This was the stupidest, most dangerous thing she'd done since arriving in Central City. Stupid, it was really stupid…and dangerous. Felicity had her back pressed up against a wall in an alley. She didn't even know how you explained where you were to the police if something happened. Felicity was starting to panic. This really was a stupid idea.

"Should've stayed home," she chastised herself. "You're not a hero…"

Felicity sucked in a deep breath and peeked from where she'd flattened herself. No one was within eyesight. So, before she could rethink what she was doing she hurried down the alley. She really needed a pair of boots or actual shoes rather than heels. Felicity was thinking that it was going to be more likely that she broke an ankle in those things with the alley being riddled with imperfections in the slimy and wet blacktop.

She made it to the back entrance of the warehouse where she needed to be inside and hidden before the bad guys arrived. She'd been good about letting stuff go that required her to leave her home and she'd send the information anonymously to the Central City Police Department, but not this time. Felicity just couldn't risk it.

Not this time.

She hadn't thought that far ahead. Now that she was inside, where was she going to hide? Felicity looked around and finally found a secure spot to hide. She carefully placed a thin pipe between the metal doorframe and the door; it was just big enough to keep it propped open so that she could hear.

More time passed than she'd thought would before they finally arrived. Felicity found it much harder to keep still and to feel like she was being quiet enough once they were there. She was second-guessing the intelligence of her plan. The only problem with her original plan of calling the police and tipping them off was that she was afraid that there would be too many casualties…including the person that she wanted to keep safe.

Felicity listened from her spot as they talked. Occasionally she'd peer out, but so far she hadn't seen her reason for venturing out from the safety of her own home.

"I'm telling you, we need to do this now."

"We should wait until they pay the ransom. Leave the body at the meeting spot."

"These people deserve WORSE."

"What's worse than killing their kid?"

"Never know if the kid is really dead or alive."

Felicity really hated to listen to what she was listening to, but worse of all she could see the little girl they were talking about killing only six feet away from her. There were at least six of them, but there could be more outside. She couldn't be sure.

What was she going to do?

The little girl was six years old and her name was Ava Warren. Her parents were both doctors and the Warren family was very well off. Felicity had been hacking phone calls, text messages, e-mails, instant messages, social media sites, and chat rooms in the area for certain keywords. Apparently the head bad guy in this operation wanted revenge on Doctor Andrew Warren because he blamed him for the death of his son and the suicide of his wife shortly thereafter. She'd seen the medical files, police files, and any other investigation that had been done. Doctor Warren had done everything in his ability to save the boy.

It hadn't been enough.

That was all.

Nothing more.

"Let's just do it! I'm sick of hearing her cry! That's all she does!"

This only made the little brunette cry more. Ava was crying into the bandana gag while she shook her head, making the brown curls bounce about. She was pulling her arms and legs against the bonds, but it didn't help any.

She knew that she had to get Ava out of there. Felicity knew that there was no way she could go up against six men, one was questionable enough. She'd already been going through what Diggle and Oliver had taught her as far as self defense went in her head. What she really needed was a distraction. If they left the warehouse or were distracted away from Ava, then maybe she could make it the six feet to the chair and get her back to the hiding spot.

Turning to the small backpack she'd brought in with her, Felicity opened it and started to see if there was anything that she could use as a distraction. She'd packed her keys, cell phone, tablet, knife, Swiss army knife, flashlight, rope, first aid kit, gum, granola bar, and a water bottle. She was certain that there were other things she should have packed, but at the time that was all that had really made sense to her. Nothing that could really be used as a distraction in there. Felicity opened up her tablet and tapped into the surrounding power grid. She shut down the power to the building and the surrounding two blocks. Nothing important would be affected.

What would Oliver do?

She knew what he'd do. He'd go right in there and handle all six of them on his own. She wasn't that skilled. What she wouldn't give for one of his exploding arrows for a distraction right now…or maybe Oliver's fighting skills. At this moment, either would be a massive improvement.

Gunshots rang outside and it seemed like this was her chance. The men had their backs turned and their attention was on whatever might be going on beyond the warehouse walls. Felicity grabbed the knife before carefully and quietly easing out of her hiding spot. Running to the chair, she crouched down behind in and immediately started to cut at the bonds. She didn't remove the gag, though. Felicity checked and noticed in the dark that some of the bad guys had gone out the door while the others were definitely still distracted as gunshots kept going off. The screaming wasn't helping Felicity to feel like they were safe. She grabbed Ava and dragged her back into the hiding spot, but when the little girl started to struggle with her, she fell backwards into her hiding spot.

The door wasn't as loud as she feared as she watched in horror was it closed. The piece of pipe had been dislodged. It darkened quite a bit though. Felicity let Ava go and scrambled for the flashlight. She turned it on and shined it in Ava's direction. "I'm here to help," Felicity said quickly. "We have to be quiet."

Ava moved to a corner of whatever they were in. Felicity realized at that moment that she didn't even know what they were in, just that they were most likely stuck since it had looked like it locked from the outside. She had been so careful with that pipe… It was water under the bridge now, but Felicity didn't dare try to open that door or mess with it with the bad guys still outside. She didn't know what had been going on outside and she didn't think it was safe at all.

She watched as Ava removed the bandana and cried in the corner. Felicity was going to say something, but Ava was being quiet enough. She sighed and went through her backpack. She picked out the water and granola bar before moving over to her with the flashlight. Felicity didn't get too close but left the flashlight, so that it was pointed upward towards the ceiling and set the water bottle and granola bar in front of it so that Ava could see them. She moved away and sat closer to the door. She just hoped that she'd be able to hear if there was trouble or if someone tried to get in.

Felicity smiled when Ava took the offered items and began opening the granola bar. She started to take in their surroundings and realized that it could be worse. It looked like they were in some kind of refrigeration or freezer unit. Obviously, it wasn't currently in use…but she didn't know if she needed to start to worry about the amount of air in the space.

Barry.

She moved to grab her backpack and then slowly pulled it over to where she'd taken up listening. She pulled out her cell phone and tablet. Felicity frowned at her tablet and cell phone screens as they both told her the same thing. No signal. She'd had signal before… Of course, she'd had signal before when the door was open just a crack…maybe that had just been enough. She'd been thinking that she could just text Barry and let him know what was going on…maybe he could put in a call to the police and make sure that she and Ava got out. Now that wasn't an option.

"On to Plan B…or C…" she muttered to herself.

Using her cell phone on flashlight mode, she started to look over the door to see if there seemed to be a way to get out once she felt like it was safe for them. So far, she saw no way out from the inside. Felicity tried not to panic or look like she was panicking… She didn't need Ava freaking out after she'd just managed to calm her down.

Breathe, Felicity.

She knew that Barry would know she was missing in the morning when he showed up at her apartment and she wasn't there. That meant that she and Ava would have to remain calm and relatively quiet in the meantime. Felicity looked over at her, she seemed okay enough given the circumstances. She just didn't know if she'd last until Barry figured out where they were, IF he figured it out.

So, she continued to look around. She was determined to at least act like she was actively looking for a way out. Felicity knew that it was a long shot that she was going to be able to get them out without outside help, but she needed to look.

Twenty minutes later, Felicity was pretty sure that they were screwed. At least it seemed to be quiet outside the door. That was a plus. Ava had moved next to her and was just sitting there quietly. "Someone's coming for us," she finally spoke up quietly.

"Who?" Ava asked just as quiet.

"A hero."

. . .

TBC…