Him. There was only one person in this universe John would be terrified at the prospect of being hurt, and it was NOT me.
We brought the Fortress straight to Smallville, right outside the Kent's house. Despite John's urgency, it seemed perfectly normal, at least on the outside: clean farm, animals cared for... Again, normal enough that no one bothered to check if the owners were at home.
Kara promptly flew inside even though she could see the interior, and came out with a frantic look on her face.
"They're gone!"
Patrick still didn't understand what was going on, and frankly, who could blame him? Didn't mean he had to make a reference to a fucking dog given the situation. "Who's gone? Lassie?"
Kara was torn between screaming or punching him, but fortunately chose the former. "Everyone! They took everyone!"
"Oh..."
Rachel, Grundy and me tore into the house, not caring we were ruining a couple's home, in search for the thing that mattered the most to us. Inside the house, unlike outside, there were signs of a fight, a rifle and several spent casings on the floor, broken furniture and, worst of all, blood, and fresh one. But no matter where we looked at (the basement, the attic, Clark's secondary hideout), we found nothing, NOTHING.
"He's not here." Grundy whispered, still unable to believe the truth. Neither could I, nor Rachel.
No sign from Johnathan nor Martha everywhere... nor Garfield.
Garfield. They took Garfield. They took my son.
All because in my infinite wisdom I believed it'd be safer to leave him on Earth. Fuck. FUCK!
Whoever they were, if they dared to even touch him, they would DIE.
But as much as it hurt me, that had to wait. We needed to know everything we could if we wanted to rescue him and the Kents.
"John, star talking. Now."
John began to tell us the whole story. He was in Smallville, his attention drawn by something undisclosed that could be useful for Zatanna. You'd expect someone like him to look both ways before crossing the street to avoid nasty surprises, and in fact he did. He just didn't expect the truck that killed him to hit him so had it literally tore him apart.
And yet he simply said he was ran over.
"I got ran over. I thought it was some drunkass or junkie, and besides I already had contingencies in case this happened, but something about the man, if he really was a man, wasn't right."
"In what way?" Rachel asked.
"He was fully human, acted like one too, pretty fucking happy of killing me last time I saw him... but he didn't have a soul, either that or put it someplace safe. It seemed like a coincidence at first, some old acquaitance of mine wanting payback for something, but it happening just a couple miles away from Superman's home? While you were away? Couldn't have been a coincidence. As it turned out, it wasn't. Besides, it wasn't like the sheriff could stop him, and I wanted to return the favor as quickly as possible in case he actually could."
"Didn't they try to stop him? They don't need the Supers to catch raged drivers."
"Their tires popped. No spikes or anything." That was enough to drive the point home: magic, or at least the supernatural, were involved.
"Then?"
"He drove to the house. I actually managed to arrive before him, but... I tried to warn them, I did, but this fuck... He's a strong wizard, very strong, enough to make a barrier around the farm and keep me out. I think he actually wanted me to watch as he went to the house disguised as a salesman or something, I didn't get what he looked like."
"What happened next! Tell me!" Kara asked, terrified and angry.
"Your mum'st be even smarter than she looks, because she refused to open the door even with his blabbering. Don't know why he didn't charm them, maybe their wills are strong for a couple farmers, maybe he simply can't control others. What he COULD do, though, was force his way into the house. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear. They fought back, even the kid, but then he teleported away." He grunted as he smacked his head. "I couldn't go after them, whatever magic he has is just too fucking strong! So I did the next the best thing I could."
Rachel promptly probed the area to get a whiff of the man's magic, desperate and furious. I expected her to curse Darkseid, or even her father. It was neither.
"Olympus." She growled. She had faced a couple greek-borne... things, in the past. Needless to say, they weren't around anymore, but it did make her familiar with the power of the Twelve Olympians.
We all turned to look at Pausanias; he was the resident greek, after all.
"Any idea of who could it be? Thunderman, Bitchygirl? Maybe Pretty Boy" Grundy asked.
"Grundy, you might be the condensed power of all nature, but trust me, you don't want to disrespect them. If you know the nicknames, you HAVE to know what kind of bastards they are." Except his father, his sometimes mother, Hermes and Apollo, as it turned out. "As for whom in particular, well, I can only think of one god interested in a soldier from the future strong enough to contend with alien deities." He not-so slyly looked at me while saying that. "Someone who likes seeing people kill each other, partly for power, partly because he likes it." It was obvious he did not like him.
I knew who was it. Couldn't any of the others, they weren't as interested in the mortal world, much less its wars and what caused them. "Ares."
Now that he was wearing his helmet Pericles style, I saw Pausanias frown at that. "What gate you the idea?"
"The same one you had: a violent, bloodthirsty god who interacts with mortals long after his pantheon abandoned this world."
"I don't think he wanted them, at least until probably realizing who they were the parents of."
Not only did he kidnap Garfield, he also now had leverage against Clark. Even gods wanted to have the upper hand against him, and as of then, me.
It was obvious what he wanted from Garfield, one of the reasons I nearly always kept him under the watch of someone whenever he went out of the Fortress: something to use against me. But why? Why risk my wrath? He HAD to know what I could do, since Hephaestus knew what I was just by being near him, and by extension so did the others if they bothered. Did he believe he had to put me in my place or some other godly stupidity? Or saw me as And why now? Obviously whoever his servant was (if not Ares himself) decided to act while we were away, but still.
However, I didn't care what he wanted. He took my son, he took my friend's parents. He was going to feel fear for the first time since Diomedes struck him down, only I wouldn't let him escape, no. He did something unforgivable, and thus, if he continued being a jackass, if he or whatever henchman dared to serve him even touched a hair of Garfield's head, his punishment would have to be more... severe.
I would fucking rip him to pieces, shove said pieces down his throat, and drop the remains in front of Olympus' gates, as a warning to the rest of pantheon.
And that, of course, not taking Rachel into account. By then she was all but become Garfield's new mother. Hell hath no fury like a mother enraged, and believe me. I would know.
First, though, we needed a start so Rachel could get a trace, for whoever took them was strong enough to hide any trace of his presence, down to the spiritual atom. That kind of power couldn't come from even Ares, but at that moment none of us cared.
And I knew where to look first.
Ares is, indeed, part the problem, but I'm pretty sure all of you know where I'm going. Also, sorry for the short chapter and open ending, couldn't see how to continue it. Next chapter will be from Rachel's POV, to get more development and backstory from her, like her relationship with both DS and Garfield. The kidnapping is somewhat because of her, but only somewhat.