AN: Hey guys, I just wanted to thank y'all once again for all the reading and reviewing. Y'all are really awesome guys! I am finally finishing the Fiesta and will be moving onto bigger and more chaotic things. Just a preview for ideas of the future. Classic Loisness. The appearance of the ever faithful J'onn J'onzz and of course Carter and Shayera Hall. And don't forget we have to have a sick day for Clarkie. He's gotta get superbreath somehow.
Chapter 14: The Fiesta Finale: Cops and Robbers
"Clark! You stepped on my toe!"
"Well Sorry! There's not much room in this pantry."
Lois and Clark were standing as far away as possible in the tiny pantry. Of course that wasn't saying much considering as far away as possible meant they were also extremely close together. They had only shut the door 30 seconds ago, but the tension was already in the air. They had five minutes to figure out how they were gonna get this kiss over with.
"Calm down Lois. It's just Clark. Just handsome, sexy, stro- no, just Smallville. It'll just be a quick peck on the lips and then it's over and we can get out of this stupid closet! Woah, stop it Lois. No freaking out, even if its internally. Clark can probably smell fear... I mean I wouldn't put it past him." Lois's mind raced with her nervousness.
Clark, however, wasn't much better. "Why oh why did Chloe do this to me! I know she wants to torture Lois, but seriously! Way to kick a man while he's down! Lois doesn't even like me. Yeah we get along in the friends that banter category and she is cute, but I have gotten no indication that she likes me as anything more than a friend. This'll just be really awkward. Dang it! If Zatanna hadn't put that spell on us I would have just waltz right out of here already."
Lois started impatiently tapping her foot, trying to make up her mind. "Get it over with, or deal with more super uncomfortable silence... I hate Uncomfortable silence! Fine, I'm done waiting. Plus he is driving me crazy with how close he is! Ugh."
"I really need to get this over with! All this touching going on right now is not helping my thought processes. I really just need to get this over with, then we can get out of here when the time runs out and I can go hide in a hole for a week." Clark turned towards Lois, trying to think of something to say.
"Hey Smallville. We might as well get this over with. I mean we have nowhere to go and nothing else to do so-"
Clark's frustration had finally hit a peak. Something about the dismissive tone in her voice got to him, making him snap. Ignoring the last of his nagging voices in his head he grabbed her chin, lowering his lips to hers. Her eyes widened in anticipation as he brought their lips together.
The tension in the air dissipated as they kissed. Something about it was just, right. It started off soft and timid, but soon grew into something more passionate. Clark assaulted her lips, as she responded in kind. Their frustrations came to a front until-
The lights went out.
Not that Lois and Clark noticed immediately. They did, however, notice the huge thud on the other side of the door seconds later when a very large object hit it.
Chloe was collecting the pot as she was the only one to guess the starting time of two minutes on the dot correctly. Everyone looked on in suspicion as she counted her winnings, proud of what she had won.
She didn't have long to celebrate though. The breaker busted, leaving the entire party in darkness. "Oliver, whats-"
"Get down! Everybody!" Oliver yelled, moving to cover Chloe and Felicity.
Five people broke through the window then, shattering glass on the occupants of the cafe. Bruce threw out a few baterings, catching one of the men in the leg, causing him to wince in pain, suddenly targeting Bruce. He dodged the man's punch, sending a few quick jabs to key pressure points in an attempt to down him. The man was slightly slowed, but still showed signs of fight. Bruce took out his taser and sent it straight to the guys spinal column, effectively knocking him out.
One went after Bart, attempting to catch him off guard, but he just dodged, leaving them to stumble in the dark. Victor took that opportunity to punch the guys lights out, sending him crashing into the pantry door.
The third threw a couple of knives at Oliver who managed to dodge one, but the other one got lodged in his leg as he moved to it wouldn't hit Chloe. Dinah quickly pulled out the knife, throwing it at their attacker. It was buried into the man's shoulder. Bart and A.C. tag teamed to punch the guy simultaneously in the head. However, this had little effect as he grabbed the two by their wrists and threw them across the room. Zatanna glared at him saying, "leets yb dnoub". The chains that were keeping the back gated locked and a couple of pipes sped over and bound the man, effectively stopping him.
The forth was a woman who drew a couple of swords from her back. She prepared to lunge for the group, but Diana met her halfway. She blocked the strokes with her bracelets, parrying her blow for blow. When she saw an opening, she punched her, sending her crashing into the counter.
The final man caught Dinah as she ran to help her comrades and held her in a body lock with a sword held straight across her throat. Everyone froze as they saw this, no one daring to move a muscle. At that moment, Clark and Lois finally opened the door.
Clark reached for the knob, trying to open it. It gave way as the last few seconds of the five minutes passed and they were released from Zatanna's spell. What they found, was shocking to say the least. Before them was a frozen scene. There were five people in the room. Three of them were out cold and one was struggling against what looked like a punch of pipes and chains. Another man stood in the center of the scene with Dinah in his grasp and a sword at her throat. They all had double sided masks with one side Black, the other side orange. They also wore black combat like uniforms with orange accents.
Without even giving the man time to register that the door had opened, Clark had broken the man's swords and held him pin down to the floor. Dinah stumbled away, trying to reclaim her breath.
"Show off." Bruce muttered as everyone tried to get over their shock.
Diana walked over to Oliver and Chloe to assess the damage. "I am sorry, I had to get the knife out quick so I could have something... I forgot to bring my own." She helped him get to his feet.
"Owe, ah... Thanks Diana. That's probably going to be sore for a while, but I think I can manage. I should be fine. Are you ok, Chloe?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Chloe smiled sheepishly at him.
"Eh hem. Anyway who're the creeps?" Lois interrupted.
Oliver looked them over. "Well, that one's Slade." He indicated to the one trapped under Clark.
"And I'm guessing the wannabe look alikes are his minions. Or army. Or whatever." Bart quipped.
"What's your game." Bruce growled at Slade.
Everyone winced at his harsh tone. Note to self: Don't let Bruce interrogate you. Ever.
Slade chuckled. "I'm keeping my promise." He sneered.
Oliver winced, now deeply concerned. "This isn't going to stop him. He's gonna come after all of us. He's gonna destroy everything I care about and that includes you guys."
"You got that right pal. I will make you pay for what you did to me. For killing Shadow! You will know what it's like to feel despair." He struggled against Clark, attempting to break free from his grip.
"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere." Clark grinned, slamming him slightly into the ground. "Anyway, what are we gonna do about them?"
"How about torture?"
"Bart!"
"What? I think it's a solid idea right now!" He frowned.
Diana rolled her eyes. "Perhaps I could be of service. We need to be able to contain him, correct? And from what I have ascertained from fighting these men is that they are above average human strength. Perhaps I can convince my people to retain them in cells on my island until we can find a proper place to serve them Justice. We can't just hand them over to the police because they would not be able to contain them." She really didn't want to go back to the island and explain this to her brethren, but she felt that this was the best choice for the moment.
Slade scoffed. "Nice try, but I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. This is just the beginning." Smoke covered the room, blocking their eyesight. Clark was caught off guard as Slade flipped underneath him, using his whole body to move Clark off. Clark moved on reflex, allowing him up. By the time the smoke had cleared, they were gone. Clark couldn't even hear a whisper from them.
"Dang it! Now we're gonna have to catch them all over again!" Bart pouted.
Everyone hung their heads as fatigue crept in.
"Well as much as this real live game of cops and robbers was fun, I think we should be heading home now. We can research, brainstorm, and plan on a different day." Lois broke the silence as she yawned.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Clark added, sending a relieved smile to Lois. At least she wasn't too shaken up by all the excitement.
Everyone else nodded and after a quick Clark, Bart, and Diana clean up, they were on their way to bed.
He looked down at his desk in disgust. It really must be boring in Smallville if he was taking his time to just sit in his office. He sighed, instinctively knowing exactly why it was so dull.
Clark wasn't there anymore. Excitement followed Clark like the plague. And if he followed Clark, he could live in that excitement. He had to wonder what was up with the plain Jane farmboy that attracted that much mayhem. But he was long over that... At least for now.
Clark was taking a backseat to the new revelation concerning an old friend. Oliver Queen. His early rival among the wealthy. He finally returned from the dead after being shipwrecked. Guess dreams never do come true.
But was even stranger was the man that was after him. Slade Wilson. Ex-Australian Special Ops soldier that was now after Oliver's blood. He had stumbled on him as he wondered the globe, trying to regain his strength after his last mishap with Oliver. He had graciously taken him under his wing and given him the resources to create an army.
He had created duplicates of whatever serum was in his blood, held back a few samples for himself and gave the rest to Slade. Slade in turn had created an army to follow him. Being the cautious type, he had engineered a cure as well for the serum in hopes to reign in the beast if he should venture too far out of his control.
He sighed, looking again at the list of Oliver's friends his spies had observed. Clark was at the top of his list as his roommate. Typical. Perhaps now he could answer a few of his questions though. Chloe was also on the list, which seemed right considering her and the farmboy were inseparable. Victor Stone was also on the list, but that also did not surprise him. He was an anomaly, so naturally he would travel in Clark's circles. He couldn't concentrate on him though, he had future plans for him.
The rest of the list was just a bunch of names: Bart Allen, Lois Lane. Felicity Smoak, Arthur Curry, Dinah Lance, Diana Prince... and Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne: billionaire playboy that could give Oliver a run for his money in the annoyance department. He had had many business dealings with Wayne, and each one had left him utterly infuriated. However, he wasn't his target. One plot at a time.
The door to his office opened then, footsteps quickly gathering in the room. "Yes? What do you have to report?"
"The attack was a failure, Mr. Luthor. We attempted to take them while they were having a party, but we were quickly overpowered. They fought well for college kids. Some of them also appeared to be inhumanly fast. We will have to pick them off one by one." Lex turned to see one of the soldiers addressing him.
Slade pushed him aside, striding up to Lex's desk. "Would have been nice to know what we were up against. You gave them my souvenir, but you never told us what to expect. This was a trial to see what they were made of, wasn't it."
Lex smirked, glad someone was smarter than he appeared. "Yes, it was. And I agree, you will have to take them apart one by one. But you won't be alone. I have a few more ally's to help us meet our ends. In truth, if you had succeeded, I would have needed none of them."
Slade's eye narrowed. "And why is that?"
"You simply proved a theory I've had for a long time. You may make whatever plans you see fit for Oliver and his torture, but I do have one request."
"And that is?"
"If you can, capture Clark Kent and bring him to me. It's about time I beat a few secrets out of him." He sneered.
Slade nodded. "I'll see what I can do." And with that he left, already making plans for his next attempt.
Lex watched them leave, smirking. Oliver really had done him a favor. Though he had failed in his revenge (for now) he finally had his answers. Mysterious things happened around Clark and if those 12 kids could defeat 5 super human lethal weapons to the point they retreated, something was definitely up. Now all he had to do was get a hold of Clark and beat the answers out of him. Simple enough when he had his own army.
He picked up his phone, dialing a familiar number. "Yes, this is Lex Luthor. I'm calling to speak to Merlyn. Uh huh, yes. I have a message for Ra's Al Ghul."