So, this started off as a conversation with Phillippe363 on Oliver and Slade's relationship and this is just how it turned out. I will warn you right now that this is not for fans of NTA o Diggle. Don't say I didn't warn you by bitching at me in the comments.
Since leaving Star City and parting ways with Oliver, Slade had been keeping tabs on the kid. It was the least he could do, looking out for him from afar. And he was not pleased with what his Intel was telling him.
Oh no, he wasn't talking about the bogus FBI trial (Seriously, why does the kid not use his connections to debunk that?). No, he's talking about the treachery and hypocrisy of Oliver's so called Team Arrow.
Now, for ten years, Slade had lived by two rules: One, Everyone is in this life for themselves. And two, no one but him got to hurt the kid that way. No one.
And no one did revenge better than Slade Wilson.
Star City
Night
Slade decided the first target of his vengeance would be the tech hack, Mr. Fantastic or some other ridiculous name. What an ego this man had. So Slade waited in the dark, sitting in the chair as he waited. After two hours, Slade finally got his chance. Curtis walked into his apartment, flipping on the lights. Slade smirked, taking vindictive pleasure in the way the younger man's eyes widened in fear.
"Mr. Holt." Slade greeted coolly.
"H-How'd you get in here?" Curtis demanded and Slade's smirk widened to the point it became a psychotic grin.
"Your security is terrible." Slade told him simply.
"What do you want?" Curtis said, looking towards the door, wondering how fast he could get there.
"I hear lots of things coming out of this city. Some I ignore, like the kid getting pulled into this faux of a trial. Others, such as your treachery towards him, I cannot. Oh, and don't bother reaching for your phone," Slade said and Curtis froze, his hand having been slowly inching towards is pocket, "There are six ways I can kill you where you stand before you even get to it."
"Look, Oliver betrayed us first-" Curtis tried to explain.
"Don't give me any of that shit," Slade said bluntly and Curtis could see the rage in his eyes, "only a fool trusts blindly and Oliver is many things, but he is not a fool. He suspected one of you to be betraying him. And one of you was."
"Rene's been punished enough for that. He-"
"The way I see it, he has not been punished enough!" Slade snarled and Curtis wisely kept silent. "But don't worry; he's next on my list. You act as though you are better than the kid, but you're not. Oliver may not be perfect, but at least he always protects his friends. He never betrayed his friends. You attacked and betrayed your friends, the kid. And now…you will pay."
Slade whirled around, pulling out a blade and cut off Curtis's hands. Curtis cried out in pain, falling to his knees as Slade stood over him, rage shining in his eye.
"You are engineer, yes? Well, an engineer can't workout hands."
Slade suddenly grabbed out, wrapping his hand around Curtis' neck. Curtis gasped for breath as Slade lifted him off the ground.
"That big brain of yours isn't so much help now, is it?" Slade hissed as Curtis continued to gasp for breath. "When you betray someone, you should always be careful for the day of reckoning that will come for you."
Slade tightened his grip and a loud crack echoed throughout the room. Slade dropped the body to the floor before moving off, his next target in mind.
Zoe was staying over at a friend's, so Rene was taking the night off. Then he heard footsteps in his supposed to be empty aside from him apartment. Rene stood up, reaching for his weapons on the bag next to him before a kick sent him flying into the wall.
"Pathetic, you didn't even see me coming," Slade scolded as Rene stood up, "the kid made a grave mistake in recruiting you. Not just for your skills, for your treachery."
"He betrayed us-"
"Mr. Fantastic or whatever tried that already, didn't work out," Slade growled and Rene paled at the implications, "Besides, you betrayed him first, as I recall it."
"They threatened to take my daughter away from me!" Rene snarled.
"Who Oliver helped get you a hearing for in the first place. And now, you are willing to rip him from his son. He gave you what mattered most to you and you turn around and betrayed him, to help rip away what matters most to him. You are not a hero. You are a coward, a liar, a betrayer. If she knew the truth about the kind of man you really are, your daughter would be ashamed of you."
Enraged, Rene forgot just who this man was for a moment. For a moment, he forgot just who Slade was and what he was capable of. For a moment, Slade was just a some punk who had told him he wasn't worthy of his daughter.
With a roar of rage, Rene rushed at Slade. But Slade easily side stepped him, grabbed him and turned him. Feeling a sharp pain shooting through his body, Rene looked down to see a knife sticking out of his gut. In exactly the same spot that he had been wounded in the bridge all those months ago.
"Wild Dog they call you. It fits, as you are nothing more than a wild animal, looking out for yourself." Slade said as he yanked the knife out of him.
Rene let out a strangled gasp of pain as his body went limp. He would have crumpled to his knees if Slade hadn't caught him.
"Your daughter will be taken care. After all, a good father in your line of work would have made arrangements for the event of his death," Slade said, noting the flash of guilt in Rene's eyes, "don't worry though. Dinah Drake and John Diggle will be joining you soon."
Once Rene had passed, Slade made his way to Dinah's loft. He laid in wait, hidden by the darkness of her loft apartment. Honestly, the lack of security these three had meant they were either incredibly stupid or incredibly arrogant. After she came home, she was pouring herself a drink as Slade silently stalked towards her. She would not have even known he was there if she hadn't turned around and dropped her glass in shock, red wine spilling all over her floor.
"Ms. Drake." Slade said with a savage grin on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Dinah demanded hotly and Slade laughed.
"Why, I'm here to kill you." Slade said as he pulled out a knife.
Slade made a strike at her but she jumped out of the way, rolling onto the floor and rolling away. She jumped up and tried to use her cry, but to her surprise, nothing happened.
"I had a while to set up the sonic dampeners in the apartment." Slade smirked as she growled.
"You've just been waiting for this, haven't you? You're still the same monster who tried to burn this city." She sneered.
"On the contrary, I have changed a great bit. The only reason I am here is because I don't like it when people betray my friends." Slade said and Dinah glowered at him.
"Oliver I betrayed us first." She sneered and he smirked.
"As I recall it, was it not you who let a mass murderer walk free and met up with him long before he put you under surveillance." Slade said and Dinah shook with rage.
"You killed people, far more than Vince. You don't get to talk about him!" Dinah snarled as she rushed him.
But Slade, even in highly emotional states, had been trained to use precision to execute his moves. Dinah had not. So Slade was easily able to side step her and restrain her, slamming her against the wall with his knife on her throat. Dinah stilled, knowing he had her exactly where he wanted her.
"I was under the influence of the Mirakuru. Your beloved Vincent has no such excuse," Slade said coolly and Dinah growled, "He is a mass murderer. He tried to kill Oliver and his entire team, not to mention Quentin Lance and Thea. You tried to kill a woman who had money this city needed out of revenge and you did not care. You would've let this city burn in the name of a mass murderer.
"You know, the kid and Sara told me about the woman who held your mast before you," Slade said after a moment, thinking back to the talks he and Oliver had late at night about the city, "And I even met her once, under less than desirable circumstances. She lived up to the legend of Laurel Lance; she was brave, compassionate, kind. I had Felicity captive and she told me to let her go, that I had her, so I had no need to keep Felicity as well. You are a disgrace to her mantle, you dishonor her legacy. And so it is not just for the kid I do this, but for her as well."
Slade drew the blade across her neck and Dinah gagged as she felt blood dripping down her neck. Slade dropped her to the floor before walking off as she took her final breath. He had one more name to cross off his list.
Diggle was a little trickier, as he had a wife and son. But while Lyla was at work at Argus, Diggle was making his way back home, about to relieve the sitter watching JJ. However, someone grabbed him and threw him against the wall. Diggle, back against the wall, suddenly stilled as he had a sword at his chest.
"Mr. Diggle." Slade greeted and Diggle sneered.
"You really haven't changed at all? It was all an act to let our guard down, wasn't it?" Diggle said and Slade smirked.
"You give me too much credit. The Mirakuru wore off long ago. But you…you promised to stand by him, to be his brother in arms. You broke that promise." Slade sneered and Diggle immediately knew who Slade was talking about.
"I have tried for years with Oliver, but again and again, he refuses to listen to me. And again and again, he makes the wrong call!" Diggle snarled.
"You would be dead ten times over, as would everyone in this city, without his leadership," Slade snarled shoving Diggle back into the wall, "you, who would save a mass murderer over millions of lives, have no place in this life. No military or covert intelligence group would ever take you with that mindset. With that mindset, you are a danger to this city and everyone in it."
Slade suddenly shoved the sword into Diggle's chest before Diggle could react. Diggle gasped in pain as Slade then yanked the sword out of his chest. Diggle fell to the ground, blood seeping out of him and forming into a pool as Slade walked away, leaving Diggle to die in his own blood.
Slade had covered his tracks well, leaving no evidence of his presence in Star City, so the deaths of Oliver's former teammates would be blamed on Diaz. Which would send Oliver on a dark path, back to his roots as The Hood. His methods would eventually cause a strain and divide in his marriage that would see him part ways with Felicity. Thea, Roy, and Nyssa would briefly return to help Oliver deal with Diaz, as would Black siren as she came over to Oliver's side. And in the years to come, Oliver would remain solo except for the occasional assist from Team Flash and Legends. It was better that way, as every time he gathered a team, they abandoned him. He was better off alone.
Honestly, the only episodes of this season I've seen have been 6x03, 6x05, 6x06, 6x08, 6x13, 6x15, and 6x16 and I honestly have disliked all but the Deathstroke episodes and even then, it's only the Oliver/Slade parts I enjoyed. And frankly, this season just seems like an Oliver hate fest, but from what I've seen and what I've heard, I am far from impressed by the behavior of NTA and Diggle.
Now, a lot of this is pieced together from recaps and what other people have told me, so please correct me if I'm wrong on what I'm about to say.
Now, Rene was coerced into testifying against Oliver by threat of losing his daughter. I have some sympathy for Rene here, but he could've gone to Team Arrow for help. Because, while I'm not a lawyer, I'm pretty sure that is extortion and blackmail. Using the team's connection to Argus, they possibly could've gotten Watson kicked off the case, maybe even had the case dismissed since it was clear Watson had it out for Oliver. But the fact that he doesn't shows Rene's true character: He wants what he wants, everyone else be damned.
Now, Rene, Curtis, and Dinah get mad that Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle had them under surveillance, but they had legitimate reasons for doing that, as Rene was working against Oliver and Dinah let Vince go and was meeting up with him. And yet they act like the victims when they betrayed Oliver first.
In addition to Dinah's already mentioned actions, she also was willing to go after Black Siren with the intent to kill over Vince. She calls Black Siren a murderer and that's why she's doing this, but Vince was a murderer to, who was working with Diaz and Cayden James. He seemed to have a lot of chances to take them down but didn't. She almost killed Black Siren, Star City be damned, before Curtis pulled her back, and then acts like the victim again with Team Arrow when she started this whole thing by going after Black Siren in pursuit of revenge.
That leaves us with Diggle. Diggle was once one of my favorite characters pre-season four. However, this season, what I have seen and what I am hearing has made me despise him. He gets injured and keeps this a secret, despite the fact that it puts the team at risk. Then, he gets black market drugs to deal with it and, even after he finds out the truth, he keeps quiet about it, funding Diaz. Being Green Arrow seems to has given Diggle an ego the size of Lian Yu. How he thinks he is a better leader than Oliver is beyond me. He would have gone to save one man rather than stop a bomb that would have killed millions. If he honestly believes that is the right call, he has no place in this life in any capacity.
The writers have a habit of making Oliver out to be the show's greatest villain. They did it in season five by making Prometheus out to be the tragic hero of season five and now they are doing it with Team arrow turning against Oliver. If I had any reservations of quitting the show before season six, now I don't.