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 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.

Marty hangs on tight as the horse heads out. Victor and Alice follow on their horse, and Doc takes to the air, kicking up a wind and soaring above with the help of his glider-coat. It's probably a good thing it's so quiet around here, because they probably make a most interesting sight like this.

They get to the cave with minimal fuss (though Marty will later admit he had the "Bonanza" theme going through his head for some reason while they were riding), and quickly tether up the horses. The internals of the cave prove to be rather fascinating to the two artists of the group. "Wish we could stay and have a proper look," Alice admits, her eyes lingering on a few of the paintings.l

"Perhaps another time," Victor murmurs, fingers hovering over a few symbols.

Everyone crowds around the apparent keyhole. "That's it?" Marty says. It doesn't look particularly impressive to him.

"Oh, just wait. I hear it's quite a light show," Chloe says, and holds up the key in front of the hole, trying to figure out which way it's supposed to face. The decision is taken from her hands - literally, in this instance - when the key flies loose and slams itself into the hole, its symbols lighting up (http://www.ezrasmall.com/images/KeyKeyhole/JonathanKeyKeyhole2.jpg), and bright Kryptonian symbols swirl around it.

There's the grinding of stone, and next to them, the rock face simply splits open, revealing a hidden room. It's mostly bare, save for a octagonal stone altar (http://www.ezrasmall.com/images/ElementsMapAltar/AltarFire.jpg) in the center. Chloe retrieves the key and takes it over to the altar. "Next stop, Fortress of Solitude."

Everyone jerks back as the door unlocks. Victor automatically grabs at Alice's hand. "Oh!"

"Whoa!" Marty says, staring. Okay, now that's impressive. Especially when the rock opens up. "Wild. . . ."

The others follow her a bit hesitantly -- this is all new to them. "I think this is in my top ten weirdest things ever done," Marty comments, circling the altar.

"Certainly makes my top ten," Alice says, still holding onto Victor's hand.

"Mine too," Victor nods.

"It's up there," Doc agrees. "Great Scott. . . ."

There's also a stone archway at the back of the room, one that few can see without Clark pointing it out himself. It's his Nexus door, hidden by a field that makes your eyes simply not notice it, so much so that even Jor-El doesn't know it's there.

"Okay, I think we should all hold onto each other, just in case," Chloe suggests. "I've never done this before so I'm not quite sure how the transport thing works."

Marty (and Doc too, most likely) would probably congratulate Clark on that if he noticed it and wasn't so keyed up by the current situation.

"Right," Alice says, extending a hand toward Doc. He takes it and grabs Marty's, who offers his free one to Chloe. Victor's on the other side, already attached to Alice. He glances at his mallet, then tucks it under his arm so he can have a free hand for Chloe to grab if she needs it.

Chloe grabs Marty's hand in hers, and with her other hand, slots the key into a hole exactly the same size as itself, like putting a disk into a computer. Immediately, a blinding light erupts from the surface of the altar, surrounding them with an almost liquid white glow that shimmers and pulses, and then they're in a tunnel of energy, swirling blue and red and yellow, moving swiftly even though there's no physical sensation of going anywhere.

When it ends, they're standing in a room of ice and crystal (http://images.wikia.com/smallville/images/8/8b/Arrivalhr065.jpg), massive spires towering overhead. But where the Fortress would normally be glowing white and blue, it's red, almost the color of blood, the spires dark at the core. It's shadowy, spooky, and something is clearly wrong.

Eyes are squinched shut as the glow bursts up and surrounds them. Out of all of them, the one least affected by the peculiar tunnel is Alice, who's used to glowy portals, and even she stares at at the show. "Wow. . . ."

"Wow is right," Marty mumbles, amazed. "Kryptonians know how to travel."

The wow continues as they arrive at the Fortress, though the nasty colors quickly turn it into a bad sort of wow. Nobody releases hands just yet -- it doesn't seem like a good idea. "Oh, this cannot be good," Doc murmurs. He looks around at the dark red crystals, then raises his voice, using a little wind to help project it even farther. "Hello? Jor-El?" Even being snapped at for being intruders might be better than this creepy silence.

"We're trying to help Clark," Chloe adds, her voice echoing too. "His mother's gone missing and we need your help to find her."

The voice comes from nowhere, and everywhere, and doesn't echo like theirs. "What you seek is near."

Victor starts a little, and bunches up a little closer to Alice. "Well, ah, at least--" Then he notices a look of shock on Marty's face. "Something wrong?"

Marty glances around at his companions. "I'm really hoping it's just a difference in realities," he whispers to his friends. "But, uh, that voice -- sounds a lot like Zod's from the second movie. I mean, it's been ages since I saw it--" He grimaces. "But it could be just like how me and Doc are different from those other uses. . . ." Oh great, another reason to be on edge.

"How curious it would be if Clark's father and worst enemy had the same voice," Alice says. She looks around herself. "Can you give us a direction?" Because searching the Fortress seems to be quite the project.

Chloe's never met Jor-El before, so she can't say whether or not that's the case. Or if Zod somehow got to the Fortress and reprogrammed it, or... something.

There's no answer from the AI, and the already dim lights darken slightly. "I think there's something wrong with the Fortress," Chloe says, frowning in concern. "Like it's on emergency power or something." It's what the red lighting reminds her of; those battery powered emergency lights in office buildings.

"Oh dear," Victor says, shivering a little. "I do hope that doesn't fail." It's creepy enough with the dim red light -- he can't imagine being in this place in the dark. Alice gives his hand a reassuring squeeze.

Doc cautiously releases Alice's hand and touches a crystal. He has absolutely no idea if his ability to temporarily fix things magically would have any effect on alien technology. He certainly doesn't want to break the Fortress completely. "Should we start searching?"

"Doc, this place looks huge! And I really don't want to split up." Marty looks up and around. "Hello? Mrs. Kent?" he tries.

Still no answer. The Fortress is cold, but not quite dangerous yet, with the crystal structure blocking the Arctic air. Though Kryptonians can spend as much time as they please here without needing a heated environment, the main center of the Fortress is protected slightly, enough to make human visitors or invaders uncomfortable without putting them in danger. At least, not unless they prove to be hostile, at which point the Fortress defenses kick in.

"Maybe he didn't mean near as in inside the structure," Chloe suggests, looking worried.

"Not inside -- aren't we in the Arctic?" Marty says. "How the hell do we go outside to--"

The air around the group warms considerably. Doc gives everyone a slightly smug smile. "Riiiight, my best friend can control the weather," Marty says, resisting the urge to facepalm.

"It's certainly more comfortable like this," Alice says, quietly relieved. She's got the shortest sleeves of anyone there, after all, and this place is even colder than the ice caverns beneath Wonderland Woods. "Let's see if we can find an exit. And keep a lookout for anything unusual." She takes Doc's hand again, to ensure no crazy separations happen.

"That helps a lot!" Chloe says, flashing him a bit of a smile. "All right, let's go as a group, at least to start. I think it should be plenty visible from outside, with how big this place is."

The exit is actually relatively easy to find, too. Back through the spires, following the ground as it steps downward in large chunks, out into the Arctic air. There are mountains in the distance, and flat snowplains stretching far outwards towards the horizon. Looking back, the Fortress is a massive structure that gleams in the sun (http://images.wikia.com/smallville/images/a/a9/Fortress_of_Solitude.jpg), towering hundreds of feet overhead.

Doc grins back. "Happy to help, trust me."

They pick their way down and out, then take a moment to gaze out at the horizon. "This is actually rather pretty," Alice comments, looking both at the snowplains at at the Fortress.

"Yeah, these guys definitely don't do things by halves," Marty agrees, gazing up at the Fortress. He suddenly smirks. "Wonder if your tongue would stick to one of those if you tried licking it."

Doc's giving you a bit of a look for that, Marty. "Let's not try that. Anyone see any sign of the LuthorCorp jet?" He squints and scans the horizon.

The plane is mostly white, so it blends in with the landscape on first glance. But look hard enough, and there it is, half-buried in the snow about a mile away, broken into three pieces.

"Oh crap," Chloe says, finally spotting it.

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