Poison
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
That evening, two blue-eyed, dark haired girls aged four and eight sat on an overstuffed sofa quietly watching television, as Chloe entered the McClellan home to speak with their aunt. Ms. Bradley was the doctor’s sister-in-law, and Chloe remembered her from the clinic. A tall, slender woman with honey colored hair. She was the head nurse who had helped to care for Oliver.
“Ms. Bradley, I need to speak with you privately, if I may.”
The woman took Chloe’s elbow, ushering her into the kitchen, her brown eyes warily glancing backward toward the girls. “Stay there girls, I’ll be right in here for a few minutes.” Once in the kitchen she turned to Chloe. “What can I do for you Ms. Sullivan?”
“My friends and I think we’ve found Dr. McClellan. We think he’s gotten mixed up with Lex Luthor, and that Lex may have him finishing up work on a project he’d started for Mr. Luthor.”
The woman’s face changed, turning pained and hopeless, and she sunk into a chair at the table.
“We want to help you,” Chloe continued. “We think the home is being watched.”
“It is,” Ms. Bradley said simply. “We’ve seen them. But they’ve kept out of our way.”
“Ms. Bradley, my friends and I want to get you to a safe place, while we attempt to retrieve the doctor. Just as a precaution.”
“Please, call me Ella,” she said absently.
“Ella, can you tell me anything about why Lex Luthor would want to kidnap your brother-in-law?”
Ella hesitated a moment, then looked up at Chloe. “You have an ability, don’t you Ms. Sullivan? You’ve been infected by the meteors?”
Chloe nodded. “Yes. And you can call me Chloe.”
“Your ability is to heal from what I’ve gathered. I saw Mr. Queen after you left. Not one scratch or bruise on him. Nothing abnormal in his test results.”
“Yes, it is. Through touch.” Chloe said softly.
“Well, my sister was also infected in the first meteor shower, only her ability was to weaken others, make them fall asleep, drain them of energy.” Ella stood up from her chair, wrapping her arms around herself, looking away. “She’d gotten so that she could control it more or less, but she hated what the meteor shower had done to her, and she believed she’d never have a normal life.” Ella stopped momentarily to wipe a tear from her cheek. “But then she met Stephen. Both pre-med students at the time. She’d wanted to enter medicine partly to save herself, partly to save others who’d also suffered.” Ella turned to Chloe now. “My sister was… is a good person, Chloe. But the ability, it just… it was of no real use to anyone, and it haunted her, it was a curse to her.”
“I think I can understand that,” Chloe said, taking a seat at the table.
“I’m sure you can,” Ella said, sympathy in her voice, as she sat back down in the chair. “She was afraid to tell Stephen at first. But then something had happened, she’d rendered him unconscious unintentionally during some animated conversation they were having, and well, she felt she had to tell him. He loves her so much, and still does,” her voice trailed off momentarily before coming back to herself. “Anyway, he accepted it, and they’d decided to work together to find a cure for her. They’d graduated, married, and began trying to develop a drug that would prevent her from weakening anyone again. Then, somehow just before she fell comatose, she was targeted and placed in Belle Rive for a few weeks, then Mr. Luthor showed up, offering to have his doctors examine her, telling Stephen that his team had been studying the meteor infected for years and that he could help. They thought he was a godsend. She was then transferred to another facility for a few days. Then finally released.”
“How does her ability work?”
“Not unlike yours. Through touch.”
“Ella, how did your sister become comatose?”
Ella shook her head, more tears beginning to form in her eyes. “They thought they’d had a breakthrough in the development of a drug that would decrease her ability. Stephen was uncertain, but Katherine was becoming desperate, nothing Mr. Luthor’s doctors did helped, the girls were growing, and she didn’t want to be cursed with this ability any longer. She wanted a normal life, and so, she’d convinced him to administer the drug. But…” Ella couldn’t seem to continue.
“It was the experimental drug that induced the coma.” Chloe supplied for her.
“Yes.” She sniffled. “And Stephen has been working on a way to get her back for a year now. When Mr. Luthor approached him about working on a new project, and promising to fund Stephen’s research, he jumped at the chance. He needed the money desperately. For the girls, for Katherine.”
Chloe rose from her chair. “Will you come with us, Ella?” she asked gently. “We need to get you and the girls to a safe place, while we try to get Dr. McClellan back. It may be nothing to worry about, but we’d like to be cautious nonetheless. The girls don’t need to know why.”
Ella nodded. “Give me a few moments to get them ready.”
“I’ll let you know when we’ll leave, should only be a matter of minutes.” Chloe answered, then tapped her comlink as Ella left the kitchen. “Did you guys get all of that? Dispense with Luthor’s men in black already, let’s get them out of here, and get this done.”
“Copy that, Tower.”
“On it.”
“Good work Watchtower. You’re amazing.”
“Thanks Archer, so are you. Tower out.”
“Awww man, cut that mushy, lovey-dovey crap out you guys.”
* * * * *
Lex had hoped that over a week’s worth of almost non-stop work, interspersed with occasional beatings by his guards would cause Dr. McClellan to break. But so far the man had not revealed the identity of the Green Arrow. Either he didn’t know, or nothing they did would make him tell them. Except perhaps one thing, and now was the time for Lex to play his last card. He entered the lab, requesting a report. “What’s the status of our project, doctor?”
Dr. McClellan turned to him, bruises evident on his face. “The drug is ready, sir,” was all he answered, stiffly.
“Perfect.”
“I’d like to go home now, Mr. Luthor. My daughters…”
“In time, doctor. Before you go however, I think we need to have one last conversation.”
The doctor backed away from the approaching men that had accompanied Lex. “Mr. Luthor, I’ve told you before, I know nothing about the identity of the Green Arrow. Someone took him away before I ever got to see his face.”
“I think you do know. And I think you’re going to tell me, very soon.” Lex indicated to his henchmen with a motion of his head, and the men grabbed the doctor, dragging him away. “I’ll be there shortly gentlemen, don’t start without me.”
* * * * *
Victor had come to the warehouse earlier and set up a comm. system. The large warehouse really looked more like some odd version of a gym, Oliver having bought it for training purposes for himself and the league. Chloe did what she could to make the girls and Ella comfortable, setting them up in an adjacent room that had a couch and a table, and a television, ordering some food, and having some games for the girls to play.
Oliver seemed a bit hesitant and wary about entering the warehouse, but did so anyway. “I’ll try to stay out of the way of any falling kryptonite-laced vials,” he murmured to her, as he made ready to leave.
She smiled up at him. “Please do.”
He reached for her, pulling her into his arms, his hands locked against her spine, gazing down at her for a moment before he spoke. “I love you,” he whispered, then lowering his head, he covered her mouth with his, lingering, savoring her.
“Yo, Green Bean. Plenty of time to kiss the girl later, let’s go!”
“Hey, as long as they don’t start talking dirty to each other over the comm. I’m cool.”
“That might actually be kind of interesting.”
“You’re gross.”
“Guys, do we have to talk about this?”
Able to hear the others through their comlinks, Oliver lifted his smiling lips away from hers reluctantly, pressing smaller kisses to her lips as he pulled away.
She was smiling now too. “They’re getting restless,” she whispered. “Hurry back.”
* * * * *
Dr. McClellan was bound, nose bloodied, and seated in a chair in a large basement area of the Cadmus building when Lex Luthor entered. “Has he said anything yet?” Lex asked one of his guards.
“No sir.”
“Wait outside.”
The guard left at Lex’s orders.
“Dr. McClellan. I believe you know the identity of the Green Arrow. He’s a vigilante, a nuisance at best, a terrorist at worst, and you know who he is. A name. I want a name. It’s very simple. Reveal him to me, and you get to go home, continue to lie to me, and I’ll see to it that you disappear and never see your children or your wife again.”
Stephen McClellan had lied every time he was asked, denying that he knew anything about the Green Arrow, hoping against hope that eventually, Luthor would simply give up, and let him go home. Now, he said nothing.
Lex was becoming ever impatient, and decided to pull out his ace, his voice calm and smooth as he spoke, his gaze upon the doctor unmoving. “I’ve had your children under surveillance for the past few days.” Lex watched the doctor’s expression carefully, noting that he began to sweat and his breathing became irregular, his eyes widened. This encouraged him, and he continued. “I know when they get up in the morning, I know when they come home from school, I know when they have dinner. I know what bedtime stories Ella Bradley reads to them at night. In fact, they’re being watched right now. All I have to do is give the order. Your children’s lives are on the line, doctor. Now tell me who he is.” Lex suddenly pulled his pistol from his waist and pointed it at Dr. McClellan.
“Why don’t you ask him yourself,” Came a distorted, metallic voice from behind.
Lex spun around, his gun now aimed at the Green Arrow, his crossbow ready to fire.
“Isn’t it even a bit beneath you Lex, to threaten the lives of children?”
“We seem to have been in this predicament before,” Lex said.
“Experiencing a little déjà vu, are we? I recall you didn’t fare well last time,” Arrow retorted.
“Neither did you. And this version ends my way,” Lex ground out, as he fired the gun.
Chloe could hear the entire exchange over the comm., and frantically called for Clark to intervene. Her heart raced, and she’d jumped in her seat at the sound of the gun firing, panic in her eyes. In less than seconds, Clark was there, deflecting the bullet headed for Oliver, knocking aside the arrow intended for Lex, and then scooping up Dr. McClellan, carrying him safely outside the building to the waiting van. The motion waves left in Clark’s wake, knocked Lex to the ground, and he lay there for a moment stunned, glancing around frantically. The doctor was gone, leaving Lex completely befuddled at what had just happened.
“Next time, Luthor,” the Green Arrow said with a smirk, and then ran off through the corridor.
End Chapter 11
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