Chapter Twelve:
A large valley of some mysterious black rocks stretched out as far. Samantha Arias took in every little bit of the valley, unsure of how she got here, and indeed, unsure about how to get out of here. Her heart beat a bit faster as Samantha edged further into the valley. She took a deep breath as she walked forward and peered around.
Whispers caused the hairs on the back of Sam's neck to stand up straight. She turned around. She should not be here. And with no means to contact the outside of the world. Sam had been stranded in the middle of nowhere.
"Who's there?" she shouted.
Sam heard no answer back. Yet, the lack of answers made her more on edge than any answer might have. A loud sound echoed throughout the shadow valley. Sam walked for what seemed like days. Her heart pumped even faster and her blood ran cold as she walked closer.
More dark shadows rose up. Sam tensed up completely. Straight in front of her laid a vortex which flashed bright with blinking lights. Sam lifted up a single finger. Yes, she should not be here, but at the same time, she was here. Sam's heartbeat a little bit faster.
The bright lights made Sam freeze up with flurry. She saw a figure emerge from the lights. Sam could not get a good look at what the figure looked like. It had been shrouded in darkness. Sam's body shook a little bit as she approached the votex of light.
Suddenly, a shadow grabbed her. Sam reared her head back and screamed.
"Samantha!"
Sam woke up with a start at her desk, her coffee mug knocked over and dripping off of the floor. Thankfully, she did not knock it over onto any important paperwork. Sam breathed heavily and realized she was not in an office, but in a creepy valley. She clung onto the arm of the person who woke her up. Oliver Queen, and Sam breathed heavily. He had been with Kara and Lena for hours, and it did not take someone with a Master's degree to know what those three were up to.
"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.
"I've been working too hard," Sam said. "I must have drifted off...bad dreams...but bad dreams can't hurt you, right?"
Sam realized she almost clawed Oliver's arm. She pulled away and looked flushed.
"I'm fine, I just need another cup of coffee and some fresh air," Sam said a moment later as she cleared her head.
Oliver watched her leave and frowned deeply. Oh, something most certainly had been up there. Oliver resolved to keep a close eye on Samantha, because her screams were far beyond someone waking up from a bad dream.
Caitlin Snow and Tess-Morgan Wells, or Emmanuelle Thawne, joined them from Earth-One. Oliver took them through the simulation of the trials.
"You've accomplished a fair amount here," Tess said. "I will say you're on the right track, although the trick is to make sure the organ can survive out of isolation. And a human host will not reject it."
There had been a list a mile long of people willing to head to the next stage of the trials, when they managed to prevent the organs from oozing into nothing and bursting into flames, or whatever. People who had months, if that to live, and pretty much had nothing left to lose. Nothing to fear as well.
"You're on the right track, although you might want to decrease the potency of the serum by about one percent," Caitlin said. "And increase the tissue used by about ten."
Oliver mentally flipped over Caitlin's calculations. Could a miniscule shift in the calculations really matter? Oliver suspected there was a chance that there would. He looked it over.
"Cait, you're a genius," Oliver said.
"Of course she is," Caitlin said. "But, I'm not the only genius involved."
She turned her eyes to Tess, who mentally ran through the simulations.
"White blood cells should be doubled as well," Tess said. "And a small implant should be added that will dissolve once all of the diseased cells in a person's body have been replaced by fresh healthy ones. Of course, the substance is tricky to come by, but it's doable if you start now. Just in time to get it done."
It was almost like Tess expected them to have a need for a working heart soon.
"And we can extract from living hosts soon enough safely, and allow the tissues to regenerate," Tess replied.
"Isn't that a bit extreme though?" Oliver asked.
"Not if the donor has a less than one percent chance of getting a compatible match."
Samantha walked by and Caitlin frowned. She recognized the far off look in Sam's eyes as something that she saw in her eyes far too often.
"Is she okay?" Caitlin asked.
"Well, she claims she is, but she woke up from a nightmare screaming and trying to rip my arm off," Oliver said. "I don't know what's going on with her."
"So, it begins."
Oliver raised an eyebrow and Tess just smiled and returned to her work.
"Right, you're close," Tess said. "I believe Ms. Luthor will be joining us."
As in of cue, Lena exited the elevator and joined them. The four would put their heads together and they intended to come up with a solution which would work best for all parties involved.
A loud hiss followed as Lena, Caitlin, Tess, and Oliver looked over the latest grown heart. The moment they introduced the serum, they waited. So far, so good. The heart pumped healthy and rose to life. Lena tapped the side of the case and smiled despite herself.
"We've done it," Lena said.
"I wouldn't pat yourself on the back just yet," Tess said. "We still have to bring down the stasis field. Doctor Snow, if you would?"
Caitlin brought down the stasis field. The heart lasted out in the wild for about thirty seconds before it turned black and withered into a decaying husk. The good thing was that it did not explode. The bad thing was, it decayed in the air.
"I was certain it would work, but there's some element in the air which is causing it to decay instantly," Lena said.
"Correct," Caitlin said. "We isolate that element, we are able to get the heart working properly."
Oliver eyed the decaying organ. To say he was so close, but yet so far at the same time, well it was frustrating in a couple of ways. Lena and Caitlin took samples. Lena would study them here and Caitlin would send them back to Star Labs for analysis.
"I sent Samantha home," Lena told Oliver. "And I told her to get plenty of rest. I'm concerned about her."
"I am too," Oliver said "She woke up earlier and screamed her head off. She tried to pass it off as a nightmare, but…"
"She did that at least three times this week," Lena said. "But, she seems to think it's overwork, and we'll see. I have been expecting a lot out of her, as I get this project off of the ground. But, we need to get it to work. Especially with the Terrible Trio incident. Crawford brought my brother's past back into the public eye and he still follows me around."
"The sins of the family, they can be a burden to bare."
Lena closed her eyes and nodded. Oliver's parents, from what Oliver told her, had not been the most perfect of people. Her father, the bastard he was, Lena doubted she could hold it together if he shot himself in front of Lena, like Robert Queen did to Oliver.
"But, once you save people, then you will bring respectability back to the Luthor name."
"Yeah, for the first time," Lena quipped. "I'm….I need to take break myself. Still tired from last night."
"Kara got the worst of it."
Oh, yes, she did. Lena was glad she found out about her friend's double identity now and not later. Thanks to both her brother and father, Lena had a few self-worth issues, and she doubted every moment of her life. Lena had been getting that back on track, slowly but surely.
"You trained with the League of Assassins?"
This statement caused Oliver to smile. He swept Olivia's leg out from underneath her and brought her down onto the ground. The dark-haired woman sprung up. She wore a black sports bra and a tight pair of yoga pants to match. She went toe to toe with Oliver and circled around him.
"I am the League of Assassins, I am Ra's al Ghul," Oliver said. "Does the League exist on this Earth?"
Olivia jumped up. Despite Oliver being shirtless during this sparring session, she did not allow herself to get distracted. She dodged his attack and tried to take him down. Oliver turned her around and flipped her down onto the ground. Liv bounced back up and came back with a few punches and strikes which Oliver deflected.
"I've heard myths and I've encountered a couple of shadowy figures who might be apart of the League," Olivia said. "But, other than that, no, I don't know much about the League."
Well, that made sense. Different Earth, there could have been a different history of the League. Or it might just not be as comprehensive as it was. Or maybe Damien Darhk was the one who became Ra's al Ghul on this Earth. There were so many different possibilities. Oliver sprung and pinned Olivia to the mats. She struggled underneath her attack.
"You're a bit impulsive, you let your emotions get the better of you."
"Yeah, tell me something that I don't know," Olivia said. "But, I'm damn good at what I do. It's just, you're a bit better."
"Disabling Lex's device, that was brilliant."
"Skilled shot, knowledge, and a bit of lock," Olivia said. "So are you going to let me up, or are we going to do something else?"
Oliver let the matter hang for a minute before he allowed Olivia up. Olivia rushed towards him and hoped the next sparring session would turn out better.
Samantha shook her head. Back here again, back in the valley. Sam closed her eyes and breathed in heavily.
"Come on, no, why do I keep coming back to this dream? Why do I keep coming here? I've never been here before in my life."
Sam's heart just beat a little bit quicker as she walked forward, going down the valley. Her head just pounded with the drums of war just beating about in the back of her head. She could feel it and chanting echoed through her mind. Some kind of prayer or something.
The language had been foreign. The language had been hard for Sam to wrap her head around. Yet, something had been familiar about this language, even though she could not decipher. Sam closed her eyes and tried to remember, not helping herself.
"Step into the light, Samantha."
That dark voice sounded like her own, only more crueler and more determined. Sam's arm burned and symbols burned upon them. Oh, damn it, Sam just could hardly breath. Her heart thumped louder and louder as she walked forward and shook like mad.
"One step closer."
Sam trembled and shook. She came face to face with the figure in the darkness. The light brightened and Sam got a good look at the person in front of her.
A dark twisted mirror of herself, dressed in a black body suit and mask with symbols on it stared out at Sam. She let loose with a blood curdling scream as her mirror's eyes shifted into black soulless pits.
"Not going to escape me this easily."
The Shameless Smut Resumes In the Next Chapter