Abducted

Chapter 10 - Memories

Mixed POV

"What about the Island?" Laurel asked, curious as always.

"Laurel, maybe he doesn't want to talk about it." Felicity said, a little irritated with the brunette.

"Look blondie, we deserve an answer especially after the screams that we just heard! It sounded like someone was killing him in his dreams. We at least deserve to know…" Laurel said, clearly upset before Felicity cut her off.

"No! You do not deserve to know unless Oliver decides that you do. You need to back off and leave him alone!" Felicity replied in her loud voice. She always got really irritated when people tried to drag facts out of Oliver when everyone, okay at least Team Arrow, knew that he wouldn't open up unless he wanted to.

"Felicity." Oliver quietly stated, drawing the attention of everyone to him. "She's right, they deserve an explanation."

Diggle made eye contact with Oliver, wanting him to know that he would support him through anything and everything. He took off his jacket and offered it to Oliver knowing that he had to be cold. It was damp and chilly in their cells and Oliver had just sweated out a fair amount due to the Vertigo which Diggle knew would make him colder than the rest of them.

Oliver took the jacket thanking Diggle quietly for having his back, again. Diggle and Felicity were always there for him and he was extremely thankful for his two closest friends. He walked back over to the corner that his cell shared with Felicity's and sat down, taking a few deep breaths to prepare himself for what he was about to tell them.

Felicity knew that this was going to be difficult for Oliver. He never liked talking about what happen on Lian Yu and she knew that this would not be an exception. She reached through the bars and put her hand on Oliver's, showing him that she was there for him and would support him.

"I was not always alone, or on the Island." Oliver started quietly, looking straight ahead. He was afraid to look at anyone because he did not know what he would see in their faces. "There was a small space of time where I was held in the hold of a ship, by a man that used to be my best friend on the Island. He wanted me to suffer for a choice that I had made. He chained me to a pole and brought a generator from somewhere on the ship. He then shocked me multiple times, not unlike Malcolm just did, and that was only one of the times that I was tortured."

Moira watched her son as he told this story and could see the far off look on his face. It was evident that he was right back in the hold of that ship as he was telling this story. She could never have imagined what it was that Oliver had endured on the Island, but she would never had thought that it would be someone that Oliver was close to who would have inflicted this pain on her son. She was finally starting to realize just why it really was that Oliver did not like to talk about the Island – it really had been a living purgatory.

Laurel was awestruck as Oliver told his story. She knew that Oliver had changed on that Island but she had never thought much about what it was that he had endured. She remembered when he had told her and her Dad that he had been tortured, but she never imagined it had happened more than once - much less at the hands of a so called friend. She should have realized from the number of scars that Oliver had that they were not all from one time of being tortured. Now, though, she wondered just what choice Oliver had made that had caused a friend of his to turn on him like he did.

"The Vertigo has many side effects, one being that it induces hallucinations. Unfortunately that means that once I passed out it brought out memories. Because of what Malcolm did today it brought out that particular memory. I'm sorry that you had to listen to my nightmare." Oliver said. He wanted to be sure that they knew the reason this happened.

"I am sorry you had to go through that son." Walter stated, the emotion clear in his voice.

"One should never have to go through that at the hands of a friend or partner." Lance commented. He knew that it would have been bad enough going through that under normal, or not so normal, circumstances but to have had it done to you at the hands of one that you called friend made the betrayal that much worse. Lance now knew why it took so much for Oliver to trust someone and he was honored that even though he had hated Oliver for the longest time, Oliver had still chosen to trust him and come to him for assistance on many occasions in the past.

"Oliver, I am sorry that you had to go through that. I wish that you had never been put in that position. I just want you to know though that this does not change the fact that you are my son and I love you. Nothing that you ever tell me will change that." Moira said to Oliver, tears evident in her eyes and her voice. She wanted her son to know that nothing would change how much he meant to her.

"We should all probably try and get some rest. It's been a long day and we need to make sure we can keep our strength up." Diggle stated, trying to move everyone's thoughts in a different direction so that they would not dwell on the story that Oliver had just told.

Everyone prepared to try and get some rest except for Oliver and Diggle. Oliver knew that after his Vertigo induced nightmare that he was not going to get any more sleep tonight. Diggle stayed alert so that he could be available to Oliver if his friend needed to talk, as well as to keep an eye out for Malcolm in case he decided to return tonight.

Everyone fell asleep under the watchful eye of the Arrow and his trusted friend and partner John Diggle.

….

Sara's POV

Sara stormed down the stairs to the lair under Verdant. She was mad, no, not mad, she was furious. First Walter had gone missing. No big deal right, they would find him easy enough, especially with Felicity there to track him down. But then her Dad went missing, then Moira. Then she had gotten the text from Felicity's phone with coordinates where her Dad was supposedly being held. She was supposed to meet Oliver there but when she reached the location he was not to be found. She had pulled out her phone to call in but that wasn't working. Finally, she made it back to town only to find that Laurel had been taken from her apartment, Felicity and Diggle had been taken from the lair, and now Oliver was missing. The only clue that they had was that there was a picture of Merlyn outside of Starling National that was left on the computer screen.

She had been trying to track them down but everyone's trackers either were not on, had been damaged, or the signal was being blocked. Sara had not felt this helpless in a long time and she hated it.

Sara whirled around, bo staff in hand, at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she found it was only Roy.

"Any sign of them?" Roy asked, clearly concerned.

"Not a trace. I've been trying to sort through traffic camera feeds, news reports, anything! I can't find a clue anywhere. We need Felicity and her magic tech powers but lucky for Merlyn she's not here." Sara said, becoming increasingly agitated.

Roy was just as furious but had been really trying to reign it in for Thea's sake. He knew that she was taking it really hard since not only her Mom had been taken but so had her step-Dad as well as that her brother was now missing too. If they didn't find a lead soon Roy was afraid that she would lose it and never be able to come back from this.

"Okay, let's go back to what we do know." Sarah said, needing something to work on. "Right after Walter was taken Oliver received a note."

"Right, same with when your Dad and his Mom were taken." Roy added, thankful that they were at least talking things out, maybe that way they would actually make progress. "Do you think he got one after Laurel, Felicity, and Diggle want missing too?"

"You're right! Merlyn would have wanted to lure him in to be able to capture him. What better way than taking Dig and Felicity from right under his nose. I bet the note contained coordinates, or an address where Oliver was supposed to meet him." Sara said getting excited to finally be making some headway on the case.

"So all we have to do is find the last note or two and we should be able to find them from there." Roy said, he was hopeful that they would find something soon so that they could bring their friends home. He just hoped that they wouldn't be too late.

"So where would Oliver put a note with Felicity's location on it?" Sara said as she started to look around. There was no telling where the note could have ended up.