Title: Operation: Arrow
Author: Miranda Aurelia
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Summary: Great. My best friend has a floating disorder AND my mom is having an affair with Green Arrow! - Cassie Queen is not having a good day.
Chapter 3
"DAAAAAADDD!" Cassie flew into her father's arms as soon as he stepped off the elevator, "I missed you so much!"
Oliver just chuckled as he returned her hug. "I'll try to keep my trips shorter in the future. So how is everything?"
Cassie's eyes widened. "Great. They've been…great."
"Oh?"
"Yup! Everything's just fine and dandy. As soon as I give certain vigilante a thorough chewing out…" she muttered the last part under her breathe.
"What was that?"
"Um…dinner's ready!"
Dinner was a tense affair – at least it was for her. She found herself analyzing each and every one of her parents' expressions, looking for hints of tension, signs of guilt, but there were none.
The hickey on her mom's neck had faded somewhat, but it was still visible and Cassie felt like she was holding her breathe, waiting for the imminent explosion that would occur when her dad saw it.
However, that was occasionally interspersed with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. Would this be the last month or week or whatever that her parents would be smiling at each other over dinner?
When her mother and father exchanged another smile, Cassie found that she couldn't stand it anymore. "May be I be excused?"
They looked at Cassandra's retreating back. "Why does our daughter look like I just killed her puppy?" Chloe wondered out loud.
Oliver just took a sip from his cup. "We don't own a dog."
"….I definitely didn't marry you for your sense of humor."
"No, you just married me because you couldn't keep your hands off my hot bod."
"Everyone else knows I married you solely for your high-tech gizmos," Chloe grinned at him, "Those abs of yours were just a bonus."
"You wound me, Watchtower."
"I'll make it up to you, say, on the rooftop of the Daily Planet?"
"I like the way you think."
"I am so dead," was the first thing out of Nathan's mouth when they met up after classes.
"Why?" Cassie looked around, "Did people see you hovering in mid-air?" she asked in a lower voice.
"No. We were in P.E. and Mr. Spence was telling us to run one more lap before class ended. He asked me why I was still standing there after every one had started off."
"So why were you?" Tina asked.
"I was standing there because I'd already finished the lap already!"
Cassie blinked. "It usually takes me at least two minutes to finish one lap around the field."
Nathan nodded, "That's just it! It took me one minute and forty-two seconds last week. I know because we were getting timed on it! But today…one second I was here and the next second, I was finished!"
"So what did you do?"
"I had to force myself to run at a normal pace…but even then, I was still one of the first five people to be done – even after the other guys had a head start!"
"That's totally insane," breathed Tina.
"I know." There was a pause. "What am I going to do?"
"Research," said Cassie, "This definitely calls for research."
"What the heck are we supposed to research? Research doesn't cover stuff like 'what to do if you find yourself floating three feet off the ground'!"
"Relax. We'll figure it out."
"Are you trying to say my mom slept with Superman?!"
"Well….." Tina exchanged a look with Cassie over Nathan's head, "That's not the way I would have worded it."
"You have to admit that the…uh, evidence, is looking that way," Cassie offered cautiously as Nathan stared daggers into the screen of his laptop.
The screen in question was currently displaying the article 'I Spent the Night with Superman' by Lois Lane.
"It does make sense though," Tina said in a hushed voice, "We've already ruled out Impulse because he doesn't fly – and the other person that can run that fast and fly is Superman."
"I'm hover in mid-air. I don't fly!" Nathan hissed, "Big diff!"
"If you hover longer at will, then that's called flying," Cassie said in a low voice. Then she frowned, "Why are we whispering?"
The three of them were currently holed up in one of the staff rooms at Queen Tower – mainly because Cassie was paranoid about using public wireless internet.
"Mom would never cheat on dad like that!"
"Maybe this thing with Superman was before she met your dad," offered Tina.
"Or maybe it's some sort of weird genetic mutation," Cassie frowned.
"Uh huh."
"Have your parents found out any of your abilities?"
"I don't think so, I mean, I've been pretty careful about not falling asleep under I've locked my door and I've been watching how fast I run…" He trailed off, "I think that's all I can do at this point."
"Okay, now we need to make some headway into my problem. We need to find Green Arrow."
"Woohoo!" Cassie pumped her arm into the air. "I figured out where Green Arrow's going to hit next."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. I really did!" Cassie pointed to her list, "If you look at the all the places he's hit in the past, you'll see the pattern!"
Tina squinted at the screen. "You've narrowed it down to....twenty-five different places spaced across the entire city."
Nathan snorted, ignoring the irritated glance Cassie threw in his direction.
"It's close enough."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to hunt him down for a quick chat."
Nathan shook his head. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Cassie just smiled sweetly at him, "That's why you're going to be tagging along."
"Wait, what?"
TBC
