Dear Readers! Thank you so much for all the new faves/alerts, and for all of the amazing reviews! It made me so very happy you all liked the last chapter so much.
Thanks for Gin2a for being the beta of this story!
Please, leave a feedback if you have the time. Thank you!
REPLY FOR THE GUEST REVIEWS
Emma Haynes: Haha, believe me, I wish I was writing the show as well :P There well, I have quite a few ideas but I can only guess unfortunately. Glad you like my story, and thank you so much for the review!
CassandraBlake: I love Slade, het want to give anything away about what happens between Felicity and Oliver in the next chapters. All I can is that maybe not everything is going to be as easy as Oliver thinks. Thanks for the feedback!
Kal: I don't want to give anything away about what happens between Felicity and Oliver in the next chapters. All I can is that maybe not everything is going to be as easy as Oliver thinks. Thanks for the feedback!
I couldn't believe that this was happening again, happening with no one else but me. How was it possible that I was always the one getting kidnapped? Did I have a tattoo on my forehead, begging to be abducted? I didn't think so but kneeling in a middle of a room, a gun pointed at me, slowly became a more and more imaginable possibility.
"Don't worry, Miss Smoak, this is all going to end soon," the man who took me said with a thick accent that I believed to be Australian maybe. He had an eye patch on his left eye but even with that, I had to admit he was a good looking man. He had an air of charm around me, even if otherwise he sent chill upon chill over my body, and not in a good way.
"I don't understand," I said, narrowing my eyes as I watched his predatory moves in the small room. "Why did you take me?"
He told me earlier that he was a "friend" of Oliver from the island. It was strange as Oliver didn't mention anyone being with him there. However, of course he didn't share much about those five years. He also forgot to mention that Sara didn't die on the boat, or that she didn't die at all.
"He took the one person from me who mattered to me," he answered, stepping to the window, his gaze falling outside, just staring into the nothing like he was remembering something.
I had a feeling he was talking about a woman, except if he was gay, in that case he was talking about a man. But what did he mean with Oliver taking them away from him? Did Oliver kill that person? Did he steal their love? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case... I could only imagine Oliver being a Casanova even on that hellish island as well.
But that still didn't explain why he took me, and not Sara. Oliver was very close to her, they had a bond that clearly showed on many occasions. He could have also taken Laurel. Maybe he could have taken Mrs. Lance as well... Oliver seemed to have a thing for the Lance women. I wouldn't even be shocked if it turned out he had a fling with her in the past as well.
"I apologize but I still don't understand," I said, wanting to understand why he took me, and not someone else, someone who mattered more. I didn't know this man but he seemed to be calculating and intelligent, not someone who would make a mistake like this, taking the wrong person.
"Maybe you should get stronger glasses, Miss Smoke if you still don't understand," he laughed at me, taking a few steps towards me.
"Maybe I should, or you could enlighten me about your intentions," I shrugged slightly, as much as the ropes let me. If I had to die, I wanted to know the reason for it, other than it was about Oliver Queen. Somehow I always suspected that he'd be the reason for my sudden and violent death.
"Here I thought you were a smart woman but I suppose brains don't necessarily go with sharp vision," he smiled at me. "I'm taking what he cares for the most."
Did he actually think that I was what mattered to Oliver the most? If he thought that then he clearly misunderstood something quite severely. Certainly, I didn't think Oliver would let me die here, and he'd do everything in his power to free me but the only reason for that was because he took every death around him personally.
"I think you missed that person because I'm more than certain that it isn't me," I sighed, sitting back on my heels as I watched him settle into a nice, and comfortable looking chair in front of me.
"And I'm more than certain that it is indeed you, Miss Smoak," he stated, crossing his legs. "I was watching you for months, watching how it was killing him to see you with another man."
At least I knew I wasn't paranoid when I thought someone was following me, and Oliver was right, it wasn't Meyers. I thought this man was clearly losing his mind, and he was the one who would have needed a pair of glasses. Oliver was angry for all the wrong reasons, not because he was jealous out of love but because he didn't like sharing his toys, and I had to realize that I was one of them.
"I can tell you don't believe me but you'll see today when he marches in here, and watches me tormenting that beautiful body of yours, killing you slowly," he continued in a slow, low voice, almost like he was enjoying just imagining the type of suffer what he'd cause.
The way he was talking made my blood run cold. I could tell he wasn't one of those people would be kidding about this. He'd make me wish I was dead.
"What's your plan?"Diggle asked me as I put my hood on, and grabbed my bow. I had no choice but to walk in, and do my best, or die trying to save Felicity from Slade.
Sara was right. The only reason why he took Felicity was because he knew me enough to see how important she was to me. He knew before I did that she was the most important person in my life. If he took her from me, he'd take the only thing keeping me human. He'd take my light, and I'd become a monster again because there wouldn't be anything, or anyone to hold me back from that path.
"I'm going in," I stated. Slade left a message on my voicemail, saying he wanted to meet me in 2 hours. "Alone."
There was no need for any more people to be in danger. I knew Slade, and I knew what he became after he got injected with the Mirakuru. He turned into a monster. He'd have no mercy towards anyone who joined me.
"That's not gonna happen," Diggle, Sara and Felicity's husband said in union. They had no idea what we were dealing with, except for Sara, and that's exactly why she should know better than to think I'd let her come with me.
"I said I'm going alone, and I'm not gonna change my mind," I said in a firm voice, marking each and every word so it would reach them. If I died, and there was a big chance for that, I didn't want anyone else to come with me.
"Whatever you think of me, you should know by now that I love Elinor with all my heart, and there is no way I would let you go in there alone without backup," Hayden said, crossing his arms over his chest, and I had to admit I could relate to him. Most likely he felt something very close to what I was feeling as well. But he wasn't trained to face someone like Slade.
"You need someone who knows him, Oliver and that's me," Sara said, standing next to Felicity's husband with his "don't give me crap" face. I started to feel like I was in one of those cheesy films where everyone was willing to sacrifice their lives for one bigger cause.
"And I'm your bodyguard, Oliver, you can't go in there without one," Diggle smiled at me, joining the other two.
I inhaled deeply, shaking my head. This was a suicidal mission but I knew better than to try and reason with them about how I thought it was one of the worst ideas for them to follow me in there. This, what we were about to do, was us practically signing our death sentences.
"Alright," I nodded, feeling the weight of the world was pushing down on me. We needed a plan. "You, Hayden are going to wait outside so you can take Felicity if I can free her... Sara, you can handle if there is anyone else in the building... and Diggle, I need you on the roof, at the building on the opposite side... Maybe you'd be able to find an open angle, and shoot Slade."
If only we got that lucky, I thought to myself as I watched them getting ready. The odds were against us but there was always a slight chance of success, maybe if we worked all together.
Slade walked out of the room where he kept me with a huge grin on his face. Oliver... It must be him. I hoped he wouldn't do anything crazy. I couldn't bare it if he died for me. The city needed him more than me, I really wasn't all that important in the end. Not that I thought that I deserved to die this young but I wasn't the hero in the team.
It took about 5-10 minutes for Slade to get back to the room. He was gripping Sara's arm, her hands were tied, I could see that as he pushed her next to me. I looked at her, she had a nasty bruise on her forehead, most likely from the time when I was taken but she also had one under her left eye, she must have gotten that one now.
"Change of plans," Slade laughed, moving his gaze between us. "I bet Sara here knows what comes next, don't you?"
I moved my eyes to her, seeing her glaring at the man in front of us. I was wondering if he was right, and she actually knew what he wanted to do. Why did he change his plans? Was it her presence that made him change his mind?
"Drop the bow, Oliver," he said, without even turning towards the door where Oliver showed up. "I said drop it."
My eyes met with Oliver's as he stood there, unmoving. He was terrified. I don't think I had ever seen him looking like this before. My instincts must have been good, and this man was one of the most dangerous people who we ever had to deal with.
I shuddered as I watched Oliver dropping the bow to the ground, kicking it away. It landed maybe a foot away from me. I was surprisingly calm for a situation like this. I was just waiting for Slade to tell us what kind of a death he'd want us to have.
"Now, Oliver," he said slowly, taking a gun from the desk's drawer. "Please, be a good boy, and stand between the two pretty ladies."
I saw Oliver's face going completely blank. I got a feeling that unlike me, he was well aware of what was about to happen. I glanced at Sara as I heard her gasping. This was why they made a better couple than I did with Oliver; they both knew what was going on.
"Slade, they've got nothing to do with what happened to Shado. It was my fault she died. I was the one who didn't save her. Let them go," Oliver pleaded but it only seemed to anger the other man even more.
"Stand between them," he shouted at Oliver. This was it, we were all going to die, I thought as Oliver followed the order, and moved between us.
"You have 10 seconds to make up your mind, kiddo," Slade said with this insane grin on his face, pointing the gun at me, and then on Sara. "Are you going to choose Sara again, or is it going to be your new blonde?"
The picture slowly cleared up in front of me. That was what happened, why Slade hold the grudge against Oliver because he chose Sara over that Shado, whoever she was. I had no doubt he'd do the same this time as well. He was going to choose Sara. Not that I actually thought it mattered as I had this feeling that we were all going to die, the only difference would be a few seconds.
"I'm not going to play this game, Slade," Oliver growled, his hands in tight fists, his whole body tensed as he stood between us.
"Oh, yes, you're going to because I'm shooting right now."
From the second those words left his lips, everything happened so quickly. It was like an out of body experience. Oliver jumped at me, pushing me on the ground, shielding me with his body. I pushed him away, grabbing an arrow from his back. I reached for the bow next to me, and aimed. My heart was pounding in my ears as I let go of the arrow, watching it flying across the room. The whole world seemed to stop as I watched it hitting Slade right in his healthy eye.
He managed to fire the gun just a second before the arrow hit him. Everything went silent for a moment. I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I turned my head to look at Sara. She was staring at me, not certain what her eyes were displaying, maybe the mixture of shock and awe.
"You saved us," she whispered, and only then I realized that Oliver pulled me to his body, holding me like he never wanted to let go. I was clearly in shock because I still had issues with processing what happened.
I killed a man, Oliver chose me, I saved us, and I felt empty.