Chapter 4 – Target Practice

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"Vulnerable to what?" Lance queried and Oliver was pleased to see that someone other than his Team was focussed on the important things.

"To Slade dad." Sara said, looking at Oliver with a semi-veiled look of worry that he suspected mirrored his own.

Oliver's POV

When they got to the fuselage Oliver found there was a long black case that hadn't been there last time he was on the Island. There was a note on the case with his name on it in Slade's writing.

'Oliver, You managed to cover your tracks before and convince them I was lying. But let's see how well you do once they see you shoot kid.'

Oliver could picture the smirk that would have been on Slade's face as he'd written that. He passed the note to Felicity who shared it with Diggle and Sara as he looked at the case. As soon as he read the note Oliver instantly knew without looking that the case contained a bow. But he opened it anyway to find not just any bow but the original Island bow, Shado's bow, along with the Hood which had now been removed from Oliver's jacket. Oliver had no idea how Slade had got hold of them as that bow had gone missing when he'd tried to rescue Tommy at the Undertaking, but nothing surprised him anymore when it came to the man he had once called brother.

Oliver shared a look of sadness with his Team. Sara might have been the only one who was actually there on the Island with him, but Felicity and Diggle knew him well enough to understand the significance of that bow and he knew they recognised it too even though they had only seen it that once.

"Well at least food won't be an issue now." Sara commented, trying to lighten the mood.

Oliver picked up the bow, getting the feel of it again and it was instantly so natural in his hand, like it was a part of him. For the first time since waking up in that cell, hell,even before that - since seeing Slade in the Mansion, Oliver felt at peace. With the bow he was in control, everything made sense. He picked up the quiver full of arrows that Slade had also placed in the case and strapped it on, choosing to leave the Hood there, for now, and walked back over the rest of them who were just barely inside the fuselage.

"You're not seriously going to use that?!" His mom said indignant and astounded. "You don't even know how to fire a bow – do you?" She finished less certainly as Diggle and Felicity had started laughing and even Sara was doing a poor job of smothering her own laughter. Mind you he wasn't doing much better either Oliver realised as a grin had appeared on his face too. How am I supposed to answer that question?!

"Just show them man, they'll find out soon enough anyway." Diggle advised, still laughing but more quietly.

Oliver nodded knowing that Diggle was right. He wasn't happy about it, this was not the way he'd wanted them to find out. But then nothing about this had happened the way he'd wanted to. Truth be told he hadn't really wanted them to find out at all. But at least here, on this Island with his bow, he was in control – and he had a better chance of protecting them with it.

"Sara, target?" Oliver said briefly, knowing that no other reply or comment was needed to his Team. He already knew he had their support and agreement and that meant more than he could say. Diggle and Felicity were his true family, the ones he had chosen for himself.

"Sure." Sara grabbed Slade's note without hesitation and showed the back of the yellow piece of paper to the others, letting them see how small it was but not what was written on it. Their faces were a mixture of puzzlement and confusion, with dawning realisation showing on Lance's. Oliver didn't bother to say anything more, they would all see soon enough.

Third Party POV

Sara ran off a fair distance from the fuselage jumping down into ditches and back up the other sides, still holding back most of her own skills for until after Oliver had revealed his. She scaled a tree as easily as Oliver had earlier though ignoring the murmurs of surprise coming from the uninitiated of the group. The time for secrets was over, Slade had seen to that and she was too pragmatic to waste time worrying about it now.

Sara finally stopped high up the tree and wedged the piece of paper firmly enough that it would not move until Oliver's arrow hit it. She knew that Oliver would probably be the only one able to even be able to see it now, the others' didn't have senses as highly attuned at she and Oliver did. Despite that, Sara knew that Oliver would still be able to hit it easily enough. She intended to make it what would seem like an impossible shot to those who didn't know what Oliver was capable of.

"How is he supposed to hit that, you can't even see it!" Thea objected loudly once Sara got closer to the others. "Besides, he's injured!" Not that you'd know it from the way he had carried on completely regardless of his injuries the minute Sara finished sewing him up! Thea noted to herself with bemused annoyance.

Once Sara had made it all the way back to the others (who had followed her back out of the fuselage) she moved them to one side so that they would be out of Oliver's way, but so as not to give him any clues as to the location of the target, before calling to him.

Oliver's POV

"Okay Oliver, it's done."

Oliver came back out of the fuselage when he heard Sara's words. He had stayed inside while she went to place the target so as not to see where she went. He figured that if he was going to have to show them what he was capable of then he might as well do it properly. Oliver stood in the gap that Sara had cleared for him and smiled as he noted she'd been careful to get them to stand in such a way as to not give him any hints.

Oliver glanced around for barely a second before spotting the piece of yellow paper, he drew an arrow, nocked it, and fired hitting the scrap and knocking it free of the tree before the others had barely even registered he had moved for an arrow. Oliver couldn't help but smile, man it felt so natural in many ways to be back here doing target practice with Shado's bow, their bow, without anyone chasing after them for once. This was the peace he'd sought after the Undertaking had killed Tommy. Oliver knew Slade too well to expect it to last, but just for these few seconds he was going to enjoy it.

Oliver smiled at the looks on the faces around him. Thea, his Mom, Walter, and Laurel were a mixture of amazement and astonishment; whilst Lance was nodding as if everything had just fallen into place. Sara, Diggle, and Felicity were all grinning with him and he knew they were enjoying sharing in his pleasure at showing off finally some of what he was capable of. Oliver knew that the questions would follow and that many of them would be things he didn't ever want to talk about, ever, but for now it was fun being able to stun the others like that.

Oliver realized that there was no point hiding the rest of his abilities anymore so, with a nod to Diggle and Felicity, he ran off at full speed no longer holding back to to grab the scrap of paper pierced by his arrow. Using his parkour skills to slide across fallen logs and leap over the large ditches without even hesitating, or truly needing to look as he remembered all too well the lay of the land, he was there and back in less time than it had taken Sara to place the target.

Oliver showed the scrap of paper to the rest of the group so they could clearly see the arrow that had pierced it dead centre. He reveled in the amazed and impressed looks on their faces, as well as in the simple enjoyment of using his body to its full potential instead of always restraining himself around the others as he had these past two years.

After a few seconds of stunned silence there was a rush of noise as they all started asking questions at once – mostly along the lines of where the hell did he learn to shoot, to do that?! One comment however stood out above the rest.

"So you really are the Arrow then." Lance stated making it was clear it wasn't a question.


AN2: Please continue to make me happy with follows, favs, and reviews :-D I will continue to write as long as you want me to!