Chapter Text
The elevator ride up was in a word…different.
Felicity Smoak expected many things when she entered Queen Consolidated; Guards at every corner, dark, dank dungeons, even some chains on the walls streaked with dried blood.
After all Oliver Queen had a reputation to uphold.
Everything she had heard of and read since being told by Diggle they were bidding for this assignment, all pointed to Mr. Queen being a metaphorical ravenous beast walking around in human skin. A master negotiator, he had built and expanded his family corporation by zeroing in on crippled companies. He also possessed a ruthless efficiency only found in true predators, by incapacitated the companies and then dismantled them one bit at a time, auctioning off the unused resources to the highest bidder and absorbing the parts which would strengthen his organization. From all the gore left in his wake, she expected some sort of a Gothic structure with overly ornate pillars and snaring gargoyles peering down at her from their perch.
She wasn’t ready for the sleek, cold lines of the building with all it clear glass, gray and white marble and the chrome reflecting off the afternoon sun infusing the area with hues of colors and artificial warmth.
When they walked to the executive elevator she was taken aback by the inlaid amber panel and the richness of the gold and dark brown within its depth. Which is why she was now quiet and not speaking to John in her usual rapid fire succession of questions. Unlike other jobs, Diggle remained quiet about what exactly their security firm would be doing for Mr. Queen if they won the bid. Next to her, her partner stood rigid, the hard line of his face taunt. The worry knot in her stomach only intensified.
“Felicity,” John said, his lips barely moving. He did not look at her and Felicity knew he didn’t want the camera behind him to see what he was about to say.
“Yes,” she said in the same manner.
“Let me do the talking. Queen is…” But his voice trailed off. She did turn her head at him then, not missing the tick in his jaw.
“Different.” He finished.
“Okay.” Confusion clouded everything in her mind, but if Diggle asked her to stay quiet, then she would-or at least try- she amended mentally.
The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. A pretty young woman, slender and in a elegant dress of gray and black greeted them at the door.
“Mr. Diggle, Miss Smoak, please come this way. Mr. Queen is expecting you.” The woman’s long black hair swung back and forth behind her back in a shiny straight curtain.
Then she opened the doors to the main office and Felicity had to swallow a gasp.
The whole floor was made of glass. It literally felt as if she was walking on air. Underneath her feet she could see through the glass down a floor below to a garden or forest of green? She couldn’t tell, but it seemed the floor below was actually a greenhouse or botanical experimental lab because deep in the green depths she could see people mulling around. Her fear of heights kicked in and she had to resist from grabbing on to John’s jacket as her head spun. Felicity could not see the seams of the glass making up the walls and it was so clear she swore if she tried to reach out, her finger could actually touch the clouds lumbering past.
Her stomach jumped at the thought.
The woman turned a corner and the room expanded and off to the right a portion of the place held black table and chairs, a stark contrast to the bare space. Then in the center of the giant fish bowl, behind a mammoth desk made of glass and metal stood a tall man with his back to them.
“Mr. Queen, Mr. Diggle and Miss Smoak are here.”
The man didn’t turn, but a deep rumbling voice said, “Thank you Miranda. Please take lunch. I would like to speak to them alone.”
Miranda gave them a pleasant smile and disappeared down the hall.
Annoyance flared in Felicity momentary, burning away some of her fear of heights. Really? Sending his assistant off to lunch like it was the 1950’s. Jeez.
Then he turned and everything else she was thinking evaporated into dust.
Felicity didn’t know why it surprised her.
Didn’t know why seeing it first hand would be such a shock.
Especially since the fire had been so widely documented.
But there hadn’t been pictures, hadn’t been anything to show him after it happened. Only the smiling, carefree face of a pretty man who had been a party trust fund baby five years before.
This man standing before her only slightly resembled that boy. He was the same height. The short cropped hair was still blond and most of his face, still held the lines and curves from that young man.
But that was it.
Instead of mischief, his blue eyes were hard, like arctic ice. His lips were almost nonexistent,forming a hard line slashed on his face.
And that unmarred skin was gone. On the left side of his face, a large portion of it was marked with dips and craters, a physical reminder of the fire. Seeing him in the middle of this room full of sunshine and light, only intensified the harsh, unnatural dark patches of skin on his face. He stood tall and unflinching and let the sight sink in and Felicity knew, just knew, the room, the unrelenting light was all to showcase his face to its most grotesque and most stark. He wanted people to be off balance, he wanted them to grimace, he wanted them uncomfortable.
Felicity couldn’t help the small measure of admiration at his ruthlessness and willingness to use anything in his disposal, even his marred face as leverage.
Mr. Queen scanned them quickly and motioned for them to take the chairs in front of him.
Except they were a little too close to the desk, which was way too close to the glass wall, a wall Felicity knew was there but didn’t seem to be there. John moved ahead, but Felicity couldn’t move her feet.
Something flickered in Queen’s eyes, but then it was gone and the ice was back. A sardonic grin graced his lips. John opened his mouth to say something, but Queen just walked to her. His must think it is because of his face, she thought out of nowhere, but still couldn’t move, even when his shadow edited her own.
“Is there a problem, Miss Smoak?” He purposely looked down at her, his ruined face, raw and angry. Indignation sparked inside her and her mouth opened before thinking,” Actually, yes. I would like you to step back and I can’t sit there. It is too close to the edge and I keep thinking I am going to fall off and that won’t be good for either of us.”
He blinked and took a step back. Felicity could identify the surprise in his eyes.
“You are afraid of heights?”
She looked straight at him. “Yep. Now we can have this meeting in a place with actual walls, then I would be more than happy to sit down or we are going to have it right here and you are going to met my lunch.” She crossed her arms, her message bag banged into her hip. The thought of throwing up made her blanch.
John stood up and moved towards them.
Another smirk came on Queen’s face, but it held a trace of actual amusement. “Is that right?”
She nodded and pushed her glasses back in place. “Whatever it takes, just let me know.”
“Really?” A challenge, a spark sharpened his face and he took a step back.” Then, please by all means, let us convene to a more convenient location.” Felicity’s eyes narrowed at him, because while his words and voice were definition of cordiality, she could feel the mockery underneath.
“Lead the way.” She said, and swept her arm asking him silently to move and guide them to a better location. This time the smirk grew into a grin and some of the ice in his eyes thawed. The effect startled her, and she could feel a blush burning her ears.
Mr. Queen moved past them and lead them to another suite of rooms opponent from his offices on the other end of the elevator hallway. These rooms had actual walls and the standard floor to ceiling windows with the obvious seams to indicate their location.
Felicity let out a breath. Her vertigo and fear subsiding.
“Better?” Mr. Queen and when she nodded, he said, “Good, this way.” He opened another door and behind it was a large room, with an impressive mahogany desk. Behind the desk were bookshelves bursting with volumes. Picture frames with different faces littered the small holes left by the books. Some of them showed a younger, happier Oliver Queen his arms around and elegant blonde woman and a young brunette.
This must have been his father’s office or maybe his mother’s, Felicity thought, taking in the more traditional trappings of the office. The warm rug underneath the desk and the leather chairs. The muted abstract paints on the walls. The lighting in the office was much dimmer than Mr. Queen’s. The main source coming from the wall lamps mounted on either side of the bookshelves. It cast a gentle yellow light over the desk and soften his face.
Mr. Queen sat down and gestured to the chairs in front of the desk.
Felicity sat down without comment.
John opened the leather portfolio he had been carrying and laid it on the desk.
“As we discussed Mr. Queen-”
“Oliver.” He said, his voice almost like silk.
John passed for a moment and just nodded to Mr.Queen’s unspoken request.
Diggle pointed to the diagrams and continued, “Like I was saying, the security system you family had used in the past had been adequate, but still too lax when dealing with the current threats being leveled against your sister and company. “
Felicity observed the two men as they measured themselves and then Oliver, Felicity took his unspoken request to use his first name and included herself, lean back and look straight at her.
“And Miss Smoak, I understand you are Mr. Diggles’ computer expert.”
“First, Felicity. Miss Smoak makes me think I am a teacher and it bothers me. Second, I am not John’s computer expert. I am the computer expert.”
Oliver’s brows rose and the smirk upturned the scarred side of his face.
“Is that so?” He drawled, his attention completely on her. “I have several Mensa members and a number of engineers and programmers from several government and top ranking schools heading my IT department, so I think I have the computer experts.”
Felicity snorted and pulled her bag to her lap and opened it, taking out her custom laptop. She flipped the screen up and started the custom program she had written last night.
“Alright. Have you been informed of any intel breaches in, oh let’s say, the last twenty four hours?”
Surprise and concern colored his face, but a scowl turned down his mouth and his forehead scrunched up.
“No.”
She couldn’t help the wide smile on her face, knowing it was a bit smug when she turned her laptop over so he could see the screen.
On it, she had opened several documents. Highly sensitive documents emblazoned with QC’s logo.
Shock make his mouth drop a little and his fingers curled into a fist, then like a switch turned on, Oliver’s face turned red. His eyes burned and he snatched up the phone, punched some numbers and when a voice came on the other end, he barked , “Milton. I want an emergency meeting with you and the other IT heads in an hour.”
He slammed the phone down and leveled Felicity with a hard look. Felicity only smiled, not fazed in the least at his ire. She had dealt with this before.
“I wouldn’t be too hard on them,” she said, taking over the computer and pressing a button erasing all the documents in front of him, “Your computer security isn’t bad, I am just better.”
John smirked.
Oliver Queen looked at the now blank screen and then at Felicity.
“Is Mr. Diggle as good at security as you are on the computer?”
Felicity closed the laptop and tucked it back in her bag. She looked at John and said, “He is better.”
Oliver started at her for a moment, his blue eyes dark and unreadable. Then he gave her a sharp nod as if he came to some sort of conclusion and closed John’s open portfolio handing it back to him.
“You are both hired. I will see you tonight at my home to met Thea and go over the upgrades need to the system.”