Daycycle 105 [ August 28 - September 03]

[computerized]

daycycle 105

[Aug 28 - Sept 3]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
Felicity Smoak and Natasha Romanoff, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:

‘In order to help us improve our combat simulators, you will need to run through any combat situation you encounter at least three times. On the second pass through, engage the combat at a greater range than originally. On the third pass through, attempt it at a much closer range. You will provide tactical notes to our staff afterwards. If the simulators catch fire, or fail to respond to override commands... note that too. The eggheads were supposed to have fixed that.’

Please debrief the computer on the status of your mission by the end of the Daycycle here.

---

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

---

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 1700 in Hangar 15, Armed Forces Sector and will be hosted by the Alpha Complex Dogeball Association. Join us for a game of Alpha Dodgeball! All clearance levels above INFRARED welcome.

---

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Comments

[smoak]

When he says that, that he won’t make her wait forever, Felicity actually smiles, her eyes a little unsure of where to look but her heart doesn’t seem to hurt as much anymore. Her hands find their way back to his arms and she slides them up to his shoulders but no further.

“The Special who was assigned the mission with me — Natasha Romanoff — she taught me how to use my gun. And how to shoot robots from a distance.”

Her smile widens at the memory. “I think she might have saved my life twice this morning.”

So there had been danger, but Felicity wasn’t going to worry Oliver more by telling him about how the droid had caught on fire just a few feet away from her, while it was coming right at her. She also wasn’t about to tell him about the time she just stayed curled up on the floor, refusing to get up until Natasha shot the droid in the head. She wasn’t exactly proud of that moment, or how terrified she’d been.

But it was over now. She was okay. She’d learned a lot. And she doesn’t want Oliver to worry. Felicity has the urge to kiss him again, and she’s already started pushing herself up with her toes before she remembers. Her lips flatten to a line and she lets her body rest back down, flat on the ground.

[greenhood]

Oliver very nearly growled when he heard that. He definitely scowled. He absolutely didn't like thinking about her in harm’s way, but the longer he was here, the more he thought that she should protect herself. And he would bring it up. Soon. He just wasn’t sure that this was the appropriate time or place to suggest it. But soon. He absolutely needed to make sure she was safe and he should have done it a long time ago, back when their enemies had first breached their base of operations.

“Then I might have to thank her.” There was definitely an anger to his eyes that spoke to how he viewed what Felicity’d had to go through. It was madness. If a computer was in change, it would supposedly have to think logically and logic said that a computer hacker was not the best person to go through what Felicity had. She had neither the expertise nor training to either deal with it or evaluate what she’d been through. Could there be a mad computer?

“I don’t suppose you were given any forewarning of what was going to happen?” If she had been, maybe he could prepare her for specifics if (when) it happened again. It she hadn’t, then he was just going to have to train her himself. Turn her into something neither of them wanted her to be.

[smoak]

“I think you’d like her,” she says. “She reminds me of Sara.”

But when Oliver asks if she got any forewarning, Felicity laughs. Not at him, but at how ridiculous the idea is. She shakes her head.

“We find out every morning whether we’ve been picked for a mission. That was my first time. I hear other people sometimes get called up a lot more often.”

She likes the way his shoulders feel underneath her fingers. Oliver’s shoulder also felt so strong, like they were capable of carrying the weight of the world. Even if she doesn’t want him to sometimes. Her mind wanders again, as she thinks about unzipping his jumpsuit just a little, so she can slip her hands in and onto his actually shoulders. But she isn’t allowed to anymore.

“Oliver.” She glances downwards. “I know I shouldn’t have to ask. But. What kind of boundaries do you need right now? If we’re-” She clears her throat as her eyes look back at him. “-friends. Is this okay?”

Her hands just being there. Being in contact with his body. It’s certainly not how friends normally behave.

[greenhood]

She was torturing him and he couldn’t even blame her for it. He also couldn’t stop himself from wanting it. Or accepting it. He might have been strong in some or even most instances, but she was his weakness and always had been. But it was a weakness he could live with if it meant she was still in his life.

“You’re assuming I could stop you,” he answered with a bit of a smile. “You always manage to get your way and I always let you.”

He supposed that it would be a powerful incentive to work up the courage to tell her everything that had happened. If he kept having almost what he wanted but never quite enough, he’d want either more or an end to it, either way.

“But yes. It’s okay. I know what I’m putting you through isn’t easy and I wish there were a better way.”

He took a deep breath. “But why don’t we sit down and you tell me everything you’ve been through since you got here?”

[smoak]

She smiles again, wider this time, when he says that he always lets her have her way. That’s not always be true, but she knows what Oliver means. She could probably kiss him again right now and he’d let her.

There’s a part of Felicity that really does want to ask Oliver if they could kiss one last time. Because the last two times, she’d hadn’t known it would be the last time. Five days ago, she woke up in Alpha without him. Three days ago, she’d gotten over the shock of being in a new place, and she’d spent a lot of time that day trying to remember how Oliver felt.

A few minutes ago, she’d kissed him and felt him bring it to an end. She wants the chance to etch a kiss into memory. Because frankly, she doesn’t know how long it would take Ollie in the end. Anywhere from a few days to a few weeks would be reasonable. Felicity already knows she’d wait.

But she feels like the moment is over. He’s already prepared himself mentally for the boundaries to start and she doesn’t want to ruin that — for him, or for herself. Because if she asks for one more kiss, and he says yes, what’s next? If she knows herself, Felicity knows that she won’t want to stop there.

There was a lot more things about Oliver that she wants to commit to memory.

Better stop now before she does something neither of them can take back.

He tells her that it’s okay for her hands to be there, and he wants to know what’s been happening since she arrived. Wherever he wants to sit in this room, she’s happy to follow.

“I’ve only been here for five days,” she says, no longer remembering if she’s told him that already. “I-” Felicity thinks back, “I won a chess tournament.” There’s a brightness in her eyes when she says that. “And the day after I went to someone’s birthday party.” Real interesting, right Ollie? Conveniently, she leaves out the part where she’s met a lot of guys. A surprisingly high number, given how she’s only been here for five days.

But she wets her lips and prepares to tell him the things that aren’t so positive. Felicity leans in close to his ear and whispers, “Barry and Cisco and Ray are here. Barry doesn’t have his speed anymore. Ray’s being held prisoner somewhere in IntSec. We want to break him out, but we need more information.”

[greenhood]

Ray Palmer wasn’t exactly Oliver’s best friend and it was only partially because of his history with Felicity. There was a wholesomeness to him. It wasn’t that Oliver didn’t trust it; it was more that he didn’t see it ending well for Ray or anyone around him when he lost it. And he would lose it. You didn’t stay long in this world without being at least a little jaded by it all. Even Felicity had had to do terrible things in the name of what was right. More than that, terrible things to prevent abominations.

Still, that didn’t mean he was prepared to leave Ray out in the cold, especially not in a place like this. He wasn’t prepared to leave anyone here, especially not the people he knew.

“We’ll get him out,” he promised. “Any idea why Barry doesn’t have his speed?” Because even if they were what they were told they were - clones - shouldn’t the cloning process have simply duplicated them? The idea that they might be themselves but different didn’t sit well with him. It was too close to those glitches he’d been told about.

[smoak]

The way that Oliver says it — We’ll get him out — was so full of conviction that it makes her smile. Oliver’s always been her rock. No matter how hard the wind blows, he never lets it topple him. He never gives up, and knowing that he was on board immediately to get Ray out was heartwarming in a way that Felicity really needs right now.

She wonders though, if it’s a good idea to sit in his room whispering, but Felicity’s nearly certain that the audio capabilities of the cameras aren’t that good. So as long as they stay close, and keep their voices low, the only thing that the camera will pick up on is the fact that they’re talking — just not about what they’re saying.

“I don’t think even Barry knows the answer to that question. But Ray left some tech behind that might help him recover it. Barry was going to show me sometime. I think I might be able to make it work.”

[greenhood]

“Good.” He was thinking strategically now. If they had a speedster on their side, it might make all the difference. Barry would be able to go faster than the cameras could catch him. They might see something, but they’d never be able to identify it as any specific person. Maybe they wouldn’t even be able to identify it as a person at all, just a graphical glitch.

“Whatever happens, we’ll get out of this. All of us.” He had to believe that. He had to trust that there was a way out. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but this wasn’t going to be their life forever after. And even if this time and place was not the one they’d come from, they’d find a way to make this a better place.

If there was no city to save, he’d just have to save the complex. But first they had to find out what was true and what was a lie.