Hi :)

I am so, so sorry it has taken me forever to update this story. There's a lot been going on in my life and I was not able to bring up the proper focus I needed to work on this story. But just to point out once more this story is not abandoned and will not be abandoned, even if it takes me ages to update, I will update.

The blueprints you've been using built your truth on top a web of lies you did your best, you can't expect perfection, just accept you tried

Oliver

Oliver watched McKenna hesitate for a moment before rushing at him, knife at the ready. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, that hurt his lungs before getting ready for her attack, trying to keep her from stabbing him, to get the knife out of her hands, an act that was made so much more difficult by the restraints binding him. He only had limited reach with his hands and arms, while McKenna was free to move however she liked. The Green Arrow wasn't sure how he'd eventually managed to get the knife from her and push her hard enough to have her stumble rather far back and fall down, but he was pretty sure he had at the very least strained something in his shoulder and aggravated his four arrow wounds. The sharp blade had cut into his hand and blood was dripping from the wound onto the floor. The knife had clattered on the ground in between them, too far for him to reach it. If she got up, if she came at him again, he wasn't sure he had enough strength left to fight her. Everything hurt. It took everything he had out of him to stay standing and it was sheer willpower that kept him from crumbling to the floor. But he couldn't give up. He couldn't leave Sara. He didn't want to die. He wanted the life he'd dreamed about for longer than he could remember, even if he hadn't been rationally aware of it for a long time, he wouldn't let himself, the life they began to build together over the last few weeks. And he wanted to get to know his daughter, hold her in his arms, wanted to be her dad, to be a part of her life. He didn't want to die. Not now. Not like this. Not at the hands of a woman he cared for deeply.

"Oh, my g… come on! Are we serious? Oliver, what are you trying to prove, man? McKenna betrayed you. She tried to kill you just now. You've killed people for less." Oliver wasn't sure if he should be grateful for Adrian's reappearance, nothing good usual came with it, but maybe this time… maybe his presence would stop McKenna from attacking him again, maybe it would remind her who the greater, immediate danger was, maybe she could get to the knife and use it against Adrian maybe…

"I'm not going to kill her. I won't. Just let her go. She has nothing to do with this." He was damn tired of Adrian's games, of all of it. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he just wanted the other man to tell him what the hell he wanted from him, what he wanted him to say, and he would. Whatever it was, just as long as all of this would finally end. If Adrian seriously believed he was going to kill McKenna, he hadn't done his homework, he would never kill an innocent person, he'd rather die. There was no way in hell he'd kill a friend as dear to him as McKenna was. And it wasn't as if she'd had much of a choice. Who knew how long she'd been held captive, what type of mind games he'd played with her. Oliver couldn't blame her. He never would. He understood, he did. He'd done unspeakable things because he'd been forced to, because he'd been in a situation with no way out. There was no way he would ever hold her actions against her. She'd reached her breaking point and just like him, wanted it all to end. Wanted to go home, be free. McKenna was just trying to survive.

Oliver watched helplessly as Adrian grabbed McKenna and pulled her up by her hair, holding her tight and wrapping an arm around her neck. He felt the icy hands of terror take hold of him and tried desperately to get out of his chains again; he felt the metal cut into his skin reopening the wounds and the blood from his chaffed arms run down his hand mixing with the blood from his cut, his tenons were aching from the strain he was putting on them while throwing his entire weight into the chains, the backwards pull on his shoulders also pulled on the arrow wounds on his chest, just like he felt the one still embedded in his thigh cut sharply and throb painfully at his movements, he forced the blackness closing in on the edge of his vision threatening to pull him under back, refusing to give in, no matter how tempting the oblivion of unconsciousness was right now. He wouldn't give in. He couldn't give in. Not as long as McKenna's life was at stake.

"You just keep forgetting what I told you would happen if you didn't kill her. And what I told you before, the life of everyone you touch turns to ash. You were a part of her life, that means she has everything to do with this." He hadn't forgotten, he was just hoping to find a way out of this situation, that he could save her life somehow, both of their lives. That logic meant that no one was safe. No one who'd ever been important to him. No matter how far back it was. He needed to come up with a list and a way to protect everyone he'd ever cared about. Once he got out of here.

"Adrian, listen to me, please, ok? You have made your point. Just let her go." Oliver was pretty sure trying to reason with him was pointless he'd killed his own wife, he knew no reason, but it was currently the only thing he could do, he'd been effectively reduced to pleading with his capturer to spare his friend's life.

"Confess, Oliver. Tell me your secret." God, he was so fucking done with that sentence. So fucking sick and tired of hearing it. He would confess to whatever the fuck he wanted simply to no longer have to hear it. And he would've confessed to whatever Adrian wanted to ages ago, if he had just the slightest inkling of what Adrian wanted him to confess to.

"I don't know what you want from me!" Oliver felt his restraint leave as all the built-up pain and worry and fear came to a boiling point and exploded out of him in anger and frustration. He couldn't help it. He was terrified of what would happen if he didn't say what Adrian wanted him to, but he had no idea what that was. And the fear that his inability to figure out his opponent would lead to McKenna's death was just too much on top of everything else, the threats to his family; to Thea, Sara, Mila and William, and now this. He was helpless. He couldn't save McKenna, not if Adrian wanted to kill her. The Green Arrow was only a few feet away from her, but he might as well have been thousands of miles away, given how helpless he was. He was painfully reminded of his mom's murder; the situation was too similar for his liking. His mind was so kind to reply the raw and excruciating memory of that fateful night and he felt the bile rise in his throat while his heart constricted painfully and felt like it was being ripped apart at the seams, he swallowed the bitter liquid, and it burned his sore throat on the way down the same it had on the way up, leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"I want you to tell me what you've been too afraid to tell your sister, Felicity, Diggle. Even Sara. Tell me!" He knew the crazed look on Adrian's face. He'd seen it before. On Slade's face. It was the look of a madman hellbent on destroying him and everything he held dear, no matter what it took. With no regards to anything or anyone else. It was the same look that he'd had on the Freighter, when he'd murdered his mom, and when he'd captured Laurel. And every single time he'd been confronted with or looked at Sara. It was the look of someone you could not reason with. He'd tried. God, he'd tried so hard with Slade. He'd been desperate to save him, to get his friend, his mentor, his brother back. He'd tried to reason with a madman and in exchange lost the woman he loved, because he'd been too stubborn, too set on saving Slade to listen to her when she'd tried to reason with him. It was no wonder she'd reacted the way she had where Roy was concerned. She'd been right with Slade on Lian Yu, but he'd refused to see reason, he'd been right with Roy, but she'd also been right to distrust his judgment, he should've realized why she'd reacted the way she had to his refusal to communicate with her; to come up with an actual plan, she'd told him. She'd reminded him they'd been in that exact situation before, except for freezing on Lian Yu, only it hadn't been that exact situation but just like he'd done on Lian Yu, he'd refused to hear her, to really listen to what she was saying and explain to her why he was making the choices concerning Roy he was making. Letting her know how he planned to proceed and stop Roy until they had the cure. Maybe if he'd done that, things would've turned out different. But he'd been in excruciating pain, as she'd been very aware of, and on emotional overload, he hadn't been able to put his thoughts into words to properly explain his not yet fully thought-out plan. So, all Sara could see was him pretty much being out of commission because of his injury and once again putting sentiment above reality, but that hadn't been the case. But she couldn't have known that because, different from the promise he'd made to her, he had pushed her away again and hadn't let her in. He hadn't shared, hadn't taken her opinion into consideration, not really. Just like she'd been right with Thea and Slade having set up a trap for him, but listening to Felicity had been easier, she'd told him what he'd wanted to hear. While Sara had tried to reason with him and have him face the facts. He'd been lucky that Slade's goal hadn't been to kill him. He'd rushed in without backup, without a plan. He'd done what he'd condemned Sara for doing when Laurel was in danger because of Helena. He'd been a hypocrite and had expected her to just ignore it, to not call him out. He had knowingly and purposely taken the advice of an untrained person who let her emotions drive her actions instead of the person who was not only the best trained one on his team but also the only one beside him who'd actually known Slade. Looking back now, it was no wonder Sara had snapped and maybe, if he'd been in a different physical and mental state, he'd been able to see how his actions towards her, his disregard of her opinions and advice, directly correlated to her snapping, maybe he'd been able to stop the things from unfolding the way they had. Maybe then Sara wouldn't have felt like the only way to stop Slade was to bring in the League. She hadn't trusted him to handle the threat on his own, because he'd given her no reason to, he hadn't been willing to work, really work with her to fight Slade, he'd treated her the same way he had his team instead of the enormous asset and sounding board she'd been. Plus, they'd both been terrified of losing each other again at the hands of Slade and that fear hadn't helped the situation at all.

"I don't know. I don't." God, he was terrified. The emotions he'd felt before McKenna had attacked him bubbled back to the surface, and he could feel the tears gather in his eyes as desperation took over. He knew what was coming, what was going to happen, and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. Stop the events from unfolding right in front of his eyes. Just like there'd been nothing he could've done to stop Ivo from shooting Shado and Slade from killing his mom. He'd gone over those events millions of times in the years since they'd happened, trying to figure out what he could've done differently, how he could've changed the outcome. There'd been countless scenarios he'd come up with, but in the end, it all led back to two cold, hard facts; There'd been no way Ivo would've shot Sara at that particular point in time. He'd been too fond of her and convinced he could still manipulate her. And there'd been nothing he could've done to save his mom; his restraints had been too tight. The only way he could've prevented those events from unfolding the way they had would've been to change previous events and choices, but once he was in those situations, there'd been nothing he could've done differently, just like now.

"Wrong answer." Oliver felt his heart stop the moment Adrian moved. It was quick, almost too quick to make sense of it, but the action was unmistakable and familiar.

"NO! McKenna!" Oliver was forced to watch as Adrian snapped the neck of one of his oldest friend's right in front of his eyes. And he felt the shock take over as his mind tried to process what had just happened. The moment the truth set in, his legs gave out from under him, and he fell to the floor, feeling utterly defeated. This was his fault. McKenna was dead because of him. His eyes straying to the body of the woman he had cared for so deeply and he gave himself a moment to grieve, just a fleeting moment before shoving his emotions, his sadness aside, pushing himself back up into a kneeling position and raising his head, looking straight at Adrian, making sure he heard every word he was going to say.

"I'm going to kill you." It was a statement, a promise, one he not only made to Adrian but to McKenna as well. And he also wanted to make sure that Adrian knew he hadn't broken him. He wouldn't be able to break him, he wouldn't let him. He had too much to fight, to live for. He refused to let Adrian take that from him by breaking him.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere. Confess." Oliver was having problems processing what was going on. He was exhausted physically and mentally, starving, in a constant state of immense pain and on complete and total emotional overload, but he knew it was important, focusing on Adrian, making sense of his words and his behavior. It was crucial. He forced his mind to stay on track, to not stray, to keep the focus on the man currently in control of his life. His survival instincts and training were the only reasons he managed to stay alert at all.

"Confess. You killed those people because they were names on a list. But that's not really true, is it?" Oliver was confused about the switch in Adrian's focus, the majority of his time here Adrian had put emphasis on his father, only shortly changing it to the list but now he was back to it. Why? If this was about him killing Damien, why bring up the list? There was no actual connection between the two. By the time Damien had shown up, he had long since abandoned his original mission. So, what was the point of bringing it up and focusing on it? What did he want from him?

"No." He went with his instinct and gave Adrian the answer he thought he wanted to hear. Hoping it would lead to more clues that would help him figure out what his torturer wanted from him.

"I know what's going through your mind, Oliver. You're thinking that you can get yourself free from those chains, lay me to the ground and then snap my neck, just like I did to McKenna." Adrian's word brought the fire back into him and he rose from the floor straining against the aforementioned chains desperately trying to reach him. To no avail. They wouldn't budge. But he was sure his shoulders would if he kept this up. He'd ripped his chest wounds open again with that action and the strain he'd put his chest under. He vaguely felt the blood drip down his chest, but it didn't really register. His raw need to get to Adrian and make him pay for what he did to McKenna surpassed even the excruciating pain his actions caused him.

"There it is. There's the look I've been waiting to see. But it's not just about stopping me, is it? No, there's something else in there. Confess, Oliver." He tried to push the pain, exhaustion and anger away and focus on the words spoken. What look was on his face right now?

He wanted to murder Adrian.

"Confess, Oliver. You don't kill because you have to. So, why… why do you do it?" He wanted to murder Adrian more than he had wanted to murder someone in a very long time. He finally got it. He finally understood what Adrian wanted him to say. Sara, please forgive me.

"Because I wanted to." His words weren't much more than a whisper, struggling to get them past his lips for more than one reason. His throat felt like it was on fire and the words were difficult to say. And he wasn't entirely sure this was what Adrian wanted him to say. He was almost certain, but he needed to know for sure.

"What?" Adrian's voice was suddenly just as soft as his own had been when giving him the confession he'd so desperately been seeking. And Oliver was very sure now that this was exactly what Adrian had been looking for, given the triumphant and almost giddy look on his face and in his eyes.

"I wanted to." God, this hurt. He bent his head down, looking at the floor, once more apologizing to Sara for what he was about to do. But everything Adrian had done was to make a point. To copy him, to show him they were the same. From being trained by Talia for about the same amount of time he'd been in Russia, to killing people whose anagrams mirrored the names of the people he'd killed as the Hood, Adrian was drawing parallels in their lives and forcing those that didn't fit to make them fit. To show to Oliver that they were the same. Only they weren't, but that didn't matter. Not to Adrian. He had set it into his mind that they were, and that was the only thing that mattered right now.

Both of their fathers had done some inexcusable things. Not that he felt his father's actions even came close to what Damien had done and probably had planned to do in the future. But that didn't seem to matter to Adrian. He saw a connection between them and used it to justify his delusion.

What Adrian wanted was for him to confirm his assumption. The only way for him to get out of here alive was to buy into his capturer's delusion and tell him what he wanted to hear. That they were the same. That this made Adrian's actions alright. Because in the end, they were the same. He raised his head, looking straight into Adrian's face while yelling the words at him with as much conviction as he could muster.

"I wanted to! And I liked it" This had taken all he had left out of him and he felt his legs give, he lowered himself on the floor and carefully lay on his back, it was the position currently hurting the least, given the arrow wounds on his chest and in his thigh, which was throbbing painfully, he had aggravated it a lot and he was sure blood was seeping down his leg again as well.

What he hadn't considered was the impact the false confession would have on him. Making him question everything he had thought he knew about himself. He could feel the self-doubt, the fear of just what he had become, creep back in. Questioning everything to do with the Green Arrow, the work he had done, the reasons behind it. Wondering what he had achieved and what the point was. The city wasn't any better than it had been before he had come home. Maybe Quentin had been right.

"When did you decide that you knew what was best for my family?" He hadn't. Well, he had to some degree but most of all, he had respected Sara and Laurel's wishes. The one thing he had truly been guilty off was keeping his promise to Sara, letting her family believe she had never set foot on Lian Yu, never letting on that he had any information concerning what had happened to her between the Gambit going down and her showing up back home, as a member of the League. Making sure they would never know the true horrors of what she had faced, what she had gone through, what she had been forced to endure.

"I love your family!" That blow had sat, he had felt it all the way through his bones to his core, not because of the force of it, he'd been hit a lot harder over the years, no, but because of the implication, the pure hatred that came with it and because of the person it had come from. Someone he respected, someone he looked up to, someone he had only ever wanted to make proud.

"You have the right to remain silent, take it!" He would've hated the person being this cruel and cold too, using his own dead daughter's voice to make him believe he was talking to her, all the while knowing she was buried six feet under in her old grave. Even more so, if that person was the man responsible for so much of her pain, a man who had claimed to care for and promised to protect her no matter what. Yes, he wouldn't have believed that either, not after all of this. But he had known none of this information back then. Maybe he would've changed his approach had he been aware of any of it.

"Just ask me what you wanna know." He'd felt utterly defeated and drained emotionally. That year had taken so much out of him, starting with Sara's murder, and it had just gotten worse as it progressed, and this had been the culmination of it all. He'd been done.

"What do I want to know? Well, was it worth it? All that pain and misery that you brought back from that island. Merlyn, Slade Wilson, your mother, my daughter and now Laurel, wouldn't it have been better if you'd just died there?" Those had been excellent questions, questions he had repeatedly asked himself over the years. Wondering if maybe Tommy would still be alive had he not come back home. Maybe his mom, too. Probably even. His mom's death had been his fault. He knew that he didn't need anyone to remind him of that. And maybe Sara… no, no, Sara would've died at her own hands in a desperate attempt to get whatever freedom she could get, to get away from the League no matter what it took. Even if it was her own life. Maybe Tommy would've still been alive, had he stayed on Lian Yu, but Sara, Sara would've died whether he'd come back or not. She'd reached her breaking point after her mission to take out the diplomat. The League had taken everything that she could give them from her and left her a shell of the woman she had been before. In the end Ra's had broken her, even if only for a moment, but he and Nyssa combined had succeeded and broken Sara to the point she'd felt the only choice she had, the only way to escape, to still keep the small pieces of her that were still left in her eyes, was to die. That it would be the only way to protect her family.

"I didn't want her to be involved in this. I didn't want anyone to be involved in this." That had been the truth. It still was. If no one else had been involved in this, they wouldn't be here now. He wouldn't have to wonder about all the ways he might have been betrayed, spied on, and violated. He wouldn't have to worry about their lives, about whether or not Adrian was going to go after one of them next. They wouldn't be in danger now.

"You, Mr. Queen, are not a hero, you are a villain. But you know that, don't you?" Those words had hurt, because he knew the truth behind them. He knew he was the villain in a lot of versions, understood that his actions caused a lot of harm and pain and death to a lot of people. And maybe Quentin had been right. His words had played a rather big part in his choice to hang up the suit and leave the city all together. To prevent causing the people he cared about even more harm and pain.

"How's it feel knowing that I saw the one thing you couldn't admit to yourself?" Adrian's words ripped him from his thoughts and brought him back from the past to the here and now. The smug look on Adrian's face while casually leaning against the wall of his prison made him want to throw up and snap his neck at the same time. When had he sat down on the floor?

"I knew he'd break. Just like you said he would." The relief he felt at the sound of her voice and the movement of her body was a welcome change to the despair he'd been feeling ever since he'd been taken. McKenna was still alive. He was not responsible for another one of his friends' deaths. It didn't even matter that she wasn't on his side now. They could work on that later. Just as long as she was still alive, there was always a chance to make things better. To put her back on the right path. He only spared a glance at her before looking back at the ceiling again, trying to process everything that had happened from the moment McKenna had been thrown into his cell.

"It's 'cause I know him better than he even knows himself. Give us a moment alone, would you?" Oliver heard the door buzz open and the soft steps of McKenna's shoes as she walked away from him, towards the entrance of his cell. But he didn't move, kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling. Everything hurt. But the pain was less if he didn't move, if he just kept staring at the ceiling, focusing on it, trying to push his physical pain away. He closed his eyes and heard the groaning of the door as it locked behind McKenna. She was alive, she was fine. And he was tired, so fucking tired. He just wanted to sleep, give his body the chance to recharge, even if just a little. His thoughts were still going a million miles a minute, trying to process everything, trying to convince him that what he had confessed to Adrian was the truth, reminding him it was a lie. He was tired, just so tired. And everything hurt. He just wanted to will the pain away and sleep.

"I told you, Oliver. You infect every life you touch. And now do you realize why? It's because your crusade was based on a lie. You used your father's memory to justify a killing spree. There's a price to be paid for that, Oliver. Your mother paid it. Your friend Tommy paid it, Sara, numerous times. Do you really want to tell me that Laurel Lance, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak's lives are better having known you? Your sister's life? That your wife's life is better? How about your daughter? Do you really believe her life will be better having you in it? Wasn't this why you gave your son away?" There was an enormous part of him that believed Adrian that brought all the reasons he had had at the beginning of Sara's pregnancy, all the reason why he had planned to give Mila away forth again. But then there was another voice, a more powerful one… Sara's voice.

"No, I'm with you, Oliver Jonas Queen… the whole distance… Your past doesn't define you. It just shaped you into the man I love today. I love you, Ollie, more than anything in this world. And nothing will ever change that." Telling him, reminding him how much she loves him, how much he was helping her, how much happier she was because of him. He visualized the photo she had glued to their dresser with the two of them in it all those years ago during their trip to Yosemite National Park. He focused on the words she had written on it:

'My life has more meaning and is so much better because you are in it, Ollie.'

Yes, Sara's life was better because he was in it. At least she believed so and told him that regularly and Sara wouldn't lie to him. Sara couldn't lie to him, not without him knowing.

"You promised to let me go." He wasn't sure why he was bringing it up, not really believing him, but it was worth a shot. Everything was. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to hold Sara in his arms again, to feel Mila kick against his hand or body. He needed Sara to ground him, to tell him what he'd confessed to Adrian was a lie because he wasn't so sure anymore. Tommy had called him a murderer, had believed he was a killer and Tommy had known him better than anyone, anyone but Sara, so if Tommy had felt that way about him, there must have been some truth to it, right? He wasn't sure about anything anymore. Couldn't tell truth from lie. Everything was muddled and his mind was a mess. He was tired, just so tired, and everything hurt.

"And I'm a man of my word. But first I have a gift for you. This tattoo of yours. To be an American and named a Captain in the Bratva, you must have done something extraordinary. When you look at it, it must… it must remind you of such a victory. Now, when you look at it, you'll think about our time here together and the secret that you confessed to me." It may or may not be true but that was not what he thought of, he thought of meeting Anatoly, of him and Sara working together to free him and the Russian helping him try to keep Sara safe, He thought about the choices he'd made that had led him to Russia. He thought of the friendship he shared with Anatoly and about the fact that if all else failed, he could go to the Bratva for help. Getting results by choosing that route was almost a guarantee. His tattoo rarely made him think of his defeat of Kovar; in his mind, it was linked to Anatoly and their friendship.

"Whatever pain I caused you, I'm sorry." It was the truth. He knew the pain that came with losing your father. And he was sorry he had caused it not only for Adrian but especially for poor little Nora, who was only a child, barely older than William, and just an innocent victim in all of this. But he didn't regret killing Damien. He had to die, and Sara had agreed. He'd been too dangerous, too powerful to be held within prison walls. No, killing him had been the only way to ensure he wouldn't cause any more harm to anyone.

"I believe you, Oliver. I just don't care." Adrian was just about to burn his skin when an arrow pierced his tormentor's forearm, making him drop his latest torture instrument. He looked past Adrian and saw two figures standing on the other side of his cell, both dressed in red.

"Step away from him and don't move." He knew that voice. He forced himself up into a kneeling position, wanting to move towards it and freedom, but his hands were still chained, and he wasn't able to go anywhere. Adrian held his hands up, arrow still firmly embedded in his forearm, and moved away from him, as Roy had told him to. Thea was still pointing an arrow at Chase and not letting him out of her sight while Roy moved inside the cell and towards him and began to work on unlocking his chains.

"I studied you, Oliver Queen. I know everything. Who you love, who you trust, who you've hurt! Do you know how easy it was to turn McKenna against you? Someone you've known for more than a decade? How easy it will be to turn them all? You're not a hero. You're a killer! And I'm going to show them that. I'm going to show them how everything you touch dies! For months I've waited to make you answer for your sins." Oliver was too focused on Roy to see what happened, but one moment Thea had been pointing an arrow at Adrian and the next she was falling to the floor, he took the tool out of Roy's hands taking over the task of freeing himself ushering Roy to go help Thea. It was once his bindings snapped open that he realized what had happened. Adrian had gotten his hands back on the Bunsen burner and thrown it at Thea's head before running out of the cell. Adrian's words stayed behind with them. They were almost haunting him.

Oliver stumbled towards them instead of the door needing to make sure Thea was alright, and every step he took sent shooting pain through his wounded leg and to what felt like every cell of his body, His legs felt like putty and he knew he was swaying as dizziness took hold of him, blurring his vision, the younger man came to support him the moment he reached them and he had to lean on Roy more than he wanted to on their way towards the door leading out of his cell and just as they stepped out of the cage the entire corridor was suddenly flooded by Ghosts. He had no idea where they came from and how they knew to come, but they were here, and he wasn't sure he could fight them. He would try, but he could barely stay upright. They needed to leave, but at the same time he wanted to go look for Adrian. They couldn't just let him go.

"C'mon we gotta go!" Thea took hold of his arm on the other side of Roy and started to drag them down the opposite side of where the Ghosts were coming from, where he was sure Adrian had escaped to.

"This way, c'mon. I cleared a path for us to escape." Oliver hesitated for a moment unsure whether he could trust her or not. This could be another trick, another mind game of Adrian's, or it could just be McKenna, being McKenna. He looked at her, contemplating, trying to read her. Was he willing to take a chance and trust her, potentially running into a trap? Not that they had much of a choice. She was trying to herd them in the only direction that didn't have any Ghosts swarming from. And they were gaining on them.

"C'mon, Ollie. You just have to trust me." She took a couple of steps towards him, trying to hand him his suit jacket and bow and arrows. And it was in that moment that he made up his mind. He took the jacket first and put it on with Thea's help, Roy helping to keep him standing and once the jacket was on and Thea had zipped it, he took his weapon of choice from the former detective. Ignoring the pain that came with the fabric chaffing against his open chest wounds. But he'd rather not have everyone see right away just how badly wounded he was. He felt McKenna's familiar touch softly squeeze his bicep before brushing her hand down his arm and squeezing his unwounded hand for a moment, smiling softly and apologetically at him.

McKenna had played Adrian, of course she had. She was a damn fine detective, and she was one of his oldest friends. He owed her, so much! That had been one hell of an undercover job and performance. The things she must have endured, he couldn't even imagine or better said, he didn't want to.

"Adrian, we can't just…" he was stopped from finishing his sentence by a series of coughs. His throat was parched. He couldn't remember when the last time was, he had had something to drink, and he had spent a fair amount of time since then screaming in agony.

"We can't get to him now, Oliver. We'll get him, but not tonight." Roy was right, he knew he was right, but still, a part of him was convinced it was now or never, or at least now or he was going to seriously regret letting him go. He had threatened William, he had threatened Sara and Mila. He couldn't just let him go. He couldn't risk Adrian getting his hands on his wife or children. But he couldn't fight Roy, Thea and McKenna either. He was too weak. He could barely keep upright, even less walking. They were right. There was no way they were going to get Adrian tonight. They lost their chance. For now.

"Roy's right Oliver. There's nothing we can do tonight." He had no choice but to comply with McKenna and Roy's choice. And he was looking forward to going home. Seeing Sara.

"Sara…" He had to cough again before he could finish his question.

"Sara's fine Ollie, she's been at the Bunker for the last couple of days." He was grateful for Thea's explanation. But the information troubled him. Sara had been very firm in her belief to stay away from the Bunker. To keep Mila away from all the negativity and horror that came with the place. And now she had spent days down there. Because of him.

Plus, he was suddenly reminded of the revelation he'd had about the bunker just shortly before he had been kidnapped. It wasn't safe; it was a deathtrap, and Sara was in there. They needed to get her out of there, get her back home, to safety. They were running around a corner when more Ghosts came and swarmed them; they were surrounded; he prepared himself to fight. As hopeless as it seemed, he wasn't going to go down without a fight, when suddenly the Ghosts were being attacked from the back as well. He looked at Roy, surprised when he recognized the voice calling out to them.

"Don't look at me. This wasn't my idea. You got yourself a clever and devious one." Roy winked at him, smirking, of course. Sara would have gone outside of his team to get help in locating him, and as mixed as her feelings were where the Bratva was concerned she knew how effective and dangerous they were, and how they worked. She had a tendency to compare them to the musketeers, to his dismay. Not that the comparison was that wrong, it was one for all and all for one and a favor for everything you wanted. His Russian brothers cleared a path for them to the door they'd come from and ushered them out, covering them and making sure they could escape. Anatoly led them to a waiting vehicle and helped Roy get him in.

As soon as everyone was inside, the Pakhan sped off.

Notes:

I hope you guys liked this chapter and the conclussion, well sort of not really, to Oliver's captivity. I hope everything made sense with the rescue and stuff.

Also I hope Oliver's thoughts made sense. He got away from me.

So I did yet another rewatch of the episode Kapiushon for this chapter and I just get confused every single time. One scene ends with Adrian shooting three arrows at Oliver, then we go to Rusia, we come back and Oliver has one arrow wound… like what? What happened to the other three? I know it doesn't matter, I had him have all three in this story it's just so strange and such an obvious mistake.

One of Sara's quotes is pretty much taken straight from the comics, saw it loved it, thought it was fitting.

Yeah, I think that's all I got to say in the notes today, lol.

The Chapter title is once again from the song "Just A Man" by Tom MacDonald.