Green Light District

[Green Lantern]

The gap was closed with little hesitation, and Hal grasped the offered hand with a firm, but not crushing grip, and a good pump of a shake. "Likewise, Arrow," he nodded.

There, formalities out of the way, and things were already feeling better. "Star City, huh? I've been there a few times. Even when it was still called Starling, too. I've... kinda been around."

It was Hal's turn to study costume, and he did so with an appreciative nod. Leather, kevlar, hints of Dragonscale under some of it, according to how it moved. Nylon, vinyl, and at least another material or two, with bits and bobs practically everywhere. "Hell of a suit, you've got there. And, from what I've seen, guessing your specialty is the bow? Never was much good with one of those, myself." He glanced back at the area, making sure the thugs were still out of commission.

"So, how long does it usually take for the police to show up? I wasn't trying to cut and run, earlier, but, there seriously is somewhere I need to be."

[Green Arrow]

"For something like this?"

Oliver frowned, as if he didn't already have the response times more or less memorised. For all his talk about rules and responsibility, he didn't exactly like hanging around for the GCPD. In Star City it was different. Everyone loved him there. He knew most of the detectives and the senior responders by name. Knew to ask them about their families and loved ones. But here? In Gotham, if you weren't the Batman, you were a disappointing consolation. No one was rude or ungrateful or anything like that, but you could tell that when they stepped out of their cars and didn't see the Dark Knight looming in the shadows, they were a bit bummed out. Hero worship in the extreme, that. At least he hadn't put any arrows actually in people this time. That usually made them a bit iffy around him.

"Gunshots were involved, so that ups the priority - but it's not crazed psychopaths with machine guns robbing a bank or a jewellery store, so probably not by that much. No one's bleeding out so there's no ambulance rush-job, but I saw a squad car roll by on patrol a few streets over while I was up on the rooftops. Probably shouldn't be more than three or four minutes now. The GCPD aren't incompetent: they're just under paid, under equipped, and under staffed."

He lifted up his bow, shifting it a little in his hands as he contemplated the rest of the Lantern's questions. "And yeah, archery is kind of my thing. What gave it away? The bow? The quiver of arrows? The name?"

A slight hint of a joking smile tugged at the scruff of beard beneath Oliver's hood. "It's the name, isn't it? Damn it, I knew I should have arbitrarily named myself after an animal or something instead."

[Green Lantern]

"Then you'd be, what, the Green Llama? Green Honey Badger?" Hal chuckled. "I'd stick with arrow. Good ring to it."

Three or four more minutes? That wouldn't be so bad, he imagined. If this Green Arrow had said three or four hours, on the other hand, Hal doubted he'd stick around that long. Belly empty, and his groin still aching from the other vigilante's low blow, Hal pondered ways to get attention, when suddenly it struck him. Glancing up at the sky, the clouds had rolled in low and thick, as was usual for Gotham. The news and papers loved to post photographs of Batman's famous calling card, the Bat-Signal, and if that was enough to get the attention of a vampire, Hal imagined that regular police would come running if something else was shone up, for them.

Backing a step away, the Green Lantern continued to look up, a halo of green energy surrounding his right hand as he pulled his fingers back into a loose fist. "Let's see if we can speed things up a bit, shall we?" he said with a smirk.

Lifting his ring-hand to the sky, a beam of pure energy shot forth from his ring, piercing the clouds. Fist tightening, Hal focused harder, the humor washing away from his face as he concentrated. The beam slowly widened into a long, transparent cone, until at last he'd sorted it out. Upon the surface of the clouds there was a projection of the Green Lantern symbol, in the approximate size of the Bat-Signal image, the light from his ring forming a sort of vertical beacon for anyone to see, for miles around, leading them to his exact location. After fifteen seconds or so, a better thought occurred to Hal, and the Lantern insignia shifted into a police badge. He was calling the cops, after all, not attempting to summon himself.

[Green Arrow]

Good ring to it?

Oliver started to wonder if a pun that terrible came naturally, or if this Green Lantern had sat down and shortlisted a selection of good - well, "good" - ones to work from before he'd even stepped out of the house in that spangly outfit. He didn't get much of an opportunity to dwell on that notion, though: not before Lantern started performing his magical little light show. Initially it had seemed like the guy was attempting to void something from his bowels - which seemed unwise, particularly in that tight an outfit - but no, apparently it was just intense concentration.

The Arrow wrinkled his nose as he peered up at the, what, Lantern Signal? Lamp Signal? The Cop Signal that it shifted itself into? His arms folded across his chest: not an easy feat for a man holding a bow, but one that Oliver had invested a decent amount of time in practising, for situations exactly like this.

Show off.

"Oh sure," he muttered with a sidelong glance, and enough of a mirthful edge to make it clear that his words were in jest. "You're not after fame or attention at all."

[Green Lantern]

"You want to be standing out here, all night?" Hal quipped back. "Not me, I've got work, in the morning."

His eyes would only occasionally glance away from his projection, and when they did, the image would begin to deteriorate or distort, until he focused upon it once more. Dust, soot and smog rippled and sparkled through his beam of light, making it appear even more luminous. In the distance, a siren's wail could be heard, growing closer and closer, until the strobing red and blue of a patrol car's lights illuminated the block around the corner, then rounded it into the alley. Hal squinted into the intense light of their spotlight, and only then did his projection cease, vanishing quickly into nothingness as he raised his hand to shield his eyes.

"Mind if I let you take the lead, here? Not sure what sort of protocol, you guys operate under," he called back to the Green Arrow.

[Green Arrow]

"Sure," Ollie replied, rolling his shoulders and cricking his neck as he limbered up for the dance to come with the first responders. "Just stand there and -"

- look cool was how that sentence ended, but a glance back at Green Lantern with his questionable pyjamas and gloves combination made him reconsider that instruction a little. Oliver's fingers shifted on the grip of his bow, triggering a brief wireless signal - he'd wanted to call it greentooth, but his sidekicks had veto'd that - to the vocal distorter already positioned against his throat. The Arrow's voice dropped a few tones lower.

"Just stand there," he corrected, turning away from the Lantern. "I know how to stay on their good side."

At least, under normal circumstances he did. Oliver forced himself not to react physically as he recognised the police officer stepping out from behind the flood of light, hand already on his pistol. Not exactly his number one fan. "Officer Bennett," he offered in as polite a tone as he could manage to muster.

"Quite the mess you've made," Bennett observed, peering first at the bullet-punctured van, and then down at the bola'd perp on the ground beside him before offering a facial shrug and stepping over towards the Arrow. A small sigh escaped him, tiredness pretty evident across his features. "Still, I suppose no one's hurt who didn't deserve it." He looked around, inspecting the immediate vicinity. "The 911 call said a 'gang'. These two all you and, uh -" He leaned to the side slightly, peering past Oliver to give the Lantern a once over. "- Little John managed to collar?"

Oliver kept his tongue carefully under control. Why the universe was deciding to make life difficult by sending the worst possible example of the GCPD 'playing nice' he didn't know, but he was sure there were some Lords of Chaos out there cackling away at his expense. "This is the Green Lantern. He's from out of town as well. Kindly agreed to lend a hand."

The way Bennett's eyebrows shifted, and the almost silent "Ah," that escaped him underscored just how happy he was about more out of towners coming into Gotham and upsetting the fragile balance between the GCPD and the Bat.

"There are two more in the dumpster, and -"

Oliver halted, glancing back in Green Lantern's direction.

"- what happened to number five?"

[Green Lantern]

"Oh, he's over here," Hal replied. He took a few steps backwards and pointed to the other side of the van, the side with the large dent, and the very unconscious man lying beneath it.

"Suppose I ought to release the other two, for you. Kinda twisted an iron bar over the lid," he said with a smirk.

Projecting an image, or creating a power blast were difficult, and required immense amounts of concentration, for Hal. But to manipulate something physically seemed far easier. A pair of green gloves appeared over his white ones, and he gripped the bar once he reached the dumpster. The groan and shriek of twisting metal followed, until the bar was freed and clattered into the concrete below. Heaving the lid up, Hal grinned at the two men within. "Wakey wakey, boys, rise and shine. You're getting an all-expenses-paid trip to the police station!" His voice was far too cheerful for any of Gotham's typical vigilantes, and as he led his two captives back to the waiting squad car, he carried a plastic bag in one hand.

"One Glock 19, One Beretta M-9. The Beretta is likely stolen, as it's genuine military issue," he announced, holding the bag out to officer Bennett. "Was going to destroy them, but figured you'd want them intact for forensic analysis. See if it can match these two to any other crimes, and the like."

[Green Arrow]

Oliver and Officer Bennett exchanged a look. Bennett's eyebrows asked metal bar?, Oliver's shoulders just offered a non-committal shrug. The Arrow filed away the information that the Lantern had provided for later reference; familiar with guns, then. Ex military maybe; or maybe just a gun enthusiast. Might be useful to know if things went south; a few databases to start searching through if he ever needed to decipher this guy's ID. For now though, Green Lantern found himself protected by the sacred domino code: no hero or vigilante shall attempt to work out the secret identity of another, no matter how pitifully ineffective their little domino mask is at hiding who they are.

"Maybe I should be writing this down," Bennett muttered with a scowl. "You got a special pen arrow in that quiver a' yours, Tights?"

Oliver didn't flinch at the Officer's mild attempt at an insult. Bennett earned points for effort, but his limited cult knowledge left him with a pool of Robin Hood references that was somewhat lacking. The few cases they'd crossed paths on thus far had already seemed to have depleted most of it, the Officer falling back on the same handful of favourites.

"You might want to run the plates on the van back there. One of these boys decided to get a little trigger happy; the owner deserves to be informed."

Bennett offered a tight smile. "Just bullet holes, I hope. No arrows?" He shook his head and sighed, a hand scrubbing at his face again before falling into place on his hips. There was a long and lingering moment as Bennett's resolve wrestled with itself, once more scrutinising the crime scene. "Still," he managed to say at last, "Looks like the only victims in all this are a few shaken nerves and Gotham's insurance industry. Guess we've got you boys to thank for that."

The words didn't quite convey it, but the tone got the meaning across: the same genuine but reluctant gratitude that most of the GCPD felt; appreciative of the assist, but still wishing it didn't have to come to this grudging acceptance of whatever help they could get.

"Green... Lantern, was it?" Bennett continued, backing up his sentiment with extra effort to make sure he got the name correct. "So, what's your deal? Strong enough to bend steel bars, something like that?"

[Green Lantern]

"Something like that," Hal replied with a smile and nod. "That one was actually iron, not steel, though." The looks he received telegraphed the message of not helping loud and clear. Not having pockets to thrust his hands into, Hal found himself folding his arms over his chest and shrugging. "Just doing what I can to help, is all."

Glancing from the vigilante to the police officer, Hal wasn't sure what to do next. He could offer to try and haul some of these thugs into the police car, but that might breach some sort of line of trust, or complicate things in some legal manner he didn't understand. So, there he stood, until the silence got awkward enough for him to clear his throat and simply ask the obvious. "So... you guys good, here? Am I free to go?"

[Green Arrow]

"Oh, I'm sorry, you got some kind of hot date with Maid Marian that you're in a hurry to get to?"

Oliver didn't know where to start rebutting that little comment from the Officer. The constant Robin Hood references we one thing, but you couldn't just go mixing them up like that. You don't turn to Little John and ask him if he's off to go get frisky with Maid Marian. This was Robin Hood, not King Arthur, the right hand man doesn't end up boning the protagonists -

He forced that frustration aside, burying it deep. On the scale of his priorities this evening, Bennett's shameful knowledge of British folklore wasn't worth another second of consideration. Well, not now at least. Oliver could consider it all he wanted tomorrow, while he was searching Gotham's media stores for a copy of each and every Robin Hood movie known to mankind to deliver to Officer Bennett in a passive-aggressive display of gift-giving.

Returning his mind to the now, Oliver fought the urge to sigh. His head inclined slightly instead, eyes glancing in Green Lantern's direction. This impatience was going to be a problem. Oliver was half tempted to lure the guy into an encounter with Batman, and see how long it took for the Dark Knight to punch the guy out for talking too much. That was an evening of Bruce frustration that Oliver would pay good money to see.

"Thanks for sticking around, Lantern," he answered. At least he had stayed, even if it was with the attention deficit impatience of a fidgeting child. "I'll finish filling in Officer Bennett on the rest. Try and stay out of trouble."

[Green Lantern]

"You too, pal," Hal replied with a smile. Oh, please let this work, please let this work, please let this work. Unfolding his arms, Hal took a step back and half-stepped, half-jumped up into the air. With a mental sigh of relief, he did not come back down, instead feeling the familiar warmth of the green glow surround him as he ascended into the sky, executing the perfect flight out of the crime scene, and bid a hasty corner over the edge of a building, out of sight.

Almost immediately he dropped back to the earth in a back alley, stumbling keep his balance. Unaided flight felt amazing, but it was still tricky as hell to manage, and it was with a quick glance that he looked around, ensuring there would be no witnesses as his costume faded away back into street clothes, and the Green Lantern became Hal Jordan once more. A very hungry Hal Jordan, at that.

Groceries. I set down my bags of groceries over there on that... A heavy stomp smacked against the grimy pavement of the alley floor. In the time it had taken to stop the robbery and wait for the cops, someone had found his bags of groceries tucked back on their hiding place, and all that remained were a few plastic bags, and a receipt. You have got to be kidding me. Who the hell steals groceries? It was a useless question; this was Gotham, people stole everything, and by now the store would be closed. Running a hand through his hair, Hal thought of other options, then checked his watch. If he legged it to some fast food, he'd not only be up too late for a decent night's sleep, he'd also feel sick in the morning. Sick and tired was not a good way to start your new job, especially as a pilot. No, hungry and rested would be better. At least he still had the remains of a jar of peanut butter, back in his apartment. Wouldn't be the worst dinner he'd ever had.