Author's Note: Okay, boys and girls, I know it's short, but I hope it'll do for now.

Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, DC Comics, ya-ya, etc. and all that jazz.

oOo

Oliver Queen wasn't one to simply sit on his rump when there were things to do. He'd been kept pretty busy for the last few months and he certainly had enough people to do the tasks for him if he took the notion. Lately, he had plenty enough on his plate at the moment with Chloe's secret move to Gotham, monitoring her mother at Clark's request, not to mention his pursuit in finding Lex Luthor in the anticipation of what was coming next and just exactly how it all connected.

The mere thought of it rushed his mind all at once and he pinched the bridge of his nose in vain as if to stave off the stressing confusion. Sure, he'd had the opportunity of going to Gotham recently and the idea of checking on Chloe had crossed his mind, but there had been too much to do already and he knew Chloe would begrudgingly appreciate his effort only to insist that there was no need until she was blue in the face. So, in the end, he decided against going. Besides, it wasn't as if Wayne would have missed him anyway.

No, today was one day. This one day was his day to kick back and relax. No worries, no work. While he might not get the chance to jet somewhere else in the world, at the moment his home with the stunning palatial outdoor living space designed like a Roman bathhouse would suffice. He simply wanted to stretch out in the sun and allow the heat to help him to relax.

Just as his lids were growing heavy and a blissful sleep within reach…a faint buzzing sound was whirring by his ear. Out of faint consciousness, he kept swatting at the offense, but still kept hearing the annoyance.

Finally recognition set it and he lurched up and turned to the table beside him. His phone was buzzing, blinking and dancing around the small table.

Oliver didn't even try to suppress a great groan of aggravation as he threw his head forward in disappointment. "This better be good," he grumbled as he picked up the phone, not even bothering to look at the I.D.

"Queen," he nearly barked into the receiver.

"She's gone, sir!" a panicked voice blurted.

He squinted in confusion. "Gone?" he repeated and shook his head.

"Someone must have gotten past them all. We arrived this morning and the guard…Mark…he's dead, sir. And the room… empty."

It all came back to Oliver in one panicked blow. He quickly leapt up and began towards the house. "I'm on my way," he informed quickly. "Get a CS unit. I want every inch of that facility covered."

"Right away, sir," was the intent response.

Oliver quickly clipped the phone shut as he approached his room. For a moment he stopped and stared at his closed phone.

He was going to have to call Clark.

He closed his eyes in dread and groaned.

oOo

The calm before the storm...can Gotham ever be safe?

"You're insane."

Chloe merely raised her eyebrows and bobbed her head in consideration as she continued to chew on her thumb. Walter's assessment as he perused her new article concerning the local mob activity wasn't far off the mark and she wasn't going to dispute it.

"And…?"

Walter merely grinned. "I gotta hand it to you, Hildy," he remarked with a chuckle…and a new nickname. "This is an amazing lead," he added.

Chloe paused for a moment in her thumb-chewing. "Yet somehow I feel a 'but' coming on?"

"But…,"Walter merely raised an eyebrow of consideration. "Just the same, I think it's best to hold onto this for a couple of days."

Instantly, Chloe's eyes bugged out.

"Now hold on a minute before you have kittens," Walter began as he held up his hand to stop the tirade he knew was coming. "We need more than that," he referred to her article. "People in Gotham need to know more than to stay in their homes because of a mob war may be on the horizon. In this town, they'll be betting on who has the most cops on their side: the citizens or the mob."

Chloe took that into consideration.

"No," Walter shook his head. "They need to know someone is out there fighting for their side."

Chloe rolled her eyes instantly. She knew precisely where Walter was going. "C'mon Walt," she whined with a little too much emphasis. "So far all that most of my research shows about the Batman was that he was willing to sacrifice a few innocent people over that…that madman and for what?"

"So, go find out?" he replied with a casual wave of his hand. "Talk to Gordon, get a few street opinions, hell, talk to some of the staff around here," he suggested. "If you can come up with a companion piece to this, we'll have one helluva feature."

Chloe could only stand there, not sure whether to be furious or simply roll over in humiliation. Either way, she knew that she needed to cough up this piece or one of the most important stories of her career would likely never see the light of day.

Just as she turned towards the door, she heard Walter's chair roll. "Now, hold on a moment, Chloe," she heard him say and slowly turned back to face him.

"Look, I know you're not excited about this, but you've got to understand. Good or bad: the Batman gets everyone's attention," he informed with a mock look of apology.

Finally, she relented with a sigh. "Why do I get the feeling that this is the Walter that ran this place years ago," Chloe grumbled with a lopsided grin.

Walter merely titled his head to the side. "I don't know," he replied lightly. "Why is that?"

Chloe marveled at Walter for a moment. Did he just flutter his lashes at her?

"Okay," she sighed in defeat. "You win."

"Marvelous!" he exclaimed in mock excitement.

And with that, Chloe merely turned and walked out of his office. Plopping down at her desk, she took a moment to savor her blank mind. The urge to not pursue a companion piece on Batman was immensely great.

She had perused…okay, skimmed…some various scant articles that she could find on this Batman, but they were just as vague and mysterious as he seemed to be himself. However, she read many articles hailing this man as a hero of Gotham, despite his taste for the theatrics with outlandish costume and all.

Shaking her head, 'Man, I hope Clark doesn't decide to do that', she thought as she considered a brief break. Though the she was certain that the caffeine was no more than a psychological need at this point, at least she would think that she was getting a pick-me-up.

Maybe Ginny could be of some help, she thought with a bit of hope and that was just enough to make her confident enough that she could pop out a hum-drum piece by her standards anyway and still satisfy Walter.

Heaving an enormous sigh, Chloe slapped her hands onto her desk and rose as if she were attempting to hoist a heavy weight out of her chair.

The room was abuzz of activity and it was a slight comfort as Chloe went in search of her begrudging partner. If anyone who would shoot straight with her on anything in this town, then Ginny was certainly her go-to girl.

Dragging herself into the breakroom, Chloe felt immense disappointment as she realized that she had to deal with the Gazette's sub-standard coffee (something else she needed to talk to Walter about). Having to deal with this Batman was something she felt needed some serious stimulation.

As she doctored her coffee to her precise liking, Chloe couldn't help feeling a bit out of sorts. Why did Walter seem to expect her to be as fascinated by this Batman as everyone else? Of course, if he'd only known about her wall of weird…

The mild noise of the 24 hour news could in the background finally filtered through her thoughts and she realized someone was standing behind her.

"I'm sorry, I'll be out of your way in just a sec," she apologized as she gathered her coffee.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be more permanent than that," she heard a mumble close behind her.

Chloe's head came up, her face screwed up in confusion and quickly turned to see who was behind her.

Steven Van Zant.

Chloe knew that he supervised much of the Gazette's political spectrum of the paper, nationally and locally. She hadn't been introduced formally, but she'd read a few of his articles. Very subdued, typically cynical.

"Excuse me?" she shot him a look of question, disbelieving what she'd just heard.

The man was blithe with a very typical look of smug assurance. "Don't worry, you'll find out what that means as you continue to slit your own throat," he remarked casually as he poured his own cup of coffee.

Chloe opened her mouth, but all that came out was a scoff of disbelief. "I'm sorry. Did the wrong side of the political spectrum piss in your Cheerios this morning?"

Steven merely looked at her with the lifted eyes of patronization as he stirred his coffee. "Look, you think that no one knows what you're doing. You think they don't know that you'll be coming after them with speculations…possible insinuations and, heaven forbid, actual fact," enunciating the last with a dead-set look in the eye.

Chloe frowned at his tone, his implication hitting an uncomfortable spot.

"You better watch your back, missy. The last, big idealist to come through this town was blown to hell along with her self-superior notions and her overzealous boyfriend," he chuckled with a sneer. "You can be certain that no one at this paper plans on going down for your journalistic ambitions."

Chloe couldn't help it as she cocked her head half a turn and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Careful, I might construe that as a threat, Mr. Van Zant."

"Consider it however you will," he replied coolly and then simply turned and walked away.

As she followed him with her eyes, Chloe could only look on in utter bafflement. What had brought that on?

"You know, as tight as that man's ass is, I didn't think it was possible for any sort of bug to crawl up there," she heard Ginny quip behind her.

Chloe snickered. "Maybe, it's just that it can't get out," she replied as she turned to Ginny.

"Whatever the case, don't let him get to you," Ginny said, her tone not nearly as mild as usual.

Chloe smiled a bit in surprise. "Why Ginny, I never knew you cared."

Ginny merely leveled her eyes on Chloe. "I don't," she replied casually and nudged her way to the coffee pot.

"Don't tell anyone, okay" she quipped quickly. "Did you need something?" she asked, getting off the uncomfortable moment.

"Uh, yeah…what are you doing for lunch?"

oOo

The fresh, cool breeze blowing in through the open windows of the farmhouse was a delightful treat after being cooped up in Chloe's apartment for days on end. Sweeping off the front porch, Clark gazed into the night sky, smiling as he actually saw stars and not just unending blackness.

Going back into the house, Clark kept straightening up around the kitchen. Every other night, once he was certain that the goons across the street had either fallen asleep or become engrossed in video games, he would quickly speed to the farm and a get a little work done before heading back.

With the windows open and the breeze filtering through the curtains, Clark took a deep, appreciating breath.

'Ahh, peace and relaxation,' Clark thought with a pleasing sigh.

"I haven't heard from her, Clark! I haven't heard from her," Lois informed in a quick panic as she burst through the farmhouse door with a loud slam.

Clark merely rolled his eyes as he pretended to carefully sweep the kitchen floor. He knew Lois had been trying to contact him for hours and had promised himself that he would call her first thing after he'd taken a few moments to himself.

"I'm sure she's fine Lois," Clark droned.

"She's not, she's not," Lois exclaimed hurriedly as she began to pace the kitchen in hurried steps. "Not even an email, Clark. I mean, who doesn't have time to send an email?"

"Lots of people, Lois," Clark sighed in exasperation. "Look, she's probably just been busy."

Lois stopped and leveled her eyes on Clark. "How busy can someone be on sabbatical, Clark?"

"You'd be surprised," Clark informed with a smile. "It's amazing all the things you can do when you don't have a ton of nuisance buzzing around your head," he added, his smile becoming broader. He was sure he'd never grow tired of teasing Lois.

Lois merely curled her lip at him and plopped down on one of the stools with a heavy sigh. "You know, you're probably right."

Clark's immense grin dropped off his face in shock. "Huh?'

"I drove her to this," she threw her hands out in front of her. "I harassed her for help constantly. I taunted her with my stories, I… "-she paused for a moment, seemingly speechless-"and she wouldn't even tell me where she was going," she finished, her voice beginning to falter with sadness and the grievous tone of regret.

For a moment, all Clark could do was watch Lois momentarily wallow in her own misery. He hated it when Lois actually showed her human side. Somehow it instantly made him feel sorry for her. "Look, Lois," he began, setting the broom against the counter. "I think you're giving yourself way too much credit," he said as he set himself on the other side of the counter from her.

"Chloe's been having a hard time lately and she just needed a break," he said as he settled his elbows on the counter.

Lois scoffed in disgust. "And that just goes to show you…" she tossed up her hand and let it slap against the countertop. "I couldn't even see that." She paused once again, staring blindly at the counter. "I was too busy with my head up my own backside," she added in a low whisper and threw her head to the counter in hopelessness.

Clark threw up an eyebrow of consideration at that, but quickly turned his attention back on Lois. "Seriously Lois, Chloe knows that you're not her keeper. She's a big girl and she can take care of herself. Which is exactly what she's doing," he said with emphasis, and placed his hand over hers in a comforting gesture.

Lois' head came up sharply, mouth hanging agape as she looked from Clark's comforting blue gaze to where his hand lay on hers.

Clark, watching, quickly jerked his hand away and pushed away from the counter. "I-I- I'm sure you'll hear from her soon."

Lois merely raised her eyebrows in lackluster consideration and for a moment, a silence fell between them. Just when Clark thought it couldn't get any more uncomfortable, a buzz from Lois' jacket pocket caught his attention.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise as she reached into her pocket. "That reminds me…the strangest thing. Oliver's been trying to find you," she informed, her face scrunched in puzzlement. "You have any idea what that's about?"

oOo