Warbound Prologue 2/4
by: banditobane
beta reader: pen 37
characters: Chloe Sullivan, Lois Lane, Clark Kent
plot: Chloe is on her way to Pittsburgh to investigat cult murders in the area on her vacation, much disaproval of her cousin.
A/N: I'd like to thank pen for helping me out on this.
Prologue 2: Chloe Sullivan
In a small apartment above a renovated movie theater and coffee house called The Talon, Chloe Sullivan half-listened to her cousin, Lois Lane as she tried to stuff some of her work suits into a small suitcase. Across the room Lois shook her head as she leafed through a file her cousin as had brought back from The Daily Planet. That was stuffed to the point of bursting with newspaper clippings, crime scene photos and police reports. All which detailed the work of a possible string of cult murders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Lois carefully closed the folder, and tuned to look at the wall behind her, where much of the same information was carefully hung. At the center of the macabre decoration, a map of the city marked out the location of each crime in red thumb tacks.
“Wow,” Lois said with a faint chuckle, “You changed the décor and everything.” Lois knew that if Chloe spent the time constructing a Wall of Weird around the crimes, she was serious about pursuing the story.
In response, Chloe held up two mismatched pumps. “Did you borrow my blue heels?” She looked at Lois, and then shook her head. “Nevermind. You haven't tried to squeeze into my shoes in years.”
“You know,” Lois pressed on, ignoring Chloe’s attempts to ignore her, “When Perry ordered you to take a vacation, this wasn’t what he had in mind.”
“What did he have in mind?” Chloe asked distractedly as she sat on the suitcase to close it.
“Maybe using your vacation for a vacation?” Lois raised her eyebrows. “Seriously baby cuz, you work too hard.”
“Oh, really?” Chloe said as she bounced on the suitcase. Her efforts were rewarded when the luggage snapped closed with a click. “And this coming from someone who faked a suicide attempt to get an interview with Superman?”
“No comment.”
This argument had been going on for a long time now. Ever since Chloe told Clark and Lois of her plans to investigate the weird cult murders in Pittsburgh. And when the word ‘weird’ was brought up, Lois knew it wasn’t good.
Years of daily competition for the top stories at The Planet had taught Lois that her cousin was nothing if not tenacious. So if she had her teeth in this story, she wouldn’t give up until it led her neck-deep into trouble.
As the older of the Sullivan-Lane cousins glanced back over her shoulder at the newest version of the Wall of Weird, a couple of photographs jumped out at her. She squinted, frowned and leaned in to look at the photos on the wall closer.
The photos appeared to be grainy black-and white images of a crime scene. As she looked them over for details, she thought she recognized some of the rusting heavy machinery in the background as belonging to some kind of foundry.
And while the bodies had been removed, she could easily spot the taped outline where police had marked their location, along with white cards that marked the locations of blood spatters.
“How did you get these photos?” Lois asked, “I thought the cops weren’t releasing those to the press?”
“My contacts in the Pittsburgh PD,” Chloe sat her suitcase by the door, and then sat down at her computer and pulled up another file. “Look at this.”
Lois looked into over Chloe’s shoulder to see that she had pulled up a second set of crime scene photos. This time the images revealed a set of runes drawn in blood on the walls.
“This is a Celtic rune for the sun god Virotutis.”
“How do you know that?”
”Grampy Sullivan’s stories,” Chloe smirked at Lois, “These patters were used to invoke the god during ritual sacrifice. Whoever painted this symbol was trying to gain power.”
Lois hated magic. Mostly due to the fact that magic was one Clark’s weakness.
“And this is why you decided to go investigate this yourself instead of letting the home team take care of it?”
Chloe waved off Lois’ argument. Instead, she stood again and crossed to her bed. Then she pulled back a dust ruffle, reached underneath, and pulled out a heavy-looking trunk. Lois raised an intrigued eyebrow as Chloe lifted back the cover to revel guns, flash bang grenades, and various other gadgets.
Lois rolled her eyes, “And I take it that big brave Watch Tower doesn’t need her well intentioned cousin to tell her how dangerous it is.”
“Said the pot the kettle,” Chloe muttered as she pulled out a duffel bag, and then stuffed a .357 Magnum into it, “As I recall a certain well intentioned cousin was captured and forced fight in an Internet death match while she was masquerading as a stripper.” She continued putting gadgets into the duffel while she spoke, never once looking up from her task.
”A little below the belt there cuz.” Lois said. Then she squinted curiously at the duffel while Chloe tried to stuff a machete into it, “Is the airline going to let you board with those?”
“Don’t worry,” Chloe said as she finished filling a duffel bag, “My JLA membership allows me to use one of their transport Jets.”
She zipped the bag, shouldered it, and then turned to face Lois.
“There is no talking you out of this, is there?” Lois crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows with some concern,
“Nope,” Chloe said with smirk,
“Just take care of yourself, okay.” Lois crossed the room and pulled Chloe into a hug.
“Oh, come on,” Chloe pulled back and gave her older cousin a disarming smile. “I survived an attempt on my life by the original Jack the Ripper,” she said with confidence. “And besides, I have enough of your Christmas and birthday presents you gave me. Which by the way, if want to show someone you love them, flowers and cards could do the trick better than hand guns and flash grenades.”
Lois grinned at the shared joke. She reluctantly let Chloe pull out of her arms, and reach for her suitcase. They were halfway to the door when Clark Kent walked in.
“Hey Chloe? Your taxi is here,” Clark told her,
“Wish me luck,” Chloe winked at Lois.
“You don’t need it. You’re a Sullivan-Lane.”
“You got that right,” Chloe laughed. As she passed Clark, she stretched up to kiss his cheek. Then she walked out the door, and pulled it shut behind her.
Once Chloe was safely out of the room, Lois pressed hand to her mouth, and bit her thumbnail anxiously. She moved over to the window to watch her little blond cousin put her things in the backseat of the taxi.
Clark came to stand next to her. Unconsciously, he slipped an arm across her shoulders and pulled her to him in a comforting move.
In the street below, Chloe turned and offered them a jaunty salute. Then she climbed into the backseat of the cab. The door closed, and she was whisked away.
“So,” Clark began, “You couldn’t convince her not to go.”
“Nope,”
“Well it’s not like she can’t take care of herself.”
“Save the act Smallville, you’re just as worried about her as I am because of what’s happening back there.”
”I just wish she would have told me so I could’ve made plans to go with her.”
“Clark,” Lois need, “Do we really need to this have conversation again? I told you that I’d try to convince her to stay and if it didn’t work you would let it go.”
“Fine,” Clark said knowing he would never win this argument with his wife. “I just hope she’ll be safe.”