Summary: Both Colonel Palomarez and Sir Miles Thackery were thwarted in their schemes for Los Angeles by one man, Zorro. But yet, another man was also present throughout both encounters, only seemingly on the outskirts of each encounter. Appearing harmless. But what if Diego de la Vega and Zorro were indeed the same man?
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement meant with story. Characters owned by ZPI, not by me. I only wish to borrow them for a little while, since I can't be married to Diego in real life.
AN: Yay, I'm back with a new Zorro story, yay! Yeah, I was flipping through various files on my computer and came across the combined pictures of Zorro, Thackery and Palomarez. Suddenly this plot bunny was born, and this story demanded to be written. It didn't take 'no' for an answer. Not as many stories of Diego whump have been posted lately….so not sure if many will enjoy this…but, I thought I would share this anyway. Hope you enjoy it.
AN2: corrected some minor spelling mistakes.
Sir Miles Thackery viewed the Pueblo Los Angeles from a distance. He sighed. He hadn't expected to see this hole in the dirt again, but the opportunity to get revenge against the de la Vegas and the other townspeople of the pueblo, as well as getting back at the masked hero Zorro, was too much a temptation to resist.
When he left the pueblo a few months ago, he had made the acquaintance of a military man named Palomarez. After partaking in numerous rounds of whiskey, the conversation turned to a subject they were surprised to find they had in common…Zorro. As they explored that topic, they also discovered a mutual dislike of one Diego de la Vega as well.
Palomarez looked at Thackery in amazement when a sudden thought occurred to him. As he raised another full glass of whiskey to his lips he asked, "In your dealings with both these men, did the thought ever occur to you they may be the same man?" He cocked an eyebrow at his drinking partner and waited for his reply.
The thought took Thackery by surprise. He hadn't considered such a possibility. He looked at Palomarez, eyes scrunched together and lips pursed together. "What makes you say that? In my dealings with the man, de la Vega was terrible with a sword."
"Something which could easily be faked."
Thackery cocked an eyebrow at his companion as he considered what had been said. "Why has such an idea occurred to you?"
"I began to think over my last encounter with both men. The fear of death had scared the memory out of my mind, but…"
He recounted for Thackery his scheme to get rid of Zorro by poisoning him, and how the townspeople had attempted to thwart his plans to grab the land for England.
"You see, the poison would make the victim dizzy, affecting their vision and balance. The day of the hearing was the day after I had afflicted Zorro with the poison. And de la Vega, as he was presenting his case that the transfer was fake, had to stop several times. He grabbed his head, and swayed on his feet. Like I said, the belief Zorro had indeed poisoned me later chased the idea out of my head. But…"
"But the fact de la Vega appeared to be affected by the same poison you had struck Zorro with…yes, an extremely persuasive argument indeed, Palomarez."
And so an idea was born. Thackery would go on ahead to the pueblo, scout out the area, and find a hiding place for them. Meanwhile Palomarez would gather the necessary supplies and arrive a short time after. They would then proceed with their plan to get revenge on one Diego de la Vega, the one who not only had made both their lives miserable but had humiliated both of them as well, under both his masks.
~~Z~~Z~~Z~~
His head was hurting. Why was it hurting? Diego lowered his head from its neutral position while keeping his eyes closed, registering that his chin now rested on his chest. Checking out the rest of his body, he realized he was sitting against a sturdy wall, his arms tied behind him, and rope also restrained his ankles. His right temple felt as though there was a sticky substance that had flowed down it. Must be blood, and it was where the pain was centered. He attempted to raise his head again, but apparently this required more energy than he had available. What happened?
"Oh, de la Vega, are you finally joining us?" The voice was oddly familiar. Suddenly his eyes shot open despite the pain as he recognized it. Palomarez!
Diego raised his head and met the gazes of two of the most dangerous men he had ever encountered. Palomarez and Thackery. He was only partially acting as he hurriedly looked around, taking in the surroundings. They were in a barn. It appeared to be the abandoned Hernandez farm north of the pueblo, the farthest farm away from the pueblo. And isolated, for it had been abandoned for over a year. He again met their gazes, his face passive, hiding his fear. Instead, he allowed the bland "Diego" look to enter his eyes.
"No fancy words, de la Vega? How different from the last time we met," sneered Palomarez.
"I am deeply offended to find myself in your company at such a disadvantage. Why am I bound like this? I've done nothing wrong," Diego asked with false bravado.
"Oh, you haven't?"
"You both were warned about returning to this pueblo. Aren't you afraid of what Zorro will do to you when he becomes aware of your presence?"
"Is that a threat…de la Vega?" Thackery asked with a sneer.
Suddenly warning bells were going off in Diego's head. It appeared as though Diego needed to proceed with caution. Were these two men insinuating he was Zorro? Diego's eyes darted between the two men, looking for any useful information but finding none.
Continuing to keep his tone light, Diego asked, "Why would it be a threat? I didn't say such a thing. Zorro did."
"You or Zorro. Isn't it the same thing?" Palomarez asked in a deceptively gentle tone.
Diego adopted a tone of righteous indignation. "What?" He quickly looked back and forth at the two men. "Are you saying you think I'm Zorro? That I am Zorro?" Diego scoffed. "Now I know for sure the both of you are indeed insane."
"How easy it is for you to deny it."
"Of course it is, because it isn't true. Both of you saw how inept I was, as a tracker, as a swordsman. Among other things. Thackery, you almost killed me if I hadn't fallen like I did."
"Things easily faked."
"Ask anyone within a ten-mile radius. They would laugh you out of the pueblo."
"More things easily faked or arranged."
Deciding quickly on another tack, Diego asked, "So, what if I am Zorro? What are you going to do?"
The two men exchanged glances. Clearly they hadn't expected that question. Palomarez looked back at Diego and started laughing. "That's good, de la Vega, very good." Palomarez fixed a speculative gaze upon Diego. "You want us to reveal our plans? Good try."
Thackery added, "Don't worry, de la Vega. You will know soon enough."
Changing to yet another tack, Diego said, "Someone will be looking for me soon."
"No one has seen us, de la Vega. No one even knows you are gone, yet."
Diego suddenly remembered Felipe. Felipe! They had been on their way to Santa Paula, and…he still couldn't remember anything else.
"Where's the young boy who was with me?" Despite himself, anger shot through Diego, and it clearly showed in his eyes before he hid it again. But Thackery had seen it.
"For such a mild-mannered sop, you sure showed quite a fearsome anger when you thought of this young boy, Felipe is it?" Thackery turned to address Palomarez. "I am tempted to let our prisoner wonder what has happened to the young man, but we have more important matters to discuss with him, don't we, Colonel?" Thackery smiled a thin-lipped smile at Diego. "Don't worry, Diego. We didn't harm him. Well, except for a bump on the head, similar to that which we gave you."
"Hm, too bad we didn't take him with us. He might have proven useful to us," Palomarez said.
"Don't worry, Colonel. If we don't get what we want from Diego, we will either bring his father or the tavern wench here to help persuade him."
Diego felt some of the color leave his face. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just what it sounds like, Diego. We want information from you. And we will do whatever it takes to get it."
~~Z~~Z~~Z~~
"Felipe! Boy, are you alright?" he heard through a heavy fog. He then felt his shoulders being gently shaken. Pain chose at this moment to make its presence known in his head. He forced his eyes open to see Don Alejandro next to him, his face concerned.
"I don't know why I keep forgetting you can't hear me," Felipe heard Don Alejandro mutter under his breath, like he had done at least a thousand times before. And like with each time he spoke those words, Felipe had to fight a grin at such a statement. Hopefully someday soon Don Alejandro would be able to stop making such statements.
"Oh good, Felipe, you're awake."
Felipe was glad his vision wasn't blurry, even though the sunlight bothered his eyes at first. He looked around and realized he was in his own bed. However, he couldn't remember why his head hurt or what had happened. The last thing he remembered was supper…last night?
"Felipe, I hate to bother you when you are hurt, but do you know what happened to Diego? We found you on the edge of the road to Santa Paula. You and Diego were on your way there this morning. We couldn't find any sign of Diego anywhere," Don Alejandro said as he sat down next to Felipe on the bed.
Felipe signed: "No, I don't remember anything since last night's supper. Maria served us chicken and rice, correct, and Diego talked about the new constellation he found. Right? It was last night?" Felipe hoped he was correct, but he needed to make sure.
Alejandro leaned back and fixed a worried gaze upon Felipe. "Yes, that was indeed only last night. Were you worried you had lost more of your memory?"
Felipe nodded. Alejandro bit his lower lip while he considered Felipe's answer. "Why would you be so concerned?"
At first Felipe wasn't going to answer truthfully, being afraid it would reveal something about Zorro, but changed his mind when he thought it was Diego who also often showed his medical knowledge. "Diego has taught me about head bumps and how serious they can be with loss of memory. More often, longer periods of memory are lost than just twelve hours or so. If so, then the injury is more serious."
Alejandro nodded, a smile breaking through his worry. "Felipe, you are almost as intelligent as my son. I hope we can get you to college within a few years. That is a very good observation. However, yes, it appears your loss of memory is only for about twelve hours or so." Suddenly, awareness of what this meant to their worry for Diego occurred to the older man. "Oh…but…without your memory, we have no idea what happened to Diego."
Felipe sadly nodded. He suddenly became even more worried, wondering if Diego's disappearance had anything to do with Zorro, or was it Diego the kidnappers had wanted? Another dreadful thought occurred to Felipe. He signed, "So, no ransom demand has been delivered to the hacienda, then?"
Alejandro shook his head. "Another good point, Felipe. No, at least not yet. But who could've kidnapped Diego? Who would want to? There haven't been any newcomers in the pueblo lately."
Without warning they were interrupted by a petite brunette tornado as Victoria rushed into the room. "Oh, Don Alejandro, Felipe I just heard." She rushed to Felipe's bedside. "How are you, amigo?" She asked Felipe. Felipe smiled at her and nodded. She quickly checked over his head and observed the fresh wound on the back of his head.
"Oh dear, someone gave him quite the knock on the head." She turned to Alejandro. "Do we have any idea what happened?"
"Not yet. Only that Diego and Felipe were on their way to Santa Paula this morning, and when they didn't return this afternoon, I went out looking for them. I found Felipe on the side of the road." His lips pressed into a thin line, Alejandro continued, "With no sign as to what happened to Diego."
Despite his worry and concern for his missing son, Alejandro noted with interest Victoria paling at the comment. He filed it for future consideration. He noted her slight loss of balance, which she quickly recovered, when she asked, "Diego? Something happened to Diego?"
"Yes, he's missing, and we don't know what happened. I was hoping Felipe could tell us something, but he can't remember."
Victoria blindly reached behind her, found the chair beside the bed vacated by Alejandro, and sat down without registering her movements.
"What…what can we do? Where is Diego?"
"I don't know, Victoria, but we will find him," Don Alejandro said as he put a comforting hand on Victoria's shoulder.
AN: Okay not so much whump in this chapter…..not yet….not enough room…stay tuned….those two enemies of Diego's are out for blood, I do believe. Wonder what else they have up their sleeve? Hope you tune in when the next chapter is posted to find out. Thanks again for reading, and if you want to make me happy, leave me a review. Always greatly appreciated!
