With a tiny little dart-bow hardly any bigger than his hand, Oliver shot a small arrow from where we hid, near the front doors of the LuthorCorp building, across the lobby. It stuck high on the wall, and immediately began to give off some sort of whispy smoke or vapour. It might have been my imagination, but I could smell something unpleasant immediately, and other people inside the lobby reacted. So did a kind of alarm system, which immediately began blaring a discordant noise, and the emergency lights started flashing on and off.

We waited just a second, until the LuthorCorp security guards swung into action. Most of them were immediately focused on the stink-dart, as I had hoped when I suggested this part of the plan, and two of them ran off down the hallways leading out of the lobby. One did seem to be wondering about checking out the main entrance, but apparently wasn't sure about committing himself into danger before getting the attention of a partner, and in the moment that his back was turned, Oliver and I made our move, dashing through the edge of the lobby, and taking the stairs.

I felt full of energy, excited about what was to come, and neither of us stopped moving or even slowed down much before reaching the third floor, east hallway, where Oliver jogged to a stop long to try a door, and when it opened, wave me inside. I narrowly avoided a set of metal shelves full of cleaning supplies in the unlit janitor's closet and thudded against the wall, not hard enough to hurt but make me dizzy for just a moment. Luckily Oliver was right behind me, and caught me up in his arms as the door swung closed, leaving us both in darkness. Well, who was I to let a good janitor closet opportunity go to waste?

"This - this is kinda crazy," I pointed out in a soft whisper a few seconds later, once Oliver's lips weren't occupying mine, and had moved down to plant dozens of kisses in quick succession on my throat. "We - umm, we only just met last night, and couldn't stand each other at first, and... and I'm still not over Michael, really, if I admit the truth to myself." The reason for the stuttering and pauses was mostly that Oliver's hands weren't idle, but running tickishly up my sides, and across my back. I'd insisted on getting a brand new outfit before we made our move on LuthorCorp, and had selected a white peasant-style blouse and looser-fit jeans, after all the wardrobe difficulties from last night. It had been comfortable, even for running in, (along with some comfortable sneakers,) but the blouse was definitely giving Oliver some access, not that I was really complaining.

"I know it's sudden," Oliver whispered back. "But I've never felt anything like this before." Chuckling, he cupped his fingers over one side of my bra, stroking the fabric and what was beneath it very gently.

"I'll just bet you haven't," I snorted, and tried to back away - which just meant banging into the shelves again. "Ouch."

"Oh, did you hurt yourself?" Oliver asked, with a mix of concern and playfulness. "I can kiss the part you banged and make you feel better."

I thought about that, and oriented my upper arm and shoulder towards where Oliver's voice had been coming from. He sounded a bit different that it wasn't a different part of my anatomy, but went through with the promissed boo-boo smoochies, and we did kinda get started again from there.

He was sliding back into second base when Oliver's watch went off. "Oh, boy, there's our cue, at the worst possible opportunity," he muttered, but immediately ceased all makeout activities so quickly that I was actually tempted to press for a bit more time, and a more gradual cool-down. But timing was important at this stage. After opening the closet door a crack, Oliver paused to adjust my appearance and make a few fussing changes. "You're still supposed to look slightly as if you'd been through a frightening night-long ordeal, not like you'd just gotten - well, you know," he muttered.

"Not that we have," I pointed out. "But yeah, I do know what you mean."

"The effect would have been stronger if you'd kept your original clothes - well, not the ones you changed out of at Chloe's, but the ones you spent the night in," he repeated. "They looked nicely grimy and dishevelled."

"Yeah, a bit too grimy," I pointed out. "This just reflects well on you, that you thought to get me cleaned up a bit before bringing me back. And I still want to make a good impression overall on that reporter."

"Okay, well, I guess we're ready then," he said, opening the door, and stepping out - nearly into a big security guard in a dark blue suit. (He looked a bit like one of the Special Unit agents dressed like that, and I shuddered at that thought.) "Um, hello there, I think that we got ourselves a bit lost. This is Maria DeLuca, and she's late for the LexRecords lunch meeting."

The agent smiled forbiddingly. "Miz DeLuca?" From his intonation, the question could mean anything, most likely 'I've never heard of you.'

"Yes," I said, not knowing what to do with this minor hiccup in the plan other than to follow Oliver's lead. "I'm one of their newest recording artists."

He considered for a moment. "So you'd know Mister Robbins, then?"

I immediately realized that this character was smarter and more informed than he looked, because this was really a pretty clever test. "Only met him once - he's in A&R for LexRecords I know, but I haven't worked with him. Gina Matthews is my rep."

"Yes, I know," He smiled a tiny little smile that seemed incongrous on that big face. "I heard Miss Matthews mention something about you on her way in. She's very worried about you, Miz DeLuca. Right this way."

"Of course." I shot a look at Oliver, but he just nodded with some satisfaction. Had Gina really been concerned? Maybe she wasn't in on the plot - or maybe she'd been play-acting for someone, like the reporter. In any event, this seemed to be working out - as long as the guard just escorted me straight to Gina without calling to ask anyone - like Tess Mercer, first.

After about ten yards, the guard suddenly turned around as a new question occured to him. "Who's the guy, Miss DeLuca?"

Okay, what was my best response now? "His name is Oliver, and he helped me out a lot. I was hoping that he could come to the lunch as well, because..."

"Mister Queen?"

"Yes, that's me," Oliver admitted with a shrug.

"Miss Mercer has left strict instructions that she be informed before..."

"I can never drop in for a surprise visit with that girl," Oliver muttered, sounding truly disappointed. "I mean, I know that she's not wild about surprises in general, but sometimes it'd just be fun to..."

The guard considered for a much longer moment, and then said, "Well, maybe I just didn't recognize Maria's friend, now did I?"

"Thanks a lot."

"Not a problem. The name's Hal, by the way. Hal Ketcher."

"Nice to meet you, Hal," I said, offering my hand up to be shook by his huge one. "And thank you very much." I don't think you'll ever know just how much you helped me out, I added on silently.

"All part of the service. Right this way."

#

Our entrance into the LuthorCorp executive lunchroom was as impressive as we could have planned. Gina exclaimed with sincere surprise to see me, dressed and appearing as I was, but that shock could be read more than one way. The reporter from the magazine took a little while longer to recognize me from whatever promotional photographs she had already seen, but definitely reacted with eager anticipation to hearing the story of why I hadn't been able to make it to breakfast. I sped through the setup and had already gotten to the part with the first three tough guys when Tess Mercer swept majestically up to that end of the table.

"Miss DeLuca, I'm so glad to see that you're safe, and that you and Mss Osborne will apparently still have a chance to do your interview," she pronounced. "But the Chairman of Queen Industries is not exactly welcome in this building at his own invitation."

Okay, this was the start of the showdown. I turned to Mercy and put on the most flawlessly disingenous manner that I could manage, knowing that Miss Osborne was my primary audience here. "But Oliver is the one who helped me get back here safely, Miss Mercer. I invited him to come with me. You're not going to reward his deeds, his good samaritanism even, by just dismissing him like that, as an unwelcome guest?"

"Just what did he have to do to get you here?" Miss Osborne asked, pulling out a phone or PDA and getting ready to two-thumb type.

Mercy took a long moment to appraise the whole situation before answering, and I didn't try to say anything to push her. Finally, with a very tiny sigh, she offered, "Miss DeLuca, Mister Queen, would you like to have a word in private?" I don't think that Miss Osborne could tell that it was a minor admission of defeat on Mercy's part, and I'm not sure about Gina. But Oliver and I knew.

"Yes, that would be fine," Oliver said. "Don't worry, I won't keep you ladies from your lunch for long."

So in just a minute or two more the three of us were gathered in a small office somewhere nearby on that floor. "I'll cut to the chase, Mercy," Oliver said, after giving the surroundings a cursory look. "We now know a few things that I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like Maria to talk to the press about - including exactly what she's been through over the past eighteen hours, what kind of dirty extortion tricks you've been pulling... and that Lex Luthor is alive, but still lying at death's door."

Tess flinched at that last part, and I knew that she hadn't prepared for either of us to guess that much. "Is this the part where you tell me the terms of your silence?" she said. "I know that Maria doesn't want the wrong kind of story getting out in the press either - she and her friends back home have too much to lose."

"That's true," Oliver agreed. "It's in everybody's interest to keep things quiet, so we won't ask for much. Maria's album is going to get made, and publicized with as lavish a campaign as any of LexRecords' other artists would expect. And LexRecords will be paying Queen industries a very reasonable sum for round-the-clock personal protection for their newest star artist."

"Hmm." Mercy considered that carefully. "And will you be giving any kind of reason for this bodyguard contract, or why we'd have to source outside of the LuthorCorp corporate fold on this point?"

"That's up to you," Oliver told her. "The public relations angle isn't what I'm concerned with, so much as being able to assure myself that Maria will be safe at all times - from you, and all the other dangers that Metropolis might have lurking in shadows. If you want us to release a relatively sanitized version of the attack story, then I imagine that a lot of people might cynically assume that it was a publicity stunt on behalf of Queen Industries - and that you tolerated it because it was publicity for Maria and her music as well. Again, both our companies can benefit from a little co-operation."

"That does make sense, Oliver," Mercy admitted grudgingly. "And what do we do about the dead man who's already been found near the scene of Maria's performance, with an arrow shot through his eye?"

"I can tell the truth about that much," I volunteered. "The Green Arrow showed up - before I was found by someone from Queen Industries. He was defending me from an imminent threat to my welfare."

"Well, I'm not sure that I like you going on the record about something so unsavory, but I guess we'll have to suck up and play the cards that we're dealt," Mercy admitted, getting up. "I assume that you already have a story that won't upset me rehearsed, Maria?"

"More or less. I'm good at working off the cuff," I told her.

"And do you have any restrictions on how much contact I have with Miss DeLuca on an ongoing basis, Oliver?" Mercy asked.

"Not really. I can't keep her away from all of your cronies, with the contract a going concern, but I'm pretty sure that she can handle herself, as long as threats aren't in the mix," Oliver admitted. "Besides, I wouldn't want you to try to dictate terms about how much time I could spend with your starring siren."

This actually seemed to startle Mercy. "You - the two of you are..."

"We're not entirely sure yet," I said, making my way to the door. "It hasn't been that long we've known each other, after all. But why wouldn't I be interested? He's terribly cute, and a great kisser." And on that flip line, I made my exit.