Chapter Ten: Surprise Visit.
Finding a signal and tracking said signal down were two different things. Yet there was a lot on the line, more than they could even imagine. Before Harry knew it, he was on a private jet, along with Kara, Karen, and Tess. Indy was there also, given that her expert skills would need to track the signal. Kara turned to Harry for a second and projected one single thought to him.
'This is the weirdest signal I've ever seen in my life,' Kara thought to herself as she saw it blinking on the radar. Sure enough the signal was quite peculiar, but most things about life were. The blonde took a moment to turn to her husband and sister wife, before biting down on her tongue. 'It's almost Kryptonian.'
'But it isn't at the same time,' Karen thought to herself and her mates, wondering what was going on. This had to be some kind of mish-mash technology.
"Hopefully we'll be able to find the person doing this and put a stop to them," Tess commented, speaking up for the first time during their entire trip. She took protecting confidential Luthorcorp data very seriously and the point that someone was trying to bust into her files was something she took great offense to. The red head woman turned to her tech girl with a stern expression. "Indy, are we any closer to pinpointing the signal."
"I am working on it but these things take time," Indy stated, a bit of frustration flickering in from her voice.
"Maybe we should have brought our tech person along for the ride," Kara suggested but Tess shook her head.
"As good as Chloe is, Indy is far more capable than her," Tess stated as she turned back to the girl, who was not blinking and focused on her work. At times, Tess got the sense that this girl became the work and the woman's eyes contorted, a scowl crossing her face.
'Chloe may beg to differ,' Kara thought in the link, almost with mirth dancing from her voice.
'Yes, I would, how dare some….seriously is she any good?' Chloe asked, a bit of worry flooding her tone through the mental link.
'She is fairly decent,' Harry thought to her, but then something caught his attention and he could not help but voice this next thought. 'Come to think of it, she reminds me of you in many ways.'
'Only an upgraded version of me,' Chloe thought, those thoughts dripping with dread but Harry chuckled.
'Chloe, relax, you have nothing to worry about,' Harry responded through the link in a reassuring tone.
Kara did not say anything but normally when someone said that they had nothing to worry about, there were more reasons to worry about something than never before. The blonde shook her head, before watching Indy plug away at the computer. She was rather amazing in many ways, but there was something about her that Kara could not quite put her finger on.
They would find out all too soon but Indy's eyes remained unblinking, unfocused, and the young woman took a moment to look at the equipment which was lighting up like a Christmas tree. The frown on her face spread more and more. Tess noticed this straight away and commented on it.
"Is there a problem?"
"A slight one," Indy admitted as she turned around to face the woman before her and a shrug on her face. "I have detected a large quantity of unstable energy that is altering the gravitational field around the ship, causing our flight to become extremely unstable and we're flying at an angle."
There was a pause before she added.
"This is not an ideal situation." Indy responded in a flat tone of voice that was dripping with logic and nothing more. The girl spun around a slight bit, clutching her fist together before she tried to tap into the computer. "We will be going down at a rate so quickly that we will crash and there is only a thirty nine point three percent chance of us surviving the explosion."
'Yes, that isn't ideal,' Harry thought to his wives.
The Heralds locked eyes, they knew what they had to do, they needed to stabilize the plane so it did not fall down to the ground hard. Harry, Kara, and Karen closed their eyes and summoned their powers. To her credit, Tess remained rather cool under the face of fire, which was good, given that there was no telling what would happen with this plane going down to the ground. If someone lost their head, things would go quite worse.
The plane landed down to the ground, but they pulled back and kept it from flying down hard. Harry, Kara, and Karen let out the breaths that they were holding and spun around, breathing in and out heavily.
'So any landing you can walk away from…." Kara thought but she shook her head, her mind was rattled because of what happened. Karen grabbed onto her tightly.
"Are we both alright?" Harry asked to Tess and Indy.
"Believe me, I've had worse," Tess stated, the truth was her wrist was bruised for a second but then the pain and any marks were gone as her skin healed. And she supposed if she did not have her seat belt on, it would have been much worse.
Harry put a hand up in the air, to try and scan for any weird magical energy signatures but there was a blipping sound that caused him to stand up straighter than he ever was before. The Boy-Who-Lived, the Herald of Death, whatever title he was using now, he sensed something in the offing. It was not the warm tidings of welcome either.
There was a cracking of sticks together and that rarely bode well for anything. The wizard stood on his heels, trying to determine what the source of the cracking and smashing was coming from. Kara and Karen kept on their toes hovering slightly in the air.
'What's going on?' Karen thought to herself but it was Harry who gripped her hand tightly. The blonde sighed in and sighed out.
'We're going to deal with something bad,' Harry thought to his wives but Kara was the one who sprung in with another inquiry.
'How bad?'
Harry paused before he made his statement. 'Undesirable bad.'
The dark figures swooped forward, clashing their sticks together, and sparks flew through the air, before they edged forward, nasty intentions in mind.
"Take him down, he is the one that blocks us from releasing our master.'
Tess edged off in a direction that Harry could quite yet but to be fair, he was a tad bit preoccupied by the situation that presented itself. He stood with Kara and Karen, and they circled around, trying to not get boxed into one situation or the other. The blondes and the dark haired wizard both wondered one thing and that was who were these people fighting for.
Kara blasted one of her enemies down onto the ground but he got up immediately. Karen grabbed Kara by the hands and swung her over her head. The younger blonde knocked one of her enemies down with a huge impact, both of her feet connecting with the waist of an enemy.
'One down, several more to go,' Kara thought to herself, just getting warmed up.
Easy this was not, especially when there were more to these people that met the eye.
Clark Kent sat on the ground, his legs folded and his arms folded as well, taking a moment to reflect. He had been taken, against his will, practically kidnapped, from the Kent Farm, by Raya, Lana, and Lois, and brought to Brazil for a trip. It was not a trip that he wanted to go on not. He felt his powers, they were still normal, no more stronger than they were a year ago. That point frustrated him greatly.
"Hey, Clark, just put your chin up and focus!" Lois yelled as she stared at him, shaking her head. There was some times where Lois wanted to establish a permanent relationship between her head and a desk when she was around Clark.
Lana closed her eyes, trying to raise and lower her body temperature at will. Depending on the heat her body emitted, she could shoot fire or ice. Of course, getting that down to a science, that was the problem. The dark haired girl saw Clark, before she shot a blast of fire, giving him a hot foot.
"Lana, what was that for?" Clark asked, but a grin crossed her face.
"It was to keep you from moving like a bump on a log, and it's obviously worked," Lana responded, annoyance crossing her face. "It's been three months, Clark, don't you think…."
"No, Lana, I don't think, and it's not Clark, remember, it's Kal-El," Clark answered, before getting to his feet. "I've got to leave the human part of my life behind if…"
"No, you don't have to do any such thing," Lana responded, grabbing Clark roughly around the shoulders and pushing him down to his knees. Clark felt annoyed, like he was being scolded. "Whatever Jor-El has to say, you need some time away. Whether it's another month, six, or a year, you need to…"
"I need to be out there, protecting the world, and how am I supposed to do that, where there are people stronger than me?" Clark asked, a bit more hostile than he would and he grabbed Lana's hands and shoved them back, before turning around.
"Are you trying to say that Harry should have boosted your powers when he found a way to give us ours?" Lois asked, trying to wrap her head around Clark's logic.
"No…I….I don't need him to do anything for me," Clark responded with frustrating dripping from his voice, at the very thought of owing Harry any favors. That was something that he was not going to be on board one hundred percent of the way. He shook his head, clearing his cobwebs.
"Well, perhaps there was a reason why he didn't offer," Lois responded, before she turned to Lana.
'He's being stubborn," Lana thought to Lois, who shook her head.
'He's being Clark,' Lois thought, trying to think of various ways to correct his behavior. She could get creative with it if she put her mind to it. 'Although I'm trying to think of how to control my…multiplication problem.'
'Why is it a problem?' Lana asked, curiosity getting the better of her and Lois shook her head, before bringing Lana back up to speed.
'Well it's a problem in the sense that the dupes tend to get their own personalities after a few minutes and it's hard to control them,' Lois thought as her face crossed with amusement. 'There's happy Lois, sad Lois, mad Lois, and Lois acting like she inhaled an entire truckload of sugar. Then there's Lois who has ambitions of world domination.'
'That could be bad,' Lana admitted with a slight chuckle.
'Bad is grossly understating how that might be,' Lois thought to Lana but she tried to remain herself focused. Dealing with Clark's various quirks and the way he was acting, it was becoming a rather prominent job.
Raya returned for scouting the village, she thought that she saw something. Clara, who decided to tag along on this trip, followed her.
"He's still stuck in permanent sulk mode?" Clara asked Lois and Lana in an exasperated tone of voice and the two girls responded with nods. The Kryptonian female threw up her hands in frustration, abject frustration. "I don't know….I hope I never acted like that."
"Did you?" Lois asked but Clara shook her head.
"I didn't….at least I don't think I did, "Clara answered, but she was sure that Alex, if she was here, would tell her differently. The dark haired girl shifted herself on the ground. "Maybe a little bit but not to the extent that he did. I would've wanted to drown myself in liquid Kryptonite."
"That bad, huh?" Lois asked and Clara shrugged her shoulders.
"That bad, yes," Clara agreed, hoping that whatever Clark was going through, he would figure out how to get his head on straight.
She personally was about to suggest stripping him of his powers, stripping him of his clothes, and throwing him out in the middle of a crowded city, it might teach him some much needed humility.
Raya decided to break her self-imposed silence, turning to the other girls. "We have something, lurking around the edge of the village."
Clark bounced out of his funk, eager for a chance to prove that he was not weak.
"I'll go…"
"No," Lois stated in a firm voice.
"But…"
"I said no!"
Clark spun around and sped off, figuring that he did not need to listen to them. Which caused Lana's exasperation with him not to mention her patience to reach a fever pitch; he was acting like a three year old who was told that they couldn't have any sweets at the super market now.
Lana made a movement like she was going to go after him but Raya shook her head. Lois was the one who piped up. "Let him, it's the only way he's going to learn."
They waited a couple of moments and there was a thump on the other side of the village. That was their cue to go forward. Lana bolted forward first, with Lois and Raya following them. To his credit, Clark managed to stay on his feet, but these robed figures surrounded him, blasting mystical energy bolts from their hands, when he ducked and dodged the attacks.
"Okay, I'll bite, who are these guys?" Clara asked, popping up next to them.
"Don't know but we better leap in," Lana answered, jumping in before knocking one of them back. She turned to Clark who grunted and spun around to knock another one out without acknowledging her assist. "You're welcome, Clark."
Clark did not say anything, but he sent them flying, crashing down to the ground. The impact where they hit the ground, it was immense. The Last Son of Krypton swung his fists hard and knocked them down to the ground. He sent them flying, with Lois, Raya, Clara, and Lana pitching in when they could.
"So, who are these guys anyway?" Lana asked as she froze two of her enemies in place.
One of the enemies flew forward, with Kara punching the robed figure at the speed of light. "Lana, Clara, Lois, Raya….ah…."
Kara ducked the knife swung towards her and Karen swooped in, using her heat vision to take it out. Then the blonde wiped out an enemy, with Harry flicking his wrist, sending them flying up and out of the air. They sliced into the barbed fence, landing with a splatter of blood on the ground.
Clark's eyes widened, he was trying to put them up.
"He resembles the usurper, destroy him with extreme prejudice," one of the lead hooded robe members.
"The usurper, who could they mean?" Lana asked, but she paused. "They don't mean…"
"They do," Clark responded through gritted teeth and with clenched hands as his heat vision fired forward.
Clark was wondering what Jor-El did this time to screw him over with someone who was going to kill him.
He then was sent flying to the ground and knocked out with an impact. Lana rushed forward and engaged the enemy, for they could take another fatal shot at Clark.
They turned and ran.
"And they've got away," Harry responded, as they faded into the dust.
"Not a good thing, I take it?" Lana asked him, but there was a pause before Harry shook his head.
No it was not a good thing, because they might have gotten away but they would all return in immense numbers. That put the Heralds of Death in a bind and with Clark there, trying to now be the hero, they weren't able to do the work that they were set to do.
Tess managed to salvage some readings from the plane after it went down. They should have been in a million pieces by all rights, although thanks to Harry and Kara, they managed to dodge that particular bullet. The red haired woman walked forward with Indy trailing closely behind her, the violet eyed girl arching her head up and watching the situation around her.
"I believe one could say that we are close to our destination," Indy remarked in a careful and rather calm tone of voice, arching her head up and spinning around. "I think that it may be prudent…"
"Indy, do your job, I'll decide what we do," Tess answered carefully, inclining her neck back a little bit. "I believe it'd be prudent for us to remain careful."
"That was what I was going to say," Indy answered whilst she rolled her eyes but she came to the conclusion that it was best if she remained silent and allowed Tess to guide her a little bit.
The creaking could be heard with Tess making her way around the corner. She kept herself from sticking too far ahead of the group but she had a sense that whoever hacked into Luthorcorp, they were nearly around the corner. The red haired woman kept herself steady, holding herself back from jumping the gun but she sensed something, a presence of some sort and said presence was quite unsettling.
Tess closed her eyes, there were problems, but she had to keep her mind off of them. Suddenly, she saw a blur and a streak of blonde hair. This individual was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans and for a second, she thought it was Kara. Tess edged forward, to investigate. Indy remained outside, like a good subordinate.
Venturing into the unknown, Tess looked up and opened her eyes. "Hello is anyone…."
The blonde blur shot out and grabbed Tess around the shoulder. Tess was surprised and felt her knees buckle out from underneath her. This was not before she saw a pair of piercing blue eyes, and she went down. This person could be Kara's doppleganger, they looked that they could have been separated at birth.
"Miss Mercer, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but there are certain things that I need to know," Alura stated, grabbing the portable computer device off of her. Tess was aware that she had been compromised but because she was in a state of temporary paralysis, she could do nothing about it.
Tess laid on the ground, eyes flickered, body motionless, more helpless than she ever had been before in her life. This was not good at all and she struggled to push herself back up to a standing position. The red haired woman collapsed to the ground in a hacking fit of frustrating. Never one to ask for help, Tess shook her head and tried to get back into the swing of things.
Who attacked her in such a way and why? This person, they looked like Kara, but they most certainly were not her.
She was about to get her answers for the doors opened and there was a blast of sunlight inside. Tess turned her head, struggling to find a method to get to her feet. There was nothing to her getting to her feet, in fact, she felt her arms grow rather numb as she shifted. Harry was the one that revived her.
"So do you have another evil twin running around?" Tess asked to Kara in a joking manner.
"Evil twin?" Kara asked confusion rolling through her voice and prominent in her eyes.
After those words from Tess clicked into mind, there was something that Kara recalled. Her eyes widened when she remembered it, distinct recognition appearing within her mind and the blonde felt her mouth hang open. She was here and Kara barely missed her. Had she arrived a few seconds earlier, she would not have missed her.
'What?' Harry asked her mentally.
'It's….Alura,' Karen thought before she spun around wildly, hoping to get a hint of her. Kara did the same.
"Whoever it is, they're gone now," Kara responded, keeping her voice rather calm.
"She took a portal computer device, there was sensitive Luthorcorp Data on it," Tess responded but Kara's eyes locked onto Tess's, before she remarked.
"Was there anything on there about the Kandorians?"
Tess was quick to shake her head. "No, but…."
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Harry answered in a swift voice.
There was a moment where Tess blinked and her eyes locked onto Harry's, before she stated the obvious.
"You knew who's behind this, don't you?"
Harry did not waste any time responding, the smile crossing over his face before he imparted that knowledge on her. "I got a little bit of a hunch but if I'm right, they're only dangerous to certain people. Zod for starters."
'I hope,' Harry added mentally as he focused on Kara. 'Do you have any idea….'
'What my mother is planning?' Kara asked but he could sense the frustration dripping from her thoughts. So close to seeing her mother but so far, she was pulled away. "Not a clue. I don't even know….but we'll find out, she hasn't gotten that far.'
'Well if she has, she moves pretty quickly for someone who doesn't have any powers at all,' Harry chimed in and Kara responded with a nod, that much was for certain.
"So are you going to be alright?" Harry inquired to Tess in a low voice.
Tess paused for a moment, wondering if she could answer that question with one hundred percent clarity. The woman put her hands to her head, before taking a moment to look at Harry, and offered a slow nod. She stated the obvious. "Yes, I'll be fine….we got to find the source of who was hacking into our systems."
'I've got something from our end,' Chloe projected to Harry, butting in suddenly. 'They're rather close.'
'Of course they are,' Harry thought but then they had another problem. 'Don't look now, but we're about to have another close encounter.'
There robed fiends were back and more dangerous than ever. Kara, Karen, and Harry knew that their first little encounter was only going to be a taster. They were outside, with Tess on the inside and Indy having slipped off to parts unknown. Of course that did not really matter, because they had far more pressing matters to deal with.
Before they could react, Clark jumped in. Kara was about to protest but Harry held up a hand. She trusted his judgment on this one, watching Clark move in carefully, knocking the enemies around with swift fury, taking them out one shot at a time. There was a punch, another punch, and another punch, all of them clattering.
All attacks were done at super speed and by the time Lois, Lana, and Raya popped up.
"Well looks like Kal is a bit quicker than we thought he was," Raya responded, it was actually quite refreshing that some of his Jor-El training stuck. Now if he could lose the attitude, they'd be in business.
Clark had one of the robed figures suspended by his ankles, hovering in the air. He struggled against the grip of him.
"You've got ten seconds before you get dropped hard," Clark said in his most threatening voice, making Harry think that they better check to see if Batman was still among the living because Clark was channeling his spirit.
"You better do it, I don't know if I can keep him from throwing you," Clara added in a sweet voice as she hovered up next to him, playing the "good cop."
"NOW!" Clark yelled in his gruffest voice, and Lana, Raya, and Lois blinked, this was a side to Clark that they never thought that they'd see before.
The minion stammered and shook above the ground but he started repeating one word.
"Rorrim, Rorrim, Rorrim!"
"That's a stupid name," Lois stated, breaking the silence.
Harry shook his head. "Think about it Lois, actually reflect on it and it makes perfect sense."
Lois thought about it and realized….yes it was almost clever. She did mentally stress the point where it was almost clever because something like that could scarcely really be that clever. The brunette woman placed her hands on her hips and threw her head back, sighing rather deeply.
"So is Rorrim planning Redrum?" Lois asked Harry and he nodded. "Yeah I thought so."
'So Rorrim, that name rings a bell,' Karen thought to them and they knew who it was, an extremely powerful demon that had been trapped in an enchanted mirror, one of their undesirables left on their check list.
'It should, he's on our list,' Harry thought but Karen grinned.
'Time to check another one off,' Karen responded to them.
They had to make plans to deal with it.
'So, this is Herald business one hundred percent, which is why we sent Clark and the others in the other direction,' Kara thought to them as they edged closer to the temple. She paused. 'Do Clark and others know why they are being sent as far away from the battle as possible?'
'Well Clark doesn't,' Harry informed her.
Karen offered a smile. 'It's just as well; we don't want his attitude getting in the way of our jobs and getting done what needs to be done.'
'For sure,' Kara agreed as they hovered towards the side.
The three of them hovered towards the torch filled temple, hearing the burning embers when they got closer and closer. The two blondes and one dark haired Herald knew that they were getting rather close to their destination. There were a few things that vexed them that they saw here already but they would find out.
'So how do we get inside?' Karen wondered as she placed her hands on the tunnel.
'The front door is a good of place as any,' Chloe projected through the bond link.
'Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery,' Karen thought, as Chloe, Kara, and Harry all seemed amused. 'And yes, that's kind of obvious.'
'Almost too obvious,' Kara thought as she clutched her fist, looking sharp, the blonde pushed the doors open. Dust kicked off and they nearly chuckled, but there was a blur that shot in front of them.
"It looks like you found the temple," Clark remarked and Kara winced.
"What are you doing…."
"What am I doing here?" Clark asked but it was at those words where Lana, Lois, Raya, and Clara showed up, all of them wearing expressions of discontent. "I'll tell you what I'm doing here….I'm doing what I was supposed to do, what I'm destined to do."
Kara's eyes snapped towards Clark's face and she practically hissed at him. "Destiny? Now you sound like Jor-El does. I don't know what's happened with you but your attitude, whatever it is, you better fix it, immediately!"
Clark shook his head. "I don't have an attitude problem, my attitude is perfect."
There was a rumbling.
"Clark, Kara, later," Harry whispered and Kara nodded but Clark turned to Harry and began to question him.
"I'm not going to listen to what you…"
"You actually better listen," Lana responded but Clark rounded upon her.
"You have no right to tell me what to do. You're not my mother and I'm not sure how much I'm going to put up with this or you trying to stifle me!"
"If either of your mothers were here, they'd be pointing out how much of a self-important d…."
"Well isn't this touching?"
Harry, Kara, and Karen spun around, with the others following and a group of hooded figures edged from the temple soon after. All of them meant business and they edged towards them, the trio of Heralds waved their hands forward and knocked them backwards.
'Rorrim is not making this one easy!' Kara projected to them, freezing her enemies with her super breath and this allowed Karen to knock them back for the kill. The blonde Kryptonian knocked them down with ballistic fury.
Clark decided to step forward, and knocked one of his enemies down. Of course, while he was attacking the enemy, he disappeared into dust, and an attack from behind blasted Clark hard. He was fighting an enemy beyond anything that he could see or even perceive. This caused his head to be rattled, along with his senses.
'Do as Jor-El taught me, focus on my senses, lash out, and strike,' Clark through to himself but this little attack was easier said than done.
Clark charged forward but hit some kind of wall. Blasts of black fire hurled towards him but Clark dodged them. He ducked, weaved, spun around, and dodged once again.
"Grab him, bring him to me!"
The hooded figures charged at Clark but Lois was in and ready to go. Closing her eyes, she split in half, then the halves split into fourths, the fourths into eighths. She aimed a different attack at the enemies, sending bolts of white light towards them. They all dodged the attacks, with precision and skills beyond anything she ever realized.
Clark decided to step forward and paused, before he spotted the glowing mirror. It hummed with increasing intensity and he knew that he drew closer. It was just a matter of reaching that mirror and taking him out.
A blast knocked Clark back, onto his backside. He fell to the ground, landing hard and black tentacles wrapped around him from the mirror. They squeezed him tightly; even his super strength was no match for these enemies. He tried to shake himself loose but no matter what, he could not break himself free. He struggled, as Rorrim's laughter echoed throughout the chambers, getting more sinister when he gripped Clark hard.
"I have you now star child and now I'll…."
Three beams of heat vision sliced the limbs of Rorrim off and the demon screamed out in horror.
"No, I must have him…"
"Sorry, Clark's not on the menu," Lois responded before she stepped forward. "Besides, you should put him down; you don't know where he's been."
"You are a mere…."
There were three blasts drilled by three Heralds of Death and they held the mirror demon in position. He was an undesirable, no question about that but he was not about to go down without any kind of fight. He struggled and squirmed out of the way, trying to shift his way out of the attacks.
The glowing red eyes and stony face of Rorrim showed, teeth gritted as he pushed his way through the mirror and yellow beams of light shot out of the mirror. Harry, Kara, and Karen blocked their attacks, the shield appearing around them.
"I have you now!" Rorrim growled as he tried to ensnare the Heralds in his grip but they blocked it, slicing his tentacles.
"Who has who?" Harry asked, before they conjured their full powers. A shield appeared around them, blocking external interference because it was time to reap.
The three of them blasted their attacks, burning through the mirror demon. The mirror shattered and his minions exploded into yellow fames. Lois in particular watched with widened eyes as spontaneous combustion visited all of the minions and Rorrim staggered screaming in agony.
Clark tried to get back off of his knees but Kara reached forward, grabbing him around the hand. He paused and took her hand to allow her to help him up.
"Next time, remember there's a good reason for not wanting you involved," Kara responded swiftly, seeing that Clark was mostly in one piece, although it was good that he was not sliced to ribbons with his soul consumed.
Harry, Kara, and Karen turned around without another word and left, before Clark could say anything.
"Remember, when he acts like this, he's your cousin," Karen responded and Kara hung her head with a very labored sigh.
"I know, I know," Kara answered, throwing her hands into the air in frustration.
Tess returned to them, a frustrated expression on her face. Harry, Kara ,and Karen spun around to face her, acting like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Although with this trio, the ordinary was actually rather odd, given the things that they have been through in the past, but they took a moment to keep an eye on her.
"I'd like some good news for a change, if you don't mind," Tess responded and Harry, Kara, and Karen exchanged a swift look before their eyes turned towards her. "Yes, I thought that there wasn't any good news."
"I have some promising information."
Indy showed up and Harry, Kara, and Karen spun around to see what she had to say. As it turned out the information was rather promising and perhaps the first solid lead that they had all day.
"Well this computer equipment is state of the art," Tess said with a whistle as she looked it over. "Someone paid some high prices when they got ahold of this."
'Or they borrowed it,' Kara thought to them.
'You think your mother is a thief?' Harry thought to Kara, and the blonde offered a shrug, a smile crossing her face.
'I don't know anymore, after what's happened today,' Kara thought as she stepped forward. 'Did you ever think that yours was a borderline psychopath bent on wiping out eighty percent of the human race?'
Tess did not notice that the two were mentally relaying something to the other due to the fact that she was trying to access the computer equipment. She frowned and bit down on her lip, trying to cycle through the program. She found more and more that she could not figure out but there was something that she figured.
"She didn't find anything for what it's worth," Tess answered but Indy was in. Tess stepped to the side, allowing Indy to do her job.
Indy's eyes narrowed in supreme concentration as she shifted through the computer. Kara, Harry, and Karen waited on pins and needles. The young computer hacker shifted through every inch of the data on the computer, combing through it. It was not gone unnoticed by the Herald Trio that she was well more adept at using this technology than Tess was.
'Your mother somehow managed to create Kryptonian technology from human spare parts,' Harry thought to the trio.
'She was rather resourceful,' Kara thought with pride.
"You were correct, this individual was trying to find information on the Kandorians," Indy responded, not bothering to mask the fact that she knew precisely who they were talking about or that she overhead Tess, Karen, Kara, and Harry talking about them.
Harry's eyebrow raised as he caught the tone.
"Do you know anything about the Kandorians?" Harry asked to Indy.
"I have no further information about them," Indy responded in a brisk voice but there was something about her tone that made Harry wonder.
'Something's not right,' Kara thought to them and Harry and Karen responded with nods, that was the truth.
"All that I know about them is what I've overheard from you and Miss Mercer," Indy responded in what seemed to be a hasty afterthought.
"So nothing about Zod?" Harry prodded her.
"That name holds no relevance," Indy stated, but there was a moment's pause for she stated this.
Tess and Harry locked eyes now, both of them thought the same thing. They both thought that Indy was a bit odd, but the fact that she was potentially tied into the Kandorians in some way, that made her worthy of a little bit more study. The wizard turned his hand over and shrugged.
"So, another day at the office for you," Tess remarked casually. "I had no idea we were going to be brought down by that."
She paused before stating without missing a beat.
"You had no idea either, did you?"
Harry offered his answer in a brisk tone. "Not one clue."
"So, maybe next time we can get together, we won't be threatened by someone almost killing us," Tess suggested, almost hopefully.
Harry's face twisted into a slight smile. "We can only hope."
Reflection was something that Zod spent far more time doing now than ever before, reflection of what he had to do, and the mistakes that he made in the past. His hand clenched together as the Kandorian spun around. His people were scattered, divided, and he knew where their loyalties shifted towards.
Harry Potter was dangerous.
That much was known to Zod, he offered an opportunity beyond loyalty to Zod. He could give them the one thing that Zod could never give them. Powers beyond their wildest imaginings, something that was their birthright, something that they looked forward to when they appeared on Earth but something that they were robbed of. The demise of Krypton, it was believed to have happened generations before it did.
The Book of RAO eluded Zod, it would be the key to create the new age of Krypton. It was supposed to be sent here with the orb and the stones but it was missing. The stones had fallen into the hands of another.
"There is this outpost in the Artic, Major Zod," Basquet informed him when he turned up.
"Have you been able to get close enough?" Zod asked as he watched his subordinate.
Basquet shook his head, fearing the consequences but Zod did not bat an eyelash.
"Is it Harry Potter?" Basquet asked.
"No, this outpost is the design of only one person, from the imagination of only one man," Zod stated in a crisp voice.
The name remained unspoken.
"So he still exists," Faora stated as she showed up. "But he hides from us and decides not to join us."
"Because he has betrayed us," Zod responded in a swift voice, but as it turned out, there was something else that caught his attention.
There was a high end piece of Kryptonian technology that was very near and under the possession of Tess Mercer and by extension Luthorcorp. That was one of the reasons why Zod sought the partnership when he did. He must have the Kryptonian technology she possessed but first he needed to find out what it was.
The time would be right and all would kneel before Zod.
"We were premature to assume that there was information on the Kandorians on Tess Mercer's person."
That statement was given by Alura as she stood at the edge of the Artic, arms folded. The outpost was in her line of sight and the figure stood across from her. Her face was obscured by a parka hood; her hands were covered by gloves. Alura knew the identity of her mysterious benefactor.
"I didn't think so but we needed to remain certain, they are covering their tracks well for now," the woman responded, as her voice gave a hint of a British accent. Her voice offered a tone of coolness, like the ice princess she was. "It was what was written by Rowena a decade ago. They will either lead us to a new age or destroy us in an attempt to resurrect an old one."
"What have we done with this cloning experiment?" Alura asked, regretting it immediately.
"You thought the best of your people, it happens to us all," the woman responded, as she leaned forward and placed her hand on Alura's. "You must not blame yourself."
"Yes, one could not have figured out what was to become of us."
Alura turned around and saw the girl standing in the artic, with a red jacket, yellow shirt, and jean jeans, her dark hair blowing in the wind, wrapped around her head. The blonde eyed the girl.
"You might not remember be, but my name is Thara Ak-Var," Thara responded and Alura's eyes flashed with a sudden amount of recognition.
"Ak-Var, a brilliant member of the council but if I'm not mistaken, he did not take part in the experiment," Alura stated, her mouth narrowed.
"No, my parents decided not to return," Thara responded in a delicate voice.
"So you were one of the survivors?" Alura asked. "How many of them are outside the orb?"
"Four, well technically five, including myself," Thara responded, turning her head and shaking it a little bit.
The mystery woman smiled, before she drawled in a bored tone. "For a race that's extinct, there are a fair few survivors."
Thara agreed. "There are, there's Kal-El, Raya, Kara, Karen, and me."
'And technically Harry, although they don't need to know that,' Thara added to herself. She wondered if Harry was a member of the lost house of Vell. Eight hundred years ago, an explorer named Peve-Rell went to Earth on a mission and never returned. She may have found a new home on Earth but the legends were not quite clear.
"I caught a glimpse of this Kara girl, she does resemble me in many ways," Alura stated, but paused, that was unlikely the right explanation. She did resemble Alura to the point where if the two stood side by side, one might think they were looking into a mirror. "Are we related?"
"Yes, she's your daughter," Thara responded and that caused Alura to look aghast.
"We can worry about the family reunion later, my benefactor wants her hands on the Book of RAO, she feels that it is an invaluable tool to help the savior of Kandor," the mysterious woman responded and Thara and Alura both nodded. At first they were skeptical, but now they knew what was at stake.
Destiny was such a word that was tossed around very much but it was an apt term. There were many times where people tried to outrun their destiny.
When Jor-El woke up, he realized that Krypton had not outrun their destiny and the worst had happened. They were here on Earth, the Kandorians, and whilst thanks to his modifications, they did not have their powers, he expected the worst would happen eventually.
He looked up at the Kent Farm, a smile spreading across his face, with the wind blowing in it. This place held so many good memories.
"Can I help you?"
Lana saw this man, she held down the fort at the farm, while Lois and Clark were at the Daily Planet. Clark had his job back, hopefully he would not slack on it. She understood what Harry said, Clark was on the bubble with his job and that would not be good.
This man turned to her, staring her down.
"Excuse me?" Lana asked, wondering if the man was of sound mind.
The man, looked apologetic. "I'm sorry….you remind me of someone who I knew upon a time."
"I see," Lana responded, wondering the name is.
"I'm afraid we haven't been formally introduced," the man stated.
"Right, my name is Lana Lang," Lana answered, trying to figure out if that man was a threat. He looked rather non-threatening, a man in his mid to late thirties, with the slightest hints of grey hair.
"Good day, Ms. Lang, my name is Jor-El."
Lana nearly jumped up in surprise. That was the last name she suspected.
To Be Continued in the Next Chapter.