A HELPING HAND

1 | MR ARROW BUDDY, WHATEVER

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CH. 1
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You stretched out, reaching for the sky with a low groan, and relished in the pop of your joints. A long day at the desktop in the corner of your living room had left your shoulders and back muscles tense. You needed some fresh air before you lost your mind.

Setting your hot cup of tea down on the window sill you pulled up on the window to open it and slid through to the fire escape outside. It was the closest thing to a balcony you had and you'd set up a little tomato plant and some herbs planters to one side.

After the quake that had rocked the glades a few years back the apartment building beside yours had never reopened. The few windows that aimed at your apartment had been boarded up ever since. It wasn't the prettiest view, surely, but if you sat just right you could see through the buildings across the street to the park behind. And sometimes you could even see the stars above.

The metal grating dug uncomfortably into your shoulder blade while you accommodated yourself, but you found a good position and let yourself sigh contentedly.

For several minutes you zoned out and enjoyed your tea and let your eyes rest after a long day editing at the computer. The city sounds were comforting to you- the honk of a horn several blocks over, the music that drifted from a party, the steady sound of cars passing on the main street just on the other side of the building.

And then, inevitably, the sirens and telltale red and blue lights of the police.

It was not an uncommon sight or sound in the Glades and you'd grown up with it as a veritable lullaby as a child, but you still sighed and reached back inside to the table by the window for the tv remote. It was important to know if it was a simple car chase or if it was a horde of super jacked brainwashed zombies heading down the block.

"-hunt the Green Arrow. Sources inside the SCPD say they are determined to bring the vigilante in for questioning regarding the death of Detective Billy Malone. We head to Linda live on the streets where police are said to be in pursuit of the hooded vigilante."

The screen changed to a woman out on a familiar street corner and you stopped listening to the tv. The sirens were getting louder, the lights more noticeable as they bounced off the brick buildings and the metal store front grates. You stood, setting the mug down, and leaned on the railing.

You expected to see a speeding line of squad cars or some police dogs, you were not expecting the green hooded figure that turned the corner and started running down your alley.

For half a beat you were frozen.
Then all at once your mind started working again and, more importantly, your mouth was too. "Hey!" You tried to shout as quietly as you could. "Up here. Quick!" Your mouth, it seemed, was moving faster than your brain. You had no time to regret your words as he hesitated and you gestured urgently to the fire escape ladder attached to the apartment below. He needed help.

Your apartment was on the 3rd floor, the top floor of your particular building, and you were sure the fire escape ladder on the second floor would have been far too high for you to reach, but this was the Green Arrow after all. Sure enough, after a second's deliberation, he ran at the wall. He jumped as he approached and kicked off the wall with one leg as he came up to it, twisting in the air to grab hold of the ladder and pull himself up.