Forget Me Not 2/3
Title: Forget Me Not
Pairing: Chlara, hinted Clark/Davis and Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Summary. Post S8 Abyss, spoilers for Bride. Kara comes home for a day to find out that Chloe has forgotten all about her. She decides to do something about it.
Author's Note: Thank you to herohunter and lexalicious
Word Count: 18115 overall
Part Two
"You really like coffee."
Chloe looked up from her laptop at Clark's little cousin. "It's been my life's blood for years. Long nights on investigation, deadlines, papers due the next morning… That sort of thing."
Kara set the coffee down in front of Chloe. "What kind of papers?"
"I… Oh, I mean essays. For school." Chloe wrapped her fingers around her mug, smiling softly at the whipped cream on top of her drink. This wasn't what she'd ordered. Not even close. She licked the top of the whipped cream.
"You work hard," Kara commented, then nodded to the laptop as she sat down. "Do you have a 'paper' due? Or is this for the Planet?"
"One and then the other. I'll probably be heading upstairs before long."
"You don't have to."
"Well, you close at nine, don't you?"
"You live upstairs. It's not like we could lock you out."
Chloe ran her finger along the side of her cup.
"Why isn't Jimmy here with you?" Kara asked.
Chloe tensed her lips a little. "I needed some… space. He's been kind of…"
Kara leaned chin on her hand and watched Chloe's face.
"He has his eyes on other girls." Chloe shrugged.
"Oh, so you dumped him?"
"No!" Chloe looked up expecting to see a scheming look on Kara's face, but there was only genuine curiosity.
"Doesn't it bother you? It bothers everyone on TV."
"Yeah, well, relationships don't work like they do on TV. Everything can't be perfect." Chloe looked out the window. "Sometimes guys look at other girls. Sometimes they… don't plan you into their life. You just have to realize that jealousy doesn't help anything, and people don't change. Not for relationships they don't."
"That's not very romantic." Kara sighed. "Roaming Eyes Olsen, huh? I'm sorry about that."
"Well, it's not just that. I have some things going on right now, and I can't talk to him about it, so it's best if we're not around each other." Chloe shook her head. "He really can't stand it when I keep things from him."
"That sounds like you're dating Lana."
Chloe looked at Kara with wide eyes, then burst into giggles. Kara quickly followed suit.
With a slow blink, Chloe looked up from her coffee. Kara was sitting on the beach, hair blowing, and staring into the ocean so intently that Chloe figured there must be some answers there. She stood from where she had been sitting and pushed a hand through her hair.
The little fragment of her life that had just flashed before her eyes wasn't particularly reassuring. In fact, if anything, it made her doubt her life even more, and that was saying something, lately. She hadn't remembered before that she and Jimmy had been having problems. What was it that she hadn't been able to tell him?
The sand pressed soft between her bare toes as she approached Kara, and the girl didn't look up. Kara knew Chloe was there, however. Sensed her somehow. The way her slender shoulders relaxed every so slightly told Chloe that she had been detected.
"I'm back," she announced unnecessarily.
"Yes."
Chloe lowered herself onto their blanket and looked at Kara's brooding face.
"A memory for a memory," Chloe offered.
Kara's head turned sharply. "You remembered something."
"Yeah, you and me having coffee… You used to work at the Talon. And… I was telling you about some problems with Jimmy." Chloe sipped her coffee and looked down at the sand.
"Last year was rough."
"Did you… Did you date him before or after that?" Chloe asked.
Kara pulled her knees up. "We hardly dated. He was nice, and I was lonely, and you told me that you didn't mind if we were friends."
"I'm not accusing you of anything, Kara," Chloe told her, placing a light hand on Kara's bare shoulder. "I learned a long time ago that you can't blame other women for things guys do."
"It was after. He dumped you for…" Kara rolled her shoulders.
"For what I couldn't tell him?" Chloe asked, watching Kara's eyes. "What was that?"
"I can't tell you."
"Please, Kara. I need to know."
"This is really more along the lines of I don't know. " Kara tilted her head. "Not details anyway."
Chloe sucked in her lower lips lightly. "Then tell me what you do know."
"You… You had some kind of power. And Jimmy is really, really anti-people with powers. Or he was when we were not-dating." Kara tensed the corners of her mouth. "I mean, he was so much that you tried to get a doctor to lobotomize you to make your power go away."
"No." Chloe shook her head, paling. "I have an ability? I can't." She set her coffee down and pinched her index and middle fingers. "I don't think I would have gone for surgery just because of Jimmy. I would have- I've been afraid of losing my mind since I was sixteen. I would have gone for the surgery because I can't be a killer, Kara. I’m more afraid of losing myself than anything."
"You won't be. I'll make sure you don't do anything you regret," Kara promised.
"Can you?" Chloe asked, feeling her heart speed up. "How could you? Meteor freaks can be dangerous, Kara. Please don't put yourself in danger for me. I don't…" Chloe shook her head agitatedly as she spoke. "I don't want to be dangerous."
Kara's long fingers trailed over the side of Chloe's face. "I'm stronger than I look. And I can do what I claim."
Then consider me your own personal bomb squad.
Chloe blinked and pulled away a little. Who had promised that? These little flashes of memory weren't doing much to clarify matters. Kara pulled back as well and tucked her legs against her chest.
"Sorry."
"So, your turn," Chloe said quietly.
"My turn to…?"
"Quid pro quo. I gave you a memory." Chloe tucked her legs underneath her. "What do you remember? From your Wilderness?"
Kara met her hopeful eyes with a despondent stare before looking back out at the ocean. "It's complicated. Anyway, aren't I supposed to be forgetting?"
Chloe pressed her lips together and nodded. She picked her coffee back up and stared at it. After a long moment, Kara spoke again in a deep, distant voice that seemed alienated from her misleading delicate appearance.
"Her name was Talia, and she saved me. When I arrived in… It's called the Phantom Zone. The Zone. It's sort of like an island prison, and one of my family's enemies dropped me in there to keep me out of the way. It's a harsh, barren desert. If you don't toughen up, you'll die." Kara pressed her eyes against the palm of her hand. "They killed her. The Zoners, and it was my fault. I got sloppy. I was weak. And they killed her. She was all I had, and she took me in and tried to protect me. I repaid her by stealing her life."
"Hey! No. Kara, it isn't your fault. Blame the ones who killed her, not yourself," Chloe argued, leaning closer to her.
"I loved her. I don't think I've really ever felt that way about anyone before."
"Was this before we met?" Chloe frowned.
"No. It was after. It was… It doesn't matter. It was years ago."
Chloe straightened up. "How… Kara, I only met you last year."
"Time is different there. I told you," Kara replied irritably. She curled over and pressed both palms against her eyes as she groaned. "I don't want to talk about this. We're here for you, not for me."
"I'm okay with sharing my time here." Chloe looked up as Kara stood abruptly and started walking down the beach. She jumped up to follow Kara, having to run a little to keep up with the tall girl. "Wait! Please, we don't have to talk about this. It's just… Kara, you're hurting. How can I sit here and watch, and just do nothing?"
Kara stopped, causing Chloe to almost fall on the sand. Kara caught her arms and looked at Chloe seriously. "I don't need to be saved."
"Sometimes even heroes need to be saved. You don't have to talk, Kara." Chloe took a deep breath. "I just… I don't know why I trust you. But I do. I feel like… There was something… Was there?"
"I don't know what you mean," Kara whispered. "We knew each other before he took me away. You tried to protect me, gave me an identity here, gave me some fashion tips that didn't quite stick..."
"Then maybe it's something I never said," Chloe mused. When Kara's hands dropped to her sides, Chloe grabbed one of Kara's hands. "Walk with me?"
"We should be getting back to the house. Try to pry out those memories some more," Kara suggested.
"Not now. Let's just walk a little."
Kara waited a moment, then nodded, taking Chloe to her side and moving with her across the beach. A few moments later, her arm slipped around Chloe's shoulders.
***
Clark crossed his arms and sighed in frustration as he and Davis Bloom mulled about Isis and waited for the computer network that Chloe had set up to pop up something useful.
"It would be nice if we had Chloe here to help us find Chloe. I can barely find my way around the computer at work," Davis muttered. "How does she navigate this thing?"
Clark shook his head. He had an idea, but he didn't particularly want to share. "She's been a hacker a long as I've known her."
"I didn't know that," Davis murmured.
"You don't know much about her," Clark replied. He looked at his cell phone, hoping that someone would message him.
"I know as much as I need to. Clark, I'm not the enemy here. I didn't abduct her. I haven't hurt her, and I would never do so," Davis told Clark sternly. "Furthermore, you have absolutely no proof of wrongdoing on my part. Save your judge and jury act for another time."
Clark pressed his lips together in dissatisfaction. This wasn't like that. Something about Davis just felt… wrong. It made Clark feel funny. Although Clark admitted he wasn't always the best judge of character in general, boys interested in Chloe tended to turn out to be psychos.
Davis rolled his eyes and looked up at the screen. "Hey. Pause it. Can we do that?"
"What?" Clark looked up, moved toward the central computer, and took over the keyboard. "Did you spot her?"
"No. But… go back a few frames." Davis pointed to one of the screens, his eyes rounding and his jaw lowering. "There. Did you see that? It's a girl. She's flying."
"Ohhh, no." Clark closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What? Can you get a close up?" Davis leaned forward, squinting as he studied the frozen image.
"I don't need a close up. There's only one girl who goes around in red and blue belly shirts."
Davis gave Clark a hard look. "I'm sure there are plenty of girls who go around in belly shirts. The question is: How many of them can fly? And secondarily, is she dangerous?"
"No. Well… No. She's not. She was just adamant about not letting Chloe get married while her memory was still impaired."
"I can't say I disagree with that line of reasoning," Davis stated in a flat tone.
"I'm shocked to hear that from you," Clark replied sarcastically.
Davis pursed his lips and watched the screen in frustration. "How do we find them?"
"I… Don't really know. She could be anywhere." Clark sighed and frowned thoughtfully, crossing his arms. "She could have taken Chloe to some other planet."
Davis raised his brows with concern. "She wouldn't, would she? Where would she get the oxygen?"
"She doesn't need oxygen," Clark said offhandedly.
"Um, I get that women really aren't your specialty, but I assure you that Chloe very much needs oxygen."
"Oh, well, that's true…" Clark thought for another moment, then turned his head to Davis. "What do you mean, women aren't my specialty?"
"Well. Obviously," Davis replied after a moment. "Come on."
"Come on, what? I was almost engaged last year," Clark protested.
Davis narrowed his eyes and took a long pause before answering. "To a woman?"
"Yes to a woman!" Clark blanched.
Davis held up his hands. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. No need to be offended. You just don't seem like the kind of guy who's… made for women."
"Well, I'm very much made for women." Clark walked over to grab his blue jacket.
"I suppose you're right. Most gay guys I know have a more varied wardrobe. I don't know how you can complain about mine being repetitive."
Clark shot a scathing look over his shoulder. "I like red."
"And blue?" Davis replied in a catty voice. "I could tell. It must feel like drag when you suit up for work."
"Where do you come from?" Clark demanded. "Why don't you stick around here and speculate on who's gay a little more? I'm going to go visit someone who can help."
"Green Arrow?" Davis called as Clark headed for the door.
Clark froze. "What makes you think that?"
"Well, the red. And the blue. The green bean with a codpiece. Seems like people of like interests… and tights, probably know each other," Davis teased.
Clark's eyes widened. He turned to face Davis very slowly.
"Don't worry, Clark. I won't out you. We all have our secrets, right?" Davis raised a brow and cocked his head to the side.
"How did you read me so fast?"
"I'm… observant. And also not technically retarded, which I would have to say is probably the only reason, besides outright denial, that anyone wouldn't spend any time around you without figuring it out." Davis closed the distance between them and clapped Clark's shoulder. "Relax. Do you think Codpiece can track them down?"
"If he's... sober, yeah." Clark jerked his head to the screens. "We could do it on this thing, but I'm really not familiar with the interface. It would probably just be faster to have Green Arrow have one of his people check out the satellites."
"It's a plan." Davis pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call my partner and tell him I'm going to be late."
"You know, I've never even seen your partner," Clark commented, following Davis out of the office.
***
Eyes stinging and hands shaking, Chloe looked up from the knife in her hands. She was chopping vegetables for dinner. She was no cook, but Kara seemed a decent chef. Right now though, her culinary efforts were being pushed aside by a more immediate need. Her vision blurred as the memory became clearer and clearer.
"I guess he's my boyfriend." Kara stared at her iPod in confusion.
"Wait. Lex?" Chloe set her coffee down and sat next to Kara quickly. "Lex is not your boyfriend just because he helped you out in Detroit."
"What? No. Lex is gay." Kara rolled her eyes.
Chloe laughed in disbelief. "Uh, yeah, sure he is."
"It's like he wants to be my daddy, more than my boyfriend. I was talking about Jimmy." Kara shrugged. "I don't feel anything. Is that wrong? If we were so in love, wouldn't I feel something?"
Chloe rubbed Kara's back sighed softly. It was hard to watch her have such a difficult time with this, and Chloe was spent from arguing with Clark that they needed to give Kara more information about who she was. How could she defend herself from Lex if she didn't know what she was defending? "I don't know what you were feeling. I know you guys seemed to have a lot of fun together."
"Now we stare at each other. He shows me things I'm supposed to like. He speaks words. I stare." Kara looked up at the apartment. "Have I been up here before?"
"Once or twice. I helped you chose a few outfits that were appropriate for work," Chloe offered. "And once, a red dress."
Kara's shoulders slumped. "I not even a person right now. I'm a cucumber."
"You are not a cucumber, okay?" Chloe shook her head and rested her hand on Kara's opposite shoulder. "You're missing some memories. You'll get better, and it'll be fine. You'll… You'll get back together with Jimmy. You'll get back to your life."
"And will I have a life to get back to?"
Chloe stood and walked over to her kitchen, where the teakettle was whistling. "Kara, you're strong. If you don't get your old life back, you'll get a better one. I don't think you were that attached to this life anyway. I mean, you only got here a few months ago."
"You think so? Well, I don't relate to whoever that is in my records, anyway."
Kara looked up as Chloe pressed a cup of tea into her hands. Their eyes met, and Chloe took in a deep breath because her heart was pounding, almost as though she were frightened. And maybe she was. Whatever had touched her insides just then was both exhilarating and terrifying.
"Chloe?" Kara's hands covered hers, and the girl gently took the knife from Chloe.
Chloe's bright eyes met Kara's. "I… I remembered something else."
"Something bad?" Kara frowned slightly. Her hands rested on Chloe's small shoulders.
"No. Well, maybe it makes me a bad person. I don't know why I got back together with Jimmy, or why I'd agree to marry him, when…"
"When?" Kara prompted after a moment.
"I had feelings for someone else," Chloe whispered, looking up at Kara guiltily.
"Oh." Kara let her hands drop.
Chloe looked at the pearly gray-marbled tiles of the kitchen floor and wiped the tears from her cheek. "When you lost your memory-"
"You tried to help me. Clark didn't want you to tell me anything, but you were there for me anyway, Chloe," Kara admitted fervently. "How could I not do the same for you?"
"No, Kara, let me… finish. When you lost your memory-" Chloe took a breath. "I… I realized that you make me feel… Well, it's what I've been realizing since we came here. Going down that aisle with Jimmy, being his wife? That's not what I want. That's someone else's life."
"That's what I was afraid of," Kara said, relief lacing her voice. "That you'd realize that too late."
"How late is too late?" Chloe reached up and touched Kara's cheek gently.
Kara took the back of Chloe's hand and nuzzled her cheek against it. "I think it's too late if you're no longer living."
***
"I'm busy, Clark."
"Are you really going to tell me that you're too busy to have one of your employees look for Chloe on one of Queen Industries' satellites?" Clark asked in frustration.
Oliver flashed him a tight and insincere smile. "Not all of us have the luxury of ignoring the rest of the world while evil men operate unchallenged."
"Wow." Davis shook his head. "That's amazing. Really, it's a skill I wish I had. Being able to convey passive aggression at the same time I'm being smugly superior."
Oliver narrowed his eyes and walked over to the bar on his plane. "Who is this?"
"One of Chloe's friends," Clark said shortly. "Oliver, I can't believe you're not going to help us. Chloe's done a lot for you. A lot of illegal things for you that put her job in jeopardy and got her under Lex's radar."
"You think she wasn't already under Lex's radar? She's a meteor freak and your best friend," Oliver replied, cocking his head to the side sassily.
"Then why did he never fire her or have her taken away before you had her hacking his business from The Daily Planet?" Clark challenged. He crossed his arms.
"You might want to ask the blushing groom about that one," Oliver shot back. "Anyway, I'm on my way out, if you don't mind. Remember, I have a bald rat to catch."
"Clark, let's go. We can find her without this guy," Davis said. He turned to Clark. "Chloe has plenty of mutant friends. Let's go back to her office. I remember one of them could locate other people with metahuman powers, and if we can give that person a call, maybe we can just have them pinpoint Chloe for us."
"How would you know that?" Oliver asked, drawing closer to them with a drink in his hand.
"It's called Meteor Freaks Anonymous, Ollie," Davis replied flippantly. "It's a strictly "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" situation, and since you're pretty much a normie, I don't think anyone wants you to see the list. So sorry."
"If I wanted that list, I'd have it," Oliver snapped.
In response, Davis arched a brow and turned to leave the plane. Clark caught the look of rage on Oliver's face and moved between them.
"Relax. You don't even know the guy," Clark said, holding his hands up. "What difference does it make if he has attitude toward non-mutants?"
"I'm not interested in excuses for your new boyfriend, Clark. Why are you wasting time with him instead of hunting Lex down with me? He's dangerous, and he knows your secret. He has to be stopped-"
"I don't like where this is headed," Clark said in an even tone. He clapped his hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Oliver, you're my friend, and as your friend, I'm telling you to back off on this one. You don't have the perspective to handle Lex if you met him."
"Just because you're afraid to do what's necessary-"
"You sound like you're high," Clark replied bluntly. "You sound like you sounded when you were on that superpowered rage juice, and I don't like it. Are you taking?"
"What?" Oliver shook his head and pulled away. "I'm fine. You're the one hiding from everything. From Lex, from this situation with Chloe-"
"By finding her?"
"By pretending her powers aren't a problem! By acting like it's just fine that she has an alien in her head!"
"What is your problem?" Clark exploded. "Why is it that every time something alien comes up, you freak out? Lex was better about aliens than you are."
"Shut the hell up, Kent. Get out." Oliver spun around and dropped onto the sofa. He too a moody sip of his drink. "Well?"
"Fine." Clark moved to the doorway, then zipped out of the plane to Davis' apartment, and back, where he dropped a sleeping pill in Oliver's alcohol before returning to his original position.
Oliver wouldn't be doing any hunting today.
***
That night, Chloe felt two strong arms wrap around her. One adventurous hand cupped her breasts. She could have moved away, but she didn't. She didn't.
Instead she let her fingers slip through the silky blond hair that spilled onto the pillow they were sharing, and she closed her eyes, moving her face towards her strong protector.
The girl sits in a cold, dark room. He is there. Smirking. Smug. In control. He holds his hand up and watches the girl with the round cheeks and long, blond hair. Her eyes are the sea, uneven waves that come, go, advance, recede. Sweet soft green that demand answers, rebel, plead, submit.
Lately, they submit. This pleases him.
His presence seems to fill the room. The girl feels as though she can't breathe.
He is going to eat her mind.
"No!" Chloe shot up, frightened and flailing her arms as she struggled to free herself. Her hand hit something hard and it smarted, but she couldn't stop fighting.
"Oh, hey! Wait!" The strong arms tried to hold her still for a moment, but when she couldn't calm, they let her go, and Chloe bolted across the room, crossing her arms over herself and bursting into tears.
There was a profound silence for several moments before she heard Kara's voice whisper in the dark, "I'm sorry, Chloe."
"I don't think I can win this," Chloe said, wiping her cheek.
Kara stood slowly. "I'm sorry I scared you. Win what?"
"Anything. I…" Chloe lowered her head into her hand and closed her eyes.
"I am so far from perfect."
"Which is perfect for me," Chloe whispered, watching the lines of code float in front of her eyes as she cupped Jimmy's face and smiled beatifically.
Chloe shook her head as Kara rubbed her back gently. Blood was pounding in her ears.
"Chloe, there's something you need to know," Clark said in an uncomfortable voice. Chloe was changing out of the gray prisoner jumpsuit, but looked over her shoulder as he spoke again. "About Jimmy."
"He betrayed me," Chloe muttered in astonishment.
"Who?" Kara was behind her now, rubbing her back gently.
"Jimmy. He… He tried to turn me in to the Feds, and then he cut a deal with Lex Luthor that got me put in this horrible place…"
"Chloe-"
"No!" Chloe snapped her head around to look at Kara. "He… I can't believe I ever agreed to marry him. He betrayed me. He cheated on me. What possessed me?"
"Well." Kara swallowed and combed her fingers through Chloe's curling and sleep-mussed hair. "Brainiac."
Chloe closed her eyes as the image of a metallic tendril shot forward at her. "God."
"I know. I'm so-"
"Stop saying you're sorry. None of this is your fault." Chloe turned in Kara's arms and embraced her. Kara seemed surprised, but enveloped Chloe in her arms anyway. The smaller woman shook her head. "I wanted to save you, Kara. The last time I saw him, Brainiac had taken your place. I thought someone had slipped you some Red K, or something. And when I went to confront him…"
"He attacked you." Kara pulled back and cupped Chloe's cheek in her hand. "Clark said they got him out. He and Jor-El. Do you remember Jor-El?"
"I remember…"
Cold. Freezing. Kara wandered around in amazement and confusion like an unattended kindergartener.
"I love your son!" Chloe cried, projecting her voice as loudly as she could into the frozen fortress at an even colder AI.
"I remember Jor-El," Chloe replied tersely. "He didn't do a very good job. I think… Brainiac is still here. I was in danger of more than a bad marriage; I was in danger of losing my self completely, becoming the soulless doll to an unfeeling creature."
Kara's eyes grew wide, and she frowned, then looked behind her frantically. "Maybe… I don't know. Maybe we can use my crystal to get him out?"
"It didn't work before."
"Well, I didn't know why you couldn't remember before. If it's because of Brainiac…" Kara let her hand trail down Chloe's arm as she tried to think of a plan to save her.
Chloe shook her head. "He's waiting."
"Waiting? On what?" Kara stopped and focused her attention back on Chloe, who seemed much more stern now, much more serious than she had been.
"On me. To give up."
"Chloe, you can't. He'll destroy you!"
"No." Chloe crossed her arms and padded across the room they had been sharing. "I can't. Because he'll destroy a lot of people. I don't know what his plan is, and he probably has a back up copy somewhere, but I refused to be a monster even as a meteor freak, and I won't be a monster now."
She swallowed and looked out over the ocean view. Her fingers touched the glass.
"You need to kill me, Kara."
"No!" Kara exclaimed immediately. "I'm not going to let him win. You won't either."
Chloe let her forehead hit the glass. "Last time he won. And Clark and Jor-El hit the pause button on what was happening, but he won. He erased all of my memories, and replaced them with Kryptonian coding-"
"He was replicating himself."
"Well, he did replicate himself. Kara, he blocked me out. Jor-El shouldn't have kept my other memories from me, but I wouldn't have any at all if he hadn't intervened. Brainiac would be enacting whatever crazy plan of his by now."
Kara's hands covered Chloe's shoulders, and the girl frowned helplessly. She wanted to wrap Chloe up in a blanket and take her to a far away safe place, but all the places that she knew of were no more. There was just this little house here, and she didn't even really own it. Her lips pressed against the back of Chloe's neck slowly as Chloe let out a soft sob.
Neither of them knew what to do.
***
Clark had never called in a favor from his grandfather in his life, but when Tabby pressed her finger to the map on the screen and looked up knowingly with her wide, chocolate brown eyes, he seriously considered it.
"Are you sure?" Davis asked, sitting in the chair next to her.
"It's screaming out to me. Her powers must be working overtime." Tabby shook her head and pulled up the street map of the city. "Funny. Didn't she say in one of the sessions that her powers were broken?"
"I remember that," Davis replied, frowning deeply.
Clark watched him and thought, momentarily, that Davis' lips were almost naturally pouty, like Lex's were. He rubbed his forehead, wondering where that thought had come from. Davis had just admitted to sitting in on a session, and Chloe did not let anyone in on sessions who weren't 'special' themselves.
"What do you think, Kent? Not bad for a couple of useless guys," Davis joked. "Sometimes I wonder if I have any useable skills at all."
"Well, I can think of a use for you," Tabby replied.
Davis's head shook in a broad back and forth motion. "No legal use."
"Oh, come on. Pay one guy to demolish a building? That's efficiency that can't be beat!" Tabby laughed. She moved her slender fingers over the mouse and wrinkled her brow lightly. Then she nodded and pointed. "They're right here, right now."
Clark lifted his chin and drew closer. "That's right along the coast. What are they doing in Coast City?"
"Honeymoon?" Tabby suggested.
"She's marrying Jimmy, not Kara," Clark said in exasperation.
The woman shrugged and adjusted her purple shawl. "Well, if she changed her mind, Coast City wouldn't be a bad place to go."
"The question is: How are we going to get there before they move again?" Davis looked up at Clark as he spoke.
"Should you fly?" Tabby asked.
"Should I? Can I? We don't have time for a road trip," Davis said pointedly.
"No offense, but… Now that we've found her, maybe I can just go get her. She's my best friend." Clark pretended not to see the wounded look on Davis' face.
"That still doesn't solve the getting there problem," Davis sulked, looking back at the screen to avoid Clark's eyes.
The three of them turned their heads to the sound of heavy heels. "Well, I might have the solution to that," a stern woman's voice answered.
Clark raised his brow. Black Canary was in her full costume, fishnets, high-heeled boots and all, and she was swinging a set of keys from her hand.
"So which one of you drugged Green Arrow?" she asked with a smirk. "I hear Watchtower is in trouble."
"Oh, thank… whoever." Clark walked over to her. "I don't know if she's… My cousin kidnapped her, and her memory has been-"
"Shit. I know. Frankly, we need her more than we've had her-I can hardly check my email, let alone follow electronic paper trails-and we've been losing her bit-by-bit since she got back from Black Creek. It's like another person was there trying to live her life." Dinah sighed and clasped the keys in her hand. "I want to come. Will there be room?"
Davis stood and looked her over curiously. "I don't know this one."
Dinah returned the sweeping look and twisted her lips in appreciation. "Nice. I'm Black Canary. I spend a lot of time in Gotham. And you are?"
"Davis Bloom." He offered her his hand and shook it firmly.
Dinah sucked the inside of her cheek for a moment thoughtfully, then nodded. "You're coming?"
"I want to, but I don't know how useful I'll be."
"Can you fight?" She put her hand on her hip.
"Let's but it this way: You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Any other time…" Davis shrugged. "I can be a pretty cool guy."
Dinah let out a ringing laugh. "Are we bringing the fiancé?"
"I don't know," Clark said hesitantly. "I was thinking we'd call Lois and just go for it."
"Lois?" Dinah pursed her lips skeptically.
"Come on. She can whip kick," Clark argued. "Besides, she's basically all the family Chloe has, out side of a padded cell."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Bring the duct tape."
"Well, you guys have fun storming the castle," Tabby said, picking up her purse and heading for the door. "I have to fetch my little brother and sister from school. You let us know if Chloe's okay, alright?"
"Will do, Tabs." Davis waved his cell phone and looked at it. "Alright. So."
"Let's do this while Oliver's still passed out at his loft," Dinah said, tossing the keys up and then catching them once.
Pairing: Chlara, hinted Clark/Davis and Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Summary. Post S8 Abyss, spoilers for Bride. Kara comes home for a day to find out that Chloe has forgotten all about her. She decides to do something about it.
Author's Note: Thank you to herohunter and lexalicious
Word Count: 18115 overall
Part Two
"You really like coffee."
Chloe looked up from her laptop at Clark's little cousin. "It's been my life's blood for years. Long nights on investigation, deadlines, papers due the next morning… That sort of thing."
Kara set the coffee down in front of Chloe. "What kind of papers?"
"I… Oh, I mean essays. For school." Chloe wrapped her fingers around her mug, smiling softly at the whipped cream on top of her drink. This wasn't what she'd ordered. Not even close. She licked the top of the whipped cream.
"You work hard," Kara commented, then nodded to the laptop as she sat down. "Do you have a 'paper' due? Or is this for the Planet?"
"One and then the other. I'll probably be heading upstairs before long."
"You don't have to."
"Well, you close at nine, don't you?"
"You live upstairs. It's not like we could lock you out."
Chloe ran her finger along the side of her cup.
"Why isn't Jimmy here with you?" Kara asked.
Chloe tensed her lips a little. "I needed some… space. He's been kind of…"
Kara leaned chin on her hand and watched Chloe's face.
"He has his eyes on other girls." Chloe shrugged.
"Oh, so you dumped him?"
"No!" Chloe looked up expecting to see a scheming look on Kara's face, but there was only genuine curiosity.
"Doesn't it bother you? It bothers everyone on TV."
"Yeah, well, relationships don't work like they do on TV. Everything can't be perfect." Chloe looked out the window. "Sometimes guys look at other girls. Sometimes they… don't plan you into their life. You just have to realize that jealousy doesn't help anything, and people don't change. Not for relationships they don't."
"That's not very romantic." Kara sighed. "Roaming Eyes Olsen, huh? I'm sorry about that."
"Well, it's not just that. I have some things going on right now, and I can't talk to him about it, so it's best if we're not around each other." Chloe shook her head. "He really can't stand it when I keep things from him."
"That sounds like you're dating Lana."
Chloe looked at Kara with wide eyes, then burst into giggles. Kara quickly followed suit.
With a slow blink, Chloe looked up from her coffee. Kara was sitting on the beach, hair blowing, and staring into the ocean so intently that Chloe figured there must be some answers there. She stood from where she had been sitting and pushed a hand through her hair.
The little fragment of her life that had just flashed before her eyes wasn't particularly reassuring. In fact, if anything, it made her doubt her life even more, and that was saying something, lately. She hadn't remembered before that she and Jimmy had been having problems. What was it that she hadn't been able to tell him?
The sand pressed soft between her bare toes as she approached Kara, and the girl didn't look up. Kara knew Chloe was there, however. Sensed her somehow. The way her slender shoulders relaxed every so slightly told Chloe that she had been detected.
"I'm back," she announced unnecessarily.
"Yes."
Chloe lowered herself onto their blanket and looked at Kara's brooding face.
"A memory for a memory," Chloe offered.
Kara's head turned sharply. "You remembered something."
"Yeah, you and me having coffee… You used to work at the Talon. And… I was telling you about some problems with Jimmy." Chloe sipped her coffee and looked down at the sand.
"Last year was rough."
"Did you… Did you date him before or after that?" Chloe asked.
Kara pulled her knees up. "We hardly dated. He was nice, and I was lonely, and you told me that you didn't mind if we were friends."
"I'm not accusing you of anything, Kara," Chloe told her, placing a light hand on Kara's bare shoulder. "I learned a long time ago that you can't blame other women for things guys do."
"It was after. He dumped you for…" Kara rolled her shoulders.
"For what I couldn't tell him?" Chloe asked, watching Kara's eyes. "What was that?"
"I can't tell you."
"Please, Kara. I need to know."
"This is really more along the lines of I don't know. " Kara tilted her head. "Not details anyway."
Chloe sucked in her lower lips lightly. "Then tell me what you do know."
"You… You had some kind of power. And Jimmy is really, really anti-people with powers. Or he was when we were not-dating." Kara tensed the corners of her mouth. "I mean, he was so much that you tried to get a doctor to lobotomize you to make your power go away."
"No." Chloe shook her head, paling. "I have an ability? I can't." She set her coffee down and pinched her index and middle fingers. "I don't think I would have gone for surgery just because of Jimmy. I would have- I've been afraid of losing my mind since I was sixteen. I would have gone for the surgery because I can't be a killer, Kara. I’m more afraid of losing myself than anything."
"You won't be. I'll make sure you don't do anything you regret," Kara promised.
"Can you?" Chloe asked, feeling her heart speed up. "How could you? Meteor freaks can be dangerous, Kara. Please don't put yourself in danger for me. I don't…" Chloe shook her head agitatedly as she spoke. "I don't want to be dangerous."
Kara's long fingers trailed over the side of Chloe's face. "I'm stronger than I look. And I can do what I claim."
Then consider me your own personal bomb squad.
Chloe blinked and pulled away a little. Who had promised that? These little flashes of memory weren't doing much to clarify matters. Kara pulled back as well and tucked her legs against her chest.
"Sorry."
"So, your turn," Chloe said quietly.
"My turn to…?"
"Quid pro quo. I gave you a memory." Chloe tucked her legs underneath her. "What do you remember? From your Wilderness?"
Kara met her hopeful eyes with a despondent stare before looking back out at the ocean. "It's complicated. Anyway, aren't I supposed to be forgetting?"
Chloe pressed her lips together and nodded. She picked her coffee back up and stared at it. After a long moment, Kara spoke again in a deep, distant voice that seemed alienated from her misleading delicate appearance.
"Her name was Talia, and she saved me. When I arrived in… It's called the Phantom Zone. The Zone. It's sort of like an island prison, and one of my family's enemies dropped me in there to keep me out of the way. It's a harsh, barren desert. If you don't toughen up, you'll die." Kara pressed her eyes against the palm of her hand. "They killed her. The Zoners, and it was my fault. I got sloppy. I was weak. And they killed her. She was all I had, and she took me in and tried to protect me. I repaid her by stealing her life."
"Hey! No. Kara, it isn't your fault. Blame the ones who killed her, not yourself," Chloe argued, leaning closer to her.
"I loved her. I don't think I've really ever felt that way about anyone before."
"Was this before we met?" Chloe frowned.
"No. It was after. It was… It doesn't matter. It was years ago."
Chloe straightened up. "How… Kara, I only met you last year."
"Time is different there. I told you," Kara replied irritably. She curled over and pressed both palms against her eyes as she groaned. "I don't want to talk about this. We're here for you, not for me."
"I'm okay with sharing my time here." Chloe looked up as Kara stood abruptly and started walking down the beach. She jumped up to follow Kara, having to run a little to keep up with the tall girl. "Wait! Please, we don't have to talk about this. It's just… Kara, you're hurting. How can I sit here and watch, and just do nothing?"
Kara stopped, causing Chloe to almost fall on the sand. Kara caught her arms and looked at Chloe seriously. "I don't need to be saved."
"Sometimes even heroes need to be saved. You don't have to talk, Kara." Chloe took a deep breath. "I just… I don't know why I trust you. But I do. I feel like… There was something… Was there?"
"I don't know what you mean," Kara whispered. "We knew each other before he took me away. You tried to protect me, gave me an identity here, gave me some fashion tips that didn't quite stick..."
"Then maybe it's something I never said," Chloe mused. When Kara's hands dropped to her sides, Chloe grabbed one of Kara's hands. "Walk with me?"
"We should be getting back to the house. Try to pry out those memories some more," Kara suggested.
"Not now. Let's just walk a little."
Kara waited a moment, then nodded, taking Chloe to her side and moving with her across the beach. A few moments later, her arm slipped around Chloe's shoulders.
***
Clark crossed his arms and sighed in frustration as he and Davis Bloom mulled about Isis and waited for the computer network that Chloe had set up to pop up something useful.
"It would be nice if we had Chloe here to help us find Chloe. I can barely find my way around the computer at work," Davis muttered. "How does she navigate this thing?"
Clark shook his head. He had an idea, but he didn't particularly want to share. "She's been a hacker a long as I've known her."
"I didn't know that," Davis murmured.
"You don't know much about her," Clark replied. He looked at his cell phone, hoping that someone would message him.
"I know as much as I need to. Clark, I'm not the enemy here. I didn't abduct her. I haven't hurt her, and I would never do so," Davis told Clark sternly. "Furthermore, you have absolutely no proof of wrongdoing on my part. Save your judge and jury act for another time."
Clark pressed his lips together in dissatisfaction. This wasn't like that. Something about Davis just felt… wrong. It made Clark feel funny. Although Clark admitted he wasn't always the best judge of character in general, boys interested in Chloe tended to turn out to be psychos.
Davis rolled his eyes and looked up at the screen. "Hey. Pause it. Can we do that?"
"What?" Clark looked up, moved toward the central computer, and took over the keyboard. "Did you spot her?"
"No. But… go back a few frames." Davis pointed to one of the screens, his eyes rounding and his jaw lowering. "There. Did you see that? It's a girl. She's flying."
"Ohhh, no." Clark closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What? Can you get a close up?" Davis leaned forward, squinting as he studied the frozen image.
"I don't need a close up. There's only one girl who goes around in red and blue belly shirts."
Davis gave Clark a hard look. "I'm sure there are plenty of girls who go around in belly shirts. The question is: How many of them can fly? And secondarily, is she dangerous?"
"No. Well… No. She's not. She was just adamant about not letting Chloe get married while her memory was still impaired."
"I can't say I disagree with that line of reasoning," Davis stated in a flat tone.
"I'm shocked to hear that from you," Clark replied sarcastically.
Davis pursed his lips and watched the screen in frustration. "How do we find them?"
"I… Don't really know. She could be anywhere." Clark sighed and frowned thoughtfully, crossing his arms. "She could have taken Chloe to some other planet."
Davis raised his brows with concern. "She wouldn't, would she? Where would she get the oxygen?"
"She doesn't need oxygen," Clark said offhandedly.
"Um, I get that women really aren't your specialty, but I assure you that Chloe very much needs oxygen."
"Oh, well, that's true…" Clark thought for another moment, then turned his head to Davis. "What do you mean, women aren't my specialty?"
"Well. Obviously," Davis replied after a moment. "Come on."
"Come on, what? I was almost engaged last year," Clark protested.
Davis narrowed his eyes and took a long pause before answering. "To a woman?"
"Yes to a woman!" Clark blanched.
Davis held up his hands. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. No need to be offended. You just don't seem like the kind of guy who's… made for women."
"Well, I'm very much made for women." Clark walked over to grab his blue jacket.
"I suppose you're right. Most gay guys I know have a more varied wardrobe. I don't know how you can complain about mine being repetitive."
Clark shot a scathing look over his shoulder. "I like red."
"And blue?" Davis replied in a catty voice. "I could tell. It must feel like drag when you suit up for work."
"Where do you come from?" Clark demanded. "Why don't you stick around here and speculate on who's gay a little more? I'm going to go visit someone who can help."
"Green Arrow?" Davis called as Clark headed for the door.
Clark froze. "What makes you think that?"
"Well, the red. And the blue. The green bean with a codpiece. Seems like people of like interests… and tights, probably know each other," Davis teased.
Clark's eyes widened. He turned to face Davis very slowly.
"Don't worry, Clark. I won't out you. We all have our secrets, right?" Davis raised a brow and cocked his head to the side.
"How did you read me so fast?"
"I'm… observant. And also not technically retarded, which I would have to say is probably the only reason, besides outright denial, that anyone wouldn't spend any time around you without figuring it out." Davis closed the distance between them and clapped Clark's shoulder. "Relax. Do you think Codpiece can track them down?"
"If he's... sober, yeah." Clark jerked his head to the screens. "We could do it on this thing, but I'm really not familiar with the interface. It would probably just be faster to have Green Arrow have one of his people check out the satellites."
"It's a plan." Davis pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call my partner and tell him I'm going to be late."
"You know, I've never even seen your partner," Clark commented, following Davis out of the office.
***
Eyes stinging and hands shaking, Chloe looked up from the knife in her hands. She was chopping vegetables for dinner. She was no cook, but Kara seemed a decent chef. Right now though, her culinary efforts were being pushed aside by a more immediate need. Her vision blurred as the memory became clearer and clearer.
"I guess he's my boyfriend." Kara stared at her iPod in confusion.
"Wait. Lex?" Chloe set her coffee down and sat next to Kara quickly. "Lex is not your boyfriend just because he helped you out in Detroit."
"What? No. Lex is gay." Kara rolled her eyes.
Chloe laughed in disbelief. "Uh, yeah, sure he is."
"It's like he wants to be my daddy, more than my boyfriend. I was talking about Jimmy." Kara shrugged. "I don't feel anything. Is that wrong? If we were so in love, wouldn't I feel something?"
Chloe rubbed Kara's back sighed softly. It was hard to watch her have such a difficult time with this, and Chloe was spent from arguing with Clark that they needed to give Kara more information about who she was. How could she defend herself from Lex if she didn't know what she was defending? "I don't know what you were feeling. I know you guys seemed to have a lot of fun together."
"Now we stare at each other. He shows me things I'm supposed to like. He speaks words. I stare." Kara looked up at the apartment. "Have I been up here before?"
"Once or twice. I helped you chose a few outfits that were appropriate for work," Chloe offered. "And once, a red dress."
Kara's shoulders slumped. "I not even a person right now. I'm a cucumber."
"You are not a cucumber, okay?" Chloe shook her head and rested her hand on Kara's opposite shoulder. "You're missing some memories. You'll get better, and it'll be fine. You'll… You'll get back together with Jimmy. You'll get back to your life."
"And will I have a life to get back to?"
Chloe stood and walked over to her kitchen, where the teakettle was whistling. "Kara, you're strong. If you don't get your old life back, you'll get a better one. I don't think you were that attached to this life anyway. I mean, you only got here a few months ago."
"You think so? Well, I don't relate to whoever that is in my records, anyway."
Kara looked up as Chloe pressed a cup of tea into her hands. Their eyes met, and Chloe took in a deep breath because her heart was pounding, almost as though she were frightened. And maybe she was. Whatever had touched her insides just then was both exhilarating and terrifying.
"Chloe?" Kara's hands covered hers, and the girl gently took the knife from Chloe.
Chloe's bright eyes met Kara's. "I… I remembered something else."
"Something bad?" Kara frowned slightly. Her hands rested on Chloe's small shoulders.
"No. Well, maybe it makes me a bad person. I don't know why I got back together with Jimmy, or why I'd agree to marry him, when…"
"When?" Kara prompted after a moment.
"I had feelings for someone else," Chloe whispered, looking up at Kara guiltily.
"Oh." Kara let her hands drop.
Chloe looked at the pearly gray-marbled tiles of the kitchen floor and wiped the tears from her cheek. "When you lost your memory-"
"You tried to help me. Clark didn't want you to tell me anything, but you were there for me anyway, Chloe," Kara admitted fervently. "How could I not do the same for you?"
"No, Kara, let me… finish. When you lost your memory-" Chloe took a breath. "I… I realized that you make me feel… Well, it's what I've been realizing since we came here. Going down that aisle with Jimmy, being his wife? That's not what I want. That's someone else's life."
"That's what I was afraid of," Kara said, relief lacing her voice. "That you'd realize that too late."
"How late is too late?" Chloe reached up and touched Kara's cheek gently.
Kara took the back of Chloe's hand and nuzzled her cheek against it. "I think it's too late if you're no longer living."
***
"I'm busy, Clark."
"Are you really going to tell me that you're too busy to have one of your employees look for Chloe on one of Queen Industries' satellites?" Clark asked in frustration.
Oliver flashed him a tight and insincere smile. "Not all of us have the luxury of ignoring the rest of the world while evil men operate unchallenged."
"Wow." Davis shook his head. "That's amazing. Really, it's a skill I wish I had. Being able to convey passive aggression at the same time I'm being smugly superior."
Oliver narrowed his eyes and walked over to the bar on his plane. "Who is this?"
"One of Chloe's friends," Clark said shortly. "Oliver, I can't believe you're not going to help us. Chloe's done a lot for you. A lot of illegal things for you that put her job in jeopardy and got her under Lex's radar."
"You think she wasn't already under Lex's radar? She's a meteor freak and your best friend," Oliver replied, cocking his head to the side sassily.
"Then why did he never fire her or have her taken away before you had her hacking his business from The Daily Planet?" Clark challenged. He crossed his arms.
"You might want to ask the blushing groom about that one," Oliver shot back. "Anyway, I'm on my way out, if you don't mind. Remember, I have a bald rat to catch."
"Clark, let's go. We can find her without this guy," Davis said. He turned to Clark. "Chloe has plenty of mutant friends. Let's go back to her office. I remember one of them could locate other people with metahuman powers, and if we can give that person a call, maybe we can just have them pinpoint Chloe for us."
"How would you know that?" Oliver asked, drawing closer to them with a drink in his hand.
"It's called Meteor Freaks Anonymous, Ollie," Davis replied flippantly. "It's a strictly "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" situation, and since you're pretty much a normie, I don't think anyone wants you to see the list. So sorry."
"If I wanted that list, I'd have it," Oliver snapped.
In response, Davis arched a brow and turned to leave the plane. Clark caught the look of rage on Oliver's face and moved between them.
"Relax. You don't even know the guy," Clark said, holding his hands up. "What difference does it make if he has attitude toward non-mutants?"
"I'm not interested in excuses for your new boyfriend, Clark. Why are you wasting time with him instead of hunting Lex down with me? He's dangerous, and he knows your secret. He has to be stopped-"
"I don't like where this is headed," Clark said in an even tone. He clapped his hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Oliver, you're my friend, and as your friend, I'm telling you to back off on this one. You don't have the perspective to handle Lex if you met him."
"Just because you're afraid to do what's necessary-"
"You sound like you're high," Clark replied bluntly. "You sound like you sounded when you were on that superpowered rage juice, and I don't like it. Are you taking?"
"What?" Oliver shook his head and pulled away. "I'm fine. You're the one hiding from everything. From Lex, from this situation with Chloe-"
"By finding her?"
"By pretending her powers aren't a problem! By acting like it's just fine that she has an alien in her head!"
"What is your problem?" Clark exploded. "Why is it that every time something alien comes up, you freak out? Lex was better about aliens than you are."
"Shut the hell up, Kent. Get out." Oliver spun around and dropped onto the sofa. He too a moody sip of his drink. "Well?"
"Fine." Clark moved to the doorway, then zipped out of the plane to Davis' apartment, and back, where he dropped a sleeping pill in Oliver's alcohol before returning to his original position.
Oliver wouldn't be doing any hunting today.
***
That night, Chloe felt two strong arms wrap around her. One adventurous hand cupped her breasts. She could have moved away, but she didn't. She didn't.
Instead she let her fingers slip through the silky blond hair that spilled onto the pillow they were sharing, and she closed her eyes, moving her face towards her strong protector.
The girl sits in a cold, dark room. He is there. Smirking. Smug. In control. He holds his hand up and watches the girl with the round cheeks and long, blond hair. Her eyes are the sea, uneven waves that come, go, advance, recede. Sweet soft green that demand answers, rebel, plead, submit.
Lately, they submit. This pleases him.
His presence seems to fill the room. The girl feels as though she can't breathe.
He is going to eat her mind.
"No!" Chloe shot up, frightened and flailing her arms as she struggled to free herself. Her hand hit something hard and it smarted, but she couldn't stop fighting.
"Oh, hey! Wait!" The strong arms tried to hold her still for a moment, but when she couldn't calm, they let her go, and Chloe bolted across the room, crossing her arms over herself and bursting into tears.
There was a profound silence for several moments before she heard Kara's voice whisper in the dark, "I'm sorry, Chloe."
"I don't think I can win this," Chloe said, wiping her cheek.
Kara stood slowly. "I'm sorry I scared you. Win what?"
"Anything. I…" Chloe lowered her head into her hand and closed her eyes.
"I am so far from perfect."
"Which is perfect for me," Chloe whispered, watching the lines of code float in front of her eyes as she cupped Jimmy's face and smiled beatifically.
Chloe shook her head as Kara rubbed her back gently. Blood was pounding in her ears.
"Chloe, there's something you need to know," Clark said in an uncomfortable voice. Chloe was changing out of the gray prisoner jumpsuit, but looked over her shoulder as he spoke again. "About Jimmy."
"He betrayed me," Chloe muttered in astonishment.
"Who?" Kara was behind her now, rubbing her back gently.
"Jimmy. He… He tried to turn me in to the Feds, and then he cut a deal with Lex Luthor that got me put in this horrible place…"
"Chloe-"
"No!" Chloe snapped her head around to look at Kara. "He… I can't believe I ever agreed to marry him. He betrayed me. He cheated on me. What possessed me?"
"Well." Kara swallowed and combed her fingers through Chloe's curling and sleep-mussed hair. "Brainiac."
Chloe closed her eyes as the image of a metallic tendril shot forward at her. "God."
"I know. I'm so-"
"Stop saying you're sorry. None of this is your fault." Chloe turned in Kara's arms and embraced her. Kara seemed surprised, but enveloped Chloe in her arms anyway. The smaller woman shook her head. "I wanted to save you, Kara. The last time I saw him, Brainiac had taken your place. I thought someone had slipped you some Red K, or something. And when I went to confront him…"
"He attacked you." Kara pulled back and cupped Chloe's cheek in her hand. "Clark said they got him out. He and Jor-El. Do you remember Jor-El?"
"I remember…"
Cold. Freezing. Kara wandered around in amazement and confusion like an unattended kindergartener.
"I love your son!" Chloe cried, projecting her voice as loudly as she could into the frozen fortress at an even colder AI.
"I remember Jor-El," Chloe replied tersely. "He didn't do a very good job. I think… Brainiac is still here. I was in danger of more than a bad marriage; I was in danger of losing my self completely, becoming the soulless doll to an unfeeling creature."
Kara's eyes grew wide, and she frowned, then looked behind her frantically. "Maybe… I don't know. Maybe we can use my crystal to get him out?"
"It didn't work before."
"Well, I didn't know why you couldn't remember before. If it's because of Brainiac…" Kara let her hand trail down Chloe's arm as she tried to think of a plan to save her.
Chloe shook her head. "He's waiting."
"Waiting? On what?" Kara stopped and focused her attention back on Chloe, who seemed much more stern now, much more serious than she had been.
"On me. To give up."
"Chloe, you can't. He'll destroy you!"
"No." Chloe crossed her arms and padded across the room they had been sharing. "I can't. Because he'll destroy a lot of people. I don't know what his plan is, and he probably has a back up copy somewhere, but I refused to be a monster even as a meteor freak, and I won't be a monster now."
She swallowed and looked out over the ocean view. Her fingers touched the glass.
"You need to kill me, Kara."
"No!" Kara exclaimed immediately. "I'm not going to let him win. You won't either."
Chloe let her forehead hit the glass. "Last time he won. And Clark and Jor-El hit the pause button on what was happening, but he won. He erased all of my memories, and replaced them with Kryptonian coding-"
"He was replicating himself."
"Well, he did replicate himself. Kara, he blocked me out. Jor-El shouldn't have kept my other memories from me, but I wouldn't have any at all if he hadn't intervened. Brainiac would be enacting whatever crazy plan of his by now."
Kara's hands covered Chloe's shoulders, and the girl frowned helplessly. She wanted to wrap Chloe up in a blanket and take her to a far away safe place, but all the places that she knew of were no more. There was just this little house here, and she didn't even really own it. Her lips pressed against the back of Chloe's neck slowly as Chloe let out a soft sob.
Neither of them knew what to do.
***
Clark had never called in a favor from his grandfather in his life, but when Tabby pressed her finger to the map on the screen and looked up knowingly with her wide, chocolate brown eyes, he seriously considered it.
"Are you sure?" Davis asked, sitting in the chair next to her.
"It's screaming out to me. Her powers must be working overtime." Tabby shook her head and pulled up the street map of the city. "Funny. Didn't she say in one of the sessions that her powers were broken?"
"I remember that," Davis replied, frowning deeply.
Clark watched him and thought, momentarily, that Davis' lips were almost naturally pouty, like Lex's were. He rubbed his forehead, wondering where that thought had come from. Davis had just admitted to sitting in on a session, and Chloe did not let anyone in on sessions who weren't 'special' themselves.
"What do you think, Kent? Not bad for a couple of useless guys," Davis joked. "Sometimes I wonder if I have any useable skills at all."
"Well, I can think of a use for you," Tabby replied.
Davis's head shook in a broad back and forth motion. "No legal use."
"Oh, come on. Pay one guy to demolish a building? That's efficiency that can't be beat!" Tabby laughed. She moved her slender fingers over the mouse and wrinkled her brow lightly. Then she nodded and pointed. "They're right here, right now."
Clark lifted his chin and drew closer. "That's right along the coast. What are they doing in Coast City?"
"Honeymoon?" Tabby suggested.
"She's marrying Jimmy, not Kara," Clark said in exasperation.
The woman shrugged and adjusted her purple shawl. "Well, if she changed her mind, Coast City wouldn't be a bad place to go."
"The question is: How are we going to get there before they move again?" Davis looked up at Clark as he spoke.
"Should you fly?" Tabby asked.
"Should I? Can I? We don't have time for a road trip," Davis said pointedly.
"No offense, but… Now that we've found her, maybe I can just go get her. She's my best friend." Clark pretended not to see the wounded look on Davis' face.
"That still doesn't solve the getting there problem," Davis sulked, looking back at the screen to avoid Clark's eyes.
The three of them turned their heads to the sound of heavy heels. "Well, I might have the solution to that," a stern woman's voice answered.
Clark raised his brow. Black Canary was in her full costume, fishnets, high-heeled boots and all, and she was swinging a set of keys from her hand.
"So which one of you drugged Green Arrow?" she asked with a smirk. "I hear Watchtower is in trouble."
"Oh, thank… whoever." Clark walked over to her. "I don't know if she's… My cousin kidnapped her, and her memory has been-"
"Shit. I know. Frankly, we need her more than we've had her-I can hardly check my email, let alone follow electronic paper trails-and we've been losing her bit-by-bit since she got back from Black Creek. It's like another person was there trying to live her life." Dinah sighed and clasped the keys in her hand. "I want to come. Will there be room?"
Davis stood and looked her over curiously. "I don't know this one."
Dinah returned the sweeping look and twisted her lips in appreciation. "Nice. I'm Black Canary. I spend a lot of time in Gotham. And you are?"
"Davis Bloom." He offered her his hand and shook it firmly.
Dinah sucked the inside of her cheek for a moment thoughtfully, then nodded. "You're coming?"
"I want to, but I don't know how useful I'll be."
"Can you fight?" She put her hand on her hip.
"Let's but it this way: You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Any other time…" Davis shrugged. "I can be a pretty cool guy."
Dinah let out a ringing laugh. "Are we bringing the fiancé?"
"I don't know," Clark said hesitantly. "I was thinking we'd call Lois and just go for it."
"Lois?" Dinah pursed her lips skeptically.
"Come on. She can whip kick," Clark argued. "Besides, she's basically all the family Chloe has, out side of a padded cell."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Bring the duct tape."
"Well, you guys have fun storming the castle," Tabby said, picking up her purse and heading for the door. "I have to fetch my little brother and sister from school. You let us know if Chloe's okay, alright?"
"Will do, Tabs." Davis waved his cell phone and looked at it. "Alright. So."
"Let's do this while Oliver's still passed out at his loft," Dinah said, tossing the keys up and then catching them once.