Best of Friends
"Who was that! You are hiding something! You are betraying me too!" Davis rants as his skin ripples with the first signs of his transformation into Doomsday.
"Calm down, Davis." Chloe admonishes him as she holds his shoulders ignoring the creepy feeling of his muscles and bones rearranging themselves under her fingers. "There is something I have been hiding but that is only because I didn't want you to worry. You see I died a while back and only came back because of the Kryptonite in my system. That Kryptonite is almost gone and my doctor, who I was just talking to, thinks that if I don't get more I will die again." she explains as if to a child.
"You need it, I will get it for you." he says in more of grunt as the transformation is still occurring.
"I know you will take care of me." she replies huskily as she leans in and kisses his changing features. He closes his eyes as he savors her kiss so he never sees the disgust in her eyes.
Later at one of Lex's monster labs, Chloe follows a transformed Davis as he pounds his way through the defenses, walls, and guards to get to the Kryptonite vault. If they worked for someone other than Lex, she might care about the people dying around her but, after glancing into some of the experiment rooms, she is certain everyone here deserves what they are getting. Davis reaches the vault and rips the massive door off its hinges.
"Good." Chloe praises him as she rubs her hand over his scaly arm. She saunters past him and enters the vault. The glow of meteor rock is all around her. Lex must have ½ a ton stashed in this vault. She hopes it will be enough. "Keep everyone away. I need a few minutes to absorb the Kryptonite." she instructs Davis as Doomsday.
He grunts a reply and turns to finish off anyone still alive in the complex.
Chloe sits on the floor and closes her eyes. She breathes deeply entering the trance she learned. In this state, she can sense the Kryptonite in her calling to the Kryptonite surrounding her. She focuses and calls the green energy of the rocks to her. A few moments later, she opens her eyes, stands and leaves in search of Davis. She leaves a room full of now ordinary rocks in her wake.
Davis is punching in the skull of a guard too stupid to have run when she finds him. The guard's brains drip from the spikes on Davis' knuckles. He senses her as soon as she enters the room and turns his head towards her. He has always been able to sense her. "You better?" he grunts.
Chloe notices a guard still alive but badly injured lying near her feet. She kneels down to him and gently, almost lovingly, caresses his cheek with her hand. She feels some guilt for what she is about to do but she consoles herself with the fact he will be dead soon enough anyway. Besides, she needs to know if this will work before she tries it on Davis. She summons her power and is pleased to see the life drain from the guard and into her. "Much" she replies to Davis as she stands up again.
What passes for a smile forms on his face. She stalks up to him allowing him to wrap her in his powerful arms. She can feel his strength barely contained by this form. His power radiates from him. She places her hands on his cheeks and pulls his face to hers for one last kiss.
"Are you certain it is Davis?" Clark asks Oliver over the phone.
"I am standing right next to him Clark. Its Davis and he is dead." Oliver replies as he stands over the husk of Davis. It looks like nothing like the killing machine Oliver has been hunting and more like a dried up raisin. "Sirens, got to go. Meet me at my apartment." he tells Clark before hanging up. He does not know what managed to kill Davis/Doomsday but he is grateful. He just hopes Chloe is ok. He hopes she ran when Davis encountered whatever Lex had dreamed up in this lab.
That guard made her skin tingle slightly but Doomsday. Oh so much power. Chloe is giddy with all his power flowing through her. She will have to send Dr. Chen a thank you fruit basket or something as he was right about the large dose of Kryptonite boosting her power a hundred times. All this power makes things so clear to her. She knows what she needs to do to make Clark truly happy. It is all so simple.
Lois is sneaking a butt late at night on the Planet's roof when she hears the door behind her open and close. "Look Smallville, I am not in the mood for another lecture on the dangers of smoking." she says as she turns expecting Clark to be there. She is surprised to see Chloe. Her cousin looks different and a little drunk. "Are you ok Chloe?" she asks genuinely concerned for her while wondering what Smallville did this time.
"I am good, Lois. Never felt so alive. It is wonderful." Chloe babbles in a voice which implies she is very drunk.
"What did Smallville do this time?" Lois asks.
"Nothing. Clark is doing nothing but that's the problem. He can do so much and you are the key. I can't believe I never saw it before. All it will take for Clark to be happy is you. He will spend the rest of his life following you around." Chloe babbles.
Inside, Lois is ecstatic at the thought of Clark spending the rest of his life with her but she will never admit it. "Clark and I aren't a couple. Never have been, never will be." Lois tells Chloe not sure where this conversation is going. She thought Chloe was over her romantic feelings for Clark. He must have done something to lead her on again. I am so going to beat him silly.
"That is the beauty of what you are doing. If you dated, he could see you are not to be and move on to his destiny. You won't let that happen. You will just drag him along like that bitch Lana did. You will keep him from doing what he is supposed to do!" Chloe continues with a bit of madness showing her eyes.
Lois puts her hands up as she backs up from her cousin as Chloe advances. Desperate to avoid a physical fight with her cousin over Smallville, Lois tries to persuade Chloe with "I don't know what you are talking about. Clark is an ok partner but he is totally not my type."
"You are lying." Chloe states in a suddenly sober voice as she wags a finger "no, no" Madness clearly dominating her eyes now.
"Chloe, you are starting to scare me. Are you ok?" Lois says while fishing blindly for her phone. She finds it and tries to speed dial Clark but hits Ollie's number instead.
Oliver is working out in his apartment when he sees his phone ring. Knowing only someone with something important would be calling this late, he grabs his phone. He is surprised to see Lois' number on the caller id. He hesitates but then answers. He says hello but he doesn't hear a reply. He does her Lois talking to someone with fear clear in her voice. He catches the words: Daily Planet and roof. That is all he needs to know. Lois must be in trouble and he doesn't intend to let her down. Luckily, he was already wearing most of his costume so he puts on his mask, grabs his bow and heads outside. The Daily Planet is only one building over but he can't see Lois from this vantage point. He fires a grapple arrow across and slides over. He lands lightly on the Planet's roof. He sneaks around to where he knows the roof balcony is. There he is stunned to see Chloe trying to push Lois over the edge.
"Chloe, please snap out of it." Lois begs as she kicks her cousin again to no effect. Lois is convinced something has taken over Chloe as she wouldn't hurt a fly.
"Sorry Lois but you are holding him back. If it helps, your death will propel him to greatness." Chloe promises Lois as she struggles to flip Lois over the roof's edge.
"Please Chloe. Please." Lois begs as she struggles with Chloe. Lois knows she is in trouble. She let Chloe back her up to the edge and get too close to allow her to escape. She again kicks at her cousin hoping to knock her away without seriously hurting her.
"I am sorry Lois but it is the only way." Chloe grimly replies. She manages to catch one of Lois' flaying legs which gives her enough leverage to lift Lois up and over the edge. She sadly watches her cousin fall wishing there was another way.
When an arrow shoots past her head and then explodes into a grapple which wraps around Lois, Chloe is surprised and angry. "Oliver, stay out of this." she tells the surrounding shadows knowing he is hiding in one of them.
"What is going on here?" Oliver demands as he steps into the poor light of the rooftop.
"I am doing this for Clark. Now that Davis is dead, she is the only thing left holding him back. She has to go." she calmly explains to him.
Oliver is truly freaked out. This person in front of him is not the Chloe he knows. This thing is a monster. Oh god. Did Lex get his hands on her? Did he do this to her? "Please Chloe. Stop. This isn't like you." Oliver says.
"Isn't it? I thought this is what I do. I do whatever Clark needs done and he pats me on the head and goes on with his life." she says with a mad little laugh.
"He wouldn't want you to do this." Oliver tries to reason with her while preparing one of his stunner arrows.
"He wouldn't have wanted me to kill Davis either but we both know that was necessary." she replies very matter of factly. She grabs the line holding Lois and gives it a tug while shouting down to Lois "Hold on." She giggles madly at the terror in her cousin's eyes. Some part of wonders why she is doing this but the happy feeling pushes that voice to the back of her mind. "It is really Clark's fault. If he would just do what he is supposed to do, none of this would be necessary." she rambles.
Realizing there is no reasoning with her Oliver raises and fires his stun arrow. It hurts him to watch her jerk as the voltage courses through her but he is stunned to see her not fall. That charge slowed Clark down.
"Naughty, naughty. You messed up my hair." she admonishes waving her finger at him. She starts to advance forcing Oliver to back up.
He doesn't know how she took out Davis but he has a bad feeling it has something to do with her resurrection power. He has seen her give up her life force to help Clark. If she has found a way to reverse the process, she could literal suck the out of anyone she touches.
"Please Chloe don't make me" Oliver begs as he readies another arrow but she just smiles a demented smile and advances. Oliver puts this arrow through her leg hoping to cripple her but she looks down and pulls the arrow free. Holding the arrow up, she wags her finger signaling "naughty, naughty" while still advancing. Oliver tries his sleeping gas arrow next but that fairs no better at stopping her. He is forced to jump onto the roof's edge to avoid her touch but it doesn't stop her from climbing up after him. He fires a new arrow he hasn't full tested yet which uses an ultra high frequency to knock out his target. It causes her to fall back to the roof holing her ears.
Feeling a bit guilty at having to hurt Chloe, he jumps down to check her pulse. Just as he is reaching for her he notices her eyes are slightly open. He dives away just narrowly avoiding her grab for him. He rolls and comes up with his bow once more aimed at her. "Please stop Chloe."
Chloe looks at the cable holding Lois and then at Oliver. With a wicked smile on her lips she grabs the cable and tugs on it.
She is trying to free the anchor from the roof above. She realty is trying to kill Lois. "Please Chloe don't make me kill you." Oliver begs her.
"You can't kill me. No one can." she rants. "Almost got it." she adds with a mad little laugh as the anchor slips a little from the roof surface.
Seeing the anchor is about to let go, Oliver pulls an arrow he hoped not to use and takes aim at her head. He lets fly knowing he has to stop her but hating himself for doing so. The arrow plants itself deep into her brain and then the delay charge goes off. Her skull explodes covering him in her gore. Oliver drops his bow as he falls to his knees. "I am so sorry." he tells her headless corpse as it falls to the ground near him. Tears flow down from behind his mask as he looks at his Watchtower lying dead by his hand. The fact he may have just saved the world is no comfort.
Lois screaming for help drags him back to his senses. He staggers over to the cable and starts to haul Lois up.
Lois hates just she is stuck hanging on the side of the building. She tried to climb up but Oliver's arrow hit her in the back and she can't reach the cable to turn herself around. She tried to find a hand hold on the side of the building but so far no luck.
As Oliver is pulling Lois up, Chloe's hand snakes out and grabs his leg. The instant she makes contact, he feels his life slipping away and into her. He stares in horror as her head reforms and the demented grin on her reformed face is the last thing he sees before death claims him at last.
Lois was relieved when the cable started going up but she screams once more when whoever was pulling her up lets go. She drops back to her original height and slams into the side of the building. "That really hurt." The cable slips a bit lower causing Lois to once again scramble for a hand hold. She looks up to see Chloe's mad face looking down at her. She experience nearly overwhelm terror when she sees Chloe wave bye bye with one hand and cut the cable with a tool in the other hand. Lois screams as she falls.
Satisfied that Clark will be fine now that Lois is gone, Chloe skips happily past Oliver's corpse and heads back inside. She makes her way to Lois' desk and starts typing.
Lois' screams are distracting Clark but as much as he wants to rush to her, he has to get the children out before the orphanage burns to the ground. Even at super speed, it takes several minutes to rescue them all. One child is badly burned so he races that boy to the ER before trying to find Lois.
I am going to die. Great I never finished my obit. I bet they get that hack Lola to do it. Unable to watch the rapidly approaching pavement any longer, she closes her eyes and braces herself for the next life.
"I got you." a familiar voice says as strong arms wrap around her.
Slowly opening her eyes, she sees the most unbelievable sight. "Clark?" she says credulously before she notices that they are still several stories up. Clark is running along the side of the building at incredible speed. "You are the red blue blur? Damn, you." she says as she punches him for not telling her. How dare he give me grief for that whole Stiletto thing when he was the blur!
"Lois what happened?" Clark asks ignoring her other comments. "Only Lois would assault the guy trying to rescue her."
"Chloe. Something is wrong with Chloe. She threw me off the building while babbling about how I was holding you back. I didn't get it then but I do now. She knows. Doesn't she?" Lois fumes.
"Oh my god." Clark says as he reaches the rooftop of the Planet and sees Oliver's shriveled and drained corpse. He rushes to his friend to check for a pulse even though he knows it is hopeless.
"Chloe what have you done?" Lois mumbles through her shock and pain at seeing Oliver in his Green Arrow gear lying dead. She leans her back against the roof top's edge and slides onto her butt as the tears flow.
Chloe is happily typing when she notices something is missing. Screaming. Yes that is what is missing. Even this late at night someone should have found Lois' body by now. Getting up to investigate, she heads outside. She is disappointed and impressed not to find Lois splattered all over the sidewalk. Clark must have saved her. He is so great a hero. "Way to go Clark." she shouts.
Clark hears Chloe calling to him. Looking at Lois he tells her "I have to stop Chloe".
"Be careful." she replies with more tenderness than he has ever received from her before. "Please don't leave me too." her heart whispers.
Clark super speeds to the ground floor and finds Chloe outside on the sidewalk.
"You caught her. You are so awesome." Chloe says with madness and praise in her voice.
"Why did you do that to Lois?" Clark demands in his oh so Clark way.
Smiling brightly, she replies "She is holding you back. Keeping you from your destiny."
"Lois isn't keeping me from anything." Clark tries to explain but she cuts him off.
"She isn't? Bull, you follow her like a puppy. Remember I spent the day as her. I know how you look at her. As long as she is around, you will hide just like you did with Lana. People need you. You have to be the hero!" Chloe rants passionately.
Despite her madness, Clark knows there is some truth there. He has been hiding. Sure the red blue blur has helped a few people but he could do so much more. The question is should he? "It is not Lois holding me back" he admits.
"What? Who is then?" she inquires while putting her hand to her chin and tapping one finger on her jaw like she does when thinking.
Thinking for a minute before he answers Clark does he best to choose his words "The whole truth is I am afraid. How can anyone, particularly, me live up to all it means to be a hero? I told you about my alternate timeline experience and how badly that ended. What makes me worthy?"
"Clark just the fact you worry about that is what makes you worthy. No one expects you to be a superman saving all of us all the time. You can be a guide for how the rest of us should live. Even if you didn't have powers, I would push you to be a guide. It is not your powers that make you a hero. It is your heart." she tells him as leans on him somewhat drunkenly.
"Power drives people mad. Just look at you. You killed Oliver and tried to kill Lois." Clark blurts out and then kicks himself for saying.
Chloe stops and thinks for a minute. "I did kill Oliver didn't I. I will make you a deal. If you swear to become a public superhero, I won't kill Lois and will try to help Oliver." she rambles like a drunk trying hard to be serious.
"How can you help Oliver? He is dead." Clark wonders.
"How many times have you died now? 5 or 6 I lost count. I can still feel Ollie in here so I just have to put him back. I think. Come on give me a boost." Chloe says as she looks up at the rooftop.
Knowing he is taking a huge risk by touching her, he picks Chloe up and super jumps to the roof. There she kneels over Oliver and concentrates. Energy flows from her into him. Clark is relieved to see Oliver's chest rise and fall. Within a minute Oliver, is moaning and holding his head. He lifts it slowly and looks around.
"What happened?" he wonders aloud.
"Sorry but I sort of killed you. I was just trying to help Clark." Chloe says cheerfully.
While Clark is glad Chloe saved Oliver, he doesn't have a clue how to help her. Clearly her new level of power is affecting her mind. Maybe Jor-El will help.
"Chloe, will you come to the Fortress with me? I need to plan my new costume and identity." he asks while preparing to grab her if he needs to.
"Sure. Happy to help." she replies and stands in front of him waiting for him to pick her up again. "That leap thingy was cool. Can we do it again to get to Smallville?" she asks.
"I don't know if I can jump that far." Clark replies.
"Please try, for me." she replies as she bats her eyelashes in a dramatically flirty way which she used to do when joking with him.
"Ok, for you." he says as he braces and then jumps leaving a very sore and confused Oliver Queen on the Planet's roof.
At the Fortress, Clark distracts Chloe by showing her how to use the holographic design machine. While she is working on a costume for him, he asks Jor-El what his scan revealed about Chloe.
"She has a large concentration of kryptonite her system. Also, her energy pattern is similar to that of the creature you call Doomsday. It is overwhelming her natural energy pattern. This is what is causing the unusual behavior." Jor-El explains.
"Can you cure her?" Clark asks.
"Yes. If you can get her into this chamber (a crystal chamber lights up) I can drain off the energy but it will take time. At least several Earth years." Jor-El explains.
"Clark I am done." Chloe shouts from her part of the Fortress.
Clark zips over to her. He sees the holographic image of himself dressed in a red and blue skin tight suit with a bright red cape. One thing that jumps out at him is that even he didn't recognize himself in that get up. "Maybe this could work after all." "Ok, I will have Jor-El create it so I can try it on. I know we have been best friends forever but I am not comfortable changing in front of you. Can you go in there (points to the chamber Jor-El mentioned) while I change?"
"You are no fun." she huffs but she goes. As soon as she is in, Jor-El seals the chamber and puts Chloe into suspended animation until the process is complete.
A thousand years later, Bouncing Boy is excitingly calling "I think I found something. Yes! I think it is part of the Fortress." His team mates rush down the tunnel to him. They all stare in awe at the crystals in front of them. Buried deep underground this is the last pieces of his Fortress.
"Hey, there is a body in one of the crystals." says Lightning Lad.
Brainiac 5 steps forward with his scanner. "It is a human female and she is alive. She in some form of suspended animation." he tells his team.
Carefully, they transport the crystal to their headquarters where with the proper equipment they revive the woman inside. "She looks familiar" Lightning Lad comments as they all stand around her unconscious form.
Chloe wakes up with the worst headache she has ever had. "What on Earth did I drink?" her groggy mind wonders before her memories come flooding back. The guilt of taking not only Davis' life but that poor guard hits her hard. Slowly she opens her eyes while trying to figure how she can explain to her friends why she did what she did. She blinks in confusion at the costumed figures standing around her. She slowly sits up.
One of the figures whom she recognizes as Lightning Lad snaps his fingers as he says "So that is why she wasn't in the history books."