TW: Thank you.
Guest: Some things are a bit more pressing than a party. Paige's powers were mishandled, but it makes sense why Wyatt was more powerful. He was the first born and thrice blessed.
San Francisco
Late afternoon
Clark was walking towards the exit of the store, bags in hand when a voice called out to him.
"Must be nice Clark."
Clark turned around, his blood running cold as he stared at Alicia Baker, staring at him angrily.
"Alicia," Clark breathed, not quite processing that she was realty there.
"You got to live your life, move on. While I got put in the ground," Alicia said looking at him in resentment.
"This-you can't be here," Clark stammered.
"You've been dating a witch for how long and yet this surprises you?" Alicia asked mockingly.
There was a loud noise behind him and Clark whirled around, seeing someone had accidently knocked over a rack of clothes. When Clark turned back to Alicia, he stunned to see she had disappeared.
Underworld
Not long after
"How did you make me do that?" Alicia asked with a gasp as she reappeared in the Alchemist's lair, free from his control.
"Dark magic is a pathway to many abilities one might consider unnatural," Zankou said with a smirk. "You did well Alicia."
"I don't want to do well; I don't want to hurt Clark! I love him," Alicia insisted.
"He abandoned you Alicia, turned his back on you," Zankou pointed out.
"I don't care, it's not like I gave him a whole lot of reason to trust me," Alicia snapped.
"Fortunately, we don't need your cooperation. One way or another, you will help us bring Kal-El to his knees," the Alchemist said with a smirk.
Halliwell Mansion
Night
"Hey Clark, we thought you'd be back hours ago," Piper noted as she and Leo helped Clark in.
"Yeah, sorry um, I had to go for a walk," Clark said distractedly as he handed them the bag.
"Everything okay?" Leo asked, seeing Clark seemed distracted.
Clark remembered seeing Alicia and was trying to figure out a way to answer when they all heard a scream.
"Phoebe!?" Piper screamed in concern only for Phoebe to scream again.
Clark almost immediately blurred to Phoebe's room, opening the door as she ran into his arms.
"Phoebe, what's wrong?" Clark demanded.
"He's trying to kill me!" Phoebe exclaimed, gesturing back inside her room as Leo and Piper ran up.
Confused, Clark stepped into her room and flicked on the lights, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. Clark narrowed his eyes, using his X-Ray vision but finding nothing.
"Clark, do you see anything?" Piper inquired and Clark shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry. I don't see anything," Clark said bewildered.
"I saw him, he was right there," Phoebe insisted.
"Who?" Leo asked bewildered.
"Tim," Phoebe said.
"Your classmate who was murdered?" Piper asked and Clark looked at her sharply.
"Let me guess, he was blaming you for letting him die?" Clark asked and Phoebe looked at him in surprise.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Phoebe asked as Clark sighed.
"Because you aren't the only one seeing ghosts," Clark said grimly.
Ireland, next day
Morning
Using a cable to lover himself down into the ground, Oliver looked around the cavern with interest. Pulling out a flashlight, Oliver turned it on and saw strange symbols on the walls.
"Starting to regret not packing my intergalactic dictionary about now. No way these are Celtic," Oliver muttered to himself.
"No. They're Apokilitian."
At the unexpected voice, Oliver pulled out a crossbow, following it. Jumping out, he aimed it before he saw who it was, trapped in some kind of glowing circle.
"Kara?" Oliver questioned as he lowered his crossbow. "How long you been down here? I need to get you out."
"Wait! It'll kill you," Kara warned him.
Oliver paused, looking at her in disbelief as Kara picked up a rock, throwing it at the end of the circle. The force field around it caused the rock to disintegrate.
"Right," Oliver said lamely as he looked around the circle. "There has to be a way to turn off this death ray from Hell."
"This was fast. I didn't expect anyone here for at least another few days," Kara noted.
"Hate to break it you, but I'm not part of a search party," Oliver said as he put away his crossbow. "I just came here…to find…"
Oliver trialed off, seeing a symbol of a bow on a pillar behind Kara. Kara saw where he was looking and followed his gaze.
"The bow of Orion," Kara finished as she got to her feet.
"Yeah. What do you know about it?" Oliver asked.
"You're looking for it, without Clark?" Kara asked suspiciously.
"So are you apparently," Oliver pointed out. "And who do you think sent me here?"
"Why didn't Clark come himself?" Kara demanded.
"He has his own problems back home. Even the Boy Scout can't be everywhere at once. You're the one keeping secrets here Kara, not me," Oliver pointed out and Kara looked away. "You wanna be part of our team, you gotta walk the walk. You say you can read these things?"
"It's a prophecy about the return of Darkseid, written by the hunter himself," Kara said after a moment. "When I touched Orion's symbol, the trap was sprung."
"So this is a prophecy," Oliver noted.
"One that heralds the end of the world," Kara said and Oliver scoffed.
"Naturally. So can you read the rest of this stuff?" Oliver inquired.
"It says that a balance must exist between light and darkness. And to wield the bow's power and save the world, hands must right the scale's two sides," Kara explained.
"Hands must right the scale's two sides," Oliver muttered as he walked around, trying to put it together.
Seeing the symbol of Orion on the pillar, Oliver turned his head and saw the Omega symbol on another pillar.
"If this guy Orion was so concerned about balancing everything out, maybe we just need to add to one side of the scale," Oliver suggested as he walked over to the pillar with the Omega symbol.
"No. I considered that, but the Omega is the symbol of darkness, of the enemy," Kara protested.
"You said you got trapped there when you touched Orion's symbol. Well maybe if I touch the Omega symbol, a balance will be struck. Or we could be stuck down here for centuries. Your call," Oliver said with a look back at Kara.
"I guess I don't have any other choice," Kara said although she clearly didn't like the idea.
Oliver nodded before placing is hand on the Omega symbol. Pushing lightly, the Omega symbol moved into the pillar slightly and, with a flash of light, the circle and force field around Kara vanished. She dropped to her knees and Oliver immediately went to check on her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Thank you," Kara said as she got to her feet.
"No problem. Even you Kryptonians can't do everything by yourself," Oliver said with a slight grin, which Kara returned.
"Come on. Let's get what we came for," Kara said and Oliver nodded.
Halliwell Mansion
Same time
Clark and the sisters stood in the living room; all of them sitting on furniture as the sisters watched Clark curiously, waiting for him to speak.
"When I was in high school, my girlfriend was murdered," Clark started finally.
"I'm so sorry Clark," Paige said as they all looked at him with horror and sympathy and Clark nodded.
"It took me a long time to get passed that, the Vision Quest helped. But then, yesterday, while I was picking everything up, I saw her. And I don't mean someone who looked like her, it was her," Clark explained.
"Let me guess, she blamed you for her dying?" Phoebe said dryly and Clark nodded.
"More or less. And with you seeing Tim, I doubt it's a coincidence," Clark noted.
"Someone is messing with us. And I think we all know who," Phoebe said and her sisters caught on.
"You think Zankou is behind this?" Piper inquired and her sister nodded.
"It makes sense. He's the only one who has reason to target all of us. Only question is how he's doing it," Clark said as Leo walked in holding the Book of Shadows.
"I might have an answer to that," Leo said and they all looked to him. "According to the book, a demonic Alchemist can control the undead but lack the power to revive them without the help of an upper level demon."
"A demon like Zankou," Paige noted and Leo nodded.
"Now can we cancel Chris's party before any of the undead crash it?" Piper asked and Leo sighed.
"I guess we have to," Leo said regretfully.
"This is only temporary guys. It's time we deal with Zankou," Clark said firmly before Paige's phone rang.
"Sorry," Paige said as she pulled it out. "It's Joanna, I have to take this."
"Who?" Phoebe asked as Paige walked off.
"New charge," Clark explained and Phoebe nodded. "You should head to work; take your mind off things."
"I don't wanna go to work," Phoebe protested.
"Clark's right, it's not good for you hanging around here. And it's not like Zankou can go after you in such a public place," Piper reasoned.
"Besides, not much you can do right now until we have a plan," Clark added and Phoebe sighed.
"Okay, fine," Phoebe gave in as Paige reentered the room.
"I'm sorry, but Joanna needs me. She just got in a huge fight with her boyfriend," Paige said apologetically.
"Is that the kind of thing we need to be focusing on right now?" Piper raised an eyebrow.
"It's her boyfriend. I get a really bad vibe from him, I feel like he's gonna hurt her,"" Paige explained and Piper nodded.
"Then you should go. We'll keep you posted," Piper said and Paige nodded before Orbing out.
"Do the same for me. I'm gonna be in Smallville," Clark said as he got to his feet.
"What are you gonna be doing there?" Piper inquired and Clark grimaced.
"Making sure that Zankou didn't dig up Alicia's grave," Clark said grimly before speeding out.
"I will never get used to that," Phoebe muttered.
Smallville Cemetery
Not long after
Walking up to Alicia's graze, Clark looked down at it, using X-Ray vision. Clark was stunned: not only was Alicia's body not in her grave, neither was her coffin. Yet the ground was perfectly intact, you'd have to be able to reach through solid object to get it.
"Or make it teleport," Clark muttered to himself.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in."
Startled, Clark turned around, finding Alicia standing behind him. He hadn't heart her heartbeat. And he still couldn't.
"Alicia," Clark gulped as he saw her.
"Hello Clark. It's been a while," Alicia said as she looked at him hatefully. "Since you turned your back on me."
"That's not what happened. I was on my way to talk to you but by then…" Clark trailed off.
"By then, Tim had already murdered me. Because you weren't there!" Alicia snarled at him. "If you'd been there, I'd still be alive!"
"I know," Clark said looking like she'd physically struck him. "I spent a lot of nights thinking that same thing, wishing I could change it. I'm so sorry Alicia."
"I don't want you to be sorry!" Alicia sneered.
"Then what do you want? Or more specifically, what do you want Zankou?" Clark demanded and Alicia seemed taken aback. "I know a demon Alchemist is controlling you, and Zankou is the only demon who has a reason to come after me. What does he want?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Alicia said with a twisted smirk before vanishing in a flash of green light.
Did originally plan to finish this arc up this chapter, but that felt like a good stopping point.
Zankou's plan is taking hold while Oliver and Kara continue searching for the Bow of Orion. Needless to say, things are about to get ugly.
