Chapter 5

Author's Note: Woah, two updates in as many days? What is this sorcery? Well I checked my Nostradamus and this means that there probably won't be an update until the next apocalypse so…

All things considered, this chapter just grabbed me the second I started writing it and then…boom it's done. Again, I'm not a huge fan of this one and it isn't proof read so I'll probably update the chapter a few times to fix a mistake here or there.

The final scene of this chapter was written to Oscar Peterson's Hymn to Freedom and I would highly recommended listening to it as you read, it really sets to mood that I have in my head for it.

Other than that, please enjoy, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!

"Tell me we've got something." Oliver spoke firmly, walking into the office space.

He'd given it a little time before leaving the locker room, wanting to make sure that Kara had cleared the D.E.O. before he went exploring, not wanting to run into her again. While he knew full well that Kara wouldn't physically harm him, just the sight of her would be painful. The way she had looked at him, eyes full of betrayal and disappointment, had almost done him in, almost made Oliver want to repent for just doing things that he had needed to do to survive.

Bringing up Slade hadn't been intentional though, and Oliver couldn't help the invasive memories pushing their way to the forefront his mind. He'd lied to Kara, that had been the hinge of it, because there had been a choice; the cure or the arrow. In the moment, there had only been one option, Oliver had truly believed Slade would make good on his promise, so what else was he to do? The Amazo was about to sink and Oliver wasn't sure if he'd make it out alive himself, there was no choice to make. Even if five years later he'd accepted the mistake he had made, in the moment, there was no other way.

That was what he had wanted Kara to understand. He wasn't like her and Barry, he couldn't process a hundred different variables in only a second because he had super speed to help him out. Instinct was sometimes all he had, and Kara would never be able to understand that. He'd had all those thoughts while restocking his quiver of grappling and explosive arrows.

Once that had been finished, he'd set off in search of Mon-El and Winn, hoping that Kara would have already left. Thankfully, the blonde Kryptonian was nowhere to be found, and so Oliver had headed straight for Mon-El, the glass walls making him easy to locate. That, Oliver thought, was one of the benefits of the D.E.O. being a little less clandestine than A.R.G.U.S., the whole operation felt cleaner, less dark, yet somehow just as clinical. It was a strange line to walk, but so were most of the things Oliver found himself involved in. Winn had left just as Oliver had been arriving, the I.T. wizard mumbling something about 'Starhaven' and 'Valerian's' under his breath.

"Winn only found two things that register for 5th Dimensional energy." Mon-El answered, giving only a quick, disapproving glance at Oliver.

Approaching the desk, Oliver took in the open boxes. One contained something resembling a pendant, a blue gem centred in a metal casing, a chain attached to the top. The other looked almost like an uncut diamond, dull but shinning blue at the same time. The blue, Oliver quickly realised, was almost identical in colour to the "magic" Mxyzptlk employed.

"We both know Kara won't use these against him." Mon-El spoke up, looking across at Oliver with a slightly more neutral expression. "One of the agents told me about the fight you had with Kara yesterday, you know what it'll take to stop a guy like him."

He hated it before and he hated it then, but Oliver had to agree with Mon-El. There were lines Kara wouldn't cross that needed crossing, things that had to be done in the name of justice. Stopping a creature like Mxyzptlk required no line, there was nothing that would be off limits, Oliver knew that. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Proof enough was Mxyzptlk, infinite power that could be used to benefit the universe, and here he was using it to try and woo Kara. Oliver had firmly believed what he had said though, if Mxyzptlk continued escalating then National City was in big trouble.

"I know." Oliver answered simply. "Kara won't be forgiving if we do this."

Mon-El sucked in a heavy breath before replying. "She'll get over it."

Oliver was almost inclined to forgive Mon-El at that, he was acting like a solider and that was what they both needed. Looking at the options they had, Oliver began to run a plan through in his head. There weren't many obvious choices, and with someone as powerful as Mxyzptlk the room for variation was huge.

"What did Winn say these will do to him?" Oliver asked.

"No idea, we just need to find the imp and hit him with what we've got."

Maybe…Oliver began to process, maybe there was an option. Something to keep Mxyzptlk off guard, lull him into one fight and use it as a trap for the other. They had two clear weapons, and there was definitely a way to utilise them both. An attack on two fronts then, Mon-El as the bait and Oliver as the killing blow. This might just work.

"Does the D.E.O. have something we can use to cut the rock?"

XXX

Of course, the imp had transported them. Why would anything about the plan actually go in their favour? Thankfully, Mon-El had been wearing a comms device, and Oliver had been able to track him down quickly enough. It was a stroke of luck that they had only moved a few blocks, by some miracle Mxyzptlk had chosen to stay in National City as opposed to just transporting Mon-El into the heart of the sun. The theatre had been easy enough to find and even easier to sneak into. Dropping through the roof, Oliver made his way through the circle, heading towards where the sounds of a fight bounded from.

"Why, you think she's gonna be with you?" Oliver heard Mxyzptlk's voice as he reached the edge of the circle. "Face it, what have you got to offer her? I can give her anything. There's no contest between you and me, and you know it. I'm a god and you're a loser."

Just as the sound of more grappling reached him, Oliver took to the edge, perching himself above the isle with a perfect view of the fight below him. Mon-El and Mxyzptlk had each other by the throats but…Oliver didn't even want to ask why they were dressed like the founding fathers, that was something to be filed away to deal with later.

"You're a dead man." Mon-El's voice reached him.

By the looks of it, the pendant had the desire effect on the imp, the way the two were fighting meant that his powers were no longer at his disposal. Oliver stayed perched, waiting for the right time to make a move. While he didn't fully trust Mon-El, staying hidden above the fight allowed him the element of surprise, Oliver would engage when Mon-El needed him too.

"Strike that." Mxyzptlk spoke, raising his hand. "Reverse it."

Oliver couldn't see it, with Mxyzptlk's back to him that wasn't a surprise, but the blue explosion of energy when the imp crushed his fist made it pretty clear that he had managed to get the pendant back. Letting out a grunt of irritation, Oliver stayed the course, waiting for a clear time to strike. With a snap of his fingers, Mxyzptlk was at the stage, gun in his hand and with Mon-El suspended from the roof by a rope.

The moment Oliver saw the gun raise, he leapt into action.

It was a fair distance to cover, but Oliver knew he could do it. Kicking hard, The Green Arrow took to the air, his focus practically making time slow as he sailed through the air. It took less than a second for him to be sure that he would make it to the stage, and then his attention turned to his target. Mxyzptlk was so sure that he was alone that he was completely defenceless; his back was turned, he had no time to react.

With practiced precision, Oliver reached to his quiver. Before his feet touched the ground, three arrows had been let fly. Two were tipped in blue gemstone, sharpened to a vicious point and gleaming in the light of the stage lamps. Those two flew a straight course, and the sound of their impact perfectly accompanied Oliver's landing on the stage. The groan of agony Mxyzptlk let out as two 5th Dimensional arrows pierced through his shoulders gave Oliver a strange sense of satisfaction.

The gemstone the D.E.O. had collected was easy enough to turn into arrowheads, all it had needed was a high-powered laser-cutter, of which the D.E.O. owned several. It had taken no time at all to fashion the arrowheads, it was a skill Oliver had learnt well. There had only been enough of the rock to make three, with a few chunks left over, but three would hopefully be enough.

The third, and standard metal, arrow found it's mark in the rope that held Mon-El, cutting though the material easily and allowing the Daxamite to drop to the floor. As Mon-El tore the remaining bindings from his body, Oliver stalked over to Mxyzptlk, teeth gritted and a low growl escaping him as he did. With an anger, and ignoring whatever crap the imp had started to speak, Oliver grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, dragging him to his feet.

"For a man from another universe, you have quite the bite." The words of the imp reached Oliver's ears but not his brain.

Spinning him, Oliver shoved Mxyzptlk towards Mon-El, the Daxamite easily catching him with two hands on his lapels. Oliver was almost surprised at how little the two needed to communicate, though he knew full well the clarity that a fight could give to a person. Crossing a few steps, Oliver reached out, gripping the arrow buried in the imp's left shoulder with his right hand and pressing hard. The scream that came from Mxyzptlk was so worth it, and the look Mon-El gave to Oliver bore something akin to approval.

"We know what it'll take for you to leave." Oliver growled, his voice matching the one he'd used at the start of his crusade as he pressed the arrow forward a little further, any more and it would pierce through the skin on the opposite side. "Say the word and I'll stop."

"Like I'll…" Whatever else Mxyzptlk was about to say was cut off when Oliver pushed harder, his words turning to another cry of anguish.

"Say it!" Oliver snapped, wrenching the imp back and allowing him to fall to the floor. With a fluid move, he nocked the final arrow they had been able to make, taking aim at Mxyzptlk. "Or the next arrow goes through your heart."

"You can take a beating, but something tells me even you can't survive that." Mon-El spoke, taking a stance at Oliver's side.

When the imp remained silent, Oliver's patience waned. "You've got three seconds…two…one…"

"Stop!"

In the blink of an eye, Mxyzptlk was obscured from view, and the red and blue of Supergirl's uniform took over Oliver's vision. The sight of Kara simultaneously angered and soothed Oliver. Just her presence was enough for the red that had consumed him to fade away a little, a small clarity washing over him. At the same time, she had just put herself between a lethal payload and a psychopath, which couldn't have been a worse decision. If Mxyzptlk's powers worked on Kara, Oliver had little doubt that the 5th Dimensional arrow would affect her too. To what extent he probably would never know, but he wasn't keen to find out.

"Kara." Mon-El's voice snapped Oliver's thoughts.

"Sweetheart!" Mxyzptlk spoke quickly, pain still evident in his voice. "These volatile maniacs tried to kill me."

"Kara." Oliver growled, his voice low and threatening. "Get out of my way."

He wasn't ready to back down, he'd made a decision and had committed to the plan. All he needed was a clear shot and Mxyzptlk was gone, one way or the other. Kara and her obnoxious moral compass had stalled the plan in its entirety, all she'd needed to do was be thirty seconds slower and it would have been over. Now the situation required improvisation, and Oliver didn't like it at all.

"Oliver!" Kara suddenly snapped at him, taking a step in his direction. "Put the arrow down, right now."

Her voice didn't even come close to the threatening tones Oliver's had, but the resoluteness was there. Kara had the advantage and she knew it. So long as she was between the arrow and Mxyzptlk, Oliver wouldn't take the shot. No matter how corrupt and blurred his morals, even Oliver had lines that he couldn't cross. Even if he would be willing to take a shot at Kara, what then? He'd be out of 5th dimensional weapons and Mxyzptlk would undoubtedly become hell bent on revenge.

Still though, he held his ground, unmoving, the arrow that had been set for Mxyzptlk now squarely aimed at Kara's heart.

"Oliver, please." Kara's voice was softer now, her eyes pleading, anger fading away. "Don't do this."

Teeth gritted, a sigh of irritation leaving him, Oliver relented. With a slight roll of his eyes, Oliver lowered his bow, relaxing the drawstring and returning the arrow to his quiver. Kara hadn't left him with many options, any move he would make she could counter in a second, and Oliver knew he wouldn't be able to rely on Mon-El to distract her long enough for him to get a shot off. It was unmissable for him though, the way that Kara's expression changed, almost immediately hardening towards him once the arrow had been stowed away.

Before Oliver could get a word out, the silence of the room was cut with another grunt of pain. There was no time to react, nothing to be done. By the time Kara had turned around, Mxyzptlk was on his feet, arrows gone from his shoulders and clearly back to full strength. All it took was for Oliver to blink and he found himself as Mon-El had been mere minutes ago, wrapped and chains and dangling from the ceiling above the stage. His quiver and bow were gone, hood and mask pulled away.

Mon-El was in the exact same predicament a few feet away from him, sporting a look of anger identical to Oliver's. Kara though, was still on the ground and stood beside the imp. That was when Oliver saw it, the 18th century duelling pistol (so maybe Thea had dragged him to see Hamilton and he'd decided to do some reading afterwards) that the imp was holding, from the look he shared with Mon-El they both knew what the imp had in mind.

"It'll be better for all of us once I've snuffed the two of you out."

The gun raised, even with Kara in the room Oliver flinched, not seeing a way out, and then…

"I'll marry you!"

XXX

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Oliver burst through the door to Kara's apartment the moment it opened.

Mxyzptlk had transported both him and Mon-El back to the D.E.O. the moment Kara had started to discuss the wedding, and Oliver couldn't have been more thankful that he was yet to be sent off to some distant moon a billion lightyears away. For a vindictive psychopath Mxyzptlk was oddly generous. The second that Oliver had found his bearings he'd set right off for Kara's apartment, not doubting that Mon-El would be mere moments behind him.

"Have you even thought about this? What this might mean for you?" Oliver continued, coming to a stop and turning to face Kara as he heard the door close.

"He was about to kill you, Oliver…you and Mon-El." Kara shot back, her voice not matching Oliver's at all, the calmness there almost scary. "I'm not in love with him, but I had to save you."

It was a good reason for her actions, Oliver fully understood that. In the brief time he'd spent thinking about it he'd realised that the options were limited, hell there hardly were any. If Kara had made a move then Mxyzptlk could have countered it, without a moment of hesitation and far quicker and more creatively than any of them could have processed. If it wasn't for the imp's obsession with showmanship then Oliver had no doubts that his neck could have been broken with a snap of fingers. Still though, that part of his mind, the part begging for him to not let Kara get tainted by the same darkness that he himself had been ruined by, was crying out for him to do something.

"I didn't ask you to do that." Oliver dropped his voice a little as he spoke.

"Well, I didn't have a choice." Kara answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were the one who told me that I needed to learn what it was like to do something when there's no other options, and now I have."

Shit.

Kara definitely had him backed into a corner on that one. It had been only a few hours ago when they'd had that augment, and here Kara was, already proving him wrong. It probably was the only real choice to make, until they could come up with a better option at the least. All his posturing about making the hard decisions and Kara had done it without blinking, to save him, someone who was practically a stranger to her. Yes, she had done it for Mon-El too, but there had been a hesitation, Kara had singled Oliver himself out, paused before mentioning the Daxamite.

"And you know what? He makes an excellent point." Kara continued. "He has limitless power that he can use to help me fight for justice. We'll make a great team."

There was conviction in Kara's voice, that much was true, but Oliver was almost a professional at reading people. Sure, there were those who made it by him, those with real conviction like Adrian Chase and Isabel Rochev. Kara though…she was almost a little too easy. It almost didn't sound like she was trying to convince Oliver, maybe it was for her own benefit, or maybe it was for someone else. Maybe Kara had been right, maybe there as another option.

"Then I'll head back to my Earth." Oliver spoke with a firmness in his voice, probing a little to see Kara's reaction. "Once you've got Limitless Power on your side, you won't need my help anymore."

"I guess not." Kara spoke with even less conviction this time, her eyes darting down to avoid Oliver's.

The reaction from Kara wasn't significant, but it was enough. A fleeting look of disappointment in her eyes. She didn't want him to leave, she still needed him. It was telling enough, Kara had something in mind, and Oliver had one option. Taking a few steps back towards the door, Oliver stopped at Kara's side, looking across to her.

"Kara?" At the sound of his voice her eyes raised again, meeting Oliver's own. "I'm sure you know what you're doing. I trust you."

The happiness he saw there was enough for Oliver to be sure that he was right.

XXX

Night had fallen the next time Oliver found himself at Kara's apartment. He'd gone back to the D.E.O. following their earlier conversation, fully intending to get in both a workout and a little research into the 5th Dimension. It had hardly been 30 minutes before Oliver crashed out, sat in a desk chair in front of a computer. He hadn't even realised it, but with everything happening he had officially managed to go for almost two days without sleep. While it wasn't something wholly alien to him (between Lian Yu and his double life Oliver had more than a little experience with sleepless nights), but his body craved the rest all the same.

By the time he had woken the sun had begun to set, crisp red-light bleeding in through the windows of the storage room Oliver had practically claimed as his own. That had been what had woken him, the cascade of light against his eyes as the clouds had shifted, and Oliver had been thankful for it. It didn't take long to shrug off his slumber and swap out The Green Arrow suit for civilian clothes, as comfortable as it was Oliver really did hate spending too much time in that leather outfit.

After that, a few brief words with J'onn had confirmed that Kara was alive, unharmed, and still single. With that information calming him significantly, Oliver had set out for her apartment, the journey already etched into his memory.

He'd hardly had to knock once when the door to 4A swung open. It was something of a relief as his eyes took in Kara, despite J'onn's assurances Oliver had needed to see her himself, just to be sure. Kara, though, seemed a little unreadable as Oliver took her in. There was a neutrality on her face that Oliver was far from used to seeing but, he supposed, there was good reason for it. Even if Oliver had eventually relented and trusted her to do the right thing, he had still gone to extreme lengths to show the exact opposite just before.

"Hi." It almost seemed dumb to say out aloud, but he really wasn't sure where else to start. When Kara didn't reply he continued. "Mind if I come in?"

Again, she stayed silent, simply stepping to the side to allow Oliver access to the apartment. It felt a little different to the last two times Oliver had been there. The usually bright space was more muted, the lights low and the room only illuminated by a few soft lamps scattered here and there. The flowers that had been left by Mxyzptlk had all faded away, and the room felt a lot more like Kara without them. The final thing he noted was the kitchen island or, more specifically, the glass of wine and pint of half-finished ice-cream that sat upon it.

"J'onn told me what happened." Oliver began, turning to face Kara, leaning back against the island as he did. "What you did was…you found another way."

The faint trace of a smile that teased his lips was one Oliver could not repress, Kara really had impressed him. Even with all that conviction, everything he had been so certain about when he had aimed that arrow at Mxyzptlk's heart, there in that moment, looking into her eyes, Oliver knew she had been right. There was another way. Maybe there wouldn't always be for him, but Kara had done it, effortlessly and without compromise. Super really didn't cover it.

"That mean you're ready to admit you were wrong?" Kara teased, moving closer to Oliver, a smile on her lips.

"It means…" Oliver chuckled a little as he trailed off, his smile growing to match Kara's. "I'm willing to admit that I wasn't completely right."

There was a moment then, when the whole world seemed to fall away as they shared a laugh, like a silence had claimed everything that wasn't them. Eyes drawn to lips, Oliver almost mesmerised as he watched that laugh fall from her, the curve her lips made, the way her tongue poked out a little to wet them and caused the dim light of the apartment to practically make them glow, the all too captivating sound she made. Just as Kara was drawn to his own.

"I should have trusted you." Oliver spoke once the silence had settled back in. "It's something I've been working on, and I'm…I'm not always good at it, but you've given me some pretty good reasons to trust you. So…" Sucking in a deep breath, Oliver finished. "I'm sorry, for not backing your play from the start."

The smile he got in return was so warm that Oliver could practically feel some of that sunlight Kara absorbed.

"But I should probably head back to the D.E.O., I could do with a decent night of rest." Oliver bowed his head a little, wetting his lips slightly as he made a move for the door.

Before he could get anywhere, Kara took a sidestep to stop him. "I think…maybe I should apologise too." As soon as Oliver opened his mouth to protest Kara continued. "That first night, I told you I was being selfish for not trying to understand you, and I didn't try at all this time around."

"Kara, you…"

"So, I was thinking." She interrupted him. "I've got a bottle of wine and half a pint of mint-chip, you should stay and we can both…try."

There really was something about her, something that Diggle had noticed long before Oliver had been able to. With just two days work, Kara had managed to change him, make him realise that things maybe didn't always have to be quite so black and white. That maybe, just maybe, there might be room for a little colour in his life if he let it. Diggle had been right, Kara was sunshine, and Oliver didn't have to look to hard to realise that spending some time in the sunlight wasn't going to be such a bad thing. After all, darkness never did last forever.