She turned toward the mill as Oliver picked her unconscious father up in a fireman's carry, faded sounds of battle were still piercing through the forest. Felicity wanted it to end, all the hurt and pain and fighting, so she loped into the clearing. There were only about a dozen H.I.V.E. operatives left, she sprung for the one closest to her as he was training a gun on Ray. She swung her muzzle under him, tossing him into the air with a turn of her neck. The armed man landed several feet away head first, knocking him out. She was looking for her next target when she realized everyone had stopped fighting and were staring just beyond her.

"We have your leader. Surrender, and you'll be allowed to leave here alive." Barry stood ready to resume battle if they refused.

Weapons clattered to the ground and those that wielded them went to their knees. "Secure them all." Oliver ordered. "And someone get me on a direct line with Waller. We need a clean up team." He looked to Felicity, "Let's go secure this." shifting his comatose passenger, "Then we need to talk."

Yeah we do she thought, leading the way into the mill as the rest of the team secured those that were still alive. Oliver found a solid metal chair and set Dahrk down, zip tying his wrists to the arm rests and ankles to it's legs. Felicity sat facing the men, exhausted and panting, adrenaline still making her canine heart race.

"You may as well go change." Oliver said, refusing to look at her.

Well, fine. Jerk. She thought as she stalked toward the stairs. Telling me what to do like I'm some dog. Ok, so I am a wolf, but I'm a woman first. She was quietly growling to herself and mentally berating Oliver as she ascended the stairs. A yelp escaped her when she cut her paw on the threshold. She quickly shifted back into human form, knowing that doing so could make the injury worse. "Son of bitch!" She muttered and stuck the bleeding thumb in her mouth. She was searching the desk drawers, hoping for an old first aid kit or some band aids. "Hell, tissues and tape would do, just give me something." She said around her thumb.

"Are you alright? I heard you yelp." Oliver took in the sight before him. A naked Felicity, thumb in her mouth, bent at the waist looking through the desk with her free hand. "You scared the shit out of me." He gulped, trying to swallow the gravel that had gotten in his voice. Focus on her face. Focus on her face. Try as he might, he couldn't stop his eyes from tracing over her body.

Felicity had frozen in place, her mental tirade was so loud that she didn't hear Oliver make his way to the office. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth and it instantly started bleeding again. "I'm fine, I just cut myself on one of those damn screws in the threshold thingy. And breathe, you're turning red." She stood up straight, shaking off her growing arousal at his perusal, she felt at a distinct disadvantage being the only one naked, "What? I know you've seen naked women before. Hell, you've seen me naked before. Get over it." She popped her thumb back in her mouth and continued her search. When he didn't move she looked up at him, "If you're not going to help me find a bandage, you should probably keep an eye on the maniac you have secured to a chair downstairs."

Oliver snapped out of his aroused daze and focused on the blood seeping out of her thumb. Why must this woman always be injured? He pulled off his outer shirt, made of an amazingly light bulletproof fabric/ polymer blend developed by Cisco, and his white undershirt. Grabbing it with both hands he ripped it until he had a strip of fabric that was sufficient.

Felicity looked up at the sound of fabric tearing to find Oliver without a shirt, muscles flexing, the star tattoo on his chest dancing. She had to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. Elohim Yishmor! he. Is. Perfect. When he began to walk towards her purposefully, she stuttered "W-what are you doing? Why are you shirtless? I-I mean I am not complaining... Wait, yes. I am complaining. It's hard enough for me to tamp down the sexual tension in here when I am naked in front of you, you removing any bit of clothing does-" She paused. Oliver was breathing heavily when he grasped her hand. Her thumb had already started healing and the bleeding had slowed to an ooze, if she were anyone else (except Barry) stitches would have been necessary. Oliver wrapped his torn shirt around her thumb, tied it off and walked out of the room quickly. "-n't help any."

Diggle was keeping an eye trained on Dahrk, waiting for the slightest movement so he could knock him back out. He did a double take when he saw Oliver walking out of the office shirtless and tense. "Is everything ok?" He asked when Oliver stood next to him.

"It will be when this is all over. Did we get a hold of Waller's direct line?"

"Palmer made contact with an encrypted line and she is sending a small, trusted clean up crew. She has also enlisted Caitlin and Cisco in finding their mole."

"Good. What are we going to do with this one?" Nodding his head toward their prisoner.

Dig breathed deep, "I am waiting for him to try and run so I can shoot him in the kneecaps. Legally." This was the man who had ordered the hit on his brother, leaving his sister in law a widow, his nephew without a father, and his parents without their youngest child. He deserved to die, or at least live in soul crushing pain for the rest of his life. But so far as Diggle could tell, this man didn't have a soul left to crush.

"He'll answer for Andy, John. I promise." Oliver place a comforting hand on John's shoulder.

They kept a watchful eye on their prisoner and checked on the rest of the team and their captives in turns.

"You forgot this." A now fully clothed Felicity shoved Oliver's bulletproof shirt into his stomach. Her eyes were focused on the floor and a blush was creeping up her neck.

Oliver smiled a bit at her shyness. It certainly wasn't evident when she was walking around the office, sans clothes and bending over where she liked... his member was straining against his jeans just remembering. "Thank you." He slipped the shirt back on, more for her than himself.

Barry walked into the mill, "You do know that is going to chafe your nipples if you don't wear something under it, right?"

Felicity's eyes shot to Barry in a surprised look, "What?"

"The shirt. It's a specialized bulletproof polymer of Cisco's own design. It can deflect bullets, arrows, most knives, even electrical currents to a point. It also is microscopically rough. Like to the point you sand off live epithelial cells and you bleed. Nipples included." At Felicity's horrified look, he continued, "Have you ever seen pictures of a marathoner crossing the finish line? Sometimes they have been so chafed by their shirt that blood is just... blech." Barry cringed, "It's kinda like that only it happens within minutes, not hours."

"Oh." Felicity pursed her lips in thought and looked at Oliver's stoic expression. "Fine. Here, wear this." She removed the old college shirt Oliver had given her, exposing the fitted tank top she was wearing underneath. Oliver took it from her relishing its warmth and her scent. "Wouldn't want to file those nipples off." She froze, her now empty hand abeyant. "And now that I've said that sentence, I am going to go over there and bury my head in the saw dust." She walked to the wooden bench she and Roy had sat on earlier and let her head fall back onto the derelict machinery with a loud thud. She tried to push everything out of her mind, her father's evil presence that was still making her hackles rise, the battle that just happened outside, the battle from Oliver's cabin, her extreme attraction to Oliver. The entire week needed a redo and she just wanted everything but her new friends to disappear. I need sleep. She lifted her head and let it drop back a few times, letting the metallic clang echo throughout the building.

"You're going to get a headache doing that." Diggle sat down next to her.

"Damn, I was trying to knock myself unconscious. A hard reboot if you will."

He chuckled and turned to her, "You'll get through this. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. There aren't many people who would defy a direct order from Agent Queen, and even fewer stand up to him afterward." He place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "People like that, like you Ms Smoak, are resilient."

She patted his hand, "I haven't told him off yet, but you can bet that we'll have a few words when we get the chance." Putting her forehead to his shoulder, she exhaled deeply. "When will the clean up crew get here?"

Diggle wrapped her in a hug, "Soon. I promise. Then, we'll get you a safe place where you can relax."

She hummed her approval. "And what's going to happen to him?" She pointed to the figure secured to the chair, "Not that I would care if you sent him to Guantanamo Bay. Or wherever evil criminal masterminds are sent. Is there such thing as a good criminal mastermind? I guess Robin Hood? But he wasn't exactly good for everyone, was he?" She yawned, "I'm sorry. When I am tired my mouth has a habit of running away from me." Her head was still resting on Diggle's shoulder and he still had an arm wrapped around her. She drifted in and out of awareness, her brain shutting out everything but noise and even that faded in and out. The sound of chopper blades brought her to full awareness. She stiffened when she realized she was no longer laying against Diggle. It seemed Oliver and he had traded places at some point and she was sleeping with her head on his lap.

"I know you're awake." Oliver ran a hand through her hair, "The cleaners are here."

"Where'd John go?" her voice was thick with sleep.

"Your father started waking up, so we switched. He has a bit of a score to settle with Dahrk."

"Don't we all?" she muttered. Already she was making lists of things she had to do when this was over, a priority being finding those kids her father had abducted and murdered under the guise of scientific advancement. Not only did she have to find the names, but she had to find any remains, she had to send them home. If they didn't have a home, she had to give them a proper burial. "I need access to all his records." Oliver started to object, and she sat up, "This is nonnegotiable, Agent Queen. I need his records, but only up to when he abandoned my mother and me."

"Felicity, this isn't your battle." They had stood and Oliver's hand ghosted over the scar he left on her shoulder.

"You're wrong Oliver. Kids. He abducted kids and subjected them to experiments, tried to make them what I am, but they all died instead. I wasn't born like this, a monster from a fairy tale, he made me this way." She was choking back the dam of tears that threatened to drown any semblance of sanity she had left. "He took them, killed them, and has no remorse. None. They need to be brought home, Oliver."

His hands moved to cradle her face, he looked into her eyes, his thumbs wiping the tears that escaped, "We'll make it happen." He hugged her close and rocked a bit, trying to soothe her.

The ARGUS agents had landed and were ushering the prisoners that were outside onto the CH-47F Chinook, securing them to the unforgiving bench that lined the aircraft's walls. After the prisoners were all loaded and the dead lined up for the second trip, the pilot approached Oliver. He didn't let go of Felicity, but when she pushed away from his chest to dry her eyes, he looped an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side, not wanting to let her go.

"Sir. Ma'am."He nodded to them, "The prisoners are all loaded and secured. We are taking them to an undisclosed detention facility. Director Waller will personally collect Mr Dahrk within the hour."

"Thank you, Agent Vargas." At Oliver's acknowledgment the pilot turned on his heel. They stood together silently and waited for Waller to arrive. Her personal M-WRAP made it up the mountain 30 minutes after the Chinook had left.

"Mr. Dahrk. Nice to finally meet you. Your daughter is a major asset to our organization. As a matter of fact, she had a major hand in the majority of our ops against H.I.V.E. She's one smart woman."

"Thank you, I made her myself." Damian said cockily.

"No. I don't believe you did. You may have provided half the genetic material, and the serum that robs her of ever having a normal life, but she made herself. I am sure if you ask her, she'll tell you the only effect you had on her adult life was her inability to fully trust anyone. Which has now been absolved. So, in the end, past conception, your existence in her life has meant jack squat."

Felicity sent her boss a watery smile. "She's right, you know. Except for every 28 days, when I will curse your existence for the rest of my life, you wont cross my mind." Felicity lied, knowing his disregard for the children he tested on may occupy her for years, "I have found people I can share my secret with, friends. And those friends just so happen to be in a position to lock you away for the rest of your days. Which may not be very long, judging by how hard that pacemaker is working."

Oliver walked in front of the once proud scientist and gave him a dark smile. "I have the perfect place in mind. A tropical island I spent some time on a few years back. You'll love it."

Diggle, who was watching from the sidelines with a pleased smirk, came forward and cut the zip ties while Oliver kept an arrow trained on Dahrk's eye. Once the prisoner was secured, hands cuffed behind his back, shoelaces tied together. (Felicity's doing. So she had a childish desire to see him fall on his face... was that so wrong?) Dig walked the man to the waiting heavily armored vehicle, accompanying the Director and her driver back to the designated interrogation site.

Oliver wrapped his arms back around Felicity when they were alone again. The others were policing the perimeter, triple checking that there were no stragglers. Their transport, Lyla with a Huey, was en route. "We need to talk about what happened tonight."

"Only if you want to talk from your back." She quipped. When he raised his eyebrows she shook her head, "What I meant is that if you want to berate me for doing what needed to be done, what instinct told me to do, I will drop your ass to the floor." She stepped out of his hold, "I am not a dog, no one tells me to sit or stay. I was in that office and I could feel him nearby, even in my human form the hairs on my neck rose. My wolf remembered him, his scent, even if my mind couldn't. My animal side knew that he was demented, cruel and unnatural, even when my human side though he was merely a deadbeat dad and a criminal."

"Felicity, I didn't treat you like a dog. That was not my intention at all. I treated you like someone with very little battle experience. You may have been the bait in this trap, but you were also here to be protected."

"I know I needed protection. That's not the issue. The issue is that you-" she poked him in the chest "- thought I was some meek female who would just go with whatever you say. Newsflash, Oliver: I am never going to blindly follow you."

"You could have been hurt again!" he shouted, his worry leeching through as anger, "You just ran out in the middle of a fucking firefight, one where you were the intended target. They could have grabbed you. They saw you run past them and started to converge behind you, like they were herding cattle, leaving you no escape. So, hell yes I told you stay put! To stay safe! And I'd do it again!" He ran a hand through his hair then said quietly, "I need you to be safe."

She bit her lower lip reached out a hand to raise his chin and met his gaze. "The mission was noble, but the execution was flawed. I know we hardly know each other, and whatever this is between us is unique and intense and scary on a whole lotta levels, but all you need to do is explain why you want me to do something. I may not always listen to you or follow your suggestions, but I would consider including you in any rash decisions I made." She grinned, "Life with me will be a lot smoother if you just ask not order. I mean, not that you want to spend your life with me, we are just starting out. Wait, are we starting out? Never mind, I need sl-" Her run away mouth was stopped by Oliver pressing his lips to hers.

"Something has definitely started." He chuckled lightly, recapturing her lips for a heated kiss. All their pent up desire making itself known with a clashing of tongues and tangling of moans. Oliver's hand slid down her back and grabbed her tank top in a tight fist, pulling her flush with his body. Her hand snaked into his hair and tugged a bit, illiciting a growl from Oliver. The approaching whoop whoop of Lyla's helicopter had Felicity breaking their kiss, leaving them both gasping for breath. Oliver touched his forehead to hers, trying to regain strength in his legs.

Felicity cleared her throat, "Our ride is here."