As always thank you to every one of my readers. You all rock! And to my Beta Mrs. Thor Odinson.

Disclaimer: There is a lot of language in this chapter but I felt that it was needed to be true to Slade and Victoria's personality.

The Other Queen – 14

Chapter 14

Lian Yu 2007

Stepping into the clearing Shado tried to slow her fast beating heart. She made it to the opening of the wrecked plane and took a deep breath. Taking a moment to compose herself before walking into the base.

The scene she stepped in on was Slade grabbing Victoria's arm and was carefully flipping her over. Victoria got off her back and went straight for a punch to Slade's jaw only to be blocked from the action. Slade was still too fast for her to ever land a punch to him but that didn't prevent her from trying. Shado was surprised how much she was changing up her moves. Some of the training she had given her must have sunk in the young woman's mind. With one kick, Victoria finally managed to knock her partner off balance.

On a create with his back turned Oliver was watching the fight with interest and he hadn't noticed Shado yet. In the next second, Slade had grabbed Victoria by the waist and had pinned her to the floor. Shado almost wanted to walk away from how intimate the moment seemed for the two. But just then Oliver looked over his shoulder, he saw her and walked over to her. He had a smile plastered on his face until he noticed the small cut upon her neck. He looked very concerned and Shado didn't know whether she wanted to kiss him or whack him.

"What the hell happened?" Oliver asked.

Shado looked ahead of herself and Oliver, noticing that Slade and Victoria were looking over at them in concern.

"I ran into Wintergreen," Shado replied.

She noticed Slade's face turn red with angrier and he hurried his steps so he stood beside Oliver. "What?!"

"I ran into Wintergreen and he told me that if we all stay away from him he will stay away from us."

"Is that all that he said?' Slade growled.

"He wanted you and Victoria to get the message," Shado replied.

"What? What did he say?"

"Something like makes sure to deliver my message to Slade and his girlfriend," Shado explained.

"He mentioned Victoria?" Slade asked looking completely livid.

"Hey, I'm just telling you what he told me to say."

"Shado, if he is threatening us I need to know!" Slade shouting, losing a little bit more of his temper with every second.

"Yes, he was threatening us!" Shado shouted back.

How dare he! Victoria thought. She started to pace the floor as Slade and Shado continued to have a shouting match. Looking over at Oliver she saw that he looked shocked and wasn't moving a muscle. Most likely too confused and upset to think of a way to fix this problem. Billy had a lot of nerve threatening them! She was so angry she felt like she could punch him in the face. Breathe, she reminded herself. She looked over at Slade and was happy to see that he was no longer yelling at Shado. Upon looking at him closer she could swear that she saw the wheels turning in his head. What was he planning? I'll give him a minute to think about what he wants to do before asking him. So instead she headed toward Shado, she could clearly see that she was thinking of a plan as well. Victoria needed to know exactly what Billy had said.

"Shado, what did Billy tell you?"

"Have you not been listening?" Shado replied in annoyance.

"Yes, I have but I need for you to repeat what he said. Did he give you a clue as to where he is hiding?"

Shado took a deep breath, composed her thoughts and answered with a sigh, "I can't promise I'll remember exactly what he said to me."

"And that's fine. Just tell me all you remember."

Shado stood thinking for a moment. "He wanted us to stay away from him. Saying that if we left him alone he'd leave us alone."

"Do you believe him?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know him very well. And for some unknown reason, he wanted to make sure I told you and Slade."

"How did he word it about the Slade and I part?"

"Make sure to deliver my message to Slade and his little girlfriend, he said," Shado quoted to the best of her memory.

"And? What else happened?" Victoria asked thoughtfully.

"I told him alright and then he was gone. I couldn't even make out which direction he had gone in. It was like he was never even there," Shado explained with a frown.

How does a man like him just disappear? Victoria thought in confusion. Then she looked over at Slade who was still fuming. They had both received the same training. Both taught to disappear for a living. Where could he have gone? She knew the question wouldn't leave her head till she solved it. So, she decided to put it on the back burner. Leaving Shado's side she walked over to Slade. He didn't seem to even notice that she was there. Too busy trying to make sense of his old friend's threat. Victoria cleared her throat to alert him to her presence but he was still too deep into his thoughts.

"Hey," she finally ventured.

"Hmm?" he questioned while turning his head in her direction.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" she said, trying to lighten the mood he was in.

However, the scowl appeared upon his face once more. "I'm wondering how to deal with that bastard," Slade replied calmly, too calmly.

"I'm sure we will come up with a plan," Victoria reassured forcing a smile.

"You should have just had let me kill him," Slade growled out with an accusing look to Victoria.

"And let you become the monster that he is?" Victoria said with a dangerously low voice.

"If you had just let me, we wouldn't be having this problem."

"And what? I did what I felt was right. I wanted you to live with yourself at the end of the day."

"A lot of good that does us," Slade replied.

Victoria wanted to smack him in the face, she stepped forward to do so but just then Shado grabbed her arm from behind her. Victoria turned on Shado ready to yell at her when she noticed the warning glare that Shado was shooting her. She took a deep breath and followed Shado to the fire and silently sent Slade a glare to which he simply returned.

She sat down in front of the fire with Shado. Silently Shado made sure Victoria wouldn't do something she'd regret and then she stood up and walked over to Oliver. He seemed to be finally recovering from his shock and Victoria watched as they exchanged words. She didn't even try to hear them as she tried to focus her full attention on the burning logs in front of her. She felt so angry she wanted to hit something. And I would have if Shado hadn't stopped me, she thought with a glare in the direction of the Asian woman. Turning back to the fire she tried to remind herself that it wasn't Shado fault. She just simply wanted to keep the peace between them all. It was really Slade's fault. Asshole! How dare he be mad at her? If he had done that if he had done that who knows how many things would have changed? Would she even look at him the same way? She kind of understood why he was upset though. If he had just killed him they wouldn't have to be worried about Billy now. He'd be on the ground and they wouldn't have a care in the world. Well, they would still have to come up with some way off this island but it would be one less thing to be worried about. Could Slade be right? Should she have let him kill Billy? she tried to shake the question out of her mind. It wasn't something that could be undone. But had it been the best decision?

#

Days passed and Victoria's anger with Slade only seemed to grow as he seemed to be actively avoiding her. She wanted to rip off his head but somehow Shado and Oliver had always been there just in time to stop her. And to think I have feelings for that asshole, she thought. She'd gladly have another shouting match with him if it would just stop his moody and infuriating silence. Damn! I wish he'd yell or break something. Hell, I wouldn't mind kissing that jerk face of his. To which only made her angrier. Seeing that he hardly looked at her they sure as hell hadn't been able to fix any of their problems. Aren't we just a couple of the year? she thought sarcastically.

However, it gave her plenty of time to think about everything Billy had said and she started weeding out ideas of where he could possibly be hiding. She had narrowed it down to two locations, the other camp that Oliver had been to before or the cave that she and Oliver had survived for months in. She knew that Billy had told them to leave him only but she couldn't help but wonder where he could possibly be.

She had been thinking about it the last three days and the idea couldn't seem to leave her mind. It was when she was outside training with Shado when she voiced her thoughts and plan of attack.

"Are you crazy? We aren't going to confront Billy," Shado said simply.

"Why? We out number him four to one," Victoria reasoned.

"And he knows the layout of his hideout. If you think he'd just let us walk up to his camp, you don't know Billy Wintergreen at all."

"And you know so much about him?" Victoria shot back.

"I've been talking to Slade and he seems to think that Billy would make sure that he would have traps and nets around his perimeter to assure his safety," Shado explained.

Victoria felt her jaw tighten. So, Slade had been talking to Shado about different facts about Billy lately and yet wouldn't even speak to her. She saw how it was. Victoria allowed the topic to drop though she was livid. How long was Slade going to play this stupid little game? In that moment, she saw Slade walk pass them with a large animal rested on his shoulders. It was like she didn't even remember that Shado was there when she went after the tall Australian man. He looked behind himself and noticed Victoria on his heels.

"What?!" he asked her, stopping his footsteps.

"You tell me. You're the one who has been ignoring me for the last few days!" Victoria shouted back.

"I don't have time for this," he huffed and started once more.

"And what else do you have to do that's so damn important?!"

"Victoria!" he replied, not stopping in his tracks.

"No, I'm not just going to let you ignore me anymore. I'm sick of it Slade! You've been a real asshole for the last week! And I am just tired of it. Would you just stop to look at me!" she shouted as she pulled his arm around so that he was facing her. His face was filled with annoyance but Victoria didn't care she was going to get him to finally stop this madness.

"Let go of me," he said trying to release his arm from her grasp.

"No!"

Finally, Slade completely stopped walking and turned his full attention to her. "Fine! You have my full attention now."

"Could you just stop being an asshole for one damn moment?"

Slade looked like he wanted to say something in return but instead shut his mouth. She waited to make sure he was actually listening to her before she poured it all out on him, "You know I was upset about Billy's threat as well but that doesn't give you the right to be angry with me for not just letting you kill him before. I don't think to kill a man would have solved any of our problems! And I resident the fact that you blame me for that when you told me afterward that you were happy I didn't let you just kill him."

"That was before I fully knew just how much of a threat he was. And I can't believe that you're naïve enough to think that it wouldn't have solved our problem. We wouldn't have to be worried about him ever laying a hand on us again. If I had just done what was the best for us all we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I don't honestly think you could live with yourself if you had killed an old friend. Whatever he is to you now, it doesn't justify you murdering him," Victoria replied calmly.

"Well, maybe you don't know me at all! I would have done what was needed to ensure our safety but instead, I allowed my weakness to get the better of me."

"So, what compassion is a weakness now?"

"When you allow it to cloud your better judgment."

"Slade, killing is wrong. There is a better way."

"Victoria, we aren't living by the rules of a civil government anymore. We are stuck on an island where our actions and our judgment is the only law."

"That doesn't make it right."

"And what?! They would have killed us without a moment's hesitation." Slade explained.

It was Victoria's turn to walk away from him. He wanted to call out her own avoidant but instead sent her a silent glare and continued into the wrecked plane. Damn, that woman was infuriating. Perhaps he shouldn't have avoided her the last couple of days but he hadn't really been looking forward to the fight he knew would ensue. So, he had ignored her hoping to allow himself more time to think and not have to worry about yet another thing. In all honesty, he wasn't a fan when she was this angry. Of course, they had never had a fight this big before but he didn't think she understood the gravity of the situation. And though he wanted to make her understand he knew until she had been through what he had on this island that she never would.

Meanwhile, Victoria was walking in the opposite direction of the wrecked plane. She needed room to breathe, to think and she wasn't going to be getting it while in the presence of Slade. How could he possibly think that killing someone that you didn't have to was needed? He had been unarmed when Slade had nearly killed him. True he managed to grab a sword with little difficulty, Victoria had a scar on her side to prove it, but that didn't make killing him right. She bit down hard on her bottom lip, thinking long and hard, wondering what it was that she should do?

Her thoughts wandered from Slade to Billy once more and her curiosity of where that son-of-a-bitch was driving her crazy. Surely the cave would allow more cover and she was sure that he was taking full advantage of the traps and nets on that side of the island. I need to know where he is hiding. This thought just kept running through her mind until it was almost driving her crazy. There has got to be a way back to that cave But we couldn't all go at it at once. There is too many of them to move in stealth. Just then a thought hit her. What if I go alone? Fewer chances of her getting caught. What if something goes wrong? she thought. I've been doing lots of training. No, no it was too risky. But maybe it was worth it? Just then Oliver came over to talk to her and she had to put her thoughts on the back burner.

#

It took a long time for Slade to fall asleep that night. His mind kept replaying the fight he had with Victoria and he was realizing just how much of an asshole he had been. He looked over at her bed and noticed that she was sound asleep. I should really apologize to her, he thought with a groan. At least then she'd stop being angry with him. One less thing to worry about. The real reason he had gotten so mad at her about sparing Billy's life was that he was worried about protecting the woman he loved. He had finally come to terms with the fact that he was completely in love with Victoria. Which was why he was so hell-bent on protecting her. He knew it was wrong for him to blame her for what had happened. But it had been easier to blame her than admit that he had no idea what they should do about the threat that was his ex-closest-friend. He just wanted to make sure that everyone he cared about on this island was safe, even Oliver.

So, with a sigh he thought to himself that he would tell Victoria he was sorry tomorrow morning and hopefully they could get back to the matter at hand, coming up with a plan to take down Billy. Finally, he allowed himself to give into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

#

It was very early the next morning when Victoria awoke on the next day. The sun hadn't even risen. Slowly she made her way through the wrecked plane without a sound until she walked over to the crate that held their weapons. She quickly and quietly placed the sword holder upon her back and adjusted the strap. So far so good, no one had stirred in their sleep. She walked towards the opening and was just about to continue forward when she accidentally knocked down a jug of water. She reached out to grab it but wasn't fast enough to prevent it from crashing to the ground. She looked in horror at each of her sleeping companions, Slade stirred in his cot. Worrying that he would find her out of bed at this crazy hour she started doubling back to her bed when she heard the rhythmic sound of snores from Slade's direction. With a sigh of relief, she continued out of the opening.

Once outside she let out the breath that she had been holding in and smiled as she could still see the dew glistened in the fading darkness. Taking a deep breath of the fresh air she moved forward. She had a lot of ground to cover before she made it to Yao Fei's cave.

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