Summary: What if the fight in the cave with Slade versus Team Arrow in episode 19 went a different way? What if Slade's intention was to capture/torture them? a slightly AU version of the Team Arrow encounter with Slade in the lair.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters owned by CW, etc. No copyright infringement intended.

AN: What if Slade really did more harm than he actually did on the show while he was in the lair in episode 19? I thought I would increase the danger level, spice it up, than what we saw on the show. No other changes to canon, except that this incident would occur after Moira dies.

It seemed like an ordinary day. Everything had been quiet, too quiet for Oliver's comfort. With Slade returning from the dead, promising revenge on everyone and everything in his life, Oliver was having difficulty not seeing threats around every corner and jumping at every shadow.

He entered Verdant, and noticed the rest of the team at the bar. He indicated with a nod that it was time to have a meeting to discuss strategy regarding Slade. Being a gentleman, he allowed Felicity to precede him down the stairs. Diggle and Sara followed. The words "We have to come up with a plan to outthink Slade. We do not know how or when he will attack next" were barely out of Oliver's mouth when they heard an unfamiliar voice in their lair.

"Welcome home, Kid. Nice digs."

The four of them froze, halfway down the steps. No one moved. No one spoke. And then they saw him. Deathstroke. His armor glinting off the light in scary ways. The two-toned mask he wore only enhanced the deadly image he portrayed.

Oliver reacted instantly. He grabbed Felicity and jumped with her over the banister to the floor below. As bullets flew at them, he pulled her behind him as he crouched below the stairs. Sara and Diggle crouched into defensive positions and raced down the stairs. Sara headed to the back of the lair while Diggle went to the light switch. He shut off the lights, throwing the lair into semi-darkness, the mid-afternoon sun coming in through the small amount of windows that lined the western wall.

Sara took advantage of the semi-darkness and ran behind the salmon ladder, climbed it, and used it as a launching pad. She flung herself at Slade, bo-staff in her hand, ready to fight. However, Slade caught Sara mid-flight by her neck, gave her a look of disdain, and then tossed her away like a rag doll. The sound of her wrist snapping like a twig ricocheted throughout the lair along with Sara's cry. Sara laid still, unmoving.

Slade then turned his attention to Digg, who approached Slade in military stance, shooting at Slade. Digg's bullets, however, didn't seem to affect Slade in the slightest. Suddenly, the gun was out of bullets, and Digg threw the gun aside and threw himself at Slade. Slade, however, batted Digg aside as if he were a mosquito into the glass display case. Shards of glass flew everywhere. Digg laid still, unmoving.

Oliver exchanged glances with Felicity, who nodded as he left the space below the stairs, with one last touch on his back from her. His bow across the room, Oliver's only available weapon were two escrima sticks lying on a nearby table. He grabbed them and approached Slade to engage him in a flurry of weapons, meeting each of Slade's strikes with the sticks. It was difficult to see who was getting the upper hand, but suddenly Slade's blade sliced into Oliver's side. He fell to the ground, with an uncharacteristic cry of pain escaping his lips.

Slade delivered one more blow to the back of Oliver's head, knocking him out. "Don't forget who taught you how to fight, kid."

Slade straightened and looked around the room, observing the damage he'd wrought as he sheathed his blades. None of the Arrow team moved. Slade looked down at Oliver and made sure he was still unconscious. He then looked up the stairs and called out, "Okay, you men can come down now."

Felicity watched in horror as four more men, dressed similarly to Slade, walked down the steps. They approached each member of Team Arrow in pairs and dragged them to the chairs. Slade handed them rope, and they proceeded to tie them all to the chairs, binding their wrists to the armrests, their ankles to the chair legs.

Just as she unfroze enough to debate attempting to run up the stairs and get away, Slade then turned to look at Felicity. "Well, my dear, are you going to give me added pleasure and make this difficult, or will you please join your friends over here without a fight?"

Felicity knew that she should attempt to make a show, at least, of defending her team. Realistically, though, what could she do? She had no weapon, and with the mirakuru in him, Slade was an unbeatable opponent. Neither could she outrun him; she would probably only get a few steps up the stairs before he would catch her. Tamping down her fear, she walked towards Slade, head high, attempting to hold onto any defiance that she could.

As she approached him, Slade grabbed her wrist and yanked her forcibly the few remaining feet towards him and into the remaining chair. How ironic, Felicity thought, it was her chair she was being tied to. Of course I would think such unnecessary thoughts at this time. Slade tied her wrists to the armrests of the chair. After doing that, Slade looked speculatively at Felicity's feet, rope in hand, took in her three-inch heels that she was especially proud of, shrugged and walked away.

Felicity looked at her teammates. Looking at their feet, she observed that all of their ankles were bound, their wrists bound to the chairs like hers. Except for Oliver, who also had rope tied around his torso. She was concerned for all of them, wondering how seriously they were injured. Wondered if they would regain consciousness, as a chill went down her spine. Wondering if it would really make a difference, with whatever Slade had in mind for them. She seriously questioned whether they would be surviving the next hour.

One of his men brought a bucket of water over to Slade. Before Felicity could object having water near her computers, Slade dumped it over Oliver. Oliver regained consciousness with that, and struggled against his bonds, with a small cry of pain.

"Welcome back, Kid. I thought we should have a talk before I take my leave."

Oliver looked around frantically, taking in the unconscious forms of Sara and Diggle next to him. His eyes then met Felicity's, who attempted to hide her fear from him. He nodded slightly to her, and returned his attention to Slade.

"What do you want, Slade?"

"Besides fulfilling my promise to you? I have only just begun." He walked towards Felicity, with a small blade drawn. He stood behind her, and rested the knife against her collarbone. Felicity stiffened, afraid to breath or move in case it would not end good. She looked at Oliver, silently begging him not to react.

Through gritted teeth, Oliver said, "Slade, don't you dare hurt her."

"I will do whatever I want to. I am in control at this moment, aren't I?"

A shiver went down Oliver's back. He tested his bonds again. No give. No chance in
getting out of them in a second's time to prevent a knife to her throat should Slade decide to run her through. Just like his mother. Even though there was not much he could do, all of his instincts were on high alert.

"Besides threatening me and my team, what else do you want to accomplish at this time?" Oliver got out through gritted teeth.

Slade turned, taking the knife away. Felicity breathed out, in relief, and watched as Slade made a show of walking back and forth in front of Oliver. He bounced the flat end of the blade against his chin, as though he was deep in thought.

Oliver attempted to control every one of his instincts as he waited for Slade to continue. He knew Slade was taking great pleasure in drawing out the threats. He had to play it right in order to prevent any further bloodshed. Or worse. He tested the chair's movement. The wheels worked, but were a little sluggish. Oliver wondered if that would be useful in any sort of fashion. He would just have to wait.

Sara chose this moment to begin to stir. Murmurs of pain accompanied her return to consciousness. She pulled against her bonds, and yelled in pain as she discovered that her wrist was broken.

"Oh, Sara, nice of you to join us. How fitting is it that you are here."

A new shiver of fear went down Oliver's spine as he wondered what Slade meant by that comment. He could not prevent looking at Felicity, wondering whether Slade would make him choose, again, between the lives of two women he loved. Slade smirked at Oliver, as if he could read the younger man's thoughts.

"Glad to give you so much pleasure, Slade. Now, what do you want with us?" Sara successfully hid her terror behind her challenging tone.

"As I was beginning to explain to your hero here, it is time for me to extract more of my promise from him."

"Slade, do you hear how tedious you are, with whining about Shado? It was five years ago, and it wasn't really Oliver's fault…."

Slade pulled his fist back and punched Sara full in the jaw, knocking her and the chair over. Two of his men rushed over and pulled the chair back upright. Sara moved her jaw around, testing it, and was surprised to feel it not broken.

"Oh, I do not want you too broken, Sara. Not yet." Walking back to her, and grabbing her by the chin, he whispered, "but get this straight. You do not get to say her name. Ever. Do you hear me?"

After holding her gaze for a minute, Slade allowed Sara to shrug her chin out of his hold. She glared at Slade full in the eye, but did not say anything. She was suddenly afraid of what to say that would not send the mad man into another frenzy. Sara felt it would be more prudent at the moment not to risk it, so she remained silent.

Slade walked back over to Oliver. "Just to make it clear, Oliver, I own you. I have you, and I can take anything I want from you from this point onward." Pointing to Sara and then to Felicity, he continued. "I have half my mind to take one of your women back with me. Or both of them." Oliver bit back a gasp, and Felicity stifled a cry. "Here I thought it was one of the Lance sisters who holds your heart. Imagine my surprise when you saved this one," pointing to Felicity, "from the Count."

"You were the one he was referring to? The one who was funding him?"

"Yes, he was to be another distraction. And it worked out even better than I had expected. It revealed that instead of this one," pointing to Sara with a sneer on his face, "your love is this one instead." Slade walked over to Felicity and began to play with her messy ponytail. Oliver could see Felicity begin to fight the instinct to hyperventilate.

"You leave her alone!" Carried by the momentum of attempting to get out of his bonds, Oliver fell face forward, remaining attached to the office chair.

Slade sniffed in disgust, and nodded to two of his men, who lifted the chair back into an upright position.

"Tsk, tsk, Oliver. Such a temper." Returning Oliver's glare with a raised eyebrow, he continued. "Now that we all understand each other, that I have all of your lives in my hands at this moment…..I shall take my leave." Turning to fix his gaze on Oliver, who had been attempting to loosen his bonds while Slade's attention was not on him, he continued. "But remember, I will be back to finish my promise." He walked over to Felicity and slowly cupped her cheek. Felicity pulled away from his dreaded caress. "She is rather lovely, your Felicity."

Slade then casually dropped his arm, turned away from Felicity, and walked over to the stairs, Over his shoulder, Slade said, "I shall see you again soon, kid." His four men followed, and the noise of their boots as they left in military style echoed in the silence of the lair.

Oliver, in his fear and rage, did not realize that Slade had dropped his knife into Felicity's lap. She, meanwhile, was frozen in place, afraid to breath again when Slade was clearly making a threat towards her. How could he mean that she was the one he would kill? Or that Oliver loved her instead either Lance? How was that even thinkable?

She looked down in her lap, and realized that Slade had dropped his knife into her lap. She carefully rolled her chair towards Oliver, making sure the knife stayed in her lap.

"Slade left his knife. Can you reach it so we can get out of these ropes?"

Felicity carefully lined her chair up to Oliver, next to his right hand, and attempted to raise her lap so that Oliver could grab the knife. It took some manipulation, but Oliver was able to reach out and grab the knife just as it was about to slide off her lap. He then sliced the bonds of her right hand. She then took the knife and freed Oliver. She then carefully cut Sara's left hand bond, then her right hand, as Oliver went to check on Diggle.

Sara carefully rolled her wrist and arm. "Yep, I think it is definitely broken. Good job, Slade."

"Anything else, Sara? You hit your head very hard, I was worried about you," Felicity said.

"I think so. Maybe I will have them do a cat scan at the hospital anyway, just in case. It would fit the cover story better, anyway, a motorcycle accident. Right, Oliver?"

Oliver rolled his eyes, as he had gone over to check on Diggle. He had found another knife and cut Digg's bonds.

Diggle began to moan at that, which Oliver was thankful for. Him being quiet for so long was beginning to worry him. "Hey, buddy, are you okay?"

"I am not sure." Diggle held his head between his hands and stifled a groan as his head ached in an unrelenting rhythm.

"In answer to your question, Sara, I think we should take both you and Diggle to the hospital with the story of a MVA. That would cover both of your injuries."

Sara looked at Oliver. "Oliver, I think you should get looked at, too, while we are there."

Oliver was about to disagree, when he met Felicity's glare. He nodded, and they got into their car and went to the hospital in silence.

AN: what did you think? Please leave me a review! Felicity will give you virtual mint chocolate ice cream if you do!