What? No updates for a year now two in a row? No, it isn't Christmas I just finally got over my writer's block and not newly postpartum. Enjoy this longer chapter!
I have been watching and rewatching more of Arrow lately, probably need to go back and slightly change Slade's kids birth order again. I based that off comics which the show does not.
I've really missed this story and so happy I decided to pick it up again. I have lots of plans for it in the future. Just need to balance that with the novel I'm writing and being a full time parent at home. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. The next will hopefully answer some questions that people have asked about what to expect next.
Question for y'all? Does the violence and possible slightly spice I plan to add to the story, should I rate this up or leave it teen?
Sailor Dragonball 87: thank you sooooo much for returning to the story! Excited to hear what you think of this latest chapter! All I am going to say is… Yah ARGUS.
Amazo, Lian Yu 2008
Oliver was watching and trying not to roll his eyes as Anatoly played dice with another prisoner, like he normally did. They were betting rations or a few pics of naked women they had pocketed from the hired crew. Shado had visited him a few days before. But she hid behind a mask he had never seen her wear before. Acting like they weren't anything to each other. He knew it was for survival. So he played along. It had hurt but he didn't want to mess up the trust she was clearly trying to build with Wintergreen.
Loud noises broke him from his thoughts. A multitude of men were pouring into an area away from the cells, guards leaving their posts as panicked and pained voices shouted through the walkies they carried. All the prisoners held their breath as the men continued to pour up the stairs and into another part, away from their gazes. Oliver couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a large bullet filled door come into view. Men in front of it screaming in pain before being thrown, the uncomfortable sound of breaking bones continued. A machine gun fired behind the door and it was long before all the mercenaries were taken down. Oliver was sure there were more but not in this part of the ship. Shado was the first to come from behind the door that had been used as a giant shield.
"Shado!" Oliver gasped in joy.
The door was thrown behind the group and he saw that his friend Slade was carrying his sister, who was the one holding the machine gun. The sight couldn't help but make him laugh. Shado rushed towards him. A large ring of keys in her hands as she came to the cells. Oliver hugged her as soon as he was free. The missionary and Russia man both begging to be let out. Shado looked cautiously.
"They are alright," Oliver replied. "They helped me survive."
Shado nodded her head. Slowly undoing the rest of the cells. The Russian man thanked her before running over towards Oliver.
Antatoly graped his shoulder, "You have made friend for life. Need anything. Me and my family will help you with it."
Oliver smiled and grasped his shoulder briefly. He was happy they had made it out. Now they needed as many as they could to get off the freighter or find someone that knew how it worked.
Shado undid another cell but the man inside grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up, "You were working with him! You left us there to rot for weeks!"
They all looked on in horror. Slade had just gently placed Victoria down to intervene when a large mast leaped towards Shado and her assailant. The man's head was lapped off with a sword, falling to the ground and Shado was knocked down from being suddenly let go. Landing hard on her hands and knees.
"Leave her alone," a gruff voice growled out.
William Wintergreen stood where the mast had landed and then he knelt down towards Shado. Gentleness in his eyes. Men behind him shouting. Pointing out the Asian woman's betrayal. Instead of getting angry he looked confused and hurt. As though he couldn't believe what they were saying.
"Shado?" his voice full of the misbelief in his expression.
Another one of the men pointed a gun at Shado. Billy quickly shot him before he even had a chance to fire.
"Nobody touches her! You touch her and you'll end up like these two!" he warned the rest of the men that had begun to pour into the room. Oliver noticed that some of the prisoners seemed to have escaped like Rev Flynn and Anatoly had seemed to get out when they had been tied up with the other men. He prayed that they would make it out alright. Anatoly was a man who knew how to survive. He prayed they would find some way out. But then he focused back on the present. Too many things happening for him to spare them another thought.
Wintergreen pointed a gun at the rest of them and made his way to Slade before grabbing Oliver by his shirt and pulling him backwards.
"You think this is going to make things any easier for you? I should have killed you all. But Shado begged me for your lives!"
"William, you are sick! The mirakuru is only making everything worse!" Shado exclaimed.
"You did help them! WHY?!"
"You can't expect me just to watch as you torture my friends. If nothing else you promised me you would keep them alive! Nearly killing them isn't keeping that promise!" Shado shouted out.
Everyone looked on with wide eyes as Billy began seeming to argue with a person that wasn't even standing there.
"It is always my fault huh? Well I don't give a damn, I saved you! You belong to me and I to you!"
"Boss," the men looked on in horror.
"Can't you see we are talking here!" Wintergreen pointed at nothing.
"Please, just let us all go! We can go home! Let them leave and we can go away together, just like you want. Just please let them go!" Shado begged.
"No! No, didn't you hear me? I saved you! I love you. We belong together."
Then he pointed his gun towards Slade and Victoria. Before grabbing one of the arrows that one of the men had brought out to fight with. He walked over towards the couple. Slade made to walk closer but the men closed in.
"Let us go, you sociopath!" Oliver screamed.
"Oliver!" Victoria's voice a warning.
"I should have killed you both a long time ago. You are next, Queen. If I have to kill you all to make her love me, so be it."
"No William don't, please! I'm begging you!" Shado pleaded but it fell on deaf ears.
He pulled out an arrow and advanced towards Slade and Victoria. Slade panicked as he saw him grab the bow before lining up. Oliver's breath was stolen as he saw Wintergreen notch the arrow to aim for Victoria's forehead. In a flicker of a moment, Slade had taken the arrow that had been meant for her and was bleeding out and unresponsive on the floor. Wintergreen barely paid it any mind as Victoria knelt on the ground screaming and cursing him. He lined up another shot for Victoria but Oliver kicked the man guarding him hard in the groin before slightly knocking Billy over before he had time to notch and let loose another arrow. Oliver fought for his life. Things got even more chaotic when what sounded like a large explosive went off.
Horror seized him when Slade, Victoria and Shado were pulled under the water. He fought to keep himself upright only to be punched in the face the next moment by the blonde Australian.
"You don't deserve her! How come she has cared for you when you have given her nothing! I could give her everything!" he ranted and raved some more but Oliver drowned it out.
Another shake to the boat brought parts of the ship crumbling down. Oliver managed to dodge debris just in time. Part of the ceiling landed down on Wintergreen. Oliver grabbed one of the arrows. He looked down at the man that had tortured him and had betrayed them.
"I'll kill you, that's a promise I make to you, Queen. You, your family."
Before he could continue Oliver jabbed the arrow into his heart until the man completely stilled. He pulled the arrow out and did so again. And again. He poised to do so again when the boat tilted and the water took him under.
Toria's POV
Victoria was forcing herself to swim further. It was only a few feet away from the beach. Then the tide would at least help push her to the coast. Back to Lian Yu. That was what she kept repeating to herself. It repeated in her head an audio checklist, a mantra. She just needed to get to shore. Only needed to get back on the island. Finally when she felt like all her strength was spent, the tide caught her and pushed her towards the sand. With her last bit of energy she forced herself to stay above the waves and continue forward instead of getting sucked back.
She crawled onto the beach and did so until only her legs felt the continuous rhythm of the waves. Taking the deepest breath. Crawling a little further until her skin felt burnt upon the hot sand. It wasn't long until the overwhelming need for sleep took her. Concern for her brother, fiancee and two friends crossed her mind but exhaustion was stronger.
When she came to, it was dark but warmth was close. The first thing she saw was the fire, then she saw an outline of a large man. First instinct was fear but she tried to force a level head. Then the man's face grew closer to the fire. It was Slade! She forced her body upright. Praying that what she saw before her was not an illusion. Finally getting to her knees she rushed towards him only to stop dead in her tracks when he fully turned towards her. Without thought she gasped and covered her mouth, tears gathered. His right eye was gone. The sickening feeling of knowing that all the torment and then their escape was in no way a nightmare but reality.
As soon as she had gasped he had quickly covered the area where his right eye socket was, now empty, with his hand and turned from her view. She reached for him only to find that her strength hadn't been restored.
"I…" his voice cracked. He tried to clear it, pain and exhaustion coated his throat. "I didn't know how long you'd be sleeping."
Finally things had calmed enough to get her mind straight. Everything that had led up to this moment, the things that had happened on the freighter came flooding back to her memory.
"Slade," she said, the word coming out reverently and with love.
Slade looked at her but still turned away in shame. Without words she crawled towards him. When he finally understood what she was doing he went over to her.
"Slade?"
"You nearly died because of me," Slade breathed.
"You saved my life! We made it out of there."
"I could have…" he paused. "I just did." He made it to her and cupped her cheek with one hand but the only still covering his injury. His single eye taking her in. "I needed to make sure."
"I know," she finished. 'I'm here, Slade. I'm here."
He kissed her and she kissed him back with what little strength she had. Slade was the first to pull away.
"You need rest."
"But I," Victoria started to argue.
"Rest. I'll be here when you wake up." he assured her.
When Victoria awoke another person had joined. It only took a moment of recognition before she pulled herself up and was embracing her friend.
"Shado," she breathed. Hugging the Asian woman tighter.
Shado smiled and hugged her friend tighter too before letting go. For a moment Victoria panicked when she noticed Slade was gone but then saw that he was only a few feet away. He came up to her and wordlessly kissed her lips gently. As though silently reminding her of the promise he had made before she had fallen asleep the night before. Then he turned to the group.
"Now that three of us are here. We need to see what happened to the others. Especially our friends. I can start searching the water with help for Oliver or any other survivors."
Shado and Victoria agreed to this readily. Hoping they would find out what had happened to Oliver and Sara and the other prisoners that had slipped away during the conflict with Wintergreen. Shado and Slade were both stronger so they took to driving into parts of the water near them. Both came back with no report but still with a flicker of hope for Oliver. Slade ignored Shado's warning about pushing himself too much and went with Victoria to go back to camp. There were signs of people having been there since they had left but not for days. Both wondered out loud who and what had been there. Slade was silent as he took one of his clean shirts and jimmied it into a bandage for his eye. He sighed as he did so. Toria grasped his arm comfortingly.
"Already ten years older than you. Now I have an eye patch," his voice laced with self-deprecation.
"Don't please," her voice pleading. "I love you."
"You are already so completely out of my league and now I can't even see right," he continued as though she hadn't spoken.
"Stop! I mean it! When I look at that bandage, I don't think that! You sacrificed yourself for me. I was so afraid. When you blacked out I was worried you were dead. When I look into your eye, I see the man I love jumping in to protect me. I'm just happy we are both alive. Please, I don't want you to talk about yourself like that."
"I'll try. Sorry. I guess I was just talking myself…" he paused. "I'm not good at this stuff. I will try though. I love you too," he whispered before kissing her hair.
They went back to making sure they ate and continued to check the area. All signs pointed that life had been there before but had moved on a couple days before. After they had made sure that it was clear they returned to where they promised to meet up Shado. Slade carried food supplies and made sure they were at least armed enough to not be caught off guard.
"The sub is gone," Shado stated when they stopped in the clearing before her father and then Wintergreen's cave.
"Oh my gosh! Do you think? Could Oliver?" Toria started.
"It's impossible to tell, my bet is that it was at least the other prisoners. But unfortunately we have no way to know if Oliver was with them."
"So we keep searching the coasts. See if there is any sign of him… or Sara," he added.
Two days passed, but they came back without any information from their searches. All were silent. Not knowing whether they should mourn or be hopeful. Slade offered to search the waters themselves. But Shado declined.
"Not yet," she started. "I just…" she paused, looking pale and tired and like she needed a good night's sleep. One that she hadn't gotten in what felt like months.
The couple remained silent until she continued, "I think… No, I need some rest before we do anything else. I can sleep in the cave for the next few days. Give you guys some privacy."
"Is that really a good idea?" Slade and Toria spoke at the same time. "I'm not sure if we should split up," Slade explained.
"I don't know what we are going to find. If we will find any sign of Oliver," Shado replied. "But I need rest. And I haven't been able to find any back at camp. Please, I need the space. We've looked around enough for me to feel safe enough being by myself. I'll stay armed, I promise. I just need this."
They wanted to argue with her. And opened their mouths to do so when she held up a hand before hugging Toria tightly. Whispering, "Please I never mourned my father. Let me have time to mourn Oliver."
"We don't know."
"I know but please. Please."
When they pulled away Toria moved next to Slade, "There is no convincing her. She'll be alright."
"Okay," he groaned. "But we are checking in on you tomorrow."
Shado smiled and nodded, silently agreeing to the arrangement. They watched her walk away before heading towards the camp. Seeing the storm clouds in the sky, knowing they only had long enough to not get drenched. The ducked in just in time before the sound of dropping water hitting the plane alerted them to the storm starting outside.
Almost as soon as they entered the camp a tension filled the air but both pushed past it. Knowing they needed food before anything else. So they went about doing the steps they needed to eat. Not many supplies for food were left over or good but they managed to put a small meal together for them to share. Her gut told her she should cry or allow herself to start thinking of the possibility of Oliver truly being dead. But she couldn't. Her body was too tired and too dehydrated to even cloud her eyes. Slade went out only for a moment to make sure their way for gathering rainwater was set up properly before ducking back in.
"We can go hunting or maybe I'll finally try my hand at catching a fish tomorrow. I'm actually very good at cooking fish. We have to make our food last," he supplied.
Toria nodded in agreement but was too busy eating to reply. He sat beside her and they both ate and cleaned up their meal. Sitting by the fire, Victoria finally felt Slade relax next to her.
When she noticed Slade had stopped being stiff, she dared to sit closer beside him. He grasped her hand and pulled her towards him more. He kissed her gently. She sighed into him and kissed him slightly deeper. She knew she wanted to feel more of him so she pulled into his lap and began tasting his tongue with her own. A delighted feeling snuck into her and began to pulse when he moaned with their mouths exploring each other. It built up like a ballet did. With twists and turns. Hands began to explore and grab. Victoria felt herself melting into him when he placed one in her hair and the other gently began massaging her breast. His touch, both fierce and gentle. Her hands brushed against his smooth skin and relished the feeling of tight muscles and warm skin. Even his scent was intoxicating. It wasn't long before she was made aware just how much she was turning him on. She nudged him forward to lay on his back, he chuckled but compiled. She grabbed at his belt but surprisingly he grasped her hand.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his breath husky.
"Slade," she groaned.
He groaned in annoyance, what she realized was with himself, "God, I can't believe I'm saying this. But we don't have to…" he paused.
She pulled away. He looked up at her, a look that said he knew that he had killed the mood.
"Damn it Slade! We finally had a moment alone. The first time ever and you…" she was angry, she couldn't help it.
As she made to pull away she found herself being rolled over and Slade encased her in such a way that made it hard for her to leave. The lust and desire still in his expression. In the air around him, around them both, so thick and undeniable.
"No! No," he gently grasped her chin so she had a clear view of him. "I want this. I want you. God, you can feel just how much."
She found herself moaning when his erection poked into her stomach just a little. He was making a point she knew. And it was a fact. Clearly, he wanted her. Even she, in her very, very limited experience knew that. He gave her a single kiss which she didn't shy away from. Despite still being irritated with him.
"But I want it to be special. This to be some more than just wanting to feel something besides grief. I don't want you to have any regret for our first time. We are both emotional and tired," he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "I love you. And," he paused, a tease in his tone and expression. "I want us both to have the energy to make it memorable and have it done right."
Most of the annoyance and anger melted with the comment and she found herself chuckling, even though she still hadn't liked that he had stopped. He smiled at her laugh and then grabbed her off the floor and made for the bed.
"That being said, I think we should go to sleep so that we regain said energy."
He made to put her in her own bed but she grabbed at his hand when he placed her down and made for his own cot, "No, please stay."
Slade silently nodded his head in agreement before gestring that he'd be right back. He grabbed his cot and moved it right besides her. Then he laid down. They both tossed and turned a bit. Until they finally found a mutually comfortable position together. It wasn't long before Toria began to chuckle again.
"What?" Slade asked.
"Clearly not all of you agreed with the waiting part," Toria replied.
It took him a second but then he shook his head and fought a laugh, "yeah well, he doesn't have a brain."
This did cause them both to laugh.
"I'll manage," he assured her. Holding her tighter. "Just please don't make me wait too long," he teased.
She couldn't help the shiver of expectation. He chuckled again before holding her closer. She fit into a little spoon perfectly. It took a long time for her to slow her breathing enough and stop her heart from racing as his close proximity but when she did, she fell into a dreamless and perfectly restful sleep. One both they had needed.
Sorry, not sorry everyone! I know I'm a giant tease. But it felt right for both Slade and Victoria right now. He doesn't want to make her regret their first time together. Though it torments him in so many other ways to wait. Consent is something I do want to at least touch on in this story. In future I don't think I'll go full on spice but hopefully still make you all hot and bothered when they do finally get to be with each other in that way. Be patient just a little longer.
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