Fic: Methos And Chloe Save the Planet (3/3)
Fic: Methos And Chloe Save the Planet (3/3)
Summary: Chloe calls her oldest friend when she wants to steal back her stuff from an entire planet of Zealots.
Author: pen37
Fandoms: Highlander/Smallville. Characters from Supernatural mentioned. Places described in this series may resemble places described in Firefly.
Characters: Chloe, Methos, Amanda, Corey, Dean mentioned.
Pairing:Offscreen Chloe/Dean. Chloe and Methos friendship
Rating: G
Beta:Clarksmuse and Strangevisitor7
This is part of my Chloe and the Immortials series, which is now forever joined at the hip to Strangevisitor7's Immortal!Dean series. Each fic can be read independently of the rest. And each fic is very short. You can find the rest here. And the immortal!Dean series here.
This fic takes place in between chapters 4 and 5 of our story 5 times Immortal!Dean met Meta!Chloe. All five chapters are posted here. You don't have to have read anything that has come before. I think I did a good job of explaining everything in the story.
Written for the Crossovers100 challenge. Prompt #68 Lightening The table is here.
Also for the "Alcohol" challenge at hl_flashfic. Although Chloe isn't technically an Immortal (capital letters) she is ageless, which makes her immortal (lower case letters). And this caper starts out in a bar.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
As Methos stepped into the mess hall, he saw Corey and Chloe sitting at the table. Judging by their body language, Chloe was receptive to his advances.
“Chloe,” Methos jerked his head back to the captain’s quarters. Chloe shrugged at Corey, and then moved to join Methos. Once the door was closed, she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows with an inquisitive expression.
“I thought that you and Dean were still in a committed relationship.”
“Committed? That’s a good word for it. Because Dean drives me so crazy I could use a straight-jacket.”
“You know what I mean,” Methos said with an eye roll and a patient sigh.
“Yeah, and he left me. For a month.”
“And you’ve been alive for how long? What’s that stacked against a month?”
Chloe turned her head to stare at the wall. “We’re just flirting. And I like the attention. It helps to remind me that I’m not the kind of girl that you put on hold.” In her voice, Methos could hear the old vulnerability. He shook his head. It was a good thing that Clark “Kal-El” Kent had died centuries ago. Because there were five or six immortals out there who would love to kill his alien ass for the trouble that he’d put Chloe through.
“Just . . . be careful who you choose to dally with, Chloe. Take it from someone who has been married a few times. You step out on Dean before the two of you officially break up - and there’s no going back. Not if you wound his pride.”
“What about me?” Chloe said angrily. “What am I supposed to do, Methos? Sit at home for months or years while Dean cavorts all over the galaxy doing God-knows what?”
“Just don’t make any permanent decisions while your feelings are hurt,” he put his hands out in a placating gesture. “You are right that flirting is harmless. But that boy is interested in more than flirting. He may be with Amanda. But he doesn’t exactly get along with Duncan’s crew.”
“Bad blood?” Chloe asked.
“Corey likes to kill immortals recreationally. Nothing permanent. I think he looks at it as a practical joke. He tried to hit Richie with a car twice and once he blew Duncan up. He claims accident but…”
Chloe winced. “Harsh.”
“At the time, Amanda and Duncan were together. And he was trying to steal her affections away. So there is no love lost between the two of them.”
Chloe gave him a shrewd look. “You don’t like him much, do you?”
“He’s trouble. And on this adventure - we have trouble enough. I’m tempted to make a low pass over one of the backwater colonies and shove him out the airlock.”
Chloe grinned despite herself. “Don’t do anything that drastic, Methos. If you feel that strongly about it - I’ll at least hold off on any move with Corey until we’re through with this caper.
“Thanks, Chloe. I appreciate it,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” she grinned at him. “Boyfriends may come and go. Even Immortal ones. But best friends like you are worth holding onto. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to fire up the computer and do a simulated dry run of this job.”
Methos watched her go with a sigh of relief. That, at least, would be one less worry. At least until this caper was over.
***
If there was one thing Methos appreciated about Chloe, it was that his friend was a consummate planner. Back before the advent of space travel, she’d always been the one to make sure that the hotels had running water and fluffy towels. Once they’d gone up into the black, she’d been the one to make sure that their ship had oil, fuel, documentation (sometimes of negotiable authenticity) and spare parts.
So if they were going to play Benjamin Franklin Gates to a whole planet, he was thankful to have that level of attention to detail.
As they gathered together in the mess hall, Chloe pulled up the schematics of the temple of Kal.
“Here’s the rundown: Tonight at sunset, when the red-sun is just touching the horizon, the cult of Kal-El plan to destroy the data disks by throwing them into a burning brazier. Until that point, they’re kept in an antechamber behind the goofy-damn statue of Clark - sorry, Kal.
“The plan is to get into the temple, swipe the data disks, and be long gone before sunset.”
“And the bracelet?” Amanda asked.
“Kept in the same antechamber,” Chloe said. “I’ll remain behind on the ship, hack into the security system and disable the alarms and locks. Methos will escort Amanda and Corey into the temple under the guise of a diplomat - escorting foreign dignitaries into the temple for the night’s festivities.
“Amanda and Corey - since you’re used to playing swanky types - you’ll be our dignitaries. The three of you - get to this room above the antechamber.” She pointed to a spot on the schematic. “Methos and Corey can lower you out the window, and down to the antechamber. Then you can get swipe the disks and the bracelet, and get out.”
Methos glanced from Amanda to Corey and then up to Chloe with a nod. “Let’s get started then.”
***
Methos knew that they were in trouble the second Amanda popped back up the rope. She had the disks in one hand, and the bracelet on her wrist. But she also wore a grim expression on her face. “I was spotted.”
“She was,” Chloe’s voice sounded through the com in his ear. “I’ve tapped into the radio frequencies for New Kryptonian security. “They’re looking for two men, and a woman that fit your descriptions.”
“Great!” Amanda threw her hands up in frustration. “Any bright ideas?”
Methos glanced from Amanda to Corey. Then the spark of inspiration kindled within his brain. “One,” He said with a grin.
***
Chloe lowered the ramp, and allowed two temple priestess, and their crate of belongings onto the ship. She quickly keyed through the launch sequence, and then blasted into space. Once they’d cleared the atmosphere of New-Krypton, she wandered back to the cargo hold to find Methos and Amanda taking off their stolen holy robes.
She paused to notice that Lois’s Kryptonian promise bracelet was already on Amanda’s wrist, before turning to watch Methos disrobe. “I had no idea you made such a lovely woman,” Chloe deadpanned to him.
“Well, years of watching Mac with his kilt. You do pick up a thing or two.”
“So,” Chloe stuck her lip out in a mock pout. “What did you bring me?”
Methos rolled his eyes and passed the data disks to Chloe.
She grinned as she thumbed through the disks. “They’re still in good condition.” Then she looked from Methos to Amanda and back. “Where’s Corey?”
“I’m sure he’ll be touched to know you thought of him after your disks,” Methos said.
“Please. He’s immortal, and I haven’t seen these disks for 300 years.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “So I repeat. Where’s Corey?”
“Methos shot him,” Amanda said with an exasperated shake of her head.
“Beg your pardon?” Chloe raised her eyebrows.
Methos shrugged. “They were looking for two men and a woman. Not two women. So we put him in a crate.”
“Why did you have to shoot him?” Chloe asked.
“They had bio scanners,” he said. “That was the best way I knew of to fool them.”
“And you’ve been itching to shoot Corey since he came on board,” Amanda added.
“There is that,” Methos said.
Chloe shook her head, and then turned to help Amanda pry open the crate. Life returned to Corey with an explosively in-drawn breath. He sat up and glared at Methos. “That was not funny, old man.”
Methos chuckled. “No. But it was ironic.”
***
Amanda asked them to take her to Beaumonde, where she could easily fence the goods that she’d taken from Bellerophon, and then hire passage to Osiris and plan her next move. Methos did so with a sense of trepidation. Because Corey could easily convince Chloe to go with them. And then he’d be without his partner in crime again.
Methos helped Amanda with her crates and luggage, and then gave her a genuine smile. “Our little escapade made the national holos. You might want to keep that new trinket of yours hidden for a few decades. Just until the heat dies down.”
“Teach me to steal eggs, old friend.” She shook her head.
He replied with a sardonic smile. “It was good to see you again. Send me word when you get settled?”
“If my circumstances allow it.”
“You mean if your next mark is stupid enough.”
“Always,” she chuckled. “Be seeing you, old friend.”
Methos took his time strolling up to the cockpit. He really had no desire to stick around the gangplank and watch Corey - and possibly Chloe - go.
Despite the possibility that he might soon be alone again, he felt a sense of accomplishment. Given their history, and the long-abandoned game, he was always satisfied when he could part ways with a fellow Immortal on good terms. He sat in his captain’s chair, and poured himself a glass of sixty-year scotch.
“Save some of that for me,” Chloe’s welcome voice settled around him like a warm blanket.
He turned in his chair, and smiled at her. “I thought that you were going to go with Amanda and Corey.”
“That’s why you’re up here brooding.”
He straitened up, and looked down his nose at her. “I do not brood.”
“Sorry. It must have been moping then.”
He sighed. “Whatever you say, dear.”
“Oh I like that. Maybe you could teach Dean that one.”
“So . . . Changing the subject. What are you going to do with all those archived newspapers?”
“There’s an earth-that-was exhibit on Osiris. I think they might like the donation.”
“Bwah?” Methos said. “All that work, and you’re just going to give them away?”
She nodded. “It’s the right thing to do. These papers could teach a whole new generation about our past.”
Methos sighed and shook his head. “I'm glad that you didn't tell that to Corey, then. He was smitten enough as it was. There'd be no living with him once you tickled his Robin Hood complex. Speaking of which, why didn't you go with him? You seemed pretty taken with him.”
“I didn’t go with Corey because his interest was based on the fact that he wouldn’t get a light show if he cut my head off. I don’t want to date anyone who is only after me because it’s a novelty.”
Methos nodded in approval. “So . . . would you like me to steer you back toward home?”
Chloe smiled. “You mean back to Dean. Assuming that he ever came back.”
“Assuming that.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll catch up to Dean sometime. It’s not like we’re getting any older. Right now … All I want is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.”
Methos raised his glass in salute. “I think I can provide that.”
Summary: Chloe calls her oldest friend when she wants to steal back her stuff from an entire planet of Zealots.
Author: pen37
Fandoms: Highlander/Smallville. Characters from Supernatural mentioned. Places described in this series may resemble places described in Firefly.
Characters: Chloe, Methos, Amanda, Corey, Dean mentioned.
Pairing:Offscreen Chloe/Dean. Chloe and Methos friendship
Rating: G
Beta:Clarksmuse and Strangevisitor7
This is part of my Chloe and the Immortials series, which is now forever joined at the hip to Strangevisitor7's Immortal!Dean series. Each fic can be read independently of the rest. And each fic is very short. You can find the rest here. And the immortal!Dean series here.
This fic takes place in between chapters 4 and 5 of our story 5 times Immortal!Dean met Meta!Chloe. All five chapters are posted here. You don't have to have read anything that has come before. I think I did a good job of explaining everything in the story.
Written for the Crossovers100 challenge. Prompt #68 Lightening The table is here.
Also for the "Alcohol" challenge at hl_flashfic. Although Chloe isn't technically an Immortal (capital letters) she is ageless, which makes her immortal (lower case letters). And this caper starts out in a bar.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
As Methos stepped into the mess hall, he saw Corey and Chloe sitting at the table. Judging by their body language, Chloe was receptive to his advances.
“Chloe,” Methos jerked his head back to the captain’s quarters. Chloe shrugged at Corey, and then moved to join Methos. Once the door was closed, she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows with an inquisitive expression.
“I thought that you and Dean were still in a committed relationship.”
“Committed? That’s a good word for it. Because Dean drives me so crazy I could use a straight-jacket.”
“You know what I mean,” Methos said with an eye roll and a patient sigh.
“Yeah, and he left me. For a month.”
“And you’ve been alive for how long? What’s that stacked against a month?”
Chloe turned her head to stare at the wall. “We’re just flirting. And I like the attention. It helps to remind me that I’m not the kind of girl that you put on hold.” In her voice, Methos could hear the old vulnerability. He shook his head. It was a good thing that Clark “Kal-El” Kent had died centuries ago. Because there were five or six immortals out there who would love to kill his alien ass for the trouble that he’d put Chloe through.
“Just . . . be careful who you choose to dally with, Chloe. Take it from someone who has been married a few times. You step out on Dean before the two of you officially break up - and there’s no going back. Not if you wound his pride.”
“What about me?” Chloe said angrily. “What am I supposed to do, Methos? Sit at home for months or years while Dean cavorts all over the galaxy doing God-knows what?”
“Just don’t make any permanent decisions while your feelings are hurt,” he put his hands out in a placating gesture. “You are right that flirting is harmless. But that boy is interested in more than flirting. He may be with Amanda. But he doesn’t exactly get along with Duncan’s crew.”
“Bad blood?” Chloe asked.
“Corey likes to kill immortals recreationally. Nothing permanent. I think he looks at it as a practical joke. He tried to hit Richie with a car twice and once he blew Duncan up. He claims accident but…”
Chloe winced. “Harsh.”
“At the time, Amanda and Duncan were together. And he was trying to steal her affections away. So there is no love lost between the two of them.”
Chloe gave him a shrewd look. “You don’t like him much, do you?”
“He’s trouble. And on this adventure - we have trouble enough. I’m tempted to make a low pass over one of the backwater colonies and shove him out the airlock.”
Chloe grinned despite herself. “Don’t do anything that drastic, Methos. If you feel that strongly about it - I’ll at least hold off on any move with Corey until we’re through with this caper.
“Thanks, Chloe. I appreciate it,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” she grinned at him. “Boyfriends may come and go. Even Immortal ones. But best friends like you are worth holding onto. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to fire up the computer and do a simulated dry run of this job.”
Methos watched her go with a sigh of relief. That, at least, would be one less worry. At least until this caper was over.
***
If there was one thing Methos appreciated about Chloe, it was that his friend was a consummate planner. Back before the advent of space travel, she’d always been the one to make sure that the hotels had running water and fluffy towels. Once they’d gone up into the black, she’d been the one to make sure that their ship had oil, fuel, documentation (sometimes of negotiable authenticity) and spare parts.
So if they were going to play Benjamin Franklin Gates to a whole planet, he was thankful to have that level of attention to detail.
As they gathered together in the mess hall, Chloe pulled up the schematics of the temple of Kal.
“Here’s the rundown: Tonight at sunset, when the red-sun is just touching the horizon, the cult of Kal-El plan to destroy the data disks by throwing them into a burning brazier. Until that point, they’re kept in an antechamber behind the goofy-damn statue of Clark - sorry, Kal.
“The plan is to get into the temple, swipe the data disks, and be long gone before sunset.”
“And the bracelet?” Amanda asked.
“Kept in the same antechamber,” Chloe said. “I’ll remain behind on the ship, hack into the security system and disable the alarms and locks. Methos will escort Amanda and Corey into the temple under the guise of a diplomat - escorting foreign dignitaries into the temple for the night’s festivities.
“Amanda and Corey - since you’re used to playing swanky types - you’ll be our dignitaries. The three of you - get to this room above the antechamber.” She pointed to a spot on the schematic. “Methos and Corey can lower you out the window, and down to the antechamber. Then you can get swipe the disks and the bracelet, and get out.”
Methos glanced from Amanda to Corey and then up to Chloe with a nod. “Let’s get started then.”
***
Methos knew that they were in trouble the second Amanda popped back up the rope. She had the disks in one hand, and the bracelet on her wrist. But she also wore a grim expression on her face. “I was spotted.”
“She was,” Chloe’s voice sounded through the com in his ear. “I’ve tapped into the radio frequencies for New Kryptonian security. “They’re looking for two men, and a woman that fit your descriptions.”
“Great!” Amanda threw her hands up in frustration. “Any bright ideas?”
Methos glanced from Amanda to Corey. Then the spark of inspiration kindled within his brain. “One,” He said with a grin.
***
Chloe lowered the ramp, and allowed two temple priestess, and their crate of belongings onto the ship. She quickly keyed through the launch sequence, and then blasted into space. Once they’d cleared the atmosphere of New-Krypton, she wandered back to the cargo hold to find Methos and Amanda taking off their stolen holy robes.
She paused to notice that Lois’s Kryptonian promise bracelet was already on Amanda’s wrist, before turning to watch Methos disrobe. “I had no idea you made such a lovely woman,” Chloe deadpanned to him.
“Well, years of watching Mac with his kilt. You do pick up a thing or two.”
“So,” Chloe stuck her lip out in a mock pout. “What did you bring me?”
Methos rolled his eyes and passed the data disks to Chloe.
She grinned as she thumbed through the disks. “They’re still in good condition.” Then she looked from Methos to Amanda and back. “Where’s Corey?”
“I’m sure he’ll be touched to know you thought of him after your disks,” Methos said.
“Please. He’s immortal, and I haven’t seen these disks for 300 years.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “So I repeat. Where’s Corey?”
“Methos shot him,” Amanda said with an exasperated shake of her head.
“Beg your pardon?” Chloe raised her eyebrows.
Methos shrugged. “They were looking for two men and a woman. Not two women. So we put him in a crate.”
“Why did you have to shoot him?” Chloe asked.
“They had bio scanners,” he said. “That was the best way I knew of to fool them.”
“And you’ve been itching to shoot Corey since he came on board,” Amanda added.
“There is that,” Methos said.
Chloe shook her head, and then turned to help Amanda pry open the crate. Life returned to Corey with an explosively in-drawn breath. He sat up and glared at Methos. “That was not funny, old man.”
Methos chuckled. “No. But it was ironic.”
***
Amanda asked them to take her to Beaumonde, where she could easily fence the goods that she’d taken from Bellerophon, and then hire passage to Osiris and plan her next move. Methos did so with a sense of trepidation. Because Corey could easily convince Chloe to go with them. And then he’d be without his partner in crime again.
Methos helped Amanda with her crates and luggage, and then gave her a genuine smile. “Our little escapade made the national holos. You might want to keep that new trinket of yours hidden for a few decades. Just until the heat dies down.”
“Teach me to steal eggs, old friend.” She shook her head.
He replied with a sardonic smile. “It was good to see you again. Send me word when you get settled?”
“If my circumstances allow it.”
“You mean if your next mark is stupid enough.”
“Always,” she chuckled. “Be seeing you, old friend.”
Methos took his time strolling up to the cockpit. He really had no desire to stick around the gangplank and watch Corey - and possibly Chloe - go.
Despite the possibility that he might soon be alone again, he felt a sense of accomplishment. Given their history, and the long-abandoned game, he was always satisfied when he could part ways with a fellow Immortal on good terms. He sat in his captain’s chair, and poured himself a glass of sixty-year scotch.
“Save some of that for me,” Chloe’s welcome voice settled around him like a warm blanket.
He turned in his chair, and smiled at her. “I thought that you were going to go with Amanda and Corey.”
“That’s why you’re up here brooding.”
He straitened up, and looked down his nose at her. “I do not brood.”
“Sorry. It must have been moping then.”
He sighed. “Whatever you say, dear.”
“Oh I like that. Maybe you could teach Dean that one.”
“So . . . Changing the subject. What are you going to do with all those archived newspapers?”
“There’s an earth-that-was exhibit on Osiris. I think they might like the donation.”
“Bwah?” Methos said. “All that work, and you’re just going to give them away?”
She nodded. “It’s the right thing to do. These papers could teach a whole new generation about our past.”
Methos sighed and shook his head. “I'm glad that you didn't tell that to Corey, then. He was smitten enough as it was. There'd be no living with him once you tickled his Robin Hood complex. Speaking of which, why didn't you go with him? You seemed pretty taken with him.”
“I didn’t go with Corey because his interest was based on the fact that he wouldn’t get a light show if he cut my head off. I don’t want to date anyone who is only after me because it’s a novelty.”
Methos nodded in approval. “So . . . would you like me to steer you back toward home?”
Chloe smiled. “You mean back to Dean. Assuming that he ever came back.”
“Assuming that.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll catch up to Dean sometime. It’s not like we’re getting any older. Right now … All I want is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.”
Methos raised his glass in salute. “I think I can provide that.”