Still Waters and Quiet Men A Starling Mystery

by LaDemonessa

Felicity finds herself embroiled in a mystery that brings together her past and present, leading her into an unknown future. The past that she thought she'd left behind in Gotham in the form of Bruce Wayne comes to Starling leading to love, adventure, danger, and hopefully more. Batlicity/Olicity triangle but Felicity-centric. In other words, it's about her, not the guys.

37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Just before nine am, the cab dropped Felicity off at the gate to the Old Axis Chemical Processing Plant. She meant to be there earlier but, unfortunately, things hadn't gone to plan the night before—at all.

At first they'd been on a roll; just a few drug dealers, a mugging or two, a couple of random convenience store robberies, and some morons who were off high off their asses trying to break into a pawn shop by tossing a brick through the window because they wanted to prove who could play the long guitar solo to 'Stairway to Heaven' better. (That one had her making 'this is your brain on drugs' jokes for twenty minutes straight until Bruce put the kibosh on it.) It wasn't until four am, right in the middle of Bruce telling her to call it a night that everything went tits up.

A total whack-a-doo by the name of Julian Day speciously decided that she, and the rest of Gotham for that matter, didn't need to sleep after all and instead thought that four am was the perfect time for a parade of Mardi Gras Madness and Mayhem...with Monkeys.

Monkeys.

One more time: M-O-N-K-E-Y-S.

Only.

In.

Gotham.

Apparently Mr. Day's major damage was that he liked to play dress up and commit holiday related crimes. As such, Mr. Day aka 'The Calendar Man', who looked like a flamboyant cross between Truman Capote and an over-plucked and manscaped drag queen, decided to mark the celestial fusion of Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras by giving them their own theme crime.

And how does one combine those two holidays into a theme crime you might ask? Felicity sighed wearily: With monkeys.

Apparently this was the year of the monkey, therefore Mr. Day decided to unleash a horde of trained monkeys dressed in green, purple, and glittery gold tuxedos complete with tiny top hats on the Diamond District and then rode through town in a Fu Manchu and brightly colored zhiju robes tossing them from a parade float like Mardi Gras beads.

The fact that a monkey was behind the wheel just added to the crazy.

Well, ape. Chimpanzees were technically apes, but they were close enough to 'monkeys' to suit Day and 'Mad Mardi Gras Monkeys' seemed to roll off the tongue a bit better than 'Mad Mardi Gras Apes' did.

Another thing she learned last night, besides the 'apes' thing and Julian Day's willingness to forego accuracy for alliteration, was that chimpanzees, no matter how well trained or intelligent they may be, weren't the best drivers. Of course, it could also be because their little top hats kept falling into their eyes.

Only in Gotham, she thought once more while shaking her head. Tim was going to hate that he missed this one. Or not…she thought with a grimace. Plus she was pretty sure it was just a matter of time before someone posted it to YouTube anyway; he could catch it on the replay.

She winced, poor Bruce; he was not having a good day at all and it was about to be immortalized in internet history. This one would be playing on late night talk shows and Animal Planet for weeks, possibly years.

While Bruce was tossing nets over chimpanzees who were getting on their 'Laissez les bons temps rouler,' and trying to slow Calendar Man's crazy roll, she was stuck humping and hacking, monitoring CCTV feeds, directing traffic by patching into the traffic lights, and desperately trying not to add to Bruce's night by expressing her disgust as the monkey's fought back by using their own naturally excreted 'arsenal' in self-defense.

Yeah, chimps might be cute but they were really gross and apparently as casual about personal hygiene as they were about traffic laws. If there was ever a night to be an out of town member of the Bat Family, that was the one.

It was chaos. The chimps were driving the on the wrong side of the road, running over newsstands and mail boxes and, even before dawn, Gotham still had plenty of traffic so cars were being run off the road and crashing into each other as they desperately tried to avoid the colorfully decorated flatbed truck hurtling toward them. Everything from Louis Armstrong singing 'When the Saints Go Marching In' to Benny Grunch's 'Ain't No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day' was blasted at window shaking levels from the sound system connected to the Rex Krewe float and Day, dressed as the King of the Carnival with a decidedly Asian twist, added to the noise and chaos by greeting early morning commuters and people coming off the graveyard shift with a hearty rendition of 'If I Ever Cease To Love' as he tossed diamonds onto the crowded roadways.

People were jumping in front of cars or outside of them to scoop up the diamonds, fist fights were breaking out, monkey poop was flying through the air like really smelly Mardi Gras confetti—by the time everything was sorted Julian Day was in Arkham on a psych hold, the chimps were rounded up and taken safely to an animal rescue, and, luckily, there were a lot of minor injuries and some property damage, but no fatalities. The ironic thing was that the diamonds were all of inferior quality. Day, having had more interest in creating chaos than profit, had chosen to rob the easiest mark he could which was an industrial diamond supplier. While they were still diamonds, they were the type they ground into dust to make cutting tools and high end knife sharpeners rather than the finer quality of stones used to make jewelry.

Needless to say, she didn't get her nap and Bruce was most definitely not feeling the party atmosphere when all was said and done. He really didn't appreciate it when she signed off by expressing her condolences on the fact that he'd had such a shitty night.

Honestly, she didn't even mean it that way; it was a completely accidental pun. Besides, technically it was a shitty night. A very, very shitty night.

Poor Alfred, she thought. He might just want to burn that set of armor. She was pretty sure that you couldn't just toss something like that in the washer and she seriously doubted Bruce would be up to getting hosed down in the garden as the older gentleman tried to power wash the monkey poop away. As much as she loved Bruce she was immensely grateful for the fact that he wasn't coming back to the penthouse that day for many reasons, not least of which was the fact that she just could not handle that; not after the Poo Pirate tried to make her his queen a while back.

She shuddered. Poor Bruce. Poor, poor Bruce. She felt so bad for him, just not bad enough to tell him to come back to the penthouse. Bombs, guns, psychopaths; those she could handle, but ever since the Sewer King she'd had a very negative reaction towards all things poop related.

She stifled a yawn. Perhaps someday soon she could laugh about it but right now she was just a tired and over-caffeinated bundle of nerves who was running on fumes. By the time everything was wrapped up, it was nearly seven and, after tossing the ingredients for soup in the crockpot and two pots of coffee later, here she was.

Despite the fact that she wasn't expected until the next day, someone in the control room had apparently been given authorization to allow her entrance because, this time when she approached the gates, they opened without her having to say a word and she waited by the guard shack for the security team to retrieve her.

When the guards arrived they were accompanied by a strikingly beautiful Asian woman who was dressed warmly in a fitted black leather jacket and nicely tailored dark wool slacks. Despite the high wind that morning that was quickly making a rat's nest of Felicity's own golden curls (why she hadn't worn it up in her customary pony tail that day she hadn't a clue), the Japanese woman's own choppy asymmetrical blunt cut remained neat and not nearly as badly windblown as her own.

Groaning inwardly, Felicity rubbed her hands down the front of her trench coat and mentally reassessed her own suit that was hidden under the thick layer of wool as she compared it with the other woman's sharply professional but far more practical outfit. Knowing Isabel's fondness for Zac Posen, during the Great Battle of the Storage Units, she'd managed to grab several business appropriate pieces by the designer while still staying within her own comfort zone. The classically tailored suit consisted of a sheath dress that ended at the knee and a matching tailored jacket that ended just below the waist. With its sweetheart neckline, low enough to show some cleavage but still fairly conservatively styled, she knew she looked office appropriate despite the body conscious fit. The problem was, this wasn't a normal office setting. As she thought back to the first time she'd been to the OO control room she recalled that, although most of the techs had been dressed in everything from office casual (khakis, polos, blouses, etc.) to ripped jeans and graphic tees, only Miranda and Isabel had been in suits.

She gave herself a split second to worry then dismissed it. She'd relax her wardrobe as she learned the lay of the land but, for now, she needed to make an impression on Isabel first and foremost. Co-opting Isabel's designer of choice was a part of that strategy.

She didn't trust Isabel and she certainly didn't like her, not even her big reveal of a tragic childhood had changed that, but she understood the politics of women and fashion. Men wore their aggression in their attitudes and body language; women did so by much subtler methods. She wasn't planning on running into Isabel but she wasn't not expecting it either. Since she was supposed to meet her tomorrow it wouldn't surprise her if the woman was a day early; after all, that was her strategy as well. Dressing in Isabel's designer of choice while still paying homage to her own preference for conservatively styled, yet unmistakably bright and feminine clothing, sent a message. It said, 'I am just as capable at playing this game as you are but I'll do it on my own terms.'

Like Mama T always said, "Women don't dress for men; they dress for other women."

While Isabel preferred severe tailoring and overt sexuality, Felicity was more into color and feminine quirkiness. What made her decide on this particular suit was the fact that it was bright flame orange brocade with clever piping that emphasized the lines of her body without being overt. She paired some orange suede Manolo's in a low kitten heel to go with it because, again, icy sidewalks and broken ankles had a tendency to hurt. This was her announcing to Isabel that she would not be intimidated. She was in her comfort zone, she reminded herself. She couldn't afford to psych herself out over something as silly as her outfit.

"Ms. Smoak?" The woman said, extending her hand in a firm shake as Felicity climbed on board the golf cart. "My name is Tatsu Yamashiro; I'm one of the team leaders and acting Director of this branch of the OO. At least until you take over," she added with a slight smile. "We weren't really expecting you until tomorrow but I must say I'm rather glad you're here. It may have taken me quite some time to meet you otherwise."

"Why's that? And please, call me Felicity." She said, taking a moment to subtly examine her companion as they entered the facility. She was incredibly delicate looking at first glance, fine boned and petite. She couldn't be more than 5'2", a full three inches shorter than her own 5'5", and probably less than a hundred pounds. Despite that, Felicity had been around enough trained operators to recognize the bearing and alert state of a warrior when she saw one. Even though the woman was speaking directly to her, she seemed totally aware of her surroundings and completely alert.

And then there was the samurai sword she wore strapped to her back. That was kind of a giveaway right there.

"We just got an alert about a mission in Siberia. We were just about to call in a team to handle it so that we can scramble tonight and be there by tomorrow," she told her.

"What's the mission?" Felicity asked as the cart came to a stop and they both got into the elevator.

"I don't know yet. Truthfully, I'm as in the dark as you are; Isabel was calling a meeting right before you arrived to discuss the particulars," Tatsu told her as she walked up to the scanner and spoke, "Authorization: Katana and guest."

The biometrics scanner read her iris and then the laser net flashed inside of the elevator shaft covering them both in a bright red light.

/Confirmed./

"Isabel will go ahead and set you up with your own access codes today."

She wasn't all that surprised Isabel was already there. In fact, she was kind of glad since that meant she was already getting a handle on the woman.

"Can I ask you something?" Felicity said, eyeing the other woman as the elevator headed down.

"Certainly, what is it you'd like to know?" She asked with a curious lilt. Her accent was as delicate as her appearance; a softly lilting British inflection but with the mellifluous influence of her native Japan. There was both strength and steel in the woman's eyes and something inside them spoke to her. This was a woman who had suffered great loss and had survived.

A slight buzzing began in her ears and Felicity tried to shake it off as she spoke, chalking it up to too much caffeine, "Why are you the acting Director? Why not just give you the job since you're obviously qualified? They wouldn't have trusted you with the interim position if you weren't."

Her mouth curved into a wry smile as she raised an eyebrow in her direction, "First and foremost, I suppose it's because I don't want it," she told her. "No offense, but I'm a field operator; herding cats isn't something I do gladly."

"No offense taken. It just tells me that you're a very smart lady," she returned good-naturedly. The buzzing in her ears got louder and she could almost make out a man's voice followed by an amused chuckle. "Are you by any chance wearing coms or a radio of some sort?" She asked, rubbing her ear. The sound was really starting to bother her. It was like it was at the edge of her hearing and it made her teeth buzz uncomfortably. A pressure began to build at the back of her skull and she felt like a headache was threatening as the voice became clearer.

"No," she frowned at her, her eyes looking on in concern. "Are you feeling alright, Ms. Smoak?"

"I'm fine; it's probably nothing," she said, her brow furrowing slightly as the man's voice grew louder. He was speaking in…Japanese?

*/この女性を信頼します。彼女は純粋な魂。彼女は違う. しかし、彼女は彼女の周りの危険性を認識しません。他の偉大な悪を感じる. /

"Too much caffeine," she told her with a smile even though it now felt like the bones in her skull were positively vibrating and there was a sharp metallic taste on her tongue. "It was a…long night. And it's Felicity, remember?" She said, forcing a smile.

It's probably one of those weird things where your fillings pick up radio broadcasts or something, she thought to herself. That or she was more nervous than she thought and she was having some kind of weird auditory hallucination as a result.

Or a brain tumor; could be a brain tumor, she thought idly. Despite Bruce's reassurances, she was pretty sure her rampant cellphone usage would one day be the death of her.

Bruce. How guilty did she feel right about now? A lot, that's how much.

Don't go there, she told herself. That way lay dragons and if she was ever going to have any kind of peace this needed to be settled once and for all. If Bruce found out and rejected her for it then...

She tamped down on her emotions. She didn't have time for that now. If he rejected her afterwards then that just meant their relationship wasn't meant to be. The idea of that was, in a word, depressing, but she needed to do this.

Heroes fight, she reminded herself, heroes die so that others can live. They lose sometimes and they bleed both inside and out for what's right. Her first priority was to protect her team; to protect Bruce, Oliver, Dig, and all the rest. Even though they couldn't see it, this was her fight, not theirs, and it had to be done on her terms. If saving their lives meant losing his love, then that was the price she would just have to pay.

She'd lived without his love for four years; she could live without it again.

She didn't want to, but she could as long as he and the rest of them were safe.

Again she rubbed her ear as the irritating buzzing continued and tried to ignore it.

"And you may call me Tatsu. Are you sure you're alright though? Your color looks a bit off." The woman gave her another look of concern but then the doors opened and Isabel was standing here, her cold dark eyes gleaming with something approaching animation and dressed in her signature Zac Posen. It was a deep burgundy jersey silk wrap dress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves that she paired with some Louboutin suicide heels in complimentary shade of charcoal.

"Felicity; what a pleasant surprise," she said with a knowing smirk.

"Obviously not that much of a surprise since I got through the door," she replied easily.

She didn't comment on that, instead her smile grew a bit more shark like and she gestured for them to follow. "Some new intel came down the line and we're going to have to scramble a team in a few hours so it's a good thing you're here."

"Ms. Yamashiro; I'm sorry, Tatsu, mentioned that there was a situation developing," she said inquisitively as she turned a small polite smile toward the Asian woman beside her before returning her attention towards Isabel. "Need some help?"

"As a matter of fact we do, yes. I'm planning on briefing the team remotely in a few minutes. Until then, I'd appreciate it if we could talk in private?"

"Of course," Felicity said, feeling a slight bit of apprehension. Her vibe was pinging off the charts now for sure.

"Ms. Yamashiro, would you mind calling in your team and letting them know we'll be having a video-conference in ten minutes?" Isabel said to the other woman, not waiting for a response as she turned on her heel imperiously and matched into the Director's office.

Felicity followed, rubbing her ear as the buzzing hit her eardrum again.

**/多くの闇の勢力は彼女を囲んでいます。彼女の安全のために恐れます。暗闇は彼女を追求します。彼女はすべての側面に包囲されます。私のブレードは、遅すぎる前にこの偉大な悪をキャプチャする必要があります。/

As soon as they entered what she had been told was to be 'her' office a few days ago, Isabel took the power position behind the large desk leaving Felicity in the hot-seat. Knowing what she was doing, Felicity allowed it to roll off her back and removed her coat and bag, hanging them on the coatrack near the door, then sat primly in the large leather armchair across from her by crossing her legs at the ankles and folding her hands in her lap, adopting a casual and unassuming air.

If there was one good thing about exhaustion, it was that it tended to steady the nerves.

Isabel's dark eyes swept over her figure from top to bottom and a hint of grudging respect entered her expression. For an extended moment they observed one another, Felicity resisting the urge to give into her obvious power play, instead allowing Isabel to waste her time as she parked her ass in the comfy chair and tried her best not to let loose with a spine-cracking yawn.

Finally, Isabel reached for the tablet in front of her and queued up some surveillance footage that appeared on the large monitor behind her. She watched as a lens zoomed in to film her conversation with Sara at the airport. There was no sound, merely their images as they stood close to one another, their features in profile and obviously engaged in an intense conversation. Finally Sara's fingers found her chin, tipping it upwards and taking her mouth in a tender kiss. They then embraced warmly before parting, each walking in opposite directions; Sara to the Wayne Gulfstream and Felicity to a safer distance as she watched the jet take off once her friend was safely ensconced inside.

"Well?" Isabel prompted.

"Well what?" Felicity asked her, nonplussed.

"You have nothing at all to say about that?"

"Um, you guys put a tail on me?" She shrugged. "I'm not really all that surprised. You're a vigilante organization and you've already made it clear that you've been watching me for some time so what do you want me to say?"

"You said you didn't know the Canary," Isabel told her. "You obviously do."

"What? You expected me to lay it all on the line at our first meeting?" Felicity asked sarcastically. "For all I knew, you were bluffing or part of some kind of evil plot. Truth be told I'm still not completely sold on the idea that you aren't."

"And after our second meeting?" She asked archly, completely ignoring the fact that Felicity just plainly stated she still didn't trust her. "You still failed to disclose your relationship with the Canary then as well."

"You already knew we worked together," she conceded. "Why bother telling you something you already knew?" She took a centering breath and leaned forward slightly, "Isabel, what exactly are you driving at with all this?"

"I'm just a bit surprised that you would so adamantly deny the fact that you are obviously in a sexual relationship with Sara Lance when a picture is worth a thousand words."

Without thinking about it, Felicity snorted, "When did that happen?"

"During our first meeting," she answered, misunderstanding her outburst.

Oh, she thought. She thinks Sara is my…

Mentally going over the conversation she'd had with Sara at the airport she could see why. The distance and ambient noise of the airstrip would have made picking up on their conversation difficult but, even if all they got were snippets of what was being said, Sara's speech about 'hiding in plain sight' could be misconstrued as Felicity being in the closet. The chaste goodbye kiss they shared could also be seen as evidence supporting that.

Okay, this could work. "And like I mentioned a moment ago, I had no reason to trust you then, did I?"

"So you don't deny it?" Isabel gave her a steady look, a dangerous glitter of something dark and deadly within her gaze.

Time slowed in Felicity's brain as she quickly constructed a plan to use Isabel's mistake to her advantage. Oliver's supposition about Isabel's assumptions about her sexuality was correct; now she just needed to use her ignorance to her advantage by playing into it and throwing her off the mark.

"Is there a policy against fraternization within this organization?" She countered.

"No," she said smoothly but the hint of menace was still there. "I'm merely concerned about the fact that you've managed to hide your preferences so completely. It implies that you are ashamed of your sexuality which, in turn, provides an obvious security risk and leaves you susceptible to blackmail."

"Do I look like the kind of person who would be ashamed of something like that?" Felicity asked her calmly.

"Possibly," the other woman said.

"I'm not," she said dryly.

"Not what?"

"Not ashamed," came her succinct reply. "I just choose not to advertise who I sleep with and certainly not in the workplace. There's a difference between being ashamed and being discrete."

"I just find it odd that in this day and age you would feel the need to go to such lengths," Isabel said with a smirk. "What you claim is discretion looks more like shame from where I'm sitting. Amanda Waller would not hesitate to use your puritanical need for 'discretion' against you in order to infiltrate our organization."

"She could try," Felicity snorted. "It doesn't mean she'd succeed."

"Why the secrecy then?" Isabel asked again, turning her shark-like gaze on her once more, "Not to harp on it, but my job is to decide whether or not your discretion is based on confidence or fear, strength or vulnerability."

Felicity sighed and leaned back in her chair with a bored air, "I'm the youngest child of Lucius Fox and I imagine you've pulled up files and files of information on my family by now but you probably haven't managed to find much of anything on me. There's a reason for that," she told her. "My mother's name was regularly abused by gossipmongers and my brother and sister spent years being hounded by the paparazzi until they became old news because, other than a few normal teenage antics, they weren't nearly as gossip worthy as most of the other attention-seeking celebutantes in their crosshairs. I never envied that kind of attention and I actively avoided it because I wanted a career outside of Wayne Enterprises. Employers, as you may know, dislike hiring people with PR baggage. If the press was made aware of whom I share my bed with, it would undoubtedly make the papers." Ain't that the truth, she thought ruefully.

"While I'm not particularly worried about professional backlash, I don't like my partners to have to worry about being hounded by the press. My sister has always been open about her bisexuality and, as a result, she wound up losing one of her first serious girlfriends when members of the so-called 'press corps' knocked on her parent's door and asked them if they knew their daughter was gay and were they aware that she was sleeping with the CEO of Wayne Enterprise's daughter."

"Sara Lance is far from discreet about her liaisons with members of the same sex," Isabel pointed out.

"But she is a mask and she's Oliver Queen's ex," she told her. "If the gossip rags reported that Oliver was cuckolded by his EA who happened to be the daughter of Lucius Fox and the woman he left his wife for over twenty years ago it would be a bit hard to do either of my jobs effectively."

"You know, I suspected for a long time that you were sleeping with Oliver-"

"Obviously I wasn't," Felicity said dryly.

The other woman nodded in acknowledgement, "Back then I assumed when you allowed the Canary to spend the night at your home it was either an act of cleverness on your part to try to get close to the woman you saw as your rival or just you being pathetic. Now I am confronted by this information and, I must admit, I'm rather intrigued as to how I could have missed this before even if you were as adamant about maintaining your privacy as you claim."

That made Felicity pause, "You were staking out my house when Sara was there? Sara hasn't been in Starling for a couple of months; I thought you said you didn't know I was attached to Oliver's mission until recently. If that's true then why did you send a surveillance team to my home?"

"We were investigating the Canary, not you," Isabel said smoothly without missing a beat. "When she would stay at your home we made a note of it. Even so, we saw nothing to suggest that the two of you were involved in a sexual relationship."

"You weren't looking for it, for one," Felicity told her, filing away the rather large ping that Isabel had left on her radar with interest. "You saw what you wanted to see; you aren't the first person to make gross assumptions based on appearance and circumstances."

"Like Oliver did when he made sexual advances toward you in the conference room," she said then watched as Felicity's expression didn't waver. Her lips quirked upwards at the corners, "So tell me, did he know about you and his supposed girlfriend?"

"As far as Oliver knows, Sara and I are merely friends," she told her. It was the truth, she thought with an inward eye roll.

"And how is it that you managed to keep it so quiet even from him?"

"Isabel, let's cut through the passive aggressive crap and get to the crux of the matter," she told her baldly. "You wouldn't have hit on me if you didn't think that there was a chance I might reciprocate. The reason I didn't is because, frankly, I don't mix business with pleasure and I certainly don't leap into bed with people I don't trust. You may have thought that there was something between Oliver and myself, and it's true that I consider him a friend, but he never came to my home and we never socialized outside of the mission and QC for a reason."

"And yet you obviously mixed business and pleasure with Sara Lance," she told her. "You were, by your own admission, having an affair."

"Sara was the exception to the rule," she said smoothly. "Also, it wasn't much of an 'affair', truth be told." Now was when she started to weave some serious bullshit, "Like Oliver, Sara has a tendency to get caught up in the whole vicious cycle between him and her sister, Laurel. I don't do that sort of thing and she knows it; I find it messy and destructive. After she and Oliver split the first time, we became close and it was made clear that she and Oliver were done romantically. She left Starling, we maintained contact and when she came back into town she would stay with me." Still the truth even though she was being more than a bit ambiguous. "When she and Oliver restarted their sexual relationship, I was left out in the cold and completely forgotten. I didn't react well to that."

That was, unfortunately, also the truth. Not that it was Sara's fault; Oliver always tended to have tunnel vision whenever he became involved with someone romantically and she was usually the one who had to wait in the sidelines until it passed and do damage control in the meantime.

Except when it came to his feelings about her, apparently. With her he was suddenly shutting not just the door to their relationship but putting a deadbolt on the thing.

Using a hint of the bitterness she was feeling to come out in her tone, she continued. "Like I said, I don't play that way. We made no commitments but I was hurt by it and it changed the way I thought about them both for a while even though I maintained a certain level of professionalism and didn't allow my feelings to get in the way of the mission." More truth; if Isabel was running a voice analysis she'd still be coming up clean.

"You seemed fairly chummy in that surveillance footage," Isabel drawled.

Felicity smirked at her and leaned back in her chair, "That footage is of one friend saying goodbye to another. Just because we aren't romantically involved that doesn't mean I don't still consider her to be a friend. Plus, she kissed me, not the other way around. The truth is that Sara has made it very clear that she wants to have a deeper relationship with me but I'm the one who told her that friendship is as far as I'm willing to go. I asked her to come see me after I spoke to you and Miranda, not just to get her opinion on your organization, but to make sure we could still work together effectively." Ding, ding, ding! And there's the trifecta of obfuscation!

No need to lie when you can muddy the truth like a champ, right?

"And can you?" Isabel asked, still stony in her countenance although Felicity could tell she scored a hit or two.

"Absolutely," she told her.

"You couldn't with Oliver," she said with an almost serpentine note of satisfaction.

"I was never involved with Oliver romantically before he misconstrued my intentions in the conference room," she told her, allowing some of the pain and anger she'd felt at that time to filter through. "I also don't appreciate being manhandled."

Most of the time, she said as an internal aside. She didn't like being grabbed and treated like a piece of meat but she kind of liked a little bit of forceful lovemaking occasionally.

…a lot, actually.

Memories of Bruce tossing her on the bed then ravishing her flooded her brain and she began to feel a bit flushed.

She cleared her throat and unbuttoned her jacket, taking it off and laying it across her lap before turning a sardonic eye onto the other woman. Time to go on the offensive. "What's this really about, Isabel? Please tell me it's not because I turned you down? If it is then I would be highly disappointed."

A flash of anger sparked in the other woman's eyes but her calm expression never wavered, "Why would I be the least bit concerned about that?"

"That's good to hear," Felicity said, taking the power position. She didn't spend years sitting in the corner of Lucius's office without picking up a few things. "I'm glad to know that this little encounter is about security concerns and not hurt feelings."

"Feelings?" Isabel nearly spat out. "'Feelings' don't enter into this, I assure you."

"That's good," Felicity told her, allowing a small smile to play around her lips. Now she was going to put her acting skills to the test. Centering herself she said, "Because, as I mentioned before, I don't mix business with pleasure but…"

"But?" Isabel asked, one well-groomed eyebrow shooting up in a mixture of feigned contempt.

"I have been known to make exceptions," Felicity told her, clamping down on the part of her that was shaking like a leaf and channeling her sister's courage.

Suddenly Isabel's eyes began to glow with that strange inner light once more as the woman paused to take a second look, "You also said you don't sleep with anyone you don't trust and you obviously don't trust me."

"Guess that makes me a bit of a challenge then, doesn't it?" She told her putting just a hint of flirtation in her tone.

Isabel's expression changed slightly; not a huge change but, for the normally ice cold woman before her, it was a significant one. Her facial muscles relaxed slightly and her eyes began to dance darkly as they roved her figure once more, "And, were I so inclined, how do you suppose I would meet that particular challenge?"

"By proving me wrong," Felicity told her. "Make me believe that I can trust you and we'll see where it goes."

"And how do I do that exactly?" Isabel asked, now showing obvious interest as she rose from her chair to move around the desk, leaning against it in such a way to set off her own athletic build and feminine curves.

"By not playing games for one," Felicity told her. "I'm very discriminating in my partners, both professionally and personally. Next time you have a question, just ask and I'll tell you what you want to know but that's a two-way street. Do that and we can build on it."

"What do you want to know?" Isabel asked her.

"Nothing at the moment," Felicity answered, "but when I do have questions I'll expect the truth."

"And how does that translate to a personal relationship?" She asked her, her lips taking on a seductive bent.

"If I give you all the answers then where's the challenge in that?" She asked her, "But here's a hint: I'm the kind of person who appreciates a slow burn."

No, not really, she thought to herself. She hated a slow burn, fuck a slow burn; she spent years in a slow burn with Oliver and look at how that ended, but she definitely didn't want anything burning around Isabel. Even if she were so inclined to date women, Isabel had what her brother once referred to as 'the crazy eyes'.

Yeah, sleeping with that woman would be like begging someone to put a big old pot of bunny soup on the stove.

"And what if I wasn't looking for a 'relationship'?" Isabel asked with a smirk.

"Then you should scratch your itches elsewhere," she told her flat out. "If you intend to try to convince me to go beyond a professional relationship with you then, fair warning, I don't do casual."

"An old fashioned girl, hmm?" Isabel said with another one of her strangely disconcerting expressions.

Something about the way she said that made a shiver go up Felicity's spine. Bruce said the same thing but her expression and tone were so much like Slade's that for a moment there she could almost feel the hot rain and wind as it whipped around her, along with the curve of the explosive charge and detonator as they weighed down her pockets.

"Old fashioned, perhaps; but that doesn't mean I'm not worth the extra effort," she promised, fighting down the panic that threatened to swell within her chest whenever she thought about that day. Now was definitely not the time to go tiptoeing through her own emotional time bombs. "However, as I said, if you're looking for someone who's okay with sharing and likes an audience, I suggest we just forget this conversation and keep it professional from here on out. Not that I'm judging, but I'm just not a naked twister kind of girl."

"We'll see," Isabel said, her normally icy stare heating up slightly before again assuming a mask of professionalism. "Shall we go join the others for the briefing?"

Felicity nodded and got up from the chair. She started to put her jacket back on but Isabel stopped her.

"No, leave it off," she told her, her dark eyes admiring the tailored fit of the dress. "You look perfect just the way you are."

Felicity shrugged on the jacket and buttoned it a little defiantly, "Challenge, remember?" She told her with a hint of dry wit.

"Hmm. By the way, I do like that suit," the other woman said, engaging in her own battle of (not so) subtle seduction. "You'll have to invite me into your bedroom soon; I'd love the chance to root around in your closet a bit and see what else you have hidden away."

"Who knows? Maybe; but I don't let just anyone into my 'closet'." And you are never getting inside of my drawers, lady. Never ever! Keep your crazy bunny soup vibe way the hell over there, you scary ice bitch.

Something told her that Bruce wasn't the only one destined to have a bad day at work.

*\?/*\?/*\?/*

The next morning China White and Vargas were behind bars, approximately one hundred and thirty-six million dollars' worth of coke was seized, and no one was seriously hurt.

It was a good day for Team Arrow.

Thea had come downstairs sometime during the night and introduced herself to Barbara while they had been gone and now the whole team was sitting around and laughing over coffee and breakfast take out as they enjoyed their victory. The only thing that would have made it perfect would be if…

…if Felicity was still there.

Oliver rubbed his neck wearily, his good humor fading quickly. Wayne asked her to marry him. What the fuck, he thought irately even though the logical part of his brain reminded him that he had no right to feel anything. Still, just days ago she called to tell him that all he needed to do was ask and she'd choose him instead, and now she was going to marry someone else; she was going to be that son of a bitch's wife?

It just…it wasn't right. He let her go, he told her to move on, but that didn't stop him from feeling like she was still supposed to be his, but now she was Wayne's.

It was his arms that would hold her, his name she'd take, and it was his children she'd carry within her womb…

Oliver's smile dropped off his face and he clenched his jaw as he tried to take his mind off of what Tim had let slip earlier.

"Hey Ollie, you okay?" Sara asked softly as she came up from behind him to bump his arm playfully.

"I'm good," he said, turning to her. "Listen, since we have a minute-?"

"I didn't know about Isabel Rochev and I never shared your secrets with anyone," she said cutting him off. She didn't sound mad or insulted, she merely stated it matter-of-factly.

He nodded, "That's good enough for me but I had to ask." And just like that he was satisfied. He'd known Sara too long, been through too much with her by his side, not to know when she was or wasn't telling the truth.

They might not work as a couple for more than a few weeks at a time, but they shared a soul. He'd know if she were lying to him. They might be able to lie to everyone else but not to each other…and Felicity.

Another thing they had in common; both of them learned to rely on her as their confessor and conscience long ago. From the minute she met Felicity she saw the light that surrounded her and responded to it just as he had. He also hadn't missed the glint of interest in her eye when she looked at his IT girl either. A large part of him had always been a bit jealous of the bond the two women had formed outside of him, especially since Sara had always flirted so openly with Felicity in his presence knowing he could never allow himself to go there…even though the other girl was probably too innocent to realize that Sara was only half kidding when she did so.

He fucked up, he thought. He should have just made his move right from the start or not done it at all; one or the other. Had he acted on his attraction toward her from day one he might have lost her but he wouldn't be feeling this way now. She would have become just a slight burn in his heart like McKenna, and not the raw nerve she was to him now. Sara had once confessed to being tempted a time or two with Felicity, especially when the little blonde got, quote; 'super cute when she's in her warm and fuzzies and all liquored up', but she played it safe like he should have done. Sara always was smarter than him. She might not have ever gotten the girl they were both more than a little in love with, but at least she still had a friendship with her; it was a hell of a lot more than what he had right now for damn sure.

And now she was with her brother; yet another 'what the hell' moment for him last night. He hitched his chin towards Luke who was sitting with Tim and Barbara as they entertained the rest of the team with a few stories of their own adventures. "When did that happen, by the way?"

"It's recent," she told him. "Really recent; but I like him." She smiled at him, "I like Felicity's entire family actually. I'm this close to getting her sister as well." She said holding her thumb and forefinger in a pinching gesture.

"Really?" Oliver said with a rueful shake of his head.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Ollie, she's hot," she said opening her eyes wide in emphasis. "She already invited me back for a possible threesome if things don't work out with the brother."

"Hmm," he hummed in amusement. "Maybe I should check her out for myself."

"I thought you were hung up on the other Fox sister?"

He took a pained breath and shrugged, "Yeah, well, according to Tim she's marrying Wayne so that ship has pretty much sailed, hasn't it?"

"Son of a-!" Her lips thinned angrily as she glared over at Tim but then she shook her head and offered him a sympathetic look, "You shouldn't have found out like that but if it's of any consolation, she's still in love with you, too."

"So it's true?" He asked her and when she nodded he shifted uncomfortably before offering her a humorless smile, "If she's so in love with me then why is she marrying him?"

"She's in love with both of you; I'd think if anyone could appreciate that it'd be you," she said pointedly. "As for why she's marrying him; Ollie, he asked, you didn't."

"So you're saying that if I asked her that I'd be the one getting married right now?" He asked mockingly.

"Yeah, pretty much," she told him without a hint of sarcasm. "In fact, you could have her back anytime you wanted but we both know that you won't ask her and that you can't give her what he can even if you did." His jaw clenched in reaction to that but she pressed on, "I'm not trying to hurt you, Ollie; this isn't me kicking you while you're down. Felicity knows that you're not ready to give up the hood, that's all. Not that she'd ever ask you to, but I know you well enough to know that you'd spend the rest of your life feeling guilty over it. All you'd ever see is what she gave up to be with you; that he offered her kids, a home, even to give up his night job just so she'd stay with him, and all you can give her is this life." She looked around the basement before turning back to him, "We both know this mission of yours doesn't exactly come with a happily ever after attached."

"He offered to give up being the Batman?" He asked in surprise. "And kids, really?"

"Yeah," she snorted, "Felicity was kind of wigging out over the fact that he even picked out names already."

"Are you shitting me?" Oliver asked, not the least bit amused.

"Nope," Sara said with a smirk. "He had more than a half a dozen names picked out and told her he was willing to use them all if she was willing to stay knocked up for the next several years as they made their way down the list."

"Bullshit, there's no way Felicity would ever agree to that," he scoffed.

"Maybe not enough to field a baseball team but who knows?" Sara told him, her eyes filled with sympathy. "Ollie, you and I saw different sides of Felicity. She might have been closer to you, but I'm the one she talked to about the stuff she couldn't go to you with."

"Like what?" He asked gruffly.

"Like how she loved her family and knew that they loved her but that she never felt like she belonged," she said softly. "I mean, they're great people; all of them, but for some reason she never felt like she had a real home until she met us-met you."

Guilt crashed down on him then, a weight so heavy his shoulders sagged because of it, "Yeah, I—she told me that a few times, too."

"Honestly, I think that's half the reason she's even entertaining the idea of marrying Bruce. It's not about kids or giving up the mission for her; he offered her a home, the one thing she's always wanted," she shrugged, "Hard to turn something like that down."

"Wait...but—is she marrying him or is she just thinking about it?" He asked with a frown.

"This conversation is getting a little middle school, don't you think?" Sara said shaking her head. "Any minute now you're going to have me deliver a note that says 'Do you still like me, check yes or no'." She snorted at her own joke, "You should really be talking to her about this, you know that right?"

Oliver grimaced, "Just tell me; how real is this thing between her and Wayne?"

"Honestly?" She asked then tilted her head, "I'm not sure but it's real enough that I'm already signed on as a bridesmaid." At his darkening look she sighed, "Look, she's torn, okay? She loves you both but Bruce is almost twenty years into his mission and you've been at this less than four not including the time we spent on the island. He offered her a real place in his life and she knows that you can't do that at this point in your mission, not now, but she'd still choose you if you chose her back."

"She told you that?" He asked her quietly, a hint of vulnerability creeping in. When she nodded he asked, "And what did you say?"

"I told her to pick Bruce; that you were far from a sure thing. I told her to choose the love that chose her, which is him, not you. I'm sorry, but it's the truth," she said honestly. At the hint of anger in his eyes, she sighed, "Ollie, you sent her away for a reason. You told her to move on so that's what I told her to do."

"Shit," he clenched his jaw angrily before relaxing a bit and giving her an apologetic look even though he could still feel a knot of anger burning a hole in his stomach. He wasn't angry at Sara though, he was angry at himself for ever letting it get this far, "You're…you're right. You were right to tell her to move on," He scratched his beard, feeling the anger give way to pain, "And is she? Moving on?"

"I think she's trying to figure it out," Sara said noncommittally. "I'm heading back out tomorrow night to stay down there and help her with some stuff. She's actually offered to take me on as a roommate so I'll be sticking close to her, I promise. I'll make sure she's safe."

"Wait," something about the way she worded that 'pinged his radar' as Felicity used to say. "What stuff is she into that you feel the need to put down roots that close to her? I know damn well it can't be the brother, so what's going on?" He asked sharply, his attention now focused on something other than his own pain.

"Just…stuff," she said, clearing her throat. "You know, if we don't get to those doughnuts soon…"

"Tell me she isn't investigating Stellmoor on her own."

"Um, I can honestly say she isn't investigating it on her own," she told him.

"Goddamn it," Oliver swore then leveled a glare in her direction. "You're helping her with this?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm already on the inside and she asked me for backup. What was I supposed to do, Ollie? Let her go in alone?"

"You should have stopped her from going there in the first place!" He said his voice elevated slightly.

At his angry exclamation the laughter stopped and several heads turned in their direction. Luke frowned and stood up, "Something wrong?"

"Apparently," Oliver told him as he took several steps away from Sara with a scowl. "Did you know your sister was running her own op back in Gotham?"

"What?" Luke asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Everyone but Barbara was focused on Sara. Barbara, on the other hand, was watching Tim, "Timmy," she said quietly, "is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us?"

Everyone turned to Tim who shifted uncomfortably in his seat on the couch. He looked up at Sara with a perturbed expression on his face, "I thought we were supposed to keep this on the down-low for a couple of days?"

"Tim, I suggest you start talking right fucking now!" Luke gritted out, hands clenched at his sides.

"Is this the Stellmoor thing?" Diggle asked sharply.

"What's Stellmoor and what does it have to do with my sister?" Luke asked, his expression stormy. "Someone better tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Stellmoor is the company that tried to take Queen Consolidated in a hostile takeover a few years back," Oliver told him. "At the time we didn't know this but Stellmoor wanted QC for more than just its bottom line. Apparently they're also the front for a global vigilante organization and they targeted me specifically because of the Arrow. Isabel told Felicity that she knew all about us, about Sara, and wanted to recruit her. Given Isabel's history I took it as a threat and told Felicity to stay away from Isabel and anything to do with her company. Apparently," he bit out, "she chose to ignore me and went ahead with an op of her own."

"Is that true?" Luke asked angrily, turning to Sara.

"Yeah, but to be fair, I've worked with the organization you're talking about and, although I've never had any contact with Isabel, I can tell you that from what I've seen so far the group does good work," she told them. "They're organized, well-funded, and they certainly don't act like a villainous shadow group. In fact, they have an even bigger hate-on for Ra's al Ghul and the League than you do." She turned to Oliver, "They run a lot of missions but especially love to target anything League related, particularly anything to do with women and children. We recently busted a human trafficking ring in Paris just last week that had connections to a guy on your list."

"Who?" Roy asked curiously.

"Victor Zsasz," she told him.

Barbara, Tim, and Luke all reacted to that name simultaneously.

"Son of a bitch," Tim muttered as Barbara winced noticeably.

"I thought that motherfucker had been put away for good?" Luke asked Barbara.

"Someone called the Black Mask sprang him from Arkham a while back and we lost track," she told him. Barbara turned to Sara, "What happened to Zsasz?"

"Neutralized," she told her with grim satisfaction.

"You killed him?" Tim asked her.

"Not me, a member of my team, but as team leader I made the call." At the look of discomfort on the other's expressions she grimaced, "Listen, I get that you guys don't kill; despite what you may have heard, we," she indicated Oliver and the rest of their team, "all of us have a 'no kill unless' policy about that kind of thing, and this was definitely an 'unless' situation," she told them. "When we cornered him, he had a knife against the throat of a six year old child and was threatening to kill him then and there. One of my team had the shot and I told them to take it. Could we have taken him down using non-lethal means?" She shrugged, "Maybe; but it wasn't worth risking the kid. He was saved and there's one less monster in the world because of it."

"Zsasz was a pedophile?" Diggle asked, looking grim.

"Among other things," Tim said with a note of disgust. "He didn't have actual sex with the kids, he was more of a," his eyes closed and he swallowed, "I don't know what the fuck to call him."

"Canary was closer to the mark by calling him a monster," Barbara said emphatically. "He was something twisted; calling him a pedophile is just the tip of the iceberg."

"He got off on pain and causing pain," Luke said in a growl. "He liked kids especially. He made his money by putting weapons in their hands and watching them kill each other like gladiators in the fucking arena; he got off on it. Little kids, too; practically babies. He used to invite people to bid on the action while he got his jollies watching them tear each other apart."

"Oh my God," Thea breathed. "That's the sickest thing I have ever heard in my life."

"Sounds to me like the son of a bitch needed to die," Roy said coldly.

Luke nodded, "Pretty much. Kids, man," he said angrily, "I can take a lot of shit but I can't handle it when it involves kids."

"I think we're all on board with that sentiment," Tim said in a subdued manner. "Bruce busted him and threw in in the deepest hole he could find in Arkham. When he escaped he about lost his shit over it." He looked at Sara with a hint of respect in his eyes, "Look, I don't really go for the whole killing thing; I'm more of a 'lock them up and let them rot', kind of guy. Still, I'm glad that son of a bitch is dead."

"I agree, and I get that this group does some good, but I don't trust Isabel Rochev," Oliver said firmly, "especially when it comes to Felicity."

"He's right," Diggle said, coming to stand beside him. "She hated Felicity and then, one day out of the blue, she just offers her a place on this team? Something's up."

"We've worked with Amanda Waller on several occasions and I know none of us exactly trust her either," Sara pointed out. "Besides, it's a moot point; Felicity was doing this with or without our help."

"She's right," Tim said reluctantly. "I found out after the fact that she went in without back up at least once already."

"What the hell?!" Luke thundered, a sentiment shared by several of the others in the room.

"Hey!" Sara said, getting their attention. "I already ripped into her for that and I imagine Tim did as well."

"Damn straight," Tim grumbled.

"Why the hell would she do something that stupid? When was this?" He demanded.

"I don't know exactly but it was just after she came back to Gotham," Sara told him. "Look, the thing we should be focusing on is that if they were going to hurt her she'd already be dead but they didn't. She could have been killed a few weeks ago and none of us would have been any wiser."

"And that's supposed to cheer everyone up and fill me with confidence?" Luke spat out.

"No, but it does put some perspective on things," she told him. "Believe it or not, your sister is tougher than you think she is. I'm not saying what she did wasn't completely fucked in the head, but she handled it."

"Does Wayne know she's doing this?" Oliver asked.

Tim and Sara exchanged looks and Barbara snorted, "I think that the fact that we can't hear him yelling all the way from Gotham means that the answer to that question is a resounding 'no'."

"When is she planning on going back inside?" Oliver asked sharply.

"Wednesday," Tim answered. "She promised me she wouldn't go back in without backup and she said Sara was coming back tomorrow."

"Is that true?" Oliver asked her.

"I am planning on going back tomorrow, yes," she told him blithely.

"Goddamn it!" Oliver said loudly, running his hand through his hair in agitation.

"Wait!" Tim said sharply, "She swore she wouldn't make a move without someone there! I only agreed to come down here after she promised me that you had her back!"

"She has back up," Sara told him.

"Who?" Luke demanded. "We're all here; who the hell is acting as her back up?"

Sara and Barbara looked at each other and then at Tim and Luke pointedly.

"Tam?" Tim said incredulously.

"And you thought Tam could handle that?" Luke said in a near shout. He turned to Barbara, "What time is it?"

"Just after six so that means it's already after nine am in Gotham," she told him.

Tim brought out his phone, "I'm calling to scramble the Gulfstream now."

"Excuse me," Thea said, raising her hand to get their attention. "I realize that I'm not technically in the hero club since I'm still in training and all, but that's at least a five or six hour flight; why can't you just call this Bruce guy and have him handle it? I mean, he is right there, yeah?"

"A woman after my own heart; someone who actually knows how to use a phone," Barbara said appreciatively in her direction. "I'm connecting to Bruce's cell now."

*\?/*\?/*\?/*

Bruce ran his hand through his hair, not caring if it left him looking disheveled. He'd been trying to get a moment alone with Lucius all morning but every time he thought he had the other man cornered something else would pop up. It was as though the universe was working against him.

First the nutcase with the goddamn parade float and the monkeys and now this.

Felicity was right; this was a shit day.

Part of him just wanted to say 'to hell with it', go back to the penthouse, kick Tam and the decorators out, and spend the rest of the day in bed with his woman. If Luke told their father before he had a chance to talk to him, so be it. He was done. He already had to endure the indignity of having Alfred hose him off in the Batcave that morning; if he had to listen to Irving Tumi from Finance talk in a monotone for even one more minute he was going to lose it and just throw in the towel.

Finally, the meeting broke up and Bruce took his chance, "Lucius, could I have a minute? I know that we have the meeting with Marketing next but I think we can skip it." He turned to his Vice President of Finance, "Ms. Wells? Would you mind handling it for us?"

"Of course," she turned to Lucius for confirmation.

"Go ahead, Kristen, we'll try to be in there soon," Lucius said good naturedly. "It's got to be better than listening to your department head drone on all morning long about stock prices and inflation costs."

"Marketing might be full of alarmists and drama queens but at least they keep it interesting," she agreed wryly. "As for Irving, I'll tell him to try to work on his presentation a little. Maybe he can come in dressed as Humdrum the Accounting Clown next time just to shake things up."

"I might actually be able to stay awake for that one," Lucius chuckled. "Sound good to you, Bruce?"

"Sure," Bruce said dryly. "Maybe we can even get an elephant to stand there and act as the screen for his PowerPoint presentation."

"Or we can get some of those trained monkeys from this morning to hold up his pie charts," Kristen said with a mischievous grin.

"Monkeys?" Lucius asked curiously as Bruce tried to stop himself from flinching.

"My girlfriend sent me an email with a YouTube link this morning," she told him. "Hilarious! Apparently some nutcase—"

"Not to interrupt but you might want to get to that meeting before the Marketing guys start panicking," Bruce cut in.

Kristen nodded, her eyes twinkling, "Yeah, right, you know how they are; the sky is always falling, hording all the lox and cream cheese when the bagel guy comes around. Wouldn't want them to get into any monkey business. They might, I don't know, totally loose it and start singing show tunes from parade floats or something."

"Funny." He really hated that Kristen knew his secret some days.

"I thought so," she said with a smirk as she got up from her chair. "See you gentlemen in a few minutes." She nodded to them both and headed out of his office towards the elevator.

"What can I do for you, Bruce?" Lucius asked as soon as she closed the door behind her.

Bruce looked at him and suddenly realized that the words he'd been practicing in his head for most of the night had completely abandoned him. He cleared his throat, wiping his hand over his mouth nervously, "I wanted to talk to you about your daughter…"

"I wanted to talk to you about that as well," Lucius said with a scowl. "Specifically about her relationship with young Timothy."

"Tim?" Bruce repeated blankly.

Lucius nodded, "Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very fond of Tim, but I can't say I care for this living arrangement he has going on with my daughter." He made a disgruntled noise, "Now, I know they're adults but I just don't like the idea of the two of them shacking up when neither of them have even so much as come close to making any sort of commitment to each other. I mean, one minute they're in a relationship and the next minute-" He made a harrumphing sound in his throat, "Call me old fashioned, but I just don't like it and I told your boy that if he wanted to keep living in the condo I paid for then he better start making his intentions known once and for all! You know what I mean, right? You're a father," he said with a scowl. "If Tam, or better yet, Baby was your daughter wouldn't you expect to have a man to man talk with the person they were seeing before they moved in together?"

He squinted a bit and shifted in his chair uncomfortably, "Well, um, I understand where you're coming from, yes, but…"

"I know, I know," Lucius said dismissively. "I come off as a bit of a hypocrite seeing as I lived with Baby's mother before we got married but that was different. I was committed to her, we weren't just shacked up, and as soon as my divorce came through I married her. Look, nowadays I realize most young folks have this whole 'marriage is obsolete' attitude and, a few years back, you had this whole 'playboy' persona to keep up but hopefully, now that you're getting older like the rest of us, you're starting to see it from my point of view. I mean, according to Tam this thing between Dick and that girl he's been seeing has been getting fairly serious; eventually you're going to be a grandfather. Probably sooner than you think; you wouldn't want to see your grandchildren raised in an unstable environment, would you?"

"Why does everyone keep telling me I'm on the verge of becoming a grandfather?" Bruce muttered.

"I'm not saying they're ready for kids, but that's why people get married and live together in the first place. It's about making a commitment and I just can't see either of them doing that. If you ask me they both need to either fish or cut bait. I'm not saying they need to get married but I'd at least feel better if I knew he was taking this relationship seriously. Plus there's that whole other thing he's involved with," he gave Bruce a significant look. "I'd just like to know that he's not playing things fast and loose and that he's keeping her well-being in mind."

"I agree," Bruce said slowly, "and I will talk to Tim as soon as I get a chance; but what I really came to discuss was Ba-er, Felicity."

He frowned, "What about her? Is this about the WayneTech thing you offered her? I thought she was taking that job with the charity instead?"

"No, she's not taking that job anymore," Bruce told him. "Lucius, I…"

"Are you sure?" Lucius asked, interrupting him. "Tam told me that she was going over there this morning to look over the facility."

"Tam said what? When was this?" Bruce asked sharply, his previous train of thought completely abandoned.

"This morning," Lucius told him. "I texted her to ask if she wanted to catch lunch after we met with the Entertainment division and she said Baby's job called and asked if she could come by this morning so she did her sister a favor and took the day off to meet with the decorators at the penthouse. Is something wrong?" He asked curiously.

Bruce didn't answer him right away. Instead he struggled to get his temper under control as he pasted a pleasant smile on his face, "No, no problem; I was just hoping to talk her into accepting my offer instead. I was under the impression that she was fully committed, in fact."

"Maybe that's why she's going over there," Lucius suggested. "She's probably just letting them know that she won't be taking the job after all. You know how considerate Baby is about that sort of thing."

"Probably," Bruce said neutrally. He got up from his chair, "I just remembered, I scheduled another meeting and it's probably going to take most of the day. Do you mind if I let you and Ms. Wells handle things from here?"

"No problem," Lucius said, getting up and heading for the door as well. "And if you could speak to Tim I'd appreciate it. I just want to keep my girls safe."

"I agree with you perfectly," Bruce said grimly. "Believe me."

*\?/*\?/*\?/*

His cell rang and Bruce answered it by hitting a button on the steering wheel of the MacLaren, activating the Bluetooth speaker, "What?" He barked.

"Someone's having a bad day," Barbara said dryly.

"You have no idea," Bruce said grimly as he headed straight for the Wayne Foundation.

"Well, hate to break it to you but it's about to get a whole lot worse," she told him. "Baby has apparently been working her own op on the down low and without backup."

"I heard," he bit out, swerving around a Yellow Cab. "I'm heading to Tam now to find out what the hell is going on."

"She's not going to be able to tell you anything." Another feminine voice came on the line; one he didn't immediately recognize but he could guess who it was.

"Canary, I presume," he growled. "Did she tell you where she was going?"

"No, all I know is she's heading for one of their facilities," she told him. "I've never been there so I really can't tell you where it is. Felicity was supposed to meet me Wednesday and we were going to go in together."

"Oracle; try pinging her phone," he ordered.

"Already did that and nothing," Barbara told him.

"She told me the facility is shielded. No signals can get in or out unless it's through their servers," he heard Tim say.

"How long did you know this was going on and why the hell didn't you tell me about it sooner?" Bruce practically growled.

"I tried to talk her out of it," Tim said bitterly.

"Apparently not well enough!" Bruce snapped at him.

"Hey, she's your fiancée, not mine!" Tim retorted.

Bruce slammed on the brakes as he came to a crosswalk and impatiently waited for the pedestrians to clear the road. It was unfair of him to blame Tim, especially since he, himself, had heard her plans and had failed to make her listen to reason. Still…

Wait, Tim just said… "Goddamn it!" He let out a harsh breath of frustration, "Does Luke know?"

"Yeah, Luke knows," the man in question said coolly.

"Everyone knows," Oliver said in the background.

"Felicity is getting married to Batman?" Another unknown female said in the background. "Cool beans!"

"Now everyone knows," Diggle said wryly.

"Can I be a bridesmaid?" She said, speaking again to someone on the other end of the line.

"I think we're all supposed to be bridesmaids," Canary said dryly. "You too, Barbara."

"Goody goody gumdrops," his tech muttered sarcastically. "I'll worry about butt bows and catching the bouquet after we pull the bride's ass out of the fire."

"Do you need us down there?" Oliver asked agitatedly.

"I don't know yet," Bruce said shortly. "According to Felicity the compound is pretty well guarded so I may very well need the entire team. I'll call Nightwing and have him come down from Bludhaven; in the meantime have a jet on standby."

"Wait, so you knew about this and let it happen anyway?" Queen spat out angrily. "What the hell has been going on over there?"

Bruce tightened his hands on the steering wheel and let his right foot fall heavily on the accelerator as soon as the pedestrians were clear, "Not that I need to explain anything to you, Queen, but she came to me about this the other day and I specifically told her to drop it. I thought I had talked her out of going back there!"

"Hello, point of order!," The unknown female broke in again, "Why are you guys freaking out and acting as though she's been kidnapped or something? Didn't Sara just finish telling you that these were the good guys?"

"Who is that?" Bruce asked irritably.

"Hi, I'm Thea, Ollie's sister," she chirped in a clearer tone than before. "I'm a hero too—sort of."

"Why are you waving at the monitor?" An exasperated male voice asked. "It's a phone call; he can't actually see you."

"Shut up, Roy!" She said grumpily. "Excuse me if I'm a little excited, okay? I've never talked to a real live superhero before." There was a murmur of voices and she added, "I meant other than you guys."

"As enjoyable as this little group hug is, I'm in a bit of a rush here," Bruce said in the voice of the Bat. "Felicity's life is at stake!"

"Yes, it is!" Queen broke in sharply, "Glad to see you're finally realizing that since it's your fault for not keeping her safe in the first place!"

"I was keeping her safe!" Bruce said angrily as he dodged a bike messenger. "You sent her with me because this mess started on your end, remember?"

"That's enough from both of you!" Canary's voice broke in, "Look, I've worked with these people and I can tell you that chances are she's safe but if you try to break into one of their facilities half-cocked then that could change really quickly."

"I'm aware of that," Bruce told her. "I still need to know where she is."

"She told me she set up an alarm inside of Watchtower to go off at a certain time with the address of the facility if she doesn't make her check in," Tim told him.

"I'm on it but if Baby buried it, it could take a while," Barbara said and he could hear the clacking of the keys as she began to hack into the system.

"I still can't believe all of you kept this from me," Luke said angrily. "You should have told me Baby was in trouble!"

"I still can't believe you guys call Felicity 'Baby' and get away with it," the man who Queen's sister identified as 'Roy' said drolly.

"Seconded," Thea said with an amused snort. "I'm surprised she hasn't kicked all of your asses over that. I know I would have."

"She swore me to secrecy, dude," Tim said with a sigh. "I knew I should have stayed in Gotham. I can't believe she lied to me like that."

"She didn't lie to anyone," Sara said reasonably.

"She didn't tell the truth either," Oliver said, his own voice harsh. "I'll have the jet on stand-by; you just say the word and we'll be there," he told him. "If need be I have the contact information for another mask called The Flash. He can be there to act as backup long before we can get there in the jet."

"I'll let you know if it comes to that, until then I need to keep this line clear. Batman out," he said, clicking off the phone call just as he pulled into the underground parking structure. He immediately headed for the private elevator and hit the button to the penthouse. As soon as he got upstairs he strode into the apartment, his eyes locked on Tam who was directing the workmen in a flurry of activity while flipping through a bridal magazine, "Where in the hell is Felicity?" He said in a near shout.

Tam turned to him, her expression calm as she lifted one eyebrow at his obvious state of agitation, "And a good morning to you, too."

Bruce looked around at the many workmen who were staring at them in obvious trepidation. He grabbed Tam by the arm, causing her to drop her magazine, and hauled her into his office before slamming the door behind him, "Cut the crap," he said as he released her. "Where is Felicity?"

"I have no idea," Tam told him blithely.

Bruce got in her personal space, his face a mask of rage, "Goddamn it, Tam; Felicity is in danger!"

"First off, back the hell up off me," Tam said reasonably although there was a spark of anger in her tawny gaze. "I don't give a shit who you are; I don't play that way and I will put you on your ass in a heartbeat."

Fighting the urge to grab her and shake her until her teeth rattled, Bruce took a step back and fixed his angry gaze upon her, "Where is Felicity?" He asked in a quieter, though no less intense, registry.

"She didn't tell me specifically because she didn't want me to be able to tell you," she said in an unaffected tone. "The only thing I know is that she's planning on checking in when she's done and if she isn't out by a certain time an alert will go off letting everyone know her location."

"Did she say anything else?" He asked, glaring down at her. "Anything at all?"

"Only that it's somewhere in the East End," she told him.

"That isn't enough information to go on!" He spat out, running his hand through his hair in agitation. "Think! What else did she tell you?"

"God, you're so rude," Tam told him then bit her lip as she narrowed her eyes and appeared to search her memory, "Well, there was the DJ guy she met."

"DJ?" Bruce prompted.

"Yeah, he calls himself 'Mr. Mention' and he spins at the Irie Club in Little Jamaica. He drives a cab and she said he gave her his card afterwards to get us in. I think he's the one who drove her there."

"Do you have his card?" He asked her.

"No, Felicity gave it to the bouncer when we got to the club," she told him, obviously starting to get concerned herself. "You could try tracking him down by calling there," She suggested then bit her lip. "Of course, they probably don't open until later tonight."

Bruce spun on his heel without another word and headed out of the office, Tam close on his heels.

"Wait! Where are you going?" She asked but he didn't answer her. Instead he stomped past all the workmen and headed out the door and into the elevator.

"Your sister's fiancé is pretty intense," Zander said as he approached her, handing her back her discarded magazine as they watched the doors close.

"Yeah," she agreed. "But he sure can fill out a suit. Even if he is a total ass," she added as an afterthought.

"And what an ass it is, girlfriend," Zander said lowly.

Tam just grinned at him as they exchanged a quick high-five.

*\?/*\?/*\?/*

Bruce drove straight to the Batcave after calling Alfred to let him know what was happening and for him to track down the cabbie using the information Tam had given him. His next call was to Dick who picked up on the second ring.

"Grayson."

"I need you back in Gotham ASAP," he told him, getting straight to the point.

"What's up? I'm kind of in a meeting."

"I think Baby might have gotten herself into trouble," he said tersely. "Tim, Luke, and Barbara are in Starling and if things get sticky I'm going to need you on deck."

"Details?" He asked, all business.

"I'll brief you when you get here."

"Okay," he told him. "Be there in a couple of hours."

"Take a chopper," he told him. "We might not have that kind of time."

"How bad is it?" Dick asked quietly.

"I don't know yet," he said grimly. "I can't even get a location on her; all I know is that she's being held in a facility by suspected hostiles and the building is surrounded by snipers and top of the line security measures."

He heard Dick exhale then speak again, "Okay, I'll head over to the helipad now."

"Thanks," he said and clicked off. As soon as he hung up on Dick the phone rang and the Bluetooth picked up. "What do you have?"

Alfred's voice came through the speakers, "I was unable to locate the owners of the club Miss Tam mentioned as they are closed today but I called Miss Barbara and she said she would try to hack into their employee records and get back to you momentarily. What's your ETA to the Batcave, sir?"

"Less than two minutes," he said hanging up just as he roared into the drive and parked in the front of the manor. He jogged up the front steps and strode forcefully across the hallway into the main library. He went up to the grandfather clock and jerked open the glass case, setting the hour and minute hands to 10:47 then set the moon phase on 'night'.

As soon as the hidden door behind the grandfather clock slid open he hurried down the steps where Alfred was sitting in front of the Watchtower console, "Has Barbara found anything yet?"

"Just give me a minute, would you," Barbara said irritably from the large monitor in the center of the Watchtower station. Much to Bruce's growing irritation several people, including a few he had never met, were crowded around Barbara and looking on with expressions ranging from anger to concern to outright curiosity.

"That's Batman?" A young brunette said, rubbernecking as she struggled to break through the wall of bodies surrounding Barbara. "Nice."

"He can hear you," a dark haired young man muttered from beside her.

"He's still cute," she said with an appreciative look.

"And he can still hear you," the dark haired man muttered as he rubbed his eyes wearily.

"What's the hold up?" Bruce snapped impatiently, ignoring the distracting pair in the background.

"Hold on for one goddamn minute, Bruce! I only have two hands and this nightclub's server is from the '90's. It's like trying to communicate in ancient Greek!" she told him crossly. "Also, do you even know how many people drive cabs in Gotham? Here! I crosschecked the employee records with persons owning hack licenses and came up with a name: Dontae Glover. Dialing it now."

"Hello?" A heavily accented voice came over the line.

"Is this Mr. Glover, also known as Mr. Mention?" Bruce asked smoothly.

"Yes, dat be me; who're you?"

Ignoring the question, Bruce continued, "Mr. Glover, you had a fare last week; a young lady you picked up in front of Wayne Towers. She's missing and her family is very worried about her. I don't suppose you remember where it was that you dropped her off?"

"You dah cops?" He asked suspiciously then sighed, "Mon, you know how many people I pick up in dat part of town? I'm sorry dat de girl be missin' but I can't help you."

"She was blonde, around 5'5", attractive, wears glasses; she would have asked to be dropped off somewhere on the East End," Bruce said insistently.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, "I'm sorry, mon; I don't know…"

Bruce's jaw clenched, "Please, Mr. Glover; anything you can remember could be of vital importance to our investigation." Something occurred to him, "You gave her your business card."

"You know how many cards I give out to pretty young blondes, mon?" He chuckled. "Dey don' call me Mr. Mention for nut'thing."

"She and a group of her friends went to watch you spin at the Irie Club last weekend," he told him, frustration curdling his stomach.

"Nah mon, I don'-wait," he said thoughtfully. "Dere was one girl; great tipper, cute little bit of a ting, too. Blonde wit glasses like you said. She wan' me to drop her off near dah Crime Alley but I didn't feel right leavin' her like dat. I gave her my card and picked her up later dat day. Don' know if it's dah same girl doh."

"Do you remember where you dropped her off?" He asked quickly.

"Yeah, I tink it was…" He paused, "Yeah, it was dat ole chemical factory; uh, Axis someting."

"Son of a-," Tim cursed from the monitor. "Of all the fucking places…"

"Thank you," Bruce said grimly as he ended the call. He wiped his hand across his mouth and paced agitatedly as he absorbed that information.

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked from the monitor. "What's Axis?"

"The black hole of everything fucked up in the universe," Barbara said tersely as she began typing furiously again.

"Axis Chemical Processing Plant," Luke told him in a hollow voice. "Otherwise known as the birthplace of the Joker."

"The Joker?" Diggle asked with a start. "That maniac who dresses like a clown?"

"Does he have her?" Oliver asked, his voice dropping to the growl of the Arrow.

"No, no way," Tim said quickly. "Joker is dead; at least we're pretty sure he's dead. Even so, he wouldn't go after Baby; she shouldn't even be on his radar."

"Besides, it's not his style," Bruce said at last. "If he had Felicity he would have made himself known by now. Subtlety was never his thing."

"I found the property records for Axis," Barbara spoke up. "Not surprisingly it's passed through quite a few hands over the years before finally being seized by the government after the last owner failed to pay his property taxes." Her eyes scanned the screen before her, "The last owner of the property is listed as Sterling/Gates Ltd which is a front for Homeland Security."

"Homeland?" Diggle asked sharply. "ARGUS?"

"Good guess," Barbara told him. "Hacking into ARGUS now." She shook her head, "Damn, would you look at that? Baby already has this thing set up to go right through their back door. I love that girl; seriously. After you finish spanking her little tushie I'm going to give her a big kiss on the lips!"

"Oracle, focus!" Bruce snapped at her.

"Don't get your Bat panties in a wad," she told him, unperturbed by his gruffness. "Apparently the property was undergoing renovations; a lot of renovations," she said with a low whistle. "State of the art everything, but they lost their funding after they tried to blow up Starling City during the Blood Army thing. Apparently the Congressional oversight committee handing out the checks decided not to sink more money into them after they tried to blow up a ton of voters without authorization; especially during an election year. Waller is lucky to still have a job after that. Since then a new organization has risen up and has been giving them some competition."

"The Orbital Organization," Sara supplied.

"Bingo," Barbara told her. "They're set up a lot differently than ARGUS but with similar goals in mind. Also Waller really doesn't like them. She has files and files on their movements and missions. It could take a while to sort through them and I don't know how much longer I can keep the back door open without anyone noticing. The gist of it is that they came out of nowhere about a year ago and they've been snatching government contracts out from under ARGUS ever since, slowly pecking away at their powerbase. The property came under their banner around six months ago but has only been active for less than three months."

"So they're legit?" Luke asked, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Eh," Barbara said noncommittally, "In as much as any super-secret black ops organization can be. Unlike ARGUS they're privately held so they don't answer to oversight but, at the same time, they don't receive direct funding either. Instead they bid on contracts, bounties, etc. That's the reason they're gaining in favor among the Washington bean counters; built in plausible deniability at rock bottom prices."

"How is it we're only just hearing about them now?" Bruce asked heatedly. "They've been in my city, right under my nose, for months!"

"I sent Felicity to you because you said you could keep her safe," Oliver said grimly from the other side of the monitor. "Now I come to find out that the very people I was trying to protect her from were sitting at your back door this entire time!"

"I'm not the one who got her shot, Queen! I'm also not the one who allowed someone to take a contract out on her life eighteen months ago and not even have a clue about it!" Bruce turned his furious gaze on the other man, his clenched fists coming down on the workstation as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"I may not have always protected her the way I should have, but she didn't go joining any secret organizations under my watch either!" He thundered back. "You were supposed to keep her safe and from what I can see you've been doing a piss poor job of it so far!"

"Oh really? And what happened to her six months ago on your watch?" Bruce raged. "What the hell did you put her through that's so bad she can't even talk about it; that has her so scared she trembles like a goddamn leaf every time she even tries?!"

Oliver's face became a mask of hatred and Sara quickly stepped in, "Hey! Cool it!" She told both of them. "The two of you need to chill the fuck out and listen!" As they both stopped to glower at her she spoke, "I haven't been with the OO long but, like I said, so far they haven't done anything I'd consider nefarious. Of course, my dealings with them have been limited to a few contracts over the last three months or so. If you ask me, we should just stick to Felicity's plan and hold tight until she checks in. She's got a pretty good head on her shoulders and, if she runs into trouble, her alerts will go off and we'll know something's up."

"I'm not sitting around doing nothing while Felicity is in the custody of some pseudo government agency," Bruce growled.

"I'm not saying you should," she told him. "You said you've got some backup headed your way?"

"Nightwing. He should be here in an hour or so," he told her.

"You two set up surveillance around the warehouse," she told him. "Wait for her to contact us and, if the alert goes off, you can try to breach then. Her alert doesn't go off until after six so, in the meantime, some of us will head back to Gotham while Dig and Oliver track Isabel's movements from here."

"I'm not staying here while Felicity's life is in danger," Oliver bit out.

"She's right," Dig said, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. "You and I need to stay and monitor the situation here and if things go bad then we should head out. Until then," he said as he looked at Bruce pointedly, "as far as we know Felicity is fine. Panicking about this doesn't help anyone."

"I'm coming back with Canary," Tim said quickly.

"Me too," Luke said.

"No," Bruce said calmly but in the dark aspect of the Bat. "Canary and Mr. Diggle are right; we have to be rational about this." He loosened his collar and tie then looked up at the monitor. "Red Robin and Oracle need to stay on mission with the Arrow in Starling." Tim began to protest but Bruce cut him off, "You were sent there to act as the representative for WayneTech; if you leave suddenly and without an explanation it will only draw more suspicion. Batwing, you come back with Canary on the jet. Alfred will contact the pilot and have them waiting for you on the tarmac."

Sara nodded, "Sounds like a—" Her phone rang and she looked down, her expression turning to one of surprise. "It's Felicity."

"Answer it and put it on speaker," Bruce said tersely, leaning in.

"Patching it through Watchtower—er, LAIR now," Oracle said tapping a few keys and rerouting the call.

As soon as the phone picked up, Sara answered, "Hey Cutie, what's up?"

-Translations from Kanji into English-

*(I trust this woman. She has a pure soul. She is different. However, she does not recognize the dangers around her. I feel the great evil of the other)

**(Many dark forces surround her. I fear for her safety. Darkness pursues her. She is beset on all sides. My blade must capture this great evil before it is too late.)