(A/N): Welcome back everyone! This note is going to be short since I have an appointment, so let's just get to it!

Thanks to HermioneHolmesGranger, roon0, and Catzandbookz8 for reviewing! I know this is such an unusual crossover/pairing, and it makes me so happy to know that there are other people out there enjoying this!

Special thanks to Catzandbookz8 for pre-reading this! Her feedback for this story has been amazing and I'm so grateful.

Here are some acronyms you need to know and will be referenced in this chapter:

A.S.I.S.= Australian Special Intelligence Services

A.D.F.= Australian Defense Force (military)

Any recognizable dialogue from this chapter comes from the flashbacks in Arrow S1E14.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Ten Months Later

Hermione had no idea why the Chinese would name this island 'purgatory' when it was obviously Hell. Lian Yu was absolute hell.

She really should have paid more attention to the fact that Dolohov had said the island was in the North China Sea. North, where winters were bitter and cold, with a chill that bit into her bones more deeply than even the most frigid night of a Scottish winter. Though, she knew that part of the reason she may have been feeling that way was because, in Scotland, she could at least go inside when it got too cold. Besides various caves, there wasn't much in terms of 'inside' on Lian Yu. Even while bundled up in her wool sweaters and leggings, and wrapped in a blanket, Hermione felt as though she would never be warm. Having a fire helped, but she could only build them sparingly because of the mercenary's team.

After following the men around for months, Hermione had found out that the mercenary in questions name was Fyers, his accent meant that he was originally from somewhere near Oxford or Cambridge, what his men's patrol patterns were, and that calling them a 'team' didn't properly convey the scope of Fyers operation- they were more like a small army. The sheer number of people had put her off of any ideas of interfering with his plans. But despite all her time spying, she still had no idea what they were doing or what their plans were.

When Dolohov said that there was a mercenary camped out nearby, Hermione had thought that they'd just made a base on the island. Which they absolutely had, but they also seemed to be constantly patrolling Lian Yu, especially after two prisoners escaped from Fyers camp about six or so months before.

Hermione had kept an eye on them as best she could while still keeping her distance. All she really knew was that one was Chinese and had apparently been on the island for a while based on his knowledge of the terrain and his ragged appearance, while the other man had been on a plane that had crashed-landed on the island somewhat recently. Fyers men were physically well-trained but not the most aware, so it had been easy enough to follow them. But the two escapees seemed to have much better senses and had nearly spotted her a time or two when she'd gotten just a bit too close. After a while, she'd found it best to just avoid them altogether. Friend or foe, it didn't matter. Getting to know and getting attached to them would just be handing Dolohov a new weak point.

She couldn't help being curious though. Hermione had found the plane wreckage her third day on the island and was positive it had was a military plane based on its interiors and the crates of weapons still intact, and the fact that no one seemed to be searching for it was odd to her. Surely whatever organization the dark-haired man belonged to wouldn't have just ignored a plane going down, yet no one else had arrived on the island looking for him. She'd noted its location and planned on coming back at a later date since there seemed to be a good amount of supplies still intact, but the escaped prisoners had opted to use it as their base before she could and it felt like cheating going in and stealing from them when they were in a position as unenviable as hers was.

Beyond Fyers, his men, and the two obnoxiously observant escapees, there was only one other person currently residing on Lian Yu. A few months before, a life raft had washed ashore, containing the body of an older man and a boy. Considering how carefully the boy had tried to bury the older man, Hermione assumed it was a father and son.

Honestly, watching that boy- and while she knew that he was probably close to her own age, Hermione couldn't think of him as anything other than a boysimply because of how young and stupid he was- was the highlight of her time on Lian Yu. First, he'd washed ashore and immediately been shot with an arrow by the Chinese man. Then, he'd been dragged off by the Chinese man to his cave, which he'd come stumbling out of a few days later and ran straight into Fyers men. Hermione had only followed them for part of the way before losing interest, assuming that the boy would never make it out of the mercenary's camp alive. But then the Chinese man apparently came racing in to save the day, because she'd spotted him dragging the boy back to his cave before going back out and capturing Fyers.

Hermione didn't know why the man cared so much about a boy who was clearly surviving on little more than luck and would likely end up being the definition of 'dead weight', but his poor choices were his own.

She'd lost track of them for a bit after that but, from what she could piece together based on the tidbits she'd picked up from the soldiers when she'd dared to get closer, the Chinese man had been captured, the boy had killed an officer and stole his uniform before also being captured, and then the Chinese man had supposedly killed the boy. But they were clearly mistaken, since she'd watched the boy make his way out a river and then stumble off in the direction of the plane wreckage. The man must have saved the boy and told him where to find his partner.

Based on what she'd seen of the partner, Hermione had honestly expected the boy to have been killed on sight. Instead, she watched as the dark-haired man tried his best to turn the boy into a fighter. Whether it went well or not, Hermione couldn't tell because she couldn't get within 100 meters of the man without him somehow being able to sense that she was watching him. He'd almost caught her a few times in the beginning when he and the Chinese man had first escaped Fyers and when they had gone out hunting, and it was purely luck that Hermione had managed to get away from him.

Hermione didn't even know what the partner looked like besides the fact that he had black hair. It was hard to judge size from a distance, and she certainly wasn't going to get close enough to hear his voice. But the way he moved was different from his partner. The Chinese man could fight hand-to-hand but preferred using his bow and arrows. This man though… he seemed to thrive fighting up close and personal.

She was self-aware enough to know that the isolation was getting to her. Hermione missed people. Being fascinated by the few individuals in proximity to her was a logical result of her isolation. It didn't mean anything, and she certainly wasn't going to do anything. If the drive behind training the boy was anything to go by, there was clearly some kind of plan being put into play at the moment. Probably one to do with the supply plane that should be arriving any day now. Hopefully, they would be able to escape off this island and Hermione could focus on more important things.

With that goal in mind, Hermione had hiked away from Fyers makeshift airfield and the plane wreckage, and settled up high in a tree for the night since none of her caves were nearby. It was just her luck that the dark-haired man and the boy had decided to stop and rest on the forest floor right beneath her.

Don't panic, she told herself. It's getting dark and you're high enough up that no one will notice you as long as you stay quiet.

"I'll try and get a fire going," a soft voice offered in a clear American accent, and Hermione knew it had to belong to the boy based on its innocence alone. Merlin, it had been years since she'd heard a voice that didn't contain a hardened edge to it, and she found she didn't really like it.

"Go for it, kid," a deep, raspy voice responded, and Hermione's breath caught. Australian. An Australian soldier… perhaps part of the Defense Force, if the gear in the plane was from an actual government agency and not from some sort of private security company. Unless, gods forbid, he was another mercenary.

She could hear them begin to settle in and internally groaned. Of course they'd have to make camp against the tree she rested in. Considering how long she'd managed to avoid the Australian, this was probably the American's fault. They just had to ruin everything.

The forest slowly grew darker and the antics of the men below her became more and more entertaining. It seemed the American couldn't actually get a fire going, and the Australian had decided to egg him on rather than be helpful.

"Obviously, you were never a boy scout."

"Yeah?" the American snapped. "What tipped you off?"

"We better hurry," the Australian responded lightly, unconcerned. "The wolves come out at night."

The sound of two sticks rubbing together stopped. "There are wolves here?" the American demanded in horror and Hermione rolled her eyes. How had this boy been on the island for so long and somehow missed the sound of howling? The wolves weren't exactly hiding.

The Australian must have made some sort of gesture, because the American groaned. "Right. Of course there are. Because what would the worst place on Earth be without wolves?"

"The only thing that will keep them out is fire," the other man informed him.

"Well, you know, you're welcome to help!" the boy snarled.

Hermione heard the unmistakable noise of a metal lighter flicking open and then the crackle of growing flames reached her ears.

It was silent and then, "Seriously?! I've been working on this for two hours!"

"I know," the Australian responded. "I was watching you. Thank you for the entertainment."

A huff of air escaped Hermione as desperately tried to keep from laughing. Her entire body was shaking but she couldn't help it; it was the funniest thing she'd heard in far too long.

They fell silent, besides small clicks as what she assumed were weapons were cleaned and prepped.

Finally, the Australian man spoke again. "You're going to wear that thing out just by looking at it. Don't worry, she'll be waiting for flowers when you get back."

The boy barked a laugh. "I doubt it. Remember how I told you I was shipwrecked here? Her sister was with me when the boat went down."

Hermione had no idea what they were talking about, but she hoped that what the American meant by that was the he was platonically traveling with his girlfriend's sister and she went down in the boat. Only because she didn't want to imagine some poor girl out there thinking that, not only did her boyfriend cheat on her, but her sister also betrayed her horribly and then they both died before she could yell at them. At least if the sister was with her boyfriend for an innocent reason, then she could remember them both fondly.

"That's funny, I never took you as being the bad boy. You seem to lack the spine."

Well, there went her hope.

Hermione rolled her eyes. There was difference between a bad boy and an asshole, though she didn't know how much of a spine you actually needed to be either.

"That's why I've gotta get home," the American told him. "To make this right."

Her mouth dropped open upon hearing that and the Australian seemed to share her disbelief. "Do you really think you can sleep with your girlfriend's sister and still make it right? You're dumber than I thought. And believe me when I tell you, that is something."

"Yeah, well, you don't really strike me as the type of guy who accepts apologies, so…"

What kind of apology does one make for inviting their girlfriend's sister onto a boat, sleeping with her, and then returning without her because she drowned at sea? Hermione wondered. Is there some kind of gift that makes it all better?

If so, then she'd really like to see it.

"Well, everybody is in this life for themselves," the Australian snapped.

"Learn that in Australian spy school?" the boy sneered.

"No," he answered softly. "I learned that here. Do you remember I told you that I had a partner? Well, you remember the guy who tortured you?"

Hermione wasn't surprised to hear that the American had been tortured by Fyers. In fact, she would have been shocked if he hadn't been. But it was surprising to hear that the Australian had had another partner before the Chinese man.

"That… that freak show was your partner?" the American stuttered.

"His name's Billy Wintergreen."

"Oh, okay."

"Our mission was to exfiltrate Yao Fei and to find out why Fyers and his men were so interested in him."

The Chinese man's name was Yao Fei. Hermione wondered why she hadn't heard any of the mercenary's men calling him by his name if they were apparently specifically interested in him.

"But our bird was shot out of the sky before we even saw the airstrip."

"That's where I found you," the boy stated softly.

"When Fyers took us prisoner, he asked if we would join him and his men. Billy accepted Fyers invitation, and I declined. He was the godfather to my son, Joe. And yet, he turned his back on me without even thinking twice about it." It was silent for a moment, and then there was rustling as if the soldier was standing up before he repeated, "Everybody is in this life for themselves."

Then there were footsteps walking away from the tree, and Hermione cautiously peeked down to see the dark-haired man striding away from the fire, leaving the American behind.

Hermione sat back against the tree trunk, staring up at the stars while she considered everything she'd heard.

The timeline as she understood it was:

Yao Fei was on the island and Fyers came to find him.

The dark-haired man had been sent with Billy Wintergreen to Lian Yu to grab Yao Fei but instead their plane was brought down, and they were captured. The boy had mentioned Australian spy school so perhaps the man wasn't ADF but instead Australian Special Intelligence Services? Hermione supposed it didn't matter either way.

Fyers had offered the man and his partner, Billy, the chance to join him. Billy took it, but he didn't.

Yao Fei had assisted the man from escaping Fyers camp, and they had teamed up to find a way off the island.

The boy was shipwrecked near Lian Yu and had somehow ended up on the island.

Yao Fei had saved his life, the boy had run away and been captured by Fyers and tortured, before being saved by Yao Fei again. Yao Fei was captured, but the boy escaped and joined forces with the dark-haired man to escape from the island.

Did Dolohov have any idea how much was happening on this island before dumping her here? Because there seemed to be more people than he'd thought. Though, most of them appeared to be little more than trash, so perhaps he viewed this as another layer to his final test.

A test that, at this point, she honestly didn't know whether she wanted to pass or fail.

"Our game ends… isn't that what you want, Hermione? For this to all be over?"

Hermione did want the ten-year long nightmare Dolohov had trapped her in to be over. She just wasn't sure if the only way she would be able to achieve that goal was through her death.

Time passed, and then she heard the sound of leaves crunching under boots before it was silent again. Hermione cautiously looked down again, and then a light flashed in her face. She reared back, barely staying on her branch as her hands flew up to cover her eyes.

"I know you're up there," the dark-haired man growled. "You can either come down on your own, or I'll start shooting until I bring you down myself."

She could help swearing. She'd been doing so well.

"Well?" he snapped softly, and Hermione heard the sound of metal clanking softly against metal.

He would absolutely shoot her down if she didn't climb down on her own. While letting him shoot her was one way of ending the game with Dolohov, Hermione would rather her death be quick and as painless as possible if that was truly the only way out.

Peeking her head down again, she blinked against the bright flash of what she thought was a torchlight. Looking past him, she saw that his younger companion was out cold. That was good, since it may be what gave her the chance of walking away from this encounter.

Shifting to the side, Hermione started climbing down the tree with her back facing the man as a show of good faith. When she softly landed on the ground, she slowly turned to face the man she'd been avoiding for at least half a year now.

He dropped the light to the ground, carefully scanning her up and down. She tried to do the same but with the way the light was facing, he was little more than a shadow to her; she could make out vague ideas of facial features, but no actual details. After a moment, he jerked his head to the side, indicating for her to move away from the boy. Hermione did so gladly, walking several meters away from the small camp before shifting to look at the man again.

"Who are you?" he demanded, pulling a sword from off his back and pressing the tip against her throat.

Hermione couldn't help swallowing audibly at the feel of the cold metal against the thin, vulnerable skin on her neck. "I'm no one," she answered.

The steel dug in closer. "I want a name."

"Hermione."

"You're British?"

"Yes." And then, because she was an absolute idiot who had clearly lost all sense, Hermione asked, "Are you A.D.F. or A.S.I.S.?"

He stiffened. "What, did Fyers not inform you about who you're spying on?"

She snorted. "I'm not with Fyers. I'm not with anyone. I'm just another prisoner trapped in purgatory."

Shaking his head slightly, he asked, "Do you expect me to believe that there's been someone else on this island all this time without anyone knowing? I've felt your eyes on me, girl. You've been hanging around for months now."

Hermione's teeth dug into her lip. "I thought Fyers' men were the only ones on the island. When I saw you and Yao Fei running from his camp and saw how the men became agitated, I became curious. I watched you for a bit, but you almost caught me several times, so I just did my best to avoid you after that. It was going so well too, until you decided to camp out beneath my tree."

His expression didn't change. "You really expect me to believe you've been hiding out in the forest all these months with no supplies?"

"None of my caves are nearby," she shrugged. It was pure luck that she hadn't tied herself in for the night before the two males had come along- it would have seemed rather odd for her to seemingly be running around with nothing but rope. "I have supplies stashed all over the island; the lighter I travel, the quicker I move. I'm not unaware of the fact that I'm the only woman on the island; I won't let Fyers catch me."

It was silent for a long moment before he sighed. "I've waited almost two years to escape from this island. I can't risk allowing anyone to compromise my mission."

"I'm not looking to compromise anything. In fact, the only thing I plan to do if you don't run me through is put as much distance between myself and the airfield as I can."

He immediately stepped closer, the sword blade sliding up her neck so the middle of it was pressing against her jugular vein instead of the tip. "What do you know about the airfield?"

"I've been here for about ten or so months," she answered evenly. "Learning Fyers routines is vital if I want to survive. And I know that the next supply plane should be landing any day now. Though, judging by your… manner, I'm going to assume that it will be arriving in the morning."

"And let me guess, you'd like to be on it," he sneered.

She huffed a laugh. "The exact opposite, actually. There's no escaping from this island, at least not for me."

"Why?"

"The person who brought me here made sure to leave a few trackers on me," she answered slowly, carefully. "If I leave the island, he'll know, and then he'll come for me again. And I was given the impression that he wouldn't be too pleased if he had to come find me and drag me back. My first time being brought here was unpleasant enough; I don't fancy repeating the journey."

His head tilted as he obviously looked her over again, brows furrowed. "Who brought you here?"

Hermione shook her head. "No one you'd know."

"Humor me."

"A man by the name of Antonin Dolohov."

He hummed. "You piss him off?"

"More like I caught his eye," she murmured with a grimace. "If I'd just upset him, he would have killed me years ago. Unfortunately for me, I was interesting."

His head cocked slightly to the side. "Just how long have you been dealing with Dolohov?"

She inhaled deeply. Why was he asking that? "Since I was sixteen."

He went quiet again. "You're a liability," he finally stated. "And, like I said, I can't risk being compromised."

"I'm less of a liability than that boy," she told him softly, making sure to hold his gaze as best she could. "After all, you know that I've been nearby for months, yet I never sold you out or got you caught. That kid bounced between Yao Fei and Fyers for days before finally falling into your lap. I wouldn't trust him to hold my bag, let alone watch my back."

His lips pursed for a moment before relaxing into a grin. "You're not wrong there. But see, the difference between you and him is that he's actually useful to me."

"Yes, and that also means that he's a riskier bet than I."

"Say I do let you live. Where will you go?"

Hermione smirked, nodding her head in the directions the two men had come from. "About nine klicks that way."

It took a moment for him to get it. "The plane."

"If you make it off the island, you won't be needing anything left there, will you?"

"Do you even know how to use a gun or handle a knife?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious, though he still hadn't moved his sword.

"No," she answered honestly. "But I've got nothing but time to learn."

He stayed where he was for a heartbeat before swearing, stepping back and sheathing his sword. "Kid's made me soft," he muttered.

"Or his stupidity is slowly killing off your brain cells now that they've finished off all of his," Hermione quipped, finally relaxing. He could still change his mind but, for now, she was safe.

"Were you watching him?" he asked. "When he first arrived?"

"Of course," she laughed softly. "Like I said, I've spent months watching Fyers men and tracking their patterns, along with keeping an eye out for you and Yao Fei so that I'd know where to avoid going. I was lucky enough to be nearby when he made land and then I stayed to watch things play out. The fact that he hasn't died yet makes me doubt Darwin's theory about survival of the fittest."

He smiled widely, the faint light glinting off the white of his teeth. It was the only distinct feature on his face that she could make out besides the whites of his eyes. "I heard you laughing while we were talking- glad to know I'm not the only one seeing how ridiculous the kid is."

Hermione's mouth dropped open slightly because she knew her laughter hadn't been audible, but quickly closed it again. It didn't matter.

Just because she wanted to know didn't mean that it mattered. Because it didn't.

"I suppose I should take the chance to thank you for the entertainment," she joked, rocking back on her heels. "Listening to you two made me laugh for the first time in about a year."

For some reason, that made his grin fade away. "You've really been dealing with this Dolohov since you were sixteen?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't," she warned. "Don't waste time worrying about me. Once you get off this island, forget about me and everything I told you. I know the score better than you, and I neither need nor want your help."

Based off his stance, Hermione assumed he was leveling an unimpressed look at her. "Is anyone looking for you?"

"Probably. They're never going to find me though. And I don't want you to find them."

His brows furrowed. "What, no loved ones you want reassured that you're alive?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, frustrated. "Dolohov knew enough about this island to bring me here; fighting him here means fighting in his territory. My friends are in law enforcement, and they've done the best they could to protect me while we were still in Britain. But if they come here, they'll be fighting without the resources and allies they have back home. They won't win. I don't need anyone coming here to die trying to save me."

When he was clearly going to keep prodding, Hermione decided to change the subject. "Are you sure you'll be able to take the airstrip without anyone alerting Fyers or the pilot? There are ten soldiers guarding that perimeter, not to mention the tower guard. If he even thinks something's wrong, he'll contact Fyers and, if he needs to, send the plane away."

"You know an awful lot about the airfield for someone who claims to have no intentions of trying to escape the island," he stated evenly.

"Fyers is less likely to notice things being lifted from the supply planes than he would be if I stole them from his camp," she answered simply. "If the number is off when they're counting things at camp, then they'll think there was some sort of error made when loading the plane."

She realized that she shouldn't have said that when he questioned, "You know how to sneak into Fyers camp?"

"I… may have been able to once or twice," Hermione muttered. "But you didn't answer my question: are you sure you can take the airstrip with only that boy as backup? You haven't had much time to train him."

"Why so concerned about someone you'll never see again?" he questioned.

"Well, why not?" she sighed. "There's literally nothing else to do."

"Slade?" his companion called, and Hermione instinctively shrank back into the shadows.

"Hang on, kid," he- Slade- called back. "Just finishing taking a leak."

Hermione wrinkled her nose but said nothing. Hopefully they would be able to leave the island, she would be able to climb back up her tree, and then tomorrow help herself to their leftover supplies.

Slade met her gaze. "If I find out you're lying… if you go running off to warn Fyers…"

She rolled her eyes again. "Yes, yes, you'll kill me painfully. Of course, telling Fyers would involve informing him of my existence, so I think your revenge would have to wait until after he, and probably his men, were done with me because I think we can both imagine what would happen to a woman who stumbled into his camp that was of no use to whatever he's planning."

He nodded slowly. "Fair point."

As Slade turned his back on her and started making his way back to his partner, Hermione couldn't help whispering, "Good luck."

Slade paused for a moment before continuing on without looking back.

Regardless of what happened to her, Hermione sincerely hoped that Slade managed to make it off Lian Yu and back home to the son he'd mentioned. He'd been on this island even longer than she had and had never let it break him; if living was supposedly not for the weak, then Slade had certainly proved that he deserved to live.

Apparently Lian Yu hadn't been able to completely break her yet since she was still able to feel something even slightly positive towards another human being. Hermione honestly wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

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