A/N- There are brief mentions of underage sex and sex of dubious consent.
A/A/N-This chapter concludes a three chapter arc spanning two separate stories that began in Chapter 4 of this story and continued in Chapter 2.5 of Orc Empire I: The Colony Builders.
Recap- Having fended off their attackers, The alive Orc Emperor Samgon and Harry Potter prepared to answer a number of questions from many people regarding their continued survival. Before anyone could ask any questions though, several heroes inadvertently drank fizzy drinks spiked with homemade lust potion.
Chapter 6- Questions and Answers (Mostly)
Samgon was receiving quite a few death glares from people once the effects of the lust potion had worn off. "Okay, so I may have done a dick move but why did we have to leave the room?" They were now standing outside in one of the hospital's gardens as the hospital's security searched Samgon's and Harry's room for any more of the homemade lust potion that Samgon had made.
Harry looked at him like he was talking to an idiot, "We're out here because you spiked a bunch of Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottles with Lust Potion and almost caused an orgy. Hell, Nightwing and Starfire actually were doing it."
"They stopped eventually." Samgon said in a vain attempt to deflect Harry's ire.
Harry wasn't finished expressing his annoyance, "You were the one who made sure no one could stop them sooner by shielding them in a very see through bubble. They still can't look anyone in the eyes at the moment and especially their teammates." Indeed Dick and Kori were looking away from everyone and were at the back of the large group.
"Now, now, let's not get bogged down in who did what to who." Samgon replied, attempting to defuse the situation.
"No, because you're responsible for all of it." Harry declared. Before Samgon could reply, Harry decided to change topics before they got too bogged down by Samgon's petty attempts to deflect blame away from him, "So, what brings you all here? Aside from another reality merging into this one, what compelled you all to seek us two out?"
Newt walked up to the pair, giving Samgon a vicious glare as she did so. She took out an Idroid device and brought up a map showing familiar locations. "As you can see that's a map showing the area where their universe has emerged with their earth and all other planets merging into this one..." Newt said, glancing at the Justice League and Teen Titans as she pointed to the map. She then pointed to an exceptionally large section of ocean, "...except for one planet. I was able to pinpoint which one was missing and it's for that reason we sought you out."
Harry studied the map intensely for a moment without saying a word. He then lifted his head to look at Newt and spoke quietly, "Apokolips." It was not a question; Harry knew as soon as he inspected the map which location was missing and immediately his concern became obvious. Newt nodded mutely. Even Samgon's expression had become grave as he looked at the map.
"You know about Apokolips?" Batman asked the pair. They nodded in response without looking at him.
"From what I know of the place, I would say it is more hell than hell." Harry said, his face frowning as he continued to glance at the map.
"A place full of and guarded by abominations." Samgon said with a mix of admiration and disdain.
"You've not been invaded by Apokolips at any point, have you?" Damian asked the pair as well as Ron, Hermione, Newt, Ginny, Miller, Ocelot, Archaeon and everyone else who was not with the Justice League and Teen Titans and their friends and family.
"Nope. But we've done research on it." Samgon said to the heroes.
"You have to remember that until a short time ago, from our point of view, we considered you to just be fictional characters." Newt added.
"The multiverse can be a funny place sometimes." Samgon quipped to absolutely zero people laughing.
"How did you all get here? No ships were spotted." Harry asked them.
"I would've thought that was obvious mate. We took a rather large Portkey to where we were able to determine where you and he landed. We then tracked you and him here thanks to the presence of several hospitals including this one." Ron replied as though he'd grown a second head.
"Ah, so this lot couldn't have been around for more than a couple of days then." Harry said as he realised that this had all happened within a matter of days if not hours for most of them.
"Did you experience anything unusual as you were getting here?" Samgon asked, all sense of humour put aside for the time being.
"There was a feeling of dread that came over most of us as we came closer to this place. It was almost like a warning in a way." Superman said as he and the rest of them recalled the hike to the hospital where they now were. "I think our magic users experienced it the worse though."
"Is there anything else that you experienced?" Samgon asked them as he looked at them closely.
"No, I don't think so." Superman said as he looked at his teammates and colleagues.
Damian turned to Raven as he recalled what had happened a few hours earlier, "You need to tell them what you experienced." When Raven didn't say anything, he made sure she had to say something, "Actually, Raven experienced something else on the way here."
"Damian!" She hissed in annoyance and anger.
"What did you experience Raven?" Samgon asked.
Sensing that there was no point avoiding what happened earlier, Raven told Harry and Samgon what happened. "I felt like I was trying swat an invisible man trying to grope me. It felt very unpleasant."
"Hang on; let's go somewhere more open and more private. If what I think is about to happen is going to happen, we shouldn't cause unnecessary panic amongst those who are staying here." Harry suggested to everyone, who looked confused about why except for Samgon who gave a cautious shrug, not quite sure what Harry meant and their children who were hosting them , especially Sharokz, sighed with reluctance, knowing their father's couldn't be stopped from taking this course of action.
"Very well, lead on." Sharokz said dimly. They went to a grassy knoll a short distance away where they could talk about what they needed to more privately.
"Do you remember what you told me about your experience thousands of years ago?" Harry asked Samgon, who brightened up upon realising what Harry had been talking about.
"I do. I saw strange sights and saw people I couldn't quite figure out what they meant to me." Samgon replied, recounting something that had happened to him a long time ago.
"But you know now?" Harry asked, looking at Samgon with some uncertainty on his face.
"I do. I've been feeling it and hearing it every day. And I think that we'll be able to see it somewhat any moment."
"Can you explain what you mean?" Robinasked.
"The walls of reality can become very thin at times but they are separated by a sort of space between realities, a sort of void or world between worlds if you will. Occasionally, people or their soul selves will enter that space and they can interact with the real world, affecting what happens there." Samgon explained to the young raven haired teen.
"How does that pertain to us?" Batman asked with a stoic tone of voice.
"Because someone who entered that space was interacting with you via that thin wall between realities, someone that many of you who I don't recognise have only just met today." Harry said to the Dark Knight, sounding like a wise man.
"Who?" Robin asked with a sense of urgency, wanting to know answers as soon as possible. Batman didn't reprimand him as he too wanted answers.
Samgon spoke up, his face wearing a wistful smile, "Me." A tear in reality was
Samgon walked up to where the landscape had shown a tear through reality and stood face to face with one of his past incarnations. Everyone gave a collective gasp and realised that they could see the past version of Samgon and had seen that he had turned his head in their direction, confirming to them that he saw they were looking at him.
"I remember when I was him. I was...even more complicated then than I had been at any other time in my life." Samgon's future self said wistfully, a faint smile gracing his lips and gained Samgon's attention. The two walked up to each other, copying each other's movements with absolute precision then moving in sync with each other.
"He can hear us and see us but, while we can see him, we can't hear him." Harry explained to their friends and allies.
The past Samgon immediately said something but it gained only confused looks.
Samgon looked at his past self analytically as if trying to figure something out in his head. He then nodded softly to him.
The past Samgon acknowledged his future self's gesture and then said something to him, by now realising he couldn't be heard but hoped that someone was paying attention enough to lip read. "Now I understand."
"What did he say?" Robin asked Samgon, knowing at this point he couldn't hear but saw that the past Samgon had spoken.
"He said 'Now I understand'." Samgon replied firmly.
Past Samgon nodded, confirming to them that was indeed what he said. Then, in a sudden show of power, the past Samgon magically began to choke Nightwing from within the tear in reality. The members of the Justice League and Teen Titans began to panic and even Ginny, Hermione, Archaeon and most of the others looked perturbed at this demonstration of power from their past. Only present day Samgon, Harry, Ron, James Ryan, Gromgor and the rest of the Greenskins seemed undisturbed by what the past Samgon was doing, having been well aware of his capabilities. Before Nightwing could come to any real harm, the tear in reality sealed itself preventing the past Samgon from causing further harm.
"So yeah, that was me. In the past. He wouldn't have known who you were really; it's more that he... I... would've seen symbols above you all with your spirit animal being represented. Sometimes, in that realm, it can show things clearly and other times it doesn't." Samgon explained to those who hadn't witnessed the phenomena before; namely the Teen Titans and Justice League but also to the various representatives of the Empire, his son Samgon Junior and a good majority of the Jedi who were also in attendance.
"Samgon, back in those days, before I knew that he was in fact Samgon, had virtually no limits. His sense of right and wrong warped, no concept of age of consent-" Harry began only to be interrupted by Samgon.
"Again with the age of consent." Samgon protested in an annoyed tone, "I don't get humans and their sense of morality sometimes. Seriously, if they've got the parts to make babies, just do it is what I say." He turned to the Teen Titans and Justice League who were looking at him darkly. "Okay, let's leave that one up for debate shall we?" When no one responded, he decided to let Harry continue with what he was saying, "Go ahead Harry."
Harry looked at Samgon for a moment before continuing as though he hadn't been interrupted, "Then again, virtually all Greenskins within Samgon's empires have no concept of underage sex. He was a master of deceit and trickery. And a brutal and cunning warrior with a flair for guerrilla tactics."
"I'll be taking that as a compliment." Samgon said looking fairly smug.
"Not all of it was meant to be a compliment or seen in a good light." Harry said to him with some annoyance.
"Also, you make it sound like I'm no longer any of those things." Samgon complained to the Boy Who Lived.
"You have changed a lot in the thousands of years since you were him." Harry pointed out to the human looking Greenskin.
"It doesn't mean I haven't lost my flair for all of that." Samgon retorted.
"Touché." Harry responded with a slight smile.
"You've been up to something, haven't you?" Estelle asked accusingly.
Damian had to give Samgon credit; he didn't shy away from the question posed by his daughter, "Kind of. More a participant rather than actually leading something for a change." Having thought that, Damian found Samgon's answer to be a little cryptic.
"Explain." Sharokz ordered Samgon, concerned at how his own father had managed to do something under their noses.
"For the last several years now, me, Harry and several others across the world have been experiencing, I don't know... nightmares? Visions? However you'd want to describe them. Anyway, we were concerned about a great threat to the very existence of this world... as was my one of my other son's." Samgon explained. As Samgon momentarily stopped speaking, Ron's, Miller's, Ocelot's Hermione's and Ginny's ears began to perk up as if they'd connected some dots which previously seemed unrelated.
"Oh, I should've put two and two together." Ron said with a groan. "The news spoke about one of your son's going missing. He disappeared so he could find you, didn't he?" He then asked as realisation dawned on him.
"Correction... had already found me." The eyes of Samgon's and Harry's present sons and daughters bulged as they were taken aback by Samgon's revelation. "He discovered me through a mutual contact of this hospital. I'm talking about the doctor who my children and in-laws had found to keep me and Harry here healthy."
As the sons and daughters of Harry and Samgon became more surprised at the revelation, Harry chimed in to deliver more revelations to their children, "He asked us through our doctor if we'd mind contributing to his defence project in secret."
"How?" Sirius James asked.
"DNA, memories and dreams. That kind of thing." Harry replied, seeing no reason to hide it.
"Yeah, as it turned out, the project was the building of a huge army and fleet." The members of the WSF including Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Archaeon, Field Marshall Olmogard and the Jedi looked at Samgon in suspicion when he said this and Olmogard and some of the Jedi looked at Harry as though he had turned traitor. Even Ron and some of the WSF soldiers present looked at Harry as though he had gone insane.
"His son wanted him to lead it but he refused to lead it unless we both lead it and it was totally independent of outside control." Harry revealed.
"Meaning what exactly?" Ron asked his recently rediscovered best friend.
"It isn't to be under the control of any nation or organisation. Should we end up fighting with each other once more, they will have the choice to support whoever they want or even go their own way." Harry explained to his childhood best friend.
"So what's the purpose of it then if not to serve nations or organisations?" Hermione asked, feeling somewhat confused.
"I'd say given the general topic of what we're talking about so far, I would say its general purpose is to be the first line of defence in the event of a world ending invasion regardless of whoever is conducting that invasion." Samgon said to Hermione pedantically, almost mocking her for missing what he felt was obvious.
"Anyway, we could keep talking about this army that Samgon's son has built up but I'd like to move on for now. I think that both Samgon and I want to talk to and about our new guests." Harry said to Hermione whilst simultaneously addressing everyone else.
"Indeed, however I've just realised, I really need something to eat." Samgon said, feeling rather ravenous all of a sudden.
Harry nodded, "At the risk of sounding like Ron, I'm pretty hungry too, let's go back inside." He then led everyone back to the hospital, which led to exasperated groans from his children and children in law.
"Has he been like this since he got here?" Ron asked the four of them quietly.
"Not since he got here, no. Since he regained his memory, then yes." Sirius James frustratingly replied to his uncle.
"Harry lost his memory?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Arrived in a comatose state and when he awoke after a few years, he had no memory of who he was. It was Samgon who saved him as he underwent his regeneration." Sirius James told him without any hint of a lie.
"Now, that is interesting." Ron said as his eyes narrowed, looking at the back of Samgon and Harry's heads.
They had returned to the cafeteria where Samgon and Harry had disposed of the rogue warlords and their guards and the bloody mess that had been there was already cleared up, although some stains were still barely visible on the walls. Things in the hospital had already largely returned to normal although, thanks to the attack, some of the patients had ended up experiencing PTSD attacks. Harry and Samgon wound up having a couple of sandwiches with Harry having a packet of crisps as well and Samgon had a couple of small sausage rolls.
Once they had finished their food, Harry and Samgon turned their full attention to the members of the Justice League and Teen Titans. Samgon looked over the members of the Bat family in particular before speaking to the whole group in general, "I'd ask about Jason Todd and Tim Drake but the fact there's a soul bond between the demonbirds over here means those names would go over your heads."
Batman, Dick and Damian looked utterly confused by what Samgon had just talked about as Dick asked Batman in a loud whisper, "Who are Jason Todd and Tim Drake? Do they mean anything to us?"
Before Batman could respond, Harry spoke up to clarify what Samgon was on about. "You're probably asking each other who the hell are those two people and if they mean anything to you. The thing is, if you'd all come from another universe or timeline, you could very well have known those two. Because of certain events though, namely the soul bond between Robin and Raven as well as some others we're not certain of, it tells us that they don't exist in your timeline."
"This is all... very confusing." Dick said with a shake of his head.
"Well... timelines don't always like being straightforward. The more timelines or universes there are, the more the web of time gets tangled up." Samgon explained with a slight grin.
"Trust me; it's easier sometimes if you don't think about it. Having thousands of different versions of myself around gets me confused all the time." Harry added. "Putting some of that to one side for now, we'd like to ask you some questions."
Samgon nodded and then spoke. "What did you all experience before your universe merged with this one?"
Batman explained most of what happened with Zatanna filling in the blanks which concerned the magic users from their reality, "It started with extremely bad weather, virtually a storm. Then there was some bright light followed by a big bang, almost like a worldwide stun grenade going off. Everyone seems to have woken up at roughly the same time with no sign of the bad weather."
"All the magic users from our reality, myself included, also experienced what could only be described as having the chills and we telepathically communicated to try and determine the cause of it. We determined that there was a magical influence behind it."
"So everyone tried seeking us out, hoping one of us or both of us could answer all of your questions." Samgon managed to figure out with almost total certainty.
"Well, we can't give you all the answers you seek at this time because we only know what you've all told us. At the moment, the best we can give you are theories." Harry said truthfully.
"Now we'd like to know what you've all gone through up to this moment." Samgon told the members of the Justice League and his tone made it clear that this was not negotiable; they would have to go through their experiences with Harry and Samgon.
"So have you gone through Darkseid's initial invasion attempt?" Harry asked the Justice League. The Justice League nodded hesitantly. "What about the time Deathstroke attacked the League of Assassins, forcing Talia to bring Damian to Gotham?"
"It happened." Batman replied stoically.
"Then the coup in Atlantis which almost brought war to the whole world, that happened as well, correct?" Harry continued.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was out of it for a while." Cyborg said. "I also recall Batman had to send Robin and Nightwing after Scarecrow after the crisis began."
"Next up, when the Court of Owls came knocking on your door Batman. I'm assuming that took place, right?"
Damian responded, "Yes, it happened. Not my finest hour."
"From what I know about that, it really wasn't anyone's finest hour." Samgon commented, causing Damian to look at the Orc curiously.
"Moving on." Harry said to Samgon and Damian, telling them they could talk about it a bit later. "Now, the Heretic and Talia's psychotic plan to take over the world happened, right?"
"Yes, it did. I still have mixed feelings about it, even now." Damian admitted. "Why would she try and kill her own son?" He then asked himself although was clearly heard by those in the immediate vicinity of him.
"People, even the most rational of people, are almost never rational." Samgon said to the young teen, trying to confer some wisdom to him. "It could've been any number of reasons, trauma usually being one of the top ones. It could've caused your mother to snap in some way." He then theorised.
"You sound like you've seen it before." Damian said to Samgon quietly.
"Not just seen it, I've experienced events like that personally. It can break a person." Samgon said to the black haired teen.
Damian and Samgon heard a rather loud cough and saw Harry looking at them with his facial expression clearly telling the two that he was annoyed, "Are we ready to continue? I hate to interrupt emotional moments but I'd like to get as many answers to my questions as soon as possible."
"Of course, I apologise for my rudeness." Damian said apologetically to Harry.
"It wasn't rude. Just not the best time to have that conversation." Harry replied, reassuring the son of Batman that he was not being rude at any point. Harry then proceeded to continue with the questioning of the Justice League and Teen Titans, "Next up on events that may or may not have happened, Trigon... Did he try and destroy the world?"
Raven spoke up with Kori putting a hand on her shoulder, "Yeah, he did. His corruptors temporarily possessed members of the Justice League and I was made to open a portal that enabled him to come to earth. I hate to think what would've happened if my father had succeeded."
"I'm sure he would've loved this earth a long time ago then. It was nothing but constant war with lots of monstrosities. Still is as a matter of fact." Samgon commented offhandedly.
"I've got some ideas about what happened after that but I want you lot to tell me yourselves." Harry said authoritatively.
"We then faced the magic of Destiny and then a creature called Doomsday almost killed Superman." Batman told Harry and Samgon, both of whom immediately raised an eyebrow.
"A few months after that, I know that Superman returned to life and that Conner was revealed to the world and a few days after that we faced Deathstroke again." Dick said to Harry and Samgon, pointing to the members of the Titans when he said 'we'.
"We had a teammate at the time, who as it turned out, was working with Deathstroke during the time she had been with us. We had been captured by Deathstroke to be used in some sort of ritual by Brother Blood and Deathstroke betrayed her. In the end, Brother Blood, Deathstroke and our 'teammate' all died when the building we had been in collapsed." Damian added. Garfield was fighting back tears as Damian and Dick spoke about what had happened to them just a few months prior.
"Her name was Tara, wasn't it?" Samgon asked the Teen Titans in a neutral tone of voice.
"Yeah, how did you know that?" Kori asked as she was confused as to how Samgon knew Tara's name.
"Has anyone explained the multiverse to you yet?" Harry asked the members of the Justice League and Teen Titans.
"Not particularly. Although the Newt girl that Ron brought with him to the Hall of Justice did mention something to Ron about knowing what Skywalker and some people felt when they were referred to as fictional characters." Kori said honestly.
"Well to put it simply the multiverse is a complex web of different realities. For example, what could be fiction in one universe is absolute fact in another universe. From our perspective, your reality is the one that is, or was, fiction whereas the reverse is true for your universe where I'd be regarded as the main character in a book or something. Honestly, I'm surprised no one spotted any of the comics that had at least one of you of the covers when we were in our room." Harry explained before revealing a fact that had flown right by the usually observant members of the Teen Titans and Justice League.
"Well now, I'm going to be the one who sounds like a bit of a dick but I'd like to ask about Hush." Samgon interrupted the conversation.
"What about him?" Batman asked, still being stoic.
"Well have you faced him yet? I'm assuming you have as you haven't asked me who he is." Samgon remarked with a bit of an upward inflection in his voice.
"I confronted him last month with the assistance of Nightwing and Catwoman." Batman confirmed to the Orc Emperor.
"Huh." Samgon replied dumbly for a moment before following up with more questions, "And this all happened in the order you lot described, right?"
"Yes it did. Why? Is there something wrong?" Batman said, confused by Samgon's line of questioning.
Samgon went to Harry, ignoring Batman, and spoke quietly and worriedly into his ear, "It's definitely the universe we thought it was but the events are out of sequence."
"That's interesting. I wonder why that is?" Harry said to Samgon, taking a great interest in what Samgon had just told him.
"Yeah, it is a good question. It seems that events at the start of their timeline begin the same as the one we were thinking of but after the Destiny incident, events have gotten muddled. The Doomsday attack and the subsequent events surrounding the Supermen happened before Deathstroke went after the Teen Titans rather than after it. And the incident with Hush only happened a month ago from their perspective." Samgon added, continuing to quietly speak with Harry.
"There's something we're missing here. What is it?" Harry remarked aloud, causing the Justice League and Teen Titans to realise something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" Batman asked the wizard and Orc Emperor pointedly.
"We're not sure yet." Samgon said, his face frowning as he tried to come up with answers without success.
"We're going to have to do more research before we can tell you anything with absolute certainty." Harry told the Dark Knight.
Ron then re-entered the conversation, asking Harry and Samgon, "You said that two of them had a soul bond?"
"Yes, Robin and Raven. No question about it." Samgon replied without hesitation.
"There's no one else involved in this one which does make things simpler to deduce and explain than if it had been with multiple people." Harry added.
Damian had become frustrated by the lack of explanation of what a soul bond was, "Can someone please explain what a soul bond is before I lose my temper?"
Harry and Samgon gestured for Damian and Raven to sit as the majority of people, including them, had been standing up and Harry began to talk to them, "So, you want to know what a soul bond is? Good."
"There are many different kinds of soul bond. Some of Harry's alternate selves have soul bonds with other people. A few thousand years ago, Me and Harry had to help one of his parallel selves and his multiple bondmates when they were threatened by this group who had tried to kill the pair of us before." Samgon continued.
"Some soul bonds form from life debts or are already there from birth. Some are formed from accidents or because the pair have strong emotions for each other. Usually, soul bonds indicate that those in it are married or betrothed." Harry explained to Damian. Damian's and Raven's eyes widened when the possibility of them being married came up.
"By the way, that was a massive hint, so congratulations Mr and Mrs Wayne." Samgon said both jokingly and sincerely, however it made him once again look like a dick.
Garfield was utterly surprised by the revelation that Samgon and thought that he hadn't heard him properly, "I must have missed a joke because I thought I heard you say that Damian and Raven are already married."
Samgon and Harry looked at the green-skinned shape shifter, almost dumbfounded by the lack of attention from him. Samgon then confirmed what he was saying, this time being much more seriously and being a lot less of a dick as he spoke to Garfield. "No, I wasn't joking. I may have come across as making a joke but, no, I was being totally serious. Your teammates, Damian and Raven, are married thanks to the soul bond they share... or could be, at the very least, permanently engaged. But no, they're married." Garfield looked awkward when Samgon confirmed that he was in fact not joking about his teammates and decided to just scratch his head in silence.
"What would happen if someone were to break this soul bond they share?" Starfire asked Harry and Samgon.
"At best, they'd either die or become crazed husks of themselves. Worst case would be a cataclysmic event that could kill millions at minimum." Harry said to the Tamaranean bluntly. "In some universes, that's how Atlantis became lost. Not because the sea overtook it but because a soul bonded couple were separated and the end result destroyed it." Several people gasped in shock and horror. "But that's only with certain kinds of bonds, so I don't think there's much to worry about." The gasps of shock and horror became gasps of relief. "It seems to be an unbreakable bond."
Both Damian and Raven appeared stunned. The pair looked at each other, barely showing any hint of panic. They had not been expecting to be told that they were married. Their first thought was asking themselves what they could do about this situation. They became so focused on each other, wondering on what the other was thinking that they didn't hear their teammates and new acquaintances call to them in concern. Eventually Samgon walked up to the duo and shook their shoulders, shaking them from their inner thoughts. This caused some surprise amongst the large group, who hadn't thought of doing what Samgon did. Samgon gave the large group of people an almost annoyed looking shrug as if to say, 'What? It's common sense' although he never openly said it. Harry ignored the large group entirely for a few moments as he looked on sympathetically at the clearly shocked teens. Samgon and Harry then summoned some tea for the two teens, causing the pair to look at the black haired wizard and Orc Emperor in surprise. The two teens were further surprised when they were given a selection of additives to put in their tea to make it to their liking.
Before either Harry or Samgon could ask further questions, Ron beat them to the punch by asking Samgon a question, "Seeing as one of your many sons managed to find you here, I've got one question for the time being, has anyone else managed to find you here before us?"
Samgon stared Ron down for a minute before answering his question, "Not exactly. Thanks to the thin walls of reality here, I've mentally communicated with some followers asking them to find a number of items on behalf of myself and to a lesser extent, Harry, from other dimensions. Before you ask about the items, the items are more souvenirs than they are important items. The Time strategist has been doing the searches for me before I even asked him to." He said this all to Ron honestly and without any hint of lying. He did however give a certain warning, indicating that he was currently omitting some information, "These souvenirs are at the moment, just that. They do contain however, items that many people here might consider disturbing and possibly even morbid."
"What are these items?" Ron pressed the Orc Emperor forcefully.
"No one in this room should want to know what the items are. All you need to know for the time being is this; if I need to show them to people, then I won't hesitate to show them, especially if I need to prove a point." Samgon said to the frustrated red haired man.
Harry then intervened, stopping Ron from pursuing the matter further for the time being, "Ron, leave it. If there's a need to show the items off, then Samgon will show them to those who need to see them."
The Orc strategist, who had been silent for some time now, seemingly began to wonder off for no obvious reason. This was noticed by several individuals, including Hermione and Miller. "Where's he going?" Miller asked no-one in particular.
The Orc strategist overheard Miller's question, "I am going to greet the Time strategist as he has returned from his assignment and has located us all here." The Orc strategist then left to greet the Orc Time strategist.
Ron sharply inhaled, causing Hermione to look at her husband in alarm, "Ron, what's the matter? This Time strategist is just another Orc strategist, isn't he? He's only specialising in a different field of expertise, right?"
"If only the Time strategist was just another Greenskin. No, the reason Ron is sharply inhaling is because the Orc Time strategist is in fact a mutated parallel version of himself." Harry explained to his bushy haired best friend. "It's not exactly public knowledge."
Garfield made an uncomfortable comment, reflecting his own discomfort at the sudden turn in the conversation, "This just became more messed up than it already was."
Jaime nodded, "Agreed. It is one messed up situation."
"Don't worry about that. There's more messed up things in this universe." Harry said to the two teens.
Just then, the Orc strategist returned with the Orc Time strategist and several other Orcs in tow. Hovering behind them, were several metal caskets that resembled coffins and all the magic users felt themselves become somewhat nauseous as they felt the coffin-like caskets radiate an unnatural power. "Ah, Emperor, you have changed again. Your appearance is a contradiction of looks compared to when I last saw you. You look older yet younger than the last time I saw you." The Orc Time strategist said to Samgon, its voice deep and calm.
"I have changed a bit, haven't I?" Samgon remarked to the Time strategist. The Orc Emperor then questioned the Orc Time strategist about the caskets, having seen them upon the Time strategist's entry, "I take it you were successful in your task?"
"It was... complicated but it was... successful. The task to gather the... items of interest led to some tough encounters with unknown opponents of unknown origins." The Orc Time strategist replied with some slight hesitation, its eyes roaming over his prime counterpart and the members of the Justice League and Teen Titans as it spoke with Samgon.
"What happened with the invasion by Apokolips when you lot first met?" Harry asked the Justice League as Samgon continued to quietly talk with the two strategists, although Samgon and the strategists were very aware of what was being said.
"We had been investigating separate incidents involving what turned out to be a parademon. It soon activated a Mother Box which spawned several Boom Tubes and we had to work together." Superman told Harry.
"We had not known each other up to that point and had to team up when this invasion took place." Flash added.
"Darkseid's plan was to terraform the earth once it had been conquered. Thanks to our teaming up, Darkseid was foiled and he lost many parademons as well as a key lieutenant when he was forced to return to Apokolips." Cyborg finished.
"He has not been foiled yet, merely delayed." Samgon declared. "He will most likely want to commence another attack when he's figured out what happened. Fortunately, we have some vital days, maybe weeks, to prepare and brace ourselves for his attack."
"Do you think there's anyone else who isn't here with the capability or know how to take on the forces of Darkseid?" Harry asked the members of the Justice League and Teen Titans.
"I would say that there are some criminals who'd be able to take them on; Most probably due to sheer strength or because they're highly able individuals." Batman told Harry and Samgon, who were paying very close attention to the Justice League members and the Teen Titans.
"I would also have said Tara would've been an ideal person to help fend off an attack by Apokolips but, as you know, she died. And as much as I hate to admit it, I would say that Deathstroke would also have been helpful in this scenario as he was a well trained and skilled fighter." Dick told Harry and Samgon.
"I would've also have said that mother and Grandfather would've been helpful in relation to your question for the same reasons that were given about Deathstroke." Damian reluctantly admitted.
"The people of Azarath would've known magiks that could've at least slowed down, if not halt, Darkseid." Raven told the pair.
"Why that question?" Wonder Woman asked.
"This universe isn't just capable of combining worlds into a single one..." Samgon began.
And Harry finished off Samgon's sentence, "...It can also return the dead to the world of the living."
Samgon resumed speaking, "All those people who you said have died are back; they're alive. Tara, Talia, Ra's, Deathstroke, the people of Azarath are alive somewhere. Even the people you haven't mentioned, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and foes are all alive." Harry and Samgon smiled at the members of the Teen Titans and Justice League, happy that their loved ones who had passed were alive.
The Justice League and Teen Titans were all in shock. Hearing that their universe's dead had come back to life was not something they were expecting to hear.
A/N- I know that this chapter has mostly been a lot of talking but there will be a little action next chapter. There will also be a little mini-chapter explaining what Harry and Samgon were doing prior to chapter 4.
A/A/N- Some of the inspiration for the start of the chapter came from watching the older Top Gear episodes with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond and their interactions with each other as well as House amongst many others.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and please review.