A.N. Little note... Any speech written in bold will be Harry Wright through Clark's earpiece, so only Clark can hear him.
Clark Kent entered the Daily Planet building and was instantly aware of the many shocked expressions aimed his way. He guessed that his and Lois' disappearance had made the newsroom gossip, surely stories of eloping and murder were being over-elaborated at his and Lois' expense. 'Woah, will this be hard to live down when we get out of this... If we ever get out of this.'
"Clark? Clark!" A blurred blonde bob hit him at full speed, pulling him into a big bear hug. It was so powerful, he was sure that he would've fallen over if his gravity had been the slightest off-center.
"Say hello, act normally!" The harsh voice whispered into his ear, reminding him that Wright could hear everything.
"Hey Chloe, what's up?" Clark tried to seem as normal as he could, but Chloe was the most perceptive of all of his friends he could encounter today. Convincing her would be tough.
She looked at him sarcastically. " 'What's up'? What do you mean 'what's up'? You've been listed as missing! Haven't you gotten any of my messages?"
"No, why should I have?" Wright had done the delightful duty of taking his and Lois' phones upon their arrival.
"Clark, the police found Lois' car, and you two have been gone for three days!" Chloe couldn't believe what Clark was saying, didn't he realize what was going on? 'Oh God, if he has amnesia again I'll...'
"Chloe, it's fine honestly. Me and Lois have just been undercover for a few days." Clark spurted out the lies as if they were a story he was telling about some other Clark and Lois somewhere else in the world.
"But Lois' car..."
"It was too obvious, you needed you and Lois to be completely out of the picture so you didn't arouse any suspicion."
"We couldn't turn up in Lois' car, and the undercover thing was one of Lois' spur of the moment plans. Plus with us missing, it meant that we could use our disguises to the maximum." Clark hated lying to Chloe, but with Lois' life on the line, he couldn't risk the help.
Chloe looked at him. "Is there something going on that I don't know about?" Her eyebrows raised and she looked at Clark in a way that only a best friend could. "Clark... Tell me, what's going on?"
"Don't let her find out about this! Or Lois and you are both dead!"
"No! Nothing happened!" Clark said too quickly, but it was too late, the already cynical Chloe was onto him.
"Tell me! What happened? Wait... Where's Lois?"
Meanwhile, Lois watched in panic as Clark stumbled his way through the intuitive intelligent jungle that was her cousin. They were doomed. "God Smallville, make it up!"
Clark did something only Clark can do in a situation such as this: he bumbled. "She's probably at home, sleeping it off. Nothing happened! I mean, we were just undercover! It was nothing big, we just did a little investigating and came up with pretty much nothing. So anyway, I'd better be going..."
Lois sighed at the TV screen, sharing the same reaction with Wright who was thinking the same thing only in a much less endearing way: 'This guy needs to be smacked on the head.'
Chloe chose a different approach. "Clark, you can't lie to me, I've known you too long. Now, honestly, did anything happen between you and Lois on this 'undercover investigation'? Were you investigating more than the story together?" She finished the sentence with a sly smile.
Clark could only turn red in silence, as Lois did the same. "Umm..." He waited for Wright's help, but only heard a faint snicker of satisfaction.
"I knew it! Now tell me! I want details!"Chloe beamed, her lips forming into a triumphant smile.
"Chloe I really can't, I should be going right now..."
"Now now Clark, you can't avoid Miss Sullivan forever, she'll never let you leave until you give her these 'details'."
"No! You're not getting out of it that easy!" Chloe grabbed Clark's arm, pulling him back to face her. "Now tell me everything!"
Clark began hesitantly, "There isn't really much to tell... I mean, we had difficult sleeping arrangements, because of our cover, but there wasn't much more than that."
Chloe's eyes narrowed. "You slept with her didn't you?"
He went from shocked to astonished to both, "What?! No! We just shared a bed!" Chloe shot him another of her you're-my-best-friend-and-you're-going-to-tell-me-eventually looks. He wavered "Well..."
"Well?"
Chloe's eyes brightened, while Lois was muttering under her breath, "Don't do it Clark, you're stronger than this."
"We nearly kissed. But it was once! It didn't even mean anything!"
Lois blinked, completely stunned. 'What did he mean? Don't I mean anything to him? Obviously not if something like that didn't mean anything to him.' He cared about her, sure, but she was his friend. Nothing more.
Wright kept that smirk plastered on his face, loving the awkwardness. Clark's went from pure white to a deep puce and found Chloe's reaction of surprise and confusion unsettling.
'How did I get into this mess?' was all Clark could think.
"Mr Kent, finish this conversation now. You need to keep with the plan." whispered the man in his ear, saving Clark from a situation that would only lead to more trouble.
"Chloe, I'd better go.I need to let Tess know that I'm back."
Clark left his best friend still confused behind him, he has to do whatever this Wright guy says or Lois will die. The simplicity of the problem didn't help at all.
A hooded figure crept in the shadows, slinking around corners as if he were a wild cat stalking its prey. A slight breeze let him know that his comrades were also in sneak-mode, he was not alone. Checking either side of him, he saw that he was alone. He spoke into an electronic device, signaling to all of his units.
"This is Green Arrow to Black Canary, Impulse, Cyborg, Aquaman and Watchtower. I've located Boyscout and Wild Cherry on this floor, the building's blueprints show a newly constructed space ahead. I'm going to head there. Cyborg, you and Aquaman go to the floor below and hack into the system's mainframe."
"On our way." Came the reply.
"Okay, Black Canary and Impulse, come and meet me." Green Arrow continued, still walking up the corridor.
Another gust of wind later, the three disguised figures made their way down the corridor, pausing briefly before each bend it took to look for guards.
"This is Watchtower to Green Arrow."
"I'm here Watchtower, what's the situation?" They stopped moving, awaiting instructions.
"We have a problem, Boyscout just arrived at the Daily Planet, but something's not right."
"Is he with Wild Cherry?" Oliver asked, turning over the problem within his mind.
"No, he's alone."
"What do you think we should do?"
There was a short pause from Chloe before she answered, "Proceed with the mission as planned." If Lois was still inside of the building, they were going to get her out.
The heroes sprang back into action, picking up the pace to more of a jog. They came to a corner, and peered around it to see four huge men, standing outside of an electronically locked door. Oliver took his crossbow out of it's compartment and loaded it with an arrow. With a sharp nod to Dinah and Bart, he rounded the corner and shot one of the men with a paralysis arrow square in the shoulder. Dinah let out a scream that was deafening to all others but Bart and Oliver, who wore specially designed earplugs that swelled when noise levels became dangerously high. The three conscious men were forced to the floor, clutching their ears which were leaking the blood of newly burst eardrums. A swish of air passed and they all became bound and gagged beside a smug looking Bart Allen.
"Nicely done." Was enough praise for the moment to pass, and the task at hand became the main concern once again. Oliver took out another arrow, shooting it at the now unguarded door. A force field erupted around it, deactivating the electro-magnetic device and causing the door to swing open. They entered, Oliver's crossbow raised, and saw Lois stood in front of a large screen television, her head pointing in their direction.
"Ollie?" Oliver and Lois met in the middle of the room, and they pulled each other into a hug.
"Lois, you're okay?"
"Yeah, nothing that some aspirin won't fix. But we've got bigger problems." Lois turned back to the screen and kept going. "We've been investigating this guy..."
"Harry Wright, yeah, we heard." Oliver filled in, the three costumed figures stepping in to stand beside Lois.
"But he's taken Smallville to the Daily Planet, and is watching everything he says and does."
"Why would he want Clark?" Dinah asked, not taking her eyes off of the screen, which showed a computer being typed into by what she assumed was Clark's hands.
"Wright's obsessed with the Red-Blue Blur..."
"But what's that got to do with Clark?" Oliver asked, his eyes glued to the screen as if he was afraid of her answer.
"Nothing, and that's our problem. Clark's said that he can take Wright to the Red-Blue Blur, and Wright has said that if he doesn't, he's going to kill me and Clark. So we've gotta get to the Planet now, before Wright realizes that Clark's been lying and shoots him in the middle of the bullpen."
Bart, Dinah and Oliver looked at each other, fully aware that having Clark shot at in a crowded place was a big risk of exposing his true identity or hurting someone else.
Oliver took out his electronic device again and spoke. "This is Green Arrow to all units. Impulse, Black Canary and I have Wild Cherry. Aquaman and Cyborg, get out of the building now. We are going to the Daily Planet, but do not wear your uniforms, we're going undercover." He put the device away and saw Lois smirking. "What?"
"Looks like you've really built up your little band of superheroes. I just hope that they didn't make the same mistakes as you with their costumes." She walked out of the room with a smile, followed by her rescuers who were all smirking too.