Chapter 18

Author's Note: So, this might have been one of the most fun chapters for me to write, got to play with some new character dynamics and plot elements. When I'm writing chapters like this that follow Oliver's perspective on things, I'm not sure whether to use Kal or Clark in the narration since in the show the only person who actually refers to him as Kal is Kara (to the best of my knowledge), but other than that slight iffy moment when I was writing I loved it.

Only one or two chapters left before the end of the invasion now, and then we're into the really non-canon stuff.

Hope you all enjoy though!

"Superman?"

Oliver froze up as he watched Superman march towards Kara. He had seen images of the Man of Steel during his first stint on Earth-38; news reports, files in the DEO database, they didn't do justice. Kal-El, clad in his supersuit, was an intimidating presence. Oliver didn't like feeling intimidated.

"This is my planet," Superman pulled Kara to her feet. "These are my people," With another backhanded blow he sent Kara across the room. He followed to where Kara had landed on her back. "And I will not let you harm them."

Determination and anger overtaking her features, Kara pressed both palms flat to the floor and pushed hard. Super-strength aided the Kryptonian flipped back to her feet and dropped her shoulders into a tackle ready position. Kara took a short run forward and thrust both hands forward into Superman's chest. He was sent flying backwards, falling to the floor and skidding for a few feet until he collided with the far wall. With Superman momentarily out of the way, Kara turned to Rhea.

"What have you done to him?"

"I once told you that my planet was riddled with the corpse of yours. But not only green kryptonite rained from the skies. There are so many more ways to harm your kind than to simply weaken you. Silver Kryptonite," Rhea grinned wickedly. As she turned to walk back towards the modest throne that sat in the centre of the viewscreens she continued. "Your cousin is so much like you. Reckless. Stupid. Barrelling headfirst into danger. I couldn't have set a better trap if I tried."

"Kal?" Kara's voice was pleading as her cousin rose to his feet once again. "It's me, Kara!"

"Oh, he doesn't see you," Rhea taunted. "He sees his worst enemy."

Superman gritted his teeth. "You should have stayed away, Zod."

The name sounded familiar to Oliver. He had come across it in the DEO's database when he had been researching Kryptonians.

"Kal, listen to me." Kara tried.

Her plea fell on deaf ears as Superman fired his heat vision. Kara matched the attack and the two began to circle the room as Rhea's taunts continued.

"You're his mortal enemy Supergirl. The person he fears most—"

"Enough!" Oliver bellow at Rhea, cutting her off.

He let fly the arrow he had nocked to his bow, aiming at centre mass at the Daxamite Queen. Rhea caught the arrow almost as if it hadn't been moving. It wasn't a surprise; Oliver had predicted it entirely. His index finger flicked upwards and caught one of the concealed buttons built into his bow and the payload of the arrow detonated. A thin grey could burst from the cartridge built into the arrow, and Rhea descended into a fit of coughing. Oliver grinned wickedly. Lead dust fitted into an arrow designed to release tear gas. It had been Winn's suggestion and it worked perfectly.

The attack on Rhea seemed to grab Superman's attention and, after dealing a rather vicious uppercut to Supergirl, he turned to Oliver.

"You're working with Zod now, Lex?" Superman's voice sounded dangerous. "I didn't think even you could sink this low."

"Oh shit." Oliver breathed, mostly to himself.

Superman and Oliver began to circle, a few meters apart, and Oliver didn't either bother to put a guard up. He knew who Lex Luthor was of course, Winn had seen fit to educate Oliver on the history the Luthor family had with both Kal and Kara, but under the effects of silver kryptonite Oliver had no idea how Superman would react to seeing "Lex". He looked the Kryptonian up and down, trying to read his body language for clues.

Oliver was more than aware of his disadvantage, the godlike powers of Kryptonians under a yellow sun was no mystery to him. He was no match for the strength, speed, and resilience that Superman had, but Oliver had training and enough experience to figure Superman out. The real trick was staying alive long enough for him to figure out Superman's fighting pattern and—

The Kryptonian struck.

The distance was nearly five meters of clear ground, and he covered it in less time than it took Oliver to blink.

There was no technique to the attack; an overhead right-handed punch that seemed driven purely by anger, but it was delivered with such power and speed that it was all Oliver could to do get out of the way. He ducked into a roll and cleared the space where he had been a second ago, Superman's wild strike finding nothing but empty air. Superman moved after him. Oliver snapped out a left-hand side strike, hoping that the Nth Metal composite bow would be enough to at least make Superman feel something. But the Kryptonian had attack momentum and the gift of super-strength, he rode the blow almost casually. A low level punch snaked through Oliver defences and hit him in the stomach. The power of it detonated with a sound like raw meat under a brick hammer.

The pain Oliver felt was like someone had sunk a grappling iron into his guts. The raw pain of the punch was left far behind on the surface of his skin and a sickening numbness raged through the muscles in his stomach. It was crippling. Oliver was sent flying backwards three meters and crashed into the glass viewing wall, twisting like a half-crushed insect as he fell to the ground. Vaguely, he heard Rhea chuckle in approval.

Turning his head weakly, Oliver saw that Superman had backed off and was facing Kara with a scowl on his face. He could see that blonde's lips moving, but whatever words were leaping from her mouth were muffled by the ringing in his ears. Oliver slapped a flat palm against the ground and pushed hard, just about able to take a knee before his vision began to spin again. Something about his movement had alerted Superman, who turned to look at him once again. Superman had no time to react. The moment The Man of Steel's gaze fell on him Kara shot forward and tackled her cousin, the two shattering though the viewing windows behind Oliver. The shot of adrenaline delivered at watching Kara disappear into battle was enough for him to regain his senses.

Grabbing his bow from the floor and staggering to the window, Oliver looked down to the city just in time to see a hole punched through the roof of a high-rise building by a red and blue blur. He spared a glance behind; Rhea was still sat on her throne with a vicious smirk on her lips. He turned to her fully, trusting Kara to handle her cousin.

"How do I neutralise the silver kryptonite?" He forced the words out.

Rhea's smirk simply grew. "I have no idea."

Oliver drew an arrow. "Think very carefully before you lie to me." It wasn't as threatening as Oliver would have liked and was ruined by a rack of coughing as the trauma of being clubbed by a superpowered Kryptonian took hold.

At a snap of Rhea's fingers, a fresh squad of Daxamite guards flooded into the room. Eyes quickly scanning his new opponents, Oliver knew he wasn't in a position to beat them all. He turned on his heel once again, returned the drawn arrow to his quiver, and leapt out of the hole Kara and Superman had smashed through the window.

It wasn't anything Oliver hadn't done before, jumps at altitude were just one of the many habits of the lifestyle. The ripping wind snapped his hood back the moment he began to fall and forced him to squint his eyes against the force of it. The exact height he was falling from was a mystery to him but given that the roofs of the nearest buildings seemed to be a few hundred feet below him, Oliver thought it was safe to assume very high indeed. Free jumping at such a height, and without any equipment would have been dangerous at the best of times, let alone after blow from Superman that kept threatening to steal his consciousness. When the buildings of National City seemed a little closer, Oliver reached to his quiver, snapped an arrow back and fired up.

The cable trailing back from the arrow snaked up into the sky for a second until the billowing fabric of a parachute spread from the capsule on the shaft of the arrow. The fabric caught under the wind, and the cable went taunt. Oliver felt the strain on his arms as he gripped his bow in both hands. The ground approached at a much safer pace, and the lack of brutal wind gave him a chance to focus on the city below. It took him less than a second to find the battleground, the rising fire and roaring sound of explosions giving the two Supers away instantly. With far more effort that he was ready to admit, Oliver guided himself down to what seemed to be a public park.

He dropped to the ground just on the edge, eyes locked on Kara battling her cousin in the middle of a water feature. With a flick of a finger the cables disconnected from his bow and the parachute was snatched again by the wind. The strain getting to him, Oliver dropped both his arms to his side, sucking in a wheezing breath.

"Oliver!"

He turned his head to see both Alex and Maggie running towards him. A brief wash of relief ran through him, glad to see them both safe. The couple came to a stop next to him, and before they could ask any questions about what was happening, Oliver sprang into action.

"Diggle?" Oliver pressed a hand to his chest to active his coms.

"Oliver, what's going on?" The response came slightly breathless.

Wincing in pain Oliver spoke. "I need you to bring me the sunset failsafe." And did his best to ignore the look of confusion on Alex's face.

The red solar grenades weren't ideal, Oliver knew that, they would weaken Kryptonian's with no ability to discriminate, which meant Kara too. The other option he had was even less ideal. It was the first arrow he had packed when the S.O.S. call came though from Earth-38. Head protected by spring-release lead casing; the kryptonite arrow weighed heavily on Oliver's back. It was too much of a risk to fire it with the way the Kryptonians were fighting. Even with his impeccable aim, Oliver couldn't guarantee he would hit his mark.

He watched alongside Alex and Maggie as the Supers fought, hoping that Diggle or one of the others could get the grenades to them in time. Kara ducked under one of Superman's blows, skidded to a halt and then swung a closed fist upwards into his chin. Superman was thrown a few meters into the sky, limbs splayed out, and crashed back to the ground. Kara swayed on her feet, chest rising and falling heavily, only able to hold herself up for a few more moments before she began to collapse.

Alex was there faster than Oliver, the heaving in his chest slowing him down, and caught Kara before she could fall to the floor.

"It's okay, I got you," Alex assured her sister. "I'm here."

The two kneeled in the ankle deep water for a few seconds, and Oliver and Maggie both walked towards them. The two hardly took a step into the shallow water though when Kara seemed to stir. Her head swirled, eyes looking onto Superman and her arm closed around Alex's shoulders. Then, before Oliver or Maggie could take another step, Kara vanished in a blur of red and blue, taking Alex and Superman with her. Oliver snapped into action immediately.

"Winn, Supergirl just took off with Agent Danvers and Superman, where are they going?" Oliver called into his comms.

Oliver could hear a furious tapping through the comms before comms before he got his answer. "Satellite tracking looks like they're headed to The Fortress of Solitude."

The Fortress. Kara had mentioned it to him before as the place that her cousin kept many of the items that he deemed too dangerous to be left in the hands of the government or civilian corporations. The Mxyzptlk incident had also told him that The Fortress was somehow counted as Kryptonian soil for Kara and her cousin, though he hadn't managed to get Kara to explain to him quite how that worked.

"Upload the coordinates to the breach device." Oliver instructed and turned to Maggie. "Are you coming?"

The detective shook her head. "You and Alex have got this. I need to see what I can so to help here."

Nodding his head in acknowledgment, Oliver pulled the breach device from his pocket and activated it. Hoping Winn had updated the coordinates, else he would be jumping right back onto the Daxamite ship, Oliver took a step forward and crossed through the gateway. Somehow, he was beginning to adjust to jumping through the breaches. On his first journey to Earth-38 the experience had been uncomfortable, almost nauseating. As Oliver crossed from the night of National City to the Arctic Fortress, he still felt the off-putting sensation of breach travel, but he was getting used to it.

He stepped through the breach and felt the sudden, bitter cold of the Artic wind crash into his face. The Kevlar weave his armour was made from was, according to Cisco, resistant to extremes of heat, and so Oliver had been banking on it holding up against the freezing cold of the Arctic. He had been mostly right. The suit battled the cold incredibly well, the temperature around him felt nothing worse than Lian Yu had been, but it did nothing to protect his face. With his free hand Oliver pulled his hood up in an attempt to cover himself and looked up at the enormous doorway in front of him.

Another icy blast of wind curled around him and Oliver started towards the door. Sat on top of the snow, was what seemed to be a triangular prism made of gold, cut at strange angles and tapering off to a point at one end, emblazoned on the opposite side was the crest Kara and Superman both wore. A memory of his conversation with Kara flickered into his mind, something about a key weighing a million tonnes. The cold swirling around him battered down the memory and Oliver pushed forward toward the entrance to The Fortress.

The inside of The Fortress of Solitude was bathed in azure light. The crystalline structure plumed high up above him in elaborate formations that were accented by two colossal statues that held a sphere between them and seemed to glow with the same light the filtered in through the ceiling. Oliver stole away from immediate force of the wind with a few more steps onto The Fortress and without it the Arctic freeze was fought back by his suit. The ornate architecture of the structure became all the more clear with a focused mind, somehow organic and designed all at once. Oliver wondered if it was how Krypton had once looked, if that was what Kara had meant when she called The Fortress Kryptonian soil.

"Oliver?" He had hardly taken another step when he heard the voice.

His focused snapped to the area below the two sculptures further into The Fortress to see Alex, bundled in a thick coat. Putting his interest in The Fortress aside, Oliver hurried down the short path towards Alex.

"Where's Kara?" He asked as he reached her.

Alex simply inclined her head towards an opening between two spires of crystal and walked back through it, Oliver quick on her heels. They crossed through under the formation and into a space darker than the entry hall of The Fortress. Set in the centre of the room were two platforms formed of an opaque white version of the crystal that built the walls, laid out on each was Kara and her cousin. Oliver quickened his step as he approached her and came to a stop beside the platform where Kara lay, a hand slipping into her own. Light cascaded down from two crystals set in the roof, the beams focused on the two platforms.

"This is…" Oliver swallowed hard, forcing down his worry for Kara. "It's recharging them, right?"

"Yeah," Alex's voice was soft, and Oliver could tell she had stepped closer. "Clark calls it a solarium, the crystals focus yellow sunlight, it's a lot more effective than the solar lamps at the DEO."

"Any idea how long they'll be out?" He asked, thumb stroking along the back of Kara's hand unconsciously.

Alex's sigh seemed unbearably loud in the otherwise silent fortress. "There's no way to tell."

Maggie and Winn had radioed in, letting them know that they had successfully retaken the DEO with the help of Oliver's team. After Supergirl and Superman had brawled in the middle of National City the Daxamites had apparently pulled back on the occupation. It took a few hours for Kara to begin to stir, and Oliver was sure that the sun must have risen back in National City. The Kryptonian shifted in her sleep a few times, and each time she did both Oliver and Alex sprang to their feet to see if she was waking. After the third time Kara twitched and mumbled in her sleep Alex finally broke the silence.

"What were you asking for?" Her voice was curious, if a little suspicious. Oliver didn't turn to face her, sat with his back pressed against the platform Kara was laid on, gaze focused on some point on the ground. "When Kara and Clark were fighting you called for a failsafe. What is it?"

He had been expecting the question. The moment Oliver had called Diggle with Alex and Maggie beside him he had known that it was unavoidable, it was why he had used the codename he had given the bundle of red solar grenades – hoping that it would go unnoticed in the heightened stress of watching Kara fight. Even so, Oliver hoped Alex of all people would understand the necessity of the building of the grenades. One of the files Oliver had manged to get hold of through his access to the DEO mainframe had been an incident only a few months into Kara's career as Supergirl, one that had taken his interest deeply and proved to him that he had been right to create failsafe's against a rouge Kryptonian.

"The sunset failsafe," Oliver began with a sigh, finally looking up to Alex. "Is something I had a colleague put together in the event that any one of us came under attack by a Kryptonian." Before Alex could get a word in Oliver pressed on. "A bundle of red solar grenades, designed to dull a Kryptonian's powers long enough to subdue them with more conventional means."

"Red solar grenades? Weapons designed to hurt Kara." Alex's gaze darkened, and she shot forward a few steps. "What sh—she lets you into her life and you just build something that can hurt her, that could kill her?"

Alex's words pushed Oliver a little too far. His nerves were already on edge knowing that Kara was hurt and the insinuation that he had built the red solar grenades specifically to do harm to Kara was too much for him. He shot to his feet, bow forgotten on the floor and fists clenching in anger.

"If you think for a second that I'd hurt Kara…" Oliver growled. He felt his anger welling up and caught it. They were both stressed and worried for Kara, and the anger he knew both he and Alex felt was only born from that. Oliver locked it down, took in a deep breath, and forced neutrality into his voice. "I have a tendency to push back against anything unknown, and when Kara first came to my Earth, she was the biggest unknown I'd ever come up against. Kara and The Dominators opened my world up to threats I had never even conceived of, and I had to prepare for the worst. I barely knew Kara then, I couldn't count on her to come and save us the next time something extra-terrestrial showed up."

Alex was unreadable. "That doesn't change the fact you built weapons designed to hurt Kara. She trusts you, Oliver, with her powers, her weaknesses—"

"The solar grenades were never meant to hurt Kryptonians, just weaken them," Oliver cut over Alex with sincerity. "Alex, I've read the DEOs records, I know you used to keep Kryptonite, I've seen the reports from when Kara was infected with Red Kryptonite, the whole list of rouge Kryptonians that attacked National City last year…now Silver Kryptonite. We need to be prepared for the worst, but I would never do anything to hurt Kara, I…"

Alex filled the silence once Oliver trailed off. "You love her."

Oliver swallowed heavily. "Yeah, I think I do."

"About time," A teasing wisp of a smile grew on Alex's lips and she nudged Oliver's side with the tip of one booted foot. "There's been a betting pool back at the DEO when you'd finally admit that and come running back to our Earth to ask Kara out."

Oliver tried to summon a scowl to fix her with, but the image of Alex, Maggie, Winn, and maybe even J'onn gathered around and betting on his and Kara's relationship was just amusing enough to stop it. Instead Oliver just rolled his eyes. Before he could fire back a retort at Alex, he heard Kara begin to shift above him. Oliver turned in time to see Kara gasping upright. He took a step forward and closed one of his hands around hers.

"Kara, it's okay, you're okay." Oliver assured her, putting his other arm around Kara's shoulders. He recognised her reaction, had experienced it himself more than once during and after his time on Lian Yu. She had barely made it through her fight with Superman before passing out and had woken up with her body and mind still in attack mode.

"O-Oliver? What happened?" Kara asked, calming a little.

"Well, you passed out and then you woke up, flew us here and passed out again." Alex supplied, moving to Kara's other side.

Oliver kept a hand around Kara's shoulders, steadying her as she slid from the platform and onto her feet. Even with a few hours in the solarium Oliver could see how uneasy Kara was on her feet, she took a few shaking steps forward before stopping.

"Take it easy." Oliver prompted.

Kara stopped, almost doubled over and sucking in some deep breaths. "I feel like…"

"You got punched by Superman?" Alex finished for her, looking her sister studiously up and down.

"Repeatedly." Kara huffed.

Her gaze landed on Superman then, and Kara pulled away from Oliver a little as she looked at her cousin. In her eyes, Oliver saw Kara realise that she really had fought Superman, that it hadn't been some strange dream as it must have first seemed when she woke up. A second later, Superman jerked upright with a wheezing breath. His knowledge of aliens might have improved since his first trip to Earth-38 but Oliver had no idea if the Silver Kryptonite was still affecting Superman. Survival instinct kicked in for Oliver, his eyes shooting to his bow left abandoned on the floor.

"Kal?" Kara asked.

"Kara?"

All three let out a sigh of relief at the recognition and Kara ran across to her cousin, pulling him into a hug.

"What happened?"

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. "Rhea, she dosed you with a hallucinogen, Silver Kryptonite."

Kara and Kal broke apart as Oliver answered. Kal looked Oliver up and down as he processed, Oliver recognised the serious gaze Kal was fixing him with and knew that the Kryptonian was trying to figure him out. Whether or not Kara had mentioned anything about him to her cousin was a mystery to Oliver, but there was something in the other man's look put Oliver a little on edge.

"Oliver Queen, I presume," Kal got to his feet. "Kara mentioned you."

Oliver just nodded in response, a little unsure of the protocol. For a moment, under the gaze of Superman, Oliver realised how Thea's ex-boyfriends had felt under his own glare. Kal clearly knew who he was, and Oliver quickly figured out that he also knew at least some of the emotional history between himself and Kara.

"Good to have you with us." Kal reached a hand out to Oliver.

Not letting the sudden change in demeanour throw him off balance, Oliver took the offered hand and shook it firmly.

"Silver Kryptonite though," Kal continued once he dropped Oliver's hand. "That's a new one. That whole time I thought I was fighting Zod and Lex…" Kal look back at Oliver. "Guessing that was you, sorry about that by the way."

Oliver let a hint of a smile flit across his lips. "I've had worse."

It wasn't strictly a lie, Oliver reasoned. The blow itself had been one of the moral brutal he had received, but powered by Mirakuru Slade had done a lot more damage to him than Superman.

"But it didn't weaken me at all." Kal finished.

"It might have." Kara offered.

"No, I was at full strength and you beat me."

Oliver couldn't help to be proud of Kara. The traumatic situation of having to fight her own family aside Kara had more than proved her capability as a warrior. Oliver knew that Kal had been acting as Superman for at least a decade, time enough to turn combat into more than just skill – he knew that from experience. To see Kara, someone still relatively new to their lifestyle, defeat a hero with a decade of experience more than her was impressive. From the hint of a smile on Kal's face, and a warmth in his voice, Oliver could tell he was proud of Kara too.

"Well, I'm just glad we're both okay." Kara didn't seem to share their sentiment. "But we need to come up with a plan to defeat Rhea or she's just going to keep coming at us."

"The positron cannon was the only weapon we had capable of penetrating their shields," Alex pointed out. "Is there anything that powerful here?"

The idea didn't sit well with Kara, Oliver could see that immediately. Even with Lena and Mon-El out of harm's way she wouldn't want to resort to killing the Daxamite's. They all knew that the threat of a weapon wouldn't do them any good without intent behind it, that had been the reason Rhea hadn't been at all concerned about the positron cannon.

"Not a weapon," Kal's gaze dropped for a moment as he thought. "But I might have something we can use against them."

With that, the Kryptonian turned and began walking across the room. Oliver, Alex, and Kara all followed a few paces behind without hesitation.

"What?" Kara asked as they walked.

"Information. I feel like there was something in the archives about the early wars with Daxam." Kal came to a stop in front of a metallic slab that resembled a computer just enough for Oliver to know what it was. Pressing his hand to the centre of the console, Kal looked on intently as holographic letter sprang into existence. "You know this would be a lot easier with Kelex."

"Yeah, sorry. I kinda had to blast him." Kara replied a little sheepishly.

"No, no, it's fine. Just…you owe me a new robot."

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest again in mild frustration at his inability to read the Kryptonese symbols flickering in front of him. During the search for Cadmus, Winn had mentioned to him that he had created a Kryptonese-English translator, and Oliver mentally kicked himself for not borrowing it to add the language to his repertoire. The computer let out a soft bleeping and the symbols froze.

"Dakkam-Ur?" Kara read aloud. "I've never heard of that."

"It's old but it might work." Kal mused.

"And for those of us who don't read Kryptonese?" Oliver asked.

Kal dropped his hand from the computer and turned around to face them. "It's like trial by combat. Unlike the version that we used to have on Earth, it isn't just about settling a debate or some legal issue. It's to honour oneself before the Gods."

The information processed almost sluggishly through Oliver's mind, the cold was beginning to get to him. "So, challenge Rhea to this Dakkam-Ur for the right to the planet?"

"It's going to have to work." Kara's expression steeled.

Oliver smiled at her. "You're more than a match for her, Kara."

There was no question that Kara would be the one to fight, Oliver knew that. Rhea's vendetta seemed fixed on Kara more so than anyone else and the weight that put on her was obvious. Whether or not anyone else wanted to be humanity's champion was irrelevant, it was going to be Kara. With defeating Superman to boot, Oliver knew she was their best choice.

Kara softened at his faith in her, a smile on her lips to match Oliver's, and for a moment it was just the two of them.

"I'll have to be." She replied firmly.

"You are." Oliver assured before turning back to Kal. "If this is a trial by combat, is Kara permitted a second?"