I see where your allegiances lie. I hand over the non existent cookies and suddenly the reviews just flock in. Well, I won't complain.

Big thank you to everyone who has added me to favourite story and story alert lists, they make me smile when they sit in my inbox. Big hugs to reviewers, my inbox loves them too. Hell, why not stick a big cuddle to everyone reading this. Ta, I'm loving all your responses, they are so sweet and encouraging. Xx

Hmmm, I remember being evil. Ah yes. The book…

In all honesty, if you're a Pervy person with a dirty mind you should have known instantly. Then again, not everyone is like that. So probably not… it wasn't very obvious actually…
Oh well. Time to clear that up for you.

Enjoy Xx

Chapter Twenty Six; Black Clouds Overhead

"Are you serious?" Her face was flushed red as she sat up in bed, holding a book in her hands Oliver had passed to her. He slipped back into the covers and wrapped his arms around her. "Is this a hint or something?" she asked hesistantly, suddenly very aware of her nakedness.

"Oh no. God no. You're fantastic. Couldn't ask for better, and you should know I mean that. I just figured since you may be staying here a while, you might want to get adventurous." He winked as her cheeks warmed. He loved her blush. It was so innocent and sweet, yet alluring and seductive at the same time. He pulled her closer to his chest, kissing her bare shoulder.

"Has anyone told you that you have too much self confidence? What makes you think I want you so madly I'm willing to page by page it with you?" Her eyes re-read the title. 'The ultimate guide to sex. Includes the Karma Sutra'

"You forget I hear your begs every night Miss Sullivan. There's only so much you can hide with your lies."

"I don't lie." But she knew it was a lie as she said it. "Maybe I mix the truth up a little, but I'd hardly call it lying."

"Call it whatever you like. I know where you stand with me. You want me, and that much you can't deny."

"Fine. I want you. But that's all."

"Fair enough. I want you too." He grinned. "You wanna start now? We can see how far we get by this afternoon." She caught his cheeky grin and couldn't resist but to lay her lips on it.

"Maybe there's a chapter on celibacy we could practise. I swear I'm going to start walking funny."

"I understand. I have that effect on a lot of women."

"Women in plural. Wow. Way to woo a girl Ollie."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know. Relax. I'm screwing with you." He wiggled his eyebrows at her choice of wording. "Oh my god. One track mind!" she huffed and landed the book back on him as she slipped from the bedding and sauntered into the bathroom for a shower. Deciding it would be offensive if he didn't; Ollie ogled her ass till it went from sight then had no other option but to accompany her in the shower. Make sure she didn't miss a centimetre of her perfect body.

Chloe suddenly found herself very aware of the air conditioning blowing a draft over her. It was only February. Scrunching her brow she set off to find the controls. Slowly she read, then re-read the given temperature for the outside: 52 °C (126 °F)? Yeah, right she scoffed.

Not in February, and definitely not in Metropolis.

To prove herself right, and therefore more intelligent than a robotic temperature control device she opened the balcony doors and stepped outside. Instantly she regretted it, it was like being hit by a gigantic ball of sun. What the hell happened to chilly with a possibility of snow? Appropriate wording actually, maybe Hell rose and swallowed the city. All that was amiss was the stench of Sulphur and dancing men with pitchforks.

She wandered to the edge, peering over at the city. It wasn't just her feeling it; commuters had long forgotten the thick woolly jackets and coats and were strolling across the city in vest tops and shorts. Chloe was instantly regretting the opening of the outside doors and also the choice of jeans today. Her legs felt like they were melting already. She could only thank Oliver's high class systems that she wasn't frying indoors as well. She could bet some people were simply cooking in their own skin. If she was at her old apartment she would be, either that or finding the nearest coffee shop in the shade.

Hmmm, coffee.

She knew her day was amiss something.

Once righted with a cup of addiction in her hand she turned onto the news, looking for an explanation.

"-54 degrees centigrade in the centre of Metropolis. It seems the heat wave started some time in the night." Chloe changed channel from the overly happy blonde with overly sized plastic 'goodies' she felt she had to display to collect viewers.

"-No explanation has been given yet. Experts are calling it a freak change, most likely caused by a change in atmospheric pressure and the-" She lost the next man to his scientific speech. He might not be so far off on the freak idea though. This could be one of the meteor infected Mr Big and Evil has working for him. Though why he would summon a heat wave she had no idea.

"-We can only recommend to ditch the thermals and enjoy it while you can." Far too bubbly and happy for Chloe's choice of news reporter. Who wants to listen to a sorority girl squeal about sunshine before your morning coffee? Oliver's study door opened and he strolled back across. She rolled her eyes; that's who.

Her finger hit another button and she found a more respectable news reporter dressed in a full suit inside his studio. Oliver sunk down onto the sofa next to her. The summer sunshine story had yet to be broached, another topic claiming attention.

"Are you proposing we have a serial killer on our hands?"

"I wouldn't go to those lengths Steve."

"But this is the third murder of this style in the last week. Not to mention they were all part of the 34 missing persons in the last month. Surely these facts cannot be ignored."

"Of course not, and the police are working harder than ever to find the culprit."

"How much you betting this links back to Doctor Evil?" Oliver asked. Chloe knew he was right, she'd bet they were all once suffers of the meteor infection as well.

"We can't say anymore other than that the victim's appears to have their organs removed."

"So we're dealing with the next Jack the Ripper"

"Police are unable to make any more statements relating to the murders but have opened phone lines offering rewards for any and all information that can be provided and lead to the arrest of this sick murderer."

"Thank You. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Janet Rodgers-"

Chloe froze in her seat; she knew the name. Without another word she stood and bee lined for her purse, fishing out an old address book. Janet Rodgers… one of her meteor infected from her Isis group. She needed to get a warning out there, to warn the others so they didn't meet the same fate.

Charles Feston seemed to be in need of more body parts for his Frankenstein dream and was wasting no time in collecting. If so, it wasn't just her own life at risk. She thumbed the pages of her contacts and found her Isis page. The names and numbers of everyone she ever saw at Isis.

Her finger hovered over one in particular. Hannah. No last name, but they were rarely given. Runaway's liked there privacy. Hannah was weather girl, in the purest sense. If something happened to her, she may have used her powers to try and defend herself. It could explain the heat wave over the city.

"I don't know how you can drink that during this weather." Ollie appeared next to her, nodding at the coffee she refused to let out of her sight.

"It's coffee." she simply answered and fished out her phone from her pocket, hoping and praying nothing had happened to Hannah. She was so sweet and honest to god goodness.

"Precisely my point. Boiling hot coffee, on a boiling hot day. Are you sure you're seeing sense?"

"I don't tell you how to be business man." she answered. "Leave me and my addiction alone." He held up his hands laughing and wandered back to his office. She had no idea what he did in there, but it was how he spent most mornings for an hour or two.

"Who is this?" A timid voice crawled across the line "How'd you get this number?"

"Hannah? It's Chloe Sullivan. From Isis."

"Oh god you have no idea how glad I am to hear from you. We went back to Isis, to try find you about all these missing people, but it was all burnt down. We figured they'd got you too. They took Terry, and Miranda. I don't know where they are." A sob and sniffle came down the line. "I don't know what to do. They tried to grab me last night. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what else to do. And now there's this heat wave because of it. I didn't mean to. I promise. I wouldn't have, but I didn't know what else to do." Chloe heard the rustle of fabric, probably as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Where are you Hannah?"

"Ummm. Some abandoned house. Amber's was with me, but she hasn't come back yet. What do I do Chloe?" Hannah was only young, barely 18. She was probably terrified.

"What's the address? I'll come find you."

"You will? That's good. I don't know. It didn't have one. But it's old and big and you can see some old factory from the windows."

"Alright. I'm on my way. Call me back if you get into trouble." She'd probably be able to find it easily. There were only a handful of factories in Metropolis, and only a small percentage of them were old and in abandoned areas.

Chloe swung on the doorframe of Oliver's area and poked her head in. "I'm going out. Be back later." she stated and swung back collecting her flats from the outside door. Oliver's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

"I don't think so." he argued. Her hands fell naturally to her hips and she rose an eyebrow at him.

"You going to stop me?" she challenged. He smirked.

"If I have to. What's up?"

"An Isis contact was hit by our fiend last night. She needs help."

"And if it's a trap?" he probed.

"Fine I'll take Bart with me."

"Bart? Wow, I feel a little demoted." He put a hand over his heart.

"Relax, you're still boss. I just think a 'hey, I'm here with the big green giant, but don't worry he's harmless' won't go over so well for a scared teen."

"Alright, then you'll have to go with Oliver Queen instead then."

"Right, because Billionaires come to her door everyday. We're trying to calm her down, not make her paranoid."

"Then don't tell her my name. I can just be a friendly friend type."

"Okay seriously Oliver. 'Hello, this is my stranger friend who I won't tell you the name of' isn't going to help. And besides, she's a teenager; she probably has your photo framed as Mr Dream man."

"All the more reason for me to go. I can soften her up." He winked.

"You aren't going to be softening anything but your ass into a chair. Honestly, it's like the female sex just eludes you completely."

"I do alright with you don't I?" he purred, pulling her back to him. She rolled her eyes.

"Like I said." She smirked and patted his arm twice before returning to her shoes and slipping her bag on her arm.

"I think you're jealous." he called.

"Say's the one throwing the fit because I'm going out with another man." she jibed and speed dialled Bart. He answered on the first ring. "You free for a quick run outside?"

Ollie waited, trying not to get angry that he was being left behind. Sure he had things to do, but letting Chloe out of his sight was a risk he didn't want to take. "Yes; in this heat." Chloe smiled and swiped the keys for Ollie's car from the table. "Don't worry; Ollie let me borrow his car." He rolled his eyes. "It's air conditioned." she continued and the next thing Bart is standing beside her. Smiling she ended the call and put it back in her purse. "Thanks Ollie." she called over her shoulder and followed Bart out the door. She was a minx that one. He had the claw marks on his back to prove it.

"So, some tiny teen is the reason I'm sweating Mexican food?" Bart insisted upon driving, his need for speed taking control. Chloe had let him, filling him in on the details.

"Lovely. Thanks Bart."

"What can I say? I'm delicious. Wanna lick?" He held out his hand for her. She just laughed.

"How's it going with Dinah?" she asked after they strayed into the rougher part of Metropolis. Maybe taking Ollie's car wasn't a good idea. Oh well, too late to change her mind now. Bart answered with a non committal sound. "What's wrong?"

"I said one thing. Just one tiny little thing and now she's back to hating me. But, luckily for you. That means I'm back on the market." He beamed at her, his eyes taking a cheeky sparkle.

"What did you say to her?" Chloe asked, ignoring the latter of his words.

"I maybe, possibly, could have, sort of, in a word or two, maybe…kind of said something wrong."

"Bart. What did you say?"

"Okay. It really wasn't that bad, and I meant it as a compliment." Clearly it wasn't received as such. "You know how Dinah likes to hang around with the guys and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. Well, I said something along the lines that she was one of the guys and she completely flipped out, saying that I called her a man. Then she started squealing and threw a lamp at me!" He laughed remembering it. "So, we're back to how we were. She snarls at me, and I focus all my attention to prettier little things. Such as the one with me right now." He turned smiling and hit the breaks hard, skidding in, to park beside the curb. "This the place?" he asked. Chloe peeled her finger from the dashboard.

"No matter what happens; I'm driving back." Bart shrugged and sped around to open her door for her. "I think this is right." Chloe scanned the surroundings. It was old, abandoned and there was a run down factory to her left over the hill.

"I'll go say hello" Bart grinned and sped to the front door, knocking before Chloe could step onto the curb. She slowly shook her head. Men, honestly… "I see some tiny person on the other side." he observed, looking in through the window. A rumble sounded above Chloe's head and she looked up. A black cloud appeared over her in a sun bathed clear sky. Uh-oh. Chloe hurried up her step and met Bart by the door.

"Hannah. It's me. It's Chloe. This is Bart, he's a friend."

"Chloe?" An angelic voice penetrated the door. "Is it really you?" Chloe stood on her tiptoes and let her face fill the glass. Hannah smiled at her and opened the door. The black clouds dissipating quickly. "Amber isn't back yet." she whispered. "Something's happened to her."

"We don't know that. She may have got delayed. Where did she go?"

"Down the road, till she found some shop. We're hungry." Hannah seemed to have lost all hope. Her eyes kept glancing to Bart, almost expecting him to attack her. Chloe mentally patted her back for not bringing Oliver. Menacingly wise, Bart was much softer.

"I'll check the house, then go find her." Bart spoke and Hannah blocked his way, her eyes twitching in anger.

"He's good. Honestly." Chloe swore.

"What's he checking for?" She narrowed her eyes and refused to budge.

"Bombs, spy camera's, other little doo-dads." he answered. Before she could blink he was stood behind her, have sped around. She squeaked as she turned and Chloe felt the air vibrate again.

"Bart go. I'll be safe." Bart saluted and sped around the entire house then was off following the road to find the closest shop Amber would be at.

"He's like me?" Hannah spoke reverently. "He's got powers?"

"Yep. That's Bart." Chloe followed Hannah inside the dilapidated house, and into what was once the living room, but now converted into sleeping quarters. Chloe noted the different bags scattered around. More than 2 people had been living here. "Hannah, did Amber say others were here as well?"

"Oh. Yeah. There were a few but they left the city when people started disappearing. There were a few runaways crashing here as well. Penelope and George were staying here, but Amber said they didn't come back after one night. She said they might still be alive. That they might have been followed and didn't want to lead them back here so they crashed somewhere else." Chloe nodded though in all honesty she didn't think that was what had happened.

"What happened last night Hannah?" Chloe asked, getting down to business before Bart returned and she clammed back up. Hannah gulped and lowered herself to the floor, letting Chloe take the chair. She brushed her fingers through her hair and leant back against the bare wall avoiding the chipping paint.

"I didn't mean to cause this heat wave. I promise. I went out looking for Miranda, we were going to meet up. Then this black shadow came from nowhere and kept pulling on me. It was like a man, but he was all dark and kept whispering all these horrible things to me from his shadows. I tried to run, but he kept following. He caught me again and everything started to turn scary. Like I was living all my worst nightmares. I didn't know what to do so I blackened the sky and hit him with lightening. I swear I didn't mean to. And I didn't even realise the side effect was that bad till this morning when I woke up to this boiling heat. I tried to right it. To pull some rain, but I just made it worse. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You did right." Chloe watched as the teen breathed again.

"Janet's dead." Hannah stated emotionlessly, trying to stay strong. "I heard it on the radio." She picked at her nails. "We're not safe here anymore. Are we?"

"You need to gather as many people as possible. Stay in groups. Keep each other safe. If you can, stay outside the city for a while." Hannah nodded.

"Michael and Henry think we should stay with them. In Gotham."

"Do that. And take as many others as you can."

"Will you come with us Chloe? Bart can come too." Chloe smiled.

"I'll be safe. Don't worry." Hannah bit her lip.

"I don't think you will be Miss Chloe." Her long brown hair fell around her face. "Amber saw you." Amber was Hannah's longest friend since she found out she was part of the meteor persuasion. But Amber was also gifted, her gift arguably the most precious and wanted. Althought she had no control over what she saw, she could experience the future. Usually they came in dreams. She saw things even Chloe couldn't explain. Amber was only 19 and had to live with nights filled with arson attacks and murders. "She saw you falling from Smallville dam. A man in shadows, the same one that was with me, he was watching you from the top." So far, all of Amber's visions had come true. It shook Chloe more than she would admit. "Have you seen him before Miss Chloe? Was he the one who attacked you?"

Chloe lifted her head up to meet the terrified eyes of the teen.

"He tried to." Chloe admitted. "What else did she see?" If she could pinpoint the time maybe it could be prevented.

"There was the shadow man, gripping the railing, watching as you tumbled. But there was another man, I don't remember what she said exactly, but he didn't seem to be bad. He was tall but you couldn't see him."

"What did he look like?" she shrugged.

"It was from your perspective so all she saw was a blur. But you were close with him. Oh!" she recalled something. "The car, the one you drove here in. It was there." Was Oliver her mystery man? "But it was so scary, the way the shadows laughed, all so gleeful as you fell. Like he had accomplished something great." she paused. "You were crying." Hannah looked like she might be crying herself.

"Hannah. I won't let someone push me off the dam. In fact. I promise to steer clear of all dams." Hannah's sadness didn't go away.

"You weren't pushed." she admitted. "Miss Chloe. You jumped."

Oh my god! Am I really this evil? Yes? No? It's all so maddening.

Comment and rate for me. Maybe you'll change Chloe's future. Rofl; I already know what's going to happen… it's so tense.

Now… This is majorly important so I need you to focus.

*Hands the tissue box over to readers*

I'll be away from my internet for a few weeks, which means no posts of new chapters.

I hope I'll be back and everything will be normal for me to regain posting for Saturday 25th June. There is a chance it could be before, a chance it could be after.

I know it's sad. I'm grieving too. And I know I picked possibly the worst chapter for this to happen on, but please believe me that I didn't intend it to be as such.

I'm thinking I'll post up two chapters when I come back, as a way to smooth over the withdrawal process some readers may suffer with.

Apologies and much love. I'll miss you all. Xx