Chapter Eight: Distorted Perception.
Was it the end?
Harry wondered sometimes if things would be easier if he did not even lift a finger but then he realized that was just not what he did. The entire Forbidden Zone mess got from kind of odd to extremely weird. His green eyes flashed as he mentally recapped every single of this entire mess, in all of its twisted glory.
If this was the end, then they were just resting. Maybe with their leader off on a mystic journey, he could get some peace and some clarity. Then again, there were other problems in the world that he would have to deal with, as the Parasite incident reminded him. There was no such thing as peace and quiet. He plotted his next move.
The ring still stood out to him as that one riddle that he could not solve. Of course, he was reluctant to pick it up after what happened last time. Granted, next time, he knew to put more protections up but knowing and doing were two entirely different things.
'It feels like I'm being lead around in circles like some rat in a maze," Harry thought to himself and he shook his head. The last thing he wanted to be was some lab rat. He was going to have to accomplish something, although he was not sure what and he was not sure when.
Karen stepped into the room and took the seat down next to him. "Hey, good morning."
"Morning Karen, how are you doing?" Harry asked her as he watched her saunter into the room with a smile across his face.
She smiled as she took a cup of coffee. "Good….better than lately anyway….have we seen the last of her?"
Harry smiled as he sipped on his coffee, looking thoughtful for a few seconds.
"Good question, with Hermione….you never know," Harry admitted and he was being honest. Hermione may have still had a few brain cells lurking around in all of that insanity and she sometimes was resourceful, although once she was taken out of her comfort zone of memorizing texts, she was like the empress with no clothes.
"Well, I'm sure that you could figure it out," Karen stated as she watched Harry eat a donut. Some of the cream was on his lips so she lightly scrapped it off and he captured her finger, sucking on it.
He smiled as he licked the frosting from her finger. She slowly placed her finger into her mouth, sucking it in and out with a thinly veiled look of lust in her eye. Karen offered him a smoldering smile as she brought up another point.
"Maybe we can have another early morning sparring session, after how well the last one went," Karen whispered to him and Harry's smile grew extremely wide.
"Looking forward to one actually," Harry commented as he saw Karen lean forward in her tight white t-shirt. She did that on purpose he expected but she had a body that she would be proud of. He leaned back on the chair and shook his head.
Chloe made her way in the room, looking a bit worn. Harry noticed how flushed and how agitated he looked. He knew that when women were sick, they could potentially get violent so he decided to breech the subject with her gently.
"Chloe how are you…."
"Fine, I'm fine!" Chloe yelled as she felt a throbbing going through the back of her head and she tried to ease on through the pain. She staggered but she could not really stand firmly on her feet.
Kara offered a shadow of a smile, just a small one as she leaned towards Chloe. "Really, you don't look fine."
Chloe shook her head; no she did not look fine because she did not feel fine, not at all. Her body and her head felt like elephants did a tag dance all over it. She felt her stomach turning in knots as she tried to hold her head up. The woman tried to keep herself out there and alive. She coughed and her body felt like that needles were stabbing through it as she tried to sit down.
She had not been under the weather like this in years. In fact, she was not sick ever since her encounter with Brainiac. He had left more behind that had changed her in ways which the rogue computer did not even intend to do, to the point where she was an entirely different person.
The entire mess with Doomsday made going to the future even more obvious. Clark would not remember her and the name Chloe Sullivan faded off into history after that point. Although there was that weird point in history where there was a rumor where she became Lois Lane after the real Lois Lane disappeared but Chloe silenced that one quiet easily.
The things people on the Internet came up with, it was completely and totally ridiculous. She wanted a hot drink and perhaps several cups of it and she would be fine. She had to be fine because the Legion needed her.
'I just got to get my shit together,' Chloe stated as she coughed once again. She felt a bit vomity and she knew that this was going to get far worse before it got better.
"You shouldn't be sick and we both know that," Imra commented as she turned up with Chloe.
"Imra, I've come up with a bug, it isn't the end of the world," Chloe protested with frustration dripping her voice as she tried to make the girl understand that she was in fact fine. Although she might not have felt fine but she was trying to put together a brave face and just push on through with her responsibilities.
"Well, I still think that you should get checked out, to make sure that it isn't anything to compromise your work," Imra commented and Chloe offered a cough as she held her chest, but withdrew her hand immediately to act like she did not.
"I…HACK….AM…HACK….FINE…HACK!"
Chloe spit something on the table and Imra captured it into a bubble. She would find out how fine Chloe was.
"You may have caught a virus," Imra stated.
"I swear, I've stayed clear of those types of websites," Chloe told her, trying to lighten the mood.
"This is a serious matter, Indigo," Imra told her and Harry perked up and Karen shook her head. Karen was now edged onto Harry's lap and carefully feeding him strawberries but the thought of it was lost with the warpath Chloe was on.
Kara threw her arms around Harry the moment that she saw her husband and greeted him with a kiss. The two enjoyed the smoldering lip action before Kara slowly pulled back.
"This place is so amazing, although…." Kara laughed as she said that. "They kind of picked some of the more absurd tales up about you."
"Well given the reality is me fighting off Basilisks and hundreds of Dementors, suddenly the absurd does seem less so, doesn't it?" Harry asked Kara and the blonde nodded in an excited manner.
"True, that's very true," Kara agreed as she leaned back and bit nervously on her lip. "I saw Chloe is she….."
"Well she says that she's fine," Harry told Kara and the blonde slumped her shoulders. A look on her face showed that she thought Chloe was less than fine and thus she was dubious about her health.
"What she says and what she does is two different things," Kara told him.
"Imra's going to run some tests, so hopefully we'll be able to get a clearer idea," Harry informed her. He wondered what Chloe could have caught. Of course his knowledge on computers was essentially limited due to not being allowed near them when he was with the Dursleys and being in a magical world of magic for most of his life after that.
So he was going to defer it to the experts.
"You're getting worse, just calm down…..I'm sure the world won't collapse because you're unable to work for one day," Karen protested.
"I swear, I'm reminded that you're related to Clark sometimes because of how much of a wet blanket you can be sometimes," Chloe stated in a huff. "I'm fine, I really am."
"Really, now?" Karen asked with a raised eyebrow as Chloe started a hacking fit of coughing once more.
"Yes, really, I'm really….oh….maybe I'm not, just a little bit," Chloe admitted tensely as she grabbed onto the rail. Kara walked over and she saw something flashing through Chloe's eyes.
"Look at that," Kara whispered as she watched her eyes with rapt attention.
"I don't read binary code, but I'm pretty sure that's not normal," Harry said to her and Chloe's legs buckled out from underneath her but she held herself up.
"No, it's not," Karen confirmed grimly. When she was certain that Imra would be back with those tests, they could get this show on the road.
"Well I don't know what's happening on, although I have to take some more tests," Imra said as she saw that Chloe was about ready to collapse down onto the ground. "And you better lie down until we figure out what's wrong."
"Yeah, a couple hundred years in bed and I should be fine," Chloe rasped but she felt like she was this close to having a system crash. She needed a reboot and state or maybe some new hardware inserted into her.
That came out a lot cleaner in her head than it did….well technically she did not even speak it. She was so delirious that she could not say anything.
"I wonder if she picked up some magical residue that played havoc with her programming, from the Forbidden Zone," Harry muttered under his breath.
"But she didn't go there, she was mission support…."
"It doesn't matter, we were there and we could have acted as carriers for her," Harry said as he waved his hand, thinking of the possibility.
Needless to say their mouths hung open at that thought and they wondered, could it be true? It was if nothing else possible but Harry would have to run a scan or two so he could find out about what Chloe might have caught. Magic and technology tended to be a rather volatile mix.
He prepared to do so as Imra made sure Chloe was tucked firmly into bed.
"Well that's better than any theory that I have, which is nothing," Imra added as she decided to defer this matter to Harry.
"That's good," Harry commented to her as he prepared to scan her, for better or for worse. He could see Chloe twitching and shivering underneath the covers and knew that time might as well have been running out for her.
He prepared the scanning spells and waited with bated breath. He continued to scan and tried to finish her off. The blonde shuddered and there was a constant muttering that she was fine as she was on the bed but she did not seem to be fine.
"Well, magical residue wise, she comes out completely clean," Harry told Imra and the blonde corked her eyebrow towards him.
"Are you sure…."
"Yes, Imra, I'm completely positive," Harry whispered to her and the blonde nodded as she looked at the other blonde. They were dealing with something that they had not seen before and given what Chloe's systems were like, that could be very bothersome indeed.
"No, NO!" Chloe shouted as her body jerked with a start and Imra rushed towards her.
"Chloe calm down, I know you're ill but everything is going to be fine," Imra stated as she saw the numbers continue to flash through Chloe's eyes as her body continued to spasm.
"No, it's a trap, don't…DON'T GO IN THERE!" Chloe shrieked at the top of her lungs. "You can't….you can't….NO!"
Harry was disturbed by the level of shrieks that she was giving. These were not the shrieks of a sane person and he shook his head as he kept his eyes firmly locked onto her. He placed his hand on hers and squeezed it tightly.
"Chloe calm down, it's going to be fine, really, fine," Harry told her as he was severely worried about what was happening.
"I WON'T GO, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs as she thrashed underneath his grip.
Imra could see that her readings were weirder than they should have been but that was only the tip of the chaotic iceberg. She looked towards Harry, offering him a pleading gaze for him to help but there was nothing in his eyes, although than the determination that burned through them presently.
Chloe Sullivan felt like her mind had been entombed into some level of hell although exactly how that was, she did not know. The blonde's eyes were burning as she saw a rapid fire flash of light.
Everything, every atrocious thing that ever happened to her, it flashed through her mind and rocked her head. She closed her eyes and felt a shiver go through her body. More shivers followed that up as the blonde tried to hold her head up but she sank back onto the bed once again.
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU WON'T HURT HIM!" Chloe shrieked at the top of her lungs and these screams chilled everyone to the bone. They sounded like she was being violently tortured.
"Chloe, Chloe, calm down, no one is hurting you," Imra stated in what she hoped was a soothing voice but Chloe lashed out.
She lashed out on everyone but Harry as her fever boiled over. Harry noticed this.
"Just let me talk to you her," Harry whispered to Karen, Kara, and Imra, all of them who nodded. "I'll…I'll be okay, but at the same time, make sure to stand by in case things get ugly."
"Right," Karen agreed as she nodded her head as she waited nervously on the other end of the room. She really hoped that Harry would be able to talk some kind of sense into Chloe and be able to do it soon. Her nerves were bundled up in her stomach as she kept watching everything around her.
Harry walked over Chloe and calmly and gently placed his hand upon the top of her head.
"Chloe, can you hear me, just calm down….we'll figure out something," Harry told her as he tried to find the source of her agony.
"No, too late…too awful, so much, hurt, no, pain, so much pain," Chloe murmured as she felt more bile rise to her throat. She was finding it hard to keep a stiff upper lip in the situation that she was in. Her entire body heated up and not in the good way.
"Chloe, you're….you're strong, I know you are," Harry whispered to her and he was trying to squeeze her hand tightly. The blonde's heart hammered across her chest and she lifted her head up. She was trying to keep herself from getting brought down from what was happening but it was hard to keep her head up.
"Chloe, focus, okay, you can do it," Harry whispered to her as he continued to squeeze her hand. "I know you can do it, just…."
'I can't figure out what's happening with her mind, but there's something that's infecting both her mind and her body,' Imra thought as Harry once again looked at Chloe. 'Could you try….try and get her to help because I don't think I can figure this out without her help.'
'I'll give it my best shot,' Harry thought to the blonde as he looked towards the other blonde. He saw Chloe's skin turning into a bluish tone and there were symbols that appeared all over her body. These symbols were of a strange writing that Harry vaguely recognized although he did not have time to try and go in for a translation.
"Chloe, Chloe, please answer me," Harry whispered her as he bent over her. The blonde was not responsive to him, not at the moment. The blonde was whimpering and shivering. It was really hard for her to think about everything. "I need….I need you to open up your systems, see what's wrong."
The half machine, half female, shuddered and she felt paranoid, paranoid that someone was out to get her. She was screaming out loud but Harry held her in tight. He was not going to let anything happen to her.
"Chloe, it's okay, I'm here, help me, help you," he whispered.
Chloe shivered as she held her head up but she collapsed down onto the bed. She was trying to get back up but Harry held her tightly in his arms, trying to reassure her.
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Harry whispered Chloe.
Chloe managed to block out her own paranoid thoughts and managed to help Harry access her systems. This allowed her to get several things done and Harry was glad as he helped work through what she needed to do to fix the system.
"Just relax, I'll help you," Harry breathed as he was trying to understand her complex systems but about the most complex computer he used was a pocket calculator.
"Don't worry Harry, you've got her calmed down, I'll help you," Karen stated as she held Harry's hand and there was a second where the blonde held onto her hard.
He understood what was happening and he closed his eyes tightly. The two of them worked together as Chloe's mind was relaxed.
The system crash was affecting her human mind. She should have been used to something like this, in fact she had a high amount of encryption so when something affected her, something really affected her. Harry understand this much as he leaned over Chloe, stroking her hair reassuringly.
"It's fine, Chloe, you're doing well, you're almost there," Harry whispered to her and the blonde bit down on her lip as Harry continued to work through her systems. There was a few seconds where he thought that she slipped away from him and his heart fell.
Chloe's stubbornness returned in full force as she refused to let something like this to defeat her. She was holding her head up.
"Let's kick this virus's ass," Chloe stated in fierce determination.
"That's a good girl," Karen whispered as she tried to figure out if she recognized everything that was going on. The alien virus was something that was defeated by her enhanced alien systems. All she needed was a bit of encouragement and she was going to be pushed to the other side.
Chloe smiled, she was working through it, she was fighting it. It was a struggle but she had fought before and she would fight again.
"That's it Chloe, you can do it, you can certainly do it," Harry whispered to Chloe and the blonde nodded fiercely as there was something about Harry's confidence that infected her and allowed her to continue to press on.
"Yes, I can, yes I will," Chloe commented stubbornly as she swallowed the lump in her throat.
She felt the virus leave her body as it was destroyed by her anti-bodies. All she needed to do was rest and she sunk into a deep funk, her head hitting the pillow as she crashed.
Much let everyone felt after they had a really bad bout of the flu, Chloe was pretty much shaken but she was not beaten, not at all. All she had to do was shaken off what happened and she would be more than good and ready to go.
"So how are you feeling?
Harry asked this question and he could see that Chloe looked back at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. She decided to speak with her usual round of blunt honesty because that was what she did.
"So tell me, does it look like a Steam Roller took me down or not?"
"Well, you've looked like you've had better days," Harry admitted to her and Chloe sighed. "However, you look far better than you did a while ago. Imra ran the tests, you are normal."
"First of all, you should know that I am never normal," Chloe quipped and Harry smiled. "And thanks."
"No problem at all, although hopefully you won't scare us like that again," Harry told the blonde and she raised an eyebrow.
"I'll try not to, really I'll try," Chloe added as she leaned back and rested. It was a long day for her and she realized something that many computer users learned. No matter how good a system was, there was always a way for something to compromise it. "I wonder if something happened when the portal opened up to let out Parasite and I swear that if you say it's your fault, I will hurt you."
"I wasn't about to say anything of the sort," Harry stated to her although a momentary grin popped over his face.
"No, but you were thinking something of the sort, weren't you?" Chloe asked him and Harry gave a shrug. "Yeah, that look of innocent, I hate to be the one to tell you but it does not suit you at all."
"Then I'm going to have to practice it better, now won't I?" Harry asked Chloe and she smiled at him.
"You really should, you know," Chloe told him as she looked at him for a second. She was thinking about all of the legends that she ready about him but regardless, there was no legend that would describe how able he was to help her through her problems.
That made her see that there was more to the stories, well she kind of saw that already but that was reinforced more in her mind.
"I don't think I have anything contagious anymore," Chloe commented as her smile got wider as she looked at Harry.
"Yes, we established that when Imra did her scans, you're completely clean," Harry told Chloe and she smiled.
"That's good because I would hate for you to come done with something when I thank you for saving me," Chloe stated and Harry raised an eyebrow in question but her lips pressed against his in a burning kiss.
Harry returned the kiss, as he wrapped his arms around her. The blonde melted into his embrace as his lips could be registered as deadly weapons. Not that it was a complaint.
'Oh, he's going to make me have another system crash,' Chloe thought with a sigh as she was interested in exploring some of the more, interesting facets of her powers with Harry. She settled with draping her legs over his lap and he roamed her body hungrily with his hands.
Harry explored her form quite expertly and her mind was in total shut down mode as Harry continued to work his hands over her body. Her shirt was pulled up.
"I think that you need a full physical, to make sure that you're fine," Harry whispered to Chloe as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt and rubbed his chest and his abs.
"Yes, a full physical," she murmured as she closed her eyes and ran her hands all over his body. "And I can see that you're up to it, a lot, so let's go for it."
Harry smiled as Chloe tightened her grip around his neck. She was deceptively strong and now it was time for the both of them to indulge in each other.
Chloe Sullivan considered her mind to completely blown. She blinked as she felt Harry snuggle against her naked body. She draped her arms over his chest and draped her head over his chest. There was a second where she struggled to find the proper words to describe what she had felt.
"Amazing," Chloe whispered.
"I know I am," Harry told her as she smirked at him.
"Don't get a big head, although that would match other parts of your body quite nicely," Chloe stated as her fingers lazily trailed down his abs as she teased going a bit lower but she pulled back at the last minute. The blonde's grin got even wider as she leaned her head into Harry's shoulder and there was a second where the two of them relaxed together.
"So, you're feeling much better, I can tell," Harry commented to her and Chloe laughed as she leaned over and planted another simmering kiss on his lips which got his motor running.
"Yes, I'm feeling much better, but I think that detailed physical told you everything that you needed to know about how well I feel," Chloe commented as she ran her hands through her hair. His already messy hair was becoming even messier and she loved it. The blonde continued to play with him as she straddled him, rubbing her moistened core over his once more stiffening prick. "But I always could use a second opinion."
"I'm sure that would be for the best, you know, just to make sure," Harry breathed as her bare breasts pressed up against bare chest and the two of them kissed each other, their tongues trying to battle the other for dominance.
Harry Potter redefined the term, burning the midnight oils the more that he thought about it. Yet, he was back to square one or back to the ring, to close the circle.
This time, he was taking every precaution in the world. He was not going to tear open tears in the dimensional barrier not this time.
"You've been staring at that for four hours straight, I hope you're remembering to at least blink."
"Hi, Karen," Harry stated without looking up and Kara showed up on the other side of him. The two blonde Kryptonians parked themselves down on either side of Harry.
"So how are you coming along?" Karen asked Harry.
"Slow but surely, I'm pretty sure…."
"But with Hermione gone, I'm pretty sure that none of them have even moved," Kara protested and Harry turned half of a gaze to her. The blonde slumped her shoulders and her mouth hung half open but she said nothing further to Harry.
"I know that she's been sent to parts unknown," Harry stated, to call that person by her name would imply that some sense of emotional attachment still existed which faded a long time ago.
"But will she ever return?" Karen asked and there was a second where Harry looked at the elder blonde.
"You know, I should really know better to say that no one will be gone forever," Harry told the blondes and they both nodded at him. It was a lesson both of them learned, although in very different ways. All they had to do was go with the flow and see where that flow had sent them.
"That's the truth," Karen commented as she sighed.
"Isn't it though?" Imra stated as she took another seat, and Tinya, Salu, and Luornu joined them as well. "Indy's feeling loads better I think."
"Given the fact that we need to surgically remove the smile from her face, I would think so," Tinya commented although given what Harry did to her, she would be grinning like a loon as well. In fact, she did when he did her.
"Well, that much is for sure," Salu stated, as she wondered when her turn would come with Harry. Although perhaps the Legion females should draw numbers or perhaps a mud wrestling tournament, maybe a wet t-shirt contest.
She had obviously been thinking of this extremely serious matter for a long time, long and hard but she would soon be ready to get everything done. The smile brightened across her face as she plotted her next move.
"That ring still vexes you?" Imra stated.
"I wouldn't spend countless hours staring at it, there's got to be a trigger," Harry whispered to himself. He knew from Dumbledore's experience that putting a magical ring on his hand and waving it around would be the epitome of all things stupid. Yet he had to figure out what to do and it meant long hard hours plugging away at the ring that was in front of him.
"Yes, there has to be but there somehow isn't," Imra stated to Harry as she knew that this time, Harry prepared himself and would not bust open any mysterious portals to the Forbidden Zone. However, she was still on edge but judging by the look on Harry's face, that was not something that she was alone in. The blonde found herself watching him and not just because he was attractive on the eyes.
Chloe returned, after a nice nap, she was back in business.
"Hey, lover," Chloe stated as she kissed Harry on the lips and he return the kiss. Limbs tangled around each other as they exploded each other's bodies, rubbing up against each other with the hint that there would be another round later.
"I think I got something," Harry said suddenly and out of the blue.
Chloe raised her eyebrow and once again, she offered the question of questions. "You think you have something or you know that you have something?"
"What do you think?" Harry asked.
"Well, I love piecing together the mysteries of life just as much as the next person," Chloe commented lightly as Harry grabbed her around the hand and she eyed him. She let in one breath and let out another breath. "So, should we take the plunge?"
"If I can figure out…."
"All are doomed to despair and agony, when he comes," an ominous voice stated from the ring.
"Well that's….that's not what I expected," Harry said, he was back to square one. He was sure this artifact might be able to help him solve the Forbidden Zone problem once and for all but this was a dire warning and he could not make heads or tails of what it was trying to tell him, if it was trying to tell him anything that is.
"What does it mean?"
Harry wished that he had the answers but for every answer that he tried to get, there were going to be those people who were going to be doing nothing but changing all of the questions. He tried to figure this out.
"It means that this Forbidden Zone conspiracy might be going deeper than we thought it is," Harry informed the girl and Chloe half raised an eyebrow and her mouth hung open.
"Isn't it as convoluted as all hell to begin with?" she asked him.
"Yes and no and kind of," Harry told her and there were several sets of eyes on him so he decided to elaborate. "Well finding the cure, that could be a bother but now….it goes beyond what Riddle did. I wonder if the wand wavers were cursed to begin with and this was the trigger."
If he could figure out certain things about what he was doing, then he would be gaining some headway.
However, he might have unlocked the key as he saw a lot of strange markings on the ring that were most certainly not there before.
'Curious and curiouser,' Harry thought as he closed his eyes as he leaned back a little bit as he held the ring in his hand.
More questions but not so many answers. Which could be the title of his autobiography.
To Be Continued.