Author Note:

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Chloe lay on her bed absolutely exhausted. If the road trip hadn't drained all of her remaining energy from her, then hauling boxes up three flights of stairs all day had certainly done the trick. She managed to lift her head up to look at the boxes lining the walls of her small apartment. The thought of unpacking them just caused her to groan and flop back on the bed.

She picked up her mobile phone from its place on her bedside table. No messages. During the trip to Star City Chloe had only received a single message and it had been from Lois. She had wished her luck and promised to forward her mail. That was it. No heartfelt goodbyes, no begging for her to return. Chloe hadn't expected it but it would have been nice.

Chloe forced herself to sit up. Those boxes weren't going to unpack themselves, and if she actually wanted something clean to wear or plates to eat off of, she was going to have to get to work.

She audibly groaned again as she shuffled off of the bed. No rest for the wicked.

Chloe smiled as she looked up at the clear blue sky. The sun was shining and she took a moment to close her eyes and enjoy the heat on her face. The weather fit her mood perfectly - bright, sunny, with no chance of rain. Her last box had been unpacked yesterday and she wasn't due to start until tomorrow. She had an entire day to explore the city and become acquainted with her new home.

It didn't take long for her nose to lead her to the closest coffee shop. It was surprising that in the few days she had been in Star City she had yet to find it, but she reasoned that it was probably because the first thing she unpacked was her coffee machine and grinder. A girl had to have her priorities.

Sitting at the table outside she soaked up the sun as she sipped on her caramel macchiato. Pulling this morning's paper from her bag she began to read through the pages, savouring her caffeinated treat as she did. Turning towards the gossip pages she was greeted by a familiar face peering out of the picture at her. She smiled at the by-line. It seemed that in between saving the world and running a multi-billion dollar company, Oliver Queen was still making time to hit the town and causing just enough mischief to keep his name in the headlines.

Apparently the handsome playboy attended a friend's party on the arm of one debutante, only to leave three hours later with two aspiring actresses on his arms and his date no where to be seen. "Oh the scandal." She said under her breath trying to stifle a small smile. Oliver was obviously doing his bit to put his relationship with Lois in the past and she was happy for him. Her cousin had certainly moved on without giving the archer a second thought. Maybe change was good for all of them.

Her first day on the job felt like a breath of fresh air. There was still the manic bullpen, the rush, the craziness, the eccentric editor, but it was still new and Chloe felt rejuvenated. Her editor had told her that she would be working her way up from the bottom but she really didn't care. It was her opportunity to shine and she already had her first investigative piece in mind.

Star City was as anxious for headlines about the Green Arrow as Metropolis was about the Blur. Chloe had no intention of involving herself with that life again, but she could sniff out a story when it came along and this one was ripe for the taking. Two people had been murdered within the space of two weeks, both killed with arrows. There were no known connections between the two victims, no physical similarities. Her colleagues were quick to blame the Green Arrow thinking he had gone rogue. After all, how many people played with bows and arrows in this day and age?

Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and Chloe hacked her way into the police records. She saw the pictures of the arrows recovered from the bodies and she could recognise that the media was wrong. She knew Oliver used state of the art, titanium, custom made green arrows, but the ones in police evidence were more traditional in design and jet black. Chloe needed to see the evidence to back her theories. Just knowing the true identity of the Green Arrow was not enough to contradict the claims being made by the Star City Gazette. If she could identify the real killer and clear the Arrow's name it would be her fast track out of the basement and onto the front page. She'd finally be living her dream and taking centre stage in her own life.

She set to work that evening. There was no reason for her to sit at home eating frozen pizza while there was a potential career maker waiting to be written. The small articles given to her by her editor did nothing to stretch her skills, and were certainly nothing worth working the overtime for. She had free time now and she couldn't remember the last time she had experienced the feeling that she could do as she pleased as she wanted to. She was free to work without interruption and guilt.

Her search began with the arrows and arrow related deaths themselves. It was the twenty-first century, archery deaths were pretty limited in this day and age. It had taken two nights worth of work to track down every suspicious death she could find in the United States involving arrows. She was proud that she was able to discount the few recorded injuries that had been related to the Green Arrow and archery range accidents the first night. It appeared that the same killer had struck five times in the last year alone.

If this guy was as skilled as he appeared to be, there was a good chance that he possessed some of Oliver's more specific skills. She had seen the Green Arrow make shots that would have been near impossible to an untrained eye. The distances she had seen him shoot from had left her speechless on more than one occasion. If this guy was just half as talented, then this shot could have been made from a place the police would have assumed was just too far away to investigate.

Chloe had officially lived in Star City for two weeks before she was able to calculate the angle at which the victims were shot and where the archer was at the time. She was right - this archer had some skill, although when it came to discretion he either lacked the talent or had an over abundance of confidence. The unknown archer had killed the last victim whilst standing on the terrace of a nearby penthouse suite. It could be assumed that no one would be able to see him, but he had not counted on the home security camera. Every apartment in that building had been fitted with an external camera thanks to the clientele it housed, and Chloe knew that what she needed would be there.

While Chloe had taught Lois how to be a journalist it didn't mean that she hadn't picked up a trick or two from her army brat cousin. On many an occasion Lois had dressed in costume to get to the bottom of a story. Although Chloe knew that her cousin secretly got off on the opportunity to wear the tightest, most ridiculous outfits, the idea was not always a bad one.

Ebay had proven to be a wonderful thing. For less than a hundred dollars Chloe had managed to purchase a Star City Police uniform. The trousers were ridiculously long and it needed taking in on the shirt, but apart from a battle with a sewing machine she was ready to act the part with her new uniform. It may not show any skin like a Lois Lane creation, but it would get the job done.

Chloe had taken so many deep breaths to settle her nerves in the elevator that she was practically light headed as she reached the twenty-first floor. "You can do this." She muttered to herself. "It's all about confidence."

She walked straight to apartment 21G and knocked on the door and resisted the temptation to straighten her tie. The door opened and she was greeted by the sight of a small elderly woman. "Mrs. Anderson? I believe my Lieutenant called you this afternoon?"

"Why yes officer. Please come in." The little lady held the door open as Chloe stepped into the apartment. "I was very surprised to receive your Lieutenant's call. He didn't say why you needed the disk. Have I done something wrong?"

Paying Dave the copy boy to pretend to be her 'Lieutenant' was a risk, but she had to admit even she thought he was convincing. Apparently he had a few years amateur theatre under his belt. Who knew! "Of course not Mrs. Anderson. We are asking most of the building for security footage. I really shouldn't be saying this but we have reason to believe that one of the window cleaners has been inappropriately exposing himself amongst other suspicious behaviour."

"Oh my!" Mrs Anderson exclaimed before fanning herself with her hand. "Well I hope this helps."

The older woman collected a disk from her coffee table before putting it into Chloe's hands. "This contains the footage from the whole week?"

"The week that your Lieutenant asked for, yes."

"Thank you Mrs Anderson, I won't take up any more of your time."

"You're more than welcome. You just be careful with all these perverts around. A badge won't stop them flaunting themselves in front of a pretty young lady."

"Will do, ma'am. Goodbye!" Chloe offered the lady a small smile before the door was closed behind her. Chloe didn't breathe a sigh of relief until she made it to the elevator.

With the DVD Chloe had officially hit pay dirt. She had not only the whole incident from the archer's point of view on tape she also had a full shot of him on camera. She may not have an ID but she was at least able to clear the Green Arrow's name. Looking at the stills she had printed you could clearly see the physical difference in build and height and the drastically different outfits.

As she approached her editor's office she knew that there would be an emerald archer out there somewhere tonight smiling. She knocked on the door and entered.