A/N- Here is the olicity training you have been waiting for! I am planning on introducing more characters but Oliver and Felicity are keeping entertained for now. If I did though, who would you like to see? Loved the Arrow wedding last night. Hope you enjoy this chapter/episode/installment!
If someone had asked Felicity what she would be doing a week ago, it definitely would not have involved conspiring with the Hood. To be honest, did the Hood even 'existed' a week ago? Felicity was not entirely sure but all she knew now was that she was here, wiring and setting up computers worth thousands of pounds in his secret lair. It was all very surreal and Felicity still hadn't been able to process everything that had happened. Even if she worked her way through a thousand tubs of chocolate mint ice cream, Felicity wasn't too sure if she ever would be able to process how her life was changing.
She stood up to admire her hard work. Instead of looking like an old retro workstation in a dim and dark room (the arrowcave as it was now called), there was now a sleek and modern workstation illuminating the lair. Felicity groaned at how much she still left to do and started to adjust the height of her chair that she had bought for the arrowcave. However, she was rudely interrupted from her work when her phone started ringing. It was Oliver.
"Felicity, for some reason I am stuck outside the foundry!" he angrily fumed over the phone.
Felicity pulled up footage from the CCTV camera she had just installed right outside the arrowcave's entrance onto her computer screen. She lounged back in her chair enjoying this far too much. "What foundry?"
"This isn't funny, Felicity," Oliver growled. Their crusade needed to remain serious: if it didn't they could risk certain death.
However, Felicity didn't see things in the same way as Oliver. Felicity viewed Oliver as being a depressed and damaged soul who needed some light and happiness in his life which she was going to provide. "It was you who promised to call it the arrowcave, mister," she teased.
"Not by choice. Now let me into the arrowcave!" Oliver said through clenched teeth.
"No need to go all grr on me," Felicity protectively said. "I'm just coming!"
Felicity climbed up the staircase and opened the door to the arrowcave, to find one disgruntled Oliver who looked like he might be about to yell at her.
"Instead of coming up, couldn't you have opened it from your computer system?" Oliver furiously interrogated. "You're definitely clever to have done so,"
"It's sweet that you think so- I mean you're right I could have done," Felicity nervously babbled. "Umm... I just wanted you to put this on." She pressed her scarf into Oliver hands and Oliver frowned at her. "Not round you're neck on. Put it on like a blindfold- like normal people do when they have a surprise for another person." Felicity was sure she looked extremely flushed which made her feel even more awkward. This whole situation seemed extremely cringeworthy but Oliver needed some light in the darkness of his crusade. Friends did this kind of thing, didn't they? At least Felicity thought they did. Felicity thought it weird that she even classed Oliver as a friend since she had known him for basically no time at all.
"I don't really do this sort of thing," he said uncomfortably.
Felicity immediately relaxed. "Why not? Even vigilantes need a bit of fun in their lives," she protested. At that moment, Felicity realised that the problem was that Oliver was scared of putting on the blindfold. He was scared of obscuring his eyesight. Vision was a senses he relied on heavily and without it he would be helpless. Oliver was scared that he would miss seeing someone attack them. Before this, Felicity hadn't realised how damaged Oliver was. Yes, he dressed up in a Robin Hood costume and put arrows rich people, but he had always seemed so strong and stoic, never as vulnerable as she saw him just now. Felicity struggled to comprehend how Oliver must of survived everything that had went on in the last five years.
"Trust me," Felicity murmured, squeezing his hand. With a little more coaxing she managed to tied the scarf securely, obscuring Oliver's view. She led him carefully down the stairs and into the half lit arrowcave. "You can look now."
Oliver peeled off her scarf. "Felicity this is- this is..." Oliver wasn't sure why his mouth wasn't able to find the words to describe it. Or why he felt confused about the sight of the arrowcave being transformed. All he knew was that it was incredible how Felicity had managed to achieve this much in such a short period of time.
Felicity smiled at him. "I've still got to wire up some of the lighting." She slumped down into her chair out of exhaustion. "This is my chair by the way and you are not allowed to use it."
Oliver leant back against the steel table, his eyes still scanning the room to try and soak in its appearance. Then he focused his attention back on Felicity and placed his hand on her shoulder. Felicity thought it was a very intimate gesture for a man who she had only really known since last night, but it illustrated how much he trusted her already. "Thank you Felicity." Oliver was still at a loss of words. "It's- it's perfect."
Felicity shook her head at him. Five minutes ago he had been almost ready to eat her alive but now he had suddenly turned back into the adorable Oliver 'puppy dog' Queen. The world really was a very strange place.
"And I'm sorry for yelling at you," Oliver softly murmured, apologised in his special tone he only reserved for Felicity.
"You spent five years in hell Oliver. I think I can just manage to forgive you," Felicity smiled. However, Oliver face darkened at her words so she decided to change the topic. "I just can't figure out what that is meant to be?" Felicity pointed at a bar sitting upon iron rungs.
Olive looked at where she was pointing. "That is a salmon ladder."
"Well that explains everything," Felicity sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. Because of course she knew what a salmon ladder was.
"Watch," Oliver called shaking his head at her sarcasm. He pulled off his jacket and began to take off his top. Felicity was going to turn her back but caught sight of the scars on his body. She winced slightly at how painful they looked. No wonder Oliver had been so scared of putting the blindfold on. It looked as if he had been tortured and beaten hundreds more times than she cared to count. Even with the scars and tattoos, Felicity thought he had a rather good looking chest and abs and well everything.
Oliver pulled himself up onto the metal bar of the salmon ladder to show Felicity how it worked. It seemed to basically a pull up jump. Oliver managed to go up and down the salmon ladder with great precision, although Felicity wasn't sure why he needed to be shirtless (not that she was complaining because well his abs we're pretty amazing especially when he was working out).
"You want a go?" Oliver asked once he had finished. To Felicity's surprised he didn't seem to be out of breath although there was a slight gleam of sweat which had appeared on his skin. She stepped back in horror when Oliver suggested that she should have ago. "No? Okay then you can skip straight to the self defence classes."
Felicity groaned. "You know I'm really tired and my back has just developed this sort of ache." Felicity caught sight of Oliver's face which was definitely not amused in the slightest. She was going to have to work a lot harder to get him to stop brooding. "Right. I'll just go and get changed. Just right over there. Right in the bathroom."
...
"Oliver?" Felicity questioned as she walked back down into the arrowcave to find him clutching a gun. It had to be part of her training as she doubted that Oliver would ever use a gun against any criminals that invaded the arrowcave.
"If you were to come down here to find a person pointing a gun at you, what would you do?" Oliver asked, pointing the gun at her.
"Run," Felicity gulped. She didn't really understand why Oliver was asking her this as she wasn't an expert at all on anything to do with combat.
Oliver went onto the computer and locked the door. "You're too late. What would you do now?"
"Hope that you are with me? If not then definitely make my peace with the world." Felicity was very confused at what Oliver was trying to accomplish, by doing this. It didn't seem very much like self defence to her but more like battle strategy.
"Come on. Felicity, I don't know much about you but you're smart. Rely on your brain," Oliver said, shaking his head.
"I would put my hands up in surrender and try to talk myself out of the situation. Secretly, I'd also try and phone you." Felicity looked at Oliver hoping to be met with some kind of approval.
"Yes, you could talk yourself out of the situation but let's say this time it doesn't work. Now the only chance you have is to defend yourself is to disarm the person."
"I get it," Felicity sighed. "I really need some self defence lessons."
"Try and disarm me," Oliver said. Felicity dubiously looked at him making Oliver smile slightly. "The gun has no ammunition and you're hardly going to hurt me. Just throw a punch or something." Felicity ducked down as to avoid the gun pointed directly at her and feebly made an attempt to get the gun from Oliver hands. However, Oliver saw this coming and quickly switched the gun to his other hand before 'gently' pushing Felicity back. Oliver's version of gentle was rough to Felicity and she just managed to keep herself standing.
"Commit Felicity," Oliver growled. "Whether or not you take me down depends on your survival. Aim to attack the face, neck or other vulnerable points of the body. Again!" Felicity went for a slower approach this time before quickly speeding up her move of ducking away from the gun and trying to knock it out of Oliver's hand. She then attempted to kick him behind his knee but Oliver deftly blocked her move and threw her back with a greater force than before which caused her to fall. Felicity clambered back to her feet straight away, determined to prove to Oliver that she was stronger than he thought.
"Good. Now that I've established what your weaknesses are, we can make a start on your actual training," Oliver announced, watching Felicity closely.
"I think we both knew before you tried to train me that my weakness is everything when it comes to combat," Felicity laughed. She would have been upset but she already knew that she was rubbish at fighting.
Oliver gently attempted to reassure her, "Hey Felicity. You just need practice. Once you get into shape, you'll pick it up easily." Felicity definitely was not won over by Oliver's argument. "You need to learn to have a strong core and foundation before I even try to teach you defence attacks."
The next half hour consisted of Oliver teaching Felicity how to try and keep her foundation strong. Once he had tried to get Felicity to maintain a strong core, Oliver tested it out by trying to get Felicity to stay standing whilst he tried to push her to the ground.
"I think that's enough for now," Oliver said eventually, taking a swig from his water bottle. Felicity climbed up from the ground, trying to work out if any part of her body didn't ache. Apparently, all of it did and she was also slightly concerned that the angry purple bruises which were being to form would cause people to ask unwanted questions.
"You aren't tired?" Felicity teased. To her surprise, Oliver smiled at her. She didn't understand it- sometimes when she teased him he would be furious and at other times he did actually find her funny.
"No. This was just the warm up for what Martin Somers has coming his way. Did you find anything on him or the Triad?" Oliver's smile vanished and he changed back into his usual serious self. Felicity dragged her exhausted body to the computer bench and brought something up on the computer screen.
"Yes. He most likely ordered the murder of Victor Nocenti or at least that is what his daughter Emily thinks. Victor Nocenti knew that Martin Somers was taking bribes from the Triad and apparently threatened to have him killed if he went to the police," Felicity explained, looking carefully at Oliver's expression. He had made a pact not to kill anyone and she was going to are sure he kept his promise.
Oliver seemed to sense Felicity's concern. "I keep my promises Felicity so I'm not going to to kill him. Just forward me the address." He asked as he turned to leave.
"Oliver," Felicity called. He looked into her eyes deeply worried as Felicity just pressed a small device into his hand. "It's just an earpiece so that we can keep in touch."
Before Oliver left, he surveyed Felicity seriously.
"You better be ready for your first mission Felicity."
And with those last few words, he was gone.
Please review! They never fail to make me smile! They almost make me smile as much as olicity in Arrow...
'Til next time faithful readers
Cavacookie