The Starling Saviour

Chapter 63

'Jeez, this is one paranoid assassin,' Felicity sighed as she ferociously typed away at the computer, trying to decrypt Guillermo Barrera's phone for any information on who he was working for. 'Barrera's got cobalt-level encryption on his phone. It's not gonna be easy to break, but codebreaker is my middle name... Actually, it's Megan-'

'Felicity,' Oliver stopped her from babbling on any longer in a gruff voice. 'Can you get anything off of it?'

'Just the last number he dialled,' Felicity told us with another sigh.

'Which was?' Oliver pressed further on the matter.

'A restaurant in Chinatown,' Felicity concluded from the location that popped up onto the computer screen from her searching the number in question. 'Jade Dragon. I guess even hired killers enjoy the city's best chow mein.'

'Yeah, Jade Dragon is a front,' Diggle gave us context. 'For the Chinese Mafia.'

'Aria, call the restaurant and make a reservation for two for tonight,' Oliver ordered at once. 'And Felicity, you need to decrypt that phone.'

'I'm kinda in the mood for Chinese now,' Felicity commented to Diggle and I as Oliver left us.

'You know, I don't think we've really spent time together off duty,' I mentioned to the other two. 'We're usually in here, getting orders from Oliver, or nearly getting murdered at fundraisers.'

'It's all work and no play down here,' Diggle remarked, Oliver definitely not in the Arrowcave any more. 'Oliver is... Driven.'

'That's one word you could use,' Felicity added as she carried on typing as fast as she could.

'What is it that's stopping you from getting in?' I inquired, looking at the hundreds of jumbled digits on the computer screen.

'I don't know,' she said frustratedly. 'I should be able to get through but... I... Can't.'

'It's okay to hit a brick wall sometimes,' I told her, calming her down as she threw her head back in exasperation. 'When I first trained to be a vigilante, I didn't win every fight. Even recently, I've not been able to fight against certain criminals.'

'But Oliver said he needs me to be able to do this,' Felicity said, worried she was going to disappoint him.

'Oliver's a bit of a stress-head,' I interjected, making Felicity laugh and lighten up. 'And Felicity, I could never do what you can; the times that I have tried to code have all gone terribly wrong. You are way better than I ever could be at coding, at hacking, and I know that you will be able to do this. Just don't rush yourself so much; give yourself time to figure out what you need to do.'

'I will,' Felicity smiled at me in thanks. 'Have you ever thought of being, like, a therapist or something?'

'I don't think I have,' I laughed lightly. 'Maybe that's what I should be if I'm never allowed back in the SCPD.'

Leaving Felicity to crack Barrera's phone with Diggle, I joined Oliver and Tommy upstairs, where they were finalising some plans for the club.

'Hey, Aria, we've just been deciding what colour to buy all the furniture in,' Tommy filled me in. 'Black or chrome?'

'White,' I advised them instead. 'You don't want it to be too dingy in here; Lance might come looking to see if we're running a drug cartel in the back or something.'

'Good choice,' Tommy accepted my choice. 'I think we have a winner.'

'Then, we won't need big LED lights because the room will be so bright from the furniture,' Oliver argued sarcastically. 'Clubs are supposed to be dark.'