Spring break is just around the corner."
Chloe, Harry, Alex, and Lana just had to smile at Emily's wistful and very excited look. To be honest, they had been looking forward to it, for different reasons than others. Harry wanted to take advantage of the trip to Europe, to take a good look at the stones.
And yet, Harry out some reservations about going. Something, Chloe picked up on instantly.
"You're still not sure about this trip, are you?"
"As hard as you've been working, you deserve a vacation," Lana said. "A real one."
"And plus, you never know what talent you might recruit while overseas," Chloe commented a wink.
"Lena mentioned she would make the trip, didn't she?" Alex asked.
Harry responded with a nod. Lana pulled over, sat herself onto Harry's lap, not caring what the other woman thought about it, and kissed him firmly on the lips. The moment she pulled away, Lana decided to be frank and lay it all out on the table for Harry.
"It would be a nice change from the insanity in Smallville. All of the weirdness which follows us around."
"And there's a whole lot of it," Emily said.
She would say there might be something in the water but Emily would put even odds, since this was Smallville, of something actually being in the water.
"It would be nice though," Harry admitted. "A change of pace."
Although, Harry was very confident in his abilities to attract trouble halfway across the world. Still, the chance he could look up information on the stones. Zatanna found a couple of references, although they had been vague. And one of them had been in ancient Sumerian. With Harry being a bit rusty on the language, that was just a non-starter.
Chloe got a call and excused herself to answer it. She frowned at the phone.
"Lois? Lois? Is that you? Okay, what? What was that? You're breaking up."
Harry managed to make out Lois's voice. Someone had been interfering with the network on Lois's end.
"They've got the General...and now they're after me."
"What?"
Chloe hung up on the phone, when it was dead.
"They said they got the General?"
"Lois's dad, my uncle, General Sam Lane," Chloe said. "What has he been up to now?"
"And they're after Lois," Harry said. "Where is your cousin staying?"
"A base in North Carolina. Hang on, I got the address written down. Although, it's a procedure before Lois gets my letter and she can sent it back. I think he's working on something very top secret."
Top secret and attracted the wrong kind of attention. Perhaps, before they head off to Europe, Harry could do a fly over and check it out.
The moment Harry arrived at the base, it was swarming with military people. Which was not completely odd, on the account it was a military base. But the way they were acting was more than peculiar. Harry took a couple of steps closer to the base.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"My name is Jim Rollins," Harry said spinning up a false name. "I'm a reporter of the Daily Planet and I've heard from a source that…."
"Beat it kid. Your press pass is no good here."
"Fine. Guess for someone who fights for American liberty, you don't believe in freedom of information and the press."
Harry decided not to win this battle. He made a production of leaving the base. While the guns on him would not be more than an annoyance at best, Harry resolved not to test his luck with these people. It just was not a good idea.
Once they thought he left, Harry returned. The straight forward approach did not work, so Harry made himself completely invisible and slipped onto the grounds.
"The General came up for something."
"Whoever took him they haven't contacted us. No message, no demands, nothing."
"Well, he would be the first to tell you we don't negotiate with terrorists. He would gladly lay down his life for this country."
"They took his oldest daughter as well. The one staying with him at the base. Lois?"
"That's unfortunate, but we have to protect the integrity of this base. Especially with that news kid snooping around."
Harry noticed something flicker out of the water, in the midst of this conversation. Further away from the base, Harry flew. And he noticed the large tower like device, half submerged in the water. It was a machine of some sort, but what? What was it?
A very familiar logo, slightly obscured by the water, caught Harry's attention.
LuthorCorp, well that just made things a bit more tricky, in his view. And he also caught something out of the corner of his eye. A brunette woman in the water, peering at the edge of the base.
Harry leaned down and some flicker of magical energy from the water caused him to become visible for half of the second. Just long enough for the woman in the water to spot Harry.
She dove down into the water. Harry's body surrounded with a shield and it plunged down into the body and swam after her. It caught Harry off guard, but she was a mermaid. He swam after her, getting closer and closer.
Finally, Harry caught up to her, using his own momentum to catch her.
"What are you doing around the base? What do you know about Sam Lane?"
The woman spoke in the same language the two suits and the angry man who confronted that fish-smelling hippy spoke in the other day. She tapped her collar and a rune stone glowed.
"Do you understand me now?"
"Yes, I do. Who are you? What are you doing?"
"My name is Lori Lemaris. What do you know about the underwater station that Lionel Luthor built?"
"I just discovered it myself. I was looking for my girlfriend's uncle and her cousin."
"It's causing fish to die in the area. And children are getting sick, both on land and in the sea. In Atlantis."
Oh, Harry would respond to that. The two swam closer to the station. Harry could hear something humming. And it was shielded from entry. While Harry could not break through it.
"There's something powerful running it. It's not done by mundane means. It's done by….."
"LORI!"
The angry fellow from the other day swam furiously and brandished a glowing staff in his hand. His eyes narrowed when following on Harry.
"What in the devil are you consorting with land barbarians?" the man asked.
"He...has nothing to do with this..."
"He has everything to do about this. This is a Luthor invention. He has been very friendly with the Luthors in the past. I saw him."
"You've been spying on me," Harry said.
"You do not speak to me, land barbarian."
The man's eyes narrowed at him, but Harry refused to back on.
"Orm, I was on a scouting mission for Queen Atlanna and I was…."
"SILENCE! Return back to the kingdom!"
Lori remained rooted in place. Harry grabbed Orm and spun him around to stare him in the eyes.
"What happened to General Samuel Lane and his daughter?"
"I'm not like my soft brother, I don't bend the knee to humans. You better leave our waters, human, and don't come back, or you will be brought in."
"Who died and made you ruler?" Lori asked. "You can't make such a decision without the Queen."
Orm turned away from Harry and stalked Lori for a second. For a brief second, Harry thought Orm would attack her, but to her credit, Lori stood her ground. Or whatever the underwater equivalent to that statement was.
"Someone has to look out for the best interests of Atlantis. These underwater stations is not studying the fish. It's studying us, and they plan to wipe us out and take everything we've built."
"You're paranoid!"
Harry left. He heard enough to know Lionel had been involved in something quite fishy. Although, he did not like the looks of Orm either.
Later that night, Harry came back, to observe the part of the base visible above ground. He noticed a figure dressed in black fiddling with the door leading to the base. He had a small black device in his hand. Harry dropped down and suddenly, he turned around to face Lex.
"I'd ask what you're doing here, but we'd both have to answer some questions," Lex said. "But, if you must know, when researching Cadmus and Summerholt, I've discovered more off the book projects that are using Luthorcorp resources. One of them is this underwater station."
"Whatever it's doing, it's killing the fish and making children in the area very sick."
Lex nodded. These readings, what they were giving off, were very concerning. And the power coming from the base, it's almost unchartable.
"I can get us into the upper level at the very least. I haven't been able to crack the levels beneath the sea."
"It's sealed up tight. I've been down there."
"Shall I even ask? You didn't mention why you were here."
"Chloe's uncle and father...they were both at the base. And I think they might have been kidnapped. Maybe because General Lane found out something about the true purpose of this base. And it not being to just study marine life either."
"Right," Lex said. "It makes sense. What we're doing is very illegal, by the way."
Lex activated the entrance and they slipped down the base.
"It's not officially on the books for LuthorCorp. We have Marine biology outposts, but nothing like this and nothing in this area of the world."
"It's drawing power from something."
"There's a lab. If I can…."
"6-8-4-5-2."
Lex punched in the numbers in that sequence. He had no idea how Harry did it, and he did not want to ask questions. It would be like a Magician reveling all of his secrets, just ruined a lot of the mystique. They moved their way inside and saw a display, and plans for a huge cannon like device.
"It's called the Sky Wave," Lex read. "It's a weapon powerful enough to wipe out a city the size of Metropolis."
"Why does your father need a weapon like that?"
Granted, Harry had his ideas why Lionel might have this weapon, but he wanted to hear it from Lex.
"I can't...I can't even wrap my head around Lionel's mind right now," Lex said. "Look, there's this script. I don't even know the language here."
"Atlantean, it looks like some kind of code," Harry murmured. "I know if the language, but I'm not fluent in it. Another language I need to pick up."
Every single translation spell Harry knew was a dud.
"There's nothing else here," Lex said. "I've got to confront him about this. Tell him to shut it down."
Contacting Lionel had been easier said than done. He was ghosting Lex, which was frustrating.
"There's another reason why I was out here," Lex told him. "Lutessa, you know my missing half-sister?"
"Yes," Harry said.
"I have reason to believe she was out in this general area when she disappeared. And she might have been working at one of the stations out further."
"I thought you said there was no observation stations out here on the books."
"The key word is on the books. You would be surprised how many people work for my father and don't realize they're doing so."
Harry took Lex's word for it. A loud thumping sound smacked across the rocks and caused Harry to rise with a sudden jolt. Something had washed up on the beach, and that something, was in fact a someone. A barely breathing someone, who drew the most shallow of breaths possible.
"There's a body!"
Just what they need. Harry walked over.
"AC."
"AC?"
"Arthur Curry, the fish-smelling hippie from the other day. And he's been severely injured."
"Is he…."
"Oh, yes, he's breathing, but barely."
Lex and Harry stood over his barely breathing body. Just as Orm rose from the sea with several guards.
"Look! There he is. The Prince. With these humans standing over his body!"
They drew their weapons, upon Harry and Lex. Orm's eyes turned onto Harry for a few seconds.
"So much for you being one of the good ones. Come with me, killer."
"Harry couldn't have tried to off fishboy," Lex said. "He's with me. All day and…."
The very sharp blade of a trident had been put at Lex's throat. Orm's eyes locked down onto Lex with contempt which was barely disguised.
"You are an arrogant human. All Luthors are. Including the bastard child we caught snooping around."
Well, this piqued Harry's attention. Lex's eyes locked onto Orm and the two went back and forth.
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way."
And with that, Lex grabbed the trident and tried to wrestle it out of Orm's hand. This did not end well for him as Lex had been on the ground. Harry dove at two of the guards and got into a struggle with them. Punches had been thrown.
Harry nailed one at Orm's smug face. A net had been thrown over Harry and electricity pulsed over it.
"This net generates the power of a electric eel. I would suggest you not struggle."
Harry could easily rip through the net, but he had an idea. An idea which he was sure most of his girlfriends would call insane if they were here. If Lois, her father, and Lutessa were down there, the best way to get down there was to be captured.
Lex dropped to his knees and had been secured, by Harry. Harry could casually break out of those cuffs easily, but it was all about following the plan.
"He's still breathing, my lord."
"Well, bring him down to the infirmary. I will ensure he's taken care of."
Harry put himself in an unconscious state, but he could still hear and sense everything that was going on around him.
It was time to wake up, and Harry noticed Orm in a discussion with a gorgeous blonde woman. She must have been the Queen Atlanna that Lori spoke of.
"Arthur is in critical condition. He thought those humans deserved a chance and he paid dearly for his ignorance. These two conspired to kill him and likely all of the Luthors are in on the weapon. We must take Lena and Lionel Luthor as well."
"No. We will consider all the evidence and render judgment. Taking the Luthors is going to start a war to leave our people ravaged."
"What is there to consider? They are guilty. Throw them to the sharks."
Atlanna reared back and slapped Orm across the face. Orm recoiled and scowled.
"No. As long as I'm Queen, you will obey my edict. They will be given the opportunity to defend themselves. If they can prove their innocence, they will be set free. If they fail, they will face execution."
Orm could not say anything. Atlanna motioned for him to leave. Harry properly woke up and got a look at his surroundings.
Lex had obviously been there, with a few bruises on the top of his head. Then a brunette, which Harry recognized from Chloe's photos, as her cousin Lois. And finally, last, but certainly not least, a gorgeous redhead.
"Lois? Lois Lane?"
"Huh?" Lois asked.
"My name is Harry Kent…"
"Oh, I've heard of you," Lois said. "I have to say, Chloe has some damn good taste. Even if you did end up getting yourself captured. Although, what were you doing here?"
"It's part of my plan," Harry said. "There's something not right. Where is your father?"
"They took him, just before you and baldie arrived," Lois said.
"He must have stumbled upon something. Something's not right."
"Yes, it's not right."
Lori appeared at the edge of the cell.
"The guards have passed on patrol. I don't have much time. Orm's...he's plotting something. I've overheard him talking and Prince Arthur and Queen Atlanna, they're both in danger."
"There's something else, isn't there?" Harry asked.
"Yes, because despite Orm's constant hate speech against Land Dwellers, he's not against all of them. In fact, he was meeting with people who work for something called, Cadmus, I think it was."
"Cadmus?" Harry asked.
And suddenly, more pieces to this strange puzzle had got revealed.
"I don't know how to get you out of here though."
In three simple steps, Harry overcharged and slipped out of the power cuffs. He freed the others from their restraints and stepped out of the cell. Lois walked behind Harry, and Lex and the redhead had to be helped by Harry and Lori.
"What about my father?" Lois asked.
"I'll find him."
"I'll help you. I saw them take him down the stairs. They're not going to get away with this."
"That would be a bad idea," Lori said. "You shouldn't gave Orm an excuse to kill you on sight."
"I'm not just sitting back while others are doing all of the work. I can handle myself."
As Lois and Lori got into a bit of a discussion with how they were going to proceed, Harry turned to the other prison.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
"My name is Tess Mercer. I was captured, along with the rest of my team. I don't know what happened to them. I must have been down here for months."
"Six at least," Lex muttered underneath his breath.
Now was not the time nor the place to have this particular discussion.
"The guards will be coming any minute now," Lori said. "I can get you safely to a pod and get you out of here."
"Do it," Harry said. "All of them, and yes, that includes you, Lois."
"But…."
"Everyone will leave here tonight, safely. You're going to have to trust me. And if Orm is going to try and kill the Queen and the Prince, then I'm going to have fight him. And I'm the only one to handle it and I don't want him to have any hostages to use for leverage."
"Fine," Lois said. "But, promise to me he'll come home."
"He will," Harry said.
Lex took this in stride. Atlantis, sure why not? It might not be the oddest revelation he had in recent memory.
"Okay, who are you anyway?" Tess asked.
"A friend," Harry said. "Go with Lori. She'll keep you safe."
Lori looked a bit dumbstruck at Harry putting so much faith in her, despite barely knowing her. However, that was the kind of person he was, it seemed. Harry walked in one direction, with Lex, Lori, Tess, and Lois going in the other direction.
"Trust me. He can handle himself."
Prince Arthur been laid up inside of a medical area. The healer moved over him. Until Orm stepped into the room completely with guard.
"There's been a security breach. Arthur must be removed."
"The Prince cannot be removed without the Queen's consent and…."
One of Orm's men shocked the healer and dropped him down. Orm stood over the barely conscious body of his brother.
"Soon, we will be able to decisively act without the Queen's consent. Soon, we will rule. Soon Atlantis will take it's rightful place in this world. The Ocean Master will reign supreme. Long live the Prince"
Atlanna marched her way into the room and caught Orm over Arthur. The healers were on the ground.
"What are you doing here?"
"Taking my proper place. I tire of her rule of being soft on these people who would poison us and destroy the world. Humanity must be exterminated for the greater good. If you refuse to take drastic action, I will."
"Guards, contain him!"
Instead, most of the guards turned on Atlanna and secured the Queen. The few who remained loyal to her had been pummeled. Orm stepped over and pulled a powerful spear. He rose it above his head and much to Atlanna's horror, stabbed it towards his heart.
A magical shield blocked the spear and caused Orm to ricochet back several feet. In a blink of an eye, a figure wiped out all of the guards in a flash and zoomed Atlanna out of harm's way.
The spear in Orm's hand crackled with magical energy. Harry appeared in front of him.
"Impossible."
"I do the impossible."
"You might have escaped, but you will never stop the inevitable extinction. The age of the land barbarians is at hand. You will wish you never left the caves you belong in with all of the other filth."
The energy weapon had been turned on Harry. Orm pointed at at Harry, who was ready to leave it.
"Brother, we're not finished yet."
With that, Arthur rose up from the grave and wrapped his hands around Orm's neck. The two hand a struggle over the weapon. Harry turned his attention to shielding Atlanna from the blasts bombarding her on all sides as the two brothers fought violently over the weapon.
"I never expected such treachery from you."
"You were the one who betrayed us first."
Arthur smashed Orm through the window with a tackle and the two flew off of one level of the palace into the ether.
"My son. I thought I could have shown him the path to righteous and instead, he's brought himself to the path of rune."
"There's a weapon above the sea," Harry said. "It's called the Sky Wave."
"The Sky Wave?" Atlanna asked. "No, this...someone commissioned it?"
Terror spread through the eyes of Atlanna and she snapped out of her self pity for what happened to her son. She grew all serious, with a few calming breaths to follow.
"It was supposed to be the final weapon in case things went to the point of no return. We vowed to never use it, or never build it unless absolutely necessary. How did Orm built it?"
"There's a group called Cadmus and they have…."
The sounds of battle from up above tore Harry's attention away. Suddenly, one of the guards had been blasted through the wall. Lois stood above him, with a weapon in her hand. Tess followed, as did Lori. Lori had a few scratches on her cheek from the battle, although looked more annoyed than injured.
"Thought you were going to get them out of here," Harry said to Lori.
"Plans change," Lois said.
"They saw our escape coming," Lori said.
Atlanna lifted up an energy spear and pointed it at the traitors who had been on their knees. Lois, Lori, Tess, and Harry all watched as the Queen's gaze fell upon them, with a set jaw and anger just burning through her eyes as she locked onto the tight.
"Stand down all of you."
"Your time is up. The Ocean Master will rise..."
Harry casually backhanded them.
"Do you know where my father is?" Lois asked.
"He may be on the third level," Atlanna said. "You will not be able to breach it without my assistance. I will lead them down."
Harry, Atlanna, Lois, Lori, and Tess all made their way to the ground. There had been several guards in prison.
"Your highness, thank Neptune. We refused to stand with Orm and he has locked us inside of these cells. I don't...we didn't want to."
"You did well," Atlanna said.
Harry noticed, after being tied up with the situation with the Sky Wave and some of the guards turning traitor, one of their party had been missing.
"Where's Lex?"
This caused Lois and Tess to look around. They had been as baffled as Harry was.
"He was right behind us, wasn't he?"
"You are soft just like mother! You can't do what is necessary. I'm preserving Atlantis and putting it in its proper place. Humans will finally be buried under their own hubris."
Orm put Arthur in a chokehold. Arthur fought his way out and ran up the wall to throw himself out of it. The two men rushed towards each other. Orm blocked Arthur's uppercut punch and returned fire with one of his own.
"I'm going to stop you."
"The only way to stop me, is to kill me. And you won't do that, will you?"
The fire in Arthur's eyes scorched. He sent a huge punch to Orm and sent him flying down to the ground. For a fraction of a second, Arthur caught sight of Orm, who scrambled towards the energy weapon.
A brief second passed, and Orm fired at him with a thunderous blast. The smoke billowed out of Arthur's body as he tried to get to his feet. Arthur struggled, fingers twitching. Orm reared back and hit him with a huge rocket buster of a punch. More punches rocketed him even hard.
"You can't stop me."
Another huge blast sent the Prince of Atlantis down on the ground. Orm stood over him, and prepared for the killshot.
In a blink of an eye, Harry blocked the spear from performing its deadly blast and shoved it back into Orm's chest. With a violent attack, Harry slammed Orm down onto the ground.
Before Harry could take care of him completely, there had been a lot hissing sound which caught Harry's attention.
"What did you do?"
"The Sky Wave has been activated. Your beloved Smallville will be reduced to ashes. A small sample of the fate which is just a preview to what will happen to the entire surface world…"
Harry headbutted Orm unconscious before he could finish his monologue. He would have to figure out how to stop this destructive attack. He gave Arthur a helping hand.
"We have work to do," the Prince told him, more serious than he ever saw him.
The feverish feeling brought on by one of the darts caused Lex to cough and shiver. He had been poisoned by something. He made his way to the computer. By some change, Lex stumbled upon the launch room for the Skywave. And it had been pointed directly towards Smallville. And it was just the beginning, if Lex gauged these readings correctly.
"I have to stop it."
"You can't stop what's already been started, Lex."
A hand grasped Lex around the shoulder. Through blurry vision he saw a very familiar face. One that he assumed to be dead.
"Mom!"
Lex collapsed to one knee in front of Lillian Luthor. He heavily began to breath.
"No, you can't be real. You're dead."
Lillian did not respond. She reached out and caressed Lex's cheek.
"You've been working with Orm. You created the Sky Wave. But why?"
"To crush Lionel's dreams like he crushed mine."
"Summerholt. Cadmus. All of it. It was you. You're dead, this can't be you. And if you're alive, you have a lot to answer for. I went to an Asylum because of you."
Lillian said nothing and just smiled.
"What are you doing?"
"Doing what's necessary to save the world and your soul. You will be corrupted and twisted by the false promises of the Traveler. It's too late for Lena. He's not a champion of justice. He's an agent of conquest."
Lex coughed madly as Lillian stepped closer. He reached out for both her and the Sky Wave, but collapsed short of either. Casually, Lillian leaned against the control panel as the countdown to doomsday began.
"Lionel's obsession with the Traveler brought us all down. Destroyed our family. He was always a snake, but everything he did was for us. The moment that meteor shower landed, everything saved them. He thinks he's always want. It's always Lionel's way and his pawn is the same way."
Lillian casually leaned forward and looked in Lex's eyes as they burned.
"Do you think that he told you because he valued and respected you? No, it was a tool of manipulation. He has a use for you. And when that use is done, he will throw you away."
"You're one to talk of manipulation," Lex coughed. "It was your fault that Julian died. And you made me think that I did it. You made me think that...you made me think a lot of things. Everything was your fault. You're no better than him ,you're no better than Lionel."
Lex stared at Lillian who said nothing and smiled.
"FACE ME! ANSWER ME! You're the one who did this all to me! You did this all. You were the one who ruined our family just as much as Lionel."
Atlanna stepped into the room.
"I've found the control room. And Mr. Luthor. The Sky Wave is about to launch!"
"FACE ME!"
Atlanna's eyes widened when she looked at Lex. He shouted himself hoarse to thin air.
"Mr. Luthor! Lex! You've been poisoned!"
"You think you're going to endear yourself to me by destroying the world. You're nothing to me! Nothing, Lillian! Do you hear me?"
"We're on our way up," Arthur said. "Harry is with me. Lori's got the others out of here and we'll be there. Do you think you can deactivate it?"
Atlanna sedated Lex and pulled him out of the way. His shouting at thin-air finally stopped.
"I can try."
Atlanna had been in front of the console and made an attempt to deactivate it. Denial after denial made her frustrated. Arthur's eyes glazed over it.
"I'm going to have to dismantled it from the inside. Detache the core from the system. It will burn out before it reaches the surface without the core."
Lori did the calculations in her head.
"Arthur, no, that's…"
"It's the only way."
Atlanna nodded grimly. It was the only way. She hated it.
"My life is not as valuable as countless. And this weapon could end up being turned up us just as easily. Once the core is disabled, it should be dismantled and destroyed."
Arthur stopped a few seconds before the danger zone and turned to Harry.
"The minute I'm inside, shield it shut for ten seconds."
While Lori and his mother were capable of doing so, he trusted that Harry would be more reasonable about what needed to be done.
Arthur entered the power core and began to disable the core. The flux of energy shot through him. Harry lifted his hands and sealed it shut before it released a deadly amount of energy to flood the chambers.
"It's working," Lori murmured.
"You can still get out, son!"
The Prince of Atlantis shook completely as he disabled the core. It burned out and fried his body. Several burns appeared on his body. He looked like a fish who had been fried.
At the very last second, once the machine shut down completely, Harry ripped Arthur out of the machine. His burned, but still barely alive body fell down to the ground. Harry just extracted him at the last possible second, seconds before he would have dematralized.
Lori and Atlanna rushed to tend to his sizzling body. Still alive, if they could call it that.
The wave of energy rippled through the sky and it caused the lights in the lab
"Did I do it? Did I save the day?"
"Yes, you did."
Despite it being very painful to do so, AC stuck a thumbs up and collapsed in a fit. Atlanna and Lori put him in a rune chamber to hopefully heal his injuries.
Harry's eyes caught sight of an object. The power source he sensed had been feeding into the core. A stone. With the Kryptonian symbol for water on it.
With a flicker of his finger, Harry summoned the stone into his hand and pocketed it.
"Get both Mr. Luthor and my son to the infirmary."
Atlanna watched her son being placed inside of a stasis chamber. The injuries were very deadly, although not fatal. Thanks in part to their guest's quick warning. Lex, Harry, and Lori stepped behind Atlanna. She had been looking at the son, inside of the chamber. Doing what he can to save the Earth, despite the risk.
Which was the opposite of her other son, the one currently being imprisoned. Orm's followers turned the moment that was trouble. While some of them turned tail and run, others remained behind. Atlanna would have to find a way to hunt them down and deal with them.
"Today, I've lost two sons."
One had been in stasis. The other, would have been executed for his crimes against the surface world. Atlanna hated to say it, but things were going to be rough going forward.
"Your Highness?"
"Yes."
"My mother was here. Lillian Luthor. Tall woman, with red hair, she was dressed in body armor when she was down here. It was green and purple. Please tell me you saw her."
"Sorry," Atlanna said. "Once I arrived, you were yelling at thin air. I'm afraid that whatever you though you saw was the product of Orm's guards and the poison you had been injected with."
Lex had not been wanting to buy that. Despite the fact it was the obvious and clearest explanation, it almost seemed a bit too convenient. Harry stepped inside and scanned the control room.
"For what it's worth, there's some peculiar energy scannings here. But, they might just be residue from the Sky Wave."
"Maybe," Lex said. "Or maybe it could be cloaking technology. She was standing here the entire time."
Although, if she was here, Lillian was gone now. Harry just responded with a shrug. He had no answers.
"This close, to destroying Smallville," Lex said. "More evidence of Lillian being the puppet master behind Orm. Lionel has his fixation towards Smallville. Even if she was not there today, it sure has her fingerprints on it."
Just like Lillian's fingerprints were all over Cadmus and Summerholt. And Lex further thought it was no coincidence that another one of Lionel's bastard children, Lutessa, had been captured by Orm. Likely, she used Lutessa as bait to lure Lex in.
"We saved the day," Lex said.
"AC saved the day," Harry reminded him.
Right, just goes to show a person that you cannot judge anyone by first impressions.
Harry noticed someone in the hallway. Lois had been there.
"Thought you left with the rest of the guests," Harry said.
"Well, I didn't want to leave without thanking you for breaking me out," Lois said. "The General's good and we'll be getting back to place. And Chloe was understating her. Guess, she doesn't want me to come to town and sweep you off of your feet."
"Well, you're going to have to fight through a lot more than Chloe to gain my full attention," Harry said.
"Well, I'd settle for a few hours," Lois said. "Maybe, I'll head to Smallville. Heard the corn was nice."
With that, Lois left. She knew that her father would be sending a search party after her.
"I better head back myself," Harry said.
Lex nodded in agreement. Atlanna smiled and walked over Harry.
"You're welcome here as long as I'm Queen."
"And hopefully, you take advantage of that invite real soon," Lori added. "Real soon."
Lori flashed him a smile and decided to add, as an afterthought.
"Or, maybe, I can come up and you can give me a tour of the surface world."
With a bold smile, Lori leaned in, wrapped her arms around Harry's waist, and kissed him on the check. Harry pulled away from her and Lex raised his eyebrow, but said nothing as the two of them left Atlantis.
After being trapped for several months, the last thing Tess expected was this particular revelation dropped on her lap. She met with Harry, and Lena Luthor and she held in her hands, proof of Lena's claims. This caused Tess's eyebrows to raise when she looked at it.
"So, I'm his daughter, and you're my sister," Tess said.
"Well, yes, I seem to be acquiring a few half-siblings, and who knows what else Lionel was up to."
"No offense, but I don't want anything to do with him. But, I don't blame you for what you did. It's a web you untangled. I just wish you found me before my birth mother passed."
Lena could sympathize with Tess on all accounts, for numerous reasons. Before this conversation could go any further, Lena's phone went off. Lex had been on the other end.
"How are you doing?"
"Lionel's been arrested."
"What? How? Why?"
Harry's interest piqued up suddenly, at overhearing this news over the phone.
"He was part of a murder plot against his parents."
"I...well I'm not surprised, but he's so good at covering his tracks. And suddenly, he's off to prison, without a second thought."
"I know. It's weird. Chalk it up to another weird thing that's been going on lately. I'll talk to you later."
Lena responded by whistling and throwing her hair back.
"To think, after all he's done, now he's gotten arrested."
"The timing is just...just interesting," Lena said. "Tess, Lex and I have to talk about the future of LuthorCorp. I know you didn't want to be involved, but it's your right to be involved in this conversation."
To be perfectly honest, Lena did not want to be involved with LuthorCorp, at all, as well. But circumstances mandated she would be a part of this as well. Tess looked at Lena, half shocked at what she just said and very astonished to say the least.
"I….I didn't think that…."
"You're qualified. Just think about it and call me later in the week."
"Thank you," Tess said. "I'll talk to you later, either way. I've got to report back to base. I'm about six months late reporting back in."
"Given the circumstances, I'm sure they'll understand," Lena replied a few seconds later. "Good luck."
"Right. It was nice to meet you."
Tess left, which left Lena and Harry all alone. Lena turned to Harry after she had departed.
"Lost in all of this, you got one of the stones."
"Yes," Harry replied to her. "Will make my job a lot easier going forward."
Lena supposed it would. She had a lot going on, but fully intended to still help Harry in his quest. The fact it also intrigued her helped a whole lot as well.
Alex and Chloe casually drank sodas and hung out on the back patio of the Danvers residence. Harry popped up to join them. Chloe turned towards him and greeted him with a smile.
"I just got off the phone with Lois," Chloe said. "She might be coming by for a visit soon. Surprised she called, but maybe she wants to make sure you're going to be here."
"You must have left quite an impression on her," Alex said.
"Yes," Harry said. "One down."
Harry showed the crystal of water to the two girls who eyed in, with barely disguised awe. The smiles on their face had been increased as they viewed the crystal dangling between Harry's fingers.
"Third of the way there," Chloe said.
"So, what's the next move?"
Before, Harry could answer Alex's question, a loud bang echoed from outside. A hissing sound followed, and from the heavens, dropped a large craft, seemingly out of nowhere.
Alex, Harry, and Chloe rushed to the escape pod. The dust cleared and Harry managed to get a good look at it.
"Kryptonian?"
"How?"
"I don't know."
The pod opened and inside of it was a terrified looking blonde teenager, clutching a mysterious object in her hand. Her eyes widened a fraction as Harry closed in on her.