Chapter Thirteen: Swept Away.
"I don't know about you, but I feel rather vulnerable without my powers, I need a way to restore them as soon as possible," Clark stated, pleading, almost desperate, it was bad enough that he was the weakest with them. Now without them, he is even weaker.
Harry said nothing but mentally he was shaking his head. He doubted very much that Clark was really getting all of what was being conveyed to him. His powers were taken away for a reason, to teach him a lesson and without learning that lesson, Harry was pretty certain that said powers were not going to return unless Clark learned exactly what was being taught to him.
"Humility."
That was the one word that was repeated by Lara once more and it was the one word that she hoped would sink into her son's head. It was a lesson that many people needed to learn the hard way and she feared that if her son did not learn it too soon, then he might never learn it. His development stunted in several way.
"I feel rather humble standing here without my powers," Clark countered as he crossed his arms.
Jor-El, the clone, turned to his son and offered him a reassuring smile. "Kal, son, Kryptonians have gotten on more than fine without super powers for generations. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that you are learning how to cope without your god-like abilities. And humans have done so likewise."
The clone paused, before he looked extremely thoughtful.
"It is not the strength of body that matters but the strength of your mind and that is one think that you have in spades, Kal-El."
Clark took a moment to think about this, he was sure that his father was right but perhaps he was too stubborn to admit that. Although he struggled to think of what inner strength that he had and wondered what his purpose was. There was times where his father, his AI father, went on about some greater purpose, some greater destiny but he wondered what that was. The young Kryptonian turned and sighed.
"You okay?" Lana asked and Clark shook his head.
"Of for crying out loud, listen Clark!" Lois yelled, finally losing her patience with the way he had been acting. "You're not pathetic because of the fact you don't have powers. No, that doesn't make you pathetic, what makes you pathetic is the way you're acting because you don't powers. You're acting like you're about ready to give up and die."
Alura was the next one who spoke.
"Powers do not define you, Kal-El, you define them. Remember that. And the true power of a Kryptonian is not how they succeed at their strongest, but how well they adapt being while at their weakest."
"In other words, pull your head out of your ass and quit feeling sorry for yourself," Karen chimed in as she glared at her cousin, no Kara's cousin, because when he acted like this, he was most certainly Kara's cousin and not hers.
Kal crossed his arm but there was another situation that presented itself.
"I've detected a few life forms that are moving around the Artic," Jor-El, the AI, stated before he spoke once again in a superior tone of voice. "You have compromised this Fortress, and may have lead Zod's forces here."
"It was a mistake and mine to bear," Jor-El, the clone, stated, he was very much annoyed by how cold and unforgiving his AI counterpart was being towards this situation.
"Kal-El needs to learn that his actions have consequences," Jor-El, the AI, stated in a harsh tone of voice.
Jor-El, the clone, had a scowl of annoyance cross over his face.
"Kal-El does have much to learn but I do wonder if the way you are acting, is impairing his development," Jor-El, the clone, responded, wondering if he would have to stick around to oversee his son's training personally because his AI counterpart was not cutting the mustard.
He did wonder what possessed him to make an AI to be this condescending and dare he say it, egotistical.
"This is a futile argument and a circular one and it solves nothing," Lara, the AI chimed, annoyed by both Jor-El's at this moment, although the clone was a bit more tolerable than the AI version of the father of her son, just slightly however.
Although humans had a saying that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and that was what the AI version of Jor-El was doing to the clone version and vice versa.
"The Fortress is more protected now than it's ever been before," Kara responded, trying to be the voice of reason but she removed Jor-El's vocalization crystal again, because she had her fill of him. "You can believe that we'll keep it out of unsavory hands."
'But there's something else that we have to do,' Kara thought to Karen and Karen nodded.
'Yeah, there's the book of RAO,' Karen thought back to them with a long sigh and she switched.
'Do you think Jor-El was telling the truth?' Harry asked them.
'Wording is very important with Jor-El, he doesn't have the book now but he could later,' Kara thought with a smile crossing her face. 'Or rather he did before.'
'So he had it but now he doesn't, that's about right,' Karen thought, but naturally this was typical Jor-El. Even as a person, he had a greater agenda and a greater plan and did not share it with the lesser mortals.
'What's your mother up to anyway?' Harry thought to Kara and the blonde shrugged her shoulders lightly.
'I really have no idea,' Kara thought and that was really the most honest answer she could have made. The blonde really had no idea what her mother's game was, if anything.
"We'll check to see if everyone has left the barn," Kara responded, as Karen and Harry flew off with each other, cloaked in invisibility so none of them could be seen.
The others moved around in the Fortress, with Jor-El and Clark walking off in the other direction, and Lois and Lana keeping an eye on them. This left Lara alone to talk with Lara.
"It appears that we were destined to marry someone who had his own obsessions," Lara, the clone, responded, to be honest, she was not too thrilled about her husband. "Although the fact that we have a son….I suppose things worked out in the end."
"In a matter of speaking," Lara, the AI, replied crisply as she took a deep breath or what passed as a deep breath for an AI.
"What do you mean?" Lara, the clone, asked, confused.
"Well we had our marriage, and I'll be lying if I didn't have some good memories and our son….despite his recent attitude….was one of the acceptable outcomes that came out of it," Lara, the AI, stated, before she reflected. "Jor-El used a flawed transference process to remove his emotions for reasons that still baffle me to this day. Perhaps he wishes to win an award for the worst father in the twenty eight galaxies. But never the less, he was capable of some rather questionable decisions, even before that time."
Lara frowned.
"He used blue Kryptonite to corrupt the orb, but there is a chance they could reverse the curse and gain their powers back, stronger than ever, it was almost like he wanted to ease his own conscience," Lara responded in a cryptic voice, the AI looking towards her younger clone, for lack of a better term, through the crystal structure.
"I think that I could….maybe guide him so he doesn't become this," Lara, the clone, stated in a nervous voice but there was something that did not appear in her voice as she said this.
Conviction, she lacked it.
"Do not fool yourself," Lara, the AI, told her firmly. "You deserve better. And I'm sure you realize that better than anyone. You deserve someone who will allow your talents grow and not be entombed in a politically motivated marriage. I somehow made it work but I sometimes wonder if that was just because of my stubbornness to do so and I bemoan about the time lost."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that just because Jor-El and I remained married for years, that's in the past, and you have options," Lara, the AI, responded. "Think about it, it's not too hard. He is the savior of the Kryptonian race."
Lara, the clone, thought about it and she had a lot to think about.
Three blurs shot through the air like corks towards the Kent Farm. All three Heralds of Death had looks of determination etched upon their faces. They made their way towards the Kent Farm and already saw that there was someone here. Despite the protections put on the house, someone managed to take them down.
'League of Shadows again, really?' Kara thought to herself, throwing her head for a moment and offering a long sigh. 'Didn't we put the kibosh on these guys enough today?'
'Guess it didn't keep, I'll be there in a little bit, in case you need any back up, the threats are piling up,' Diana thought.
'Besides, you're itching for a fight, aren't you?' Karen thought and there was no response from Diana, although the blonde had her pegged rather well.
Things were quiet, a bit too quiet, so the three Heralds understood one thing and that was to proceed with the utmost of caution, and that's what they did as they made their way into the barn.
'So where are they hiding the book?' Harry thought to Kara and Karen, both girls shrugged, frowns crossing their faces.
They were going to have to track down the whereabouts of the book but suddenly another figure appeared in the shadows. They stepped forward and reacted after she stepped out of the shows.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Kara asked as she watched Alura who threw her hands up in the air in a defensive motion.
"I could be asking you the same thing, Kara," Alura responded, throwing the ball into her daughter's court for an explanation.
Karen and Harry locked eyes nervously, although they heard something going around in the shadows.
"We think that Jor-El had something and he hid it here."
It was where Alura went silent, she thought about that as well and if Jor-El had it that meant that he was trying to hide it before Zod got his hands on it. It was a powerful item although in the wrong hands, it could be re-configured and used to send all humans away from Earth, leaving the world open for a new Krypton, while all of the humans languished in a plane that was unfamiliar to them.
They would not survive.
"I think he did as well but it's…"
Kara shoved her mother out of the way as a razor sharp dagger flew through the air.
Harry jumped up and knocked one of his enemies off of the ledge, before sending him flying backwards to the ground with a crash and dare he say it, a crunch. As he fell to the ground, another individual rushed in, but Harry deflected a dagger and slipped into the shadows.
The next thing this assassin knew, he was rendered completely unconscious with one swift blow from Harry.
Two more assassins tried to rush forward at Karen who squinted her eyes and sent a blast of heat vision, burning the metal in the hand of her enemy. There was a loud scream as the enemy tried to push the sword out of his hand but it remained it stuck on his hand. He tried to push out but there was no way that he could get out, no way it all.
"Got this one!" Kara yelled, as she sent one of her enemies back with a rocket buster punch. This haymaker sent him flying up and down through the loft where he landed with a crash.
The large form of Ubu stepped forward to try and nail Kara in the back of her head, but Diana flew forward, knocking the large man away from her.
"You don't dare put your hands on me woman," Ubu stated gruffly, pulling himself to his feet and he dodged an attack from Diana.
Diana put him in a half nelson and suplexed him onto the back of his head, sending him crashing down to the man. Ubu was bred for toughness but getting thrown around by an Amazon was not going to end all that well for him.
One of the enemies swung a staff towards her but Diana threw her lasso and wrapped around the weapon to pull it from their hand. Diana grabbed her enemy around the head and flipped him down to the ground.
"They're everywhere, what are they after?" Diana asked and Harry allowed her to boost him up so he could get a lot of momentum and somersault into the air, before landing down on the back of the head of one of his enemies with a solid impact and cracking his skull with both of his feet.
The young wizard pushed back, before he sent a blast of energy at one of the enemy's.
There was an arrow that shot a flying dagger out of the air.
"Oh, more back up, excellent," Power Girl responded but she was not too happy that their resident reject of the Sherwood Forest was said back up.
"Figure that you could use a bit of help, but I need to get back into the swing of things," Green Arrow responded, aiming his arrow and shooting one of them in the chest, stunning them.
A dark haired girl jumped up and nailed Green Arrow in the back of the head, causing his face to smash onto the ground.
"That's pathetic, but I figured as much," the woman responded, her face twisted into a malevolent smirk as she dodged an attack from Supergirl. "You shouldn't keep getting in the way of the League of Shadows."
"Sorry, that's what we do," Harry responded as he sent thick cords around her but she sliced out and nimbly landed on her feet after a somersault in mid-air, avoiding the attacks and she threw a smoke grenade into the air, obscuring their vision.
'Who is this?' Diana asked to Harry, feeling her eyes water at the smoke but she pushed on. She had other senses that would allow her to push on forward, and she saw Harry, Kara, and Karen move forward.
'Her name is Cheshire, she's a member of the League of Shadows, she's moved up the ranks rather quickly, and she's quite resourceful,' Karen thought to them.
'Yeah she is quite resourceful,' Harry agreed, biting down on his lip but he did not do much of anything. The young wizard jumped up and heard her going around but there was nothing there.
"And she got away, didn't she?' Green Arrow responded, feeling the pain of cracked ribs.
That would teach him to go after an extremely powerful assassin with an injury, several of them in fact. He rubbed his side and shook his head.
Harry, Kara, and Karen meanwhile continued their search for the Book of RAO but they came to one unfortunate conclusion.
No matter how hard they tried, they could not find that particular item. It was gone, where it went, they did not know, and they could not say. All they knew was that the book was gone, disappeared off of the face of the farm.
Or maybe they were wrong and it was not here in the first place.
"I'm pretty sure it was here," Alura whispered and Thara appeared then before them.
"Not here," she whispered.
"Not here," Alura confirmed and then Clara popped up with them as well.
"Which means someone beat us to the punch," Clara responded, crossing her arms together and thinking about it. She had a couple of theories but they weren't something that she was going to throw out there, not without any proof that was.
Although there was only one person who could take down magical protections that was keyed into Harry and thus he could only take them down. Magic was solid but there were certain technicalities that a well-trained mind could get around.
Severus Snape made deals with people that he detested when it suited him. He grudgingly worked together with Dumbledore to ease his own conscience. And the fact that he led Lily to her grave but he also blamed James Potter for Lily's death. The fact she returned to life that gave him another chance to get his reward.
The demon seed of James Potter could be a potential barrier for Lily. Every time he saw Harry Potter, he saw those green eyes, staring back from behind the face of James Potter. It mocked him, taunted him, infuriated him that James stole Lily away from him. Potter had to ruin his life but Snape got some measure of revenge on him by leading Voldemort to the house and setting the Potters up for their doom.
Now Snape worked with Zod, upgrading several of their pieces of equipment and trying to get their powers back. He was certain that if given enough time, he could restore their powers. He studied their blood and found it to be unlike anything he'd ever seen. The scholar in Snape was intrigued by this blood and wanted to study this even more.
Yet, he knew really what he wanted to do and he knew that if he helped Zod and his men get their powers back, Snape's usefulness would be outlived. There was one thing that Snape was not and that was not an idiot.
He saw them in the shadows. A charm enhanced his hearing.
He heard one name, the name of Jor-El.
That was a name that he was familiar with, the name that Zod talked about in disgust and dismay. Snape's face contorted with a scowl, he could prove himself by taking out Jor-El and also this one next to him, he was someone who could be taken out easily as well.
Jor-El and Clark stood in the Artic.
"I guess there must have been something that happened that possessed me to become what he was," Jor-El commented but he wondered if his slippery slope began the moment where he did not help Zod.
He wondered if there was something about Zod turning to the side of cruelty, one of the individuals who helped destroy Krypton. He wondered if it was his fault for making him that way. He wondered if he was not too much unlike Zod and the man that he became, he wondered, he wondered.
"Do not judge Zod too harshly, my son," Jor-El continued as he looked up to the sky. "If I can come to a realization that my path is wrong, perhaps he can be brought to that realization as well."
Clark was not sure what to think; he was used to seeing the world in black and white that this shades of grey thing was not something that he was used to dealing with. The young man watched his father.
"Do you understand what I am telling you?"
Clark nodded.
"Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing and easy to do the wrong thing and trying to judge Zod on what he might become would be the easy thing," Jor-El added as he spun around, more for creating movement than anything else.
Clark wondered if Jor-El was being a bit foolish trying to think that Zod could be anything what he had become. There was an instant in time where the Last Son of Krypton closed his eyes and reared his head back with a poignant sigh.
"Do what you wish, it is your path in life, Kal," Lara added as she turned up, with Lois and Lana moving behind her.
Snape had the son of Jor-El in sight that should be a message to him. A grin appeared on Snape's face, as the Potions Master prepared to do the deed.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The green light flew through the air and Jor-El dove in front of his son and took the spell head on.
Clark's eyes widened as his father fell to the ground, like a thump and he dove forward towards his enemy.
There was an explosion that rattled them all, before Clark could reach Snape. There was another flash of purple light, from a figure in the shadows. Lara took her turn to sacrifice her body for her son to protect him.
She was still alive unlike Jor-El but her face was sliced to ribbons. She fell down to the ground, blood splashing from her face and she clutched her stomach, offering a grimace of pain, and tried to get back to a standing position.
"No!" Clark yelled, blowing past Lana and Lois who tried to restrain him.
The good news was that his powers were back.
The bad news was that he was unable to really think too straight to really use them.
He fought forward, with blurred vision, pushing himself towards his enemies, and he staggered, his knees twisting for a brief moment. He coughed and tried to keep his eyes open but he was unable to do anything.
The figure that attacked his father was taken down; there was a loud crack that resounded around them all. The greasy figure thumped to the ground, his neck snapped as a pair of green eyes and a flicker red hair could be seen before she disappeared with a pop.
Harry, Kara, Karen, Thara, and Alura returned to the edge of the Artic on the other side away from Snape, with Diana showing up behind them.
"What happened?" Diana asked as she saw the figure down on the ground.
"Who was that?" Clark demanded as he looked down at the downed form of Snape, his hands twitching.
"That's Severus Snape," Harry responded as he leaned down before he checked on the man down on the ground for any signs of life. There were none "Or at least it was Severus Snape."
"Someone took him out, I don't know who she was," Lana responded as she turned to Harry, hitching in a deep breath. "But not before this Snape hit him with a blast of green light."
"Killing Curse, he's gone, all gone," Kara stated grimly as she leaned forward.
Clark turned around, he was so close to forming a relationship with his father, flesh, bone, and blood, and he had it ripped away from him. Why was it, what would this Snape have to gain from killing Jor-El?
"What about Lara?" Lois asked as Harry leaned down and used a charm to heal the fresh wounds on her face.
"She's pretty banged up, she took a heavy curse," Harry responded as he turned to them, a frown crossing his face. "Did you see anyone there that might have attacked them?"
Lois shook her head. "It wasn't Snape, there was someone who attacked her and then there was a third person that attacked Snape and killed him."
'Wonderful, how many layers of conspiracy could we get into now?' Harry asked Kara and Karen.
'Just take a deep breath, everything will be fine,' Diana thought in a reassuring voice as the three of them spun around.
Alura brought her words out, breaking the silence, biting down on her lip but other than that she remained rather calm and collected.
"I'll make sure….get her to the Fortress, it will be easier to heal her there," Alura told them, gently picking up the limp body of Lara in her arms.
There was no one who argued with her at all.
Clark stood, his father was all gone and the clone of his mother was in pretty bad shape but there was a chance that she could be saved. There were a few chances and Clark realized that his powers were back.
Although he wondered if he was better off without them.
He barely heard what Lana said as he turned around. Lois said something as well and Raya showed up.
He was in a tunnel, there was nothing else other than what he heard and he lost his sense of what was going on around him. He took a second to shake his head and clear the cobwebs.
Things would not improve for him at all, not any time soon.
"I just want to…I just want to say that I appreciate what you've told me and you're right, the true power doesn't come from my strength, rather what comes from within," Clark stated as he knelt before the freshly dug grave. "And despite the fact that I might have had differences with your future self, I know that….well I know that you had the best intentions in mind for me."
His throat had a lump in it that he struggled to swallow. He placed a pair of hands on his hips and threw his head back, offering a long and poignant sigh.
"I just want you to know that….everything is put into perspective, after….well after what happened," Clark added as he choked out the words. In many ways, it was like going through his human father dying once again and he could not really say anything.
Raya stepped forward, looking down at the grave, and letting out a deep breath.
"I'm glad you got to meet him, the real him, for what it's worth," Raya told him in a saddened voice as she put her hand on Clark's as she looked down at the grave.
Clark nodded, his jaw set before he let in a deep breath. "Yes, I am too, believe me, I am."
He didn't know what to say, he was not a man of many words and he struggled through his grief, for better or for worse. He nearly choked out a few more words and stood on the ground.
"Just remember that what I do now, I'm doing it for you and I swear I'll do what I can to make sure that….well I'll make sure to do what I can do," Clark continued stepping back and feeling his heart drum against his ribs more and more.
It was like a never ending pain that would not go away, Jor-El faded into the distance, struck down by a spiteful individual. And Clark would never know why Snape did what he did, only that he killed Jor-El. That was something that he could not forgive.
"Are you okay?"
Clark thought that it was Kara but instead it was Alura who stood there surveying him with a sad smile.
"We never should have been here," Alura stated to Clark as she sighed. "We never should have come here. We never should have opened this Pandora's Box."
"Maybe it was meant to be," Clark offered as he stood towards her.
"Jor-El died saving your life, I trust you'll not demean his sacrifice," Alura continued as she looked up and sighed.
"I won't," Clark responded before he turned to his aunt. "Did you know him well?"
"I worked with him, we were colleagues, we got along about as well as two stubborn scholars could," Alura commented half amused and half remorseful. "I do not even begin to understand where Jor-El went wrong."
"Do you know what happened when you died?" Clark asked and Alura took a moment to sigh.
"There is a chance that Jor-El was responsible but Zor-El was there as well," Alura remarked in a somber tone of voice, seeing the butterflies sit down on the gravestone. "I do not know what happened, although I think that Jor-El after it happened must have experienced guilt. He often wished to endure the entire fate of many on his shoulders. Often times denying his own needs and thinking that he had to go at it alone."
Alura offered him a smile before watching him with a calm voice.
"Do remember that you don't have to do it alone. There are always people out there that will help you. And if someone is stronger, more able in some ways, you are stronger and more able in other ways."
Alura turned around and left with these cryptic words.
Clark stood at the grave of Jor-El to ponder what happened, to be honest, he barely even knew his father but what he learned about him, a one eighty was done on his opinion on the man. Perhaps he was harsh about Jor-El given what happened with his AI counterpart and the grief that he put him through.
His powers returned and now Clark was going to make the most of them.
Meanwhile in the shadows another man paid his respects and this man was fairly angry, it was not supposed to end this way. It was not supposed to end this way at all. The man took a step back and drew in his breath, before he watched the gravestone from afar. Pondering the predicament that he was in, Zod crossed his arms.
Snape was a worm that betrayed Zod in more than a few ways. That much was for certain. And that betrayal cut deeper than a knife, searing through the skin. Zod wished to crack the neck of Snape but knew that the deed was already done. Snape was gone as well and Zod was back to square one.
The Book of RAO fell into the hands of someone else and without Jor-El being alive, there was no way that he could get his hands on that artifact. He hid it somewhere and by all indications, Zod found that someone took it.
He had a funny feeling that someone, likely Lily Potter, might have outmaneuvered him and swiped the Book of RAO for their own use. He clutched his fist and scowled, thinking about it, it was not a pleasant thing to think about. He was quite uncertain about the witch's game but soon he would know and soon he would continue his plans.
The solar tower was right on schedule and Harry and Kara Potter were none the wiser. Things would have run a lot smoother if he had the Book of RAO in his hand and once again, he cursed that witch for swiping it from his hands. He was so close, so close to obtaining his birthright and the birthright of all of his Kandorian brothers and sisters and then nothing.
There was something regarding their powers but he saw something, an opportunity presenting itself right in front of him.
He saw him, there was no mistaking about who this was, this was the son of Jor-El, he recognized his face, his features anywhere. Zod felt like he was looking in a time capsule, that of Jor-El when he was younger. It caused him to go back down memory lane and a smile crossed his face.
There was another reason why something crossed his face and that was because of opportunity.
The son of Jor-El could be a very valuable asset to his Kandorian brothers and sisters.
"Long day?" Tess asked as Harry and Kara turned up at the Luthorcorp Headquarters on that day.
"One could say that," Kara responded as she placed her hands through her hair. "So does the construction of the tower go well?"
"Well no worse than usual, Zod and his men have been quiet," Tess responded, she did not like it when her business partners did not give her full disclosure.
"Zod plays a very delicate game but we got a bigger problem, one of the Kandorians have been killed…by a human," Harry responded and Tess took a breath, before she let it out.
"It could be considered a declaration of war," Tess mused, dread filling her very being.
She did wonder about how Lily Potter figured into this, there was something that told Tess that she did not put all of the cards on the table for them to play with. Until it was too late that was and Tess worried, even though she did not show any outward signs. She hated the unknown and it was time for her to adapt for the moment.
"Miss Mercer, Mister Zod is here to see you."
"Speak of the devil," Tess murmured underneath her breath and she took a moment to hold her thoughts in, along with her tongue. "Send him in."
The door opened and Zod stepped inside, walking inside. There was a moment of silence while Harry and Kara stared at him and Zod looked back at them. There were a few seconds when the two groups looked back at each other.
It was Zod who broke the ice.
"I trust you've learned of the fate of one of our brothers," Zod stated as he watched Kara and Harry and gauged their reaction. "Jor-El is no longer with us."
"I've heard, it's a tragedy," Kara responded in a detached voice as she looked back at Zod and tried to figure out how to read his expression.
The problem was someone like Zod did not wear his heart on his sleeve or his expression on his face. There was an instant where he closed his eyes and turned his head around, watching out the window into the city below. His eyes averted down onto the ground, bringing one breath in and bringing one breath out of him.
"I regret what happened," Zod added and Harry watched him for any signs of deception towards him. "I had nothing to do with it but I fear that I may have led Snape…"
Zod paused and remained calm.
"Snape is a twisted human being, he is the type that has killed before," Zod concluded as he clasped his hands together and his eyes remained unblinking, cool, lifeless, nothing to it. He turned his head off to the side and turned to them. "You must believe me that I would have never done something like that. I would never spill Kryptonian blood in such a fashion, without such a purpose. What Snape did was cold hearted and cruel and he thought that your mother was a prize that he could be awarded for good behavior."
Zod appeared sickened and Harry shared his sickening thoughts.
"It just proves that the humans may lash out against us if they consider us to be a threat so we must be ready for them," Zod stated as he kept his eyes on Harry and Harry locked his eyes to them. "My people, they respect you. And I trust you share the same respect to them."
"Yes, I do," Harry responded, the coolness burning through his voice.
"Keep that respect up," Zod answered in a swift tone of voice. "We are among the same cloth, Harry Potter, and trust me when I say it; we will have many of the same challenges. We want to help build a better future. They see you as a savior but there is one who might get in our way."
Harry and Kara remained silent and Tess felt like she was the third party to a very private conversation.
"The satellites are up?" Zod asked as he watched them.
"Within the next fortnight," Harry confirmed to him.
"Excellent, keep me posted," Zod retorted with a smirk, a knowing one at that.
Of course it was Harry who had the control in his hands, those satellites were uplinked to the Shining Light Foundation computers. All he needed to do was to access them and then he would find out what Zod was up to.
"There is one more concern that I have," Zod stated and he waited until the full attention of both Harry and Kara was on him. "We have the son of Jor-El, he may take his father's demise the wrong way."
"He won't be a problem," Kara said coolly but she would have to give her cousin the head's up, because he had now entered Zod's radar.
'We might have a problem,' Karen suggested as she wondered what Zod's game. 'No luck on the Book of RAO from my end.'
'It's obvious who stole it, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it,' Harry thought to them all.
Zod went over a few more minor details before he showed himself out.
"Do you trust him?" Tess asked as she kept her eyes on Harry.
"To an extent," Harry commented in a cryptic tone of voice and Tess inclined her head with a nod, that was fair enough.
"Do you trust me?" Tess asked and there was a moment where Harry watched her.
"Until the moment you do something that will make me regret doing so," Harry answered and Tess nodded, that was fair enough. "Don't forget the plan."
"I haven't," Tess responded, but she understood that if this plan backfired, it was going to be her neck that was on the chopping block more so than Harry's.
It was a waiting game for them both.
Lara's body rested in the crystalized chamber in the Fortress.
"Beginning healing process and initializing neural download and biological upgrade…one percent, two percent."
To Be Continued In the Next Chapter "Infamous."