Chapter 18: As Old As Time Itself.

"Maybe you have a good reason to be worried, and maybe she's just fooled our scanners, but I think the most damning piece of evidence is that Raven said that Hermione is out of the Forbidden Zone," Chloe said in one fell swoop without taking a breath. Not that she really needed to take a breath but she still did so out of habit.

"I'm not sure if she's out as so much as back," Harry said as he helped Chloe scan the Forbidden Zone. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"So, it's not over, it's just the beginning?" Tinya asked as she, Nura, and Salu showed up to join the two of them. The four girls shared a frown between themselves after Harry offered them a brief nod of confirmation as answer to her question.

"I didn't….I didn't even see anything like this happening," Nura said with a shake of her head, but then again, she was not all seeing and all knowing. Sure, she got flashes every now and again, but most of the time it wasn't about events of significant importance. It could also be events that could happen, but might not happen at the same time.

"No one's blaming you for what you did or didn't see," Harry stated firmly as he looked at the screen. He didn't like something about what was going on, although he couldn't place his finger on what.

"We definitely aren't blaming you for any of this," Chloe stated in agreement, only to suddenly be cut off by a blaring alarm that echoed out around her. The other members of the Legion shifted worriedly. "...And when it rains, it pours."

Harry sighed deeply and reached up to pinch the bridge of his, before turning his attention towards Chloe. He knew that he was going to dread asking his next question, but he had to ask it anyways. "So, what now?"

Chloe was quick to offer him the information. "Well….let's put this kind of bluntly. There are a couple of teenagers monkeying around in a place that they shouldn't be, and they tripped an alarm. Not just any teens, it would have to be these particular ones."

Chloe pulled out a photo of a pair of fairly attractive redheaded twins. They were both girls, identical down to the last freckle. They had blazing red hair, along with blue eyes, high cheek bones, and rosy lips. The picture was only taken from the shoulders up, so they could not really vouch for anything else regarding their assets below the neckline.

"Alexandra and Alexis Luthor, direct descendants of the man himself, Lex Luthor," Chloe explained, causing Harry to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"How far does the apple fall from the tree?" he inquired and it was Nura who answered.

"Extremely intelligent, slightly insane, and kind of dangerous, although they have never been convicted of any crimes," Nura explained to him and Chloe picked back up where she left off.

"That's one thing that hasn't changed from the 21st century, if you've got the money, all justice is going to take a flying leap," Chloe replied and Harry only had one word to say to that.

"Typical."

"Yes, well...it is, but we've got a problem. The complex that they're breaking into, it could have any number of dangerous things lying around that these two brats could get in over their heads with," Chloe said, closing her eyes she quickly calculated how much this situation might screw them over. "Lex….tended to collect some real oddities in his day and many of them are still locked away somewhere."

"So, it could just be a simple case of them wanting to take a closer look at their ancestor's work?" Harry asked and he could see the wheels turning inside Chloe's mind as she pondered that.

"Yes...I suppose so," Chloe admitted, but she knew that the Luthor twins could cause enough trouble without their great-grandfather many times removed inspiring them. "Alexis….well, she's the more dangerous of the two, she's a bit bent. Alexandra….she's more of a cool and rational planner. Or maybe it might be the other way around, I doubt they even know. It's two redhead twins who finish each other's sentences like they have a telepathic link, do you have any idea how annoying that can be?"

"...I have an inkling," Harry said dryly, after all that's was a road he'd gone down previously.

"Right, we need to…."

Harry took a close look at the security map and wondered where they were going. He was good at picking up details that others might have missed.

"They're heading for that inner chamber," Harry told the girls and Chloe, not needing anymore said, tried to figure out what they were heading for.

"Oh, there are all sorts of potential goodies in there that they can use, providing they can break past the security."

"And considering that they already broke past the first layer of security, maybe we should be thinking that they could break past the next layer," Salu offered and Chloe nodded.

"The Luthor twins, if only their intelligence was used for something good…."

"Yes, well we've been down this road a few times," Naru said, she actually thought that the twins were misguided by their hopes to live up to the Luthors that came before them. Even though that was something that happened a long time ago.

"What happened?" Atlee asked as she staggered into the room after a long training session with Karen.

"You've been doing so well when it comes to your training, that you're going on your first mission as a member of the team," Harry informed Atlee, who raised an eyebrow in surprise, she wasn't certain that she was ready for this.

"Are you….."

"Yes, I'm very sure, in fact it shouldn't be too hard," Harry said to her and the girl nodded. "Just a quick easy mission to get your feet wet."

"Sounds like fun," Atlee said in excitement, while trying not to look too excited. Chloe looked at her closely, before slowly nodding her head.

"Yes, a barrel of joy….but never mind that, we've got work to do," Chloe answered, preparing to run a counterattack. It was time for a pair of rich snotty entitled kids to get a reality check.

Alexis Luthor stepped into the chamber or she would have, if she didn't have to get through the security systems on the chamber walls first. The teenager carefully tried to hack into the system, it was very good, she had to admit that, but she was a Luthor and she was that much better. Her sister rocked back and forth nervously, popping a piece of gum that she was chewing on. She looked impatient.

"What's taking so long!?" Alexandra asked a moment later, her frustration at having to wait overwhelming what little patience she had.

"Just be patient, I'm almost in," Alexis hissed at her sister, she could feel the pressure to get the lock open. She'd nearly had it once, but it reset itself, forcing her to start over from scratch. "Never mind, I enjoy a challenge and a superior mind such as myself will overcome each and every one."

"...Your ego is showing Alex." Alexandra informed her sister gleefully in a sing-song voice, she was always happy to take her twin down a few pegs.

"Shut up Alex!" Alexis said as she tried to get the latch open once more, but once again, she was finding it borderline difficult to break through the lock. She tried not to let her frustration get to her, it would only make things that much more difficult if she did. "Almost there."

"So, you kids are out a bit late on a school night, aren't you?" a voice question them seemingly out of nowhere and they spun around to face it, well Alexandra did. Alexis was still working on the lock, lost in her own little world. Her sister on the other hand eyes widened like saucers and her mouth fell open when she saw who was standing behind them.

"ALEX! IT'S THE LEGION!" Alexandra screamed into her sister's ear and Alexis jumped about ten feet in the air due to the sudden surprise.

"Must you….oh, it's them," Alexis said as she looked at the Legion and she realized that they had an interesting new addition to the team. Quite the specimen too in fact, the redhead looked over the person in question with smoldering eyes, catching a good look at the individual's dark hair. She had on a skin tight white body suit that displayed her amazing curves in all of their glory and said glory was pretty glorious as far as Alexis was concerned.

Oh and there was that guy, he looked pretty dreamy as well, with his messy dark hair, smoldering green eyes and glasses, in fact he looked incredibly familiar.

"...And who are you supposed to be," Alexis asked in a slightly condescending voice. "Harry Fucking Potter?"

"I am," Harry said and the Luthor child's frown twisted into a slight….well, surprised look was the best description.

She was about to offer a cutting remark in response, but was interrupted by Alexandra starting to jump up and down like a two year old on a sugar high. Both of the Luthors wore skin tight black bodysuits that empathized their curves, delicious as they were, with their full breasts, flat stomachs, and delicious ample asses on display.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, IT'S HARRY POTTER! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" Alexandra squealed, before Alexis smacked her hard across the back of the head in order to snap her back to reality.

"Alexandra Lana Luthor! Compose yourself and act with some dignity, please," Alexis said as she looked back towards the Legion. "So the Legion of Super Heroes…..you have come here and you were here to foil my nefarious plans and plots, but you cannot stop me so it is useless to try."

Alexis paused, the speech didn't come out quite right. She'd been reading transcripts of her famous ancestor, trying to get his personality right, but she could never get the tone or the inflection right.

"Yes, and you two brats are up a bit past your curfew aren't you?" Salu asked as the Legion took a few steps forward, they'd dealt with these two in the past.

"We are seventeen years old and we graduated university with five degrees before you fan boys and girls even got together," Alexis said in a haughty voice. "We are your intellectual superior and you should bow before the might of my…..giant rubber chicken?"

Harry smiled as Atlee burst out into laughter upon seeing that the really big gun that Alexis was holding had been transfigured into a giant rubber chicken. Even Alexandra was cracking up in amusement until Alexis boffed her on the head with the rubber chicken, causing her to fall back into line.

"We are Luthors! You will bow before our might!" she said, before she lunged at Phantom Girl.

"Three, two, one," Tinya said in a bored voice, then she became transparent, causing Alexis to fly through her and crack her face against the ground.

"Okay, you're just embarrassing yourselves really badly now," Nura said, the Luthors were great thinkers, but fighters they were not. Of course, they were so immature that they didn't make the connection that fighting was not their strong suit.

Alexandra looked at them with wide eyes and she threw her hands up into the air, before throwing herself on her knees at Harry's feet.

"Okay! Okay! We were kind of stupid….kind of really stupid even, to think that we could stand up to the Legion and the great and powerful Harry Potter," she pleaded on her knees, begging them with her face close to his crotch, which put rather vivid images in her mind. "You can….you can spank me if you like."

She actually hoped that Harry Potter did spank her because that would be amazing. His strong hands slapping hard against her….oh, that would be something that she dreamed of for years.

"Alex! you slut, don't get down on your hands and knees like a common whore, fight him!" Alexis snapped at her, but Nura and Salu grabbed her. The spirited redhead struggled, but she was no match for them.

"This was too easy," Atlee said and the other girls gave her a dirty look as soon as she did. She had a look of complete innocence on her face. "What?"

"You shouldn't jinx it like that..." Nura started to explain to her, only to be interrupted by the vault clicking behind her, the vault clicked again, and then the vault doors exploded outwards!

The distraction allowed Alexis to slip inside into the inner chambers, grabbing her sister by the scruff of the neck as she passed her along the way.

"Okay, that's great! We were just working on a school project, and now we have to deal with Harry Fucking Potter and the blasted Legion of Super Fan Girls," Alexis swore as she shook her head. "And then you go and have a bloody meltdown acting like a fan girl yourself, then the vault explodes and now we're trapped in here, all alone, until the Legion fishes us out."

"Don't blame me! It isn't my fault you had such a stupid plan," Alexandra snapped at her twin as she took in the artifacts around her. "Isn't that the Kryptonite ring?"

"Yes, it is," Alexis said in awe as she looked at it closely. "Amazing! This was the ring that allowed him to be untouchable, Superman couldn't even lay his hands on him while he wore this. It's amazing that the Man of Steel couldn't even beat him due to this small ring."

"Wasn't that the ring that also gave him cancer and ended up killing him?" Alexandra asked and Alexis gave her sister a dirty look, causing her to shrug. "I'm just saying, that's all."

"Yes, well….never mind," Alexis said through her gritted teeth in a fierce growl. The redhead kept her feet firmly planted on the ground as she tried to figure out what her next move would be. "We got to find something, anything in here….."

"...You mean he used to wear this stupid fucking thing!" Alexandra cackled as she saw the giant green and purple battle suit, causing Alexis to sigh and throw her head back with a chuckle of amusement.

"You have no….you have no sense of culture," she said, before she continued moving forward and taking in everything around her. There was a large statue of Lex Luthor in the exhibit. He towered over the twins and the look on his face as he peered down on them, well to be blunt, it almost looked pretty condescending.

Scratch that, it was very condescending.

"Amazing! Wow! It's so amazing! So very amazing!" Alexandra said feigning awe as she looked around. "You know what else would be fucking amazing?"

"No, Alex, what else would be fucking amazing?"

"A FREAKING EXIT!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, frustrated that they couldn't find a way out.

"Calm down! You're not helping the situation any," Alexis warned her twin, only for a large purple crystal array in the back of the room caught her attention. It appeared to be shoved back there, almost as an afterthought. "I don't remember reading anything about this in the record books. I thought we knew everything about him so why didn't we know about this?"

"I don't know," Alexandra said with a shrug as Alexis stepped forward. "Should we….."

"...We might as well take a closer look at it," Alexis said as she moved towards the the crystal array, in order carefully look it.

"Sooo...how big do you think it is?" Alexandra asked out of the blue and her sister was taken off guard by this statement.

"What are you talking about?" Alexis demanded, there were times where her sister said the most spontaneous and dare she say it, some of the weirdest things. The redhead shifted her weight as the body suit clung to her amazing curves.

"...Harry Potter's wand, how big do you think it is?" Alexandra asked, causing Alexis to pause and thing that question over carefully before responding.

"...And by wand do you mean"

"...What do you think"

"I'm sure it's….DAMN IT! I DON'T WANT TO EVEN TALK ABOUT THIS!" Alexis said as she thought a bit more about it then she would have liked. She'd gone completely flushed and tried to ignore the pulsing heat of arousal between her legs, she was trying not to even think about what he could do to her because she was angry that he foiled her masterful scheme.

"Okay, but you do want to think about it, don't you, Alex?" Alexandra asked as she closed her eyes then tapped her finger against the crystal array. The crystals began to vibrate and then glow in an odd pattern, causing Alexis and Alexandra to lock eyes with each other, each wondering what was going to happen now, as it turned out, they didn't have to wait for too long.

A figure within the crystals began to manifest and the twins watched her do with slowly widening eyes. She had long red hair that fell down. Her face once fully formed after an initial smokiness, was rather beautiful, she had vibrate green eyes and delicious lips. Her fully formed bust appeared next, straining against a nice business suit, although one could still make out the assets that she had. She was fairly tall, at least her hard light holographic image was.

"Who are you?" Alexis managed after she finally found her voice. This wasn't anything like she expected when she first noticed the crystals.

"My name is Tess Mercer," she told them in a calm tone, although it had been a very long time since she'd last been activated. "What year is it?"

"3081," Alexandra managed after she looked over her closely.

"You must have stumbled across me after I'd been put in storage and forgotten about after the fall of the Justice League, or perhaps….it doesn't matter. I'm awake and you must be my descendants," she informed them.

"I think you're mistaken, our last name is Luthor," Alexis said looking pretty condescending as she placed her hands over her hips and leaned forwards to stare at the woman, daring her to contradict that fact through her body language.

They were so distracted that they didn't even notice the two doors bursting open in the background.

"You're right, but my birth name was Lutessa Lena Luthor and while I've acknowledged my lineage, I'm not entirely proud of everything they've done," she admitted. "I chose to go down a different path and you should as well."

"You can't tell us what to do! You're not our mother!" Alexis yelled out as she held up one of the blasters and pointed it at Tess.

"The crystals wouldn't even crack, sweetheart," Tess said in a calm voice which caused the redhead teenager to drop the blaster. "Your mother, she died a long time ago, didn't she?"

"...Not saying anything," Alexis muttered under her breath and Alexandra looked about ready to speak.

The Legion had surrounded them and the game appeared to be up for the Luthor twins, just like that, so anti-climatic. They would be stomped in a fight so it was just as well.

"So, that's it?" Chloe asked with a shake of her head. She would like to say that she believed that, but the fact of the matter was that she couldn't believe it. It ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper. The blonde brushed her hair out of her face as she let out a long sigh. "And the Luthor twins….they're secured."

"Yes, although knowing them, they're going to weasel their way out of it before too long, although they'll be in a Legion holding cell for a couple of days, before we send them off to the authorities," Harry said, causing Chloe to smile.

"Perhaps you should punish them a little bit," Karen said with a knowing smile and Harry kept his eyes on the two of them. He started to respond, but Chloe pretty much stole the words right out of his mouth.

"Is it honestly punishment if the girls in question get off on it?" Chloe asked and Harry shook his head. "That's what I thought, but anyway, I think we might have a lead on the entire, Forbidden Zone thing….it's gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?" Harry asked her and that wasn't an explanation that he was looking forward to hearing any time soon. His emerald green eyes fixed onto Chloe's lighter blue-green ones and there was a second where the blonde shook her head in confusion.

"I mean that it's gone," Chloe stated bluntly, she still trying to wrap her head around a logical explanation. Since it was obviously magic that was responsible, it was hard to think of one.

"Fidelius Charm, but not a very good one. I still remember the general location of where everything is, the magic in the area is too corrupted to allow for anything stable. I should know, otherwise the first set of barriers would have helped," Harry said.

"Well, did I get woken up just in time to see the end of the world?" Tess asked appearing next to them, she'd quickly been hooked up to the Legions computer system allowing her to manifest anywhere with the building.

"I wondered what happened to you….."

"Lex killed me, stabbed me right in the stomach and watched me bleed out, but I wiped his memories in the process. I had a copy of my brain waves on file, so it's….actually, it just gives me a headache trying to think about it," Tess said as she took half of a step forward.

"Hard Light Hologram or not, you look so real," Harry said to her and Tess smiled brightly at him.

"Technology is a grand thing," Tess said as she eyed him up and down. "I feel so real, but maybe a demonstration is in order, if you don't mind?"

"Be my guest," Harry told her and Tess smiled as she reached forward to brush her soft hand along Harry's cheek and the green eyed wizard looked back at her with wide eyes. The redhead's hand felt soft to the touch.

"Well, you made a believer out of me," Harry whispered to Tess with a smile on his face. "Really there's nothing more to say other than that."

"I don't pretend to know half of what's going on, but…."

"Don't worry, I'll fill you in," Chloe said and she took a long breath. "This is going to be a really long story."

"Aren't they all?" Tess asked as she saw the girls walking around in the background. "I kind of got shoved into storage and forgotten about, so I think that you've got a few hundred years to bring me back up to speed on. Providing you know it all as well."

"I'll try," Chloe stated as Harry spotted Atlee standing in the corner of the room, frowning softly as she rocked back and forth, her eyes darting all over the room. Harry walked over to talk with the younger girl.

"...Hi, Harry," Atlee said to him as she blinked and stared at him, it seemed like he appeared out of nowhere. She took a moment to compose herself and her thoughts, but then she shook her head and bit down on her lower lip.

"...Atlee," Harry gently prodded her and Atlee snapped back to reality focusing her violet eyes on his. "First mission…."

"...Yeah, it was kind of a bummer," Atlee admitted nervously. She had picked up that word somewhere, she had no idea where, but she figured that it described the mission in a nutshell.

"I don't know if I would say that," Harry told her and the dark haired girl smiled. "We got out of there unscathed and it was you that got us into the vault. Not exactly the toughest two enemies to fight the first time either. If they actually matured a little bit, with their brains, they could be very dangerous."

"Or they might be very useful to the Legion," Karen prompted Harry once more, having come over to join him and Atlee. "I mean, if we can somehow 'subvert' them to our side."

"I notice that you're looking at me rather pointedly when you say subvert them," Harry stated to her and Karen smiled widely at that.

"It's kind of obvious, don't you think?" Karen asked him, then she decided to switch topics rather then beat a dead horse. "So what's the plan for the Forbidden Zone?"

"We hit tomorrow, bright and early, hopefully we'll be able to take them out in one fell shot," Harry said, hoping that he could take out Hermione, before she figured out a way to get out of the Forbidden Zone. The fact that she escaped Trigon's dimension in the first place was rather unsettling.

"Sounds like you have a plan ready to go, but when don't you?" Karen stated to him, rather then questioned, because there was there was no answer needed to that question.

"So what do you think of everything that's happened?" Harry asked Tess, thanks to Chloe's abilities and the fact she was AI, she'd been filled in on the events of the past….well, several centuries for lack of a better term at the speed of thought.

"Even for an advanced AI, this is a lot to take in," Tess remarked after a few seconds and she meant that honestly. "This Forbidden Zone thing….I know she was your friend."

"The key word is was, that thing wearing her face isn't my friend. Our relationship had its ups and downs to begin with, but the so called official story tends to leave that out," Harry said with a sigh. "Whatever, it's in the past and while the past can be a problem, at least I know that I can move forwards."

"You spent years trying to search for something, but….."

"...I was willing to spend a million years searching and found nothing, at this point all I can do is put the poor bastards out of their misery. I'm closer to decoding the ring than I ever once before and now I have two of the two greatest minds of their generation at my disposal," Harry stated, he took a moment to compose his thoughts, before continuing. "Alexis and Alexandra, they make Hermione's intelligence look like that of a mentally challenged preschooler, even Chloe isn't as smart as they are and that's saying something. It's just unfortunate they don't have the maturity to back it up."

"Don't sell me short either, I broke records back in my day, so if you need any help…." Tess offered, it wasn't every day that someone got a Doctorate at the age of seventeen after spending only two years at University.

"...Believe me, I'll take all of the help I can get, the Luthor intelligence is hereditary after all," Harry told her and Tess nodded although there was a momentary smile crossing her face.

"Yes, the intelligence and the insanity, don't ever forget about the insanity present in all of our minds," Tess warned him and Harry smiled back at her.

"Well, I wanted to be nice about it," Harry said as he decided to get their little trouble making teenagers on their side. "I think all they need is some good discipline."

"You think? Actually that's likely the case," Tess said, she could tell that the two obviously didn't receive any discipline growing up. "It could have gotten a lot uglier if you hadn't stepped in. You know it might not be a good idea to let them go free."

"I know," Harry said as he mentally calculated what he was going to do in his mind. "I'm going to make enough of an impression on them that they won't want to leave."

It took Tess a few seconds to piece together the implied double meaning of Harry's words. "...I see."

"With your prodigal intellect, I figured that you might," Harry said and the redhead shifted her weight as she studied him intently.

"Many of us thought that Clark would be the greatest hero the world had ever seen, and while he was amazing in his day, there's something about you. I can't really figure out what though, but I want to see beneath the surface and find out what makes Harry Potter tick," Tess said and Harry smiled at her.

"Do you now?"

"Well, I think that it would be an interesting study," Tess said with a shrug, as she slowly realized how much her words got twisted around. Then again, it was obvious to her that her words could be interpreted in that way to put things mildly.

"I'm sure that you would want to personally undertake that study," Harry told Tess and the redhead nodded, eagerness dancing in her eyes as she shifted her weight. "So, I need to talk with the terrible two."

"Be careful, they might be up to something," Tess said but then she added as an afterthought as Harry raised his eyebrow. "Then again, they're teenage girls so they're always up to something."

Harry smiled as he took Tess's words of warning to heart.

"I'll be here if you need anything," Harry informed Tess, who offered him a bright smile and a nod.

"I'll keep that in mind," Tess said and Harry did an about face and made his way to the next room, where the Luthor twins were waiting.

They were in the highest security cell possible. As far as they knew, the walls were sound proof, although Harry's enhanced hearing picked up the words Alexis Luthor was saying.

"Just follow my lead," she whispered to her sister.

The plan, as Alexis managed to piece together, was that they would seduce Harry Potter. And then when his guard was down, they would make a run for the door and get out of there. Naturally, it was a plan that was more than worthy of the smartest twins in this age or any other age.

"You ladies have been a bit of trouble, haven't you?" Harry asked.

"Yes…we're just confused," Alexandra said as she gave him an innocent gaze that he did not buy for a minute. "We haven't been taught right from wrong….I mean, we need to be taken in hand by a big strong person, someone who can set us straight."

"Oh, do you?" Harry asked as he saw their game immediately. "You've been very naughty girls, both of you, haven't you?"

"Yes, and we haven't learned our lesson," Alexis said with a purr as she ran her hands down his chest, while Alexandra took his lower body, cupping him in a very private area. Both twins were pressed tightly on either side of Harry.

If they didn't know any better, they'd noticed that the pheromones being pumped into the air were making both twins extremely drowsy and unable to think clearly.

"Punish us, please," Alexandra said as she smiled. "I'll polish your wand if you want me to."

"Of course you would, slut," Alexis muttered but Alexandra said in a matter of fact voice.

"You're the one who's staring at his package," Alexandra argued and Harry cleared his throat. They were compelled to listen when he spoke.

To Be Continued.