The Loyal Opposition, Part 19
Title: The Loyal Opposition
Author: latetothpartyhp
Rating: PG-13
Genre: drama
Spoilers: through Pandora
Pairings: ETA: I envisioned this as mainly a Chlark confrontation, but what emerged in addition to that were some hints of Chlex friendship, mutual Chless manipulation, and some (mostly) off-screen Clana. There's also a Lexana fight for anyone who's interested. And Cless! We have added Cless!
Warnings: some violence & language - ETA: Character deaths in store.
Summary / Author's Note: Chloe's on a mission for the resistance. Could be a Supernatural crossover if you squint real hard.
Check out this amazingly cool banner by go_clo!
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18
Additional author's note: The violence bumps up a notch in this section. Still have very spotty Internet access (although with current spoilers I that's not necessarily a bad thing...)
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“So. What was that all about?” she asked as she caught up. “That thing with the floodwaters. What did you mean by that?”
“It was a metaphor,” Tess said, pulling the Glock from her waistband. “What did you think it was?”
Well, of course it was. Seriously, did Tess think she was an idiot? It was impossible to tell, as Tess had already put another ten yards between them. Whatever she planned to do, she apparently planned to do it in a hurry. Whatever she planned to do, it was going to be something big. Something that would cause the “floodwaters” to “recede”. Her stomach squeezed and her hands clapped at the thought. Wait - hand clapping? That was weird. She shoved them in her pockets and followed Tess into the Foregate.
Like the Fortress, the Foregate was bathed in its own mysterious, internal glow, although in the case of the Foregate the effect was more sulfurous pit-of-hell than ethereal and other-worldly. Like the destruction of the landscape above, the light rendered the caves almost unrecognizable. Tess had swept in and gone left, Chloe was sure, but that was the last she'd seen of her. She slowed, following her instinct and praying it was right as she shuffled along. Tess hadn't specified why they were here, but at this point there was really only one reason to go to the caves, and in lay in the center of the system.
When she got there Tess was waiting. She looked impatient and determined, as only Tess could, flat-eyed and focused. She held herself taut, the gun in both hands and pointed down and away from her body. She too was waiting for something big, only she was ready to shoot it when it happened.
“We're here,” Chloe said. Tess, who had been warily scanning the crystal ceiling overhead, continued to do so. “Now what?”
Tess nodded toward the stone altar in the center of the cave. “If he's gone to the Fortress, he'll have to come back to this cave.” Chloe glanced at it and saw the key, which in her experience had so often been conveniently left behind, was not in its usual slot. If he had gone to the Fortress, he had learned to lock the door behind him - another indicator of caution for which she was sure Tess had only herself to blame.
“So we wait,” she said.
“Oh, yes,” Tess answered. “We wait. But not in here.” She took up a spot just outside the entrance to the inner cave and Chloe, having unwittingly stood in the wrong place at the right time before, could see her point. The outer chamber had the added benefit of offering plenty of room to pace, which she began to do immediately and vigorously. She knew, in her rational mind, that between Tess' gun and whatever Tess decided to do with it she had a coma patient's chance in a zombie apocalypse of surviving this day, but at some point recently the volume for her rational mind had been turned down and the speakers for her irrational self had turned up. Her irrational self wanted to clap her hands and do little jigs in the dirt. Not that she knew how to jig, or why she would want to. She knew she should be seeking calm and clarity and maybe after three days she would achieve it, but for now the best she could manage was the pacing.
Tess certainly did not have this problem. She maintained her stance, eyes roving the walls and the ceiling for what she only knew. Chloe had no idea how long she crawled the walls and Tess watched them; her watch had been taken from her at the security station and, as in the pantry, the wait had its own distorted units of time, measured in steps and breaths and repressed screams. When the light of Kal-El's return did appear, her back was to it and it was only in the suddenly stark outline of the surrounding rock that she saw it. When she turned, Kal-El and Lana were standing next to the table, hands entwined, eyes glued on each other.
It was Lana who saw them first, her pretty startle causing Kal-El to follow. His nostrils flared and Chloe hugged herself in anticipation. “Tess? What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We missed you at the morning meeting,” Tess said.
A mask of authority fell over his face. “There were matters that required my immediate attention.”
“We've discussed this. It's not safe for you to go off on your own. No matter what the … occasion.”
“Tess, I - “
“Don't bother.” Tess lifted the gun and fired: one, two, three shots. Three splotches of red sprung up on Clark's chest, shoulder, belly. Lana screamed, Clark dropped, and Chloe shook in what she realized was laughter.
“Shut up,” Tess told someone. Lana, apparently, because when she kept screaming Tess walked over and slapped her. After that she stopped, leaving a ringing silence behind.
“Get the key,” Tess snapped. At her now, apparently, because when she kept shaking and puffing Tess snapped again: “Find it! He'll have it somewhere on him!”
The key? Oh God. The key. She should … she should get it... she stumbled toward the groaning heap that was Kal-El of Krypton. Her hands and knees were shaking the way they had when she walked into the library to receive her judgment. This time, though, it was he who was on the ground, slumped against the side of the altar like a sack of sweet corn, his eyes wide and pleading.
“Ch--, Chlo, Chl...”
“Sssshhh,” she lifted the trembling fingers of own hand to his lips while patting him down with the other. “You're gonna be ok. We're gonna get you to help.” Her questing hand hit something solid and flat in his right jacket pocket. Bingo. “We're going to take you back to Jor-El.”
His eyes relaxed and he nodded. She rose and lifted her eyes to Tess'. The other woman nodded in acknowledgment. So far so good.
She stepped over Clark, glanced back to make sure Tess was close enough, and inserted the key into the altar. Light obliterated the cavern.