He was having a hard time staying calm. The commanding façade he usually wore was beginning to slip, as he turned his back on her and walked out of the mansion. He was betraying her, offering her up to Slade on a silver platter. He was leaving her to be executed. Sure this was the plan and it was the only way he knew how to save the city. And again he wasn't the one to save it. She was.

He was the obvious choice to go up against Slade. He was bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else. She was not. She was a fierce fighter, but not in the way that the rest of them were. She was the least qualified to fight and yet she was the only one who could. He told himself that he didn't let her in on his plan because he needed her reaction to his 'declarations' to be genuine for the sake of the cameras. But he knew that wasn't the case. He knew he didn't tell her because she would have willingly sacrificed herself for him, for Diggle, even Laurel. If he had asked it of her, she would have looked him right in the eye and smile and walk into the lion's den. She thought she was the least important member of the team. It wasn't based on any insecurity either. She was a genius and she had calculated long ago that tech support came in last place when measured against family, lifelong friends, and fighters. And normally that would be right. But when it came to her nothing was normal. He didn't tell her because he couldn't bear to see that look in her eyes. That look that said she knew they were more important than she was. If she had looked at him like that, he wouldn't have been able to do this.

When he had slipped the syringe into her hand, he saw the wheels in her head start turning. Her face didn't change, still masked in the surprise caused by his words only seconds before. The only thing her face betrayed was trust, and it killed him. He asked her if she understood. It was all he could say. He was no longer sure he even understood.

The steps to his bike took too long and not long enough.

"She is quite lovely. Your Felicity" The words crawled down his skin, leeching into every nerve, every muscle. He had been using the war on the streets to push what he had done to her to the back of his mind. It took all his strength to convince himself that this was just a game. A deadly game of chess, and it was coming to a close. Oliver had convinced Felicity she was the final pawn and had moved her into position. Slade thought she was a pawn too. Little did they know that Oliver had moved Felicity so far across the board that she was now the Queen.