Disclaimer: Not mine or yours. DC's or the WB's. I know little about the chemicals involved in this story. This is all scientific blasphemy. No animals were harmed in the writing of this fic.
The familiar noise of the camera sounded as the lens flashed and took a picture of the damaged hula girl figurine. Chloe was investigating exactly what might have connected Mr. Kent and Mr. Beales medical problems, but so far she wasn't having any luck. Having decided that the hula girl would make a good photograph out of a big pit of nothing, Chloe took a snapshot from another angle; she neglected the flower that seemed to shoot its pollen towards her.
Standing satisfied, Chloe put the camera strap around her neck and began to walk back to her car. Setting her flashlight on top of the car, she regretted turning down Lana's offer to help. It was sort of creepy out and she was starting to think that she was hearing noises around her. It was probably paranoia from all of the weird stuff going on so close to her. She shook her head and opened the car door, but before she got in, Chloe sneezed. Thinking that it all was just a dead end, she took her flashlight and drove away.
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It was the morning after a big fat fruitless investigation. Chloe would usually wake up with a groan and a severe need for the richest, darkest Colombian blend of coffee available, but this morning she woke up with a plan. Just because last night left her without results didn't mean that today had to.
She couldn't help but smile. No, it wasn't a smile that was on her face. There wasn't a word for it. It seemed devious and far too impure to be a smile. Chloe liked it. She looked in the mirror a lot as she got ready. Never the image-conscious type before now, she was making herself over to be a post-modern journalistic Mata Hari. Chloe was going undercover in style.
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Everything she needed was in her backpack. She had a tape recorder, extra tapes, her notepad, and even extra blank floppy disks. If there was anything going on here, she would uncover it. This might even launch a career for her. Chloe couldn't help but show a dirty smile at that thought.
Getting in was easy enough. Everyone was perfectly fine with letting Gabe Sullivan's little angel into the building. They didn't know that Chloe was up to no good.
With a strained expression on her face, Chloe dug around her backpack's pocket's for her student ID card. The lock she needed to pick wasn't some sort of crazedly high tech retinal scan, but what was behind the door was rumored to be very important; It might even start a scandal.
Sliding the laminated material through the crack, Chloe opened the door and let her ID fall to the floor. Her mischievous grin was huge now and she had no time for clear thought; She left her ID on the floor behind her as she rushed into the LuthorCorp archive room.
It must have been an hour that had gone by. All Chloe had been doing was scurrying through hard copy files looking for juicy information on the dust farmers were sprinkling on their crops to keep bugs away. Finally, it seemed that it had paid off. She'd found an entire Rubbermaid tub full of folders that described what seemed to be something akin to defoliants of yesteryear.
She was absorbed by the scandal. This was no Agent Orange that she had found about, but rather a pesticide that had been taken off of the market years ago. It had been an experimental product using low amounts of TCDD, a known carcinogen, and meteorite particles. Chloe didn't know whether to be horrified or thrilled. Finishing one page of the report, she tucked it into her backpack.
"Miss Sullivan, I found something that belongs to you." Chloe looked up, momentarily shocked out of her own body, to see the smug face of Lex Luthor who was offering her the student ID card she'd dropped.
"Lex Luthor . . . " She let the shock pass and smiled coolly. It was unlike Chloe to be so suave, but if she wanted to escape this one with her head on her shoulders she'd have a little charming to do.
"Clumsy me." Her eyelids at half-mast, she came mere inches from his face as she stood. Purposefully letting her fingertips tease the back of his hand which held her ID, Chloe took her card back.
"Where did you find it?" Chloe would have tucked it into her pocket or purse if she'd have had either, but her uncharacteristic miniskirt had no room for an ID card, and so she tossed it carelessly behind her toward her pile of folders that lay on top of her backpack.
"Outside of this door." Lex wasn't untouched by Chloe's demeanor, but he spoke as if she were acting in a completely normal way. He was matter of fact and maybe even a little harsh with his tone. Nothing, though, could cut through Chloe's Nicodemus-induced haze.
"Why are you in here, Chloe? I'm going to have to ask you to--" He stopped abruptly when she tossed her head back in a small fit of laughter. It was a strange mixture of play and cruelty. Lex couldn't tell whether she was patronizing him or tempting him. The silence hung in the air awkwardly, but a wicked smile remained on Chloe's lips. Suddenly, the former scandalous playboy of Metropolis felt helpless like someone's pawn. He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not.
Chloe downplayed her smile and slipped out of her lightweight cardigan, letting it fall just behind her and not caring if she stepped on it. In his mind, Lex was convinced that this was a joke or some sort of strange tactic. If it was meant to confuse him, it was working. His eyes, though he tried to avert his gaze, kept returning to Chloe who was now revealing the plunging neckline of last-year's most neglected shirt she'd discovered in the back of her closet.
"Chloe, what are you doing?" Lex was the one smiling, now. Chloe was just looking at him, straight-on with faintly pursed lips. This wasn't Chloe; It was someone else. Not better or worse, but she was definitely more aggressive.
"You can't play coy, Alexander. Of all the people in the world, not you..." She winked with a smirk. Lex's smile faded because in that moment he truly didn't know what to think. He couldn't interpret her comment. His mind was on other things.
Pushing him against the cool, grey cabinets that held all sorts of dirty little secrets, Chloe leaned in, stood on her tip-toes, and gave Lex Luthor the most forceful kiss he'd ever received. Although he justified his actions by telling himself that it was polite, he returned her kiss because he wanted to. As his strong hands found their way to her bare shoulders, Chloe grabbed the hem of her tank top and slipped it up until it reached her collarbone. Then Lex, momentarily ignoring the curiosity of the situation only because of their shared body heat, was more than willing to assist in its removal.
It seemed like a wonderfully smutty movie, and then Chloe took her two front rows of pearly white teeth to bite down on Lex Luthor's bottom lip with enough force to break skin and draw blood.
"Ahh! Shit! Chloe. . .?!" His face was contorted with confusion and pain. With his hand he dabbed at the rivulet of blood dripping down his chin.
It was a disturbing image that he was looking at. A big smile had made a home of Chloe's lips once more, but now her lips were a little bloody and the blood had dripped a bit onto the white lace of her bra.
"What's the matter, Lex? Does pain scare you?" She sounded fierce, angry, and truly upset, but her smile remained. Lex was trying to get a word in, but the seemingly demonic girl with pixie hair wasn't about to let him.
"I'll bet a bunch of people are in pain from that. . ." Chloe was in a blind rage and losing her focus and not just because of the intensity of her emotions. Her vision was beginning to fade to cloudy white. Rolling her eyes into the back of her head, Chloe slumped to the ground.
Lex's eyes widened in horror. He knelt by Chloe's side. The situation had just become much more complicated.
The familiar noise of the camera sounded as the lens flashed and took a picture of the damaged hula girl figurine. Chloe was investigating exactly what might have connected Mr. Kent and Mr. Beales medical problems, but so far she wasn't having any luck. Having decided that the hula girl would make a good photograph out of a big pit of nothing, Chloe took a snapshot from another angle; she neglected the flower that seemed to shoot its pollen towards her.
Standing satisfied, Chloe put the camera strap around her neck and began to walk back to her car. Setting her flashlight on top of the car, she regretted turning down Lana's offer to help. It was sort of creepy out and she was starting to think that she was hearing noises around her. It was probably paranoia from all of the weird stuff going on so close to her. She shook her head and opened the car door, but before she got in, Chloe sneezed. Thinking that it all was just a dead end, she took her flashlight and drove away.
--------------------------------------------
It was the morning after a big fat fruitless investigation. Chloe would usually wake up with a groan and a severe need for the richest, darkest Colombian blend of coffee available, but this morning she woke up with a plan. Just because last night left her without results didn't mean that today had to.
She couldn't help but smile. No, it wasn't a smile that was on her face. There wasn't a word for it. It seemed devious and far too impure to be a smile. Chloe liked it. She looked in the mirror a lot as she got ready. Never the image-conscious type before now, she was making herself over to be a post-modern journalistic Mata Hari. Chloe was going undercover in style.
--------------------------------------------
Everything she needed was in her backpack. She had a tape recorder, extra tapes, her notepad, and even extra blank floppy disks. If there was anything going on here, she would uncover it. This might even launch a career for her. Chloe couldn't help but show a dirty smile at that thought.
Getting in was easy enough. Everyone was perfectly fine with letting Gabe Sullivan's little angel into the building. They didn't know that Chloe was up to no good.
With a strained expression on her face, Chloe dug around her backpack's pocket's for her student ID card. The lock she needed to pick wasn't some sort of crazedly high tech retinal scan, but what was behind the door was rumored to be very important; It might even start a scandal.
Sliding the laminated material through the crack, Chloe opened the door and let her ID fall to the floor. Her mischievous grin was huge now and she had no time for clear thought; She left her ID on the floor behind her as she rushed into the LuthorCorp archive room.
It must have been an hour that had gone by. All Chloe had been doing was scurrying through hard copy files looking for juicy information on the dust farmers were sprinkling on their crops to keep bugs away. Finally, it seemed that it had paid off. She'd found an entire Rubbermaid tub full of folders that described what seemed to be something akin to defoliants of yesteryear.
She was absorbed by the scandal. This was no Agent Orange that she had found about, but rather a pesticide that had been taken off of the market years ago. It had been an experimental product using low amounts of TCDD, a known carcinogen, and meteorite particles. Chloe didn't know whether to be horrified or thrilled. Finishing one page of the report, she tucked it into her backpack.
"Miss Sullivan, I found something that belongs to you." Chloe looked up, momentarily shocked out of her own body, to see the smug face of Lex Luthor who was offering her the student ID card she'd dropped.
"Lex Luthor . . . " She let the shock pass and smiled coolly. It was unlike Chloe to be so suave, but if she wanted to escape this one with her head on her shoulders she'd have a little charming to do.
"Clumsy me." Her eyelids at half-mast, she came mere inches from his face as she stood. Purposefully letting her fingertips tease the back of his hand which held her ID, Chloe took her card back.
"Where did you find it?" Chloe would have tucked it into her pocket or purse if she'd have had either, but her uncharacteristic miniskirt had no room for an ID card, and so she tossed it carelessly behind her toward her pile of folders that lay on top of her backpack.
"Outside of this door." Lex wasn't untouched by Chloe's demeanor, but he spoke as if she were acting in a completely normal way. He was matter of fact and maybe even a little harsh with his tone. Nothing, though, could cut through Chloe's Nicodemus-induced haze.
"Why are you in here, Chloe? I'm going to have to ask you to--" He stopped abruptly when she tossed her head back in a small fit of laughter. It was a strange mixture of play and cruelty. Lex couldn't tell whether she was patronizing him or tempting him. The silence hung in the air awkwardly, but a wicked smile remained on Chloe's lips. Suddenly, the former scandalous playboy of Metropolis felt helpless like someone's pawn. He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not.
Chloe downplayed her smile and slipped out of her lightweight cardigan, letting it fall just behind her and not caring if she stepped on it. In his mind, Lex was convinced that this was a joke or some sort of strange tactic. If it was meant to confuse him, it was working. His eyes, though he tried to avert his gaze, kept returning to Chloe who was now revealing the plunging neckline of last-year's most neglected shirt she'd discovered in the back of her closet.
"Chloe, what are you doing?" Lex was the one smiling, now. Chloe was just looking at him, straight-on with faintly pursed lips. This wasn't Chloe; It was someone else. Not better or worse, but she was definitely more aggressive.
"You can't play coy, Alexander. Of all the people in the world, not you..." She winked with a smirk. Lex's smile faded because in that moment he truly didn't know what to think. He couldn't interpret her comment. His mind was on other things.
Pushing him against the cool, grey cabinets that held all sorts of dirty little secrets, Chloe leaned in, stood on her tip-toes, and gave Lex Luthor the most forceful kiss he'd ever received. Although he justified his actions by telling himself that it was polite, he returned her kiss because he wanted to. As his strong hands found their way to her bare shoulders, Chloe grabbed the hem of her tank top and slipped it up until it reached her collarbone. Then Lex, momentarily ignoring the curiosity of the situation only because of their shared body heat, was more than willing to assist in its removal.
It seemed like a wonderfully smutty movie, and then Chloe took her two front rows of pearly white teeth to bite down on Lex Luthor's bottom lip with enough force to break skin and draw blood.
"Ahh! Shit! Chloe. . .?!" His face was contorted with confusion and pain. With his hand he dabbed at the rivulet of blood dripping down his chin.
It was a disturbing image that he was looking at. A big smile had made a home of Chloe's lips once more, but now her lips were a little bloody and the blood had dripped a bit onto the white lace of her bra.
"What's the matter, Lex? Does pain scare you?" She sounded fierce, angry, and truly upset, but her smile remained. Lex was trying to get a word in, but the seemingly demonic girl with pixie hair wasn't about to let him.
"I'll bet a bunch of people are in pain from that. . ." Chloe was in a blind rage and losing her focus and not just because of the intensity of her emotions. Her vision was beginning to fade to cloudy white. Rolling her eyes into the back of her head, Chloe slumped to the ground.
Lex's eyes widened in horror. He knelt by Chloe's side. The situation had just become much more complicated.