The Hood and Athena: An Arrow: Season 2 Fanfiction

Chapter 15: He Knows Everything

Oliver and Slade walked to the car as I observed by the window, wearing an earpiece that plugged into Oliver's suit jacket so I could hear the whole conversation. I noticed Diggle outside, hidden very carefully, peeking through the scope to take the shot at Slade. Just when it came time for Diggle to take the shot, he was gone and I saw the green glow of the scope disappear. 

'Cyrus Gold, the man in the skull mask... All this was you,' I heard Oliver say through the earpiece. 'They worked for you.' 

'Well, I have my allies, just as you have yours,' he replied as the two got to the car. 'John Diggle, for example. I suppose you're wondering why he hasn't taken his head shot,' he added, walking a ways from the car. Oliver's face hardened. 'Don't worry. He's still alive - for now.' Slade opened the door of his car. 

'Slade,' Oliver said. 'What do you want?' Slade got in, ignoring Oliver's question, shutting the door and turning the car on, rolling down the window, glaring at the younger man. 

'Five years ago, I made you a promise. Do you remember?' Oliver said nothing. 'Well, I'm here to fulfill it. See you around, kid.' Rolling up the window again, he drove off, out of the Queen family home. 

Five years ago. Ivo's freighter. 

Anatoly, the preacher, and Sara made it back to the shores of Lian Yu, collapsing on the rocks in relief, coughing and gasping. 

'We made it!' Anatoly exclaimed. He looked around. 'Where's Oliver?' In panic, Sara rose to her feet and stumbled towards the shore, looking out to where Ivo's freighter still stood, stationary, off the coast of Lian Yu, now being held under captive by none other than Slade Wilson. 

Oliver lay, unconscious, just coming to his senses in the cell, when the door squeaked open to reveal Slade standing there, in the doorway, not wearing his suit, carrying a sword in his hand. 

'I need you to see something,' he said in a raspy voice. Oliver lay there, unmoving. A soldier came forward and dragged him out of the cell, dumping him in the middle of the dimly lit cell block as Slade brought another person in. Anthony Ivo. 

'Okay. Wait,' Ivo pleaded. 'You need me,' he added, glancing nervously between an angry Slade and an exhausted, beaten Oliver all but sitting on the cold, hard, wet ground, still coming to his senses. 'Okay, you have the Mirakuru in you.' 

'Not just in me,' Slade said blankly, holding up a roll of syringes, filled with green fluid, for both Ivo and Oliver to see. Oliver looked up in despondence, remembering the box he'd burned before they'd tried to take the freighter. Supposedly it was full of Mirakuru serum. 'You burned a box full of dirt.' 

'I can help you understand how it works,' Ivo said, pleading again with Slade. 'I've spent my entire life studying it, all right?' 

'It was you,' Slade said, moving closer to the doctor, ignoring his earlier words about the serum. 'You were the one who killed Shado.' 

'No. No, he chose!' Ivo screamed, pointing at Oliver, saying something, anything, to save himself. 'It was him.' 

'Give him your gun,' Slade commanded a soldier, to which the man obliged. 'Take it...' he added to Ivo, 'and show me... how you killed Shado.' There was silence. 'Show me!' he screamed. Ivo aimed his gun at Oliver, hand shaking. Oliver moved to his feet. Gingerly. Slowly. One word came from his mouth. 

'Slade. This isn't you. It's the Mirakuru. And you're sick.' 

'I don't care,' he replied passively, eyes blank. 

'I was trying to protect Sara. But I didn't want Shado to die. I cared for her too. You know that I did!' 

'I don't care,' he repeated, eyes blinking slowly, in a daze. 

'You said that we were brothers,' Oliver spoke. 'You said that.' Slade ignored him, walking up behind Ivo, still aiming the gun at Oliver. 

'Is that how you did it? Is that how you pointed the gun at her?' he asked raspily. 

'Yes,' Ivo replied, voice shaky. He turned, and suddenly Slade turned and sliced Ivo's hand off, the hand with which he was holding the gun. He collapsed to the floor, screaming. 

'Get him out of here.' The soldiers took him out of the room. 

'Why don't you just kill me?' Oliver asked, confused. 

'To kill you now... would be a mercy. You cannot die until you have suffered... the same way I have suffered,' Slade replied, still holding the sword in his hand. 'Till you have known complete despair.' He came close to Oliver, meeting him eye for eye. 'And you will. I promise.' 

Present day. Queen Mansion. 

I turned from the window as Oliver stepped back into the living room, taking out the earpiece from my ear and tucking it into my pocket discreetly. Oliver eyed the bottle of rum still sitting on the tray. 

'Mr. Wilson leave?' Moira asked. 

'Yeah.' 

'It's getting pretty late, I'm going to go too,' Oliver commented. She hummed. He turned to me. 'Are you - doing anything tonight, Evelyn?' She shook her head. 

'I'm gonna try and rest a bit tonight, Ollie. You go ahead. I'll see you in the morning.' He nodded and went to slip out of the room as I walked up the stairs to go to bed. I paused on the stairs when I heard Moira call out. 

'Oliver.' He turned. 'I know you and I have our differences, but they hardly excuse your behaviour tonight.' She looked at him. 'If this is the way you're going to act around me from now on, then don't come by the house anymore.' She turned again and walked out of the room. I gave Oliver a confused shrug and strolled up the remainder of the stairs again. Up to the bedroom. Oliver turned and walked out. As he walked through the foyer again towards the front door, the screen turned a sickly green and opened out into security camera images, Slade Wilson rolling up a chair in front of the camera screens. Leaning back into the chair, he stared intently at the screens, his eyepatch off, a hollow spot where his right eye used to be.