Gift of Fate Chapter 15 (16/?)
Jun. 29th, 2011 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luminare91Summary: Oliver has been missing for two years, ever since his boat went down in a sudden storm. Chloe is still grieving for him. What will it take for her to move on and live her life again? What happened to Oliver? Will he ever come back? And who's behind the mysterious disappearances in Star City?
Rating: PG-13 for the most part, however there are sections that are NC-17 (my first attempt, for the record) for sexual content. This fic contains violence and language. Chapters containing sexual content will be preceded by a warning.
Spoilers: The entire series, basically. The basic setting is season six with a twist, but anything is fair game if it works for this fic.
Warning: Again, this is AU and is a continuation of my fic Twist of Fate, which you really need to read first or this isn't going to make any sense. There will sexual content and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, I'm just playing around with them.
Beta:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jessicaj703 Thanks for all the help!
Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14
Banner bygeek_or_unique
Author’s Note: I am so sorry for the delay in posting. The drive to Virginia and the week following the move were a lot busier than I anticipated. I had zero time to write. Then, once I did, my muse decided to go on vacation. She is finally back. Hopefully, updates will be more frequent now. Thank you so much for being patient with me :)
Chapter 15
The plan was simple. Chloe got into trouble so easily that she reasoned it was the best way to get Green Lantern’s attention. If she went looking for trouble, she’d eventually find it, and Green Lantern would come save her. It was clear from the look on her face that she thought it was a brilliant plan.
Oliver thought differently. He stared at Chloe in barely contained horror.
“Are you actually trying to get yourself killed?” he choked out after a moment.
She gave him a hurt look. “Of course not,” she said calmly, recognizing the signs of panic threatening to take him over. “I’m just trying to help the people this guy has taken. Not all of them have shown up dead just yet. They could still be alive and we have to do something. If Dr. Fitzgerald is behind the cases in Star City, Green Lantern is the best person to help use because he knows more about Fitzgerald than anyone. There could be dozen’s more people that he’s kidnapped.”
“I understand that,” Oliver retorted. He paused and took a deep breath to calm himself before going on. “It’s just not worth saving them if it’s at the cost of your life. You don’t even have confirmation that these people are still alive or that all of these cases are actually connected. You’d be risking your life for nothing until we can confirm the facts.”
He had a point there, but she still thought it was their best chance of saving the missing people. “Isn’t that what you do every night?” Chloe asked quietly. “Risk your life without any guarantee that anything will come of it?”
“That’s different. I know the risks and I trained for months before staring to patrol!”
“I know the risks, too. And I won’t be out there alone,” she added. “You’ll be out there watching my back in case he doesn’t show up.”
“That’s not good enough,” Oliver snapped. “If he doesn’t show up, I might not get there in time. I’m not going to risk your life for nothing!”
Chloe lost her temper. “It wouldn’t be for nothing,” she hissed. “We’d be a little closer to finding the missing people who haven’t turned up dead yet and if we keep waiting, we’re risking more of their lives. We have no idea what’s happening to them! We can’t wait!”
“Well we’re going to have to wait until Green Lantern meets with us on Sunday, because there’s no other way for us to contact him.”
Her face darkened in rage. “We can’t wait that long! I won’t wait that long.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to,” Oliver said firmly, spinning on his heel. He left Chloe standing in the middle of the living room, effectively ending the argument. The image of her being dragged into an alley by some psychopath played behind his eyes, as if often had during the years he’d been gone. No, he wasn’t going to let her risk her own life when he could do something about it. He would go out on patrol and hope that Green Lantern was out as well. If he was lucky, they’d run into each other. The chances were slim, but they were more favorable than the chances of Chloe come back unscathed if she went out there.
When he walked back into the living room, in full gear, Chloe was standing in the middle of the room. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was giving him her best glare. Any other time may well have been enough to send him cowering. The Sullivan-Lane girls were notorious for their ability to give death glared and Chloe was well versed in the art of making him shake where in his boots. He knew the moment he saw her that he had to get out of there quickly or she’d tear him apart.
“Where exactly do you think you’re going?” she demanded, her voice icy.
“I’m going on patrol,” he said evenly, trying not to let her intimidate him. He didn’t even want to dwell on the irony of the fact that the Green Arrow was afraid to cross a tiny blonde woman. All of those years fighting meteor freaks had really paid off in her favor. She was formidable. “If I’m lucky, I’ll run into Green Lantern. If I’m not, at least I’ll get to stop some bad guys.”
Her eyes narrowed further and when she spoke, it was with an air of repressed fury. “So what am I supposed to do? Just sit here, twiddling my thumbs while innocent people are being held hostage? Need I remind you that some of my closest friends are metas, the very people this guy is targeting?”
“Then I’m sure they’d agree with me and that they wouldn’t want you to risk your life until we have evidence,” he said coolly.
Glaring at him, Chloe grabbed her laptop off the coffee table and sat down on the sofa, her back to him. “Well, while you’re out there wasting you time trying to run into one person in a city of millions, I’ll actually be trying to accomplish something.”
Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but Chloe had already begun typing furiously, obviously ignoring him. Heaving a sigh of frustration, he headed out to the balcony. A nagging voice in the back of his head warned him that walking away was a mistake, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around. He couldn’t get the all too recent image of a lifeless Chloe out of his mind. If he could afraid, Oliver was willing to weather his girlfriend’s wrath, no matter how frightening or well deserved it might be.
Steeling his nerves, he fired a zipline arrow and took off across the city, hoping that there were some bad guys he could punch.
When he returned three hours later, Oliver wasn’t feeling any better. He’d hammered a couple of muggers, a drug dealer, and some one breaking into cars and stealing radios, but it hadn’t helped with his frustration. The sound of rushing wind filled his ears only to stop abruptly the moment his feet hit the concrete balcony. He disengaged his bow from the zipline and reeled in the line, stowing the thin cable in his utility belt. Taking a deep breath, he walked back into the penthouse.
Chloe was still sitting on the couch, her legs crossed and her laptop resting on her knees. Her forehead was furrowed in concentration. She hadn’t moved an inch since he’d left and she didn’t look up now that he’d returned. Knowing that he’d made her angry before, Oliver slipped out of the room to change.
He was heartily regretting the decision to leave now. It definitely ranked high on his list of stupid decisions and considering how many idiotic choices he’d made, that was saying something. Oliver knew that he’d let his fear get the better of him and that he’d reacted badly. Now, he just had to figure out how to make amends.
Dressed in sweats and a black t-shirt, he made his way back to the living room. Chloe still hadn’t moved, let alone acknowledged that he’d even returned. He hovered in the doorway, the silence pressing against him, broken only by the click of the computer keys. He could feel the tension radiating off of her. He marveled slightly at the fact that a petite blonde woman with no fighting experience and no weapon or powers could frighten him. He’d faced down more bad guys in the past few months than he cared to admit, but Chloe scared him more than any of them.
The silenced stretched on for a few more moments before Oliver finally worked up the courage to break it.
“On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you?” he asked softly, his body tensing in anticipation of the answer.
She answered instantly without even looking up. “I’m not mad, Oliver.”
“Then why haven’t you looked at me since I came in?”
“I’m just concentrating.”
Oliver pursed his lips. He had to call bullshit on that one. No matter how busy Chloe was, she always took the time to make sure that he was okay when he came back from patrol. Whenever he stopped by to see her at work, she paused, even if it was just long enough to give him a quick kiss and a smile. Determined to make things right, he walked over to stand in front of her.
“That’s never stopped you before,” he said.
Finally, she looked up, if only for a split second. Her face was carefully blank of emotion. “Really, Oliver. I’m not mad.”
His face fell. He could have kicked himself. They’d been officially back together for less than twenty-four hours and he’d already screwed it up. He hadn’t wanted to risk losing her and now it looked like he just might.
Not knowing what else to say, he simply stared at her hopelessly. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Chloe paused at the sadness in his voice. She sighed and carefully closed her laptop, setting aside. “I’m not mad, Oliver. I’m annoyed that you didn’t even give my plan a chance and that you made the decision not to use it without actually consulting me. You put your foot down and that was the end of the discussion. I get that you have concerns, but you actually have to voice them instead of just making the decision. So yes, I’m upset and annoyed, but I’m not angry.”
The slightest bit of relief began pulsing through him. “I know it was stupid,” he assured her. “I know that I handled it badly. It’s just that losing you like that is my worst nightmare. Ever since I found out about your unnatural tendency to get into trouble, I’ve been afraid that something would happen to you. I can’t just stand by and let you put yourself in harm’s way for the sole purpose of getting into trouble.”
He moved toward, dropping onto the couch beside her. “I’m sorry that I was an ass about this, but I was afraid of what might happen. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight. The thought of you out there like that really freaked me out. I know that we need to do something about this, that there are people depending on us. But I’ve had nightmares about something happening to you for years. I can’t risk one of them coming true when there are others options.”
Chloe felt her annoyance drain away to be replaced with self-reproach. She should have known that suggesting she use herself as bait would reawaken his old fears. If she’d taken that into account before making her plan, she’d have anticipated Oliver’s reaction and they could avoided the mess they found themselves in.
As the last of the tension left her body, Chloe scooted closer to him, pressing her side to his. “Why didn’t you just say something?” she asked quietly. “All you had to do was tell me and we could have worked this out.”
Oliver smiled ruefully. “Well, I know that for next time. What’s our next move?”
“I’ve been trying to connect Dr. Fitzgerald to the cases I’ve been looking into and I’ve been trying to find out if he’s been active in other places,” she said, looking tiredly at her computer. “But it’s a massive amount of data to get through. He’s definitely changed his name more than once. I don’t have the computer power or the time to sort through it all on my own. I’m going to contact one the people I met while you were gone. He’s better with computers than I am. We’ll have more luck if we’re working together.”
He frowned slightly in confusion. “What about the ones I set up for patrol? Those are some of the best computers on the market.”
“Those are better than the average computer, but they’re not powerful enough to sort through all the data,” Chloe explained. “The kind of search I’d have to set up to go through everything would be massive. This has to be done by someone who can more easily sort out the unnecessary data. Then we can establish some good search parameters once we narrow things down.”
“That makes sense. What about contacting Green Lantern? I can keep patrolling in the hopes that we run into each other, but there’s no guarantee.”
“Normally I’d try to figure out who he is, but since we don’t know what his home town is, I don’t have any way to narrow the search. I’m right back where I started with Dr. Fitzgerald.”
“So we cross our fingers and hope that he finds us,” Oliver surmised. He wasn’t happy with sitting on his hands, but if it kept Chloe off the streets, he was willing to deal with it.
“Sounds about right,” she sighed. “I’ll call my friend in the morning and see if he’s willing to help us.”
An idea crossed Oliver’s mind. “Do we have the address for wherever Dr. Fitzgerald was working when all of these people went missing?”
Chloe frowned in confusion. “Yeah. He had an office in Coast City. Why?”
“Is it still there?”
Still confused, she tapped a few keys. “The office is still running,” she said in surprise. “According to the website, Dr. Fitzgerald is on sabbatical for the next month. His associate and RN are taking care of the patients in his absence.”
“Do you think Bart would be willing to make a run to Coast City to see if he can find something?”
A slow smile spread across Chloe’s face. “There probably won’t be anything about what he’s doing with all these people, but we might be able to figure out how he’s finding them. I’ll call Bart. If I bribe him with copious amounts of food, he should be willing to do anything.”
“Well, it sounds like we finally have a plan,” he murmured, bending down to press a kiss to the base of her neck. “What are we going to do with the rest of the evening?”
“It’s after midnight,” she giggled, leaning her head to the side. “There’s no evening left.”
“I can think of some ways to spend our time.”
Chloe gasped at the tension coiling her stomach. Just his words were enough to turn her on. “What kind of plans?” she managed to choke out.
“Well,” Oliver said, slowly kissing his way up her neck. “I was thinking that we could finish what we started this morning before Hal showed up. Are you up to it?”
“Are you?” she challenged.
He let out a short laugh, pulling her into his arms. She locked her arms around his neck and he carried her down to the bedroom.
***
The noise of the bullpen grated against her ears. It had been difficult to force herself to leave that morning. She’d have much rather spent the day with Oliver, especially since it was Saturday, but she really did have to get back to work. She’d been assigned weekend duty that week,which normally meant sticking her head in for an hour or two, but the best way to get back on her editor’s good side was to be there from nine to five. There’d been a pile of work on her desk when she arrived. She’d spent several hours sorting through everything. Very little of it could be actually turned into a story, but she’d done a little research and sent in an outline to her editor.
Since tracking down sources and doing the in depth research could wait until she was home, she’d turned her attention to tracking down Dr. Fitzgerald.
Chloe glanced around to make sure that no one was watching her, but everyone was occupied with their work. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bart, figuring that he would be the easiest to convince.
The phone had barely run twice when his cheerful voice echoed through the earpiece. “What’s up ‘licious? I knew you’d miss me sooner or later.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, a smile gracing her lips. “You know me, Bart. I can’t resist you. Just don’t tell Oliver.”
“Don’t worry, mamacita,” he chuckled. “Wouldn’t want to make the green bean angry. So what can I do for ya?”
“Would you mind running a quick errand for me? There is food in it for you if you do.”
“Aw, you don’t need to do that. I’d do anything for you, ‘licious. But I don’t say no to food.”
“I know you don’t,” she laughed. “So you’re in?”
“Definitely. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
She quickly filled him in on the missing persons and murders that she and Green Lantern had been looking into. The longer she spoke, the quieter Bart became until he wasn’t making any more comedic quips. Being a meta himself, everything she was telling him was hitting home.
“So I need you to see if you can get into his office and copy his records,” Chloe finished. “There probably won’t be anything obvious, but we might be able to find out how he’s been tracking down his victims. If we can figure that out, then we have a chance at predicting his next move and actually stopping him.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem, ‘licious,” he said confidently. “I can get in and out of there no problem. Where do you want me to bring the info once I get it?”
“Back to the penthouse so Oliver and I can go through it. Wait until five o’clock to stop by though, or no one will be there. But,” she added, almost as an afterthought, “give me a call if there’s a computer and I can walk you through how to hack it so you can get the information from the hard drive.”
“Got it. Keep the phone lines open for me.”
“I will. Thanks for the help, Bart,” she said sincerely.
“I’m glad to do it. Guys like this have got to be stopped.” Chloe could almost picture him shrugging as he went on. “Might as well be by us. I’ll call you if I have any trouble and if I don’t, I will see you later.”
“Thanks again, Bart.”
After hanging up, Chloe worked for a few minutes. She wanted to be sure that no one knew what she was up to and the best way to do that was to not attract attention. Personal phone calls were gossip magnets. She stalled for about half an hour before dialing the number Victor had given her before leaving with his girlfriend. She only hoped that he would help her.
The phone rang and rang. She was about to hang up, thinking that he hadn’t set up the mailbox, when the voicemail finally kicked in.
“Hey, you’ve reached Victor. I can’t come to the phone right now, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
Chloe sighed over the beep. “Victor, it’s Chloe. I was wondering if you could help me with something. Your computer skills will be much appreciated. Give me a call when you can. It’s kind of urgent.”
Rubbing her temple, Chloe hung up and turned back to her work. She wasn’t focused. Her thoughts kept turning to Dr. Fitzgerald, to the number of people he’d kidnapped and how many had turned up dead. She wasn’t going to get any work done until she and Oliver managed to do something about Fitzgerald. It was going to be a long day.
***
It had taken most of the day, but Hal had finally managed to take care of the business he’d mentioned to Oliver the day before. There had been a couple of leads he had wanted to chase down. They’d all come up empty, as he’d suspected they would. He didn’t feel as badly as he usually did when the bad guys got away with something. This time, he had someone backing him up, even if they didn’t know exactly whom they were helping.
He’d spent the previous evening researching the Green Arrow. It should have been obvious to him that Oliver was the infamous Emerald Archer. Not only had the girlfriend given it away, but once Hal thought about it, he’d recognized the decor of the room he’d woke up in after getting his bell rung trying to stop the meta gang banger. It had definitely been Oliver’s penthouse. Hal just wanted to know as much as possible about his best friend’s leather wearing alter ego before starting something.
The Green Arrow had only been on the streets for a few months, but he’d done an excellent job of keeping his head down. Most of the articles about him were unsubstantiated rumors. There were few confirmed stories and even fewer facts. Pictures of him were just as scarce. All Hal had been able to discover was that Green Arrow saved the day and disappeared.
He was looking forward to dropping little hints in front of Oliver. It was going to be fun watching him turn fifteen shades of red at every mention of Green Arrow. Just as amusing would be Chloe’s reaction. The girl had mentioned that she was used to dealing with heroes. Hal wondered how she would handle it if she thought someone had found out her boyfriend’s secret identity. He was actually meeting them at the penthouse to go out for dinner and couldn’t wait for the teasing to begin.
As he stepped into the building, Hal felt a gust of wind brush by him and caught the faintest glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. He blinked and the flash was gone. Hal narrowed his eyes. He’d seen enough weird things to know that he wasn’t just imagining things. Something or someone had run past him too fast for him to see and he was willing to bet it was the same person that Chloe had called to get him out of the penthouse the other night. His stomach churned at the thought. That was definitely not his preferred mode of transportation and he flew airplanes that practically broke the sound barrier for a living.
The presence of the other meta surprised Hal. Chloe and Oliver must have found something he’d missed. All of his plans to torture Oliver about his alter ego were pushed to the back of his mind. If it meant stopping Fitzgerald, he was willing to forgo his fun.
Hal slid his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his ring. He’d see if he could figure out what was going on before blowing his own identity, but if it turned out that they did have a break in the case, he’d surprise Oliver and Chloe with one hell of a coming out.
***
“When’s Hal supposed to be here?” Chloe asked. She’d printed out several of the files Green Lantern had given her and they were scattered all over the living room. For the past five minutes, she’d been trying to clean everything up, but she hadn’t made much headway.
Oliver chuckled at the sight of his girlfriend running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He snagged her by the waist as she went by, tugging her against him.
“Relax,” he said. “Hal won’t be here for a few more minutes. Just calm down.”
She shot him a glare. “Do you want him to know what we’re up to?” she demanded. “Or are you all right with Hal knowing about your fetish for archery?”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Do you want some help?”
“What do you think?”
He chuckled again and reached for the nearest stack of papers. His fingers were centimeters from them when they fluttered and blew away. He looked up to see Bart, a box in his hands, standing in the middle of the room. The other man looked around, a sheepish expression on his face when he saw the papers that he’d blown all over the floor. Dropping the box, Bart zipped around the room, neatly stacking everything in less than a second.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I got the information Chloe asked me for.”
“Did you get everything from the computers?” she asked.
Bart held up a flash drive. “It was a piece of cake once you told me how to get in.”
Grinning, Chloe took the jump drive, giving him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before drawing away. “Thanks Bart.”
Face almost as red as his shirt, Bart grinned back. “No problem. Anything else you need me to do?”
Chloe glanced back at Oliver, who shrugged. “Not that we know of right now. But if you stay in the area, we could probably use your help once we get closer to nailing this guy,” he said.
“Sweet. If you can really use my help, I’m happy to stick around. Don’t suppose you know a good hotel?”
“You can just stay in one of the empty apartments downstairs,” Oliver offered. “Queen Industries owns the building. We’ve got a couple set aside for business associates. It’ll work for a few days until I can find something more permanent. There’s one right below the penthouse. Should be 2203.”
Bart’s smiled broadened. “Thanks, man. Do you have a key?”
“I’ll have to get one from the office. But,” a smirk crossed Oliver’s face, “I can pick the lock.”
“No need,” Bart laughed. “I can handle it on my own. I’ll go ahead and make myself scarce. Gimme a call if you need a hand with anything.”
Before either of them could answer, Bart zipped away.
Chloe grabbed the papers she’d printed out and dropped them on top of the box Bart had dropped off. She hauled it all into her arms, but Oliver snatched the box away from her. She shot him a glare, but he ignored her as he walked down the hall. He stashed the box in his secret room before returning to the living room, just as the elevator buzzed and the doors slid open.
“Remember the code this time?” he teased when Hal stepped into the room.
The other man rolled his eyes. “I didn’t forget it. It just didn’t work before.”
“Sure it didn’t. Blame the computer equipment.”
“If I recall, it seems to malfunction around you more than me.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the two men. Her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket to see Victor. As she walked away, she called over her shoulder, “Down boys. You can put the rulers away. Last time I checked, you won’t be needing them at the restaurant.”
Ducking into the office, she answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Chloe. I got your message. What’s going on?”
“We’re trying to track down someone who’s targeting metas but the sheer amount of computer data to go through is daunting,” she explained. “I need another set of eyes to help me sort through everything before I can even begin to write a search program. I was wondering if you would mind helping me narrow down the data.”
“I’ll definitely help with that,” he said quickly. “Send me what you got and a list of what you want me to find and I’ll get to work.”
“Thanks, Victor. You’re a life saver.”
He chuckled. “No problem. I’ll get back to you tomorrow and give you a progress report. Talk to you soon.”
Grinning happily, Chloe hung up and slipped back out into the living room where her boyfriend was still arguing good-naturedly with his best friend.
“Are you guys ready?” she demanded. “I’m hungry.”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we’re ready.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the elevator. Hal brought up the rear.
“By the way, I like your shirt,” Hal said offhandedly once they were in the elevator. “The color really suits you.”
Chloe looked down to the emerald green blouse she was wearing. She and Oliver shared a secret smile. “It’s my favorite color,” she said, her voice hinting that there was something significant about the color.
“If it’s your favorite color, then you must have a real thing for the Green Arrow.”
Oliver tensed just slightly while Chloe grinned. “You have no idea. Do you guys want to walk to the restaurant? It’s not far.”
“Sounds good to me.” Hal shot her a warm smile and held open the door for her. He elbowed Oliver as he went past. “How do you feel about the competition you’re getting from the local hero? Think you can measure up?”
Oliver had to bite his tongue to keep from saying that he didn’t mind Chloe having a thing for his green leather counter part. Instead he just shrugged. “I may not have all the gadgets he does, but I like to think that I make up for that in other ways.”
I’m sure you do, Hal thought to himself, taking in the tensing in Oliver’s jaw. He decided to keep pushing their buttons. “So what do you guys think about all the heroes that have been popping up lately?”
“I think they’re doing a lot of good,” Chloe said quickly, beginning to get uncomfortable with the topic of heroes. She knew that Oliver would be anxious to change the subject, too. He was still pretty protective of his identity. “But I also think that it’s a pretty fine line. I’m mostly reserving judgment until I learn more about them. They’re the hot topic at the paper, though.”
Luckily, at that point, they walked inside the restaurant and the maitre’d led them to their seats. From there, the conversation drifted to more mundane and safer topics. Hal and Oliver swapped stories, comparing their adventures. They regaled her with their exploits together. Chloe told Hal about some of her adventures in Smallville, leaving out the meta human angle as she always did.
Everything was going great until they were headed back to the penthouse for a cup of coffee. They were halfway back to the building when they heard gunshots and shouts from a small convenience store across the street. All three of them stopped short.
“Looks like someone’s trying to rob the store,” Oliver muttered.
Chloe rested her hand against his back, stroking his back soothingly. She knew that he was wishing that he had his gear with him so that he could do something. “I’ll call the police,” she whispered.
“We should do something.”
“You can’t. Not like this. You’d just get yourself into trouble and make things worse. Let me call the cops and take care of this.”
Unbeknownst to them, Hal had pulled his ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto his finger. He knew exactly what was going on in Oliver’s head. The only difference was, all he had to do was put on his ring and he was ready for a fight. There was no way Oliver had any of the leather on underneath his t-shirt and jeans. Police response time wouldn’t be fast enough under the best of circumstance and by the time they arrived this time, there would be definitely be hostages. Someone had to do something and he was the only one who could.
“Wait a few minutes before calling the cops,” he said. “I’ll handle this.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Oliver demanded, dragging Hal into an alley. The last thing they needed was for the press who would be arriving on the scene any moment to catch sight of them arguing across the street from a robbery in progress. “Those guys have guns! This isn’t going to be one of the brawls we got into in high school!”
“I know that,” Hal snapped. “But unless you managed to fit a bow in your back pocket, the police aren’t going to get here before these dirtbags take hostages.” He fisted his hand and with a flash of green light he was back in his Green Lantern uniform. “I can take care of this and no one will get hurt.”
Oliver stared at Hal, his mouth hanging open. “What the hell?” he managed to croak after a moment.
Hal rolled his eyes. “Come on. You run around rooftops with a cross bow and you’re surprised that I glow a little bit? That’s just sad.”
The shouts from the convenience store grew louder. “I’ll meet you back at the penthouse,” Hal said, rising into the air and flying off before either of his friends had a chance to answer.
For a moment, they just stood there, staring after him. Then Chloe tugged a still stunned Oliver out of the alley and back to the penthouse. Neither of them spoke until they were safely standing in the living room. Oliver collapsed on the sofa, trying to process that Hal was apparently a superhero and that he knew that he was the Green Arrow.
Chloe chuckled once and turned to Oliver. “How did we not see that coming?”
He stared at her for a moment, then they both burst out laughing and settled in to wait for Hal to come back.
Author’s Note: So what do you think? I went through a ton of scenarios, trying to figure out how to have Hal tell them that he was Green Lantern. This finally just fit. I hope you liked it. Next up, the plot thickens. (And no, I can't that vague that up any more for you, lol)
Chapter 16
Rating: PG-13 for the most part, however there are sections that are NC-17 (my first attempt, for the record) for sexual content. This fic contains violence and language. Chapters containing sexual content will be preceded by a warning.
Spoilers: The entire series, basically. The basic setting is season six with a twist, but anything is fair game if it works for this fic.
Warning: Again, this is AU and is a continuation of my fic Twist of Fate, which you really need to read first or this isn't going to make any sense. There will sexual content and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, I'm just playing around with them.
Beta:
jessicaj703 Thanks for all the help!Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14
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geek_or_unique Author’s Note: I am so sorry for the delay in posting. The drive to Virginia and the week following the move were a lot busier than I anticipated. I had zero time to write. Then, once I did, my muse decided to go on vacation. She is finally back. Hopefully, updates will be more frequent now. Thank you so much for being patient with me :)
Chapter 15
The plan was simple. Chloe got into trouble so easily that she reasoned it was the best way to get Green Lantern’s attention. If she went looking for trouble, she’d eventually find it, and Green Lantern would come save her. It was clear from the look on her face that she thought it was a brilliant plan.
Oliver thought differently. He stared at Chloe in barely contained horror.
“Are you actually trying to get yourself killed?” he choked out after a moment.
She gave him a hurt look. “Of course not,” she said calmly, recognizing the signs of panic threatening to take him over. “I’m just trying to help the people this guy has taken. Not all of them have shown up dead just yet. They could still be alive and we have to do something. If Dr. Fitzgerald is behind the cases in Star City, Green Lantern is the best person to help use because he knows more about Fitzgerald than anyone. There could be dozen’s more people that he’s kidnapped.”
“I understand that,” Oliver retorted. He paused and took a deep breath to calm himself before going on. “It’s just not worth saving them if it’s at the cost of your life. You don’t even have confirmation that these people are still alive or that all of these cases are actually connected. You’d be risking your life for nothing until we can confirm the facts.”
He had a point there, but she still thought it was their best chance of saving the missing people. “Isn’t that what you do every night?” Chloe asked quietly. “Risk your life without any guarantee that anything will come of it?”
“That’s different. I know the risks and I trained for months before staring to patrol!”
“I know the risks, too. And I won’t be out there alone,” she added. “You’ll be out there watching my back in case he doesn’t show up.”
“That’s not good enough,” Oliver snapped. “If he doesn’t show up, I might not get there in time. I’m not going to risk your life for nothing!”
Chloe lost her temper. “It wouldn’t be for nothing,” she hissed. “We’d be a little closer to finding the missing people who haven’t turned up dead yet and if we keep waiting, we’re risking more of their lives. We have no idea what’s happening to them! We can’t wait!”
“Well we’re going to have to wait until Green Lantern meets with us on Sunday, because there’s no other way for us to contact him.”
Her face darkened in rage. “We can’t wait that long! I won’t wait that long.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to,” Oliver said firmly, spinning on his heel. He left Chloe standing in the middle of the living room, effectively ending the argument. The image of her being dragged into an alley by some psychopath played behind his eyes, as if often had during the years he’d been gone. No, he wasn’t going to let her risk her own life when he could do something about it. He would go out on patrol and hope that Green Lantern was out as well. If he was lucky, they’d run into each other. The chances were slim, but they were more favorable than the chances of Chloe come back unscathed if she went out there.
When he walked back into the living room, in full gear, Chloe was standing in the middle of the room. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was giving him her best glare. Any other time may well have been enough to send him cowering. The Sullivan-Lane girls were notorious for their ability to give death glared and Chloe was well versed in the art of making him shake where in his boots. He knew the moment he saw her that he had to get out of there quickly or she’d tear him apart.
“Where exactly do you think you’re going?” she demanded, her voice icy.
“I’m going on patrol,” he said evenly, trying not to let her intimidate him. He didn’t even want to dwell on the irony of the fact that the Green Arrow was afraid to cross a tiny blonde woman. All of those years fighting meteor freaks had really paid off in her favor. She was formidable. “If I’m lucky, I’ll run into Green Lantern. If I’m not, at least I’ll get to stop some bad guys.”
Her eyes narrowed further and when she spoke, it was with an air of repressed fury. “So what am I supposed to do? Just sit here, twiddling my thumbs while innocent people are being held hostage? Need I remind you that some of my closest friends are metas, the very people this guy is targeting?”
“Then I’m sure they’d agree with me and that they wouldn’t want you to risk your life until we have evidence,” he said coolly.
Glaring at him, Chloe grabbed her laptop off the coffee table and sat down on the sofa, her back to him. “Well, while you’re out there wasting you time trying to run into one person in a city of millions, I’ll actually be trying to accomplish something.”
Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but Chloe had already begun typing furiously, obviously ignoring him. Heaving a sigh of frustration, he headed out to the balcony. A nagging voice in the back of his head warned him that walking away was a mistake, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around. He couldn’t get the all too recent image of a lifeless Chloe out of his mind. If he could afraid, Oliver was willing to weather his girlfriend’s wrath, no matter how frightening or well deserved it might be.
Steeling his nerves, he fired a zipline arrow and took off across the city, hoping that there were some bad guys he could punch.
When he returned three hours later, Oliver wasn’t feeling any better. He’d hammered a couple of muggers, a drug dealer, and some one breaking into cars and stealing radios, but it hadn’t helped with his frustration. The sound of rushing wind filled his ears only to stop abruptly the moment his feet hit the concrete balcony. He disengaged his bow from the zipline and reeled in the line, stowing the thin cable in his utility belt. Taking a deep breath, he walked back into the penthouse.
Chloe was still sitting on the couch, her legs crossed and her laptop resting on her knees. Her forehead was furrowed in concentration. She hadn’t moved an inch since he’d left and she didn’t look up now that he’d returned. Knowing that he’d made her angry before, Oliver slipped out of the room to change.
He was heartily regretting the decision to leave now. It definitely ranked high on his list of stupid decisions and considering how many idiotic choices he’d made, that was saying something. Oliver knew that he’d let his fear get the better of him and that he’d reacted badly. Now, he just had to figure out how to make amends.
Dressed in sweats and a black t-shirt, he made his way back to the living room. Chloe still hadn’t moved, let alone acknowledged that he’d even returned. He hovered in the doorway, the silence pressing against him, broken only by the click of the computer keys. He could feel the tension radiating off of her. He marveled slightly at the fact that a petite blonde woman with no fighting experience and no weapon or powers could frighten him. He’d faced down more bad guys in the past few months than he cared to admit, but Chloe scared him more than any of them.
The silenced stretched on for a few more moments before Oliver finally worked up the courage to break it.
“On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you?” he asked softly, his body tensing in anticipation of the answer.
She answered instantly without even looking up. “I’m not mad, Oliver.”
“Then why haven’t you looked at me since I came in?”
“I’m just concentrating.”
Oliver pursed his lips. He had to call bullshit on that one. No matter how busy Chloe was, she always took the time to make sure that he was okay when he came back from patrol. Whenever he stopped by to see her at work, she paused, even if it was just long enough to give him a quick kiss and a smile. Determined to make things right, he walked over to stand in front of her.
“That’s never stopped you before,” he said.
Finally, she looked up, if only for a split second. Her face was carefully blank of emotion. “Really, Oliver. I’m not mad.”
His face fell. He could have kicked himself. They’d been officially back together for less than twenty-four hours and he’d already screwed it up. He hadn’t wanted to risk losing her and now it looked like he just might.
Not knowing what else to say, he simply stared at her hopelessly. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Chloe paused at the sadness in his voice. She sighed and carefully closed her laptop, setting aside. “I’m not mad, Oliver. I’m annoyed that you didn’t even give my plan a chance and that you made the decision not to use it without actually consulting me. You put your foot down and that was the end of the discussion. I get that you have concerns, but you actually have to voice them instead of just making the decision. So yes, I’m upset and annoyed, but I’m not angry.”
The slightest bit of relief began pulsing through him. “I know it was stupid,” he assured her. “I know that I handled it badly. It’s just that losing you like that is my worst nightmare. Ever since I found out about your unnatural tendency to get into trouble, I’ve been afraid that something would happen to you. I can’t just stand by and let you put yourself in harm’s way for the sole purpose of getting into trouble.”
He moved toward, dropping onto the couch beside her. “I’m sorry that I was an ass about this, but I was afraid of what might happen. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight. The thought of you out there like that really freaked me out. I know that we need to do something about this, that there are people depending on us. But I’ve had nightmares about something happening to you for years. I can’t risk one of them coming true when there are others options.”
Chloe felt her annoyance drain away to be replaced with self-reproach. She should have known that suggesting she use herself as bait would reawaken his old fears. If she’d taken that into account before making her plan, she’d have anticipated Oliver’s reaction and they could avoided the mess they found themselves in.
As the last of the tension left her body, Chloe scooted closer to him, pressing her side to his. “Why didn’t you just say something?” she asked quietly. “All you had to do was tell me and we could have worked this out.”
Oliver smiled ruefully. “Well, I know that for next time. What’s our next move?”
“I’ve been trying to connect Dr. Fitzgerald to the cases I’ve been looking into and I’ve been trying to find out if he’s been active in other places,” she said, looking tiredly at her computer. “But it’s a massive amount of data to get through. He’s definitely changed his name more than once. I don’t have the computer power or the time to sort through it all on my own. I’m going to contact one the people I met while you were gone. He’s better with computers than I am. We’ll have more luck if we’re working together.”
He frowned slightly in confusion. “What about the ones I set up for patrol? Those are some of the best computers on the market.”
“Those are better than the average computer, but they’re not powerful enough to sort through all the data,” Chloe explained. “The kind of search I’d have to set up to go through everything would be massive. This has to be done by someone who can more easily sort out the unnecessary data. Then we can establish some good search parameters once we narrow things down.”
“That makes sense. What about contacting Green Lantern? I can keep patrolling in the hopes that we run into each other, but there’s no guarantee.”
“Normally I’d try to figure out who he is, but since we don’t know what his home town is, I don’t have any way to narrow the search. I’m right back where I started with Dr. Fitzgerald.”
“So we cross our fingers and hope that he finds us,” Oliver surmised. He wasn’t happy with sitting on his hands, but if it kept Chloe off the streets, he was willing to deal with it.
“Sounds about right,” she sighed. “I’ll call my friend in the morning and see if he’s willing to help us.”
An idea crossed Oliver’s mind. “Do we have the address for wherever Dr. Fitzgerald was working when all of these people went missing?”
Chloe frowned in confusion. “Yeah. He had an office in Coast City. Why?”
“Is it still there?”
Still confused, she tapped a few keys. “The office is still running,” she said in surprise. “According to the website, Dr. Fitzgerald is on sabbatical for the next month. His associate and RN are taking care of the patients in his absence.”
“Do you think Bart would be willing to make a run to Coast City to see if he can find something?”
A slow smile spread across Chloe’s face. “There probably won’t be anything about what he’s doing with all these people, but we might be able to figure out how he’s finding them. I’ll call Bart. If I bribe him with copious amounts of food, he should be willing to do anything.”
“Well, it sounds like we finally have a plan,” he murmured, bending down to press a kiss to the base of her neck. “What are we going to do with the rest of the evening?”
“It’s after midnight,” she giggled, leaning her head to the side. “There’s no evening left.”
“I can think of some ways to spend our time.”
Chloe gasped at the tension coiling her stomach. Just his words were enough to turn her on. “What kind of plans?” she managed to choke out.
“Well,” Oliver said, slowly kissing his way up her neck. “I was thinking that we could finish what we started this morning before Hal showed up. Are you up to it?”
“Are you?” she challenged.
He let out a short laugh, pulling her into his arms. She locked her arms around his neck and he carried her down to the bedroom.
***
The noise of the bullpen grated against her ears. It had been difficult to force herself to leave that morning. She’d have much rather spent the day with Oliver, especially since it was Saturday, but she really did have to get back to work. She’d been assigned weekend duty that week,which normally meant sticking her head in for an hour or two, but the best way to get back on her editor’s good side was to be there from nine to five. There’d been a pile of work on her desk when she arrived. She’d spent several hours sorting through everything. Very little of it could be actually turned into a story, but she’d done a little research and sent in an outline to her editor.
Since tracking down sources and doing the in depth research could wait until she was home, she’d turned her attention to tracking down Dr. Fitzgerald.
Chloe glanced around to make sure that no one was watching her, but everyone was occupied with their work. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bart, figuring that he would be the easiest to convince.
The phone had barely run twice when his cheerful voice echoed through the earpiece. “What’s up ‘licious? I knew you’d miss me sooner or later.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, a smile gracing her lips. “You know me, Bart. I can’t resist you. Just don’t tell Oliver.”
“Don’t worry, mamacita,” he chuckled. “Wouldn’t want to make the green bean angry. So what can I do for ya?”
“Would you mind running a quick errand for me? There is food in it for you if you do.”
“Aw, you don’t need to do that. I’d do anything for you, ‘licious. But I don’t say no to food.”
“I know you don’t,” she laughed. “So you’re in?”
“Definitely. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
She quickly filled him in on the missing persons and murders that she and Green Lantern had been looking into. The longer she spoke, the quieter Bart became until he wasn’t making any more comedic quips. Being a meta himself, everything she was telling him was hitting home.
“So I need you to see if you can get into his office and copy his records,” Chloe finished. “There probably won’t be anything obvious, but we might be able to find out how he’s been tracking down his victims. If we can figure that out, then we have a chance at predicting his next move and actually stopping him.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem, ‘licious,” he said confidently. “I can get in and out of there no problem. Where do you want me to bring the info once I get it?”
“Back to the penthouse so Oliver and I can go through it. Wait until five o’clock to stop by though, or no one will be there. But,” she added, almost as an afterthought, “give me a call if there’s a computer and I can walk you through how to hack it so you can get the information from the hard drive.”
“Got it. Keep the phone lines open for me.”
“I will. Thanks for the help, Bart,” she said sincerely.
“I’m glad to do it. Guys like this have got to be stopped.” Chloe could almost picture him shrugging as he went on. “Might as well be by us. I’ll call you if I have any trouble and if I don’t, I will see you later.”
“Thanks again, Bart.”
After hanging up, Chloe worked for a few minutes. She wanted to be sure that no one knew what she was up to and the best way to do that was to not attract attention. Personal phone calls were gossip magnets. She stalled for about half an hour before dialing the number Victor had given her before leaving with his girlfriend. She only hoped that he would help her.
The phone rang and rang. She was about to hang up, thinking that he hadn’t set up the mailbox, when the voicemail finally kicked in.
“Hey, you’ve reached Victor. I can’t come to the phone right now, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
Chloe sighed over the beep. “Victor, it’s Chloe. I was wondering if you could help me with something. Your computer skills will be much appreciated. Give me a call when you can. It’s kind of urgent.”
Rubbing her temple, Chloe hung up and turned back to her work. She wasn’t focused. Her thoughts kept turning to Dr. Fitzgerald, to the number of people he’d kidnapped and how many had turned up dead. She wasn’t going to get any work done until she and Oliver managed to do something about Fitzgerald. It was going to be a long day.
***
It had taken most of the day, but Hal had finally managed to take care of the business he’d mentioned to Oliver the day before. There had been a couple of leads he had wanted to chase down. They’d all come up empty, as he’d suspected they would. He didn’t feel as badly as he usually did when the bad guys got away with something. This time, he had someone backing him up, even if they didn’t know exactly whom they were helping.
He’d spent the previous evening researching the Green Arrow. It should have been obvious to him that Oliver was the infamous Emerald Archer. Not only had the girlfriend given it away, but once Hal thought about it, he’d recognized the decor of the room he’d woke up in after getting his bell rung trying to stop the meta gang banger. It had definitely been Oliver’s penthouse. Hal just wanted to know as much as possible about his best friend’s leather wearing alter ego before starting something.
The Green Arrow had only been on the streets for a few months, but he’d done an excellent job of keeping his head down. Most of the articles about him were unsubstantiated rumors. There were few confirmed stories and even fewer facts. Pictures of him were just as scarce. All Hal had been able to discover was that Green Arrow saved the day and disappeared.
He was looking forward to dropping little hints in front of Oliver. It was going to be fun watching him turn fifteen shades of red at every mention of Green Arrow. Just as amusing would be Chloe’s reaction. The girl had mentioned that she was used to dealing with heroes. Hal wondered how she would handle it if she thought someone had found out her boyfriend’s secret identity. He was actually meeting them at the penthouse to go out for dinner and couldn’t wait for the teasing to begin.
As he stepped into the building, Hal felt a gust of wind brush by him and caught the faintest glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. He blinked and the flash was gone. Hal narrowed his eyes. He’d seen enough weird things to know that he wasn’t just imagining things. Something or someone had run past him too fast for him to see and he was willing to bet it was the same person that Chloe had called to get him out of the penthouse the other night. His stomach churned at the thought. That was definitely not his preferred mode of transportation and he flew airplanes that practically broke the sound barrier for a living.
The presence of the other meta surprised Hal. Chloe and Oliver must have found something he’d missed. All of his plans to torture Oliver about his alter ego were pushed to the back of his mind. If it meant stopping Fitzgerald, he was willing to forgo his fun.
Hal slid his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his ring. He’d see if he could figure out what was going on before blowing his own identity, but if it turned out that they did have a break in the case, he’d surprise Oliver and Chloe with one hell of a coming out.
***
“When’s Hal supposed to be here?” Chloe asked. She’d printed out several of the files Green Lantern had given her and they were scattered all over the living room. For the past five minutes, she’d been trying to clean everything up, but she hadn’t made much headway.
Oliver chuckled at the sight of his girlfriend running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He snagged her by the waist as she went by, tugging her against him.
“Relax,” he said. “Hal won’t be here for a few more minutes. Just calm down.”
She shot him a glare. “Do you want him to know what we’re up to?” she demanded. “Or are you all right with Hal knowing about your fetish for archery?”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Do you want some help?”
“What do you think?”
He chuckled again and reached for the nearest stack of papers. His fingers were centimeters from them when they fluttered and blew away. He looked up to see Bart, a box in his hands, standing in the middle of the room. The other man looked around, a sheepish expression on his face when he saw the papers that he’d blown all over the floor. Dropping the box, Bart zipped around the room, neatly stacking everything in less than a second.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I got the information Chloe asked me for.”
“Did you get everything from the computers?” she asked.
Bart held up a flash drive. “It was a piece of cake once you told me how to get in.”
Grinning, Chloe took the jump drive, giving him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before drawing away. “Thanks Bart.”
Face almost as red as his shirt, Bart grinned back. “No problem. Anything else you need me to do?”
Chloe glanced back at Oliver, who shrugged. “Not that we know of right now. But if you stay in the area, we could probably use your help once we get closer to nailing this guy,” he said.
“Sweet. If you can really use my help, I’m happy to stick around. Don’t suppose you know a good hotel?”
“You can just stay in one of the empty apartments downstairs,” Oliver offered. “Queen Industries owns the building. We’ve got a couple set aside for business associates. It’ll work for a few days until I can find something more permanent. There’s one right below the penthouse. Should be 2203.”
Bart’s smiled broadened. “Thanks, man. Do you have a key?”
“I’ll have to get one from the office. But,” a smirk crossed Oliver’s face, “I can pick the lock.”
“No need,” Bart laughed. “I can handle it on my own. I’ll go ahead and make myself scarce. Gimme a call if you need a hand with anything.”
Before either of them could answer, Bart zipped away.
Chloe grabbed the papers she’d printed out and dropped them on top of the box Bart had dropped off. She hauled it all into her arms, but Oliver snatched the box away from her. She shot him a glare, but he ignored her as he walked down the hall. He stashed the box in his secret room before returning to the living room, just as the elevator buzzed and the doors slid open.
“Remember the code this time?” he teased when Hal stepped into the room.
The other man rolled his eyes. “I didn’t forget it. It just didn’t work before.”
“Sure it didn’t. Blame the computer equipment.”
“If I recall, it seems to malfunction around you more than me.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the two men. Her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket to see Victor. As she walked away, she called over her shoulder, “Down boys. You can put the rulers away. Last time I checked, you won’t be needing them at the restaurant.”
Ducking into the office, she answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Chloe. I got your message. What’s going on?”
“We’re trying to track down someone who’s targeting metas but the sheer amount of computer data to go through is daunting,” she explained. “I need another set of eyes to help me sort through everything before I can even begin to write a search program. I was wondering if you would mind helping me narrow down the data.”
“I’ll definitely help with that,” he said quickly. “Send me what you got and a list of what you want me to find and I’ll get to work.”
“Thanks, Victor. You’re a life saver.”
He chuckled. “No problem. I’ll get back to you tomorrow and give you a progress report. Talk to you soon.”
Grinning happily, Chloe hung up and slipped back out into the living room where her boyfriend was still arguing good-naturedly with his best friend.
“Are you guys ready?” she demanded. “I’m hungry.”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we’re ready.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the elevator. Hal brought up the rear.
“By the way, I like your shirt,” Hal said offhandedly once they were in the elevator. “The color really suits you.”
Chloe looked down to the emerald green blouse she was wearing. She and Oliver shared a secret smile. “It’s my favorite color,” she said, her voice hinting that there was something significant about the color.
“If it’s your favorite color, then you must have a real thing for the Green Arrow.”
Oliver tensed just slightly while Chloe grinned. “You have no idea. Do you guys want to walk to the restaurant? It’s not far.”
“Sounds good to me.” Hal shot her a warm smile and held open the door for her. He elbowed Oliver as he went past. “How do you feel about the competition you’re getting from the local hero? Think you can measure up?”
Oliver had to bite his tongue to keep from saying that he didn’t mind Chloe having a thing for his green leather counter part. Instead he just shrugged. “I may not have all the gadgets he does, but I like to think that I make up for that in other ways.”
I’m sure you do, Hal thought to himself, taking in the tensing in Oliver’s jaw. He decided to keep pushing their buttons. “So what do you guys think about all the heroes that have been popping up lately?”
“I think they’re doing a lot of good,” Chloe said quickly, beginning to get uncomfortable with the topic of heroes. She knew that Oliver would be anxious to change the subject, too. He was still pretty protective of his identity. “But I also think that it’s a pretty fine line. I’m mostly reserving judgment until I learn more about them. They’re the hot topic at the paper, though.”
Luckily, at that point, they walked inside the restaurant and the maitre’d led them to their seats. From there, the conversation drifted to more mundane and safer topics. Hal and Oliver swapped stories, comparing their adventures. They regaled her with their exploits together. Chloe told Hal about some of her adventures in Smallville, leaving out the meta human angle as she always did.
Everything was going great until they were headed back to the penthouse for a cup of coffee. They were halfway back to the building when they heard gunshots and shouts from a small convenience store across the street. All three of them stopped short.
“Looks like someone’s trying to rob the store,” Oliver muttered.
Chloe rested her hand against his back, stroking his back soothingly. She knew that he was wishing that he had his gear with him so that he could do something. “I’ll call the police,” she whispered.
“We should do something.”
“You can’t. Not like this. You’d just get yourself into trouble and make things worse. Let me call the cops and take care of this.”
Unbeknownst to them, Hal had pulled his ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto his finger. He knew exactly what was going on in Oliver’s head. The only difference was, all he had to do was put on his ring and he was ready for a fight. There was no way Oliver had any of the leather on underneath his t-shirt and jeans. Police response time wouldn’t be fast enough under the best of circumstance and by the time they arrived this time, there would be definitely be hostages. Someone had to do something and he was the only one who could.
“Wait a few minutes before calling the cops,” he said. “I’ll handle this.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Oliver demanded, dragging Hal into an alley. The last thing they needed was for the press who would be arriving on the scene any moment to catch sight of them arguing across the street from a robbery in progress. “Those guys have guns! This isn’t going to be one of the brawls we got into in high school!”
“I know that,” Hal snapped. “But unless you managed to fit a bow in your back pocket, the police aren’t going to get here before these dirtbags take hostages.” He fisted his hand and with a flash of green light he was back in his Green Lantern uniform. “I can take care of this and no one will get hurt.”
Oliver stared at Hal, his mouth hanging open. “What the hell?” he managed to croak after a moment.
Hal rolled his eyes. “Come on. You run around rooftops with a cross bow and you’re surprised that I glow a little bit? That’s just sad.”
The shouts from the convenience store grew louder. “I’ll meet you back at the penthouse,” Hal said, rising into the air and flying off before either of his friends had a chance to answer.
For a moment, they just stood there, staring after him. Then Chloe tugged a still stunned Oliver out of the alley and back to the penthouse. Neither of them spoke until they were safely standing in the living room. Oliver collapsed on the sofa, trying to process that Hal was apparently a superhero and that he knew that he was the Green Arrow.
Chloe chuckled once and turned to Oliver. “How did we not see that coming?”
He stared at her for a moment, then they both burst out laughing and settled in to wait for Hal to come back.
Author’s Note: So what do you think? I went through a ton of scenarios, trying to figure out how to have Hal tell them that he was Green Lantern. This finally just fit. I hope you liked it. Next up, the plot thickens. (And no, I can't that vague that up any more for you, lol)
Chapter 16
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