Ellie Bishop: Well, Guggie admits he relies on making Oliver an idiot to make his storylines work, so that's more the fault of lazy writing than Oliver. More of Jade's backstory will come to light in the coming chapters. Yes, blood certainly will.

Arrow lair

Night

It was silent in the lair as Oliver, Felicity and Lyla stood in the lair. Felicity was sitting in her chair, holding her head in her hands as she looked like she'd lost her best friend. Oliver stood in the corner, arms crossed with an unreadable look on his face. Lyla sat in a chair, her hands drawn up to her mouth as tears ran down her face. This was the scene that Sara and Sin returned to.

"He slipped away through the crown upstairs, we couldn't find him," Sara said.

Not that she had expected to. But she had known that the three of them needed a moment to process this. While she barely knew Diggle, Oliver, Felicity and Lyla had each considered him someone important. They needed a moment to process this.

"Johnny was Special Forces. We were trained to get in and get out as fast as we could. He would've made an escape plan in case he was exposed," Lyla said, wiping her eyes as she spoke.

"I put a tracer on the back of his shirt during our fight," Oliver said, speaking for the first time since Diggle had escaped. "It'll be a while before he finds it. Felicity."

"Right, right," Felicity said with a shaky sigh, turning around in her chair and accessing her computer. "I'll find it."

As she began tracking the tracer, Oliver's phone rang. Pulling it out, Oliver looked at the number before answering.

"Yeah…you did? Where?…ok. Okay, great, thanks. I'll talk to you later, we have a problem," Oliver said before he hung up. "I have a location on Slade."

"What? How?" Felicity exclaimed as they all looked at him shocked.

"We weren't the only ones I had following him from the precinct. I had the Bratva tail him, get the license plate from his car and locate it. They found it at a storage depot just outside Starling City, Tosca Cartage," Oliver explained.

"You knew we wouldn't catch Slade," Sara realized.

"It was a high possibility. Slade didn't go through all this trouble just to have it end by being careless. Couldn't hurt to have a backup plan," Oliver reasoned as Felicity got a hit.

"Okay, it looks like Dig is heading towards some abandoned building in The Glades, can't be more than a ten minute drive," Felicity said before she lost the signal. "He must have found the tracer."

"Knew it was only a matter of time. I just needed him to point me in the general direction," Oliver said.

"We have two locations. Which one do we pick?" Sara asked.

"Both. You take The Glades, I'll take Tosca Cartage. Sin, go with Felicity to her apartment, get her packed up. Lyla, get my mother out of our house and we'll all meet back up at ARGUS afterwards. Our homes have all been compromised," Oliver said grimly.

Starling City

Not long after

At the spot where Diggle's signal had been lost, Sara entered the building. She didn't walk five steps before some of Emiko's men appeared to engage her. One fired an arrow at her but Sara knocked it out of the way with her baton as the three rushed her. She blocked the strikes of their bows with her baton before suddenly whirling around, taking her baton apart. She struck two of them in the face with the two parts before suddenly leaping forward. She wrapped her legs around the third man's neck, roughly bringing him down to the ground before putting her baton back together and smashing it into his head, knocking him out.

As she got back to her feet, even more of Emiko's men emerged, opening fire on Sara.

At Tosca Cartage, Oliver rode up on his motorcycle and got off. Entering the facility, he rounded the corner and almost immediately came face to face with one of Slade's men. Oliver moved to engage him as two more appeared. Oliver struck the first one in the face before sending a well-aimed kick towards the second man's leg. They both went down and Oliver whirled his bow, moving to engage the third man. They briefly traded blows before Oliver grabbed him roughly and twisted his arm, throwing him down to the ground. The other two got up and began sneaking up on him from behind before Oliver whirled his bow, striking them both with it and knocking them down to the ground.

Sara whirled her baton, deflecting two arrows before leaping forward. Using her baton, she struck one of Emiko's men before grabbing another and slamming their head into the wall. Sara then followed up with an elbow to the abdomen of another and then flipping another onto the ground.

Oliver was on top of one of Slade's men as he pinned him to the ground, painfully bending his arm back. Oliver suddenly yanked an arrow out of his quiver, notched it and fired, getting a man who had been standing on some crates, about to fire. As the man fell off the crates with a cry of pain, Oliver notched another arrow, whirled around and fired. His arrow hit the leg of another man, who fell down with a cry of pain. Oliver rose to his feet and stalked passed, pausing to yank the arrow out of the pain, paying no attention to the man's wail of pain.

As Oliver and Sara continued to fight their way through Slade and Emiko's men, they were unaware that, on a dark road, an Iron Heights Prisoner bus was driving with over fifty men on board.

Oliver was walking through the facility when two of Slade's men suddenly jumped on him. Oliver easily dealt with them, knocking them out but several more of Slade's men suddenly appeared in Oliver's path.

Suddenly, the driver caught something in his headlight. It was Slade, in his Deathstroke suit. The driver was forced to stop the bus in order to avoid hitting him.

Sara continued fighting off Emiko's men. She whacked one in the head with her baton before elbowing one in the face and finally, smashing one in the head by slamming him face first against the wall.

Oliver shot an arrow, hitting one of Slade's men in the shoulder before whirling his bow, striking another in the head with it and knocking them out. Seeing an electric lock, Oliver fired an arrow at it. Hitting the lock, it let off a small explosion, destroying the locks and opening the door. Oliver kicked the door open and entered the room.

It was empty, save one thing: Roy, shirtless, tied to a chair, out cold.

"Halloween was six months ago, ass hat," the guard said as he got off the bus, aiming his gun at Slade. "Now get off the road or get put down. You hear me?"

Without saying a word, Slade reached back and drew his sword before throwing it at the guard. His sword went through the guard's heart, killing him instantly. As the guard fell to the ground dead, Slade drew his gun and opened fire, killing the driver and the other guard as the prisoners watched in shock. Slade then gestured for them to get out of the bus. He waited until they had formed a line in front of him before speaking.

"I have a proposal for you men."

Sara came across a set of doors at the end of the hall. Kicking the door in, she found Thea. She had a large bruise on her cheek and looked a little worse for wear, but she was alright.

"Sara!" Thea exclaimed as she got to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Sara asked as she walked in.

"I'm fine, but Roy, he's-"

"We know. Ollie's probably got him now," Sara said with certainty.

"Roy, Roy," Oliver said, gently shaking his student awake.

"Oliver," Roy said dazed as he came to.

"Yeah, it's me. Come on, let's get you out of here," Oliver said as he moved behind him to untie Roy.

Only to freeze momentarily as he saw what was on Roy's back.

It was a tattoo, but not an ordinary tattoo. It was a dragon. The same tattoo that had once been on Shado's back, the one that was currently on Oliver's back, in the same spot.

"Jade," Roy breathed, breaking Oliver out of his shock.

"I'm sure Jade's fine; Slade and Emiko have no reason to go after her," Oliver assured him as he leaned down, beginning to cut through Roy's binds with a flechette.

"She's Slade's daughter," Roy revealed, causing Oliver to freeze in disbelief. "She's working with him. Been working with him the whole time. Our entire relationship was a plan to get to you through me."

"Well, there's a lot of that going around today," Oliver said lowly as he finished cutting through Roy's binds. "Come on; let's get you out of here."

ARGUS base

Later

In Lyla's office, Moira shakily accepted a cup of tea from Lyla as they, Felicity and Sin all sat down, the four woman each processing what they had learned.

"Well, I think this officially qualifies as the worst day ever," Sin finally said.

"I wish I could say you were wrong, but you're not. Dig…I can't believe this," Felicity said shakily.

"I vetted him. How could I let him become Oliver's bodyguard, let him get so close to my children?" Moira asked herself with horror.

"Don't blame yourself Mrs. Queen. I fought side by side with him in Afghanistan, married him, shared a bed, a life with him and I never would have seen this coming," Lyla said and it silent for a few moments before an ARGUS operative entered the room.

"Apologies Agent Michaels, but you asked to be informed when Oliver Queen arrived. He has Roy Harper with him," the operative informed them.

Oliver was staring at Roy on the other side of the glass as Roy rested in a bed in the med bay when he felt movement behind him. Oliver turned around as his mother, Lyla, Felicity and Sin approached him.

"How is he?" Sin asked as they all looked in on Roy.

"He's dehydrated, has a couple bruised ribs and his wrists are slightly cut, the doctor's think likely from being chained. Otherwise, he's fine and should make a full recovery," Oliver answered for everyone before looking over at Lyla. "Slade and Emiko weren't there. Lots of hired guns but neither of them were there."

"Because this was never the endgame. Iron Heights reopened a wing damaged in the quake. There was a prisoner transfer. Slade hijacked it. Soldiers for his army," Lyla explained and Oliver closed his eyes as the realization hit him.

"Thea and Roy were just a diversion," Oliver muttered and Lyla noted.

"That explains their plan, just not sure I understand John's," Lyla admitted.

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked confused.

"Lyla's right. John handed Thea over to Slade and Emiko. Even if he didn't know ARGUS would catch him on video, he knew that his cover was blown the moment we saw Thea," Oliver explained. "So why make the show of this cover story? Why come back? His goal obviously wasn't to kill any of us, so what was he after?"

"When we were waiting for you, it seemed like Dig was…looking for something," Felicity said after a moment of reflection. "I didn't pay too much attention because I was more worried about Thea and Roy, but in hindsight…"

"What could he be looking for?" Moira wondered.

"I honestly don't know," Oliver admitted.

"Regardless, I think we can assume his story of killing Dante and Amanda going off the grid was a lie," Lyla said and Oliver nodded with a grim look on his face. "Which means Dante is still out there and Amanda is…"

"I'm not sure whether to be sad or happy about that," Felicity admitted and Oliver shot her a look. "Sad, got it."

"Waller may have been a monster but she was a monster that was on our side. And that's not our only problem," Oliver said and they looked at him confused. "When I rescued him, Roy told me his girlfriend Jade handed him over to Slade after shooting him with a tranq dart."

"Jade? Why would she do that?" Sin asked shocked.

"Because she's Slade's daughter," Oliver said honestly and it as silent for a moment.

"His file doesn't mention anything about a daughter, just a son, Joe," Lyla noted.

"Well, Slade is just full of surprises," Oliver said grimly before changing the subject. "Did Sara turn up any leads at The Glades?"

"She found Thea. She's at the precinct, giving her statement," Lyla assured him.

Starling City Police Department

Later

Oliver and Moira walked into the precinct, being met with Sara as they did.

"Thea?" Oliver asked in concern.

"Is fine. Emiko lost her temper and slapped her once but aside from that, neither she nor Slade laid a hand on her," Sara assured him. "Roy?"

"A little worse for wear but he'll be fine," Oliver said as Quentin approached them.

"Oliver, Moira," Quentin said in greeting. "Before you see Thea, um, I need to tell you something."

"Is she alright?" Moira asked immediately, concerned for Thea.

"All things considered, she's doing fine. But I just took her statement and um, she identified Slade Wilson and a 'woman dressed liked the vigilante but wasn't' as the people who held her captive. But they weren't the ones who abducted her. According to her, your bodyguard, John Diggle, was the one who originally abducted her before handing her off to them," Quentin explained. "We've already put a BOLO out on him, we'll catch him."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making those promises, Officer Lance," Pike said coolly as he approached before looking towards Moira and Oliver. "Mr. Queen, Mrs. Queen. I promise you, we will do everything we can to catch those who took your daughter."

"Highly ironic, considering you let the man who took her walk out of here in the first place, isn't it?" Moira asked coolly and you could hear a pin drop.

"Ma'am-" Pike started.

"You seem more focused on catching a vigilante than you are on catching people like Slade Wilson. Let me warn you Lieutenant, if any charges are to be brought against Quentin Lance, the only person in this department who was utilizing every resource possible to find Thea, not only will I have the best lawyer representing him, once I become mayor, I will appoint a special council to investigation this department and the DA's office for corruption and abuse of power. And you can tell that to Da Spencer as well. Now, take me to see my daughter," Moira demanded.

Oliver and Moira were led in to see Thea as she waited in the interrogation room. Upon seeing them, Thea got to her feet as her mother and brother rushed to her and engulfed her in a hug.

"Ohh! My baby!" Moira cried as she kissed Thea on the forehead.

"Roy," Thea started.

"Will be fine. He's at ARGUS," Oliver assured her and she relaxed.

"Mr. Diggle-" Thea started.

"Is working with Slade and Emiko, we know. And we'll worry about that tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted to take this moment to know that we're all okay," Oliver said as the family of three held each other.

Starling City

Later

"I'm sorry," Diggle said as he faced Slade, Isabel, Emiko and Dante. "I looked but it wasn't there."

"I thought not," Slade mused as thy all looked at him. "Oliver is a lot of things, stupid was never one of them, despite what I told him. He wouldn't leave something so valuable lying around while he knows both of us are out there."

"Yet you had Mr. Diggle go back anyway," Dante accused and Slade shrugged.

"It never hurts to be sure," Slade said before looking back at Diggle. "The reason you couldn't find it was because it was never there."

"He just let us think it was," Diggle realized and Slade nodded. "So how do we find it?"

"Stupid he may not be, but predictable he is. Oliver would have made sure that it was protected by someone he trusted absolutely. That is a very short list of people. We just have to figure out who that is," Slade explained with a gleeful look in his eye.

Starling City Police Department

Same time

"You okay?" Sara asked as she caught up with Oliver while he waited for Thea and Moira outside.

"No," Oliver said bluntly and she nodded, not having expected less.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know him that well but I'm still angry as Hell. I can't imagine what you and Felicity are going through right now," Sara said.

"Pat of me feels like I should have expected it," Oliver admitted after a moment. "It's like I'm stuck in a loop. John. My mom. Slade. I trusted all for them and at one point or another, they all betrayed me."

"Are you saying that it's your fault? That you should just stop trusting people?" Sara asked incredulously.

"Trusting people certainly makes it easier for someone like Slade or John to use that trust to their advantage," Oliver said with a sigh.

"It's true, it does. But you were the one who showed me I couldn't live like a ghost anymore. You can't live on an island anymore Ollie. Our connections are what make us human, baggage and all. And we will always need them, like it or not," Sara said.

Oliver frowned, considering her words before Moira and Thea approached.

"Hey, you ready?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm ready," Oliver said as he got to his feet. "Let's go."

Sin's clock tower

Later

Sin had barely laid down in her 'bed', which as actually just some blankets, when she heard someone. It sounded like footsteps. Sin got up, throwing the covers off as she got to her feet.

"Hello?" Anyone there?" Sin called out, her heart hammering in her chest.

For a moment, it was silent. Then, an arrow flew out and hit her in the chest. Sin stumbled back as she was injected with something before falling over, out cold.

Starling City

Not long after

"Nice place," Thea mentioned as Oliver led her, Moira, Sara and Felicity inside.

It was a rather modest house, one you'd find in the nice neighborhoods of Starling City in the price range of the middle class. They were standing in what seemed to be a living room, which had some couches and a fire place. Next to it was a large kitchen with a table and a hallway where they could see a few rooms.

"Once I realized Slade and Emiko were working together, I had this place set up. Outside the people in this room, only one other person knows it exists," Oliver explained as they took it in. "There are four bedrooms down the hall. Mom, Felicity, Thea, take your pick, because you three will be staying here for the foreseeable future. Our house and Felicity's apartment have both been compromised; John's been to both and knows how to get in and out. There's freshly stocked food in the fridge. If you need to stay for a longer period of time, more food will be provided."

"Perhaps we should talk about that my friend. After all, I will be paying for food, no?"

Oliver chuckled as someone who Thea and Moira felt looked familiar stepped into view, coming out of a room. They'd later realize that they'd seen him in the recordings briefly.

"Anatoly," Sara said happily as she approached him.

"Sara. I was happy to hear that you had survived the Freighter," Anatoly said warmly before frowning. "Although I wish we were meeting again under better circumstances."

"We all do. Thank you for doing this Anatoly," Oliver said gratefully.

"Oliver, you are my brother. What is happening to you is happening to me," Anatoly said, repeating the words Oliver himself had said to Anatoly two years earlier. "Slade Wilson is a menace that must be stopped."

"That we can agree on," Oliver said before turning to his mother and sister, who were eying the new arrival curiously. "Anatoly, this is my mother and sister. Mom, Thea, this is Anatoly Knyazev, an old friend. He's the person who set this up."

"It is pleasure, although I wish the circumstances were better," Anatoly said as he walked over, holding a hand out to Moira.

"Likewise Mr. Knyazev," Moira said politely as she shook Anatoly's hand. "Thank you for all your help and the help you're giving my son."

"Oliver is my brother. Besides, Slade Wilson is how you, a common enemy. So, what is your plan now Oliver?" Anatoly asked, dropping Moira's hand as they all looked towards Oliver.

"Every move I made, every plan I made, Slade was always a step ahead. With John and Roy and Thea. Slade's been a step ahead the whole time. Now…now we fight back," Oliver ordered.

Considering how Slade used Shado to taunt Oliver, I can see him giving Roy the dragon tattoo as a massive screw you to Oliver.

Let's be honest, the only reason Quentin got arrested was because Spencer was corrupt and power crazed. If it weren't for Spencer, maybe he gets demoted to desk duty, maybe. But since there's no Blood here, Moira, as the next mayor, can easily use her position to protect Quentin from any consequences he may end up receiving.