Action Time (Chapter One)

Spoilers for Conspiracy

Chapter One

These last weeks had been divine.

No. Not divine. That sounded a bit too religious for what had been going down this week. Of course, she had been spending more time on her knees, so...

She giggled at her own irreverence. He was certainly rubbing off on her. She supposed he couldn't help it with how much time he spent... well, rubbing and other assorted...

She rolled her eyes and and tried to put her mind where it should be. Coding. She'd thought the simplicity would help, but it was actually harder to concentrate with just one screen. It was definitely harder when Lois was home. She'd gotten so used to Lois being no more than a softly snoring presence when she crept in at odd hours and fell into bed. Now she was over her shoulder all the time and Chloe had learned to keep Youtube videos featuring adorable puppies or kittens on her task bar. With Lois' allergies, she'd long ago decided she hated pets, so it only took a few coos of "Look! He's yawning... Oooh! The kitty and the squirrel are friends! Look!" to keep Lois away from her laptop.

Lois probably thought she was turning into a half-wit, but she'd had to get creative. She'd been stuck working in the apartment for two days. Watchtower was still mostly packed into boxes and would stay that way until Victor came back to help her reassemble the whole mess. She wished he'd been on top of that rather than the new features he insisted were crucial. She supposed she could see the necessity. Full body scans and new security measures were needed, but later, when Watchtower was not packed in crates and cardboard. Hell, she couldn't even get internet there right now. She didn't want to keep operating out of a barely one-bedroom apartment. She wanted her own space back. And for a few other reasons...

Her eyes slid to the door. When would he come again?

She knew, thinking it, that the thought wasn't for Victor. She knew very well he was stuck in Edge City and, as far as he knew, wouldn't be able to make it until after tomorrow. Production had come to a dead stop with last week's hold-up on funds. Dinah's connections had kept their deal going, though halted, but it wouldn't have been for long. They'd cut it close, waiting this long. If she hadn't got her hands on some money... She shuddered to think it. The planet would be a sea of sitting ducks. She also shuddered to think of how she actually got the money. But it would be over soon, as if it had never happened. She'd clean it up just as Victor was now cleaning up their tracks and, hopefully, eradicating all traces of green rocks in that warehouse.

No. She wasn't worried about Victor.

She was thinking about Oliver. And she shouldn't be. Not just because there were a million more important things going on in the world than whether she had sex. But because she really didn't want to come off too needy. She knew where the boundaries were. Hell, she'd erected them herself. She didn't want this to detract from their work. This was supposed to be something on the side. Very on the side.

Her hand inched to her phone and she pulled it back, wondering at herself. Here she was, wearing green on a Thursday and jonesing for sex. Could she be more of a cliche? She'd never thought of herself as a sexual being, let alone a sex fiend. And she wasn't. She was not going to text him. Not again. He might be in the middle of something. She had to remind herself that Oliver Queen was a very important man with many commitments that he couldn't drop just because she wanted to lick his neck in the very worst way right now.

She drew herself up and continued typing. Her commitments were no less important. Right now, she was working on new code for text messages of the non-sexy variety. She didn't want to chance any communications between her and any of the guys, and one girl, getting intercepted. It was a bit like a break, really. With what she'd pulled last week, this was nothing. Between the IDs and the weapons, a little light security was like a little vacay. Surely such light things could be interrupted with a little...

She picked up her phone, then just as quickly threw it to the couch, hoping that would keep her away just a little longer.

She'd already texted that she was at The Talon... and alone for a change. Also, she'd texted him last time and the time before. It was his move now. She couldn't be the one constantly instigating the booty calls.

A term he seemed to loathe, if their second night was any indication.

"Then what do I call this?" she'd asked, dropping her blouse. "I wouldn't know what the kids are calling it these days, unless the kids are speaking in binary code, that is."

"Just not that," he'd said with a wince. "It's too nineties and too... cold." He tossed his own shirt behind him and stalked toward her. "I think this is a little hotter than a booty call. Though the booty in question is definitely..."

She pulled his hands away from her ass with a roll of her eyes. "Jesus. You're right. While we're at it, please don't call this a booty."

He put them right back on, fisting his hands in her skirt. "I'll call it the Queen of England if you let me keep my hands on it."

She laughed. "So what do we call this? I mean, we text, then we have sex..."

"I call it awesome." He shrugged and pulled her bra strap down. "You can call it... earth-shattering. Or mind-blowing. I'm not picky."

She laughed again. "Only if you give me a reason to."

"I'm getting there," he murmured as he mouthed his way down her stomach.

And he had.

She suppressed a mad giggle. She really shouldn't giggle while working. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her these days... she laughed aloud as she imagined Oliver's response to such an opening. It would be funny and naughty. Two things her life had never had been until now.

She was rather glad that, for once in her life, for however long it lasted, she could have something like this in it. He made her laugh. He made her naughty. She'd marveled at it the first night, but it never stopped surprising her, that she could laugh while her entire body was aching for him. That sex could be fun. The two had never seemed coexist. Of course, in her limited experience, she'd never had sex without love.

That first night, and a few after, she'd felt some residual guilt at the idea that she could feel this attracted to a man she didn't love when the man she had loved left her rather cold in that department. But that was the point. Love didn't equal great sex. Love was deeper than that, she'd decided. Love was a spiritual, out-of-body connection. Sex was in-body, so in-body that the rest of the world just fell away. So maybe that's what made this so good.

And it was good. It was the best she'd ever had and, even though that wasn't saying a lot in her case, she thought it was the best she was likely to have. Because she didn't see a slew of loveless affairs in her future. That was another thing that made this so good. It was bound to end, so there was an urgency to it, a need to take what she can while she could. Make this worth it. Make this good.

And--she really couldn't stress this enough--it was good. So good she wished she could stop questioning it, analyzing it, just go with it, ride it out.

It seemed she wasn't capable of that. She wasn't capable of working, either. The last two words on her screen were "lick" and "bite." She huffed and minimized her window, pulled up Pandora radio, searching for something that would be sure to suck the sexy right out of the room, at least until she finished her work.

She took a deep breath as the tinkling piano poured from her speakers. If this didn't work, she'd move on to hymns or Enya or nature sounds with lots of croaking bullfrogs. But it seemed to be working. Her fingers flew over the keys. She really shouldn't let him sidetrack her this way. Despite the fact that Oliver was nowhere near her, this was all his fault.

He'd been the first to mix business and... whatever they were. He was the one who gave her a massive hickey high on her neck just before he knew she was supposed to be meeting Bart to go over the new headsets. He was the one who goosed her, not once, but three times while she was debriefing AC, even though he had no business even being there. Worst of all, he just had to be the kind of man she wanted to slurp up one side and down the other. The dirty, rotten...

The door clicked open and she looked up, hoping it wasn't Lois as she'd replaced her LOLcat window with Pandora now and... No. It was Oliver. She smiled and moved around the counter, unable to even pretend to be put out. "Just the interruption I was hoping for."

She waited as he closed the door and looked around, ready to assure him they were alone, but he moved right past her and there was something about his stiff walk and strange eyes that put her off. She hadn't often seen him serious, at least not when they were alone... or not when they were alone lately. There had been times when things between them had been all business, but that had been before.

These days, they weren't in the same room together two seconds before he was on her. And all business was discussed in frantic pants and gotten out of the way as quickly as their clothes. But he hadn't been around lately. She'd thought... or hoped it was because she was at the apartment with Lois, that it was too risky. But, she wondered as she followed him to the counter, if there was more to it. Maybe this was already getting stale to him and she shouldn't be surprised. With all the women he'd been with, maybe she was just one more quickly tossed aside...

Her eyes widened as he fiddled with her laptop and her very unsexy tinkling pianos were replaced with revving guitars that were... also unsexy. But there was something in his eyes, something so intense. She couldn't put her finger on it.

He moved around and she turned, smiling in relief as he placed an arm on either side of her. Or not relief. Just... Well, she didn't want this to end just yet. That was all. "I like where this is going, Romeo, but you might want to put on some softer music." Not that she was picky, the lead singer was a bit whiny, but she could work with it. She lifted her lips to his.

"This is not a booty call," he hissed, not even trying to kiss her back

Booty call. She drew back and blinked at him, wondering why he'd use those words, of all words. He hated those words.

"I think Tess Mercer might be listening," he whispered under the music. "She's up to something and it involves you."

She searched his eyes, identified that something she couldn't put her finger on before: anger.

"She came by my office today with evidence that someone's been siphoning money from my company."

It was definitely anger. And at her. And she knew why.

"You're stealing from me."

She'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. If that damned check would have come sooner, it wouldn't have. "It's not like that," she said.

"Right," he sneered. "A lot of women have used me for my money. I never expected it from you."

"I wasn't stealing from you, Oliver," she cut in quickly and decisively. "I was borrowing the cash. I'm buying insurance for the entire planet."

*****************************

"Oliver..."

"Don't." He pulled open the metal doors.

She sighed and stayed outside, shining her flashlight with his over the contents of the trailer, wishing he had another word for her. A long day's drive, a walk through a trailer graveyard in the dark, and that was all she'd heard. Every time she tried to explain that she really had borrowed the money...

"Don't."

Every time she attempted to pull out her cell to get Victor to back her up...

"Don't."

Even when she tried to tell him where to turn...

"Don't."

Of course, that had varied moments later when they found themselves in the parking lot of a Denny's in Shelbyville.

"Where?" he'd asked.

"It's back that way, under the train tracks."

"Thank you."

"You know, if you'd just let me explain..."

"Don't."

He was angry. She couldn't blame him. She knew how it looked. But she'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. It wasn't supposed to. She was supposed to get the money back in before there was even an inkling it was gone. Though not exactly in Metropolis these last days, she'd been driving there every afternoon to check the mail in an effort to do just that. She'd missed it today. A long trip outside of town with a very angry off-duty hero was a distraction she hadn't counted on.

No one was supposed to know about the trailer yet. Well... no one apart from the few who had to know. She couldn't have had the weapons made without Dinah's connections. And she couldn't have scoped out the purest possible kryptonite without Victor and the handy new program she'd installed. And she couldn't have had all traces of leftover kryptonite safely hidden without that same program. Now, she wondered if she'd been wrong. Maybe she should have had Ollie in on this all along. Rather than her borrowing the funds, he might have volunteered them. But she hadn't felt ready to trust him with this. In turht, she still didn't. But she rather hoped he'd understand, at least.

"Kryptonite weapons?" he said, aghast as he gesticulated with a knife.

She could tell by his tone, he didn't.

"This is what you've been spending all of my money on? Something that could kill Clark?

"They're to protect all of us," Chloe cut in quickly, moving in, "including Clark, from Zod and all those other Kandorians." She felt strangely hurt that he could think otherwise. Maybe she and Clark weren't friends now, but all those years had to mean something. She'd hoped Oliver might understand that.

"I don't understand," he said, dashing her hopes, still shining his light around him. "I thought you were helping set them all up with licenses and passports..."

"All the ID's I gave Clark have computer tracking chips in them." He turned to her, looking surprised. She didn't see why he should be. "I want to keep an eye on the eye on the visitors from another planet." And who the hell wouldn't?

"Welcome to 1984, the Sullivan edition," he said dryly.

"Look, Ollie, I'm sorry, okay?" She didn't have the patience to explain herself, especially to a man who, for hours, had been determined not to let her. "But I didn't have a choice. Our friend's moral compass has gotten us lost more than once." He didn't know it all. He hadn't been privy to her years as Clark's number one confidante. Half of that time had been spent watching him chase after Lana, married or not. Or sit by her bedside as Brainiac gained ground. Or profess himself ready to give up his existence, no matter how the world might suffer...over Lana, still. And now? He was exhibiting that same kind of blindness, kind of ignorance on so many levels. The way he spoke of Lois, as if she was too good, too pure to be touched by his secret. Then the Kandorians. As if they were somehow untainted despite what he'd seen in that possible future. Yet then, with no discussion of repercussions, with no foresight, he blew up the towers... He was erratic, unstable, nearly two people. "I'm not okay with just sitting back and trusting Clark again," she finished, summing it up as best she could. She moved out of the trailer. He'd seen enough.

"I get it," he said behind her.

"You do?" She pulled at one of the metal doors, wondering why he still sounded so angry..

"I'm not an idiot, Chloe." He pulled at the other. "Going full-on vigilante, blowing up buildings, burning that symbol into every wall, fence, and tree? It would be one thing if it were me, but Clark..."

"So you understand," she sighed, relieved as she locked up. "I'd rather he not know about this until or unless we need to use them. It's not like I want him hurt, but... I just can't tell him. I have no idea how he'd react anymore. He's been so..."

"No. I get why you couldn't tell Clark. Me... Well, that's another matter," he finished, his mouth a grim line as he moved away.

"Oliver..." She pocketed her keys and followed him. "It's not that I don't trust you."

"Yes. You trust me completely. It's why you came to me for the funds, explained every detail of their use, and... Oh, yeah. You didn't."

"Okay. Fine. Maybe there are some minor... trust issues." She gripped his arm as they reached the car. "Oliver, four months ago, you were throwing your life away and we had to pull you back."

"And I'm back." He whirled on her. "I've been on good behavior and, correct me if I'm wrong, running the company that pays for the equipment that allows you to direct our merry men. If anyone should know about this, it's me."

"No." She shook her head sadly. "If anyone shouldn't, it was you."

He drew back and pulled his arm away. "Good to know." He stalked around to the driver's side.

"Please don't take this personally. I had to be careful about who was in on this."

He pulled open the door. "At least my money was good enough, even if I wasn't."

"You'll get the money back," she growled, opening her own door.

"Right. I'll just dock your pay for a decade and..."

"No. You will get your money back in full."

"Sure I will." He gunned the engine as she belted herself in.

"Oliver..."

"Just don't,"

She closed her eyes and laid her head back, decided not to bother for now. He was still angry. There was no point trying to reason with him when he was angry. That was something she'd learned about Oliver. Four months ago, when she'd got the rest of the team to work on bringing Green Arrow back into the fold, she'd tried other ways. She tried calling him, left voicemails, sent texts. But Oliver Queen didn't respond to pretty words and pleas, especially not when he was angry. He was all about action and that's what it took to bring him back. He was a physical man, she knew this before she'd ever touched him. He needed to fight his own way to the truth, not be told it. It was something she could understand. She'd never been much of a fighter in the physical sense, but she never took someone else's word for it. She'd always needed to see for herself.

"So..."

She started. She'd been staring at the passing farmland of Shelbyville for an hour now and was prepared to do the same for another town, another hour. She didn't expect him to actually speak.

"Who was this carefully chosen task force? Was it everybody but me? I mean, I realize I'm just the money in this team and not worth including, so..."

He was still angry, but not as angry., which was a start, Maybe he'd listen now. "It wasn't everyone but you. Just Victor and Dinah. It's not like I could trust Bart to keep a secret and AC... Well, he wasn't useful here. I needed Victor to find the kryptonite. I gave him a new feature that can pinpoint the radiation."

"So there is an app for that," he said blithely. "But what about Dinah? Last I knew, she could wield a knife, not make one."

"Well, she knows people who can make them and do it discreetly. She was there to oversee everything, Between the two of them, I had a team that could..."

"You're still forgetting something."

She turned to him in her seat.

"The money that funded this came from me, so I was a part of it, wasn't I? A silent team member, very silent considering..."

"You'll get the money back," she said stiffly.

"So you keep saying."

"We weren't supposed to use that money. I had other plans, but they... took longer. I was hoping to get it back before you knew it was gone, but Tess..."

"Told me the truth? Now I want you to. Why couldn't I know? Why was I, in particular, such a foil to your great plans?"

"Ollie..."

"See, I get it. I get having a failsafe in case Zod and his little buddies find some way to rule the world, Kryptonian style. But why was my money good enough, while I didn't quite make the cut?"

"Because I didn't trust you not to..."

"You don't trust me. Got it."

"I didn't trust you not to go Oliver on this," she finished, nearly yelled.

He sped up. "Go Oliver?"

"Stop getting hot-headed and listen for a second." She took a deep breath. "You're part of this team and, in these last months, you've been a team player, but you have a tendency to... go a little rogue."

"I do no..." He slowed down noticeably, then grunted. "And you don't? Commissioning kryptonite weapons with less than half the team is more than a little rogue, so..."

"And what about Lex, Oliver? Did you consult anyone but yourself before you blew him up?"

His fingers gripped the wheel. "As I recall, there wasn't a team then. And he was threat."

"But only potentially. And he was weakened. And so is Zod. Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't, given a chance, launch a kryptonite grenade on him just to be sure?"

"There are grenades, too?"

"Oliver..."

"Fine. I don't like Clark's new family any more than you do. I don't trust that Zod ****er as far as a baby can throw him, and, given half the chance, I'd take him out of the equation. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

She sighed. "No. Just what I expected, which is why I didn't tell you about the weapons. It's not like I don't feel the same way you do. The difference is, I can't strut around in tight leather and kick ass."

He snorted and she waited for the inevitable sexy, leather joke. It didn't come, which just showed he was still too angry.

"Look, Oliver. I plan. That's what I do. Victor and Dinah are more on my wavelength and that's why they were in and not you or Bart or AC. These weapons are in case of absolute emergency only. They aren't a preemptive strike. They're a failsafe. Just tell me one thing." She took a deep breath. "You know where they are. Can you promise you won't start raiding the stash for arrows or..."

"So there are arrows," he said tiredly. "Glad you used me money to buy me something."

"Oliver, I'm serious. When I called this insurance, that was exactly what I meant. It's only for..." She trailed off, staring out the window, then behind them. "You missed the northeast extension."

"Why? We aren't going to Smallville."

"Yes, we are. I've been staying at The Talon and..."

"And why is that?" he cut in. "You have two levels of computery goodness and, for the last few days, you've been fiddling with a laptop in a tiny apartment. You'd think there was some reason for it."

She groaned and laid her head back.

"Maybe you've had more frequent visits there lately and, with your extra-curricular weapon hoarding, didn't want your new frequent visitor to see a few things that..."

"Oliver, you know everything now," she said tiredly.

"Do I? Because a trailer can only hold so much. But a two level apartment can..."

"Fine. Let's go to the Watchtower. Let's look into every nook and cranny and find all my dirty secrets. Maybe later we can play airport security and you can rifle through my purse."

"Long as I get to pat you down, too," he said with a smirk.

Apparently, he wasn't too angry to joke now. But she was.

"Just drive," she growled.



CHAPTER TWO



Canon fix #1: I set up a little something in the previous story with a mind to follow through on it here having to do with why Chloe really was borrowing rather than taking the money with no intention of putting it back. Because I don't think Chloe (at least the Chloe I've known for nine years) would say "borrow" unless she really did mean just that.

Canon fix #2: Why the hell is Chloe working in The Talon on a laptop when she has a maze of computers at Watchtower? Well, it fits in well with my first fix. Watchtower is unavailable at the moment.

Canon fix #3: Also, I don't think Chloe could set up the kryptonite weapons stash so secretively on her lonesome. I added Victor and Dinah. I was thinking of Bart, but I doubt he could keep a secret. And AC is just... Well, he says Bro. So, you know.

Canon fix #4: Booty call. Hate the phrase. Had to demonize it in some way and take the sting away.