AN: This is an AU take off of what could have happened in episode 21. Just something I wrote up last season.
Oliver was only mildly surprised to hear his teammates enter the room. The sounds of their entry bounced off the empty walls of the basement bunker he had found for himself.
"How did you find me?" Oliver asked without moving away from the support beam he was sitting against, or looking up at his two closest friends.
"Waller told us," Digg answered. "Why didn't you ever tell us about this place?"
"It was only to be a fail safe in case the foundry was compromised. I came here occasionally when I needed to be alone," Oliver replied, in an unusually flat tone.
"Oliver, you have been gone for three days. We all have been worried about you! Why did you do that? How could you do that to us? To Thea?" Felicity asked.
Oliver gave a heavy sigh, then rose to his feet. He turned to look at them with the most heartbroken look upon his face Felicity had ever seen. "I tried to go to the funeral. I really did, but I….I found myself here. I just couldn't…I just could not go."
"Hey, man, it isn't your fault," Diggle said, awkwardly started towards him, and then withdrew his hand as Oliver pulled away from him.
"Thea thinks so, and she is right. How could it not be my fault?"
"Oliver, you did not ask to be shipwrecked, or marooned on that island for five years. You did not ask to have a deranged man become your enemy and come after you for a supposedly insane reason."
Oliver swung angrily around towards Digg, "But that's just it! Can't you see, it is my fault. If I had not been there, Shado would not have died."
"Ivo was a maniac who only used you as an excuse to kill Shado. I am surprised he did not kill you then as well. Of course he would not kill Sara. She was with him for a year helping him."
"I don't know how to beat him. He will not stop until everything and everyone I love is gone. I don't want….I can NOT lose either of you, or Thea or Laurel or Sara! Can't you see, none of you is safe! And with his army, this city is not safe."
Felicity became alarmed at the way Oliver was attempting to avoid her eyes. "Oliver, what are you thinking about doing?" She came to stand in front of him, placed her hands on his shoulders and attempted to look into his eyes.
Oliver shrugged out of her grasp and stepped away from the two people who understood him the best. He said quietly, "What I have to do, to stop this. I have to turn myself over to him."
"Man, that is not going to end this! Sure he wants to take revenge, but this has gone beyond the two of you." Digg walked up to Oliver and brought the younger man to look at him. "He has that army, he is planning on something beyond just revenge. He wants to ruin the city."
"Because of me!" Oliver put as much despair into that statement as he could.
"No, for another reason. He said he wants you completely broken, so turning yourself over to him will not end this. He will still do whatever he has planned in order to get his full revenge. You would only have a front-row seat for it, that's all."
A bone-crushing fatigue swept over Oliver as he realized he would never be able to convince these two friends of the necessity of this plan. However, he knew deep in his heart it was the only thing he could do to save everyone he loved. Even though they only deserved his honesty, Oliver knew for everyone's sake he would have to deceive his friends.
"Alright, then. Let's go back to the foundry and we will see what else we can plan. I will meet you there." Oliver stated, hoping both of them would believe him, but would be surprised. If the roles had been reversed, he would not trust them.
They walked out of the building in silence, and Oliver watched as Diggle and Felicity got into Digg's car and drove away. He then put his helmet on and got on the motorcycle. Surprised at their apparent trust, Oliver turned his cycle towards the waterfront.
As he made his way to the waterfront, Oliver placed the call to Isabelle. "Tell Slade I want to turn myself in. I will be at the waterfront in fifteen minutes."
Diggle, meanwhile, had turned the car around to follow Oliver's motorcycle at an undetectable distance.
"Do you really think he has not seen us?" Felicity asked.
"In the past year, he has educated me on the finer aspects of trailing, so I hope this will work."
They were able to follow Oliver to the waterfront, and observed him parking his cycle and approaching the water.
Before getting out of the car, Felicity stated, "He really is doing it, isn't he? I just cannot believe he would go ahead with such a stupid idea, and he would lie to us about it."
Diggle gave a small, pinched grin. "Why not? It is just like him, isn't it? Always having to be the guilt-riddled hero."
They got out of the car and followed Oliver at a discrete distance.
Because they were concentrating on not being seen, they failed to notice that they were also being followed. Felicity turned to Diggle, about to express her suspicions about being observed, when she felt a prick on her neck. She said a light "Oh," before falling over.
Diggle stopped and was about to express his concern when he also felt a prick, and pulled his hand away revealing a small dart. "Not again," he said, before also losing consciousness.
Oliver sat at the water's edge and watched the marine activity, unaware of the drama happening behind him. The sun bounced off the water in the familiar patterns he knew from his childhood. He purposely shut his acute senses down so he was not aware of the movement behind him until he felt the dart in his neck.
Waking up, Oliver fought the nausea resulting from the drug. He resolutely kept his eyes shut, not wanting to see what he knew was waiting for him. Out of habit, he checked for any sense of injury, and was relieved to discover none. His arms, however, were tied behind his back. He listened for any indication of someone else in the room, but heard none.
Slade watched from a corner of the room as Oliver attempted to avoid giving off any indication of being awake. Even though Oliver had made sure not to move, Slade being the experienced secret agent knew when Oliver had regained consciousness. He had caught the minute shifts in position indicating Oliver to be waking up. After a few minutes of no response from Oliver, Slade decided to end the facade.
"You are a fool, kid." The Australian accent still prevalent in his speech. Oliver opened his eyes, took in a deep breath, and slowly raised himself up to a sitting position. Oliver met Slade's eyes without blinking.
"Why is that?"
"Because I am not going to stop, even though you 'surrendered' yourself to me. The only thing you have accomplished is having a ringside seat for what else I have planned for you."
"Why? I concede."
"You are such a broken record, Oliver. Do you still not get how much I want you broken? You do not know the amount of brokenness possible within you. I will help you find out."
Turning towards the door, Slade nodded to men unseen. Oliver watched in horror as Felicity and Diggle were brought into the room by masked men, their arms bound behind them.
"I think they were attempting to stop you from turning yourself over to me, but instead I surprised them. Now, we shall see how broken you really can be."
With another nod of his head, Slade indicated to the space in front of him. The masked men pushed Diggle and Felicity in front of Slade and forced them onto their knees.
Oliver's eyes widened in horror. He could not believe Slade would make him endure this scenario once again. How could one man be so sadistic?
"Come on, Slade! How redundant can you be? We have already done this."
"Yes, and it never fails to amuse me. Especially in this case, where there is such loyalty involved," Slade stated, pointing towards Diggle. "And such innocence," pointing at Felicity. "It is such a shame they made the mistake in following you in your misguided mission. It is truly a waste."
Suddenly the room was draped in darkness, and sounds of fighting could be heard from the masked men. Slade attempted to get to the attackers, when he was thrown towards the back wall.
"You will not kill anyone else today!" Roy yelled at Slade.
Slade got up and headed towards Roy. Because he had taken Slade by surprise, Roy was able to get the upper hand, but only temporarily. Due to his longer history with the mirakuru, Slade was better able to fight than Roy. However, Roy did have knowledge of street fighting, so it became a better-matched fight.
Meanwhile, Nyssa and Sarah had untied Diggle and Felicity after having dispatched the masked men, who were now lying unconscious from the antidote-loaded arrows that were shot at them. Nyssa walked towards Roy and Slade, while Sara approached Oliver. Nyssa patiently waited for the right moment. She then shot another antidote-loaded arrow into Slade. After he had fallen, Nyssa threw some rope to Roy, who then tied Slade's wrists behind his back.
Oliver looked up with appreciation as Sara walked towards him. "Never been so glad to see you!" He turned so Sara could untie his wrists.
"Glad you are in one piece, even though how you could be so stupid is
beyond me," Sara said, shaking her head.
Oliver breathed a giant sigh, and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, guess it wasn't one of my brightest moves."
"I agree, and that's saying something, since I personally have either observed directly or have heard of your many escapades with Tommy over the years."
Oliver smiled a tight smile at Sara's attempt at humor. "Thanks, Sara, love you too."
The rest of their teammates gathered around them, including Roy and Nyssa, who half-carried, half-dragged Slade over to the group. "What shall we do with him?" Roy asked.
Diggle stated, "We will let Waller know. She stated she has the perfect place to hold him indefinitely."
After loading Slade into Diggle's car, Diggle and Roy got in and left for the meeting place with Lyla and Amanda. Oliver thanked Sara and Nyssa again, who left together. That left Felicity and Oliver.
"What will I do with you, you stubborn man?" Felicity said with a smile.
Oliver shrugged and gave a little smile. "Thanks again for putting up with me. Sorry I lied to you. I really thought it was the only thing I could do."
"Next time, check with me first." Felicity shuffled her feet, then looked up at him. "I think some time you should tell me a few of those stories Sara mentioned."
"Nah, they would only be good blackmail material for you." Oliver kicked a stone. "Hey, let's go grab something to eat. Wanna join me at Big Belly Burger?"
"Sounds good to me. Even though I may be getting a big belly from their burgers."
"You, never." Oliver offered her his arm and led them to Roy's bike.
AN: Wasn't sure how to end this. Wanted to post this to make me feel better for lack of reviews on my other story. Wanna make me feel better? Let me know if you enjoyed this one-shot. Thanks!