Green Is Not My Colour!

[Supergirl]

Kara soared gently through the air over Gotham city, the wind lightly tugging at her cape as she adjusted her red skirt. Slightly lengthier than the last one she had been wearing, and tonight her top had no exposed mid-riff. The first day at the new school and all the comments from the spoiled rich brats had made her self conscious, so she'd gone for one of her more conservative costumes. (Unlike her cousin, Kara saw no reason to stick to just one costume after all. She was a teenage girl and a superhero! She was always coming up with new looks).

She was also desperately looking to let off some steam. So it was incredibly frustrating that tonight of all nights, it seemed Gotham was surprisingly quiet. She'd stopped the odd mugging, but that was about it. Where was the real crime? The excitement? She needed things that were a job for Supergirl! She was bored and frustrated. She didn't fit in at her new school, her only friend was the class geek, Wally West, and she missed Smallville after how the rich city brats acted. She missed Smallville. Things had to be dire when she was homesick for the farm town. Sure, she could just fly there if she wanted, but she had to try and get on with living away. She'd phoned Ma and Pa Kent though to let them know she was okay. She hoped they hadn't been able to tell in her voice how much she was missing them.

And then something caught her eye. A flash of green. Something... new. And different. A smile crossed her face. She wasn't sure what it was, but it had to be worth checking out. Maybe she'd found her distraction after all.

She shot off, towards the source, cape swirling behind her...

[Green Lantern]

Focus. Focus and restraint. Focus, restraint, and damn it, this was harder than he thought. Picking himself up from the rubble of a semi-demolished, abandoned apartment building, Hal Jordan dusted himself off and took a deep breath to vent his frustration. Flight was easy, he told himself. He'd been flying since he was sixteen. Prop planes, helicopters, jets, and eventually military fighter jets and experimental aircraft. He should be able to do this, no problem.

But, every time he cleared a hundred feet, it didn't feel right, and that minor lapse in concentration was all it would take to send himself hurtling down toward the earth once more. Somehow, the power of the ring was keeping him safe - or he was getting incredibly lucky.

"Damn Superman makes it look so easy," Hal grumbled. If the alien who had given him the magic ring had come to Earth, surely that meant that the ring could sustain flight, right? It had to. It simply had to. Fists balling, ring pressed tight against its adjoining fingers, the masked man closed his eyes and focused, visualizing himself lifting from the ground and floating up, up, up into the sky.

When at last he opened them, he was doing it, hovering a grand three feet above the rubble of the floor. Little higher. Little higher. So weird, not having inertia in flight... His right hand trembled, so clenched was his fist, but with effort he continued to rise, and he turned his gaze skyward. Wonder what all else is out there.

Without warning, Hal found himself not only accelerating, but practically hurtling skyward, vastly outstripping his previous highs. Oh crud. Behind him trailed a streak of green light as he could feel the power of the ring enveloping him, protecting his ears from what had to be a sonic boom as he shattered the sound barrier over Gotham. Yowza, that's loud! Is it always that loud? He found himself contemplating an event he had grown to take for granted while cocooned in the safety of the cockpit of a fighter jet. Up and up he continued, and the higher he climbed, the easier it seemed to get. Okay, let's level off, see what kind of G's I can pull through some turns.

Immediately his ascent halted, concentration broken, and instead of a graceful, controlled arc, Hal Jordan found himself suddenly hurtling earthward. Damn you, Superman. You make it look easy on purpose, don't you.

[Supergirl]

Holy Zod, he was fast. She heard the sonic boom as the streak of green light shot past her, and Kara had to spin around and fly after him as fast as she could. Kara could go that fast too, but it took effort and concentration (her cousin, of course, found it effortless). Sort of like running at full speed. Not something you'd want to for any extended period of time. It was the sprinting of the flying world. Still, she managed to close the gap between them just in time as she saw the figure in green falling out of the air. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she wouldn't be much of a Supergirl if she let him go splat on the ground, and so she threw herself downwards, keeping up her speed to fly beneath him, and caught him, lifting him back up in to the air.

Thanks to her super strength, holding him was easy, but Kara's frame was so small and petite compared to the larger man it was more than a little awkward, both of her skinny arms wrapped around under his armpits, hugging him to her, meaning that the mysterious man would find himself literally hugged by a strange young blonde girl. She lowered him down and released him on a rooftop below, before floating away and landing some distance from him.
"Wow, you're lucky I caught y-" She was beginning to say before she took in the uniform, and her eyes went wide. "Ohmigod! You're a Green Lantern!" She exclaimed, suddenly full of excitement, her eyes shining as she practically bounced up and down. She ran over and gave him a hug, before releasing him. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you here, sir!" She told him with a massive smile. "I mean, I love Earth as much as the next stranded Kryptonian, I really do, but god, they're so primitive! It's so fantastic to meet somebody from actual civilisation!" She enthused, bubbling with joy.

"I mean, right, did you know the big thing in Earth tech this year is virtual reality headsets?" She laughed at the absurdity. "I hear next year they're releasing cave paintings! It's going to be big!" She mocked. Yes, Kara did like Earth, she loved the people she knew on Earth, and she cared about them, but for a girl raised in a hi-tech utopia, it was often an incredibly strange and primitive place. The chance to talk to somebody from a similar society to her own was such a huge relief after a year on Earth. After all, she couldn't even talk to Kal about it. Not only would he get all hurt and upset if she mocked his precious Earth, but he couldn't remember life on Krypton anyway. Not like her...

[Green Lantern]

Up! Fly! Stop falling! Elevate! The words ran quick and fast through Hal's mind, but he couldn't focus long enough to do anything about them. The streets of Gotham, illuminated with uneven whites and yellows of streetlights and cars, drew ever closer as the wind whipped at his face, until he rolled over on his back as not to have to see it. Funny, he didn't feel much more than a slight breeze, on the way up, why was the wind suddenly so strong, now? He reverted to flight school training, flattening his body out, spreading his limbs to catch as much air resistance as possible, so he could think of a way out of his desperately terminal predicament, when suddenly he felt arms wrap around him from behind, and his descent was slowly, gently arrested.

Dang it, it's Superman. I just got my butt saved by Superman, and he's going to think I'm an idiot.

When the safety of a rooftop was felt beneath his feet, Hal relaxed, ready to take his well-deserved reprimand from Earth's mightiest hero, and so he turned slowly to face him. Or... her? For once, the whole white-eye thing helped as he looked his savior up and down, slightly confused, until he realized seeing a Supergirl on TV, not too long ago. And then came the hug, rather stronger than she probably meant it to be, as it nearly threatened one of his ribs.

Resisting the urge to rub at his side, Hal listened to her talk. Oh, how she could talk. He'd dated girls like that, before. Never ended well. never could get a word in, edgewise. When at last she stopped, he looked at her still-manic smile, and forced a light smile of his own.

"Yeah, I'm Green Lantern," he nodded. "But, um, I'm probably kind of one of those primitive folks you were just talking about. I'm only from the nearby planet of California." It was a gamble to reveal that much. From what Hal had learned, it was best to keep one's secret identity an actual secret, but between his tan, his sun-bleached brown hair, and his regional accent, California was already rather a dead giveaway.

All thoughts of that vanished from his mind as something she said finally struck him. Smile turning to confused concern, he looked down at himself, then to her once more. "But, wait, you said a Green Lantern? Is there another one? You've... seen one of these, before?" He pointed at his uniform, and the symbol on his chest, specifically.

[Supergirl]

California? Oh. Ohhhh. Kara winced a little as she realised she'd just put her foot in her mouth completely and probably offended him. Offending a Green Lantern wasn't really a great idea. She laughed nervously and waved her arms a little.
"W-well, I mean, 'primitive' is such a flexible term, a-and I mean, really, for a species as young as you are... you're actually... doing really well. I-I mean, you've got... uh.... cell phones...a-and uh, tablets... which are... just like, y'know, big cell phones without the 'phone' and don't even have the ability to project holograms yet but you're all crazy for th-" She caught herself before she went off on another rant. "Uh, I mean, I-I'm pretty certain you'll be... uh... right up there with Krypton any time now..." She stammered, before wincing. "Oh god, I said the 'cave painting' thing didn't I?" She realised painfully. "C-can we just pretend I didn't say anything and start over?" She said hopefully, because she realised there was no way out of the hole she was digging for herself.

"Wait, you don't know?" Kara asked curiously, noticing how he called himself 'Green Lantern' without the 'a' and didn't seem to be aware of what he was. "How did you get that ring?" She asked, pointing to it, wishing that she'd paid more attention in Intergalactic Politics. Krypton wasn't really a space faring world, so they didn't have much interaction with Oa, so she didn't really know that much about Green Lanterns bar their general role in the galaxy and the fact that they patrolled many planets. Oh, and their powers had something to do with will. Kara's friends used to tease her about what a terrible Green Lantern she'd make because she was so easily distracted. 'In brightest day, in blackest night, no- ohhh, I like her shoes!' she remembered one teasing her, with a slightly wistful smile as she thought of her planet now so long gone.

"You're part of the Green Lantern Corps, right? The Intergalactic Police Squad? Shouldn't you... know this?" She asked, confused about why he didn't. Had he stolen that ring from a real Green Lantern perhaps? Was she going to have to fight somebody with a Green Lantern's powers? Could she do that? Before Deathstroke had handed her butt to her, she'd of been confident she could, but right now, she wasn't so sure. She really wasn't sure if her natural powers on this world could match his own enhanced skills with the ring.

[Green Lantern]

The mystery of the alien, and his ring, had plagued Hal Jordan's curiosity ever since the day of the crash. He'd done research, looked through archives, and even tapped an old Air Force buddy to see what he could learn, but there was simply no information matching what he had been given. And now, all at once, the answers were spilled out before him, by the most unlikely of sources.

Shifting his weight to one leg in an attempt to hide the weakness which had come over his knees, Hal studied Supergirl carefully, attempting to make sure she wasn't pulling a fast one on him. There appeared to be no trace of mistruth, and she was Superman's sister, so that had to count for something, right? White eyes glanced down at his ring, then back to the girl.

"I was given this ring by an alien before he died. He said it had chosen me, rambled off a poem, then he died. That's... all I know," he admitted. "So, there's more, like me? A... police squad?" His brow knit in confusion and concern, rumpling the domino mask which clung to his face in the most perfect, yet improbable manner. "What more do you know of them?" For a moment, Hal weighed admitting his true lack of knowledge vs. not looking like an idiot, but when you have Superman's sister - she was his sister, wasn't she? - at your disposal, and she just saved your ass, little things like dignity seemed of no consequence. "And, what all is this ring supposed to be able to do? I know it can make me fly, sort of. Haven't fully gotten the hang of that, yet, as you, well... you were kind of there for that, really. It makes energy bursts, and I've even sort of made shapes out of light, but, really, I have no idea what I'm doing, here."

[Supergirl]

Wow, it sounded like Green Lantern recruitment was harsh. Kara had thought having to go to school just because you were young was unfair, but just having a ring dumped on you and being told you had to save the universe? Talk about a lot of responsibility being dumped at your door! Of course, she also had incredible powers here and a responsibility to use them for good and well, she didn't even get a poem, so she did sort of know how he felt, but she also wasn't part of a elite intergalactic police force. She couldn't believe he didn't know the rule book.

"Uh, I don't... I mean, I don't really know much." Kara admitted a little awkwardly, suddenly feeling put on the spot, as if she had just proclaimed to be an expert in a subject in history class and then picked on by the teacher, and everybody was discovering she really didn't have a clue. "They're just this... thing, you know? That everybody knows about. You know, like garbage men. You know they pick up your garbage, but you don't really know all the rules or how to drive the truck..." She explained, before realising this wasn't really a good analogy. "Uh, n-not that I'm saying you're a garbage man, sir! I respect the Green Lantern Corps, honestly!" She said quickly, flailing a little again as she once again put her foot in it.

She caught herself, trying to think. He didn't even know the Corp existed, apparently, so what she had just said was even stupider. She shook her head at herself and decided to start again.
"Uh, well, I know... they're kind of... intergalactic security. Every sector of the civilised galaxy is assigned a Green Lantern, and their mission is to defend the sector. Usually the space faring races. I don't think there was ever one from Krypton, but we mostly kept to ourselves. I've never heard of a human one either, but honestly, until I was sent here, I'd never heard of humans." She explained, before looking at his ring as he asked about it.

"The ring, uh, well, I only really know the gossip. People say they work by will power. Like, if you can will something in to existence, it'll happen. You're only ever meant to get picked to be a Green Lantern if you have the strongest will of anybody in your sector, I think." She explained, frowning a little as she tried to remember the lore. It wasn't really her area of expertise. She liked the sciences in school on Krypton. And, well, okay, gossiping. And talking about shopping. And... well, so Krypton schools weren't that different from Earth schools... But everybody knew the basics, right?

[Green Lantern]

In the span of two minutes, Hal learned that not only some famous sort of entity, but he was supposed to patrol a whole sector of space. How big was his sector? How was he supposed to know any of this? The ring really should have come with an instruction manual, in his opinion. Or at least a basic booklet and one of those allen keys, like the Ikea furniture he couldn't even afford, at that point.

Hal stared at his ring, then shook his head. "I'm starting to wonder if that alien made a mistake," he admitted. "You'd think they should have picked someone who at least knew... something about all this." Taking a deep breath, he sighed, and looked over Gotham's cityscape. It had been majestic, once, but time and apathy had worn it down. Lights were burnt out, or didn't match colors, police lights strobed on half a dozen corners, and all Hal could do was just... look at it. "I've heard Superman say that Krypton is no more, but you're here, and, well, I'm guessing you're a fair bit younger than he is, so I'm not sure when it was actually destroyed. But, what I mean is..."

He turned back to look at Supergirl, a quiet desperation in his face, "Do either of you have a way of contacting this... Corps? If I'm supposed to be some kind of space-cop, I kinda need to know what I'm doing."

[Supergirl]

"Hey, maybe the ring picks out the person with the right soul, not the right brain?" Kara suggested with a friendly smile, trying to cheer up the poor confused Green Lantern. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, particularly since she had just suggested he didn't have the 'right brain', but well, if Kara was any good at not saying the dumb thing, she wouldn't be Kara. She'd be somebody who actually was good at not putting their foot in their mouth.

"Actually, I'm older than Kal." She explained, with a shrug and just a hint of a sad smile. "He was just a baby when I left Krypton. But my ship got lost, I was in suspended animation, and I arrived here too late. He'd already grown up without me..." She told him, all the mention of Krypton making her sad, her face fall for just a moment.

"I don't. Sorry." She said with a sympathetic look. "But... I always thought you could do it with the ring. You just... need to know how. To think the right command. I'm sorry I'm not much more help. I just... I don't really know much about you guys. It's just, sort of one of those... things, y'know?" She explained, pretty awfully. She wished she'd bothered to learn a bit more about the universe when she was back on Krypton. It had all seemed so unnecessary...

[Green Lantern]

It was all more explanation than Hal could hope for, but none of it actually did him any good. Eyes turning back to the skyline, he managed to huff a slight chuckle and a smirk. "Funny. I can fly a jet, I can fly a prop plane, I can fly helicopters, and all kinds of other stuff, but I can't seem to fly myself," he said, shaking his head. "Most of the time, with those, I'd just think about it, too, and the machine would follow. Guess I gotta earn my wings all over again. Gotta love it."

Glancing back to Supergirl, a quizzical look cocked one eyebrow. "You know, it's kinda funny: I was always under the impression you were Superman's little sister."

[Supergirl]

"I'm his older cousin. Technically." Kara replied with a smile when he commented on being his younger sister. It felt so strange to Kara, knowing that little baby Kal had grown up without her, and that little baby she'd held on Krypton was now Superman, the legendary defender of Earth. But she doubted that was much to dwell on here, and well, if people thought she was his younger sister, she supposed she could see why. She'd just have to work on correcting them.

"Well, do you want me to help? You weren't doing bad there, uh, until you fell." Kara offered. "It might be handy having somebody around to catch you." It wasn't much, but Kara felt sorry for the poor Green Lantern, and wanted to help the best that she could.

[Green Lantern]

Did he want her to help? That was the question, and Hal struggled with his answer to it. He'd flown some of the fastest, most powerful aircraft ever invented, and he'd performed aerial acrobatics while under fire, but never had he imagined he'd need flying help from a teenage girl. There was always the option of saying no, and working to figure it out on his own, which his dignity preferred, but Hal was not afraid to admit when he was in over his head, and ever since the day he'd been handed the ring, he'd felt like he was drowning.

A nod was his first reply, words coming some short time after. "That would be... most appreciated," he replied. "I'm just not sure if I'm approaching it all correctly. I try and imagine where I should be, and the inertia I should feel at the speed I think I should be going, but it doesn't ever seem to line up right. How... how is it that you fly? I mean, what do you think, when you do it?"

[Supergirl]

"Uh, I don't really much, to be honest." Kara answered, hovering in the air and flying in a circle to demonstrate. "At first, it took some effort, to really propel myself off the ground, and I had to believe I could do it. Really believe. It was sort of like you imagine standing for the first time. But now, it's just like walking. It's just a thing I do. I don't even think about it..." She explained, before pausing because she realised that wasn't that helpful to the mysterious Green Lantern. "Uh, but I'm different from you. My flight doesn't come from alien technology. On your world, Kryptonians can just do it. For you, it's different." She said, to try and not sound so unhelpful.

"As far as I know, your ring is driven by will. So what you need is to really believe you have to fly. You have to have that solid iron will that you have to do a thing to do it, and that nothing can stop you. I can support you, help you, because I can fly with you, but in the end, it's gotta be you who-" Suddenly, Kara paused, frowning, as if she heard something in the distance. Which, of course, she did. Super hearing, after all. "-uh, sorry, I have to-" She began to say, before an idea crossed her mind.

"Wait. Uh. Listen. I have an idea, but I need you to trust me. Just for a moment..." She told him.

[Green Lantern]

It had only been ten years since Hal had been a teenager, but in those ten years he'd almost entirely lost the ability to relate to one. Almost. And then came the "hold on, I have to do something more important than deal with you," moment. Shrugging, Hal placed his hands on his hips, as his costume had no pockets. "Sure, I'll be right here." he nodded.

[Supergirl]

"No, you won't. Hang on." Kara instructed, and then she grabbed the Green Lantern and she threw herself in to the air, rocketing across Gotham, her cape flapping behind her as she carried the other hero like a baby. It wasn't long before it would be obvious where Kara was heading. In the distance, there was a thick plume of smoke coming from the top of a skyscraper. A fire, near one of the top floors. Kara flew down, and landed on the road at the bottom of the building, looking up at the fire, hearing the screams for help thanks to her super hearing. She wanted to do nothing more than fly up there and save them, but doing that wouldn't help the new hero she had met. Making him a real hero was more important. The good he could do if he mastered that ring...

"I don't know if you can hear them like I can, but there are people trapped up there." Kara told him, folding her arms and staying rooted firmly to the ground. "You're the Green Lantern of this Sector. Save them." She told him. "You're the only one that can do it. I mean, I would, but, well, see my hair? That much hairspray and fire? Not a good mix." She lied, (Kara did like her cosmetics, but not quite to a flammable level) but it was to force him to get up there.

"That ring wouldn't have chosen you if you couldn't do this, so do this. You have the will power. You must do. People need you. They're going to die if you don't." Another lie. Kara could hear them all, and if things got to the point they were close to death, she'd be up there in a flash. But for now, this was the best thing she could think of doing. A literal trial by fire.

"Go on, Green Lantern! Your people need you!"

[Green Lantern]

For the second time in only a few minutes, Hal felt himself whisked through the air by a young girl. Were he not wearing a mask, he supposed he might have been embarrassed, but as they landed at the foot of a burning building, any thoughts of his pride were shoved roughly aside by those of worry, and anger. "How am I supposed to stop that!" he snapped. "I barely know how to use this thing!" He held his ring hand up, then looked back up to the building as a glass window burst from the heat.

"Damn it..." he grumbled. His body was tense as a coiled spring, while his mind raced for a method to open the jack-in-the-box of his power. "If I don't come back soon, you're probably going to come get me."

That was it. There could be no turning back, now. He had to act, or people would die - people not himself. Hal Jordan was not going to let someone else die; not while he could stop it. Face hardening, the Green Lantern's ring hand balled into a fist, and a green glow fired up about his silhouette. Will. She said it works on will. Well, like hell I don't have the will to help someone. The glow turned to a virtual fire, and as he focused, Hal found himself not lifting from the pavement, but catapulting up into the air.

Think of it like a fly-by-wire, Hal. The ring will do what you want, you just have to tell it. Just like pulling a flight yoke.

He could feel the heat of the flames as he drew near, but somehow they did not seem to affect him, as long as he stayed directly out of their licking tongues. Touching down upon the affected floor, he looked through the smoke, now wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. Arriving on the scene was one thing, but that didn't help the trapped residents much, now did it? Stupid ring really needed to come with a manual. What the hell is flight and power blasts going to do for them, here?

A moment's thought gave him pause. The ring was capable of more than that, it could make projections, as he had learned in his meeting with the Green Arrow a few nights previous. Yeah, the spotlight had been transparent, but the bow and the boxing glove had felt solid. Was that what the ring could do? No time like the present to test, he told himself. Holding his fist out, Hal concentrated hard. Gotta clear the smoke, find the people. A green glow emanated from the ring, and slowly transformed into a fan. With greater effort, the blades of the fan began to spin, faster and faster until they blasted air through the hallway he found himself in, clearing it. There, on the ground lay a woman in professional business attire, passed out from the smoke. Wasting no time, Hal rushed to her side to test her pulse, then heaved her over his shoulder as would a fireman. Let's hope I'm better on the descent, this time.

Throwing caution to the wind, Hal took those few steps back down the hall until he leapt out of the window, and began to fall before he found himself in control once more, controlling his descent to touch down softly, and left the woman in the care of a few first-responders. Then it was back to Supergirl.

"I can't do this all on my own. If I can get them to the windows, I'll need your help getting them down. Come on!" he shouted, before taking to the sky once more, and vanishing into the burning floor.

[Supergirl]

For a brief moment, when he turned his anger on her, Kara wondered if she was doing the right thing. She was certainly taking a risk, gambling with lives to get his powers to work. Kal would doubtlessly not approve, and Kara wasn't even sure if she did, or whether she thought this was all a big mistake. At worse, his powers would activate just in time for him to punch her with a giant green fist. Luckily though, her gamble paid off, and he burst in to the air on a streak of green. She beamed from ear to ear. This was what it should have felt like for Kal when he saw her become Supergirl! Instead of being a worry wort, he should have been proud of her for what she had become.

She smiled to herself as he gave her the order.
"Right behind you, Green Lantern." She replied, without giving a hint to the fact that he was actually doing this all on his own. She knew if she drew attention to what he was achieving, he would probably stop achieving it. She flew up behind it, ready to start taking people out of the building, but decided that she'd done enough sitting back, and flew in behind him. "Stand back. I can help with this." She took a deep breath, and exhaled her freezing breath over anywhere she could see flames but no people, icing over the building and putting out the fire. Hal had done well with the fan, and the smoke was mostly clear, but thanks to Kara's powers, she could put out the fire completely.

Unfortunately, it didn't last, and suddenly, with a crack and a crash, the entire ceiling began to come down. Kara flew up and caught it, holding it in place, straining to keep it steady and prevent the entire floor from coming down.
"I can't hold this for long!" She told him, this time telling the truth. "We don't have time to get them out of here one by one! Use the ring! You can manifest anything you can imagine. A big hand, a giant stretcher, anything. Get them all on it and get them out of here before the entire floor caves in!" So much for testing him while she stood back harmlessly, now things were very real. Kara couldn't move without letting the roof cave in on them, and she wasn't sure how long she could hold it before she did that anyway.

It really was sink or swim for the new Green Lantern, she realised.

[Green Lantern]

A million thoughts ran through Hal Jordan's brain, unable to truly understand what Supergirl had just said. There were over twenty people on this floor, not to mention the floors above, and if the ceiling was about to come down, he would have to think fast in order to save them all.

Stretcher is no good. Hand won't get everyone. What we need is... an airlift.

How those words came to the forefront of his thoughts, he had no idea, but there, in that moment, he knew them to be the truth. Glancing around, then up, Hal bit his lip and prayed that his idea would work. Then, like a rocket, he shot outside, leaving Supergirl without an explanation. If he had to manifest something, he had to be able to see it, to truly understand it. Outside he could see four more floors above the affected one, and there was only one way he knew how to save them all, and those on the floors below: extensive property damage.

The glow which surrounded him intensified, the emblem on his chest blazing as he aimed the ring at the building, and from it lanced a solid beam which spread ever wider, cutting through the building itself, just beneath the floor which Supergirl supported. Glass shattered, steel screamed in protest as it was shorn through, but the beam did not vanish, instead becoming thicker as it turned from a ray into a square, supporting the structure above. From its corners, cables of green emerged, each arcing up to attach themselves to three perfectly-accurate Chinook helicopters, also constructed by the ring. Hal's teeth grit, sweat beading upon his brow as he concentrated upon his creation, a construct conjured from nothing more than the energy of the ring.

With a groan, and the popping of a few more windows, the top four stories of the skyscraper began to lift, then swing sideways. Hal cried out what sounded to be agony as one of his helicopters started to lose cohesion, but he clapped his left hand onto his right wrist and continued his effort. As the thumping of chopper blades roared like thunder in the night sky, the Green Lantern carefully lowered the section of building down, down and down, depositing it as gently as he could upon the empty street below. When at last it sat still, his constructs faded, and he gasped for breath, scarcely able to maintain his flight. They were down, but they would need help out of where he had just trapped them.

Way to go, Jordan. I can see it now: New hero destroys local landmark tower, and strands wealthy residents inside. Brilliant.

Heart hammering in his chest, Hal swooped down. It was a residential tower, and he'd just all-but ruined many peoples' homes. Despite saving lives, he couldn't help but feel he'd done them wrong. All the emergency slides in the world wouldn't help solve that, but as he touched down upon the pavement, he still aimed the ring out to conjure up those constructs, as he heard the wail of sirens looming behind him.

[Supergirl]

Kara was beginning to struggle to hold the building, fearing at any moment it would collapse, when all of a sudden all of the weight disappeared from it, and suddenly, she was simply floating, holding nothing. At first, she feared the worse and that the building had collapsed, but then she heard the rhythmic thump of spinning blades. Confused, she flew out to see what was going on, and had to stop her own jaw from dropping. She'd known that Green Lanterns had a lot of power, but what she was seeing here was incredible. Not only had he constructed a way to lift the building, but they were moving, actual machinery. Suddenly her own powers actually really did feel pale in comparison.

But there was no time to waste, with the top of the building gone, Kara could see every flame, and she flew down, blowing out the flames and icing up the building as she did so, just as she heard a massive thump as the top of the building was placed on the road below. Kara floated down next to him, and then with a piercing noise, lasers shot out of her eyes as she cut open a massive opening in the side of the building, the wall then thudding down to form a walkway, allowing everybody out.

The rest of the building creaked, and seemed to settle. And for a moment, everybody in the street had the same thought. That building would have come down. And although for the two heroes it was an incredibly tense moment as they all stared in silence, it suddenly became clear that they had no doubt about what had just happened as the hundreds of people gathered watching erupted in to cheering. Even the people exiting the building through the hole Kara had cut seemed to be cheering for them, and yelling thank yous. At the same time, several camera flashes went off, as the two hovering heroes were photographed from all around, even as the emergency services arrived, the fire brigade seeming to realise too late they were unneeded, but rushing to aid injured civilians.

Kara smiled, soaking it in and enjoying every moment, and only barely imagining how the Green Lantern felt. Caught up in the moment, she grabbed him and gave him a big hug.
"I knew you could do it." She beamed, releasing him before she squeezed him too hard. "Of course, they're going to be really annoyed when they figure out they need to move that wreckage, but for now... we're heroes!" She smiled.

"By the way, my name's Kara." She said in a sign of trust, and a much lower voice so the crowd didn't overhear.

[Green Lantern]

Police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, the media; flashing lights were everywhere, and even for all the good he had done, Hal felt as if he had still failed, due to all the damage he had caused. However, he didn't have much time to think about that before he found a pair of steely arms thrown around him, squeezing him in a big hug, but thankfully lighter than when he felt squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, before. It was at the perfect apex of that hug, when he felt a smile working up his own face, that he was blinded by the flash of a camera, and he knew what was going to be on the cover of all the newspapers, the next day.

And then she told him her name. Her real name, he presumed. She had a secret identity? Why would Superman's cousin need a secret identity? Didn't she, like, live at the Superpalace, or whatever it was Superman called home. His smile faded, chest tensing with apprehension. Should he tell her his own name? He'd just done millions of dollars worth of damage to the homes of very wealthy people who likely all had lawyers on speed dial; was it smart to admit to anything at that moment? The press was pushing closer, and the police were alongside them. If he was to tell her his name, it had to be now.

"Mine's Hal," he whispered. She had super-hearing, right? That had to be good enough, as the world seemed to be upon them.

"Hello, I'm the Green Lantern. I'm sorry about the mess," Hal stated, holding his hands up in front of him disarmingly. "Supergirl was able to put out the fire, but the interior structure was compromised. I had to remove the upper floors as the floor was buckling, and it would have collapsed into the rest of the tower. The weight of these floors could have been enough to bring the whole thing down."

It was a hurried explanation, and hopefully one that would keep him from getting sued. Also, being seen with Supergirl was good, right? That meant he had to be trustworthy, didn't it? Hopefully? Hal could barely afford Hot Pockets for dinner, there was no way he could afford getting sued for this mess. But the cameras and the microphones and the badges kept multiplying, and Hal felt himself overwhelmed. There really needed to be an orientation course for new superheroes. That absolutely needed to become a thing.

(Thread is now open to everyone. Odds are most heroes/cops in Gotham became aware of what just happened.)

[Barbara Gordon]

Several blocks away from the fire

Barbara surreptitiously took her cell phone out of the pocket of her cardigan as it vibrated a news alert. Breaking News came the text from the local station, new Hero on scene of downtown fire - more powerful than Superman? Click here for live stream.

She sidled into an alcove and touched the link, the stream playing quietly. It was late at night and the Gotham Library was almost empty; she could get away with watching it for a bit.

[Oliver Queen]

A different several blocks away

Oliver nursed the drink on the bar in front of him, relishing the rare opportunity he'd afforded himself to take the night off. More importantly, he was relishing the aroma and the faint tingling sensation on his tongue from the chilli fries he'd treated himself to. They weren't as good as Big Belly Burger chilli fries - loathed as he was to admit it; their burgers might be inferior to O'Shaughnessy's, as was their everything else, but Big Belly Fries were divine - but they were good enough; and they complimented the double of whiskey surprisingly well. Or maybe they didn't, and Oliver had just lost the part of his mind that cared about whether flavours matched or not. After five years on an island, pretty much any food that you didn't have to kill or forage for yourself tasted pretty damn good.

A weird hush descended across the bar; Oliver's attention was drawn to the clunky old TV sat on a shelf in the corner as someone cranked up the volume. Programming being interrupted for breaking news in Gotham wasn't exactly a new occurrence; there was always some sort of high speed Batmobile car chase, some act of villainous terrorism, some major heist by one of the gangs that needed to be reported. This was different though. Gotham Heroes Intervene In Building Fire. Oliver's heart sank as he watched the distant shaking footage as green light enveloped part of a high-rise and tore it free; sank further still when he caught a glimpse of Green Lantern, explaining himself to the emergency services, Supergirl loitering in the background.

He fought the urge to put his head in his hands. Okay so sure, saving lives and putting out a fire was nothing to be sniffed at. But the two of them were just so new. The Flash would have spun his arms and made some sort of vortex that would've starved the fire of oxygen in seconds, and then sped everyone out of the building in the blink of an eye. Superman would have zoomed everyone out, and then scavenged steel girders from somewhere, using his heat vision to weld them in place as structural supports until the building could be reinforced properly Batman, if he'd even involved himself with a mere fire at all, would have used some sort of bat gizmo to buy enough time for the emergency services to do their job. This though? This was Booster Gold grade heroics. Worse, even. This was the kind of thing that made people feel uneasy about superheroes: because sure, they saved the day, but they made a mess doing it - and because they were anonymous, because there was no way to hold them accountable, it would fall on the insurance companies and the politicians and the building owners to clear up after them. They'd put out one fire, but they'd added fuel to another: more weight to arguments for vigilante registration, for government oversight, for outlawing secret identities.

Maybe Bruce was right. Maybe they really did need something more formal than just the occasional superhero team-up, to make sure everyone was on the same page, following the same rule. Damn if it didn't suck having to admit it though - Bruce was so much easier to put up with when you could just shrug him off as being a cranky old stuck in the mud who wasn't worth listening to.

With a sigh, Oliver downed the last of his drink, and gestured to the barman. "I'm going to need another," he muttered, as he dragged the chilli fries a little closer, and started dejectedly eating.

[Supergirl]

"If he hadn't, the entire street would be buried in rubble right now, and everybody in that building would be dead." Kara added, floating alongside him. She always seemed to get a bit more leeway with the people, it seemed. It was that 'S'. Everybody loved Superman. How could you not? He was Earth's greatest hero. Being related by association (or even fashion, in the case of the S) always helped. She thought Hal, as she know knew he was called, hadn't done a bad job with his first speech. Not quite perfect, not as charismatic as perhaps Kal would have been, but it did the job, and people seemed to love them, even with the damage.

"Now we fly away." She told Hal in a whisper, since there wasn't much left for them to do. The emergency services were here, and everybody was safe. Loitering was just for photo opportunities. "If you're concerned about the building, we'll come back later and see if we can move it." She added, because, well, she supposed leaving the top half a building there was inconvenient...

[Green Lantern]

Fuzzy blobs of purple danced in Hal's vision from so many camera flashes that he could swear he was looking at a choir of Muppets. The questions came fast and hard, and he tried his best to answer another one, before he heard Supergirl's instruction. They could go, now? Oh, but Hal liked this girl so much better than the arrow guy, already!

Holding up a white-gloved hand to halt the questions, he forced a smile and said, "Looks like the emergency services have it from here. We'll leave you to it. G'night, everybody."

This had better work, Hal, you're on national television.

The plan was to float up a foot or two, hover, then soar into the night sky. Sounded simple enough, but so far nothing had been simple about the ring. Focusing, Hal took a step backward and imagined himself ascending a staircase in reverse. It worked! A foot off the ground he hovered, then turned to nod to Supergirl. Nods made it look like you had everything under control, right? Sure as hell worked in the Air Force. With that, Hal took off, soaring up, up and away into the night, his pace rapid, yet thankfully subsonic, this time, taking a course that would arc well away from the city.

"Well, that could have gone better," he admitted at last, touching down many miles outside of Gotham's city limits, no buildings in site.

[Supergirl]

"You saved hundreds of people and stopped a building collapsing, and you've pretty much mastered that ring. I'd say it didn't go badly." Kara shot back as she landed next to him, dusting off her costume a little, only now noticing the soot covering it. She stopped for a moment, taking him in, smiling. He was certainly handsome, older than her, that was for sure, and it was great seeing him do the 'full hero' thing. Plus unlike so many, he was a hero with powers almost comparable to her own. Or at least, she knew he could keep up with her...

"I told you you could do it." Kara said proudly.

[Green Lantern]

Hal Jordan remained unconvinced. He stood there, staring at the ring as if expecting to find answers written upon its face. All there was to be seen was the same emblem which he bore on his chest. "I guess," he sighed. "I mean, I know I saved people, but... I kinda ruined that building, too. And left it in the road. Traffic tomorrow is going to be a nightmare. That Arrow guy is going to go off on me, next time we meet, too."

Slowly, his eyes lifted to the stars, though not many could be seen due to the light bleeding off of the city a few miles away. "Y'know, when Superman showed up, for the first time, none of us knew what to expect. The military was put on alert, Air Force got new weapons and strategies to deal with him, if he proved hostile. For all our sakes, I'm glad he's here to help. But we didn't know that, at first, and so people were afraid. What I did, tonight... that's going to make people afraid. They won't understand. Even I don't really understand, and I did it. Heaven knows what weaponry DARPA and the armed forces boys are going to try to whip up to use on me."

Silence as Hal shook his head, gaze falling back to Supergirl. She was strong, not only physically, but in character - a trait taught by Superman, no doubt. Prior that evening, they'd never met, yet now she trusted him in a way he'd seldom been trusted before. Finding a smile, Hal managed a bit of a laugh. "Wish I didn't have to go in to work, tomorrow," he chuckled. "Now that I've got flying down, I kinda want to do more of it. See how fast I can go." The smile faded into a pull of his cheek, wistful expression transforming into reluctance as he admitted, "You and Superman are lucky. You just get to be you, all the time, and he's got that Antarctic fortress thingy to live in. I've got a day job to work and an apartment to pay for. How the hell I'm going to balance work and this, I have no idea."

[Supergirl]

"What would you have preferred? We let the thing fall down?" Kara asked with a smile, trying to pick up his emotional state a little. Of course, Kara was a bit more careless when it came to saving the day than her cousin, being young and inexperienced herself, but as long as people were safe, she believed the end justified the means. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I'll stop by tomorrow and see if I can help sort out the building." She suggested. She didn't want him feeling bad after all, not after his first genuine act of heroics.

"No offence when I say this, but if your people do that, it just shows humans can be idiots." Kara grumbled. Truthfully, Kryptonians could be idiots too, but now wasn't the time for that debate. "You saved people. Hundreds of people. They wouldn't be alive without you. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the families in that block? Or the people coming home from work to hear the story, realise how nearly their little kid or their lover might have been to dying if it wasn't for the man in green?" She asked. "The military out there can fear you if you like. Heck, I'm sure there's some out there who still fear us." She added, meaning her and Kal of course. "But the people who matter know you're here to help, and that's all that matters."

She laughed slightly when he mentioned that she just got to be herself all the time.
"Do you really believe that?" She asked with a giggle. "Me and K- Superman... We have real lives too, you know? Secret identities. I've got school tomorrow. And I haven't done my homework." She told him, which was actually true, but well, super speed came in handy for that, she supposed. If she knew the answers...

[Green Lantern]

"You... have to go to school?" The expression of bewilderment upon Hal's face was so obvious that his domino mask hid none of it, stretching with his face in a manner which no material on Earth could. "And, Superman has a secret identity? He's like, the most recognizable person on the planet; who wouldn't spot him right off?"

The notion was incredulous, thinking that Superman could be trapped behind a desk for eight hours, or at the wheel of a truck, or working some sort of manufacturing, when he was capable of, well, doing whatever he wanted. Why would someone with so much power need a secret identity? It's not like anyone could harm him, and the various drone strikes on his antarctic igloo mansion thingy had yielded no weak spots (done as a precaution, clearly). Hal had seen the satellite photos, and everything the Air Force had on Superman, from his time as a military flyboy, and nothing indicated that big blue did anything but be Superman all the time.

Bewilderment melted into self-bemusement as Hal chuckled. "I always thought that superheroes were all independently wealthy, or magical or something. I mean, look at The Flash. He's always able to be anywhere, so clearly can't have a job. Batman, well, he is kind of limited by it needing to be night, and all, but still, he's got some flashy toys, from what I've seen. I even met a guy, last night, who does archery as his deal. You can't tell me the stuff he was using came off the shelf down at Academy or Big 5, and custom stuff costs some real cash. Me, I just got given the ring, and then got fired. Hell, I'm even lucky I got the job I have, now. If I try and bail in the middle of a shift, I'll be canned for sure. Kinda like you skipping out on a class, I'd imagine." He couldn't resist the smirking smile that turned up his mouth at the end.

It was in that moment that Hal realized he was talking a lot. Much more than he usually did. Was it because he didn't have anyone else to talk to, in Gotham? Or, was he simply trying to get a pretty girl to smile? Oh, sure, Supergirl was too young for him, but still, it didn't hurt.

[Supergirl]

Oh, that smile. Kara felt her heart flutter a little. He was handsome, superpowered, WAY too old for her, looked like a movie star. Kara had her first superhero crush, and it was taking all of her abilities to keep it repressed and keep up a normal conversation.

"You'd be surprised." Kara smiled back at Hal, not wanting to give too much away about Kal's secret identity, but at least putting it out there. "Hey, even Kryptonians need to pay the rent, y'know?" She joked. "Besides, life'd be pretty rough if you were a superhero all the time. No friends, no home, nothing you enjoy or want to do for yourself. Even Superman has his own life sometimes." She told him, even if she disagreed with his 'Clark Kent' personae. Being a young teenager with her chance to be popular for the first time in her life, Kara couldn't grasp Kal's choice to always present himself as a mild mannered loser.

"Hey, all I can tell you is, those of us who share the S, we aren't rich." She told him. "Well, not money-wise, anyway." She added, because she felt like saying that was a disservice to Jonathan and Martha, who even she called Ma and Pa and had a crazy level of respect for. Even if sometimes (like all teenagers) she fantasied about being rich. It just wasn't to be. "I can't really vouch for the others, though." She added. Except Wally, but she figured she'd better not mention him, of course.

"Hey, it's school. All you get is in trouble for skipping class. And to be honest, sometimes I like to anyway. I grew up on another planet. School here is weird. I mean, stuff you take for granted, I've never even heard of. It's no fun being the school ditz." She told him, surprised by the confession.

[Green Lantern]

"Skipping class might seem like fun and games, but it's not a good practice," Hal lectured. "Proper attendance helps build character, and respect, not to mention it lets people know you're accountable."

He caught himself there, realizing he was talking to Supergirl. A gloved hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck as his tone lost its mature sensibility. "I mean, in your secret identity life, that is. Nobody doubts you as Supergirl, and all that. I mean..."

Hal trailed off, there, not wishing to dig even deeper into a hole he never meant to begin excavating in the first place. "What I meant was," he paused looking down at his ring. "I don't know if I'm up for this responsibility, yet. I didn't ask for any of this. I'm just..."

Closing his eyes, he decided to fully drop his guard. The suit faded away, leaving Hal Jordan in his civilian clothes - blue jeans, a tee shirt, and a Wayne Enterprises flight jacket with his name on an embroidered patch on the right breast pocket. "I'm just a guy, y'know?"

[Supergirl]

"Okay, now you sound like my cousin." Kara countered when Hal lectured on her going to school. She decided not to mention how 'saving lives' let people know you were accountable and helped people far more than sitting in some boring classroom learning about the ancient history of a planet you didn't even belong on. But still, it was at least a little amusing and gratifying to see him try and backtrack and compliment her as Supergirl, at least, and she couldn't hide a smile from that.

"And I was just a girl..." She countered. "Do you think I asked for any of this?" She asked, waving a hand around. "I was happy on Krypton! I had a life, friends, everything. Then suddenly my planet explodes and I'm rocketed here." She explained. "It's not about whether or not you asked for it. It's about what you do with it once you have it." She told him earnestly. "Besides, you might not have asked for it, but that ring chose you. My powers are just biology, but you? You were chosen because you were special by a very wise, very ancient power. You should take that to heart and believe in it. Because somebody up there clearly believes in you."