Title: Close

Author: clhardi1

Warnings: Talk of military missions

Word Count: 6,100

Pairing: Olicity

Genre: Angst

Fandom: Arrow

Summary: Sigma team has a new mission that hits close to home and tests their bonds.

AN/Apology: I have no good excuse why this took so long to update, but I do have reasons. Summer offered me literally no free time to write and the school year has been off to a crazy start that I'm just catching up to now. Plus, I've been a bit stuck on how to wrap things up they way I imagined when I started this fic. But I've got it now, and more free time too. So maybe 2-3 chapters left in this story. So sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes. No one to look over it but me. Thanks for reading:)

Sigma team was seated around the oblong table in the meeting room adjacent to the command center in the UG. Normally when they were all in one room, friendly banter would be passed around. Someone would be insulting someone else's choice of hair style. Someone else would then point out that they were all mostly bald anyhow, so they should just shut up. Then someone, usually Bear, would throw in a yo' mama insult and it would be chaos until someone with some kind of authority told them to all shut the heck up and act like adults.

But this evening found Sigma team sitting silently around the cold marble table, nervously tapping their feet or clicking their pens, waiting for agent Shay to brief them on what exactly they were in for. But then, normally, they weren't all called in to this meeting room for a level 6, high alert, speciality mission. Actually, they never did level 6 missions these days.

Culpus missions were ranked levels 1-7 based on levels of lethality. 0 being observation only and 7 being a planned execution. Level 6 didn't mean they were defiantly going to be taking targets out, but the likelihood for death was high.

They had been sitting in silence for about 15 minutes when Agent Shay came in caring a thick black file folder and a strange look on his face. Felicity couldn't decide if he was angry or worried or some mixture of the both.

"New target boss?" Bear called out as soon as the door shut behind him, breaking the nervous silence.

He ran the hand not holding the folder down the length of his face, as if to clear off the sullen expression, but had no luck. Then he sucked in and let out a deep breath and said, "Yes."

Opening the file, he began to go over the details.

"The target is a businessman. Late 30's. Family company, he's fairly new to the game, only recently interested at all in business matters. Actually ran the whole thing into the ground twice before. But it seems as though he's finally pulled it together. So much so he's caught the eye of some pretty messy competition. The companies applied sciences department is working on some pretty competitive stuff. They defiantly don't have the kinks out yet, but they are close enough for the Chinese to give us 20 million to make it go away."

Bear whistled and said, "What's worth a 20 million dollar sabotage?"

Shay replied, a little frustrated. "Bear, it's been…how many years now? You know the drill."

"Yeah, yeah," Bear said, flopping back in the swivel chair, repeating the mantra he'd been told several times, adding his on flare on the end. "Do the job. Don't ask a bunch of questions. And nobody will shoot you in the head…probably."

"Exactly." Agent Shay smiled at him tightly and looked back at the folder to continue, but Felicity interrupted him.

"Well, I actually have few questions of my own. Not of the death inducing kind, hopefully, but, mission related."

"Go on." He said, hesitantly. So she did.

"This technology? I'm guessing it's not something we can destroy easily with an external bug or hack."

"You'd be right." Shay replied.

"She's always right." Bear Added. She shot him a sour expression, but he just smiled a little and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Turning back to Agent Shay, she went on. "I assume if it's made it to us with a price tag that large, they are either really close to something big, like cure for cancer big, or that others, possibly several others, have tried and failed at destroying it."

"Right again, on both parts actually." Shay confirmed again, flipping through the pages in the file.

"Told ya." Bear was smiling even wider now. This time she punched him in the arm. It hurt her hand more than it did his huge bicep, but it did serve to relieve a bit of the tension that had built up in the room at this point. Nearly everyone was smiling now.

Except Agent Shay. He cleared his throat to get their attention again and went on.

"Mr. Austin Wong, CEO of Wong INC. has been to 2 previous agencies like ours and they have all been unsuccessful in the past. Hacks, bugs, every online missions has failed. The company security is too tight. Their security networks are flawless, impenetrable, impossible. And those are his words, not mine."

Felicity had to interrupt again. "First off, nothing is impossible. But, with that attitude, why's this Mr. Wong even approaching us with this job?"

"He didn't approach us. We approached him."

It took a minute for that information to sink in. Felicity's mouth hung open for a few seconds as she tried to think of something to say. But she couldn't. The rest of the room was shocked by this information as well. Typically, Culpus did not go after work. It came to them. Even after having only worked there a year, Felicity knew her fathers organization had a certain reputation in their field of work. They were known for efficiency, accuracy, precision and getting the jobs done that no one else could. If their sole purpose hadn't been murder for hire, Felicity might actually have been able to find a bit of herself in this beast that her father had built. Those were qualities she admired and aspired towards herself. It was scary for her to think about what could happen when such good qualities were put to use in destructive ways. Sometimes she wondered if she had inherited more than her bad eye site from her father. It made her question just what kind of distraction may be within herself.

She knew she wasn't the only one questioning this decision. Culpus hadn't needed to go looking for jobs in quite a long time from what Simms had told her. Not since he had first been recruited. The jobs always came looking for them.

Agent Simms was the first to ask what they were all thinking. "Why? What are we trying to prove?"

"I don't know that we are trying to prove anything." Shay replied. Then he added cryptically, "I think 20 million was just too good to pass up, no matter what it cost you apparently."

"Cost us?" Simms Questioned.

"Not you." He replied.

Immediately, all eyes in the room shifted towards her.

Of corse they were worried about her. Most of the time, she tried to forget that these men she had grown to care about were all trained killers. Some seasoned veterans of death and destruction. She was the rookie here, still. And she didn't exactly have a good track record for being able to handle these types of situations very well. The last level 6 mission had literally almost been the death of her. Death by her own hand. But that was well behind her now. She had long since accepted her fate and her team needed to believe in her. She new they cared about her. That much was evident in the concerned etched on their faces. And she loved them for it. But she needed them to know she was capable. That they could depend on her to lead them the right way in danger. To get them in and out safely. He needed their trust.

Laying down her tablet she folded her arms across her chest she ignored the concerned glances others were shooting her as addressed their leader directly. "Agent Shay, Whats going on? Just tell me. I can handle it. I promise."

He was always honest with her, no matter how bad it was.

So he told her.

"Mr. Wong thinks this mission is impossible. But you're right. It's not. But that's because we have something he doesn't. We have you."

Felicity didn't think for a second he was paying her an empty compliment to cheer her up. He hesitated before he went on, and she took the moment to prepare herself mentally.

His eyes reflected a strange mixture of anger and concern as he continued. "Felicity, your father…He knew that when he saw the job order. It's why he took it. Because he has reason to believe that you may be of particular use to him on this mission."

He was looking at her earnestly. Like he wanted her to figure out what was going on on her own, but it hadn't clicked yet.

"I'm not sure I understand. The only Mr. Wong I've ever met taught 11th grade Trig in Vegas. I have absolutely no inside information about him."

His voiced was laced with appoligy. "No, Felicity. The target. You have inside information about the target."

Then in clicked.

Businessman.

Late 30's.

Family company.

New to the game.

The competitive applied sciences department.

Someone she had inside information on.

Oliver. The target was Oliver.

No wonder Shay looked so worried.

"No." Bear said it first, ad then the entire room erupted into loud shouts of anger and various uses of colorful language.

Bear was doing most of the yelling. Shay was giving him back all that he was dishing out, and then some. Even Dunccan, who typically kept his opinions to himself was throwing angry questions at Agent Shay. They were defiantly killing the messenger here. Simms was pacing in the corner and flipping through the discarded black folder. Strangely quiet.

She let them yell for a few minutes and sat back, to shocked to really think straight. Part of her, a tiny, beaten, hidden, spark of hope in the corner of her heart actually felt hopeful at the news. If she forgot for few seconds why they were on this mission, she could feel a small sense of joy at just the idea of seeming him again. Just thinking about him at all was a luzugary she hadn't allowed herself in months. It was necessary for her survival. She had put all thought of him, of all of them, of all of who she use to be, out of her mind. And now, she was being allowed, or rather forced to think about it. About him. And for a few fleeting seconds, just the thought of him was like a warm breeze, pouring over the bitter cold that her life had been trapped in.

But then reality slammed back into her with full force. This mission was coded as a possible level 6. She wasn't going to see him. She was going kill him.

Or at least the probability was big for death. But maybe not. They had accomplished many a mission where death was a high probability, but they had figured out how to accomplish their purposes without killing anyone. And maybe they weren't really going after Oliver directly. Maybe they would be interacting more directly with the head of the applied sciences department or security guards if they did a night mission. Maybe they wouldn't have to go at all actually. No one else had been able to get into the systems remotely, but she had built those systems for scratch after they won back QC. They were her babies. She felt sure she could breech them if properly motivated. And she was motivated. She just needed more information. And for everyone to calm down.

She took another few deep berths to calm herself, to make sure she could sell it and then she used her loud voice to shout above them. "Stop! All of you stop arguing!" They did, and then turned to look at her expectantly. "I'm not falling apart. If i'm not falling apart, you should not be falling apart! So sit down and lets find out what we are up against here."

No one spoke. They just made there way back to their seats around the table, red faced and breathing heavier now. A smile nowhere in sight.

She addressed her questions to Agent Shay. "Is our mission to eliminate Oliver?" She was proud. He voice didn't shake at all when she said his name.

He took a breath and said, "That's not the plan as of now."

She released the breath she had been holding. "So what is the plan? Find and destroy? Level the location of prototypes? Destroy research findings and schematics?"

"All of those are possible options we can discuss, but I need you to know that if you not-"

She didn't even let him continue. There was no way she was sitting this one out. She needed to make sure this went off perfectly. And they needed her.

"Lets talk logistics. Lets make a plan. We can treat this just like any other mission."

"But it's not just any other mission. Your dad knows that!" boomed Bears big gruff voice, still laced with anger.

She whipped her head around to look at him and hoped he couldn't see the wetness in her eyes. "But, he doesn't care, right? So, it has to be."

She could tell they wanted to say something more, but what else was there to say. Everyone in the room knew just how much her father didn't care. He'd proved that from day one.

"Look, lets just get started." she said, rubbing at he temples to sooth the headache that was quickly forming there.

Simms reached out and pulled one hand from her head to hold it in his. "Just so you know, us, your team. We do care about you, sweetheart. And we'll get through this one, together."

Around the room, the others all nodded in support.

And for once, she didn't even mind that he called her sweetheart.

-—

Once everything was all researched and planned they quickly came to the realization that this would not in fact be a simple endeavor. Fortunately, they found that they would not have to directly kill anyone. The target to be destroyed was the technology, not the creators. And their client was okay with that, after a bit of convincing. They had contacted Mr. Wong and explained that the mysterious death of his biggest competitor would just be too obvious a play to make if he intended to stay out of jail. And he agreed. But even with that good news, there would still be no easy fix to this situation. Unfortunately, there would be no external hack or server crash to destroy the technology because the actual prototypes and research were mostly stored offline. Smart. The technology, which they decided to call the target, was stored in an auxiliary building on the out skirts of town. It was a warehouse type facility surrounded tightly by other storage, buildings. Some owned by QC and some by other companies. At least two of the buildings adjacent to the target building housed biohazardous chemicals or other experimental aerosols the team had determined were to dangerous to risk releasing into the environment. In other words, this wasn't something they could make go away with a few strategically placed explosives. To complicate matters worse, in looking at the schematics of the building design and security protocols, the warehouse defenses did seem impenetrable. Felicity recognized her original design in the security system, but tweaks had been made. Jealously flared up in her heart for a moment when she realized that someone had to have been messing around with her programs. Her programs that she had specifically built and put in place to protect her boys…but she was quick to stamp out that flame and get back on target. With the already difficult set up and the unfamiliar changes, she 97% sure she could get through the defenses and into the room where the target was located, but there was no way she could talk someone else through it. She would have to be onsite for this mission.

This wasn't totally unreasonable. Rare, yes, but not completely unheard of. The team had a mission every now and them when she was needed above level for whatever reason, but she normally tried to avoid it if at all possible. It wasn't like she had develop agoraphobia or anything, but being above ground just made her feel, unstable. Uneasy. Vulnerable. And if she was really honest with herself, at times, it made her feel flighty. Not that she would ever go, or would even have anywhere to go. But just the possibility that she could was enough to set her nerves on edge. That and the ridiculous fear that someone from team arrow could spot her on a traffic cam or satellite feed, or worse, that she'd come face to face with one of them. That thought made her physically sick. No matter how confident she was in their mission, or objectives, she was not confidant of what she would do if that were to ever happen. So her plan had been to do everything she could to keep it from ever happening.

Living in the UG was easy enough. Pretty much everyone else did. She had everything she needed there. And if she needed anything, she could order it online and have it sent by mail.

There was really no reason to go above for her own personal needs.

When her expertise was needed on the field, she was always extremely careful. Gathering double the amount of background information, surveillance and data she would for any other mission. Always in disguise. Surrounded by her team. Always on the lookout. Always on edge.

The first time she went out, she was so nervous she almost botched the entire two week long undercover mission in one night. The team had been so worried about her afterwards she thought they were going to send her back to that ridiculous psychiatrist. Just the thought of being in the padded room again was enough to pull back together and give her focus. Thankfully, she convinced Sigma team that she was okay, and proved it a few weeks later when she was needed in the field yet again.

That had been several months ago, but Felicity knew it was now fresh in their minds as they were suiting up and preparing to load the black van. All that could be heard in the underground loading garage was the clicking and sliding sounds of weaponry being checked and loaded. If you'd asked her a few years ago, this would not have been a pleasant soundtrack for pre-mission enjoyment. She use to be terrified of guns. Of the violence they brought. But she was actually use to it now. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but the gentle noise of her teams wordless preparation was soothing to her in a way. No talk was needed. Things simply flowed smoothly in the preparation process. It was always a good sign for the mission to come. And they needed all the good vibes they could find. She was already inside the van. Instead of checking ammo, she was sitting in the nondescript black van, going over and over the mission details in her head and worrying over how things could go wrong.

The only tools she would need were her tablet and a special inceptor key she had designed herself. Both were tucked away in the black bag she hugged to herself as she sat along the wall of the van, knees bent and bouncing with nervous energy. She did have a hand gun strapped to the inside of her calf for emergency use only, standard regulation for all Culpus Team members on the field, but never once had she even had to think about using it on any past mission. She hated to admit it, but her fathers illegal organization was very well run. Even if he did run it with a cold heart and with minimal face to face contact. From her desk in the command center, she had become privy to some inside information at times. She knew the entire company as a whole was as impressive as some of the US government organizations. And her little Sigma team was no different. They were a well oiled machine. They got in, got the jobs done and kept each other safe, even more so when Felicity was with them on missions. She was their eyes and their map and their heart when needed, and they were her shield, her brute force, and often her sanity. If she knew one thing, she knew she would be protected physically at all cost during this mission. But could anyone protect her heart?

Caught in her thoughts, she didn't notice they were all loaded into the van and ready to go until Simms dropped his heavy gear bag on the floor near her feet. The stuffed bag made a strangely loud noise in the silence of the evening as it clanged against the metal of the floorboard, startling her to attention, causing her to bite her bottom lip. She quickly sucked it into her mouth and tasted the coppery liquid mixed with her saliva. She swallowed and turned towards Simms. He hadn't seem quite like himself in preparation for this mission. He had been quiet, contemplative. She wondered if it was this mission that was bothering him or if it was something in his personal life. She wanted to ask what was going on in his head, but she wasn't sure he would want to talk to her about it. Especially if it was mission related. But maybe now was the time. As he sat down across from her, she prepared herself to just ask him about it, but he was the one who spoke first.

"You ready for this?" He questioned, as he sat on the bench opposite her.

"We are defiantly ready for this. Up the fire escape on the adjacent building. Cross over. Roof entry. Put the guard at the security door to sleep for a while. Destroy the target technology. And then slip pack out the way we came. No one will even know we were there. We have gone over this multiple times. We have contingency plans, secondary exit routes, evacuation procedures if anything goes wrong - which it won't. Because we are so ready for this." She still rambled when she was nervous.

"Yeah, sweetheart. We are ready. But that's not what I asked. "

Her eyes met his in the darkness of the van. He wasn't going to let her off that easy. "I know what you asked," she replied.

"And."

"And I'm ready," she told him.

Bear added his two cents. "Might be more believable if you weren't chewing a hole in your lip, Smoaky."

She rolled her eyes at him as Agent Shay passed her his handkerchief. His hand lingered on hers for a minute, a silent show of support. Then he shot Simms a pointed look and shut the van doors, headed back to take up his spot in the command room. Besides their driver, only she Simms and Bear would be on site for this mission.

Dabbing the handkerchief on her lip, she stared at the droplets of blood that stained the white cloth. She was just nervous, she told herself. Which was totally normal in this situation! But she had handled worse. If the past year and taught her anything, it was that she wasn't the same weak, babbling unsure IT girl she use to be. Digg and Oliver and always told her she was the strongest person they knew. Irreplaceable to the team, and she had always smiled and went along with it. But she had never really believed it. Every time she started to believe in their words, something always reminded her of the little girl from Vegas who's own parents didn't want her. Or the IT girl turned EA who must have slept her way to the top, according to all of her coworkers. Or the sidekick to the hero who was always getting herself in trouble. Strong was not a word she would have really associated with herself back then. Self sufficient, intellectual, independent, capable? Yes. All of those things. But not strong. Not before.

But now…she could see it. Maybe she had been strong all along and she just hadn't needed to use that strength, because everyone else around her had been strong for her. Or maybe it had grown in her over time. But after the year she had survived, after going through something like she had been through, you come out of it two ways Simms had told her. You come out a broken shell of who you use to be, a fragmented, useless mess. Or you come out better for it. Still changed, but changed into something stronger and tougher than you were before. And if those were the only choices, she had no choice but to be strong now. So she purposefully pulled her raw lip from between her teeth. She balled up the handkerchief and tossed it at Bears face. She was ready.

"How long till we arrive at the airport?" she questioned.

Simms hesitated before he replied, "An airport is not necessary in this situation."

They were under time sensitive conditions here. Surely a flight would be more efficient for a cross country mission than a van ride. She pressed him for more information. "Are we driving all the way to Starling City?"

There was silence for a beat, as if he was deciding how he wanted to phrase his answer. But then in typical Simms fashion, he decide to just go with the truth, no sugar coating.

"If by 'all the way' you mean 3 1/2 hours, than yes, we are driving all the way."

Then it was Felicity who sat in silence, shocked by the information. In the time working for her father, while she hadn't exactly been held as prisoner or secluded from the outside world, she had kept herself extremely isolated. Purposefully. Sure, she had gone on missions and looked up building details and city statistics. She had sent out exit strategies and driving routs and drone strikes and viewed areal maps when various missions needed those things to be done. But, she never looked too close. She never looked more closely than she needed too for the mission at hand. She couldn't afford to. While she knew she was strong, she was smart enough to know that even the strongest steel has a breaking point and weak spots. She had never wanted to know how far away she was from home. She didn't need to know. Because she was never going back there again. So she never, not once, looked up or questioned anyone about the exact location of the UG or its distance from Starling City. She had always just assumed it was on the other side of the country. Far away from everything and everyone she knew. Until now. In the van on the way to break in and destroy valuable technology that belonged to the people in the world who she loved more than anything else in the world.

"3 1/2 hours?" she questioned one last time.

"Yep. Just about." Simms confirmed, cutting his eyes up at her, away from the bag he was holding. Waiting for her reaction to this information.

She had felt so lost in those first few months in the UG. Her old life had feet so far away from her grasp. But all this time… All this time, she had been so close to home. So close to him.

"And you never told me?" Her voice, though harsh, shook with a tremor and air of accusation that was completely out of her control. Simms said nothing, but met her stair with clam, clear eyes.

"So all this time- I've been-I've been…"

"You never asked." He simple stated what she knew was true.

In her ear piece, she could hear Agent Shays deep breaths. She wondered if he was deciding if he was going to have to come back out to the van and talk her off the ledge again. Looking across from her, next to Simms, she could see Bear eyeing the gun strapped to her calf. She knew he was ready to tackle it from her hands if she had any more suicidal ideas over this bit of information they had just dropped in her lap. She couldn't even see Duncan, who was back in the command center running comms in her place tonight, but she could just imagine him nervously swiping at his tablet, no doubt, panicking, wondering if he would be able to hack into the building security without her. He couldn't. She smirked to herself just thinking about it. She had been trying to teach him her ways with computers, but he was nowhere near ready for this, and he knew it too. She could hear his fingers quickly scrambling over the keyboards through the comms, but he didn't say anything. Not yet. They were waiting to see if she would hold it together. This was her test.

Months ago, before she knew them, before they had become this thrown together, make-do, needy, crazy family of misfits, she might have flown apart. She had before. But she couldn't do that now.

They were a team.

If she totally detached herself from the situation, she could stand back and see how ironically ridiculous the world was being to her right now. She was sitting here with a team of men she cared for preparing to attack the other team of men she cared for. Did she want to do this? Did she want to be on this mission? No. The idea of hurting Oliver even through his business made her sick. The thought that she may run into anyone from her former life made her want to run back into the UG and lock her self away for good. But those were not options.

Even if she didn't go on this mission, it was going to happen. If her whole team refused to do it, which they might for her, it would still happen. The money was too good to pass up. Her team being in charge of this and her being on site actually made this whole thing less stressful. At least if she was in charge, she could ensure no one would die tonight. The other teams were not so concerned about loss of life as hers were. If she was really being honest with herself, maybe too honest, before they had started working together, her team hadn't been too concerned with loss of life either. Then, along she came, with her pesky affinity for human life and insistence that there was another way, along with a major mental break down or two. She won over their hearts, and eventually concern for her bled over into concern for others besides themselves. A hard learned lesson here underground where it seemed cold hard self promotion and self advancement was all that mattered. And the mode of promotion?

Before she had arrived, Simms, Bear, Shay, and probably even Dunccan from his computer chair thought killing was the only way. But she had managed to show them another way. She'd done it once before with Oliver, so she'd been determined to do it again. And she wasn't done yet, not even close, but she did quietly take pride in the fact that though she couldn't change her situation or the circumstances of her life currently, she had turned upside down the world of these 4 men. And she genuinely thought they were all better off for it. Herself included. It wasn't perfect, but they were moving it the right direction. Sigma team had killed when necessary, but kill missions were rarely assigned to them now that most of the company knew their MO. And when they were, they went out of their way, for her sake, taking extra measures, rearranging simple plans into complicated ones, even taking unnecessary risks at times to try and get out of it. They did everything they could to keep her away form it, to ensure lethal force was not necessary. Except when it was, like when they had to drop a whole building and they couldn't be sure there weren't at least a few security guards on the upper floors. And then, well, they just didn't talk about it. There were those occasional missions where things went wrong, or rather, where wrong couldn't be avoided. She was going to make sure this was not one of those times.

The location of the factuality they were hitting was 30 minutes outside of the city, 35 from QC and 40 from the arrow layer. The whole mission, once onsite, would be over in exactly 13 minutes and 57 seconds. This was key because on the off chance that she missed something and an alert went up, it was imperative that she was not there if anyone showed up to check on things. She didn't know for sure if Oliver or Digg or Roy themselves would show up or if they would just leave it to the QC security team to handle, but she wasn't taking any chances. Timing was key in this one so she and Duncan had run the times at least 20 times over with every possible variable going wrong, as well as some things that weren't even possible, like, code NOAH, a flood evacuation secondary plan. This night was clear. No storms on the radar, except the one going on in the back on the van between her and her team.

Her team that was currently wondering if she was about to fall apart in front of them. She couldn't even be angry at them for doubting her, because she had done it before. But that seemed like another life time ago now. Now, she had a mission to run and a team that needed her sane to do it. And apparently a 3 and half hour van ride.

"You're right," she said to Simms, but really, to everyone, because they were all listening now. "I didn't ask. It wouldn't have mattered. And It still doesn't." Looking clearly at Simms and Bear, she made sure to meet each of their eyes. They needed to trust her. She needed them to trust her.

"You sure about that? Cause if you're not, we can do this without you." Simms gave her one last out.

She let out a snort of laughter. "No, you can't, and you know it."

And then they all laughed, and the tension was relieved. "No," he admitted, "Probably not, but it's polite to offer."

"You're funny." She shot back at him.

He smiled. "People have mentioned that to me a time or two before."

Reaching across to grab his hand, she squeezed it lightly in confirmation. "I'm sure. Let's just get this over with. Okay?" He squeezed back.

"Okay, Sweetheart."

He tapped on the wall separating them from the driver and the van began moving foreword.