Star-Crossed Lovers

Chapter 4: Oliver's Holding Out For A Hero

❤️Story: 24 Hours
🔹Summary: When Oliver Queen's life is suddenly at stake, Clark Kent is about to find out that his entire world, his perceptions, his feelings can change . . . all in twenty four hours.
💚Spoilers: Through 6x14, Trespass

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Clark pounded against the steel, needing an outlet for his anger. However, his mind was for once not on Lana Lang. It was true that once again, she had barely escaped with her life. She had a stalker and it turned out to be someone within Lex's security team. Someone who had thought she was too pure and was getting corrupted by being with Lex.

Shaking his head in disgust, Clark pondered at how much of it was true. He too initially thought Lex was manipulating her but then he came to a realization: Lex had not forced her to be with him. No, she had gone out of her own free will. Despite all his warnings, she had still chosen to pursue a relationship with his once best friend.

Pushing away thoughts of Lana and Lex, Clark thought back to what had him so frustrated. He figured after saving Lana, there wouldn't be any problems for a while. Was he ever wrong?

~24 Hours Ago~

Just when he thought the days of Lana having stalkers were over, it happened again. Clark trudged his way back to his loft and sat on the couch, exhausted. What a long day . . . Lana had been getting threatening messages and of course, he had to find out what was going on. At first, he thought it was the photographer but that man had just been the decoy. The real stalker was in Lex's security team but the man was gone now.

The only good part of the day was that Chloe and Jimmy had gotten back together. Clark felt awful about their break-up, knowing fully it had been about him. Chloe was finally happy and he had to somehow screw it up for her. At least now, it was fixed. Jimmy was good for her. Chloe deserved somebody who would treat her right and he really did that.

Clark relaxed against the couch, prepared to take a nap. He was closing his eyes when a yell had him jumping up, startled.

"CLARK! CLARK, WHERE ARE YOU?" He recognized the voice. It was Bart and he had never heard the younger man sound so panicked. "CLARK! I NEED YOU!"

In a flash, he was down the stairs. What he saw made him realize why Bart had sounded so frightened. Because lying in Bart's arms, was a seemingly unconscious Oliver Queen.

Noticing Bart was struggling under the weight of the older man, Clark immediately relieved him of it. Gently taking Oliver into his arms, Clark tried to remain calm.

"Bart what's going on?" He asked.

"I don't know," Bart said, wide eyed, "All of a sudden, he passed out. Completely out of the blue. None of us knew what to do. I thought you might."

"Bart, you did the right thing." Clark assured him, "Was he acting strangely? Were there any symptoms?"

"That's the crazy thing!" Bart exclaimed, "There were no signs. He was perfectly fine all day! We had just completed a mission and we were taking a short break to recoup. I dragged the gang to Mexico, figuring a little fun never hurt anyone. The boss has been all depressed since Lois and he broke up . . ."

"Bart, cut to the chase." Clark interrupted. "When did he pass out?"

"Just now!" Bart replied, his voice full of anxiety. "He's the one who controls all the systems and I didn't know who to trust."