Howdy everyone, I'd just like to point out that I love reviews – love 'em love 'em love 'em – so if you could drop one for me that'd be great! Short or long, good or bad, I'd really appreciate it. Anyways, you're not here to read a monologue of my love for reviews so let us get on with the story, yeah? A little less hanky panky and a little more action in this one (I should also probably tell you that the previous chapter was my first ever smut writing, how do you feel I did?)
Felicity was doing what she could almost always be caught doing, typing. But right now she wasn't behind her desk at the Foundry, saving the city in the only way she knew how. No, right now she was at work, silently cursing and thanking the gods simultaneously that she was Oliver's Executive Assistant.
At first, she hated it, thinking it would all be getting coffees and taking notes and keeping Oliver in check (the latter she did anyway,) but it wasn't nearly as bad as she had thought. She got to spend all day with Oliver, chewing on her pen lid in the way she knew drove him crazy as he watched her through the glass wall that separated them, desperately wishing it was his cock that her bright pink lips were wrapped around and not the black biro in hand.
The work load wasn't that bad either, she got paid more than she did down in IT and here she didn't have to fiddle under desks while guys checked out her ass as she did. Of course, Oliver did stare at her ass almost all of the time, appreciating both it and her long silky legs, but she didn't mind him doing it, not when she realised that she actually physically drools when he's hanging shirtless off of the salmon ladder.
"Package for Miss Felicity Smoak," the grey-clad delivery guy announced as he ambled towards the woman in question's desk, Felicity slipping out of her thoughts about Oliver's naked torso.
She smiled warmly, standing up behind her desk, "that would be me."
"Sign please."
Felicity did what was asked of her, leaving a neat trace of her signature on the bottom of the portable screen and taking the rectangular package from him, she murmured a thank you as he walked away, leaving her questioning what she had ordered recently. When nothing came to mind, she ripped the package open.
Inside was a black rectangular box, the colour becoming weary at the edges where the paint hasn't quite taken to the treated wood beneath. She took a moment to ogle the box, running a hand along the top where a series of 1's and 0's were carved into the surface, being the genius computer whizz she is, Felicity knew that it was Binary, the language of her people.
"01001111 – 01001001 – 01001110 – 01001011 - - 01000010 – 01001001 – 01001110 – 01000001 – 01010010 – 01011001"
She smiled as she read it aloud, "Pink Binary," lifting the lid of the simple box. Inside was a mask, similar in shape to Sara's, with only a thin frame and the same binary engraved around the eye sockets. Unlike everyone else's masks, this one had glass where the eyes should go. Felicity lifted it up to her face to peek through, taking her own glasses off and replacing them with the mask. As if by magic, she could see clearly, the glass obviously matching her prescription and she wondered how in hell Oliver managed to swing that without her help. It was pink in colour, a bright shade that perfectly matched that of her lips and she sighed in complete awe of the sturdy material in her hands, taking note of the way it tied at the back with white ribbon.
"You like it?" A voice asked to her left, jumping her out of her thoughts. She looked to where the voice had come from, drinking up Oliver's beautifully defined body wrapped in his faultlessly fitting suit.
"Oliver, it's…" she didn't know how to finish her sentence, for once unable to speak. She knew how hard it must have been for him, she was well aware of the fact that Oliver didn't like the thought of her hiding behind something, but Roy was right – for once – she was a vigilante like the rest of them, she went behind the law to serve justice. And what was a vigilante without a mask?
She didn't need to know anymore.
Felicity heard a slight laugh radiating from Oliver, something she never got tired of, knowing that only very few could elicit a true smile from him, "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you speechless."
She smiled back at him, "I love it, how could I not? Well I suppose some people wouldn't like it, you know 'cause it's pink, but I like pink, and I like the name too, I never would've thought of 'Pink Binary' it suits me really, and I'm impressed you got the translation right, thank god you did it word by word otherwise it wouldn't have made much sense, and… I'm babbling." She clamped her lips together, satisfied that she caught her outburst before it somehow took a turn for the worst, usually including an innuendo.
"There's my Felicity," Oliver spoke, so much more satisfied when she was babbling to his face, "so is the name okay with you?"
"Pink Binary," She mused, saying it again in a lower tone, trying to sound like Oliver's 'arrow voice' then she said it again like a robot, much to Oliver's surprise, and she spoke it again, and again, until finally, "I love it. In fact, I'm going to line all my hacks from now on with it, so my victims will know it's me."
The next few hours passed smoothly, Oliver having what seemed like several hundred contracts to hand sign and Felicity busy constructing notes, taking every opportunity to open the black box once more and look at the pink mask inside of it.
It wasn't until after lunch that their day took a turn for the worst.
Oliver and Felicity were sat side by side in the conference room, Felicity listening to the head of Applied Science's ideas for a new task force, a joint expedition for designing new technology opposed to just using it. Felicity was intrigued by the idea instantaneously, it made sense for them to broaden their horizons, especially since Oliver only just about got the company back. She wanted to hear more, but that's when she felt it, his hand on her kneecap.
She looked over to her boss – boyfriend – and gave him a warning look, knowing full well what the bored expression on his face had in store for her. Oliver didn't return the look; in fact he barely turned to her to acknowledge his warning. Instead, his large hand with calloused fingertips slowly travelled up the inside of her leg. She squirmed slightly, her head telling her to push his hand off but her body telling her to let him continue his cruel ministrations.
The head of Applied Sciences sat down, letting the spokesman for the IT department have his say, talking what tech they could comprise. Felicity tried desperately to listen, more than intrigued at what her old IT co-worker had to say.
When Oliver's hand found the hem of her skirt, he stopped for a moment. Felicity thought it was over, grateful that she wouldn't be put in the position to choose between technology and Oliver, she'd chose him, she always did, but that didn't mean she'd be happy about it. Boy was she wrong, with no expression whatsoever plastered across his face, Oliver's skilled fingers slid under the purple fabric at her legs, pausing in place to draw patterns on her milky skin.
"…And I'm certain that Miss Smoak would agree at how irreplaceable such technology can be," the IT specialist spoke up, catching Felicity's attention briefly for her to smile and nod in agreement.
Oliver's hands trailed north with excruciating slowness, trying to draw out the experience and see how far he could push the blonde. He heard her cover a moan with a hearty cough, reaching over for her water to try to keep her cool. Oliver noted just how well she was doing until a finger rubbed between her legs, sending a less disguisable moan out of her pretty pink lips.
"Are you okay Miss Smoak?" One of the other men spoke softly, she didn't have the concentration to find out who, she was far too busy feeling the pressure of Oliver's fingers against her aching core.
She nodded, trying to find the correct words through her lack of concentration, "just a headache," she squeaked, earning a small, hidden laugh from Oliver, "please continue."
Oliver knew she didn't mean him, but he took the bait all the same. Watching her bring her glass of water back up to her lips, he leant in as if he wanted to discuss the matter in hand, which she supposed in a way, he did, "oh I will."
Felicity chocked on the liquid in her mouth, spitting some of it back into the glass in pure disbelief that he could be so dedicated to a cause. He slipped the wet fabric to the side, stroking around the area she wanted him most but never quite touching. She pushed forwards on her chair, urging him to stop his meticulous teasing despite where they were.
Oliver looked to the notepad on the table in front of Felicity, she had been taking notes throughout the meeting but now, her biro was stabbing into the page, unmoving. He felt a certain level of pride that he could take her mind off of her favourite subject (excluding that of his abs.)
Felicity was biting into the side of her mouth, drawing blood as she felt Oliver's index finger ease its way slowly between her wet folds. She reminded herself to get him back for this later as well as thanking him for the mask, she guessed she'd do them at the same time. His finger was pulled backwards, to the point where it was almost out, but Felicity didn't feel it thrust back in.
Instead she heard the glass wall behind her desk smash, an arrow flying through the window and landing, perfectly skewering her screen.
Oliver stood up automatically, ready for an attack and Felicity soon left her seat to follow his gaze to her desk, after beginning to form coherent thoughts again of course. "Do you mind if we continue this at a later date, gentleman?" Oliver asked the two men stood the other side of the conference room table.
"Of course," One spoke, neither Felicity nor Oliver truly listening to whoever it was.
Diggle ran into the room moments later, having heard the smash from the floor below and rushing to the rescue. He quickly ushered the two gentlemen out and off of the floor, leaving Oliver and Felicity to head towards the wreckage.
An arrow was shot straight into the middle of the screen and Oliver removed it straight away. It was green, one of his and a yellow post-it note was pierced through, dangling precariously off of the shaft.
Felicity ripped the note off and read it aloud, "I only wish you'd been sat there, Miss Smoak."
Oliver and Felicity shared a look, Diggle running back in moments later and taking the paper from the blonde. He then looked to Oliver, who was holding the arrow close to examine it, "one of yours?"
He only nodded in response.
"What do we do now?" Felicity mused, watching Oliver flick the arrow over and around, avoiding stepping on the smashed glass of the window.
"Foundry," he replied, then looking up to Diggle, "call Roy and Sara, get them to meet us there."
Felicity grabs her purse and box containing her new mask off of her desk and follows Oliver and Diggle into the elevator.
They arrived at the Foundry half an hour later, Roy and Sara both already there and on edge from the very vague description of what happened.
"Is anyone hurt?" Sara asked immediately, not even muttering a 'hello' first.
"No, we're all fine," Diggle assured her in reply.
"Fine?" Oliver called him out, turning to face him at the bottom of the stairs, "someone made a threat to Felicity's life and you think we're fine."
"What?" Roy spoke up next, "Fel, what happened?"
Felicity watched Oliver throw the arrow down on her desk as she sat down there, looking at Roy and Sara who were sweaty on the mats, "one of Oliver's arrows was shot through my window and it landed in my computer screen, the note attached said they wish I were sat there at the time."
"One of Oliver's?" Roy clarified, four nods followed, "how did they get one?"
Oliver moved to stand behind Felicity, a hand on the back of her chair, "I can only think that it'd be one that I've fired into someone, they took it out, cleaned it and used it again."
Sara moved forward, taking the green arrow in her hands, "I can run some tests, see if there's any trace of blood or cleaning supplies on it," she didn't wait for a reply, instead taking it to her microscope.
"I'll scope security cameras in the area, try and figure out where it was shot from," Felicity added, bringing the screens before her to life, "and you owe me a new screen," she then added to Oliver with a pointed finger.
"We'll have plenty of time to shop for one," he replied, watching what she was doing on the screens.
"Not letting me out of your sights?"
"Never."
She sighed and continued typing at the keyboard, about to hack into the security network of a local business when she remembered something, "I almost forgot," she spoke, taking off her glasses and fishing in her bag for the black box. When she found it, she took the pink mask out, placing it over her eyes, letting Oliver tie it at the back underneath her ponytail, "It's time to go into Binary mode," she spoke in a low, gruff voice.
Roy only stared at her, "what the hell was that?"
"That was my Binary voice," she replied, feigning hurt at his comment.
"Don't do that again."
Sara looked up from her microscope as Felicity hacked, "Wait, has Oliver given you a code name?"
Felicity spun around in the chair, giving Sara a good view of her pink mask, "Yup. Pink Binary."
"It's cute, suits you."
They continued on for half an hour, Oliver taking on both Roy and Diggle simultaneously, needing to shake off some well-deserved anger that someone could threaten Felicity, his Felicity. She however was pulling up a blank on the security camera front, turns out the attacker knew how to loop every single camera in the area to show absolutely nothing to do with the window smashing.
Detective Lance had called, and Laurel, the two non-official team members, both asking what was going on and what they could do to help, the answer both of them got was 'nothing."
Sara was the first to find something useful, or more like find nothing. "Guys," she called, gaining full attention as Roy took Oliver's distraction to swipe a leg to his, flooring him in an instant, he got a nod of approval from all other members for this. "This is a brand new arrow, hasn't been in anyone or anything other than the screen, no fingerprints and no substances. It was taken straight from in here and used."
Oliver rose from the ground straight away, racing to where he kept his arrows. From a distance, it looked like they were all there, but he soon saw from close up that one in the middle of the pack was a fake. He took it out, feeling how much lighter it was. Instead of an arrowhead on the end of the wood, was a cardboard triangle, painted green and Oliver would've laughed at not seeing this sooner had it not been so creepy, someone had been down there just to take one arrow. And how did they get down there in the first place?
He ripped the fake head off of the stick, walking over to Felicity and noting that it was folded over. He unfolded the card, taking in the fancy scrawl of writing inside, "Wondering how I got inside?" he read aloud, "I'm already in."
As Oliver spoke the last words, a spark erupted from below Felicity's desk, she bounced back in surprise and Oliver shielded her from the small blast with his own body. She knelt down once the sparks were finished, taking off the back of the computer and pulling out the motherboard and inspecting it, "the motherboard is fried, looks like the CPU fan committed suicide, making the whole system overheat."
"Can you fix it?" Roy asked.
"Yeah, I keep a spare motherboard down here, just in case. Other things might have been damaged consequently though so it may be a while till its up and running again." She spoke, going to get supplies and fix the system, hiding just how freaked this had her.
"Okay," Roy spoke, "So someone's broke in to the Foundry?"
"No." Oliver replied, cutting Sara off as she was about to contradict him, "We've let someone in."
"What?" He asked.
"There's no sign of a break in and nobody's capable of getting past Felicity's security measures without any of us knowing. And then this note, they're already in... They could still be in here now," he paused to look around the room, not wanting to believe that any of these would plot against him and threaten Felicity.
"I don't believe that," Felicity spoke, "I know that none of you would threaten my life, no matter what I had done to potentially piss you off, this is all just a mind game. I mean, Slade found a way in, the Clock King out-hacked me. This doesn't have to be an inside job."
"I don't think we can afford to be that optimistic, Felicity," Sara replied, her eyes settling on Roy accusingly.
He scoffed, hands in his pockets, "Got something to say, Blondie?"
"You're new, you're easily misled and you're impulsive. I'm not saying that you directly threatened Felicity's life, but I wouldn't be surprised if some nut-job psychopath had paid you to switch the arrows and do whatever it is that happened to the computers."
"You think I'm to blame for this?" Roy shouted back, "I wouldn't be surprised if it were you, shifting the blame so quickly."
"Guys!" Diggle shouted to them, "This isn't important right now, we need to come up with a protection plan for Felicity first."
"Well I live with her," Roy interjected first, "I'll keep an eye out at night."
"I sleep with her," Oliver spoke, "so thanks but I've got that covered."
"One of us is always with her at work," Diggle informed Oliver to his knowledge, "and I'll drive her here each evening."
Roy spoke up again next, "I'll stay here with her when you patrol."
"Are you guys talking every second of every day protection?" Sara asked, still sat at her microscope, "'Cause I'll volunteer for the showering and changing watch."
Everyone already knew that although Sara didn't have any feelings towards Felicity in that way, she still thought she was good-looking enough to ogle when it came down to it. But even so, heads turned in her direction when she spoke, including Felicity's who was smiling in flattery.
"You know what Sara," Oliver said, "I appreciate that, but I'll take those shifts too."
"Doesn't anyone care what I think?" Felicity spoke up quietly from her place under her desk, "it is my life that's been threatened after all."
Oliver didn't look convinced, not wanting to hear what she had in store, knowing whatever it was, it could put her in danger. His eyes fixed on hers, a silent pleading to hear her out and he noticed that somewhere along the line she had removed her mask, her glasses now perched on the bridge of her nose. "What do you think, Felicity?" He asked, a silent surrender.
"I agree that you guys should always be watching me but I know what Sara could do," the other woman's head turned at that, questioning Felicity's thoughts, "teach me how to fight. Like proper bad-ass fight, not just defending myself. I think Binary should have her own set of metal sticks of doom, don't you think?"
Felicity may have been speaking to Sara, but she was asking Oliver, she knew how protective he got of her, how he didn't want her in any danger. But she was in danger, no matter whose fault it was, it was danger nonetheless, and she needed to know how to handle herself.
"It will be a lot of hard work, Felicity. I'll push your body to the breaking point and further, but I'm happy to teach you everything I know if that's okay with Oliver."
Oliver thought about it for a moment, he loved her more than anyone and anything and he needed her to be safe. If this were at any other point in time he would tell her no, that knowing how to handle yourself can lead you down a dangerous path, he didn't want her out in the field. Having to make the decision of whether your victim lives or dies, having to do whatever it takes for justice.
But she was in danger, someone wanted her dead and they weren't being graceful about it. Being taught more than just the basic self-defence techniques could save her life if she were ever in the situation when he couldn't get to her in time. He hated to think that he wouldn't be able to save her, maybe letting Sara teach her could prevent him from losing her one day. He couldn't lose her, not now. He needed her like he needed oxygen, he knew that. So if this was what it took to keep her, then so be it.
"Teach her everything you know, I want her able to take me down by the end of it," he told Sara sternly what he wanted, seeing Felicity beam a bright smile in his direction before turning back to her damaged tech. Her smile was so bright, just like it always was, and each time he saw it he felt a little piece of his darkness recede. He couldn't have her lose that smile, so he walked up to Sara and spoke only to her when he said, "no killing, only how to stall until I can get there."
"Ollie, I don't want her to lose that light just as much as you do. I'll make a tame bad-ass out of her."
He nodded curtly and moved over to Diggle, talking almost mutely in his ear, "keep an eye on Roy, just in case."
"I don't think it's him, Oliver." He replied, slightly louder now that Roy had gone to help Felicity, or annoy her, definitely the latter.
"I don't either, but I won't take that risk again, not when it's Felicity's life on the line."
"Again?" Diggle pressed, knowing that in moments like this, when Oliver is reminiscing back to his years away, you had to ask just in case he did want to talk. But demanding answers was never an option, or he'd shut you out for good.
"On Lian Yu, I made an error of judgement on whom to trust, I put my friends in danger because of it."
Diggle wanted to know more, he always wanted to know more, so he pressed further, "and who shouldn't you have trusted?"
"Sara," he replied, lowering his voice again, "When Ivo first captured me, I told her I needed to contact my friends, I had told Ivo that they were dead. She tricked me into giving him the information he needed."
"If she's crossed you before, how to you know it's not her now?"
"If it is, she wouldn't be dumb enough to offer to train Felicity. She's changed since then, and she likes Felicity too."
Diggle nodded along, arms folded, "and how do you know it's not me?"
Oliver smiled, "you know exactly how I feel about Felicity, I highly doubt after everything we've been through that you'd be stupid enough to threaten her. Besides, she's like a sister to you, I know you'd never hurt her."
"Then who switched the arrows?"
"I have no idea," Olive replied, "but you can be damn sure that I'm going to find out."
