Chapter 9 – Science Advisor

An: I do not own Arrow.

S-1

Oliver entered the town car that would take him to the applied sciences building to find that Mr. Diggle was already seated in the backseat. His hoped when he didn't observe Mr. Diggle that morning at dinner that his mother had miraculously changed her mind overnight but that didn't appear to be the case. Mr. Diggle was busy arranging his transport to work and ensuring that he had a plan in case he decided to jump out of the car again. Oliver plastered on a smile and entered the limo.

"Fasten your seat belt Mr. Queen," he instructed.

Oliver reluctantly followed his bodyguard's suggestion.

"Mrs. Queen has arranged for your executive assistant to copy me on your schedule for the day," Diggle explained.

Oliver wanted to groan. He didn't know why he hadn't been more forceful with his mother about refusing a bodyguard. He found it very hard to openly say no to her. She thought she was doing what was best for him and he didn't want to show her what he was capable of. He wanted to be the good son that she always wanted not the monster he has become. If humouring her with the bodyguard allowed her not to see the monster then he would do that.

"It looks like you have several meetings throughout the day including a lunch time meeting with Tommy Merlyn at the headquarters," Diggle said.

"Yes," Oliver confirmed with a smile.

The rest of the drive was quiet and they arrived at MQI safely, no sign of any threat that his mother had mentioned last night. When they spoke he got the impression that the threat was far larger than the incident between Tommy and Malcolm. There was so much more going on than he was aware of.

They entered the elevator and Diggle pressed the elevator button for the executive floor but Oliver pressed a button for the 3rd floor. Diggle arched his eyebrow.

"IT assistance," Oliver explained.

Originally breaking into his mother laptop was supposed to be test #2 but he had yet to source said laptop so that would not be test #3. He had a new idea for test #2. He walked into the department, the various IT workers, all glued to their cubicles as usual. He headed straight to her office.

"Felicity," Oliver said popping his head into her office to confirm she was there.

"Oliver!" From the look on her face, he had startled her.

"Hi, I was hoping you could help me with something," he asked softly. He was cognizant of the fact that Mr. Diggle was right behind him.

"Anything for the boss," she replied putting down her tablet and locking it.

"Great," he walked over to the chair and sat down. Mr. Diggle entered behind him and surveyed the room. She looked at him curiously.

"Felicity this is my bodyguard, Mr. Diggle. Digg this is Felicity, she helps me with IT stuff."

Diggle nodded.

"If you're satisfied that I'm safe, could you wait outside. I don't think Ms. Smoak is going to reach across the desk and strangle me," he joked.

"Yet," Felicity teased.

Diggle actually studied her closely before he stepped outside. Once the door was close he turned back to Felicity. "So the centre is coming along according to your plans but we need to choose things for inside."

"We?" she questioned.

He ignored her question and asked one of his own, "Do you know there are over 500 different types of chairs sold in Star City?"

"No, I did not know that," Felicity admitted.

"I'm a guy. A chair is a chair to me," he said

"I would have to disagree with you on that. Isit on chairs all day and back support is very important. Well not all day. I do other things like get up and walk to the cafeteria for lunch or to another floor. I should probably get more exercise in. Occasionally I pop in a home video and exercise though the woman on the video does 10 sit ups and I can only do five," her eyes widened as she seemed to realise she implied something, "The video is done at home. I don't do that at work. Only work is done at work. No other activities at all, just sitting and typing away which is why I know about chairs but I don't think you came here to hear all of that so I will stop in 3…2…1."

Oliver smiled nodding his head at her. "I have proposals for six interior designers I wondered if you could help me out." He opened his briefcase and removed the six very large proposals he had received when he tendered the interior furnishing of the centre.

"Help you out how Oliver?" she asked suspiciously.

Smart girl. "Well for starters, three quarters of these colours I don't know and I have no clue what these materials are."

"I'm sure your mother and sister would love to take you shopping," she commented wryly.

"I wouldn't wish that hell on anyone," Oliver replied.

Felicity laughed and Oliver really liked the sound. He found his own lips were ticking upwards in a real smile.

"What are your priorities?" she asked.

"Priorities for what?" he asked confused.

"I assume you want me to analyse the tenders. What is important to you? The lowest price isn't necessarily always the best. There are other factors that can determine who you choose such as the quality of the product being offered, the terms and conditions of payment, the warranty, the service schedule, availability of replacement parts. Those were just examples. I know some of those don't apply to this situation but I need to know what you want. I'm not a mind reader Oliver."

"I would say my top priority is that I want to know who I'm doing business with. I want to make sure that I'm not supporting someone that would be all too happy to see the people of the Glades displaced. That would defeat the purpose of Verdant," he said.

He watched her entire face light up.

"You're calling it that!" she asked her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"Yes I happen to be very fond of the colour green."

A light blush covered her cheeks and Oliver felt strangely proud he had made her blush. That was a new feeling. He let the silence hang for a few minutes while he thought about the rest of his criteria.

"I want a good safe product. If the company chosen is using locals to install or sourcing local materials to use in their work that would be a plus. I would like to say I don't care about price but Malcolm seems to have a keen interest in this project and he cares about price. I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me some feedback by the end of the week."

She nodded her head dumbly, probably too afraid to babble again in front of him. He kinda like that babble though. He left her office with a light feeling. That was Felicity's second test and he hoped she passed it. He was sure that event though he didn't' specifically state it, he wanted her to run a full background check into all of the companies.

Diggle was standing outside the door and he followed after him towards the elevator. "I don't think the IT manager is very happy with your visits to his employee."

"What makes you say that?" Oliver asked Diggle.

"He popped his head out of his office several times looking specifically in the direction of Ms. Smoak's office. He also spoke to one member of staff. As we were leaving that same member of staff picked up the phone to make a call and the phone in the Manager's office rang. I don't think he approves. Besides him a few of her co-workers also made a few comments about the type of work she's doing for you."

Oliver's fist clenched at the implication, "It was a work related visit. Not for anything else. I'll have to make that clear to everyone."

S-2

Oliver was the first to arrive at Table Salt. He had made the reservation for the private room in the back. He was hoping he could talk to Tommy privately in the room. His brother had come home in time for dinner the previous night with his bodyguard in tow. Oliver had tried to get his attention at dinner but Tommy chose to have a conversation with Malcolm about their old house. Apparently the house was still in Malcolm's name. Tommy shared many fond memories of his childhood, pre-Rebecca Meryln's death in the house and it was the first time he saw both Tommy and Malcolm relax. Thea too seemed engrossed in listening to the conversation. At one point they even laughed at Tommy's retelling of them attacking a hornet's nest on the property, something they would never ever do again. Malcolm was in such a good mood, he offered to have it transferred into Tommy's name.

It felt good to laugh together as a family and Oliver actually gained a slight appreciation for family dinner. He tried to approach Tommy after dinner but that failed as well.

He was nursing a scotch when the door opened and Tommy entered followed by his shadow. Tommy stopped to examine Diggle.

"Tommy this is my shadow John Diggle," Oliver introduced.

Tommy spluttered, "Did you say Diggle?"

Diggle's eye's narrowed in suspicion, "Yes are you familiar with the last name?"

"No I thought you said jiggle for a moment," Tommy covered. "I just needed to clarify because well, I don't think there's anything on top to jiggle." He then turned to his bodyguard, "This is my male escort, Constantine Drakon."

Drakon frowned at the description and Tommy seemed very pleased with himself. Oliver was wondering though how many people actually name their children Constantine. He had met one Constantine before.

"Would you mind giving us the room?" Oliver asked.

Diggle stepped out of the room but Drakon remained. Oliver looked at Tommy to deal with his bodyguard.

Tommy patted the man on the back, "Unless you think some assassin is going to pop out from under the table, we're safe in here dude. I would like to sit down and enjoy lunch with my brother as normally as possible."

Drakon reluctantly relented and exited the room.

"Jiggle Tommy, you almost blew the whole thing there," Oliver reprimanded.

"Dude that is Lyla's ex-husband! That's her Johnny. Oh why couldn't he have been assigned to me! I would have had a blast teasing her." Tommy whole face spoke of mischievous plans and not for the first time Oliver wandered if he was the only one that had grown up and left those sort of antics behind.

"Yes I'm aware of their previous relationship. I did do a complete background check and I'm sure Lyla will put a bullet in your brain if you even attempt to tease her. Oh and she said to tell you you're on one month's suspension."

"What!" Tommy exclaimed in disbelief.

"Waller's pissed," Oliver said with a frown.

"Oh please, pissed is her default emotion. If she's not pissed, she's enraged, or angry or livid. That woman only knows one emotion. Someone should give her a psych eval."

"Seriously Tommy what happened at the party?" Oliver had given him his space and it was time for some answers.

"I saw Thea and I just couldn't believe my father brought her there. We had all agreed she was to stay home. He's an awful parent. She doesn't deserve him in her life. I got angry and I thought, one little nick on the shoulder couldn't hurt," he said.

"Except you didn't nick him," Oliver pointed out annoyingly.

"I know, he blocked it."

"You have to be a trained professional to block that," Oliver said with a scoff.

"I know but he blocked it and I will get to the bottom of it," Tommy insisted.

"Is that what last night was about?" Oliver asked.

"I was hoping by bringing up the past he might mention where it was he disappeared to but he's still tight lipped about it. One wonders how he even got laid!"

The mention of Malcolm's sex life reminded Oliver that he needed to tell Tommy about Thea.

"Thea told me something yesterday while you were locked away," Oliver started.

"I didn't lock myself away," Tommy denied.

Oliver arched his eyebrow at him.

"I merely took a little break from reality. There is a difference. One is an unhealthy action the other is healthy. I took a mental health day," he cocked his head to the side, "Maybe you should try it sometime Ollie."

Oliver ignored him, "Thea is our half-sister."

Tommy laughed, "Very funny Oliver. I only took yesterday off. I'm fully present here."

"I'm serious. Your father is her biological father," Oliver explained.

The air left Tommy's lungs and he sat back against the chair stunned. Oliver chose that moment to take another sip of his scotch while he let his brother absorb the news. He buzzed for the waitress to order their meal. Oliver ordered for them and then waited until his brother was ready to talk.

"What else did I miss yesterday?"

"Just the meeting with Lyla," Oliver said with a shrug.

"Any other news besides my suspension," Tommy asked.

"She wanted to know what you found on the fire and she ridiculed the outing of Summers. Nothing unusual."

"I found absolutely nothing. The file is gone, vanished, disappeared, missing..." Tommy said making grand hand gestures to show that the file had vanished.

"I know what gone means Tommy," Oliver deadpanned.

"I can't prove it yet but I suspect it's connected to our mission. If Tempest is the group in the background running this city, then Tempest could have started the fire to develop the Novus sector," Tommy hypothesized.

That then prompted Oliver to ask, "If they started the fire, what do they have planned for the other half of the Glades?"

S-3

Tommy found his way over to the IT department in the Applied Sciences Division later that afternoon. He asked Drakon to wait at the elevator while he went to conduct his business. He was surprised when the bodyguard actually agreed.

The department was exactly as he expected, a bunch of nerds around computers. He spent years teasing these people in school with Oliver. Most of them were zoned out behind their computer doing whatever it is they did. He knew Ms. Smoak had her own office but there were several possible doors around the open floor plan that could lead to her office. He really didn't want to ask someone for her office and draw attention to himself.

He found a cubicle that was empty and picked up the phone. He dialed the extension listed for her in the directory on the desk. He heard a phone ringing behind the door at the end. The phone stopped ringing as she answered the phone. Bingo. He put the phone back on the receiver and straightened his coat. He wanted to make a fantastic first impression.

He didn't knock on the door, he wanted catch her by surprise except he was the one surprised. Instead of the plump woman with no make-up and cat print cardigan he imagined, there was a blonde bombshell. No wonder Ollie kept coming back to her.

She was busy looking at something on her tablet and hadn't even realised he had opened her door. Tommy stepped forward looking at her tablet. It looked like she was watching the street outside. The view changed a few times and he realised that she had hacked into the SCPD camera system. That would indeed be very useful to them.

Tommy cleared his throat and she jumped, her seat rolling backwards away from the desk. He noticed she quickly locked her tablet.

"Why don't billionaires knock?" the irritation in her voice was clear.

Tommy plastered on a fake smile to smooth things over with her but the frown on her face deepened. That was interesting. Not many could resist his killer smile.

"Ollie told me how much you helped with the community centre," he started observing her carefully. She didn't show the slightest reaction to his charm, "I was hoping you could help me with something," he finished with a large smile.

She pursed her lips, "Did Oliver send you?" she asked in a suspicious tone.

Tommy noted that she was on a first name basis with his brother and she seemed to be able to see through bullshit.

"No," he answered honestly.

She tilted her head to the side and studied him. Her gaze unnerved him. Mariko had warned him about people like her. People whose instincts were sharp and kept them from falling for ploys and gimmicks. Oliver had a similar instinct.

"Why are you here?" she asked. The blunt question told him her guard was up. Technically he was her boss and she shouldn't be asking him something like that.

He decided to drop the charm, "I was hoping you could help me with some research that I can't do on my own."

"What kind of research?" she asked.

Tommy sighed and he dropped down in the chair opposite her. "When I was eight my mother died. I… It was hard," Tommy said letting his voice crack a little. Usually he never showed such weakness but he believed showing her his vulnerabilities would convince her to trust him. "My father completely shut down," a small voice at the back of his head pointed out that he hadn't been that shut down if he conceived Thea with Moira. "Malcolm eventually disappeared from my life for a few years. I want to know where he went, maybe then I might understand him a bit more."

She was sitting rigidly but he still had her attention.

"Felicity, I hope I can call you Felicity," he said and she nodded her ok. "I need to know where my father was when I needed him," Tommy said honestly.

Her eyes dropped to the desk in front of her, "Maybe it's for the best if you don't," she said sadly and Tommy realised he had hit very close to home. She had an issue with an absent father as well.

"Please?" he pleaded.

"Ok I'll see what I can find," she relented.

"Great," he said reaching across her desk for her sticky note pad. He picked up a blue pen next to the pad and wrote his number on it. "This is my personal cell phone number. Only Oliver and my family have this number. Call me when you get some information."

"Ok Mr. Merlyn," she responded which elicited a frown from Tommy.

"Please call me Tommy. I don't like being reminded of my father." This time his smile was real and she smiled at him in return.

Oliver had indeed selected a good prospect for their IT asset. If she could hack into the camera system that would put them on equal footing with SCPD. He wandered if she was good enough to keep them from being found on the cameras? That would give them the invisibility to move throughout the city unhindered. He also wandered if she could locate the missing report. If Tempest is behind the fire then the report might point them in a direction of members of Tempest.

S-4

Tommy had just closed the door Felicity's office when a shorter, older man stepped next to him. The man turned his nose up at him.

"Mr. Merlyn may I have a moment of your time please," the man asked.

Tommy blinked, "And you are?" he asked. Every individual in the department was peeking over the top of their cubicles to see what was going on. He felt like he was being cornered and his instincts to fight back were rising.

"I'm the IT Manager, Mr. Tockman. We can talk privately in my office," he instructed and walked away from Tommy expecting him to follow.

Tommy weighed his options, he could accede to the manager's request and follow him back to his office or he could blatantly ignore him in front of all of his staff and walk away. He suspected that if he walked away it could have consequences further down the road so he chose to follow Mr. Tockman to the office at the entrance to the IT department. The first thing he noticed was the amount of clocks on the wall. Someone had an unhealthy obsession with time. Mr. Tockman invited him to sit and Tommy accepted the invitation.

"Mr. Merlyn," he started and Tommy flinched. He really hated people calling him that but this manager was not someone he wanted to be on first name basis with so he would have to put up with the formalities.

"I have noticed that Ms. Smoak seems to be attracting the attention of both Mr. Queen and yourself. I hope this is not some game you are playing?" the disapproval in his voice was clear.

Tommy couldn't believe the audacity of the man to accuse the Vice-Presidents of the company of impropriety. Maybe five years ago he and Oliver might have tried to sleep their way through the company but not now. Especially not when Malcolm would kill them if they caused a sexual harassment suit.

Mr. Tockman continued to talk, "Ms. Smoak has a lot of work to do and your visits cut into her productivity. Mr. Queen has already spent a total of thirty minutes with his visits and you spent ten minutes that's a total of forty minutes. For an employee such as Ms. Smoak she could write a new programme in that time frame. In future, all requests for Ms. Smoak should come through the official channels," Mr. Tockman stated.

"Mr. Clockman," Tommy said.

"Tockman," the manager corrected.

Tommy was about to open his mouth to respond politely when, "Cuckoo, Cuckoo," was heard behind him and he jumped around in a fighting stance ready to take out whatever enemy was behind him. Mr. Tockman chuckled at him.

"Both you and Mr. Queen have had rather interesting responses to my cuckoo clocks," Mr. Tockman noted. There was a glint of humour in his eye.

Tommy saw red. Whatever diplomatic answer he was going to give cuckooman went out the door."I am a VP at this company. If I wish to hand select members of staff for projects, I can. If I wish to personally interview them to gauge if they will be a good fit for my project team, I can. Ms. Smoak's interaction with myself or other Vice-Presidents in no way means she isn't being a productive employee. It's quite the opposite actually. She provides valuable advice that informs the strategic direction of the company which to me means she's being productive. After having spoken with Ms. Smoak, I believe she's the perfect person to help me with one of our upcoming acquisitions. I'm very perturbed that before I could even get time to write up the proper paperwork to inform her Manager that Ms. Smoak will be assisting me with a project in my office and as such would require time off to attend meetings, said Manager accosts me before I could even walk three feet away from her door. You implied that Oliver and I had untoward intentions towards Ms. Smoak but perhaps it's you that intends to hold her back in life. When the paperwork arrives I expect you to approve it. Good day Mr. Stockman," Tommy said standing up and leaving the office. That English class he took because of the sexy teacher certainly came in handy when he needed to make himself look like a college educated VP.

He took one last glance at the offending cuckoo clock on the wall and seriously contemplated a late night visit to the office to mess with the man's cuckoo clocks. If he could get it to say 'dick' instead of 'cuckoo' that would hilarious.

The workers in the cubicles all appeared to busy with work on their computers but he got the distinct impression they were all somehow watching him. As he was walking out of the department he noticed the small camera at the entrance that was angled to look out onto the main floor of the department. You wouldn't see it when you were entering. Perhaps they were all watching him through that.

That little encounter gave him work to do. He needed to find a small tech company to acquire in order to keep the cover he created on the had a strong feeling his father was going to be asking him very soon about this new project. He's sure Drakon already reported what Tommy was up to. He knew he needed to have a solid answer for his father.

His bodyguard was waiting for him by the elevator,

S-5

Tommy met Helena for dinner at one of her father's Italian restaurants. To make up for the last disappointment he arrived with a large bouquet of flowers, chocolate and a simple platinum bracelet with the Greek upper case Psi engraved on it. The symbol was used to represent the psychiatric field and he knew she would understand their connection to the symbol.

Helena was waiting by the entrance in a deep purple dress with a plunging dress hugged her curves and Tommy was ready to skip dinner altogether. She greeted him with a kiss to his cheek. The flowers and chocolates were given to one of the staff members to put in her apartment. She asked Tommy to place the bracelet on her hand right away. She admired it with a smell smile before she kissed his cheek.

"It beautiful but I hope we never have to go back there," she told him.

"I hope not," Tommy agreed with her.

They followed the hostess through the restaurant to a private table in the back. There were no menus on the table and Helena informed him that she had taken the liberty of ordering for them. A whiskey on the rocks arrived immediately along with some garlic bread.

They started a light conversation about the weather before the food arrived. It wasn't the best Italian food he had ever eaten but it was above average. It was certainly better than the food he had eaten on the islands.

Helena's eyes strayed to Drakon."Is your babysitter going to be with us all night? His presence is annoying me," Helena insisted.

Tommy had done his best to ignore his bodyguard. Drakon had politely suggested that they move the date elsewhere but Tommy refused. Even though he knew why Drakon did not want to go the Italian restaurant, Tommy was still determined to go. He wasn't going to let Frank Bertinelli's reputation keep him away. Drakon had been on edge since he arrived and he was surprised that Helena had picked up on the man's discomfort.

"I sure as hell hope not. I have plans for tonight," Tommy said with a lascivious grin.

"You do?" she challenged him. "Care to fill me in."

"Well, originally I thought a nice romantic ride around the city followed by another grand gesture to make up for the recent disappointments but I figured you would probably just want to go back to the loft and have sex," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"You're half right," she said with a wicked smile.

"You don't want sex?" Tommy asked perplexed.

"Oh I do just not at your place. I think we should try mine," she leaned forward challenging him to accept her proposal.

"Oh," he said glancing at Drakon in the corner. "I don't know how he will take that," Tommy admitted.

Helena turned her gaze to the man again, "Pest," she called. Drakon didn't budge, "Pest, I'm talking to you," she said pointing her index finger at him. Tommy noted that while her nails were neatly trimmed she had no nail polish on them.

"Mr. Merlyn can you kindly inform your girlfriend that she can address me as Mr. Drakon," he said irritated.

Helena rolled her eyes. "Tommy tell the Pest that we are going to my place to have sex whether he likes it or not and he's not invited."

Helena's voice carried to the tables around them. An old lady started choking on her glass of water and a mother was covering her child's ears as she glared at them. Helena looked like she didn't give a damn what the other patrons at the restaurant thought. Tommy turned to relay the message to Drakon.

"Absolutely not," Drakon replied. "You are to return to the Manor after this date."

A wide smile spread across Helena's face as she stood up, "Follow me," she said to Tommy.

Tommy didn't waste any time, standing up and throwing his napkin that had adorned his lap onto the table. He turned to look at Drakon, "Wait here," he ordered

"Fat chance," Drakon said moving towards Tommy.

Tommy followed behind Helena towards the kitchen wherethere were two meatheads guarding the door. They let him and Helena through but stopped Drakon. She turned around and winked at Drakon. "Now he's all mine to play with," she teased.

Tommy assumed they would be taking a back exit into a waiting car but instead she turned up a narrow staircase.

"You live upstairs," he asked as he followed behind her.

"Sometimes," she shrugged.

She opened the door and as soon as they were through she pushed him up against the door. Her hands quickly found their way under his shirt,stroking his abs while her mouth attacked his. Her tongue fought with his for suddenly broke off the kiss and stepped away from. She turned around and started walking away from him. Her hands reached behind her and she unzipped her dress slowly. Tommy's eyes followed as the zip slowly made its way down her back exposing the white flesh of her back.

She paused and looked at him over her shoulder, "The bedroom is this way." She then shimmied out of the dress, the purple material falling to the floor and pooling around her heels.

Tommy stared at the dress on the ground before his eyes slowly made their way up her shapely legs, to her nice ass that was encased in a lacy black panty. He made a mental note to rip them off as punishment for her teasing. His eyes continued up her smooth back, to the sultry grin she was throwing him over her shoulder.

"Like what you see?" She walked off towards a door and Tommy followed after her quickly. She was sprawled out across the bed, her head resting on a pillow waiting for him.

"Take off my heels for me?" she ordered.

Tommy walked forward and took one of her feet gently in his hands. He removed the shoe and then kissed her ankle. He slowly made his way up her leg till he reached her panty line. He moved over to the other leg and kissed his way down to her other shoe. He looked up at when he removed it. Her breathing was shallow and her pupils were dilated. There was a slight blush adorning her face and chest.

"Come here," she said motioning for him to kiss her.

He crawled up her body and she slipped him onto his back before he could make contacts with her lips. She straddled him.

"I think someone's over dressed," she purred. She ripped open his shirt sending buttons flying everywhere.

"Someone's eager?" Tommy teased.

She leaned forward and crashed her lips against his, her hand running over his chest while their tongues battled.

They were interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

"Helena open up now!"

Tommy paused kissing her but she continued kissing along his jaw to take his ear lobe between her teeth and nibble softly on it. He moaned in response. She continued doing that through the incessant knocking. It was only when the person threatened to break the door down did she pull away from him.

"What?" she yelled angrily."I am entertaining a guest,"

"Helena, Malcolm Merlyn wants to know where his son is?" an angry voice said through the door.

Helena ignored him.

"Open up now or I will break this door down Helena," the voice threatened.

"Give me a few moments father," Helena said reluctantly getting off of Tommy and going over to the adjoining bathroom. She returned in a black silk robe and exited the bedroom. Presumably to deal with her father in the other room.

Tommy was always awful at the meet the parents kind of thing, not that he really wanted to meet Frank Bertinelli. He wanted nothing to do with the man. Helena returned to the room with her dress in hand. She threw it on the bed.

"Are you ok with me opening the door with you still in that state?" she asked and nodded towards his crotch where there was a noticeable bulge.

"Shit," Tommy cursed. He definitely shouldn't be meeting his girlfriend's father with a raging hard-on. He sat up to lean against the headboard and used a pillow to cover his lap while he willed it away.

Helena left the bedroom and he heard her open the door followed by the loud footsteps of a man stomping into the room.

"Where is he?" the voice of Frank Bertinelli demanded.

There was more stomping and then a middle aged man appeared at the doorway. His eyes critically searched the room. They stopped for a few seconds on the rumpled sheets of the bed before his eyes fell on Tommy.

Tommy plastered on a sickly sweet smile on his face and waved at him. Bertinelli ignored him and moved away for the door. Panic suddenly filled Tommy when he couldn't see what was happening. He sprung from the bed quickly, the urge to lay his eyes on Helena overwhelming. His instincts were screaming she was in danger.

He entered the main living area and found Bertinelli was still advancing on his daughter threateningly. Tommy glanced into the small kitchen and saw a knife block. He headed to the kitchen. If Bertinelli laid a hand on Helena he would cut him open like a pig to be roasted over a spit fire.

The man came to a stop in front of his daughter. He took a deep breath and then started talking. "Helena," he said in a cherry tone the exact opposite of the anger he had just been displaying. "I'm happy you decided to move on but Tommy Merlyn may not be the best choice," he advised.

Helena lifted her head defiantly, "And why is that?" she challenged her father she didn't try to make her tone light and convey that everything was all hunky dory. Tommy had slipped into the kitchen by then and was hovering near the knife block. He opened the door to the fridge and took out a carton of orange juice and placed it right by the block. If they asked why he was there, he had a response.

"He has a bit of a reputation as a ladies man. I don't think that's who you need right now," her father explained. Coming from anyone else, Tommy might think he was a concerned parent but knowing what he knew about the mobster, Bertinelli was seeking his own interests.

"Well you thought I needed Dr. Kreukis and look how that turned out. It's a miracle none of my sessions were shown," Helena threw in his face angrily.

Tommy knewit wasn't a miracle but rather Oliver respecting the connection that Tommy shared with her. Oliver was always extremely protective of those he cared about.

"Helena," Frank said in a warning tone. "It's not up for discussion." The man's hand clenched in a fist and Tommy's hand slowly moved towards the largest knife in the block.

"Father," she spat venomously but he cut her off by turning to speak to Tommy. Tommy dropped his hand quickly onto the counter behind the juice.

"Mr. Drakon is downstairs waiting for you. My daughter and I need to continue this conversation in private."

Tommy's eyes sought Helena's."Go ahead I'll be fine," she said to him. He maintained eye contact with her. He didn't see any fear in her eyes and he knew he had to respect her decision no matter how much he wanted to stay to ensure her safety.

Tommy nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow?" he questioned just to rub it in Mr. Bertinelli's face.

"Definitely," Helena said with a large smile. He moved towards her and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. She sighed softly in response. "Stay safe," he whispered in her ear before he walked out the door. He knew if he looked back he might kill her father.

Drakon was indeed waiting downstairs by the town car with a rather nasty look on his face. Tommy got the impression that if he could get away with hurting him, Drakon would. As he got into the back seat, he pulled out his phone and sent a message to Helena.

Performance Failure:

Helena:1 Tommy:2

S-6

Flashback

Boats, yachts, trawlers, pirogues, really any sea worthy vessel suck. Tommy hates the trawler he's stuck on. The boat rocks like all boats, it always smells of the fish they hunt for andthe men speak Mandarin all the time and make fun of him but the worst part is the Captain expects him to work. He's had to use his bare hands to pull fish and all manner of sea creature out of the fishing nets. He's sure some of them are worthy of being in Hollywood's next monster from the sea movie. Some of the creatures are so ugly Tommy's sure they will break mirrors.

He hates the food on the boat. It's tasteless and he's sure 95% of it is raw. The food on Lian Yu had been gourmet compared so the shit they feed him. He thought of taking a cup of seawater and trying to boil the water out to harvest the salt to improve the flavour of his food but he saw one of the deckhands peeing over the side of the boat and that changed his mind. He'd suffer. He had a few snacks he had packed for the island but he's eaten them already. He's sure he can hunt for his food on Tori-shima. It's supposed to be full of birds. While his aim is piss poor with a bow, he can hunt for the eggs on the steep slopes. It will definitely be better than what he had on the boat.

His thoughts drift every so often to Oliver and he hopes his brother is doing well. Before he left Mariko assured him that Oliver was fine but he could tell there was something she was holding back. He should have questioned her more but he chose to focus on his own mission. Oliver was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. It was Oliver that got him through Lian Yu. Tommy knew he wouldn't have survived without Oliver. He made so many disastrous decisions.

The slope of the east side of Tori-Shima came into view. He could see the white dots of the birds nesting on the slopes as well as ruins of the old observatory on the island. Mariko had told him one of the birds, the short-tailed albatross was endangered and scientists were working on bringing the population back. Usually permission was needed from the Japanese government to land on this particular island but the Yakuza seemed to have taken care of that. They probably bribed the officials responsible for taking care of the island.

They sailed to a small rocky bay that had formed from a lava flow when the volcano the formed the island, erupted. It was the easiest way to get on the island.

"Ok off," the Chinese Captain commanded.

"Off? We're like 300 feet from shore," Tommy said pointing between the boat and shore.

"You swim form here. This is as close as I goto the island," he told him in his heavy Chinese accent.

Tommy spluttered. Seriously? A deck hand picked up one of his bags and shoved it roughly into his chest with a few teasing words in knew he was going to get a little wet but no one said anything about swimming 300 feet. He hated swimming. That was why he had no problem replacing the water in his swimming pool with beer. It was a much better use of the space.

"Either you get off now or you head back to Hong Kong with us!" the Captain threatened.

The thought of spending more weeks on that god forsaken boat had Tommy's feet moving to the side rail of the boat. He threw his bags overboard, they had flotation devices attached and all of his gear inside were in water proof bags. He then jumped up on the gunwale and mentally prepared himself to dive in but before he could finish he was pushed roughly overboard.

He flopped ungracefully into the water. Cold was the first thing he registered before he surfaced. The deckhands were all laughing and mimicking the screaming sounds he made as he fell overboard. He glared. When he finished this mission he would find a way to throw all of them overboard. The boat started to move away from him and he realised he was on his own now. He needed to get to the island or he would freeze to death in that water.

He swam over to his bags thankful that Mariko added flotation devices so they would float. Wait, had she known he had to swim to the island and didn't tell him? When he got back to Hong Kong he was going to have a word with his girlfriend about withholding vital information.

He held on to the bags with one hand and did some sort of kick and a desperate stroke with his free arm. The tide was rising so it was pushing him towards shore. He was thankful he didn't have a strong current to fight because that was a battle he would have lost. It felt like he had been in the water for hours but with one more timid kick, a small wave dumped him unceremoniously on the pebbled shore, his bags landing roughly on top of him.

He coughed up some water and then stared at the sky. The sun would be setting in a few hours and he would need a fire to stay warm or he would freeze to death. Scratch that, he needed a fire now because he was freezing from that water and the wind blowing wasn't helping. He felt a sharp prick on his neck and thought some sort of bug had bitten him. He reached up to his neck and pulled a dart from it.

His vision started to get hazy and he realised he had been drugged. That wasn't fair!The competition wasn't supposed to start until tomorrow. He had been on the island no less than three minutes and he had already failed his looked like his father was right, once a screw-up always a screw-up. The last thing he saw before he blacked out were a group of heavily armed men approaching him.

S-7

Malcolm was seated behind his desk when Tommy entered his study, Drakon on his tail. They had come straight to the Mansion after his ruined date with Helena. Tommy thought it was time for him to have a serious conversation with his father about his life and how he wanted to live it. His loft was now fully furnished and it was time to inform Malcolm that he was moving out.

"We need to talk," Tommy said towering over Malcolm's desk. He could see his father was reading the latest financial report that had been submitted by the finance department earlier that day.

His father looked up at him calmly and then his gaze drifted passed him to Drakon. Malcolm nodded his head and Tommy heard the door close shortly afterwards. His father looked back at him and continued to stare at him in silence. He had never seen his father look at him so closely before.

"Finally worked up the courage to tell me you're moving out," Malcolm commented nonchalantly.

The surprise flitted across Tommy's face, "How did you know?"

"I know everything that goes on in my city," Malcolm boasted.

Tommy sincerely doubted that. Malcolm had no idea that he and Oliver were ARGUS agents but it did reinforce his growing suspicion that his father knew a lot more about what was really going on in the city. Perhaps he was even connected to the Tempest group in some way.

"I suppose you are going to say no?" Tommy asked bitterly.

"If I were going to say no you wouldn't have an apartment," his father responded evenly.

Tommy was confused. Malcom was just letting him move out without a fight. He thought his father would insist that he had to stay and live in this mansion like some slave. Tommy had a whole speech planned out and several harsh words about how exactly his father had failed him throughout life so far. He suddenly felt very cheated. How was he supposed to scream at his father when his father had successfully diffused the situation before it had even started? He still wanted to yell and scream at him but it was hard to do that when his father was behaving like a reasonable adult.

"Dinner one last time tomorrow night with the family. You will inform them of your decision to the leave the Manor," Malcolm told him.

Tommy nodded. That was a fair request.

"Is that all?" Malcolm asked looking up at his son calmly. Tommy had the urge to slap the look off his face.

"No, I wanted to talk about Drakon and his duties now that I will be living at the loft," Tommy added. He glanced back to see if the man was still in the room with them but he had indeed left when Malcolm nodded earlier. This wasn't what he had intended to talk about but he needed to pick a fight about something.

"Drakon will be picking you up in the mornings and returning you in the evenings. If you have a date with Ms. Bertinelli, he will accompany you and stay with you until you return to your loft," Malcolm explained to him.

"And if I choose to spend the night at Helena's?" Tommy challenged his father.

An amused smirk played across Malcolm's face, "I highly doubt that will ever happen again."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tommy asked. "Helena and I are still very much a couple."

Malcolm sighed and looked away to his portrait on the wall before he returned his gaze to Tommy, "I realise you are not aware of who Helena's father is. Frank Bertinelli runs the Italian mob in Star City. If the FBI could get any of their charges to stick they would lock him up in jail and throw away the key."

Tommy didn't have to act surprised because he was genuinely surprised that his father was revealing that information to him. In the past he hadn't cared what or who Tommy did. Robert Queen was always there to clean up the messes he and Oliver got into. Either it was Robert's absence that was forcing Malcolm to actually talk to Tommy now or he had moved up one rung on the father ladder from dead beat dad to pain in the ass dad in the last five years.

"For your safety Tommy, always invite Helena over to your loft or get a hotel room. Frank has been known to remove Helena's lovers from her life," Malcolm informed him.

"You're not going to tell me to stop dating her?" Tommy questioned suspiciously. Where was the father he knew? Did something happen in between the time he saw him at the office and his arrival at the Mansion. This was not the father he knew. Was he speaking to an imposter?

Malcolm sighed again, "If I tell you to stop dating her, will you stop dating her?"

Tommy remained silent as his father stared up at him.

"Exactly as I thought. Is that all?" Malcolm asked picking up his pen off the desk.

"Uh yes," Tommy replied stupidly.

"Good," Malcolm said going back to the paperwork on his desk.

Tommy left the study completely dumbfounded. What was he to do now? He really felt like a pawn that thought he had the King in check only for the King to move away. Should he pursue the King or should he continue down the chess board to get upgraded? He decided to stop contemplating chess analogies and go upstairs to his room. He needed to pack his clothes, toiletries and personal were the last things he needed in the loft.

He packed two suitcases worth of stuff and headed downstairs. He could collect the rest of the stuff after dinner tomorrow. He requested a driver since he was thinking of buying his own car because he didn't want anything that belonged to his father. The car came around to the front and Drakon was driving it. Tommy nearly groaned out loud.

At that time of night they arrived in front of his building quickly. On the way up to his loft he couldn't help but notice another set of security upgrades had been added. That was the third set since he purchased the loft. There were no more blind spots on the ground level or his level. The last time he checked the roof was unmonitored and he hoped this latest upgrade hadn't fixed that. With the first set of upgrades he thought the building's management committee was making inconvenient upgrades to the security system but now he knew otherwise. The upgrades were curtesy of his father. No wonder he let him move out so easily!

S-8

The following evening, Malcolm reluctantly made his way to the clock tower in the Old Glades. He hated this section of town but this was the location he was given for the meet. He hadn't been on this side of the city for almost two years. The dirt and the filth were highly offensive. If they didn't get the residents to sell soon then he was going to have to take matters into his hands again. This part of the city was an eyesore than annoyed him.

He looked down at a homeless girl at the entrance to the clock tower. Why would she choose to live like this when there were programmes in the City to help persons such as her? Moira had most of the major companies contributing to those programmes. As a result of the contributions the programmes were purpose of the programme was to rehabilitate persons and get them back on their feet. All you had to do was conform to the rules and you would be given a job and an apartment in Novus District. It was a very simple process and he would never understand why so many persons chose to live on the streets instead.

Figuring he had spared her enough thought, he pushed the heavy door opened and scowled at the dust inside. The clock tower had laid dormant for years. He remembered he used to drive passed this tower all the time when he used to pick Rebecca up at her clinic. If he heard the chimes from the clock then he knew he was late and he would incur the wrath of his wife. He had been on the receiving end of that wrath many times and it was one of the reasons she had started taking the subway home. Rebecca had grown so confident in the safety of the subway she often stayed later than she should have at the clinic. He had thought about all the circumstances that ultimately led to his wife's death and he didn't need to rehash the thought process again. He doubted he would have any new revelations.

There was no elevator to the top so he had to walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the meeting point but that didn't bother him. He was much fitter than one would assume. He reached the top to find that it was empty. His contact hadn't arrived yet. One side of the clock was open to the night's air and he walked over to survey the scene below him.

The sun had set already and a few street lights illuminated the road. There were many shadows cast and Malcolm thought he saw a few shapes moving around in the shadows. They were probably waiting to rob someone. He would have to recommend to Moira that she review the street lighting situation in the Old Glades. Even though he would like to pretend that the area didn't exist it was still a part of his city and good outstanding citizens still came into the Old Glades for reasons he couldn't fathom. His own children were starting a community centre in the area. He needed to ensure their safety from the animals that lived there.

"You wished to see us?" an accented voice stated behind him.

Malcolm did not need to turn around to know who had arrived in the clock tower with him. The voice belonged to Nyssa Al-Ghul, Heir to the Demon. He had known her since she was a little girl. She was the one to give him his name in the League of Assassins, Al-Saher, The Magician, after he performed a simple sleight of hand trick with a coin for her.

"Yes though I admit I thought it would have been Al-Owal your father sent." He turned around and bowed."I'm deeply honoured that he would send his heir instead."

"My father trusts you. He wouldn't have released you from the League of Assassins otherwise, Al Sa-Her," Nyssa noted.

"Ra's Al-Ghul is a wise and honourable man, I seek his advice and knowledge," Malcolm said returning to his full height. He looked Nyssa in the eyes. She was dressed in the usual League garb with her bow and sword on her back.

"What is it that you wish to know?" she asked curiously.

"I was attacked two weeks ago by a man dressed in black. He carries a sword on his back and is fond of using throwing stars. There was also another separate incident in the city with an archer in a green hood. I suspect its two separate people," Malcolm explained as he handed her stills that he had pulled off of the CCTV footage he had brought with him for the meeting. "Has the League come across any such persons?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I will consult with my father," she said before walking over to the opening, firing an arrow and zip lining down to the street. Once she landed on the ground, she looked back up at him instead of severing the cable. The offer was clear but he declined it. He didn't want anyone to see him ziplining down to the street.

Malcolm remembered the day Ra's Al-Ghul taught his daughter how to do that. A part of him felt guilty then for he should have been teaching his own son in Starling City instead of learning to become an assassin. He justified his actions by reminding himself that he had a purpose and that his ultimate goal would benefit his son and all of the residents in Starling City.

The Malcolm Merlyn that the world knew died when Rebecca died. He had been more than in love with her. Love wasn't a strong enough word to describe what he felt for his wife. He was the person he was because of her and without her in his life he did not know how to go on living. The only thing he had been able to latch on to was revenge. The person that killed Rebecca had to pay for what he did.

A police officer gave him the name of the man they suspected killed his wife. He set out one night to deliver justice himself. He found the man and confronted him in an alley. His old self was pathetically weak and he nearly died at the hand of the same man that killed his wife but due to a stroke of luck he managed to come out on top. He crawled away from the dead body a complete wreck. He sought comfort in arms of his best friend's wife.

He knew that the Glades was a cancer on Starling City and it needed to be removed but he wasn't strong enough. He heard whispers of the League of Assassins and he knew he could achieve the transformation he needed there. It took him a little while to find the base of operation of the League. It was in a place in Asia called Nanda Parbat. He ensured Tommy's needs were taken care of and left. He didn't know about Thea. He only learnt about her existence when he returned to Starling years later.

He returned to Starling city a new man. The city knew him as Malcolm Merlyn but he was Al Sa-Her. He had one purpose, the removal of the cancer that plagued Starling City. Anybody that stood in his way was removed even if that person was his supposed best friend.

He returned to the street below the clock tower the same way he homeless girl was still by the entrance and he sneered at her when she begged for some money. He looked around but Nyssa had already disappeared into the shadows. His work in the Old Glades was completed and he would not stay a second longer than he had to in this place. He quickly retraced his steps a few blocks to where the town car was waiting for him. A quick glance at his watch told him he was going to be late for dinner.

S-9

It was 7:05pm and Malcolm had yet to arrive for dinner even though he insisted that everyone had to be present by 7:00pm for dinner. Thea was drumming her fingers idly on the table, Tommy was glaring at a picture on the wall and his mother was on her phone. The staff were patiently waiting at the back of the room to serve dinner. Apparently dinner was only served at seven if Malcolm was there. It didn't matter that the rest of the family was there on time, they still had to wait for him.

"So how was your day Thea?" Oliver asked trying to fill the silence.

"Seriously, we're doing that?" Tommy asked with disdain.

Oliver turned his gaze on his brother, "This whole dinner at seven thing may be annoying and inconvenient but I do genuinely enjoy hearing about what's going on in everybody's life. I want to know if Thea had a good day at school. I want to know if she had a bad day and who caused it so I can have Mr. Diggle kick their ass."

Thea giggled and his mother smiled. Tommy wasn't amused.

"I don't think we should have to be prodded to say a few words to each other. Besides if we start on time, we get to rib Malcolm about breaking his own rule," Oliver pointed out.

"I'm on board for the ribbing part," Tommy said lifting hand in the air like a boy in school lifting his hand to answer a question the teacher asked.

"Me too," Thea agreed.

Moira sighed and put her phone down. "Thea honey, how was your day?"

"My day was normal, class, class, class and more class. Nobody to beat up. What about you Ollie?" Thea looked across the table at her brother.

"Another day of reading project reports on prototypes I don't understand," he quipped.

"Perhaps you should ask Walter to assign you a scientific advisor?" Moira suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Malcolm said sweeping into the room. He sat at the head of the table and placed his napkin on his lap. That was the signal for their meal to be served and the staff went into a flurry of activity. Malcolm wasted no time starting his inquisition. "Thea how was your day?"

"You're late we already covered that," Thea said with a proud smirk.

Malcolm arched his eyebrow.

"Yeah Dad, you're late," Tommy added. "And you didn't even have the curtesy to apologise to us?"

"You always lecture us about responsibility and the consequences of your actions. Well you're late, you don't get to hear how our day has been. We're actually on to you," Thea snarked. She ignored the fact that Tommy and her mother hadn't spoken about their day yet.

"How was your day dad?" Tommy asked acidly.

Malcolm looked like he was forced to eat a sour lemon. "I apologise for my tardiness. I will endeavour for it not to happen again. My day has been fairly interesting and I'm quite confident that the little issues that were bugging me over the last few weeks will be resolved soon."

"What issues?" Tommy asked curiously. As far as he knew everything was running perfectly at the company. Their latest audit report had been good.

Malcolm didn't answer him, choosing instead to redirect the conversation towards Tommy, "I assume you have told them you're moving out?"

"You're moving out!" Thea squealed in surprise.

Moira didn't show any reaction to the news and Oliver continued cutting into his steak. He was aware of Tommy's determination to move out but he hadn't actively asked his brother about it. Whatever decision Tommy made he would support him.

"I was just about to get to that," Tommy promised as he looked at his sister guiltily.

"Where to?" Thea asked.

"I got a loft downtown. It's nice. I might actually invite you over to dinner one night," he said leaning over and knocking his shoulder against hers.

"That sounds lovely Tommy," Moira said gracefully.

Tommy smirked, "How about Wednesday, 7:13pm on the dot?"

Malcolm smirked, "We'll be there. Though I would like to know when you learnt to cook?"

"Cook?" Tommy repeated. Perhaps he hadn't thought that invitation through properly.

"Yes, you don't have a maid," Malcolm pointed out.

"I'll get Helena to help me," Tommy said without thinking.

"Oooo we finally get to meet the girlfriend then?" Thea asked excitedly.

"No!" were the first words out of Tommy's mouth. There was no way in hell he wanted Helena to meet his family.

"We look forward to meeting your girlfriend," Moira said pleasantly.

"Does this mean Oliver is moving out too?" Thea asked. Oliver could tell from the glint in her eyes she was calculating when she would be able to move out as well.

"No, he's not," Moira answered for Oliver. She levelled him with her steely gaze.

For whatever reason he didn't understand yet, Oliver knew his mother needed him home and he felt obliged to comply. "I'm not going anywhere Thea," he said to her. "I think we're still getting to know each other again and it's far too soon to move out."

Moira smiled happily and Thea returned to eating her food.

"There is something I wanted to mention to you mom. I know you handle all of our charity work. Sara's gym has weekly tournaments to keep kids off the streets. I was hoping that I could sponsor one. I think it would also be a great promotion event for the community centre as well."

"Perhaps since the two of you are so fond of Sara Lance, you could take some self-defence classes from her. She certainly seems tougher than the two of you put together," Malcolm quipped.

"That sounds like a lovely idea Oliver," Moira said before turning to Tommy, "You should also find something charitable to do. I can forward you a list of upcoming events and perhaps you and Helena could go to one."

"I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. Let's see how I pull off dinner first," Tommy said with a grimace.

S-10

It was approaching midnight by the time the IT department finished the recent upgrade of MQI's systems. A preliminary check found everything working and Mr. Tockman sent an e-mail to all staff advising of the upgrades and asking staff to notify the department if any issue popped up. As was his custom, Walter was in his office upstairs waiting for notification of a successful upgrade. Mr. Tockman asked Felicity to go up and inform Mr. Steele about the success.

Felicity gladly accepted the task. She hadn't seen him since he had told her to stop researching Tempest. During her research for Oliver she came across some connections to Tempest. Of the six firms that tendered for the interior decoration of the centre, three of the firms were part of larger conglomerates whose head offices were not locally based so she disregarded them immediately. The other three firms were locally owned and run, but she round that two of the firms were sending money to offshore accounts. On a hunch, she ran the account numbers against accounts that she knew were associated with the Tempest group and was stunned when she found a match. She had just made her first real breakthrough in her search. Cassandra Bowen, wife of Dr. Carter Bowen and Elizabeth Fuller, wife of Max Fuller were somehow involved in Tempest.

She arrived at Walter's office to find that not only was he there but his Executive Assistant was also behind her desk. That was unusual. She never stayed behind when Walter did. He always insisted his assistant go home as babysitting was not a part of her job. Walter always made sure he treated his employees fairly and Felicity thought Walter should be running the entire company. He never looked down on her for her babbles.

She heard horror stories about Malcolm Merlyn. He was a strict vindictive man. He supposedly had ruined many careers. Rumour was he told his son and Oliver they each had to fire one person when they assumed their positions within the company. That was why Oliver had fired, Mark Scheffer. Tommy supposedly fired three people in his department. She heard the secretaries gossiping that Merlyn Jr. was worse than this father. Having met him, she wondered about that. He seemed like a nice guy. If he was worse than his father was Malcolm Merlyn actually a nice guy?

Walter saw her through the glass walls of his office and he came out to her.

"Ms. Smoak, good evening. I imagine everything went well?" he asked in that polite British tone of his.

"Yes Mr. Steele. The update was successful and we don't anticipate any problems in the future with it," Felicity informed him.

"Excellent news, we can all go home now. Do I need to call security to escort any of you to your cars?" he asked looking between Felicity and his assistant.

"I'll walk down with you," his assistant said to him.

Felicity realised she was not going to be able to speak with him alone. "I'm fine. I just need to collect my stuff in my office and then I'll head home."

She was going to need to find a way to get Walter alone to inform him about her latest discovery.

S-11

Bright and early the next day Oliver was seated in her office with his bodyguard standing by the door.

"I need to add personal internet researcher for Oliver Queen to my title," Felicity joked and he just stared blankly at her. He didn't seem to be in a joking mood that morning and she fidgeted nervously.

"Do you have a recommendation?" he asked getting straight to the point.

He was definitely in a grouchy mood.

"Yes Cara Stewart, she could really use the funds. The other larger firms have been squeezing her out. Her daughter donates to the homeless shelter in the Glades. They seem like really good people. Cara also runs an adult literacy programme at Iron Heights where she teaches the inmates to read. Their price isn't the lowest but the quality of their products is excellent. I rather liked the designs she presented. I thought the colour schemed matched what you wanted to achieve with the centre."

Oliver nodded.

"Thank you," he said standing up and leaving abruptly.

That was strange usually he was a lot friendlier with her. She wondered what had crawled up his ass? A few trouble calls came in throughout the day as some staff was having trouble using the system after the upgrade. At lunch time Felicity decided to take a peek at Oliver's schedule to see if he had indeed listened to her suggestion. She got a warm feeling in her chest when she saw an appointment with Ms. Stewart for the next day at the construction site. She liked using her special skills for good.

She was surprised when just before closing time, Oliver again returned to her office bodyguard in tow.

He placed a thick report in front of her, "What is this?" she asked.

"It's a report from one of the projects in QC," Oliver said. "Take a look."

She nodded her head and picked up the file. She looked at the executive summary and the table of contents before she flipped through to the results section, "It looks like the team that was working on the exoskeleton project screwed up. According to this latest test result they made an error in the design of the lightweight metal and it can't even stop a bullet," she revealed casually.

"Oh that's what the report says," Oliver exclaimed. For the last three days he'd been scratching his head trying to figure what fatigue and stress had to do with a metal suit. "All that just to say it's worthless," he asked pointing to the thick report.

"Yeap," Felicity says nodding her head. "They are basically trying to justify why the suit can't withstand a bullet and why it wasn't their fault it turned out that way but if I remember correctly, some of the engineers in the project had stated this would happen but the chief engineer overruled them."

A smile tugged at Oliver's lips, "You're hired."

"Hired for what? I already have a job Oliver. I work down here in the IT department," Felicity stated with a touch of panic in her voice.

"Now you have a job upstairs on the Executive floor. You will be my Science Advisor. HR will contact you with the details. You start on Monday," he informed her.

"This is crazy Oliver! You don't need a Science Advisor," Felicity countered.

"I need someone to advise me and explain the things that I don't understand. The pay is better, the benefits are better and you get to look at this handsome face all day," he pitched jovially.

"I could look at your handsome face all day!" she said dreamily before a horrified expression crossed her face, "I was not supposed to say that out loud. There are a lot of other qualified more experienced people here that could help you. Are you sure you want me?"

"Yes, I trust you to guide me properly. Give it a chance, if you don't like it you can go back to the IT department," Oliver tried to reason with her.

When she didn't look like she was budging, he begged, "Please."

She sighed, "Ok one week."

"One month and I'll see you on Monday!" he said standing up. "Remember Executive floor."

"You do realise that there are no open offices on that floor right?" Felicity asked him.

"I moved the innovations manager closer to his employees. Maybe he'll be more innovative now," Oliver replied.

"Oliver! That's kind of unfair to the manager," Felicity said horrified.

"Why? He was always making snarky comments about my understanding of the projects. Granted it's not without merit but I'm making an effort to fix that. He can't expect me to go down 18 floors to speak to my advisor!"

"You could call me on the phone or send me an e-mail," she pointed out.

"I'm more of a face to face guy," he replied.

"I noticed," slipped out of Felicity's mouth followed by a furious blush. She could see his bodyguard in the back was really enjoying the scene.

"Besides I did do some research before making the decision. At Kord Industries, Wayne Enterprises and Luthor Corp, their teams are all on one floor. Luthor Corp is the industry leader. They get the most military contracts and patent the most prototypes each year. I'm following the industry standard. Malcolm and Walter both endorsed my decision."

Felicity's eyes opened wide, "Mr. Merlyn knows that a nobody IT girl has moved to the Executive Floor?"

"Felicity, you're not a nobody. Mr. Tockman fought to keep you. Even though you're going to be helping me there are still some cyber-security projects you will be working on for the company. I'll see you on Monday."

Felicity watched him walk away. She had just gone from IT grunt to Science Advisor to the Vice-President of a major conglomerate, oh the office rumour mill was going to have a field day with this one.


An: Thank you for reading. I'm still amazed that after so many breaks in between chapters people are still reading this story!