Oliver shot off the ground, one hand firmly clamp on his crossbow. His side protested at the effort. He squared his jaw and carried on until both his feet touched the rooftop.

"Gah!"

The groan of pain escaped before he could bite it back.

"Got to have this checked, man."

Oliver spun and shot in one go. The bolt bounced back on an emerald shield. Then the shimmering barrier disappeared. "Hey!"

"Sorry, Hal."

Oliver shut down his voice distorter. The Green Lantern vanished his mask as he stepped closer. "I forgive you but keep your pointy things out of my face."

Oliver put his crossbow away. He groaned again when he sat down. Hal wasn't wrong. He needed to call Emil and have his back and ribs checked. "Slow night in Coast City?"

"Some. Stopped one robbery and a drug deal. It's quiet these days."

"Here too."

"I'll take it. You bruised one of your vertebrae and cracked a rib. How the hell did you manage that?"

The green beam from the ring dissipated into thin air. Oliver shrugged. And winced in pain. Definitely need to see Emil.

"A mountain landed a punch while I was dealing with his partner last weekend. I'm fine. Is there anything this ring doesn't do?"

"Conjure food. Damned, I'm starving."

Oliver pulled a bag of dried apricots from a front pocket. Hal stared, incredulous. "You're kidding right? What are you, a boy scout?"

"That's my diner I am sharing. If you can't appreciate the sacrifice…"

The brunette selected an apricot as if it was going to bite him, then nibbled carefully at the edge. "That bad?"

"You have no idea. Sometimes, I wonder how the board managed not to bankrupt the company when I took that unplanned vacation." Earlier that day, Oliver had seriously considered the idea of banishing half his VPs to the Pacific. The other half could go to Siberia, for all he cared.

"I don't envy you. Well, maybe I envy the paycheck."

"My salary is a grand total of 1$ per year, Hal."

"You work like a dog for one buck? You're crazy."

Oliver nearly shrugged again and decided against it. He fidgeted to find a more comfortable position against the vent. His sunglasses bothered him so he put them away as well, pushing his hood down to rest his head against the steel.

The city was sparking from up here, Queen Tower a beacon in the skyline. Even though dusk was long gone, it reminded him of the photo he'd sent Chloe, and the light banter they shared for the past three evenings. "I found her. Chloe."

"The blonde you abandoned me for last weekend?"

"Yes."

"O-kay…"

Oliver twirled his sunglasses between gloved fingers, unsure how to say what was on his mind. He wasn't exactly sure what was on his mind.

"She lives nearby."

"She li— Oliver! That girl has trouble written all over her, you know that, right? Without the ring, she would have lied about her name without qualms."

Not without qualms, Oliver thought. But Hal had a point. "I know. She's hiding Hal. She was with the witness protection program, but things went south and she'd been on the run ever since. And I… I kind of made it worse. People saw us together."

"Shit."

The word kind of summarized what he thought of the situation, too. The only way to really keep her safe was to sever all ties between her and the far too public Oliver Queen. The Green Arrow could patrol nearby until he was sure she'd slipped under the radar once more. But he hadn't stayed away. Instead, he flirted with her via text every evening. Every night he went to bed concocting some crazy plan to see her again without putting her in the spotlight. He'd even considered approaching her as his alter-ego. With her hacking skills…

Hal's right blinked green. Then again, the light brighter this time.

"Drat. Seems I'm being paged. I have to go."

"Sure, no problem."

Hal stood, his mask snapping into place while his eyes turned from brown to milk green. "Good luck."

"You, too."

Hal took flight, soon a floating shadow in the midnight sky. Oliver stayed where he was, except he put his sunglasses back onto his nose, so he could use the integrated zoom to scan the neighborhood.

Chloe's apartment was the second on the left. Her windows were dark. Maybe she was elsewhere in the flat. In the middle of another hacking marathon or watching a movie. Unless she was curled in bed and fast asleep.

Oliver dragged his eyes away from her building to the dark empty patch next to it. Watching over Chloe allowed him to look after the beachfront property at the same time.

Barbara's plan was nothing short of brilliant. She came into his office on her two-days mark, and proceeded to explain how he was going to create a Remembrance Park and Conservatory to honor the memory of the Salinas Ancestors while protecting the nature they were so connected to. She showed him sketches she called half-cooked but detailed two pavilions in the traditional style the First Nations favored, one for the sea, one for the land, and a fully designed landscape. Not only that, but she'd organized a site visit with the tribal council and the Environmentalist Group, manhandled the legal department into filing all the necessary paperwork with the city to start the project, and released a statement about Queen Industries commitment to the Environment and Star City History. The whole project was nothing short of brilliant.

A firefly zigzagged along the shoreline. It shifted left, right, left again. Then the night engulfed the beachfront once more. Oliver zipped his hood back into place. His ribs hurt like three devils.

"Good thing Emil is used to late calls…"

Chloe sat still behind the dumpster. The delivery zone of the Grand Hotel smelled like any other back alley. The miasmas of stale food mixed with the pungent smell of cold cigarettes and decay. The back of her throat tingled. She pressed her elbow over her mouth and nose to muffle the cough. Her stakeout was yet to pay off. The mayor's rally was in full swing at the hotel. It'd been hours, but people were yet to come in the back for a break and a puff. You could glean a lot of information eavesdropping on staff starving for nicotine. They were invisible to guests, heard everything and loved to gossip.

Her left leg was falling asleep. Chloe massaged her shin, working her ankle to re-establish blood circulation. Her foot dislodged the cardboard at her elbow. Metal shone in the feeble light from the main street, several yards away. Chloe scrambled up. She grabbed the obstruction to cover the glint before anyone no—

"Hope you're not planning to steal my ride, doll-face."

—ticed.

The vigilante was so tall she had to crane her neck back to look at his face. Not that she could see anything more a chiseled jaw under the dark green leather hood.

"You're the Green Arrow."

He sketched a stiff bow. "At your service."

Her pulse sped up at the distorted sound.

"Do I get a name to go with the pretty face?"

The man was looming over her, a broad mass of thick muscles and darkness between her and her escape route. She took a measured breath. The man chased bad guys for a hobby, he wasn't a threat. Chloe forced confidence into her voice. "Dorothy Gale."

The gloved hand hardened its grip on her wrist, bordering painful, even as he brought her hand to his lips.

"Welcome to the Emerald City, Dorothy."

The fake gallantry only tightened the constraint around her lungs. Those masked eyes seemed to gut her alive to expose all her secrets. He was too close, a devouring shadow in murky green. Her back hit the wall with a nauseating clung.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

Her heart pounded. "Let me go."

"Not until you calm down."

"Let me go!"

Somehow, she realized the scream was only in her head. Air whizzed in and out of her mouth. Her vision swam, grayed around the edges. Not enough air. Can't breathe. Can't—

Suddenly the weight on her shoulders eased. The blackness retreated. "Here. I am not touching you. Relax. You're safe. Breathe. You're fine. Just breathe."

His voice barely registered through the buzz in her ears. Bile rose in her throat, clogging. Vomiting meant less air. She needed air. She needed to breathe. Inhale. One. Two. Exhale. One. Two Three. Inhale. One. Two. Three. Exhale. One. Two. Three. Four.

The veil of panic receded. Trembling form head to toe, her skin clammy with cold sweat, Chloe managed to straightened up again the solid mass in her back. She opened her eyes.

The vigilante was gone.