Chapter Summary
Previously, Clark rushed to the Plant facility as Lobo and the robot thieves were escaping with a stolen Plant. Superman and Lobo duked it out, taking their battle into the sky.
Now, Meryl and Milly head over to the Plant facility to investigate a lead on the Intergalactic Shopping Network. Arriving in the middle of the heist, Meryl follows after the flying man with a strong suspicion about his identity.
—
The elevator was almost to the bullpen floor when the research assistant Meryl bumped into earlier jogged up to her. He handed over a list of sandsteamer departures she had asked for. Her eagerness to head over to the port waned as she noted that the last one for the day had left a little less than an hour ago. The next one wouldn't depart until tomorrow morning.
He didn't deliver much news on the Vash sighting front, to her dismay as well. There were a few more rumors from Kasted City since Meryl had last gotten wind of anything. Reports mainly consisted of his gang hiding out in an old schoolhouse, harassing women, and disturbing local businesses.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. Meryl thanked the assistant and stepped in. Milly waved with a smile to the young man and followed her senior in two long strides.
"Change of plans," Meryl said as they headed down. "Since we can't catch a sandsteamer until tomorrow morning, I'd say we hit the pavement and see if we can get any leads on these visitors from space. You heard what Mr. Beddos, the business editor said?"
"He seemed worried that the Cluster-Shopping Network people might go after the Plants," Milly replied. Her eyes lowered, and she rocked on the balls of her feet.
"Right. Can you think of any other resource some advanced alien society could find of value here?" Meryl crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Milly considered the question seriously for a few moments before shaking her head. "Nothing else seems as valuable as the Plants. We get our power, heating, the majority of food and water, and material conversion all from the Plants."
"Exactly. So, it might be a good idea to head over to the Plant facility and get the director's opinion on the safety of the Plants."
"That does sound like a good idea. I wouldn't have known where to start. I'm so glad I get to learn from you Miss Meryl."
The elevator dinged and opened to the lobby.
"I have a feeling you pick up things quickly, newbie," Meryl smirked and strode to the entrance.
Meryl and Milly were just exiting the Bernardelli building when a huge gust of wind blew through the street, whipping their hair into their eyes and street litter into the air.
Several pedestrians gasped, looked around, and questioned what that sudden wind tunnel was all about.
Meryl wondered the same but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. She shrugged the weird phenomenon off and headed toward where she'd parked the company vehicle. Despite her quick pace, Milly followed along with ease.
"I almost forgot. I picked up a hitchhiker on the way back into the city. I gotta drop him off at the hotel first. Then we can head over to the Plant facility," Meryl said over her shoulder.
She approached the passenger side door to explain her new plans to Clark and offer to drop him off like promised. However, when she got close, she realized he wasn't in the van.
Meryl deflated a little at his departure. They didn't even get a proper goodbye.
"Huh, I guess he was feeling better and decided to head out on his own," Meryl said, shrugging to Milly at his absence. "Let's head to Bernardelli Square to catch a cab. I hate driving this thing around the city."
Bernardelli Square was just two blocks over and was an area lots of business folk went to during breaks from work for food or light shopping. Along the busy street, it was always easy to find a cab waiting for local workers needing quick transportation. Not a lot of city dwellers had the luxury of owning a personal vehicle. So, public transportation was common for a city the size of December.
Meryl easily hailed a cab after entering the Square proper. The two women shuffled in, and Meryl directed the driver to take them to the Plant facility.
They drove along mostly in silence. Meryl's thoughts swirled between the mysterious space traders, Vash possibly being in Kasted City, and her former travel companion Clark, who'd upped and vanished without a goodbye.
The cab's radio speakers didn't have the greatest audio quality, but the news station the cabbie had on caught her ear. Meryl asked him to turn the volume up.
The radio host read off a scripted report of the latest Vash the Stampede sighting in Kasted City. According to the report from a day ago, Vash and his gang had caused the destruction of several buildings, including some local shops, a saloon, and the town's abandoned schoolhouse. But apparently, with the help of a traveling priest and a local resident, Vash and his gang were finally run out of town.
Meryl's heart almost stopped.
The image of a man dressed in a black suit, eyes hidden by sunglasses, and carrying a huge cross-shaped weapon appeared in her mind. At first, she had thought he was a priest, but he adamantly claimed to be merely an undertaker.
And who was this local who aided the traveling priest? The news didn't give enough info—like their names or physical descriptions, just her luck. But who else could she picture fighting back to back with the undertaker like he did?
Could it be? Were they both really there in Kasted City? Would she be able to get there in time before they disappeared again?
A hand on her shoulder startled her. Meryl jerked away but calmed down when she realized it was just Milly.
"Miss Meryl? Are you okay? We're almost at the Plant facility." Milly tried to catch her senior's eyes. "I think something is going on. Take a look."
Meryl inhaled deeply and nodded. "I'm fine. What is it?" she asked, gazing out the window.
—
Outside the Plant facility, large groups of people huddled around the way workers did during emergency drills. Meryl felt a shiver go down her spine. She had a distinct feeling whatever was causing an evacuation was not because of a drill.
The cab couldn't get any closer as traffic became congested closer to the building. There had to be hundreds of people flowing out into the streets.
Meryl pulled out a few bills to pay their fare, not even caring that it was probably more than needed, even with a standard tip.
The two reporters jumped out of the cab, Meryl dashing ahead to the nearest group of workers.
"Excuse me!" Meryl whipped out her press pass, holding it up for the group to inspect. "I'm Meryl Stryfe, journalist for the Bernardelli News Agency. Can you tell me what's happening here?"
The group of workers turned at Meryl's sudden appearance. They all wore the standard blue work uniforms of lower-wage plant techs.
A tall, brown-skinned man in his mid-thirties stepped towards her. He said, "S-some alien freak and a bunch of robots are trying to steal one of the core generator Plants!"
A chubby bearded man in his late forties who was wringing his hat in his hands chimed in next. "And then a man came flyin' in an' started fightin' with the alien."
While she wasn't overly surprised about the attempted theft of the plant, Meryl's eyes widened at the mention of an alien and robots. "Did any of you see this alien or robots? Did they say anything? What did they look like?"
She pulled out her notebook and pen from her shoulder bag and began jotting down all the details.
"It had ta have been eight, no nine feelz tall! It had glowin' red eyes of a demon! And, and… spikes all o'er its body!" The second man used wild hand gestures, raising one above his head to indicate height, pointing at his eyes, and motioning over his shoulders and arms when he mentioned the spikes.
The first man added, "He was like the Diablo himself! Words coming outta its mouth weren't anything human. S-Skin as white as a ghost, evil markings on his face! Long mane like a wild animal! H-he was ripping apart anyone who tried to stop him."
"What about the robots?" Milly asked, to Meryl's surprise. She almost forgot her trainee was there with her. Points to the newbie for the initiative.
"Never seen nothin' like em before. Kinda built like a person, ya know, two arms, two legs, a head, what have ya. They were huge too, taller even than the alien! Shiny metal, maybe copper or brass color? Think they was talkin' to the alien, but hell if I could understand em."
"Who was the man who ran in to fight it? They weren't on the same side?" Meryl asked.
The second man shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no. The man didn't just run, he flew! He had big red wings!"
"A flying man with red wings? Seriously?" Meryl asked. One alien was enough to believe with the strangeness going on, but who was this?
Before she could ask another legitimate follow-up question, a rending, metallic crunch tore everyone from their conversations. It came from the roof of the Plant facility. Meryl snapped her gaze towards the awful sound, seeing two figures shoot through the roof into the city sky.
Numerous observers gasped and shouted and pointed up toward the figures rising higher.
"See! See! Flying man with red wings!" The chubby worker pointed enthusiastically.
"Ain't look like wings, man. Looks like a cloak or something to me." The taller, dark-skinned worker said in return.
Meryl's gaze tracked the figures. They were too far away to see any fine details. But, yes, the vibrant red of the one's cloak or wings or whatever drew her eyes and kept her transfixed on the surreal scene.
Again, she felt herself get short of breath, her jaw-dropping. A flying man in a red cloak. No. There was no way. Red Cloaked Man?
Before even realizing she was moving, Meryl took off in a dash to follow the figures from the ground. There was no way she was going to lose sight of that red cloak.
"Miss Meryl! Where are you going?!" She barely heard Milly call out. She didn't even bother looking back to see if her junior partner followed or not.
Meryl cursed her short legs and the height of the buildings around her. She did her best to avoid tight roads and alleys that might've led to dead ends. If she stuck to main streets as much as possible, she could keep them in view.
She apologized more than once as she bumped into other pedestrians in her rush.
Of the other figure—the alien—she could only really make out swaths of black and white. She inhaled sharply as she saw the two break apart from their grapple and the alien begin to plummet. A moment later, some flying vehicle dove in to rescue the… Creature? Man? Could that second person not actually fly on its own?
They both hovered in place for a while. Still high in the air, appearing as small specs against the blue sky. Meryl guessed they were talking, but it was impossible to hear as the wind carried their voices.
Only a minute or so later, the red-cloaked figure flew away so fast she couldn't track him.
"Shit! Where'd he go?" Meryl took off in a mad dash, trying to follow the alien on the flying vehicle, who was fast but not quite as fast.
"Damnit, are they heading back to the Plant facility?" she said, practically retracing her steps.
As she ran, she heard and saw two fiery explosions in the air. She yelped and ducked both times, cursing herself for reacting so poorly.
Again, the figures seemed to stop their chase momentarily. It gave Meryl a chance to catch back up.
Even more people had gathered around the area to watch the spectacle. Meryl had to push through the crowded sidewalks.
Panicked screams and shouts and gunfire from back at the Plant facility pulled her attention away from the two.
When Meryl rounded the corner, she saw the robots described earlier pushing and knocking people out of their way as if they were nothing but toys. Security guards came rushing out, futilely shooting at the robots. The bullets hardly made dents on their metal bodies.
The panicked voices crescendoed as groups of people looked up. A large, truck-sized space shuttle soared down towards the facility. People ran and ducked away from the approaching ship. It landed between the crowd and the robots.
Several security guards tried shooting at the ship, but that was just as ineffective as shooting the robots. A few brave men risked running up to the middle robot hauling the stolen Plant to try and detach the machine. However, the two robots on either side of the middle one would block their attempts, shoving them to the ground.
The robots seemed to be saying something, but the words were utterly foreign to Meryl's ears.
Despite the guards' determined efforts, the robots loaded the generator Plant onto the space shuttle. With a last, futile attempt the guards unloaded their magazines at the shuttle as it rose into the air and flew up, up into the sky, picking up speed rapidly.
Meryl drew her attention back to the flying figures when the alien revved his bike's engine loudly. The vehicle rammed into the red-cloaked man, and they went sailing away from the Plant facility.
—
"Damnit!" Meryl resumed her chase. This time, their trajectory was all the way toward the southside area—not an area most well-off folks wanted to venture into. It looked like the alien wanted to bring his foe down for good.
Turning down one street, Meryl briefly lost sight of her targets. She concentrated on listening for the revving of the alien's bike again.
There! She heard a shrill whistle and then the revving.
A moment later, a loud crash also came from a few blocks over. It even sounded like it might've been at street level.
She crept along the buildings cautiously. There weren't as many people out and about in the southside area. Small street gangs would sometimes be out pestering other locals. Luckily, it wasn't that late in the day, and it wasn't their prime time to be loitering. Meryl gulped and firmly held onto one of her derringers hidden under her coat. She really didn't want to bump into anyone looking to cause trouble.
She glanced up when the alien on his flying bike hovered close by, circling the area. It seemed like he got separated from his opponent.
And if the red-cloaked man was who Meryl thought it was, she really hoped the creep didn't find his opponent first.
Meryl walked casually, trying not to draw attention from either locals or the alien above.
To Meryl's relief, the alien gave up searching for his prey a few minutes later. She let out a ragged sigh, the adrenaline starting to wear off.
She waited another minute or so after not finding who she was looking for before risking a bolder tactic.
"Clark? Clark, it's Meryl. Are you here?" she called out as she passed a couple of alleyways.
"Clark? He's long gone. It's safe now. Clark?" she tried again.
"Heyyy, little lady," a gravelly voice called from across the street.
Shit.
A group of three men began to cross the road in her direction. "Why don't you forget about this Clark? We can keep you company instead."
The men all wore clothes that probably hadn't been changed or washed in over a week.
The man who spoke was about average height and build, but he was plenty bigger than Meryl. His short hair was starting to grow out from a buzzcut. He wore a loose-fitting greenish jacket, pants with rips around the knees, and poorly laced boots. Large, dark glasses obscured his face.
The other two wore jackets with the hoods up and dust gators over their faces, covering their mouths and noses. They were slightly more scrawny than their friend and seemed to be following his lead.
Double, triple shit.
"Thanks. But, no thanks." Meryl said, quickening her pace.
"Hey, now. Don't be like that," the man went to grab her arm.
Meryl pulled out her pistol and aimed it steadily at the man. Her expression turned sharp despite her insides churning. "I said no thanks."
The man raised his hands and stepped back. "Alrighty, missy. Your loss." He gave her a slimy smile that made her want to get as far away as possible.
When it didn't look like he was going to stop her, she took a few steps back and kept walking before lowering her gun.
After a couple more steps down the street, Meryl went to look over her shoulder. Before she really could, though, two hands on each of her arms pulled and pinned them behind her.
"Let go!" she screamed, attempting to kick the thugs and yank her arms away. She got a good kick in the one man's shin, but she still couldn't pull out of their grip in the slightest.
"Now, now. Be gentle with our lady friend," the group's face, the man with the buzzcut and shades, said with a nasty smirk. "How 'bout we take this somewhere a little more private?"
He licked the top row of his teeth and lifted Meryl's chin with a finger.
"Get your filthy hands off me, asshole!" Meryl shouted, kicking out at the man.
The two thugs behind her hoisted her up by her upper arms and carried her kicking and screaming into a nearby alley.
Meryl still had a tight grip on her derringer, but her arms were twisted at such an awkward angle that she didn't want to try shooting.
Struggling wasn't doing her much good, but she landed another kick on the shin of the man to her right. He grunted and shifted positions slightly to favor his other leg. They lowered her enough that Meryl's feet reached back onto the ground.
In a moment of clarity, she recalled some of the self-defense training she'd picked up the last two years. From this position, she dropped her weight down to the ground. She shifted her left leg around and behind the thug's right side. It was harder being held by two men than if it'd been just the one. Luckily, her small frame was more flexible than theirs.
She squatted down, pulling the first thug slightly off balance. Meryl's left arm was still tightly pulled by thug number two, so while she would've used both arms for her next move, she had to hope just one would be enough.
Dropping as low as possible, she swooped her right arm around the back of thug one's thighs and pushed forward and up. The thug tilted entirely off balance, his legs flung forward, and he collapsed on his back. Thankfully, the man was on the smaller side because Meryl didn't think it would've worked if he were any larger.
The surprising move caused the second man to falter with his hold. But Meryl still had yet to wrest the left arm out of his grip. She cried out as her left shoulder dislocated from the sudden force at an unnatural angle.
Fortunately, her right arm was now free albeit aching from the thug's grip. She snapped the arm up, pointing the derringer at the second thug's face. "I said, let go!" she snarled at the man.
The thug did as commanded, raising his hands at the sight of a gun in his face. Meryl tried to step away, but the talkative one of their trio was still right there.
He pulled out a handgun as well and aimed it at Meryl. "C'mon, girly. Quit it with the theatrics. You're just gonna get yourself hurt."
Meryl whipped her derringer towards the buzzcut man and didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. But she didn't aim to kill. Instead, the bullet hit the man in his right shoulder. He dropped his own gun, screaming in pain. Meryl went to rotate her arm back at the scrawny thug, but the man had launched himself at her.
He landed on top of her, Meryl taking the brunt of the tackle on her right side. His strong hand clenched on her wrist, making her drop the derringer. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes from the pain in her left arm, her wrist, and her side from being slammed onto the ground.
"Bitch!" the buzzcut man shouted, raising his gun with his left hand. The hand trembled and was slicked with blood. He really should be more worried about his leaking shoulder.
The thug who knocked her over scrambled to stand back up, leaving her an easy target.
Meryl squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she made a huge mistake. Whispers of "you're not long for this world" rang in her ears. She heard a shot ring out and felt her heart stop.
The sound of a bullet casing crunched and then clinked as it fell onto the bedrock ground.
"What the fuck?!" both of the thugs cried out.
Meryl opened her eyes, and her vision filled with a field of red. Red Cloaked Man.
"I believe the woman said to let go," a deep, authoritative voice almost whispered.
"Fuck you, man!" the thug shot out again and again. The man being shot at didn't even flinch. He even stepped forward, grabbing the gun out of the thug's hand. He squeezed his fist, and the metal crumpled like aluminum foil.
"W-what the hell are you?" The thug leader backed into the wall with clammy palms braced against the bricks.
The Red Cloaked Man briefly looked over his shoulder at Meryl before turning back to the thug.
If possible, he stood even taller. He looked the man dead in the eyes and dropped the gun to the ground. It clattered in finality.
"I'm Superman."
—L&P—
AN:
Thanks as always for following along! Please review to let me know how you're enjoying the fic, what you liked, or what you'd like to see in future chapters! Feel free to follow me crimson-amarone on Tumblr or crimsonamarone on X. Always excited to connect with other fans!
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Next chapter, the resolution of Superman's rescue comes with some awkward questions and answers. The reporters' first team-up comes to fruition in the morning edition, and Derringer Meryl and Stun-gun Milly make their debut.