Flashback
Lian Yu, five years ago
Day
"I'm gonna kill all of you!" Hendrik shouted from his tied up position before Anatoli gagged him. Hendrik was in his current position because he was a prisoner of Anthony Ivo on the Amazo. During their assault on the ship, Slade accidentally decapitated the ships engineer and Hendrik was the only one with any experience and skill that dealt with working on a ship. So, since Slade was now a full blown traitor to Nate, Slade offered Sara a deal; an exchange of Hendrik and Nate.
"This is not personal…well, it is little personal." Anatoli admitted with a smirk.
"It's not, it's about survival." Sara said as she stood up.
"Survival. What a noble word for murder." One of the prisoners scoffed.
"Slade give us no option. Hendrik for Nathaniel." Anatoli argued.
"And what gives us the right to decide that one person's life is more valuable than another?" the prisoner shot back.
"He is tied up, we are not." Anatoli shrugged with admittedly little care.
"Once the boat is fixed, Slade will have no more need for him. So let's not kid ourselves. Doing this is essentially sentencing Hendrik to death." The prisoner argued.
"He would do the same thing to any of us! In heartbeat. It is only option." Anatoli argued.
"What if it's also an opportunity?" Sara asked as a plan began to form in mind.
"To do what?" Anatoli asked as they looked at her.
"To kill Slade." Sara said.
Flashback End
Queen Consolidated
Afternoon
"I'm in the middle of going over an extensive report, mom." Nathaniel said annoyed as he walked out of his office.
"And how is Mr. Rochev these days? Still angry that Dorothy dropped a house on her sister?" Moira asked before seeing Nathaniel's un-amused face, "Have you heard from Thea?"
"No, I have not." Nathaniel said.
"You haven't returned any of my phone calls, so I'm forced to resort to seeing you in person to ask you if you'll be attending the debate tonight." Moira asked crudely.
"I told you I would publicly support your campaign. Nothing's changed there. Anything else?" Nathaniel asked.
"It would be embarrassing for us both if you could not at least appear to be my son tonight." Moira said as she turned to leave. Nate could have said something hurtful here, but he decided not to. Telling her something spiteful just for the sake of hurting her wouldn't serve any purpose here, and so, Nate decided to walk back into his office.
Nate sat down behind his desk, and promptly let out a sigh. The city had gone to complete shit in his absence. This was the entire reason he did not want to leave in the first place. To summarize, during the four days that he was gone, his clone had convinced the Bratva to look for Deathstroke and because of this, the Captain had gotten killed. Not that he gave a damn about the Bratva captain, but Slade made it look like he, Nate, had done it and now there was a leadership vacuum for the Bratva in Starling City. Also, the Triad was in shambles, with many of Chien's lieutenant's and officer's killed, again by Deathstroke. His clone had also convinced Roy to break up with Thea, and now Roy had gone AWOL. Basically, the whole situation was now in tatters, and now Thea was possibly missing as well.
This was the exact reason why he needed to stay in Starling City and handle this himself. His clones were not like the clones of his past life as Naruto Uzumaki. Those clones that Naruto was able to make were more suited for espionage and intelligence gathering. They were physical copies of the original and, aside from a couple fringe cases, had the same intelligence and cunning that the original did. However, because they were made more from gathering intel, they couldn't take more than one hit unless they were enhanced. The most you could use them for in combat usually was as a trick to get the opponent to drop their guard.
His clones were not like that. Nate hadn't developed the ability to make a clone of himself until after his mind had been healed by Henri Ducard in the mountains of Tibet. Afterwords, while he was in the Triad with Chien, he used his money and resources that he acquired to buy all sorts of ancient magical tomes from Medieval Europe, Ancient Rome and Greece, as well as China and Japan. While he was not the biggest fan of magic, he understood its importance and power, and saw its uses. While he was studying that magic, he accidentally stumbled upon the ability.
At first, Nate had assumed that the cloning power was magical in nature, since he had been studying and practicing magic at the time, but over time disregarded this theory. He theorized that it was instead a unique ability of his version of the Mirakuru. Nobody really knows what was different in the red Mirakuru that he was injected with. Only the men who made it knew, and their knowledge was lost when the submarine crashed on the island. The clones were his physical equals. He could make copies of himself that had all of his powers and could fight as long as he could or exert himself as long as he could, which made them great for keeping his girls entertained.
The clones created were not stupid, per say, as they were fine with handling tasks at the office just fine while he was running down leads or taking out bad guys. But they were more prone to making mistakes that he wouldn't make. Mistakes like confronting Natasha Romanov in the way it did, or how one handled himself with Slade while he was away. The clones simply were not suited for handling major dilema's and until he came up with a way to fix that, it was going to stay like that.
Annoyed, he got up and created a portal and walked through it after a leaving a clone behind, intent on speaking with Talia on where she was on tracking down Slade's favorite son, Joe Wilson, as he had her start looking for him right after he had been called by Amanda Waller.
Starling City
Night
"You okay?" Laurel asked Nathaniel as she sat with him, Helena, Lyla, and her sister in the front row of the debate.
"Mom and I haven't heard from Thea since last night. I'm getting worried." Nathaniel admitted.
"Roy did just break her heart. I'm sure she's fine Nate." Laurel said as the debate started.
"Now, we have next in our series of video questions submitted by Starling City voters. This one's from…Thea Queen." The moderator read off and it threw everyone for a moment.
The screen behind Moira and Blood fizzled before it showed a picture of Thea, terrified with dried tears on her face. Nathaniel jumped to his feet as everyone stared at the screen horrified. As Thea began to beg for help, a black gloved hand reached out and covered her mouth, sending gasps of horror through the crowd as Slade, in his mask, appeared on the screen. 'How much is Thea Queen's life worth to you?' appeared on the screen in big, white letters. Nathaniel stared at the screen, worry for his sister and pure, unaltered hatred welling up inside.
Queen Consolidated
Later
"Can you think of anyone who might want to get to you through Thea?" Pike asked as he and Quentin questioned Moira and Nathaniel.
"Just the families of the five hundred and three victims of The Undertaking." Moira said tearfully as she put a hand to her mouth.
"This isn't about the Quake." Nathaniel snapped as he paced the floor.
"How do you know?" Pike asked Nathaniel with a look.
"You just need to find the man in the mask!" Nathaniel snapped.
"Look, we're running down every lead." Pike said.
"What exactly are those leads?" Nathaniel growled.
"Oh god, how could I have let this happen?" Moira said as she put a hand to her face.
Hearing some tap on his office door, Nathaniel turned to see Walter outside the door. Nathaniel walked out and met Walter outside.
"Ms. Rochev asked me to tell you that the voting on the new officers is taking place now and it cannot be postponed. I'm sorry son, but she's right." Nathaniel growled at Walter's words.
"This is not the time." Nathaniel snapped.
"I know son, but you are the CEO, you have responsibilities. You could appoint someone to serve in your stead temporarily." Walter told him.
Nate was about to say something, but he held himself back. "Clear the room Walter, and take my mother with you. I need to think for a minute without distractions." Nate said through grit teeth and a pointed look at Walter.
Once they were gone, Naruto sat at the desk and pinched the bridge of his nose.
This was the worst thing that could have happened. Slade now had his sister. Nate could not help but be worried for Thea's safety, given Slade was a mentally unstable freak with a vendetta against him.
"I can't think about this from a brothers point of view. I need to be rational about this for a moment." Naruto whispered to himself as he set a one minute timer and closed his eyes to think and concentrate.
He meditated deeply on the situation he was in currently. Much as he hated to admit it, taking his sister was little more than a distraction, something to throw him completely off balance. Slade probably wanted him to use his contacts in the police to arrest him, which he would use to expose those members of the force that were working with the vigilantes and get them fired. That would certainly not be good, but it wasn't the gut punch Nathaniel would expect Slade to deliver. It almost felt like a lazy half-measure.
"That can't be it. There has to be more than that." Nate said. Slade was many things, but lazy was not one of them. Nate felt that just eliminating his allies in the police force and having that be it was almost lazy. Slade had been hitting him from multiple angles this whole time, there had to be another angle he was working.
As his timer went off, he opened his eyes, and shut it off as Helena walked in. "Babe, I-" She said.
"I know, Helena. I love you too. But I need you to talk to the others for me. I do not want McKenna or any of our contacts in the police going after Slade right now. Can you do that for me?" He asked.
"Yeah I can do that, but what are you going to do?" Helena asked.
"I have some snakes in my garden that need to be removed." Nathaniel said as he walked out of his office.
He dialed up another number as he walked out of his office. "Mr. Queen." The person on the other end said.
"Ms. Adachi. I need you to bring all of the security forces you can spare to the meeting office on floor 78. We have a lot of people that are about to get fired." Nathaniel said.
"Understood, sir. We will meet you up there." The woman said on the other line. With that done, he walked to the other office.
Flashback
"Land mines?" Anatoli asked as he uncovered the bomb, "what kind of island is this?"
"Can you remove the explosive?" Sara asked.
"Certainly. Without it going off? Eh, less certain," Anatoli said as he put his hands on it carefully, "Ah, KGB. You have taught me many things. Japanese bomb, Russian bomb. Both go ….bomb."
Anatoli unscrewed it and lifted the detonator up, closing his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and looked back at Sara.
"Congratulations, we are not dead. Now what?" Anatoli said dryly.
"Slade takes Hendrik as we agreed, then when they're far enough away, we set it off." Sara said as he looked at her confused.
"We rig Hendrik with the bomb?" He asked.
"Peter's right, giving him to Slade is the same as killing him. And you're right, we have no choice. At least this way, we can take out Slade and then take the ship." Sara said, then noticed the look Anatoli was giving her, "What?".
"Just wondering…when did you become so scary?" Anatoli asked.
"When I washed up here." Sara said grimly.
Flashback End
Board Meeting Office
"So, I believe that is the last of the junior officers." Isabel said, hiding a smirk behind her usual cold and detached facade. "Do we have any final remarks before this meeting is closed?"
"Actually, Ms Rochev, there is something I'd like to say. Why are we even having this meeting?" The head of the Human Resources asked.
"Excuse me?" Isabel questioned with a glare, as one of her allies on the board was supposed to step up right now and call for a vote of no confidence in Nathaniel Queens leadership and make her CEO right now!
"You heard me. Why are we having this meeting without our CEO, Mr. Queen? We can approve all of these people but at the end of the day, only he can give the final approval on them." The HR head said again.
"We all know he did not call this meeting nor was he invited to it. He would have been the first one here if he had been," The head of the Science Department said.
At that moment, Nathaniel walked through the doors pushing them both aside, Natasha by his side. "You're damn right I didn't." Nate said as he walked into the room.
Glaring at Isabel, he said, "You have some nerve. My sister has been kidnapped by a psychopath and you think now is a good time to be electing officers?"
"The companies needs can't be put on hold, Mr. Queen. Not even for it's CEO." Isabel said coolly.
"You wouldn't be saying that if our positions were reversed." Nate pointed out.
"Enough of this!" Mr. Sekulo said as he stood up in his chair. "I'm tired of you strutting around this place like you own it, you damn brat! You're just lucky you happened to be Robert Queen's son!"
"And you're lucky to even have your job at all, Sekulo. The only reason I've avoided replacing you're worthless ass is because I didn't have anyone that I trusted to take your spot." Nate pointed out coldly.
"I call for a vote of no Confidence in MR. Queen as CEO!" Mr. Sekulo screamed.
Nate looked at Isabel with a bored expression on his face, "This is your big move I take it? A vote of no confidence to kick me out of my own company." His bored expression and his nonchalant confidence unnerved Isabel. He didn't have the demeanor of someone who was about to lose everything and knew it. That made her a little worried. Him being worried would have been an indication that her victory was assured. But no matter.
"Fine, we'll put it to a vote." Nate said, "All those in favor of No Confidence in me?" All except Nathaniel, the HR head and the Head of the Science Department raised their hands.
Isabel couldn't contain her glee this time and smirked at him. "Well, Mr. Queen, It seems the board has spoken. You no longer have a place at this company."
Nate yawned, still confident as ever. "It's cute that you think you have any say in what happens in this company, but it doesn't matter what you've all decided because everyone who just voted to throw me out is now fired."
Shock, confusion, and outrage followed Nate's statement, "I can do whatever I want in my company. None of you hold any real power here."
"But our contracts says," Sekulo tried to say.
"Section 10, subsection 3.c.5 on page 100." Nate said. "In it, upon signing of this document, you acknowledge legally that you have no power to make any type of board decision and cede all authority to Nathaniel Queen." Basically, you signed your name on the dotted line, making you my bitch. I can do whatever I want and you can't do anything. Even firing me is not possible upon signing the document, because like a dumbass, you signed without reading the whole thing."
"But I have shares in the company, so I CAN hold you accountable." Isabel informed him.
Nate smirked and looked at her, "You sure about that?"
His words made her narrow her eyes before they widened, pulling out her phone to check her the value of her holdings, only to see that it was at zero!? But she just checked it this morning!
"How!?" Isabel asked.
"Doesn't matter. You didn't really think I was gonna let you keep part of my company, did you? Now, I am sole owner of the company." Naruto said, knowing he had hacked into his brokerage account and sold the Isabel's shares and then he bought them.
"I'm pretty sure I told you what was gonna happen if you called another meeting without my approval, you dumb whore," Naruto said derisively as the doors opened and Ms Adachi walked in with 30 security guards.
"Ah Ms Adachi, you are here. Good. Everyone with the exception of myself, Ms Rushman, Mr. Link, and Mrs. Crowley have all been fired as of 2 seconds ago. Please escort all of these imbeciles off the premises, immediately." Nathan said.
"As you wish, Mr. Queen," Ms Adachi said.
All of a sudden a loud crash was heard and the lights started flashing. Isabel screamed as her shoulder was pierced by an arrow. She grit her teeth and opened her eyes and saw Prometheus through the light flashes, his sword flashing through the air, killing the members of the board that had voted with her. She tried to pull the arrow out of her shoulder but she couldn't, not realizing that the arrow had a mechanism that latched itself to the back of the chair. She didn't have much time to figure a way out as she felt a hand hit her neck and her lights were out.
Soon, the lights stopped flickering and Nathan could be seen with his hands on Natasha's shoulders as they surveyed the damage. There on the table stood Prometheus, an unconscious Isabel thrown over his shoulder, his sword held at his side, the blood dripping off it. Around him, the entire board was dead, aside from the HR head, Mrs. Crowley. and the Science Department head, Mr. Link, the heads of the former board members lining the floor, blood splattered everywhere.
"Prometheus," Nate said to his alter ego. Prometheus turned to stare at the head of Queen Consolidated with his soulless eyes.
"Mr. Queen," Prometheus greeted, the sound of the blood dripping off his sword breaking the silence.
Nate looked at the former board and shrugged, "Well, I did just fire them, I guess this is one way to send them out the door. But did you have to bloody up my office? It's gonna take a while to get the blood out."
"I'm not interested in your complaints, Mr. Queen. They are unimportant in comparison to my mission."
"Protecting the City. I'm aware of it. But what do my... former board members and my CFO have to do with that?"
"The bitch is in league with the one that took your sister tonight. He is an enemy of my former mentor, and he needs to die. The rest of your board had various crimes that I've left a copy of with the local news and on your desk."
"Well, I was looking to replace them soon anyway," Nate shrugged.
Prometheus regarded Nate before he turned his back to him. The guards raised their guns at him but Nate held his arm up, stopping them from firing. "You've been a good thing for this city, Nathaniel Queen. You do the things I cannot. Don't ever give me and my peers a reason to come after you. It would be a real shame to have to kill you."
"I won't," Nathan said and with that, Prometheus disappeared with Isabel in tow.
Nate turned to Ms. Adachi. "Call 911. They need to be made aware of this." Ms Adachi nodded and Natasha pulled him aside for a moment.
"What are you up to, Nate? Or am I talking to a clone right now?" Natasha asked and Nate winked at her confirming her suspicion. "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you later. For now, we need to keep up appearances." The clone said.
Lian Yu
Five years ago
Night
Nate was brought into the fuselage by two of Slade's men. Sara was horrified by the fact Nathan had two knives in his spine. For once, she was thankful that he had the Mirakuru in his system.
"What did you do to him?" She demanded as Slade walked in.
"Not enough." He told her as his men pushed Nate towards her.
Nate stumbled and would have flopped helplessly on the ground had she not caught him. Slade walked over to the unconscious Hendrik as Sara sat Nate upright on a crate and removed one of the daggers.
"What did you do to him?" Slade asked.
"Just knocked him out. He wasn't exactly a fan of the arrangement." Sara told him.
"I can imagine." Slade said dryly.
"Hendrik's all yours." Sara said as she turned back to Nate, pulling the other dagger out of his spine, eliciting another pained groan from him.
"I know." Slade said as his men grabbed the unconscious prisoner.
As they led Hendrik to the exit, Slade turned.
"Wait," Slade called out and they stopped, "it's an interesting thing, this Mirakuru. Not only does it give you strength, it heightens your senses as well. TNT has a particular smell."
Slade reached out and ripped the explosive pack off Hendrik.
"How long before it goes off? Sixty seconds, ninety seconds?" Slade demanded as he held it out in front of Anatoli, "you were probably thinking that the blast would kill me but I disagree. Not that I can say the same for you lot. I am tempted to see this tear you to pieces."
Slade then ripped out the cords from the pack before drawing his pistol. Slade took aim at Sara and she stepped back.
"Or I could just shoot you the same way Ivo shot Shado." Slade sneered.
Nate, to the best of his ability, stood up and stepped in front of Sara, using his body as a human shield.
"No, you will not." Nate said as they glared at each other.
Flashback end
Unknown location.
Isabel groaned as she woke up, feeling groggy. Last thing she remembered was Prometheus killing the board and knocking her out. Her eyes flew open as she tried to break free of her restraints but found they were too tight. She also realized from the cold sting on her skin that she only had her panties and bra on.
She heard the sound of a blade being sharpened and she couldn't tell where it was coming from initially. The room was dark, the only source of light was the bright one right above her, isolating her from the outside world, making her nervous. The sound soon became more clear as Nate walked into the light, his mask off with his Kyuubi eyes showing.
"Queen. What the hell did you do to me while I was out!? How did you appear as Prometheus while you were standing in front of me? Did you-" She was interrupted from her tirade when he backhanded her, making blood and several teeth fly from her mouth.
"Quiet." Nate said coldly. He walked around her as she spat blood out of her mouth. "Appearing as both my civilian and alter ego is quite easy as I can be in multiple places at once. And stripped you down to your underwear because your clothes would have been in the way. "
Nate came up to one side of her and stared down at her. "Slade. You're working for him." Nathaniel said slowly.
"With. He knew planting me in your family's business would keep you in Starling City. I was skeptical but-" Nate interrupted her by slamming the block he was using to sharpen his knife next to her ear, causing her hearing to ring for a moment, disorienting her.
"Why are you working with him? What did I do to you specifically? Or was it even me?" Nathaniel demanded, wanting to know what could have made this woman work with Slade.
"I think it's sad you don't know. The sins of the father are the sins of the son." She told him quietly.
"Oh, what sins did my old man commit against you?" Nate briefly wondered.
"I was your father's soulmate!" Isabel declared fervently.
Nate scoffed at her delusions, "Oh great, you're one of those."
"He was going to leave the company, leave your mother, leave you and Oliver!" Isabel continued, "Our bags were packed, then your sister had to go and break her arm. Doing something ridiculous, no doubt."
"She fell off her horse." Nate remembered. He's the one who had called their father, after all.
"We were at the airport when he got the call. I begged him not to go, reminded him that Thea wasn't even his!" Isabel seethed and Nate raised an eyebrow.
"Are you saying that dad always knew?" Nate asked.
"Of course he knew. He was a fool, not an idiot. And like a fool, he loved her anyway. He told me we would leave the next day, but instead, my internship was terminated and he never spoke to me again." Isabel told Nate.
"So that's what this is really about? He chose us over you." Nate pondered, before he gripped her left hand and with his other hand, ripped out one of her fingernails, causing her to scream. "God, you're such a prickly little slut. If it was a Queens cock you wanted so badly, you should have just said so. Truth be told, I had thought about seducing you."
"Oh please, I've had your father before. Why would I settle for the son?" Isabel said.
"No offense to dad, but I have surpassed him in all manner of things. And you almost did settle. That time in Moscow. If we had ended up sleeping together, I'd have kept you pinned to the bed as I broke you in and by the end you'd happily be telling all your little secrets. Certain accommodations would have been made, of course, but the end result would have been you swallowing your worthless pride, and giving me Slade while you get to more or less keep your life." Nate said.
"I didn't want to be one of those sluts who fawn all over you and have no self respect because they're addicted to your cock." Isabel spat and Nate gripped her jaw.
"Oh yes, because that would be a real shame. Having a well-paying job as my CFO, a successful career, a well-endowed lover that would fuck you into a sexual coma every single day, and a seat at the table of the events that will change the world. But yes, that would have been such a tragedy." Nate said sarcastically as she screamed while he ripped out another of her finger nails.
"One more thing. You're completely delusional if you think that my father ever loved you. You weren't the first employee that he fucked and got caught up in the good sex and you weren't the last. You know the head of Security, Ms. Adachi? I recently discovered I have a half-sister through her. Once I'm done with Slade, I'm gonna see about making the Queen Family truly whole. But you, you dumb whore, you won't be alive to even see Slade fall." Nate said he picked up his filleting knife.
Nate took his knife and heated it up. "Slade Wilson put me through hell, his training nearly killed me. You think I'm afraid of a little torture?" Isabel said to him as the knife became red hot. He took the blade and slowly peeled off the skin on her forearm, causing her to scream.
"I killed Slade once when I was much less skilled. There is nothing Slade could have taught you that would have prepared you for me." Nate said as he tossed her peeled skin away. "One of my old teachers taught me about the Mongolian skinning technique. They can take the skin off an animal much larger than you in about 5 minutes. Obviously, I'm not trying to do this quickly."
"Make no mistake," Nate said as he flayed the rest of her one forearm, causing more screaming, "This is not to make you talk. I plan to trade you for my sister. But before that, you are going to suffer like you have never suffered before."
1 Hour later
Slade was in the warehouse where he was keeping Thea. He was getting a bit impatient as he would have thought Nate would have come after him already. Perhaps he needed to send a louder message.
Slade stomped over to Thea and gripped her, pulling her up to her feet, a manic look in his eye. "I don't know what the hold up is with your brother, but maybe sending a piece of you back to him will get the effect I desire!" Slade shouted as Thea pleaded with him not to hurt her.
Slade almost pulled out his knife to cut something off when his phone rang, bringing him out of his anger for a moment. He pulled out his phone to see it was Nate.
"Saved by the bell," He told Thea menacingly as he threw her back in her chair and answered the phone. "Well, I was wondering what the hold up was, kid."
"If you touched one hair on my sister's head, you will regret it" Nate growled.
"And why is that?" Slade drawled out.
"Because I have your whore that you thought you could train to take me down." Nate said.
"Prove it." Slade said. Naruto shot Isabel in the arm, her scream resonating through the cellphone all the way to Slade on the other end.
"That was just her arm. Next one will make it so she can never have children again. I'll stitch and burn her vagina shut too for good measure, since she won't need it anymore." Nate said darkly, surprising Slade at his vulgar and twisted description of what he'd do next.
"You've changed, kid. I never thought you had it in you." Slade commented.
"I always had this in me. You were just never able to bring it out." Nate snarled. "The docks. Two hours from now. There, you and I shall trade my sister for your little pawn. You will come alone. If you try anything, I won't show. If even one hair is out of place on her head, your little whore dies."
"What makes you think I even care? What make you think I won't rough her up a bit, since you showed such generosity to my student?" Slade said menacingly as he looked back at Thea, who looked at him in fear.
"Because if you do, little Joe and lovely Adeline are next." Nate said, making Slade still. Still enough to hear the beating of his own heart as it jumped into his throat with worry. "You may not care about this whore but you do care about little Joe, the son you spared when you had your little Mirakuru episode a year ago. You touch my sister, and EVERYONE IS FAIR GAME! DON'T BE LATE." With that, Nate hung up, not giving Slade a chance to respond.
"I thought we might find you here." Nate heard. Turning around, he saw Helena and Sara entering into his 3rd hideout.
"This the first place you looked," Nate asked, finally allowing his body and eyes to return to their normal appearance.
"Yeah, I figured the other 2 would have been too obvious. You clearly wanted us to stay out of your interrogation." Helena stated.
"You all hold me in such high esteem. I fuck up enough as it is, I didn't want you think less of me." Nate admitted as Sara and Helena both hugged him.
"Nate, I'm the daughter of a mafia boss." Helena reminded.
"And I served the League of Assassin's for 5 years. We've seen torture." Sara continued as her gaze fell on Isabel. "Although I've never quite seen this before." Sara stared at the form of Isabel Rochev, underneath a blanket. "Is she…naked under there?"
"No, I stripped her down to her underwear, because everything else would have been in the way." Nate said, eyeing Sara, wondering if she was gonna accuse him of something.
"I didn't say anything." She said.
"Usually when someone asks if a female torture victim is naked, the next thing asked is if she was raped." Nate pointed out.
"I wasn't going to ask because I know that's not you." Sara said as she pulled the cloak and cover of Isabel to see was she looked like after her torture. "Although I can't say if this was any kinder."
*Gore Scene Start*
To put it bluntly, Isabel was a wreck. To start, the skin on her arms, from wrist to shoulder, had been completely flayed off, exposing nerve ending's and muscle to the sting of air, her veins and arteries dangling off to the side without the skin to keep them pressed against the muscles. Her nails on both her finger and feet had been ripped off, some cleanly and completely, and other nails had been half broken. There was a large burned area on her now bald head where her once long brown hair would have been. Her left eye socket stood devoid of it's once lovely hazel eye, only lines of dry, caked blood remaining. Same with her mouth, as her chin was covered with dry blood that came from her mouth. Looking over to a small metal pan, they saw a bloody eyeball and a half-severed tongue.
*Gore Scene End*
Neither Helena or Sara were grossed out or disgusted with the violence inflicted on her. Being the daughter of an Italian Mafia boss, Helena had seen her fair share of torture, being forced to sit in on it since she was a young girl. Sara had seen it done a number of times as a member of the League of Shadows.
"What did you do her, exactly?" Sara wondered, not sure if it he had tortured her for information or just did so because he was taking out his recent frustrations with Slade out on her.
"I tortured her first for information. She thought the training the Slade gave her would help her hold out. Her tongue loosened after I flayed her first arm. After she told me everything I wanted to know, well," Nate said as he regarded Isabel with cold eyes, "I let the beast out to play."
"And what did she tell you?" Helena asked.
"The scope of Slade's plans, for one thing. It basically destroying everything I ever cared about, city and family included, but it's more complex than that." Nate said as he leaned against a steel I-Beam. "Slade wants to make an army of Mirakuru soldiers, such that we will be overwhelmed and unable to stop the destruction of Starling City. At first, he was just doing it piecemeal, one at a time, taking random men off the streets and injecting them with a shot of Mirakuru, synthesized from samples of his blood. He never did this himself though, instead operating through this "Brother Blood", which I'll get to him in a minute."
"Recently though, he changed his strategy. Instead of doing it piecemeal, he plans to create a bunch of Mirakuru soldiers all at once. To do this, he'd need to do a mass transfusion all at once. STAR labs has a biotransfer that is capable of performing a blood transfusion to 2 or more individuals and it's here in Starling City. However, QC has the necessary tech needed to modify the biotransfuser, that if the blood being transfused contains Mirakuru, the chances of surviving the procedure are now 100%. That's why Roy is missing. He's going to use him for the transfusion." Nate informed them, letting that information sink in.
"What about this brother Blood?" Helena asked.
"Oh that's easy. You've already met him. I'll give you a hint, his last name is also Blood." Nate quipped, making Helena and Sara widen their eyes.
"Sebastien Blood?" Helena asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, turns out Laurel was right about him, which I suspected she might have been." Nate said.
"Does he not realize what Slade wants to do?" Sara asked, wondering if Blood was an idiot or he did know and didn't care.
"No he doesn't. Slade promised to help make him mayor and give him an army to "save the city". The man is a naïve fool. Make no mistake though, Blood's no saint either. He killed his mother to stop her from talking about how he killed his father as a young boy. His abusive father, granted, but still."
"So, I take it the plan is to kill them all," Helena stated, getting a look from Sara.
"Indeed, we kill everyone except Roy. He's one of us. We are gonna try to cure him first." Nate said, grabbing a syringe near the table. He wasn't worried about a cure for the Mirakuru existing. His body was clean of the stuff from the tests that had been ran on him. "Though this little trade presents on opportunity."
"To do what?" Sara asked.
"To kill Slade." Naruto said as he stabbed the syringe into Isabel's neck, causing a hoarse moan of pain.
Flashback
Lian Yu
There was a stare down between Nathaniel and Slade for several seconds before Slade spoke.
"Death is too good for you. This island should be your punishment…your prison, for the rest of your days," Slade said as he backed away, "get him out of here."
He made to walk away but before he did, he looked over at Nathaniel and Sara, "Would you like me to send a message to your families? Because as soon as this boat is fixed, I'm paying them a visit."
Slade then turned and walked out as Sara and Nathaniel exchanged horrified look.
Flashback End
The Docks
Slade Wilson arrived at the clearing in his Limo, Thea sitting across from him, scared for her life but unharmed, just as Nate had wanted. Slade looked around the clearing, not able to see him at first.
Up on the rooftops stood Nate in his civilian, Huntress, Lyla, and Black Widow. Lyla and Natasha were positioned on different rooftops, close enough that they would have a clear shot at Slade, but far enough away that any goons Slade might be hiding wouldn't think to look for them. Sara was not present because he had sent her with a clone to go and get Laurel to safety.
"Do you see her?" Helena asked Nate. Nate was looking through the top of the limo with magic, allowing him to see his sister inside of the limo, unharmed.
"She's in there." Nate said. He tapped his earcom. "Lyla, Nat, if Slade so much as twitches wrong or tries to use my sister as a hostage, blow his head clean off."
"Understood, though I have to question why we aren't just doing that anyway." Natasha mentioned.
"I keep my promises." Nate reminded her as he hopped off the building and landed near the car that Isabel was in, turning it on. "The deal was he hands over my sister, I give him Isabel. Any funny business from him and the deal is off. Same is implied for me."
Nate shifted it into gear and started driving. "Don't worry," Nate said darkly to Isabel, "You'll be reunited with your master soon enough. For however long that lasts."
Soon enough, Slade saw the Nate's car pull up. Slade was under no delusions that Nate didn't already have snipers trained on him. Slade noted the general area they were but could not pinpoint them. He had positioned them better than he had at his house.
Slade looked at Thea menacingly, scaring as he spoke, "Don't try to run. I can't promise your safety if you do."
Slade and Nate both got out of their cars and met in the middle. Both of them were glaring at each other. Where friends once stood across from each other, now only bitterness and hatred remained. "Well, kid," Slade said, "The balls in your park now."
"My sister first." Nate said.
"You wouldn't have showed yourself if you didn't already know that I have your sister with me." Slade pointed out.
"And you don't even get to see Isabel until my sister is safe in my arms. Now bring her out." Nate demanded. Slade stood still for a moment, the air between the two tense before he opened the door and grabbed Thea roughly before walking her over to Nate and pushing her into him. Nate wrapped Thea in a hug, keeping an eye on Slade in case he tried anything.
"You have your sister back. Now where is Isabel?" Slade demanded. The door to Nates car opened and out stepped Huntress, dragging Isabel with her. She stood at Nate's side before pushing Isabel toward Slade. Thea was shocked at the brutality wrought upon Isabel and even Slade was surprised, despite Nate telling him what he would do. Looking Isabel over, in her current state, she was useless to him. He still needed her and didn't want all that effort he put into her to go to waste, but that would have to wait for a bit.
"I'm surprised kid. I didn't think you could do it." Slade admitted.
"Like I told you before, this has always been in me. You just were never able to bring it out." Nate pointed out. Isabel could hardly stand at this point and fell with Slade catching her and moving to carry her bridal-style.
"This isn't over, kid." Slade said as he placed Isabel gently into one end of the Limo.
"Oh, I don't doubt it." Nate said as he pushed Thea into Helen's arms, which Huntress put her in the car. "But we'll settle this another day."
"Watch your back, kid." Slade warned him as he stepped into the Limo. The limo drove away as Helena walked up next to him.
"You gonna let him walk away?" Helena asked her lover.
"No," Nate said as he pulled out his phone. "Just waiting until he's far enough away." He pressed a button on his phone.
Limo
Inside the Limo, which was about half a mile away now, the nanites in Isabel's head started to activate. Isabel only had a moment to scream in utter pain to alert Slade whose head jerked in her direction, before her whole body erupted in a ball of flame.
With Nathan
The group saw a ball of flame erupt from the Limo Slade was driving in, resembling a small mushroom cloud as the car exploded.
"Did that kill him?" Helena asked.
"No, it wouldn't have. It'll just slow him down and piss him off." Nathan admitted before he turned to Thea.
"Nathan, what are you-" Thea said as he held up his hand to silence.
"I know you have questions but we should continue this elsewhere, where it is safe." Nathan said as he snapped his fingers, opening a blue portal behind him. Thea looked hesitant and Nathan held out his hand.
"Trust me. You will be alright." Nathan said as he tried to ease her worry.
"Come with me, and I will tell you everything I have been hiding from you." Nathan said, knowing that while she wasn't strong enough to prevent him from taking her with him, he wanted her to trust him. Thea started to walk forward and Nathan and Helena joined her, disappearing into the portal.
Limo
Out of the burning car, Slade walked. Most of his clothes were burned off, with exception to his pants and his lone eye was burning with rage.
"Okay Kid. You want to play it like that. Fine, no more playing around." Slade muttered to himself. He had paid a visit to Laurel's house earlier to kidnap her. He knew that Nate was especially attached to her, and hoped to use her to further distract him, but he found her apartment empty. Nate seemed to have enough sense to protect what was precious to him. Slade had also been underestimating him too much. He had gotten used to being one step ahead of Nate and now suddenly, Nate had gotten the upper hand and Slade was on the back foot. It was time to stop playing with him.
Monastery
The portal with Nate, Thea, and Helena opened up, revealing they were in some kind of basement.
"Where are we?" Thea asked as the two walked up the stairs.
"We are in a safe house, some 2500 miles from Starling City. In Alaska." Nathan said, shocking Thea.
"What!? How is that even possible?" Thea asked, but then she saw her Mom.
"Thea!" Moira exclaimed, as she wrapped her daughter in a hug, fearing for her life when Slade kidnapped her.
"Mom!" Thea hugged her mom back.
"Why did you pull me away from Starling, lover?" Chien said as she was leaning against the doorway.
"I couldn't be sure who Slade would target next. It was safer to just pull everyone out." Nate admitted.
"This throws any plan we had of controlling crime out of the window." Chien brought up, with Nathan placing his hand on her arm.
"I'd rather throw all those plans to the wind than have to watch you die." He said seriously, with Chien being touched by the sentiment. Being part of the Triad, she never believed she would be able to live a normal life. Husband, kids, the typical normal life stuff. It was only something she dreamed of after she met him.
"Nate, will you please tell us what is going on?" Laurel asked, confused at whats going on.
"I will, Laurel." Nate said as he turned to her and then addressed Helena.
"You might as well take off your mask. They're going to find out." Nate said, and Helena sighed before pulling off her mask, causing the 3 in the room not already knowing her secret to gasp.
"Helena?" Laurel asked in surprise, looking between Nate and Helena, realization dawning on her.
"But if…Helena is the Huntress, that can only mean…" Thea started.
"Yes," Nate said taking a seat, Chien and Helena standing on either side of him. "I'm going to tell you all everything, but to start with, I am Prometheus and I was the Arrow."