A.N.: Long time, no see, everyone! Sorry, I've been busy, college is sucking my energies. I've been struggling with this chapter for a while; plot decisions had to be made and I suck at deciding anything. Good news is: I think this chapter is the longest one yet!
I've connected some dots, see if you can find them and predict what comes next! It might be a little confusing, I don't know if I managed to put what I was thinking into words. Sorry if you feel like it's taking me too long to write a chapter about Oliver and Felicity's father, but a few things have to happen before we get there. But never fear, little grasshoppers; things will be explained. Feel free to ask anything, though.
In which: Dig won't take none of Oliver's shit (*snaps fingers in a Z formation*); Felicity worries about her boys (awwn!); Felicity is brilliant as usual and discovers things (everyone would be so lost without her, it's not even funny).
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, duh.
Turmoil: A state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.
Slade Wilson is alive. He had come to Oliver's house and openly threatened him and his family. Oliver regretted a lot of things, but he had never regretted finding out he hadn't killed someone until now. He knew the ghosts of the island would haunt him forever; his one relief was that they were only ghosts. Now he didn't even have that. Slade was back and Oliver was constantly looking over his shoulder; dreading the next disaster. It was a waiting game and he had never been a patient man.
In light Slade's return, the discovery about Felicity's father was left in the backburner. Oliver didn't even wanna think about it. Three days had passed and he still hadn't said anything to Felicity about his past with her father. He had tried a few times, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. He couldn't risk losing her, not now, not when he needed her most; and he was positive it would happen when she found out what he had done.
Besides, every time Oliver or Dig brought up the subject, Felicity would dismiss it. Dig said she needed time to come to terms with it all. He was all too happy to give her all the time in the world, dreading the day he told her everything. The memory of her face while she stared at that picture and spoke to them about her father was enough to keep him from saying anything, he never wanted to see that kind of pain crossing her features again.
On top of having to deal with the discovery about her father, Felicity had been working tirelessly, he knew, trying to get information on Slade. Where he had been all these years, how come he had so much money now, where he was staying in Starling City, who was helping him, anything, really. Oliver knew she wouldn't find much, though. Slade had been plotting this for too long to leave traces behind. Still, he had faith in her; if there was something to be found, she'd find it.
Oliver was thankful for the work she was putting on learning about Slade; it took all of her focus and she didn't notice how strange he had been acting. Keeping his past with her father a secret was taking its toll on him. Diggle had noticed his behavior, though, but the man hadn't brought it up yet. Oliver was expecting a confrontation soon. Turns out he didn't have to wait long.
They were in the town car, on their way to the foundry to meet Felicity and start their nightly work, when Oliver noticed Diggle taking a different turn. He raised an eyebrow at Diggle through the rearview mirror and the man raised one back.
"We're stopping at Big Belly Burger. I think we need to have a little chat." Diggle said in his best don't argue with me tone and Oliver simply sighed.
Fifteen minutes later they were sitting in their usual spot and, right after their orders arrived, Diggle spoke seriously. "All right, cut the crap, man. I'm giving you a chance to tell me what you're hiding on your own terms, or else I'll take it upstairs."
"Upstairs?" Oliver repeated in confusion.
"To Felicity. We all know she's the boss of us; she sure as hell acts like it" he explained matter-of-factly, with a slight smile. "Now out with it." he said, his face serious again, motioning with his hands for Oliver to start speaking.
Oliver sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, looking out the window and considering where to start. Apparently, Diggle took his silence as refusal, since he started speaking again.
"Look, Oliver, I know there are secrets in your past that you don't want to share and that's perfectly fine." Diggle began tiredly, continuing with conviction. "But the minute those secrets start to affect others, the minute they threaten all our safeties, that's when I draw the line." Oliver looked into his friend's eyes and frowned as Diggle spoke heatedly. "So, if there's anything about Slade that you didn't tell us, you need to start speaking right now, because I'll be damned if-"
"I know Felicity's father" Oliver cut him off and Diggle stared at him in confusion "I've met him a few years ago in Hong Kong, during some of the time I spent off the island." he saw comprehension dawning on Dig's face as he explained, quickly followed by anger "After I thought I killed Slade and the frater blew up, I woke up in Hong Kong and agents of A.R.G.U.S. were all over the place. That was when I met Amanda Waller, she was the one who-"
"No, no, no. Hell no." Diggle said in anger. "I'm not hearing this. You're not telling me this story now." Dig shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest "How could you be so stupid, Oliver? Keeping something like this from her? And about her father? You know how hard that subject is for her and you still… Argh, fuck, man."
"That's exactly why I didn't say anything." Oliver explained. "Look, there's a lot to this story and I had no idea how she'd react if I just told her all of it right away. And then Slade returned and I wanted…" he ran a hand through his short hair "I wanted to give her some time, I wanted to protect her-"
"Oh, screw that, man. That whole 'I tell lies to protect people', that twisted rule of yours? It doesn't apply to Felicity; or to me for that matter." Diggle said as Oliver clenched his jaw in frustration "We're your partners; you can't pull that kinda bullshit on us and you know it. Whatever it is your hiding, you're protecting yourself, not her." He pointed a finger at Oliver "Fix this. Tell her. I don't want to know anything now; I'm not gonna lie to her for you and it's your secret to tell. So tell her. Soon."
Oliver stewed in frustration as Diggle began to eat. Part of him longed to fight Dig on this, but, deep down, he knew the man was right. So Oliver held himself back and ate his food as he glared at Dig.
Felicity sighed as she looked away from her computer screens to quickly check the hour on her phone for the fifth time in as many minutes. The boys were late. They were supposed to swing by the Queen Mansion, heading straight to the foundry afterwards, and surely it couldn't take two hours; there had to be something wrong.
Slade Wilson's return had left her beyond paranoid, though she tried not to let it show. She was constantly surrounded by tough guys, and one very tough lady, and Felicity Smoak would not be the weak link. She glanced at Sara and Roy, who were training in the mat, and clenched her jaw at the thought.
The new additions to the team had been welcome, though it had been a difficult adjustment. Felicity was used to taking care of her boys by herself from afar; hating how utterly useless she was in the field. Having to watch as the new members did exactly what she couldn't do had been painful at first, especially Sara.
Felicity admired her, she really did. Sara was strong, fierce, intelligent, and gorgeous; the woman was a freaking superhero. Watching them all together, sparing and trading stories about scars had left her feeling out of place for the first time since she joined Oliver on his mission. She felt left out in the only place she thought she could fit in effortlessly. Hence, the whole Clock King debacle.
Felicity wanted to groan just thinking about it. She still had no idea what she said while high as a kite; Oliver and Diggle would just smile whenever she asked them. And her shoulder had hurt like a motherfucker.
It was worth it, though. Not even the memory of Oliver's glare when he saw that she went after The Clock King by herself could take that victory away from her. She had defeated the enemy using his own phone and had saved Sara, getting her very first battle scar in the process. She was badass.
So, she had decided to let go of those insecurities then. It was short lived, though; she felt other insecurities arise with the discovery about her father and his connections with Anthony Ivo. Nope, can't go there right now. Think about something else, Felicity, anything else.
She tried to distract herself by focusing more intently on her hacking. She was going through QC's employees financial records, just in case there was someone on the inside helping Slade. Oliver, being Oliver, had asked her to look into everything about Slade, leaving no stone unturned, but that had been a total bust; there was nothing on Slade to be found, the man was a ghost.
So she decided to start looking into QC; it made sense for Slade to go after the company first. When plotting revenge, always go for the biggest source of money. And having an inside agent seemed like the fastest way to do it.
Felicity had obviously started with Isabel Rochev's financials, but they were squeaky clean. Still, it meant nothing; the evil hag could still be in on it. Felicity had moved on, though, she hoped that someone had gotten sloppy and that she'd find a clue soon. She startled as she heard a loud thud coming from the mat; Sara had knocked Roy down again.
"Ouch. I think you should go easier on him, Sara. Why don't you guys take a break?" Felicity suggested worriedly.
"I'm fine." Roy gritted out in annoyance as he got to his feet.
"Oh, I'm sure you are, but I certainly could use a break. Knocking you on your ass for two hours made me tired." Sara said as she walked over to one of the tables and grabbed a water bottle, winking at Felicity and grinning at Roy's expense.
"Well, don't get used to it" Roy mumbled as he dried his sweaty face with a towel.
Felicity bit her lower lip to keep from laughing, but the urge vanished when she looked at the clock again and frowned. Where were they?
As if listening to her prayers, the door of the foundry opened and Felicity sighed in relief, turning to watch her boys walk in. She narrowed her eyes at the Big Belly Burger's bags in their hands.
"You're two hours late." she stated in annoyance and turned back to the computer, resuming her search.
"We took a little detour to get some food, sorry." Diggle explained, handing the bags to Sara and Roy, who quickly began to unwrap and devour the food.
"You know what hasn't ceased to exist during that time? Cellphones! Would you look at that?" she said in a falsely cheery tone. "You could've at least texted, but I guess that's okay, it's not like there's a maniac out there who swore revenge against us all or anything." she mumbled sarcastically under her breath, looking up as Oliver approached her desk.
"We brought you your favorite." he said, looking at her with an apology in his eyes.
"You didn't forget the double cheese, did you?" she said suspiciously. "Or my milkshake?"
"Wouldn't dream of it." he responded with a smirk, handing her the food bag. "And we brought peach cobbler for dessert, from that bakery in King's Avenue you like."
"Huh." she took the bag. It wasn't an apology, but she had learned how to read Oliver's ways of saying 'sorry'. "No food near my computers, you know the rules." she said to the room in general and saw Oliver trying to hide a smile; he knew he was in the clear with her. Damn that man and his baked goods bribery.
"Yes, ma'am." Roy replied.
"Aren't you guys eating?" Sara asked and took a bite of her sandwich.
"Nah, we already grabbed a bite as we waited for rest of the food to get ready." Diggle said and Felicity noticed how he shared a look with Oliver. Shady. She'd have to ask them about it later.
Felicity, Sara and Roy ate in comfortable silence as Oliver and Diggle warmed up for the patrol. Too soon they all left and it was just Felicity in the foundry; alone with her thoughts and worried about her friends. She guided them through the coms like she had always done, but, somehow, it didn't feel like enough.
Slade was unpredictable and could attack at any time; it was like they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop and Felicity hated it. Thankfully, the streets were quiet tonight, though, and the rest of the team didn't need her help much, so Felicity got to continue her analysis of QC's employee's financials.
Digging a little deeper, she found that a few of the heads of departments had off-shore accounts; which wasn't that surprising. These kinds of people usually created off-shore accounts to hide funds from their spouses in case of divorce. Typical. One account in particular caught her attention, though; it belonged to Richard Duncan, head of the Production Department at QC. Mr. Duncan was a serious traditional man; and he had never liked Oliver much, Felicity could tell.
The account had caught her attention because, although there were several transfers, there was one reoccurring income from a company called Kane Industries. Felicity was in the process of cracking their surprisingly strong firewall when the sound of the door opening startled her; the rest of the team had returned. She ignored it, though. She was this close to cracking the firewall and couldn't afford to be distracted.
"Come on, come on" she muttered as her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Oh, no, you don't." she mumbled angrily as the system fought her invasion. A few lines of code later: success. "Yes!" Felicity screamed, pumping her fist in the air.
"D'you beat that Candy Crush level you were stuck on?" Dig joked as he descended the stairs, followed by Oliver.
She turned in her chair and smiled brightly at them. "No, I've just cracked this nasty firewall. And I'll have you know I beat that level days ago, thank you very much."
"You made a code for it, didn't you?" Oliver asked knowingly as they approached her.
"That I did." she admitted, blushing, and rushed to explain herself "But that game is a work of the devil, it was made to lure poor gamers into buying boosters to beat otherwise unbeatable levels and it had to be stopped. Besides, I only used the code on one of the levels, ok? It's not like I'm cheating or anything, and even if…" she trailed off, pushing her glasses up her nose and feeling her face heating up as she noticed the amused looks on her friends' faces. "Never mind. Where are Sara and Roy?" she asked, trying to change the subject and avoid further embarrassment as she turned back to her screens and continued her work.
"They're gone for the night. Sara was meeting her father and Roy went to see Thea." Oliver answered.
Felicity relaxed at the familiar sounds of Oliver and Diggle moving around, putting away their equipment and chatting about the patrol. She only half listened to their conversation as her attention was once again on the screens. She started perusing Kane Industries' records, finding that it was a subsidiary of Auditore Inc. I've heard that name before, she thought.
Her heart started racing when she found where she knew the company from, but she continued checking a few more things before saying anything.
"Guys, you need to see this." She called out and Oliver and Dig approached her. "You know how I've been researching about Slade-"
"Did you find anything?" Oliver interrupted her, his eyes going wide.
"No, that was a fail." She said dismissively. "But, and don't freak out, I've decided to look into QC's employees to-"
"Felicity!" Oliver interrupted her again in exasperation.
"I know, I know it would look bad for you if anyone found out, but no one's going to. I wouldn't get caught." she assured him, a little offended that he'd think otherwise. "Just hear me out. I've found something." she said before he could start arguing and Oliver tensed.
"Is someone who works for me helping Slade?" Oliver said angrily.
"I'm not sure yet, it might not have anything to do with him, but it's still something we need to look into. I started with the heads of department and Richard Duncan, the Head of Production, has an off-shore account that caught my eye. There are monthly payments from a company called Kane Industries, see?" she pointed to the documents in her screen. "Kane Industries was a subsidiary of Auditore Inc., which, in turn, was bought by Stellmoor International three years ago." she let that sink in.
"Isabel Rochev's old employers?" Dig asked, frowning.
"Exactly, but get this: Auditore Inc. and all of its subsidiaries got shut down a year and a half ago after a huge embezzlement scandal broke out. It was all over the news back then." she explained.
"I think I remember that. They tried to pin it on the factory workers because the white shirts were altering productivity numbers and pocketing the money, right? Those bastards." Dig said darkly.
"Yep, and guess who got fired because of it? I'll give you a hint: looks like a supermodel on the outside and like the Wicked Witch of The West on the inside." Felicity said, raising her eyebrows.
"Isabel, she was VP of acquisitions." Oliver concluded and she nodded. "So, what are you saying?" Oliver shook his head in confusion "Is Isabel using a ghost company's name to pay off QC's Head of Production?"
"Looks like it, but for what?" Dig asked.
"I have no idea. I've looked, but there's no proof that she's the one making the transfers. They go through too many servers, there's no way to follow the money trail." she explained.
"Okay." Oliver said slowly as he thought. "We need to go over QC's records, then, focusing on Duncan's work. This proves that Isabel is up to something, it can't be a coincidence. We need to find out what it is."
"For the record, I totally called that. I told you the bitch was evil." Felicity said matter-of-factly.
"It's not that surprising, considering Oliver's dating history." Dig teased smirking, which earned him a glare from Oliver and a suppressed chuckle from Felicity.
"Let's just hope Isabel hasn't also decided to get into bed with Slade." Oliver said darkly.
Felicity shuddered at the thought. Both at the literal one, which, frankly, ew; and at the figurative one. If Isabel and Slade were working together, they were in an even bigger mess than expected. She couldn't help but feel like the turmoil was just getting started.
A.N: So... Make a girl's day and review? Thoughts? Suggestions? I'll also accept food.
