Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow. Thanks to everyone enjoying this and welcome to Season 2 of Artemis!

Happy 31st birthday to Felicity Queen née Smoak!

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Chapter Twenty-Two

Begin Again

"It's not looking good, Felicity," Oliver stated grimly, studying the documents spread out between them with a deep frown. "We don't have enough to buy up the last ten percent of stocks, but Stellmoor certainly does."

"I don't like this Rochev woman," Felicity added, repeating a sentiment she'd been saying since she first heard the name Isabel Rochev. She couldn't remember where she knew the name from, but something about the dark-haired woman made her skin crawl.

She sighed, resting her chin on one hand while the other twisted her ponytail thoughtfully. "Something about her is off. And I find it very suspicious that she used to work for Queen Consolidated, was hastily fired under mysterious circumstances and is now in charge of a hostile takeover of it. Even your mother says she's dangerous, but I can't find anything on her."

"Nothing at all that we could use?" He asked hopefully.

"Everything I have on her is clean as a whistle," she answered sourly. "Creeps me out, really. Nobody is that clean, especially someone who acts like that."

Her eyes flashed angrily at the memory of Ms. Rochev's disdainful and arrogant air, not to mention the way she fluctuated between treating Oliver like dirt beneath her shoe and blatantly flirting with him right in front of Felicity's eyes. It had taken everything in her to keep Felicity from going after the woman. Fists or bow, she wasn't picky in this case.

She shook her head, rubbing her forehead. "What about stocks? We can't use an offshore account, it's too risky, but if we sold one or two of the summer homes, maybe...?"

"The sale would never go through in time," Oliver sighed. "We only have a few days left before the board releases the last ten percent."

Stellmoor worked fast, and discreetly. Distracted by everything else going on, both personally and professionally, it wasn't until the other company had snatched up thirty-nine percent of the stocks, giving them a large share in QC stocks, that Oliver and Felicity had realized the threat. Even worse, they'd been forced to sell some of their own shares to pay for Moira's legal fees (and they had also covered Dig's hospital fees when paying off Oliver's own bills, much to their friend's exasperated gratefulness). What with most of their accounts still frozen and remaining so for the foreseeable future, and the renters who had been staying in their extra homes having left at the end of the holidays, things weren't good financially. (Well, they still remained a part of the one percent, but there was a stark difference to this time last year. Felicity, used to frugality and having grown up in poverty, was fine, but the born Queens were all struggling to deal with it).

They had managed to buy back some shares when they realized the danger, and were currently neck and neck with Stellmoor, the other company holding forty-five and the same for the Queen family. But Stellmoor had a lot more resources available than the disgraced Queens, and they had already managed to snatch up and destroy Merlyn Global Group, worsening the already-disastrous state of Starling's economy. MGG had employed twenty percent of Starling City's residents, and QC employed another (approximately) twenty-three. Already things were dire with so many having lost their jobs due to the Undertaking and MGG's collapse. If QC was destroyed as well, the economy would tank completely, and the city would never manage to survive the crisis, so soon on the heels of everything else.

"Maybe that's it," Oliver mumbled, rubbing his scruffy chin.

"You have to elaborate honey," Felicity responded, arching an eyebrow at him. "I'm not a mind reader." It was a reference to their marriage counselling. Given both of them were disinclined to share their emotions and thoughts with anybody outside of their inner circle, but were eager to repair their marriage, it was going as well as they could hope. Their doctor was a Doctor Sharon Finkel. She was based in Central City, but given it was only an hour's drive away and there was far less interest in their family in CC than there was in Starling and Doctor Finkel was credited for her discretion, it was worth the trip. They got on well enough with her, anyway.

Oliver nodded and straightened up, clearing his throat to explain his idea. "Walter is the new CFO at SNB," he began, Felicity nodding along. Walter and Moira's divorce had been confirmed about a month prior and he had resigned from his position of CEO of Queen Consolidated to pass the title to Oliver, but the kind man continued to stay in touch with his stepchildren, giving advice to Oliver and continuing to act as a parental figure to Thea, while remaining 'Grandpa Wally' to Will. Felicity was very grateful to him for it. God knew the family needed his support desperately.

"And everybody in Starling knows that QC being taken over by Stellmoor would be too much for the city to handle financially," Oliver went on. "The city just can't afford it. Not now, anyway. We're too fragile. I could use that as leverage to get SNB to buy up the remaining stocks before Rochev, and then buy them back over time from the bank."

"It's worth a shot," Felicity agreed thoughtfully, just before their phones chimed with a reminder that they needed to get ready for their meeting with the Stellmoor VP. Felicity made a face. "Ugh, my head's pounding just thinking about dealing with her again," she sighed unhappily.

"You don't have to come," Oliver offered. "You could take the rest of the day, go home and relax. You're always on the go, babe. You need to take a break."

She wasn't working as the Vigilante currently. Any time that Dig and Oliver tried to bring it up, something that was happening more and more lately, she either changed the subject or simply left the room. But even without that, she was exhausted from everything currently on her plate, which she was also using to avoid going back into vigilantism. She could adjust things enough to manage, if she wanted to.

She just didn't want to.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, Felicity chewed the inside of her cheek, tempted by his offer. "I'll go and see how Thea's doing before collecting Will from school," she decided. The Queen heiress had kindly taken over running Verdant for her overstretched brother, and had really come into her own as a businesswoman. "See if I can coax her into visiting Moira," Felicity added in a softer voice.

Oliver grimaced slightly, nodding. While Oliver and Felicity had both calmed down enough that they were both going to visit Moira, as they understood her actions even though they didn't agree with them, Thea was clinging to her anger, and would neither visit nor phone her mother despite repeated arguments with Oliver and Felicity on the matter. Even Walter and Roy thought she should go, but Thea was as stubborn as the rest of her family, and refused to budge.

"Love you," Felicity murmured, leaning in to kiss him softly on the lips. "Don't let that bitch get under your skin. Your family put their blood, sweat and tears into building this company and it belongs to you. No one will take it from you. Certainly not Isabel fucking Rochev."

He smiled softly back at her, reaching out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear as he replied. "Our family put its blood, sweat and tears into building QC," he corrected her. "And no one will take it from us."

She smiled back in appreciation of his words, kissing him again before gathering her things and heading out of the office, leaving him to go over his notes for the meeting a final time, pausing long enough to kiss Dig's cheek and tell him where she was going. Then she headed out, pausing at the front desk to order the receptionist to keep Rochev's group waiting at least twenty minutes after they arrived, purely to be spiteful and petty.

Felicity really hated that woman.

"Hey, Felicity," Quentin greeted his adoptive daughter tiredly. "It's me."

"Hi, Quentin," Felicity answered, her voice made slightly crackly by the reception. "Everything ok?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't make it to dinner with you and Will tonight, sweetheart," he said, sincerely disappointed. The dinners with his surrogate daughter and grandson were the highlight of his life, nowadays. "I'm stuck at work."

"Can you say what happened?" She asked concernedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry," he assured her as he grimaced, glancing around the bustling scene. "Seems the Archers have upped their game," he explained. "They attacked the gala this evening, shot the mayor dead."

He heard Felicity suck in a sharp breath. "Was anybody else hurt?" She inquired after a moment of silence. Things in Starling City had been bad for a long time, but now crime rates were the highest in American history. Starling had even overtaken Gotham, with its corruption-riddled force, as the worst city for crime in the United States.

It was a sad time to call yourself a SCPD officer. Things had gotten so bad, Quentin was actually wishing for the Vigilante's return. He didn't approve of her methods, but they worked, and sometimes you had to burn the barn because there were just too many rats to chase out.

"Now, thank God," Quentin assured her. "Just scared and upset. But it's not a good sign, honey. They were only going after people in the financial sector up until tonight. Keep close to your security, okay?" He didn't want to say it aloud, but if the Archers were expanding their target base, then the Queens were a logical target. He'd have to warn Merlyn and his family too. But seeing as Malcolm Merlyn was dead, people tended to focus more on the Queen family's involvement than the Merlyns, unfortunately.

"Yeah," Felicity said, voice distant. "Well, if you're working I should let you go. Raincheck?"

"Definitely," Quentin confirmed. "Love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too," she responded warmly, before hanging up.

Quentin sighed and got back to work helping secure the crime scene. An hour later, he was done. But as much as he wished to, he couldn't go home just yet. He glanced at the text from his friend Anthony, frowning deeply.

He drove to the bar quickly, ducking inside and heading to where Anthony, who owned the place, was prepping a drink for someone.

"Where is she?" The ex-detective asked tiredly. The bartender gave him a sympathetic look, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder towards the backroom where his office was.

"In the office," he answered. "She was getting agitated when I cut her off, insulting me and the other customers, so I popped her in there and texted you. I checked on her a little while ago and she had fallen asleep."

"Thanks, Ant," Quentin replied gratefully. Since Joanna's death during the Undertaking, pushing Laurel out of the way of some falling debris, his daughter's drinking, already a problem, had gotten completely out of control. And she was a cruel drunk, dredging up every old wound and throwing it at him, spewing venom about Felicity, Oliver, and even Sara. She'd gotten multiple DUIs. While Quentin had managed to shield her from the first few, her fourth had been one too many, and her licence had been revoked for a minimum of two years before she could reapply for a new one. The only consolation was nobody had been hurt. On top of that, her alcoholism had gotten around and she had failed to get a new job, despite applying to several different places. As a result, she'd lost her apartment and was now back living with Quentin.

Despite his best efforts and the downward spiral she was in, Quentin couldn't get through to her. She just got angrier whenever he tried, digging her heels in and snarling about how hypocritical he was, given his own history with alcohol. He had tried to bring her to an AA meeting, and she had erupted in rage at him before storming out. He was at his wit's end, trying to deal with her.

At this point, he was seriously considering contacting Dinah and talking to her about having Laurel put in a rehab facility. They were running out of options.

"Dad?" Laurel slurred tiredly when he gently shook her awake. The stench of alcohol was strong enough to turn a stomach. "Whad're you doin' 'ere?"

"Came to take you home, sweetheart," he responded gently, hoping she was tired enough to refrain from her usual abusive talk. It hurt to hear, and it angered him when she spoke angrily about Felicity and Sara. Whatever the internal problems of the family, speaking about them like that was completely unacceptable. He was actively having to ensure she was kept away from Felicity, as he feared what she would do in the midst of a drunken rage. He hated to contemplate the possibility of his own daughter attacking her ex's wife, but he was also too wise to what alcohol and grief could turn a person into to ignore the possibility just because it hurt to contemplate.

"Fine," Laurel agreed in a bleary voice. She staggered to her feet, and Quentin slipped an arm around her to guide her to his car, nodding a goodbye and thank you to Anthony who returned the gesture. He helped Laurel in and did her belt himself, seeing as she was too out of it to do so herself. Then he went around to the driver's seat and started to drive.

"Sweetheart, I had an idea for something I thought you might like," he ventured carefully, glancing at her quickly.

"What?" She mumbled, slightly more awake now than she had been at the bar.

"I thought you could sign up for some sort of martial arts class," he told her. "You know, fill up your time." And get out her anger at the world in a healthier way than she was currently doing.

It had actually been Felicity's suggestion. Despite her and Laurel's mutual dislike of each other, Felicity was the kind of person who was likely to offer her coat to a person on the street if they needed it, something everyone in Starling was aware of. The sole reason the Queens were doing as well as they were was because, when Felicity donated heavily to relief efforts, it wasn't seen as trying to bribe the family's way out of trouble, but as a genuine attempt to help. They were still suffering, but nobody was going to form an angry mob to attack them, now the initial anger was beginning to lessen a bit.

On hearing of Laurel's current difficulties, Felicity had suggested she start kickboxing classes, or something similar. Apparently, she did several types of martial arts now, using it as a way of relieving her stress about the Undertaking, QC, SCT and the island. Quentin was just embarrassed he hadn't considered it before. He had made all of his girls learn a level of self-defence, of course, and he knew several people who used fighting classes to get out their anger, but the thought of suggesting it to Laurel hadn't occurred to him.

His daughter frowned, eyes still glazed. "Martial arts?" She echoed.

"Yeah," Quentin nodded. "There's this place called Wildcat Gym, and it's running a free course on self-defence for women for the next couple weeks, starting on Saturday. I thought you might want to give it a go, then decide if you want to keep it on."

Laurel looked thoughtful. "Sounds interesting," she admitted. "I-"

The radio had been on in the background, discussing the mayor's murder, but now the topic changed to Oliver's attempts to keep QC out of Stellmoor International's paws. Laurel's face darkened resentfully at the mention of the couple.

"It's not fair," she spat bitterly. Quentin bit back a sigh, cursing himself for leaving the stereo on, and braced himself to hear her usual diatribe against Oliver and Felicity. "How could Ollie do that to me?" Laurel complained. "My whole life, everyone said that the two of us would be perfect for each other. I put up with all of his cheating and drinking and drugs, took him back and put up with that whiney brat of his after She disappeared, because I knew it would be worth it when I was Mrs. Queen. Everyone always talked about what a wonderful couple we were. 'Lauriver', the tabloids called us, remember Dad? Ollie was going to be the CEO of Queen Consolidated, and I would've been the District Attorney eventually. We would've been the power couple of Starling. It's not fair that Felicity stole that from me, same as she stole Sara and you."

"Hey, Felicity never stole us from you!" Quentin objected, unable to stay silent and listen to that accusation. "You're my daughter, you were Sara's older sister and her idol." When she was younger, at least, Laurel had been Sara's idol. Then they had started getting older, their personalities had changed, they had found their own friends with similar personalities and they had grown apart, as siblings did. But that had never changed their love for each other. "Felicity had nobody else and she was Sara's best friend, so we took her in. But loving her doesn't for a second mean that we love you any less."

It was true. A parent's love was boundless. Nothing Laurel did would ever turn Quentin against her. She could disappoint him, but never make him abandon her or stop loving and caring about her.

Laurel humphed, glowering and crossing her arms over her chest. "Sure, but Felicity is your favourite," she said resentfully. "She's everyone's favourite. Saint fucking Felicity, that's what she is. Queen of Hearts. Off with her head, I say!"

Quentin sighed. "So, what do you think about trying out those classes?" He pressed, hoping to change the subject. They turned into the driveway.

"I guess it could take up some time," she shrugged indifferently. Quentin nodded, ignoring her unenthusiastic tone. Hopefully this would be good for her.

"Great!" He said brightly. "I'll give you the flyer in the morning so you can give 'em a call to put your name down."

She nodded, still scowling as she exited the car and slammed the door shut. Quentin sighed after she was gone, reaching into the glove compartment to look at a photo of her, Sara and Felicity as teenagers, before Oliver Queen had come into their lives and complicated everything. Felicity and Laurel had never been close, but it wasn't until Oliver started going out with Felicity a few months after breaking up with Laurel that they'd started not getting along with one another.

God, he missed those days. Days when his girls were all happy, carefree and, most importantly, alive and safe. He kissed the photo gently.

"I love you girls," he murmured. "I won't give up on you, Laurel. Not ever."

Then he returned it to the compartment and went inside. Laurel was already slumped on top of her bed covers, not even her shoes removed, snoring softly. Quentin went around getting the necessities she would require for her hangover, a bottle of aspirin, glass of water and a small bin in case she had to throw up. Then he removed her shoes, tucked her in, and went to his own bed, falling asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Lian Yu: 2008

Felicity scrubbed her hands raw, trying desperately to remove all traces of the blood that had been staining them. But even after the water turned clear, she continued to scrub. It felt as if the blood from the men she had killed had seeped into her skin, staining her soul and tainting it.

She was a killer. It didn't matter if everyone she'd killed was threatening either her own life or another's. The road to hell was paved with good intentions, after all. She looked at her reflection in the water, and couldn't find the young girl/woman who had married Oliver Queen and given birth to his son. If they ever escaped this godforsaken hellhole, and on that she had her doubts, how was she ever going to face them? How would she be able to hold her son or her husband without staining them with her sins?

Shado waited patiently as she washed off the blood, but eventually she stepped closer, resting a hand on Felicity's shoulder and tugging her gently away from the lake. The younger woman looked at her friend with a defeated air, shoulders slumped and eyes sorrowful.

"You saved my life," the Chinese archer told her softly, trying to reassure her.

Felicity gave a half-shrug, recalling the events of earlier that morning. She and Slade had tracked Shado and her captors down quickly enough, finding the men interrogating the last of their trio about the location of some place in a picture. It had been difficult for them both to hold back from running straight in, but they had managed. Bereft of any long-range weapons, they had been forced to simply jump in to fight in close quarters, a disadvantage to Felicity if not the others. Shado had leaped into action as soon as she saw them arrive. There had been seven men. Shado had taken out two, Slade three, and the last had died moments before he could shoot Shado from behind when Felicity jumped on his back and slit his throat after dealing with her first enemy.

She hadn't even hesitated to go for a lethal attack for either man. It had become almost instinctual. Kill her opponent without thought or hesitation.

What kind of person had reflexes like that?

"That's what I keep telling myself," she responded dully. "That I killed that guy because he was going to kill you. That it was murder in defence of another. Justifiable. But what if that's not the reason? I just feel like this island is... It's turning me into something terrible. Someone I don't even recognize anymore."

Shado shook her head. "No island, no place can make you something you're not," she insisted.

Felicity wasn't comforted. "So I've always been a murderer?" She asked bitterly. "Well, that's always nice to know."

Shado sighed, reaching out to cup Felicity's face and direct their gazes to meet. "Everyone has a demon inside of them," she told her. "The 'dao de jing' recognizes the yin and the yang. Opposing forces inside all of us. The darkness. And the light. The killer... and the hero."

"Others say that killing steals a piece of your soul," Felicity pointed out sadly. "What happens when you've killed so many people, there's nothing left to steal?"

Shado never got the opportunity to reply, as Slade called for them to hurry up so they could get moving before the attackers' reinforcements arrived and Felicity turned away to grab her backpack and get moving. After that, things kicked into high-gear and they never got the chance to return to the conversation.

Despite her best efforts to avoid it, Thea's kidnapping by the so-called 'Archers', the quartet of gun-wielding men with bows they obviously didn't know how to use strung across their backs who had been plaguing Starling over the past month, made the decision for her. The Archers had attacked and nearly shot her husband at a meeting that morning, and kidnapped Thea that afternoon. It was clear they were targeting the Queens, which left her without any more options. As soon as Felicity heard the news, she instructed Dig to drive Oliver to the base (which the two men had apparently gotten repaired when SCT itself was being fixed up after the quake), where they got straight down to work, as if they'd never stopped in the first place.

She and the other two tracked the group down using Roy's description of one of the men, and within two hours of Thea's capture, she had a location and names.

She arrived in the church they had tracked the Archers to, just in time to see one of the men point a gun into Thea's face as the bound girl cowered away. Without hesitation, Felicity ripped an arrow from her quiver and fired.

"Ow!" the guy cried, staggering back and clutching at his wound.

"Get away from her!" Felicity ordered as she jumped down to engage the group in combat. Their training was rudimentary, save for the Marine, but while she was taking down the other three, the man who'd been about to shoot her sister-in-law, grabbed Thea and dragged her along with him, using her as a human shield to protect himself from the lethal vigilante. Felicity knocked out the last of her opponents and ran after them, cornering him in the alcove above the dais.

"Let... Her... Go," Felicity demanded, arrow aimed.

"You want to save her?" he asked disbelievingly, voice impassioned. "There was no justice for us from people like the Queens till you showed us how to get it. You showed us!"

"I don't go after innocents," Felicity answered coldly.

"She's not innocent!"

"She's more innocent than you," Felicity retorted, before giving up on talking and shooting him instead. The arrow hit his shoulder, making him release Thea and topple over the side of the railing. Felicity lunged and grabbed his arm to stop his fall, glancing at Thea, wide-eyed beside her.

"Go!" she snapped, the brunette girl swiftly obeying. Felicity set about securing the four and chaining them to a fence before contacting Lance and telling him their location. Then she trudged home, certain that by morning all of Starling would know that the Archer had returned.