I Don't Mind A Little Trouble, Part 2
Title: I Don't Mind A Little Trouble
Author: FlyingHigh / latetothpartyhp
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama / Adventure
Pairings: Chloe/Oliver, back-ground Lollie
Spoilers: for Luthor
Warnings: For language, since all these characters have potty-mouths when I write them. Also, this is un-beta'd.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, and I am receiving no money for this story.
Summary: Sequel to Of All The Towns in All the Worlds in All the Parallel Universes, You Had to Walk Into Mine. After Lionel's disappearance, alt-universe Oliver is suspected of his murder. Fortunately someone pays a call to help clear his name.
Author's Note for Part 2: Allusion to spoilers for Beacon in this. Also, Chloe seems to be turning into her father. Warning for terrible humor ahead.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rational part of his brain swore while the part that operated on instinct whirled his body around. His quarry had opened the door to her stall, second from the end, and was jerking her toward the interior in the universal sign for “This way!”
His rational brain re-asserted itself. “What the hell - “
“HMMMPH!”
She jerked her head again. He snapped his mouth shut and stomped to her stall. She grabbed his jacket, he stumbled forward, and they both landed with a soft thud against the back wall. In the moment it took to disentangle himself he thought he smelled oranges and something muskier underneath, but he was too ticked off to think of what.
“At the risk of repeating myself, what the hell - “
“Sshhh!”
“-- do you think you're doing?” he finished in a whisper.
“Dinah said you needed some help,” she whispered back, “and this seemed as good a place as any. Excellent customer service and very hack-able security feeds too. And - “ she smiled broadly, like she'd just come off a roller-coaster or been tickled or had an orgasm, “if anyone saw you come here, they'll just assume you're a little kinky.”
He found himself smiling back before he remembered that this had been a really dumb idea. “You realize the cops in this town are begging for an excuse to arrest me.”
Her smile fell and she was again all business. “Yeah, I heard. Clark's had Luthorcorp Media fingering you as the chief suspect in Daddy Dearest's disappearance.”
“You 'heard'? What, do you have inter-dimensional RSS feeds?”
“Dinah told me.”
“So, you have inter-dimensional IM?”
She shrugged. “Her voice carries.”
“Cute. You're not going to tell me, are you?” He didn't know why it was important to know that, except, of course, that it was obviously something that affected the team.
She shook her head. “No.” Then she smiled again, as if she'd said something funny. “But I can show you.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the shiniest chrome thing-he-thought-had-been-destroyed that he'd ever seen.
“Where did you get that? Your Clark told me he was going to get rid of it.”
“Then he probably did. This one was lent to me by a friend.”
“There's more than one?”
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be happy as … Queens,” she said.
He didn't know whether to groan or to … groan. “Did you just pun?” She raised a brow, which meant, he supposed, that he should back off. “Ok. You've been popping in, meeting up with Dinah, and popping out. I take it that means you know how to drive that thing.”
“A toddler could drive this thing. All you really have to do is twist and concentrate on where you want to go.”
“And where is it we'll be going? I mean, I assume I'll be going and you didn't pull me into the ladies' fitting room so we could play 'I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours'?”
She gave him a very flat look. “Trust me, you don't have anything I need to see. But you're otherwise correct. As for where we're going, well, they can't press charges against you for murdering a man who's alive and well.”
He found himself smiling again. Maybe this hadn't been such a dumb idea. “We're going to get Lionel Luthor.”
“Exactly. Hang on.”
He grabbed her arms as she placed her other hand on the device. He still couldn't pin-point the musky smell on her, except that it was warm and sweet and hazy. As the silver light bloomed and grew around them he screwed his eyes up tight, breathed her scent in and held on. When his lids grew dark again, he opened them to find they were standing in a hotel room in what, from the view, appeared to be a high level of a building in downtown Metropolis.
The room was empty, but there was an open door leading to a sitting room. Angling her behind him, he walked over and peered out into it.
“You can relax,” she told him. “Our contact isn't due for awhile.”
The sitting room looked empty, so he moved on to the closet. Empty. “Who's our contact?” He swept past her and poked his head into the bathroom. Shower stall: empty; toilet partition: empty.
He heard a rustling from the bedroom. “We're gonna have to change,” she said. “I think this one belongs to you.” He walked back out to find her holding out a dark suit on a hanger, covered by a dry-cleaning bag. He took it from her.
“Who's our contact?” he repeated.
“If it doesn't fit - “
“Look, these accidentally-on-purpose meet-ups are fun. A little inconvenient, but I don't mind that so much as you not trusting me. I hung on because I'm insane enough to trust some woman whose name I don't know and follow her into another world or plane of existence or wherever it is we are. It would be nice to know that you returned the favor. You can totally count on me to act surprised later if that's what's needed.”
She stared at him as if she'd gotten caught stealing popsicles from the freezer. “Okay,” she said after a few seconds. “That's fair. Um. Hm.” She sat on the bed. “In this version of reality - my version - Clark Luthor was not adopted by Lionel. He was adopted by a farm family from Smallville. The Kents. Our contact is his mother, Mrs. Kent.”
“Martha Kent?”
She nodded.
“Oh.” Back in his reality, Kent vs. Queen Land Management Trust was in its fourth year of litigation.
“I thought it might be better if I handled the face time.”
“No, I want to know with whom I'm dealing.”
She arched her brow at him again. “I need to look a person in the eye,” he said. The other brow came up and he sighed. “I'm sure she's...” What? A very nice person in this dimension? From what he could tell she was a very nice person in his dimension, albeit mad as hell at him. “So, uh, she's got info on Lionel?”
Again, she paused before replying, but this time she looked thoughtful. “Not really. The plan is not so much going out and getting Lionel, as it is bringing him here. Martha's going to be the thing that brings him.”
He frowned. “How's she going to do that?”
“Martha had some history with Lionel in this time-line.”
He didn't bother hiding his disgust.
“Not like that,” she continued. “But the Kent farm wasn't that far away from the Luthor mansion, and Lionel was always been interested in Clark. I think, after her husband died, she began a policy of keeping her friends close and her enemies closer. And it helps she went into politics and was appointed Senator, which I assume can only add to her powers of Luthor allure. That's also why we need to change. We need to look like G-men.” She held up her hanger. “If anyone stumbles in we're the advance security team.”
“That seems a little extreme for a Senator.”
“Security's a little tighter for her these days. You can have the bathroom,” she said, and pulled her jacket off.
Author: FlyingHigh / latetothpartyhp
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama / Adventure
Pairings: Chloe/Oliver, back-ground Lollie
Spoilers: for Luthor
Warnings: For language, since all these characters have potty-mouths when I write them. Also, this is un-beta'd.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, and I am receiving no money for this story.
Summary: Sequel to Of All The Towns in All the Worlds in All the Parallel Universes, You Had to Walk Into Mine. After Lionel's disappearance, alt-universe Oliver is suspected of his murder. Fortunately someone pays a call to help clear his name.
Author's Note for Part 2: Allusion to spoilers for Beacon in this. Also, Chloe seems to be turning into her father. Warning for terrible humor ahead.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rational part of his brain swore while the part that operated on instinct whirled his body around. His quarry had opened the door to her stall, second from the end, and was jerking her toward the interior in the universal sign for “This way!”
His rational brain re-asserted itself. “What the hell - “
“HMMMPH!”
She jerked her head again. He snapped his mouth shut and stomped to her stall. She grabbed his jacket, he stumbled forward, and they both landed with a soft thud against the back wall. In the moment it took to disentangle himself he thought he smelled oranges and something muskier underneath, but he was too ticked off to think of what.
“At the risk of repeating myself, what the hell - “
“Sshhh!”
“-- do you think you're doing?” he finished in a whisper.
“Dinah said you needed some help,” she whispered back, “and this seemed as good a place as any. Excellent customer service and very hack-able security feeds too. And - “ she smiled broadly, like she'd just come off a roller-coaster or been tickled or had an orgasm, “if anyone saw you come here, they'll just assume you're a little kinky.”
He found himself smiling back before he remembered that this had been a really dumb idea. “You realize the cops in this town are begging for an excuse to arrest me.”
Her smile fell and she was again all business. “Yeah, I heard. Clark's had Luthorcorp Media fingering you as the chief suspect in Daddy Dearest's disappearance.”
“You 'heard'? What, do you have inter-dimensional RSS feeds?”
“Dinah told me.”
“So, you have inter-dimensional IM?”
She shrugged. “Her voice carries.”
“Cute. You're not going to tell me, are you?” He didn't know why it was important to know that, except, of course, that it was obviously something that affected the team.
She shook her head. “No.” Then she smiled again, as if she'd said something funny. “But I can show you.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the shiniest chrome thing-he-thought-had-been-destroyed that he'd ever seen.
“Where did you get that? Your Clark told me he was going to get rid of it.”
“Then he probably did. This one was lent to me by a friend.”
“There's more than one?”
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be happy as … Queens,” she said.
He didn't know whether to groan or to … groan. “Did you just pun?” She raised a brow, which meant, he supposed, that he should back off. “Ok. You've been popping in, meeting up with Dinah, and popping out. I take it that means you know how to drive that thing.”
“A toddler could drive this thing. All you really have to do is twist and concentrate on where you want to go.”
“And where is it we'll be going? I mean, I assume I'll be going and you didn't pull me into the ladies' fitting room so we could play 'I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours'?”
She gave him a very flat look. “Trust me, you don't have anything I need to see. But you're otherwise correct. As for where we're going, well, they can't press charges against you for murdering a man who's alive and well.”
He found himself smiling again. Maybe this hadn't been such a dumb idea. “We're going to get Lionel Luthor.”
“Exactly. Hang on.”
He grabbed her arms as she placed her other hand on the device. He still couldn't pin-point the musky smell on her, except that it was warm and sweet and hazy. As the silver light bloomed and grew around them he screwed his eyes up tight, breathed her scent in and held on. When his lids grew dark again, he opened them to find they were standing in a hotel room in what, from the view, appeared to be a high level of a building in downtown Metropolis.
The room was empty, but there was an open door leading to a sitting room. Angling her behind him, he walked over and peered out into it.
“You can relax,” she told him. “Our contact isn't due for awhile.”
The sitting room looked empty, so he moved on to the closet. Empty. “Who's our contact?” He swept past her and poked his head into the bathroom. Shower stall: empty; toilet partition: empty.
He heard a rustling from the bedroom. “We're gonna have to change,” she said. “I think this one belongs to you.” He walked back out to find her holding out a dark suit on a hanger, covered by a dry-cleaning bag. He took it from her.
“Who's our contact?” he repeated.
“If it doesn't fit - “
“Look, these accidentally-on-purpose meet-ups are fun. A little inconvenient, but I don't mind that so much as you not trusting me. I hung on because I'm insane enough to trust some woman whose name I don't know and follow her into another world or plane of existence or wherever it is we are. It would be nice to know that you returned the favor. You can totally count on me to act surprised later if that's what's needed.”
She stared at him as if she'd gotten caught stealing popsicles from the freezer. “Okay,” she said after a few seconds. “That's fair. Um. Hm.” She sat on the bed. “In this version of reality - my version - Clark Luthor was not adopted by Lionel. He was adopted by a farm family from Smallville. The Kents. Our contact is his mother, Mrs. Kent.”
“Martha Kent?”
She nodded.
“Oh.” Back in his reality, Kent vs. Queen Land Management Trust was in its fourth year of litigation.
“I thought it might be better if I handled the face time.”
“No, I want to know with whom I'm dealing.”
She arched her brow at him again. “I need to look a person in the eye,” he said. The other brow came up and he sighed. “I'm sure she's...” What? A very nice person in this dimension? From what he could tell she was a very nice person in his dimension, albeit mad as hell at him. “So, uh, she's got info on Lionel?”
Again, she paused before replying, but this time she looked thoughtful. “Not really. The plan is not so much going out and getting Lionel, as it is bringing him here. Martha's going to be the thing that brings him.”
He frowned. “How's she going to do that?”
“Martha had some history with Lionel in this time-line.”
He didn't bother hiding his disgust.
“Not like that,” she continued. “But the Kent farm wasn't that far away from the Luthor mansion, and Lionel was always been interested in Clark. I think, after her husband died, she began a policy of keeping her friends close and her enemies closer. And it helps she went into politics and was appointed Senator, which I assume can only add to her powers of Luthor allure. That's also why we need to change. We need to look like G-men.” She held up her hanger. “If anyone stumbles in we're the advance security team.”
“That seems a little extreme for a Senator.”
“Security's a little tighter for her these days. You can have the bathroom,” she said, and pulled her jacket off.