This is a rather short chapter but I do hope you guys enjoy it.

Guest: Poor Helena indeed. Sorry, gonna disagree with you there. Helena was a broken person, probably even before her father had Michael killed. Black Siren was just plain self-serving, which she shows again and again. Even her so called 'redemption', which I use loosely due to how badly it was written started out with her once again betraying Quentin's trust and trying to save her own ass. Huh, actually not a bad idea there.

Starling City

Night

Thea was in the back seat of the car, waiting to arrive home as Diggle drove them. But something felt…off. While she didn't know Diggle as well as Oliver, he seemed strangely quiet tonight. Suddenly, Diggle pulled the car to a stop, causing Thea to blink in confusion.

"Um, this isn't my house," Thea said in confusion.

"No, but this is your stop. Get out," Diggle said.

"What?" Thea said in confusion.

"I said. Get. Out," Diggle said, suddenly pulling a gun out and turning around in his seat, aiming at her face. "Now."

Confused and terrified, Thea quickly unbuckled and all but jumped out of the car. Barely a second later, an arrow landed at her feet, causing her to jump a mile. Startled, Thea looked up and saw Oliver standing on a fire escape, dressed in his green suit.

No, not Oliver Thea realized as her blood ran cold. Thea quickly ran down the alley, trying desperately to get away. However, she didn't get far when Emiko used an arrow with a line, blocking her path as she jumped in Thea's way.

"Hello Thea. My name is Emiko. We have so much to talk about," Emiko said with a sadistic smirk.

Queen Mansion, next day

Morning

Oliver was walking down the stairs after having gotten dressed. Moira was there, sitting in her usual seat at the couch. Upon seeing him, Moira got to her feet.

"Oliver, have you seen heard from Thea?" Moira asked in concern.

"Yeah, she texted me last night, said she was gonna be stuck at the club with a mountain of paperwork. I take it she didn't call you?" Oliver asked and Moira shook her head, relief on her face. "I will talk to her."

"With that maniac out there, this is no time for her to be forgetful," Moira grumbled.

"I agree," Oliver said as his phone rang. "Excuse me."

Pulling out his phone, Oliver saw it was Lyla and answered it.

"Lyla, any news?…Okay, I will be there and I'll tell everyone else. Bye," Oliver said as he hung up.

"Is something wrong?" Moira asked in concerned.

"John is back. And it doesn't sound good," Oliver said grimly.

Sin's clock tower

Same time

Sara and Sin paused in their spare as their wooden staffs met in a clash.

"You didn't break it this time," Sara noted as they lowered their staffs.

"I've been practicing, trying to control it while you've been off with the vigilante. Or does he prefer Oliver?" Sin asked and Sara tensed.

"Oliver's not-"

"Sara, the woman who stopped your psycho ex called the vigilante Oliver. Add that to the fact that he took me in for a week and the vigilante somehow got the hit on me called off and that Oliver bailed out Roy, who works for the vigilante, wasn't hard to figure out," Sin said dryly. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. Kind of owe him my life and all."

Before Sara could respond, her phone vibrated as she received a text. Pulling it out from her pocket, Sara was it was from Oliver.

'Meet at ARGUS. John is back' it read.

ARGUS base

Later in the morning

"Oh my God, what happened?" Felicity explained as she, Oliver and Sara entered the med bay, seeing Diggle treated by a doctor as he talked with Lyla. "John, what happened?"

"He was just explaining that. Go on," Lyla said as she looked at her boyfriend.

"When Waller and I got to the base, it was completely overrun. The Ninth Circle knew where we going and set up a trap for us," Diggle lied. "During the attack, Dante got loose."

"He the one who did this to you?" Oliver asked and Diggle nodded.

"Guess he wasn't leader of the Ninth Circle for nothing," Diggle said with a chuckle before wincing at the pain that shot through him.

"Was?" Sara raised an eyebrow at his use of past tense.

"During the attack, he almost killed me. The moment I had the chance, I shot him, in the chest. He died, along with any Intel he may have had," Diggle said, sounding regretful as a silence descended on them.

"You did what you had to do John," Oliver assured him and Diggle nodded.

"Anyway, every ARUS operative was killed during the attack, Waller and I barely got out alive. Once we were safe, Waller took off. This whole thing has only made her twice as paranoid as before, she said something about going off the grid," Diggle said.

"Certainly sounds like Amanda," Lyla noted as the medic finished checking Diggle.

"You'll be alight, but you have some cracked ribs. I would take it easy for a few days," the medic advised and Diggle nodded as he stood up, grabbing his shirt.

"So where are we now?" Diggle asked as he put his shirt on.

"Exactly where we were before. I have a promising lead, but nothing concrete yet," Oliver said.

"So we're back to square one then, great," Felicity grumbled.

"Hey, where's Roy?" Diggle asked, seeming to notice his absence for the first time.

Unspecified location

Same time

Roy was in a dark room, suspended above the ground by chains wrapped around his arms. The door suddenly opened and Roy looked up, glaring as he saw Jade walk in.

"This whole time, you were playing me," Roy asked, feeling betrayed.

"Don't blame her," Slade said as he walked in. "My daughter was merely following my orders."

"You-you're daughter?" Roy exclaimed in shock.

"You can't choose your family, you should know that better than anyone," Jade said as she glared at Slade, who merely smirked. "My mom was a woman Slade started a relationship with while he was separated from his wife. Didn't stick around long enough to learn she was pregnant with me. He found out about me not long before he got shot down on Lian Yu. Once he was gone, we moved to America and I had my name changed to Jade Nguyen."

"Mr. Harper isn't hear to listen to our family history," Slade said as he walked over, pulling out a small knife.

Roy tensed as Slade walked behind him. Then, Slade cut through the back of his shirt, cutting clean through before forcibly removing Roy's shirt. Slade then walked behind him, moving some items before grabbing something. Roy heard something charging as Slade returned. Jade pulled out her phone, going to recording before nodding at Slade. Roy felt something prick him in his shoulder before crying out as he felt the fire of pain.

At another location, at the same time, Thea sat in a chair in a darkened room. Strangely, she was not bound, but Thea reasoned that was only because they knew she wasn't stupid enough to try and escape when they could easily stop her. The door to the room opened and Emiko walked in, now dressed in regular clothes.

"Hello Thea. I must say, I've always wanted to meet the girl my father chose over me even though he knew she wasn't his," Emiko noted bitterly.

"That is not how it happened," Thea said immediately.

"Yes, it is!" Thea winced as Emiko suddenly struck her across the face before gaining control of herself. "But the past isn't important right now. You're going to help me send a message to our brother."

"If you think I'm gonna help you, you're even crazier than you look," Thea said bluntly and Emiko smirked.

"Oh I know," Emiko said as she pulled out her phone. "You require incentive."

Emiko turned the phone around and showed Thea a video. Thea paled as she saw Roy screaming in pain, Slade behind him as he used something Thea couldn't see to torture Roy.

"If you want the man you love back alive, you're going to do exactly as we say," Emiko said with a smirk.

Queen Consolidated

Mid afternoon

"And that should do it. Meeting adjourned," Oliver said to his board of directors.

As the meeting ended, the directors gathered their things and began to leave. Oliver was in the process of doing the same when Isabel spoke up.

"I'm impressed. You actually sounded like a CEO back there," Isabel noted.

"Just because I didn't get any fancy degrees doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing," Oliver said bluntly. "How was your trip out of town?"

"Fruitful," Isabel, smiling at Oliver's attempt at small talk.

"Are you planning on attending the Q&A tonight?" Oliver asked curiously.

"And miss your mother's big night? Oh trust me Oliver, I wouldn't miss it for the world," Isabel said with a smirk.

Starling City

Night

Oliver walked into backstage, looking around for Thea. By now, neither he nor Moira had heard from her since she texted Oliver. He was beginning to grow concerned.

"Excuse me, have you seen Thea Queen?" he asked one of the makeup artists, a pit of dread forming in his stomach as she shook her head.

"Something wrong Oliver?" Diggle asked as he approached.

"I haven't seen or heard from Thea since last night, neither has mom. We're starting worried, with Slade still out there…" Oliver trailed off.

"Don't even go there man, Thea is fine. She's not stupid enough to leave herself exposed with Slade out there. Besides, don't you think we would know by now if Slade had her?" Diggle pointed out.

"Maybe," Oliver said doubtfully, not able to shake the pit in his stomach.

"Look, if she hasn't shown up by the end of the Q&A, we will look for her. But right now, your mother needs your support," Diggle pointed out.

Reluctantly, Oliver nodded, knowing Diggle was right. As he turned his back on Diggle and went to take his seat, he missed the smirk that crossed Diggle's face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Moira Queen," the announcer said and the crowd gave a polite applause as Moira walked onto the stage, giving he best smile.

Oliver joined in on the applause, his mind miles away. Not only was he worried about Thea, but Roy as well. Roy hadn't responded to his text to head to ARGUS earlier. And he wasn't answering his cell either. Oliver hadn't had time to check up on him between Diggle's Intel and the board meeting. Should he fail to check in, Oliver feared Thea wasn't the only one he would have to look into.

"No, let's get started," the announcer said, breaking Oliver out of his thought. "We have a series of video questions submitted by Starling City voters that Mrs. Queen will answer. And first up is…Thea Queen."

Oliver started as the announcer muttered about a mistake, shifting through his cards. Moira frowned in confusion, turning around as the screen behind her blared to life. Suddenly, Thea's tear stained face appeared. Oliver almost jumped out of his seat as Moira gasped in horror.

"Help! Help! Somebody help me, please!" Thea pleaded before Slade, in his suit, placed a hand over her mouth, silencing her.

The audience gasped in horror as the words 'How much is Thea Queen's life worth to you' appeared on the screen.

Diggle had been wrong, Oliver thought numbly. Slade had already struck. And the first target had been Thea.

Sorry it's so short but how could I not stop it there LOL!

Anyway, we've reached Deathstroke, which is one of my favorite season two episodes and one of the episodes I've most been looking forward to doing.

Yep, Sin knows about Oliver. That's a reveal I've been wanting to do for a while and finally got to do it this chapter.