Chapter 23

Chloe rushed over to them and while usually Apollo wasn't a fan of how Chloe could just force her way into places for a story without care he was a fan of it now. It gave him time to make a plan. He quickly scanned the precinct and saw a similar flash drive on somebody's desk. Apollo swiped it his hands moving faster than any eye or camera could track and put it in his pocket. His Aunty Makkari would probably feel a weird sense of pride knowing Apollo was using his super speed to 'borrow' things.

"Hello Montgomery Mankins, Deputy McNally fancy seeing you two talk" Chloe said and Deputy McNally clenched his jaw but Montgomery Mankins instantly put on the same charming expression Corey did when he first met him. That must be where he picked up that behaviour Apollo thought, however his father was far better and more believable than his son.

"Is it? I like any citizen of Smallville am not above coming in to commend the Sheriff's station on all of their hard work. After all I am one of the biggest donors to the policeman's fund" Montgomery Mankins said suavely.

"I guess you are but still trekking all the way to the police station to personally see the Deputy is quite something. You two must be close. Perhaps from all the times the cops come to forcefully stop all the protests at your offices over the rights of undocumented workers? Maybe you have him on speed dial like your own personal 911 for when Latino's fight for their rights too much for your liking" Chloe said as she looked the elder Mankins in his eyes. Apollo smiled at Chloe, damn she was good.

Montgomery clearly wasn't expecting that jab and clenched his jaw at the accusation.

"My company and I universally condemn any form of bigotry and would never discriminate against any group of people based on race or gender" Montgomery Mankins said.

Chloe opened her mouth to respond but the Sheriff intervened and grabbed Chloe.

"Miss Sullivan I answered your questions and let you into the precinct. This impromptu interview with Montgomery Mankins hasn't been sanctioned and your slanderous statements are untrue, unwelcomed and unappreciated" Deputy McNally said to Chloe gripping her arm forcefully like he wanted to drag her out of the precinct.

Apollo intervened and grabbed the Deputy Sheriffs arm, one thing Apollo hated was bullies and right now the Deputy was trying to use his strength to intimidate Chloe. He was nothing more than a bully with a badge and Apollo wouldn't let him bully his friend.

"You know what else is unappreciated is you putting your hands on a minor who is simply asking questions" Apollo said as he moved the Deputy's arm.

The Deputy got in Apollo's face and Apollo met his angry gaze. Apollo puffed up his chest and stood up straight his full height allowing him to tower over the Deputy.

"That's enough" Montgomery Mankins said to the Deputy.

Deputy McNally turned to Montgomery Mankins and then walking past Apollo intentionally bumping into Apollo and while usually Apollo would just let them bump past he was angry and wanted to show the Deputy he and Chloe weren't to be intimidated. He stood his ground and the Deputy fell over like he walked into a wall. The precinct turned noticing the small scene unfolding. Apollo fought the urge to smirk.

"Here let me help you up" Apollo said giving the Deputy his hand.

The Deputy clasped it and Apollo pulled him up and patted him down helping him get the dirt from the floor off him. Once again moving his hands faster than anything could register Apollo stole the flash drive from Deputy McNally pocket and replacing it with the one he had taken earlier. The Deputy nodded to Apollo looking him up and down and then walked away.

"Sorry about that" Montgomery Mankins said to the two of them.

"It's alright" Apollo said having calmed down now that he had the flash drive.

"No it isn't. I am no idiot. I know who you are Apollo. Whenever I turn on the local news I feel like all I see is stories about your brilliance on the football field or basketball court or baseball pitch" Montgomery Mankins told him.

"I can't have Smallville's 'Ultimate' being abused in my presence. Especially since you've not only met my boys but saved one of them am I correct?" Montgomery Mankins said.

"Yes, sir." Apollo said as he nodded.

"Well, I need to thank you for being so gracious after their little debacle. Bryan told me you and your father rushed to help them and were extremely helpful. He called you in particular a hero. I know there weren't any property damages per se, but I'd like to offer some compensation just the same" Montgomery Mankins said as he pulled out his checkbook from his inner breast pocket.

"No, thank you, sir," Apollo interjected. "My father won't take a penny, trust me."

The man closed his checkbook and put it back into his pocket.

"Now, you're sure about this?" Montgomery asked.

"They landed in an empty, muddy field" Apollo stated simply and Montgomery Mankins nodded.

"Well then if you'll excuse me I'll be going" Montgomery Mankins told them as he walked away.

He shared a nod to both Chloe and Apollo.

"Corey let's go" the elder Mankins said to his son as the two exited the police station.

"We should go too" Apollo said rushing Chloe out much to her confusion.

The two walked and entered Apollo's truck and Chloe looked disappointed like she wanted more from the trip.

"Apollo what the hell? A good reporter doesn't just give up" Chloe told him.

"We're not giving up; we're driving off before we get caught" Apollo said turning the truck on.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe questioned her confusion growing.

Apollo pulled the flash drive from his pocket and smiled at Chloe.

"This is what Montgomery Mankins came all the way to the police station to give the Deputy. What do you say Chloe want to take a look and see what's on it?" Apollo said to a cocky smile on his face.

"I fricking love you right now Apollo. How did you pickpocket him?" Chloe said in amazement.

"You have your skills and I have mine" Apollo replied simply as the duo drove off back to the Torch.

They raced back to the Torch and found Skye, Pete and Gloria all there. No doubt the three of them waiting to hear what if anything they found out from the police station.

"How'd it go?" Gloria immediately said as they entered the room.

"You were right about the cops not caring. Deputy McNally is a piece of work" Chloe answered.

Gloria looked a little crestfallen like she was hoping for more than just confirmation of what she already knew.

"But we didn't leave empty handed" Apollo said as he took out the flash drive.

"What is that?" Skye asked.

"It's a flash drive, I noticed that Doctor Wesley had it a few weeks ago when they crashed on my farm. That day I thought they were looking for something but they said they were taking atmospheric measurements. However, Doctor Wesley went out of his way to make sure he had this flash drive and both he and McNally spoke briefly. And then today Montgomery Mankins came to the station to personally give this to him" Apollo told them.

"That's definitely odd but Mankins has a lot of police connections this could be unrelated" Pete said.

"I don't think so. Most of the people who have been reported missing were working for Mankins when they disappeared" Chloe said.

"You guys actually think Mankins is connected to the disappearances" Skye said a little in disbelief.

"One thing you learn very quickly as a reporter is don't take people at face value. Everyone has secrets and the rich and powerful usually have the darkest secrets of all" Chloe told Skye.

"So what, you think Montgomery Mankins is some kind of villain?" Skye said.

"Let's find out" Apollo replied as he took the flash drive and put into Chloe's desktop.

The computer began to read the flash drive but the files were blocked. The flash drive was encrypted you would need to know the password to gain access.

"Damn. It's encrypted" Apollo said in frustration.

Skye's eyebrow shot up and she smiled at her boyfriend. Gloria and her then exchanged glances smiling at one another.

"Not for long" Skye told Apollo and he got up.

Skye sat down in the seat Apollo had previously been sitting in and Gloria pulled a chair to sit by Skye. Skye began typing away.

"You guys do know hacking is a crime?" Chloe said.

"So is stealing" Gloria replied simply before offering some input to Skye on how to beat the encryption the flash drive had.

"Chloe clearly this is bigger than any of us imagined and whatever's on here could be the key to solving this case and finding Francisco. So I'll take the risk, the truth shouldn't be kept from people no matter how ugly it is" Skye said.

"Okay I was just checking because I don't mind the cops going after me for my stories but I would never want to put my friends in danger" Chloe told them.

"That's sweet of you Chloe but we're past that. Now everybody keep quiet and sit back and watch us do our magic" Skye said a confident smile on her face.

"Yes ma'am" Apollo said to her smiling because his girlfriend truly was amazing.

Gloria and Skye began hacking the encrypted flash drive and Pete, Chloe and Apollo sat back keeping an eye out to make sure they weren't disturbed. The three stood by the doorway acting like watchmen.

"Can you believe that the Mankins could be involved in something like this?" Apollo said shocked that such a powerful family could potentially be involved in something this dark.

"I can, the wealthy usually have enough skeletons in their closet to fill up a cemetery" Chloe replied a dark and angry glint in her eyes.

Apollo and Pete both didn't speak. They'd been friends with Chloe long enough to know that her Dad was a blue collar worker that had been screwed over by so many wealthy and powerful people. They knew that one of the reasons Chloe was so obsessed with reporting was because to her the truth was the great equalizer. With it you could take down anyone no matter how powerful, show them they weren't as above the rest of the world as they thought and even make them pay for the pain that others suffered because of them.

Chloe clearly didn't want to talk more so she walked away from the two of them and Pete and Apollo stared at one another silently communicating at what the best way forward was with Chloe. This case leading back to the Mankins had obviously stirred up feelings in Chloe and they wanted to help their friend. Apollo wanted to go comfort Chloe, he didn't like seeing his friends unhappy but Pete insisted on letting her cool off first and eventually Apollo relented to Pete.

After that brief conversation the trio watched largely in silence as they waited for Skye and Gloria to finish hacking the flash drive. It took them quite a while, the school day was long since over and night was beginning to fall. They knew that hacking wasn't a fast endeavor but this was taking a while and Apollo was worried about what would happen when Deputy McNally realized that Apollo had pickpocketed the drive and came looking for him. He would be in a lot of trouble and so would everybody else and if that happened before they discovered what exactly Montgomery Mankins, Deputy McNally and Doctor Wesley then it might have all been for nothing. It was moments like this Apollo wished he could mind read because then at least he would already know what they were hiding and Skye and everybody else wouldn't have to be taking such a big risk like this. However, Apollo also knew all too well how every power had its own challenges. Apparently his Uncle Druig could read minds and hearing stories about him he wondered how much of a burden that must be to him. Hearing the thoughts of others and being able to control them would be a difficult ability to live with.

"Oh my god!" Skye said her voice filled with shock pulling Apollo out of his thoughts.

"What?" Chloe, Pete and Apollo said in unison racing to the computer.

"This is…. this is…" Skye started to say but seemingly couldn't the shock of whatever was on the flash drive stealing her voice.

"Those bastards. I'm going to kill them" Gloria said angrily, she had tears in her eyes and Apollo could hear her heartbeat and even smell her pheromones. She was overflowing with rage.

"What is it? What's on the flash drive? You are kind of leaving us in suspense over here" Pete said speaking on behalf of the three of them.

"This flash drive has a tracking system on it" Skye said simply stunned. Pete, Chloe and Apollo all hunched over to the desktop and looked at the monitor it showed a map of Smallville with several blips on them. Most of the blips were centered around one particular location by one of the Mankins farms but there were two that were in the middle of the woods. Apollo realized that the spot they were in was a few miles from the area that the Mankins boys had been flying over with their helicopter.

"These blips are people, when you click them it links a file including their name, age, sex and location" Skye continued and she then clicked on the two blips in the middle of the forest.

"Those blips that are the middle of the woods near Crater Lake. Those are Carlos Diaz and Francisco Ramirez" Skye finished still processing what she was seeing just as files on the two of them showed up on screen. The files were extensive and even included height, weight and languages spoken.

"What do they use it for?" Pete said sounding almost afraid of the answer.

"To sell them!" Gloria said her voice dripping with rage as she pointed out that at the bottom of the files on them there was a price.

Apollo saw red and for a moment he was afraid he was going to vaporize the screen with his heat vision.

"They put a tracker in them like they're animals then they auction them off and sell them!" Gloria spat out, if she was angry before speaking about this was making her damn near nuclear.

"We need to make them pay!" Chloe said her expression cold and almost murderous.

Apollo's body was filling with rage, he knew people could be violent, he knew they could be greedy but truly seeing the darkness that people were capable of first hand made his blood boil. Apollo clenched his fists, fighting his impulse to fly over to the Mankins house and smash it to pieces. He remembered what he overheard Mankins and Deputy McNally say and realized that something was happening tonight and he needed to stop it.

"We will make them pay" Apollo said "Skye and Gloria download everything and I mean everything. We need to publish the proof. Show everyone who the Mankins truly are. Chloe write the article and Pete keep a look out. Protect them"

Everybody nodded understanding their roles.

"What are you going to do?" Gloria questioned.

"I am going to go to the Mankins and find the others. I think they're planning something tonight which is why Montgomery rushed to the Sherriff station with the flash drive. He wants everything sorted by tonight" Apollo replied.

"We might have another problem" Skye said staring at the screen.

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked.

"This system allows us to check when it was previously active and it was used earlier today" Skye said.

Chloe and Pete looked at her confused as to how that was a pressing issue.

"That means whoever used this system earlier knows where Carlos and Francisco are, which wouldn't be a pressing issue if it wasn't for the fact that their blips are moving. As if their running" Skye elaborated and Apollo mentally kicked himself.

No wonder Deputy McNally hadn't come bursting down the doors of the school looking for them. He must've already known where Carlos and Francisco were and decided they were more important. Apollo activated his super hearing and could hear them. Two boys running in the woods, running away from a man. Deputy McNally.

"What are we going to do?" How do we help them?" Pete asked wondering how they could reach them in time.

Gloria's eyes began tearing up as the realization that her boyfriend could die tonight and she fell to the floor beginning to breakdown. Pete walked to Gloria and began comforting her. Apollo couldn't let them die, he wouldn't let them die. Apollo started moving towards the door.

"Apollo?" Skye said noticing him about to run off.

"I know I promised not to run off into danger but I've to try. I've got to go save them" Apollo said to her remembering his promise the night of the meteor shower.

Skye got up and kissed him deeply.

"Come back to me" Skye told him and Apollo nodded.

Before turning and running off from the Torch. He could hear his friends pray that he would save the two teens.

"How will he reach them in time?" Gloria questioned through her tears.

"Gloria I can be very cynical at times but there is one thing I trust it's Apollo. I trust him to save people because that's what he's always done going back to when we were kids. Apollo's my hero and trust me by the end of the night he'll be their hero too" Chloe told her calming her down and easing her mind if only for a moment.

Apollo was touched that Chloe believed in him and he couldn't afford to let her, Gloria, Skye or Pete down. The second he was out of sight from his friends he blurred running towards Carlos and Francisco at superhuman speed.

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Also read Superman(Marvel+DC) and Marvel: Hyperion.