[ Old Queen Consolidated Steel and Welding Company, Star City ]
The abandoned Queen Consolidated steel factory had more to offer than expected. Deep below its creaking floorboards and rusting beams lay a surprisingly vast basement. Thea Queen wasn't sure why the facility had been built with such depth, but now it was a blessing. Cheap, forgotten, and perfect for her purposes.
With some effort, she and Felicity selected a few lightweight but usable pieces of equipment—old processing tools and welding machines. Lugging the heavy machinery onto a cart, the two women stumbled their way toward the basement.
Thankfully, both of them had some muscle. Being women with fairly athletic builds, they weren't pushovers. Felicity might look like the homely girl-next-door, but she had a surprising amount of strength packed beneath her soft exterior. Gritting her teeth, eyes blazing with effort, she revealed a toughness not easily seen. Thea, meanwhile, had spent half a year training under Malcolm's watchful eye. Though not as formidable as she hoped to be yet, she had definitely gained strength. Still, Felicity did most of the lifting—not that Thea would say that out loud. It wasn't her fault Felicity was older and... well, more experienced.
Eventually, they got everything down, installed and tested. Surprisingly, the old machines still worked after some tinkering. Thea had been reading up on fabrication and machining techniques lately. She wasn't planning to be a master welder or machinist like Tony Stark, but she needed to know enough to build the Red Arrow skateboard—and, someday, perhaps something even more ambitious.
They sealed and camouflaged the basement door. From now on, the aboveground area would serve as the official office of Queen Consolidated's software division. The basement, meanwhile, would be their secret base. Just the two of them.
Slumping against a dusty wall, breathless and sweating, Thea found herself feeling a little admiration for Oliver. He did this kind of thing alone in the original timeline. No wonder he had those thick arms. That strength wasn't just for show.
"I'm beat," Felicity groaned. "Hot springs. Let's go."
Thea froze. No way. Memories of their last hot spring outing flooded back—partly awkward, partly mortifying... partly exciting? What was she even thinking? Shaking off the blush that threatened to betray her, she firmly rejected Felicity's decadent idea. She needed to return to Moira Queen and make a proper report.
She left Felicity in charge of finding software engineers. Even if the department was just a cover operation, the framework had to look solid. And Felicity, being a top-tier hacker, had a good eye for digital talent.
...
[ Few Days Later ]
Over the next few days, Thea busied herself acquiring necessary equipment under various pretexts. She requested high-end computer systems for the software department and, after clearing the expense with Moira Queen, funneled the real deal into their hidden lair: a beast of a server installed exclusively for Felicity's use.
This turn of events had the former hacker—and now official homegirl—buzzing with excitement. Felicity practically glowed. After her chaotic departure from hacking, she hadn't realized how much she missed real tech. It's true what they say: you only realize how precious something is after you've lost it. Now, her fingers danced across the keyboard, eyes gleaming. She was home again.
Watching Felicity beam with that bright smile, Thea figured she probably wouldn't even complain if asked to do something a little ridiculous. Anyone with shady thoughts could just kneel and repent.
Feeling triumphant, Thea couldn't help but tease her. But when Felicity grinned back, Thea pulled out paint buckets, brushes, and a spray can.
"You get a wall. I get a wall. We clean this place up."
Thea couldn't help but think she might have a touch of OCD. Maybe the Oliver of the didn't mind living in a place that looked like a forgotten storage closet, but she couldn't stand the mess. The room was dusty, cluttered, and downright depressing. But since the secret room had to stay, well, secret, only the two of them could handle the cleanup and painting.
Felicity blinked, horrified. "Wait, what? I have a master's from MIT, and now I'm a decorator?"
Felicity, happily absorbed in her computer, never saw it coming. As someone with a master's degree from MIT, she never imagined her career would take such a glamorous turn—into home renovation. Thea had been to her apartment before and knew exactly what kind of person she was. Felicity was the type who wouldn't take out the trash until it was overflowing. Left to her own devices, she'd drift through life in a state of lazy chaos, waiting for the universe to do something.
Though mentally shattered by the idea, Felicity didn't outright refuse the wall-painting suggestion. In her mind, it was one of those things she could do—or just as easily ignore. Normally, she'd have chosen the latter. But when she saw Thea, the actual rich girl in the room, rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty, she couldn't exactly play the delicate flower. Felicity had no excuse. So with a dramatic sigh, she changed clothes and resigned herself to the task—painting the wall, not decorating a spaceship, unfortunately.
As she painted, she muttered, "Moving machines, installing doors, painting walls... Where's the advanced weapon transformation you promised? Liar."
Thea bowed her head, pretending not to hear. Honestly, she couldn't stand filth and disorder. It might be acceptable for Oliver Queen to hole up in a dusty warehouse for a year, but she wasn't about to follow in that particular footprint. She needed order. Cleanliness. Focus. If that meant two days of manual labor, so be it.
Besides Men and women have different requirements for the environment. This is why it is not easy for female heroes to get along!
Besides, building a base was tough. Batman might have found a cave and called it a day, but he never had to wield a paintbrush.
Once the cleaning was complete, the improvement was obvious. It still wasn't glamorous, but at least it was livable. For two full days, Felicity served as mover, lifter, and reluctant wall-painter. Eventually, Thea gave in to her pleas and agreed to another hot spring visit—albeit with a cautious and conflicted spirit. Details? Let's just say that quoting martial arts master Xu Zhu: "Very good, very good, and indescribably happy."
...
[ Month Later ]
Another month passed in the blink of an eye. The basic setup for the software department was complete. Thea was perfectly content to let things drag on—her interests were hardware and heroics, not management. She had just started to assemble her skateboard, and Felicity was deep into coding a brainwave-reading algorithm for the Red Arrow skateboard. Everything felt on track.
But Moira Queen had other plans.
She shut down Thea's request for an extension and demanded the department begin formal operations immediately. With a resigned sigh, Thea took up the role of department head and installed Felicity as her deputy. It sounded impressive, but the actual team was laughable. Until you realized their entire team consisted of just three people. The rest of the employees in the company had either lacked the skills or spent more time ogling the two of them than offering any real help. It wasn't hard to guess what was going on in their heads—and it definitely wasn't project-related.
Among their three subordinates, two were women—plain-looking and so thin that a decent gust of wind could probably carry them off if they stood too close together. The lone man spoke in such a soft, airy voice it practically floated, and from the look of him, he seemed to suffer from a serious lack of testosterone and possibly a bad back. Thea couldn't help but think: if all the bad guys were built like this, she could take on ten at once without breaking a sweat.
Compared to someone like Merlyn, who had enforcers on every block, their little trio was pitiful. But Thea accepted it. Every empire starts small.
Thea gave a short speech about how vital their little team was to the future of the new department. But one glance at their surroundings—the abandoned factory, oil stains crusted in every corner, and windows that rattled ominously with every gust of wind—made it painfully clear how empty her words sounded. The setting practically laughed in the face of her optimism. Still, she put on a brave face.
This was the beginning.
Thea spent her first day as "department head" sipping tea and flipping through newspapers—because, frankly, there was nothing else to do. The Quinn Group had started as a steel smelting business, with one foot in the legal world and the other firmly planted in the shadows. It was built by tough, shameless men who could muscle their way through anything. In short, its origins were anything but noble.
For a company like that—one that thrived on skirting the law—the need for software development was practically nonexistent. Thea couldn't help but wonder: was she really going to spend her days napping and her nights doing minimal work? It wasn't the worst life, but it was a colossal waste of time. And time, for her, was precious. Of the original five years she had, more than half was already gone.
She got up groggily and went to look for Felicity. Things were completely different now compared to their time in the group. Back then, Felicity would be napping while Thea stayed busy. But now, Thea had nothing to do. She couldn't exactly set up a target and start practicing archery in front of her three subordinates—doing so would probably scare them off for good.
Felicity, on the other hand, had no such problem. Writing brainwave-acquisition software wasn't exactly flashy or loud—she could do it anytime, anywhere. And frankly, no one even knew what she was really working on. All they knew was that it looked impressive and sounded complicated, which was enough to keep everyone in awe.
Thea thought. Whatever happened next, at least I had a base. A team. And Felicity. It wasn't much.
But it was a start.
To Be Continued...
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[POWER STONES AND REVIEWS PLS]