Note: Hey guys! I'm back again with another chapter of Hunted! =) Now that I'm all done with Alternate, I'll be able to focus on this story! ^^ Of course though, school is still a priority so from time to time, I won't have time to write... Like now, I have a HUGE exam next week on Wednesday, so after I post this, I'll have to start studying!
I made a decision when it comes to posting! Since most of you wanted me to post on Wednesdays, I've decided to post Fridays for two more weeks and then when Arrow starts, I'll start posting on Wednesdays, as requested! =)
Now, please enjoy this chapter! Remember, this still takes place during the same night as the previous three! After this chapter, we'll start jumping in time! ;)
Oh, btw, to the guest reviewer CASSIE: Thank you so much for reviewing sweetheart! I truly love writing sassy Felicity and Oliver going crazy is just so funny! Can you imagine his frustration (which will be even more evident in this chapter!)! The poor guy is just so confused on how to act because while wanting to kill her, he's also curious...
Either way, enjoy! :D
Hunted
Supernatural hunter Oliver Queen's latest mission's name is Felicity Smoak; a new born hybrid who has gone rogue and left her master. The new hunt brings unexpected twists and turns and when the young hybrid saves his life, Oliver realizes that there might be more to the girl than meets the eye. The hybrid might not be the biggest monster in Starling City and as their unexplainable bond grows stronger, he learns that you can't plan who you fall in love with.
Chapter 4: The Foundry
Oliver was determinedly walking in front of Felicity as he led her back toward the lair. After she had revealed that she had been the one to send him all those messages earlier that day, Oliver had known that there wasn't a choice to make anymore. Diggle had confirmed it by basically ordering Oliver to bring her to the Foundry. Of course, Oliver had never really enjoyed being ordered around, but he knew that there wasn't a question about bringing her back with him.
What annoyed him the most however, was that smile that adorned her face.
Ever since he had growled out a, "Follow me," she hadn't let the smile drop from her face. The worst thing about it though, was that it wasn't a mocking smile, but a genuine one. She was genuinely happy that he had decided to bring her back with him.
They didn't speak to each other as they walked through the streets. At least not until they reached his motorcycle that he had parked at a safe distance from the Black Rose.
"Get on," he told her and she didn't protest at first, despite the small flash of worry that appeared on her face.
"Actually, I think I'd rather follow you on foot," she retorted, biting her lip.
"Try keeping up," he said, not wanting her anywhere near him anyway. Things were confusing as they were and the last thing he needed was to be forced into close proximity of her.
"Don't worry about me, Oliver," she grinned, taking a step back as her eyes flashed yellow.
He wanted to make a comeback at her with some witty comment on how he would never in his life worry about her, but decided not to speak at all. Instead, he hit the gas pedal and sped out on the streets. They needed to get back to the Foundry before the sun went up. He couldn't be seen in his hood during the day and he still didn't know what effects the sun had on hybrids.
Turning his head back, he tried to see where the hybrid had gone, but there was no sign of her anywhere. He knew he was being followed though, so he didn't slow down. There was just something inside of him that told him that she had her eyes on him and that she would find her way to Verdant even if he tried to shake her off.
When he finally arrived in the back alley of Verdant and hid his bike, there was a small tap on his shoulder. He instantly turned around, pinning her to the opposite wall, arrow head at her throat.
"Hello to you too," Felicity grinned down at him. "Would you mind letting go? I think there's a brick cutting into my shoulder."
He removed his hand from her throat and she dropped to the ground, letting out a gasp. Narrowing his eyes at her, he growled, "Don't sneak up on me."
"Duly noted," she told him before following him as he led her to the hidden door that led to the Foundry.
He punched in the code, not even bothering to hide it from her because he knew that she most likely already knew what it was anyway. Stepping inside, he hurried down the stairs, only to be met by Diggle who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, expecting them.
"Mr. Diggle," the hybrid spoke as she basically skipped down the stairs. The smile was still on her face and Oliver couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I'm Felicity."
She held out her hand in front of the older man, but Diggle remained unmoving. Oliver smirked before lowering his hood. Diggle was the most trusting one of the two of them, so the fact that he was clearly rejecting Felicity's efforts of politeness, was amusing, to say the least.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Felicity then said, her smile dropping and her voice turning serious. "I'm not going to hurt either of you." Her eyes traveled over to Oliver, who turned to look at Diggle, who was in turn contemplating Felicity.
"To be honest," Diggle said, finally accepting her hand and giving it a light shake, "I am quite curious about you Ms. Smoak."
Felicity smiled again, clearly thinking that she had won Diggle over, but Oliver knew that his partner was probably just testing her. At least he hoped that was what he was doing.
Diggle and Oliver had been through so much during the two years that he had been back in Starling City. When he had convinced Diggle to join him, it had taken them some time to figure out how they would work their operation. Diggle had his own motives for joining the crusade; his brother had been murdered by a sniper in the army and after a lot of research, Oliver had revealed to him that the sniper- Floyd Lawton- was a vampire mercenary. While taking down the names on his father's list, they had a secondary mission to find Lawton and avenge Andy Diggle's death, but things had been very slow in that particular department, since it seemed that Lawton had dropped from the face of the Earth.
"Ask me anything," Felicity said. "I'll tell you everything you want to know. Okay, well, maybe not everything, but-"
"Is that your way of getting us to trust you?" Oliver asked, crossing over to stand next to Diggle as he interrupted her. "So that you can then betray us like the monster you are?"
"I have no intention of betraying you," Felicity frowned. "Do you really think that I would have contacted 'The Hood' if I wanted to stab you in the back? I think there's a bigger chance that you'll betray me-"
"Why did you contact us?" Diggle interrupted, sensing that there was a risk that the argument would get heated fast if he didn't stop it.
Felicity licked her lips and turned to face him, but not before shooting another glare at Oliver. "As you both have probably understood by now, I escaped from the man who made me a hybrid. I contacted you because I used to hear the others talking about you and I hoped that you would be able to help," she explained, looking back at Oliver.
"Help with what?" he asked and she once again did that infuriating thing where she bit her lip.
"I'm not entirely sure," she admitted and Oliver shook his head, knowing that this would all eventually just lead up to either her hurting him on him hurting her. "I got out before I learned all the details and they didn't trust me, so the only information I have is the one I overheard them talking about or the small amount that I was actually given in order to cooperate."
Oliver decided that it was better just to ignore her and turned to look at Diggle, "This is useless."
"Maybe we should hear her out first?" Diggle suggested, knowing that Oliver was already wishing that he had stabbed her with an arrow when he had had the chance.
"Do you even hear yourself, Dig?" Oliver snapped. "When have we ever tried to hear out one of the Dark Ones?"
"Can you stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" Felicity wondered, but the two men promptly ignored her. Instead, she turned her attention to the Foundry and started looking around at everything from the various kinds of arrows, to the computers across the room.
"You told me to bring her back here, to the lair," Oliver yelled at Diggle. "I could have just as easily taken care of her in that alley!"
"And how would you have done that, Oliver? Hybrids are the only species that you don't have all the information you need to kill them. You wouldn't have stood a chance," Diggle said, clearly annoyed. "Besides, she was the one who contacted us. Don't you think she already knew where the lair was if she managed to hack our mainframe?"
"I second that," Felicity interjected, holding up her hand.
"No one asked for your opinion," Oliver told her before turning back to Diggle. "Even if she did know the location, she never would have made it here. I would have killed her before she tried to reach us!"
"So why didn't you?" Diggle snapped loudly, taking a step toward Oliver, getting into his face.
Why hadn't he?
That was a question he too would love to know the answer to.
Oliver inhaled, preparing himself to once again fight back, but out of the corner of his eye he caught Felicity taking one of his arrows into her hands, so instead he turned to her, furiously yelling, "Stop touching my things!"
She dropped the arrow, twisting around to face him with a glare, "Stop acting like a baby!" Her yell echoed through the Foundry and for a minute no one spoke. Oliver continued to alternate his glare at Felicity and Diggle, but they both kept their eyes trained on him.
Clearly, this had become a two-against-one situation.
It was better to give up the fight this time, since they were clearly ganging up on him. "How did you do it?" Oliver finally sighed, turning to look at Felicity. "How did you hack out mainframe and find out my identity?"
"Well," Felicity said, stepping away from the arrow table, "I am a computer genius that graduated from MIT in '09, so the hacking part wasn't really that difficult. It did take me two months to actually decide to try ask you to help, but once I hacked the network the first time, I realized quickly who you were."
Oliver watched her, not breathing a word while she explained herself and Diggle didn't seem so keen on interrupting her either.
"Anyway, you guys really should have bought a computer without a pre-installed camera in it, because that was what gave away your identity," she told him.
"So you watched us? For how long?" Oliver asked, trying to keep calm even though the thought of having someone watch him made him uneasy.
"A month," Felicity admitted sheepishly. "As I said, I was arguing back and forth with myself for two months before I finally decided to try and reach out to you."
"But you didn't contact us until earlier today," Diggle said.
"Actually, that was yesterday, because it's past midnight," Felicity corrected. Upon the annoyed look Oliver sent her, she swallowed. "Although that isn't important, is it? Yeah, I thought so..."
"Why didn't you just reveal your identity?" Oliver questioned. "You could have hidden the fact that you are a hybrid and tried to contact us in person."
"I needed to know whether I could trust you or not," Felicity said. "Also, I needed to see how far you would actually go to find me. It didn't take you very long- which is kind of impressive actually- so I guess I decided it was worth giving you a chance. That's why I saved you from those wolves."
"You didn't save me," Oliver said, but Felicity merely grinned at him.
"Are you sure about that?"
He decided that it was better not to speak, because he could feel that he was slowly digging his own grave. Whatever this girl, this hybrid, was saying, she would twist his own words around and make him seem soft in her presence. He didn't need for other monsters to know that he had allowed her to live and see the lair and he wasn't really sure what he should be doing next.
"What information did you want to share with us?" Diggle asked, taking a step toward Felicity.
"I know that you don't trust me yet, Mr. Diggle," Felicity said. "I'm not stupid, as we've all established by now. So why should I give away the only thing that I can use as leverage to stay alive?"
"As we've already established," Oliver bit out, "neither Diggle nor I know how to kill a hybrid, so you're pretty safe anyway."
"You were willing to make a safe bet that decapitation works," Felicity pointed out. "Besides, the information I have about the Dark Ones isn't really current, is it? I mean, the time table for their plans hasn't really gotten into action yet, so I have at least a little while before I absolutely have to tell you."
"If we know what their plans are, we'll be able to stop them before they get a chance to go into action," Diggle told her, but she shook her head.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen," she said, "but I'm afraid I just simply don't trust you yet either. I can't go around worrying whether you'll just kill me after I reveal everything and to be honest?" She paused, looking over at Oliver. "I want you to trust me. I want to prove to you that not every monster is bad."
Oliver eyed her and shook his head. "Good luck with that," he told her, a sarcastic smirk adorning his face.
"What did you have in mind?" Diggle asked, ignoring Oliver's lack of enthusiasm for what Felicity had just told them.
"I want to become a part of your team," Felicity confidently said. "I want to help you take down the big bads in the city."
Oliver let out a snort, "There is no chance in hell that I'll be-"
"Okay," Diggle interrupted, before he had a chance to finish his sentence.
"What?" Oliver snapped. "Dig, you can't be serious about considering this!"
"What other choice do we have, Oliver?" Diggle wondered. "The girl has had multiple chances to kill you these last few hours and she didn't. She could have outed your identity to every Nightcrawler she knew, but since no one has attacked Oliver Queen yet, I don't think she has and she clearly isn't planning to either."
"We can't trust her," Oliver repeated, his voice low.
"And she still has hybrid-hearing," Felicity pointed out. "And she really, really wants to prove herself."
Oliver shot the blonde another glare before turning to his partner. Yes, Oliver had been the first that had set out on this crusade alone, but since Diggle had joined him, he had always valued his opinion, despite sometimes making the final call on things. Since joining him, Diggle had been the more open-minded one out of the two of them, so he understood why Diggle was willing to give the hybrid a chance.
"She saved your life," Diggle reminded him quietly, despite knowing that Felicity could hear him. "Maybe she does deserve a chance to prove herself?"
Oliver contemplated it for a long minute. What did he have to lose?
Everything, a small voice in the back of his head told him. He had absolutely everything to lose, if he allowed himself to get close to the blonde hybrid. However, if she truly did know things about the Dark Ones that he didn't, he knew that his best chance was to give her a shot to try and, as she had put it so nicely, prove herself.
"Okay," he finally caved, turning back to look at Felicity. "You'll be staying here in the Foundry until further notice. You are allowed to assist us when you are asked for assistance and you are not allowed to contact anyone outside of the lair," he listed. "Are we understood?"
"Yes," she nodded. "I'll abide to all of your rules, except that first one."
Oliver rolled his eyes, "You can't walk around town if your pack is still looking for you."
"He's right," Diggle said. "You might accidentally lead them back to the lair."
"I can come up with a disguise," she countered. "I can stay by your side the entire time and you won't even notice me. I just..." she trailed off and closed her eyes, pinching the brig of her nose. "I've been hiding for three months now and no one has seen me," she sighed. "The other... Nightcrawlers, don't particularly like going out in the middle of the day and us hybrids, well, the sunlight doesn't bother us at all. So please, can I just go out around lunch from time to time? I promise that I'll be careful and won't lead anyone back to your secret lair."
Oliver turned to Diggle again and his friend merely shrugged.
"We can discuss it in a week's time," Oliver finally decided. "If you live that long."
Felicity's smile dropped, but she relented by offering him a small nod.
"And in the meantime, you'll have to prove to us that we can trust you," Diggle reminded her.
Once again, she nodded, her head still bowed. "As long as you don't forget that you too have to prove that I can trust you," she said quietly. "Otherwise the hell I've been put through will have been for nothing."
With those words, she turned around and walked toward the couch, where she promptly laid down and turned her back toward them. Oliver observed her petite form for a moment before leaving to change out of his suit. He was still itching to put her out of her misery, but at the same time, a small part of him wondered, what kind of 'hell' the blonde hybrid had been put through, before contacting them.
Note: Of course little Ms. Smoak isn't going to just reveal her agendas for looking the Hunter up! ;) She has to have some kind of leverage, right? And before any of you ask, it will take a little while until she tells her story... Like, in ten chapters or so... Be patient! =)
Now, I'm off to study! Thank you so much for reading and don't forget to review! I'll see you next Friday peeps! :D
Lots of love xx
