Ah, now undoubtedly you remember the unbreakable vision of the meteor teen. Chloe would jump from the dam, Shadow would be overlooking and a 'tall man she was close with' would also be present.

I suppose now it's time to find out if Chloe meets her fate...

Chapter Forty One; Fate

She waited for what seemed like hours. Pieces were flying freely inside her head, just hoping for that one important clue that dignified all her ideas. It never came, but as 2am arrived she had street clothes on, leant against the bedroom wall hoping to god this would not be the end. But it had to happen, her future was ahead of her and she could not stop living it for fear. It was her fault Metropolis was in terror. The death toll loomed over her head. The voices and whispers of tears from the lost ones were tormenting her existence, could she even go on with this guilt?

Oliver shifted in his sleep and her head whipped around to him. The folded paper in her hands weighed tonnes, but she couldn't just leave him without any explanation. To wake to an empty bed after those last few hours with him. No. He deserved some reasoning. If she could wander back to him before he arose he would be none the wiser about any of her trials, but if she was claimed by the dark abyss of death… as much as it hurt her to think it, he needed more than just a kiss goodbye. Sighing, she dropped her head back against the wall again. Her prayers streamed to any higher entity that would listen. Bring her home safely. Bring her back to Oliver. At that moment it was all she wanted.

Sheets shuffled as Oliver turned over, he looked so lost in the bliss of dreams, un-aware of her actions. God, she loved him. It ached so much to feel like that, but it was the truth.

"Chloe?" A muffled search slipped from Oliver's sleepy lips as he found a lack in an extra body beside him. Chloe cursed silently and slipped the paper into her back pocket as she slid over to him. He was experiencing the start of a panic attack and seconds from dialling everyone he knew for her. "Chloe." His eyes landed on her and she pulled a smile in the darkness. His arms reached out and flickered on the bedside lamp. She turned her eyes away from the sharp interruption to her previously dark adjusted eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked, shuffling to a sitting position and swinging from the bed for her. "You alright?" She stepped back before his arms could reach her and pull her to his embrace. The hurt was clear. "Chloe? You're alright. You're safe, it was just-" he broke off from his nightmare soothing duties as he took in her sight. "You're dressed." The tone came as more of an accusation than even he intended.

What was she going to say? He wasn't meant to wake. He wasn't meant to see her. Not like this. Not with tears in her eyes and his gentle heart forming doubts in her mind.

She knew he could numb the pain of the guilt for the lives she was accountable for. She knew just one kiss would ease her worries about the future. A whisper of a caressing word by her ear and she would believe they would find a way to fix all of their troubles, present and future. He would make her whole again but the second he was more than a step away the black clouds would descend and she would be a playground of fears again. She couldn't go back to that again.

She picked up her mental backbone from the floor and pulled it straight. The headaches were haunting again, whether it was Brainiac's revenge, or just high emotions, she didn't know, but either way she felt the pulsing inside her temporal lobes making each word harder than it must be.

"Go back to sleep Oliver." she whispered. The words cut at him with the dismissal in the tone. His own doubts played, but he rejected any submission to them. Not after what progress they had made. She couldn't drop him like this for fear of loving him. He knew she'd freak out from the words when the settled, he knew it would take time for her to adjust to them being her everything, but this was ridiculous. She was running away from him. Did loving him scare her that much?

"Jesus Chloe. What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped, his anger dominant from his wild running thoughts. How would she understand his feelings? How would she understand anything if she didn't stay? How would she ever know how much he needed her? It angered him further when she shuffled back again, staying silent. "Do you really need to run away? Does the thought of being with me forever scare you that much?" Her silence couldn't withstand the insult.

"No. no. I swear it's not. I love you Oliver."

"So the change of clothes in the middle of the night was an exercise good for the soul then?" he snapped again. He took another step and she backed again, finding herself closer to the wall again. Don't get boxed in, she warned herself and knowing she needed Oliver calmed. She couldn't wait another day and have more people killed just because Oliver was awake, but she couldn't risk him coming after her, it could seal her fate, or destroy everything all together. "Damn it Chloe. I'm not going to hurt you." he hissed when she stepped aside, further from him. The lamp's light bathed her in a golden glow. His angel, his demon, his love and his pain, she was everything and she was walking from his life.

"Oliver. Please-"

"No. Chloe, tell me. Talk to me." When she didn't say anything he cursed under his breath and his hands had caught her, his body moving against so she was pinned against the wall. She didn't fight him, refused even to look at him. "Chloe…" The anger was gone with the sharp movement, all that was left and loaded in the whisper of her name was the hurt she had caused. His hands turned gentle, their rough pads lifting her chin. The bed warmed skin flowed heat through her numb cold body. "You're freezing." he spoke in a reserved hushed tone. But it was him that froze as their eyes connected. "Chloe." Fear.

She'd be lying if she said she expected her eyes to be their own colour, she had felt the effects of the Brainiac ghost before she had got dressed. Now they seemed to be feeding from her headaches and emotions and drove silver through her irises. "Your eyes…" His lips stayed parted, the shock trailing his words off. "But Brainiac-" Again he failed to finish, this time it was Chloe's choice and she pressed her body against his, her lips connecting and joining them again. She felt his hesitancy in his stiff shape, felt the revelation sundering his energy and enthusiasm. The confusion didn't wear off, but his spirit came back and he pulled her closer in his arms. Maybe it was the fright of losing her, maybe the solid confidence she pushed into him, but he wouldn't let her go. His lips fought back, tasting her full potency and begging for more. She melted to him, yielding to his love. Her hips bumped against the bedside table, her hand stabilizing her against it for another of the wild rocky stops made as they crossed to the bed. But as she cradled above him on the bedspread he felt her grow cold again, emotionally and literally.

"I love you Ollie." she whispered, her forehead rested again his.

Why then, when the words sounded like such passionate declaration did he sense a goodbye?

A tear splashed down onto his cheek and a sharp prick stabbed at his neck. "I'm sorry." she whimpered, another tear hitting again as he felt himself fading.

"Chloe?" The panic rising and claiming his voice wasn't lost to her. But he could do nothing to fight it. He felt himself slipping from reality as she sobbed.

The sedative sat empty and abandoned on the floor.

A folded white paper of her font waiting on her pillow.

A kiss lingering on his still lips as he breathed in sleep.

With one last look Chloe wiped under her wet eyes and left behind all her love. A job had to be done.

Tess rose from her car as she saw Chloe emerge. It was no shock to find her eyes reddened from crying; Tess knew.

"Everything go as planned?" Tess asked as Chloe stepped closer, the flat pumps silent on the ground. Her own heels stabbed loud against the night as she closed the distance.

"Not quite, but I handled it." Tess rose an eyebrow but said nothing. She trusted Chloe. Trusted her enough to believe in her orders. Proof was in the briefcase grasped in her left hand. "That it?" Chloe's eyes fell to the case.

"You are aware of what this does, correct?"

"Yes." Chloe simply answered. The case was handed over. Chloe popped it open on the hood of Oliver's speed demon of a baby. His keys sat heavily in her pocket. "Lab test; Six Alpha." Chloe stated, her fingers running over the small glass vial.

"Injected or drunk." Tess answered before Chloe could ask. "At best you have 4 hours." Chloe flipped her eyes up to Tess, not expecting her full co-operation knowing this.

"You know what this does?"

"I made it my personal mission to find all the skeletons Lex tried to bury." Tess simply answered. "I know what will likely happen if you take that. Let it stand I actively encourage you to not take that, but I've seen you do amazing things Chloe and I trust you enough to believe that you know what you're doing." Chloe felt a relief over her. She snapped the case closed again and shuffled it into the passenger seat. Chloe paused as she pulled open the driver's door.

"You'll take care of Oliver?" She had to know. If the worst came to the worst…

Tess smiled solemnly.

"Of course." She inclined her head knowingly of the affection she carried. Chloe let a false joy roam her face for a fleeting second before she started the car and sped past Tess before her mind could change.

Her hands shook against the wheels, tightening as every light stopped her journey. Would Oliver ever forgive her? Would she meet her end tonight? Would she even put a scratch on the man haunting her dreams? Was this all for nothing?

"No." she repeated again aloud. Her voice seemed the only break in the ever flowing quiet of night. The car the only traffic of her journey.

With another glance to the ace in the passenger seat she decided to focus on something else. Anything else.

Pushing her mind in the direction of Dinah she thought of the ecstasy she would be feeling. Finally she would have cracked through Batman's solid armour and stolen every whispered word. She would be over the moon with glee. She'd probably barrel into the apartment or ring her mobile absurdly early in order to share her happiness.

Chloe's mood hollowed again. There was always the chance her mobile lay unanswered. That Dinah was met by Oliver's worried interrogation rather than a friendly female ear.

"No!" she hissed again, her knuckles blanching as she tightened her grip further. Not now, not like this. She had Oliver. God, he'd be so pissed when he woke to find her gone. The pained expression would be there again. Her heart thumped in agony just thinking about it.

Change the topic, she reminded herself as she drew further from metropolis.

Lois.

Lois would be cuddled in her bed, Clark would be holding her close. Either that or he'd be speeding around the world desperately wanting back to her. Chloe pulled up her lips into a smile, her eyes seeing a happy future in the bleak darkness of the minor city roads as the lights decreased in number around her. She wondered what Lois would be like as a mother. Probably stressed out with a balance of over-loving. Clark would have his hands full juggling a wife, kids, a job and an alter ego, but she knew he'd love every second of it.

Unable to halt the process her own mind wandered stray.

Her mind's eye saw an apartment door open and Oliver bustling through. He'd dump all his work stuff down at the door, instantly forgetting it in favour of Chloe. She'd be wrapped in his arms, breath stolen by a fiery kiss that still held a time-proof passion. A baby bouncing on her hip, another toddler running circles around her ankles who would collide with his father's leg and demand to be picked up. Oliver would love it. He'd tell her how he'd thought about coming home all day, that work was not worth his time, that he'd missed her ever since he left their bed that morning. She'd be surrounded by love bigger than she had ever imagined.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds, forcing the picture perfect possibility from her mind and pouring all energy into the road ahead. Soon she saw the last chance to turn around.

Before her, she spotted the first sight of Smallville dam.

Fight?

…Or flight?

Chloe steeled her nerves. Fight. She must. Stop the war. Stop the hate. Stop the guilt of the millions adding to the killer headache. As cliché as it seemed, she knew she was the only hope.

She sat in the car atop Smallville dam. It was a beautiful place to be… when it didn't hold the possibility of being your last stage. The sound of the water drown out most errant thoughts and she felt her mind clear.

Now or never Chloe, she reminded herself and cast her eyes around. Her fingers toyed with the bangle on her wrist, the silver wrap elegantly shaped and crafted with the finely ground dust of green meteor rocks for that extra shimmer. Insurance against Clark. As much as it felt like betrayal, it was the only way she could know she would stay undisturbed.

Her eyes focussed into the dark night again. Would shadow man even be here? Her thoughts were answered in a second as the shape of a man materialised from the night at stand off to the car. He raised one shadowed hand and waved her forward from the car. Chloe took a deep breath, popped open the briefcase, thumbed off the vials top and inverted it between her lips. The potion was thin, pouring over her tongue and down her throat with no more than a slight medicinal taste. She sent up a last prayer and opened the door to Oliver's ride. She'd already changed half of her fate, it wouldn't be Oliver staring at her from the side lines as her mystery man like she presumed Amber had seen. No, she was alone with the psycho. Her welcome was falsely pleasant.

"Miss Sullivan. How dearly I've been watching and waiting for our re-union. I trust you are well?" He made no advance, letting her walk on forced strength closer to him.

"I'd be better if half the city wasn't in embers."

"You know you could have stopped that." he spoke and flashed to close the distance, standing at most two metres from the other. "At least I managed to draw you out my beauty. Are you willing to share now?" Chloe felt a rumbling through her system, an ache in her stomach. She gritted her teeth through it and answered his sick demands with a faked innocence.

"What is it you want?"

"Darling. There are so many things I want. Even more that he wants." Chloe glanced past the shadow consumed form. Stark white hair to a tall thin frame. She swallowed, he had been the one to try steal Bart's speed. "He'd take your meteor powers. If I had left you with any that is." he chuckled with a sinister sound "Then I'd let him rip open your pretty chest and have his choice of your organs." Her stomach involuntarily rolled at the thought.

Suddenly it didn't just seem like it was his words making her sick. Her entire body felt ill past anything she had felt before. Her body was weak, her muscles sore, her head in sheer agony. She gasped free a breath from her constricting lungs and only just stopped herself from keeling over. "Not feeling well Miss Sullivan? Such a shame. In all honesty you shouldn't have survived this long. Not like you are. Maybe what you feel is the bottom of the barrel of luck as you're scraped along it." He ventured out with his hand, lifting her chin as Oliver had done only a number of minutes before. Only this touch wasn't warm. Nor was it welcome. It was full of a cold shiver streaming hate, fear and guilt through her. She shuddered and stepped back. "Maybe you're not free of power. The silver in your eyes is certainly one to disagree." The interest was covering his tone genuinely. "Never mind. I shall deal with you when you are exhausted of information." The slow white haired man took a few generous steps and leaned against the railing, a few metres back from his master. "Tell me Miss Sullivan, your comrades. Names, skills, desires, plans… anything I could possibly know I want to."

"And you'll stop killing people?"

"My dear. I never killed anyone. You did. With your lies and secrets. The truth truly would have set you free. Luckily I'm offering you the chance to repent and make amends."

"Telling you now won't bring back those you killed."

"No. But it will prevent more deaths tagged to your name. Not inclusive of your play mates of course." He chuckled and the evil echo stirred her stomach further. Her skin was buzzing, like pins and needles mixed with a blood rush. The cold air nipped at her and spiked her energy further. She felt alive again, regained. But the power hurt with every breath. Having so much was beyond control. She fisted her hand and felt the spark of static electricity when her fingers made contact. Were the electro twins regained to full strength? "So, Miss Sullivan. Dear Chloe. Care to enlighten me?"

"I can't tell you." she admitted, meeting his eyes dead on. He took the steps necessary to close the gap and stand exactly opposite to her.

"Is that so?" The darkness flew around her swallowing her whole and pulling fears from his box of fun. But before one could even settle he felt the tingle that should not be and pulled them back. He recomposed himself. "You know what I can do Miss Sullivan." She shot out a hand hoping to run some electricity through him. It hit, but he laughed and side stepped as she moved out again.

"Master." A tone of death and the purest misery came from the white haired accomplice and shuddered through her magically enhanced body.

"No. You stay. I'll have fun with this one myself." Master smoothly spoke. He let Chloe dance with her punches, as she cursed away, why wasn't she shocking him? Why wasn't he electrocuted? Why wasn't there electricity streaming from her fingers? She felt the power bubbling inside her, yet the act refused to happen. She knew her iris's would be unpolluted white now and Brainiac was making the most of its new found freedom. Power surged through her with every punch, but she could not summon anything electrical for him. Brainiac was working the brain, but not anything else. Was this all for nothing?

Pain exploded in her cheek and she felt the air move beneath her before she landed and scuffed her back along the concrete. The cold sting of blood spiked alive.

"Finished yet Miss Sullivan?" he asked rhetorically as he lost patience with her pathetic attempts. "I want answers. You came here with answers, not the need to be knocked around. Though don't doubt my mood for it." Chloe put a hand to her cheek, actively feeling the buzz of Brainiac fixing the slash and scarring against her back. She pushed to her feet but he had jumped in front of her again and knocked her across the other side of the dam. She skidded across the tarmac, her blouse riding up and the ground scarring her freshly healed skin again. Her back thudded against the railing and she coughed up blood.

Again he flashed before her and crouched. "Names! Abilities! Weakness!" he ordered from his mental list. Chloe rose slightly, feeling the burn in her arms and spat blood in his face. He stood and wiped clean the shadow like nothing had happened. "Miss Sullivan. I was content on playing nice considering the knowledge inside your head, but I find myself caring less and less about your wellbeing. Last chance to change your mind."

"Burn in hell!" she coughed out. Instead of the feel of healing she was covered in a second shadow skin and she watched her own torture. Knives, nails, pressure points, poisoning, starvation, humiliation, burning, dehydration. Name any way she could die and she saw it. When that wasn't enough she saw the same, but to the love of her life. Both bolted to their positions, unable to move as Oliver screamed in agony. All she could do was watch. She couldn't close her eyes, couldn't turn her head, couldn't block out the seared sight of torture from her mind.

Chloe exploded, all the power she could muster threw through his shadows, snapping them back to him, but her hands followed. Brainiac was driving her ship and was sending a current from her hands along his shadows and up to frazzle the man. Her fingers vibrated with the force, the shadows moving around in violent jerks as the electricity flowed pure in his form. She could feel him draining away.

But backlash demanded she drain herself too. She could feel the decline about to fall. She scrambled back from the crackling shadows and the white haired pawn as he stomped closer.

Her high was still flying and she jumped to her feet, taking off in the other direction. She could feel Brainiac falling from her, but it wasn't drawing on her own supply anymore. It was taking from the electro twins borrowed power. Her glee would have to be postponed...

Her hands slapped against the metal of Oliver's car and she tugged on the handle. Risking a glimpse back she saw the shadow man stand, she saw the flicker of shadows like before he would jump long distances, but when she turned around there was no monster. He was in the same position, shock clear in his posture. Had the electricity grounded his flashing shadow? She wretched open the door but a word carried on the wind and sang to her blood.

"Stop." Chloe found her muscles unable to move. "Turn around." Her body turned. Her heart sped faster, she turned back and tugged again. "Stop." Again she stopped what she was doing. "Come and stand before me." She found her legs moving and she was walking toward shadow man despite all her muscle protests. It was like she had been drugged again, tied to following orders. Only free when she had completed them. But when had she been given anything? It was possible Lex's potion had a side effect, maybe Shadow had swapped them. But that was near impossible planning and forethought. Had he drugged her during the fight?

She stopped only when she was toe to toe with shadows. Her muscles relaxed, allowing her to take the steps back she wanted, but after her slight movement his lips moved again. "Stand still till I give you another order." Her body froze and stood perfectly still. "I figured you'd be too desperate to pass up my offer." he stated. "You may have stolen my ability to meld with the shadows Miss Sullivan, but it was the ace up my sleeve to create an obedience drug tailored to your DNA. It was purely designed by fate that you would try to save yourself with one of the canisters I so generously allowed you to steal." Oh god. She'd shot herself up with the drug, only she had a feeling this was not temporary. "It matches with my DNA you see. You and me are intertwined for obedience. I say, you obey." He paced around her, clearly annoyed by the fact he could no longer just jump position. "Would you like a demonstration?" he asked in humour. "Kneel." Chloe dropped to one knee. "Jump." Next thing she was up and jumped on the spot. "Spin around for me." She spun. "You see. You are under my thumb. I just have to ask for a location. Or, a name… and you will answer. For example." He rolled his hand out toward her. "What is the name of your mother?"

"Moira Sullivan." Chloe's lips moved without her knowing. Her heart was pounding, her control lost, her victory soiled.

"I see. And; What colour is the bedspread you awoke from?"

"White." She knew, without a doubt she was bound to him. Anything he asked she would comply. If he asked her to betray her friends she would.

"The name of your lover?"

"Oliver Queen." Her heart constricted in her chest. How could she? Betraying all she stood for. Anything he asked she would do. He could tell her to slay all of her best friends and she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop herself. The violation was deeper than just her mind, she could feel the death pushed through her veins, the blood he'd put on her hands. What could she possibly do? Tears streamed, her brain providing the only answer…

"Good. Now we move to the real questions. You're hero friends, wh-" Without a thought more than Oliver she knew exactly why Amber had seen her fate. She knew exactly what could possess her to take her own life, and in that second she believed honestly she did the right thing.

Her feet sprinted the short distance to the railing and pushing from her arms she shot herself over it.

Clark bolted from the trees, barely there in time to see his best friend leap over a railing and half way down to her death.

*Bites nails*

... Yeah... so...

No... I won't say anything... it's too sad.

Next chapter up soon. Xx