Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Please see my A/N below for further information.
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Chapter 10 – Not A Doll Person
Oliver couldn't stop himself from smiling as Felicity literally grabbed the file he had brought with him out of his hands before he had even stepped of the last step into the lair. He barely had time enough to kiss her on the forehead before she danced across the floor to her computers. As he watched her, Diggle moved to his side. "Lance is not taking this well, I take it."
"He's feels responsible having put him away the first time." Oliver replied as he took his gloves off. "And he trusts us to help him."
"With our girl on the job, I'm sure that we will." Diggle moved over to the large computer screen and started reading the file documents as they came on line. Fifteen minutes later, Oliver walked from the back of the lair to him. "Did Lance's file give you anything?"
"The last time Mathis was active, he racked up a kill every three days." Diggle replied as he moved several documents across the touch screen.
"That's gives us two days to catch him, if... when it happens." Oliver clenched his fist and hit the top of the screen slightly.
"The only thing is, there's nothing here so far to link them from what I can see." Diggle moved the girls' pictures. "All I've got is that they are young and the rough same age."
Felicity finished putting the documents in the computer and folded her arms around her waist as she looked at the screen in front of her. "I've always thought that porcelain dolls were creepy but these, these are so proving I am not a doll person."
Oliver moved to her side, slipping his arm around her waist, holding her to his side as Diggle joined them to look at the screens. "Mathis has got no family and there's no connection that I can see."
"But he does have a lawyer." Oliver said suddenly. "Felicity please ring Lance and see if he can get a meeting with him tonight."
Several hours later, he stormed back into the lair. "Lance got called away. A body was found an hour ago. Can it give us any forensics we can use?"
"CSI did a complete work-up but they sent it out to a private lab for analysis." Diggle replied as he moved so that Oliver could take his place at Felicity's side. "But there's a problem."
Oliver rested his hand on her shoulder,"Felicity?"
"Their servers are off-line. Apparently someone hacked too many police related systems last year." She replied frustrated as she again attempted to break-in.
"Then we do it like we did the Merlyn job." Oliver squeezed Felicity's shoulder as she groaned, catching the "Oh god, not Tarzan again!"...as he smiled even with the seriousness of the situation.
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The following day, Diggle watched in amusement as Oliver and Felicity did their best to stare each other down following her decision to be bait to catch Barton Mathis.
The previous evening had gone well; (after a slight argument about whether or not Felicity needed to be there in person, [giving Oliver a rare win to Diggle's never-ending amusement]) Lance and Oliver had slipped quietly into the private lab and even seeing her do her magic with the computers remotely had left the police officer with a sense of bemusement and wonder.
(Oliver had been so fluffed up with pride Diggle was almost glad that the current stand-off was happening if only to bring him down a couple of pegs).
"Oliver..." Felicity sighed, reaching up to cup his cheek for a moment, blue eyes blazing with her belief that she was in the right. "If you think about it, I'm the only option that we have."
He grabbed her by the hips, pulling her closer as he leant down to rest his forehead against hers. "Do you promise to follow every order we give you."
"Do you really think I would volunteer for something like this if I didn't know that you would be there every step of the way? I'm a genius remember." She sighed as she moved further into his embrace, her arms going round his neck as his snaked their way around her waist and lifted her off the ground so that they were now at eye-level.
Diggle chose that moment to fake-cough, covering his smile with his hand. "I take it that the decision has been made then."
"Call Lance, tell him we have a plan." Oliver sighed as Felicity rested her head on his shoulder, still being held in the air in his embrace, "...And a volunteer."
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Oliver burst into the lair and literally pulled Felicity off the med-bench into his arms. The last few hours had been torturous for him, watching as she had entered store after store as they wait for Mathis to make his move and then having to leave her, knowing that she had been hurt had almost killed him.
It didn't help that the conversation with Lance just before it had all kicked off kept going round his head.
Flashback
Lance had followed Felicity out of the last shop. "Just for the record, I'm not a huge fan of dangling innocent girls in front of psychopaths like meat."
Oliver had replied, his eyes never leaving the blonde form below. "She volunteered."
"Wow, she really must believe in you."
"She's more than she seems, Detective."The note of pride in his voice was difficult to hide even with the synthesiser. "Don't let her fragile looks fool you."
"SHE would like to remind you both that SHE can hear everything you're saying." Felicity had reminded them just before she had been grabbed.
End flashback
"Oliver, it's alright. Digg said I don't even have a concussion." Felicity buried her face into his neck, wrapping her arms around his waist to silently reassure him. "Did you get him?"
"Lance's call for back-up received too quick a response. It gave him time to escape." Oliver replied as he placed her back on the bench and then cupped her face, looking into her eyes, "Digg?"
"She'll be fine, Oliver, we just need to make sure she doesn't over do thing for the next couple of days to be safe." He replied from where he stood on the other side of the table. "What about Lance?"
"He's been set free but warned not to do it again." Oliver wrapped his arms around Felicity's waist again and she rested her head on his shoulder. "We've broken Mathis' pattern, unfortunately now all we can do is wait."
"Oh god, if there is one thing you hate doing, it's waiting." Felicity murmured against his neck.
"Felicity!" Oliver exclaimed even as Diggle burst into laughter.
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Felicity leant against Oliver's side, running her hand almost absently over his side as if unconsciously checking for wounds, even though she knew that there were none. "I'm glad that the Detective and..." She coughed slightly as she came to Laurel's name, much to the continuing amusement of Oliver and Diggle and she slapped both of them. "...Are safe but this woman in black leather...?"
"The way she keeps following you around and helping you out, there's something wrong about this woman." Diggle turned his head to one side as he caught a strange look cross Felicity's face.
"We've got to find her." Oliver said firmly as Felicity straightened slightly.
"To find her or to send her a thank you note?" She asked, poking him in the side.
"That depends..." He replied as he caught her hand to stop her from doing it again..
"On what?" She asked just as she poked him with her other hand.
"On whose side she's on." He replied as he caught her other hand and pulled them to him.
"Yeah, well, interesting though there," She responded even as she tried to pull them free,
"Why?" Diggle asked even as he did his best to hide his smile at their somewhat childish actions.
"Oliver's not the only common factor in the mysterious woman's appearances because I have to tell you, from what Oliver said, she didn't really need to kill Mathis or does this remind you of the behaviour of a certain person we both know when he returned to civilisation."
With that they both looked at Oliver, who merely raised an eyebrow at them in reply. "You think someone else is here from the Island."
"No Oliver." Felicity replied as she rested her hands on his chest. "I'm sure that someone else is here from the Island."
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And I can manage a cliff hanger after all! Stunned and shocked I am at that but then again this is Felicity the Amazon princess!
(Can anyone tell I'm a little biased to my own character! LOL)
That's it for this week folks! I hope you enjoy, please review!
And while you think about it, if you are a regular reviewer and the three/four of you know who you are, please leave one for Wizard's View as well ;op