Author's Note: A little filler...as if it needed more.
Disclaimer: Don't own DC comics.
oOo
Lucius Fox slowly ran a heavy hand over his tired face.
"Lex, Lex," Lucius clucked in a disapproving manner as he stared at the numerous windows open on the screen in front of him. Allowing his glasses to dangle lightly from his pinched grasp, Lucius continued his investigation of what the unusual young billionaire had been up to in these last few years. Oh sure, Lucius had paid enough attention when the time warranted, but after he'd been sent down to R & D, his primary focus had been on his own ideas. Now it seemed to be more pressing to pay closer attention after Luthor's abrupt albeit interesting visit.
While Lex had been making a name for himself in the business of Luthorcorp, it seemed that there had been plenty of failed projects that had pointed to some serious ethical dilemmas for both Lex and Lionel, before the latter had passed unexpectedly. However, as it stood now, most of the accusations had been purely conjecture on the part of the press.
So for now, sufficed to say, he was making do with preliminaries; simple stuff that could only be found in newspapers, blogs and devoted websites.
Lionel and Lex seemed to have settled down between a sizable country home in Smallville, Kansas and a generous penthouse in Metropolis with both close to business, respectively. In addition, Luthorcorp had been actively involved in certain areas of the local community of Smallville, with particular attention to the local high school.
Scrolling down a society page of the Daily Planet, Lucius found something that made his brows rise with intrigue.
'Luthor Marries! Three Times a Charm?'
"Good lord," Lucius chuckled lightly, his eyes barely grazing over the caption at the bottom.
As he absently began to scroll over the picture when something peculiar caught his eye. Putting his glasses back on, Lucius pulled the picture back into view.
Obviously, the picture had been taken with the sole focus of the bride and groom in mind. Deep in the grainy background were of course, best man, Lionel Luthor—Lucius expected no less. He quickly took note of the bride's name-a Lana Lang, who had been raised and had resided in Smallville her entire life. The caption continued with a lot of nonsense about the designer of the wedding dress and bridal party which included a maid of honor and a few flower girls.
But also in the background was where his attention was focused. He leaned forward and quickly zoomed in on the picture displayed in the paper. Standing just behind the bride, hands clasped in front of her around a delicate bouquet of purple orchids, with a flashy smile as she looked down at her friend.
"Chloe Sullivan," he mumbled over the name. He knew her as C.G. from the Gotham Gazette. Bruce knew her by the name displayed before him.
He'd bet the company that Bruce didn't know this.
There was a momentary pause as Lucius stared at the photograph. Lucius took a second and leaned back in his chair to slowly take in this new information. Bruce had been so concerned about the blonde being involved with the mob. Neither of them had exchanged notes on the subject. Lucius preferred to stick to the business side of things and waited for Bruce to come to him if he needed assistance. And now it seemed that this young woman was associated, to some degree, with a questionable young businessman. The coincidences were mounting in such a way that they seemed less like coincidences. Exactly how this Miss Chloe Sullivan was associated, either alone or through some other connection, it obviously bore some more looking into.
oOo
The moment she hit the couch, Chloe went into a much needed sleep-induced coma. She hadn't really planned on spending Friday evening on the couch—alone. Yet the second she began surfing channels her lids began to droop, then she felt heaviness in her shoulders pull her down to the soft cushions and was promptly out like a light.
Muffled voices echoed beyond the pitch dark; voices she didn't recognize right away. Trying to push the panic that was beginning to creep into her body was like trying to stop a freight train barreling down the tracks.
Was she blind?
She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She was squinting; searching frantically to discern the semblance of anything tangible.
But there was nothing. Her fear began to spread into her mind like a disease eating at her senses.
In that instant, she heard the sound of an explosion as she was propelled through the air.
Chloe jerked awake at the unexpected sound of thunder crack over the building that inadvertently launched her off the couch in surprise and into the floor. Her head still fuzzy with sleep, but her heart was pounding against her chest.
Taking a few calming breaths, Chloe searched through the grogginess until her eyes fell across the clock that sat by her workstation.
Eight o'clock.
She groaned as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. "Ugh, are you kidding me?"
A peculiar ring from her purse caught her attention. A ring she'd not heard in quite a while. With another groan, Chloe finally got up and hurriedly fished her cell from the bottom of her purse, not even bothering to look at the I.D.
"Hey! Long time, no hear," she greeted sarcastically.
"Mind telling me what happened to 'I, Chloe, do solemnly swear to call Clark Kent…'?" he repeated in like kind. "Chloe! I just heard that there was a bombing in Gotham."
Chloe's gut took a dive. "And?" she tried to sound nonchalant.
"Are you all right?"
Chloe resisted another deep breath. "I'm fine, Clark," she assured, taking great note not to gush overmuch.
"So you weren't involved in any way?" His voice held a hint of accusation. Something was definitely up.
She sighed in defeat. "You're looking at the Gazette's site now, aren't you?" she asked, her eyes clenched shut in futility.
"Chloe! What the hell were you thinking?" he nearly shouted, confirming her fear. Chloe could hear the lecture coming from a mile away. Big brother was just about to give her a good dressing down and she was going to have to sit back and take her medicine like a good girl.
"Look, I'm coming to get you and—"
An unexpected jolt made Chloe ridged with panic. "Clark, no!"
There was nothing but silence from the other end. "Clark?"
Still nothing.
Chloe scoffed in frustration. "Dammit, Clark! Don't do this!"
"Chloe, you aren't safe here anymore," she heard from behind her.
Chloe whirled on him. "I'll never be truly safe anywhere, Clark! I thought you knew that," she half shouted up at him.
His expression of concern was a guilt trip by itself, but Chloe was determined not to allow it to affect her. However, she began to nervously pace back and forth. If she was going to give him a good argument, then she needed all the blood pumping to her brain soon.
"This never would have happened if you'd gone to Star City," he proclaimed with prophetic assurance.
Chloe paused in her pacing to gape at him. "You mean, like you wanted."
Clark blew his impatience through his lips with a quick roll of the eyes. "Like we all wanted."
"Correction: I meant you and Oliver," she said humdrum with a more pointed look and turned away from him to the kitchen.
Clark's shoulders began to droop. "Chloe, I read that article. You could've been blown all over the city. You can't blame me for being concerned."
Chloe only looked at him.
Clark crossed his arms with a determined look. "-Or having questions, for that matter."
Chloe propped her left hand on the counter by the coffeemaker, leaning heavily. "Okay," she conceded. "Out with it."
"Well, first of all, it sounds as if two lunatics are involved, but more to the point. How did you get involved with them? I would've thought Lex was enough. "
"So call me a lunatic magnet," she quipped with a challenging eyebrow.
"This isn't funny, Chloe!"
"I'm not laughing, Clark," she shot at him.
Clark began shuffling his feet and shifting in agitation. This was going nowhere and it got there awfully fast. "I should've never let you come here," he grumbled without thinking.
"Okay. Clark!" she shouted with a slap to the counter. "Another remark like that and I'm gonna beat you with a kryptonite club!"
Clark merely shot up a bemused eyebrow at that particular threat. She was leaning heavily on both hands now, her face a mixture of desperate aggravation.
"At least hear me out," was all she said.
Clark grasped his arms and took a deep breath. "Alright."
oOo
He'd gone down into the cave. Hoping against hope that he could push his mind into other directions and he'd been successful for the most part. Protocol being first and foremost, Bruce began accessing different cameras all over the city in the areas that he monitored often. Even if all eyes in the city were on one of the biggest crime bosses in town, Gotham was hardly out of the woods.
The local news channels had reported more cases of vandalism. Each frame showed some obscured wall or rusted dumpster with the one word inscribed in spray paint: Falcone.
He settled back into his chair, beginning to feel better that he'd had his attention diverted to something else.
The rumor mill had been abuzz that Carmine Falcone was still alive. Bruce knew that some of Falcone's men were more than happy to work for the new boss, Maroni. Others seemed to scatter to the four winds. Some had joined gangs, others committed petty theft, and some seemed to disappear off the face of the planet.
Was there a connection or just random taunts?
Immediately, Bruce began emailing Gordon for information regarding the Five Star gang members arrested at District 12, in addition to other recent arrests. He wanted rap sheets, past criminal history, he wanted the exact time and date of their last piss break.
Of course, the Joker had gone underground after District 12; that much was obvious and it had been expected, but Bruce was certain that he'd resurface soon enough and he needed to be there when that happened.
The fact that the Joker seemed to have developed a particular taste for Chloe was a consideration that unwillingly ran through his mind; his gut twisting in disgust at the thought. Twice he'd found Chloe at his mercy or lack of, as the case most certainly was. And he was certain that third time was probably a charm where that maniac was concerned. Especially now that he was sure that the Joker had figured out that where Chloe was, that Batman was sure to be found.
Just like Rachel.
oOo
"Vigilante justice," Clark remarked, his voice heavy with judgment. Chloe had pulled up all the information she had found on the Batman. "Sounds like he and Oliver would get along like a house on fire."
"Hmm," Chloe hummed. "I hadn't thought about that."
Clark straightened, but continued to stare down at the screen, his arms folded. "It looks as if he's being doing this for quite some time. I'm surprised that someone like that managed to get in under your radar for so long."
"Well, he is a bat," she remarked with blithe sarcasm. No apologies. He walked right into that one.
"Well, it's obvious what you think about him," Clark remarked with an accusatory tone.
Chloe wheeled around in her chair. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"C'mon Chloe," Clark chuckled lightly. "Gotham's hero." He made quotations marks in the air.
Without a word, Chloe pushed out of the chair and headed towards the coffeemaker.
All humor aside, Clark ignored what he deemed as her unjust annoyance. "Seriously Chloe, this guy is obviously dangerous," Clark declared. "It says right there that he's responsible for the deaths of several people," he added, pointing at the open windows on the screen.
She was ignoring him. That much was for certain because her furrowed brows said that she was concentrating way too hard to merely drop extra grounds into the filter. "He saved my life…twice," she informed. "You know me, Clark. My conscience won't allow me to demonize him until I get all the facts."
"You don't need to get the facts. We're going to Star City tonight," he informed.
Her head shot up then, her brows drawing closer together. "I'm sorry? The last I checked, I was a big girl with at least a little say in what goes on in my life. Look, I'm sorry if I've let you down, but Clark I told you: This is my life. If I had wanted to simply sit back in a beach chair with no shirt, no shoes, no problems, then I wouldn't be here," she said, emphatically gesturing towards the floor with her hands.
"So, do some preliminary work for Oliver," Clark suggested through tight lips. "I know he'd love it and you could fulfill….whatever it is that you need-fulfilling."
Chloe's shoulders dropped with a sigh, her tone gentler. "Clark, I'm on my own here and believe it or not, it's been a blessing in disguise. Don't get me wrong, working with you, Oliver and all the rest has given me purpose, but you're my friends. I don't have to prove myself to you."
"You don't have to prove anything to anyone," he insisted.
"Yes, I do," she stressed with a smile. "I had to prove something to myself and I've found that here," she declared ardently.
Before Clark could reply, Chloe's cell began to ring.
Looking down at her cell, she completely dismissed the coffee and grabbed her coat and umbrella. "Look, I've got to run."
Clark's face fell in exasperation. "Chloe. It's raining cats and dogs out there!"
She put on her best smile. "When it rains, it pours."
And with that, she hurriedly slammed out of the apartment. Clark stood silent. He should've known he would receive opposition about going to Star City, but nothing this personal. He assumed that it would be as it always was: he'd suggest with feeling, she'd contradict in like kind, but ultimately she would see his side and do it his way.
The idea of picking her up and taking off at light speed did cross his mind, but after her adamant refusals Clark knew that Chloe would never forgive him.
He should've known that it must be important if she left a full pot of coffee standing untouched.
oOo
'Saved by the bell', Chloe thought as she redialed her missed call. At this point, she would've used anything to get out from under Clark's overzealous scrutiny.
"Hey Walt, sorry to put you off, but I had unexpected company." she said as she sloshed down the wet sidewalk towards the subway. She didn't dare take the call in front of Clark. After his overprotective display, she didn't trust him not eavesdrop on her conversation.
"Well, put on your dancing shoes, Hildy because I've got an anonymous tip," he informed with that determined tone, his excitement barely contained.
Chloe stopped in her tracks, attention at full alert. "Really?"
"Try not to sound so surprised," he droned over the phone. "Believe it or not, I still have what it takes."
She loved Walter. "Of course you do," Chloe giggled over the phone. "So, what's the tip?"
"Come to my office a.s.a.p.," he informed.
"Hmm, delicate information. My favorite." Chloe savored the thought, nearly smacking her lips. "I'm on my way."
oOo
Hopefully more to come in the next day or two. Thanks for reading!