Fighting Echoes (14/23)

[serafina19]

Author: serafina19
Title: Fighting Echoes
Summary: As identities and affiliations are exposed, the Justice League begins to form.  But once an old foe re-emerges and raises the stakes, Evie is forced to determine how much she is willing to sacrifice to protect everyone she cares about.  Sequel to “Notbroken,” and the final multi-chapter in the "Calendar Girl" verse.

Rating: NC-17     
Warnings: Coarse language, violence and adult content.

Special thanks to: 552158 for the amazing banners that I couldn’t stop admiring when you sent them to me. Also, big love to slytherinpunk, without you, I probably wouldn’t have the guts to try this.

August p.1   August p.2   September p.1   September p.2   October p.1   October p.2   October p.3   November p.1   November p.2   December p.1   December p.2   January p.1   January p.2

 

February

February 13

It wasn’t like Chloe and Oliver were overly superstitious; they just found it fitting that today was Friday the 13^th.  Apparently Lex wanted his first hosted event since his sudden re-emergence to be around Valentine’s Day to “celebrate the love he had received in his return.” But instead of clouding the day itself, he hosts it on a day often associated with bad luck.  Go figure.

Seeing that sentiment in the invitation made Chloe throw up in her mouth, and Oliver said they could skip it, but Chloe decided that it was best for them to go.  They had missed their share of functions lately with missions and everything, and they didn’t want anyone to start any unnecessary rumours.  Not only that, but the tension was also running high with merger negotiations, so Oliver’s image in the press had to be maintained as well.  Sure, everyone would know that the appearance is a superficial, temporary truce, but even that was better than nothing.

“You ready?” Oliver asked, knowing how much neither of them wanted to be here.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”   When the car stopped, Chloe could hear the clamoring of reporters outside, the snap of camera buttons.  The tinted windows could only help so much, as they knew the world outside the car wasn’t the one they wanted, but a life they know all too well.  “Let’s do this.”
 

~0~

So far it wasn’t that bad.  Fake smiles et al did the trick as they worked the room with relative ease.  The host had been out of sight since they arrived, which worked for them, as the less they interacted with Lex the better.  Unfortunately, that seemed liked that was about to change.

“You really do clean up well.”

Chloe rolled her eyes as she continued to pretend to admire the painting on the wall.  “Save your flattery Lex.  This is far from the first time we’ve attended the same event.”  It may have been a while since that said event, but even then, he wasn’t trying so hard to be smarmy.

“True,” Lex said as he put a hand on her shoulder, leaning forward to whisper, “but my memory’s gotten a little... fuzzy.”

“Let me guess,” Chloe said as she turned her head towards Lex, “The fact that you kidnapped me is included in that unfortunate fuzz?”  She quickly shoved his hand off of her and turned fully with a less than pleased expression.

His hands held up in defence, Lex had his poker face up and running.  “Chloe, my dear, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Dear?  Really?” At that Chloe couldn’t help but laugh out loud.  She knew not to expect anything else from the man, but the term of so-called of endearment was too much.  “But if you’re trying to raise a scene, you’re going to have to try a lot harder.  Empty words won’t accomplish anything.”

Lex’s eyebrows raised as he took a step closer.  “Is that a challenge?”

“No, just a statement.”  Chloe looked up at him harshly as his proximity wasn’t going to intimidate her. “Besides, you know better than to try anything with me.”

“I’m not afraid of Queen if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“I’d disagree,” Oliver said before she had a chance to open her mouth.  Looking up, she grinned at him as he walked around Lex to put his arm around Chloe. “But the truth is, she’s the one you should be afraid of.”  Handing Chloe a glass of champagne, he added, “Sorry for taking so long.”

“No worries,” she replied, glass in hand before turning back towards someone she somehow had once called her friend.  “Our host was just reminding me of where we stand.”

It was subtle, but Oliver could sense the frustration in her voice, leading to him moving his hand down to the small of her back, gently moving his fingers back and forth out of reassurance. “That sounds fascinating, but there’s actually someone who I’d like to introduce you to.  If you don’t mind.”

“I think we’ve covered everything, don’t you?”  When Lex just smirked in response, Chloe looked back up at Oliver.  “Then lead the way.”

Lex just nodded as Oliver and Chloe worked their way through the crowd.  Once they were far enough away, Oliver could feel some tension leave her body.  “You okay?”

Chloe sighed, knowing it was stupid the way Lex made her angry every time she saw him.  “He was trying to shake me.”  The way that he played with her, it was a routine Chloe knew all too well, but she was never one to doubt its effectiveness.

Oliver stepped in front of her, putting both his hands on her shoulders.  “And?”  He knew that Chloe was one of the strongest people he knew, but he had to know.

Knowing what Oliver was getting at, Chloe sold a confident smile.  “Lex made me go through worse in high school.”  She meant it, but it only meant that Lex was holding back something, as he wasn’t underestimating her by any means.  “But he’s definitely up to something.”

Narrowing his eyes, Oliver asked, “When isn’t he?”

“Fair point.” 

Seeing how she had rolled her eyes in response, Oliver said reassuringly. “Another hour Chloe... and we’re out of here.  Sounds good?”

Chloe nodded. “Can’t wait.”





February 14

Happy Valentine’s Day indeed.

If it was up to Evie, the holiday could seriously just fuck itself right now, as the disadvantage of hooking up with someone on this stupid day is that when that person gets dropped from your life, seeing all the happy couples is enough to make a person sick.

It was hard to believe that it had been almost a year already, as the happiest day of her relationship with Scott, their anniversary, became a sullen and unnecessary reminder of things Evie screwed up.  After an eight hour shift at Metro, the couples came one after another, their smiles and doe-eyed looks firmly in place, and in time, Evie found it harder to smile… or be civil.

Which is why the last thing she wanted to see Victor and Bart right now.  She knew what they were trying to do, but she was hardly in the mood for company.  But before she could say anything, Bart had pushed by, telling Evie that tonight was going to be for awesome people only.  She was only half listening, but Evie was pretty sure that he was rambling something about random rules then realizing that he had to go get spring rolls before he disappeared from her sight entirely.

Turning towards the door, she noticed how Victor had barely entered the room, likely analyzing the distracted look on her face, so Evie quickly shook it off. “Let me guess,” she said, breaking the silence as she pointed to the bags in Victor’s hands, “actually from China?”

Victor just nodded as he closed the door behind him.  “Bart wanted to do something special for you.”

“Who told you?”  Evie blurted, not wanting to pry, but he was one of the few who didn’t know about what this day represented for her.  “Was it Bart?”

“He let it slip,” Victor replied honestly, remembering the look on her cousin’s face when he came clean.  Feeling the obvious tension between the two, Victor avoided her gaze as he put the rest of the food on the table.  “Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” Evie said with a shrug, walking over to the kitchen table to help Victor unpack the food. “I mean I’d rather my personal failings would remain private, but a small inner circle risks that I guess.”  Frustration running high, Evie began to pop open the containers, not even realizing that she was ripping the paper tops.

“Easy.”  Victor stopped her from opening more containers, gesturing for Evie to have a seat.  She thankfully obliged, so he took over.  He didn’t exactly want to have this conversation, but if nothing else, Victor was hoping he could take it in a positive direction for her.  “Well, if you get past all this, maybe you can go back to him.”

“This I can say with absolute conviction.”  Evie scoffed loudly before tilting her head back up to look at the ceiling.  “No.”

“Why not?”

“What’s the point of being with someone if I have to lie every day?” Evie sighed as she got up to pour herself more coffee. “I may hate my abilities, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t accepted that’s part of what makes me… me.”

Victor walked over to the cupboard to grab a couple of plates.  “Then tell him.”

To him, it may have seemed the easy solution of the bunch, but Evie could only laugh at that suggestion.  “You of all people know how insane that idea is, right?”  Turning only her head to pretty much glare at Victor, she added, “Telling Scott is worse than you telling Katherine because of what I did to him.”

Focusing back on her coffee, Evie realized that outburst was out of line, so she quickly felt guilty for her reaction.  “Sorry, it’s just…”  When she couldn’t find an ending to that sentence, Evie huffed in frustration.

Fortunately, he was more than willing to overlook that.  “Scott made you happy, right?”

Evie took a big swig of her coffee, slamming the cup down on the counter, jumping from the sound.  Maybe she had enough caffeine for one day.  “Exactly, past tense.”   She combed her fingers through her hair, shrugging once again.  “Now, I think it’s probably best we went our separate ways.  Our relationship was a ticking time bomb, and although he’s a great guy, I know my life is never going to be normal.”

Taking a deep breath, Evie pushed herself off the counter and walked around Victor to stand in the main room.  She had managed to get this far without thinking about him, and although she was over him, it still hurt having that prior happiness being smacked into her face day after day.

She did miss Scott, but it was fair to say that she no longer loved him anymore.  Besides, when it came to telling Scott the truth, Evie knew that, “He deserves to be separate from my craziness.”

“You’re not crazy,” Victor called out from behind her, waiting for Evie to turn around.

She didn’t, Evie only narrowed her eyes at the comment. “You sure about that?”

“If you can call me normal… then the same can easily be said for you.”

For the first time in plenty of hours, Evie felt her genuine smile slowly crack through, so she turned around, ready to acknowledge Victor’s point, but the door quickly opened, revealing Bart with yet another bag.

“You guys didn’t start without me?”

Victor grinned at Bart, quickly providing them both with a cover story so Bart didn’t think anything was wrong.  “We figured that’d be rude.”

“Darn straight,” Bart replied, rushing over to fill up his plate.

Victor tilted his head, wanting Evie to go first, and she wanted to, but she wanted to say something, anything about how much she appreciated talking with him.  About how he always seemed to maintain her sanity when she was on the edge of losing it.

But instead, Victor just gave her a knowing smile and a nod, all but telling Evie that he got it.  So Evie nodded back and decided it was best to go and relax.  After all, the food did smell amazing.

Looking at the spread, Evie noticed something.  “Bart... where are the spring rolls?”

Bart peered up from his full plate before gesturing towards the door.  “Oliver has them.”

“What do you mean Oliver has—”

Before Evie had a chance to finish the sentence, Chloe and Oliver walked through the door, and sure enough Oliver was holding a paper bag in his hand.  “Someone order spring rolls?”

“You guys shouldn’t be here... you should have plans.”  Just because Chloe hated the day as much as Evie did right now didn’t mean they had to be here.

“We might have, except Bart booked us months ago.”

Evie blinked at Chloe’s comment, before turning her head over her shoulder to look at her cousin.  “Is that true?”

Bart was just about to start eating, but he promptly stopped and put down his plate.  “It’s what family’s for, right?”   Knowing her, Bart knew she’d just isolate herself, and after everything, Evie deserved better.  “Besides, Valentine’s Day can be about friends.”

Feeling a smile slip, she looked around the room, at the support she had from her friends.  “That’s... really sweet... of everyone.  Thank you.”

“Great,” Oliver said as he approached the kitchen table. “Now that’s settled, I believe Mr. Allen here went to a great length to get us dinner.  How about we enjoy it before it gets cold?”

Before Evie could say anything, Bart picked up his plate.  “Best suggestion I’ve heard all day.”
 

~0~

Stepping out of the elevator, Chloe looked back towards Oliver as she slipped her coat down her arms.  “Were you okay with this Ollie?  I mean, it was planned well in advance, but...”

“It was fine,” Oliver replied, taking the coat from her hands to put it away.  It maybe wasn’t the ideal way to spend their first Valentine’s Day together, but it could have been a lot worse too.  Thinking back to the previous years, Oliver felt a devious come across his face.  “Although if you wanted round two of target practice, I wouldn’t be opposed.”

“Well,” Chloe said as she peered towards where his arrows were kept, “I won’t hit the wall this time.”  There was also an increased chance that she wouldn’t back away when he tried to correct her stance.  She may even mess it up on purpose.

Watching as she approached him slowly, calculated, Oliver lifted his feet to meet her half-way.  “Then again, there is a relative perk to our relationship status.”   Lowering his head, their lips seconds from touching, his eyes began to close, only to be interrupted by the buzzing sound coming from his jacket pocket.  “And then that happens.”

Chloe sighed as she backed away.  It wasn’t what she hoped would happen, but such was the life she had chose.  Smiling as she turned around, she remarked confidently, “Make it quick Oliver... I may have a little surprise for you.”

He had almost opened his phone, but when he looked up to see Chloe lifting her shirt over her head, tossing it away, he had a sudden change of heart.




February 24

“Chloe, I need my supplies stat.”

It had been an ordinary day, but that had all changed when Emil had burst through the doors, carrying what seemed to be an unconscious Evie.  “What happened?”

“A close call to say the least.”  They didn’t have time to use the bed upstairs, so they cleared the table and put her down. Once Chloe came back with the first aid kit and the other medical supplies, Emil opened it up and began to check her vitals again.  Still nothing.   “You heard about the bank robbery on 5^th?”

Chloe’s eyes widened.  “She was there?”  It wasn’t easy to miss as it was all over the news.  Three robbers, crowded bank and several hostages, not the ideal daylight hero situation. “I was about to get Impulse on it when we heard the police had things under control.”

“That’s spin doctoring things for you.”   Things were far from being under control.  The only possible reason things settled down was because of the woman lying unconscious in front of them.  “Now the story is all about ‘Miracle on 5^th Street’ about the magic bullet, and not the one from the infomercial.”

Chloe’s mouth gaped open as the words set in.  “She overdid it.”

“DOA from the paramedics, but lucky for her, I insisted on being there at the scene.”  If it wasn’t for his senior ranking, Evie would have been going to the morgue, not the hospital.  “After the ambulance ride, I transferred her myself, explaining that she had a complicated condition I needed to treat.  Seconds after I got her to my car... I received a call saying Lex Luthor wanted to pay for any procedure she needed.”

He didn’t mince words because he knew the gravity of her situation.  Emil purposely had a role on the sidelines, but he still thought Evie had to be more careful.  “Lex suspects that you’re integral to the hero world and Evie was your right hand while Oliver was missing.”  Checking her vitals once more Emil stepped back, knowing that there wasn’t anything more he could do right now.  “Won’t take much more than this for him to put two and two together.”

Chloe nodded, knowing that was the truth, but that didn’t matter if she didn’t wake up.  “Forty-five minutes since the break-up at the bank.  How long do you think?”

Emil wished that he had a timeframe to work off of, but it was hard enough seeing her like this again.  “I’ve seen her twice before... three and ten hours respectively.”
 

~0~

It was six hours this time, as Chloe hadn’t left her side this entire time.  She didn’t want to risk drawing attention to the building, so she hadn’t called anyone and she swore Emil to secrecy until the time was right.

“Welcome back.”

Evie lifted her head, but placed it quickly back down.  “Yep, I definitely don’t miss this feeling.”  It hurt like crazy, as it throbbed hard as she tried to do anything functional.  She could see Chloe contemplating what to do in this instance, so Evie decided it was best to just come clean about what happened at the bank.  “The guy went to shoot while I was trying to control the situation, you know, my way.  I know it was reckless, but I had no choice.”

“What do you mean by control the situation?”  Chloe hated to admit this, but she didn't know much more than the basics when it came to her friend’s abilities.

Evie squinted her eyes, trying to dull the pain as she tried to sit up again.  When she was successful, she lowered her hand from her head. “I was controlling two guys... before the bullet, which... wasn’t possible before.” She was getting stronger, it was the only explanation, as she had only been able to control one person at a time, but when it worked, she wasn’t arguing.  Except when the third man was about to shoot his gun, Evie had to act.

There was no easy way to say what Chloe was about to say, so she blurted, “Evie... Lex wanted to see you in the hospital.”

“What?”

Chloe bit her lip upon seeing her friend’s understandable surprise.  “This was all over the news, so the whole laying low thing.... goes double now.”

That went without saying.  It was a good deed, one that Evie didn’t regret because she saved a ten-year-old boy who was in line with the shot.  But her freedom would be a tough repercussion for her to pay.  “What did it say on the news?”

Sitting next to Evie on the table, Chloe admitted, “Fortunately, most of the shots of you.... you can’t see your face.” It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she thought she would start with the sliver of silver linings that there was.  “The big story is that a bullet just dropped from the air.”

Evie shook her head, because something didn’t add up.  “Then how did Lex...?”

In all the time her friend had been unconscious, Chloe had hoped that she would have a proper answer to that question.  “You were listed as one of the hostages... and you’re connected to me,” was the best she could come up with.

It wasn't healthy much guilt both her and Chloe felt for each other, as this time, it was easy to spot in her eyes.  “It’s just a bank robbery, Chloe.  I’m sure it’ll all blow over soon.”  Or at least, Evie hoped it would.




Part 2