The Abandoned Her 7/?
Title: The Abandoned Hero 7/?
Rating: NC-17 (later, I promise)
Summary: Takes place after Season 7. Oliver gets Chloe released from prison and presents her with a proposal. Reluctantly, she must accept. Little does she know of Oliver's other intentions.
Notes: Here are you answers. I'd like to say I'd have another chapter up tonight, but I don't exactly have anything planned out for the next chapter so I may be at a halt for the moment.
It was late in the morning when Chloe woke up. There was no sound outside her room and she had the sneaking suspicion that she was the only one there. It would have made sense, Oliver taking off without telling her. If he had, she would have insisted on leaving to. Once she had exited the guest room it didn’t take long for her answer. A note was taped to the door.
Had some work to do. I won’t be gone long. I called everyone in; they should be arriving in a couple of hours. That includes boyscout. Do me a favor and stay in.
Oliver
By the team she could only assume he meant the Justice League. Chloe surveyed the townhouse and quickly realized he had locked her in again. It was a nice prison, but a prison none the less. He was taking quite a lot of liberties with her life and she’d had enough. She had two options. Try to get out of there, or try find out what the hell was going on. In the end she decided she needed answers.
Chloe had spent a little while searching his computer but she knew from the beginning that probably would be a waste of time. He knowingly wouldn’t leave anything on there. Next, she started searching the townhouse. As much as she hated poking about his personnel office it didn’t stop her. Considering he had her locked up in his townhouse she figured she had the right. Yet still nothing turned up. Her last stop was his Green Arrow room. She had purposely left that for last figuring it would hold nothing of interesst. There was nothing much in there besides his gear and his work out equipment. On one of the tables laid a couple of bows and arrows. Then she saw his glasses. Her stomach clenched in anticipation and she held her breath. How many times had he used his glasses to record video of a site? Fearing he would somehow come home any minute she snatched them up and ran out the room.
It had only taken her moments to get his glasses hooked up to the computer. Was there nothing on them and was that why he left them out or did he really just forget?
It wasn’t long before she had rewound the video to before he entered her building. It was when he pulled up to her street that she starting watching. As she watched the greenish video and followed Oliver’s path up the building across the street she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing there. He didn’t seem in that much of a rush so he couldn’t have known about the men after her. What the hell was he doing there? When he reached the roof a man dressed in fully black was kneeling down, looking strait at her building. As the audio began she turned up the volume.
“Jamison, status.”
There was a short pause which Chloe suspected was someone responding.
“Proceed with caution. We suspect she may be under heavy guard.”
Oliver than began to move closer then stopped.
“Yes Mr. Luthor. They’re moving in now. Project Akeso is underway.”
After that, Oliver knocked the man out and was across the street in moments. At that point she turned it off and sat there in silence. She knew Lex had been involved, but what was Project Akeso? After shaking off her initial shock she began searching Oliver’s computer again. With something to work with now she might have better luck.
After almost an hour of searching though she hung her head in defeat, nothing. He had to know something about it though. If he hadn’t he would have questioned her, ask her for help to discover what Project Akeso was. That only led her to believe that he did know what it was and didn’t want her to know. With slight annoyance Chloe tapped her nails at the desk and then opened up the internet. With a roll of her eyes she opened up a search engine and typed in “akeso”. She felt a little ashamed of herself for falling back on a simple search engine but had already exhausted all of her resources. The first link that popped explained everything.
ACESO (AKESO): The Greek Goddess of Healing & Curing
Healing. Chloe ground her jaw and dug her fingernails into her palm, not even wincing at the pain. It was all she could do to stop from throwing something. Then it was as if she was in a movie, because just as she was finally ready to release her anger on something the door opened.
Oliver hardly had time to duck as something flew at this head. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Trying to kill you!” Chloe hoped off the stool and walked towards him.
Thinking she was ready to make a run for it he shut the door, but she didn’t make a move for the door and instead stopped in front of him. The flying object he had been able to avoid but not her hand connecting with his face. She’d never been openly angry with him which explained why he just stood there in shock.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to ask.” Chloe walked back to the computer and grabbed his glasses. “I saw the video from before I was attacked. I have a few questions about what Project Akeso is, but I did figure out what it meant. Goddess of healing and curing.” She paused for a moment to see if he would acknowledge anything she just said but he just stood there in silence. “You know don’t you!? You know about me! You know I’m meteor infected!”
Denying it would have been stupid. If he did she would only hate him and that would only make his mission harder plus make him miserable. “Yes.”
She had suspected he was holding something back but she didn’t realize how much. “Why?” He said nothing and that was a first clue that there was something else. “What is Project Akeso?” Still nothing. “Do you know what it is?” Just as she opened his mouth she started again. “I’m warning you Oliver, if you lie to me this is it. I won’t stay in Star City. You’re protecting me from something but I won’t leave my life in the hands of a liar. I’ll leave for good.”
She would probably leave for good when she found out what he was about to give up. Oliver walked forward and took her hand. “Come on.”
Somehow she expected him to throw her in a room and lock her there. But instead he pulled her into his own bedroom. It hadn’t been often that she had been in there and she couldn’t help surveying the king size bed. It gave her mixed feelings that she knew weren’t appropriate. They passed the bed and went into his large walk in closet and didn’t stop until they reached the wall. She was about to question him but he released her hand and reached towards the ceiling. He must have done something because the wall slid away to reveal a variety of safes. When he kneeled down on the floor she did the same.
“Watch.” Oliver turned the dials and watched her out of the corner of his eye.
10-3-86. Chloe looked up at him as he opened the door. “That’s my birthday.”
“I know.” Oliver pulled out a stack of folder and sat on the floor of the closet. As she sat next to him he opened the top folder. “In case you weren’t aware I got stranded on an island about ten years ago. I found where my parents crashed and a letter from her. He held it up to her then laid it back down. “It was mostly telling me goodbye and how much they loved me and were proud of me.” Chloe’s face seemed to soften at his words. She didn’t know much about his time on that island and probably had no idea about him discovering a letter. “Then she mentioned something about the Traveler and Project Akeso. As you know they didn’t know who the traveler was. But she and my father knew something the others involved with Veritas didn’t They knew the first meteor shower wasn’t a mistake. It was sent to infect the people of Smallville for the only one reason, to infect one person with the power to heal Chloe.”
“No, Oliver.” Chloe shook her head. “People don’t plan meteor showers.”
“They do if they are from another planet.” Oliver took the picture out from underneath the letter and held it. “That wasn’t it, she asked me to find a woman name Moira Sullivan. She was the only other one aware of the real purpose of the meteor shower. She also asked me to watch over Moira’s daughter, the one infected with the power.”
“Oliver, my mom…” Chloe shook her head again. She would have known something. “My mom never said anything.”
“Look.” He held out the picture he held in his hand. “This is just one of the photos taken by security and the newspaper of my parent’s funeral. I’ve got more if you want to see them.”
It didn’t take long for her to realize who was in the picture. A black marker had encircled a woman and little girl in the picture. It was her and her mother. “No.” Chloe shook her head. “I mean this doesn’t make any sense.”
“Project Akeso isn’t just about you. It was about infecting a human with the power to heal and protect the Traveler, Chloe. Jor-El, Clark’s real farther, knew Clark wouldn’t be totally invincible. You were infected because Jor-El knew you would befriend Clark and because you’d willingly give your life to save him. Jor-El had counted on that.”
She felt used. Chloe would have been angry with Oliver if she wasn’t so angry with the rest of the world. “So,” Chloe began shakily, not sure if she was prepared for the answer, “that’s why you brought me here. To keep me safe, in case something happens to Clark.”
There was the hurt he had been dreading for a very long time. His roll in it all had made him miserable, but he didn’t know how it felt to be used in the way she had been. “No. I want to help Clark, but my mother asked me to protect you. Not force you to save Clark’s life. There intention was to save the traveler. But they don’t know you.” The hurt in her face had been replaced by sadness. The tears that had begun pooling in hers spilled over onto her pale cheeks. “I’m just here to keep you safe. What you do with your life is up to you.” Against his better judgment he reached a hand up and wiped the tears away. “Chloe, I’m sorry. I just, I didn’t know how to tell you.” She didn’t seem as angry as he had at firsts feared. With caution, he reached out for her. When she didn’t protest and scooted next to him he wrapped her in his arms.
Chloe buried her face in his chest and cried softly. It had always been such a comfort to know that Clark was strong. But did even Jor-El predict his downfall. What would it take to heal someone like Clark. She had never thought about that. “I don’t like dying. I don’t know what would happen if I healed Clark.” She sobbed into his chest knowing that if it came down to it she would do it. She’d have no choice. Clark had the ability to save thousands of people. How could she not give her life for her friend?
“That won’t happen.” Oliver kissed her hair and leaned his head back against the wall. Neither one of them knew what was going on between them, but he knew one thing, he couldn’t lose her.