Chapter Eleven: "Surprise Visit."
Clark tried to maintain some sense of normality, although he was seriously considering given up the human part of his life. He felt as if he was standing on the bridge between life and death, he needed to make a choice, between embracing his human side or further embracing his Kryptonian. As he stood contemplating between the two, he choose his human side. He wondered if that would be a mistake, although it was one that he was willing to bare the consequences of.
He still has his powers back but it seemed like everyone around him had stronger powers than he did. It was quite demeaning to him and something that vexed him greatly. The Last Son of Krypton wondered if he was destined to be the lowest of the pack.
He tried not to think of that as he walked side by side with Lois, as the pair of them was on assignment from the Daily Planet. Harry forgave Clark's long absence but he did say that because of budget concerns, he was on the bubble. He did not need reporters that were going to flake out and not be able to function.
Clark took that as it was, as a not so subtle cue to shape up or ship out.
"Look alive, Smallville, we could be busting the lid off of the drug cartel's that are setting up shop in Metropolis," Lois said, with determination. If anything, with her powers, she was more fearless than ever. "Some guy's bringing in a pipeline from Gotham City and trying to bridge the gap."
"And that's….that's not my problem," Clark responded as his shoulder slumped.
"Drugs, corrupting the youth of America, screwing with people's minds and lives, I would think that would be everyone's problem," Lois responded as she rolled her eyes slightly. She wondered what was up with Clark today or rather lately.
Clark conceded that she had a point but then again, Lois always had her way of arguing these points where she was almost always right. She was like that, that was the way she rolled and everything. The Last Son of Krypton took a moment to look up and she decided to share the information that she had with him. The reporter was having her moment in the sun to shine.
"This guy who's the ring leader, his name is Cobblepot," Lois responded as she pulled out the picture so she could show it to Clark. "Look at this face, it's one that only a mother could love and that might be if she's blind."
Clark saw the picture.
"That's Oswald Cobblepot, he's a legitimate businessman in Gotham City," Clark responded but then he realized that the words "legitimate" and "Gotham City" should never be used in the same sentence.
Lois scoffed. "Yeah right, the guy's as crooked as a three dollar bill."
Clark looked at him. "What's with the monocle?"
Lois could not resist sharing this bit of information. "Well here's the thing, it's not really a monocle. It's actually a beer bottle that got shoved in his eye during a bar fight. Apparently, by the time he got to the hospital, it was too late. He went to a bunch of surgeons to get a second and a third opinion but the operation could likely kill him. He actually didn't mind, he liked the look. Although he did rip the guy's eye out who did it to him, an eye for an eye, and threw him out into the middle of Gotham City. One sick puppy, that Cobblepot, and he's really….well given some of the activities he's into, it's not surprising."
Clark could imagine so, he wondered if their resident bat was on Cobblepot's trail now. He would not be surprised if Batman was here and neither Lois nor Clark knew it. The Kryptonian nervously looked out for any flying rodent sightings as he moved forward.
"Let's see what's behind door number one," Lois responded as she X-Rayed the contents of the box and also picked up a whiff of it. Lois staggered back and Clark caught a whiff of it as well, pulling a face. "And our contents….cheese."
"I didn't know that cheese was supposed to be dangerous contraband," Clark responded but Lois gave him a look of discontent and shook her head.
"It's not, no matter how much it reeks but this is a dummy crate."
"Yes, and you reporters are the dummies."
Lois turned around as a pair of armed thugs riddled her with a barrage of bullets. She stood there, annoyed. She really liked that blazer, which was not invulnerable like she was. Rushing forward, Lois popped one of them in the mouth with a punch. They really needed to work on the disgusing their identities thing because Lois figured that Harry was getting sick of running interference with memory spells by now. The thug went flying ass over tea kettle and landed onto his back on the ground, his spine bent.
"You could have pulled that punch a little bit more," Clark responded but Lois heated up another gun with her heat vision.
"I could of but they didn't need to pull guns on me and wrecked my blazer," Lois answered, as she slammed him with a huge punch to the stomach. The thug hunched over, blood splashing from his mouth as he crumpled to the ground. He'd live although living would not be comfortable.
Clark picked up the third thug but suddenly his arms gave out and he staggered.
"Getting sloppy today, aren't we, Clark?" Lois asked as she speared one of the thugs into to the wall. She struck a pose.
"You enjoy this way too much," Clark fired back to Lois in a rather exasperated tone of voice.
"Of course, that's part of the fun of it," Lois stated, with a shit eating grin on her face as she searched around. She grabbed the fourth and final thug and flew through the opened doors, high up and into the air. "I don't know if you passed physics class, so I'll explain this to you in small words."
Lois paused for a moment as the terrified thug kicked and squirmed.
"I drop you, you go splat, okay?"
The thug kicked his legs, but Lois spun him upside down, so he could see exactly how far of a drop he had and that was not something that he wanted to go through any time soon.
"I don't know anything, I'm just….this was a dummy operation, some guy named Samson, he's your man, down by the docks, swear to God I'm not lying," the thug responded, as Lois placed him gently down, hanging him by his underpants from the flagpole.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Lois asked with a sweet smile as the thug let out a stream of obscenities towards her.
Lois dropped down to face Clark, who walked forward, huffing and puffing.
"Lois we got a problem," Clark managed, wheezing and out of breath as his arms and legs kicked.
"I'd say we do, that guy really has quite the mouth on him," Lois answered but she noticed everything.
"My powers, they're gone. Completely and utterly gone."
Lois paused before she opened her mouth and sighed. "Well that definitely constitutes as a problem."
"So, Alicia, are you settling back in after everything that's happened?" Harry asked her, as he sat next to Kara, Megan, and Thara in the Shining Light Foundation main lobby, in chairs behind the conference table.
Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "I'm….I'm coping. It's funny, before I died, I had no support."
Harry nodded, he could see why that would drive Alicia to some form of desperation, those who treated the meteor infected were downright criminal and often times exploitive. The wizard thought about the files of some of the patients in Belle Reve, some that were not the most balanced before getting put in but after having a few months of the treatment there, they were unhinged. There was a high mortality rate among the meteor infected.
"Well, you can stay at the Shining Light Foundation as long as you need to," Kara stated in a kind voice, trying to make the young woman who nearly married her cousin feel welcome.
Alicia appreciated it but then she figured that Clark's cousin would be as kind hearted as he was. Although she got a sense from Kara that her trust was not something that was earned that easily, which was something that she appreciated. After what she did, it was a wonder if anyone trusted her at all and she frowned at the thought.
A part of her dreaded running into Clark again but another part looked forward to running him again. It was a weird duel personality where she did not really know what she wanted. She guessed she would find out all too soon.
In fact it was sooner than she thought, as Lois and Clark burst through the Shining Light Foundation doors. If Clark had not been so flummoxed for the second, he would have noticed Alicia straight away.
"Hello, Shining Light Foundation, can I help you," Kara responded, annoyed at the state of the doors after Hurricane Clark blasted through them. Her cousin lacked many things lately but she supposed that his subtlety was something that was not going to be intact at the best of times or the worst of times.
Then she realized it was Lois who did that to the doors, and snickered at her mistake. She was so used at reaming out Clark for his carelessness that it was almost second hand to blame him.
Clark opened his mouth but stopped when he saw Alicia. After everything that happened, he should not have been surprised about someone coming back from the dead. Yet, he saw her and his eyes widened.
"Clark, long time no see," Alicia responded quietly in a nervous voice, hoping to break the ice between the two of them.
"Alicia?" Clark asked as he watched her, a bit confused, and a bit thrown off, this was a girl that he essentially married in Vegas before having it annulled. Then she was the first woman he ever trusted with his secret, so it was hard to figure out what happened.
"Talk about someone coming back from the dead or is this a haunting?" Lois asked, slowly deferring to Harry, as did Clark because neither of them had the slightest idea what was going on.
Harry decided to let them in on the secret.
"Well, funny story here. The higher ups brought a bunch of people back to life because Death screwed up and called their number before it was their time. Death has been impeached, imprisoned, and a new one is going to take her place at some undetermined point in the future. That's really about all I know, sorry if I skimped on the details a little bit, I really have loads to do."
Clark opened his mouth wide and shut it, mouth a gap. It took a while for his mind to process certain thinngs.
"You'd catch flies that way, Smallville," Lois joked as she watched him and Clark turned to Harry and Kara, they already saw the accusations in his eyes.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Sorry, Herald business, which is really none of yours, Kal," Kara responded in a slightly snippy tone of voice, sick and tired of her cousin acting the way he did. A sweet smile fixed her face as she watched Clark. "So why are you here to begin with?"
"My powers….my powers cut out."
Harry's face grew blank and stoic, an expression that Lois caught although Clark did not catch it. There was a pause between the two of them before he responded in a calm voice.
"Has this happened before?" Harry asked in a slow and calm voice, the expression in his eyes dead ahead and not betraying what he thought.
"Once before, by my father," Clark admitted and Harry waved his hand, giving Clark the opportunity to continue. "He did it because I didn't return to the Fortress before a certain time. It was his way of exerting his authority over me."
"I see," Harry responded, once again his expression was rather stoic and it was something that was grinding on Clark's nerves, how uncaring and stoic he seemed about this situation. It was almost like Harry didn't care that his powers were taken away from him.
Mostly because Harry had other pressing concerns and Clark oddly did not take precedence.
"You could restore them, couldn't you?" Lois asked, side stepping Clark before he asked them.
"I could, but I couldn't," Harry responded as he turned around, going back to the Shining Light Computers and he continued his work without another word.
Clark stepped forward and saw some of the documents on the desk. He picked one up and began reading them but Kara snatched them out of his hands, looking rather annoyed.
"Don't you know it's rude to read other people's things without their permission," Kara stated, annoyed that her cousin would do something so brazen but then again, she should not be so surprised all things considered, with the way he had been acting up lately.
Clark did not read that much but he read enough to realize that there was something going on that he should be privy to.
"There are others here like me…."
"Yes, Clark, there are, you knew that already, are you happy?" Kara asked with a slight roll of her eyes before she watched him, trying to gauge her cousin's reaction, it was just as she predicted it would be.
Clark suspected that there was something up, with the secretive way that Kara, Karen, and Harry acted but he had his own issues with his powers to worry about. So he pushed it out of the back of his mind until he was trying to figure out his own issues, no matter what.
There was one point that stuck out at Clark, practically smacking him in the face as he read it and his eyes scanned the paper, a mind numbing expression on his face, before he turned to them.
"Solar towers, what are they?" Clark asked, and Lois cringed, especially at the look that was on Harry's face.
"Luthorcorp project, need to know basis, don't worry about it," Harry answered in a crisp voice, annoyed at being questioned, especially given that Clark could ruin everything.
"But you're working with Zod, do you know how dangerous he is?" Clark asked and Thara took a moment to survey Clark. If this was Krypton, he would be beaten for speaking out of turn to Kara in such a way, given that she was the eldest member of the House of El.
Thara could tell that Kara was trying to hold back that urge so she tried to appease the situation.
"They know how dangerous he is, but you should stop seeing things in black and white, even your father wasn't this dense," Thara responded as she turned back to the computer, rolling her eyes at the thought of him.
Clark had a million protests.
"Wait down the hallway, third room to the right, and we'll see if I can do anything about restoring your powers," Harry responded as Clark nodded, he spun around, and walked off. Before Clark was completely gone, Harry gave him another word of advice. "Of course, there might be a reason why your powers were pulled from you in the first place."
That was not something that Clark wanted to hear but there was something that he needed to hear.
'Was there?' Megan asked, interjecting herself into the bond link and Kara paused.
'Lara mentioned that if Clark didn't get his head straight, she would do something to him to make sure that he learned humility,' Kara thought as Harry grabbed her hand underneath the table.
'And do you think that's possible?' Chloe asked, she was upstairs working but could pop in on the bond link every now and again.
'I don't know,' Kara admitted as she looked at the files. 'He's going to do something stupid, powers or not.'
'Now that he's here, we can figure out what he's doing,' Karen thought as she told them over the mental link. 'I'll scan him for any neurological defects that could be causing this shift in attitude since he returned from near death.'
'It's appreciated,' Harry stated over the bond link.
'Of course, one could come to the conclusion that something's always been a bit off about him, given who his father is,' Karen thought but Harry and Kara simply tutted, as if it to tell Karen not to go there. 'So, Kara, I'll see if there's anything wrong with your cousin.'
Kara knew that when Clark acted up, as far Karen was concerned, he was her cousin.
Harry caught an incoming call through the bond link between Lana and Clark. He could catch all telepathic traffic coming in and out of the Shining Light Foundation and caught this one.
'Clark, you're not going to believe this,' Lana thought to who she assumed to be Clark.
'Lana, your incoming telepathic traffic has been blocked, Clark's getting his mind checked out for anything that might have damaged him,' Harry thought to her and Lana seemed flummoxed.
'Oh, sorry, well….maybe you could help,' Lana thought as she did not want to disturb Clark if there was something going on with his mind.
'Do you think that I could?' Harry thought to her.
'Jor-El showed up at the Kent Farm,' Lana stated over the communication link.
Whoosh went Kara, whoosh went Harry, and then Thara followed closely behind them, leaving Megan and Alicia standing there, the hair of both girls messed up.
"Dare, I ask?" Alicia asked with a shrug.
"It's better if you don't know," Megan responded, with a smile crossing her face.
Chloe started to file away the information she accumulated for Harry on the movements of the Kandorians. Also they were trying to track the movements of Sinclair and Lily but those two were resourceful enough to not be tracked. Plus there was Harry's mysterious female doppleganger that continued to elude them.
Watchtower was up and running, even if it was a powered down version of the Shining Light Foundation main interface, something half of the power of that could be a pretty powerful force indeed. The blonde continued to work, trying to track any weird movements, calibrating it for energy signatures that resembled Harry's.
As Harry reminded her, trying to find a female double of him was like trying to play chess with himself. He was going in a circle, around and around in an endless loop and where he stopped, well no one quite knew, did they?
A knock on the door brought Chloe out of her thoughts, and she saw a familiar face standing there.
"Well, I guess I'm back."
Chloe was only half paying attention to him but she offered him a polite greeting. "Hey Oliver, I thought you fell through the cracks."
"Well after….after what happened, I guess I needed some time off to get my head on straight," Oliver responded although he caught the dubious look that Chloe gave him through the reflective surface. "Or screw it off even more but the Green Arrow is back in town."
"Well, our group will be happy to have you back, if you're willing to work with us," Chloe responded as she clicked through the files, but put them away. This investigation was on a need to know basis. While Diana and J'onn were both trustworthy enough to assist, Oliver was a wild card that needed to earn his way back in. After the mess that he left her to deal with, Chloe did not feel too forgiving towards him. "In my league, I don't have any room for anyone who would skip out on us and not return phone calls or e-mail's for three months."
Oliver had the decency to look slightly sheepish for a moment but then he caught the full scope of what Chloe was saying.
"So wait….your league?" Oliver asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Oliver, my league," Chloe confirmed to him, knowing that this was going to be a confrontation of sorts that Oliver or her were not going to be happy with seeing but that was just going to be how it went. "While I'm sure we all appreciated you forming this team, we need more stable leadership."
Oliver nodded, it was hard to find fault to that.
"As one of the founding members, I'd figure…."
"You have a spot if you earn it but there's no room in it for dead weight," Chloe responded in a crisp voice, business like and professional. Harry, Kara, and Karen agreed that for the League to function, they need stronger leadership and the Green Arrow is not that person. "So, you're in, for now, Canary and Aquaman have the same offer if they ever want to come back. Impulse and Cyborg agreed to help out, although the membership is being changed."
Chloe ticked it off, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, Impulse, Cyborg, and Zatanna with Supergirl, Power Girl, and Arcane helping when they could but their Herald duties came first. And Clark she supposed, if he could ever get his head on straight. And then there was Batman who popped in every now and again to give a hand or two. And then there was her. She supposed that Lois, Lana, and Raya might be considered part timers as well, then they had Miss Martian, Raven, and Beast Boy too, reserve members that weren't part of the official League.
"So, I guess that I should be grateful that there was a spot for me open," Oliver stated in a light voice.
"Well, it's not like there is not like there's a finite number of spots in the group, we always do need warm bodies to be thrown out there," Chloe responded in a nonchalant tone of voice and Oliver turned towards her, eyebrow raised.
"So am I cannon fodder?"
Chloe did not answer, for she had been distracted by something more important. There was a blip, no make that two blips, actually she better check her math because there were three or four different blips, maybe more, heading onto the screen. The girl tapped into the blips, her eyes narrowing, drawing in a breath and letting it out.
"And we've got a problem," Chloe responded as she placed her hands on the side of her face and threw her head back.
"Oh, what, what kind of a problem?" Oliver asked as Chloe moved off. 'Maybe I can…"
"Trust me, this is something that you'd be way in over your head with," Chloe answered, not backing down and Oliver shrugged, far be it for him to argue with a point like that.
Although curiosity was something that got the better of him, but a shield appeared around the computer system, blocking Oliver or anyone else from getting any further.
'Harry, problem,' Chloe thought to him.
'What kind of a problem?' Harry thought as he and Kara were about at the Kent Farm now.
'A magical type of problem,' Chloe responded as she began to fill in Harry on the details. 'Five of them.'
'But are they five of the good kind or five of the bad kind,' Kara thought as she crossed her arms and Chloe had no idea where to go from this direction.
'We'll find out before too long,' Harry responded but first they had a meeting with Jor-El at the Kent Farm. He tried to fortify the protections, even though a sufficiently strong witch or wizard would be able to break them.
Jor-El walked around the area of the Kent Farm, a smile on his face as all kinds of memories started to flood back to him. The place had not changed all that much over the last couple of years, that much was for sure. He remembered it just like it was yesterday and the smile crossed his face from the memories.
"So, you've visited here before?" Lana asked, trying to make conversation before Harry and the others showed up.
Jor-El hummed, looking at the photo there of the Kents.
"Yes, many years ago, although not much has changed," Jor-El responded, when he turned around. "Only the people living here."
"Yes, only the people living here," Lana responded in a conversational voice, but there was something about this entire situation that unnerved her.
Jor-El remained reflective, turning towards the window and watching out of it, seeing the beauty of the countryside around him. It offered a certain about of simplicity that he appreciated and was glad to see that his future self saw it fit to send his son here.
"Lana I…."
Clara stopped before she saw Jor-El standing before her that was something she never thought that she would see as long as she lived. Despite the fact that she did not have that much respect for him at all, he was still a larger than life figure.
"Jor-El," Clara responded as she watched Jor-El, keeping her eyes closely on him.
Jor-El stopped; she looked like a spitting image of his wife Lara when she was younger, only with dark hair. "You never told me that I had a daughter."
Lana neglected to tell Jor-El this fact, although technically as she reminded herself, Clara was not the daughter of Jor-El from this particular universe.
"Well, she's….she's a version of Clark, that is to say, Kal-El, from an alternate dimension," Lana explained in a careful voice as she watched Jor-El's reaction.
"No matter what is a pleasure to meet any child of mine," Jor-El responded, raising an eyebrow.
"Likewise," Clara piped in, not sure how to really react. Her relationship with Jor-El in her native dimension had not been that warm but she chalked that up to the flawed AI. She tried not to judge the man himself until he met him properly. She was not going to blindly trust him either.
Kara, Harry, and Thara entered the Kent Farm. Jor-El turned and looked towards Kara, recognition dancing through his eyes.
"Alura?"
Kara immediately heard what he said and knew that he mistook her for Alura. That could prove to beneficial for her and the blonde turned her eyes towards her uncle, a smile crossing her face as she watched him.
"Yes, Jor-El, you've found your way out of the orb," Kara responded with a straight face, giving him no hint of deception.
"And not a moment too soon, the Kandorians are on the move," Jor-El responded, sensing no deception.
'Smooth, honey,' Harry thought to Kara.
'Thanks, we'll see what we can get him out of him and then I suppose we'll take him to Shining Light, so he can meet Kal,' Kara thought to Harry as the two of them stood together, firmly shoulder by shoulder.
"What are they up to?" Kara asked as Jor-El offered a shrug.
"I'm afraid after the falling out we have had, I have no more insight on Zod and his schemes then the next person," Jor-El responded in a rather crisp tone of voice. "I do know that first and foremost on his mind is the restoration of his powers."
"A process that you may be able to do," Harry responded as Jor-El turned towards him.
"Your green eyes, they are familiar, there has been only one other figure through Kryptonian history that has such a shade but she left Krypton nearly a millennium ago," Jor-El responded but he got down to business. "Whilst I'm sure I can reverse the process, it might be at the expense of destroying the Kandorians. Of course, I'm not sure if that is the worst idea."
Thara felt compelled to speak up for her people. "Do not judge them all by Zod's example."
"Zod….Zod is a difficult one, I'd admit, this young lady brought me up to speed and even I never thought he could be twisted by his bitterness in such a way," Jor-El answered, rubbing his cheek as he thought about it. "I had thought…I had hoped that he would get over it. We were once great friends but it turned for the worst. All because I refused to bring his son back from the brink."
"The cloning process was dangerous with live cells, never mind dead cells," Kara answered as she watched Jor-El.
"Perceptive as always, Alura," Jor-El stated as he watched the blonde who smiled back at him. "I knew of the death of your sister and how it was difficult for you but you showed the strength to forge on. It is unfortunate that you were arranged to be married to my younger brother. Zor-El did have a certain mania, an obsession with my wife. Perhaps it would have been better for the marriage agreements to be swapped but Lara and I…if we had a son, we made the most out of the situation. I do not know if you and Zor-El had a child but I'm sure they would have turned out to be nothing better than the best."
Of course, it did not matter to Jor-El.
"Do you know whatever happened to you, the original you?" Jor-El asked as he watched Kara, who remained frozen for a moment.
"I haven't found out yet," Kara responded, she knew full well what happened but while she was willing to bring up the point with her mother with the AI version of Jor-El, she was a bit more uneasy bringing it up with this version.
"Well, perhaps you remained on Krypton until the end," Jor-El responded as he watched. "I need to make sure they do not have their hands on it. If our most sacred treasure falls into their hands then…."
"It won't, give it to me, I'll protect it," Kara responded, hoping that there was a chance that he would hand it over to her.
Jor-El shook his head.
'Damnit, I should have known that it was not going to be that easy,' Kara thought to Harry, who grabbed her hand tightly, with a smile crossing his face.
'Unfortunate, but true,' Harry thought to her, the blonde rocking her head back and forth, closing her head and giving a brief sigh.
"It has been hidden, don't worry, it will be found by the person it is meant to be found by," Jor-El responded as Harry and Kara's eyes turned towards each other.
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Harry thought to Kara and she nodded.
'It's hidden here in Smallville somewhere, maybe on this farm,' Kara thought to him.
'It's worth a shot,' Harry responded mentally towards her but Thara turned around to see them.
"Something's out there," Thara responded to them and that was a statement that put them all on pins and needles.
A figure stood outside the farm, seeing it from the window. He reported back to his master ,pulling out a communicator. He twisted the knob and everything sparked back to life.
"He is here," the man responded over the link. "Awaiting your orders."
"Keep trailing him, we must find the Book of RAO," Zod responded over the communication link, keeping his voice. "It is important to complete the solar towers; it will allow us to achieve our birthright."
"Harry Potter is there," the scout responded and Zod remained silent.
"It is essential that you find the book before he does, then."
The scout responded with a nod. "It's understood and it will done. I won't fail you, you can bank on that."
"I better not be let down," Zod responded in a voice that dripped with warning.
A few feet away from them, another scout, with a different group of people was hidden in the bushes. He twisted the knob of the communication device and then held it to his mouth.
"Do you have it in sight?"
"I do but I'm not alone."
The garbled voice at the other end of the communication link remained silent for a moment before it struck out and began to speak to him. "The real question is whether or not you were seen?"
The scout turned his head, looking around, his heart keeping a steady beat against his chest but he shook his head, spinning around for a brief instant.
"No, I was not seen."
"You best not have been, it is imperative that we get our hands on this artifact. It will give me the key to omniscience. Those aliens should not wield such power. This Earth will be cleansed, by the will of the demon head and the League of Shadows."
"Understood, master," the second scout stated, knife at the ready, ready to make his move. He got here a little late so he was unable to find where this book was hidden, only that it was somewhere on the grounds.
A third scout from a ways away chimed in in a cool voice, her tone rather icy. She held a mirror in her hand, instead of a communication device but the same idea was in place.
"We have it."
"It is there."
"I'm trying to track it but its energy signature is being blocked, there is something that is interfering with my efforts."
Her contact at the other end remained crisp and cool. "Make sure you find it."
"I'll find it, there's no need to worry," the blonde stated icily, as she shifted into the shadows and waited for the right moment to strike. A pair of Zod's Kandorian scouts walked by her, and there were four more stationed around the farm.
There were about six or seven representatives of the League of Shadows hiding, using stealth. The Kent farm was getting a bit crowded and there was going to be a rumble out there. The young woman responded.
"If either The Kandorians or the League of Shadows get their hands on the Book of RAO, we can kiss the world goodbye," the voice responded on the other end of the communication device.
"Understood," the young girl clasping her hands, so far everything that was prophesized in the Rowena Covenant was coming to pass, except for the cataclysm. The cataclysm they would prevent, if they got their hands on the Book of RAO.
It was a race.
"Be careful Astoria, Harry cannot understand until the time is right. I just hope he'll forgive me for what we have to do."
"Well, we're going to have to earn his forgiveness later, Hermione," Astoria responded as the two of them. "Any word from….our benefactor."
"Not one," Hermione responded in a fretful voice. "But she's playing hard and fast. It's all about making sure the Traveler does not fall to the darkness. This is his final trial before he arrives and as for Harry…."
"He will be the failsafe in case he does," Astoria concluded, everything clicking around into place. Given what she saw of Kal-El, he was not that impressive but perhaps she did not give him an ample chance to showcase his talents. "By the end of the day, we'll have the book or it will be the beginning of the end. We've gotten our second chance, we best not squander it. I doubt we'll get a third."
"Understood, over and out."
Creek, creek, creek that was the sound that they heard, of the swing moving from one side to the next, over to the next side. Thara Ak-Var stepped forward, her enhanced hearing picked up sounds, voices, muffled, from miles away.
Kara and Harry left the Kent Farm behind Thara, as Karen gave them a progress update on what was happening with Kal.
'Clark is mostly checked out, he's fine….well fine as he's ever going to be, although he's not getting his powers back until his attitude improves,' Karen thought to them.
'And when do you think that's going to happen?' Harry asked but it was Rachel who chimed in in a sardonic manner over the bond link.
'Well judging by his recent character, somewhere in between when pigs fly, and in a snowball's chance,' Rachel commented softly.
'That's actually pretty accurate,' Harry remarked to her through the bond link but Thara stood still.
"There's someone here,' Thara whispered to them, so only people with super hearing could hear.
Jor-El bolted from the barn, despite being told that he should stay there. Lana followed him, exasperated, knowing now where Clark got it from, she really did.
Harry pulled the figure out of the bushes; she wore a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans, with her blonde hair tied back. Jor-El paused, looking like he saw a ghost.
"Lara?"
Harry decided to relay the message now.
'Have Lois get Clark to the Kent Farm now,' Harry thought to Karen before he switched over. 'Have you traced those magical energy signatures yet, Chlo?"
'There is one about a hundred yards from where you're standing,' Chloe responded.
'Keep a look out, make them come to us,' Harry thought to Kara and Kara nodded.
The game was afoot.
The real question was who was playing who and who was on whose side?
To Be Continued.