When Ollie made his way back to the first floor of his mansion, he found that Roy and Artemis were both in the kitchen, too busy paying attention to the making of their own meals to try and fight with each other.

Recently bathed and shaved, Ollie felt just a bit more comfortable in his own skin. But he wore a long-sleeved button up shirt to cover all of the bruises and wounds he had received during his captivity. He did not feel like having to see them every time he happened to glance down at his arms.

After his bath and having read that damningly simple message from Deathstroke, Ollie had sat down on his body for a while to try and keep his body from shaking uncontrollably. He was caught in a terrible game of cat and mouse where the cat was insane and the mouse was trapped inside a tiny box. There was also the fact that the cat was fucking deranged, but he didn't want to spend too much time thinking about that small fact.

Once he was sure he could keep his body from shaking too much to be seen as worrying, the blonde man had gotten up from his bed, headed over towards one of his drawers and pulled out a wrap that he proceeded to wrap over his ribs, even though it wasn't too tight. He'd place ice over the area later, and he was sure it was about time he drank some more pain killers, but he'd have to face his family if he were to go down the stairs and he wanted a few more minutes to compose himself before he did that.

Then, once he had his breathing and shaking under control, the man had gone down to the kitchen to get his pills, ice, and maybe even some food. He wasn't sure if his churning stomach would allow him to keep anything down, but he was smart enough to know that he'd have to force himself to eat something if he didn't to face serious repercussions later on.

Artemis was by the oven, cooking herself something or another, all the while Roy waited by the microwave with his arms crossed and an impatient scowl on his face. Whatever he was waiting on seemed to take enough time, for when Ollie checked the timer, it read two minutes and counting.

"Good morning, kids." He said in a way that made his throat scratch uncomfortably, which made him cough and rub at his throat for a second as both teenagers turned to him.

Roy looked at him, inspected him for a second, then nodded and turned back to the food that was being heated. But Artemis looked at him for more than just one second, then put down the spatula she had been using for cooking and walked over to him.

"I made you a bowl of cereal. But Dinah ate it when we noticed you weren't going to come back down for a while." The gray eyed girl said as she made her way over to Ollie, moving her hands to place them on her hips. "Just what happened to you?"

"Nothing you have to worry about, kid." He told her plainly, moving his hand up to prod softly at his side with the broken rib, "But I do have a broken rib so I'm going to need an ice-pack."

Neither blonde made to move after he had said this. Artemis didn't move because she didn't want him to think that he was free of explaining and Ollie didn't move because he wasn't going to let her think she was running the show. Roy was the person that made the first move and it was to shove past them both to get to the refrigerator and pull out the packet of bacon.

Ollie quirked an eyebrow at the odd choice- the kid usually chose to eat healthy- but didn't comment on it as he went to over to the cabinets, ignoring the glare sent his way by Artemis, and plucked a bowl from the insides.

"Dinah tell you where she decided to go off to?" He asked, hoping to begin an easy conversation.

Artemis went back to the oven with an annoyed frown on her face, but answered as she began to move the eggs Ollie could now see she was cooking inside a skillet.

"Well, after she told me you were being a stubborn ass yet again," Artemis began, glaring pointedly at Ollie's back before returning to her food, "She said she was going to go ahead and go back to the shop. She hasn't been there ever since you disappeared and she wanted to make sure everything was alright."

The pain from his many wounds had started up by this point and joined to the gnawing guilt that began to grow in his stomach at the thought of Dinah having stopped all operations in her shop just because of him. But Ollie breathed in deeply- closing his eyes tightly to try and concentrate on the breathing and not the pain- then breathed out and nodded.

"I didn't want her to be stuck in here. She deserves much more than just taking care of an invalid like me." He tried to smile at the small joke, but neither of the teenagers were looking at him at that point and he dropped the smile when he noticed.

"She wanted to help you, Ollie." Artemis sighed with a shake of her head, "And she was more than annoyed with you. She even told me that you were being more pig-headed than usual while she ate your cereal."

"Yeah... She would say that..."

At this point Ollie was rummaging through the upper shelves to see what cereal he would like to eat and the microwave beeped, signalling Roy's breakfast had finished heating up. Without any words Roy took his plate, placed another inside of the microwave, then crossed his arms and leaned against the counter after he had input another time for the newest plate he had placed in the microwave.

"You're being an idiot, Ollie, and we all know it."

The words made Ollie wince softly, but he only pulled out a box of cereal- he didn't even check to see which one it was, he just wanted something- and began to pour the food into his bowl. After that, he righted it and placed on the counter, then turned to the refrigerator to grab the gallon of milk.

Roy noted that Ollie wasn't going to say anything and continued, "Never before have you been so pigheaded when Dinah was involved. I don't really care much about you-" At this, Ollie's grip on the gallon of milk tightened more than it needed to be, but he hoped Roy didn't notice it, "But Dinah and Artemis do, for reasons I can't understand."

"Gee, Roy, you give such amazing pep talks." Artemis commented with a roll of her eyes, "Why don't you tell the man we just want to put him six feet under while you're at it?"

"Oliver's a grown man, Artemis. He can take things at face-value." Roy hissed back at her, which made the blonde girl turn to him with a deadly glare.

"Oh, Roy, you are playing a dangerous game right now." She growled, turning off the oven and moving the skillet to not let her food burn. "You are such a liar!"

"I am?" Roy asked back, and Ollie couldn't help but feel that he had stepped into a sibling fight he wanted no part in.

So, as quietly and as quickly as he could, the blonde man walked towards his bowl, served the milk, and picked up a spoon to be able to leave the kitchen as fast as possible. But before he could cross the threshold, Artemis spoke to him.

"Ollie, you can't keep telling us there's nothing wrong with you."

With a sigh, Ollie turned to her and shook his head, "I'm perfectly fine, kid. And I'll be even better once you let me eat my breakfast."

She cocked one eyebrow, smirked, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you sure, Ollie? Because- last time I checked- you readily despised any type of sugar in your breakfast. That's Wally's favorite brand."

"What? There's no way-" Ollie began to say as he looked down at his bowl, but stopped when he noticed that instead of there being the brown and bland cereal he expected to eat, there was a brightly covered one that reminded him a lot of what Wally would eat when he decided to stay over with Roy. "I must not have been paying attention." He explained immediately, looking up at Artemis to find her looking at him disapprovingly.

"How about you come to me once you're done with the lies and the cover-ups, huh?" Artemis said scathingly, then turned back to the skillet and placed her food in a plate, grabbed a fork, then left the kitchen.

Ollie looked after her with a new type of pain growing inside of his chest, one that was more emotional and mental than physical, but breathed out shakily as he too walked out of the kitchen with his own bowl. Roy didn't tell him anything else as he turned back to the microwave.

Ollie spent the rest of his day hidden inside his room. He tried his best to keep his mind from wandering to dark places- such as Deathstroke, what had happened to him, or anything to do with Artemis, Dinah, or Roy- but those subjects seemed to be the only thing his mind wanted him to think of. Thoughts on how his deceit was hurting those closest to him tormented him all throughout the day and he thought on more than one occasion to get himself a drink. Just one would have been perfect.

But he knew that Artemis must still be in the house; she was supposed to stay with him this week so her mother could go visit a friend on the other side of the country; and he didn't want to risk getting caught by her. Even though Roy had seen him drink only one shot, Artemis would immediately start to worry if she caught him doing just that in the middle of the day. Unlike Roy, she openly cared about Ollie's well being and didn't enjoy the idea of him struggling all alone. Like he wanted to.

Even with his roaring thoughts making him feel like a complete sack of shit, Ollie was able to focus on his ribs and injuries and managed to get the pain down just a bit with painkillers and strategically placed ice-packs. He also tried his best to breathe in deeply, to make sure his broken rib would not turn into anything more serious than that.

By the time night came, he had tired of being stuck inside his room with no one around him. But at least he had watched the television and caught up with the news and found out that Red Arrow, Black Canary, and Artemis all picked up the slack Green Arrow had unwillingly left them when he disappeared.

The hours passed by enigmatically so. To Oliver, it felt as if the hours could not pass any slower. Yet when the clock hit eleven fifty, he wished that time would slow down even more so he would not have to go and meet Deathstroke by the docks. Even though he had felt the hours pass by as slow as molasses, he had also felt them go by at Flash speed. It was as if he could not decide which one he actually felt so his body just decided on both.

Still he knew that he would have to go and meet the horrible mercenary. He couldn't give the man any reason to go forth with the failsafe he had warned Ollie he would use if the blonde showed any signs of resistance or negligence of his orders. Ollie couldn't allow the man to think he was going to go back on their deal. He couldn't deal with the backlash it would bring him.

Dinah had not come to meet with him. From what he understood, she had never even returned to his estate. After how Ollie had treated her, he couldn't really blame her. But he couldn't tell them. He couldn't face that truth. He would much rather lie and deceive those around him to try and keep his life before he told the truth and allowed everything to come crashing down around him.

So, after taking in one long breath, Ollie stood up, went to the lower secret levels of his estate and put on his Green Arrow suit. He waited for a minute or two after he had put it on to see if either Artemis or Roy came down there to look for him, but no one came. And once he was sure he had his quiver full and a good bow, he began to make his way towards the docks.

~/~

"Pleasure to see you again, Queenie. Miss me much?"

Oliver sneered at the mercenary's words of greeting, but didn't say anything. Instead, the man clad in green only stood a good ten feet away from Deathstroke without any weapons in his hands.

He still remembered the deal clearly. And he did not want to jeopardize what small sense of control he had left.

Deathstroke lowered his arms from their position crossed over his chest to take one step towards the other man. At this, Ollie flinched slightly, but did not move. Yet with each step Deathstroke took towards him, Ollie's body screamed at him to run away. Begged him to not put it through the same thing they had faced not more than a day ago. But Ollie did not move. He could not.

"You see, you're so good at following my orders. I wonder why the Justice League seems to have trouble controlling you." Deathstroke spoke in a chillingly calm tone as he raised his right hand to caress the blonde man's jaw.

Ollie closed his eyes immediately and had to force himself to not try to get away from the touch of the mercenary. It was a glove, so Ollie did not feel any skin on skin contact, yet the glove seemed to cause enough bad memories to surface because he could feel the skin on his jaw begin to burn at the touch. How he hated the situation he found himself in now.

"So perfectly submissive." He said in an almost coo, then turned away and motioned for Green Arrow to follow him. "Come on. I didn't tell you to come just to enjoy a pretty face."

With a strangled growl, Green Arrow stalked after Deathstroke, glare trained on the other's back.

Huh. I seem to enjoy torturing Ollie.