The Daily Planet, Metropolis
As the elevator pings to signal its passengers that it's reached their designated floor, two of them, Ms. Tess Mercer and one of her many assistants Melinda, exit quickly. The doors close abruptly as soon as they're out of the small cab.
On their way to her office, Tess' looking at the piece of paper in her hand and huffs irately, "What! What do you mean you can't find the IP address?" She wants to slam her hand down on a table to express her anger for this incompetence, but that'd be unprofessional.
Melinda, who's following shortly behind her, her arms behind her back, answers immediately, not wanting to anger Tess even more, "The email came through a ghost router, ma'am. As soon as we saw it, the router vanished from the grid."
Tess suddenly turns on the spot, facing Melinda who nearly collides into her, and placing a sharp hand on her hip, the other occupied in carrying some files she's going to look at once she's in her office and left in peace.
"At the very least, this could prove Mr. Luthor is still alive, ma'am," Melinda replies, stepping back so as not to be in Tess' personal space.
"Firstly, Melinda was it? Enough with the "ma'am". It makes me sound old. Tess is just fine and secondly, it could prove that someone's toying with me." She says, her cheeks a little flustered at the very thought of it. "Find out who took the crystal. Or find yourself a new line of work."
"Yes ma - I mean Tess," Melinda nods before disappearing down the corridor, leaving Tess to exhale loudly, reminding herself that it's all going to be worthwhile in the end.
Finally entering her office and loving the peace and quiet within, she's about to walk to her desk and literally throw the files she's holding on top of it, that's how she feels at the moment, when someone unexpected reveals themselves turning in her rotating chair in order to face her head on.
"You know what's amazing to me? You can't find the time to return my calls…but you do manage to fit it into your busy schedule…to buy the Star City Towers right out from under me." Oliver Queen replies, a beaming smile on his face, but Tess can tell that there's a little anger, annoyance, behind the expression and there should after hearing such hearsay behind his back.
Tess' mouth curves up on one side, her right eyebrow doing the same, amused at the fact that she's gotten under Oliver's skin. Queen Industries 0, Luthorcorp 1. "Business is business."
"Well," Ollie starts, climbing out of her seat, "This isn't about business. And to be honest with you," he replies as he stands behind it, turning it so she can sit down before he leans down until his lips are just near her ears, whispering softly, "Revenge isn't your best colour." It's almost seductive as his breath tickles both her ear and her hair, causing her skin to goose-pimple.
"Don't flatter yourself," she retorts, her mouth once a forming a sneer, "One of the most important things that Lex taught me…is that you can't afford to live in the past." She then refers to the files she's just placed on her desk, sifting them for something in particular.
With his hand on his hip and the other leaning on the back of her chair, Ollie stands up right and asks, "Did Professor Luthor also teach you about deception? How about obsession? I hear his class in murder's an easy A."
"He's done more for this world than you ever will, Oliver," she says without even looking at him, concentrating more on the files than the annoying presence standing behind her. "He dedicated his life to making it a safer place." The look she gives Ollie is one of reassurance that what she's saying is the truth.
Ollie doesn't believe it, will never believe a single bit of it as he shakes his head, leaning back down again, "You know, Mercy, it seems to me…like Lex may have been a little bit more than just a mentor." Now it's his turn to get under her skin. Queen Industries 1, Luthorcorp 1.
Turning to face him, Tess answers in a stern voice, "If you're done wasting my time, I have phone calls to make."
The air in the room's a little tight, Ollie feeling a little claustrophobic as he pushes himself off her table, walking around it with his hands in his pockets. Just before he leaves, he turns around abruptly, "Look, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I didn't come here just to battle with you. Actually, I came here to raise the white flag."
At hearing this, it tears her away from her files and looks up at him, a surprised look on her face, "How civil. What do you propose, a truce?" She asks, her attention fully on him now instead of the files on her desk.
"Well, truce, yeah…over lunch right now," Ollie expresses with a large smile, his white teeth gleaming in the sunlight.
Tess' eyebrows crease, confused at what Ollie trying to entail, "Are you implying what I think you're implying? Because the last time I checked, you're in a very serious relationship with one of my employees. What's he going to think when he finds out that you've been sweet with his boss?" She then hints with her eyebrows, but Ollie just laughs at her, "You know, sometimes a meal's just a meal and just to let you know, my relationship with Clark is strictly none of your business."
Amused at his defending of his relationship with one Clark Kent, Tess looks upon the digital clock on her desk and utters, "You do realize that it's almost 1 o'clock? We've got to be at the reopening of 'Spiffany's' by 2 o'clock at the latest, you know…being 'Guests of Honour' and all."
Ollie stands up straight, that smile still on his face, "Well, we better get crackin'. Don't want to disappoint the Mayor, now do we?"
Tess gets up from her chair, her eyes on the files, The files can wait and besides, I need something to distract me from the disappearance of that crystal, she contemplates as she bends her knees to pick up her handbag by her chair and smiles, "Okay…lead on Oliver."
Lacey's Department Store, Metropolis
Meanwhile, a few blocks away from Spiffany's, Ronnie and a group of his school mates are on a school day trip to Metropolis and have already seen some of its most treasured landmarks including the Emperor Building, Centennial Park and the Daily Planet. Now in Lacey's, their teacher, Ms. Flannigan, had told them that they had an hour to browse and buy whatever they liked before they were on their way again to Spiffany's in time to watch the reopening. Which would be an absolute joy for Ronnie and his pals if they weren't so bored to death.
There's nothing in Lacey's that they're particularly interested in as they nonchalantly walk down the aisles, looking at pointless objects that are obviously priced too high than the normal rate, but still manage to sucker people into buying them.
"Wow, could this day get anymore boring?" Cliff Carmichael, one of Ronnie's close friends, huffs, rolling his eyes as he shoves his hands into his jean pockets, a usual gesture that Ronnie understands means that he's now beyond boredom.
Ronnie has to smile at his easily bored friend, "Come on Cliff, give Metropolis a break. It's got some pretty cool sights and don't forget that you wanted to go on this field trip in order to avoid going college today."
Without realizing, they find themselves in the gardening section and Ronnie just happens to be standing next to the flower stand, a bunch of beautiful red roses catching his eye.
It immediately makes him contemplate about his growing affection to one Doreen Day, the most gorgeous girl he's ever seen with hair that shines like gold in the sunlight, blue eyes that sparkle like diamonds, skin that's probably soft to the touch, a slender, toned body that tells him she definitely looks after herself and a personality that made her both smart and funny.
"Hey Romeo? Did you even hear a word I just said?" He hears Cliff ask in the background, Ronnie too enthused in his mental description concerning the girl of his dreams to listen to him.
He shakes it away, his attention back on his best friend, "Err…what? No, sorry Cliff. I was miles away there." He tries to hide his "unawareness" with his usual wide grin that would get him out of anything, but Cliff's smart enough to see through it.
"Yeah, sure you were Ronnie. You were busy thinking about Doreen again, weren't you?" Cliff shakes his head in sheer wonderment of his friend and his inability to ask the girl out, "Dude…you're gonna miss your chance with her if you don't tell her soon. I'm telling ya, a smart girl that pretty ain't gonna stay single for long. You'd better make your move soon or you'll be blaming yourself for not having the guts to."
He then places a comforting hand on Ronnie's shoulder, a gesture he doesn't show too often, and declares, "You know I'm right on this, Ronnie. Don't leave it too late. I don't want to be picking up your sorry ass when you don't and she ends up with someone else." He then slaps the area of shoulder his hand was just occupying before following after the other students when their teacher announces that it's time to move on to the next area of interest; a chance to see the reopening of Spiffany's, a highly popular, yet expensive, jewellery store, leaving Ronnie to ponder on what he'd just said.
You know he's right, the voice in his head replies, If you don't take your chance now, you'll never forgive yourself. It and Cliff are right, Ronnie admits, needing to buck his ideas up right now and ask Doreen out or it's eventually going to kill him from the inside out.
So, when he sees the girl of his dreams walking ahead with her friends and the other students, her hair shining like gold once it hits the sunlight, like he'd described earlier in his mental portrayal of her, he nods his head to tell himself that he's ready and follows on, catching up with Cliff as he notifies him of his plan to ask Doreen out.