Ever since learning that not only was Slade back, but he'd also elected to target Sara through the woman she loved and right now, Alex still had not woken up, though she was still alive. And Sara had also become distant from the rest of the team the longer Alex was in her coma, not that any of them could blame her.

"She rarely leaves Alex's side anymore. I've never seen Sara like this over anyone before. Boy or girl. I think that if she loses Alex, we will lose her to." Laurel said to Oliver one night as they were having dinner and Laurel finally decided to vent her concerns for Sara.

"Actually, Sara and I decided that keeping Alex in her coma was the best thing for her right now." Oliver said, much to Laurel's surprise.

"Wait, what? Why?" Laurel asked.

"Alex may have survived being injected by the serum, but Sara and I both know that she won't be the same person when she wakes up. The mirakuru changes a person, warps them, turns them into the worst version of themselves. The reason Slade injected Alex with it was because he knew that if Alex survived the serum, she'd either kill Sara, or Sara would be forced to kill her to save her from the mirakuru. Either, he'd consider it a victory." Oliver said.

"You know a lot about Slade's motives." Laurel said.

"I've spent enough time with that man to know how he thinks. Frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't made a move against you or Thea or someone else I care about." Oliver said.

"Is that why you have Thea watching your mom?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded.

"Yeah, since she's gotten much better with her powers and she's made a lot of progress in her training, if Slade does show up, she can hopefully fend him off long for us to get there. In the mean, the longer we keep Alex comatose, the longer it'll take for the serum to fully corrupt her, which gives Star labs more time to work up the cure." Oliver said and Laurel nodded in understanding, right as she got a text from her dad.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"Oh my god, the mayor was just shot." Laurel said, getting Oliver's attention.

"Do the police have any ideas on the victims?" Oliver asked.

"Let's check the news." Laurel said as she grabbed the remote to the TV in the kitchen and turned on the news and Oliver's suspicions were confirmed when he saw the reports were about the hoods. Clearly either Slade or Blood had hired them to take out the mayor.

"So, it looks you've got some copycats." Laurel said.

"Call John, Winn and Roy, we're dealing with this now." Oliver said.

"What about Thea and Sara?" Laurel asked.

"I can't risk leaving my mom undefended against Slade and in her current mindset, Sara would probably be more of a hindrance than a help right now." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"Wait, what about my family?" Laurel asked.

"Your mom is all the way out in Central City and Kara had confirmed that she checks on her every hour to be safe and your dad is police detective, Slade won't risk going after law enforcement after already getting on the wrong side of Argus this soon." Oliver said and Laurel sighed in relief.

"I hope you're right." Laurel said.

"Slade is many things, but sloppy is not one of them. His next move will be precise, so we need to make sure we can limit his options while we can." Oliver said as he and Laurel headed out.