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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It also helps that Alice has a sharp knife for cutting up bits of curtain to help tie things with. She offers a few unused strips as makeshift bandages for Martha and Lois. Marty and Victor pull the makeshift travois back (Victor being careful to make sure he's holding his end at the same height as Marty, given that he's 6'3" and Marty's 5'4"), while Doc stays near Martha, ready to offer a steadying hand if she needs it. He's also making sure to send plenty of warm air her and Lois's way, given their conditions.

There's a little start on everyone's part when the voice speaks. "I think it's for you," Marty says to Martha, with a very weak smile.

Martha steps forward, looking upward, not sure where to direct her voice. "Jor-El. Why did you bring us here?"

"You were taken as pawns by the Brain Interactive Construct, the being you know as Milton Fine. I gave Kal-El a dagger for him to kill the vessel of Zod. Instead, he choose to use it against Fine."

"Where is Clark?" Martha demands, realizing that her son should be here, should be doing something, that this isn't right.

"The dagger is part of this Fortress," Jor-El continues, as if he hasn't heard her. "Plunging it into Fine destroyed all copies of him, but also damaged this structure and released Zod."

The group listens as Jor-El starts explaining. "That might explain what happened with the plane," Doc says quietly, remembering Martha's comment about the pilot being missing. "If the pilot was a copy of Brainiac, when Clark tried to destroy the original Fine. . . ."

"That still leaves the question of where Brainiac is now," Alice says, one hand going to rest on the handle of her Vorpal Blade. "And what we can do to stop him."

"The black ship is all that remains of Fine, and Zod will use it to destroy Earth if he is not stopped."

"Where is my son?" Martha repeats, drawing herself up to her full height and using her senator voice. "What happened to him?"

"Banished forever by Zod," Jor-El says, and underneath the stern Kryptonian tone, he almost seems to be gentle about it. "His destiny is now his own. If this world is to be saved, you must find the dagger and kill the vessel, Lex Luthor."

Doc feels a bit more hope is needed in these proceedings. "April and another friend are working on a way to get Clark back," he says to Martha. "Nobody's going to let him be banished forever."

Victor looks particularly uneasy about this whole "killing the vessel" business, since he himself was recently possessed. From what he's heard, though, there's little chance of getting Zod to change like the King of Hearts did. One hand briefly slides up to his throat, as he remembers his own thoughts shortly after April got him free of the King. Kill myself to save everyone else. . . . "There's no other way?" he whispers, though he's not expecting Jor-El to answer him. All the AI's attention seems to be on Martha.

"I can't do that," Martha says, mirroring Victor's comment. "There has to be some other way."

"There are no more portals in existence on this side of the gate," Jor-El says. "It is the only option available to you. If you do not, this planet is lost."

Yeah, this doesn't sit well with anyone. Alice keeps looking over at Victor -- she too can't help thinking about that whole mess with the King. She's not opposed to killing someone to save others (look at the Queen of Hearts), but having to destroy someone else to get to them. . . . She shakes her head. She doesn't think she could do it either.

"So what else can go wrong today?" Marty says, words laced with sarcasm.

"Oh God, don't say that," Chloe mutters.

"The Fortress has very little power left," Jor-El says. "You must leave at once. Save this world, for yourselves and for Kal-El."

Too late!

"And go where?" Marty asks, though he fully expects not to get an answer. "Where the hell can we go that would be in any way helpful?!"

"Calm down -- there's got to be something we can do," Doc says, patting Marty's shoulder. "We just have to think this through logically."

"We're being told by an AI to kill an alien possessing somebody to stop him and his robot ship," Marty replies. "Logic left the building a long time ago, Doc."

"There's always the K-Kent farm, if we think it's s-safe to PINpoint," Victor says. "It's a-at least familiar ground."

"Jor-El can send us back, and we can get Lois to a hospital," Martha says, glancing at them before returning her gaze upwards. "Do it."

There's a bright flash of light, not unlike the one given off by the altar, and the same tunneling effect. And when it stops, they're back in the cave, except this time Martha and Lois are with them.

Doc nods as they're deposited back in the cave. "All right, the first order of business is to get appropriate medical help," he says. "Where is the nearest hospital?"

"Hang on, Doc -- cars aren't working, remember?" Marty reminds him. "I dunno if we can get Lois over there on a horse. Or even on the sled thing."

"We could bring her to the house and then send one of us to fetch a doctor," Alice says.

"Smallville Medical Center, in town," Chloe says, retrieving the key from its slot and putting it in her pocket. "It'd take too long to go there and back, and I'm sure they don't have the personnel to spare right now."

"Can't you use your PINpoint?" Martha asks. "I've seen Clark use his before." She stumbles over his name slightly, finding it hard to think of her son when he's missing. Banished, whatever that means. Not knowing where he is or if he's safe.

"To take Lois there, you mean?" Doc says. "We could try -- I don't know how safe it is, but. . . ." He looks at his. "I'd need coordinates or an address, though."

"Could fly her over there," Marty says. "You've got your wind control."

Doc looks iffy. "I wouldn't want to hurt her should something happen up there."

Martha and Chloe look at each other for a moment, and simultaneously recite the med center's address. "We've both been there countless times," Chloe adds. It's not exactly the most encouraging of information, but right now it's what they need.

Doc nods and puts in the address. "All right. Chloe, Mrs. Kent, you should come with me to help with Lois -- and you should probably get your head looked at too, Mrs Kent. The rest of you should stay here for the moment. We'll be back soon."

"We'll be here," Marty says, though he looks really nervous. "Be careful, okay Doc? And let us know how it's going in town."

"I will." Doc gives Marty and the others some quick hugs. "You lot stay safe too." He doesn't intend to be gone long, but. . .yeah.

"You can head back to the farm, and take the horses back; we'll meet you there," Chloe says, and then kneels next to her cousin, getting her out of their makeshift travois so people don't ask too many questions.

"I don't think they'll be able to do much for me, without access to CT scans or x-rays," Martha says as she, too, prepares to take Lois there.

"Still," Doc says, though he's not going to press the issue too much. She has a point -- and she'll want to help out with the search for Brainiac, Zod, and her son, he's sure.

"Right," Alice says in response to Chloe. "Good luck."

"Thanks, we'll probably need it," Doc says, helping Chloe and Martha with Lois. "Let's go." He activates the PINpoint to take them to the medical center.

Victor shakes his head as the others head back to the horses. "I don't like this plan," he says. "Master Luthor is an innocent victim in all this, and we're supposed to -- I know it's f-for the g-greater good, but--"

"Nobody's killing anybody if we can get away with it," Alice says firmly. "I'm sure we'll come up with another idea." Looking at the horses, she adds, "Marty, you'd better ride with Victor this time. I'm almost positive I've had more experience on horseback than you."

"You'd be right," Marty admits. "And yeah, Victor -- we're not gonna settle for killing the possessed guy."

At the hospital, it's quite hectic, but not nearly as bad as in the cities. The doctors take their explanation of a plane crash at face value, because more than one plane fell out of the sky today, when all technology stopped working. They're assuming a small passenger plane, of course, not a corporate jet. And without radios or television, there's no way to see if their story checks out.

Lois is admitted, and Martha is checked over quickly and deemed fit to leave. The whole process only takes about an hour, thanks to the seriousness of Lois's condition and Martha's political status. "Never thought being a senator would help get me through triage faster."

"I'm just glad it did," Doc says, fidgeting nervously. He's glad everyone's too busy to really notice that he may have a familiar face. And he's really glad the vents in his elbows and above his tailbone are behaving themselves and not letting off steam. Of course, just thinking that is probably an invitation for them to start jetting, so he's relieved when they can get out of there and back to the farm.

The other three are waiting for them when they arrive. "What's the report?" Alice asks.

"It's on the crazy side, but Lois was successfully admitted," Doc says. "Still no technology working, but they'll do what they can."

Chloe takes a trip upstairs to put the key back in Clark's desk drawer. "At least we found you, Mrs. Kent, and Lois. We were so worried that your plane had crashed."

"And it did, but thank goodness we were on snow. Otherwise I don't think we would've weathered the landing so well. And it's fortunate that the Fortress was so close by."

"A definite stroke of luck," Doc agrees. "Of course, we have to figure out where to go from here."

"I think top of the list is figuring out new way to take care of Zod and Brainiac," Marty says. "I don't think killing Lex is on the top of anybody's list of things to do."

"There has to be a way to separate the two," Victor agrees firmly.

"Jor-El is rarely wrong," Martha says, frowning. "At least, according to Clark."

"Yeah, but does that mean just giving up on Lex?" Marty says. He can't help a slight pause as he realizes he's arguing in favor of helping the guy he's always known as one of Superman's worst enemies. But hey, he was never in favor of killing even comics!Lex, so. . . . "There's gotta be something we can do."

"We've accomplished at least some of our objectives," Doc says, trying to keep things positive. "We found Mrs. Kent and Lois. And we've discovered where -- or, perhaps, more accurately what Brainiac is at the moment. We've made real progress."

"Yeah, but it won't mean much if Zod succeeds."

"We don't know how to find this knife, either," Chloe adds, looking worried. "I thought it was here, but I don't see it anywhere. So that might not even be an option. What if Zod took it with him?"

"If he did, we're all in big trouble," is Marty's sum-up.

"The knife was supposed to hurt Zod, though -- would he even be able to take it with him?" Victor says.

"You never know," Doc says, now starting to look frustrated. "All right, let's see exactly what information we have. Brainiac has released a virus disabling all electronics. Zod has taken over the body of Lex Luthor. Clark is currently stuck off-planet. Clark did manage to destroy any and all clones of Brainiac, leaving the computer as the black ship Zod's using against the earth. According to Jor-El, the only way to stop Zod is to kill Lex with the knife he gave Clark. And the Fortress is currently off-line thanks to it being damaged in the aftermath. What can we do with all of this?"

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