Disclaimer: Don't own it, but if I win the Lottery I'd probably end up trying to buy D.C.

Thanks: As usual to all reading/favoriting but a special thanks goes to Wondiebuff, JNottle, Hellacre13, ben10987654321, Nerdman3000 and unoaranya30for being nice enough to leave reviews.

Wondiebuff: As much as I'd like to take credit for her creation, Rampage is a character from the comics. And as for hell to pay you have no idea…lol

JNottle: I haven't quite figured out how I want their interaction to go down but…I can say he won't be proclaiming his undying love in ten minutes or anything, there will be an initial attraction and build up.

Hellacre13: Yes that's her; I have a few twists in mind for her though so she won't be a carbon copy from the comics or the animated series. As to Chloe's powers I tried to give a plausible explanation for them in this chapter based on what I could use from D.C's canon.

Ben10987654321: I like Rampage, she's an underutilized character and I thought it'd be nice to give her some screen time. I agree about Chloe that's why like I said above I'm trying to find a plausible explanation that isn't completely farfetched and conforms to canon…hopefully I succeeded.

Nerdman3000: Of Course! Can't have a good Superman story without including that man, their interaction is too good to pass up, he'll be showing up in a few weeks so hold tight.

Unoaranya30: Imho after Lex he was probably the best character portrayal on Smallville, after he died the show never really recovered. The scene at the cemetery was my favorite in that chapter; I wanted to show Clark's growth as a man, I hope that came across.

"What the hell Clark?"

It was the weekend after the meeting with the Justice League and Clark was having lunch with Chloe. He hadn't seen her much since the incident at S.T.A.R, at first he had thought she had been depressed about watching Jimmy get shot and was withdrawing but that wasn't the case. As it turned out she had told Jimmy about her powers and had revealed the secret of her double life to him, and after his initial shock he had asked for some space to sort out his thoughts.

After that saying she wasn't in the best of moods would've been fair assessment, this news only added to her grouchiness. "I mean I miss one meeting and everyone decides to pull this kind of stunt?

"It's not a stunt; there are legitimate concerns about your safety."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"And who raised these 'concerns'?"

He hesitated before deciding it was better that she heard it from him. "Victor."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? I bet he tried to convince you all to stick me in the Watchtower didn't he?"

"Chloe…"

"Fine don't tell me. So what did you all decide I should do about my powers?"

"We voted to let you choose how to handle it; we'd bring the concerns to you and let you decide from there."

"Really?" The sarcasm and hurt weren't in her voice anymore.

"Yes, we trust you Chloe, and we only want to make sure you stay safe. Can you say you wouldn't do the same if the situation was reversed?"

"No, I guess not." She muttered.

"What was that?"

She shot him a smirk. "You heard me, Mr. Super ears."

He smiled briefly. "What do you want to do about this?"

"I guess we should have some tests run." She sighed, "I'll call Dr. Faulkner."

The next day Clark, Ollie, Chloe, Dinah and Victor showed up at S.T.A.R Labs

Introductions were quick and professional (She lingered on Cyborg a little bit) and in next to no time Chloe was being lead to an examination room. Two tedious hours of waiting later and Dr. Faulkner reappeared and signaled for them all to come in.

As they entered the room they saw Chloe sitting crossed legged on a large examining table an unreadable expression on her face.

"Thank you all for being so patient, it is Chloe's wish that you're all here to hear the results of her tests."

"That's right Doctor, I want everything out in the open." She was watching Victor while she said that.

Dr. Faulkner picked up a set of papers and after looking them over began discussing the results. "Well my tests have shown that you have the metagene and although we've known about its existence for almost fifty years we don't know much about it, or why it appears where it does. It's now estimated upwards of 15% of the world's population has the gene.

Chloe blinked. "You mean fifteen percent of the world has superpowers?"

"No, there are three types of metagene, inactive or type 1 is the most common, we believe that 90% of the metagene population falls in this category, their metagene is in the non-coding or junk D.N.A and won't code for metahuman properties regardless of circumstance. Then there is metagene type 2, which accounts for about 8% of the Meta population. Their genes are partially active and while they couldn't be classified as metahumans in the traditional sense they are certainly above the average human in terms of abilities; exceptional athletes, great thinkers…the real movers and shakers."

Dinah gasped. "So you mean people like Einstein or Michael Jordon are so great at what they do because of a partially activated metagene?"

Kitty shrugged. "Yes, or that's the current theory anyway. There have been several papers released that would suggest-"

Clark cleared his throat. "Dr. Faulkner…"

She flushed brilliantly. "Oh of course, as I was saying… the last two percent are what scientist are commonly referred to as Metahuman's their metagene lay dormant until they are activated, there are a number of catalyst's that can activate the gene, exceptional trauma and stress, radiation, chemicals, etc. It's possible for a person to go through their whole life and never awaken their metagene if the right catalyst isn't found, not to mention that there is no way of knowing what abilities might manifest when the gene is activated. In Chloe's case her metagene was activated by radiation. From what she told me she grew up in Smallville where a meteor shower occurred over twenty years ago and another occurred only two years ago. It is my belief that Chloe's gene was activated during the second Meteor shower and the large influx of radiated meteor rocks contributed to her powers. In fact I believe the so called 'meteor freaks' of Smallville were metahumans whose genes were activated due to the radiation of the meteor rocks.

Chloe frowned. "But I've spent my whole life in Smallville and had been around meteor rocks my whole life, so why'd it take so long for my metagene to activate?"

"This isn't an exact science, like I said earlier we're only now learning about the metagene in any detail… but I would hypothesize that all your encounters with meteor rocks weren't enough to 'kick start' your gene. The radiation dissipated before your powers could manifest. When the second shower occurred, the large amount of radiation was enough to activate your gene; from there it was only a matter of time until you came across a situation where your powers activated."

Cyborg came around the examining table. "This is all fascinating Doctor, but how do her powers work and do they pose a danger to her?"

Kitty glanced at him nervously and flushed before thumbing through some more of the papers she was holding. "Well, you all have an idea of how her powers work…she heals someone, receives a similar wound and then her body heals it. The science behind it is fairly complex, but the short of it is she's manipulating biological energy fields. She transfers her energy and that stimulates cellular regeneration in the person she's healing. This causes a deficit or hole to be formed in her energy field and so the missing energy opens an equivalent 'wound' on her body, 'the wound' closes once her body restores the equivalent energy to her bio field. As to is there a danger well… yes and no. If she's healing minor or moderate wounds other than the pain and debilitation of the wound she's not in danger, her bio field should bounce back fine. But life threatening wounds like the one she healed on her boyfriend are another story. The danger in Chloe's powers is if she completely exhausts the energy in her biofield she'll end up dying, permanently. The time you were 'dead' your body was more than likely in a near death state because you must have nearly exhausted your bio energy. I would recommend against using your powers on people with potentially fatal wounds; repeated rapid drain of your bio field could kill you over time, so just stick to minor to moderate wounds from now on okay?"

Chloe looked over at Cyborg. "Are you satisfied? Did I pass your test for League duty Victor?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You don't have to take that attitude I was looking out for the team and if it weren't for that the next time you used your powers you could've ended up killing yourself. At least now you'll know what it could be costing you and the team." After he was finished he turned and stalked out of the lab.

"Chloe that was uncalled for." Clark said evenly.

Chloe sighed. "I know... I'm just a little testy. I think he was just trying to show he cared…in his own way. Don't worry I'll talk to him." She shook Kitty's hand and smiled. "Thank you Doctor, you've been a great help."

Dr. Faulkner smiled. "Anytime."

Later that night at Metropolis First National Bank a trio of safe crackers were attempting to cut into the vault. Inside was over six million dollars ripe for the taking. The lead cracker could almost hear the waves crashing into the coast of the private island he was going to buy with his share (formal education wasn't his strongest suit). His fantasy was immediately dashed when a deep voice sounded from the shadows.

"Little late for a withdrawal, eh boys?"

One of the safe crackers whirled around saw him and swore. "It's Green Arrow, waste 'em!"

They reached for guns but to Ollie's trained reflex's they were moving in slow motion, he had all three down before they knew what had hit them, he was getting ready to cuff them when there was a large boom followed by rain of plaster and sheetrock.

Oliver looked over and saw a figure partially obscured by the cloud of debris. He squinted and made out a humanoid shape. "That was a pretty dramatic entrance and whoever you are I appreciate the help, but I got this under control."

"I'm not here to help you I'm here to make an example of you. You just have the misfortune of being the first hero I encountered." The figure stepped out of the cloud and Oliver got a good look at him. He wore a full face opaque mask, and his entire upper body from the neck down seemed to be covered in glowing green cables. The lower half of his body was covered in black mechanical armor

The deadness in his tone gave Oliver a half second of pause which was more than enough for his assailant to make the first move. A coil snapped out from the man's wrist, years of hard conditioning allowed him to dodge at the last second.

The lack of visible expression was throwing Oliver off, he quickly pulled a Smoke bomb arrow and shot it at his attacker, before the arrow had even impacted he pulled out his grapnel line and shot it through the hole in the roof his attacker had created. He was up on the roof in less than two seconds, it would've been impossible for anyone to follow him, but somehow his attacker was standing in front of him.

He swore and keeping his eyes on his target, reached up and tapped his earpiece.

"This is Watchtower." J'onn's deep voice sounded in his ear.

"I'm facing an unknown assailant and I'm getting my ass kicked…I could use some help, here!"

"Dinah is closest to you; I can have her at your position in approximately five minutes."

"Do it!"

He fired a pair of electrified arrows at his query, they never even got close. Twin cables snapped out from above the assailant's wrist and grabbed the arrows out of mid-air, snapping them in two.

Shaken but not out, he fired every arrow in his quiver as rapidly as possible, thinking to overwhelm his opponent. Green Arrow's speed shooting was nearly twice as fast as the current world record holder, but even with that kind of speed, he didn't stand a chance.

Every arrow was either deflected or caught

Then like a striking snake one of the coils shot out and wrapped around his torso, he tried to break free but he couldn't move a muscle.

From there it was a haze of pain as the unknown worked him over. Green Arrow struggled to stay conscious, wishing it was over when a familiar cry pierced the air instantly he was dropped onto the roof, but Oliver didn't register anything else he just blacked out.

Dinah watched as the assailant fled, she made to give chase but she was drawn to Ollie; it was like something out of a horror film, there was so much blood she didn't see how he could possibly be alive. Reaching a trembling finger she felt for a pulse a moment passed by but she felt it, it was week and thready but it was there. She opened a channel to Watchtower and told J'onn to have emergency services sent over. As she waited she cradled Oliver's broken body hoping against hope that he would be okay.

It was the next day at the Watchtower. Bart yawned before plopping into his chair. "Anyone know what this meeting's about? I like you all and everything but we're working on our third meeting in less than a week."

Arthur shrugged. "Dinah called me and told me it was a mandatory meeting and it was urgent."

"Same here." Said Zatanna appearing in a flash of light.

As the others gathered it was a question repeated with no clear answer.

About ten minutes after everyone was seated Dinah came in through the side door and sat down, she looked haggard and exhausted. She began without preamble. "Last night Oliver was out stopping a bank robbery and was attacked by an unknown assailant He was beaten pretty badly and this morning he slipped into a coma, the doctors are saying he'll be in the hospital for at least a few months."

There were gasps of shock and dismay around the table.

"I can try and heal him Dinah." Chloe offered emphatically.

Before she could finish Dinah was already shaking her head. "No, especially with the condition he's in, you could end up killing yourself, he's getting the best medical care money can buy." She took a breath before continuing. "You all don't have to worry about blowing his identity; I came up with a cover story that he was in a car accident and even totaled one of his cars myself. He's not going to be happy when he sees what I did to his Aston Martin roadster." She chuckled but they all could hear the brittleness in her voice.

"Anyway while Ollie's out we need a new chairman, I suggest Clark."

He honestly hadn't seen that one coming. "Why me, you're already our field leader, it should be you."

"I'm not up to handling both position's and Ollie always said when he envisioned the League he always imagined you at the helm. We can put it to a vote if you want Clark, but honestly it'll just be a formality."

He looked around the table at his teammates before nodding. "Fine I'll do it, but only until Oliver's back on his feet, this team was his creation and he should be the one running it."

There was a murmur of ascent around the table and a moment of silence before the meeting continued.

"Is there any other business?" Clark asked in his new capacity as interim chairman.

Dinah nodded and Clark indicated she should speak. "J'onn, Oliver and I have been talking about expanding the League." She let that sink in for a moment.

"How're we gonna do that have a membership drive and a bake sale?" Bart asked dubiously.

"Personally I think it's a fantastic idea I love working with all of you and we're doing a great job, but there is a lot of bad things happening in the world and we could use all the help we can get." Zatanna said plainly.

Dinah nodded at Zatanna. "That's the idea; we've been keeping an eye on the superhero community and anyone who shows promise."

"Did you three have anybody in mind specifically?" Arthur asked curiously.

Dinah hesitated. "I have a candidate, after talking it over with J'onn and Ollie, they both agree."

"Well don't keep us waiting… who is he?" Bart asked impatiently."

Dinah looked peevish. "She is a hero that's been in the news recently; she busted a group of human traffickers up in New York."

"Aww dammit." Arthur muttered, he wasn't known for his outbursts, so his reaction was rather surprising.

Even more surprisingly his reaction was shared by everyone except Clark, Chloe, J'onn and Dinah.

"Come on guys, she's a little… enthusiastic, but I think with some training she could really contribute to the team." Dinah said plaintively.

No one looked very convinced at her statement.

"Am I missing something?" Clark asked after observing everyone's reaction.

Cyborg looked over at him. "Yeah you are, her name's Stargirl."

The name didn't ring any bells to him.

Bart shook his head. "I worked with her once big guy, she's such a show off, never met a camera she disliked and talk about annoying…I mean wow."

"Actually that sounds a lot like you Bart." Chloe said conversationally.

"Hardy-har." The speedster responded dryly, but his tone was belayed by the corners of his mouth twitching.

"I think we're getting off track. Stargirl could be a valuable asset." J'onn said in his monotone.

"Or a disaster waiting to happen." Zatanna muttered darkly.

"Well let's put it down to a vote." Clark suggested.

In the end it was a four-four split. As interim chairman Clark cast the tiebreaking vote in favor of Stargirl. "Well Dinah, bring her in and we'll see what she's got."

For Dinah it wasn't the ringing endorsement she had hoped for, but it would have to do.

Clark gaveled the meeting. "If that's all, we'll call this meeting dismissed." He hesitated a moment. "Dinah, I promise we'll find out who did this to Ollie."

The others added their promises and vows as well.

She looked at them all and smiled painfully. "Thanks guys."

The next day Clark was at the Planet looking up Stargirl's various public exploits when Lois stopped by his desk. "Hey Smallville how's it going?"

Clark observed her with a guarded expression, since his debut she had been dropping some pretty strong hints that she wanted to interview him as Superman. He was a little hesitant, he knew the people of Metropolis and really the world at large wanted to know more about him but he wasn't sure if he wanted to let the public at large know too much about him. He supposed it was just his natural instincts after working in the shadows for so many years but that didn't change the fact that he was still reluctant to expose himself further.

On Lois's end she didn't know why Clark was dragging his heels, was it possible that he didn't he trust her enough to conduct the interview as a professional? Maybe he thought she was just doing it because she thought of the interview as an easy road to a Pulitzer. Yes the Pulitzer was important, it represented the validation of her work as a journalist but helping one of her dearest friends was more important to her. She was also smart enough to realize that she wouldn't be able to pry an interview out of Clark; he'd have to come to her. So she had been backing off of the issue and after seeing the wariness on his face she was convinced that had been the right idea.

"Fine, how're you Lois?"

"Oh I'm doing okay." She looked over at his screen. "Working on a story or doing some extracurricular research?" She asked lowering her voice.

"The later, the League's thinking of recruiting her."

"Really, she seems a little… amateurish."

He looked over at her curiously. "How do you mean?"

She sat on the edge of his desk. "Well I get the feeling that her heart is in the right place, it's just that she doesn't seem to know how to cultivate a positive image for herself, so she's kind of gotten this reputation as a media-whore. You know doing the job for the coverage not because it's the right thing to do, kind of like Impulse but on a factor of two or three."

"That's how people see Impulse?"

She shrugged. "He encourages it; I know he's a good kid but-

"He likes the attention a little too much." He finished for her.

Lois was a fairly good judge of character and he trusted her insight, it was something he'd keep in mind when dealing with Stargirl and he made it a point to have a talk with Bart. "Thanks Lois."

He gave her that crooked smile and she felt her heart flutter and her stomach flip. "Any- anytime Smallville."

"This place is so cool!" It was the next day at the Watchtower and Black Canary had managed to track down Stargirl and was in the process of giving her a tour of the Watchtower. At the moment she was keenly observing a picture of the nine founding members in costume.

Dinah walked up behind her and nodded. "That picture was taken-

"Where does this door lead to?"

Dinah had been having trouble conducting the tour, Stargirl attention couldn't seem to be held down to a single thing, she was too busy observing everything at once. "To the situation room, it where we do a lot of planning and strategizing."

"Can we go in there?" She asked excitedly.

Dinah smiled at her exuberance, it helped take her mind off of Ollie and how he was hovering between life and death. Walking over to the door she entered her access code and the door slid back. After observing the room's occupants for a moment, Stargirl let out a piercing squeal and ran up to Superman.

Clark looked up from his console and blinked, unsure what was going on.

"Oh my God, I can't believe I'm meeting freakin' Superman!" She wrung his hand enthusiastically while the other's snickered in the background. After a quick rundown of the room's various functions she had calmed down somewhat." So what're you guys up to?"

J'onn filled her in on what had occurred with Green Arrow. "Since then we've all been trying to investigate who's responsible for the act."

"Oooh put me on the case; I'm good at this sort of thing." She said excitedly.

The others traded looks of doubt between each other.

"Seriously I can help; come on guys give me a chance!"

Her sincerity couldn't be denied and slowly Clark nodded. "Okay Stargirl, you're in."

She smiled revealing a row of braces. "Thank you Superman, you won't regret it!"

Half an hour later the tour was over and Stargirl was checking out her quarters. The other members were in the situation room.

"What do you think?"

"She's a bit…excitable, but I think she'll fit right in." Chloe said while the others nodded their assessment.

Dinah looked at her watch and swore under her breath. "I gotta get going; my boss is on my ass, he's threatening disciplinary action if I'm late for another taping."

At the word taping an idea occurred to Clark, not only to help his predicament but to provide a desperately needed distraction for Dinah. "Dinah I have a problem and I was wondering if you can help me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I need to conduct an interview with the media…"