First Day Heroics

[Green Arrow]

Kryptonite? What the golden gravy does Queen Consolidated need with Kryptonite?

He didn't have the opportunity to contemplate that for more than a split second; Deathstroke's return fire made sure of that. Oliver hated guns. Not for the reasons that Batman did, of course: for Oliver, hatred of the thing that had been used to kill his parents would mean he'd have a deep-seated loathing of lions, and who the hell could be angry at those fluffy haired bastards for just doing their liony thing? Especially not after the Lion King. But no, he hated guns for what they were - noisy, clumsy, and wasteful. Deathstroke didn't have a hope of hitting Oliver from all the way over here, they both knew that; but he fired anyway, filling the air with noise and with lead. Suppression fire. A spectacle to force the Green Arrow to keep his head down. Frustratingly it worked: the spray and pray approach kept Oliver from finding the kind of opening he needed to snap off a decisive shot towards Deathstroke.

As the gun finally fell silent, Oliver chanced a peek out from behind cover, but found himself confronted with an impossible choice. Well, not an impossible choice, but certainly a frustrating one. He watched as the cheerleader hit the floor, overcome by the effects of the Kryptonite. He watched as Deathstroke made his escape, diving off the rooftop and fleeing with the dangerous extraterrestrial mineral that Queen Consolidated badly wanted back in their possession. Part of him knew that the girl would recover; that now the Kryptonite was removed from proximity her health would slowly return. He knew that Deathstroke should be the priority, that if he lost track of that Kryptonite it would come back to bite him - or Superman - in the ass. He knew what Batman would have done in this situation; knew what his priorities would be. Oliver chose the exact opposite.

Firing his grapnel arrow once again, Oliver zipped his way from one rooftop to the other, landing in a practised roll that had him back on his feet in one fluid motion. Kryptonians were solar powered, and this was the dead of night, in smog-covered Gotham. If a stray arrow or a stray impact or anything of the sort had dislodged even the tiniest chip from the Kryptonite sample, that tiny sliver might continue to contaminate the rooftop. Maybe the Kryptonian would regain enough strength to crawl herself away; but if he chased down Deathstroke, he'd never know for sure. The needs of the many were supposed to outweigh the needs of the few, or the one - but Oliver had always hated that stupid Batman, Vulcan, pragmatic logic crap. Sometimes the one was more important. Sometimes the greater good could wait it's own damn term.

He dropped to a knee next to the cheerleader, brushing her hair aside from her forehead, trying his best to get a glimpse of her eyes, checking her over for pupil dilations, perspiration, and all the other signs you learned to look out for when radiation poisoning was a thing you might come across. He clicked the control, disabling the device that made his voice for Kryptonian ears only, and reverted back to his normal, Oliver Queen sound.

"You okay, Blondie?"

[Supergirl]

Kara was still panicking, trying to get up, trying to find some strength, when she felt the a hand on her forehead, and she looked up to see the man in the green hood looking down protectively at her. This was certainly a new feeling for Kara. She was used to Kal being overprotective, even Ma and Pa, but to actually need overprotecting? To actually be weak and in need of real help, she hadn't felt that since her days on Krypton, and even then rarely, when sick or something. Kara didn't exactly go out adventuring as a teenager back home.

"I... I don't know..." She answered weakly to his question, trying to sit up, and having to let him support her. "I've.. I've never felt... anything like that." She said, short on breath, but strengthening a little, able to begin to sit up under her own power, even if she had a splitting headache. "That was Kryptonite, wasn't it?" She said, her voice a mixture of fear and anger.

And then she looked up at the stranger, and realised she should introduce herself.
"I'm... Supergirl. Although you probably guessed that bit."

[Green Arrow]

Supergirl? Really? That was a little bit too on the nose, wasn't it? Okay, so from the look of her this Kryptonian didn't really seem old enough to be Superwoman yet, but come on Kal: if someone is going to be using your brand, at least help them pick out a decent name. Not that Superman was all that great to start with. What next? Superboy? Some kind of Superdog?

"Either that was Kryptonite -" Oliver agreed, glancing back over in the direction of where the case had been shot open, squinting just in case there was any kind of discernible green glow. He'd have to come back with a Geiger counter later, to make sure the roof was safe and secure. Did Kryptonite even emit that kind of detectable radiation? And more importantly, was there any way for him to find that out without needing to be on the receiving end of one of Bruce's I'm surprised you don't know that already lectures. We get it Bruce: you're really good at trivial pursuit. Get over it.

"- or you have an oddly coincidental allergy to the packing foam inside that carry case."

He let that sentiment linger in the air as his brow furrowed into another frown, considering the best course of action. He wondered if this Supergirl knew who he was; whether a reciprocal introduction was even necessary. Probably not, right? After all, he'd helped save the world a few times, and he was kind of a big deal back in Star City. An aspiring young superhero like this had probably done all her homework; new all the greats, all that stuff. Still, it was polite and all. Make her feel like she was being treated as an equal.

"I'm the Green Arrow," he introduced, trying to sound relatively casual about it. Threw in a little bit of a reassuring smile for a minute there, too. "And we should really think about getting you off this roof. Think you can manage on your own, or are you gonna need a helping hand?"

[Supergirl]

Great, he was a funny one. It was odd how Kara happily liked to quip when she was in full hero mode to just about anybody, but now that he was cracking wise at her while she was literally on her back, well, she was considerably less thrilled by it all. Her strength was returning though, even if right now she felt like the world's biggest weakling. The woman of wheat. In actuality, she probably had about human level strength, but after a year of being Supergirl, well, that felt as puny as it came.

She struggled to her feet, wobbling, but able to stand, regretting her heels on her boots since they were suddenly a very bad idea when she felt this feeble and unsteady.
"Hey, I think... Kal mentioned you... once or twice..." She said woozily, putting one weak foot in front of the other. "I'm...okay." She waved him off unsteadily. "Just, give me a moment." She paused for a moment, and looked like she was straining upwards. There was no feeling of her feet leaving the ground, of her body weight fading away as she took flight. Nothing happened. It seemed like flying was off the cards for the moment. "......Okay, uh, I think I'd better walk." She said uneasily.

"Uh, how do you get down from the roof when you can't fly?" She asked, unsure how any of the mortal heroes actually managed it.

[Green Arrow]

It was one of those questions that sounded stupid, until you actually tried to answer it. There were fire escapes, and there were access doors that led down into the buildings, but those were loud and clanky, and if anyone managed to peek out of their window or into the hallway they'd get the mystifying sight of two costumed vigilantes tromping down the corridor. Then there was the jumping option, springing yourself off walls and other surfaces to bounce your way towards ground level. None of those things seemed to really fit with Supergirl; not in her current condition, anyway. And while sure, get her far enough away from any lingering Kryptonite radiation and she'd probably be right as rain in a matter of seconds, he wasn't entirely confident that she'd be able to leap off a building without face planting on the ground; and best case scenario that would lead to a conversation that Oliver did not want to wind up having with her cousin.

That left only one option, which wasn't really all that much better on the cousin Supes perspective. Fighting the urge to let his shoulders slump or roll his eyes, Oliver turned away, beckoning for her to follow him to the edge of the roof. As she came close enough, he unclipped the crossbow from his belt, and swiftly wrapped an arm around her waist. "Grab on tight," he muttered as he raised the crossbow and fired, a microfilament cable spooling out as the projectile raced off into the night. Snagging against a protruding chunk of masonry on the building opposite, Oliver felt the cable begin to go taught as the mechanism started to reel him back in. Shoulder straining against it, he jumped, swinging out into the alley below with the acrobatic grace of a Flying Grayson.

The arm around Supergirl's middle made sure that Oliver's boots hit the pavement first, before gently lowering her onto her precariously stable feet. He hesitated for a moment before he released her, trying - possibly failing - to find that sweet spot between recoiling away too fast, and holding on a little too long. That was a whole can of worms that he wanted to keep a safe distance from; Oliver Queen and blondes was a messy combination, and now was not the time to risk tempting fate so brazenly.

"You doing okay?" he asked, trying to sound appropriately concerned, but at the same time casual enough that Supergirl could shrug off the question and not feel bad about it. "You should probably get home and rest. I don't know that much about how you Kryptonians work, but I'm guessing a little sunlight is what you need about now, and that isn't going to show up any time soon."