Title: Invisible Heart 3/?
Rating: NC-17
Summary: She's invisible, a ghost, untraceable...but he sees her. AU
Notes: Another clarification which I forgot to include, Chapter 1 is a few years after the prologue. Thanks
ebarb001 for editing. And my beautiful banner was made by
kc_2009. And thank you everyone for the reviews. I haven't been able to respond to any, but I promise I'll be much better this time around.
Oliver threw himself into the leather chair. As his body relaxed he moved his head from side to side, neck cracking loud enough for Victor to give him a slightly disgusted look.
“Whatever,” Oliver said with a roll of his eyes and spun the chair, facing his laptop. There were e-mail to catch home, work that had to be done, but for the life of him he couldn’t find the will to do it. Instead he opted for staring out the window of the jet, waiting to see the outside scenery begin to move.
Wind blew through his hair and then he heart a loud noise at his side. Without turning he glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Bart sitting next to him, turning in the adjoining chair to stare at him. There was something on his mind, that much was obvious, but Oliver could care less. So he stared ahead, waiting, knowing eventually that Bart wouldn’t be able to handle being ignored.
“Okay, so be that way,” Bart said petulantly. “So,” Bart nodded towards Oliver, “what was that about?”
Interest finally peaked, Oliver rolled his head on the back of the chair and gave Bart a lazy glance. “What are you talking about?”
“The hero version of ‘mines bigger then yours’.” When Oliver cocked an eyebrow questioningly Bart groaned, throwing his hands in the air. “Come on! Why do you get to have the conversation with the sexy voice with questionable motives. You get to have all the fun!”
“Jeez Bart.” Oliver turned away and focused outside the window again.
“Oh come on. I mean you get the woman everywhere you go.”
With a shake of his head he turned his head again. The engines had fired up. Any moment they would be heading home.
“He’s right Oliver.”
The new voice gave Oliver reason to pause. Slowly, he was coming to the realization that his team was questioning his motives. Taking the situation a little more seriously he turned his chair and surveyed the scene before him. “I didn’t see a problem.” Oliver knew Dinah well enough to know that her silence, the look on her face, meant she was carefully considering her next words. They’re truce was a shaky one, easily shaken by their own words.
“You’re conversation, it had the potential to expose us, not just you.”
He could see that she was making a great effort to keep the bite our of her tone, not wanting to cross that line that might make him defensive. In turn he bit back any retort. He was already on the defensive. Bart and Dinah standing to his left, Victor with his head cocked, away from his computer screen, watching, and Mia, sprawled on her stomach on the sofa, watching with interest. Turning back to Dinah he decided she was probably the main person he needed to confront. “We’re always at risk to be exposed. Even more so when we don’t know what we’re up against.”
“And letting some stranger in? Someone who could possibly be out to get us.”
There it was, the snap in her tone he had always been so accustomed to. Oliver wasn’t going to admit that he had a feeling that the voice on the other end, the blur, weren’t the real bad guys. That statement alone would have sent Dinah into a fit, but he still wouldn’t back down.
“It was a dangerous move, but it was necessary. Do we really want to be out in the open next time, wondering if this same person is out there, with now clue as to who and what they are?”
“They have money.”
Oliver turned at the voice, surprised to hear Mia speak up.
Pushing off the sofa she sat up. “Victor said as much himself. That woman, she got through a lot quicker then he thought. They were one step ahead of ‘old baty’. Our team’s funded through Queen Industries, him through Wayne Enterprises. They’re resources are good.” Turning to Victor Mia looked at him pointedly, telling him with her eyes that he better back her up. “Right? So where is their funding coming from?”
With a sigh Victor sat back into his chair, ignoring his work. “This isn’t just your everyday hacker. We have better protection then the FBI, CIA, Secret Service...you get the point. And I don’t think it’s government, this operation was small.”
Oliver nodded, it was something he had already suspected. It wasn’t much to go on, but he had time and Oliver was very persistent. With more information they might just have a lead. “And her voice.”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Victor admitted. “I’m searching now, but haven’t had much luck. When we get back home I’m going to go a bit more in depth with my search, but...” Victor shook his head.
Noting the silence Bart frowned. “What?! Don’t keep me out of the loop!”
“I don’t have to much faith that we will find anything.”
Oliver frowned, agreeing reluctantly. It had been his original hope that her voice would give them some kind of lead, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized she was careful, and she wouldn’t have left herself so exposed if she hadn’t been confident that they would find nothing. “She said you can’t find anything that doesn’t exist.”
Victor nodded in agreement, remembering her words and even replaying the conversation back.
“And what about what she knows,” Dinah challenged. “She knew about Bart. In fact, she seemed to be pretty knowledgable about the extent of his abilities.”
“No offense, but Lex Luthor knew the extent of Bart’s abilities. It isn’t a stretch to consider someone else knowing them also.”
“And how much else do they know about us Oliver? Because it is very apparent we know nothing about them.” Crossing her arms over her chest Dinah stared pointedly at Oliver, waiting for him to deny the obvious.
Unfortunately, she was right. Oliver wasn’t aware of any other teams working together, but someone was aware of them, and doing their damnedest to keep themselves hidden. “Look, I get it. Your upset. But I don’t think there was anything we could have done to keep her from breaking into our comms. Next time we will take additional precautions. But the fact is, whoever this person is...they are are stealing our targets right from beneath us. We need to know why and find out who they are.” Turning to Victor, Oliver continued. “Let me know if you find anything.” With that he turned away, making it quite obvious that the discussion was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mia noticed the far off look in Oliver’s eyes as he ate. Grabbing another roll with her chopsticks she popped it into her mouth and chewed, watching him thoughtfully. With a final swallow she grabbed her drink and took a quick sip before setting it down. “What’s up?”
Looking up sharply, almost startled, Oliver looked at Mia. “Huh?”
“You, since we got back you’ve been somewhere else. You have something on your mind, what is it?”
Quickly, Oliver shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
Rolling her eyes, Mia set her chopsticks down. “Oliver, your boring dinner company. Spill it or get over it.”
For a moment he considered pushing his thoughts to the side, trying to hold a normal conversation, but it would have been difficult. “Did I put the team in danger.”
Mia resisted the urge to groan, realizing it was going to be one of those conversations. “There could have been problems.” He frowned. “But there weren’t,” she quickly amended.
“There still could be.”
“Yea, but...” Mia trailed off slightly, trying to find the best way to reassure him. “I trust you Oliver. If you really thought we would have been in danger you would have done things differently.” Even at her words he still didn’t seem convinced. “I don’t know how it is for the rest of them. But I do trust you and whatever decision you make wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
Slowly he smiled. “I’m not always right.”
“Trust me, I know that. But you’re our leader, you saved me. There isn’t a person in this world I trust more.”
At her words his heart clenched and for a moment his eyes burned with emotion. His relationship with Mia was like no other. The best description he had was a father/daughter relationship. Although when he considered being a father what he imagined was slightly different from what he had with Mia. While she was more then capable of taking care of herself, she still needed him. He worried about her, but he hadn’t objected to her joining him and the team. “And Dinah?”
Mia didn’t try to hide her frown. “Oil and water Ollie, I told you that before.”
“It was my fault,” he responded.
“Not denying it.” Mia shrugged. “I just figure it would have ended eventually, one way or another.”
Oliver sighed, not denying or confirming it. Snagging a piece of sushi he popped it into his mouth.
Rolling her eyes Mia decided to delve a little further. “Oliver come on, it was almost two years ago.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t still have feelings for her.”
At his words and hearing the longing in his voice Mia scrunched her face and thought better of continuing the conversation. The last thing she wanted to hear about was Oliver’s unrequited feelings for Dinah. “Okay, so what about-.” Before she could finish her question an electronic ding interrupted her and Oliver’s head whipped around. Within seconds he was up and heading back to the living room. Interest piqued, Mia stood and followed behind him, dinner forgotten. When she found him he was behind his desk, hand propped on the side and leaning over with a frown. “What’s up?”
“I-.” The sound of his cell ringing silenced him and he reached into his pocket already guessing who it was. Without thinking he pressed answer. “Yea.”
Mia watched the exchange with interest as she walked slowly to the sofa and took a seat. Slowly, Oliver’s brow drew together and his lips pursed into a frown.
“And that was it? I mean we don’t have any other avenues to take? We’re at a dead end?”
Mia watched him listen in silence and then sigh.
“Alright, yea. Well lets talk about it again tomorrow. She’s not a ghost.”
Slowly, the pieces came together for Mia; the unknown woman, the one who was causing the current conflict within their team. As he said goodbye, Mia waited, knowing eventually he would explain. “What is it?”
Rubbing his forehead in irritation Oliver walked from around his desk and took a seat on the sofa. “Victor. He hit a dead end with our new friend. At least with voice recognition. The search isn’t over by any means, but for right now... Tomorrow we’re going to get together and try to see what our other options are.”
Mia couldn’t help but frown herself. “It’s weird isn’t it? I mean she knew you wouldn’t be able to find her. If she thought you had a chance she wouldn’t have said a word. Why is she so confident?”
It was a good question, one Oliver had been thinking over for a long time. “I don’t know.” With a shake of his head he sighed and tried to focus on something else. “The more immediate problem is making sure this doesn’t happen again. As much as I would love to know more about the mysterious woman, we need to make sure she can’t hack us again.”
“How DID she hack us Oliver?” He turned to her, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was she saw on his face. “I mean you have money and technology at your fingertips. Victor, is a freaking computer. What does she have that we don’t?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How long?”
“Two minutes.” Chloe clicked her phone on silent and looked up into the screen. “Make it quick.”
“You acquired another?”
Sighing Chloe nodded. “But it could have been a rock for all it was worth.”
“There is a key.”
“You don’t think I know that?” Chloe snapped. “We’re working on it. I’m bringing more people in. This is getting a little to dangerous for our out of town friend.”
Tess narrowed her eyes. “I know that. But the packages are delicate. He is our best chance.”
“Exposing him as a thief would have consequences,” Chloe argued. “I’m bringing in someone else. As it is he’s had a run in with the Green Arrow and Batman...who would appear have been in contact with one another.”
At the familiar names Tess frowned. “I see.”
“And I’m going to be upgrading. Some of our new friends appear to be on an even playing field with us.”
Tess nodded. “I’ll take care of it.” Pausing for a moment she continued. “And other things?”
Their conversation were usually very vague, but at the end Tess always asked about her. “Safe.”
Tess nodded briefly. “Contact me when you have the other package.”
Tess’ image disappeared, leaving Chloe to the silence of her tower once again. Grabbing her bluetooth headset she slid it onto her ear and reached for her phone, scrolling through a variety of contacts. Finding who she needed she pressed her thumb against the screen and stood, walking towards the door and grabbing her coat.
“Hello?”
“Carter,” Chloe slammed her palm against the doors and headed towards the elevator, “what would it take to convince you to come in for a visit?”
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