Arrow, "Dark Stranger" Felicity/Slade, Felicity/OIiver "Nine"
Fandom: Arrow
Title: Dark Stranger
Chapter Title: Nine
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Felicity Smoak, Slade Wilson, Oliver Queen; Felicity/Slade, Oliver/Felicity, and Oliver/Sara
Rating: M
Warnings/Spoilers: adult content, spoilers for "Heir to the Demon"
Notes: I'm shooting for about six chapters for this to be finished soon.
Summary: Felicity must make peace with Oliver's choice, even if it means turning her attention to a charming and mysterious stranger. Her attentions to someone else, however, do not go unnoticed.
Other Links: AO3 | FFnet | Dreamwidth
The moment Thea’s car dropped Roy off in his neighborhood, he knew he was being followed. He bypassed his house, and heading away and hoping to prevent the stalkers from knowing where he lived.
Once he took care of them, however, he’d head straight to Verdant and let Oliver know that criminal activity was on the rise again - and he was being targeted. Something seemed really suspicious about that, Roy thought, and he wondered if all this slow criminal activity was actually being controlled by someone.
It was a terrifying thought if it was true.
Shadows danced on the walls as he passed down a narrow allow. He walked through a cloud of smoke, heard the footsteps crackle behind him, and he turned. Stupid idiots. He brought them down this alley on purpose. There was no escape, and he would take them down one by one. The idea thrilled him. He’d been hungry for some excitement, and his blood was boiling for some violence.
Two men clenched their fists and headed toward him with sinister grins on their sweaty faces.
“Boys, what can I do for you?” Roy said, but he was hardly holding his rage back, feeling the excitement give way, and before he could let them answer, he charged them. He punched one guy first, sending him reeling into the brick wall behind him. He made an indent in the wall, causing a flurry of stone smoke and debris to spurt over him.
The other goon was not as easy as that one to approach. He seemed stronger, and he was a challenge even for Roy, despite possessing the strength of many with the Mirakuru serum pulsing through his veins. After taking a few jabs from the guy, and only planting a measly couple himself, it dawned on him that this guy had been injected with the drug too. The man roared at him like a wild beast, and he finally picked Roy up by the throat. Roy struggled, trying to squirm out of his grasp, kicking and landing a few punches to the jaw. He gave him one more powerful kick to the nuts, and the man roared with fury, throwing Roy out into the street.
Knowing that this fight may last forever, Roy turned heel and sped away, hating to run from a fight and ignoring the rage inside him that was telling him to go back and beat that guy until one of them was dead.
“Control,” he heard Oliver’s voice echo through his mind.
Wiping the blood off his mouth, Roy spat on the ground and subdued the monstrous voices echoing within his head. He had to get to the lair and warn Oliver that something big was beginning to stir up again.
--
Slade cradled the unconscious Felicity Smoak against his large chest, and he walked into his office where Barbara was hard at work. He’d called her to from the limo, ordering her to set up his flight for his little trip with Felicity.
She turned around and he could see the fear and anger in her eyes as he held Felicity. Slade knew that Barbara was defiant. She’d been like that before he’d doomed her to that chair, taking some of the fight out of her. She was a brilliant computer programmer, but he was sure she was ready to destroy him out of revenge the moment his back was turned.
Knowing that, he had sent instructions to two of his henchmen to take care of her once he was at the destination with Felicity.
He’d hope he could turn Felicity to his side. It was possible, given how they’ve bonded, but he knew she be angry with him for taking this route. He’d only taken her this way when he’d sensed she was becoming suspicious, and this so-called romance of theirs was taking too long to blossom. He admitted that Felicity had been hard to sway, but given the last choice he would give her on their trip, she would have no other choice and side with him, and he could replace Barbara easily. He looked down at Felicity and admired her pretty face. On second thought, Felicity would be much more valuable than Barbara, and he’d find other uses for her, and it would delight him even more if she turned to him and forgot about Oliver, further sticking the knife into Oliver’s heart at losing her.
Regardless of what happened, Felicity Smoak had a choice to make, and once they got on that plane, she’d see that she was stuck, and it was too late for her to go back to Oliver now.
“Is the plane ready?”
Barbara spun around with her masked anger and turned back to her computer monitor. “You’re booked on a private plane in Starling City Business Airport. Your flight leaves in two hours.”
“Good, put the other plan in motion, Barbara. It’s time to distract Oliver from knowing that his favorite IT girl is gone,” Slade said. “He’s too busy with the Canary to notice.”
He observed Barbara swallow uncomfortably for a second before going back to her keyboard. She nodded, “Yes, sir.”
As she tapped away, Slade placed the sleeping Felicity in a leather swivel chair. She was mumbling in her sleep, and sure that she’d wake up before their flight, Slade prepared another sedative for her, pulling back her sleeve and injecting the drug into a vein in her right arm.
“Nighty night, love,” he said, and she smiled blissfully as a deeper sleep took her over.
---
Roy circled around the club and was sure no one was following him. He hoped that the goon he’d run from was too stupid to follow, but he was cautious, making sure he was truly alone.
He limped a little as he climbed down the stairs to the lair, where he found Diggle and Oliver intensely training with each other. They were so involved in their training that they didn’t notice his presence until he’d leaned against Felicity’s chair and it squeaked from his weight. Oliver immediately looked over, probably expecting it to be Felicity only to see Roy nursing his wounds instead.
“Roy,” Digg said, looking concerned. “What happened?”
“Ugh, got jumped,” Roy said. “One of them was...you know, like me.”
Oliver nodded, coming to his side. “Tell us everything.”
“Thea and I were out for dinner, ran into Felicity and some guy even, and then I took Thea home and got jumped. The one guy was normal; he was easy to toss around, but the second one... He was like a brick wall. Even with all my new power, I couldn’t get him down,” Roy said, cringing as Digg began tending to his wounds.
“Felicity and some guy?” Diggle asked with concern.
“Yeah, her date. Huge guy, black hair, grumpy face,” he hissed as antiseptic hit the wound. He growled, quelling anger and fury. “Had an eyepatch.”
Roy watched as Oliver’s face went white. “An eyepatch?” he said in a low voice.
“Yeah… he looked like an asshole. What is Felicity doing with a guy like that? Unless, looks are deceiving. I just had a feeling, you know, that he could get as angry as I could,” Roy said.
Diggle saw the uncomfortable look on Oliver’s face. “Oliver, what are you thinking?”
“It can’t be…” He breathed, and he spun around as Sara suddenly ran down the stairs into the lair. She looked agitated and worried, and somewhat out of breath. “Felicity is in trouble. She texted me and I got here as fast as I could.”
“We’re already realizing that,” Oliver said, coming toward her. “What did she tell you?”
“She only texted me that she was meeting a man tonight that she was sure was not real. I assume that she meant he was faking his identity.”
“And she went anyway?” Oliver raged.
Sara bit her lip to curb her anger. “Yes. I texted back and headed straight here. Ollie, she didn’t reply to me, and I’m afraid she did it to find out WHY he was lying to her and who he really is. I just hope she’s not trying to prove herself again.
Oliver clenched his fist, turning around and ready to punch the practice dummy with all his frustration and anger.
Before he could, all the computer monitors in the lair flickered wildly, like a rampant light show. They beeped, crackled, and elicited white noise like an old TV.
“This message is to the Vigilante and the Canary,” said a voice, a woman, who took over all the sound in the lair, echoing with urgency.
“If you haven’t already guessed it, Felicity Smoak is in deep peril, but I cannot tell you where she is until I can speak with the Canary,” the voice said, and Sara left Roy to approach one monitor that began to shape into an alien green face with the top of her head pulsing with green lightning bolts.
“Barbara?” Sara asked. “Is that you? I thought you were dead.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Sara. And no, I’m not dead, but I’m not who I used to be. I met up with someone who you know well, and I got caught.”
“Slade Wilson,” she guessed.
“He has taken Felicity to get back at Oliver. I’ve been helping him without a choice, but I’m free for now. I have very little time. I can’t tell you anything because knowing Slade, he has sent a kill order to me the moment he leaves the country.”
“Leaves the country?” Oliver said. “He’s got Felicity!”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “But before I can tell you how to save her, Sara, you must come save me from Slade’s assassins. They’re going to take care of me and then wreak havoc all over Starling City.”
Sara scoffed. “As I recall, Oracle, you can save yourself.”
“Not anymore. Slade put an arrow in my back,” she said pausing. “I can’t walk, Sara.”
Sara looked aghast. “Fine. I’ll come get you, but you have to let us know what they did with Felicity so they can save her.”
“I hope that they can,” Barbara said. “Slade is going to the Starling City Business Airport on a private plane, number 55671. He’s leaving in less than an hour. Get there and save Felicity. But be quick. He doesn’t plan on bringing her back, wherever he’s taking her.”
Sara turned around, watching Oliver already running up the stairs and out the door. Diggle was right behind him in full mode to rescue their precious friend at any cost.
Roy threw his shirt back on, even though he was still weak from the battle with those goons before. He nodded to her, confirming she’d have backup to rescue Barbara and take on the chaos that Slade was going to unleash into Starling City.
“Let’s go,” Sara said, and she suited up and grabbed her weapons. Roy draped the hood over his head, and they ran out of the lair side-by-side.
Ten
Title: Dark Stranger
Chapter Title: Nine
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Felicity Smoak, Slade Wilson, Oliver Queen; Felicity/Slade, Oliver/Felicity, and Oliver/Sara
Rating: M
Warnings/Spoilers: adult content, spoilers for "Heir to the Demon"
Notes: I'm shooting for about six chapters for this to be finished soon.
Summary: Felicity must make peace with Oliver's choice, even if it means turning her attention to a charming and mysterious stranger. Her attentions to someone else, however, do not go unnoticed.
Other Links: AO3 | FFnet | Dreamwidth
The moment Thea’s car dropped Roy off in his neighborhood, he knew he was being followed. He bypassed his house, and heading away and hoping to prevent the stalkers from knowing where he lived.
Once he took care of them, however, he’d head straight to Verdant and let Oliver know that criminal activity was on the rise again - and he was being targeted. Something seemed really suspicious about that, Roy thought, and he wondered if all this slow criminal activity was actually being controlled by someone.
It was a terrifying thought if it was true.
Shadows danced on the walls as he passed down a narrow allow. He walked through a cloud of smoke, heard the footsteps crackle behind him, and he turned. Stupid idiots. He brought them down this alley on purpose. There was no escape, and he would take them down one by one. The idea thrilled him. He’d been hungry for some excitement, and his blood was boiling for some violence.
Two men clenched their fists and headed toward him with sinister grins on their sweaty faces.
“Boys, what can I do for you?” Roy said, but he was hardly holding his rage back, feeling the excitement give way, and before he could let them answer, he charged them. He punched one guy first, sending him reeling into the brick wall behind him. He made an indent in the wall, causing a flurry of stone smoke and debris to spurt over him.
The other goon was not as easy as that one to approach. He seemed stronger, and he was a challenge even for Roy, despite possessing the strength of many with the Mirakuru serum pulsing through his veins. After taking a few jabs from the guy, and only planting a measly couple himself, it dawned on him that this guy had been injected with the drug too. The man roared at him like a wild beast, and he finally picked Roy up by the throat. Roy struggled, trying to squirm out of his grasp, kicking and landing a few punches to the jaw. He gave him one more powerful kick to the nuts, and the man roared with fury, throwing Roy out into the street.
Knowing that this fight may last forever, Roy turned heel and sped away, hating to run from a fight and ignoring the rage inside him that was telling him to go back and beat that guy until one of them was dead.
“Control,” he heard Oliver’s voice echo through his mind.
Wiping the blood off his mouth, Roy spat on the ground and subdued the monstrous voices echoing within his head. He had to get to the lair and warn Oliver that something big was beginning to stir up again.
--
Slade cradled the unconscious Felicity Smoak against his large chest, and he walked into his office where Barbara was hard at work. He’d called her to from the limo, ordering her to set up his flight for his little trip with Felicity.
She turned around and he could see the fear and anger in her eyes as he held Felicity. Slade knew that Barbara was defiant. She’d been like that before he’d doomed her to that chair, taking some of the fight out of her. She was a brilliant computer programmer, but he was sure she was ready to destroy him out of revenge the moment his back was turned.
Knowing that, he had sent instructions to two of his henchmen to take care of her once he was at the destination with Felicity.
He’d hope he could turn Felicity to his side. It was possible, given how they’ve bonded, but he knew she be angry with him for taking this route. He’d only taken her this way when he’d sensed she was becoming suspicious, and this so-called romance of theirs was taking too long to blossom. He admitted that Felicity had been hard to sway, but given the last choice he would give her on their trip, she would have no other choice and side with him, and he could replace Barbara easily. He looked down at Felicity and admired her pretty face. On second thought, Felicity would be much more valuable than Barbara, and he’d find other uses for her, and it would delight him even more if she turned to him and forgot about Oliver, further sticking the knife into Oliver’s heart at losing her.
Regardless of what happened, Felicity Smoak had a choice to make, and once they got on that plane, she’d see that she was stuck, and it was too late for her to go back to Oliver now.
“Is the plane ready?”
Barbara spun around with her masked anger and turned back to her computer monitor. “You’re booked on a private plane in Starling City Business Airport. Your flight leaves in two hours.”
“Good, put the other plan in motion, Barbara. It’s time to distract Oliver from knowing that his favorite IT girl is gone,” Slade said. “He’s too busy with the Canary to notice.”
He observed Barbara swallow uncomfortably for a second before going back to her keyboard. She nodded, “Yes, sir.”
As she tapped away, Slade placed the sleeping Felicity in a leather swivel chair. She was mumbling in her sleep, and sure that she’d wake up before their flight, Slade prepared another sedative for her, pulling back her sleeve and injecting the drug into a vein in her right arm.
“Nighty night, love,” he said, and she smiled blissfully as a deeper sleep took her over.
---
Roy circled around the club and was sure no one was following him. He hoped that the goon he’d run from was too stupid to follow, but he was cautious, making sure he was truly alone.
He limped a little as he climbed down the stairs to the lair, where he found Diggle and Oliver intensely training with each other. They were so involved in their training that they didn’t notice his presence until he’d leaned against Felicity’s chair and it squeaked from his weight. Oliver immediately looked over, probably expecting it to be Felicity only to see Roy nursing his wounds instead.
“Roy,” Digg said, looking concerned. “What happened?”
“Ugh, got jumped,” Roy said. “One of them was...you know, like me.”
Oliver nodded, coming to his side. “Tell us everything.”
“Thea and I were out for dinner, ran into Felicity and some guy even, and then I took Thea home and got jumped. The one guy was normal; he was easy to toss around, but the second one... He was like a brick wall. Even with all my new power, I couldn’t get him down,” Roy said, cringing as Digg began tending to his wounds.
“Felicity and some guy?” Diggle asked with concern.
“Yeah, her date. Huge guy, black hair, grumpy face,” he hissed as antiseptic hit the wound. He growled, quelling anger and fury. “Had an eyepatch.”
Roy watched as Oliver’s face went white. “An eyepatch?” he said in a low voice.
“Yeah… he looked like an asshole. What is Felicity doing with a guy like that? Unless, looks are deceiving. I just had a feeling, you know, that he could get as angry as I could,” Roy said.
Diggle saw the uncomfortable look on Oliver’s face. “Oliver, what are you thinking?”
“It can’t be…” He breathed, and he spun around as Sara suddenly ran down the stairs into the lair. She looked agitated and worried, and somewhat out of breath. “Felicity is in trouble. She texted me and I got here as fast as I could.”
“We’re already realizing that,” Oliver said, coming toward her. “What did she tell you?”
“She only texted me that she was meeting a man tonight that she was sure was not real. I assume that she meant he was faking his identity.”
“And she went anyway?” Oliver raged.
Sara bit her lip to curb her anger. “Yes. I texted back and headed straight here. Ollie, she didn’t reply to me, and I’m afraid she did it to find out WHY he was lying to her and who he really is. I just hope she’s not trying to prove herself again.
Oliver clenched his fist, turning around and ready to punch the practice dummy with all his frustration and anger.
Before he could, all the computer monitors in the lair flickered wildly, like a rampant light show. They beeped, crackled, and elicited white noise like an old TV.
“This message is to the Vigilante and the Canary,” said a voice, a woman, who took over all the sound in the lair, echoing with urgency.
“If you haven’t already guessed it, Felicity Smoak is in deep peril, but I cannot tell you where she is until I can speak with the Canary,” the voice said, and Sara left Roy to approach one monitor that began to shape into an alien green face with the top of her head pulsing with green lightning bolts.
“Barbara?” Sara asked. “Is that you? I thought you were dead.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Sara. And no, I’m not dead, but I’m not who I used to be. I met up with someone who you know well, and I got caught.”
“Slade Wilson,” she guessed.
“He has taken Felicity to get back at Oliver. I’ve been helping him without a choice, but I’m free for now. I have very little time. I can’t tell you anything because knowing Slade, he has sent a kill order to me the moment he leaves the country.”
“Leaves the country?” Oliver said. “He’s got Felicity!”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “But before I can tell you how to save her, Sara, you must come save me from Slade’s assassins. They’re going to take care of me and then wreak havoc all over Starling City.”
Sara scoffed. “As I recall, Oracle, you can save yourself.”
“Not anymore. Slade put an arrow in my back,” she said pausing. “I can’t walk, Sara.”
Sara looked aghast. “Fine. I’ll come get you, but you have to let us know what they did with Felicity so they can save her.”
“I hope that they can,” Barbara said. “Slade is going to the Starling City Business Airport on a private plane, number 55671. He’s leaving in less than an hour. Get there and save Felicity. But be quick. He doesn’t plan on bringing her back, wherever he’s taking her.”
Sara turned around, watching Oliver already running up the stairs and out the door. Diggle was right behind him in full mode to rescue their precious friend at any cost.
Roy threw his shirt back on, even though he was still weak from the battle with those goons before. He nodded to her, confirming she’d have backup to rescue Barbara and take on the chaos that Slade was going to unleash into Starling City.
“Let’s go,” Sara said, and she suited up and grabbed her weapons. Roy draped the hood over his head, and they ran out of the lair side-by-side.
Ten