A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, or its ideas.

Prologue

It was no secret that Chloe Sullivan was addicted to coffee. She drank coffee like a fat person would reach for chocolate cake- it was her form of comfort food. Coffee was there for Chloe when she unwillingly moved from Metropolis to Smallville in the eighth grade. It was there for her whenever Clark Kent disregarded her feelings and chased Lana Lang. Coffee was there for Chloe when Clark brought her nightmare to life and abandoned her during the Spring Formal to rescue Lana. It was a silent friend throughout every single late night at the Torch and Metropolis University.

Coffee was the first thing Chloe reached for when she was fired from her dream job at the Daily Planet, and now she reached for it in the morning at the Watchtower. She sat in the darkness of the building, spread her hands around the coffee mug, and sipped slowly with her eyes closed. Chloe was trying to find a reason to live. The Justice League was separated, Clark was completing his Kryptonian training, she was fired from the Daily Planet, Lois was missing, and she was made a widow within a single year of marriage. There was no way to find Lois without the help of either the League or Clark, and there was no reason for Watchtower to continue without them. Sure, Chloe called the police every single day, but she knew that there was nothing that they could do. Trying to find Lois had become a habit, it all became a habit.

She had a lot of time to herself these days, which was never appreciated. Chloe purposefully packed her days with activities to prevent it from happening- free time warranted too much thinking. The more she thought about it, the more she began to realize that she had no life anymore- she sacrificed it for Clark years ago. Chloe sacrificed her career at the Daily Planet in order to keep Clark's secret safe. She sacrificed her marriage for Clark's safety, and now, she had nothing and nobody left.

She stood up in determination. "No", she said aloud to nobody in particular. "I have Watchtower and the League. I'm going to keep them safe. And I'll find Lois."

She turned on her laptop and took funds out of Oliver Queen's bank account. Hadn't he always assured her that Watchtower would always have his support? Right now, she needed to get Watchtower back online, and to do that, the building needed power.

After paying her bills, she called Emile. Chloe ordered him to acquire 6 tracking devices, one for each member of the Justice League. She felt a sense of strength rush back to her body, a sense of hope she hadn't felt in weeks.

A day later, Chloe personally went to Oliver Queen's apartment. She wanted to find him to explain the small monetary absence from his bank account, and also to discuss the reorganize the Justice League. His penthouse door was unlocked, but the CEO of Queen Industries was nowhere to be found. She almost left immediately, but turned around before closing the door. She knew that Oliver was in as much pain as she was, and one day when he remembered his heroic true nature, he would need the team again. Chloe walked over to his closet and reached for Oliver's favorite belt. She stuck it in her bag and walked away. Later that afternoon, a tracking device was installed in the back of the belt buckle and the belt was returned to its rightful place.

After the rest of the team unknowingly had the tracking device placed on them, Chloe placed the rest of her focus on locating Lois. She didn't become concerned until she realized that Lois wasn't anywhere on the planet. It was almost as if her cousin never existed.

Chloe couldn't trust her imagination in this situation: she had seen too many unexplained things throughout her life to even consider a rational explanation. There were only two logical explanations- either Lois had traveled through time or was dead, and she wasn't about to give up on Lois. Unfortunately, Clark was completing his Kryptonian training, so he couldn't help her rescue Lois from the past or future. All she could do was call the police.

Clark. Chloe was disappointed in herself for getting emotional with Clark. They had an interesting past; there was no question about that. She was in love with him for years, and it went by unacknowledged, the exception being red kryptonite and body swapping events. Chloe was tired of Clark right now- it was the same charade with him. He would doubt himself, doubt his relationship with whoever he was seeing, use Chloe emotionally and for her computer skills, save the day, and then abandon her until she was needed again.

She gave him advice, encouraged him, discouraged him when he lost control, found him whenever he was lost, gave him information that he needed, and constantly saved him when he rushed off into a kryptonite filled room. She knew that his life was important, regardless of the amount of times he played with it. There was a price to it: Chloe was exposed to meteor rocks, was tested on countless times, and had very near misses. She killed to protect his secret and was overtaken by Brainiac, which caused amnesia.

She wasn't sure of much these days, but she didn't love Clark anymore- she was sure of that. When she first saw Clark looking at Lois at more than just a friend, Chloe went to her apartment, locked the door, and silently cried for two hours. She realized that Clark fell in love with every girl that he came into contact with except for her, and she was tired of waiting. That was when she became certain of her decision to marry Jimmy. And now, due to Clark's unwavering faith in humanity, Chloe was a widow. He wasn't even present at the funeral.

Two weeks later, Lois came back to her. Chloe attempted to tell her about Jimmy's death, but she didn't stick around for very long. Lois went off to meet "the Blur" and left behind the Legion ring. The ring confirmed Chloe's suspicions- Lois went to the future, and although she didn't remember anything, the time travelling assassin was enough of a threat.

Clark came back in her life, causing Chloe to become emotionally vulnerable again. The loneliness overtook her, and Chloe begged Clark to go back to the future and save Jimmy's life. She cried and pleaded, but Clark coldly refused. Chloe understood- she always did, but decided to move on with her life and stop becoming Clark's constant go-to girl. Apparently, "the Blur" had Lois now.

She was slightly envious of Lois, but she had bigger things to worry about at the present time- Oliver was losing his sense of self, and that endangered the future of the Justice League. If its leader doubted himself, it would only be a matter of time until the entire group gave up, which would prevent future good. Chloe found a young woman on the streets named Veronica Sinclair.

Sinclair had very strict moral conducts and knew of the meteor infected. In the streets of Metropolis, she went by two aliases, Victoria and Roulette. She was known for punishing the unethical meteor infected, and Chloe hoped that she could convince Roulette to enact a controlled simulation with Oliver to help reinstate his beliefs and goals.

Chloe knew that in order for the plan to work, she needed to find the rest of the team, get them involved as well. She decided to start with the first member Oliver recruited- Bart Allen.