Lovely readers…it's time to try kill Chloe again. Don't be sad though. Please.

Chapter Seven; Cloud Nine

4 hours and a home cooked lasagne later Chloe was back on the couch deep in a book. Ollie was dealing with business from home and rain was violently hammering against the windows. It had been on and off in showers since they left, but now it seemed to be throwing out all it had. Chloe let her mind wander, watching the drizzle run down the windows. There were plenty of rainy-day activities she and Ollie could do. But why did the only ones that held favour with her involve one of them in some way naked? She rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Dinah was right, there was an attractive blonde sleeping in the same bed as her, and he was tormenting her mentally at every given chance. She needed something to focus her mind on or she'd end up jumping him or strutting into his office in her birthday suit and demanding he take her then and there.

But would it be so bad? she wondered off hand. Ollie had said he was interested in her, and between teasing and occasional compliments mixed with the sexual tension in the air, it was fair to say he still saw her that way. Would it be so wrong to start something? Even if it was just sex and nothing more. It's not like she could expect Ollie to want any commitment, and they were friends. Maybe they could have certain… benefits.

A roll of thunder sounded followed a snap of lightening and the lights went out. Chloe let out a tiny shriek of surprise before she realised it was not an omen of her death and simply just weather. A curse carried through the room from Ollie's office. Electricity must be out and his conference call cut off. She stood by the windows watching the darkness wash over the city's lights.

"Power cut." Ollie said and joined her by the window.

"Looks like it's over the whole city." she agreed. "It looks bad."

"Yeah, and it best stop soon. I've got a board of Spanish directors who think I hung up on them." She laughed freely.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish." She turned to face him, always in awe by his mere presence.

"Enough to get by." Chloe had a feeling he was just being modest. "Alright then, candles. Do I even own candles?"

"I think I saw some earlier." she replied and left him as she went to the kitchen, and returned her search through the cabinets. She struck the matches and lit the only three she could find. Big chunky things smelling like… correct her if she was wrong, but that smelled like toffee. God, this man was king of romance for her. Stuff roses and vanilla. He'd make her swoon with coffee and toffee every day.

"Chloe, you still good?"

Realising she'd been quietly staring at the flame, lost in the scent, she shook out her head and gathered her stray thoughts.

"Yeah. I found them." she called back and picked two up, leaving the other in the kitchen. It was surprisingly dark for only half 4, but she guessed with the storm and the tail end of the winter cold it did make sense. Ollie took them off her, sitting them on the coffee table and stretching out on the sofa again. "What time are you going to check out the drop for psycho guy?" It had been worrying her all day about getting back within reach of creepy man, but now, with the storm, it might be worse than even she imagined. It could all be a trap, created by whoever this boss man was.

"We were going at six, but Bart text me saying we're starting at five now."

"Why? Surely it would be better to wait out the weather."

"Chloe, we're all big boys and girls. A little water isn't going to bother anyone. Besides, if we go earlier we can scope out the building and be ready for whenever they arrive. It's better this way." he explained, and then turned back to her, looping a stray strand on hair back behind her ear. "You still sure you want to do this?"

"Of course." But internally, there was a butterfly tap-dance hitting full speed in her belly. Did she want to do this? Could she? What if the voice came back again? Would she be safe with Oliver gone?

"You don't look sure Chloe. You don't have to, you know. Cyborg can work the locks and any electricals will either be shut off still from the black out, or I can use my arrows. It's not imperative you're there." His eyes roamed her face, probably finding doubt and uncertainty.

"No. I need to do this. Get back on that proverbial horse." she explained. "Shouldn't you be putting on your tights now?" she wondered, he only had 30 minutes, less than that.

"They're not tights." he explained. "Seriously. They're not tights. But regardless, I don't need half an hour to get dressed." He stretched out and pulled Chloe into his side. "You'll be fine Watchtower. I can stay behind with you if you want." His thumb stroked her cheek and left a blazing trail on her skin.

"No, they need you. And I'll be fine. I swear I will."

"If you change your mind-"

"I won't." she swore and shifted against him for better contact. Maybe now she should breach the whole topic of friends with benefits. But how exactly did that happen? 'Hey Ollie, wanna screw?' that didn't seem quite right. 'Ollie, I have an itch, scratch it?' no. She could just simply show him what she wanted, turn and straddle his waist, laying a kiss on his delicious lips. Direct and straight to the point. Well, straight to the point would be to order him to loose the jeans and ravish her… but she could work with this. She blinked, realising not once had the thought of disgracing Jimmy's memory polluted her daydreaming about Ollie. She wanted this more than ever now. She could enjoy it; lay in the after glow without the guilt. More determined than ever she edged forward, sliding her hand around Ollie's neck, turning his head to face her. The short barely there stubble tickled her palm urging her on. Her eyes met his, chemistry sparking and igniting passion deep in her gut. Booming all over her body her heart beat refused to still, pumping urges of greater desire. Pools of chocolate, deeper than she could dream of pierced into her very soul, the very essence of her. Her core throbbed with need and she leaned forward, her light pushing through the darkness toward him. Lips parted as she neared, and her pulse skipped inviting herself to his warmth. Just a centimetre more.

The lights flashed back to life and with them they took her protection of the dark, and left her feeling suddenly naked, her heart laid out across a rail road tracks, staring into the lights of a train. She dropped her hand from him like it had shocked her and pulled away from him.

"I should… ummm" Ollie swallowed. "I've got the Spanish directors." he explained and stood, her limb untangled from him like he had burned. His mind was racing. She was going to kiss him, he could feel it. No boundaries, no worries. Yet as soon as the lights came back she couldn't get away fast enough. Colour him confused; what the hell was going on inside her head? Unable to find any clarity he dialled back the last call and settled into his chair, Spanish taking his tongue again as he apologised for being cut off. Yet his thoughts would not leave Chloe alone.

Dinah arrived first, settling into girl talk with Chloe. The subject seemed to be 'everything about Mr Queen', and she refused to deviate from it. Well, until Ollie came out of his office, shaking his head.

"The Spanish don't understand power cuts very well." he stated and opened his Green Arrow area, his fingers running over his chosen bow as he tested its work-a-bility. He turned back to the silence of the girls and their secret glances. "You were talking about me weren't you?" he accused, then held up his hands in surrender. "Please, feel free to carry on. I'll go change into my tights." He smiled at Chloe, watching her grin back at him, a bubble of laughter leaving her glossed lips. As soon as Dinah heard the door close upstairs she pounced.

"Oh my god, Chloe, you slept with him!"

"What? No, I didn't."

"Hmm. Then explain why he has his happy face on."

"His what?"

"Happy face" Dinah repeated. "His 'yey I've just got some awesome relief' face. The guy afterglow face com'on Chlo, dish the details."

"There are no details to dish. I promise you Dinah. I have not touched Ollie in anyway that you would consider sexual." But she wanted to.

"Well then, I guess Ollie has been helping himself. But it's obvious who he was thinking about."

"Dinah!" Chloe gasped.

"What? It's so true. The sparks between you two practically electrocuted me. If I can tell, you can say without a doubt the guys will when they arrive."

"Dinah! Not a word to them."

"Alright. I'll cover for you. But, as soon as it happens, and trust me; it will, I want every inch of detail." Dinah proposed, her dirty mind focussed on other 'inches'. Chloe grudgingly accepted her conditions. "Anyways, we better get a shift on. I didn't want to 'cos, well, it's pissing it down. But the boys won't let me bow out."

"But you'll all freeze to death out there." The storm had passed, but the rain was as heavy as ever, and hitting down like bullets of icy death.

"My point exactly! But they're men: big strong men. They don't run and hide because their hair will get wet. Besides Bart already saw to it that I got wet." Dinah spoke then her eyes flashed. "Not that kind. He just sprinted into my apartment and shoved me into the shower, fully clothed, and told me we were starting early. One day soon, I will snap that kid's feet off." she swore.

"Ohhh, you must be talking about me, my ears were burning." Bart teased, stepping from the hallway, dripping water onto the floors, clearly showing he'd just walked in.

"More than your ears are going to be burning!" Dinah hissed, shoving up from the sofa and dancing past him teasingly. Bart just smiled, and winked at Chloe.

The boys poured in within a few more minutes and Ollie rejoined them.

Oliver handed Chloe her headset as she fell into place at his computer. She quickly adapted the settings, pulling up files and plans before anyone could blink. It wasn't Watchtower, nor Isis, but it would suffice. Ollie hovered for a few minutes, debating whether to stay with her, but he knew if they met the bastard he'd want the pleasure of dealing with him personally. Chloe may try to hide it, but he saw the way she jumped at every loud noise, he saw the panic on her face when he had to leave and the relief when he returned. The asshole that did that do her would pay, if Ollie had his way, he'd make sure it was by his own hand, wrapping around his throat, squeezing till he fell limp and lifeless. Even then it was too merciful. And yet there Chloe sat, willing to go back with them after all she had been through.

"If anything happens; anything at all. Just say, and Bart can come back at any point."

"True. We don't want anything happening to our little watchtower." Bart winked at her, speeding around the apartment showing off. Oliver froze him with a glare and he rolled his eyes.

"Ollie, seriously. I'll be fine. Nobody knows I'm here, and the network matrix is completely un-hack-able and laced with so many viruses and piggybacked routers it would take years to find the signal. Nothing is going to happen to me." Ollie nodded and led the team out, pausing his worry for the damsel till later. They all felt it as they walked out, immediately the cold harsh rain slammed against them, united with a violent wind. It tore at their skin, but this was for Chloe. To keep her safe. Like a gold beacon of hope, her voice filled their ears keeping spirits high and courses safe.

They were all set, by the docks. Ac had found an opening from the water into the factory so he was awaiting instruction. Dinah was on the opposite side, glass windows circling a team of researchers in white coats moving around oblivious to any impending danger. The others had already scouted the area and found nothing of the shipments but had yet to breach the inner sanctum of the factory. No so surprisingly, the walls were made of thick lead, impenetrable for Clark's vision. On Chloe's mark Canary would shatter the glass and the researchers would flee in panic, so Canary could have a nosey around there, Cyborg was with her for extra protection and in case locks needed hacking internally. Aquaman would rise above surface and come through the back doors while Clark took the others through the front to hopefully corner whatever sick shit was orchestrating this entire idea.

"Aquaman, ready?" Chloe asked, her finger hovering over the 'enter' key ready to kill the lights.

"Ready."

"Cyborg, Canary?" They both signalled with ready. "Keep low till you hear a clicking, all the electrical gridding needs disabling as it's on a different system. It shouldn't take long. But keep alert and ready.

"Check."

Chloe tuned into Brainiac, flipping the lights off with a single tap, then dragging up the electricity mapping for the area and issuing an emergency shut down. It took less than 30 seconds from the lights dying and Clark wasted no time in storming the fort. Water erupted with Ac's movement. Glass shattered from Dinah's blast and mindless scientists all fled their chemistry sets. Then silence. But Chloe didn't have time to panic as a warning popped up on her screen; a hacker had already got past three of her safety nets. She cursed and her fingers flew again, tapping keys and screens blurring past her at light speed as she tried to hacker her hacker. She knew she was safe, her own location showed up in the Bermuda triangle, but she doubted even the electrical twins could get that far before she stopped them. Thank you Brainiac powers for that. She followed the bouncing signal from satellite to satellite, only to find the location was gone, they had wiped it clean. It didn't mean she couldn't send them back a nasty hit though. She sent a loose charge back along their own signal and soon the hacking stopped. Either they'd received the warning loud and clear and backed off… or they had been fried. Personally she hoped for the latter. Chloe sat back, breathing deep. She had beaten them, she fought back and won.

Oliver however, was living an entirely different scenario. Front and centre of the lead room was a black screen. White writing in a gothic font was currently being shown.

'Scream to play' it read. But before anyone could react to the message the doors fell and locked, trapping them inside. Clark sped to punch his way through but fell crippled, the room bathed in a green meteor lights. The vents in the ceiling clicked open as well and an air canister hissed. One by one, the other's joined Clark on the floor, keeling over and coughing.

"Well, well. Look what the cat caught." It was that voice again. The writing vanished, a shadowed man, cloaked in darkness took to the video feed. "Now while you're all watching your miserable lives pass before your eyes. Listen up, for today is a great day. Today, you have a choice to make, the great justice league of America can choose to rise… or most probably: fall." Another image took over the screen. It was sole photo of Chloe running across rooftops from Isis, bleeding out. Then it was gone and replaced by the same shadow. "She means something doesn't she? And don't try to deny it; I can see the fear in each of your miserable lives. She may have evaded me once, maybe twice, but as they say, third time lucky. And I do believe Lady Luck is shining on my side tonight." He laughed, his deep dark voice letting out a hauntingly ghostly laugh. "Miss Sullivan remains at the top of my list, but not for long. Here I present you a golden opportunity." The screen left his image and changed to a split, letting his voice run over the top. On the left was the photo of Chloe from before. On the other there was a countdown timer attached to what could only be a bomb, the skyline in the background. "Save your maiden… or save your fellow humans. The real choice that makes us heroes rather than the selfish bastard you claim to not be. And the dust you're breathing in… in case you were wondering, it is only temporary. I call it 'Cloud nine'; able to remove any voluntary movement for as long as you inhale it. Now, let's see if you have the metal of real heroes." The voice cut out and the timer started to count down from 5 minutes. They didn't even know where it was.

"I can't, it won't…" Bart hissed as he tried to super speed. "I'm stuck!"

"What happened? I lost audio" Chloe's voice filled the ear pieces once again.

"Chloe, get out of there, now!" Oliver ordered.

"No. I'm fine. What happened on your end?"

"I'm not kidding Chloe, run!" A bucket of cold fear hit Chloe square on as a banging came to the door. She crouched low and ran to Ollie's Green Arrow area behind his desk. She muttered a curse, seeing only an array of complex crossbows she had no idea how to fire, and no hand to hand weapons handy.

"Chloe?" Clark's pain radiated through his voice. "Chloe, get Cyborg to the ventilation. Unlock the doors."

Chloe set back to the computer but the thuds repeated and instead she ran, keeping her body low to the kitchen, drawing a knife from the block.

"Cyborg, Canary, you there? Boy Scout needs an escape and ventilation." she hissed into the headset she still wore as she ran back to the computer set up. "Cyborg?" Crap, no reply. She set her own finger again, her heart beating in her throat. She unlocked all doors again and switched on the air conditioning to the factory. All the while she kept an eye trained to the door, waiting till they lost patience and burst in.

The team felt he cold air, Clark more so, finding strength to lift from the floor and drag himself from the room, coughing specs of green meteor from his lungs. The others felt the tension leave their frozen muscles and breathing became easier as they crawled for the closest exit. Ac diving back for the water, his skin cracking from the dry atmosphere and whatever else was in that dust they had all inhaled.

"Impulse, find the bomb. I'll get Chloe." Clark ordered and sped off, having quicker recovery time.

Chloe was crouched in the corner on the floor, behind Ollie's desk, knife in hand. She jumped at the female voice.

"Mr Queen. It's Brighter Blue's. You're scheduled for a tux fitting." Chloe fell over, breathing out on the cold wood. She remained like that till Clark landed on the balcony and shoved open the windows to crouch next to her.

"Chloe, you okay?" He pulled her to her feet, holding her to his chest and scanning the entire room with x-ray vision for traps or bombs. "What happened?"

"Nothing, false alarm. I'm fine." she breathed against his chest, wishing it was Oliver's instead. Once she would have craved to be in Clark's arms, that time had long passed, and her body craved another. Another than could not be replaced.

"Boy Scout!" Bart barked across the headset. "We've got issues!"

Chloe overheard and with a simple order for him to go he was off, speeding to Bart's location. She listened in via the headset, using satellites to find any other bomb sites.

"There are 6 ticking things!" Bart spoke again. Finally between them both they took out all 5 duds and the single real one and secured all of them, letting them blast in a desert in the middle of no-where. Cyborg and Canary came back into the system a few minutes later having left the research room. They'd taken some things with them, but mainly just folders and papers of experiments. Chloe promised to analyse them later.

But that wasn't the biggest itch as she wrapped up conversations and turned off Watchtower. She was pacing the floor affront the elevator for a good 5 minutes straight before she heard the clunk of it starting and finally as it slid open she practically leapt at Oliver. He immediately felt her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes to press her dry body against his 'wring me out' dripping wet one. He breathed deep the scent of home.

"Geez. Ollie, you're freezing." She stepped back from him, dragging him out with one hand then running into the hallway to throw him a towel. He ran it through his hair and over his face but froze, feeling Chloe's fingers tug on his zipper and pull at his gloves.

"Umm Chloe…" She didn't stop and slid the green leather from him, followed by the bands around his biceps and the black top he wore underneath. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd see sense and stop resisting me" he joked. She looked up and scowled.

"The only thing I'm stopping right now, is you, from getting ill for the rest of this year. And you're not as hot as you think you are." she added to tease, and tossed him back the towel that had dropped on the floor.

"Owch." Chloe turned at smiled at his expression of mock-pain.

"Go get warm. You can tell me what happened later." she qualified and settled back into the computer chair.

"Chloe" he called back. "Any reason there's a knife by the computer?" he asked, eyeing the weapon.

"Well you took the only bow I knew how to use, and you had no daggers or anything else." He hung said bow back up then pulled out a draw full of small weapons one could conceal on their body such as pocket knives.

"Well, I didn't see those."

"Huh… why exactly did you need a weapon anyway?" He rubbed the towel over his dripping hair, she looked away, releasing the rise in her libido into the floor.

"A woman from Brighter Blue's knocked."

"And you planned to kill her?" he enquired, following her back into the kitchen as she put the knife back. When she turned, there he was, leaning in the doorway. He looked like a pure god, small droplets rolling down his chest which she burned with envy at. They flowed down the contours of his six pack and navel before vanishing down his hip lines. She tied down the urge to chase those droplets with her tongue and turned it into anger instead.

"No, someone forgot to cancel their appointment, and while I'm being told to flee for my life, an unexpected knock makes you want to have something sharp and pointy handy." She breathed out, her hormones were making her crazy, if she didn't sleep with him soon she might just attack him. "Sorry, I'm just pissed at always being the one running away, hidden in my tower, scared to death at every creak and knock. It's driving me insane." Ollie just nodded. He understood better than she thought.

"Sorry. It slipped my mind." He sneezed before he could finish his apology and statement. Chloe flipped from edgy to nursing in the time it took for him to pale.

"Ollie, you're freezing and soaking wet. You'll end up with flu. Go get in bed and I'll bring you some tea to keep you warm." She settled her hands on his smooth back and pushed him up the stairs, listening to his complaints as he grudgingly went.

"Chloe, I'm fine. I never get sick."

"Humour me" she answered "Now, please Ollie. Get a hot shower and get into bed."

"You can join me if you like" he teased when she took her warm hands from his shoulders. "Maybe take my temperature." He stuck his tongue out. She huffed and turned back downstairs. He had no idea how much she warmed at the simple suggestion of that.

Ten minutes later she returned to hear the sweet lull of silent sleep washed over her angel.

"Night Ollie" she whispered and leaned in to kiss his forehead. He was to far gone to even feel the soft tickle of breath as she lingered, hesitating before dropping her lips to his own and gently pressing against him.

After she changed into her pyjamas she was a walking zombie and slid into the bed wrapping her tiny arms around the cold giant that was her man. He loosened and responded, pulling her close to his body yet never waking for even a second.

Oh it's so sweet I may cry. She cares for him. He cares for her. They were so close to a kiss and about to rip each other apart with the sexual desire in the room. It warms my heart to see such love.

I can only hope they continue to discover such feelings. Oh who am I kidding, I already know what's going to happen, I just need to share it with you.

Thank you for all the reviews so far, they taste delicious and make me feel all warm and gooey inside.

Keep tagged along my darlings. Don't get left behind. I love you all so very much.