Chapter 3
Author's Note: To explain why Kara and the rest of the ensemble from Earth-38 act the way they do in this, I just want to point out where I took this story on the AU track. So, in this universe, at the end of 2x12 (Luthors) Kara doesn't call Mon-El and instead goes to get Oliver from Earth-1. My reasons for this will make more sense as we go on…I hope.
To the guest who asked about the title, you are reading into it a little too much. The title of this fic comes from the love song of the same name by Frank Sinatra, it happened to come up on my playlist while I was writing the first chapter and it seemed pretty appropriate. I'd recommend giving the song a listen if that's your genre!
"So, you're the help that we don't need?"
Oliver's attention snapped back to Alex when she spoke. He'd been taking in the room around from the moment the agents had stepped away, despite the lack of armed weapons aimed at his chest Oliver still wasn't relaxed. So, he'd mapped the room; chosen the most defendable area, counted all the agents, counted all the exits, and calculated the amount of time it would take to make a quick escape if he needed to.
"I'm here because Kara asked me." Oliver responded, knowing full-well that he hadn't actually answered her question.
He had to fight the grin that tugged on the corners of his mouth at Alex's response, she definitely didn't like him. So, maybe Oliver was pushing her a little, but he was always curious to know the limits of the people in his environment. If he was to stay here for two weeks, Oliver would undoubtedly need to get Kara's sister on his side, particularly being as it was her father he was there to save.
Giving him a pointed look, Alex turned back to face her sister. "Kara, you can't just bring strangers into the D.E.O. We could've hurt him."
That time, Oliver failed to supress his grin. In the minute that he'd been in that standoff with the agents, he'd planned several ways to take them all out, each with varying levels of lethality. The idea that Kara's sister could actually hurt him was downright laughable. Unfortunately, Alex Danvers was perhaps a little more talented than Oliver had given her credit for, she'd clearly noticed his grin in the corner of her eye.
"Something funny, Robin Hood?" Alex spoke, the irritation a little too obvious in her voice.
Oliver almost wanted to fight her, he knew it wouldn't take much more to bait Alex into agreeing to spar, and if he pushed the right buttons Oliver was pretty sure he could get her to take a swing at him right where they stood. Expect, going by the look Kara was giving him over Alex's shoulder, that wouldn't end well for him, especially if he won. He'd have to swallow his pride…for now.
"Not at all, Alex." Oliver spoke, carefully emphasising the use of her name.
By the way Alex squared up to him a little more at that, Oliver realised he might have misjudged just how much she disliked him.
"That's Agent Danvers to you."
Looking to Kara over Alex's shoulder, Oliver, who found himself fighting a smile, raised his eyebrows at her. The communication worked, the blonde simply shrugging at him in defeat, seemingly knowing that she couldn't avoid the confrontation. Now unable to push his grin down, Oliver matched Alex's position, the two of them practically butting heads.
"Agent Danvers!" A voice rang out through the room, and Alex immediately stepped away from Oliver.
Oliver turned his head just in time to see the voice's owner reaching the trio, a scowl plastered across his features. It didn't take too much of a leap for Oliver to guess that this was Alex's boss.
"Oliver Queen, meet J'onn J'onzz." Kara began, taking a few steps towards the two men. "Director of the D.E.O."
"Mr. Queen." J'onn spoke, extending a hand.
"J'onzz?" Oliver began, shaking J'onn's hand. "That's…"
"Martian." Alex cut over him with a grin.
Martian.
The guy in charge of the covert government division dedicated to fighting alien threats was a Martian. That information took Oliver a moment to file away under 'stress about later', he really was going to have to get used to the fact that he was going to meet a lot of aliens during his stay.
"So, you're the friend from Earth-1 that Kara thinks can help us?" J'onn continued, having either not noticed Oliver's hesitation or choosing to ignore it. Oliver hoped it was the former.
"Kara thinks that I can give your team an edge to take on Cadmus. If this group is so dedicated to wiping out aliens then they won't be expecting a human to be the one to go to war against them."
It was a solid answer, Oliver himself now believed it. He'd been sceptical at first, of course he had. Kara's version of Earth had weapons and technologies that were beyond anything his world was capable of, going up against people with that kind of power was an intimidating thought. Then, Oliver had realised that Kara was right. All that power and technology was designed to take out aliens, what were the odds any of it would actually work on him?
And if they were stupid enough to pull good, old-fashioned guns on him? Then more fool them, that was Oliver's home ground.
When Oliver looked back to J'onn, it was clear that the man was satisfied by his answer, even if he wasn't entirely convinced that it was a promising idea. Oliver couldn't blame him; every time Barry turned up with some new meta-human, claiming that they would help defeat whatever that week's major threat was, Oliver was sceptical. Until he proved himself, these people would be pretty damned difficult to work with.
"Okay," Came J'onn's carefully measured answer. "Agent Danvers?"
The two men turned their heads to look at the sisters. While Kara was still smiling, almost looking proud at the way Oliver handled himself with J'onn, Alex looked even more aggravated than she did earlier. Making a point of ignoring both Oliver and J'onn, Alex turned to her sister.
"Kara, we need to talk. Alone." With that, the brunette marched off with Kara in tow, the blonde simply throwing Oliver an apologetic look over her shoulder.
When the sister had disappeared from sight, Oliver turned back to the Martian.
"J'onn, if it's not too much to ask I'd like a secure place to store some of my equipment, and someone to explain to me how things work around here."
For a moment, J'onn seemed to ponder Oliver's request, before a faint grin came over his lips. "I've got just the man for you, Mr. Queen. Agent Schott!"
XXX
So, introducing Oliver to her team hadn't gone exactly as Kara had planned. To be perfectly honest, Kara hadn't even considered the possibility that the D.E.O. would've been on such high alert, the standoff between Oliver and her sister hadn't exactly been the welcoming greeting party Kara had hoped for.
At least J'onn seemed convinced by Oliver motives, at least that would make things easier for the two of them whenever they needed help from the D.E.O. It was just a little disappointing that Alex seemed to be so stubbornly against accepting Oliver's help.
Speaking of which, Kara's attention was pulled back to her sister at the sound of the door to the training room snapping shut. The brunette looked…Kara thought that angry didn't quite cover it, insulted maybe?
"Kara, what are you thinking? Who is that guy?" Alex spoke quickly, pacing toward Kara as she did.
"I told you about him before," Kara began. "He's the Green Arrow, he's a hero from Barry's Earth."
"He's a civilian." Alex stated bluntly. "A civilian, with a hood and a bow, and you're going to get him killed."
For someone so used to being invulnerable, Kara really felt the sting of those words. She knew it wasn't true, she'd seen the way the Oliver handled himself during the Dominator attack, he would definitely be able to hold his own. The fact that Alex didn't trust her judgment hurt though, she knew Alex hadn't said what she did just to be cruel she was…well, Kara didn't actually know why Alex had been in such a bad mood, but she was going to find out.
"No, he won't, Alex." Kara retorted after a moment. "You haven't seen his world, what's it like. Where Oliver is from people are heroes because they had these incredible gifts given to them, and they wanted to use them for good. Oliver isn't like them, he doesn't have any powers, but he would still go 10 rounds against General Zod if he thought he could save someone's life."
Going by the look on Alex's face, Kara had surprised her with that defence of Oliver. If she was being honest, Kara had surprised herself too. She had no idea where it had come from, she didn't even know Oliver that well and yet she was ready to argue with her sister just to defend his status as a hero?
After a few moments of stunned silence, Alex spoke. "Are you sure you can trust him?"
"Yes." Kara answered with as much confidence as she could muster. "Look, Alex, you're my sister, and I love you, but you need to give Oliver a chance. Just give him a shot to prove himself."
"Fine." Alex responded quickly. "He gets one shot."
Kara practically lit up at that, her smile quickly overtaking her features again. She knew that Oliver would only need that one chance to prove himself to her; he was, after all, that good. Which meant that they had Alex on side. As much as going toe-to-toe with Cadmus was Kara's problem, she knew just how much of a stake Alex had in it all, and Kara truly believed that Oliver was their best chance to take them down.
"Thank you!" Kara all but shouted, pulling her sister into a tight hug.
Alex quickly returned her sister's embrace. "If he screws this up I'll end him."
Separating the two with a laugh, Kara met Alex's eyes. "I wouldn't be too sure you could, Oliver is pretty stubborn."
"Well, I think you'll find…"
Before Alex could finish the sound of an alarm rang out. After a brief glance at each other, the two sisters headed for the door, heading quickly back to the control room. As they walked in, Kara saw J'onn, Oliver and Winn stood around the central monitor, Winn typing something into his tablet.
"What've we got?" Kara asked as she reached the trio.
"Bank robbery. Guess 24 hours without a Supergirl sighting has given these guys some false confidence." Winn answered without looking up.
"Alright, time to go remind them that Supergirl is still here." Kara spoke.
As she turned to head out, Kara felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning her head, Kara saw Oliver, a determined, yet somewhat smug, grin on his face. Before he even spoke Kara knew what he wanted to do, and she felt a small surge of pride for him at that.
"I'll handle it." Oliver announced, more to the rest of the room than Kara, clearly having seen the recognition in her eyes.
With a small nod of agreement from her, Oliver dropped his arm from Kara's shoulder and started walking towards the wall-sized window at the far end of the room. With confidence, and a purpose in his step, Oliver pulled on his hood and mask without a glance back to Kara or the others. As the glass doors slid open before him Oliver stepped out into the night and pulled an arrow from his quiver, drawing back his bow.
"Mr. Queen." J'onn's voice rang out. "You are not authorised to operate in my city."
Oliver turned his head to look at J'onn, a grin on his lips.
"I'm a vigilante, J'onn, not a hero. Try and stop me."
Without another word, Oliver leapt from the balcony, disappearing from sight.
XXX
Winn had talked Oliver in as soon as he'd hit the streets as Green Arrow, and he had to admit; it was insanely cool. Working with James when he was out on patrol as Guardian was a thrill, but working with Oliver was something else entirely.
Just on meeting him Winn had nearly freaked out. Kara had told him a little bit about Oliver after her field-trip to Earth-1 to fight The Dominators, and Winn had proceeded to grill Kara for every single detail he could about the Emerald Archer, it was useful to have a point of reference for his vigilante exploits with James. So, meeting Oliver had been pretty damn cool, especially when J'onn had asked Winn to show him around the D.E.O.
Winn had barely had a chance to introduce himself before the alarm had gone off, and the moment it did Oliver had subtly asked him for a comms device, a request to which Winn quickly accented. He was seriously looking forward to being tech support for Green Arrow in the field.
In fact, Winn had all-but been reduced to a glorified Sat-Nav for Oliver, and that was only because he was yet to learn his way around National City. As soon as he'd entered the bank Oliver had gone silent, and Winn had just sat and watched him on the security cameras. Unlike Guardian, The Green Arrow didn't need any assistance in a fight. It was as though he had a sixth-sense, even when he had his back turned to an opponent, Oliver still seemed to know exactly where they were.
Still, watching The Green Arrow taking down a whole group of armed bank robbers over CCTV was awesome.
XXX
J'onn had very nearly gone after Oliver Queen when he'd jumped from the balcony at the D.E.O., but Kara had insisted they trust him. He'd felt pretty damn uneasy about the whole thing, and was on edge the whole time they were stood waiting for The Green Arrow to reach the bank. While he didn't have a problem having Oliver around in an advisory capacity for the whole Cadmus situation, letting a rogue vigilante operate in National City was unnerving to say the least, even with Kara's vote of confidence.
Then again, if anything did go wrong J'onn knew that Supergirl could be at the bank in a few seconds.
Winn had tapped into the banks security cameras, and needless to say; J'onn was impressed.
Despite Kara's insistence that Oliver Queen knew what he was doing, J'onn hadn't been wholly convinced that he could handle himself out in the field. The footage from the cameras at the bank had completely proved him wrong.
For a human, Oliver Queen was pretty impressive.
He handled himself differently to the way J'onn had seen most people fight, sticking to the shadows, only emerging when it suited him. His style said a lot about how he was trained, and the way he operated, there was a reason The Green Arrow was considered a vigilante on his world.
If J'onn had sent Supergirl to that bank, the men would have been sent to jail with a handful of bruises and maybe a bad concussion or two, with Oliver though… The bank robbers were going to have to be sent to the hospital before the NCPD could arrest them. Instead of just binding them as Guardian did, Green Arrow opted to completely immobilise the robbers, they were going to be left with some serious injuries.
That made J'onn pause for thought. He didn't have a huge moral objection to what Oliver was doing, his problem was that it was illegal and J'onn liked to do his best to operate within the parameters of the law. Kara though…J'onn knew that she was going to struggle to reconcile Oliver's behaviour with the man she seemed to think he was.
XXX
Kara had bubbled with excitement as Oliver swung from the balcony of the D.E.O. and out into the night of National City. She could tell how apprehensive are sister and J'onn were, even if Kara wasn't as talented at reading people as Oliver was, the looks they'd both given her were hardly subtle. She'd felt an impressive pride for Winn, who had somehow managed to direct Oliver without freaking out as he'd done with Clark, so that was good.
Other than his very brief interaction with Winn, Oliver had been all-but silent over the comms, it said a lot about him. He was…Kara hesitated to say better, but Oliver most certainly beat all of her team on the experience level. Barry had managed to fill her in on some of the details of Oliver's journey, but the speedster hadn't known many of the detail himself, apparently Oliver was pretty closed off about his time before becoming the Green Arrow.
Kara hoped she could change that.
Seeing him in action at the bank had been different, almost painfully so. When they'd fought the Dominators, Kara had understood Oliver's aggressive tactics, he was fighting aliens and, after all, his whole planet was at risk. When he'd fought the robbers at the bank though, Oliver had used the exact same level of force. That was something Kara couldn't understand.
Clearly, Oliver knew what he was doing, he could've taken those criminals out with minimal force, a few careful blows and they'd been unconscious without them even realising he was there. Instead, he'd chosen to hit them with near-lethal attacks, making sure that they'd need a visit to A&E before they were on their feet again.
As soon as Kara had seen him handle the first robber, one arrow to the deltoid and another to the vastus medialis, she'd wanted to stop him. Except, Kara couldn't move. She'd been frozen in shock, especially when he continued to make his way through the group of armed robbers, employing the same brutal tactics as he did. Once he'd dropped the last robber, and Winn had made the call to NCPD that the bank was secure, Kara was sure of only one thing:
Oliver Queen was not the man she thought he was.
XXX
Oliver was feeling pretty good as he made his way back to the D.E.O. building. A bank robbery had been exactly what he'd needed to work out the considerable stress he had managed to accumulate in the short amount of time he had spent on Kara's world. The journey back was taking much longer than it should have done though.
There was something tranquil about National City, something that Oliver couldn't quite place but it was most definitely there. The place reminded him of Star City, but with a sense of purity that had long been lacking from his home. The sky was different too, somehow clearer despite the city being as large and as busy as his own. He really was on a different planet.
So, Oliver had chosen to slowly make his way along the rooftops as opposed to zipping across the city on his grapple as he had done the first time. He'd also switched his comms device off after announcing that he was about to make his return, so there had been a real chance to take in the city. Despite his desire to enjoy the city a little longer, Oliver knew he needed to return to the D.E.O. and so, put a little more spring in his step, changing his course for a more direct one.
It took him just shy of 5 minutes to make it back to the D.E.O., and Oliver couldn't help but question the choice of placing the headquarters for a covert branch of the government in the middle of such a highly populated city. At least A.R.G.U.S. had the subtlety to place their central building outside the city limits.
Jumping back onto the balcony, Oliver rolled his shoulders, taking a moment to compose himself before stepping inside. As he entered the building, the large glass window sliding open to allow him access, Oliver was greeted by a clearly irate Kara. The blonde looked furious, there was red in her cheeks, a scowl across her features, her arms crossed over her chest and she stood a little taller than usual.
Oliver was in for it.
"What the hell was that?" Kara fumed, crossing the short distance between herself and Oliver in a few short strides.
"That was me doing my job, Kara." Oliver shot back quickly, pulling off his hood and mask with his free hand as he did.
"Your job? You didn't just stop those men, you hospitalised them!"
"We're not all bulletproof. When I'm in the field, if I put someone down I need to know they stay down. Unlike you, I can't risk them getting back up in putting a few rounds in my back."
"You could've killed them! You…"
"So what if I had? I've killed before, Kara, plenty of times. This life makes it necessary."
Her words had pushed Oliver over the edge, he'd been biting his tongue a little, he was on Kara's world after all. But, in the end, she had been the one to ask for his help, that was what his help looked like, and if Kara didn't like it then she could send him back to his own world.
She looked completely stunned at that, Oliver's outburst had not only affected Kara but had grabbed the attention of most of the room. To their credit, the agents were trying to be professional but the clear majority were staring at them in awe.
Oliver felt his own features fall a little as he took in Kara's reaction. The worst part was, Oliver wasn't even sure if he believed what he said himself, not anymore. After everything that had happened with Prometheus, the things he'd learnt about himself, what Felicity had said to him when they were trapped in The Bunker…Oliver knew he had changed. He had been so sure that he'd been justified every time he'd killed before, Darhk especially, but something about the way Kara was looking at him was making him doubt that more than Chase had ever been able to.
His left-hand tightening around his bow, Oliver took a tentative step towards Kara.
"Kara, I…"
"Save it, Oliver." Kara snapped, glaring at him. The faint blue fizzle in her eyes didn't escape Oliver's attention, she'd clearly moved from shock to anger.
Without another word, Kara pushed past him and walked to the balcony, taking to the skies the moment she was outside. With a sigh of defeat, Oliver felt the involuntary slump of his shoulders. He had seriously screwed this up.
XXX
Kara had given up on anger the moment she'd made it back to her apartment and changed out of her Supergirl uniform.
She hadn't wanted to, not at all. Kara had wanted to stay angry at Oliver, at what he'd done, the way he'd acted, but she just couldn't. After seeing the way Green Arrow had handled the bank robbery, Kara had been stunned, Oliver had proved himself not to be the hero she'd expected. Then, to hear him defend murdering criminals, that had made Kara furious. She couldn't imagine that any part of Oliver thought the killing was ever an answer, but the way he'd said it, so sure and so angry, she'd believed him.
So, she'd stormed out. It had seemed like a better idea than throwing him off the roof of the D.E.O. building.
The short flight back to her home had been more than enough to settle Kara's anger. Flying had always been almost like meditation to her, it allowed Kara to reflect peacefully, without the noise and bustle of the city overwhelming her. Her thoughts were mostly of Oliver, about how little she knew of him, but most significantly about the small quantity of information Barry had given her on Oliver's past.
All that he'd been able to tell her was that Oliver had been in a shipwreck, and stranded on an island for five years while his family were forced to believe he had died, something Kara knew a little more about than she'd ever hoped to. Then, he'd returned home with his mission to become the hero his city needed, even if that wasn't how he saw himself.
Oliver Queen had been Earth-1's first superhero.
Kara couldn't begin to image what those five years must've done to him, the way that kind of suffering would have shaped him. If even a small piece of Oliver truly believed what he had said to her then it was because of what he had endured, and everything he'd lost since.
If anything, Kara had quickly come to blame herself for that argument. She had been the one to ask Oliver to her Earth, she was the one who insisted he go out in the field alone without them seeing how he fought, she was the one who was expecting Oliver to play by the rules of an entirely different world. That wasn't as fair to him as Kara had first thought.
Before Kara could continue to berate herself any further, a sharp rap at the door stole her attention. As wrapped up in her thoughts as she was, Kara didn't even think to x-ray vison the door to see who her guest was, instead just marching over and pulling the door open.
To her surprise, Kara was presented with an almost nervous looking Oliver Queen standing in her hallway, his Green Arrow suit swapped for civilian clothes.
"O…Oliver?" Kara stumbled, her shock getting the better of her.
"Hey, Kara." Oliver spoke gently.
Taking a step to one side, Kara motioned for him to enter, closing the door behind him as he did. As Kara turned around, the two came face-to-face, each looking as nervous as the other, neither entirely sure of what to say first.
"Was it Winn?" Kara suddenly blurted, on seeing the confused look on Oliver's face she continued. "That told you where I live?"
With a faint smile pulling at his lips Oliver answered. "Alex, believe it or not. Told me to apologise like I meant it or get put down."
Kara almost laughed at that, of course Alex had gone full-on big sister mode after her fight with Oliver. It was a nice feeling for Kara, knowing that Alex had opted to threaten Oliver into making things right with her, as opposed to just throwing him back through the breech to his Earth, it was Alex's way of showing she cared. With a smile now teasing against her lips at the image of Alex threatening Oliver, Kara took a few paces into the living space of her apartment, the faint sound of Oliver's footfalls following her.
"I'm sorry." Kara began as she turned to face Oliver. "I shouldn't have just stormed out like that."
"You've got nothing to apologise for, Kara." Oliver tried, but the Kryptonian continued as if she hadn't heard him.
"We're from different worlds, Oliver, and I'm pretty sure that's the first time that expression has been used literally. I just…I didn't think that the way things worked for you would be different to how they worked for me, it was stupid and it was selfish…"
"It was human." Oliver cut over her. "Kara, you wanted to believe that I was like you, like Barry…the truth is that I can't afford to be. I can't count on super-speed to get me out of trouble or impenetrable skin to save me from a bullet, when I'm out there as the Green Arrow I have to rely on my skill and my smarts to survive."
"But that wasn't just surviving, Oliver." Kara spoke, taking an unconscious step towards Oliver as she did. "I know you're better than that, you could have handle those guys without hurting them the way you did."
"I'm not." Oliver began softly. "Kara, you think I'm this…hero, you…"
There was something in his eyes when he spoke that Kara couldn't place, a kind of vulnerability that seemed so strange in someone as guarded as Oliver. It almost hurt Kara to see it, and in that moment, a small part of her swore that she would do whatever she could to help Oliver.
"Because you are a hero, Oliver. Maybe more so than the rest of us, because you don't have powers and you're still out there and taking the same risks as me or Barry would. You deserve to be called a hero."
Kara hadn't realised when it had happened, but somehow the two of them had completely closed whatever distance they'd had, and Kara had subconsciously taken Oliver's hands in her own. The two had clearly been so absorbed in the other's words that their bodies had been acting of their own accord. Oliver must've realised that at the same time as Kara, his eyes briefly glancing down to their hands before flicking up to meet Kara's again.
"Kara, I…"
Before Oliver could say another word, a powerful blue light was cast over them, the two jumping apart to look at the strange light that was now hovering over Kara's dining room. The light let out a sound, like light raindrops against glass, and began dancing around the room. The two heroes pan in circles for a few moments, following the light in confusion until it settled before one of the windows in the living space.
"Darling." A voice came from the light at it took a human form.
"Who the hell are you?" Kara asked incredulously at the man who was now stood in her home.
"My name is Mister Mxyzptlk." The stranger began as he took a step towards the duo. "And, Kara Zor-El, I love you.