Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters

Chapter 7

The next few weeks after they had found Marcie were good, Andrew had decided to keep in contact with her as secretly as he could in the Kent household; she was telling him a bunch of things about who kidnapped her and how happy that such a nice man found her.

Oliver kept his promise about swamping Andrew with work; he would keep Andrew late at night, taking down letters and forms for him and at night he would sit playing with Harry who was doing remarkably well, no more nightmares and he was starting to gain some weight.

One night as Andrew came home Harry passed him a weirdly shaped cookie and looked at him expectedly, Martha whispered, "He tried to make it himself."

Andrew smiled as he took it and thought, 'It wasn't too bad, a bit odd but not bad,' "It's very good Harry."

Harry smiled widely and crawled onto his lap and looked at the papers Andrew was reading and said, "Daddy, why are you working at home?"

"Daddy just wants to do his work early so I can do some stuff with Auntie Chloe tomorrow," Andrew said as he kissed Harry's head.

"Alright daddy," Harry said and looked at him, "Can you read to me tonight daddy? Please?"

Andrew sighed happily and said, "Sure, I haven't read to you for a couple days have I?"

"Nope," Harry said as he held out one of his favourite books to Andrew.

Andrew sat Harry on the sofa and looked at the one book he had kept from his council days, one that Mr Giles sent him as a gift. But, without Andrew knowing, Clark was listening.

"A long time ago in a very far away land a early tribe of people were being plagued by evil and wicked creatures," Andrew said, "Now these creatures were horrible; they would take the strongest warriors of the tribe and wear their skins while pretending to be them."

Harry gasped; this story was always a bit scary, even Clark was getting interested in the legend, now he wanted to listen to more.

"The people of the tribe called to their wise men for help, 'Oh,'" Andrew said, "'What can we do to save ourselves?' The people were afraid, so the wise men used a powerful spell to ensnare a great and awful demon and they took a girl of the wastelands outside of their tribe and bound the creature's heart into the girl."

Clark frowned, it sounded horrible; what kind of monsters would do that to a girl? This story was getting interesting.

"More," Harry cried, "More, I want to hear more."

Andrew grinned and continued, "And so this first warrior was named Sineya the first of would one day be called the Slayer. She was strong, powerful and yet also something someone could pity for the demon's heart drove her mad but she protected the people, she was a savage and mighty warrior but her people drove her away from their village saying, 'No, you cannot stay here anymore, you are a demon.'"

'What the?' Clark thought angrily, 'She was protecting them and her tribe kicked her out of the village?' He desperately wanted to hear more of this story.

As it turned out so did Harry so Andrew continued for his sake as Harry screamed, "More please daddy?"

"After Sineya was cast out by her people she was driven mad with the need to kill and sadness," Andrew said, "And she was shunned, wherever she went no village would have her, 'You are cursed,' they said, 'You must not be allowed to stay with us,' and so she separated herself from the rest of the people and protected them afar, living alone and eventually died alone."

"And as Sineya died she whispered something that would be echoed by all of her descendents 'Death is our gift.'"

'Oh god, what kind of bedtime story is this to tell a child Andrew?' Clark thought and suddenly thought about himself, 'Would people do this to me eventually?'

Andrew smiled as he told the story and said, "But the wise men did not forget her but they could not find her and they despaired, 'Who shall protect us now? If Sineya is gone we are helpless,' but as Sineya died the demon's heart flowed into another girl and so became another Slayer and the Wise Men became the first Watchers and they would watch and guide the slayers but they would become corrupted one day and treat the slayers as their army and would punish any who would disobey, but that is a story for another time."

As Andrew closed the book Harry clapped his hands, this story was always so fun but he always felt badly for Sineya though, it never seemed fair that she died alone.

"Okay Harry, its bedtime," Andrew said as he dropped the book he was reading and carried Harry upstairs and started to bathe and get him ready for bed.

Clark snuck out and read the book that Andrew was reading; he began to read and entranced by this story of super powered girls. He wondered how much of this story was real; after all it was just a book of legends, right? He heard Andrew coming back down stairs and looked sheepish enough to realize he had been caught.

"Hey," Andrew said, "It's alright if you read the book, you might like it. The book's nothing more than a collection of myths."

"Thanks," Clark said as he continued to read, these legends were fascinating as there were collections from all around the world: India, China, the Americas and Europe, each about a different slayer.

Andrew had finally finished his work and walked up stairs and said, "Don't stay up too late Clark, alright?"

Clark nodded as he continued his reading.

When Andrew woke up that morning he saw that Harry was already up with Martha and heard Clark yell, "Andrew, it's time for work. Come on, I'll buy you some breakfast on the way."

He ran downstairs with his arms full of the work he had been doing for Queen Industries, he smiled at Clark and said, "Did you like the story last night?"

Martha looked shocked, 'Clark listened to a bedtime story?' She shook her head and looked at Andrew and said, "Be careful today, alright?"

"Yes Mrs Kent," Andrew said and ran out to join Clark at the truck, he looked around at the falling snow and shivered; it looked like it was going to be snowy today but he kind of liked the snow.

Clark saw Andrew get into the truck and said, "Yeah, that story you told Harry, it was pretty much a downer, I mean the tribe turned on Sineya for protecting them."

"Yeah," Andrew said, "In the slayer legends they always fight alone and they would die. The, uhh, legends said they sometimes died young and about the tribe turning on their protector, sometimes people turn on their heroes."

"Sucks for those warriors," Clark muttered, "It really sucks."

Andrew nodded as he went back to checking some of his work, he smiled at Clark who was deep in thought about these slayers, and he wanted to ask Chloe about it later to see if she had any knowledge on them.

As they drove to Metropolis Clark would look at Andrew puzzled, 'Why would he have a book on ancient female warriors?'

Meanwhile Oliver was working on the case that Andrew had been so fascinated with, he had heard of many acts like this from people he had around the world and looked ill as the cases were almost similar: young girls, like Marcie; the girl Andrew was talking to, she was only fourteen and from what she had said to Andrew, she had gone through hell.

'This investigation will be costly,' he thought, 'But I have to know why Marcie was picked out of a group, what made these girls so damned special?' Oliver thought angrily, 'Why did families have to be killed in some cases and others were bribed and/or threatened?'

Andrew walked in and said, "Hi Mr Queen, I did the work you wanted me to do."

"Oh thanks," Oliver said, "and please Andrew, call me Oliver."

"Okay, Oliver," Andrew said as Oliver smiled and looked glad as he had finally broken Andrew out of that habit.

"Since I did most of the work I promised to do I'm going to visit a friend, if that's alright?" Andrew said hopefully.

"I suppose," Oliver said, "But I will be going with you, I really don't think you should be going by yourself anywhere."

Andrew shook his head and said, "It'd be nice but don't worry, Chloe and I should be able to do it on our own. I promise I'll keep her safe."

Oliver's eyes widened, 'He thought I was worried about Chloe? No, I'm worried about you, Chloe can defend herself,' but before he could say anything Andrew was putting on his coat and about to leave when Oliver said, "Wait for me I'm coming with you."

"It's alright Oliver," Andrew said with a smile, "I can handle myself, trust me and if you're worried I'll call you every half hour, I promise."

"You better," Oliver said with narrowed eyes as Andrew dashed out and saw Chloe greet him and give him a hug.

Andrew smiled; Chloe was like his best friend now as they drove through the streets, Chloe was talking to him about her boyfriend Jimmy Olsen and Andrew could see a lot of Buffy in her; she was brave and he knew from experience that she didn't take any crap from anyone.

As they drove into Suicide Slum Andrew wanted to make sure Marcie was safe, he had a bit of money on him from his severance and other than a collage fund he was setting aside for Harry he wanted the O'Neill family to leave Metropolis, just in case.

Chloe got out and they walked to the apartment where Mick and Marcie lived, Andrew knocked on the door and smiled as Marcie answered the door and grabbed Andrew in a huge hug.

"Hey sweetie," Andrew said, "How are you feeling today?"

Marcie smiled and said, "Good, I feel lot better since I got away from those people."

Andrew smiled sadly and said, "That's what I want to talk to you about, do you remember anything about the people sweetie? I'm trying to figure out who they are.

"Umm," Marcie said, "I'm not sure; they were big on blindfolding me so I couldn't see them."

Mick walked in with some coffee and tea and he looked at Andrew and said, "Mr Wells, I'm grateful to you for finding her, me and Linda didn't know what to do."

Andrew smiled and said, "No, Marcie got away on her own. I'm just glad that Chloe and I were able to find you."

"Yeah, well," Marcie said bitterly, "I hope they don't come back for me."

"About that," Andrew said, "I think you should get out of town, I'm kind of worried about you."

They looked at each other nervously and Mick said, "I got a brother, he's in the military but we ain't talked in years, he's in Colorado."

"Okay," Andrew said, "Here's some money for bus tickets, I want you guys to get to anywhere you would feel safe at."

Mick looked at Andrew almost grateful and said, "Thank you, we will pay you back one day Mr Wells, I promise you that."

"No," Andrew said, "I want you guys to be safe first and let's talk about repayment later."

"Okay," Mick said, "But if you need anything and I mean anything, you call us alright?" as he wrote his brother's number down.

Andrew smiled, "I won't keep you guys, I want you three to get out of Metropolis as soon as possible."

"We'll leave tonight," Mick said with certainty and they started to pack.

"Good," Chloe said, "Now look, here's my number; if you need anything, anything at all, please call me."

Mick shook his head and said, "No, you've done enough for us. Thank you so much for getting the Planet to print that story."

Chloe smiled and said, "It's alright, I'm just glad that I helped out."

As they left Andrew felt good and he could relax a bit for a bit when he slapped his head and said, "Damn it! I forgot to call Mr Queen; he's going to be so angry at me!"

"Relax, you did your work," Chloe said, "You deserve a latte I think, my treat."

"Alright but let me call Mr Queen," Andrew said, "He's worried about you I think."

"Why'd he be worried about me?" Chloe asked confused, "I mean we barely talk."

Andrew shrugged and quickly called Oliver's cell and he was right; Oliver was furious with him, he winced; Oliver almost sounded like Warren in some of the things he said but he calmed down and said, "Sorry, it's been a really bad day for me but you and Chloe are alright, right?"

"Yes we are," Andrew said, "We're just going to get some coffee."

"Alright Andrew, just be back soon, I've some files for you to look at for me," Oliver said.

Oliver hung up and sighed, the case that Andrew was investigating seemed to be a bit bigger than he had originally thought but he would do his best to find out what was going on and from what he could see; these reports of girls gaining powers could be traced back to the collapse of Sunnydale, he'd have to investigate it further.

TBC

Please rate and review.