The Way We Talk

Secrets (Little Talks #11)

Prompts:  "What's the news?"

It's not her fault, really.  Thea doesn't mean to be poking around behind the scenes of Verdant when she sees Officer Lance follow Felicity Smoak back to Oliver's office, nor does she mean to see them.  She does, however, mean to follow them and listen at the door like the eavesdropper she is.  But, she tells herself, she's doing this for Oliver.  Because if Felicity Smoak—Oliver's best friend, hands down—is involved with some hinky, super-illegal stuff, well, he needs to know.

Or, at least, that's what she tells herself.  Mostly, though, she's just curious about what the hell Felicity Smoak could have to talk about with Detective Lance.

"You sure we should be meeting here?" the police officer asks the EA, as though the only thing abnormal about the entire situation is the fact that they're meeting in the office of a nightclub.  "The last thing I need is Oliver Queen walking in and overhearing this entire conversation."  It's a valid point, Thea can't help but think; after all, she is standing just outside the door, eavesdropping.  Oliver would, too, though he'd never admit it.

She can almost see Felicity rolling her eyes.  "It's fine," she assures him.  "Oliver thinks I'm setting up some more security protocols for the on-site servers."  A pause as they probably exchange looks, before Felicity finally clarifies, "He thinks I'm doing computer stuff, and he knows better than to interrupt me when I'm doing important computer things.  He doesn't like it when I yell at him."

Thea holds back a chuckle.  It doesn't escape her notice that she calls him "Oliver" instead of "Mr. Queen," and she likes the way the two of them interact.  She's seen it before on numerous occasions, from the dinner (when she was less than accommodating, but she's learned since then) where they first met to the trips to the office for lunch.  She's his friend, and God knows he needs more of those, but she's also a type of friend that Oliver's not used to having:  one who has his best interests in mind.  And she does not hesitate to speak her mind; Thea has seen the two of them arguing more than once, and she always seems to be blatantly honest.

If Lance notices her slips, he doesn't comment.  "How's the wound?" he asks casually, as if he's discussing the weather.  Thea's not exactly sure what wound he's talking about—or why an executive assistant would have anything that could be classified as a wound.

It's a moment before she replies, "Sore, I guess, but I'm told that's to be expected.  He says that I'm lucky it was a through-and through."  How in the world she got shot is anyone's guess, and Thea's eyes narrow as she tries to work through the information.  What does the girl do in her free time?

Oblivious to Thea's confusion, Felicity says to the detective, "What's the news?"  Thea doesn't quite understand why Felicity is the one asking questions; generally, that's what the cops like to do.  If he's letting her ask questions, that means it's probably not an official visit, so Thea could probably rest easy knowing that there's no problem.  But now, they've piqued her attention, and she's very curious by nature.

"Sorry to catch you on such short notice," Lance replies, "but I thought you might want to know about the rash of robberies we've had downtown."  Now she's confused; why would someone's executive assistant care about a bunch of thefts?  And, what possible reason could there be for him to tell her?

"Robberies?" Felicity asks, simultaneously giving voice to Thea's increasing confusion.  "I haven't heard about any robberies, and I do enough hack—"  She cuts herself off abruptly before continuing.  "I am not going to incriminate myself.  Let me try again:  I haven't heard about any robberies, and, believe me, I'd know."  Thea can't believe her ears—did she just indicate that she was involved in illegal activity to a cop?

"We're keeping things quiet," Lance responds, pressing on as if her bizarre little babble never happened.  "It's been pretty serious—five banks in the last two weeks.  All of them were pretty high-tech, same MO, only two guys.  They were wearing masks and gloves—so no prints—and the weapons are military grade.  It doesn't look good, and I think we might need a little help on this one.

Thea has barely enough time to wonder why he would want Felicity's help before she's speaking again.  "You know I don't speak for... our friend, Detective, but I'll see what I can do on my own."  There's a shuffling of paperwork that indicates a case file is being passed off, then the sound of pages being turned as Felicity sifts through the information.

"That would be helpful," Lance admits, "but you two need to be careful on this one.  You can't let anyone know this information is coming from me.  They could have my badge because I'm even talking to you."

"We'll be discrete," Felicity assures him, but then seems to change her mind.  "Well, I'll be discrete, but he'll be discrete as he ever is."

Lance actually chuckles at that.  "Well, at least tell him to stop blowing up buildings—he's getting bad about that."

Felicity shifts on her feet a little, and Thea panics and steps away from the door.  Instead of leaving, Felicity says, "Um, well, that was me last time, actually.  The servers were a little temperamental, and, well, they didn't need to know what went missing."

Thea gapes open-mouthed, while Lance simply replies disapprovingly, "Well, at least before he kept you from getting involved.  He's getting a little reckless with your safety."  The scorn in his voice reminds Thea of the way her mother spoke to her after the whole shoplifting thing.

It makes Felicity bristle, though.  "He is not!" she replies indignantly, her voice a little louder than necessary.  "I'm getting better about arguing my points!  I'm not just some fragile little China doll who's only good for hacking news feeds.    I knew what I was getting myself into, Detective, and I'm glad I was there.  If I wasn't, he would have been killed"—her voice breaks ever so slightly on the word—"and then where would we be?"

A long, awkward pause passes between them before Lance finally says, "He's lucky to have you, Miss Smoak.  Don't let him forget that."

She laughs.  "Oh, I don't think he will, but I'll remind him anyway."

There's the sound of feet shuffling across the floor, and Lance's voice moves toward the door.  "I have to get back to my rounds now, but let the Hood know how much I appreciate him giving us that data from last time—even if you had to blow up a corrupt business to do it.  Rowland will be in jail for a long time thanks to you two."

Thea stifles a gasp as she moves away from the door before she can hear the rest of the conversation—or get caught.  Her mind reels as she realizes the implications of the conversation she overheard.

Felicity Smoak, her brother's best friend, knows the Vigilante personally.

And Officer Lance, who wants nothing more than to see Oliver in jail, is feeding her information.

Thea knows, of course, that she should proceed as though nothing happened.  She makes a promise to herself:  no matter how much she loves her, Thea will not let Felicity Smoak drag Oliver into business with the Vigilante, no matter what she has to do to stop him.