Felicity walked towards Queen Consolidated early Monday morning. She'd prepared a speech for Oliver that she'd practiced on the drive over. She'd tell him about Thor. If SHIELD was in Starling, he deserved to know. There was a good chance that they wouldn't be too happy about a vigilante like the Arrow running around. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and look up at the towering building. "He's probably not even there yet." She muttered. Thor had been inspected her bookshelf and while he seemed upset that he'd be alone, he'd declared that he would find a way to entertain himself. She was about to walk up the stairs when a large black van pulled up in front of the building. She frowned at it. Then a hand went on her arm.
"Don't scream. My name is agent Clint Barton and I'm with SHIELD. I'm going to need you to turn around and move your pretty self into that van." The man who'd grabbed her arm said in her ear.
Felicity pulled her arm away and turned to glare at a tall dirty blonde man in sunglasses. "What do you want from me?"
"Look darlin', we can do this the easy way or the I throw you over my shoulder and embarrass you in front of your workplace way." He smirked. "And I'm guessing you'd rather avoid option 2 because that dress is really short." He added looking at her legs. Felicity glared at him.
"Prove you're SHIELD or I start screaming bloody murder."
"Barton." A man in a suit and sunglasses came out of the van, looking exasperated. "Stand down." He held out his hand. "My name is Phil Coulson. I'm sorry about Barton, he was raised in the circus and manners aren't his strong suit. We are going to need you to get into the van though." He held out a badge, which Felicity recognized as SHIELD. She nodded and stepped into the van as Coulson held the door open.
Relax. She thought. You've done nothing wrong.
"Not true." Barton said as he slid in next to her. "According to our intel you've been a very bad girl Ms. Smoak."
"Barton." Coulson groaned, closing the door. The van began moving.
"No fair, Romanov gets to flirt with her marks all the time." Barton whined.
"Romanov actually gets results." Coulson shot back. "And that wasn't flirting, it was sexual harassment."
Felicity crossed her arms. "I already told you guys I'm not joining SHIELD."
"That's fine." Coulson said. "We aren't here to try to convince you to change your mind. We're talking to you because we need a liaison to the Arrow."
"And what makes you think I know anything about him?" Felicity asked, trying not to panic. How did they know she was connected to Arrow?
"You were brought in for questioning as a possible associate by then detective Lance about a year ago." Coulson said.
"I was cleared and no charges were filed." Felicity retorted.
"Then there's the incident with the Count." Coulson continued. "The police report said the Arrow killed to protect you, even though he hadn't killed since the earthquake. You must be pretty special to him for him to make such a decision."
"I'm not that special." Felicity muttered. "He was just doing his job protecting the people of Starling. I was lucky he came in time to stop the count from killing me."
Coulson and Barton shared looks.
"Don't quit your day job, darlin'." Barton said, leaning back in the seat and shaking his head in exasperation. "But consider quitting your night job; you're a horrible liar."
"We know you're the Arrow's technical assistant." Coulson said. "And though we don't particularly approve of his methods."
"Or plagiarism in terms of weapon choices." Barton grumbled.
"We need his help." Coulson said, forcefully cutting Barton off. "There's an enhanced mercenary threatening the city and a possible extraterrestrial threat."
Felicity gaped at them. Luckily they interpreted her surprise as a reaction to the extraterrestrial detail.
"Yes, little green men exist." Barton said. "We're not alone, there's life on mars and –"
"Why did I bring you?" Coulson covered his face.
"Because of my wit, charm, and good looks?" Barton suggested.
"There's a potential alien threat walking around Starling. We need the Arrow to be apprised of the situation and, should there be trouble, we might want to use him and the woman in black to help us contain it." Coulson said, ignoring Barton.
"Maybe the alien isn't bad." Felicity blurted out.
They looked at her blankly.
"You don't know them. What if it's an ET situation and they're only interested in harvesting plants or something." She said quickly. "Containing just sounds like you're going to take them apart and experiment on them."
"We want to verify they pose no threat to the people of Starling." Coulson said. "Or earth."
Felicity bit her lip. "I'll relay your message to the Arrow." She said. She wanted out of the car.
"Good." The car had circled around the block and stopped back in front of Queen Consolidated. Coulson opened the door. "Have a good day at work, Ms. Smoak."
She got out and fought the urge to run into the building. Keeping calm she entered the elevator. The second the doors closed, she leaned back against the elevator wall, her legs shaking.
Oliver had gotten to QC early that morning because he planned on confronting Felicity. She hadn't been at the foundry the night before and he couldn't have her blowing off Arrow business because she was sleeping with that surfer looking guy. He was walking towards the building when he caught sight of her in front of the stairs. She seemed nervous, then a tall blonde man walked up behind her. He grabbed her arm and whispered something in her ear. Oliver was about to rush over and tear her away from him when a voice from behind him distracted him.
"Mr. Queen."
He froze.
"Amanda." He turned to see Amanda Waller standing behind him.
"Let's take a ride."
He looked back at Felicity, who was talking to the blonde and a man in a suit and sunglasses.
"Don't concern yourself with her, those are SHIELD agents." Waller sounded disinterested.
"SHIELD?" Oliver made to grab her, but Waller gripped his arm.
"They want her because of her connection to the Arrow." She hissed. "They don't know who you are and I want to keep it that way." She waited until the car pulled away, then let go of his arm. Walking towards the building she motioned for him to follow.
"What do you want?" Oliver growled. "And why is SHIELD interested in the Arrow?"
"Because an extraterrestrial landed outside of Starling on Friday night and they want the Arrow's cooperation in tracking it down." Waller said. "We have much to discuss, Mr. Queen."
Felicity got off on the executive floor. The office was empty, which was a relief. She could not deal with Oliver drama right now. The first thing she did was check to see if SHIELD had planted a bug on her. Then she checked the security on her phone. She'd double check the Arrow Cave's firewall later. She called the phone she'd gotten Thor.
"HELLO" Thor shouted into phone. Felicity practically jumped out of her skin. "ARE YOU ABLE TO HEAR ME, LADY FELICITY?"
"Yes." Felicity squeaked, "You don't have to yell." She took a shuddering breath.
"Apologies." Thor said. "It is unnerving talking to you when I cannot see you."
"Is….is everything okay?" She asked.
"Yes." Thor sounded confused. "Are you concerned that I might have set the kitchen on fire? Because I have not been near it."
"No… no no no." She giggled. "I was just checking that…um never mind, I'll explain later. Just do me a favor and don't answer the door for anyone or anything."
"Are you alright, lady Felicity?" Thor sounded concerned. "Your cadence of speech implies distress."
"I'll tell you when I get back. Just…don't answer the door unless it's me." She hung up. drumming her fingers nervously on her desk. Finally, Digg came into the office. He frowned when he saw Oliver's empty desk.
"Where's…?" He pointed to the desk.
"It was empty when I got here." Felicity shrugged. "I'm used to it." Digg frowned, scrutinizing her face.
"What's wrong?"
"SHIELD." Felicity said, shaking.
"Did they threaten you?" Digg tensed, looking around the office for potential threats.
"No, they just wanted me to contact the Arrow, they found out I work for him, but not who he is." She looked at her desk. "Though it's probably only a matter of time before they figure it out." She shuddered. "They want to "find the extraterrestrial and see if it poses a threat." She made air quotes. "IT, they act like he's not a person."
Digg sat across from her desk. "We knew they were looking for him."
"I just didn't except them to get so close so quickly." Felicity said.
"Do we tell Oliver?" Digg asked.
"I…" She stared out at the hallway. The elevator opened and Oliver came onto the floor. "Oliver."
He frowned at them. "I didn't think you'd be here." He said, going into his office.
"What?" Felicity frowned and got up, following him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that you haven't really been putting work as your first priority." Oliver said, crossing his arms. "I know this job isn't what you wanted, but blowing off work to hook up with –"
"Oliver, you need to stop because it's getting really hard for me not to strangle you." Felicity hissed. "I was not the one blowing off work to hook up with someone."
"Oh, really? So you were actually sick on Saturday?" He retorted. "And I'm guessing the man who I saw you flirting with on your couch was your doctor."
"No." Felicity shot back. "I took off work to help a friend who lost his clothes…His suitcase. And were you looking through my window?"
"I came to check on you." Oliver retorted.
"No." Digg said. "That's a lie, you went there to apologize."
"It was before I saw that she lied to me."
"You lied to me." Felicity shouted.
Oliver's eyes widened. Then he looked at Digg, betrayed.
"Don't blame Digg, I found out about you and Sara on my own." Felicity said. "I saw you on Friday." Oliver looked at the ground, guilty.
There was a beeping from her computer. She cleared her throat. "That's my Arrow alert." She rushed back to her desk. Digg followed.
"Arrow alert?" He chuckled.
"I set up a warning algorithm in case a serious crime came up." She frowned. "There was a bank robbery last night, and it only got reported today."' She began typing. "I'm going to need to use the lair computers." She looked back at Oliver, who was still standing in his office. He was about to say something when Isabel arrived.
"Mr. Queen, I need to see you about the stock numbers last Friday." She swept in, ignoring Felicity and Digg. Digg sat back in his chair next to Felicity's desk.
"Settle in, we're going to be here for a long time." He said watching Isabel begin berating Oliver.
Hours later, when Isabel left, Moira walked in with Thea. It was the only way she could get Oliver to talk to her.
"We'll be leaving for lunch and a campaign luncheon." She said dismissively to Digg and Felicity. "Don't expect him back." She glared at Felicity as Thea looped her arm through Oliver's and began chatting with him on the way to the elevator. Felicity forced herself to smile back, her face hurting with the effort.
"You okay?" Digg asked as the Queen family left.
"This may be the worst day ever." Felicity grumbled.