Thea hurried to clarify. "Not what you think—it's like this…" and she babbled out an explanation.
Felicity cocked her head and stared at her, as if she hadn't quite heard, then said slowly, "You have designs on me…"
Wow—when did this girl get so perceptive? Wasn't she usually scatterbrained? Thea's surprised expression betrayed her, and Felicity noticed.
"Heh, I knew it. Little Thea, you're not being honest." She grabbed her laptop and began tapping away. "Oh my—our state laws actually allow this kind of marriage. Have you planned this in advance?"
Thea stared dumbfounded as Felicity searched through all sorts of strange references, muttering occasionally, "You're still a bit young—sixteen's the minimum. Maybe I can help change your ID? This firewall's awful…"
"I never thought about that. It sounds more exciting than men—am I… into this?" Felicity mumbled on.
"Oh—this kind of marriage can't happen in a church, but I'm Jewish so whatever…" Her voice trailed off and her face flushed. How on earth had this misunderstanding arisen? Thea had only wanted to recruit her for help—how had it become that? And what did a church have to do with anything?
Despite repeated explanations, Felicity remained skeptical—stubbornly convinced that explanations were coverups—and coyly said she might consider "developing" the relationship.
To be honest, Felicity could seem unreliable at times, but she was an attractive woman. Her stammering came from a mind that raced too fast for her lips to keep up. In the original timeline she'd enchanted both Green Arrow and Atom; she was genuinely formidable, and Thea enjoyed her company. But Thea only wanted her help—she was desperately recruiting talent, not pursuing romance.
Thea still stood at the desk, and through her collar she noticed a little of Felicity's neck—soft-looking. Where did her thoughts wander to? Snap out of it—their conversation had been dragged into a ditch by this shameless woman!
She hurried to cut off the nonsense. In the time it took, Felicity had already started searching where to go on holiday without breaking local laws.
"Stop. Please. I only want you to help me. Those other things can wait, OK?" Thea admitted she'd briefly considered using charm to pull the IT prodigy onto her team. No matter whether it was an iron suit or other tech weapons, none of it could work without software. Since the misunderstanding had already happened… let it be. She had nothing to lose. If Green Arrow's future team lacked computing support, that wouldn't be her problem.
If guilt ate at her later, Thea remembered a meta-human in Central City who could control bees and had decent hacking skills—second only to Felicity. She could recommend him to Oliver. Felicity's father and ex were also masters in their own right. The whole Smoak family were a set of three prodigies—aside from Felicity's looks, she could hand the rest over to Team Arrow without regret. The fact that some of them had questionable morals was not a concern for Thea.
Felicity folded her arms and stared. "You really do have designs… spill it—what is it?"
Thea nearly fainted. She'd already explained twice; the girl hadn't heard a word, lost in her fantasies. So Thea repeated the plan to set up the Software Department and even showed Felicity Moira's directive for proof.
Felicity pointed at herself with incredulous fingers. "Me? What can I do?" She'd only recently left her life as a hacker; sometimes she still broke into systems out of habit, but she hadn't settled on a future path yet and was unsure of her own purpose.
Originally Thea planned to go it alone, but then realized the problems were too numerous; one person couldn't handle all the threads. The first helper she thought of was Felicity—the woman's morals were unquestionable. The timing might be early, but it was still good: Thea could present her plan, and trust and friendship would be mutual.
She hooked her phone to Felicity's laptop and explained the project in detail. From her conversations with Dr. Hoffman she'd learned the uses of most items in the weapons division. She picked a few pieces that were technically sophisticated but not socially dangerous, and with a bit of wild imagination combined them into the device appearing now on Felicity's screen—the original Marvel Green Goblin glider, repainted red and renamed the Red Arrow Skateboard.
Thea had originally been known as both "Red Arrow" and "Quickhand." "Quickhand" sounded like a petty thief's nickname—unappealing—so she planned to keep Red Arrow. Naming was hard for her, but this one stuck.
She proposed modifying an emergency transport unit as the base. That device already did 400 km/h, carried about a ton, could hover and fly—perfect. Remove the remote-control unit and replace it with brainwave control.
For that, they needed the shark-positioning helmet Dr. Hoffman had shown them earlier. Keep its locating ability, but reverse-memory Thea's bioelectric signature so it could respond to her brainwaves. Felicity would need to write lots of code to interpret and map the commands.
Finally, they'd need a load-bearing suit—the one that had caused Director Andre trouble in the past—to absorb the internal pressure of traveling at 400 km/h. Thea had calculated it: the suit could handle the stress.
Combine those parts and you'd have a simple prototype of the Red Arrow Skateboard. As for a weapons system—ha. Those items could be borrowed with excuses, but missiles were too singular in purpose; apart from killing and arson, Thea couldn't justify needing them. She was only fifteen—she didn't even have a firearm permit. How could she tell Moira she needed two missiles for "comparison" with a tea egg?
Even this modest setup had cost Thea enormous effort. She admired Tony Stark's ability to hammer a Mark I out of scrap in a cave—but such genius felt like a cheat of fate to her. Even geniuses had limits.
Felicity studied the schematics closely; her big eyes lit up. "Cool! This invention is perfect! You're brilliant. Let's start now!"
Her personality suggested she'd one day become friends with the likes of Cisco Ramon—a goofy, tech-loving guy who loved weapons as much as makeup. As the old saying went, she loved dressing up but loved armament more.
The plan was detailed, but they couldn't just act recklessly. Trusting Felicity didn't mean everyone else was trustworthy.
The two drove to the Queen–Merlyn Steel & Welding Plant. It had been abandoned; Thea intended to make it her domain. The ground still held many pieces of equipment—processing machines and welders strewn about.