Remember how I said it would finish around 44... maybe that was a tad underestimated. It should end around 46... yes, I think 46...
I have a problem with being concise...
Thank you for reviewing & reading, much appreciated, hope you all have a wonderful Monday.
Previously; Chloe started hallucinating from the drug, seeing Oliver and Arrow, amongst others. Oliver is pushing himself as Green Arrow, trying to fill the void left by Chloe. Cue; Lois Lane, finding out the truth and confronting the men that lied to her. Chloe's hallucinations go a step too far as she confesses her love for Oliver Queen, Lex has no choice but to put her into a coma until the drugs (truth and obedience) will be finished... in three weeks.
Now; Skip ahead two weeks, only one week until completion of the drugs and a happy happy Christmas for Lex.
Are you ready to watch Lex's demise? I know I am ;)
Xx
Chapter Forty-Three; Xmas Miracle
'Sometimes, a little distance can just give you a new perspective.' – Chloe Sullivan (Season Two, Episode Heat).
Lex leaned against the desk, phone to his shoulder while the hold music played on. December first came tomorrow, and this year, he found the need to order Christmas spirit to the Luthor mansion. Which meant he was currently overseeing house staff decorate the parlour with a strict colour scheme of Green and Silver, the odd Red item, if necessary. As much as he held a dislike for the holiday, Lana was stricken ill with the Christmas bug yet again, even humming festive songs in his shower. When she agreed to stay at his for Christmas, he decided to go the extra mile to keep her happy. If that meant decorating, he could live with a few trimmings on his usual style.
His true Christmas present was arriving in little more than a week. All drug progressions were going smoothly and soon he'd get the greatest gift ever for Christmas; Green Arrow's identity, his entire team's names and Chloe sitting by his side obedient until death.
"Mr Luthor?" Came the voice back through the telephone.
"Yes." He didn't appreciate ever being on hold, much less when the music was singing of the joys of Christmas.
"Your transaction has been successful and will be delivered as instructed."
"Wonderful." But the word was without the happiness of usual patrons.
"We hope you have a lovely Christmas, thank you for choosin-" Lex hung up before the speaker could say anymore. He hated shopping, so instead, he'd used an agency, given details about Lana's likes and dislikes, set a maximum to spend and put the work onto someone else's shoulders. By the start of the New Year, he could have Chloe on one arm, Lana on the other. The thought made him smile greatly.
"Mr Luthor." Lex cradled the phone and turned to the new presence occupying his personal space. "Where would you like the tree?"
"Main entrance." Lex just spoke and the man turned, having learnt from his last encounter with Lex regarding baubles that it was better to ascertain information from him in as few words as possible (whilst remaining respectful).
"Lex, this is… beyond my wildest dreams." And to this sweetly innocent voice he grew his smile. "How did you…?" Lana wandered into the wonderland, her eyes fixed above her, awed by the busy labourers hanging tinsel from the ceiling, decorating the parlour with dreams of a white Christmas. "It's beautiful…" Lex extended his arms, allowing her to cross into them. Lana danced across the floor, heels quick like a tap-dance, rushing to cage her emotions in his arms. It was more than she ever expected from Lex, she knew he wasn't a fan of Christmas, but for her… he'd set all that aside. "Oh Lex." And her lips fastened to his with more passion that he expected in the mere action of purchasing a lorry full of Christmas décor. "This is magical." she whispered, afraid of shattering the illusion and it all being gone.
"I know how much it means to you." he answered, holding her tight against him, though it was clear she had nowhere else she wanted to be.
Things were going well again.
Things were going very well.
Chloe was maintained, the drugs were both making steady progress and Lana was solidly by his side. Things were good.
"Oh, Lex," she started to gush out her praise. He changed the conversation swiftly.
"How is Isis?" Lana gave him her smile, her brown eyes soft and seeing past his change of topic, but she went along anyway. She'd been working all evening and he could see she was ready for sleep, and every night for the last week she'd come back to his bed. Tonight was no different.
"Actually really good, I think I might have found a business partner." she beamed to Lex, knowing this was an area they could easily talk about. But Lex was a little colder than expected.
"A new business partner? I thought you were coping well." Lana wasn't as business minded as he was, and she often asked him before doing anything, for a second opinion… but this… he'd heard nothing about this.
"I'm balancing," she qualified, "But it doesn't hurt to have a second pair of hands. Besides, he's an old friend Lex." He? "And he's not inexperienced, he grew up in business too, like you." But as her hands rolled his shoulders in an absent minded caress, she felt tension.
"He? Do I know him?" he aimed for subtle, but Lana's eyes showed she caught a note of interest that wasn't entirely friendly.
"I presume so; Jason Teague."
"Teague?" he repeated, then softly let out a chuckle. "He's not a good business partner, Lana."
"He seems to know what he's doing." she disagreed softly, well aware this could turn into a fight within seconds.
"Please Lana, listen to me when I say you should not be working with Teague." Then something Lana had said struck a chord. "He's an old friend?" How did Lana know him?
Lex watched the colour fill her cheeks ever so slightly, he watched the way she flashed her eyes from his, the way she smiled a little too much. Maybe his obedience drug would have more than one intended user.
"We met abroad. I was in Paris over the summer." Lana spoke, as much to the truth as she could be without stirring Lex's temper.
"Paris." And Lex stood, taking Lana's hand and gently taking her from the parlour to the adjacent room, free from onlookers or staff. His piano sat in the corner, his fencing equipment in another. The room was originally a second office, now it was storage for whatever he didn't want in his main office.
Lana fell into step behind him, even let him settle her with a drink of soda water in the silence as he poured a finger of scotch.
"How long did you date him?" Lex asked, still facing the liquor, his expression tidied away from her eyes.
"Date him? I didn-"
"Don't lie to me Lana." Lex interrupted, but it was without anger somehow, just curiosity was evident. He turned back to her, seeing her cheeks heat further. She knew she was caught, but yet offered no words as his eyes met hers. "You met a man like Teague in a city renowned for romance and you didn't date him?" he challenged and Lana regretfully answered.
"It wasn't long. His mother didn't approve." No, she had broken them apart the second she knew. "But business with him is strictly a platonic relationship."
"Lana. I would much rather if you didn't work with him." Lex replied, ignoring the fact the break-up had not been of their own choosing and the passionate embers never died. Lana was his.
"Lex, I can understand, but he has a lot of contacts that would really boost Isis's future work." Lana tried to barter, hurt by the harsh gaze he pinned her under.
"As do I."
"You have business contacts, Lex. Jason has a wider social range." she defended, but the second she did, she knew she had made a mistake. She stood and quickly made her way over to Lex. "Please, can we just drop this? It's almost December and I don't want to fight over Christmas." Her eyes were big and soulful, the kind a man easily caved to.
"We're not fighting, we're discussing." Lex disagreed, but let her settle her hands on him, let her plead at him, let her hand over her white flag guiltily. "You need more social contacts, you will get them. But without Teague."
"Thank you." Lana breathed and laid her lips to Lex's, she could taste the hard liquor as she deepened the kiss. There was one easy way of ensuring a man losing his argument and Lana had every intention of both using it, and working with Teague, so she pressed her chest against him, angled the kiss deeper and stroked his tongue with hers.
Lex smiled inside his mind, Lana was trying to distract him with sex. And he'd let her, but he was going to make a few phonecalls afterwards, and Teague would lose the idea of a business arrangement swiftly.
"Lana, we were discussing thi-" he began, knowing exactly how to play her womanly instincts. It wasn't the first time a woman had tried to distract him with sex. At least Chloe just skipped the effort of the performance.
"Lex, please… just… let me show you how thankful I am." But Lex heard nothing but the anger beating inside his mind. Chloe.
Maybe it was just sinking in, maybe it was her recent hallucinations of Oliver-fucking-Queen, but Lex felt her betrayal as fresh as ever. In an ideal life she'd be here right now instead of Lana, she wouldn't be arguing, there wouldn't be stupid Christmas decorations and they'd be drinking to his father's speedy demise. But it was Lana in his hands, Lana who saw the world through happy eyes, Lana who understood nothing. Lana, so beautiful, so elegant. She fit him better than anyone… but her mind, it was too much he was finding. There wasn't enough darkness. But Chloe. She was perfect.
Lana felt a flush of alarm as Lex's hands tightened on her hips.
"Lex-" But her feet were lifted from the floor and she was spun against the wall, her legs hiked around his waist, another world glowing in his eyes. Then his lips were on her, his hands were gripped tight to her hips as a solid erection rubbed the seam of her jeans, digging into her sex. "Le-" His lips sealed around hers, silencing the voice that haunted him, the voice that wasn't Chloe.
Lana. "Wait, Lex. Stop, I-"
With ignorance to any words she spoke or fight she gave, he took Lana fast and hard on the cold floor, fighting for the tension to leave him. Chloe was in love with another, Lana wouldn't have that option. She was his.
"Merry December First!" Bart hollered, entering watchtower floor with arms open.
Dinah rolled her eyes and smiled, she'd just come back from a date with Bruce earlier than night and was on cloud nine, not even Bart could bring her down and that was probably a good thing for him. Now, she was sitting with files on her lap in her comfiest and warmest clothing whilst Oliver fiddled with the boiler.
AC glanced up to the clock, it had just ticked by midnight; it was truly December now. "Wow, it's colder than Lapland here, you breeding penguins?" Bart continued, as jolly as ever. There are just some people who come into their element as Christmas draws closer, Bart was one of them. He didn't even mind xmas shopping, he revelled in decorating the tree and hanging tinsel from every doorway. He was like a faster, more annoying version of a child. But, he was the eggnog to every adult's dullest day and he brought them into their own spirits too.
"Oliver said it's just the water pressure, he'll have it on soon." AC replied. If he didn't, Dinah would be killing him and setting fire to his carcass, as her latest threat promised. She was not a fan of the cold.
"Ah, cool. What's the change of venue then? Captain Leather forget to hide his porn stash." Bart joked, jumping and landing himself on the sofa beside Dinah.
"Hilarious." Came Oliver's voice in deadpan, drawing smiles from the gang. "Heating's fixed." he informed and took his own seat before addressing the questions as well. "Vic found live updating on the files." Vic was currently sat at the computer turning on said sharing software. "Just an extra precaution in case the network finds bugs. Better they hack here than find a signal back to my apartment." Yeah, it made sense.
"What's on the updates?" Bart asked again. He had the energy to ask all the questions anyone ever had, but not always the energy to listen and comprehend the answers.
"Don't know until we get them. But it's whatever has been updated on Lex's computers since we got this drive." Victor answered, swinging the swivel chair to face the audience as the update synced in. "Shouldn't take long. I'll browse over the new files." he allocated himself, and as usual, the rest of the team fell into their own call of work.
"Deceased." Dinah held up the file she was currently reading pulled from the pile of all deceased meteor freaks from Lex's experiments.
"Active trials." AC countered, his own pile by the side of him.
"Guess I'm on research projects again." Oliver nominated, Bart didn't have the energy to read them; he skipped half the technical words and then said it was all incomprehensible jibberish.
"Archived inmates." Bart finished, but before resuming on his own pile, he commandeered the spare laptop that was on beside Victor and started clicking away. Dinah's curious eyes followed his movement while the others shrugged it off as usual Bart behaviour.
"What are you doing?" she finally asked after a few seconds too long for a game of solitaire as he usually liked during procrastination.
"Wait. Wait." he insisted, flashing her a sneaky grin.
"This better not be another one of those funny youtube videos that you've found." she threatened, ready to pounce.
"Oh com'on D, that cat was killer." AC argued, joining their conversation.
"The internet must be 20% cat videos by now." Victor mumbled disapprovingly. There were so much better things you can do with the internet, did you really need to share clips of cats falling off of sofas? Although… he had to admit, that last video Bart found was hilarious.
"Better." Bart promised, then tapped once more before turning back with a proud smile. Over the speaker system came the jingle of old Christmas songs.
"It's not even Decemb-" Oliver started, then paused as Dinah flipped her finger to the clock, her eyes back down on the pages she was reading.
"Merry December First, Scrooge." she teased, without lifting her eyes.
"I'm not a scroo-"
"You're rich, and you've working your 'business partners' into the night." Dinah offered, still focussed on the reading. Subject 189 was in her hands, a teenage boy from Belle Reve who could see into alternate dimensions. She hadn't cheated and flipped to the end of the pages like she usually did with books, but she was relatively sure this wasn't an accidental death that earned him a place in the deceased pile.
"And your Christmas gifts will reflect the good work." he promised with a laugh. "I don't mind Christmas… on Christmas day. But it's literally just turned December."
"Just accept it Ollie." AC advised, knowing it was going to be forced down his throat anyway.
"Oh Com'on, Christmas is wonderful. Don't you believe in a Christmas miracle?! This could be the day of our breakthrough!" Bart exclaimed filled with joy.
"You need to be doing work for that to happen." Oliver offered and Bart responded with a smile and flopping into his claimed chair with the reports, silencing his lips. Victor chuckled quietly to himself.
It was times like Christmas he missed family and friends he used to have. But being around these guys… they were more than enough for him. They were exactly what Christmas was all about; the love, the crazy, the too much and the good banter. He smiled, opening one of the new files as the rest synced to the computer.
Subject 359 was the latest addition to the patient folders. Victor narrowed his eyes at the folder and flipped it open, finding the initial report already downloaded.
"Latest addition is 359." Victor read aloud. "Female, empathetic healing powers."
"So, only 358 left to find." Bart summed.
"Not exactly, we saved a few." Dinah interjected, setting down the file.
Victor was going to interject his own figure, but something caught his eye. This had been continuously updated day by day for the last few weeks.
"He was with 359 last night." Victor mumbled to himself while the kids argued on. On a hunch, he pulled up a second screen.
"So, what, 300ish in 33.1?" Bart guessed.
"Not exactly. There's the deceased." Oliver added, nodding to Dinah's pile. "Probably a good 100 six feet under."
"So… what are we talking? He's keeping 200 people in 33.1?" Dinah turned to Victor, but he was too busy to reply, so she furthered her point. "We all saw the floor plans, there's no way that could hold 200 people and all these exam and research rooms he has listed."
"When's the last time that was updated though?" Oliver asked aloud, AC was quick to reply, already searching for the files as soon as Dinah spoke about them.
"Two years ago." he scoffed. "The entire thing must be updated. He's built upon it."
"Well, where are the building plans?" Bart wondered.
"Probably stopped documenting." Dinah was the only one to offer an explanation, but it seemed the only possible way for it to make sense.
"Still doesn't give us any clue as to where it is though." AC sadly reminded them.
"It's gotta be huge… no way we could miss that." Dinah argued, and turned to Victor who still had offered nothing to the conversation. "Hey!" she called, but he didn't turn. "Nothing to add?" She sat up from her lounge, placing the folder back onto the pile. "No smart ass remark?" But the silence from him was unusual, even when baited. "Earth to V-man!" she called, rolling her eyes. The man had a love affair with computers too strong to be healthy.
"Shh." he hissed and all eyes turned, ready for Dinah's temper tantrum.
"Excuse me? What the hell is your problem?!" she snapped. Bart, Oliver and AC all shared a knowing look, locating the nearest exit with their eyes.
"Dinah, give it a rest, alright? I think…" Victor tried again, matching up another time slot from the update to the file against the GPS in Lex's car. Everytime he had personally visited Subject 359, his GPS was… "Holy Moses…" Victor spoke aloud. "Holy Moses on a tricycle." Dinah rose an eyebrow, the man was insane. He never had mastered the concept of swearing. "It's so fucking obvious!" Oliver stood, it wasn't often Victor ever swore. This was big. "It's Luthorcorp." And Victor let off a laugh. It was relief, success and stupidity all wrapped into one short burst of laughter. "I can't believe this."
"What is it?" Oliver tentatively asked, prepared for either madness or genius. It was alarming how close those two were.
"33.1!" Victor spun on his chair, finger extended behind him to the screen. "They're under Luthorcorp."
"No… he…" Dinah started to protest and call him insane, but things were starting to make sense for her too. All the time Lex spent there, the fact he hadn't returned to any other facilities. "But… it's too public. It's the middle of the damn city."
"No. The fertilizer plant in Smallville." Victor corrected. "He's not going there daily for the employee's."
"You're kidding me?" Oliver whispered, dumbstruck.
"It's underground." Victor explained. "All he needs is a back entrance, a private elevator and that's it. He can make all the changes he wants, he wouldn't bother with plans and he's not suspicious for going there all the time."
"Under Luthorcorp property?" Oliver repeated. "Man's gotta be insane to hide his dirty laundry with his business."
"Like Queen Industries is clean." Dinah jabbed. "You've got damn arrows hidden in the pipes for god's sake." Oliver chose to ignore that fact.
"What are we waiting for?!" Bart asked after a second of silence. "Let's go!"
"We need a plan, we can't just go in there blind." Victor reminded them, always the voice of reason.
"And I think I have one." AC spoke up, his eyes on the floor plan of 33.1 from the drive. "Call Clark, we might need him."
"Lana? It's half two…" Jason sounded torn between angry, confused and worried. "You okay?"
"I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry." Lana sobbed, wiping away the tears as she drove.
"Woah, wait, what's happening?"
"What you said… were you serious?"
"What?" And then there was a second of silence where his brain processed her words. "Yeah. We can leave right now." he repeated the same thing he'd said that morning, he wanted to take her away, to leave. Tell no-one and finish what they started in Paris. Lex wasn't a good man, she shouldn't be with him. She'd find out the truth when it was too late. So, what had happened? Was it too late? What had Lex done? "What did he do Lana?"
"Don't." she breathed. "Please don't ever ask. Just… let's leave. Never come back."
"Where are you?"
"Driving to you, I'm already packed."
"I'll be ready in 10 minutes." Jason tossed back the covers, slammed a hand to the light and started packing a bag of essentials.
"It's fucking freezing." Dinah cursed under her breath. Smallville was covered in a blanket of snow that wasn't getting any thinner, especially not with the way the snow was currently falling. Metropolis usually started winter earlier than other places, but this year, Dinah would bet money the early snowfall all over the country was meteor power related.
"Speaking as someone not wearing fishnet tights, I'm fine." AC chuckled.
"Can it, fish paste!" Dinah snapped. She wasn't used to being a vigilante in the winter months, she usually put her feet up and left it to the boys. But this was the big one. It was the finale and she wouldn't miss it for the world. Maybe she should have invested in a winter costume, but at least she had the black snow boots up to her knees which were working for her.
"Alright, we are camera and alarm clear." Victor informed, looking up from the device. They moved ahead swiftly, all funnelling behind Clark who was the wrecking ball to the Luthor freak factory. With nothing more than a tug, he opened the code protected back door and stepped out of the night snowfall and into clinical corridors.
They paused past the first hurdle and met their first fork in the road.
AC had laid out a solid plan from what blueprints and shipping records he could find. It was all underground, based around two elevators and one central staircase. The original blueprints were the top four levels. The very top, and currently directly beneath their feet was the command centre, everything went through it. Beneath that was research labs, and under that began the cells, starting with one referred to in recent documents as storage, then beneath came the active trial candidates, all the way down to the bottom.
There was a clear plan, first; Victor needed to take over the central command where he'd be stationed, the two elevators would then be disconnected, forcing all movement to be in the stairwell. Second, each floor had a left and right wing, Arrow, AC, Bart and Dinah would take the floors to the very bottom, as far as they could, then, work from the bottom up, releasing everyone they found to flood the upper channels, help and/or flee. AC and Arrow would always take the left, Bart and Dinah always the right side. Clark would be the focal point playing crowd control in the stairs, disabling the scientists and guards with zipties and helping the meteor infected to freedom. All, overseen by Victor.
"This is it." AC muttered to himself more than anyone else, but everyone heard and it echoed inside them. This was the finale, the final curtain. The last block in the Luthor castle. Oliver felt nerves hit him unlike any other. Part of him wondered what would come next; evil never slept and as soon as Lex was down… would another rise up?
Would Chloe come back after Lex was gone? He'd do his best to keep her out of his trial, but it couldn't be promised. Chloe…
He'd called Tess the instant the plan formed, with this being the big leagues she might be needed to provide alibi's for their identities if one was injured. She had yelled at him for calling at 4am, but as soon as she found out the reason, she was up and active, wanting to help in any way she could. She was currently working on Lex's trail for them anyway, sorting out the best isolated evidence from the flashdrive they'd shared.
"See you on the other side." Dinah whispered and with a nod to Bart, they took themselves down the passage and into the chambers of the elevator to the first level of 33.1. Oliver, AC, Vic and Clark stepped forward after them. Dinah and Bart would take the first motions, silent as the grave and moving through the level to subdue anyone capable of raising alarm.
10 minutes later, Arrow, AC and Clark were on the top steps of the level, Dinah and Bart stepping a floor below them after incinerating the research and locking all the scientists in an exam room.
"Ready when you are." Came over all headsets. Victor was their eye in the sky, as much as he hated a stationary job, he was overlooking the entire progress in the command centre with the limp life forms of guards tied in a corner behind him. Oliver's tranquilizer arrows had come into great use.
"We're starting." Arrow's voice replied, the voice distorter heard for the entire team on the stairs. And then the descent began. Down, down and down they went, Clark still on the top steps, the last barrier before the exit. He was acting as a security gate, prepared for company, friend or foe.
Dinah and Bart took the bottom floor swiftly, Bart speeding to the end, Dinah at the start and each reading aloud the cell numbers to Victor. The locking system was all verbal codes, usually numbers, all controlled from above. Victor was a busy man instantly, inputting unlock codes for all four of the team members below.
But what lie before them cell after cell were broken forms of humans, some incapable of walking, some; talking. Either way, Dinah and Bart offered their shoulder, calling to boyscout to pick up the limp and lame in the stairwell.
The bottom two floors went well, until victims started appearing with metal collars around their necks, refusing to leave their cells for anyone in case they were electrocuted.
AC looked down to the controls he'd collected from the few guards they'd intercepted and disabled, one who was currently being ziptied by Arrow before shoved into the stairwell.
"Wait." AC called and approached the guard. "Who has the key?"
As luck would have it, the guard had enough fear in his eyes to answer swift and honest the first time around.
"Lex. He's the only one."
"Any other way to get them off?" Arrow added, noting the problem at hand.
"No. I swear. Only the key."
"We could pry it off…" AC offered aloud.
"It shocks them." The guard answered without being asked. "Tamper proof." And he had the nerve to shrug. Arrow threw his fist into the guard for the mere point that he had annoyed him. But then came another voice, a small quiet one.
"I know how you can get them off." AC and Arrow turned to the voice, a woman's face pressed to the bars, a similar collar around her neck. No, not a woman, a teenager. She looked oddly familiar to Oliver, her dirty blonde hair and doe eyes catching on his memories, "Hi." she spoke again, appearing to have no concern for her situation.
"How?" Arrow asked gruffly, still unable to place her as AC called the code to unlock her and the others.
"My boyfriend. He can manipulate materials into shapes." she explained, and the door to her cell unlocked after a seconds pause. The door opened and she stepped out and Oliver recalled the girl. She was one of the criminals he'd thrown to the cops. She had been with her boyfriend breaking into the corner shops. How did she end up here? "Eric!" she suddenly called, shocking him as she ran down the corridor ahead of them.
"Beth?!" a voice replied and she charged for it, bare feet thundering on the dirty floors.
"Eric!" Then she turned back. "Unlock him." Arrow went to her while AC worked on the other doors.
"How did you end up here?" Arrow asked them, watching the recognition hit both teens. "122AIN" he read from the cell to Victor and seconds later the door clicked open. The cells were numbered in strange codes, and there was no bank of codes for Victor to open all with, so the process would have to be slow and personal.
"You don't know?" Eric questioned, stepping out and wrapping his arms around his girl quickly. It tugged at Oliver's heart some, but he kept his form.
"No."
"As soon as we hit the police cells and they figured Eric had powers, they transferred both of us here." Beth explained.
"You're not meteor infected?" Arrow questioned her. Was it his fault they were here? He turned them in, and now they were Lex's rats. It was his fault… he summed silently. He put them in here.
But how could he have known the cops were corrupt? How could he…
But how many others were in here because of him?
How many was he responsible for?
"No… but they didn't know that until I was here." she answered, then her eyes skated over him. "Got anything metal? He works best with metal." But Eric was already plucking a miniature arrow from Oliver's quiver and wrapping both his hands over it. Beth spun herself to him, lifting her hair from the back and letting him examine the shape. They knew each other well… maybe the meteor freak relationships didn't need any help at all. If these two could see past it… couldn't anyone?
Was it truly his fault?
"Relax, you didn't know." Eric spoke, but Oliver was still spiralling in his guilt. He was the reason they were in here.
How was he supposed to get over that?
AC was still reading codes from the doors, closing in with a crowd of collared inmates hoping to be free of their electric shocks.
"Ow!" he heard from Beth and turned back quickly. But there she was, dropping the open collar to the ground. A ruckus rose, all looking for the same freedom from him.
"Make another." Oliver just instructed numbly, passing across another identical arrow as Beth used the same key on Eric. But he took the arrow and made a second.
"Anybody got an escape for the collars?" Dinah's voice called out to the earpiece.
"Sending a key to you now." Arrow answered, focussing back on the task, taking the new key from the hands of its maker. A second later, a small electric shock ran through him before the collar dropped. "It might shock before it comes off." Oliver added to Dinah without emotion.
"Clean and clear." AC's voice came and Oliver snapped himself back to rights. Now was the mission, later was for making amends. But… the guilt wouldn't let go of his mind. How many more would he recognise? How many more would he be responsible for?
They followed them back to the stairwell, encouraging them up and out as they took the next level up and handed the second key to Bart in a quick flash of movement.
Dinah grinned as Bart returned, key in hand to drop the collars from those who were freed.
"You're slacking speedo." she teased. They'd started a game of freeing more than the other. Dinah had more doors opened and thus was winning as she called out another to Victor.
"Give me time." he just replied, smug as ever. "Alright, once the collars gone, up the stairs and continue up until you're out and free." he instructed, taking charge of the fearing meteor enhanced prisoners while Dinah freed more locks.
"Gunna get busy guys, guard communications have your positions." Victor's voice came across all headsets again. "Boyscout, you'll need to keep an eye on the freed, they could cross paths."
Dinah exchanged a glance to Bart, taking a throwing knife from her pocket to her hand as she pulled open the next door, before turning her eyes to the doors. Bart shuffled them behind Dinah's stance, fully prepared for a fight. It came swift, a wave of guards risking leaving their posts to take them down. Dinah put a knife in one as soon as he came around the doors, he fell like a sack of potatoes, knocking into the second who failed in withdrawing his gun. Dinah grinned, he should have already had his gun drawn, idiot. Bart turned back, collars on the floor around him, the key in his pocket before he sped into the fight, yanking the gun from the closest man and jabbing an elbow to the back of his neck before he even knew he was there. He joined the next man on the floor as Dinah's knives came flying again.
Like the great team they were, they took down the first wave with ease, turning back only to find all the freed inmates looking at them with different degrees of terror.
"Up the stairs." Dinah sighed, not used to being looked at appalled. When they didn't move, she realised the pile of bodies in the door and men in different stages of pain were blocking the exit. With an apologetic grin, she joined Bart moving aside the guards, ziptying hands and escorting ex-prisoners to the stairs to freedom. She met Clark on the other side of the door, with two sets of guards by his feet as well. They shared a smile and she moved up the next flight of stairs with Bart.
Exam rooms, nothing but exam rooms on their side for the next two levels. A level of strange rooms followed, this one looking like a break room for the guards, a shower room for… well, she presumed to prisoners since there was a lack of toilets in the cells, and then a lot of fancy viewing rooms. Dinah rolled her eyes, sent Bart for a sprint to look if anyone was in there and when it came back clear, they simply move up to the next level.
Oliver turned to AC with a questioning glance, both already tired from the late hour and work, but with enough adrenaline to keep walking, but this floor wasn't filled with exam rooms like the right hand side. This floor had a pit in the middle, computers and screens all around it
where scientists had fled up to Clark from. AC shrugged unknowing of what to expect but stepped closer with Arrow in behind. There looked to be an elevator shaft down into the pit, a set of spikes and barb decorating the rim. Whatever was locked in that pit was considered dangerous it seemed.
"Elevator's offline." AC informed Oliver from one of the controls. "Whoever did this wanted to make sure these weren't coming out."
Oliver turned back, seeing a red spray on the walls, block capitals spelling out 'F-Wing'. What was in F-Wing?
Lex swept his hand through the book shelf, the books landing heavily on the floor, spines bending and pages bending. Next came the electronics, the speakers colliding with the stereo and dinting the hardwood as they dropped with gravity. He'd already bent the majority of the golf clubs on his furnishings, but the one he lifted from the destroyed sofa was straight. Well, it was until he took it to the mirror above the fireplace, shattering it into a thousand pieces before his feet. Next came the sole Christmas decoration he'd missed, hooked above the door was some mistletoe, he beat it until it bled sap.
Scraps of tinsel and glitter rained slowly, but he stood, chest heaving, anger bright red flooding his veins.
Lana had left with Teague.
His foot slammed into the door, bashing it against the wall and splintering the corner.
She'd ran away with fucking Teague!
A lifeless form of tinsel snaked around his foot in his pacing rage, he yanked it up, threw it on the raging fire with the others and listened to the crackle as it was consumed.
"Mr… Luthor?" a nervous voice asked.
"What?!" Lex almost screamed.
"33.1… it's been breached." The man stepped back, seeing the boil in Lex's blood in the way he tilted his head, asking for the repeat of the words to change as they rattled in his mind. "Green Arrow and team are responsible." he added, aiming to finish the entire report before Lex's temper boiled over. "They're releasing the infected. Levels 10 to 6 are freed."
"Blow it." Lex answered, much quieter than before.
"Sir?"
"Blow the entire plant."
"Sir, there are still researchers in there, it's security lock do-"
"Either give the order or lose your life." And Lex raised the golf club in his hands and there was no doubt he would fulfil his threat. The man pressed the communications button on his shoulder.
"Initiation procedure Mortem."
"Confirmation code required."
"Veritas." Lex simply spoke and listened to the repeat of the nervous wreck called a man before him.
"Procedure initiated." Then there was a large noise over the coms, an explosion. Lex showed no remorse. "Requesting aid, ther-"
"Turn off all channels." Lex instructed and watched the guilt ridden man comply against his will as he pulled out his phone, trying to ignore the calls for aid before several taps had the mansion immersed in silence once more. "Good." And Lex drew his gun from the sideboard, putting a bullet between the eyes of the shattered man.
All evidence needed to be erased. And it all would be, along with Green Arrows team dispatched. Maybe he would never know the identity, but he couldn't care less. Maybe once dead Chloe would stop protecting him. She should be brought to him soon. All guards were instructed that she was first priority if there was ever an attack.
Lex gripped the golf club tighter, feeling only an inch of the tension leave him.
"Guys we got a problem. There's been an over-ride manual procedure." Victor informed, his fingers tapping as he tried to stop it.
"Doing what?" Dinah's voice asked, irritated.
"Don't know. I'm trying to block it, but it's already been started. It's called Mortem…" Oliver felt himself freeze, all those Latin lessons drawing a cold dread over him.
"Death." Oliver answered. "Slow it down, cancel it. Interrupt it. Whatever comes, it's not going to be pretty." Lex wouldn't set a kill order on the lab though… would he?
"It's a chain reaction, I can only stop it pushing over anymore dominoes."
"Then do it!" Arrow called. The pressure of time was crushing down on them now. He turned back to the pit, stepping to the edge to throw down the cable he and AC had cut from the computers.
The red eyes once again looked back up at him, but this time, instead of the silent questions, they spoke.
"Stop trying to save us." one man spoke. "We can't be freed, you have no idea what will happen."
"Look whatever he's done, we'll find some way to undo it." Oliver promised, not understanding any reason for them refusing freedom.
"You can't." the stranger spat and Oliver paused, noticing the flash in his eyes, the greater colour that looked like red headlights from where he stood.
"Stage one." Came over the PA system and Oliver hurried, throwing in the cable.
"Grab it." he urged, but they stood where they were.
"You're going to die." The red eyes spoke, but whether it was a warning or a threat was never found out.
The air broke in an explosion in the pit, the pressure throwing Oliver and AC back into the outer walls of the level, slamming them against the brick. A second bomb consumed the fire below and pushed another shockwave out.
The air smelled of burning flesh, rotten carcass and fried electrics.
The sound of shattering glass and crumbling fortification crushed eardrums.
The floor and walls shuddered with intense vibrations, but they held. The noise settled, the dust began to clear and AC blinked away the spots in his vision to push to his feet, stumbling to stand.
He glanced around.
Dead.
Every one of them in that pit lie dead.
"What happened?" Victor's voice came far too loud and AC stumbled to be free of it before he realised it was in his ear. Victor first heard a cough before a reassurance.
"Explosion. I'm fine. Arrow's… I don't know." AC walked forward, wobbling with each step, but he started to clear. Oliver had been on the lip of the pit… had he survived?
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Just to tease you further... i'm going to tell you there's a character death in the next chapter... I'm not telling you who.
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