When she got back to Star City Chloe jumped into her work with the JLA, more than she had before. She was more determined than ever to bring Lex down but it wasn't as much about that anymore as it was about helping the people that he hurt. The new charm Edward gave her served as a reminder to her everyday that she needed to do everything in her power to help those people that couldn't help themselves.
They'd gotten another letter from Cassandra, Chloe had gone out on a limb and written something in code and sent it to Susan, who sent it to Cassandra. She appreciated what Cassandra was doing, sending them where they needed to go, helping them out but Chloe wanted to help Cassandra, wanted to get her away from Lex, she could help them just as much from Star City as she could from her prison cell.
Cassandra wrote back and told Chloe not to worry about her, Lex wasn't hurting her, wasn't experimenting on her, was actually treating her very well. She also told her that it was easier to see what she needed to see when she was closer to him but there was a factory in Nova Scotia that was creating an experimental nerve gas using a Meta and if they wanted to help her they could start there.
Oliver and the guys left the next day and shut the place down with very little trouble. And that was great but Chloe wasn't feeling like she was contributing enough though, she wanted more. "You guys did good." She said patching a cut on Oliver's head that he'd got in a fight with a guard. She'd tried to heal him but for some reason her powers weren't working great right now. Oliver suggested that it was possible, since they were tied in with her emotions, that Edward's death and thrown her off a little and she would be fine in a few weeks or so.
"We did good." Oliver corrected her.
"Yeah." Chloe tossed a bloody rag in the trash. "I did a whole lot. Telling you were to turn and where the guards were." She sighed opening a bandage.
"Hey." He grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. "You know you're more than a glorified GPS right?" Chloe sighed. "Right?"
"I guess." Chloe said. "I just, I want to do more. I want to do feel like I'm doing more. I want to be on the ground, in the action."
"You wanna come with us?" Oliver asked.
"I want to feel like I'm doing something more than just the leg work." Chloe said.
"I think we can swing that." Oliver smiled.
"Yeah?" Chloe asked.
"Next time we go out, you're there." Oliver told her.
"Thanks." Chloe said putting the bandage on his forehead and smiling.
The excitement over the fact that she was going to be able to go on the next mission made Chloe work furiously to find something, anything that she could take to Oliver. For two weeks she poured over every scrap of information they'd gathered to date looking for signs that Lex had moved to another place, built another lab. She tried to find the usual tell tale signs, an large order from Luther Corp for medical equipment, a small town that suddenly had an influx of income from some outside source, she even spent a day reviewing satellite images, unsuccessfully trying to find any large facilities in area's Chloe knew he liked to work. She wasn't expecting to find a blinking neon sign that said "Experimental Luther Corp Laboratory" with a giant flashing arrow but she wasn't finding much of anything else either. She checked the mail everyday, hoping for something from Cassandra as well, but it never happened.
She was going over a box of e-mails they'd printed out from one of Lex's main Doctors, Dr. Rao, who headed up his genetics department when Victor called one day. "You still reading those e-mails?" He asked.
"There's something here, I know it, I just can't see it." She sighed.
"Maybe because you haven't slept in a week." He pointed out to her.
"I sleep." She argued.
"Barely." He scoffed. "You need to slow down, you can't keep going like this."
"You think Lex is going to slow down?" Chloe asked him.
"No." Victor said. "Of course I don't. Lex isn't going to suddenly decide to turn over a new leaf. There are labs out there, and he'll just make more of them, and sooner or later he's going to slip up and leave a trail and you'll find it because that's what you do. But you don't have to put your life on hold while you wait."
"I'm not putting my life on hold." Chloe said.
"Really?" Victor asked. "What did you do last night?"
"I was going over the stuff from the lab in Nova Scotia." She said as if it was a perfectly reasonable way to spend the evening.
"And what were you supposed to do yesterday?" He asked her.
"What…" Chloe looked at the calendar on her desk and gasped. "The art gallery opening. Oh my god I totally forgot."
"I know." Victor said. "Oliver called me like six times complaining about the fact that you stood him up."
"Oh god, I'm so horrible." She sighed.
"No you're not, your just preoccupied." Victor told her. "Just do me a favor, get out of the house, eat some real food, do something besides staring at e-mails, even if it's only for a few hours."
"Fine." Chloe sighed and dropped the stack of papers to her desk. "I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone and walked to her fridge, frowning at the contents. There were a few wedges of different cheeses, a bottle of apple juice and a bag of what Chloe guessed had once been fresh bell peppers but was now nothing more than an unrecognizable green mush. She grabbed the bag with two fingers and carried over to the trash as she dialed Oliver's number.
"Well, you're phone does work." Oliver said a little coldly.
"I am so sorry." Chloe winced; she vaguely remembered ignoring his call the night before. "Let me make it up to you, take you out to dinner?'
"You're fridge is empty isn't it?" Oliver said.
"Yes." Chloe sighed. "But that's not why I'm calling, really. I feel awful about the art gallery thing, I know I've been a little preoccupied lately and I want to make it up to you."
He was silent for a while. "Don't think because you buy me dinner and apologize that I'm not still mad, I'm just hungry." He said.
"I understand."
"I'm not that easy you know." Oliver pointed out to her.
"I know." Chloe said. "I have a lot to make up to you."
"Good, so were on the same page."
"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes ok."
"Don't be late." Oliver said before hanging up the phone.
"Thank you for coming with me." Chloe said as she strolled through the park with Oliver after dinner.
"Thanks for the flowers." He smiled over at her.
She shrugged. "I figured after standing you up I better not show up empty handed." She said nudging his shoulder. "And the liquor store was closed." He laughed and looked over at her concerned.
"So crazy obsessed Chloe is gone?" He asked hopefully.
"I wasn't crazy obsessed was I?" She asked.
"Bart said he went over there yesterday to get something to eat and you were pacing back and forth mumbling to yourself. You were so engrossed in what you were doing you didn't even see him." Oliver smiled. "That's how I know your fridge was empty."
"Wow." Chloe stopped walking and sat on a bench. "I guess I've been a little single minded lately. I am sorry for that. I just… I really want to do this, I want to be more involved." She looked at him. "Part of it is about being able to go with you guys and help out and part of it is about the fact that we know right now, somewhere Lex has got five or six places where he's holding people hostage, experimenting on them, doing God knows what with the results and there's nothing I can do to help because I can't find them."
"Hey." Oliver put an arm over her shoulder. "We do what we can." He said. "The fact that we know he's out there, doing those things is more than anyone else. We'll find him, and we'll stop it, and we'll move onto the next one but there's only so much we can do and as hard as that concept is, it's something you've got to accept. I'm not telling you not to look, I'm just saying, maybe limit it to between 2 and 4 in the afternoon?"
"You're right." Chloe smiled and leaned against his shoulder. They sat in the quite park for a few minutes before Chloe jumped up. "Hey, can we stop at The Creamery on our way back? It's Tuesday and that means they should have the Double Chocolate Rum ice cream." Oliver smiled and stood up.
"I guess so." He sighed grabbing her hand and pulling her down the street.
"Can I get two scoops?" She asked hopefully.
"Wow, two scoops, I don' t know Chloe, you're pushing the budget here." She looked up at him and pouted. "I think I can swing two scoops." He told her.
"Can I get a chocolate dipped cone?"
"What are you trying to do? Bankrupt me?" Oliver asked.
Chloe ignored her desk for another week, she didn't even give it a passing glance until the day she was having everyone over for dinner and she was cleaning up. The clutter on the desk was ridiculous, papers were strewn everywhere, no wonder they called her crazy obsessed Chloe. She started to pick them all up when something caught her eye. She debated ignoring it, walking away, but she couldn't. She sat down and turned on her computer to look something up and smiled slowly.
Two hours after Chloe had said dinner would be ready, everyone was still waiting for her to start it. Bart and Victor were playing a video game as Oliver and AC half watched them, Chloe was still on the computer. "I found it." She said suddenly.
"I didn't know we lost something." Bart said confused, not moving his eyes from the screen. "What did you do that for?" He said suddenly when the game was paused. Victor was looking at Chloe and Oliver had stood up straighter.
"How?" Oliver asked.
"The e-mails, from Doctor Rao." Chloe looked at Victor. "She kept talking about sending off samples and test results and specimens to Eugene. But I couldn't find a Eugene anywhere, first name, last name, Lex does not employ a single Eugene, so it just hit me, Eugene might be a place." Victor's interest was piqued now. He walked over to the computer and looked over her shoulder. "And I was right. Eugene, Oregon." Chloe pulled up a map and it slowly zoomed in on something. "Home of one of the oldest Lex Luther facilities." She sighed. "That's why I couldn't find anything. It wasn't new, he didn't build it in the last six months, it's been there for six years."
"How did we not know about this?" Oliver asked confused and Chloe shrugged. "Right, I want to know what's going on over there. Bart."
"Give me a map and I'm on my way." He smiled.
"Surveillance only, unless you are sure you can get in and out undetected, 100 positive." Oliver said as Chloe handed Bart the print out.
"You got it Boss." Bart gave Oliver a mock salute and was gone in a second.
"Nice catch Watchtower." Oliver smiled. "But I do believe you promised us diner, a few hours ago, I'm starving."
Chloe jumped up and smiled sheepishly. "I completely forgot. I'll throw something together."
Of course for Chloe, throwing something together was the equivalent of a four course meal. A meal that she couldn't even enjoy because she was pacing back and forth waiting for Bart.
"You made all this food and you're not going to eat?" AC asked reaching for another biscuit . Chloe slapped his hand.
"Save some for Bart." She said. AC dropped it. "I didn't make enough chicken did I?" She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"There's enough chicken." Oliver told her. "He'll be back when he gets back. Ok?"
"Yeah, yeah." Chloe blew some hair out of her face. "I'm gonna make more chicken." She grabbed the skillet and an onion and started chopping. Five minutes later she had the onions sautéing in the pan and felt a wind at her back.
"Is that for me?" Bart asked smiling.
Chloe turned around quickly. "What did you find?"
"You're gonna burn the onions." He looked at the skillet over her shoulder.
"There's plenty of chicken on the table." Chloe pulled the skillet off the stove top and turned off the gas.
"Then why are you making more?" Bart asked confused.
"Bart." Oliver said in his warning voice and Bart stomped to the table and piled up a plate.
They impatiently let him eat for a while, until Chloe couldn't take it anymore. "What did you find?" She asked again.
"There is some bad mojo going on in there." Bart pushed his plate away from him and took a deep breath. "He's got security like it's going out of style."
"So you couldn't get in?" Oliver asked.
"Come on." Bart smiled. "This is me we're talking about here."
"Then what do you have?" Chloe asked.
Bart tossed Oliver a camera. "Perimeter shots, there might be tons of them but all the guards are on the same 50 minute rotation they must teach at guard school."
"And inside?" Oliver tossed the camera to Victor who walked to the computer to print out the pictures.
"Bad news." Bart shook his head. "I managed to slip in behind someone, but I never made it past the hallway. It's a big place two stories, only about ten rooms but every single door is protected by three systems. Magnetic card reader with an electronic key pad and retinal scanner."
Everyone sort of deflated. This was bad. They were going to have by pass those systems to get into every room and that was gonna take a long time, but the fact that they were there meant that whatever was in the room was worth it. "What's the plan?" Chloe turned to Oliver.
"AC you go through the shots, and record some satellite, between the two we should be able to figure out a shift schedule." Oliver turned to Chloe and Victor. "I need you two to work on the doors."
"On it boss." Victor stood up and Chloe thought about something.
"I'll be right back." She said smiling. She left the apartment while AC got to work and Victor tried to figure out, based on the shots Bart got, what kind of locks he was dealing with. Chloe came back in the apartment twenty minutes later holding a box under her arm.
"Bart." She called. "I've got an idea, come with me."
"Right behind you." Bart jumped up and grabbed a piece of chicken before following Chloe.
She walked over to the couch next to Victor and turned to him. "You are about to be the first person to try out a very expensive new piece of equipment." She picked up the box and held it out to him. He reached for it eagerly and Chloe pulled it back. "You will be so careful with this, more careful than you've ever been with anything else in this world. As careful as you would be if this were a woman." Bart rolled his eyes and Victor snorted. "Ok." Chloe sighed. "As careful as you would be if this were a mint condition X-men number 1."
"Oh." Bart said in understanding and whipped his chicken covered hands on his pants. Victor just shook his head as Bart opened the box and his face fell. "It's a shirt." He looked up.
"It's not just a shirt." Chloe said holding it up. "Victor." Victor pushed some buttons on his computer and Bart saw his face looking back at him. He looked more closely at the shirt and smiled slightly.
"The button is a camera?"
"A highly advanced, prototype. The picture is more clear than high def almost as if it were a three dimensional image." Victor said.
"Which will be the perfect camera for you to get us a retinal image that we can hopefully break down into code and Victor can fool the computer into thinking it's been scanned." Chloe explained.
"Anyone in particular?" Bart asked.
"I need someone with high security clearance." Chloe thought for a second. "Dr. Rao." She said.
"But she's not even part of that facility." Bart pointed out.
"But she's been there." Chloe said pulling a paper out of a stack on the table. "Went to see Eugene today." She read. "She's Lex's top scientist. She'll have the clearance we need."
"So how do we find her?" Oliver jumped in.
Chloe and Victor looked at each other sheepishly. "We know where she is." Victor said.
"We've sort of been keeping tabs on her." Chloe admitted pulling up a file on the computer that had multiple pictures files, a few video files and a lot of other documents, some marked phone records, some marked e-mails, some marked daily itinerary.
"You're stalking her?" Oliver asked.
"We aren't stalking her." Chloe protested. "She's one of the top most people in Lex's organization, we're keeping an eye on her."
"On her every move, every second, of every day." Oliver pointed out.
"Yeah, ok, we're stalking her." Victor said as if it was no big deal.
Bart looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Cool." He said.
"Why don't I know about this?" Oliver asked slightly amused. "I should know about things like this."
"Oliver." Chloe sighed and looked at him very seriously. "If I let you know about everything I do to help you around here, you'd be an accessory to probably at least three dozen federal crimes."
"Plausible deniability." Victor nodded.
"I don't want to hear this." Oliver shook his head and walked away.
Chloe and Victor turned back to Bart. "You'll leave first thing in the morning and I'll be on the coms with you the whole time to let you know when I've got the shot." Chloe said. "Try and get her as far away from work as possible, grocery store, gas station, something like that so no one gets suspicious."
"No worries." Bart smiled and walked backwards toward the door. "I am the epitome stealth." He smiled as his foot hit Chloe's briefcase and he toppled over backwards, and slammed into the ground.
As hard as they tried, they couldn't stop the laughter. "Oh yeah." AC said from the computer. "You're James Bond."
Bart jumped up quickly and dusted off his pants. "First thing in the morning?"
Chloe nodded through her laughter and Bart left the room. As soon as the elevator doors closed the laughter got even louder.
"Can you see?" Bart's voice came through her speakers. "Is it clear?"
"For the fifth time yes." Chloe said taking a sip of her coffee.
"This is not what I had in mind for first thing in the morning." Bart told her. Chloe looked at the monitor, it was barely light outside in Metropolis, sunrise wasn't for another thirty minutes.
"You thought you'd just roll in there around eleven?" Chloe asked smiling.
"Something like that." Bart yawned. "What the hell is Kundalini?" Bart asked reading the sign on the door.
"Something that evil people get up to do at four in the morning." Chloe yawned. "It's a type of yoga." She corrected herself. "You know what to do?"
"Plow into her." Bart said.
"Make sure you knock her to the ground." Chloe reminded him. "I need her to look up into the camera."
"I know. It's not like I'm defusing a bomb here Chloe, just relax." Chloe sighed as the doors to the Yoga studio opened and people started filling out. "Short brown hair." Chloe said. "Blue shirt, pink mat."
"I got her." Bart said waiting until the crowd thinned a little and then put his head down and moved forward quickly, as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere. The image when fuzzy and she heard Bart apologize. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." The camera cleared again and Chloe saw Bart's hand reaching out to a woman who was on the ground. She looked up at him and Chloe started typing rapidly.
"I got it." She told him as the image on the screen froze and the program ran, mapping out the pattern of her retina. "Get out of there."
The woman took Bart's hand and smiled at him. "No big deal." She said as he pulled her up.
"Really I'm so sorry, you sure you're ok?" He asked her.
"Fine." She assured him.
"I'm running late, but again, so sorry."
"It's ok." She assured him turning around and walking away. Bart walked down the street in the opposite direction and then the camera blurred again as he super speeded.
It took Chloe and Victor two days to dissect the retinal scan and create a program for the locks. AC had memorized the guards rotation by that point and they had a solid plan in place. Chloe was flipping through her mail while Oliver went over everything one more time. "AC and I are going to take the guards out. Chloe, you and Victor will open the doors, just go down the hall, one after the other while Bart goes in and gets what we might need. Wheels up in twenty." Chloe and Victor nodded and Chloe went back to her stack of mail. After a few bills and a credit card offer she saw a letter from Susan, which meant a letter from Cassandra. She opened it up and saw it was short, less than twenty five letters
"Anything important?" Oliver asked motioning to the sheet with the code on it.
"Nothing that can't wait." Chloe smiled setting it on the desk.
The butterflies in her stomach started on the plane and didn't dissipate, even when they were standing twenty yards away from the facility. "You sure you want to do this?" Oliver asked, his voice distorter on.
"More than anything." Chloe smiled and zipped up her hoodie, the makeshift uniform Oliver had put together at the last minute made her feel a little ridiculous but since everyone else was wearing them, it wasn't too bad.
Oliver pulled out his bow and aimed it at the side of the building. He waited until the three guards on his side were in range and then let the arrow go. They saw the gas escape and the guards collapse. "Impulse you're up." A red blur sped past Chloe. "They're changing shifts in five, four, three, two, one." The most efficient way to get into the building was the same way Bart had gotten in a few days before, slipping in after someone else.
"I'm in." Bart said. "Doors open."
"Watchtower, Cyborg." Oliver turned to them. "You're up."
Chloe nodded at Victor and they quietly made their way up to the building. She felt alive, she felt like she was doing something and she loved it. They slipped in the door. "We're in." Victor said. Bart was standing at the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Took you long enough." He smiled.
"We'll start on the second floor, that's where the lab is." Victor said.
"How do you know that?" Bart asked confused.
Chloe and Victor pointed up and Bart turned around. The largest room on the second floor overlooked the lobby area, with one wall made entirely of windows. Sure enough there were lab tables and medical equipment all over the place. "Oh." Bart bounced up the stairs and Chloe and Victor followed.
When they got to the lab, Chloe pulled the small computer out of her bag, hooking up various wires to the magnetic card/key pad device as Victor waited. She ran the program and it quickly found out the code. "You're up." She disconnected and Victor turned to the retinal scanner. They held their collective breaths until the green light beeped and the lock disengaged.
"Let's move." Chloe said as Bart went into the room and rummaged around for anything they might need. Oliver checked in frequently. A lot of the guards on the perimeter had been taken care of but it was a large building.
"Last one up here." Chloe said as the lock clicked open and she pushed on the door. Bart was still a few rooms down removing a lot of files. "Jackpot." Chloe smiled. Victor looked over her shoulder.
"Mainframe, nice." He started to go in the room and she shook her head.
"I need you to do the other doors." She nodded to the stairs. "I can't do the retinal scanner. And I think I know my way around the inside of the computer." He nodded and took her stuff from her, moving to the steps.
Chloe walked into the room and got to work on hacking the system. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she forgot for a second where she was and what was going on around her. "Hey!." She heard a very unfamiliar voice scream and she spun around. A guard was standing at the door. She quickly pulled her flash drive from the system and ran for the door. She managed to get around him and head down the hall.
"Watchtower to Green Arrow, I've got a situation." She said as she slid on the slick floor into the medical lab. "I've got a guard on my six, assistance requested."
"I'm busy out here, but I'm sending Aquaman you're way." He told her.
"I'm in the lab, second floor ." She said ducking behind a table as the guard came in the room looking for her. She tried to calm her breathing as she heard his shoes squeak across the floor, looking for her. Suddenly there was a noise followed by a thump. She peeked from behind the table and saw Bart standing there with a stool in one hand and the guard on the floor, unconscious.
"Hey." Bart smiled. "Probably the first time in your life you're happy to see me."
"Bart." Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as he set the stool down and pulled her to her feet. She smiled and was about to say something when suddenly her smile was gone and she shoved him as hard as she could to one side and turning herself to the other. Two more guards had entered the room. Apparently while Chloe had been calling for back- up so had the guard. One headed for Bart and the other took Chloe on. She found herself on one side of a lab table and the guard on the other, neither had anywhere to go. She grabbed one of the bottles and tossed the contents at him. Nothing happened.
"It's always acid or something equally as painful in the movies." She complained and he smiled so she threw the glass jar at him, catching him on the side of the head. "Where's Aquaman. We've got more guards now." Chloe said as she ran to the other side of the room while the guard was distracted.
"On my way Watchtower." AC's voice came over the com system. Bart didn't seem to be having any problems with his guard, literally running circles around him. Besides not being able to catch him Chloe wasn't sure what good it would do, maybe make him a little dizzy. She saw the look on his face though as he watched Bart go around and around. Before she could realize what it mean he'd grabbed a microscope off the table next to him and then Chloe saw it, it looked as if he was counting.
"Impulse." Chloe screamed but it was too late, the guard threw the microscope and it hit Bart square in the shoulder, knocking him off balance and definitely taking the speed out of him. Before Chloe could run to see if he was all right the guard grabbed him his hood and pulled him to his feet. He smiled sadistically before heaving with all his might and tossing Bart, as if he weighed no more than a feather, through the window that over looked the lobby. "No." Chloe screamed as the glass shattered and Bart fell straight down to the ground, unconscious.
She turned to the guards more angry than she ever thought she could be. "No more games." One guard told her. "Mr. Luther warned us some freaks like you might show up. We're authorized to do whatever we have to, to neutralize you."
"I swear to god, if he's hurt, if he's…"
"Dead?" The guard who threw Bart shrugged. "Not that bad a fall unfortunately."
"Watchtower." AC called from the hallway and Chloe knew something was going to happen before it did. Time seemed to slow down, her heart, raced faster and faster as the guards turned toward the door. AC appeared in the doorway, running at full speed and then he froze and fell backwards. Chloe looked from AC to the guards, they both had their guns out, she didn't even hear the shots. She ran forward screaming at the top of her lungs as blood started to pool on the floor. Both guards grabbed her before she got very far. They were pulling her to the door, she wasn't making it easy. She was pulling, kicking, screaming, she'd be biting if they'd get close enough to her but it was no use, their grip was iron. Suddenly one of them was knocked forward, he let go of Chloe and they both turned around confused when they saw the Arrow sticking out of his side. They followed the line it must have taken and saw Green Arrow standing on the other side of the landing, he'd shot it through the broken window. Chloe stomped on the foot of the remaining guard and he let her go just as another arrow was released. Chloe didn't even bother to see if it had landed, she knew it had.
She ran to the cabinet and flung the doors open, medical supplies went everywhere and she threw things left and right until she found gauze and few towels. She packed as many as she could on the wound and then turned as she saw another arrow fly past her head and heart a cable snap. She saw Oliver make his way over the lobby are and drop down in the room. "He was shot." Chloe said. "Impulse, he's hurt, he's on the ground."
"Cyborg's got him." Oliver said. "He's alive." He knelt down on the other side of Chloe.
"Here" She handed him a wad of gauze and then pushed his hand down on the wound to tell him to apply pressure. Her hands were covered in blood, her knees drenched. She pushed the hair out of her face and smeared blood all the way down her cheek.
"Chloe." Oliver said as the tears started to fall and she packed more gauze. "Chloe, can you…" Oliver didn't want to ask her, didn't like the price but he was afraid they'd have no other choice. "Can you heal it?"
Chloe looked up at him confused for a second as if she had no idea what he was talking about and then it dawned on her, she had the power to heal. She nodded whipping her tears away and laid her hands on AC's chest. Nothing happened at first and he saw her squeeze her eyes shut, her face turned red. A small, not very bright light pulsed a few times and then went out. Chloe collapsed on the floor and shook her head. "I still can't…they're still not working." She sobbed.
"They worked, a little, they stopped the bleeding." Oliver said moving the gauze away. "If we get him to a hospital."
"We can't do that." Chloe said. "A guy with two gunshot wounds shows up at a hospital the same day Lex's lab is broken into?"
"Right." Oliver said taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "We'll take him back to the lab." Oliver said.
"He won't make it." Chloe said in a whisper.
"He will if we call in the express." Oliver said and pulled out his phone. "Clark." He said after a second. "I need you to get to my location as soon as possible, AC's been shot. I'll send you the address, second floor." Oliver disconnected without waiting for an answer and sent their location. They waited less than a minute and he was standing there next to them. "Get him to my lab in Star City, I'll call ahead so they know you're coming." Clark just nodded, paling at the sight of the blood on the floor and looked at Chloe.
"Chloe!" He said surprised.
"I'm fine, it's his blood." She said standing up shakily. "Hurry." Clark picked up AC's limp body and looked at the window.
"I saw Bart…"
"Victor says he's fine, we can take him back on the jet but AC doesn't have a lot of time." Oliver said and Clark nodded, super speeding out of the room.
"Chloe, we have to go." Oliver said grabbing her arm and dragging her down the stairs. Victor had created a makeshift gurney for Bart and Oliver grabbed one end and lifted him up, carrying him to the door.
"I'll go get the car." Chloe said running for the door for all she was worth and back down to the road where they'd parked. When she made it back to the lab they were waiting outside for her. They maneuvered Bart in the backseat and Oliver climbed in the driver's side as Chloe moved to the passenger's seat.
"Victor I need you stay here." Oliver told him. "His bloods all over the place in there, set the charges and blow the building. Get rid of any evidence."
Victor nodded and walked back in the building as Oliver sped off to the airport. He called ahead to the pilot and the plane was fueled and ready when they go there. They carefully transferred Bart on board and Chloe grabbed whatever she could find to help him. She cleaned the cuts from the glass as best she could and then took a few deep breaths and assessed his damage. "Broken arm." She said to Oliver. "Possibly leg too…definitely a concussion."
"We'll be there in forty five minutes." Oliver assured her. Chloe just nodded and spread her hands out over Bart's chest. But nothing happened. She didn't give up the whole plane ride home but she couldn't summon up anything, no lights, no healing, nothing.
A car met them at the airport and two men took Bart and sped off as another car came for Chloe and Oliver. The ten minutes to the lab was torture and Oliver didn't help by telling Chloe over and over again that everything would be all right. It wouldn't be all right, AC was shot, Bart had been thrown through a window, nothing would be all right."
They were out of the car before it even came to a complete stop and ran into the building. "Clark. " Chloe screamed. He turned around and looked at her, relief on his face. Oliver headed in the other direction to talk to the doctors. "Where's Bart?"
"There." Clark nodded and Chloe saw a team of people hooking him up to machines and checking his pulse and blood pressure. Chloe sagged with relief and stood watching as they assessed the damage. Twenty minutes later they moved him to a room and Chloe followed.
"How is he?" She asked the doctor.
"His vitals are good. A few broken bones but he's stable, heart rate steady, we're gonna get him situated then set the bones." The man smiled sadly at Chloe. "He's gonna be fine."
"What about AC?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know. Dr. Myers was handling that." He nodded at Clark and Chloe and went into the room with Bart.
Chloe stood with her hands pressed against the glass window, the steady beeping of the monitor was the only thing that was keeping her from completely freaking out. The doctors worked a slower pace now, the urgency gone as they prepared to set his wounds and wrap them in a cast. Oliver's voice brought her back to the present and she turned her head to see him consulting with Dr. Myers. She checked the monitors in Bart's room one more time before turning away to walk to Oliver.
"How is he?" She asked her voice breaking a little.
"He's gonna be fine." Oliver smiled sadly at her.
She nodded her head, finally able to take a breath and then as if she couldn't hold them back anymore the tears started to fall. Her legs gave away under the strain and Oliver grabbed her, supporting her as she cried for a good ten minutes. "It's ok, everyone is ok." He kept saying, trying to reassure her. But she knew that it wouldn't. She knew that this never should have happened, this was all her fault.
"No one is ok." Chloe cried. "This is all my fault."
"No." Oliver said forcefully. "You can't think like that, this had nothing to do with you."
"Nothing to do with me?" Chloe raised her voice. "Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that if I had been up at the apartment monitoring the building, the guards, this would have ever happened?" Oliver didn't say anything and Chloe lowered her head.
"This is not your fault." Oliver repeated a little less confidently now. "No one blames you for this, everyone is gonna be fine, everything is fine." He said trying to convince himself more than Chloe at this point.
"I'm going to change." She said after pulling herself together and stepping away from Oliver. She motioned to her blood stained clothes and hands. "Get washed up. Maybe grab a few things for Bart for when he wakes up."
"I think that's a good idea." Oliver smiled at her she reached up and kissed is cheek.
"See you later." She said softly and turned around and walked out of the lab.
When she got back to her apartment she showered and changed her clothes before heading over to her desk. She was pretty sure that she'd confiscated Bart's PSP and put it in there. That would keep him entertained for a while. She froze when she saw the letter from Cassandra on the table. She wasn't sure what made her do it but she pulled up the software she and Victor created and punched in the letters before digging through the drawers for the game. The printer started up and she pulled the game triumphantly from the bottom drawer. She grabbed the paper off the printer as she headed to her bookshelves. Bart would rather die of boredom before reading anything but it wouldn't hurt. She glanced down at the paper in her hands and stopped. There were only six words on there but they were drilling a pit in Chloe's stomach.
"Don't do it Chloe, you'll hurt them." All of the feelings of pain and blame came flooding back to her. Cassandra knew, knew Chloe shouldn't have gone, knew what would have happened, and it was her fault. As much as she wanted to help, as much as she wanted to do whatever it took to help the guys, she couldn't. She just didn't know enough and now this, and then the plan started forming. She packed as few things as possible in a small bag and ran to the computer; she'd have to be quick. Oliver would come looking for her if she was gone to long so she had to be thorough but fast. When she was finished on the computer she sat down and wrote the note that she'd been putting together in her head for the last hour.
She left the note on the counter and took one last look at her apartment before getting in the elevator and riding down to the lobby. It was late so getting a cab was relatively easy. "Airport." She said to the cabbie and dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." Chloe said smiling slightly when it was answered. "You remember that favor you owe me?" She asked. "I'm calling it in."
Chloe had been gone for two hours and Oliver was starting to get worried. AC was still in surgery, Bart's leg and arm had been put in a cast but he was still resting. He wanted Chloe there, he wanted her beside him, to reassure him that everything was going to be ok. She didn't even need to say anything, she just needed to be there. He'd admit for a second, when she said it out loud, he thought it was her fault too. But it wasn't and if he knew Chloe, which he was sure he did, she needed to be reassured of that, a lot. "I'm getting worried." Oliver said to Clark.
"She was really shook up, maybe she's just taking a moment." Clark offered.
Oliver nodded his head and sat back in his seat, trying to keep himself awake. He wanted Chloe.
Another two hours passed and Oliver was pacing now. "She should have been back…" He mumbled and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. He tossed them to Clark. "Could you go check on her?"
"Sure." Clark caught the keys and walked out of the lab and the three blocks down to Chloe's building. He let himself into the elevator with Oliver's keys and then into Chloe's apartment. It was dark, all the lights were off. He searched every room and she wasn't there. He was about to call Oliver when he saw the note, lying on the desk top. Oliver's name was written in a rushed manner but the handwriting was definitely Chloe's. Lying next to it was another piece of paper, it had wet spots, tears most likely and Clark grabbed it and the note.
Oliver was not going to be happy about this. He walked back to the lab, trying to figure out what to say. He was beaming when Clark saw him and for a second he thought that maybe Chloe showed up after all. "AC's out of surgery, he's going to be fine."
"That's great." Clark managed a smile.
"Where's Chloe?" He looked behind Clark, as if he was hiding her and Clark held out the note and the piece of paper. He read the code translation first and a look of confusion passed over his face. Oliver's smile fell as he took the note and started to read it. Halfway through he had to sit down and by the time he was done, the smile was gone completely.
Two days later Oliver took a deep breath and walked into AC room, a fake smile plastered on his face. "How's it going?" He asked.
"Great." AC said smiling.
"Check out the new wheel's boss." Bart said from beside the bed in his wheelchair. "What do you think?"
"Styling." Oliver joked with him.
"Where's Chloe?" Victor asked, he'd gotten home the night before. "I thought for sure she'd be here doing the mom fussing thing, fluffing the pillows, getting you ice cubes or something."
AC frowned. "You know she hasn't come to see once."
Bart stopped playing with the wheelchair. "Me either." He realized.
"Guys." Oliver leaned against the window ledge and sighed. "Chloe's gone."
"What do you mean gone?" Bart said slowly. "Did the guards, was she shot too?"
"No, not gone, gone." Oliver back peddled. "She's fine, she didn't get shot, and she's fine." He said. "She left."
"Left?" Victor asked confused.
"Left, two days ago." He pulled the worn note out of his pocket and passed it over to AC. The once white paper was almost a grey color now because he kept pulling it out of his pocket to read it every five minutes as if making sure he wasn't going crazy.
"Oliver." AC read. "I know this is going to seem like, well I don't know what it's going to seem like. I don't know if you'll ever understand because I don't know that I fully understand it. I have to leave. What happened tonight was my fault and everyone knows it, even if no one will admit it. I wasn't ready to go out there with you guys, I wasn't prepared and it almost cost Bart and AC their lives. I don't know how long I'll be gone, I don't know where I'm going but I know that I have to be 100 positive that something like what happened tonight, will never, ever, happen again. I have to do something, I have to get my head screwed back on straight, figure out what's wrong with my powers, figure out a few other things. I don't know if you will hate me, or if, given time, you'll understand. I'll be back when I'm ready. I promise you that I will be back. Give the guys all my love, I'll miss all of you so much it hurts to try and put it into words. Love Chloe."
They all turned to Oliver for an explanation or a punch line but he didn't have either. "She left this too." He said. "We got a code from Cassandra, right before we left, she didn't decode it until after…" He handed the paper to Victor who read it and frowned before passing it off to the others. "I don't know where she is, I don't really understand why she left. But I'm going to find her. I'm going to bring her back." Oliver said with such conviction the others had no choice but to believe in him.
Three Years Later
Oliver checked the bags as the guy behind the counter handed them over. He looked through and was about to complain that they'd forgotten the Sesame Chicken then caught himself. Sesame Chicken was Chloe's dish, they didn't order any. Three years and he still had moment where he forgot she wasn't there anymore. Days when he picked up the phone to call her and then hung up quickly when he remembered. "Toss me an egg roll." Bart said. "Food for the road."
Oliver smiled and tossed him bag as they walked back to his apartment. "Ok so." Bart said taking half the egg roll in one bite. "We agreed that Victor is stronger than any of us, even AC in the water because his strength isn't his, it's the water."
"We never decided that." AC protested.
"Well, me and Victor decided." Bart smiled at him. "And we all know I'm faster." Bart said as if it was common knowledge to the world.
Oliver smiled. AC was gonna get frustrated in a minute and Bart would tease him worse for that. Victor would jump on whatever side he felt like it just to up the tension. If he tried to but in or mediate they'd just blow him off, but if Chloe were there all she'd have to do was give them one look, and they'd all shut up. He wanted Chloe. The feeling he'd had in his stomach, that ache that he knew was caused by her absence when he was waiting for her at the hospital, hadn't disappeared in three years, not for a single second. That was a good thing, because it pushed him on. He hadn't had any leads in a while but that wasn't going to stop him. He made a promise three years ago that he would find her and bring her back and Oliver Queen kept his promises. He had to bring her back, because he realized something very shortly after she left them. He didn't just want Chloe with him, he needed Chloe with him. They became so close, so connected that he had a hard time functioning when she wasn't around. He had no idea until she left how much he relied on her, and he wasn't just talking about JLA business, far from it. He needed to hear her voice on a long day, he needed to see her face, her smile when he got good news. He needed Chloe.
A/N: I know I'm horrible leaving it like this, but I'm having a few problems with the next chapter, hopefully it will be up by tomorrow! Enjoy