Smallville: Amazons & Slayers by Antonio Cabañas
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Smallville, Superman, Wonder Woman and all related characters are trademarks of DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon.
E-mail: borg31de777yahoo.es.
Spoilers: Smallville second season until "Rosetta" and the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix for his help and support
Answer to reviewers:
Majin Gojira: I'll try in next installments as I can, although the problem is that I write well in advance from what I posted (I have finished chapter 6 and writing the seventh).
Sean Malloy-1: Here is.
Summary: A mysterious woman comes to Smallville, jealousies in the Smallville High Athletic Team take a odd turn, a mystery from the past reappears and Clark become involved in all of that.
Smallville
Martha had just turned a corner when her cellphone rang. The call came from Artemis Stevens, her old friend. Martha activated the hands-free mode and answered.
"Hello, Artemis. How are you?"
"I'm fine thanks, but listen, the coach of Arty's track team has been attacked in her own house..."
"Tina Maxwell? But who could...?"
"I have no idea, but..."
"Do you want a lift to the hospital this afternoon?" said Martha, who knew the inability of her friend to learn to drive.
"Thanks, Martha. Can you shuttle us home later? I have closed the gym, and I agreed to meet Arty in the Talon."
"Oh, well. I only have to do some deliveries this morning" Martha said, looking interrogatively to Diana.
Understanding what Martha wanted to know, Diana whispered:
"I want to give them a surprise."
Clark frowned when he heard that, but before he could say anything, Martha was already saying goodbye through the phone.
Only a block away 'Kevin' was talking to Lana about his home city.
"...Gotham is not like Metropolis at all, Lana. Rather the opposite" he was explaining "Sometimes seems like the city has never left the golden age of gangsters. There is corruption everywhere, the police department, at least the parts that are still honest, is powerless to fight the organised crime, which owns half of the city. And every year is worse than the year before, the entire city is going down the drain..."
"You seem to be talking from experience" commented Lana
"When I was a child, my parents were killed by a mugger..." he said, his voice dark and cold.
"No!" said Lana, feeling the echoes of her own tragedy.
"Yes, and the killer was never identified. I was raised by an old friend of the family."
"My god, I'm sorry. My parents also died..."
"Yes, I know. I recognised your name, from the documents that the Gazette has about Smallville." seeing the startled expression of her face, he added "If you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask."
"Do you want an interview from me?"
"The answer is 'yes'. I wasn't looking for it, but the idea of an article called 'Smallville: 15 years after the meteors' or something like that was running through my head when we first met." said 'Kevin' introducing himself fully in his role as a journalist . "But I've still got ethics, Lana. If you don't want to be mentioned, you won't be mentioned."
"No, it's fine. I'll help you with the article, but first, answer this question. How do you feel about your parents?"
"I still miss both of them. Sometimes I go to their tomb and speak to them." said 'Kevin'. "But what I really feel is anger. Sometimes I feel that something must be done about the scum that lords over Gotham, somebody outside the system instilling fear in their hearts."
"Vigilante justice isn't the way for anything."
"But when the system is rotten to the core, as is almost everything in Gotham, what should people do?" said 'Kevin' while they were turning the last corner before they could see the Talon. They saw Martha parking her pick-up in that same moment.
"Hello, Lana!" said Clark when he noticed Lana coming toward them "Who's your new friend?"
"Clark, this is Kevin Kilmer, a journalist from the Gotham Gazette. Kevin, this is Clark Kent, a good friend." presented Lana
After shaking hands, and while Lana opened the door Clark asked:
"What brings a journalist from a big paper to Smallville? The meteors? Or the meteor freaks?"
"Nothing like that, Mr. Kent. I royally pissed-off my editor, so I was sent to cover the festival. I was walking through the streets when I bumped into Lana. We spoke, and she has agreed to give me an interview. Not every day I bump into somebody that had been on the cover of Time."
"Good, but listen, if you hurt Lana's feelings, you'll pay."
"Ok." replied 'Kevin', nonchalantly.
"Clark!" called Martha from the pick-up while they were about to go into the Talon.
"Yes, mom?"
"What's wrong with Diana?" asked Martha and then explained "I saw your expression when she spoke about giving a surprise to Artemis."
"It's something that happened when dad fell off the ladder" said Clark and began to explain about their suspicions about their guest.
Martha nodded thoughtfully and said:
"I surprised her yesterday night sneaking out for a wiccan ceremony under the light of the full moon... at least that was what she said."
"Warn Artemis about her. I'll keep an eye on Diana here."
"I think that you are right."
Inside the Talon, Diana was helping Lana to hang the green banners all over the place.
"How well do you know Clark?" asked Diana, quite suddenly.
"We were neighbors, sort of, for several years, and we are friends. Why do you want to know?"
"Well, there is more to him than sees the eye."
"That's very perceptive of you. Usually takes quite a long time to notice the other side of Clark."
"What other side."
"Sometimes he seems to be like just he looks, a good country boy, and other times, he behaves as if he had a dark secret that he has to hide from everybody."
The cracks in the floor of the bungalow began to grow wider and whiffs of a green vapor began to exhale from it. Soon the growth of the cracks caused a part of the floor to fall in the circular sinkhole beneath.
Suddenly Meg fell on her knees, her face pale and haggard.
"Meg! What's happening?"
"I don't... know. Maybe... what I said... about escaping... unharmed of all that... stupidity.. was premature." she said between gasps. She breathed heavily for a few moments, but slowly her breathing returned to normality. "God, for a moment I felt like I was dying."
"You should go to the doctor, Meg. That can't be good."
"When Mrs. Kent takes you and your mother home, she can leave me at the hospital."
"And your parents?"
"My stepfather is on the road with the truck again. And my mother works every morning cleaning rooms in a motel."
"I'm curious, the Rawlings were one of the wealthiest families in town, didn't your real father leave something for your mother or you?"
"Only debts for my mother. My biological father was a big spendthrift in the weeks before his death. Apparently he didn't want mom get anyething in the divorce."
"Divorce? I didn't know?."
"Oh, yes. He was a professor in the high school, overly fond of young girls."
"Goddess!"
"Goddess?"
"My mother says it all the time. She was a wiccan or something like that when she was young." she explained and asked. "So your father was one of THOSE professors?"
"Yes, although his last conquest was too much for him." seeing her blank expression she explained "Have you heard about the Midwest Vampiress?"
"Something, but I don't remember anything beyond she was a serial killer."
"My biological father was her last victim. The girl gained her nickname because she drained the blood of her victims, and left bite marks on their necks..."
"Eeegh..." grimaced Arty.
"Wait, I haven't finished, later she stole the corpses. The girl was a real psycho."
"Did the police catch her?"
"No, but everybody thinks that she was killed in the meteor shower, because she was last seen in Smallville the night before, and the killings didn't continue after then." she explained "After that, my mother had to sell our home, the car and almost everything that she owned to pay the debts."
"That's why you are so desperate to become the number one of the team. It's your only way to go to the University."
"But that's no excuse for what I did yesterday, I wanted to ruin..."
Her last words were drowned by the noise of a golden Porsche 911 Carrera which passed to their side.
Lex Luthor drove the last meters of his way to the Talon thinking about the document. "Diana Prince" didn't seem to exist, and a woman of her description was associated to a rather odd incident in Metropolis last week. He had to keep an eye on her.
Smallville Hospital.
"The patient is stabilised, Dr. Bryce. For a moment I thought that we were going to lose her." said the nurse.
"Thanks God that we didn't. She is the coach of the Girls Track Team, and they haven't won the County Championship in about 20 years, and this year they are the favourites. If we had lost her next moment we would be at the city limits, this very moment, wearing tar-and-feathers."
"I hope that you are joking." said the nurse, a bit frightened.
"Of course." came the smiling reply of Dr. Helen Bryce (future Mrs. Luthor).
In front of a grocery shop. Smallville.
Artemis Stevens was going to enter into the shop to buy some things for lunch. She was planning to cook some typical meals from Themyscira, before revealing her heritage to Arty, when her cellphone rang.
"Damned gizmos!" she cursed under her breath.
The call was from Martha.
'That's odd' she thought 'We had talked less than five minutes ago'
"Hello, Martha, what has happened?... A niece?... Diana?!!... Yes, I know about her... Yes, she is my niece, of sorts... Look, when I decided to marry, there were some very harsh words between my family and me... Yes, that's not all. I talked with a policewoman called Maggie Sawyer yesterday... Ah, you know her... Well, if this Diana is the same woman that she mentioned, she is dangerous... No, don't call the sheriff. Is Clark already in the Talon?... He will be able to control her if it's necessary... Come on, Martha. We have been friend for years, I have been in your house many times, and I have noticed several odd things about Clark... I'm not that dumb, Martha. I simply decided that it was none of my business... No, I haven't said anything to Arty. It's your secret, and your decision... Bye."
When she turned off the cellphone, she started to run toward the Talon, all thoughts of shopping gone. The man that had been following her from the Gym disappeared in an alley.
TO BE CONTINUED...