Author's Note: Thanks to svgurl410 for the review of the previous chapter. Sorry for the delay on this one. I guess I don't actually have writer's block after all. I'm just a bit lazy now that its summer break. In any case, I hope you, and any other readers, enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 28: Back in the States

Chloe Sullivan sat at the computer console, sighing with relief. The mission had been a success. At least for the most part anyway. Things could've gone a whole lot worse then they had, but at least everyone was still alive... That was, everyone except for hopefully that psychopath, Ra's al Ghul.

A vibrating on the desk beside her reminded Chloe that Jimmy was probably still trying to get hold of her. He had tried to reach her at least ten times now. She badly wanted to answer the phone and tell him that everything was alright, and that she had to leave because of something important, but her duties had kept the blond from doing so. Instead, the investigative reporter decided to keep her focus on the here and now. She would worry about Jimmy later.

"Nice job, team," Chloe stated into the microphone as she saw on the multiple screens that everyone was safely in the Javelin on their way back to the Watchtower. "I got a report ten minutes ago from Martian Manhunter. Aquaman was delivered to a hospital in Niger. He told me not to worry about him and that he would bring him back to Watchtower once he was given the clear from the hospital."

"Acknowledged, Oracle," Green Arrow said over the com system. "We're going to switch off now. See you soon. Green Arrow out."

Chloe took off the headset and leaned back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling for the longest time, trying to sort out her own thoughts from the multiple camera views that she'd seen of the battle. It had been difficult enough with only the normal four members of Green Arrow, Impulse, Aquaman, and Cyborg. When you add in Clark, Lionel, Whitney, and Martian Manhunter, things start to get a little much. It did surprise her though that Oliver had managed to set up the appropriate number of monitors, thus some before leaving. Apparently he'd been expecting a lot of help for this mission.

In the end, she figured it was good that The Justice League was expanding. In a way, it meant that they were an unlimited society that would welcome in anyone that was willing to help the cause. That could've been considered a bad thing, but as long as Oliver was cautious with who he trusted within the team, perhaps things would work out well enough. What she had to remind herself was that if they hadn't had as much backing as had been there, things might've wound up a lot different then they had.

It made Chloe believe that she needed to do something to increase the odds of victory for The Justice League further in the future. The prospect of possibly becoming The Face of The Justice League appealed to her greatly. There was no way to know how many others like those already part of the team there were out there. Perhaps Andrea Rojas would be interested. She wasn't really much of a team player as Chloe had learned in the past, but she had been the publicist for The Angel of Vengeance ever since the incident with Molly Griggs in the Luthor mansion, and it would probably at the least help her image in a positive light to be on Oliver's team.

Picking up her cell phone, Chloe decided that she would give Andrea a call immediately to get things rolling. Of course, in the end, she would need to clear these ideas with Oliver before anything official happened, but getting the idea in the Latina's head would be crucial to her evening considering it. However, upon opening her phone, the blond immediately saw all the missed calls from Jimmy and was instantly reminded of that massive problem.

Deciding that Andrea could wait, she called Jimmy, praying that this wouldn't end up turning into a fight. The last thing Chloe wanted was to have an argument over the phone.

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Jimmy Olsen emerged from the elevator in The Daily Planet. He was very close to the top of the building now, finally in the main newsroom for the entire paper. It had been a long time since the photographer had last set foot on that floor. He had been fired from this floor because of him sticking his nose in Lex's business when he was taking pictures of the man that had gotten into the Luthor limo with the briefcase and then didn't leave the limo with the briefcase.

Despite that it had turned out to be a mistake in the end trying to tangle with the likes of Lex Luthor, Jimmy still had some friends in the paper. He had begged Pauline Kahn to let him keep his job, and if it hadn't been for Perry White stepping in to put in a good word for him, whom had had his own problems with Lionel Luthor in the past, he probably would've been living in a cardboard box. It was true that he'd been demoted to the bottom of the building, but at least it had put him closer to Chloe. In his mind that had been a promotion instead of a demotion.

Chloe coming to his mind brought Jimmy back on track as he moved through the newsroom, not seeing anyone at first till he finally saw Lois Lane sitting at a desk by herself. He could see a couple heads in the offices at the end of the newsroom, but who better then to help him then Chloe's own cousin? "Lois, have you seen Chloe?"

Lois jumped slightly when the familiar voice spoke to her. She had been in shock for the past hour, barely able to get the article finished before completely succumbing to her own grief. She had gone pale white, and it appeared as if nothing was actually registering in her mind. The fact that Grant and Perry were both nearby didn't even phase her either. However, when the new person had spoke, she turned to look at him, instantly recognizing him as Jimmy.

Jimmy had a concerned look on his face. "Lois, are you alright?"

"Well, that's what's expected of me, so I have to say yes," Lois replied. "Now what were you asking?"

Jimmy wasn't entirely sure what to think of Lois's response. Something was definitely up as he leaned against her cubical wall. "Have you seen Chloe? We were in the basement, trying to find you, and she just disappeared on me."

"No, I haven't seen her," Lois told him. "I'm sorry. Why were you looking for me?"

"Chloe wanted to congratulate you for coming to the Planet," Jimmy replied. "I overheard you and the new editor talking in the lobby when I came to drop off a report, and well, she figured it would be best if she came to support you... Why are you up here?"

"Grant wants me to be close to his office," Lois replied. "He sees a lot of potential in me, and thus deemed that I should be here."

Jimmy felt really confused but ended up smiling nonetheless. "Wait... Chloe's been here for two years, and she's been stuck in the basement. You come here from the trash rag of Metropolis, and you're automatically up here on this floor?"

Lois turned away from Jimmy, looking back to the computer screen and her article once more. "I didn't ask for this, Jimmy. It just happened."

"Things like this don't just happen," Jimmy informed. "Did you sleep with Mr. Gabriel or something?"

Lois looked back to Jimmy, anger on her face as she stood up and slapped him on the face. "How dare you."

After recovering from the painful slap, Jimmy turned back to Lois, shock on his face. "What is wrong with you?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Lois said before sitting back down.

Jimmy came into the cubical fully and leaned down, placing his hand on the desk as he looked at Lois. "Listen, I don't want to start something here, but you need to talk to him. If you've got some sort of pull, then get Chloe up here. I don't care if I even have to stay down in the basement. As long as Chloe gets up here where she belongs, I don't care."

"Do you think I have him on puppet strings or something?" Lois asked, staring a hole into Jimmy's head. "I admit that he has the hots for me. There's no denying that since I'm up here instead of down there, but if you think for one second that he's going to listen to every little suggestion that I make, you need to seriously think again.

Jimmy sighed, feeling defeated as he knew she was probably right. However, the place that the photographer looked away to actually ended up being Lois's computer screen. "Oliver Queen's sexuality called into question? Billionaire falls head over heels for a farm boy? What is this? Did Mr. Gabriel hire you so you could write more trash that the Inquisitor would publish?"

Lois minimized the screen so Jimmy wouldn't be able to read the article. It was bad enough that he had seen the title and subtitle. She felt like an idiot for leaving it up in the first place. "This is real, Jimmy."

"You're telling me that the billionaire owner of Queen Industries may be gay?" Jimmy asked. "Weren't you dating him last year?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that he's not bi-sexual," Lois said. "I have a tape recording to prove it."

"Who's the farm boy?" Jimmy asked.

"Does it matter?" Lois asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Whoa, Lois, what's with the tears?" Jimmy asked as he reached into her Kleenex box and pulled out a tissue, handing it over to her. "I thought you would be over him by now."

"I am," Lois said. "But there are times like this that you start to wonder if you're not poison to the guys you date. I can't help but think I'm the reason that he turned to guys."

"He might've always been that way," Jimmy told her. "Sexuality isn't always so easily switched at the snap of the finger because of a relationship gone bad. I mean, it can happen. I'm not saying that it wouldn't... What am I saying? I don't really know anything about this kind of thing."

Lois shook her head. "I just feel like my world's been turned up on end... And at the same time, it's starting to make a lot of sense. Have you ever known someone that was keeping secrets from you, and you knew it was the case, but they just wouldn't tell you?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Yeah, that happens to everyone. Secrets are a part of everyday life, but you can't let yourself become a pursuer of those secrets, or it'll consume you."

"Well, Oliver and the farm boy have both been this way to me in the past," Lois informed. "Oliver more so because I was around him more then I ever was the other."

"Will you just tell me who you're talking about?" Jimmy pleaded. "Referring to this guy as the farm boy is getting old."

"Don't you already know who it is?" Lois asked. "If you're not smart enough to figure it out on your own, then you can wait for tomorrow and read the article."

Jimmy thought about it for a moment. It was a farm boy that Lois and Oliver both knew. From the way she was talking, it appeared that perhaps he knew this guy as well. Then something clicked in the back of his head, but he wasn't sure he should believe it. Then again, there was only one guy he knew that lived on a farm. "Clark?"

Lois nodded solemnly. "Lana used to talk all the time about Clark keeping secrets. I guess I figured out what she wasn't able to discover on her own. All this time, Clark Kent's big secret was that he liked guys. I honestly never saw it coming."

"Apparently not Oliver either," Jimmy commented.

"No," Lois replied lowly. "And I'd give anything to understand right now what happened. If I could, I would delete this article and tell Grant to have someone else write it if he wanted it published so badly."

"Why aren't you already doing that anyway?" Jimmy asked. "I can tell you still care about Oliver. Despite that you're angry with him still, I just see it. And you and Clark have been friends since before I knew either of you. Are you willing to give up on that friendship? If you publish this and reveal to the world the truth about them, you may very well loss them both."

Lois started to say something but completely stopped herself all together, closing her mouth and looking away, weighing her options. Jimmy had made some very good points, and she simply couldn't ignore them. Great care needed to be given to this.

Jimmy's phone started ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, the photographer sighed with relief. "Thank God. It's Chloe. Please, think about what I said, Lois. Take care." With that said, Jimmy moved away from her and answered the phone. "Chloe, I've been worried sick. Where have you been?"

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From outside Oliver Queen's Penthouse, Kyle Rayner, dressed in his Green Lantern attire, was floating right outside the balcony entrance to the place General Lane had informed him to be where his soul mate was living in Metropolis. He had been levitating there for ages it seemed. The brunette hero hoped that no one had actually spotted him out there, because it would've been too odd for them to see him like that. In any case, Kyle couldn't just enter the place. It wouldn't have been right despite how badly he wanted to do so.

Kyle had been toying with the possibility of simply not going inside at all. What was it General Lane's business if he did everything that Veritas actually wanted out of him or not anyway? The brunette trusted the man as far as he could throw him without his Green Lantern abilities, because with them, that would've been pretty damn far. Breaking an entering wasn't exactly the way he wanted to go, and it made him feel like the broken hearted, vengeful ex-boyfriend that just wanted to cause problems.

When Kyle thought about it, the fact of the matter was, he actually was that person now. Seeing Oliver again had been the deciding factor in whether or not he could actually keep his old feelings out of his mind and focus on the mission of saving the world. Despite all the training that the brunette had gone through with The Green Lantern Corp, he was still a fool in love in the end. What was he kidding anyway? Kyle Rayner wanted to enter the penthouse so badly, he could taste it, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Levitating over the rest of the way to the balcony, The Green Lantern slowly moved over to the sliding glass door. Looking in, he didn't see anyone in the main living area. Slowly sliding open the door, the brunette walked into the room. Closing his eyes, Kyle immediately caught the scent of Oliver Queen. It reminded him so much of the memories from Star City. There were other smells in the room as well. Obviously they were perhaps from other people that his soul mate had entertained.

What made him burn with anger and jealousy was the thought that Clark Kent's scent could've very well been one of the ones he was smelling. The mere thought of the man that Veritas was calling The Traveler having his way with Oliver in this place made Kyle sick at his stomach.

Trying to force such thoughts from his mind, The Green Lantern scanned the living room as thoroughly as he could before he would make a decision on where to start. The place looked to be in slight order though it slightly also appeared that perhaps there was a little something off. Oliver had always been a neat freak. So unless he hadn't hired a housekeeper, perhaps there were others actually living with him that were pigs.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy, but something came up," a voice stated from the center of the room.

The Green Lantern ducked down on instinct as he tried to listen in to see exactly where the voice was coming from and whether or not he had been spotted.

"I understand, and I'm sorry," the female voice said, obviously upset for whatever reason. "A big scoop was dropped right in my lap, and I had to get out of there quick if I wanted to get my hands on it."

The Green Lantern finally started moving. The voice was coming from behind the clock wall that was directly behind a desk, obviously Oliver's. That was something he would need to check, but since there was some girl there, the brunette wouldn't exactly be able to do so just yet.

Peeking around inside the slightly open wall, the hero could see the back of a blond haired woman's head as she sat at a bank of several monitors and a keyboard. Whoever she was, the girl was on the phone instead of actually talking to someone that was there with her. That explained the lack of response from whoever Jimmy was.

"It was Cat Grant," the blond said. "She wanted me to look into Oliver Queen's return to Metropolis, and since I actually have connections with him in regards to his friends, it only made sense that I would have to help her. She wanted some kind of expose on him."

The Green Lantern narrowed his eyes, immediately knowing that she was lying. For whatever reason she was, it didn't totally make sense to him. What exactly was this room for? It appeared that it had held a lot of devices of some sort at one point, but now there was only the station where the blond was seated.

"Jimmy, calm down," the blond said in a rushed fashion, perhaps a bit worried was more like it. "What are you talking about?"

The blond suddenly turned away from the monitors in her chair, worry written all over her face, causing The Green Lantern to quickly have to back away from the opening so he wouldn't be seen. Sweat was forming on his brow from the tension of possibly being found by the woman. He decided to start conducting his business for a moment in hopes that she wouldn't come out of the room. Moving to the desk, Kyle started, silently as possible, looking through the papers for anything of interest.

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"Jimmy, you have to stop her from doing that," Chloe stated. "Does she have any idea what this is going to do to both of them?"

"Chloe, it's alright," Jimmy said. "I've already talked to her. I think I've got her rattled enough to where she might drop it entirely, but there's still Mr. Gabriel. He knows about it too, and there's recorded proof."

"Get the tape away," Chloe told him. "Without the evidence, he won't be able to publish the article. Lois won't be either if your pep talk didn't do any good."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Jimmy replied. "Is Cat with you?"

"No, she went home," Chloe said. "I'm supposed to ease Oliver into the interview with her first. Maybe it'll happen after that, but I'm still here talking with him. I'm so sorry that I had to bail on you, Jimmy. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Don't worry about it," Jimmy said. "I'm sorry I kept calling you non-stop. I was afraid that you'd been kidnapped or something."

"And I hate that I put you through that," Chloe said. "But it's fine now. I'll meet you back at the Planet soon. I'm hoping to be out of here within an hour or less."

"Alright," Jimmy said. "Be careful. I love you. Bye."

Chloe couldn't help but smile brightly. "Love you too, Jimmy. Bye." The second she hung up the phone, the blond went right back into Oracle mode, powering up the systems once more before putting on her headset. She knew that they had probably all switched off their headsets by now, so patching through to the Javelin's main com system would be the obvious option to go with.

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Outside of the entrance to the room that the blond was in, The Green Lantern couldn't help but scowl in disgust from the mushy ending to the conversation. He knew that since the conversation was over, there was a good chance that she would be leaving that room and being spotted by a reporter wasn't exactly on his agenda of things to accomplish there.

Having not found much of interest besides some bills, random Queen Industries' orders and shipping receipts, there really wasn't anything that could help him at all. Moving away from the desk and toward the hallway, the brunette decided to check all of the rooms of the penthouse one at a time. Feeling that it wasn't likely that the female would come back there, he instantly felt a slight bit safer from being spotted as he entered the first door.

Inside, The Green Lantern was annoyed to find that it was just the bathroom. It was most likely the public one for visitors as it wasn't very big, and considering how Oliver Queen liked to live, the hero seriously doubted that a normal looking, practical bathroom wouldn't be something that would be in Oliver's usage. The brunette was reluctant to walk back out of the current room though, not knowing when the woman would come out of the room, or if she already had for that matter either.

Thinking about it for a moment, Kyle realized that he was a superhero and being afraid of a silly reporter was ridiculous. Turning the doorknob, the brunette stepped out of the small bathroom and into the hallway once more. Slowly, looking back toward the living room, The Green Lantern walked to the next door and opened it before moving inside. It was a small bedroom, obviously not the master one that Oliver would've been using. Whether or not there was anything in there that could help him was yet to be seen.

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On the Javelin, The Green Arrow piloted with Clark Kent, still in the old costume, beside him. Both had decided it would've been best to leave their costumes on since Lex was in the back with the other passengers, still unconscious. They were both the only people in the group that Lex hadn't already known the true identities for in the first place, and they wanted to leave that advantage in the war.

"Maybe he should go to a hospital," Clark inquired about Lex.

"Doc is treating him," Green Arrow replied. "That should be enough."

"He's still not woke up," Clark reminded his boyfriend.

"And we could only be lucky if he never did," Green Arrow coldly told him.

Clark sighed. "Sorry. Despite how things are between Lex and me now, I still feel the need to protect him."

"That's just your nature," Green Arrow informed him. "You always see the good, even if it's not there to be seen in the first place. One of these days, it's gonna be the death of you."

"You stick with your feelings, and I'll stick to mine," Clark told him. "I can't help but believe that somewhere, deep down, buried in all that anger, is my old friend."

"He's a lost cause," Green Arrow said sharply.

Helen Bryce walked into the cockpit cabin. "Lex is coming around."

"I want to check on him," Clark said, starting to unstrap.

"I wouldn't advise it," Green Arrow said.

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Don't you think he's going to recognize you from your voice?" Green Arrow asked in reply. "You don't have a voice changer like I do."

"Then why don't you let me borrow yours?" Clark asked.

"Because I have to protect my identity too, ya know?" Green Arrow stated with a smile. "Just don't act yourself. Give yourself a different voice to mask your real one. I'm sure you'll think of something."

Clark nodded, finished unstraping, stood up, and moved off for the back of the jet with Helen leading the way.

The com system started beeping. Looking down at the monitor, Green Arrow saw that it was the Watchtower calling in. Confusion hit him as he remembered telling Oracle that they would speak when the team was back at the Watchtower. In any case, the leader of The Justice League pressed the receive button. "Javelin. Go ahead."

"Oracle here," Chloe replied as her face appeared on the monitor. "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a problem back this way."

"Isn't there always something?" Green Arrow asked.

"This doesn't impact The Justice League," Chloe told him as she tilted her head slightly, trying to find the best way to explain the situation.

"Whatever it is, just tell me," Green Arrow said. "I've got to fly this thing."

"Where's Boy Scout?" Chloe asked. "He should be here for this too. It involves both of you."

"He's checking on baldy," Green Arrow replied. "He's woke up, and Boy Scout couldn't help but go back there to see how he was."

"Oliver, you're gonna have to come look at this," Clark said as he came back into the cockpit.

"Green Arrow," he said in irritation, as he turned to look at Clark disappointedly. "Especially now that Lex is awake, you need to keep from calling me by my real name."

"Sorry, but this is pretty serious," Clark said. "You need to see what's wrong with Lex for yourself."

"The Arrowjet isn't going to fly itself, Boy Scout," Green Arrow said. "And I really don't care what's going on with him anyway."

"Hey, boys, I'm still here," Chloe said from the monitor.

"Oh, Chloe, I didn't know you were on the com again," Clark stated as he moved forward.

"I'm glad you're back," Chloe said. "I need to explain something to both of you. It's really important."

"Can it wait?" Clark asked. "We've got a problem with Lex here."

"No, Boy Scout, it can't wait, unless you want it splashed all over The Daily Planet in the morning," Chloe replied with concern filling every word.

"Alright, what is it, Oracle?" Green Arrow asked.

"Lo..." Chloe had to stop herself so Lois's name wouldn't actually be spoken over the com system. There hadn't been an official name given to her as a codename, so she had to think of something quickly. "The Army Brat knows about your relationship, guys. She's set to splash it all over the Planet in the morning. The article's ready and everything. Gran... Editor in Chief has a recording of the both of you discussing your relationship as evidence. I'm trying to get photographer to get the evidence away, and he's been trying to talk Army Brat out of publishing the article, but that won't stop Editor in Chief unless the evidence is taken."

"Great," Clark stated, sitting down finally. "Now Lois, Jimmy, and Grant know about us."

"Codenames, Boy Scout," Green Arrow reminded him, slightly annoyed, but trying to cover it up as best he could.

"Sorry, but I'm just a little freaked out right now," Clark said.

"And you think I'm not?" Green Arrow asked. "We just need to calm down. Photographer is apparently on our side. Let's let him take care of this for us." He turned to look at the monitor. "Go find photographer and stick with him. We need you guys to get this resolved immediately. We're counting on you. Green Arrow out."

"Come on," Clark said. "Put the plane on autopilot." The brunette stood back up and started for the back again.

"Are you still on about Lex?" Green Arrow asked. "We've got a serious problem if that stuff gets published, and you're still letting Lex be your priority."

"You've got Oracle and Photographer on it," Clark reminded him. "I'm not gonna worry about it till we get this figured out. Now come on."

Green Arrow was not pleased with anything at all right now as he put the jet on autopilot and unstraped before standing and following Clark to the back. Whatever it was that had apparently happened to Lex had been bothering Clark, and it was more then likely bothering the others as well at least to a certain extent. He would find out the mystery quickly though. The mere aura of the back section of the jet alone was enough to confirm something had happened. The jolly green archer simply hoped that it wasn't something terribly disastrous, but considering that it was Lex Luthor, the chances were likely to be in the negative.