Not entirely proud of this chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it.

Ellie Bishop: Well, you're not wrong. I agree, it is stupid and reckless of Felicity and, as I said, it makes no sense for her to do that because her insecurities were forced and contrived. It was really the start of Felicity going from an all-around likeable character to the annoying shrew of later seasons. No kidding on Laurel. Who killed Roy's father is going to be a big plot twist, but what will be an even bigger plot twist is who covered it up and why.

Guest 1: Glad you enjoyed it. No kidding. Yep, it's going to be very different. Arrow peaked in season two and Slade is one of the reasons why. Slade was such a great villain that all villains afterwards kind of paled in comparison. Even Prometheus, Arrow's best villain since Slade, was just a mashup of Slade, Malcolm and Thawne.

Guest 2: Not exactly.

Queen Mansion

Mid-morning

"What are you doing here?" Oliver blurted out, in shock at seeing Slade alive.

"Didn't your mother tell you? I'm here to discuss m financial support of her campaign," Slade said, playing the role of well-meaning business man perfectly.

"You'll have to forgive my son, he didn't get much rest last night," Moira said, swallowing passed her shock.

She wanted nothing more than to slam the door in Slade's face, get him away from her son, from her daughter who was just upstairs. But she knew she needed to be smart about this. If half the things Arsenal, Rene and Mia had told them about Slade were true, tipping him off would not end well for any of them.

"I understand, the stress of being a CEO can be time consuming," Slade acknowledged, Oliver seething as he stared at Slade silent. "I've brought a gift, if that's quiet alright."

Slade held out a bottle of Australian Rum to Moira. As she took it, Oliver stared, his mind taken back to when he, Slade and Sara had shared a drink of it on Lian Yu five years ago.

"How generous," Moira said, swallowing the lump in her throat, seeing Oliver's reaction out of the corner of her eye. "Please, do come in."

Slade flashed a charming a smile as he walked in. Oliver closed the door behind him, his mind racing as he tried to figure a way out of this.

"Are you alright Mr. Queen? You look a little piqued," Slade said, feigning concern.

"I'm fine, thank you," Oliver said stiffly.

"I will…have the staff put this in the wine cellar," Moira said as she glanced down at the Rum.

"Please, won't you two have a drink with me? I insist," Slade said with a charming smile.

"Of course," Moira said after a subtle nod from Oliver. "I will have the staff fetch us some glasses."

Moira walked off with the bottle. After a moment, Slade whirled around, catching Oliver's wrist, stopping him from stabbing Slade with a flechette.

"Not yet kid," Slade said smugly, applying enough pressure on Oliver's wrist to make him drop the flechette. "I've yet to meet the rest of your family."

Slade released Oliver's wrist as the two heard footsteps. Oliver paled as he saw Thea walk down the stairs. Quickly, Oliver hid the flechette from view by stepping on it. There was no telling what Slade would do if he figured out that Thea knew his secret.

"Hey Ollie, thanks for bailing on the…" Thea trialed off, the blood leaving her face as she saw Slade.

"You must be Thea. My name is Slade Wilson, I'm here to discuss your mother's budget proposal," Slade said politely as he walked over, offering a hand.

"Nice to meet you," Thea said weakly, the shock of seeing Slade still not having worn off.

It was at this moment that Moira returned to them. Her heart stopped as she saw Thea. She had to get Thea out of there.

"Thea, shouldn't you be at work?" Moira asked.

"Yes, yes I should," Thea said lowly, realizing what her mother was trying to do. "I was just on my way out."

"Well, don't let us keep you. I'm sure your mother, brother and I have much to discuss," Slade said casually but the Queens could hear the veiled threat in his voice.

"I'm sure you do," Thea said, trying for politely but it ended up as just grim.

Without another word, Thea rushed out the door. Closing the door behind her, she pulled out her phone as she frantically dialed a number she knew by heart.

Roy's house

Same time

"I reached out to some old buddies of mine in the FBI," Quentin told Roy as they sat at the kitchen table, the file between them. "They couldn't tell me much, but after some asking around, they were able to confirm that what happened to your father wasn't friendly fire. He was on an OP with his unit when something went down; no one seems to know what. And those who do aren't talking. It was covered up, they don't know by who."

"So he was murdered," Roy said after a moment.

"I'm sorry Roy," Quentin said apologetically.

Before Roy could respond, his phone started ringing. With a sigh, he pulled it out. He frowned as he saw Thea's picture flash across the screen, wondering what she could want to talk to him about.

"Thea?" Roy answered.

"Slade, he's here. He's at my house," Thea said and Roy's blood ran cold.

"What?" Roy demanded and Quentin looked at him sharply, wondering what was going on.

"I just walked downstairs and he was there. He's posing as some benefactor for my mom's campaign," Thea rambled, out of her mind with worry.

"Okay, get out of there, I got this," Roy said before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Quentin asked.

"Slade is at Oliver's house," Roy said and Quentin paled. "He's with Oliver and his mother."

"Well then we gotta call Sara," Quentin said immediately.

"And when she asks you how you know who he is, what are you gonna say? No, we need to handle this ourselves," Roy said.

Not long after, Roy pulled a case out from under his bed, opening it to reveal a a Robar RC-50 .50 sniper rifle.

"Where did you get this?" Quentin asked in shock.

"I stole it, years ago. You never know what you might sell in The Glades. Think you can make the shot?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Quentin said darkly.

Queen Mansion

Not long after

Moira sat on the couch, reading the file Slade had brought with him. Despite herself, she was impressed. Crazy may he be; Slade certainly knew his way around a board room.

"This is…impressive Mr. Wilson," Moira said after a moment.

"Please, I simply wish to help. What Starling City needs is a pro-business mayor, especially after the recent death of Alderman Blood," Slade said, playing the part of business man to perfection.

In the corner of the room, Oliver barely restrained himself from clenching his hands into fists. His only comfort was that, somehow, his mother seemed to understand just how dangerous Slade was.

At that moment, Raisa wheeled in the drinking cart, Slade's Rum along with three glasses on top of it.

"I propose a drink," Slade said, getting to his feet as he walked over to the cart. "Mr. Queen, won't you join us?"

"Of course," Oliver said, knowing Slade didn't go through all this effort to end with him poisoning Oliver.

"Wonderful," Slade said jovially as he opened the bottle and poured three glasses.

"What should we drink to?" Moira asked, her heart hammering in her chest as Slade handed her and Oliver a glass.

"To friendship," Slade toasted before taking a drink.

Oliver and Moira both took a drink in suit. Under normal circumstances, Moira would have found it delicious. Right now, all she wanted was to get this man out of her house.

"This here is a beautiful piece," Slade said, putting his drink down and walking over to the model of a sailing boat in the corner of the room. "Tell me, does your family spend much time on the water?"

"No," Moira said, seeing though Slade's taunts. "Not since my late husband's passing."

"I'm sorry, forgive me Mrs. Queen," Slade said, making a show of looking regretful at opening an old wound. "I do remember reading about that accident in the paper." Slade then looked over at Oliver. "You were a brave soul."

"I don't like to talk about it," Oliver said lowly, meeting Slade's gave evenly.

"I can understand. All that time on that island, it must have been hell for you," Slade said as he and Oliver stared each other down.

The room was silent for a moment before Slade moved over to admire a painting near the edge of the room.

"You know, I heard that your family has an affinity with the fine arts," Slade noted.

"Yes, my husband amassed quite the collection of 19th century American landscapes," Mora said, wondering what Slade was getting at.

"I would love to see them," Slade said.

"Another time perhaps. Unfortunately, my son and I have some personal matters to discuss," Moira said, trying to get Slade out.

"Of course. Another time," Slade said, backing off to her relief. "I believe I should be going."

"Mr. Wilson," Oliver spoke up and Slade looked over at him. "May I walk you to your car?"

Outside, as Oliver and Slade walked out, neither of them saw Quentin, holding Roy's gun as he took aim at Slade. But, before he could take the shot, someone struck him from behind. He went down, out cold.

"The Hoods, China White, The man in the skull mask, the Ninth Circle, this was all you," Oliver said and Slade smirked.

"Well, you're mostly right. The Ninth Circle had its own agenda until recently. Your sister made me an offer I could not refuse," Slade chuckled as Oliver looked at him.

"Laurel was right, wasn't she? Blood was the man in the skull mask," Oliver said and Slade smirked.

"He was useful until he became a liability. Then your sister became more useful," Slade said simply. "Emiko seems to hate you even more than I do. I suppose you could say we are kindred spirits."

They stopped as they reached Slade's car. Slade opened the door before Oliver spoke.

"Slade," Slade turned back to face his former friend. "What do you want?"

Silently, Slade got into his car and slammed the door in Oliver's face. Starting it, Slade then rolled down the window before turning to Oliver.

"Five years ago, I made you a promise. Do you remember?" Slade asked and Oliver only stared at him silently. "Well, I'm here to fulfil it. See you around kid."

Rolling up his window, Slade then drove off. Oliver stared after his car, waiting until it disappeared from view. Then, after a few moments, Oliver turned and walked back into the mansion.

Moira was waiting for him, sitting in the lounge. She looked up as he reentered the room.

"Oliver," Moira said as he got to her feet. "Who is he? I saw the way you reacted once you saw him. You know who he is, don't you?"

"I do," Oliver admitted with a sigh. "It's…a long story. The short version is that I met him on the island. He saved my life…more than once. A lot of the lessons I learned those five years, he taught me. And then he tried to kill me and promised to do the same thing to you, Thea, Laurel and everyone I love."