A/N: Hey guys, sorry for taking so long to update. My whole family came down with bronchitis. But I'm back, baby!
Enjoy!

Episode 24: Blood Poison

Anna swung to the top rung of the Salmon Ladder and stopped, letting her legs swing. "How do you do that?" Roy asked, from where he watched near the edge of the mat. Anna sighed and dropped to the floor a few feet from him. "Practice. Why don't you give it a go?" she asked, gesturing to the Ladder. He glanced at it and hesitantly shook his head. "Nah," he said. "Not really my thing."

"Then get your ass on the mat. I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna stand around all day and look pretty" she said, walking past him to the mat corner.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Roy asked, slowly walking to his side. "I could hurt you."

"Are you kidding me?" Anna asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Take your stance and give me what you've got." He shook his head but took his stance anyway. She made things simple at first, throwing easy punches and neglected kicks. But he didn't try and participate. "Roy, you either get your head in this or I swear to god I will hang you on the Salmon Ladder by your toes" Anna said.

He sighed ruefully and Anna started again. The first few punches were easily blocked and dodged but then Anna added in her advanced moves and they actually began fighting. She swung her leg up to hit his temple but he ducked and swept her other leg out from under her. Her back hit the mat but she quickly rebounded, vaulting up onto her feet easily.

They went round after round until both were sweating. They took their stances for yet a fifth round when Diggle and Oliver came down the stairs. Oliver already looked angry and, then when he noticed they had been sparring, it made him furious. He walked over to the mat with a scowl on his face and looked between Roy and Anna. "What did I say about sparring?" Oliver asked, glaring at Roy. "It's too dangerous for you. You could kill someone, Roy. And not only someone, but Anna."

"Sorry, won't happen again" Roy said, turning and walking toward the stairs.

"Oliver, what the hell is wrong with you?" Anna asked, angrily.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that Slade Wilson decided to pay my family a visit today, that's what," Oliver said. "And you know what's funny? Anna, you visited him last week. Coincidence?"

"Are you kidding me? Oliver, he was a friend a long time ago. I went to warn him about the League, that's all" she said. They stared at each other a minute before Anna walked around him, bumping his shoulder, and walked past Diggle up the stairs. Anna gave Diggle a 'what the hell?' look before exiting and Diggle just shook his head. He walked to Oliver's side and sighed. "Oliver, somehow, I don't think that was the way to go about things" he said. Oliver turned his scowl on Diggle before following after Anna.

Anna was on the phone standing on the sidewalk. She sighed. "WTF, Drake. You let him go to Oliver's house?" she asked.

"Like I said, I couldn't really stop him. I have a broken arm and a cast to show for it if you don't believe me" Drake said, audibly wincing twice.

"I believe you, okay? But we need to come up with something a little better than one man to stop a Wilson made of five" she said. Just then the Verdant door opened and Oliver walked out. Anna glanced back at him and then turned back to the road. "I'll call you later" she said, before ending the call.

She shoved her phone into her pocket and turned to Oliver, who now stood at her side. He took a deep breath and looked at her evenly. "How do you know Slade Wilson?" he asked, calmly. Anna scoffed. "He's Stranger, Oliver" Anna said, like he should have known it already. She watched as he put two and two together and the anger came back. "You mean he was your-"

"It was just sex; it wasn't anything special, alright?" Anna said. Oliver refrained from saying what came to mind and visibly held his anger at bay. He looked at her again and she crossed her arms. "You have a team…I have a team…we all need to work together to stop Slade and the League" he said. Anna pulled out her cell phone and dialed seven on her speed dial.

She put the phone to her ear and let it ring three times before pressing the date in on the numbers. It beeped twice and then went silent. "What?" a groggy Barracuda said.

"Get the team, get them to Verdant, and do it before I have to drag your ass outta bed" Anna said. She then promptly hung up and shoved her phone away. She turned to Oliver and looked at him silently for a minute. "This doesn't make things better between us," she said. "I'm going to wait on the sidewalk, alone." She turned around and walked a few yards down the sidewalk.

One Hour Later…

Barracuda, Drake, Helena, Batgirl, Victor, and Anna—all in their suits—stood by the computers. Felicity sat in her chair, Diggle and Roy stood a few feet to the left, and Oliver wore his hood a few feet in front of the group. Just then, Sarah came down the stairs in her black suit and stood next to Anna. Anna crossed her arms. "I don't care if you want to put him in some prison that'll hold him or whatever, but if you make one move to kill Slade I'm going to have to rethink this partnership deal" she said.

Oliver momentarily thought she meant the engagement, but then he realized she was talking about the teams working together. He straightened and began to speak when Felicity cut in. "Uh, guys? We have a problem. And by 'we' I mean Starling City" she said. Anna and Oliver both went to look over her shoulder. The screen displayed a video of an unmarked jet at Starling International Airport.

Then a man and a woman walked out and started inside. Anna checked the timestamp—twenty minutes ago. Anna motioned for her team to follow and hurried up the stairs. They all parked outside the main doors of the airport. People were flooding out and screaming. Anna sighed and turned off her bike. She stood and pulled out her gun. "B, Drake—you two take the left side door. Helena, Batgirl—take the right side door," just then Oliver and Diggle arrived causing Anna to pause before continuing. "Sarah, Diggle—secure the tarmac. Olly, you're with me, unless you have a problem with that."

Anna glanced at Oliver a second before urging people to move. Everyone split off and Anna hurried into the airport with Oliver on her heels. They made their way to the baggage claim, where people still fled and were shot down by a machine gun held by none other than Talia Al Ghul. Anna didn't bother hiding; she just walked up to a few feet from her mother and held her gun up in surrender.

Talia stopped her shooting tirade and eyed her daughter. "I've heard you can damage your ears by shooting without protection" Anna said, monotonously. Talia barley gave a small smile and a wink. "Already taken care of" she said. Anna half nodded and glanced back at Oliver. He raised an eyebrow and she widen her eyes momentarily. He nodded and backed out of the room.

Anna slid her gun back into her belt and ran forward to hug her mother. Talia reciprocated the hug quickly with a sound of relief. "Are you sure the shots killed the bugs?" Anna asked, pulling back. Talia nodded. "I'm sure of it" she said. Anna nodded and motioned for her to follow. She started out to the entrance of the airport with Talia following closely.

Suddenly Anna stopped walking and Talia in turn stopped as well, though she had no idea why they stopping. Anna slowly turned around to face her mother, her hand pulling away from a larger dart piercing her suit on her right side. Anna pulled it out and then collapsed. Talia rushed to her and took the dart. Just then Helena and Sarah came to stand a few feet beside them. Helena aimed her crossbow at Talia.

Talia slid them the dart. "It's poison. I swear I had no knowledge of this" she said. Sarah picked up the dart and examined it. "Ambercus" she said, bitterly.

"What the hell is Ambercus?" Helena asked.

"It's a blood poison. It shuts down all your organs one-by-one until it reaches your heart" Talia explained. Oliver then appeared at Anna's side and the rest of the team appeared behind him. "Is there a cure?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, but it's-" Sarah started.

"Impossible to get unless your Ra's," Talia interrupted. "There's a way to slow the poison's affect. We have to get her somewhere comfortable, because the cure is anything but." Oliver slide a hand under Anna's back and one under her legs and stood, taking her with him.