Chapter 1

Kara Zor-El

Kara Danvers felt her nose crinkle in concentration as she listened, seated on the edge of a random roof in Star City, her legs dangling off the side. She listened beyond the cars driving by, past the conversations at the dinner table, past the directions being given to cabbies. To be quite honest, she didn't know for whom she was listening: the Emerald Archer with the gravelly voice, or the pretty-faced mayor who spoke with a persuasion-laced voice. She had yet to actually meet the mayoral version of Oliver Queen, but their mutual friend, Barry Allen, had told her enough.

The thing about Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, and herself was that they weren't exactly normal. In fact it could be argued that Kara was the least normal of them all. The three of them lead two lives, one as a normal citizen, and the other as heroes; protectors of the innocent, and professional butt-kickers of bad guys. By night, Oliver donned the green leather of the Green Arrow, Barry became the Flash, and Kara became Supergirl. Both Kara and Barry had been drawn to this life by their circumstances. A few years ago, Barry had been struck by lightning at the same time as a particle accelerator explosion, and became the fastest man alive. Kara had something of a different story. When Kara was young, her home planet of Krypton had exploded, killing everyone with the exception of her and her baby cousin, Kal-El, known on earth as Clark Kent, or Superman. Kara had been sent to protect Kal-El, but her pod was knocked off course and by the time she reached earth, Kal-El had already grown up and become Superman. On this planet, the yellow sun gave Kara and her cousin incredible powers, such as super strength, speed (yet annoyingly not as much as Barry, which he never let her forget), flight, invulnerability, heat and x-ray vision, super-hearing, and freeze breath. All of these things had lead Kara to becoming a hero. They had been given these incredible gifts, and the ability to save people, and so that is what they did.

Oliver, however, was different. While Barry and Kara had both experienced tragedy, Oliver was completely forged by it. Oliver lived in a world with more shades of grey than Kara and Barry did. And, most importantly, Oliver was completely human, void of any superpowers. Oliver had been forced into a hellish situation, pulling him out of his lavish, playboy life, and forging his body into a weapon. Being at peak human physical condition, Oliver was able to fight alongside those with powers as though he had his own. At least, that was what Barry had told her, and that was the reason she had come to him.

As Kara listened, she idly wondered for what felt like the thousandth time if she was making the right decision. She had traveled a long way (a parallel dimension, where she was from) to ask Oliver for a favor. However, she wouldn't classify them as friends. Honestly, Kara would have loved to be friends with Oliver, the disconnect wasn't from her side of things, but Oliver was…. Hard to read and stoic. Sure they had saved the world together, and he had apologized for being cold to her but there was still something withdrawn about him.

Despite this, Kara was optimistic that she could reach out to him. She was just worried that they would get the chance to understand each other. Barry had warned Kara that Oliver could be stubborn, and that he liked to keep his team separate from others. Barry theorized that Oliver didn't want others to get in the way of him doing what he needed to do. Kara secretly mused about Oliver distancing himself, guessing that there was more to the story than the horrors of Star City. Star City, where Oliver lived, was grittier than Barry's Central City or Kara's National City. Kara had gotten a taste last time she visited Earth-1 (Where Oliver and Barry lived), but it was only a brief visit to help get a piece of technology. She couldn't imagine that it was bad enough to warrant the extremes that Oliver went to.

Distant gunshots pulled Kara out of her reverie. She jolted to her feet, instinctively grabbing at the buttons of her Oxford when she hesitated. This was Oliver's city; he might not take too kindly to people interfering. With a shake of her head, Kara dismissed this idea. Someone was in danger; Oliver would surely understand why she interfered. Faster than the eye could see, Kara was out of her casual clothes, and was flying off the in a flash of red and blue.

Kara couldn't help but smile at the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair. She loved flying-she couldn't fathom how she lived so long without it before she was Supergirl. The feeling of freedom was unparalleled, especially after being trapped in her pod and, even worse, her own skin when she was still hiding her powers. It was hard for Kara to willingly remember the time before she was Supergirl. She had been terrified of her own abilities, she felt helpless despite her immense power. To this day, Kara struggled when forced to be powerless, and found herself with shortness of breath when stuck in enclosed spaces. It was a silly fear, but one that plagued her nonetheless.

Kara once again shook the distractions from her mind as she landed outside of a warehouse. From what she could tell, this is where the shots originated. She threw her shoulders backs, proudly brandishing the symbol she wore on her chest, the symbol that meant to her what she had come to mean to the world: hope.

Kara channeled that hope as she threw open the doors to the warehouse, schooling her face into its fiercest look.

"Sorry, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere," she quipped, taking in the scene before her.

Oliver Queen

Well this night had taken a turn.

It was supposed to be just a patrol night. He had even given Curtis, Renee, Dinah, Dig, and Felicity the night off. Oliver sighed internally at his list of partners. It was growing too long; it had been growing too long for a while now. Oliver absently wondered when his mission to save his city turned into vigilante school.

Oliver turned his attention back to the task at hand. He counted three gunmen with remarkable aim, and one sniper in the rafters. Three hostages sat tied back to back in the middle, a family by the looks of it. Two young parents, and a young boy. Oliver took aim at the sniper, who would have to be taken out first. If he took the sniper out last, Oliver ran the risk of getting shot, or worse, the hostages getting shot.

That was when shit went sideways. The last person Oliver expected to see entered the warehouse. The exception being, perhaps, some of the people Oliver had killed. The fact that Oliver wouldn't be surprised to see some of the people he killed was indicative of how twisted his life had become.

Oliver watched as Supergirl strolled in leisurely, whipping out some unnecessary quip that Barry or Felicity would have appreciated. Before he could process what happened, Kara had taken out the three gunmen. She began to walk towards the hostages, and Oliver could see what was about to happen before she had taken two steps. Kara was completely oblivious to the sniper, and he pulled the trigger only moments after Oliver released the grappling arrow. The bullet hit Kara, harmlessly bouncing off of her abdomen, and headed directly toward the kid. Of course it would be the kid. Oliver tensed as he swung directly in the trajectory of the bullet, wincing as it pierced his arm. He released his grip and fell into a summersault, landing in a squat, primed to jump if needed.

"Ol-Arrow!" Supergirl said, catching herself before revealing her identity.

"Supergirl. I wasn't expecting you here" he replied tersely, as he stiffened into a stand. Oliver wiped the blood that was pooling on his arm, wincing and headed towards the hostages. Dig was gonna have to stitch his arm, and he would never hear the end of it.

He took out a flechette and began cutting the hostages ropes.

Kara stood there, her mouth in a dopey "o" shape. By the time she came to her senses, the kid was freed, and Oliver was starting to work on the parents.

"You're bleeding!" Kara exclaimed, rushing towards his hurt arm.

"Yes. You didn't see the sniper," he said with forced patience.

Kara puffed out her chest and attempted to defend herself, "I mean, I got three of the bad guys so that's not too bad."

Oliver gritted his teeth, holding back a reprimand on her carelessness. She had almost gotten a child killed.

"We can talk about this later," he finished cutting the ropes on the parents and stood up, turning away from Kara to look at them."Are you alright?"

The parents looked at each other, both seemingly wordless.

Oliver sighed, and squatted next to the kid, who had pulled his knees to his chest.

"Hi, are you alright?"

The kid nodded.

"Do you know why they took you?"

The kid sniffed and swallowed, looking up at Oliver, "My Grandpa owns a lot of hotels. I'm his favorite grandson."

Oliver closed his eyes. Of course it was about money. "It's going to be alright. I want you to take one of the bad guy's phones and call the police. Can you do that?"

The kid nodded, and Oliver went to stand up. Before he could, the kid grabbed the leather of his uniform. Oliver pivoted back towards the child, still in a squat, and stiffened as small arms wrapped around his neck. Kara smiled as she saw the Green Arrow hesitantly return the hug.

After the moment, the child released Oliver, and turned back into the crook of his mother's arms.

Oliver turned towards Kara, "They should be okay. I know of the family, they are strong."

"Ok, I hope so. Well… Hi!" Kara exclaimed opening her arms and going in for a hug. Before she got within a yard of Oliver, he took a step back. Kara shook the rejection off, saying "We worked so well together! I love team-ups!"

"It's not a team up, " Oliver said simply, "We can discuss why you are here back at the lair." He loosed another grappling arrow, but before he flew up his conscience got the better of him. "Welcome back to Earth-1, and hello to you too."

Without another word, Oliver allowed himself to be pulled into the sky, and he disappeared into the night.

Kara watched him disappear, smiling slightly. She turned towards the hostages, all of whom were staring at her with wide eyes.

"He's cool, isn't he?" she smiled, and flew into the night after Oliver.