Chapter Six
During the month of self-imposed silence with everyone, Chloe had had to create another new identity. She had been planning for such an event before she had taken up the mantel of Watchtower, but implementing it was something she had never really wanted to do. However, knowing that Lex Luthor was after her, Chloe had to do it no matter the pain and sacrifice it would cause her.
Moments after getting out of her apartment that night, Chloe had needed to stop in order to heal herself. She wasn't safe, still too close to Lex's security force, but if she didn't heal now, she'd pass out and either die of blood loss or be captured.
The healing itself almost sent her into unconsciousness and Chloe fought tooth and nail to drink from the water bottle that had been stashed in one of the motorcycle's saddlebags. Eating the energy bar made her even more nauseous and she struggled to keep from vomiting. Almost seeing double, she had gotten back on the bike and drove south, as fast and as far as she could before the fatigue from the healing was too much.
The rest area wasn't much, just a couple of pay phones and the bathrooms. But there were a few places that were obviously used by transients as camping spots and Chloe made for one. Parking her bike near a large tree and securing it with a state of the art security system, she placed her small form between the tree and the bike, weapons at hand, and fell asleep.
When she awoke several hours later, Chloe immediately took in her surroundings. Having come to without any movement, she barely opened her eyes, looking over the area and then using her hearing to cue into anything that was out of line of sight. It seemed that she'd been ignored, except for the two squirrels that were chattering around on the ground near her, looking for whatever was edible.
Startling them, she rose from her spot into a full body stretch. Now that she was refreshed and her mind and body no longer numbed with the energy drain of her healing and the pain of her wounds, Chloe went back to the rest area proper to find out exactly where she was.
San Luis Obispo.
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Chloe stayed the night in Glendale, her motorcycle in a parking garage not even close to the no-named motel that she had paid cash for. Half of that night was spent making plans for the morrow, eating take-out from some pizza place and covertly looking out the window to see if there was anything she needed to be on guard for. The other half found her tossing and turning on the lumpy mattress, thinking about things she couldn't do anything about; about a man that she shouldn't focus on, trying to forget the feelings that she'd felt when she was with him and knowing that she shouldn't ever plan on seeing or contacting him ever again.
.
The next day, Chloe traded the motorcycle for the car that was in storage, packing the trunk full of items that she would need. She exchanged her current Blueberry for a new one, knowing that Lex Luthor would spare no expense to get hold of any information pertaining to any of her previous personas. Since she hadn't used this wireless handheld communication device yet, this Blueberry was entirely clean and couldn't be tracked to her. Grabbing one of the new laptops that were in the storage area, she unboxed it, grabbing a variety of accessories that Chloe knew she would need and then a handful of 'burn' phones.
Chloe knew it was Lex that was after her. Despite knowing that Lionel was now dead, she believed that Lex had tried abducting her for his own purposes and that they had nothing to do with his father. Chloe dearly wanted to get in touch with the guys to find out if they knew why and to let them know that she was still alive, not to mention…
Don't go there, Chloe. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that refused to leave her regarding the blonde billionaire.
Double checking her inventory, she made a mental note to make sure to replace the items after getting this new life established or after Lex was no longer a threat, whichever came first, before closing the garage type door to the storage area.
A few miles later, Chloe pulled into the parking area of a gas station and made her way to the public restroom where she quickly changed and then put a blonde wig and make-up on. The wig was styled similarly to the brown one she wore as Caly but this time she had blue contacts to go with it. Getting back into the car, she pulled up to the pumps and filled the tank, going inside to pay and get some drinks and food for the trip.
Chloe planned on spending the night in Phoenix, Arizona, before continuing on to Austin, Texas.
.
Two days later found the petite woman in Austin where she purchased several plane tickets to a variety of locations – to Melbourne, Australia, via Los Angeles, California; to New York; Key West; San Diego via San Francisco and France via Minneapolis – from different ticket counters, changing her appearance subtlety each time, knowing that airport security was a lot more diligent regarding surveillance of ticket purchases and such since 9/11.
After that, Chloe went to three different beauty salons throughout the Houston Metropolis area: one to cut her blonde hair shorter, a second one to dye it a nice shade of auburn red and the third to put in a spiral perm. If someone was able to track her to any of the salons, Chloe didn't want to make it easy on them as to what she looked like now.
Using the blonde wig and blue contacts once again, Chloe went to the storage facility she had access to in Houston and traded the car she had picked up in LA for the one there. Transferring everything from one to the other, grabbing a few more supplies as well as shredding the plane tickets and all the credit cards she used to purchase them. She couldn't help but smirk and chuckle. Charging plane tickets to a few deceased people would certainly give whoever was going to be calling trying to collect, a definite runaround.
Now all she had to do was head back to Los Angeles and lose herself in the area's population.
*^*^*
A little over a month later…
Chloe had been busy since she'd had to run from Lex's attempted abduction of her. She had created another network that would lead anyone trying to track her cyber movements in a lot of circles. However, she wasn't passing any of the information she was finding to anyone; Watchtower had to go underground, perhaps to the point where she would never resurface. It practically killed Chloe not to be able to continue with her search for truth and to help met out justice but her life wouldn't be worth anything if it got her killed.
However, Chloe did think that she needed to get in touch with the League. They needed to know that she was alive at least and she hoped to learn whatever they knew about Lex's movements, knowing that her boys would have placed him under heavy surveillance after her disappearance. Making the decision, she decided it would be best to get in touch with them from a place that wasn't close to her real location.
Three days later, Chloe was in Seattle, clear on the other side of the city from the storage unit she actually maintained in the area. She had stopped there to download everything from her computer, hoping to go through the footage of that night as well as to sort out all the data that had come in via all her programs up to that point, before parking herself at a cyber cafe.
Utilizing the free wireless provided, Chloe linked herself into every surrounding hub in the area and went about setting up a bunch of phantom trails that would give her a huge head start at masking her own signature of any trackers. Uplinking to the internet, she placed her 'call' to Oliver Queen's penthouse in Metropolis.
.
If Chloe had had to pick a day and time to get hold of the League, today would have been it. The entire League, including Bruce, were actually in the midst of a meeting. Despite their on-going search and concern for Watchtower, they still had missions to do and they were discussing the latest, scheduled to take place that night.
Victor was in the process of walking all of them through the schematics of the building's security system when an incoming transmission beeped for attention. Before any of them could do more than look from the giant plasma screen to the computer monitor, Victor was already decoding the encryption.
A huge smile lit his face and he put the communication onto the plasma.
The woman they saw didn't appear to be anyone they knew; blonde hair styled nicely, blue eyes behind gold rimmed frames, wearing a red beret, black scarf and a green jacket. However, her smile and greeting gave them all they needed to identify her.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late for the meeting but I've been incredibly busy and the traffic is atrocious. Tell the bowling league that Jessica sends her love to everyone. Security has been an issue but I've been able to keep it from being too much of a problem. No sign of the pool guy yet.
"Anything I should know about on your end?"
Chloe had purposely disabled any video that might be coming back to her, leaving it up to Victor to enable it at his discretion; she hadn't known who would be there or how they'd be dressed, considering it was night in Metropolis, and the last thing Chloe wanted to do was expose any of the guys.
At Oliver and Bruce's nods, Victor enabled the video on their end and Chloe was able to see that all of her boys at least looked healthy. She drank in the sight of Oliver. The blonde billionaire looked much thinner than she remembered him being, as well as appearing as if he weren't getting very much sleep. Everyone else seemed well enough.
Bruce was the first to find his voice, "We'll pass your message on, Jessica, and we're glad you could make the meeting."
"Yeah, we were wondering if you'd be able to make it – great timing." AC smiled at Watchtower, his expression clearly showing her his relief that she was alright.
Someone passed behind Chloe, she used the laptop screen's reflection to double check her surroundings. The café had been pretty full and she'd been forced to take a table that allowed traffic all around her.
"Hey, I can get you better coffee, Jessica, you just have to let me know when you need it." Bart made a reference to the person who'd passed behind Watchtower, carrying a 'Seattle's Best Coffee' take-out cup.
Chloe snorted, "I'm sure you can but I won't be here long."
Message received: Watchtower's HQ wasn't in the area.
"The pool guy's watch was broken; I heard he got it fixed though and is adamant about keeping it so." Victor explained.
Chloe didn't even blink but nodded. "Yeah, my watch stopped while I was in the sub basement, haven't replaced it yet."
Oliver finally spoke up, quickly gaining Chloe's full attention. "We were planning on having a boys night out tonight, wish you could join us."
She swallowed, a bittersweet smile on her face, her eyes bright. "Wish I could too. Just as well that I can't I suppose. You might want to change the night, weather doesn't look good." Chloe sent the databurst, having done everything she could to encrypt the information.
If they'd understood the conversation, they knew that Watchtower was going underground with no idea of when or if she'd be coming back up; that the information she had just sent would be the last and they should look through it to make sure their target tonight didn't have any surprises for them.
Chloe looked at the time on the laptop. She had to wrap this communication up.
"Security is still a problem so I've gotta jet. If I have problems, I'll contact you." Surreptitiously, she showed the earwig that she had in her right ear, hidden well by her wig and beret.
"Sorry, about the pool guy, Jessica." Clark had been trying to come up with a way of apologizing to Chloe regarding his behavior, knowing full well that if it hadn't been for his actions, Lex probably wouldn't have paid her much mind.
Chloe shrugged slightly and nodded a little. "It happens."
Vic, Bart, AC, Clark and Bruce moved away from the plasma screen, giving Oliver the illusion of privacy. Not even glancing their way, his gaze stayed focused on Chloe.
Before she could come up with anything to say, Oliver was already voicing something, his eyes watching her as intensely now as when they'd parted that first and last afternoon. "We have a lot of unfinished business, Jessica. Whenever you get the time and energy, just let me know. I'm not going anywhere."
Chloe blinked her eyes a couple of times, fighting to keep the tears hovering at the back of her eyes from falling. Taking a large breath, she nodded. "As soon as security is taken care of and I can get out of the basement without something happening… we will; I promise." Her voice broke on the last part of the sentence.
They stared at each other for a moment longer and then Chloe cut the connection.
.
Victor moved quickly but quietly to start going through the information that Watchtower had sent them. Focusing on it didn't leave much concentration to wander elsewhere and he wanted to give Oliver a few moments to compose himself. While Vic got himself busy at the computer, Oliver made his way over to the floor to ceiling windows that led onto the patio that overlooked Metropolis.
While Bart raided the kitchen, AC and Bruce did what they could to support Victor's work with Chloe's last databurst and Clark moved over to Oliver. Putting a hand up to one of Oliver's shoulders, the Kryptonian gave it a reassuring squeeze.
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Seventeen days after Chloe's communication with the Justice League…
With the money that Chloe had siphoned throughout the years from the Luthors as well as her freelance work, both as a reporter and a published author, and Oliver's contributions while she was working for the League, there was no need for Chloe to jeopardize her safety with finding a job. However, without her duties as Watchtower, not being able to be an investigative reporter or even publishing as a writer, Chloe found it hard to keep from going crazy.
Chloe had never been one to sit on her butt or her hands and she knew herself well enough that, if she didn't find something to occupy herself, Chloe knew that she'd do something that would eventually get herself in trouble. But she hadn't done anything in the month and a half since escaping Lex's goons that could cause the catastrophe that happened.
It was just pure bad luck.
*^*^*
Chloe stepped out of the taxi, having already paid the driver, and made her way a few feet away from the curb to look at her surroundings. She'd decided to play tourist and was going to use the day to see what she could find that might keep her from getting bored.
As her taxi moved back into traffic, snarling it even further, someone made to grab her purse and laptop bag straps. Chloe, subconsciously taking in her surroundings, moved without thought, rounding on the would-be mugger, coming face to face with a knife.
"Give me the bags." Obviously the guy was used to dealing with women who just obeyed. It was too bad that today he'd chosen a woman who had the habit of taking down the bad guys.
Chloe threw her purse at the guy; his arm going up instinctively, she used the moment to kick the knife out of his hand and then downed him with a boot to the groin. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, she looked to see the SUV she had vaguely noticed earlier, pulling into the spot that had been vacated by the taxi. Something was telling her, before the doors of the vehicle had done no more than open, that she needed to get away, and fast.
Simultaneously adjusting her bags on her shoulders, Chloe made to move away from the downed would-be mugger that was already drawing a crowd, hearing sirens approaching the area. Sensing movement, she quickly cast a glance around and found five dark suited guys with communicators in their ears and, considering the way their suits fit, all of them were armed.
None of them were flashing, or had any type of prominent, identification in sight, one of them already on a cell phone, and Chloe decided the better course of action was to get away and ask questions later.
.
Oliver was sitting at his desk in the penthouse, going over some business contracts for Queen Industries, when the alarm for a priority communication sounded. Throwing himself out of his chair, he ran to the computer station and opened the channel.
As soon as the audio started coming through, he knew it was Chloe's emergency comm unit and that the situation couldn't be good. Listening to her trying to get away from whoever was after her, Oliver immediately sent a message to the League members for an emergency call-in.
Bruce, Victor and AC called in within seconds of each other and he linked them into the transmission he was listening to.
"Watchtower, are you anywhere near the water?"
Chloe was running hard, having broken away from the crowd and the suits near the street. She hadn't heard them say anything incriminating, so she couldn't be certain who they were taking orders from, but they weren't shouting at her to stop either, only furthering her suspicion.
"Completely landlocked." Chloe replied as calmly as possible.
"They haven't said anything to identify themselves or anything. That alone tells me it's Lex more than likely."
They could hear the sounds of traffic and people around her. Screeching tires, horns and braking noises heralded the fact that something had happened close to Chloe. Then there were the unmistakable sounds of a crash followed by someone, most likely Chloe, scrambling over vehicles perhaps.
Chloe was in great shape but even the best runners can't carry on a conversation after a certain point. "I take it… Impulse… Boy Scout… aren't checking in."
Oliver was doing everything he could to get hold of Bart and Clark but neither was responding and he didn't want to think that two more of his team members were in trouble. However, before he could comment, there were more sounds coming over the comm and Chloe was cursing.
Ignoring the sounds as nothing 'serious,' Oliver continued to try getting hold of Impulse or Boy Scout. "Victor, what's Lex's status?"
"All I can tell you is that he hasn't left his office. Security found the bug we planted earlier so there's no way of eavesdropping."
Oliver slammed his fist down on to the desk, "Damn it."
"We all know… how hard it is… to keep track of … everything he's into, Ollie." Chloe panted out, "That's why… he's never… paid for anything."
"Where are you, Watchtower? If you can evade them long enough, I can get my plane out there." Bruce queried.
"LA, Bruce. Seriously doubt… I can evade them… for that long… unless I can find a way… to get off… the street. And sooner or later… this is going to draw… the attention of – "
Before Chloe could finish, sirens were heralding the police. She saw two officers getting out of the vehicle and start towards her. Before she could do more than look at them, shots were fired and both of them were on the ground. Throwing on a burst of speed, she cut right, down into an alley that opened to another street.
"Watchtower!" Oliver's voice came over her earwig.
"Two officers down… chances are… they'll either… call it in and say I … did it… or – "
Coming up on the end of the alley, she was cut off from her escape route by the SUV that the suits had exited from. Two guys got out of it and she stumbled to a stop, breathing hard from the exertion. Turning her head to look behind her, she saw two others coming up behind her.
"Shit." And then she heard something like a silenced gun retort and felt pain slam into her torso.
Oliver's voice once again came over her communication link, once… then again…
Chloe was falling into darkness with Oliver's voice calling her name and she struggled to answer. "Archer… promise…," She groaned as more pain blossomed in her upper back. "Ollie…." And then Chloe knew nothing more.
.
Back at the penthouse, Oliver fought to keep himself in control as Chloe's voice died out, knowing that something had happened and she was unable to answer him. Listening to the audio still coming through the link, he and the other three heard Chloe's pursuers check her over, noting that she was out cold due to the tranquilizer they had used. There was the sound of a cell phone being used and then confirmation of what they all suspected.
"We've got her, Mr. Luthor."
A moment later, the earwig must have been discovered because there was a bunch of feedback and then the signal went dead.
*^*^*
Chloe had had surgery once when she was younger and the feeling of waking up in the recovery room was akin to what she was feeling now. Her body felt floaty, not quite tethered to herself, her brain completely fuzzy yet taking in snapshots of what was going on around her. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton and it felt weird to breathe.
As she became more aware of her surroundings, Chloe realized that she was bound tightly and rested on a cold concrete floor. Her hands were tied behind her at the wrists, her arms and legs strapped together at chest level and across her thighs and calves, her ankles and mouth secured with rope and a gag. The gag allowed her to breathe but unlike duct tape, it gave her the chance of vomiting, a side effect of the tranquilizer, without asphyxiating to death.
Her head ached, another side effect, and she groaned trying to ignore that and the nausea that was making itself known. When nothing stirred around her, Chloe came to the conclusion that she was alone where ever she was. Not having a great deal of flexibility or control over her motor skills at the moment, she was unable to look around to see her surroundings or if she was under some type of passive security.
Relaxing from the exertion, she quickly fell into a doze, her body still fighting off the effects of the tranquilizers she'd been hit with.
*^*^*
Clark and Bart were both overcome with guilt and grief at their inability to answer Oliver's calls; neither knowing of the League's efforts to get hold of them until they'd called in to give their reports. Bart had been involved in a rescue operation of a collapsed apartment building. At one point, he had, himself, nearly been crushed during the endeavor, only getting out by the skin of his teeth, but his cell phone hadn't been so lucky.
The Kryptonian had been watching the national coverage of a forest fire in the Pacific Northwest and had to act when three firefighters were reported to be trapped when the section they were working on had jumped its containment. With the roaring of the fire, concentrating on the firefighters' efforts and everything else, he simply hadn't heard the cell phone trying to get his attention.
By the time either of them had called in, it was far too late to help Chloe from being kidnapped. Their only option now was watching Lex, hoping he would lead them to where ever he was holding the petite blond, and continuing to destroy his 33.1 labs.
With that in mind, the League stepped up their surveillance of the bald billionaire; Oliver and Bruce both utilizing their networks of contacts to bring in as many other people they could trust, to help them.
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She awoke to bright lights, the sensation of being in a sterile environment like a hospital or laboratory of some type, and the knowledge that she was restrained to a flat, cold surface. Blinking her eyes to clear them of the film that covered her vision, Chloe moved her head around, taking in her surroundings. Definitely a lab, and from the looks of it, it looked like what the boys described a 33.1 was like.
Given where she had just come from, it was a definite improvement in some areas, but Chloe knew that, if she had the choice, she'd rather be back where ever she had been for how ever long she'd been there. While she had been tied up like a prized bull at a rodeo and left completely alone except for when they gave her food, drink and allowed her to use the 'honey bucket' – a sarcastically glorious term for the portable toilet that smelled badly – Chloe had at least been away from Lex and his sick scientific experimentation.
But before she could do more than make the realization that she'd prefer more solitary confinement, a door opened and someone approached her from an angle that was out of her range of sight. However, the voice made her close her eyes for a moment to gather herself.
"Well, Miss Sullivan, alive and well. I admit, even I didn't think you were alive until I saw the photos of you."
He moved around the table until he was in her direct line of sight.
"Surprise." Was all Chloe said, trying to lock her emotions deep within her; it wouldn't do any good to panic, she had to figure a way to get out of here. Given the previous time of solitary confinement, Chloe knew she wasn't at her best. She was literally starving for information; to know what was going on around her, what had gone on. At the same time, she tried not to think about what Lex and his minions had in store for her.
"Still fast with the quips, I see." Lex smirked. "You've led my men on a merry chase, indeed. Sorry it's taken me so long to attend to you personally, I've had a lot of pressing details to take care of."
Before he could continue on with his, obviously, delighted speech, Chloe mentally rolled her eyes, "Oh, please, I was perfectly happy not to have you around, Lex, believe me."
He came closer, running the backs of his fingers over one of her cheeks, down her throat and along her collarbone, "You know, Chloe, you were a pretty girl and you've grown into an exceptionally beautiful young woman."
She shuddered at his touch, realizing that she was completely naked under the thin sheet that covered her, and tried to pull herself away from his act of familiarity; his words chilling her with terrible foreboding.
"You've always been too smart and curious for your own good. And you were right to disappear. You did a great job at it for over six years and, while I was curious what Oliver Queen saw in you, if it hadn't been for Clark Kent's behavior around you, I probably wouldn't have given you more than a second thought."
Lex had continued to caress her as he spoke and it was all Chloe could do to keep the nausea and her shudders of disgust stifled.
"But, you're here now and you won't be getting away any time soon."
Failing to get a rise from the young reporter, Lex decided to get to the point. To Chloe's immense relief, he stopped caressing her as he spoke next.
"I know about your healing ability, Chloe. I also know that you are that mysterious information gathering vigilante known as 'Watchtower.' And I know too that you're involved with the Green Arrow and his band of terrorists. The only thing I don't know is who the Green Arrow is."
Chloe sighed. "One, from what I've read, Green Arrow is hardly a terrorist; a bit eccentric perhaps, what with running around in green leather and using a bow and arrows to do whatever it is he does. Still, hardly someone I'd think of as a terrorist except to those who have a right to be… terrified." She glanced significantly at Lex before continuing, "And two, I really think all those knocks to the head over the years have made you delusional, Lex."
Lex snorted, huffing out a breath and then turned away from her for a moment, making a gesture to someone out of Chloe's line of sight.
As people began to surround her, Lex turned back to her, smiling.
"As I was saying, 'Watchtower,' I don't know who he is, but you do. And you're going to tell me."
*^*^*
Victor had successfully been able to tap into security feeds for the majority of the building, helping the League with surveillance. However, the late Lionel Luthor's and his son's offices, along with some other areas of the building, which were mostly labs, and the loading dock, had eluded his expertise.
Delivery trucks were constantly coming and going from LuthorCorp's downtown Metropolis building. Some of them parked outside the main entrance, mostly those dropping off packages, like the Pony Express, bicycle couriers or messengers, but the majority of them used the loading dock just off the underground parking garage.
It was considered a priority to get someone inside to monitor the activity at the dock, perhaps to even smuggle in and place some more bugs for them to take advantage of. While Clark was able to utilize his x-ray vision during his watch and Impulse could run in every few minutes to look around, they couldn't be there 24/7.
Since the Justice League's last bug had been found, Lex had begun doing a security sweep of his office twice daily at random intervals. Either Lex had gotten significantly smarter about his security or he'd finally been able to hire someone who took their job completely seriously.
In any case, Cyborg's computerized routes of keeping surveillance on Lex Luthor within LuthorCorp were becoming harder to maintain and keep hidden.
It was this aspect that made them lose track of Lex.
For an entire week.
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The solitary confinement Lex had ordered her to be placed in for the ten days it had taken him to arrange those 'pressing details,' had weakened Chloe emotionally and mentally. Despite everything, she was still able to resist the efforts of Luthor's goons and scientists, working to drag out the information Lex wanted about the Green Arrow, for three days.
During the interrogations, they were able to gather a significant amount of data about her healing ability, however. They realized that Chloe's body healed itself instinctively if she were unconscious or otherwise unaware of the injury, such as contusions or lacerations, fractures and pulled tendons or muscles. On the other hand, the scientists found that it was always more efficient if Chloe was conscious or otherwise aware of the injury because her complete focus of energy on the wound took less time and was less of a risk of her actually dying. Chloe would literally bleed to death from a bullet wound, unless otherwise attended to, if she was senseless because of the lack of conscious focus brought to bear on the injury.
Chloe quickly learned that if she didn't heal herself of certain injuries, the scientists would do it for her, without benefit of any sort of pain relieving medication. And while she hated to do what they wanted her to do, Chloe much preferred her healing ability over 'modern day medicine' as Lex's people practiced it; healing meant remaining alive and being alive meant hope. Hope of escape. Hope of rescue.
As Luthor continued to try torturing all the information Chloe had, out of her, he was also having his scientists move forward with one of his special military projects, using her as the prime subject.
After the third day of unsuccessfully trying to artificially impregnate her with DNA-modified sperm and then with unmodified sperm, it was concluded that Chloe's healing ability would fight off what it believed to be invasive or unnatural to the body. On the fourth day, they decided to give Chloe a course of hormone treatments with the hope that it would give them a better chance at impregnating her via sexual intercourse.
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While Chloe believed that she was an incredibly strong individual, she knew that everyone had their breaking point. One of her greatest fears while enduring the torture and tests that Lex and his people were doing, was that she would give up everything she knew about the Justice League and its members. So when they stopped the obvious torture and interrogations, Chloe couldn't help but have mixed feelings.
What was next? Would she be able to endure it? Could she keep her wits about her? Perhaps even enough to finally figure out a way to get out of Lex's own personal version of a chamber of horrors?
.
Chloe had grown to the point where she cringed every time the door to her own private lab cell was opened. Tension mounting, she waited for whatever Lex and his scientists had in mind for her this time. After several minutes of nothing but silence after the door had been opened and closed, Chloe maneuvered her head around, trying to see what was happening.
Chuckling, Lex came into view, wearing a white robe. "Your curiosity was always your undoing, Miss Sullivan." Chloe took in his appearance, a chill of foreboding running through her.
"Ah yes," Lex smirked, "You've noticed my attire." He made his way to where she lay restrained on the table. "It seems that your body, your healing ability, won't allow us to do what we'd planned, cleanly and easily so…" Lex ripped the sheet from her body, throwing it to the side and then took off his robe, revealing his pale, naked flesh.
Chloe's eyes widened and she began to struggle, knowing it was useless.
"You know, I can make this very pleasurable for you, Chloe. All you have to do is cooperate." He lowered the table, his eyes traversing her body, noting all the signs of abuse that hadn't quite healed from his efforts at getting her to talk about the Green Arrow. When his eyes reached her face, he easily climbed on top of her tense and squirming body. Taking her head in both his hands, he forced her to look at him. "This is going to happen whether you like it or not, Chloe."
She spit at him.
Lex's expression grew feral, darkly amused. "You know, while I've always admired your… spunk, I'm growing very tired of it." When she attempted to spit on him again, he slapped her, hard. "I've always had a kink for sadomasochism. Until now, it's been relatively unexplored."
He could feel Chloe's breath stutter and speed up, her body started to tremble and her eyes opened wide with disbelief – all speaking of her fear and his smile grew wider. Lex looked at the split lip he'd given her, fresh blood drooling down her chin. "With your healing ability, I could explore the entire aspect to my heart's content."
Chloe blinked and a tear ran from her left eye down her temple into her hair.
Lex laughed, his smile growing with anticipation. "Ah, I do believe I've finally found a chink in your armor, Miss Sullivan."
Laughing again at her struggles, he continued, "Whether you enjoy this or not, Chloe, I know I will." With that, he bowed his head and bit the apex of the breast closest to him and Chloe screamed with the unexpected pain.
It would be the first of many.
But when he entered her dry cavern with his unslicked length, ripping at her tender skin, using her own blood for lubrication, she wasn't even able to do that; Chloe's already overstressed throat from the previous days of torture had finally given out.
.
While Lex understood that his time was growing short, he hoped that Chloe didn't become pregnant with their first joining. The young reporter had a lot to answer for and, like he told her, he was looking forward to exploring a side of his sexuality in a way that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. Chloe was theirs to do with as they saw fit; there would be no retaliation for what he did to her, no police, no media circus to circumvent, nothing.
However, Chloe did become pregnant with that first coupling and Lex set aside his desires for another time.
Before heading back to Metropolis, Lex went to the laboratory once more. As soon as Chloe saw him, she started trembling and Lex smiled with triumph.
Chuckling, he came to stand beside her, caressing her skin, his hand roaming under the sheet to fondle a breast, before using his other to rip the sheet from her body once more. Laughing as she shuddered and went pale, turning her head away from him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. Slowly, one hand made its way down to the juncture between her legs and Chloe attempted to squeeze them together to keep him from penetrating her. Lex brought his other hand to her face, grasping her chin hard enough to leave bruises. Looking around her upper body, he could still see all the bruises, bites and scratches that he had inflicted on her during their joining.
"Congratulations, Chloe. You're going to be a mother."
She tried to shake her head but there was no give in Lex's grip and she swallowed convulsively.
He smiled at her predatorily. "You are going to be so proud of all of your little ones. They'll be an army, leading us to greatness."
Chloe stilled, her breathing speeding up, her green eyes wide.
Lex smirked. "That's right, Chloe. You're going to be a breeder. This first child will be left in your womb, very carefully monitored. Once it's born, we'll begin again. If we can transfer them to a uterine replicator, then you and I will be spending even more time together."
He could feel her trying to shake her head, tears running down her temples and into her hair, but not a sound passed her lips. "Just think of it, Chloe. I'll get to take you over and over and over and over." His finger penetrated her with every 'over,' digging into her channel, opening the lacerations that had not fully healed yet. "In whatever way I desire." Lex continued, smiling evilly down at her now, his eyes dark with lust.
"And once we get things ironed out, I'll be interviewing specific males. We must vary the genes that are going to be in our army in order for it to be unstoppable, of course." He watched Chloe's body shudder and tremble with understanding, his hand still at the juncture of her legs, fondling her mound. "I wonder how many of them will indulge in my S&M interest? How many of them will you scream for, Chloe?"
With that, he turned from her, giving her feminine mound a couple of pats, like someone would a dog on their way out of the house to work, and left Chloe to fret over her fears and to cry her tears.
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It had been three months since Chloe had been abducted and the Justice League had absolutely nothing on her whereabouts. After the week that Lex had managed to evade their surveillance, he seemed to be completely at ease with whatever it was that he had his minions continue doing without his supervision; a surprising move, given Lex's thirst for being involved in some way in his various projects and it made them all uneasy.
The League, including Clark and Batman whenever possible, were decimating Lex's 33.1 labs all over the world, but they didn't find any trace of or information regarding where Watchtower could be, in any of them. Oliver had teamed up with Senator Kent, the Daily Planet and the Star City Gazette, putting a reward together for any information regarding the disappearance of Calypso Scott, shown dressed as both Chloe Sullivan and Caly.
Revealing that Chloe was alive to both Martha Kent and Lois Lane was something that Oliver hadn't wanted to do, for a variety of reasons. The uppermost in Queen's mind was that, in case they couldn't locate Chloe or, if they did but they arrived too late… it would be devastating for all involved, having to lose the petite blond all over again. Another reason was that Oliver didn't think he could keep control of his own emotions if he had to spend too much time in the company of the two women with their combined worry over Chloe.
As the months progressed, however, he underestimated both woman and actually ended up taking comfort from their strength. With his position as leader of the Justice League, Oliver also found himself confiding in Mrs. Kent about his undefined relationship with the missing blond, something he realized that he desperately needed in order to maintain his focus on what needed to be done. Having been without a motherly type figure in his life since his parents were lost, Oliver was in awe of Martha Kent's compassion, inner strength and the wisdom she shared unselfishly with him.
.
Four months into the search for Chloe, Oliver was on his way home from another charity event in Metropolis, when he disappeared.
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"Good, you're awake."
"Lex. What the hell…?"
"I need your help with something."
"And you couldn't have just asked? What's going on, Lex?"
"Well, since it involves grievous injury to your person, I knew you wouldn't volunteer, so I had to take matters into my own hands." Lex motioned to someone behind him and then Oliver was picked up by two large men in black suits.
Oliver struggled to free himself from the restraints. Given Lex's comment regarding 'grievous injury,' he didn't want to find out what was in store for him. However, there wasn't any way of getting any leverage with his being tied up, the bonds too tight, as he was dragged through a variety of corridors before coming to a door that opened onto a laboratory.
Quickly, he took in the room. It looked to be mostly a lab but there was a wall of floor to ceiling windows that divided a smaller part of the room into what could only be described as a cell. There was a bed, a small table with two chairs and a completely open bathroom, with shower stall, toilet and sink; the occupant being given no privacy anywhere in the room.
Lex's men continued to drag him further into the lab, placing him upon a steel table, exchanging the fetters he was currently tied up with, with the ones on the table. On another table not too far away from him, was a body covered with a sheet. The person's head wasn't in Oliver's line of sight and he couldn't make out the configuration of the body under the sheet as it seemed to be misshapen.
"You see, this woman is the mother of my new army; but she doesn't want that responsibility and has gotten to be very stubborn about cooperating, even to the point of trying to terminate her own life."
With that, the sheet was ripped away and Oliver saw that the woman was pregnant, her naked stomach distended enough where he couldn't see over the top of it to the face beyond. But his heart stuttered, his mind screamed; he knew who it was.
"We've learned everything we can about her healing ability. She refuses to cooperate and heal anyone we've brought to her, no matter how close to death they are. And since you know her, we're hoping that, when we stick a knife in your heart, she'll set aside her reservations and heal you." Lex had pulled the table with the woman on it, parallel with Oliver's.
Chloe had turned her head away from the table that held whomever Lex had brought to use against her, but as Lex said that the person knew her, she couldn't help but look to the other person. Her eyes opened wide, her expression becoming one of acute anguish and dismay.
Oliver's eyes opened wide as well, his mouth falling open slightly and before he could engage his mind, one of the men in black thrust a knife into his chest and he uttered a short groaned yelp of pain, flecks of blood flew into the air at the force of his lungs expelling his breath.
He heard Chloe's horror filled denial and then she was demanding for her restraints to be released. Oliver felt the tension of the people in the room mounting, he vaguely saw the men in black pulling guns from their holsters and then Chloe was standing before him, naked but for the wires and tubes that were attached all over her.
"Oh, God." She looked down at his wound and then up into his eyes, ignoring Oliver's silently whispered 'no,' the shaking of his head.
Eyes bright with unshed tears, Chloe gazed into Oliver's face, lifting one hand to grasp his nearest before placing her other hand over the wound in his chest. Oliver continued to mouth the word 'no' but Chloe closed her eyes.
She heard Lex's scientists gasp as her hand began to glow, bathing her, Oliver and the immediate area around them in bright golden light. Chloe felt the warmth of her essence going into the chest wound, once again stitching tendon, muscle, veins, tissues and skin together. As with AC, as Oliver began to heal and strengthen, Chloe began to lose her own strength and grow cold, taking his pain and making it her own for a brief moment.
When the light faded, Oliver saw Chloe begin crumpling to the floor. Restrained as he was, he couldn't catch her and no one else was in range; he couldn't even look over the side of the table he was on to see if she'd hurt herself with her collapse.
Then Lex was ordering his men in black to get Chloe back onto the table and refasten the restraints, while the scientists were going on and on about how amazing and interesting and impossible the whole thing was; taking note that she appeared to be dead, her lungs still, her heart beat silent, even the fetus inside her appeared to be dead. Before Lex could do anything other than change his expression into anger, however, another scientist was pointing out a small area of Chloe's brain, represented on a monitor, that appeared to be working in overdrive.
Oliver noted all this in the back of his mind, his focus completely on the woman that had stolen his heart, had captured his soul, lying beside him, so close yet so far away. She was pregnant with someone's baby; she'd apparently tried to kill herself; she'd been missing for over four months; Chloe looked thin and pale, as if she wasn't eating and, if she'd been in this laboratory during her entire disappearance, it would explain her looking so unnaturally white.
Continuing to drink in the sight of her, Oliver saw the evidence of abuse that hadn't quite healed yet. Her hair was much shorter and she'd permed and colored it but there was about three inches of straight, blond hair showing at the scalp. She also seemed thinner, her muscle tone not as well defined due to her captivity.
He came back to himself while one of Lex's scientists was speaking about the baby.
"Given that she's 'dead' but has all the brain activity going on, I believe the baby will be fine. However, I suggest that we check to see if the baby is having the same brain activity. If not… we may wish to leave the fetus alone until the woman's status changes and go from there, or we could harvest the fetus and try to continue him via ectogenesis or we could harvest him for whatever DNA we can and begin again."
"How long until we can impregnate her again?"
"That depends on when/if she reawakens and what her condition is when/if she does."
"Very well. Check the baby for the brain activity. If he's not responding as she is, harvest him for ectogenesis; if that doesn't work, the DNA.
"As soon as she's back, give her the regime of hormone therapy and then call me when she's ready to be mounted again. I have several willing male candidates but I think we'll use myself again for the next pregnancy."
Oliver was completely dumbfounded by Lex's conversation with the scientists. So much so, that when Lex referred to himself as having been the one to impregnate Chloe, he just couldn't react to it.
Thinking for a moment, Lex continued, "If the ectogenesis works, I want to start breeding her as quickly as possible. We'll have her mounted as often as possible to get as many fertilized eggs as we can; then I want her placed in a coma, she'll be less trouble that way, until we need her for the next round of breeding."
Oliver's shock left him in an instant at this last, changing from being dumbfounded and filled with horror at what had obviously been done to his Watchtower, to complete and utter rage. Lex must have heard his stuttered indrawn breath, having been shocked breathless with his anger, because he came around the table and smirked down at Oliver.
"Well, seems as if Miss Sullivan became just as smitten with you as you did with her, Oliver. We'll keep you around to make Chloe more agreeable to cooperating with us. Maybe we'll even let you two set up house somewhere in the facility; of course, you'd never be able to have sex with her because of what she's going to be doing for us, but they say love isn't about sex anyhow."
Oliver was seething, his face red, his neck and the muscles in his arms and legs bulging with trying to get out of the restraints. He wanted nothing more than to tear Lex apart, limb from limb, feel the blood gushing from the man's body, beating him into a bloody pulp.
"My, my, Oliver. I admit, Chloe was a fantastic ride," Lex smirked knowingly, satisfyingly, tauntingly, "But she's nothing to risk having a heart attack over." Lex motioned for something and one of the scientists came around the table holding a syringe.
"I think Mr. Queen, needs something to calm him down."
The needle was inserted into his arm and the plunger pushed. Lex's face started wavering before his eyes, laughter ringing strangely in his ears.
"Goodnight, Oliver."
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Back at the Clock Tower, four of the guys were just now coming together after coming up empty in their search for Oliver Queen. Linking in with Batman in Gotham, they set about discussing the situation.
"Do we know it was Oliver who was kidnapped?"
The other three look at Cyborg with varying expressions of confusion and disbelief. "Um, Victor…?" Clark started.
"I mean, do we know it was Oliver Queen, billionaire, CEO of Queen Industries, or was it Oliver Queen, AKA Green Arrow who was kidnapped?" As the expressions changed to understanding, he continued. "If we assume that it was Oliver as CEO, we need to make sure that Green Arrow doesn't disappear as well or, by the time we get him back…" Victor let the end of his sentence trail off, allowing the guys to come to their own conclusions.
Clark, nodding, was the first to reply, "Apologies to Batman, but with Bruce doing his nightly patrols in Gotham that would just leave AC and me to cover for Green Arrow." He looked over to Aquaman, catching the nod of agreement. "But then that really strains us for surveillance of Lex," he was interrupted by a snort from Bart.
"Like we're doing so good in that department to begin with." The young speedster noted. The others nodded in disappointed agreement.
Victor let out a sigh, "As much as I hate to say it, I wish I had Watchtower's ability with information gathering. Even if I am half a computer, I still can't seem to get any passive surveillance of Lex's inner sanctum or the loading dock area.
"Well, any that lasts more than twelve or so hours that is." He quantified.
Aquaman tipped his head slightly, his eyes seeming to lose focus, his mouth pursed.
"AC? What's up, man?" Bart looked to the man who was best when it came to all things water oriented.
"I know that you, Oliver and Bruce all started a project to create some type of portable, long range x-ray device, for both surveillance purposes and to put into eyewear and that it's going to take months, maybe even years, because the technology isn't available yet…" The others waited for him to continue with his thoughts.
AC definitely wasn't a technology type guy and didn't pretend to be, but he was trying to remember something that he'd come across in a mission or maybe a movie that he'd seen or heard about.
Shrugging, AC just threw out, "Isn't there some type of 'bug' that you can turn off and on to watch Lex and put in the loading dock area?"
While Victor looked at AC, Bart wrinkled his forehead, "What good would that do?"
"The reason the 'bugs' are being found is because they are actively monitoring whatever we have them pointed at. It's that aspect of them that is setting off the 'snoopers,' the hand-held security wands that Luthor's people use when looking for breaks in security." Bruce piped in.
Victor continued from where Batman stopped. "The problem with using passive bugs would be that they wouldn't be able to be 'on' unless someone was here, at the computer station, and watching them. So, in order for them to be of any use to us, we'd have to have someone sitting here, 24/7, and then turning them off during a security sweep." Victor, Bruce and Oliver had considering them, of course, but had rejected them simply for the reason that they would be of almost no use to them as a surveillance measure because of the very reason that made them passive.
"So… by not using them, it's allowing Lex to elude us?" Clark asked disgustedly.
Victor understood the man's response as he was upset with the entire situation as well.
Batman once again picked up the thread of conversation. "That's the trick or problem with surveillance. If the person you're watching can afford the same toys as you, it becomes harder and harder to maintain any sort of scrutiny."
Bart sighed into the conversation and stated the obvious, "Lex has managed to slip by us once, twice now because he's been gone since just before Oliver disappeared. And Oliver is gone now. I'm voting for passive bugs; I don't care if I have to sit comm 24/7 for a week straight. We've obviously screwed up, not once, not twice, but three times."
When the others looked at him, his shoulders slumped a little, "If we'd put some sort of surveillance on Lex as well as Watchtower a long time ago, I don't think we'd be in this situation."
The others didn't bother making any type of comment.
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