The Loyal Opposition, Part 5 of ???
Title: The Loyal Opposition
Author: latetothpartyhp
Rating: PG-13
Genre: drama
Spoilers: through Pandora
Pairings: ETA: I envisioned this as mainly a Chlark confrontation, but what emerged in addition to that were some hints of Chlex friendship, mutual Chless manipulation, and some (mostly) off-screen Clana. There's also a Lexana fight for anyone who's interested. And Cless! We have added Cless!
Warnings: some violence & language - ETA: Character deaths in store.
Summary / Author's Note: Chloe's on a mission for the resistance. Could be a Supernatural crossover if you squint real hard. Thanks to go_clo for the amazing banner!
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16
The guard resumed his former position and Chloe let her heart rate go wild. She was currently kneeling in the most direct path between a super-powered alien and the woman who had been at the top of the planet's Most Wanted list for the last year and a half; she could be forgiven a little lack of control. Of course, if Kal-El was right, Lana was no longer a threat to anyone. Please let him be wrong. Please, please, please.
The woman with a warrant for her arrest in 294 "provinces" across the globe looked up. She managed imploring just fine. Imploring with a whiff of melting and a strong bottom note of helplessness. She was offering either complete surrender or the most masterful female stage performance since Cleopatra rolled out of her rug. Her lids fluttered. "Clark," she breathed, and the butt of the alien guard's rod thumped over her head. She gasped and crumpled, a flower trodden underfoot.
"Enough!" he shouted, moving to her almost as quickly as if he still had super-speed. Lana turned her lifted her teary eyes up to him, gratitude shining through. "It's obvious her powers are gone. It's beneath you to injure her this way Alera."
The Kryptonian woman's face hardened, but it was Tess who replied. "She is still a known criminal. We must question her. It does no good to coddle her like one of the children."
"I will question her," he replied. It was obvious to Chloe, and doubtless anyone else paying attention, Tess was not happy to hear that. It was odd seeing her grimace, and Chloe realized suddenly Tess was the only person -- well, the only person besides Lana -- Chloe had seen in his presence who showed real emotion. The others were soldiers on assigned duty, but Tess acted as if she expected to be heard. It was the first time since her own arrest that Chloe had had the chance to observe her, and beneath her now-default layer of fear she was shocked. Tess was human. They had all assumed Secretary of Planetary Security was an empty title, a bit of kabuki their new rulers had made up to distract attention from the rest of their "treaty". It appeared they had been wrong.
Tess nodded, though, despite her evident unhappiness. She was not, after all, herself El Presidente. "Of course. Remember, though, we are all anxious for your safety and we still don't know what happened to her."
"She can harm no one now," he answered, but it was Lana he was looking at. His eyes were soft. Glancing back at Tess, Chloe could have sworn she saw a muscle twitch in the other woman's jaw.
Chloe felt an ironic sense of solidarity with her. Tess was not the only one who wanted answers, and they would not be forthcoming if they let this devolve into a session of eye-sex. Or actual sex. Now that they were both de-powered, Kal-El might have other priorities. He had obviously not reviewed his Evil Overlords' Handbook prior to accepting his position. While Lex could have probably made use of the situation by offering his services as wedding coordinator and then planting a bomb in the bouquet, Chloe was not so patient.
"Kal-El," she said, praying fervently that was the correct mode of address from lowly prisoners to this particular absolute ruler. Whatever deity was listening took pity on her, as the absolute ruler turned to looked at her. "If I may make a suggestion? I also believe she should be questioned now. As I said earlier, Lana had all her powers on our last mission. She may have simply found a way to neutralize the meteorite radiation. It could be a trap." She drew a huge breath. "Question her now, and I can verify at least some of her story." A suggestion that made no sense at all, but since he'd not done the recommended reading maybe he wouldn't realize it. Besides which, hadn't that been the whole point of her and Lex's little seance of horrors? Madelyn could make the nonsensical possible. They hoped.
From the corner of her eye, Chloe could see Tess' hard, narrow gaze on her. Chloe only had eyes for Kal-El, though. The last word she'd exhaled could be her very last ever if she looked away. He'd worn a confused little frown as she spoke, but his face cleared as she ended. He nodded.
"You're right. We should verify both your stories. Alera, have your crew clean up and then report for debriefing." One of the humans walked to the doors and held one open for Alera and the others. Chloe took another deep breath, relishing the oxygen, calming the jubilation. She felt giggly again, from the adrenaline or from Madelyn she didn't know. She could sense the witch pressing on her consciousness, wanting in, wanting to relish every moment of bending the most powerful being on earth to her will.
Pipe down. You've got a whole room full of other people to charm. Like the red-haired bitch over there. She'd have this head off this body faster than you can say bibbity-bobbity-boo if you don't watch it.
Chloe felt Madelyn's presence recede. Hopefully she realized a dead Chloe meant no more fun. And hopefully Tess had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. She was staring at Chloe through hooded eyes, and Chloe could see the questions in them. Her outburst had served Tess' purpose, but Tess wasn't stupid. A turncoat rebel kneeling on the floor should not have that much influence over the great and mighty Kal-El.
"May I suggest," Tess said, "that the prisoners be questioned separately? I think we'll have a better chance of getting the truth out of them if they don't hear one another's responses." She had done her reading, it seemed. Well, now Chloe knew who was putting the brakes on Mr. Kent's wild ride. Except Chloe needed the car to crash, burn, explode. Wait - Madelyn had done something at her 18th birthday party, something like the magical equivalent of spiking the punch. Chloe'd had no idea what it was, but even as she remembered she felt Madelyn re-surge. If Madelyn would give it to her, if she could --
"Take Chloe then. I'll speak to Lana," said Kal-El.