Chapter Text
Sometime in 2012
“Hi-chan, let Superman handle the repairs outside.” Felicity called out. “He's the alien who could hold his breath for hours on end.”
Yet another statement that Felicity Smoak never imagined she'd ever utter, her tendency to word vomit notwithstanding.
“But how am I going to test out my gear if you guys don't let me do any of the dangerous fun stuff?” Hiro Okamura complained.
“You can test them later,” Babs Gordon pitched in. “After we get the Watchtower in working order. Time is of the essence.”
“And are you really calling yourself the Toyman?” Dick Grayson interjected, off topic. “Isn't some criminal in National City already calling himself that?”
“Can't change my name now,” Hiro, the Toyman from Japan, replied. “I have patents and trademarks to protect.”
“Boys, focus!” Babs called, but her attention never wavered from the screen in front of her, her fingers dancing over the keyboards furiously.
Felicity slid herself out from underneath the panel of wires she was previously fixing to stare at her friend.
Something happened a couple of months ago while Batman and Batgirl were on patrol (Felicity was at MIT and Dick was studying for his finals); something that scared Babs so much that she stopped living her life and turned all her considerable focus on the mission.
It was not just Babs.
Batman was freaked, too. Not that Bruce Wayne shared his concerns with the team. No, he revealed himself when he demanded that Felicity go home to Gotham; when he commanded her and the rest of the team to prioritize Project Watchtower. Batman was worried to the point that he pulled in Toyman and Superman on the project. Whatever Batman told them convinced them to drop everything in their respective cities to lend their help.
“Babs?” Felicity asked softly. “What is going on?”
Babs's lips tightened. “I'll explain later,” she promised her friend. “Right now, we should focus on getting the Watchtower in good working order.”
Felicity's eyes met Dick's and they shared a worried look. Felicity opened her mouth to press Babs further but Dick shook his head to stop her.
The Watchtower was an unmanned space-station orbiting around the earth that was designed to house and feed hundreds of people. In designing the specs, Felicity and Bruce's intention was to determine the feasibility of humanity surviving in space.
Bruce made a few modifications to the design, among which was weaponizing the Watchtower. The space-station should have been strictly civilian, not a para-military instrument. When pressed, however, Batman stonewalled Felicity, refusing to explain his decision in the change in the Watchtower's purpose.
Babs, unfortunately, was the same.
Felicity and Dick, confused and not just a little alarmed, still followed orders not just because of their training but also because they trusted their partners.
Felicity made a face at Dick, intending to ignore his signal to butt out. Before she could say anything, her phone rang. Since her phone was hooked up to the Watchtower's communication systems, the caller's photo flashed on one of the giant monitors.
“Oh, Felicity,” Dick singsonged. “It's Oliver Queen, the man of your dreams.”
“Shut up!” Felicity crawled out from underneath the CPUs. She dropped the welding gun and kicked it away. Before answering the call, she desperately tried to smooth down the wild hair that was trying to escape from the ponytail. She typed on the computer to give her and Oliver video capabilities and smiled brightly at the computer's camera. “Oliver! Hi.”
“Felicity.” Oliver looked surprised as he pulled his phone away from his ear. “Hi. I didn't know this phone could do that.”
(Maybe it was Felicity's imagination, but she thought that Oliver lost a little bit of that flinty look in his eyes when he saw her.)
“You changed your hair color.” He noted. “Again. Blonde suits you.”
“Oh,” she giggled. “Thank you.”
“Fe-chan!” Hiro Okamura called out from off camera. “We're now ready to test the teleporter.”
“One minute.” Felicity smiled placatingly at Oliver before turning away from the monitor. “Hi-chan, we are not testing the teleporters on ourselves. I don't know about you but I like my molecules just the way they are. Why don't you try it with something smaller?”
“Like Robin-san?” Came the reply.
“Hey! Who are you calling small?”
“No!” Felicity made a noise of frustration. “I meant something like an inanimate object.”
“I may have caught you on a bad time.” Oliver told Felicity the moment he had her attention again.
“Oh, no,” she denied hotly. “There's never a bad time when it comes to you. That's why I gave you a portable Batwave so that you could call me anytime, anywhere. So, let's try again, shall we?”
Oliver did not reply but he did gave her a small smile (okay, she thought his eyes was smiling. He was definitely finding her amusing. She'll take it.)
“Hi, Oliver!” Felicity chirped. “I heard you have rejoined us in the land of the living. I'm sorry I wasn't able to call you. I was a bit preoccupied with a new project. So, how was your first weeks back in Starling City?”
Oliver frowned, opened his mouth to answer, then closed his mouth again when he failed to give an adjective to adequately describe being back home.
“Yeah, I figured.” She grinned at him conspiratorially. “I read the—I mean Dick—”
“Hey! Why are you guys always picking at me?”
“Dick,” Felicity continued, ignoring the protesting teen. “Dick read the entertainment news sites. Not me. I don't have time for gossips and what not. Too busy. Anyway, Dick texted me a pap photo of you and Laurel Lance. She's your ex, right? The Internet exploded with stories of you and her and her sister Sara. Again.”
“Felicity?” Oliver tried to interrupt, in vain.
(Felicity in full babble mode was harder to stop than a speeding train.)
“I know how awkward it is to see your ex. I mean, me and Hi-chan used to date but now we're broken up. We're here in space repurposing the Watchtower together. It was difficult at first but we got over ourselves. Of course, I didn't date his brother while I was dating him so our relationship doesn't have that doomed from the very beginning vibe. Well, he doesn't even have a brother. Or a sister, for that matter.”
“Did you say you're in space?” Oliver goggled, but Felicity once again talked right over him.
“I don't understand why you're in the front page news with your ex anyway. I mean, if it was me, I'd run as far away as I can from my ex.” Felicity's eyes widened beneath her glasses when she realized something. “Unless you're still in love with her? You are, aren't you? I strongly recommend against rekindling the romance and suggest looking for a girl with less baggage, you know? Someone whose history is not as toxic as yours is with her. Someone like—”
“Someone like you?” Dick piped in as he wriggled himself between Felicity and the monitor. Then he did a double take at Oliver's face. "Are you wearing eyeliner? And eyeshadow? Less is more, my friend. Less is more."
“Well, Dick has a point.” She shrugged. “Why not someone like me?”
“If only you're a couple of years older.” Oliver smiled to soften his rejection.
“I've been told that I'm mature for my age.” Felicity told him.
“No, you're not!” Dick and Hiro chorused.
“Okay, I'm not.” Felicity grimaced with the admission as she used her hands to push Dick's face away from the monitor. “But I'll be eighteen in a few months. And I'm already of legal age in some countries in Europe.”
“Oh, gag!” Dick made a face as he allowed himself to be forced away from the monitor.
“Felicity,” Oliver smiled. (A real one this time.) “You deserve someone better. One day, you'll meet a man who's unbroken, who still has his soul. Someone who you could be proud to call yours.”
A small explosion was heard from offscreen followed by a stream of Japanese curses, but Felicity and Oliver only had eyes for each other.
"Gomen nasai!" Hiro called out from outside the video camera's range. “The teleporter is not yet ready. I repeat, the teleporter is not yet ready! Do not test on Robin-san!”
“Hey!”
“That man,” Felicity told him with a sad smile on her face. She knew instinctively that then was not the time to debate the matter; nor was it the time to make Oliver realize that he is better. Instead, she attempted to inject levity in the situation. “Is not the Toyman.”
“No.” Oliver replied, looking as if he was ready to kill Okamura-san if the latter even thought of being the man for Felicity. “He's not. Not even close.”
“Okay,” Felicity clapped her hand, signaling that their conversational land mine was now closed. “I'm sure you didn't call to listen to me babble. Let's try again. Third time's the charm and all that. You called? And you know you could call me anytime, anywhere.”
“Oh, yeah.” Oliver's face turned serious as he turned his phone to show a laptop on a table. “I was hoping you could salvage data from this laptop.”
“Oh, wow. That's one banged up laptop.” Felicity made a face. “Are those bullet holes?”
“Would you believe me if I say that my coffee shop was in a bad neighborhood?” He asked.
“Of course.” Felicity replied brightly. “Can you wait a couple of days for me to get to Starling or are you brave enough to volunteer that laptop for Toyman's teleporter as soon as it gets fixed?”