the duties of a daughter ((tag clark))

[slayers_desire]

It was a quiet day, and April was getting a quick nap while Jonathan was down for his daily nap. A hand rested on her pregnant belly, showing a little now that she was in her second month.

The nausea seemed to be the worst thing for her, and so she was resting just to feel back to 'normal' before going out for grocery shopping.

The sound of her PINpoint ringing brought her out of her mid-morning slumber. "Hello?" She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"April, it is Shasta here, have you seen Spike?" The worried voice of the woman on the other end of the line made April awaken even further.

"No. Was he supposed to be here today?" Her father hadn't mentioned he would be visiting.

"Well no... but he just... left. It was really weird. Wes hasn't seen him either. And I am just... worried."

April reached out with her voices, frowning with the sense of chaos and frustration when she tried to contact her father. "Okay Shasta. Don't worry. We will find him."

After hanging up the phone, April reached out to her husband, to see if he was at the Daily Planet, or busy responding to a situation as Superman.

Comments

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Fortunately, Clark has other powers to help with the search, and he uses his microvision to look at all the details of the landscape below as they pass over it, searching for clues. It's a long shot, though.

"He has to be here somewhere."

[slayers_desire]

The desert holds many secrets. There is one section that is just covered with remains, near Juárez, of bodes long buried, some fresher than the others.

There are also many signs of dead bodies along the border... of those who tried to leave for the 'Land of Opportunity'.

There are also several hidden caches hidden in the desert, many of them built from lead.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

He knew it would be a long shot, trying to find Spike this way. "Any ideas?"

[slayers_desire]

"I am not getting anything. We... we might have to wait until he gains consciousness."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop looking." He finds it hard to sit and wait, when there are any other options at all. A visual search could take a very long time... but it's time he doesn't want to waste.

[slayers_desire]

"We need to find a good clue. Perhaps if we research the Order?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"We could try, but that'll be tough, since we don't know if there's more to the Order's name."

[slayers_desire]

"We can talk to Wes... he might know."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark's reluctant to leave the area, knowing that Spike is almost within reach even if they don't know where yet, but he also knows they can return here very quickly once they have a solid lead. "All right... let's go talk to him."

[slayers_desire]

April doesn't like it either. But they could spend hours searching for Spike, without a better lead. She feels so frustrated too.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Luckily Wes is easier to find, and Clark homes in on him and flies to him.

[slayers_desire]

When they arrive back in Los Angeles, Wes and Lorne are just sitting down for a quick lunch. Wes has his glass of scotch nearby. Lorne has a curious-looking green liquid.

"Are we interrupting?"

"No darling. Have you ate? Come sit down..." Lorne greets them both with a soft smile.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark sits, but doesn't ask for anything. "Wes... we need some information. Have you ever heard of an organization called the Order?"

[slayers_desire]

"There are a few different orders. The Order of Dagon. The Order of Teraka. The Order of Aurelius. There is also a few cults too."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

That's a lot of orders. They need to narrow it down. "Which ones deal with vampires?"

[slayers_desire]

"Well the Order of Dagon was a monastic order whose sole purpose was to protect The Key. They are all dead."

"The Order of Taraka was a society of deadly and feared assassins and bounty hunters. They hunt vampires. Some of them are vampires themselves."

"The Order of Aurelius is an ancient religious cult of vampires named for the 12th century prophet Aurelius. Aurelius foretold the rise of the Anointed One."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark nods a little as he listens. The first one is obviously not what they're looking for. But the other two... "Do either of those sound right to you?" he asks April.

[slayers_desire]

"Spike once hired members of the Order of Taraka to kill Buffy. They could be after him, as payback... but usually they kill without being seen."

"I believe the Master was one of the Order of Aurelius. He was the one that created Darla. And Tansy. He had tried to bring the Anointed One to life in Sunnydale, when Buffy killed him."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"So it's probably Aurelius, then." He doesn't think an Order of assassins would need to keep vampires captive to use their memories as guidance for duplicates. "They sound like bad news."

[slayers_desire]

"They are bad news. They live underground, and one of their 'Rules' is to keep away from the pestilence that are Humans." Wes replies. "Most of them disappeared after the Master was killed in Sunnydale. But that was just Sunnydale."

"The Order was rich in history in Europe for a long time." April whispers.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Was Spike ever involved in the Order?" They know that he was, from seeing Tansy's memories, but maybe they know more about it.

[slayers_desire]

"Spike and Dru did work with and eventually take control of the remnants of the Order, after the Master was killed. They were the 'Big Bad' for Buffy for quite some time." Wes replies honestly.

"I remember seeing that in the TV Shows. They summoned The Judge."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"And now they're after him again." He looks over at Wes. "We just got back from freeing a few hundred vampires from Wolfram and Hart, in Rome. They were using them to get memories for duplicates of themselves, and Tansy's double has Spike somewhere."

[slayers_desire]

"Who else did they duplicate?" Wes stands up alarmed. There are so many vampires who were very dangerous... who were killed, and could be a threat again.

"We don't know."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"We didn't exactly ask for all their names. But no one deserves to be held like they were. And there's a chance that they might change their lives for the better. The Order promised them things and didn't uphold the bargain, so I imagine plenty of them are questioning why they should be loyal to the Order."