Someone To Watch Over Me
Chapter 2
There’s a saying old, says that love is blind
Still we’re often told, "seek and ye shall find"
Oliver leaned over the side of his desk next to her, watching Chloe concernedly as she sat, her fingers moving deftly over the keyboard of his computer. He had given her the drive she’d sent to him that contained her name, and information. He glanced down once again at his arm, his other hand coming up to rub over the non-existent knife wound briefly, as if to convince himself that it was truly and completely gone. He still had questions for her, but knew she’d want to see for herself what was on the file. He’d save his questions for later.
“Why don’t you make yourself useful instead of crowding over me like a mother hen?”
“What did you have in mind?” He hadn’t realized just how close he was hovering over her, and straightened up.
She didn’t look up from the screen. “Coffee.”
“Any other orders for me, Watchtower?”
“Yes. Go change into some civilian clothing, Arrow.” The green leather was a bit distracting, but she’d never tell him that. No need to increase the size of his male ego any further.
Moments later he returned wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. He was about to jokingly ask her if what he was wearing was acceptable to her, but seeing the look on her face stopped any comment from leaving him. Her eyes were wide, her lips slightly parted in shock as she stared at the screen. “What is it?” he asked.
Chloe rose from the chair abruptly, obviously distraught. “I can’t watch anymore,” she rounded the desk stepping into the living room. She began to pace slowly, crossing her arms over her chest, as though hugging herself.
Oliver set down the mug, dropping into the chair she’d just vacated. There was a video playing on the screen. He slid the cursor over to rewind it. It appeared to be a video of some sort of surgical operation. Doctors, perhaps working on a patient? The entire scene reminded him of some Sci-Fi alien abduction movie. The camera zoomed in.
“What the hell?” The patient was Chloe. She was barely clothed, strapped spread eagle on an unusual looking operating table, clamps in her mouth holding it open. Someone looked to be sticking a long needle-like probe into her navel. Voices could be heard mechanically giving vital signs, and blood count levels. Chloe’s eyes widened as the probe entered her, then fluttered closed as though she’d been rendered unconscious. To Oliver’s surprise, something deep and primal seemed to rage in him out of nowhere, and he wished that he could get his hands on every last son-of-a-bitch who’d poked and prodded her. His dark eyes became slits, a muscle flicked angrily at his jaw. He clicked out of the screen. He’d seen enough.
He walked over to her purposefully, but she turned away from him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” His voice sounded accusatory, even to himself.
“Because I didn’t know! I don’t remember it!”
Oliver took a breath to calm himself. “Okay. It’s okay,” he soothed, leading her to the sofa. He could feel her trembling under his hand. “Chloe,” he paused as she sat, wiping away a tear. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I promise.”
She nodded in response, then looked up at him as though she truly believed in him. Her look of complete faith and trust in him, stirred something indefinable in his chest.
Chloe thought that what she’d seen in the video-tape, must have occurred when she was implanted with the tracker. It was the only thing she could think of, since she couldn’t remember how it had gotten there, and it would explain the day she’d lost, when Jimmy thought she’d gone missing.
She briefly explained to Oliver about the GPS device that was embedded into her shoulder in an attempt to track her. She simply told him that she’d removed it with Clark’s help, but not that he’d used his heat vision. Since then, there’d been no attempt that she knew of to track her movements, or to discover what mutation her meteor infection had caused. Evidently she was wrong. Someone wanted to know what she was capable of, and was stalking her to find out.
“They don’t know,” she whispered, her bottom lip quivered slightly as she fought to regain control of herself. “They don’t know what my ability is. There was nothing on the file about me that indicated it.” She sniffled, composing herself. “But there are many others, people who are listed that they do know about.” She looked up at him now, earnest green eyes seeking his. “Oliver, those other people could be in danger as well. We have to do something.”
At that moment he realized that he didn’t care about the others, only her. But leave it to Chloe to think of the other people on the list. It was no wonder her ability was to heal, he thought. “If they don’t know what you can do, then we need to keep it that way. Who else knows?”
“Clark, you, and… and, Jimmy.”
He nodded. Then asked, “Does it hurt you?” He recalled seeing her face and hearing her soft gasp when she’d healed him. “It looked as though you were in pain when you healed my arm.”
“Yes. I feel it, but I don’t think I experience the full effect, and it does drain me until I can recover. It depends on the extent of the injury. More serious ones take longer for me to recover, and drain more of my energy. I can’t explain it, it’s almost as if I give my life force to another, then regain mine back in time,” She shook her head. “I’m still not certain how it all works,” she shrugged lightly, then paused as though deciding whether or not to say more. “Oliver. I can do more than simply heal flesh wounds. I can bring people back from death.”
“What?” his soft voice sounded in disbelief.
“I’ve sort of… ‘died’ twice already.”
After she’d explained the instances where she’d ‘died’, Oliver rose from the sofa, running a hand through his spiky blonde hair. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and took a few steps away. If anyone found out the extent of her abilities… he didn’t want to consider it. She was valuable indeed to anyone bent on using her for their own gain. They needed to find out who the stalker was before that happened. If in the wrong hands, there was no telling what would happen to her.
He looked over his shoulder at her. Her head was bowed and she seemed to be staring off into space, perhaps thinking the same things he was. He knew that Chloe was a capable woman, strong, determined, intelligent. She wasn’t going to let something like this stop her. Since they’d worked together over the past few months, he’d come to know her better. They’d become friends. She was someone he could trust completely, and rely on, and he in turn helped her when she needed it. But somehow seeing her in this moment, this way brought out a fierce sense of protectiveness in him that he’d not ever recalled experiencing before. When he’d viewed the video of her strapped to a table, he had the raging urge to cause serious bodily harm to those who had dared to lay a hand on her. He wasn’t certain what to make of this feeling, didn’t know what it meant, and nor did he wish to think about it further. He didn’t need to become any more involved in this than he had to be. He didn’t need or want any entanglements, or complications. Not after what had happened with Lois and then Dinah. Chloe was a member of his team, just like any other and he’d do whatever he could to help her. That was it. Nothing more.
Chloe jumped out of her reverie when her cell phone rang. Picking it up she checked the caller ID. Someone had blocked the number. She looked over at Oliver. “I think it’s him.”
“Answer it. Put it on speaker.”
Chloe pressed the speaker button. “Hello?”
“Ms. Sullivan. It seems you are quite a remarkable woman. Not only do you provide services for the meteor infected at the ISIS Foundation, but you also have some very interesting friends. But, why a woman such as yourself would be keeping company with a vigilante such as the Green Arrow.. well, I can’t begin to fathom.”
“Who are you? What do you want?” Chloe was thankful that her voice didn’t betray any of the panic she felt.
“You’ll find out soon enough, Ms. Sullivan. I’ll be watching you.”
That was it. A chill crept down Chloe’s spine, gooseflesh breaking out over her skin. She turned panic-stricken eyes to Oliver. “He saw us.”
End Chapter 2
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