I know I made you wait for two weeks, and I'm sorry. Hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Alex.

4.

Alex

Usually, Alex would've passed out because of fear or dehydration, but right now, all she could do was think of a way to get both her and Oliver out of here without either of them getting killed. Guess her fight or flight mode finally kicked in after so many days in the Arrowverse. She was still having a hard time breathing but forced her mind to have coherent thoughts.

She had sorta worked on an idea in the short duration in which Adrian pulled her out of her cell and into Oliver's. She just prayed that it would work now. She just had to figure out how she would convey it without any loopholes in her story.

But apparently she had taken too long to respond. A sharp pain just above her collar bone brought her out of her thoughts. Adrian dragged the knife up to her left shoulder before she could even let out a scream of pain. If she thought the first time he used the knife on her hurt, this definitely put it to shame. She squeezed her eyes shut willing herself not to scream or go back to being unresponsive because of pain.

"Stop! Please! I'll tell you." She whimpered, opening her eyes. "But you have to promise to let both of us go when I do."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "You give me what I want, I'll let you go. For now. And he gives me what I want, I'll let him go."

Alex steeled herself and shook her head. She forced the fear out of her mind. "I'll tell you what you want to know about me. But you let us both go."

"What makes you think you can demand something from me?" Adrian looked amused. "You don't seem to understand. Now I'm going to make this harder for you. I won't let either of you go unless both of you give me what I want."

Well that backfired spectacularly. She'd just dug a deeper hole for both of them. Oliver had been quiet the whole time, probably wondering what she'd done to get on Chase's bad side. Alex was surprised to see that he didn't look at her accusingly because she'd made this a bit worse for them. He still looked concerned.

Oliver chose this moment to interrupt. "I don't know what you want from me."

"Confess, Oliver. You don't kill because you have to. So why? Why do you do it?"

"Because I want to." Alex's heart breaks for him. Oliver blames himself for everything. He had a guilt-complex the size of Saturn. She'd hoped she could've prevented this moment. This was the lowest Oliver had ever been in all the seasons.

"What?" Adrian questions.

"I want to. I want to! And I liked it."

"How's it feel knowing that I saw the one thing you couldn't admit to yourself?"

Evelyn decides to get finally give up her Oscar-worthy act. Alex hated her so much. All Oliver had done was try and train her so she could fight for the good without getting herself killed. And this is how she repaid him. If Alex actually had the energy, she would've tackled her right then and there. She looked so smug. "I knew he'd break. Just like you said he would."

Alex seriously contemplated tackling her down after that comment. Screw self-preservation.

"It's 'cause I know him better than he even knows himself." He turns towards Evelyn. "Give us a moment alone, would you?"

Alex barely registers her walk out of the cell. She is only looking at Oliver, silently hoping he would look at her and see that she is on his side. He isn't alone. But Oliver refuses to do so. He pretends like she isn't in the cell. Knowing him, he probably expects her to hate him because of his confession. Maybe she would have hated him if she didn't know him. But he didn't know that she knew him.

"I told you, Oliver. You infect every life you touch.
And now do you realize why? It's because your crusade was based on a lie. You used your father's memory to justify a killing spree. There's a price to be paid for that, Oliver." He pauses. "Your mother paid it. Your friend Tommy paid it, Laurel. Do you really want to tell me that John Diggle and Felicity Smoak's lives are better having known you?"

Alex did want to tell him so. Oliver Queen was the best thing that happened to them, just like they were the best thing that happened to Oliver Queen. Adrian would never understand that.

"You promised to let us go." Oh, so he hadn't entirely forgotten her existence.

"And I'm a man of my word." He turns to Alex. "But she made it complicated, didn't she?" Alex looked anywhere but at the two of them. Chase turns back towards Oliver. "But first, I have a gift for you."

Alex's eyes widen. No. No. She wouldn't let it happen. He was not going to burn out Oliver's Bratva tattoo. He had passed out from the pain in the episode. No.

As Chase moves towards Oliver, Alex squeezed her eyes shut. She had to do something. Anything.

"You won't believe me," she said, succeeding in making Adrian pause and turn towards her, "even if I told you who I am."

"Try me."

Alex drew in a deep breath and looked Chase in the eye - the only trick she knew to make someone believe her. "I'm from a different universe."

Both men were now looking at her.

"I know you've encountered different universes before." Her gaze flitted towards Oliver for a second before coming back to land on Chase. "You won't believe me when I tell you that I come from a universe very similar to this one. The only difference that I have encountered between the two is that my family doesn't exist in this one. So neither do I. Oh, and we have Starbucks back home."

She took another deep breath and continued on the story she'd fabricated. "I didn't react when you said that Oliver was the Green Arrow because I already knew it. I'm part of Team Arrow back home." Adrian didn't look very convinced. "I don't know how I ended up in a different universe. All I know is that I had my backpack filled with everything I'd need here." That part was actually true.

"And pray tell what your expertise on 'Team Arrow' was?" He definitely didn't believe her. Oliver just looked shocked. He probably didn't believe her either but he looked like he wanted to convince himself that it was true.

"I don't have any powers or training if that's what you're asking. Oliver and I were close friends in school. Then I moved away. When I came back to Star City a year ago, I found out he was the Green Arrow because he saved me." She prayed that he'd buy the completely fabricated story. If he didn't, he'd kill her now.

Thankfully, Adrian believed her. He looked very skeptical but he accepted the story. For now. She would come up with more reasons why her story was legit once they were both out of here. She would probably tell Oliver and the rest of his team about her. They were the only ones who could help her now. Or maybe she was meant to help them. But she didn't know how. She wasn't lying when she told Chase that she didn't know the first thing about combat. Or computers.

"You promised to let us go."

"I did, but I still haven't given him," he pointed at Oliver, "that gift I promised."

Before Oliver could say anything, Alex shook her head violently. "That was not part of the deal. We give you what you want, you let us go. We've done what you wanted."

Adrian just smirked. He proceeded to burn Oliver's tattoo. The screams that left Oliver would haunt Alex's dreams more than anything else. She fell to the floor screaming at Adrian to stop. She crawled over to them and pushed him back with all her strength. Adrian actually fell back, but Alex didn't even register it. Oliver's screams had stopped but his face was scrunched up in pure agony. He was about to pass out. Alex's tears were falling freely. They dropped into Oliver's torso as she hovered above him, taking his face in her hands, murmuring that it would be okay.

After what felt like forever, Oliver passed out. When she looked up, Adrian was gone, leaving the cell door open. Half of the tattoo was replaced by burnt skin.

Alex contemplated leaving and going to get help. She quickly dismissed the idea. What if he woke up when she was gone and thought she'd abandoned him? Plus, Alex wasn't great at directions. She was in a half delirious state and anyone she came across would send her straight to the hospital. Maybe they wouldn't believe that someone else was there with her and she'd escaped. Also, if they did believe her, Oliver wouldn't want to go to a hospital.

So she sat and waited, he back against a wall. He would wake up soon and go to the Arrowcave. (Yes, she called it the Arrowcave.) She was physically and mentally exhausted.

She didn't even realize she'd dozed off until she felt a palm against her cheek. She jumped, but when she saw it was just Oliver, she relaxed and slowed her breathing down. He was crouched down in front of her, with concern dancing in his blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" He started checking her over for any more injuries she might have. She quickly nodded and moved to stand up. She stumbled because of lack of food and water, and would've fallen down if Oliver hadn't caught her.

Seriously? She wasn't the one who literally just had her skin burned off after an intense physical and mental torture session. And yet here he was, supporting her and checking her over for injuries.

"I'm sorry," she told him. At his questioning gaze, she elaborated. "I tried to stop him from doing that to you," she gestured to the half-burned tattoo, "but I didn't."

He shook his head. "You stopped him from completely burning it off." Alex ducked her head, still ashamed of herself for not reaching him before.

They found a car on the empty road, and Oliver hot-wired it. Alex absolutely refused to let him drive. She told him to just sit and tell her which way to go. She was tired and weak, but not enough for her to not be able to drive.

When they reached the Arrowcave, she actually felt much better. They had found a couple granola bars in the glove compartment. She was able to stand on her own, but once they got out of the car, she still stayed close to Oliver's side, her left arm brushing his right one as they walked in.

Alex knew she was about to meet Felicity, John and maybe the rest of the new recruits, but she didn't have the energy to feel nervous about seeing them or excited about being in the Arrowcave. When they exited the elevator, Oliver put and arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. She gave him a small smile which he returned with a nod. As they walked out towards the computers, Alex could see Felicity sitting on her usual chair and Dig standing. Curtis was there too, explaining something that Alex couldn't even hope to understand, to Felicity. They didn't notice Oliver or her.

"And Oliver's been gone for 6 days and-" That's when Dig and Curtis notice them. "And what?" Felicity continued, following their line of sight. "Oliver? Oh, my God!" She ran over to them.

"Oliver?" John hesitantly asked.

Oliver's voice was soft and defeated when he answered. "Chase had us," he groaned and leaned on Alex, "and he let us go."

"Go slow, man." John said. His eyes flickered over to Alex, his gaze questioning.

"It's over." They all turned to look at Oliver. Alex knew this was coming, but it didn't make it any less painful.

"Oliver, we're gonna get this son of a bitch for whatever he did to you." John tried to say, but he was ignored.

"John, it's- it-it-it's over for me. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm shutting everything down."

Everyone looked shocked. They didn't know what to say so they turned towards Alex. Her hand was now gripping Oliver's, but her eyes were downcast.

Yay! Alex finally met (well, kinda) Team Arrow! Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please leave a review!