Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Smallville. If I did, you know this would be a special episode.
"Hey, maybe this is what we did...do."Joan said.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked her, before turning to Clark, who was pouring holy water from one of the jugs into several different bottles. "And what are you doing?"
"That guy said he'd be back" Clark responded, not looking up from his task. "Best we be prepared."
"Ooh, can I help?" Dawn asked him. Clark smiled at her and nodded. She came over and stood next to him. She reached for the jug at the same time he did and their fingers brushed together lightly.
Dawn pulled her hand back so quickly, Clark wondered if maybe he had shocked her. He himself hadn't felt anything.
"Sorry."she mumbled.
"That's...okay."Clark pulled his hand away from the jug and let her keep pouring the water while he went to pass out crucifixes.
"Thank you."she practically whispered, not looking up at him.
Strange girl
"So, what were you saying Joan?" He asked.
"Well, think about it,"she began "we're all here together in a magic shop, with holy water and crosses and other mysticy stuff. We all lost our memory, then a bunch of Vampires show up and they know Randy. I fought them off with super-strength!"
"Okay..." Alex interrupted "What's your point?
"
"I think, maybe we're, like, some sort of monster fighting team or something." she finished.
"What, like, the Anti-Evil Squad?" Clark asked skeptically.
"A.E.S."Dawn giggled.
"Cool, we're like, the Avengers!"Alex exclaimed, then he points to Joan. "You'd be...Captain America. And you..."he said, pointing at Clark.
"Don't pull me into this, I already told you I'm not with everyone here...probably."
"I don't know CK, why else would you be here?" Alex wondered.
"Yeah, you totally kicked that vampire's butt!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Hey, what about me?" Joan complained "I killed one!"
"I was impressed."
"Thank you Randy."
Clark stopped to turn Joan's theory over in his head. He had to admit, it would explain a few things. Joan seemed to have special abilities, and so did he apparently. He wondered if maybe everyone here had special powers, powers they all used to fight evil like some comic book superhero team.
Now that just sounds kind of silly.
He briefly considered telling the others about his abilities, but an intense paranoia kicked in.I don't know for sure what my relationship with these people might be. When we get back to normal, who knows what might happen.
"Why would I be the only one not from California?" He asked.
"Well, maybe you're not. Dawn and I don't have I.D.'s, we might be from somewhere else."
"I don't think do..."Clark said "You talk like pretty much everyone else here, I'm the only one that's different."
One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong.
"There's a 'closed' sign in the window." Tara spoke up, startling Clark, who had almost forgotten that the shy girl even existed. "Why would you, or any of us, be here during off hours unless we knew each other?"
Clark shrugged, the girl had a point.
"Oh, I know!"Anya exclaimed "Maybe you're related to Alex! you're both tall, dark and...well, Clark is handsome."
"Hey!"Alex exclaimed.
Clark coughed a bit, looking back at the floor. Well, I'm no good with flattery, that's one thing I know about me.
Mr. Giles cleared his throat, apparently a bit unnerved that his fiance had just so openly called another man handsome.
Clark looked Alex over. Was it possible?
"We have different last names..." he said.
"Maybe you guys are cousins?" Willow volunteered.
"...Yeah, maybe." But why am I here? If Alex and I are related, am I here visiting? Did he ask me here to help? Does he know about my powers and and had me join this team...if that's even what this really is. Clark ran a frustrated hand through his hair again. There were still too many questions. It was best to not form any theories now, because if he did, he'd just end up twisting facts to suit the theories. "Unless we get our memories back, we'll never know."
He turns to Dawn and asks "Can you make sure everyone has a bottle of Holy Water?"
"Uh, yeah, okay...sure." she seems nervous for some reason, and Clark gives here a smile to try and reassure her causing her to turn a bit red. Again, strange girl.
"Does everyone have a Crucifix?" Clark asks. Randy raises his hand, indicating that he didn't have one. Clark nods in his direction and tosses him one.
Everyone jumps back in shock as Randy drops the cross, yelping in pain as his face deforms.
"Oh my god!" Alex yells.
Joan runs and tackles Randy to the ground.
"Ow! Bloody hell, what are you doing?" He grunts as she straddles him and pins him to the ground.
She stares at him, confused. "Wait, you don't know who you are."
"Right, none of us do." Randy says, annoyed.
"You're a vampire!"
"How can you say..."Randy looks shocked, and angry at first. Then a contemplative look comes over him. "I, me, a vampire? No."
"Check the lumpies. And the teeth. "
Randy puts his hand up to his face, feels his forehead and teeth. "Balls...I'm a Vampire!"
Joan sits up so she's no longer pinning Randy down, but remains on top of him. "I kill your kind." She says.
"And I bite yours...so how come I don't want to bite you? And why am I fighting other vampires?" He wonders.
Maybe some bizarre government experiment did something to you, like some sort of surgically implanted chip that keeps you from hurting people. Clark thinks, before laughing to himself about the absurdity of the statement.
Randy gets a look of revelation on his face, and lifts himself up onto his elbows. "I must be a noble vampire." Joan just looks at him dubiously. "A good guy. On a mission of redemption. I help the hopeless." He chuckles and Clark wonders what, exactly, is so funny. "I'm a vampire with a soul."
Joan frowns at him, contemplating it. "A vampire with a soul?" she makes a face. "Oh my god, how lame is that?"
Joan gets off Randy who stands up and starts pacing.
"I'm a hero really. I mean, to be cast such an ugly lot in life and then to rise above it. To seek out better, nobler things. It's inspirational, isn't it? And the two of us..." He gestures between himself and Joan with a hand "natural enemies, thrown together to stand against the forces of darkness. Lot of trust, no thought of me biting you, no thought of you staking me."
"Depends on how long you keep on yapping." Joan replies with an eye-roll.
"Come on, don't tell me you believe that bull!" Alex yells. "He's one of them...a-a blood sucking fiend!"
"Maybe, but I can't help but wonder, Alex, do you like food?" Clark asks
Alex looks at him as if a giant dancing cabbage had appeared over his left shoulder. "Well, yeah, duh."
"If I were to hand you a piece of metal, would you try to eat it?"
"No, Clark, I'm amnesiac, not stupid."
"So while, whatever happened to us, erased our memories of ourselves, it didn't change anything fundamental about us. It didn't for example, make us forget what our natural diet is."
"So, that's my point exactly. He's a vampire, his natural diet is us!"
"So, stripped of his memories of us, and with only his prime instincts intact, he still didn't attack us."
"But he's not even human!" Alex cried out. Clark swallowed hard. The statement had a powerful effect on him. The thought that he himself wasn't human had occurred to him, though he had avoided thinking about it. But, it seemed more and more likely as time went on.
"How do you know you are?" Clark countered.
"What?"
"How do you know you're human?"
"Because...I mean, I got to be."
"You have no memory. Not even Randy knew he was a vampire. In fact, none of us know for sure that we're human. Joan already displayed super-human strength. We don't know where that came from."
Everyone looked down, and Clark could tell that the gears of thought and fear were turning in their heads. They all woke up sure they were humans, if nothing else. Now, they had no clue, and it was terrifying. Clark could relate, he'd been struggling with that same fear since he had first used his abilities earlier.
Okay Clark, it's Oscar time.
"The truth is, we don't know anything right now. We can't be making judgment calls on who's good and who's not. Randy hasn't yet attacked any of us, so no one here is going after him. If you try, you'll have to deal with me. Am I making myself clear?" Everyone nodded.
When he spoke again, his voice was much softer. "I know you are all scared. No one here has any clue what to do, no one knows which decisions to make. So that's why we need to be as level-headed as possible."
Clark moved to the center of the room. "Okay, here's how this is going to work. the future Mr. and Mrs. Giles, I need you two to empty the cash register. When we leave, I want to be prepared for anything. Willow, and Alex, I need you two to barricade this door, these windows and any other entrance you can find. Tara, Dawn, Joan, and Randy, I want you guys to split in two groups and search the store for anything else we might be able to use. I want Tara and Dawn to search the upper floor, and Joan and Randy, I need you two to go down into the basement. I'll be checking this floor. Let's get moving."
Everyone nodded and began to go about their tasks, seemingly relieved that someone in the situation was taking control. Clark had absolutely no clue what he was doing, but he knew that something had to be done, and it had to be now.
Alex walked up to him and for a second Clark was prepared for a confrontation. "Look, I'm sorry I kind of freaked on you there. It's just..."
"I know, it's okay." Clark responded. "I sent Joan with him for a reason, if he does get a craving, she should have no problem dealing with him. We'll get through this Alex." Alex nodded and went about his task, and Clark headed toward the back of the shop.
He was in a training room of some sort. He had seen it with his 'x-ray vision' before. It did lend some credence to Joan's whole, 'monster hunter' theory. There was a punching bag, a vaulting horse, various other pieces of equipment for training. Inside a chest, Clark found a huge medieval arsenal.
Clark sat down on the chest and put his hands in his head, breathing in and out slowly.
"Hey." It was Dawn.
"Hi." Clark responded.
Dawn walked toward him, slipping her hands into her pockets. "You okay?" she asks.
Clark opens his mouth to give an affirmative, but stops. "No, not really."
Dawn sits down next to him on the chest. "I know how you feel, this whole thing is crazy."
"I mean, waking up in a totally strange place without any memory at all is crazy. All this other stuff though...it's too much. I mean, evil vampires, good vampires, super-strength and...kittens!"
Clark pressed his hands hard against his forehead. His voice choked a bit toward the end of the sentence and now his eyes were starting to sting and water. Great, just great, now I'm having a breakdown.
Clark felt Dawn's small hand slip into his, fingers interlocking. Clark squeezed her hand a bit and found that he could almost feel every cell in her hand. He was using an infinitesimal fraction of his strength, but he felt the girl's hand flex slightly when he squeezed it. He knew that if he applied too much force, he would break her hand.
Great, another abnormality.
"I think I'm going a little crazy." He says after a moment's silence. " Every once in a while, I think maybe I really am crazy. Maybe I'm a mental patient and all this is some elaborate mental construction." He was talking faster now, almost desperate, like he expected her to stop him.
"I have no idea what's going on, and I'm trying to remain calm, trying to keep from breaking down. Someone has to. But, there's just too much I don't know, I don't know if I'm making the right choices or saying the right things. Pretty soon that Vampire's going to be back, with an entire army for all we know. We should've left a long time ago, we should've escaped. I should've convinced you guys to take my plan, I should have-" whatever Clark was going to say fled his mind when Dawn started kissing him.
It was slow at first, Clark didn't ever properly register what was happening for several seconds. Then it became more intense, fervent. Clark pulled Dawn close to him and slid a hand up her back and tangled it in her hair. Dawn's hands found themselves on either side of Clark's face.
Clark wasn't sure how long it lasted, but when Dawn pulled away she drew several long breaths. Clark realized he had been holding his own breath the entire time, and found that it didn't bother him too much. He drew in a long breath anyway.
"S-sorry." Dawn mumbled. "Uh, I don't know...why I, I mean...you looked like you needed it."
"...I probably did. It was preferable to a slap in the face, that's for sure."
Dawn laughed a bit and calmed down. "I kind of know what you mean, about the crazy thing, not the slap thing. Sometimes I think that none of this is real either, that it's all a dream, but, I don't know how to explain it." she looks at him "I'm pretty sure that, if I was a hallucination, I'd probably be telling you I was real too but, I just have this weird feeling, like it's all kind of familiar. Besides, I know that I'm not hallucinating."
"Oh yeah, how?"
She hesitated for a moment, as if she were gathering courage to say something. Which was rather surprising considering what just happened. "I know this isn't a hallucination because, I could never imagine up someone as gorgeous as you."
Clark wasn't entirely sure what to say, so he just laughed. "uh...yeah. Thanks, Dawn."
Clark stood up and paced a bit. When he looked at her, she seemed different somehow, even prettier. He wondered if it was because he knew she liked him that made her seem more attractive.
"There's something else." he said to her.
She looked up at him with an unspoken question in her face.
"Turns out, Joan isn't the only one with...special abilities."
He sees Dawns eyes widen a bit, and he speeds behind her, tapping her on her shoulder, causing her to jump up.
"Whoa!" she says.
"Yeah...kind of supports the idea of a superhero squad doesn't it?" Clark said. He felt very nervous now. He had gone against screaming instincts and told Dawn about his abilities, and now he was waiting for a reaction.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I was confused. I didn't know who to trust or...what you guys might think of me." Clark looked down at his shoes. "I mean, you heard what Alex said. I was afraid, maybe you guys would, be afraid of me."
When Clark looked up again he found that Dawn had risen and was standing very close to him.
"You don't need to be scared Clark, you can trust me." She kissed him again, and it was much slower this time. Clark let it draw out, putting aside all his worries of the past few hours and just enjoying the closeness.
"Clark!" Dawn's voice was panicked, and Clark opened his eyes. They were hovering about three feet in the air. As soon as Clark realized what was happening, it ended, and they both toppled to the ground.
Dawn started laughing and Clark soon found himself laughing along. "That was something else." She said.
Clark smiled at her, but the smile turned into a frown. "Dawn...I think it's best we not do that again."
She looked confused. "What, the flying?"
"No, the other thing."
"Oh..." she looked hurt.
"Look, it's just that...we don't have our memories, I mean, what if we're, involved with other people. I wouldn't want us to do anything else that we might regret later."
"Anything else? So you regret that?"
"No, poor choice of words, that's not what I mean..."
"It's okay Clark, I know what you mean." She said. She got up and headed for the door, not looking at him. "I agree, it's probably for the best." She sounded miserable.
Clark wanted to call after her, but didn't have anything to say. dammit He thought.
He watched her and the others with x-ray vision, when he noticed a group of figures heading toward the store.
Double dammit.