Good Evening readers, I do hope your Monday is significantly better than mine.

Thank you for all the reviews, as usual; they are amazing to read and really convey your love. You're amazing.

Previously; Lex dropped by the hospital to gloat to Lionel, when finding his plans for Chloe askew, he ordered her transfer. We flipped forward a week, Lana and Lex are experiencing 'issues' while Oliver discovers the depth of Luthor secrets.

Chapter Forty-Two; Dreaming

"She's the property of Luthorcorp!" – Lionel Luthor (Season Two, Episode Accelerate).

The first time she experienced a hallucination, she had no idea what was happening. She believed everything her senses told her of her environment. Like Mason had told her, she experienced it like it was reality. So, when she turned away from the blinding new light introduced to her dark prison, she had expected Lex, but the footsteps came quicker, more urgent. The lock clicked and then the door was opening, showing a silhouette in the light. It wasn't Lex.

"Chloe." There was relief in the voice. A voice distorter she knew and craved. It was like music to her ears.

"You're here?" she breathed, finding little energy to push herself to standing. Her leg hurt, her body had been shocked into exhaustion and she was lame for all purposes. "How did you find me?!" she begged, squinting into the light. And then he was there, stepping from the backlight, showing the green leather in all its shades, the belt, the weapons, the sunglasses. Her heart filled, her soul soared. Everything was working out. He'd saved her!

"Chloe." he spoke again, deep and sorrow filled. "What happened?"

"I didn't tell him. I swear." she breathed, her lips curled into a perfect half moon smile. Had she ever been happier to see him?!

He'd saved her ass over and over, but now, she truly needed the save. He was her miracle.

"You have to stay strong." And Arrow knelt before her, darkness over his features, hands to himself. Why wouldn't he be longing to touch her? Did he not feel the same aching need she did?

"Stay?" she repeated, catching on the one word.

"It's going to get worse, you know that."

"What… what do you mean?" she whispered, feeling a cold chill over her shoulders. It wasn't true, the feeling wasn't speaking of the truth.

"You need to stay strong."

"You're not here to rescue me?" She reached out for the body before her, wanting to shake the man to sanity. But her hand drifted right through, she fell face first to the cold floor, her eyes lifted around, anxiously searching for him.

But before her was nothing but darkness. No light, no open door. No Oliver.

But that was only the first time. As the week passed, her sanity cracked further, more hallucinations came and no Lex.

Lex, at present, was stood in the security command centre, watching her latest trip into insanity through the video feed, live and active.

"Go away!" Chloe screamed. "I said I don't want to talk about it!"

"Who is she talking to?" Lex asked the guard he'd assigned to her.

"Same as usual around this time." he gruffly answered, smug that he knew something Lex didn't.

"No!" Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs, dragging her hands through the air trying to rid herself of the torment. "I said I didn't and that's it. Go away from me."

"Queen." The guard answered Lex's confusion. "Happens a lot."

"Please. Please. Don't… you're not real Ollie." She broke down again, crying to herself, hugging her knees.

"How many doses?" Lex enquired, not taking his eyes from the monitor.

"One every night, for the week she's been in that cell."

"I trust every occasion is recorded and filed."

"As requested." Lex heard the reply and nodded, pushing off the console and leaving the room.

"Chloe." Chloe heard a different voice. Very different to the caressing one of the man currently with her.

"No. You're not real either." she snapped, annoyed with her own sanity. She heard the sound of the lock, then footsteps. She lifted her head to find Lex sat opposite her on the bunk, Green Arrow still standing behind him, cool as a cucumber.

"Chloe. I'm here." But Lex's voice was soft, like one would speak to a child with.

"I'm not retarded Lex." she hissed, still deciding if he was reality or insanity. The constant flips were doing nothing for her mood.

"Good. Then listen to me when I say I'm not a hallucination Chloe." There was the authority again. Chloe lifted her eyes again, he looked real, but then so did Arrow. But there was one test the hallucinations couldn't pass. She reached out her hand, tentatively stretched to Lex. Oliver just got angry every time her hand ghosted through him. Lex though, her hand didn't sail right through, it was stopped by flesh. Her eyes widened in surprise. He was real. She surprised herself by how relieved she felt to not have him waver and dissipate.

"Lex." She struggled to sit, her mind well aware of the Green Arrow in the corner.

"You promised we'd meet." he cooed to her.

"Yes." Lex answered. "Have you changed your mind yet?" he purred, letting her run her hands up his suit sleeve like she was first finding touch as a sense. She refused to let go of the touch, he was real; that was all.

"We made plans for Christmas!" Oliver demanded, his voice louder than Lex's.

"You destroyed those, not me!" she shouted back, eyes glaring at her former lover.

"You loved me!"

"So did you!" she hissed. Lex turned slowly, seeing nothing but wall receiving her argument.

"Chloe. Who are you talking to right now?" Lex probed.

"No-one. He's not really here." she replied, turning back to him. But Arrow was filling her mind with endless questions. Why was she here? Would she tell Lex? Why hadn't she ran? Why wasn't she with him? What did she see when she told him? Why didn't she say she loved him?

Constant questions, continuously forced to her ears, demanding answers.

"I said I didn't!" she screamed back to the corner. "Leave me alone!" and she covered her ears, tucking her head into her body.

Then, there was silence.

Beautiful, blissful silence.

She felt hands over hers, carefully taking them from her ears, lifting her chin to look at him. Her eyes met his, but this time, there was no Green Arrow in the background.

"Who's there Chloe?"

"Ummm. I don't remember." she lied.

"Try. Who were you talking to?"

Had she called him by his name? Lex could be trapping her.

"I can't. I was angry at him."

"Who were you angry at?" It seemed like he wasn't accepting no for an answer… again. They hadn't discussed a lot of Green Arrow business. In fact, it was mostly relationship business.

"Queen… I think." she whispered to Lex and he nodded, expectant. She sighed inwardly, she'd passed his test.

"And Green Arrow? Have you changed your mind?" And the truth of the situation shot through her, shocking her into her reality once again.

"No!" She pushed with all her feeble might to remove him. He caught himself fast. "I said no!"

"Chloe. I can make the pain stop." he proposed.

"The pain you put me in!" then she whirled left and snapped out more words. But these weren't for him. "God damn it! What do you want?!" and she curled over, crying for herself as Alfie came to view. He'd been her carer, he'd picked her up, saved her from snapping in the months she was Lex's new girl friday. He'd held her hand everytime she'd cried for her life, he'd sat her up straight and taught her to hold a gun. And now he was here, hunched over, asking her what had gone wrong to land her here.

Lex stood, letting himself out without Chloe even lifting her head.

Soon.

Soon, she would spill all her secrets.

It wasn't the lift he was expecting, but it put him in a good enough mood to fake an apology for Lana.

Dinah turned the morning paper over in her hands. Lionel was still alive, his up and down recovery claimed the headlines every morning. He was interviewed, he was mourned before he even passed and the entire city was eating up his façade without question. If they only knew half of what he'd done. Dinah re-crossed her legs at the table in the coffee shop, listening to the pair of older women who were discussing the same news, blushing over how much Lionel had done for the city, gushing over how rich and handsome he was. Dinah wanted to sit them down at the table and tell them the real Lionel. But like all the others, she let them pass with their delusions. She followed her usual paper routine, flipping instantly to the regular spot for colleague and friend Green Arrow.

Oliver had taken the truth about his parent's murder better than expected. Instead of a drunken binge, he'd crossed three state lines in one night, splashed his alter ego over five newspapers. He'd even had Lois submit a piece for a gossip rag, telling the world Green Arrow was waiting for the woman that claimed his heart to return to him. Dinah knew what he was doing, he was looking for a way to replace his family. Maybe he's never really grieved properly the first time around, but he was reaching out in all ways to have Chloe back in his arms. It was romantic… in a twisted way, throwing himself over the papers with these statements of a long lost love. But, that was just the gossip rags. The paper before her had facts and questions.

In the last three days, Green Arrow Bandit had been photographed in Granville, Star City, Metropolis, Smallville and Gotham. He'd prevented six robberies, thirteen street muggings, one arson, two murders, twenty drug exchanges, seven car jackings and one rape. But with these came the questions of why now? What had happened to spur the vigilante into such action? Why was crime at an all time low now? How could he be at every crime scene, but evade the police's capture? Does he deserve to be captured when he's working better than the city's police?

Dinah skimmed her eyes to the interview with the psychologist as the bottom. There were a lot of theories about Green Arrow's origins. But this psychologist offered no explanation to the roots or the behaviour, just addressed the increase in crimes.

"I think it's clear that the Green Arrow, whoever he may be has experienced some kind of stressor in the past week. This can range from being fired at work, to the death of a loved one. Something has put pressure on the man behind the mask and he's expressing himself through the only artform he feels appreciated and comforted as. Much like a security blanket for a child, when things get rough in this man's life, he turns to his alter ego for security. He might not know how to cope with his everyday life, but as Green Arrow, he's in control again."

Dinah rose an eyebrow. Was damn close to be honest. Though if Oliver read this, he'd probably visit the psychologist and put the fear of god in him, making him cry for his own security blanket. Luckily, Oliver stopped reading a whole ago. But this psychologist, he was onto something. But as she read on, Dinah chuckled to herself as he went from close to the truth, to miles away.

"Does this mean he's schizophrenic, or have dual personality? No. He's as mentally sound as you or me. He obviously holds different views, but this is not a crack in his mentality, it's simply a stressor. It's strongly plausible that he works a home job or is possibly unemployed, either way, this is not a man that is well respected or admired in his day to day life. These work stressors lead him to seek expression through another identity to gain what he is amiss in his usual life; appreciation and acknowledgement."

Dinah rolled her eyes and grinned, closing the paper. She almost wished she could prove him wrong and watch his mind explode. Oliver was one of the most respected men in the world. Women lined up to see him leave a limo. Hell, when he hires a new assistant, he has to wade through thousands of women who just want to be near him and seduce him. Not that he minded, as long as they could do the work well. But now… Dinah sat back in the chair, draining the last of her coffee. Oliver was too hooked on Chloe to even consider bending a secretary over his desk anymore.

Dinah sat the empty cup back on the table. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him; he'd lost his woman and learned the truth of his parents in the same month. But November would soon be over, Bart would barrel into Watchtower with decorations and insist Christmas was celebrated. And when Oliver would play scrooge, Bart would be the three ghosts needed to kick his ass back into happiness. The kid had enough energy to make anyone smile.

Dinah felt her phone vibrate against her thigh where it sat. She smiled instinctively. She turned, looking over her shoulder at the car that had just pulled up outside the coffee shop. There, in the front seat, with eyes locked on her, was Bruce Wayne. Things had kicked off since their accidental meeting and now, she was proud recipient of a second date with Bruce Wayne. Standing, she opened the text message from him, already knowing it would be some form of greeting to let her know he had pulled up. She grinned at it, then up to him, watching as his own lips curved to match hers.

'Time to go, beautiful'

Chloe found herself stirring into clarity in her isolate room. Lex… or maybe his hallucination had come in and told her a new drug was being created for her. He'd given her one of the newest trials, and then she'd passed out. She blinked to herself, clearing the cobwebs from her vision. She felt sick instantly as she tried to stand.

"It might be a bit foggy I'm told." Chloe looked up to Lex's voice, but he was wobbling in her eyes, she couldn't focus on him, so she chose the floor instead. The floor she knew was real, Lex could still be another hallucination. But, there was a pain in her arm that disagreed. "We'll start off with a few tests." he announced, drawing her attention back. "Who was your last hallucination about?"

"Oliver Queen." she spoke without hesitation, the drug drawing the words from her, making her feel seasick. She pawed out a hand testily to the wall, but she couldn't find the strength to pull her upwards.

"Have you had sex with Green Arrow?"

"Yes." The words tumbled from her lips before she could even think her answer. But something clicked inside her mind as she spoke. Her mind had no line between Oliver and Arrow anymore, Arrow, she had not slept with… Oliver, she had.

There was a silence and Chloe didn't look up to see the jealousy in Lex's eyes.

"Have you slept with Oliver Queen?"

"Yes." Again it slipped free without a second of hesitation, but she felt her stomach swirl. The way it did after far too many mixed drinks of alcohol. She was going to be sick, she could feel it.

"Do you know who Green Arrow is?"

"Yes." She could feel Lex getting giddy with the possibility. She felt the air change and he drew closer, the question of dire importance to him falling from his stiff lips.

"Who is Green Arrow?"

"O-" and Chloe hunched over, throwing up the water and crackers that had been keeping her alive. Her eyes streamed, her throat ached, the smell hit her nostrils and a second wave of sickness blew through her. She heard the door open faintly, heard it slam close, but she was throwing up again before she could focus.

"You said mild sickness!" Lex growled after making a grand entrance to the science lab and knocking over several sterilized beakers. The lab technicians all turned in alarm. He drew the eyes of every man in there, except the one he wanted.

"I said it wasn't done yet. You can't rush science." the research leader cockily replied without taking his eyes from the microscope. It offended Lex greatly, but he knew his presence was far too valuable for Lex to punish him.

"How soon before I will get every answer I want from her?" Lex demanded, his eyes sharp and angry as he pulled the scientist from his work. He looked as irritated as Lex felt.

"Three weeks." he grunted out. "Like I said before."

"Three weeks to remove a simple sickness?" Lex argued, he was so close to his answer. "You told me you were the brightest in yo-"

"I am." he spat. "Maybe you paid someone else to pass your biology exams, but the human body is a complex system, the mind even more so. It's not a case of removing a chemical and stopping sickness, it's a minefield of impossible connections." Lex was initially planning to threaten the man back into fearful submission, but there was something in the way he spoke that demanded recognition. So Lex pushed down his wants and rose an eyebrow to the harsh words spilling from his lopsided mouth. "If you want to take over, please go ahead. But if you want this done right, you'll give me three weeks like I originally proposed!" the scientist snapped, little fear of Lex. He was necessary to Lex's perverse scientific nature.

"Three weeks to the hour, not a second later." Lex finally spoke, the last word his to own. "Trust me when I say you'll regret it if it doesn't work perfectly." And he swept out the doors as fast as he'd come, charging down the corridors, workers throwing themselves out of his way in fear. Fear he loved, he could work with, scientist like him though… they rattled him far too much. As soon as he'd finished the drugs, his career and life would be over.

But three weeks…

Lex had calmed by the time he met Chloe's security feed again, she'd been cleaned up and in a new cell, but she clutched her stomach, the sickness still heavy.

"Increase MBN for 359." he instructed.

"Sir, she's close to the limit."

"Increase it."

"Sir." The request was met with guilty acceptance and the guard left the room. Sadly MBN had a maximum dose, where the body shut down and massive organ failure ensued. Chloe would be pushed up to, but never over that limit. Lex sighed to himself, he didn't know if he could wait three weeks listening to her hallucinate Oliver Queen constantly.

Oliver had just got back in from Queen Industries, business had been a bitch today, usually she ran smooth. But today… maybe investors were just wound up because of Lex's crisis with workers and feared the same. Plus, Oliver hadn't been very hands-on recently, they'd been getting edgy.

So he took himself a beer from the fridge, jumped in the shower and was currently lounging in his pyjama pants before taking Green Arrow out again. She'd come back, he reassured himself, she'd see he hadn't used the drive. She'd know, and she'd know exactly where to find him.

If he was honest, he was doing this more for himself than the reasons he lied to himself with. Chloe could find him even if he went into hiding. But it was a way of coping with his pain and he wasn't too big of a man to lie to himself about that either.

Oliver stretched out an arm, collecting the tv remote from the coffee table to change the channel. Some old western had just finished and he needed something to take his mind from his stress before he went out again.

In all honesty, he was knackered. Exhausted entirely. But… the city needed him, and he needed his city.

He sighed and pulled the remote closer with his fingers, which was exactly how he was when he heard his elevator click into life with the correct input code. He turned slowly, wondering who would be visiting. His team were all on personal days tonight. Probably Dinah… if her date had gone wrong, she'd come to take it out on him for setting her up with Bruce. Not that he did anything, but Dinah didn't see logic well.

But out stepped long legs and blonde hair belonging to Lois Lane.

"Lois?" he asked for confirmation, wondering what the hell she was doing in his apartment. Was Clark missing across the world again? She stood with her heels holding her high, offering him a silent and stiff nod. "What's wrong?" he then followed with, seeing her expression and reddened eyes. She'd been crying. Oliver stumbled to his feet, crossing over to her. Lois took two steps, closing the distance and then her fist cracked into his jaw, whipping his head with the force and taking his body with it for a second stumble. "Ow. Wow. Okay… oww." Oliver voiced, stepping further back from her, not expecting the action, nor how much it hurt. He rubbed a hand against his jaw, wondering where she got that serious punch from.

"You bastard!" she hissed. "You knew." And the tears were coming right back to her again, but anger remained dominant.

"Little more Lo." he implored, stepping further from her path. And then she flew her hand into her bag, returned and tossed the paper at his head. He caught it from an accurate trajectory and opened it curiously. There facing him was the nightmare he hated to see.

Chloe, outside of the restaurant the night she was 'stood up'.

"She's my cousin Oliver! You knew how much losing her hurt me!" They'd had a brief fling and Lois had mentioned it, but he'd never seen a picture. Maybe if he had, his relationship with Chloe would have been different. But… would it have been better? "All this time, I thought she was dead, and you've been dating her!" Oliver saw the anger flaring, burning at its brightest, and he knew Lois well enough to know what came next. Violence, then tears. "You've let me think she's been fucking dead… and… and you've been fucking fucking her." She stormed forward and Oliver stayed where he was, letting her throw weaker and weaker punches to him. "You've been fucking her." she cried, then crashed against him, the tears completely overtaking her. "She's my cousin." Lois wept. "My cousin." she repeated against his bare chest, clinging to him while he wrapped his arms around her, saying nothing. "She's alive." Lois raked out between shallow quick breaths.

"Lois." Oliver started, not at all prepared for this. Both Clark and he knew it would have come out at some point, but they had always wanted it to be when Chloe was free, when she wouldn't leave again. Oliver felt the way she shivered, raked with sadness and hate, he couldn't lie to her. "Lex has something over her." he began. "And she's left to protect herself."

"Left?" Lois looked up, her tear stained cheeks and red eyes pleading for her to appear instantly.

"I don't know where she is anymore." he spoke softly. "But I'm looking."

"Looking?" she repeated. "You're looking?!" she snapped, the anger winning back again. "You stood her up, she's probably running from you!"

"Loi-"

"I can't believe she was here and you fucked it all up, and now she's gone! How could you do this?!" she wailed and was back against him crying her eyes out.

The elevator kicked up to life and Oliver raised his eyes to it, still holding Lois. He'd bet his life it wouldn't be Chloe on the other side, because that would just be too easy for him. But when the doors opened, it was some form of help. There was Clark, worried to death about Lois taking off.

"Lois."

"Cla-" but her soft greeting faded before it could begin and she pushed away from Oliver to continue her previous argument with Clark, which was clearly the exact same as the one with Oliver. "I don't want to even see you! I can't believe you let me think she was dead!" she hissed, storming back over to lay her next wave of anger into Clark. He let her for a few punches. But the difference between Oliver and Clark was that Oliver would feel pain and that would give Lois the guilt to let the sadness win back over. But… with Clark, as he stood there taking her punches like they meant nothing, it just made her madder. "You LIED to me! You let me think she was DEAD!" She made to lay a punch to him jaw, creating a satisfying bruise much like the one Oliver would wake with, but Clark caught her fist before it could hit, he held her hands down with a strength that couldn't be fought and watched as Lois struggled. But Oliver saw there was no joy in winning for him. He was guilt ridden, he was as upset as Lois was, and Oliver felt the same guilt slam into him. Not only had he hurt Lois… but he'd hurt her relationship with Clark as well. He felt useless.

"Lois, plea-"

"No!" she cried, the tears restarting at her failed efforts to hurt him like he'd hurt her. "No! You let me think…" she started to repeat again, the tears consuming her vocal chords. "You let him…" and then she just stopped fighting and accepted the hug Clark was wanting for and cried against him.

Oliver sat himself back into the sofa's cushioning comfort, head in his hands. He'd ruined lives, not saved them.

"Oliver?" Clark's voice came to his ears and he finally picked back up his head to find Clark's curious gaze, Lois heading to his bathroom to clean her face from the tear marks and smudged mascara. He'd missed a few minutes of reality it seemed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where she was going." Clark apologised, his eyes torn with the hurt of his actions.

"No. I'm sorry you were involved in all this." Oliver corrected.

"I told Lois you didn't know until a few weeks ago who she was. But… Lois is Lois." Yeah… she was, and Lois didn't do emotions very well.

"I deserved it I guess."

Clark disagreed, but there was something in Oliver's voice that said don't bother disagreeing, so he said nothing to fight him.

"I figured you should probably fill in a few gaps for her though." And Clark nervously looked at his fingers as he spoke. "She's not too happy with me…"

"I'll talk to her."

"When's the last time you slept?" Clark suddenly changed the conversation, seeing the dark circles under Oliver's eyes.

"I'll take tonight off." Oliver agreed without Clark having to ask. He was tired, he was emotionally exhausted and Lois still needed her thousand questions answering.

"I have to get back… my mom doesn't know what happened…" And there was the heavy emotional burden sinking onto Clark's shoulder again.

"Go. I'll stay with her tonight." And like that Oliver ended up with a crying girlfriend that was not his own on his sofa demanding answers to every question, and he gave. There wasn't a lot Lois didn't know about him, so she took it easily. But… somethings… they were difficult for her and she wept. Oliver had initially intended to spare her the harsher of truths, but as she came back from the bathroom, her big eyes so desperate for answers after so many years, Oliver couldn't not tell her. Everything came out, the Lionel, the Lex, the scars, the experiments.

It was the same as usual, he came through the solidly locked door and he sat at the end of the cot bed she was given. The sickness was still passing through her from the trial drug, her leg was still painful, but walkable, her mind was slowly cracking piece by piece and today another piece slipped free. Snow was falling in the cage, the ceiling was nothing but clouds and there was Oliver sat in a suit at the edge of her bed a picture of ease.

"You said you wouldn't come again." Chloe spoke, deflated and saddened. But Oliver didn't reply, just met her eyes. "I told you, it's too hard to see you here." she continued. Again, just his eyes spoke. They spoke the volumes of which he'd missed her, they echoed the love he felt in his heart… and yet, they were all a hallucination from her mind. "Please go away."

"I can't." he finally whispered. He sounded broken.

"What happened?" she suddenly begged and in her mind she watched fresh blood trickle down from his forehead. "You're hurt." She reached out, but stopped… as much as she might wish he wasn't there, she wasn't strong enough to force him to leave yet by trying to touch him. "Was it Lex?"

"No. Lex hasn't hurt me." And Chloe blinked to find the cut heal in superfast time, but instead, the white of his shirt bled red, growing further out.

"Oliver… your shirt."

"Make it stop." he breathed, hand over his heart.

"He hurt you." she amended his earlier statement.

"No. Lex hasn't hurt me." he repeated and Chloe felt the pain tug at her as well.

"Was it… was it me?" she whispered. "Did I hurt you?"

"You left me." he answered, his eyes weak, but the colours vivid. "I loved you."

"Don't say that. Please."

"It's true."

"No. It's not. We were company and that's it."

"Why do you keep lying? You love me."

"Go away." And she tightened her eyes shut.

"Chloe, we're meant to be. We're supposed to be!" he suddenly exclaimed scaring her with the intensity. "Chloe look at me! Look at the pain you cause me!" and he slapping his hand over his heart again. "Every night. Every day."

"You're a figment of my imagination." she told herself.

"But it doesn't make anything a lie." he challenged.

"Yes, it does!" she hissed right back. "I want you to love me, so you do."

"If you want me to love you, then you must love me also." he smugly replied, that smirk she loved tugging at his lips.

"…" she had nothing to battle his logic. "Please go away."

"Make me. If you're in control, make me." And anger burned through her, slapping her hand through his body. It went right through, it disturbed his image in her mind. But as she retrieved her hand back to herself, Oliver remained. That had never happened before.

"I've gone mad…" she whispered, running her fingers through him again, but still he didn't vanish. And she felt the tears run her cheeks.

"I love you Chloe." Oliver hummed to her, soft and sweet.

"No. You don't." she cried, but it was without vindication.

"Say you love me. Say it. I promise you'll feel better." And the promise was something her mind clung onto. She wanted to see better, she wanted him to stay… and she wanted to love him.

"I love you Oliver." It was a whisper, intended to be sarcastic at the very least. But it came out honest, and she felt a warmth inside her. She felt… brighter, healthier and whole again. "I love you." she repeated, this time with more energy, with belief, with conviction. "I love you Oliver!" she suddenly exclaimed, loud into the empty cell.

Lex's lips turned to a thin line, watching the feed of her cell. Oliver. Queen… Queen had won his prize. Here she was, at the last edge of sanity, and all she wanted was Oliver Queen. She hadn't even called out for Lex, not even for a reprieve from the pain of the drug. She just wanted him. He wouldn't listen to this for another three weeks. He refused to.

"Shut her down." he spoke to the security officer Mr Keith in charge of Chloe.

"Sir? We are still running trials with her meteor powers." he highlighted, but Lex didn't care about her healing abilities right now. He cared about his own sanity, which would surely snap if he had to hear her cry out his name again.

"They'll resume at a later date. Hibernate her."

The storage cells were intended for one purpose alone, storing meteor freaks that for some reason were a problem awake. 109 was in the cell opposite Chloe right now, he was resistant to the shocks and could not be controlled, so until the scientists found a way to contain him, he was silenced, removed and stored permanently asleep until the right time. Lex had always been prepared for the same event for Chloe, now, it was coming to pass.

Lex left after Adrian Keith, whilst Keith would be comatosing Chloe, he was back down to the lab. He had another demand to make. When she gave up her knowledge of the vigilante squad, she would give up her free will as well. She would obey him once again.

And Oliver would be the last thing on her mind. She'd be loyal to him and him alone. Her love for Oliver would be her love for him, and that would be all she knew.

"I told you, three weeks." The chief scientists sneered as Lex barged his way in, but Lex was in no mood for verbal sparring.

"You'll perfect the obedience drug as well."

"Already on a pet project right now. Come back l-" his dismissal didn't work for Lex and instead Lex grabbed his arm, flung him down and pinned him to the work table while the other scientists gawked, half in fear, half in amusement for their boss' pain.

"You're going to finish both drugs in three weeks."

"I need mor-" but Lex's arm crushed against his trachea, the pressure cutting off the words.

"You need more workers, fine. You need more chemicals, fine. You need more test subjects; as many as you like. You can have anything necessary, except more time." Lex insisted. "Three weeks."

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Have a good week, thanks for reading.
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