Okay, this has been in the works for a bit. I need to thank novadelphone for doing the editing. And also thanks to dhfreak for the banner! If you go to my profile you can find the link to my LJ and see the banner. This story will not be super long. Maybe three chapters. But long ones. Hope you enjoy. I really like this one.

Chloe stretched in her chair, arching her back until she heard a satisfying crack. It was midway through the day and she hadn't heard from anyone, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing; as boring as the silence was, it was kind of a blessing in her line of work.

Standing, she turned away from her computers and headed through the double doors of the watchtower in search of something to eat, knowingher computers would continue to monitor in her absence.

She didn't even hear the commotion behind her as the doors swung shut.

Scrambling up from the floor they were suddenly sprawled out on, two young men gaped at their surroundings.

"Whoa," the lanky blond mumbled. "Cool."

The second man nodded in slow agreement, the movement making his dark hair fall into his eyes.

"Yea...what is it?"

"Are you serious? You are aren't you? I think your mother bottle fed you kryptonite."

"I was breast fed."

"Really? I mean really? I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear about your mother's boobs."

"I'm not talking about her-! You're an idiot. I don't even know why I bother arguing with you. It never gets me anywhere."

"The feeling is mutual."

"So, where are we?"

"Stop right there," a familiar voice called out, causing the two men to freeze and glance at each other worriedly.

"I thought you said..." The brunette whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Shhhhh!"

"I've got a gun pointed at both of you. What are you doing here?" Chloe announced, cocking the weapon in her hand so they'd get the full effect.

"No!" The blond man exclaimed as he spun around and put his hands up, eyes widening in panic. "It was an accident, I swear. Look we don't mean you any harm."

"How did you get here?" Chloe demanded, narrowing her eyes and taking a few steps closer.

"Ummm." The blond man looked over to his darker haired companion.

Chloe watched the second young man, who had yet to speak in front of her, shake his head quickly. "It was an accident."

"We swear," the blond added.

"I'm losing my patience very quickly," she warned and her threat had the brunette biting his lip, obviously trying not to smile as he elbowed the blond. "Something funny?"

"No." The blond shook his head. "Look, you're making me nervous. Can't you just put the gun down?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Okay, fine. Look, we um… It really was an accident. This woman..."

"Very bad woman," the brunette tagged on helpfully.

The blond nodded in agreement. "She was trying to come back to the past. She wanted to change things. We weren't able to stop her, but we did manage to hitch a ride."

"So you're from the future?" Chloe asked with a frown. "Right."

"Is that so hard to believe?"

Chloe pursed her lips thoughtfully. "When?"

"About twenty-five years from now," the blond answered. "Look, we have to find her, she has the Legion ring." He got another elbow in his rib. "Look, I have a gun at my head," he growled angrily.

"The Legion ring?" Chloe whispered softly, momentarily lowering the gun before she quickly shook her head a raised it again.

"Yea and if we don't find her soon, who knows what kind of damage she'll do," the blond said pleadingly.

"I have an idea," the brunette mumbled.

"What are your names?" Chloe questioned. The two men looked at one another, and she couldn't help but get the feeling that they didn't want to share that information with her.

"I'm Connor," the blond headed man responded and then nodded to his brunette friend. "This is Elliot."

"Hi," Elliot offered with a wave, flashing a boyish grin.

Chloe narrowed her eyes again. They seemed harmless, but that didn't mean much. If they were telling her the truth and they came after some woman with the intent to stop her, Chloe had to wonder what kind of arsenal they planned on using to do so.

"Look we really don't have time for this," Connor said impatiently. "I know you don't trust us, but you have to because if you don't, there's no telling what she may do."

Slowly Chloe lowered her arm, bringing the gun down to her side. "Did you get here with her?"

Connor sighed in relief. "Yea, but she came through before us and when we hit the ground she was long gone."

"And you came here?" Chloe asked carefully, once again becoming suspicious. "How did you even get in? Better still, how did you even know to come here?" They looked at each other silently, obviously uncomfortable with her interrogation.

"We can't." She opened her mouth to argue, but Connor started again. "It isn't that we don't want to. We just can't. There's no limit to what we could change here and that isn't what we want. We just want to stop her from changing things."

She seemed to regard him silently. "Please. I swear. Haven't you ever had secrets that you wanted to tell someone but you couldn't?" Connor could see the fight leaving her and he breathed a mental sigh of relief. He had been right to prey on the secrets she had been forced to keep, even if it had been a low blow.

"Who is she after?"

They sat around the table, looking at each other nervously.

"Clark can help," Chloe repeated for what was probably the fifth time. "If you're right, and this woman is after him, he needs to know."

"Him and Lois Lane," Elliot corrected.

"I know, I know," Chloe assured him. "We've got some friends on that. But we can't bring her here. She doesn't-."

"We get it," Elliot said a little more sharply then he would have liked. Pushing the chair away from the table he stood up and walked towards one of the windows.

"What's wrong with him?" Chloe inquired and nodded to the dark haired man. He'd been in pretty high spirits when they'd arrived - a bit silly for her tastes actually - but now his demeanor was quickly changing.

"I think he's finally realizing what could happen." Elliot turned then, narrowing his eyes in Connor's direction. "He'll be fine."

"You're not worried?" Chloe observed.

"I am," Connor shrugged in response. "I'm just better at hiding it then him."

"Not better at hiding it," Elliot piped up. "Just better at not dealing with things that bother you.

"Chloe?!"

"In here Clark," Chloe called out and the two boys stood up at his arrival. "Meet Connor and Elliot."

"Hi," Clark said unsurely and then turned to face Chloe. "So, you said my life is in danger?"

"Yea, go figure." He frowned at her joke. "These two seem to know a lot about us. They knew how to find me, they know about the Legion Ring and they know about you." Chloe nodded towards Clark. "Everything."

"Everything?" Clark repeated slowly.

"Yea, alien heritage and all that," Connor said off-handedly. "But that doesn't matter. The more time we waste talking about what we know and who we are, the longer she's out there and that means more danger for you and Lois."

"Why?"

Elliot sighed. "We don't have time for this! Either you are going to help us or not. If not we'll be on our way." Silence hung heavily in the air between the four. "Fine, let's go."

Elliot moved for the door, only to find himself face to face with Clark.

"No," Clark disagreed. "We'll help you. If you're telling the truth and are trying to save us, then we'll help. So what are we dealing with?"

"She's a master assassin, skilled with weapons and an expert with toxins." Chloe supplied as she grabbed her notebook and pulled up the bit of information she had. "Her name is Jade Nguyen, aka Cheshire. In our time, she's off the radar, just showing up here and there because of an assassination or bombing. It appears she's still honing her skills." Chloe turned around to face Clark. "She doesn't have any superhuman abilities and isn't alien – although, for some reason she has poisonous finger nails. Whatever she is, she's a good killer and with her expertise in toxins, say she could easily whip up something pretty dangerous with kryptonite."

"So what's the plan?"

"Our time traveling friends here said they stopped her from stealing some kryptonite in their time, so she apparently decided to take a trip into the past so she could get her hands on some kryptonite now." Chloe turned back to face the screen. "I'm monitoring any place within a five-hundred mile radius that may have kryptonite. If she breaks into one of them we'll know. In the meantime, I suggest you get out there and see if you can pick up on something out of the blue."

Clark nodded, studying the picture of the asian woman carefully. "How old is she?"

"She's fifteen in our time and these two claim they came twenty-five years from the future, so she's around forty."

"Alright," he turned away from the screen and looked to Chloe, "and Lois?"

"Taken care of. She's got eyes on her at all times, including mine."

"Alright, let me know if you find out anything." Clark turned to leave, but was quickly stopped by one of the young men.

"Let me help you," Elliott said evenly.

"Look, I really don't think...."

"I can, I get it." Elliot finished the older man's thought, pausing for a moment as his eyes searched the room before he squinted at a metal lamp in a corner.

The others in the room watched as two familiar red beams shot from his eyes, melting the lamp down to a puddle.

"You're..." The shock was too much for Chloe to even finish the thought and, instead, she took a few hesitant steps towards the destroyed lamp.

"Kryptonian," Elliot supplied. "There are a few more of us in my time. Not as strong as Kal-El, but strong enough in our own right."

Connor sighed and threw his hands up in the air. "Unbelievable."

The guarded look on Clark's face was evident and Elliot worked quickly to appeal to him. "We just want to help."

"Clark, just take him with you."

Clark turned back to Chloe, who had finally overcome her own shock. "Chloe...."

"Clark, either you want to save Lois or not."

"Fine, let's go."

Before Elliot could move to follow him Connor grabbed his arm, spinning him back around. "Open you big mouth again and I swear I'm going to make you regret it."

"Big words, what are you going to back them up with?" Elliot challenged.

"I'm surprised you would even ask."

"Okay boys," Chloe stepped forward and pressed her palm against Connor's chest, but he didn't move with her first push. "Step back! Now!" They seemed to notice her finally and turned to face her. "You will not be fighting in my tower do you understand?"

"Yes," they answered simultaneously, doing as they were told.

Clark watched as the two boys moved away from one another with their heads bowed slightly.

He stared at Chloe wonderingly. "What did you do?"

Chloe just shrugged and grabbed Connor's arm. "Come on."

"So you and Elliot, you're friends?" Chloe asked conversationally, peering at Connor from the corner of her eyes.

He turned to face her, finding that the hardened woman who'd been there was now gone, replaced by something much more gentle. He immediately felt the pull to answer her. "Yea, since we were kids. He's a bit hard-headed. Likes to do things his way," Connor shrugged. "But I guess the same could be said of me."

"And you," Chloe turned back to the monitor and then glanced over at him, "can you do anything?"

He laughed in response and shook his head. "I know what you're doing. You're not getting it out of me."

"Maybe next time." Turning her attention back to her work Chloe sighed. "Nothing, it's been a couple of hours and it still doesn't seem like she's made a move to find any kryptonite."

"She will," Connor nodded. "She has something in mind."

"Yeah, well-." Her words trailed off as the alarm lights started flashing, followed by the snap of the power cutting out, launching the room into silence. "Oh no."

"What?" Connor asked as he stood up and walked over to Chloe, looking around. "What is it?"

"Kryptonite," Chloe said in realization. "I have kryptonite here."

"Come on." Grabbing her hand, he yanked her towards the side of the room, panic starting to swell with the knowledge that Cheshire might have found them. "Where is the Green Arrow gear?"

"What?" Chloe turned to him, momentarily distracted from their imminent doom.

"The Green Arrow gear! I know you have it here. Where is it?"

"I…uh…" Shaking her head she moved over to the locked safe and punched in the codes, the doors sliding away to reveal one Green Arrow costume and a wide array of bows and arrows. Quickly, Connor grabbed the equipment, selecting a bow, a supply or arrows and small crossbow.

"Get down," Connor whispered as he pulled her to the floor and loaded an arrow. It was quiet, too quiet.

"I know you're here," he growled to the still room. "I'll know where you are before you even take your shot."

A loud laugh filled the space and Chloe looked around in the darkness, trying to find the woman that it belonged to.

"Maybe, but I do have over twenty years of experience on you boy. What would your poor daddy do if I killed his son? His pride and joy. Or....maybe he wouldn't care. What if he never even knew you?"

"I'm not going to let you harm Kal-El," Connor said evenly, hiding the fear that was coursing through him. If she killed him, there was still a chance that everything could be set right in the future, but if she killed his mother...

"Maybe, but I would take your life and hers as a conciliation prize."

There was no doubt in his mind at that moment that she was going to take her shot. Connor took one breath and held it.

The shot rang through the air and Chloe gasped, not even thinking to move or cover her head as Connor released an arrow. She never heard the bullet hit though. She looked up at Connor and down at her own body, searching for any injuries, but found none. Cheshire shouldn't have missed. They were prime targets sitting in the middle of the room with the light from the above window shining down on them. It was then that she realized that Cheshire hadn't missed and neither had Connor. He'd hit the bullet dead on.

Before she could wonder at his skill, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and in that split second, Connor threw the bow to the side and charged at the woman in green. Seeing her opening, Chloe ran for the exit, hoping she could get far enough to call for Clark.

"Your skills leave a lot to be desired."

Chloe stopped at the sound of the woman's voice, turning back to find Connor on the ground with a gun pointed at his head.

"No!" Her startled scream was enough of a distraction that Connor was able to knock the gun from Cheshire's hand. The assassin flipped backwards, launching herself up in the air and away from Connor.

"Run!" Connor exclaimed and grabbed the crossbow to aim at Cheshire. She dodged the first shot and he never got the chance to fire his second as Chloe's scream left his finger frozen on the trigger. His heart pounded as he stared at the sight of Cheshire using Chloe as a shield, her poison tipped fingers wrapped around the blonde's throat.

"What now Queen?" Cheshire demanded with a cocky grin. "Give me the kryptonite."

Queen. Chloe couldn't believe she hadn't seen the resemblance - wayward blond hair, statuesque build, even the attitude. That was only topped off by his knowledge of the Green Arrow gear, her tower and the archery skills. Not many people in the world could have hit that bullet with an arrow. Oliver could though.

"No," he said and shook his head. "You know I can't do that."

"Really?" She grinned and held her nails out in front of her to survey them. "What is it Queen? Save the man of steel or your own existence? Your family? Give me the kryptonite and I'll let her go."

There was no chance. Cheshire would never let her go. Without even a response he released the crossbow.

Chloe felt the feathers brush her cheek and a small breeze before the woman using her as a shield cried out. She didn't waste any time as she threw herself to the floor, ignoring the sharp pain in her arm.

None of them knew where the kryptonite was except for Chloe and Cheshire was determined to kill her for more than one reason. Connor knew he had to get her out of there. Grabbing her arm he yanked her off the floor. "Come on. Get out. You have to get out."

"I can't," Chloe gasped for breath. She tried to plant her feet in the ground, but her legs collapsed beneath her.

Panicked, he looked over her as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "No."

"Go, get out of here," Chloe whispered. If he could at least get to Clark, they could still save him.

"No." Connor wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her across the floor. A shot rang off and he dropped for cover, hovering over her body. Grabbing the bow that he'd dropped earlier he loaded an arrow, turned and fired.

Cheshire pushed herself up from the floor, staggering forward. "I'm pretty sure I'll hit you eventually."

Connor readied his bow again, set to fire, but before he had a chance, another arrow sliced through the air, catching Cheshire sharply in the arm.

Grabbing her wound, Cheshire turned just in time to see the Green Arrow jump off the balcony, bow pulled taut.

"Next time," she hissed before she sprinted across the room and threw herself through the large window.

"Chloe."

Connor looked up at the distorted voice, watching as The Green Arrow bounded forward and dropped down on the other side of Chloe.

"Ollie," she gasped for breath and immediately regretted trying to speak.

Unconcerned about his identity, Oliver yanked off his glasses and pushed his hood back. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

"The poison," Connor said softly. "The assassin's nails, they're poison. Let me see her."

"Get your hands off of her, this is your fault." Oliver snarled and tightened his arm around her.

"I can save her!" He exclaimed, but the speculative gleam in Oliver's eyes revealed he thought otherwise. "Cheshire's poison works in minutes. I don't have much time. It's either you trust me or she's dead."

It wasn't until he saw the pain in the other man's eyes and the building tears that Oliver stood up and settled Chloe on the couch, stepping back as the young man kneeled next to her.

Connor leaned over her, touching his palm to her cheek, squeezing his eyes shut and praying that, for once, it would work when he wanted it to. Nothing happened though. There was no warmth, the sense of absorbing the wound or poison. "No." He shook his head and put his other hand on her face. Still nothing.

"Oh God."

Oliver turned at Clark's voice and swallowed. Another young man stood at his side, but he barely noticed.

"Chloe." Clark moved forward, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait," Elliott said, holding him back. "He can help her."

He could, but it wouldn't work. It never did, not when he needed it. She was staring up at him, her green eyes meeting his. "I can't get it to work," he cried. "I'm sorry." Her hand touched his cheek and he turned his face into it in response. It even felt the same, smelled the same. For the first time since he'd gotten there she looked at him like he remembered. Eyes gentle and kind, with a soft smile on her face. Then slowly her hand slipped away and her eyes closed. "No, no." He grasped her face again, clinging to some chance that it would work, it had to. "Please, you can't! You can't leave me!"

Slowly Elliot stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back. "Connor."

"No!" Connor exclaimed, throwing Elliot's arm off as he turned to glare at his friend, his eyes red and angry. "What difference does it make? How much time do I have? Minutes!"

Elliot felt the weight of what was happening settle on him. He felt as if he should say something to his best friend, but Connor's loss was greater at that moment. Nodding he stepped back, glancing at Oliver Queen, noting the redness in his eyes and the silent tears. Suddenly, Oliver was backing away, moving towards his bow.

"No, Oliver." Clark insisted, trying to fight back his own grief to stop his friend.

"Don't stop me Clark." He retrieved his bow and arrow from the floor, but Clark's hand on his arm slowed him. "I don't care about your code or your honor or whatever it is Clark. I'm going to kill her. I'm going to put an arrow straight through her heart and mount her to Queen Towers."

"Wait, just wait!" Elliott yelled as he watched Connor, bent over Chloe's body. "Chloe, she's, she's his mother. If she's dead, then so is he. Connor only has minutes before he's gone." He looked to Oliver Queen and opened his mouth, trying to find a way to tell the man in front of him the rest of the news before it was too late.

Connor buried his face into her neck, squeezing her to him. The universe could take him, but he wasn't letting her go until it did. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry. I should have done it differently. I thought I knew what I was doing. I should have told you or Dad or somebody. I love you and you didn't even know me."

His eyes closed so tightly, he didn't even see the light that suddenly began to envelope him and his mother. He thought he heard his name – Elliot most likely – so he started to draw away and then he felt it, pulling at him, draining him. Immediately, he held on tighter and began to plead against her neck, slowly losing consciousness as he remembered a time when he was much younger and had hurt himself with one of his dad's bows that he wasn't supposed to be playing with.

He'd popped his fingers hard enough to leave welts, so she'd lifted him into her lap as she sat on the floor, clucking her tongue and shushing him gently. He'd kept his face buried in her neck while she passed her hand over his injury, erasing the pain.

"But Dad said not to-"

"Dad said not to heal unless it was absolutely necessary."

He nodded up at her, calm now that the stinging was gone. She wiped gently at his cheeks.

"It was necessary because what Dad doesn't know saves you and me from hearing the hour long lecture on the responsibilities of an archer."

She smiled down at him, green eyes soft and, in his opinion, laughing slightly at his father's expense.

"But really Connor, I hope you learned your lessen. Dad tells you to stay away from them because you'll get hurt. We won't always be there to clean up for you baby. Okay?"

He nodded in response. And after she pressed a kiss to his forehead, he scrambled off her lap.

"Alright, well let's go find out when Mr. Green Bean himself is getting home. I'm starved."

Connor laughed and ran ahead of her, nearly knocking her over as he ran out the room.