You are the Vigilante

Chapter 3 - Team Meetings

Chapter 3 - Team Meetings 

"I am the vigilante's sister so how do I help?" 

Roy's growl of "No" was formidable but easily overwhelmed by Oliver's voice. 

"Absolutely not." Oliver didn't glare but he did frown at his sister even after he had spoken. 

"Why not? If you both are involved then I'm already involved-" Thea retort was interrupted by another, deeper growl from Oliver. 

"You are not involved. You have no part in this, Thea. End of discussion." Oliver spoke harshly as he glared at Thea. 

"Really Ollie? Well, what if I don't think that's the end of the discussion? What if I want to keep talking about-" Thea had intentionally raised her voice and garnered the attention of the other diners but Roy's sudden grip on her arm stopped the dramatic show. 

"If you really want to be part of the Team, perhaps threatening to out us at your first Team meeting isn't the best strategy." Felicity's sarcastic comment forced all eyes to her whereupon they realized that she had closed the gap between herself and Oliver and was for all intents and purposes leaning lightly into him. Oliver didn't turn to Felicity but he did relax minimally at the contact. He did continue to stare at his sister, jaw clenched tight and entire body on alert. 

Diggle intervened next. "How about we relocate to Verdant?" 

"Verdant? You want to take this discussion to my club?" Thea questioned angrily as she continued to meet Oliver's eyes. 

"There is no discussion. We are leaving now." Oliver moving to stand up brought both Felicity and Diggle up immediately with him. Roy and Thea stood more slowly to face the trio - again the sides were drawn and tensions were high. 

The ride to Verdant was deathly silent and Felicity was perilously close to rambling just to ease the tension. It wasn't Oliver holding her arm that was bothering her on this trip but instead it was that Oliver had retreated to the colder vigilante that she had first met. She hadn't realized just how much he had changed, opened up to them until he reverted and she was starting to get scared. Luckily she could see Diggle's eyes in the rear view mirror and that connection helped soothe her sufficiently to continue in silence. However, the silent communication with Diggle wasn't enough to stop her from jumping from the car and rushing into the club in order to take a few deep breaths. 

Felicity turned to the entrance to the Lair when she suddenly stopped, unsure of how to proceed. True Thea and Roy now knew but Oliver was hardly welcoming that admission. Suddenly Oliver himself solved that problem by reaching her side and, without turning to the other three, he spoke to issue a single command.  

"Take them home Diggle". 

"Damn you Oliver! You want to protect me from getting hurt by hurting me! Why not shoot me with an arrow too?" Thea cried out in dismay. 

Her words caused Oliver to pause and tense even more but he didn't look back - he entered the code and prepared to push Felicity through as soon as the door opened. 

Thea wasn't finished yet and in her anger she lashed out. "You protect the ones you love, huh, Ollie? Don't want them to get hurt? What about Felicity? Want to watch the video again to see her being hurt because of you?" 

Oliver sucked in air as if absorbing a punch but his reaction was concealed by Felicity's own much louder response. 

"Noooo." That it was Felicity's half growling, half groaning in response forced Thea to focus on her instead of Oliver. 

Diggle was similarly pained by the accusation and he quickly put himself between the siblings both to shield Oliver from view and to possibly keep him from doing something he would regret.