Chapter: Number 11 - Chapter 11 Author:Erika1123 Fandom: Television / Smallville Copyright:@Eblake1123 Content Rating:PG
Disclaimer:
I own nothing all characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. I am not profiting from this in any way.
Author's Note:
Story Parameters: Action, Romance, Angst, Drama. This story is a sequel. Rating: PG-13 Previous Stories: REDLUST SUPERMAN: DESTINY EMBRACED
Summary:
Summary: Clark Kent has reset time by embracing an alternate universe where he did not save Lana in RECKONING in order to restore balance to the world after Lex Luthor let loose a nuclear weapon that destroyed a large chunk of California and was indirectly responsible for the death of Clark's closest friends including the love of his life, Lois Lane. The Ripple Effects from Clark’s adjusting time will unleash a new enemy upon Metropolis and Earth that Clark Kent is ill-prepared to face…will this reality bring forth a fate worse than the one that he erased?
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Superman: Fractured Reality - Chapter 11 by Erika1123
Page 1
Chloe tried, unsuccessfully, to ignore the throbbing pain that radiated from the center of her forehead. As the freight elevator bumped along towards the top floor of the building, her heart hammered in her chest. It had been a long time since Chloe had been in a position where she had been face to face with anyone of any real importance having been shuttled into geek central on the paper. Finally the elevator stopped and the door creaked open. Tentatively she stepped into the spacious loft apartment and visually soaked in the modern furniture, peppered with brightly colored accents.
“I’m not going to say it again,” a disembodied voice rumbled. “Just fix the problem alright?” She heard a grunt rise from the center of the room and a blond head poked itself up from laying down on a couch.
Clearing her throat, Chloe studied the tall man, Oliver Queen was even more handsome than the pictures that she constantly saw of him plastered all over the business and social sections of The Daily Planet. Oliver Queen rubbed his goatee and smiled at her. “Sorry, I hate talking to company lawyers.” He put the phone down and walked towards her. Pumping her hand, he said, “Oliver Queen and you must be Chloe Sullivan.”
“Yes. I’m not too early am I?”
He smiled. “Right on time.” With a slight spring to his step, Oliver walked over to his bar, filled two glasses with ice and opened a bottle of mineral water that he poured into both glasses. He handed one to Chloe without her asking and ushered them over to his couches. He peered at her over the top of his glass and his eyes fell upon the lump on her forehead. “I’d hate to see the other guy.”
Chloe let out a small self-conscious sigh. “Accident prone.”
Leaning back, Oliver said, “So Clark tells me that you’re good with computers.”
“Yeah, I know my way around them,” she agreed but paused on extrapolating further, uncertain of how much she wanted to incriminate herself.
Oliver sensed that she was hiding something. He leaned forward and stated, “He said that you were arrested for hacking.” When he saw the panic rise into her eyes he put his hand up. “Don’t worry, frankly I find that to be an asset rather than a deal breaker.” His deep brown eyes penetrated in her direction. “I’ve assembled a team of highly skilled individuals who often go on sensitive projects where they could use someone to watch over their activities and help them from afar. From what Clark said about your skills, I think that you might make a good fit for that role.”
Intrigued, Chloe asked, “What would the role entail?”
“Monitoring their safety mostly. You’d need to be able to hack into security feeds and gain access to oftentimes high level secured servers and be able to assist them by shutting off security fields and such. Be able to break into security cameras to help the team navigate safely out of ops without detection…that sort of thing.”
Her eyes went wide. “You actually want me to utilize the skills that I went to prison for?” She exhaled deeply and stared at the floor, her mind spinning.
Oliver's eyes narrowed. “Clark did tell you that this was the job right?”
“He ah, didn’t really give me specifics. I’m surprised that he would approve of this sort of a thing for me,” Chloe muttered.
“Yeah, he does seem to be kind of a boy scout,” Oliver stated. “Look if you’re not interested, I get it. All of us risk a lot doing what we do. What I can tell you is that I’ll have your back. My team, they’re exceptional at getting out of sticky situations and if you’re as good as Clark seems to think, I’m sure that you can cover your tracks to protect yourself. I’ll be able to help you out with that. I’ve got access to the most advanced satellite networks on the planet. It would take a genius hacker to be able to track down the cyber footprints that my organization leaves behind. These guys by the way are all Clark’s friends.”
Chloe tapped her fingernails against her glass, her brows furrowed in deep concentration.
“We can start you off with just some research if you’d prefer and see how you like it.” He stood up and gruffly added, “Although I have to confess that at the moment I’m not quite sure why Clark referred you to me. We need someone with confidence and that seems to be sorely lacking from you.”
Her eyes burned with annoyance. “Have you ever spent time in prison Mr. Queen?” She rose to her feet and glared at him. “No privacy for anything…ANYTHING. Even in a women’s prison you’re always completely aware of your surroundings and not pissing off the wrong people.” Oliver sensed that strength in Chloe coming forward that he had hoped was hiding in there. “So what did you do to assure your safety?”
“I made connections with the right people who could protect me and worked trades to make sure that I got put onto the safest job duties.”
He crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Sounds like you’ve got some good negotiating skills.”
Chloe realized what he was doing. “I suppose. I kept my nose clean because I wanted out of there. I don't ever want to go back.”
“Clark didn’t tell you anything, did he?”
She slowly shook her head. Her eyes narrowed on his lower face then and studied his jaw. These guys by the way are all Clark’s friends. Those words rattled in her brain. A connection popped in her mind. “You’re The Green Arrow, aren’t you?” Chills of excitement raced through her body.
A broad full grin spread over Oliver’s face. “Now that’s the kind of analytical mind that I’m looking for on my team.” He reached into his pocket and extracted a set of keys and pointed out the window. “See the old Woolsworth building over there and it’s clock tower?”
“Yes.”
“Head over there, take a look around and let me know if you see anything there that interests you.” He chucked her a cell phone. “Call me on that if you have any questions.”
Chloe stared at him stunned. “You’re hiring me?”
“Well you haven’t exactly said yes, so let’s just say that I’m giving you a test drive if you’d like. If you feel that what’s there will meet your needs and skills and help to keep you under the police's radar, maybe we can work together.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
Oliver’s dark eyes penetrated into her confused blue orbs. “Clark trusts you, believe me, that’s enough for me.” He smirked. “I’m not exactly going to argue with a guy who can shoot fire from his eyes, you know?”
Chloe grinned, tossed the keys and caught them. “I’ll give you a call later.”
“Just not in the evening. I have somewhere, non-League related to be.”
“Alright,” Chloe said turning to leave. “Oh and Mr. Queen? Thank you for giving me a chance. Not very many billionaires would even consider hiring a former con.”
“Chloe, my team is all about second chances.” They shared a small smile and Chloe darted to the elevator. As she punched the down button her belly continued to perform back flips, but this time instead of being caused by nerves – they were from excitement.
*****************************
Lois broke free of her dreamy non-productive gazing out her office window as she ceased watching the sun crawl towards the horizon. She and Clark had submitted their story a half an hour ago and were waiting on Perry’s verdict on it. The story, she felt, was balanced but lacked that big punch to make it past the front page’s top fold. Although Olsen's handsome photos of Superman in the thick of the near riot likely would give them a top page spot.
Her hazel eyes turned towards her partner. Clark was uncomfortably hunched over pouring over pages of tiny text on his computer screen. She remembered when they lived together at the Kent Farm when he was in High School and that Clark could throw perfect full field passes to his team mates on the Crow’s football team, now his eyes were so bad that he had to sit mere inches away from his computer monitor. She had always thought of him as a geek as a kid because he had been a stereotypical farmer teenager: sweet, hard working, and a poster boy for flannels and work boots. Her lip curled up slightly, although she used to rag on him about his appearance, there was always something comforting about his down to earth attire. As her eyes sized up his pin-stripe dress shirt and red silk tie that was still perfectly knotted at his neck, Lois admitted that he had grown up nicely. The glasses still reminded her of that geek kid who she used to terrorize with her “White Snake” marathons at three in the morning.
Instinctively she walked behind him and placed her hands on either side of his neck. For the briefest moment she felt his muscles tense up at the unexpected contact. She smiled and began moving her thumbs in circles at the base of the back of his neck. Lois felt Clark melt back into her touch and a small sigh escaped his lips as her thumbs worked deeper into his skin.
“What’s so attention captivating that you’re burning your retinas out reading that tiny print?” Lois asked. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull, the font must've been set to 6. “God Smallville, it's no wonder that you're as blind as a bat.” She shifted her head to peer around his left shoulder and shoved her arms forward to his keyboard, with his extreme size, she had to stand on her tip toes behind him. “Look, I’ve got a trick to show you.” She pressed down on the control button with her left hand and then scrolled upwards with his mouse’s wheel.
Clark made a very unmanly audible squeak as he watched the text grow larger. His large hands moved to cover Lois’s. “Show me how you did that.” She manipulated his large meathooks and puppeted his hands into repeating the steps. Lois flashed a lopsided grin as she realized that Clark was completely impressed.
She giggled, slowly moved her hands up his arms to his head, and ruffled his hair. “Still the same, Clark Kent.”
Clark spun in his chair, his knees crashed into hers and she lost her balance. Swiftly Clark snatched her and placed his beautiful brunette partner into his lap. Still smiling, he asked, “You hungry? Want to go grab something?”
Lois stared at him with a slightly scandalized expression at his audacity and forwardness. She knew that she should jump out of his lap, but for some reason, it felt…right being there. “You are something else…bumbling rookie one moment and charming Charlie the next.”
“I live to keep people guessing,” Clark offered back. His smile dropped as their office door crashed open. Lois bolted out of Clark’s lap, eyes wide and cheeks hot with guilt as Perry filled their doorway. Clark looked on slightly sheepish, like a dog that just got caught chasing chickens; he was sorry to get caught, but not sorry about having fun.
Perry arched a brow at them. “Celebrating a good day of reporting? Well it’s not over yet, Lane and Kent. The Senator just arrived in town and is holding a fundraiser black tie event – I want both of you there to cover it.”
“Lex Luthor is in town?” Clark asked, suddenly all business. His eyes flickering to the bills that he had been critically examining that Lex had voted into law.
“Yes. Try to find out what’s hot in Washington right now, will you? We could use some good DC news for the paper,” White insisted. He tossed a press bundle at Lois.
“How about our article?”
“The chemical plant piece? Nicely balanced – not sexy but I think that after running that piece we should see fewer near riots over there. Olsen's photos helped get you guys over the fold on that one. You’re still digging for some follow-up dirt on it though aren’t you?”
“Yes, Chief,” Clark agreed.
Lois backed up Clark. “Clark sensed that something squirrely might be going on over there. We’re working a few other angles.” Clark resisted the pull of his right lip at the way that Lois jumped in and supported him when both of them knew that the story was essentially dead.
“Good to hear! Let me know how that party went…remember find out what they’re doing with our tax dollars!” Perry then exited the office leaving Lois and Clark alone.
“I guess rain check on that dinner invite?” Clark asked standing up. “Want me to pick you up? I’m sure that parking will be limited around the Plaza.”
“Sure,” Lois said, her eyes traveled up Clark’s tall frame. “Do you have a tux?”
He pulled on his jacked, grabbed Lois’s and helped her into it. “Affirmative.”
“We want to get there just when the event begins so that we can see who all arrive and make a list of them to decide who are the most important people to talk to and who not to waste your time on.”
Clark examined the party invite that Perry had provided along with the press passes. “I wonder what Lex is up to? Why would he bother coming back to Metropolis right now? It's not like elections are even this year.”
The pair headed towards the elevator and Lois shrugged. “Who knows why Senator Cue-ball does what he does”
“Maybe he's about to pass a bill that'll make him unpopular with the voters back home and he's trying to do a peremptory strike on public opinion and is going to make some big charitable donation or something to try to distract people.”
Lois laughed, pounded the elevator button and crossed her arms over her chest. “Wow, old grudges never die with you, do they?”
A look of deep concern crossed Clark's face. “He's not to be trusted, Lois. I've known Lex for a long time he never does anything without having some alterior motive backing up his actions.”
The doors chimed open and they waited for the car to empty before climbing in. Lois smiled. “I'd forgotten about that.”
“About what?” Clark asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
“You Kent men – you expect a lot out of people, lord help those who do not live up to your code of ethics.”
Clark grinned. “We believe in justice and common sense and decency. I don't see that there's anything wrong with expecting people to live by a moral code.”
She arched a brow at him. “People are flawed though, we make mistakes.” Her hazel eyes peered deeply into his own. “I want you to go to this party with an open mind Clark. It's possible that Lex learned from his mistakes and that he's a changed man.”
Impressed, Clark was slightly taken aback. “Isn't that usually my line?”
“Yep, usually it is,” Lois lobbed back. “Good thing that you have me around to help to keep your mind straight, right Smallville?”
He leaned towards her and in a husky voice barbed, “That is a good thing because being around you again, makes me imbalanced.”
The doors opened and they headed towards the garage. Chuckling at Clark's bumbling flirting, Lois beeped her door open and Clark waited until she was safely inside. He peered through her door and said, “I promise to be on my best behavior, Lois.”
“Good,” she said, with a grin. “Because these things can get pretty dry and dull fast which makes that liquor go down even faster. I can't make that same promise.”
“In that case, I'll pick you up. Seven?”
She grinned. “Sounds good, Smallville.” Clark closed her door and watched as she pulled her car out and exited the garage.
With a smile on his face, Clark activated his superhearing. He stared at his watch, he had an hour to kill before he needed to get ready for the evening. Zeroing in on a young girl's cry, in superspeed, he changed and blasted off across the city.
