Chlarky conclusion to Salvation
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Pairing: Chlark!!
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements)
Spoilers through Salvation (End of Season 9)
Summary: A good Chlarky ending to Smallville. Story begins at Watchtower minutes before Clark falls from the tower. Clark Kent is dead. Chloe will stop at nothing to change that.
Author’s note: To those of you reading Dreams and Madness, I will be back to work on that shortly. This is a fairly short piece. Two or three sections at most. In Salvation, two of Chloe’s lines grabbed me and wouldn’t let me ignore them. When she told Clark she couldn’t imagine living in a world without him and later all the suppressed emotions we heard in Chloe’s voice when she told him she was proud of him. These two moments told me that no matter how hard Chloe tries to move on, in the end, it’s Clark. It’s always Clark.
“Watchtower, this is Hawkman.”
As Chloe tied Watchtower’s systems to the new Satellite, the communication system came back online. “I hear you Hawkman. Where are you?”
“I’m almost in Metropolis. I started back the moment I lost contact with Manhunter and the rest.”
“The Kandorians knocked out access to most of my satellites. J’onn is on the other side of the earth. I can’t reach him, Impulse, Aquaman or Canary.”
“Watchtower, this is Stargirl, boy am I glad to hear you back on the air. Headed back to headquarters. Still no sign of the Kandorians. They all left.”
“Cyb..g to Wa.ch..wer, C bor to Watc…”
“Cyborg? You’re breaking up.” She checked his transmission. He wasn’t using the regular communicator. When the connection fizzled he must have jerry rigged something to make his transmission. He was barely in range, but he had the speed to shrink the distances fast. Not Blur fast, but it would get the job done.
“Skies ar cl r. No si.. of Ka orians.”
“Return to base Cyborg.” She needed to give the team new instructions. Frantically Chloe accessed cameras in and surrounding the Queen Industries building containing the earth station. Who could have snatched Ollie? Not the Kandorians. He told her that much before the signal was lost. What did she know? Only that they were fast and unfriendly.
Oliver was missing. Clark was leaving, maybe already gone. She needed to find Oliver. She didn’t think about his declaration of love or the one she repeated. At the speed the intruders moved, both of them had to have been sure death awaited his capture. Just a casualty of war. But he wasn’t going to die. They’d find him
She couldn’t say goodbye to Oliver and Clark on the same day.
Not that she’d said goodbye to Clark. She’d seen this choice coming. She even understood as he ran out of options he would make the sacrifice for the greater good and take the Kandorians away rather than let earth be subjugated and ruined. She would never see Clark again, but at least she’d always know he was out there somewhere, working to rebuild a new home. She just couldn’t process that right now. Right now, all she could remember was she never got to say goodbye. Maybe it was just as well. She couldn’t imagine what she’d say.
The radio activated again. “Hawkman to Watchtower. Strange funnel of light shooting up into the sky over Metropolis.”
Oh, god, this was it. Clark was leaving. She felt lightheaded. Never again. She’d never see him again. Even as distant as they’d been to each other in the last year, she didn’t know how she was going to get through this. The pain that she’d been holding back started to eat away at her insides.
“Monitor at a safe distance and report back,” she instructed in a clipped voice. Her hands shook as she worked to broaden her search parameter on Oliver. She needed to sort through the odd incidents attributed to the Kandorians running amuck and weed out anything that might have come from another source.
Behind her, the stained glass double doors that served as the entrance to Watchtower opened. Chloe glanced over her shoulder. Stargirl had returned in a flash. Handy device, that staff.
“Courtney, I’m glad you are here. I need someone to check out the site where Oliver was taken.”
“Green Arrow is missing? Did the Kandorians get him?”
“No, that much he was able to tell me before he vanished.” She pulled up the air duct schematic on screen. “This is where they got him. Whoever took him is fast, powerful, and they travel in a pack. They came out of nowhere. They might be long gone, but it’s our only lead.”
“And you want me to go check it out. I’m on it,” she promised with excitement.
Chloe printed the maze of ductwork and handed it to Courtney. “If there is any sign of trouble, just get out of there. I don’t need anyone else missing.”
“Don’t worry. With this,” she lifted her staff, “I can get out of a tight squeeze no problem.”
“Good luck,” Chloe called out as she left. The communications line activated, echoing in the tower.
“Watchtower, this is Hawkman.” Chloe swallowed hard. Did she really want confirmation on what she knew was happening?
Yes. She had to know for certain.
“Go ahead Hawkman.”
“Confirmed that tower of light is taking the Kandorians away.” Chloe stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from making a sobbing sound. “But something’s off. I can see two figures still on the rooftop. They’re fighting.”
“What? Who? Who is fighting?” Trembling, Chloe worked to retask the dedicated Watchtower satellite to cover the Metropolis skyline.
“I can’t get close enough. The vortex created is destabilizing the Nth metal in my wings.”
Chloe pulled up a shot of Metropolis. A beacon of shimmering golden light shot up toward infinity. Suddenly, it winked out. “Hawkman, what’s happening?”
“Not sure. Someone got pulled into the vortex right before it…oh, by the gods!”
“Hawkman! Hawkman!” She pressed her headset against her ear but heard nothing but terrifying silence. What had he seen? The portal to the Kandorian’s new home was closed. Was Clark gone with it? Her eyes glazed over with tears she refused to shed.
“Stargirl calling Watchtower.”
Her throat felt tight, but she managed to answer the call. “Go ahead Stargirl.”
“I’m entering the substructure of Queen Industries. Is everything ok? You sound strange.”
Chloe cleared her throat. “I’m fine. Proceed with caution.”
“Stargirl out.”
Chloe kept trying to reach Hawkman. After a few minutes, he came back on line.
“Hawkman to Watchtower, I’m coming in hot.” Chloe leapt from behind the keyboard and hit a button that activated the newly installed retractable window. It replaced the stained glass one Carter Hall tossed Oliver through when they first encountered the JSA. The colored glass replica slid open and seconds later Hawkman swooped in, struggling to hold on to his cargo. It took her only seconds to identify the limp body.
“Oh my god, Clark!” She gasped. For a moment, wild, zinging joy beat out any other emotion even though a part of her knew something was terribly wrong. In that first moment nothing mattered. Clark hadn’t left! Then she saw the blood dripping from his middle and Chloe went cold. Carter laid Clark’s body down and explained what happened.
“I saw him fall from atop the building. I caught him before he met pavement, but I’m still struggling with the residual affects of the Vortex on my ability to fly; I was barely able to get him back here.” He unstrapped his great black wings from his back while Chloe swiftly assessed Clark’s injuries.
She started at the top. Rapidly forming bruises darkened Clark’s face. He had a split lip with blood trailing down his chin, multiple lacerations on his shoulders and probably his back too. An angry looking slash across his chest wept crimson, but what concerned her the most was a rising well of blood seeping beneath the hilt of the glowing blue dagger shoved into his gut.
“I don’t understand,” Carter said as he removed his helmet. “I thought he couldn’t be hurt.” Chloe moved to pull the knife out of Clark’s stomach, but Hall covered her hand to stop her. “Removing it will only make the wound worse.”
“No, you don’t understand, the knife is what is making him vulnerable. I have to get it away from him and then he should be able to heal.” She firmly grasped the hilt and pulled. Clark moaned and thrashed but Carter held him down. The blade reluctantly came out of its sheath. Blood bubbled up out of the gash. Chloe stripped off the purple overshirt she was wearing to try and staunch the flow. “Get that knife away from him and bring me towels, now!”
Blue kryptonite.
This was bad. Clark twitched and made choking sounds. “No, no,” Chloe whispered. “You have to hold on. It’s gone now. You can heal now.” Blood saturated her top and oozed between her fingers.
“Here.” Carter handed her the towels. She pushed a thick white cloth over Clark’s wound.
“Come on Clark, you can do this.” She glanced at his face. His skin was chalky and the red of his blood contrasted starkly against the blue tinge of his lips.
Hawkman knelt next to them. “He’s bleeding out. The blade must have nicked an artery.”
“No. He should be able to heal himself. Something’s wrong. Hold this.” She pushed Carter Hall’s hands firmly over the now saturated towel and clambered to her feet. She ran across the room and leapt up the stairs two at a time. She picked up the knife Carter had carried away.
“The tip is broken off,” she called over her shoulder. “There must still be a piece inside of Clark.” She scooped up a medical kit she kept on hand and raced back to his side. Carter held a second towel against Clark’s middle. Already a tinge of red was seeping through.
“Chloe,” Carter said her name gently, “he’s not going to make it.” His eyes swam with sympathy.
For a second she faltered. Her breath hitched and her vision blurred. Then she dropped to her knees shaking her head.
“You don’t know him. He’s going to be ok. I just need to get the broken piece out.”
She selected a tool she could use to retrieve the tip of the blue dagger and moved Carter’s hands aside, pulling back the mound of cloth. Clark’s blood continued to surge out. She inserted the large tweezers and moved them about, trying to feel the bit of crystal that was proving so deadly to Clark. Her exploration should have been causing Clark a lot of pain but he didn’t move.
“Chloe, he’s not breathing.”
An icy fist squeezed her heart, but she kept searching his wound for the BlueK. Finally, her instrument scraped against something hard. Two more attempts and she slowly pulled the tip out. She dropped it in a small lead lined box she brought along for that purpose. She looked back at Clark. He was still. His chest wasn’t rising.
She clutched his cold hand. “Clark, please. You can do this. Please come back to me. Heal!”
Carter touched her shoulder. “He’s not there anymore. He’s gone.”
She wrenched away from his touch. “No! He’s healing, look, the bleeding has stopped,” she said pointing to the ugly puncture in his abdomen.”
“Chloe, his heart stopped. It’s no longer pumping his blood. That’s the only reason he’s not bleeding.”
“No, no, no.” She clutched Clark’s hand to her chest and rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s not dead. He can’t be. He didn’t leave. He’s here. He’s still here. He can’t be gone.”
“I’m sorry.” Carter tried to help her to her feet.
“No! Get away from me. I won’t leave him. He’s not going to die.”
“Stargirl to Watchtower, come in Watchtower. Come in somebody!” Chloe vaguely realized Courtney had been calling for several minutes. Carter left her alone for the moment and took the call.
“Stargirl, this is Hawkman.” Carter answered using the headset Chloe discarded when he’d dropped in.
“Hawkman! What’s wrong! Where’s Chloe?”
He glanced over to the middle of the room. Every line of her body bowed and ached with grief. Looking at her hurt, it made him remember the day he lost his true love. “She’s here, safe.”
“Ok, but tell her I think I have a lead on Green Arrow’s kidnapping.” Stargirl’s skepticism quickly melted into her usual enthusiasm.
Hall replayed in his mind what Courtney just said and scowled. “The green bean was kidnapped?”
“Didn’t Chloe tell you?”
He rubbed his hand through his beard. “We’ve been busy. You said you found a lead?”
“I think so, but I could use some help working it out. There’s a message inscribed. It sure looks Greek to me. Here I’m sending a photo.”
Ancient languages were his specialty and he recognized the letters right away. “That is Greek, maybe some Latin as well.”
“That’s what I said. There are messages all over down here. I know enough to recognize the language but I can’t translate anything. I need your help.”
He got the location from her. “On my way.”
Carter returned to find Chloe leaning over Clark’s body, pressing her hands to his temples and his neck and back down to his fatal wound. To Carter, it looked like she was trying to use the force of her will to make Clark come alive, but he had seen death enough times to know there wasn’t anything they could do.
“Chloe, I have to go.”
“What? Where?” She whipped her head around to look at him, her movements jerky and out of control. She shook her head. “No, I need your help. I can’t heal him but if I can get Clark to the Fortress, then Jor-El can save him. He’s done it before.”
“There’s no point. You were there when Clark reported that the crystal interface at his fortress was destroyed. There’s nothing more we can do for Clark.”
“I have to try. Please,” she pleaded. “I know what I’m doing.”
“So do I.” He knelt beside her. “It’s called denial.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“Believe me, I do understand. I know what it’s like to watch someone you love die, to be unable to do anything to stop it from happening.” He stood and stepped away to strap his wings into place and pick up his helmet. “But there is something we can do to save Green Arrow. You need to put this aside for now and man your station. One thing I’ve found true is there will always be time for grief. It will still be there later. Don’t add to it with inaction now.”
He pointed to the command center of Watchtower. “We need our eyes and ears. Are you going to leave your team blind?”
Chloe looked down at the fallen form of her best friend, her first love, the man around whom she had built her life. Carter wanted her to walk away and leave Clark behind for good. She rose to her feet and slowly went to her workstation. “No, I won’t leave the team without Watchtower.” She told him without emotion.
“Good.” Carter nodded succinctly, fitted his helmet, picked up his mace, and launched himself through the open window out into the night. The second he was out of view, Chloe darted from behind the keyboard and ran up the steps again.
She pulled a large silky red throw out of storage. She needed something slippery she could drag. Back downstairs, she rolled Clark’s body on to the material. She called the elevator and locked it open while she got Clark inside. Then she ran back for the keys Clark left behind, glancing at the readout on her computer one last time. She wasn’t leaving the team blind. Victor Stone, aka Cyborg should arrive at Watchtower in ten minutes. She’d be on the road back to Smallville by then. She wasn’t going to give up Clark, no matter what it took.
The journey back to Smallville had never felt so long. She jolted and bounced over ruts as she turned into the drive for the Kent farm. The suspension on Clark’s pick-up truck made for a rough ride, but there was no way she’d have been able to get Clark’s six foot six frame folded up in her backseat. As it was, lifting him onto the bed of the pickup was a minor miracle.
One quick stop at the barn for the key and she’d be on her way to the caves. She left the truck running as she hustled to locate the hollowed out book and the key hidden inside. She found it on the floor next to his trunk. Metal disk in hand, she rushed down the stairs and toward the barn door when a familiar silhouette blocked her exit.
“Clark!” Lois called. “Where are you? I came to tell you I know everything. You must have known I’d figure out your true identity when you kissed me as the Blur.” She kept coming and there was nowhere to hide.
Chloe stepped out of the shadow. “Lois, Clark’s not here.”
“But his truck is here and I really need to talk to him. Wait,” Lois grabbed Chloe’s arm when she would have brushed past her. “What did you hear me say?”
Chloe pulled out of Lois’s hold. “I didn’t hear anything,” she denied and headed back to the truck. That meant crossing in front of the headlights.
“Oh my god! You’re covered in blood.”
Chloe paused and glanced down at her clothing. She had blood smeared all over her front. It caked her fingernails and covered her bare arms in rust colored smears. “It’s nothing Lois, I’m fine.” She tried to keep walking, but Lois caught her before she could escape, her hand closed like a manacle around her wrist.
“You can’t be fine. That’s blood and way too much of it. What the hell is going on?” Fear made Lois’s voice more strident than usual
“Look Lois, I don’t have time to explain. I need you to trust me.”
“Why? What’s happened? Why do I need to trust you? What are you doing with Clark’s truck? Where is Clark?”
“Lois, please, there is somewhere I need to be, just let me go.”
But Lois wouldn’t let go. Instead, she dragged Chloe behind her as she circled the truck. She saw a bulky shadow in the bed of the pick up and pointed. “Tell me that isn’t what I think it is?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she yanked the canvas tarp aside. Even with light only coming from their vehicles crisscrossing headlights, Clark was easy to identify. So were his grave wounds. “Oh my god, Clark!” Lois dropped Chloe’s wrist and climbed in the back of the pick up.
“Lois, get out of there. I don’t have time for this.”
“Chloe, I don’t think he’s breathing. This can’t be right. He’s the Blur, I’m sure of it. Oh, god, Chloe, we have to get him to the hospital!”
“We don’t have time for that.” Lois looked at her as if she was crazy.
“Time? Chloe, he’s dying!” Big fat tears trickled down her cheeks.
Chloe stepped up on the back tire and used it to climb her way in the back. She had to get Lois out of there now. It seemed Clark had taken away the need for her to protect his secret identity so she didn’t spare any punches. “Reality check, he’s already dead.” Lois pulled back as if she’d been slapped, but Chloe was done beating around the bush. She grasped Lois by the shoulders, “and if I don’t leave now, he’s probably going to stay that way!”
Lois pushed her away, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. You’re running away? I thought he was your friend? Oh god, Chloe, the blood! No,no, you couldn’t have done this.” She swiped the back of her hand through her tears, leaving traces of blood behind on her cheeks. “It was Zod, wasn’t it?”
“You know about Zod?” Chloe asked incredulously.
“You know about the Blur!” Lois turned the question around. Chloe hesitated out of habit and Lois pounced on her verbally. “Don’t lie to me; I can see it in your eyes. God, you knew all this time and you never told me? Is that why you were so in love with him as a kid?”
Chloe flinched. She’d given away a heart Clark never wanted long before she’d ever known his secret. “Lois, none of that matters right now. What matters is me getting Clark to the Kawatche caves.”
“What? Chloe, are your nuts? He’s the Blur; he just needs some time. That’s what happened when Zod was shot. His powers healed him.” Chloe grabbed Lois by the shoulders again.
“Listen to me. It doesn’t work like that with Clark. He should never have gotten hurt in the first place. Zod was lying to you. Normally Clark can’t get hurt, but Zod,” her voice broke just thinking about it. She dug down to find her strength. “Zod used something to hurt him.”
“Hurt him? You said Clark was dead.”
“Yes, dead,” Her own tears welled over, “God Lois,” she swore, “I have to go right now.”
Chloe jumped out of the back of the pickup. “Get out now or come with. I don’t care.” She hopped in to the cab and put the truck in gear. The window between the cab and the box was open so Chloe called over her shoulder one last warning. “Now, Lois. Get out now!”
Lois stood up, undecided, “I don’t know what to do!”
Chloe hit the gas and made the choice for her.
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Pairing: Chlark!!
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements)
Spoilers through Salvation (End of Season 9)
Summary: A good Chlarky ending to Smallville. Story begins at Watchtower minutes before Clark falls from the tower. Clark Kent is dead. Chloe will stop at nothing to change that.
Author’s note: To those of you reading Dreams and Madness, I will be back to work on that shortly. This is a fairly short piece. Two or three sections at most. In Salvation, two of Chloe’s lines grabbed me and wouldn’t let me ignore them. When she told Clark she couldn’t imagine living in a world without him and later all the suppressed emotions we heard in Chloe’s voice when she told him she was proud of him. These two moments told me that no matter how hard Chloe tries to move on, in the end, it’s Clark. It’s always Clark.
“Watchtower, this is Hawkman.”
As Chloe tied Watchtower’s systems to the new Satellite, the communication system came back online. “I hear you Hawkman. Where are you?”
“I’m almost in Metropolis. I started back the moment I lost contact with Manhunter and the rest.”
“The Kandorians knocked out access to most of my satellites. J’onn is on the other side of the earth. I can’t reach him, Impulse, Aquaman or Canary.”
“Watchtower, this is Stargirl, boy am I glad to hear you back on the air. Headed back to headquarters. Still no sign of the Kandorians. They all left.”
“Cyb..g to Wa.ch..wer, C bor to Watc…”
“Cyborg? You’re breaking up.” She checked his transmission. He wasn’t using the regular communicator. When the connection fizzled he must have jerry rigged something to make his transmission. He was barely in range, but he had the speed to shrink the distances fast. Not Blur fast, but it would get the job done.
“Skies ar cl r. No si.. of Ka orians.”
“Return to base Cyborg.” She needed to give the team new instructions. Frantically Chloe accessed cameras in and surrounding the Queen Industries building containing the earth station. Who could have snatched Ollie? Not the Kandorians. He told her that much before the signal was lost. What did she know? Only that they were fast and unfriendly.
Oliver was missing. Clark was leaving, maybe already gone. She needed to find Oliver. She didn’t think about his declaration of love or the one she repeated. At the speed the intruders moved, both of them had to have been sure death awaited his capture. Just a casualty of war. But he wasn’t going to die. They’d find him
She couldn’t say goodbye to Oliver and Clark on the same day.
Not that she’d said goodbye to Clark. She’d seen this choice coming. She even understood as he ran out of options he would make the sacrifice for the greater good and take the Kandorians away rather than let earth be subjugated and ruined. She would never see Clark again, but at least she’d always know he was out there somewhere, working to rebuild a new home. She just couldn’t process that right now. Right now, all she could remember was she never got to say goodbye. Maybe it was just as well. She couldn’t imagine what she’d say.
The radio activated again. “Hawkman to Watchtower. Strange funnel of light shooting up into the sky over Metropolis.”
Oh, god, this was it. Clark was leaving. She felt lightheaded. Never again. She’d never see him again. Even as distant as they’d been to each other in the last year, she didn’t know how she was going to get through this. The pain that she’d been holding back started to eat away at her insides.
“Monitor at a safe distance and report back,” she instructed in a clipped voice. Her hands shook as she worked to broaden her search parameter on Oliver. She needed to sort through the odd incidents attributed to the Kandorians running amuck and weed out anything that might have come from another source.
Behind her, the stained glass double doors that served as the entrance to Watchtower opened. Chloe glanced over her shoulder. Stargirl had returned in a flash. Handy device, that staff.
“Courtney, I’m glad you are here. I need someone to check out the site where Oliver was taken.”
“Green Arrow is missing? Did the Kandorians get him?”
“No, that much he was able to tell me before he vanished.” She pulled up the air duct schematic on screen. “This is where they got him. Whoever took him is fast, powerful, and they travel in a pack. They came out of nowhere. They might be long gone, but it’s our only lead.”
“And you want me to go check it out. I’m on it,” she promised with excitement.
Chloe printed the maze of ductwork and handed it to Courtney. “If there is any sign of trouble, just get out of there. I don’t need anyone else missing.”
“Don’t worry. With this,” she lifted her staff, “I can get out of a tight squeeze no problem.”
“Good luck,” Chloe called out as she left. The communications line activated, echoing in the tower.
“Watchtower, this is Hawkman.” Chloe swallowed hard. Did she really want confirmation on what she knew was happening?
Yes. She had to know for certain.
“Go ahead Hawkman.”
“Confirmed that tower of light is taking the Kandorians away.” Chloe stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from making a sobbing sound. “But something’s off. I can see two figures still on the rooftop. They’re fighting.”
“What? Who? Who is fighting?” Trembling, Chloe worked to retask the dedicated Watchtower satellite to cover the Metropolis skyline.
“I can’t get close enough. The vortex created is destabilizing the Nth metal in my wings.”
Chloe pulled up a shot of Metropolis. A beacon of shimmering golden light shot up toward infinity. Suddenly, it winked out. “Hawkman, what’s happening?”
“Not sure. Someone got pulled into the vortex right before it…oh, by the gods!”
“Hawkman! Hawkman!” She pressed her headset against her ear but heard nothing but terrifying silence. What had he seen? The portal to the Kandorian’s new home was closed. Was Clark gone with it? Her eyes glazed over with tears she refused to shed.
“Stargirl calling Watchtower.”
Her throat felt tight, but she managed to answer the call. “Go ahead Stargirl.”
“I’m entering the substructure of Queen Industries. Is everything ok? You sound strange.”
Chloe cleared her throat. “I’m fine. Proceed with caution.”
“Stargirl out.”
Chloe kept trying to reach Hawkman. After a few minutes, he came back on line.
“Hawkman to Watchtower, I’m coming in hot.” Chloe leapt from behind the keyboard and hit a button that activated the newly installed retractable window. It replaced the stained glass one Carter Hall tossed Oliver through when they first encountered the JSA. The colored glass replica slid open and seconds later Hawkman swooped in, struggling to hold on to his cargo. It took her only seconds to identify the limp body.
“Oh my god, Clark!” She gasped. For a moment, wild, zinging joy beat out any other emotion even though a part of her knew something was terribly wrong. In that first moment nothing mattered. Clark hadn’t left! Then she saw the blood dripping from his middle and Chloe went cold. Carter laid Clark’s body down and explained what happened.
“I saw him fall from atop the building. I caught him before he met pavement, but I’m still struggling with the residual affects of the Vortex on my ability to fly; I was barely able to get him back here.” He unstrapped his great black wings from his back while Chloe swiftly assessed Clark’s injuries.
She started at the top. Rapidly forming bruises darkened Clark’s face. He had a split lip with blood trailing down his chin, multiple lacerations on his shoulders and probably his back too. An angry looking slash across his chest wept crimson, but what concerned her the most was a rising well of blood seeping beneath the hilt of the glowing blue dagger shoved into his gut.
“I don’t understand,” Carter said as he removed his helmet. “I thought he couldn’t be hurt.” Chloe moved to pull the knife out of Clark’s stomach, but Hall covered her hand to stop her. “Removing it will only make the wound worse.”
“No, you don’t understand, the knife is what is making him vulnerable. I have to get it away from him and then he should be able to heal.” She firmly grasped the hilt and pulled. Clark moaned and thrashed but Carter held him down. The blade reluctantly came out of its sheath. Blood bubbled up out of the gash. Chloe stripped off the purple overshirt she was wearing to try and staunch the flow. “Get that knife away from him and bring me towels, now!”
Blue kryptonite.
This was bad. Clark twitched and made choking sounds. “No, no,” Chloe whispered. “You have to hold on. It’s gone now. You can heal now.” Blood saturated her top and oozed between her fingers.
“Here.” Carter handed her the towels. She pushed a thick white cloth over Clark’s wound.
“Come on Clark, you can do this.” She glanced at his face. His skin was chalky and the red of his blood contrasted starkly against the blue tinge of his lips.
Hawkman knelt next to them. “He’s bleeding out. The blade must have nicked an artery.”
“No. He should be able to heal himself. Something’s wrong. Hold this.” She pushed Carter Hall’s hands firmly over the now saturated towel and clambered to her feet. She ran across the room and leapt up the stairs two at a time. She picked up the knife Carter had carried away.
“The tip is broken off,” she called over her shoulder. “There must still be a piece inside of Clark.” She scooped up a medical kit she kept on hand and raced back to his side. Carter held a second towel against Clark’s middle. Already a tinge of red was seeping through.
“Chloe,” Carter said her name gently, “he’s not going to make it.” His eyes swam with sympathy.
For a second she faltered. Her breath hitched and her vision blurred. Then she dropped to her knees shaking her head.
“You don’t know him. He’s going to be ok. I just need to get the broken piece out.”
She selected a tool she could use to retrieve the tip of the blue dagger and moved Carter’s hands aside, pulling back the mound of cloth. Clark’s blood continued to surge out. She inserted the large tweezers and moved them about, trying to feel the bit of crystal that was proving so deadly to Clark. Her exploration should have been causing Clark a lot of pain but he didn’t move.
“Chloe, he’s not breathing.”
An icy fist squeezed her heart, but she kept searching his wound for the BlueK. Finally, her instrument scraped against something hard. Two more attempts and she slowly pulled the tip out. She dropped it in a small lead lined box she brought along for that purpose. She looked back at Clark. He was still. His chest wasn’t rising.
She clutched his cold hand. “Clark, please. You can do this. Please come back to me. Heal!”
Carter touched her shoulder. “He’s not there anymore. He’s gone.”
She wrenched away from his touch. “No! He’s healing, look, the bleeding has stopped,” she said pointing to the ugly puncture in his abdomen.”
“Chloe, his heart stopped. It’s no longer pumping his blood. That’s the only reason he’s not bleeding.”
“No, no, no.” She clutched Clark’s hand to her chest and rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s not dead. He can’t be. He didn’t leave. He’s here. He’s still here. He can’t be gone.”
“I’m sorry.” Carter tried to help her to her feet.
“No! Get away from me. I won’t leave him. He’s not going to die.”
“Stargirl to Watchtower, come in Watchtower. Come in somebody!” Chloe vaguely realized Courtney had been calling for several minutes. Carter left her alone for the moment and took the call.
“Stargirl, this is Hawkman.” Carter answered using the headset Chloe discarded when he’d dropped in.
“Hawkman! What’s wrong! Where’s Chloe?”
He glanced over to the middle of the room. Every line of her body bowed and ached with grief. Looking at her hurt, it made him remember the day he lost his true love. “She’s here, safe.”
“Ok, but tell her I think I have a lead on Green Arrow’s kidnapping.” Stargirl’s skepticism quickly melted into her usual enthusiasm.
Hall replayed in his mind what Courtney just said and scowled. “The green bean was kidnapped?”
“Didn’t Chloe tell you?”
He rubbed his hand through his beard. “We’ve been busy. You said you found a lead?”
“I think so, but I could use some help working it out. There’s a message inscribed. It sure looks Greek to me. Here I’m sending a photo.”
Ancient languages were his specialty and he recognized the letters right away. “That is Greek, maybe some Latin as well.”
“That’s what I said. There are messages all over down here. I know enough to recognize the language but I can’t translate anything. I need your help.”
He got the location from her. “On my way.”
Carter returned to find Chloe leaning over Clark’s body, pressing her hands to his temples and his neck and back down to his fatal wound. To Carter, it looked like she was trying to use the force of her will to make Clark come alive, but he had seen death enough times to know there wasn’t anything they could do.
“Chloe, I have to go.”
“What? Where?” She whipped her head around to look at him, her movements jerky and out of control. She shook her head. “No, I need your help. I can’t heal him but if I can get Clark to the Fortress, then Jor-El can save him. He’s done it before.”
“There’s no point. You were there when Clark reported that the crystal interface at his fortress was destroyed. There’s nothing more we can do for Clark.”
“I have to try. Please,” she pleaded. “I know what I’m doing.”
“So do I.” He knelt beside her. “It’s called denial.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“Believe me, I do understand. I know what it’s like to watch someone you love die, to be unable to do anything to stop it from happening.” He stood and stepped away to strap his wings into place and pick up his helmet. “But there is something we can do to save Green Arrow. You need to put this aside for now and man your station. One thing I’ve found true is there will always be time for grief. It will still be there later. Don’t add to it with inaction now.”
He pointed to the command center of Watchtower. “We need our eyes and ears. Are you going to leave your team blind?”
Chloe looked down at the fallen form of her best friend, her first love, the man around whom she had built her life. Carter wanted her to walk away and leave Clark behind for good. She rose to her feet and slowly went to her workstation. “No, I won’t leave the team without Watchtower.” She told him without emotion.
“Good.” Carter nodded succinctly, fitted his helmet, picked up his mace, and launched himself through the open window out into the night. The second he was out of view, Chloe darted from behind the keyboard and ran up the steps again.
She pulled a large silky red throw out of storage. She needed something slippery she could drag. Back downstairs, she rolled Clark’s body on to the material. She called the elevator and locked it open while she got Clark inside. Then she ran back for the keys Clark left behind, glancing at the readout on her computer one last time. She wasn’t leaving the team blind. Victor Stone, aka Cyborg should arrive at Watchtower in ten minutes. She’d be on the road back to Smallville by then. She wasn’t going to give up Clark, no matter what it took.
The journey back to Smallville had never felt so long. She jolted and bounced over ruts as she turned into the drive for the Kent farm. The suspension on Clark’s pick-up truck made for a rough ride, but there was no way she’d have been able to get Clark’s six foot six frame folded up in her backseat. As it was, lifting him onto the bed of the pickup was a minor miracle.
One quick stop at the barn for the key and she’d be on her way to the caves. She left the truck running as she hustled to locate the hollowed out book and the key hidden inside. She found it on the floor next to his trunk. Metal disk in hand, she rushed down the stairs and toward the barn door when a familiar silhouette blocked her exit.
“Clark!” Lois called. “Where are you? I came to tell you I know everything. You must have known I’d figure out your true identity when you kissed me as the Blur.” She kept coming and there was nowhere to hide.
Chloe stepped out of the shadow. “Lois, Clark’s not here.”
“But his truck is here and I really need to talk to him. Wait,” Lois grabbed Chloe’s arm when she would have brushed past her. “What did you hear me say?”
Chloe pulled out of Lois’s hold. “I didn’t hear anything,” she denied and headed back to the truck. That meant crossing in front of the headlights.
“Oh my god! You’re covered in blood.”
Chloe paused and glanced down at her clothing. She had blood smeared all over her front. It caked her fingernails and covered her bare arms in rust colored smears. “It’s nothing Lois, I’m fine.” She tried to keep walking, but Lois caught her before she could escape, her hand closed like a manacle around her wrist.
“You can’t be fine. That’s blood and way too much of it. What the hell is going on?” Fear made Lois’s voice more strident than usual
“Look Lois, I don’t have time to explain. I need you to trust me.”
“Why? What’s happened? Why do I need to trust you? What are you doing with Clark’s truck? Where is Clark?”
“Lois, please, there is somewhere I need to be, just let me go.”
But Lois wouldn’t let go. Instead, she dragged Chloe behind her as she circled the truck. She saw a bulky shadow in the bed of the pick up and pointed. “Tell me that isn’t what I think it is?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she yanked the canvas tarp aside. Even with light only coming from their vehicles crisscrossing headlights, Clark was easy to identify. So were his grave wounds. “Oh my god, Clark!” Lois dropped Chloe’s wrist and climbed in the back of the pick up.
“Lois, get out of there. I don’t have time for this.”
“Chloe, I don’t think he’s breathing. This can’t be right. He’s the Blur, I’m sure of it. Oh, god, Chloe, we have to get him to the hospital!”
“We don’t have time for that.” Lois looked at her as if she was crazy.
“Time? Chloe, he’s dying!” Big fat tears trickled down her cheeks.
Chloe stepped up on the back tire and used it to climb her way in the back. She had to get Lois out of there now. It seemed Clark had taken away the need for her to protect his secret identity so she didn’t spare any punches. “Reality check, he’s already dead.” Lois pulled back as if she’d been slapped, but Chloe was done beating around the bush. She grasped Lois by the shoulders, “and if I don’t leave now, he’s probably going to stay that way!”
Lois pushed her away, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. You’re running away? I thought he was your friend? Oh god, Chloe, the blood! No,no, you couldn’t have done this.” She swiped the back of her hand through her tears, leaving traces of blood behind on her cheeks. “It was Zod, wasn’t it?”
“You know about Zod?” Chloe asked incredulously.
“You know about the Blur!” Lois turned the question around. Chloe hesitated out of habit and Lois pounced on her verbally. “Don’t lie to me; I can see it in your eyes. God, you knew all this time and you never told me? Is that why you were so in love with him as a kid?”
Chloe flinched. She’d given away a heart Clark never wanted long before she’d ever known his secret. “Lois, none of that matters right now. What matters is me getting Clark to the Kawatche caves.”
“What? Chloe, are your nuts? He’s the Blur; he just needs some time. That’s what happened when Zod was shot. His powers healed him.” Chloe grabbed Lois by the shoulders again.
“Listen to me. It doesn’t work like that with Clark. He should never have gotten hurt in the first place. Zod was lying to you. Normally Clark can’t get hurt, but Zod,” her voice broke just thinking about it. She dug down to find her strength. “Zod used something to hurt him.”
“Hurt him? You said Clark was dead.”
“Yes, dead,” Her own tears welled over, “God Lois,” she swore, “I have to go right now.”
Chloe jumped out of the back of the pickup. “Get out now or come with. I don’t care.” She hopped in to the cab and put the truck in gear. The window between the cab and the box was open so Chloe called over her shoulder one last warning. “Now, Lois. Get out now!”
Lois stood up, undecided, “I don’t know what to do!”
Chloe hit the gas and made the choice for her.
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