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Registered User
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Posts: 24
Join Date: Jun 2006
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FOUR
"Mrs. Kent?"
"Oh, hi, Chloe. They've released you this soon?" Martha asked.
Chloe grinned cheerfully. "It wasn't serious. The wound, I mean. My shoulder'll be sore, but I'll live. Where's Clark?"
"That's what I was hoping to ask you. He took off to, you know, deal with things. I thought he'd be back by now."
"Well, he's not the only one missing."
"What do you mean?" Martha asked.
"Lois. I went by the Talon, and it's been vandalized. The sheriff's lookin' into it. Someone reported it but it wasn't Lois. Her car is gone, so I thought she might have come here."
"Chloe, I haven't seen her since yesterday."
"Well, d'ya mind if I wait here? One or the other's bound to turn up."
"Sure," Martha said. "I guess you want you usual cup?"
Spike and Lyri were sitting in the waiting room while Lois was in the process of being taken directly to the ER. 'Fred' had the privilege of going through the patient's personal info routine again. Spike wasn't helping any. He was making his usual sarcastic remarks about anything and everything. Then he saw someone. Someone very familiar.
"Wait a minute," he muttered. 'That looks like.."
Spike was about to go through the door to get a closer look.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but you can't go in there," the admissions clerk said.
"Why?" Illyria asked. Such insolence. Were all hospitals like this?
"Unless you're immediate family, we can't let you in. Hospital policy."
Spike sat back down.
Probably just my imagination.
"Bugger this," he said with a wave of the hand..
Suddenly there was a commotion in the ER.
"We need help! Quick!"
The doctors had difficulty in restraining Lois. She finally overpowered them and made a run for it. The security guard ended up into the wall as Lois made her escape. It didn't go unnoticed by her two 'companions'.
"Come on!" Spike said. Lyri-as-Fred followed him.
"You'll burn up in the light," Lyri reminded him.
Spike shook his head. "Not with this, luv." He wiggled a finger with a unique-looking ring that he'd produced earlier from his pocket .
"Gem of Amara. One of 'em, anyway. Renders us nearly invulnerable."
Lois shrank back from the sunlight. Seeing she was being pursued, she ran. Faster than she ever had. Even to the point of outrunning her own car.
An armored truck passed through one of the roads running through Burnham Woods. The constant banging from its prisoner caused it to turn on its side. The guard on the passenger side crawled out, gun drawn. The truck's back doors imploded.
"Subject is loose, I repeat, subject is loose! Inform Mr. Luthor that..."
The transmission went dead.
"Are these really necessary?"
Angel was restrained as a part of what Lex called 'procedure'. Not that it mattered. Angel could easily break free, if he so choosed, but that would only complicate things further. The dark haired beauty talking to Lex didn't help matters any.
Angel could smell her. And she noticed him. Correction: immediate attraction.
"Angel, this is my wife, Lana. Angel has the distinction of suffering from the same affliction that you did."
"I thought everyone who had that strain was cured," Lana said.
Lex remained composed. "Almost everyone. Angel has a more complicated infection."
"Which I hope you can cure," Angel said. The cure would have to wait. The phone rang.
"Yes? When? Send a team to hunt it down, but do not engage until further notice."
"What was that about?" Lana asked. She still couldn't take her eyes off the stranger.
"A meteor freak has been sighted in Burnham Woods," Lex said. "Nothing to be concerned with, for the moment. Now, Angel, about your little problem..."
What could be best described as a small army made their way through Burnham Woods. Some of the men and women were armed with taser guns; others were taking biological samples.
After some time had passed one of them said, "Inform Mr. Luthor and the General that the subject has left the area. GPS implant indicates subject heading in general direction of .."
Lois turned around. Those pesky people driving her car were still in pursuit. And the sunlight was causing excruciating pain. Her eyes and now her flesh were burning.
Then, familiarity.
Lois headed for the Kents' barn. Her stealthy move didn't go unseen.
"Got it" GPS Tracker Girl said. "Subject is presently located at...." she paused for a moment to look closer at the grid - " Hickory Lane. I repeat - Hickory Lane."
"Why am I not surprised?" Lex Luthor said. Speaking into the speakerphone Lex said "Be careful, and do not antagonize it. We still don't know what we're up against."
The funny thing, Lana thought, was that Lex knew all about it.
Angel was in torment.
Not the fire-and-brimstone hell kind that he'd experienced on divers occasions, and had, like so many of his kind, tried desperately to avoid. The kryptonite derivative injected into his veins was something altogether different . It felt like hordes of ants crawling,biting,chewing their way through the dermal layers, mixed with fire. Had he not been restrained Angel would have clawed his own arms, and probably ripped of Lex Luthor's head and done something down his throat for good measure. Like so many others, Angel couldn't stand the man.
"Well, well, well," said an arrogant familiar voice. "You signed away your Shanshu, and this is your last attempt at being human. How did it feel to be cast out of your kingdom?"
The problem was that Angel couldn't see who was doing the talking, much less pinpoint who. He did, however, have enough faculties to know that he was being moved elsewhere.
"Could Clark have gone to the caves?" Martha asked. Now she was getting worried.
"I don't think so," Chloe said. "He would've told me if something was up."
Looking outside she saw it.
"Omigod," Chloe said. "I don't believe it." She sounded like someone who'd just won the lottery.
What she saw looked like a mangy Sasquatch on steroids. Only Sasquatch didn't have protruding bone spikes or wear green pants. Maybe it was a meteor freak Sasquatch. Boy, this was definitely going on the Wall of Weird.
The creature acted as if looking for something. Someone. And the Kents' house was in its sight.
"Run!" Martha said, grabbing Chloe by the hand just before the monster smashed its way through the front door. Once inside, it made a mess of things. As Martha and Chloe exited through the back, Martha seriously considered relocating elsewhere. This place attracted way too much trouble.
If only Clark were here.
But he wasn't. They were gonna have to get through this on their own.
Maybe not.
"Here comes Lois," Martha said. Lois' car pulled up, only it wasn't Lois driving.
"What's Professor Fine doing with Lois' car?" Martha asked. She knew exactly what kind of entity Fine was. Only Fine didn't look this dead. Or walk with a cocky swagger.
"It's her," Chloe said. "The girl who brought me to the hospital." Chloe hugged 'Fred'. 'Fred'
felt a warmth - the same kind of warmth that she'd felt from hugging Roger and Trish Burkle. And she liked it.
"But where's Lois?" Chloe asked.
"She's here," 'Professor Fine' said with an Cockney accent. "Probably ran in there."
The barn.
"What is that thing?" Martha said.
Spike could see something like a giant de-horned Fyarl demon with long white hair and jutting bony spikes.
"Looks like bloody doomsday in the flesh," he said.
Chloe ran toward the barn. The others followed after her.
'Doomsday' was watching. Lois leaped from a rafter and knocked Doomsday back. Doomsday took his turn and knocked Lois into a bale of hay. Spike went to her aid, but without reverting to his true form. 'Fred' held Martha and Chloe back. For a small woman, she showed remarkable strength. What they didn't see was her eyes turning deep blue. Briefly.
"Do you think you could hope to defeat me, little man?" Doomsday said in a demonic baritone. Spike was thrown into a support post after Doomsday grabbed Spike's head with one huge hand. The impact was enough to splinter the post. Spike regained composure and was again knocked out of the way, this time by Lois, fangs bared. She sank them into Doomsday's neck, to no avail. Doomsday simply threw her off like a rag doll. Doomsday turned around to face his next challenge.
Suddenly, humvees pulled up. Soldiers armed with some kind of long-range stun guns opened fire on Doomsday, as if recognizing the creature. They weren't the only ones in recognition.
"You seem to know them," Lyri said.
"Not just them, but him, too. Parts of him." Spike looked pissed off.
Doomsday didn't react to the tasers, but Lois did. Not before landing another good blow to Doomsday's head, however. Lois fell limp.Doomsday slaughtered two of his attackers, then retreated. Strange behavior for a creature that seemed to be the ultimate fighter.
A 40ish man wearing a general's uniform walked up to Martha. "Sorry about this, Mrs. Kent. We'll pay for any damage." The two dead soldiers were covered with sheets and ceremoniously placed on stretchers. Someone else began inspecting the collateral damage.
Martha saw through the facade. Nice try, but too perfectly timed. Oh, and I intend to see that you do pay.
"Just what was that creature, General..?"
"Hardcastle. Nathan Hardcastle. I'm afraid that's classified." Seeing Spike, he said "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"I'm Professor Fine," Spike said, losing the accent. "I teach at Kansas.."
All the ladies were shocked.
"Of course," Hardcastle said. "We know who you are, Professor. What's with the new look?"
"Well..."
"Lois," Chloe said. The girl was unconscious. "We need to get her to a doctor."
"No need," Hardcastle said. "We'll take it from here." He saluted Martha Kent as Lois was loaded onto a stretcher and placed in the back of a military van.
He didn't see Spike's two-fingered hand gesture. The vehicles left.
"You said you knew 'parts of him', Spike," Lyri said. "I can sense a feeling of loss. Not just from you, but from this place itself. It reeks of it." Lyri looked disgusted.
"Recognise those bone blades?" Spike answered agitatedly. " They're from a Miquot demon. Those right bastards took him and grafted bits and pieces onto Big Ugly."
"Demon?" Martha Kent said. "I don't understand. I thought that thing was some kind of meteor.."
"Those guys," Chloe started. "I didn't want to say anything, but their uniforms...they're part of the same group that tried to use me as target practice. Wonder why they didn't recognize me?"
"Same reason they didn't recognize me. Except for 'Colin Powell'. Probably too busy concentrating on their little pet," Spike said. "They made him."
"Who are they?" Martha asked.
"The Initiative," Spike said. "Looks like the government just got more funding..."
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