Title: Unmasked Jealousy
Words: 2194
Pairing: Helena/Laurel
Genre: Action/Mystery
Status: Done

Laurel sat on the edge of town contemplating her place in it, how she was so unsure they needed her and how everyone said she couldn't do it.

"I hope you don't intend on moping, darling, it doesn't become you," A voice came out from behind her. She turned and saw Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress. "Miss me, Canary?" She asked, a gleaming smile on her face.

Laurel shook her head and made sure her eyes deceived her not. No, it was actually Huntress. "Why are you even back? I thought you were in Russia learning to cope." She said.

Neither of them would actually admit to each other, but they had a soft spot for the other. Laurel helped Helena get justice with Frank and Helena, she showed her the light, how much more good she could be when she didn't have to work within the confines of someone else's rules.

"Russia was a drag. They tried to change me," Helena shrugged. "Now what's got you down little black bird?" She asked.

Laurel sighed. This wasn't about anyone else. "Arrow. He keeps swooping in when I do most of the work and then takes credit for it. They all know him. And I did the work. Honestly, he's kind of a jerk,"

Helena laughed out loud. Laurel shot a glare her and Helena doubled over with laughter, "Sorry, birdie, I didn't think you'd be so pissed off at him." She really didn't know. She needed to know. This was gonna be the day that the Black Canary and Arrow met face to face, no masks and realized how stupidly in love they were.

She said it before. She'd say it again. That kind of love doesn't die.

"Well, I am, Helena. He's taking my credit and I'm gonna make him stop if it's the last thing I do." Laurel pissed off was one of Helena's favorite expressions on the girl.

She wiped her forehead. "Well, what would you say about facing him?" She asked the other girl.

"Are you serious?" Laurel said. The way her face lit up was beautiful. This girl had a streak of revenge in her and she didn't even know it. But that was good. She didn't need it very often, but when she used it, god, she was going to be a freak of nature.

Helena despite her stony exterior cracked a smile, "Yeah, girl, we're gonna get him by the quiver and you're gonna show him what's up, sound good?" She asked as she laughed. That excitement, amazing, considering all that she'd been through, but Laurel Lance always surprised you.

"Sounds perfect,"

"Well, then, let's fly," Helena said as she leaped from the roof of the building to the next one.

Finding Oliver Queen was never a problem. She took out her phone and listened to the police reports to where the big crime was going down and Oliver Queen would no doubt be there. Because he was an idiot who let the alarms get triggered, stupid cocky bastard. She swore that he liked to see his name in the papers.

There was a theft happening in a research building of something dangerous and that seemed right up the Arrow's wheelhouse. "Come on, we've got him. He's not far from here," She said, swinging between two buildings.

Laurel always admired Helena's strength and the way that she could so pick up and go, no matter where she was. Laurel followed after her and looked at the building they were currently going into and sort of hoped there was an easy way in.

Helena tried pushing some of the windows open, because they didn't appear to have locks, but none of them open and after awhile, she smashed one in and started through the building. Laurel went after her because clearly there wasn't an easy entrance, except the one that Helena provided and well, she was not in the business of making things harder for herself when she didn't need to.

"Come on, Canary, you go make sure the device stays put and I'll put off the Arrow until you finish 'em off." She said as she ran down the hallway on her way to look for one Oliver Queen.

Laurel went to the vault where the device was being kept and came upon three on the outside and she approximated there would be about two inside, not such bad odds.

They didn't know she was there and so she got the chance to sneak up on them. She managed to get a chokehold on the first one without too much noise, but he did manage to grasp his friend on the shoulder before he went down and so he was onto and signalled his buddy.

She blocked one attack. two. Swung and missed. She wasn't looking to kill them, just incapacitate them and report them to the police. They were doing this the legal way, mostly. Maybe the way she found victims was a little unconventional, but she would always be there to help.

She went in for another swing and they punched her in the stomach and for that she hurled her body weight at them, curling up into a ball and pushing all of the impact onto their chest and jumped back up. She pushed her palm up on his chin and he was out again.

Only one left to deal with on the outside, she smiled. And he was a grabber, grabbing her wrists so that she couldn't get away. For a second, it seemed like a pretty good plan. Except when she stamped on his feet and rotated her wrists away from him. She did a sharp forearm slash to his throat and he wasn't going anywhere.

She unlocked the door and went in and found only one, "Give it up, kid, your goons are done. And you can't carry it out by yourself," She said. Because he was just a kid. Didn't look a day over eighteen.

"I'm not a kid!"

Laurel looked at him. "It's over. Even if you could get it, you're not going to. The police our on their way and there's no way you can fence it,"

"I need it!" He screamed.

"Kid," Laurel said, as she put her staff behind her, "You're not getting out of this building with it. I can't let you."

"But they'll die without it!" He wailed. And this kid, he was a pawn in a bigger game. This wasn't just about the device. This was about much more.

And an arrow whizzed by. Laurel dove for the kid and made sure he was safe and away from the device. "What the hell are you doing here, hero?"

"Someone needs to save this city," The voice demanded.

She snorted and scoffed at him. "And I was doing it just fine no thanks to you. You don't get to take this one. You don't get to take the credit. I've already done all the work. And hero or not, you are not getting this."

"But he's still in the vault."

"And I'd have handled that if you hadn't shot an arrow past my head trying to hurt him," She looked at the kid and made sure that he was alright. "He was trying to get the device to save people. While I don't applaud the illegality, let's look at the facts, he's a kid and...why am I even explaining this to you? You came in on my case."

"Your case? I was in the building before you crashed through the window."

"But I got to the vault first. My case." She told him. And she turned her back on him and looked to the kid, "Get out of here. It's not gonna be easy out there, but I promise you, someone will be out there to help you,"

He looked at her like she was the craziest person on earth and then he looked to the Arrow and she looked to him in that way of are you gonna do something about it?

Helena came up behind the Arrow and had her bow to him, "Let the boy go like the girl says," She told him with a grin, an evil grin, a one up grin.

"Should have known you were helping her," He said and he almost seemed disappointed that Helena was there.

Helena cackled at him, "Oh, lover. She's not helping me. I'm helping her."

"With what?" Oliver gritted through his teeth and looked at the woman in black and white.

Helena's teeth gleamed in the moonlight and shined in the vault door, "Finding you, sweetheart," She said as she slammed her elbow into his head and dragged him up. "You finish up and make sure the cops see you and only you and you'll get to have your conversation with him, love," She knew Oliver wouldn't come with her willingly, but she did a fair job of grabbing him and thrusting him up the stairs.

Laurel got the kid out and made sure he knew who to call before he was hauled off into handcuffs and her father thought abut putting her in the same. But he had a soft spot in his heart for vigilantes and that worked in her favor.

She went up to the roof and saw Oliver and Helena and smiled, "Glad you kept him here. Now, I want to want see who's underneath the hood," She told Helena.

Helena just nodded. "This is about you, babe, it's all about you."

She took a step forward and pushed down the hood and ripped off the mask. "Oliver!" She screamed. "Oliver Jonas Queen, you are the fucking hood taking credit for my work. No. No. No. You had best be standing in for someone."

She said, ripping off the wig and the mask, "Laurel, what the hell, you're fighting crime? I thought you hated the vigilante and him going outside the law."

She kicked him then and there. "You don't get to talk to me about how I go outside the law and my morals have changed asshole."

"I think I'm gonna let you two sort this out." Helena said as she giggled to herself, her cheek reddened with the idea that they had no idea it was the other for so long.

They both looked at Helena. "You knew about him/her?" They said in unison.

She looked to both of them with an eyebrow raised. God, these idiots. "Of course, I knew. You both trusted me. But you couldn't trust her, because you hadn't slept with the new girl in fishnets. And you couldn't trust him because he was a man who went outside the law. So neither of you talked. He took your credit. And you got pissed off. I saw an opportunity and I went for it."

"So you used me to get us to know the other?" Laurel asked, confused at this stupid plan.

Helena sighed, the stupid was really getting to her. "You both needed help. You asked for mine. I provided you with a meeting and that was exactly what I promised you. I knew who he would be, but really would you have believed me not taking off his mask and seeing it for yourself?"

Laurel thought about it. She had to admit, Oliver was one of the least likely people she would have seen taking up the mantle of vigilante. He never seemed to be interested in justice. "No," She admitted to Helena. "Probably not."

"Besides, maybe one day, I want to help the city. And I'm gonna need both of you to do that." She smiled to them, "But this is where I bid you goodbye, because I still have some things I need to do," She said as she went to drop down from the building.

"Helena, wait!" Laurel shouted. Helena looked back and the Black Canary gave her a hug. "Thank you for this."

Helena let Laurel embrace her and embraced her too. The soft spot for the girl, she couldn't let Oliver see it. "yeah, well, you owe me one, Canary, never forget what I did for you. Knock 'em dead, tigress." She said and then she really leaped down from the building and ran off into the moonlight.

"So you and Helena?" He asked.

She frowned. "Don't think you're not in big trouble, Oliver. You have a lot of explaining. And apologizing. Especially for taking my credit." Laurel said, but it was softer now, less of a blow and more of a warning. She even put a hand out so that he could stand up.

"I get it," He replied. "We have things to talk about. Especially your involvement with my ex-girlfriend."

"Jealous much?" She asked him, humored that he actually thought that Helena and she were dating. That was an interesting prospect. She had to admit that if she were to pick a woman that she wanted to date, the easiest person to choose would be Helena. She understood the lifestyle and she was pretty attractive.

Oliver shook his head, "I'm always kind of jealous when it comes to you."

"Ain't that just the truth."