"Reunions are always fraught with awkward tensions the necessity to account for oneself; the attempt to find, through memories, an ember of the old emotions."
Anita Shreve
Disclaimer: I don't Arrow.
IMPORTANT AN: Alright, as the daughter and niece of several doctor who work with terminal cases and as such is heavily involved in Covid, I have to say this. My mother is distraught and on the verge of tearing her hair out with upset frustration because of how lax people are being. Covid is not a joke! Just because lockdown is ended (and doctors say it'll need to be re-started soon if people aren't following guidelines) doesn't mean everything is fine. Everyone who goes out ignoring social distancing and without a mask, or who has a mask but has it on their chin or not covering their noses or whatever, is being selfish and putting not just themself, but everyone around them, in danger.
Social distancing, wearing a mask, these are ESSENTIAL, they are not arbitrary rules put in place to inconvenience you. They are there to PROTECT you! Masks are now proven to prevent the spread of Covid, AND to prevent YOU from spreading it. But if you wear it on your chin, then pull it up, you're not going to benefit from it. Nor will you be protected if your nose isn't covered. And as for visors, they don't do anything as far as my mother, aunt and uncle know. They need a mask beneath them to really work. Re-useable masks MUST be washed after every use, no matter how irritating it is.
We are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic people! I know it's annoying, it bothers me too, the masks are uncomfortable to wear and they fog up my glasses, but I STILL WEAR them. Why? Because if I went out without one, and became a Covid carrier, then I would be responsible for spreading it to anyone I passed, putting their lives at risk.
Bottom line? If you don't follow government guidelines, purely because they're irritating for you, you're as good as a murderer in my eyes.
So fucking wear a mask and practice social distancing. The more you do it, the sooner the pandemic will end and we can go back to our regular lives. For now, don't be a killer.
Skipping over Identity and Dollmaker, right to Crucible. You all know what that means. Read, enjoy and review!
Twenty-Three
Fraught Reunions
Felicity smirked as she jumped from one rooftop to the next, avoiding the blasts of gunfire with ease. Did they really think that was going to stop her? Idiots.
"Over there!" one yelled, panicked.
"Where?" the other responded, firing frantically in her direction. It was almost funny, how stupid they were being. All they were doing was wasting ammo. Of course, this was part of why archery was superior to gunfighting. Any moron could shoot a gun, and if they had enough bullets, eventually they'd hit something, but archery required focus, discipline.
These guys would never manage to even knock an arrow properly.
"Watch out man!" one cried in a terrified tone.
Felicity smirked as she whipped out a trick arrow, firing and watching as it tied up one of the gangbangers. Then she turned her attention to dealing with the next, quirking her blood-red lips in a small grin as the moron made a run for it. She dropped down next to the tied-up idiot, studying him amusedly as he shook with terror, failing epically in his attempt to hide his fear of her. The other one had gotten away, but he had left his 'comrade' and cargo behind, so she was content.
She turned on her captive, dawning an expression she knew appeared sinister as she grabbed his jaw in one hand. "Where are you getting the guns?" she growled at him in a low tone.
"If you're gonna kill me," the guy sneered, trying to sound tough. Trying, being the key word. He was shaking too much for it to work. "Get it over with."
Felicity rolled her eyes in irritation. "Where did you get the guns?" she repeated slowly. When he failed to respond, she punched him hard in the jaw, watching through lidded eyes as he whimpered.
"The Mayor gets them!" He exclaimed. "I don't know where from!"
Felicity scowled and punched his lights out, pulling out her burner phone to tip off SCPD before heading away via the rooftops.
"Dig," she spoke into her comm as she hopped from roof to roof. "I took out two more gangbangers. Armed with M4-A1 assault rifles."
"Those are military-only weapons," Dig replied, concerned.
"Yeah, I know," Felicity grumbled. It was worrying to think of how they could have ended up in the hands of a bunch of gangbangers. Was there somebody in the military selling weapons on the black market? That could be a disaster.
"They must've been stolen," Dig mused.
"But from where?" Felicity wondered. "Guy mentioned somebody called the Mayor? An alias, I guess. I don't think our belated and unlamented mayor of Starling City has decided to pull a Lazarus, purely for the sake of selling military-grade weapons for profit."
"Must be," her partner agreed thoughtfully. "I'll give Lyla a call. See if she knows anything."
"Good," she replied. "I need to drop these guys at the precinct. Then I-"
"Can go to the party," Dig responded smoothly.
Felicity paused, squinting. "Party?" she repeated, as if he had just spoken in Arabic. "What party?"
"The one for QC," Dig reminded her. "Remember?"
"Oh yes," Felicity muttered, recalling Oliver reminding her about it earlier. "Do I really have to be there?"
"You're the CEO's wife and a shareholder, so yes, you are," Dig answered. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice at the prospect of her having to go and schmooze a bunch of rich assholes. Bastard.
Felicity reluctantly arrived at the party, dressed in a dark purple dress that probably wasn't good enough for the setting. She spotted Oliver immediately, jaw tight and in the midst of what looked like a tense conversation with Isabel Rochev.
Not that having a civil talk with the woman was an option, in Felicity's experience.
She walked over quickly, wondering not for the first time if she could find an excuse to deal with Rochev somehow. Plant evidence of fraud, or embezzlement or something. Something that would rid them of the plague that was Oliver's so-called co-CEO, whom they were all sure was still plotting to snatch QC out from underneath Oliver's nose.
"Hey," Felicity interrupted the discussion with a fake bright smile that turned real when she spied Rochev's disdainful expression at the sight of her. "Sorry I'm late. Got held up."
"No prob," Oliver replied, scanning her quickly. She smiled at him and took his hand, silently assuring him that she was fine.
Rochev began to speak, then paused and stared at Felicity's cheek. "Is that blood?"
Felicity blinked, then gave a polite scoff. "No, of course not," she responded easily. "I had tomato soup for dinner. Mustn't have gotten it all. Excuse me, I'll go and sort that out. Oliver, gimme a hand would you? I don't have a mirror on me."
She hustled him away, ignoring the outrage flashing over Rochev's expression at her borderline-rude attitude.
"What happened?" Oliver hissed at her. "Did you get in a fight with your blonde stalker?"
Felicity glowered at the mention of the mysterious woman who kept showing up and shook her head, dabbing at the smudge of blood on her cheek. "No, not this time," she promised him. "This time it was guns."
"Oh, we were just talking about guns," Blood appeared, Laurel beside him. Felicity stiffened. She didn't trust Blood, not since he had climbed his way into the spotlight by complaining about the Queens and blaming them for everything wrong under the sun. Her distrust had turned to outright hatred when he had incited a mob into attacking Oliver, who had thankfully been protected by Diggle, resulting him only ending up with a mild concussion and some scratches from the broken glass.
The fact that Blood now seemed to be dating Laurel, didn't make Felicity feel any better. She wasn't even sure how it had happened. She just knew that the pair had met because they both went to Wildcat Gym, and they had apparently bonded.
Felicity faked politeness towards the other two, but the news about the so-called Mayor was interesting. At least now she had a lead. Once the pair had drifted off, she turned back to Oliver and saw the look in his eyes.
"What?" she hissed.
"Felicity, the masked woman," he said urgently, voice low. "We assumed that she was going after you for some reason, because she kept appearing where you were, the roof above that street, the chemical plant. But you weren't the only person at both of those places!"
Felicity inhaled sharply. "Laurel," she murmured in sudden understanding. "She's not following me, she's following Laurel."
Using their new knowledge, it was easy to capture the mysterious woman just two rooftops away from Laurel's apartment.
What wasn't easy was what happened when Felicity laid eyes on someone she thought she would never see again.
"Why are you following Laurel Lance?" Felicity growled through her voice modulator at the bound woman, glaring at her.
"I could ask the same of you," she shot back, abandoning her struggles and relaxing into a cocky stance. Something about her voice and features nagged at Felicity, reminding her of somebody she had once known, but she couldn't place it properly.
In no way was Felicity going to inform her that Laurel was the sister of Felicity's dead best friend and the daughter of her surrogate father, so the archer stalked closer, a lethal scowl on her face and an arrow pointed directly at the blonde's face.
"Who are you?"
"Once you know, your life will never be the same," the woman warned her in a saucy tone. Felicity ignored the warning, realizing that she was wearing a wig-mask combo like her own and reaching out to take it off. A sense of anticipation and nerves in her stomach made her hand tremble slightly as she removed the other vigilante's mask and wig. She immediately dropped them in shock. Tears stung her eyes and she covered her mouth in disbelief at the sight, the arm holding her weapon falling to her side uselessly.
"Sara?" her voice came out soft and broken as she stared at the other blonde. For a moment, Felicity flashed back to first the boat, when she had seen Sara be ripped away by the water. Then she remembered the last time she'd laid eyes on Sara Lance, when she had been certain the other girl was dead.
How had she survived?
"Hey, Lis," Sara smiled sadly at her.
"How is this possible?" Felicity asked brokenly, one hand covering her mouth and tears streaming from her eyes despite her best efforts to hold them back.
Sara sighed heavily, looking away. "How about I give you some time to adjust?" she suggested, before pressing something.
"No!" Felicity objected, realizing the other woman was about to escape and moving to stop her. She was too slow, however. There was an explosion of light, and by the time Felicity could see again, Sara had disappeared.
Again.
She stumbled back to the lair on autopilot, shaken and unsteady and flooded by memories of her time with Sara on the island. Of Slade and Shado. Ivo and the Mirakuru. She could feel herself shaking, her mind splintering under the weight of everything she had been through.
The guys were waiting for her return, alarm flashing across their expressions at the sight of her wrecked state.
"Felicity what happened?" Oliver demanded, the pair hurrying over to her as she removed her bow and quiver and placed them on the table.
"Are you hurt?" Dig added, scanning her worriedly.
"It was Sara," Felicity informed them flatly, drifting over to a chair and slumping into it, burying her head in her hands. "Sara Lance."
"What?" Oliver demanded, voice stunned. His expression probably matched the tone, but Felicity was too shaken to look at him. "Sara? She survived? But you said that she drowned when the Gambit went down."
Felicity stiffened, looking away from them guiltily.
"You lied," Digg's voice was even, but Felicity could hear the accusation hidden within it.
She swallowed, trying to bury the memories in the box at the back of her mind and forcing her voice not to shake too noticeably, though even Felicity couldn't completely pretend it wasn't unsteady.
"When "The Gambit" capsized, uh... Sara was pulled under," she started, staring past the guys at the opposite wall, visions of that awful night playing out before her. "It was so dark and cold. I called for her, but, nothing. I thought she drowned. Then, ah, about a year later, I saw her again."
"You saw where, on the island?" Dig asked, startled. "She drifted to the island, too?"
This was getting distressingly close to discussing Ivo, which would likely lead to discussing Shado and Slade. Not an option. Certainly not now, when she was in this state.
"Not exactly," Felicity replied hesitantly, wondering what to reveal, what to keep to herself.
"Why didn't you tell the Lances that she didn't die in that boat?" Oliver pressed. His voice sounded accusing too. "Detective Lance loves you like a daughter, and you've been lying to him."
"She asked me to!" Felicity snapped. "We agreed. If only one of us survived, the other would say that she had died in the wreck." Her shoulders slumped. "What was I gonna say, Oliver?" she asked painfully. "Sara survived around two years of agony after the wreck before dying painfully, instead of a quick and painless death when the boat went down. Yeah, that would go down well. The Lances didn't deserve that hurt on top of what they're already going through, and I promised her."
The two men exchanged glances before Dig pressed on, ignoring the pointed signals of 'I don't want to talk about this' that Felicity was trying her best to send out.
"Well, where has she been all these years, Felicity?"
"I don't know!" Felicity exclaimed. She leaned forward, eyes wide and imploring. "Diggle, I swear to God. I was sure that she was dead."
Oliver turned away to punch the bag in frustration. "God, what a mess," he grumbled. No one bother to reply to his truthful statement.
"All right, so just to make sure I understand this correctly, after not drowning when "The Gambit" went down, Sara didn't exactly make it to the island with you, where you would see her not die yet again," Dig listed. "Feel free to fill in the blanks."
"Not right now," Felicity muttered. She couldn't do this right now, when it was taking everything in her to keep herself from falling apart completely.
"You mean not ever, don't you, Felicity?" Dig responded accusingly. "Don't you think her family had a right to know that she made it to the island, too? How can you look Lance in the eye every day while keeping that from him? A man you consider your father?"
"These were five years!" Felicity shrieked, pushed over the edge. She shot to her feet, expression wild and voice shrill and broken sounding. "Five years... Where nothing good happened. And he was better off not knowing."
Oliver was looking at her with a stricken expression at her words and tone. Dig's face softened.
"Does he deserve to know now?" he asked softly.
Felicity wanted to answer, but all she could think of was Sara, and the dark memories tangled with thoughts of the other woman. She grabbed her bow and quiver and stormed towards the door, yanking her wig and mask back on.
"Where're you going?" Oliver called after her.
"In case you've forgotten, there's a mayor in town that needs impeaching!" Felicity snapped back.
"You know, Felicity, somebody once told me that... secrets have weight," Dig said, his voice making her stop and turn back to him, doing her best to keep her face blank. "The more you keep, the harder it is to keep moving."
"You see how hard I work out, right?" Felicity replied flatly. Then she left, thoughts of the first time she'd learned that Sara hadn't died when she thought she had playing out in her mind.
She made it as far as her office before she broke down in tears.
The next day, her head pounding after dealing with a variety of coding projects, too much coffee and too little sleep, Felicity stalked down the stairs to the basement with a scowl on her face.
"Gimme some good news," she urged her team as she joined the two men.
Diggle spoke first. "The bad news first," he stated. "Somehow the Mayor did get his hands on a crate of military-grade weapons from Camp Kirby."
"The good news?" Felicity prompted as she turned to face them, less than pleased by the report.
"If he kept the crate, we might be able to find where he's hiding," Oliver offered, pushing away from his seat and coming closer. "This is the same make and model of a tracking system the army installs on all of its weapons crates." He gestured at a device on the desk. "If they lose a crate, they send out a remote signal that activates the beacon."
"The Mayor's clever," Dig added. "He deactivated his beacon. Send a signal, nothing comes back."
Felicity gave them an irritated look. "How," she asked in a long-suffering tone. "Is any of that good news?"
"Ok," Oliver drawled. "How's this? Guess which company designed the tracking system the army uses? I'll give you a hint. You have the CEO on speed dial."
At last, Felicity felt the corners of her mouth turn up. "Nice," she murmured as Oliver showed her some blueprints on his QC tablet.
"I pulled up the original plans from the QC mainframe," he stated. "Turns out that there's a design flaw. The Mayor turned the tracker off, but we can turn it back on."
A moment later, a dot began to flash on the map. Oliver smirked at her. "I believe you ordered the crate of stolen military weapons, Mrs. Queen?" he grinned at her.
She smirked back, clasping his shoulder for a second before spinning and sauntering over to get changed into her vigilante gear.
"I thought you deactivated the tracker?" a man she suspected to be the Mayor exclaimed as she slipped into the warehouse. He smashed the flashing tracker, but before the group could celebrate, Felicity attacked. She almost felt sorry for them. She was in a terrible mood, and they were convenient targets for her anger and stress.
She leapt around the room, dodging gunfire.
"Cover me!" she heard the Mayor cry as she jumped down. She scowled in frustration when she scanned the area, despite knowing already what'd happened.
She glanced at the crate, satisfied that at least that part of the mission was a success. "Weapons are secure," she informed her team.
"And the mayor?" Dig asked.
"He got away," she admitted grudgingly.
Lian Yu: 2008
"What happened to you?" Felicity asked Sara, as they huddled together for warmth. Shado was curled up against Slade, who's breath was raspy and heavy.
He didn't have long, unless this 'Mirakuru' thing really worked. They were in sight of the sub, but it was too dark to risk climbing down to it. They would have to wait until the sun was up.
"After the wreck, I mean," she added as an afterthought.
She couldn't understand how Sara had ended up in this situation. Sara had always been a kind and loving person, if occasionally a little foolish and wild. How was it that she had spent a year participating in torture? Why had she chosen Ivo over Felicity? Only the fact that Sara had persuaded the so-called scientist to spare Felicity's life reassured her that the girl she called a sister was still there.
Sara grimaced and looked away. "I woke up," she explained haltingly. "On some debris from the boat. There was a freighter in the distance. No sign of anyone else. The crew of the freighter rescued me, then put me in a cage." She faltered, shuddering a moment.
Felicity went rigid. "Did they-?" She started to ask anxiously, recoiling from the memories of her time as Fyers' prisoner last year.
Sara shook her head. "They left me there a while," she explained. "I was terrified. But eventually, Ivo rescued me. Took me under his protection. For the past year, he's been teaching me."
Felicity scoffed. "Teaching you what?" She sniped. "How to torture for Beginners?"
Sara clenched her jaw. "It's not like that," she insisted stubbornly. "Ivo's not-he's misguided, but he's not a bad person. Honestly, Lissy."
Felicity pursed her lips. She was still aching from the brutal treatment she had endured while imprisoned on the Amazo. Her shoulder was on fire from her clumsy removal of the bullet that had been lodged within and her awkward stitches. She fully disagreed with Sara's claim, but now was not the time. Sara evidently had some of that, what was it called? Stockholm Syndrome. Felicity would work on making her see sense later, when Slade's life wasn't at risk anymore and the crew of the Amazo were dealt with.
"You should get some sleep," she advised her friend. "We'll need to get an early start in the morning."
Sara looked like she wanted to object, but then she sighed and nodded, curling against Felicity and resting her head on Felicity's uninjured shoulder as she closed her eyes to drift off.
Felicity envied how quickly she managed it. She didn't think she would ever be able to fall asleep so easily again in her life after everything she had seen and done in the past year of her life.
The next morning, she was in the parking lot of QC when she, well, sensed Sara more than anything else. The other blonde had learned how to walk as silently as Felicity over the past half-decade since they'd been separated. A far cry from the loudness that had made Felicity cringe in anticipation of an attack every time Sara broke a branch with a misplaced foot.
Felicity paused, inhaling and exhaling before turning to face her (possibly former) friend. They sized each other up for several moments, taking in the defensive stances and faded scars and calloused hands that proved each of them had been forged into warriors by the past years.
Sara was the one to break the silence. "I knew it was you," she said. "I've always kept eye on the news in Starling. When you were found and then right after I started hearing about this woman vigilante carrying a bow and seeming to be formed out of shadow, I knew it had to be you. The katana is new though."
"Not so new," Felicity disagreed, taking a step closer to the other woman. "I mastered kenjutsu in late '09, early '10."
"You're always the best at anything you put your mind to," Sara remarked. "Ironic though, isn't it? You used to forge doctor's notes to get out of PE, and now look at you. Coach Reynes would go into shock if he knew."
Felicity ignored the comment, focusing on what really mattered. "Sara," she said, unwilling to dance around the elephant in the room. "How did you survive? I saw you die."
The other blonde gave a bitter smile and raised a shoulder in a shrug. "Not the first time that's happened, right?" she pointed out bitterly before going on. "And I thought you were dead, too. What happened to Slade?"
Felicity suppressed a flinch, answering the question with one of her own. "Where have you been?"
"Everywhere," Sara smirked back, blue eyes dancing with dark memories.
"That's not an answer," Felicity responded her flatly.
"Well, it's the only one you're getting," Sara replied stubbornly, lifting her chin in defiance.
Felicity huffed and changed to the topic. "You didn't use to be much of a fighter," she pointed out. "Now you've gotten a bit of a reputation. Quite the scrapper you are now, from what I hear. Where'd you pick that up, then?" It hadn't been on the island. The entire time they had been together, Felicity had been the main defence. Sara had only had some basic self-defence knowledge from the classes Quentin insisted she attend. Those did not explain how she could be as talented a fighter as she was reported to be now.
"I met some rough people," Sara answered mockingly. "Thought I should get rougher, too."
Felicity huffed in frustration at their games, yanking at her ponytail in annoyance. "Sara," she sighed. "Why did you come back?"
Sara looked away, shoulders slumping. "The earthquake," she stated simply. She looked back at where Felicity was patiently waiting for more.
"You're here for your family," Felicity sighed.
Sara nodded silently. "After the explosion," she swallowed. "I ended up being found by, this group. I was badly injured, and they tended me. We made a deal. I would, I would do a service for them, one for each day I took to heal."
Felicity nodded in sad understanding. "Assassins," she guessed. Sara gave a fraction of a nod, eyes bleak.
"I heard what happened, and I wanted to come straight back," she said, looking away. "But I was so close to earning my freedom, I didn't dare risk it. As soon as I could, I came back. But- did you tell anyone I'm back?"
Felicity pursed her lips, though she was starting to gain an inkling as to why Sara was avoiding reaching out to anyone from her past life. "I haven't told your dad or Laurel, no," she confirmed. "But you can't ask me not to tell them this. Quentin is the closest I have to a parent, and he's heartbroken over losing you. He has to know."
Sara never answered her. A noise drew their attention, Felicity automatically looking away from her companion to check out the new threat. By the time she'd looked back again, Sara had disappeared without a noise.
At least this time Felicity had managed to plant a bug on her. She could only hope that the other woman didn't notice, because Felicity didn't intend to lose her oldest friend a third time.
In the end, she didn't need the tracker. As soon as she heard of Sara's friend Sin being shot by the Mayor, Felicity knew where to find the other vigilante. She went to the rooftop across from Glades Memorial and shot a rappelling arrow at the wall beside where Sara, dressed in her platinum blonde wig and black leather catsuit, was peering in the window at her hospitalized friend. At the arrow's impact, Sara whipped her head in Felicity's direction before zipping over to her on the rope, using her staff as a pulley. She landed gracefully before her, her eyes blazing with anger behind her mask.
"Fancy playing a round of 'Capture the Criminal?'" Felicity suggested, smirking at her surrogate sister.
Sara bared her teeth in an approximation of a smile. "Sounds good," she agreed in a dangerous tone. "I need to hit somebody."
It didn't take long to take out the group. At the end of the fight, Sara had her arms around the Mayor's neck and Felicity recognized the hold. She was preparing to break the man's neck.
"Enough," she warned her friend. "No killing. That's the new Rule Number One."
"You can't save a city with forgiveness," Sara responded coldly.
"You're right about that," Felicity agreed. "That shit's for hippies, not vigilantes. But you do have to let him live."
Sara scowled and loosened her grip on the gangbanger.
"Bitch," he choked out. "I knew you didn't have it in you."
She made a swift movement, knocking him unconscious. "I really don't like that word," she shrugged at Felicity innocently. The archer rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
Later on, she cornered Sara again, this time in the halls of the hospital, after Felicity had hauled the gangbangers off to the police station and left them chained up and waiting for Lance to arrest them, her friend having hurried off to check on the girl she'd become so fond of. Felicity had fled before Quentin came out, not wanting to risk him spying her. She'd been avoiding him for the past few days, unable to look at or speak to him when she was keeping something so major from him and at the same time unable to go against Sara's clear wishes by revealing the truth.
"Your friend, Sin," Felicity stated, falling into step with her old friend. "Her medical expenses are taken care of."
"Thanks," Sara sighed. She cast a glance over her shoulder. "Look, I should get going-"
"What's your plan, Sara?" Felicity pressed her. "Because right now, you just... Well, you're whipping across rooftops and keeping watch over your family like some sort of ghost."
"We're both ghosts," Sara pointed out in a hollow voice, the same brokenness Felicity saw in the mirror shining from her eyes. "We died on that island."
"No, we didn't," Felicity denied. "We both lived. We changed, yes. But we survived. We're strong, Sare. You're strong. And... I get that you have been in pain so long that it probably just feels normal now. Believe, it frightens me more when I realize that I'm feeling genuinely happy then when I'm pissed or in pain or both. But you can let it go and come home."
They stopped walked and Felicity grasped Sara's hands, giving her an imploring look. "Just, come back to my loft, please?" she requested. "Nobody's there seeing as Oliver and Will are staying at the mansion. Please Sara. I, I can't lose you a third time."
Sara sighed and nodded. "Alright," she consented. "I'll come with you."
They linked hands like they were little girls seeking comfort again, heading to Felicity's car in silence.