(LuthorCorp. Headquarters, Metropolis)
Kristy, the receptionist for LuthorCorp.'s executive floor, browsed through this month's Cosmo magazine. Lionel and Oliver Queen had been in a meeting for the past hour. No one had called her desk since 9:30 this morning. It was going to be a slow day, she grumbled to herself.
She heard the 'ding' of the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, she shuddered.
Lex Luthor, dressed in his usual black suit and monochrome purple shirt and tie, marched forward. His eyes focused on the solid oak doors of Lionel Luthor's corner office.
"Uhh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Luthor," Kristy declared, as she tried in vain to intercept Lex. "Your father left me with specific instructions that he was not to be disturbed. He said he has important business to discuss with Mr. Oliver Queen."
"That's true," Lex replied, still glaring at the doors to the executive suite. "His 'business' is to eviscerate what's left of Oliver's corporate holdings and funnel those assets to destroy Bruce Wayne. My business is with my father, so I'd suggest you return to your desk."
Kristy knew better than to argue with a Luthor – any Luthor – and returned to her desk. Lex yanked open the suite doors. At the other end of the room, Lionel stood at the panoramic window beside Oliver. He appeared to be showing Oliver the sky-high view of Metropolis' downtown core.
"Oh, Lex," Lionel noted. He didn't seem surprised that Lex had burst into his office. "I was just showing Oliver here the magnificent view of the city."
"Really," Lex countered sarcastically. "Are you showing him the kingdoms of the earth, if only he would genuflect on bended knee before you?"
"Lex, you don't understand," Oliver insisted.
"Can't you see, Ollie," Lex pleaded, "my father is manipulating you. He's dangling a few scraps of bait, hoping you'll snap it up. I can't believe you're not going to fight to re-take what is yours by birthright!"
Lionel sighed in frustration. "That's a simplistic interpretation, Lex." He stood proudly behind Oliver, and clapped his shoulder in a fatherly manner. "I've explained to Oliver that he's capable of more than the 'scraps of bait' that you and that charlatan Bruce are offering. Why should he be content as your junior partner, when I've offered him free reign over territory stretching from Calcutta to Manila? If he went along with you, he'd be in your debt. What sort of friend are you, that you'd gladly put such a restraining leash around his neck?"
"I don't know what brand of voodoo economics my father's been preaching to you," Lex argued, "but he's pushing a pipe dream. You can't possibly believe that you can forge your own Asian corporate empire from scratch: start-up capital, investors, personnel, real estate ... where the hell are you going to find all that if you sacrifice what's left of Queen Enterprises to LuthorCorp.?"
"Land, stocks and people are all material things," Lionel replied. "Objects to be bought and sold at the right price. I am offering Oliver a vision of the future. A vision, Lex! Something you and Wayne appear to lack."
"As I've told you," Oliver explained, "my exile in the South Pacific gave me purpose. A reason for being. I'm my own man, Lex. I won't leave myself vulnerable by tying myself to Bruce's purse-strings. Or yours for that matter. If my path has led me to Lionel Luthor, perhaps that's karma."
Lex seemed stunned at Oliver's apparent about-face. Was he really turning his back on his college chums to ally himself with his father? Was Bruce right when he said in that memo that Oliver was a poor judge of character?
"Oliver, I'm asking you as a friend," Lex insisted. Lionel paced towards the window, uninterested in what Lex had to say. "If you think my father's promises will give you the independence you've wanted, you're deluding yourself. I know Bruce can be stubborn: that's no secret. But can't you see what my father is doing? He'll use your family's fortune to wage a war of annihilation against Wayne Enterprises. All the social justice and environmental projects that you've advocated will be swept away in LuthorCorp.'s new corporate order. Is that the future you want, Oliver?"
Oliver paused. Lionel pledged that he wouldn't interfere in Oliver's future projects. He wanted to use his fortune responsibly. He had some suspicions about Lionel's intent – but Lionel seemed so genuine over dinner. Was it all an act? At least he appeared to be willing to look past his faults, unlike Bruce Wayne.
"Lionel's pledged that he would not interfere in my future environmental and social justice projects," Oliver declared, as if saying those words would make them true.
"If you believe that, Oliver," Lex scoffed, "then perhaps your subtropical exile made you delusional. I want to remain your friend, but –"
"But what?" Oliver demanded.
"The state of affairs between my father and me isn't going to improve," Lex observed. "In fact, I expect it to get worse. Bruce may be stubborn, but he's also my friend. I won't allow LuthorCorp. to crush him. Not without a fight. If you choose to place your fate in my father's hands – and withdraw your protest before the NAFTA board – I fear our friendship will be the first of many casualties of this war."
Lex was about to storm out of the suite, but he turned around. "You should know, Oliver, that Dinah Lance is here. In Metropolis."
"Dinah?" Oliver gasped. "She's here?! Why? Have you spoken to her?"
"She says it's over between you," Lex replied, as he struggled to reconcile his loyalty to Oliver with his mistrust of his father. "I don't know if she's ready to see you yet. It's up to you how you take things from there. I just thought you should know."
"No, Lex, wait –" Oliver pleaded, but Lex had already closed the suite doors behind him.
"Let him go, Oliver," Lionel said. "I'm sorry you had to be a witness to our on-going family spat." Oliver returned to reviewing the documents on the table, but Lionel noticed that he seemed distracted.
Lionel snickered. Lex, that was quite cunning, he thought. To tug at Oliver's heart-strings like that with Dinah Lance. It could be an unforeseen obstacle, but he was confident his plan would proceed. He would take what's left of Queen Enterprises, discard Oliver in the Far East, and liquidate Queen's assets. He needed that capital for his war chest.
Then, he grinned, that blessed day would arrive. The day when he would challenge Wayne in one final showdown: on equal terms. He would break apart Wayne Enterprises, one piece at a time.
With Queen's entire fortune at his disposal, nothing would stop him.
(Smallville High, Smallville)
The bell announced the end of second period. Clark yawned.
"Let me guess," Pete said, "you've had your fill of integers and the new math."
"Something like that," Clark replied. "It's just that I was at the museum so late last night."
"Oh right," Pete muttered. He was a bit disappointed that he wasn't able to go, but the Torch needed his story. And, he was able to witness the Crows' miraculous upset victory. "Maybe I'll be able to meet Oliver Queen later on." He noticed that Clark seemed distracted, or sad. "C'mon, Kent, what's up? I can see something's eating away at you."
"Oliver might decide to abandon that alliance with Lex and Bruce –" Clark answered, still in disbelief, "-- and take sides with Lionel!"
"You've gotta be kidding me," Pete shook his head. "Didn't Lionel gobble up most of Queen Enterprises when Oliver disappeared in that yachting race? It doesn't make sense."
Clark's cell phone rang. "Hello? Lex?"
"Clark," Lex called from the headset in his Porsche. "Things aren't looking too good. Ollie means to take up my father's offer."
"What?!" Clark gasped. "Why would he? Can't he see that Lionel's only using him to get at the Queen fortune?"
"It makes no sense to me," Lex replied, "I'm heading to city hall right now. Hopefully I can get in touch with Bruce before he leaves for Gotham. Our grand coalition is toast without him. You have a spare now, right?"
"Yeah, I do," Clark answered, "What's your plan?"
"You don't have the historical baggage that Bruce and I bring to the table," Lex realized. "Perhaps you can convince him to stay clear of my father. It's for his own good -- and ultimately Bruce Wayne's. If I can't find Bruce at city hall, I'll catch up with him at the Four Seasons. Meet me there at noon, whatever happens."
"Will do," Clark hung up his phone. "Pete, have you seen Chloe around?"
Pete paused outside the door of his next class. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her at all. Not since last night at the Torch. She blew off homeroom this morning. That's at least worth a detention."
"She blew off homeroom?" Clark wondered. "That's not like her. Usually she'd be bright-eyed and eager for class in the morning, fuelled by several cups of coffee."
"Well, she is spending a lot of time in Metropolis," Pete observed. "To tell you the truth, she's been acting kind of odd these past few days. She was at Metropolis U. the other day. Something about biology homework at the library. She's reading Le Carre spy novels, too. As if the Wall of Weird stuff weren't enough mystery in her life!"
"Hmm," Clark replied. "Biology wouldn't exactly be a priority for her, especially if the Torch has to get to the printer this week. Maybe it's extra-credit? I've got to go find Oliver Queen. Before –" Clark seemed distracted again.
"Before what, Clark?" Pete asked, before he entered his next class.
"Before Queen gives up the family business to Lionel Luthor," Clark stated.
Oliver's behaviour was unusual, he thought. He should despise Lionel for stealing his family fortune. He was barely clinging on to the Queens' diamond mining operations. Yet, he was now considering a formal partnership with LuthorCorp. With Bruce likely departing for Gotham City this afternoon, Lex's plans were unravelling quickly.
Clark wanted to ask Chloe if she found out any new information about Queen Enterprises, Lionel's plans or the elusive Dinah Lance. She was nowhere to be found and wasn't answering her phone. As he walked out of the school exit, he descended a few steps.
He stopped at the bottom steps, as he began to link several days' worth of unrelated facts.
Bruce was at Metropolis U. the same day Pete and Chloe had gone there. Pete was covering the training camp for the Crows. Chloe said she needed to use the college library. That made sense, he thought, but he also knew that Chloe often used the archives in the School of Journalism. She even slipped into a lecture or two. Was she there to look up information about Oliver Queen, without raising Pete's suspicions? Clark regretted lying to Chloe about his past frequent heroics. It was a necessity, he believed. Was she now risking her friendship with Pete, so that she could investigate more about Queen, and his rift with Bruce Wayne?
Bruce, he gasped in fright.
Clark realized what he had done. Chloe was reading spy novels. Clark recalled a conversation he had with Alfred, Bruce's butler. He was not only a butler, but Bruce Wayne's unofficial bodyguard. Clark knew that Bruce hated guns, but Alfred always hid a gun in the glove compartment. 'One can never be too careful in Gotham,' Alfred had confided. Alfred was extremely private, but Clark gathered from Bruce that Alfred once served in the British Army and had worked in Intelligence. 'He'd rather not talk about his intelligence activities,' Bruce had cautioned him once. 'It's a sensitive subject for him.'
Chloe loved a good mystery, and he had just served her an irresistible one: complete with high society friends, a jilted lover and a Cold War butler-spy. By encouraging Chloe to investigate Queen's past, Clark feared, did I also encourage her to dig into Bruce Wayne's secretive past? It was unavoidable that she would come across Bruce's studies in Metropolis. Would Bruce's arrival there – at the same time as Oliver, Lex and Ms. Lance – only feed her curiosity?
Clark turned on the ignition of his truck. He'd have to figure out Chloe's odd behaviour later.
Right now, he decided, I need to find Oliver Queen. He called Kristy, the receptionist. He had visited LuthorCorp. so many times when Lex still worked there, that she already knew him on a first-name basis. She assumed he was a family friend of the Luthors, and Clark didn't exactly give her any reason to distinguish between Lex and Lionel.
"I'm sorry, Clark," she answered in her too polite, don't-take-up-too-much-of-my-Cosmo-reading-time tone, "but Mr. Queen left about 15 minutes ago."
"Did he leave with Lionel?" Clark inquired.
"No, he didn't," Kristy replied. "Lionel has a meeting with the legal guys uptown. I believe Mr. Queen said he had personal matters to attend to. Sorry."
Clark hung up the cell phone and drove towards Metropolis. Where could Oliver Queen be? Lex said that Oliver likes to clear his mind by playing sports. He's on the verge of a monumental decision, he thought. Oliver would want some time to himself.
Clark slammed the brakes of his truck. The archery range on Metropolis U.'s south campus! He had to be there. Where else would the Emerald Archer go, if he wanted to be alone – and make up his mind on something as important as the family empire?
I have about two hours, he told himself.
Make them count.