I don't own anything. All rights go to their respective owners.
Chapter One Hundred & Fifty Five
MIT
"You are standing in an open field west of the White House with a boarded front door." Felicity Smoak speaks aloud as she types hurriedly.
Shaking her head ever so slightly when strands of her thick black hair fall across her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Her boyfriend, Cooper enquires with an amused look upon his face.
"I just finished coding a Linux Emulator for ZORK." Felicity grins, her eyes clued to the screen of her laptop.
"Ooh…" Cooper remarks as he moves from his bed to his girlfriend's side to view her work.
"It is pitch black." He states, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"You are likely to be eaten by Grue." He caresses her face.
"I guess you'll have to protect me." Felicity murmurs, inches away from his lips.
Smirking back, he lunges forward to make out with her, to the annoyance of their friend sitting only a few feet away.
"Why can't you just quietly have sex under a comforter like most college students?" He protests.
They ignore him and continue to make out until a computer begins to bleep.
"You found an exploitable note?" Felicity breaks away from Cooper with wide eyes.
"Now I just need your super computer virus to crack the firewall…" Cooper moves to his own computer, Felicity following him.
"I really wish you wouldn't call my X-Axis Bi-Numeric Algorithm a 'super-virus'." Felicity mutters as she types.
"Spoofing the IP, switching to MD6, and…" She holds her breath for a moment as she types.
Raising her hands when remarkably victory is hers.
"Somebody take a screenshot. We have to post this to Hackerforum to brag that we actually got in!" Felicity cheers excitedly.
"Hold on." Cooper murmurs, eyes fixated to the screen.
"Thirty eight seconds until the firewall goes back up." Their friends warns them.
"Cooper, what are you doing?" Felicity frowns when he continues to type.
"I think the world would be a much better place if there weren't any student loads, don't you?" He doesn't even glance up at her whilst he types.
His words worrying Felicity.
"You can't wipe out all the loans they'll never think it's a glitch." Felicity warns him.
He doesn't stop typing.
"No, they're going to track us down and find us!"
"Ten seconds." Their friend adds, concern in his own voice.
"Cooper!" Felicity snaps at him.
Both she and her friend flashing him furious looks at this moment.
"I'm not gong to jail for you Cooper, and you shouldn't ether." He glances at Felicity whom, is still trying to get through to her boyfriend.
Thinking quickly, Felicity races to the power source and yanks out all the cables with her hand.
"Coop!" She glares at him, dropping the cables onto the table.
"I almost had it!" Cooper snaps at Felicity angrily when he realizes what she's done.
"What were you thinking?!" Felicity yells at him.
Annoyed, Cooper throws down his computer, rising to his feet to face his girlfriend.
"Ever heard of hactivism?" He turns on her.
"Instead of posting to web forums we could be doing some real good in the world." He protests.
"And going to prison in the process." Felicity warns him.
"It's all about what you want to be when you grow up, babe." Cooper retorts.
"A hacker, or a hero?"
Somewhere In Starling City…
"I cannot believe Thea convinced us to do this." Oliver smiles over at Sara.
The two of them sat at a table at a very fancy restaurant.
Which Thea and Roy had driven them to, personally.
Both saying that it was time for them to intervene and that Sara and Oliver deserved a night off and a night to be with each other.
"I'm glad they did." Sara beams over at him after sipping her drink.
"Me to. I had a long day at Queen Consolidated today. Sin and Roy helped out best they could but if Slade had showed up we would have been done much earlier."
"Slade wasn't at Queen Consolidated today?" Sara frowns.
"Nope. I guess you haven't seen him either." Oliver notes.
"I was with Thea and Roy sorting out Verdant all day. He didn't come back to The Foundry."
"Right." Oliver mutters, his lips pressed into a tight line.
"What? Look Ollie, he's Slade. He can look after himself, I know what Shado did to him freaked you out. It freaked me out to. Losing him… But he's alive. He's with us and we've got to remember that." She replies with a smile, squeezing Oliver's fingers.
"It's not just that. Sara. It's… There's something else." Oliver mutters.
"What do you mean?" Sara frowns.
"He's different. It's like there's this distance between us." He admits.
"Ollie. Let me just stop you there. There is no distance between you and Slade and there never will be." Sara continues to squeeze his fingers.
"No, Sara. There is. It's like year one on Lian Yu all over again." He murmurs in a sad tone.
"It's the three of us. It's always going to be the three of us against the world. After everything we've been through you've got to believe that Slade won't push us away." Sara speaks in a gentle voice.
"I hope you're right." Oliver attempts a smile.
"I'm always right." Sara retorts, sipping her drink.
Oliver beams at his girlfriend in response.
"One of the many reasons that I love you." This time it is Oliver who is squeezing her hand.
"I love you to." Sara smiles, leaning across the table to give the man she loves a gentle kiss.
"And you have no idea how happy I am to be spending a non interrupted evening with…"
Sara is cut off by the power in the restaurant abruptly going out.
At first, they think nothing of it.
However, when people start to gasp and voices arise. Sara and Oliver realize, by looking out of the window that the entirety of Starling City is dark.
The power outage has stretched across the town.
That is not a normal occurrence.
Oliver practically smacks his head down on the table.
The universe had one job.
Just one job.
But no, it wouldn't even let him have with one peaceful night out with Sara.
Sara is in a similar mood, her fingers tightening around her wine glass until it snaps.
"For the love of…"
SCPD
"Oh please." Quentin grumbles when the power abruptly cuts out the second he heads into his office.
Today is just going to be one of those days, isn't it?
Felicity Smoak's Apartment
Slade Wilson does not even know how he managed to end up sat between Felicity and her mother, sharing a meal with them today.
Which is basically take out as Felicity can't cook and she wouldn't let him cook.
Completely bemused at the whole affair, Slade simply sits back and lets Felicity's mother chatter away to them both.
In a way, he can somewhat see why Felicity has never mentioned her mother to them, yet it is obvious that she loves Felicity very much and so for that, Slade can tolerate her.
He genuinely would've left them to it hours ago if it wasn't for Felicity begging him to stay with her and the fact that Felicity's mother actually wants to get to know the man who is currently with her daughter.
However, she does ask rather a lot of questions.
Yet Slade remains calm.
Felicity has been practically crushing his hand for hours.
That is what's keeping him grounded.
Felicity's hand in his.
It is a sudden power outage that finally brings Donna's chatter to a halt.
If anything, Slade is kinda glad of the break.
Meanwhile, In Starling City…
Holding his daughter close to his chest, Diggle walks calmly down the street.
Only to be halted when the street lights blow out.
Every single one of them.
Plunging Starling City into darkness.
Diggle clutches his daughter tightly as she begins to cry.
Elsewhere In Starling City…
"And that is how I successfully managed to…" Roy is silenced by the lights in the diner he, Thea, Leonard and Mick are sat in blowing out.
"Well that's not good." Leonard drawls.
"It's everywhere. All the lights are going out." Mick reports after glancing out of the window.
"What, all over the city?" Thea looks surprised.
"Yep. Mick ain't wrong." Leonard confirms.
"Something is plunging this city into darkness."
Meanwhile…
With Sara's hand held tightly in his, Oliver races down the street with her.
Watching as every light in sight is blown out one by one.
It is causing such a distraction to all that Oliver and Sara both have to run out into the road to save a woman about to be hit by a car.
Oliver winces when the car comes into contact with his back just a little bit too sharply.
"You okay, Ollie?" Sara grips his arm as they begin to walk away.
"I'm good." He reassures her.
The two of them immediately captivated by the strange happenings on the screens in the shops that sell TV's and computers.
"We are the Brother Eye." A disguised voice suddenly erupts from nearby speakers.
"Judgment has been rendered against this city. It's sentence carried out." The voice continues, as Oliver and Sara take a few more steps towards the screens that are just showing a random blast of color.
"The Undertaking, The Siege. This is what comes next a new life you will live on your knees and it will take nothing more than a push of a button." The voice warns.
"We are in control now and this is just the beginning."
"What the…" Sara holds up a hand as the voice falls silent.
"We're gonna kick their ass." She glances to Oliver, whom nods just as the voice returns.
"Let there be light." Is all that is said before the power is returned to the city.
Verdant
"Ooh a nightclub." Donna smiles as she follows Felicity and Slade into Verdant.
"You know I'm not dressed for a nightclub." She continues.
"I'll get a start on restoring the power." Slade chooses that moment to go on ahead.
"I'll be right there." Felicity nods.
"Good." Slade presses a kiss to the side of her head before heading off down to The Foundry.
"Really?" Felicity turns to her mother once he's gone.
"You think so?" Donna frowns.
"Slade and his friends own the place. They just need me to help them switch the power back on because I sort of built the system here for them, so… Why don't you come, come." Felicity takes her mother's arm and leads her towards the set of steps.
Yes she's probably going to have to explain this to the team later but for now she just needs to do something about her mom.
"Stay put. Stay here. Right here." She indicates to the stairs.
"Ok." Donna nods.
"Hey whoever did this interrupted my date. I want them found." The angry voice of Sara Lance fills the room.
"I think what Sara means to say is. Have you had any luck tracking this…" Oliver pauses when he sees the unfamiliar woman stood beside Felicity.
"Hello." He corrects himself quickly.
"Hi, uh. Please tell me this is your friend." Donna glances to Felicity.
"Yes, mom." Both Oliver and Sara turn to Felicity in an instant.
This is Felicity's mother?
" This is Oliver…"
"Queen." Donna silences an immediately embarrassed Felicity.
"And Sara Lance?" She eyes Sara.
"Yeah, uh. Who are you?" Sara frowns.
"It's very nice to meet you." Oliver politely extends a hand.
"Yes, it's so nice to meet you too. Both of you… How many billionaires do you know?" Donna whispers, not so discreetly to Felicity who groans with embarrassment.
"I don't know what the hell is going on out there but I can't get hold of Laurel so I'm here, but I kinda had to…" Tommy pauses at the entrance to the door.
Brandon and Rebecca held tightly in his arms.
"Wait that's…" Donna's eyes widen even further.
"Tommy Merlyn." Felicity introduces him with closed eyes.
"Hey." Sara beams as she crosses the room to greet her niece and nephew.
"Why did you bring them here?" She hisses in Tommy's ear when greeting him.
"I couldn't get a hold of Laurel, or your dad or even Cat. Whatever the hell that was screwed up the phone lines so here I am, with my kids." Tommy explains quickly.
"How many…" Donna looks at Felicity in awe.
"Okay, that was the last one." Felicity holds up a hand.
"Your kids are adorable. It's very nice to meet you." Donna calls over to Tommy.
"Thanks and it's good to meet you to." Tommy smiles back, choosing to bring Rebecca and Brandon over to her with him.
"Hello." Donna speaks in a soft voice to Brandon and Rebecca whom both just look a little bewildered at the change in scenery.
"Aww, so sweet." She gushes before turning to face all that are stood in the room.
"Again, such a great pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about all of you on the news, everywhere I had no idea Felicity had such influential friends, let alone…"
"Mom." Felicity groans.
"That you were dating one of them." Donna continues regardless.
"Wait, what? Run that one by me again." Oliver frowns at her choice of words.
"Oh, I've already met your friend and my Felicity's boyfriend this morning at her apartment. Slade Wilson." Donna reveals to both Oliver and Sara.
Well that explains where Slade's been all day. Oliver thinks through his surprise.
"Wait you and…" Sara starts, grinning at Felicity.
"Where is he?"
"Downstairs." Felicity whispers, her eyes firmly closed.
"We'll talk about this later." Oliver eyes Felicity.
"Well, I'm not waiting." Sara retorts before heading for the stairs.
"Oh thank god I'm not alone." They all hear Tommy call which alerts them to the fact that Diggle has arrived but with his daughter in his arms.
"I feel a bit better as well." Diggle agrees upon seeing Tommy's kids with their father.
"Hey Diggle, meet Felicity's mom. I think she arrived this morning because she's already met Slade at Felicity's apartment then." Oliver tries very hard to keep a straight face as he admits this to Diggle, who just stares between Felicity and her mom.
In shock at the fact that this woman is Felicity's mother and that it seems like Felicity and Slade have finally made a move forwards.
"John Diggle." Diggle extends a hand towards Donna.
"Hey." She beams happily.
"Very nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." She says just before she notices the baby in his arms.
"Oh, hello. Who's this?" She coos softly to the baby.
"This is my daughter, Nyssa."
"Aww what a lovely name. Did you say what your kids are called?" She glances back to Tommy, who is holding both his children close to him.
"No, but this is Rebecca and Brandon." He introduces them to her.
"It's so nice that you've brought your kids with you. They're so sweet…"
"Mom." Felicity finally decides to interrupt her.
"Mom. Mom!" She calls a little louder when Donna doesn't respond to her.
Both Tommy and Diggle glaring at Felicity for raising her voice around the somewhat at peace children.
"What?" Donna looks a little surprised when Felicity tugs her back.
"We have to go downstairs." Felicity reminds her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to stop you. I'm so sorry, baby moment." She shakes Diggle's hand again as he passes with baby Nyssa in his arms.
"Great meeting you." Tommy nods politely as he carries his own kids away.
"It's great to meet you finally." Oliver chooses to shake Felicity's mother's hand again.
"Yes, yes, definitely." Donna agrees as she watches Oliver leave to.
Basically running after Diggle and Tommy.
"Why is Nyssa, Brandon and Rebecca here?" He looks between the two fathers.
"Well, Lyla's on an assignment in Santa Prisca and the nanny called in sick." Diggle explains his reason.
"And I couldn't get a hold of Laurel, Mr. Lance or Cat and you know Laurel doesn't trust babysitters after what happened last year with the whole Shado and Harley Quinn thing." Tommy adds his reason.
"But we can't bring the kids down there." Oliver points out.
"My kids literally got kidnapped by a member of the League Of Assassin's. I think they can handle our base." Tommy retorts.
"It's not baby proof Tommy!" Oliver whisper-yells.
"And it's not like they're gonna tell anyone." Diggle adds.
"Well they… I'm not comfortable with them down there, it's not safe. Slade would throw a fit. Sara would probably kill you." Oliver eyes his friend.
"She wasn't exactly thrilled with me bringing them, no but what was I supposed to do?" Tommy shrugs his shoulders.
"And what are you expecting us to do right now?" Diggle queries.
"God help me." Felicity groans from beside them.
Hating the idea that she has formed in her mind.
"My mother loves babies. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to…" She trails off.
Diggle looks between Oliver and Tommy.
"Really?"
"You know what you've got to do." Oliver shrugs before turning around to follow Felicity.
"Right so there are two things I'd like to talk to you about. The first being you mother and the second being you and Slade. Really? You two actually…"
"Can we just not talk about that right now, Oliver?" Felicity all but begs.
"Oh but we are talking about it." Oliver retorts.
"Do we have to?"
"Yes."
"Oliver, Slade and I just want to keep it…"
Felicity is cut off by the round of applause she is met by from Roy Harper, Thea Queen, Sara Lance, Sin, Mick Rory and Leonard Snart the second she descends the stairs.
"I can't believe you two finally got your heads out of your asses." Leonard smirks in greeting.
"Everybody's finally on the same page." Roy cheers to a vicious glare from Slade.
"I'm going to kill you all slow." Slade growls menacingly, a thunderous look in his eyes.
"I knew we'd get there eventually." Thea grins at them both.
"I can't believe this is actually happening." Felicity groans.
"Oh and we can't wait to meet this mother of yours." Leonard smirks again.
"I swear to god if you don't all shut up right now, I'm going to help Slade kill you all." Felicity threatens them.
"It doesn't sound as effective when it's you." Sara tilts her head to the side.
"You know we actually have a crisis on hand. Perhaps we can focus on that. Like, right now." Felicity blushes furiously, making her way over to her computer station.
Not even looking at Slade as she sits herself down and gets to work.
"Okay so whoever this brother eye group is, they've somehow got access to the city's protected network and uploaded a system-wide virus." Felicity informs them.
"Is there anyway to trace it?" Oliver enquires.
"There better be, the one time I get to have a night out with Ollie and a bunch of jackasses decide to ruin it. You find them and you let me know so I can go over to them and show them exactly what happens when they piss of The Black Canary." Sara grumbles.
"Add us to that list. Roy, Mick, Len and I were having a great time at Big Belly Burger." Thea nods from beside Roy.
"Unfortunately, tracing it is going to be hard as it deleted itself as soon as it completed its task." Felicity explains to them.
"They can do that?" Sin looks puzzled.
"These guys are good." Felicity murmurs, eyes glued to the screen.
"They said that the power outage was just the beginning." Diggle reminds them.
"Then let's make a conservative effort to find them so they are not allowed a next time." Slade speaks up.
SCPD
Briefcases in hand, Laurel and Cat stride into the SCPD together.
Both immediately met by Quentin.
"Hey, Laurel, Cat. Are you two alright, get here okay?" He eyes them both.
"I'm fine. We were close."
"I've heard from Tommy. He's okay, he's got Brandon and Rebecca." Quentin assures her.
"They're at home, right? Whatever that was knocked out the phones."
"Look, he's got them. They're safe." Quentin says quickly.
"Why did we get the emergency services alert? Why don't they call the District Attorney?" Laurel enquires.
"Because he's visiting his niece in Coast City." Quentin tells the women.
"Of course he is." Cat grumbles.
"Which means, you are the acting District Attorney." Quentin rests a hand briefly on Laurel's shoulders.
"Congratulations."
Laurel is too stunned to move.
"Well. That's why we got called in then." Cat nudges her.
"I gotta call Tommy." Laurel whispers, still a little dazed.
Both she and Quentin reaching for their phones to ring the same set of people.
"Hello, Detective… Captain." Felicity corrects herself when the phones connect.
"Look, you Sara, Oliver, Slade, Tommy, Roy. You're on this Brother Eye thing, right?" He queries, hearing Tommy talking to Laurel in the background.
"You did what?!"
"I couldn't leave them on there own."
"Merlyn, please tell me that you do not have my grandkids in your vigilante cave?!" Quentin hisses as he gets the general gist of what Laurel is mad about.
"They're not actually down here. They're with Felicity's mom. In Verdant."
"In a nightclub?"
"It's not down here."
"Look, we're on the Brother Eye thing okay, we're on it." Felicity interjects when she realises that this is probably going to turn into a bit of an argument.
"Good." Quentin sighs, still a little annoyed at his son in law.
"Cause there's no one here that knows computers better than you do, Felicity."
MIT
"No, no." Felicity calls down the phone.
"For the last time. I am not interested in buying a fake ID. I am hanging up now, bye." Felicity ends up growling down the phone as she angrily hits the red button.
"My mom says hi." She eyes Cooper whom is walking by her side.
Her mother can be so damn frustrating at times!
However, talking of frustrating. Her boyfriend is being pretty frustrating too.
Yes, he's by her side and is holding her hand as they walk but he's not saying anything to her and her looks quite angry.
"You still angry at me?" Felicity eyes him suspiciously.
"I was past the firewall and into the account network." Cooper explodes then, releasing Felicity's hand.
"I had over three thousand debts wiped by the time you pulled the plug on me."
Yes, he is still angry at her.
"Well think of how many accounts you could go to prison for if I hadn't stopped you." Felicity attempts to reason with him.
"Relax." Cooper says after a moment, realising that he may have been a little sharp with his girlfriend.
"The DNS wasn't configured. They can't backtrace me."
"They can." Felicity takes a firm hold of his arm.
"They subroot was configured." She states.
"By accessing the accounts, you set off a packets feedback that anyone could trace back to." Felicity warns him of her fears, gripping the front of his shirt slightly as he just chuckles.
"You are so gorgeous when you're being a chicken." He taunts her playfully.
"Come on, I'm serious." Felicity doesn't waver from her point.
"I'm serious." Cooper grins before gripping her waist, pulling her up into his arm and gripping her thighs to hold her against him as they share a long lingering kiss.
They are completely lost in one another even when the sires sound out and the vans begin to swarm around them.
"Cooper Seldon you are under arrest." The officer announces the second they have leapt out of the van.
"What?" Felicity is in a startled daze.
"No!" She cries as she and Cooper are forcibly torn apart by the FBI agents.
"Don't move." They warn him as they try to put him on his knees.
"Let go of me! No! No! No!" Felicity cries as she is restrained by the agents as well, forced to watch as they arrest her boyfriend.
"You're under arrest for violation of the U.S. Code title eighteen, section one zero three zero." They start reading him his rights.
"Don't!" Felicity continues to protest.
"You have the right to remain silent…"
"It's not him." Felicity cries.
"Let go of him. It's not him!" She tries to plead with them as they confiscate his laptop.
"Let him go!"
The Foundry
"We said this was just the beginning." The voice of the Brother Eye returns through the computer in The Foundry, altering the attention of all that reside.
"Electricity is not the only power in the city. Consider money for example. The banks are next to go dark. Your believed dollars wiped away as your accounts will finally all become equal at zero…"
"Felicity." Slade and Oliver start, both moving towards the computer with the others.
"Woah, they are not touching our cash. You have to do something." Thea pipes up.
"Cowards." Leonard mutters.
"What?" Tommy frowns at him.
"They're a bunch of cowards, hiding behind technology. If they want to steal they should do it in person. This is just cowardice." He states.
"Can't say I don't agree with him." Roy shrugs.
"More reasons to kick their sorry asses. Felicity?!" Sara places a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm working on it. I've set up some trace IP packets before Brother Eye's last broadcast as soon as he opened up the Chanel I scooped up the bread crumbs."
"Bread crumbs we can follow?" Oliver enquires.
"I hope so." Felicity nods, eyes fixated to the screen.
SCPD
As she flicks through the papers in her hands, Laurel cannot take her mind off the fact that her husband brought her kids down to The Foundry.
Yes, they're with Felicity's mother, but still. If she hadn't have been there...
"Where's Captain Lance?" An officer interrupts her thought track.
"Coordinating the squad car patrols for dispatch." Laurel replies.
"Is there something wrong?" Cat enquires.
"There's a situation at Starling National."
"Then send in an ESU squad." Laurel instructs.
"I'm sorry, ma'am but you don't have to power to…"
"Im acting District Attorney. The city charter gives me operational authority in time of crisis, which this clearly is and I'm not letting anyone get hurt. Send in an ESU now." Laurel commands clearly.
"I'd do as she says if you wish to keep your job." Cat adds with folded arms.
Slightly bewildered the officer walks away.
"I've got your back Laurel." Cat squeezes her arm a little.
"Thank you." Laurel smiles gratefully.
Knowing that someway, somehow that they can make this work.
The Foundry
"What is that?" Tommy questions the second something begins to bleep on the computers.
"The SCPD just dispatched a riot squad." Oliver reads.
"To where?" Thea folds her arms.
"Starling National." Felicity answers.
"It's like fighting fire with gasoline." Diggle murmurs.
"Okay. Tommy, Sara, Slade, Roy. Let's suit up. Diggle, you, Sin, Leonard and Mick stay here but be prepared to move if Felicity gets anything on the whereabouts of the Brother Eye." Oliver instructs as he reaches for his bow and arrows.
Authors Note: Hey guys, I am so so sorry for not updating in so long. A lot has happened in my life since my last update. I've been extremely depressed and currently am going through one of my worse weeks but I'm trying to fight through it. The only reason I've managed to have the energy to finish this was because its the Arrow premiere and because ChangingDestiny40 has given me a reason to. I will try to update when I can and when I don't feel like giving up on life. It might take me a while and I hope you can understand. I am so devoted to FanFiction I really am and I will finish this one day I'm just currently going through so much, I lost a family member the other month and it's my third week at university which is freaking me the hell out. I just need to try and get to grips with everything. I am sorry for everything. This applies to my other fic's as well. Thank you so much for reading.