// Then //

***

Oliver had been having a few weird days. First, his friend clad in scarlet, who was from Central City had run all the way to save him and John from Vigilante and then recruited him, John and his sister to fight against aliens the government had called Dominators. Then Barry had gone to a whole 'nother universe to bring a friend of his own, and alien at that, to fight against the Dominators too.

Oliver never got unnerved, but this Kara Danvers. She was something else completely. She was bulletproof, arrow-proof, and atomic blast-proof as well, which had really surprised him. As a less than good bonus, she could very well crush every member of the team if she wished to. After being held by the Dominators in an alternate world on their ship, Oliver had shunned her and kept her at bay but despite that, she had saved his life.

She was Supergirl indeed.

He was speaking with Barry when he heard the clatter of heels behind him. "Hey, guys!" Kara grinned as she ran up to them.

"Hey," Barry replied with a matching grin.

"Either of you ever saved the world before?" Kara looked between them, still grinning.

"Mmhm," Barry nodded.

"Last year," Oliver nodded too.

Kara sighed, a soft smile on her face. "It never gets old, does it?"

"Nope," Barry shook his head. "Sure beats messing up the world."

"Hey," Kara gave him an incredulous look. "You are way too hard on yourself."

Oliver snorted, smiling down at her. "That's what people usually tell me."

"And for a good reason, I'm sure," Kara gave him a look next, then messed with her glasses. "But, back on my Earth, it's just me and my cousin. Between the two of us, we're more powerful than-"

"Yeah. Yeah, everybody in this room combined," Barry mused, a sly grin on his face.

"No, no, that's the point," Kara lightly punched him in the arm. "That's what you've all proven here. Metahumans or not, superpowers or not . . . you are Earth's mightiest heroes."

She said it with such sincerity, Oliver looked down at his champagne to avoid looking at Kara's proud face. Barry was smiling back at her, and she was smiling back, and Oliver cleared his throat. "Um . . . " Kara turned to him, and he sighed. "I owe you an apology." Kara tilted her head, and Oliver quickly continued. "Keeping you at arm's length was the wrong move, and . . . well, the truth is that this Earth could probably use a Supergirl."

Kara blinked, then looked at Barry. "Well, that's . . . that's funny," she said, then looked up at Oliver. "'Cause I was just thinking my Earth could use an Oliver Queen." Oliver did smile that time, and Kara gave him a wide smile. "I know you said you don't get unnerved," she continued, making Oliver sigh in exasperation. "But," she stressed, making him look at her and listen to her. "If you did, I think hardship is what makes us stronger. That's probably why all the heroes look to you as their rock, their mentor."

Oliver nodded, accepting the compliment, then Barry grinned, a mischievous look in his eyes. "You guys feeling a group hug?"

"No," Oliver denied immediately.

"Come on," Kara grinned. "Come on!" She looked up at him, a slight pout on her face.

"All right," Oliver finally gave in, chuckling as he hugged Barry and Kara. Barry should have been the first person to tell Kara that he was not a hugger, but something about the blonde Kryptonian was just so huggable.

Yes, Kara Danvers was definitely something else.

"Hey, Kara!" Cisco called, and Kara bounced away from them to see what Cisco wanted. "I made you something. A gift."

"What?!" Kara's jaw dropped. "Cisco!"

"Yeah," Cisco nodded, smiling as Kara opened the box he had given her.

"What, uh . . . " Kara spoke slowly as she took out a small silver device. "What is it?"

"Oh!" Cisco grinned, his cheeks turning red. "It's a . . . it's an interdimensional extrapolator."

"Oh," Kara nodded, though she still looked really confused. "Uh . . . "

"It creates small breaches, so you can use it to cross over to our universe any time you need to," Cisco explained.

"Oh my God!" Kara lit up in delight, grinning at the engineer. "That's amazing!"

"I also included communication functionality, so if you ever need any help, you can always contact the team when you need to," Cisco added, please at her reaction.

Kara giggled giddily, looking down at the extrapolator when Mick walked up. "Hey, Skirt," he rumbled, a smirk on his face. "Call me."

Kara looked after him as he left, then gave Cisco a confused look. It made Oliver smirk into his champagne glass as he took a drink.

***

"Something tells me you weren't invited here."

Kara looked around after Cisco left to speak with Felicity, and she watched one of the newer Legends, Nate Heywood, walk up to the trio of suited men walking inside the hanger. "Dr. Heywood," one of them, a grey-haired man, slightly smiled.

"Don't Dr. Heywood me," Nate snapped. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I like parties," the man gestured around. "And I'm here for the mop-up."

"Cover-up," Nate corrected, and Kara straightened, walking over. "But you can't cover this up."

The other man gave Nate a dark look and was about to say something when Kara arrived next to them. "Agent Smith!" she said cheerily, making him look at her in surprise. Even Nate looked surprised at her intervention and then grinned down at her. "It's so funny seeing you here. I was just having the loveliest chat with your president about you. I was telling her, on my Earth, we have a Department of Extranormal Operations, which deals specifically with aliens. She thought it was an excellent idea." She walked closer, a proud, but much colder smirk on her face. "She also loved my pitch about reassigning you to Antarctica."

Agent Smith's eyes bugged open, and Kara gave him an innocent grin before practically skipping off.

Just a few feet away, Ray and Felicity were shaking in laughter, Barry was grinning proudly at her, and Oliver and Sara looked impressed. "Maybe next time, you're a little nicer to strange visitors from another planet," Nate snickered at Agent Smith. The man stormed off growling, but not before Nate threw one last sly remark at him. "Pack a jacket!"

***

Most of the others had said their farewells to Kara until it was just her, Oliver, Barry, Sara, and John left. "You ready to see if Cisco's gadget works?" Barry asked.

"Ready," Kara nodded, walking forward. "And remember," she turned back to look at them. "If you guys ever need me, I'm just a call away."

Oliver nodded. "Same here," he told her sincerely.

Kara smiled at, then turned and pressed the button on her extrapolator. A shimmering breach opened up, and Kara took a deep breath, walking through. When she had vanished from view, the breach snapped shut after her.

***

"I'm just saying," Oliver told Barry later as they sat with beers in front of them. "Next time, I'm gonna get you."

"I'm just saying, I beat you twice," Barry smirked smugly.

"The first time was a tie," Oliver retorted.

"And the second time?"

Oliver paused, a scowl on his face. "There were no witnesses the second time," he told him, taking a drink.

Barry snickered, shaking his head. "Superspeed arrow duels," he said dryly. "Our lives aren't exactly normal."

Oliver nodded in agreement. "I told Kara that I was looking to reclaim some normal. Thinking on it now, I'm . . . I'm not so sure."

"I know what you mean," Barry nodded. "We both got a look at what life would look like normal." A pained look on his life.

Oliver nodded, thinking back to what he had seen on the Dominators' ship, what life would have been like if he didn't get on the Queen's Gambit. "It would've been happy, without so much pain."

"But not full," Barry told him.

"No," Oliver agreed, smiling slightly. "No, nowhere even close."

Barry nodded, holding up his beer bottle. "To things not being normal."

"To life being full," Oliver nodded back, holding his own bottle up.

They clinked their bottles and drank, and in the back of Oliver's head, he wondered what would ever bring Kara back to their universe. Probably nothing to lead her to the Legends, since they mainly dealt with time travel. With everything Barry went up against, he was most likely to see her again, more than he or his team ever would.

Nothing in Star City would ever bring Supergirl to it, Oliver mused.