Shielded Arrow (Oliver and Felicity -Olicity- Fanfiction) ~2nd book in the Saga~

Chapter 26

"Okay! I can't do this here!" Felicity threw up her hands in frustration. "I don't have the right equipment and it's taking too long! Have you found her yet?" Felicity exited out of all the other feeds on the screen except the local ones so that Diggle could watch while Felicity was driving to her clocktower.
"No, not yet. Do you have any other ideas?" Oliver was driving his bike across the streets and the alleys double checking every corner around the docks.
Felicity waved to Diggle and Roy a quick goodbye. Her equipment at the Clock Tower was a lot better and she had a lot more screens to watch at her home.
"I'm heading to the Clock Tower in case she sneaked in somewhere. I don't know where, but... Keep searching, okay? She couldn't have just disappeared."
Oliver nodded and continued to drive around the docs. "Felicity do you need a ride back to your place?"
"No, I'm okay, I'm heading back into the club, call you when I get there, 'kay?" Felicity hung up and walked out to the dance floor. She went toward her car and released her hair from the braids that bound her locks.
Her phone buzzed again and she swiped at it, "Megan Smoak, how may I help you?"
"Hello, Ms. Smoak, having a good vacation?" the chipper voice on the other end gave Felicity chills. Even after all this time - that woman was still a little bit-
"Yup," she said simply, "Excuse me one second." She put the phone on mute and screamed, "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" with all her strength. "I'm back," she said politely, "what can I do for you, Ms. Rochev?"
"There's been an emergency board meeting, can you get here in the next twenty minutes? Since it is about your sharing of the company, you should be here," the wrenches voice made Felicity clench her teeth.
Felicity checked her outfit and figured that it would have to do. "What's the meeting regarding?"
"Oliver Queen's CEO holding placement," Isobel's short tone wasn't friendly in the slightest.
Felicity had about a dozen things running through her head - she couldn't deal with this right now!
... But she had to. If she didn't Oliver would lose everything all over again. She couldn't let that happen...
"I'll be there," Felicity slammed her phone shut in a dismissive tone. When she got her anger under control, she dialed another number, "John, I have to go to an emergency board meeting for Queen Consolidated. It's regarding Oliver's position at the Company and... They need me to be there..."
Felicity's phone buzzed with a text from Carly. It read: I just had the weirdest dream....
Which translates into: I'm infected too! I don't need this right now! she whined in her head.
"I want you to call Oliver and let him know I'm going to be at the Clock Tower a little later than I thought..." Felicity draws in a deep breath and she clears her mind.
"Are you sure that going to this meeting is a 'need' right now? Finding Shado is pretty important," Diggle typed across the screen and continued to search for her.
"I know that, John," she sniffled, "but I own a good chunk of the company and it's a part of my responsibility to keep Oliver safe."
"It's our job to keep you safe, Felicity," Diggle smiled. "Not the other way around..."
Felicity nodded like she agreed with him, "Okay... Tell him I'll look for Shado as soon as I'm done with - Oliver's calling me. Great, I gotta go. Hey? What's up?"
"I just got a call from Isobel that you're being called into the office, and it would be a wise decision if I came in too?" Oliver was still looking around the alley trying to find Shado.
Where is she? Oliver wondered.
"Yeah, I have to go in but I'll be right back," Felicity turned the wheel and raced toward Queen Consolidated.
"This is a little bit more important, Felicity, I need you here," Oliver argued.
Felicity's hands went slack. "I know," she whispered. "I know you do, but if I don't go in for this then you'll lose everything all over again."
"That's not important right now," Oliver tried to make her see his side of things.
"Yes, it is! Finding Shado should have the upmost importance - I know that, but Diggle is working on it and I have to go save your - and Thea's - future wealth, okay?" Felicity slammed the phone shut hanging the conversation up for now. She wanted to cry - for once - but tears just wouldn't come. What she needed was a good night's sleep...
With everything that's going on, Felicity felt like scraping it all away and starting over with a fresh slate.
Felicity swallowed and parked quickly. "Hi Jim!" Felicity ran past the nightman on the doorway and sprinted toward the stairs. She double checked her reflection in the mirror and walked into the elevator. Pressing the top level, she waited with patience.
Patience that she didn't have...
When the elevator doors opened, Felicity walked into the hallway and toward the board meeting double doors.
"Okay," Felicity smiled brightly at the board members she had won over in the past. "Hi, nice to see you again," Felicity took the seat at the front of the table and shook a few hands. "So?" Felicity tried to get down to business - business that she knew nothing about. "What's going on?"
"Well, it has come to our attention that Mr. Queen isn't here, and since this meeting is key, he should be removed as CEO and give the title to Ms. Rochev."
A woman, Julie, handed Felicity a bunch of reports and charts of the company's progress since Oliver's reign of CEO had started.
"I understand that Mr. Queen hasn't been here lately and has missed meeting frequently," Felicity didn't even look at the progress reports, "but his mother has recently died and I do believe that the funeral is in just a couple days... He needs time to grieve, I did when my father... Died."
I need to grieve right now because he's back in my life...
"We understand that under those circumstances - yes - he would need time off, but a man named Ray Palmer has taken over the branches that Mr. Queen was running and in charge of. Since Mr. Queen had made a bid for the company and this company is rightfully his, we let his previous mistakes slide. Now, with a second chance, Mr. Queen has the company back but some of us think that if Ray Palmer did a good job - which he did, but he was new - what could Ms. Rochev do when she's been here for a while?" Julie begged to ask the question.
Felicity didn't know what to say, "I think that Mr. Queen should be here to decide whether or not-"
"I called him, told him to come but he's not here which is proof that he's not as dedicated," Isobel stated simply.
"I don't think that's the case," Felicity begged to differ. "I'm sure that he's.... Doing something very important."
"With someone very important," Isobel knew that Oliver and Felicity were together and she just wanted to rub it in Felicity's face in a room full of people. "I'm sure..."
Felicity's adrenaline started to kick in the slightest - she had always felt threatened by Isobel. That and angry.
"Actually," Felicity cleared her throat and tried to act professional, "I took the liberty of calling Mr. Queen and he's with his sister planning the funeral," Felicity stood up and placed her hands on top of the table. "We won't be making any act against Mr. Queen right now through these days of grievance, am I understood?"
Isobel stood, "Don't pretend that you're in charge, Ms. Smoak... I own more of the company than you do, don't push me because I'm your boss, understand? You are my employee."
Felicity laughed like it was funny - because to Felicity it really was. "That might be so, Ms. Rochev, but my quarter of the company is the one that does the most work. The Science and Technology department is the core foundation in Queen Consolidated, so if you need something done, I suggest you don't push me because everything runs through me and my employees'... Am I understood?" she asked fairly politely.
Felicity waited for Isobel to talk back but she was speechless. The young Miss Smoak was skiddy and nervous about everything. This Ms. Smoak was stronger and...
Darker...
Felicity sighed and walked out of the room, throwing the words, "I'm done here," over her shoulder.
Felicity got to her car, unlocked the doors and drove toward the Clock Tower. With haste feet and fingers, Felicity ran upstairs to her computers and logged on. She pulled up the feeds and watched the city from her tower.
She threw an earpiece on and noticed and Oliver was facing a woman in the alley.
"Shado," she whispered and double clicked the screen to get a better view. At the same time, she pulled up the feeds in New York. It wasn't looking so hot for the Avengers but Felicity knew that she needed to make a choice.
Steve was right, Felicity had to have her A game right now - she couldn't be torn between the two places no matter how hard she did love New York. Felicity took in a deep breath and clicked the exit screen for New York.
"Oliver? Did you find her?"
Felicity tried to listen in on the conversation they were having, but the camera was a see-only. Felicity tried to get a picture of what they were talking about, but Oliver turned off his intercom.
"Are you sure it's him?" Shado asked Oliver in the dark hallway.
"Yeah, Sara said she was sure," Oliver was staring at Shado's face.
She had broken out into a sweat while fighting Jonathan who just happened to be crossing the docks at the same time Shado arrived. Lucky for her, Shado had been fighting the longest out of all of the others. Her father was determined to make sure that she didn't turn into a victim.
"And Arthur Light is a bad guy?"
Oliver nodded, "How do you know him?"
Shado smiled sadly, "He was my doctor while I stayed while Felicity in New York for a while. He looked like a nice guy, he only checked on me a couple time but I went with Felicity to her doctor appointments... He acted normal - I should have caught it, I'm so sorry, Oliver."
Shado tried to keep the conversation light, after the awkward silence and the tight embrace they had shared earlier, things were still a little weird.
Oliver put her worries to ease, "I think we both have enough guilt to last us a million lifetimes. How about we start fresh?"
Shado looked at him with a blank stare, "After everything we've been through, do you think that's possible?"
Oliver thought about it, "I don't know... But it's worth a shot, right?"
Shado shook her head and said, "I would rather forgive and move on then forget and start over? Mistakes are what build relationships, and you seem to think that you made one. So what that I.... Had other obstacles to deal with? I still made it back home. In one piece, too!"
Oliver smiled and touched her face. "For so long I was afraid that you would be angry with me, hate me... Never had I imagined that it would go over like this."
Shado touched his hand and nodded, "If he would have pointed the gun at me first, I know that you would have jumped to protect me."
"You sound like Felicity," Oliver started to walk toward his bike with Shado close behind him.
"Felicity's a smart woman, how is she?" Shado was excited to ask, "Isn't it a girl?"
"Is what a girl?" Oliver as Shado neared his bike.
Shado smiled and was about to point out the obvious but then it dawned on her that there was only one thing that Shado could have been talking about - Oliver would have known about it.
"Seven months in it would be pretty hard to hide. Unless..." Shado walked up to Oliver and pushed back his hood to stare straight into his eyes.
Oliver smiled at her closeness - it just made her more real. Made her more alive.
Oliver realized what she was doing, andhe chuckled, "Are you using your Feng Shui on me?"
Oliver and Shado had known each other on the Island and Shado was actually the one who taught him to shoot a bow, along with many other things.
Shado tried to teach Oliver her Feng Shui: The ability to look into someone's eyes and tell if they were telling the truth, or if they were a good person. Shado had come to the conclusion that you don't learn how to read a person, you're born with the abilitiy to.
A thought dawned on Oliver as he suddenly wondered if Felicity had that gift.
"Yes," Shado said simply. "Be still."
"What are you looking for?"
"The truth," Shado blinked and peeled back layers of Oliver's soul just like Felicity had done in the past. "Felicity's back and she's looking normal?"
Oliver frowned, "Why wouldn't she be looking normal?"
Shado came up with a quick lie, "When I left her last, she was ill - Doctor said it was a virus. She was looking a little pale, just wanted to make sure she was back to normal."
Oliver nodded, "Yes, she is, more beautiful than ever..."
Shado smiled, "What happened to this Laurel? And Sara? Where is she?"
Oliver laughed, "Oh, Shado... It's a long story."
"I've got nothing but time," she whispered as Oliver threw a leg over his bike and turned the key to life.
"Thank god for that," Oliver rolled his eyes and threw his hood back up.
"Tell me what I've missed!" Shado was excited to hear about Oliver's life. "You seem different," she observed. "More... Mature. Darker, but light at the same time. Like a misty grey - you're 50 shades of grey!"
Oliver laughed, "Nice analogy right there."
"What? I saw the title on a book when I arrived in Hong Kong, is it a bad book?"
Oliver smiled, "Does it look like I have time to read? I'm too busy saving the city."
"Wearing my father's hood?" Shado questioned. "I wondered where that went when Ivo patched me back up on his ship. When I was all healed, I went to go look for it, but I couldn't find it."
Oliver smiled, "Guilty."
"I don't mind," she whispered hoping on. "I'm serious about you telling me what has happened. I've heard everything in Felicity's perspective, now tell me yours."
Oliver kicked away the foot stand, and shifted the bike into gear as Shado wrapped her arms around his waist causally.
"I don't know how," he explained. "When I'm with her... I feel..."
"Alive?"
Oliver nodded, "But she left and it broke my heart. She broke my heart. Then she came back and I... I love her, I can't stop so why even try? I let her in again even though she says that she will go back to New York, and I need to accept that. We're different but... One some level we're exactly the same." Oliver gave up trying to explain, "I have no idea what I'm talking about."
Shado shook her head, "No, you do. You know what you're feeling. You know how you feel, words just don't cover it. I understand... She feels the same way," Shado let a secret of Felicity's go. "She's told me. You're being more open with your feelings, that's good."
"I've always-"
"Men are always so closed!" Shado aruged, "Don't even try to deny it. It feels a little weird opening up, doesn't it?"
Oliver shrugged, "You make it less weird."
"That's because we..." Shado was going to say something along the line of a sex joke but then she thought against seeing as how it would make things a little more awkard. "Well, I'm understanding and we understand each other on a level that no one else really does."
"Felicity's a lot like you," Oliver whispered. "She has your spirt, your soft touch, your soul.... The only thing that is different might be the self defense, but, she's changing that..."
Shado smiled, "Please tell me that you didn't fall in love with Felicity's thinking about all the things we had in common?"
Oliver laughed and shook his head, "No. I love Felicity, and I thought I was in love with Laurel and Sara but really they never understood the light in me. You and Felicity are the only one who saw the-"
"Hero and the murder? The light and the dark?" Shado laid her head on Oliver's shoulders.
"Yeah," he whispered while driving off toward the Clock Tower. "Thank you for that."
"I loved you," Shado admitted, "believe it or not, you were the first." Oliver looked in his side mirror and saw her give in a small grin.
"Why?" Oliver asked. "Why did you love me?"
"Because you saw the light and the dark in me too," Shado closed her eyes remembering the good times on the Island. Everyday was a fight for survial, but somedays the battles were won too easily which gave them - Oliver and Shado - time to wander off and explore and spend time just being together.
"You accepted everything about me, upfront. There was this strong fighter inside you, and whether or not he knew how to wield a sword or shoot a bow like you do know now, he knew right from wrong," Shado was confident about that fact right there. "He knew what was just - he knew that life was precious. And, looking at you know, I see that that inner spirit is still strong. For a while he grew weak while you took the lead - but now you are both equal. Felicity made you both equal..."
Oliver drove into the night while Shado laid her head on his back, comfortable.
"I love the way you talk," he said - to himself or to Shado, he didn't know. "I loved you too, you know that, right?" Oliver whispered, still not forgiving himself or letting her die.
Well, get shot, and then captured.
"I did," she squeezed her arms around his waist for comfort.
"I still love you," Oliver let the words slide. He knew that Shado wouldn't think that he was going to kiss her and run off with her - he loved Felicity with all this heart and soul - but Shado was his first love, just like he was hers. Shado had left a mark on his skin so he could always see; a bruise that was imprinted on his body - forever tender.

"Just like I still love you," Shado blinked away the subject - knowing there was nothing else to be said.