Chapter 38: Super Soldiers

*****Several Weeks Later*****

Oliver stood at his office window looking down at the city. So much had happened the past few weeks. It was hard at times to take a moment and appreciate that he was finally in a good place. His mother had been freed from prison. His sister had embraced her new calling with determination and was blossoming into an incredible woman. Not even learning that she was Malcolm's daughter had slowed her down. Oliver was just glad that ARGUS had stepped in and taken custody of Malcolm. The Patriot Act had allowed them to do so without due process. For Oliver, it was just one less thing to worry about.

Oliver and Felicity's first Christmas as a couple had been perfect. They'd celebrated with a nice dinner party at Buffy's instead of the Queen mansion. Thea had been worried too many of their mother's friends would show up, and they wanted an intimate celebration with their friends and family. The Lances had joined them. His mother's long history with Quentin had made things a bit tense, but she had real affection for Laurel. Buffy, of course, had totally disarmed the tension, refusing to allow it. Sin and Roy were there along with Diggle and Lyla. For Oliver, having his sister and mother finally knowing the truth about his dual life had been healing. Although Quentin and Laurel were still in the dark, things had still been without incident.

Unfortunately, the celebrations had been marred by Barry's coma. Dr. Wells new project had went out with a real catastrophic bang, causing damage all over Central City. Willow had been in the city, but her magics protected her from the blast. She'd gone to get her and Barry some dinner when the containment blast had gone off. Not being there to protect Barry had devastated her, though. Normally slayers just died. Having Barry in a coma was difficult for everyone. However, Willow insisted his brain was fine and that he was going to wake up. She was keeping watch by his bedside as much as she could. Felicity had went to see him also.

Now Laurel was insisting Oliver's new acquaintance Sebastian Blood was a bad guy and that he had some connection to Cyrus Gold. To top it off, Quentin was convinced that his department had a mole in it. Felicity was working to track down the mole.

The New Year had started off with a real bang thanks to Shrapnel. Luckily, Buffy and Thea had been at the rally and kept anyone from being hurt while Dig caught the bomber.

His secretary interrupted his musings, "Mr. Queen, Felicity is here to see you."

"Send her in," Oliver said, turning toward the door. When she came in, he stepped forward to embrace her. "I miss seeing you during my work day."

"I know it's a change. It's not easy for me," Felicity admitted. "Can you leave for work? I have some news."

A short time later, they were at a nearby café. Felicity was eating a chicken Caesar salad as she told Oliver about her discovery. "Laurel may be right about Sebastian Blood," Felicity said. "I connected calls to Cyrus Gold. He might be the brother Gold said saved his life."

Oliver grimaced. "I really like him, Felicity. How could I be so easily fooled?" Oliver asked.

"He's very charismatic. You have nothing to feel bad about," Felicity said.

Oliver grimaced. "Yeah, well, Buffy didn't, though. She said he smiled too much and must be evil," Oliver reminded her.

"I think she was joking," Felicity countered.

"I don't know that she was," Oliver said.

"Well, slayers have good instincts with the pure evil, I think," Felicity said. "I'm trying to get in his sealed juvenile files. So far no luck, but I'll keep at it."

"If working with the police computers keeps you from your preferred method of hacking," Oliver said with a knowing smirk, "feel free to use mine."

"I just don't know what to look for. Honestly, Oliver, I think we should clue Laurel in on who you are. She knows about Buffy and the supernatural. I think you and Sara should tell her together," Felicity said.

"She works for the D.A., Felicity. She's just now sober. I don't want to set her back in her recovery," Oliver said.

"She stronger than you give her credit for," Felicity said. "She's been through a lot. Losing you and Sara. Getting you back. Then losing Tommy. Sara's back. Her father has a hot new girlfriend. There's a lot of change in her life. She's doing as well as anyone would in her position."

"Maybe. I'll talk to Sara," Oliver said. It seemed like everyone knew his secret. He really didn't want to tell his oldest friend. He knew Sara would feel the same.

Later that night, Felicity told Oliver that the reason she couldn't get into the files was they were stored only in paper copy, so Sara and Oliver went to steal the paper records that would lead them to Sebastian Bloods background. While they were doing that Roy and Sin were with Buffy looking for one of Sin's friends who were missing. Thea was spending time with her mother.

"So he was hanging out last I heard on this corner," Sin was telling Roy and Buffy.

"No one's seen him in several days?" Roy asked her.

She nodded. "There's been rumors about guys disappearing for weeks at a time and then reappearing," Sin said. "But they're not the same. Something weird is going on."

"Do you think we should use you as bait?" Buffy asked Roy.

"If something happens to him, Thea will kick your ass," Sin told her.

"We'll be across the street watching," Buffy said.

Roy shrugged, unconcerned. "Okay," he said. He walked over to the stop sign and pulled out his phone to pass the time.

Buffy and Sin watched for an hour and nothing happened. The lack of activity made Buffy antsy. She wasn't built for stake-outs. Sin rolled her eyes. "You're worse than a kid," she observed.

"You try having all this slayer energy and stand around," Buffy said with a pout. Sin had seen her use it one too many times on Quentin to be affected.

"Isn't that what you do at the club? Stand around and watch people?" Sin pointed out.

"There's a lot more to watch there. The street is dead today," Buffy said, gesturing.

"Go get us something to drink," Sin suggested.

Buffy frowned. "I can't leave you guys alone out here," Buffy said.

"The coffee place is at the end of the block. We were raised in the Glades," Sin said. "It'll be fine."

"I'll hurry," Buffy said.

Sin rolled her eyes again. Buffy was amazing, but she was stifling at times. Sin wasn't used to having someone to answer to. You couldn't just be casually in Buffy's life. She wanted to know things. She wanted to know Sin's friends. Also, she included Sin in everything. When her friends came to town, they were just as bad. They were friendly and funny, and they made a point of talking to Sin. In such a short time, Sin's life completely intertwined with Buffy's. Although it made her happier than she'd ever expect, Buffy's overprotectiveness was a bit much.

A van pulled up to the corner where Roy was standing. Sin tried to see around it, but it was blocking Roy. Then it squealed away. Sin scanned the area. Roy was gone.

"Buffy!" she called out. Damn it! She hadn't even looked at the van's license's plate. Thea was going to kill her.

Buffy heard her call and ran out of the shop holding drinks. "What's wrong?" she called out.

Sin moved toward her. "A van pulled up, blocking my view. Then when it pulled way, he was gone," Sin shared.

"Oh, God!" Buffy exclaimed, dropping the drinks. She pulled out her phone and called Quentin, telling him where they were and what had happened. He promised to send out a patrol and get Felicity on it. Then she made a call to Oliver.

"We were a few blocks from Verdant looking for Sin's friend. Roy was kidnapped," Buffy told him.

"What?" Oliver asked. Dig and Sara stopped their sparring and turned to him.

"What's wrong?" Dig asked.

"Roy's been kidnapped," Oliver told them. "Where are you?" he asked Buffy. "We'll look."

He disconnected. "Sara, can you get on the computer and see if you can track a van that kidnapped Roy?"

"What?" Dig asked. "What happened?"

Sara went to the computer and started punching keys.

"Buffy and Sin were with Roy a few blocks from here looking for a missing person. Roy was using himself as bait—several guys around his age have disappeared—when a van pulled up and took him," Oliver explained as he suited up.

"Did Buffy call Felicity?" Dig asked.

Before Oliver could answer, Sara spoke, "I've got the camera feeds in the area." She typed some more.

Oliver's phone beeped. "Felicity has a location already," he said, flashing Sara an apologetic smile.

Sara laughed. "That's fine. I can do it, but nowhere near as quick as Felicity," she said.

"Let's go," Oliver said.

"Someone needs to stay here and monitor the comms," Dig reminded them.

"We don't know what we're dealing with. We need all hands on deck," Oliver replied.

"Which is why it's important to have eyes," Dig countered. "I'll stay and monitor. I'll have Felicity on speakerphone helping if I get into trouble."

Oliver nodded. "Okay," he said. He grabbed his bow and looked at Sara. "You ready?"

"Always," she replied.

They headed out.

******A Few Miles Over******

Roy had tried to fight off the two guys that grabbed him. However, they seemed to have slayer strength, and he was unable to break free. They threw him into the van. He fell down hard. When he tried to get up, a blow to the head knocked him out.

When he came to, he didn't know how much time had passed, but he didn't think it was too much. He was tied to move; his hands were tied to a chair.

"Wake up, soldier," a voice said.

Roy opened his eyes and saw a really freaky sight. The voice that was peering down at him was wearing a hideous mask. He instinctively flinched. "Who are you? What do you want?" Roy demanded.

"I want to make you our new brother," the masked man said. He nodded to another guy, who was not wearing a mask. Roy saw several guys of various ages all lined up with an alert readiness about them.

The other guy held a syringe. He stepped up to Roy.

"What are you doing?" Roy yelled, trying and failing to once again break lose.

"Relax. This won't hurt. You're going to wake up a whole new man," the creepy masked guy said.

Roy felt a sharp pain in his arm, and then fire coursed through his veins. He screamed. Then everything went black.

Blood looked down at the new recruit in satisfaction. Another member added to their ranks. Soon they'll have enough to make a real difference.

"Someone is trying to get in," one of his men said. A crash sounded and glass fell from above.

Oliver jumped through the corner window, Sara on his heels. He saw a man in a weird mask leaning over Roy, who was tied to a chair. When they jumped down, the masked man was gone. However, there were plenty of other bodies to attack.

Oliver hit one of the men, who didn't even flinch. Then the man hit Oliver, and he fell back a few feet. His head was ringing. "They're like Gold!" he yelled to Sara. She had five guys surrounding her. Oliver knew they were outnumbered. "Where's Thea and Buffy?" he asked.

The door crashed open. "There," Sara said, relieved to see the slayers arrive on the scene.

Buffy saw about a dozen men, and Sara was surrounded. "Go get Roy. I'll help Sara," she told Thea.

Sara was swinging her staff hard, but one of the men grabbed it and broke it in two.

"You're out of your league, little girl," one of the men said, smirking at Sara. He raised one half of the broken staff to hit Sara with. However, Buffy was suddenly there in front of her and caught the staff in between her hands.

The man looked surprised. "I'm not," Buffy told him. "I think I can handle you just fine." She pushed the staff back hard, hitting the man in the face.

"Glad you could join us," Sara said, flashing her a grin.

"Wouldn't miss it. It's been too long since I've had a challenge," Buffy said. Then she began to exchange hard hits with two of the men.

Thea attacked the man standing in front of Roy. She knocked him down and was surprised when he got up easily.

"They're on mirakuru," Oliver told her as he pulled back his bow and shot three arrows quickly into one of the men before felling him.

It took the women a lot more minutes than normal before they managed to defeat three of the super charged soldiers. Oliver killed two others with his arrows. He decided that extreme force was called for. Unlike the others, he knew first-hand what men on this drug could do. Now it seemed someone was passing out the drug like it was candy. The implications were worrisome. The city could be tore apart.

A loud whistle had the rest of the men running off.

"Where are you going?" Buffy called after them. "I was just workin' up a sweat!"

Sara laughed. Her father's girlfriend was her kind of girl.

"Help me," Thea ordered. She had cut Roy loose, but he was bleeding from his eyes. "What's going on with him?" Fear for him pitted her stomach.

"It's what happens when someone gets mirakuru," Oliver said grimly.

"Is he going to be okay?" Thea asked fearfully.

"I hope so," Oliver said. Images of his time with Slade Wilson flashed through his mind. His friend taught him how to fight and saved his life more than once. Then he was given this drug. The results had not been pretty. Oliver hoped Roy's fate would be different.

The memories of the island and Slade haunted him as he helped his sister take Roy back to Verdant.

*****Elsewhere in Starling City*****

Oliver would be very surprised to discover his old mentor was alive and in his home town.

"Who is this woman?" Slade Wilson asked as he watched surveillance of the fight in his warehouse.

"Her name is Buffy Summers. She's dating one of Starling's police officers. She's a bouncer at a club in the Glades," Sebastian Blood told him.

"She is like my men," Slade Wilson said, intrigued. "She is able to take them down." He watched and leaned forward. Then he saw the younger girl do the same. This girl he recognized. He smiled.

"I don't know how. She is reputed to have single-handedly captured Malcolm Merlyn, who was trained by the League of Assassins," Blood shared.

Slade was very impressed. He looked at the other young woman on the screen who had cut his new soldier loose. "Thea Queen. Oliver's sister is special—much more than he ever told me," he murmured. His mind race as his plans began to alter.

"The Arrow has strong allies," Blood said. "He's not going to be easy to defeat."

"I'm not looking to defeat him. I'm going to break him utterly," Slade Wilson said, standing to his feet. He moved to stand in front of the frozen image of Oliver Queen dressed as the arrow. Him wearing Shado's hood was the biggest mockery of all. He would regret it. "I'm going to make him wish he'd died on that island." He'll never see it coming.

*****Chapter End*****

I honestly can't say how long it will take to tell the Slade story. Obviously since this is AU, there will be changes. Reviews really do encourage me. Take a minute and share your thoughts. Thanks!