Eternal Wrath Volume 4: Escape
Chapter 1: The Man From Gotham City
'It's a miracle' – Tyler Randall, Season 1, Episode 17: "Reaper".
[GINGLE]: CNN, your source of information. Professional and Independent. CNN. Professional and INDEPENDENT!
[SCREEN SWITCHES TO JOURNALIST.] "Welcome on CNN, I'm Carrie Castle. Breaking News from the Pentagon: Oliver Queen and his partner, Chloe Sullivan have broken out of custody where they were being detained under suspicions of Domestic Terrorism."
[VISUAL CUE] Pictures of QUEEN, Oliver and SULLIVAN, Chloe shown on screen.
"Both of them are at large and considered to be violent and dangerous individuals. If you see them, do not try to intervene and contact the authorities as soon as possible. Their accomplices are still being interrogated by the FBI."
[SCREEN SWITCHES BACK TO JOURNALIST] "International: President Luthor has reaffirmed our military partnership with Saudi Arabia citing the necessity to ensure the stability of the Middle East in the future. The president is on a twelve-day trip in the region and is next awaited in Syria to discuss the Iranian civil war with Bachar Al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki."
[TAKES A BREATH] "Back at home: Yet again another shooting this morning in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A gay-support center was the target of a lone white individual who believes he acted in the name of Christ. Five dead, thirteen wounded..."
September 1st 2011. No more information.
Chloe stared at the ceiling, her eyes clouded over by the fog still clogging her mind. It took her a long moment to realize she was even awake. Her hands felt the blanket under her just as her eyes blinked and saw the gray paint of the low ceiling.
She yawned and sat up on the bed, taking in the sparse furniture of the bedroom and its baroque design. When she shook her head to clear up her thoughts, she realized she wasn't alone. "Ollie!" she rolled over her left to his asleep form on the bed.
His shirt had been taken off and his left arm was caught in a sling along with the bandages around his ribcage. He stirred under her strokes. "Shhh." she soothed. "It's okay."
"Chloe?" he opened his eyes slowly.
"I'm here."
Oliver breathed in, becoming more aware with each passing second. "Where are we?"
"I don't know. Last thing I remember is us being tortured by Lex."
He grunted at the memory and looked down at himself. Chloe followed his gaze. "God, Ollie... what did they do to you?"
His hand found hers, he squeezed her fingers gently. "I was in a car accident..." he recalled. "I was chained up and alone in this desert... ghost town. Then I passed out." his brow furrowed. "You were kidnapped."
She was cut off as the door opened, letting in an elderly man carrying a tray. He froze at their sight. "Oh. Oh, by Jove!" he spoke with a british accent. "You're awake. Just in time for breakfast. You must be hungry after such a long sleep." he put the tray on the nightstand at the bedside.
Oliver eyed the food in temptation as Chloe made a face. "Thanks, hm... how long have we been asleep?"
The butler gave her a warm smile and pushed the sleeve of his suit back on his wrist to peek at his watch. "Over nineteen hours, Miss Sullivan." he replied. "I'm Alfred Pennyworth." he added when he saw her open her mouth to ask a question. "There is a bathroom behind this door, I'm sure you will want to have a good shower before leaving this room and we have clothes for your size Mister Queen but none for you Miss Sullivan, unfortunately, but we do have bathrobes. We will have to make do with these until I can send someone out to buy you something."
Chloe nodded politely. "Thank you, hm, Alfred."
The man bowed and walked away, knowing when he was dismissed. "I will tell my master you are awake, he will no doubt, pay you a visit a few minutes." he finally said and closed the door after himself.
Oliver stared at the door. "Uh."
She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Don't touch the food."
His stomach growled, he sighed and she couldn't help her smile. "So, we have to get outta here but we have no idea what and who is on the other side of that door except for the enigmatic butler."
"And for course, no windows." she shook her head. "Would have been too easy. Hey isn't it a bit cold around here?" she asked when a shiver made her tremble.
"It's somewhat chilly, yeah." Oliver agreed and started to look around the room. "Let's see if we can find some weapon or something."
The door opened again and another voice surprised them. "I'll take into consideration the fact that you've just been captured by the government but, for your information... it's frowned upon to try to use a weapon on your guest." The man walked forward, his dark cape flowing after him. "At least it is on the east coast."
Chloe's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Bruce?"
"What. The. Hell." Oliver had the same reaction. "Wayne, what's this you're wearing? You look like the-"
"The Batman." Chloe supplied.
Bruce smirked. "It seems I did a better job than you at keeping my identity a secret."
"Meh," Oliver grumbled. "You didn't have Lex Luthor to go up against."
Chloe circled the bed, ignoring the men's bickering as she examined Bruce's suit. Her hands poked at the material and she looked deep in thought. "It's strong and modular. Kevlar. Isn't that Queen Industries' exo-skeleton?"
"Indeed it is."
"Hey wasn't the Batman supposed to have disappeared eight years ago?"
By the door Alfred joined the conversation, his calm and charming wit hiding a jab at his master. "Oh he did retire back then, he just decided he missed the thrill of the adrenaline..."
Bruce sent him a glance. Chloe and Oliver understood all was not well between the two men on that matter. She cleared her throat. "So, how did you find out where we were? Where are we by the way? Because I don't want to break the mood or anything but we're likely to be wanted fugitives now. Do you think the Watchtower's still safe? Maybe we could -"
"Breathe, Chloe, breathe." Oliver teased.
Bruce gaped at her, his mind still whirling from her questions. "You've lost me."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "How did you know Lex arrested us?"
"Why don't you come with me? I'll show you." Bruce proposed. "Alfred, could you call Dr. Hamilton down? I'm sure he'd like to take a look at your arm, Oliver."
"Wait, Emil is here?"
"I brought him with us when I realized you would need more care than I could give you." Bruce explained to the other man. "Also, I wasn't certain if he could be safe alone considering Luthor is either imprisoning or monitoring everyone you know."
"All the more reasons not to lose any time." Chloe declared, grabbing Oliver's hand. "Let's go."
"You might want to cover yourselves a little more." Bruce warned them. "This place is not exactly heat-efficient."
Oliver raised an eyebrow. "And this place... is?"
Their host led them outside their room into a huge rock concave where darkness and advanced technology met and wove. The blond couple stared at the natural cave, their jaws on the ground.
"Woah!"
Bruce sported a proud smile. "This is the Batcave as Alfred likes to call it. We're right under my mansion."
"This is amazing!" Chloe breathed, her admiration displeasing her partner.
"Meh, it's just a cave." Oliver grumbled, earning himself a glare. "But it's cool... kind of..."
"I would say the next time we have to meet you don't have to hurt yourself, but that would be a waste of time, now would it?" Emil asked as he wrapped Oliver's arm in gauze.
The blond grimaced, shifting a little on the operating table he sat on. "Believe me when I say there's nothing personal in the fact that I'm never looking forward to meeting up with you again, Emil. Lovely chap as you are."
His joke stole a laugh out of Chloe. She shook her head and left them for the computer bank a few yards ahead. The doctor, himself, merely broke out a smile. "If I knew signing up for this implicit partnership would have gotten me kidnapped by a cape-clad phantom in the middle of MetGen..."
"To be fair, I hardly had any other choice than-"
Emil looked over to Bruce, his eyebrows raised to make a point. "Was it really necessary to scare me half to death, Mr Wayne?"
The batman went silent for an instant. "Theatrics are a powerful weapon."
His words drew everyone's gazes to him. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I suppose you are right." Emil's unimpressed tone concluded. He slapped the gloves off his hands and pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "No strenuous activity for at least three weeks, you'll have some painkillers for a few days. And Oliver? Next time, a phone call will suffice."
"Always a pleasure, Emil." The blond grinned.
The doctor gathered his belongings and started for the exit. "Keep a close eye on him, Chloe." he said as goodbye.
"Have a safe trip home." she replied.
He went up to Alfred's level, sent one last glance to Bruce before addressing him. "Is there a more civilized way to leave this place than having to crawl through hand-carved galleries?"
"Certainly, follow me, sir." Alfred led him towards a lift. "Can I interest you in a drink, Dr Hamilton? Metropolis is a long way back."
As the men's voices faded away, Oliver hopped onto his feet and approached Chloe. Back on the large screen facing them, information was being fetched, analyzed and sorted. Faces appeared and disappeared in a flash, having him blink.
"Found anything?"
Chloe's eyes never left the screen. "No. Or rather, yeah but it's not what we wanted."
That drew Bruce closer. "What is it?" he asked, intrigued.
"It's... all the people reported missing to the police who never made it to the FBI's database." she explained, turning towards them. "48 hours after being reported missing, if the person's not found she's added to the National Crime Information Center's Missing Person file, which is basically under the FBI's governance. The thing is: these people?" she pointed at the screen. "They been missing for weeks and their names are nowhere to be found. So either the police never reported them or..."
"Or someone in the FBI deleted their entries in the database." Bruce concluded. "I'm a little familiar with the police's procedures, I can tell you such a thing is automated."
"Great so I'm going to go out a limb here and say this is somehow linked to Lex's new pet project." Oliver said. "Doesn't look good."
Chloe shook her head. "At all. We are talking about thousands of people, Ollie. Thousands! This is beyond what we've seen in the past with Lex. He's gone on an industrial scale."
A shiver went through her and Oliver's healthy arm wrapped around her waist while Bruce looked deep in thought. "What about your friends? Any leads?"
"They're a special case." Chloe replied. "Officially they're in Rikers Island awaiting trial for charges of terrorism or whatever crap Lex will come up with. Now from what I've seen, there has been no new prisoner in Rikers for a week."
Oliver sighed. "Figures, it all ties up with what Tess said."
"Yeah but since we lost the file when we were arrested..."
"So what are we gonna do?"
Chloe pursed her lips and started to pace in front of the men's eyes. She wrung her hands together and Oliver could almost see her brain working out an idea, a smirk almost pulled at his lips before she exploded and came back triumphant towards them.
"I know!" she exclaimed, turning towards her partner. "Remember what Tess said about Lex's hidden activities? That it was a strict collaboration between the government and the army. The FBI and CIA are kept on a need-to-know basis."
"Yeah, I remember." he said. "Lex's not willing to take any chances."
Chloe grinned. "That might work at our advantage. Who better to find out what he's up to than a four-star US General?"
"You're thinking..."
"Uncle Sam, Lois's father." she clarified. "He's the only one who can find that piece of information."
"Okay but we've gotta be careful there..."
"Don't worry, he's got years of experience."
"I'm not worried about him, Chloe, it's Lois." Oliver said. "She's going to be ecstatic when she hears from you and we both know how impulsive she is when she's like that. I don't want anyone to overhear what we're going to tell her."
Chloe looked up at him, doing her best impression of her puppy eyes. "I'll ease her into it. It can work, you know it."
He sighed. "Okay."
"Yes!" she grinned and kissed him.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but," Bruce interrupted them as he typed away at the keyboard. "You might want to be extra-careful with your future communications with the outside world."
"What?"
"Look up." The older man said.
On the monitor, the FBI's most wanted list pulled up two names at the very top: Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan.