It's a man's world
A scarlet glow stained the predawn sky: drenching Oliver Queen's chiselled features in a fiery halo. He stared out of the large window, over the still and silent streets of Star City, his home town, taking a sip from the whiskey Victor Stone handed him. He wasn't thinking about the mugging he had just stopped, but his best friend Kate Swan. He still missed her, even though it had been nearly six months since she had vanished from his life.
"Here's to another successful save." Victor laughed, as he discarded his silver hoodie before pouring himself a drink. "Maybe now criminals in this city will realise crime doesn't pay!" he took a long sip of his whiskey as he spoke.
Oliver's reply was cut off by the robotic voice. He turned as his computer sprang to life "Robbery in progress at Hudson's jewellers on Lexington and Sixth,"
"Guess these two didn't get the memo yet," the screen showed footage from the CCTV inside the store, revealing two black clad figures wearing balaclavas and smashing the display cases with the butts of their pistols.
Oliver was going to leave it for the police and prepare for the upcoming mission to Madrid, when a woman entered the store. The camera angle made it impossible for him to see her face, but something in the way she held herself was familiar. She reminded him of Kate. Then the angle changed, and he saw that she wore a very familiar white catsuit, and the realisation made him swear. "Need help?"
"Nah I got this. Get some rest," he told Victor as he pulled up his hood and donned his mirrored sunglasses. "Wheels up for the trip to Madrid at 13.30 tomorrow, tell the rest of the team,"
"You're the boss Robin Hood." Victor smirked as Oliver left the apartment via the window. His familiarity with the city meant that it didn't take him long to run over the roofs to the jewellery store.
The police were nowhere in sight when he landed on the roof. He heard a muttered curse, and then grunts of pain. A glance through the skylight revealed that Kate wasn't nearly as defenceless as she used to be. As he watched, she threw her head back, the back of her skull breaking the nose of the man gripping her arms. He staggered back with a howl of pain, and she took advantage, hitting the other with a strong right hook to the face. The force of her punch snapped his head back and then she kicked him squarely in the stomach, sending the burly man flying backwards several feet. His head hit the white plaster wall with a bang that made Oliver wince.
"Okay that was hot." The sound of Bart Allen's voice was a complete surprise and he turned to see that the teenager was standing right next to him, "Vic told me where you were," Bart responded to the look, "Are you gonna get her to join the team?"
"Yeah I hope so," he glanced down to see that she was pulling off the unconscious man's balaclava. She discarded it, throwing it down at his side.
"She's got a great ass," Oliver shot him a censorious look, "What?" Bart demanded, dragging his gaze from the woman's pert rear. She was still intent on the unconscious robber, tying him to the leg of the display case with his own belt, and was oblivious to the fact that the other man had recovered. He held his gun trained on her back, blood smearing his nose and chin from the injury.
Without hesitating Oliver dropped through the skylight in a bid to help her. The sound of the crash distracted the robber as he had hoped. The man was clearly unsure which of them presented the greater threat, the gun swinging back and forth between them. "Drop it," Oliver advised, as he raised his compound bow, the arrow pointing straight at the man's heart for a kill shot. He was surprised at the anger that still burnt in him at seeing somebody threaten her, and was not going to take the chance of losing her when he had just found her again.
The man seemed to be complying, but then his gaze ticked to somebody behind Oliver, and Kate's bright blue eyes widened in horror. Before Oliver could turn, he felt a sharp pain in the small of his back, and heard the loud report of a gunshot.
The shock of the impact sent him falling forward, his knees hitting the tiled floor with a jolt. He could feel the blood seeping through the leather, and struggled to focus. "Grab as much as you can carry, and let's get out of here."
She ignored the robbers' retreat, sinking to her knees before him. "Hold on," she said softly, one hand pressing on the wound, the other gripping the green and black leather, as she endeavoured to keep him upright. "Just hold on Jonas, okay?" The last thing Oliver saw before his world went black was a tear trickling down her cheek from beneath the ornate mask.
When he opened his eyes, he was lying in a very comfortable but unfamiliar bed, cocooned in white Egyptian cotton sheets. He felt a dull ache in his back as he shifted against the pillow, and swung his legs out of bed. Moving gingerly, he managed to pull up the Blockheads t shirt he was wearing, and examined his back in the full length mirror. There was no sign of the bullet wound, his skin whole and unblemished. The scar left from coming off his Harley at 20 was also gone, which really freaked him out. "What the hell?" with trembling fingers he felt the small of his back, there was no visible sign that he had been hurt at all.
The sound of voices raised in anger carried through the slightly open door. "Damnit! I thought we agreed that you were going to leave well enough alone!" deep rumbling tones complained. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Oliver grabbed his Green Arrow gear from the chair. His hooded gilet had been neatly folded, and repaired, the glasses were sitting on top of the trousers. He made for the sliding door, intending to escape that way and go in search of Kate, but the next sentence made him stop. "I was thinking that he had been shot! I wasn't going to leave him there!" Quickly he padded down the hallway, following the sound. He had recognised the voice instantly although it had been nearly six months since he had heard it. "He was trying to help me,"
"Do you realise the risk you're taking? Having him here," a gruff voice asked, as Oliver passed by a photo of six attractive girls, all smiling happily for the camera, the redhead in the centre was clad in a aquamarine graduation gown.
"I don't care about the risk. I just... I just care that he's safe," She admitted "You trust me don't you?"
"Of course I trust you ," the anger was seeping from the rumbling tones.
"Well then trust me when I say that he will be an asset to the team, not a liability."
"Just be careful, please," Oliver could hear the resignation "I'll check back in with you later,"
"Okay."
"You gonna be okay being alone with him?" a husky female voice asked.
"Of course Ames." Kate's tone strove for airiness but he could hear the stress she felt. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Oliver heard somebody snort with derision, and then Amy continued "Maybe because you were ready to tell him that you had fallen for him, before dad pulled you out and sent you to help the Winchesters?"
"You knew that?" Kate's soft voice was filled with surprise and she stopped typing completely.
"Please, Aura. You are many things, but a closed book you most certainly are not." Amy remarked "I can't tell you what to do, god knows I've tried often enough through the years, but I will warn you to just be careful. I don't want you to get hurt again,"
"I won't," she said, firmly. "I don't feel the same, as I did. You know that I love Dean." There was a soft popping noise, and then the clacking of computer keys.
Oliver rounded the corner, emerging into a large circular room. Six computer screens were suspended from the ceiling, and Kate was typing swiftly at the central console.
Sunlight slanted through the arched stained glass windows, coating her curls with a golden hue, and making her eyes sparkle. "So I guess we've got a lot to catch up on?" She said, one hand coming up to play with a ringlet, a nervous tic he remembered very well.
He laughed, relieved at this sign that not all of the girl he had known had vanished. "Yeah I guess we do," He sat down next to her on one of the six red sofas that were set out in a semi circle. Her fingertip was turning blue, the silken strands were curled so tightly around it. Gently Oliver reached out, untangling her fingers from her hair.
"Jo."
"Dawn," they spoke in unison, but Oliver barrelled on before she got a chance to. "Why didn't you tell me that you were a metahuman Dawn? Is that why you went to Europe? You thought I wouldn't want to be with you?"
"No. No of course not." She said hastily, "I went because Dean needed me. His dad had just gone missing, and he needed my help. I'm not a metahuman Jonas."