Arrow: Fracture Part 3

Retaliation

"I mean we were all surprised to say the least." Oliver added, failing to find a way to comfort Felicity. Diggle moved to the couch and sat down, realizing that his explanation wouldn't come for awhile.

"Now what'd we do? It's only a matter of time before Victor has the board eating out of the palm of his hand, I mean you should've seen the guy pickup girls in college. He would've given you a run for your money." Felicity stated, pausing when she realized what she had actually said.

"I mean old you...billionaire playboy you." Felicity added, hoping she hadn't insulted Oliver during her verbal breakdown.

"I figured. Look, we still have Walter on our side and we know that many of the board members will back his decision. So we still have time. We just need to find a way to make this collaboration less appealing." Oliver replied, his mind working twice as hard with the sight of Felicity in peril.

"Okay, how do we do that?" Felicity asked, happy to hear a plan but still unable to add to it in her current shocked state.

"We could always tell them that a secret evil corporation is controlling there proposed business partner." Diggle suggested, reminding the other two that he was still there. Oliver raised an eyebrow at such an unlikely and dangerous plan, surprised that Diggle had even suggested it. Felicity paused as she considered the fallout from actually going through with the plan, but knowing it would never work in the end. A knock on the glass door snapped everyone to the new arrival, Felicity in particular tensing at the sight. Victor cautiously poked his head through the doorway and began.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind that I stopped by." Diggle quickly stood and moved into a position to intercept the potential threat in case the situation went sideways.

"No. Not at all." Felicity replied, forcing herself to keep a normal appearance.

"This is John Diggle my personal associate." Felicity quickly added, noting Diggle's unsure body language.

"A pleasure. I'm Victor Stone of Telasaur and Felicity's old friend." Victor explained as he shook Diggle's hand.

"That's right. You mentioned that you two were at college together right?" Oliver asked, hoping to take control of the conversation.

"Yeah, MIT. Felicity would never admit it, but I got her through some engineering classes." Victor said, smiling as he glanced back at his friend.

"Well somebody told me that having those skills on a resume would make a world of difference." Felicity stated, catching a proud grin from Victor. "Of course the same person also begged for my help to delete them off of every one of his ex's social media accounts, so I'm questioning that advice more and more these days." Felicity added, her final comment alerting Oliver to her still uneasy attitude toward her old friend. Victor laughed as he replied.

"As I recall you wanted to see if it could be done, I just had a big enough list of people to make it interesting for you." Oliver joined in on the joke, chuckling as he angled himself between Felicity and Victor.

"Anyways, I stopped by to see if we could get together for dinner soon. I'd love to catch up with you." Victor said, his smile throwing Felicity's focus as she tried to discover if he was truly wanting to reconnect or simply gather more information for HIVE.

"Sure. It just might take some time, we've got a pretty busy schedule at the moment." Felicity stated, grabbing ahold of Oliver's arm.

"Oh, I didn't know you two were together. Well, of course you're invited too. I'm sure I have a few stories about Felicity that you haven't heard yet." Victor added, his charm coming off as genuine and only adding to the question of his true intentions.