Disclaimer: Characters owned by WB/DC, not by me. I only own any original ideas found in this.

AN: Thank you for all the great reviews, favs and follows! It does an author good, that's for sure. Just to clarify, this story is taking place mid-season 2. Sara has returned, but not fully operational as a member of the team, as yet.

Oliver watched as Hendrick carefully studied the tools of his trade and took a cat o'nines out of the duffel bag. I really hate that thing, Oliver thought. Hendrick walked towards Oliver with an especially evil expression on his face, his eyes shining brightly with homicidal eagerness. He slowly walked behind Oliver. Oliver braced himself as the leather tore into his back once again. Willing his mind calm with one of the meditation techniques he had learned on the island, Oliver kept memories of past experiences with the whip from entering his mind. He fought to keep the pain within a controllable amount. Until he couldn't.

Oliver lost count of the strikes, but when he'd almost lost consciousness, suddenly a different type of pain ripped across his back. Oliver recognized the sting of a deep cut from a knife. "Oh, did I wake you up, Oliver?" Suddenly Hendrick was in his face, holding up a very sharp butcher knife. "Now, I will take pleasure in reopening those scars Slade gave you on the island." Oliver couldn't help but feel the next slice of the knife along his abdomen. Hendrick continued to deliberately slice open his chest and abdomen, displaying a sadistic talent in getting the most pain out of the least amount of bleeding.

The pain eventually overloaded his senses, as the slices and cuts continued. Despite himself, Oliver found himself screaming. "There, I knew we could reach this point. I'm amazed it took this long." Through the pain Oliver heard the satisfaction in Hendrick's voice.

Through a cloud of pain, Oliver sensed Hendrick walk away. Before he knew it, his body jerked violently in a series of shocks. "And now, we have our old friend electricity. I remember fondly how you loved this when Slade did it to you." A chuckle escaped his lips, then Hendrick said, "Let's see if you've improved the number of circuits you can withstand."

Oliver again attempted to withhold his screams of pain, but he wasn't able to. Oblivion mercifully came after the third round of shocks; his body collapsing weakly.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Consciousness returned with a bang, after fits and starts, as well as memories of the past hour seeped into his mind. Despite his desire to check on his teammates, Oliver couldn't open his eyes yet. He struggled with riding out the waves of pain which were occurring everywhere, as well as the nausea accompanying it.

"Oliver! Oliver, can you hear me? Can you tell me how you are?" he barely heard Felicity's voice over the pounding in his head and the rhythmic bouts of pain with each respiration.

Gentle hands stroked his hair, his forehead, along his jawline. Oliver forced his eyes open to find Felicity looking down at him with concern clearly in her eyes.

"Fe-li-ci-ty," came out softly and with great effort.

Looking up, Felicity directed her comments to someone across from her. "At least he still remembers me. That's a good sign, right, Dig? I don't know, there's so much blood. I just don't know." Oliver faintly registered the panic in her voice.

Leaning down to his ear, Felicity said, "Oliver, we tried to patch you up as much as we could. These animals brought us water and bandages, but nothing to stitch you up with."

"How….how are…," Oliver managed to push out between uncooperative lips.

"Me and Diggle? Oh, Oliver, why do you do that? We're okay. We fixed each other up. Those animals did give us some ace bandages to wrap up you guys' ribs." Her lips curled up in disgust. "Animals."

Oliver had barely enough energy to feel the beginnings of a smile form on his lips at his "I.T. girl" having the quirkiest remarks even at such a time as this. He suddenly felt sleepy again and unable to keep his eyes open any longer. The pain was almost too much to bear.

"Oliver! Don't you dare go to sleep! You should stay awake for a while longer."

Diggle asked, "How's his pulse?"

Oliver felt a gentle hand applied to the side of his neck, checking his apical pulse. "Stronger, and now 62. Good." Felicity looked down to capture Oliver's eyes. "It was 42 before. You had us worried."

"Let's sit him up, Felicity," Diggle said.

He felt another approach him on the other side, and he was gently brought to a sitting position. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on breathing slowly to control the dizziness and nausea. After the waves seemed to have decreased, he forced himself to look at his other side and saw Diggle looking grave, who quickly schooled his features into an attempted smile.

"Glad to see you up, Oliver. You did have Felicity worried."

Feeling a little stronger, now that he had regained some of his equilibrium, Oliver asked, "Anything…I missed?" in between pain spasms.

Felicity started one of her word babbles. "Nope. Well, that guy Hendrick did say some things when he brought you back here. But…"

"But nothing noteworthy, Oliver," Diggle rushed in, interrupting Felicity, shooting her a quick glance.

Oliver managed a small Arrow-like glare at Dig. He could tell Diggle was trying to hide something. "What he say?"

"I said as soon as you wake up I would take your girl and have some fun with her."

Oliver's head whipped to the doorway, where Hendrick was leaning against the doorjamb. Oliver tried to wrestle out of Felicity's arms and stand up, but Felicity and Diggle were able to restrain him. Oliver had to shake his head to combat the sudden dizziness brought on by his rash actions. Anger and fear for Felicity gave him strength to look Hendrick in the eye and at least attempt to convey a serious threat. "You wouldn't dare. I won't let you." The adrenaline flowing through his body helped combat the weakness from his injuries.

Hendrick laughed. "Yeah, right, Oliver. You're not even able to sit up without your girlfriend's help." At Felicity's glare, he chuckled. "Yeah, you're a spitfire. But I like my women a little more... cooperative." Walking into the room, Hendrick crouched down to be at Oliver's eye level, but not within his prisoners' reach. "Had you going, though, didn't I?"

"Hendrick, you're going to regret this."

"Again with the empty threats." Hendrick shook his head. "I really don't see that happening."

"I never make empty threats."

Hendrick's face betrayed the slightest grimace, informing Oliver his warning had some effect, if only for a moment. Hendrick didn't back down. He held Oliver's gaze for ten seconds before rising.

"Hendrick, what's this all about? Surely this isn't all about simple revenge?"

"My revenge is not simple." Hendrick's lips curved into a small smile. "And I will leave you here to think about what else it could be. And allow you three to 'rest'. Never fear, I'll be back." He laughed. "To resume our games."

Oliver sensed Felicity was about to say something. He grabbed her lower arm and squeezed it lightly. Oliver breathed a sigh of relief as the moment passed and Hendrick left in silence, locking the door behind him.

"Thanks for not saying anything Felicity."

"I guess an arm squeeze is one way to stop my word babble." Felicity shuffled slightly in order to make Oliver more comfortable. "Do you think Hendrick has any other agenda?"

"Wonder what he has going on," Diggle said.

"I don't know. I never really got to know his background. At all."

"What exactly was he, Oliver? What did you know of him?" Diggle asked, with a slight amount of steel in his tone, as if he expected Oliver to attempt to avoid answering.

"As far as I knew...he was a prisoner of Ivo's." Talking was only a little bit easier. His body continued to rock with pain. "Like the rest of the people on the ship." Oliver swallowed, riding out yet another wave of pain. "I never did know the whole story."

"Oliver, try not to talk too much. Save your energy." Exchanging a glance with Diggle, Felicity said with a grimace. "For once I'm telling him not to talk. What a switch."

Oliver gave a short laugh, which was cut off by a painful spasm, as Diggle couldn't help but roll his eyes. Felicity shrugged.

"We got to get out of here," Diggle said.

"Copy that," Oliver said with a touch of bitterness. "Any ideas yet?"

Felicity leaned in to whisper in Oliver's ear, "Well, I did activate my tracer in my industrial piercing."

"But we're all here. There's no one to read it." Diggle whispered back.

"When she notices us missing Sara will check the Foundry," Oliver managed to get out between spasms.

"Does she know what to look for?" Felicity asked. At Oliver's look she said, "Oh yeah, that's right. Member of a club of deadly assassins. Right."

"Man, we should've come up with a contingency plan for all of us being nabbed," Diggle said with a sigh.

"Felicity isn't ever supposed to be danger. That's why I didn't come up with any such plans."

Felicity jumped slightly at the snarl distorting Oliver's usually handsome features and the accompanying low growl. However, her indignation was evident as she stated, "Oliver, what an asinine thing to say. Why would I not be in as much risk of danger as either of you at any one time?"

"Probably not helpful," Diggle said softly.

"Now's probably not the best time to discuss this," Oliver said through gritted teeth.

Felicity's reply was cut short by the look Diggle gave her. "Okay." She sighed. "So, it's possible Sara will come find us. What else can we do in the meantime?"

Diggle looked at Oliver, concern clearly showing on his face. "I think we should rest and conserve our strength."

Felicity attempted to assist Oliver lie down more comfortably. Felicity and Diggle exchanged another glance as Oliver fell asleep quickly. Diggle leaned back onto the wall, choosing to stay somewhat alert. Felicity cautiously laid down next to Oliver, keeping her eyes on him until she fell into an uneasy sleep.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~

Sara made her way down the stairs to the Lair. She thought it was strange Oliver hadn't come back to the mansion all night. Since her return to Starling, she had been staying at the Mansion with Oliver. During her stay, he had been consistent with informing her when he was working late on "Arrow" business. When she woke up and he was still gone, she decided to check the Lair for whatever information she could find. Her repeated calls and texts to Oliver remained unanswered, and her attempts to find numbers for his associates unsuccessful.

She had only been inside the Lair a few times, and Oliver hadn't really given her a grand tour. It was impressive, especially considering he had done all the work himself. Not exactly what she would've expected from the young kid she grew up with, but exactly what she would from the man who had survived Lian Yu. Sara wandered over to the weapons case, trailing her hand along the drawers, opening a few at random to see what was inside. Certainly impressive, the weapons he had chosen. An eyebrow rose as she observed the area where Oliver made his arrowheads. Very impressive indeed. Clearly he had set this all up never expecting assistance from others.

A glint of metal caught her eye, and she looked up at a salmon ladder. Images of Oliver's workout on the island filled her mind, and a sigh escaped her. She wondered if some wounds would ever heal for him. Smiling she took in the punching bags, exercise mats, and targets in the back of the large room. Oliver had almost everything a modern-day vigilante needed to work on his own.

She turned when a computer pinged. Walking over to it, Sara gasped when she saw Felicity's name on the screen with a GPS map showing a blinking dot. From the little blurb of information on the screen, Sara saw the signal was indeed a tracker placed inside Felicity's industrial piercing. She opened another screen to check whether obstinate Oliver had a tracker on him as well. She found only one old file from last year. Exhaling loudly in disgust Sara turned her attention to gathering other intel.

Sitting down in front of the computer, Sara's fingers flew as she gathered as much information as she could. She first started facial recognition searches for all three members of the 'Arrow team', as Felicity liked to call them. She then called up the security plans for the building, which was an old warehouse in the Glades, of course. Hacking into traffic cameras, she searched for any confirmation they were brought to the building.

One more thing before she left. She decided to call her father. He ended up arguing with her, as she knew he would. However, even though it cost her several valuable minutes, she was able to convince her father to agree he'd be on stand-by. Only if he didn't hear from her within an hour would he and his colleagues storm the building.

Only after she had gathered all the information she needed, and grabbed several weapons, Sara hurried out of the Lair and got in her car. Even though she got some information, on-site surveillance was needed to further plan her attack. She wished Oliver was at her side, not having to be rescued, but she still was confident she could rescue all three, if they truly all there as captives. If only she could have figured out who was holding them and why.

AN: Thank you so very much for reading and following this story. Guess it will be longer than a two-shot, and guess there is more of a plot than I originally thought. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.