Arrow: Fracture Part 3

Sins of the Father

Snapping and clicking noises were no stranger to Donna's ears, they were always filling the apartment during the day when she arrived home from work. However hearing the melody of computer components being secured into place during the night was different, especially when she had made sure her daughter had fallen asleep hours ago. The dark hallway had a small stream of light peaking from a partially closed door, the noise coming from inside the lone room. Donna paused at the door, keeping herself hidden at the sound of two voices instead of the one she expected to hear. The curious tone of her young daughter peppered her father with questions in regards to the current piece of technology in his hand. Donna carefully peaked around the door and examined Felicity's tiny frame sitting close beside her father as they both worked on the floor with a sea of computer parts surrounding them. Felicity held a flashlight too large for her tiny hands as she diligently tried to keep the beam of light on the area of the open PCU that her father was working on. The man held up a single component and asked.

"What about this one?" Felicity closely examined the small piece of plastic with a determined expression.

"Umm...here." She answered as she pointed to an empty slot.

"Right...again." Her father happily announced, still finding it somewhat amazing that his six year old daughter had the patience and raw knowledge to retain such technological matters. Felicity smiled as she rolled around a bit on the floor.

"Now, this one's a bit more tricky." Her father warned as he held up another component, displaying between his fingers. Felicity studied the small item, unable to narrow down what exactly it was or where it was supposed to go.

"Here?" She asked, tentatively pointing to a vacant slot.

"Close, but it really goes here." The man said as he placed the component into the proper slot.

"You see, this one is a little different. It's what's called a Ghost component." Felicity tilted her head and looked closer to where the slot was located, trying to gain a mental snapshot of it.

"Why is it different?" She asked, eager to gain more knowledge on something she didn't know.

"Because it looks just like any other standard piece, but it actually doesn't belong...like a ghost. It's neither here nor there...it's in both places." He explained, watching his daughter take in his words. It never ceased to amaze him how Felicity could simply listen and learn in such a way, as if his very words were gospel and she would never miss out of them. A quick glance to the hallway and he spotted Donna quietly watching from behind the door.

"Let's make sure your hair is in a ponytail. Your mom would kill me if she saw you working with me with your hair down and all these things to get caught in it." He began as he assisted his daughter tie her black hair in a small ponytail. Donna smiled as she opened the door and realized that she had been caught spying on the two.

"Ponytail or not it's way past your bedtime sweety." Donna announced as she pushed the door open and glared at the two guilty night owls. Felicity sighed as she glanced to her father in an attempt to beg him for a few minutes of working together. The man quickly recognized the look in her face and immediately fought against his first reaction of siding with her, but quickly decided her mother was right.

"You heard your mom. Go get some sleep." He said, assuring his daughter that their work would continue in the morning. Felicity reluctantly stood up and dropped the flashlight before hugging her father tightly.

"Goodnight dad."

Dad

The title echoed in Felicity's mind as she remained frozen in place, unable to move a muscle. In the brief matter of moments that had passed since Felicity recognized the face of her father a tidal wave of terror and confusion rushed over her. Whorrsmen calmly stood with a large gap between him and his child, he kept his distance in an attempt to allow her to calm herself. Felicity felt her heart rate elevate, her veins pulsed with every rush of blood flowing through them. The very room around her seemed to stretch for miles in a directions, engulfing her in darkness and solitude. An endless ramble of questions peppered her thoughts as she tried to prepare herself to speak and ask the man before her what was happening. The words failed to exit her mouth as the horrifying realization that her own father was a member of HIVE, the very organization that had murdered countless people for it's unknown goals. Her stomach churned and sent a wave of nausea through her body, almost believing that simply vomiting would rid her of this newfound and unwanted truth. Whorrsmen kept silent, fearing that anything he said would trigger a dangerous reaction for his daughter. The silence in the room seeped into every crevice, burrowing deep inside Felicity's mind as it further alienated her from reality and this moment. A visible shift in Felicity's weight was displayed in her wobbling knees as they collapsed beneath her, dropping her to the floor. The rough carpet dug into Felicity's knees as she settled to her thigh and sat with her weight pressed against her hands as she propped herself upward. Whorrsmen immediately closed the distance between them and urgently whispered.