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Thread: Dreaming the Wolf, R, 10-23-09, Chapter 23 and Epilogue

  1. #41
    looking for updates Senior Member somethingeasy's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-15-07, Interlude

    By mutual agreement, they chose to not begin searching for the hows and the whys. They chose to just be together. Even now, after Lois had left, Chloe’s apartment held faint traces of Lois. The kitchen counter where they both stood and talked and put food together to eat. The couch where they had sat and watched movies. The only place where Lois’ scent didn’t linger was the bedroom. Chloe hadn’t been ready to have her scent there, but it was a start. Sometimes baby steps were the way to go and sometimes charging madly and wildly was the way to go. The day had already been emotional, so it was a fairly easy decision to not push her luck with what she could and could not do.

    No matter how small the step, it had been a big thing to feel content with someone else’s scent all over. It wasn’t obtrusive. It was comforting because Lois was once again family. She wasn’t a loud talking stranger that she had visions of maiming horribly. She was Lois again and that meant everything. It meant that even though her father wasn’t around, some part of him was with her, however removed.
    This was a great new chapter. I really enjoyed seeing a little more on the re-bonding that took place between Lois and Chloe. I can see that Chloe had been quite upset from the estrangement from her cousin, and it was fantastic seeing that Chloe had wrestled her Wolfy-half into accepting Lois. I loved the detail about how Chloe had forced herself to become used to another person’s scent encroaching on ‘her territory’. LOL, it’s going to go a long way to helping her not tear out Lex’s throat when they start sharing a bedroom together, LOL!

    Can we have a really sexy scene where we see Chloe growling at Lex until he submits and bares his throat to her? That would be SO hot

    Since becoming the wolf, sunset and sunrise became something of a spiritual experience…even when she was color blind. She might not have been able to see the brilliant hues now, but she could take note of the tree that was across the street. It was as if the absence of color forced her to note everything else. She could see the dips and hollows of the leaves. It was like she was holding the leaf in her hands. It was that vivid. The experience became so much more when could see the colors and be focused on them.

    Chloe remembered the first time she had just *sat* and looked at something with her new sight. She’d been doing the dishes and the sun had caught this bubble. And there were just so many colors refracted and reflected back at her. It was then that it was really and truly hammered home that everything about her was different. Everything. The whole changing into a wolf was something almost abstract. It happened and then she was Chloe again, but this meant that it was with her even as Chloe. It was a surreal moment.
    This was a BEAUTIFUL description on Chloe’s new physical perceptions and senses with the benefit of the wolf. It was lovely and breathtaking.

    She disliked the fact that she was color blind but at these moments she could stop and try to appreciate everything else. It was the only way to adapt to the circumstances of her new life and all that entailed. Chloe was left with the earthshaking knowledge that she could not be what she was, could not remain in her present condition, but had no clue how to move forward. She did know that it began with Lois and Clark. Her family. Eventually her new life would include her father, but not now. Baby steps.
    Chloe is getting a proper hold of herself. Heh, it would have been fun to see LEX suffering through a lot of Chloe’s ‘transitional problems’, but it seems like Chloe is going to have herself substantially under control by the time CHlex rolls in… Still, I’m sure being part of a relationship will bring up a whole new set of unexpected problem with the inner-wolf, and I look REALLY forward to seeing how it all work out
    Please update soon.

  2. #42
    Spunky Chick Senior Member hfce's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-15-07, Interlude

    What a great update. It really showed how Chloe accepted where she is at at the moment.
    "Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "

  3. #43
    Fishin' for brains Senior Member Avalanche's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    Disclaimer- see ch1

    A/N- The plot thickens. Enjoy! Also, this part is dedicated to skauble. Yeah, she got the previous part too, but she really kicked me into a direction here.


    Chapter 5- Actions of the Wolf

    “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.”
    Gloria Steinem



    Chloe was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing. She rolled over and looked at her clock. It was 8 AM on a Sunday. The past few days had been emotional and she hadn’t been sleeping well so she was annoyed that she was being disturbed this early in the morning. “I don’t even have coffee to make it better. I think this deserves an evisceration.”

    She had discovered that she could no longer have her alarm clock or her phone in her room. The noise of an alarm clock or phone was jarring. One minute she’d be asleep and the next she’d be wide awake and casting her glance about the room frantically. Her heartbeat racing. Her breathing rapid. The response was the same as if she’d been awakened from a nightmare. It happened every time. She couldn’t get used to.

    After the fourth time this happened, she reduced the volume on the phone and alarm clock. It hadn’t helped. After that, she placed her alarm clock and the phone in the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed. That only resulted in her attacking her nightstand before she was even fully aware of what she was doing. Claws out and viciously ripping into the wood. Chloe had to go to the hardware store for a new one and she cried as she put her newly bought nightstand together. She also found that she couldn’t stand the constant ticking of analog clocks. Chloe had to change every ticking clock in her home to digital. She only set the alarm clock in the living room and the volume was turned off on the phone in her room, but not in the living room.

    The action of rolling over and answering her phone put strain on her side where she’d been shot. The wound had healed a month over the span of a day. “Fast healing makes no sense.” Sure most werewolf movies and lore say that werewolves healed quickly, but there was no scientific basis for such healing. It was one more thing she needed to know the hows for.

    Her voice was hoarse from sleep and tinged with annoyance when she greeted the person on the phone.

    “Hey, sweetheart. Sorry to call so early.”

    It was her father. His voice immediately calmed her. Whatever dark thoughts she had been thinking, whatever irritation she might’ve felt left her. Love and devotion was left in its wake. “Alpha.” Gabe Sullivan might not have been a werewolf and she was more than positive that killing him would be a trivial thing, but he was her father. He was still the boss of her, but it made her feel safe. She didn’t have to be afraid if her daddy was there. She definitely wasn’t alone despite the fact that he had a job in Metropolis. His voice called to mind every good thing, every bad thing that she had experienced with him. When he disciplined her. When he comforted her and told her stories. When he smiled at her. Superior physical strength meant nothing if the mental strength wasn’t there. And she was strong mentally when he was there.

    “Chloe, are you ok?”

    She realized that she had zoned out on him because his voice was on the edge of parental worry, “Sorry, daddy. The gray matter isn’t working this early. What’s up?”

    Her reassurance settled him because his voice was soothing in her ear, “I’m headed out of town for a couple of weeks on a business trip. I leave in about an hour so we won’t be able to have dinner this evening. I didn’t know I was going on the trip until late last night. I’ll make it up to you as soon as I get back.”

    Chloe was disappointed. She had been looking forward to going to Metropolis and being in her father’s home. He always smelled nice. She belonged with him. In his place. There were times when she thought it slightly ridiculous how much she depended on him for her emotional well-being but she felt she had a good excuse with the whole werewolf situation. The only consolation was that he didn’t sound enthused about missing dinner with her.

    She made sure to inject her voice with levity. He couldn’t know that it hurt badly to miss this time with him, “I can’t believe you're ditching me for work. I’d skip work for you. It would be a sacrifice but I’d do it.”

    Gabe chuckled a little, “I remember a certain delinquent daughter ditching me to chase leads on a story. Chloe, are you sure you’re ok? I feel like I’m missing something.”

    "Unbelievable." It was scary how well her family knew her. “First Lois and now my father.” Chloe would be eternally grateful to whatever providence gave her people in her life that cared enough to worry and nag. Even if it was annoying sometimes. “It just means that if I die in my apartment my corpse will be found in a timely manner. None of those icky gas explosions for me.”

    “I’m just feeling a little stressed. Ya know. The usual. Go. Have fun on your trip. Well as much fun as a business trip can be. Bring me back something pretty.”

    For the next 30 minutes they caught up on what each was doing and he gave her the details of his trip. He was headed to San Diego for some kind of symposium. Chloe hung up the phone with her father feeling much renewed.


    ********

    Her watch said it was two minutes until noon. Chloe sat in her car outside of Clark Kent’s barn. She was about to have a rather difficult conversation with him and didn’t look forward to it. After her talk with her father, Chloe had to find something to do for the day. She had planned on going to Metropolis early and hanging out with him but he deep-sixed that plan. Since he was going to be out of time for at least two weeks, she figured that she might as well face the elephant in the room, which was why she was sitting in her car. Chloe realized that she really couldn’t involve Clark in what she was about to do. Clark could be as emotional as the best of them and his judgment had always been clouded when it came to Lex. “He means well.”

    Clark would distract her. Would make her back off when her judgment told her to strongly push forward. She couldn’t afford to dance around the answers she needed. She couldn’t let ethics or morality cloud her mind. Chloe needed to be unerringly ruthless in the pursuit of this truth. In the pursuit of Lex. This situation was as deep as the one she had found herself in with Lionel. She hadn’t gone too far in taking him down because Lex had. She let him do the dirty work so that she didn’t have one more thing to feel guilty about. Besides, in any endeavor with the Luthors plausible deniability became paramount to self preservation. Chloe still wanted to preserve that kernel of innocence that she had. The entire ordeal had taught her a very valuable lesson. “Life is like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today will burn your ass tomorrow.”

    At any rate, Chloe didn’t want to put him in a position of having to choose between his friendship with her and his principles. It wasn’t fair to him. Lex had already forced that issue; and while Chloe knew that she and Clark had a much stronger foundations, she didn’t want to put it to the test. More than that, she didn’t want him to look at her differently. Clark was one of the best people she knew and she loved him. It was why his possible rejection had hurt so badly. If for even one moment, he looked at her in fear or hatred or as if she were a monster, Chloe knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it. It was what happened when you willingly bound yourself to someone else. For that reason, she could feel pity for Lex. Chloe could almost track the exact moment that Clark stopped looking at Lex as a friend. It may seem like she was forever sacrificing herself on the altar of Clark Kent’s regard and getting nothing in return, but she was a willing participant. And at the end of the day, she got someone who loved her. No matter how dumb his execution was.

    She knew her place in his life and the wolf made her content with it. Besides, when he needed help or needed anything he came to her. She had power over him. She just chose never to abuse it. Clark Kent was the kind of person destined for great things and that meant that sometimes the rules had to be brutally murdered in the town square. He was someone that came into being only once in millions of tries. Chloe knew that he was worth it and so she could never bring herself to resent whatever hold he had on her. She embraced it because the man he would become would inevitably be shaped by the people he was close to. It meant that no matter what he did or where he went she, Chloe Sullivan, had a hand in it. Great people were measured by their deeds, and those deeds were forged by the people who knew them best. In a round about way, that meant that when Clark Kent’s greatness was measured, they would actually be seeing her greatness. And Martha’s, Jonathan’s, Lex’s, and even Lana’s.

    The subject of her thoughts walked into view. He took the choice of meeting him right out of her hands. Never let it be said that Clark Kent lacked decisiveness. Once he had a course of action he bulldozed right on through to the end. His lack of focus and indecision would fade away with time and confidence. Every now and again she saw it in him. No doubt it was that spark that kept Martha and Jonathan, when he was alive, going and the people who knew him best. Clark Kent was going to be a legend.

    His stride was long and purposeful with a hint of the small town farmer that he would’ve been had he not been a super- powered, beautiful alien.

    “You’ve been sitting out here for ten minutes.”

    Chloe got out of her car, “Yeah. I know. I’ve been trying to find the words to tell you something you’re not gonna like.”

    There were times when Clark knew that Chloe Sullivan might possibly prove to be more deadly than green kryptonite. Usually it came on the tail end of a vague statement that spelled doom. Now was such a time, “And why is that?”

    She watched as the grin left his face and he got serious. It changed his demeanor entirely when he did that. It was like he was becoming someone new. Someone who was unburdened by the cares of a teenager. “Trading one kind of burden for another.”

    “Because I know that you want to help me take down Luthor and I can’t let you.”

    Chloe knew the exact moment when Clark shut down on her. The exact moment she knew that he was gonna dig in and be as hard-head, as stubborn as a mule. Worse than a mule. “Maybe a camel.” It was when his impressive jaw clinched and set into a hard expression. She remembered when they were younger and he would do that. It was so adorable. Now, however, it wasn’t. He was a man now.

    Clark looked away from her. He was trying to gather his composure, “Why? This isn’t something you can do alone. I can help you.”

    Chloe knew where he was coming from. She’d be hard pressed to accept such a rejection if she were in his shoes, but she had to stay firm on this, “Because Lex is either a massive blind spot or he flares too brightly in your view. Your judgment has never been right when it came to him.”

    Clark flinched away from her words. She had hurt him.

    “Clark, I can’t do this if I’m afraid that you’ll do something drastic. I don’t need you to protect me. And I’ll say that until you believe it. I’m here for you because I love you. You don’t need to do anything for me. If this is about your sense of right and wrong, know that it won’t get out of hand,” she moved to stand in front of him again, put her hand on his cheek, and met his eyes, “You’ll be the first person I call if I need anything. Clark, part of being what you are means knowing when you can’t interfere. Trouble will find you. It will forever be a part of your life. There is no need for you to go hunting for it. This one time, Clark, you can’t go where I’m going.”

    Chloe thought she might cry at his expression. Many emotions raced across his face. He was torn and hurt.

    Clark enveloped her in a hug. He held her tight as if she would slip away, “You’re the best person I know, Chloe. I don’t know what I would do without you. One of the worst moments of my life came when I thought I had lost you forever that summer. I always expect you to come back to me. And it’s only recently that I realized that you’ve never left me.”

    He let her go and walked back to his barn. In so many ways he didn’t fit with the image of a barn, but in the only way that mattered he belonged there. He belonged there because the people around him carved out a niche he could fit. “Clark Kent is one in a million.” Chloe knew that dragging this out and running to him would not have made things better so she got back into her car and drove away. It was the beginning of something new. “Change is a hurtful bitch.”

    Chloe called Lois. She told Lois to meet her at a cyber café in Metropolis. It was time to find the answers she was looking for.

    ********

    It took Chloe and Lois three hours to get the results they were looking for. Chloe had denied Lois access to the information she had helped her acquire. She didn’t want her cousin deeply involved until she knew the depth and width of the opposition. Lois pouted. She threatened, and whined until Chloe’s eyes flashed gold. That shut her up in record time. “I should abuse the fun eye change more often.”

    Chloe left Lois with vague promises of filling her in later and headed home. As she sat and read her computer screen, the world faded away. A quarter of the way through, Chloe let loose a roar of rage. She didn’t care about neighbors hearing. They’d probably think it was the radio anyway. Chloe had only felt this out of control the first time she had changed into the wolf. She couldn’t control this. Her heart was racing, her breathing was rapid and she knew that the change was at the surface. Chloe ran from her apartment, gunned her car engine and pointed it in the direction of Lex Luthor’s mansion. There were no thoughts in her mind. Only fury and pain. She was going to murder him and paint his walls red with his blood.

    “Lex Luthor will die for this.”

  4. #44
    An Accused Heretic Senior Member Kit Merlot's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    This was a gorgeous update!

    I liked the Chloe/Gabe phone conversation, and that even though she is a wolf now, she still needs her dad.

    The Chlark conversation was also excellent--Clark would never be unbiased enough to be able to investigate Lex properly, and Chloe was right to not let him help. And good for Clark for telling Chloe how much she means to him

    Lois helping Chloe to find info is cool, but Chloe is right to keep her away from the important "It could get you killed" info--she and Clark would be the type to barge in on Lex, with tons of accusations and no proof.

    Lastly, what the heck did Chloe read in that file that made her want to kill Lex? Is it about her mom?

    Please let us know as soon as you can
    KATHY

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  5. #45
    NS Full Member dagney's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    oh my goodness. I don't think lex can be ready for a feral Chloe. Dagney

  6. #46
    Spunky Chick Senior Member hfce's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    Wow that was a good. I love the talk she had with her dad and Clark. They are very important to her and I can see how she cherishes them. But the last part about Lex. EEK!! if i were him I would get the heck out of dodge.
    "Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "

  7. #47
    Dealing w/ a Ship Change Senior Member
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    Well, you actually made it on to my To Do list for the day and I have read what is so far a wonderful piece. I still have little interest in the werewolf part of the story (sorry www), but I am very intrigued by the storyline overall. I love that she has been honest with Clark and Lois. Looking forward to Lex's reaction when she attacks him. Which limb to bite off first...hmmm.

  8. #48
    looking for updates Senior Member somethingeasy's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    After the fourth time this happened, she reduced the volume on the phone and alarm clock. It hadn’t helped. After that, she placed her alarm clock and the phone in the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed. That only resulted in her attacking her nightstand before she was even fully aware of what she was doing. Claws out and viciously ripping into the wood. Chloe had to go to the hardware store for a new one and she cried as she put her newly bought nightstand together. She also found that she couldn’t stand the constant ticking of analog clocks. Chloe had to change every ticking clock in her home to digital. She only set the alarm clock in the living room and the volume was turned off on the phone in her room, but not in the living room.
    More fascinating stuff! I love seeing all these little details on how Chloe’s new senses have disrupted her life, and how she has to make the most bizarre and radical adjustments to compensate. Personally, I never liked analog clocks… they never seem to give me a proper reference to the time… seeing that it’s only one minute to eight is a WHOLE lot different from a clock telling me to ‘relax since it’s ’only’ 7:59, LOL!

    The action of rolling over and answering her phone put strain on her side where she’d been shot. The wound had healed a month over the span of a day. “Fast healing makes no sense.” Sure most werewolf movies and lore say that werewolves healed quickly, but there was no scientific basis for such healing. It was one more thing she needed to know the hows for.
    LOL! You gotta admire her pragmatic view, ROTFL!

    It was her father. His voice immediately calmed her. Whatever dark thoughts she had been thinking, whatever irritation she might’ve felt left her. Love and devotion was left in its wake. “Alpha.” Gabe Sullivan might not have been a werewolf and she was more than positive that killing him would be a trivial thing, but he was her father. He was still the boss of her, but it made her feel safe. She didn’t have to be afraid if her daddy was there. She definitely wasn’t alone despite the fact that he had a job in Metropolis. His voice called to mind every good thing, every bad thing that she had experienced with him. When he disciplined her. When he comforted her and told her stories. When he smiled at her. Superior physical strength meant nothing if the mental strength wasn’t there. And she was strong mentally when he was there.
    squeeee! I wanted to hug this paragraph… squeeze it to tiny, oozing pieces! I loved it! I thought it was beautiful that even the Wolfy part of Chloe respected and was so devoted to Gabe that she deferred to his authority without putting up even the slightest bit of a challenge. LOL! The ONLY person in Chloe’s life that she would submit to is her father, and there is something so lovely about the love and trust implied in that.

    LOL! I wonder if Lex will be bemused by the fact that Gabe was able to tame Chloe’s wolf without trying while HE had to jump through hoops to prove HIS subservience to her. This is of course, based on the huge a presumptuous assumption that Chloe will force Lex to submit when she wants him as her mate… It sounds likely (and hot), but it’s possible that Ava has something better in mind than my poor imaginings

    Chloe was disappointed. She had been looking forward to going to Metropolis and being in her father’s home. He always smelled nice. She belonged with him. In his place. There were times when she thought it slightly ridiculous how much she depended on him for her emotional well-being but she felt she had a good excuse with the whole werewolf situation. The only consolation was that he didn’t sound enthused about missing dinner with her.

    She made sure to inject her voice with levity. He couldn’t know that it hurt badly to miss this time with him, “I can’t believe you're ditching me for work. I’d skip work for you. It would be a sacrifice but I’d do it.”
    Awww, so no werewolf-Chloe and Daddy-Gabe bonding sessions taking place soon, and Chloe has is really disappointed about the bonding opportunity vanishing. I guess it’s going to take place a little later in the story. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

    Gabe chuckled a little, “I remember a certain delinquent daughter ditching me to chase leads on a story. Chloe, are you sure you’re ok? I feel like I’m missing something.”

    "Unbelievable." It was scary how well her family knew her. “First Lois and now my father.” Chloe would be eternally grateful to whatever providence gave her people in her life that cared enough to worry and nag. Even if it was annoying sometimes. “It just means that if I die in my apartment my corpse will be found in a timely manner. None of those icky gas explosions for me.”
    LOL! It’s so much seeing how everyone is showing their support for Chloe in ways that none of us (including Chloe herself) would have imagined them capable of. She’s in shock about how people are putting aside their own issues to place her needs first, but it’s a GOOD kind of shock, which is great to see, LOL!

    Clark would distract her. Would make her back off when her judgment told her to strongly push forward. She couldn’t afford to dance around the answers she needed. She couldn’t let ethics or morality cloud her mind. Chloe needed to be unerringly ruthless in the pursuit of this truth. In the pursuit of Lex. This situation was as deep as the one she had found herself in with Lionel. She hadn’t gone too far in taking him down because Lex had. She let him do the dirty work so that she didn’t have one more thing to feel guilty about. Besides, in any endeavor with the Luthors plausible deniability became paramount to self preservation. Chloe still wanted to preserve that kernel of innocence that she had. The entire ordeal had taught her a very valuable lesson. “Life is like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today will burn your ass tomorrow.”
    oh dear! I like that Chloe is taking a proactive approach to destroying the person she ‘believes’ to be responsible for her condition, but I think she’s moving too vicious, too soon. The wolfy aspect of her has gotten her blood boiling, so she can’t sit down a investigate in her usual cool, collected way.

    But I do appreciate how she’s not automatically calling Clark for help. She IS calm enough to be able to judge that Clark will probably hold her back, distract her… AND she’d feel terrible asking him to betray his principles… even for her. Now THIS is why Chloe is such a wonderful friend, she would never take advantage of Clark’s love for her by asking him to do something that goes against his ideals.

    It was what happened when you willingly bound yourself to someone else. For that reason, she could feel pity for Lex. Chloe could almost track the exact moment that Clark stopped looking at Lex as a friend. It may seem like she was forever sacrificing herself on the altar of Clark Kent’s regard and getting nothing in return, but she was a willing participant. And at the end of the day, she got someone who loved her. No matter how dumb his execution was.

    She knew her place in his life and the wolf made her content with it. Besides, when he needed help or needed anything he came to her. She had power over him. She just chose never to abuse it. Clark Kent was the kind of person destined for great things and that meant that sometimes the rules had to be brutally murdered in the town square. He was someone that came into being only once in millions of tries. Chloe knew that he was worth it and so she could never bring herself to resent whatever hold he had on her. She embraced it because the man he would become would inevitably be shaped by the people he was close to. It meant that no matter what he did or where he went she, Chloe Sullivan, had a hand in it. Great people were measured by their deeds, and those deeds were forged by the people who knew them best. In a round about way, that meant that when Clark Kent’s greatness was measured, they would actually be seeing her greatness. And Martha’s, Jonathan’s, Lex’s, and even Lana’s.
    This was a beautiful, gorgeous monologue from Chloe. It was wonderful that, despite whatever problems she might have with the way Clark expresses his friendship, she can see that his friendship is a relationship worth fighting for. Not only that, but she also helped ME see why a person would hang onto Clark as a friend, despite all the difficulties associated with hanging out with a brooding hero-in-training.

    I also loved how Chloe had a moment where she felt pity for Lex and how he is incapable of hanging onto a friend of any worthy calibre. It actually MUST be horrible and depressing going through life knowing that there’s no-one who loves you for yourself… No wonder Lex clings to people who show the slightest bit of inclination of liking just ‘Lex’ and not just wanting to hang out with ‘Lex Luthor’…

    The subject of her thoughts walked into view. He took the choice of meeting him right out of her hands. Never let it be said that Clark Kent lacked decisiveness. Once he had a course of action he bulldozed right on through to the end. His lack of focus and indecision would fade away with time and confidence. Every now and again she saw it in him. No doubt it was that spark that kept Martha and Jonathan, when he was alive, going and the people who knew him best. Clark Kent was going to be a legend.
    squeee! This was a lovely picture painted of Clark. I love fics where Clark is shown as an actual young Superman rather than a whiny, broody, stupid, self-righteous, sanctimonious teen with some ‘superman-like’ powers.

    “Because I know that you want to help me take down Luthor and I can’t let you.”

    Chloe knew the exact moment when Clark shut down on her. The exact moment she knew that he was gonna dig in and be as hard-head, as stubborn as a mule. Worse than a mule. “Maybe a camel.” It was when his impressive jaw clinched and set into a hard expression. She remembered when they were younger and he would do that. It was so adorable. Now, however, it wasn’t. He was a man now.
    LOL! I actually liked that Clark was going to put up a fight about not being included in Chloe crusade. I would have been horribly disappointed if Clark had just accepted Chloe’s orders to ‘stay put’ without arguing that she needs back-up.

    Chloe knew where he was coming from. She’d be hard pressed to accept such a rejection if she were in his shoes, but she had to stay firm on this, “Because Lex is either a massive blind spot or he flares too brightly in your view. Your judgment has never been right when it came to him.”
    This was AWESOME! I loved it! I loved Chloe’s astute and spot-on analysis on how Clark has this weakness of perception when it comes to Lex. AND she managed to phrase it beautifully in a short, cutting, brief statement. Awesome writing, Ava!

    Clark enveloped her in a hug. He held her tight as if she would slip away, “You’re the best person I know, Chloe. I don’t know what I would do without you. One of the worst moments of my life came when I thought I had lost you forever that summer. I always expect you to come back to me. And it’s only recently that I realized that you’ve never left me.”
    awww, dear sweet Clark… When he finally gets it into his head to start paying attention to his friends, he is unbeatable when it comes to loyalty and unwavering support. Which makes sense, because he learned everything he knows about being a friend from Chloe

    It took Chloe and Lois three hours to get the results they were looking for. Chloe had denied Lois access to the information she had helped her acquire. She didn’t want her cousin deeply involved until she knew the depth and width of the opposition. Lois pouted. She threatened, and whined until Chloe’s eyes flashed gold. That shut her up in record time. “I should abuse the fun eye change more often.”
    That is great! I was concerned that Chloe was just rushing off blindly and hotly to beat the heck out of Lex, without taking a moment to research, think or strategize beforehand. But it seems like the wolf’s blood-lust has not overcome to cool, ruthless reporter within… not yet.

    But Chloe was calm enough to commit herself to research, AND take along a assistant with her, LOL! I’m sure Lois must have been livid about being forced to carry papers without being fully informed about everything in them, ROTFL! Chloe would have KILLED Lois if Lois had tried to pull a stunt like that on her… I guess a pair of vicious, killer eyes go a long way to making the opposition shut up, LOL!

    Chloe left Lois with vague promises of filling her in later and headed home. As she sat and read her computer screen, the world faded away. A quarter of the way through, Chloe let loose a roar of rage. She didn’t care about neighbors hearing. They’d probably think it was the radio anyway. Chloe had only felt this out of control the first time she had changed into the wolf. She couldn’t control this. Her heart was racing, her breathing was rapid and she knew that the change was at the surface. Chloe ran from her apartment, gunned her car engine and pointed it in the direction of Lex Luthor’s mansion. There were no thoughts in her mind. Only fury and pain. She was going to murder him and paint his walls red with his blood.

    “Lex Luthor will die for this.”
    oh dear Heavens! What the heck was in those papers? WHAT could have produced this kind of a blood-lusting, violent reaction from Chloe… She not only wants to hurt him (which is understandable) or even kill him (which is extreme, but a possible outcome) but she actually wants to torture and rip him apart. Part of the viciousness of her emotions might be from the Wolf, but I think there must have been something TERRIBLE in those files to have driven Chloe to this state.

    I can’t wait to find out all the details on whatever Chloe discovered during her research. Not to mention the upcoming Lex and Chloe confrontation? AWESOME!!! Please update soon!

  9. #49
    NS Full Member SVfan1286's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-17-07, Chapter 5

    Fantastic chapter!

    I dying to know what Chloe read in those papers. The plot thickens! Can't wait for the Chlex confrontation.

    Please update again soon!!!

  10. #50
    Fishin' for brains Senior Member Avalanche's Avatar
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    Re: Dreaming the Wolf, PG-13, 12-24-07, Chapter 6

    Disclaimer: see ch1

    A/N: So, I'll be traveling for the foreseeable future. School will also be starting around that time. All that to mean that I probably won't have the chance to write the next parts for awhile. I still love you all? Please don't kill me.


    Chapter 6- Anger of the Wolf

    “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
    Oscar Wilde



    One minute Lex was having a conversation with his bodyguards and the next the double doors to his office were flying open and an obviously irate Chloe Sullivan was bearing down on him. He was in the process of escorting them from his office when all this occurred so it came as a surprise when his guards seemed to fly away from him and he was tackled to the ground with Chloe straddling him. She looked vicious. Something was wrong with her face but he couldn’t concentrate on that because her eyes were gold and her lips were pulled back into a fierce snarl. He could see elongated fangs and feel vibrations. She was growling low in the throat and he felt it in his bones.

    His head was pounding and he didn’t think he could move even if he wanted to do so. From the corner of his eye, Lex could see his two bodyguards, Mercy and Williamson, stand. Mercy pulled her glock, but Chloe didn’t remove her eyes from him. Williamson rushed to Chloe and made to grab her, but she lashed out. Her hand gripped Williamson’s fore arm and with a sharp twist, Chloe broke it. All of them heard the bones snap. They saw the blood as it gushed from his wound. But most of all, they heard Williamson scream. Chloe released his arm and pushed him. Williamson fell to the ground screaming and writhing.

    Chloe put both of her hands, palms down, on his chest. Lex could see claws. His breath hitched and he knew that he was only a few moments away from panicking. Chloe then began to press hard on him. Lex felt like a Labrador retriever was standing on his chest. He could barely breathe.

    Chloe spoke for the first time. It was deep and menacing, “Tell them to leave, Lex.”

    Lex wasn’t stupid and he knew that the only way he could possibly get out of this alive was if his bodyguards were present. He gasped his words, “I don’t think so, Chloe. You’ll have to kill me in front of them. I lay odds that if you do, a bullet will soon find its mark.”

    Chloe smirked, “Lex, how much do you want to bet that I could get off you, rip that gun from her hands, and violate her ten ways from Sunday with it before she even knew what was going on? Do you think in that time you could get far enough away that I wouldn’t be able to catch you? How about your life? Yes, I think I’ll take that bet. Tell them to leave or you’ll live to regret it.”

    Lex knew when he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Something was wrong with Chloe and she had murder in the eye. Her rage was a tangible thing and for the life of him he couldn’t understand what was going on. His brain felt like it wasn’t working. He knew that if he could only start thinking again, he would know why she was behaving this way. “What happened to her? She was fine when I last saw her.” As Lex stared at her, he came to the conclusion that he was going to be screwed either way. It was the way rocks and hard places behaved. Mercy seemed to be seeing the situation the same as he was. She lowered her gun, helped Williamson from the floor, and closed the doors as she left.

    Mercy was a mind reader like that. It was why Lex had hired her. She was very good at what she did and didn’t bat an eyelash at the weird things. Recent events had shown him that he could no longer be lackadaisical about his security. He could no longer count on his wealth and notoriety to protect him. Lex realized that the time of lax security and trusting his welfare to rent-a-cops were done.

    Chloe was getting agitated. Lex kept staring at her. He was so freaking calm. Her world had been turned upside down. Everything she knew to be true wasn’t anymore. Her life would never be the same. No matter how much she accepted what she was now or adapted to what she was, some part of her would forever wish that this wasn’t her reality. Some part of her would always rail against the hand that fate had dealt her. And she’d be damned if his life went on the same as it always had. For once in his life, Lex would know the suffering he caused. Chloe moved her right hand so that it rested on his chest just below his breast bone…over his diaphragm. She pressed down and up hard with her palm.

    If Lex thought that he couldn’t breathe before, he was more than certain that he couldn’t now. He also felt his eyes burn and felt liquid on his lip. Lex realized that his nose was bleeding. But he knew that she hadn’t punched him or touched him other than to knock him to the ground. Lex felt tremors in his body. Something was seriously wrong other than being pinned on the ground by a woman smaller than he was. Lex was the first to blink in their stand-off. As soon as he did, Lex’s body stopped trembling and his mind cleared.

    Chloe immediately felt better about the entire situation. She could do this.

    “I know what you did to me…to those others. Did you think you’d get away with it?”

    Chloe realized that he wouldn’t be able to answer her if he couldn’t breathe. It was a dilemma. “Hurt him or let him answer?” She decided that her need to hurt him was less important than her need to have the answers to her questions, so she removed her hand from where it was pressing against his diaphragm. The response was immediate. Lex began gasping and wheezing. Chloe stood up and watched him roll away from her towards his desk.

    Lex leveraged himself until he stood. His hand was at his chest rubbing as if he could remove the feeling of her hands on him. He briefly glanced at her and touched his nose. His eyes narrowed and a few pieces of the puzzle began to click into place.

    Lex had been close to death many times before but this was the first time that he didn’t think that he would survive. The first time he truly felt weakness. “Of course it was Chloe Sullivan.”

    Lex was finally able to gasp out, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

    Chloe held herself rigid. Her hands balled at her sides. She felt her body shaking in repressed fury and constraint. “I won’t hurt him. I won’t hurt him.”

    Despite this repetition of words, Chloe took a step towards him, “Don’t lie to me! I saw your files! Did you think I wouldn’t take a peek?”

    Lex’s system had been hacked earlier that day and he could finally see the two pronged attacked that had rendered his security measures pathetically ineffectual. There was a blunt force knock at the front and back door of his system, but even sneakier was the scalpel that neatly and deftly lanced its way to the inner parts of his system. His computer techs didn’t even see it coming. They didn’t see Lois Lane and Chloe Sullivan working in tandem to utterly obliterate and defeat them. “Amateurs.”

    “So you saw the files. All of them,” at her nod, Lex continued, “Then you are as informed as I am. Yes, I had you and those others taken. But that was only to see what you could do. Haven’t you noticed that the meteor infected are getting stronger? Their abilities are manifesting in a more and more dramatic fashion. I thought that by knowing who you were we could at least prevent some of the disturbances. My scientists ran one test. Only one, which was to determine what you might be able to do. We let them go immediately after except a few who were actually homicidal. It ended there for me and my project, but not for someone else.”

    Lex turned away from her, moved behind his desk, and turned on his computer. He wasn’t lying. There were no body signals that indicated he was lying. Many people lied through the course of the day and she had gotten a feel for the body cues. Pupil dilation, slight pulse change, a minute change in breathing patterns. It wasn’t exact, but she could be ninety-five percent sure that he wasn’t lying. It was good enough.

    “You only ran a test? Nothing more?”

    Lex looked up from his computer terminal, “Chloe, we did nothing more. I was doing routine oversight and found anomalous files. Some were missing, altered slightly, or we got new ones altogether. Despite what it sounds like, it wasn’t a sloppy job. I should never have noticed. It was only by luck that I did. I’ve been distracted, but then I came back to it a few days ago. I dug deeper and saw the files that undoubtedly had you rushing over here.”

    He still wasn’t lying. Lex was telling the truth as he knew and understood it.

    “I also found a few more files that you missed because they are stored on a different server,” with this Lex removed his hard drive and gave it to her, “Chloe, I am sorry. I honestly thought that what I was doing was the right thing. If none of this ever happened, no one would’ve gotten hurt.”

    Lex watched Chloe leave as quickly and abruptly as she had come. He couldn’t blame her. “I need a drink.”

    Lex walked to his bar and poured himself some scotch. He was about to take his first sip when he was once again aware of the blood on his lip. He looked into his glass of scotch and threw it into the wall. He was breathing hard. Today had not been a good day and it didn’t look like he’d have any in the foreseeable future.

    “Mercy!”

    His bodyguard came running. He pushed past her on his way out of his office, “Tell every tech we have that they aren’t to sleep until every project Lionel has ever worked on has been examined with a fine-toothed comb! Threaten them, hurt them, kill them! I don’t care how you get his former employees to cooperate. Leave me plausible deniability and get it done! I won’t accept failure from you.”

    Lex had spent too much time in this back-water shanty town if something as large as what was perpetrated against him escaped his notice. He’d been too nice and it had gotten him nowhere. He had a fiancée in love with another man, a town that didn’t appreciate the jobs he brought, and an inexplicably bloody nose. The citizens of this town were sadly mistaken if they thought they knew him. They were in for a rude awakening because he would show them the real him. He was Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor, billionaire, and CEO of a multi-national corporation. He could buy and sell every person in this town many times over and not break a sweat. “Damn them if they can’t accept it.” They had no real recourse or power to stop him. He would know his enemies.

    The time of treating these people with kid gloves and giving them space and time to accept the change he represented was over. They would do as he wanted or he’d destroy them and find someone who would.

    “She was hurt.”

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