Chapter Twenty One: Act of Faith.

Lily's agitation was brought to a fever pitch. All of her well laid plans were thrown out of whack by one simple situation. The redhead witch tried to pull herself free of this situation but found herself stuck. No matter what, there was no really clear cut way to slice it and from her theories, these handcuffs blocked all powers. The red lamps in the hallway, well it was obvious what they did. She was handcuffed to Tess Mercer and the handcuffs were set to explode in less than an hour. Lily didn't know exactly when but she did hear the ticks going slowly within the timer.

She managed to ensure that she received all of the powers of a Kryptonian within the orb thanks to her modifications before putting her DNA inside. Granted, she did not expect Jor-El to nuke the orb with Blue Kryptonite, so she actually had to give him some credit. The only powers that she managed to retain were passive ones like super hearing. Otherwise she would sooner rip Tess's arm off and get out of the handcuffs that way.

Lily's eyes flickered shut.

'What to do, what to do?' she thought in frustration, which continued to escalate to an entirely new degree. The witch kept her mind focused on getting out of this situation and heard the ticks escalate on the count down as the clock wound down one tiny second at a time.

"You know I was here and fine until you showed up and got me handcuffed to you," Tess remarked as the two of them walked through the Checkmate facility trying to find the exit.

Tess saw the red lamps and knew, she knew that Waller prepared this facility. Someone had been doing her homework or at least clued her in.

One wanted to go one way, the other wanted to go the other way and it was just one hundred percent mess of both females trying to go in opposite directions. This lead to a tug of war between two of them and both tried to push themselves to escape.

"We should try to work together so we can get out of this intact," Tess offered but Lily looked at her through an agitated glare.

"We need to get out of here, before they decided that the little handcuff trick isn't going to rattle us, and that it's easier to shoot us in the back of the head," Lily remarked flatly as she lead Tess up the steps. The two of them continued to make their way further through the facility but both staggered and nearly fell down due to neither being on the same page. "The red sun lamps, clever, negating powers, and these handcuffs keep them negated. But no, they're really trying to rattle us right now."

"You mean to tell me that you're not rattled?"

Lily peered over her shoulder before she remarked to Tess in a cool and collected tone of voice.

"I don't do rattled."

Tess shook her head, so she didn't. One redhead pulled the other around the Checkmate base as the two of them tried to find their own way out of here. It wasn't that easy to move when both of them were trying to escape in two different directions. They tried to pull each others arms out of their sockets and Lily and Tess swayed from one direction to another.

'Harry, I'm reaching out to you, please pick up,' Tess thought, actually come to think of it, Harry did not tell her exactly how to work this bond link thing.

"If you're trying to contact my son, it won't work," Lily offered Tess and Tess eyed Lily for a few seconds. "The connection is skewed, you'll never get through at all in this building, just give it up."

"I don't give up that easily," Tess told Lily as she tried to find any way out, a fire escape, anything. She turned around and Lily dangled unhelpfully at her side.

"Could you watch it a little bit?" Lily asked but this request was ignored.

Tess had been knocked out and held a captive in her own home thanks to Lily months ago. Therefore she was not feeling much compassion for her now. She continued to drag Lily behind her. The woman's mind was going a few hundred miles a moment, faster than a speeding bullet. The redhead closed her eyes, her breathing becoming more and more intense.

"I don't even know why you were even here in the first place," Tess commented in a pained grimace, as Lily dead weighted her, refusing to allow Tess to lead the dance.

It was an obvious power play, Lily made sure Tess knew who was in control.

"I'm trying to help my son," Lily offered Tess after a few seconds.

Tess offered a very un-lady like snort before she turned her eyes towards Lily before there was a few seconds pause. "The sad thing about that is that you really believe the crap that's spewing out of your mouth don't you? You really think that you're doing what's best for Harry?"

"Listen, Tess, I don't think, I know so," Lily persisted with rage in her eyes. "This is not a conversation that I'm going to have with someone like you."

"Oh, and I'm sure that you selling out secrets to Lex Luthor was going to put you in his good books!" Tess fired back as her eyes narrowed with hostility.

"Given that you were Luthor's lap dog I don't think…."

Tess moved at super speed, finding she had enough power left to get out of here. So she had to move quickly and choose her spots wisely. If she went too fast, her clothes could be ripped off and that would be a more perilous situation than anything else. The redhead continued to speed towards the exit with the other redhead chained against her wrist. Time ran down quicker yet.

"Could you slow down?" Lily asked in determination but they were outside of the Checkmate facility.

"I got us out, didn't I?" Tess asked Lily but Lily's expression turned rather twisted.

"Yeah, you got us out, for what it was worth," Lily chimed in, unable to believe of the reckless steps that this woman had taken to do so. Lily was about ready to give her what for but there was no time to do so. Rather the time ticked down and Lily shifted her expression off to the side.

The witch staggered to the side and there was a thumping around the back of her head.

"I don't think we have much time anyway for what it's worth," Lily muttered, wishing that she was able to use magic to double check these things. However, they would have to make do with some well-placed guess work. "They wouldn't give us much time to figure a way out."

"Well, things just went from bad to worse," Tess offered Lily before she tried to turn her head around.

She had to find a way to get out of here, before it was too late. Tess found herself racked with a certain amount of nervousness, although she tried not to show it. There was a loud rattling inside the timer which caused her to jerk her head up and around.

"Dare I ask…."

Lily was all too happy to inform her of the situation, well in a sense of the word. "The timer is accelerating to twice its normal speed. We have even less time than we did before.

Lily did not expect to die tonight, well she did not expect to die again. All she wanted to do was find out more information regarding the Red Queen, a person's whose identity eluded her. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if the person that she was searching for was right in front of her.

Could this entire handcuff scheme by some kind of gambit to lure her into a false sense of security, to cause her to spill the secrets of her plans to this woman?

Tess did not really expect to die tonight either. All she wanted to was find information about the identity of Checkmate's most elusive agent, the Red Queen. The more Tess thought about it, the more she wondered if the person who was handcuffed to her was this individual. She tried to pull herself free but it failed.

Tess knew that she could not…no she must not…she would not….Tess would not inform her of anything.

"You've got be kidding me, after all of this time, she just hands it over," Kara stated as Harry informed them what Alex did with the Book of RAO.

Harry was as equally baffled by the situation. His double was playing a rather dubious game as well and he spent a few hours scanning the Book of RAO for any kind of tricks she might have left on it. So far there were no hidden gimmicks on it, which Harry was glad for. He did not know whether or not he could trust something like that being handed over to him so easily.

"So what do you think she's up to?" Karen asked in a calm voice, as the three Heralds of Death stood in a huddle with each other. Harry raised an eyebrow. "I just….figure you might have a clue since she is you…more or less."

"Yes, more or less," Harry agreed but it was a far more complex situation then it appeared at first sight.

There was one problem that Kara brought up in a heartbeat.

"Now, that we have the Book of RAO, what do we do with it?" Kara asked and that was a question that went unanswered for some amount of time. The three Heralds of Death stood in silence but none of them wanted to be the one that stated any decisive action. Time ticked by as the Heralds thought about the situation. "Um…guys."

"No, I don't really know, we have it but there's no clear indication of what it's going to do," Harry offered, making sure that the book was placed in a hidden location. "We have another problem, the Kandorians are divided and if some kind of civil war happens…."

"The situation is clear like it always has been, take out Zod," Karen remarked to Harry, unable to believe that he of all people missed the blatantly obvious solution.

"It does seem obvious that we take Zod out, doesn't it?" Harry asked Karen and Karen shrugged her shoulders before giving the most obvious in the world "yeah duh" expression on her face. The blonde continued to survey Harry for a few seconds. "I trust you're familiar with what happens when a power vacuum opens up."

"Well you should be able to fill that easily," Karen remarked.

"If I knew all of the players in this situation, yes I could, but with Checkmate, Alex, and my mother all on the board, things are going to get a lot trickier all too soon," Harry commented in a light tone of voice before he shifted his expression. There was a sense that the mood was about to change.

True enough there was a flickering of an echo that went through Harry's mind. He paused and stalled before he heard her flicker in from the other side.

'Harry, we have a problem,' Tess thought to him through the bond link. 'Actually we've had a problem….for a long time, well providing that you could hear me.'

'I don't….I don't think…what is it now Tess?' Harry asked,there was a certain amount of dread that flickered through his mind and in his eyes. He wondered if this could get much worse than what had already happened.

Tess filled him in on what was going on and yes, Harry thought that things were going to be bad but he did not expect what she told him. It just went to show people that he was proven wrong.

'Well It started….when I was in Checkmate looking up information,' Tess projected to Harry, trying to keep her mind calm even though she was a few seconds away from losing it. Yet she kept herself as calm as could be. 'And then….then I ran into your mother.'

Harry let out the breath that he was holding, as Kara and Karen listened in on the other side of the bond link. There was a long pause before he decided to respond to her.

'Continue,' Harry thought to her, wondering if this could get any worse.

'We got handcuffed together, because Checkmate found us out,' Tess thought to them.

Harry let out a long whistle before he turned his head around and folded his arms. His foot tapped on the ground and he let out the long breath that he had been holding in. The wizard kept his expression neutral despite the fact that he was this close to losing his mind.

'Is there any way for you to get out?' Harry asked to them, trying to keep his cool.

Tess's tone kept even but also frustrated. 'No.'

She paused before she amended the statement with even more information. 'It's set to explode in less than twenty minutes, from my estimation.'

Harry let out his breath in a whistle.

'Oh boy,' Harry thought to himself, he wondered if this day could get any worse. Surely there was no way it could?

Actually Harry decided that it would be best not to tempt fate. If he had learned one thing, it was that without a shadow of a doubt, things were going to get rather hard fairly quickly. Everything got trickier from there. He mentally hammered out a solution, running his fingers through his hair as he did so.

Things could have been a lot worse but then again, he already thought that.

'Stay put, I'll be there as soon as I can,' Harry thought.

"What is Waller thinking?" Karen asked but that question was not answered by Harry, at least for the moment.

Mostly because he did not know himself what the woman was thinking.

Clark Kent was still shaken from the events of the past day. There were many times over the past few months where he wondered if he was doomed to do the wrong thing no matter what he tried. He wondered if he should have accepted his power loss all of those months ago.

"Clark, your angst is overpowering, I can sense it from over here."

That statement, blunt as always, was given from one Lois Lane. Lois was not about to let Clark get away with complaining and bemoaning his lot in life, that much was for certain. The dark haired woman turned her head towards Clark and his heart thumped against his chest as she kept her eyes firmly on him, irritation swimming through them.

"Lois, it's alright, I'm fine, really," Clark offered her, as he waved his hand towards her.

Lois raised an eyebrow and sure enough Lana and Raya were closely behind.

"I don't need an entire patrol to keep me out of trouble," Clark offered to Lois. "Or was it Harry who put you up to this again?"

Lana's face crossed with a few seconds of annoyance and she was about to put Clark's head in a brace so he'd stop peering over his shoulder like that. "Clark, don't you think that you're being a bit paranoid?"

"Why, does Harry think I'm being paranoid?" Clark asked as his eyes darted in the most paranoid manner possible but Lois grabbed him around the head and held his face steady.

"Stop…just stop, you're doing it again," Lois stated as she wished to smack some sense into Clark, repeatedly if she could muster the ability to do so. "Clark….I know you're not having the best time in the world but….not everything should live and die on your angst."

"She is correct…."

Clark's super hearing perked up and he saw something in the distance. He wondered if Lois should be out and about after the ordeal she suffered the other day. Yet, she was on her feet, about as well as one could expect given the circumstances.

"What is it?" Lana asked, sensing that Clark was on a greater edge than ever before.

Clark hushed her up and crept forward, his nerves rocking towards a greater level. The Last Son of Krypton kept his movements brisk, careful not to tip off anyone to his being there. He had the sense that there was someone there.

A hand grabbed Clark from behind and he spun around to nearly hit the person who grabbed him but it was Kara who stood there behind him. The blonde blinked, his hand coming perilously to hitting her but he pulled back, his knuckles flexing together as he slowly pulled back.

"Whoa there Clark," Kara breathed as she stepped back. She surveyed her cousin cool and collected. "Tense much?"

"Sorry Kara it's just….what are you doing here?" Clark asked but the blonde's eyes flickered before a smile crossed her face.

"What are you doing here?" Kara countered and Clark sighed, they were going to play this game, weren't they?

"We got a message that someone wanted to meet us here," Clark commented in a brisk tone of voice.

"It's a trap, obviously."

There was another figure who stood in the shadows and Clark blinked. At first he thought that it was Lily Potter, but her eyes were a different color. She was dressed in black robes with her red hair pulled back. On those robes were the same death symbol that represented the Heralds of Death.

"You're not the only one who wears your house symbol with pride, Kal-El," Alex remarked as she watched him. He did not impress her at all upon first impression but she was willing to give him another chance to make a better impression. "I wish to speak to you."

"Why do you want to speak to me?" Clark asked her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alexandra Potter," Alex told him as she shifted on her feet.

Kara remained silent, whether or not Alex would tell them that Harry now had the Book of RAO, none of them knew.

"Great, another female of mystical origin to give us headaches," Lana remarked as she stared down Alex.

Alex smiled at the other woman. "I see your personality is wonderful as usual, Lana."

Lana was at a loss to whether or not she had been praised or insulted. The expression on the young woman's face was hard to read. She looked like a carbon copy of Lily Potter, except for the eyes, the brown eyes that flickered towards them. Of course, she wondered if this was her true face, she seemed to be a person rooted in deception and lies.

"The Kandorians will be tested to see if they are worthy," Alex remarked briskly.

Harry showed up at this point, he did not have time for games; he needed to find Tess or his mother.

"Answers, please, I'd like them," Harry told her but the red haired witch smiled.

"You'd have them, if you read between the lines, dear Harry," Alex remarked as she turned towards him. "It is all within the Ravenclaw Covenant. There will either be a new age of Krypton or a full scale destruction of both races. There is no in between. The cataclysm is near."

Clark and Harry turned towards each other; they were for once in agreement. Neither trusted this woman. Call it experience, call it whatever, but they were in agreement.

"Got problems, you deal with her," Harry told Clark.

"Deal with her…."

"Yes, Kal, deal with her," Harry stated harshly as he scrambled away. He thought that Clark could try and deal with the insanity for once.

There were some days where he wondered if he took on too much. It was about time for people to start solving problems for him and not the other way around. He wasn't Clark's fucking nanny after all, that was the job of Lois, Raya, and Lana, and besides he had far bigger problems to deal with.

He heard the ticking noise and he knew that he was close. Harry sped off in the other direction.

'We're running out of time,' Harry thought to his two fellow Heralds.

Lily looked at the device; each tick could be the last. Each tick could be the moment where everything came crashing down.

"Well, I'm looking for a solution, feel free to do something to bail me out," Tess stated in an agitated tone of voice. "You have all the answers, don't you?"

"Be silent," Lily told Tess, she was not in the mood to deal with this.

Tess was also not in the mood and she tried to find a way to squirm out of this. Maybe if she moved just right with her remaining strength she could snap the chain and free herself. Granted that could cause Lily to explode into hundreds of chunks of blood but that was an acceptable loss that she was willing to make. The redhead understood that even more than anyone else although she felt weaker yet. Her powers waned to the merest flicker.

Harry popped up, muttered a few words underneath his breath and the explosive device crawled to a stop, before it vanished like it was nothing.

"Three more ticks and it would have been over," Harry informed Tess, before she even had a chance to greet him in any way.

"Well if that isn't cutting it close, I don't know what is," Tess remarked to Harry but Clark moved over.

"You won't believe this but I was talking to her one minute and the next minute she disappeared," Clark told Harry and Harry placed his hands on the side of his head.

"Clark, if you think that I wouldn't believe that….well you don't really know anything at all," Harry commented to Clark dismissively as he looked around.

The moment Tess and Lily got uncuffed, Lily used the three seconds his attention was turned elsewhere to do a runner of her own. Which was all well and good, except this time, Harry was prepared for her to runaway. She was trying to outmaneuver him all behind but Harry was the one who controlled the chessboard, at least for tonight.

"She was the one who destroyed the towers," Clark informed Tess and Harry and both of them eyed each other.

"Wonderful, did she tell you why she wanted to manufacture total war between Kandor and Earth?" Tess asked Clark but he shook his head. The redhead businesswoman threw her heads up in response. "Well, you're useless as ever."

Tess turned around, to think Lex wasted years of his life obsessing over this one. He had power granted and potential but what good was potential if it went constantly unfulfilled time and time again. It really was something that angered her, to see someone waste what had been given to them.

Without another word, Tess switched to the link that her and Harry shared.

'And I'm guessing that you didn't know that Checkmate was going to pull what they pulled,' Tess thought and Harry responded in negative.

'There are times where they pull something out of the hat that's unexpected, I'll give them that,' Harry admitted to her as he shifted his positioning. 'You know now that they know that you're not loyal to the cause, that you'll be hunted down.'

'I'm a survivor Harry, surely you know that by now,' Tess thought back to him and Harry grabbed her around the hand, before a smile crossed his face. His eyes met hers, both of them sharing equal amounts of passion. Time passed before Harry said the answer.

'Believe me Tess, I know, I know better than any other person in the world.'

Checkmate was a government organization that expected many things from its members. They expected loyalty, for a covert government organization needed to make sure that everyone was on the same page. Some groups were not even on the same book and that's why they failed. They were not going to fail, the fate of the entire world was on the line.

They also expected things to go as planned, they expect competence. Not to mention that there was one thing above all else that Checkmate expected and that was that all loose ends should be cleared up one by one. There was going to be no dangling threads that could be wrapped around their necks and strangle them.

"So once again, Harry Potter made a fool out of you?"

Those were the words that came from the mouth of Maxwell Lord. He was pretty sure that there was a pair of Checkmate agents that tailed Harry the entire way. Just about ten minutes ago, they appeared, stripped to their boxer shorts, all equipment that was on them seized and said equipment could not be tracked. And that included confidential Checkmate information that they had on them.

That was what one might call a disaster of epic proportions.

"It wasn't our fault…."

Lord tried to shift any information out of their minds to see if he could find a clue, any clue that pertained to what Harry Potter was up to. There was a spark in their eyes and their memories were blocked. Certainly he could break their minds down and pluck the information he needed but that would take much more time than the organization was willing to allow.

Which was a pity but that was just how things worked more often than not. Although he did have to say that if he was allowed a chance to crack open their minds, then there would be nothing of value that was lost. That was something that he could take to the bank more often than not.

"Lord!"

The voice of Amanda Waller could be heard and she walked towards Lord with a purpose. The man tried to keep himself calm and with dignity.

"Potter defeated us again," Lord stated as he turned towards Waller. "As the Black King I'm…."

"You do not want to play chess with Harry Potter, he changes the entire board," Waller offered Lord crisply. She had not found out about Lord's entire gambit until late in the game, right around the time that the disgraced checkmate agents were sent back, humiliated.

The woman could not believe the fact that Harry Potter defeated them time and time again; there were times where she should have had him. Waller felt him in her grasp but much like the snake he was, he slipped away. He was cunning and not willing to play by any rules. He did not fear any authority nor did he answer to them. That made him all the more dangerous and made him nothing but a disturber of a well-organized game.

"What does our illustrious Red Queen say about our wayward wizard?" Lord asked Waller and there was a time where Waller's eyes flickered towards Lords face.

"She states that he is a necessity that we have to coexist with," Waller admitted as she placed a hand on her chin and eyed Lord. "I don't know who she thinks…."

"The Red Queen is a higher authority that we have to coexist with," Lord offered but there was a small amount of disdain dripping from his voice regarding this individual . "If I may suggest…."

"No Lord, we're not going to get involved with Harry Potter any more, he's embarrassed us one time too many, Checkmate is losing legitimacy every time that we are defeated by him," Waller remarked as she turned her head around and eyed Lord. She offered four words that would live in infamy. "Leave him to Downfall."

Lord's eyes widened, there was really no more than needed to be said other than that.

Vala sat on the edge of the bed in the room that had been prepared for her in the Shining Light Foundation. The ordeal that she suffered happened so quickly that she could scarcely remember it. All that she knew was that Harry saved her. Like he would not do something noble and rescue her, that was something that she could take to the bank.

Faora decided that perhaps she read Harry wrong. She was allowed to stay in the Shining Light Foundation until Vala completely recovered although after a few days, the woman was on the mend.

"Vala, I'm….I'm guessing that I read him wrong," Faora remarked, he did as he said he was going to. "He is the one, truly he is, our savior."

"What of Zod?" Vala asked Faora, while she had her own doubts about Zod and his sincerity about giving their powers back; she wanted to hear it from her sister. She was second in command from the beginning.

Faora had to admit something to both herself and to Vala.

"Zod was another man that I was mistaken about as well," Faora admitted. She let out her breath in a long sigh and placed a hand on the side of her face. Zod had great qualities but he lost sight of many of them and would destroy any future hopes that the Kandorians had. "It appears that I have mastered the fine art of placing my foot in my mouth."

"Well it happens to the best of us."

Faora spun around and saw Harry standing there. There was a moment where she appeared flushed but maintained a certain amount of dignity.

"How long have you been standing there?" Faora asked Harry and the sorcerer smiled back towards her.

"About five seconds before you said that you mastered the fine art of placing your foot in your mouth," Harry told her and Faora inclined her head with a sharp nod.

"Understandable," Faora remarked but then she set her jaw. She was a prideful woman for many reasons. "I was a bit short with you earlier…."

"I wasn't the one who was responsible for the towers destruction," Harry informed both of the Kandorians.

"That tower….it might have been a curse to begin with," Faora told Harry, now that she had some time to think about things rationally. "I fear that Zod is losing sight of what's important and that is serving his fellow Kandorians instead of his own selfish aims."

"He has been dedicated, headstrong, but what he's doing now, it worries both of us," Vala added as she stepped forward towards Harry. "I understand if you think…."

"I know what Zod could become," Harry offered with a sigh. "I've always known what Zod could become but I've given him an even chance to become something that was different."

"You wished to give him the chance to prove that your expectations were wrong," Vala commented as she placed her hands around Harry's waist. "It was understandable and that proves your nobility."

"I'm glad that my sister is…." Faora remarked as Vala pressed her lips onto Harry's with a searing kiss, which he returned with an equally heated passion. The two of them kissed each other deeply and their arms locked around each other with a deep sigh. She commented in a slightly distracted tone, "And she wishes to thank you."

Vala broke away as she unbuttoned Harry's shirt and ran her fingers down his muscular chest, tracing every inch of what he had to offer. She turned over her shoulder and stared at Faora. "Don't pretend that you haven't thought of what he's capable of."

Faora's normally proud expression became extremely flustered, she did think of what Harry might be capable of and those thoughts caused her cheeks to burn for a little bit. Not to mention certain areas around her body became engulfed with heat.

"I'm sure Harry won't mind if you wish to act upon those desires," Vala offered as she straddled Harry's hips and he worked the long over shirt that she wore over her head to reveal her sexy body as she straddled him.

Faora's eyes widened as Harry pulled her towards him as well, as Vala made room. The two met in a passionate kiss. It was nothing like Faora had ever experienced before in her life and it caused chills to run down her spine in anticipation.

Smut/Lemon Begins.

-PROFILE-

Smut/Lemon Ends.

One thing was for certain; all the fluids in Harry's body were capable of granting women Kryptonian powers. Faora and Vala needed to recruit their other fellow females to indulge in this fun.

As for the males, well they could find their own way.

To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "A Night in Gotham."