Phase Three
Oliver spotted her the minute he walked into the restaurant.
She was sitting in a corner booth, far away from the window, and crouched over the menu with a hat covering her eyes, like she was trying to keep as far away from scrutiny as possible.
With a grin, he strode past the hostess offering him a greeting and walked up to where she sat.
"Heya, Speedy," he greeted.
Thea looked up from the menu and the sweetest smile spread over her face the minute she saw her brother. With a soft squeal, she stood up and threw her arms around his shoulders.
"Ollie," she sighed in contentment. She squeezed him tightly and his arms automatically went to wrap around her waist.
When they finally released each other, Thea went back to the booth while Oliver took up the seat across from her.
"So how are you doing, little sis?" he asked. "How's Central City University treating you? You haven't been partying too hard, have you?"
She rolled her eyes playfully at his question. "College is all about partying, Ollie. You should know, you got kicked out of four of them because of it."
He grimaced at her. "I notice you're still in college though, so I imagine you're doing at least a little bit of studying?"
She shrugged, as if she were trying to be nonchalant about it. "Yeah, I suppose. I've already got all my classes lined up for next semester. That is, if I pass my finals."
He smiled. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Oliver knew Thea loved college, and not just for the social scene it provided — she actually enjoyed the subjects she was studying (fashion merchandising and business), and she had ambitions to use her education once she graduated. It was a far cry from the directionless wild child she was in high school.
"You will pass," he reassured her. "If you want, I can help you find a tutor."
"It may come to that. Anyway, whether I pass finals or not, I've decided that I'm going to spend the summer in Barcelona with my suitemates. I could use the sun. Oh, remember the paella we had at that little hole-in-the-wall place Dad took us to when I was nine? I still have dreams about it."
"Yeah, I remember."
Thea's smile turned a little sad and wistful as she turned her gaze out to the window. "It's coming up on that anniversary, you know. It'll be five years in May."
He nodded, looking down at the sticky table in front of him. Five years. Five long years without his father. It felt more like decades, because in those five years Oliver felt like he'd aged by at least fifty years.
"So anyway," Thea shook her head, as if sweeping away the melancholy thoughts. "How's Mom? How's she enjoying Sweden?"
After Moira was shot at the benefit, Oliver sent her to Sweden to recover. The facilities there were far more comfortable and asked no questions, so she'd be able to do her physical therapy in peace. Sending her to Sweden also had the added benefit of keeping her as far away from the conflict at home as possible, since the Triad didn't have any associates in Scandinavia.
"She says it's far too cold for her liking," Oliver answered with a tight smile. "She told me her entire spring wardrobe is obsolete."
Thea giggled. "Maybe before I go to Barcelona, I'll swing by and hang with her for a week. She's got to be bored out of her mind up there. No one to boss around."
He laughed at that. "Yeah, she's trying her hardest to hold some sway here."
The waitress came by and took their drink and food orders. Once she had them, she took their menus and left them once again.
"So listen, Speedy," Oliver began, inwardly bracing himself for the reason he brought her here in the first place. "I'm going to have to up your protection for the foreseeable future."
She raised a delicate eyebrow at him. "Oh?"
"I don't want to tell you too much, but we've started waging war," he murmured in a low voice. "It's been a few weeks now, but the conflict is going to escalate soon. We're sure of it. That's why I sent Mom to Sweden and that's why I'm going to add more security to your detail."
"Do you really think they're going to try and get me in Central City?" she asked with a skeptical expression.
"I don't want to take any chances," he answered darkly. "Once the semester is over, we'll set up a safe house for you and your suitemates in Barcelona, but if your travel plans change I'll need to know at least a week in advance. At the very latest."
Thea bit down on her lip as she examined her older brother's expression.
"Ollie," she began slowly, "do you think this is a good idea?"
"Do I think what is a good idea?"
"Waging war with the Triad? I mean, I know they're the bad guys, but — "
"Thea, they killed Dad," he growled. "They've killed countless other people. They shot at Mom. They shot at me."
"I know," she interrupted him. "Look, I know all of that. Don't you remember how angry I was after Dad died? God, I was just fourteen, but I wanted to go out and find the bastards and kill them myself."
Oliver's jaw tightened as he watched his sister fidget in front of him.
"It's just...ever since Dad died and you took over the...the family business, you've turned into someone that I hardly recognize. You're so willing to get revenge that you'll stop at nothing."
"What are you saying, Thea?"
"I'm saying...look, I get it. I know that this isn't a happy-go-lucky kind of business and I know that Dad wanted me to stay as far away from it as possible and so do you, and I'm trying. Really, I am. But I still hear things. I hear about...about stuff that's going on."
She paused for a moment while he quirked an eyebrow up at her. Then she sucked in a deep breath.
"I've heard about the Vertigo, Ollie."
His fists clenched under the table the minute the word slipped from her mouth.
A week after Helena shot him, Anatoly declared war but not before he handed down the official mandate. The Bratva started pushing Vertigo; Starling City was the test balloon. They were seeing how well the drug did in their city before they started opening their lines of distribution.
Vertigo had been on the streets for about a month now and they were raking in the dough. It was helping fund the war against the Triad: the dirty money paid for weapons and information and soon Triad bodies were dropping in far greater numbers than Bratva ones.
But so were civilian bodies. The SCPD had kept quiet about the number of Vertigo overdoses thanks to the Brava's stranglehold on the department, but soon enough the state was going to notice. And after that, it was only a matter of time before the feds came raining down on them.
"I've got it handled, Thea," Oliver finally bit out.
Her brows wrinkled in a suddenly furious expression.
"That's bullshit," she declared, her arms crossed over her chest. "You do not have it handled. You've crossed a line this time. It was one thing when it was marijuana or cocaine, but now you've started dealing in synthetics! God, just think what Dad would say if he were here right now!"
"Yeah, well he's not," Oliver growled. "He's not here. If he were, I wouldn't be in this position. You wouldn't be in this position. None of us would be in this position. What am I supposed to do, Thea? I swore that I was going to take these guys down and if this is what I need to do, then — "
"That's what I'm saying!" she hissed. "That's what I'm trying to point out! You've been hellbent on revenge and I get it, but at what cost? You want to take down the Triad so bad that you're willing to let innocent people die along the way!"
The two Queen siblings sat in that corner booth, glaring at each other just as the waitress brought by their food. Once she left, Oliver finally broke eye contact with his sister and turned his glare to the piping hot burger in front of him.
She was right, of course. Oliver spent the entire first part of his life running away from these responsibilities while his father was alive. He didn't want to have anything to do with the family business and his father actively encouraged that. Robert wanted Oliver to run as far away from this life as he could.
But the minute the Triad shot Robert, Oliver didn't have any choice.
"I don't know what to do, Thea," he answered quietly. "This is what I've been working toward for five years. Five long years. If I quit now, it will all have been for nothing and Dad's killers will still be on the loose."
The young woman huffed as she settled back into the booth. "To tell you the truth, Ollie, I don't know what you should do either."
That brought a wry grin to his face, one that she returned. Then he let out an exhausted sigh.
"I didn't say this earlier, but you look like shit, big brother," Thea said plainly. "Have you been sleeping at all?"
"No, not really," he said as he chomped on a fry. "Too much has been going on, and that's including at QC. We're trying to expand the Applied Sciences division, and the amount of red tape we have to navigate…" he shook his head. "It's a nightmare. Felicity hasn't stopped scolding me ever since Dr. Snow took me off bed rest."
Thea's eyebrows shot up her forehead as she chewed. "Who's Felicity?"
"My new EA," he answered. "She's a good person. You'll like her."
His little sister's eyes suddenly took on a scrutinizing expression that reminded him way too much of their mother. "And do you like her?"
"Of course I like her. She's my EA."
"No, I mean like like her."
Oliver rolled his eyes. "What is this, the third grade?"
"You know what I mean. You were talking about her like...well, I don't know because you don't have a lot of history to compare it to, but the way you said her name just now makes it sound like there might be something going on between the two of you."
"There is nothing going on between the two of us," Oliver said firmly.
"OK, but are you lying?"
"Thea!"
She held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll drop it."
"Thank you," he said pointedly as he returned to his food.
"Besides, I'll get to meet her tonight anyway."
He groaned as he buried his face in his hands.
Outside of long breaks, Thea only ever came home once or twice during the semester. And when she did, Raisa liked to construct huge feasts of all of Thea's favorite foods. Which was exactly what the woman was doing when Oliver walked into the kitchen that evening.
"Mr. Oliver," she greeted with a smile. She was currently hunched over a bowl of what looked like mac and cheese, which was Thea's favorite comfort food whenever she was sick.
The man himself grinned at his beloved housekeeper and pecked her on the cheek. "Good evening, Raisa. I just came here to get a bottle of water."
He walked to the small refrigerator and grabbed what he came for. Then he turned back to his housekeeper.
"By the way, do you know where Felicity is?" he asked her.
She nodded. "She was getting so tired of being cooped up in the house, so I sent her to the market for flour and eggs."
The bottle in Oliver's hand stilled halfway to his mouth. "Did she go by herself?"
"No. Mr. John insisted on going with her."
A wave of relief flooded through him. The thought of Felicity going out on her own during such a turbulent time was enough to send shockwaves of panic through him.
The Bratva officially declared war just four weeks ago, but in that short month, bodies had been dropping on both sides. He'd already lost six footmen, and Sin was still in recovery after she got shanked in a fight down by the docks. If Felicity ventured out by herself, she was sure to get hurt.
Raisa had been watching his expressions very closely. It made Oliver squirm underneath her scrutinizing gaze.
"Miss Felicity is a lovely girl," she said slowly. "She reminds me so much of a sunbeam."
Oliver took a sip of his water, waiting for his housekeeper to make the point she seemed to be building up to.
"Sunbeams shine light into the darkness and bring happiness to us. But we cannot hold onto sunbeams. We cannot trap them. We cannot keep them for ourselves. They must bring light to others, otherwise they cease to exist."
He sighed. "What are you saying, Raisa?" he asked quietly.
"I'm saying Miss Felicity is like sunbeam. Just like you used to be. You used to be sunbeam when you were younger."
Yeah, Oliver thought wryly to himself. A drunken player of a sunbeam. But this conversation was starting to get far too real for his comfort, so it was time for him to get away.
"Thanks, Raisa," he said, but not before wrapping a warm hand around her forearm. Then he walked out of the kitchen.
It was still a few more hours until dinner and he didn't have anything to do. Thea had gone shopping (because apparently the boutiques in Central City were too frilly for her liking), and there was nothing pressing that he needed to immediately take care of.
So he decided to wander out to the gym, which was in a huge room on the other side of the olympic-sized indoor swimming pool.
Physical exertion was what he needed, he thought to himself. A few minutes on the treadmill would be good for him, to help him work through the things Thea and Raisa both said.
Taking off his shirt and donning a pair of gym shorts and tennis shoes, he got on the treadmill and took a few warm up laps. Then he ramped up the speed and started running, working through the initial burn in his calves the and struggle for air until he settled into a nice, easy rhythm.
Now that his body was occupied, his mind started wandering down other avenues. He thought of what Raisa meant, about Felicity being a sunbeam, about how she shined light into darkness.
Quite honestly, that was the most perfect descriptor he'd ever heard for the tiny blonde. She could figuratively and literally light up a room with her smile alone. There were times when she would smile at him and he had to look away, lest she blinded him.
The truth of the matter was, he'd known her for six weeks. Six weeks. And in the span of that month and a half, he'd found himself completely dependent on Felicity Smoak. Both in QC matters and Bratva matters, he'd catch himself watching her out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge her reaction on her open face. And what was even more perplexing, he tried as often as possible to do what he thought she wanted him to do.
When he didn't, he spent a considerable amount of the day walking around with a huge pit in his stomach, which did nothing for the ulcer he was almost certain he was developing.
The more he thought about it, actually, the more terrifying it was. The fact that she held so much sway over what he did, even when she said nothing, was dangerous. It was dangerous for her, it was dangerous for him and it was dangerous for the hundreds of other Bratva associates under his command. He had to think clearly and rationally when he made these decisions and it was so damn hard to think rationally when she was near him. For fuck's sake, it was difficult just breathing in her presence sometimes.
He tried to think when exactly it started, this insane dependence and awareness of her. If he was being honest, he'd always been aware of her, even in the early days. He'd track her out of the corner of his eye at QC, as she moved around her little space in front of the glass walls of his office, noticing when she would shake her shoulders and dance to whatever song she was listening to through her headphones.
But this desire to please her...it must have come from that week when she ignored him. The week of hell that only ended with her pulling a bullet out of his chest.
God what a horrible week it had been. He shuddered as he ran on the treadmill, though his body was dripping with sweat. The steely glare her eyes took on every time she looked at him...the distant way she held herself...the cold politeness her voice took on every time she addressed him.
He knew he had overreacted. He knew it the minute he started yelling at her. But God he couldn't help it. He'd never felt such panic in his life as he watched her disobey his orders and crouch in front of a tangle of wires, waiting on bated breath as each second ticked closer and closer to his demise. There weren't strong enough words to describe how it felt, knowing that he might have to watch her die in front of him, seconds before the explosion took him with it.
He nearly lost her that day.
The thought made Oliver stumble on the treadmill and his arms grabbed on to the rails so he could jump off the belt and pause for a second.
His breath escaped him in short, quick huffs, both from how fast he'd been going and also from the memory.
"Shit," he breathed.
Just as he was about to get back on the belt, he heard the door open behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Felicity poking her head through, like she was wary of coming inside.
"Oliver?" she called out tentatively.
A smile started to creep across his face in spite of himself. "You can come in, Felicity. I'm not going to bite."
She gave a weak smile as she pulled away from the door and stepped slowly into the room. "Hi. Um, Raisa wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready."
"OK." He turned back to the treadmill and turned it off before hopping off and grabbing the towel he'd hung on the rails. "Tell them I'll be right there."
She nodded and her head disappeared from the doorway. With a sigh, Oliver patted down his chest with his towel and went into the shower to quickly wash off all the sweat.
He walked into the dining room fifteen minutes later to find Thea and Felicity sitting at the table, talking a million miles a minute in the way only young women who'd formed a quick bond could do. Thea's eyes were lit up by the smile on her face and she was laughing at something Felicity had said.
The sight shocked Oliver because truth be told, he hadn't seen her smile like that since before their father died. He was almost terrified that he'd lost that smile forever, but there it was, lighting up her face like it had never disappeared in the first place.
Looking at it made his heart feel like a balloon inside of his chest, swelling and swelling until he just felt lighter, like he could float away at any moment. And he had no idea how much he missed his sister's carefree smile until he realized it had been missing in the first place.
Unable to help himself, a smile of his own spread across his mouth as he took his seat at the head of the table. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked.
"Oh, Ollie!" Thea beamed and there was that feeling again. "I was just telling Felicity here about that time you made me to eat dirt when we were little kids."
Felicity giggled and Oliver's balloon light heart did a somersault in his chest at the sound.
"First of all, I did not make you eat dirt," he said in a mock annoyed tone. "Trying to make you do anything when you were a little kid was like trying to push a boulder up hill."
"Then what would you call it?" Thea challenged.
"I dared you to eat dirt," he answered. "There's a big difference."
Felicity burst into full laughter, and Oliver couldn't help but watch in amazement at the sight. He'd never heard his assistant laugh like this at anything, and he mostly thought it was because she never felt comfortable enough in his presence to laugh like this.
Watching her sparkle made his mouth go dry and his palms sweaty.
"I'm sure you got him back a few times on your own though, right?" she asked Thea as her giggles finally died down.
"Not as much as she would have liked," Oliver said smugly. "I was always one step ahead of her."
Thea rolled her eyes at that, but the smile on her face belied her annoyance.
Felicity snickered, and her smile was almost a little wistful. "It must have been fun, though. I always wanted a sibling."
"You're an only child?" Thea asked with her head cocked to the side.
She nodded. "My mom was a single mother working as a cocktail waitress in Vegas. I'm her only child. I remember asking for a sibling one year for Hanukkah, and ended up getting a lecture on the birds and bees instead. I think she was trying to put me off of wanting a sibling or a baby of my own at a young age, and let me tell you, it worked."
Thea blinked in surprised for a full five seconds before bursting out into laughter, and a few moments later, Felicity joined her.
Oliver chuckled, but his mirth wasn't as free as his sister's. Barring that time at the hospital fundraiser when she let a personal detail about her mother slip, it was the most she'd ever talked about her childhood.
He thought back to his own childhood as his sister and his assistant gabbed and Raisa served dinner. Oliver had been far too self-involved to understand he was going to have a little sister when his mother told him she was pregnant, and once Thea was old enough to start following him around everywhere, he was more annoyed than indifferent. Hence the eating dirt incident.
Eventually he got used to her presence, and by then he grudgingly enjoyed having her around. It made his childhood less lonely, and knowing that he had a kid sister who looked up to him stopped him from doing a lot of stupid shit. (He still did stupid shit, but it could have been a whole lot worse.)
Hearing Felicity talk about wanting a sibling made him wonder again about what her childhood would have been like. With a single mother who seemed to work a lot and a father who wasn't in the picture for reasons he didn't quite know, she must have been lonely as a child. Forced to grow up and bear responsibilities that children shouldn't have had to deal with…
He wanted to know more, but by the time he tuned back into their conversation, they had wandered far off the topic of lonely childhoods to much girlier things that he had no interest in.
But while Oliver tuned out their chatter, he watched the two of them interact. As he'd predicted, Felicity and Thea got along really well. His assistant would laugh with delight whenever his sister would regale her with stories about the Queen siblings and their childhoods.
Thea was just wrapping up a particularly embarrassing story about the time Oliver discovered Axe Body Spray and Thea had discovered at the same time that she was allergic to it when Digg walked into the living room. He greeted the two ladies with a slight nod of the head before dipping down to whisper in Oliver's ear.
"We've got a situation," he murmured. "We need you immediately."
Oliver's face immediately dropped his mirthful expression and nodded. "Meet me in the office."
Digg returned the nod and left the dining room. Then Oliver turned to his dining companions. "Something's come up and I'm afraid I have to bow out of dinner early. If you'll excuse me."
In seconds he was out of his chair and following Digg down the hallway to the office. Fyers and Gold were already waiting for him there, sitting in the armchairs in front of the fireplace.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked, closing the door firmly behind him.
"For the past week, someone's been attacking our supply ships of Vertigo," Fyers answered. "The drugs aren't getting out to our dealers."
Oliver's jaw clenched. "For the past week?" he demanded. "How the hell has this been going on for a week?"
Fyers grimaced while Gold shifted a little in his seat.
"When the first few incidents happened, we thought it was just the Triad getting lucky by cutting off our supplies," Gold reluctantly replied.
"How do we know it's not the Triad?" Oliver bit out.
"If it were the Triad, they'd be trying to profit off of it," Digg said quietly. "But as far as we know, they haven't been selling any Vertigo and the people strung out on the drug are getting more and more desperate for it."
"So then who is it?" Oliver shouted. "Who the hell has been cutting off our Vertigo supplies?"
Fyers and Gold glanced at one another, before turning back to Oliver.
"We think it's the feds," Fyers murmured.
Oliver glared at the two men standing before him. "How the hell would the feds know anything about this? This is a new drug, it's barely been on the streets for a month."
"That's the thing," Gold interrupted. "This drug is so new that it's not even illegal yet. Most synthetics take at least five years before police even start to notice the pattern and then two more years before the government can catch up and outlaw the ingredients."
"So your explanation doesn't make any sense. It takes years for the government to do anything, so why are the on us now?"
"Because I'm pretty sure we have a mole in the organization," Fyers growled.
Oliver's spine stiffened and a shiver ran through his entire body at Fyer's proclamation.
A mole.
A traitor.
The air in the room hung heavy with the declaration of an informant among them. Even Digg seemed to be holding his breath.
"That's a dangerous accusation to be making, Fyers." Oliver's voice was low and gravely, as he glared at his gruff boevik.
But the man didn't back down. "I know," he shot back. "Which is why we need to be investigating everyone, immediately. We're in the middle of a war with the Triad, we can't afford to have leaks in our organization!"
Oliver growled. There were few things he hated more in this world than Fyers, but Fyers being right was one of them.
"Fine," he bit out. "I'll look into it. Now leave."
Fyers gave one last scowl before stalking out of the office, Gold following close behind him.
Once they were gone, Digg closed the door, leaving just him and Oliver alone. The Bratva captain turned to his trusted adviser.
"What do you think?" he asked.
Digg didn't say anything for a brief pause. Oliver waited on baited breath for the man to answer.
"It's too much to be a coincidence," he finally answered. "I think they're right. I think there's a mole."
Oliver turned away in frustration.
"God fucking damn it!" he shouted.
This was the last thing he could afford at the moment. They were at war with the Triad, they needed the money from Vertigo to continue funding it, and the FBI was on their tail. All because there was a traitor in the organization.
He hated feeling so helpless.
With an angry huff, he rubbed his hands over his tired face, then turned back to his number two. This couldn't stand. This situation had to be contained, and contained immediately.
"What do we do now?" Digg asked quietly.
"We take stock of everyone working for us, and determine the likeliest associates to be moles," Oliver bit out. "Then we smoke them out."
