Chapter 28
"It was just a kiss," Felicity could be heard saying furiously to herself. She stomped down to the Foundry, hair still damp from her earlier shower, and the air around her was alive with frustration. She had meant to get here over an hour ago, but nothing had been going right since last night. First her shower broke this morning, so she only had cold water, and it still wasn't fixed. Then, she had to sit at work and watch Isabel bat her eyelashes at Oliver, and that woman drove Felicity up a wall.
At least, Oliver had kept her from having to get that horrible woman coffee… even if his excuse was by far the worst thing she had ever heard. She couldn't help but laugh a bit when she compared that story back to the energy drink in a syringe, so perhaps, it wasn't the worst. Nonetheless, her day was just one bad thing after another.
Last night… she didn't have words for last night since it was just a kiss. It didn't mean anything; Oliver kissed plenty of people. Well, girls… maybe guys as well. Felicity hadn't exactly sat her boss down to discuss his sexual tendencies, and with that thought, she groaned loudly and threw her head into her hands. She didn't want to think about Oliver and sex in the same… She cursed as she did it again.
Felicity just needed to get her mind off of this kiss, and she'd be fine. Sitting at her computer, she cracked open some files and started to look for something that would keep Oliver on the streets tonight. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him; she just didn't think she could without blushing. There had to be a reasonable explanation for what happened last night, and she wasn't sure if she could take the real truth. After all, he was with Sara, so there had to be some job-related reason he had done what he did.
The cameras outside pulled up revealed no activity, and the police tape had finally been removed. She wasn't sure how they finished that quickly considering it had been a mass murder site, but she wasn't about to question their luck either. Cops upstairs all the time was a big risk down here, and while Oliver had assured everyone the chances of them getting in was slim, there had still been a possibility.
Somehow in her haste to go through video files, she found the one from last night. She went to exit it immediately but found herself drawn to it and unable to do so. She watched Oliver kiss her from a third-person perspective, and she felt uncertain about it all.
"Great, now I'm a stalker," she snapped to herself as she exited the program and huffed. "It was just a kiss. It was just a kiss. It was just a really good kiss." Who was she kidding; she couldn't get it out of her head. "It meant nothing," but as she said this, she didn't entirely believe it. Once Oliver told her so though, she'd be able to accept it and move on.
Checking her phone, she saw Oliver had sent her a message that he'd be late. Apparently his mother had wanted to try and mend things with Thea, and Felicity grimaced at the thought. She couldn't believe that Moira had known but decided to keep it from both kids. Like Thea, Felicity believed that they had a right to know about their heritage; Moira had no right to keep it from them. The IT girl thought that Mrs. Queen had done it to be selfish, and that she hadn't been protecting her children but herself.
Felicity sat back in the chair and tried to clear her head. She needed to focus if she was going to get any sort of work done. She knew Sara would still want Viper tracked, and in turn, Malcolm. A few keystrokes later, she had traffic cams pulled up, and she checked airlines. She doubted that 'Alec' would pop up again as she had prior, but it was worth checking.
It was silent, and if Felicity hadn't seen it with her own two eyes, she would have thought that the League hadn't even been in town. Pulling up the police report from Thea's kidnapping, she discovered they had arrested a random man but they had DNA evidence linking him to it. Viper or her persona were never mentioned, and that included all future run-ins with the police. Anything that was League related was tied to the vigilante, and anyone else mentioned had an extremely vague description.
The Dark Archer also wasn't mentioned in any reports, but Felicity was sure that was due to Thea not saying a word. There was also the fact the League seemed to have a dress-code, so when Malcolm's description, or lack there-of, came up in a report, it was impossible to discern him from the next.
On the list of people she really disliked, Malcolm was at the top for Felicity. While she believed Moira should have told Thea the truth, she also was headstrong in the belief that Mr. Merlyn should have stayed away. It wasn't entirely his fault what happened to Thea, but she knew that he started this cascade. He leveled the Glades and broke the League's weird honor code, but she had seen the look in Oliver's eyes when he discovered what the League would do in recompense. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of what the League would do if they got their hands on Malcolm- be it because Ollie was trying to be better or if it was because Malcolm was Tommy's father. It frightened Felicity a bit to think that Thea could take his spot, and she wondered if that would force Oliver's hand. He wouldn't let anything happen to his sister, and while she had lectured him that he could do better and find a loophole, she wasn't sure how long he could stand by that. If they came at Thea again, someone would throw Malcolm to the wolves.
There, of course, was the third option- the one Malcolm had mentioned himself. A partnership, and Felicity shuddered at the thought. Just because she didn't think he deserved to a die slowly didn't mean she wanted to help him escape it all too. It was a convoluted mess. Still, it was Oliver's choice, but she doubted he'd go for the third one. After everything Oliver and Malcolm went through, there was a lot of bad blood; it'd take a miracle for them to try and work past it.
Nonetheless, she trusted Oliver, completely. She didn't always appreciate his tone or enjoy his presence, but whatever he decided to do, she would back him. She knew he didn't want to hand Malcolm over to the League, and he couldn't kill the Dark Archer himself… so she presumed there was a possibility of them working with Mr. Merlyn.
"You're here early," Diggle said as he came down the stairs, Oliver a few steps behind him.
"You're actually late," Felicity countered as she glanced up from her computer. She tried not to stare at Oliver too long, and he had a similar idea. They barely made eye contact before they both were staring at some random corner in the Foundry.
"What are you looking for?" Diggle asked, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room.
"Was trying to track either Viper or Malcolm," Felicity sighed as she swiveled her chair around. "But of course, neither of them are findable. I have tried everything!" She frowned at the difficulty of the current predicament, but she was always one for a challenge. There had to be someway of picking up a remnant of a trail.
"Do you think they left town?" Digg asked. He moved to stand near Felicity and checked the cameras she had pulled up.
"Malcolm, if he was smart, he did," Felicity said. She saw Oliver's amused look and couldn't help the hot blush that began to creep up her face. She tried to avoid eye contact, which made it all the harder to not catch Oliver's eyes.
"Let's hope for all our sakes, he did," Digg nodded. "The last few days have been something else." He patted her on the shoulder. "But I'm sure you'll find them eventually."
Oliver cleared his throat before this went any farther, and he garnered both Digg and Felicity's attention. "There's one place you haven't looked." It was a cruel joke, but given everything that had happened, he couldn't hold it in. Felicity and Diggle both looked utterly confused, more so, when he pointed up.
From the salmon ladder, Malcolm dropped down, and Felicity let out a squeak of shock while Diggle went for his gun. However both stared in utter confusion as Malcolm came to stand next to Oliver; a smug look was present on the Dark Archer's face, and a twinkle of amusement was in his gaze when he caught Felicity's eyes.
"I basically called him an idiot and he was in the room," she whispered breathlessly. "Oh god, I said if you were smart, and you were up there. How much did you hear? Did you hear me call you..? Oh I just said it to your face." Felicity set her head in her hands and tried not to look utterly embarrassed. "Stop blabbering."
"Oliver," Digg said, a hint of warning in his voice. "Care to explain how and why he got in before I shoot him?"
"I gave him the code," Ollie admitted. He saw the shock pass over both Diggle and Felicity's face before he continued. "He wanted to talk, and I didn't want him at the mansion."
"So you gave a sociopath the key to the base?" Felicity asked. Her eyes screamed every emotion, and Oliver suddenly felt horrible for not informing either of them about Malcolm prior. This would have been incredibly easier if he had just told them last night. "Not that I'm calling you a sociopath," she explained towards Malcolm. "Well except I did, but…"
"Felicity," Oliver interrupted before she could go on a tangent. "Yes I gave him the code, but he already knew where the Foundry was."
"That still doesn't explain why he's here," Digg repeated.
"Oliver inviting me isn't enough for you Mr. Diggle?" Malcolm asked, a smirk playing across his face.
Oliver moved, so that he was between the two men. It wouldn't do any of them any good if this turned into a fight now. The Dark Archer needed to stay alive, so that Thea would be safe from the rest of the League. For that to happen, Digg couldn't be allowed to shoot him, so Oliver sadly had to put himself where he was now. He could see the look of betrayal flash across Diggle's face, and he flinched back because of it.
"Digg," Oliver started, and in the past when Diggle glared, he would have stayed quiet. This time though, he pushed on unwilling to let his friend not hear the whole story. "I did invite him here because we are out of other options."
"The rest of the hunters will come here now," Malcolm supplied. "They're not going to stop."
"And that's on you," Digg growled.
"And on Thea," Oliver added, and that got Diggle's attention. "They won't stop at Malcolm, Digg. They're going to kill my sister too."
"Did he tell you that?" Digg asked, unbelieving.
Felicity in the midst of this argument had gotten to her feet and stood near Oliver, hoping to lend him some of her strength. She could see Diggle's point, but she didn't think Oliver would have allowed Malcolm into the Foundry without a shred of evidence. That didn't mean she was entirely comfortable with the Dark Archer's presence.
"No I did," Sara said appearing at the top of the stairs. She sighed as she came down the stairs. "So option four it is. What's the plan then Ollie?" The now free League member was on the same page as Diggle: she didn't like Merlyn, and she really didn't like him in the Foundry. Her opinion of him, though, was skewed by the fact he had touched Nyssa, and now all she wanted to do was drive her bo-staff into his face a few odd number of times.
"How about we start with you two telling me everything you know about these hunters?" As he said this, he turned and caught Felicity's eye, and he realized that there was a lot for them to also talk about. She didn't deserve for him to pretend it didn't happen.
Note: I'm thinking Oliver and Felicity deserve their own chapter finally. I think while Sara/Malcolm/Digg converse/argue, Felicity and Oliver need to come to terms with what happened the previous night.
