Chapter 2
Felicity had been home for about an hour when the second blackout occurred, and the same message reported on the news flashed across her screen just before the lights went out. She'd had a feeling there might be another one, so she was ready with candles and a couple of small, battery operated lamps. All of her devices were fully charged, and she had also recharged her portable charge packs. Since she was using the QC satellite Internet hookup, her Internet access wasn't affected.
It was a few minutes later that she heard a sound coming from her bedroom, and with horror she realized someone was opening the window that led to her fire escape. With the power out her alarm system wasn't working, and she recalled the earlier looting and theft in the city. Or could it be Oliver?
It wasn't the first time he'd shown up on her fire escape. He'd done it once before after being injured while on Arrow duty. Her apartment had been closer than Verdant, and she'd been guiding him to the crime hotspots from home that night. She pulled out her phone, noting with dismay that there was no signal.
So she grabbed the baseball bat from her hall closet and waited. When the shadowy figure emerged from her room, she knew right away it wasn't Oliver. Screaming, she turned and ran for her front door only to be caught before she reached it. She thrust her elbow back and heard a grunt before her assailant released her, and she lunged for the door again.
"Felicity, stop!"
The voice was familiar. She turned, still panting from her panic and exertion. "Josh?"
In the candlelight, she could see now that it was Josh Gallagher. Or as he was better known that night, Ab501ut3 Cha05. Suddenly, she was angry and responded by using her bat to hit him in the back of the knees just as Oliver had taught her. Josh went down with a groan.
"Ow!" He glared up at her. "When the hell did you become so violent?"
Felicity glared back. "I don't know – maybe at the same time you became a cyber-terrorist who climbs through bedroom windows!"
"Jesus – like I'm gonna hurt you." He stood up gingerly. "Maybe you could put the freaking bat down now."
She sighed and put the bat by her door. "What are you doing here?"
"I need your help."
"Yeah I'll bet – you're going to have the FBI, the NSA, and probably agencies we don't even know about at your door in a few days. Cyber terrorism – really? I mean I knew you were anti-establishment, but you did something tonight that got people hurt. Why should I help you?"
"Because I didn't do it!" he protested, still holding his ribs as he hobbled over to her sofa. Of medium height and build with shaggy brown hair, hazel eyes and wire rimmed glasses, Josh wasn't very intimidating. But then after being around Diggle and Oliver all the time, most men weren't anymore.
Felicity sat in the armchair facing the sofa. "Then who did? And why are they using your handle?"
Josh leaned forward, his expression earnest in the candlelight. "Look, I admit I wrote the code for the blackout, but it was supposed to be a corporate prank, not a city wide event. The idea was to hit a different corporation every day for a week – and I wasn't even going to shut things down for a whole day, more like a few hours. Just long enough to get their attention."
"What kinds of corporations?" Although she had a feeling she knew.
"The kinds that hold a lot of private information and government contracts. We're entrusting them with a lot of data, some of it top secret, and it's a hell of a lot easier to get in sometimes than people think it is."
"Corporations like Queen Consolidated then," Felicity guessed. They held quite a few government defense contracts, and the applied sciences division was working on technology for a number of top secret projects.
"Yeah, but uh – I was actually having trouble getting past their firewall." He looked disgruntled by that admission.
"Probably because I wrote the code," she told him with a hint of smugness.
"I figured. I've seen you on TV, so I knew you were working there. Going to work for the man is one thing, Felicity, but I never thought I'd see you being some rich jerk's glorified secretary. I mean, you used to be a hacker – one of the best. What happened to you?"
"So you thought you'd get me to help you by insulting me? Great plan. Let me know how that works out when the men in black show up to haul your ass into an underground detention center." She pointed to the door.
"No – look, I'm sorry." He held his hands up in an appeasing gesture. "But you have to admit executive assistant was never on your career path. You can't blame me for wondering how that happened."
"For your information, I'm still a hacker for the greater good. I just don't advertise my work. And I'm working for Oliver Queen because he is genuinely trying to make a difference in this city, and I believe in that enough to help him do it. But I'm not just an executive assistant – I'm also a technology consultant, and I help him navigate the ins and outs of the tech world." She did a lot more than that, but that was as much as she could tell Josh.
"I was hoping I could get you to advertise some of your work this week."
"Why? And by doing what? I'm not really eager to join you in that underground detention center."
He leaned forward. "I wasn't working on this alone. Ever heard of Isamu Hayashi?" When she shook her head, he continued. "He was a grad student at Harvard, but he dropped out and started writing code for anyone who can pay. In the hacking world, he's called Neuromancer – you know, like the book."
Now him she'd heard of. "You wrote the code with Neuromancer? It's been a while since I spent any time in the forums, but I remember most of his pranks were pretty malicious."
"He's not strictly black hat," Josh insisted. "Or at least, he wasn't. Now I'm not so sure."
"Okay, so Neuromancer hijacked your code for malicious use. To what end? What's he gaining from this?"
"I think someone paid him to coordinate the blackouts, but he couldn't have done it alone. He hijacked my code and altered it to affect the power grid, but there have also been some cell service interruptions – like now." He held up his phone. "Want to take a guess which phreak of our acquaintance might be helping him?"
"Grace Chan." She was the only hacker Felicity had ever met who enjoyed messing with the phone system. "But why would she do it?"
"Money, obviously. She still has that little snorting problem." He tapped his nose. "And I've heard rumors that she's tied to the Triad now."
Felicity considered the problem. "You want us to work together to write a code that can block the blackouts – create a cyber-war between two hackers and then wait for them to approach me so we can see what they're really up to." It would probably work, but there were obvious risks.
"Exactly. Then I take that evidence to the FBI or whoever, and I'm off the hook – at least for cyber terrorism. We don't have to tell them who you are. Hell, I hope I don't have to tell them who I am either. If we can show that the real bad guys are the Triad or Hayashi, they'll probably lose interest in identifying Ab501ut3 Cha05. I never gave Sam my real name when we talked code. Grace knows me, which is obviously a potential problem, but there is some honor among hackers. Besides, I know things about her – it makes us even. And I don't think she'd ever guess I'd come to you, especially since you've been out of the hacking game for a few years."
If only he knew, she thought. If she did this, she'd need time off work because it would take days to write the kind of code Josh was talking about. She also couldn't tell Oliver the real reason she needed time off since the blackout had affected the sainted Laurel. She doubted he'd be particularly objective about helping her friend. "We're better than Grace – both of us."
"Exactly. Hayashi hangs out in a cyber-goth club called Anno near the Glades – it's kind of underground, members only. But once your work is out there, you can score an invite. And he really likes blondes, so I'm pretty sure he'll come to you if he sees you. We'll just have to goth up your image a little."
She'd seen pictures of cyber goth fashion before, but she'd certainly never imagined wearing it. "I'm going to look ridiculous. Also, I draw the line at gas masks and aviator glasses."
"I think you're going to look hot." He grinned mischievously. "And you don't have to go full-on with it – just enough to fit the scene and get his attention."
Just then the lights came back on, and they both blinked in the sudden brightness.
Felicity sighed again. "Fine. I'll help you. I'll have to take a few days off from work, which means I need to call my boss."
As she reached for her phone, it rang. Glancing at the display, she saw it was Oliver. "Speak of the devil." She answered. "I was just about to call you."
"Is everything okay?" Oliver's tone was slightly worried, and she wondered what else had been going on.
"Yes, everything's fine here. Uhm – actually, I wanted to ask about taking a few personal days next week."
"A few personal days," he repeated. "Why?"
"Because I have some personal things to take care of – hence the request for personal days. I can work on business related things from home if you absolutely need me. And I'll arrange for a temp."
Oliver was silent for a minute. "I'm actually in front of your building. I'll be up in a minute."
He hung up before she could say anything else. "Okay, so, apparently my boss is on his way up. You need to hide somewhere."
Josh raised a brow. "Why do I need to hide? Can't we just say I'm an old boyfriend or something?"
"No, we cannot say that." Even if it was true. Though Josh had been her first everything, it still felt like a million years ago. "It would invite questions."
"So your boss visits you at home and asks questions about your personal life? Sounds like something a lot more personal is going on between you two."
"We're also friends; not that it's your business. But I meant it would invite questions if they manage to identify you and circulate your photo this week."
"I don't think that's the way the men in black operate," he joked.
"You hope," she muttered.
They heard a knock at the door, and Josh went back to her bedroom and closed the door.
Felicity opened the door. "Why were you outside my building?"
Oliver walked past her into the living room and glanced around as if looking for something. "Because I wanted to make sure you were okay. With the blackout and the cell service interruptions, I couldn't reach you."
"Oh. Well, thanks for that. Now, about my personal days…"
"Felicity, what aren't you telling me?"
He was focused on her completely as he spoke – the straight-on Oliver Queen effect. She wondered if he meant to be intimidating when he did that or if he even realized how intimidating it was. "What do you mean?"
"Who else is here?"
How did he do that? She crossed her arms and lifted her chin stubbornly. "How do you know anyone else is here?"
"Because your bedroom door is closed," he answered. "You never close your bedroom door."
"Okay, yes, I have company. He's an old friend, and I can assure he's harmless. And since I have never, in the entire time I've worked for you, asked for so much as a sick day, I would appreciate you dropping the inquisition. All I need is a yes or no." Her words were more abrupt now, so she softened her tone. "Please. I wouldn't ask if it weren't important."
"The business we discussed earlier is also important," he said. After a moment, he shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. "Okay. Is a week enough?"
Felicity nodded. "Probably. If I need more time, I'll let you know. And I'll keep working on what we talked about earlier." That was not a lie since she really would be working on the blackout problem.
"And you're not in trouble?"
"If I were in trouble, I would tell you." Also true, but this wasn't just about her. She owed it to Josh to keep his confidence until they could figure out what was going on.
"Alright. Here." He handed her a phone. "It's a satellite phone so we don't lose touch again if cell service is down. I'll check in with you tomorrow."
With that he was gone, and Felicity breathed a sigh of relief. "You can come out now."
Josh opened her bedroom door and walked back into the living room. "He's kind of intense."
She laughed. "You have no idea."
Looking at her speculatively, he asked, "And there's really nothing going on between you?"
"Like I said, we're friends. Now, I suggest we find a delivery place that's still open and get to work." They had a lot of hours of coding ahead of them, so it was bound to be a long weekend.
By Monday, they had written a very complex code that Felicity was sure would work whenever the next blackout hit. Josh thought it would probably be soon since the weekend had been quiet. And by Monday afternoon, Josh was proved correct.
The blackout hit at 3:00 pm and when it did, Felicity was ready. She hit back, and within five minutes she had the grid back up accompanied by her own message. 'Smackdown, Ab501ut3 Cha05. You're up. The Oracle.'
She held out her hand, and Josh slapped it. "Hell, yeah. I bet they're pissed right now."
Felicity pushed her glasses up and grinned. "I sort of forgot what a rush it is."
"Well, Oracle, how do you feel about hacking Channel 52? You ready?"
By Tuesday night, Felicity and Josh were involved in all out cyber war. Felicity routed the city's traffic cameras to broadcast on Channel 52 with the message 'Oracle Is Watching' and her adversary responded by taking the channel offline. But he only managed to have it offline for about five minutes before she blocked him and had 52 on air again.
She'd gotten into both the SCPD's and the FBI's websites and swapped photos of the most wanted criminals with cartoon character gifs, mostly for showmanship. Then she hijacked JumboTrons around the city before extending her reach to Coast City, Gotham and Metropolis. The hacker community message boards all lit up with a single question – who is Oracle?
When all the telecommunications were taken down at the District Attorney's office, Felicity got them back up 'Courtesy of Oracle.' Then the cell towers were hit again. Felicity figured it was probably Grace manning that hack, and she let her think she'd won for about ten minutes before she kicked her out of the system.
The press was going crazy, and the city's leaders weren't sure whether to call Oracle friend or foe. After all, she'd been fighting their battles for them all week, but she'd also created some minor mischief of her own. Laurel took a different stance, which didn't really surprise Felicity. She gave endless speeches about how she intended to prosecute both parties.
"She always looks like she has a giant stick up her ass," Josh observed as they ate pizza while watching the evening news. "She used to date your boss, right? Before he was a castaway."
That made her smile. "She's okay I guess. Definitely not a laugh a minute, though. I like her father better."
"Well, since I'm the only one who knows you ever used the handle Oracle, I think you're safe. Even if they catch me, I won't out you."
Felicity had used the handle at university when she'd temporarily taken up hacktivism with Josh, but she'd only ever used it on a small scale. Certainly she'd never called attention to her hacking in the manner she had this week. When one of the message boards lit up, Felicity saw that it was a message for Oracle. It took her about two minutes to decode.
"Looks like I have my invitation to Anno and the password."
"They change the password every few days, so that one is probably only good until about Friday," Josh told her. He reached behind him to the bags of clothes, makeup and hair extensions Felicity had bought earlier that day. "Dress up time. Better practice tonight so you'll be ready for tomorrow. You are going to look hot."
She rolled her eyes. "I'll take your word for it."
Diggle thought he was imagining things at first. A mini cooper just like Felicity's pulled up alongside his car, but the driver definitely didn't look like Felicity. He immediately fell back to check the license plate.
"Problem?" Lyla asked.
"That car belongs to a friend of mine, but take a look at the driver."
"Not your friend?"
He laughed. "No."
"Stolen?"
He didn't answer, instead following the car until it pulled into a slot across from a series of cafes. The woman got out, locked the door, and waited to cross the street. Diggle and Lyla both got out and walked closer to the woman who was obviously dressed for Halloween, albeit strangely.
She raised her hand to wave at a man across the street, and Diggle's eyes narrowed as he caught a good look at her profile for the first time. What the hell? "Felicity?"
The woman turned, and he couldn't believe it was actually her. She wore a tight bustier and a very short skirt that he would never have imagined her wearing. Then there was the matter of her hair and makeup. She glanced over her shoulder, and he saw the man she'd waved at slipping away.
Felicity smiled and gave a little wave. "Hi. I just came from a party. A costume party, obviously. There was a theme." She tugged at her skirt self-consciously as if she could lengthen it.
Bullshit. "Is that a nose ring?"
Her hand flew to her nose. "Oh – yeah. But it's not real." She unclipped it and held it up. "See?"
"I see your friend didn't stick around," he commented. "What are you really up to, Felicity?"
"I'm… nothing. You know, just enjoying my time off. Not that I asked for time off so I could party all week, obviously. I had important… stuff. Personal things, so that's why I needed the personal days. So how about we just don't mention this to Oliver?"
She was downright nervous now, and every one of his instincts went on alert. He turned to Lyla. "Would you give us a minute?"
Lyla raised a brow in amusement at his big brother routine. "Sure."
Diggle turned back to Felicity. "Truth."
"I am telling the truth. I had an invitation to a specific kind of club, and this is the dress code." Her voice was stronger now, but she still wasn't leveling with him.
"Okay." He crossed his arms. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why would you go to a specific kind of club with that kind of dress code? That's not like you."
She tapped her hand against her thigh, yet another tell that something was not right. "My friend…"
"You mean the one who took off when he saw me?"
Clearing her throat, Felicity swallowed. "Look, I'm helping him with something, okay? It's not a big deal, and it's my business."
The fact that she was being so secretive told him it was a very big deal. "Then why not let us help?"
"Because you can't help." She glanced behind her again. "I promise I'm fine. You should go back to your date, and I'm just going to head home." She waved, got back into her car, and left.
Diggle stared after her as Lyla walked over to join him again. "That was Mr. Queen's executive assistant. Felicity, right?"
"Yeah. She took some personal time this week, but something's not right."
"Didn't you tell me she used to work in the IT department?" At his nod, she said, "Then it might interest you to know that there's a subculture of hackers who dress like that – they call it cyber goth. If I had to guess, I'd say she was at one of the underground clubs tonight."
And Starling City had been under cyber-attack since Friday – the same day Felicity asked for time off. That couldn't be a coincidence. After dropping Lyla off, Diggle drove to Verdant to look for Oliver. He found him on the club floor with Thea.
At Diggle's nod, Oliver excused himself and joined him near the bar. "Something wrong?"
"Yes. I think Felicity is investigating the blackouts on her own." He held out his phone to show Oliver the photo he'd snapped of her.
Oliver took the phone. "Who is this?"
"Believe it or not, that was how Felicity was dressed when I saw her less than an hour ago."
Oliver's brow wrinkled – he looked confused and none too pleased. "This is Felicity? Where was she?"
Diggle explained what Lyla had told him, and Oliver's expression grew angrier by the minute. "She told me she wasn't in trouble. Why would she lie?"
"I think it has something to do with that friend she mentioned. She was meeting him when she saw me, and he took off. I think he's the one in trouble. And her hanging out in underground hacker clubs while the city is dealing with a hacking nightmare is not a coincidence."
Oliver looked back at the phone. "No, it's not."
Oliver waited in the darkness of Felicity's bedroom, brooding about how to handle things with Felicity. She had a lot of explaining to do.
Dressed as the vigilante, he'd followed her earlier that night to a club called Anno. She'd been smarter and taken a cab this time, but tailing her had been easy. Still, if he hadn't seen the photo, he probably wouldn't have recognized her.
She had added red and black extensions to her hair, pulling it back on the sides to reveal black crystals pasted along her cheekbones. Her face was pale, but her eyes stood out against red and black shadows. Her lips and nails were black to match the bustier she wore, and the minuscule skirt was red and black. She wore black and silver fishnets over red and black knee socks with the same boots she'd had on in the photo.
All in all, not very Felicity-like. She'd obviously lied to him, and he was angry. According to Diggle's friend Lyla, they had some evidence that the Triad hired someone to coordinate the blackouts. The idea that Felicity was investigating something on her own that might be connected to the Triad scared the hell out of him.
She'd stayed in the club for a very long two hours. When she emerged, she hadn't been alone, either. A tall man who looked to be of mixed Asian and Caucasian descent had followed her out, and he'd been very amorous. Before she left, he kissed her. After he returned to the club, Felicity wiped her mouth, clearly not happy with his attentions. She was putting herself in situations she wasn't comfortable with – potentially scary and dangerous situations. That made him angry, as well.
Next, Oliver had followed her to a cyber café where she met another man. He assumed this was the mysterious friend in need and wondered about his connection to Felicity. He must be a good friend if she was willing to lie to people for him.
He heard her front door open, followed by a beep that indicated the alarm had been reset. Then he heard the sounds of her shuffling around the living room for a moment before she made her way down the hall. She didn't immediately turn the light on, instead bending down to pull off her boots and toss them towards her walk-in closet. Then she went into the bathroom.
She hadn't even noticed someone sitting in her bedroom. He shook his head, wiping his hands down his face and folding them under his chin. And she wondered why he and Diggle worried so much about her.
Thirty minutes later, the shower turned off and she emerged wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel. And still she didn't notice him. So when she turned on the light and finally saw him sitting in the chair by her window, she shrieked.
"Oh my God – Oliver. How long have you been there?"
"Since you came in," he replied shortly.
She threw the towel into the hamper and took a deep breath. "You know, the keys I gave you and Diggle are for emergencies, not so you can wait for me in my dark bedroom like a creepy, hooded stalker." When he didn't say anything, she asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?"
Was she serious? "What do you think I'm doing here?"
"Diggle told you." She sighed, picking her hairbrush up and brushing her hair with swift strokes. "He's worse than my grandmother."
Oliver stood up and walked over to her. "You lied to me."
"No, I didn't. I just didn't tell you everything."
"Why?" That was the thing that upset him the most. He just didn't understand why she wouldn't tell him. "I followed you tonight, Felicity. I know you're investigating the blackouts. So I want to know why you didn't tell me what you were doing."
"Because of Laurel, alright?" Now she sounded angry, and she tossed her hairbrush on the bed.
"What the hell does any of this have to do with Laurel?" he asked, exasperated.
"I didn't think you could be objective after she got hurt at Iron Heights. And the hacking world is different from the criminals you deal with Oliver. But me? I fit in there, costumes notwithstanding."
He took a deep breath, reminding himself not to yell. "Your friend is Ab501ut3 Cha05, isn't he? That's what you're hiding."
Felicity deflated a little, looking tired all of a sudden. "Yes, but he's not responsible for the blackouts. Another hacker stole his code and modified it, obviously with some help."
"And you thought that because Laurel got caught in the prison riot, I'd take her side." Oliver knew he'd been guilty of wearing Laurel blinders in the past, but he'd thought that he, Felicity and Diggle had moved past that initial mistrust. "You didn't trust me to back you up."
"I guess, but it sounds worse when you say it like that. I do trust you, you know." She walked over to her bed and sat down. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm tired, and it hasn't been the greatest night."
When she raised her hand and brushed it across her lips, he knew she was thinking about the guy kissing her outside Anno. Oliver could admit, at least to himself, that watching another man kiss her had upset him. He wasn't sure if it was the specific situation or if he'd react the same way in any situation where he saw her with someone else. All he knew was that lately, he found himself thinking about her more often.
So he didn't overthink it; he just reached for her hand, pulled her up, and kissed her. It was slow and sweet, and he thought maybe he should have done it before now. When he pulled back, he said, "I'll sleep on the sofa and we'll talk in the morning."
At the doorway her voice stopped him. "Why did you do that?"
Turning to look back at her, he replied, "Because I saw that guy kiss you. I didn't want that kiss to be the last thing you thought about tonight. I'll see you in the morning."
He sent Diggle a text asking him to bring clothes for him in the morning and settled on her sofa. Felicity definitely had a lot to explain, but she'd given him some things to think about, too. He hoped the morning would provide some answers.
A/N: Thanks for the great response this story has had so far! I'll hopefully get around to responding to reviews soon. I didn't expect to have this up so soon, but I was stuck on editing another story and switched to editing this one. It happened to get done first. The next one will likely be a few days, but you probably have a good idea of where we're heading now. Felicity has some splainin' to do, and they both have some thinking to do about their feelings. Also, I want to mention I am not personally familiar with the hacking subculture portrayed in this story, but I did research it. I have a friend who has participated in cyber goth, and she answered some questions as well. Any mistakes are my own.