All he saw was red. Charging past the trees and into the group like a creature beyond thought or mercy. Slade tore through anything his hands could reach, tossing men like rag dolls in his wake. He felt something hit him in the chest, but it didn't even pinch as he grabbed a gun barrel and bent it. His back-handed punch left an audible wet crunch from the broken neck it delivered.
Another hand grabbed at him, a voice calling his name. He whirled around to lay another fatal blow, but what he saw made him hesitate. He blinked once, twice, three times trying to make sense. It was Shado's face, her voice. She was calling to him, but it sounded so far away. "Shado?" He was confused, trying to put reason to his need to drive his fist into a face that his heart demanded he spare.
Shado watched him lower his fist, looking back to where the other girl was crying. Sara, that was her name. She had worked with Ivo, and that spurred his anger right back up. What she was crying over though sent a brutal cold chill through his whole body. It wiped the raging fire from him as he saw what she was weeping on. It was Oliver, and he was lying face down in a growing puddle of crimson blood.
Taking another step, Slade felt his knees hit the dirt. It was as if his mind had been separated from the rest of his body. He reached down, knowing this was only a trick. A graze, nothing serious. Oliver had always been soft. He probably just passed out from a nick. Taking hold of his friend's shoulder, Slade turned Oliver over.
His free hand clenched to a shaking fist. His teeth ground so hard they threatened to shatter. Slade held back a barely contained roar. The blood was draining through a hole in Oliver's head. Ivo had killed him. That insane fool had shot Slade's last friend right through the head. Memories flooded through Slade's mind, all of some fresh and idiot kid too pampered to make much of himself. Too idealistic to be of much use.
But they had been through hell together. Despite it all, Oliver had stuck with Slade through thick and thin. He remembered laughing at the boy the first time he'd killed an animal for dinner. The faces the punk made had been priceless. They'd trained together, though Oliver had never been particularly skilled. Despite all that, they had beaten Fryes together. They had rescued Shado, mourned Yao Fei, survived… lived. They had been inseparable.
Slade's fist impacting the tree didn't even register as pain to him. The trunk crumbling and falling made no sound in his mind. "What. Happened?" Slade's voice was more a snarl than words.
"He made him-"
"Oliver saved us," Sara interrupted. "He did what he had to do to keep us safe. He tackled Ivo, bought us enough time for you to get here." Shado just stared at Sara, her face obviously trying to make sense of why the truth was apparently a secret. All she received in return was a quick glare.
Nothing else needed to be said. After a moment of silence, Slade knelt down and lifted Oliver's body into his arms. He stood, and with determined steps marched towards the fuselage. Not even the Mirakuru could save his friend from death already passed. Now, he could only say goodbye… before taking his vengeance. As he vanished into the jungle, the only thing now on Slade's mind was a man. Ivo, and every possible way he could make the scientist suffer before finally ending him with his bare hands.
Shado did not follow, at least not immediately. Her heart was still beating too hard. The adrenaline, the shock, and the war against the tears trying to burst out was holding her still. She turned her head to Sara, and spoke in an angry whisper. "Why didn't you tell him?! Oliver got himself killed for us!"
"Do you think that Slade is thinking clearly right now? Did you see his face? Do you think that with the Mirakuru in him that he needs more fuel to that fury? If he knows what Ivo made Oliver do… he might be lost altogether."
"I know Slade, he wouldn't be taken so-"
"He has the Mirakuru in him! He isn't the man you know anymore! He's changed, you will see. The drug deforms you, either your bones or your mind. Either one, it makes you different from who you used to be. If Slade finds out about what Ivo did, it will only make things worse. Ivo just killed his best friend, that is already enough."
"If we keep that from him, he will learn. Such knowledge cannot be kept secret. Slade will learn, and he will hold us responsible."
"Then we better hope we are not nearby when he does find out. Come on, we have to get out of here." Shado's face was dark, but she followed after Sara. It still hurt, and the confusion in her mind made it all the worse. Her worries for Slade, her grief, and so soon after her father died as well. This island would be the death of everything she held dear. She prayed that it would not take Slade from her as well.
It was morning when the three of them stood around the three graves. Yao Fei, Robert Queen… and now Oliver Queen. "He sleeps by his father, he has honored his name," Shado said quietly, as reverent as she was willing to allow herself. Sara simply placed a flower on top of the stones. No longer letting her tears run freely. For all his wrongs and foolish decisions, Oliver had shown himself for what he really was in the end. A caring and honorable man.
Slade stood silent and rigid. He only stared at the three graves, his hands clenched into fists. It was nearly ten minutes before he felt Shado's soft touch on his shoulder again. "I'm going to get on that boat, and I am going to kill him. I am going to kill them all. Ivo is going to suffer like he's never known before."
"He has an army," Sara muttered.
"It won't be enough." Leaning down, Slade took a pebble from the pile of stones on Oliver's grave. "It won't even be close to enough. That man killed my brother. For that, I am going to undo his whole world." With a crisp turn, Slade marched with heavy steps back towards the fuselage, leaving Sara and Shado to simply watch him go.
