anyone—"

BB's face split into a broad grin. "Well, I appreciate your concern," he chuckled, "but I don't think I'm the one who has to worry about getting hurt."

Oliver was using their exchange to try and work out some kind of plan of attack. The man had to have a weakness, everyone did. He just needed to find it and exploit it. Oliver sent him a cool look. "Haven't you ever heard that the bigger they are, the harder they fall?" Without any further warning Oliver snapped back his fist and punched BB as hard as he could in the stomach.

BB rocked back a little on his heels but recovered his balance easily and then arched an eyebrow down at Oliver. "Is that your best shot?" he asked casually.

Oliver grimaced at the lack of response from a punch which would have crippled just about any other man. "I sure hope not," he sighed, shaking his hand a little. Oliver looked BB over. His best shot here was going to that he was going to be more agile than the giant of a man. He had to use that to his advantage because brute strength obviously wasn't going to cut it after that display.

"We can stop now, while you have some dignity left," offered up BB helpfully.

Oliver pulled a face. "I've had a pretty loose grip on my dignity this last week," he confessed. "I may as well see this thing through."

"Tough week, huh?" asked a surprisingly sympathetic BB.

Oliver gave a short nod of his head. "You could say that."

"It's not going to get better if you try and get up those stairs," BB advised him.

Oliver looked up the stairs and thought of Felicity up there, alone with some guy and his resolve hardened. "It's really not an option for me at this point," he said tersely.

"Sure, we've all been there," said BB understandingly. He smiled down at Oliver. "I like you, little man, so I'm going to leave your face alone. How does that sound?"

Oliver tilted his chin up defiantly. "You know, I could win this."

BB threw his head back, giving a bark of laughter. "You," he said, pointing a finger at Oliver, still grinning, "are adorable."

"Do you mind if I take my coat off?" asked Oliver, ignoring the other man's amusement.

"Sure, you should have something that isn't going to be covered in blood," said BB casually.

Oliver went to take off his coat but at the last moment made a dash for the stairs instead, hoping to catch BB off-guard and use his greater speed and agility to get past the other man. He made it to the fifth step of the stairs before a massive hand batted his feet out from underneath him. Oliver reacted quickly, his hands coming up to stop his face from connecting with the stairs but BB was already dragging him back down. Oliver flipped onto his back and kicked out at BB's colossal chest with both feet but his opponent absorbed the impact and reached down, grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling Oliver up off the stairs. Oliver slipped out of his coat, landing on the ground and then darting between BB's legs. He then threw himself onto BB's back and wrapped his arm around the man's neck, squeezing as tightly as he could. Depriving this monolithic man of oxygen seemed like the best way to neutralize him. Once he passed out, Oliver could get up those stairs and that was all he could think about right then. BB staggered backwards with the added weight of Oliver on his back but then regrouped. The man straightened up, causing Oliver's feet to dangle even further from the ground and then he launched himself backwards against the wall, trapping Oliver between the man's huge back and the equally unforgiving wall. Oliver gave a strangled cry as the wind was forced from his lungs in a painful rush. He dragged in a gasp of breath as BB unpinned him to the wall but it was only a split second before Oliver was being rammed back into that same wall and that little breath of air was being forced out again. He felt like a bugged being squashed.

"How you doing, little man?" asked BB, a little breathlessly. "You want to stop?"

"I-I'm just getting warmed up," gasped Oliver, tightening his grip on the other man's neck.

BB stepped forward and reached up over his head, grabbing Oliver's shoulders and then flipped him up over his head. Oliver sailed through the air and landed with a painful crash on the ground, but not before managing to noisily crash through a nearby side table which was up against the other wall. He gave a groan of pain but still managed to flip himself over and stagger to his feet before BB could grab him again.

BB nodded admiringly. "You're a tough little thing, aren't you? Dumb as a box of rocks but tough."

"I'm not even close to showing you how dumb I can be," ground out Oliver and then he grimaced at how ridiculous that sounded. "I mean—"

BB waved his explanation away. "I knew what you meant."

"I've hit my head a lot recently," Oliver said unhappily. "I'm usually don't sound like this big of an idiot."

"I'm sure," said BB understandingly.

BB was standing directly in front of the stairs now and Oliver had to get past him. He ran at the wall jumping up on it and using it to propel him up into the air. The plan had been to simply leap over the top of BB but once again the other man proved surprisingly fast. BB simply plucked Oliver out of the air and wrapped his massive arms around him, crushing him to his chest.

"Give up?" gasped a red-faced Oliver as he felt like the other man was crushing every bone in his body. Oliver felt the rumble of laughter boil up inside of BB.

"Nah, I'm good, thanks," said BB in amusement, tightening his hold on Oliver.

Oliver's arms were trapped by his side and his feet were a long way off the ground. There was only one option left and he gritted his teeth, knowing it was going to hurt like hell. He drew back his head and delivered a violent head butt to BB's face. BB's head snapped back as Oliver's head connected with his nose and both men gave strangled cries of pain. BB loosened his grip on him and Oliver thrashed about, making BB drop him. While his opponent was distracted with nursing his bloody nose, Oliver made another dash for the stairs, again between BB's legs. Oliver thought he'd made it when suddenly he felt one of his legs being grabbed and then he was being dragged back, this time with BB holding him up off the ground upside down. Oliver tried to kick himself free but BB had a death grip on both of his legs now as Oliver dangled above the ground.

"That wasn't very nice," panted BB and before Oliver could respond, BB was ramming him into the wall, using his massive size and weight to pin Oliver there, upside down, face pressed up against the brickwork.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Felicity's concerned voice came from somewhere far above Oliver's head.

"Memicty!" he cried out as best he could, considering his face was mushed into brickwork. Thank God she was alright.

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs rushing down to them.

"Oliver?" Felicity asked in disbelief. "Is that you?" Her confused face bobbed into his peripheral vision. "Oh my God, Oliver! What are you doing?" Felicity turned to the other man. "BB, put him down!"

"You sure?" asked BB, still a little out of breath. "He's kind of a weirdo."

"I'm sure," said Felicity urgently. "Please put him down, he's going purple."

Oliver sucked in an overdue breath as BB's hold on him loosened as he was lowered to the ground, not that gently.

Felicity was by his side, crouching down. "Oliver, what are you doing here?" she asked hastily.

"What am I doing here?" squeaked Oliver, wishing he had more breathe in his body to make that sound a lot more forceful. "What are you doing here?"

Felicity looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

Oliver sat up, grimacing as his ribs complained about the simple movement. He just hoped BB hadn't crushed anything too vital inside of him. Oliver would worry about that later. Right now his only priority was to get Felicity the hell out of here. He rolled to his feet with a grunt and grabbed her hand. "We'll talk about it when we're out of here."

Felicity pulled her hand from his. "I'm not leaving. I can't. I've got—" She hesitated and looked past Oliver's shoulder and up the stairs.

Oliver's jaw hardened, hating that Felicity felt like she owed anything to the douche bag she had waiting for her upstairs. "I'll handle it," he bit out.

Felicity's eyes went wide. "Handle what? There is nothing to handle."

Oliver was already heading up the stairs, taking them two at a time, a murderous glint in his eye. It'd feel good to hand someone their ass tonight after that whole altercation with BB hadn't turned out exactly as he'd hoped.

"Oliver, stop!" cried out Felicity as she raced up the stairs after him.

"You want me to stop him?" asked BB.

"No, no, I've got this," said Felicity hastily. "Oliver, you can't go up there!"

Oliver was done with being told where he could and couldn't go. He was going to deal with this jerk who thought exploiting young women was perfectly acceptable and then he was going to get Felicity out of here. He'd come this far, there was no stopping now. Felicity caught him at the top of the stairs and grabbed his arm just as Oliver yanked open the door and stormed through, dragging Felicity with him, who wasn't letting go.

"Oliver, no!" she said in distress.

Oliver blinked in the surprisingly bright light after the dimness of the club lighting and immediately focused in on the man sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. "Okay, you," he said determinedly, his tone warning the other man that anything other than complete compliance to Oliver's instructions was going to be a huge mistake. "I want you to—" Oliver blinked again as the other man stood up and walked out into the light. "To… to…" It took him a moment to realize that he actually knew who this other man was, thrown off by placing him in such an out of context scenario. Oliver couldn't believe who he was looking at. "What… why… how?" he stammered, scrambling to work out what all of this could mean and Oliver was coming up with nothing.

Felicity gave an unhappy groan beside him. "I really didn't want you finding out this way, Oliver."

Oliver turned his head to stare at her, not having the first idea about what it was that he'd just found out about but realizing it was nothing like he'd been expecting…

A/N: I know, I know, I didn't do the reveal. Turned out the fight took longer than I'd expected. But the next (and I'm guessing, final) chapter will truly reveal all and it will all make perfect sense… hopefully. Day off tomorrow (WAHOO!) so hopefully the final chapter won't be too far away. :D Oh, and any guesses as to who the mystery man might be? Yeah, I know, I haven't given you much to work with, have I?