AN: Sorry for the long wait! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 8

It was a weird thing, a difficult, thing own up to the reality that you are fundamentally changed and you don't know what that means or what it looks like. Just that you are. The reality of it made everything else a kind of un-reality, something that was bizarre and cruel and unfair. These were the thoughts that crowded Chloe when she wiped the mirror clear of the steam that had condensed on it due to her bracingly hot shower. The image she confronted was different from the one revealed in the hospital the night, the day, that she had awakened from a coma.

Her hair was slightly longer and spiked on its own. Her face was more filled out and had a healthier hue to it. This mirror was larger and she could see the rest of her body. She had a long scar down her chest where the doctors had broken her breast bone to get to her lungs. A scar ran across her abdomen which was the entry point for them to correct her internal injuries. Chloe had lost a kidney and she had part of her father's liver. Despite all of those things, she felt…

"Invigorated. I feel...alive."

And this was true. For the past few days, her physical therapist had carefully and expertly rehabilitated muscles that had been in disuse. He had massaged the aches. But Chloe had the bone deep sense that even without him, she would've been fine. More than fine. She had to fake strain and effort. Everything was coming easier to her. Chloe couldn't understand it and she feared it. She feared what it meant for her. Chloe hadn't tested the limits of her new-found strength and she had no intention of doing it any time soon. But…

A ghostly hand caressed her from the base of her spine to her neck.

"But you have questions. You want to know. You need to know. It is your curse." It was a soft whisper in her ear.

Chloe tilted her head towards the lips that formed those words. She recognized that voice, that gentle touch.

"Zod?"

There was a note of lust and gentle chiding in those uttered words. They were playful words. In the moments where they had loved each other the best, Zod used that voice with Zor-El. It was full of promise. Zod was cultured. He commanded rooms. And from the moment in service in Krypton's mining force, there was something between them. Friendship, rivalry, anger, love were the things that had defined them. Even that was a limited view of them.

"Zor-El, this world has a yellow sun. Ours was yellow, remember? It was only red because of Krypton. Krypton was special, was it not? Our atmosphere, the nature of our planet, so very different than Earth even if our sun wasn't much different. Remember how special Krypton was?"

She could see Zod close his eyes from the view of him in the mirror. He was wistful. She saw what drew Faora. He had a boyish quality at times. The sway of his hair. The pursed lips.

Chloe touched the mirror. These feelings were of a time gone by. There were a million remembered touches. The way he moaned when he, Zor-El, kissed that spot behind his ear. Zod positioned himself more fully behind Chloe and encircled her waist with his arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Zod's left hand moved until he held her neck in a loose grip and he took her ear between his lips. Chloe opened her eyes and there was Lex.

"Remember how special Krypton is, Zor-El. Remember the fun we have. We can have this, Zor-El. We can have this for a long time. Just…stay with me."

But this was a dream. Zod wasn't real. He was a long dead man. And so was Krypton and whatever promise it once held, it was dead. This had been a real moment between Zod and Zor-El. They had been in what would be the Kryptonian version of a summer villa. There was so much light that day. The light red sky was clear and both of them could see what seemed like miles ahead of them.

Chloe shook her head and the ghost sensations that Zod had produced were gone. She was bereft. She shook herself again.

"Krypton wasn't Earth and Kryptonians weren't human. Shards of Krypton caused mutation in humans. Think, Chloe. What's to say that even on Krypton they weren't slightly stronger than humans?"

Could she be closer to what a Kryptonian would be? If so, how was that possible?

Chloe clutched the sink and stared into her own eyes. "This isn't normal. This isn't normal. This isn't normal."

Maybe if she repeated it enough, she could change it. She could become normal. She could prevent it from becoming a new normal. As she muttered to herself, she could be honest at the same time. Only the slightest hint of hysteria betrayed her.

A knock at the restroom door startled her out of her reverie. "Chloe? Are you ok? I know it was hard today, but Joey says you're improving faster than he expected."

Chloe snorted to herself and muttered. "That's the problem."

On the other side of the door, Gabe grabbed his head and dug his fingers into his scalp. He had to be patient. He wasn't patient the last time and everything was ruined. He could be patient this time. "It has to work this time."

"Do you need help?"

Chloe looked sharply at the door. There was something in her father's voice, some quality that was both familiar and not. There was something wrong and it was enough to draw her from memories and feelings that weren't her own. She opened the door quickly, which startled Gabe. She could see the strain in his face and many other things. Irritation, hope, expectation, anger, relief passed over his face and finally settled on the smile that she had always found comforting.

They stood in the hallway, staring at each other for longer than was comfortable. There was a resonance and awareness between them that had never existed before and it was in turns frightening and welcome.

Her father was the first to break the stand-off. "You almost died and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to watch you lying still in a cold, sterile hospital room. I would've had put you in a coffin, to pack you away, and content myself with visiting a grave for the rest of my life. To tell myself that you were still here and remember the good times," his voice broke and he took her hand and placed it above his heart. "Memories are never enough, Chloe, no matter whatever platitudes well-meaning people spew from their perch of asinine wisdom."

Chloe was shamed. Whatever else was going on that needed her attention now, her father was still the best of the things in her life and she had wronged him by not trying to understand his grief. In the face of such unabashed honesty and regret and relief, she could do no more than let him hug her.

"This isn't about your mother, Chloe. This isn't me clinging to you because I have faced the thought of being alone before. You are my daughter and the best part of me."

The moment was broken when they both heard her cellphone ringing from her room. Gabe released her and walked towards the kitchen. He called over his shoulder, "It's probably Oliver. I've been blowing him off on your behalf for the past few days."

Chloe continued to watch him trek to the kitchen until he was out of sight and her phone stopped ringing. There it was again: the moment when her father was no longer her father. After Chloe reached her room, she saw that Oliver had called and she did the only thing that she could do, which was return his call. She needed to get to work and that meant re-engaging Oliver.

Twenty minutes later found Chloe cruising in Oliver's car, headed towards Watchtower. They were both silent on the drive, save for a few halting sentences about how the other was doing. At a glance, Chloe could tell that Oliver was stressed. His hair was slightly mussed and there seemed to be a slight frown that never really left his face. He kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye; there were a million and one questions that she couldn't and didn't want to answer.

She wasn't actually surprised when a chill raised her hairs on her arms. It even made her scalp tingle. Chloe glanced into the rear view mirror and was not surprised to see Green Arrow. What did startle her was the differences in appearance, even from the last "Errol Flynn" Green Arrow. His hair was short and there was a five o'clock shadow present on his jaw line. He wore green and she could see the outline of a bow and arrow. His face was harder and the edge of WASP-y aristocracy was all but gone. There was an air of grief and darkness about him. This was an Oliver who had never even taken solace in his business, who had felt desperation in his bones and would never shake that feeling. There was the hint of murder in his eyes. This was a man who had never truly left his island prison, a man of vengeance.

"Eyes forward, Chloe. He might think something is wrong."

Oliver's brow furrowed. "Are you ok, Chloe?"

"Yes, Chloe. Are you ok?"

It was déjà vu. She'd had this conversation before with Errol Flynn Green Arrow.

"Not really. This short hair makes my scalp tingle at the oddest of times," she forced the words out even as she knew that they would ring false to Oliver. They were acting now and going through the motions.

It was with profound relief when she finally exited the car and wasn't in close quarters with versions of a man she thought she loved. Chloe sighed with relief when she crossed the threshold into the apartment. New Other Green Arrow glided toward a desk.

"Chloe, I am really worried about you."

She sighed, "I know. It's just so weird, ya know? Nothing is the same and I don't know if it's just me or if things have actually changed."

Oliver grunted in agreement. "The only experience I have is when I came back from the island."

"My time was rougher than his. I could only feel hatred, Chloe. An unrelenting hatred. I realized that nothing had actually changed, but me. And then I realized that wasn't true. Everything had changed and I had changed, but we didn't change together. That was the problem."

Oliver smiled slightly and it transformed his face into something beautiful. "We don't expect anything from you, but I know you're bored. If you want, you can always digitize and organize my company's holdings."

Green Arrow's voice sounded from somewhere in the apartment,"Ouch! Such a manipulative ass. A ploy, Chloe, to get you to do the dirty work. Or maybe it is to draw you out," He walked into her view to a table that held various files flash drives, "You will want to check this."

He slammed his hand down onto a pile of folders.

Chloe focused on Oliver and rolled her eyes. She had to act out her role now. "Nah, I just want to relax without the prying eyes of my dad. I haven't had any privacy these last few weeks."

Oliver raised his hands in knowing defeat. "I know, I know. You know where everything is. Try not to break anything," he winked at her and left the apartment. They were themselves again and it was a much needed respite from the uncertainty.

Chloe ran to Green Arrow and he disbursed in a flash of dark green and the smell of an island forest. She read the files and could see the trouble Queen Industries, Wayne Enterprises, and Luthorcorp and other conglomerates faced. There was too much order here. She had seen this before, which she already knew since she had the same revelation in the hospital; but it was more prominent.

"Remember how special Krypton was?"

"Jesus Christ! This is Brainiac's Protocal!"

Dark Thursday was caused by a virus that had been a pale imitation of Brainiac's Protocal which was set in motion by the spirit that called itself Zod. But that Zod wasn't real, just remnants of the man in the Phantom Zone. It was Zod stripped of all of his charisma and brilliant mind. That was also a ploy by Brainiac. Krypton was destroyed partly by its resistance to order, but mostly because Brainiac was an uncaring, unfeeling machine that wanted to start from scratch. What was happening now was a precursor to the kind of order Brainiac had sought to impose on Krypton.

If Krypton, with all its advancement, couldn't stop Brainiac and the forces that unleashed him, then how could Earth? Clark was out of commission, Lex was so far down the rabbit hole that he couldn't see, and Oliver just didn't have the ability to help her.

Using the expense card Oliver had given her, she purchased new computer parts. Watchtower was not advanced enough to do what she needed to do. She had to start with a blank slate so that she could incorporate Krypton.

She had no time to waste. Chloe had to get to work and quickly. To be perfectly honest, Chloe only had one question. She probably should've had more, but there was really only one.

"How?"