Code of Silence

Untitled Part 2

Felicity woke the next morning and pulled on her workout clothes. She was meeting Lyla's husband John today to learn some self defense and she wanted to be early. She rushed into the kitchen grabbing a yogurt and a banana and their housekeeper Adeline fussed at her as she grabbed a spoon.

'You should eat more than that young lady." She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. Felicity grinned.

"This is all I have time for right now. If I am late John will kick my butt." She threw a thank you over her shoulder as she raced down the hall and grabbing her keys and her bag of clothes and ran out the front door.

She drove quickly into town, singing along to the song on the radio. She was glad she had missed her father this morning and per her usual routine planned on staying out of the house as long as possible to avoid him. He was leaving on a business trip tomorrow, so she just needed to get through today. Felicity pulled into a parking spot and eating the last of her banana ran toward the door. She was five minutes early and a grin crossed her lips. She saw John standing by the boxing ring talking to a gentleman so she set her bag down on the bench and then went to warm up. Pulling out her headphones, she turned on her favorite music and set the treadmill for five minutes. She started to jog and she let her mind go as she set a rhythm.

John had noticed Felicity walk into the gym and he excused himself and smiled as he noticed she was five minutes early. Good. He was going to work her hard today.

As Felicity continued to run, lost in her thoughts, John reached over and upped the speed of the treadmill as well as the incline. Felicity glanced up in surprise, her eyes narrowing. She had been working out with John for about a year and had finally agreed to let him train her in self-defense. He was the best in Star City, and they both felt with her father and his connections that it would be good for her to know how to defend herself. He upped her speed again and Felicity felt herself starting to breath heavy. She was determined not to let him beat her at this but as he upped the speed one more time, she called for a truce and hit the stop button.

"You are sooo not fair Dig!"

"I never said I was Smoak."

Felicity stepped off the treadmill with a fake glare and followed John to the boxing ring. She looked around, impressed with the set-up. This was a new location for John. Business must be doing well. "When did you move into this space?"

"Last week. I have some new clients and the money allowed me to move my gym here."

Felicity was impressed. John's reputation was well known around Star City and there was not one person she could think of that did not either train with him or want to train with him. He had a wait list two months long.

As they set up to box, she gave him a smile, "I am proud of you John. You have come a long way. I know Lyla is proud too. So who did you take on this week?"

John hesitated for a moment. "I am working with the enforcers for the Queen family."

Felicity stopped in her tracks. "Did you say the Queen family? As in the mob queen family?"

"Oliver Queen approached me last week. He said he heard that I was the best and he wanted his men in top shape. I have been working with them on boxing."

Felicity felt a shiver of excitement flow through her as she moved into the boxing ring and took her stance. Before she could give Oliver Queen one more thought John attacked. Felicity weaved and ducked as John threw punch after punch and she threw out a kick pushing him back. She grinned at him again as he advanced and she lost herself in the motions, trying to remember what he had taught her so far. As they moved around the ring, she punched, kicked and swung, keeping him at arm's length. He was impressed.