***A/N: Happy Pride month, everyone! I hope you all have a great June. I won't be able to go to Pride this year. It is only the 2nd time in 8 years that I've missed it. To those of you who are able to go to your respective Prides, have a blast for me. My surgery got delayed so I still feel horrendous. I hope the last chapter was tolerable.

Chapter 26

~`·`~ Diggle ~`·`~

Every solider knew that you never let a fellow soldier go onto the battlefield alone. John's intuition had shouted at him not to let Oliver investigate the power plant without backup, but Oliver's assurance that it was only a reconnaissance mission did somewhat assuage Diggle's fears. With Felicity unavailable, Dig did have to admit that having him monitor the situation from Felicity's computer system in the lair while Roy watched Thea was probably the wisest plan for the protection of their group and Starling City as a whole.

Captain Lance had been given a heads up and Roy given orders as planned as Oliver left for the reconnaissance. Lance had confirmed that S.C.F.D had seen the smoke as well but that they were busy putting out an apartment building that was ablaze in the more affluent area of Starling City. That fire had broken out mere minutes before the smoke at the plant started. That knowledge did not sit well with Dig but he ignored the foreboding feeling that it gave him and continued to follow orders, as did Roy.

The moment Oliver's coms had fizzled out of existence, whatever optimism or pacifism Dig had begun to feel about Oliver assessing the smoke alone vanished. John had suppressed his immediate desire to gather the team to go assess Oliver's situation at the power plant. He had initially considered it but ultimately decided to continue following Oliver's orders. Even with their upgraded coms, some interference was common in that area. It would not have been smart to gather the troops with worry, only to then possibly have Oliver walk through the door after allowing the fire department to handle the situation at the plant. Oliver's silence could have been nothing and succumbing to panic was never a soldier's friend on the battlefield. Panic leads to poor decisions. Following orders is the right thing to do.

That, however, was eighty minutes ago. Diggle was seriously regretting his decision not to intervene. Oliver had been gone two hours total now, eighty minutes of which had been in utter silence and Dig's orders were to finally call everyone in. Something had definitely gone wrong. While John could only guess what that was, he had a feeling in his gut that this had been a trap all along. Deep down John feared that his inaction had lead to Oliver's incapacitation, capture, or worse… Oliver's death.

Diggle smothered his anxiety and retrieved his cell phone from his jacket pocket. He called Laurel and asked her to come in, but saved the explanation as to why for when she arrived. He then texted Roy, telling him Oliver had not reported in. Finally, he shook off the chagrin he felt at having kept Felicity in the dark and composed a text message to her. He knew four simple words would be enough to convey what he needed to tell her.

The guilt he felt at not summoning the team as soon as Oliver's coms went dark did not subside with calling them all in. Dig refusing to call in Roy, Thea, Laurel, or even inform Felicity as to what was going on, had obviously left Oliver in a vulnerable position. Diggle felt particular remorse when he thought about his having kept Felicity in the dark completely. It was unfair. Palmer Tech meeting or no, she should have been able to make her own decision about coming in.

They were partners, after all.

~`*`~ Felicity, a little over 2 hours earlier ~`*`~

Felicity shook her head and groaned to herself. The cementing of her relationship with Oliver was making it terribly hard for her to focus at work. The joy she felt at Oliver having referred to himself as her "boyfriend" seemed to follow her as a radiant sun of happiness everywhere she went. Along with her happiness, having sex regularly didn't help her concentration either. Any time there was a lull in her duties at Palmer Tech or she found a subject especially tedious, she found herself fantasizing about Oliver. She couldn't decide which daydream winding around her mind was her favorite. She had some romantic ones where Oliver randomly surprised her at work with a bouquet of flowers and offered to take her to dinner. She also had some deeply arousing ones where Oliver would bury his head between her legs as she sat in her desk chair or he'd fuck her wildly as she laid sprawled naked across it.

Her musings truly became a problem when she had apparently been staring off into space not hearing a word her assistant spoke to her, prompting him to ask if she was okay. If her meeting tonight had not been so important to P.T, Felicity was entirely sure she would have bunked off the rest of the evening of work and gone home to see Oliver.

For the first time since Cooper's suicide, Felicity found herself somewhat unmotivated to do anything productive. Fortunately, this time the circumstances prompting her lack of desire was completely different. When Cooper had died, Felicity had spiraled into a pit of depression and guilt. The man she loved had killed himself in prison while taking the fall for a crime she had helped commit. Felicity was still certain that if she had taken responsibility for their crimes, Cooper would be alive today.

Now, however, Felicity's borderline laissez faire attitude came from a place of pure joy. Today she had even gone so far as to instigate a silly, meaningless bought of texting with Oliver when she was bored. Felicity just wanted to be with Oliver. She fantasized that they could spend all their time together being in love and as some sort of cliché crime-fighting couple at night. They would be like Buffy and Angel, only with more regular bow and arrows, and less crossbows or wooden stakes. And absolutely no bloodsucking she smiled to herself. Felicity could not kick ass like Buffy, but between Oliver and John's instruction, Felicity could take care of herself pretty well. Felicity almost laughed out loud at the thought of her wearing a mask and hood while wielding a bow and arrow to protect the city. She wondered what would have to happen in her life to motivate the desire to do that for her. She was curious if Barry Allen knew of one of her doppelgangers being a mask-wearing vigilante on another Earth. That was most definitely something Felicity was not interested in doing here. She was more than willing to protect herself or the ones she loved with force when it came down to it, but she preferred to remain behind a keyboard in the field.

Felicity knew that her thoughts and daydreams were just her being ridiculous and atypically romantic. She knew she would undoubtedly go insane should she try to actually try to abandon work and be with Oliver 24/7 in real life. The concept of doing so still brought a smile to her face though.

"Miss Smoak?" Felicity's assistant buzzed from his desk through the speaker phone in her office.

"Yes, Gerry?" Felicity responded.

"You asked for a 15 minute warning for when the Hitachi Corporation meeting will begin. It is 9:45, Miss Smoak." Gerry informed.

"Thank you. Tell Karen I'll be up to the conference room momentarily," Felicity ordered.

"Yes ma'am," her assistant agreed before signing off their call.

It still really annoyed Felicity that her assistant flatly refused to call her by her given name, opting instead for Miss Smoak, ma'am or miss, but she guessed she should get used to it. Being an executive had its downsides.

Felicity gathered her purse, phone and tablet with all the documents, graphs, and slides needed for their presentation ready to go. She was not nearly as optimistic as Ray when she thought about Palmer Tech's chances of acquiring the patent for the Energy Regulation and Redirection Unit (otherwise known as E.R.R.U.) from Mr. Satoru Hitachi of the Hitachi Corporation. Though the market for this technology was relatively small currently, if the United States actually started addressing its effect on global warming, the demand for the E.R.R.U's technology could skyrocket. It could potentially make billions of dollars off of profits and create thousands of jobs. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this purchase going through was going to be remote.

Purchasing the patent was a great idea and Felicity wanted Palmer Tech to succeed with this acquisition, but something felt a little off. While she knew that the Energy Regulation and Redirection Unit would be great for the planet's energy conservation and carbon battling efforts, she knew it could also be used for weaponry. It could make weapons of mass destruction have more energy efficiency and be able to travel greater distances with less chance of detection. This technology could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. Ray had all but shrugged off her concerns when she had brought up the technology's potentially devastating effects with him previously. He cited Palmer Technologies' advanced security protocols, saying P.T. was the most qualified group in the world to protect this information. Felicity knew that could be true but she still had a nagging feeling that she was missing something. She worried there were plans for the unit that she did not know about and that concerned her.

~`*`~ F ~`*`~

"Mister Hitachi…" Ray continued politely to the mustached man occupying the center seat at the table of businesspeople on the television screen before them.

Felicity was beginning to get tired. It was nearly midnight. Their video conference with the Hitachi Corporation had been going on for nearly 2 hours. To Felicity, this meeting seemed to be going nowhere. Despite the many slides of how a profit of his sale of the E.R.R.U's patent to Palmer Tech would provide the Hitachi Corporation with more money now than they were likely to make from the technology themselves in the next 10 years, Satoru Hitachi did not budge with his refusal to sell. The board members and employees that sat in on his end of the conference call seem to make no motions to convince him to do otherwise.

"No, Doctor Palmer. How can you expect me to turn over my creation when it could greatly profit my shareholders?" Satoru Hitachi countered passionately.

"Because you care about the planet, Mister Hitachi," Felicity finally interjected. Felicity had remained relatively reserved during the meeting up until then out of caution. She was not a great negotiator and she did not want to do something to eliminate the slim chance Palmer Tech had at making a deal. She had satisfied herself with manning the presentation's technology needs and only speaking up when presenting information, a question was voiced, or someone misstated a statistic.

"Excuse me?" Satoru questioned, surprise coloring his tone.

"Last year alone you donated to five charities aimed at combating the effects of global warming. That's millions of yen. One hundred and twenty five million yen, if I remember correctly," Felicity stated.

"And?" Hitachi said, scarcely hiding his obvious irritation at Felicity's knowledge of his finances.

"You know this technology could do much greater things in Palmer Technologies' hands. Our company's reach is wider than yours. Allowing us to manufacture the E.R.R.U would mean greater numbers in production at a cheaper price, making the technology more affordable. That means more people globally could have access to it. This may mean the fate of the planet, Mister Hitachi. Would you rather be the man that got rich off of his technology or the man who got credit for leading the global revolution that saved planet Earth?" Felicity finished.

Satoru Hitachi remained silent for moments on end, meeting Felicity's eye seriously. "Doctor Palmer has obviously come to feel great respect for your talents, Miss Smoak. I believe I may one day share his opinion," Hitachi responded.

Felicity repressed a smug grin and merely gave a tiny nod of gratitude to the man addressing her from across the world in response.

In just that moment, Felicity felt her nearby cell phone vibrate. She had discreetly hidden her phone out of sight of the conference camera behind her propped up tablet for the duration of their meeting with the Hitachi Corporation. Being a member of Team Arrow essentially mandated that you be in reach at a moment's notice, so Felicity always seemed to have her phone stealthily hidden away for emergencies. Felicity slyly slid the phone from the table top in front of her and into her lap and glanced at the screen.

She could feel the blood drain from her face as she saw the four short words from John displayed on the small screen before her.

John Diggle: 911- It is Oliver.

Felicity was vaguely aware of Ray having resumed their discussion with Mister Hitachi, but she could not seem to muster any sort of investment in their negotiations anymore. Dread pooled in her heart and she felt a surge of anxiety. Something was wrong. Oliver was in danger. Felicity had to get to the lair as quickly as possible.

Felicity endeavored to hide the panic she felt from her face and leaned over to Ray. "I have to go. It's an emergency," she whispered, her voice harsh with nerves.

Ray turned away from the television screen displaying the room of businesspeople in Japan and faced Felicity. She saw his eyes scrutinize her face for mere seconds. She could tell that despite her efforts at suppressing the fear that had seized her, Ray saw the battle that raged within her.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ray asked as his eyes probed Felicity's. Felicity could tell by the tone of his voice that Ray did not wonder if he could help in some sort of regular I-want-to-help-a-friend-in-distress way. He must have deduced on his own that Felicity's concern had something to do with Oliver being the Arrow and was wondering if there was something he could do in capacity as the A.T.O.M. Felicity didn't know whether to feel irritated or grateful for this. The only emotion she seemed to be able to identify feeling right now was concern.

Felicity gave a small shake of her head in reply to his question. She really didn't know if she had the ability to speak and maintain any restraint on her tumultuous emotions. Ray gave a hesitant nod in acknowledgement to her refusal but seemed less than thrilled at Felicity's non-verbal decline.

Felicity quickly stood and grabbed her cell phone, purse, and tablet roughly from the table near her. She turned to exit the room without so much as a farewell or polite bow, not sparing a backward glance to the television screen housing the businesspeople across the world that could decide Palmer Tech's fate. Felicity pulled open the door and flung herself out of the conference room, abandoning the room full of people behind her.

Felicity couldn't even bring herself to care if her abrupt and rude actions sabotaged their deal. Oliver was more important.

"I'm sorry but Miss Smoak has had…" Felicity heard Ray start as the office door closed behind her. Hopefully Ray could undo whatever damage her hasty exit would do. Oliver took priority.

Felicity slammed her index finger onto the button to summon an elevator down the hall from the conference room. She steadied her breathing and pulled up her courage as she impatiently waited for the elevator to arrive. She knew it was time to get to work. Whatever she found when she got to the bunker, she would be ready. Whatever was happening, Felicity would never lose Oliver again. No matter what.

***F/N: Before you think well, nothing happened in this chapter, know that this chapter set up things that are to come.