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

AN: Thank you for returning to my story. We shall see how Roy and Thea are doing with Slade. Thank you so very much for all your reviews, comments, and kudos. It really does make a writer work faster. I do apologize for the length of time it took to get this out. Real life problems interfered. However, I did get future chapters worked on as well, so that does help. Hopefully I can post the next chapter even quicker.

Possible Trigger Warning: character having panic attack, possible PTSD symptoms

Previously:

A rough laugh was meant to taunt Oliver, but he swallowed his retort and waited for Slade's reply. "Meet me at the old Wilderness facility out on Bakersville Road. Alone. Tomorrow morning at 9am."

"For what?"

"In exchange for these two young lovers." Slade decided to add, "Remember, Oliver, alone. If I see anyone else…."

"Why not now, Slade? What are you going to do?"

"You will find out. Tomorrow." A dial tone met Oliver's ears.

The team watched as Oliver stood there holding the phone to his ear, staring into space. Only when Diggle repeated his name several times did he shake his head and look at the group watching him in concern.

"He wants me to turn myself over to him tomorrow. Alone. For Roy and Thea."

"Oliver, no way in hell are we allowing you to do that," Diggle said.

"I agree," Felicity said, her face noticeably paler.

Felicity suddenly felt as though she was losing sensation of her body. The thought of poor Thea, with Slade…what if…what if he did to poor Thea what he did to her? She heard the others barely through the buzzing in her ears.

"What else can I do? It's my sister….and Roy, we can't lose either one of them. And with Roy gone, we are fearfully outnumbered so we can't fight him." Felicity heard Oliver say, his fear for his sister apparent.

"We took Slade out on the island, just the two of us, remember?" Sara asked.

"Well…not really, Sara," Oliver said, looking her in the eye.

Sara shrugged and looked away across the backyard of the estate. "Well, you know what I mean. We do have tonight to sleep on it and come up with a plan."

The mention of Thea being in Slade's control overnight was too much for Felicity to bear. "We can't…we can't leave Thea alone with Slade for the night…." Felicity mumbled to the group, as she began to sway.

Sara, being the closest next to her, grabbed the younger woman by her upper arms to steady her before she could tip over. "Felicity!"

The two men jumped, their awareness suddenly to Felicity.

"Felicity, what's wrong?" Oliver asked as he took ahold of Felicity on her other side, as Diggle ran to bring over one of the garden chairs for her to sit down.

"I…I can't…I can't breathe," Felicity stated as the others watched as she began to hyperventilate.

As Diggle brought the chair behind her, Sara and Oliver led her gently to sit down. Diggle crouched in front of her. Gripping both of her hands in his, he said, "Felicity, you are safe. You are here with us. Can you slow your breathing in time with mine? Come on, honey, breathe in…breath out…breath in…breath out…"

Felicity forced herself to concentrate on the kind man in front of her, pushing away the memories of the Australian violating her. She lost herself in Dig's kind brown eyes and got her breathing under control.

"Felicity," Sara asked gently, "what made you scared?" She crouched on the side of Felicity and gently laid her hand on top of Felicity's, still held by Diggle.

Her right hand gripping Dig's, Felicity looked at Dig, who nodded, and pantomimed breathing slowly. "I am so afraid Slade will...Slade will hurt Thea, like…he did me. The thought of her, with him, all night…." Felicity stifled a sob. Her eyes, as drawn by a magnet, found Oliver's and tears came to her eyes as she watched Oliver's face turn even more pale. "Oh, I am so sorry, Oliver, I know you're worried, and I didn't mean to add to that worry, but..."

Oliver turned away, gripping his hair with both hands. He let out a yell, and turned towards Felicity. "It's all right, Felicity. It is…it is a valid concern. And one, which I am sure, would've occurred to me sooner or later." Catching Dig's eyes, Oliver tried to find some comfort. Dig nodded at the other man.

"Felicity, I'm sure Thea will be all right. Slade wouldn't hurt her, I'm sure. He's only using her and Roy to get to Oliver," Diggle said, attempting to placate Felicity.

Oliver turned his worried eyes onto Felicity, meeting hers straight on. "Felicity, I need you to go to the counseling center tomorrow. You need to discuss all of this with someone."

"But Oliver, you need me…..."

Oliver walked over to her, and took Dig's spot in front of her, Dig having gotten up and moved. He took her hand. "Felicity, I need you to take care of yourself. Okay? I will be fine." As she began to protest, he raised a finger. "No, I will be fine." As a skeptical look stayed on her face, he continued, "What if we come get you if you are needed. Okay? And we will leave you a message on the progress, all right?" When Felicity continued to remain silent, Oliver captured her eyes and softly asked, "Please? For me?"

Felicity nodded. "Yeah, okay. I should have gone today, but, I was too scared to go."

"Understandable, but you need to go tomorrow. We will be okay." Oliver looked at Dig and Sara. "Let's go to the house. Nothing else we can do out here."

~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~

Upon disconnecting the phone, Slade very slowly and methodically placed the phone back in Thea's purse and snapped it shut with a definite flourish. He then turned with a gleam in his eye upon his prisoners. Roy attempted to stare back defiantly at him, but Thea couldn't help a shudder that went through her as his expression took her in.

"I should let you two squirm in your misery wondering what I'm going to do, but the fun of doing that to Oliver is enough for me. I will let you know, I will leave you two alone for the night. But…" Slade walked to the door to call for someone. Thea and Roy watched as two men entered the room and took positions at each side of the door. "These gentlemen will make sure you don't try to run away." Looking at his watch, Slade sighed. "I guess it is time for supper. I do apologize, but I don't have anything fancy for you."

Two more guards entered the room, one carrying two plates each with a turkey sandwich and chips on it as well as two bottles of water. Thea watched in silence as one of the guards cut the rope binding her right hand to the arm of her chair, while the other guard brought her the plate of food, setting it on her lap. He stood at attention watching her as she ate. After she took a bite of her sandwich, she asked if Roy was going to eat.

"After you're done."

Thea looked up at Roy, who gave her a crooked smile and a tilt of his head. He nodded then, as if encouraging her to keep eating. She was torn between eating in a rush so Roy could eat or eating slowly to enjoy her partial freedom as long as she could. The skin of both her wrists were reddened, as well as having several open spots from her attempts to loosen her bonds.

Suddenly the plate was violently taken from her lap, spilling the crumbs of the remaining chips onto her skirt. When she cried out involuntarily, the guard thrust the bottle of water into her hand. "Here, hurry up and drink. Your boyfriend is waiting, and we don't have all day."

"Before you tie me up again, can I use the bathroom?"

The guard sighed heavily. Thea said, "Surely Slade doesn't want to clean up a mess, does he?"

The guard next to Roy said, "Surely you can handle such a tiny girl like her. You take her to the rest room while I watch Pretty Boy eat."

Her guard grunted in reply and cut the rope binding her left hand to the chair. Thea slowly rose, slowly moving her arms and legs to get her circulation flowing again. Her guard grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the door. "Hurry up, girl! We don't have all day."

Thea was about to give the guy a rude reply when she caught Roy's eyes. He shook her head, so she pressed her lips tightly together and allowed the guard to bring her out of the room. The iron grip the guard had on her upper arm indicated there was no room for argument. And no opportunity to try to run away. As if she could escape the huge man beside her. The room she was practically thrown into had no window, just a toilet and sink. Thea sighed in exasperation and hurriedly took advantage of the toilet. As she washed her hands and wrists thoroughly, because of the marks left by the rope, the guard knocked loudly on the door. "What are you doing, taking a bath in there?"

Instead of giving the reply she really wanted, she instead simply said she was almost done. She dried her hands quickly and opened the door, as the guard reached out and grabbed her by the arm again. As he rushed her back to the room, Thea attempted to get a better view of the rest of the building. All she could think of was it appeared to be an old warehouse, and they were being kept in some kind of storeroom. Unluckily, they were in the inner part of the building, away from all windows.

Roy was done eating his sandwich and chips, so his guard untied him. Thea gave him a wry smile when her guard placed his gun against her head, reminding Roy not to try anything 'stupid'. Roy winked as they left the room. Thea hoped it was to give her courage, and not that he was going to try anything stupid. Now that he didn't have the strength from the Mirakuru, their odds of getting out of there weren't so good. Even if he worked with the Arrow.

Thea passed the time until Roy returned by actively avoiding the guard's eyes on her, and suggestive glances. She knew she should have tried to persuade the man to let her go, but considering there were two other guards outside the door as well, she figured it wasn't worth the effort.

She was almost falling asleep when several loud bangs and a scream startled her out of her semi-slumber state. Suddenly she heard footsteps running away from the door. Her guard increased his alertness, but he didn't open the door as Thea had hoped. Suddenly, the door burst open, and the other guard walked in with Roy unconscious across his shoulders in a fireman's hold.

A small scream escaped Thea's lips as she took in the battered form of her boyfriend. His left eye was blackened, and he had bruises forming on his cheeks and forehead. A cry of outrage followed when the guard dumped Roy into the chair and he roughly straightened him out when he was about to fall off. The guard proceeded to tie Roy to his chair.

"What happened? Why did you beat him up so?" Thea asked, demanding an answer.

"Your boyfriend foolishly attempted to escape. Clearly, he didn't realize we also have the Mirakuru in us, like our boss." The guard gave Thea a wry smile. "Of course, I had to teach him a lesson."

"I would think that would go against your boss' instructions."

"Oh, you think so, Ms. Queen?" Thea jumped as Slade entered the room. She hadn't realized he was standing outside the room. "You are using the tone you use to boss around your servants, I do believe." Thea unconsciously moved back further in her chair as Slade got into her face. "I would recommend against using that tone with us, Ms. Queen, if you don't wish the same punishment that Mr. Harper has received."

Thea willed herself to respond to such behavior defiantly, but all that came out was a nod and a "I wouldn't do that again." Unfortunately, her voice cracked as she said that. In answer, Slade laughed.

"Sorry, I shouldn't take such great measure in scaring a young woman like you, but after all, you are the Kid's sister." He rose, and walked towards the door. "Have a good night, Ms. Queen."

AN: Hope you enjoyed this. Slade is ending up being creepier in this story than on the show, but then, I guess I did begin this story with that concept anyhow. And I always have felt that the show didn't keep up the anticipation of fear they had set with the episode "The Promise". I had thought Slade would be more dangerous. Even though he was indeed plenty dangerous on the show. Please let me know what you think. I always enjoy valid criticism and good comments about the plotting, especially. And Felicity, even though she is healing, still suffers from the PTSD from the attack. I hope it read as such. Thanks for reading!