Title : Mirror Image
Author : Tariq ( formerly Aeris Jade Orion )
Rating : R
Pairing : Chloe/Clark
Timeline : Show end.
Summary : Faced with no future, Chloe travels
to an alternate universe.
Authors note: It's unbeta'd. At the moment I
have no beta reader for this genre. So drop me
a line if you're interested.
Second, due to health issues, and taking care
of my disabled mom, I haven't been able to
write much. But over the last several years
I've managed to slowly write on a number
of stories.
What I've decided to do is go ahead and
publish what I've managed to put together.
The stories are unfinished, and sometimes,
the last chapter I worked on is unfinished.
Plus, there maybe multiple chapters, each one a
different version. Just warning everyone.
So I apologize in advance.
Disclaimer : Not mine. All characters belong
to WB and DC.
00000
Prologue
00000
Chloe sipped the aged brandy from the back of
the wedding party. It was her fifth glass of
the night, and it was far from her last. She
watched Clark and Lois dancing together as
the happy newly wed's.
The rest of the party wasn't nearly as happy,
and she certainly didn't feel anything except
a numb grimness. Lana couldn't come within a
mile of Clark now because of the nanosuit she
wore. Worse, it was slowly killing her, a fact
Lana had told only Chloe about. The young woman
would be dead inside the year.
Pete Ross was seated next to her. The young man's
political career ruined before it could really
get started. All due to his keeping Clark's
secret. The FBI hadn't forgotten or forgiven
him.
She could see him tossing back glasses of whiskey
like they were water. A dark expression where
his normal cheerful face would be. Judge Ross
had confided in her about his new habit of drinking
but she hadn't known how bad it was.
Martha Kentdid not approve of Clark's new anti-humanity
views. Nor of the way he was going about the hero
business. Delibriately harming people, not caring
if innocents get injuried, the way he'd hurt Chloe
on a number of occasions.
Chloe drained the rest of her brandy grimly.
The two Kents hadn't talked since. Martha had
refused to come to the wedding, or have anything
else to do with Lois and Clark until he straightened
up.
As for the League...
She grabbed another brandy from a passing waiter,
and took a gulp.
Darkseid had done a job on them. They'd won but
the casualties...
Chloe was a widow for the second time, the sole
heir to the Queen fortune. Bart and Canary were
never going to be fighting the fight again. Their
injuries too extensive. Cyborg's mind was now
inside a computer, his body destroyed. Aquaman
was in a coma, and Emil had no hope of him coming
out of it.
Even Chloe hadn't come out unscathed. Emil had been
forced to reactivate her meteor powers in order
for her live. In addition, he'd had to perform
surgery, and add certain cybernetic implants
made of nanoprobes.
She slowly drained the brandy wishing she could
get drunk. But her healing powers wouldn't let
her. Sighing, she sat the glass down, and stared
back at Lois.
Lois Lane, now Kent.
There was a subject she really didn't want to
touch. Lois was her surrogate sister. She loved
the tall brunette. Really she did. There was
just one tiny little pesky habit Lois had.
If Chloe wanted something. Really, truly, loved,
and obessed over something. Then Lois ended up
having to have it.
Worse, she always got it.
Chloe didn't mind when Lois decided to stay in
Smallville. She didn't mind when Lois started
helping out with the Torch. But then suddenly
Lois was the writing frong page articles at
the Daily Planet, with Clark as her partner.
Finally, Clark and Lois were getting married.
Chloe...
Chloe was black listed by Lex and couldn't
get a job at any newspaper in the world. There
was no more League, and no more need for her
to play Watchtower. Oliver, her husband, was
dead. She was a meteor freak, again, and now
had enough nanoprobe implants to be considered
a computer in her own right.
" Did he even remember to invite you? " Pete
handed her a fresh brandy.
" No. " Chloe took the glass thankfully. " The
happy couple didn't invite me until this morning
after a last minute cancelilation. "
" Figures. " Pete murmured. " I don't like this
version of Clark. He had the gall to threaten
me. Said if I open my mouth about his secret
he'd give me a free ride to the sun. "
Chloe didn't blame Lois. Her cousin didn't realize
she did it, and Chloe never told her. She never
saw the point. Maybe when she heard the Kryptonian
marriage braclet had rejected Lois she should have
taken her cousin aside, but she knew Clark needed
someone.
Clark had driven everyone else away, and even though
Chloe tried to still be there for him, he refused
to let her. The only one he let close was Lois, so
she remained silent, and hoped somehow her cousin
would get through to him.
" It's my fault. " She let the entire glass of
brandy slip effortlessly down her throat. " The
mess with Doomsday did this. "
" It was his choice. " Pete darkly corrected, gulping
his own whiskey.
Clark had never handled grief well. She knew that,
boy did she. Unfornately, he hadn't come back from
this trip down the rabbit hole, and after tommorrow,
she wouldn't be here even if he did.
" Him and his damned guilt. " She reached for yet
another brandy.
" Here, here. " Pete tapped his glass to hers. " To
Clark Kent's inability to pull his head out of his
ass. "
" To Clark Kent's membership to the jackass
club. " She toasted.
" I'll drink to that. " Pete agreed.
Chloe considered her drink for a moment. " Pete,
I'm leaving. "
" 'Bout time. " Pete slumped back. " Let's face
it. Nothing is keeping you in Kansas. Lois and
Clark have ditched you. Your friends are all
dead, or elsewhere. Your only job is overseeing
Queen Industries. "
" Not Kansas. " She corrected tiredly. " This
reality. One of the scientist at Queen has
been working on a way to travel to different
universe's. "
" You're not serious. Why would you...? " Pete
sobered.
" For all the reason's you gave. " Chloe shrugged.
" There's nothing left for me here. Dad and mom
were killed in the attack by Darkseid. You're all
that's left. "
" Lana... " He started.
" ...is dying. " She finished. " All the arrangment's
have been made. Dr. Raye has pinpointed a universe
identical to this one with one difference. Dad and
me died when the safe house exploded. When I'm sent
through, I'll arrive shortly after that. "
" What about money? " He tried to argue.
" I've converted a sum over to unmarked gems. When
I get there I can sell them. " She answered easily.
" Your age? " He weakly asked.
" I don't age due to my healing ability. Plus, Emil
has developed a drug which will deage me to seventeen
before I leave. I'll age naturally until I turn twenty
one, and then stop again. " She brushed off.
" Damn it. " He cursed then perked up. " The other
Chloe's body? "
" I dig up the grave, and use a special compound
developed by Queen to destroy it. Rebury the grave,
and reappear. " She smiled. " I'm sorry Pete, but
I can't stay. "
" I get it. " He frowned. " I don't like it, but
I get it. Still, are you sure you want to put up
with the moron again? "
" I'm hoping to steer him on the straight and
narrow this time. "
She swirled the last of her brandy in the glass
and sighed. She hoped.
00000
" Are you sure about this, Chloe? " Emil hurriedly
questioned for the thousandth time.
She shot him a glance from her seventeen year old
body. A very unamused glance. She hated having
the hormones of a teenager. Again. Being questioned
on top of that... Yeah, right.
" Right. " Emil cleared his throat. " You have the
gems. Several hundred thousand dollars worth. The
lap top, and of course, your bag containing... "
She cocked her eyebrow at the mother hen. She liked
the guy, he was a good friend. A great friend, in
fact, but he was getting on her last nerve.
" We're all set. " He finally said. " Remember
you can't come back so if you have any doubts... "
" I don't. " She firmly told him.
She really didn't. This was the right thing to do.
The other world needed Watchtower. Not the place,
and not the person she became during Doomsday, or
even right after, but the person she really was.
The secret keeper. The guardian. Big brother.
Already she'd instructed the nanoprobes in her
body to fully upgrade her. To expand to cover
her entire body. It wasn't like Victor where
he was taken apart and mechanic's were inserted.
Instead the nanoprobes built over her bones. Melded
with her nerves, blood vessels, brain, and other
orgains.
Because of this the cybernetics were self-healing,
and easier to upgrade. She could interact with
technology much easier than Cyborg, too.
" Start it. " She ordered, shrugging on her backpack,
and picking up a medium sized metal suitcase.
The backpack contained her custom made and upgraded
laptop. It was very advanced, and her baby. All
the items she was taking with her was also in the
backpack. From the chemical to destroy the other
Chloe's body, to a fake updated Will for her dad.
The suitcase was nothing but gems.
A beam of blue energy shot out of the machine,
hitting the wall. A wide, steady opening appeared.
In it she could see an alley in Smallville, and
from the scene, it was nighttime.
" We have a lock. " Dr. Raye announced. " The
universe it identical to this one. However, you,
your father, and Lois Lane are dead. "
She froze at the last name. " Lois? "
" Yes. " The female doctor nodded. " It was the
only universe I could find within your criteria.
I'm sorry. "
She sighed softly. She didn't like the idea of
living in a reality without Lois, but it couldn't
be helped.
" Thank you Doctor. " She smiled.
She walked toward the portal, pausing right before
stepping though. She took a deep breath letting
the tension of the last few years leave her body,
and started forward.
" CHLOE! "
She glanced over her shoulder calmly as Clark pushed
his way into the room.
" Goodbye, Clark. " She simply said, and moved through
the portal into the alley. Behind her the portal closed
on Clark's cries, along with her dead end future.
Now it was time for her to try and help another Clark
where she'd falled the original.
11111
Chapter One
11111
" Being alive is supposed to be a good thing. "
Chloe snapped irratibly around her cup of third
rate coffee.
She had managed what she needed to do in a timely
manner. The gems were all sold, the money was all
safely stashed away in certain untraceable off-sea's
accounts. Her dad's fake Will was in the hands of
his attorney and had been authenticatied. This
realities Chloe had been dug up, and her body was
destroyed.
Now, a week later, she'd been sitting in the
Sheriff's office for six hours. It was two in
the morning. The only thing she'd had to eat was
stale donuts, and their coffee was the worst stuff
she'd ever had. Which was saying something, since
she'd once been forced to eat, yes eat, a cup of
coffee from a gas station in Whizzer, Texas.
' Ergh. ' She shuddered.
" And we're all glad you are. " The Sheriff
smiled. " Despite you being meteor infected. "
She eyed the woman suspiciously. There'd been no
getting around telling the police about her
healing abilities.
" Relax, Chloe, I don't see how you can go pyscho
with an ability to heal others, and yourself. "
The woman waved her hand. " I am sorry you were
buried though. "
" Don't remind me. " She shivered violently.
She'd been buried alive at least once, and woken
up in a morge draw several times. Neither were
memories she wanted to linger on.
" I've already sent Tom over to the Hospital to
warn them about your powers. " She reassured.
" He'll make sure they add this to your file so
this won't happen again. "
" Thanks. " She pulled her jacket tighter around
herself.
Suddenly thick arms hefted her out of her chair,
tightly hugging her. A familiar smell of hay, apples,
and summer filled her nose.
" Clark, you big lug, put me down! " She scolded
him half heartedly.
" You died! " He buried his face in her neck.
" I know! " She scoffed. " I ended up clawing my
way through solid oak, and up through eight feet
of tightly packed dirt. ACK! "
His arms on her tightened. Clearly he wasn't getting
the idea of the whole letting her down bit. This
was what happened when a guy touched pigskin.
Their brain cell's died.
" What...? " Martha blinked.
" How is this possible? " Johnathan turned to the
Sheriff.
" Chloe activated a meteor ability. " The Sheriff
smirked at the two teens. " She can heal others,
and herself. Even from death, as long as it's
within a certain length of time. Thankfully, her
ability is harmless, and hasn't made her unbalanced. "
" I said down, not harder. " She slapped his arm.
" I thought I lost you. " He whispered.
" You will, if you don't let me breath. " She
snarked.
Finally, he let her loose, but kept his left arm
draped over her shoulders.
" Honestly Kent. " She jabbed him in the ribs.
" I'm not going anyplace. "
-
To Be Continued