Smallville 2012

. . .

Much To Learn

. . .

The purple light was pulsating. Glowing brighter…it was all consuming…and then darkness. She sat bolt upright in her bed and scanned the room – was she in a hospital? The bed was wide with the plastic sides she'd associate with a hospital, though it lacked the typical monitors and medical equipment – not to mention that the windows were sealed shut. Chloe slid her legs over the side of the bed nervously and felt the cold laminated floor on her feet and immediately retracted them. She eased of the bed and walked around the bed a few times before moving to the door – it was locked several times externally: no getting out that way. She then cast her head to the ceiling.

There were some lights but it was otherwise a blank ceiling – still without clues. She would just have to wait out the situation; she returned the bed and sat on it – focusing upon what little she could remember. The purple light and then the blow to her head…and then it had all gone dark: she'd been rendered on conscious by someone…or something. The light hadn't been an energy blast though…it had been more like background energy or lighting – as though it had been generating something or assisting something…before her investigations could progress further she heard the sound of her locks opening. There was a chance she could rush the person entering but she suspected if she was in a compound that escape wouldn't be that easy nor would it be as straightforward as walking out the door – kidnappers weren't that stupid.

A woman entered, dressed in a simple black dress that enveloped her feet giving her the semblance of gliding across the floor, she had shocking amethyst coloured hair, her lilac locks trailing down to the small of her back – her eyes were the same heather-colour, she was by her looks late-thirties though judging by attire she was not all that she seemed – or perhaps she was more than she seemed. Chloe didn't visibly stiffen but she felt her heart start beating far quicker, even the woman's warm smile didn't calm her…it in stead made her more worried.

"Would you like a drink?" the woman offered in an Eastern-European accent where the 'W' sound swopped with that of 'V', she seemed sincere though Chloe hardly trusted her, she shook her head slightly. "You are worried are you not?" Chloe didn't reply to that – no reason to give the woman any information, "This is not unforeseen," she murmured almost to herself, "but please, be reassured you are among friends Miss Sullivan."

Friends? She didn't even know the woman in the room with her and she had a very…unsettling persona, it was somehow reminiscent of Dracula, Vampires were ridiculous but somehow her entire persona reminded her of those Gothic novels, her whole appearance alluded to the appearance of a Witch…or of someone evil…it didn't exactly endear her to Chloe's confidence. She had obviously been kidnapped by the people that had taken her friends…she recalled being struck on the right Temple and touched it but found no wound, or stinging sensation.

"I am sorry about that," the woman apologized, "I did not mean to hit you quite so hard, unfortunately I was informed you would not come willingly – I shall remember that my petrifaction skills need a little work – there is no pain, yes?"

Chloe nodded and immediately regretted it – she had started a dialogue.

"At least I have done something correctly, I shall return in a moment." She said and left Chloe in the room, she heard the door locks open and the woman left, she returned a few moments later with two glasses of water, handing one to Chloe while she sipped at her own, Chloe nervously drank from her own – she didn't know if they would poison her after taking here there but you could put a lot worse things in a person's drink than poison, fortunately this tasted quite normal and she gulped it down thirstily. "You have been asleep a little over thirteen hours – I induced you into a sleeping trance."

"Who are you?" Chloe asked boldly, "Where am I?" She might as well start somewhere and here was as good a place as any…if her captor wouldn't tell her anything then she'd find out now…alternately it could all be misinformation and there'd been a slow-moving truth agent in the glass of water which was only now starting to affect her system and in a few moments she would be completely under the woman's spell.

"I am not important," the woman replied elusively, perhaps a little hint of defence to her voice, "you should only be concerned with the Director – and as for where you are you are somewhere that is safe-"

"-for now," murmured a voice Chloe instantly recognized, she had heard the door opening as the purple-haired woman made her speech, Tess entered, dressed in a businesslike suit with her hair tied back, she smiled, "hello Chloe – I'm so sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances but I needed to ensure that I got you somewhere safe because we both know that glorified penthouse is hardly a fortress."

"What am I doing here Tess, what do you need?" Chloe probed determinedly, staring the woman down from her perch at the opposite end of the bed.

"In short I need your brain – and since you're the repository of all Metahuman based knowledge you're a prime target for whoever is responsible for the kidnappings," Tess grinned, "and I need your help if I'm going to stop them from taking everyone and leaving the Earth defenceless."

Chloe cocked an eyebrow, it was certainly a different angle for Tess – acting on behalf of Metahumans to save them, though she was still using her favoured Checkmate tactics of kidnap and coercion to get her job done, she passed her eyes over the other woman who hadn't spoken since Tess had come into the room – it wasn't fear, she doubted that was the emotion, it was more like a respect, clearly Tess had done something for the woman. Tess watched Chloe's eyes lingering over the woman.

"This is Tala," she introduced, the woman smiled a little bit, "she's quite the Sorceress, more powerful than the Zatara Girl, much more powerful," she emphasized, "she and a few friends are helping me, and you're my newest recruit – and I'm so glad that you agreed to help out Chloe."

"Did I Tess?" Chloe asked, "I don't think I ever volunteered my services."

"I don't think you have a choice," Tess declared simply and plainly, "either you help me Chloe or you'll lose all your friends, I'm your one shot at getting them all back because this entire thing is bigger than Clark, trust me I know."

Trusting Tess Mercer…that was a new one.

. . .

Wayne ignored the gazes of the other three and moved to check the two unconscious assailants, examining them both and then returning to Clark, Dianna and Zatanna, "They're dead." He grunted simply, and then he moved past them, looking as though he was trying to judge the height of the building's and see if he could make the jump to the ground – something that for a non Metahuman would be impossible, Clark had guessed from his running speed and the impact of his punches that he was the only one of the four without powers.

"You took a couple of hits you can wait a few minutes." Clark suggested looking at the height, Wayne turned and glared at him from behind his jet-black mask, the glare softened a little but the face remained hard-faced and grim. Clark took in the entire suit – presumably there were some gadgets housed in the lemon-coloured belt he wore at his midpoint…he was impressively built for a human, perhaps even a little more physically fit than Oliver and that was something rare. The entire ensemble seemed to Clark a little melodramatic then again he was the one dressed in sky-blue with bright red tights, Wayne moved closer to them and looked Clark in the eye.

"I'm fine," he insisted, he turned to look at Diana, "I'm not sure who you or your Princess friend are but you weren't the ones who got shot at tonight, now if you're done stalling me I have to try and find out who tried to kill me and what it has to do with…" he cut himself off mid-sentence, "…don't try and follow me – you won't find me and I don't need your help." He aimed the last part of the sentence at Zatanna before moving off on his original course. Producing a hand-held device and firing a grapple onto a neighbouring building, swooping away to the ground and then disappearing into the night.

"I'll check them over." Zatanna said, Clark couldn't be sure but he thought he saw little tears forming at the edges of her eyes – something had happened between those two, she left him with Diana while she ran her hand over the two motionless bodies. Diana was frowning, looking in the direction of Wayne – towards the darkness of the street below, there were a few streetlights but most of the streets had been plunged into abyss.

"I think he can handle himself…" Clark said, smiling weakly but Diana wasn't smiling, she seemed concerned by it.

"I hadn't realized quite how stupid some men are," she declared briskly, she turned to look at Clark, "sorry…it's just…if someone is looking for him, running off into the darkness isn't going to him any good and neither are his…weapons, he used something similar to a discus to try and knock down those two," her gaze lingered over the bodies, Zatanna was examining the second one, running a white-gloved hand over his chest, Diana crossed the rooftop and grabbed it, lifting it up and handing it to Clark, it resembled a bat but the edges were sharpened slightly, "unfortunately I think they were wearing armour of some sort."

Clark nodded, "Zatanna said that was the armour of Athena…wasn't she a goddess?"

"The Amazons are a complicated people Clark…Athena was a goddess – an Olympian…something happened between the Olympians and their enemies the Titans, my mother played a part in that something…and we were gifted our strength," she said vaguely – deliberately so, there was no point in getting into the nitty-gritty of Ancient Greek History: the facts and the fiction, "and we were also gifted Athena's armour…it was intended to be used for good, I'm just putting it to good use. It amplifies my existing powers and gifts me others." She looked towards Zatanna who appeared to be finishing examining the assailants, "You aren't of man's world are you Clark?"

He cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"You may hide it well Clark but you're more powerful than the other men of this world," she smiled, "when I met the editor at the Planet for my interview their handshake was…not as strong as yours, yours felt almost the same but there was a twinge of something else there…something…alien…" she allowed the thought to drift away as Zatanna rejoined them.

"Some kind of implant?" Clark probed thoughtfully – it would explain how they'd both died simultaneously, a central control signal that would explode and destroy their brain, short, painless and above all swift.

Zatanna shook her head, "It was a spell of some kind…it was old magic…powerful magic…Clark I don't know who cast the spell but they know magic that I don't understand yet…things that I either haven't come across in my father's teachings or things that even he didn't know…to kill a person like that their magic has to be strong, they cast the spell at a precise moment from a distant location." She paused to allow the news to sink in, "Look I'll go after Bruce," the way she said the name confirmed Clark's suspicions that they had history, "I'll…I'll call you or something."

. . .

"Of all the people I expected a phone call from you weren't exactly…" Dinah paused as she entered Watchtower, looking left and right and then back to Lois – there was a diminutive, smart blonde missing from the room. "Lois…where's Chloe?"

Lois had tears welling up in her eyes, Dinah increased her pace to intercept Lois, allowing her to fall into an embrace, sobbing softly into her shoulder…she'd clearly been holding things back when she'd called Dinah and now it was all coming out, she was falling apart – she was right then, Chloe was the latest victim of the people abducting them. She scanned the screens – it was the files on everyone complete with red X's marking the headshots of those of them who were now missing in action – AC, Mia, Bart…but then there were more, Victor was gone and the Wonder Twins, John Jones had his card marked…and even Chloe's card was marked. Lois stopped sobbing and pulled apart, her eyes still puffy and wet with tears.

"I came in here to see her…I just guessed she'd been working late since she hadn't text me back after I left the Charity Gala and then I came in today and she was missing…and then I found blood on the floor," she indicated a spot on the floor near one of the interfaces and sure enough there was a drying burgundy stain, "they took her Dinah…we've lost Chloe…and then I looked through her files…Dinah she's been covering it up…John's the most recent: he went of the radar a few hours before whoever broke in kidnapped Chloe…Zan and Jayna went missing like two days ago and Victor went missing just after them."

"Did you check the security tapes?" Dinah asked.

Lois shook her head and they immediately moved to the store, plucking out the relevant disk for the timestamp when Chloe would have been at Watchtower and slotted it into the player of one of the screens. They then began fast-forwarding, Chloe had been working for hours at the interface…probably checking up on the few remaining heroes that were still out there and then at close to eleven a woman entered with purple eyes, flowing lilac hair and then static ruined the recording as she approached Chloe…whoever she was she'd taken Chloe from Watchtower.

"At least we know what one of them looks like." Lois said exasperated, she was a little less teary now but still clearly shaken, "what do we do without her Dinah…we have to tell Oliver."

Dinah considered that, "He's only just come out of a rut Lois, hitting him with you're girlfriend's been kidnapped might not be the post sensible of decisions…not yet anyway – look I'm out patrolling with him tonight, I'll tell him then – he'll be focused, it won't faze him: if you tell him while he doesn't have anything to focus on other than the fact that Chloe's gone he'll implode, do you understand?"

"Sure," Lois said uncertainly, fixing Dinah with a look, "I…I should get going." She moved past Dinah towards the elevator, she needed to get to the Planet at least in work and glaring at Diana she might be able to get something constructive done, Clark might think their relationship was innocent but she saw something in the corner of Diana's eye, she might be a Greek Goddess but if she thought she was stealing her man she was wrong.

. . .

The decorum of the office was somewhat at odds with her partner's attire…she sometimes failed to understand how he could live dressed as he was…looking like he did…it was enough to make her want to throw herself under a car – until she reminded herself that the world needed her to defend it against Metahumans, and she would do anything to carry out that mission. She had not been expecting the summons but she had arrived and smiled politely, settling into an armchair in front of his desk.

"Your capture of Jones was rather impressive," he murmured from his high-backed swing-chair, "I had suspected the Martian might put up a little bit more of a fight – still he is now in custody, how are the rest of our inmates proceeding?"

Stewart smiled, "Victor Stone has had his powers nullified by our nanovirus, without the ability to touch one another neither of the twins can engage their powers and Jones is finding that our simple flame-perimeter has rendered his powers quite useless, as for Mr Allen his powers are useless in the cell: there isn't anywhere to run…and the other inmate are suitably disabled."

He made an approving sound, "It is a shame that our plans have been rather complicated," he indicated the screen attached to the wall and she turned to face it as two profiles appeared on it, a woman – who she was unfamiliar with, flowing black locks and crystal-blue eyes – the screen identified her as Diana Prince, and a man whom she suspected most of America, if not most of the world was familiar with, identified easily by his jet-black hair and matching sapphire-coloured eyes as Bruce Wayne, "by the appearance of new…heroes."

"I hadn't realized that Wayne was a Metahuman," she murmured turning to her partner, "what are the woman's abilities, she doesn't appear unusually powerful." Stewart cast her probing gaze over the image again, searching for something that was out of sync with the image – something that might reveal the true extent of her powers.

"Prince is a member of the race of warrior women known as the Amazons," her partner murmured cryptically, "she is possessed of super-strength, a suit of armour crafted by one of the gods of Olympus and a lasso that gives her the ability to force someone to tell her the truth. Wayne is not a Metahuman, he is far more dangerous than that, he has an incredible intellect and is at the peak of physical fitness – his abilities are perhaps more potent than some of the Metahumans we are facing."

"How do we tackle a God – even with your associates helping us I don't see how we can resist them…" she trailed off as he raised a hand for silence.

He grinned, "I have already made arrangements to remove Diana Prince, may I introduce my newest recruit to our program," the door to the office opened, admitting a woman with brilliant golden hair, dressed in a toga and sandals, she had the same eyes as Diana but her facial structure was different, with a more defined jaw line and a slimmer overall physique. She wore several bracelets at her wrist and a necklace with a pendant in the centre with an exquisite Emerald forming its centrepiece. "May I introduce Aresia, a fellow Amazon sister to Diana."

"I am glad to see you have taken the focus of your vendetta toward Bruce Wayne," Stewart confided, "I am sure that Aresia will prove an invaluable ally – shall I introduce her to the rest of our friends?" she quizzed – although some of their recent supervillain recruits showed a modicum of leadership ability most were spineless cowards who would turn tail at the first sign of danger, the kind of people that needed a strong leader – and Aresia seemed to secrete formidability into the room.

"She will be working alone," confided her partner, "but thank you for the offer – you can however brief these two," he stood up and handed her dossier containing information, "about their newest mission." Stewart opened the dossier and briefly skim-read it and frowned as she saw the name contained within it, Bruce Wayne, clearly he wasn't over the issue. "Is there a problem Miss Stewart?"

"None," she replied curtly and bowed out of the room, leaving Aresia alone with her colleague.

"She has no idea does she?" Aresia quizzed.

"None whatsoever and she will not until I am in a position to do away with her." He grinned and eased back into his chair, inter-locking his hands. She was a foolish, arrogant woman, and when dealing with supervillains those were two rather glaring handicaps, handicaps that could be very easily exploited and were being.

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4,

Chapter 5 up soon, with some revelations to come to,

Acrobat

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