Gift of Fate Chapter 11 (12/?)
Summary: Oliver has been missing for two years, ever since his boat went down in a sudden storm. Chloe is still grieving for him. What will it take for her to move on and live her life again? What happened to Oliver? Will he ever come back? And who's behind the mysterious disappearances in Star City?
Rating: PG-13 for the most part, however there are sections that are NC-17 (my first attempt, for the record) for sexual content. This fic contains violence and language. Chapters containing sexual content will be preceded by a warning.
Spoilers: The entire series, basically. The basic setting is season six with a twist, but anything is fair game if it works for this fic.
Warning: Again, this is AU and is a continuation of my fic Twist of Fate, which you really need to read first or this isn't going to make any sense. There will sexual content and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, I'm just playing around with them.
Beta: jessicaj703 Thanks for all the help!
Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10
Banner by geek_or_unique
Author's Note: I didn't get too many reviews last chapter. At this point in the fic, I could really use them, because a lot of things are going to come to a head pretty quickly and it's going to mean a lot for our favorite couple. Any and all feedback would be much appreciate at any time, but especially now because I want to be sure that everyone likes where this is headed.
Chapter 11
Heedless of the people jostling past her, Chloe stared straight ahead. Her eyes were fixed on the spot where Oliver and Tess had been kissing. It was something she was more or less used to seeing. The tabloids printed old pictures of him with previous girlfriends -- flings, he always stressed -- all the time and the kissing shots were always featured. It was different actually seeing it happen in front of her, live and in 3D.
A small part of her brain was aware that Oliver had very quickly pushed Tess away and even seemed to be telling her to leave him alone. He looked unhappy with the whole thing and whatever he’d told Tess obviously hadn’t gone over well. Chloe felt a small sense of satisfaction when she watched the other woman stomp away, visibly chagrined.
Regaining her senses to some degree, Chloe darted into the shadows of a nearby doorway, out of Oliver’s line of sight. She needed a few minutes to get her head on straight again. It wasn’t as if she could blame him for what had just happened and she wasn’t even sure that she wanted to. In fact, she was pretty sure that she didn’t blame him at all. She’d seen that he’d rejected Tess’s advance. Tess had started the kiss and he’d quickly ended it. The “she kissed me” defense would actually work quite well for him.
Chloe leaned back against the door, covering her face with her hands. It was finally hitting her. She had been hesitant to step out of the friendship zone she and Oliver had placed themselves in, mostly because she wasn’t sure if Oliver was ready. He’d had more issues to come to terms with than she did and she’d been worried about pushing him into a relationship before he’d dealt with everything. Now it was finally becoming clear to her. Oliver was the most important person in her life. He had been for a long time, even before he went missing. He was her best friend, the person she trusted more than anyone else and she knew that he felt the same way. She was the only one that he had confided in about his new Green Arrow persona. They spent as much time together as humanly possible and it was only getting harder not to jump him. All that time, she’d been waiting to be sure that Oliver was ready when he was probably do the exact same thing for her.
A smile tugged at her lips and she dropped her hands from her face. It seemed odd that something as potentially damaging as seeing him kiss another woman had actually made her realize that no matter what happened to them, she still loved him. She was willing to take any risk to be with him.
Struggling keep a massive grin off her face, Chloe ducked out onto the sidewalk behind a large throng of people.
“There you are. I thought you were blowing me off,” Oliver teased when she walked up to him. He raised an eyebrow at the visible spring in her step. What has her so happy? he wondered as he pushed himself off the bench and met her halfway.
Sorry,” she said apologetically, a slight blush coloroing her cheeks. “My editor wanted to talk to me about something. How was your day?”
He shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her along down the street, toward the penthouse. “Interesting. My friend Hal dropped by. I haven’t seen him in years. He’ll probably end up at the penthouse at some point and since he has a code, we’ll have to be careful about certain leather goods lying around.”
“Got it. Is there a lock on the office door?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’ll dig up the keys. Unless there happens to be more than one, you can keep it until we can make copies.”
Chloe arched an eyebrow. “It’s your gear. Shouldn’t you keep the key?”
“Yeah, but you’re there more than I am. The odds that you’ll need to lock everything up are a lot higher than the odds that I will. Besides,” he added with a chuckle. “I should be brushing up on my lock picking skills.”
“I thought you were stopping the bad guys, not joining them,” Chloe teased.
He elbowed her lightly in the ribs and held open the door to his building. “I am. But I was doing some research and I think I found something that might require a little more finesse than what I’ve been doing.”
“Oh! Details!” she demanded excitedly.
Normally, he would have drawn out the explanation just to tease her. But her obvious enthusiasm was contagious and he found himself wanting nothing more than to share it with her. “Carlisle Errington, the owner and CEO of a pharmaceutical company recently purchased a Ming Dynasty vase, ostensibly for his wife’s collection, but I have source that says he bought it off the black market to launder money. It belongs in a museum, not in his living room.”
“What’s that got to do with ridding the city of crime?” She was slightly confused. “Are you planning to break in and steal it back?”
Oliver shrugged. “Half of the reason why the streets have gotten this bad is because people like Errington are using illicit business practices and they’ve got city officials and other criminals on their payroll to help with the cover up. We have to hit them where it hurts -- their wallets. Just patrolling the city isn’t going to be enough. If I can put some pressure on their pockets, I might be able to make a real impact.”
“You’re right,” Chloe agreed, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. She was slightly awed by how much thought he’d put into everything. “We’ve definitely got to start working to take down organized crime and the people behind it.” A worried look crossed her face. “Not to wound your ego or anything, assuming that was possible of course, but do you really think you can break into a high security building without getting caught?”
“You are the only person I know who can wound my pride while expressing concern,” Oliver chuckled. Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’ll have you know that my considerable experience sneaking into and out of parties will come in very handy. For the record, I’ve been practicing my burglar abilities, so it shouldn’t be a problem, especially with my hacker sidekick around to help me take out the security system.”
Only slightly mollified, Chloe followed him into the elevator. “Are you planning on trying that tonight?”
“No. I need to do a little bit of recon on the place first,” he said. “Some idea of what I’ll be up against would be helpful. And I want to try to figure out how Errington’s ties in to the seedier side of the city. Tonight I’m just going to do a regular patrol.”
“How soon are you heading out?”
“About the same time. Once it’s dark. Unless of course Hal shows up, then it might be a little bit later.”
“Do you expect him to come over?”
Oliver shook his head. “Not tonight. He said he had some stuff to take care of. He’ll probably be over tomorrow though.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Chloe said, dumping her bags beside the sofa and sitting down, sliding her feet out of her heels.
“He’s a nice guy. We got in a lot of trouble together. He was and is a good friend.”
“Should I be worried that he’s going to drag you back to the dark side?” she teased.
He rolled his eyes. “He might try, but he won’t succeed. I’ve got too much depending on me to go back to partying like I used to. Besides,” he shot her a grin, “you helped show me the error of my ways.”
“You make me sound like a teacher or something,” Chloe groaned.
“More like a guiding light,” he contradicted, still grinning. “Seriously, Chloe. Before I met you, the only way I knew how to have fun was to get drunk at a party and end up with some random girl at the end of the night.”
Blushing under the compliment, Chloe bent down to pull her laptop out of her bag while hiding her face. “I did the research on the south side of town that you asked me for and managed to pinpoint where the crime rates are highest. We can talk about it over dinner. What do you want?”
“Chinese take out sound good?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just don’t order so much this time. You always act like you’re feeding five instead of just two.”
Chuckling, Oliver went to change out of his business suit before ordering dinner. Chloe watched him leave the room. It was definitely time to take things to the next level. Or at least, it would be once he got back from patrol. There was something she wanted to find first and the last thing she wanted to do was distract him. She really hoped that what she was planning to tell him would be very distracting.
***
Oliver was distracted. He realized it and knew that if he was being smart, he’d be on his way back to the penthouse instead of standing on top of a building in one of the worst parts of town, waiting for something to go down. Luckily, it had been unusually quiet so while he wasn’t in any physical danger, he’d had way too much time to think.
What had happened outside Queen Industries with Tess had opened his eyes to how much Chloe meant to him. He was acutely aware of how close he’d come to completely screwing things up. If she’d seen Tess kissing him...He let the thought trail off and shuddered. He didn’t even want to think about it. He’d made his decision. He was done with subtle. He was going to prove to Chloe that not only was he over all of his insecurities, but that she was still the only one he wanted.
Green flashes suddenly lit up the night sky and staccato gunfire broke the night silence, intruding on his thoughts. Oliver was immediately on alert. He scanned the city until he caught sight of the strange emerald light emanating from a construction site several alleys over. Gunfire continued to echo off the buildings.
“Sidekick. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“There’s something on the satellite feed,” she said. She sounded confused.
“What the hell is it?”
“I have no idea.” He could hear the clicking of keys and knew that she was doing everything she could to find out what was going on. “There’s no camera footage in the area and no report of any kind. The green flashes are screwing with the satellite images. You’re on your own.”
He nodded grimly. “All right. I’m going in.”
“Be careful,” she warned. “We don’t know what you’re going up against.”
“Don’t worry, sidekick. I know what I’m doing.”
“One day that cocky attitude will come back to bite you in the butt,” she grumbled. “And I’ll be there to laugh and say ‘I told you so’ when it does.”
He chuckled, the sound deepened by his voice distorter. “Switching to radio silent. I’ll contact you when I know something.”
“If you don’t resume contact in ten minutes, I’m calling Clark,” she threatened. “And turn on the video feed from your glasses.”
“Got it.” He knew she wasn’t kidding.
Shooting a zip-line across the rooftops, Oliver easily crossed to the rooftop overlooking the construction site the light was emanating from. He ducked behind an air-conditioning unit and looked down at the chaos below.
Two rival gangs were in the midst of a firefight. They were crouching behind piles of lumber and steel firing at each other non-stop. A couple of the thugs had automatic weapons, but most of tem were using handguns. That’s why the streets have been so quiet, Oliver realized. No one wants to be caught in the crossfire.
Except for a man in a green and black fitted body suit, who was right in the middle of it all. He was surrounded by a green bubble of energy that seemed to be emanating from a ring on his hand. Bullets ricocheted off the bubble, but he seemed to barely notice.
Seeing that the gunfire was having no effect on the stranger, the leaders of one gangs, a man almost completely covered in tattoos, lowered his gun and shouted something over his shoulder. A massive, grey-skinned meta emerged from the shadows of the construction site. He was wielding a three foot long piece of steel that had to weigh at least fifty pounds.
With an earsplitting roar, the meta swung at the other man with enough force to crack the emerald green forcefield and send him sliding backward several yards. Seeing that the interloper was sufficiently distracted, the gangsters went back to fighting each other.
The man in the green and black suit grit his teeth and a bar of green energy shot out from the forcefield. The meta dodged it easily and brought the steel down on the forcefield in a blow so powerful that it shattered, sending the man inside it reeling. Before he could react, the meta caught him in the gut with the bar, throwing him into the wall. He crumpled to the ground behind a pile of debris, unconscious.
“Shit,” Oliver hissed, pulling a knockout arrow out his quiver. He fired it straight at the massive meta-human. It hit him in shoulder. The meta roared in pain and anger as the gas clouded around him, but he didn’t fall. He didn’t even stumble. He just glared around for the source of the attack. Oliver hit him with another arrow, but he still didn’t go down. He just stumbled around, roaring in anger. Cursing again, Oliver jumped down to the street below, landing just in front of the debris that hid the unconscious man. He whipped out an arrow and fired right at the meta’s chest. With an earsplitting cry of pain, the giant creature finally fell back, crashing into a pile of steel pipes.
The harsh musical cacophony of pipes clanging against each other caught the attention of warring gangsters. Almost as one, they looked over to where Oliver stood, his bow still raised. At the sight of him, the few gangsters that were still mobile, forgot about their war with each other in favor of taking down a common enemy. They weren’t exactly happy with the Green Arrow’s interference in their business.
Ducking the hail of bullets, Oliver threw himself on the ground behind the pile of dirt. Cursing under his breath, he examined the man lying beside him. Up close, he could see that the other man looked familiar, despite the mask covering his eyes. He didn’t look injured, other than the knock on the head and the blow to the gut he’d obviously sustained. Oliver shook him roughly, trying to wake him. His head lolled from side to side, but he didn’t wake.
“Damn it,” Oliver hissed. A bullet struck the ground close to his hand. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the gangsters had moved and now had a much better angle on him. He cursed again and grabbed the man under the arm, trying to drag him to better cover. But a hail of bullets pinned him down. He touched his comm, reactivating it. “Sidekick, I’ve got a problem. I’m under heavy fire with a casualty, possibly a meta, definitely on our si--aargh!”
Pain shot through him and he fell to the ground hard, clutching his stomach.
“Arrow! What’s your status?” Chloe demanded, panic in her voice.
Oliver lifted one hand away from his side. The leather of his glove was stained red. His vision started to go black. “Sidekick,” he muttered, before passing out.
Back at the penthouse, Chloe was panicking. Though Oliver hadn’t confirmed it, she knew he’d been shot. The camera feed from his glasses was still streaming. She’d seen his hand, covered in blood. Without second thought, she grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial. It only rang once.
“Hey mamac--”
“Not right now, Bart,” she snapped. “I need your help. My friend’s in trouble, under heavy gunfire and badly wounded. I need you to get him and another unconscious meta to my location.”
“Where are you?”
Chloe gave him the address. There was a whoosh, and Bart, smiling despite the situation, was standing behind her. “Where are they?”
“Here,” she pointed at the map. “I don’t know what the other guy looks like, but my friend’s the Star City vigilante.”
“Green Arrow? Cool. Be back in a flash, ‘licious.” And he was gone.
That was why she had called him. Bart never asked questions. At least, not until she was done giving orders. Since meeting him in Smallville a year before Oliver showed up, the speedster had stopped by at least a couple of times a year to flirt shamelessly with her. When he realized that she was in on Clark’s secret, Bart had almost tripped over himself to show her what he could do. He’d become a close friend, someone she knew she could count on. He’d proved that when he’d run all over the place looking for Oliver when he’d been missing.
Chloe waited, holding her breath and tapping her fingers nervously. The feed had cut out moments after she’d seen Oliver’s bloody hand, so she had no idea what was going on. She had no idea how badly he was hurt, but she couldn’t help but imagine the worst.
There was another whoosh and Bart reappeared, empty-handed. “I put him in the bedroom,” he said before she could freak. “I’m gonna go back for the other guy.”
Chloe immediately raced to Oliver’s bedroom.
He was unconscious. His right side was covered in blood and what little of his skin she could see looked pale. Forcing herself not to freak out or throw up, Chloe hurried to his side and removed his sunglasses, tossing them on the bedside table. She unzipped his vest and pulled it off with some difficulty, throwing on the floor once she finally managed to remove it. She pulled one of the small knives out of his utility belt and cut his shirt.
The fabric fell away. The bullet wound was small, but gushing blood. Gritting her teeth, she slipped her fingers beneath him, lightly probing his skin. She blanched when her fingers brushed the exit wound. At least it was a through and through. She didn’t think she’d have been able to deal with having to dig the bullet out of him.
Chloe took his already torn shirt and ripped it in two, stuffing one half beneath him and pressing the other to his stomach.
“What can I do, ‘licious?” Bart asked, reappearing at her side with a gentle gust of wind.
She didn’t even look at him. “First aid kit, in the bathroom under the cabinet.”
Bart was back, first aid kit in hand, before she’d even finished speaking. He flipped it open and pulled out a large wad of gauze. Chloe piled the gauze on top of the shirt and continued pressing down on the mound of fabric.
“Go check on the other guy,” she said, forcing herself to stay calm. “Make sure he doesn’t freak out when wakes up here.”
“Got it ‘licious. Shout if you need me.”
She nodded and increased the pressure on the wound. She had to stop the bleeding before she could bandage it. That much she knew from the multiple times she’d been injured herself and had watched the ER doctors patch her up. But the damn thing wouldn’t stop bleeding. Biting back tears, she pressed down harder. Oliver groaned and winced slightly.
“Ollie,” she whispered, reflexively letting up slightly as her eyes fixed on his face. “Ollie, come on. Talk to me.”
“Chloe,” he murmured. His eyes fluttered opened slightly and he looked at her blearily.
Keeping pressure on the wound with one hand, she gently touched his cheek. Her stomach rolled when her fingers left behind bloody marks on his skin. She forced herself to remain calm. “You’re going to be all right,” she said softly. “We just have to stop the bleeding. It’s not a good shot. You’ll be fine.”
He grimaced. “Felt like a good one.”
“Not funny,” she admonished weakly.
“‘s the other guy ‘kay?” Oliver asked, his words garbled. His eyes were drifting shut again.
Chloe nodded and gently stroked his cheek. “He’s fine. Ollie, I need you to stay awake for me, okay?”
Nodding slightly, he forced his eyes open. “Okay. How’d you get us out of there?”
“Called in a favor. Remember the guy I told you about who could run faster than Clark? He’s got a crush on me so he’ll do just about anything I ask him to.”
Oliver laughed once, then winced and coughed, pain creasing his face. “That’s cruel, sidekick,” he managed to choke out. “Using him like that.”
“I guess. But I was desperate.” She caressed his cheek lightly. “You’re going to be okay, Ollie.”
His breathing became more labored. “I don’t know, sidekick. Doesn’t feel like I will.”
“Don’t talk like that,” she snapped, tears coursing down her cheeks. “If you can survive an electrical meteor freak and two years on a deserted island, you can survive a bullet wound. Just don’t give up.”
But his eyes slid closed, even as she spoke and his breathing slowed.
“No!”
The word tore from her, splitting her heart in two as it passed from her lips. Forgetting about the need to keep pressure on the wound, Chloe grabbed his face between her hands. “Oliver, wake up! Wake up! You can’t leave me. Not again. I love you, damn it!”
He didn’t move.
Chloe pressed her forehead to his, dry sobs ripping from her chest. A single tear slid down her face and fell, landing on Oliver’s cheek. The tear shimmered and glowed for a brief moment before disappearing. Suddenly, her hands began to glow with brilliant white light. She gasped in surprise and pulled back. The light began to spread along Oliver’s body, sapping her energy as it spread. When it reached the still bleeding wound in his stomach, she felt pain knife through her in the exact same place. A strangled cry escaped her lips.
Blackness tugged at her consciousness, but she was still coherent enough to realize that she’d just discovered that she was a meteor freak.
“Bart!” she shouted, holding on to awareness with the last of her strength.
He zipped into the room. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her. “What’s wrong, ‘licious?”
“Meteor power,” she muttered. “Healing or something. No hospitals. I don’t know what the side effects will be. Just don’t let Oliver freak out.”
“All right,” he said nervously.
“Thanks,” she said just as the world went black.
Author's Note: I, once again, find myself needing to apologize profusely for the delay in posting this. I fully intended to have it up sooner, especially considering the cliffhanger I left you with. But between studying for finals that turned out to be easier than I thought they would be, packing my dorm, and hauling everything downstairs alone, the time got away from me. Hopefully, now that it is summer, I will be better about updating, like I was with Twist of Fate and earlier in this fic, but unfortunately, I can't guarantee that. In just a few weeks, we're moving halfway across the country and the little time we have left here is going to be jam-packed. Luckily, since I'm at home so little, it doesn't actually center around me. I promise that come rain, sleet, snow, or movers who steal my laptop, I will get this fic finished.
On a similar note, I promise -- for whatever that's worth at this point, lol -- that I will try not to get you waiting too long. But as we have all learned by this point, life likes to make me break these promises. So keep your fingers crossed! And review like crazy! I am seriously begging you.
Chapter 12
Rating: PG-13 for the most part, however there are sections that are NC-17 (my first attempt, for the record) for sexual content. This fic contains violence and language. Chapters containing sexual content will be preceded by a warning.
Spoilers: The entire series, basically. The basic setting is season six with a twist, but anything is fair game if it works for this fic.
Warning: Again, this is AU and is a continuation of my fic Twist of Fate, which you really need to read first or this isn't going to make any sense. There will sexual content and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, I'm just playing around with them.
Beta: jessicaj703 Thanks for all the help!
Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10
Banner by geek_or_unique
Author's Note: I didn't get too many reviews last chapter. At this point in the fic, I could really use them, because a lot of things are going to come to a head pretty quickly and it's going to mean a lot for our favorite couple. Any and all feedback would be much appreciate at any time, but especially now because I want to be sure that everyone likes where this is headed.
Chapter 11
Heedless of the people jostling past her, Chloe stared straight ahead. Her eyes were fixed on the spot where Oliver and Tess had been kissing. It was something she was more or less used to seeing. The tabloids printed old pictures of him with previous girlfriends -- flings, he always stressed -- all the time and the kissing shots were always featured. It was different actually seeing it happen in front of her, live and in 3D.
A small part of her brain was aware that Oliver had very quickly pushed Tess away and even seemed to be telling her to leave him alone. He looked unhappy with the whole thing and whatever he’d told Tess obviously hadn’t gone over well. Chloe felt a small sense of satisfaction when she watched the other woman stomp away, visibly chagrined.
Regaining her senses to some degree, Chloe darted into the shadows of a nearby doorway, out of Oliver’s line of sight. She needed a few minutes to get her head on straight again. It wasn’t as if she could blame him for what had just happened and she wasn’t even sure that she wanted to. In fact, she was pretty sure that she didn’t blame him at all. She’d seen that he’d rejected Tess’s advance. Tess had started the kiss and he’d quickly ended it. The “she kissed me” defense would actually work quite well for him.
Chloe leaned back against the door, covering her face with her hands. It was finally hitting her. She had been hesitant to step out of the friendship zone she and Oliver had placed themselves in, mostly because she wasn’t sure if Oliver was ready. He’d had more issues to come to terms with than she did and she’d been worried about pushing him into a relationship before he’d dealt with everything. Now it was finally becoming clear to her. Oliver was the most important person in her life. He had been for a long time, even before he went missing. He was her best friend, the person she trusted more than anyone else and she knew that he felt the same way. She was the only one that he had confided in about his new Green Arrow persona. They spent as much time together as humanly possible and it was only getting harder not to jump him. All that time, she’d been waiting to be sure that Oliver was ready when he was probably do the exact same thing for her.
A smile tugged at her lips and she dropped her hands from her face. It seemed odd that something as potentially damaging as seeing him kiss another woman had actually made her realize that no matter what happened to them, she still loved him. She was willing to take any risk to be with him.
Struggling keep a massive grin off her face, Chloe ducked out onto the sidewalk behind a large throng of people.
“There you are. I thought you were blowing me off,” Oliver teased when she walked up to him. He raised an eyebrow at the visible spring in her step. What has her so happy? he wondered as he pushed himself off the bench and met her halfway.
Sorry,” she said apologetically, a slight blush coloroing her cheeks. “My editor wanted to talk to me about something. How was your day?”
He shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her along down the street, toward the penthouse. “Interesting. My friend Hal dropped by. I haven’t seen him in years. He’ll probably end up at the penthouse at some point and since he has a code, we’ll have to be careful about certain leather goods lying around.”
“Got it. Is there a lock on the office door?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’ll dig up the keys. Unless there happens to be more than one, you can keep it until we can make copies.”
Chloe arched an eyebrow. “It’s your gear. Shouldn’t you keep the key?”
“Yeah, but you’re there more than I am. The odds that you’ll need to lock everything up are a lot higher than the odds that I will. Besides,” he added with a chuckle. “I should be brushing up on my lock picking skills.”
“I thought you were stopping the bad guys, not joining them,” Chloe teased.
He elbowed her lightly in the ribs and held open the door to his building. “I am. But I was doing some research and I think I found something that might require a little more finesse than what I’ve been doing.”
“Oh! Details!” she demanded excitedly.
Normally, he would have drawn out the explanation just to tease her. But her obvious enthusiasm was contagious and he found himself wanting nothing more than to share it with her. “Carlisle Errington, the owner and CEO of a pharmaceutical company recently purchased a Ming Dynasty vase, ostensibly for his wife’s collection, but I have source that says he bought it off the black market to launder money. It belongs in a museum, not in his living room.”
“What’s that got to do with ridding the city of crime?” She was slightly confused. “Are you planning to break in and steal it back?”
Oliver shrugged. “Half of the reason why the streets have gotten this bad is because people like Errington are using illicit business practices and they’ve got city officials and other criminals on their payroll to help with the cover up. We have to hit them where it hurts -- their wallets. Just patrolling the city isn’t going to be enough. If I can put some pressure on their pockets, I might be able to make a real impact.”
“You’re right,” Chloe agreed, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. She was slightly awed by how much thought he’d put into everything. “We’ve definitely got to start working to take down organized crime and the people behind it.” A worried look crossed her face. “Not to wound your ego or anything, assuming that was possible of course, but do you really think you can break into a high security building without getting caught?”
“You are the only person I know who can wound my pride while expressing concern,” Oliver chuckled. Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’ll have you know that my considerable experience sneaking into and out of parties will come in very handy. For the record, I’ve been practicing my burglar abilities, so it shouldn’t be a problem, especially with my hacker sidekick around to help me take out the security system.”
Only slightly mollified, Chloe followed him into the elevator. “Are you planning on trying that tonight?”
“No. I need to do a little bit of recon on the place first,” he said. “Some idea of what I’ll be up against would be helpful. And I want to try to figure out how Errington’s ties in to the seedier side of the city. Tonight I’m just going to do a regular patrol.”
“How soon are you heading out?”
“About the same time. Once it’s dark. Unless of course Hal shows up, then it might be a little bit later.”
“Do you expect him to come over?”
Oliver shook his head. “Not tonight. He said he had some stuff to take care of. He’ll probably be over tomorrow though.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Chloe said, dumping her bags beside the sofa and sitting down, sliding her feet out of her heels.
“He’s a nice guy. We got in a lot of trouble together. He was and is a good friend.”
“Should I be worried that he’s going to drag you back to the dark side?” she teased.
He rolled his eyes. “He might try, but he won’t succeed. I’ve got too much depending on me to go back to partying like I used to. Besides,” he shot her a grin, “you helped show me the error of my ways.”
“You make me sound like a teacher or something,” Chloe groaned.
“More like a guiding light,” he contradicted, still grinning. “Seriously, Chloe. Before I met you, the only way I knew how to have fun was to get drunk at a party and end up with some random girl at the end of the night.”
Blushing under the compliment, Chloe bent down to pull her laptop out of her bag while hiding her face. “I did the research on the south side of town that you asked me for and managed to pinpoint where the crime rates are highest. We can talk about it over dinner. What do you want?”
“Chinese take out sound good?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just don’t order so much this time. You always act like you’re feeding five instead of just two.”
Chuckling, Oliver went to change out of his business suit before ordering dinner. Chloe watched him leave the room. It was definitely time to take things to the next level. Or at least, it would be once he got back from patrol. There was something she wanted to find first and the last thing she wanted to do was distract him. She really hoped that what she was planning to tell him would be very distracting.
***
Oliver was distracted. He realized it and knew that if he was being smart, he’d be on his way back to the penthouse instead of standing on top of a building in one of the worst parts of town, waiting for something to go down. Luckily, it had been unusually quiet so while he wasn’t in any physical danger, he’d had way too much time to think.
What had happened outside Queen Industries with Tess had opened his eyes to how much Chloe meant to him. He was acutely aware of how close he’d come to completely screwing things up. If she’d seen Tess kissing him...He let the thought trail off and shuddered. He didn’t even want to think about it. He’d made his decision. He was done with subtle. He was going to prove to Chloe that not only was he over all of his insecurities, but that she was still the only one he wanted.
Green flashes suddenly lit up the night sky and staccato gunfire broke the night silence, intruding on his thoughts. Oliver was immediately on alert. He scanned the city until he caught sight of the strange emerald light emanating from a construction site several alleys over. Gunfire continued to echo off the buildings.
“Sidekick. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“There’s something on the satellite feed,” she said. She sounded confused.
“What the hell is it?”
“I have no idea.” He could hear the clicking of keys and knew that she was doing everything she could to find out what was going on. “There’s no camera footage in the area and no report of any kind. The green flashes are screwing with the satellite images. You’re on your own.”
He nodded grimly. “All right. I’m going in.”
“Be careful,” she warned. “We don’t know what you’re going up against.”
“Don’t worry, sidekick. I know what I’m doing.”
“One day that cocky attitude will come back to bite you in the butt,” she grumbled. “And I’ll be there to laugh and say ‘I told you so’ when it does.”
He chuckled, the sound deepened by his voice distorter. “Switching to radio silent. I’ll contact you when I know something.”
“If you don’t resume contact in ten minutes, I’m calling Clark,” she threatened. “And turn on the video feed from your glasses.”
“Got it.” He knew she wasn’t kidding.
Shooting a zip-line across the rooftops, Oliver easily crossed to the rooftop overlooking the construction site the light was emanating from. He ducked behind an air-conditioning unit and looked down at the chaos below.
Two rival gangs were in the midst of a firefight. They were crouching behind piles of lumber and steel firing at each other non-stop. A couple of the thugs had automatic weapons, but most of tem were using handguns. That’s why the streets have been so quiet, Oliver realized. No one wants to be caught in the crossfire.
Except for a man in a green and black fitted body suit, who was right in the middle of it all. He was surrounded by a green bubble of energy that seemed to be emanating from a ring on his hand. Bullets ricocheted off the bubble, but he seemed to barely notice.
Seeing that the gunfire was having no effect on the stranger, the leaders of one gangs, a man almost completely covered in tattoos, lowered his gun and shouted something over his shoulder. A massive, grey-skinned meta emerged from the shadows of the construction site. He was wielding a three foot long piece of steel that had to weigh at least fifty pounds.
With an earsplitting roar, the meta swung at the other man with enough force to crack the emerald green forcefield and send him sliding backward several yards. Seeing that the interloper was sufficiently distracted, the gangsters went back to fighting each other.
The man in the green and black suit grit his teeth and a bar of green energy shot out from the forcefield. The meta dodged it easily and brought the steel down on the forcefield in a blow so powerful that it shattered, sending the man inside it reeling. Before he could react, the meta caught him in the gut with the bar, throwing him into the wall. He crumpled to the ground behind a pile of debris, unconscious.
“Shit,” Oliver hissed, pulling a knockout arrow out his quiver. He fired it straight at the massive meta-human. It hit him in shoulder. The meta roared in pain and anger as the gas clouded around him, but he didn’t fall. He didn’t even stumble. He just glared around for the source of the attack. Oliver hit him with another arrow, but he still didn’t go down. He just stumbled around, roaring in anger. Cursing again, Oliver jumped down to the street below, landing just in front of the debris that hid the unconscious man. He whipped out an arrow and fired right at the meta’s chest. With an earsplitting cry of pain, the giant creature finally fell back, crashing into a pile of steel pipes.
The harsh musical cacophony of pipes clanging against each other caught the attention of warring gangsters. Almost as one, they looked over to where Oliver stood, his bow still raised. At the sight of him, the few gangsters that were still mobile, forgot about their war with each other in favor of taking down a common enemy. They weren’t exactly happy with the Green Arrow’s interference in their business.
Ducking the hail of bullets, Oliver threw himself on the ground behind the pile of dirt. Cursing under his breath, he examined the man lying beside him. Up close, he could see that the other man looked familiar, despite the mask covering his eyes. He didn’t look injured, other than the knock on the head and the blow to the gut he’d obviously sustained. Oliver shook him roughly, trying to wake him. His head lolled from side to side, but he didn’t wake.
“Damn it,” Oliver hissed. A bullet struck the ground close to his hand. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the gangsters had moved and now had a much better angle on him. He cursed again and grabbed the man under the arm, trying to drag him to better cover. But a hail of bullets pinned him down. He touched his comm, reactivating it. “Sidekick, I’ve got a problem. I’m under heavy fire with a casualty, possibly a meta, definitely on our si--aargh!”
Pain shot through him and he fell to the ground hard, clutching his stomach.
“Arrow! What’s your status?” Chloe demanded, panic in her voice.
Oliver lifted one hand away from his side. The leather of his glove was stained red. His vision started to go black. “Sidekick,” he muttered, before passing out.
Back at the penthouse, Chloe was panicking. Though Oliver hadn’t confirmed it, she knew he’d been shot. The camera feed from his glasses was still streaming. She’d seen his hand, covered in blood. Without second thought, she grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial. It only rang once.
“Hey mamac--”
“Not right now, Bart,” she snapped. “I need your help. My friend’s in trouble, under heavy gunfire and badly wounded. I need you to get him and another unconscious meta to my location.”
“Where are you?”
Chloe gave him the address. There was a whoosh, and Bart, smiling despite the situation, was standing behind her. “Where are they?”
“Here,” she pointed at the map. “I don’t know what the other guy looks like, but my friend’s the Star City vigilante.”
“Green Arrow? Cool. Be back in a flash, ‘licious.” And he was gone.
That was why she had called him. Bart never asked questions. At least, not until she was done giving orders. Since meeting him in Smallville a year before Oliver showed up, the speedster had stopped by at least a couple of times a year to flirt shamelessly with her. When he realized that she was in on Clark’s secret, Bart had almost tripped over himself to show her what he could do. He’d become a close friend, someone she knew she could count on. He’d proved that when he’d run all over the place looking for Oliver when he’d been missing.
Chloe waited, holding her breath and tapping her fingers nervously. The feed had cut out moments after she’d seen Oliver’s bloody hand, so she had no idea what was going on. She had no idea how badly he was hurt, but she couldn’t help but imagine the worst.
There was another whoosh and Bart reappeared, empty-handed. “I put him in the bedroom,” he said before she could freak. “I’m gonna go back for the other guy.”
Chloe immediately raced to Oliver’s bedroom.
He was unconscious. His right side was covered in blood and what little of his skin she could see looked pale. Forcing herself not to freak out or throw up, Chloe hurried to his side and removed his sunglasses, tossing them on the bedside table. She unzipped his vest and pulled it off with some difficulty, throwing on the floor once she finally managed to remove it. She pulled one of the small knives out of his utility belt and cut his shirt.
The fabric fell away. The bullet wound was small, but gushing blood. Gritting her teeth, she slipped her fingers beneath him, lightly probing his skin. She blanched when her fingers brushed the exit wound. At least it was a through and through. She didn’t think she’d have been able to deal with having to dig the bullet out of him.
Chloe took his already torn shirt and ripped it in two, stuffing one half beneath him and pressing the other to his stomach.
“What can I do, ‘licious?” Bart asked, reappearing at her side with a gentle gust of wind.
She didn’t even look at him. “First aid kit, in the bathroom under the cabinet.”
Bart was back, first aid kit in hand, before she’d even finished speaking. He flipped it open and pulled out a large wad of gauze. Chloe piled the gauze on top of the shirt and continued pressing down on the mound of fabric.
“Go check on the other guy,” she said, forcing herself to stay calm. “Make sure he doesn’t freak out when wakes up here.”
“Got it ‘licious. Shout if you need me.”
She nodded and increased the pressure on the wound. She had to stop the bleeding before she could bandage it. That much she knew from the multiple times she’d been injured herself and had watched the ER doctors patch her up. But the damn thing wouldn’t stop bleeding. Biting back tears, she pressed down harder. Oliver groaned and winced slightly.
“Ollie,” she whispered, reflexively letting up slightly as her eyes fixed on his face. “Ollie, come on. Talk to me.”
“Chloe,” he murmured. His eyes fluttered opened slightly and he looked at her blearily.
Keeping pressure on the wound with one hand, she gently touched his cheek. Her stomach rolled when her fingers left behind bloody marks on his skin. She forced herself to remain calm. “You’re going to be all right,” she said softly. “We just have to stop the bleeding. It’s not a good shot. You’ll be fine.”
He grimaced. “Felt like a good one.”
“Not funny,” she admonished weakly.
“‘s the other guy ‘kay?” Oliver asked, his words garbled. His eyes were drifting shut again.
Chloe nodded and gently stroked his cheek. “He’s fine. Ollie, I need you to stay awake for me, okay?”
Nodding slightly, he forced his eyes open. “Okay. How’d you get us out of there?”
“Called in a favor. Remember the guy I told you about who could run faster than Clark? He’s got a crush on me so he’ll do just about anything I ask him to.”
Oliver laughed once, then winced and coughed, pain creasing his face. “That’s cruel, sidekick,” he managed to choke out. “Using him like that.”
“I guess. But I was desperate.” She caressed his cheek lightly. “You’re going to be okay, Ollie.”
His breathing became more labored. “I don’t know, sidekick. Doesn’t feel like I will.”
“Don’t talk like that,” she snapped, tears coursing down her cheeks. “If you can survive an electrical meteor freak and two years on a deserted island, you can survive a bullet wound. Just don’t give up.”
But his eyes slid closed, even as she spoke and his breathing slowed.
“No!”
The word tore from her, splitting her heart in two as it passed from her lips. Forgetting about the need to keep pressure on the wound, Chloe grabbed his face between her hands. “Oliver, wake up! Wake up! You can’t leave me. Not again. I love you, damn it!”
He didn’t move.
Chloe pressed her forehead to his, dry sobs ripping from her chest. A single tear slid down her face and fell, landing on Oliver’s cheek. The tear shimmered and glowed for a brief moment before disappearing. Suddenly, her hands began to glow with brilliant white light. She gasped in surprise and pulled back. The light began to spread along Oliver’s body, sapping her energy as it spread. When it reached the still bleeding wound in his stomach, she felt pain knife through her in the exact same place. A strangled cry escaped her lips.
Blackness tugged at her consciousness, but she was still coherent enough to realize that she’d just discovered that she was a meteor freak.
“Bart!” she shouted, holding on to awareness with the last of her strength.
He zipped into the room. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her. “What’s wrong, ‘licious?”
“Meteor power,” she muttered. “Healing or something. No hospitals. I don’t know what the side effects will be. Just don’t let Oliver freak out.”
“All right,” he said nervously.
“Thanks,” she said just as the world went black.
Author's Note: I, once again, find myself needing to apologize profusely for the delay in posting this. I fully intended to have it up sooner, especially considering the cliffhanger I left you with. But between studying for finals that turned out to be easier than I thought they would be, packing my dorm, and hauling everything downstairs alone, the time got away from me. Hopefully, now that it is summer, I will be better about updating, like I was with Twist of Fate and earlier in this fic, but unfortunately, I can't guarantee that. In just a few weeks, we're moving halfway across the country and the little time we have left here is going to be jam-packed. Luckily, since I'm at home so little, it doesn't actually center around me. I promise that come rain, sleet, snow, or movers who steal my laptop, I will get this fic finished.
On a similar note, I promise -- for whatever that's worth at this point, lol -- that I will try not to get you waiting too long. But as we have all learned by this point, life likes to make me break these promises. So keep your fingers crossed! And review like crazy! I am seriously begging you.
Chapter 12