Chapter 4
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Oliver talked with Slade in private.
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Oliver: I've been going over Nanda Parbat many times, since we were both last year.
Slade: What about it?
Oliver: You locked me and Thea in there alone. It was over an hour before we got out. You should've been long gone before we even got out. The only way I can think of as to how we caught up with you, is you never intended to leave us behind.
Slade: Enlighten me then, what was my plan?
Oliver: You knew we'd escape, you knew we'd confront you again.
Slade: If I just wanted you dead, I'd have done that after I knocked the two of you unconsciouss. I wanted you to starve in there.
Oliver: Except you knew Waller would send more guards for the prisoners. I think the only reason you stayed, the only reason you didn't go with Malcolm, is you wanted me to kill you. After several months in prison, without the mirakuru in your system, you were ashamed of what you'd done.
Slade: Malcolm came to Nanda Parbat, killed that guard. He offerred to make me an ally in his fight against you. I knew he was manipulating me, that he wanted you to kill me. I figured "hell if I'm going to die on his terms." I stayed, who knew you'd be stupid enough to come back to purgatory. Waller, didn't give me much of a choice, in a moment of weakness, I took her offer instead of death.
Oliver: You used to believe in things, like serving your country, your family.
Slade: Yeah, I tried that. After you stabbed me in the eye, I washed up and went home. I tried to reconnect with my family, served in Australian special forces again. I thought the mirakuru was gone, then I heard reports of you coming home. All the anger returned, and my family. I didn't mean to hurt them.
Oliver: I believe you, it was the mirakury, mostly.
Slade: After that, all I had left was vengeance.
Oliver: And now?
Slade: I have a new family. Ben and Carrie may be deeply flawed human beings, but they also accept me with my faults.
Oliver: I know the feeling. I have to believe that there is some good left in you.
Slade: The man who considered you a brother is dead, you should have let me stay dead. I'll help you kill Malcolm Merlyn. After that, no promises.