Chapter 6
The greatest gift of all, my son. You will be able to soar higher than even man's greatest invention. To fly above and outside the earth. From on high, you will see this world as it is and as it could be. A place of peace as our beloved home once was.
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Chloe paused with her hand on the play button. "Are you sure?" she asked Martha.
Martha nodded and stared at the cassette player.
"Wait!" Lois stilled Chloe's hand. "Lucy, go wait in the car."
"What?"
"This has nothing to do with you," Lois said shortly. "And, unless you want to find a new place to live..."
"Fine!" Lucy stomped away and Chloe heard her muttering to herself as her voice faded.
"Lois, it's about your father," Chloe whispered. "It does have to do with her."
"Yes, but she doesn't have to know the rest. Lucy's young and stupid and impetuous. She'll do something crazy." Lois touched Chloe's hand. "I'll tell her what she needs to know, but nothing else."
Chloe got up and looked out the window. Lucy was in Lois' SUV and muffled, but angry, music vibrated from it. "Okay."
They sat around the dining room table as Chloe pressed the button. It wasn't loud and they leaned close.
"I told you not to call me at work," Lex Luthor's cold voice said clearly.
"What did you do?" the other voice was muffled, but Chloe knew it. It was General Sam Lane. "We had a deal."
"No one was supposed to get hurt... much."
"My daughters were in that car with her," Sam Lane said angrily.
"And they weren't hurt. Neither was she." She heard Lex sigh. "It was supposed to be a small, but containable fire, triggered by the air conditioning. It was a warning."
"But my brother-in-law...."
"Took it apart and went at it with a screwdriver. Was I supposed to foresee that?"
"My daughters. They..."
"I'm just as upset as you are," Lex said in a smooth voice. "This development has put a kink in my plans, too."
"I gave up my home," Sam Lane growled. "My Lucy." Chloe put her hand on Lois' as her head shot up at the exclusion. It was an old hurt that had never gone away. "Am I supposed to be upset at your little kink?"
"You'll be rewarded handsomely when the time comes. For now, I want you to stay put." Stay put where? "I'll take care of Sullivan and..."
"What about my daughters?"
"Sam," he sighed. "I could care less as long as they stay out of my way."
"Just... Do what you want with her, but my girls. They..."
"Just do as you're told," Lex snapped. "The Lane sisters are safe from me."
There was a click and then silence. Chloe stared at it numbly as Lois got out of her chair and backed away from the table. "That bastard!"
Chloe got up, too. "Lois, calm down. Lucy might..."
"Do what you want with her," she sneered. "Chloe, he said that about his own flesh and..."
"Lois, I'm not blood. I'm just his wife's brother's..."
"It doesn't matter, Chloe! My father's in bed with Luthor and he's throwing you to the wolves! And he doesn't care!"
"That's not true!"
They both turned to the doorway. Lucy Lane stood with her hands in fists at her side.
Lois too a deep breath and looked at the floor. "I told you to stay in the car."
"I heard yelling and... Dad is not doing anything to Chloe."
Lois looked up. "Your father is working with Lex Luthor."
"He's your father, too!"
"Not anymore," Lois yelled. "He's part of the reason Uncle Gabe is dead!"
"Stop it!" Lucy covered her face and began sobbing.
Martha was quick to go to her. "We can discuss this in the morning." She pulled Lucy's hands from her face and smoothed her hair. "Lucy, why don't you go upstairs and wash your face? I'll make up a bed for you." Lucy glared tearfully at Lois before nodding at Martha and leaving.
Martha turned to them, looking somehow older. She was fifty-three, but had always seemed younger to Chloe. Just young and pretty and able to see the good in all people, even the Luthors. "You two... you're staying, too. We'll get your things tomorrow. I don't want you staying anywhere owned by Luthorcorp." Chloe watched her walk away and mourned for the loss of that other woman.
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"I don't want any of you going into town," Martha said, placing a heaping plate of pancakes on the table. "We're all going to lay low for now. I can call the Hubbard boy and send him for anything we need." She turned to Lois. "We'll store your SUV in the barn. It's too conspicuous."
"So we're... what? Going to be farmers now?" Lucy grumbled, taking some pancakes.
Lois rolled her eyes. "There's nothing to farm here. And I agree with Martha. We're just going to take it easy for a bit." She glanced meaningfully at Chloe.
"Okay, I get that she's in, like, some kind of a thing." Lucy half-smiled at Chloe. "But why us? I heard some of the tape. We can still..."
"Lucy, you're so stupid sometimes." Lois rubbed her eyes, then her temples. "We need to have somewhere safe. Lex thinks this place is boarded up. We know we can come here if things get dangerous. But if you go traipsing all over trying to find The Limited, someone will follow you back."
"Stop acting like I don't care," Lucy snapped. "Just cause you're angry at Daddy..."
"As I should be."
"It's not Dad! It's that Luthor jerkwad! He's forcing him! I know it!
"Oh, Lucy," Lois sighed. "I'm done arguing this. You can think what you want."
They both sat back in their chairs with their arms folded. It was almost funny, how connected they were while always at odds. Chloe almost wished for a sister.
The phone rang and all four jumped. Who could know they were there?
Chloe, shaking, finally got up.
"Don't, Chloe," Lois whispered.
"It's a phone. Not a bomb." She squared her shoulders and reached for it. She dipped her voice as low as she could. "Hello?"
"You need a certain technology to read the disc," a low, hoarse voice said. "Do not waste any more time."
**********************************
Chloe sat squirming on the plane. Lois had dropped her at the airport in the dead of night with an e-ticket and a fake passport clutched in her hand. "Marion Briggs" was flying to Star City on Oliver Queen's dime with a tape and a disc and a mission.
Whatever technology was needed, she certainly couldn't afford it. As a matter of fact, the three girls together had nearly nothing but Chloe's dwindling savings and Lois' cashed in stocks. "Oliver taught me a thing or two about finances," she'd said. "It's not much, but we'll need it." Lucy, of course, had nothing to contribute.
When the plane touched down, she was apprehensive and elated at once. There would be bigger answers in this disc- maybe all they needed. She could hear it in the urgent tone of The Source's voice. She pulled her carry-on behind her in the crowded airport. It was nearing dawn and people were rushing to their gates. She just wanted to get to the baggage claim, not because she had bags, but for a familiar face.
She'd been hacking remotely, speaking covertly, but it had been nearly a year since she'd seen the faces of the guys who called her Watchtower. She was nearly excited at the reunion. It felt like she was home from school, though her last year of college was going on without her. But, for now, she pretended she was home from school and reuniting with friends.
She spied Bart Allen and Victor Stone near the door. She laughed at their signs. Victor's said "C.S." while Bart's read "Hot Blonde." She rushed at them and embraced them both. Bart returned it enthusiastically, while Victor patted her back carefully.
"You don't know how great it is to see you guys."
Bart took her bag and her arm. "You kidding? I hear that from every girl." He grinned. "But I don't pay them any attention. We all know I like older women."
"Stop that," Chloe groaned. "I'm only two years older and you make me feel ancient."
"Yeah, but..."
"Bart," Victor barked as he led them to the parking garage. "This is not the time for your fruitless flirting." He opened the door of a white van for Chloe.
Bart handed her in, laughing. Chloe took out her cell. "Fruitless, he says. My flirting probably ranks up there with..."
Victor suddenly let out a scream and clutched his head.
"Victor! What..."
"Turn it off," he said, pointing at her cell.
She did so and got out of the van. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He let out a breath. "Just feedback."
She looked at her phone. "Why would..."
"Victor's been your own personal cell tower lately." Bart patted Victor on the back. "I'll drive, Buddy." He gestured to the back again. "Madam?"
Chloe got in, followed by Victor. "Nice set-up." She buckled herself into a seat along the wall and looked around. It had a desk, a cot, a fridge and was extremely messy.
"Oh, this?" Bart called from the drivers' seat as they began to move. "Just a little home away. Oliver hooked me up. I got kicked out of my apartment again."
"Don't ask," Victor whispered.
"Yeah, I told Oliver I could crash with him, but he says no and how we all can't interact too freely in public life and blah blah... I know he's just scared I'll eat all his fancy gourmet crap."
"So what's this about you being my cell tower, Victor?"
Victor started to answer, but Bart piped up again. "Old Vicky Boy..."
"Don't call me that," Victor warned.
"He's been recieving your calls so no one can trace them. Ever wondered why he never comes to the phone?"
"They'll use me as a coffee-maker soon," Victor said with a rare smile.
*************************************
Bart wanted to get breakfast, but Victor insisted Chloe be dropped at her hotel to get some rest. Chloe didn't argue. She was tired. And Marion Briggs' room was sumptuous to say the least. It was a suite complete with a sitting room and the kind of bathroom she wouldn't mind living in. But she'd settle for bathing in it.
She was just filling the huge tub when there was a knock at her door. She tightened her robe and shuffled to it, expecting a fruit basket or whatever they gave their supposedly rich guests. She was not prepared for Lois.
"Um... Surprise?"
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Chapter Seven
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