slayers_desire | the calvary arrives in Smallville

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the calvary arrives in Smallville

It was time to mount a rescue effort in Kansas. After losing Clark to the Phantom Zone, April had helped Lionel get back to the safety of his mansion, and then had disappeared to the Nexus. Where she was able to find a couple of people who wanted to help keep the peace.

PINpointing back to the farmyard with her allies, April waited for everyone to get settled. Then she took a breath, and gave them a briefing. "So basically right now we have mass public panic, no technology is working, and there are several friends of Clark's that are missing."

"We have two enemies that we need to be concerned about," April pulls out two artist renditions. "The first is Brainaic, a Kryptonite supercomputer who has been posing as Professor Milton Fine. He has all the Kryptonian powers of flight, strength, speed and healing... but isn't affected by Kryptonite. Meteor rock. He can also shapechange. Chloe, you will go with Alice, Victor Van Dort, Doc and Marty to find Brainaic. Also do what you can for those innocents who need to be saved from this chaos. You will also need to find Martha Kent and Lois Lane, as they are both missing."

"The second is General Zod, who has taken possession of Lex Luthor. Once again Zod has all the Kryptonian powers, and I am not sure if meteor rock will affect him. I haven't had a chance to test it."

"Victor Allen and I will try to find Zod, as we have more experience with dealing with crazy Kryptonians. We will also look for a way to bring Clark out of the Phantom Zone."

"I am going to give each of you a piece of Kryptonite, just in case. And hopefully we can figure out a way to get through this situation." April took a breath. Hoping that their little plan would work for the better good.

((this will be a split thread. Alice and Her gang will go off with Chloe to deal with Brainaic. Victor Allen and April will deal with the Clark issue))

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Chloe nods. "Let's do this."

The airport is a mess. Most people have fled already, but the airport employees are trying to keep the remaining stranded passengers calm. There's smoke coming from part of the runway, and fires burning in the city. It's a stark contrast to Smallville, which is isolated enough that the chaos that's gripped the cities doesn't seem to have that much effect. But here, the word of the day is panic. All the lights are out, and every screen in the terminal is scrolling with green Kryptonian symbols.

"Then let's get going," Doc agrees. "On the count of three -- one, two, three!"

It's a quick jaunt to the airport at least, and everyone makes it safely. Marty sucks in his breath as he looks at the chaos around them. "Holy shit. . . ."

"There's smoke out there!" Victor says, staring out the window. "Oh goodness, it's--" he stops, not even sure what to say. It's just horrible.

Alice is particularly on-edge, especially since she can see the fires burning outside. Fires and Alice do not have a good history. Part of her wants to grab her Vorpal Blade from her apron, but she recognizes this is probably not the best time to be wandering around with her knife in hand. "Marty, Chloe, I think you two should be the ones to ask them about the plane," she suggests. "You're the -- um -- most normal-looking ones among us." As opposed to the half-mechanical man who could let off steam at any moment, the girl in a bloodied Wonderland dress with a knife in her apron strings, and the nervous-looking pale young man holding a croquet mallet shaped like a flamingo's head. "Besides, Marty, I'd argue you're the best at talking."

"Yeah, okay," Marty says, looking toward the employees. He heads over with Chloe, prepared to try and use his gift for getting people to see him as someone important and cooperate more if he needs to.

"All right, let's go." She grabs Marty's sleeve as they maneuver through the crowd, because she was nearly overwhelmed by the crowds in Metropolis just trying to get to safety, and this would be the worst time to get separated.

She picks the Arrivals desk, where a somewhat frazzled young woman is still sitting at her post, surrounded by anxious friends and family of passengers. "I can't tell you where specific flights are," she shouts over the noise. "The computers are down, I don't know."

Chloe shoves her way to the front, trying to get her attention, but there's so much going on.

As the two of them head up to the front, Doc sidles over to a window and starts concentrating, summoning up rain clouds to sweep over the city and hopefully extinguish some of those fires.

Marty makes sure Chloe is close by as they find their way to the Arrivals desk. The crowd of worried people makes him uneasy -- he can totally sympathize with their situation, but all the noise and suchlike makes it really hard to concentrate. He can also see they're not likely to have much luck with the girl just by shouting at her. He closes his eyes and concentrates a moment, hoping his Fae powers work here. There's certainly enough emotion to feed them.

Something seems to click into place internally, so he decides to give it a go. "Hey, lady," he says, going to stand right in front of her and giving her what he hopes is a moderately friendly wave. "I know the computers are down, but can you tell me if you remember a big LuthorCorp jet arriving earlier today? Would have had a Mrs. Kent on it?" Please yield the information they need.

He manages to get her attention, and though she doesn't really calm down any, she answers honestly. "LuthorCorp? The one Senator Kent was on? No, it never arrived."

Chloe tries very hard not to panic. "When were they due to arrive?"

"I don't know, way before this... blackout thing." She sounds more annoyed when she responds to Chloe, like she's been fielding questions that she can't answer all day.

Oh shit. "Perfect," Marty grumbles. "And I'm guessing you really can't tell us anything else without the computers." He wishes it was possible to physically kick this virus. As it is, he settles for balling his fists up briefly. "Thanks anyway -- come on, we'd better tell the others," he says to Chloe.

"What's the report?" Doc asks as the two of them make their way back.

"Jet never showed up," Marty says. "Lady at the front can't even tell us when it was supposed to be here, thanks to the computers being down."

"Oh, wonderful," Alice replies, looking like she wants to hit something now.

Chloe's frustrated too, and scared to death for Martha Kent. "The distress beacons won't work, so if they had to use it for... whatever reason, we wouldn't know either. Dammit!"

Everyone's frustrated at this point. Doc starts pacing in front of the window. "All right, there's got to be a way to figure out where this plane has gone," he says, gesturing as steam pours out his elbows. "Planes don't just vanish, and if it was supposed to have arrived before the blackout. . . ."

"There has to be something we can do," Victor says, one hand playing with his tie while the other keeps a grip on the mallet. "P-perhaps you should try fixing one of the computers. . . ?"

"Still don't like that idea," Marty admits with a wince.

"I'm not sure if these computers would even be of any help," Doc adds. "They'd just list the plane as 'missing,' wouldn't they?"

Chloe pauses, and she's thinking hard. "The PINpoints aren't affected because they're not from this world, right? I mean, that's the theory we're going on."

Doc arches an eyebrow. "Yes, I believe that's the most likely explanation. I can't imagine even the most advanced supercomputer could make a virus affecting technology it's never encountered before."

"You got an idea?" Marty asks hopefully.

"Well, it would be something Brainiac's met before, but... there's a whole Fortress made with bonafide one hundred percent Kryptonian crystals up north," Chloe says, a little nervously. "I don't know how well Jor-El would take to us crashing his party, but we could always try."

Marty's face should say clearly how much he thinks of going up to Jor-El's place to get help. Comes from hearing Clark complain about the AI practically every time they've met in the Nexus. "Yeesh, him?"

"It might be our only shot, Marty," Doc says. "You think that Brainiac wouldn't have been able to infect the Fortress the same way he's infected everything else?"

"You think he would be able to affect something from his home planet easier," Victor says, looking confused. "Or w-would the Fortress have special defenses against that?"

"Wouldn't be surprised -- I doubt Jor-El would want just anyone hacking into him," Doc points out.

"I think he might've left it alone," Chloe says, shaking her head. "Brainiac is Kryptonian technology too, remember. And if Zod trapped Clark in the Phantom Zone, he might assume there's no one left to work the computers up there, or... whatever's in that ice palace he's got."

"Ah yes, he also wouldn't want to risk infecting himself," Doc agrees. "We should probably give it a look, then. At least to make sure everything's working properly."

"And to make sure no one's up there that shouldn't be," Alice adds, reaching inside her apron pocket to fiddle briefly with a card. "This 'Zod' person might have decided to see if there's anything he could use up there."

Marty still looks slightly dubious. "Yeah, okay -- I just hope Jor-El doesn't get all huffy about us going up there. How the hell do we get up there, anyway? Would the PINpoints accept 'Clark's Dad's place?'"

"Probably not. But I know where Clark keeps his key." She grabs at Doc's wrist again, and taps the PINpoint's screen. "Take us back to the Kent farm."

Doc's faintly amused by her continual grabbing of his wrist. "On it," he says, tapping buttons as the others follow suit. The PINpoints are programmed and activated, and shortly thereafter, they're back at the Kent homestead.

Chloe makes a beeline straight for the barn, bounding up the stairs to the loft as quickly as she can in these shoes. Upstairs, it's actually quite homey, with a desk and a well-loved couch, bookcases and keepsakes, sports pennants for the Smallville Crows and framed articles from the Torch and the Daily Planet hanging on the walls.

She goes over to the desk and pulls out the middle drawer, rummaging around through odds and ends until she reaches underneath a leather-bound book and pulls out an octagonal metal disk, about the size of her palm. It has rows of Kryptonian symbols on three of the sides. "All right, now we need to get to the cave. Um, I don't have coordinates, but I do have a car."

The posse hurries after her, glancing around as they come to the upstairs loft. "Oh, this is quite nice," Victor comments, happily grabbing onto the brief sense of normality.

"Nicest barn I've ever been in," Marty agrees.

There's a bit of curious staring -- that does not look like any key they're familiar with. Then again, they're not Kryptonian. "Working car?" Marty asks. What, it's a legitimate question.

Chloe frowns. "Oh, you're right. I forgot." But the snort of barnyard animals brings the lightbulb on over her head. "Anyone here who can't ride a horse?"

The four glance at each other. "I've been on one once or twice since going to live with my aunt and uncle," Alice says slowly. "I'm no expert, but I think I can hang on."

"I know a little about riding," Victor says. "Father thought it important, just in case. I should be all right." So long as I don't fall off, he adds mentally, but that's a given.

"Ah -- I'm used to cars, but if somebody shows me what to do, I'll try," Marty says, shifting awkwardly.

"I used to help out at Statler's ranch before he moved into used cars, but that was ages ago," Doc says. "However, I've also got the ability to fly, so. . . ." Yeah, he doesn't really need a horse.

Chloe brightens up a little, as much as she can under the circumstances. "Oh, that's really helpful. I was thinking we could double up but that'd leave someone alone, but if you can just fly there that helps." Plus she thinks he might've had to be the solo rider, being that he's the heaviest out of all of them, with all his metal parts.

She bounds down the stairs again, tucking the key into her pocket, and grabs two bridles off the wall pegs. She forgoes saddles, since it wouldn't work as well with two people per horse, and she doesn't want to have to fiddle with all the straps anyway. "Good thing the Kents were boarding these guys. They normally only have cows these days."

The others nod. "That sounds like a really good idea," Marty says. "You and Victor would want to be together, right Alice?"

"If no one minds," Alice says, glancing at her boyfriend. He gives her a little smile.

Doc chuckles as they head back downstairs and horse-ward. "No, I don't think we'd make very good progress on cows," he agrees.

Chloe unlatches the stall doors, and leads the two horses out to where the short people present can more easily mount. "Guess you're with me, Marty. Hop on up," she says, once she's situated on her chosen steed. The horses are relatively calm, unaware of the chaos that's gripping the rest of the world.

Lucky horses. "Thanks," Marty says, and, after a bit of a false start, hauls himself up on the horse. It feels a bit weird to be sitting up there, but hey, you do what you have to do.

Victor takes the other horse, and, a true gentleman all the way, gives Alice a hand in getting on behind him. "Are you comfortable?" he asks as they get situated.

"Fine," Alice assures him, holding on tightly to the mallet for him. "I just hope it won't be a bumpy ride."

"We'll be fine," Victor says, trying to put some confidence in his voice.

Doc, for his part, activates a hidden switch in his coat sleeve. Two small glider wings pomp out from his coat flaps. "Shall we be off?" he says, as a small wind stirs at his pant cuffs.

Chloe nods, and gives the horse a bit of a kick, urging it into a fast trot until they reach the end of the driveway, at which point she lets the horse break into a canter, steering in the direction of the cave. It's several miles down the road, and then through a field that was once being developed by LuthorCorp for a new factory. There are a few straggly trees still around to tie the horses to, near the cave entrance, which looks more like a massive crack in the side of a hill until you get inside.

But once inside, the walls are covered with paintings, Native American symbols and Kryptonian script. Some pictographs seem to tell a story, but they don't have time to stop and look at them in detail. Chloe leads them through the narrow cave to the end, where a wheel-like painting (http://www.ezrasmall.com/images/KeyKeyhole/Keyhole.jpg) sits, an octagonal depression in the center.

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