Felicity trailed Geraldine on traffic cameras and relayed the information to Oliver.
"She's two blocks ahead of you, turning left."
"Got it—Gah!"
"What was that?"
"Pigeon."
"Don't do that to me!" Felicity clapped a hand over her heart.
She listened to Oliver grunt for a while as he crossed rooftops to stay out if sight. Finally, he reported, "I've got eyes on her."
"Good," Felicity responded.
The earbud clicked.
"What was that?" Felicity asked.
"Wasn't me," Oliver said. "Did y—"
The rest of his question disappeared in a burst of static. Seconds later, Felicity watched as the traffic feed cut out.
"Oliver?" she tried switching the comm off and on again. "Oliver! Mr. Queen!"
"What's up?" Diggle came over.
"It's Oliver," Felicity gasped. "I think something's wrong. His earbud went ourt and then I lost visual!"
Diggle grabbed his jacket. "Where did you lose him at?"
"Fourth and Jefferson," Felicity answered.
"Got it; I'm going after him—"
"No need." Oliver himself clumped down the stairs, scowling. He pulled the bud out of his ear and tossed it on the desk.
"I thought I told you to upgrade these," he berated Felicity.
"I did!" She insisted. "These are brand new! See? The packaging is still sitting at the end of the desk!"
Oliver folded his arms. "Then explain to me what happened out there."
Felicity plugged the receiver into the computer and ran a diagnostics check on it. When it finished, she threw up her hands. "I have no idea," she huffed. "Nothing is wrong with the equipment."
Oliver shook his head. "We have to be able to nab her without risk of interference."
"What about planting a bug on her?" Felicity retorted bitterly.
Oliver glanced at her. "I can't go out there on the ground; my face is too recognizable."
"I'll do it!" Roy cried.
Oliver smirked and shook his head, "You're still too risky; this job has to be done just right. Felicity," he pointed to her as she flinched, "you'll plant the bug, and as soon as it is activated, I'll herd her into an alley and bring her back here."
"While I what?" Diggle demanded, "Sit here and watch the monitor? What if something happens?"
Oliver shrugged, "Nothing is going to happen! I won't make a move till it's safe for me to do so, and even if we don't get her, at least she'll have a bug so we can track her." He cut off any further discussion by looking at Felicity. "Are you ready?"
She slipped on a heather-grey knit hoodie. "Ready," she replied.
Oliver and Felicity set off to Geraldine's last known location, a shopping strip, where Felicity maintained visual via a traffic cam angled on the entrance.
"Wait till she comes out," Oliver suggested, "then slip it on her."
"Purse or pocket?" Felicity was trying to steady her nerves by taking deep breaths, but it wasn't working.
"Pocket is fine, but purse would be better." He tapped the bud in his war to make sure it was secure. "I'll let you know when and where I'm in position."
"Okay." Felicity's voice still trembled, though her body was absolutely still and composed.
Oliver climbed the nearest fire escape all the way to the roof. From there, he vanished. Felicity knew that even if she looked she would not see him or have any idea where he went. Sometimes Oliver was way too creepy in "Hood-mode."
She resumed watching the store. At last, the dark-haired young woman emerged. Felicity fell in with the milling crowd walking past the store front. She dodged ever so slightly around moving bodies to catch the leather lip of Geraldine's purse and drop the bug inside.
"It's in," she muttered when she reached the end of the block. "Is it active yet?"
"Coming online," Diggle responded slowly. "And—we're green."
"Where is she now?" Oliver asked.
Felicity maintained sight of Geraldine as Diggle answered, "It looks like she just took off in the other direction."
"Wait, took off?" Felicity watched the easily-meandering girl. "No she's not, she's right in front of me!"
"I don't see her," Oliver stated.
Felicity looked fruitlessly toward the roofs as if she could make out Oliver's position.
"She's right—" Felicity watched as a motorcyclist pulled up to the curb and grinned at Geraldine, who frowned and kept walking. The cyclist swung off his bike and strode after her. He caught her elbow, and she swung at him. He gripped her arm, and she couldn't struggle out of his grasp.
"Guys?" Felicity spoke up, "I think there's a mugging going down."
Oliver swore, "Where?"
"Alley next to Gabrielle's."
"On my way. Felicity, meanwhile, find out what happened to that bug."
"It's headed back your way," Roy hollered. "It's—" he hesitated as the green blip disappeared. "Gone," he finished.
"Gone?" Felicity asked.
"Whoever had it must have found it," Oliver concluded.
Felicity peeked into the alley, but made sure she kept walking so whoever it was would not suspect.
"Oliver, I count six guys in that alley," she said.
"Make that eight," he answered, and she knew he'd arrived. Felicity glanced up to see the silent Hood, with bow drawn, waiting to take his shot.
Down in the alley, things suddenly went wrong. No one quite saw where he came from, but suddenly there was a small, fast person in a red knit hoodie, punching faces, twisting arms, and driving the thugs away from their victim, meanwhile providing an alternate target for their violence.
"Dammit, Roy!" Oliver barked, "I thought I told you to stay put! Now I can't get a clear shot!"
"I'm sitting right here!" Roy snapped back.
"He's with me, Oliver," Diggle confirmed.
"Well then who's that?" Oliver cried.
The thugs began to fight back, and Oliver suddenly noticed Geraldine slip around the corner opposite of where Felicity was waiting.
"Felicity stop her!" he called, but it was too late. Geraldine reached the other side of the crosswalk and boarded a waiting bus back into the city.
Oliver sighed and dropped from the fire escape. He dispatched the thugs in short order, driving them away from the red-hooded stranger. Feeling a sense of betrayal, he pulled back the hood to uncover the face.
Felicity walked up behind him.
"What's a girl doing here?" she cried incredulously as they surveyed the bruised and battered face and the tangle of dirty-blond hair under the hood. Instantly, Felicity backpedaled, "I mean, not that I'm being sexist or anything, girls can fight too, and after all, it's perfectly natural for a girl to have a girl bodyguard-"
Oliver shook his head and motioned for her to just shut up and help him.