When The

Media Goes

The Distance

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. I decided to wait til after Christmas to start writing this since it won't exactly be a happy occasion in this. Takes place a few days after Damaged.

Summary: Some of the more brazen and adventurous members of the Starling Media take a trip to Lian Yu.

The last thing Oliver Queen had expected after putting himself into hot water with the law and Detective Lance in order to throw suspicion off of him being the Hood was the media pulling what they did. As it seemed during the week a few of its more brazen and adventurous members had decided to take a trip to the Island From Hell known as Lian Yu to provide Starling's peoples with a view of how he had lived there. And it all began on the 3:00 news leaving for a very unhappy Oliver who greatly surprised his mom, sister, Walter, and Raisa with the rage he displayed over the whole thing. Even going so far as to claim he'd find a way to contact the Hood and see if he'd be willing to put a few arrows into those who had done the trip. None of the four knew if he was joking or not and it worried them greatly. The 3:00 news began a little something like this when they announced it towards the end of a special report later that night.

"Tonight on the 8:00 news here at Channel 7 we will bring you the report a few of our reporters have put together after taking a trip to the island of Lian Yu where Oliver Queen had been stranded for five years while believed to be dead. You will see what exactly Oliver Queen went through as he struggled to survive and at the end of the report we'll have a live interview with the benefactor of the trip to the island. Who promises to have quite a few answers to provide about Mr. Queen's time on Lian Yu which also means Purgatory in English."

Tommy had even tried calming him down and going to Laurel hadn't exactly been helpful either as she'd been confused on why he was so unhappy with this whole thing. Especially in regards to the mysterious benefactor who had funded the trip to the island. Thea likewise had been confused by the whole thing and the two had questioned him on it and he mentioned that he had no desire to see that place and have memories come to the surface. Which helped to answer why he even lied about being alone there in the first place. Plus his mentioning he didn't want to give anyone horrible nightmares if he told some of the more unpleasant stories. And when the time came for the news report to air, Mr. Diggle had made the remark about considering giving Oliver something to keep him from flipping out.

Something that got him a glare from Oliver since the archer hated being on anything that dulled his edge. The report proved to be very interesting despite the numerous questions it brought up for those that knew Oliver, not to mention quite heart breaking when they saw the graves of Robert and two other people named Yao Fei and Shado. Laurel and her father wondered why the Hell there wasn't a grave for Sara and both intended to give a certain Queen a piece of their minds the next time they saw him. Oliver had looked quite pale during it all and had been clenching his hands so tightly into fists that his nails were causing blood to drip from how hard he was digging into his skin.

And if possible, he paled even further when the interview began and a one eyed man by the name of Slade Wilson appeared. This reaction made Moira and Thea even more concerned over him. "Thank you for having me here tonight Mr. Giffins." Said the one eyed man in a raspy but polite sounding voice.

"And we are happy to have you here with us Mr. Wilson. Now, as I'm sure many are wondering, how exactly is it you know Oliver Queen? Why even fund the expedition to the island of Lian Yu?"

"To answer your second question, the answer is simply that when I heard of what you and yours were up too, I thought it was important I have a part in it in order to help everyone here in Starling to understand what all the Kid had gone through. As for your first question, I know him because I was already on that island when he arrived. Albeit we didn't meet for some time until a mutual associate by the name of Yao Fei sent him to me. Heh… I nearly took the Kid from this life cause I thought he would be a potential danger to me but he proved himself in the end." He gave a smile as if he was fondly remembering that moment and if the whole thing wasn't so serious, Oliver probably would be smiling fondly too.

Moira, Thea, Laurel, and Tommy were all quite shocked that this man had nearly killed Ollie just cause he thought him to be a potential danger. And they all wondered just what exactly did Ollie do to prove himself to the man. Oliver however was heavily considering making a call to not only Waller despite the fact it was the last thing he wanted to do, but also a call to Anatoly and getting the entirety of the Bratva prepared to take down Slade. And he knew his Russian friend would be likely to agree to it since he himself had witnessed what Slade had become after the Mirakuru had become a part of him. The interview continued on as the interviewer asked Slade questions about different things and even asked why he continued to refer to Oliver Queen as 'Kid'. Slade had merely answered that it was a term of brotherly affection for the man since they had practically become brothers during their time together.

His answers however answered the questions those that knew Oliver had, even if it did make them want to know even more to get a better picture of things. The fact Ollie had willingly gave up the chance to return home via a supply plane to save a man he barely knew surprised them greatly. Especially since he wasn't exactly a selfless kind of person before the island. Hearing of how the man named Yao Fei had helped to keep Oliver alive, something that his daughter Shado had been involved with had made for quite a few wishing to have had the chance to meet and thank the father/daughter duo. Laurel had frowned over the fact that Ollie did in fact know how to use a bow and wondered what exactly it was that seemingly helped lessen his ability to use it. She felt some slight jealousy over the fact Ollie had gotten intimate with this Shado girl as well.

Thea and Malcolm respectively were curious about the water bowl technique and the young Queen would have asked her big brother about it if it wasn't for the fact he seemed close to flipping the Hell out for some strange reason. But when things like the downed Amazo freighter and the graves started to be discussed heavily, the picture they were given was not a pleasant one. It seemed that Slade possibly blamed Ollie for the death of Shado since they had fallen for one another and Oliver himself had openly scoffed over that since to him he could tell Slade still wrongly blamed him. He had damned well tried to make Ivo choose him instead of the girls but that lunatic chose to end Shado's life anyway and place the blame entirely on him.

And when Oliver openly admitted to being all too willing to end Anthony Ivo's life a second time, it had truly shocked his family and Walter wondered if there would be some kind of backlash from the deceased's family over young Oliver's killing of the man. A bridge to certainly cross when the time came no doubt. The fact he pulled out his phone and began to speak in rapid and angry sounding Russian surprised the British man as he hadn't been expecting it. Raisa he noticed seemed to be frowning over the whole thing and he wondered if that should be a worrying sign. His wife and step daughter were looking rather surprised by the sudden action as well.

"Now there are three graves but what I'm wondering is, why isn't there one for Sara Lance?"

Slade didn't answer right away and it looked like he was considering how best to phrase his response though Oliver knew better. "Perhaps guilt? After all he unintentionally caused the sinking of the Amazo to stop the threat it represented and it unfortunately led to a second watery grave for her and the loss of my eye and nearly my death as well. To be honest, I thought him dead as well after that to be honest. So who wouldn't feel some form of guilt after all that?" Informed the man with a chuckle.

To hear that Oliver had unintentionally caused what was quite possibly the real final death of Sara greatly distressed the Lance family and Quentin was honestly wanting to pistle-whip the Hell out of the Punk no matter his intentions for making that damned freighter sink. The interviewer asked Slade the question of why Oliver had willingly wanted to sink what could have been a way home. "Well… On the island there was a secret there that had been left by the Japanese called Mirakuru. A drug that could turn one into a highly dangerous super soldier. And after seeing it in action for ourselves, the Kid felt the best option available was to destroy the Amazo and the Mirakuru itself."

"That lying bastard!" Yelled out Oliver before switching back to angry sounding Russian and making his family wonder about that.

The interview continued on for several more minutes until the interviewer mentioned it was nearing the end and he asked the other man if he had any final words. Slade smiled and nodded his head yes that he did in fact have something to say and turned directly to stare right into the camera with his remaining eye. "Kid, I expect we'll be seeing one another real soon. As after all, I've a promise to keep." And with that, the interview ended.

This promise made everyone who knew Oliver Queen curious as Hell and over in Nanda Parbat, Nyssa Al Ghul, daughter and Heir to the Demon's Head watched in great concern over how her Canary was acting since the beginning of this interview. Nyssa had never really seen her Habibti act like this and it bothered her greatly. "What troubles you so Ta-er?"

The assassin known as Ta-er al-Asfar and formely known as Sara Lance looked at her girlfriend with fear in her eyes, something Nyssa was not accustomed to seeing at all from the other woman. "Slade. He will kill Oliver and every single person he knows. And that will include my family for what happened to Shado since he blames both of us. If he were to find out I'm alive, I honestly don't think anyone or anything here would be able to stop him from getting to me and snapping my neck."

Nyssa didn't think that was possible at all. "We are the League of Assassins Ta-er, we have stopped armies from over taking us and he is but one man. One man alone can not hope to defeat us."

Ta-er shook her head at that. "Babe, he has Mirakuru in his veins! A super soldier serum that virtually makes him unstoppable! I need to talk to your old man to see if he'd be willing to put someone to watch over my family in case Slade comes for any of them." The fear and worry in her lover's voice made Nyssa take what was said into heavy consideration.

"Come, we will discuss this with my father." And the two were off to do just that and hopefully the man would be willing enough to allow for guards over the Lances.

Meanwhile back at the Queen Mansion, Oliver had started to pace after getting off the phone with whoever he'd been speaking Russian with and his family were all watching him in great concern. "Oliver, sweetheart, why are you acting like this? I would think you would be happy to see your old friend again." His mother said with confusion in her voice.

Oliver looked at her and she was taken aback by the look in his eyes. A look of great fear that dwarfed the fear he had about the baby he believed to be dead. "No mom, I'm not happy at all about Slade. To be honest I thought he was DEAD! Hell I hoped he was! I put an arrow in his eye with my own hands to stop him!"

"What? Ollie, why would you do that!?"

Thea watched as her big brother sighed in aggravation. "Because Speedy, that promise of his he mentioned? Its one of pain, of death, of misery. He wants to make me suffer by killing all those I care for and love for what happened to Shado. So stay the Hell away from him if he comes around. And I mean that for all of you."

That made everybody highly alarmed and Diggle was already thinking of who he could call in to help keep an eye on all those in Oliver's life until this threat was over with. They watched as Oliver dialed yet another number and it wasn't long before he started speaking. "Waller, I don't know if you've been watching... But I need your help."

Whoever this Waller person was, those there with the archer wondered just what kind of help this Waller person could be considering how freaked out he was. But hopefully something would be done that wouldn't see a loss of life in the end. None knew what they were going to be in for when Slade finally came calling and they'd all be forever changed.

Author's Notes: There will be a definite follow up to this one and I look forward to seeing what people think of this one. I originally had intended on Slade killing off the studio personnel to give those watching an idea of what was about to possibly happen but decided to go this route instead. R and R!