Notes:
I know it's been a while again. Sorry about that. I hope you guys had a great Christmas and a happy New Year. I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads and supports this story. It means the world to me.
We're living different lives brother, we'll go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos though we don't share the same blood you're my brother
Anatoly
Anatoly looked at his phone in surprise when he saw the name on it. This was unexpected. She didn't usually contact him. Even on the rare occasions she needed something from him, she'd usually have Oliver talk to him, so he could play buffer and negotiator, knowing full well that they wouldn't see eye to eye. He had asked Oliver about it once, and his friend had told him she'd figured chances were higher he'd agreed to her terms or at the very least was more lenient when it came to her motives when he wasn't pissed off and that she knew she'd only piss him off if she called herself. Given how passionate she was about the issues Oliver had called him about, he could easily see her going off the rails and making him angry, so having Oliver contact him was a smart move on her end.
Having her be the one to call him now both intrigued and worried him. Which was the reason he picked up right away.
"Sara, what can I do for you, moya dorogaya?" He decided to avoid any unnecessary pleasantries, knowing her dislike of hedging around instead of coming to the point. He was also certain that there was a specific reason for her call and not her simply wanting to chat for no reason. And the blonde didn't disappoint getting straight to the point.
"I need your help. Ollie's been taken and his team can't find him." This was not at all the reply he had expected. It explained her reaching out to him personally, though. Oliver had let him know about Sara's pregnancy a while ago, partially so he would be aware that he might reach out to the Bratva if he felt he needed additional help with her protection, given his latest adversary's skills. Who Oliver was up against sounded like a dangerous man.
He had promised his friend that he could count on the Bratva's help if needed. Also, knowing it probably wouldn't be easy to convince his brothers in Star City to uphold his promise, but it would be a lot easier now than it had been before Sara had become his wife. The Bratva came hard for their family, and a brother's family was their family. This revelation had both surprised him and not surprised him at all. He'd always known those two crazy kids belonged together and hoped they'd figure it out at some point. Oliver calling him and letting him know about their nuptials had touched him, even more so when he learnt just how few people they'd decided to tell about it. It had further cemented their renewed friendship and Oliver's efforts to uphold it.
But the relationship between his brothers in Star City and Oliver was still rather tense, they felt he took too many liberties when it came to working with them, expecting them to jump when he asked something of them but rarely upholding his end of the deal. And they were not wrong. They found his attitude off putting and entitled and given the fact he was not only an American, which would have led to enough issues already, he was a very, very wealthy American who came from a famous American family. Oliver's brashness gave them the impression he was bossing them around and treating them like his staff. Oliver hadn't spent enough time with his Russian brothers in Star City to give them the chance to truly get to know him and understand that this was not what he was doing and it was simply part of his character; to focus on what he deemed most important and procrastinate the rest. The issue was that they didn't see eye to eye when it came to weighting the importance of a matter. And Oliver deemed their issues weren't as important as the Green Arrow's. Not yet understanding, that the Bratva could be an asset of the Green Arrow's if he truly put the work in and helped him make the changes to the Bratva he had started to make once he had taken over.
It was something he had addressed while Oliver and he had talked about what had happened to strain their friendship and how Oliver's actions were being interpreted by his brothers and made it difficult for him to justify not only not punishing him for those but further allowing him to not only stay a member of the Bratva but a Captain and that his approach needed to change or he would have to go through with consequences for him or risk losing the respect and backing of the other members. He couldn't favor anyone, not this obviously at least, not without risking discord. And he still couldn't afford that.
Sara had been on his side and had helped him make Oliver understand... and promise that he would try to do better, emphasis on the word try. Her agreeing with him had been a surprise. He knew Sara's stance on some of the Bratva's businesses and the Canary had thwarted more than one of his business dealings. Not that he had particularly minded. It had been a branch he had wanted to get out of almost from the moment he had taken over but making changes within the organization wasn't easy and he needed to thread carefully, he couldn't risk the majority rising up against him for trying to make too many changes at once. Especially by removing a branch as lucrative as this one was, as sickening and twisted as it was, it brought in at least a third of their entire income.
The human trafficking through the Bratva had been reduced by more than half in the last five years, though, and he looked at this as a win. He wanted to remove the Bratva completely from it, but that wasn't as easy as it might seem to an outsider. He was appalled by the business of buying and selling humans, most of all children and women, having been a victim of it himself, sort of. And having seen firsthand what that situation had done to Sara when she'd been forced into it. He had never questioned whether she acted out of her own free will or not. It had been obvious to anyone with half a brain. She'd been as much a prisoner as the rest of them and in a way in a far worse position. It didn't take a genius to know what Ivo had forced her to do, and not just the torture.
He also knew that Oliver had shied away from the truth of just what the relationship, for lack of a better term, between Sara and Ivo had been. He had been in denial about it for a long time it had only been towards the end of his time in Russia that he let himself admit the cold fact of the matter that Sara had been forced to share the mad scientist's bed so she wouldn't been thrown to the wild animals, ruling the ship with brutality and cruelty, as a plaything. It had, in a way, been the lesser of two evils. If only barely.
Anatoly could understand why Oliver had struggled so much with that fact and he had been horrified, disgusted, angrier and scarier than he had ever seen him before and he knew, had Ivo still been alive, Oliver would've used all the methods to torture someone he had learnt since Lian Yu on the older man. And he had to admit, he would've enjoyed watching that. It hadn't been Sara's wish, though. She had in the end wanted to spare Ivo's suffering, which just showed how good a person she was. So, he wasn't sure if Oliver really would've gone through with it. Maybe he would've had he also been forced to watch the progression from the innocent young woman she had been to the dangerous assistant she had been turned into, if Oliver had had to watch the light in those bright eyes disappear a little more every single day, maybe he wouldn't have cared about what Sara had wanted anymore. Because he sure as hell hadn't. He had watched her transformation little by little, day after day. It had broken his heart, but there had been nothing he could do for her. Nothing but watch and bid his time.
So, no, he hadn't minded the Canary thwarting those shipments. Had had no issues negotiating with Oliver on Sara's behalf and giving her as much leeway as he could without it backfiring on him. He had always had a soft spot for Oliver's love, and that hadn't changed in the years since Lian Yu. He also really didn't feel like pissing her off. She'd only gotten scarier in the years between then and now. He wasn't sure who'd had the idea to have her properly trained and turned into an international assassin, but the person surely needed to have their brain checked. That had been one dangerous decision.
Her words, and especially the tremble and worry in her voice, were what had him decide to deal with what needed to be dealt with right away in Russia and to then head to Star City right away, to help Sara find Oliver. Or find him for her, given her stance to stay out of the field and in the confines and safety of her home, to protect her baby girl. A very smart and understandable move, but something he was sure she was struggling to do, especially now with Oliver missing. So he hoped his presence in the city would assure her that the Bratva would do everything within their power to find her husband and ease some of her mind at least a little bit.
Oliver
It took him a moment when he came to, to recall what had happened, and how he had ended up wherever the hell he was. A cell it looked like, but that was about as much information as he could gain, given the darkness of the room he woke up in.
There was also no way of knowing how long he'd been out, and with that, how far they could've taken him. His arms and legs were chained to the floor, and there were no windows in the room. He tried the chains pulling at them with all his strength to no avail, not that he had expected them to give, but he had to try. It was while he tried the chains that everything came back to him and once it did; he shot up. The sudden movement sent a shooting pain through his thigh and reminded him of the wound that had been inflicted. He could still feel the remnants of the poison running through his system and making him foggy and his mind a little muddled, not at all helpful in the situation he was in. He recalled saving Joanna and getting Speedy and Laurel out, then Dig and Doris… and Chase stabbing her, he could remember their fight and the abrupt searing pain in his leg, just like now. Fuck.
He closed his eyes, trying to deny the dark spots that had appeared at the sudden pain in his leg and to focus and calm his racing heart and mind down. Oliver allowed himself several minutes to meditate and find his center, so he could focus on what was important instead of the physical struggles that were trying to take everything over. There was currently nothing he could do to speed up the time the poison needed to pass through his system, not having access to his herbs or water, just like there was no way to numb the pain in his leg or take care of the wound. So there was no point in putting his focus there. He needed to push all of that to the back of his mind so he could take in his surroundings and stay sharp.
Because Talia had shot him.
Fuck. Talia. Talia was here in Star City. Talia was working with Prometheus. This wasn't good. This was really, really bad. Fuck.
If Talia brought her entire order into it, they'd be fucked.
Maybe Nyssa could help. Maybe Nyssa still had contact with former members of the League loyal to her who could help. It might be their only option if Talia had her entire force join Adrian's vendetta, whatever reason he had for it. They were no closer to figuring out his true motives instead of the bogus one he had given Talia. Talia's, on the other hand, was no mystery at all. She had made it perfectly clear that she wanted him to suffer for her father's death. A stance very different from her younger sister's.
Not that he wanted Nyssa anywhere near Sara or Mila. She was a wildcard, and he had no clue what her reaction to Sara's pregnancy and their renewed relationship would be. And Nyssa's fury was not something he wanted pointed at his wife again. Well, no point in spending too much energy or focus on this right now. He was in no position to contact her, even if he wanted to and didn't know yet, if Talia was acting alone or if she brought her students with her. Only time would tell.
Once his eyes adjusted to the dark surrounding him, he tried to look at his wound as well as he could, through the hole in the leather of his pants and with the limited range of movement he had because of his shackles.
It looked and felt like the arrowhead was still inside of his leg. The only thing they seemed to have done was to break off part of the shaft, including the nock and fletching until his leg began and leaving the majority of the shaft and the head inside. He tried to figure out if there was a reason for it besides the fact that every movement of his leg hurt like hell. Understanding quite well the additional damage that removing the arrow would cause, but also knowing that Talia would be trained in that procedure and how to stop the bleeding from the wound and keep him from bleeding out. Of course, leaving it inside cut off bleeding as well, and might as well be the only reason he was still alive had she hit any of his major arteries. But it was difficult to say with the limited view he had because of the darkness and his pants and the object still inside his leg. He prodded at it some more trying to figure out if he could remove the shaft himself, if he could risk it without causing too much further damage, but knowing Talia it was probably not a standard target point arrow and would seriously fuck up his leg by trying to remove it himself he felt confirmed in this belief when his actions led to more dark spots dancing in his view again from the pain. He removed his hands from his leg and tried unsuccessfully to stretch them over his head thanks to the short chains of his shackles and therefore letting himself drop back to the floor instead, closing his eyes for a moment taking deep breaths willing the dark spots away once more. Fuck. He couldn't afford to pass out again.
He was so seriously fucked; it wasn't even funny.
And trying to remove the arrow himself wasn't an option, chances he'd bleed out were too great and even if he could prevent that he'd probably end up with some serious permanent damage, he had enough issues with his knee already and the chronic pain from the burn on his back or some of his previous chest wounds, especially the one Ra's had inflicted with his sword, there was no need to add another one to his leg. Sara was going to kill him as it was if he fucked his leg up even more than it already was. She'd be furious. She was already regularly mentioning the surgery he should've gotten for his knee almost three years ago. And he honestly wanted to get it. He wanted to be able to play with Mila, to chase after her and not have to worry about a sudden sharp, paralyzing pain in his knee. There just hadn't been the time to do it in the last couple of weeks, and he wasn't going to purposely incapacitate himself with Ruvé and Adrian having it out for him and his family.
But after.
After he'd dealt with them, if he got a chance to breathe, he'd get the surgery and he'd do the physiotherapy and hopefully at least his knee would no longer be bothering him. There wasn't much he could do about the other chronic pain from his scared wounds. But his knee, his knee, was one area he could fix, at least more or less, as Sara had been pointing out for months now, since Africa, really. She'd asked him about his knee after a particularly steep hike they'd been on had set his knee on fire and nearly brought him to his knees. They'd had to take an unplanned break, and she had needed to help him back down, acting as his crutch. The disapproving look she'd thrown his way at the realization he had never gotten the surgery had been right up there with his mother's. She had helped him get back to their resting place and taken care of the pain as well as she could've, but also reminded him of Dr. Lockhart's words and how important it was for him to take them to heart and get his knee fixed. And she wasn't wrong, and he had already known that then, but he'd made his decision of doing everything he could to get it fixed after he had decided he was going to keep and raise Mila with or without Sara.
Fuck. Sara.
She must be so worried by now. He hoped the rest of the team got away okay. That Joanna was fine and that Doris, through some miracle, managed to survive even though he knew chances for that last one were slim to none. Adrian had known what he was doing and had gone for the kill, not the hurt. But hoped at least his team was alright, not knowing whether they had been taken by Adrian and Talia as well. If Talia had brought her students with her, the entire team besides Felicity having been taken was not too far-fetched. So he really hoped they got away and were fine and they'd make sure Sara was alright. That she wasn't going to drive herself crazy. That she wouldn't be alone.
And if they had been taken as well… Sara would probably go mad being forced to stay out of the field and incapable of coming to look for them herself. The sound of a lock clicking open and the sudden inpour of light, which hurt his eyes and made him blink, interrupted his train of thought. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he could make out the figure standing in the doorframe of his cell.
"Life's just so fragile, isn't it? Decades of hopes and dreams and in one moment, one little mistake and it all just goes away." The door to his cell opened and Adrian strolled into the room, his words taunting him. Yes, he'd made a mistake. One he was going to pay for pretty badly, he assumed.
Chase had purposely left the door to his cell open to taunt him, he was sure. It was also a blatant show of power, letting him know he had none and was at his mercy. That he wasn't worried about him escaping, that he wasn't afraid of him. And if he'd done this several years ago, it might have actually fucked with his head, as it was, it didn't now, and it also didn't have the desired effect on him, quite the contrary.
Adrian had to have Talia help him, ambush him and shoot him from behind with a poisoned arrow in order to kidnap him. They now had him chained up in a cell with no windows, using metal shackles bolted to the floor, on both arms and legs, giving him very little room to move. It was a clear sign of just how much they feared him, how much they worried about his skills and the possibility of him escaping. They went all out to get and keep him. This let him know just how much power he really had, maybe not right now in this situation but in the overall war they'd raged against him. And that was very helpful to know. But Adrian was right he had made a huge mistake on his mission to save Joanna. He should've put his foot down and gone alone. He would've had he not been sure they'd follow him, anyway. Maybe he should've just kept the information he gained from Sara to himself, even after the team had shown up unexpectantly, but that hadn't seemed right, or fair. It was Laurel's best friend they had been trying to save. She had a right to know.
But that didn't change the fact that Laurel shouldn't have been there. She'd been too damn emotional. She had shown that when she had confronted Adrian at work earlier that day. An action they hadn't had the chance to get into and analyze yet. He wished they'd taken the time to properly go through the exchange. Maybe there had been something in it that could've been helpful now. Maybe Adrian had revealed something to Laurel. Not that he believed she would've been completely honest with him at that point in time had they gone into it.
She'd gone on the defensive right away, which usually meant she glossed over stuff that might put her in a negative light or confirmed that she had been in the wrong and acted rashly. He loved her, but her stubbornness and need to always be right was not just annoying at times but also hindering.
It didn't matter anymore right now. He couldn't change the fact that he knew what he knew and hoped if Chase had revealed something they could use against him, his team would.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone else." Oliver put all the strength and determination he could muster in his still groggy state into the promise. It was the truth. He didn't plan on letting him hurt or kill any more people, not that he could do much to stop him given his current predicament of being chained up who knew where. But this newfound knowledge only fueled his determination to win this war, and he now truly believed he could, because the primary advantage Adrian seemed to have was his planning and the fact that they still knew very little about him as a person. Maybe his time in this cell could change that. Maybe he could get Adrian to reveal crucial information to him during his imprisonment. He had to at least try to get as much out of him as he could. To learn more about his personality and which buttons he could or couldn't push. How to rile him up and have him act rashly and possibly make mistakes because of it.
"Really? Because so far you haven't been able to do much to stop me. So I can't see how you plan on preventing me from doing anything really while you are here. And you seem to have an awful lot of faith if you think your bumbling team would be successful in what you yourself have failed at so spectacularly. But thank you for reminding me to send them a thank you gift. Capturing you wouldn't have been nearly as easy without them there." Adrian walked towards him and crouched down to look him in the eyes just to get back up and pace around his prison. At least he had brought some light with him, which made studying the other man a lot simpler. And he had just revealed crucial information to him. His team was alive and had not been captured. That was a good thing, a very good thing.
Oliver tried to not let on just how little faith he currently had in his team and how much he agreed with Chase's assessment of the situation at the place he'd kept Joanna prisoner at. He didn't need to know. He couldn't know. It would be too dangerous for him to know the issues they were having within the team. It could and would be exploited, and he couldn't afford that.
But then again, he had a lot of faith in Sara and her abilities. There was no one better to work in a crisis. She'd know what to do and where to turn to for help if need be. She knew who his allies were, who'd be willing to help and how to get the less willing ones to bend to her will. He had no doubt, not even with her temporarily limited skill set. She was widely known, respected, and feared. Most knew better than to defy her and would hesitate to do so, even in her pregnant state. They knew she excelled in skill sets that did not demand the full use of her body, and her pregnancy had no impact on her aim or vocal cords. Not that she'd use those and risk damage to Mila, they didn't know nearly enough about her meta powers to conclude whether or not using them would hurt their daughter, but their enemies didn't know that. And that was another ace up their sleeves, well, sort of.
Anatoly
He had instructed his men to go to the headquarters of the Star City chapter and wait for him there while he needed to take care of something. He had needed to talk to Sara first, to learn everything he could about the situation and how Oliver had ended up being taken, and he knew the blonde wouldn't appreciate him bringing some of his men with him.
Anatoly hadn't expected the welcome he received once Sara opened the door. Having her practically fly into his arms was not at all what he had been prepared for, but that didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around her and holding her close, trying to comfort her. If this was what she needed, then this was what he would give her. He could feel the proof of her pregnancy between them and this made his determination to do whatever she needed him to and whatever it would take to bring Oliver back home to her so that his two friends finally got the chance to have the life they'd wanted for such a long, long time and so that Oliver would be there when his daughter was born. He wasn't entirely sure how far along Sara was, but it didn't really matter. Getting Oliver back as fast as possible was the plan, whether she was far enough along to give birth any day now or not. It took her a moment to gather herself before she let go of him and took a step back.
He looked at Sara; she'd changed in the months since he's last seen her. She looked healthier and even less threatening than usual, but that had always been one of Sara's most valuable features: how innocent and sweet she looked. And she was such a sweet woman, had been when he had first met her and she'd been forced into joining Ivo in his experimentations. And she still was, now, years later. Yes, she'd also gotten even scarier since Lian Yu, and even more capable of handling herself, she no longer needed Oliver's protection as she had to some degree on Lian Yu, even though, she might have needed it less than the couple had assumed, having been quite capable of taking charge and using what she could in order to survive, during Oliver's absence after his capture. Sara was more cunning than Oliver, while his brother for the most part just used force when being in a sticky situation, Sara used her mind and tried to outsmart her enemy, which might to some degree be given to their obvious physical differences, but while Oliver was very intelligent, he wasn't a thinker, not naturally. It was something he had been forced to become in order to adapt to his environment and survive.
He wasn't too sure about Sara, but he had a feeling she'd been more of a thinker even before everything that had happened. She was a brilliant strategist and her understanding of human nature, and her enemies gave her an immense advantage. It was something he had noticed his friend struggled with over the years he's known Oliver. Understanding people and their motivations was something that was rather difficult for the young man.
It had taken him a long time to realize the root of the issue and that part of the reason was that Oliver still believed in the good in people while Sara tended to go the other route. Oliver felt people could change and would if they got a chance. Sara believed most couldn't and didn't deserve another chance, depending on the crimes they had committed. It was why Oliver used to give his targets some leniency and a time frame to make things right, and only when they didn't take the chance he gave them, he took them out. Sara had no patience for that, most of the time. But then again, she did target the scum of the earth, the worst of the worst, who would otherwise get away with it or receive a slap on the wrist from the justice system. It was a joke. Yes, the men Sara targeted deserved every ounce of her fury. He couldn't fault her for not taking any chances by handing them over to the police. And he was sure neither could Oliver. He might not admit it, possibly not even to himself or Sara, because he wants to save her from herself and keep more blood from tainting her hands. It wasn't about her methods, at least he believed it wasn't, not primarily, it was just easier to say it was, but about Sara herself and what taking a life, any life did to someone, especially to a good, kind-hearted, beautiful soul like Sara.
He and Oliver had had many an argument about Sara's approach where some of the Bratva's work was involved in Star City and beyond over the years. They'd agreed that they both would turn a blind eye to her actions and Oliver tried to keep her away, if possible, depending on what the Bratva was moving, and Anatoly in return tried to keep the shipments Sara would not agree with to a bare minimum.
He wished he could stop those completely, but it wasn't that simple. His brothers could turn on him at the drop of a hat and change needed to be implemented slowly over time, and he had made changes and was steadily making them. He'd even tipped Oliver off from time to time, making sure the women and children would never reach the intended location and the shipments would be intercepted beforehand. They had to be careful and sneaky, though, so Sara had been the perfect candidate for that. The Canary had no relation to the Bratva, and no one knew who she was under that mask and with that, her connection to Oliver.
Sara mentioned for him to follow her and walked back into the apartment. He did as she asked and locked the door behind him. They headed to the kitchen, where she prepared them some drinks before they sat down and she filled him in on everything that had happened, or at least what little information she had. He was furious on her behalf when he learnt what Oliver's team had done, how they not only kept her in the dark but purposely deceived her, how they had made no progress since their initial phone call and just how worried she was. And he understood why. Adrian Chase sounded like a dangerous man. If he was connected to Damian Darhk's wife, there was no telling what they would do to him.
Anatoly promised her to leave no rock unturned and to make sure every single member of the Bratva would take this issue seriously and make it their number one priority and be out there looking for Oliver, and that he would stay in touch and keep her updated. Sara thanked him for his help and gave him another tight hug before locking the front door behind him.
He left the moment he was sure she was secured inside of her home. He had no time to waste. And he knew exactly where they would start their search, at the place Oliver had last been seen. There was no way there was no trace left behind. There was always something.
Notes:
Some people might think my Anatoly is a bit out of character but I never saw him as a bad guy. I get what the Bratva does, I understand what they deal in but Anatoly is not a bad person, he has a good heart. And I know I'm currently confusing myself. Sorry about that. Just felt I needed to clarify why I wrote him this way.
Also, yes, Oliver suffers from chronic pain from several of his injuries. There is no realistic way that he is not. I actually stumbled across an interesting article with Kreisberg while searching the name of the doctor from Season two, he admits in that interview that the doctor originally told Oliver exactly what damage was done to his legs but they cut that out after Stephen told him that there was no way in hell he'd be walking after that. They cut the doctors words out, yet Stephen still played Oliver like that, I love that man, he understood his character and tried to stay as realistic as possible even when the writing was making that difficult.
And I'm starting to feel like a parrot but I am an insecure person, especially where my writing is concerned so, as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter.
Chapter title is from the song "Brother" Kodaline. Felt it was very fitting given it featured Oliver and Anatoly who have matching tattoos since they are in an organization that translates to brotherhood.