"So there they are, the heroes of the latest generation," Savage commented. He didn't seem too concerned. He had fought generation after generation of heroes. The Justice League had been the most problematic of the heroes to be honest but he eventually found a way to defeat them after some time.

"Yes, here they are," Circe commented in a fairly dry and quite bored voice. She was actually looking forward to seeing how this played out. "I'm certain that the big bad criminal mastermind has something up his sleeve for them. At least I assume that you do but you know what they say about assumptions, my dear Savage."

Savage was not about to rise to her bait but it was true, he did have a few surprises in store for the heroes if they tried to interfere with his plans. The technology around the temple was state of the art. He learned much about different types of alien technology over the years. One did not live for thousands of years and remain ignorant.

He couldn't be killed thanks to the meteor that gifted him the power. He was a simple caveman and the world was a simpler time. It also was a time where men had to be men and they didn't become weak. You ever hunted and thrived, or you fell. It was true survival of the fittest.

"It's him," Savage growled, once again coming across as the caveman that he was. Old habits died a horrific death after all and one could not defeat their most base primal instincts. Something that was becoming evident with Savage.

"Who, you're going to have to be more specific, honey," Circe commented in a slightly condescending tone of voice but once again Savage ignored her bait, at least for the most part.

"You know who I'm talking about witch, you should have informed me that he existed, this changes a lot."

Savage was wound up now, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. Circe watched the show, getting some enjoyment out of it. The man was about ready to lose his mind and it was a glorious sight to behold.

"I'm afraid, I don't know….oh you're referring to Harry Potter, are you?" Circe asked and she laughed. Savage walked forward and gripped the side of the mirror. "Break the mirror, you get seven years bad luck. Which is normally just a superstition but you know, this is an enchanted mirror and there are different rules so superstitions are fairly true."

Savage breathed in and out, practically snarling like a savage beast. Vandal Savage took a second to calm himself.

"I'm certain that there is some kind of fascinating backstory that I should hear involving both of you."

There was no response, Savage's razor like focus was put elsewhere and his lips curled into a snarling sneer.

"It's the past….."

"The past still hurts, and it's obvious you haven't let it go….."

"IT'S THE PAST!" Savage yelled, if he didn't need this woman, he would have put her in storage where she was collecting dust somewhere.

"Always the caveman."

Savage ignored this slight, it was something that he was essentially used from receiving from this woman.

"Accept my help, or don't," Circe commented in a icy tone of voice. "You know you need me."

Savage didn't respond to that because he saw someone else approaching them. The Amazon Princess was approaching them.

"Well looks like you already got beaten to the Princess," Circe commented and Savage looked at her, pulling back a dusty panel.

"I haven't failed yet," Savage grunted, he knew that the Amazons would bow before him. A man of his stature deserved that harem of women, actually they would be his pets, his concubines.

"You got beaten to the punch by Harry Potter….which means your chances of getting any women who have set their sights on him….well your chances of willingly grabbing onto them is not really that favorable, " Circe said and Savage turned to her. "And by not favorable, I mean completely nonexistent."

The wide smirk was not something that invited warm visions of fuzziness and rainbows.

It was obvious that he did not intend to take them willingly.

"They'll get a suitable reception, and he will as well," Savage said and it went without saying that the payback was a long time coming.

He dealt with the Legion's inspiration, Superman, even though they had gone a long way from being a Superman fan club. Even Savage would have to agree that their newest inspiration was a significant step up.

'He really thinks that he has a hope against Potter,' Circe thought. She felt that telling him that he didn't have a chance would not serve her well. In fact, it would serve her amusement to see him fall.

To be fair, perhaps he could have a chance. Circe was curious to how Harry Potter woke up the Princess from her state. Given what was set up, it was supposed to be impossible.

'Guess he does thrive on beating the impossible,' Circe mentally concluded.

Harry smiled, he had a sixth sense of where to look for traps and the front door was actually a better blind spot more than some people would think.

They would think that people would not go in the front door because it was the most obvious thing in the world. But sometimes the obvious was not the obvious.

"There are pressure sensors on the door knobs," Tess told him as she scanned the premises. "And those cannons pack a punch. And I'm sure there is a set of statues that will react if you pass them."

"Yeah, statues attacking me do seem to be a trend," Harry said and Karen raised her eyebrow.

"You're just coming to that conclusion, now?" Karen asked Harry and the wizard smiled at her. The busty blonde shook her head in amusement. "Of course you are."

"Of course I am," Harry responded, doing his own scans. "Of course, the fact that he slammed alien technology onto something magical….."

"Oh boy, that's asking for trouble," Zatanna said wince a wince, she knew that combining magic and technology, including alien, was a bad time. Really bad times.

"Horror stories, much?" Cir-El asked her.

"Yes, many," Zatanna said and Harry nodded calmly next to her.

"Okay, the first tier of security is down, but there are about five more tiers and…"

A shot of laser fire erecting from one of the gargoyle statues on the pyramid began to fire at them.

"And I think that we missed one…"

"What do you mean one, do you have a lab rat in your pocket or something….."

Diana lifted her wrists and blocked the laser fire, sending it back at the gargoyles, causing them to blow to smithereens. The Amazon Princess smiled as she stood beneath it. She would give herself a pat on the back for a job well done but there was still some work to be done.

Namely, she propelled herself up into the air and hit a huge punch, slamming her fist into the gargoyle, destroying it.

"Two more!" Alexis yelled and Kara, like a cyclone, dove into the air. She aimed her heat vision against it and fired but there was a bit of a problem.

The gargoyles were mystically protected now. The one Diana smashed wasn't but these two were.

Kara dodged the blast of fire. Those lasers looked like they packed a punch, even against a Kryptonian.

"Okay, that didn't really worked as planned," Kara said, driven breathlessly.

"Working on getting them down, just delay them as much as you can," Alexandria said frantically.

Three large cannon balls slammed onto the ground and they burst open, revealing metal mosiquito like objects. They shot acid out where they were, causing the group to scatter.

Kara, Karen, and Cir-El all locked eyes with each other and raised their hands, knowing what they needed to do.

CLAP!

Their hands clapped together and the little mosiquitoes exploded.

"They're vulnerable to loud sounds, that's good to know," Kara said and she smiled. "Kind of makes them cheaply made."

"I'm not complaining, are you complaining?" Karen asked and the gargoyles that had the laser arrays blew up real nicely.

"Okay, there are pressures pads on the floor where if you press on one of them, you're all fall to your doom, and hyper gravity that prevents you from simply flying inside," Alexis explained without catching her breath.

"And you can't teleport in….."

"It wouldn't be fun if it was easy," Harry said. Magic had so many loopholes, it was kind of glorious all of what they had.

"That's for sure," Karen replied, the smile getting wider over her face.

"I'm trying to isolate all of the pressure pads….there is a definite area on the floor….a small area where you can walk, so you're going to only have to enter one at a time," Tess said.

"Which leaves us wide open for an ambush if one of us goes in," Harry said, he knew the game by now.

Diana's jaw was set as she responded. "I'll go."

"Are you….."

"I'll go," Diana repeated herself firmly, without missing a beat. She knew that if her sisters were inside, she had to be the one to retrieve them. It was her responsibility.

Diana received the information on the floor plan, committing it to memory. The tiles were precise, one tile misstep and boom it would be over.

The Princess of the Amazons hit one to the right, one to the left, then the next three were straight across.

Then there was a big step next, and then it was through the door. Thankfully she was well skilled, otherwise making the jump would mean that she would fall to her doom.

Taking a breath, Diana jumped up and landed on the final tile and then it was through the door.

Time stopped but Diana was there. Harry made his way across the temple but the timer on the door expired, and it was only Harry and Diana that were in there.

"And sometime tells me that the two of us being the only ones in here was done by design," Diana said and the set of doors showed them where they needed to go.

They made their way into the temple. Diana felt her breath get driven out of her body by how far they had gone. The Amazon Princess sensed that there was a trap but she didn't care.

She saw the image of her mother and her younger sister sitting on the main pedestal. They were in a spot of honor.

There was an empty spot next to them, and it was reserved for Diana. She knew it, and the thought of such made her stomach turn in a sickening knot. The Amazon's jaw was set.

"The moment we walk into this room, the place could go nuts," Harry said and it was a problem that they were cut off from contact on the outside wall.

Harry half expected the floor to drop and him and Diana to end in one of those pits with the walls closing around them. It might have razor sharp spikes on the wall as well.

He took the step and was pleasantly surprised. Guess that was what he got for assuming such a thing would transpire.

"I expected you to show up, Harry Potter, but it appears that you brought a guest."

Harry turned, it would be rude for him not to acknowledge his host, after all they had gone way back. "Well….if it isn't Vandal Savage."

"In the flesh," Savage said with a sharp grunt, staring down Harry. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Not nearly long enough, I'm afraid," Harry said and he saw the statues of Amazons. "I didn't think that you were the kind to collect dolls, Savage."

"Well, I'm not, as you well know that these dolls are valuable, once I figure out how to return them back to life, just as you've returned this one to life," Vandal said with a leering grin as he looked at Wonder Woman.

"Is it just me, or has he gotten worse the longer time has passed?" Diana asked, she wrinkled her nose in the most abject disgust that she was capable of.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Harry replied, Vandal Savage had worsened as time had gone on and this was the result of it.

"You think that you could stop me?" Savage asked him.

"You're going to monologue, aren't you?" Harry asked. He saw Savage, he knew what he was doing. The energies surrounding him allowed him to remain alive but with a little bit of tweaking, they could change to serve another purpose for Harry.

Savage rushed Harry but the wizard dodged his first attack. Diana nailed Savage with a huge punch to the face. He grimaced.

"I like it when a woman plays r….."

Savage never once finished his sentence, for his skin suddenly solidified and he stood, his mouth forever open. His sentence never would finish, but if it did, Diana would have just kicked his ass anyway.

"Wow," Diana said as she could sense that Savage was still alive but the energy kept his body in a state of suspended animation. That was the magic of magic.

Diana turned her eyes to Circe, who stood in the mirror, her mouth hanging open. The Sorceress lifted her hands, slowly clapping, with her glowing purple eyes fixed on Harry, with something that resembled pride flashing through them.

"Bravo, I never liked the guy," Circe said and Diana stared her down.

"What are you doing helping Savage, Circe?" Diana demanded and Circe closed her eyes, curling her lip in a sneer. She decided to directly answer the Princess's question, in a fashion at least.

"Well, I'm not exactly helping him, I might have given him some advice and told him where to locate some of your fallen sisters," Circe said.

"You wouldn't do something unless it benefitted you, and we both know that," Diana said and Circe shook her head.

"Something crawl up your….."

Harry channeled a bit of the energy through the mirror and caused Circe a tiny bit of pain.

"You only helped him because you thought that he had the means to free you from the mirror," Harry accused her and Circe shrugged.

"Well, you know…..I assumed that, but really I was just trying to pass the time, being in a suspended mirror for all of this time….it gets boring you know," Circe said. "You know being in suspended animation, aware of the world going around you, you wouldn't imagine what that's like."

Diana's eye twitched. She only did not smash the mirror because she reminded herself that it was seven years bad luck, more so because it was an enchanted mirror.

"Harry….are you there?" Tess asked, the connection garbled.

"You found a work around, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"It wasn't easy, the magic was really corrupting the connection, but yes, we found a work around," Tess said and Harry could see the other girls there.

"It looks like the Legion are going to be getting a few more hundred guests at the very least."

Harry roughly picked up the mirror containing Circe first, not bothered how much it jarred her trapped soul.

"Oh, it's you," Kara said, stopping and looking at Circe.

"You aren't still upset about the entire getting turned into a bunny rabbit thing, are you?"

Kara's eyes glowed with a hint of heat vision and Circe knew right then she could consider perhaps framing any future conversations in a more respectful manner.

The Amazon dolls were all present and accounted for. Diana looked at her mother and sister, frustration brimming from her eyes. The Princess could not believe this but the good news was that they were all collected, present, and accounted for.

The bad news was they were no closer to releasing them from their suspension then they were.

"This doesn't make any sense," Diana said and Chloe could not help but interject with a few words of her own.

"Magic rarely does….."

"Well it makes no sense even when you consider the fact that magic normally doesn't make sense," Zatanna replied to him and Imra nodded as she closed her eyes.

"Please tell me you hear some thoughts," Diana said to the blonde telepath and she scrunched up her nose in delicate concentration when she tried to grab onto the thoughts of what was around her.

"Yes, faint, it's like hearing someone at the end of a very long tunnel whisper, if you have really good hearing, you can almost make it out, but barely," Imra said and they all understood about that.

"Well there's one person who knows all about this," Tess commented and Harry nodded in agreement. "Getting her to talk…..and getting her to tell the truth is another matter entirely."

"She's put in the next room," Alexis informed them both.

"Yeah, she was trying to sweet talk us into helping put her in a place of honor but….."

"We know better, I mean we're Luthors, so we're used to doing the sweet talking but we'll never be sweet talked…"

"Something that I'm sure you tried with me and failed," Harry told both of the Luthor twins and they looked at him with sheepish grins.

"Well, I don't know much about magic, but I'm sure the solution could be so simple…..but it's kind of complicated," Karen said and Chloe opened her mouth but she elbowed her in the side. The caused the blonde to snap her mouth shut. "And yes I'm aware that magic is complicated by nature."

Chloe wasn't going to say anything but the smile on her face said plenty. Harry was hunched over some notes that he made. He researched a lot during his time dealing with the wand wavers trapped in the Forbidden Zone.

He was sure that there were going to be something in these notes that could help the Amazons. Diana came back to life because of his contact, but they had forged a close bond. While Harry did have bonds with the Amazons, he would have to say that they were not as close as his and Diana's was. But they were still there and might be of use.

"So are you going to talk to Circe?" Kara asked, crossing her arms.

"Looks like I'm going to have to," Harry said and he looked towards Diana. "Are you…"

"Yeah, I'm coming with you, I want to find out why she did this, and what she was hoping to accomplish," Diana said, even though she figured that she would get nothing but a headache trying to figure out what that woman was up to.

The two made their way to the room to face the woman in the mirror who grinned and gave them a mocking little bow.

"Princess," Circe commented, and Diana looked at her, raising her eyebrow.

"You know something," Diana said and Circe looked at both of them." Why did you do this?"

"Well, I had nothing better to do, really, and I didn't expect to get trapped in the mirror, although Hercules got it on my way out," Circe told both of them. "Let me out of the mirror and I'll restore your sisters."

"You know…..I'm pretty sure that you're trying to trick us to let you out, and we could figure this out if given time," Harry said and Diana nodded.

"No, listen, you have to let me out of the mirror, I command it of you!" Circe yelled, losing her mind and Harry and Diana exchanged a tense look with each other.

"You command it of us?" Diana asked and Harry smiled knowing where this one was going and liking it very much. "Well, I don't think that she'll help us very much, and we'd be a lot better finding someone who could help us."

"That, and I'm not sure if she even knows how to free your sisters, so what's to stop her from fleeing after we let her out of the mirror or turning us all into pigs or statues ourselves?" Harry asked Diana.

"No, there isn't any reason why we should think that we should trust her," Diana commented, she was enjoying this and enjoying really winding Circe up. After all that woman put her and her sisters through, Diana was not going to be someone who was going to be too disappointed by any discomfort that she felt.

"Wait you can't….you can't!" Circe yelled at the top of her lungs, demanding as per usual.

"There she goes ago, telling us what we can and can't do," Diana said and she and Harry walked from the room.

"WAIT, please, I don't want to be trapped in the mirror, I really know how to revert them back, it takes at least five magical users but it can be done….please….I'll do anything….just don't leave me trapped…"

Harry poked his head back into the room.

"Thank you, you've been help, but only when they're freed you will be freed," Harry told her. "And….if you pull anything, I can put you back in that mirror immediately and I can tell you that there would be no way out."

Harry thought that he might be acting like a tiny bit of an asshole, but the fact of the matter was that he had to do so to get Circe to cooperate.

"Yes," Circe said, she knew that she was in a perilous predicament and being trapped this long had made her completely desperate.

"So, all we have to do is time this ritual right, and the girls should return back to where they are," Harry said, as Tinya, Imra, and Ayla were sitting up, keeping him company. The other girls were off doing whatever.

"So, there's you….Zatanna….as the magic users, Diana, Kara, and…"

"Karen, but she needs to be trained a little bit more, thankfully she's getting there," Harry said and Imra nodded. "I feel like we should get one more magical user for good measure."

"You do know best," Tinya commented, leaning her head back and she had her legs propped up on the desk, and relaxed. It was going to be a late night but they were working towards a resolution for an extremely important problem.

"We're going to test to see if things work out well, I have a feeling that I have to lead the ritual," Harry said.

Imra nodded, it went without saying. Harry was the person that brought Diana back to life. A stronger bond there but never the less, the ritual would jumpstart his magic and pull them out.

"So, it's been a long night," Ayla said and she smiled at Harry. "I think that you're used to long nights, aren't you Harry?"

"Yes, I am," Harry replied to her and Ayla looked at him with a flushed manner.

Thankfully she was saved from following that up with a loud and blaring alarm.

"Some kind of distress signal," Tinya told them and she was about to check something but sure enough, there was someone who arrived.

A burst of ravens appeared in the air, revealing Rachel Roth, otherwise known as Raven, dropping down from the ground. It had been a few months since Harry had saw her and he smiled at her arrival.

"Hi, Rachel," Harry told her and Rachel nodded with a smile directed towards Harry.

"Hello Harry, I wish that I would be meeting you under better circumstances, but….you got the same beacon that I did, didn't you?"

"Yes, I just got a moment before you got it….and I was just thinking of you, I need your help," Harry told her and Rachel raised her eyebrow.

"Small world, isn't it?" Rachel asked, she needed Harry's help and he needed her help. "So….what exactly do you need my help with?"

Harry explained about the Amazons to her. To Rachel's credit, she listened without question. That type of magic could be very precise, so she was able to back up Circe's claims about the ritual.

"Well, it does tally up with what I know about such rituals, and it's one of those things where you do need an all hands on deck situation," Rachel said and Harry simply smiled. "Figured as much myself."

"That being said, what's on your mind?"

"Well I believe that one of my former teammates in the Teen Titans is still alive, she was captured a long time ago, and….other problems happened that caused us not to be able to find her again," Rachel commented. "And I think now that the group that took her…..well they're using her as a power source and somehow…..she's managing to send a message, a brief one, but it's a message none the less."

Harry looked calm, he thought that both sides could help each other. Imra turned towards Harry.

"Shall I call a full team briefing?"

"Yes, that would be appreciated," Harry said, and Rachel prepared to give him more information on what she knew.

To Be Continued on August 11th 2014.