Chapter Ninety-Seven: To Serve and Protect.
The last couple of days have been very interesting, and to be honest, Phantom Girl and Lightning Lass of the Legion of Super-Heroes were both pretty pleased that things did not go down really bad. They still needed to great the time thing.
"I can't believe Imra," Phantom Girl said. "To think, she was with Superman….and by with Superman, I mean, she was really with Superman."
"How can you tell?" Lightning Lass asked.
Phantom Girl just broke out into one of those grins as if someone knew something. "Trust me, a girl can tell. You don't have that type of glow on your face unless you're with someone like Superman. There's just no way."
The two members of the Legion shook their heads. At least they had a chance to be in the amazing Fortress of Solitude. They thought the Fortress had been lost after all of those years, buried throughout time. Tinya leaned back and smiled.
"So, do you think Superman actually had to destroy this Fortress?" Tinya asked. "Or did he just bury it so deep no one found it, even seven hundred years later?"
Ayla answered with a shrug and a shake of her head. The Legion of Superheroes representative thought that anyone's guess was just as good as the next. People argued what happened to Superman's Fortress of Solitude constantly over the last several years. No one had a good idea.
"Still talking about this after all of these years. Well, I suppose we should focus on the present right now."
Saturn Girl stepped out. Imra dressed in a black tank top and a pair of jean shorts which fit her body nicely. One could say this particular woman had been in a pretty good mood when she walked with a saunter and a sway of her hips. Both of her teammates just looked on at her with a smile.
"I can't believe you jumped the line in front of us," Phantom Girl said.
Imra placed her hand on Tinya's shoulder and leaned in to give her teammate an innocent smile. "Sorry, team leader privileges gives me some perks that the rest of the team doesn't have."
The expression of frustration on Tinya's face was pretty horrible. The other two looked up instantly for the next arrival with Tinya gasping instantly. Ayla showed a little bit more refresh.
"You must be Ayla and Tinya," Clark said with a smile.
It was odd to meet someone you've already met before several times for the first time. The members of the Legion all looked at Superman for a second. Ayla leaned in and grabbed Superman's hand and shook it.
"Sir, it's an honor," she said, practically gushing. "I mean…I know we know more about you than you know about yourself, and….I think we should keep our mouth shut about what we know in the future…and we are in the middle of a mission you know."
"It really is an honor," Tinya said with a smile as wide as possible. "We still, we still have to find him though. You know, the time thief. The reason why we went back in time in the first place."
"Yes, I'm glad the two of you remember that," Imra said. "And I'm still curious about what separated us."
It was a pretty good question. There were many enemies who were looking to do the Legion harm and they would have sucked them into this different time period. Superman turned to the three heroines and motioned for them to come closer to him.
"My Fortress is at your disposal to do what you need to with it," Superman said. "I have a feeling you're going to need all the help you're going to get going forward."
"You would be correct," Imra answered without skipping a beat. "And thank you, we do need all of the help. I'm glad that we can work together. I just wish we could have gotten together under better circumstances."
'And I hope those better circumstances would not have ever involved getting eaten by time wraiths,' Imra thought with half of a shudder.
She turned to look over the Fortress in all of its glory. Clark, Kal-El, Superman, walked over to get a call. He explained that he enlisted the help of the DEO to try and nail down the time thief. Imra decided it would be a good idea to get some help.
"Hey, Daisy," Clark said.
"I've got some facial recognition on the man the agents chased down earlier," Daisy said. "Granted, they're not our agents, they're from another mysterious government agency of mystery. There are a lot of those around, believe it or not."
Clark could believe it honestly. Various government agencies always seemed to be up to something, and Clark hoped that they were on his side.
'There's also Cadmus,' Clark reminded himself very darkly.
"I'll swing on by and we can compare notes," Clark said. "I'm going to bring by some friends who are investigating this. Maybe we can get something together."
Clark got off the phone and turned to the Legion girls who all broke out into smiles. Imra sobered up before any of them did. She reached in and put her hand on Clark's shoulder with a smile.
"Let's go," Imra said. "The sooner we capture this time thief, the better."
Alex Danvers plopped herself in front of the desk and had been resigned to a very long day's work. She held the piece of metal she found from Henshaw's body. This was alien metal the likes of which she had never encountered in her life. Alex bit down on her lip when looking over the metal.
'You're upset about this Henshaw, aren't you?' the blue beetle scarab asked.
'How could you tell?' Alex asked. 'The fact he implied that my father was some kind of traitor, that he suffered. Never mind, my father was convinced to help the DEO under Henshaw's thumb because he wanted to protect Kara. He was a good man who had been forced away from his family.'
'Yes,' the scarab said. 'I think that Henshaw is playing what humans like to call mind games with you. And you're allowing him inside of your head.'
'My head's plenty crowded enough with the both of us in here, thanks,' Alex thought.
Alex received a call from Carol, but she had to put it off. She had so much important work to do. Carol might have wanted to talk about what Alex found out from Henshaw about their father.
Truthfully, though, Alex did not know much of anything. Henshaw had been talking about Jeremiah as if he had been held for days and tortured for any amount of information before being executed as a traitor to Cadmus. He seemed pretty happy out there.
"Are you alright?"
No need to call Carol back because the woman herself showed up in person. She placed a hand on the back of Alex's chair and made her stand up straight. The two sisters locked eyes with each other.
"I'm not going to lie," Alex said. "I've been all over the place as of late."
Carol responded with a nod. The oldest Danvers sister had been haunted by a couple of thoughts regarding her father for a while. Alex had a very rosy view of the man who raised her. Carol had a more realistic view and remembered Jeremiah Danvers as a good, but flawed man. He most certainly might have been willingly involved with something like Cadmus, until he realized what it was actually doing.
"Let the dead rest," Carol said. "I know you're angry what happened, but nothing can change the past."
"I'm….I'm just wondering how much he told them," Alex said. "Granted, I'm sure the bulk of the information about Kryptonians came from Lionel Luthor, but still….he wouldn't do it willingly."
"No."
Carol said this statement hoping to make her sister better. He did not harm anyone willingly, that was what Carol thought about her father above everything else. She drew in a very evident breath and slid her neck back to look up at the sky.
"I have a feeling we'll nail this guy pretty soon. Just a hunch I have."
Daisy stepped into the corner with Carol and Alex looking up at the arriving DEO agent. They had been joined by Clark and the trio of time travelers a short.
"Any luck with your mystery guest?" Alex asked.
Clark shook his head and one could see the frustration begin to mount in his tone. The look on his face made Alex wonder about something.
"We have more problems," Alex said.
"What did you expect?" Daisy asked. "Imra, do you think you can explain it to her like you did me?"
Imra responded with a sigh. Yes, she figured it would be for the best they were on the same page. She motioned for Alex to sit down.
"Our greatest enemies, the Fatal Five, have also come to the present," Imra said. "The more time travelers who come into the time period, the greater chance there is for something to go horrifically wrong."
"You don't say?" Alex asked. "The Fatal Five are…."
"They are the greatest enemies the Legion of Superheroes has ever known," Imra said. "We've caught a glimpse of one of them on one of your traffic security cameras. Emerald Empress is the leader, and one of the constants of the Fatal Five."
A soft sigh came from Imra. Clark tightened his arm around her and she returned back to the conversation at hand.
"The time thief is bad enough with the information he stole. It can't fall into the wrong hands. The Fatal Five going after the information has made this even more of a time-sensitive situation."
The good news was they did not grab ahold of the case just yet. They would know if that happened. The bad news and this was the more unfortunate thing, they did not know how long it would take before someone could figure the case open.
"We have a lead," Kara said poking her head around the corner. "Do you want me to come?"
"The more hands on deck the better," Imra said. "The Fatal Five is not going to play nicely, especially when they know we're onto them."
"Which is why I'm coming too," Carol said.
Time was running out. They needed to swoop in and grab the package from the time thief for all of their sakes. The sands of time poured into the hourglass.
The Fatal Five set up headquarters in the twenty-first century. Emerald Empress smelled the air and crinkled her nose at it.
'It's no wonder humanity is practically extinct within the next few centuries,' the Emerald Empress said. 'It might do them a kindness to speed up the process.'
Emerald Empress grinned at their captive time thief. He paced back and forth in the cell. Outside of the cell on the table laid the case. The Emerald Empress put her hands firmly on the case. The case would not budge no matter what.
"We've been working around the clock to try and get that open."
Another member of the Fatal Five stepped from the shadows. Emerald Empress acknowledged her with a nod. A blue robe came over her body, with metallic parts underneath. Caress just smiled at the Emerald Empress. The two of them walked over.
"The Legion closes in," Emerald Empress said. "The benefactor has warned us what will happen if we fail to get the information back in a timely manner."
Caress answered with a very grim nod. The Benefactor warned them of a lot of things. She had a question just dying to get out. Emerald Empress turned to Caress and gave her the once-over. The woman leaned back for a second and then decided to spit out the question.
"Have you ever seen the Benefactor?"
"He sends his information through transmissions," Emerald Empress said. "He's allowed us to remain one step ahead. He's even delayed the Legion for us. We just had no idea that it would be so difficult to get the package open."
The package the time thief brought a thousand years into the past taunted Emerald Empress. She turned to the time thief who remained very agitated in the cell. He rose up from the cot in the cell, spent the next couple of minutes pacing around, and then dropped down on the cell cot several times. He repeated this ritual several times over the next couple of minutes, getting more progressively agitated as time went on.
"I'm sure you've figured out by now you're not leaving that cell," The Emerald Empress responded. "Not unless you've told us how to crack the box open."
"I've told you once, and I've told you again!" the time thief practically spat out. "I've told you everything that I know. I didn't steal the box for myself. The person who stole it from, they were going to pay me. How they got it open, I don't know!"
Emerald Empress raised an eyebrow. The thief almost ran into the cell and smashed into the bars hard. It was about as futile of an exercise as you don't imagine.
"Well, until we figure out a way to open this box, then you stay right here," Emerald Empress said. "There is no honor amongst thieves at this time or any other time. You're not leaving until we find a way to get the box open. Do you understand me?"
The Time Thief gave a grudging nod, grumbling all of the way. The Emerald Empress turned back around to focus on the box. Caress stood a couple of feet away from her.
"Why doesn't the Benefactor come and get the box to open it up if he wants it so badly?" Caress asked. "Why do we have to be the ones who hold onto the box?"
"Because," Emerald Empress said with a firm glare towards Caress. "Because he insists on us transmitting the information in this box to him. It's the way he wants to communicate."
Caress frowned at the Emerald Empress's words. She put an awful lot of stock in someone who was not seen and rarely heard. The other members of the Fatal Five did not even hear from this mysterious benefactor, even though Emerald Empress put a lot of stock in him and swore that he existed. She supposed that they would have to agree to disagree on certain situations.
She moved across and noticed the other members of the Fatal Five move. Another member of the Fatal Five, a red skinned woman with fire surrounding her approached the scene.
"The Legion and Superman approach," she said to the Emerald Empress.
"So, they have found the entrance," Emerald Empress said. "Regardless, we have a few surprises. Twenty-First-century technology is not without its uses as you'll find out soon."
Emerald Empress started to push a couple of buttons on the council to get ready for the attack. The console lit to life. She wrapped up the little surprise she had for Superman and her enemies at the Legion before turning back around to address the rest of the members of the Fatal Five.
"Inform the Persuader and Thatork to be in position, Flare."
The woman known as Flare nodded before she joined Caress in getting ready. The Emerald Empress turned and looked at the case to get a fresh perspective on it.
Up in the sky, Superman dropped down in front of an abandoned warehouse. Blue Beetle, Quake, and Captain Marvel followed him from all sides. Supergirl joined seconds later, along with Lightning Lass, Phantom Girl, and Saturn Girl. A small army of protectors closed into the lab on all sides.
"So, an abandoned lab?" Clark asked Chloe.
Chloe chuckled at Clark's very obvious exasperation about the entire situation. "Yes, an abandoned lab. I know, it seems like the tastes of villains have changed very little over the centuries, haven't they?"
Clark would have to imagine so. He stepped into the lab followed by the ladies of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The others moved around towards the back entrance. Imra stepped forward and looked around.
"Appearances are not what they appear," Imra said. "Especially when you're dealing with the likes of the Fatal Five."
Time had not had any noticeable shifts. They remained rooted on the ground.
"Well, if the Legion had the box opened, and used what they had, it's not like we would be standing here and having this conversation," Tinya said. "Right?"
Imra responded with a non-committal nod. She figured that Tinya had a pretty good point. They could have been erased to the past if they were not careful. She stepped in and noticed something on the edge of the wall. Imra touched her hand on the tackboard and ran her hand down it. The image flickered.
"That looks like…." Ayla said. "It can't be?"
"What?" Clark asked.
Imra figured it was best she explained to him the best she could. "It's a time portal. I've seen the design before, but it was a trip we've taken further out into the future."
More questions raised and precious few of them looked to have any kind of answer attached to them. Clark put his finger on the bridge of his nose and leaned back with a very evident sigh. He was trying to piece together something, and he came to one obvious conclusion.
"So?" Clark asked. "Are you saying that the Fatal Five is taking technology from even further into the future than….."
A loud click echoed and Clark looked above his head. Several drones popped out from seemingly out of nowhere and circled around Clark's head. The Man of Steel looked up to spy the drones above his head. They circled around his head and one of them locked onto him. A blast of red light fired at Clark. Clark evaded the attack and moved around the drones before moving them in the head.
A crackle of light shot through the air and slammed one of the drones down. Lightning Lass moved back and attacked the drones.
"I forgot how insufferable the constant use of attack drones was," Imra said. "I'm so glad criminals grew out of that faze by the middle part of the twenty-second century."
She used an invisible mental shield to block the attack. Phantom Girl jumped up and put her hand through the drone to register a miniature explosion. The drone collapsed down onto the ground, with smoke billowing out of it. Phantom Girl flipped down onto the ground and almost collapsed down to one knee.
"Duck!" Clark yelled.
Phantom Girl spun around and caught the drone in her hand. She blasted it down to the ground. She stood shoulder by shoulder with Saturn Girl and put one of the drones down as hard as humanly possible. The drone just shattered underneath the combined attack from the two heroines.
"Yeah, this isn't getting any easier," Lightning Lass said. "They've upgraded them with future technology."
"There's got to be some computer controlling these," Clark said. "Fry the power to the building!"
Phantom Girl was already on it. She shifted through the drones and then disappeared in a blink of an eye. A skilled hacker could find a way to stop anything, especially before they wrecked her hero.
The sound of one of the larger drones crashing through the window disrupted all of their concentration. Kara smashed the back of the drone. Her fists repeatedly and endlessly smashed against the drone and reduced it into pieces.
Three orbs came up. They created an energy field and trapped Supergirl in it. The drones triangulated and pushed in the energy walls. It grew more cramped the more Supergirl struggled against the energy wall.
Clark jumped up and smashed his fist through one of the orbs. The orb dropped down and Kara slipped through the crack. The two cousins stood shoulder by shoulder and launched their heat vision at the drones. The drones cut through and crashed onto the ground.
Daisy joined the battle, bent over. A couple of cuts were on her face. Alex and Carol came on from the other side. Daisy declined help and rose up to a standing position her own. She held a hand out and aimed it towards the drone. The drone smacked into the wall.
"I think I've got it!" Tinya yelled.
The drones all shut down and dropped down to the ground. Clark could hear something rattling in the wall.
"Someone help me with this wall!"
Clark punched the wall hard. Kara and Carol joined him. Daisy cleared her throat and motioned for them to stand back. She rocked the wall back and tore it completely open.
On the other side of the wall laid a glowing silver orb. Imra moved over to the orb instantly.
"Diversion tactics," she murmured underneath her breath. "Of course it was."
It did not mean they could not take the orb and study it and try and figure out whether or not it would lead them. This orb had to be the key to something.
"I don't doubt this orb has to be the key to something. The question is what."
Daisy set the orb on the table of one of the mobile DEO command outposts in the area. She bit down on her lip and hooked the orb up to the computer. Some careful maneuvering required Daisy to take this a bit slower than normal, interfacing a thirty-first-century piece of technology with a computer from this century.
"Okay, got to take this carefully," Daisy said. "The last thing I want to do is mess us all up by blue screening us to death."
Some careful work from Daisy configured the orb into the DEO computer. The technology was not found and why would it be.
"Okay, fine," Daisy said.
The others stood and allowed the hacker to do her work. Finally, Tinya spoke up.
"Why don't you try and seek out similar frequencies?" Tinya asked. Daisy turned around for a few seconds and gave Tinya a very long look. The poor girl looked a bit terrified at being stared down like that. "Sorry."
"Actually, that's a good idea," Daisy said. "We should look at that right now"
The technology was so advanced that if there was anything like that on Earth, they would know. Daisy felt her computer run sluggish to keep up with the output pouring in from the orb.
"Come on, don't die on me," Daisy begged her computer. "That's the last thing I need right now, for you to die on me. Don't…"
Daisy groaned and kept moving in to hack the computer. It was taking a while to do this, and time was running short. She could feel a tension headache coming on. Daisy pressed her fingers to the keyboard and tried to bite back the swears she wanted to just flow out.
Clark kept his attention on Daisy, but he figured it did not do her much good to have people stare at her when trying to track down information While Daisy hacked away, Clark turned his full attention to Imra.
"So?" Clark asked. "What's in the case?"
Imra responded by opening her mouth. She figured some kind of explanation was in order. The Legion of Superheroes owed Clark a lot of things and what they owed him most of all.
"It's…."
A loud bang echoed from the side of the command post to rock all of the people inside. The girls of the Legion realized what happened instantly. Another slam of the side of the command post rocked them. Alex flew into position to put the shields up to prevent any further attacks.
"It might have been too little too late," Kara said.
"No need to find the Fatal Five here, if they're knocking on our door!" Daisy yelled.
Chapter Ninety-Eight: Fatal Five Part One
The constant and the never-ending bombardment of the Fatal Five's to the command unit of the DEO rocked them all. Alex put her hands up into the air the second the command unit received another direct hit. The hit rattled the entire command post and caused them all to receive a frustrating amount of motion sickness. Daisy put her hands on the edge of the computer which she used to perform the hacking.
"Another shot like that and we won't be able to withstand it," Alex said.
"Should we go out?" Kara asked.
Daisy shook her head at the younger girl's words. She moved into position and activated the computer. They would need to get the defenses on to repel the Fatal Five. Saturn Girl closed her eyes and tilted her head back while taking a few obvious breaths.
"The Fatal Five is sending warning shots because they want us to know they're there. They aren't going to attack us just yet…and there…we're going to have to get to them as well."
"Well, we're not going to sit down and take it like good little soldiers," Daisy said. "If we're going to get a chance to fight back, then we're going to get a chance to fight back."
The fortified base kept another explosion from rocking side base. Daisy dragged her nail down the side of her face and entered a very deep sigh. She tried to get the monitoring on to get some visual. It was possible they were attacking long range and were completely and totally out of sight. Daisy really hoped they were not so she could get a pretty good fix on these bastards.
"Okay, let me get a fix on them," Daisy said. "And I'm sure…."
The doors slid open and the three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes stepped out of the back of the van, followed by Superman and Supergirl. They all looked from the left and to the right. They saw a brief image flicker before the very obvious realization of the matter in all of its ugliest set in.
"The Fatal Five are gone," Superman said.
"Maybe," Supergirl said. "But maybe not…look."
Supergirl extended a solo finger off to the side when realizing they had left some kind of trail for them. The Girl of Steel stepped on in just a little bit closer. Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl walked on in as well with Saturn Girl stopping and looking at the air. A chill rose from her body when studying the energy trail.
"They left something behind," Saturn Girl said. "I think it was intentional."
Intentional or not, this was the only trail they had to locate their adversaries. There was no question about it, they would have to take it for better or for worse. The Legion, Superman, and Supergirl gave chase to their enemies, flying off in the opposite direction towards them.
This left Daisy, Alex, and Carol at the Command Station. Carol watched one sister fly off before turning to the other sister who was watching her best friend hard at work.
"We're going to figure out this future technology yet," Daisy said with very resigned determination. "I haven't found a piece of alien technology which I hadn't been able to decode yet. And you better believe your ass that I'm not about ready to start failing right now."
Daisy bit down on her lip and got to work in decoding this mysterious orb. The defenses were up, and Daisy had a couple of the best people out there watching her back, so she was not worried at all. Daisy just had to keep plugging away and keep doing what she was doing. It was not going to be easy.
Lex Luthor explored the floors of Cadmus and learned more information by the minute which intrigued him and learned a fair bit of information which frightened him as well. The organization had been well funded and well researched.
'Not sure how I feel about some of the things my mother is doing.'
Cadmus reached complications of their goal. Lex studied every single company record of Cadmus and also watched on the security cameras the employees. His mother did not confront him about the entire Henshaw incident just yet. Lex did not feel the need to explain anything he did either, so it was just best if they spent some time apart. Lex read over company report after company report.
Every now and then, a signal indicating a power surge beeped up. Lex looked at the signal for several minutes and realized something was here. Each signal brought Lex's interest further and further to the center. He kept studying the screen with intrigue growing by each possible minute.
Lex reached down and saw a couple of the company records had been sent out. While Lex could not quite follow the paper trail to its most obvious destination point, one thing became abundantly clear that someone had been infiltrating Cadmus and messing with their records. Lex wondered if his mother had been aware of this.
'No, she hasn't,' Lex reminded himself. 'Why would she be aware of any of this. She's blinded by her own tunnel vision.'
The young man could have left at any time, but he was not ready just yet. Lex looked further into the system and observed the small strains of alien code which found their way into the system and infected it. Lex could tell something was up instantly by just looking at it.
Something about this alien code seemed very familiar to Lex as well. The more he thought about it, the more questions it raised. And the more questions it raised, the more frustrations came to light. Lex put his nails on the side of his head and took in another deep breath.
A couple of the scientists walked about. Did they not know what had been infecting the system? Lex took a few steps away from the lab. One of the guards stood up to eye him.
"If you know what's good for you, you're going to me pass."
The guard looked very conflicted. Lex stared said guard directly in the eye and made him back down and allow Lex to pass. Lex looked around the facility and images popped up. Three time travelers at least could have been accounted for. Lex followed the progress of the time travelers with a growing frown. One thought popped into the back of his head when studying the movements, back and forth of the time travelers.
'This will cause complications.'
"We're looking for this man, sir," one of the scientists said.
An image popped up of a gentleman carrying a case. He looked like the unsophisticated type, little more than a petty thief who arrived. He stumbled upon something great and now had been on the run after people had been chasing him for the last little while.
"Fascinating," Lex murmured underneath his breath. "Do you have any idea what he has?"
"No, but there are branches of the government who would do anything to get their hands on this particular item, sir," the scientist responded.
Lex put his hands on his scalp and entered a very scathing chain of thoughts.
'The government would not have any idea how to use this. They would end up killing more people than they would help. I can't allow the United States government to get their hands on this, no way. Or any government for that matter. I'm the one who has to take it.'
"Is there anyone else who would be after this item?" Lex asked in his harshest and most sharp voice directed at the scientists as they had got to work.
"No, sir," the scientist responded a couple of seconds later. "Wait, yes, there's someone, sir, I don't know….I don't know what to make of this."
The young Luthor heir appeared rather unimpressed by the shaky statement coming from this particular scientist. He put a hand on the back of the young man's chair and forced him to look over his shoulder. "Given that you're a scientist, it would be for the best you made something of this and soon. Do you understand?"
Said scientist answered with a shaky nod when grabbing onto the edge of the chair. Lex Luthor breathing down his neck made it very difficult for the scientist to accomplish much of anything in this particular position. He really did have to try though.
"I believe there are at least five more time travelers," the scientist said, sounding very nervous and shaky as he spoke. "They are traveling in a group. And these aren't like the other time travelers. They aren't afraid to use force."
A grainy video footage image appeared for Lex's visual consumption. One of them swung a huge ax down onto the ground and nailed the wall hard. The wall split down the middle.
"Keep monitoring the situation," Lex said.
"And we haven't still figured out what caused Mr. Henshaw to shut down," another scientist said.
Lex shook his head in amusement at the man. He put a hand on the back of his chair. "Well, you best keep searching for those answers then. If Cadmus has been infiltrated by rogue agents, I'm sure the Commander won't be happy to find it out. And she's the type of woman you want to keep happy at all costs isn't she?"
None of the scientists had the nerve to comment about the very detached nature of Lex's statement regarding his mother. They just all got back to work and left Lex deep in thought.
Saturn Girl picked up the trail. Many thoughts went through the heroines head and for once, they were not the thoughts of other people. She felt very anxious the closer they got. Supergirl and Superman joined the rest of the Legion.
A silver orb with spikes rolled on the ground. Saturn Girl's mouth hung open halfway before she quickly snapped herself around to look at her fellow teammates.
"Everyone get back!" Saturn Girl yelled at the top of her lungs.
The orb burst open to release a cloud of gas. Superman found it very hard to see through the cloud of gas with his X-Ray vision. The vision blurred over the more Superman tried to back off. The Man of Steel shielded his eyes just in time for a large glowing ax to swing out of nowhere.
The Persuader came an inch away from nailing Superman. The Man of Steel came face to face with one of the dangerous enemies the Legion warned him about. One of the Fatal Five rushed towards Superman while swinging that huge ax.
Superman avoided the ax from coming down on the back of his head. He blocked another shot with the ax and pushed back his enemy. Superman pounded his enemy with multiple punches which brought him back down onto the ground.
A projection of white-hot light came off to take Lightning Lass off guard. Phantom Girl turned around just in time to come across Flare who popped into the position.
"Hey, little girl!" Flare jeered. "Afraid of the heat."
She generated a huge amount of heat around her which made Phantom Girl step back a couple of feet in sheer agony. So much heat came at her as fast and furious as one would expect. Phantom Girl stepped back just in time to appear into perfect position to nail her enemy.
Saturn Girl moved on in for the attack only to come face to face with Tharok of the Fatal Five. The metallic, enhanced criminal moved towards her with a smile.
"I wonder what the Legion would do without their fearless leader," Tharok said.
"They'll survive," Saturn Girl said. "the Legion is more than one person. Unlike the Fatal Five who would struggle without the Emerald Empress telling them what to do every step of the way."
This particular statement did not endear Saturn Girl to the member of the Fatal Five. He unleashed a wave of energy. Saturn Girl blocked said wave of energy with her mind. The energy came very close to digging into her head and weaponizing all of her thoughts. Saturn Girl refused to be broken so easily.
Tharok bombarded Saturn Girl with multiple attacks to almost put her down on the ground. The Legion of Superheroes representative dropped to the ground and took a deep breath before returning to a standing position. She would have to keep fighting no matter what the cost. Saturn Girl would not go down that easily, no matter what.
Caress jumped into the battle right in front of Supergirl.
"Girl of Steel!" Caress said. "I'm not impressed with you."
She excreted some kind of acidic substance from her body which forced Supergirl back a little bit. The battle between the Persuader and Superman continued off to the side.
"Well, I'm not impressed by the Fatal Five either," Supergirl said.
She drove down to the top of the head of the woman in question. Caress caught the foot and flipped Supergirl down. Supergirl flipped over onto the ground just in time. A sound of a rushing figure out of the corner of her eye caught Supergirl off guard. The Persuader flung his ax down onto the ground from the other side.
"Switch?" Supergirl asked.
Both Kryptonian cousins responded with a nod before blasting forward against their adversaries. They both connected with their enemies. Superman took Caress down onto the ground. The acid trail burned Superman for an instant before his body had been healed.
"Come on!" Supergirl yelled to the Persuader.
The Persuader took his huge ax above his head and obliterated the side of the building with Supergirl coming out of the way. Several cars exploded with Supergirl flying backward to avoid the attacks of her very deadly enemy. The Girl of Steel hovered in mid-air for a second before waiting for her enemy to rush on through.
Several more explosions in mid-air made Supergirl stand up on edge. Her deadly enemy moved closer towards her and made one more frantic push at her. Supergirl put the ax in her hand and then kicked him off to the ground. The Girl of Steel flew around the man in bright and rapid-fire circles all the while punching at her enemy. Said enemy kept swinging his fists at her to try and nail Supergirl. The Girl of Steel flipped up off of the ground and drove her feet into the back of her enemy's head to drop him down to one knee.
A green energy bubble engulfed Supergirl. The eyes of the Girl of Steel widened. She frantically slammed against the bubble. The energy surrounding her refused to bend at this point. It only made it very difficult for Supergirl to get out no matter how hard she tried to pound out from the energy bubble. She scratched and clawed all the way as frustration just rose.
Saturn Girl found herself in an energy bubble next. Phantom Girl and Lightning Lass joined their leader. Flare smiled when observing the struggling members of the Legion in their perfect position. They were captured and unable to break free no matter how hard they struggled.
Superman flew high into the sky. Something engulfed him just a second later. Caress smiled when putting her hand on the edge of the bubble. Her smile mocked Superman.
"Well, we might have to keep you at the very least as a trophy," Caress said. "It would really kill the morale of the rest of the Legion brats."
They waited for any kind of news to finish them off. Something else appeared across from the sky.
"What's that?" Caress demanded.
Superman curled up into a very evident smile. He looked extremely amused by how upset the Fatal Five had become during this time.
"It's backup," Superman informed them.
"Hardly," Caress said. "You're not going to get out of here this easy."
The orbs transported one at a time and disappeared into a blink of an eye. They disappeared just in time to see Power Girl come around the corner. There was no Legion, no Supergirl, and Superman. The Fatal Five were still there and Power Girl blasted as fast as possible to her enemies. She would not let them get away.
Tharok opened up a portal and the deadly enemies of the Legion disappeared through the portal. Karen caught the energy trail being left behind by them even though they could not access the portal themselves.
'That should be more than enough for Indigo to decode.'
Daisy Johnson tried not to let her frustration get the better of her. She found looking over this mysterious alien orb to the future to be an exercise in frustration.
For the next couple of minutes, Alex looked over at her and looked like she was trying to struggle what to say. Daisy turned her attention to Alex a couple of seconds later with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, do you have anything to say?" Daisy asked her.
Alex brought out into a half of a smile and a half of a grimace. "Really depends, to be honest. Is whatever I'm going to say going to get me into any trouble?"
Daisy frowned. She was not really that bad when she was hacking, was she? Okay, Daisy could be a little frustration and try to interface with thirty-first technology was harder than she thought. And Daisy did not even think it would be easy, but she did enjoy the challenge involved. Daisy's fingers brushed her hair a few seconds.
"It's far into the future," Alex said. "But, it must have been based on something further back."
"If you would accept my assistance, then I would be only too happy to help," Indigo piped in over the computer system. "Because I feel the orb is the key to what I'm looking forward."
As much as Daisy's pride got stung, accepting help was one of the best things she could do going forward. Daisy tilted back in the chair and took a look at her progress notes which amounted to pretty much less than nothing. Daisy slumped herself in the chair and drew in a deep breath.
"Okay," Daisy said. "What do you got?"
"I'll know in approximately one minute," Indigo said. "Give me a chance to operating interface the technology."
A radio signal popped on and Power Girl came over it. Daisy knew from the sound of her breathing that it was not anything good at all.
"I'm tracking the Fatal Four," Power Girl said. "They've gotten away."
"Is Kara with the others still?" Alex asked.
Alex had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that something happened. She could not put her finger on what happened, although she just had one of those feelings. The sickening feeling only increased at Karen's hesitation.
"Well, I assume so," Karen said. "I arrived just in time to see Supergirl, Superman, and the Legion being transported in orbs by the Fatal Five. And they opened a portal and escaped before I could get to them."
Alex remained depressingly calm despite the situation. It would not do them any good for Alex to get upset and to enter a state of rage.
"How are you coming along on tracking them?" Alex asked after regaining her composure.
Her voice shook a little bit. Carol, who did not say anything for a second, activated the earpiece.
"Karen?" Carol asked. "Tell me immediately where she is when you find it. I'll be with you…Alex stay here and protect Daisy."
Alex was not really happy about this particular situation. Daisy could tell Indigo was not as bad online as she would like. There were a few kinks to work out.
"I've found the trace," Indigo said. "Unfortunately, due to my programming only being partially repaired, I can't de-code how to open the portal. I can share one fact with you…it's in the Phantom Zone."
One hand to the face caused Alex to rub the side of her temples. This entire mess was just getting far worse for the moment. She did not really know how to react going forward, only with very solid groans. Alex rubbed her temple a little bit more and grimaced.
"I did track a similar signal to one of the orbs to a military base across town," Karen said.
"The Fatal Five is hiding underneath the military's nose?" Alex asked. "That's pretty brazen of the Five."
"And another obvious trap," Karen said. "They might be out to capture more heroes. Indigo, is there any way you can decode the portal?"
"Unfortunately, as I told you, all of my components would not be online and safe to be commissioned for several more weeks," Indigo said. "It is fortunate Alura had a very primitive version of myself on the ship and was able to roll me back to this point. Now she has to painstakingly code in everything else."
"I feel her pain," Daisy said.
They would have to work on finding a way to re-open that portal.
"Carol, I have an idea," Karen said. "Do you think you can meet me?"
"Yes," Carol said. "I'll be back."
Carol received the coordinates. Alex leaned back in the chair. She knew better than to disagree with Carol, at least outward. She had to police both Alex and Kara when they were younger when their mother was away at business conferences, and Carol had a pretty imposing presence.
'I'll give her about a couple of hours and find my way in,' Alex thought. 'So what do you say about opening up a portal to the Phantom Zone?'
'Under most circumstances, I wouldn't advise it,' the scarab warned her. 'But, considering you're not going to listen, it would be a waste of bio-energy.'
Perhaps the scarab disappearing about something should have been Alex's cue that she should really not go through with this very insane plan.
Superman awakened within the orb. It was hard for him to get a sense of his surroundings. A large box laid out on a table in front of him.
"So, it's the Man of Steel."
A very attractive woman with green hair dressed in a tight green top and pants to match stepped over. A glowing eyeball like apparatus flew next to her. The woman would have been even more attractive had it not been for the constant look of distaste she exhibited towards Superman when looking him over.
"I expected you to be much taller, to be honest," The Emerald Empress said when looking over at her enemy. "So, when you die tonight, then the Legion of Super-Heroes will never come to be."
"I'm still here," Superman responded.
"For the moment," The Emerald Empress said. "My benefactor has not given me the go-ahead to finish you off. The moment that he says so, then you'll be finished."
Saturn Girl woke up in the pod next to her. Emerald Empress was more power hungry for revenge after the last time the Legion fought her.
"Benefactor?" Saturn Girl asked.
"Yes, our Benefactor has given us the means to take over whatever time period we choose," Emerald Empress said with a malicious grin spreading from ear to ear. "We can achieve our dreams seamlessly in the 31st century as we can in this primitive past."
A sense something bad was happening spread through Imra's body. "Whomever you're working for, they're not worth it."
The insidious laugh came from the Emerald Empress. She put a hand on the side of the cage and broke out into a very evident smile. "Oh, I completely disagree. And this proves it."
The box finally cracked open and a glowing motherboard with three dots forming in an upside down triangle appeared before them. The Emerald Empress smiled when looking at it.
"It's time for me to locate Brainiac Prime and his legendary mothership. And the knowledge which has been lost for the centuries will be mine."
Emerald Empress's eye widened when staring down at her captive prisoners. The other three stirred awake.
"Good, I want you awake for your end."
Chapter Ninety-Nine: Fatal Five Part Two
Astra joined the girls with the frown coming across her face as she did. Daisy and Alex were busy tracking the movements, while Karen and Carol were on the move. Astra stood with Carol and Karen given how Astra wanted a more hands-off approach.
"Are you getting any closer on your end?" Astra asked a few seconds later.
"No," Alex said. "It's a slow process to reconstruct a portal to the Phantom Zone."
Astra could only imagine. Actually, she felt the need to correct the other girl. "It's a slow process to safely construct a portal to the Phantom Zone. Creating one is not that big of a deal. It's creating one without running the risk of something following you through that's the big issue."
"So, the scarab told me," Alex answered. "I think we have everything nearly aligned."
"We're going to have to head straight through the portal for your location," Astra said. "Just one second."
Astra zipped off. She returned with Daisy, Alex, and the equipment they needed to activate the portal. Both girls staggered rather shell-shocked. Daisy drew in a very evident breath to show how frustrated she was about the entire situation. He gaze fell on Astra with evident agitation in her eyes.
"I told you I would be here in just a second," Astra said.
Words failed Daisy Johnson for this moment. The entire group was here including several impressive pieces of DEO equipment. Daisy held the computer and the orb up. The energy which Indigo traced from the orb had been emitting some kind of pulse through the air. Daisy could only begin to guess how to signify it is.
"So, are we ready to go?" Carol asked.
One could tell that Carol was trying not to be too angry with this entire situation. The expression in her eyes showed a woman who was very agitated though about her sister being captured. Karen put a hand on hers and then turned to Astra. Astra inclined her head to tell them yes, they were ready.
"I'm ready to go as well," Alex said. Carol opened her mouth. "It's going to take a lot less time to let me go then argue that I can't go."
Carol looked at her sister and had been very impressed by her sound logic. It was the type of argument Carol might have made against a superior officer who told her to stay behind.
"I'm impressed," Astra said. "I hope that your scarab will be enough to give us the protection to navigate through the Phantom Zone."
The Phantom Zone did not do kindly to physical powers. Astra and Karen, while not helpless, would not have a full usage of their powers while being in the Phantom Zone. Carol, Astra did not know, but she would assume the same. Not helpless, but not able to work to her full potential.
"Do you think it will really come down to me?" Alex asked.
"I'm just saying you should be prepared," Astra said. "The scarab will be useful. It makes me glad that I didn't kill both of you."
'Doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?' Alex asked her other.
'It gives me tingles,' the scarab thought in the most sardonic manner possible.
"Alright," Daisy said. "I'm now interfacing the technology with the purpose. Chloe, are you there and ready on your end?"
"I'm ready, as is Lara and Alura," Chloe said. "One of you is going to have to stay behind and make sure that the portal gets re-opened on our end. The last thing we need is the portal collapsing or even worse."
"The portal collapsing is the least of our worries right now," Astra said.
Daisy always thought that Astra looked on the sunny side of life for most things. The computer hacker made a decision though because she had apparently been volunteered. "I'll stay behind and help man things from this end. You're going to have to go into the Phantom Zone and….well, retrieve them."
"We'll get them back," Alex said. "We're going to get them all back. We'll stop the Fatal Five."
'They're going to pay,' the scarab added, very pleased to hear Alex's thoughts reflected against her own.
The three of them moved their way to the portal. Daisy watched them retreat. One could see the evidence of nerves crossing over the face of the computer hacker when watching her friends leave. Daisy threw her head back and had only one thing to say.
"Good luck," Daisy murmured underneath her breath.
Something told Daisy they were going to need it if they hoped to survive what was going to come down the pike. Daisy brushed strands of hair away from her face and waited, potentially a bit impatiently to see what was going to happen. She kept Chloe at an ear's reach in case anything was needed.
X-X-X
Emerald Empress encircled the table with the piece of one of the most beloved pieces of technology throughout all of history. She had them in her grasp. All of the secrets in the universe were very close to being grabbed. Emerald Empress stared at the design with great.
"You know you're playing with fire, don't you?"
Supergirl's voice came out in the instance. Emerald Empress looked at the girl. She was quite a lot younger than the one who plagued the Fatal Five in the distant future. While she was not as big of a nuisance as Superman, it was not to discount her ability to cause frustration to anyone she fought.
"You don't know what you're talking about, little girl," Emerald Empress said. "To us, you're little more than children."
The rest of the Fatal Five stood behind her. Supergirl, still contained in the pod, was able to muster one of the more defiant stares possible. Her arm cracked against the side of the wall.
"I'm a little girl who knows the damage Brainiac has caused. And how using any part of him is going to give you problems. You have to listen to me."
Those words fell on deaf ears. The Emerald Empress had been already blinded by power and she was not going to stop at anything. She turned to Tharok with a smile on her face.
"Make sure to get the transmitter prepared."
Tharok answered with a very swift nod as they prepared the transmitter. They were going to try and make contact with the original Brainiac Mothership. Kara's eyes widened. She turned to Imra who had her shoulders slumped. One could see the growing frustration in the face of the team leader of the Legion of Superheroes.
"Hopeless," Imra stated. "There's no way they're going to listen. And there's no way out."
Imra saw that even if they did find a way to break out of these containment cells, they would have to fight a Fatal Five which had been augmented by technology even further in the future. Their powers were completely useless in the Phantom Zone as well.
It was just a bad idea all around.
Clark took a moment to analyze the restraints around him. He could not get out by conventional means which meant by tearing his way through the restraints. Clark thought of things in a more cerebral away. Everything, no matter how sophisticated, have a weakness.
Tharok's voice sounded on edge as it cut through Clark's thought process. "This takes times, do not rush perfection."
Emerald Empress tapped her finger on the edge of the desk. She was not necessary rushing perfection. She just wanted this done and done soon so they could have the power the benefactor promised them. The other members of the Fatal Five all smiled at the Emerald Empress and her very irritated expression.
"Make sure to hook it up to the transmitter so we can broadcast the signal," Emerald Empress said. "And once we lock onto it, we'll open a portal and we'll be able to take control of Brainiac's mothership."
They ignored the sound of a groan coming from Kara's direction. Future technology or not, they had no idea what kind of fire they were playing with. And something told Kara, they did not care all that much about playing with any fire. Her thoughts entered an extremely frantic process.
Kara's eyes widened a few seconds later when she heard a spark. At least it would take them a few minutes to get the technology aligned properly for it to work as it should.
'Yeah, let's just give humanity a few more minutes before it gets completely doomed,' Kara thought to herself.
She did not mean to sound so sarcastic, it was just the way it came out. Constantly, Kara looked around and she tried to figure out a way out of here. No matter what, Kara could not figure a way out of here.
Out of the corner of Kara's eye, Clark's fidgeting and moving became more obvious. Seconds passed before Kara figured out what was about ready to happen.
"You've found a way out?" Kara whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"I'm working on it," Clark said. "There's an instability in the pods. When I figure out how to exploit it, we're getting out of here. We might have to work together, and I know for a fact I'm going to need your help."
"Anytime."
Imra, Tinya, and Ayla all looked on just the same as well. They were in a position where it would be difficult for just one of them to break out on their own. They were going to have to work together to find a way to escape from these cells in time.
The alarm started to blare from the other end of the corridor. The three members of the Legion of Superheroes all looked up. The Fatal Five disappeared in the hallway.
"Someone's coming," Clark said.
Of course, it was very hard to tell whether or not it was good, or bad. Still, it was a distraction, and it allowed Clark, Kara, and the Legion to continue to find their way out of the cells holding them into place.
X-X-X
Astra In-Ze never wanted to be back into the Phantom Zone after spending an extreme amount of time inside before she escaped when Clark, Karen, and Raya did. She had been surrounded by people put here by her own hand and Alura's. They were the two biggest contributors to fugitives. Then, the Council turned around on her, on Zod's word, and sent Astra to the Phantom Zone. After she fought all of those battles and brought peace to Krypton, it was a very bitter pill for her to swallow.
"Let's keep going," Astra said.
It struck Astra as very odd they did not encounter any Phantoms as they went deeper into the Phantom Zone. She stopped short of a large tower which looked brand new. It was not the more simplistic looking technology in the prison.
"What's that?" Carol asked.
Alex held up her hand and performed a scan. The scarab told her pretty much everything she needed to know in a blink of an eye. "It's a field around the prison. It's keeping the Phantoms at bay."
"I wondered why we were not swarmed the minute we entered the Zoe," Karen said. "I guess the Fatal Five needed something to protect themselves as well."
Astra looked over her shoulder. She could hear the Phantoms outside of the field. They swarmed around and they were not too happy with the invisible wall which struck them. The quartet of women moved closer to the edge of the prison.
"This place was built too well," Astra said. "I know because I helped build it."
A crushed skull fragment on the ground told the story of how well this prison panned out for the people involved. The tension continued to rise the further the group made their way into the Phantom Zone.
"The moment everyone goes outside of the field's reach, we're beyond dead," Astra said. "So, we should stick close and…."
Astra could hear a very familiar sound. It was just as she feared. They made some modifications to the prison since the last time Astra laid eyes upon it. Foreknowledge would not help her here. Carol, Karen, and Alex stood a few feet behind her.
"Come out and fight me properly."
"The Fabled General Astra of Krypton? I'm a fan of your work. It's a pity you've gone soft."
The Emerald Empress turned up with the rest of the members of the Fatal Five. Astra sized up her enemy and the two of them went eye to eye with each other. Neither backed down from the other as moments passed.
"Are you sure I've gone completely soft?"
The other members of the Fatal Five in Tharok, Persuader, Flare, and Caress moved behind her. It was a battle of five against four. Astra withdrew a blade from her costume. She motioned for the Emerald Empress. Caress closed her eyes and sent a jet of acid to her enemies.
"Oh, come on!" Karen yelled. "They have no problems using their powers here? That's a whole lot of bullshit if there ever was one?"
Flare rushed towards them. Carol grabbed her by the arm and she kicked up into the air. The two of them circled around in the air until Carol planted down onto the ground. Carol got up just in time to see Flare blast her with fireballs. Carol's durability made her survive an onslaught a little bit longer than anyone else would. She drew a breath and looked at her adversary as she continued to attack her.
Alex went to full armor just in time to face the Persuader. The Persuader's large ax extended by another three feet and sent a blast of light towards Alex. Two brutal swings slammed against the ground of the Phantom Zone. The scarab locked onto the enemy and kept firing.
A bombardment of shots caught the enemy and backed it off a few feet. Alex raised her hand and fired another blast at him. The Persuader stepped back.
"Oh, an actual Reach Scarab!" Tharok yelled. "I've always wanted one."
The Emerald Empress used a stun blast to send Astra to her knees. It felt amazing to send one of the greatest Generals in the universe crashing down to her knees.
"Peal it off of her body, and it's yours."
The Persuader tried to split Alex down the center with his ax. The armor reinforced and several miniature rocks popped off. The rockets fired at the Persuader and rocked him to a single knee. Alex threw her head back and sent more rockets at her enemy to rock him down to the ground.
'He's not going to go down that easily,' the scarab commented.
Alex was going to offer out a very sarcastic response of no kidding. The scarab charged up and blasted her. A sound of something coming from the prison caught the attention of the fighters.
Superman, Supergirl, and the Legion stepped outside. They did not have any powers. Caress charged Superman. Superman caught Caress's arm and hurled her down to the ground with a Judo Throw takedown. Superman let go of the arm and Caress pushed up once again.
"Good, you're learning," Astra said.
Emerald Empress wiped the blood from her lips when rising to a standing position. She was angry out how her prisoners found a way of an escape.
"Protocol five!" she yelled.
Emerald Empress and the rest of her subordinates pressed wristbands on. The energy fields surrounded them and made them invisible to Phantoms.
The tower shorted out above them. Astra could have sworn, and she knew some colorful vocabulary during all of the alien languages she knew.
X-X-X
J'onn stepped into the scene with several of the DEO agents. The moment Daisy locked into place, it was his responsibility to send some backup for her. And he thought that given what lurked in the Phantom Zone, there would be no better back up than him.
"So far, there's nothing since they went into the Phantom Zone," Daisy said. "I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not all things considered. I really don't really know."
Daisy brushed a lock of hair away from her face. There was a lot of unanswered questions regarding the nature of the orb. The orb was her connection to the Fatal Five and it opened up the portal.
"You should just stand by," J'onn said. "Ms. Sullivan, are you standing by?"
"Yeah," Chloe chimed in. "I don't know what's happened. It's almost like it's gone way too quiet. I'm not sure if it's a bad thing or not….wait…what?"
J'onn could hear Chloe grow completely silent. He did not like the sudden silence coming in. J'onn persisted when he did not hear from Chloe for two full minutes.
"Ms. Sullivan, are you still there?"
J'onn's voice was even, although there were a few instances where concern dripped through his voice when he spoke. Chloe broke on in through the broadcast.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," Chloe said a half of a second later. "There's something going on….I'm going to patch in Raya, she'll be able to tell her."
Raya came onto the communication link. "There's an interdimensional instability growing. It may interfere with the portal."
A bright light emitted from a warp and then shot past their heads. Daisy followed the progress of said light as it flashed through the sky. It kept going further and further until it hit a certain point. She had no idea where that light went. Daisy just stood flummoxed when the light passed through the portal and disappeared into some undetermined point in the vast reaches of space.
One thing Daisy could see was the orb. She had been bombarded off of the chair with a loud sonic blast. The other DEO agents moved back and the orb itself flashed several colors.
J'onn grasped the orb. The orb backlashed and sent J'onn flying back a couple of feet to land on the ground. The Martian pulled himself up.
"I think it's fried."
The very nonchalant statement made J'onn raise his eyebrow. Daisy just responded with a shrug. She called them how she saw them and how she saw it right now was one fried orb laying at her feet. Daisy's gaze fell upon the orb when staring it down.
"I think you're unfortunately right, Agent Johnson."
Daisy was afraid of that. The orb being fried meant it was beyond difficult to track everyone. Daisy just hoped they were going to able to hold the portal open somehow on the other end. Or she was going to be able to repair this orb somehow, someway.
Given she could barely get it working, to begin with, Daisy did not fancy her chances.
X-X-X
The group found their way inside of the prison. There was no question about it, they were up with their backs against the wall.
"So, how long do you think we're going to be able to hold up in the prison?" Karen asked Astra.
"Well, if they didn't tamper with security, a long time," Astra said. "This prison was built to hold prisoners who did not get stripped of their bodies before getting sent to the Phantom Zone. They would not have lasted."
Astra wondered the Council's reason for wanting a prison like this. If she had to guess, now with the benefit of hindsight, it would be to house political prisoners who decided that it was not in their best interests to toe the line that the Council had set up. Astra could not prove it, but she proved it.
"And now it will only be a matter of minutes," Imra said. "Unless we can find a way to get the tower back online and repel the Phantoms."
"We don't have much time," Clark said. "I hate to be pessimistic…."
"No," Astra interjected while holding up a hand. "You're adopting a realistic approach to the situation and not a moment too soon."
Clark did not really know whether to take that as a compliment or not. Her fingers brushed over her head. The group moved in to see if they could salvage anything. Alex tried to activate her suit.
"I'm not getting a signal to the outside," Alex said. "And that Motherboard…it's making a strange noise."
"I don't suppose that we could disconnect it," Carol said.
A frantic shake of Kara's head answered that question before too long. "I wouldn't even try to do that. Trust me, it will not end well at all."
The signal had been sent, she was for certain of that. Whether or not they would be able to get out of the Phantom Zone with the signal, that was another thing entirely. Kara bit down on her lip and took a couple of deep breaths. She turned her head around a couple of times.
"I could help you."
Karen turned around as did Imra. A weedy looking man rested in the cell.
"You," Imra said. "It's you. You're….."
"Yes, I stole the technology," the thief said. "I thought it was valuable. I had no idea it was a component to the universe's greatest destroyers, especially at the height of his strength. I don't know what you ended up doing to cripple him so much, Superman."
'I don't know either,' Superman thought to himself.
"Problem," Tinya said. "I think the piece when transmitting has found a way to phone home."
No matter what anyone had to say, that did not sound good at all.
"I can tell you how to repair the shield," the thief said. "And I can tell you how the Fatal Five is exiting from the Phantom Zone."
"You want something," Astra said.
"Only my freedom," the time thief said.
Clark took a few seconds to consider the positives and negatives of this. He deactivated the lock on the cell. The time thief moved out and gave a smile towards him. It was a smile which Clark did not particularly feel completely comfortable with, but never the less it was there.
"Thank you, Superman," the time thief said with gratitude. "You're a true hero."
"Doublecross us and you'll wish you hadn't," Astra said.
The time thief nodded. He did not wish to agitate this woman. Astra terrified him beyond all belief. The Legion did not look too happy either, but they understood that you had to release a smaller fish to catch the bigger ones.
Chapter One Hundred: Fatal Five Part Three
Lara set back in the Fortress. She enjoyed a challenge as much as the next person. And this challenge would be one of the more absurd ones to get around if she had been perfectly honest. She had been in contact with Daisy and along with Chloe, they had been establishing a link to the orb the DEO had created.
No technology had been beyond repair, at least Lara thought. Something happened though to knock this one offline. The Fortress went dead for only about thirty to forty-five seconds. Lara pressed herself against the console and kept working the best she could to accomplish her goals. Lara knew they could reroute some of the backup power to get this portal orb jump-started.
"So, far, getting a message through to the Phantom Zone is a non-starter."
Lara figured as much. They had to try to get something on through the Phantom Zone. Lara tried to follow the transmission from the Phantom Zone. She got a general starting point. The transmission shot out of one portal and opened up another wormhole in space to keep going out. Lara struggled to find out the exact location of the wormhole. Her mind went a million miles a minute with thoughts of what could have happened.
It was not hopeless, Lara refused anything could be hopeless. She did not want to face any kind of depressing reality things could be hopeless. Lara ran through everything in her mind one more time.
'Let's see. I can reroute some of the backup power to boost the signal. It might work. I'm going to have to temporarily weaken the barriers between Earth and the Phantom Zone to pull it off. It's not something I particularly enjoy doing at any rate, given the potential problem areas inside of the Phantom Zone. Given my son's in there, there are not that many options.'
Lara broke free from her stoic demeanor. Raya put a hand on Lara's shoulder to steer her back to some kind of steady conversation. She grabbed Lara and pulled her away.
"You've been working on this for hours. Why don't I take over and see what I can do to find Kal and the others? You can check in with the DEO and see what they're up to?"
Lara answered with a nod as Raya went to work. She moved to the other end of the Fortress and sank down. She only sank down on the chair. The only solace Lara felt was Astra was there and Astra knew her way around the Phantom Zone about as well as anyone else. Lara's thoughts turned to that and she came back with a very evident sigh.
'They will be fine. They have to be fine.'
The communication to the DEO switched up and Lara leaned back in the chair.
"So, is there any luck?" Lara asked Daisy.
One could hear the frustrated sight coming from Daisy Johnson. "Well, I think we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is there's nothing that came from the Phantom Zone whenever that little warp came through. I mean, nothing other than a radio signal which could be dangerous in its own right."
Lara answered this statement with a very evident nod. She could tell that Daisy was struggling to get the next few words out.
"The bad news is, I'm not sure if there's any way to retrieve our friends. The orb was our connection to them and it's just not reacting. I couldn't even access it with Earth technology when it's active.'
"And now when it's inactive, you're having even further problems," Lara stated. "I figured about as much. Give me a moment to figure out what I can do next."
Lara did not really know what do to and that was going to be a big problem as far as she was concerned. She brought up the information they had found on the orb. Not very little, it was based on a power source further in the future and the original inspiration had been based.
She racked her mind as Raya kept tracing the signal on the other end. Maybe if they could find the exact point of how the portal had been knocked offline, they could keep on going. Lara had been very skeptical though of this entire mess. She bit down her lip and blew a strand of hair away from her face.
"I have an idea, but it's insane."
Daisy took a second to laugh. "Hey, given that all of the good, sane ideas aren't getting us very far, let's hear what the insane one amounts to."
"I can reroute some of the backup power from the Fortress to the orb and try and give it a jumpstart," Lara said. "If anything can fix the orb, it's the Fortress."
A long pause followed from the other end of the call. Lara could almost hear the gears grinding in Daisy's head as she weighed the plusses and minuses of the scenario. Lara admitted it sounded completely absurd from her end, but given the alternative, they had no real choice to work with.
"Yeah, I can see how that would work," Daisy said. "So, suppose hypothetically it works? How much time do you think we have before we find anyone from the Phantom Zone?"
Lara already had been performing the calculations before Daisy had jumped onto the call.
"I would have to say we have a good five to ten minutes before the portal closes, power or not. That's at the most charitable explanations. It would help if we find what knocked it out in the first place, but no such luck."
"Yeah, no such luck," Daisy said. "By now, I should be used to working on the clock."
Astra and Alex worked side by side to get the shields back online. Desperate situations made for some pretty strange bedfellows. Alex bit down on her lip.
The time thief paced back and forth. The Legion kept a close eye on him. He did not know why they did not trust them to be honest. Did they not know that they were the only ones who could protect him in a situation like this? The time thief circled around.
'The Fatal Five would kill me. The Phantoms would kill me. They're the only ones who can protect me. They are the only ones who have a chance of saving me.'
The time thief circled around the corner and drew in a very deep breath. He almost sank down on the chair and avoided the looks from the Legion.
"None of this would have happened if you had not stolen that piece of equipment," Saturn Girl said. "I must ask you one more time, what did you hope to accomplish by doing that?"
The time thief entered complete defensive mode. "I had no idea it was a piece of Brainiac! Had I know that I would not have obviously stolen it!"
One could cut the tension with the knife. Clark continued to peer across the way at the time thief. The Legion distrusted him. Clark really did not wish to make the deal with someone who had brought that much danger to the world. However, he had really no other options.
He turned his attention to Kara and Karen, who were working on the portable shields. A look of triumph spread over Karen's face when she caused the shield to flicker to life. She almost could have danced. Karen threw her arms across the way and pulled Kara into a very powerful hug. Kara grinned the second her cousin pulled away from her.
"Oh, I like how we've accomplished something," Kara said with a very evident grin pressing over her face. "The question is can we get any more?"
Alex backed away from the main shield around the prison. Astra turned it on and it rose around the prison. The Phantoms stopped pounding on the edge of the prison and retreated like they were vampires having been scorched by the sun. Astra watched them leave outside of the window, her smile growing even wider.
"We know this works," Astra said. "I'm glad. "
"We're all glad," Clark said. "We just need to rig up some of the portable shields. And we can have him take us to the Fatal Five."
"They…they should have a portal," the time thief said. "Maybe if you give me one of the shields, I can go there right now. You know, make sure it's all safe?"
The time thief reached for the shield. Astra shot out and grabbed the time thief by the wrist. The thief winced with Astra pulling his hand away from it. He looked like someone who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He answered with a very obvious shake of his head.
"Okay, you can't really blame a guy for trying, can you?"
"You're going to come with me," Astra said. "I'm going to wear the shield….or you can just sit in this prison and hope that the shields around it don't hold."
Sticking with Astra was the better of the two options. Neither of them was ideal, but this was the better of the two options, to be honest. Kara and Karen finished fixing the shields. There were only enough to half of them, so they had to go in pairs. Karen, Kara, and Clark took the shields, as did Astra. Carol took a shield as well.
Imra stood with Clark, Tinya with Kara, Alex with Carol, Ayla with Karen, and the time thief went with Astra. The group all moved out and were ready to go against the Fatal Five. Each of the partners grabbed onto the one holding the shield and the power from the shield enveloped two parties.
'It was lucky that we matched up so evenly,' Clark thought.
"Which way?" Astra demanded.
"To the North of here," the time thief answered in a very shaky voice.
Emerald Empress had been promised power and prestige beyond her wildest imagination. She got absolutely nothing in return and that frustrated her to no degree.
"I should have received access to Brainiac's mother ship," Emerald Empress said. "What went wrong?"
She held the motherboard in her hand. Tharok lifted his hand out to clutch the motherboard and look it over. A frown came over his face when studying it. Each second they spent here, was a second that they had been trapped in the Phantom Zone.
"It appears that something went wrong," Tharok said.
"I'm aware of that!" Emerald Empress snapped.
The other members of the Fatal Five gave her a wide berth. Even the normally stoic and unshakeable Persuader appeared to be less stoic and less shaken when the Emerald Empress paced around. She walked to the edge of the room.
A loud blast echoed from the distance. Emerald Empress stepped out of the doors of their Fortress. She came face to face with both Superman and Saturn Girl who stood on the outside.
"The game's over."
Emerald Empress laughed. The other members of the Legion showed up with Supergirl, Power Girl, and Captain Marvel following them. She raised her hand.
"You were able to repair the shields," Emerald Empress said. "I'm impressed. The Phantoms won't rip you apart, which is a shame. I'm going to have to do the job personally."
Saturn Girl let go of Superman's hand for a minute so she could properly focus. Emerald Empress rose up high and sent an energy blast to Saturn Girl. She put a shield over all of them to block the energy blast. The Emerald Empress did not come out too favorable in that encounter.
"Fine!" Emerald Empress yelled as she wiped the blood from her chin. "You want to play it that way?"
She motioned her hands. The rest of the Fatal Five popped into the battle. Tharok, Caress, Flare, and the Persuader all stepped in front of their adversary.
"Are you insane?" Flare asked. "You think we can beat ten of them?"
"Nine," Emerald Empress said. "We're going to destroy them all."
Flare threw herself into the battle with reckless abandon. It was very reckless to try and fight the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Blue Beetle, Superman, Supergirl, Power Girl, and Captain Marvel at the same time. Not to mention the fabled General Astra of Krypton.
"For the Fatal Five!" Flare yelled at the top of her lungs.
She blasted through the air. Supergirl came at Flare in the air. Both of them connected with each other in mid-air. Flare undercut Supergirl and nailed her with a very vicious undercut to the ribs. More uppercuts started to stun Supergirl. Supergirl caught her enemy by the arm and drove her down onto the ground. Flare howled in misery when the shoulder popped up against the ground.
Astra jumped back to dodge the swing of the Persuader's ax. She did not have any powers. Astra did not need them. She evaded two shots. The deadly game of ducking and dodging continued when the Persuader rushed towards Astra one more time.
Karen caught the Persuader's arm and caught him with a jaw-jacking uppercut punch to the face. She cracked her enemy in the mouth and dropped him down to a kneeling position. Karen stepped back and caught her enemy with a violent spear to take him down to the ground.
Caress stepped back and engaged the Blue Beetle in battle. Her teeth curled into a wicked grin. Caress motioned for the Blue Beetle to come for her.
"I'm going to peal that pretty little scarab off of your body!"
The Blue Beetle motioned for Caress to bring it in battle. The two of them engaged each other. Carol flipped Tharok over her head and he crashed down onto the ground. Tharok now dropped down onto the ground and pulled himself up for the attack.
Caress waved her arms and sent out a discharge of poison at her enemy. The Blue Beetle continuously dodged the vapor waves. Each of them inched closer to her. The Blue Beetle kept one step ahead.
'There's a flaw in her attack. Exploit it.'
Alex Danvers nodded and blocked the attack from the Fatal Five member. The two locked up and tried to attack each other. Alex flipped Caress down to the ground.
One of the glowing orbs appeared in Tharok's hand to entrap one of his enemies. Carol came from behind him and caught the orb before turning it back around in the blink of an eye. Tharok responded by howling and struggling to break out from the orb. He slammed repeatedly on the orb.
"See if you can get any more of those containment orbs," Carol told Kara.
Flare came up for round two against Supergirl. The Girl of Steel engaged her enemy in battle. Both of them fired kicks at each other. Sweat rolled down Kara's face when she tried to attack Flare. Flare's hand glowed red and she fired a blast at Kara.
The Persuader pulled himself up and rushed Astra. Astra avoided the ax from driving down across the back of her head. Astra reared back and caught her enemy with a very vicious uppercut punch to the chest. Another uppercut punch came to the chest of the Persuader. Astra dodged down and came back before hitting a pop up punch to drive her enemy down onto the ground.
Astra continued to find everything she had. She looked over her shoulder where Tharok flipped over onto the ground. An energy orb surrounded Tharok and caused the member of the Fatal Five to be captured.
'They have the right idea,' Astra thought.
The Persuader came up against Phantom Girl and Lightning Lass. Both of the girls lured the Persuader away from General Astra so she had plenty of room to work. Astra stepped back a couple of inches and grabbed one of the orbs off of the shelf. The orb opened up and trapped the Persuader down onto the ground.
Caress grabbed the Blue Beetle from behind. Alex struggled against the grip from the other side of the suit. No matter how hard the Persuader locked onto the suit, Alex had to get out of there, somehow and some way. Her breathing intensified and grew even more labored.
"No!" Alex yelled at the top of her lungs. "No! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Supergirl swept the legs of Caress out from underneath her. She turned towards Kara to try and blast her with acid. Carol came up from the other end. The three Danvers sisters circled around Caress.
"I'm going to enjoy seeing you all suffer…."
Saturn Girl lifted an orb off of the shelf and dropped it on the back of the head of Caress. She had turned to utter silence when being trapped into the orb. Caress slammed her hands against the edge of the orb and valiantly tried to break free. These had been built to trap Superman and the Fatal Five had no opportunity.
Emerald Empress rushed from the scene and made her way to the Phantom Zone portal. It was her ticket out of here. Superman moved in front of her. Emerald Empress picked up a blade from the wall and charged at Superman with it.
"You have no powers!" Emerald Empress yelled. "You have no hope!"
Superman switched his attacks up to keep Emerald Empress of a guard. Each punch frustrated the woman, even more, when she sent the blade careening to Superman's chest. Superman blocked the blade and came back with a huge punch which rattled his enemy. The Man of Steel flipped his adversary over onto the ground and then jumped up on top. Superman sent Emerald Empress crashing to the ground.
Saturn Girl levitated one of the containment orbs out. It ensnared Emerald Empress out.
"There's our way home," Superman said. "Get ready."
Astra moved in and activated the portal. She motioned everyone to get through. They each took a contained Fatal Four member when passing through the portal onto the other end.
The Fatal Five had been held in stasis in the ice crystals in the Fortress until the Legion of Super-Heroes could be taken back home. The time thief found himself inside of an ice cell as well.
"I can't believe that I'm imprisoned in the Fortress of Solitude!" the time thief yelled.
Saturn Girl's eyes shifted to him. "This is for your own good."
The time thief responded by shaking his head. "No, you don't understand. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't believe I actually get to see the Fortress of Solitude. I remember my grandfather telling me stories about it all of the time and everyone wondering what happened to it…but….Mr. Superman, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes?" Superman asked.
"Can I have your autograph?" the time thief asked before hastily adding. "It's for my daughter."
"We're going to have to halt the autograph session."
Astra appeared at the edge of the Fortress gate leading into the main chamber. One could see how serious this was by the very grim and unsettling look on the woman's face. Astra guided them into the central chamber. Clark, Karen, and Kara all lead the way.
Daisy sat with Alex and Carol in the Fortress of Solitude. They could see Raya, Alura, and Lara all looking on with very grim expressions on their faces.
"We found the signal to the transmission," Lara said. "It was sent to Brainiac."
"And not the Brainiac you had to deal with on Earth, either," Alura commented. "It's the original Brainiac, on the mothership. The Fatal Five just transmitted every piece of information that Brainiac needs to complete his goal of assimilating all the information of the universe and then wiping out all organic life."
"Emerald Empress claimed that they were searching for information on the First Earth," Astra said. "I talked her and she was very cooperative."
"I can imagine," Alura murmured underneath her breath.
"What's so special about First Earth anyway?" Daisy asked.
Kara decided to field this one. "Well, First Earth is where it all began. Someone causes a change on the First Earth, they could cause a ripple effect to reset everything in the entire multiverse."
"Or they can prevent humanity from ever rising from the first place," Superman said. "If humanity never rose to prominence and evolved, then I would not have been sent here."
"And you would have died with Krypton," Kara added. "We all would have died with Krypton.
Kal-El of Krypton peered out into the Fortress. There was a wide universe full of possibilities he had yet to explore. He came to one final conclusion.
"I'm going to have to find the Brainiac Mothership, no matter what the cost is," Clark said.
Clark had a mission now to find Brainiac. He sent his drones to Earth to try and take things over and to release Zod from the Phantom Zone. Now, the prime version of Brainiac, which was the worst and most powerful of them all threatened everything.
"We will," Karen said. "We all will."
"Together," Imra added.
Past, present, and future hung in the balance and they all had little time to waste. They would have to pool together everything and locate Brainiac. He would be well hidden. They would just need to be one step ahead of him.
A large metallic ship floated out in the furthest reach of space. Brainiac Prime awakened on the ship having received a transmission. Drone Twelve's mission in the not so distant future had been a success and Brainiac had the decision that he needed.
Several other drones appeared with crystal orbs containing the data of several planets. The drones infiltrated the planet, drained the information, and brought it back to Brainiac's huge storing house. It contained rows upon rows of tiny little glass orbs containing the data of dead planets.
The BrainInteractive Construct used the data to go to more worlds and collect more data. He discovered different worlds each with their own discoveries by pilfering these planets. The so-called Forbidden Zones were ripe with potential which Brainiac had to sniff out.
"Finally," Brainiac Prime droned. "I have the information that I need. Drone-Four's trip to Earth did not go as planned. But it does not matter for I have the information on Earth-Prime. I will be able to complete my programming and then, my directive will be complete. Organic life will cease. All redundant data will be eliminated."
Drone-Four failed to return and another drone Brainiac sent missed. BrainInteractive Construct Drone Number Eight failed to return to post.
"There has been a flaw in programming with the designated Number Eight drone of the BrainInteractive Construct," Brainiac said. "Some of the old Indigo code has not been purged."
The master computer blinked to life and ran through several different scenarios. The other drones lined up, about thirty of them in total. Only drone-four and drone-eight had been missing from the lineup.
"Locate and eliminate."
The final leg of his directive had been delivered. Only soon would Brainiac be able to find what he wanted. His mission to acquire data would be complete.
"Prepare to acquire the necessary power to open the warp drive. Accumulating data and searching for First Earth."