A/N: Hello loves! I'm back with the next chapter of this tale. I'm sure there will be some questions regarding what was revealed in the last chapter, but hopefully this appeases you lovely readers!

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Vigilantes Spotted Near Explosion Site

Adrian Chase

STARLING CITY - Seems a little suspicious that the Vigilante and a friend were spotted at the scene of an explosion not long after the dust had settled. First responders were shocked to arrive on site and find traces of movement around the vicinity of the Queen Consolidated warehouse that exploded early this morning.

Reports from those first responders, it was determined that the vigilante, the Green Arrow, was on the scene along with a second vigilante that has been seen on rare occurrences running around the city with the Green Arrow. They appeared to be looking for something or quite possibly someone, but until they are apprehended, the city may never know.

An effort was made to reach out to the current CEO of Queen Consolidated, Oliver Queen, but his office reported that he had not come in yet this morning. One would think that the CEO of a company would want to get a handle on the situation before more rumors regarding his operations could rise, but that is just one humble journalist's opinion.

. . . . . . . . .

"Humble journalist, my ass," Felicity grumbled, lifting her coffee cup to her lips as she shoved the paper across the counter. It didn't matter what the topic of the article was if Adrian Chase wrote it, it managed to irritate her to no end.

Finishing off the last few sips of her coffee, she placed her empty cup in the sink and glanced up at the clock on her wall. She had about twenty minutes before she was supposed to meet Oliver and John at the bunker. Her mind was still reeling from the information that she had learned overnight.

For the last three years, she had heard rumors of the connection between Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow, but she never believed it. People in this city liked to talk, and as a reporter, she had learned when it was a good idea to tune out the gossip, even when it could eventually turn out to be the truth.

As she thought about it, she realized that she was in the middle of a huge dilemma regarding her career. She was sitting on the verge of the story of the century. The story that could make her career skyrocket through the ranks. She'd be the editor in chief of a major paper before she hit thirty. That story could be the beginning of a very luxurious life for her.

However, at the same time, it could be the very quick end to a blossoming friendship that had begun to form. Not that she could really call it friendship. It was one of those lesser of two evil situations, and Oliver had been forced to make a choice.

A choice that, at this exact moment, he probably regretted because now someone else knew his secret identity. Someone who could ruin him. Someone that worked with the man already set to destroy Oliver's career.

Felicity shook her head and scrubbed her hands over her face. What relationship was she so worried about? She barely knew Oliver. This was insane.

But for some, she couldn't get him out of her head.

. . . . . . . .

"Have you seen this?"

John's voice brought him out of the trance he had been in since walking into the bunker that morning. Last night was basically a disaster. By the time they had gotten to the explosion site, whoever Felicity had been monitoring were gone. Within a matter of moments of their arrival, the press and SCPD arrived on the scene, forcing the two of them to get the hell out of there.

"Seen what?" Oliver sighed, slowly turning to face John and noticed a crumpled up newspaper in his hands. Hanging his head, Oliver took a few steps toward John with his hand extended to him. "Let me see it."

Handing over the paper, John crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for Oliver to read it over. When he found the article had made the front page of the Sentinel, he practically spit his coffee all over the page. He didn't even recall seeing Chase or any other reporters snooping around when they had arrived at the scene last night.

Oliver slammed his fist down on to the table in frustration, dropping the paper in the process. He shoved it across the table, allowing it to fall off and land on the ground. Adrian Chase had something against not only him but the vigilante as well. He needed to talk to Felicity and guarantee that she wasn't going to say anything to her co-workers about what she found out last night.

"Have you talked to our resident reporter yet this morning?" John asked, furrowing his brow.

"No. I came back here after dropping her off at her apartment building last night," Oliver replied, shaking his head as he turned back around to face John, leaning against the table.

"You slept here?"

"Since the explosion took place at a Consolidated warehouse, I knew that my building was going to be surrounded by reporters. I wasn't in the mood to answer any questions."

"So Felicity didn't have any questions for you?"

"If she does, then she didn't ask them last night."

"Oliver, what are you doing with her? You could have led her anywhere yesterday. Why did you bring her to the bunker?"

Oliver exhaled sharply. Somehow he knew this line of questions from John was coming. Especially after he managed to blow most of them off yesterday. If he was honest with himself, he didn't have an answer to the questions that John was posing for him.

Was bringing Felicity, a woman he barely knew and was a news reporter for the Starling City Sentinel, to the bunker a stupid idea? Absolutely. There was no guarantee that she was going to keep his secret. For all he knew last night after he dropped her off, she sat down and wrote an article revealing everything she had seen. In fact, at that very moment, she could be on her way to her boss with the story of the century.

Could he have taken her anywhere else in the city? Yes. He could have lied and taken her back to Queen Consolidated or even his apartment although that may have led to another article from Chase predicting more about his personal life than he needed to see in the papers.

It struck him as odd that there hadn't been an article about his mysterious coffee date yesterday morning prior to the explosion. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts of yet another rumor-filled article flooding the pages of the paper. Maybe Chase was waiting for the evening edition of the paper to share those rumors.

Did he really regret bringing Felicity to the bunker? No. The answer to that question rocked him to his core. Knowing full well that it was a stupid idea, Oliver was happy to have her in the bunker yesterday. She worked wonders with their surveillance systems and hearing her soothing voice in his ear out in the field brought a smile to his face.

"Get it together, Queen," he mumbled to himself, scrubbing his hands over his face. He turned his attention back to John and sighed. "I honestly don't have an answer for any of your questions. Bringing her here was probably the stupidest thing I could have done without taking the time to brief her on what she was going to see."

John opened his mouth to say something but closed it again when Oliver put his finger up in his face.

"But she helped us out last night. It would have taken us twice as long to get the computer working the right way if she weren't here. There's no denying what she was capable of really helped us out."

"What are you going to do if she runs a story about your evening activities?" John asked.

"I don't know," Oliver shouted, tossing his arms up in the air. "All I can do is hope that I get a chance to talk to her before she runs with any story. We're all on the same page about Chase and the articles that he produces, so maybe I can convince her to hold off on anything for a while. At least until Chase finds a new topic."

John scrubbed his hands over his face. "I hope you know what you're doing, Oliver. You know how this town feels about vigilantes, and Thea can't lose you again."

"I know."