It took only a few seconds for Oliver to come to terms with what he'd just seen, as he quickly knelt to the floor and detached a tactical waist belt from the mercenary closest to him. The belt had several extra magazines and a holster, so Oliver wrapped it around himself before placing the pistol in the holster and pulling his shirt over, disguising it. Still weakened, Kara sat down on one of the dining table chairs.

"We have to get out of here," he said, running to the bedroom.

"How did they find me?" asked Kara.

"They had some kind of a tracking GPS," said Oliver, returning from his room with a small towel, a jacket and a bandage. He grabbed Kara's hand, wrapping the bandage around the hole which the bullet had created.

"Keep pressure on your chest with this towel," he said, "Put the jacket on to hide it."

She adhered to his instructions before getting up with his help. Just before they exited the hut, she knelt down and grabbed the GPS device. Moving hastily to the shed where his bike was kept and driving away at full speed, they reached her hotel in less than 10 minutes. He gently took her good hand in his as they entered the reception area.

"Just act normal," he whispered before giving a warm smile to the receptionist on duty.

She directed him to her room, with Oliver immediately closing the door behind him and locking it upon entering. He also locked her balcony door before closing the curtains.

"We should be safe here for now," he said.

Kara groaned as she took a seat on the bed, removing her hand from her chest and discarding the bloodied towel. She looked at both of her hands, disturbed by the sight of them being covered in blood. Oliver pulled a chair from the desk in the room, placing it in front of Kara and groaning too as he sat down.

"Let me see," he said, opening the small suture kit he'd brought with. Kara unzipped the jacket, with Oliver helping her take it and her top off. The wound was below her left collarbone. Blood trailed down from it right to her belly, initially concerning Oliver. However, he was astounded to see that the bullet hole was already beginning to heal.

"You look like you're going to be fine, no stitches needed," he said, "Take a shower and get all this blood off you. You'll feel better."

"Oliver," she said, meeting his eyes, "How do you know how to do all of this? Who are you really?"

"I suppose I could be asking you the same thing," he replied. Kara had no response, as she simply stood up, grabbed some fresh clothes and entered the bathroom.


"Спасибо, Anatoly. До свидания."

While Kara was in the shower, Oliver made a call to Anatoly, asking if he had any contacts in Corto Maltese who could dispose of the bodies and sanitise Oliver's place before sunrise. Luckily, he did. He also made a call to Diggle, explaining the situation and telling him to charter a private jet to pick him and Kara up. A 10-hour flight from Star City, it would only arrive in the morning.

As soon as he hung up, the burning sensation on the left side of his abdomen intensified. He looked down, spotting the now large bloodstain on his dark grey t-shirt. One of the mercenaries had stabbed him during their fight, and he had managed to fight through the pain until now. Removing his shirt and unclipping the tactical belt, he sat down on the chair before grabbing his suture kit.

While he was no stranger to stitching wounds, this one was in an odd place as he struggled to seal it properly. He was halfway through the stitching when Kara exited from the bathroom, immediately rushing over with concern in her voice. "Oliver..."

"Don't worry about me," he replied, trying to downplay the severity of his agony.

"I'll heal, Oliver. You won't. Let me help."

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "You know how to stitch a wound?"

"My sister is a doctor. She showed me how to do this in case of an emergency."

Initially reluctant, Oliver let her take the needle as she took a seat on the bed opposite him.

"In case your hook-up ever got stabbed?" he said, attempting a joke.

"You're not just a hook-up," replied Kara sternly.

"What am I then?"

Kara remained silent, not having the word to describe what she felt for him. Although she threaded the needle carefully, suturing was never a painless process, and Oliver decided to talk to distract himself from the pain.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Depends on what your definition of 'alright' is," she replied. Oliver peered to her left hand. The bandage was removed and that wound was starting to close up as well.

"I'm sorry you had to see me do that," he said, apologizing for his brutal killing of Graves and his men.

"You saved my life. That's all that matters."

"I still owe you an explanation."

"So do I. Done," she said, having sealed the wound. She wiped her hands with the towel she brought from the bathroom before handing it to Oliver so he could wipe his hands too.

"Thank you." Both the jacket and shirt of his were still wet with blood, so he didn't put them back on yet. "Miss... El?" he asked.

"Zor-El. Kara Zor-El. That's my real name. I'm… I'm Superman's cousin."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Wow."

"I got hit with a kryptonite bullet. I'm feeling better now and I'm healing, but I might still be weak until the sun comes up. It's what gives me and my cousin our powers."

"Who were those guys?" asked Oliver.

"They worked for Lex Luthor. He probably wanted to get to my cousin through me," replied Kara.

She grabbed the GPS device, playing with the buttons to see how it worked. "They tracked me through one of my solar energy spikes, but I haven't used my powers at all recently."

She thought more about what could have caused her energy to increase to such a high, trackable level. "Maybe when I… when I…"

"Orgasmed." Oliver said it for her.

"Right," she said, slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I take that as a compliment," joked Oliver, managing to get her to smile.

"Your turn," she said after a moment, causing Oliver to sigh. "Let me guess. The island?"

"I wasn't alone there," began Oliver, "There were some very bad people. A few good ones too, and they were the ones who taught me how to fight. I can't even remember all of the times I nearly died there. In order to survive, I had to… do some horrible things."

"This is what you were talking about when you said that the island changed you."

"Partly. It also made me realise the errors in my past ways. It showed me the person that I needed to be and what I needed to do as soon as I returned home."

Sensing a deeper meaning to his words, Kara inquired further. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

Oliver didn't know how to put it into words, instead grabbing his phone and opening the web browser. He handed the phone to Kara after making a search, and she was left speechless by the several news headlines displaying on the screen.

'Star City businessman, Adam Hunt, targeted by vigilante.'

'Modern day Robin Hood? Mysterious archer targeting corrupt businessmen and politicians."

'Star City police say they're doing everything they can to bring The Hood to justice.'

"You're… you're him?"

He nodded while Kara shook her head in disbelief. It all made sense to her now, and she scolded herself for not putting it together sooner. The fighting skill, The Hood appearing just as Oliver returned from the island and the bow hung in his bedroom which he'd so nonchalantly lied about, saying that it was merely a decoration.

"You can't be serious," she said.

"Star City is dying, Kara. It is being poisoned by a criminal elite who don't care who they hurt, as long as they maintain their wealth and power. The police don't have what it takes to stop them."

"But you do? Oliver, you're not like my cousin. He has these powers that allow him to do what he does. You're just a human. You can get seriously hurt or worse."

"Do you feel that same way about your cousin's friend over in Gotham?" asked Oliver.

Kara turned her head away. "That's different."

"How's it any different?"

Kara's head snapped back to face him. "Because I don't care about him!" she exclaimed, her gaze meeting his, "But I do care about you."

Silence lingered for a few seconds before Oliver spoke up. "You have all these powers, yet you're not out there like your cousin. I don't know why, but what I do know is that you wish you were. I can see it in your eyes. It bothers you more and more each and every passing day that you're not out there helping people and saving lives when you could be. You might be able to live with that feeling, but I can't. I can't sit by idly while knowing that I could be making a difference. I'm sorry, Kara. This is something that I just have to do."

As much as Kara was worried for his safety, she knew that she couldn't be a hypocrite and say that he didn't have the right to be a hero. She'd seen him fight and he definitely had the skills to be one. He also came from a wealthy family, which would allow him to access whatever resources he'd need for his crusade. He was wrong only about one thing, and that was him saying that she could live with the feeling of not being out there. She couldn't. Not anymore at least.

"I need to make a call to my cousin, let him know that Luthor is after me."

"Sure." Oliver reached in his pocket for her phone and handed it to her, having grabbed it before leaving the hut. He stepped away, putting his shirt back on and re-clipping the tactical belt around his waist while he listened to Kara's conversation. She became frustrated as he didn't pick up the first two times, but someone answered the third call.

"Lois, sorry, I really need to speak to Clark. I've been attacked by Otis Graves, one of Lex Luthor's men… Clark, hey, sorry for disturbing you so late… They tracked me here to Corto Maltese, they were trying to kidnap me… They shot me with a kryptonite bullet but I've recovered now… I'm in my hotel. I was with a, uhh… friend, he took them out and helped me escape… They're dead now, but there might be more men here… Alright, thank you." She hung up.

"He's on his way, he should be here soon," said Kara, turning to Oliver.

Oliver nodded. It took a few seconds for her words to sink in, and Oliver began chuckling to himself.

"What is it?" asked Kara.

"Of all the ways I expected our final night in Corto Maltese to end, I never thought it would end with me meeting Superman," he replied, drawing a giggle from her.