–Transitions–
"Tell me that's not what it looks like," Diggle told Felicity, staring the the image on her computer screen.
"I would love to," Felicity answered, "unfortunately, that's not looking like a possibility."
They both looked at the image of the dead man with three, dark-fletched arrows sticking out of his chest. Felicity had come across it when the photo had been taken in Mount Justice and flagged by A.R.G.U.S. on their encrypted database. Red flags in A.R.G.U.S. never meant anything good and their team was helping where they could, especially given Lyla's connections to Amanda Waller.
"A. .S. is calling him the 'Dark Archer II'; Malcolm Merlyn was only known as 'Dark Archer' in A.R.G.U.S.'s redacted files, so you wanna know who this guy is emulating?" Felicity questioned.
"Merlyn," Digg growled.
Felicity pointed her hand at Digg in the shape of a gun. "Bingo," she answered. "Which doesn't mean anything good for us."
"And A.R.G.U.S. has no idea who this clown is?" Diggle asked skeptically.
"Nothing," Felicity confirmed. "He took out his target and vanished without a trace. No DNA, no footprints, not a single fingerprint even on the arrow, no camera shots or video footage. This guy was clean and careful, just like Merlyn. It was like he was never there. Well, you know, except for the dead guy with the trifecta of arrows through his heart obviously."
"Have you shown this to Oliver?" Digg asked sensibly.
Felicity sighed and clicked out of the window. "No," she answered, "and I know I should, it's just . . ." she paused and bit her lower lip, "we just got rid of Slade Wilson. He just got home. I think Oliver deserves a little more than three weeks off before taking a run at a killer copying his deceased best friend's psychotic father who also happens to be his baby sister's newly-discovered biological father. Meanwhile, I've asked Roy to keep a close eye on Thea, just in case."
Digg watched as Felicity rubbed her temples stressfully. She had been logging in more hours than usual ever since the whole team had come back together, and he felt like he had an idea as to why. There were never enough hours in the day to finish everything that needed to be done, and every new day brought new challenges and tasks that had to be dealt with. It never ended, and, especially to Felicity, who took all their problems onto herself, everything was like a snowball of chaos, picking up more and more mayhem as it went downhill.
Today had been no different than any other day for Team Arrow, except for the fact that Felicity and Oliver had faced a board of potential shareholders and trustees, who had returned from their hidden corners of the earth and begun looking to the son of Robert Queen for answers. The two had made their pitch for a whole new company. Too much damage had been done to the reputation of Queen Consolidated due to Isabel Rochev's very public reign as CEO. There was nothing left to do but rebuild and redirect the company from the ground up.
The idea was to liquidate the unused assets that Isabel had left in limbo after her untimely demise, and put the money toward renovating what little of Robert Queen's abandoned real estate in The Glades had been left untouched by the quake and Slade's attack on the city. The warehouses would either be converted into labs furthering the advancement of safe technology, or into power plants producing clean energy. It would provide hundreds of jobs to the unemployed residents of The Glades, and push toward the improvement of The Glades community. Queen Industries would be the legacy of the Queen family for generations to come.
Which was all well and fine, except that their start-up marketing technology was the software Felicity had written and designed entirely on her own. It was her life's work, and it was nerve-wracking having a whole board of people speculating about it. She was trying to focus more on the proud look Walter had given her after she had premiered the software, rather than the odds of the board making a decision in their favor.
Unbeknownst to either Oliver or Thea, Diggle knew that Felicity had been bending over backwards for months trying to earn enough favors with the people who still held shares in the property of Queen Consolidated to at least get back the steel mill which housed the closed-down Verdant and their lair beneath it. She had also brokered a deal with Walter for a loan of enough money to get the club up and running again. Walter didn't ask too many questions about why Felicity was so intent on getting the club back for Thea and Oliver, but he was more than happy to help in her endeavors, which Felicity was doubly thankful for.
Meanwhile, at the foundry, the entire team was back together and finally facing the aftermath of their battle with Slade, which had opened up a whole new can of worms for everyone involved. Felicity was trying to find a covert way of replenishing Oliver's arsenal of arrows without drawing suspicions of another forming militia in Starling City. Roy was still attempting to repair his broken relationship with Thea, which Oliver was none too happy about. Felicity, like Sara, thought that Oliver needed to mind his own damn business, and focus more on his own complicated relationship with Laurel. It had caused some tension among everyone, which Digg and Lyla were just trying to remain neutral about, because otherwise things were going to blow up into a full-scale mutiny in the Arrow family, and they really didn't want their child to be born in the middle of a feud.
It was a new chapter in the life of Team Arrow and everyone was just trying to adapt and gain their footing as they all transitioned. Felicity and Digg both knew that eventually the dust would settle (as much as things ever 'settled' with them) and the scales would rebalance themselves. That didn't make things any less stressful at the present though.
"Felicity, I think you need some sleep," Diggle told her. He picked up his jacket from the back of a nearby chair and hung it over his arm. "Come on, let's shut it down for the night. I'll drive you home."
Sleep sounded blissful to Felicity. She barely remembered what it felt like to sleep for more than a few hours at a time and not hunched over on her desk. Her bed felt like a strange, fuzzy memory now, and her body ached with longing just picturing it. She groaned.
"You go ahead," she reluctantly told her friend. "I have some things around here that I need to finish up, then I'll find a cab home."
Diggle looked skeptical and unimpressed, like he knew she was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. "I can stick around and wait for you," he offered.
Felicity stood up and gave Digg a friendly hug. "I love you for worrying about me, Digg, but really, you should go home to Lyla," she insisted. "And tell that baby lots of really good things about its Aunt Felicity."
He smiled in amusement as he finally relented, albeit grudgingly. His arms wrapped around her, returning her hug briefly before moving to leave. The IT tech waited until she heard his footsteps on the stairs and the mechanical click of the security door closing and locking, then she sat down and went back to work.
. . .
It wasn't more than a few hours later, when Felicity was interrupted again.
"Hey," said a calm, familiar voice from right behind Felicity.
Despite not having heard anyone enter the lair and suddenly having an unexpected person standing directly behind her, Felicity didn't feel startled, especially when Sara set her hands on Felicity's shoulders. It was as if something were keeping her grounded and safe.
"Hi," Felicity returned, spinning in her chair. She hadn't realized the time until she checked her watch. "I wasn't expecting you so late."
The former-assassin nodded her head up toward the ceiling. "I just finished my watch over the city," she explained. "Digg called and mentioned you were still down here. I thought I'd come see what you were working on." Sara hoisted herself onto Felicity's desk and sat right next to the computer monitor, looking at her friend expectantly.
"Bottom-lining it?" Felicity asked, trying not to look as amused by Sara's interest as she felt.
"Dumb it down for me," Sara acquiesced. "Please, I'm still learning geek-speak."
Felicity rolled her eyes at the coined term. "You speak fluent Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic, and know ten different variations of martial arts, but you find computer science terminology to be confusing," she deadpanned. "And yet you find nothing wrong with that."
Sara shrugged, showing her carelessness. "Apparently I learn best when the only other option is death," she half-joked. "So are you going to tell me what you're doing?"
"I am reconfiguring the computer's operating system for optimal efficiency, capacity, and security," Felicity explained.
"Amazingly, I actually understood all of that," Sara said, grinning at Felicity from her perch on the desk. "You might make a tech savvy girl out of me yet, Smoak."
"Then maybe you can teach me how to punch the training dummy without breaking my fingers," the IT tech suggested. She laughed nervously and held up her hand to show Sara, "Because I, uh, think I might have done it again."
Sara dropped her head. "Ah! Felicity!" she chastised, taking Felicity's swollen knuckles in her hand with a feather-light gentleness. "How is it that you can punch me with perfect aim, accuracy, and pressure, but you do this every time you try it on the dummy?"
"Because you're softer than the dummy!" Felicity offered as an explanation.
Sara rolled her eyes and prodded Felicity's hand in a few select places and Felicity hissed at the pain, but her fingers curled reflexively. The Canary smiled softly and pushed herself up from her seat. "It's just a sprain," Sara told her. "I'd take a hot shower and then put it on ice for a few minutes." She held her hand out to Felicity. "Come on, Digg told me to make sure you got home sometime tonight. Your systems will still be here in the morning, well, later in the morning. It's nearly three a.m."
"But–" Felicity began to protest.
"Uh, uh," Sara cut her off. "No. Come on."
The vigilante grabbed Felicity's unharmed hand and pulled her to her feet, causing the stubbornly rigid Felicity to come flying out of her chair at Sara's unexpected strength. Felicity fell forward, unintentionally crushing her body against Sara's. They stood there in a moment of shock, just staring at each other but neither moving away, until Sara reached up to straighten Felicity's askew glasses and tuck a loose thread of hair behind her ear.
"Talk about sweeping a girl off her feet," Felicity quipped without thinking. Like usual, she realized her faux pas only after she'd said it aloud. "Uh . . . I mean, not– n-not that . . . I mean, we're . . ." Felicity gave up trying to correct herself and stood up straight, clearing her throat awkwardly. "I think I am actually tired. Would you mind?"
Sara tried her hardest to wipe the devilish grin off her face, but her attempts were futile. Felicity was just too damn cute all the time. Finally, her brain registered her friend's request. "No, not at all," she answered, flipping her keys in her hand.
They started up and out of the foundry. The automatic security system clicked into place as soon as the door closed behind them.
The evening air was chilly outside the club, but Felicity felt warmth spread over her entire body when Sara's hand found its way to the small of her back as they descended the front steps. She filed away that particular reaction for later thought and let Sara lead her over to her dark motorcycle. Sara picked a helmet up from the back and passed it toward Felicity deliberately.
"Seriously," she told the tech with a stern look. Her face was completely stern and unwavering as she held the helmet out to Felicity. "I really don't want to have to explain to Ollie, Digg, and my dad why I brought you to the hospital with your head facing backwards, instead of getting you home safely. And riding with you unprotected is just tempting fate."
Felicity huffed indignantly. "I've been the one saving you lately, and you think my accident proneness is cute," she accused pettily.
Sara's features softened. "Not when it puts you in serious danger," she replied.
Felicity simply took the helmet from the other blonde's hands and popped it onto her head. "There," Felicity said. "See? Safe and sound, no tempting fate." Sara flushed at her unintentional innuendo.
A crooked half-smirk quirked Sara's face as a climbed onto the motorcycle. "Thanks," she muttered, pulling her own helmet snug over her head. She kick started the motorcycle and grabbed the handlebars more firmly. She turned her head to look at Felicity, "I'm still keeping my eye on you though."
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," Felicity returned loudly, before realizing how that had sounded. "I mean–"
"Just get on," Sara told her humorously. She offered her hand to Felicity for balance and Felicity took it quickly, following Sara's instructions and getting onto the motor bike. Sara situated Felicity's arms in a firm grip around her waist, all while being mindful of Felicity's injured hand. When she was satisfied that Felicity's arms were secure enough to hold her, she turned her head to be audible as she said, "Just hang onto me, okay? Stay close."
"Don't worry. I'm pretty content right where I am," Felicity assured her.
Sara couldn't see the other woman's face, but she was pretty sure Felicity was blushing as the double entendre of her statement registered in her mind. She was slightly disappointed to have missed it. She loved Felicity's blush.
The streets were quiet at three in the morning in Starling City, even in The Glades. They wove their way through the deserted streets, hitting not so much as a red light on their journey, and Felicity noticed that Sara was careful to keep pretty close to the speed limits for once. The air was bone-chilling, and Felicity spent most of the trip hugging close to Sara with her helmeted head resting against Sara's back, blocking the wind. Halfway to Felicity's apartment, she felt Sara guide each of her hands into the hero's pockets, further protecting her from the cold.
She was grateful for Sara's warmth, but – and if anyone had asked her, she would have blushed profusely and denied it – Felicity mostly enjoyed the opportunity to experience having her arms wrapped around Sara's strong and solid body. The way Sara's abdominal muscles flexed occasionally, the way the muscles of her back flowed when they took a turn, the poise she seemed to wear like a second skin. Felicity knew that this was the closest she would ever get to being intimate with Sara.
Though she felt slightly guilty for taking advantage of the situation, it didn't stop the thrill that shot through Felicity's body whenever fate afforded her these opportunities.