WICKED DIEGO

Disclaimer – I don't own the rights, Zorro Productions Inc does - I just like to play with the characters.

Plot – This is a slightly different version of the episode Wicked, Wicked Zorro, where Diego was hypnotised by the travelling doctor of medicines and potions.

Many thanks for Pam and her transcripts of the show. This story follows the transcript exactly except for a number of scenes that I have added or changed. This one is just for fun.

Chapter 1

The dusty plaza was filled with people as they gathered around Dr Lozano, who was, by the name on the side of his caravan, a professor of medicine and sciences.

The Doctor had his hands on a young man's shoulders. "Deeper...Go deeper in yourself." he said in a low, calm tone. "Let yourself go. Deeper...deeper...Let me have control. You're no longer Pedro Gonzales. You're a chicken." he said as he let go of Gonzales shoulders.

To the astonishment and delight of the gathered crowd, Gonzales started clucking and flapping his arms as he walked around acting like a chicken until Lozano decided to end his torment and clapped his hands twice to bring his subject out of the trance. The young man stopped and looked around in a confused manner as he tried to work out what he had done, while the gathered crowd clapped and cheered their approval.

"Thank you, thank you." Lozano smiled as he bowed slightly to the crowd. "You have just seen the power of the mind. You can accomplish miracles with my help. For only five pesos, I can relieve you of your pain, your every ache..."

"The only thing you're going to be relieving us from is our money!" Mendoza chuckled, while several others nodded their heads in agreement. He had seen many types of trickery in all the years he had been a soldier and each time it had been proven to be the ruse that it was. At best it was just some harmless fun, at worst it was a cover for criminal reasons.

Lozano didn't mind the mockery, he had seen and heard it all before. There were usually one or two critics in each pueblo he visited and it usually worked to his advantage. "Obviously you're a sceptic, Señor. I have always found such people often make the best subjects." He pulled out a pocket watch from his waist coat and started to wave it in front of Mendoza's face.

"Look into my timepiece. Focus on it. Concentrate...Let yourself go. Deeper...Let me have control. Release yourself. Let go." he said in that same low, even tone that he had used earlier.

"I feel it. I feel it." Mendoza said in a monotone as his eyes followed the swinging watch.

"What do you feel, Mendoza?" Victoria asked curiously as she stood near him.

"I feel...Hunger." He chuckled. "It's time for lunch!" he laughed along with several others in the crowd, no-one would ever get the better of him, he was too smart for that.

Lozano was annoyed as he stopped swinging the watch, sometimes being a critic didn't always work for him but as he turned towards the tall caballero standing nearby, he saw that the young man had fallen under his spell. He smiled, not all was lost, he thought to himself. "Well, we seem to have another test subject." he said aloud.

There was general laughter in the gathered crowd as they too noticed that Don Diego seemed to be in a daze, who was just staring blankly ahead of him.

Dr Lozano stood in front of Diego and in a soft calm voice said. "I want you to think of something that you have always wanted to do, something you have longed to do, whatever your heart desires." He paused then continued. "Have you thought of something you want to do?"

Diego nodded. "Yes." he replied in a low tone.

"Good, now I want you to do what you have longed to do. Show us your hearts desire." he ordered as he stepped away from him.

To the surprise of the gathered crowd, Diego turned and walked several paces to Victoria, where he gently cupped her face in his hands, leant down and kissed her lips.

The crowd gasped in astonishment, while Dr Lozano just grinned broadly. He had noticed the furtive looks that the young man had given to the lovely senorita and so he had deliberately chosen his words carefully, to see how far he could take his skill and he was very pleased by the turn of events. It showed that he could make anyone do anything he wanted and it made him wonder just how far he could take his skill. He would have to think on this further, he needed time to explore the possibilities.

Victoria was so shocked as her best friend kissed her with such gentleness, such tenderness that she didn't pull away. She felt her face reddened in embarrassment and her heart pounded as his warm lips slowly caressed hers in a loving dance. She had no idea how wonderful it would be to be kissed by Diego and she felt herself melting into his caress and was about to kiss him back when he pulled away. She was so dazed by his unexpected action, that she didn't recognise the touch of her favourite bandit.

Dr Lozano grinned as he clapped his hands twice and Diego came out of his trance. He was somewhat disorientated and wondered how he came to be standing beside Victoria and why she was staring at him strangely, her face deep red. What had he done? He prayed that he had done nothing inappropriate.

"Tell me young man, what do you remember?" Dr Lozano asked with amusement in his voice.

Diego frowned as he tried to remember but his mind was foggy. "I...I...I'm not sure." he admitted reluctantly.

"Don't you remember Diego?" Victoria spoke up, her voice trembled.

Diego stared at her, trying hard to remember. "I...I...no." he stuttered, there was something in the back of his mind, almost like a fast fading dream. He looked around at the crowd in fear, he hoped that he had not let slip his secret. But as he looked at the faces, he saw only surprise, some shock at whatever he had done and a lot of amusement. But as he met Felipe's eyes, he saw only shock on the young man's face. He would have to speak with Felipe, to find out what he had done.

Dr Lozano chuckled as he slapped Diego on the shoulder. "Your memory will come back soon enough, nothing to worry about young man. Well, ladies and gentlemen that concludes my little demonstration. I hope that it has wetted your appetite for my show tonight at the tavern." The crowd applauded and cheered as they slowly moved away, chatting excitedly amongst themselves.

Diego motioned to Felipe to follow him to The Guardian office but not before Victoria gave him another strange look before she turned and went inside her tavern.

As they made their way to the office, they passed several men who grinned at Diego and slapped him on the shoulder in a friendly but teasing gesture. This made Diego even more anxious to know what he had done as he accepted the banter and he quicken their pace towards the newspaper office.

Once they entered the office and Diego closed the door behind them he asked Felipe the burning question. "What happened? What did I do?" he asked anxiously.

Felipe was now over his shock and grinned broadly at his mentor and signed. 'You kissed Victoria'

"I did what!" Diego shouted at the younger man. He thought he misunderstood Felipe's signs but when he signed the same again, he shook his head. "I kissed Victoria!" he couldn't believe it.

Felipe nodded and signed. 'Si, a very passionate kiss.' he added.

Diego trembled as he sat down on his chair behind his desk. "In front of everyone?" his voice shook with his disbelief.

Felipe grinned and nodded.

"Dios, what did she do?" he wanted to know.

Felipe shrugged and signed once more. 'Nothing, but I think she liked it."

Diego opened his mouth but no sound came out, he was too shocked. He had longed to kiss her without the mask, but not like this, not under some kind of spell. He put his head in his hands and moaned softly. "Madre de dios, I don't believe it. How am I to explain this to her? What must she be thinking? I must apologise to her, I hope she forgives me."

Felipe saw how distressed his mentor was becoming and touched his shoulder to get his attention.

Diego looked up as Felipe signed again. 'You don't remember it?'

He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "I'm not sure." he looked down at hands, and felt a strange sensation of holding her face with them. "It's like a dream, just a feeling of...something." he looked up again. "I really kissed Victoria!" he wanted to know.

Felipe nodded once more with a broad grin on his face.

Victoria entered the tavern and went straight to her kitchen, she wanted to escape the amused and teasing looks of her patrons. She was shaken by his kiss and her face still burned red with embarrassment as she stood by the basin and tried to regain her composure. She reached for a glass of water but stopped when she noticed her hand was trembling. Instead, she placed her fingertips to her lips, remembering the incredible feeling of his warm lips on hers, of his tenderness.

Over the years, she had wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Diego and now that she knew, it was much more wonderful than she had ever imagined. Her mind was in a whirl as she recalled what Dr Lozano had said to Diego to make him kiss her. He told Diego to do what his heart desired. 'Dios does that mean he has some kind of feelings for me?' she muttered to herself.

But before she could reflect any further, there was a soft knock on the back door of the kitchen, she turned and saw Diego standing rather nervously in the doorway.

"Victoria can I come in?" Diego asked quietly as he glanced around the kitchen, he had come to apologise for his actions.

She smiled lightly. "Of course you can Diego." She was pleased that her voice sounded normal to her ears even though her heart was pounding hard in her chest.

Diego came in and stood anxiously by the bench. "Victoria, please accept my apologies for my behaviour. I had no right to do that."

She saw his nervousness, his worried look on his face and smiled to reassure him. "It's okay Diego, apology accepted. It wasn't your fault, you were under a spell that Dr Lozano put on you."

Diego nodded, grateful that she wasn't angry with him. "Gracias Victoria."

She felt a blush creep over her face as she asked the question that she really wanted to know. "So, you don't remember?"

He sighed and shook his head. "It's more of a sensation of...something, than actual memories. I'm so sorry Victoria, I really am." he said with remorse.

She reached out and placed her hand on his arm trying to ease his obvious discomfort. "Diego, please, it's okay. It was the fault of Dr Lozano."

He nodded as he looked into her eyes, saw her understanding. "I think I will have a chat with him to find out how he does it."

For a moment, their gaze held before Diego dropped his eyes from hers in an effort to hide his love for her. He wanted to tell her just how much he loved her, to tell her everything but he didn't believe that she could love him back, not the real Diego. He held back a sigh, he wished that he could remember kissing her without the mask, the kisses he had given her as Zorro, made his blood burn for her and he would give anything to kiss her again, to taste her sweet lips.

Victoria blushed again at the intense glance that he had given her. She saw his concern, his embarrassment of his actions but there was another emotion that had flickered across his eyes but she couldn't place it. He surprised her by taking her hand and planting a soft kiss to her skin.

"Please forgive me Victoria." he said softly before he turned and walked out the back door.

Victoria trembled, her heart pounded once again as she watched him leave. He had never touched her that way before but it had sent a shiver down her spine. Why was she feeling this way, like a nervous but excited schoolgirl being courted for the first time. She was in love with Zorro, not Diego, wasn't she? She shook her head to clear these disturbing thoughts from her mind, just as her girls came in with the first of the lunch orders.

Dr Lozano saw the young man approaching him as he stood by his caravan and he wondered not for the first time if he could re-hypnotise a subject once he had brought him out of it. He knew there was money to be taken from this small dusty pueblo, from the garrison, the bank and of course the tavern. Normally he never bothered with these small, insignificant villages, he preferred the larger towns but he was low on funds and hoped to make the journey to this little pueblo worth the long dusty trip.

He smiled. "Well young man, I guess you want to know how I did it?"

Diego nodded and gave him a wary smile. "Si, I have some knowledge of the sciences and would like understand how you can hypnotise someone."

Dr Lozano chuckled. "I'm sure you would. Come, I'll show you." He drew Diego to the other side of the caravan, out of sight of the pueblo and its citizens. 'This maybe easier than I thought, but I will need to be cunning like a fox to pull this off' he thought to himself. Much to Lozano's surprise it only took several moments to re-hypnotise his subject and to give him his orders.

As he watched the younger man walk away to do his bidding, Lozano turned as he heard a commanding voice behind him. "Lozano, you are under arrest, for medical quackery and charlatanism."

Lozano frowned at this terrible affront to his good name. "I beg your pardon! I am a doctor of science, a man of letters."

de Soto was not impressed, he had seen true physicians in Madrid and this man was nothing but a fraud. "I see." he replied disinterestedly.

Lozano puffed out his chest. "I've travelled the world." he said with self importance.

de Soto shrugged and motioned to the two lancers. "Take him away." he ordered.

"Let me go." Lozano struggled with the lancers but they kept a firm grip on him as they escorted him to the cells. He seethed with anger, how dare they treat him like this! He was not some common criminal that they can throw into a dirty cell. Don't they realise who they were dealing with? He was a Doctor of Science, he deserved respect not their contempt. He would make them pay for this terrible insult against him, all he needed was a plan. A plan to get out of the cell that he now found himself in.

That night Zorro rode into the pueblo to do the bidding of his master. As he climbed over the roof of de Soto's office, he saw a lancer standing on the ground below him. He knew he had to eliminate him before he could enter the office and complete his task, so he calmly pulled off one of the slate tiles from the roof and without concern for the wellbeing of the lancer, he dropped it onto the man's head, knocking him out cold. He nimbly climbed down from the roof and quietly entered the Alcalde's office through the front door just as Mendoza walked around the other side of the building with two lancers behind him.

"Keep alert men, Rodriguez should be at his post but you never know what dangers are lurking around." He told the two lancers, who nodded in agreement.

As they came around the corner, they saw their fellow lancer on the ground moaning softly. "Madre de Dios, its Rodriguez." Mendoza uttered as they rushed over to help their fallen comrade.

"What happened?" Mendoza asked concernedly as he helped the younger man to sit up.

Rodriguez shook his head. "I don't know." he said groggily. "But I think I saw Zorro go into the Alcalde's office."

"Zorro? Right you two, come with me." Mendoza said as they made their way to their commandante's office, while Rodriguez sat on the ground, holding his head in his hands.

Inside the Alcalde's office, Zorro knelt in front of the open safe and was quickly placing bundles of money into his saddlebags. He heard a noise and looked up in time to see Mendoza burst through the door, with the two lancers right behind him.

"Zorro, what are you doing? Lancers!" Mendoza motioned to his men to come further inside the office.

Zorro stood without a word and calmly drew his sabre and defended himself against the lancers as they came at him with their own swords drawn. But after the first couple of blows, it became obvious to him that his sword was not practical to use within the small confines of the office. So he sheathed his sword and used his saddlebags as a weapon instead. He struck both the lancers with the bags and sent them flying to the floor just as de Soto came bursting in, with his sword drawn.

Zorro saw de Soto and struck the Alcalde with the bags as well. Then he noticed that Mendoza was beginning to recover, so without any remorse, he kicked him in the good sergeant in the face before he leapt through the window and jumped onto Toronado's back and galloped away into the night, with the saddlebags full of cash.