Enter: Connor Hawke

[newoutsiders]

Amusement Mile, 91 Sorkin Avenue. Gotham City.

Home.

You knew it was going to be hard, making a clean start for yourself far away from the Arrow Clan. You didn’t think it was going to be this hard. But with most of your boxes unpacked, and tenants displaced by a gentrified Burnside filing into this once abandoned entertainment district- thanks to your generous, rent controlled prices- you’re finally back in the landlording game.

At least this was a cheap get. Even with all the gentrification going on in this neighborhood, for some reason the buildings down this part of Sorkin Avenue were priced to move. You figure it’s just Gotham- people get scared and leave town all the time. Fortunately for your tenants, they’ve got a superhero for a landlord.

There’s still a lot to do. There’s that zen garden you want to put up on the roof, that isn’t even close to finished. The Bailey family on the second floor still isn’t getting water in their kids’ bathroom. Not to mention—

You’re interrupted from meditating in your spartan spare bedroom by the ring of a doorbell.

Comments

[newoutsiders]

"No, and... well, it was one of those cylinder things, so probably liquid? That could be super dangerous, right?"

She stops running as they get to an intersection.

"Oh my god, we're all the way uptown. How did I overshoot by that much? I guess... you have some time to get changed, get out your gear? Make it fast though! It doesn't count as a team up with Green Arrow if he's not in uniform!"

[not_easy_being_green]

"Uh, right." He hefts his backpack. "I'll be right back, then." Connor heads over to his apartment to change and grab his gear. Good thing he's already tested the fire escape by the window for coming and going.

[newoutsiders]

You successfully suit up and meet up with this strange, new Batgirl on Broome Street, hands on her knees, panting.

"So not used to running that far... on foot."

She looks up at you. "We got some time. It's going fast... but it's far. I'm... *gasp*... Charlie."

[not_easy_being_green]

"Charlie. Good to meet you. Guess you already know my name." He shoulders his bow. He really needs to learn to drive - it'd be much easier to go intercept the truck if he had a bow. "Have you put out an alert on the truck?"

[newoutsiders]

"Yeah," she says. "Batgirl put in the call. Not me. Another Batgirl. There's three of us now."

She takes out her phone, taps something in, and shows it to you. "That's me. BurnsideBatgirl. You're GreenArrowV2."

She plays a Vine of her doing some parkour and kicking down a cardboard cutout of a bad guy with a gun.

"DAAAAARK VENGEANCE," squeals the video.

"Heh. That's my catchphrase."

[not_easy_being_green]

"That's - great. Sorry, can I see the account that's supposed to be me?"

[newoutsiders]

"Oh! Uh, sure. Of course."

She types in your address, and hands you the phone. There's lots of archived footage of you, with a bunch of hits. Taking down street crime, jumping across rooftops, firing arrows. The second most popular video in your feed is your fight with Silver Monkey for the monastery a while ago. The most:

Some shaky phone camera of you and Kyle Rayner, in New York. Oh, god. Not this. Your entire body feels like it's burning up from the inside. You know what this is going to be.

In the video, you lean over and kiss him on the mouth.

"CONNOR!" Kyle shouts. The video ends.

View Count: 163,839.

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor is shaking with the violated embarassment. He's turned a shade of brilliant red, flushing impressively for his skin tone. "That - that was private! I don't -" He feels the urge to throw the phone away, but of course doesn't. "I can't believe this! How could they post this??"

[newoutsiders]

Charlie winces. She obviously didn't mean to upset you, and is visibly shaken by your reaction.

"We all thought it was you! You- or whoever, I guess- put it up with a winky face! We thought maybe a fan took the video, sent it to you, and you put it up! I swear, I don't know anything! I'm sorry!"

Her eyes get a little watery. She fights to keep them dry.

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor takes a deep breath,handing Charlie her phone back as he tries to get himself under control.

"It's - it's okay, Charlie. Thank you for telling me about this. I'll - I'll have to figure out what to do about this." About over a hundred thousand people seeing one of the most private - no. No, okay, runaway truck downtown with who knows what. He is going to focus. He is not going to think about - oh God, what if Kyle knows about the video? Oh God, what if Kyle thinks it's him ???

Okay. No. He will call Kyle later - he needs to focus on this. "Where - where did you say that truck was heading up, again? We should go towards it."

[newoutsiders]

She puts the phone back in her utility belt.

"Should be coming up this road. If you've got, like, a net arrow, or a spike trap arrow, or something... look. If there's anything I can do about the account, let me know. I'm on CapeScape all the time. I can do some sleuthing. I am Batgirl, right? World's greatest detective..ess. Trix? Detectrix."

[not_easy_being_green]

"Just points and blunts, unfortunately. But... I may have an idea. Let's get down to the road." He moves in that direction, speaking as he moves- "If you can figure out who's really running it - or at least figure out how I can let people know it's not me, I guess - that would be... useful."

[newoutsiders]

Misfit salutes, and follows you into position.

[not_easy_being_green]

Gotham traffic. What a mess. Connor looks the area over, thinking carefully. He'd rather not cause any major accidents taking the truck out, but just causing a backup now will just make them change course.

Stopping the truck, too, is a tricky order. Blowing out just one tire won't do much - those things can run forever on a blown out tire. Shattering the windshield doesn't hold much promise, either - there's a real risk of the truck careening out of control and hitting someone.

So that leaves option three - jumping on the truck and taking out the drivers. He may not be able to drive, but he does know where the brake pedal is. He turns to Charlie. "Before we get down to specifics - you surprised me out of nowhere earlier. Can you teleport?"

[newoutsiders]

"Uhhh. Kind of?" she says, unsure. "I used to do that, but it's not working like it used to. Like, when I hit you, I was aiming for the truck."

[not_easy_being_green]

"All right. Well, we can work without it. But I need to know, just to be sure - how comfortable are you with jumping onto a moving truck?"

[newoutsiders]

"Moving? Well, I'm probably game! No! Definitely game! Game on!"

[not_easy_being_green]

... possibly a little concerning, but he'll work with it. "All right, then that's the plan. If you have any smoke bombs in that belt, we need to throw them down once it's in sight. Then I shoot out the windshield and jump in. You hit the brakes and make sure we don't hit anything while I take out the drivers. Sound good?"

[newoutsiders]

"Smoke bombs! I've got smoke bombs! On it, GA!"

Charlie begins to shimmy her way up a street light to get into position.

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor readies an arrow and settles in to wait.

[newoutsiders]

"There it is!" Misfit shouts. "That's the truck!"

She throws down some smoke bombs. The street gets dark, but the truck doesn't seem to slow down. She looks at you and shrugs.

[not_easy_being_green]

Crap. Okay, time for plan B. Connor fires a blunt at the truck's windshield, hoping that that, at least, will stop the driver.

[newoutsiders]

The windshield cracks, but the driver shows no signs of slowing. It doesn't even attempt to dodge traffic- cars just honk and move out of its way.

"It's now or never, GA!" Charlie shouts.