Switching Places Chapter (5/5)

Banner By: Kyra_and_Co

Chapter Four: The Conversation

Chapter 5
‘The Reversal’



Chloe stood in the middle of the room flanked by Clark and Oliver as she stared at Victor through the open video feed. There was an odd expression on his face as he leaned forward in his seat and arched an eyebrow. “I’m sorry…can you run that by me again?”

Chloe sighed. It was a little after noon and she was cranky and sleep deprived. Last night had been a horrendous nightmare of musical beds that ended up with her and Lois in Mrs. Kent’s old room and the boys in Clark’s bedroom.

When they’d woken up in the morning Clark and Oliver had fought over the shower which ended up with a hole in the wall and a pretty large bruise on Clark’s forearm…or rather Oliver’s forearm. She then had to come up with an excuse for the damage to the wall so Lois didn’t get suspicious.

As if that hadn’t been enough to make a sane person scream Clark and Oliver proceeded to get into another fight in the kitchen in front of her and Lois about who had it harder because of the switch resulting in the only coffee pot in the house dropping to the floor, shattering into several pieces, coffee spilling everywhere.

Chloe was working on very little sleep, not enough caffeine, and almost no food. And the amusement she saw shining in Victor’s eyes was not helping. She squinted at the screen and glared at him while speaking slowly as if to a child.

“The information on the facility that you sent to us, wound up being some kind of wild goose chase that led to these two idiots being sprayed with a biochemical agent that causes a person’s essence of sorts to switch bodies with the nearest living human.”

She arched a brow and leaned forward hands on the console. “You with m so far?” He nodded and rested back in his seat, arms crossing over his chest, grin on his face. “Yup.” She gave him a curt nod and continued.

“So I checked them over when they got back to Watchtower and nothing seemed off. Cue the next morning they wake up in each other’s bodies. Emil and I ran some tests and figured out what the chemical agent was, but he wasn’t able to create an antidote. He needs the original one, which is where you come in.”

She shifted and brought up a few files that Emil had sent her on the gas and the photo she managed to capture from the video footage. She emailed them to Victor before glancing up when she heard him say he got it.

“Those are Emil’s lab work results on the gas that he analyzed from their clothes. I Had Oliver and Lois go back to the facility, but it was cleared out. The photo I managed to get from the video feed in the facility that night isn’t very clear…and the facial recognition software I’m using couldn’t identify who was in the picture.”

He nodded and she could see him looking at something above the video feed on his screen as he spoke. “So you need me to clean up the image and run it through my system, got it.” He glanced back at them through the feed and smiled as he glanced between Clark and Oliver.

“You two are pretty quiet.” Clark rolled his eyes as he crossed his hands over his chest. “We’re not allowed to speak unless spoken to.” Victor’s grin widened. “What’d you guys do…and I’m still not entirely clear on how the whole switching body’s thing was figured out…”

Chloe flushed three shades of red and Oliver opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Clark spoke. “We woke up in the wrong beds. I woke up with Chloe and he woke up with Lois.” Chloe closed her eyes and shook her head.

Just when she thought the morning couldn’t get any worse. Oliver dropped his head and groaned. Clark glanced between them confusion on his face. “What?” Victor’s mouth dropped open eyes widening. “Wait a minute…you were in bed with Chloe? Like…naked in bed?”

Clark’s brows furrowed, “Yeah?” Victor stared at the blonde and the dark haired man next to her. “You’re banging tower? Oh my god…man Bart’s gonna freak out. Does anyone else know? Yo, I can’t wait to tell the rest of the team…they’re gonna flip.”

He paused for a minute his face lighting up at their discomfort, “So wait a minute…are you telling me you saw each other naked? All of you?” He shook his head and leaned back in his seat again. “You four are the most insestual set of couples I’ve ever met. You’ve both seen Lois and Chloe naked…and now you’ve seen each other naked…it’s like one big orgy over there.”

Oliver bit his lip to keep from laughing as Clark made a disgruntled face. Chloe pursed her lips reaching for the computer. “And on that note, we’ll let you go…as soon as you figure out what’s going on--”

“I’ll ping you…” She nodded as she closed out of the feed and turned towards the men in front of her. Clark arched an eyebrow, “What now?” Chloe shrugged.

“Now we wait. Why don’t I forward Watchtower to mobile mode and we can go find Lois and grab lunch. I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m starving and if I don’t get another cup of coffee soon you two being in the wrong bodies isn’t going to be our biggest problem.”

They nodded and started to move towards the door when Oliver paused and tilted his head to the side. He sighed before glancing at Clark and Chloe. “Someone is calling for help.” Chloe motioned towards the door and he pouted.

“I don’t want to go…the last time I tried to save someone I knocked am entire tree roots included into an office building. The news is still talking about the damage.” Chloe frowned, voice stern. “Ollie for the moment you’re Clark…and you need to help whoever is asking for it…it’s what we do.”

He straightened up and nodded. “I know…it’s just every time I save someone something goes wrong. People are going to realize that if they haven’t already…and it’s going to cause an issue.” Clark nodded. “He’s right.”

Chloe threw her hands in the air and let out a frustrated noise. “Don’t you two think I know that? But for right now we’re doing the best we can. Now go. Clark you come with me.” And with that Oliver took off a gust of wind blowing her hair up slightly.

Clark shook his head, “I really do blow papers all over the place…” She eyed him as he tried to pick up the sheets of paper that had scattered all around him. She let out a small ‘humph’ and smirked. Irony at its best.


______

Lois sat at the table munching on some fries as Clark stood in the corner on one of Oliver’s business calls, reading off of a sheet of paper that Chloe had given him. She glanced at her cousin who was on her third cup of coffee and frowned. “You okay cuz?”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah…just tired. I’ll be happy when this nightmare is over. I’ve got a colleague looking into a possible ID for our guy. Hopefully it won’t be too long until he finds it.” Lois opened her mouth, but froze as she gazed behind her cousin as Oliver walked into the dinner.

He spotted them and made his way over to the table plopping down next to Chloe. He grinned, “I’m starving…glad I made it…where’s the food?” He glanced up and noticed that both women were staring at him. He frowned, “What? What’s wrong?”

It took Chloe a minute to form her thoughts and when she did her hand came up to massage her temple lightly. “Oliver…have you by any chance looked at yourself at all…” He arched an eyebrow, slowly glancing down at his body and swore.

Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped to put out that fire on the way. He glanced up at Lois who was staring at the steaming hole in his jacket. She pointed to it eyes wide. “What the hell happened to you? Did you run into an oven?”

Oliver let out a nervous chuckle. “Uh…no I mean I’m not sure…I…why don’t I just take this off.” He pulled off the jacket and folded it in his hands as Clark made his way back to the table dropping the cell phone before taking the seat next to Lois.

He raised an eyebrow at Oliver’s appearance before shrugging, lifting his burger to his mouth and taking a large bite. He swallowed and motioned to the phone. “It never stops ringing. I’m going to break it. You have the most annoying people in the world working for you.”

Oliver dropped the jacket to the floor by his chair and wiped some soot of his hand before smirking at Clark. “Now that’s just a silly comment…you don’t even know all the people in the world.” Chloe’s lip twitched and Lois grinned as she popped another fry into her mouth as Clark glowered at them.

Oliver plucked a few fries from Chloe’s plate and as he was reaching for the water her phone let out a loud series of beeps. She pulled it from her pocket, pressed a few buttons and grinned. “He’s got our guy. Lo’ if I email you the info on this guy how quick can you have an article written up for the Planet?”

Lois glanced up at the clock on the wall of the dinner before moving her gaze back to Chloe. “If I leave now I can have it in for the morning’s edition.” Chloe nodded. “I’m forwarding you the files now.” Lois stood pulling her bag onto her arm and nodded her head towards Clark and Oliver.

“You on babysitting duty?” Chloe smirked. “Yeah, I got it.” She gave them a cheeky grin. “Let’s meet back at the farm at around six. We can figure out a plan from there.” Chloe nodded as Lois waved and moved out of the dinner. Clark arched an eyebrow at his friend.

“We’re going to wait for Lois?” She titled her head to the side and gave him a ‘what do you think’ look before pushing away from the table. When they didn’t immediately follow her she looked between them. “Well come on boys…let’s see what Victor has for us so we can finally get you two back in the right bodies.” And just like that they were out of their seats.


______

It didn’t take long for them to link up with Victor through Watchtower and the information he came back with had startled Chloe. She frowned as she stood in front of the large monitors going over the rundown of the file Victor had sent her on Doctor Alistair Kreig.

“So you’re telling me this is the guy who has been giving us so much trouble?” He nodded through the feed as he sent her another file, frown marring his face. “This guy is bad news. The minute I cleared up the photo I knew who it was. This is the guy that was behind Lex’s cyborg project aka me. He developed the technology that made me what I am.”

Chloe’s brow furrowed as she went through the data and all his background working with Luthor Corp. It made sense that he would know where Lex’s old facilities were and why he’d use them if this was the guy they were looking for. “You’re sure?”

He nodded. “A doctor turning you into some kind of freak human robot hybrid isn’t the kind of thing you forget, but ask Clark to take a look just in case…he should remember him.” She winced and turned to Clark who got up and came closer to the screen.

He recognized the doctor and nodded towards Chloe. She straightened up and met Victor’s eyes through the video feed. “Do we know where he is?” He pursed his lips and reached forward typing in a few codes. Seconds later the schematics of a facility down by the docks popped up on her computers.

She grinned. “Thanks Vic, I owe you one.” He gave her half a smile and nodded. “I’m gonna hold you to that…now go get the son of a bitch and bring him in…”

“Roger that…do we know what the antidote looks like?” He shook his head and the frown back on his face. “No…but it will most likely be in the form of a gas also…so grab ‘em both. It’s not like the wrong one will have the adverse effect. One will work and one won’t.”

Chloe nodded. “Okay…we’ll keep you informed.” He said his goodbyes and logged off effectively shutting down the video link. She turned towards Oliver and Clark, eyebrow arched, grin tugging at her lips. “Alright boys…time to suit up and get this party started.”


______

Clark frowned as he walked quietly down the hallway with Oliver by his side. He shifted and made a face, voice low as he spoke. “How the hell do you walk around in this thing? It’s so…confining.” Oliver heard a light chuckle in his ear from Chloe and smiled.

It had taken them thirty minutes to get to the facility and Chloe had shut down all the alarms so they could get in undetected while Kreig was still there. They didn’t have a visual yet, but according to his girlfriend he was down the hall and to the left.

Aside from the two guards they took out at the front entrance the entire facility was empty save for Kreig. Another mumbled complaint from Clark snapped him out of his thoughts. He sighed. “It’s perfectly comfortable you’re just not used to it. It weather resistant and it gives me traction…just leave the judging fo my suit alone…I mean really at least I wear a color…you look like the freaking Grim Reaper in your all black get up.”

Clark glared at his friends head as he aimed the crossbow at his back. Oliver’s voice cut through the silence. “It’s not like that would do any harm…besides it’s probably unhealthy to shoot yourself…it might make people think you’ve got self loathing issues…”

Chloe’s chuckle came through loud and clear to both of them that time which only served to make their friend madder. “You two are ridiculous…I swear--”

Chloe’s voice cut off whatever he was about to say. “Okay guys look alive; you’re coming up to the hallway. At the end of the corridor make a left. Go all the way down and he’s in the room behind the last door on your right.”

Oliver pressed the com in his ear as they turned left. “Got it Sidekick, initiating radio silence.” He looked at Clark wearing his body and hoped this would be the last time he had to look at himself unless it was through a mirror. “Ready?” He nodded. “Ready.” Oliver smirked, “Let’s do this then.”


______

Alistair Kreig stood in front of his computers, the two stainless steel spray bottles by his side as he once again went over the formula for his toxin. It had been two days since he had conducted his experiment on the Green Arrow and The Blur, spraying them both with a healthy amount of the compound chemical agent he had created.

Since then he had made sure to create several accidents where The Blur would be needed and each time he came to divert a crisis, something had inevitably gone wrong. He continued to gaze at his monitors in front of him.

After luring the two heroes to his facility two nights ago, he’d made sure to move all of his equipment and research to a new facility by the docks. He hadn’t wanted to take a chance, knowing they would come looking for the person that was the cause of their current predicament.

But so far things were going exactly as planned. The next step was to hopefully find a way to bring them in and study the effects on their bodies and how each of them was handling the switch. And if everything went according to plan that would be happening within the next few days…

Kreig was pulled from his thoughts when the door to his viewing room slammed open Green Arrow standing in the doorway, crossbow pointed at him as a dark haired man loomed behind him. His eyes widened slightly as he lurched forward grabbing for the canisters before attempting to run for the other door, but The Blur was already standing on the other side with a grin on his face.

“Thought you were gonna get away didn’t you? Give me the antidote.” The doctor swallowed hard as he stepped back bumping right into the tip of an arrow. He shifted right as Oliver moved forward and grabbed him by the collar lifting him off the ground.

He glared at the man as he spoke to Clark. “Grab the canisters from him.” Clark put down the compound bow and yanked them from his hands and frowned down at them. “They look exactly the same…how do we know which is which?”

Oliver shrugged. “I don’t’ know take an educated guess…” He glanced back at Kreig before continuing to speak. “As for you…well you really need to get better security…” He slammed the older man knocking his head back into the desk knocking him out.

Clark winced, “That seemed kind of like overkill…” Oliver made a face. “Yeah…I didn’t realize that until you know…after the head slamming. I’ll be happy when I’m back in my own body again. Your powers are a pain in the ass…and I kind of hate how I can’t even finish a meal without someone crying for help…as selfish as that sounds.”

Clark chuckled as Oliver bound the doctor’s wrists and tossed a folder of incriminating evidence on his unconscious body. “Yeah…and I’ve gotta say I’d rather be saving people every five minutes then dealing with the business world…I don’t know how you manage all that and the League…”

Oliver shrugged. “We all do what we have to.” Clark nodded and the two men stood there watching each other closely with a new understanding and appreciation for the other’s daily lives. Clark gave Oliver a small smile and tossed him one of the canisters.

“So uh…about you and Chloe…” Oliver opened his mouth and Clark held up a hand stopping whatever his friend was going to say before continuing. “I’m sorry…you know about how I reacted. It wasn’t right of me to judge something I don’t really know much about. She seems happy.”

Oliver nodded. “I like to think so…” Silence enveloped them and before either one of them could say anything else Chloe’s voice came through their ear pieces interrupting their moment. “Uh guys I hate to interrupt this hallmark moment, but do you think you can get to the spraying so we can call it a night?”

They gave each other sheepish looks before shaking up the small cans. Oliver raised an eyebrow. “Count of three?” Clark inclined his head as they counted steadily and on three they both sprayed the gas on them. They coughed lightly as Oliver’s stomach clenched in pain and he fell to the ground.

“What the hell…”

“It’s the meteor rock…that’ll…whoa…I don’t feel so good.” Chloe could hear some scuffling over the coms and she called out to them, but neither answered. She stood slightly bringing up the video feed of the room they were in right as she heard a loud thud through the com.

Her heart beat quickened and when the feed popped up all she could see were Clark and Oliver lying unconscious on the floor green smoke surrounding them.


______

Oliver’s body propelled forward jerking awake as he sucked in a ragged breath. The feel of small hands against his arms had his head turning. He glanced at a smiling Chloe as she waved cautiously, one hand still caressing his arm lightly.

“Sidekick?” She grinned and nearly tossed herself on top of him. He caught her with a grunt as he sat up on the couch and chuckled arms wrapping tightly around her body. He glanced around and frowned. “How’d I get back to Watchtower? And where’s Clark?”

She pulled back from him slightly, but didn’t leave her perch on his lap. “I had Bart run the two of you back here. I was worried and I didn’t want you guys staying there until you woke up and before you ask Kreig is already in the custody of police and the Planet will be running the whole article in the morning addition save for a few details.”

Oliver leaned back on the couch looking slightly bewildered as he held her on his lap. “Wow…how long was I out?” She shrugged as her hands caress his neck. “A few hours…but I’m glad you’re awake now.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked hand sliding down to the small of her back and then slipping lower to grip her ass.

“Oh are you?” She nodded before leaning in, cupping his cheek and capturing his lips with hers in a searing kiss. He coaxed her mouth open deepening the kiss and when they pulled away a minute or so later they were breathing heavy.

Chloe mated her forehead against his and let out a content sigh, voice soft as she spoke. “I missed you hero.” His face softened as he stroked her back and placed a chaste kiss against her neck. “I missed you too. God it’s been a long few days…”

Laughter bubbled from her throat as she placed a kiss against his chin. “Mmm you’re telling me. So I guess you and Clark have some kind of new understanding with each other then huh?” Oliver tilted his head to the side and made a face.

“Let’s just say I’m glad to be back in my own body…with my girlfriend…” His voice trailed off and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She nibbled on her lower lip. “About that…” He shook his head grasping her chin until she met his eyes.

His voice was barely a whisper as he spoke, “No take backs…” She gave him half a smile and rolled her eyes. “Oh fine you big baby.” He smirked and placed another kiss on her lips a groan leaving his throat as she bit down on his lower lip slightly.

His arms tightened around her as he waggled his eyebrows. “Now that I’m me again…let’s talk about how you plan on waking me up in the morning…” Chloe snorted, slapping his chest playfully. “Just so you know I’ll never be waking you up like that again…this experience has totally ruined it for me.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “I bet I can make you change your mind.” He shifted and flipped them over so she was on flat on her back with him on top of her. Chloe smirked up at him. “Bring it on Romeo…” He smiled as he lifted one of her legs over his hip and pressed his lips to hers.

Oliver might have envied Clark for his powers throughout some of the years he’d known the younger man, but after switching places with him and walking a mile in his shoes…he’d take being normal and having Chloe by his side over super human powers any day.