Disclaimer: See chapter one
Please see my A/N below for further information.
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Chapter 24 – Shocks
Felicity sat on top of her shadowed barrel, watching the green-clad form circle around the red-hooded Roy and his bowl of water, a slightly amused but concern smile playing over her lips. She had not missed the tremors that had shook the young man's bodies following each water bowl exercise – nor the fact that they seemed to worsen each time that he lost his temper.
She was also quick to notice that Oliver had not missed them either and was growing concerned by how fast they seem to come on. She quickly turned back to the conversation, even as a silent notification made itself known on the miniature tablet she now carried hidden inside her jacket.
"I knew someone like you..." He paused for a moment and for a second, she almost came out of shadowed spot to move to his side but he continued, "Someone injected with the mirakuru. He was my friend and it warped his mind to the point I didn't even know him."
"Then how come I've never heard of him or this mirakuru..." Roy shrugged in slight disdain at what he was hearing, the disbelief was clear in his voice and before she even knew she was moving the Shadow moved to stand behind the Arrow, her hand on his back.
When she spoke however, only he heard what she had to say. "He doesn't know what you went through, archer boy. Dig a little deeper into your own patience." She then turned to the young man watching them and spoke clearly. "Return to your duties, Master Harper, you will be contacted," As he started to walk away, she spoke again. "Continue with the water bowl in your own time, Master Harper, it is more essential to your well-being than you may ever know."
As he started to walk away again, she also called after him once more. "And remember, I always know what is going on." This time she clearly referenced the man Roy had placed in the hospital that Oliver himself had referred to when Roy broke the bowl and table in a fit of anger.
As the door closed behind him, Felicity moved to stand so that she could look up into Oliver's eyes, resting her hands on his chest. "Oliver..."
"I don't know if I'm getting through to him." He caught her hips with both his hands, making sure the wooden bolo stick did not poke into her ribs. "And it's worrying."
"And I think you need to give it a bit more time however..." She ran her hand through his short hair under the hood. "We need to get back to the Foundry. My tablet sent me an alert while you were talking and it's one I need my main system for."
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Reading her screens, Felicity watched with pleasure at Oliver took some of his frustration out with Roy on the salmon ladder – topless as always (something he had always done but now she knew was really for her pleasure because he knew just how much she loved watching him!)
Diggle, on the other hand watched with amusement, the pair of them watching each other even as they discussed the current situation with the young man they were so concerned for – that was until a certain sound from Felicity's computer had their immediate attention. "What was that?"
"Iron Heights, due to their security post-quake, I put an alert on their internal communications for a while." Felicity replied as she brought up the information.
Oliver jumped from the salmon ladder and moved to her side, asking as he did. "You hacked into a prison system network?"
"Is that judgement I'm hearing?" Felicity looked up at him as he slipped his arm around her waist, eyebrow raised almost in warning.
"Pride," Oliver kissed her swiftly before he ran the knuckles of his hand over her cheek, smiling that rare smile that was hers alone since he had returned from the island the first time and before they even remembered the truth. "What's happened?"
"Iron Heights just put out a BOLO for Ben Turner aka Bronze Tiger which BTW is a terrible nickname because tigers are not bronze." She sat down, his arm slipping to her shoulders as she did so.
"Turner escaped?" He asked as he moved his hand to the back of her neck, feeling the tension there.
"Killed ten guards on the way out," Felicity glanced up at him before turning her gaze to Diggle as he spoke. "I thought that would have made the news."
"Iron Heights are better at keeping secrets than they are at keeping prisoners." Her disgust was clear and Oliver squeezed her shoulder. "Something really needs to be done about that."
"Any idea where he's headed," He asked her.
"No," She looked up at him and for a moment they had one of their conversations that so amazed anyone that caught them – eye contact and no speech – before she nodded slightly – something that only Diggle caught as Oliver bent down and kissed her forehead. "I'll see what I can find and let you know."
"I take it that means a night in for you!" Diggle murmured as Oliver moved to the showers, taking his suit with him. Felicity just glared at him slightly and he merely laughed slightly before moving to his own search networks.
With a silent huff, she returned to her screens to begin her search for one of the most dangerous men to escape the escapable prison.
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Oliver stared at the young man who had just asked to go out for one night on patrol – just so he could understand why he was being asked to train the way that he was.
On one hand he could understand his reasons for asking but on the other hand, he also knew that the younger man was such a loose cannon at the moment and... Well instincts were warning him that it was not such a good idea. It also didn't help that he had Felicity screech slightly in his ear – making it clear that even when she was not present physically, she was still listening to everything that went on when he was training Roy, his ever continuous shadow.
When his communicator buzzed and Diggle started talking, Oliver was glad that his facial expressions were being hidden from Roy as the news his other partners brought him was not what he had wanted to hear.
"Oliver, he's taken the plans for Malcolm Merlyn's house." The worry was clear in her voice.
"What would Turner want with Merlyn's house?" He asked as Roy watched him from beside the dummy and decided that he had had enough of being ignored.
"Who's that you're talking to... wait, let me guess, it's one of those things I'm not to know about." He asked.
Oliver glared at him before snapping, "Someone missing that's been here every other session!" Even Roy looked slightly ashamed at that. "Someone I put in prison has escaped and I have an idea where he may be heading."
He looked at the young man for a moment, hearing Felicity in his ear, "Its nuts but I can see where it could be what he needs." Her sigh was clear, "Alright but if you get hurt because of it..." Her warning was clear and he had to work hard not to smile.
"I think it's you that going crazy Oliver, not Roy," Diggle added, "Just remember, I'm going to stand behind her when she makes you pay."
Oliver rolled his eyes at that and then fastened his gaze on Roy once more. "Do you have one of your hoodies?"
"Do you seriously have to ask?" Roy shot back.
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Felicity rose to her feet as she heard Oliver storm down the stairs of the lair and turned to look at him.
"Oh-oh, angry face!" Seeing the look on his face, she glanced at Diggle for a moment and found him moving towards his own section of the lair. They shared a look for a moment and it was clear that he felt that she was the best person to deal with their archer at that moment so he was stepping back out of the way but to a position where he could listen.
Oliver looked at her for a moment and before she knew it, she was in his arms as he buried his face in her neck. "Turner got away." His muffled voice actually tickled.
"I know." She murmured as she ran her fingers through his hair. "But that's not what's really worrying you, is it?"
"He got away because Roy lost it and I had to stop him before he killed someone." He replied as he sat down on her chair, drawing her with him. "There was a look in his eye that reminded me of..."
He stopped as she continued for him. "That reminded you about Slade when he found out about Shado." She tightened her hold around his shoulders, pressing her lips to his forehead as he held her even tighter for a moment. "You will get through to Roy, Oliver." She drew back so that she could look into his eyes. "I don't know how, I don't know when but you will."
Her reassuring tone reached him and he sighed, and then nodded before pulling out the watch that had been taken from one of the men that had been with Turner. She looked at it then at him. "You always bring me the nicest of things." It was enough to make him smile even in his anger at the situation with Roy (and Diggle actually sighed on seeing it, not that he would admit it, knowing that she had managed to get through to him).
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Oliver stood at the steps of the lair after his latest attempt to talk to Roy and actually winced. For a moment he was absolutely sure that it was not because of being pushed through the air to land in a table by the angry young man but because he was about to face the anger of his girlfriend.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and moved into the lair – only to find her waiting calmly with a couple of cold packs in her hand near her chair. She merely pointed to it and waited until he was sitting down before firmly (and yes, that was more firmly than he really wanted it to be just at that moment) on his neck before handing him a second pack.
She then walked away, saying in tone that had both men wincing. "You both scoffed when I said we should have invested in an x-ray machine in here." She then turned back to her computers. "And before you ask, no we don't have a result on the fingerprint yet and I've had to expand my search to Interpol and other such agencies."
She then promptly ignored them.
"I think I would have preferred her angry voice." Oliver muttered as he turned to Diggle, who even with the seriousness of the situation had to hide a grin before he spoke.
"Oliver, I know you're concerned about Roy but there are just some people who can't be saved."
Oliver shook his head (although he regretted it immediately) "I won't let Roy turn out like Slade, Diggle, I can't."
Before anyone else could say anything, Oliver's personal phone rang and Diggle picked it up, saw Thea's picture and immediately handed it to him, "Yeap!"
"Are you near the club?" Thea's voice was clear to all three of them and to Diggle and Felicity's amusement; Oliver actually lay back in the chair to look up at the ceiling that was also the floor of Verdant.
"Pretty close, why?" He asked as Felicity threw aside her mad with him and move to his side. Without even thinking about it, he slipped his free arm around her waist and drew her closer.
"Laurel's here; she doesn't look good."
Felicity immediately nodded to the screen behind Diggle and he pulled up the cameras that they had covering the club. There on the screen they could see the brunette Lance throwing back her drink as if it was water.
"As if this day hadn't been bad enough," Felicity sighed, resting her head on his. "Now we have to face she who I prefer not to talk to." Oliver immediately tightened his hold around her waist as he told his sister they would be there in ten minutes.
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The couple stepped into the club, having gone out of their secret entrance to walk around to the front entrance and found Thea waiting for them. "I'm sorry; I know you were on a date." She said as she and Felicity hugged each other in greeting, "But she's... well, she's..."
"Overindulged," Felicity murmured as she and Oliver shared a look before her tablet dinged in her bag. "Go and deal with Ms Lance while I deal with this."
Oliver moved swiftly through the club to where Laurel was trying to get another drink from the bar tender. "Laurel, what are you doing? Have a coffee."
"I'm where it's happening; this is after all a happening place." She replied as she took the drink from the bartender only to find it being taken from her by Thea as she came up on her other side.
"Go home Laurel." She said in a sad voice.
"Thea Queen telling me enough is enough, now that is rich." She burst into drunken laughter but was not quite so far gone to not realise that neither of the Queen siblings were impressed by her supposed joke and the look on her face became nasty. "Fine, bar me from your bar, that seems to be today's theme, disbarment."
Felicity moved closer, resting her hand on Oliver's back to let him know that she was there even as he spoke to the brunette. "Laurel, you're being disbarred?"
"Yeah, looks like my law career is over." Laurel leant back against the bar, Oliver's position preventing her from seeing the blonde. "Hey, perhaps Thea could give me a job as a waitress or Ollie..." She turned to look at him and caught sight of Felicity for the first time. "I could come and be your secretary..." This time the look on her face was really nasty. "Of course you would have to fire her."
"Hello Laurel, it's always such a pleasure to see you as well." Felicity replied in such a sweet tone her partner shuddered at the implied undertones. "And I'll think I'll be keeping my job if it all the same to you."
Oliver knew a threat when he heard one and turned slightly so that he could pull Felicity to his side, silently telling Laurel his opinion of her last idea. He then snatched her car-keys out of bag and handed them to his sister. "Get her a cab, Thea."
"Yeah, now go, try and rescue what's left of your evening with Fee." Thea reached around Laurel's back and squeezed Felicity's hand while she squeezed back and smiled at her.
As they walked away, Felicity rested her head on Oliver's shoulder as he tightened his arm around her waist. "The fingerprint was in Interpol's database," She said softly. "The guy worked for a man called Milo Armitage, a black market arms merchant."
"He's going to try and sell the device."
The couple stopped and Felicity moved so that she was standing in front of him. "Oliver, he here in Starling City, he filed a manifest at the docks." She raised her hand and cupped his cheek. "I'll get you the slip number, just come home to me, that's all I ask and Oliver... you know who you need to call about..." She nodded her head in the direction of the bar where they could see Thea trying to persuade Laurel to move away.
He nodded and kissed her swiftly before letting her return to the lair, then pulled out his phone. As soon as it was answered, he merely said. "I've just run into Laurel, there's something wrong, she needs you, come home," and hung up.
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All Felicity and Diggle could do was watch in stunned silence as the action on the docks went down, Diggle running arm around her shoulders as they watched the Bronze Tiger impale Oliver with his claw.
He was however stunned when Oliver removed his hood and mask to reveal his identity to the young man to get his help in destroying the earthquake device, "What is he doing?" and even further stunned by her reply.
"What's necessary to save him, just like he said he would?" Felicity rose to her feet, "I'm going to get the med supplies ready."
"Felicity..." Diggle turned to look at her but she just held up her hand to stop him.
Oliver returned to a strangely quiet lair and changing out of his suit, sat quietly as Felicity dealt with the claw wound he had received from Turner. He was not surprised either when Diggle broke it. "Are you sure that was the right thing to do, Roy's not exactly thinking straight these days and now he knows your secret, he's a loose cannon."
"I know and all I was thinking tonight was that I need his power, his strength, not the consequences..." He looked into Felicity's eyes and held out his hand to her, drawing her to his uninjured side as he continued speaking, still staring into the blue eyes that said so much to him. "On the island, Sara said that love was the most powerful emotion, and we've seen that with the way we found each other."
Both Felicity and Diggle nodded at that as she laid her head on Oliver's uninjured shoulder, having been drawn onto his lap as he spoke.
Oliver turned to look at Diggle slightly even as he rested his head on Felicity's. "The Arrow couldn't get Roy to think about Thea tonight but I could."
There was literally nothing Diggle could say in response to that and he merely nodded. He had seen only too well with his own eyes what the power of love could do with the pair before him.
It was therefore with great amusement he listened to Oliver lead the young man into the Lair the following evening. "Is this the part where you kill me because I know your secret?"
The amusement in Oliver's voice as he replied as Felicity hiding a giggle behind her hand, "You actually think I would kill my sister's boyfriend."
"Well, you did shoot me in the leg, by the way," Roy pointed out as he followed Oliver down the stairs.
Oliver stopped and caught hold of his arm. "Roy, Thea can never know."
"Yeah, I get the feeling that would be the moment that you kill me."
Oliver nodded. "Trust that instinct."
"How many people know who you are, anyway?" Roy asked, his curiosity raised and clearly using this opportunity to ask as many questions as he could get away with – before Oliver threatened to kill him again – something he got the feeling was going to be a regular thing.
"Too many," Oliver caught his arm and pulled into the lair where Diggle and Felicity were waiting for them. He moved to Felicity's side and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her to his side as he introduced them. "But these are the only two that matter – John Diggle and Felicity Smoak."
Roy looked at them, slight astounded at seeing the man who he thought was a driver and bodyguard as well as the blonde he knew was Oliver Queen's assistant and girlfriend. "Does this group have a name, you know, like Team Arrow or something?"
"We don't call ourselves that." Oliver broke in even as Felicity elbowed him in the ribs as she said. "I do... occasionally."
"Stop," He glared at her but she just wrinkled her nose back at him.
"Whatever, welcome aboard." Diggle just rolled his eyes and stepped forward to shake Roy's hand.
"Yes, welcome." Felicity reached out to shake his hand as well before smiling impishly at Oliver. "Welcome to Team Arrow."
"FELICITY!"
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Yes, here we are, late on Saturday evening and the next chapter is going up, I could have waited until tomorrow but hey...
So Roy's now in the know and I was amazed how much there was to AAA this episode, remarkably sinceriously!
So there was only three reviews for the last chapter, so here's your chance - Review this one and the previous and watch the number shoot up! New reviewers will be named in thanks ;op