Wild Card Chapter (2/5)

Banner By: Franica

Chapter One: A Night in The Slammer

Chapter 2
‘The Mobster and The Green Fairy’





24 HOURS EARLIER

Chloe glanced in the mirror as she smoothed her hands down the deep purple dress Lois had picked out for her. The satiny cotton was snug against her skin, the fabric on top giving the illusion that it wrapped around her body, the slightly ruffled sleeves loose, while the rest of it hugged her curves coming to rest above her mid thigh area.

She wore a thin black belt around her waist with four and a half inch stiletto heels. Her hair was in waves some curls more prominent than others, giving it a slightly tussled appearance. She had a layer of eyeliner and a dark purple shadow giving her a smoky eyed look while her lips were plump with a sheer coat of gloss covering them.

She couldn’t believe she’d let her cousin talk her into this. It had been quiet a long time since they'd been out in the field together working on getting an information for a story. Lately more often than not Lois dragged Clark along on her silly exertions while Chloe kept Watchtower up and running.

But apparently her cousin had deemed this a Clark free mission saying that this would give them a chance to spend more time together anyway since they had both been exceptionally busy lately. Lois had been spending her time working her way up the ladder and the Daily Planet and Chloe…well she had spent the past three weeks harboring the strangest feelings for a certain leather clad vigilante.

Ever since the night he’d stopped by Watchtower after they worked with the Justice Society to stop icicle, she’d been looking at Oliver in a different light…a light that was both confusing and slightly embarrassing. Especially when he would stop by and she’d occasionally lose her train of thought because she was busy picturing him half naked…not that she didn’t see if often enough while patching him up…but in her head he was usually half naked for other reasons…

She flushed lightly while gazing at her reflection critically as Lois moved out of the bathroom. She let out a short breath and gave Chloe a sharp look. “Are you still looking at yourself? Seriously cuz you look hot…stop second guessing the outfit. I can already see you starting to think to hard about this…”

Chloe looked up and gave Lois a once over. She was wearing a black skin tight dress, two medium sized straps holding the dress up at the neck, the material clinging to her body, a ruche like design lining the dress giving her a slightly unearthly appearance as she moved. It fell to just below her mid thigh and she wore black pumps putting her several inches higher than Chloe.

Her hair was straight, glossy and cascading down her shoulder in a low side ponytail falling over her breasts. Her make-up was the opposite of Chloe’s, eyes bright, illuminating her face, natural beige and hints of gold, with a sparkling gloss over her lips to match.

She grinned as her cousin stood there hand on her hip, eyebrow arched. “Wow Lo’ you clean up nice…” She grinned and walked over so she was standing beside Chloe and gazing at herself in the mirror. “Ditto…these suckers aren’t gonna know what hit ‘em…they’re about to get bamboozled by the Lane-Sullivan women.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and chuckled lightly. “Tell me again why we’re doing this…” Lois moved away from the mirror and walked out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen counter where she’d put her recorder, camera and other things. As she tossed the stuff into her bag she spoke.

“I told you I’m working on a story about Stefano Mandragora that hot shot mob boss who moved out here from Gotham about a year ago. Seven months ago he opened up a gentlemen’s club called ‘Wild Card’ and he’s been hiring teenage runaways and other underage woman to work there.”

Chloe frowned as she stepped out of the room and headed towards the kitchen watching as Lois checked over her purse while speaking. “That’s horrible…” Lois nodded and glanced up at Chloe, voice hard.

“That’s not the worst part though. My source told me that whenever one of the girls wants to get out…you know stop working there…Mandragora says okay and takes her into his office to have her sign some paper work to get her last pay check. Well each and every time the girl winds up coming out of the office having changed her mind and being wilder than ever.”

Chloe pursed her lips brows furrowed as she spoke. “So what do you think is going on?” Lois shrugged. “No clue…which is why we’re going there tonight to have a little look around…this guy is bad news Chlo...” She nodded and then a small knowing smirk slid onto her face.

“Ah, now I see why you wanted me to come. Clark would never in a million years condone this little recon mission of yours especially if it involves going after Mandragora…are we sure this is a good idea? I mean maybe having some back-up wouldn’t be a horrible idea…”

Lois gave her cousin a thoughtful look before clearing her throat and addressing her as nonchalantly as possible. “Well…we could always see if Oliver wants to tag along.” She let he sentence hang in the air as Chloe’s head jerked up, cheeks reddening ever so slightly as her brows furrowed in what was supposed to be confusion.

“What? Oliver…why would we do that?” Lois arched an eyebrow at her cousin and leaned against the counter. “Well for starters…he's the Green Arrow…and we could use a little superhero back-up…and secondly I’m sure he wouldn’t mind seeing you all dressed up…you know if you wanted to show him…”

Chloe swallowed hard letting out a slightly nervous laugh. “I have no idea what you’re talking about Lois…there’s absolutely no reason why I’d want to do that…I mean he’s Oliver for god’s sake.” Lois smirked and nodded.

“Yes Oliver…someone you’ve apparently been spending quite a bit of time with lately and don’t even try to deny it. I saw the way you were eyeing him when we all went to lunch together last week…you like him.” Chloe shook her head. “I don’t like--” Lois cut her off mid sentence bringing her finger up and pointing it at her cousin.

“Do not lie to me…you forget I know you cuz…and for the record in case you were wondering I’m totally okay with you liking him…as a matter of fact I think the two of you getting together would practically be a match made in heaven! You’re the only person I’ve ever seen Oliver listen to…you’re a good influence on him and mayyyybe,” she exaggerated the word as a grin lit up her face, “he can be the thing that helps you…lighten up a little.”

She winked and Chloe snorted while rolling her eyes. “You’re ridiculous and besides Oliver and I are just friends…he doesn’t look at me that way.” Chloe glanced down pulling her purse from the counter and Lois frowned placing her hand over Chloe’s stopping her movements and causing her to look up.

Her voice was soft when she spoke. “Well maybe if you let him know you’re interested he would…if you never put yourself out there Chloe you’ll never know…” The petite blonde hesitated for a minute before sighing. “We work together Lois…it’s not a good idea…plus I’m sure it’s just a fleeting crush…I mean he’s really the only guy I’ve been around lately…so it makes sense that I might misconstrue the feelings there…”

Lois sighed and spoke in a sing song voice. “Excuses…whatever either way I still say you should go for it. Besides if nothing else maybe you can get some hot sex out of it…word around the street is Oliver is very capable in the bedroom…sadly we never made it there.”

Chloe arched an eyebrow and Lois quickly amended her words. “While we were together I mean. Now I’ve got Smallville and he’s definitely no slouch if you know what I mean.” Chloe chuckled and nodded while pulling her purse off the counter. “A deaf person knows what you mean Lo’. You ready to head out?”

She lifted her purse onto her arm and nodded. “Yup…so that’s a negative on calling Oliver.” Chloe nodded. “Yes, that’s a negative on calling Oliver now get your ass is gear Lane so we can make this ridiculously long trip to Metropolis before I’m old, gray and no longer look good in this dress.” Lois chuckled pulling open the door as Chloe grabbed the keys to the car following her out while shaking her head. It was going to be a long night.



______

Clark leaned forward hands planted firmly on Oliver’s desk, a pleading look on his face as the blonde behind the desk sighed in boredom. “Please…come on Oliver….when you and the team need help I always try to help you out.” Oliver made a face and snorted in the younger man’s direction as he leaned back in his chair.

“I’m sorry…what was that?” Clark winced and sighed slightly. “Okay fine…not always, but lately I’ve gotten better. look I know this isn’t a big deal to you, but Lois is going into this thing blind and completely leaving me out of it. I need an excuse to go hang out at this place.”

Oliver pursed his lips and gave him a sideways glance. “If she’s going into this blind then how do you know about it?” Clark pointed to his ears. “I overheard her on the phone with Chloe. She asked her to go with her.” Oliver motioned is hand out as he spoke. “See she isn’t going alone Chloe is with her and if Chloe get’s into something she can’t handle she’ll text me.”

Clark frowned. “You don’t know that.” Oliver shuffled a few papers around on his desk trying to pack everything together so he could head out of his office. “Yes I do. We’re friends Clark and Chloe knows if she gets into trouble all she needs to do is shoot me a message and I’ll be there.”

He stood looking across the desk at Clark giving him a pointed look. “It’s not like it’s never happened before.” His words only made the younger man’s brow crease further. “What are you talking about?” Oliver shrugged on his suit jacket and paused in his movements letting out a long breath.

“I thought that was pretty self explanatory…Chloe is a member of my team and she’s a close friend…there have been times in the last few months when she’s gotten herself into a jam and text me…we’ve got code words and everything.”

Clark stood up straight confusion crossing his face as Oliver moved around the desk. “Code words?” He nodded and spoke. “Yeah you know like…for an attempted mugging it’s Burberry…for an attack with the potential of rape it’s Monster…when there’s a gun involved it’s Die Hard…”

He shrugged at Clark’s baffled look as he continued speaking. “It’s so that I can judge my response time accordingly and know how much time is available for her to stall to give me a chance to get there…we came up with it a couple of weeks back when her car broke down and she was attacked walking back to Watchtower.”

Clark made a face his arms falling across his chest as he glared at the blonde billionaire in front of him. “Why didn’t I know about this?” Oliver rolled his eyes. “Because I took care of it. Now back to your issue at hand…why don’t you just hang back and if you hear trouble then rush in and save the day?”

Clark paused for a few minutes before sighed and scratching the back of his neck as he flushed slightly. “Well…because it’s not the kinda place I can just hang out…” Oliver studied the apprehensive look on Clark's face and took a deep breath. It didn’t look like he was going to let up unless Oliver agreed to go with him and right now he’d do just about anything to make this day end.

“What kind of place is it?” Clark shifted putting his hands in his pocket as he answered Oliver’s question. “You know that new gentlemen’s club, 'Wild Card'? Apparently the person Lois is looking into works there or something…so that’s we’re they’re heading and I was thinking since that’s sort of more your type of place than mine…if Lois or Chloe caught us there I can say you dragged me along…”

Oliver frowned. “Making me look like the pervert…thanks and in case you’re wondering that hasn’t been my type of place in a long time…” he held up his hand to stop whatever Clark was about to say, “But…since I have nothing to do tonight and I know you won’t stop asking me until I agree, I’ll go with you.”

Clark grinned a sincere look on his face as he spoke. “Thanks Oliver…I owe you one.” He nodded as he motioned for Clark to start heading towards the door. As they walked out of his office together while he spoke. “That’s right you do…and you can start by changing that outfit, there’s no way I’m going out with you to this place while you’re sporting plaid…” Clark nodded as the elevator slid shut behind them. “Fair enough.”



______

Chloe stood towards the corner of the dimly lit room, eyes taking in the scene before her. Lois had gone off and was talking to one of the bouncers to her left. The place was fairly large the floor littered with tables and along two sides of the room private booths.

There was a large stage up front and several smaller round cages where quite a few topless women were dancing. She took a sip of her drink, the alcohol sliding down her throat leaving a burn in its wake. The music was what you’d expect from a strip club and the clientele was 85 percent male, not that, that surprised her.

She let out a short sigh hoping Lois was almost done getting the information she needed so they could take off. Her eyes flickered towards the front door and she did a double take as she spotted Oliver by the door. Her mouth dropped open not able to believe he’d come to a place like this in his spare time.

Not anymore anyway. But the bigger shock was Clark following him into the club, dressed to the nines. They spoke to the guy at the front door and Chloe watched as Oliver laid on the charm. Seconds later they were being waved in and taken towards the VIP section.

She shifted when all of a sudden something blocked her path. She blinked startled until she caught sight of a pair of deep blue eyes. The man in front of her was tall, most likely in his early thirties and looked like he worked out on a regular basis.

He grinned in her direction moving closer so she could hear him over the pulse of the music. “Hey there gorgeous…I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” She gave him a tight smile trying not to cringe in disgust at the way he leered at her as she spoke. “First time here…”

His smirk widened. “Ah…a virgin I see…well you’ve come to the right place I’m Stefano…can I buy you another drink?” She swallowed heavily. Stefano…the guy who owned the club…the guy Lois was trying to scrape up dirt on. She let out an internal groan. How did these things always happen to her?

Well she might as well take advantage of it while she could. Chloe tilted her head to the side sending a beaming smile his way and turning on her inner flirt. Chloe could play the part as good as anyone, she just usually didn’t enjoy taking that route.

“You sure can handsome.” He smiled slipping an arm around her waist his hand splaying across her hip as he leaned in whispering in her ear. “We’ve just gotta make one detour before I get you that drink sweet cheeks…a big name just walked into the club and I gotta say hi.”

She nodded. “Of course.” He walked them over towards the VIP section and when she realized they were heading in Oliver and Clark’s direction panic slowly started to settled in her gut. She glanced over her shoulder for a second trying to find Lois, but she could barely see through the crowd.

They stopped at the table and Chloe turned her head back and as Stefano spoke. “Good evening Mr. Queen…so nice to see you finally decided to check out the new place.” Oliver nodded as he took Stefano’s outstretched hand his eyes drifting towards the blonde on his arm.

His eyes started at the heels, then flicking up the legs to the purple fabric hugging shapely curves before landing on the woman’s face. He blinked mouth opening slightly. He let go of Stefano’s hand cleared his throat before speaking. “I thought it was finally time…I would have come sooner, but I’ve been busy…who’s you’re lovely friend?”

He glanced at Chloe, his eyes darkening slightly as he pulled her tighter to his side. “Date…she’s my date…” He glanced at Chloe and she smiled. “I’m Dinah…” Amusement danced in Oliver’s eyes and he nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Dinah…” Clark finally glanced up a startled voice coming from his throat. Chloe sent him a look of alarm and shook her head very quickly.

Clark coughed and Oliver chuckled lightly as he slapped Clark on the back while addressing Stefano. “Sorry you’ll have to forgive my friend so many beautiful women…” The club owner nodded and knocked on the table lightly. “I’ve gotta head back out there but first rounds on me…enjoy your night.”

He slapped Chloe’s ass lightly and chuckled. “Come on kitten…how’s about I show you the back…” Oliver tensed at the table and Chloe gave him a sharp look signaling that she was fine as she moved away with Stefano by her side.

When they were out of hearing range Clark pointed in their direction. “What the hell was that? Why is Chloe with the owner and where’s Lois?” Oliver grunted. “I don’t know why are you asking me? I’ve been sitting here this whole time with you…what did you say Lois was looking into again?”

Clark frowned thinking back to the conversation he’d overheard earlier that day. “I think it was something about the girls working here. They were under age…or being forced to work here I don’t know something like that.” Oliver nodded and motioned over towards the bar where Chloe was talking to Stefano.

“I assume if that’s the case then most likely Lois is here for dirt on the owner…which is probably why Chloe is talking to him…oh look there goes Lois now.” Clark’s head whipped around from where he’d been looking as he glanced towards the main floor and sure enough his girlfriend was making her way towards the bar.

Lois had been looking for Chloe for the past ten minutes and finally spotted her at the bar with none other than Stefano Mandragora. She pushed her way through the crowded tables before sliding up next to Chloe and letting out a large breath. “Oh god…I’ve been looking for you everywhere…” Chloe turned towards Lois and smiled, but her cousin could tell it was forced.

“Hey Charisma…” she motioned towards the man in front of her, “I was just telling Stefano I lost you…..this is my cousin…we came here together.” He glanced between the two women his eyes checking out the new edition and he smiled. “The more the merrier. I’ve gotta take care of something really quick…but don’t move. I’ll be right back and then we’ll get this party started.”

They nodded and he moved towards the back door where one of his bouncers was motioning for him to come over. When he was far enough away Lois spoke to Chloe in a hissed whisper. “Oh my god how did you manage that?” Chloe laughed lightly and shrugged.

“I was minding my own business and he just came over to me…okay here’s what I got so far you were right about the move…but for most of the time I talked to him it seems almost like he’s been trying to recruit me to come work here…I think he picks up girls who come here and tries to drag them into this life too…”

Lois’s eyes widened excitement coursing through her as she spoke. “Chlo, if that’s true add that on to everything else I’m gonna pin him for and do you know how huge this story is gonna be? Oh man…” She smiled at her cousin neither of them taking note of the bouncer who was talking to Stefano.

The blue eyed man stared at the women at the bar talking and laughing before looking back at the bouncer, voice hard. “Are you sure?” He nodded and pointed to the brunette. “She was over here talking to me…asking me questions about you…the business…the girls…I’m pretty sure she’s that reporter bitch who’s been hassling us for the past week.”

He nodded face clamming up. “Well if that’s the case, let’s show them what happens when you mess with us…grab the green magic from my office and have Betty bring it to the bar.” He pushed himself away from the wall and made his way back over to the two women, grin firmly back in place.

Chloe felt an arm drop around her shoulders and she glanced to her left seeing Stefano and gave him a small grin. “Hey there handsome you take care of what you needed to take care of?” He nodded. “Oh yeah…don’t worry your pretty little head off…the problem is being handled.”

Right as Lois opened her mouth to say something Betty, one of the long time waitresses made her way over to them from behind the bar. She smiled. “Hey there Mr. M…I thought you and your lady friends my like a shot of the Green Fairy.”

Lois turned her head and glanced at the green drink that appeared to be glowing. She arched an eyebrow. “Is that Absinthe? Wow…it looks brighter than I remember…” He grinned and motioned for her to pour a few glasses. “It’s our own special blend…” She poured three shots placed a spoon over each and tossed a sugar cube over the spoon before lighting them on fire.

From across the room Clark frowned as the drinks had been poured and Oliver raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?” The younger man shook his head. “I’m not sure…this might sound weird…but does the drink the woman at the bar is pouring for the girls look familiar?”

Oliver leaned forward squinting to get a better look. “Familiar how?” He shrugged and spoke. "I dunno…I’m gonna take a closer look.” Clark got up, glanced around and sped in the direction of the bar, but halfway there he bumped into a table and clutched his stomach.

Lucky enough there weren’t too many people paying attention and the ones who were just thought he was drunk. He stumbled back a few steps and when the pain left his gut he sped back to Oliver, panic in his eyes. “Meteor rock….there’s meteor rock in the club and if I had to guess where it was I’d say it’s in the drinks…you need to stop them….don’t let them drink it.”

Oliver stood quickly Clark keeping pace with him as they moved toward the stairs and halfway down Clark paused. He motioned for Oliver to keep going, but by the time he stepped off the last stair and looked up the three of them were clinking their glasses together before Lois and Chloe tossed back their shots, while Stefano watched eyes cold, grin menacing while holding his tightly in his hand.

Chapter Three: When Good Girls Go Bad