Author's Note: Thanks to svgurl410 and Souless.Misses for the reviews of the previous chapter. Of late it was starting to seem like I was running out of ideas to go off on for this storyline, and I was trying to beg for storyline ideas with no result, but this chapter managed to flow out of my mind rather easily, so thankfully a lot of stuff managed to come out of this one. I hope you guys enjoy it. P.S. For some reason, the stupid page break thing isn't working anymore. I think the documents editor program has been updated and now it's not working, so I've had to use S's across the screen for my page breaks now. Sorry about that, guys.
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Chapter 24: The Shape of Things to Come
Chloe Sullivan impatiently sat in the wheelchair as Jimmy Olsen wheeled her out of the elevator on the basement floor of The Daily Planet. She tapped her hand on the armrest, wishing that her boyfriend wasn't so damn set on keeping her in the control of the doctor back at The Smallville Medical Center.
Upon entering the basement newsroom area, the blonde found the place deserted. A frown crossed Chloe's face. "There's usually at least someone on the graveyard shift right now. Where is everyone?"
"I don't know," Jimmy admitted, annoyed that he didn't have a better answer to give his girlfriend.
Chloe's cell phone started ringing. Then again, it wasn't the normal ring tone. The blonde instantly knew that it was her 'other' phone. She pulled out the phone and saw Oliver's Caller ID. "Jimmy, I need to take this. Can you please go see if there's anyone in the bathrooms or something. I'm sorry."
Jimmy nodded, understanding as he walked out of the newsroom in search of someone that could help them out.
Once Chloe saw Jimmy disappear around a corner, she quickly answered the phone. "Oracle here."
"Thank God," Oliver said. "I didn't think you were going to answer. We need you online ASAP. How quickly can you get connected?"
"I'm at The Hot Rag right now, so I'm not far from Watchtower, but the photographer's here with me," Chloe said. She had to call Jimmy 'the photographer' and The Daily Planet 'The Hot Rag' as aliases so that way anyone that could end up listening in on the conversation wouldn't know who they were.
"Find a way to ditch him, Oracle," Oliver stated. "I'm sorry, but we're going to really need you on this. You'll be debriefed once you're at Watchtower. Green Arrow out."
Chloe was about to protest, but she was cut off almost immediately as the sound of the phone hanging up was heard loud and clear. After closing the phone, the blonde quickly stood up and walked to the exit of the newsroom, doing her best not to move too fast as she didn't know what would happen considering what had happened to her. Getting over to the exit hadn't been a problem. The real problem resided in having to ditch Jimmy. She didn't want to do that as it would mean having to lie to him eventually as to where she'd gone, but there was nothing for it now. Oracle's duties were needed, and she had no choice but to leave.
Moving for the elevator, Chloe pressed the button and the door opened instantly. Silently, she thanked God that the car hadn't gone back up to the lobby after the door had closed when they had gotten off minutes before. The blonde absolutely hated when elevator's did that, especially if there was no one else actually in need of the elevators at the time.
Jimmy came back around the corner once the elevator door had closed. He hadn't even realized that it had been doing so in the first place as the photographer moved back into the newsroom, knowing that they were going to have to search floor by floor for someone if they planned on finding out some information on Lois. The problem was, Chloe was no longer in there and the wheelchair was the only evidence that she'd actually been there at all.
"Chloe?" Jimmy asked, looking around everywhere, unsure as to what was going on. "It's just me. You can come out now. What is this? Hide and seek? Aren't we a little old to be playing this game?" There was still no reply. "Alright, fine. Where, oh where, can my Chloe be?" Faithfully, the photographer started searching the newsroom for his girlfriend, trying not to think the worst and that Chloe had completely left him hanging there at The Daily Planet.
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Kyle Rayner stood on a rooftop, his arms crossed, observing the traffic below. There were a million thoughts running through his mind, but one thing that stood out loud and clear to him was that seeing Oliver earlier in the evening had felt so right. No matter how badly he wanted to tell himself just to let it all go, the brunette couldn't allow his feelings to settle down.
Before Kyle's life had been changed forever by the chance meeting with a dying alien that had been a Green Lantern at the time, there was nothing that he wanted more then to spend the rest of his life with Oliver Queen. There had been no higher for him to reach in life then that. Things changed forever for the former artist though when the power from the alien was transferred over to him.
If it hadn't been for the evil alien that had been pursuing the alien, Kyle would've taken the ring to Oliver to ask him what he had to do next, but Sinestro was simply too powerful and driven to take the ring that he felt so rightfully belonged to him, and the ring knew this. It was like the ring had gained a mind of its own, taking him off the planet and too a distant galaxy where he met the Green Lantern Corp and was trained to replace the alien that had given over the ring to him.
As badly as Kyle wanted to return to Earth and find Oliver, it simply wasn't allowed as he wasn't ready to contend with the will of Sinestro or to even use the abilities that the ring gave. If there was only a way to explain that to the blond billionaire now, but there was no guarantee that he would understand. Oliver had been pretty upset to see him, and Kyle had made a complete ass out of himself. Now he was doing something that he knew the Corp wouldn't approve of either. Working with some general in order to break up Oliver and his current boyfriend would be looked down upon by his masters no doubt.
"It shouldn't be long now," General Lane's voice said from behind Kyle, knocking the hero out of his thoughts.
Turning around, Kyle started coughing as he ended up with a face full of cigar smoke. "Seriously, do you have to smoke that up here? You know you're killing yourself."
"You worry about your own health, and I'll worry about mine, thanks," General Lane stated sarcastically as he moved to stand beside Kyle.
"I'm getting tired of waiting up here," Kyle said. "We've been here forever it seems. Can you just get on with this?"
"We wait for my benefactors," General Lane said.
"That's another thing," Kyle said, turning to where he could fully face Lane. "Considering what you're trying to do, and what you've already told me, I'm surprised that anyone in your little club wants to help you out."
"Well, let's just say that these two aren't at many of the meetings, because they really don't get along with Lionel that much," General Lane informed. "Thing is, they believe in tradition as well, not the new poppycock that the others are conforming to. It's that damn black guy, I tell ya."
"That John dude?" Kyle asked.
"Yeah, him," General Lane said. "Damn guy creeps me out. I can tell that he's constantly judging, and he has a lot of influence now that Edward Teague's the leader."
The roof access door opened as two people stepped out into the darkness. One of them was clearly female and the other was a rounded man. "I hope you got another of those, General," the male of the two said.
"Are you kidding?" Lane asked. "I keep an entire box with me at all times." With that said, the general pulled out a cigar from the breast pocket of his jacket and handed it over to the approaching man, revealed to be wearing glasses.
The female of the two moved over toward Kyle, her face revealed finally to obviously be a bit intrigued with the brunette as she placed a hand softly on his muscular bicep. "Who's the hottie?"
"Not interested in you, my dear," General Lane said as he pulled Kyle away from her. "He's our ticket to keeping things the way they're supposed to be."
Kyle raised an eyebrow to the woman, not entirely used to being hit on by females. It had been a long time since he'd actually ever shown interest in one either for that matter. Actually, it had been since his ninth grade year in school. That was when he finally started embracing what he really was.
"Well, that's just too bad," the female said. "Why does all the hot ones have to be gay for?" It looked like she was going to start pouting any moment.
"Victoria, that's enough," the bespectacled man stated harshly before turning to look at Kyle. "Hello, son. I'm Sir Hardwick, but you can call me Harry." He extended a hand out to the brunette.
Kyle returned the handshake quickly and then removed his hand just as quickly. "Kyle Rayner, and I already caught her name. So can we get to some specifics here?"
"Very well then," General Lane said. "To the point. Very direct. Alright, the fact of the matter is that my oldest daughter was promised to a man that the people of Veritas like to call The Traveler years ago when the group was first put together. You would know The Traveler as Oliver Queen's most recent fling."
"That guy?" Kyle asked, not entirely sure that he was believing any of this. "Seriously? You want to your daughter to end up with him?"
"Why not?" General Lane asked, a bit confused.
"Well, he looks kinda goofy to me," Kyle responded.
"Good enough reason to get him away from Oliver then, right?" General Lane asked.
"Well, yeah, I guess so," Kyle said with a shrug. "It's just that I don't understand what's so special about him."
"Give us some time to determine how much we can trust you and then we may divulge that information," Harry Hardwick said. "It's not that we don't want to, son, but time is required."
Victoria Hardwick stalked her way around Kyle and over to her father, never taking her eyes away from the brunette as she went, placing a fingernail gently in her mouth, almost as if she were trying to tease the hero.
Kyle completely ignored whatever it was that the female was doing as he kept his focus entirely on Lane and Hardwick. "Okay, so the deal is that I have break them up, get Oliver to fall back in love with me, and then while I'm having my happily ever after with him, you're daughter gets to be with this Traveler?"
"That's the gist of it," Lane replied.
"Why did you have to wait for them to get here if that's all there was to it?" Kyle asked, putting his hands on his hips. "I could've been well on me way to getting this done by now if I didn't have to wait for the old chap and his tramp daughter."
Victoria's mouth dropped. "Excuse you?"
"Victoria, please," Harry stated.
"Did you hear what he just called me!?" Victoria exclaimed. "Do something about him, daddy!"
"Will you please shut her up?" General Lane asked. "Jesus Christ!"
Kyle shook his head and sighed as he moved over to the edge of the roof and leaned on it, clasping his arms together as he looked out at the city as far as he could see. These people were going to be trouble. He was pretty much sure of it, and it made the brunette wonder why he could've been so stupid to actually bother in the first place. The hero simply figured it was because of his desperate need to get back with Oliver. His heart longed to be back with the love of his life, but stooping to following these people was an all new low for him all together.
"I knew I should've left you in the car," Harry was saying. "If you didn't feel like you had to embarrass me every chance you get with your desires, we wouldn't be dealing with this problem."
"Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't be more of what you wanted!" Victoria yelled, not entirely sure that what she said even made sense as she turned on her heels and stormed back to the stairs, going down them.
"Why Virgil thought she would actually be useful to Veritas is beyond me," General Lane said after Victoria was gone.
"I wonder the same thing, Sam," Harry said.
General Lane moved over to Kyle and leaned on the ledge beside the brunette. "So what's on that mind?"
"Whether or not I can do this," Kyle replied.
"Of course you can," General Lane confirmed for him. "There's no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes, kid. You're this planet's only hope. If Oliver Queen is allowed to remain with The Traveler, the prophecy will be broken. I'm not going to allow that and neither are the Hardwicks. You're doing the right thing."
"But he looks so happy with the guy," Kyle said, tears actually starting to well up deep inside. The simple thought of how truly happy Oliver looked with that guy was enough to make him want to break down right then. In the long run, it really was his fault that Oliver had to move on. Trying to blame the ring, Sinestro, or The Green Lantern Corp was the childish thing to do. No one was more responsible for things ended up the way they had then him.
"What about your happiness, son?" Harry Hardwick asked as he walked over and leaned on the other side of the ledge so that he and Lane were between Kyle. "Look, I don't know your story here. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation as to why you left Oliver. We're not here to judge you on that, but we are here to help you get him back. Most people have to do that kind of work all alone, but you have a very rich family in the Hardwicks and the US Army on your side here. How much easier could it possibly get?"
Kyle couldn't help but allow a smirk to cross his lips as he took one of his hands and whipped his teary eyes. "Alright, what do I need to do first?"
"Go in with fists clenched and be ready to fight," General Lane replied. "You want him back, you're going to have to take the gloves off and fight a little dirty."
"You want me to beat the guy up?" Kyle asked.
Harry and Lane both shared in an awkward laugh almost as if they figured it would be impossible for him to do that. "Oh, of course not," Harry finally said. "Getting physical isn't part of the plan. We have some more subtle ways of making this work."
Kyle raised an eyebrow as he looked to Sir Harry Hardwick, wondering just how serious he really was, but it didn't appear that he was kidding. "Well, I've always liked the silent approach. Where do we begin?"
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Kara Zor-El walked into the Kent Farm's house, not wanting to zoom in considering what had happened the last time that she'd done that. Something told the blond that the two men of the house probably weren't there anyway as there weren't many lights on the house. However, when she saw that there was a woman packing up stuff in the office den, the Kryptonian knew that it had definitely been a good idea that she hadn't sped in.
Moving into the living room and over to the den, Kara made her presence known by the way she was walking, and when the unknown woman turned around, the blond still couldn't quite figure out who she was. "Who are you? What's your business here?"
"I'm Dinah Lance," she replied. "Oliver Queen's secretary. I'm just closing up shop. Who are you?"
Kara instantly felt relieved once Oliver was mentioned. "I'm Kara, Clark's cousin. I didn't realize that Mr. Queen was going to have his staff here."
"Oh, just me," Dinah told her. "Everyone else is still in Metropolis. I'm the lucky one that gets to drive three hours to and from everyday, but I get paid enough and have good hours so I'm not complaining. It's still pretty odd though."
"Why is that?" Kara asked, moving over to the couch and taking a seat.
"Well, Mr. Queen isn't one to just pack up and move out to a farm of all places," Dinah replied. "I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm sure there's something to it."
So she didn't know the truth about Oliver and Clark. That made sense all things considered. Kara could tell that the both of them wanted to keep things under wraps, at least from certain people. The blond wasn't really used to the customs of this planet, so she couldn't really figure out how relationships really worked there, but with time, the Kryptonian hoped that she would be able to.
Dinah felt a little odd since the girl had fallen silent. She had a feeling that perhaps this cousin of Clark Kent's knew the truth about why Oliver Queen had decided to move out there, but pressing the issue wasn't exactly on her to do list for the moment. There would be ways of discovering the truth later. "Umm, you there?"
Kara finally looked back up to Dinah. "Oh, sorry. I'm just really tired. Long day at work. The Talon's killing me."
"Oh, that coffee house, right?" Dinah asked. "I've been hearing good things about it. At least I know I could get a wake up call before coming into work. I'm sure it's no Starbucks, but there's not much I can do about that."
"No, I'd guess not," Kara said, not entirely sure she was following this woman. There was just something really odd about her.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Miss Kent," Dinah began, "but I've gotta get back to Metropolis. Long drive home and a long day ahead of me for tomorrow. I'm sure you know how that is." With that said, the secretary started moving off for the front door.
"Nice meeting you too!" Kara called after her. Once Dinah was out the front door, the blond leaned back on the couch and turned on the television. She tried to find something worth watching, having a feeling that there probably wouldn't be anything to see in the first place. It was going to be one boring night.
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Lois Lane was in the big leagues. There was no doubt in her mind about that. Fact of the matter was, the brunette figured that she'd be sitting in the basement newsroom that Chloe and Jimmy had been forced to be in for so long, but the shocking reality was that Grant Gabriel apparently wanted her close at hand as she was in the main newsroom high up in The Daily Planet building.
The desk that Grant had assigned to her was rather large, probably bigger then several of the others there. She already had a nameplate there too. It was surreal simply thinking about it, and at the same time, Lois couldn't help but realize that her cousin was really getting shafted her. While the brunette was up in the main newsroom, Chloe was still stuck in the dead end, bottom of the barrel location.
While beginning to try to type up her first major article for The Daily Planet, Lois thought to herself that she would be doing her best to make sure that Chloe managed to get up there with her, possibly Jimmy as well. They both had been there much longer then Lois, and if anyone deserved it, it was them. However, Chloe and Jimmy were the least of her worries though. The article sitting on her computer thus far was really short. In fact, she only had a title: OLIVER QUEEN'S SEXUALITY CALLED INTO QUESTION!, a subtitle: Billionaire falls head over heels for a farm boy!, and the final stating that the article was by Lois Lane.
Despite the happiness inside her for the new job and for how good Grant was being to her, the fact of the matter was that she was extremely upset, and that was why she'd been unable to continue writing the story. Tears were filling Lois's eyes as she stared at the screen, reading it over and over again, trying to except the facts. It was so hard. She couldn't help but think back to all the good times that she had shared with Oliver. It couldn't be true! There was no way that he and Clark were together!
Standing up from the desk, Lois began to pace around the newsroom, crossing her arms as she did so. Thankfully no one else was there, except obviously Grant, whom was in his office trying to find out anything that he could on the Kyle guy that Grant had heard about, so he wouldn't see her acting the way she was.
Unaware to Lois, there actually was someone else in the room as he had just stepped off the elevator and had a confused look on his face. "Everything alright, miss?"
Lois stopped on a dime and turned around to see a slightly overweight man with balding blond hair. She wasn't sure who he was. "Yeah, fine." She moved back over to her desk and took a seat.
He followed after her. "Really? I couldn't tell since you had that look on your face."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lois stated as she started clicking away on the mouse.
The man couldn't help but smile. "Hey, I'm a reporter. You're not the first person to get cold feet on a story, and you won't be the last either. Name's Perry White." He extended his hand out to her to shake.
"Lois Lane," she replied before shaking his hand quickly and then turned back to the screen, randomly surfing around MSN's News Section.
"That name rings a bell," Perry said. "Weren't you at The Inquisitor?"
"Yeah, but Mr. Gabriel just hired me earlier," Lois replied. "Weren't you at the party earlier? You would've known that."
"I was too busy helping Pauline settle in upstairs," Perry told her. "Sorry."
"Oh, not a big deal," Lois said as she continued to focus on her computer screen. "But I don't want to keep you. I'm sure you're busy."
"When someone is in pain," Perry began, "Perry White is here to help where he can. I see those tears, Miss Lane. What's troubling you?"
"It's nothing," Lois informed. "I'll be alright."
Perry sighed. "Well, if you change your mind, I'll be at my desk." That said, the dirty blond reporter moved away from Lois's desk and over to his own, which was not too far away from her own.
Lois pulled the article back up once Perry was gone and began to stare at it once more, unsure of what to do next. She knew that Grant would drive her crazy about it the moment he realized that she hadn't done anything for it, but the fact of the matter was that the brunette reporter was having doubts, and that wasn't good when it came to the world of investigative reporting, but intentionally hurting two men that she cared for at the same time wasn't good either. She was merely way too conflicted with where to go next.
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Tears streamed down Lana Lang-Luthor's face as she sat in a chair out in the lobby area of the floor that she was on in the Summerholt Neurological Institute. Professor Hamilton was sitting beside her, trying to hand over a tissue to her. She accepted it finally and started dabbing her face with it.
Nigel St. John was standing at the window that looked in on Genevieve Teague's holding area. The woman was still in her trance merely staring forward at nothing in particular. The older gentleman was going crazy with anticipation, wanting to know what was going on with the vessel of Lara-El.
"It's alright, Miss," Hamilton said from beside Lana. "I know this is hard to take in, but I'm sure that it'll get easier with time."
Lana didn't respond to what the scientist was saying. The fact of the matter was, she didn't know this man, and nor did she really want to. All the brunette wanted was to understand why the truth about Jason's whereabouts hadn't been revealed to her before now. Why had he been kept away the way he had? Despite that things had ended pretty badly between the both of them, Jason still held a place in her heart. All of the men that she'd ever cared for had left their mark there: Whitney, Clark, Adam, Seth, and Lex even... There were so many memories.
The most shocking part was that Jason still loved her after all this time. Even in seclusion in a lab for as long as he had been, there was still no denying how the former football coach honestly felt about her. Despite the situation, Lana couldn't help but allow a smile to form on her lips. It was so odd to her that she was actually allowing the old feelings to fill her up. The brunette knew that it would be risky to reopen that door to Jason Teague, but after what she'd gone through with Lex, anything would have to be better.
Nigel rolled his eyes as he listened to the unending sobs coming from the girl. It appeared as if it was going to take her forever to actually get up the strength of will to go back in and speak with Jason again. In the meantime though, Lionel wasn't around, J'onn wasn't around, and Hamilton was too weak and clumsy to even try anything. If the member of The Swann Foundation was going to be able to speak with Genevieve Teague, it was now or never.
Hamilton was obviously distracted by Lana, so Nigel was able to enter the room without either of them taking notice of it. Once inside, the older gentleman straightened out his jacket coat and tie before walking over to Genevieve staring her right in the eyes.
"Do you remember me, Mrs. Teague?" Nigel asked. There was no response. "How about you, Lara-El? Do you know me?"
"I do, Nigel St. John," Genevieve Teague's voice stated, but it obviously wasn't her that was saying what was said. "Why only now does someone come to me?"
"Because Lionel Luthor believes you're dangerous," Nigel replied.
"I'm dangerous?" Lara-El asked from within Genevieve Teague. "Does he not know who I am? As the vessel for my husband, I would think that he knows I will bring no harm."
"It isn't you he's worried about," Nigel informed. "He's worried about your vessel. She isn't that stable a woman, and now that she knows more then a lot of other Veritas members do, we can't take the chance."
A small smile came to her face. "Genevieve Teague is the least of your worries, Nigel St. John."
"Is that supposed to be a threat, Mrs. El?" Nigel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We have been here long enough," Lara responded matter-of-factly through Genevieve. "My son needs to know that I'm still here for him."
"I'm afraid that I can't allow you to leave," Nigel stated.
Genevieve's eyebrow rose. "Really?"
From outside of the room, Lana and Hamilton were brought out of their own thoughts as Nigel St. John went flying right out of the glass of the observation window, crashing to the ground. Both of them stood up and carefully moved over toward Nigel.
"Oh, God," Hamilton stated. "You should've known better, Nigel."
"What did he do?" Lana asked. "Is he alright?"
A hand crashed out of the door to the room instantly before it was torn off its hinges. Genevieve Teague stepped out of the room and looked over to both of them.
Lana felt faint. "Mrs. Teague?" At that moment, she fell to the floor, leaving Professor Emil Hamilton as the only person left standing.
"Do you intend to stand in my way, Professor?" Lara asked from within Genevieve Teague's body.
Hamilton's mouth was agape. He barely managed to shake his head no before she turned and moved for the elevator. Business had literally just picked up.
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Clark Kent sat strapped into the co-pilot's seat in the Javelin. Oliver Queen was strapped in right beside him at the pilot's seat, controlling the flying vessel. They had only been in the air for a few minutes, but it already felt like an eternity to Clark. The brunette was reminded of how much he hated being off the ground. His fear of heights would someday be the death of him.
"You alright over there, angel?" Oliver asked.
Clark looked over him and barely managed to make a nod before looking away.
"Yeah, I believe that," Oliver stated sarcastically. "You look pale as a ghost right now. You wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"I'm still getting used to the whole flying thing," Clark explained. "Sorry. Fear of heights and all."
"It's alright," Oliver told him. "I didn't like flying much myself for a long time, but I got over it. You just have to get a hang of it, and before long, you won't want to ever leave the sky. I feel free up here. Makes me wonder what it would be like to be able to fly."
"Well, I found it pretty terrifying myself, but you'd probably need to get an opinion from J'onn or Kara since they can control it better," Clark stated.
Oliver nodded. "I'm sure it'll get easier with time if you allow yourself to keep flying. If you get used to it, with your abilities, you could really make an even bigger difference." The monitor phone in the cockpit started ringing. "And that would be Oracle." With that said, he pressed a few buttons and moments latter, a live feed from Oliver's Penthouse was coming in with Chloe Sullivan in the center of the screen.
"Well, if it isn't the two love birds," Chloe teased. "You two look good together there."
Clark blushed from where he was sitting and looked away.
Oliver smiled. "I'm glad you're amused, but now isn't the time."
"Right, so what's up?" Chloe asked.
"Kidnapping," Oliver replied. "Three of our own were taken by a Ra's al Ghul. We've got Magnificent Bastard with us, so he should be able to help where information on this guy is concerned, but I'd still like for you to do as much background checking as you can. Despite that Boy Scout trusts him, I really don't."
Chloe nodded and obviously started typing away on a keyboard nearby. "Who was taken? It wasn't Impulse, was it?" The blond looked up, concern clearly on her face.
"No, he's with us," Oliver replied. "He's safe and secure with Whitney, err chef, as we speak."
"You guys are taking Whitney Fordman with you?" Chloe asked in confusion.
Clark finally looked back, having regained his composure. "He's one of us now as odd as that may be."
"Does he know the truth about you, Clark?" Chloe asked.
"Please, codenames, people!" Oliver commanded.
"Sorry, Green Arrow," Chloe stated.
"Yes, Oracle, the cook knows," Clark replied to the previous question.
"How is he chef?" Chloe asked.
"Because he knows how to cook... in the nude," Clark explained, reminded of the earlier incident all over again.
"A memory that I'd like to forget," Oliver stated.
"You and me both," Clark said.
"I'm starting to feel like I need to be at the Watchtower more often," Chloe said. "I'm missing all the fun. Then again, after having to leave the photographer at The Hot Rag, I'm sure I'm probably going to have a lot of free time on my hands."
"I'm sorry you had to do that, Oracle," Oliver said. "I wouldn't ask you to do that normally, but this was an emergency."
"I understand," Chloe said. "So who was taken again? I never got that?"
"Aquaman, Cyborg, and Doc," Oliver replied. "Magnificent Bastard says that we should find them at the fortress where we first rescued the cook."
"Wait, why is he the Magnificent Bastard?" Clark asked, obviously a bit annoyed by that. "I don't see why you have so much hostility for him."
"Well, in a way, it's almost a compliment to him, Boy Scout," Oliver explained. "No one knows what he's going to do, or what his motive really is. That's what makes him magnificent, cause no one can figure him out. And then I'm sure you can figure out on your own why he's such a bastard."
"That isn't fair, Oliv... Green Arrow," Clark said. "He's a changed man, and you need to realize that."
"People don't really ever change," Oliver stated coldly. "They usually get worse."
"So you're saying that you're still a jet setting playboy then, right?" Clark asked. "Do you still bully kids on the school yard and end up causing a kid to get run over because of it? Are you still madly in love with Kyle? No. None of those are so because you changed. He has too."
"Alright, we'll give him a different codename then," Oliver stated, obviously feeling like he'd just been slapped in the face and then kicked in the balls. Turning to face the front once more, the blond billionaire decided to remain silent.
Clark could tell how upset he'd made Oliver by stating things from his past like he had. The worst had probably been mentioning about what happened to Duncan, but the stuff with Kyle had been more recent. "Ollie, I'm sorry."
"Green Arrow," was all Oliver actually said.
Chloe sat there, looking back and forth between the both of them on the screen. "Look, I didn't mean to cause any problems. I just wanted to get caught up."
"It was nothing you did, Oracle," Clark assured her. "Just get us that information."
Chloe nodded. "You got it, Boy Scout." The blond turned her attention back to her research, but a moment later looked back to the screen. "Look, I can tell that the both of you really care about each other. Don't let this get to you. Love doesn't come by too often, so you have to take hold of it and never let it go."
"I understand, Oracle," Oliver said. "Thank you." He looked over to Clark. "I'm sorry too."
"I love you, beautiful," Clark said sincerely, relieved that this was settled. The moment he saw Chloe again in person, she would be getting a hug and a bunch of thank you presents.
"I love you too, angel," Oliver said before giving Clark a quick kiss on the lips and then turning back to his concentration on the flight.
Chloe couldn't help but feel all giddy inside at seeing the both of them so happy together. She knew that it was very odd seeing Clark kissing another guy. The same could probably be said for Oliver as well considering that he had been with her cousin before then, but it didn't matter in the long run. As long as they made each other happy, that was what mattered.