Teamwork

Chapter 6 - Reactions

"So who really is this Slade Wilson guy anyway - and why's he got it in for you Oliver?" Lance asked. He hadn't missed the fact that both Oliver and Sara had reacted strongly to the Australian, and due to the fact that they don't normally respond that way, it had surprised him and worried him all at the same time. "And don't just tell me he's the one who abducted Thea – you're the one who told me it was him Oliver, so how'd you know?"

"He was my friend, my brother." Oliver responded quietly as he turned from the group and walked towards the training mats. He was furious. Furious because he had killed Slade, twice. Furious because he remembered the promise Slade was talking about and he knew things weren't going to end well. Furious because Slade had found a way to see into his lair, his home.

Oliver strode over to the training dummy, clenching his hands into fists, muscles tense, and hit it with such force that he broke one of the arms off of it with a single blow. It was taking an extreme amount of control to not scream out in anger. He knew that his heart rate had increased, he could hear his pulse roaring in his ears. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths trying to calm himself before he faced the group. He was trying to keep the others from seeing the look of fury on his face, from hearing the anger in his voice.

"Oliver. How is Slade Wilson still alive?" Thea asked as she stood trembling, clearly scared. She still remembered the night that she had been abducted by that man and the memory made her shudder. Then, seeing the way that Oliver reacted to Slade had worried her even more. It was rare these days that she saw her brother show anger like that. Well, when he's not in his Arrow suit anyway.

"You remember me telling you that I wasn't alone on the Island right?" Oliver asked after taking a few more calming breaths. "I told you that it was a friend that had shocked me with the generator in the hold of the ship. Well, Slade was that friend." He continued, allowing some of the emotion to be heard in his voice. He kept his gaze turned however, not looking anyone in the eyes in fear of what he would find reflected in their gazes. "I had to make an impossible choice, the result of which ended in the woman that he loved being killed by a man named Ivo. Before he shocked me he had Ivo in the hold of the ship as well. He had him hold the gun the same way that he did when she died, recreated the scenario with the information that he knew. Then Slade cut off the hand that Ivo had used to shoot her before turning to me. I begged, begged him to just end it, just kill me and end it but he refused. He said that to kill me would be a mercy. Slade told me that I couldn't die until I had suffered the same way that he had suffered. I needed to know complete despair and he promised me that I would. Now he is here to make good on his promise."

Sara couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't know that had happened because Oliver had never shared that with her. Of course, I didn't ask either. That's not something you can simply talk about over dinner. She felt for Oliver. It was hard enough knowing that she was partially responsible for the whole situation. If I had only not…

Sara's thoughts were interrupted by Oliver's hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see the look on his face that said he knew what she was thinking. "It's not your fault Sara." He stated simply. She nodded her head, letting him know that she understood what he was saying. That doesn't mean that I'm blameless in this though. She thought to herself.

"It's not your fault either Oliver." Sara said in response. "You had an impossible choice. You didn't know how things would end."

"Oliver." Felicity said as she came to stand next to him and spoke to him quietly. "Are you okay?" She knew that he was taking this hard just based of his reaction. He was probably blaming himself for the fact that Slade was still alive. If I had done my job better though Slade would never have been able to get into the computer, would never have seen the inside of our lair and Oliver would not be blaming himself right now.