Again: Chapter Fifteen (15/?)
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Summary: Oliver let Chloe down time and again. She could only depend on two things these days- her rationality and her work. So what was her logic doing, constantly giving him second chances?
Chapter Fifteen
She woke up to the sunlight peering through the colored glass, shooting up from her chair to see something green resting on the touch screen. Chloe rubbed her neck and tried to straighten out her back, staring at it.
There were no cameras at Watchtower. It seemed like a bit of a strange idea, since she was the only one here, and a bit of a time waster to filter through feed of herself working. But by the looks of this, she should probably invest the time.
She wanted to know when Oliver Queen got here while she was sleeping for the few hours that she was knocked out on the desk and put his equipment on the desk before leaving. She wanted to know why it happened, she wanted to demand an explanation, and she wanted to slap herself in the face for being asleep when he showed up.
She got up from her chair, leaned over the table, and saw the rest of it. Crossbows, composite bows, compound bows, recurve bows, his quiver, trick arrows, titanium arrows, darts, glasses with night vision and video feed, voice distorter, knock out gas containers, six targets- he cleared out the Arrow room and placed it all here.
He should have woken her up, should have talked to her before landing her with an entire arsenal. What the hell was she supposed to do with all of this stuff now? Pick up archery? Fancy herself a little green uniform and start zip-lining around? Yeah, sure.
She walked over to one of the walls and pressed a button, opening a secret compartment where she held two guns. There was a lot of room left over- she was planning on maybe buying a change of clothes, maybe a blanket and pillow so that she could avoid future nights with her keyboard for company.
But that couldn't happen. She needed to clear this area out and make room for Oliver's equipment, maybe stash the targets upstairs somewhere. She only had two guns hanging here, after all. They could go somewhere else.
She had just finished carrying everything upstairs when her cell phone rang. She rushed down the stairs and picked it up without looking at it. "Hello?"
"Chloe, it's Clark. I need you to meet me somewhere."
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah", she heard him say before bringing his voice down to a whisper. "I think I can hear thoughts now."
Another new super power. Right when she was about to crack the code on the video transmission gone awry. But she remembered him telling her about the time he unintentionally lit a classroom on fire because of a good looking teacher. She didn't think that hearing thoughts was dangerous, but with Clark, it just could be.
She didn't want him going upstairs and finding out that she had Oliver's stuff. So she did what she felt like she was just getting better at doing these days. She lied.
"I'm out on a coffee run. Can I meet up with you before I head back to Watchtower?"
"Sure, where are you?"
"I'm out on a coffee run", she repeated. There was only one place that she went for coffee recently, and it wasn't because she was hot for the barista.
She liked the sweet old guy. He was nice- always gave her a smile. Those were rare these days. "Metro Cafe", she said, hanging up on him and breaking in a run on her way out.
Even though her running was going to be helpless against Clark's super-speed, she still wanted to make sure that because of some miracle, she got there before he did, before he started asking questions and wondering why she lied.
If Emil had no problem with looking at her computers upstairs, then Clark would have no problem doing a quick inspection of the place.
But when Chloe got there, she found that it just had the usual strangers. She caught up her breath, ordered an ice coffee to cool down, and stood at the corner, sipping from it casually, waiting for him to speed in.
She was halfway done with her drink when she realized that she probably looked like she had just woken up. Her clothes were okay, but her makeup was light, probably slept away, and her hair wasn't curled for the first time in a while.
She saw him walking towards her, and wondered if he would even notice how tired she was. But he was walking- how human of him. So much for Clark Kent being dead.
"Chloe, thanks for meeting me. I know you've been busy."
Still all formal. That was what their relationship had come to now. She should probably take some comfort in the continuity.
Wait, could he hear her?
"What am I thinking right now?" She asked, her tone steady.
She missed them all. And she wanted the whole team back. AC hadn't visited since she had found him, hadn't even called to see what was going on. She wondered if the Watchtower was meant to be some sort of giant tribute to heroes that were, if that was why she had all of Oliver's equipment.
She didn't want Watchtower to become some sort of museum.
"No clue. So far it's only been Lois."
Lois. Of course. "Okay." She turned her back on him and started walking. Clark followed suit.
There had to be some sort of cause to the effect here. Just because she woke up as Lois Lane one morning didn't mean that random things happened. The cause was Zatanna back then. A wish.
What was the cause here?
"Well, I know that my Wall of Weird is so three upgrades ago, but I spent enough time digitizing the strange and unexplained enough in my life to know that you don't just catch ESP", she started. "So the question is, how do we know that this isn't just your super-hearing on the fritz?"
"As loud as Lois is, even she can't speak with her mouth closed."
"Good point." Maybe if she cross-referenced hearing thoughts with old Isis cases, she would be able to get in contact with someone, or at the very least, access some sort of file.
If Clark started his training, he was all chummy with Jor-El, then why was he coming to her with this? She was thankful for the update, but still wanted to know why. Jor-El would be easier.
"Okay, well, I'll see what I can dig up. But seriously Clark, unless your warranty's expired, why don't you just check in with your old dad?"
Suddenly, he put two fingers to his temple and started to wince. "Are you okay?" she asked "Clark?"
"Yeah. Looks like I have to bypass Lois' inside voice from here on out. I'm fine."
Why couldn't Clark hear her thoughts? Screw that, why couldn't he read her face?
"I'll keep you posted", she said, turning around and walking back towards the Watchtower.
He used to thank her, at the very least. Used to say something. Not anymore.
She went back to the Watchtower, cross-referenced ESP with every single meteor infected person and meta-human that she knew. She even cross-referenced it with Belle Reve patients, but came up completely empty.
She checked it against 33.1 rescues that the team had made over the years, but there was nothing. She asked herself for a split-second if Emil could come up with some brilliant scientific explanation for what was going on, and also wondered if Oliver had seen anybody before she had started helping him.
Some force of nature was taunting her. Arrows inside of her secret gun compartment that she had sealed with a secret pass-code. Her eyes kept darting back and forth from the wall to her monitor.
She wasn't going to get any sleep upstairs even if she tried if this kept going. She would just stare at the closet where she put a target if she managed to keep her eyes away from the ones on the floor up there.
She had this feeling that Oliver would know something. And if Oliver hadn't, Victor would. Or Bart would come up with some sort of name out of the air of someone that he had saved while running around. Or maybe Dinah had come across someone in her own bullpen.
Emil wasn't the only person in the world with scientific knowledge. This was ridiculous. Chloe was tired of feeling like a moron around here, with nobody else around here to judge her.
So she fit her laptop in her bag, slung her bag over her shoulder, went to the library, and took out book after book on random scientific subjects that could maybe hold some sort of scientific explanation for Clark's sudden ESP. Even though the spines of the books were digging into her arm with every second as she walked to the train station, she felt a little better.
She had Brainiac inside of her at one point. She could translate an entire kryptonian language because of that. She had hacked into government databases and made it out alive and being able to breathe fresh city air for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. She could make sense of this. She had to.
She spent the entire train ride back reading and got back to the Talon, and unlocked the door, ready to spend the rest of the night reading this without sound or taunting composite bows hidden behind walls.
She opened the door to find Lois busy doing something or another. And looking dressed up for a date.
"Whoa, Lois!" She greeted, closing the door behind her. "Why so fancy?"
"Monster trucks", her cousin answered, still working away on the cloth laid out on the table.
Lois couldn't help but contain her smile. Monster trucks. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
"Monster trucks", Chloe repeated, walking over to the table to put her books down and hoping that she wouldn't notice the titles. "Lois, I've seen you do monster trucks before, and this is definitely more than that."
Chloe turned the books around so that Lois couldn't read the spines. "I would say that this is strictly rhinestones and mudflaps territory." She reached into her bag and pulled out her laptop. "Who's the Prince Charming?" She asked
Lois put her scissors down for a moment and turned to face her. "I never thought I'd say this out loud, but Clark Kent."
Wait, what?
"I know, right?" Lois continued. "It's the weirdest thing. Of the five things to do in Kansas, Clark picked the one thing I've wanted to do for weeks!"
Oh no.
Using his abilities for his own personal gain. Wasn't that against the rulebooks or something? Use powers for the good of mankind, and not the good of the notches on the Barn's bedpost?
"We've been on the same wavelength, like, all day today", Lois finished.
"I'll bet." Now that Chloe had her suspicions, it was time to confirm them with some cold, hard facts. "Sort of like he's been reading your mind?" She asked. "Like he's hearing things you've never actually said out loud?"
Chloe smiled as Lois put on her hemmed shorts, making it seem like she was describing people in love instead of people who were using their handy dandy abilities.
"Exactly", Lois said, smile not even wavering.
"That is the weirdest thing", Chloe said sarcastically.
Lois didn't pick up on the sarcasm.
"Me and Clark", she tried the words on for size, thinking out loud. "I don't know. I mean, we certainly kick all kinds of ass at work, but lately?" She said, turning to face the mirror.
Chloe took a deep breath, her face contorted in worry. Lois was going to get her heart broken because Clark was being a moron and taking advantage of his abilities. He pretty much planted the idea of a relationship in Lois' head. It wasn't right. It's not how people go about doing things.
It wasn't humane.
"It just feels like we're more than just partners, you know?" She heard Lois say. "I think I've gotten used to carrying the load all by myself. What if I don't have to anymore?"
For a split second, Chloe missed that.
The J-Chlo team.
Chlo and Lo.
Chloe and Clark, best friends in their high school yearbook.
Chloe Sullivan, most likely to succeed. If only they could all see her now.
"Clark and Lois versus the world."
She wished that she could have it all back, but she couldn't. She was responsible for the deaths of two men and for the deaths of countless heroes.
Lois turned around to face her. Chloe instantly smiled widely at her.
"Oh, wow", Lois said suddenly. "Kind of lost myself somewhere there, huh?"
Chloe didn't know what to say, so she just smiled at her cousin, trying to seem supportive.
"Don't wait up", Lois said, giving her a quick one armed hug before leaving the apartment.
Chloe walked over to her laptop, flipping it open and entering her password when a window popped up.
There was a black-tie Queen Industries shareholder affair. Meant for lots of paparazzi. She wanted to crash the thing, get Oliver alone, and demand an explanation from him.
If he had to take his anger out on something, she would rather it be on her. She deserved it. But before that, she needed to get some sort of press pass to get in.
It would be easy to forge that at the Daily Planet- it would be late by the time she got all the way back to Metropolis, and since this was a Queen Industries affair, Luthorcorp was also involved. There was no chance of bumping into Tess Mercer and having her wonder why she was breaking into the building.
All Chloe had to do was stay low-key at the party itself and everything would be fine.
She checked the time. So much for a night of staying in and reading. She never should have left the Watchtower, save time in transit. "I really need to get a car", she muttered to herself before walking back over.