The Way We Talk

Mischief (Little Talks #8)

Prompt:  "Did you hear that?"

Roy still isn't sure that the two of them should be in here.  Thea makes the argument that she's the one running the club now and it's okay, but, still, if Oliver catches them, he'll probably murder Roy.  (Thea always rolls her eyes when he says this, but there's just something about the guy that makes him scary when he wants to be.)

But Thea is insistent about searching through Oliver's office because of some sort of secret room she says is there.  Something about a keycode, but he doesn't quite remember because it seemed so ridiculous at the time.  However, when she removes the panel on the breaker box to reveal a keypad, he quickly changes his mind.  Why on earth would Oliver Queen need a secret room?

"Let's see..." Thea says, muttering to herself.  "He typed in one... five... three... two."  With each number, she presses the matching key, but the lock still stays red when she finishes.

"Well, that worked," he tells her, rolling his eyes.  It's a waste of his time, really, but she's his girlfriend and she's determined, so... well, he'll help her search Oliver's office.

She tries again a few times, with a few different combinations, but nothing happens.  Then, when she finally gives up, they hear it:  the sound of footsteps echoing down the narrow hall.

"Shit, what did you do?" Roy asks his girlfriend.  In his opinion, it's time to panic; there's only one way out of the room, and they'd have to walk right by the people walking down the hall.

"Can we have this conversation—I don't know, later?" is her panicked response.  She grabs him by the arm and shoves him into the coat closet, shutting the door behind her.  "Don't say a word," she demands, and he knows it's serious because she adds a finger point for emphasis.

Only seconds later, the door opens, and two sets of footsteps enter.  "You sure there was a breach?" comes the question from a very masculine voice, but it's less playful than Roy is used to hearing.  He's impressed; Oliver's response time is pretty quick.

The person he's talking to responds, "Definitely.  Five incorrect attempts in a row, Oliver.  That's not a mistake."  Thea's eyes narrow as the woman speaks, and while the voice is familiar to Roy, he can't place it at first.

There's a slight pause before she rethinks her statement, "Well, I guess that could be an accident on its own.  Sometimes people get confused.  The new guy on the employee list could have gotten turned around and thought that was the entrance to the employee area.  I have a very poor sense of direction, so I guess I could see how—"

Oliver cuts her off abruptly with a very stern, "Felicity."  Suddenly, he's able to put two and two together:  Felicity Smoak, Oliver's very awkward EA at the office--the one that Thea seems to be so fond of.  Though it does make some sense, he still doesn't understand why she's here of all places.  Seems like an odd place for an EA.

"So," she says, drawing out the word, "given that alone, yeah, it could be a coincidence.  But, considering the first attempt your intruder entered was last Thursday's passcode, then, well, I don't think it was an accident."

Thea smiles at Roy in a way that says, I told you so, and he knows he's going to hear about it later.  When he rolls his eyes, she steps forward to poke his shoulder.  However, in the process, she loses her balance, and manages to fall against him, knocking them both against the wall with a resounding thud.

Roy just knows the consequences are going to be bad when, outside, Oliver asks Felicity, "Did you hear that?"

She releases a small huff of breath as Roy holds his, glaring at Thea all the while.  "Of course I heard something, Oliver," she replies testily.  "There's some God-awful techno music blaring outside and these old air ducts"—she taps the wall just on the other side of the closet—"are incredibly noisy.  It's a miracle this place passed inspection, even with the huge bribe you gave them."

"Inspect the footage, please," he demands in response, his tone bordering on gentle.  It's the nicest tone Roy's ever heard him use.  "I want to know who's been snooping around in here."

"Sure," she says quickly, almost too eager to reply.  "I'm going to check to see if they tampered with the locks.  You go on ahead, do whatever it is you do."

A pause before his footsteps echo against the floor, and then Felicity's heels click as she moves closer to the closet.  Abruptly, the door is pulled open, and a very satisfied Felicity Smoak is staring at them as they stare in surprise at her.

She's very calm as she says, smiling all the while, "I'll adjust the video footage for the night and save you guys this time, but I don't want to see you in here again."  Then, without waiting for a response, she walks away, leaving Roy and Thea to gawk at each other.