Teamwork

Chapter 29 - Morocco

"What is he going to do?" Roy asked as they watched Felicity being moved to the new chair in the room.

"That's a tattoo chair." Thea said knowingly. "What? I thought about it a couple of times while Ollie was gone. Don't worry, I didn't do it." She said in response to the shocked looks from Diggle, Lance, and Laurel.

"That can't be good." Diggle said quietly. "We have to get them out of there."

Oliver was beyond mad now. Slade had beaten Lance, cured Roy, told Thea that he was keeping more secrets from her, tried to drown Sara and himself, and was now preparing to do who knows what to Felicity. He pulled on his restraints, wincing as the manacles dug into his wrists and the effort pulled at his back causing it to hurt again.

"Oliver stop." Sara said, noticing that he was frustrated and trying to get out of his chains. "You're just going to hurt yourself more."

"How did you do that Sara?" Felicity asked, wanting to change the subject before Oliver started to growl at them. Besides, she was curious as to how her friend had managed not to panic as Slade held her under the water.

"Training." Sara supplied in response. At the questioning look from Oliver and Felicity she continued. "When Nyssa found me I was floating on a piece of wreckage from the Amazo. She took me back to Nanda Parbat to train me. She told me that a member of the League of Assassins could not have fears, knowing that I was terrified of water. She took it upon herself to train me, to help me overcome it." Sara smiled briefly as she recalled the many hours they spent doing just that. "It took months but eventually I overcame the fear and was able to remain underwater longer than anyone else there."

Oliver was happy to know that she had overcome that fear. He had been terrified for her when Slade began, afraid that she would not be able to maintain control and beat Slade at his own game. He had felt a bit of relief though when Sara winked at him and he couldn't help his sense of relief when Slade finally released her.

"Oliver, are you okay?" Sara asked, knowing that some of the water he had been forced to swallow had probably ended up in his lungs.

"I'm fine." Oliver said, knowing that it wasn't really true but not wanting to worry them.

"Sure you are." Felicity said as she rolled her eyes. "This is so not comfortable by the way." She said as she tried to adjust how she was strapped down. She was in a chair that had her leaning forward slightly. There were also armrests that held her arms out in front of her, enough to keep her from moving but they had also been careful not to stretch her back too much.

"You know Felicity, this isn't either. However, it is much better than the one time I was in Morocco." Sara said, surprising both Oliver and Felicity. They had never heard much about Sara's time away and both ere shocked that she chose now to enlighten them. "That time I had been caught, intentionally by the way. Much more uncomfortable than this."

"Morocco!" Nyssa exclaimed, surprising everyone in the lair.

"What about Morocco?" Diggle asked, having a gut feeling that there was something important about that statement.

"We were sent there on a contract." Nyssa explained, ignoring the looks from Laurel and Thea. "Sara volunteered to be captured in order to get close to the mark. They gassed her to knock her out, which didn't work even though she didn't let them know that. They then took her to a black van and took her underground to their warehouse."

"Is she giving us clues?" Roy asked, hoping that it was the case.

"She would know that Slade is watching and listening." Diggle said as he looked at Nyssa. "She also knows that we are watching and listening."

"She is telling you how to find her." Nyssa provided in response to the questioning looks from Laurel and Lance. "She was taken in a black van to an underground warehouse."

"Ok, so we just need to find where that could be." Diggle said as he turned back to Felicity's computers.

"Here, let me try." Thea stated as the moved to sit in front of the monitors. "I've done my share of computer classes. Let me see if I can figure something out." She wanted, no needed, to do something useful for once.

"Alright, let me know if you have any luck." Diggle said as he moved away from the computers. "Hopefully you have more success that I did."

Just as Sara was about to start talking again Slade re-entered the room followed closely by a man who wheeled a table, covered in a cloth, in with him.

"Oliver, do you remember our time on the Amazo?" Slade asked, knowing that the kid did by the look in Oliver's eyes. "I told you about the Romans. How they would brand their criminals to allow the world to know what their crimes were and to forever remind them of what they had done." Slade said as he walked to stand just behind Oliver's right shoulder. Sara and Felicity could see exactly what Slade was doing thanks to the mirrors in the room. Placing a hand on Oliver's left shoulder, right over his dragon tattoo, he continued. "Shado wore this tattoo on her back. Now you wear it, for the rest of your life, as a reminder of how you killed her." Slade said before moving to place a hand on Felicity's left shoulder.

Sara knew that Slade had given Oliver the tattoo. He had not had it before the attack on the Amazo but had it when they got him back from Slade. However, she had never heard why Slade had given it to Oliver and could not help but notice the look of pain in Oliver's eyes as Slade forced him to recall what had happened, and why.

Oliver remembered getting the tattoo, like it was yesterday. He felt guilty for Shado's death and the tattoo served as a reminder of the choice that he had made that fateful day on the Island. It was at the precise moment that Slade touched Felicity's shoulder that Oliver realized what the other man had planned, and that thought made his heart sink.

"Miss Smoak has such lovely skin." Slade said as his hand rested on her left shoulder. "I wonder, has her beauty ever been marred?" Slade asked as before ripping Felicity's shirt off, leaving her in her bra. He then traced the scar on her right shoulder. "It looks like it has." Slade said thoughtfully. "Whatever could have made this scar? Possibly an arrow? Looks like you share a scar with Oliver." Slade said as he walked around and kneeled in front of Felicity. "How would you like to bear another matching mark on your beautiful body. Something to remind you of what being close to Oliver means?" He laughed as he stood and walked towards the door. "You can begin." He said to the other man in the room before he turned and left.

It was moments later when Felicity felt the sting of a needle on her back. The item that had been covered on the table was a tattoo machine. The man was now giving her a tattoo on her left shoulder.

It was only a few minutes before the heat in the room, mixed with the needle on her shoulder, caused Felicity to pass out.