Chapter Twenty: No Turning Back
Jimmy sat on a chair close to the elevator in Oliver's apartment, his eyes apparently buried in a magazine. It was late afternoon, and there was an eerie stillness to the penthouse, in marked contrast to the feverish activity of the previous two days. Hours earlier he had witnessed the return of the guys, pumped up after their successful expedition into Lex's lair. There had been a lot of backslapping, a lot of banter; the young men had appeared liberated by their experience, glad to have had the opportunity to strike back at their foe. The celebrations had been short-lived, however; aware of Lex's inevitable thirst for revenge, and the probability that the penthouse would be placed under surveillance, the three members of the Justice League had agreed to split up and lay low for a while, to await instructions from Chloe.
Everything now depended on what Chloe found hidden on Lex's personal files. For Chloe and the guys, this meant discovering the damning evidence that would bring Lex's operation finally to its knees. For Jimmy, there was a very different hope – the hope that she would find nothing about the truth of what Lex had done to Oliver.
As soon as he had got into the car to return to the penthouse he had realised the potentially disastrous mistake he'd made. What if Lex's files contained information about Oliver? What if Chloe and the others discovered the truth – that Oliver was alive, and a prisoner in the LuthorCorp building? A rescue mission would inevitably follow, and then the terrible truth about his deception would be laid bare. Where would that leave him? What would Chloe think of him then? The awful realisation that perhaps he had made the worst decision of his life had loomed large in this thinking as they had driven back to the penthouse, and had stayed with him ever since.
He'd not slept well; in fact, he'd hardly slept at all. Fear gripped his heart – fear of exposure, of humiliation, of the hatred that Chloe would feel towards him if she discovered the truth. And there was guilt, too – guilt that he had snatched away a young man's only chance of rescue. He kept seeing Oliver's face, remembering the look of hope in his eyes. Where was he now? What was he thinking? He would be expecting rescue, expecting to be reunited with his friends in a matter of perhaps only hours. At times these thoughts were almost too much for Jimmy to bear; more than once he awoke from a fitful sleep, his body drenched in sweat. He, Jimmy Olsen, had condemned a man to death – how would be ever be able to live with himself?
And yet live with himself he must – there was no going back. He had made his decision, and as the long hours of the day seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly a new resolution had started to take shape in his mind. The feelings of guilt remained, made worse by the many reminders of Oliver that surrounded him in the penthouse, but he could not change the past. He had to live with what he had done, for good or ill – and he was determined to do anything, anything, to keep his future with Chloe a reality. After all, if he did not, if he crumbled now, then his betrayal of Oliver really would have been for nothing.
Aware that the magazine was failing miserably to command his attention, he casually discarded it on to the floor. He looked across at the large doors on the other side of the penthouse, firmly closed shut. Behind those doors was the Green Arrow's control room, and the place where Chloe now labored intensely over a computer, trying to decode Lex's files. She'd been in there all day, refusing to take a break and determined to search every last file for even the merest hint of a lead that might help to bring Lex to justice. The wait was killing Jimmy – would she find anything about Oliver? With every hour that passed and the doors remained closed, his hopes grew that perhaps he would be lucky, perhaps he would escape the consequences of his actions. But the waiting.... the waiting was too much to bear!
Hoping for some relief from the misery of waiting, Jimmy reached for the remote and turned on the television. He was startled to find a photo of Lex staring back at him; the events of last night were still dominating the news bulletins. As Jimmy watched one of Lex's spokesmen appeared on screen, surrounded by eager reporters bursting with questions; refusing to take any, the spokesman read a prepared statement in which Lex denied all the allegations that Bart had made against him hours before. The charges were false, according to the statement, the scurrilous accusations of a terrorist group that had been hounding Lex for months. The spokesman demanded action, and the immediate arrest of those who had targeted LuthorCorp.
The spokesman was right in one respect, of course; Bart and the others had no concrete evidence to substantiate their allegations. Whatever the truth, for as long as evidence of Lex's criminal activities remained elusive there would be nothing to counter the charges of LuthorCorp public relations machine.
"Jimmy! Jimmy, I think I've found something!"
Chloe's excited voice caused Jimmy's heart to miss a beat. This was it – the moment that the long hours of waiting had been building towards. Within a minute or so he would know whether his betrayal was to be exposed, or whether he had been spared the shame of discovery. As he stood up his legs felt like jelly; with difficulty he attempted to mask his fear behind a veneer of curiosity as he made his way towards the door to Oliver's control room.
"Jimmy, look at this – I think I've found what we've been looking for."
Chloe barely turned around as he entered the room, her attention entirely focused on the screen of her computer. Jimmy felt a surge of relief as he moved to stand beside her – if she had found evidence that Oliver was alive, she surely would have said so by now.
"I thought I'd drawn a blank, until I found some emails sent by Dr Thomas to Lex," said Chloe, still staring intently at the screen. "I knew he was at the heart of Lex's operation – and this proves it."
"What does? I don't get it."
"Read these emails, Jimmy. Thomas has been conducting secret experiments for Lex – experiments on live human beings. And you know what else? He's been doing it here, in Metropolis – in the LuthorCorp building, no less."
Jimmy looked at the screen, where Chloe was displaying a number of documents, reports from Thomas to Lex. He read the first:
Report: Treatment of Subject 29
First treatment a success. As expected, Subject 29 is unusually strong-willed; future treatments will have to be longer if the outcome desired is to be achieved.
Then the next:
Report: Treatment of Subject 29
Second treatment fifteen minutes longer than Treatment One; subject's resistance noticeably weaker, particularly during later stages of session.
And a third:
Report: Treatment of Subject 29
Resistance of Subject 29 clearly fading; physically and mentally the patient is exhausted. Should we continue, or allow the patient time to recover?
Jimmy looked at Chloe.
"Chloe, I don't want to rain on your parade, but this doesn't prove anything – they are just medical reports, nothing more."
"That's what I thought – until I read Lex's reply to this last report. He's not so good at hiding the truth of what he and Thomas are up to."
She then clicked on a link on the screen, and brought up a copy of an email.
Allow our guest some respite, doctor – I don't want you to kill him just yet. Give him twenty-four hours, and then begin work on him once more. Akunin is impressed by your methods, by the way – she has rarely seen torture carried out with such clinical efficiency. Praise indeed, my friend!
"They're torturing people, Jimmy – right here in Metropolis. Expose this, and Lex is finished!"
Jimmy wasn't listening. Lex's email had confirmed what he had feared – that "Subject 29" was Oliver Queen.
"How do you know this is happening in Metropolis? It could be happening anywhere."
"I traced the origin of Thomas's emails – they all came from within the LuthorCorp building, and they were all sent within the last week to ten days. This is dynamite, Jimmy! This is what we've been waiting for!"
Jimmy felt paralysed. Lex's files may not have revealed the truth about Oliver, but they had come very close – it was only a matter of time now before Chloe found out the truth. He needed to delay her, slow her up somehow so that he could have time to think, time to work out how to escape from the trap he had made for himself.
"Let's not rush into this Chloe – we need to tread carefully now. Let's do some more digging on Thomas – see what else we can find out."
"There's no time, Jimmy! This "Subject 29" guy is being held prisoner – we've got to get him out of there! He's the key, Jimmy – if we can rescue him he'll be able to blow the lid off Lex's operation and provide enough evidence to put him away for good."
"Chloe..."
"I'm going to contact the guys. A rescue mission will need some planning, especially as Lex will have stepped up security. And we need the most recent plans for the LuthorCorp building – I'm certain the plans we've been using are out-of-date. Somewhere in that building there's a secret lab, and we've got to know where it is – we can't go in blind. Can you handle that, Jimmy? Can you hunt down whatever you can find about that place? Any recent building work Lex has had done, that sort of thing."
Chloe's excitement was tangible, and it was obvious to Jimmy that any hope he might have had of slowing her down was futile. Not waiting for him to reply, she turned back to her computer screen, her fingers immediately working feverishly over the keyboard. Jimmy hesitated for a moment, uncertain of what to do, before quietly he retreated back into the main body of the penthouse.
Once out of sight of Chloe, he stopped, leaning against the wall. He felt physically sick, a wave of nausea combining with a cold sweat to make it momentarily difficult for him to stand unaided. He had gambled – and he had failed. How could he have been so stupid? Why had he allowed himself to fall into this trap, when this outcome was all too predictable? He shuddered as he thought of the scene that might play out in that very room within a matter of days, a scene in which a rescued Oliver exposed his treachery before the guys, before Chloe...... It was almost too unbearable to even think about.
Get a hold of yourself, Jimmy Olsen! A voice inside his head, strong and insistent, demanded his attention. He had made his choice, and what was done could not be undone. He now had a choice – either he would collapse, allow himself to become a victim of his own madness, or he would fight to keep what he wanted more than anything else in the world. The game was not yet over, after all – Chloe and the guys still didn't know the true identity of Subject 29. There was still all to play for, if he could just keep his head, stay focused.....
He stood upright, pausing for a moment before making for the elevator. There was a new purpose to his stride, a sense of determination.
He knew what he had to do. It would be dangerous, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He didn't know whether the path he was about to embark upon would lead to success, but he did know one thing.
He had to do all in his power to ensure that Oliver Queen did not escape Lex Luthor alive.
First of all another MASSIVE thankyou to all those of you who reviewed the last chapter - to get all that feedback made my week! I hoped Jimmy's betrayal would provoke a reaction, and it clearly did. The poor guy is conflicted - he knows what's right, but he can't help himself, and as you can see from this chapter, his betrayal is going to lead him into a very dark place indeed. And that is going to mean a lot of trouble - for everyone!
Please do keep letting me know what you think - it really is so important to keep getting feedback. Big things ahead - lots of angst and action. And a happy ending? Not for everyone, I fear....
More next week!