A/N: And you guys say I don't spoil you, yet here I am, already posting a new chapter ;)
Seriously though, I'd written part of this in advance, and I was just inspired to write more. It's also a little longer than my usual chapters, but I doubt anyone minds, right? Enjoy!
Chapter 8:
It was late when Felicity walked home from work. It had been a long day, and all she wanted to do was curl up on her couch with a glass of wine and watch a TV show or a cheesy movie, but she still had to go to the store and buy food for her cat. Why did she even get a cat? Truthfully, it was her roommate's cat, but then that roommate had moved out and left the poor little guy, and Felicity really couldn't say no to those adorable green eyes. As she walked in the door of her apartment, she paused. Byte, was sitting right next to the door, tensed to jump. Felicity frowned and picked him up, before quietly stepping further into the apartment. As she peered into the semi-darkness, she didn't really see anything out of place.
Although… She was sure she'd closed the door of her bedroom, but it was open now. "Who's there?" she called out. No answer. Duh. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. If someone had broken in here, they wouldn't shout back.
Look, she was tired, okay, her mind thought up weird stuff when that happened.
Cautiously, she took another step and tried to peer into her bedroom. Was someone in there? "I'm calling the police!" she called out. Balancing Byte against her hip with one hand, she got her phone out of her purse with the other. She dialed 911.
"That won't be necessary," a deep voice said behind her.
Felicity shrieked, and dropped her phone, as Byte wriggled out of her hold and sprinted out the door. Turning around, Felicity saw... the vigilante? She'd expected a burglar or something, not 'The Hood', or whatever he was calling himself these days. If Dan could see this he'd be thrilled knowing he was right about the hooded vigilante being real.
The man didn't make a move, he was still as a statue, and his hands were clearly visible at his sides, so she was sure he wasn't carrying any weapons. At least, you know, not in his hands, she could clearly see his quiver and bow in the light that came from the hallway.
"I mean you no harm," he said, in a gentler voice. It was modulated, she noticed. There was a little clip-on thingy on the strap of his quiver.
"You say that, but you just spooked my cat into running out the door, and now I'm going to have to search for him for hours!" she replied snappily as she picked up her phone. Luckily, the screen wasn't cracked, but the battery had fallen out, so the call had been disconnected. Okay, so maybe being crabby wasn't the best way to handle the situation, but what was else was she supposed to do? Just because he was a killer and was capable of murdering her before she could say 'quidditch' didn't mean she couldn't be prickly with him. She was tired, damn it!
The vigilante was shrouded in darkness – Felicity hadn't turned on the light – but she could see his mouth and jawline. And right now, the corner of his lips was pulled slightly upwards. The Vigilante was actually smiling at her. Sort of. Felicity sighed. It had to be that kind of a night, today of all days.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, finally getting curious about that. Her fatigue was delaying her curiosity now. Great.
"I need your help," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, like it was perfectly normal for vigilantes to show up at an IT girl's house in the middle of the night and ask for help. "With what?" she asked before she could stop herself.
The man turned around and grabbed something off her counter. Exactly how long had he been in her apartment? And then her eyes fell on the thing in his hands. It was a laptop, but it was riddled with bullet holes. "What did you do to it!" she shouted, walking over without a second thought to her safety and snatching it out of his hands. "That poor computer never did anything to you, and you just went ahead and murdered it," she muttered under her breath as she examined it.
"If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't the one who shot it. I don't use guns," he said, and suddenly Felicity had the feeling that if his voice wasn't disguised, she'd recognize it somehow. It made her pause and look up at him. She couldn't see a thing under his hood, especially since she still hadn't turned on the light, but still the feeling wouldn't leave her. It was ridiculous, she didn't know anyone who was capable of what the vigilante could do. But then again, who did? This guy had to have a secret identity or something. She wondered briefly if he had a family, and if he did, did they know what he did every night?
The vigilante cocked his head, probably wondering why she was staring, so Felicity shook herself. "Exactly what is it that you want me to do with this?" she asked, turning the laptop over in her hands again.
"I need you to see if you can recover any information that might have been stored on it; bank statements, blueprints, browser history, anything."
She frowned at him. "Who did you get this from?"
He paused and searched her face. "No one you need concern yourself with," he said eventually. Felicity wasn't sure if that meant that he'd found what he was looking for or not.
"Fine, but you can't just show up in my apartment and scare my cat away every time. At least not without turning on the lights or leaving a note or something. I don't want to have a heart attack next time you come here."
Now the vigilante was actually smiling. "I'll try. When do you think you'll be ready with that?" he asked.
Felicity figured this was kind of important, but... should she be helping this guy? In theory he was doing good, he was going after really bad people – often worse people than the public actually knew. Not her, of course, because she was a hacker at heart, and she was curious! - but he was still a criminal. Honestly, she agreed with him, just not his methods. She didn't really think that people deserved to die for being horrible people. The rich guys he went after weren't exactly serial killers, they were just cold and ruthless and didn't care about others. Okay, perhaps not that different.
She decided then that she'd help him, but just this once. There was probably not going to be a next time anyway. What else would a vigilante need an IT girl for?
"Question; why me?" she asked, honestly curious.
"What?"
"Why did you come to me? There are dozens of qualified IT people in this city, but you came to my house, why?" she asked.
Again, the vigilante paused, like he was debating whether or not to tell her something. "I knew I could trust you," he said softly.
"But why?" She was so confused.
"I just knew," he said with a shrug. That seemed so familiar to her, and again, she wondered if she'd seen him somewhere before, without the hood, of course, she'd remember seeing him with the hood on.
She studied him for a moment more before nodding. "Okay. I'll help you. I should be done in a few hours," she said.
A noise in the hallway startled her, and she glanced that way, but there was nothing there. Perhaps it was Byte. When she looked back, the vigilante was gone, probably through the open kitchen window. Felicity rolled her eyes, he certainly had a flare for the dramatic, that one.
She looked towards her open front door and sighed. Byte was a pretty smart cat, and Felicity usually let him outside onto the fire escape. She was fairly sure he'd still be able to find his way home, but it didn't stop her from worrying. She decided to put the chain on the door, but leave it open just a crack. Byte was a pretty small cat to start with, and he wasn't quite full-grown, so he might be able to fit in between the gap. Or, if not, he'd just meow pitifully until she opened the door.
After she'd done that, Felicity grabbed the damaged laptop and set to work. It's not like Byte could even get out of the building from the hallway, so she was sure he'd be back soon enough.
She saved all her important data and isolated her systems - just in case the broken laptop had some kind of nasty virus on it - and then plugged it into her own computer. It had some kind of encryption on it, so she got to work on that. As her encryption program ran, she turned on her coffee machine and retreated to her bedroom to finally get changed. Much as she loved her pencil skirts and high heels, it didn't exactly make for the most comfortable outfit.
When she walked back into her living room, she saw the vigilante sitting at her desk. Felicity cussed. "You startled me," she explained when he looked up at her.
And that's when she noticed that Byte was sitting comfortably on the Hood's lap, purring to his little heart's desire. "Traitor," she hissed to him as she took her seat next to the green guy.
She really needed to find a name for the Hood guy and stick with it.
"How is it going?" he asked quietly. It was still dark, but the light from the computer screen did light some of the vigilante's face. Once again, she was struck by the feeling of familiarity.
"Uhm…" She glanced at her screen. Her encryption program was still running, but she could probably speed it up a little. "I'll just…" she said distractedly, and started typing a line of code.
For a while, she was so focused on her work that she forgot that anyone was there, but then she reached for her coffee mug to find that it was completely filled and warm, even though she was sure she'd almost finished it a moment ago.
The vigilante had moved his chair back a little to give her space and was absently petting Byte as he stared into the darkness. If the kitten hadn't been lying on his back, batting at the vigilante's gloved hands every time he petted him, he would have looked like a comic book villain. As it was, he just looked adorable. Not a word she thought she'd ever connect with 'the Hood'...
"How's it going?" his voice shook her from her reverie, and she quickly turned back to her computer to hide her blush.
"Uhm, I'm in," she said.
The Hood leaned closer - seriously, it was such a ridiculous name - and stared at her screen. There were blueprints of a building Felicity didn't recognize. Though, to be fair, architecture wasn't a field she was very versed in.
"It's the Exchange Building," the Hood said, as if he'd heard her thoughts. God she hoped he couldn't hear her thoughts.
"Never heard of it," she replied, a little clueless. She'd only lived in Starling for 3 years now, and she really wasn't that interested in the cityscape.
"It's where the Unidac Industries auction is scheduled to take place," he said.
Unidac Industries, that name rang a bell. "That's the company Mr. Steele - my boss - is trying to buy. How'd you get a laptop belonging to one of his competitors."
"Floyd Lawton," the Hood nodded."
As she picked up her cat from his lap, she frowned at him. "No, Warren Patel," she said. "Who's Floyd Lawton?" she asked.
"An employee of Mr. Patel, evidently," the Hood said, sounding pensive.
"And what do you plan to do with this?" Felicity asked.
The Hood looked away from the screen and at her, almost like he'd forgotten she was there. Kind of like she did earlier. "You shouldn't worry about that," he said, sounding… was that guilt? Although, the modulator could just be throwing her off. "Just stay away from that building tomorrow.
"Are people going to get hurt? Shouldn't we alert the police?" Felicity asked, starting to worry. Mr. Steele and Mrs. Queen were going to be there, and Thea and Oliver had lost enough without - oh crap, what if they were going to attend?
"I'll warn the police."
"But my friends might be there, Thea and Oliver Queen. I need to warn them!" she said, half-getting up from her chair.
The Hood held up a hand to calm her down. "It's alright, I'll keep them safe. I promise."
Glaring, she pushed his hand away. "You can't promise that! That building is huge, and if someone is planning something, I need to know they'll be safe!"
The Hood stepped back. "I won't let anything happen to your friends, Ms. Smoak." And with that, he turned around and left through the kitchen window. Because apparently, vigilantes could exit through a door like normal human beings.
The moment she couldn't hear him anymore - and how the hell was he getting down anyway, her fire escape was outside her bedroom window - she pulled out her phone and called a familiar number. Damn that stupid, crazy Hood guy. If he thought she was going to leave her friends' safety up to a complete stranger, he clearly had a screw loose. Not that the choice of outfit and weapon wasn't already a clue to that…
/*/
Oliver only just managed to use an arrow to zipline down to the alley beside Felicity's building when his phone rang. He quickly turned off the modulator and picked up. "Felicity? Are you okay? You usually don't call this late," he said.
"Right, sorry, but I do have a reason," she said, sounding worried. Honestly, he was touched that she'd defy a vigilante who had killed people before, but she really needed to be more careful.
"Look, don't ask me how I know this, but something's going to happen at the auction tomorrow. Please don't go, and make sure Thea stays in, she said she probably wasn't going to go, but…"
"Hey, what's this all about?" he asked gently. He was genuinely curious if she'd actually say anything about meeting - and helping - the vigilante.
Felicity hesitated. "I can't tell you, just… be careful. Don't go," she pleaded. It reminded Oliver painfully of when they were kidnapped back in high school. He'd had a concussion and she'd been so worried about him…
"Felicity… I can't not go, my mother would kill me. But I promise to have Mr. Diggle keep his eyes peeled and I'll try to convince my mother and sister not to go."
A frustrated sigh sounded through the phone. "Oliver, please. I don't know what's going to happen, but if you die, I can't-" she cut herself off.
Oliver was curious, what had she been about to say? He knew Felicity cared about him, because she was just that good a person, but… she couldn't actually…? "I'll be careful, I promise. And I won't hang around that long anyway, I doubt it's going to be in any way interesting," he said, half-joking, half-sincere.
Another pause. "Fine," she said finally. "But if you die, I'm going to bring you back and kill you myself, you hear me?"
Oliver chuckled. "Understood. Good night, Felicity."
"Goodnight, Oliver."
A/N: So, what did you guys think? Things are going to get interesting from now on! More vigilante stuff, and more Olicity, especially once Felicity finds out about Oliver's little secret.
Unfortunately, it might be a while before I update again, but I'll try to post the next chapter on 23 March!
Anyway, please review! I really need your feedback to figure out what's going to happen next.