"Moving targets? Are you serious?"
Oliver smirked. "You've gotten pretty good at stationary ones, so it's time to kick it up a notch."
The targets began swinging back and forth. Emmeline loaded up her bow with an arrow.
She missed the targets every time.
"Keep going until you hit a target, wherever that may be, ten times. I won't watch you for now so you're under less pressure and can focus. I'll just go get ready for your combat training. Let me know when you're done."
Emmeline took a deep breath and focused intently on the targets. She tried to aim a little off to match the timing of them. A couple tries later, one of her arrows managed to hit one of the targets. It took a little over half an hour, but eventually she was able to fulfill her quota of 10 arrows successfully hitting the targets, even if she didn't make a single bulls-eye and the only time she had been close was entirely accidental.
Emmeline set down the bow and rolled her shoulders to relieve some of the tension and soreness. Then she walked over to where Oliver was slowly practicing some combat maneuvers. The control he had over his movement was really incredible. And she could not deny that seeing him move like that was rather attractive.
She awkwardly cleared her throat. "I'm done."
Oliver turned and smirked again. "It's about time."
Emmeline rolled her eyes as she smiled, now used to his complete lack of praise. She put on some gloves and got into the proper stance.
"So any updates on things with Lana?"
"No, I haven't talked to her since that day," she answered in between punches and kicks. "I know I shouldn't be angry about everything, but—"
"Whoa, whoa, who said you shouldn't be angry?"
"Everyone. All I've heard is that I should talk to her and make up with her and that the whole thing isn't her fault because she's a victim."
"I guess, but if I was in your shoes, I'd be pretty ticked too."
Emmeline paused. "You're the first person who hasn't made me feel like a terrible human being for feeling angry."
"Well, I don't really know Lana, and the only time I really interacted with her was when she was with Lex at one of his parties, so I never really had the greatest opinion of her. I know you a lot more, so I'm gonna be a little biased."
Emmeline couldn't help smiling and resumed her punches. "At least one person is in my corner. I know I should probably talk it out with her. It would help if she would at least just apologize. Whether her actions were right or wrong, it shouldn't discount how it made me feel, right?"
"I would think so."
"It's nice to hear that my feelings are actually justified."
"Cut!" the director yelled.
The actor who had been 'flying' horizontal thanks to some wires and pulleys began to go back onto the ground.
"Okay, print that. All right, everyone let's move to the next setup."
Clark walked up next to Chloe and Emmeline who stood behind the barriers that blocked off the film set.
"Thanks to you, Smallville's finally getting a close-up," Chloe smiled.
"You know, when I said they could film at the farm, I didn't realize that half of Hollywood would show up at my doorstep," Clark said dryly.
"At least revel in the irony that they've chosen a single-theater town to shoot their bazillion-dollar 'Warrior Angel' film."
"I guess I never really got into comic books."
"Oh, come on. Who doesn't love the story of a small-town boy who grows up to save the world from the evil Devilicus?"
"I didn't know you were such an avid follower."
"I'm not," Chloe admitted. "It's just right now, fiction's a lot more appealing than reality."
Emmeline felt like that was true right about now for all of them. The air between them all still felt a little tense thanks to Emmeline's refusal to talk to Lana for weeks when everyone else had moved on. And then of course there was Chloe's kryptonite diagnosis and recent breakup.
"I mean, you know, dating is so overrated. Who really needs the extra added headache of worrying about tables for two and wardrobe remorse on a movie night?"
Clark walked around her, clearly not buying any of it.
"In other words, I've had plenty of free time to create Kara's fake backstory. Your cousin's secret identity is practically Google-proof."
"That's great. Maybe when she clears her head and comes home, she'll appreciate it."
One of the PAs on the film began pushing through the crowd of spectators. "Sorry, guys, gotta move you back."
The leading lady walked through the barriers behind him with an entourage of three and one person carrying an umbrella for her.
"All that for one star," Clark said.
"Clark, Rachel Davenport is not just a star, she's practically her own constellation," Chloe told him. "I mean, don't you watch movies at all? Turns out Miss-Super-Diva put a moratorium on all press interviews. Man, an exclusive with her would definitely put a snap back into my editor's suspenders."
"And roll sound!" one person yelled.
"Roll camera!" another announced.
"I never realized just how many people it took to make a movie," Emmeline remarked. "There's so much that goes on behind the scenes, and so many people hardly get any recognition for all the hard work they do."
Chloe bounced up and down on her heels. "Here we go."
"Okay, cue playback," the director ordered. "And…action."
"Steven, you won't believe the photos I got at Bay View," Rachel Davenport said into the phone as her character, Penelope. "Meet me at the French place in an hour." She hung up and got into her car then drove off down the road.
"And crane up. Follow. Good, we're through. Cut! That was perfect."
The car didn't stop driving.
The director put his walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Rachel, that's a cut. Rachel, that's a cut!"
The car still didn't stop.
"Is it supposed to be like this?" Clark asked.
"I'm not sure," Emmeline said. "It doesn't look like it."
One moment Clark was there, and the next he wasn't. But they could see and hear the car explode off in the distance.
"That definitely wasn't in the script."
Fortunately, Clark was able to save Rachel from the car just in time.
And for just a tiny second, Emmeline wondered what it truly felt like to have the power to save people like he did.
"Hey, Chloe, I got your email earlier while I was at work," Emmeline said as she walked over to her friend's desk. "Rachel's car wasn't the only thing tampered with?"
"No, in the comics, Warrior Angel's girlfriend, Penelope, dies after Devilicus shoots her and Warrior Angel can't get there in time. Someone didn't appreciate that the movie planned to keep her alive. Clark told me that the gun used in the scene they filmed last night was loaded with a real bullet and if he hadn't been there, Rachel would've been shot for real."
"Holy crap, that's terrifying. I kind of prefer the happier ending, but that's just me."
"I can understand wanting to stay true to source material, but I agree, this is a few steps too far. I'm getting a coffee, want one?"
"I could use one, sure."
Chloe got up and went through the double doors and under the stairs to the coffee machine.
Just then, Clark came down the steps. "Chloe, I'm glad you're still here."
"Yeah, well, overtime really helps me resist all temptation to graze Jimmy's MySpace page."
"'Hi, Em, I'm glad you're here too'," Emmeline playfully mocked. "Oh, thank you, Clark, happy to be acknowledged."
Chloe laughed. "What's up?"
"Yeah, I heard about your second big save on the film set. Has there been another sabotage attempt?"
"Not exactly," Clark answered as they all headed back to Chloe's desk. "The fan stalking Rachel must have seen me catch that bullet."
Emmeline and Chloe froze.
"He's the only one who knew it was real. Now he thinks I'm a superhero." He handed Chloe a Warrior Angel comic book with a handwritten note that read 'I saw what you did. It's your job to save the world. Save it'.
Chloe look at the comic book in horror. "Clark, this guy's blog gets, like, 10,000 hits a day. One post, and all of a sudden, you're everybody's favorite boy wonder."
"I don't think this is just a fan," Emmeline put in. "I mean, between the car and the gun, it has to be someone on the film set. They keep everything pretty heavily guarded and they're not going to let just anyone waltz around and touch the props."
"You might be onto something," Clark said. He looked at Chloe. "Can you track this Warrior Angel comic to its owner?"
"I'd be a pretty lame sidekick if I couldn't." Chloe went over to her computer and took a seat. "Okay, when I was scanning all of those blogs, I came across a collector who tracks the Warrior Angel comic sales. Maybe he's registered this one." She quickly typed a few commands on her keyboard. "Here we go. Cosmic Comics in Metropolis sold one to a Ben Meyers last week, 815 Vine Street."
"Hello?" Emmeline called softly as she entered what used to be Oliver Queen's apartment. "Lana?"
The raven-haired woman stood up from the couch in surprise. "Em?"
"Um, Clark said you'd be here. Is Rachel Davenport here too?"
"Yeah, she's just in the bathroom."
Emmeline noticed that Lana looked as nervous as she felt. This was the first time she'd talked to Lana in weeks. "So…"
Great start.
"How have you been?" Lana asked.
"Processing. I appreciate you giving me space if nothing else."
"Of course, that was the least I could do."
"I'm still not…okay with your choices. I don't think I ever will be. But I've also been trying really hard to see things from your perspective."
"Okay…"
The anger she'd been feeling ever since Lana's return began to come to the surface again, but she really didn't want to lash out like she had before. "I just…don't understand."
"I can't say that's a bad thing."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I hope you never come to that level of despair and desperation. I'd rather you didn't understand what it felt like."
"Lana—"
"Hey, Lana, I wanted to—" Rachel started as she came back to the main living area. She stopped in her tracks when she saw another person. "Oh. Hello."
Lana turned and smiled. "Don't worry, she's a friend of Clark's. You can trust her."
Emmeline politely went to shake her hand. "I'm Emmeline."
"Rachel. I interrupted something, didn't I?"
"Don't worry about it."
"I just wanted to tell you, Lana, that I'm sorry for what you saw in Clark's loft."
"Rehearsing lines?" Lana smiled, clearly unoffended.
"It's in his eyes. You're the center of Clark's universe. I've only seen love like that once in my life."
"What happened?"
Rachel laughed dryly. "The director yelled 'cut'."
The elevator suddenly opened and one of the PAs from the film entered the room with some papers in his hand. "Updated call sheets."
"I can't escape work for three seconds?" Rachel asked angrily. "How did you find me?"
"Destiny."
The man held up a taser and put it to Rachel's neck causing her to fall to the ground unconscious.
Immediately putting up her defenses, Emmeline kicked the taser out of his hand and punched him across the face. She was able to block all of his attacks and succeeded in punching and kicking him twice, and she probably would've been able to defeat him with a couple more swift moves, but at that moment, all of the sounds in the room suddenly amplified. A drip of water from the bathroom sink sounded as loud as a waterfall, Lana's footsteps were as loud as a train, and all of the other mundane sounds like the air conditioner or the wall clock were as loud as a hurricane.
Emmeline cried out in pain at the overload of noise and pressed her hands to her ears as she sank to the ground.
The PA, who was clearly the crazy saboteur Ben Myers, used her sudden incapacitation to kick her across the face. The resulting loud noise hurt worse than the actual kick. She curled up into a fetal position, hardly able to move. Her brain felt like it was bouncing around her skull and trying to break free so it didn't have to be bombarded with noise anymore, and her entire body ached from tensing up so much.
Lana smashed a vase over Ben's head.
The sound of it reverberated inside Emmeline's head, and she screamed in pain again.
Lana tried to run, but Ben grabbed her leg and she fell onto the ground.
"Sorry, Lana," Ben said as he restrained her and picked up his taser. "But there's a hero living among us, and there's only one way he'll accept his calling. You need to die."
He put the taser to her stomach and she flinched before falling unconscious.
"What did you mean when you said that he was trying to make you accept your destiny?" Chloe asked.
"That I was supposed to stand for something greater," Clark answered. "It was my job to save the world."
"He didn't think organic farmer was a close second?"
"This guy's delusional, Chloe. You couldn't possibly agree with him."
"Do you want to cue my editorial, or do you want to help me find the guy who's gonna out you in front of a thousand people?"
Clark held up a piece of Ben's computer. "What about his hard drive? It might help."
Chloe took the hard drive and shook her head. "I think it's too rational. I mean, if Ben is this fractured, we're gonna need to loosen a few screws of our own."
"Approach his next move like someone who's blurred the line between fiction and reality."
"So let's think. If I'm Devilicus, what is the worst possible thing I could do to Warrior Angel to make him accept his destiny?" Chloe's cell phone suddenly started ringing and she quickly answered it. "Hey, Em."
"Oliver's…apartment," Emmeline's voice said softly.
"Em, are you okay? You sound like you're in pain."
"Ben. Taser. Lana. Hurry."
Clark was already gone when Chloe went to tell him what she'd said.
"Let me go!" Lana screamed as Ben placed her onto the balcony ledge.
"I can't," Ben told her. "Don't you see? Clark was made for a greater glory, but until he gives up his own desires and focuses on the rest of the world, thousands of lives are at stake."
"And mine doesn't matter?"
"I know it's not easy being a superhero's girlfriend, Lana, but Clark has to face his destiny alone. And you're standing in the way."
Clark suddenly zoomed into the room and knelt down next to Emmeline. "Em?"
"Balcony," she mustered out.
He looked up out onto the balcony just in time to see Ben push Lana over the edge. He quickly jumped over it and caught Lana as she was falling. Then he landed on top of a car, totaling it in the process, with Lana in his arms completely unharmed.
The two of them smiled at each other, and he gently pressed his forehead to hers.
Ben Meyers was sent off to Belle Reve for everything he had done to both Rachel and Lana.
Rachel wrapped up the movie and left Clark with a parting gift of Warrior Angel's red cape as thanks for saving her life on three separate occasions.
The next day, the raging migraine from the noise overload had mostly subsided, but Emmeline still took the day off work and class to rest up.
When there was a knock on the door, she almost didn't answer until she looked through the peephole and saw Lana standing outside.
"Hey, Em," Lana said. "Is this a bad time?"
"I just have a small headache, so I can't talk long, but come in."
Lana stepped inside and into the living room. "Um, aside from the headache, how are you feeling?"
"Fine, I guess. How about you?"
"All in one piece, thanks to Clark. Those were some impressive moves you displayed with Ben. Where did you learn all that?"
"I've been taking lessons."
"Looks like they're working."
"Yeah."
"Em, last night, I realized something. I almost died. For real this time. And it finally occurred to me why you were so upset with me. If Clark hadn't gotten to me in time, then all of you would've had to endure it all over again. That horrible gut-punching moment when you've realized you've lost someone, a second funeral, all of the anger and hopelessness that follows before you eventually come to accept it. I mean…going through all of that once is bad enough, but enduring it twice is just…utterly tormenting. Emmeline…I am so sorry."
Emmeline took a deep breath. Just as she'd guessed, it felt so good to hear those words from her and to know that finally Lana acknowledged her pain. "Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that."
"And I mean it. But if you're still angry and want some more space, I'll walk out of here right now."
"I realized something last night too. If something had happened to you, I would've wasted all these weeks being angry at you instead of rekindling our friendship. After everything that happened, my trust in you is kind of shaky right now." Emmeline put a hand to Lana's arm. "But I'm really glad you're here."
Lana smiled warmly and gave her a gentle hug.
