Author's notes: Well, after a day of laboring over a paper that I just can't seem to get off the ground, I've decided that the only way to break my scholarly writer's block is to do some more fiction writing. The good news is that this means I'll be adding to this story! This is another short little piece that speculates on Felicity's exchange with Ra's al Ghul that was teased in—oh, I can't remember which non-US promo. I started writing that scene, but ended up deciding to skip it and add an encounter between Felicity and Ra's that takes place after Thea's revival. I know the show won't go this way. I just thought it would be fun to shake things up a bit and give Felicity a more prominent role in the action-proper. This time I'll be writing from Felicity's perspective. Enjoy, everyone!

#

It was a long while before Felicity stood and left so Oliver could have some space. She knew he needed him, but being there with Thea laid out and strapped onto a gurney was something she couldn't take forever. She found as secluded a place as she could hope to find on the jet. She needed space to think.

What had she done? She'd given him free license to join the League—to be the next Ra's al Ghul. She needed to support him, but how could she support this? Thea. How else could she answer that question? If Ra's would kill her, he'd do anything to make Oliver his heir. Ra's had broken him. Made him a shadow of the man she knew he could be. Her Oliver. She needed to do something. It was her turn to do the rescuing.

"May I join you?"

Felicity was startled from her reverie by Digg's voice.

"Of course," she responded.

"Looks like you were doing some hard thinking there." Digg always had a fatherly tone when he was about to drop a truth bomb.

"Yeah. I—" She took a deep breath. "I finally told Oliver how I feel."

Digg just nodded.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we gonna do to get Oliver out of this? I mean, I know he's going to have to join the League in order to save Thea, but there has to be some way to get him out."

"Felicity..." His voice trailed off as he said her name.

She looked back with tears forming in her eyes.

"We have to save him. I won't stand by and watch as the man I love has his soul stripped away and replaced with more killing. I can't. I just can't."

There was a long silence between them before Digg spoke up.

"Felicity, I don't think we can fix this one. I already tried to convince Oliver that he had to let it go—had to let her go. I tried to connect with him—share what I went through with my brother—but he shut me out."

"Then we need to learn how to defeat Ra's."

"Don't get any ideas, Felicity. You know what this man is capable of. You know that if any of us tries anything, if Oliver tries anything, we're all as good as dead. He won't stop at Thea. He'll take away everyone Oliver cares about until there is no more Oliver Queen. He'll make sure Oliver has no home but the one he grants."

"I'm not sure I can live without him, John. I'm not sure I want to live without him."

She was alone on this one.

#

The jet landed all too soon for Felicity. She was one step closer to saying goodbye to the man she loved and she had no plan to free him from Ra's clutches.

She started talking to herself under her breath. "What would Oliver do? How do you defeat the deadliest man on the face of the Earth? What do I have that Ra's doesn't? That's it!" She half-shouted the last part, unintentionally garnering the attention of the others.

"Sorry! I... um... just... um... was thinking about how to... uh... improve the recursive algorithm I've been using to... um... find personal data on our bad guys." It came out sounding more like a question than an apology. When would she stop babbling?

"Felicity," Oliver started, "there's no more Team Arrow. You told me that."

"Right... I guess it was just wishful thinking."

As everyone fell back into silence, Felicity's mind went back to work. No one could doubt that Ra's was unparalleled in martial combat. Decades of bathing in the magic hot tub had given him ample time to develop his skills. But Felicity, Felicity had brains—brains that would let her hack into just about any computer system on the planet. Who was she kidding. She could hack any computer system on the planet. She silently thanked herself for bringing along her tablet and satellite hot-spot. Ra's wouldn't know what hit him.

Once Felicity had a moment alone she put her plan into action. It was amazing what a few keystrokes could do. Once she found a hole in the A.R.G.U.S. security she set up a script and linked it to her phone. She'd only get one shot at this and she had to time it perfectly. Now that the trigger was set, all she needed was to get Ra's alone.

#

While everyone else assembled in the foyer preparing to leave, Felicity snuck into Ra's chambers uninvited. They were lush and opulent—nothing like what she expected an evil man such as Ra's al Ghul to favor.

"You are Al Sah-him's love, are you not, girl?" Ra's voice was cool and calm. So much for being sneaky.

"Yes—and don't call me girl," she responded.

"Well then, child... Why have you trespassed in my private chambers? Have you come to beg for you poor Oliver's release?"

"No. I've come to command it."

"Command!" Ra's cackled. It must have been as close to a laugh as he could manage. "And what gives a mere child the gall to make demands of the Demon's Head?"

"The ability to destroy him and everything he desires." Felicity held up her phone and tapped the screen, sending a signal back to her tablet, activating her A.R.G.U.S. hack. "You see Ra's, there are drawbacks to your old school approach to everything." Felicity's voice was growing stronger, more powerful. "For example: no cyber-security. You may be the best assassin in the world, but I'm the best hacker. You see, I've just commandeered a dozen A.R.G.U.S. drones and directed each to drop its entire payload on these GPS coordinates. They should be here in, oh, about 15 minutes. Unless, of course I call them off."

Felicity paused for a moment to let the gravity of what she'd done sink in. Ra's remained calm—not the reaction she was hoping for.

"That is a long time, girl. What makes you think I won't kill you here and now?"

"I'm the only one who can call them off. If you kill me, not only do you die, the whole League dies. And so does your magic hot tub. Without the Lazarus Pit, how long do you think the mantle of Ra's al Ghul will survive?"

"You'd end your own life and those of all your friends, just to obtain Al Sah-him's release from his vows?"

This was a sore spot for Felicity. She'd thought hard about it and decided that Ra's would never refuse her demands. And if he did... well that was a risk she'd have to take.

"You've obviously forgotten what it is to be in love." She knew he hadn't. He'd pushed her to go to Oliver the night before. This man who went by Ra's al Ghul was more human that she imagined, no matter how evil. However, she had to say something to motivate him to accept—to convince him she wasn't bluffing.

"It seems I made an error the last time we spoke. I should not have told you to go to Al Sah-him. It sharing your love with him has driven you to madness."

"Not madness, resolve."

"You understand that once I release you and Oliver, there will be nothing stopping me from repeating this whole process. I will have my heir."

"Wrong again, Ra's. I might complain how my mouth gets ahead of this brain of mine sometimes, but the truth is that I'm almost always thinking one step ahead. I set up a self-replicating and self-repeating algorithm that will inform every major military power of your headquarters location if I don't check in every twenty-four hours."

Ra's smiled. Smiled!

"I don't know why you're smiling. You've lost, Ra's. Let us go and I'll stop the attack."

He continued his grin. "Perhaps I should have chosen you as my heir." He paused for a moment to study her. "Very well, I release Al Sah-him from his vows. You and your Oliver may leave. However, I'll be needing collateral. A contingency against your attack, just as you've built protection from mine into your design."

This didn't sound good. One step ahead? Why didn't she think of this!

"John Diggle will remain in Nanda Parbat as my honored guest."

"No!" escaped from Felicity's lips before she could stop it.

"You did not think it would be so simple, did you?"

"You misunderstand me, Ra's. You're in no position to negotiate. I will sacrifice everything to be with Oliver, whether it be in this life or the next. I will end you and everything you stand for before I let you take any of my friends." Her eyes had gone fierce. In all those times harnessing Oliver's light, some of his darkness must have entered her. She would stop at nothing now.

Ra's studied her for a long time, but she didn't back down.

"Sixty seconds left. It's time to make a decision. Let us all go or the League will be destroyed in one fell swoop."

#

Author's notes (continued): I hope you all enjoyed seeing Felicity take the role of hero! I've been hoping the writers would give her a more active role in this regard for a while now. She always has her moments, no doubt. For example, when she knocks Cooper out in 3x05. But to be honest, I feel like she's been relegated to emotional clean-up duty for the most part since then. Anyway, this will be the last entry for this fic. There's no way I'll come up with anything else before the show airs tomorrow night. All comments and reviews are very much appreciated!