Fic: Five ways Special Projects Almost Wasn't. (2/5)
This is a challenge fic written for
sanadafaye. She who made this awesome banner.
In exchange for the wonderful banner, I offered to write her fic. So she asked for a five-times story. The challenge was to write five ways in which one little change would have affected the special projects universe. In each of these stories, one minor thing happened, and sent our characters down a different path than the one they're currently walking.
Warning: These are not the characters you know. Because of one minor change, they walk a different path.
Fic: Five ways Special Projects Almost Wasn't. (2/5)
Author: Pen37
Beta:
clarksmuse
Rating: pg-13
Summary: Change one thing . . . Change everything.
Banner by
sanadafaye
Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5
2. Something went wrong.
Chloe squinted through the binoculars and frowned at what she was seeing. They were hiding on an outcropping of rock over a desert ravine, and looking down on the most bizarre ritual she'd ever seen.
“What is this again?” She looked over at Daniel Mackenzie. Mac was part of the elite metahuman special forces squadron that she'd managed to get embedded with for her series on The Metahumans Next Door.
She was hoping that her story would give Mrs. Kent the grassroots support for that bill that she and Pete were trying to get pushed through.
“Blood ritual,” Mac said shortly. “You see the guys in the robes? They're trying to get power through inflicting pain on their victims. Pain gets the attention of the demons that they're trying to summon. They like it, and they crave it. If a blood mage can inflict enough pain, he can bribe a demon into doing almost anything.”
“And you know this because?” she prompted.
Mac shifted uncomfortably. “My dad was a hunter.”
“Oh.” Chloe was intrigued by the whole concept. She believed in ghosts and spirits. It's hard not to be possessed three times and not believe. And being Catholic, she obviously knew a little about demons.
Although not as much as I'm going to know once I get stateside again, she thought.
“So why are we up here?” she asked. “Why don't we take the whole platoon down there and shut them down.”
Mac sighed. “Because most of those guys think that being able to turn invisible, or blow shit up with their minds, or being invulnerable means that they're invincible. You and I know better.”
“Yeah.” They'd talked about this before. In fact, Mac had assumed that she was as hunter before she'd told him about Smallville.
Which, now that she thought about it, was the second time that someone had made that assessment. Chloe thought of that little bar in Nebraska where Clark had chased her when he was high on red K and out for her blood.
One more thing to look into when I'm stateside.
“So how do we handle this?” she asked.
“Real cautious-like,” Mac said. “We're going to --” Before he could finish that thought, the rock beneath their feet gave way. Chloe's stomach rose into her throat as she tumbled end-over-end down the ravine. Then her head struck a rock, and merciful blackness closed in.
** *
Chloe awoke with a jerk, gasping at the remembrance of falling. Only to hit the restraining tension of a rope. She opened her eyes and stared around frantically. Most of the platoon was in a similar situation. Only with their chests opened, and their eyes gazing sightlessly at the sky.
One of the guys in the bloody robes - Mac had called them blood mages - looked at her with coal-black eyes, and then resumed sharpening his knife. Given the bloody state of her fatigues, they'd started to do the same to her, only to get a first-hand look at her healing abilities.
She screamed - hoping that Clark could hear her, even if he was halfway around the world. To her consternation, no sound came from her mouth. It was like someone had put some kind of silencer on her.
With a sinking feeling, she remembered Mac's words from earlier. If you could inflict pain, you could bribe a demon to do almost anything.
The mage in the bloody robe finished sharpening his knife, and then put it down. He nodded to his buddies and they came to stand in a circle around her.
Chloe leaned against her bonds frantically. She wasn't sure what it would take to kill her. But judging by the look on these guys faces, they were intent on finding out.