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Lex was glad that his press conference was out the way as he walked down a sterile corridor lit up by electric lights, swiping his card to gain access to a high tech laboratory. Such a shame I had to waste so much time with those reporter monkeys talking of my inevitable rise to vice-president when I had much more important matters to hand. The scientists working hard at different benches seemed to scurry about faster than before and duck their heads a little as if they feared the bald man- something he got an immense kick out of. However, he was looking for the main man heading the project and he eventually found him at the observatory chamber.
Lex joined him in watching the action from the room below, his hands behind his back. Below him were a series of eight automated robots (stolen from Star Laboratories) and Victor Stone standing in the middle of all of them, looking fearful as they towered over him. "Afternoon Dr Green, I hope you have something good to show me."
"Good afternoon Mr Luthor. I think you'll be most pleased at the progress we have made," the doctor stated confidently. He leaned over a microphone and his voice boomed over the intercom. "Start training schedule number one."
"Please! Let me out of here!" Victor screamed as he watched the robots power up, their menacing eyes glaring at him. One of them made a move towards him and swatted him like a moth, sending him across the room and slamming into the wall. A large cut could be seen through his torn T-shirt and blood poured out of the wound. Victor yelled in pain but his cry changed into one of more control. The sight before him caused Lex to step back from the glass before pressing himself closer for a better look.
Victor's whole right side of his body had morphed into metal and an eyepiece slid to cover his right eye, glowing red. It was a fearful sight. The wound on his chest had gone, fixed by the steel sheets that stretched over his skin. Another automated machine turned and started to throw a punch at him. It never managed to draw back fully before its head exploded, having been short circuited.
"How is he adapting to his new gifts?" asked Lex, as the battle continued below him. Victor found that he could no longer hack into the robots quick enough and prevent himself from being beaten to death at the same time as they had learnt from their first fallen comrade and had adapted.
"Fantastically. Within the first thirty seconds of him waking up after the procedure he managed to hack our mainframe, use his infrared vision and fire his sonic cannon. Although it was at a very low frequency so it didn't cause much damage," the doctor raved. "The only way to stop him was to unplug him and even then he figured out how to use his last remaining milliseconds of power to cry out for help. His brain is functioning at over 300% more than yours sir and he's already figuring out problems that would have taken us months."
Victor super sped and jumped over another robot, enlarging his fist and driving it down. It extended further, his whole arm traveling through the sparking electronics as he, still upside down in the air, held onto its lower half and threw the entirety of the machine against another- splitting it in half. "Very impressive. What kind of problems are we talking about here?" asked Lex.
"Well he's managed to solve that power problem in an hour, setting up an eternal power source using only a few extra wires stolen from our monitoring equipment. His mind works at least twice as fast as ours does and his cannon is far more powerful now." Cyborg successfully demonstrated this by interlocking his right limb once again and blasting another robot into ash with a loud sonic boom. The glass protecting the billionaire cracked in the corners a little.
"Is he still containable?" inquired Lex, eying the fractured glass carefully. Out of the corner of his eye his saw Victor obliterate two more robots with his electricity rockets, fired from his back.
"For now, yes. Physically, he is not strong enough to break from our grasp. However, mentally, he is still resisting," Dr Green summed up. Meanwhile, Victor formed a metallic shield to protect his face as he was showered with bullets from the remaining two robots before deflecting them skilfully straight down the barrels of the two guns, destroying them.
"What do you mean resisting, Doctor? I don't pay you to be weak," Lex warned as Cyborg formed a mighty blade with his arm and spun regally, tearing apart the final two machines, surrounded by explosions and sparks.
"We can't instal the regular chip that we have managed to insert into other projects' heads, such as Metallo's. He hacks it and destroys it before it even gets close to him. In fact he's slowing down process in dozens of other areas because of his fixation on preventing any such device entering his brain." Victor was now crouched on the floor. The metal was slowly retracting and skin returned to replace it. Finally the red eye died away and slid back into his skull, revealing a sobbing young man.
"Why are you doing this to me? Is this what I'm going to have to do for the rest of my life? Look at what I can do, I'm a monster. I shouldn't exist. Nothing like this should exist..." The man broke down, allowing several staff to strap him down and wheel him away.
Lex became stony faced. He took a deep breath and Dr Green shuddered as he noticed the light of the billionaire's eyes die away a little. "I've seen enough. You better have fixed that problem next time I see you Doctor or there will be hell to pay. Take me to Metallo," he ordered, turning and striding from the room, escorted by his body of guards.
xxXxx
Chloe and Kara walked along the sidewalk after watching Clark disappear up the street. Chloe studied her companion as she stared in every direction at her new surroundings in wonder as they went. How on Earth (ironically) do you start a conversation with an alien that has just arrived from a dead planet?
"I recognise you," Kara blurted out, breaking Chloe from her inner thoughts and setting her blue irises on the reporter's face. "A miniature version of you was trapped in a little hand held portal in the room owned by Kal, I mean Clark."
It took Chloe a couple of moments before she understood what Kara meant. "Oh, you mean a photograph right?" she laughed, despite her best attempts to conceal it.
"What is a photograph?" asked Kara as they stepped into a large department store.
"Basically, it's an image taken from a camera. It replicates everything it captures, visually of course," Chloe explained, checking on a sign where the women's clothes were located. "The one you saw in Clark's room was of our graduation. Cameras are mostly used at special events."
"What is this? It looks amazing!" cried out Kara from across the store. She had obviously got distracted and had stopped listening. Chloe poked her head around the corner to see the Maiden of Might standing with a large, crimson and very frilly bra wrapped around her hips. She looked quite proud of herself.
"Kara!" Chloe hissed, again trying to contain herself from laughing and in a slight panic- Kara was attracting a lot of attention from disapproving shoppers. The tutting was almost deafening. "That's a bra. And it's certainly not used like that!"
"Oh" Kara managed before pulling at the underwear. The elastic responded accordingly and snapped dramatically. It pinged straight into a nearby guard, who had come over to investigate. He was quite an old man and it hit him in the face.
Chloe couldn't stop herself and burst into hysterics. Crying with laughter, she grabbed Kara's hand and dragged her from the store, apologising to the man as she went. Back out onto the street, it took a few minutes before both girls had calmed down. "Ok, there's another shop about a block up so we'll just try there. This time, let me lead and we might last longer than twenty seconds."
"Yes, that is a good idea." Kara replied. "I'm sorry but it was so pretty, it looked like something that I would wear back home."
"Don't worry about it, I understand. That thing will help you to no end. They help keep your breasts in place," Chloe informed her friend, pulling down one side of her tunic to reveal a lacy blue bra.
A teenage boy stood next to them jerked his head and practically started drooling. Kara noticed him and whacked him on the top of the head, snapping him out of his trance. "Leave before I make that pain something you'll embrace as a pleasure."
"Thanks for that," said Chloe, replacing her clothing as they crossed the street, safely this time. "You'd be surprised how much of a pervert most men are nowadays. Although it can't be blamed on them too much, we are in a highly sex driven society."
"Yes, there was nothing like this on Krypton," Kara revealed, her eyes caught by an advertisement in a shop window that had a man and a woman in tight, naked, hug. "We obviously had a very different attitude towards that sort of thing. We weren't even allowed to touch each other until we were married."
"Not at all like that here. As long as a man and a woman consent to a sexual act, pretty much anything goes."
"Very interesting. And that bra idea will be so useful. It was so painful back on Krypton," Kara admitted.
"I'm surprised to be honest. You guys have got time travel, space travel and storing multitudes of information in little crystals down to an art form but none of you thought to support your 'assets,' as Lois likes to call them," Chloe grinned.
"Whose Lois?"
"My cousin and pretty much the love of Clark's life, not that she'll see that anytime soon. You'll meet her soon enough, she has a habit of making herself very well known in every room she enters," Chloe summed up as they entered another shop and headed to the women's wear. "Pick out whatever takes your fancy and I'll try get some essentials and stuff I think you'll look great in."
The pair walked about comparing articles of clothing for the next twenty minutes, passing their finds onto a shop assistant that already looked like an over used donkey. Chloe found it slightly ironic that Kara shared the same love of primary colours that her cousin did. "What about the love in your life?" Kara inquired, after watching Chloe pay for their things and leaving the shop, now heading straight for the Daily Planet.
"'Fraid it's not so simple for us mere mortals," Chloe reflected. Oddly enough, she was picturing Oliver Queen in Green Arrow's leather suit. Stop that, that's absurd. That could never happen...
"Maybe so, but I can tell you might be onto something, judging by the change in heartbeat and micro-layer of perspiration that appeared when I asked the question. Who is he? A warrior? A scientist?"
"Can I say an enigma?" Chloe smirked, knowing that it would be hard to explain her attraction to someone who she had only met once and the other she couldn't even put a proper name to.
"Only the best are," Kara reflected her grin, as they reached the steps of the building. "Are you going to work now?"
"Yeah I am. You can come if you want," Chloe offered.
"No, I'd rather not if you don't mind. I want to explore this planet a little more. I hear it has the most incredible wildlife."
"Sure, just try not to draw attention to yourself," the reporter warned. "And on a slightly more depressing note, you'll have to get a job if you want to stay here long term. Money doesn't grow on trees."
"I won't. Yes, I'll have to think about that, not sure reporting is for me," Kara turned to leave before looking back at the shorter blonde. "Thank you for everything Chloe, I feel more at home than I have in years."
"You're welcome. I'll see you later to hear how you got on and to make headway in the job search and identity creation process."
"That would be great. Goodbye," Kara finished oddly formally by human standards before she walked around to an alley and disappeared with a breath of the wind.
xxXxx
Lex had already passed hundreds upon hundreds of barred cells, their prisoners' hands stretching and crying out for his help, before he reached his final destination. He strolled into the room and took a tumbler from the cabinet, filling it with whiskey. A large glass panel basked the space in light and looking through it, views over little soldiers marching around the compound could be seen. A table that had a series of documents resting on it divided two armchairs that were angled slightly towards a plasma TV on the wall. The billionaire took a seat in one, placing his right leg over his left, sitting back, taking a sip from his drink and waited for his guest.
It didn't take long either. A door on the other side of the room opened, grabbing Lex's attention. Two guards entered first, standing either side of the door frame protectively. After them came John Corben, standing a little straighter than a normal person would. He had a blank look on his face and he didn't seem to acknowledge where he was going as he walked but kept his head still as he moved towards the seats. He sat down with his back arced unnaturally and his eyes dead. If you looked around the back of his head, you would see a little chip with a blinking green light. It pumped small doses of liquid Kryptonite and data into his brain.
"Turn the device off, I want to speak to him face to face," Lex ordered.
"Sir I don't think that's a great idea, he gets dangerous when he's unplugged-"
"I don't pay you to give me your opinion, I pay you to follow orders. Get out of my sight, all of you," Lex shouted.
The guards ducked their heads and scuttled from the room leaving the pair alone. Just as the door slammed shut, John snapped out of his trance and gasped for breath and clung onto the sides of the chair. Lex watched in amusement as the other man panicked, clutching at his chest and making incoherent cries. Finally, he decided to speak- this man's pleas to give back his life were boring him.
"Good evening Mr Corben, thank you for joining us," he welcomed, fulfilling the bizarre stereotypical behaviour of a villain.
"Lex Luthor?" Corben exclaimed, taking his first real look at his surroundings. "Why are you here? And what have you done to me?"
"Please remain calm John. I'm working for the government. You were admitted into hospital with you're ribs crushed to dust and you're internal organs melted beyond belief. It's a miracle you're alive," Lex lied, opening his folder. He held out a newspaper article for John to see. It told how a terrorist 'Superman' had attacked a military base and declared war on the country. "He took you Mr Corben and experimented on you, trying to find the ideal way to create an army for himself."
John studied his own copy. "But I don't remember any of this, only little glitches. I thought I was in a car crash."
"No, those were falsely implanted so that you wouldn't come after him. We rescued you from his lab and despite our best attempts we can't restore you," Lex went on, getting slightly into his role.
"Why me though? I've never even heard of the guy."
"He wanted to make an example of you. He's murdered everyone of your family just to prove how ruthless he really is," Lex revealed, holding out three death certificates. One for Mrs Corben and the other for his daughters.
John broke down. Lex watched in fascination as the man tore at his own face in grief before destroying the chair and smashing the TV. He towered over the bald man and his eyes glowed green, his anger heightened by the Kryptonite pumping through his veins. "I want to get revenge. I want to destroy everything he has ever loved and then fuck him over some more."
"That's what we wanted to hear Mr Corben. The White House wants him removed and I hope you are the man to help us," Lex said, holding out his hand as he looked the other man in the eyes and smirked an evil grin.
"Count me in," John replied, taking the outstretched hand. "Let's get the son of a bitch."
xxXxx
Chloe was exhausted. She had spent the afternoon chasing figures off employees of Queen Industries on the phone to confirm the stats that Oliver had given her in the interview and then was delivered the exact figures she was asking for three hours later by a courier. She was fairly certain that the billionaire had done it on purpose just to wind her up but there was nothing to prove it. So when she had been offered a drink by Steve Lombard for the thousandth time (although this one was with the whole gang) she politely declined and said she had to finish up writing the interview. While that's true, you could have done that at the office. Not so secretly, you're hoping a certain leather clad man comes flying through your window again...
Shaking her head so as to remove such thoughts, Chloe finally reached the floor of her apartment and after finding her keys in her bag, she let herself into her humble home. Everything was as it was apart from on little thing that stuck out a mile. A great green arrow was sticking out of her wall opposite to the shattered window with a little package dangling from it.
Does any hero ever respect my property? The blonde tried pulling it out with one hand and after a couple of minutes trying with more force, she had to resort to placing her feet either side of it and tugging on it with all her weight on her side before it finally came lose. Chloe collapsed in a heap as brick dust rained down all over her and she could see that the paint had cracked to make an intriguing spiderweb pattern. It must have been fired from quite a distance if it caused that much damage to my wall.
Shrugging it off, the reporter got up and dashed to her kitchen where she used a knife to make quick work of opening the package. Before her lay three items: a coffee bag, an inner earpiece radio communicator and a folded piece of paper. Most interested in the handwritten note, she took it up and read it.
ooooOoooo
Evening Sidekick,
Sorry we didn't quite make it through waffles this morning, hope you enjoyed them anyway. I thought I might take you up on that offer on giving me a hand. Hoped you'd be my eye in the sky. Ping me on the com' and we'll get started.
Your favourite Archer.
PS: the coffee is for helping you stay awake and because a little bird told me you practically live off the stuff. Enjoy!
ooooOoooo
Chloe picked up the plastic bag and let her jaw drop. In her hand was some of the most expensive coffee in the world. God, that shows how much of an addict I am. I can't believe I know that this is one of the rarest beans on the Earth without even a google search. In her hand was a five pound bag of Banco Nusso Coffee, worth a cool $2500. If the equipment and spare time that was vital to being a vigilante didn't tell her before, this told Chloe that her Emerald archer was very rich. Rich enough to blow that much money on coffee anyway. The blonde rushed over to her coffee machine, tipping out her old, now slightly insignificant pre-grounded coffee, and quickly grounded the new beans. The smell had her taste buds craving for that unique sensation and after the water had finished boiling, she poured herself a mug. She didn't bother soaking into it but instead took a long swig. My god, that's good stuff. I could get used to this...
It was almost enough of a distraction to take her away from the final item of the care package. Mentally slapping herself, she dashed back over to the pile and took up the earpiece; feeling half badass, half stupid and half exhausted. A little bleep told her that she had successfully turned it on. She walked over to her stereo, put on the album All our Favourite Stories by Dog is Dead as background music and then turned to the window before eventually gathering the courage to actually say something.
"Hello? Green Arrow?" she spoke nervously, feeling ridiculous.
"Nice of you to drop in, Sidekick," replied a distorted voice.
"That was quick, have you got nothing better to do than wait by the phone for my call?" Chloe joked.
"What can I say? When a beautiful woman says she will, who am I to turn that down," came back the Green Arrow.
"I never said I would call you, I only offered to help. And, to be honest, I can't see how I'm going to do that from my little cosy apartment," she said.
"I've already thought of that. Look on your windowsill," the modern day Robin Hood instructed her.
"There's nothing there," Chloe said, wondering how she missed whatever the hero was talking about.
"Look on the one I was hanging off this morning," he added. She could hear his grin, even with the distorter.
"I can't believe my cousin didn't see you," Chloe admitted as she walked around to the next window. There was a brand new, top of the range, Mango Laptop resting on the bare brick. "Woah, you don't do things by half, do you? First the coffee, then this."
"You like it?"
"What can I say? I'm almost on my second cup already and I've wanted one of these since the press conference where Mr Ognam revealed it. Thank you but you really didn't have to. The only thing I'm wondering is why this didn't end up with the rest of the booty?" Chloe speculated, a grin on her face. I feel like a High school girl on the phone to her crush...
"Didn't want to risk smashing such an expensive piece of tech. Don't want to destroy my guardian angel's laptop before she got her hands on it, seems too wasteful even for me."
"Smart thinking Quick Silver," Chloe falsely congratulated, "Still managed to fail to think of saving said angel's brickwork by leaving the rest of the items with the computer instead of dangling on an arrow though."
There was silence on the other end for a moment and a smile spread across Chloe's face, enjoying having the upper hand. "Yeah sorry about that, didn't think it through," he admitted, his voice dropping slightly so he sounded like a young boy who had just been scolded.
Chloe laughed as the idea of a skilled and deadly vigilante being scared of a petite blonde who wouldn't go near a spider out of fear. "Don't worry about it. Believe me, I've dealt with much worst from other heroes. You all seem to have an acute sense of drama about whatever you do. Is it in the contract you're forced to sign when you decide to don the tights?"
"They're not tigh-" the Green Arrow started to protest but decided against it. He already knew it was a battle he would never win. "Did you manage to log on ok?"
Chloe was now sat down on the sofa with her legs tucked underneath her, the laptop resting on her thighs. "Yeah I did but I'm definitely changing my login name. Did you seriously think I'd be ok with Arrow'sGirl?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice actually," the Emerald Archer confessed cheekily.
"I don't think you'd want me as your sidekick if I failed to see that," Chloe retorted.
"Are you saying you're my sidekick now?" he asked, tongue in cheek.
"Certainly not. Do you see me getting sweaty in leather any time soon?" Chloe retorted.
"It can certainly be arranged," the Green Arrow shouted down the line. Stop thinking about her clad in leather lingerie and focus on the landing. Chloe could hear the sound of the wind and the buzz of a zip line rippling out in the background. "Do you get how it all works?"
"Seems simple enough. A red dot shows me where a crime is happening, I relay it to you and once you're done kicking ass then I dispatch a call to the cops," Chloe summed up. The glow of the laptop brightened as a little green dot pooped up on the map. "Oh, there you are."
"Green Arrow online," came the distorted voice. Chloe tried to ignore the rush of hearing the metallic sounds and the associations of danger and carnal attraction that went with it. "Where's first class of the day Professor?"
"Mugging, 72nd street, Bulmer's Avenue, go Arrow," Chloe informed him. She listened to the flick of the zip line and the brief scuffle before and another hard landing confirmed his return to the rooftops. "What is it with you and nicknames anyway?"
"Firstly, it's much safer this way- don't want to use real names on the air. Secondly, you should be flattered, I only do it for the cute ones," Green Arrow complimented his companion.
"Stop flirting Arrow. Start shooting straight or this professor will finish class early. And didn't you christen yourself with the name, you narcissistic dog. Car Jacking one block up to your right," Chloe said, blushing just a tad.
"You know," the Emerald Archer panted, free running across buildings to get to the crime, "I should call you light house. I mean you do show me the way: watching out for me in the little tower block of apartments."
"No chance. While you might have the same charm as a scurvy hound, there's no chance of me spending my evenings guiding pirates."
"Shame," he grunted, punching out the jacker. "I'm sure it will come to me."
"Can't I think of my own? Shootout at 75th street."
"On it. I personally think you wouldn't give yourself an epic enough name. Far too modest for that. I think I'd do a much better job," he boasted, the humour pouring through his voice despite the distorter.
"I'm sure you would. Coming from the man who dreamt up with the Green Arrow, who am I to turn that down?" Chloe teased. She pulled up the CCTV footage of the street her hero was on and watched him at work. With the gunmen firing at him now, he shot an arrow in a fire hydrant which exploded on impact. The road and it's occupants, who were distracted by the sound and turned to look, were all soaked in water. Meanwhile, the hooded vigilante zip lined out of the liquid's range and shot a second electric arrow down. All the criminals shook as the current ran through them and finally collapsed into a deep slumber. Chloe had to tip her hat to his handy work. It was impressive stuff. "Nice moves you've got there, Quick Silver."
"Thanks sidekick. They say behind every great man is a pushy woman," The Green Arrow laughed.
"Hey, I think that's a little harsh," Chloe responded.
"You're right. At least you've got all night to prove me wrong, LightHouse."
"And you've got all night to think of a better codename..."
xxXxx
Author's Note: Hello again everyone! Thank you so much for the follows and favourites of my story since last time I posted. Your support means everything to me. This is my longest chapter to date and I even had to cut it short to get it out on time. Still, it managed to slowly build up more of Metallo and Lex along with the character of Victor Stone and some very important issues with him. We also saw Chloe meet Kara and that was so much fun to write and we finally witnessed a Green Arrow patrol first hand. His and Chloe's relationship will certainly be something I'll explore in the next chapter. That and what the Daily Planet crew get up to after work and maybe the return of the elusive Dark Knight. It's all getting very exciting in my eyes at least.
On to my favourite people: reviewers. Thank you very much JamesTKent and hollywoodwiz (Love your stories btw), the support is greatly appreciated. To 'Guest,' I'm so happy that you are pleased when I post and I hope this bit of Kara/Chloe goodness will quench that thirst for you! Onto, Flpirate305. What you wrote was genuinely the nicest thing I've ever read on this site and I even showed my family what you wrote because it really touched me. I love writing Lois and Clark as I think they have such a great balance on the show and I was glad you enjoyed it. Too say it was flawless was far too kind. I have not managed to see MOS yet as it has been so sunny here I haven't wanted to go to the cinema and I've been babysitting about 6/7 nights for the last fortnight! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the Kara/Chloe friendship and Chlollie lives up to your expectations.
Thanks again to everyone who has read and reviewed my story and you guys deserve a prize for reading my ramblings for this long! Anyway, it's one in the morning here and I need to hit the hay. See you next time! Cheers!