A/N: Sorry it seems a bit of a rush and all over the place... not my best stuff but it is going somewhere, I promise. And sorry for the lateness... things have been crazy and then I had writer's block... hopefully I can knock out another chapter by the end of the week but no promises this time! ha ha... enjoy!

"You know I didn't do this."

She paced in front of the cell while Oliver watching her passively from the bench on which he was sitting. "I know, Ollie. I just don't know how to process this. I mean, I know it's Lex but I don't know how we're going to get you out of this."

"Hey, hey. We'll figure it out." He stood, moving to the bars, arms bracing on a crossbar, hands dangling out. "I've got some of the best lawyers in the country. We're going to be fine. Come here."

She stopped in front of his hands, her own coming up to tangle fingers with him. "I'm scared, Ollie." Leaning her head against the bars, desperate eyes meeting his.

He could read the pain in them, the loss she was feeling of the last member of her family. He let go of one of her hands to caress her face awkwardly. "I just wish... Dammit, I wish these bars weren't here."

She sighed. "We're lucky I'm here at all. Lex wants to file a restraining order keeping you away from me. He's got friends in high places and he's building a case against you, making you sound completely crazy and unstable. Your disappearance doesn't make it any better."

"I know, I know. But we can't give up."

The guard rapped on the door. "One minute!"

She blinked the tears from her eyes, turning her face to kiss his palm. "What are we going to do?"

He stroked her cheek. "Go back to Queen Towers and stay there. Bring the others back in. This has to be figured out. And when I'm not there I need to know you're being protected."

"Well, I do have Bruce," she teased.

He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Even in this, our darkest hour, you're teasing me."

She tossed him a smile as she started for the door. "Well, not quite the darkest."

"Be careful, Chloe. Without your powers-"

The guard held the door open and she grinned back at him as she ducked under. "You know me, Ollie."

"Exactly."

She kept the smile on her face until the door shut then it crumpled into despair. What was she going to do? Go back to Queen Towers? Then what? No superpowers would help in getting Oliver out of jail, out of a murder charge. She gathered her things and left the building. As usual, Lex's limo was waiting outside, its owner leaning against it. And, as usual, she walked right past.

"Chloe-"

She squeezed her eyes shut for a millisecond, willing the angry tears back. "What, Lex? I didn't want your help before and I don't want it now," she cut in, her voice full of venom.

"Chloe, let me help you."

"Don't need it." She raised a hand to hail a cab.

"Chloe, you're overreacting. As if you think I'm setting your boyfriend up. As if I had something to do with this whole debacle."

She whirled on him. "Didn't you?"

He met her gaze squarely. "No."

"I don't believe you." A cab pulled up and she got in before he could reply. "Queen Towers please."

During the cab ride, she stayed silent, trying to work things out in her mind. When she got to Queen Towers, Bruce and Diana were already there.

"Thought you might need some help," Diana offered, her voice gentle, careful.

Bruce studied her. "We got the results of your tests. There's nothing wrong with you. No reason to believe your powers are gone."

Diana shot him a glare. Sometimes... "Chloe, we'll figure this out. Oliver's lawyers called today. There was no evidence, nothing to put him at the scene of the murder. We've got him the alibi of being with Bruce that night and Alfred said he'd go to court if it came to it."

"Thanks," Chloe replied numbly, moving to the stairs, to the bedroom. "I'm just really tired, guys. I'll see you in the morning."

"We'll be here," Diana offered.

As Chloe disappeared down the hall, she could hear Diana admonishing Bruce, "You could've been a little more delicate about her powers."

"Why? Something went wrong. Something went wrong and she thought it was her powers but it wasn't. At least now she knows that she can defend herself, that next time it could work. She doesn't have to live in fear. We can't have her second guessing herself with powers like that. We may need her."

Chloe shut her door on the rest of the conversation, allowing herself to fall down onto the bed. So she wasn't broken. At least, she allowed without mirth. She didn't fault Bruce for being blunt, instead she welcomed it. She was tired of people tiptoeing around her. Tired of the excuses and the slips allowing mistakes.

She woke a few hours later, the ache still in her chest. She rolled over to look at Oliver's side of the bed. It was still made up. For some reason, it made her want to cry. It wasn't that he was away on some trip. She couldn't call him and feel that reassuring rush as he picked up the phone with his sleepy voice wherever he was in the world, whatever time it was there. He was in jail.

Sliding from the bed, she made her way into the shower. As the hot water sluiced over her seemingly numb body, she leaned into the wall, closing her eyes. What were they going to do?

After towelling dry, she pulled on whatever clothing was closest to hand and wandered down into the kitchen to find an array of heroes sprawled through the apartment.

"Hey mamacita," Bart said, superspeeding to her with a cup of coffee. "Fresh from Columbia. Not a drop spilt." His boyish grin almost made her want to smile back.

"Thanks, Bart."

"We'll figure this out, Chlo," A.C. added, coming up behind her and squeezing her shoulder.

She reached up and squeezed back. "Thanks."

Suddenly she had a vivid image of Lois strutting into the apartment, demanding they get to work, strutting into the police station and demanding that Oliver's release, throwing piles of evidence at them. Then it faded and the apartment faded gloomily back into view. A.C. was still had a hand on her shoulder, his other arm had wrapped around her waist.

"You okay, Watchtower?"

She looked up at his concerned face then around to the others trying to cover up their own fierce worry. "Fine. I'm fine. Just stressed. It's been a long couple of days." She stepped out of his arms, testing her legs then heard him sigh almost inaudibly in relief that he didn't have to catch her again.

"Sorry we didn't get here quicker. We were dealing with a couple of people factories down south."

"You should've seen it, chicka. The conditions these people were in. Powers or no powers, it was painful." Bart shivered and went back to the kitchen in search of a snack.

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter. There's nothing to do here. It's all in the lawyers' hands now."

Victor spoke up for the first time, a small smile playing on his lips. "Must be driving you nuts, huh?"

The smile found its way onto her face before she knew it. She'd missed her boys. "Yeah."

"Let's do it up tonight then." Bart had returned with a triple-decker sandwich. "Beat on some bad guys."

Yeah, she really missed her boys.

They entered the courtroom as a group, Bart and Victor pushing open the doors, Chloe and Diana following and Bruce and A.C. bringing up the rear. All eyes were on them as they took the front row seats behind the defence table. Lex's eyes bore into Chloe's but she looked away, up towards where Oliver had turned around in his seat. His eyes darted up to Chloe's and he winked at her as if to say, 'No problem...' Diana took Chloe's hand and squeezed hard. Chloe squeezed back.

"All rise for the honourable Judge Wilcox."

The Judge entered and sat and it all began.

Chloe couldn't pay attention to anything anyone said. She could only stare at the back of Oliver's head, at the way his cool calm exterior was broken only by the way his fingers fluttered against his leg. She wanted to squeeze her shoulder, she wanted to hug him. She wanted to take his hand and run far, far away from Metropolis. But she couldn't. That three feet from her hands clenched in her lap to his stiffened shoulder felt like an open chasm.

Hours later, during recess, Oliver was brought back to a holding cell. He sat down on the bench, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. The morning had been debate after debate. At this rate, the trial was going to last for months. Or even years. He bumped his head back against the wall. "Dammit."

"Losing faith?"

His eyes opened slowing to show a smug Lex Luthor in the doorway. "What are you doing here, Luthor?"

"Just wanted to see how the old boy was holding up." He circled the room, coming face to face with Oliver. "Can't visit an old friend?"

"Not when you're the driving force behind trying to put me away for life or worse."

Lex shrugged. "You're guilty, Oliver."

Oliver glared back. "I'm not and you know it. You've set this whole thing up. You know it's never going to work, though, right?"

Lex smiled enigmatically. "Only time will tell, Queen."

The door of his office opened and Chloe strode in, glaring.

"Welcome home, Chlo," Lex offered.

"I want to talk to you. Alone."

He motioned to the guards and they left, shutting the doors behind them. Lex moved around his desk to stand in front of her. "Well," he asked. "What have you got?"

She brought her hand up across his face, her own a mask of rage, hatred against the man standing in front of her. A normal slap would have been painful but she turned the full power of her gift on him, the pain radiating through his body as if he'd been shocked with a thousand volts of electricity. His body jerked involuntarily and fell to the ground, a motionless heap.

She bent down, placing a hand on his chest and brought him back. "I can go all night Lex. You may not be so lucky. I've learned to control my powers since the last time you saw me use them all those years ago. They're stronger now. Don't tire me out so easily anymore. Your body though, probably won't be able to go through cardiac arrest many more times. So I'm going to ask you one more time. How. Did. You. Do it?" When he stared up at her with cold grey eyes, she screamed in anguish and frustration. "She was my cousin, Lex! She might as well have been my sister. And you killed her! How could you have done that! You were supposed to have loved her! You were supposed to have taken care of her!" She was crying uncontrollably, barely able to see his blurred form through her tears.

He lunged weakly to try and subdue her but she tried to wrestle away and her hands grasped his unclothed arms, trying to push him away. Her powers reacted, throwing him across the room. He managed to raise himself onto his hands and knees, panting. "I tried to save you," he coughed out. "I wanted to make sure you never had to do things like this. I wanted to take care of you."

It made her cry harder. "You made me like this. Metropolis is destroyed, mangled beyond recognition." She flung an arm out towards the cityscape. "You were the reason drugs flooded the city, that crime rates went up! You wanted this power and control and you didn't care who got hurt in the process. People cower when you walk past! The curfew isn't the reason people aren't out past nine o'clock, they're terrified of the streets and what they contain! You did this!" she screamed.

"I'm sorry." He hung his head.

She lunged forward, kicking him in the ribs and making him crash to the ground. "No, you're not, Lex, and that's the worst part. This was all part of your plan. You're just glad that Oliver came back to be your scapegoat."

He coughed, spitting blood, regaining some strength. "So what, Chloe? I know what I wanted and I went for it. I got Lois and she lost her shine. She threw herself into drugs and I tried to get her out of it but it didn't work. So I got rid of her. Doesn't matter. It wasn't like she was doing any good on this earth anymore." He stood, a bit shakily but managed to stay upright and came towards her. She raised her hands in defence and he laughed. "Go ahead. Try it. I'm not afraid because I know that you can't kill me. You wouldn't because your precious Oliver wouldn't be able to look at you the same ever again. Although he won't be around long enough to do anything about it anyway." He caught her wrists, stretching her arms out so they were face to face, millimetres from each other. "Go ahead, Chloe. Do it." He pressed his palms to hers, twining his fingers in hers. "Kill me."

She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, her chest heaving in sobs.

"That's what I thought." And he shoved her back. She crashed over his desk and landed in an unconscious heap. "Now we're going to play my way."

Chloe Sullivan, cousin of the late Lois Luthor and girlfriend of billionaire Oliver Queen, recently acquitted of Mrs. Luthor's murder with the reasoning of not insufficient evidence or proof, has been missing for two days.

"We're very worried," Mayor Luthor is quoted as saying. "Finding Chloe is my first priority because she is so close to me. This is a warning to whoever has taken her: I will find you and the consequences will hold no bounds."

Miss Sullivan was last seen at the offices of the Daily Planet on Monday night, apparently working late on a story. No connection to her latest article has been formed. Police continue their investigations. Any news, tips, or sightings can be directed towards the Metropolis Po-

Oliver threw a chair at the TV with a growl as it smashed and the screen fizzled out.

"Now, Oliver, cal-"

He whirled on the tall Amazon. "You tell me to calm down one more time, Diana and it'll be you I'll be throwing next, powers or no powers." His hands clenched into fists a few times, his jaw working to calm himself down and he took a deep breath. "This is the last straw. Luthor's gone too far."

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