Chapter 15
“Your… turn,” she murmured softly in his ear.
Oliver kissed her cheek one more time. “We’re coming out now, Cyborg. Stand by.”
He lowered her briefly, retrieved his dark glasses, placed them over his eyes, and raised his hood. He’d leave his bow behind. The easiest way to carry someone and run like hell was not the most dignified for the person being carried. But, casting dignity aside, Oliver repositioned her, grabbing her left arm, stretching it over and around the back of his neck and then grasping her left leg, he hiked her up, and slung her as gently as possible, horizontally across his broad shoulders.
He remembered that she had no shoes, wearing only a pair of his too-large socks. The movement caused her skirt to become hiked up above her thighs, but none of that was important. “Keep your head down,” he said as he exited the room, not noticing the blood-covered bullet on the floor at his feet. Gripping her forearm in one gloved hand and back of her thigh in the other, he began to run through the maze of blaring alarms and flashing red corridors, toward the nearest exit.
Clark waited, impatience and worry growing within him by the second. They should have been out by now. The entire team had already watched from a safe distance as about twenty people poured out of the building, Lex Luthor among them. Holding his shoulder, appearing wounded, he headed for his Porsche, and took off, wheels spinning and spitting gravel in his wake bounding down the darkened rural road. They let him go. For now.
“There they are!” Bart shouted, and all eyes turned toward the figure of the Green Arrow, running with what looked to be Chloe’s petite form slung across his shoulders like a sack. He slowed, carefully slipping through the huge hole in the fencing that Clark had made earlier when they’d entered, and then began to run again.
Clark panicked seeing her incapacitated and wondered what could have happened. He listened for her heartbeat once again, and found it weak but steady. He was tempted to grab them both up, and superspeed them to a safer distance. He turned to AC. “How much time?”
“A minute and twenty-three,” AC responded, checking his watch. Seeing Clark’s look of anxiety, as though he were about to bolt, AC placed a hand on his arm and added with calming reassurance, “He’ll make it. Let him do it.”
Bart started yelling encouragements, (some were of the bawdy, raunchy variety having to do with Oliver demonstrating his stamina for Chloe) and the others joined in, shouting for him to hurry, each of them knowing that any one of them would be there to help in seconds if Arrow couldn’t get safely enough away.
Oliver ran onward, faster. “I’m gonna kill Bart,” he panted, and thought he heard Chloe laugh weakly over his shoulder. Good. She was starting to heal already.
The first explosions could be heard and the ground tremored slightly as he neared the others, followed by bright flashing bursts that lit up the dark sky. Oliver dropped to his knees then and lowered her carefully yet quickly onto the grassy field, covering Chloe’s body with his own. Small bits of debris hit them, but they were far enough away now to avoid serious injury.
The explosions continued, affording him enough brightness to see her clearly. Oliver removed his dark glasses, and raised his head slightly to look down at her face, still panting to regain his breath. The light from the explosions danced on her features. He gazed at her in wonder, stroking the golden hair away from her face. Amazingly, her eyes were bright and clear, no bruises, no swollen lip.
Chloe reached up to touch his sweat dampened cheek with her fingertips, then gripping the sides of his hood with both hands, she pulled his head down, further stealing his breath away with a passionate kiss. She reveled in the salty taste of his lips, sliding her tongue over them, between them. His breath became hers as the kiss grew more intense, his tongue finding hers, his mouth devouring hers hungrily, the explosions outside mirroring the explosions within them.
This was no simple lustful kiss. It was more. It was the adrenaline rush from escaping near death, it was the immense gratitude to one another for being alive, it was the desperate clinging to the only other person in the world who could ever share this moment with you, and understand its importance.
“You saved my life,” she murmured against his lips, as the explosions beyond them subsided, then stopped, leaving the facility to continue at a slow burn.
“You saved mine.” He countered.
She smiled. “Now you get it,” she said with satisfaction. “But, uh.. you’re still on duty, .. I’m a bit too weak to walk just yet.”
He kissed her again.
“Hey, hey! None of that stuff! Awww.. get a bed, man,” Bart chastised playfully as the team approached them.
Chloe smiled up at her Arrow. “The next bed I see, I’m falling into and sleeping for a year. Care to join me?”
Oliver rose up from atop her and stooped, reaching for her, gathering her in his arms and picking her up, this time bridal style. Chloe rested her head on his shoulder as he stood.
“I’d share a bed with you for the rest of my life,” he answered sincerely, pressing a kiss to her forehead, not caring anymore if the others were within earshot.
Clark coughed. Victor having exited the communications van, watched the two, smiling as he patted Clark on the back to relieve his sudden coughing fit. AC laughed, and Bart uttered the one word that seemed to sum it all up. “Sweeeeet.”
End Chapter 15
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