Previously:
She watched the tape over and over and over. She memorised every word, every movement, smile and frown, every little exchange. Something bothered her but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then she realised that it was just too painful to believe, the truth hurt.
Tomorrow she would earn her freedom from Helena. Then it was time to stop playing the fool and deal with her so called Team.
'Mysteries are meant to be solved' thought Felicity, "And Curiosity Killed the Cat.." she said.
"What?" Helena ask her through her ear piece.
"Nothing, sorry, I was…talking to myself." Felicity answered
"Can you tell yourself to shut up and get back to work; the guards will be back any minute"
Felicity didn't answer; she nodded and continued twisting the wires together quietly.
Her mind kept drifting to Oliver, how she could be so wrong about him baffled her. She remembered when they first met. He was so unexpected, 'I spilt coffee on my laptop' he said to explain the bullet hole damage. She smiled recalling his smile when he realised she wasn't buying his story. Her lips thinned out erasing the upward curve as she reminded herself that as charming as he was that was her early warning signal and she had ignored it. Not only ignored it but joined him with her eyes wide open.
"We have three minutes Felicity" Helena interrupted her thoughts.
"I might need four." Her fingers worked on autopilot, she almost didn't have to think. Computers made sense, unlike Oliver. Oliver was a mystery.
How ironic, the most dangerous man in the city was the same man that had made her feel safe and gave her life purpose. He made her feel things, deeply, that she had to ignore because there was no point to them and now she was forced to feel this new emotion towards him. Anger, every time she replayed the video in her mind, she got angry. What it should have done is do away with the part of her heart that she had unwittingly reserved for Oliver. Instead of anger overriding her system it just added to it and screwed with her wiring. It found its way inside her but didn't release her from everything else she felt for him.
"Felicity I am coming to get you now." Helena's voice whispered through the comms.
"Okay, it's done" Said Felicity, frowning. It was unsettling to hear someone other than her two partners during a mission.
She had completed her part in Helena's mission. She had helped her gain control of the security system of the facility her father was being held in. She didn't make it any easier than instructed; Helena still had a lot of work to do if she wanted to get to him. Felicity couldn't rewire the armed guards but it gave Helena enough information to form a plan. A plan Felicity wanted no part in. She had earned her freedom and now she hoped Helena would keep her end of the bargain.
"I did what you wanted, can I go home?" Felicity adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms.
Helena leaned against the table and took off her mask. "Knowing Oliver he will be there waiting for you, he hasn't heard from you in two days."
"I don't doubt he will be wondering where I am, he is probably angry that I haven't checked in." she shrugged. A couple of days ago she would have presumed Oliver was concerned for her, now she couldn't help but accept he was at most slightly inconvenienced by her absence.
Helena bit down on her glove freeing her hand, after removing the other she studied Felicity for a second and out of curiosity asked "I thought you would have responded to at least one of those messages" she waved at Felicity's phone. It had been buzzing since it was switched on.
"No, I…No."
"Don't tell me you have a life outside of Oliver Queen?" she laughed.
Felicity glared at her and shook her head. She didn't feel the need to let Helena know anything more than the necessary. She didn't trust her and regardless of what her current standing was with Oliver she didn't, in her core, agree with Helena's bloody methods of revenging her fiancé. She knew Helena was merely curious but her messages to Isabel Rochev were none of her business.
"I am heading home." Felicity said squaring her shoulders. "You said I could I go."
Helena smiled and nodded her release. "A piece of advice…if you don't need to go home. Don't. It will be the first place they look."
Felicity was exhausted, she needed sleep. She went home and in under an hour she left her apartment carrying an overnight bag and a file box containing every personal photo, memorabilia from her past and anything else that might be used to track her down. She checked into a nearby hotel, she used cash and kept her head down away from surveillance cameras. Tomorrow she was going to let Oliver and John know that she knew what they had done. That she knew that everything they built under the cover of Verdant was a lie.
Isabel Rochev received a tip of a pending buy out of QC. It implied that there had been several meetings held that she was not privy to. The text message provided the location and time of the next meeting.
That night before heading home Isabel instructed her driver to divert from the road home. When she arrived she took a moment to look up at the apartment block that Ms Smoak called home.
Felicity had not been seen since the conference. Isabel knew that because she was well aware that she was tied up or otherwise occupied being interviewed by curious men, with curious toys that could make even the tongueless speak.
She wanted to leave Felicity a message; just a little note to make sure she didn't think she could ever come back.
In the car Isabel tilted her head against the glass so she could see Felicity's apartment as they drove away. Her triumphant smile was a pretty contrast against her cold eyes. Nothing was going to get in her way, certainly not little Miss Smoak, not anymore.
Tomorrow night she would handle this buy out. 'Who would have that kind of money?' She wondered. The list of possibilities could be counted on one hand. Regardless she looked forward to the look on their faces when she interrupts their meeting tomorrow. 'Who the hell did they think they were messing with?'
