Then Again
Summary: Has Chloe's curiosity
finally gotten her into a mess she can't get out of?
A/N: I must be as insane as my family, friends and those pesky, know-all
shrinks tell me I am, since I'm starting this when I have yet to finish my
other fanfic, but it was just physically impossible to turn my back on this.
Whatever I did, the idea for this fic just wouldn't leave me alone, and all the
possibilities it brought with it were just too good to pass up...
Disclaimer: I am far too unimaginative to do anything other than borrow other
people's characters. In other words, I own nothing in this story besides all
peeps you don't recognize. Which would mean that I am imaginative enough to
write without borrowing other people's characters. Maybe what I need are other
people's established plotlines . . . Author wanders off after successfully
confusing herself
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PART 1: UNOFFICIAL BUSINESS
´I'm in! I'm in! I can't believe I got in! I must be the luckiest armature
inbreaker in the history of lucky amateur inbreakers! Of course... it's not
like I needed luck. Of course not. I could've broken in if the window wasn't
already open. Easily. I mean, it's not like I'm a rookie or something. I've had
experience with- guards! Hide! Flee! Scream! Call 911! No wait! Don't! I´M the
bad guy here. Bad girl, actually. Very bad girl. Very naughty girl. I need to
be punished. Preferably with whip cream. And chocolate cake. Definitely
chocolate cake. My, aren't we kinky today. But back to the point... What was it
again? Oh yes, guar- shit!´
Diving under the desk that rested in the middle of the room she'd broken into,
the blonde heard the door creaking open, accompanied by the sounds of two men
chatting to each other amiably as they made their nightly tour around the
building. What they were saying? The lone girl didn't know, nor did she care.
All she cared about was getting her racing heart under control, in fright that
the other figures would be able to hear it doing somersaults in her chest.
The expected thudding of footsteps leading into the room never came as the door
was closed again, the guards not even pretending to check it out and just
continuing on down the hall.
That was it? That was what she'd been dreading ever since she came up with the
brilliant idea of snooping around the new Luthorcorp building in Ashtonville, a
small deserted town ever farther from Metropolis than her own leafy little
hamlet. She'd been afraid of getting caught by those idiots? Pff! Ridiculous.
If she didn't know any better, she'd actually say she was disappointed. Not
much of a challen-
"Ouch!" Her hands flew to her head as she bumped it into the top of
the desk while trying to get out from under it. ´Smart move, you cluts!
That's gonna leave a bump.´
While she was tending to her hurting head, she almost failed to notice that the
talking in the hallway had seized. Almost.
"What was that?" Kevin asked his partner, straining to hear
something. Dom just shrugged and gave him a ´How the hell am I supposed to
know´-look. Retracing their earlier steps, they again opened the door behind
which they'd heard the noise. Slowly, the guns their employer provided them
with were drawn and they carefully entered, eyes sweeping over the furniture.
Nothing.
After a beat, Kevin lowered his weapon and gave an irritated sigh as he strode
across the room, over to the open window. "The wind must've knocked
something over," he said, closing it and shaking his head as he retreated
down the hallway for the second time, Dom in tow. "I need to cut back on
the caffeine."
The girl's body slumped on the floor, allowing herself to breath again after
having every muscle in her body on Defcon One. ´I can just stay here,´
she thought. ´Just stay where I am and do nothing. And tomorrow morning,
they'll find me rotting away on the floor, half-eaten by rats and other
human-eating creatures, marinating in my own fluids. I can already see the
headlines. Another mutilated teen found in Luthor building, carrying new
disease developed by Luthorcorp scientists and infected through bites by
million filthy, stinky, big-eyes rats. Kinda long, but give me a break! It's
almost 1 am and I'm trying my best to act like a professional while I commit
myself to highly illegal activities, which could most likely land me in jail as
someone's bitch, or get ´lost´ by the hands of Lionel Luthor himself.´
With that in mind, she picked herself up and brushed the dirt off the low-cut,
black jeans that she'd thrown on especially for the occasion. Why? Well, if she
were to get caught, she could at least die knowing her ass looked damn good in
those jeans.
Straightening her bright red beanie, she plastered a determined look on her
face before stalking into the hallway, guards long gone. ´Now to seek the
truth! ...and some confidential files that'll make a great Torch front-page!´
Little did she know, that on the other side of that exact same building,
another person had his mind on the same thing. Well... kinda.
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His eyes never left the moving body on the screen in front of him, following
her every move. The rational side of him cursed her for being so foolish, yet
his other half felt almost amused at the girl's courage. Still, it remained the
dumbest thing he'd ever seen her do, scoring just a few points below ´going to
alien parasite cave and pining away after town's hero´.
She had to be grateful to her friends for snitching on her. That was, after
all, what lead him to following her, making sure to turn off the alarm of that
one window and that there was currently no one watching the security monitors.
He'd taken care of it all, knowing he wouldn't have been able to talk her into
not going, but at least doing something to help her. He was the son of the head
of Luthorcorp, and thus, was able to gain access to the facility, just by
stating his name. Although they found it odd for him to visit at the early
morning hours, they didn't question it. The people here had yet to be informed
of the bond between father and son (or rather, lack of), and how their boss
would most likely fire them if he found out they'd let the junior Luthor pass.
Attention drawn to the screen again, he frowned slightly as he watched her
check room after room, moving with in purposeful strides. It shouldn't surprise
him that she was so set on discovering... something, but that totally devoted
and determined look on her face still managed to catch him off guard from time
to time. She had a passion and a goal and made it her life to pursue both.
Unlike himself. He had had little choice in choosing a career, since he had not
been given many options. Or to be precise, only one. Follow in father's
footsteps. And even in that, he did not succeed. With everything in his power,
he tried to get out from his father's shadow. Be greater in business than
Lionel ever was.
Oh, how proud daddy dear must be.
Getting up from the chair he'd been occupying, he spared the monitor one last
glance before exiting the security room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
´Twenty-two files down, a sixty more to go. I should've taken that fast
reading course Clark followed, because that guyed be on file fifty right about
now. Now that I think about it, why didn't I just bring him along? Ah yes, he
was too big of a wuss. ´You can't break in, Chloe, that's against the law.
What if you get caught and you won't be able to listen to me droning on and on
about Lana's beautiful hair and new pink sweater anymore. Who's supposed to
help Lana decide what she's going to wear? It's really tough to choose between
the light pink top, which accentuates her lack of personality and brains, or
the more vibrant, lively pink top that is usually only worn on special
occasions such as the milking of Bessie, my favorite cow.´ Okay, I may have
altered the last part a little itsy bit, but that's what it sounded like.´
Giving up on finding anything in that particular office, Chloe threw down the
files and continued to wander aimlessly through the building, not having to
worry about the guards, since they only made hourly shifts.
´LAB. Well, that interesting. Let's take a look.´
Opening the large door (which was cluttered with all kinds of warning), Chloe
peeked inside and was surprised to see state of the art machinery covering
every inch of the huge chamber. This was too high-tech for an ordinary
Luthorcorp facility, and she immediately got a bad feeling. It just didn't make
sense. Why would they pin this place as an ordinary facility, when it was
obviously working on something with great importance. The money it would take
to fund something like this proved that it was certainly not something that
could be overlooked.
Walking over to one wall, she fingered some of the equipment positioned there
and tried to discern what it could be for. Looked like some sort of
coordination device, but who was she to judge? It wasn't like she ever paid any
attention in class.
"Unofficial."
It came to her all of the sudden and she felt like she'd been hit by a truck.
Or actually, more like one of those expensive sport cars Lex drove. She'd just
discovered a Luthorcorp cover-up for illegal research! This was huge! This was
Daily Planet front-page news! This was going to land her spot in the
journalism, and she'd be known as the first reporter that exposed Luthorcorp´s
dirty business.
Chloe felt like squealing in delight, but... she didn't. She had to take
pictures. Lots of pictures. And find out what the use of all this was. Cloning.
New drug. Biological weapons. Everything was possible, even....
The girl's whole demeanor changed as her eyes picked up on something. On the
other side of the lab, behind a large glass pane, she could see an
all-familiar, green glow. Meteor rocks. They were working with meteor rocks.
"Miss Sullivan."
Chloe practically jumped out of her skin as she heard a voice from behind her.
She whirled around so fast, she almost tripped over her own feet.
"Fuck!"
TBC
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The other fandom will be revealed in the upcoming chapters, but in the
meantime, I'll just have you guys guessing. That is, if you want me to continue
this......