green arrow, part ii.

Zach frowned, he didn’t like it when people didn’t seem put off by his demeanour, it was like they were peering straight past a shield at parts of himself only a select few should see, like June, Harvey and Eddie. “Nope.” he said, crossing his arms and huffing, “Not even a little bit. My worry for you was nonexistent.” Though, he’d not bothered to make those buttons for any other Titan members and likely wouldn’t bother. He cracked an eye open before asking, “What happened in there anyway? Cause if any of them were dicks I need an excuse to practise my curses.” And again, not cause he cared or anything.

“You’re not a very good liar,” Connor replied with a gentle smile. “I promise, I’m done embarrassing you now,” he added with a laugh. He shrugged once, shaking his head. “I don’t know, it all sort of blurred together. I thought I’d been in there for either a day or a month, I couldn’t tell anymore. They put me in a cell with no windows.” He paused for a moment, leaning back against the wall behind him, his hands in his pockets. “They roughed me up pretty good before locking me up, too.” 

He watched Connor move, looking for any signs that something was still even slightly off. Typically, he didn’t leave anything “behind” but when he was tired it became a little harder to concentrate.

“Always as in my whole life? No. My X-Gene activated when I was about fifteen.” Or maybe he’d been fourteen. Considering how it all happened and what immediately followed, it didn’t really matter. “This,” he pressed a fingertip against the top of his arm, “happened after the first couple of times I healed someone.” He’d already been at Xavier’s by then. His skin suddenly changing to gold has just been one more thing to deal with. Still was, most of the time. He just didn’t pay attention anymore.

Connor nodded. “That must have been hard,” he said, not in a pitying in way but a simple statement of fact. He leaned back against the bed where he had just been sitting, his hands shoved into his pockets as he thought about his own abilities. He hadn’t become like this until he was 19, and that was because of genetic alteration, not through any natural reason of his own. 

Connor had an arrow aimed directly into the center of the tangled mess of limbs. He was sure that he had the upper hand here, even though he was both shocked and horrified at the display of grotesque power beneath him. The arrow he currently had notched was rigged with explosive in the arrowhead, which would hopefully be enough to put someone like this out of commission, but it was a shot in the dark. 

Connor hadn’t seen Diana in too long. She had always been a sort of elusive, mysterious member of the Justice League, but perhaps that was just because he had always been too intimidated to talk to her. Now that he had gained some more confidence after spending time as the sole Green Arrow, he felt more like they were on equal footing—which made seeking out her advice that much easier. “I’m glad you had time to talk,” Connor said, his hands on the straps of his backpack as if he was a ten-year-old on his way to school. “I was worried you might be too busy for me,” he said with a sheepish smile. 

Logan shook his head. “It ain’t the police. It’s NOVA. They got access to all those files now.” He put his cigar to his lips and shook his head. “They can’t follow ya if ya don’t give ‘em the chance. Stay in District X. NOVA’s gettin’ desperate. We don’t wanna make things easier for ‘em, right?” He knew NOVA’s prime targets would have to be the X-Men or the more public metahumans and vigilantes. If they were going after Conner, it had to be a ploy to draw others out. He just didn’t know who those people might be. “Gotta do it for yer own safety, kid. There’s a lotta people who would come after ya. Myself included.”

Connor pursed his lips lightly. “I just—I don’t like the idea of them knowing everything.” Connor had never been afraid of this information being out there before but now that it was a real danger he realized just how stupid he had been not to keep his identity carefully secret. The Star City police had been kind to him, had liked him as Green Arrow. He didn’t think that they would turn on him so completely. “You don’t have to put yourself in danger for me. I would like to make that clear,” Connor said. “I...” He paused. “I’ll stay in District X.” 

He couldn’t deny that it was an unsightly injury. Deep bruising didn’t tend to be pretty, and Connor’s side definitely met that criteria. Fortunately, it wasn’t the kind of thing that was particularly difficult for him to heal, either. Fractures and bruising didn’t take nearly as much energy as true breaks or worse.

“Can do.” Josh laid both hands over the area, covering as much of it as he could. More contact just meant less effort for him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. After just a second or so, Connor would feel a warmth stretching out over his ribs. It wasn’t the kind of injury that caused discomfort as it healed. Lucky him.

All told, it took less than a minute before he had pulled away again. There wasn’t a single trace left of the bruising or pain. For his part, Josh felt a little tired. Nothing that wouldn’t pass. “Stand up and see if that’s better.”

It was a strange sensation as he was being healed. It was slower than any healing that took place thanks to his genetically modified healing factor, so there was a very abnormal heat spreading over the place. He gasped lightly at the feeling, mostly because it was unexpected, but just like that, the pain was gone. He looked down and his skin was back to normal. 

“Thank God. Consider that one area of Film and TV you don’t need to be introduced to.” he said, shaking his head a little that he’d even had to mention it to begin with. Zach crossed his arms and watched Connor fiddle with the button before putting it away and asking his question. “Noooooo.” he said, just a little too quickly to be convincing, “I just couldn’t be bothered listening to the other Titan-Folk whining about you getting yourself locked up.” he explained with a sniff, “This’ll prevent that happening again and you missing out on valuable new media education.”

Connor laughed softly, a much more genuine expression than the pained smile that had been on his features before. He knew that he would get through this rough patch, just as he had gotten through many rough patches before. It was going to take a lot of introspection, as most things did, but Connor didn’t have the time to withdraw and completely devote his time to it. He was going to just have to tape himself back together. “You weren’t even a little concerned?” he asked, a crooked grin on his features. 

“Of course they are.” Josh almost said they treated people like animals, but animals probably would’ve had it better if he was being honest. “Honestly, you’re lucky it was just this.” Not that it probably felt that way for him in the moment.

Josh sat back and looked him over one last time. “Mostly bruising, but there’s a couple of small fractures. It would heal eventually but suck the whole time. And…” he laid his palm against Conner’s side again, this time just enough to make contact, “it’d make it a lot worse if you get into another scrape with someone. I can fix it.”

“It was worse a week ago.” Connor sighed, his nose twitching with a wince as he shifted again in discomfort. He knew that it was lucky that the dampeners hadn’t screwed with him even more and made it impossible for him to heal even to this point. The lingering effects were starting to worry him. 

Logan heard of Connor’s arrest after the fact and almost by accident. By then, he’d been released - probably a good thing, or he might have gotten himself thrown in his own cell trying to break him out. There were plenty of people in jail right now, but that wasn’t the point. Connor wouldn’t be able to survive it there. He wasn’t built for it. “Yeah, c’mon in.” He stepped back and held the door open. The inside was cluttered, lived in, and filled with empty beer bottles. “I heard what happened to ya. You okay?” 

Connor stepped in and stopped in the middle of the room as if it was marked and planned. He turned to face Logan with his arms still folded over his chest. “The police have everything about me. I don’t know what to do.” Connor was afraid now, constantly. What happened when they came for him? What could he do? “I get this feeling like they’re following me sometimes.” 

Zach smirked at the response, “At last, a sign of intelligent life. Since you managed to get your ass hauled to jail in the first place I was starting to wonder if there any brains in that head.” He watched Connor look over the button and the realness of his reaction had the magi shuffling a little in discomfort, he wasn’t good at taking this kind of thanks, “Alright, alright, don’t go getting mushy on me arrow boy, next you’ll want to hug and start watching The Notebook.  

Connor looked up with a genuine, small smile. “I promise, I don’t know what the Notebook is. No chance of that,” he said. He looked back down, turning the button over between his hands one more time before sliding it carefully into an interior pocket of his jacket, wanting to keep it in the safest place possible lest he end up in the same situation again. He nodded once, as if to affirm their conversation to himself before he spoke again. “Did you miss me while I was in jail?” he asked, a smile creeping back onto his features. 

“Sounds right,” Josh muttered. He pulled over a chair so that he was nearly at eye level with all the bruising. It would probably heal on its own once his powers sorted out, but it extended too far and seemed too debilitating in the mean time for him to feel comfortable saying so.

“Raise your arm as high as you can take it.” Once Conner complied, Josh pressed his fingertips against the outermost damage. He pushed just hard enough to get a reaction. “This happen during a fight? Or while you were in that cell?”

Connor raised his arm carefully, his brow furrowing in a wince as Josh pressed against the bruising. “When they arrested me,” he said, his voice slightly strained before he cleared his throat. “They are liberal with the use of their steel-toed boots.

“It’s a coat button, Sherlock.” Zach deadpanned, unable to resist making the jab, “One that should match your suit nicely and not get taken off you if you’re thrown in jail again.” he added, “I’ve enchanted it. When you’re in a spot of bother tap it three times,” he raised an index finger and tapped his opposite palm one-two-three, “That’ll get my attention, I can track it’s location and conjure up a portal to get you out, or get someone else in as needed.” he finished with a shrug.

Connor frowned and furrowed his brows at Zach. “I know enough to know you’re making fun of me,” he replied before looking back down at the button. He ran his thumb over the smooth underside of it, his eyebrows unknitting as Zach explained how it worked to him. He was quiet for a long time, just staring at the button before he looked up at Zach and nodded. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “This means a lot to me.” 

Zach would blame a multitude of things for what he was about to do; mainly Eddie, but also June and perhaps even a bit of latent guilt that was catching up. He’d got the gist of what had happened to Connor, it had happened to quite a few others too so when the other came into the Titan headquarters while Zach was finishing off his spell he stifled a sigh and walked up to him. “Here.” Zach held his hand out and opened it to reveal a small coat button of all things. “I heard about what happened and well… You weren’t awful to deal with so this’ll help if you get in a tight spot again.”

Connor’s brow furrowed as he held his hand out for the button, holding it up closer to his eye and taking a long look at it. “What is this?” he asked, frowning slightly. “I don’t know how a coat button would be able to help me.” Connor realized after he said what he was thinking that Zach could have enchanted the button with any number of spells to help Connor out of a tough spot. He just needed to know what the right one was. 

Eddie supposed he should have felt grateful for Zach and his magical abilities. If it weren’t for him, Eddie would be having a harder time with how tight of a squeeze NOVA had on the city. Honestly, he’d probably be in jail by now, if they managed to catch him - which, of course, they won’t. He was banking on his quick reflexes and ability to disappear at the drop of a hat, but the power dampeners were a real issue.

But, he couldn’t worry about that now. Not in the same way. This stakeout was probably a really bad idea, but Eddie couldn’t bear to sit inside anymore - he just couldn’t do it. Connor had just gotten out of jail, and really, he shouldn’t be out here, either, but a small disturbance caused him to perk up a little. “Maybe it’ll be worth it? Besides, I’ll make sure they don’t catch you, okay?” He gave Connor a reassuring clap on the shoulder, but the hand lingered - he didn’t want the gesture to be too harsh.

Connor had been, frankly, arrogant about his chances in this city. Because he had a good relationship with many of the SCPD officers, most of whom were willing to turn a blind eye to Connor’s activities, he had thought that he was safe. However, that was far from the case, as he quickly discovered, when it came to dealings with NOVA. They didn’t care if he had done a lot of good for the city, they only cared that he was doing anything at all. 

Josh knew Conner through the Titans, and even though they’d never worked closely together and he hadn’t been involved with the group for awhile, there was never a reason one of them couldn’t come to him. The way Conner was clutching his side was a pretty good indication that it wasn’t a social call. He put down the set of sheets he’d been holding and walked over to him. “Yeah, yeah, can you sit? Easier to stand?”

Connor walked with just the slightest hint of a limp as he made his way into the clinic, a hand raised to his side painfully. “Hello, Josh,” he greeted politely. “How are you?” It was strange to see, if only because Connor was sticking so tightly to these social mores when he was clearly in pain and in need of Josh’s help. “Do you have a minute to take a look at something for me?” Despite the fact that Connor had a healing factor, there was deep, dark bruising on his side that wouldn’t go away, ever since the night of his arrest. He suspected it was something to do with the power dampener, but the fact that it was lingering did not bode well in Connor’s mind.