Almost Chloe (Chapter Seven)

Chapter 7

Do not abuse these gifts, my son. They are yours by nature and should be treated with the gravity they deserve. They shall be used to protect, not to harm needlessly the planet and people that have sheltered you.

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"God, Lois." Chloe pulled her in and abruptly turned back to the bathroom.

Lois followed close as Chloe moved through the bedroom and back to the bathroom. "I'm sorry, but I had to, Chloe."

"Sure." Chloe twisted off the faucet. "How long have you known you had to stalk me?"

"Not too long." Lois leaned on the counter and stared at the floor. "It's not stalking, really. I just... followed you to the ticket counter and listened in, then got a coach ticket for your flight online and just... stored my car instead of leaving you." She smiled slightly and ran the tow of her sneaker on the tiles. "Then I kept few people behind you at the airport and got a cab and followed your van here and... It's not stalking at all. It's... necesary. And it wasn't easy, you know. I had to keep watching you and waiting and..."

"Why, Lois?"

"Well, I'm famiy." Lois smiled again, but dropped it after a moment. "I'm a part of this now, Chloe. You can't give me half-truths all the time. I want in. And I want in all the way. Did you ever think I would just sit back and let you take it all on?"

"No. But I hoped..."

"I have another reason," Lois said, looking away. "Chloe, I... I have to see him. I can accept that he talks to you and not me and I can be... okay with it. I just have to see him and know I'm over him." She shrugged. "If we're all in this, then Oliver and I have to at least be friends. We have to talk sometime."

"Lois, it's not that easy. There are things that I'm not at liberty to..." She broke off at a muffled crash. "Shhh!" She turned off the bathroom light and pushed Lois to the side.

"What..."

"Shhh!" She crept forward and peeked out the door into the bedroom. There was someone on the balcony. She saw the shadow through the curtains that swayed in front of the door. She crept toward the bed and picked up the alarm clock, unplugging it hastily. It was all she had.

The shadow bent, then straightened, coming forward and knocking quietly on the balcony door. Now she was confused. She moved forward and drew aside the curtain. It was Oliver, but in his Green Arrow guise. She unlocked the door, meaning only to open it a crack and warn him away.

But he pushed through. "Hey, sorry about the weird entrance, but I couldn't let anyone see me come inside and..."

"You have to go."

"And I will. I'll let you get your rest. But we have to talk." His hands went to his hood.

"No! Don't..." There was a loud gasp behind her. "Remove the hood," she finished lamely.

Oliver stood in front of her, his face only marred by sunglasses. His mouth hung open as he stared past her. She turned to see Lois in the bathroom doorway, her mouth also slack. Chloe sat hard on the bed and shook her head.

Oliver's mouth started to move, but no sound came out.

Lois moved forward, shaking her head and staring at him in wonder. For a split second, Chloe thought she'd be treated to a tearful embrace straight out of Love Story. Then she remembered this was Lois.

She winced as Lois drew her fist back and drove it straight into Oliver's eye.

He went down.

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Chloe followed behind Oliver as he stalked up a side alley. "I tried to warn you. She just showed up."

"Fine. It's done." He stopped and jerked his head toward the opening of the alleyway. "But do we have to bring her here?"

"If she's in this far, we might as well take it all the way. You heard the recording. Her father's involved. Besides, we need all the help we can get." She placed her hand on his arm. "According to my source, time is running out."

"Don't touch him, Chloe," Lois said snidely from behind her. "It provokes an allergic reaction that makes him run far away."

"Only from psycho harpies who punch me," he shot back before turning and punching at a brick in the wall. It disappeared and was replaced by a keypad. He punched in some numbers as Chloe stared in wonder.

"This is kind of cool."

Lois only snorted behind her. "Yeah. With enough money, you can buy anything. Like moving bricks or space or distance or time..."

"Is everyone there?" Chloe asked quickly, interrupting.

He nodded as the bricks seemed to slide back and behind the rest. A metal door appeared and slid open. "Welcome to headquarters." He disappeared through it and Chloe followed, Lois on her heels.

The door closed and there was blackness before lights appeared along the wall.

"Who's everyone?" Lois asked as they followed Oliver down what seemed like endless steps.

Chloe thought of A.C., who Lois had also had a little romance with. "Just prepare yourself."

At the bottom, he opened a door.

Chloe entered the large white room. It was octagonal and there were four doors. Bart came from one, a bag of chips hanging from his teeth that he appeared to be opening. He spit it out. "New people?"

"Bart, this is my cousin, Lois Lane."

He came forward and took her hand and kissed it as Oliver walked toward the computer, muttering to himself.

"Enchante," Bart said. He turned to Chloe. "I'm working on my language. And don't worry, Dollface, I still have my eye on you." He turned back to Lois, who looked flabbergasted. "So what do you do?"

"Do?"

"She punches people," Chloe heard Oliver mumble.

"Yeah. I run." Bart nodded toward Oliver. "Queenie here's the modern Robin Hood, The Watchtower... I guess you could say she's got brains that almost rival her incredible beauty...

"Oh, can it, Bart." Chloe rolled her eyes

"Then there's A.C..." Just then A.C. came in. "Well, he sleeps with the fishes." Bart laughed at his own joke as Lois moved past him toward A.C.

"Lois," he said with more than a little surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed Chloe. I didn't know you were involved. Chloe never said..."

"It wasn't mine to say," Chloe cut in. "But we're all in now, so... Lois, A.C. is also known as Aquaman. Though he's more well-known in the Florida area, he's in on our little project." She turned to Bart. "And Lois, though not endowed with anything superhuman, is a very welcome addition. Right, Oliver?"

He didn't answer, only slumped in his chair.

Lois turned to Bart. "So when you say you run, you mean that you're..."

"Fast." He was beside her in less than a second. "Like light speed."

She turned back to A.C. "And..." She laughed slightly. "Aquaman?"

A.C. shrugged and blushed slightly. "I can... breathe underwater, telepathically communicate with and control all forms of sea life, swim at high speeds... Just stuff..."

"You never told me."

"Yeah. Why don't you punch him?" Oliver grumbled.

Lois glanced at the figure in the chair before smiling brightly at A.C. "I think it's wonderful." She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Of course, I'd like to have known. But we didn't know each other that long. It's not like you lied and tricked me while we were in a committed relationship."

Chloe knew this mutual needling wouldn't stop unless they got down to business. "Where's Victor?"

"Who's Victor?" Lois asked.

"He's our Bionic Brother," Bart said.

"I prefer Cyborg." Victor walked in, not registering much surprise at Lois' presence. "Hi. I'm Victor Stone."

Lois smiled quickly, though Chloe could tell this was all a little much for her in two hours. "Nice to meet you."

Chloe clapped her hands. "Okay. Are we all ready?" She pulled out the microdisc and opened its case, placing it on the large table in the center, where Oliver was at the computer. "Victor, can you take a look?"

Victor picked it up and looked closely as one pupil shrunk. "It's made by Cyntechnics and..." He turned to the computer as Oliver moved away. He placed a hand over the computer and images began flashing over the monitor as his left eye glowed red. Chloe knew what he could do, but it was fascinating to watch him in action.

"What's he doing?" Lois whispered.

"Interfacing. Before long we'll know what is needed to get inside that thing." Chloe shook her head. "He's the kind of hacker that makes me look like a neophyte."

"It's new," he said quickly as the screen continued to flash. "Cyntechnics must have designed it specifically for Luthercorp. I have a record of only two machines being made that could utilize this disc. Neither can be located." He pulled away and blinked.

Chloe moved forward and stared at the disc, trying out her own abilities. "Fairly brilliant, for a snake, keeping data with technology only he can use." She paused. "Well, he and someone else. I think one is always with him and the other is... Well, if we find that, I think we've found the facility."

"You think whatever's on this disc could help us?" Oliver folded his arms. "Why didn't your source just tell you what's on it?"

"I don't think he knows. I think he wants this info as badly as we do." She thought of the urgency in his rough voice when he'd called her at the Kent house. Mrs. Tessmacher didn't know, either. Chloe believed both sources were grasping at straws, as desperate as they all were. She turned to Victor. "I know that we can't get the machines, but can you find out the components? We could construct a rudimentary version. Just good enough to read it."

Victor nodded and began interfacing again, his eye flashing faintly. He suddenly stiffened and began rattling off a list with words like laser, circuitry, motherboard... Chloe grabbed a pad as he continued the list, repeating it over and over until she told him to stop.

He did, looking tired. Chloe led him backward to the chair and moved to a copy machine in the corner, quickly copying the list.

She turned to Bart, handing him the copied list. "Get all you can, steal if you have to. We're running out of time. I feel it." She turned to A.C. and handed him the other. "Can you swim to STAR labs harbor facility? Between the two of you, we can get everything."

Oliver unplugged two headsets that were plugged along one wall and handed them to them. He turned to Victor. "Rest up. We'll need you to remotely disable security."

Victor nodded and stretched his hand toward an outlet embedded in the table. "No one get too close," he said tiredly.

"What do I do?" Lois asked.

Oliver didn't turn to her. "Why don't you make yourself useful and make a lunch run?"

Chloe shook her head. Wrong move.

Lois pursed her lips and shook slightly. "Can I speak to you for a second?" She didn't wait for an answer, just grabbed Oliver's arm and pulled him to the nearest door.

Chloe tried to ignore the raised voices, but A.C. and Bart seemed transfixed by them. "You guys?"

They jumped and turned to her.

"Do you wanna go someday?"

The voices quieted suddenly and A.C. looked worried. "Should we go in? One of them might be..."

"Best not to interrupt," Chloe said with a smile. If she knew Lois, that yelling was nothing but foreplay.

She sat near Victor, but not too close as they disbanded. "Just a couple more minutes and I'm ready."

"It's okay. You... you've really advanced."

He smiled. "It's all Oliver. I've got more hardware in me than Home Depot." She smiled and he stared. "I can see why Bart won't give up with you. But you and I know it's useless."

Her smile faded as he looked away, nearly smiling. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we have a common vibe, you and I." He looked at her closely again. "We know what it's like to feel separate from the ones we really want."

Her throat closed, but she managed to speak. "I don't even know where he is," she choked out. "I don't know if he's safe. I..."

"He'll be back," Victor said, closing his eyes. "Clark Kent may have been blind for a long time, but he's not stupid. He won't let something like you slip through his fingers."

"Oh, Victor..." She moved forward, but he jerked away.

"Don't! You want to get electrocuted?"


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