It was just another day at the office for the Legion of Super Heroes. A battle against their most dangerous adversaries, known as the Fatal Five.

The battle was kicking up in intensity. Cir-El dodged the attack of the Persuader. When his momentum was messed up, the dark haired Kryptonian reared her hand back for the fences and slammed it into the face of her enemy.

She rocked him hard in the jaw with a huge roundhouse right, knocking him back.

Harry inputted his assistance when he could, but being a direct part of the fight was not what he and Chloe were here for at the very least. Although their assistance was appreciated, they had to remain focused on the prize, and that prize was one Lois Lane.

"She's closer alright," Tess reported and Harry decided to smile.

"About how close do you reckon?"

Valdius grabbed Cir-El by the throat, but Karen rushed in and she plowed him into the face with a right hook.

"I really hate these guys," Karen said, as she used her heat vision to back them off.

She could feel her mind become numb, obviously it was some sort of trap. She hated when it was some sort of trap, but she had to power through and deal with it, otherwise.

'Cover your ears,' Karen thought in the mental link that Imra established and she shakily lifted her hands, before clapping nice and hard.

The loud crack could be heard and the group staggered back .The Emerald Empress in particular was annoyed and she could see the eye buzz around her.

"Take them down, take them down, and make sure they stay down!" The Empress yelled, her plan was not working as planned and she wondered when she lost control of this situation. Her fists clenched together and she let a breath out of her body.

Harry performed a nice disabling spell over his back and set up a counter measure.

That explosion, that was music to his ears. Chloe looked forward with razor sharp focus in her eyes. She could see the flying bodies over her shoulder and thankfully it was not one of her own.

"So….they'll be okay," Chloe whispered and Harry smiled at her.

"More than okay, this way?" Harry asked and they got the confirmation that they wanted from Tess.

"Yes, that way, you're on the right track," Tess commented to him and she could see that Chloe was anxious.

Harry stopped Chloe and did some scans. The last thing that he wanted them to do was purposely run head long into a trap which could potentially happen if they weren't careful.

He felt annoyance burn through his body at the eighteen digit security code that he would have to punch in. That might be the epitome of things that were excessive.

Just a little bit, okay maybe more than a little bit, it was extremely excessive. The green eyed wizard sighed, as he prepared to hook the uplink.

"When we're in, we should be able to fish you out the latest codes…."

"It's going to be tough," Alexis commented.

"But nothing that a genius such as myself can't handle," Alexandria commented to her and there was a second where she paused. "But you already knew that."

"But you can do it, can't you?" Chloe asked, but there was a slam, as Tharok appeared behind him.

"Of course," Harry said, with a restless sigh coming through his body. He should have expected this coming, he should have, but at the same time, he didn't.

"Did you really think that we would let you get away with this?"

"Well, I didn't think so, but if you insist on a fight," Harry said, with a long sigh. They always insisted on a fight, that was the problem with the bad guys.

Tharok tried to nail him with a huge punch but Harry crouched down to dodge it. Hit fist smashed the side of the wall.

"I'll keep him off you Chloe, just worry about hacking open that lock," Harry said and Chloe bit down on her lip, nodding.

"Please tell me you're closer….."

"You can't rush genius, Chloe," Alexis said in a haughty voice but she had twenty two out of thirty digits deciphered. It was all down to her of course, the genius that she was.

Tharok and Harry kept doing the go around. The young hero was trying to manipulate the fight so he could take down several members of the Fatal Five in one fell swoop, and hopefully eliminate any kind of problems that they were having.

This was the epitome of something that was easier said than done, for sure but he was mentally relaying his plan to Imra.

'You know, it might work,' she thought, and the team was well put together. It was a chaotic scene and one had to be good at multi-tasking to figure out what was going on.

The Persuader rushed forward, with a mighty bellow and he swung his axe towards Harry, who dodged it.

CRACK!

The axe nailed Tharok hard and the two members of the Fatal Five were entangled in each other, which allowed Harry to wave his hand in the ground. The members of the Five bowled over head over heels, crashing down onto the ground.

'Well that took care of….most of them,' Harry thought, frowning as he could see the Emerald Empress still hanging into the fight.

Cir-El shook her head; this was proving to be an unfortunately annoying fight. Like a cork, Cir-El shot into the sky and grabbed the woman's eyes, putting them behind her back.

"Harder to hold….."

"Let me go!" The Empress said in a haughty voice and she blasted Cir-El off. "Not the Kryptonian that I wanted, but the….."

Karen nailed her with a huge punch to the face, and Imra brought her to her knees hard. It was a struggle.

Harry was distracted by the ding of the side door becoming opened and Chloe's squeal of triumph.

"And once again, you have your way inside and all of the security has been disabled, thanks to our assistance," Alexandria commented. "Well, mostly mine….."

"No actually it was mostly mine….."

Harry and Chloe just allowed them to go at it, because that would get them out of their system. The battle with the Fatal Five was being wrapped up. While Harry only saw fleeting moments of it, he was sure it was a spectacle.

'Sometime's the bad guys really do get the coolest toys,' Chloe thought, taking a look around the Fatal Five Headquarters. The blonde blinked and shook her head. There was a nagging voice in the back of her head that commanded that she should focus, before she lost it.

Yet, the weaponry and equipment here….well the Legion should really load it up and secure it to begin with. The last thing they needed was a group of space pirates to get ahold of it and sell it on the black market or cause all kinds of havoc themselves. Either way, the potential could be rather horrifying.

Harry's voice brought Chloe back from her one way trip to geek land. "So….Chloe….are you…..Lois should be around her somewhere."

"Huh….yes," Chloe said, she would have been almost amused if she had been distracted by the thing that she was obsessed from such a long time. That really did show that her focus was not as sharp as it would have been.

'Harry, they're all secured, and we're waiting for transport to get them back to base,' Imra reported.

'Good, I don't think that they'll be going anywhere,' Harry said and Imra smiled.

'No, I doubt that they will,' Imra thought, she was trying to get some excitement.

"Make sure you keep the Empress nice and secure," Alexandria said and that was an interesting request.

"Because, we have big plans for her…..really big plans," Alexis said and both Luthor twins were excited about taking a look at some of the Five's equipment.

Tess on the other hand, decided that she would have to do her duty as their "aunt" and make sure the two girls didn't get themselves into too much trouble.

"Dare I ask?" Chloe asked and she could see the look at Harry's face. The blonde sighed deeply. "Actually, I'm afraid that if I ask, I'll learn things that I don't really want to know."

"Plausible deniability and I think…..I think we found Lois….."

"Better check to see if this is the real deal," Chloe said, it would be just her luck to go through all of these heart ache and stress, and have someone pull a "your Lois is in another castle" or something along those lines.

Most fortunately, that was not the case and Chloe was glad for that. Her hand ran over the edge of the glass case and she could see Lois's brunette hair frame her face. She was dressed in ragged clothes. Chloe could not recall off hand if those were the same clothes that Lois was wearing when she disappeared.

She might as well have been sleeping right now, but Chloe knew better right now. The blonde could see her cousin's unconscious form.

It looked like Lois; the scanner said it was Lois, but….the problem was, was it Lois when they woke her up? She only barely felt Harry grab her hand and the blonde could feel a stirring in her stomach as she looked forward.

The blonde once again looked at her in the tube and she held her mouth open. Her lips could have twitched and Harry held onto her hand even more tightly.

"Don't worry, Chloe, I understand," Harry whispered to her and Chloe once again shook her head, words failing her. "You don't…."

"Not really," Chloe said, wondering what Lois would have to say to her when she woke up and she was assuming that her cousin would wake up.

If she would wake up….no Chloe could not do that kind of defeatist thinking. Her cousin would wake up and she would be stronger than ever.

"So….we'll take a look at her when you bring here in," Tess said in a somber voice and she knew better than to stir up Chloe when she was like this.

"Just….just give me a moment alone," Chloe said, she could feel a stirring in her stomach and she clasped her hand on the edge of the glass.

The blonde really hated that she was so broken up about this but she recalled that if Lois had never taken that ring….and that was kind of Clark for leaving it lying around in a place where Lois had access to. Lois…..had this tendency to get into things that she really shouldn't.

"They're here," Harry told Chloe and his arms remained around her tightly. The blonde sunk into his grip, her eyes closed and she sighed.

"Good, sooner that I figure out what's happened to her….the sooner that we're all going to be better," Chloe said, and she relaxed into Harry's grip.

Time healed all wounds but time was the cause of Lois's wounds.

"So, how did you think that your first mission went?" Salu asked Ayla and the redhead nearly bounced up and down.

Tinya watched her in amusement; she wondered if this was how people perceived her when she got overexcited. It was amusing to watch, sometimes frustrating, actually many times frustrating. She did wish she could go on this mission.

"Well there was a lot of fighting….but….is it bad that I was disappointed when it was over before it really started?" Ayla asked and Tinya chuckled at the thought.

"Trust me….you'll get over that quickly, about the ninth time you almost get your head taken off," Tinya warned her and Ayla's nodding became even more eager. "But….the Fatal Five…if that isn't a trial by fire, I don't know what is….they're taken care of."

"I wonder what the Luthor Twins wanted with the Empress," Ayla wondered and there was a moment where Salu smiled at her.

"With the devious minds of those two, I think it's a lot safer for your sanity not to know, trust me, just trust me," Salu said with a long sigh. The rest of the team were off doing things and the trio of girls were just sitting down. "Maybe now that Lois has been recovered, we're actually going to have some coffee to spare."

"She goes through it a lot, a lot of us….."

"You have coffee?" Ayla asked in an over excited voice and Tinya looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Yeah, we did, but Chloe drank it all," Kara said, as she floated across the ground.

"So….how was Superman really like?" Ayla asked, finally blurting out the question and Kara leaned back into the chair and sighed.

"Wouldn't know, never met the guy….I come from an alternate universe where he never was born or maybe died before he left Krypton or….Rao only knows," Kara said and she looked at them. "There is a lot of timeline screwiness you have to understand….there seems to be a great Crisis every hundred years or so, at least according to the records."

"More often than that, really," Diana said, parking herself at the table with the group of girls and smiling at them. "But….it's good to see Chloe back on track…..well she'll be more at ease when Lois wakes up."

Diana was just in the sparring room right then but even the Amazons knew the value of some good downtime.

"Yes, she will be but….I wonder what Lois will think," Cir-El said, she had been anxious about Lois being woke up but for rather different reasons than Chloe was. "They didn't part….well there was some disagreements between the two of them. But they hold nothing to the problems between her and Kal-El."

"That bad….."

"Bad, no child wants to see their parents…..well like that," Cir-El replied, shaking her head. And she had it worse because she was a clone so she had both sets of memories. Therefore there was some residual angst hanging on. She worked through it a lot of the time. She did make peace with Chloe, somewhat. There was that underlying tension there still but they worked together.

"Say no more," Kara said, and she leaned back. She wondered where Harry was but the Luthor Twins had dragged him off into parts unknown to give their little demonstration.

She was really excited at the thought of what they were doing and also scared. Mostly because they were eying the Fatal Five's equipment like most children eyed up a really big bowl of ice cream. It was under lock and key and they might get a look at if they behaved themselves.

"Harry is better than they say that he is," Ayla said, deciding to switch tracts for the subject and the other Legion girls smiled at her. "Well….he….he is….."

"With most legends, they get way too much credit," Tinya said and there was a long sigh. History tended to have a tendency to make certain people out to be….well to be better than they really were.

"But not Harry….."

"No, most certainly not Harry," Tinya agreed, and she smiled. "He actually doesn't get enough credit…of course there are some that are surprised that he really exists."

"You can tell it's a slow down because you're gossiping about my husband and his legacy to history," Kara said and Karen joined them at the table.

"I wouldn't complain, he's a worthwhile subject to talk about," Karen replied and Kara smiled in response.

"Wasn't exactly knocking it, you know. I was just making a comment."

"Oh I know, I know," Karen agreed and she sighed. "So far nothing, Chloe and Tess are locked up in one room, it is a delicate process. Lois's brain could be scrambled from going through the time stream….."

"Imra is helping them, isn't she?"

"Well her abilities would be useful to trying to stir up some old memories, and hopefully cause Lois to be okay," Karen explained and she knew that between the three of them, they would be able to get through her mind okay.

"So, are you sure that Tess is the best person for Lois to see?" Salu asked and she reminded them. "According to the Legion records, they got into an altercation before Lois vanished into the night."

"Well…..Tess has changed….somewhat since then," Karen said with a smile. But she could see the points of the girls. The fact that Lois was so high strung reminded her that she might be hostile first and ask questions never, if she asked questions at all.

She would just have to trust that Tess and Chloe would be able to explain their way out of that situation. And Imra, being the most neutral of the three parties, would be able to pacify Lois somewhat.

So far there was no news, rather it be good, bad, or indifferent. So the group had to play that one game that everyone hated to play, the waiting game.

The Emerald Empress slowly opened her eyes and she groaned, as she tried to return herself to a state where she was awake. The battle with the Legion was something that taxed her. Their newest additions had been something of a problem as well and the woman could feel something twist in her stomach.

"I don't think you realize that when I get out of here….my Fatal Five will destroy….."

"Oh, poor dear, she hasn't been brought up to speed on current events," one of the twins in the shadows said in a saddened voice. Even though it was an almost mocking type of sadness, the type that was completely and utterly sarcastic which was for good reason.

"Yes, she really hasn't….it must be hard not to….well I'm going to tell you all about it….."

"Yes, why don't you do that….."

The Emerald Empress could hear both of them go back and forth with each other. It was like a tennis match and she was getting a headache.

"You see your four companions, they've been imprisoned….until we figure out what we want to do with them," Alexandria Luthor said and Alexis Luthor picked up where her sister left off.

"Yes…don't worry, there's not a chance for parole for any of them…..and I'm sure that they'll be useful in testing some….projects that we've been working on," Alexis said, as she went off and she smiled at the woman.

The woman who realized that she was only covered with a black tarp from the neck up and she was completely naked otherwise. Her anger filled her eyes and the rage was going to hit a fever pitch.

"I'll kill you for this!" The Emerald Empress snapped, her eyes flowing with anger but Alexis shook her head.

"Oh….that's bad…..such anger….it isn't going to work," Alexis said, tapping her finger against the edge of the remote control that she held.

The Emerald Empress's anger was replaced with another emotion and she could feel desire flood through her legs.

"What was that….."

"You see, we've come to the conclusion that females kill because they do not get to experience….pleasure….."

"Therefore, they are backed up and they have to let out their aggressions in alternating ways," Alexandria commented and her grin got even wider as she looked over the Emerald Empress. The Empress looked flushed and glared at her with hatred swimming through her eyes. "Another dose of pheromones….."

Once again her anger embedded and it was replaced by lust.

"Now this is a prototype, so it isn't going to work as well it could…"

"But, you've been volunteered to be the first person to test it out," Alexis said as she looked at the Empress, who looked forward towards them. She wondered what they were doing to her and more importantly, she wondered why she was liking it.

"If it works….we can mass produce them….actually that might be a bad idea," Alexandria said. "We better keep them for private use but….it should keep these naughty girls in line."

"You do realize that when I find a way out of here, I'll….."

"You don't think that we'll let you out, do you?" Alexis asked in a sweet voice, her smile getting more prominent and her eyes were locked onto that of the Emerald Empress. "So, Sarya, mind if we call you that….."

"I don't think that she minds, does she?" Alexandria asked as they petted their new test subject on the head like she was an obedient dog. She had the collar and everything so it worked. "But….perhaps we should introduce you to the other part of the experiment….."

"As you might have figured out, these collars induce obedience," Alexis said to her captive prisoner and she smiled, parting the hair out of her face.

"And that obedience will….well I'll just allow you to figure it out, what it causes you to do," Alexandria said as the two continued to go back and forth with a rapid fire. It might have made the head of anyone who could hear them hurt. "So…..I'm guessing that you want to meet the person that you're going to be bound to through this collar."

"Bound to….you….you….."

"I'm sure you're going to argue that you can't," Alexis said with a smile on her face.

"But, we can assure you we can….you know….you do the crime, you need to do the time," Alexandria picked up in a rapid fire fury.

"But….you know….you'll enjoy doing the time," Alexis continued with a wide grin on her face. "Even though that time is hard time….."

"The hardest time," Alexandria interjected and her sister's grin increased. "But don't worry, darling, we won't bite….not even a little bit."

The Emerald Empress wondered what she was getting herself into and she looked forward, to see him in the shadows. The power that radiated off of him made him desirable.

"I think she's getting into it now," Alexis said and she smiled. "So, Harry, in the interest of science, would you do the honors and help sort this bitch out?"

Imra placed her hands on the side of Lois's head and slowly tried to coax her out of the catatonic state that she had put herself in. The blonde could come to only one conclusion when she looked at Lois closely. The woman threw herself into shock and now…..well now she was completely out of it.

"Please tell me you'll have some good news," Chloe said and Imra's eyes flashed towards her, amusement dancing within them.

"A moment of silence, please," Imra told her and Chloe fell back into line. She was about to say that she was sorry, but then again that would break the moment of silence vow.

Tess looked at the woman who was down there, she had her problems with Lois in the past, there was no denying that fact. She continued to look over the woman as her eyes flashed with trauma. There were seconds where she saw signs of life and those sighs of life extinguished.

'What a mess,' Tess thought, she technically did die, but she didn't have the memories of it obvious. The Legion database brought her back up to speed and she hated that fact, but what were you going to do about it?

Chloe was on pins and needles, trying to figure out what would happen to her older cousin. She was going to say that she was a nervous wreck but she knew better. She had gone beyond nervous wreck a long time ago.

There was a spike in Lois's brain waves that cause Chloe to nearly jump halfway into the sky. She could see Tess give her a look that told her that she needed to calm down. Chloe did, she was calmed down.

Lois's mouth hung open and she was going to scream. But there was no sound coming out of her mouth.

'Just come back to us Lois, hang on, you're almost there,' Imra thought, she knew that Lois's will was going to be strong. Some might say that she was stubborn. The line between being strong and having a strong will was something that drew a fine line and a people mistaken the two of them all of the time.

Lois Lane spasmed, her body going into fits. Her heart hammered hard against her chest as she was returning.

"Lois, you need to come back, it will be fine, you should…..come on Lois, you can do it," Chloe encouraged her and there was a few seconds where Lois's brain waves spiked.

There was only one final push and Imra fell back, a headache spiking through her head.

Tess could see that Imra dropped down to the ground and time nearly crawled to an agonizing stop.

Lois's eyes open and the first face that she saw was Chloe's. The first impression that she got was that she felt like she was experiencing an extremely bad hangover. One of those hangovers that felt like she got her head ran over by a steamroller. Something that she swore never to go through after her college days.

All she remembered was the bright light and the next thing she knew….well here she was right here. Her head continued to throb and the woman let out her breath with a long labored sigh.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Chloe said to her and Lois looked at her cousin.

"Chloe, where in the hell am I?"

Lois gave one of those gazes where she demanded an explanation and Chloe decided to drop the bombshell on her.

"Don't you mean when?"

To Be Continued on July 28th 2014.