'Meet me at the club' Oliver texted Felicity, Diggle, Sara, and Roy. 'Urgent' he added.
It was the morning after Slade paid a visit to the Queen mansion,where Oliver was forced to provide a very tense house tour. Oliver put on his black helmet and swung his leg over his black motorcycle. He kicked into full drive and sped off. It took him ten minutes to get to his nightclub, and he saw that Thea was already there, probably working. He parked his bike in the back of the club and walked with haste to the side door. He saw Thea arguing with someone on the phone and slyly slipped past her. He took the stairs two at a time, and found that Diggle, Roy, Felicity, and Sara were already there and Sara was talking hastily to them all.
"Yes, Slade loved Shado, and Slade found out that Oliver had chosen me instead of Shado, and he-"
"He promised me 'You cannot die until you have suffered. The same way that I have suffered. Till you have known complete despair. And you will, I promise.'" Oliver interrupted and stopped in his tracks. Sara glanced down, obviously thinking about that fight on the freighter. "I'm glad you guys are here, but I only see three of you… Where's Felicity?"
"We don't know, she could be late," Dig said.
Oliver reached for his phone that was in his back pocket, and dialed Felicity's numbr. It only wrung once and he heard Felicity's voicemail "Hi you've reached Felicity Smoak, I um can't come to the phone right now, well obviously I can't since I didn't answer, sorry I'm mumbling. Anyway leave-"
"She's not answering her phone," Oliver muttered as he walked over to open his green wooden chest.
"Woah, what do you think you're going to do?," asked Sara, "You know what Slade is capable of and it's not like you know where he is."
"You're right, I don't but what do you think I'm going to do? Just sit here?"
"Of course not, Ollie. But we need to come up with a plan before we do anything we might regret."
"She's right Oliver," agreed Dig.
Oliver sighed, and put his bow back in the trunk and clasped the latch shut. "Last night, when Slade was driving away, I managed to get a license plate number." He walked over to the small desk where Felicity usually sat, and took a pen and a piece of paper and scribbled down a combo of letters and numbers. He handed the paper to Sara, and she frowned.
"6789KW?"
"Yes, and it's a black sports car."
Oliver had almost forgotten Roy was present, "That's it? A license plate?". When Oliver said nothing, Roy continued, "This is your lead." It wasn't a question, but an inference. Oliver nodded, "It was all I managed to get."
Although Sara was experienced in technology, she didn't quite know how to find the licensed car, and Oliver thought it would've been much better if Felicity were there. She could have it done in less than five minutes, whereas Sara was still reluctant to do anything. Sara was always cautious when it came to Slade. She was the one who suggested not telling him about Oliver's choice to sacrifice Shado for Sara. On the island, she tried to stay out of Slade's way that way she didn't get him worked up enough to make him want to hurt her.
Oliver had spent most of the day training in the basement of the club. He shot arrows, did a few rounds with Dig, and watched Roy slap the water in the bowl. Roy did that for about an hour until he finally smashed the bowl out of anger. "This doesn't help me at all!," Roy had said.
"Well it teaches you patience, and control, which by the way, has improved since last week. It's been an hour and two minutes. The first time you did this, you lasted ten minutes until you broke that bowl," smirked Oliver.
"This isn't a joke!"
Oliver's smile spread into a thin line, "You're right, it's not." Oliver got up and dragged the blue foam mats to a cleared area. "I think it's time I taught you how to fight."
"I know how to throw a punch."
"Oh, and I don't doubt it, but even with your uncontrollable strength there are still people out there who will and can hurt you."
Roy shrugged but walked over to where Oliver was standing on the mat. Oliver then taught him some other defensive moves on blocking, and it was good practice for Oliver since Roy was the closest to having a similar strength as Slade.
All day, Oliver still hadn't gotten a phone call, or text from Felicity about her whereabouts. He had missed Felicity today. He missed the way she always blabbered about unimportant things. Felicity was one of the few people who could make Oliver feel true happiness. All the other hugging, and laughing with Thea or Moira or anyone was fake, maybe except for Diggle. He had missed the way she sat at the computer, her almond-shaped blue eyes searched the screen intently, completely oblivious to what was going on around her. Sort of like Oliver was doing right now.
Now, Oliver was eating with Diggle at the Big Belly Burger joint, and Diggle was talking about a date he had had with Carly when Oliver heard his name.
Diggle waved his hand, "Oliver, are you even listening to me?"
"No. I'm sorry I was… thinking."
"Fantasizing, is more like it."
"What?"
Dig just smiled and shook his head.
At that Oliver's phone rang. He shrugged and grabbed his phone to look at the caller I.D. It said unknown. Without hesitancy, Oliver pressed 'answer', "Hello?"
"Ello' Oliver."
Panic spread across his face and he stood up and walked straight through the door with Dig at his heels. When Oliver spoke his voice was lower and gruff, "How'd you get this number?"
"Oh, Oliver, do you really doubt me? I've always kept tabs on you. In fact, it didn't take me long to figure out where your 'secret hideout' was."
Oliver was speechless.
He heard Slade scoff through the phone, "Don't worry Oliver, I'll do the talking. Have you wondered where young Ms. Smoak has been today?"
"What did you do to her? Where is she?!" Diggle looked at him with concerned panic.
"You know, I didn't quite appreciate you and your little friends ganging up on me last night. Imagine the surprise on my face when Mr. Diggle had a sniper pointed at my head!"
"Tell me where she is or so help me-"
"Don't worry Oliver!," Slade laughed, "You can still save her. That is if you are at the address I forwarded you, in thirty minutes. It would be a shame if someone were to snap 's slim neck." Oliver heard a familiar voice in the background of the call. "Ollie don't do it! Don't come!"
"Shut up!," Slade yelled and sighed, "you better hurry Oliver. Time is ticking."
