Author's Note – Okay, I know basically nothing about science. This is pretty much cobbled together from half remembered things in high school plus some odds and ends found via Google & Bing. Mea culpa if it's a disaster.

Felicity paced the small room, her hands clenching and unclenching as she walked. Her ponytail whipped with each turn until Sin couldn't stand it any longer.

"Fliss!"

Felicity came to an abrupt stop and her gaze flashed over to meet Sin's dark eyes. "What?"

"Stop, okay?" the younger woman added, a hint of pleading in her face. "You need to breathe, to relax, and…you're making me nauseous."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sin," Felicity's mouth curved down. "I don't mean to be so…so…"

"Frantic," Layla put in from her perch on the table.

"Exactly," Felicity nodded. "If we can't convince these guys of the potential, then we're going to lose our last, probably best shot at making people understand the danger." She began to wring her hands. "We can't…we just can't mess this up and that's a lot of pressure to…get it right." Her lips twisted in an unhappy moue. "And I haven't gotten it right yet."

"Bullshit."

The three women turned to look at Roy. He leaned against the back wall, scowl steady on his face and arms crossed tightly over his chest. Every inch of him screamed 'closed off' and 'pissed off'.

"Roy," Felicity started.

"No!" He interrupted. "You're not the one to blame when a bunch of lazy ass bureaucrats and scared politicians refuse to see the truth. If it were just them, I'd tell you to quit – let them hide their heads in the sand and deal when it all goes to hell. But it's not just them…and the people on the coast don't deserve to suffer because some bigwig idiots couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag."

The sound of someone clearing a throat drew their attention to the door. Three men stood just inside, each of them eyeing the group. Felicity smiled at the reassuring presence of Walter Steele, so solid and businesslike in his suit. Her eyes moved to the man standing beside him and she could feel her stomach begin to flutter and twist as she met an intense gaze. Oliver Queen, former Jaeger pilot and heir to the Queen fortune, stared back at her. An uneasy spark ran down her spine as that fixed stare seemed to penetrate into her as though he could see the truth in one simple glance. She held his eyes, refusing to look away. Distrust colored them, but as they continued their stare off, she saw the dark look faltering. First surprise and then a reluctant admiration lightened it. With that lifting of the shadow came a mingled expression of interest, fear, and a touch of acceptance. She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she got the feeling she had passed some kind of test when he blinked and looked away.

Her eyes managed to pull themselves away from the former pilot to take in their third and final guest. He wasn't someone she recognized, but the locked gaze between him and Lyla seemed to imply that her friend did. Curiosity shot through Felicity and she turned a questioning look on her friend. A cool, remote expression settled on Lyla's face, making it a blank mask. "John Diggle," Lyla noted.

"Lyla Michaels." Regret flickered in his face, but he said nothing more.

Felicity's eyes narrowed, but Walter stepped forward before she could speak. "Miss Smoak," he greeted her, warmth threading through his voice.

"Mr. Steele," she smiled, moving forward to take his hand. "It's good to see you again."

"You as well," he nodded. "Let me introduce you to my companions. My step-son, Oliver Queen." The former Ranger stepped up and shook her hand. Then Walter gestured towards the man still locked in a contest of wills with Lyla. "This is John Diggle, part of our security team. He generally goes by Diggle." She received a simple nod from the silent man. Walter's expression grew concerned, but he turned back to her. "Thank you for having us."

"Thank you for coming," she replied, a grateful smile crossing her face. One hand gestured to her group. "I'd like you to meet Cindy Taylor, better known as Sin, Roy Harper, and Lyla Michaels." Felicity spared one more apprehensive glance for Lyla's silent figure before facing Walter once more. "This is my team."

"Your team for what exactly?" Oliver entered the conversation for the first time.

She turned and met his eyes once more. Again a fluttering sensation ran through her, but she pushed it aside. Her shoulders straightened and her chin rose. "My team of true believers," she replied, the wry humor in her voice layered with a hint of warning. The slight movement of an eyebrow in his otherwise stoic expression told her he picked up on it. She shifted her attention back to Walter, feeling more comfortable with him. "They're the ones helping me as I gather information, readings, etc."

He gave a grave nod. "Tell us about your theory, Miss Smoak, please."

"Right." Felicity drew in a breath. Her fingers trembled, but she forced them still and told herself to settle. She leaned back against the desk. "If any one you would like to sit down, please feel free," she offered, waving a hand towards the handful of chairs. Walter accepted her offer, as did Oliver. Diggle remained standing near the door. Lyla moved to the front of the room taking a stand behind Felicity. She fell into parade rest, her stance a silent defense of the blonde scientist. Roy didn't move from his spot on the back wall, but Sin to perch on the desk closest to him.

"Let me set this up," Felicity began. Her gaze shifted from one to the other. Diggle's face seemed remote while Walter looked on with polite attention. Oliver's face remained impassive, but something moved in his eyes, almost a desperate need to not believe. He was the one she had to convince. If she could get him to accept the possibility, he would be the one who could convince others to listen. Walter might be able to persuade some of the movers and shakers, get the money needed to do anything required, but it would be Oliver who would convince the remnants of the PPDC of the necessity of returning to a war footing.

"When I started college, I chose to study the Breach," she began, deciding it would be better to build up the whole explanation. "I continued even after it was sealed…despite some people's efforts to convince me to change."

"Including mine," Walter reminisced with a hint of humor.

Felicity nodded, an affectionate smile curving her lips. "Including yours."

"I tried to convince her to switch into information technology," he explained when Oliver glanced at him. "If I could have done that, I had every intention of headhunting her for Queen Consolidated."

Roy gave a soft snort. "Felicity Smoak in a cubicle," he muttered, shaking his head. "Can't see it." Sin hissed at him and he shrugged, falling silent, but the smirk continued to hover around his mouth.

"Anyway," Felicity continued, "unlike others who fell away, I continued in my studies. The potential of that kind of energy…it seemed a crime to waste everything we'd learned." Now she moistened her lips. "Although sealed, sensors would pick up faint energy readings from the area of the Breach deep within the Mariana Trench from time to time. These readings matched the low level energy readings recorded during the time when the Breach was active. Thanks to my additional studies in seismology and volcanology, I discovered an interesting pattern. The energy readings from the Trench would occur within thirty-six to forty-eight hours after a seismic event in the Pacific. I've gone back through any and all readings I can lay my hands on covering the time since the sealing. Everything was quiet for about eighteen months or so after that time – no odd readings at all after various earthquakes."

"Earthquakes? Plural?" Diggle spoke for the first time. "How many are we talking about?'

"Well, oddly enough, there are really no actual quakes in the Trench itself. There are various theories for that, but that's a topic for another time. However, the Trench is in the Mariana Arc, part of the circum-Pacific seismic belt which is connected to the better known 'Ring of Fire'."

"The volcanoes that encircle the Pacific," Oliver noted.

"Exactly," Felicity agreed, glad she seemed to be keeping their attention. "The Pacific…circle, let's call it, is easily the most seismic part of the world in terms of both earthquakes and volcanoes. Now, the National Earthquake Information Center estimates that millions of quakes happen each year, but because they are too remote or too small, most of them go undetected. There are an estimated five hundred thousand detectable earthquakes each year, one fifth of which can be felt by humans. The greatest majority of these are minor, causing no discernable damaged." Diggle started to say something, but fell silent when Felicity raised her hand. "I say 'discernable' because I'm referring to damage as decided by the various governments as well as insurance companies. This doesn't mean they don't factor into our study here just that they don't really register with anyone other than scientists." One shoulder lifted in a shrug. "There are around one thousand earthquakes each year that cause discernable damage."

"While one thousand sounds like a large number, that is still a worldwide figure, is it not?" Walter asked.

"Correct," she nodded.

The men shifted, frowns beginning to gather, but Roy pushed away from the wall. "Hey!" he snapped out as he glared at them. "Let her finish before you get patronizing."

"Roy."

Felicity's quiet voice stopped him and he slouched back. "Yeah, yeah." Sin patted his arm, aiming a shrug at Felicity.

The scientist sighed, but soldiered on. "Eighty percent of all seismic activity occurs in the Pacific," she continued. "That's an average of eight hundred events each year that cause some visible damage and up to eighty thousand a year that can be felt by humans even if there is no perceptible damage. That's between two and almost twenty-two hundred earthquakes per day somewhere around the Pacific. This doesn't include the statistics on volcanic activity." She shook her head. "Needless to say, there is a lot of movement happening in locations that are geologically connected to the Mariana Trench."

Olivier leaned forward. "And you've noted energy readings?"

"Yes," she nodded. "We've focused on earthquakes measuring at least a three on the Richter scale. From around July 2036, energy readings bearing remarkably similar readings to the Breach energy signature have begun to appear in a significant number of seismic events in the Pacific."

"But not all of them?" Diggle interjected.

"No," she agreed. "To be honest, we wouldn't expect it to. I mean a minor event in San Francisco won't wake people up in Los Angeles, so why should it affect the Trench? However, if you draw a line from Sapporo, Japan down to Papua New Guinea, you not only pass just west of the Trench, but you pass through or come close to five of the Earth's tectonic plates – the Pacific, North American, Eurasian, Filipino, and Australian plates. Any moderate or major event along or near that line has the potential to be felt at the Trench."

"What about the energy readings?" Oliver's voice held a hint of forced patience.

Felicity lifted her eyebrows at him as she felt Lyla shifting behind her. "The Breach possessed a unique energy signature," she replied, her focus sharp on him this time. Their gazes locked. "Due to its very nature, being a link to the Anteverse, it is not going to be confused with any energy signature common to Earth." Her chin tilted up. "And yes, we've detected that energy signature after every major event on the circle as well as moderate ones near the Trench itself."

"Okay," he nodded in acceptance, "but why hasn't anyone else noticed this?"

"They have," Sin huffed out. "They just don't talk to each other."

"What do you mean, Miss Taylor?" Walter asked, turning around to look at the young woman.

"Just call me Sin," she told him, "and I meant just what I said. They guys studying earthquakes and volcanoes don't talk to the people picking up the energy readings. Since they require different machines, they don't notice it themselves. The shell of the PPDC picks up the energy, but most of the quakes don't make the news as anything more than a sound bite."

"Military doesn't talk to the scientists, scientists don't talk to the military, nobody talks to the politicians," Roy scoffed as he moved to prop his hip against the desk next to Sin's perch.

"Makes sharing information a real pain in the ass," Lyla added.

"What explanation is the PPDC offering? They must have something," Oliver pointed out.

"Remnants," Felicity sighed. "They claim it's just the remaining vestiges of the energy that spilled over prior to the Breach being sealed."

"And why doesn't that-."

"Because that's not how energy works!"

Felicity wasn't sure who was more surprised by her vehement interruption of Oliver's question – him or her. Silence descended on the room as Oliver looked at her, eyebrows rising towards his hairline. She could feel a flush rising up her cheeks, but she forced herself not to look away. Instead she took that adrenaline burst and intensified her conviction. "Energy has three options – it's used, it's stored, or it dissipates. It doesn't just hang around the bottom of the ocean waiting to flare up on a whim." Both hands came up in an exasperated gesture. "There is nothing in the Trench to act like a battery! The energy would have just gone away – it would weaken over time and vanish. It would not be non-existent for eighteen months and then start flaring up out of nothingness only to vanish for another chunk of time!"

Oliver stared at her for a long moment before he sat back; chin ducking down to his chest as he closed his eyes in apparent thought. She glanced over at Walter and Diggle, but brought her eyes back to Oliver. After several minutes of silence, Felicity added one more sentence in a quiet voice.

"And the energy is getting stronger."

His eyes popped open and focused on her with a burning intensity. Walter straightened in his seat. "Getting stronger, Miss Smoak?"

"At each event," she nodded, voice almost a whisper. "Sometimes the increases are infinitesimal, but each flare gets a little stronger each time."

Felicity looked down at her hands as the silence spread once more. Now what? If they didn't believe her, she didn't know what she was going to do. They were her best chance to get the truth out. Movement drew her attention and she glanced up. Oliver moved to stand in front of her. "You've got documentation for all of this?" Although phrased as a question, there was no query in his voice – only a resigned acceptance.

"And more," she affirmed.

He gave a single nod. "Then I guess it's time we take the next step."

Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I have to make a call." One corner of his mouth pulled upward. "To Raleigh Becket."