Chapter 2:
At his door stood a man with nicely cut, dark gray hair coming from underneath his bowler hat, it was a middle-aged man with little round glasses on his nose, he was wearing a suit that was in fashion in the early 1900's.
“ Hi mister Kent, my name is H.G. Wells, I am here to help you. Can I come in, please?” the man with the English accent asked.
Clark moved out of the way to let the man pass.
“ H.G Wells like the writer H.G wells?” Clark asked at the man with the gray mustache.
Wells looked at his golden pocket watch, there was no time to lose. Lois was in grave danger and Victoria would soon be if they didn't handle fast.
“ Well, Yes that is me, but we have no time to lose now, we need to save Lois from Tempus!”
It was like time stopped on that moment or it felt that way to Clark anyway.
“ What happened to Lois? Where is she and who is this Tempus?”
Wells laughed a little shy, “ You don't remember it but Tempus has tried to kill you when you were a baby, we've traveled back to the moment you landed on earth to stop him, I imprisoned him in the future but he escaped, how he did it we have no clue but what I do know is that he wants to rule the world, therefore he needs to stop the utopia your love story created and therefore he want to break you two up before you would be able to tie the not.”
Clark was stunned, he always thought that he had dreamed that and Lois clearly forgot it too, she never mentioned knowing that he was Superman, yes he was able to take away the envelope where she had written it down on, but,... his rain of thoughts stopped when he thought of the woman who had accept being his girl only yesterday.
“What happened to Lois? Where did he take her?” Clark was beginning to become impatient, here they were chatting while Lois was god knows where with a dangerous criminal who has access to stuff he never heard of, things that needed to be invented in his time.
“ You see Mr. Kent, There is another story just like yours and Lois, a story that became a legend, some even think it is a myth. Have you ever heard of the legend of the fox of the night? The legend of Zorro and his love Victoria Escalante?”
Clark remembered the legend that his mother used to tell him before he went to bed when he was a young child.
“ I heard of the son of a rich man who was studious by day but when there was trouble he would do the black mask and turn into Zorro, riding a half-wild stallion. He was defending the poor against the tyranny of their local mayor, their Alcalde. Just a normal man with a special gift, not an alien with superpowers like me. He fell in love with a beautiful tavern owner. There love is legendary and he is a big example for me, it is a legend with the same values and one I am gladly trying to live by. But what has this to do with Lois?”
Wells laughed shyly, “ well Mr. Kent, Tempus has taken Lois to the time and place of Zorro, he wants to end the two love stories at the same time and rule the world.
“ Come on let's go!”
There was no time to lose now.
“ My time machine is in the alley behind this apartment, one more thing Mr. Kent be careful, we are going to the early 1800's, 1820 to be exact, you will need to cover your powers as you cover them in this time but I wouldn't recommend you turn into Superman there, it would bring our mission to save Lois in jeopardy.
Clark just nodded before they left his apartment to travel back in time.
S-Z-S-Z
Los Angeles 1820...
It was market day in the Pueblo de Los Angeles, it was the busiest day for everyone with a business, the same with tavern Victoria, her tavern was full with Caballero's who wanted to sell some cattle on the monthly cattle auction or caballero's who were interested in buying some of that cattle, vaquero's who had been helping their patron's, housemaids buying vegetables and other things needed for the house of their patron and last but not least the travelers, it was also the day that the coach arrived with hopefully some overnight guests.
Although it was busy, it seemed to be a peaceful day today, no real need for Zorro, although Diego De La Vega would be in the pueblo the whole day just in case, and to the woman, he secretly loved so much.
He loved the woman, who loved the man that was wearing a mask, the hero of the people, she was in love with Zorro.
Yes, he was the man behind the mask but she didn't love him, she loved the legend, she loved the mask not the man of flesh and blood or so that is what he thought of it and that was one of the reasons that he never shared his secret with her, the other reason was that it would be too dangerous for her to know, she couldn't tell what she didn't know, but every bandit of the area knew she was involved with the legendary fox of the night so being used as bait was becoming a habit for her, so she was no big fan of the reasons he gave her, but she never told him that, not yet anyway, she was too afraid to scare him off.
“ I am going to try and find out myself who Zorro is!” thought Victoria while she occupied herself in the kitchen on days like this she had no time to mingle with her customers. She needed to prepare the food they ordered and let Maria or Pilar handle the rest.
It was about the time when the stagecoach had arrived when a strange man, dressed in Madrid's latest fashion, clearly not a poor man, walked into the tavern with his head held high and with a thought that nobody could touch him, clearly travelers because they just paid the usual travelers tax to Mendoza who like always sat on the porch of the tavern, drinking at the expense of Diego De La Vega, it was the easiest way to get all the information Diego needed without becoming suspicious, because Diego knew that Mendoza thought of him as a friend, of course, Diego thought of Mendoza the same way, and when being friends with Mendoza meant knowing what went on in the pueblo because Mendoza talked way too much.
“ Can you bring me the owner of this tavern, senorita? I want a room for the night?” said the stranger towards Maria, without even looking at her, it was clear that this man had a low thought of the woman.
“ He will be in for a rude awaking if he handles Victoria like that!” Maria thought before nodding and leaving to get Victoria.
“ Victoria, there is a man inside who wants to speak to the owner, he wants a room for the night. I guess he doesn't trust me enough,” said Maria towards her boss.
Victoria sighed she hated such men but it was a paying customer and she needed the money.
Victoria walked through the curtains trying to be as polite as possible.
“ Can I help you senor?” she asked the stranger with a little edge in her voice, her tavern was full paying costumers and it was almost noon so most of them had ordered something to eat.
“ I asked for the owner, senorita! I want a room for the night. Where is your patron?”
Victoria took a deep breath and answered a little annoyed, “ I am the owner senor!”
The stranger looked down on Victoria, his eyes going up and down. His attitude was downright mean.
“ Don't make me laugh little girl, now go get your boss, you have no idea who you are dealing with here! I am a personal friend of the King himself!”
OK, this was the last straw for Victoria nobody would treat her like that and live with it.
“ Listen here you, I am the owner whether you like it or not! You can choose to stay here and change your attitude towards me and my girls or you can walk out and sleep in the sand because frankly, I don't care if you were the king of Spain himself nobody talks to me that way! And for the record, I am the only inn in this area, it is your choice.”
“ Nobody talks to me like that senorita.”
The strange man took Victoria by the arm and raised his other hand.
This was the signal for Diego, who changed his place outside for his favorite place inside, to stand up like any other male in there, ready to defend the love of his life, in any way he could without making him suspicious, he was ready to react when another unfamiliar voice rang through the tavern, “ Let her go now, this woman is only doing her job and where I come from, we treat such beautiful women with the respect they deserve.”
The man let go of her arm and pushed her in direction of the voice, Victoria didn't want to pass the man again so she took cover behind the man that saved her.
The man had black hair and a broad chest, he was wearing a hat unfamiliar to her and he spoke with an American accent.
His arms crossed over his chest, a pose he liked to think as the Superman-pose.
“ You are looking for a fight senor over such a wench!”
Diego was starting to get really angry by now, “who was this so-called friend of the king of Spain and who was this man defending his girl!” was all that went through his mind.
“ I don't look for a fight, sire but I don't run either. I just want to warn you that we need to treat women with the respect!”
“ Who is this handsome man!” was the only thing Victoria could think about she was sure happy that he chose this moment to enter her tavern.
TBC
Who are these strange men? Read it in the next chapter of Combined Powers
