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Felicity often thinks it would be good to keep a loaded gun under her bed. She dissuades herself by reminding herself that she would probably end up shooting the neighbor’s cat by accident. Also, if her single shooting range excursion with Diggle had showed her anything, it was that she was better at pretty much everything than she was at shooting.
Still, she desperately wished she had a gun, or maybe a nice Taser, under her bed when she woke to see two figures standing in the dark by her bed.
A familiar voice, then. “We need your help, Felicity.”
Sara.
Felicity turned on the light to find Sara standing as Nyssa leaned on her for support.
Sara explained, “Nyssa’s injured. We can’t use our normal safehouse because she doesn’t want anyone under her command to know. It would… project weakness. She also won’t go to a doctor.” Felicity could tell by her tone that at some point in the evening, there had been an argument about these points.
“Oh. Yeah, sure. I’m Felicity. We, uh, met during the--”
“Yes,” Nyssa said. “Felicity from MIT. I remember.”
“Right. Um, first aid kit’s in the bathroom,” Felicity said, gesturing. She felt like she should help Nyssa walk – the woman looked like she was in a lot of pain – but she was pretty sure offering assistance could be taken as an insult.
In the bathroom, Nyssa sat on the edge of the bathtub and removed her shirt. Felicity looked the other way as Sara opened the kit and started stitching up a wound on Nyssa’s side.
“So… in town on business or pleasure?” Felicity asked, still looking away.
“You’re right,” Nyssa said archly to Sara, “She is cute.”
When the bandaging was done, Felicity turned back to face them. Nyssa was still shirtless, and Felicity reminded herself not to look interested.
“Do you think we could spend the night?” Sara asked. “I really don’t think she should move around too much tonight.”
“Sure,” Felicity said, not bothering to ask why she didn’t ask Oliver. Nyssa and Oliver weren’t exactly friends. Not to mention the whole ex thing.
They walked out of the bathroom and Felicity said, “You guys can take the bed.” It was easily big enough for two.
“A kind offer, but a warrior does not need a soft bed,” Nyssa said.
“Okay, but … I’m not going to make someone with a giant knife wound in their torso sleep on the floor. That’s just bad manners,” Felicity answered.
“It is a machete wound, and it is quite shallow,” Nyssa said.
“Still, I’m sure you’re willing to indulge my sense of hospitality. Even if you think it’s silly,” Felicity said with a smile. She had learned from experience that some of the biggest badasses in the world will fold if you ask for something on the basis of courtesy.
“Thank you,” Sara said pointedly, and Nyssa nodded her agreement.
“Okay. I’ll take the couch, you guys get settled. I can make some hot chocolate and snacks. I mean, you know, unless you want, like, whiskey or vodka or some kind of high protein warrior snack. In which case I’m going to have to hit the AllNite Mart.”
“Tea, if it’s no trouble?” Nyssa said. She looked, as she always did, amused by Felicity. It made Felicity nervous, though probably not as scared as she should be.
“Just lie down,” Sara said gently, “I’ll help get the tea.”
Sara walked into the kitchen with Felicity.
“So really, why are you in town?” Felicity whispered when they were alone.
“I can’t tell you. But don’t worry – it has nothing to do with Oliver or any plots against the city or anything.”
Felicity wanted to ask more, but considering they were called the League of Assassins, she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know. “Well, it’s good to see you Sara. Whatever the reason,” she said, which elicited a small smile from Sara, who jumped up to sit on the counter.
Felicity filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove, then leaned against the counter next to Sara. “Are you going to see your family while you’re here?”
Sara winced. “No.”
“Oh.” A long pause. “I just thought… I mean, it’s obviously none of my business.”
Sara looked at the wall. “Last time I was in town… my family thought I was a hero.” Her voice cracked.
“You still are.”
“You know what we do, Felicity.” She was cringing almost.
Felicity put a hand on Sara’s knee. “I know…okay, there’s not good way to say this, but I know you tried to poison yourself so you wouldn’t have to kill. And you gave up something you cared about more than you cared about your own life so you could save this city. All of us. You are totally, 100% a hero.”
Sara smiled at her. “Thank you.” It wasn’t clear that she was convinced, but she looked relieved that Felicity thought so.
The kettle whistled, and Felicity turned off the stove. She got out teacups and tea leaves and Sara poured the water and carried the tray to the other room.
Nyssa sat up in the bed and took a long sip. “Thank you. It’s very good.”
“Lipton for the win,” Felicity said.
They sat and drank, and though the silence was awkward, Felicity wasn’t really sure about making smalltalk with an assassin. With Nyssa anyway – she didn’t really think of Sara as an assassin.
When they were done, Felicity cleared the plates and carried the tray into the kitchen.
When they were alone, Nyssa said to Sara, “I heard you in the kitchen.”
Sara sighed. “It was too much to ask for you to lie down for five minutes?”
“I wanted to gather intel.”
“She’s just a nice, normal hacker. You don’t need intel.”
“She’s a bit like you were, when we first met. Soft, but full of potential.”
Sara’s eyes hardened. “She’s not like us.”
“You are protective of her. Interesting,” Nyssa said with a smirk.
“Nyssa.”
“So you do not visit your family because you are not a hero?”
Sara sighed. “That’s not… everything.”
“You want them to remember the little girl you used to be.”
“Yes.”
“Were you a hero? Before the island.”
“Hell, no. I was a mess.”
“And did they love you even when you were a mess?”
“… Yes.”
“Then they won’t love you less now that you’re strong.”
Sara raised an eyebrow at her.
Nyssa shrugged. “I … never had the option of being a mess. It would not have been acceptable.”
“I know,” Sara said, rubbing a gentle hand on Nyssa’s thigh.
“What I mean,” Nyssa said, “is that I would not take it as an insult if you wished to see them. I would… understand. Connection is a weakness, but I know all of your weaknesses anyway. So there is no harm in a visit.”
Sara smiled. She knew how hard this was for Nyssa to say, knew that a few years ago, she wouldn’t have been able to. “I know. Thank you.”
Nyssa shrugged again. “It’s your decision.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll visit them if we don’t need to hurry out of town after the job.”
“Yes, the job. Do you think the hacker would help us?”
“No. We shouldn’t involve her.”
“Our own tech support is busy with my father’s projects. We could kidnap a hacker and force them to help, but building an alliance might be more efficient. Since you know her already.”
“She won’t help us. And I don’t want her to. Please, Nyssa.”
“Help with what?” Felicity said as she walked in again.
Sara frowned. Nyssa had obviously planned for Felicity to hear that.
“Amanda Waller is holding one of our League prisoner. We want to rescue him.”
“Yeah, no offense,” Felicity said, fidgeting, “But I don’t think I can release an assassin from prison.”
“Of course,” Sara said, looking nervously at Nyssa.
Nyssa said to Felicity, “But Waller will also be using him as an assassin. And subject him to medical experiments and possibly torture and death as well. If he is going to kill, shouldn’t it be for the group he believes in?”
“Is there an option on this multiple choice exam that doesn’t have the word ‘killing’ in it, by any chance?” Felicity said.
Nyssa raised an eyebrow at her, then said to Sara, “She’s quite brave. Most people who know who I am would not speak to me like that.”
“She doesn’t mean anything by it,” Sara quickly said.
“It’s okay, I’m impressed by it,” Nyssa said with a smile, tilting her head at Felicity. “And I take it, Felicity, that you would feel the same way regardless of threats, blackmail, or bribery?”
Sara tensed.
Felicity set her jaw. “Yes. Though I’m really hoping the ‘threats’ thing doesn’t happen, to be totally frank with you.”
“And what if I told you that many of Waller’s guards will be killed. But if we had blueprints of their facility, we would be able to minimize casualties.”
Felicity frowned, hesitated. “I would say that ‘minimize’ doesn’t sound like zero casualties.”
Nyssa smiled. “This one’s stubborn. But smart.” She looked over at Sara and said, “I guess I have a type.”
“Wait, what? I mean, you don’t mean, um…” Felicity stammered, thinking that this was awkward in about ten different ways. She realized then that she was turning bright red.
“Ignore her Felicity,” Sara said, smiling, “She’s a terrible flirt.”
Nyssa smiled again at Felicity. “Nevertheless, I would like to consider you an ally. Perhaps not this time, but there may be some task in the future that better fits your… delicate sense of morality.”
“Oh. Okay. I mean, I think. Maybe.”
Nyssa smirked again. “Good. Now I think it’s time for Sara and me to get some rest. Unless of course you’d like to join us in the bed.”
Felicity blushed again, and she hated herself for it. “No. I mean of course, you’re incredibly beautiful, but like beautiful and terrifying and – wait, that came out all wrong! Hey, are you laughing at me? Oh, crap, you mean just platonically sharing the bed, didn’t you?”
“I’m not laughing,” Nyssa said, though she was clearly grinning. “And I was not speaking platonically. Nor seriously. I just wanted to see you blush again.”
“Oh. That’s kind of mean.” Felicity winced at her own comment; she just called a commander in the League of Assassins ‘kind of mean.’
Sara rolled her eyes. “Believe me, if you wanted, Nyssa would gladly have you in our bed. But I told her you’re off limits.”
“She wants to protect your innocence,” Nyssa said to Felicity.
“Hey, I’m not too innocent to have a threesome,” Felicity objected. “Not that I mean yes, because it’s kind of soon for that – I mean not that I would want it in the future, not that I definitely wouldn’t, it’s just--”
“That’s not the innocence she’s thinking of,” Nyssa said, and a coldness flickered across her eyes, reminding Felicity of who Nyssa was, what she did.
“Oh. Right.”
“But now we all need to sleep, I think,” Sara said pointedly.
“Right. I’ll be on the couch,” Felicity said. “Just yell if you need anything.”
“On behalf of the League, I thank you for your hospitality,” Nyssa said.
Sara smiled at Felicity, silently telling her to take the formality as par for the course. Felicity smiled at them both, a bit tight, then left the bedroom, closing the door behind her so they could have their privacy. She headed for the linen closet to take extra blankets to the couch, then settled in and tried to fall asleep, tried not to think about the fact that one of the deadliest women in the world was in her bed (two of them, actually). She tried not to think of the offer, of what circumstances might compel her to work for them – she had seen enough by now to know that morally gray alliances are sometimes a necessity. And she tried not to think of Nyssa smiling at her, eyes predatory, looking at her like she was beautiful, strong, full of potential. Nyssa looking at her with desire, like Nyssa would really enjoy corrupting her. She tried not to think of Sara’s soft smile in the kitchen, of the freckles on Sara’s chest. Of the way Sara and Nyssa must look when they’re together, wanton and writhing and so much power.
Felicity turned over and rested on the sofa pillows. She had a feeling she was in for a sleepless night.