Chapter 12

Sorry for the delay in the previous chapter. Apparently there were some server issues that were not allowing users to update stories, so I had to wait a day to get it loaded. Because of the wait, I thought I would try to get another chapter out quickly to keep the flow going. Hope you are all still enjoying the story.

So just as a reminder, I've gone rogue with my own storyline about Slade and Oliver, regardless of his role as the vigilante. So although the actual storyline of the show has Slade knowing Oliver's true identity, but Sebastian not knowing it, in my story Blood knows Slade is there to take down Oliver Queen. So at this point Sebastian does not know Oliver is the vigilante, but I would expect that Slade would have figured it out given the skills he knows Oliver acquired on the island and the timing that the vigilante showed up in Starling City. Hope that helps put the first part of this next chapter in perspective.

Also, for all of you Barry Allen fans, I've decided to bring him back into the fold. Enjoy!

Slade Wilson despised his forced partnership with the likes of Sebastian Blood, an opportunistic low-life who was more interested in gaining power than anything else. There was no honor in his cause, but having Blood's access to the high society of Starling City was what he needed to fulfill his ultimate goal; destroying Oliver Queen.

Slade sat in his office, reviewing the financials Isabel had sent over to him as part of his ploy to get closer to Oliver. He had thought he would have to grit his teeth to stand building a relationship with the Russian brunette as part of his plan, but had been pleasantly surprised to realize he actually enjoyed her company. She was a no-nonsense woman who had come from nothing to become one of the most powerful businesswomen in the global business market. She was expected to be collateral damage, but he was starting to reconsider that given how much he was truly enjoying her. It had been years since he had wanted to spend time with a woman for her intellect or charisma, but he was finding a bit of a soft spot for Isabel Rochev.

Sebastian entered his office, a smooth smile on his face. Slade knew he caused sheer terror in the man, but enjoyed seeing him try to overcome that fear. He only had to give Blood a certain look and the coward would be squirming, ready to bolt from his presence.

"Slade, I was hoping to have a moment of your time," he finished, smiling at the guard that had just let him into the office as the oversized man closed the double doors.

"I'm very busy, Sebastian, so what do you need," he asked, standing up to get a drink from the sideboard table. It was not lost on either of them that Slade did not offer one to the other man.

"As much as I appreciate your financial backing for my mayoral run, I'm wondering when this farce with Queen will come to an end. It's been weeks since you first saw him, and I'm ready to move forward with unveiling my new soldiers. It's been a challenge to keep them in line and out of the public eye while I wait for you to take care of Oliver Queen," he finished, trying to keep his impatience in check. The last time, at the Hilton, when Blood had questioned Slade, he had practically had his neck broken by the man.

Slade chuckled, throwing back his glass of scotch, feeling the burn of the liquid go down his throat. "Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian," he drawled out slowly, coming around his desk to stand in front of the Councilman. He noted how Blood was physically cringing at his approach, enjoying the moment of discomfort he was causing. "First, your financial backing is strictly payment for your end of our bargain. And I do appreciate you getting me involved with Queen Consolidated and one step closer to my ultimate goal with Oliver." Slade now took one step closer to Sebastian, giving him a hard look. "But let there be no mistake; you are creating an army of soldiers for ME. They could never have existed without my blood, and I will need them when I am ready to take over this city."

Sebastian's face started to go red. "But you said I could use them as I needed," he sputtered, clearly trying to hold back his anger. His hand went up to his neck, to Slade's amusement, probably at the memory of Slade's ability to cut off his airway with little effort.

"And you can," Slade answered calmly, going back around to his desk chair to take a seat. "I'm a man of my word, Blood, but this will all happen on my timeline, not yours. You are merely an employee, and I recommend you don't forget that," he finished menacingly.

"So I don't understand why you don't just kill Queen. You have the resources to take him out any way you want without raising suspicion. Or let one of the soldiers take care of it for you. I'd be happy to take over the task myself," he added, his disgust for Oliver obvious.

"Death would be a release from this life, and his sentence is yet to be carried out," Slade stated coldly, gazing off into the distance. He had been planning Oliver's demise for too long, and was more than happy to share his strategy with Blood.

"I am going to tear everything he cares about away from him…"

Images of the Queen Consolidated offices, with Thea and Moira Queen exiting Oliver's office came to his mind…

"… destroy those who choose to follow him…"

Images of Detective Lance and Roy Harper went through is head…

"…corrupt those he loves…"

An image of Felicity Smoak entering the Hilton ballroom at their first meeting…

" Once he has lost everyone and everything he values, I will drive an arrow through his eye. Whoever did this to her has got to suffer…" he trailed off, clearly lost in more images from his past.

Sebastian felt the pure rage in Slade's words, and started to back out of the office, sure their meeting was done as Slade became lost in what was obviously a personal vendetta with Oliver Queen. He let himself out, closing the doors behind him, a small smile on his face at the thought of the privileged, wealthy Oliver Queen being brought down.

Slade may think he was in charge, but Sebastian had his own plans. He set out to head back to the compound, to check in on how the training of his soldiers was going. He would be damned if he cultivated these men into the machines they were becoming only to have Slade Wilson take them away from him. And Starling City was just the beginning…

At Queen Consolidated….

Barry Allen stepped out of the elevators of the executive floor and made his way toward Oliver's office. He knew Felicity would be gone, having heard from Oliver's sister, Thea, that Felicity and Thea were going to lunch. He also knew Felicity would not be happy if she knew what he and Thea were up to, but they were fed up with watching the couple being so miserable. They hoped to help steer them back to each other before the rift between them became insurmountable.

Oliver looked at the young man as he entered the office suite, and then gave a glance at Felicity's desk. He was always aware of Felicity's comings and goings and knew she was away at lunch, as his sister had arrived earlier to take her, so he wasn't sure why Barry was there. He had known Felicity had been spending some time with Barry getting help with their research, but had been too distracted with Slade's return lately to give it a second thought. He knew he should be stepping in to discourage Felicity from spending time with Barry, but his emotions were so off the charts he wondered if maybe she was better off growing close to the other man. Although he and Felicity had been together almost night and day over the last few weeks, they had been focused on researching Slade and SW International, trying to uncover his true motive for being in Starling City, while still trying to uncover more about the super soldier serum, but both trails had gone cold. This should have translated into Oliver and Felicity getting their relationship back on track, but it had been seriously derailed by his obsession with Slade, and every day the divide between them became greater. He tried to push back the pain that thought caused and stood up to greet Barry.

"Good to see you, Barry. Are you looking for Felicty?"

Barry sat in one of the leather seats facing Oliver's desk, making it obvious that he meant to stay for a bit. "I'm actually here to speak with you, Mr. Queen."

"I think with the help you've been doing researching our new investor you can call me Oliver."

"Okay, Oliver," Barry responded, leaning forward in his chair, "I'd like to talk to you about Felicity."

At the mention of her name Oliver's entire demeanor went from one of welcoming to loathing. "I really don't think there's anything that I want to hear from you regarding that topic," Oliver replied sharply, making his way back to the door of his office and holding it open for Barry, the implication that he was not welcome any longer crystal clear.

Barry crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, ignoring Oliver and staring straight ahead, determined to see this through, despite how the hair on the back of his neck was standing up.

Oliver walked over to stand in front of him, trying to be as intimidating as possible. At the loss of blood in Barry's face, he figured he was succeeding. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Barry looked Oliver in the face. "Do you know she's started losing weight? And I don't mean a couple of pounds; I mean a good ten pounds, just in the last few weeks."

Oliver frowned at Barry, ready to make an insulting remark, but instead going around to his own chair behind his desk and taking a seat. He thought back to what Felicity had been wearing in the office today and did notice that the dress, which she had worn before, had hung much more loosely on her today.

"I…" Oliver started, not sure how to respond to Barry's remark, knowing it was true.

"And have you noticed the dark circles under her eyes? The ones that are there because she is running herself ragged trying to help find information on this Slade Wilson character, who apparently is more important to you than her," Barry bit out, clearly disgusted at Oliver's lack of notice at Felicity's current physical state.

"Listen, Oliver, I don't know what is so important about this person, but this has clearly gotten out of hand, and it's to the point where I am genuinely concerned about Felicity's well-being. I know she would never admit what it's doing to her and back down, knowing how important this…" Barry struggled to find the right word, "…this vendetta is to you, but as long as you keep asking her to do it, it's only going to get worse for her, and as her friend, I can't just sit back and let that happen. She means too much to me."

Oliver let Barry's words sink in, knowing they were true, and struggling to figure out how he could put his fears and suspicions around Slade behind him. He knew trying to figure out what was going on with Slade on his own was impossible; he needed Felicity, not only for her expertise and technical knowledge, but for the emotional support he got from her, which he was finding was more valuable than anything else. But Barry was right; it was taking its toll on her. But the sight of Slade and all he represented was wedged into Oliver's brain, and he couldn't stop it. He knew it was something along the lines of PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, where Slade was a trigger to the horrific things he had gone through on the island. He had felt like this a lot when he had first returned to Starling City, but the list had been his focus then, getting him out of his own head and giving him a purpose, and the ability to suppress those images from the island.

Barry watched Oliver, wondering what was going through his head. Everyone knew he had scars from the events that occurred on the island, and although there were rumors as to what happened to him there, no one really knew the stories. Even after asking Felicity about it, Barry was convinced Oliver had never told even her about what he had been through. And despite the fact that a part of Barry despised Oliver for winning Felicity's heart, the fact that she had found something in Oliver to love meant there was something redeeming about him.

Oliver finally found his voice. "She's going to walk away from me, you know," he said quietly, finally bringing his gaze up to meet Barry's. "I'm broken, and no matter how much I try to pretend like the things on that island didn't happen, there will always be reminders that will break me over and over again."

Barry stood up and approached the desk so he had Oliver's full attention, leaning over it and glaring right into his face. "You don't get it Oliver. She's never going to walk away from you. She is in love with you, and probably has been since the moment she met you. I have no idea why, but her faith in you is unflinching, and I believe one hundred percent that she would die before she gave up on you."

Just then, Diggle cleared his throat, having just entered Oliver's office. It was obvious that Barry and Oliver were having some type of disagreement, but at that moment, Diggle was more concerned about sharing what he had learned with Felicity and Oliver.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but there's something we need to talk about, and I need Felicity here to discuss it with you," John said, eyeing Barry. It was obvious whatever he had to say was not meant for an audience.

Oliver noted the seriousness in Diggle's tone. "Felicity is at lunch with Thea," he informed his bodyguard.

Diggle gave an uneasy glance at Barry, unsure how much to say in front of the young man, but feeling as though he didn't have time to wait for his departure. "I can't get her to answer her phone. Thea is ignoring my calls as well," he added hesitantly.

Although Felicity had been known to get distracted easily and forget to have her phone with her, Thea was almost never without her favorite piece of technology. "Let me try to call them," Oliver finally said, Barry's presence no longer his concern.

"They went to Chateau Marmont," Barry interjected, pulling up the restaurant's number on his own phone and calling it. Oliver tried first his sister, and then Felicity's number as he watched Barry, half listening to his exchange with the manager. Neither woman answered.

Oliver felt a chill run down his spine as Barry ended his call. "They never showed up for their reservations," Barry stated, repeating what the manager had told him. Barry then turned to Diggle. "Felicity said you were driving them there; isn't that where you dropped them off?"

"I got a text from Thea that she was going to be driving them to lunch, so she didn't need me to take them," Diggle said, the concern on his face growing.

"But I heard Thea say to Felicity when she came up here to get her that the car service was waiting downstairs, so they had to hurry," Oliver added, feeling the blood drain from his face. There was something terribly wrong about this whole situation.

Without thinking about what he was saying, Oliver turned to Diggle. "That's too many things to be coincidental. We need to hack into those phone records to see if we can figure out where that text supposedly from Thea came from, and check the traffic cams for the car that picked them up."

Diggle ran his hand down his face, the feeling of helplessness in him growing. "We need Felicity for that, Oliver."

"I can do it," Barry said, looking between the two men. "I mean if I can access Felicity's computers where she does all of her research for you I can do it. I know she's got some setup somewhere that allows her to access stuff that even I can't get to at the police department, but she's never actually taken me there. But if I had access to it, I know I could find what you're looking for," he finished, looking pleadingly at them.

Oliver knew what it meant if he took Barry to Verdant; it would be one more person who knew his secret. But at this point, he knew Barry was his best bet at finding Felicity. He had messed things up probably beyond repair with her, but he would be damned if he let anything bad happen to her or his sister.

He grabbed his suit coat and turned to Diggle. "Let's go," he said, the implication of his comment not lost on his friend.

Oliver hoped the trust that Felicity had placed in Barry was deserved…