Note: We are going to slowly move away from the canon. By season 3, we will
have only the titles from the canon.
NO VISITORS ALLOWED
Chloe was getting depressed. Each of the issues of the Rosetta: Guardian Reborn Chronicles was sadder than the lost. She mentioned it to Lex when he walked in the door of his study.
"What did you expect from a series about one character's metamorphosis from hero to villain?"
She rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "That's a given. But still, it's almost pointless to be reading this. Devilicus will be the villain, and all of the fans know it. I just feel helpless that I can't change Warrior Angel canon."
Lex walked over to the couch where she was lying. He sat beside her and took the issue in her hand. He looked at the cover and recognized which one it was. "So you just found out how Eurydice died exactly?"
Chloe pulled herself up so she can sit with Lex. She leaned against him and just stared.
Lex looked down at Chloe and stared back, smiling. "What?" he asked. "What, Chloe?" He knew that look in her eyes, and it never failed to thrill him.
"You forgot something."
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "What was I thinking?" Lex dropped the comics on his lap and cupped her face with his hands. Then, he bent closer to kiss her lips. "Hey Chloe. How are you today?"
Chloe smiled and kissed him back, moving her lips to nibble on his chin. She said against his jaw line, "Very well, Lex. Thank you for asking. And you?"
"I'm amazing tonight because I'm having dinner with the woman of my dreams," came his easy reply.
Chloe grinned. "I thought you weren't seeing Helen until tomorrow."
"Don't be difficult." Lex kissed her one more time before returning to the comics. "So you know how Eurydice died?"
Chloe nodded. "That the humans that killed her in the original were actually planted by one of Devilicus' closest friends?"
"That's right."
"Thus Stahl is giving us this neon signal about why Devilicus turned against the Guardian Realm too."
"Precisely. Some of the Guardians knew. And afterwards they recognized that one of their own caused Eurydice's death."
Chloe sighed again. She picked up the next issue of Rosetta and stared at the cover, of Devilicus as fans of the original Warrior Angel knew him. Devilicus sat on a chair with tall backing, in a dark room lit only by one bulb over him. On the floor around him lay his clipped bloodied wings.
"And here it is-the end we cannot change no matter how much we root for him."
"If it has you so sad, Chloe," Lex started, taking her hand, "why did you want to read it so badly? I wouldn't have had it published if it would make you feel awful."
"Because I love him, Lex," she said simply. "I loved him when he was good and I loved him more when he became the villain because it showed me how much Eurydice meant to him; It showed me he wasn't tied to the rules because he was his own man; It showed me that it doesn't matter what everyone else tells you. You have to do what you believe in."
"So the way he killed everyone was okay to you?"
Chloe raised her eyebrows and glanced down at the comic book in her hands. She traced the fallen wings at Devilicus' feet. "He made things harder for Warrior Angel. He caused all kinds of chaos. He made the people who killed Eurydice suffer. But he never ever killed anyone, Lex."
"People did die because of the chaos he created, Chloe."
Chloe shrugged. "People die."
Lex chuckled and shook his head. "Remind me again how much of a fanatic you are?"
She grinned. "So what's for dinner, Lex? Or did you just tell your cook to make whatever?"
"Hey! I resent that. With you, I'm hands on."
"You made dinner yourself?"
Lex closed his hands around hers and pulled her up. "I picked it up myself."
"Aaah. Clever."
Right on time, a maid came into the room bearing a tray of Chinese takeout. She smiled at Chloe and placed the takeout on Lex's desk. Another maid stepped in with a bottle of Coke and two glasses.
"Will there be anything else, sir?"
Lex shook his head. "Thank you. And Linda, no visitors."
"Never when Ms Sullivan's here."
"Good." When he and Chloe were left alone, he turned to her and asked, "If you don't like this, we can go to our usual in Metropolis."
"No, no." Chloe shook her head. "This is amazing, Lex. You finally wised up when it comes to a date."
"This doesn't make you less special."
"I feel a lot more special now," she assured him. "You're eating greasy twenty dollar food with me."
Lex extended a hand to her. "Shall we? You can explain to me what I ordered exactly."
Chloe nodded and peeked inside the boxes with Lex, handing him those that she felt he would enjoy. "I saw a feature on you and Helen today."
"I was hoping you wouldn't," Lex replied, opening up some chopsticks bags. "But knowing the newshound that you are, I shouldn't have wasted my time."
"Has Helen said anything about it? I haven't talked to her for a couple of days."
"You know we don't have any contact outside of the charade. She's your friend though. I wonder why she hasn't called you."
Chloe nodded. "She might bring it up tomorrow when you see each other then. I know your father is still trying to contact her. She could be staying quiet to keep him away."
"The wording of the article was tasteless. I doubt it will affect her that much though. It is a fairly unimportant tabloid."
"I feel so bad for her though. She's doing this amazing thing for us, and she's getting the brunt of what I'm supposed to suffer. Without the perks," she added, when Lex wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure you won't be as quick to comfort her when she raises her concern."
"Helen is a mature woman who agreed to help us. And I want this charade to end soon too. But Chloe, what Helen is undergoing is the least of what you will. She's a doctor and well in the age of consorting with a Luthor. You're-"
"High School Girl Playing with Fire to Get Ahead?" Chloe said, conjuring up her own headline. "Chloe Sullivan, seventeen, was seen in a compromising position with billionaire Lex Luthor. Sullivan, a high school nobody, is suspected to be trading her young body so that her father's boss will give the older Sullivan a promotion."
"Shut up, Chloe," he commanded softly. "That's disgusting."
"But that's pretty much what they'll say," she reasoned.
"Leave the trash to them. I don't want you saying those. I won't have you even thinking that. I'll shut down their papers before they even write anything like that about you."
"Well have that much passion about their writing trash about Helen!" Chloe argued. "She doesn't deserve this."
"I know." Lex sighed. "Still, you know, better her than you."
"That's not fair," she said softly.
"I know. Just like you defend a villain just because you love the character, right?"
"We're a couple of very sick people, aren't we?"
Lex shrugged. "I don't mind as long as we're a couple."
"What do we do about Helen?"
"You want to join us tomorrow? I never feel comfortable without you around."
Chloe shook her head. "Make sure to tell Helen that we are going to make life easier for her any way we can. Besides, I have to be in school. There's a science fair I have to cover. I just hope there's something really freakish going on there."
"I'm a bad influence if I can make you wish you don't have to go on a story."
Her eyes were twinkling when she retorted, "Why do you feel so good then?"
Lex let out a rush of breath. "Careful, Chloe. I thought we weren't going there yet?"
"I don't want to keep myself from being happy just because we're scared. We can be careful, right? Besides, I know that whatever happens, you'll take care of me."
"Always."
NO VISITORS ALLOWED
Chloe was getting depressed. Each of the issues of the Rosetta: Guardian Reborn Chronicles was sadder than the lost. She mentioned it to Lex when he walked in the door of his study.
"What did you expect from a series about one character's metamorphosis from hero to villain?"
She rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "That's a given. But still, it's almost pointless to be reading this. Devilicus will be the villain, and all of the fans know it. I just feel helpless that I can't change Warrior Angel canon."
Lex walked over to the couch where she was lying. He sat beside her and took the issue in her hand. He looked at the cover and recognized which one it was. "So you just found out how Eurydice died exactly?"
Chloe pulled herself up so she can sit with Lex. She leaned against him and just stared.
Lex looked down at Chloe and stared back, smiling. "What?" he asked. "What, Chloe?" He knew that look in her eyes, and it never failed to thrill him.
"You forgot something."
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "What was I thinking?" Lex dropped the comics on his lap and cupped her face with his hands. Then, he bent closer to kiss her lips. "Hey Chloe. How are you today?"
Chloe smiled and kissed him back, moving her lips to nibble on his chin. She said against his jaw line, "Very well, Lex. Thank you for asking. And you?"
"I'm amazing tonight because I'm having dinner with the woman of my dreams," came his easy reply.
Chloe grinned. "I thought you weren't seeing Helen until tomorrow."
"Don't be difficult." Lex kissed her one more time before returning to the comics. "So you know how Eurydice died?"
Chloe nodded. "That the humans that killed her in the original were actually planted by one of Devilicus' closest friends?"
"That's right."
"Thus Stahl is giving us this neon signal about why Devilicus turned against the Guardian Realm too."
"Precisely. Some of the Guardians knew. And afterwards they recognized that one of their own caused Eurydice's death."
Chloe sighed again. She picked up the next issue of Rosetta and stared at the cover, of Devilicus as fans of the original Warrior Angel knew him. Devilicus sat on a chair with tall backing, in a dark room lit only by one bulb over him. On the floor around him lay his clipped bloodied wings.
"And here it is-the end we cannot change no matter how much we root for him."
"If it has you so sad, Chloe," Lex started, taking her hand, "why did you want to read it so badly? I wouldn't have had it published if it would make you feel awful."
"Because I love him, Lex," she said simply. "I loved him when he was good and I loved him more when he became the villain because it showed me how much Eurydice meant to him; It showed me he wasn't tied to the rules because he was his own man; It showed me that it doesn't matter what everyone else tells you. You have to do what you believe in."
"So the way he killed everyone was okay to you?"
Chloe raised her eyebrows and glanced down at the comic book in her hands. She traced the fallen wings at Devilicus' feet. "He made things harder for Warrior Angel. He caused all kinds of chaos. He made the people who killed Eurydice suffer. But he never ever killed anyone, Lex."
"People did die because of the chaos he created, Chloe."
Chloe shrugged. "People die."
Lex chuckled and shook his head. "Remind me again how much of a fanatic you are?"
She grinned. "So what's for dinner, Lex? Or did you just tell your cook to make whatever?"
"Hey! I resent that. With you, I'm hands on."
"You made dinner yourself?"
Lex closed his hands around hers and pulled her up. "I picked it up myself."
"Aaah. Clever."
Right on time, a maid came into the room bearing a tray of Chinese takeout. She smiled at Chloe and placed the takeout on Lex's desk. Another maid stepped in with a bottle of Coke and two glasses.
"Will there be anything else, sir?"
Lex shook his head. "Thank you. And Linda, no visitors."
"Never when Ms Sullivan's here."
"Good." When he and Chloe were left alone, he turned to her and asked, "If you don't like this, we can go to our usual in Metropolis."
"No, no." Chloe shook her head. "This is amazing, Lex. You finally wised up when it comes to a date."
"This doesn't make you less special."
"I feel a lot more special now," she assured him. "You're eating greasy twenty dollar food with me."
Lex extended a hand to her. "Shall we? You can explain to me what I ordered exactly."
Chloe nodded and peeked inside the boxes with Lex, handing him those that she felt he would enjoy. "I saw a feature on you and Helen today."
"I was hoping you wouldn't," Lex replied, opening up some chopsticks bags. "But knowing the newshound that you are, I shouldn't have wasted my time."
"Has Helen said anything about it? I haven't talked to her for a couple of days."
"You know we don't have any contact outside of the charade. She's your friend though. I wonder why she hasn't called you."
Chloe nodded. "She might bring it up tomorrow when you see each other then. I know your father is still trying to contact her. She could be staying quiet to keep him away."
"The wording of the article was tasteless. I doubt it will affect her that much though. It is a fairly unimportant tabloid."
"I feel so bad for her though. She's doing this amazing thing for us, and she's getting the brunt of what I'm supposed to suffer. Without the perks," she added, when Lex wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure you won't be as quick to comfort her when she raises her concern."
"Helen is a mature woman who agreed to help us. And I want this charade to end soon too. But Chloe, what Helen is undergoing is the least of what you will. She's a doctor and well in the age of consorting with a Luthor. You're-"
"High School Girl Playing with Fire to Get Ahead?" Chloe said, conjuring up her own headline. "Chloe Sullivan, seventeen, was seen in a compromising position with billionaire Lex Luthor. Sullivan, a high school nobody, is suspected to be trading her young body so that her father's boss will give the older Sullivan a promotion."
"Shut up, Chloe," he commanded softly. "That's disgusting."
"But that's pretty much what they'll say," she reasoned.
"Leave the trash to them. I don't want you saying those. I won't have you even thinking that. I'll shut down their papers before they even write anything like that about you."
"Well have that much passion about their writing trash about Helen!" Chloe argued. "She doesn't deserve this."
"I know." Lex sighed. "Still, you know, better her than you."
"That's not fair," she said softly.
"I know. Just like you defend a villain just because you love the character, right?"
"We're a couple of very sick people, aren't we?"
Lex shrugged. "I don't mind as long as we're a couple."
"What do we do about Helen?"
"You want to join us tomorrow? I never feel comfortable without you around."
Chloe shook her head. "Make sure to tell Helen that we are going to make life easier for her any way we can. Besides, I have to be in school. There's a science fair I have to cover. I just hope there's something really freakish going on there."
"I'm a bad influence if I can make you wish you don't have to go on a story."
Her eyes were twinkling when she retorted, "Why do you feel so good then?"
Lex let out a rush of breath. "Careful, Chloe. I thought we weren't going there yet?"
"I don't want to keep myself from being happy just because we're scared. We can be careful, right? Besides, I know that whatever happens, you'll take care of me."
"Always."