Chapter 4 – Thea Queen

An: I do not own Arrow.


The first thing Felicity did every morning for the following two weeks after her encounter with The Hood was check the news for the arrest of Tobias Church. She had no doubt that he would hand over the information to ADA Lance. What she couldn't believe was how long it was taking them to make the arrest. They had all the information they needed gift wrapped and presented to them.

She had not heard from Oliver since that encounter. Susan Williams's webpage dedicated to The Hood became her new favourite webpage. She checked it so often she may as well have made it her homepage. Even Frank commented on the number of hits she had on that site when he made his monthly sweep through her apartment and office. He still hadn't found the equipment she hid in her sofa. It took a lot of self-control to not laugh at him when he sat on her sofa and reminded her of the terms and stipulations of her deal because he was literally sitting on top of the evidence that she was breaking the deal.

The Hood had been keeping busy stopping the usual muggings and an armed robbery. She was hoping that he would call her for some more tech help. She knew there was a lot she could do to improve his operation. She knew her IT skills were probably a bit rusty but she was dying for the opportunity to use them un-monitored.

The day finally came when word broke that Tobias Church was arrested on charges of murder, drug dealing, arms trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, and prostitution among a very long list of report indicated that Captain Lance of the SCPD had been able to flip two of Church's lieutenants and get them to testify against Church and provide the police with details on Church's operation. Not a single mention of The Hood's role in acquiring the information was mentioned. Church was supposedly under guard in the Iron Heights prison.

Despite her excitement over the arrest, life continued and she needed to do her work to pay her rent. That was why she was parked outside of a diner located 30 miles away from Starling City off the interstate. Her target, yet another cheating husband, was eating with this secretary. The body language between the two indicated that this was much more than a casual lunch but that wasn't enough to prove infidelity. She needed to catch them in the act which was why she was more interested in the cheap motel that was across the road from the diner. The motel was where she would earn her money shot.

She was contemplating how to get the shot when her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw a number she didn't recognise. It could be a new client calling so she answered.

"Hello, Smoak Detective Agency."

"Felicity, it's Oliver, I need your help." From the tone she could tell that something was seriously wrong and if he was finally calling her it was probably urgent. She would have to work on this case tomorrow.

"Ok, I'll meet you at Verdant in 45 minutes," she suggested.

"Can you get here sooner?" he asked. She thought she detected a slight bit of hysteria in his tone.

"I'm 30 miles outside the city. That's the best I can do." She turned the key in her ignition and started her car.

"Ok, come to the side entrance," he instructed hanging up.

The side door! That was the door to his secret base. He was inviting her into his base. She was going to get to see the base! Whatever had happened must have been serious if he was letting her see the base.


Felicity arrived at the side entrance 43 minutes later. The door opened and she was met by Mr. Diggle. He led her inside and down some stairs into the base. She tried to take in all the details as she walked down the stairs but the yelling match between Mini-Hood and Oliver drew all of her attention.

"I didn't know they had tracked me!" Mini-Hood screamed. "You think I wanted them to take her. I beat the shit out of Cecil when he told me they had her!" Even though the boy was yelling, he had a stream of tears running down his face.

"I warned you to be careful Roy. You were just supposed to get the information about the drug deal and then get out. No one was supposed to know who you were. You didn't listen and now Church has my sister!" The vein in Oliver's neck was bulging and Felicity was afraid that it might burst open. His whole body screamed that he was ready to kill something.

"I was careful. It was certainly better for me to go than the famous Oliver Queen!" Mini-Hood spat back at him.

"Yeah a lot of good that did!" Oliver yelled back.

She turned to look up at Diggle. "What happened?"

"At 11.23pm today Thea was kidnapped from her campus. She was coming out of her statistics class when three men grabbed her and placed her in a waiting van. Her friends called Mrs. Queen immediately. Captain Lance was called and he's at the Mansion with his parents waiting for a call from the kidnappers. They're keeping it off the news channels. Roy also got a call from the drug dealer he was getting his information on Church knows that Roy's connected to the vigilante and that was the real reason Thea was taken because she is Roy's girlfriend. Church wants to use her as leverage to get Roy to draw out the vigilante for Church. The drug dealer gave Roy a number that The Hood has to call at midnight tonight. If he doesn't call, they've promised to kill Thea."

Felicity exhaled. That certainly explained why Oliver was beyond pissed. His sister's life was on the line but so was Roy's. It was a catch-22. If he called Church he confirmed the connection between Roy and The Hood, thereby putting Roy in permanent danger, if he didn't call Church then he put Thea's life on the line.

"I'll do what I can to help," Felicity said walking over to the dinosaur computer system in the middle of the room. "My mom has a better system than this!" she chided.

Oliver looked away from Roy for the first time. His anger deflated a little but it was still there. "You'll have to work with it. Anything you could find to help us would be great. I can't stay here and do nothing. The Hood doesn't go out in daylight and even if he did most of Church's contacts went underground when he was arrested. We know he was released on bail this morning but we don't know where he went after that." The frustration in Oliver's voice was clear.

She nodded her head. She had a secret online server where her hacker tools were stashed and it had a heap of processing power. She could have that server do most of the work for her. In order to find Thea she needed details so she formally introduced herself to Mini-Hood who she found out was name Roy Harper. He gave her the name of the drug dealer and she started pulling up his cell phone records to see if she could tie that back to anyone who might have taken Thea.

While she worked Roy paced and talked about the situation that they found themselves in. He didn't think there was any choice to make between him and Thea. Thea was more important. He could fend for himself. He knew what he was getting into when he joined the crusade.

After five minutes, Roy's pacing was driving her mad. "Roy, go out on the street and drop the word that you're looking for the vigilante. Also state you have information about the Thea Queen kidnapping for the vigilante and make sure everyone gets your phone number including people loyal to Church. At eleven, I'll have Oliver call you from a burner phone and record the conversation. We have to at least try to create a cover to protect you."

"That's a good idea," Diggle agreed. "I doubt Church would believe it but we can still try it."

Roy looked over at Oliver who had started beating the hell out of a piece of wood. Realising he wasn't going to get any order from his mentor, the boy sighed and headed to the stairs that led to the side entrance. Felicity felt a sharp pang of sympathy for the boy. He was in a difficult position.

The phone angle wasn't working out so Felicity focused on the details of the kidnapping. The information Oliver had been given was that Thea had been taken on campus by a group of thugs that loaded her into a nondescript while panel van. There were no cameras on the campus or around the campus but there were cameras at two major intersection a few blocks away from the campus. Felicity decided to try her luck and scan through the footage from the intersections just after the abduction.

She didn't find anything until Diggle sat next to her. He followed her trend of thought and applied his training. If he was the kidnapper he wouldn't pass through the main intersections but smaller back roads. He pointed out two possible routes he would have taken and at certain points there were cameras along those routes. She pulled up the identified cameras and she fist pumped when she picked up the van. The driver matched the description from the witnesses on campus and the timing of the appearance of the van on camera was right. The van was also speeding so she was sure they had the right van.

The minute she announced she had the van, Oliver moved quickly from the wooden thing he was taking out his frustration on, to the area where the computers were set up. He leaned over her to look at the screen, one hand on the back of her chair and the other one on the table the computers were set up on. Despite him being sweaty, she still picked up the subtle scent of his cologne. She never realized how distracting a hot sweaty man could be. She couldn't work under these conditions.

"Excuse me," she said looking up at him. He turned his head to look at her and she was again taken back by how blue his eyes were. She swallowed hard, "I'm trying to work. Can you please go back to beating the hell out of that thing in the back," she said.

Next to her Diggle chuckled.

"That thing is a Wing Chu Dummy," Oliver said standing up straight and putting a bit more distance between them.

She was pleased with the move until he pulled off his sweaty shirt to reveal his perfect chest. Her mouth went dry. She had wanted to run her hands across his back before but now she wanted to do so much more to his chest. She forced her eyes closed and tried to burn the image of his naked torso from her mind. She replaced it with that of a frightened Thea and she was again able to focus on her work.

At 11:00pm she forced Oliver to make the call to Roy on a burner. His voice modulator was activated and Felicity wrote him a script he was to follow. She set up the recorder and gave Oliver the thumbs up.

"Roy Harper," he asked in an intimidating tone she assumed he used when he was out in the field. She shouldn't find it sexy but for some odd reason she did. She wondered what that said about her.

"Yes?" Roy asked confused. "Who is this?"

"Word on the street is that you're looking for me," Oliver answered in that cryptic vigilante way.

"If this is The Hood, yes, I need your help. My girlfriend Thea Queen was kidnapped because Tobias Church thinks I know how to get in touch with you. I can't believe I was able to get in touch with you," Roy gushed. He was really selling his end of the phone call. "He gave me a number for you to contact him. You have to call at midnight or he'll kill my girl," Roy pleaded.

"What's the number," Oliver asked gruffly.

Roy gave him the number and Oliver hung up. There were no assurances that he would make the call and save the girl and no comforting thoughts. Felicity thought it suited The Hood perfectly.

Roy soon returned to the lair and she continued to follow the van through several back roads of the city. She lost them a few times on streets with no cameras but after some great guess work by Diggle, she picked them back up. Their final destination seemed to be a warehouse on the docks. She fast forwarded through the feed and she didn't see the panel van move nor any other vehicle come and go.

Unfortunately it was now midnight and time for Oliver to call Church. Oliver dialed the number Roy had been given. Felicity couldn't hear the other end of the conversation but from the way Oliver clenched his fist it wasn't good. She heard Oliver ask for proof of life and saw the way his body stiffened. When the call finished he threw the phone against the wall causing it to break into tiny pieces.

"Hey," Felicity said standing up and walking over the burner phone. "You respect technology when I'm in the room with you." She walked up to the pieces and gathered them together.

"I can clean it up later," Oliver's angry voice said.

Felicity snorted, "I'm going to fix it. You may not appreciate technology but I do."

"Oliver," Diggle asked in a calm voice, "What did Church say?"

"He said to meet him in an hour in the Gardens," Oliver answered. His forefinger and thumb started to rub together. She had seen him do that a few times that night and she concluded that it was a habit he had when he was frustrated.

"The Gardens are on the other side of town from the warehouse. What's Church's play?" Felicity asked aloud.

"Maybe they are moving her for the meet?" Diggle offered.

Oliver's phone rang, the ID indicating that it was his father. He left the room to take the call in private. He returned a few minutes later to announce that there was a ransom demand for Thea and the money drop was at the exact same time in a third location.

"We can split up." Felicity suggested."Roy and I can go to the warehouse and you and Digg meet Church. I'm sure the police will be keeping tabs on your father."

"You are not going out there," Oliver growled. His face and body language implied there was no room for discussion.

He had another thing coming if he thought she was going to back down."Why not?" she openly questioned him,"Have you forgotten what I do for a living?"

"Taking dirty pictures is much different to taking on fifty armed men!" Oliver shouted back.

Felicity tamped down on the urge to scream at him. He was having a bad day. "Who said I was taking on armed men. We can sneak into the warehouse and get her out if she's still there. They expect you on the other side of the city. They won't be expecting us at the warehouse so I doubt there will be fifty armed men present."

"She's right Oliver," Diggle agreed. He had his hands crossed over his massive chest and he somehow managed to pull off an infinitely wise look. Felicity was beginning to think his role was being the voice of reason on the team. "We have the element of surprise. It would be a waste if we didn't take advantage of it."

"Great let me get my gear and call Roy from sulking in the back," Felicity said.

"However," Diggle said stopping her in her tracks, "You don't put the two individuals with the least experience together for a mission. Roy can go with Oliver. I will go with you. You will stay in the van and control the comms," he ordered.

Oliver bristled and Diggle cast him with a serious look, "Oliver you may not like it but it's the best plan we got." Diggle turned to look at Felicity, "I'll show you how the comms work and we'll get moving. We need to confirm Thea's location before Oliver heads into that meeting with Church."


After swinging by her office to collect her drone, Felicity found herself in a plain black panel van parked a block away from the warehouse. Diggle left her setting up the drone to do a preliminary survey of the perimeter. They had to be quick because in fifteen minutes Oliver had to meet Church. By the time she got the drone in the air Digg had returned.

"How is that toy going to help us?" Digg asked.

"That toy is equipped with a very powerful camera. It has a night vision and infrared."

"Really?" Diggle questioned in disbelief.

"Yee have no faith!"

Felicity concentrated on controlling the drone and flying it over to the warehouse. The screen showed one person guarding the gates in front. She flew over the warehouse and they identified three heat signatures inside and then one guard out back. Digg confirmed that he observed one guard in front and one guard out back and no cameras or visible security system for the warehouse.

Before they left the base Felicity had pulled up the building plans for the warehouse. Assuming there were no illegal changes to the building, it looked like one of the heat signatures was in the bathroom and the other two were in the adjoining office. Diggle surmised that it was probably Thea along with two guards.

Felicity activated the comm units while Diggle left to infiltrate the warehouse. There was a slew of static on the line that Diggle had warned her about. They were pushing the capabilities of the device by being so far apart but he assured her their voices could still be easily heard. The static started to die down and Felicity started to convey her information to Oliver.

"Oliver, we have three persons inside the warehouse and one of them could be Thea. Diggle's in the process of infiltrating the building."

"Since there is more than one of us on this mission, we should use code names," Diggle suggested. The heavy breathing from his comm suggested he was climbing the outer fence of the warehouse. Her drone showed him at the south fence. The guard was about fifty feet away. She assumed he must be turned in the opposite direction since the red blob on her screen didn't move towards Digg.

"Oh," Felicity said over the link. "What is your code name? I assume the other two are Hood and Mini-Hood?" she asked.

"Mini-hood," Roy growled through the comm link, "Blondie, I ain't mini anything. If there's anyone mini on this team it's you."

"She does drive a mini," Oliver was surprisingly able to tease.

She knew both of them were in the building opposite the meeting point waiting on confirmation of Thea's whereabouts.

Diggle cleared his throat, "Focus please." He was entering through an emergency exit that was on the opposite side of the building from the heat signatures. The clock said they had five minutes left before Oliver had to meet Church.

"What do you usually use?" Felicity asked curiously.

Diggle answered for everyone. "Usually it's just him and I and we don't call each other by our first names but since its four of us on here that won't work." He was now in the middle of the warehouse crossing the open floor to the offices. There was no movement from the red blobs inside so they hadn't seen him yet.

"Arrow," Oliver's voice said, "Call me Arrow." Then in a teasing tone he said, "Mini-Hood can stay Mini-Hood."

At Roy's protest he eventually declared Roy was Arsenal and Felicity was Overwatch.

"What about?" she paused here since she couldn't say Diggle's name.

"Just choose a name for me," Diggle instructed quietly.

"Spartan," she announced as she noticed he was right outside the office now.

There was silence over the line with the occasional static as everyone waited.

"Spartan, I got some movement for the one of the guards. It looks like he's going into the bathroom," she informed him.

She watched both blobs emerge from the bathroom into the office. She heard the loud bang of Diggle kicking a door in and watched as his red blob entered the room with the other three blobs. She watched two of the red blobs start moving towards Diggle but then they stopped moving. She didn't hear any gunshots and she assumed that was good. Diggle was using a tranquilizer gun so she hoped that he had gotten to the men first.

"I can confirm that the duckling is here. I'm moving to collect," Diggle informed them.

Felicity had to force herself not to laugh. If Thea knew they were calling her that she would have a fit. The other two men on the line released very relieved sighs but just because they located Thea didn't mean that the mission was over.

"Ok," Felicity acknowledged, "Arrow and Arsenal you're a go on Plan A to apprehend and restrain Church."

"Copy that," Oliver said. His tone had dropped considerably lower and it sent a shiver through Felicity's back.

She followed Diggle through the building to the main heard him talking to Thea. He was trying to disguise his voice in a higher pitch so that she wouldn't recognise him. Felicity watched their blobs make it to the front door and then out to the main gate. The blob that was the guard never moved so Felicity knew Digg had tranquilized him.

At the same time that she was tracking Diggle she knew Oliver was doing exactly as Church requested which was to walk into the Gardens unarmed. It was a risky move but he had Roy who was supposed to be shooting tranquilizer darts at all of Church's men on the perimeter while Oliver spoke with Church.

"I heard you wanted to see me from a little boy," Oliver spat at Church. There was a little static on the line which annoyed Felicity. She then heard Oliver playing the tape recording for Church. "My sources said the boy spoke to at least fifty people begging for help."

"And as predicated you came running," Church replied. "I've been looking for payback. I know it was you that provided the police with that information."

Felicity finally got to hear his famous line. "Tobias Church you have failed this city!" The tone with which he said it was deadly and it caused another shiver to along Felicity's back. It was hard to reconcile the dangerous man she heard over the comm system with the playboy on the front of tabloids. Gunfire soon broke out and she flinched at the sounds. The Gardens had no surveillance equipment so she couldn't see what was going on and it was driving her mad.

"Arrow,I have secured the duckling," Diggle's voice said across the comms. "Overwatch, please conceal your identity."

"Duckling!" she heard Thea's voice screech in the background. Digg promptly turned his comm off as Thea started yelling at him that she was no duckling.

Felicity pulled on her ski mask just as the doors to the back opened and Diggle helped Thea into the back seat. Felicity hated the ski mask. She was sure her eyes holes were not lined up properly and it was affecting her ability to fly the drone into the back of the van. At least that was what she was going to give as the reason for why the drone crash landed on top of the van and Diggle had to climb on top to fetch it for her. A quick inspection of the drone revealed minor damage. At least it wasn't something she couldn't fix.

While Diggle pulled off she focused on Oliver's line. Oliver and Roy were talking to one another about different shooters and who was covering who. The sound of the gunfire was dying down so Felicity hoped that was a good sign. She was aware of Thea seated behind her in the van and she tried to ignore her but the young Queen was having none of that.

"I want to see Roy!" Thea demanded.

Neither Diggle nor Felicity said anything. She heard heavy breathing on Roy's line and she assumed he was running after something.

"You both heard me. Take me to Roy now!" she demanded.

"Who's Roy?" Diggle asked focused on the road in front of them. Felicity was fairly sure he was driving over the speed limit.

"Don't play dumb. That man told me why they took me. It was because of Roy. Roy knows the vigilante. At first I didn't believe him but then the two of you turn up to rescue me. I want to see Roy now and I know you know where he is," she said angrily.

"I'm afraid you've been misinformed Ms. Queen," Diggle replied.

"Well then I guess you'll have no problem with me telling the police that," she replied stubbornly.

"You'll get your boyfriend into a lot of trouble," Diggle pointed out.

"If he lied to me then he deserves it."

Things were silent on comms except for bursts of static here and there. Eventually Oliver confirmed that their situation was under control and they were heading back to base. The van started to slow down and Felicity looked out the windshield to see the front doors of Verdant coming into view.

"We've taken you to your brother's club. You should be safe here," Diggle said to Thea. He got out of the van and walked around to the back door. He opened it and offered a hand to help Thea out. She ignored him and jumped out of the van by herself. Felicity looked out the window again to see Thea walk passed the line outside the club to the door where Tommy was waiting for her.

Diggle circled around to the garage in the back that Felicity hadn't realised was there when she did her external survey of Verdant. It was very well hidden. She happily pulled off her mask and returned to the computer system in the base.


The first thing Felicity did was check on the police detail that was securing Robert money drop had gone smoothly and he returned safely to the Mansion. The money was still in play and the officers watching the drop point were ordered to wait and see if anyone collected it. Felicity doubted anyone was going to turn up.

She started to work on updating the computers while she waited for Oliver and Roy to return. She quickly realised that there was only so much she could do with the technology in front of her and started creating a list of devices that Oliver should invest in. She was adding the thirtieth item to it when she heard the electronic lock that controlled the door to the side alley open. They were back. Digg stepped away from the med table, where he had been preparing all sorts of instruments that did things Felicity did not want to think about.

As soon as Oliver rounded the corner he demanded information about Thea.

"She's upstairs with Tommy," Diggle said. "But there is something you should know."

Oliver turned towards him, "She wasn't hurt was she?" He walked over to the med table and picked up a few bandages, lidocaine and antiseptic spray.

"No but Church told her of Roy's suspected connection to The Hood. She was demanding to speak to Roy before we dropped her off and according to Tommy she's refusing to call your parents, you or the police until she talks with Roy."

"Ok I'll talk to her," Oliver said heading to the back to change with the items he collected from the med table. He returned twenty minutes later in a black dress pants and a deep blue satin shirt. Felicity knew he usually rolled the sleeves up but the sleeves were down leading Felicity to suspect he was injured somewhere on his forearms. He stopped to look at her, "We probably need to talk about tonight but I need to see my sister first," he said. He looked over at Digg, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Roy had a large slash in his arm and Digg was stitching him up. Felicity took one look at the pointy needle and almost threw up. Roy himself looked like he was going to pass out. Ten minutes later, Diggle's phone rang and she heard him say that he would send him right up. Roy soon disappeared and Diggle went about cleaning up the med station while she continued on the computers.

Sometime later the door opened again and she assumed it was Oliver and Roy returning but there was a definite feminine gasp that accompanied the opening of the door. Felicity turned around to see Thea coming downstairs followed by a sheepish Roy and Oliver.

"Oliver?" Diggle's tone demanded an immediate explanation for why his sister was in their base of operations.

"Mr. Diggle!" Thea said in surprise. "Wait, you're the one that saved me."

"We all worked together to save you," he answered.

Her gaze then turned to Felicity, "You! You're the girl from earlier this week. You work with my brother."

"No she doesn't work with me. I borrowed her for her computer expertise to help me find you," Oliver explained.

Thea turned to him with large curious eyes, "How many people know about this?"

Felicity actually wanted to hear the answer to that question.

"Besides the people in this room, Mom and Tommy."

"You told Tommy and not me?" Thea asked in disbelief.

"He kind of figured it out on his own. He's much smarter than he looks," Oliver said in a joking tone to lighten the atmosphere.

"Gee seems like everyone but me," Thea sulked.

"Dad doesn't know," Oliver offered.

Thea looked at him like he was crazy, "I highly doubt that. If mom knows, he knows."

Ollie's phone lit up with the image of his mother, "We need to go home. We promised Dad we would leave soon. You have to speak to Captain Lance in a few hours."

Thea groaned, "Why didn't he tell them after lunch. Why did it have to be first thing in the morning?"

"Be grateful you didn't have to do it tonight," Oliver responded. He turned to everyone else in the room, "All of you should head home. Digg can you make sure Felicity gets home safely."

"Will do," Diggle confirmed glancing over at her.

Felicity was too exhausted to argue with them about whose responsibility her safety was.


The next day Felicity was in her office reading the newspaper article about the arrest of Tobias church for the kidnapping of Thea Queen. Usually she would read it online but today she felt like reading it the old fashioned way. She was reading it for the fifth time when the door to her office opened.

"You really need to lock your door," Oliver reprimanded walking into her office as if he owned the place. Diggle was behind him and chose to lean against the wall.

"And you really need to buy everything on that list I left," she countered. "Your system will love you for it. And by system I mean your computer system, not your system." She waved her hand up and down his body.

He cracked a smile, "I have everything on order," Oliver replied. "It will be here on Tuesday."

"Good, I'll come by and get it up and running for you," she said with a large smile.

He frowned. "Felicity I don't think you should get involved in this."

"Too late, my life, my choice. Besides it was nice to use a high speed connection not monitored by the FBI!" Oh the things she could finally do.

"Another reason why you shouldn't help us," Diggle pipped up from the doorway.

She waved Diggle's concern away. "Violating my deal with the FBI is small fry. I do that every day."

The bodyguard arched an eyebrow. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Oliver cleared his throat. "Felicity what we did last night was dangerous. You could have been hurt. You could have been arrested. The plan could have gone horribly wrong."

As Oliver continued to list everything bad thing that could have happened the night before Diggle kicked away from the wall and came to stand next to Oliver, "Felicity," Oliver stopped talking,"I think what Oliver is trying to say is thank you."

"Your welcome. I have a few jobs to get done tonight. I'll swing by about midnight to check on the new updates on those antiques you own," she said.

Oliver sighed, "Use the office entrance. It's safer. Roy and I will probably be out."

Felicity smiled. Both men turned around and Oliver put his hand on the door. He pushed the little knob that locked the door in and started pulling it behind him.

"I don't like this lock," she heard him grumble as the door closed.

Felicity found herself smiling widely. Who would have ever thought she would have Oliver Queen in her office complaining about her lock.


An: Coming up in the next chapter, The Salmon Ladder!