Chapter Eighteen: Absolute Justice Part One.

Chloe edged outside, a bit nervously as she turned from one side of her to the other. The blonde stepped scrambled forward down a dark alleyway. Nervously, she looked around before she saw someone rustling amongst the fallen leaves on the pavement around her. Another look saw that it was a man.

Being summoned to an alleyway in the dead of night was something that should have rang an alarm bell in Chloe's head. She felt rather secure with the fact that she had some powers but still she was on edge. She craned her neck to get a better look at the man. This man had dark hair and Chloe's eyes widened before she watched him, with a calculating expression in her eyes, trying to assess if he was a threat or not.

"Miss Sullivan."

Chloe's eyes raised and she turned to the man, a calm expression on her face. "Yes, but it depends on who wants to know?"

The man continued to watch her with interest. "Hello, my name is Sylvester Pemberton. I've heard of your group of heroes and I'm interested."

Chloe's eyes widened but she decided to play dumb, at least until she knew more about what was going on. Being bonded to Harry had a certain number of occupational hazards that conflicted with the benefits and one of those occupational hazards was becoming quite paranoid. So the blonde kept her eyes on the man's face and she did not blink. Pemberton, if that was his real name, stared back at her. She crossed her arms together and watched him.

"I don't know what you could be talking about," Chloe remarked as she focused her expression on him.

Pemberton offered her a knowing smile. Secrecy was something that was part and parcel for the hero game. There was an instant where he allowed her to remain silent.

"Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Arcane, the Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, Zatanna….need I keep going?" Pemberton asked as if mentally going through a check list and Chloe's eyes widened. "If you wish me to go further, I can but the point is, your little super hero club had gotten a fair amount of attention to say the very least. And that attention is not the good kind of attention either. Be certain that what will come is coming and it will be extremely dangerous when it does."

Chloe was rather confused but she could have sworn that she felt a chill going down her spine. Pemberton was not done yet.

"This has happened before, and it's going to happen again," Pemberton continued in a crisp tone of voice before his eyes fixed on the blonde who blinked. The man decided to clarify what he meant. "History has an unfortunate habit of repeating itself and…."

There was a click and Pemberton grabbed Chloe.

"HEY!"

"Be quiet," he told her in a rough tone of voice before he practically plopped Chloe into the dumpster.

'Harry,' Chloe thought to frantically through the bond before there was a scream outside of her vantage point. Chloe saw the frost flying in every single direction outside using her X-Ray vision and the blonde cupped her hands as she turned around.

There was a loud crash followed by a shattering sound that caused Chloe to jump frantically and the blonde tapped her hands on the side of the dumpster, her heart thumping across her chest as she tried to get out but it was welded shut.

She struggled to push herself up as her head swayed from one side to the other and there was another loud crash along with a sinister round of laughter. The blonde's eyes widened as she tried to focus herself on the matter at hand but it was obvious that Pemberton put something on the dumpster to make sure that she could not get out from the inside.

Chloe sighed in relief as she finally kicked her way out of the dumpster, before she rolled out, to see the downed form of Pemberton. Her eyes widened as she watched the man on his hands and knees, his face frost bitten and his fingers numb. He twitched rather violently and Chloe's breathing heightened even more. She turned her head around and saw Harry, Kara, and Karen pop up immediately.

"Someone ran down the alleyway," Harry told her and he placed his arm around Chloe.

Clark's latest crisis would have to be shoved on the backburner because something was going on here.

"Pemberton knew about us….and said that history will repeat itself," Chloe whispered as she saw Harry put up the anti-eavesdropping charms. "Is he…?

Harry offered a long sigh as he checked the man before him. There was no heart beat which clarified that he was completely dead at the very least.

"His time has passed," Harry remarked as he heard sirens in the distance, no doubt someone heard the sounds and the screams. He put up a flare to let the paramedics pick Pemberton up in case he was wrong.

Harry, Chloe, Kara, and Karen left the moment that the flare was sent up. They did not think that tonight's events were going to get any weirder than it was but the weirdness radar elevated about two hundred or so points rather suddenly. He spun around and saw it lying on the steps of the Shining Light Foundation.

It was a package. There was a second where Harry stared at the package with his eyes narrowed, wondering about the headache that was going to come from this newest situation. He reached forward and scooped up the package in his hand, before he studied intently. The wizard's face contorted into a frown before he ripped the package open.

There was a list in the package, along with a film reel. Harry kept his eyes on the list and scanned it intently. Some of the names….well a couple of them he knew from pursuing the archives at the Daily Planet. Everything came back to him quickly. He flipped the list over, the situation getting weirder and weirder as the night grew longer.

The list had several names and Pemberton's name was checked off, along with a few others. Harry wanted to get a better look at the person who iced Pemberton. There were a lot of things that did not line up with this entire mess and Harry imagined that everything was going to get even worse. The film reel and the list were also interesting, as he wondered who sent them.

He then noticed a note.

'Figured this might come in handy, be careful, something's breaking.'

Harry recognized the hand writing immediately and now he wondered what kind of game she was involved in now. He had a feeling that things were going to get more insane the more time passed.

Now it was up to the Shining Light Foundation computers to try and look up what precisely he was dealing with. The wizard placed his palm on the side of the computer and realized one thing and one thing only.

Things might have just gotten interesting if they were not interesting already.

Something happened and when something like this happened, Clark didn't want to talk about it or even think about it. At all. He saw something or rather he heard something that might leave a few mental scars. If he saw what happened, he might be more scarred than he currently was. Still he heard enough and he could not believe it.

"Clark! Earth to Smallville!" Lois yelled, finally losing her patience at him sitting there, staring up in space. She smacked him on the hand with full force with a wooden spoon which caused him to spin around to face her. The head of the spoon broke off, flew up, and smacked Lana in the top of the forehead. Lana shrugged it off as Lois stared Clark in the eyes. "About time, you're lost in space, I swear that you've gone out to lunch."

Clark did not say anything which caused Lois some annoyance. Lana and Raya didn't seem too pleased about it either. They sat there with frowns on their face.

A small logical part of Clark realized that his mother was a grown woman that could make decisions for herself but he really wished that he did not bear witness to it. Given his own feelings of dread regarding Harry and the doubts in his mind where he wondered if Zod was right about everything, that did not help Clark's already quite fractured psyche. The stress of everything and the doubts he had in himself, not to mention losing his real father started to weigh on him.

He placed a hand to his father's medal and noticed that it was gone.

"Where is it?" Clark demanded as he faced them.

"Where is what?" Lana asked in confusion but she noticed something. The pin that Alicia said was on Clark's shirt was gone.

'Slick aren't they? Lana thought to herself as she barely suppressed a smile that was threatening to cross her face.

Clark did not notice the pin was gone until now. A frantic expression blinked through his eyes as he tried to figure out where he might have dropped it. It was something that was left behind of his father and now it was completely gone. He felt around his shirt and tried to find where it might have gone off to. Frustration continued to flicker through his eyes and there was a long pause.

"Is there a problem?" Lois asked, trying to play ignorant, she figured that if Clark could do it, she could do it just as well.

Clark's eyes spun around and flickered towards Lois's before there was a pause. "The pin…."

Kara showed up at that moment to stall the potentially problematic situation. There was an instant where the two of them locked eyes, neither really wanted to say anything. They both knew what Clark witnessed and neither was going to bring up the elephant in the room. The blonde stood to stare down her cousin.

"There has been a murder tonight, and it's just the beginning of something big," Kara remarked in a completely breathless voice as she watched Clark, trying to test him for some kind of reaction. How he reacted would be part of it.

"Is it something to do with the Kandorians?" Clark asked, trying to take a more businesslike and assertive tone, even though something about his voice shook.

Kara shook her head. "Not as such, no but seeing is believing. So you better believe that there is something that you're involved in. He knew names."

"Who is he?" Lois asked, asking the question that danced on the tip of their tongues.

"Who was he," Kara corrected before elaborated on what she meant. "Sylvester Pemberton….he showed up in an alleyway….and….well he shoved Chloe in a dumpster and the next thing she knew he was frozen solid."

"And I suppose there was no way to save him."

Clark's voice was full of accusations and quite frankly Kara was not in the mood for any of his crap tonight. Her blue eyes simmered for a second before she hung her head.

"You know the rules, Kal," Kara remarked in a crisp voice as she placed her hands on her head and took a few seconds to calm herself. "Harry thinks that….well he thinks that it's even bigger than anything we've ever had to deal with."

"Well naturally, if Harry thinks that," Clark commented in a dry voice which caused Lana and Lois to lock eyes nervously. Both of them wondered if they would have to do something if Clark was going to pull an attitude problem again.

"Perhaps you should explain to us what the situation is in greater detail," Raya remarked as she tried to steer the conversation away from potentially hostile waters. She could tell that something was close to reaching a breaking point.

"There are members of this….this old superhero team that's a lot like the League," Kara continued in a serious tone of voice. "They're….they're apparently long retired, at least most of them are. It seems like twenty years ago something happened and this guy Pemberton thinks that it's going to happen again."

Kara remembered something else, although it was the most important thing.

"Harry was sent a list, it was a checklist and Pemberton's name was crossed off, along with a couple others," Kara added and Lois decided to add her two cents, her natural investigative reporter instincts shining through.

"You know, if we can find the next person, there could be a motive."

That was something that Kara thought would be a prudent step to take as well but the real problem was where to begin. There were so many times where she thought that they were going around in circles and the blond thought that they were no closer to reaching the endpoint. It was enough to make her bang her head against the wall.

"Providing there is a motive beyond senseless revenge," Clark chimed in but Lana had a counterpoint.

"Or someone stirred up the hornet's nest that caused the person doing this to go to senseless and mindless revenge," Lana remarked in a brisk tone of voice and there Kara responded with a nod, before she closed her eyes.

A field surrounded around them and transported them to the Shining Light Foundation.

"Hello Kal," Lara commented in a light voice the moment that he showed up there, like he had not overheard her and Harry during a rather intimate moment.

It took Clark a few seconds to recover and speak to his mother, and actually look her in the eye. Neither wanted to bring up what happened.

"I see you've got your body back," Lois commented before Clark could really get a chance to say anything.

Lois, being Lois, was slowly putting two and two together and had the situation not been so serious, she would have gotten a kick out of Clark's mental scarring. However, they had more important things to focus on at the moment.

"The Justice Society of America," Harry commented as more people walked in. "A group of vigilantes who turned criminals apparently according to the Shining Light Foundation computer. They disbanded years and years ago."

"I sense a but coming."

"There's something that rings very false about some of the claims made but….the film should tell you more, I hope," Harry informed them as he closed his eyes and thought about what could come from viewing that film.

There were two schools of thoughts that Harry had. Either they were going to get some answers or there were going to be even more questions than ever before.

"So….it seems to me like they were victims of circumstance," Harry whispered as he turned to Chloe, Diana, Karen, and Kara. Clark sat in the background, not saying more than two words throughout the entire film. Lana, Raya, and Lois sat close behind as well, keeping their eyes firmly on Clark.

"They weren't….they took the fall for each other," Chloe commented as she closed her eyes. "I guess there must be honor amongst thieves."

The names flickered to them, causing even more recognition, Ted Grant, a former Heavyweight Champion of the World was one of the names that blasted Harry in the face. Alan Scott was another one, Jay Garrick, Dinah Drake, Wesley Dodds, the list went on and on.

There was one name that set off Harry's radar and he read it over and over again. Kent Nelson, Harry heard the name before. There was a file in the Department of Mysteries that he read about an artifact that went missing over a hundred years ago, it was the mystical Helmet of Nabu. The lead Unspeakable at that time was someone named Kent Nelson and if he was still alive, then he must be training, saying his prayers, and taking his vitamins, brother, because he would be fairly old. Then again, magical users were long lived, even this seemed particularly long lived even by the standards of magical users.

"It happened before, it will happen again," Diana whispered to herself before she turned to them.

"You don't suppose….someone in the government might have set them up," Chloe chimed in as she watched Harry and his eye twitched.

It was times like this where Clark in particular had a strong hunch that Harry knew far more than this situation than he was telling them out right.

'Pawns in a scheme…..discarded….shuttled around on a check board to prove a point,' Harry thought to Kara, Karen, Chloe, Diana, and Zatanna, all of whom who nodded.

'This is one of those Clark doesn't need to know things, isn't it?' Chloe asked him.

'Eventually he will but….not until I know about the people I'm against,' Harry remarked mentally towards them. 'They're playing a high stakes game, and the League are pawns. Just like the Justice Society were pawns and the person knocking them off is a pawn.'

"I have an idea, they wanted these vigilantes, heroes, do-gooders, whatever you must call them, to work with the government," Harry explained to them before he added. "But they didn't want to play ball."

Harry knew when no one brought up any counterpoints meant that it was his cue to continue.

"So the government decided since they could not use these heroes as resources, they would do everything that they could to demonize them. There are a lot of puzzle pieces that we're missing but it seems like if you're not with them, you're against them."

It was that same us versus them mentality that caused so much problems with the Ministry of Magic. They considered their citizens to be resources and that was something that Harry was not going to sit back and allow with any government. It was not going to happen again, even though he wondered if it technically happened already.

The checklist rested in front of the desk for them all. The name of Sylvester Pemberton was already scratched off the list and Harry eyed the list, a raised eyebrow. There was something about that entire list that caused him some degree of trepidation to be honest. He drummed his fingers across it.

"Mister Terrific, Hourman, and the Atom are all crossed off of the list, along with….Carter Hall," Harry stated, that was already scratched off the list and the term "for sake of completeness" was scratched in hasty writing next to it. There was a little mark of a castle on the edge of the paper that Harry did not notice until there.

'Waller,' Harry thought to Kara, Karen, Chloe, Diana, and Zatanna as he hit upon what he was searching for.

'Who?' Chloe asked him in a curious tone of voice.

'I'll explain later,' Harry relayed back to them. 'We're really into the fire if these people are involved, which means my number might be called in soon.'

"The next name in the list is Wesley Dodds," Harry told them all to make it not look like he was relaying some kind of telepathic conversation. "Alias the Sandman."

'Your number….Harry….what the hell is going on?' Chloe thought to him, she expected now that there were a few things about her husband that she had not learned yet.

'Remember that government job I mentioned that I held in between Hogwarts and coming to Smallville?' Harry asked them.

"Lois, Lana, Raya, Clark, could you please check that out?" Chloe asked them and there was a quartet of nods.

'Yeah,' Chloe mentally relayed to him, returning to the conversation.

'One of my duties was to infiltrate the British branch of an organization known as Checkmate,' Harry relayed to them.

"We'll do it at once," Clark stated, standing up proud, he was proud to lead the way.

'And knowing you, you went into deep cover,' Kara thought to him.

'There's only one way out of Checkmate,' Harry replied to them mentally. 'But, around the time that I disappeared for all intents and purposes for six years.'

Harry did not say so much more, he moved around and heard the latest police reports coming in. The bad news kept rolling in.

"Wesley Dodds has been found suffering a severe case of hypothermia and he expired before he could get the proper medical attention. Dodds, known as the Sandman, was arrested in a situation involving the Justice Society of America…."

'Lois, cancel the search party, Dodds has been found,' Harry thought to her over the backdoor he created.

'And by found you mean not found in the good way,' Lois thought back to him.

'And by found I mean he was found dead, same way as Pemberton,' Harry relayed back to them and there was a pause before Lois relayed this message back to her group.

Harry called up the portable Shining Light Foundation interface and did a scan for meta-humans with ice powers, cross referencing them with known enemies of the Justice Society of America.

"Icicle," Harry told them all and they spun around to see what he had to say. "Mortal enemy of the Justice Society of America but he's also been in a coma since his final battle with them."

"Okay, this situation has gotten even weirder," Chloe remarked as she placed a hand on her chin but Harry clicked his tongue before he ran another search through the database.

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry commented, revenge appeared to be the order of the day or at least someone was manipulating the emotions of another to rile them up against the Justice Society.

Supergirl and Arcane dropped down to the ground as they made their way swiftly towards their destination.

'Something was confiscated from Pemberton's car, according to the police reports,' Harry thought to Kara and the blonde responded with a brisk nod.

'So all we have to do is figure out what he stole and we'll be in the clear,' Kara thought and Harry raised an eyebrow. 'Yeah not that simple, I know.'

'Is it ever?' Harry asked to the blonde and saw Karen standing over to the side, arms folded. 'Karen is over there running interference so hopefully if things get a bit rough, we'll be able to get some help.'

What were the chances of getting too rough? Actually Harry did not really want to answer that one. The door creaked open as the two of them slipped inside. They edged towards their destination as there was a humming sound that caused them to stand up straighter.

'Someone else is here,' Kara thought to her two fellow Heralds. 'Let's….lets be careful.'

Harry edged forward and wondered if the assassin was about ready to beat them to it. There was many times where he thought that he was a bit too careful for his own good. However, it was for good reason, there was a chance that there would be a knife fired between his eyes if he did not watch his step. There were many instances where he thought that his back was against the wall and now he edged closer and closer to the situation.

The evidence locker was opened and Harry waved his hand, before he saw finger prints, fresh finger prints, not to mention a fresh pair of mud prints from a pair of boots.

'Whoever was here snuck out the front door just as we came in the back, they can't be far,' Harry thought to himself and his wives. Karen was on the outside.

'The perp's going around the corner, carrying some kind of long staff,' Karen projected to them. 'She looks like she's out long past curfew, sixteen or seventeen years old at the oldest.'

'Keep an eye on her, we'll be right there,' Harry thought as he followed the young female along with Kara. 'Chloe, do you have a fix on her?'

'Yep, Harry, sending in reinforcements when I can,' Chloe relayed to him mentally.

'Chlo, make sure they observe only, don't engage her yet, I want to make sure that our little ice-themed assassin doesn't pop off another hero,' Harry thought to his wife through the bond link.

'Green Arrow is already moving in, in fact he's already there,' Chloe projected to Harry.

'Whatever happens, happens,' Harry thought back but he, Kara, and then Karen circled in to try and figure out when they needed to perform some kind of damage control.

In the shadows, there was a blonde girl who stepped into the shadows. She was fairly medium sized with a slender build. The blonde hair swung in a curtain over her face, to offset her dazzling blue eyes. She wore a blue jean jacket, white t-shirt, and tight blue jeans along with brown boots. There was a certain type of nervousness dancing through her eyes.

The girl moved in, she needed to get the staff before they got their hands it. Her footsteps quickened and her heart beat against her chest, drumming a steady beat as she increased the pace. Nerves continued to fill her body and the blonde continued her movement as she picked up more speed. Moving forward with every single step, the blonde felt her heart grow fainter and her mind was a flutter as she inched towards her destination.

"Hold it right there."

Green Arrow swooped down in front of her, aiming an arrow in a threatening manner.

"Get back to the Sherwood Forest or something," the girl stated in an agitated tone of voice as she pointed the staff at him, eyes widened in a threatening stare. "Get back, I know how to use this thing. I mean it."

"Okay, kid, just chill already, you don't want to hurt yourself or anything," Green Arrow remarked as he did not take this threat seriously. "So just….put the staff down, no need to flip your wig over it or anything."

The blonde's eyes narrowed and a sneer fixed over her face before she pointed the staff towards him.

"I mean it, this is your last warning," she remarked, her eyes narrowing and the staff pointed directly at Green Arrow, primed to fire.

Green Arrow made a motion to pull the staff away from her. That was the worst thing that he could have done as the staff lit up with an intense amount of energy and blasted him backwards hard. Green Arrow flew back and landed against a set of trash cans with a huge crash.

He rolled over, as there was a moment where the girl ducked into an alleyway, her face flushed.

Karen, Harry, and Kara dropped down next to him.

'You've got to appreciate a blonde that can handle a pretty big staff,' Karen thought to them through the mental link, with a smile crossing her face.

"Yeah, your timing is pretty spot on," Green Arrow remarked with a pained grimace as he clutched his side and stumbled around like he was drunk. "Yeah don't worry, I'm fine, I'm good, nothing bruised, except for some vital internal organs."

He collapsed down and Harry closed the distance to stand over him.

"Couldn't you just stun her or something?" Green Arrow asked Harry who placed his hands on his hips and stared down Ollie. "You're a magical type person, you should do magical type things, but you just let her get away."

"Yes, Harry let her get away," Kara remarked, hoping that Arrow would get the hint of what exactly Harry did.

The fact of the matter was that they needed to find out who this was and now that Harry got a clear shot of her face, he was able to transmit it to Chloe.

"Hey, Chloe, run a scan on her, I'll wait," Harry commented through the link, as the other members of the League prepared to run interference in the background.

So far there was no assassin, which meant very little. Likely it meant that he was hiding and Harry very much hated playing hide and go seek. It was not a game that it was too fond of. The assassin was taking his sweet time in getting things done and Harry did not like that.

"Found something Harry….the girl's name is Courtney Whitmore….she's not one going for the perfect attendance award," Chloe remarked as she let out a low whistle before she tapped into the information even more. "She's….really nothing remarkable other than that….she doesn't have a connection to Pemberton or any of the missing or murdered."

"Who's next on their little checklist?" Green Arrow asked and there was a moment before Kara remarked crisply.

"Shayera Hol."

The doors of the headquarters of the Justice Society burst open as the blonde rushed forward, before she nearly fell down onto the ground.

"Sylvester didn't tell me anything quite like….not like that," Courtney breathed in and out heavily, her eyes nearly watering from giving these people the run around.

She skidded to a stop as a hand frantically grabbed her form the shadows and twisted her around.

"You lost them didn't you? No one followed you here?"

"Relax, no one followed me here," she remarked as she leaned against the wall, a brief smile flickering over her face as the hand relaxed from her shoulder and it allowed Courtney some space to breath. "And I got the staff…."

"The staff was the least of our problems," the voice remarked crisply from the shadows. "Sylvester is only the second one of us to get hit in the last twenty four hours."

"The Sandman has been put to sleep, he will wake up, no more, no more, he should have slept with one eye open, holding his pillow tight, exit life, exit the Sandman, off to never-never land, " a man babbled as he rocked back and forth, clutching a bag in his hands. "No, no, I must not, I must not, too dangerous, too dangerous, to know, to know. The world is not set in stone, our fate is sealed, oh yes it's been sealed."

Courtney let out a whistle as she watched the progress of a crazed man. "He's getting worse isn't he?"

"He didn't start out the best to begin with, and now he's looking at the bottom of dumpsters trying to uncover the secrets of the universe," the voice from the shadows commented. "As you might have guessed from his psychotic musings, Dodds has been taken out."

"Mr. Terrific, Mr. Terrific, not so Terrific is he?" the old man stated as he rocked back and voice, looking absolutely crazed. "Hourman, the sands ran out, time, tick tock, the end, the beginning, a new age, a new dawn, or the Armageddon? Or the Apocalypse?

There was a moment where the old man's eyes widened.

"Kent Nelson, once a sharp mind, reduced to half baked musings," the figure in the shadows commented, shifting immediately. "Then again, the Justice Society has fallen from its heights, if we could fall from less than nothing."

Courtney thought that was an unfortunate indictment of what they were up to and how they were dead.

"Not cracked, merely chipped, no, no, not busted, merely bruised," Nelson babbled as he opened the bag and a faint glow emitted from it before he closed it. "Around and around, beware the covenant, the cataclysm is here sooner then he speaks."

Nelson's eyes darted towards the empty corner.

"He sees all but he lets no one see him, he is the one who walks beside Death, he knows they're coming, he is the one," Nelson babbled once again. "He has been marked, thrice defied, marked many times denied, the other two are the same yet they aren't the same. It will be the end, there can only be one, only one."

"Yes, very good Doctor Fate," the woman stated as she stepped out of the shadows. She had long red hair that framed her face. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a white tank top and tight black leather pants. She was rather on the shorter side of things, only an inch or two from Courtney, despite being several years older. There was a pair of wings, although they were strapped underneath a bulky overcoat which concealed many of her assets.

"Shayera, what are we doing?" Courtney asked as she watched the redhead.

Shayera Hol offered a smile. "We're going to have to fight back."

"Are we going to get the old band back together, the Justice Society?" Courtney asked but Shayera shook her head.

"Those days are over, most of us are dead, including Carter, and those who aren't dead, don't want to be found," Shayera answered her in an honest tone of voice. "The good old days aren't so good anymore and….there's this new generation, we don't want to draw them into it."

The problem was that she was cursed to be reborn time and time again and that weighed on her mind now more than ever before. The next life was always like the last life, tragedy awaited around every corner. Shayera wondered what she would have to do reverse the curse. It was the same thing time and time again, new faces might change the circle.

"Only he can break the cycle," Nelson chimed in and Shayera felt weirded out a tiny bit, it was almost like he could understand what she was thinking about.

"If it's him….I think that we can take him out," Shayera remarked as Courtney looked at her. "I don't…..you know you don't have to do this."

Courtney placed her hands on her hips and stared down one of the few original members of the Justice Society that were left. "You know, I was born for this."

"It's your choice," Shayera commented in her usual crisp tone of voice and she led Courtney from the room as they made their plans.

"It is all for naught, there can only be one, it will end, the conclusion, invisible from a seeing eye," Nelson continued even though his words were only heard by three invisible figures in the corner.

Three invisible figures who made sure that no one in the Justice Society were about to do anything suicidal.

"The pawns are in position."

That was a calm statement delivered by a large black woman, as she was dressed in a business suit. The expression on her face indicated that she was not one that was to be trifled with, not to say the least. Her gaze burned a hole through the most hardened of enemies and she just getting started with today's mission.

"Four of them knocked off, with the Hawk being the next," the voice stated off to the side through the radio link.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, if we're discovered, it will be the end of us," Waller warned him, practically snapping at him.

"Relax, boss, I've got it, besides if I go down, you go down as well," he stated in a crazed voice. "Soon he will be avenged and the Justice Society will be no more. Fate, the Hawk, and the rest….picked off one by one, where I stop….well you know don't you, Wall?"

"That's Commander Waller to you," Waller commented in a crisp voice, although she had many titles, one of them being the White Queen of the covert government organization known as Checkmate.

"Yeah, sure got it, crystal clear," the man on the other end remarked as he waved his hands around in an erratic and crazed manner. "I broke the Hourman's glass, made Terrific feel terrible, made Pemberton see stars, and made sure the Sandman woke up never again from his eternal slumber. So what's not to be happy about?"

"You gave away everything to Harry Potter," Waller remarked in a brisk tone of voice.

"Come again?" Icicle Junior asked in confusion.

"Do you know who Harry Potter is?" Waller asked in a sharp tone of voice. "No, you don't obviously given that you allowed one of his people to see everything and now he knows. Believe me, he's not the type of person you want breathing down your neck."

"Hey, I'll get him all the same," the ice themed villain stated in a confident tone of voice.

"No you won't, no one kills Harry Potter, he has more lives than an army of cats," Waller commented in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"I'll get him when he's sleeping," Icicle Junior continued, a brisk and sadistic tone going through him.

"You don't get it, Harry Potter does not sleep, he merely waits," Waller informed the ice themed villain. "But if you wish to get up close and personal with him….that is your problem and not mine. Make sure to do the job or I'll sanction you."

"Relax, Waller, don't need to blow a gasket," Icicle Junior stated as he prepared for his next target. "Looks like some little bint picked up Pemberton's staff. She'll wish she didn't."

"Just be careful Icicle, I'm not going to bail your ass out of the fire."

"No bailing out needed, Wall, I've got this one in the bag," Icicle stated in a crisp tone of voice. "So just chill out."

Waller thought that she would be the judge of that but with the upcoming invasion Checkmate needed to acquire all of the members for an army that would be able to stave off the invasion. It was the us against them mentality that drove many great countries and Waller's eyes narrowed fiercely as she contemplated what needed to happen for them to survive.

Harry Potter was an interesting and frustrating person as she recalled him. There was a long standing rule that there was only one way and one way to leave Checkmate and that was in a box. Unfortunately, the rules of everything did not apply to Harry Potter, for he broke everyone. He was an anomaly.

Waller would not be surprised if he knew of Checkmate's plans to the letter and that they were moving against the Kandorians before they even got the plan out of the gate. He was annoying able to plot and counterplot with the best of them. Waller grimaced as she thought about the damage control she would have to do if Harry Potter caught one hint of Checkmate's plans.

There were many problems and if she had to hazard a guess, going against Potter at this point would be suicide. For every contingency Waller had, she was certain he had a counter measure.

He learned at the foot of a grand chess master, even if he did not appreciate the lessons until years later. That was another person that Waller was not able to completely figure out.

"Stand by, we may have a problem," Waller commented off to the side in a low whisper.

"It is to be expected," a distorted voice stated through the communication link. "Stand by."

Determination filled the eyes of one Courtney Whitmore, or at least as determined as someone would be as they were condemned to being live bait. She sighed as she turned her head around.

'Any moment they'll pop out,' Courtney thought herself as she clutched her staff, trying not to be all that nervous. The blonde closed her eyes and waited.

The frosty sensation could be felt around her and she saw the young man, encased in ice as he stepped forward and stared her down.

Courtney stood there dressed in the most absurd outfit ever, looking like an overgrown American flag, with the mask and everything. In hindsight, it was not the most fashionable thing in the world to wear but she wasn't about to be fashionable as she was acting as bait.

"Hey, come out and face me!" Courtney yelled as she clutched the staff firmly in her hands and stared him down.

Icicle Junior's face snapped into a snarl. "Do not play games little girl, you might get a bit frost-bitten."

"Yeah, I bet you say that before you get your smug little ass kicked every time," Courtney commented but he stepped back and a frigid wind flew around her, causing her to shiver.

Her teeth started to chatter and suddenly, a blur shot in and grabbed Icicle Junior before he slammed him against the wall.

"You picked the wrong person to deal with, buddy," Icicle Junior stated as he closed his eyes. "Why don't you chill out?"

Icicle Junior caused an Artic wind to blast Clark full force and white out conditions were created to block anyone from getting their hands on him. It was hard for anyone to see, even with X-Ray Vision.

"Potter is here, get out of here while you still can and don't go to base, whatever you do," Waller whispered through the link frantically.

There was a large crash as the ice was broken and Clark staggered around daze.

"What did you just do?" Courtney demanded as she spun around and faced Clark.

"I thought I was saving you…."

WHACK!

Shayera swooped down and nailed Clark in the face with her mace knocking him flat on his ass. Invulnerable Kryptonian or not, a shot to the face with an Nth Metal Mace was going to hurt every single time.

Clark rolled over and clutched his face that was going to leave a mark. Shayera spun around and saw three heroes she recognized as Supergirl, Power Girl, and Arcane standing before her.

"Okay, we got off on the wrong foot," Supergirl stated as she performed a warming spell on Courtney who shivered but nodded.

"We had them right where we wanted him, it was a plan," Courtney commented as her eyes flashed and she held the staff, her hands wrapped tightly around it as she stared Harry down.

"Are you sure you can handle that thing?" Harry asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She was flustered for a second as she caught sight of his green eyes but refused to back down. She was not going to be distracted.

"Yes, I can handle it," Courtney stated as she aimed the staff at them. "Ask your friend the archer how well I can handle this staff!"

"So you can handle a big staff, that's good to know," Harry commented with a smile but Shayera stepped in front of Courtney and stared Harry down.

Both sets of eyes locked to each other and it was difficult to see who's showed more determination.

"You've got two minutes to explain," Shayera said, her temper bubbling over to the side and her green eyes flashed with malice.

"He is the one."

Kent Nelson wandered out, seemingly dazed and confused.

"Do not judge what is been done, no he is the one, they are the three, it is coming, the ones, and the power will swim through them. Fate knew of their coming."

"Doctor Fate I presume," Harry commented lightly.

He shook his head frantically almost whimpering like a scared kitten.

"No, not Fate, Nelson, Kent Nelson, although once I had a connection to Fate, but I won't let him back out of the bag," Nelson stated as his eyes widened and his expression darted around in an erratic manner.

"We might have a problem," Harry relayed to them as he saw them and Clark was on the ground.

"A problem is the least of what we have," Wonder Woman stated as she turned towards them. "J'onn left to follow up a lead eight hours ago. He was supposed to report back five hours ago."

The stakes got much higher.

To Be Continued in Part Two.