Teamwork

Chapter 27 - Water

Sara, Felicity,and Oliver looked to Slade as the man entered the room. He was followed by two men rolling in a very large metal tub filled with water. They placed it in the middle of the room before the two guards moved to stand one on each side of the now closed door. 

"Nice to see you again Sara." Slade said as he went to stand right in front of her.

"What do you want Slade?" Sara spit back at him.

"I made a promise to Oliver." Slade said with a smile before turning to look at Oliver. "I'm simply keeping that promise. I told you that you would know complete despair." He turned to Felicity before continuing. "Do you remember how I said I was going to keep that promise Miss Smoak?" Slade asked, not missing the look of shock on Oliver's face. No doubt the Kid never told anyone about our little discussion on the Amazo. Slade thought as he waited for Felicity to respond. "Go on... Tell them."

"Slade..." Felicity started hesitantly before noticing the glare on Slade's face and realizing that there was no way around telling them what she knew. "He said that death would be a release from this life and that your sentence is yet to be carried out." Felicity finally said as she looked to Oliver, cursing how Slade's words were burned in her memory for eternity. She could see the slight change in the look in Oliver's eyes and knew that these words were bringing back memories that he would rather forget. "He told me that he was going to tear everything you care about away from you. He said he was going to destroy those who choose to follow you and corrupt those you love." Felicity said a bit quieter as she looked away from Oliver, unable to look him in the eyes as she knew exactly what those words meant as she knew who Oliver loved and was a bit worried about what Slade had in store for her.

"You have a very good memory Miss Smoak." Slade said with a huge smile on his face as he turned to look at Oliver once again. "What did I tell you I would do at the end?"

Felicity swallowed hard before answering. "He said that once you have lost everyone and everything you value he will drive an arrow through your eye." She said, barely above a whisper. Felicity couldn't keep back the tears that escaped as she finished retelling what the mad man standing before her had told her the last time she was in his custody. She had imagined so many possible ways that Slade would keep his promise and had had to watch his promises come true.

Oliver couldn't believe what Slade had told Felicity. He knew that he would have been able to handle anything that Slade did to him, even if it killed him. But, it seemed his old friend knew just what to do to really hurt him. Apparently Slade had discovered that by going after Oliver's Team, his friends, his family, that Oliver would feel the most pain. Sure, Oliver was in quite a lot of physical pain, but Slade had mastered the art of emotional pain and was putting his knowledge to good use. He could feel his chest constricting with the pent up emotion. He knew that everything that had happened recently was his fault and he was now at a loss as to what he could do to get those he cared about out of this situation.

Sara's heart broke for Oliver and Felicity as she listened to what Slade had told the other blonde. She knew that it had to be hard, knowing what Slade had planned and unable to do anything about it. Suddenly everything fell into place for Sara as she thought about what had happened, to her Dad, to Roy, to Thea, it finally all made sense why Slade was doing what he was doing. She suddenly became extremely worried for Felicity as it seemed Slade was going to try to rip Oliver's heart out by hurting the woman he loved. Come on John, find a way to get us out of here...fast. Sara thought as she noticed Slade motion to the two men that had been standing by the door.

"I still remember our time on the Amazo with vivid clarity." Slade said as the two men moved to release Sara from her chains. "Do you?"

Sara saw a brief window of opportunity when the two men came and released her from her restraints. She waited until the men pulled her hands behind her back before she made her move. She jerked her head back, making contact with one of the men's noses, hearing it snap with the impact, before she spun and kicked the other man in the stomach. She was reaching for the first man's neck, to snap it, when Slade grabbed her around the neck and threw her against the wall. Sara slid to the ground just as Slade put his foot on her back, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"You should not have done that Sara." Slade growled as the man that she had kicked came and painfully bound her hands behind her back. Once that was finished Slade pulled her to her feet to stand next to the tub of water in the middle of the room.

"Sara!" Felicity cried as she saw how Slade threw her friend against the wall before pinning her to the ground. Now she watched as they moved to stand in from of the tub and Felicity again remembered some more of the things that Slade said he was going to do to her Team, her friends, her family. "No!"

"Don't worry Miss Smoak." Slade said with a grin in her direction. "I'm not going to kill her... yet."

"Slade." Oliver growled, afraid of what it appeared was about to happen to Sara.

"What Oliver?" Slade said with a sneer. "Are you going to offer to take her place? Are you going to ask me to let her go? Well neither of those things is going to happen. It is just as much her fault as yours that Shado is no longer here." Slade grabbed Sara around the neck again as he continued. "You remember what happened to her when the Amazo went down? I'm sure it's not much different from what happened when the Gambit sank. I'm sure you still dream about how the ship was ripped in two, how the water swirled into the hull where we fought, how she was dragged out into the cold Ocean. She could have drowned, because of you." Slade pushed Sara down until she was bending at the waist over the tub of water. "I wonder if she is afraid of drowning."

Diggle was furious. He had been trying to find Oliver, Sara, and Felicity and had come up empty handed. He had tried to find a way to track the van that Roy and Thea had been transported in but couldn't get the computers to do what he wanted them to. Now he was standing, safe, in their lair as his Team mates were at the hands of Slade. His felt the dread as he realized that Felicity really did know more than she was letting on. She had been keeping a huge secret about Slade's intentions and that made him sad for her. He couldn't help the brief flash of hope that he felt when he saw Sara start to engage the guard in a fight and thought that he had seen her grab something when she headbutted the guard but it was hard to tell if he was right as she was moving so quickly. However, his hope vanished as he watched Slade pin her to the ground before walking her towards the tub.

Thea could not believe what Slade had told Felicity he was going to do. She knew that the man had some strange fixation on her brother and that had worried her. However, knowing that he had planned this years ago scared her. He had like four years to plan this. She thought as she came to the realization that every single thing that Slade had done, starting the night he had first abducted her, had all been a part of his big plan to torture Oliver. She suddenly felt even more determined to bring this creep down and resolved to do anything and everything that she could to help.

Roy knew that the Mirakuru messed with your mind but he could not believe just how warped Slade was. What happened to him to make him like this? He thought as he listened to what Felicity had been told. As she finished telling what Slade had said to her he caught Diggle's eye and knew that they agreed, they had to get their Team out of there...now!

Laurel was in shock. She knew that Sara had been lost at sea when the Gambit went down but she was not aware of the fact that it had happened twice. She didn't know exactly what had happened while her sister was gone but what she did know, with the new details that had just been shared, was that it had to have been a horrible experience for Sara. She simply hoped that they would be rescued before Sara was hurt too badly.

Lance felt his heart drop into his stomach when Slade started to talk. He knew that Oliver already felt defeated from everything that Slade had already said and knew that what Slade and Felicity were saying now would not help matters any. When Slade talked about how Sara had been pulled into the ocean he couldn't help the shivers that traveled down his spine at the images his mind supplied. He knew precious few details about what had happened to his youngest and hearing more of those details now painted a very cold, grim picture in his mind. He couldn't help the fear that crept up when Sara was walked over to the tub of water. He was afraid for his daughter, after all she probably had a very healthy fear of drowning after having almost drowned twice in the last few years.

The group in the lair watched with bated breath as Slade pushed Sara's face closer and closer to the water, afraid for their Team mate, sister and daughter. As Slade submerged Sara's head into the water Lance could not hold back his cry.

"Sara!"