The Siege

The Siege
Information
Location	Starling City, United States
Participants	Slade Wilson (Incarcerated) Isabel Rochev (Deceased) Slade Wilson’s Army (Incarcerated) Sebastian Blood (Defected)

"They say Nero sang as he watched Rome burn. Now I understand why. If only Shado were here to witness this."

—Slade Wilson

The Siege was a terrorist attack that took place in Starling City led by Slade Wilson to take away everything Oliver Queen loved. The plan was executed using an army of Mirakuru-infected soldiers to lay waste to the city and destroy it. The plan was opposed by Team Arrow with aid from the League of Assassins and the SCPD. The plan was partially successful, but led to Slade’s incarceration on Lian Yu.

History

Background

During Oliver Queen’s exile on Lian Yu, he, Slade Wilson, Sara Lance, and Shado came into conflict with the mad scientist Dr. Anthony Ivo, a man who was determined to locate the famed Mirakuru serum to heal his ailing wife. During this conflict, Slade was almost killed and the group was forced to use the serum on him to save his life.

The other three were captured by Ivo not long after, with Ivo forcing Oliver to choose which of the other two to spare and which to have him kill. When Oliver couldn’t make a decision, Ivo pointed the gun at Sara, forcing Oliver to jump in front of it. Ivo took that as a decision and murdered Shado in front of them.

Slade, who barely survived the Mirakuru injection and who loved Shado despite her affections for Oliver, came to blame Oliver for Shado’s death due to Ivo’s manipulation and the rage side effect of the Mirakuru. Vowing to destroy everything Oliver loved, the two came to blows after Slade appeared to have killed Sara and destroyed the Mirakuru cure Ivo created.

Oliver barely came out on top due to Slade’s superhuman strength and pain resistance. However, when Slade taunted him by saying that he would pay his sister a visit, Oliver chose to kill Slade instead of curing him, stabbing him in the eye with an arrow.

Slade managed to survive and swam as far as he could while the Mirakuru kept healing all of his injuries (except for his missing eye), eventually being rescued. For a while, he rejoined ASIS and spent time with his son while training new recruits.

Learning of Oliver’s survival triggered the Mirakuru’s rage once more, however, and he stole a set of armor (which later became his Deathstroke suit), sparing only his son in his rampage. After escaping, he quickly used his skills and superhuman abilities to become a well known mercenary, codename Deathstroke, all while planning his revenge against Oliver.

Rise of Brother Blood

Shortly after The Undertaking, an Alderman named Sebastian Blood quickly rose in popularity in the Glades due to his passion and charisma, particularly regarding the attitudes of the rich towards the poor. These positive attributes were used to mask his double life as Brother Blood, leader of the Church of Blood and ally to Slade Wilson.

Slade offered Sebastion the role of Mayor of Starling City in return for his help, to which Sebastian agreed. To that end, Slade had the Hoods assassinate the Mayor, not only creating the need for an election but also catching the attention of the recently returned Oliver Queen.

Taking down the Hoods, as well as the Bronze Tiger, gave Oliver’s alter ego “The Arrow” a more positive viewing in the public eye than he previously had. However, he failed to show up to a benefit event as a result of his vigilante activities, resulting in Sebastian publicly criticizing him and saying that he was not a friend to the people of his city.

Oliver and Sebastian later made amends due to Oliver’s cash-for-guns event in the Glades, as well as Sebastian publicly taking a stand against the gunrunner The Mayor. Oliver encouraged Sebastian’s run for Mayor of Starling City, a movement that quickly gained a large amounts of followers in the Glades.

At the same time, Isabel Rochev, the Vice President of acquisitions at Stellmoor International, quickly attempted to take control of Queen Consolidated away from Oliver. She was partially successful, unable to completely force him out but relegating both of them to co-CEOs. Isabel quickly gained a favorable rapport with the board, as she was doing most of the work while Oliver (to the outside) seemed irresponsible with the company.

Additionally, Oliver and Isabel had a one night stand while they were in Russia, leading to Oliver believing to have a bond with her. Unknown to him, just like Sebastian, Isabel was working with Slade due to her believing to be Robert Queen’s soulmate to the point they were going to run away together, even though he left her to stay loyal to his family. His leaving drove her to vengeance against his family.

Not long after, Moira Queen was acquitted of all crimes associated with The Undertaking.

After many trials of the Mirakuru serum pulled from Slade’s blood, including the failed trial of Max Stanton, Brother Blood found an acolyte able to handle the Mirakuru in Cyrus Gold, his former childhood preacher. Gold proceeded to pull off an impossible robbery with his newfound strength, stealing a centrifuge from Queen Consolidated.

The robbery caught the attention of both Oliver and Barry Allen, a forensic scientist from Central City, due to its impossible nature.