Stolen Future: Chapter 2/20
Title: Stolen Future
Author: Märk Owen
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Rating: R for violence and language (this chapter, PG-13)
Warnings: None for this chapter
Timeline: AU Season 6 (Zod and beyond)
Disclaimer: Any Smallville or DC Comics related things in this story are the property of their own owners. The only thing that belongs to me here is the storyline, nothing else is mine.
Summary: In this universe, Darkseid made a pact with Zod who adopted Kal-El. He will kidnap the JLA before its creation, leaving Earth powerless. Will Chloe and Oliver ever meet? Will the JLA even form? What will happen to Earth?
Previous chapters: Prologue | Part 1
Chapter 2: Arrival in Hell
Oliver was watching through the only few windows which appeared to be the only source of light in this long dark corridor where he and Chloe were being forced to walk down. The same man who had 'welcomed' them had a vice grip on his and Chloe's forearms and was practically dragging them along him. For Oliver who had fought a lot of strong people while he was patrolling in his green leather suit, the man's strength was unbelievable. Both his and the petite blonde's combined weight didn't even seem to affect him, he was able to carry their bodies like they were some little rag dolls. He couldn't believe that this man was a lot stronger than him even if his muscles weren't apparently that developed. Of course he was muscled, as any soldier in any army and usually, average soldiers weren't able to lift him off his feet with the only force of one arm.
What kind of man could do that? Was he even human? Was he the only one who had this ability? And how did they make it here? Those were the questions popping in his mind at the moment while they were quickly approaching a semi-opened blurred french door.
The man kicked it open and sent the blonde's pair droop unceremoniously on the floor.
Chloe was still feeling a little dizzy following her lost of consciousness after the red bubble swallowed them in. She managed to take deep breaths, allowing her to regain composure and control the spinning world in her head. The coldness of the brown tiles she was laying on were helping her cool off her stressed body and confused mind. She lifted her face from the floor and realized that they weren't alone in there.
In front of Chloe and Oliver were standing about fifteen to twenty people. Each one of them was looking in their direction, every body, every head, every eyes turned toward them. A tense silence floating in the atmosphere as they were all gazing at the others. She noticed that Oliver was also looking over the room, trying to register what was happening, he seemed as lost as she was. Finally, the dizziness vanished, and she was able to have a more analytic look over the people in the room. She noticed a dozen of people dressed like the soldiers, who were strategically encircling a line of people standing in front of what looked like a royal throne in which three people were sat in. Taking a closer look on the encircled persons, she noted that their wrists were handcuffed, even one of them had both his wrists and ankles tied, completely immobilizing him.
"Oliver?" the latter asked. He looked like he was not even eighteen, a teenager and she wondered why he was the only one who had to be tied this way. His eyes were on the blond billionaire at her side, she turned her eyes to take a glimpse of Oliver's face who clearly was utterly confused but showed recognition of the teenager.
"Bart?"
Chloe turned her eyes back to look at said Bart but her gaze locked with a pair of light blue eyes. She gasped when she realized that she was staring at her best friend's face who returned her look with the same surprise and confusion.
"Tess?"
She opened her mouth to talk again but she felt a hand grab her hair behind her painfully, forcing her to let out a shriek of pain.
"Shut up! You are not allowed to speak in front of General Zod until he tells you to!" the soldier behind her nearly shouted in her ear. "Now rise before Zod!"
In the blink of an eye, both Chloe and Oliver found themselves standing with the line of handcuffed people, and tied up just like them.
"Kneel." A strangely strong and authoritative voice filled the very spacious room.
They were all so lost and busy at staring at the two new arrived people that the humans didn't even register the meaning of the word and just turned their heads toward the throne in order to identify the newly heard voice. Three seats composed the throne. The middle one was the biggest, the king's place in which a slim, young, well-built man was looking at them with dangerous blue eyes, and a cruel smile playing across his lips hidden in the middle of his short brown facial hair. His presence was this imposing that it took them a few seconds to notice the woman and the younger man seated respectively at his right and left. They looked like they were in their late twenties, although the man at the king's left looked like he was in his early ones.
"Haven't you heard? He said kneel! Obey, you stupid gits!" the dark-skinned soldier yelled at them and snapped his fingers, giving his subordinates a silent instruction. Several soldiers stepped behind them and kicked the back of their knees, forcing them to kneel with loud thuds and groans.
"Hey! Back-off!" A tall blond man positioned between Tess and Chloe protested which only gave him the opportunity to be punched in the ribs by a soldier in his back, making him cry out of pain and twist his body in hope to prevent another blow from hitting him. The man behind him stepped back without a single word as the other humans looked at the frame of the blond man, willing to help him. Oliver opened his mouth to speak in hope to defend the guy but the officer in front of him noticed that.
"Don't dare you to talk or you'll get through much worst things than he is!"
Oliver didn't have the choice, he wasn't the suicidal type so unless he wanted to see what they could have in store for him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. From his experience, he knew it was not the moment to make their captors angry, but it didn't erase the frustration he was feeling for not being able to help the blond guy.
The young man quickly recovered from the blow and lifted his upper body up to get back into a knelt position, his dark eyes and his clenched jaw expressing anger the anger toward the soldier. All he wanted to do was to jump up and strangle one of them with his own hands but he knew he couldn't.
"Now, shall we begin?" The same imposing voice was heard, drawing the gazes toward the throne.
The king waved his hand to his black-skinned right hand who silently nodded and walked a couple of steps toward a wooden console. He took what looked like a clear crystal which started to glow up at the contact of the man's hand on it. After a few seconds, a sort of digital projected little screen emerged from the crystal and the military man stepped toward the first knelt guy at the left end of the line.
"Harold J-" He spoke up while looking at the small screen in his hand.
"Hal" The prisoner cut him off.
"What?" the soldier was confused and taken aback by the prisoner who dared to interrupt him.
"Hal" he persisted "I don't like Harold, it sounds li-" The soldier's fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying a few meters back and ending abruptly his remark.
"Shut up! You're not allowed to speak!"
"Enough, Basqat" The king chuckled, visibly enjoying the scene playing before him. He stood up and walked lazily in the direction of the line of humans, stopping a few feet before them, he looked a few seconds at them with the same dangerous smile plastered on his face. Then, he quickly moved to Hal who was still lying on the ground, using his handcuffed hands to wipe off the blood from the corner of his mouth and trying to recover from the hard punch of the guy. He looked up when the king approached him and lowered his upper body to have his head at Hal's level. The man stared defiantly into his eyes. Seconds of silence flew by before the stoic face of the king changed into an another smile when he realized that Hal wasn't going to loose their staring contest.
"You've got balls little human, I'll give you that." He told him before turning his head to the closest private. "Move him back in the line." he ordered.
"Yes sir."
Hal's shoulders were grabbed and he was being dragged back to where he was earlier. The king walked back in front of the humans and took a stance.
"I'm General Zod." He informed them, taking his time to look into all of the humans eyes, he surely wanted to make them uncomfortable. "In the coming days you will learn to show me respect and kneel before me, because if you don't... you will die." His tone was more serious, he wanted to show them he wasn't joking. "The rule in my world is kill" he paused. "or be killed." Zod smirked. Once he was finished, he nodded at his soldier.
"Go on" he waved Basqat who started once again the presentation of the humans.
"Harold" He accentuated the word, mocking the man who dared to defy him. "Jordan. Born February the 20th of 1986 according to Earth's calendar which makes him nineteen years old, he is a test pilot for the Air Force, an aerial branch of his country's army" he specified. "He lives in a town called Coast City located in the Californian state. And uh, he doesn't have any ability."
The kryptonians always investigated about the planets on which they had to kidnap people, that's why Basqat could be that precise without having to explain everything to his fellow men.
He moved in front of a blond woman who wore a strange device as necklace.
"Dinah Lance." Basqat announced. "twenty-three years old, lives in Metropolis. She has a sonic scream capable to be lethal to people if heard for too long." He summarized, knowing that he had to do that for everyone and not wanting to waste any time. He paced in front of the teenager who apparently knew Oliver.
"Bart Allen. Sixteen years old, No registered address but mostly located in Star City and Mexico. He has a super-speed power."
The humans were utterly surprised by the amount of informations that these people had on them, and it was just the beginning.
"Victor Stone." the next human was introduced. "Nineteen years old, lives in Metropolis. His body is mostly composed of machine parts combined with his natural organs. He's displayed super-strength, can project energy blasts with his hands and we suspect him to be able to connect himself directly to a computer and being able to handle it with his brain waves."
Every introduced humans eyes expressed anger at the man and shame for seeing their most precious secrets revealed in front of unknown people while the others who were still waiting for being presented showed signs of apprehension, not wanting to be exposed. Yet, they kept their mouths shut, knowing protesting was useless unless you wanted a bunch of punches in your face. They had never felt so powerless and weak, they couldn't chase the question in their minds: What was going to happen to them? Why were they here?
A few seconds passed by before the next person saw his identity exposed. Basqat checked his screen, looked at the person in front of him and smirked before looking back to the screen and speaking up.
"Bruce Wayne" The sound of this name caused Oliver's head to shot up and checked his left to look at the person he should have recognized when he had entered the room. He hadn't seen Bruce in years but he could never forget him. He met him at Excelsior Academy when he was twelve, Bruce was a year older than him. To their surprise, they discovered themselves a lot of similarities: both were orphans, had dragged all their lives a terrible feeling of emptiness due to the loss of their parents and both could never completely trust anyone because of their invaluable fortunes. Bruce had taken Oliver under his wig back then, they had quickly befriended and even considered themselves as brothers. After High school, life got on the way and they lost touch of each other till today. The fact that they were both in the same room, here in this unknown world could only be a stroke of fate.
"A billionaire playboy aged of twenty-three years old, currently studying at Princeton University, He lives in Gotham City and has no super-abilities."
Bruce looked down, willing to avoid the gazes of the humans who had just recognized him. He wasn't a very public face on Earth but his name was famous, and sometimes it was at his own undoing.
The wait wasn't long before Basqat went on.
"Tess Mercer."
Chloe's chest constricted with worry for her friend, she knew she couldn't do anything for the redhead and that her turn was coming too. "Nineteen years-old, She is a marine biologist intern, studying at Harvard University and has no abilities."
It was quick and Chloe realized that her worry for her best friend was useless considering she wasn't famous nor had a secret ability she wanted to hide. A sigh of relief left her throat.
Basqat quickly enchained, it was the turn of the tall blond man who had been beaten up by a soldier for rebelling.
"Arthur Curry." Chloe noticed that Arthur gritted his teeth at the mention of his name. "Twenty-four years old, marine biologist student too, he uses to live in Miami. He apparently shares a bond with water which gives him super-strength and super-speed when he swims." Arthur's look was hard on Basqat who only grinned at the man's helplessness. He turned his head toward Chloe who was the next. She gulped down hard, and turned her gaze away, she went across Oliver's face who silently showed support to her by a small smile, the look in his eyes telling her that it was going to be okay, but she knew it wasn't. She waited for the inevitable.
"Chloe Sullivan." Basqat voice filled her ears as she heard the dreadful words. "Nineteen years-old, she lives in Metropolis and is intern at the Daily Planet newspaper. No super-powers."
That's it?-She thought.
She didn't know why she had been so stressed, she had nothing to hide but still, seeing her identity revealed like that to all these strangers was a little scary. She couldn't help being more stressed when she realized that Oliver was going to be the next, a billionaire never liked seeing his identity revealed when he didn't want to, did he?
She turned her head toward him and once again her eyes locked with his. This time he seemed nervous, extremely agitated to say the truth. His features were sinister and worried. She knew some famous people wanted to stay incognito at times but he seemed so anxious that she wondered if he really feared for his playboy identity or for something else. Did he have a power or something? Her curiosity was picked despite herself, as well as her worry for him.
On his part, Oliver was starting to feel fear quickly building inside of him, the feel of an almost unbearable pressure he wasn't used to experience. The soldiers had exposed an impressive amount of very personal informations on the others that no one on Earth could knew. He couldn't help but wonder if they knew about his alter-ego. He was about to find out as Basqat walked past Chloe and stopped in front of him. Oliver closed his eyes as if he were a kid who knew a slap was coming.
"Oliver Queen." As well a for Bruce, some humans didn't recognized him first and just realized that two billionaires were in the same room, handcuffed and knelt before a militia of scornful people.
"Another rich playboy who is twenty-two. He lives in Star City even if he had lately moved to Metropolis. He is CEO of one of the most influent company on Earth called Queen Industries. He is not powered." He is finished, right? Tell me he's finished, please!-Oliver silently begged to god.
When he heard no more words from the soldier, Oliver slowly opened his eyes and looked up, trying to figure out if Basqat was indeed finished or not. He got his answer when he walked away and dropped the crystal back onto the console. A wave of relief went over him as he exhaled loudly, his identity was still safe, but for how long?
The humans were so busy worrying about their secrets that they hadn't noticed that Zod was back in his throne, silently examining every face, letting a dreadful silence settle for several minutes. Of course Zod already knew all of that and even much more, the presentations made by his right hand was only a mean to prove the humans how much of a threat he and his army were to them.
"Now" he spoke up breaking the endless silence and startling some of them. "Now, you know how well informed we are." He stood up and paced closer to them. "But you still don't know why you are here." he laughed. "Who we are nor where you are." he pointed a finger at them keeping a light expression on his features, almost letting them believe that all of this was fake, that a group of cameraman was going out of their hiding place and tell them they had been tricked. Suddenly, a serious expression appeared on his face and his tone was full of hate, of disgust and harshness. "You humans, you believe you're alone in the universe, you believe you can exploit your little planet's resources without having to endure any consequences." he talked about them like they were venomous, a poison, a cancer. "You think you've got an inestimable knowledge of everything that nothing existing can ever, be better than you." he paused. "You were wrong" his voice was almost a whisper, he was acting like a predator over his preys. "My civilization has much more knowledge than your kind will ever have. You see, friends," they heard the other soldiers chuckle. "There are 28 galaxies we have counted in this universe and each one of them is inhabited." Bruce couldn't take it anymore, he had to cut him or he was going to laugh.
"You really want us to believe that?" he raised an eyebrow at him. "What's the next thing you're gonna tell us? That you're from another planet? You're talking about yourselves as if you were aliens!" he chuckled. "Where's ET?" he joked causing Hal and Tess to giggle.
"I don't care if you believe or not." Zod retorted. "But... If you think I am wrong, then how can you explain the strength of my men? How can you explain..." he paused for a moment to lick his lips and looked above Bruce's head, giving one of his soldiers a nod, in order to instruct him something. An interrupter being switched was heard, and the roof gradually opened, letting the rays of the sun light up the room. "How can you explain" he continued as red rays entered from the roof. "that this sun is red?" a smirk placed on his lips, showing the pleasure he was getting from mentally overpowering the young billionaire. The humans' faces fell, betraying their surprise as they saw the red shining sun above them.
"Now you see ignorant prats, You are currently on a planet called Sedna, my planet, my territory, my realm." Zod calmly explained while circling around them slowly. Once he had made a full circle, he was back in front of them and stopped. Arms extended and eyebrows raised he greeted them:
"Welcome on my soil."
Bruce and the others were all speechless, understanding that Zod was telling them the truth. They never could have guessed that and had never felt this lost in their entire lives.
"Now I'm gonna tell you why you're here, yeah." He quickly told them. He ts-tsted before speaking up again, shaking his head slowly. "Your kind believes he's unbeatable but, you are all fooling yourselves." he explained. "Because when I arrived here, a very powerful entity came looking for me twenty years ago, we call him... Darkseid. A veritable god, a master of fear, of power. The lord of evil in its purest form, in this universe. And he is about to invade your birth planet." He took his fun to see the doubts, the concern for their planet in their eyes, but he kept talking. "He told me you were the only ones who could protect humanity against him, but I really don't see why. In your eyes I only sense fear, confusion," he paused giving his last word a more venomous ring. "weakness."
"You were supposed to be Earth saviors together, that is why we've kidnapped you." This time it wasn't Zod's voice that was heard, it was a woman's. Zod turned round with a smile, revealing the woman who was earlier seated on the throne walking toward them, followed by the other and younger man. The both of them stopped when they reached Zod and lined with him so that he was in the middle of them. The woman took Zod's hand and leaned partially on his shoulder while looking at the humans.
"Faora, my wife." Zod introduced her.
"Hello" She spoke seductively, as if they were being introduced in completely different circumstances. Only her eyes reminded them her tone was fake, the mockery in them proving the humans that they really were prisoners of Zod.
"And here is, our son, Kal." Zod waved to third man who had been looking at them with a complete indifference, his face revealing a haughty look. He looked like he wasn't older than twenty or twenty-one so how could he be Zod's soon who himself didn't looked like he was even thirty years old?
"I've been waiting a long to meet humans." Kal spoke up. "Heroes in the arena, guess it'll give us enjoyable fights." he commented, looking at Zod who happily nodded.
"Yeah," he turned his head toward Oliver and looked at the others. "If we hadn't intervened, you would have become famous heroes on Earth" He paced long and large before the line of humans and stopped when he was in front of Oliver and looked down at him.
The young billionaire could feel the sweat dripping off his forehead and running on his back, getting into this topic was certainly not the best thing for his alter-ego.
"But I guess, we've been too late for one of you." Zod intensely stared into Oliver's brown eyes for interminable seconds, letting him understand what he was trying to say. He knew, Oliver knew where this was going, and once it was done there would be no coming back, he felt his body shiver and starting to tremble when he felt all the gazes of the room on him. "Weren't we? Green Arrow?" It was done, Zod had done it, now everyone knew who he was. Oliver had always known that one day his identity was going to be revealed but he didn't think it had to be so soon nor did he think that even some sort of aliens would know about it too. What was he going to do?
The two words echoed in her mind, Chloe had seen a lot of disturbing and unbelievable things since she entered this room but this, this was the final blow. Did Zod just say Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow? Her eyes tried to scan his face that he bowed down in defeat, she knew she couldn't completely understand what he was feeling at the moment but she felt really bad for him. Oliver Queen was a hero and she was proud of him for that. She wanted to tear Zod in pieces for revealing his identity like that. No hero deserved that, she knew Oliver Queen was a human being of a great quality and no one like him deserved to be treated the way Zod did.
Oliver's shame and frustration were quickly replaced by an almost uncontrollable anger, he lifted his head aggressively and spat at the krytonian's face. "Go to hell! You son of a bitch!" he shouted.
Zod wiped his face from Oliver's spit, his features turning to anger too, he quickly walked a few steps back, grabbed a blue ring, slid it into his finger and ran back to Oliver before punching him. Several hard bashes hitting his jaw, his face, and his solar plexus, emptying his lungs. Oliver choked and gasped for air, breathing like a dog, letting out loud gasps as he did it. It didn't stopped the alien from hitting him.
"Stop it! No! God stop it please!" Chloe cried. Her pleas made Zod stop the attack, he moved a few steps around Oliver's weakened body who was still trying to take his breath back. Kicking him one last time, Zod felt his anger dissipate and as he was pacing, the corner of his lips twitched in a smirk. He once again lowered himself slowly next to Oliver who had time to recover from the punches. Their eyes locked. "I'm in charge here, and you're about to find out what that means... hero." he mocked "Here, you will all kneel and serve," Zod raised his voice higher, indicating he was talking to all of the humans. "until you die, like all of the others before you." he finished in a whisper and rose before walking away, followed by his family. "Take them to the cells!" he ordered.
"This human will be the first to be chosen to fight, I want him to endure a such pain that he'll beg me to kill him! He will be punished for his boldness!" Zod averred as he entered a room next to the reception hall where the humans were being led out from. Faora was close behind him and Kal followed, closing the door behind him. "I want to fight him, I've always wanted to kill a hero. Please father." Kal demanded.
"If that's what you want my son then so be it, but first we need to see his fighting skills in the arena."
Faora nodded as Zod accepted Kal's demand.
At the same time, Darkseid appeared in the room, preceded by his dark cloud of crows and smoke.
"Darkseid" Zod greeted as he nodded, his family doing the same.
"You've got the humans." the god stated, looking down at Zod from his nearly 9'' height. "Now my reign of fear shall rise again on Earth and this time nothing will stop me from reaching my goal."
"Now we're even Lord Darkseid, You've given me and my wife rejuvenated bodies, we've given you the possibility to conquer their planet again." Zod bowed his head in gratefulness. "Let us know when is the next time you'll need our services, Lord."
"I will." Darkseid answered. "I'm headed to Earth now, This planet will be my greatest trophy."
With this words, his cloud enveloped him in and he disappeared.
"Move!" one of the guards pushed the humans for what felt like the hundredth time as they were approaching the cells. They entered the jail district, a giant park of dozens and dozens of wooden constructions which could have been barns on Earth, each one surrounded by high barbed wire fences, in order to prevent any evasion. The hundreds of soldiers watching the prisoners were the last measure of security over the cells. Any attempt of escape seemed impossible.
The group was being led to one of the barns already occupied by several inmates. They could actually tell that these prisoners weren't humans only by the way they were looking. Some of them looked like humans but had fish scales covering their bodies, some others were red-skinned, or had short tentacles instead of their arms, it was definitely proving Bruce, and Hal who were the most skeptical that they indeed were on an alien planet. The gates opened and they were all pushed in. Their handcuffed were removed and without another word their guards left by the wire doors arranged in an airlock configuration, restraining anyone to run out in case they were faster than the guards themselves.
Inside the cell, the crowd of alien inmates quickly gathered around the newest arrival of prisoners, curious to see how humans looked like, they were all staring at them. One of aliens who looked like a six feet height grasshopper, was staring at Dinah's face with very widened-eyes, it was almost a comical spectacle.
"Got a problem?" She growled at the insect who instantly jumped back a few steps.
"S-s-sorry." He looked down as another guy patted him on what could be his shoulder.
"Excuse him, he's very shy." the man explained, this one looked like a real human but the way he blinked, with his eyelids coming from the left and right sides of his eyes, proved he wasn't one. "I assume you are the humans." he stated. "Everybody already talks about you here. Oh I forgot to introduce myself, Condo Arlik, I am from a planet called Phlon." He friendly smiled and extended his hand to them, hoping that one of the humans would take it.
After a few seconds of freezing, Arthur decided to shake the alien's hand who appeared to be a pacific one. "Arthur Curry" he presented himself. Instantly, the tension of the room dropped to the floor and the other humans were kindly greeted by the inmates.
Once the presentations were done, questions began to come out.
"Can you explain us what's going on out there?" Victor demanded. "I'm kinda lost by all of this."
"That's natural." Condo told him. "You're the only race who doesn't know there are other people in the universe. And you're also the youngest species so I hope I'll be able to light up the dark in your minds." he began to explain. "Before Zod and his army arrived on Sedna, this planet was a real paradise, I remember, my parents and I often went in vacation here." he smiled sadly at the memory.
"The people who lived here were called the Sednians, they're exactly like you. Same physical appearance, same anatomy, same body composition. No one can distinguish a human from a Sednian. From what I know Sedna was in relation with Krypton, the most advanced planet in the universe and also Zod's birth planet." he detailed. "One day Krypton explodes and Zod colonizes this planet with his guys."
"Wait, How could a planet explode? That's impossible!" Hal intervened.
"No one knows." he answered. "Some say Krypton's core was unstable, others think a terrorist did it, there are even theories about a collision between Krypton and another planet. In any case, it was the trigger that pushed Zod to come here."
"Zod has also told us about someone called Darkseid, who's the apparent silent partner of our kidnapping." Chloe's curiosity had to be filled or she would lose her mind with all the questions in her head.
"Ah Darkseid," another alien spoke up. "This thing is the devil himself, Satan! He is behind all of this." the man gestured at the cell. "He asks Zod to kidnap his potential foes on the planets he wants to conquer and once it's done, nothing can stop him and the invested planet becomes a scene of desolation where terror and fear rule over the people. I don't know how we were supposed to fight Darkseid on our planets but apparently we were the only hope for protecting our kinds against him." he paused. "But now is too late. Don't lure yourselves, my friends. No one has ever escaped this cells, our worlds are doomed. I'm sorry."
The atmosphere in the cell went completely cold by the alien's last statement, no words were spoken but everyone knew what the others were thinking at the moment. They were all visualizing their home planets they would never be able to tread the soils ever again. They were to live as prisoners until they died, the only thing they could do was gather their strengths if they wanted to survive the coming ordeals.
No one noticed Oliver who had quietly left to hide in a lone part of the cell when they entered in. He had to deal with his emotions right now. In less than three hours, he had been kidnapped by aliens, forced to kneel before a tyrant, humiliated, beaten up and his alter-ego had been revealed. He didn't know how to feel about all that. And to add more pain to all of this, he apparently was destined to die as a slave on a planet that wasn't his. He buried his face in his hands at the thought, hoping that when he looked up again, he would see the bright blue sky of Earth and feel the warmth of the yellow sun rays against his skin.
A soft hand on his shoulder made him lift his head and he found himself looking at Chloe's worried face.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
He sighed, and shrugged. "How am I supposed to feel about that? Not even a few hours ago I still believed aliens didn't exist, I believe I would spend my entire life on Earth and now here I am locked up on an alien world with no hope of escape." he expressed his feelings. "I- I fought so hard to protect what I stood for only to end up being kicked away and now they're telling me that everything I did for my world was only a waste of time, I can't believe that!" He paused and tried to control the flow of his emotions, he didn't know why he had opened up to her but it felt good to share the burden with someone. "I don't know how you can take all of this without even wincing.." "Oh Oliver, trust me it's just a mask, but inside of me I feel exactly what you're feeling right now." She felt the tears coming up and her heart tightened when she noticed a tear sliding down Oliver's cheek. "Come here." she pressed his head to her chest, trying to soothe him. He wrapped his arms around her petite frame and she let her emotions take the better of her too as she cried. They stood there in this comfortable embrace for what felt like eternity, none of them wanted to move. A few more minutes went by and finally, a worried voice was heard. "You okay guys?" They turned to see Bart standing in the doorway, looking like an child seeking vainly for his lost parents. Chloe let go of Oliver who walked toward the younger man. He hugged him in a brotherly gesture and patted his back. "I will not allow anything to happen to you, I promise Bart." "Dude! I'm not a kid anymore!" He whined causing him to chuckle, even in the darkest times, Bart was always there lighten the mood.
That was the moment that Bruce and the others chose to join them. The brunette billionaire looked at his old friend and spoke up, "I think we all have some talk to do." he smiled weakly.
In the mansion's dungeon, J'onn J'onzz lied there, lifted a few feet from the ground by his chained limbs, his head hung lifelessly on his chest. The creaking of the heavy steeled door opening made him jerk his head up quickly, his eyes went wide with fear, assuming what was coming. Zod slowly stepped inside, a whip in his hand. He looked up at him, his sadistic face could only make him presume that another one of the horrible moments he already had undergone so many times in the twenty past years was coming.
"It's time for our session, old friend."
Hope you liked it! So the two DC Comics heroes are Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan, I know they're used very often in the Chlollie stories but I couldn't let the future Green Lantern and Batman on earth while the others where on Sedna. So as you've noted, Bruce and Hal are not Batman and GL yet, it will come much later! I don't know how you feel about this chapter, I hope I haven't screwed up with the moment they were all introduced, maybe it was a little too long? Let me know what you think!
Next chapter, our heroes will learn how's life on Zod's territory!
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