Summary: Slade holds Oliver Queen prisoner on the Amazo following the escape from the island. An extension of scenes from the Arrow season 2 episode "The Promise"
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Oliver ran after the rest of the prisoners as they made their way to the edge of the Amazo. Sara and the others were able to leap off the edge and start swimming for shore, but as Oliver attempted to follow, something grabbed him by the ankle. Oliver found himself first slamming into the side of the boat then flying through the air back onto the deck.
Landing onto the deck with a loud crack, Oliver looked up and found himself looking into the face of his once-brother, now-enemy Slade, as Slade let go of his ankle. "Slade, wait," Oliver began as Slade's fist pulled back in preparation for a punch. The world got dark.
Consciousness slowly returned as Oliver slowly became aware of the dank floor under his nose, the dampness that again leaked into his bones from the ship floor, and the pain of a possible concussion and bruised ribs from his last two encounters with Slade. He knew he should rise and assess the situation, to see whether Slade was currently in the hold of the ship, dangerously watching him, but fatigue won the battle. Time passed without awareness, when he suddenly heard from far-away the door of his cell opening and Slade stating, "I need you to see something." Oliver was then brought to his feet by another's arms and dragged to the middle of the hold. He was then thrown to the floor.
Oliver raised himself to a half-lying, half-sitting position and realized that there was another scenario playing out in front of him. Ivo was standing in front of Slade, with the sailors standing around them in a semi-circle.
Oliver then heard Ivo plead, "You need me, ok? You have the mirakuru in you. I can help you understand it."
"Not just in me." Slade looked at Oliver, crouched on the floor, and took something out of his inner pocket of his jacket. He then held up a packet of mirakuru and gave Oliver a small satisfied smile. "You burned a box full of dirt," referring to Oliver and Sara's actions of setting the wooden box on fire that they had mistakenly believed still held the rest of the mirakuru. All three of them had supposedly agreed with this action was the best option to prevent Ivo from getting ahold of the mirakuru.
Oliver looked at Slade in puzzlement. Why had Slade misled Sara and him in believing that they had indeed destroyed the mirakuru? That he was in agreement with the plan when he clearly was not? Perhaps Slade had already turned to the evil impulses inside him before finding out about Shado. Was the mirakuru responsible for such inhumanity? Something to think about later, because Slade continued the present drama.
Slade said to Ivo "It was you who killed Shado."
"No, it was him," Ivo said, pointing at Oliver sitting on the ship's floor. "I was angry, just like you, and I asked him to make a choice."
"Give him your gun," Slade commanded one of his men. "Take it and show me
how you killed Shado," he said to Ivo. When Ivo hesitated, Slade leaned into Ivo's space and shouted, "Show me!"
Oliver struggled to his feet and faced Slade. "Slade, this isn't you. It's the mirakuru. You are sick!"
"I don't care." was the wooden reply as Slade looked at Oliver and then back at Ivo.
"I was trying to protect Sara. I didn't want Shado to die. You know I cared about her. You know I did." Slade turned around and looked at Oliver again with empty eyes.
"I don't care."
"Slade, you said we were brothers." Slade did not answer that plea. He did not look at Oliver. He walked over to Ivo. "Is that how you pointed the gun at her?"
Ivo nodded. Oliver closed his eyes, steeling up courage, for he totally expected to hear Slade's command for Ivo to shoot him. He opened his eyes to see Slade whirling around, sword in hand, slicing Ivo's hand off. Ivo's cries of pain filled the ship's hold. Oliver jumped back in alarm and shock.
"Get him out of here!" Slade commanded his men, who then dragged Ivo, bleeding and screaming, off to one of the cells.
Slade then returned his attention to Oliver. "Why don't you just kill me?" Oliver asked in a surprisingly calm voice. Oliver thought of how resigned Shado was in accepting her death, and he wanted to make her proud in following her example. He just did not know how he would survive this. He could not beat Slade in a fight, not with the mirakuru in him. After all the fighting, and the near-misses he has had over the past two years, Oliver suddenly accepted whatever fate would have for him.
"To kill you would be a mercy. You cannot die. Until you have suffered the same way I have suffered, until you have known complete despair. You will, I promise." He then reached for Oliver, grabbed him by the back of the neck and led him to one of the cells. After throwing him into the cell, Slade stated, "I will deal with you later. I have to check on the rest of my men."
Slade then made him wait three days before he returned to see him. He was accompanied by two of the men, who dragged Oliver out of the cell and brought him over to two posts. Oliver observed there were two lengths of chain that came from the pipes overhead, with manacles at the ends. The men placed manacles around Oliver's wrists, then the chains were pulled until Oliver's arms were raised above his head and found himself partially suspended between the two posts.
Oliver sighed in resignation. "Here we go again," he thought to himself. He thought of his torture that Billy Wintergreen, Slade's associate, friend-in-arms, and fellow soldier had given him a year ago. He could only assume that Slade was just as accomplished in the ways of torture.
"I suppose you have been wondering what I have been doing these past three days." Slade gave Oliver a smile that made Oliver shiver down to his toes. "I have been contemplating exactly the most perfect way to get every ounce of enjoyment out of your pain that I can."
Oliver thought it was pointless, but he was still compelled to plead his case. "Slade, why do you think you should do this? I really did not have anything to do with Ivo killing Shado. I think he meant to kill her all along. He has only tricked us into thinking that I could have prevented it somehow."
"Really? Well, you brought that whore on the boat with you, so ultimately, it is your fault," Slade said with as much disgust in his voice as he could.
"No matter what, Ivo was the one who shot Shado. She would not want us to hate each other, she would want us to work together to get off this island. You…. you need me to help you get off the island." Oliver said, in a weak attempt to convince the mad man in front of him.
"I don't care. You did not save Shado, and you let her die. She is not here to feel one way or another. And I am going to take my pound of flesh in order to make you feel my pain."
An hour later, after Slade had reopened old scars, and had given him some new ones, he left Oliver barely conscious hanging from the chains. Other times, the torture that he had suffered on the island over the past year had the purpose of attempting to extract information. This time, there was no purpose, no ending, nothing for Oliver to fight against.
Oliver had no idea how long he hung there or when they brought him back to the cells. All he knew, as he laid bleeding and in pain in the cell, was thinking that he could not last much longer, and wondered what Slade had planned next for him.