Chapter 11 [Talon]

Chloe parked her car in the lot behind the café and set the brake. During the trip back from Metropolis, she'd tried to get Lois talking about the situation. Nothing the blonde spitfire had tried would work. "Lois, please speak to me."

"Like it matters?" Lois supposed ruefully. "Love how Clark left his brain in Washington. Wonder how he'll ever deal with life?"

"He and Lana did want you to hear first, Lo. Their choice of where sucked," Chloe disagreed. "I just need to check on Davis. Then we can head and get some pizza or whatever you want."

Lois had to concede a smile on that note. "With how the love bomb's dissing us, maybe we should bring some back for him too? Think he can stay sane long enough?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "He's not that bad. In fact, we…."

Then a loud crash echoed toward them. The building shook.

"What the Hell?" Lois wondered. "Chloe, stay back!"

"Davis! What's going on in there?" Chloe exclaimed.

Just then, Cyborg crashed through the front window and hit the street hard.

"What are you all doing?" Chloe queried in exasperation. She rushed into the café. "Davis? DAVIS?"

"Stay back, Chloe! We have to deal with him!" Green Arrow yelled from the bottom of the cellar stairs. "Damn! Kryptonite doesn't work on him as it does Clark! Canary, NOW!"

The familiar high pitched screech filled the air, echoing up the stairs. Even through reinforced concrete and wood, it still rattled the stain glass on the top floor and shattered a lot of the coffee cups in the serving area.

Then it was suddenly squelched before a sickening impact was heard.

Impulse's unconscious body tore upward through the floorboards and smacked against the ceiling.

A loud pitched roar echoed up the stairs.

"Come on, Chloe! We need to get out of here!" Lois yelled. "Maybe I can reach the Red and Blue Blur."

"Don't count us out yet!" Cyborg fumed as he stormed back into the café. Despite the obvious damage to his systems, he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Where's the magic babe? Can't you wish it out?" Lois snapped sarcastically.

"We didn't tell her. Green Bean's decision…and…." Cyborg saw the sorceress appear. "About time you found out, Lady."

"I've been busy," Zatanna retorted evenly. "Why didn't any of you get the word to me?"

"We were looking to take advantage of the situation," Green Arrow insisted as he backed up the stairs while firing shot after shot. At that moment, he looked outside. "What the Hell?"

Everyone else's eyes followed to see three masked figures swoop down out of the sky while alighting in front of the building.

"Boy Scout?" Green Arrow supposed.

"You all seem to be doing so well," Clark deadpanned with an edge to his voice. "Charge right in and damn the consequences?"

"Talk later!" Kara snapped while streaking down the stairs toward the battle site.

More impacts could be heard as punches were obviously exchanged between the two adversaries. A loud crash came from the building's back.

"Let's go!" Lana insisted while streaking toward the battle.

"Wait!" Clark shook his head before following in their wake. He found his fellow Kryptonians already flanking the hulking red eyed killing machine and dishing out their own form of punishment to it.

My Son, it is time, Jor-El reminded him.

Clark opened the box and produced the black kryptonite. For a second, he considered it in the setting sun's light, letting it glint off of the cragged surface. Then he rushed toward Doomsday and pressed the stone to its chest. For Chloe's sake, this had better work!

The creature screamed in pain as the dark glow bathed it. It swatted at the enemies which streaked around it but kept missing. It finally knocked Clark across the alley.

Kara pushed the stone back in position and kept the effort up.

Within seconds, the dark mitosis was underway. A human form pushed its way out of the larger entity's back and fell to the cold asphalt.

"We did it!" Lana cheered before taking a large backhand out of the alley and across the street for her trouble.

"What? I….?" Davis stared at his alter ego in horror for a split second. "Is that?"

"It is!" Clark pointed to where Chloe and Lois stood with the remaining JLA members. "Get the girls and go! We'll deal with this!"

"Thank you!" Davis expressed before running down the alley into Chloe's arms. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. And you?" Chloe wondered.

"Okay. We'd better stay back," Davis noted. He looked to where Green Arrow and Zatanna watched and waited. "Aren't you going to get involved?"

"We're just making sure you all get out of here safely," Green Arrow insisted.

"And we're doing that," Lois noted. "Just don't get your fool green butt squashed! Got it?"

"You just get out of here. We'll talk, Lane. Got it?" the archer fired back before sizing up another shot at the rampaging beast.

The three civilians backed across the street.

Zatanna opened her book and found the spell she wanted. "Step away from the creature! My turn!" She winced at having to kill it but there would be no other way. From what she'd gleaned from the earlier briefing at the clock tower, Doomsday could survive and adjust to any attack.

The killer was already getting closer to anticipating Clark and Kara's moves.

The two Kryptonians dropped back about ten feet.

"Watch it, all right?" Green Arrow ordered, letting a bit of worry into his voice.

The magician looked quizzically at him. She had to admit that he did intrigue her. But she hadn't seen any sign from him one way or the other. That's a matter for later! "Just be ready to have my back."

The archer had his bow aimed just in case. "Go for it!"

Zatanna waved her hands and chanted, "Eb uoy llahs regnol on dna detargetnisid! Eb uoy llahs os, deyortsed uoy sa!"

Doomsday screamed and grabbed its head. It glowed bright yellow and shuddered. Then it turned dark and transparent. Finally it felt apart into a collection of particles and even those vanished from view.

"Wow! That actually worked!" Kara realized.

"Are you guys all right?" Lana worried while running over to Clark's side.

"We're fine, Raven," Clark indicated as they hugged. "Thanks to Zatanna's magic."

"You separated Bloome from Doomsday, Boy Scout. Raven and our other friends gave me the chance to find that spell. It was a team effort," Zatanna urged while seeing Aquaman struggling to sit up. "Easy."

"Dolphin Boy's going to try and swim even if he's down to his last flipper," Cyborg cracked while picking his teammate up. "I'll get him out of here." With that, he ran off toward the Kent Farm.

"The rest of us had best be getting back too," Green Arrow urged. He looked at the newest recruit. "Mind giving us a lift?"

"Could that be for an escape or a date, my friend?" Zatanna asked mischievously while waving her hands. "Rewot kcolc eht ot em dna ALJ eht ekat!"

The two heroes vanished in a flash of light.

"Guess that's our cue too?" Lana supposed while hearing the sirens (finally) coming up the road.

"Unless Clark wants to have a chat with that annoying sheriff. He so loves that," Kara cracked.

"Let's go," Clark insisted before he and Lana rushed off at super speed.

"Got to say the full power thing suits them," Kara admitted before flying off into the night sky and just beating the police's arrival in the process.

For all concerned, disaster had been averted. Despite the wounds suffered by the JLA, Doomsday was gone. Davis Bloome was cured and could face justice. Zatanna had proven her role as a JLA member.

Best of all, three Kryptonians had found something more valuable: unity and family bonds.

And that could be the start of something great all the way around….

Chapter 12 [That night—Queen Industries' Medical Facility—Star City]

[A/N: Okay, slight interlude from the Clana but details….right? Oliver gets his surprise now! More Clana coming up!]

Oliver walked through the halls of his facility with a great deal on his mind. He was satisfied that Doomsday was no longer a threat. In the morning, he'd talk with his lawyers about getting Bloome a reduced or suspended sentence in exchange for continued medical treatment. The other JLA members seemed to be on the mend (although he was waiting for word on Black Canary).

And then there were his feelings for a certain raven haired magician….

When he and Zatanna had talked the first time during the whole Chloe and Clark wishgate thing, Oliver had doubted that the woman in question could do what she said. He thought she was a bit pompous and arrogant until he saw her on the rooftop trying to bring her father back to life.

He and Clark talked her into doing the right thing and letting the elder to his fate.

At that moment, the archer saw her vulnerable side. She was human. She needed affection.

Affection he also needed.

He grimaced. Love had never been especially kind to him. Most women wouldn't understand his double life—a fact that Lois drilled into his psyche loud and clear. But here was a woman who could share that life. Could he reach out to her?

At that moment, a voice interrupted, "Hey, Mr. Q!"

Oliver turned to see Bart limping down the hall on his crutches. "You should be in bed."

"Hey! Can't keep me down!" Bart coughed. "At least I'm not like AC or Dinah."

"Be grateful for that, Speedy," Victor concurred. "But they're both going to pull through."

"What's the latest?" Oliver wondered.

"AC's leg should be water safe in a couple of weeks. Zatanna was watching Dinah," the cyborg reported.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. The team had taken some hard shots from Doomsday. Fortunately none were permanently debilitating or fatal. "We really did bite off more than we could chew."

"Part of the job. Fortunately we had back up," Victor noted. "Come on, Speedy! Back to bed!"

"Aw man! I don't want to be stuck there!" Bart whined.

"Get better then you don't have to worry about it," Oliver insisted as Victor all but carried Bart away from there. "Sometimes I don't know how they survive." He walked down the hall to Dinah's room. There he found Zatanna keeping a vigil on the sleeping Canary. "Any change?"

She shook her head. "Dinah's still sleeping. At least she'll pull through. I really do wish you all would have waited for me and the others, Oliver."

"Yeah well, it wasn't one of my greatest strategic moves, I have to admit," the archer conceded. "Nice bit of work with Doomsday and getting us out of there by the way."

"All in a day's work. You have your tricks. I have mine. But I would like to be included as a member of the team," she replied with an impish smile.

"I think we have a place for you. That is if you really want to stay around," he noted hopefully.

She stood and walked over to him. "Oh I definitely would. Imagine. Somehow my tour dates outside of the city were canceled. Now why ever would I do that? Maybe because I need my wish granted?"

"I thought you said you couldn't grant your own wishes," he recalled.

"I can't. I need help," she revealed while looking into his eyes softly.

In spite of his own issues toward love, he felt warm inside. "Help." He kissed her softly on the lips. "You mean like that?"

"Exactly. And since Cupid's busy, I figured a certain emerald archer would do. Think I'm right?" she queried. "Think we can talk about these things over coffee?"

"I know just the place. Follow me," he agreed as they headed toward the elevator and his Ferrari. Love, it seemed, was in the air all around…..