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This chapter we see a lot of interaction between Sara, Diggle, Felicity, and Oliver. I hope you all enjoy!
She didn't know why she was overreacting. She really didn't.
He saved her life back at the Bratva House of Pain. He risked his by trying to dismantle a bomb before swinging her out a window when he could have left her.
He could have turned and left her with her hand wrapped around a bomb. He could have ran off into the woods without carrying her over his shoulder, making sure she got out alive. He could have left her to die.
And he didn't.
Yet she still punched him in the back, yelled at him, and blamed him for something that was clearly a matter of circumstance. Well, if you excluded the fact that she was robbing a dangerous organized crime syndicate and she reached for that stupid egg while trying to be sneaky.
There was a reason she didn't go out into the field that often - or at least a reason why she shouldn't go out into the field in Russia.
Last time she was in Russia she was shot. This time she was nearly blown up. Maybe the country didn't like her.
"You ok?" His voice was warm, and not at all hostile once again reminder her that Oliver Queen was truly a better man than anyone gave him credit for. "You've been quiet for five minutes."
He had slowed his pace to walk alongside her, holding out a hand whenever she tripped. She could see his hand now, his strong, calloused hand, reaching out to her side. He had a light smirk playing at his lips, but an air of caution in his eyes.
Her limp had only increased in the past ten minutes they'd been walking. After getting out of the mansion they had been reduced to travel by foot until they could reach the side access road at least two miles out.
Oliver's defense had been 'it's safer this way.' With his inside knowledge of Bratva tendencies she let him take the lead, her current state of physical well-being preventing her from arguing.
Felicity looked up, taking in a breath of musky, Oliver scent from the leather he draped around her shoulders. How could one man smell so good?
"I'm ok," she whispered, feeling a blush wash over her cheeks before looking away. "Just thinking."
"I don't know you very well, but how come I get the feeling that you and thinking can be a dangerous combination?" He said with a chuckle.
She liked the sound of his laugh. For someone so serious, it sounded right.
Felicity turned to object but felt a twinge of pain shoot through her injured leg. "Can we pause for a minute?"
Oliver glanced over his shoulder, and seemed to do what she would call a 'perimeter scan' before giving her a quick nod. It made her wonder just what happened on that island to make Oliver Queen, spoiled-rich-Oliver Queen, the man in front of her.
"Is it still bleeding?" He asked before lowering to one knee without waiting for her response. "It would probably help with the pain if you kept your weight off of it."
"Is that an offer for a piggy-back ride through the Russian tundra?" Felicity asked with a laugh, her eyes falling closed as his hand began to run along the location of her wound.
This time the sensation that coursed through her was not due to pain.
"It's a forest, not a tundra," he chuckled. "It may be easier to pick you up and carry you. At least then you'll stop slowing me down."
Felicity's eyes flashed open, but caught the twinkle in Oliver's. He was joking with her.
"Look at that, the Arrow can make a joke." She paused only a moment before continuing on. "I'm sorry, about before."
He looked up with an expectant glance. Clearly those four words weren't going to be enough.
"I shouldn't have blamed you for everything back there and I shouldn't have been such a … a bitch."
"Oh come on, I've seen worse." Oliver's tone was light, but she saw it was more for her benefit.
"Yeah, but I'm not normally a bitch, and you did save my life." Felicity paused to meet his eyes. There they were, the ocean blue eyes of the man she dreamt about for the past ten weeks. It felt like coming home, or something else familiar. "Thank you."
Oliver didn't laugh that time, but stood to his feet. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with an intense look in his eyes. It wasn't a hostile look, but a questioning one.
"Why are you doing this?" It was a simple enough question with such a complicated answer.
She was well aware her situation was probably a therapist's dream. Lost little girl with abandonment issues. and residual anger and resentment directed at the high earning insurance companies who could give a crap about the little guy when it came to getting their pay out, which was one reason why she liked to target big scores with insurance claims taken out on them.
It was also a façade, a redirect away from what she was really angry about.
But it was too long of a story to tell.
"I could ask you the same thing," she rebutted instead, her hands moving to tighten the jacket around her shoulders. "From what I know about you, vigilante crime fighting isn't exactly the craps table at the Bellagio."
She watched as a ghost passed through Oliver's eyes. The memory of his time spent away, the situations that made him into the man standing before her danced through his expression before fading. It was a brief flash of pain so real she almost felt it, before it vanished behind a wall of stoicism.
"Things happen," he murmured, eyes blank. "You never answered my question. Even though we only talked for twenty minutes at the gala I never would have guessed you would be doing …" he gestured to her black attire, her ski mask must have been lost somewhere between the mansion and the forest. "This."
Felicity wondered if the same haunted expression passed through her eyes at the memory of why she began to live this life. The memory of her mother's body, so thin and frail, begging for death to come and claim her – to take away the pain that gnawed through her insides and made it impossible to eat or sleep.
The sounds of the medical claims department at the hospital asking where their payment was, the insurance company refusing to pay – stating it was not necessary treatment for Donna's condition. The faces of the men, women, and even children sitting in the oncology waiting room, waiting to hear the same fate as her and her mother.
The silence that followed as she waited for one more breath, just one more, from her mother's chapped lips. That silence was deafening.
"Things happen." She mimicked before taking a step forward.
The idea of stopping to rest no longer held any appeal.
Sara's first thought as she began to regain consciousness was of Felicity ... and Nyssa. Both would be equally pissed to find out Sara had been captured. Not to mention Felicity was somewhere out there, alone, with the Triad planning a double cross.
Her second thought was of escape, but the hard plastic of what she believed to be zip ties, held her tight around her wrist. Getting out of a pair of zip ties was no big deal, Floyd trained her in the art of breaking her thumb to slip them off easily enough. She had tried teaching Felicity, but her friend kept squirming and yelping before she could actually try.
That didn't matter anyway as they soon learned Felicity was a pro at getting out of restraints. She was a real natural at picking locks and slipping out of bindings. Of course when Sara would complement her, Felicity would blush red before babbling some inappropriate comment.
All of Sara's knowledge in getting out of dangerous situations, though, was useless as her captor sat calmly in front of her, glock casually held in his dominant hand.
He looked at her as if he could see right through her, as if her every thought was open for him to see. His eyes were piercing as they probed her fears and nightmares, the possibility of losing the only family she had. It was terrifying, but she didn't want to be the one to blink first. He knocked her out and tied her up. The least he could do was tell her who he was before he shot her.
At least while he waited she could think about what the hell just happened. Floyd wasn't there, the Triad wasn't there. It had all been a setup, but why?
Why would the Triad use them like this? Why had she let Felicity go off on her own? And how did this guy know Felicity?
"I don't expect you to talk," the man spoke. His voice was deeper than she remembered. "You might need something for that head."
Oh right, she had been hit in the head by the butt of his gun. That explained the splitting headache that accompanied all her questions.
She turned her attention back to the rather large man, who was reasonably attractive, and now handing two small pills out to her.
"You have got to be kidding me." She nearly hit herself for speaking up, or she would have if she hadn't been tied up.
The man in front of her shook his head before reaching behind her to unhook her left hand. "They're Tylenol." He told her before he dropped the pills in her hand.
Sara couldn't help but stare at him with an incredulous expression written across her brow. Not taking pills from people who hit you and tied you up was rule number one in her book.
"I'd say introductions were in order but I already know who you are." He told her. Worry was non-existent on his face as he moved to sit back in his chair, even though he just untied her. "Sara Lance, also known as the Canary."
Sara schooled her expression, as she let the "Tylenol" drop to the ground.
"You were born and raised in Starling City to Captain Quentin Lance, of SCPD, and Dinah Lance, professor of History." He rattled off. "Your sister is Assistant District Attorney, Laurel Lance, and you ran away from your home and your family seven years ago to become a thief and a con-artist.
"You're a known associate of the Oracle, also known as Felicity Smoak, and were here in Russia, to kill a Bratva official." Sara twisted her right wrist in the zip tie.
Sure she could try to escape with one hand free, but two hands would buy her a better chance against big arms and his gun.
"All of this information is easily available all with a fingerprint and a press of a button. But what I want to know is, why?"
Sara paused, eyes fixed on the gun.
"Why are you suddenly graduating from theft to murder? And what does the Triad have to do with any of this?"
Sara felt her confusion grow, but kept her eyes on the man in front of her.
"Unless you're not," he added with a questioning tone.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Sara spoke but kept her voice low.
The man in front of her seemed conflicted. His face showed his turmoil at the situation. Like he just stated, not a lot about their situation added up. Primarily because Felicity and Sara weren't murderers. They stayed as far away from the organized crime groups as they possibly could. Never piss off someone with a bigger gun, was what Floyd always told them.
"Then help me understand," he urged.
Sara turned away from him. Talking raised the risk of incriminating Felicity, and she didn't know this guy. How did she know he wouldn't just turn around and use that information against her?
"I know your father." That caught her attention. "He's a good man, a good cop."
But Sara saw through his words. She knew exactly what he was doing, and it wouldn't work. Sara kept a tight enough eye on her family's business to know how her family was and how 'good' of people they were. She was the outcast.
"I know your sister, too." He said, causing her to turn her head to face him. "She's got a big heart, terrible cook, but a big heart."
Sara felt something stir in her chest at a memory long ago buried. When they were little, Laurel used to try to make the boxed macaroni and cheese her mother would buy for the nights when she was grading papers late, or her father was working. Laurel would always want to help their parents out and start dinner so they didn't have to worry the girls wouldn't eat.
No matter how many times Laurel tried, she burnt the macaroni every time. Once she even set off the smoke detector and incited a panic, causing their mom to rush out of her study, ready to grab both teenaged girls and run from the house.
Her sister had always tried to take care of her, even if that was with burnt macaroni. That's who Laurel was.
"The Triad hired me," Sara spoke up, her voice sounding small and meek as it left her mouth. "They wanted me to steal a valuable item from the Bratva to prove a point."
The man in front of her sat back in his chair, arms folded across his very broad chest. Seriously what did this guy bench?
He seemed confused by what she was saying and gestured, with his gun still in his grasp, for her to continue.
"When I told them no, they kidnapped an associate of mine as incentive." Sara sighed as she relived the moment China White told them about Floyd. The man was their mentor and was used as a bargaining chip. "I was trying to double cross them, and save my associate … but it looks like they weren't exactly honest with their plans."
Big arms nodded in front of her, seemingly believing her story. She watched as he stood to his feet, holstered his gun, and moved towards her.
She waited as he walked behind her, disappearing out of sight before she felt the zip tie on her secured wrist being released. He was letting her go?
"Thank you," he told her, letting her wrist go from his grasp. "Now let's tryyou telling me the story but this time include how Felicity Smoak fits in to all this."
"Are you sure you don't need to stop?" Oliver asked for the second time in five minutes.
Her limp had only worsened and he was sure the added pressure would cause the wound to start bleeding again.
They had had a moment, he and Felicity. It wasn't much, barely a moment really, but he saw a part of her she hadn't meant for him to see. Her refusal to answer his question and the raw pain that passed through her eyes told him more than words could.
She paused in her movements, cringing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Can we?"
Her voice was pleading even though she was trying to hide the amount of pain she was in. Oliver could tell by the way so forced herself to stand a little straighter, the way she continued to shift her weight to her uninjured leg, that she was trying to keep a brave face in front of him.
"Yeah." He directed her to a nearby tree, his hand barely grazing her back. "I should probably check your wound too."
He saw her give a little nod as he helped her lower herself to the forest floor.
"You really don't have to do that," he told her as he crouched down beside her. "Pretend you're ok when you're hurting."
She shook her head and looked up at the tree above, seeing nothing but darkness, as he tried to examine the injury in the dark. Having a flash light would have been convenient, but he had experience patching up his own wounds on the island in less than ideal situations.
"We have to keep moving." She winced as his hands began to trail over the fabric of the makeshift tourniquet, her now blood covered jacket, around her leg. "I can make it, we just have to keep moving."
"Felicity you're in pain." He told her, eyes glancing up to meet hers. "If we keep moving like this you could irritate the wound more."
"It's a little scratch, just a small piece of glass," she argued, but there was worry evident in her tone. "I'll be fine."
Oliver moved his hands from the wrap to take her cold hands in his own. "We don't know that. I'm not as experienced as my partner in properly patching up stuff like this."
"You mean you didn't go to medical school on that island of yours?" Felicity bumbled out with a laugh and a quick squeeze of his hand. "I mean that would be pretty interesting. You go away and come back some trained neurosurgeon or something. Not that coming back as some trained ass-kicker isn't interesting. I imagine your island wasn't exactly summer camp."
Oliver could only stare at her in awe. She really did talk a lot, and he found it refreshing. "Not exactly summer camp." He echoed. "It was cold, anddark, and I had to do things I'm not proud of... But I get the feeling you understand a little bit of that."
In her eyes he didn't see judgment or pity, which when the island was brought up he normally received. Sometimes he got blank stares or a look of disbelief, none of which helped, especially when he had first returned home.
With Felicity he only saw a vague flash of understanding. It was something that relayed, while she couldn't put herself in his shoes, she had an island of her own. She had pain and experienced loss that no one else could understand.
"How about I carry you the rest of the way?" He asked, breaking the moment with a quick smile. "It's not that far and it will be a lot quicker."
Felicity looked as though she was about to object but her eyes began to warm. "Well who am I to argue with the Arrow?"
Oliver smiled she gave him a wink. Maybe he wasn't wrong about her after all.
"What the hell happened?" Sara demanded as Felicity, supported by Oliver, limped her way towards where she and Diggle stood.
"It's just a scratch," Felicity tried, but couldn't cover the wince as Oliver shifted sides to help her sit down. "Stupid glass from the explosion."
"Explosion?" Sara croaked, looking between the two of them frantically. "How-? Oliver Queen?"
"Hello Sara." To his credit, his award winning poker face remained in place. The shock at seeing Laurel's runaway baby sister barely brushed the surface of the last few hours. "It's good to see you again."
"What happened?" John asked now, stepping forward as Oliver moved back from where Felicity sat.
Diggle could see the blood on Felicity's black pants, coating the fabric and making it cling to her skin. The cut was superficial, he guessed, but the glass must have nicked her at just the right angle. "Can I?"
"Be my guest." Felicity waved, only slightly dizzy from the blood loss and frigid temperatures. "It's not every day that I get manhandled by twogorgeous men."
"What happened?" Sara asked, this time in a softer tone.
"As she was grabbing that stupid egg, a motion sensor went off." Oliver explained, his eyes on Diggle and Felicity.
Felicity smiled before producing said egg from a hidden pouch at her side. Sara shook her head while Felicity could only smile. "At least I got it."
"Damn it," Sara cursed, leaning forward to see where John was working. "How did this even happen?"
"I didn't have much time, so I improvised." Oliver informed the group but turned to face her.
Sara let her hands fall to her hips, her concern for her friend spilling over. "By swinging her out of a window?"
"He saved my life." Felicity spoke up behind Oliver causing a slow burning warmth to spread through his veins.
Sara looked to Oliver before running her eyes over what he was wearing. He watched as she shifted her gaze to the green hooded jacket still draped over Felicity's shoulders and then back to him.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She sputtered. "You're the Arrow?"
"Guess you're not the only one with secrets." He stood a little straighter. "Hey, how is your family doing by the way?"
Sara's mouth curled into a frown, her eyes narrowing in on him. "That's a low blow coming from someone who used to sleep around on my sister!"
"Says the girl who ran away from home to become a jewel thief"
"Do not even compare us, Ollie. What I am doing and what you have done to my sister are not the same thing at all."
"No you're right. I used to treat your sister like crap and walked all over her for years, which if I recall, you took part in." Oliver spat. "But you just up and left, letting your family fear the worst had happened to you. All the while you've been gallivanting around the globe stealing from people."
Sara cursed, running a hand through her mussed hair before repeating her earlier sentiment, but this time her words seemed more desperate. "How could this have happened?"
"What?" Oliver asked. There were a million things that had happened that warranted that same question.
"No one was there," Diggle announced, glancing over his shoulder at Oliver. "The warehouse was empty."
"What?" Felicity voiced. Her voice was more alert than before.
Sara seemed to zero in on Felicity, a morose tone to her voice. "We got played."
"But Floyd was supposed to be there, we were supposed to rescue him and," Felicity paused to catch her breath as John placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We did not just rob the fracking Bratva for no reason!"
"Hey," he murmured, soft and even. "Just take a breath."
Felicity nodded while closing her eyes. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Oliver?" Diggle stood to his feet while turning to face him. "Why don't you and Sara go talk over there while I work on Miss Smoak?"
Oliver heard the question but saw the look his partner was giving him. It was one that told Oliver he needed Felicity calm so he could look at her leg. He and Sara weren't making her calm.
Diggle watched as Oliver moved toward the other end of the warehouse, while Sara moved to Felicity's side. She placed her hand on Felicity's shoulder before giving it a gentle squeeze. The anger and fury she had just been hurling at Oliver now morphed into care and worry. She was a completely different person.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Sara asked, her voice low. "You weren't supposed to get hurt on this one."
Felicity shook her head as she laid a hand over Sara's. "I promise."
Sara nodded before moving towards where Oliver stood. Diggle presumed they would pick up in their argument as Oliver didn't take well to surprises, no matter what his face portrayed.
"So," Felicity trilled as he turned around to face her. "You're big."
He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him before he bent to his knees to gain a better visual of her injury.
"Name's John Diggle." He told her, a smirk still on his face.
"I know who you are. I did my research when I was in Starling City. Although I always referred to you as Oliver's shadow. Makes less sense now that I know what he does for a living." She seemed to be talking more to herself at the end before redirecting her attention back to him. "Felicity Smoak, although I'm guessing you already knew that, too."
Diggle nodded before moving the fabric of her pants to try and get a better visual. "I'm going to have to cut through these if I'm going to get that glass out."
Felicity nodded, worry written in her eyes. "I don't usually get an offer like that … ever. But if it'll save the leg, then by all means." Her voice shook as she spoke despite her attempt at humor.
"You ok?" He asked.
The foundry was a quiet place, when Tommy wasn't there. Oliver didn't talk much and Roy was in and out. Hearing Felicity ramble, and Sara argue, had been the most conversation he had out on a mission.
"Yeah, I just babble when I'm nervous, or in awkward situations," Felicity went on. "So this is really normal for me."
John nodded as he reached for the scissors in the first aid pack. He watched Felicity's eyes double in size as he brought them closer to her pants.
"Sorry, aren't you going to numb the area?" Felicity asked, jumping slightly as he brought the scissors closer to her knee. "Usually with injuries such as these, the area is numbed."
Diggle raised his eyes to meet hers. "I'm just cutting your pant leg."
Felicity nodded. "Yeah, but that might hurt."
"If I do my job right it won't."
"Well what's your percentage of good outcomes?" Felicity asked, her eyes still wide. "Where did you go to medical school?"
He couldn't help the laugh playing at his lips. "Army, Special Forces."
"So you've seen a lot worse than this?" This time he only nodded. "I'm sorry, I'm not normally this jittery. I handled being shot way better than a piece of glass in my leg."
"You were shot?" He would admit it was slightly impressive, yet also scary to think of the blonde before him in such a dangerous world.
He didn't know what he was expecting when it came to Felicity Smoak, but the young woman in front of him sure wasn't it. She was funny, and had an honest expression as she spoke. She was young too, yet mature. He knew her age from her file, but after seeing her and listening to her talk he felt an odd urge to protect her.
"In the shoulder." She told him, a hint of pride in her voice. "I got in the way. It's one of the reason's I stay behind a computer for the most part. I'm the tech wiz, Sara's the one who normally does the stunt work."
"But you weren't behind a computer when you stole the earrings in Starling City." He challenged
"Like I said," she pointed out. "For the most part."
"Ok, I'm going to numb the area now." He held a pointed expression which only brought a smile to her face. "It looks like the bleeding stopped, but I don't want to take any chances."
"Good, I don't like chances." He shook his head as she seemed to relax.
He worked in silence, the murmurs of Oliver and Sara's more heated conversation reaching them in the distance. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but from the tones he heard, he would bet it was an argument. He focused on the injury in front of him, taking care to numb the area (much to Miss Smoak's pleasure), remove the glass, and taking care to clean the surrounding skin and wound. He caught Felicity wince out of the corner of his eye as he continued to clear out the cut. Antibiotics would have been good at that moment, who knew what else got caught in the cut during the explosion.
Felicity spoke up, bringing his attention back to her. "You're a good man, John Diggle."
"You can call me Dig." He told her after a beat, more than happy to drown out the argument in the corner.
"Then you can call me Felicity." John nodded, a small smile playing at his lips, as he began to take out different forms of pain relief. Not knowing Felicity's preference, he figured it was better to play it safe.
He picked his head up to study her. "Not the Oracle?"
"Aww, so you know about that." It wasn't a question, of course he knew about her alias. If he was able to find out her name, she assumed he knew about the Oracle.
He held up two oxycodone's in one hand and a syringe with a small dose of morphine in the other. "Oh, god definitely the pills." She winced as she took them in her hands, glancing at the inscription on the side, before popping them in her mouth.
Diggle looked back down at where he worked, about to stitch up the wound. "I'm sure Oliver already asked you this, but how did you end up in this line of work?"
"He asked." She agreed. "It's a long, complicated story, but all in all, it's my way of trying to help people."
"By stealing from them?" He asked, doing his best to keep the judgement from his tone.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I allied myself with Oliver when he was still putting arrows into people." He stood by Oliver, helped him try a new method of saving the city. Some would say that the path they took wasn't as black and white as they made it out to be. "Try me."
"Why do you want to know my story so much?"
"Because he," Diggle said with a tip of his head towards where Oliver stood. "Is very close to trusting you, no matter how much I argue. If we are going to trust you on this, then I need to know why."
Felicity didn't respond, but Diggle noted her eyes glance in the direction of Oliver and Sara before shifting back to him. There was something about her, about the way she kept looking over at Oliver. At first he assumed she was trying to keep tabs on Sara, but then realized her eyes kept following him wherever he went.
Her hands still clung to the green leather jacket wrapped around her shoulders. If Diggle didn't know any better he would assume the younger girl was smitten.
"Ok, how are things over here?" Oliver interrupted.
"Good," Diggle glanced to see Oliver before looking back down at the final stitch. "Just getting to know each other."
"Felicity, why don't you give me the egg?" He asked, looking at where Felicity sat on the makeshift table. "I'll take it back to Anatoli."
"No." Her voice was firm and did not waver in her challenge.
Diggle guessed that if she weren't being stitched up she would have been toe to toe with Oliver.
"What?" Oliver drawled out.
Diggle could tell he was trying to reign in his frustration at her refusal as Oliver dragged both hands against the sides of his temples down to grasp his neck. First Sara, and now Felicity.
"This egg is the only way we are getting Floyd back." Felicity looked directly at Sara this time.
"Who's Floyd?" Diggle asked, leaning back away from where he finished.
Both men looked between the two women, trying to gauge their expressions.
"He's like family, and the Triad took him so we would do the job." Sara's voice was weary. It was probably due to the combination of the night and her conversation with Oliver. "But Felicity, if they already crossed us then you have to know keeping the egg won't work anymore."
"We could still offer them a trade." Felicity tried, holding the jacket tighter in her free hand.
"Felicity, there was gunfire when we were swinging out of the room. More than just Bratva defending themselves gunfire." Oliver tried this time, his voice low and soothing. "Trust me, the Triad isn't interested in a trade."
"I'm not giving up on Floyd." Diggle could see her resolve was firm. He didn't know the woman that well but he could tell she was stubborn. She was also hurting. He saw the pain in her face at the thought of not saving their friend.
He imagined he would react in similar form if it was Oliver, or one of the other guys. You don't leave a brother behind.
But there was something about the name that seemed to click in his mind. Something about the entire Russia situation seemed off. The picture of Deadshot flashed through his mind, the one on Anatoli's wall, the one they ruled out because he was spotted elsewhere around the globe, and not in Triad custody, where 'Floyd' was supposed to be.
"Who is Floyd?" Diggle asked, ice beginning to creep through his veins. He saw Oliver's look of realization, making the same conclusion he just did.
"Tell me you don't mean Floyd Lawton." He didn't give either Sara or Felicity a chance to respond but saw their reactions. He saw the way both of them recognized the name, the name of the man who killed his brother and countless others. "The man you are trying to save is Deadshot?"
"Dig," Oliver stepped forward, his voice firm.
"No!" His voice rose and he watched as Felicity jumped on the table where she sat. "Oliver, I've been party to some crazy ass stunts of yours but I draw the line at helping Deadshot."
"How do you even know him?" Sara asked, her voice low, but still held an air of fearlessness.
"John, just take a walk." Oliver told him, his friend knowing that the subsequent conversation would hit quite a few sore spots.
Of course it would. Lawton killed his brother before disappearing. He nearly killed Diggle and got away, again. The man was a murderer and an assassin. He should be locked away for his crimes, punished for the lives he took. Yet he still ran free, and was now helped by these two.
So he did the only think he could. He walked away. He took a breath. He tried to put the man with one eye out of his mind as he heard Oliver relay in the distance, "Floyd Lawton killed his brother."
Felicity stared at the man who had only twenty minutes prior had been stitching up her leg. The same man who laughed at her stupid jokes and who, for all his distrust, was nice to her. John Diggle seemed like a nice man.
She already knew that though. Her research prior to the Queen Job included a thorough background check on John Diggle, head of Blackhawk Security – the main security company in use by the Queen family. She knew all about his service record, his marriage, his divorce, his re-marriage (to the same woman), and his brother.
What she hadn't known was the role her mentor allegedly played in John's tragedy. It was all too much to take in.
"You don't believe them, right?" She whispered, glancing at Sara who was handcuffed to the chair beside her. "Floyd wouldn't have killed innocent people."
Oliver had taken the egg back to the Bratva, and with it their last shred of hope of getting Floyd back. Before he left, John made a note of being 'outnumbered,' and while he had taken Sara down with a swift knock to the head fairly easily, he didn't think either should be trusted. Oliver reluctantly handcuffed both Felicity and Sara to their chairs with the promise of releasing them once more when he returned.
"I don't know what to believe right now." Felicity studied her friend.
Sara's brow was furrowed in concentration, as if she was trying to solve a difficult math problem. Felicity never made that face, math was easy for her, like computers. Sara would usually struggle with the math for a bit before turning to her friend.
But Felicity had a feeling this concentration wasn't about a math problem. "You haven't killed anyone, have you?"
Sara stopped and turned to meet Felicity's eyes. "Yeah I have a body count as wide and deep as this warehouse," she deadpanned.
"You are dating an assassin." Felicity whistled. "I wonder if Nyssa ever met Floyd."
Sara rolled her eyes before scrunching her face once more. "I'm pretty sure it's not some sort of club."
"Well for Nyssa it's a family business." Nyssa made Felicity nervous from the minute they made contact with her in Prague.
Sara had been intrigued by the assassin, and seemed to melt every time she opened her mouth to speak. Felicity, however, had begged Sara not to take the job, something hadn't seemed right with the woman whose extracurricular activities had not been known at that point. Yet, Sara still went along with the all too dangerous job.
She nearly got killed, and Felicity then proceeded to scream at one of the most people on the planet, via comms for being reckless. It wasn't until another near miss when Nyssa whipped out the super fighting skills that Felicity began to realize just who they were dealing with. The truth had not put her at ease.
"I thought we were not judging my girlfriend." Sara paused what she had been doing, which Felicity assumed was trying to get out of the handcuffs.
"I'm not." Felicity defended. She would never judge Nyssa, but she would be terrified that the woman could eat her alive. "I'm just wondering if she knew all along who we kept company with."
"Whether she did or not, then she would have had a reason for keeping it from me." Sara huffed in frustration. "How's your leg?"
Felicity wondered if Sara had thought about any of that yet - If Nyssa had known the truth all along. She assumed it didn't make her partner feel comfortable knowing that Nyssa could have been holding potentially serious information away from her.
"The pain medicine hasn't worn off yet, so it feels great." Felicity diverted, accepting the change in subject. "I'm sure that will change in an hour or so."
"I can't believe he threw you out of a window." Felicity turned to see Sara's face morph into one of disapproval.
Finding out her ex-whatever had turned out to be the Starling City vigilante couldn't have been easy for Sara. Knowing their past, and how complicated it was, Felicity could understand where Sara's fury came from.
"He was trying to help, and he didn't throw me out of it." While she could understand Sara's emotions, she did not share them. Oliver was a good man. "So you're mad at Oliver for saving my life, but you're not mad at Floyd for killing people?"
"I'm just thinking about how we are going to get out of this." Sara said, her handcuffs rattling as she tried to move her wrists. "And yes, I am mad. I am furious that I let my guard down all those years ago and trusted someone who offered to help me. I am a cop's daughter who should have known better."
"It's not your fault. He tricked us both." Felicity told her, wishing she could give Sara some comfort, but failing to find any words of wisdom, only questions. "Do you think he was working with the Triad on this?"
Sara didn't answer. She didn't have one for this. Neither of them did. The possible answer could tear their worlds even further apart. Knowing that Floyd was a killer was one thing, but believing that he could have been behind the set up? It was just too much.
"How are you holding up?" Sara asked after a generous pause. "And don't say fine. Floyd took us both in, but you had the stronger bond with him."
"What? He was both of our mentors." Felicity jolted.
"No, he was my mentor." Sara's voice was soothing as she spoke. "For you he was like a father. Finding out he lied to you can't be easy."
"It's not… the same thing." She didn't want to admit how right Sara could be.
Floyd wasn't her father but Felicity couldn't deny how on some occasions she looked up to him like one. In the beginning she looked for his approval when creating plans and executing surveillance. She looked to him for guidance and counsel. He would tell her the wildest stories of his time serving in the military and his smuggling operation in Corto Maltese. He would listen to her ramble about MIT and her work on Wall Street with pride shining bright in his eyes.
It made sense. From a psychological stand point at least. She didn't really remember her father and her mother had just passed when Floyd entered her life. It was an emotional time where all she wanted was family. Floyd gave her that.
"No, but it feels like it, doesn't it?" Sara knew. She was there for all of it, and watched Felicity become attached.
Felicity wondered if she hadn't been so desperate for a lifeline, hadn't just lost her mother, hadn't been so bitter would she have accepted Floyd's offer. Would she have felt the need to create this family which now was tarnished?
Felicity turned her gaze to John Diggle. She wondered when Floyd killed his brother, and why. Had she and Sara been with him at that point?
"What do you think is going to happen with them?" She thought aloud.
"They will probably take us back to the states where we will then be turned over to the police, our identities revealed, and then sent to a nice maximum security prison." Sara groaned, but Felicity heard the pain in her voice.
Felicity's identity being revealed didn't really matter. She was no one, and had no one but Sara. The truth of what she did everyday wouldn't affect anyone.
"Meaning your family will get dragged through the mud." Felicity filled in the blank.
"Or worse." Sara's tone was dark, her meaning not lost on Felicity.
Her eyes lit with understanding. "You don't think the Triad will go after them, do you?"
"I don't see why not." Sarah shrugged before going back to focus on her handcuffs. "We failed, they double crossed us, it doesn't matter why, it just matters that we know more than we should."
Felicity didn't know the Lance family, but she knew that Sara loved them. She knew that Sara would do anything to protect her family, even from herself. Felicity couldn't let her friend lose her family, not because of this.
"I guess we better figure out a plan then," Felicity said, meeting Sara's eyes.
Sara sighed as she let her hands fall useless to the arms of the chair. "I've been trying to think of a plan, but the handcuffs are limiting."
"Oh those," Felicity said with a shrug, bringing both her hands up in a shrug.
"How long have you been sitting there out of your handcuffs?" Sara asked in disbelief.
"Since about thirty seconds after Oliver put them on." Felicity winked at Sara. "When have handcuffs ever given me a hard time?"
Sara bit her lip to hold back a laugh she was sure would attract John. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's blow this popsicle stand."
