Chapter Text
The wind whipped around their ankles as they stepped onto the helipad. Felicity had received a text from her father, something she would normally have ignored, but this one said that he would be meeting her on the roof of Queen Consolidated in the next fifteen minutes. Her dad’s aerial mode of transport and oh so convenient landing spot on the roof of her place of employment made her almost wish for the simpler days at Tech Village. Almost. And of course, when she got the text Oliver just happened to be out of meetings--a rarity since getting the company back two months ago--and he being the nosy and overprotective friend he was, decided to tag along when Felicity told him she was going up to the roof for a moment. Curse her mouth for alway providing too many details! With Digg refusing to miss out on the escape from the corporate wonderland, the three of them made their way to the roof. Nervous, Felicity had only told them that she was meeting someone who was flying into Starling and had asked to park on the QC helipad.
As it dipped beneath the clouds, the trio had to shade their eyes to catch sight of the massive plane that was on course for their location.
Diggle threw Felicity a glance. “Are you meeting someone from the government?”
Felicity ignored him, instead heaving a great sigh and pinching the bridge of her nose. Quietly she muttered, “Really, Dad?”
Oliver was surprised for he distinctly remembered Felicity telling him that her father had left she and her mom when she was little. But he had little time to ask as the silence on the roof was quickly broken as the plane lowered. It was definitely of some military origin but, Amanda wouldn’t be so obvious as to land a plane on his building in broad daylight and if it was any of the alphabetical agencies he was positive they would simply come striding through the front door, no doubt be happily guided by a certain SCPD captain. But most of all, anyone would more likely be here for him than Felicity.
The hatch lowered, slowing a revealing an older man in a suit walking down to meet them. It hadn’t even touched the ground before Felicity was striding forward, her loud voice on the warm up.
“Dad? What are you doing here? You can’t just land on the roof of my job-not that my job actually has a roof, but you know what I mean.”
Her irritation didn’t seem to phase him in the least as he walked towards her. With the quiet now relatively restored to the rooftop, he said with a shrug “Well, you weren’t answering my calls.”
There seemed to be a short impasse as father and daughter held each other’s gaze, before Felicity huffed and quickly closed the distance to hug the man. After a moment, Oliver coughed lightly to remind his partner that there were two very confused people there with them; although glancing at Digg, he noticed that the other man didn’t even seemed fazed by the appearance of Felicity’s supposedly-absent father, but then again, Oliver had the strong suspicion that Felicity could say that she was a lost princess from the planet Mars and John Diggle wouldn’t even bat an eye.
Jumping into action, Felicity guided her father over to them to make introductions. “Dad, this is my. . .” she was caught because no word seemed to be the right fit for who exactly Oliver was to her. “Oliver. Oliver, this is my dad. Agent Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention--”
“Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D.” Coulson smiled, reaching forward to shake Oliver’s hand. “It’s good to finally meet you, Mr. Queen.”
“Finally?” Oliver felt his brow furrowing and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Felicity nervously rubbing her hands together. Never in his life had Oliver felt more out of the loop.
Coulson continued as if he was talking about nothing more significant than the weather. “Who do you think gave Waller your file?”
Really, Dad? Anxious to get a handle back on the situation, Felicity quickly shifted the conversation. She could feel Oliver’s intense questioning gaze on her and she knew she was in for a really, really long conversation later, but right now she wanted to know why exactly her father had dropped by unannounced. And with the bus, no less. “Dad, what exactly are you doing here? And don’t say a social call because I know you don’t roll out all of that,” she gestured to the massive plane, “for visiting your daughter. Because you normally bring a smaller plane, or even a helicopter, and there was that one really one time where you came up to MIT on the train and 3. . . 2. . . .1”
Coulson sighed. “Daniel Whitehall’s dead. And based on the information we gathered from his compound we were able to get closer to the heart of the beast. A trail that has lead us here and we need your help.” He glanced at each of them. “All of you.”