A/N: Hello m'dears… I hope the week has been a good one for you!

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The street became pandemonium: shouts, screams, the people who'd been moving along the sidewalk to reach whatever destination now becoming a mindless mob, desperately afraid, horribly traumatized still, running aimlessly, seeking any kind of safety before hell might again get visited upon them. A patrolman driving by had the presence of mind to use his loudspeaker to try and restore order, to no avail. The bullet the shooter fired found a target, the upper thigh of a security guard, who screamed, clutched his leg, and dropped to the ground. Diggle kept his body curved around the now trembling Sienna, saw Oliver doing the same with Felicity.

"Man, are you guys okay?" Roy thudded down next to them. Oliver could hear him, but every other sound- save for the droning of the terrified crowd had become muffled the moment he attenuated to what Diggle had yelled a second before he pulled Sienna to the ground. Sniper, he repeated the word silently, twisted it around in his mind. A sniper had just tried to kill Sienna. The question on Oliver's mind now was why. Why had someone taken a hit out on a woman who held no connections to organized crime, who wasn't anybody financially or politically important, and whose death would serve nothing at all save as the means to a personal end? To answer, he would need to find out who the shooter was, first. He shot a glance at Roy.

"Roy, I need you to get Felicity and Sienna out of here," he told him. "Take them back to Ver-"

"No," Sienna cut in. Oliver turned to her, a heated rejoinder upon his lips. It died the instant he saw the expression upon her face. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and her face void of any and all color. Her lips were trembling as she said, "We cannot go to Verdant, nor your family home, in fact." However, what Oliver, as well as everyone else, heard was the velvet steel coating that bluesy tone. Sienna James may be terrified, she may have had her confidence shaken, but it was clear she was far from being cowed. "None of those places will be safe at this moment. They'd be bugged same as I suspect my office was."

"How do you know?"

She swept her hair out of her face, released a shaky breath. "Slade's penthouse and yacht were bugged. And before you repeat your earlier question," she added with a slight smirk. "My housekeeper, Marta, found a bug in our bedroom when she was helping me pack."

Oliver didn't need to see her face to know she felt violated. Her privacy-as much as Slade's (a fact he hated admitting) had been invaded here. Who, though? he silently wondered. Who would want to keep so close an eye upon someone that they'd go so far as to bug their bedroom? He glanced over at Diggle, saw his own face was pensive with speculation and asked, "Blood's Cult?"

"Could be, man," Diggle acknowledged with a nod. "Who else would have had access to all those places?"

"Nobody else had access to the penthouse or his yacht," Sienna confirmed in a quiet voice. What she didn't say, and what Diggle and Oliver both silently exchanged in a look, was that why nobody else had access to those two places was because they were the places where she most frequented. Slade would never trust her safety in the hands of just anybody. And yet Oliver started to believe that he might have done just that. For all that Slade Wilson's plan had been infallible, for all his careful eye to the small and unimportant details, he wasn't perfect. He could make a mistake as easily as the rest of them.

"Sienna," he asked her. "How many of the Cult members real identities do you know?"

She gave him a quizzical look. "Two," she replied slowly. "Blood being the most obvious member. Why do you ask?"

It was Diggle that responded. "Because one of those two men are likely the person who hired your shooter."

She shook her head. "Impossible." She looked first at Diggle, and then over at Oliver. "One of those two men is dead, and the other is a blithering idiot."

"But the idiot could have friends." It was Roy who spoke up now. He'd been silent thus far, absorbing everything being said and analyzing it. And the one conclusion he'd drawn was that this woman-Sienna, he corrected silently, was in a boatload more danger than she realized she was. "You said yourself that you only know who two of the members of the Cult actually are. And one of them, Blood, is dead."

"And the other might be an idiot, but they could have friends who aren't," Felicity said lightly. "And those friends could well have the phone number to somebody who knows somebody with a high-powered sniper rifle."

Sienna mulled that over for a few seconds. Finally, she nodded before saying, "You're right." She released a heavy sigh. "I don't know every member of Blood Cult. I doubt Slade knows who every member is. And yes," she continued on a long breath, "there could be any number of members with the resources available in which to hire an assassin."

There was a lull as EMS and police swarmed past them and swept into Queen Consolidated. Then Felicity asked the question that had been plaguing all of them since they'd become aware of the danger that Sienna is. "So what are we going to do?"

"First," Oliver said in a serious voice. "We get Sienna somewhere safe. Then we track down whomever the shooter is and get them to tell us who they are working for. And we stop them."

"I hate to be the party pooper here," Roy drawled. "But where exactly can we take Sienna that's safe? Even the Foundry has been compromised at this point."

A slight smirk curved Oliver's lips and there was a gleam in his eyes that instantly put Sienna on alert. "Oh, I already have a safe place in mind for her."

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Diggle asked dryly.

"Nope," Oliver replied as he rolled to his feet. He held a hand out and helped Felicity to hers. "But trust me," he told them now. "This is absolutely the best place in which to stash Sienna while we not only try to track down who her assassin is, but find out who he is working for as well."

Diggle had a feeling he not only knew where Oliver planned to hide Sienna James, but with whom he planned to stash her with. And while he wasn't sure about it being the best idea that Oliver had ever had, he couldn't deny that Sienna would not, in fact, be safe there. His lips quirked as he then considered just what Miss James's opinion was going to be once she figured out what Oliver had in store for her.

He had a feeling fireworks were going to be illuminating the skies over Lian Yu.

And damned if he wasn't glad to have a front seat for the show.

Banner Street, even at this time of the morning, was crowded with office workers racing towards one of the steel-and-glass high rises that lined the boulevard. The Harbinger lost himself in the sea of the faceless, still vexed over not having added another notch to his rather extensive belt. His phone vibrated and he pulled it from his pocket, knowing who the caller was without glancing at the ID.

"I am sorry, mi hermano," he said, turning into an alley. "The Harbinger got prevented from adding another trophy to his case by the interference of Queen's bodyguard."

"This news does not please me, Brother Harbinger," Truth rasped. "You promised me that you would reap the life of Sienna James. And you have failed to do so."

Harbinger was not pleased. He needed the release that Miss James's death would have provided him. His teeth gnashed together. "I shall deliver upon my promise, hermano Truth." His voice became a dark baritone. "Of that I can guarantee you."

"See that you do," Truth said. Then there was a click, and the line went dead. Harbinger allowed the insult to pass as he stepped out into the crowd once more. Instantly he was swallowed up by the crowd, just another dark haired man in a three-piece suit and with a briefcase in one leather gloved hand.

At nine that evening they were flying over the ocean, en route to the island which had started this entire nightmare in the first place. When Diggle was confident Felicity and Sienna were resting as comfortably as possible, he moved forward to join Roy and Oliver in the cockpit. There was music playing. Nickleback, he recognized. In the copilot's seat, Roy had kicked back and was tapping his foot along with the beat. Diggle looked through the black windscreen and felt his heart do a little dance. There was nothing outside that screen but a dark blanket upon which tiny diamonds glittered.

"So are you planning on stashing Miss James with Slade Wilson?"

"Can you think of anywhere else that she'd be safe?" Oliver asked.

Diggle snorted a laugh. "No," he admitted with a small smile. "Locking her up with him is probably the best place for her. I just am concerned about her letting him out while we are not there to keep an eye on her."

Roy glanced at him. "I don't think she will let him out."

"Oh?" Diggle asked. "And why's that?"

"She's scared shitless is why." Roy reached down and snagged hold of a cup he'd filled with coffee before joining Oliver in the cockpit. "She's acting otherwise, but she's pretty freaked out about what happened today."

Diggle folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the door panel. "That don't mean she's going to be happy about being locked in a prison cell with Slade Wilson."

"That's what you think, man." Roy cocked a smirk. "She might put up a fuss about it at first, but I imagine he'll soothe whatever feathers Oliver rustles when he informs her about where she's gonna be staying for a while."

It only took a second for Diggle to grasp what Roy was saying. He chuckled softly. "You have a point, man," he agreed with a slight inclination of his head. "Though I still anticipate that sparks are gonna fly when Oliver announces how he doesn't intend to leave Lian Yu with the same number of passengers he arrived with."

Roy snorted. "I have a feeling the sparks are gonna fly as soon as Wilson lays eyes on Sienna with Oliver." He cocked his head back to look at Diggle, one side of his mouth quirking up. "Can't imagine the man will be thrilled to see his woman in the company of the man he just tried to kill."

Diggle made a low murmur in his throat as Roy's words washed over him. "That's a good point actually," he murmured thoughtfully. He glanced over at Oliver. "How exactly are you planning on getting around Slade's initial desire to wrap his hands around your throat?"

"By informing him about a sniper nearly killing Sienna today." Oliver flashed them a grim look over his shoulder. "I'm figuring that telling him about how his fiancée is in danger will take his mind off of me."

Diggle nodded slowly. "And ensure that any sparks flying are gonna be between the two of them."

Oliver turned back around, muttering, "Yep."

"That's cold, man," Roy said with a shake of his head. "Selling her out in order to keep Slade's focus off you."

Oliver didn't disagree. However... "She won't tell Slade the truth," he said darkly.

Diggle's eyebrows forked. "What do you mean she won't tell him the truth?"

"Sienna sees Slade as being the one in danger." Oliver glanced down at the controls on the dash. Everything was in order. So far the flight had been a smooth one. Thankfully. "Even after what happened today, she still does not see that the threat is against herself as much as it is against Slade."

"Yeah, well," Roy expelled at the end of a huge yawn. "I have a feeling that Wilson will make her see the error in that line of thinking just as soon as you spill the beans about the shooter. Anyway," he breathed out as he pushed to his feet. "I'm gonna try and catch some zzz's before we land."

"Same here," Diggle said while fighting off a yawn of his own. He pushed away from the panel and turned to leave. He paused to say over his shoulder. "You need anything, Oliver, just give a shout out."

"I'll be fine," Oliver assured him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

The two left the cockpit, then, leaving Oliver alone with nothing but his thoughts and Nickleback to keep him company. His fingers drummed upon the flight yoke as he went over the events from that afternoon once more in his head. Something about the situation just didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger upon what. How had the shooter known that Sienna would be at Queen Consolidated on that day, and at that time? How did they know when she would be exiting the building? Oliver suspected that a mole from the Cult worked at Queen Consolidated. Figuring out who they were, though, was going to be beyond difficult.

"I've never been in the cockpit of a plane before," Sienna said, interrupting his thoughts. "What a terrifying and strangely beautiful view."

"I thought you were resting?"

"I was resting."

Oliver cast a quick glance at her face. Her face was pale and there were black bruises beneath her eyes testifying to her many sleepless nights. Guilt cramped his belly and had his hands clamping down upon the yoke. Even though Slade shouldered as much of the responsibility for her restless state as he did, it was only him that bore witness to the toll that their private feud had taken upon her. Just like Felicity had become involved through her association with him, so had Sienna become drug into this by her relationship with Slade. It'd become the connection the two women needed in order to bridge the gap between them. They'd spent the majority of the afternoon bonding over the two men that routinely (as they'd so put it) drove them to "distraction."

"How much longer until we reach Lian Yu?"

"Ten hours."

He heard her release a small breath. Another glance at her face showed him that Sienna looked more than just tired. She looked... unsettled. Well, he could try and help with that.

"Hey." He reached back and set his hand upon the one she'd placed on the back of his seat. "Copilot's seat is available if you'd like to join me."

"Thank you," she said with a slight smile. "But I actually came up to ask if you'd like anything?"

"You know that you don't have to wait on me, right?"

"I'm not accustomed to being idle. So, coffee, tea, soda?"

"I wouldn't mind some coffee. And thank you."

She brewed a short pot, brought him a mug of it. Then she stood behind him, staring out into the night sky. "What was he like?"

"What do you mean?"

"On the island? Before the Mirakuru? Before Shado's death?"

It was a strange thing, having a woman question him about another man. Generally, if the women he encountered in the club or on the street weren't talking about themselves, they were asking about him, trying to worm around what they saw as his "air of mystery." Only Felicity and this woman were not like the majority of the women he encountered. They looked past the scars, past the traumas and the masks he and Slade both now wore and found the men residing beneath. And they care about those men, he thought. That both women did care about them, in spite of their numerous flaws, caused a small hitch of wonder to soften the sliver of ice he kept around his heart.

"You know the answer to that already," Oliver said after a moment. "You know more about Slade Wilson than I do."

"Do I?" she questioned in a soft voice. "Or do I only know what Slade wanted me to know? Have I fooled myself into thinking I know who the real man is beneath the mask?"

Could she be having... doubts about Slade's feelings? Oliver stared at her face in the view screen and saw she'd drawn her lower lip between her teeth. That small kink in her armor made him smile, despite his best efforts to the contrary.

"The Mirakuru is not what made Slade care for you, Sienna," he told her quietly. "Nor have his feelings for you changed since he received the antidote."

She studied Oliver now, that patrician profile that reminded her so much of Jonathan's, yet still was uniquely his own. She desperately wanted to ask him how exactly he knew Slade still cared for her, but she feared the answer would not be the one she needed to hear at that moment. Her sudden bout of anxiety nauseated her. This gripping paranoia that she was doing all this for a man who didn't love her disgusted her. Yet she couldn't help it. The closer they got to Lian Yu, the closer she was to Slade, the more the acid began to bubble and burn in her belly. Sienna ran a hand over her face. The fear of not knowing which Slade she'd meet once she stood face to face with him had her twisted into one huge constrictor knot.

"You were very much on his mind when I saw him last." He gazed at her, and she saw he'd known what thoughts had been careening through her feverish little mind. "In fact," he said, his brow puckering. "His last words were something about how he'll always come for you." Oliver watched as her eyes went all soft and misty. His eyebrow lifted. "Was that some type of coded message or something?" he drawled.

"Oh, yes," she murmured with a slight nod. "It was a coded message. A private one," she added when she saw the questioning look upon his face.

"And you can't explain what that message is?"

She left her place behind him without a word and curled up in the co-pilot's chair. Because the message hidden in Slade's words seemed to have alleviated some of the fear and doubt cross-crossing her face, Oliver let the matter drop, and returned his attention to flying the plane. And when she fell asleep, and really slept, he covered her with his hoodie, hoping she dreamed of her reunion with Slade and not mysterious shooters or Russian traffickers.

Too restless to sleep, Slade paced the perimeter of his cell. He felt like a tiger locked in an exhibition cage at the zoo. He had no more jungles to prowl, no more prey to stalk, could do nothing more than pace back and forth in front of these metal bars day after day.

It was beyond maddening.

The only thing keeping him sane at that moment was the knowledge that Sienna would come as soon as she could figure out a way in which to reach the island without either the kid or A.R.G.U.S stopping her. A smirk twisted his lips as he spun to prowl back to the other side of his cage. His smile died just as quickly as it lived. His dove was likely out of her head with worry at that point. She could well be locked in the grips of a mammoth panic attack that he wasn't there to help her through. Guilt and worry hammered away at him, chipped away yet another layer of the cold-hearted bastard who'd sought to destroy a city of people in the name of vengeance.

His dove had not been ready to fly solo. He'd known she'd not been ready. She'd taken two steps forward when she'd met with Oliver alone on that final day, and then a gigantic leap when she confronted him that night at Queen Consolidated. But she'd still not been ready to rejoin the world. Not without him at her side to help her navigate the troubled waters with her, at least. If there was one thing he would go back in time to fix, it was how he'd failed Sienna. His ego, coupled with the rage of his hatred for the kid and the Mirakuru's toxic influence had made him blind to his love's needs.

His one hope, his only hope at that moment, hung upon Oliver finding her and ensuring she'd be taken care of. The kid's blind-spot when it came to women all but predicted he'd search Sienna out in order to ensure she was okay. The dragon asleep inside him stirred, breathed out a sulphuric mist that had Slade's hands forming into fists. The image of Oliver pulling Sienna into an embrace and kissing her lips had started plaguing him the first day of his incarceration. While the man had certainly changed from the spoiled and self-serving rich boy he'd been when he'd first met him, Slade knew one thing about Oliver had not changed: his womanizing ways. One only had to look at the kid's romantic record to see that Oliver Queen and commitment did not go in the same sentence.

Anger (and a good dose of jealousy he'd deny feeling) snapped to life within him. He turned to stomp back towards the opposite side of his cell, but stopped in mid-pace when he heard the latch turn on the hatch leading down into his private dwelling. He slowly turned, watching with a hungry gleam in his eye as his arch nemesis himself descended the ladder.

"Come to gloat some more, kid?" he rumbled as he stalked forward and grasped hold of the bars preventing him from reaching the man standing less than six feet from him. His fingers clenched upon the smooth metal, imagining it to be Oliver's neck.

"No," Oliver returned quietly. "I've brought you a visitor."

"Who?" he queried in a dark purr.

Oliver didn't reply, merely tapped the ladder with his hand. A pair of shapely legs appeared in the hatchway then, and was quickly followed by a willow-slim body he'd know anywhere. He watched, his eye narrowed into a silent threat and his heart pounding harder than the surf against the shore, as Oliver reached up to help Sienna down the rest of the way.

"Why have you brought her here?" he demanded in a thick voice. "What torture is this?"

"You're not happy to see me?" Sienna turned bruised eyes upon him, tearing his heart into pieces and almost sending him to his knees. "I thought you..." she trailed off, just looking at him with so much hurt and fear upon her face that it punched Slade in the gut.

He merely made that small little sound (a cross between a silky hum and a velvet purr) that he always made whenever she was being silly. Then he said in a low, dark rumble that he knew had her belly curling into slippery little knots, "Come here, love."

She smiled that rare and precious smile that made her face glow as if a thousand candles had been lit beneath her skin. She went to take a step forward, but Oliver's hand on her shoulder stopped her. Sienna (as well as Slade) shot him a murderous look.

"This isn't a reunion."

"Why did you bring her here, then, kid?" Slade growled at the same time as Sienna hissed Oliver's name. Oliver merely fixed her with a baleful look.

"Tell him, Sienna," he stated in a deadly quiet tone. "Or I will."

"You wouldn't dare," Sienna gritted.

Something about the exchange had the hunter inside him awakening and instantly going into predatory mode.

"Tell me what?" he demanded. Slade shifted his gaze to the woman glowering at his stone faced former friend. "Sienna? What do you have to tell me, love?"

When she remained stubbornly silent, Oliver looked at him and stated, "An assassin nearly killed her as she was leaving Queen Consolidated yesterday morning."

"What?" he thundered at the same moment that Oliver let out a surprised yelp.

"You hit me!" he exclaimed, more in wonder than anger. "You actually hit me."

"It's what you deserve for being a rat bastard!" Sienna huffed while rubbing her fist. "And I'll do it again if you don't keep your mouth shut!"

Slade, for his own part, merely chuckled.

"She hits harder than you did in the beginning, kid."

Oliver tossed a black look at him while rubbing his shoulder. Then he turned to the petite woman glaring daggers at him. "Hit me if it will make you feel better," he told her in a no-nonsense voice. "But it's not going to change the fact that an unknown hitman took a shot at you yesterday. A hitman," he continued over her sputtering and spitting, "that is still out there and waiting for an opportunity to take another shot at you."

"And I told you yester..."

He cut her off by snarling, "I don't care what you told me!" He shot a heated look at Slade, saw he was watching the exchange with a high degree of amusement and concern. "Sienna's in danger and refuses to see it. I'm hoping you can make her see reason and get her to understand that whomever it is she thinks is after you? Is also after her."

"How dare you treat me like a child!" Sienna slammed her palms against his chest, seriously surprising Oliver and Slade both. Neither of them had known she had quite that much temper. Or that it could trigger Oliver's own. "I won't stand for this! You hear me? I won't stand for this!"

"Stop hitting me, Sienna," Oliver said quietly. "And if you'd be reasonable and accept that your life is in jeopardy…"

"It's my life to risk!" she shouted at him. "Not yours!"

"But your life is mine to worry about," Slade growled, but she rounded on him then.

"Don't you dare lecture me!" she said hotly. "Not after you knocked me out and left me in that utility closet before going off to fight with Legolas here!"

"Careful, love," Slade uttered in that rich baritone that made her knees go weak. "Or Oliver will have to lock you in here with me so that we can have this fight properly."

"That's exactly what I am planning on doing."

"What?" Slade and Sienna said in unison. Oliver smiled grimly.

"She said yesterday that here is the safest place for you at this moment. Well," Oliver said even as Sienna let out a squawk of indignation. "Here, with you, is the safest place for her at this moment, too."