Chapter Three - What is Right

"Are the arrangements all sorted?" Oliver asked quietly.

It was the day of Felicity's interview with the human trafficker, de Santos, and he and Diggle sat across from Felicity in the basement of his club, going over the last of the details before they infiltrated de Santos's office.

Felicity nodded. "As far as Queen Consolidated know, I'm attending a computer programming seminar upstate. Although its not something that I actually need, since I figured out how to work out the programme a while ago, but they don't know that. You'll be surprised what you can learn off Youtube tutorials. I won't deny though that I'm feeling rather guilty about lying to my employer," She glanced at Oliver, "but technically you are my employer and you know what I'm really doing. So can I actually get into trouble?"

"And your alias?" Oliver prompted, cutting her off before she started rambling and worked herself into a state.

"Right here." She handed Oliver a brown folder.

"Candice Doherty?" He frowned at her pseudonym.

Felicity shrugged. "I needed a name. Diggle helped me come up with it."

Oliver nodded and continued to flick through the file. He paused and frowned, one page catching his interest. Felicity knew he had reached her academic results and she had to bite back a shudder of her own.

"Are these legit?" He asked, waving the paper at her.

Felicity shocker her head quickly. "Of course not. As if I would have ever dropped out of school in freshman year of high school. I think I would have died if I had ever received so much as a D for anything. Although, maybe not." She chewed her lip slightly as she thought. "I did fail a Spanish test back in highschool, but only once," she was quick to reassure them, "and all I did was cry. For an hour or so. Nothing too drastic." She missed the look that Diggle and Oliver shared.

"Those are just marks that I made up that I thought were suitably mundane. It matches the character profile Diggle and I created. They do look rather real though, don't they?" She smiled smugly. "I did my best to match my CV to the latest statistics released on human tracking. I, or rather Candice, meets all the requirements. I am between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, a female and uneducated with no real stable job. I am practically asking to be made a sex slave." She paled. "Not that I am, you understand. I can't believe I just said that." She shook her head as though banishing the thought. "Anyway, I listed my last job as a junior sales rep for Unitech Industries."

"They've just retrenched a large portion of their workers," Diggle explained. "It makes sense for Candice Doherty to be looking for a job, and given her work experience she wouldn't find much in the current market. de Santos will see her as a desperate and easy target."

After a moment of silence, Oliver nodded. "This looks good to me."

Felicity smiled tightly. "It must be, because I have been called in for an interview. Now the next step is getting to the interview on time and making sure that the mic ends up in the right office." She glanced at her watch, "Which means we need to leave now, or that's not going to happen."

Standing up, she gathered her stuff, muttering to herself. "Mic, handbag, bus tickets, umm, phone," she reached for her smartphone on the desk, "No, that's the wrong one. Guys, have you seen an old Nokia, about the size of a brick? Mine is way too fancy for Candice to have." She ruffled through the pages on her desk, starting to feel anxious. "I know its here somewhere. I put it down here when I added the sim card. How could I have lost something so big?"

"Here." Diggle said. "I think this is it." He placed the phone in her hand and wrapped her fingers around it. "Are you sure about this, Felicity?"

"No, but I am going to do it anyway." She drew a shaky breath. "I've got to do this. Someone has to stand up for the women of Starling City."

"We'll be with you the entire time." Oliver said. He stepped closer to her, brushed away the hair falling over her shoulder, which sent goosebumps racing down her neck and slipped a communicator onto her ear. "We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise."

A bus trip later and Felicity, or rather Candice Doherty was walking into the reception of de Santos's pseudo-company.

"I have an appointment with Mr de Santos," Felicity said. "It's Candice Doherty." She added when the receptionist looked at her blankly.

"Oh, he'll be with you shortly." The receptionist replied, after glancing at a day planner. She gestured to the row of green upholstered chairs across from her desk. "Have a seat in the meantime."

Nodding her thanks, she sat down and flicked aimlessly through an old Vogue magazine that had been lying a table near the chairs. She stared at the pages without really taking them in as she listened to Oliver's last minute instructions issuing from the tiny speaker in her ear.

"Remember once you are in, you need to find a place to put the mic. Near the phone or computer would be best." A short pause. "If things start going badly, just say the word and the Hood will have you out of there in a flash. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

Felicity had to bite her lip to keep from responding, least she give herself away by talking to herself. As it was, it was heartening enough to know that Oliver cared, even if it wasn't in the way she wanted.

"Miss Doherty." Someone called.

"Miss Candice Doherty!" The same voice repeated more loudly, just as Oliver snapped, "That'syou."

"Oh sorry." Felicity began, instantly flustered. "I was just going over what I wanted to say. Sorry, I'm just really nervous. I kinda really need this job."

Felicity held her breath as she waited for the receptionist to call her out on her lie, but after a moment she simply smiled faintly and gestured that she follow her.

Mentally berating herself, she followed, taking care to pay attention of her surroundings in case she needed to make a quick get away, but she needn't have bothered as de Santos's office was at the end of the corridor.

The receptionist was about to knock when one of the other doors opened and a large man stepped out. "Hey, Sue, do you know if the boss if available yet? I've just had a phone call from Mr Lee about the new girls and -" He broke off suddenly when he noticed Felicity. "Oh hey, beautiful. You looking for a job?"

Felicity nodded mutely, sickened by the leer that had appeared on his face.

"She is here to see Mr de Santos." Sue, the receptionist responded. "You'll be able to see him afterwards, Marco. Now if you don't mind..." She turned and knocked on the door. "Your three o'clock is here."

"Don't worry babe," Marco said as de Santos called for them to enter, "I'm sureyou'll get a job."

Her heartbeat spiked in fear, as Felicity followed Sue into the office.

Standing behind a large mahogany desk was de Santos. He was of average height, in his mid thirties, with dark brown hair and darker eyes. Despite having seen his picture on the police records, he didn't look all that threatening or sinister. He looked like an honest businessman.

Felicity had to remind herself, that his looks were probably what allowed so many desperate women to trust him. In the words of the Bard himself, de Santos was a dove-feather'd raven, if there ever was one.

"Ah you must be, " he glanced at the folder on the desk, "Candice Doherty." He held out his hand. "I'm Nicolas de Santos."

Knowing that she couldn't avoid it, Felicity reached out and shook his hand.

"Please sit." He smiled and gestured at the seats opposite the desk, while Felicity fought the urge to wipe her hand on her skirt.

Perching on the edge of the chair, she watched as he made his way back to his chair and sat down across from her.

"So, Candice." He paused. "Your don't mind if I call you Candice, do you?"

"Oh, not at all." She said quickly, knowing that he needed her to appear eager to please, even though the idea of it made her skin crawl.

He grinned. "Candice. Tell me a little about yourself. Sell yourself to me."

"Oh um." Felicity hit a blank as her entire cover story disappeared from her mind. She couldn't do this. de Santos was just too slick, too sure of himself. He would know the minute she opened her mouth that she was a mole.

Suddenly, Oliver was there, well not really. He was there, feeding her the lines she desperately needed to hear.

"I'm a very hard worker sir. I was recently retrenched from Unitech Industries, not because I couldn't do my job, but because I was one of the last people the company hired. I am not afraid of hard work and I will do what I must to pay my way."

He flicked through her false C.V. "You didn't complete high school?"

"No, I didn't. My parents died when I was a freshman and rather than end up in a state orphanage, I dropped out and got a job at a garage on a truck route for a while. I eventually found my way to Starling City about a year ago and did a few odd jobs until I got a position at Unitech. And that's it really." She finished off lamely.

de Santos nodded slowly. "Do you have any skills beyond those you put on your C.V.?"

"I don't know if its a skill really, since I'm still learning, but while I was at Unitech, I started taking a typing course." She looked down at her hands folded on her lap, as though she was ashamed, but in reality she was checking on the mic pressed between her fingers. "Unfortunately, I lost my job and I haven't been able to finish."

Felicity looked up, looking as desperate as possible. "If you would please give me a chance Mr de Santos, I promise you that I will do my best. You're my last chance. If I don't find a job soon, I don't know what I'll do."

"Don't worry my dear." de Santos said smoothly. "I'm sure I can find something suitable. I have your details and I will get back to you as soon as something comes up."

"Oh thank you."Felicity lurched to her feet and deliberately stumbled, bring her closer to his desk so she could place to mic on the edge of his desk, out of sight.

"Careful!" He snapped.

Taken aback at the sudden aggression in his tone, Felicity muttered, "Sorry. Sometimes I can be such a clutz."

Obviously hearing the fear in her voice, de Santos immediately got himself under control. "I didn't mean to frighten you," he said quickly. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"It's time to get out of there, Felicity." Oliver murmured a moment later.

"Thank you. Do you have anymore questions for me?" Felicity asked.

"No. I think I have enough information." de Santos replied. "Someone will get hold of you soon. Enjoy the rest of your day, Candice."

Gathering her handbag, Felicity had to forcefully keep herself from running. "Thank you." She said one last time, as she closed his office door behind her.

Walking briskly, she nodded a goodbye to the receptionist and left the building, heading for the bus stop.

By the time she got off the bus two stops later to meet up with Diggle and Oliver, who had driven round to make sure she hadn't been followed, Felicity had managed to get her nerves under control.

Felicity flung herself into the backseat of Oliver's car and breathed a sigh of a relief.

"Are you alright?" Diggle asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror, as he drove them back to the club.

"Yeah. I think so. I still feel a little freaked out though. I think I prefer hacking. It's just risky but at least I don't have to lie to someone's face. Even if they are super creepy bad guys." Taking a deep breath, she turned to Oliver. "I just hope that I got the mic into place properly. I was too afraid to check that I had it in the right spot, in case he blew his gasket."

"You did. It's already started recording everything that's going on in the office."

"Well, I hope we get something on this guy soon. I won't deny that he scared me badly. I don't want to have to go near him with a barge pole. He is a menace to society and he needs to go."

"Don't worry." Oliver growled. "You won't need to see him ever again. I'll keep you safe. I swear it."

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for all the amazingly supportive reviews that you have all left me. I can't believe that I have 91 reviews for only two chapters. You are all amazing. To everyone who favourited or put an alert on this story - thank you again and I hope you that you all enjoyed this chapter. Even if it had minimal Olicity in it, but sometimes Felicity needs to do things herself.

I am very sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I expect that you all know how life gets in the way sometimes and it did for me. I went on an overseas trip to Japan (where I came up with the conclusion of this story), wrote essays and exams for my honours course, went on another holiday to Cape Town and carried on with honours. Needless to say this was all in addition to me trying to deal with an ever-growing workload AND writer's block. Anyway, I am starting to feel like Felicity in all my ramblings here, so I hope you can forgive my late update and that you will leave some constructive criticisms and reviews for this chapter.

Thank you all again. You all help keep the smile on my face