Teamwork

Chapter 24 - Secrets

Thea watched, scared, as Slade's men brought Roy into the room. She was genuinely worried for her boyfriend as she had no idea what Slade had in store for them now. She was so focused on Roy now that she almost missed the growl that came from Oliver.

Oliver was angry. He had hoped that somehow Roy had managed to simply get lost somewhere instead of captured, but now he realized that was definitely not the case. As he looked at the younger man he noticed that he was still alive and was simply sedated via the IV in his arm. That's the only way Slade would have been able to keep him, sedated. Oliver thought as he remembered that nothing could hold a man once he had the Mirakuru flowing through his veins. As he noticed the look of pure evil on Slade's face Oliver began to worry for his young protégé.

"I thought you might like to see some more of your Team, Oliver." Slade said as he walked towards Roy. "Tibetan Pit Viper Venom. The best way to keep him under control." He said as he gently held the IV line, a small smile on his face as he spoke.

"Why are you doing this?" Thea cried out as she watched Slade. "He's never done anything to you! He's innocent. Please, just let him go!"

"Do you remember what I told you about people, Kid?" Slade asked, ignoring Thea for now and instead turning to Oliver. He took Oliver's silence, and glare, to mean that he did indeed remember those conversations. "Well, it's time to teach your little sister that lesson." He said as he turned to talk to Thea.

"You leave her out of this." Oliver growled. "Your problem is with me. I am the one you are after, not them. Just let them go and you can do anything that you want, to me."

"When I first met your brother on Lian Yu he was still this spoiled, rich playboy." Slade started as he walked around Thea to place a hand on her shoulder, carefully watching Oliver's reaction to the contact. "I had to teach him everything. He was so trusting, so loyal, and so naive. I had to teach him to start a fire, to fight, to survive. He learned, eventually, however there was one lesson he was adamant about not learning."

Oliver did his best to keep his face blank, however he could not keep a growl from escaping when Slade placed his hand on Thea's shoulder. If he so much as hurts one hair on her head, I swear... He thought to himself as Slade talked to Thea. As he listened to Slade telling her about what he had learned from him Oliver shuddered . He remembered the lesson that Slade was talking about and was worried about what Slade was going to do to teach it to his sister. His answer came after a few more words from Slade.

"I tried, over and over to teach Oliver not to trust people, not to get close to them. But again and again he ignored that lesson. I tried to teach him, before he had to learn for himself, that everyone in this life is out only for themselves. No one really cares about others and you will always get stabbed in the back from the lies and betrayal from those you consider your closest friends." Slade continued as he walked around to stand between Roy and Thea. "Did Oliver ever tell you how he betrayed me? About the lie he let me believe?" Slade asked as he noticed the anger rolling off Oliver.

Oliver's heart sank as Slade mentioned the lies that he had told the man. He could only think of two at the moment and knew that only one of them was worth mentioning. He had never told Thea about Shado and was angry at Slade for choosing to educate Thea on what happened in this way. His muscles were tense as he tried to control his breathing to keep his anger under control as Slade started to speak, again.

Thea finally tore her gaze away from Slade and looked at Oliver when he talked about lies. She was still pissed about the fact that she learned that Oliver was the Arrow in the way that she had. She had thought that he would trust her, tell her, and was hurt that he had again chosen not to share that part of his life with her. She had felt for a long time that Oliver and her Mom were keeping things from her, lying to her, and that hurt more than anything. Thea knew that there had to have been a good reason for Oliver to lie to someone who had been his friend and was now curious as to what had happened to cause Slade to be so angry at her brother.