Kara Zor-El smashed the wall of a temple extremely hard. Out of the corner of her eye, the Kryptonian survivor saw the winged hawk warrior zombie charge towards her. It took mere seconds before Kara dodged the attack, right before the weapon almost cleaved through the top of her skull.
Next to her, Harry and Zatanna fought. They used mystical spells to help stave off the attacks of the hawk zombies. And further from them, Claire Selton, known as Volcana, tagged along, and of course, Alex had been there as well. They had been into their necks thick of things.
They did not even reach the Crystal of Air when the hawks attacked. When the hawks attacked, the entire party was in for a fight. Harry jumped up high into the air and used his super breath to take them down to the ground. Tess's lead had been right and they most certainly had been in the thick of things.
From afar, Tess and Lena researched what they needed to do. However, staying alive had been the highest priority for Harry right now. Harry's fist whirled around and connected with the hawk creatures.
"Find the source of magic powering these things, cut it off!" Harry yelled to Zatanna.
Zatanna nodded as she caged two of the creatures. Easier said than done in a situation like this. The creatures broke free from the containment.
"Well, while you do that, I should turn up the heat."
Claire had better control over her powers and was able to direct her wall of fire to ensure the hawks had been cut in half. Alex picked up one of the daggers the creature dropped and threw it at the creature. The minute the dagger struck through the zombified creature's face, it decayed into dust.
"Their weapons, they hurt them."
"Good idea!" Harry yelled.
"You have to get past the wall, the one with the symbols depicting the hawks being worshipped as gods," Lena told him.
Easier said than done, given how that was the location which the hawks were guarding right now. Nevertheless, Harry preserved on. One of the axes came close to him. He blocked it, ripped it out of the creature's hand. Then he jumped high into the air and with a wild swing, plunged the axe into the chest of the hawk creature. The hawk creature dropped to the ground, breathing heavily from the axe slamming directly through its chest.
One down, only several more to go, Harry mused. The loud pattering of more hawk creatures caught Harry's attention. They all wielded axes, and were ready to go. Harry dodged the thunderous smash of an axe down onto the ground. Harry diverted their attention with a holographic duplicate.
Two creatures smacked into each other.
"Are there any limit to these things?" Kara asked.
"Good question," Alex said.
A bright light engulfed the temple. Then, in front of them, Lana appeared. Her eyes glowed and she turned and blasted all of the hawk zombies away.
Harry locked eyes with Lana for a minute. He turned briefly to Zatanna, who appeared just as flummoxed as she did.
"It's me, not Isobel," Lana said. "I know what I'm doing."
"Do you know?" Harry asked.
"I have control," Lana said. "The stone, we need it before the Teagues get it or Selena."
Lana opened the gateway. Harry prepared to cut her off. He slipped through.
The moment they slipped through, the winged-warriors of the temple went inert. Thus raising a lot more questions of what just happened, then there were answers at the moment.
The crystal should have been just beyond this gateway. However, it was not there.
"No! NO!"
Lana's eyes shifted over and the force deep within her sprung out. To say Isobel had been in a bit of a rage over this situation, would be pushing it. Her rage was almost apolpetic. Lana shook and screamed and almost sent flares of magic to the temple.
"You're not in control."
A hand grasped hers and suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Harry faced both Lana and Isobel on the Astral Plane.
"Someone beat us to the stone," Harry said. "But, who and how?"
"It's obvious who did it," Isobel said. "But, we will find out how."
"Something about this is off," Harry said. "Something about the magic is off. There's something down underneath. In the crypts."
Harry guided their spirits down beneath to take a closer look. He noticed the crypts. Three of them contained the mummified corpses of hawks. The fourth, it was missing.
They appeared, physically in the temple. Harry fiddled with his ear piece but something about the magic messed with it. He could waste time fixing it, but yet he could go forward.
"I shouldn't have come here," Lana said.
"And yet you are here," Harry evenly replied. "There's no turning back now. The only place for us to go is forward, deeper into the temple."
"Right," Lana agreed. "Forward."
The two walked for miles. Harry stepped around the temple and hoped to circle back around. Lana grabbed his shoulder and almost opened her mouth. Harry silenced her scream before it could pierce the temple and disturb anything else.
Harry came face to face with a very impressive, regal looking redheaded woman with wings. She wore armor much like the hawks, although very much not a zombie. She looked at them.
"Greetings traveler," she said. "My name is Chay-era. I am the Priestess of this temple. I have laid in rest here for centuries, until the rightful holder of the Stone of Air arrived."
"You're not the only one," Harry said. "My companions and I, we were attacked by the temple's guardian."
Chay-era frowned and looked around. It was almost like she tested the air around them. Lana looked as if she had any questions.
"I'm here for the crystal. It's mine."
"Yes, I can sense it," Chay-era said. "But, someone has breached the innermost temple."
Harry knew it was tempting fate by asking. Especially when he could sense multiple waves of mystical energy rumbling around him and threatening to cause problems.
"What is in the Innermost temple?"
Lena and Tess thought they were safe outside of the temple. A sweep of energy swept them inside of the temple, despite their best efforts to get away. They landed down onto the ground with a thud. Oh, Lena closed her eyes. Harry made the teleporting thing look so easy.
"Not the most graceful of landings," Lena said. 'I didn't think I would end up in another mystical temple. Oh, Tess, be careful."
"Right, because I don't think it would be a good idea to touch anything in this temple, at least directly," Tess said.
There had been any number of curses. Lena wrapped her hand in a scarf and slowly pulled the blade off of the wall. Just in case to arm herself. The Luthor sisters moved further into the temple, exploring it. The markings on the wall had been strange and there had been a whisper.
The tunnel had been lit. Someone with a torch came down. Tess reached for a concealed weapon, but Lena shook her head. It could be one of Harry's companions, or Harry himself, coming back down the tunnel. At least, that was Lena's hope, perhaps she had been mistaken.
From the tunnels, Lex appeared. This caused Lena and Tess to both blink. And Lex, looked rather surprised himself the second that the two women locked eyes said the same thing at the same time.
"What are you doing here?"
Lex just spent a second.
"You're helping Harry, of course you are," Lex said. "But, I've been, as well. Not as directly though. I've been monitoring the Teagues for months and whatever they're after, I can't let them have it. Our father is right about one thing, they're up to something shady."
"You don't know the half of it," Lena said.
"Well, do enlighten me."
The last time Lex had been near his two sisters, he had been split in half. So the tension between all sides had been very obvious.
"Harry doesn't have it yet, does he?" Lex asked.
"No, and you don't have it," Lena said.
"The temple would not have acted as it did if something had been removed," Lex said.
"I've come to the same conclusion," Lena agreed.
"Someone must have it.'
Again Lena agreed. Tess, Lex, and Lena made their way through the temple, sweeping past some shadows which had been stirring up all over the place. Nothing attacked, but Lena had been ready to react at a moment's notice.
"Going through the rightmost chamber is the least deadly way out of here," Lena said.
"Least deadly?" Lex asked. "Not filling me with hope."
"No, it shouldn't," Lena agreed.
"Well, you know better. Lead the way."
Lena decided to take the plunge, with Lex and Tess following behind her. Nothing happened, but she just waited for the other shoe to drop.
"There you are."
Zatanna, Claire, Alex, and Kara looked up to see a trio of Luthors walk their way through the temple.
"Thought you were supposed to be outside of the temple," Kara said.
"Well, those plans changed," Lena said. "Isn't Harry with you?"
"No, I thought he would be back by now," Alex said. "He chased Lana through a gateway, and then when that happened, the zombie hawks that were trying to kill us had taken us out."
"You are all in the most grave of danger."
Harry and Lana come back up. To say some of the members of group sighed in relief was obvious. They all tensed up at the woman who joined them.
"She's not one of the guardians," Harry said. "Well not the mindless ones anyway. Her name is Chay-era and she's...she's the guardian of the temple."
"Yes," Chay-era said. "Someone has the stone. They might not not understand what they are doing."
"Who?" Alex demanded. "Who could have…."
"The stone is the least of your concern right now. I know the true power in this temple and I will use it to annihilate you all!"
Much to their surprise, Jason Teague stepped out of the shadows of the temple. Lex raised his eyebrow.
"You did something without your mother pulling your strings?" Lex asked. "Impressive. She's the brains of this operation. You might be the eye candy though, although she was quite the looker in her day. Still a bit of a 3 out of 10 on the personality department. That runs in the family."
"Lex Luthor, you are not the genius you believe you are," Jason told him. "I have power, I have received power beyond the stone."
"There's something else," Zatanna said. "He's tapped into something else."
"Yes," Harry said. "That's about what we tell you."
"And I will use that power to crush all of my enemies. Mother will respect me."
"Somehow I doubt that," Lex said.
Suddenly, Jason screamed. Wings sprouted from the man's body. Along with a strange shadow like energy which engulfed parts of the temple around him. It appeared to decay the ground he stood upon. Added to the razor sharp teeth and claws, along with his wings turning razor sharp, he looked like a sight.
"He tapped into the curse of Hath-Set with his meddling,"
"Shadow hawks rise!" Jason yelled.
Well, it was less Jason and more of this Hath-set. An evil sorcerer, who caused Chay-era and her people problems. And now, the hawks rose from the ground and prepared to decimate everyone.
The shadow hawks roared and dove bomb through the air. Harry flashed out of the way of them and came back with a barrage of magic energy to take them down.
Chay-era knew how to fight these monsters. She pulled out a mace and swung for the heavens. The creatures scattered, but they were just hitting the wind without taking down the monster.
Lana created a shield. Her control over magic had been a bit shaky, but it had been enough to defend herself. Every time she rose a hand, Isobel threatened to break through. She had been confident it had been only Harry holding her leash that prevented the witch from cracking her way through.
Zatanna closed her eyes and created a shield.
"If you can stop him from coming, I can set him on fire!" Volcana yelled.
"Good idea, but it won't work," Harry said. "But, fire could distract him."
Good enough for Claire, she supposed. She sent a beam of fire across the ground. The hawk creature's eyes fell onto the them. Jason, Hath-Set, absorbed the fire and them spit it back out at them. Harry blew at it and suddenly developed ice breath.
"That's new," Harry said.
New power, in the middle of a fight. Harry quickly melted the ice from the ground, otherwise it would have been difficult to stand in the temple.
Lena caught Jason's wings with a glancing blow and plunged the sword through it. Jason howled in absolute misery as the sword ripped through the wings and spilled blood all over the place.
"Nth metal!" Chay-era said. "It subdued him, but it's not enough. You have to purge him of the curse."
Harry had an idea.
"Kara, launch me to the ceiling."
Kara wondered what her cousin had in mind. Regardless, she hoisted up Harry to the ceiling. Harry flew past the hawks and beamed them with heat vision to cause them to burn to a crisp. He reached the topmost rune and slammed his hands through it.
A pulse of magical energy erupted through the temple and caused the hawk creatures to be back. Jason, Hath-set, dropped to his knees, a racking pain filling through his body. It was agony to perform such magic. Yet, it appeared to be working. Harry just had to grit his teeth and push through the pain.
"Magic is only barely strong enough to hold this."
'Release me,' Isobel begged him. 'With my full magic, the two of us combined have the power to stop him.'
To say Harry thought this might not be the best plan would be an understatement.
'Yes,' Lana said. "It's the only way.'
Despite his better judgment, Harry decided to break the bind which held Isobel deep into Lana. The energy glowed in the palm of her hand and she joined him. The magic doubled and caused the hawks to decay.
Jason acted like a vampire who had been exposed to sunlight. The agony had been great. He screamed and went deeper into the temple.
"We must not let him return back to his sanctum to recharge!" Chay-era yelled.
With the creatures taken out, their path to Hath-set was a bit clearer. He would not get too far. Although, Harry sensed other forces to be at work.
In the temple, Selena and Genevieve came close to the Stone of Air. The Temples defences decayed one by one.
"Jason was the necessary sacrifice to get us this much closer to the stone," Selena told her.
"Yes, but…"
"You must get it, and we will get the others. His sacrifice will not be in vain. You did say you wished to obtain the stones of power by any means necessary?"
Genevieve nodded. Yes, her son had been used as a pawn to win this game. She had no hesitation in admitting to this. The moment she approached the altar, she had power near her.
"Touch it," Selena encouraged her. "Embrace your destiny."
So, Genevieve did. Greed motivated her to finally achieve her destiny. She clasped the stone. Just as she did, a dark shadow appeared in front of her.
"You?"
"ME!"
Isobel waited for the right moment. She knew this woman's greed would be too much. Finally, it was time to end this accursed bloodline once and for all. The descendant of the countess which put her in this state blasted to the ground. A rippling wave of energy cut through the temple and slammed into the woman, knocking all of the air out of her.
"You will bend at the knee before your superior!" Isobel said. "Pay for the sins of your ancestors!"
The stone ripped out of Genevieve's hand. Suddenly, the stone rose into air.
Harry and Kara both zipped in, close to reaching her. They never made it in time, as Isabel stabbed Genieve straight through the chest with the stone, killing her instantly.
The blood soaked stone pulled out of Genevieve's chest. Kara looked horrified behind belief.
"If any blood soaks the stone, there will be a cataclysm."
Isobel held out the stone for Harry. Only for Selena to come out of the shadows and blast Isobel. The stone of air reached into the air.
The blood soaked stone landed between Harry and Selena. Harry sent Selena flying through the wall and picked up the stone.
Harry had it, but the temple started to shake.
"Make sure everyone gets out," Harry said.
Harry looked around for Selena, to detain her once and for all. But the slippery witch, she had faded out again.
"Harry?" Lana asked. "She's gone. Her work is done."
"And we should be as well," Harry said. "Come on!"
"Forget it! You're not going anywhere!"
A crazed Jason flew towards them. Harry wondered where he buggered off to. His claws retracted the second he went towards Harry. Lana had no magic right now, with Isobel apparently departing from her. So, Harry prepared to fight off Hath-Set.
Only for Chay-era to drive her mace into the chest of the creature. She grabbed the throat of the man and pulled him down.
"Leave! Leave! I'll stay at the temple and keep the darkness at bay."
"Thank you."
She smiled and watched the Kryptonian retreat. Oh, she hoped to get to know him better, but for now, she had a responsibility. Anything in this temple should not spill into the ring.
"No, Kal-El, thank you," Chay-era softly said as she watched them leave. "I will meet you again, in another life."
Rocks broke apart right as Chay-era forced the possessed hawkboy down into the depths, to rot in hell alongside of his wicked mother. To be honest, the two deserve each other for the next eternity.
One last scream, combined from the demented, fracted spirit of both Jason Teague and Hath-Set before the temple had been silenced.
Harry caught up to the group and with Zatanna's help, flashed them out of the temple. Seconds before it completely caved on itself.
So close, but so far.
Lex Luthor thought he kept his dignity well after being teleported outside of the temple by not throwing up. Harry noticed the queasy look on Lex's face and gave him a sympathetic smile.
"It takes some getting used to," Harry informed him.
"If you say...so," Lex said. "I thought the danger had passed."
The skies have turned red above them. Always a bad sign. Harry held the stone into his hand. They would have to get them together, build the Fortress and figure out their next move.
"Time to go," Harry said. "Lana?"
Something about her demeanor seemed off the second they left the temple.
"I don't understand."
Lana spoke, but it had not been Lana. It had been Isobel. In the temple, Harry thought that Isobel relinquished Lana. And now outside of the temple, she had been back.
"What's going on?" Harry asked. "The Teagues are dead. Your work is done."
Yes, unfortunately, she had wanted to move on. But, it was not that easy.
"Yes, Countess Gertrude and her descendants are all dead," Isobel said. "I thought I drifted on, but something pulled me back, into this body. I don't know what's going on."
"We have to get her back to Shadowcrest!" Zatanna yelled. "Now!"
It was too late though. The moment Harry pulled Lana into his arms to teleport her away. A beam of magic energy struck them all. Kara, Claire, Alex, Lex, Lena, and Tess all dropped down to the ground. Harry and Zatanna just barely avoided being dropped although they had been propelled back several feet.
Oh, she got the drop on them, again. Harry could tell Lana had been separated from them, although it took him a while to clear the mental fog from his hand.
Selena flashed into the picture and muttered something. Lana screamed in agony. Harry rose up, and flew at the barrier. His best magical spells and attacks did about as much good as throwing spitballs at a war ship.
The piece of black Kryptonite she stole from Lex had been used on Lana. Selena used it to separate both Lana and Isobel. Lana collapsed to her knees. Selena hoisted up Lana by the neck and threw her at the feet of Harry and Zatanna like a piece of garbage.
Then, Selena teleported off with Isobel. They faded. Harry leaned down and picked up Lana.
Again, the witch had been near Harry. But had been crafty enough not to put herself in the direct line of fire. Her sense of preservation had been very frustrating.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
"Your vitals are fine," Eliza said. "But, you are so weak and can barely move."
"I got split in half," Lana said. "Selena must have stopped her on her way back and forced her back. And now Selena has Isobel, but why?"
"That's the question I have for a lot of what she's doing," Harry said. "I have the stones."
"Yes, you do," Lana agreed. "Shouldn't you get them together?"
"Kara and I are on our way to do so," Harry said. "We're going to build the Fortress. Use it to track down Selena and then we're going to…"
Kay burst through her doors of the clinic. The younger Kara looked absolutely frantic.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"I saw Selena raising an army to invade Earth. Using Lana's ancestor as a conduit."
"It's just a dream, right?" Alex chimed in.
"No," Harry said. "Kay, did you see where they were exactly?"
Kay shook her head. She just heard people screaming as Selena sent her army. Every man, woman, and child would be in danger. Selena had been sent to the Phantom Zone for a reason. Not that the magic-phobic Science Council needed a reason, but they did not need a reason.
"I can feel her when I close my eyes."
Harry turned to Lana, his eyebrow raised partially.
"Isobel," Lana confirmed. "Even with the separation. She's in agony."
Outside of the door, Kara appeared. She looked anxious and Harry could feel her pain.
"Ready to do this?" Kara asked.
"Selena's using Isobel to raise an army to destroy Earth," Harry said. "Kay saw it."
"What do you mean?"
"She saw it, in a vision," Harry said.
Kara looked somewhat skeptical, and if Harry did not experience similar things in a past life, he would have been as well. But, he knew dreams could predict what reality would be. Perhaps they could reach Selena and find a way to stop her.
Harry's phone went off. Lena was on the other end.
"More bad news," Lena said without wasting any time for formalities. "But the Horizon satellites are picking up a meteor shower heading directly towards Earth. And we have sixty minutes before it hits. Right here in Smallville. The results will be…"
"Cataclysmic," Harry said. "It's because Isobel stabbed Genieve with the stone."
Well, this pretty much described a huge problem.
"We can get them to the cave," Kara said. "Stop the meteor shower from happening."
"But, we have to stop Selena," Harry said.
"The meteor shower is happening in an hour."
"But, Selena is happening right now."
Harry closed his eyes. Being at two places at once, it was possible with magic. But it is very dangerous to create such a sophisticated duplicate. One miscalculation in the spell, and the duplicate could go rogue. And this was not the time to muck around with magic which was very temperamental at best.
"I can go and stop Selena," Kay said.
"Kay?"
"Let me do this," Kay begged him. "I was trained to fight. By my mother when I was in the Phantom Zone. I can do this."
"I'll come with her," Alex said.
"And I will as well," Zatanna said who had just popped out of the portal. "Selena will tear open the fabric of reality and we could have more serious issues."
"Fine, you three go," Harry said. "Kara and I have to stop a meteor shower."
An hour, they really did not have much time. Harry had to hope this would work as planned and they could stop the meteors before they struck. And he hated uncertainties.
"The cave's not far," Kara said.
"It's what we could run into on my way there that concerns me."
And it did concern Kara too, very gravely.
Harry and Kara rushed up into the Kawatche caves. The caves were eerily silent. Calm before the storm never sounded so appropriate as it did right now. Harry stepped into the shadows. He had all three of the crystals. The blood on the stone of air still taunted them.
"So, here it goes," Harry said. "Time to open the portal to the shadow dimension and then I will put the crystals just like Lara and Jor-El told me to."
A loud rumbling echoed. From the cave, several shadowy creatures rose up from the depths. Kara broke out, eyes widened a fraction from the creatures coming out of here.
"Selena wouldn't want us to build the Fortress that easily," Kara said. "I'll stop them. You focus on the crystals."
Kara rushed at the creatures to keep them away from Harry. Harry just needed enough time to put the stones of power into play and build the crystal of knowledge to create the fortress. The slot inside of the cave opened up, as the crystals glowed in his hand.
One of the creatures rushed towards Harry. Kara used an enchanted blade she picked up in the temple to rip the creature in half. Shadow blood spilled from the shadow creature.
The longest few minutes in Kara's life passed. Every time the flash of light emitted through the cave, hope sprung eternal for her.
Kay, Alex, and Zatanna appeared. Zatanna pointed to Isobel, who had been bound in magical chains. Her face contorted up, the woman appeared to be in great pain as she writhed and shook on the ground.
"She has to be near," Alex said. "Selena."
"She is,' Kay confirmed. "She's siphoning off of Isobel's magic to..."
A loud rumble echoed and a stone creature smashed its foot on the ground. Kay dodged back and avoided the swing of the creature. Alex armored up although she wondered how this armor would hold up against the mystical attacks. She would find out. She rushed up to the golem, only to find another woman appear and sent a blast of wind towards her.
"Quaint, Earth's hero can't be in two places at once!" Selena commented. "And the daughter of the woman who forced me into the Phantom Zone. Well, today is a great day. Not only will I build a new order on this primitive mudball, but I will ensure that the blood of my enemy's rain down from the heavens."
"There's a meteor shower coming down," Alex said. "Surely, even you can't survive that?"
"I grow stronger," Selena said. "Once the Phantom Zone is open once more, I will regain my full power. And nothing can stop me."
Zatanna sent a beam of light. Selena had been growing at strength as she broke free of Zatanna's binding spell rather easily. With a burst up into the air, Selena forced Zatanna straight down to her knees.
Wind, stone, fire, and ice golems circled around them. Kay flipped herself up into the air and took out the weakest point of the creatures. Just like Astra taught her. She dove into them and used her enemy's size against it. Two of them smashed into each other.
Zatanna blasted high up off of the ground. Alex rushed towards Selena. Selena lazily avoided her attack.
"You have no powers at all…."
Suddenly, Alex activated the arm cannon and blasted Selena several feet back and caused her to fly backwards.
"Didn't know it could do that," Alex said. "Yeah, but I have this."
The golem came inches away from stomping Alex flat. Alex tucked her head and rolled around on the ground. The stampeding creatures charged at her.
"Hey!" Kay yelled. "Rocky! I'm over here!"
The rock creature recognized Kay as a threat for its master. It charged at the young blonde Kryptonian and with a thunderous boom lowered its fists down onto the ground.
Zatanna broke several of the chains which held Isobel in place. Selena sent a beam of energy towards Zatanna and dropped her down to the ground. Zatanna squirmed underneath the attack from Selena. Alex tried to attack her but Selena trapped her into a golden orb. The orb grew tighter and prepared to crush Alex.
A beam of heat vision from Kay's part broke Selena's attention.
"Oh, you thought you could play with fire!"
Selena appeared on the back of a manticore made of fire. She held a spear and rushed towards Kay. Kay used her speed to dodge the attacks. While she did, Selena expanded a bit more of her magical energy, which forced her control over the golems.
Zatanna started muttering a counter-spell. Selena had her full attention on Kay, which might prove to be an advantage for both of these women.
The skies rumbled above them. Time could be running out. Whether or not Selena's plan would be fulfilled or the meteor shower would strike first, it would be a race.
Kara and Harry had to have reached the caves by now. Although knowing Selena, she would have had a counterplan. Of course she would have.
More of the chains broke and Isobel came close to freeing herself. Selena had her attention on the Kryptonian. The restless woman knew if she could stop the spell, she could stop the doom Selena would bring to Earth.
"Okay, Selena, you want me! Come and get me!"
"With pleasure!"
Kay and Selena dove at each other. The bloodlust in the witch's eyes just showed how much tunnel vision she had.
In prison, Lionel listened to some opera music and sipped on a Martini. He acted as if it was any other day. Lex walked down the hallway, completely bemused at Lionel's attitude. Lionel turned off the opera music.
"There's a meteor shower coming to Earth," Lex said. "It will be here in six minutes."
"Yes, I've heard," Lionel said. "But, you must have faith."
Lex looked at his father, with this particular statement.
"Very spiritual for the man who is a committed atheist."
"I do not believe propaganda," Lionel said. "But I do believe in science. My studies indicate that there is an actual physical force on this planet who could stop it. But, like most doomsday scenarios, it may not be as bad as it was. Physical forces, not mystical beings."
Lionel took a second.
"In the end, there is only oblivion for us all," Lionel said.
"That's more in line with what you've said before," Lex said.
"And whether I have six minutes or six months, I have no fear of what comes after. Because, of the legacy I've left here."
"You're confident people are going to remember you when you're gone?" Lex asked.
"Some for good reasons, many for bad," Lionel agreed. "But, I doubt anyone who has heard of me will forget me any time soon. I'm still the master of my fate, up until the last second."
Lex wondered if Lionel had an idea what was going to happen next. Because, Lex most certainly did not. If these meteors hit, it would be worse than the one which struck fifteen years ago.
"You're really not the least bit afraid."
Lionel poured himself another drink, but did not answer. Liver disease or not, he really had nothing left to lose. If this had been the end, the fact his liver could fail at any minute did not really bother Lionel at all.
"I would offer you one, but I know you're trying to amend your ways," Lionels said. "Your liver will thank you when you're my age."
The last shadow demon faded from the cave. A crackle of energy erupted from it as Kara pulled back. She breathed, although she would breath more easily when the crystals had been it.
"It's done!" Harry called "Take my hand."
Finally, they would have the Fortress built with the Crystal of Knowledge. The cave engulfed in light. A crackling energy brought Harry and Kara through a portal. The light engulfed them and then they vanished.
Kay had been repelled back by Selena. Selena pulled up the young Kryptonian in the air, like a puppet and started to yank on her. A blade of pure energy came inches away from piercing her neck.
"It's my greatest regret that I don't have your mother or aunt in this position," Selena said. "But, one died with Krypton. While the other will rot forever more in the Phantom Zone. And once I have the power of the Omegahedron, all will bow before me."
"You will never have it!"
Selena surrounded Kay in an energy field which mimicked a red sun. Both Zatanna and Alex laid on the ground, barely able to breath.
"I will. With your cousins no longer in the picture."
Selena broke into a wicked smile.
"Yes, it's done," Selena said. "They have activated the crystal."
Sudden grim realization hit Kay. Harry and Kara would have no time to make sure the Crystal of Air had not been tampered with, given the immediate threat of a meteor shower.
"You tampered with it!" Kay yelled.
"Merely a misdirection," Selena said. "But, you waste this Earth's precious atmosphere. Time for you to perish, Kara In-Ze."
The final chain snapped. Isobel had just enough power to blast Selena away from Kay and free her from the bindings.
"I'm not your pawn," Isobel managed.
The ground began to rumble underneath them. Kay rose up and saw it. Death, fiery death, in the form of meteors preparing to rain down from the heavens. Kay could not get out of the path long enough.
Alex grabbed Kay by the hand and yanked her out of the way. Despite the shield protecting from from the deadly radiation, meteors could still crush them all. Zatanna raced behind them, trying to stall their inevitable collision. But, despite her magic, there was no way to stop them all.
"Selena tampered with the crystal," Kay said. "Harry and Kara aren't on Earth."
A chilling thought of where they might have been sent hit the youngest of the Kryptonians. Although much more pressing issues caught them as the meteors rained down.
"This isn't the Arctic."
That was the most obvious statement possible, but albeit, extremely true. Kara and Harry looked around. Kara spent a few seconds dreading the answer, although she could not avoid it.
"We're in the Phantom Zone," Kara said.
Harry realized something. The urgency of putting the crystals together prevented him from properly scanning the crystal of air for any tampering. Which Selena obviously counted on. So, she misdirected the teleportation, opened a portal, and sent them into the Phantom Zone.
Where they had no powers. Which did not make them weak.
"Given how many people your father and my mother put in this place, we really should be moving," Kara offered.
Harry dreaded to see what would happen to Earth when they got back. If there was still an Earth to return to. Regardless of that fact, he and Kara had to proceed forward into the Phantom Zone.