Sadly, no voting this month because the third story is mine. However, I still encourage you to leave reviews for our authors.
Story #1
Story #2
Story #3
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Story #1
Stray
There was a dirty blonde head bent over in repose and Lex felt obligated to poke it with the very pointy end of his garbage stick. He crushed the thought, however, as the little lump sniffled loudly and lifted large shining hazel eyes up at him. She was pretty, but very young, and the redness around her nose was accompanied by clear snot.
Lex wished he hadn't bother this little girl. She looked incredibly preteen and suffering from the sorts of melodrama that velcroed itself to that age. Lex wanted none of it and again, began to pick up various bits of litter on the side of the long road.
"Where's your hair? Are you a neo nazi?" the young girl asked.
"I'm very sick, I'm going to die," Lex lied easily, not giving her another glance.
"I wish I was dying," she said sorrowfully. There was such open torture in her voice that Lex glanced back. She'd wipe the tears and snot away but her face still flushed with anger or sadness. She was cute, so wide open like the field she sat in.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Lex asked suddenly. It dawned on him then that, though she did seem a little bit angelic, she was just a kid in cut offs out in the middle of the day in a field on the side of the road.
"I come here to count the cars going by," she replied.
"How many have you counted?" Lex asked.
"Zero, so far," she answered with an incredible smile.
"You should go home, do you need a lift?" Lex asked.
"I'm not going to get into a car with a stranger," she shot back defiantly.
Good girl, Lex thought as he smiled and continued his menial labor.
"Why were you crying?" Lex asked.
"I kissed a boy I like...but I don't think he likes me back," she said quietly, picking up the plastic rings that held cans snug. She threw it in his direction but, without much weight, it fluttered three feet short.
"Oh," Lex said. He should have known it was about a boy and not about things he knew about, things like horrific fathers, restrictive private schools, or dead mothers.
"I mean, he kissed me like he liked me...But I can't tell. He's just...He's just so stupid," she said in a huff.
"Boys can be stupid," Lex said cautiously.
"You're a boy, what should I do?" she asked him.
"Sorry, I'm not sure," Lex admitted and turned away, picking up a crumpled piece of paper, that with the breeze, has eluded him for at least thirty seconds.
"Why are you picking up trash in such a fancy suit?" the young girl asked finally.
Lex looked down at his tan slacks and then back at the girl. It was his school uniform, he'd just come from school.
"I'm being punished," he said.
"But aren't you dying? That's not fair."
"No...But life's not fair," Lex said, grimacing on the lie he told her.
"Let me help you," said the young blonde. She picked up a few bottle caps and cans with her bare hands. Lex took off the gloves he wore and handed them over to her.
"So you don't get hepatitis," Lex said.
"Why are you being punished?" she asked as she pulled on the rubber gloves, a little most inside from sweat.
"I broke the law," Lex admitted.
"And this is community service."
"Very good!" Lex exclaimed, grinning down at the girl.
"Don't patronize me," She said in another huff and Lex laughed. But of course she didn't like to be patronized, who does?
"I'm sorry," Lex said and when she smiled brilliantly at him, he couldn't help by smile back.
"What law did you break?" She asked, tossing a can into his garbage bag.
"You ask a lot of questions," Lex said, not intending to reveal to her his crimes. She was too young anyway. But she wouldn't relent, she just stared up at him with those big pretty eyes curiously until he gave in.
"I didn't match up to what people wanted me to be," Lex said, stabbing at an apple core.
"That's not a law you can break," she said, looking very skeptical. But when she saw the sullen look on the bald man's face, she empathized.
"You should be proud of who you are," she said, crinkling an empty bag of chips in her protected hands.
"Yes, you should," Lex went along unconvinced.
"I'm nosey, and pushy, and annoying, but I like myself a lot. If there was another me, I'd be friends with them," she said with an embarrassed look and a sheepish smile. Lex smiled too.
They picked up trash in silence for the rest of the time until Lex had had enough. He looked at his watch and wiped his brow on his wrinkled sweat drenched dress shirt.
"Are you leaving?" asked the blonde.
"Yeah, it's almost dinner time," Lex responded and then added, "thanks for helping me out."
"You're welcome!" She chirped cutely.
She walked him too his car, was instantly dazzled by it.
"Hey...You're a really great girl and if you want that boy, I know you can get him. Don't give up. He's really stupid if he doesn't see how pretty you are," Lex said and got into his car. He usually didn't say such sappy things to young women, but he felt that the little girl deserved some encouragement, something he had in surplus.
When the car passed her, Chloe counted "one," on a whisper.
Story #2
TITLE: Resetting the Board
AN: This story follows: Tipping the Board, All of You, Home Movies, Level the Field, Destiny, Puzzlecraft
This is also the last entry in this series.
Chloe stood apart from the raucous activity. She chose the balcony, away from the action, because this was their time. Everything she had done was for this moment: for her children to realize their potential and turn it into something far beyond her vision.
Brainiac slid his arms around her waist to rest on the balcony railing. She leaned into him as he kissed the side of her neck. He nodded his head in Arthur’s direction and spoke directly into her ear, “I see our wayward son did arrive on time after all.”
Chloe laughed, “Of course! He was never going to be late. Arthur may love running Luthorcorp, but he’s not missing his brother’s community rally declaring his intent to run for Congress.”
They both took a moment to scan the crowd. Clark, Lois and even Conner were in attendance. Chloe got the feeling they didn’t know who they should be observing: Erik, Liza, or Arthur stroking the very pregnant belly of his wife, Kara. The profound disbelief, horror, and anger that radiated off them no matter how much time had passed was amusing.
Brainiac chuckled. “Do you think Liza did it on purpose?” He nodded in Kara’s direction.
“Liza has always been careful. Our research and development division has not been sloppy under her guidance. This was deliberate. She never did forgive Conner. Kara’s sudden de-aging hurts. Arthur being able to get Kara pregnant is like ripping their hearts from their chest.”
He nuzzled her neck, “No doubt you are correct, love. It must burn Kal-El and Kon-El, not to mention Lois, that they will never have children of Krypton. Kal-El not being the Last Son is for the best. Jor-El was not a monster, but he was no saint.”
They watched as Kara leaned over and kissed Arthur. She loved their son. The man of the hour, however, was Erik. Erik stood and kissed his wife and young son. He shook the hands of his campaign manager and his wife, who had brought their adult children. Liza and Arthur were the last he hugged. Their son had come so far. His hair was shorter, with a touch of premature gray at the temple. His beard accentuated his strong jaw line. Erik cut an imposing figure. If it was possible, the crowd became even wilder.
Erik stood, proud, at the podium and searched. His eyes found hers and his father’s. She saw his smile and, like a prince to his royal parents, saw him lift his hand to acknowledge them. Arthur and Liza both stood and looked in their direction as well. As if it were some grand cue to the audience, they all turned to them. Chloe felt Brainiac shift behind her as they both responded to their children. Erik’s brilliant smile in response had her throat closing with emotion. They were everything to her and she tried her best for them. Chloe knew Brainiac felt the same.
As Erik began his speech, Chloe shifted her gaze. Clark and Lois still stared in her direction and she inclined her head. Lois shrugged in rueful resignation, while Clark’s jaw tightened as he tilted his head. He would never forgive her, but he didn’t hate her. How could he? When she, ultimately, had saved him?
Brainiac splayed his hands across her stomach and pressed into her. “How about it, Chloe?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
He chuckled. “When do you want to leave?”
Chloe knew the dual meanings behind his words and sighed. “When it’s over.”
Brainiac gently nipped her neck, “And the other?”
“I would see all my grandchildren.”
Her impressive healing meant aging wasn’t really a problem for her anymore. Eventually, the questions would become too much for her family. She had prepared her children as best as she could. Besides, she was not finished on Earth. She and Brainiac both had plans for more children. This would not be the end, but a new beginning. The important part was that they got it right this time. They could do it again.
He nodded behind her. “My beloved, you will enjoy the stars.”
Chloe turned in his arms and looped her own around his neck. Brainiac’s hands slid to her waist, he gently kissed her and he rested his forehead on her own.
“I cannot tell you that I love you, as I do not know how you experience it; but as much as I can share this, I do love you, Chloe, and I know you feel the same,” he paused, “He has a good family. It is done, and you fixed it in the only way available. Do not dwell on it. He’s a good campaign manager.”
She nodded. Somewhere behind and below her, she knew she did the best that she could. Chloe had put precautions in place. The consequences were well-known to all involved.
********
Lex heard the knock. At first, he was hopeful that his son might visit him again. The one and only meeting with Erik had left him yearning for more. He could only hope that Chloe had not found out and punished him. At any rate, he knew this knock. “Chloe.”
He considered not opening the door, but there was no point. She strode into his room and looked around, as if once more becoming familiar with this room and what she had done to him.
Chloe hadn’t been to visit him for years, but she was nice enough to send women his way. It had to be tricky preventing them from broadcasting to the world that they had just fucked Lex Luthor. Lex got the feeling that Chloe had some way to prevent such talk. He didn’t want to know what they were. Glancing behind her, Lex saw Brainiac. Brainiac closed the door.
Chloe’s back was to him. “Did you enjoy your time with Erik?”
Lex’s body tensed. She turned to face him, the smile that everyone adored on her face. “I wanted him to meet you, eventually, when he was ready. So did you?”
As she talked, she gathered his chess board and brought it to the table. He took his seat. Lex couldn’t deny that he would always be drawn to her.
“I did. We talked ancient history. He seemed very curious about you.”
Chloe snorted as they both assembled the pieces. “Of course he was. I’m his mother. We had a long talk about it.”
They began play.
“I have a proposition for you.”
There was hesitation in her voice. Lex raised both eyebrows in surprise.
“And what would that be?”
She held his gaze and Lex found he couldn’t look away. Chloe pulled out a metal looking pill and a plastic container of a green-glowing liquid.
“Lex. You can leave here if you swallow the pill and drink this.”
Lex swallowed thickly. It took him two tries before he could ask, “Why? Why now?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You won’t be the same person on the other side. You’ll have your memories, most of them, but they won’t be as Lex Luthor. Same circumstances, different players, far removed from the rich man you were,” she caressed his face lightly, “You won’t look like this anymore. You’ll be the same man, Lex, but you won’t be you.”
Lex leaned away from her and dropped his eyes. His shoulders shook. “You would take even this from me?”
When he looked up, he saw the moisture in her eyes. The sadness. “If you want to leave here, Lex, then this is the way it has to be. You didn’t take enough from me, Lex, and as a result, I did this to you. I won’t risk not going far enough,” she took a deep breath, but there was a hint of desperation in her voice, “Do you really want to die here? I’ll make you happy, Lex. You’ll be happy. I swear it.”
Throwing the table to the ground, he roared, “But I won’t be me!”
She jumped from her seat and stood toe-to-toe with him as she had always done, “You aren’t you now, Lex! Make your choice.”
Lex gathered her into his arms. He was crying. “I’m sorry, Chloe, I’m so sorry.”
She nodded her head against his chest and whispered, “I am too.”
He smiled slightly, through his tears. “Will you give me hair?”
“Yeah, Lex, you can have hair,” and she returned his smile.
After a moment, Lex swallowed the pill and drank the liquid. He fell, convulsing to the ground. She dropped to her knees and held him closely. There was an eternity of love and hatred between them. Erik would need his guidance. He just couldn’t be Lex Luthor anymore. She gently kissed his lips.
“I swear you’ll be happy. You’ll have the family you always wanted. You’ll have the respect and prestige, Lex. I promise.”
Chloe rocked Lex until Brainiac took him from her. This was only the end of one thing and the beginning of another.
Story #3
AN: This is a crossover with Community. If you don't watch Community, well then I just feel sad for you.
What Puts the Green in Greendale?
Normally, Jeff wouldn’t put this much effort into giving a job interview for a new reporter. He was pretty sure anyone who walked into the Greendale Gazette Journal Mirror was given a job whether he or she wanted it or not. He wouldn’t even still be editor if it weren’t for this office and a certain brunette’s annoying insistence that he shouldn’t shirk his responsibilities. He’d been so close to giving Annie the keys to the castle and telling her to have at it just to shut her up. But then again, it was a pretty sweet office.
He thought he could give the new transfer’s portfolio a quick look over and spend most of time oogling her body and pretending to do important things on his blackberry. But the hot blonde – Chloe, he corrected in his head once he heard the shouting of Britta, Shirley, and Annie – seemed to be eyeing him carefully as if she had a special power to pick up on his bullshit. If her eyes weren’t green, he would have thought they were the perfect match for Annie’s blue eyes when she was on to his manipulative ways.
They discussed about why she was attending Greendale Community College in the first place – followed her photographer fiancé from Kansas to Colorado; limited funds to attend any other college; blah, blah, blah – he stopped paying real attention after she said she had a fiancé. Jeff Winger was many things, but he wasn’t a home wrecker…unless it came to proving his friend was going to marry a Chinese spy bent on destroying his moist towelette company.
There really was no reason not to give her a job on the paper. Though he would never admit it, she could write better than Annie. But that was to be expected with Chloe’s credentials. Annie did have natural talent and would hone her skills with more time. All the same, if he could avoid Annie’s tears, he would.
He had just finished welcoming Chloe to the team when Annie walked into his office. “Annie, this is Chloe Sullivan. Chloe, this Annie Edison, she’s our ace newshound.” Jeff would never get tired of Annie smiling and blushing whenever he complimented her. “Chloe is joining our staff after transferring to Greendale. Can you believe that she actually chose to transfer to Greendale?”
Annie rolled her eyes and held out her hand to Chloe. “Don’t listen to him. Greendale is a really great place to be. You know if you care more about friendships than academics. Oh, I’m not doing a better job of selling it to you, am I?”
Chloe laughed and smiled while returning Annie’s handshake. “It’s fine. I’m sure I’ll find everything I need here.”
They began to chat animatedly about Chloe’s hometown and made plans for Annie to show her around the college and the town. They both seemed to be really excited by the prospect. Apparently, Chloe loved investigating new things, and Annie was only too happy to showcase her knowledge. They both appeared to be competing for Megawatt Smile of the Year, and call Jeff bias but though Chloe’s was wonderful, Annie’s would always win in his eyes.
All the same, there was only too much talk about Greendale he could take, and he had a very important game of Bejewelled to get back to. “Well, I see you two are going to make an excellent team here at the Gazette whatever. Annie, I’m sure the dean has something weird planned that we can find many faults with, so why don’t you get Chloe up to speed.”
“Sure thing, Jeff.” Annie said as she and Chloe exited his office, giving him one last smile. Yeah, no one would ever beat Annie’s smile.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We can start that tour now, if you would like?” Annie asked.
“Great. I just need to make a quick phone call, and then I’ll join you.” Chloe said. Annie nodded, smiled and indicated she’d be at her desk whenever Chloe was ready. Chloe was impressed by eager brunette. In only a few minutes, she had determined that Annie was smart and her happy demeanor was genuine. Chloe felt guilty for lying about her reasons for attending Greendale, but it was necessary. In any case, if Annie proved to be as eager for a story as she seemed, Chloe might enlist her help later. For now, she had to be cautious.
Chloe pulled out her cell phone and hit the appropriate speed dial. As soon as he answered, she said “I’m in. Attending this place was surprisingly easy. Did you know there motto is ‘Greendale: Congratulations, You’re Already Accepted’? I didn’t see the point in using a pseudonym.”
She was rewarded by one of Lex’s rare laughs. “Was the interview process for the paper just as easy?”
“I got the feeling it would have been even easier if I hadn’t made the editor but on a show of interviewing me. I think he had a greater interest in my legs than my portfolio.” After a pause, she continued, “Relax Lex, he seemed to lose interest once I mentioned my fiancé.”
She could picture his posture still rigid and alert in his chair, but he was doing best to feign a calm tone over the phone. “I’m still not happy, you insisted on using your ex-boyfriend as a likeness for said fiancé.”
She laughed. “What was I supposed to say? I’m here investigating this school’s acquisition of dangerous meteor rocks, and by the way I’m engaged to one of the richest men in the world. We’re lucky I’ve managed to stay under the radar of the paparazzi as much as I have.”
“Not the first part, of course, but you could have said you were engaged to a businessman.”
“He seemed like the type who enjoyed the finer things in life. He might have started asking too many questions. We can’t afford that right now.”
“Very well, but if he takes any more interest in your legs or other body parts, he’ll get firsthand knowledge of how I conduct my business.”
“Wow, Lex, that’s really encouraging me to share anything else with you. You have nothing to worry about. I’m pretty sure he ignored my existence as soon as this other woman entered his office.”
“Well, now I have another reason to hate him. Clearly, he has bad taste to think anyone looks better than you.”
“Smooth. There is no pleasing you, is there?”
“The sooner you get back to Metropolis, the sooner we can find out.”
“That might take a while, I still need to get a better lead on this story…” She was interrupted in her thinking by the entrance of a bald man in a hard hat, an orange vest, and – inexplicably – hot pants.
“Hey baby! I got your dean right here!” He said in a exaggerated low voice before switching to a much higher one. “I’m just kidding so there is no need to file any more sexual harassment lawsuits. I’m here to inform everyone about the construction work in the west corner of the student parking lot. We’ve put traffic cones around the,” he cupped his hands and spoke softly “some would say large” and then switched back to his normal voice, “hole and have plans to repair the damage just as soon as we can allocate the funds from our unfortunately rather limited budget. So just be aware to keep a safe distance of twenty feet from the cones and everything will be fine. That’s the bad news; the good news is we’ll be having another dance to raise funds for the repairs.” He actually jumped to show his excitement. “I’ve suggested to the dance committee a ‘Come as Your Favorite Animal’ theme so fingers crossed!” With that the dean left the news room and everyone went back to work as if this was a normal occurrence.
Chloe spoke into her phone. “Lex, sorry about that, but I think I’ve just found my next lead.”
I'd like to thank the other two authors for their stories. It seems we didn't get much participation, either with reviews or stories. So thanks for taking the time to write a story for the challenge, www and nameless author (;)). I wrote the 2nd one. But I don't know if I'll want to continue participating in the challenges if we can't even get folks to show their appreciation to the ones who do. This seems to be a trend and maybe we should revisit whether we should have these at all since RL is really making it difficult for more participants.
Regardless, we got good stories this go around, so thanks again you two!
Thank you^^ I really like it!!!