Chapter 36 - Teamwork

AN: Just wanna give a big shout out to my wonderful beta KenyanCougar who's been covering for Rennie75 for me. This chapter would not have been posted tonight without her considerable help - you're remarkable my dear!

KenyanCougar has got the sequel up to her fic Abducted so do go and check it out - it's called Teamwork & it's brilliant! (Read Abducted first if you haven't already lol.)

As always, thoughts, memories, and unspoken conversations are in italics :)

Disclaimer: The CW owns Arrow completely - much as Rennie75, KenyanCougar, & I wish otherwise! Sigh!

Oliver saw the look of understanding in Sara's eyes and confirmed with a small nod that he was fine. He knew that she wanted to know what had happened but would also hear that others were getting close now and would be able to hear them talking in a few seconds. Oliver very quickly and quietly said one simple word, knowing that Sara would still be the only one who could hear and that nothing else was needed.

"Slade."

Mixed POV

Sara saw Oliver mouth Slade's name but before she had a chance to respond she could hear that the others were getting too close. She gave an infinitesimal nod in response so that he would know she had understood. Sara was upset and annoyed that Oliver had come back hurt yet again, but glad that it was nothing worse than the burns and graze of a bullet track. She knew that Slade was trying to play mind games with them and make them scared to leave the clearing and she was concerned about what he would do next. Sara knew that Oliver was planning to take them to see the graves of Robert, Shado, and Yao Fei tomorrow if he managed to make the bows as planned this afternoon and was worried that Slade would be doing something at the graves. She knew that Oliver shared that concern and that was why they had refused to take the others straight away.

Sara was pleased with Oliver's gift of a makeshift bo staff and knew that once she had stripped the bark and evened up the balance point a little it would make a decent weapon for her. She could see that he had left it a little longer than she liked to use and knew that he would have done that on purpose, knowing that she would need to adjust the balance and she was happy that he had remembered to allow for that. Although Sara was more than capable of fighting and holding her own with the knife or unarmed, having a bo staff made her feel more in control, just as Oliver felt that way with his bow. Sara appreciated the fact that Oliver and Roy had gone to the trouble of finding a suitable tree for her – for she could tell that it had been a tree trunk less than an hour ago.

"You uprooted a tree for me?" Sara quizzed Roy with a smile, wanting to highlight to the others how Roy was using the strength from the Mirakuru to help them.

Roy was slightly thrown by Sara's response to start with as he knew that she had recognized it was a tree trunk right away and would have known that it was nothing for him to be able to do that. But as he saw the impressed faces of the others he understood why she had said it that way and was touched at the effort she was making.

"Oliver said you needed a bo staff." Roy replied simply with a grin of his own, knowing that there was no need to say anything else. He was more pleased than he wanted to admit to see the admiring looks on the faces of the others – especially Thea – and he was grateful to Sara for orchestrating that.

Oliver gave Sara a small nod of acknowledgement too, he knew that she didn't find it any easier to deal with all the feelings than he did and so he really appreciated the fact that she was trying so hard. "We managed to catch some food, so we'll be able to eat as soon as it's cooked. There's not much prey out there though so we will need to be careful with what we have." Oliver said, needing them to understand that the food supply out here wasn't endless.

"How did you manage when you were here for five years then Oliver?" Moira asked, worried about how they were going to manage if the food ran out.

"For most of the time I was on my own or there were no more than three of us, there are ten of us now though, that's a lot harder. I told you last night that I was starved at times, well a lot of the time I went hungry or was actually starving too even when I hadn't been captured. There's a reason that Lian Yu means purgatory." Oliver finished darkly. Oliver saw the look of pity that flashed over his Mom's face as he spoke, but noticed that it disappeared as fast as it had appeared and he knew that someone Felicity? had definitely spoken to them all while he and Roy had been gone.

Oliver glanced at Felicity wanting to see if her face gave any clues and saw that she was looking pointedly at his side, she had clearly noticed the bullet track and he was relieved that she had not pointed it out to the rest. He could see the unspoken question in her eyes.

What happened this time, that looks like a bullet wound?

It is, I'm fine though.

How?

Slade. He must have his sniper rifle with him.

You saw him? What happened?

Couldn't see him, heard his laugh after the bullet grazed me though. Felt like we were being watched before that, but I couldn't see any one.

So he could have killed either of you then, he had a shot?

Yeah. He's playing mind games again.

You two might be able to do this all day, but the rest of them are getting pretty hungry man. Wanna hand over that food Roy?!

Sorry Digg, sure. Oliver nodded to Roy, indicating for him to pass the pheasants and the rabbit to Diggle.

Lance looked on bemused, it was clear that yet again there was an unspoken conversation going on between Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, and Roy that none of the rest of them were privy too. No wonder this Team is so formidable, they don't even need to use words to communicate. I've never seen a Team who are this close before.

Diggle took the food and went to prepare it as Roy started to take the rest of the supplies that they had gathered for the arrows and the bows over to the entrance of the cave as he wanted to make sure they were safe and out of the way until Oliver was ready to use them.

"Leave the bits for the arrows Roy, I need to make a start on them rightaway. Gonna need some feathers too Digg." Oliver instructed as walked over to the fairly flat topped rock just outside the mouth of the cave that he and Yao Fei had used when Yao Fei had taught him how to make arrows all those years ago. "Thea, can you and Roy join me please? You both need to know how to make arrows too. Sara I'm going to need your knife when you're done with the bo staff please. Diggle yours too once you're done."

Oliver proceeded to clearly and carefully demonstrate exactly how to make the arrows, including how to weave together some of the fibrous strands from the insides of the vines to lash the arrowheads to the shafts. He taught them the names of all the parts of the arrow as he went, Thea remembered a little of this already from when she had learnt archery at school, but it was all new to Roy, and both Thea and Roy took turns in making some arrows. Oliver showed them how to make the nock at the end of the shaft ready for nocking the arrows to the drawstring and he was careful to demonstrate the depth and necessity for it to be a completely straight line so that you didn't waste time when nocking the arrows.

"I want you to see what happens if the arrowhead is not symmetrical or the fletching is unbalanced." Oliver said. He knew that even though neither Thea nor Roy had said anything, they both thought he was being too particular.

Oliver picked up a few of the early attempts that Thea and Roy had made and that he had not corrected on purpose, before aiming and loosing them. The shots went wild of the bullseye even though they clipped the outside of the target, clearly showing how hard it was to fire the arrows accurately if they were not made right.

"I think that's the first time I've ever seen you miss." Roy said. He was surprised and thrown by just how much effect those slight inconsistencies had made to Oliver's shots.

"I don't like missing." Oliver replied, his voice hard, making it clear that he did not tolerate such failures in his own abilities. Thea and Roy both nodded quickly, understanding far more clearly now why the arrows had to be made precisely. If even Oliver can't hit the bullseye with an uneven arrow then we've got no chance! Thea realized.

While Oliver had been teaching Roy and Thea, Sara had been busy turning the tree trunk into a bo staff. The balance of the wood had been fairly good to start with and Sara was pleased with how suitable Oliver's choice had been for her. She carefully used the knife to strip away all the bark and smoothing off the few knots and rough points that there still were. She kept checking the balance point as she went, smoothing and thinning the wood little by little until she had a well-balanced bo staff that was the right length for her, roughly one foot taller than she was. Once she was sure that she had it right, Sara handed her knife over to Roy to speed up the arrow making, before going back to training with her new bo staff. She needed to be completely familiar with its balance and feel, needed to make it an extension of herself - just as Oliver's bow was an extension of him.

Once Sara and Diggle had both finished with their knives and handed them over, Oliver, Roy, and Thea were able to go a lot faster and after a while they had a decent size collection of arrows that Oliver agreed were acceptable to use. He insisted they kept going though, knowing that it was important to have as many arrows as they could with Slade around watching them with that sniper rifle.

As Sara was practicing with the bo staff, she heard Thea speaking and consciously moved to create a subtle barrier between the others and Oliver, Thea, and Roy, knowing that Oliver would not want anyone else to overhear that conversation.

"What happened to your side Oliver?" Thea asked quietly. A couple of times she'd seen what looked like the edge of a new wound but hadn't been sure until he had twisted to pick up more wood, revealing the full bullet track in the process. Her voice showed the concern and fear that was warring with her desire to stay calm and not overtly react, the way that the rest of the Team were. She knew that whatever had happened this time Roy must have been aware of it, so if he and Oliver weren't reacting or openly acknowledging the wound then she knew that was how Oliver wanted it.

"It's just a graze Thea …" Oliver sighed, knowing he owed her the full truth. "… from a bullet." Oliver saw the way that her eyes widened at that, saw the increase in her pulse and recognized the struggle Thea was having to not react audibly to what he'd said. "Slade was watching us, from higher ground I think. I thought I sensed someone a few times but I couldn't see anybody. He was a sniper Thea and he just grazed me on purpose." He could see just how hard she was finding it to take that news, but he knew that now she was a part of the Team he had to be honest with her. "It was a warning shot, he was telling me that he is watching us." And that he can take us out at any time – but she doesn't need to know that just yet Oliver finished the thought silently. She had the information that she needed now, but there was no need to scare her any more than he already had.

Thea nodded, swallowing visibly at her brother's words. She understood what he was saying – and that he didn't want the others to know. She realized that he was only telling her and not the others, Thea thought she knew why, but she still needed to hear him say the words – just as he had needed to hear her when he had asked her the other night if she would fight alongside them. "Why are you telling me but not the others Oliver?"

"Because you took your place last night as part of Team Arrow, you are one of us now Thea." Oliver confirmed, knowing that was exactly what she had been asking.

Oliver was gratified to see the smile that lit up his sister's face at his words and knew that it meant just as much to her as it did to him for her to be a real part of the Team now. Yes she had a long way to go and needed a lot of training still, but in her heart she was already a part of the Team. She had taken a stand and shown that she had his back even though she had just been shown the risks of doing just that – and that was far more important than any training. Her training and skills would come with practice, they could be taught, but only if her heart was truly in this and that was what she had proven to Felicity, to them all last night.

He nodded his acknowledgement to her unspoken words, not needing to hear them to know them, before he continued speaking. "The others don't need to know though okay Thea. They are scared enough as it is." Oliver kept his voice quiet and gentle as he spoke, but there was still a thread of steel running through it letting her know that this was an order and was not up for discussion.

Thea blanched slightly, not used to hearing that tone from her brother when he was speaking to her. She looked to Roy, unsure as to why Oliver's tone had changed that way, and saw that Roy hadn't even reacted to it but had simply accepted Oliver's words without question. Roy never just accepts anything without question! Thea thought for a minute, before finally understanding. He wasn't speaking as my brother, as Oliver, he was giving an order to his Team as The Arrow. As much as Thea didn't like the idea of being ordered about by her own brother, she knew and understood that it was necessary, and she respected his skills and experience enough to not argue – even if that went completely against the grain for her as his little sister, as his Team Member she realized it was right and she needed to follow those orders.

AN2: Please be kind enough to let me know what you thought - reviews feed the Muse :D Thank you!