Hi everybody!

I know, I really shouldn't be starting another long fic... considering the many I still haven't finished.
But I've been busy over the past year, moving in with my boyfriend in our own house, starting a new job, ...

This plot-bunny though... I couldn't shake it, it kept running through my thoughts and my dreams.
So what better way than to write it down, and see where it takes me this time..

Let's all hope to the finish-line.

Also, I'm gifting this fic to thatmasqued girl, for always keeping me entertained, and because I sort of stole her intro...

Prologue: The New Girl In Town

It was a dark and chilly night, not unusual for Starling City in February. The sky was ink-black and the moon nowhere to be seen. It had rained off and on for most of the week, letting up for only a couple of hours at a time and even then, the clouds looked heavy. The dreary weather had left its mark on the city, especially in the less prosperous parts of it.

Water from the busted rain pipes dripped down the walls lining the streets and alleyways of the Glades. It pooled in the potholes that were scattered throughout the asphalt, providing ample resources for the mice and rats that made the streets their home.

The people who were unlucky enough to be out – not that there were many - were all decked in heavy raincoats and hidden underneath umbrellas or hiding away in doorways and alcoves. All, except two.

The first one had been a fixed value on the rooftops of the Glades for the past few years. The silhouette of a broad-shouldered man with a hood covering his head and a bow sticking out proudly behind his back, was something that brought out a lot of different emotions in the people of the Glades.

There were those who applauded him, worshipped him like a hero even though he never claimed to be one. They were thankful to their emerald protector, who kept their streets relatively safe and their children on a straight path. Those were the people who had nothing to fear, when it came to the Archer. The ones who just tried to live their life the best way they could, with what little means they had.

The ones who cursed him, who whispered his name with equal parts hate and horror, where the ones who rightfully feared him. The bottom-of-your-shoe scum that peddled drugs, guns and people like it were girls scout cookies. The ones who preyed on the innocent and the weakened and terrorized the streets of the City like it was their right. They had slowly but surely begun to realize it wasn't.

Besides those two very differently opinionated groups, there was one more whose attitude towards the resident vigilante was a little more muddled. The cops patrolling the streets of the Glades at night, often with fear for their lives, were glad for the assistance and they welcomed the prospect of returning home unscathed to their loved ones every time. The brass back at police HQ where less enamored by Starling City's Green Arrow, publicly because he was circumventing the law and the judicial system and being his own judge and jury, but secretly because it was difficult to be on the take while somebody eliminated every source of alternative income.

But, while the opinions about the Green Arrow were plentiful, everybody seemed to have accepted it. He'd been running the streets for about two years, and he was just as much part of Starling City as the Queen Tower and the Starling City Rockets now. Vendors even sold Green Arrow t-shirts and coffee-mugs with his silhouette printed on it.

The other figure braving the night without ample protection from the elements, was a petite redheaded female. Her footsteps echoed into the night, the clack-clack-clacking of her high heels giving away a hurried pace. The outfit she was wearing wouldn't have been out of place in one of the many trendy nightclubs that were scattered around the outskirts of the Glades, but didn't provide her much against the weather, or the unsavory elements that hid away in nooks and crannies.

The black leather pants she was wearing was skin-tight, highlighting every smooth curve and leaving little to the imagination. Her snug fitting black leather hooded vest was zipped open, revealing a velvet black-and-white spotted top that was scrunched up at her left waist. The hood from her coat was pulled up, covering most of her face, probably to offer what little it could in rain protection, and her hands were tucked deep into her jacket pockets.

The alley she was currently ambling through was narrow, dark and seemingly empty, the only working streetlight some fifty feet in front of her, at the mouth of the alley. The little pool of light directly beneath it, somehow made the rest of the street even darker and more ominous.

The sudden raunchy exclamations coming from a doorway at the beginning of the alley would have caused most – sane – young woman to pick up their pace, but seemed to have the opposite effect on the mystery redhead. Her footsteps slowed down, going from a brisk walk to a leisurely stroll.

The change in footsteps and the fact that she was nearing a fairly unsavory crowd, piqued the interest of the Archer, who had been keeping watch over her ever since he'd spotted her. He crouched down on the rooftop opposite the group of men, and nocked one of his arrows, just in case.

It didn't take long for the men to notice the woman, and it took even less for them to direct their lewd comments and wolf whistles towards her.

"Hey baby, that outfit would look a lot better on my floor."

"Do you like heavy metal? 'Cause I can teach you how to scream!"

"How 'bout you bring that sweet ass over here and I'll show you a real good time."

Instead of walking on, like any girl with even the least bit of self-preservation instinct would, she actually stops in front of the men, cocking her head to the side, as if she's studying them.

"A good time, hu? Well, you look exactly like the kind of guy who could really do that." She moves a little closer towards the threesome. "Say, one of you isn't T-Bone, by any chance?" She asks, her voice laced with an edge of worship.

The archer re-sheaths his arrow and turns to walk away. A girl like that, walking headfirst into an obviously dangerous situation isn't a priority. He'd hate to see her get hurt, but girls who kick on types like those guys, well… they usually aren't the ones that need saving.

As he's stepping away from the edge, he can still hear the conversation going on below.

"Yeah baby, T-Bone, that's me. And if you come a little closer, I'll show you exactly how I earned that name."

"Well, finally, I've been looking for you for a while now." She replies.

"Oh lady, if I'd know you've been looking for me, I would have come to meet you sooner."

He can hear her heels click, indicating the steps she took, no doubt to get closer. As he's getting ready to drop onto another rooftop, he hears sounds he's not expecting. There's a distinct 'swoosh', 2 soft popping noises and a loud crack, making him turn around instantly.

The scene on the street has changed dramatically in the minute it took him to move positions. The girl, who he figured was just another gangster-chaser is standing face-to-face with the guy that he assumes is T-Bone, a silvery bo staff in attack position behind her left arm. His two companions are down, one completely unconscious and the other crumpled on the filthy ground, holding his hand over a furiously bleeding cut on his skull.

The gangbanger looks furious, shooting the woman daggers with his eyes. He drops down into a crouch, obviously preparing to counterattack. "Big mistake, bitch!" he growls at her, before he leaps forward.

The archer can tell the attack is going to go sideways almost before the man moves. He's too low to the ground, aiming to grab the girl's legs and throw her off balance. As a result, his back is unprotected, and as she sidesteps his lunge quickly, she slams her staff down onto the man's exposed back. She hits him with the left end of her staff, and before he's even had the chance to blink, her staff connects with his back again, this time with the right side.

Even though the hits must hurt, something the Arrow can say from experience, T-Bone crawls back up and sinks back into attack mode, this time with his fists up. "You're gonna pay for that, bitch. I'm going to enjoy knocking you down, and then I think I'll take you home, see how long it takes until that feistiness is eradicated."

She doesn't reply, choosing to instead take her own attack stance. She's moved her staff to her other hand, pointing her hand back behind her body, the end of the staff pointing upwards over her head. There's a moment where they both do nothing, before T-Bone flies at her again. He starts throwing punches way before he's in range, so eager to draw blood, and it leaves him with a balance problem once again. She takes two steps back, one for each swing and then her staff swings in motion once again. She whips it forward, twirls it over her head and down toward the man's feet. The weapon connects with T-Bone's left ankle and he gets swiped down.

Before he gets the chance to get back up, the woman places a high-heeled boot on his chest and aims her bo staff at his throat.

"Wow, you were right," she says, barely sounding out of breath, "you really do know how to show a girl a good time. But, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this little get-together short. I've got places to go and… you know what, the rest is really none of your business." She shakes her head slightly, as if to shake out unwanted thoughts and continues, "I don't usually do plagiarism, but I'm sure the Green Arrow wouldn't mind if I borrowed his catchphrase, just this once. Okay, here it goes. T-Bone, You. Have. Failed. This. City!" She tries to growl the last words, but her voice, so silvery and sweet doesn't go that deep.

"Oh, wow, that was really cool. Not growly enough, sure, but I think I can work on that. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, T-Bone, you really are worse than the amoeba that lives on the flee that lives on the rats that crawl around here, and since there's nobody doing anything about it, I figured I'd do it."

She finally stops talking, and the Arrow kind of wonders how such a tiny person could have that much lung capacity.

T-Bone, while still pinned on the ground by her foot, isn't much impressed by her speech though. "Bitch, you don't know what you're talking about. They won't arrest me, and even if they do, they don't have the evidence to keep me locked up. I'll be back out in no time, and I'll come for you, you can bet on that." He tries to spit at her, but considering his position, mostly just spits on himself.

"Well, that's where your wrong, mister Bone. You know what, I'll just go ahead and call you T. You should say, they don't have any evidence yet. She grabs something behind her back under her jacket, and pulls out a manila envelope. "In this little file, they'll find all the evidence they need to lock you up indefinitely."

Sirens start wailing in the distance, slowly moving closer. She cocks her head again, trying to gage how much time she still has. "That sounds like my cue, so I'm just going to go now. Be a peach though, and tell the guys Oracle said 'hi'."

With that, she removes her foot from his chest, turns around and whacks him in the head with the bo staff, effectively knocking him out. She takes out a few sets of flex-cuffs and attaches all three men to the drainpipe on the wall. Then she brings the envelope to her face seemingly kissing it, before dropping it onto T-Bone's unconscious body.

After making sure the restraints will hold, she looks up towards the exact spot the Archer is hidden, winks and runs towards the entrance of the alley, before disappearing into the night.

He's to stunned to do anything but stare at the spot she was just in, and when he snaps out of it, she's gone. Curious as to what she did with the envelope, he drops down to street level to check it out and can't help the grin that spreads across his face when he sees it.

You can find the envelope that makes Green Arrow grin on my Flickr account, as well as the moodboard I used for this chapter (mainly her clothes). I'm also ExcellentlyEllen over there, so go check it out!