So, this next chapter may make Felicity feel like a villain, as well as the one after this. It isn't meant that way. I hoe I have written her in a way that makes her decision understandable while also presenting it as the wrong choice. She is grieving, she is angry, and when those two things happen, especially at the same time, you don't necessarily make the best decisions.
Felicity's apartment
Morning
"I'd offer you something to drink, but I'm not sure soulless monsters eat or drink." Felicity grumbled and Smith smiled thinly.
"I'm sure you must have heard a lot of unpleasant things about me." Smith began.
"Like how you tried to sell my friend Barry to The Dominators? Yeah, that came up when my friends told me about you." Felicity snapped.
"I was put in a position that forced me to choose between the life of one and the lives of many. Ms. Smoak, I understand that you are currently facing a similar position," Smith said smoothly and watched Felicity tense, smoothing his smile, "your friends do not seem to be able to see clearly when it comes to Roy Harper."
"Leave my friends out of this." Felicity snapped.
"Do you know that we can connect over twenty murders back to Mr. Harper? Including William Malone," Smith said and could tell he had Felicity right where he wanted, "your friends will try to save Mr. Harper, something that no one can say is possible. As admirable as that is, how many lives will be lost in the process?"
"What are you doing here, Agent Smith?" Felicity snapped, but Smith noticed with pleasure that it lacked bite.
"The world owes your friends a debt it can never repay, but their vision is clouded by their sentiment. Roy Harper must be stopped, something I do not believe Oliver Queen and the rest of your friends can do. They are a liability Ms. Smoak. They will only interfere in our ability to stop Talia al Ghul and the team she has assembled. They need to be…contained." Smith said carefully and Felicity understood what he was saying.
"You mean locked up." Felicity accused and Smith shrugged.
"Only temporarily. The president will release them all once we deal with Talia al Ghul and her accomplices. You must tell me where they are." Smith pleaded and Felicity stared at him incredulously.
"You cannot be asking me to betray my friends." Felicity said angrily.
"I'm not, I am begging you to. Roy Harper is a dangerous threat that Oliver Queen and his friends are unwilling to deal with. How many more innocent people is Oliver Queen going to let die before he is willing do what is necessary," Smith saw she was beginning to sway and reached inside his jacket, "I know this is not an easy decision, there are no easy decisions in war. My card."
Smith handed the business card to Felicity before walking off. Felicity looked down and saw it had a number on it, causing the conflict within her to grow.
Heroes' base
Afternoon
"So, you're a Meta," Diggle said as Laurel and Oliver told him, Felicity, Sara, Batman, Nyssa, and Barry what had happened during Talia's torture, "I swear, my life used to be somewhat normal."
"If it helps, I don't know how to use it or control it." Laurel said dryly.
"Well, being the resident Metahuman expert, I'll be happy to help you learn to use it once this is all over." Barry promised and Laurel nodded grateful.
"I can stay and help out as well, for moral support." Sara offered.
"Can we trust you to help out now?" Oliver demanded and the two former lovers exchanged a look as everyone around them felt the atmosphere tense.
"You can trust me to have all your backs." Sara promised him.
Oliver looked at her long and hard for a moment before nodding, knowing that was as good as he was going to get with her.
"I think the real question is are you willing to do whatever it takes to stop Prometheus?" Felicity challenged and everyone looked over at her.
"felicity." Barry said stunned at what she was implying.
"I'm not killing Roy." Oliver said firmly.
"He's killed over twenty people! He is working with Talia!" Felicity exploded.
"He's brainwashed Felicity!" Oliver snapped.
"We don't give up on people we care about like that." Diggle added stubbornly.
"We don't even know if there is any part of Roy still left in Prometheus. How many innocent lives is he worth to you?" Felicity asked and saw some of them began to hesitate but saw Oliver stood firm. "Oliver, you know that Roy would tell you to kill him. So why not do what he would want? I know you don't want to do it, but you need to do what needs to be done. Kill him Oliver."
"No," Oliver said, a sharp, angry edge to his voice as he stared at her hard, "I am not killing Roy. Ever. And you can spin this as you waiting to do the right thing all you want, but we both know this is about Billy. Either get over it and accept that it was not Roy's fault or get out."
"I was wrong about you," Felicity said as she stared at him in disgust, "everyone in this base is wrong about you."
Felicity then turned on her heel and stormed out, everyone staring after her with varying emotions.
"You sure that was the wise call Ollie?" Barry asked uncertainly.
"It was," Batman answer for him, "Oliver can't lead us in this war if she keeps trying to convince us he's wrong to want to save Roy. Even when it seems that someone is beyond redemption…everyone is worth saving."
"It is distasteful and dishonorable to kill someone who has been stripped of all consent and free will." Nyssa said as she shot Batman a look.
Only Sara recognized it. It was the same look Nyssa had shot her in the early days of their relationship: Equal parts wonder, admiration, and lust. Nyssa had feelings for the Dark Knight of Gotham and she didn't even seem to realize it. Sara would have laughed if it weren't for the situation.
"Roy is one of us," Oliver said as he turned to face them, "I have been to some of the darkest places imaginable, done things that no one on this earth should be forgiven for. I have to believe that if I can come back from that, then Roy can come back from this."
Talia's hideout
Same time
Prometheus was sharpening his sword. As he did, unbidden, a memory came to him.
Old Arrow lair, three years ago
Morning
"You have to keep the arrows harp," Oliver said as he showed Roy how to sharpen his arrows, "If you don't, they become dull. But if you sharpen them too much, then they break easily."
"Something tell me you learned that the hard way." Roy quipped and Oliver chuckled.
"You have no idea. You want to give it a try?" Oliver asked as he held out the knife to Roy.
"Hell yeah!" Roy took the knife from Oliver and picked up an arrow, beginning to imitate what Oliver had shown him.
Talia's hideout
Now
For reasons Prometheus could not explain, a slight smile crossed his face while a tear slipped down his face.
Heroes' base
Later in the afternoon
"Oliver," Kara walked up to him as Oliver and Barry were talking, "Can I talk to the two of you? Privately."
"Sure," the two men exchanged confused look before they walked away from everyone else, towards a secluded area of the base, "What is it Kara?"
"I was listening to your recruits last night," Kara admitted and Oliver raised an eyebrow, "They were saying that, because Prometheus is Roy, that your judgement is clouded."
"Well, it seems Felicity has been rubbing off on them," Oliver sighed before looking at Kara with a grateful look, "thank you for telling me this Kara."
Arrow lair
Same time
"Agent Smith? As in the guy who tried to sell Barry to The Dominators!?" Curtis exclaimed as the recruits stared at Felicity in shock.
"Yeah. Look, I had the same reaction at first but, the thing is...he's right," Felicity sighed, "Oliver, Laurel, and John can't see passed the fact that it's Roy. The only one really talking sense is Sara, and if Laurel can't talk her down, Oliver will stop her from doing what needs to be done. Innocent people are going to die because of Oliver's stubbornness. I can't let that happen."
"So you're going to make a deal with the devil." Rory accused.
"Man, this is messed up." Rene whistled.
"Yeah, it is," Felicity said tiredly, "so, are you with me or not?"
"You realize if we do this, Oliver and the others will probably never forgive us?" Rory said after a moment.
"Hopefully, one day they will understand." Felicity said although the answer sounded hollow even to her own ears.
"Okay blondie, we're in." Rene said reluctantly as Rory and Curtis nodded, just as reluctantly.
Heroes' base
Night
"Any updates?" Oliver asked as he walked over to Cisco at the computers.
"Nope. No criminal activity, no movement or gatherings of any sort. Nothing." Cisco grumbled.
"The Joker has no impulse control. Even if Talia managed to recruit him, he'll make a move soon." Batman supplied.
"Then we can capture him and he'll lead us right to them." Diggle said optimistically.
"I would find your optimism endearing if it wasn't so foolish." Nyssa told him.
"She's right. Talia most likely has a contiguously set up in the event that her base is compromised. She's been three steps ahead of us the entire time; she's not going to start slipping up now." Oliver agreed as Diggle's phone rang.
"Remind me to never have you guys cheer me up," Diggle said as he answered his phone, "Hello?"
"Johnny, you and everyone need to get out of there, now." Lyla said and Diggle immediately noticed how terrified she sounded.
"Lyla, what's going on?" Diggle asked.
"Put me on speaker," Lyla ordered and Diggle did so, "guys, Felicity and the recruits sold you out. She told Agent Smith where you guys are and you're about to have the entire force of the United States Military rain down on you."
"Why the hell would Felicity sell us out?" Diggle asked stunned.
"Who the hell cares!? Did you not hear the part about The Military coming for us!?" Cisco shouted frantically.
"We need to evacuate, now. Get somewhere safe so we can regroup." Nyssa suggested.
"Where? We don't have anywhere we can run." Barry told her.
"There's one place." Batman said and they all turned to him.
"You mean…" Oliver trailed off as the others looked back and force between them.
"I got the call this morning from Agent A, it's ready. But it'll take some time to get a group this side there. I need you to buy me some time." Batman told him and Oliver nodded.
"Got it. Barry, Nyssa, John, you three are with me," Oliver ordered before he tapped his comms piece in his suit, "Laurel, Sara, Kara, we're about to have company. Meet me down in front. Everyone else, stay back. We've been betrayed and exposed. But we have a way out. Stay calm," Oliver said before he turned to Cisco, "Cisco, you're going to help Batman get us out of here."
"Where are we going?!" Cisco shouted confusion and stress mixing on his face.
"You won't believe us until you see it." Batman said vaguely.
Within moments, Green Arrow, Flash, Spartan, Black Arrow, Black Canary, White Canary, and Supergirl all assembled in front of the base, all their weapon raised.
"What's going on Ollie?" Sara demanded.
"Felicity sold us out. We're about to be fighting the full force of the US Military." Oliver explained and three women paled.
"Oliver and Batman apparently have a way out, but we need to buy him and Cisco some time to get it up and running." Diggle explained.
"What is it?" Kara asked.
"It's complicated and would take too long to explain. You'll understand soon enough," Oliver said as he saw three military choppers approach, "fire to incapacitate, not to kill. These men are just doing their jobs, just like we're trying to do ours. Hopefully Batman and Cisco can get us out of here soon enough."
The three choppers landed on the ground, blocking the vigilantes in. When the doors opened up, however, the vigilantes stared in disbelief.
"So you three are working for Felicity now?" Diggle asked as Ragman, Wild Dog, and Mr. Terrific got out with them.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Oliver growled.
"Don't act all betrayed Hoss, you're trying to protect a serial killer." Wild Dog snapped.
"Your judgement is compromised Oliver, and we're going to take you and your friends off the board before any more innocent people get hurt." Ragman said calmly.
"Go ahead and try." Sara growled.
Green Arrow and Black Arrow raised their bows, arrows notched. Spartan raised his assault rifle; Black Canary raised her side batons as Sara took out her baton. Flash's eyes sparked with The Speed Force energy as Kara's eyes glowed with heat vision. Then the two sides rushed each other, the ballet beginning.
