Note: Okay, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say it without sugarcoating it: I think I broke my brain with this chapter.
IT'S OVER 15,000 WORDS LONG PEOPLE! That's at least TWICE as long as the last chapter and I've been working my a** off, both in school and at home at the same time. So, I SINCERELY hope you like it and please, please, PLEASE leave a comment and tell me what you though! I can't even begin by telling you how much it would mean to me! =)
Thank you for all the support I've gotten so far on this story and a special thanks to the guest that reviewed on the last chapter! Don't worry, I won't let Oliver push Felicity that far with his stubbornness! :)
Enjoy!
Hunted
Supernatural hunter Oliver Queen's latest mission's name is Felicity Smoak; a new born hybrid who has gone rogue and left her master. The new hunt brings unexpected twists and turns and when the young hybrid saves his life, Oliver realizes that there might be more to the girl than meets the eye. The hybrid might not be the biggest monster in Starling City and as their unexplainable bond grows stronger, he learns that you can't plan who you fall in love with.
Chapter 7: The Case
Oliver sat on the stool and picked up the discarded arrows that were on the table. He looked over at Diggle who was practicing with a training dummy before glancing over at Felicity, who seemed engrossed with something on her computer screen.
Not that the computers were hers. Essentially, they belonged to him and she was just borrowing them currently...which she had been doing for the past month.
Some night Oliver still couldn't believe that an entire month had passed since Felicity had contacted them and gotten him to chase after her throughout the city. Their arrangement to work together had been meant to be temporary, but it seemed like Diggle had grown fond of the hybrid and she too had developed something similar to friendship with his partner. Oliver still believed it was bullshit, and that Felicity was just waiting for the opportune moment to stab them in the back and take them to her Sire, but the little Nightcrawler had been getting under his skin ever since the day she joined them.
The dreams he was frequently having about her didn't help much to ease the tension that seemed to always rise between them every time they were in the same room.
He was still mad about the way she had walked out of the office that day when he had accused her once again of having a hidden agenda with joining them, and she was pissed off enough that she only talked to him if it was Hood related.
Not that he minded though. He was actually enjoying not having to spend more time than necessary with her because it made it easier for him to control himself- Not that he needed to control himself.
Diggle had been spending more and more time with Felicity though. He was helping her train, even though Oliver had pointed out that Felicity had been able to protect herself against the other monsters that had attacked them the night he had brought her in. Felicity had pointedly ignored him and told Diggle that she wanted to learn how to fight better, because she only had basic training and instincts to go on. Oliver had watched them once or twice and he had to admit, the hybrid was picking up the fighting techniques quickly.
Every day for the last two weeks, Oliver had come down to the lair only to be greeted by a new item on his weapons desk. Felicity was apparently fond of tinkering whenever she had free time and she was making up inventions that were actually making his hunting a lot easier (not that he would admit it or, God forbid, thank her for it). Diggle was the one that expressed both of their gratitude though, and for the time being, Oliver was slowly accepting that the Dark One that he had brought in was ever so slowly becoming an asset.
His mind was slowly treading into dangerous waters and he had to distract himself before he became too soft around the hybrid, like Diggle had become. He went back to sharpening his arrows, preparing for a night of simple patrolling. There had been a few attacks in the Glades these last few days and he recognized the signs of a vampire at work when he saw them. He had been tracking the monster, but come up empty every night that he had gone out early, hoping to catch it. Felicity had set up the computers in the lair so that they would alert them as soon as the police got a call or suspicious tip that sounded familiar to a monster attack. It made his work a little easier, which he also refused to admit.
At times, he would catch himself before he could slip up and thank Felicity for her help. It was becoming a frequent thing and he had bitten his own tongue quite a few times out of stubbornness. Diggle kept telling him that it was okay to show some gratitude but Oliver insistently glared on, shooting arrows at Felicity with his eyes every chance he could get.
The worst thing about it all though, was that Felicity always seemed to sense what he was trying to stop himself from saying, and the corners of her lips would turn up ever so lightly.
Even worse was the feeling he got in his stomach, each and every time he managed to bring a smile to her lips, while telling himself that he hated her for beaming at him when she thought he wasn't looking.
-§-
Oliver returned to the Foundry around midnight only to find Felicity sitting alone on the little cot he got her when she started sleeping there.
"Where's Dig?" he asked, looking around for the older man.
"Shower," Felicity mumbled. "Everything go well tonight?" she asked, looking up at him. He gave her a once over and rolled his eyes.
As if she cared whether it had gone well or not. He could almost bet that she was hoping that he hadn't caught the vampire that was attacking helpless women.
"I didn't find anything," Oliver replied anyway, putting his bow back in its case before stripping off his hood. He watched as Felicity once again looked down in her lap and frowned when he realized that she was actually reading something...
A brown, leather bound book; his list.
"What are you doing?" he asked, annoyance evident in his tone as he walked up to her.
"I've been going through the names on your list," Felicity answered, still not looking up from the book.
"Why?" Oliver wanted to know. "Are you trying to see if I've crossed off some of your friends?"
It happened so quickly, that Oliver almost missed it. For one very brief second, Felicity visibly flinched, before returning to look at him impassively.
"Don't be an asshole, Oliver," Diggle's voice sounded from behind him. Oliver turned around and faced his partner who was wiping his face with a towel. Diggle gave him a warning look and shook his head at him, and Oliver almost felt bad for making the comment. Still, a part of him believed he was in the right because he most likely had taken down some of Felicity's friends.
"It's fine, Diggle," Felicity said before Oliver had a chance to reply to the man. He turned back to face her again when she looked up at him and continued, "I've actually been running facial recognition on all of them." She held up the book and wiggled it a little in the air, "Do you know that some of these people- Hunt, Brodeur, Holder and Daniels- are some of the biggest bads in this city?"
"I am aware of that, yes," Oliver sighed, rolling his eyes at the hybrid. Why was she telling him what he already knew?
"So why haven't you gone after them yet?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
Oliver looked over at Diggle, silently asking him if Felicity was annoying him too, but Diggle didn't seem to bothered with her questions.
"I haven't been able to figure out what kind of monster they are," Oliver admitted, meeting Felicity's gaze.
A look appeared on her face as she glanced down at the list again. He could see the way her eyes moved over the pages as she flipped through them before looking up at him again, "That's probably because they are human."
"What?"
Oliver looked over at Diggle who had spoken at the same time as him. His partner had taken a step toward Felicity at her statement and she looked between them with a confused look.
"Warren Patel, Adam Hunt, Jason Brodeur, James Holder," she read out loud. "They are all human."
"That's impossible," Oliver spat, irritation bubbling up inside of him.
"Highly possible, if you ask me," Felicity said. "I've been around for a while now and sure, these people dabble with the Dark Ones, but they aren't a part of the People of Darkness."
Oliver stared at her for a moment. "Bertinelli-"
"-was changed four years ago," Felicity finished for him. "If this list was written over seven years ago, he was still human at the time."
Oliver looked over at Diggle with a raised eyebrow. Had Diggle told her about how Oliver had gotten his hands on that list? Had he told the hybrid that had infiltrated their lives one of his biggest secrets?
"You don't know what you're talking about," Oliver angrily protested.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Felicity shrugged. "All I do know is that there is probably more to this list than even you know, Oliver."
Oliver shook his head and turned his back to her, not wanting to hear another word of what she was saying. Without saying a word, he went to the bathroom and changed. When he was dressed again, he walked right past Diggle who was discussing something quietly with Felicity and snatched the still open notebook from Felicity's hands.
He held it up in front of her face, "You have no business interfering with what's in this book. When Diggle and I choose our targets, you're just going to help us locate them, as you've been doing so far. You're not supposed to meddle or comment on anything else. Understood?"
Felicity blinked a few times before slowly nodding. He could tell that she didn't agree with him though, but a small part of him still felt satisfied that he had gotten to tell her off without Diggle butting in or her protesting. Maybe she had finally understood that she had been out of line? The list was personal to him, because of his father and his father's dying wish, and neither Felicity nor Diggle would ever be able to understand how serious he was about it.
He told Diggle goodbye and ignored Felicity when she called out a "Have a good night!" after him. Driving himself home, he was happy to see that everyone else in the house was already asleep.
Tiredly, he walked up the stairs and to his room, throwing off his pants and shirt before crawling into the bed in just his boxers. It was warm in the room and he was exhausted after the long night, but he knew there was no way he was going to get any sleep.
Felicity's words were still echoing in his mind. Could there really be more to the list than he knew?
The first time he laid eyes on the notebook had been a hazy moment that he hardly remembered. It had been right after the Queen's Gambit went down, a day or two into just drifting at an open sea without much food or water. He had been exhausted and half asleep when his father had taken the book out and just looked at its cover before securing it back into his pocket again. It was that afternoon that his father had whispered words into his ears and Oliver had tiredly proceeded to tell him to get some rest.
Then, the loud shot had echoed around them and Oliver had startled awake just quick enough to see the other man that had been in the lifeboat with them tumble over the edge and into the water. His father had looked him in the eyes and told him to right his wrongs before putting the gun to his own temple and pulling the trigger.
Oliver remembered screaming, but most of all, he remembered the way his father's blood had colored the side of the lifeboat and slowly dripped down into the ocean.
He came across the notebook again days later; when he made it to the Island. Memories of seeing his father with the book in his hands was the only thing that made him keep it. At first he had wanted to throw it away, but then he remembered what his father had said about surviving so that he could make it back home and make things right. It didn't make much sense, but Oliver needed something to hold on to. He needed something to remind him of the promise he hadn't even known he had made that day.
"They use the night as cover," his father had whispered into his ear. "Survive, make it home and stop them before they destroy the city."
It wasn't until years later, after Yao Fei's death- Shado and Slade- that he understood what his father had meant. Starling City had been infected by the disease that was the People of Darkness. Whenever he managed to make it back home, he needed to take down all the people on that list, which he had assumed were the big bad crime lords that had a darker secret than laundering money and killing people... They also had a blood-sucking secret.
Oliver turned around in his bed, looking at the clock on the wall. It was past three in the morning now. Sighing, he turned again, this time resting with his back to the clock. His mind once again filled with memories of his first days on the Island, of his father's demise and the first time he had encountered a Nightcrawler. He remembered the silent vows he had made to his father during one particularly cold night that he had thought he would freeze to death in Yao Fei's cave.
He laid back on his back, thinking about Felicity and what she had said earlier this night. While he glared up at the ceiling, it was clear that there was no way that his demons would let him sleep tonight.
-§-
The week continued in the same way.
Oliver had to exhaust himself out on the streets, trying to find the vampire that was killing people before returning to the Foundry to beat up the set up dummies until he literally couldn't stand anymore. Diggle had driven him home these last few days, mainly because he was to tired to drive himself home.
In some way, his exhaustion proved to be a good thing because the media had picked up on him exiting Verdant while leaning on Diggle's shoulder, and they all assumed that he was just drunk out of his mind, like the old Oliver used to get. His family had talked to him about the sudden down-spiral he was making, but he insisted that he hadn't been drunk in months, but that he was just so tired. His sister seemed to believe him, telling him that he had become way too uptight to actually be able to have the fun that the paparazzi were telling the world he was having. Walter and Moira had just suggested that he should take a few days off of being the manager of Verdant or at least rest at home for a few days instead of going to the office.
He had promptly ignored them and continued on with what he had been doing.
It was his fourth day of a sleepless night and he was sitting in his office, reading reports while dozing off every once in a while. Felicity was "manning the fort" as she had told him herself, telling him to feel free to sleep for a while because she could keep watch for him. He was still adamant with not trusting her, which meant that he forcibly tried to keep himself awake.
He was failing miserably, he realized, when he opened his eyes when he heard a familiar voice on the other side of the glass wall. Raising his head from the desk, he looked over toward Felicity who was talking animatedly to someone.
Thea.
Oliver rose to his feet in less than a second and headed toward his door, preparing himself to fight Felicity if he needed to protect Thea from the hybrid. When he reached the door, he stopped dead in his track when he heard Thea giggling at something that Felicity had said. It seemed like his still sleep-fuzzy brain had thought that Felicity had been about to lose control and attack Thea, when in truth, it seemed like the two of them were talking casually about something and actually...getting along?
Somehow, that scared him more than anything.
"Thea?" he asked, making both his younger sister and the hybrid turn their heads in his direction. "What are you doing here?"
He walked up to stand beside Thea before shooting Felicity a warning look. She seemed to understand that he had thought that she was putting Thea in danger and gave him a short nod before leaning back in her chair, putting more distance between them.
"I have a free period and I wanted to come by and invite you out to lunch," Thea explained. "I tried calling, but you didn't pick up so I decided to drop by."
"I can see that," Oliver pointed out, still feeling tense.
"Then your lovely assistant here tried to cover up the fact that you were sleeping, and we got talking," Thea said, grinning over at Felicity, who smiled back politely.
It just made Oliver feel even more uneasy. He wanted to get Thea out of there and as far away from Felicity as possible. "So, lunch then?" he asked and Thea nodded.
"Only if you're up for it," she said.
"Of course I am, Speedy," he joked, putting an arm around her shoulders. He looked over at Felicity. "There aren't any meetings that I need to be aware of, are there, Felicity?"
Felicity checked the computer screen before shaking her head, "Nope."
"Why don't you head down, Thea, and I'll join you in a moment? I just need to put the reports in place before we head out," Oliver said, looking back at his sister.
"Yeah, sure," Thea winked, facing Felicity. "It was really nice meeting you, Felicity."
"You too," Felicity smiled back. Thea glanced at Oliver one last time before heading out of the office.
Instantly, Oliver turned back to Felicity, "Don't get any funny ideas while I'm out. I'll call Diggle and tell him to come over and keep you company."
"I'm offended that you think I would even attempt having fun without you," Felicity rolled her eyes before wincing when she realized what she had said. "What I meant to say was that you don't have to worry about me doing anything when you're not here. I mean-"
"I understand what you mean," Oliver bit out, but it was too late, because his mind had already filled with images from his recurring dreams.
That was probably the most horrible thing about his sleepless nights. Those rare moments that he was actually able to get an hour or two of sleep were still filled with vivid dreams about Felicity slowly undressing him with her teeth and nimble fingers.
He suppressed a shudder when he remembered that one particular dream that involved the salmon ladder in the Foundry.
"If it'll make you feel better," Felicity said, finishing a sentence that he hadn't heard at the beginning of. He watched at her pink lips kept moving but he still wasn't hearing anything. All he did, was remember the way that she had smiled at him in his dream– right before she had sunk her teeth into him again.
"Oliver? Are you even listening to me?"
He looked down at her only to see a small smile tugging at her lips. It was almost as if she had been able to read his mind or that she could sense that he had been thinking about her.
"What?" he scowled at her, crossing his arms over his chest.
She took in his defensive posture and shook her head at him, "I was telling you that I can agree to let Diggle babysit me while you're away, if it will make you feel better and I was trying to remind you that Thea is probably waiting downstairs for you."
"Mhm..." he mumbled thoughtfully, once again looking over her face.
"Relax, Oliver," Felicity sighed. "I won't be going on a killing spree when you're not here. I wouldn't deny you the fun of killing me since I know you're looking forward to it."
"Good," Oliver nodded slowly, but he felt kind of bad for the way that her face had fallen.
"I'll see you later in the Foundry," Felicity said. "You don't have anything else scheduled and you probably won't be needed here until tomorrow. Walter has had me prepare some things for the Unidac auction, so I'll be keeping busy here for a while."
"Don't leave Diggle's side," Oliver finally ordered, already texting the older man so that he could come and stay with Felicity while Oliver was out with Thea.
"I promise, I won't," Felicity nodded. "Go, have fun with your sister and for God's sake, get some rest. You look like something that the cat dragged in."
A curt nod later, he was on his way to the door. He hadn't wanted Felicity to see the way his lips had twitched up in a half-smile because he hated the effect she was starting to have on him.
Thea was standing with her arms crossed, leaning against the limousine that she had most likely made her way to Queen Consolidated in from school. "So Felicity, huh?" she winked.
"What about Ms. Smoak?" Oliver frowned.
"Oh, so it's suddenly 'Ms. Smoak' now, is it? Earlier you seemed to be on first name basis with her," Thea grinned as they sat in the limousine.
Oliver recalled that he had called Felicity by her name and internally groaned at himself for slipping up such a way around Thea. It was enough that his younger sister kept questioning where he was all night, but to now have her suspect something between him and Felicity was even worse. He didn't want her to keep digging further into his secrets.
"Felicity is my employee, Thea," Oliver sighed, rolling his eyes at his sister.
"Are you sure that's all? She's kind of gorgeous," Thea casually pointed out.
As if he hadn't noticed.
"Drop it, Thea," Oliver said. "Our relationship is strictly professional."
"If you say so," Thea muttered, crossing her arms. "But she was very sweet, so I wouldn't exactly blame you if you weren't able to keep your hands to yourself."
He shook his head at his sister's antics before telling the driver to head for Big Belly Burger. Checking his phone, he saw that he had gotten a text message from Diggle, telling him that he was keeping Felicity company now and that he shouldn't worry. Felicity apparently also sent her regards, telling him to loosen up and relax with his sister because he clearly needed to get the stick out of his ass.
A chuckle escaped his lips before he could help himself and Thea looked over at him curiously. He quickly put on a serious mask and slipped his phone back into his pocket, ignoring the playful wink that Thea once again shot him.
It was almost as if she too was able to tell what was going through his mind.
-§-
After eating lunch, Oliver and Thea decided to take a walk while they waited for their limo to come back. They had told their driver to circle around for a bit until they called him, so they had a few more minutes until he came back for them.
They were walking down the street when two familiar faces crossed their paths.
"Ollie, Thea!" Laurel Lance smiled at them, covering her surprise at seeing them there.
"Laurel," Oliver smiled back before turning to his best friend, "Tommy."
"Hey man," Tommy said, grinning at him. "What are you two doing here?"
"Oh, I just skipped school to have lunch with Ollie," Thea shrugged casually as Oliver shot her a glare.
"You told me you had a free period!" he accused, but she just grinned at him.
"Maybe you should have Felicity check my schedule too next time," she teased, elbowing him in his side.
"Felicity?" Laurel piped up. "Who's Felicity?"
Oliver opened his mouth to reply but Thea beat him to it once again, "Oh, she's just Oliver's pretty assistant, but do not fret; according to Ollie, their relationship is strictly professional."
Oliver rolled his eyes at his sister who was on a roll with teasing him, although he couldn't help the bad feeling that was creeping up inside of him.
He knew that he and Laurel were over and that she and Tommy were now happy together. They had been going steady for almost two years now and they were practically living together in Laurel's apartment. Still, he didn't necessarily want either Laurel or Tommy to hear about Felicity. He wanted to keep those two parts of his life separate as much as possible and the way that Thea had managed to so casually bring the hybrid up made him uncomfortable.
"Really?" Tommy grinned at Oliver, his eyes glistening with mischief. "How come you haven't mentioned that you've gotten yourself a secretary?"
"I've been kind of busy lately, Tommy," Oliver said slowly. "I haven't exactly had time to catch up with either of you. What have you been up to?" he asked, desperate to change the subject again.
"Oh, we visited my mom in Central City," Laurel said, looking over at Tommy while smiling. "We stayed there for about a week."
"That's lovely," Oliver said. "How is Dinah?"
"She's good," Tommy replied. "She was busy working, but we managed to squeeze in a dinner so that Laurel could get to know the man that she's been seeing."
"And he was really nice," Laurel said. "We had a great time there though, didn't we, Tommy?" she beamed at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, we did," Tommy agreed, gazing down at her adoringly.
Oliver smiled at his friends, happy that they were happy together. In the beginning it had been weird between them, but two years had allowed Laurel to work through her issues with him, thanks to Tommy. They were back to being friends, in a way, and Oliver would always be thankful for that. He didn't have much time to see them nowadays, since they had both been traveling around the country together whenever Laurel didn't have to work at CNRI, and Tommy was doing his best helping her while also helping Oliver manage Verdant.
It had been Oliver suggestion for Tommy to help him with the club and Tommy had been reluctant at first before finally agreeing. Tommy's father had cut him off, trying to force him to work on his own for a change instead of always relying on his trust funds. Tommy was a good manager and so far, Oliver had only had to help out at the club whenever Tommy and Laurel went on a trip. It was good to be in business with a friend that he knew he could trust, and Tommy, who thought Oliver was hooking up with someone every time he sneaked away from Verdant, helped him with a cover every time Thea tried to find out why he was coming home so late when Tommy was managing the club.
"So, we'll see you at the auction then?" Laurel said, bringing Oliver out of his thoughts.
"Excuse me, what?" Oliver asked, blinking a few times.
"The Unidac auction? Walter is trying to buy Unidac Industries and he insisted that the entire family should be there?" Thea said, frowning at Oliver. "Don't you remember?" Oliver shook his head and Thea sighed. "Well, apparently, Tommy and Laurel will be attending too, so we'll be seeing them there."
"Sounds great," Oliver smiled, still trying to remember when exactly Walter had mentioned Unidac to him. Then he remembered Felicity telling him that Walter had had her looking into some final details for the auction. "We should probably get going now, though. Thea needs to get to school again," he gave his sister a scolding look for lying to him about being free, but Thea just grinned at him.
"Yeah, and who knows? Maybe Oliver will bring Felicity to the auction too so you can meet her," she suggested. "You'll love her Tommy! She's a blast."
"You talked to her for five minutes," Oliver pointed out, once again feeling the uneasiness rise in him.
"And that's all it took for her to charm me," Thea grinned before turning to Tommy and Laurel again. "She rambles and makes the most inappropriate innuendos without actually meaning to. She's adorable."
"Careful, Thea," Laurel laughed, "I think you might actually have a crush on this girl."
"You'll see for yourself when you meet her," Thea said. "I don't know how a brooding ass like Oliver managed to find such a wonderful person."
She's not wonderful! She's a monster, the protective part of Oliver's brain screamed. He needed to get Thea as far away from Felicity before she got attached to the blonde hybrid. Things could go horribly wrong if the monster managed to crawl her way inside Thea's heart too.
Too?
He wanted to bang his head against a wall for his brain's slip.
"Well," Tommy grinned, "I can't wait to meet this secretary of yours that has Thea so smitten." Oliver looked into Tommy's eyes and he instantly knew what his best friend was thinking. Tommy had been trying to figure out who Oliver was "dating behind his back" for months now and now that Oliver had suddenly hired a new assistant- a gorgeous assistant according to Thea- his best friend's curiosity seemed to have been piqued.
"Stop teasing poor Ollie," Laurel said.
"Thank you, Laurel-" Oliver began, but Laurel continued before he had a chance to finish his sentence.
"He'll let us meet the girl when he's ready to start sharing her with the world," she smiled, making Oliver groan as he rolled his eyes at his friends and his sister.
"Okay, enough of all of this," he said as he spotted the limousine arriving. "Thea, say goodbye and get in the car."
"Bye guys," Thea waved happily before practically skipping over to the limo and getting in.
"Stop encouraging her," Oliver told Tommy. "It's bad enough that she likes Felicity, so she doesn't need you filling her head with ideas that I've been seeing Felicity behind her back."
Tommy held up his hands in surrender, "I said no such thing."
"Your eyes were implying it," Oliver said. "Either way, I'll see you guys at the auction apparently."
"Sorry, Oliver," Tommy grinned, "but yeah, we'll see you at the auction."
"Bye, Ollie," Laurel smiled as she and Tommy walked away, hand in hand. Oliver looked after them for a moment before smiling to himself. It was only a matter of time before Tommy got down on one knee and asked Laurel to marry him.
And honestly?
Oliver couldn't be more happy for his friends.
-§-
"Carl Rasmussen was murdered last night," Diggle told him when he entered the lair later that evening.
Oliver recognized the name from his father's list and frowned, "And?" He could tell that there was more to the story.
"Apparently, James Holder has been killed too," Diggle said. "Gunshots, most likely a sniper."
Oliver looked over at Felicity who was typing furiously on her computer, waiting for her to comment on the matter. She hadn't changed out of her work clothes yet, which meant she ha most likely figured something out while she had been at the office so that she had had to get to work on it the moment she arrived in the lair.
"Both of them are on your list," Felicity said, "along with two other people who were also shot within this week. Someone has been targeting the same people as you and I hardly think it's a coincidence."
"And what are you doing now?" he asked the blonde hybrid as he watched her fingers fly over the keyboard at an impossible speed. It was clear that she enjoyed her hybrid advantages when working.
"I'm hacking the police department so I can get the coroners reports," Felicity explained. "I figured there needs to be a pattern there somewhere, since it's most likely the same shooter."
She took up four files on the screen as Oliver walked closer to stand by her side. He watched her eyes fly over the words in the reports quickly as she scrolled up and down and wrote down a few things on a small notepad by her side. "I got it," she said, turning around in her chair to look up at him.
That was the moment that he realized just how close he had gotten to her. He swallowed and took a step back, waiting for her to continue.
"It seems like the killer has been using a special kind of bullets when sniping his victims," Felicity said. "It's the common denominator in the reports and so far the police can't find anything else linking the victims."
"What is it, Felicity?" Diggle asked before the hybrid could get into a full-blown rambling session.
"Curare," Felicity said, holding up her notepad with the word scribbled across it in a neat handwriting. "The sniper uses Curare poison to make sure that the wounds are fatal. The poison is what killed two of them, because the bullet barely grazed them, almost as if the shooter had wanted them to suffer before dying."
Oliver looked over at Diggle, seeing his partner's face darken somewhat. There was only one sniper that they knew of that used Curare poison laced bullets when he carried out his kills.
"It's Lawton," Diggle spoke before Oliver had a chance to. "It's Floyd Lawton."
Felicity looked between the two of them, her eyes wide, "You guys know Floyd Lawton?"
"Do you know him?" Oliver demanded after hearing the tone she had used.
"I've heard whispers of his name before," Felicity said. "He's a vampire mercenary, but out on the streets they call him Deadshot, because he never misses." She twirled around in her chair and clicked on a few buttons, bringing up the police reports on the people that had died from vampire attacks this past week. "It makes so much more sense now," she said.
"Lawton is the vampire that has been attacking people in the Glades," Oliver realized. "He must have figured that it was safer for him to hunt there instead of anywhere else in the city, since most of the Dark Ones reside in the Glades."
"Which means that the police force wouldn't find it out of the ordinary for a few bodies to drop, and also assume that the person sniping Rasmussen and the others was a human," Felicity finished for him.
"It's very thought through," Oliver pointed out.
"It's horrible," Felicity muttered, so low that Oliver had barely heard her. "Dig?"
Oliver turned to look at his friend, who had been quiet throughout the whole exchange. He seemed to be in deep thoughts and Oliver could only imagine what he was thinking of.
Floyd Lawton had killed Diggle's brother and he had been the reason that Diggle had joined Oliver's crusade to begin with. They hadn't come across Lawton personally before, and this was the first time that they had gotten a whiff of him in Starling City.
"I need some air," Diggle said. "I have to clear my head."
Before Oliver could tell him that he should stay with them in the Foundry, Diggle walked out without another word, leaving him and Felicity behind.
"Did Lawton kick his dog or something?" Felicity asked after a moment of silence, but Oliver shook his head.
"He killed his brother," he explained as Felicity's eyes widened.
"Oh," she breathed out. "I feel horrible now... Uhm, do you think it's a good idea for Diggle to be involved in this case?"
"Diggle needs this," Oliver told her. "He needs to put his brother to rest in his mind and get closure and the only way he'll be able to do so, is if we put down Lawton."
"Lawton is dangerous, Oliver," Felicity pointed out. "If Diggle isn't in his right mind, he could get distracted, which would make him an easier target."
"Lawton only kills those he's been hired to kill," Oliver pointed out. "He's a mercenary, as you said, and he doesn't get his hands dirty unless he gets paid for it." Felicity nodded curtly as she once again spun around in her chair, starting a search. "What are you doing now?" Oliver asked.
"I'm looking for other cases where Curare has been used to kill victims," Felicity explained. "I figured that if I cross reference the cases, I might be able to see another pattern. I think it's likely that Lawton has been in town before, especially since Starling City had such an established elite within the People of Darkness. If I can find any clue, it might be able to help us find him now."
"That's..." Oliver trailed off, words like 'brilliant', 'genius' and 'amazing' all on his tongue, but he refused to sing Felicity any praises before she actually came up with something else.
"I'm doing this for, Diggle," Felicity said. "If he needs closure, I'm more than willing to help him."
Her fingers traveled across the keyboard so quickly that Oliver barely managed to keep up. Not only did she manage to type at a high speed without missing a letter, but she also managed to skim through reports and read them with record speed.
There was something nagging Oliver though.
While Felicity worked hard on figuring out where Lawton might be staying, he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to what Felicity knew about Lawton or not. She had seemed genuinely surprised to hear that they knew Lawton's real name and her explanation as to why she knew Lawton's name had been vague, much like every other fact she let on about herself.
"Are you really doing this just for Diggle?" Oliver wondered out loud, making Felicity pause in her typing. She seemed to think about it before she sighed and continued writing, eyes never leaving the screen.
"Is it that hard for you to believe that I might actually be selfless and thinking about the well-being of my friend?" she asked him, still not turning around to look at him. In her tone he recognized something akin to defeat and he almost felt a little bad for questioning her out loud yet again. Diggle himself had told him multiple times to cut her some slack, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.
"Diggle isn't your friend," he said, once again speaking to hurt her.
"I think that's up for him to decide, not you," she replied without missing a beat. "But if you really want to know, I think the world would be a better place without people like Lawton in it. Holder and Rasmussen might have been bad people, but they were human and could have been dealt with in another way. What Lawton is doing is just ruthless and I can't just sit here while he kills people who should have had a chance to defend themselves at least."
"And the people that Holder and Rasmussen killed? What about their right to defend themselves?" Oliver questioned, intrigued by what her answer to that might be.
"I told you: Holder and Rasmussen were bad people and I'm not defending their actions. I just think that it could have been dealt with in another way. I bet Lawton didn't even know that Rasmussen had a wife and three children," she said, her voice hollow. "Those three children will grow up without a father and no matter how bad he might have been, they will always feel that loss. They are the innocent ones, Oliver. That's why I think mercenaries shouldn't exist. They don't question their jobs, they just do them, without thinking about the consequences."
He listened to her without saying a word and he understood what she meant. If it really was true that Holder, Rasmussen and the others she had listed earlier today were human, he would have to reevaluate the way he dealt with his list. He didn't want to take away the parents of innocent children without absolutely having to, which meant that he would now have to think twice before going after a new target.
There was something about the way Felicity had spoken that still made him wonder if there was more to the story. He had a feeling that she wasn't letting everything out yet, so he would continue to be wary about her and Lawton. There might be something connecting the two of them and there was no way for him to find out without Felicity telling him the truth herself.
He let her continue her work without interrupting her again while he checked his phone for any messages from Diggle. His friend had been away for half an hour now and Oliver was beginning to get a bad feeling. It was getting late and even though he knew Diggle could protect himself against a potential attack against a Dark One, he also knew that Diggle wasn't exactly in his right mind at the moment and could get easily distracted.
"I got it," Felicity suddenly exclaimed, a laugh escaping her lips as she pumped her fist in the air. She turned and faced him and the moment her eyes met his, her grin faltered and her first dropped. "I don't usually get this excited about something, but, uhm..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "Either way, I found him. Or at least I think there's a high probability that I found him."
She picked up a map of Starling City and pointed at a certain location. "The last time there was an abundance of people killed with Curare in town, the majority of the deaths took place in this area. I basically assumed that Lawton would use a remote hotel or motel somewhere within this radius-" she moved her finger in a circle while pointing at the screen, "-and I found a place that would fit his MO according to the stories that were told on the street about him."
"Address?" Oliver asked, already heading for his bow and hood.
"1700 Broadway," Felicity replied, turning away as he got dressed. He almost smirked at her modesty, but managed to not do so. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Going after Lawton alone?"
"What do you suggest I do?" Oliver bit out, pulling his hood over his head.
"Call Diggle? Let me come with you?"
Her suggestions sounded innocent enough, but he shook his head, "And risk you ambushing me with Lawton's help? No thank you, I think I have a better shot at taking him out alone."
"Diggle should still know that we located Deadshot," Felicity argued. "Call him."
Without thinking, Oliver picked up and threw it her way. She grabbed it just before it crashed to the ground thanks to her inhuman speed. "You call him," he told her. "Let her know that we found Lawton and that I've gone after him, but don't tell him where. I'll handle it and give Diggle the closure he needs."
"Oliver, please wait," Felicity said, standing from her seat. With the blink of an eye, she blurred forward, standing less than two feet away from him. Her speed had surprised him, and he tightened his grip on his bow, preparing for an attack that never came. He blinked a couple of times, searching her face as she held up a small device. "Use the comm link, please? I can help you if you need me."
He watched the small item in her hand, contemplating if he should take it. It would be logical and it wasn't exactly as if it would be the first time he had Felicity in his ear since she joined them in the lair. Yet, he was stubborn and refused to admit that he might need her help.
He took half a step forward, passing the invisible line that separated his space from hers as he towered over her. Gaze dark and half covered by his hood, he spoke with venom dripping from every word, "I will never need you."
Ignoring the hurt that flashed across Felicity's face, he turned his back to her and ran out out the Foundry and into the night, Lawton's potential hideout the only thing on his mind.
-§-
It turned out that Felicity had been right.
The hotel that she had given him the address to was indeed the place that Lawton was hiding out at and as soon as he had located the vampire's room and forced his way inside, Lawton had retaliated by shooting wildly around him and fighting him in hand to hand combat once out of bullets to fire at him.
Oliver wasn't used to a Dark One using armed weapons, since most of them relied on their strength alone, but Lawton sure was a curious figure. Even when he fought Oliver hand to hand, he didn't bare his fangs at him even once, which suggested that he had high control of his vampire side.
Vampires were the more sophisticated species among the People of Darkness. They didn't enjoy getting their hands dirty and usually used shapeshifters or werewolves who were considered lower-class in their society to do their bidding. Even among the vampires, there were different species; born vampires and made vampires.
The born vampires were also called lamia vampires and those could age, much like humans and procreate amongst themselves. These families usually went back centuries and their place was high on the social ladder in the community of the Dark Ones. They showed more restraint than the made vampires, who were simple vampires who had been turned by either dying with vampire blood in their system or simple blood exchange with a vampire. The latter, the blood exchange, usually took a while and was uncommon among the monsters. From what Oliver had learned, the vampires liked to create new vampires quickly and as clean as possible, so it was a lot easier to just feed a human their blood and then kill them. The made vampires were more vicious, but even they could rise in the ranks, much like Frank Bertinelli had done by opening the Black Rose.
Lawton had the restraint of a lamia vampire, but Oliver couldn't know for sure if he truly was one. The only way to know for sure, would be if Lawton himself told him his story, or if Oliver managed to put a wooden arrowhead through the monster's heart, to see if he aged visibly before shriveling up, like Ashley had done when he had put her down.
Felicity had practically been running a supernatural trivia class in the Foundry, Diggle being her only real student. She explained a lot about the monster's that they hunted and gave them logical reasons for why some weapons worked and why some didn't. Oliver would never actually admit out loud that he listened in with interest, because he would hate it if Felicity actually found out that he thought her information was useful.
He came back to the lair without taking down Lawton, because the vampire had made a run for it and escaped into the night. The only thing Oliver managed to get a hold of, was a computer that had been shot through several times by Lawton when the monster had retaliated.
As soon as he had closed the door behind him when he entered the lair, Felicity sped forward to stand by the foot of the stairs, anxiously wringing her hands together. The sight confused him and he furrowed his eyebrows at her as he passed her.
Diggle was leaning casually against the med-bay, clearly waiting for Oliver to tell him what had happened.
"I found Lawton," Oliver said, unzipping his hood, "but he got away. I did manage to get a hold of his computer though." He held up the device and Felicity quickly blurred over to him, taking it from his hands, eyes wide.
"What did you do to it?" she gaped, looking over the holes in the piece of technology.
"Spilled a latte on it," Oliver sarcastically remarked, rolling his eyes at the blonde.
She shot him a glare and shook her head, "You massacred it."
"To be fair, it was Lawton that shot it," Oliver deadpanned. "Can you salvage any information from it? It might give us a hint to why Lawton is in town and who his next target is." He looked over at Diggle, who still hadn't spoken. "How are you doing, Dig?"
"I would have been a lot better if you had called me yourself and let me tag along," Diggle told him. "Maybe then Lawton wouldn't have gotten away."
"He's still in town, Dig," Oliver sighed.
"Yeah, and now he knows that the Hood is hot on his trail," Diggle glared. "You should have had backup. Things could have gone wrong, Oliver, but you never seem to take that into consideration. You just act."
"I'm fine, Diggle," Oliver insisted.
"Yeah, but next time, you might not be," Diggle pointed out. "What if next time, you end up like that computer? What am I supposed to do if you don't even wear your comm just because it gets in the way of your pride?"
Oliver knew that he had made a mistake, but he couldn't very well go back in time and change it now. What was done and he told Diggle as much.
"The only thing we can do now is try to see if we can get any information off of that computer," Oliver said. "I'm sorry for not calling you, Dig."
Diggle shook his head at him, "I'm just glad that you came back in one piece. We'll get Lawton next time."
Oliver nodded curtly at Diggle, glad that the issue was settled for the moment. He turned to look over at Felicity who was connecting Lawton's computer with the computers in the lair, once again typing furiously. Sighing one last time, Oliver went to change, wondering if he should actually apologize to Felicity too for completely neglecting her the way he had. He decided to not say anything to her. Instead, he changed and suggested to Diggle that they spar while Felicity worked the computer.
An hour later, Felicity called them over to her workstation.
"What do you have, Felicity?" Diggle asked, looking over her shoulder at the screen.
"Not much," Felicity admitted bitterly. "The bullets completely killed the poor computer, but I do think I found something important." She clicked on a few buttons and opened a window on the screen.
Oliver narrowed his eyes at it, "It looks like blueprints."
"Do you know of what?" Diggle asked, not seeing a name anywhere on the prints.
"The Exchange Building," Felicity said.
"Why would Lawton have this?" Oliver frowned.
"It's where the Unidac Industries auction is scheduled to take place tomorrow night," Felicity explained. "Carl Rasmussen and James Holder were two of the people that were bidding. I bet if we look up Deadshot's other victims, they too have something to do with the auction."
"He's taking out the competition for someone," Oliver realized. "Who-?" he started to ask, but Felicity interrupted.
"Warren Patel," she said. "I was able to trace back the computer to his company. Patel must have hired Lawton to take out his competition before the auction takes place."
"So now we can assemble a potential list of targets," Diggle pointed out. "That's some good work, Felicity."
"Thank you, Dig," Felicity smiled before turning to Oliver. Her smile dropped as she met his eyes and she turned serious again. "Is this a bad time to point out that your stepfather is planning on bidding?"
Oliver sighed, cursing himself for forgetting that Walter and the rest of his family, including himself were supposed to attend the auction tomorrow night. "My family will be there tomorrow and so will Laurel and Tommy," he said, looking at Diggle. "How big do you think the risk is that Lawton will be targeting Walter tomorrow?"
"His next target can be anyone that's bidding, with the exception of Patel," Felicity pointed out. "Do you think there's any way for us to get Walter to back away from this deal?"
"Hardly," Oliver said. "You told me yourself how hard he's had you working on preparing for this auction. There's no way that he'll back away now."
"Felicity, bring back the blueprints," Diggle instructed and Felicity immediately accommodated. Diggle pointed at the screen, "The Exchange Building is surrounded by three towers with eye lines into the building. Lawton could get a kill shot off from virtually anywhere."
Quietly, they contemplated what Diggle had said. Felicity was the first one to speak after two minutes of solid silence. "Is there anyone you can ask for help? Even if the three of us attend this thing, we won't be able to protect everyone there. Sure, your family would be covered, but everyone else..." she trailed off, allowing them to fill in the rest of the sentence for themselves.
"Detective Lance," Oliver spoke after a while. "The police force could raise the security for the auction if they got a tip."
"Lance hates your guts," Diggle pointed out. "Both Oliver Queen and the Hood. Why would he listen to you?"
"He wouldn't have a choice," Oliver said. "No matter how much he hates the Hood, he wouldn't risk the lives of innocent people."
"Excuse me, but who exactly is Detective Lance?" Felicity piped up.
"The detective that has been hunting me for two years," Oliver replied dismissively.
"He's also the father of Oliver's ex-girlfriend," Diggle said.
"Wait, so he's the father of that girl that was with you on the boat too? I read about that when I researched you after I found out you were the vigilante," Felicity said.
Oliver actually flinched, hating to be reminded of his past mistakes. The fact that Felicity had researched him before contacting him didn't escape his attention, but he didn't comment on the matter.
Instead he thought about Detective Lance.
Detective Quentin Lance was the father of Laurel and Sara Lance. He was one of the few cops in Starling City that hunted him without actually knowing the whole truth. Oliver still couldn't understand how the police chief had managed to keep the information about the Hood's killings secret from the detective, but Lance seemed to believe that the vigilante was killing innocent people.
It was clear that the police chief was keeping Lance in the dark, always making up stories about why the 'victims' looked like they did. Lance was one of the good ones and it was probably because of his high moral standards that he was being kept out of the loop on the Dark Ones.
Oliver himself had encountered Lance a few times since he had returned from the dead. Lance had accused him of being the vigilante at one time, but with Diggle's help, Oliver had managed to clear his name. Lance hated Oliver with every fiber of his being and still blamed Oliver for the death of his youngest daughter, Sara.
Sara.
The memories flashed before his eyes and he felt that horrible sting of guilt and grief that he felt every single time someone reminded him of what pain he had caused the Lance family. If he could somehow go back in time, he would do a lot of things differently, but there was no going back.
"Do you agree, Oliver?" Diggle asked, forcing him back to reality.
"On what?" he asked, still a little dazed from where his thoughts had gone.
"The three of us being at the auction while you convince Lance to put in extra security on the surrounding buildings?" Diggle explained.
"The three of us?" Oliver frowned, looking down at Felicity. "And how is she supposed to fit into the mix?"
"Didn't you hear anything of what we said?" Felicity glared at him. "Diggle will be there as your bodyguard, but since you clearly don't need one, he'll actually be keeping an eye on your mother and your sister."
"That still doesn't explain why you have to be there," Oliver almost growled in annoyance.
"I helped Walter prepare for the auction and I'm supposed to be your assistant," she replied calmly.
"But you still don't have an invitation," Oliver narrowed his eyes at her.
A slight blush crept up her cheeks and Oliver turned to Diggle, who smirked at him before speaking.
"But you have a plus one."
-§-
Felicity was fidgeting next to him as Diggle drove them to the Exchange Building. Oliver was trying incredibly hard not to look at her, hating the stupid plan that she and Diggle had basically forced upon him.
Oliver had argued long and hard for Felicity to not attend the auction at all, but unfortunately, Diggle and Felicity had ganged up on him, basing their arguments in Felicity's ability to pick up sounds before any of them did, thus giving her an advantage if Lawton fired against them.
So now, here he was: sitting next to a dressed up Felicity, on his way to an auction with her as his date.
On a more positive note, he had managed to get Detective Lance to send in extra security for the event, which made him feel at least a little bit more relaxed, but not by much.
"Will you stop moving around?" Oliver growled at Felicity, who froze in her seat beside him.
"Sorry, but I'm trying to figure out a way to do something without you seeing me," she shot at him, just as bitterly.
"Do what?" Oliver frowned, looking at her suspiciously.
Felicity's eyes flickered over to meet Diggle's in the rear-view mirror.
"It's alright, Felicity," Diggle told her. "You don't have to hide it."
Felicity sighed deeply before reaching down under the seat and bringing up a blood bag of O-negative. Oliver raised his eyebrow at her as she blushed, "It's for extra strength. I know I told you that I don't have to drink blood to survive, but drinking it works like an energy drink. My vampire side is enhanced and I can react faster and hear much better. We thought it would be okay to make an exception tonight."
Oliver watched her with disgust as she pierced the bag with her fangs and began emptying its contents. "We?" he wondered, narrowing his eyes at Diggle.
"It's a blood bag, Oliver," the older man sighed. "She hasn't killed anyone for it."
"But what if the blood makes her irrational? What if she's gone without it for so long that she suddenly starts craving it and kills everyone on the auction," he snapped, raising his voice.
"Why do you always have to be so negative?" Felicity frowned at him after finishing the bag. She licked her lips and put the bag back under the seat. She took out a compact mirror from her clutch and checked her teeth as if to make sure that they weren't stained with blood. Oliver felt sick at the sight.
She turned to face him again and grinned, her eyes getting that golden hue for a millisecond, "Have some faith."
Oliver didn't reply, because they had finally arrived at their destination. He looked over at Felicity who slipped off the coat she had been wearing, now finally revealing the red dress she wore underneath. She put the little mirror back in her bag before looking back at him, bright blue eyes glistening with an innocence that he knew wasn't there.
"Well? Are we going to sit in here all night or are we going to make sure that your family is safe?" she wondered.
He shot her one last glare before opening the door to the limousine, grabbing her hand roughly as he pulled at her a little to exit the car. Flashes of the paparazzi's cameras blinded him as he put on his playboy smile, grinning at the crowd that had been expecting them.
Ignoring the tingles that went through his hand as he wrapped his arm around Felicity's waist, pulling him closer into his side, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "We need to get inside before you end up on the front page of every magazine in town."
She squeezed his arm, looking up at him with a smile on her lips as she whispered back, "Don't worry, I'll hack them and erase all evidence of my existence."
-§-
Oliver watched as Felicity as she easily slipped into the role of his assistant, mingling with the crowd, talking casually about everyday topics and impressing the potential bidders with her brilliance.
He sipped on his champagne, trying desperately to keep his annoyance at the hybrid at bay as he watched her wrap all the men in the room around her little finger.
"I noticed you invited Felicity as your plus one," Thea spoke up from behind him, making him turn around and force a smile.
"She mentioned that she didn't have anything better to do and I didn't want to come here alone," Oliver quickly made up on the spot. "I mean, God forbid that Oliver Queen attends an event without a pretty girl on his arm."
"Oh, so you admit that she's pretty then?" Thea teased, nudging his side lightly. "I'll make sure to pass that on to her."
"It was a figure of speech," Oliver glared at his sister before turning his attention back at Felicity.
The red dress that she was wearing clung to her body perfectly. The bodice was a little tighter, with a sweetheart neckline that made her neck look exquisitely long and elegant. The rest of the material flowed out a little at her hips, but it seemed so incredibly soft that as she walked, she almost looked as if she was floating on air, the fabric moving around her legs. Around her neck, she had a simple diamond necklace that Oliver had forced her to wear. The little stone had been embedded with a tracker because he didn't want to risk her running out on him and Diggle if she suddenly decided to jump ships and join Lawton instead. According to Diggle, he was being paranoid and rude, but Felicity agreed to wear the necklace, if only to ensure that he would be able to feel a little more relaxed.
"Then why do you keep staring at her?" Thea smiled at him.
"I'm just keeping an eye on her," he said, being truthful for the first time in forever. "I don't want her to get into trouble."
"I don't think anything remotely exciting will happen here tonight," Thea rolled her eyes. "I'm only here for Walter."
"One can never be too careful," Oliver muttered, watching as his mother and Walter approached Felicity. He took that as his cue as he left Thea briefly to join his fake date.
"Oliver," his mother beamed at him, leaning over to press a light kiss to his cheek.
"Mother," he smiled back. "Walter," he shook the man's hand before securely resting his hand on Felicity's lower back.
"We didn't know that you had invited Felicity as your plus one," Moira stated, trying to sound polite. Oliver though could hear that she didn't like the idea of him having Felicity accompany him to the auction, and Felicity herself probably heard it too because unconsciously, she moved just a little bit closer to him.
"It was sort of a last minute thing," Felicity explained.
"Well, I think it's lovely to have you here for support, Felicity," Walter smiled at her. "You two enjoy your evening and for God's sake, don't forget to dance. If we play this right, we might gain another asset tonight!"
Felicity giggled nervously as Walter led away Oliver's mother, who shot yet another warning look at Oliver.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that your mother hates me more than you do," Felicity stated.
Oliver rolled his eyes and reached for two champagne flutes when a waiter passed them by, handing one of them to Felicity. "Don't worry, Felicity," he told her. "I think I still have the honor of having that title."
"Mhm..." Felicity hummed absentmindedly as she looked up into his eyes. She sipped on the champagne he had given her without saying another word and Oliver once again felt those pesky little feelings bubble inside of him.
He would be blind to say that Felicity wasn't a beauty and he would be lying if he said that he hadn't noticed how wonderfully her dress clung to her body. Still, he would probably deny it with his dying breath that he actually found the hybrid somewhat attractive, but he couldn't allow himself to get distracted.
"Still to the plan, Smoak," he told her. "You keep an ear open and an eye on Walter and my mother while Diggle watched Thea from afar. I'll keep an eye on them as well as keep an eye on you."
"In that case, I hope you're as good as me at multitasking," she quipped, winking at him before she stepped away from him.
He watched her as she walked, hating the way his stomach tightened at the sight of her hips swaying, almost sinfully.
-§-
Felicity had been walking around casually in the room while listening intently to her surroundings. Heartbeats and the sounds of police officers at their stations were filling her head and she had to close her eyes for a minute to try and concentrate on hearing anything that was out of the ordinary.
Nothing.
There had been no sign whatsoever of Lawton and Felicity was beginning to wonder if there was a possibility that she had been wrong about her findings and deductions. She looked around the room, bored out of her mind when suddenly someone approached her. For a moment she froze and looked around the room, trying to locate Oliver in case the person approaching turned out to be Lawton or something. Then, she relaxed when she recognized the face that she had looked up after Oliver had left the lair the night before.
"Detective Lance," Felicity spoke without thinking, making the man halt in his steps.
"Do I know you?" the detective asked, his voice rough.
"I'm Felicity Smoak," she said, extending her hand for him to shake. "I work for Mr. Queen," the detective's eyes darkened, "which I now realize I probably shouldn't have led with. I, uhm, read about what happened to your daughter and I'm really sorry for your loss... Even if it happened seven years ago, so you probably don't want me to bring it up... Sorry," Felicity flinched.
The detective eyes her for a moment, blinking a couple of times. It was clear that he didn't know how to react to her ramble, but he still shook her hand.
"You work for Queen?" he asked and she nodded.
"I'm his Executive Assistant," Felicity smiled.
"Sounds like a fancy word for 'secretary,'" Lance snorted. "And I'm guessing that he brought you here tonight?"
"We're friends," Felicity said quickly. "But that isn't why you approached me, is it? Is everything alright?"
The detective eyed her suspiciously for a moment, "We got a tip from someone that something might be going down here tonight. I was just making rounds when you stopped me from walking past you."
Felicity felt a blush rising on her face, "Oh. Well, that sounds interesting."
Lance's lip twitched as he looked at her, but he didn't move to walk away yet.
"I heard that you were assigned the vigilante case," Felicity said casually. "How is that going for you?"
"Are you mocking me, Ms. Smoak?" Quentin asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Oh," Felicity's eyes widened. "No! Not at all! I was just trying to make conversation, but apparently I'm only able to do so by insulting you."
A low chuckle escaped the detective and Felicity prided herself in breaking through his defense.
"It's hard to believe that someone like you keeps up with vigilante news," he pointed out.
"Should I be taking that as an insult?" Felicity grinned.
"You decide that for yourself," Quentin said. "Why so interested in the vigilante? He's a dangerous criminal that needs to be apprehended. Not someone that you should be worrying about."
"I don't think he's dangerous," Felicity said thoughtfully.
"He's a murderer," Lance pointed out.
"He's saved a lot of people too though, hasn't he?" Felicity challenged. She was talking of the few cases that Oliver had helped solve, thus saving innocent people from being wrongfully imprisoned. They were a rare occasion, but Diggle had told her that Oliver helped out his ex-girlfriend Laurel from time to time with cases because he still had a soft spot for her.
"That doesn't make up for the bad things he has done," Quentin said bitterly.
Felicity hated that she wasn't allowed to tell Lance the truth. If he knew that Oliver- the Hood- was actually saving innocent people all the time by killing the murderous monster's that prowled the streets, he surely would see things differently.
"I still believe that the vigilante is capable of doing a lot of good," Felicity said. "My interest in him is purely because he's a mystery that I can't seem to solve, but from what I've read and heard, there is good in him too, even though he's killed people. He must be sacrificing a hell of a lot of his own life in order to be so devoted, and I know that even you detective can't say that the crime rate hasn't dropped drastically since he came to town."
"You seem to know an awful lot about the Hood, Ms. Smoak," the detective narrowed his eyes at her.
"I don't know anything about him," Felicity said calmly. "I'm just telling you what I see every time I read about the good things he has done for this city. The people he's been taking down have all been bad, Detective. Doesn't that essentially make him good?"
The detective stood there, taken aback by her words. He gave her a once over before his eyes shifted to something behind her and she turned around just in time to see Oliver approaching, fake smile in place.
"Detective," he nodded, once again resting his hand on her hip. Why did his touch seem to burn her? It was as if every nerve cell on the area that he touched was set on fire and she knew that she shouldn't be feeling that way about him, especially not since he hated her.
"Queen," Lance spat, anger bubbling up in his tone.
"Would you mind excusing Ms. Smoak for a moment? I believe I owe my date a dance," Oliver said casually. Felicity looked up at him, startled.
Sure, Walter had suggested that they dance, but never in her immortal life would she have believed that Oliver would actually do it with her. She scolded herself for the sudden trail of thoughts that made its way into her brain and the vivid images of Oliver doing something else entirely with her that invaded her mind.
Oliver tugged lightly on her, forcing her to turn her back to the detective before she could even say goodbye.
"Ms. Smoak?" the detective called after her and she forced Oliver to stop moving.
"Yes, Detective?" she called back.
Ignoring that Oliver was standing right beside her, the detective spoke, "Don't allow yourself to get attached to Mr. Queen. You don't know how bad he could be for you."
Felicity felt Oliver tense beside her, but she only smiled back at the detective. "Don't worry, Detective Lance. I know just how dangerous Oliver can be."
With that, she turned her back to Quentin and allowed Oliver to lead her out on the dance floor.
-§-
Oliver rested his hand lightly on Felicity's waist, trying hard to ignore the currents that spread through him when she put one of her hands on his shoulder and he took a hold of her other one.
He hadn't liked seeing her talk to the detective, and he had to admit that he had been worried that she might slip up somehow in front of Lance when he had decided to approach them.
He had been conversing casually with Tommy and Laurel, who had arrived a little late to the auction, before making his rounds and checking up on Thea and the rest of his family. Diggle had made sure to tell him that he had an eye on the other Queen's and that he shouldn't worry about them, but worry about the people he loved was something that Oliver did the best.
When he had walked toward Felicity and Lance, he had overheard part of the conversation between them.
Why had Felicity defended the Hood- him- in front of Lance? What could she possibly gain by making him out to be some kind of hero? Had she known he could hear her? Was she trying to trick him into believing her?
There was only one way to find out.
"I heard what you told the detective," he informed her as they swayed lightly to the music that was floating around them. His words had come out a lot calmer than he had expected them to. "You were defending me... Why?"
Felicity looked up at him and pursed her lips, rolling her eyes, "Contrary to what you may think, I don't actually hate you."
"It's hard to believe you," he said, twirling her around once before drawing her in closer again, "especially since your kind have a knack for tricking people."
"I think you have hybrids confused with fox spirits, which don't actually exist," she teased lightly before turning serious. "I contacted you because I genuinely believe that you can save this city, Oliver."
"And yet, you still haven't told us why you contacted us," he said, his grip tightening ever so lightly on her hip. She didn't seem too bothered by it though.
"I will, soon," she promised. He nodded curtly as he kept swaying them back and forth on the dance floor.
There weren't a lot of people dancing, but they weren't the only ones. He was too distracted by the way Felicity's body felt this close to him to actually notice the people around them and he was starting to realize just how thin the ice he was treading on was.
"You say that you don't hate me," he said, "even though I have given you plenty of reasons to do so?" It was stated as a question and Felicity seemed to contemplate it for a moment.
She caught her lower lip between her teeth and Oliver fought the sudden urge he had to capture it with his own as he waited for her to reply.
"To be honest," she sighed, "you annoy the crap out of me from time to time, but I still feel like I can trust you..." she trailed off, looking up at him with those baby blue eyes, all innocent again. "Why is that?"
"I don't know," Oliver replied, "maybe you have a death wish?"
Her face visibly fell at his words, "Maybe..." She looked away from him and he felt a pang of something inside his chest: regret.
"I didn't-" he cut himself off abruptly when he realized that he had been about to apologize and say that he hadn't meant it. Why should he feel sorry for hurting her, when all her kind ever did was hurt people?
"It's okay," she told him, squeezing his shoulder lightly, almost as if she had read his mind. "I understand that you still don't trust me, and it's okay. I'll win you over sooner or later," she smiled. "I'm charming like that."
With those words she removed her hand from his grip and instead wrapped both arms around his neck, forcing him to in turn rest both of his on her waist as they kept swaying softly. Next, she did something even more unexpected. She leaned against him and rested her head against his chest, right over his heartbeat. For some reason, he couldn't help the small smile that her comment had evoked and he allowed himself to let go of his anger at the Nightcrawlers just for a moment, knowing that she couldn't see the grin on his face.
Everything seemed to be okay for a while as they danced. He was still feeling warm because of the close proximity to Felicity and he had to force his brain into focusing on anything other than how she seemed to perfectly fit against his body. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that Felicity was human and he could imagine what it would have been like to have known her before the Island.
Everything was fine for a while, until Felicity tensed in his arms and stopped moving.
With her head still resting against his chest, she spoke in a whisper, "I know you can hear me, Lawton."
-§-
For the first time in over a month, Felicity found herself having fun.
Sure, Oliver was being kind of rude to her, but at the same time, his quips held a hint of humor and a teasing tone. She wasn't sure he was aware of the way he sounded though, but it still felt nice to hear him talking to her without all the hostility.
He had seemed genuinely surprised that Felicity would defend his vigilantism and she wondered whether it was because she had defended his mission to kill the Dark Ones or if no one except for Diggle had believed in him before.
Either way, as they swayed slowly to the music, Felicity felt somewhat at peace. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, allowing her hybrid hearing to work more effectively. For a while she concentrated on Oliver's heartbeat, surprised to hear that it had sped up slightly since they started dancing. She decided to blame it on him being nervous about Lawton and worried about his family, because there was no chance that it had anything to do with her.
She cut out the sound of his beating heart and the people who were talking around them, the music disappeared as she concentrated and soon she was able to hear what was happening on the streets outside. Cars honking and speeding through the night, but they didn't matter. If Lawton was somewhere in the surrounding area, he would be up high so that he would be able to get in a kill shot. She was glad that Diggle had agreed to let her drink blood tonight, because it enhanced her hearing several times over. If she focused hard enough, she might actually be able to hear the music from Verdant; that was how much a good bag of blood affected her hybrid powers.
Then she heard it, the sound of a sniper rifle getting loaded.
Felicity froze in Oliver's arms, taking a deep breath before she spoke, "I know you can hear me, Lawton."
Oliver's grip on her hips tightened a little as he drew his head back so that he could look down at her, but she only looked into his eyes and kept talking.
"Where are you?" she whispered. Oliver cocked an eyebrow at her but she shook her head in such a small movement that it was barely visible. If she was going to try to get to Lawton, she needed to be able to mumble and if she was supposed to do so, she would rather not seem crazy to the people around them. So, it would make sense that she used Oliver and faked talking to him in hushed tones.
She tried her best to focus again and when she did, she heard a low chuckle in her ear, "Well, this was unexpected."
"Where are you?" she murmured back, leaning her head against Oliver's chest again under the pretense of saying something to him. "Which roof are you on?"
"What's your name Sweetheart?" Lawton asked, clearly amused for some reason.
"Does it matter? I know you're in one of the surrounding buildings, which means that I can blow your cover whenever I want," Felicity coldly replied.
She could hear a sharp intake of breath, "Ah, Ms. Smoak, I see. I would recognize your scent anywhere..."
Felicity froze again. "How do you know my scent?" she frowned.
"They tried to hire me for you, Ms. Smoak," Lawton said, catching her off guard. She took a deep breath of air, feeling Oliver's arms to tighten around her and she understood him. He wanted to know what was going on, but he couldn't make a move. "They made me visit that cell you were locked up in and even went as far as to shove one of your bloodied shirts into my face."
"Why are you telling me this?" Felicity asked, her voice shaking.
"There's a price on your head, Ms. Smoak. I figured you would want to know," Lawton replied, still as calm as ever. "Although, if you managed to get away from your Sire and stay hidden for so long, there's one thing I don't understand."
"What is that?"
"Why are you in the arms of Oliver Queen?" Lawton inquired. "You don't strike me as a girl who goes after the rich ones."
"I have compelled him," she lied through her teeth. "I'm just using him to have some fun. I was tired of being locked up."
Compulsion was something that was unusual among the Dark Ones. Some lamia vampires were known to be able to control humans through their brainwashing, but the power seemed to be limited to only the oldest ones. In very few cases, depending on how they were turned, hybrids could compel humans as well. Of course, it was a long shot and she doubted that Lawton would believe that she was one of the lucky ones who had inherited the power.
A chuckle rang through her ear and she had a hard time concentrating on Lawton because there was a commotion on the floor below them, "Maybe I was wrong about you."
"Did you take the job?" she wondered finally.
"I told them to shove the shirt where the sun don't shine, Sweetheart," Lawton replied, once again managing to shock her into silence. "I may be a lamia crook, but I don't go after girls who in my eyes haven't done anything wrong; no matter the price."
Why wouldn't he take the hit? If the man who had turned her and his people had wanted to catch her and were willing to pay a high price for her capture, then why would a mercenary like Floyd Lawton not take the opportunity to do it for them? Somehow, Felicity got the feeling that there was more to this lamia vampire than she had previously thought...
"And the other people you've killed? Rasmussen and the others? What about them?" Felicity demanded, her hearing not as good as it had been a moment earlier. She was loosing the extra power she had gained by drinking the blood earlier; she was getting tired. "Who are you going to kill tonight?"
"Why don't you look around for a bit?" Lawton suggested. "I have my eyes set on them and I'll be taking the shot in ten seconds."
Without thinking, Felicity pushed herself out of Oliver's arms, startling him as she frantically twisted and turned, trying to find the target.
"Felicity?" Oliver asked, instantly on alert.
"Seven seconds," was all she told him and his face dropped. Felicity looked past his shoulder, to Walter and Thea who were talking on the other side of the room, when she saw it. The small red light was moving between Thea and Walter and the only thing Felicity could do was act.
She ran forward, as quickly as her human speed would allow her. In her ear, she heard the click of the trigger being pressed and she didn't care whether or not anyone saw her, because she finally sped up in hybrid speed. She managed to get to Thea and Walter and push them to the ground, just as the window broke and all hell broke loose.
-§-
Felicity sat on the med-bay looking over the place in her side where Lawton's bullet had grazed her. The suit jacket that Oliver had given her to cover herself up when she had been questioned by the police laid discarded next to her as she for the hundredth time went over the things that had happened after she had pushed Walter and Thea out of the way.
Lawton's bullet had grazed her side, for one, but she had barely felt it due to the rush of adrenaline. All she had been able to think about was getting Thea and Walter out of there safe, so when Oliver had pushed himself through the crowd and over to them, she had never felt more relieved.
She remembered how Oliver's hand had rested briefly on her shoulder and how he had looked down at her side, seeing that she had been hit. Blood had soaked her red dress, turning it into a darker color but she had felt herself already healing. Instead of saying anything, he had quickly dropped his suit jacket over her shoulders, silently telling her to cover up and then told her to get Thea out. He disappeared from her view and it wasn't until later that Felicity would learn that he had changed into his hood and gone after Lawton together with Diggle.
It had been too late though, because Lawton had managed to escape just before they got to him. The police, mainly Detective Lance, had questioned her on how she had been able to know that the shooter was aiming for Mr. Steele. She just told them that she had seen the red light and that she had watched too many cop-shows to know what that meant, especially with the high security level on the auction.
Thea had approached her soon after, thanking her for saving both her life and Walter's.
"I knew you were special," the younger Queen sibling had told her, right before inviting her to her birthday bash that would be taking place in two weeks time. Felicity had met Oliver's eyes and she had seen that he wasn't too happy about the invitation she had gotten, so she had begun to decline when Walter had stepped in and told her that she had to come. Reluctantly, she had agreed.
Moira had watched the exchange and she had just thanked Felicity for saving Walter and Thea before telling them that they should all go home. There was something about the way that Moira had spoken that made Felicity believe that the woman couldn't wait to get as far away from the Exchange Building as possible. She couldn't really blame her, but at the same time, Felicity wondered if there could be another reason for the older woman's uneasiness.
"Felicity," Diggle said, bringing her out of her deep thoughts.
"Hmm?" Felicity hummed, raising her eyebrows as she looked over at her friend. Oliver was standing next to Diggle with his arms crossed over his chest, but he didn't speak, only looked at her with an unreadable look on his face.
"We wanted to thank you," Diggle told her, giving a pointed look at Oliver, who kept staring at her, not looking away from her face.
"Why? We failed," she said. "I failed. If I had just managed to locate Lawton sooner, if I hadn't been talking to Lance or the other people in the room, I might have been able to track him down and-"
"Felicity," Oliver interrupted, his tone sharp as ever as he effectively cut off her ramble.
She looked down at her hands in her lap, hating how her face heated up and how she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes.
"This was the first time we have ever been able to get a trace of Lawton," Diggle said calmly, "and we wouldn't have been able to do it without you."
"I'm sorry that you didn't get him, Dig," she confessed. "Your brother..."
"We'll get him next time," Diggle promised, walking up to her before he put his hand on her shoulder. Her mind went to earlier tonight when Oliver had touched her shoulder and she couldn't help but think how different the two touches were. "Until then, you should be proud of what you did tonight. You saved Thea and Walter, and probably everyone else in that room. You got shot doing so."
"It was just a graze," Felicity blushed. "And the Curare won't kill me. It's already healed."
"Still," Diggle said. "We owe you a big thank you and we appreciate everything you did tonight."
She glanced over at Oliver who was still intently staring at her. He hadn't spoken a word since he had said her name and she wanted to know what was going through his mind.
"I'm heading home and you should get some rest too," Diggle sighed. He leaned down and pressed a light kiss to her forehead and she closed her eyes, feeling safe. With one last squeeze on her shoulder and one last look in Oliver's direction, Diggle got his jacket and got out of the lair, leaving Felicity alone with Oliver.
They stared at each other for a moment and she could tell that he was torn. He hated her, but he couldn't deny that she had saved both his sister's and his stepfather's life tonight. Wordlessly, Oliver turned around and headed over to the small fridge he had installed. He opened it and took something out before walking over to her hesitantly.
He put the item he had retrieved in her hand and looked into her eyes intently, "Good night, Felicity."
With those words, he walked away from her and out of the lair. She let out a small breath that she hadn't known she had been holding and looked down at the blood-bag he had given her. What could it mean? Was it some kind of a sign that they were heading for a truce? Why would he give her a blood-bag, when she knew how disgusted he had been with her earlier that night for drinking the red liquid?
Was it a test?
Felicity looked at the bag in her hands, wondering whether or not she should drink it. It would make her feel stronger and heighten her abilities, but would she be needing that any time soon?
Her mind traveled to what Lawton had said to her tonight. There was a price on her head and her enemies might be coming after her. Her time was slowly running out and if the blood-bag was any kind of sign, she might be starting to earn Oliver's trust. She had to tell him what she knew about the People of Darkness and their plans for the city, but she needed to earn his trust first.
Sighing deeply, Felicity opened the bag of blood and put it to her lips. If the man who was responsible for turning her was still looking for her and was willing to hire people like Lawton to get to her, she needed to be prepared. She needed to be able to fight them and protect the people she had begun to care about.
So tonight, Felicity drank.
Note: Oooooh! Oliver GAVE Felicity a blood bag, despite being 'disgusted' about it all! And Thea joined the story officially and so did Laurel and Tommy! There will obviously be more Tommy in the upcoming chapters, but you'll just have to wait a little! ;)
Since this chapter was so long, I'll see if I'll be able to write the next one this week because I have some school work that needs to get done too. If I don't manage to finish the next chapter in time, I hope you'll understand, but please: Do give me that special push by leaving a comment! :)
Oh, and BTW (haha, to those who saw the premiere), tell me what your FAVORITE part of this chapter was AND what you're looking forward to seeing happen next! :D
Thank you for reading! :) xx