Calling of the blood
Part 6: Blood Legacy
Jakita's car skidded to a halt just behind Snow's and she leapt from the driver's seat, covering the distance between the two of them in an instant. She stopped dead when she saw what she was up against.
Jacob Greene stood in the middle of the road like an artist's first attempt at sculpture. His body looked like it had been carved out of granite and was distorted. Every time he moved, even just to breath, there was the grinding sound of stone scraping against stone.
William Leather stood at the end of the Sullivan's path, enveloped in white flame. He stood with his fists clenched, a disturbing smile on his lips.
Gabe Sullivan stood in the middle of his front yard with a rather resigned look on his face. Ten years of living with Jenny Sparks, followed by the unusual events that seemed to center on Smallville, made it easy to accept what he was seeing.
"Gabe," Snow said in a loud but calm voice, "go inside, now!"
"Where is Chloe?" the other man asked, remaining where he was.
"We have people looking for her." Snow kept his eyes on Leather and Greene. "Inside, now!"
Resigned to the fact that something was about to happen that was outside his control, Gabe turned round and walked up the steps into his house.
There was a low thud as Apollo dropped Jack Hawksmoor to the pavement before landing himself. The air rippled slightly and Jeroen appeared, followed closely by Dr. Spica. The scientist's body shimmered as a layer of liquid mercury covered her from head to toe. A motorcycle roared loudly as The Midnighter made his entrance, aiming straight for Greene, a determined look on his face.
"I think maybe we should continue this someplace else." Jeroen snapped his fingers and everyone disappeared.
"Hold tight, kid!" Shen called out above the storm. "Slight change of plan!"
"What is going on?" Clark asked, "Who are you?"
"The name's Shen, but people call me Swift. I was a friend of Chloe's mother."
"You knew Jennifer Sullivan?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you how well!" Shen laughed as she dipped one wing, turning sharply to the right, headed away from town.
Gabe Sullivan was sitting in silence at his dining room table, his mind in turmoil. For the last eighteen years, he'd tried to protect Chloe from her mother's legacy, but he had failed. He pulled out his wallet and looked at the one photo of his wife he'd allowed himself to keep. The story they'd agreed on to explain her sudden disappearance had been hard to bear, but it was needed to protect Chloe.
Having the entire town laugh at him behind his back was nothing compared to the knowledge that he would probably never see Jenny again and could never try and contact her. The separation had to be total to protect everyone involved.
The lights flickered, and Gabe felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck that he had not felt in over ten years.
There was a flash of light, and Chloe was standing in the middle of the kitchen, dressed like her mother. Her hair was tied behind her back in a single ponytail, and she had wild look in her eye.
"Chloe…" Gabe slowly stood.
"Daddy!" His daughter ran into his arms, hugging him tight. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"There were people who would have used you to hurt your mother, dangerous people. Jenny didn't want to leave, but it was the only way."
"I saw her. She said you were in danger!"
"Some men turned up looking for you. One of them said he was NSA, but I somehow don't believe him. Elijah and his people are going to try and stop them…"
"I need to help them!" Chloe turned to leave.
"Why?" Gabe asked, grabbing his daughter by the arm. "I lost your mother to this. I don't want to lose you too!"
"Because it's my responsibility that they're here… Besides," Chloe looked more grown up at this moment than ever before, "there has to be someone left to save the world..."
"Bombs away!" Shen bellowed as she released Clark over a meadow that looked like it was being used to film a war movie… Craters covered the landscape… and several small fires were burning where trees had caught blasts by accident.
Clark hit the ground running, skidding to a stop next to Snow. "Just what the hell is going on?" he asked.
"Some very bad men want to hurt Chloe!" Snow dodged a boulder the size of a small car that Greene tossed at him. "Are you going to let them do that? And don't try playing innocent with me kid. I know for a fact you're not human!"
"What do you need me to do?" Clark asked.
"See that big grey guy over there?" Snow pointed at Greene as the former astronaut picked up a tree like a baseball bat and used it to send Apollo flying. "Take the bastard down!"
Clark took off as fast as he could, aiming straight at Greene.
Hitting him was like hitting the proverbial brick wall. Both of them were sent flying in opposite directions; Clark sliding to a halt at Leather's feet.
"Nice try, kid!" The human ball of flame smiled, "But I kill freaks like you for breakfast!" he aimed a stream of super-hot plasma at Clark, incinerating the young man's clothes. Clark hit back with his own heat-vision. It distracted Leather long enough for Jakita to grab him and pull him to safety.
"Welcome to the wonderful world of super-heroics!" The woman smiled. "You may want to find something to wear that can take a bit of damage…"
Clark looked down and blushed as he realised that all his clothes had been incinerated by Leather's attack.
Jack Hawksmoor tried to grab Greene by the back of the neck, only to be thrown headfirst into The Midnighter, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Shen and Dr. Spica tried to provide cover while Apollo got himself back in the game, but Leather kept them at bay with streams of plasma that singed Shen's wings.
"Split them up!" Snow ordered. "Take them down one at a time!"
"Yeahsureyoubetcha!" The Midnighter quipped as he flipped over backwards to avoid one of Greene's massive fists. "Any other bright ideas?"
The storm around them seemed to grow in intensity, lightning bolts crisscrossing the sky, converging directly above the meadow. For a split second, the clouds looked like a face as a titanic roll of thunder shook the ground.
"Right now I'd recommend ducking!" Snow advised, tackling Jeroen and throwing him into a low crater.
A single bolt leapt from the storm clouds and struck the ground between Greene and Leather, sending both of them flying with a concussive wave of displaced air that struck them like a fright train. The lightning seemed to stand there for an instant, linking heaven and earth with a tower of pure energy.
The light faded, leaving a single figure standing in the middle of the field, arms stretched wide apart. Electricity covered them in a bright aura.
"Right, you little tosses!" Chloe snarled, electricity balling in her fists. "Nobody messes with MY town!"
To Be Continued…
