Chapter 2

Author's Note: Well I wasn't expecting it but this story get unbelievable display of support. I definitely think this is worth continuing now and I'll be writing it alongside my other story 'If You Believed in Me'. If all goes to plan you'll be getting this story on aWednesdayand IYBIM on aFriday, but knowing the way I work it'll never end up like that.

AN IMPORTANT THING HAPPENED – Well not that important I guess but I changed the name of this story. It sorta just hit me while listening to Frank Sinatra…so, yeah.

As a note, I feel like Felicity is going to feel a lot more like Selina Kyle personality wise during this story. I just feel it's how her character would develop given the circumstances. Anyhow, hope you enjoy.

To say Waller had been furious at Smoak's escape would have been an understatement. Waller had decided to add it to her ever-growing of reasons which she saw using to convince the U.S. government to let ARGUS fully replace the FBI. To the surprise of everyone at the agency, Waller, for the first time since she unofficially declared war on the Bureau, was actually succeeding in her augment. If Waller had been furious then the government were…Oliver decided that his description of that would be a little colourful to say the least.

Oliver on the other hand was, in secret at least, at least a little thrilled by Felicity's escape. It had given him a chance to track down one of the most elusive hackers ARGUS had ever gone after. The first time the organisation had been in search of Smoak, Oliver had been working an undercover operation in Russia, only returning a few months after she was captured by the Bureau.

From what Oliver understood, and there was no official paperwork to prove what he had managed to find out, Smoak had finally been caught after she'd called an ambulance to aid the man she had supposedly killed. Smoak had been arrested at the scene and a day later murder was added to her charge sheet. Regrettably, he'd had no luck finding out who her victim was. There had been nothing released by the Bureau or the local PD, and the ARGUS files needed clearance only available to Waller herself. There was plenty of speculation amongst the members of ARGUS who'd worked the case though; some said it was a rival to her leadership at Helix, or another hacker that the group was competing with. Oliver couldn't agree with any of those rumours, if any of them had been true then Smoak wouldn't have called an ambulance after the shooting, nor would she have refuted the charges so absolutely. Yet, all the evidence had pointed towards her as the killer. The victim was shot point blank in the chest, and the murder weapon was found later that day with Smoak's prints on the grip and the victim's blood splattered on the inside of the barrel.

That just added to the list of reasons that Oliver was becoming fascinated with Felicity Smoak.

It had taken him far longer than he would have liked to admit, but Oliver finally tracked her down to Gotham City, where she was attending a charity gala of all things. The event was being hosted at the Wayne Enterprises building, and the guests were all perfectly robed to match the black-tie theme. Even Oliver was outfitted in a tuxedo, although he did have his other suit in a duffle bag he'd stashed in the hall earlier, as well as a spare in the boot of the car he'd brought.

Felicity Smoak was something else. It had been impossible for him to miss her, epically when Oliver had expected to need to be on high alert. She shone amongst the rest of the crowd; clad in a deep blue gown, that hugged her curves in all the right ways, and with killer heels to match. Oliver had to relent that she looked incredible, and so much better than a woman who was supposed to be serving as life sentence should. Not that Oliver had met many women who were set to be locked in some ARGUS blacksite for the rest of their lives before. After the debacle with Helena Bertinelli, Waller seemed to be doing her best to keep Oliver away from criminals of the opposite sex.

He had a reasonable idea of what Smoak was after. Wayne Enterprises had just unveiled some new super computer chip, Oliver couldn't even begin to pretend that he understood all that technical stuff but he knew enough to guess that Smoak would try to sneak away at some stage to steal it. Even if that wasn't what she was after Oliver knew he now had a good chance to bring her in here and now, except he still needed to find the stolen prototype.

Oliver had watched her from a distance, observing the way she flirted and mingled with the crowds, and, even though he knew she had no idea who he was, she had thrown him a pretty significant look across the crowded room. The brazen smile she had given him was one he knew all too well, the rumours about his partners maybe he been a little off but it couldn't be said that Oliver wasn't a little bit of a ladies' man.

Nearly half an hour after his arrival, and after Smoak's fourth dance, Oliver approached her. Her smile didn't go amiss when he approached her.

"I'd love to dance, though it's only fair I give you warning, you'd better know what you're doing if you're going to tango with me." The sultry smirk that crossed her lips washing over him.

"I think I'll be able to handle you." Oliver grinned easily, taking her hands and pulling her onto the dance floor.

A breathy giggle escaped her lips as they moved. "Is that a promise?"

A grin crossed his lips, Oliver really liked her, and it was a shame he'd have to take her back to prison, under ARGUS custody this time. They span around on the dance floor for a few minutes, and regrettably there was no tango to be had, despite Smoak's flirtatious taunting, though Oliver still thoroughly enjoyed himself.

"So, how did you manage to track me down, Mr. Queen, or would you prefer I call you Arrow?" her sudden declaration threw him off, though Oliver managed to keep the flow of the dance. "Come on, don't act so surprised. Did you really think I wouldn't know who you are? Helix hacked ARGUS years ago, I know everything there is to know about you. You're the Arrow, the man sent to bring me in. You know, I'd usually take offence to people trying to arrest me, but I'm rather flattered that ARGUS decided they needed to put you on the case. All this attention certainly makes a girl feel special."

"Well espionage and escape from prison tend to bring a lot of attention," Oliver quickly returned. "Just give back that prototype and this can end right now, Felicity. You don't mind if I call you Felicity, do you?"

Between the flirtatious grin that flooded her lips and how close she leaned into him, Smoak was driving him mad. "You can call me anything you want, Oliver."

Oh, two could play at that game.

Oliver matched her grin and leaned in far closer to her than she had to him, so close that he could smell the faint trace of lavender on her hair, whispering into her ear. "Give it back, Felicity."

"Or what? I'm already serving life without parole. What are you planning to do?" Felicity pulled just far enough away that she could wink at him. "Put me over your knee and spank me?"

"Don't tempt me." Oliver allowed the hand he had on her waist to travel down just an inch, and he couldn't deny that he got a kick out of her reaction. He hadn't thought it was possible for Felicity's grin to become any more seductive but, in response to his action, it did. The two continued to dance for a moment before Oliver continued. "Something tells me you're not quite grasping the seriousness of this situation. You've stolen a prototype that the U.S. government is particularly interested in. ARGUS has killed people for far less."

"You really think this is just about the prototype? There is so much more than that going on here. You're being played, Oliver, and it looks like you don't even know it."

"You don't really think I'm going to fall for that do you?"

"Tell me, Oliver, what do you know about the League of Assassins?"

That certainly got Oliver's attention. The League was one of the oldest regimes in the world; it had been a serious political influence over the last few years and was said to have the largest war chest in history. The group was said to have been instrumental in the rise and fall of civilisations dating back millennia. The leader of the group, the ever elusive Ra's al Ghul, had never been caught on camera, but rumours persisted that the man had lived for over 600 years. If the dictatorial leader's history was anything to go by, then his plans for the prototype weren't likely to be benevolent.

"What does the League have to do with any of this?"

"Hmm," the simple humming sound that escaped her lips was enough to distract him for a brief enough moment for her to lean in and press her lips against his. Oliver returned the kiss as though it were the most natural thing in the world, which clearly was a mistake. The next thing Oliver felt was a sharp prick against his upper arm before his vision began to blur, eventually fading into darkness.

XXX

Waking up in a car he didn't recognise and somewhere that definitely wasn't where he was knocked out, hadn't exactly been a great surprise to Oliver. He had to fight to force his eyes open, whatever sedative Smoak had hit him with had been seriously strong. Slowly taking in the view outside the car, Oliver had a vague idea of where he was: the Port of Gotham. It looked like the car was parked in front of a warehouse, which appeared to be unoccupied.

It was then Oliver realised he was sat in the passenger seat and his defences immediately kicked in. Turing his head, he saw Felicity Smoak sat in the driver's seat. She was still clad in her blue gown, looking a little out of place compared to the rest of their surroundings. Thankfully, she hadn't noticed he was awake, all of her attention seemed to be on the warehouse before them.

Oliver's first instinct was to check for the variety of hidden weapons he kept. The flechettes he had concealed under his left sleeve, the knife attached to his belt, and the small handgun strapped to his right ankle were all gone. Smoak really did know her stuff. Unfortunately, his movements drew her attention.

"Oh good, you're finally awake." She seemed worryingly cheerful for someone who was about to be arrested.

"Where are we?" Oliver started simple, if he could get her to give away enough information about what it as they were doing, he might be able to get the upper hand.

"Look, the way I see it, we both want the same thing. Whatever it is you've been told about me, it isn't true. I'm not you're enemy, Oliver."

She was even more brazen than he had thought, there was no way Oliver was gullible enough to believe anything she told him. This was how she worked and he knew it. Smoak was well known for her talent for seducing and beguiling her marks, and he wasn't about to become the latest in a long line who'd fall for her antics just because she smiled at him.

"You drugged me." It wasn't a question, and it was as close as Smoak was getting to an answer to her previous question, there was no way he was going to trust this woman. "How did you manage to get me out of the gala without anyone noticing?" Okay, so maybe he was a little curious about how she pulled that one off.

"Well I didn't knock you out per se…just a mild sedative that also made you highly perceptible to suggestion." Smoak had a grin tugging at the corner of her lip as she spoke.

"What did you use on me?" He was beginning to get impatient with her.

"Oh come on, Oliver. You can't expect a woman to go giving out all her secrets on the first date." The wink she threw his way was about the most infuriating thing Oliver had encountered all day.

Oliver knew he wasn't getting any straight answers out of her, Smoak was purposely being evasive about her methods. He couldn't really blame her though. If he was a wanted criminal, Oliver would like to think he'd keep his cards close to his chest. Her deflection was understandable he resigned, but that didn't mean he was happy with it.

"So who are we staking out?" Oliver had a pretty good guess that was why they were sat outside a warehouse and not heading back to wherever Helix had their headquarters.

In fact, Oliver was beginning to wonder why Smoak hadn't run straight back to Helix. Given that the organisation was so secretive, he would have thought that would have been her first stop after escaping, they seemed like a group who'd have the resources enough to make someone disappear. Yet here she was, sat outside some abandoned warehouse in Gotham City, right next to the ARGUS agent that was tasked to bring her in. Yeah, Smoak was definitely as mad as they said she was.

"Well I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count." The grin returned as she spoke.

"Smoak, you say that like I have even the vaguest idea who any of your contacts are. There's a reason it took ARGUS so long to find you the first time." Oliver wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to put up with her before he just called in backup and brought her in.

Felicity turned to face him and the smile dropped from her face, a resolute seriousness taking over her expression. "Give me a day. Just twenty-four hours to follow up on a lead. Come with me and let me prove to you that this whole thing has been rigged against me from the start. If we don't find anything I'll let you cuff me yourself." She trailed off and a sultry smirk crossed her lips. "Actually, I might let you do that anyway, sounds fun."

This woman was going to be the death of him, if the unending innuendo didn't finish him off then she would herself. For whatever reason Oliver was tempted to give her the benefit of the doubt, he had said himself that a lot of the evidence in her murder charge hadn't seemed right. If she could prove that she had been set up, then didn't he owe it to her to make sure her name was cleared? Sure, Smoak had done some pretty illegal stuff when she'd been running Helix, but she'd never killed anyone.

"Oliver, you're too good an agent to get stuck on some corporate espionage case and you know it." She met his eyes and some silent understanding crossed between them. "If you don't trust me, then trust your gut."

He was so getting fired for this.

"Twenty-four hours, and if this is some sort of game, Smoak, you'll regret it."

"Even if it was, Oliver, you'd struggle to find a man who regretted playing any of my games."

XXX

Almost another half an hour had passed since he had agreed to give Smoak the twenty-four hours she'd asked for to prove her innocence and, given the lack of an appearance by whoever it was they were meant to be meeting, Oliver was starting to doubt the reality of her plea. Typical to his luck it was at that moment that a figure finally emerged from the warehouse, and it took Oliver a while to make out a clear image of their target in the darkness. It looked to him as though they were going after a teenager, the kid had short hair and a bright red hoodie that looked a little out of place amongst the dull shipping containers.

"That's our guy." Smoak began, moving to get out of the car.

Oliver, however, grabbed her wrist and stopped her from getting up. "I'm not going after him unarmed." He stated sternly, holding Smoak's glare.

With a begrudging sigh, she used her free hand to reach into the glove box and procure his flechettes, still fixed to the leather strap. Smoak held them out to him, clearly unimpressed by having to arm the man who, until half an hour ago at least, was trying to arrest her. Oliver couldn't blame her, he'd probably be doing the same in her position.

"Until I know you're not going to try and arrest me, this is all you're getting." Given how unamused she suddenly sounded, and that their target was getting away, Oliver relented and took the weapons from her.

Shrugging off his suit jacket, Oliver rolled up the left arm of his shirt and fixed the wrist strap to himself. He wasn't used to going after a target in this style without having his other suit, though Oliver supposed that these weren't his usual circumstances for chasing a target. He had to marvel at the way Smoak seemed to be ready to chase this guy down still wearing her floor-length gown from the gala, and it briefly reminded him of why he had been so interested in taking this case. Though Oliver did make sure to remember that he was currently working with ARGUS's #1 most wanted criminal, he would definitely need to keep his guard up.

It took them hardly any time at all to catch up with the man Smoak wanted, the only problem being that the kid had heard them coming. Oliver realised that it probably wasn't smart of Smoak to be wearing heels in a place that had so much of an echo, it was a veritable forest of shipping containers. They were almost on top of the kid when Oliver saw the brief glint of metal, which told him the kid had a gun. Before he'd even thought about it, Oliver had pulled Smoak away from the current path they were walking and onto one of the adjacent ones, pushing her into one of the containers for cover. It took Oliver a brief moment to realise just how close together they were, Smoak had her back pressed up against the cool metal of the shipping container, and Oliver was practically flush against her, unconsciously shielding her as the hail of bullets slammed into the metal beside them.

"How chivalrous," another of her smirks crossed Smoak's lips. "But I'm afraid you'll have to do a little more than swing me around the dance floor and save my life once if you want a more intimate feel, but I love that you tried."

They were getting shot at and she was still flirting with him, this woman was something else entirely and Oliver was in amazement of her. Resigning that any dialogue on his part would undoubtedly lead to even more innuendo, Oliver simply chose to glare at her. He noted the way the Smoak's head tilted a little, clearly listening for where their assailant was. Oliver took her lead, using the echo of the kid's footfalls to give himself a pretty good guess at where to aim. He waited for a few more moments until he heard the signature click that let him know that the kid needed to reload. As soon as he heard it, Oliver stepped out of his cover, only taking the briefest of moments to line up his shot. Instinct taking over, Oliver threw one of the flechettes, the small dart striking the kid's gun and sending it spinning into the shadows. It couldn't have taken much longer than a second before Oliver had crossed the distance and hit the kid with his best right-hook, leaving him to crumble to the floor against one of the containers.

He turned when the sound of Smoak's heels returned, and Oliver observed her closely as she approached, trying to fight against the way his eyes were drawn to her swaying hips in that sinfully tight dress.

"Harper," She grinned, feigning affection. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, nowhere close to long enough, Smoak." The kid, Harper, threw a glance at Oliver who was still towering over him. "Mind calling off your bloodhound?"

"Oh, don't give him so much credit." Smoak began, throwing a teasing smile at Oliver. "You know what I want, Harper. Tell me about this prototype, why is the US government so interested in it?"

"You're the tech genius, you tell me."

The shift in Smoak's mood was beyond obvious, the light-heartedness fading completely. "You've got until the count of ten."

Oliver knew that Smoak had a reputation for carrying out any threat she made, and in that moment he was actually fearful for the kid's life. He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't bluffing, whatever Smoak was threatening him with, she fully intended to do it.

"Don't try that on me, we all know you're not a killer, Smoak."

A smug grin met her lips. "Who said anything about killing you?"

Smoak dropped to a bended knee, reaching into the pocket of Harper's hoodie and procuring his cell phone. After a few brief seconds of observing her typing, Oliver decided to interject.

"What are you doing?" He asked cautiously.

"Well, Harper here just so happens to be the best fence and information broker on the East Coast, only thing is he tends to be a little carless about his digital footprint. I'm tracking down where his latest little stash of illegal goodies is hidden."

"Oh come on, Smoak, don't do this." Harper's plea was all but ignored by Oliver and Felicity.

"You can do that from a cell phone?" Oliver smiled in amazement. "And I thought those rumours had been exaggerated."

The smug smile that she gave him at that comment was dazzling. "The rumours about me are never exaggerated."

"Really?" Oliver took a few steps towards her as he spoke. "Well then I've got to say I'm a little surprised by the two separate firearms you've got hidden in that dress of yours, given that you're supposed to be a pacifist."

Smoak raised an eyebrow at him, another of her sultry grins slamming into his vision. "Those guns are very well hidden, just how hard were you looking, Queen?"

Oliver allowed his grin to match hers. "Hard enough."

"Look guys, if you're going to keep up with the flirting at least do me the courtesy of knocking me out." Harper snapped the two back into the reality of their situation.

Felicity winked at Oliver before turning the phone, so that Harper could see the screen. "Now the way I see it; you either tells us what we want and I'll give you back your phone and we'll walk away or you don't tell us anything and I might accidently broadcast this location to the GCPD."

"Shit." Harper deadpanned. "You know, there's a reason I stopped working with your people, Smoak."

"So then, Roy, do we have a deal?"

He barely known the woman for two hours, but Felicity Smoak was proving to be the most interesting mark Oliver had ever broken the law to work with.

Author's Note: Another chapter down, please leave a review if you enjoyed this or if you have any general comments for me. It means a lot to know that people are enjoying my work.

P.S. I'm totally aware that I'm uploading this on a Tuesday when I just said I was going to do Wednesday's. I won't be at home to post this tomorrow so y'all are getting it early.