Chapter Text
Felicity Kuttler danced her way over to the bar where she collapsed onto a stool, still swaying to the heavy beat that was blasting over the sound system of the crowded nightclub, her graduation gown sticking to her sweaty arms. She took a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage was in her hand and waved furiously at her boyfriend, Cooper Sheldon, who was attempting to dance his way over to her as they celebrated their graduation from MIT.
“I can’t believe we did it! We finally graduated!” Cooper told her as he collapsed into a chair beside Felicity, shouting to be heard above the din. Each had on their graduation robes as did most of the other people in the crowded club.
“Believe it,” She cheered as she held up her drink and knocked the rest of it back shaking her head against the taste of the alcohol. Even though she was only eighteen the alcohol was flowing as the club filled up with graduates who were celebrating by buying rounds for the whole club. Felicity stood up and had to hold onto Cooper’s arm when the world tilted and swooped. Blinking her eyes, she stood still for a moment waiting for the world to right itself. Checking her watch she saw that it was almost two in the morning. Still off balance she almost fell into Cooper as she leaned over to tell him, “Let’s get going. I think I’ve had a bit too much to drink,” She giggled, “And Dad said to be back by midnight.”
Cooper smiled and helped her to stand upright, they waved at their group of friends as they slowly made their way out of the club and stepped out into the cool crisp air of the early May morning. “Hang tight, I’m gonna call a taxi, we can’t have you too wasted as I’ve got big plans for tomorrow, well today.” He said as he grinned at her and gave her a quick kiss. Felicity clung Cooper to keep from tripping over her own feet as the world spun around them.
“Hold still,” She heard a strange voice say. The voice sounded far away, but she paused trying to figure out if it was talking to her however her brain was so muddled from what she had drank that evening that she was finding it hard to think. She startled when a black hood fell over her head and she felt a sharp prick in her arm.
“Huh?” Was all that she could get out as she tried to figure out what was happening. She was scared and so confused. The world felt like it was swaying, but she could feel someone was pulling on her arm. Losing her balance, she stumbled into someone and was quickly shoved off. ‘Cooper?” She called. Where was Cooper? She needed to find Cooper. She was safe with Cooper. The thoughts spun in her head as she tried to make sense out of what was happening.
“I thought that was supposed to knock her out?” A rough voice said from behind her.
“Give it a few more minutes to work. It’s not like the movies where it knocks them out instantly.” Another voice responded from her right. “Keep walking,” the voice commanded, as she was roughly shoved, which caused her to almost lose her balance.
“With the drugs in her drinks and the dose that you just gave her this chick is one tough broad. The boy went down fast.” The first voice said closer to her this time. “She must party hard.” The voice laughed and pushed her again.
“Not everybody abuses drugs, but if you had done your job right with the first dose then we wouldn’t have had to give either of them the second dose. Now grab her other arm, she’s about to pass out,” the second voice said mere seconds before Felicity became unconscious.
***ARROW***
18 HOURS BEFORE
Felicity slipped on her graduation gown admiring how it looked on her. The purple highlights in her dark hair popped against the black of the gown. She had worked very hard to graduate MIT at eighteen with a double Masters in Computer Sciences and Cyber Security, it was a degree that her father, Noah Kuttler, had picked out for her, but one that she had enjoyed working on nonetheless. She pulled out her phone to take a picture of her in her robe to send to Cooper. “C U @ Grad!” The text read.
“Oh, Honey you look so grown up!” Noah exclaimed as he walked into his daughter’s room knotting his tie. “I just wish that MIT had honors, so that way everybody would know just how smart my daughter is.”
“I’m graduating with two Masters at eighteen, Dad, I think people will know how smart I am.” Felicity replied dryly. Her relationship with her dad wasn’t the best. He was constantly pushing her to do better and was grooming her to take over the family’s business, Kuttler Corp, a technology company that Noah had built from the ground up. But it took away most of his time from his only child, leaving her care in care of housekeepers and nannies as she grew up. Felicity was a little frustrated with his assumptions, never once had he stopped to ask if she wanted to take over the family business.
Still staring at her image in the mirror and ignoring her father Felicity hesitantly asked, “Do you think Mom might be there? I found her address and asked your secretary to send an invitation to her.” She cautiously looked in the mirror at her father’s face. It had gone flat at the mention of her mother and she could see that his jaw was clenched.
“That woman is no longer part of your life; you do not need to be contacting her.” Noah said harshly. When Felicity was seven she had woken up one morning and discovered that her mother was gone and her father was packing up all of their belongings, telling her that they were moving to Coast City and that her mother wouldn’t be coming with them. Every time Felicity had asked about her mother she was told that she just didn’t want to be in her daughter’s life anymore because she wasn’t cut out to be a mother or that she had simply moved on. When Felicity wouldn’t stop asking questions Noah had taken to sending her off to different leadership camps and science seminars for children, so she had eventually stopped asking.
Noah sighed and turned Felicity away from the mirror to face him, “I do wish that you wouldn’t wear this heavy dark make up. It hides your natural beauty, not to mention all of those piercings. Sweetheart you’re not a pincushion. Couldn’t you take them out for the biggest day of your life?”
With a roll of her eyes Felicity turned back to the mirror, “I thought that the day I take over as CEO of Kuttler Corp was supposed to be the biggest day of my life?” She muttered glaring at her father in the mirror.
Noah beamed with pride, “That will be the second biggest day, we’ve worked very hard to get you here.”
Felicity resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her father’s comments yet again, SHE was the one that had worked very hard to get there, with only financial support from Noah. What he didn’t know was that after graduation she, Cooper and a few other friends were planning on going to Europe for the adventure of a lifetime! And when they did return she had no intention to take over as CEO. She wanted to forge her own path, at least she hoped that she would have the guts to go through with her plan.
***ARROW***
Present Day
Awareness slowly came back to Felicity. Her mouth felt cottony, and her head was pounding. She tried swallowing to alleviate some of the parchedness, but her mouth was as dry as the Sahara. Unwillingly she gave a soft moan as she tried to lift her head upright. Her neck was stiff and sore, most likely from being in one position for so long. Keeping her eyes shut she tried to remember what had happened the night before. Had she partied so hard that she passed out? That would be a first for her as she normally avoided drugs and alcohol, but there was that one time with a pot brownie. That had been horrible because of the allergic reaction that she had experienced. What a way to find out that you’re allergic to pecans and walnuts when you’re try to get high for the first time. Her thoughts kept wandering until she heard a harsh whisper that came from directly across from her and brought her back to the present.
“Felicity?”
“Cooper?” She managed to whisper as she moaned again. Her head and neck really did ache. She slowly peeled her eyes open and squinted in the dim lighting, trying to make out what was around them. She saw Cooper sitting right in front of her several feet away. The more she looked at him the more puzzled and confused she became. He was sitting with his arms and legs tied to a chair wearing the same clothes that he’d had on at the club, but he was missing his graduation gown.
Felicity tried to sit up into a more comfortable position, but her movement was halted. Looking down she saw that she was tied up like Cooper was. She still had on her black dress that she had went to the party in, but her graduation gown was also missing. As the realizations came to her, she started to panic.
“Felicity. Hey Felicity, look at me.” Cooper ordered gently, trying to get her attention back on him and prevent her from panicking even further.. Her breath started sawing through her nose and she could feel her heartbeat rising, the walls were closing in! “Felicity!” Cooper snapped, drawing her focus back to him. Once he had her attention he said, “Breathe with me. In for three. One, two, three. Out for three, One, two, three. In for three. One, two, three. Out for three. One, two, three.” They did this for a few more times before the panic that Felicity was feeling started to recede and she began to calm down. “Are you doing better now?” Cooper asked in concern. She had experienced a couple of panic attacks before, and both times Cooper had been able to help bring her out of them and calm her down. The first time that it occurred was when she had gotten a C on a very important exam and had started hyperventilating knowing just how mad her dad was going to get when he saw her grade. Cooper had helped her with breathing exercises until she had calmed down and started breathing normally again. When she had asked him how he knew what to do Cooper had explained that one of his older brothers was prone to panic attacks due to an anxiety disorder, so he had grown up knowing how to handle situations like that.
“Yes,” Felicity said hesitatingly. “What’s going on? Why are we tied to these chairs? What’s the last thing you remember? I remember leaving with my dad from graduation then going to a party with you and then nothing. Do you think that this a prank that someone is playing on us? Please tell me it’s a prank that one of the other departments thought up in their deranged heads!” Her freshman year a player on the lacrosse team had stalked her for a few weeks until she had hacked into his student account and let him know that if she saw him again she would change his grades and get him kicked out of school.
Just as Felicity started rambling a door that she hadn’t noticed opened suddenly and three large men strode in, wearing masks of Presidents Washington, Obama, and Nixon in order to conceal their features. “I’m afraid that this isn’t a prank Ms. Kuttler. You see, your father has something that we want,” the man in the Obama mask said. He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “And you and your little beau are going to stay here in these lovely accommodations until your father gives us what we want.” Obama then motioned to the thug wearing the George Washington mask, “George here will take a video of the two of you, and then we’re going to send it to dear ole Dad. Once he gives us what we want then you’ll both be on your way. It’s that easy.”
“And what if Dad doesn’t give it to you?” Felicity asked, her voice unsteady and scared.
“Well if our demands aren’t met by a certain time then I’m afraid we’ll simply have to take it out on you until such time that he decides to give in.” The man wearing the Nixon mask growled menacingly.
The man wearing the Obama mask took back over, “But that won’t happen, so you won’t have to worry about it. George, grab some footage so we can get these good people on their way.” Washington quickly did as he was told, taping the both of them then the group left, leaving Felicity and Cooper bound to their chairs.
“Do you really think that they’ll let us go?” Cooper asked.
“Well, their faces are covered, which is a good sign. That being said, I highly doubt that my Dad will give them whatever it is that they want. One of his favorite quotes is ‘America doesn’t negotiate with terrorists and neither do I’.” Felicity said imitating the man. She sighed, a tear slipping down her cheek, “He loves to tell everyone about the time that some idiot tried to blackmail him and Dad turned the tables on the guy and blackmailed the blackmailer instead. So, I highly doubt that he will give them whatever it is that they want.”
“It’ll be okay Lis, you know he loves you.” Cooper said.
Normally she hated being called nicknames, but when Cooper called her Lis it always made her smile. Cooper had told her that it was his special name for his special girl. Smiling at him and sighing she sniffled. “I hope you’re right.”
“Aren’t I always, right?” Cooper asked as he smiled at her, trying to get her spirits up.
“You are right sometimes.” She said as she rolled her eyes at him, and then with a twinkle in her eye she answered, “But then, you know, a broken clock is also right twice a day.”
“Alright Professor Thompson.” Cooper said as he rolled his eyes back at her. That was one of their favorite professor’s favorite sayings. Their study group had even joked about getting shirts made with the saying on them so that they could wear them to class.
They lapsed into silence for a bit, before Cooper cleared his throat. “I know that this is totally not the right time or place to say this, but I need to get it off of my chest, you know, just in case.” Felicity looked at him in confusion and Cooper continued. “I swear to you that I had a plan. A really good plan. One that you would have liked. One that you will like I guess.” His voice petered out and he looked unsure for the first time since she had woken up.
“I thought I was the one who talked in sentence fragments Mr. Always Right,” Felicity teased.
Taking a deep breath Cooper said, “Today, at least I think it’s today, I was going to propose.” Felicity froze, her eyes big and her mouth falling slightly open. Taking in her shocked expression Cooper smiled. “I had a whole picnic thing planned at the Urban Park Roof Garden, and I was going to ask you to marry me.” He took a deep breath, “I’ve been saving for a while, and after the picnic I had made an appointment for us to go to the jewelers to look at rings to see which one struck your fancy.”
“I would have said yes.” Felicity said, as she couldn’t help but to smile.
“Really?” Cooper exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.
“Really,” Felicity said nodding a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. “I thought you might have been working up to a proposal with all the talk about rings and the way that my computer kept popping up with engagement ring ads.”
“I wish I could kiss you right now.” Cooper said smiling, “Once this is over we’ll get to kiss. And oh, what a story this will be for our kids one day.”
“Kids?”
“Of course, at least twenty! Or maybe just seven, you know, just enough for a quidditch team.”
“You and Harry Potter,” She smiled and rolled her eyes.
“You and Doctor Who.” He replied fondly.
The door opened and the same three masked men strode in again. “Sorry to interrupt the lovefest,” Obama said snidely.
“Did he give it to you? Are you freeing us?” Cooper asked looking hopeful.
Felicity could tell by the men’s postures that that wasn’t was about to happen.
“Sorry buddy, but Kuttler is being a little reluctant to pay up.” Nixon said with a shake of his head.
“And I can promise you that he won’t, he’ll refuse no matter what you threaten to do to us.” Felicity insisted. “Just let us go. Let me talk to my Dad, this isn’t the way to get what you want. I’ve been living with the guy my entire life and if you really want whatever it is that you want, your best chance is to let me go and I will try to convince him to give it to you.”
“Sorry sweet cheeks, no can do. This is the way that the boss wants it. Now, we’re going to have to rough you up a bit. I hope you know that this isn’t personal at all kid.” Washington said as he turned his attention back to Cooper. Not waiting for a reply he slugged Cooper across the cheek with his meaty fist.
“Dude!” Obama said, “I’m not set up so I haven’t got the recording going, so gimme a minute!” He fumbled with his phone, the mask limiting his vision. Once he had it set up and pointed at Cooper, “Go.”
Washington hit Cooper again, this time near his forehead, splitting open his eyebrow, and causing blood to pour down his face.
“Stop!” Felicity pleaded as tears poured down her face and Cooper grunted with each strike of the goon’s fist. “This is crazy, just stop! This won’t get my dad to do what you want! Please stop, please stop, please stop!” She begged and pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
With one more blow to Cooper’s ribs, Washington turned to the camera, “You have two hours to give us what we want or this will happen to your daughter.”
Obama put the phone down, “Sorry to have to put you guys through that. Hopefully the next time we see you, it will be to let you go.” With that the three men walked back out of the room.
“Cooper!” Felicity cried pulling at her bindings to try to get to her fiancé. “Cooper!”
“I’m ok,” He lisped around a split lip. He had a cut across his eyebrow, a cut on his lip, one of his eyes was turning red and starting to swell as was his cheekbone. He leaned back in the chair favoring his left side letting Felicity know that some of his ribs were probably broken. “I swear to you that I’m okay, I know how to take a punch.” He leaned over and spit the blood from his lip onto the floor grimacing as the action pulled on the injured lip.
“Just because you had older brothers doesn’t mean that you know how to take a punch.” She said as she slumped back in her seat and sighed.
“Don’t forget that I took MMA in high school with said brothers, Lis.” His tone softened, “I promise you that I’m okay. Yes, my face and ribs hurt, but they will feel better within the week.”
She sighed, and looked into Cooper’s eyes, “I’m worried that Dad won’t give them whatever it is that they want. You know what he’s like.”
“Felicity, the man loves you, even though he doesn’t’t always show it in the greatest ways. I know that he’ll do whatever he needs to do in order to get you back. If it was me I would hack into the NSA for you if need be.” Smiling lopsidedly, he said, “Now me on the other hand, he isn’t my biggest fan so…” He let the sentence hang.
Silence fell between them for a bit before Felicity said softly, “I don’t know if he loves me or not. I think that I might just be a prize for his trophy case” Mockingly she said, “‘Look at how smart my daughter is, she just graduated from MIT with two masters, and she’s only 18. See how much she takes after me’. But he doesn’t ever do anything I want, presents are perfunctory and bought by the housekeeper or his secretary if he even remembered that I was having a birthday. Half the time he forgets that I’m even Jewish and ends up giving me Christmas presents instead.”
“How can he forget that you’re Jewish, isn’t he Jewish too?” Cooper asked as he frowned causing the cut on his eye to dribble blood.
“Judaism is a matrilineal religion, so it is passed down through the women, so because my mother is Jewish, so am I. And after she left us even though I don’t go to temple services, I continued to celebrate any of the big Jewish holidays that I could.” Felicity shrugged and sighed. “Dad would often leave me by myself with only the housekeeper for long periods of time. And I know that that’s every teenagers dream, but coming in second place to a company sucks.” Saying it out loud she came to a realization. Looking Cooper in the eye, dread filling her voice. “They want something from the company, and I’m in second place. We’re not getting out of here.”