QC, executive offices, late afternoon,
It had been three days since Lance had handed them the evidence bag and Felicity had spent every available minute tracking down the origin of its contents. The object didn't have any specific markers on it, not even a patent she could trace, so she had expanded her search to the history of throwing knives, more specifically Japanese ones. It had led her to delve deeply into the past and names like Tadashi and Hideoshi didn't sound foreign any more. Having read in everything she could find, she was ready to call it a day. She felt a headache looming as she pinched the bridge if her nose. At least she would have something to tell Diggle tonight at the foundry. He had been out on Queen business the whole day to keep up appearances what with Oliver now officially on a prolonged trip, but they had agreed to meet there by 9 o'clock in the evening.
This left her a couple of hours to go home and take a nap before heading out again. Hopefully it would help her to clear her head. Rapidly she gathered her purse and her tablet and headed for the parking garage.
The drive home was thankfully uneventful and she let out a deep breath, briefly resting her head on the steering wheel. She felt exhausted. Only a few more steps and you can relax. Come on! She chastised herself. Stepping out of the car she rapidly moved to the sidewalk. It was then that she first felt it. Someone was watching her! Her steps faltered as realization hit. She grabbed her purse tighter, her fingers now gripping her keys hard. Don't look around! Walk on! She chanted the words like a mantra. Finally after what seemed an eternity, she reached her door and once inside leant her back against it. She briefly closed her eyes in relief. The locks were solid. Oliver, once she'd teamed up with him and after seeing where she lived, had insisted she add them. Unbidden her worry skyrocketed… Oliver… Where are you?
On her way to her bedroom she left her shoes in her wake, her purse dropping beside them. As she passed her window, she carefully observed the street below, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Must've been my overactive imagination! She tried to convince herself as she plopped down on her bed. She was fast asleep in mere minutes.
Foundry, later,
When she opened the secondary entrance door, she could hear the familiar sound of metal bars clanking against metal bars. Hoping against hope her feet accelerated on their own volition. She stopped in her tracks as soon as she had plain view of the training area. Shoulders slumped she turned to her computer desk, putting her purse down. It took her a moment to compose herself. Eyes closed, she focused on her breathing, then chin held high she sat down. Blinking a few times she cleared her vision before resuming her endless quest for information. There had to be something …
Diggle had turned just in time to see her defeated, sad look. He felt bad for stirring her hopes, especially since he knew her feelings for Oliver, but coming in today he'd needed to let off some pent up steam. Having seen war and lost people her cared for, he could put himself in Oliver's shoes, yet at the same time he felt angry at the younger man. He'd warned him at the beginning of their journey as a team; the words still resounded vividly in his mind: … except you have no idea what war does to you, how it scrapes off little pieces of your soul … And not only yours, Oliver. It affects the persons close to you too… A sudden surge of rage coursed through his body and he hit the bar in front of him violently one more time before depositing his batons on the workbench. He wanted to comfort their IT girl so he walked over to her chair and he placed his hand on her shoulder trying to convey his support.
"Anything new?" Maybe distracting her, giving her something to focus on would make her feel less useless…
"No … well … except if you count the fact that while searching the Internet I've accumulated a whole database on cutting and thrusting weaponry. Makes me kind of an expert if you think about it … Which per se is odd because if you look at it from a certain distance, they're pointy things and I have this thing about all pointy things really … and I'm rambling again…"
Leaning her forehead on her left palm she had to force herself to take a few deep breaths to slow her respiration. It always tended to speed up when her filter deprived brain went on a rampage. Another tightening of the fingers on her shoulder helped ground her.
Feeling her need to vent about what she'd read Diggle offered her his attention.
"You can always tell me …"
"There's no specific markers on it so I compared it to every throwing knife I could find out there and here's what it resembles most…"
She pulled up a picture on the screen. As he looked over her shoulder Dig let out a low whistle.
"I met up close and personal with one of those once …"
"What happened?"
"China White tried to kill Laurel Lance and Oliver. He saved me throwing a kitchen knife at her… His knife found its mark perfectly, even if it wasn't well balanced and he didn't really have time to aim it."
"China White as in Triad China White?"
"Yes."
"That was before we met." She stated.
"Yes."
"And did you know…" Felicity's question was cut short by an alert on one of her computer screens making her almost jump out of her skin. She had set it earlier to monitor the police network for any possible QC break-in related intel. Pushing up her glasses she rapidly transferred the alert to the central screen.
"Oh my god!" She gasped, while her fingers flew over the keyboard to get more details.
"What is it?"
"There's been a murder in the Glades."
"That's nothing new, sadly. Why did that set off your alarms?"
"It fits the search grid I set up. The victim is Chinese. The body bears multiple non-lethal cut wounds inflicted by small knives…"
"Someone tortured him to get information."
"Seems he delivered whatever he was asked, he was executed."
"How?"
Pulling up the autopsy report, she read. "Cause of death: single gunshot wound to the head."
"Hm… that's weird."
"What does that mean?"
"Looks like someone was sent in to clean up the mess…" Diggle sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "Apparently our perpetrator didn't want to kill his victim." His gaze swept to Felicity's. "Does that sound familiar to you?"
He could see the watery gleam in her eyes. She hurt. Hurt for the man she loved and who was walking down a very dark road. They needed to stop him before it was too late.
"You really think Oliver's involved in this killing, Dig?" She sniffled trying to get her emotions back in check.
"I'm afraid so."
An icy claw constricted her heart. "How can he revert to his old habits so easily? I thought … I thought…" The words didn't come out, remained stuck in her throat. She refused to spell out loud what she feared, that Oliver had reverted to his old killer self.
Dig shot her an incredulous glance. "Easily? Nothing's easy when you're fighting a war, Felicity. Especially if you fight it against yourself …"
"How can he deal with breaking his vow?"
"He can't. In his eyes he's failed…" Diggle had come to that realization after his fall out with Oliver at the A.R.G.U.S. facility. The younger man held himself by very tough principles, some of them honed at the contact of his team, others he had probably gained during his years abroad. John Diggle, the soldier, could understand that attitude, but he saw something different too. He saw the way Felicity influenced the vigilante morphing him into a hero. He had warned Oliver years ago about how bringing Felicity into their quest was dangerous, but he had to admit he hadn't foreseen the positive aspects of her presence and for sure he hadn't expected the seemingly emotionless killer to be a victim of the most powerful of them.
"How can he believe he's failed? He's done so much good for Starling City already, both as Oliver Queen and as The Arrow… People start to believe in him…"
"You really don't know, Felicity?" Somehow it still took him by surprise how those two could fool themselves about their feelings. It wasn't his job to spell it out loud for them. They had to find their way on their own. All he could do was offer them a shoulder to lean on in Felicity's case or be a sounding board for Oliver. Seeing the IT expert sitting there trembling, arms tightly wrapped around her body he cursed the young man for his lone wolf attitude. He opened his arms, offering Felicity a hug that she readily accepted. Truth was, it provided comfort to both of them.
Her phone chose that moment to ring.
"It's detective Lance. Yes, detective? How can I help you?"
"I think we have a bit of a situation here…"
"What's wrong?"
"Apparently there's a new killer in town…"
"Apparently?"
"Well there was this murder yesterday. I'm sure you're already informed about it…"
Felicity felt heat creep up her cheeks. Lance had guessed right.
"Well there's been another attack tonight. The MO fits one Slade Wilson."
"How so?"
"Victims are executed with one of those Japanese swords. Stabbed right through the heart. Ring a bell?"
"Moira Queen… I mean Mrs Queen. She was killed by Slade Wilson that way, but he's dead…"
Felicity's thoughts were running a mile a minute… Could it be? Could both detective Lance and Diggle be right with their suspicions?
"Is there other evidence, detective?"
"Well our investigators have found a throwing knife very similar to the one you still have in your possession…"
"Oh…"
Diggle could only follow Felicity's part of the conversation and from what he heard the news weren't good. Slade Wilson? The man was dead. Oliver and Lance had taken care of it. He'd seen the body and A.R.G.U.S. had disposed of it.
"Could you do some research on your side, miss Smoak? Knowing your skills, I'm sure you'd get better results than our techs…"
Lance lost no time giving her the coordinates of the crime scene before hanging up and she immediately started pulling up the street cams. She told Diggle what Lance had said while rapidly typing on the keyboard. Nothing came up so she widened her search grid to adjacent quarters.
Meanwhile Diggle had moved to his weapons and set to clean them thoroughly when he was interrupted by a very small and trembling voice begging for his attention.
"Dig?"
His head shot up from the barrel he was wiping with a clean cloth.
"Yeah?"
Felicity didn't answer. She was staring intently at her computer screens so Diggle moved around her desk to get a look at what had caught her attention. She'd hacked a camera in a small convenience store in a nearby side street and was checking the footage. Though the images were of mediocre quality they were still clear enough to follow the events happening on the other side of the street.
A pair of street thugs was menacing a young scrawny man. Unfortunately these videos didn't provide sound, so Felicity and Diggle couldn't hear what was said, but by the postures they could assume the assailants wanted cash. The young man was frozen in place; fear paralyzing him. Suddenly one of the attackers drew a gun gesticulating wildly. He didn't stand a chance to harm his victim as he was grabbed from behind and choked unconscious. Meanwhile the second one had drawn a knife to take advantage of the distraction, but before he could grab the young man he saw that the newcomer was now focusing his attention on him. He let go of his weapon and started running away. He didn't get far before his hand flew to his neck, his legs promptly gave out and he crumbled to the pavement. The dark silhouette turned toward the younger man who had sunk to the ground. He looked up and saw what he felt was a new menace. He scrambled away with a look of horror on his face. The dark clad figure disappeared into the shadows of the alley.
Felicity turned to Diggle to see his reaction. His face was impassive.
"Can you scroll back to the moment where the dark clad guy takes out the gunman?"
"Sure. There you go… See anything of relevance?"
"I've seen that move once." A smile appeared on his lips as he looked at Felicity's expectant face. A hesitant one answered him.
"Tell me… please?"
"Well Oliver was trying to get info from the Bratva…" Diggle told her about the day he'd seen Oliver seemingly kill a man with his bare hands and resurrect him once they were out of the danger zone. To say Felicity was stunned was an understatement.
"So you think…?" She tentatively asked once she'd processed what he'd told her.
"Yes, I think that was Oliver and from what I've seen all's not lost yet."
He got a watery smile as a reward.
"But for now…" Taking in her tired features, he decided it was time to call it a night. There would be a lot to do the next day and they both needed to be in their best possible form. "I'll take you home. I need my beauty sleep and leaving you here isn't an option. Knowing you, you wouldn't get any rest …"
Felicity valiantly tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. So she accepted Diggle's offer to drive her home.
A/N: RL is keeping me occupied these days, so please accepted my sincerest apologies for the delays in posting… I hope you still enjoy the read. Feel free to give me your impressions, because this monstrous plot bunny is hard to handle...
And I want to thank you dear reviewers for keeping me afloat, all of you!