Oliver ran down the stairs of the lair pushing down the sense of helplessness that was engulfing him as every minute ticked by bringing him no closer to finding Felicity. It had been two days and he had chased up every potential lead yet there seemed to be no trace of Slade. Halting at the bottom of the steps he nodded curtly at Sara and Diggle who stood side by side beside the computer engrossed in a hushed conversation that came to a stop the moment the sensed his presence. Letting out what appeared a deep breath of relief; Sara walked towards him briskly as if she was going to hug him but seemed to stop herself at the last minute.

"Ollie, where have you been?!" she asked settling for placing a hand on his arm.

"Searching," he retorted as he side stepped her and walked towards where he kept his weaponry. "Have we found anything new?"

"No. Wherever he is, he's doing an excellent job of staying under the radar," Diggle murmured sounding every bit frustrated as he felt. "I did find a trace of Felicity's mobile earlier on the map for a brief minute."

Hope surged through him as he watched Diggle tap a code into the computer which responded with coordinates and a corresponding map of Starling City.

"Call me if there's any other lead," he instructed grabbing his bow and arrow and heading towards the exit.

"Oliver, wait!"

He stopped in mid-step and turned to look at her with an expression of exasperation full knowing what her next words were going to be.

"I understand that you want to find Felicity – believe me we all do but, it's been two days Ollie and you haven't stopped looking. You need sleep. Perhaps Diggle and I should chase this up."

"I'm fine."

Diggle turned to look at him with his brows furrowed together the concern and the tiredness also evident in his features. "Hey man, trust me I want to find this son of a bitch too but she's right. You need some sleep."

He ran his hand through his hair his thoughts wandering relentlessly as he considered their proposition, he was exhausted to the point he had to fight in order to keep his eyes open – however the thought of Felicity somewhere alone and alien was enough to fire a shot of adrenaline through his body. He would find her. Then he would put an arrow in Slade's chest.

"I can't sleep while she's out there," he simply explained before heading towards the stairs.

"Well then I'm coming with you," Diggle called out as he followed pursuit.

"No, you stay here and–"

"Oliver, now is not the time to play the lone ranger, this is Felicity! I'll be damned if I sit by and do nothing," he retorted, brushing past him before he could protest.

Throwing a quick final glance at Sara, he headed out after Diggle feeling mild guilt for the words he had said to her a few nights before. He sensed that she felt highly culpable for what had happened Felicity, and although this was true – she had only been trying to save her sister. Hadn't that been the same choice he had made when he saved Sara over Shado? Dismissing his thoughts he headed towards the car.

Felicity's POV

Cold seeped in through the cracks on the door sending shivers down Felicity's spine. She rubbed her hands along her forearms in a desperate attempt to generate heat as her teeth chattered together. She had begun to lose count of the hours that had passed by. Once a day a man with a white and red mask would enter, kick a tray of food towards her and every time she would end up screaming herself hoarse after him. The stage of being afraid had bypassed her; she had even begun planning her escape plan the way they did in the movies. Every day she wondered about Diggle and Oliver, what they were doing and whether or not they were looking for her. Had Sara told them how she had practically fed her up to the enemy? She wasn't being fair, she knew that. Sara had chosen to protect her sister and should she have expected anything less, probably not – however she couldn't help the anger and frustration that was building up inside of her as the days passed by and she grew increasingly hungry. Would she ever be found? Was this how she was going to die? Of course she'd be found she concluded. Oliver would find her.

The sound of a key rattling in the door startled her out of her thoughts; she had already received her routine one day visit. Knitting her hands together she felt her heart pick up the pace as her eyes remained trained on the door waiting for whatever would occur next. The door slammed open and a large body she recognized to be Slade Wilson's filled the frame and instinctively she backed away from him pressing herself against the wall, mirroring her actions in the warehouse.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you kid," he told her sounding chillingly calm and soothing which only heightened her senses as the hair on the back of her neck stood upright.

"What do you want from me?" she asked finding her voice, her blue eyes travelled towards the door as she wondered what her chances of escape would.

As if reading her thoughts Slade slammed the door shut, he then sauntered over to her and kneeled beside her. He tilted his head to the side slightly and observed her with a look of curiosity which only infuriated her more.

"What do you want?!"

"You remind me of my daughter. The fire I see in you I often see in her," he commented almost to himself as he ignored her question.

Letting out a large breath she relaxed against the wall bringing her hand up to push the strand of hair that had fallen over her eyes. If he was going to kill her, there was nothing she could do about it she concluded. She was exhausted and starved what little chance she stood before had been drained away. Besides, he was a thousand times stronger than she was – her ankle had crunched at the mere kick she had delivered.

Brief silence.

"You're missing the point Felicity," he explained shuffling to sit opposite her. "I meant it when I said that I didn't bring you here to hurt you – yet. No, you serve a far greater purpose and I suppose I am intrigued by why a girl like yourself would want to associate yourself with Oliver Queen."

Flinching at the way her name rolled off the tip of his tongue she huddled her hands around herself in an attempt to hide the fact that they were trembling.

"You clearly don't know who Oliver really is–"

"I know exactly who he is!" he roared cutting her sentence off and making her jump. "What would you know little girl? Do tell me, how much of his island experience did Mr Queen really share with you?" he snarled stunning her into silence.

He was correct. How much of the island had Oliver actually informed her of? He had been there for five years yet she felt as if what she knew barely scratched the surface of what had really happened, however whenever either herself or Diggle asked he seemed to shut off completely. Although she couldn't blame him, he had gone through hell, she knew that much.

Slade only seemed to take her silence as a triumph.

"He's not the man that you think he is. He is a murderer."

"With all due respect so are you," she murmured under her breath loud enough for him to hear which won her a loud laugh in response.

"I like you." He commented. "You're either very brave or very stupid."

"I'd say it's a mixture of both," she mused conversationally to her disbelief. "Why am I even discussing this with you? You've kidnapped me and held me captive for god knows how long. Oh god, don't tell me I'm developing that weird syndrome where the victim ends up attracted to the kidnapper because boy would that suck."

Another laugh.

"I can see why Oliver likes to keep you around. You're certainly different."

"What do you want?" she tried again tired of the chitchat although she could feel her heartbeat steadying very slightly.

"Oliver murdered the woman that I loved and I want to see him suffer."

The words stun her into silence as she takes in the impact of the words. This was vengeance.

"I know this doesn't justify anything but what was her crime? Oliver wouldn't just kill an innocent person, she must have been threatening someone else – she must have done something."

He gave her a long coolly look his dark eyes turning cold and distant.

"He hasn't told you, has he?" he chuckled humourlessly. "Shado's only crime was falling in love with Oliver Queen."

Felicity straightened up at the name, its familiarity exposing her curious nature. Oliver had mentioned the name to her before but he never revealed too much. She knew that she had been killed on the island; he had told her that much and she hadn't questioned him further due to the grief stricken he expression carried.

"She died. He told me. I don't understand how any of this is Oliver's fault. He cared about her too."

A flash of anger surged through Slade's features and punched the wall causing her to let out a shrill shriek. Her eyes widened in horror as a hole formed in the wall leaving a fist shaped dent.

"He was the reason she had died. Him and his incessant obsession with the Lance sisters!"

She swallowed, her throat dry as sandpaper but too afraid to reach for the glass of water placed on the tray beside her. She fought to keep her expression neutral as Slade divulged into telling how Oliver had saved Sara instead of Shado. A cold feeling settled over her chest that she wasn't entirely sure whether it was due to the temperature of the room or because of the tiny prickly fear in the back of her mind.

"Don't you see? Ivo may have pulled the trigger, but Oliver Queen is the one who killed Shado!" he finished rage like she had never seen before evident in his features.

"I – I don't know. Sounds like to me Oliver didn't have much of a choice," she murmured pushing away the small voice in the back of her head.

Slade roared with laughter the corner of his eyes crinkling with genuine amusement. "You don't believe that. I can sense your anxiety, your fear. Shado and her father are the reason your little Mr Queen is alive, yet he chose to save Sara in a heartbeat. Don't you see? Oliver may care about you, and I don't question that but consider this Miss Smoak," he told her his tone confident and mildly friendly. "If it came to saving your life or his family's or the lives of the Lance sisters, he would choose them in a heartbeat because you are dispensable to him. So keep that in mind when you are throwing away your career and your entire life to help Oliver because let's be honest – who truly has something to gain out of your evening activities? You or him?"

She remained quiet his words sparking a thousand different thoughts in her mind. She felt numb, the previous feeling of fear dissipating. She was unable to counter argue anything he had said because he had only voiced the truth. He had expressed what she had considered a hundred times over, the feeling of uncertainty she had buried deep in her unconscious.

"Tell me, where is he right now? I would place my bets that he's taking care of Laurel. Goodnight Felicity," with that, he pulled himself to his feet and walked away briskly leaving her in the empty cold room confused and afraid.

Author's note: It has been so long, too long but I have had approximately a million assignments to write (true story) so I do apologize. Second thing is, I haven't properly proof-read this so I hope there's no spelling errors (crosses fingers).

Lastly, I know not a lot happens in either of these scenes but I'm trying to build up to something bigger so this is kind of a "filler" chapter that will aid us to get where we are supposed to be. I hope you still enjoyed it though and I'd love to hear your opinions and thoughts. I will update very soon with the next chapter! Thank you for your wonderful support and feedback, you're all brilliant.