Welcome back everyone, I'm sorry for the delay but please take the time to review as it helps me to write and I really appreciate all comments on my work. Cheers!
Lex was exhausted, his running his hand over his face emphasising that fact. It had been busy day; what with the announcement of his run for vice presidency; dealing with Clark Kent and reviewing the progress of Metallo. But he had to stay up for the most important thing of the day. He had to remain awake for the report on what happened at the bank.
As if the deities had been listening to his thoughts, the phone on his desk rang. Lex span in his chair, sweeping the handset of the oak surface in a fluid motion and put the speaker to his air as he stopped facing the expansive view of nighttime Metropolis. "I hope you have good news Carter," he opened with.
"The operation was a success. Your funds only lost around $15,000 tonight, a sum much smaller than we expected," Carter began.
"I don't care about the money Carter, talk to me about the target," Lex interrupted, raising his voice. He didn't care for his fortune now he had this new fixation.
"The target arrived as expected and it quickly became clear that he wasn't after any of money, despite its vulnerable position. In fact, he sealed the door back on to prevent any more from spilling out."
"Did he leave his insignia?" Lex asked, his interest piqued.
"Yes, roughly six feet by five feet in size and displaying the same symbol that adorns his chest. We've already taken samples to the lab and might have some results by morning."
"That's not good enough Carter. I want the report on my desk guaranteed and the vault door delivered to the facility by morning," Lex ordered angrily.
"Certainly sir. Furthermore, the target ignored members of the press and their questions. He stated he didn't want fame or money but just to make the citizens of Metropolis safe."
"Interesting. And did you make sure that any quotations they collected will not be printed tomorrow and any evidence proving the event even happened at all will be destroyed?"
"Yes sir, nothing but your announcement to run for vice presidency will run on the front page tomorrow," Carter promised his boss.
"Excellent. Is there anything else you wish to tell me Carter?"
"No, nothing sir," Carter finished before pausing. "What do you think his intentions-"
"-I don't pay you to hypothesise with me Carter. I pay you to do my bidding and unless you get everything I ask you to do done by tomorrow morning, you will be nothing but an inconvenient sack of meat and skin to me that I have to dispose of. Do you understand?" Lex interrupted and threatened.
"Received and understood sir. Good night," Carter whimpered before hanging up.
Lex placed the receiver back on its handset and rose from his chair to pour himself a scotch. What does Superman want? There's no one on Earth who doesn't want power, money and maybe fame. There has to be a hidden agenda. One thing is certain, he will bring this great city nothing but trouble. Distracting them from what is important in their lives, making them feel inferior. The press were ready to print him on the front page despite the fact that Lex Luthor, a man from their own city, was running for vice presidency. Have they forgotten everything I've done for this great Metropolis? It's time to end this nonsense. I need to speak to him.
Lex turned suddenly to grab at his telephone once again but stopped as his doors opened and Lana Lang entered once again. "Hey darling, how are you doing?" She asked quietly, in low and sexual tones. The girl from Smallville was dressed in dark purple lingerie, carefully covered up by a woollen shawl that didn't actually hide very much.
"I'm Ok honey, bit tired," Lex's demeanour completely changed as he put on the mask that he had mastered. It was one of love and affection, something he had never felt in his short life, and it had become so convincing, it had become one of the reasons Lana had married him. It was how he had beaten Clark Kent to the girl of his dreams.
Are you going to ask me how I am? Lana made her way over to her husband before perching on his desk and kissing him. "Come to bed then, I promise to make it worth your while."
Lex couldn't help but admire his wife in the sexy underwear but he had other things on his mind. His patience had grown thin and he needed to take action now. "I'd love to honey but I have to make one last conference call to China before I hit the hay," Lex explained, purposely using the lovey dovey language that his companion loved. "I promise I'll be no more than twenty minutes, I'll see you in there."
"Ok," Lana replied, slinking back off the desk and making her way towards the glass doors once again. "I'll see you in there. Don't keep me waiting," she winked and dropped her shawl on the ground as a reminder to her husband of what he had been missing.
Lex realised that he should probably make more of an effort with his wife. They hadn't been together for months. This was quickly swept aside as he reached for his phone once more and dialled. "Yes, it's Luthor, give me Dr Ryan," Lex instructed, tapping on his desk with his fingers as he waited to be patched through.
"What can I do for you Mr Luthor?" Asked an anxious Dr Ryan. He hoped that the earlier meeting with Metallo had satified his boss enough so that he didn't hear from him in a while. Apparently not.
"Prepare Metallo for launch, I want him to be operational by noon tomorrow," Lex commanded.
After a brief moments hesitation, the doctor responded. "He's too dangerous. He's unpredictable. There's no telling what he would do if anything went wrong."
"I don't care," Lex slowed down as he emphasised the point. "Can you make it happen or will there be an error in Metallo's computer chip that will result in the death of your wife?"
"It's possible, Mr Luthor," admitted a deflated voice on the other end. Lex smiled.
"Let's get to work then."
Three hours later, Lex opened the door to his bedroom that was hidden behind many of the doors in his office. A sleeping Lana lay on one side and once he had stripped himself of his suit and donned some clothes more associated with rest, he joined her. She didn't stir but the billionaire noticed that she had got changed out of her lingerie and into sweatpants and a t-shirt. She had obviously given up, seeing that she wasn't his priority right now. Shame that it was unlikely she ever would be again.
xxXxx
Chloe woke to the smell of waffles and coffee and immediately knew something was wrong. She sat bolt upright and listened, half hoping that the Green Arrow had returned to make her breakfast again but instead was treated to Whitesnake. Pulling back the covers and dropping from her slightly heightened bed (the petite blonde liked the feeling of jumping into comfort at night), Chloe shuffled across her room and peered around her door.
Lois stood at the breakfast bar, fully dressed and ready for action, serving up the last of a small batch of waffles. She turned towards the bedroom door and grinned at her cousin, who had a look of shock on her face. "Morning sleepy head, fancy some waffles?"
"What are you doing Lois?" asked Chloe, stepping into the kitchen and rubbing her gluey eyes. She felt slightly underdressed in a baggy tank top and bottoms next to her cousin in stilettos and a dress to kill. At seven am, it was impressive: especially for Lois. Despite growing up as an army brat- she had always struggled with early mornings.
"Making waffles. Is that alright with you?"
"Yeah of course," Chloe managed in reply, perching on one of the bar stools than adorned the kitchen's breakfast bar. "It's just I'm normally the one making breakfast while you lie in bed practically hosting a morning talk show with yourself as the only guest."
Lois slid a plate of waffle and assorted fruit along the smooth bar and Chloe almost missed it as it sped across the surface. "Hey, most of the guys I date say it's adorable."
"Apart from the poor bloke you dumped mid slumber," Chloe laughed at the memory of the hunky policeman leaving in anger while Lois slept on.
"If your subconscious decides to let someone go, he probably wasn't the one." Lois mused, taking a bite of her own breakfast. "Moving away from my love life, who's got you smiling this morning? Better not be Queen. Not sure Uncle Sam would approve of your playboy boyfriend."
"What do you mean what's got me smiling? I'm perfectly pleasant in the morning," Chloe defended herself, trying weakly to move the conversation away from Oliver Queen and her love life that was completely taken by a certain Emerald Archer.
"Chloe I love you, but you never smile in the morning until you have had caffeine pumping through your veins for at least ten minutes. And I recognise your smitten face from the sickening look you had after dating Photoboy for all of a month. You fall in love fast but never fully shown it and I demand to know who the lucky man is," Lois ranted incessantly.
"That's Jimmy you're talking about and I'd watch it if I were you, he's the only photographer who'll work with you after a year working at the Planet," Chloe warned.
"That's true," Lois mused, "none of them are willing to rush into danger as much as I am."
"I think Jimmy's more scared of how you would react if he refused to accompany Mad Dog Lane rather than any scenario you would eventually drag him into," Chloe teased, drawing a mock shock look from Lois. Everything suddenly clicked for the blonde. "Superman! That's why you're up early. You don't want to miss him again."
Lois' mouth dropped open to defend herself before closing it. "Guess that's why they say you're one of the best. I just don't want to miss the scoop of the century that's all."
"You know I'm the best, there's no need to prove it," Chloe smirked picking up her now empty plates and balancing it carefully on the rest of the dishes dumped in the sink. The cousins were too busy to be domestic goddesses. "Very professional of you," she turned back to her roommate and stared her right in the eyes, "it's got nothing to do with the date that he took you on Sunday?"
For the first time in a long time, Chloe saw Lois blush as she also put her plate on the stack. "How did this turn from my interrogation to being questioned myself?"
"She finally admits she does interrogate us," Chloe cried happily. It had been something they had bickered about since time began.
"Don't start that up again," Lois warned lightly. "So it turns out even little cuz isn't immune to the Queen charm, despite insisting that you didn't like him and never would."
"I don't like Oliver Queen and his charm is none existent," lied Chloe, to herself and to Lois.
"Then where were you when we all went for drinks last night? You're not one to miss it, even if it is just to look after me. Were you with him?"
"No," the blonde replied quickly, vaguely telling the truth. She moved into her room to collect clothes that she would dress herself in after her morning shower. "I was here."
"I can tell you're lying Chloe, don't deny it," Lois smirked.
"Okay okay, he was cute. Ruggedly handsome in a way I'm not normally into. But do you seriously think I'd be the kind of girl to sleep with him after one night?" Chloe glared at her fellow reporter, defying her to continue with her implications. It was a look that had become feared across the political spectrum in Metropolis.
"No of course not. You would never let him do that. But he might just be the bit of fun you need. A fling just to shake you to the core," Lois winked, "just harmless, dangerous and attractive people coming together with little or no control over the future of the relationship."
Chloe thought of the Green Arrow and almost laughed. Lois had described the hole they had dug themselves into. He did shake her to the core; but when you can't even put a name nor a face to the man who dominated your thoughts and made you feel properly alive for the first time in a long time, it doesn't bode well for the relationship. "No chance Lois."
"Fine, but don't get jealous when Superman comes and sweeps me off my feet. Blue eyes to kill and a six pack and bulge to rock my world!" Lois laughed as her cousin shifted around her to get to the bathroom.
Lucky Clark... "I need a shower just to wash the dirty thoughts off me," Chloe joked, opening the door.
"You'll still ask for all of the details later," Lois teased. "I'll see you at work later."
Chloe sighed in relief as she rested her head on the back of the door, listening to her best friend and closest relative leave. Why is it so much easier to lie about aliens than it is about the man you're really into?
xxXxx
An hour and a half later, Chloe was washed, dressed and made up and was making her way out the lift to meet Clark. She had had time to quickly produce a birth certificate and held it out to him without saying anything to him. The farm boy turned reporter looked at it briefly before hugging his best friend. "Morning, you ok?"
"Are you trying to tell me something Clark?" Chloe asked, her right eyebrow taking to the skies.
"No, it's just with all my rushing about I sometimes forget to make sure the people I love are ok. And you look really tired," Clark defended himself.
"I'm good thanks, just didn't get to sleep last night. Tossing and turning," Chloe summed up, as they rounded the corner and ducked into the coffee shop she went in nearly every morning. The petite blonde practically kept it running.
"Oliver Queen keeping you up?" Clark laughed, knowing that it was unlikely.
"Have you been speaking to Lois?" Chloe questioned, slightly worried by how transparent she seemed to be.
"No. Don't tell me she's asking the same questions as me," Clark rebuffed.
"What do you think? It's Lois we're talking about," Chloe shot back, before ordering her favourite coffee and a black coffee for Clark. "She was talking a lot about Superman though. Even got up early to see him." Chloe turned back to her best friend, leant against the barista's bar and winked at him. "How is the man struggling to compete?"
"I'm fine," Clark glowered, slightly annoyed at the reminder that Lois preferred his alter-ego rather than himself. "I've got something to talk to you about that actually."
"Ok, let's just get this order in and then I'll help you out. I'm dying for some caffeine; I haven't had any for at least an hour."
"Maybe that's why you're not sleeping," Clark suggested, reaching out and taking the coffee off the barista that had just called him to collect it.
"Along with the million other things that bounce around at the speed of light in my head all night long," Chloe countered, reiterating her argument that she had given to countless of people that had tried to help her combat her insomnia. It was a shame she couldn't tell most of them that it was late nights working for Superheroes that actually kept her awake at night, never mind the fact that she constantly analysed matters in bed anyway. "Even if they invented a patch to cure the caffeine addiction, I'd still drink this liquid gold."
"There's no doubting that," Clark agreed as the walked out the shop and up the road towards their workplace.
"How are you anyway? Everything going alright?"
"Yeah, Clark Kent couldn't be better. It's Superman who I'm worried about," Clark said, his forehead creasing up.
Remember when you were weirdly into that look? Chloe shock herself from her nostalgic thoughts. That's what those feelings are, old news... "Wow you're really taking this duel identity to heart aren't you?"
"Something about protecting the people I love. I'm sure you've heard it before," Clark grinned.
"What's wrong then?"
"After I took Lois back to your place, I stopped a bank robbery. Only I didn't really have to stop anything. There was no one trying to take the money apart from a few homeless people. No criminal activity apart from the explosives that exposed a ridiculous amount of money. Then I was ambushed by every member of the press apart from the Daily Planet, forcing all kinds of questions about fame and money on me. But I checked this morning, there's nothing. No one has written a thing about Superman, the bank or anything. It's as though someone was testing Superman; trying to see if he's as honourable as he claims to be," Chark finished, just as they made there way through the doors of the Daily Planet.
"I promise I'll look into it. It sounds suspicious; someone's trying to set you up," Chloe offered, counting up the long list of things she had to do that day in her head. It was starting to get a little long for her liking. Walking up to the reception, the pair pressed their press passes onto the reader to log themselves into work and Chloe smiled at the gay man that stood in front of her. "Morning Lou, how's it going?"
"I'm top, as always. What's got Lois up so early? When I saw her this morning I thought I'd taken one of those funny pills again..." Lou laughed.
"I think Superman's on the mind," Chloe answered cryptically. "Any memos for us?"
"Not for you, just the normal deadline for the Queen piece. Mr Kent's been called up to the Chief's office. Is Oliver as cute as the pictures preach?"
"Do you know what it abo-?" Clark started but was interrupted by Lou placing his hand on the mild mannered reporter's jacket and continuing his stare at Chloe.
"I wouldn't know Lou," Chloe smiled, knowing that her vague answer would drive Lou mad.
"Why is it that you're the only person in this building that I don't know anything about and won't give me anything juicy; especially someone like Queen," Lou mock moaned.
"If I did I don't think you'd talk to me anymore," Chloe laughed as she walked away towards the lift.
"How was Chief when he called for me?" a nervous Clark asked.
"Let's just say he's already into double figures on the Caesar's Ghost front," Lou joked, turning away to return to whatever he was doing.
Clark took a deep breath and ran forward for the lift.
xxXxx
Chloe had just arrived in her office and booted her computer up when she got the call. It wasn't a number she or her phone recognised, which was odd, but that didn't stop her from answering without hesitating. "Good morning you're speaking to Chloe Sullivan at the Daily Planet." Unlike her cousin, Chloe liked to think her answer was professional and friendly.
"Very formal Chloe," came a young man's voice from the end. "It's hot."
Chloe gave a fake laugh. It was Craig- her contact at the lab that she had flirted with in order to get the Green Arrow's hair sample back faster. "Morning Craig, how are you?"
"All the better from hearing your voice sweet cheeks," sneered Craig from the opposite end of the line. Chloe was struggling to hold back from calling him a pig.
"Is there any reason that you called or are you just doing a very good job at distracting me from my job?" Chloe falsely flirted.
"I got the feeling that you wanted a certain set of results back as soon as possible when we spoke yesterday," Craig teased, relishing holding something over her head.
"Have you got the results?" Chloe asked directly. She was bored of him already and was not prepared to take his bullshit any longer.
"I wanted to ask you why you are getting this hair sample tested?"
"What happened to patient/doctor confidentiality?" Chloe fired back, her brain scrambling for an answer.
"I'm not a doctor and that definitely isn't how this works. Just tell me Chloe," Craig answered. His voice seemed false, like he was playing with her.
"He broke into my house and I'm trying to find out who it is," Chloe lied, slightly.
"I highly doubt that considering who it is," Craig laughed. Now Chloe was really getting annoyed.
"Tell me Craig, this isn't funny," Chloe warned.
"I have to put something down on the charts."
"He's the Wizard of Oz and I went all the way down the yellow brick road just to find out who he really is," Chloe replied sarcastically.
"Fine, my shredder hasn't been used in a while," Craig drawled.
"I slept with him," Chloe shot out before she had really thought it through. "It was a one night stand. I was very drunk and I was hoping to find out who he was."
"Oh," Craig managed. He sounded disappointed. There was a pause. "Well in that case I won't ask you out then."
Chloe steeled herself against the implication and gritted her teeth. "Who is he Craig?" she ground out.
"I didn't mean it like that, don't worry. We all have itches to scratch," Craig apologised, back to his cocky self.
"His name Craig."
"You're never gonna look at a bloke like me again after this."
"His name dammit," Chloe shouted down the phone.
"The hair was a 99% match with Star City's Most eligible bachelor, although you could say Metropolis' man now," Craig mused.
"I don't read that crap Craig, just give me his name," Chloe managed, struggling to contain herself.
"I feel like I'm a gameshow host," Craig started but quickly stopped at the sound of Chloe breathing in quickly to attack him verbally again. "Your man's called Oliver Queen. Only the best for you Sullivan."
Chloe almost dropped her phone. "Goodbye Craig," she forced out in an almost whisper as she hung up. Her Green Arrow was Oliver Queen...
Suddenly the room lit up and what seemed to be the world's whole supply of glass flew across the room. Luckily Chloe had been standing in frustration while talking to Craig and had slumped against her metal filing cabinet in shock at hearing the news. It had protected her from the deadly shards. She moved rapidly to see a man flying above the wreckage of the building opposite which was engulfed in green fire. He radiated the colour and his voice appeared to be amplified.
"Superman. Try and stop me as I tear the city which you supposedly love so much apart in revenge for what you did to me and my family." Not that Chloe knew this fully, but Metallo had arrived.
xxXxx
Author's note: Hello everyone and thank you for waiting. You have been very patient and I really am grateful for it. I had an awful case of writer's block and I'm trying to cram all my summer work into a very short space of time! But I'm back now...
I hope you enjoy this chapter. Lex is slowly becoming the villain we know and love/hate and what a morning it's been for Chloe. From some gentle banter with her room mate to finding out the identity of the Green Arrow. Not to mention almost being killed by Metallo! Yes, he's finally arrived but I'm afraid it may be a while before we see some real Supes/Metallo brawling. I am awful to you guys I know...
Onto the people I love: reviewers! Anne, thank you so much for reviewing. I'm sorry for the wait but at least Chloe knows who her man is now. A little Chlollie might have to wait but when it comes, it'll be fantastic as the couple is so strong. Flpirate30, oh my god, you are amazing. Two reviews of ridiculous length. You spoil me! Don't worry about rl as it's creeping up on me too. Doesn't it know we have other things to do! haha thank you again for the support and the time you take to write your reviews. Sorry about the irony, I can't help it- I'm English haha Thank you for recognising Oliver is a human and Chloe is going to be a massive help in his development in becoming the best hero he can. You're welcome for the shout out, I felt as though you deserved it! It's certainly hotting up. Moving on, I loved America and i would love to live there one day. Where abouts? It was a big culture shock in loads of weird ways haha and you guys LOVE the accent :) I have a feeling Ollie's had a bit of practise at being caught ;) Lot's more to come don't worry. And finally, Davrosfan, thank for the support and what we have been talking about is being worked on so don't worry. I am super busy atm, sorry!
If anyone has any suggestions for other stories or what you would like to see in this one then please let me know! Other than that, thank you for your time and support and I hope to see you soon. Cheers!