Once More Into the Breach

Revelation

"Four to three," Oliver calls out as Thea holds one Roy Harper at the end of her stick, applauding his sister's performance today. She's worked hard over the past few months, going through partner after partner, but today paid off. He's not the only one smiling; Thea looks as though she just discovered the existence of magic and, as she helps him up, Roy flashes her a grin, too.

"Looks like you have a partner, Thea," Oliver continues with a smile—one that doesn't even falter when she hugs Roy. "You two need to go down to J-Tech and get fitted for your Drivesuits." Thea rushes to hug him, too, before running off, and he just smiles after her. He understands the elation perfectly; he smiled like that a year ago when his own combat trial ended on a note of success.

In some ways, it seems impossible that over a year has passed since he and Felicity took to the mats with uncertainty. For the past ten months, they've been taking down Kaiju together, with fourteen kills to their run already. Though the escalating emergence of Kaiju is troubling, they've still managed to emerge from the Breach victorious, despite a few injuries and pieces of broken equipment.

Perhaps even more surprising is the publicity that comes with it. While he's familiar with being in the spotlight as a Jaeger pilot, the media circuit roared to life after the Green Arrow took down two Category Fours without any backup. For some kid with a smartphone, excitement over the battle outweighed self-preservation, and he had filmed the whole thing. When the world learned the truth, it was met with disbelief, and it was only then that the two Rangers had agreed to interview. The public was reacquainted with a far different Oliver Queen, and they finally met Felicity Smoak.

And, not unlike Oliver himself, they were enamored with her.

Now that the frenzy has started to die down, he's finally able to catch his breath. Now that the publicity nightmare is over, he doesn't have to deal with the panic attacks just before he walks onto the stage, though his nightmares will always haunt him and sometimes he still wonders what he's doing back in the Shatterdome after Tommy. But despite that, things are better than they've been since Tommy's death, and that shows promise.

Now, he's no longer afraid to hope.

As the group of spectators around the ring starts to dissipate for lunch, Oliver starts to push through them for the cafeteria. Today's their day, the one day a week where he and Felicity go to the hangar for lunch, just the two of them. While sometimes their circle of friends—well, Felicity's circle of friends—join them in the hangar, they've seemed to learn that Fridays are their days.

He's almost out of the training area when a voice calls his name. When he turns, he already knows who it is; Ray Palmer is easy to distinguish in the din of voices because he spends so much time talking to the pilots. Though he's interested in piloting himself, he also does a lot of work on the neural bridge between pilot and Jaeger.

The reason Oliver frowns, however, is because Ray Palmer's main interest seems to be Felicity.

While Felicity's personal life is her own and only on the periphery of his life, it's something they've talked about in great detail. Oliver's attempt to date McKenna Hall had been met with complicated results due to Drifting, and it had pulled down their alignment percentage temporarily. Since then, they'd both agreed that dating was out of the question until they were forced into retirement.

Fighting back a sigh, Oliver asks in the most cordial tone he can manage, "What can I help you with, Ray?" Judging by Ray's expression, he doesn't quite succeed, but the Ranger instructor has places to be. Then again, it could be that the scientist is always guarded since Oliver kicked his ass at combat trials a year ago.