Chapter 11 – Family Matters
AN – Another huge chapter so I've broken it into two parts and will post at the same time as I remain determined to complete this before new shows this week! Again, you guys are the best and I so appreciate your continued patience and support! Always, a shout-out for my beta, Mic Riddy – thank you!
DISCLAIMER – Would you guys believe I've been lying to you all along and I do actually own Arrow?! Yeah, didn't think so! I play w/o permission or profit!
"Yeah, I think we are going to be watching dominoes fall quickly and we'll need to be ready to move fast. This means we need to rest now so lights out Team." Diggle gave the final order and again leaned back and closed his eyes.
Daylight came quickly to the Team and brought a flurry of activity as well. Sara had visited early as Oliver had sent her an update while the other two had slept. Felicity's examination went well and she was cleared for release once the paperwork was completed. Thea had arrived shortly before that and they had decided she should return to the hotel with them as they were going to share the truth with her. The explosion and QC break-in continued to dominate the news coverage and they were even forced to leave the hospital through a side entrance as their presence had been leaked to the press.
The group arrived back at the hotel by mid-morning and immediately made their way to their floor. Felicity kept Thea close to her while the guys performed their usual checks despite Felicity's security records being clear. When Thea opened in mouth to ask Felicity just smiled and motioned for her to sit and be quiet.
Once the guys returned they moved to stand together across from Thea. They exchanged a few looks with Diggle shrugging and Felicity biting her lip. Oliver quickly moved her to a chair as he and Diggle arranged themselves on either side of it.
Thea watched them in bemusement having never before witnessed the obvious Team bond. It seemed to her there was an invisible connection there that allowed them to read each other's mind, anticipate needs, and simply operated as one single unit. Her attention was currently focused on Felicity so she was surprised when Oliver stepped forward and cleared his throat.
"I don't want to lie to you anymore Speedy. We don't want to lie to you." He stopped then and again exchanged looks with other two before he continued with their encouragement. "Slade didn't lie to you. I am the Arrow, we are actually." Oliver motioned to include Felicity and Diggle.
"Go Team Arrow!" Felicity threw in to lighten the tension that currently filled the room. Oliver glared for a moment then quickly replied to her.
"Didn't I say to stop using that name?" He continued to look at her with narrowed eyes even though he wanted to smile.
"Yep, you did!" Felicity confirmed with a smile and a shrug.
Diggle rolled his eyes at their antics even though he knew they were trying to lessen the tension and even give Thea a few moments to process the information.
Thea simply continued to watch them as her brain scrambled to make sense of his words. Ollie is the Arrow?! How can that be? Thea replayed events in her mind – her brother's return, the arrival of the Vigilante, the police investigation, the destruction of the Glades.
"Mom shot you? She shot the Vigilante…that was you?" Thea gasped.
"Well, yes but—" Oliver began but that's when Felicity interrupted him.
"I found him in the backseat of my car – I even helped John save him." Despite the seriousness of the memory, Felicity still smiled as she marked that as her start on the Team. "I always consider that my Team Arrow orientation. I had helped before but that was without knowing the secret."
Thea could hear the amusement and pride in the other woman's voice and couldn't decide if she had taken a few more pain meds or if she was actually crazy. Before she could make that determination Oliver continued.
"Diggle was already helping me at that point but that was when Felicity joined us – at least to help search for Walter." Oliver paused after that confirmation and simply waited for Thea to speak.
For her part, Thea's mind was again scrambling to catch up. In some ways it made perfect sense and in other ways it was simply inconceivable that her big brother was the Arrow. Walter's disappearance, The Glades – ROY!
"You shot Roy!" Thea stood up to scream that accusation. "You SHOT Roy!" Thea turned away and paced a few steps before another memory came to mind and she turned and continued more softly. "Then you came in to help him…or rather you brought Diggle in to help him. Why did you shoot him?" Thea was pleading for answers now, trying to understand.
Oliver again cleared his throat and swallowed with difficulty. "I was trying to scare him away. He had helped out a bit but he was getting in over his head and he wouldn't listen to my warnings. I was trying to protect him, protect you."
Thea had glared at him throughout that explanation but now confusion replaced the anger. She was torn between her initial anger and appreciation. She had thought Roy had taken some foolish risks herself and had wanted to stop him too. Not with an arrow though, she thought as the anger won out.
"You had no right Ollie – none to interfere in his life or mine—" Thea's rant was abruptly cut off when Felicity stood and spoke.
"That's enough Thea! You need to listen to everything before you rush to judgment. You also need to try and see this from Oliver's point of view. Now sit back down!" Felicity used her loud voice and saw Thea's eyes widen in surprise.
Thea was shocked to hear the authority in Felicity's voice but even as she took her seat she saw that neither Oliver nor Diggle seemed surprised. She forgot about that though when Oliver continued.
"There is more Thea. Slade was on the Island with me – he's back now for revenge. It's complicated. What you need to know is that he was injected with a serum that increased his strength, allowed him to heal from what should have been life-ending injuries, basically made him invincible but it also warped his mind."
Oliver paused again as he dreaded having to tell Thea about Roy. He felt Felicity take his hand and turned to see her smile at him. He returned her smile and look over to Diggle who nodded. With their support he again turned to Thea and continued speaking.
"Slade started testing Starling City residents – those people Sin got you guys to research? Those were Slade's first victims. Not everyone survives the injection…but Roy did." Oliver held his sister's eyes and saw the moment she processed the last three words. The fear on her face as she collapsed back into the chair would not be something he would easily forget.
Felicity released Oliver's hand and moved to kneel in front of Thea. "Oliver has been training him so he can learn control – he doesn't have to end up like Slade. I think Slade's grief drove him mad, not the Mirakuru, that's the name of the serum but that's not relevant right now. Thea, Roy broke up with you to protect you. He loves you. He hadn't learned control and there were a few incidents that made us all fear that he would unintentionally hurt someone, hurt you." Felicity paused as she saw Thea wasn't able to understand her and she turned to Oliver hoping he could reach his sister.
Thea just sat in shock as she tried to focus on Felicity. It seemed she was far away though and Thea couldn't seem to understand the words. Oliver's voice penetrated the fog and Thea turned to find him kneeling in front of her as well.
"Thea, Speedy, are you okay?" Oliver saw the pale skin and glassy eyes and knew Thea was in shock – what he didn't know was how to help her.
Thea continued to stare at Oliver and finally understood their words, in theory at least. It was very hard to comprehend that your boyfriend had been poisoned and yet survived with superhuman strength and healing power. The light post, the arrow! Thea remembered seeing Roy protect her mom and knew that even then she didn't understand how he had the strength and after the Vigilante, Oliver, had shot him he had made a miraculous recovery. She also remembered the strange behavior, the hand tremors and headaches he had tried to hide from her. Just like with Oliver, it all did make sense now even if she didn't actually like either truth. Be careful what you wish for, Thea thought with a harsh laugh.
"I wanted the truth so I guess I can only blame myself, right?" Thea pushed up from her seat which forced both Felicity and Oliver to stand and back away. She started pacing again as she continued to try and figure out what everything meant, what she was supposed to do.
"You know just a week ago I had a relatively normal life all things considered. Now though I've been kidnapped by a psychopath, I found out my dad wasn't my dad and that everyone in my family knew and lied to me, my boyfriend broke up with me because apparently he's some evil superhero who could kill me! Oh and my brother is the Vigilante, Arrow, whatever, that the whole city talks about as either a criminal or a superhero! Have I left anything out?!"
There was a moment of silence before Oliver spoke up in a calm voice. "No, I think that's about it."
Thea couldn't stop the hysterical laughter even if she tried, even as tears streamed down her face. Felicity approached as she had at the cemetery and spoke softly to her. "Actually you did leave a few things out: your boyfriend who still loves you can learn control and is trying to help us defeat Slade, you have a brother who loves you…a brother who does happen to be the Arrow so you also get the support of Team Arrow. Very few people can say that Thea." Felicity smiled as she closed her arms around Thea and held the girl as she continued to cry quietly for several minutes.
"How do you deal with all of this?" Thea asked as she pulled away and swiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream." Felicity replied easily which made Thea laugh for real and Oliver and Diggle grin. "We'll send the boys out to get some later, okay?"
"So what happens now? You are going after Slade?" Thea questioned fearfully as she remembered what Felicity had said about Roy. "Wait, if Roy is helping you where is he now?"
"We don't actually know where he is." Felicity spoke hesitantly and turned to Oliver for support.
"He was very angry that you were in danger – he blamed me and left. We only saw him when he came back to the foundry with Slade." Oliver knew how that sounded and when Thea's eyes widened and filled with tears he continued on quickly without sharing more details of that confrontation. The Team had agreed that Thea didn't need all of the details at once. "We don't know how he got with Slade but even though Slade considers him a friend Roy is trying to help us."
"More like a trophy – someone else besides you, Thea, that he took from Oliver." Felicity added in an angry mutter.
Thea looked at her and then realized that it was all about Oliver but he was the one suffering the most. She had hurt him when she had left. Roy had left too. Felicity had been put in the hospital because of the explosion. "The explosion – was that Slade too?"
"Yes – again just taunting Oliver. He considers this a game to make him suffer as much as he can before he kills him." Diggle spoke for the first time in several minutes as he wanted Thea to understand the danger Oliver faced and the burdens he carried.
"Why does he hate you so much?" Thea asked as she turned to Oliver. She wanted to understand, to support but there was still so much she didn't know.
"Thea, there's too much to tell right now but you have to believe that Slade is crazy and he's wrong. Oliver doesn't deserve any of this and we will stop Slade." Felicity spoke up quickly as she wanted to protect Oliver, protect him from having to relive the Island and Shado's death, protect him from Thea's judgments.
Thea's first reaction was annoyance and she glared at Felicity before she turned away from all three of them. She walked toward the window and stared in silence for several moments hoping they would cave and share more. As she stood there she thought about all she had just learned, all she knew, and all she had seen in just the last couple of days. She remembered the closeness of these three people, she remembered Felicity's kindness and revelations at Tommy's grave, she remembered the feel of Oliver's love when he hugged her. She smiled to herself and turned back to the three.
"What can you tell me then? How can I help you win?"
At that same moment, several of Felicity's computers beeped loudly and Diggle's phone rang. Felicity moved away quickly to the other room as did Diggle after he looked to Oliver and said, "Charlie."
Thea looked at her brother and smiled again. "You're the only one not saved by the bell. Talk to me!"
Oliver gritted his teeth but apparently he was the only one left. "I didn't mean to lie to you at the hospital but I wanted to speak to Felicity and Diggle. Us telling people needs to be a group decision so I can't make those calls alone anymore, not even for you Speedy."
Thea was surprised that was what he chose to say first considering all the recent surprises. She realized that in many ways she didn't even know her own brother but she also realized that she still loved him, trusted him, and wanted to get to know him.
"So you don't lie going forward, right? We'll talk more?" Thea asked.
"I can't promise that Thea. What we do is dangerous and the closer you are the more likely you'll get caught in it like you did with Slade. I don't want to be responsible for you getting hurt." Oliver kept his eyes on hers and hoped she would understand.
Again, Thea felt the spark of anger but she saw the fear in her brother's eyes and pushed it down. "How about we talk about the details later? What can you tell me now? What can I do to get a little revenge on Slade myself?" Thea tried to inject some confidence and humor in her voice to make this easier on both of them but Oliver quickly shook his head no.
"There's nothing you can do but stay away and stay safe." Oliver knew he shouldn't be surprised that Thea wanted to help but the very thought made his blood run cold. Before Thea could argue Felicity came back into the room and Oliver felt he had just been saved.
"I've decrypted the files on the flash drive and we have account numbers! We can finally track the funds and hopefully figure out just who is a minion for Slade! Oh, I also have some search results back from QC. Isabel is still involved in the Bratva – I don't have details yet but I have a lot more to go on."
Diggle had intentionally waited until Felicity was ready to return and now spoke up as he rejoined the group.
"That was Charlie. The entire QC network has crashed. To quote him, 'The she-wolf is on a rampage.' I told him to lay low." Diggle was chuckling now and Oliver and Felicity quickly joined him.
"She-wolf? Isabel Rochev – QC CEO?" Thea asked as she tried to follow along.
"The one and only! Charlie is a QC security guard and he is not a big fan of Ms. Rochev." Felicity supplied the info and then continued. "I need to get back to researching—"
"You need to rest – you can take two computers into the bedroom with you." Oliver interrupted which caused Felicity to glare at him before she nodded and spun away. He followed with a grin on his face.
"So are they always like that?" Thea couldn't resist asking as she needed to find the silver lining in all this mess and if her brother had found love with Felicity that would be a silver lining. It was obvious something was going on now but Oliver and Sara had just broken up and Ollie himself told her he hadn't talked to Felicity. Thea was puzzled but still laughed when Diggle responded.
"Sometimes worse." Diggle advised.
"How long?" Thea already knew they acted like more than friends but she didn't want to believe either would have acted on their feelings while Oliver was with Sara. She desperately wanted that silver lining and couldn't help hoping as she waited for Diggle's response.
"How long have they been like that? Since the beginning." Diggle could easily follow Thea's thought process as her face fell so he continued quickly. "How long since they knew or admitted it? That hasn't actually happened yet." Diggle grinned when Thea turned to him with a dumbfounded expression.
Thea burst out laughing – how could her playboy brother misunderstand the obviously strong attraction between them? How could someone of Felicity's genius IQ miss the obvious as well? Thea could easily think of a dozen ways to tease both of them and that was definitely a silver lining; however, Diggle's next words burst that bubble.
"Oliver will want you to go back to the Mansion. We have extra security there for you." When Thea started shaking her head no, Diggle used the argument that usually worked on Felicity. "You would be doing it for Oliver, Thea. This isn't easy, it is dangerous and if he is distracted by worrying about you…"
Thea glanced up in fear as Diggle let the sentence trail off. She was smart enough to know he was manipulating her but it didn't seem to matter as she didn't want to be the reason Ollie got hurt. Thea stopped as with that thought she realized that this must be just a small part of the pressure her brother would have felt from all sides – trying to do what was right, risking his own life, trying to protect others. She gave Diggle a nod of acceptance even as she also accepted that while she didn't agree with all of her brother's choices she could understand them a bit better now.
"Can I tell them good bye?" Thea only realized she had asked for permission from a man who was virtually a stranger to her after she said the words.
"Go on in." Diggle suppressed a laugh as he could see the young woman's annoyance with herself for even asking.
