A/N: Aaaaahhh! I can't believe I actually got a couple of follows and reviews! I honestly thought this story was gonna be a flop! Anyways let's get to it!
The next morning, Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity are at Queen Consolidated to see how the company is holding up. Felicity is at a computer checking on all of the accounts and shares and grimacing at the numbers. She glances up at Oliver who is pacing around as he talks to Walter.
"I don't know what to do," Oliver says, starting to get exasperated, "What's the first step to getting my company back?"
"Investors," Walter states simply. "You need them to get up and running again."
Oliver turned his head away from the window. "Does that mean lavish parties and persuasive speeches?" He said rubbing his hands down his face.
Walter chuckled, "What has to be done, has to be done! And it won't be too bad, Oliver, you've got you're friends," He said gesturing towards Felicity and Diggle.
Diggle gave him a nod from where he was standing in the corner of the room, and Oliver smiled.
"Thank you for all of your help, Walter," Oliver said, shaking his hand, "I'm very grateful that you have been kind enough to help me out."
"Anytime, Oliver. It's a pleasure," Walter said, as he proceeded to pack up his briefcase.
Felicity gave Walter a small wave as he walked out. "Ms. Smoak," he acknowledged with a nod of his head and a smile.
Oliver loosened his tie and addressed his friends, "Let's head to the foundry. All this business talk is making me tense."
As Oliver exited QC with Diggle in the lead, Felicity fell into step with him. "So," she said, looking up at him, "When's this 'lavish party' gonna be? Even though your parties tend to be a bit on the boring side, I've got this dress that's been hanging in my closet for a few months and I gotta put it to use sometime."
Oliver's lip twitched upward, but he continued to walk briskly towards the car. He opened the door for Felicity and they all followed suit and piled in. "I was thinking," Oliver said once Diggle started the car, "that we could use the party to draw out that robber somehow."
Diggle glanced at him through the review mirror and said, "I don't think that's a good idea, Oliver. I know you've done it before, and it usually works, but this time you actually need this party, and it wouldn't help if you left in the middle of it."
"Diggle's right," Felicity said as she scrolled through her tablet, "The numbers at QC aren't looking too good."
Oliver sighed, "Okay. But our first priority is to catch this guy, then we'll figure out the party later."
They all agreed and the car fell into a peaceful silence. Oliver took out his phone and typed a quick message to Laurel. Lunch at the new Italian place on Main?
Laurel replied, Sure, how does 1:30 sound?
Great. I'll see you then. Oliver replied as they pulled up at the foundry.
While Felicity ran searches to try to locate the whereabouts of Jacob Ruther, Oliver and Diggle sparred.
"I know trivial crimes aren't really your thing," Felicity said, swiveling around, "but a lady's being held at gunpoint 2 streets down... You know, just in case you might want to intervene."
Oliver sighed, rolled his shoulders, and was about to speak when Diggle cut in. "I'll take care of it," he said holstering his gun, "He looks like a teen that's just messin' around."
Oliver nodded, "Thanks, Dig."
Felicity watched as Diggle strategically disarmed the guy and walked him to a police cruiser that was parked down the street. "He makes it look so easy," Felicity said with a quiet chuckle.
Oliver smiled. "C'mere," he said gesturing for Felicity to join him on the training mat.
Felicity quirked an eyebrow. "Why..?" She asked, a billion inappropriate thoughts running through her head-which she thankfully did not say out loud.
"I'll show you how to disarm someone," he said as Felicity narrowed her eyes. He chuckled, "Come on! It will come in handy if you're ever held at gunpoint."
Felicity reluctantly walked over, leaving her heels at the edge of the mat. "If I'm ever held at gunpoint? More like when. And technically I already have been held at gunpoint..." She said said with a snort.
Oliver cringed slightly at her words, but quickly covered it up. He picked up one of Diggle's extra guns and pointed it directly at Felicity's head. Just as he was going to explain what to do Felicity cut in. "You actually look really intimidating looming over me with a gun pointed at my head." She said, taking a step back.
Oliver rolled his eyes and stepped forward. "First thing you have to do when someone's got a gun trained on you, is point the barrel as far away from you as you can." Oliver went on to demonstrate different ways to twist it away and grab the gun and then told Felicity to try it.
After several attempts that consisted of her tripping over her own foot, hitting her head against the gun, and almost knocking over Oliver, she finally got it... Kind of.
Felicity did a victory dance once she successfully got the gun out of his hand. "Felicity," Oliver said trying to hide a chuckle, "once you take the gun, you should probably do something about the person who had the gun pointed at you in the first place."
Felicity stopped abruptly. "Oh," she said with a laugh, "do I have to shoot you now?"
Oliver rolled his eyes. Felicity pointed the gun at his head and said in the most Arrow-y voice she could manage, "Surrender! Or die!"
Before she realized what was happening, Oliver easily took the gun out of her hand and pulled her against his body in a mock chokehold, with the gun pointed at her temple. "Or take you captive again," he said with smirk.
Felicity gulped. Her heart pounded in her ears as she felt Oliver's warmth engulf her. She quickly shook the thoughts out of her mind and jabbed her elbow into his stomach. She quickly twisted his wrist just like he showed her and once again she had the gun.
Oliver grinned, "Nice job! You make it look pretty easy yourself."
Felicity smiled back at him and took a bow. She spotted Diggle in the back of the foundry and he gave her a double thumbs up.
"What time is it?" Oliver asked as he took a gulp of water.
"Quarter past one," Felicity said, sitting back down at her computer.
"I'm having lunch with Laurel so I'll be back in a few," Oliver said as he went to change.
Once Oliver left the foundry, Diggle came over to Felicity and leaned on the table next to her.
"What was that look you gave him when he left?" Diggle questioned.
Felicity looked up at Diggle, eyes wide. "What look?" She said trying to act confused. "Why would I give him a look? He's just going to lunch with Laurel, which is totally normal except for the fact that I was the one who kind of told him to... And now he's going to lunch with her and he's going to talk to her and I don't know what's going to happen." At this point she was wringing her hands and her eyes were darting around the room.
"What's going on, Felicity?" Diggle asked cocking his head.
"He's going to lunch with her to ask her to join Team Arrow," Felicity said as she stood up and started pacing.
"WHAT?" Roy said as entered the foundry.
"Roy, where have you been?" Felicity asked, taking in his dirty clothes.
"That's not important right now," he said, "What's goin' on with Laurel?" Roy shot a glance at Diggle.
"Don't look at me, man," He said, "Felicity just dropped that on me, too." They both turned and looked at Felicity with raised eyebrows.
She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "So Roy, there's this robber we found yesterday named Jacob Ruther, but we couldn't get any information on him except for the fact that he was in a court case that Laurel was involved in. And after you left, Diggle, Oliver told me Laurel wanted to join us, and I was fine with it. I mean what's wrong with another person helping us out right?"
Roy was the first to speak. "I guess I don't really have anything against Laurel. I just think our team is good how it is."
Diggle nodded. "In the end it really is up to Oliver," he said with a shrug, "I guess we'll just have to go with it and see what happens." He pushed himself off the the table and walked over to Roy. "Let's get you cleaned up and do some training. We need to work on your left uppercut," Diggle said as Roy followed him to the other side of the foundry.
Felicity drummed her fingers against her leg. After seeing both Dig and Roy's reluctance in letting Laurel join, she began wondering if she had made the right choice by telling Oliver she was fine with it.
Oliver pulled out a chair for Laurel and then sat in one himself. Laurel smiled-Oliver had always been such a gentleman.
As they ordered their food and waited for it to arrive, they exchanged a few polite words, but Oliver wanted to wait until a little further into the meal before he disrupted it with his favor.
"This food looks delicious!" Laurel said once the food was brought out.
Oliver nodded in agreement and the table fell silent as they both dug into their lunches. "Have you heard from Sarah at all?" Oliver asks.
Laurel frowned slightly. "No, I haven't," she said, putting her utensils down. "I don't know how to contact her since she could be anywhere on earth right now, so I guess I'll just have to wait until she contacts me."
Just as Oliver opened his mouth to reply, his phone starts ringing. "Excuse me," he said, as he took out his phone and saw that is was Felicity.
"Hello?" Oliver said, picking up the phone.
"Oliver, so that robber from yesterday, Jacob Ruther, he just robbed another bank 10 minutes ago. And this time he took $20,000," Felicity said quickly, "This guy is working really fast, and that means we need the information on him now."
Oliver exhaled and pursed his lips. "Okay," he said evenly, "I'll get the information to you by tonight." And he hung up.
"Sorry," he said, looking back at Laurel, "there's been a couple of robberies lately and we're having some difficulty catching the guy." Laurel's eyebrows rose, and Oliver could tell he'd gained her interest.
"Have you figured out any information on this robber?" Laurel asked, inadvertently leaning forward.
Oliver shook his head. "All we have is that his name is Jacob Ruther," he said.
Laurel's eyes widened. "I remember him. He went to court for attempted murder and for selling drugs. I bet there's some info on him in the DA's office."
"That could be really helpful," Oliver said. "If you could somehow get the information within the next few days it might give us what we need to catch this guy." He said sincerely.
"No, no," Laurel said reaching into her purse, "I can get the information for you right now. If you wait to long, he's going to keep stealing money."
Letting Laurel join him in saving the city seemed like a better idea by the second since she was so willing to help him out. Thinking back, Oliver realized he hadn't talked to Diggle and Roy about it and he just hoped it wouldn't back fire on him.
They both packed up their unfinished food, and Oliver drove them to the DA's office.
"You can wait out here," Laurel said when they arrived at the office, "It'll only take a second."
True to her word, Laurel quickly climbed back into the car in no time. "Okay," she said, starting to open up the files.
Oliver put a hand on hers to stop her from opening it up and said, "Just hold on a sec, Laurel. We can open the file in a little bit."
Laurel glanced at him, confused by his odd behavior, but closed the folder nonetheless. "Where are we, Ollie?" Laurel asked when the pulled up at the foundry.
"Let's just say this is the new 'home base' for the Arrow," Oliver said as he stepped out of the car. He looked over and saw Laurel's eyes widen.
He punched in the code, held the door open for Laurel, and led the way as they went down the stairs. When they got to the bottom, he turned around and looked at Laurel.
"This is our new foundry, and as Felicity would say..." He turned to where Felicity was standing up from her chair and walking over.
"Welcome to Team Arrow."