Summary: After Oliver comes out of his downward spiral, he has one objective: to save Chloe Sullivan. "Although the objective of chess is to place the king in a compromising position, every player wants to capture the other's queen." Sequel to Queen
Warning: Rated NC-17, for smut in future chapters.
A/N: I love the sight of fresh hate-mail in the morning. I'm actually proud of myself for stirring this much hate in only the first chapter. Here's the thing-I told everybody that I was reluctant in posting a sequel. If you want to preserve the image of Queen in your head, then don't read the sequel. I think that it's pretty simple.
Chapter Two
Chess is called the game of kings, because for many years, it was played primarily by nobility and the upper classes.
Oliver forgot how much he hated board meetings. Countless hours of irritation passed as he tried in vain to work against the solar towers Zod and Tess were working on building. From a business standpoint, the towers were a good idea. If he supported them and took control of the project, the company's stock would be at an all-time high.
The board members never failed to remind him of that. The damned CFO of the company did the number-crunching, and came to the conclusion that the towers would pay for themselves in the end. He said that it was the right decision, that his father would want him to support the project.
It frustrated him that the company didn't know what he did. The road to hell was paved with good intentions, and the solar towers were no exception. He refused to believe that the towers were the only option- he pushed for solar panels being installed in the Luthorcorp Building, the Clock Tower, and the Daily Planet, he wanted factories all over the globe to become more fuel-efficient; he tried every single possibility that he could think of, but Tess constantly fought against him.
This was the only job that Chloe had given him, and he was failing her already. He was sure that his leave of absence from his work hadn't made him rusty, but now he wasn't so sure. Tess was very good at fighting against him. She already had support from most of the board. The truth was that the entire world was going to hell, and there was nothing that Oliver could do to stop it.
He opened the front door of the Luthorcorp Building and took a deep breath. They probably had the blueprints drawn up already. The sooner he could get a copy of them, the faster he would be able to take them down.
But Chloe wasn't the only person who didn't fully trust him anymore- Clark didn't either. He wanted control over the situation, and even though Oliver knew that it was a bad decision to wait around for the Kandorians to get their powers before intervening, he needed to stay on good terms with him.
While Clark was out showing the Kandorians around the Earth, Oliver was going to prepare himself for the coming apocalypse. And that meant another long afternoon of target practice before tonight's patrol. He took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. He frowned when he saw two windows pop up. Ten missed calls and ten voicemails.
And they were all from Chloe. Damn it, what happened? He dialed his voicemail, and listened to the first message as he paced outside of the building. "Oliver, it's Chloe. I'm trying to get a hold of the team, trying to get them in one place so that I can tell them about the future Clark saw. An upcoming alien apocalypse isn't exactly something that I can put in an e-mail."
Okay, humor is good. It meant that she was alive. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys, still listening as he walked to his car. "I'm trying to get in contact with Clark, but he's not answering his phone either. I'm going to try again- see if he'll answer. Bye."
He opened the door as another message started to play. "Hi, it's Chloe. Again. I normally wouldn't call, but someone found me in the middle of the city. And he called me Watchtower."
What? How was that even possible? He got inside of the car and put his phone on speakerphone as he fastened his seatbelt quickly and started the car.
"Good guy, I think."
"You think, or you know?" he asked out-loud
"He called himself a friend. I don't know what happened; first I'm talking to the guy. Next thing I know, I'm being thrown in a dumpster, it's freezing, and there are flashes of light everywhere. I finally get out, and he's bleeding on the floor. We have to find out what happened."
He pulled out and accelerated quickly before a red-light forced him to slow down and another message played.
"It's me. I just realized that you're probably heading over to the Watchtower, but I'm not there. You should probably head over to Met Gen. I may have passed out in the ambulance, and the doctors may have wanted to check on me."
When the light turned green, Oliver pressed on the accelerator hard. "I don't know why. They shouldn't have been running unnecessary tests on me when there's someone seriously injured."
Oh, she didn't know why doctors wanted to examine her after she passed out in the ambulance? He shook his head. The hallucination was right- Chloe was so wrapped up in her work that he own health didn't matter anymore. Being in a hospital overnight didn't make her see reason, it just made her irritated. How was he going to make her see what she was doing to herself?
"Anyway, I've been calling Clark, and he's not picking up. It's not like I can exactly explain to Lois why they diagnosed me with mild frostbite and sleep-deprivation. Would you mind getting me out of here? There's nothing wrong with me."
He checked the time. She had called him with that message about 2 hours ago. He had failed her again. Great.
He slammed a hand on the steering wheel as he listened to another message. "The man's name was Sylvester Pemberton." Why did she sound so sad? "He's dead, Ollie." He heard her clear her voice, and the professionalism returned. "I'm going to try and find out what I can. I'll let you know if there are any new developments. Call me when you can."
He waited for another message to play. "Clark's here, and so is the Metropolis PD. I'm going to try and see what I can find out."
And Clark beat him to the punch. Stupid board members, stupid Kandorians and their stupid solar towers.
Oliver made a sharp u-turn- the Watchtower was on the other side of town.
There was a short pause before another message played. "Clark just gave me a lift back to Watchtower. He's going to conduct his own investigation. I guess we'll just compare notes later. I'll keep you posted."
He slowed down as the car in front of him did. He glanced at the stopped surrounding lanes. These people were wasting his time. His phone continued playing the messages, regardless of his frustration.
He could hear her typing at the Watchtower, and her voice sounded slightly distracted. "Oliver, it's Chloe. I think that I'm going to have to call the rest of the team for this one. I don't know what it is yet, but there's something about all of this that seems bigger than what it looks like. I'm still trying to put all of the pieces together."
He wanted to help her- she didn't have to do all of this alone. But here he was, stuck in traffic. But he didn't have to be. Regardless of the cars honking at him, he pulled over to the side of the road, and shut off the ignition.
He grabbed his phone and ended the call, slipping it in his pocket as he got out of the car. He looked like an idiot, dressed up in a suit and walking around Metropolis.
He grabbed a change of clothes from the trunk and stepped into the first restaurant he saw. He reached into his pocket, and gave the host a crisp hundred in exchange for directions to the bathroom.
The kid thanked him, and Oliver went on his way. He didn't need to check the rest of the messages to know that Chloe needed him there right away. He changed quickly before leaving the restaurant and putting the suit back in his car.
The traffic jam was still there. He didn't care; Watchtower wasn't incredibly far from where he was.
He was going to walk it, and ignore the questioning looks of people on the street. It was as if they had never seen a billionaire walking in the middle of the city before. Ridiculous people.