Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.

AN: Besides thanking everyone for their reading and reviewing, I want to especially thank heidi2310on AO3 for the suggestion that prompted my Muse to develop this part of the story. I had a different idea for this part of the story, but her idea augmented it, for sure. The Muse ran with it all the way to the bank, so to speak. It made the story, I think, and hope you'll think so as well. Enjoy.

Previously:

Removing his hand once again, he said, "Now, if you please, tell Oliver instead that you are okay. At least physically. And only that."

Felicity bit her lower lip. She wanted to dare to say something more, but she decided she really shouldn't risk it. Not with the unstable man with the superhuman strength beside her. Looking at Oliver, she nodded and said, "I'm okay, Oliver. Really. He hasn't hurt me, this time."

"Good girl. I knew you were capable of obeying requests." Turning back to the screen, he said to Oliver, "I will text you our address. Like I said, come alone. Or all promises are void." Slade walked to the table once again and shut off the equipment. Turning around slowly, Slade caught her eye.

"I will be back. I have to get something," Slade told her as he walked out of the room.

Felicity tested the ropes tying her to the chair, but they were tied too tightly, the knots too secure, to be loosened in such a short time. Felicity jumped as she heard the squeak of a cart being pushed into the room, the image from the movies jumped into her brain, with the villain wheeling in instruments of torture. Her eyes widened as she noted what looked like medical equipment on the cart, including a defibrillator, two syringes, alcohol swabs, gauze pads and dressings.

She swallowed once again, trying to keep her fear contained. Felicity wasn't certain, but she didn't think those were tools for torture. At least she didn't think so. However, because of her fear of needles, seeing them on the cart could be considered torture by itself. At least she thought so. Felicity felt Slade looking at her, so she met his gaze once again.

Slade pulled the cart next to her. "Now for the next stage of revenge."

Wanting to be brave, but her voice came out quiet and wavering. "I thought you told Oliver you weren't going to hurt me."

"I'm not. Well, that is, if it all ends well you shouldn't ever hurt again."

Felicity could see the color of the liquid in one of the syringes. Green. Like mirakuru. A gasp escaped her lips. Her eyes instinctively returned to Slade's gaze. "That's mirakuru, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Cocking his head at her, his eyes calculating, Slade asked, "Now, how would you know that?"

Felicity hoped Slade wouldn't change his mind and torture the truth out of her, making her tell him of Oliver getting some mirakuru when he rescued Roy. He then could figure out they were trying to find a cure. Instead, she confidently said, "Lucky guess," and stared at him without flinching.

Slade laughed. "Well, I suppose you know something about it because of your young comrade. You see, part of the revenge against Oliver is taking your light away from him. I've already accomplished the first part of it. The second part of my plan is injecting you with the mirakuru. With any luck, in the best-case scenario, you'll be turned into an angry young woman with rage against Oliver for all he has exposed you to in his so-called 'mission'. His 'Girl Wednesday' turned against him. The ultimate betrayal."

Felicity had wondered if Slade knew more about them than they had thought with his earlier comment to Oliver about Felicity being Oliver's "girl". Now, with his taunt about the 'Girl Wednesday', Felicity was certain he'd somehow gotten to know too much about them. Somehow.

"Oh, you caught the fact I know all the little 'inside jokes' between the two of you? Yes, I have my sources and my ways. I have indeed gathered much information on all of you." Turning to the cart, Slade picked up the syringe with the clear liquid and an alcohol swab. "Now, we better get this done. Before I know it, Oliver will be here."

As Slade rolled up her sleeve, Felicity began to whimper, despite herself. "Please, don't. Please, please." She didn't know whether she was more afraid of the needle or what it contained.

"Don't worry. You may not even remember anything else besides your anger towards your 'hero'. So, you really have nothing to worry about." He plunged the syringe into her upper arm muscle and injected the fluid into her. "Now, I have taken care to do the procedure correctly by administering you the sedative first. Increases the chance you wouldn't die from it."

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Felicity's last conscious thought was a sarcastic one. "Oh, good. I have a chance of surviving this, only to become Slade's weapon against Oliver."

As the world faded, she heard Slade say from a distance away, "When you wake up, Felicity, it will be the culmination of a beautiful plan for revenge."

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Coming out of the shadows to join Oliver at the desk, the others gathered around him in silence, waiting for him to speak.

"Yep that went about the way I thought it would," Oliver said. "So, how can we sneak up on Slade without injuring Felicity?"

Even though they had ARGUS-level surveillance equipment in the lair, ensuring Slade wasn't listening to them. Oliver still wasn't completely convinced. Because it might mean Felicity's life, doubts crept into Oliver's mind any way.

"Or should we discuss this somewhere else?" Oliver asked, looking at Dig.

"Like I said, Oliver, Lyla assures me this is top of the line equipment ARGUS has," Diggle said. "We aren't being bugged now."

"Yeah, I agree. I'm sure we're safe to discuss things here." Sara walked around the desk and sat down. "So…unlike with my family and Slade playing mind games…Slade wants you alone."

"We must be careful how we approach this thing," Dig added. "I'm surprised you're not arguing about going alone, Oliver."

Oliver gave a half-hearted shrug. "It's the only way we can make sure we get Felicity out of this alive. Somehow, you guys have to get her out of there while I take care of Slade."

Sara looked at him skeptically. "Really? You're going with that particular plan?"

Roy laughed. "I agree with Sara. You think we're going to let you tackle Slade by yourself?"

"Look at how well it turned out when we tried to sneak up on him yesterday. It didn't," Oliver argued.

"A different building might give us an advantage," Sara began.

"I don't think so, Sara. And without Felicity to do her magic with cameras and surveillance, we have no idea what we are walking into. What…what he has done to Felicity, what we'll find in there. We've got nothing."

"What do you suggest then, Oliver?"

"Knowing Slade like I do, it seems as if he'll want to talk a lot, to showboat all of his grievances, to really make me suffer…so perhaps that'll give you guys time to sneak up and get into place. I still think it will come down to Slade and me fighting to the last, so…"

"That's why you think we can get in and sneak Felicity away?"

Oliver hung his head and covered it with his hands. "That's the best I got, guys. Unless you can think of something better…"

"To me, Slade has been proving how unpredictable he can be. I think he has even something bigger planned, especially if this is supposedly the last showdown." Diggle raked his hands through his short-cropped hair. "Can you think of anything different, Sara?"

"I haven't been able to outfox him since he smelled the dynamite we had planted on Heinrich right before we were going to trade him for Oliver on the island. So I'm fresh out of ideas as well."

Roy looked at his teammates, confusion on his face. "Guys, what is this? Felicity needs our help. We've never failed before; we aren't going to fail this time. Oliver, you'll be able to outsmart him again, like you did before. I'm sure of it. Hey, I don't choose dummies for mentors, you know."

Nervous laughter met his statement. Diggle reached out to mess up Roy's hair, Sara smiled her gratitude for his attempt at humor, and Oliver nodded slowly, reviewing what Roy had said. He gave the young man a small smile. "Thanks Roy. We all needed a reminder of how we fight. As I've found out most of my life, being flexible when going into a fight is indeed the best strategy, after all." He sighed, and the small smile vanished. "But…we still need some sort of strategy going in.

Diggle went to the computer and began to punch keys. "If I say so myself, I have become pretty good at hacking into building security websites. I'll see if I can pull up that building's blueprints, just to give us some sort of idea on the layout."

Oliver nodded. "That'll give us some sort of starting place." He looked at the watch "We do have some time to plan after all. Instead of panicking, like Slade thinks we will, we will plan instead."

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Oliver slowly walked towards the seemingly deserted warehouse. He had decided to wear a blue Henley and jeans instead of his Arrow outfit. It felt strange not carrying his bow, but as he'd often said, he didn't need his bow to be deadly. At least, for people who didn't have Mirakuru in their system.

Senses alert, he entered by way of the side door. Suddenly two huge men appeared in front of him. Oliver started throwing punches in a non-specific pattern, but it didn't seem to have any effect on them. Must be mirakuru. Oh great, Slade has soldiers also hyped up on it. He said softly into the comms, "Slade has mirakuru soldiers here. Lay back for a minute." Oliver tried a roundhouse kick on one of the men, who ended up grabbing his leg, swinging him around, and throwing him into a pile of stacked boxes.

Shaking his head trying to clear the dizziness, Oliver stood up and was about to rush the two men when a third man came at him from the side and tackled him. Landing on the cement floor, Oliver felt his head bounce off the hard surface with such impact he almost could see stars in front of his eyes. However, before he could clear his vision, he felt his legs being grabbed once again and found himself being swung around, then let go. Flying through the air, he landed into a stacked shelf.

"Enough!"

Oliver's vision cleared enough to watch Slade walk towards him as he laid among the scattered boxes, trying to catch his breath. "Get him up," Slade said, nodding at Oliver as he turned away. Not noticing the men approaching him on either side, Oliver was caught off-guard as he was hauled to his feet. He tried to get his feet under him as he was dragged across the floor to an open door on the other side of the room. Oliver didn't attempt to struggle, however, for he knew it would be useless.

The new room was mostly empty, but it was the figure at the other side of the room, chained to the wall, which drew his attention. Felicity was seemingly unconscious sitting on the floor, her chin resting on her chest, the hair escaping her ponytail almost covering her face, her back resting against the wall.

His instincts kicked in, and he struggled against his guards in vain. His only thought was to get to Felicity, but the men were too strong for him to escape.

"Don't worry, Kid, she's not harmed. Only resting." Slade walked over to Felicity and gently brushed her hair out of her face and raised her head, angling it so Oliver could see her face. The unmistakable sign of blood running from her eyes down her cheeks was now easily apparent, as Oliver knew was Slade's intention. Oliver yelled and again struggled against the men's hold, knowing what that blood meant.

AN: Oh dear. What's going to happen? Will Felicity really survive the mirakuru? Will she really fight Oliver? Hopefully I can post sooner than later, so I don't leave you in too much agony.