Losing the one you love


When she walked back into the living room, Slade and Oliver stood face to face. Oliver looked angry and tensed while Slade had a confident and calculating look on his face, like he was sure he'd win and like he knew something they didn't. She doubted they had said one word to each other while she was out of the room. They both looked about to jump on the other and as soon as Veronica entered the room, both men turned to look at her. One with love and worry in his eyes, the other one with calculating eyes filled with a familiar hatred she was used to getting back in Neptune.

"Miss Mars. Nice to finally meet you face to face." Slade declared, smiling at Veronica in a way that reminded her of Aaron Echolls before he locked her up in a burning freezer and gave her chills.

"I honestly wasn't that eager to meet you." Veronica replied, trying to ease the tension.

"Understandable." Slade smirked and for a second, Veronica wondered if he reminded her more of Aaron Echolls or Liam Fitzpatrick.

"Stop, Slade! Don't you think that this already went too far?" Oliver asked him, trying to contain his anger while positioning himself between Veronica and his old Island friend.

"Too far? No, I think it's just beginning Oliver. Shadow died because you chose Sara over her and now I'm going to make you pay by taking from you every single thing you care about." Slade replied.

"Your company, your money, your family and even that blond Love you've found. I'm going to take it all away from you, slowly, one by one." Slade added.

"You're not touching a hair on Veronica's head." Oliver growled angrily.

Slade noticed that Oliver hadn't reacted to his other threats, only Veronica seemed to get a reaction from him. He obviously didn't really care about losing everything else, but his Love, now that's one person he wasn't willing to lose and he understood it all too well. Slade now understood and knew that it didn't matter all you had. If you don't have love in your life, you don't have anything at all.

"And how do you plan on stopping me exactly, kid? You couldn't do it then, you won't be able to do it now." Slade asked Oliver.

Instead of answering, Oliver jumped on Slade who was only too happy to fight with him. Veronica, of course, rushed to help Oliver but it seemed that Slade was well prepared and he easily knocked them out, one by one. Veronica was the first one he knocked unconscious by sending her flying onto the wall, breaking a couple of frames and a vase on the way, after about 15 minutes of fighting. Oliver, worried for Veronica, didn't pay attention to Slade for a few seconds, which caused him to be knocked out as well, breaking a table and a couple of glasses. Veronica managed to get up and went back to fight Slade, soon followed by Oliver and, after about 30 more minutes of knocking bodies and furniture around, the couple of vigilante were knocked out on the floor and Slade was standing, smirking happily.

Their fights had resulted in a lot of broken furniture and a few frames were now on the ground. The living room looked like it had seen better days and it would take a while to clean it up.

Slade left the room, and the house, feeling pretty smug about this encounter. He didn't have everything going the way he would like it to go but he had enough. He'd win. He'd get everything he wanted. On his way out, he crossed John Diggle and Roy Harper, two of Oliver's friends.

"A bit too late, aren't you?" Slade told them with a smirk.

Immediately, they both rushed inside, fearing for the worst. Slade managed to start his car without any interruption and drove back to his house while John and Roy discovered that Veronica and Oliver were slowly regaining consciousness. They'd have cuts and bruises on them for a few days but at least they were alive and still fit to fight, that was the most important.

.

A few hours later, everyone met back at the Queen house. Oliver and Veronica were all patched up and they had cleaned up the traces of their fight with Slade but the moods were down. All that was left to do was for them to find an excuse to explain their new bruises. Maybe a motorcycle accident.

"I don't have to tell you that this isn't your fault and that you don't have to feel guilty, do I?" Veronica asked Oliver in a whisper the others couldn't hear while they got some drinks and food for the injured.

"He wants to kill you to get to me, Veronica, of course it makes it my fault that you were hurt today." He replied.

"I could have left with your mother, coming back in the living room to back you up was my choice entirely." She insisted.

"I couldn't live with myself if he killed you." Oliver admitted to her.

"You won't have to. It might be hard but we'll manage. We'll stop him and we'll be fine. And then we'll get us a doggy." She replied to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yes, I can't wait for us to go and get that dog. Are you sure we can do it?" He asked her, wondering why they were still alone in the room.

"I'm sure. Nyssa and Sara are even coming with a few league members. My father won't let us fight this one on our own and I'm sure that when he said he'd send them with 'a few' league members, he meant more than we think." Veronica replied.

"Good. But as much as I want him stopped, I'm not sure I want to kill him. I just want to lock him up." Oliver told her, hugging her to his side, ignoring the pain it brought him.

"Then we'll find a way. I can call Amanda Waller or John can call Lyla and they can find a prison that can hold Slade Wilson." She suggested.

"Good idea." he nodded.

Veronica then started to kiss him, knowing it would brighten his mood and change his mind a bit.

"It'll be okay. Repeat after me." She whispered before she kissed him again.

Smiling in the kiss, Oliver repeated it.

"Is it safe to come back in? Oliver's not feeling guilty anymore?" Thea asked and once Veronica nodded, everyone came in with food and drinks so they could start talking over their battle plans.

"Mac called a few minutes ago while the two of you talked it out. Star lab managed to create a cure out of Roy's blood and the syringe we sent them. They made as many doses as they could and Mac is on her way back with it. At first they wanted to send them through an official carrier but Mac argued that Slade's men would be less suspicious if she brought them on her own, incognito. The official Star Lab carrier will still come though, as a decoy, with doses of colored water." John explained as soon as he walked in the room.

"When will she be back?" Veronica asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon at the latest. It depends on traffic." John replied and they nodded.

"Raz's league members should arrive around the same time." Veronica nodded.

"We have one problem though. Lyla talked to Waller about Slade hoping she'd send us some help but Amanda Waller is scared. She won't help us, instead, she's planning on blocking the city's exits as soon as Slade's men make their moves." John added, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't put it past her to bomb the city if we lose or if the threat becomes too big." Veronica added.

"I was thinking of going there with Lyla. Duncan will help us. We can try to convince a few Suicide Squad members to help us stop her, or hold her off long enough for you to stop him." John suggested.

"Good idea." Oliver nodded.

"And as soon as Mac's here, we can test the cure on me." Roy declared, excited.

"We might want to test it on one of Slade's men first. Just in case it doesn't work or has negative side effects." Thea suggested making Veronica and Oliver nod.

"We'll see when Mac gets here but I can feel my anger rise and it's getting harder to control. I want this cure." Roy replied a little more forcefully than he intended.

Thankfully, Thea held on his hand and managed to calm him down.

"What about the elections?" Veronica asked around.

"What about them?" Moira asked her, confused.

"We know that Sebastian Blood wants to win and that he has plans to kill you if you win. And let's face it, we all know that you will and according to what we know so far, Slade won't move his men until at least 3 more days and the elections are the day after tomorrow. We need to make sure they can't touch you." Veronica replied.

"Arrow and Karma could be there, in the open, to secure the place. Black Canary will happily help us too." Oliver suggested.

"Who is it by the way. Black Canary I mean? You never mentioned her name." Laurel asked.

"It's... Complicated. And not really our secret to tell. Sorry." Veronica replied, apologetic.

"Okay." Laurel nodded.

"What can I do to help?" Tommy asked.

"Well, maybe you and Laurel can help Mac fill arrows with doses of the cure so we can be prepared to inject Slade's soldiers with the cure when they attack. We won't have time to do it at the last minute." Oliver told his friend who nodded, happy to be able to help.

"I think that Karma and Arrow should coordinate with the police department on this one to keep the losses to a minimum." Veronica added.

"Yes, make sure that people stay as safe as possible." Moira nodded.

"We'll need to start working on planning something tomorrow." Oliver nodded.

"I can help and be the link with my father." Laurel offered and they nodded their agreement.

.

The next few days, they were all very busy, very tensed but luckily, everything went according to their planning. Even though the police department was doubtful, they still agreed to back the Vigilante up in case the attack they warned them about actually happened. The league arrived at the same time as Mac and, while Sarah went to confess her being alive to her sister, the others got ready.

Nyssa and the league would patrol the town while Black Canary, Arrow and Karma would protect Moira during the elections. They would explain Oliver and Veronica's absence by pretending they were trapped in an accident out of town. Diggle would join the woman he loved and Duncan at Argus to try and keep everything under control. He wasn't against working with a few members of the suicide squad even the one who killed his brother, if he had to. As for the day of the election, he'd be Moira's close bodyguard.

"Don't worry sister, everything will go well." Nyssa told her little sister reassuringly while the 30 league members she had taken with her took their assignments and did as they were told.

Oliver's old friend, Maseo, would stay with them to protect Moira, the future mayor of the town, from Slade and Blood.

As soon as Mac arrived, she settled the case holding the cure down and, before anyone could do anything with it because they were greeting each other, Roy grabbed a syringe and injected himself with a large dose of the cure. He only told them once it was done.

"Sorry, I just couldn't risk losing control, it was too hard for me." Roy declared, making them turn to look at him before he lost consciousness and fell on the floor.

Oliver and John carried him to a nearby couch and they all started filling doses while waiting to see if it had worked on him.

"He's starting to wake up." Thea exclaimed an hour later and they all turned to see Roy opening his eyes.

"Roy, how are you feeling?" Veronica asked him.

"I... Fine. Not angry anymore, and not as strong as before." Roy replied after a few seconds.

"I'll take a blood sample and test it to check it out." Veronica replied while a few league members replied that it had taken a lot of courage to do what he had just done.

.

Luckily for them, the test showed that there was no more traces of Mira Kuru in his blood, which meant that the cure worked well.

"We just have a few hours before the election. We need to start on the site's protection." Oliver announced, looking at his cell phone.

"I should probably train a little. Since everyone will be at Verdant, I could go to your old lair in its basement and train there. This way if there's trouble I'll be able to come right up." Roy suggested.

"Good idea, I'll leave a league member with you. He'll help you." Maseo nodded.

"Good. V and I should be seen voting as soon as it opens, then we'll leave for a business meeting and Arrow and Karma will be able to make their entrance and watch over Moira with Black Canary." Oliver replied.

"The rest of the League will patrol the city, looking for Slade and his men. Their rendez-vous point is here. Maseo and I will stay here as well." Nyssa stated.

"Are you okay Sara?" Veronica asked her blond friend when she saw how distraught she looked.

"I'll be fine. I knew Laurel would be angry at me for keeping the secret, I also know that she'll forgive me as soon as her anger has died down." Sara replied.

"Are you sure that you don't want your father to know?" Oliver asked her, knowing that it would make everything much easier if he did.

"No, I... I'm not ready to face him yet. Laurel's disappointment in me is enough. I'll wait a little before I face this scene again with my father." Sara replied, sure that her father would be angry at her.

"Well, you guys go. I'll check that everything is in order around here and then I'll go vote and hang out at Verdant with everyone." Mac replied.

"Maybe you should wait in the basement with Roy. If there's an attack, you'd be safer." veronica suggested to her best friend.

"I'll think about it." Mac smiled.

The rest of the day seemed to pass very slowly. They voted for Moira, they patrolled and protected Verdant where she was waiting for the results and greeting voters, they stopped a couple of attempts on her life, handing immediately the shooters to Detective Lance's men who arrested them and they waited.

At the end of the day, of course Moira won and Sebastian Blood came to congratulate her in front of everyone. He wasn't expecting his opponent to be ready for him and when he positioned her in the planned direction, he was surprised to see a body fall from the ceiling instead of a bullet reaching her back. As soon as that was done he was arrested. Laurel had told her father about their suspicions about Blood and they managed to get enough evidence to arrest him. They managed to have legal permission to search his possessions when the arrested shooters admitted to being working for him. Once they opened his computer, they quickly found a draft written for a speech where he told the city that he was accepting the job of Mayor in memory of the recently brutally murdered Moira Queen. Since Moira was still alive it was more than enough to arrest him for attempted murder and it gave them the opportunity to look through all of his things, finding more reasons to keep him behind bars.

With Sebastian Blood arrested and locked up, Slade didn't see any reasons to wait anymore and so he moved up his plan, injecting the remaining Mira Kuru soldiers before he ordered them to take the town and to kill as many people as possible.

The first assault on the town was brutal the soldiers hit form every side at once and it wasn't easy to spread around and stop them. Arrow and Karma stayed together and, on the way to a recent hot spot, they saved a few people. A young man and his fiance, who'd have to go to the hospital but should survive, a red haired woman who seemed overly grateful and completely ignored Karma to concentrate her gratefulness on Arrow, a group of children and even a few cops.

.

Slade was in town as well, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take down Oliver. By his side, he saw Shadow, reminding him of the pain he felt when he lost her and that he needed to make it so that Oliver felt that same pain. He wanted to kill Veronica in front of Oliver, this was one of the best way he knew how to hurt him. Shadow asked this of him, every day, and so he was going to give it to her. If in the process he had to destroy the entire town and to kill all of Oliver's friends and allies, then so be it.

.

At Argus' headquarter, everything was going according to plan. Duncan had gotten them the cooperation of a few Suicide Squad members and they quickly cornered Amanda Waller and managed to force her to stop her planned bombing of Starling city. She refused to ask her soldiers blocking the city's exit to back off though, not until they were sure Slade and his men had been stopped for good.

In the process of defending herself, trying to throw them off guard, she revealed Lyla's pregnancy.

"I was going to tell you when all of this is over, I only just found out yesterday." Lyla told John, glaring at her boss for revealing a secret that was hers to tell when she saw fit.

"It's okay, I get it. We can talk about this later." John smiled, understanding why she hadn't told him yet and happy to know that he was going to be a father.

"Congratulations you two." Duncan told them.

"Yeah, congrats." Deadshot added, knowing how precious a child was in the life of a man.

"Let's hope everything goes well today." Lyla breathed out.

.

Starling city was fortunately prepared when the Mira Kuru army made its move. Arrow, Karma and their entire team were well prepared and so was the police department, who was working hand in hand with the vigilantes. The fight was concentrated in one place. Thanks to Mac's good information, they had been able to intercept the soldiers right before they spread around the city.

This made the fight easier and allowed the vigilantes and their team to hit the soldiers with doses of the cure while killing very few of them.

"Has anyone seen Slade?" Arrow asked, once the fight died out a bit and there were just a handful of soldiers left.

"When it all started, I saw him but nothing after that. I think Karma went to fight him." One of the cops replied before he went to help his colleagues arrest the soldiers who were starting to wake up.

"Nyssa! Where's Veronica?" Oliver asked.

"I lost sight of her during the fight. Beloved?" Nyssa asked.

Sara was masked and she knew that she couldn't use her real name, just in case Lance heard.

"I lost track of her as soon as the fight started." Sara replied.

"I found this. I think it's for you." Maseo said, running towards Oliver with a phone in his hand.

Oliver took the phone in his hand and saw that a video was loaded. He played it and saw Slade telling him that he had Veronica and to meet him, alone, in a warehouse that was on the opposite side of town. In the message Slade made it clear that he wanted to finish this directly with Oliver and that any other presence would result in Veronica's death.

"I'm going." Oliver said, giving the phone back to Maseo.

"It's obviously a trap." Maseo exclaimed.

"I know, but she's the woman I love. I won't let him kill her. I don't care what happens to me." Oliver replied before he ran to his motorcycle and drove off before Maseo could warn Nyssa.

He knew that Nyssa and the league would be coming as well, but he was hoping to get a little advance and that it would allow him to free Veronica.

.

Oliver arrived to see Slade holding Veronica tightly against him. The way he held her made it impossible for Veronica to move but she was conscious, awake and obviously furious.

"This doesn't have to turn into a fight, Slade. Free Veronica. Please." Oliver declared his eyes never leaving Veronica.

He knew her and he could tell that she was just waiting for an opportunity to make her move, she just needed some freedom of movement and so he needed to find a way to make Slade loosen his hold on her.

"Oh, but you see, it kind of does. You need to pay for Shadow's death. You let the woman I loved die, now I'm going to make you watch as I slowly kill the woman you love." Slade smirked angrily.

"Do you have any idea of the people who'll come after you if she dies?" Oliver asked desperately.

"You'll be too dead to be able to do anything, kid. I'll kill you next." Slade replied.

"I'm not speaking about me. I'm speaking about her father, Raz Al Ghul, Head to the Demon, leader to the league of assassins. They all love her and will come after you and make you pay for her death." Oliver stated and it must have had an effect on Slade because he loosened his hands just a little, enough for Veronica to be able to move her hand and reach in one of the pockets of her utility belt.

"Why should I be scared, Kid? Once I have my revenge, I'll die happily." Slade replied.

While he spoke, Veronica managed to move her leg just enough to hit Slade. In turn, Slade moved his arms just enough to allow Veronica to use the syringe she had managed to reach seconds before. She quickly injected him in the arm. The shock of it all was enough for Slade to stumble back and for Veronica to run in Oliver's arms. They hugged and kissed quickly and, once they were sure the other was fine, they nodded and jumped into the fight against Slade.

The man was weakened a bit by Veronica's injection of a double dose of the cure but it wasn't enough to put him down and Oliver had to shoot him with a few more doses before he fell down.

The league, led by Nyssa, arrived during the fight and they stood back, letting Oliver sort his problem but ready to jump in as soon as Veronica was in danger.

"Mac called John Diggle, Argus moved his soldiers back. The town is safe." Nyssa told her sister once it was over.

"Great! What about the Mira Kuru Soldiers?" She asked back.

"Sara is watching over the transfer. Laurel and her father are taking charge of it all. They're being sent to Iron Heights I think." Nyssa explained.

"And everyone is okay?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, a few bruises here and there but nothing fatal. I think we did good." Nyssa nodded.

"Well, I think I'm hungry and that we all deserve a party to celebrate our good work. I'm sure Thea has something planned for us." Veronica stated.

"When aren't you hungry, love?" Oliver chuckled, hugging her to his side, happy to have been able to keep her safe.

They really did work well together. They hadn't needed to talk, all that had to do was look in each other's eyes to see what the other had planned and to communicate. It was a level of intimacy Oliver had never known with anyone else and he was glad he had it with Veronica. He truly didn't know if he'd be able to go through with life she he was to ever lose her.

"What do we do with him?" Maseo asked, pointing to Slade's body.

"We'll call Waller, let her find a hole to put him in." Oliver stated.

"Duncan told me that she had build a prison capable of holding him on the island you met him on." Veronica replied, not leaving Oliver's arm.

"Good." He nodded before taking his phone out and dialing John's number, hoping that he was still at Argus.

.

While the cops dealt with the remaining traces of the epic fight and the journalist did their best to relay the story, Arrow, Karma and all of their allies were celebrating in the Queen family's garden. Thea had prepared everything in case of a victory and the League members were happy to be able to relax before they had to go back home.

"So, what's next now?" Sara asked Veronica while everyone turned to listen to her answer.

"Now Oliver has to keep is promise to me and we get a puppy." Veronica replied, looking like a little girl on Christmas eve.

"We're getting a dog? That's so cool!" Thea exclaimed, making Roy chuckle.

"Excuse me but I believe that Veronica and I are getting a dog. Not you Speedy." Oliver replied.

"Oh come on, I'll be like, this dog's aunt!" Thea insisted.

"I do the naming though, it's in our contract." Veronica declared, looking at Oliver with a smile.

"Getting a dog, isn't that the first step couples usually take before they start having kids?" John whispered to Oliver who pretended not to hear him.

"What are you going to do with the dog all day? I mean, you're always at the office during the day and out vigilante-ing during the night." Thea asked her brother.

"We'll keep it with us at the office, he'll have a spot in each of our offices and he'll be well behaved. At night he'll be in the lair and when we visit Nyssa and my father, we'll take him with us." Veronica replied confidently.


I know that it took me a while to write this one, I'm sorry. I hope the other ones will come to me faster.

Please review and let me know what you think. Next chapter will be called "Back to normal". It will take place a few weeks later, maybe a couple of months. I'm still writing it.

Merry Christmas!

Lorelei Candice Black