Chapter Forty: Legion Part One.

Chapter Forty: Legion Part One.

"You look like something that the cat dragged in?"

Lois said that to Harry and the green eyed wizard looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The dark haired reporter took a half of a step back and she decided to amend this statement. "And I'm not trying to be critical but…"

Chloe, who was there with her cousin, jumped in immediately. "Well, you know…..something happened and there was this rumors….you know about the Sentinels, about the super villains, about….the Juggernaut and about giant flaming skeletons coming to life on the Vegas strip and mass chaos and….."

"Chloe, Chloe, slow down," Iris stated as she showed up and she sat down next to Harry.

'Slow down, that's really the last thing that you need to be talking about,' Harry thought to her and Iris raised her eyebrow but she shrugged and smiled.

'I can slow down where it counts, as you know,' Iris commented to Harry as she placed an arm around him and pulled him in, which caused some eye raisings from Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane respectively. Iris and Harry took a few moments to take in the completely gobsmacked faces on the girls face and naturally it was Lois who found her tongue first with the most biting statement that she could manage and it was purely Lois Lane for sure.

"What the fuck….when….how….why?" she stammered and Iris and Harry exchanged grins as they saw the priceless expression on Lois's face. There was a sense that the wheels were turning in Lois's head, as only the wheels in Lois Lane's head could turn. Chloe joined in on their amusement, even though they were as baffled as she was. The two of them looked at each other and Lois finally found her voice and blurted out one thing. "EXPLAIN!"

"Yes, that would be interesting," Chloe commented as she smiled at the two, although it appeared that Harry had ensnared another willing female into his web. Exactly how and when, well that was something that Chloe hoped to find out. Her reporter instincts were tingling and she knew that there was something behind this. So she sat down on the other side of Harry, which allowed Lois to take the seat next to Harry. She looked shell shocked, completely confused, baffled, you name it, Lois Lane looked it.

Iris decided to have a bit fun with this situation. "Well….I think you want to know what happened on our….separate trips to Vegas that ended up turning out to us sticking together."

Harry put some privacy charms up around them, which Chloe and Lois noticed. This raised even more questions than it did to dispel them.

"So does she know…."

Iris jumped in so quickly that she nearly tripped over her words. "Yes I know about the secret….well about the secret secret, but I'm sure the two of you know about the big one, I have a secret myself but….I'm sure that the two of you will find out about that all too soon."

Lois frowned, it took her much longer to figure it out. Well it was because she was fooled by a stupid pair of glasses and then she was too stubborn to admit what she knew.

Chloe sensed her cousin's frustration and her amusement with said frustration was strong as she patted Lois on the head for a moment but she decided to turn her attention to both Iris and Harry.

"Oh where to begin, where to begin?" Harry asked and Chloe smiled at him as she watched him.

"You the beginning is as good of a place as any," Chloe commented, unable to help herself and Harry looked at her. She put her hands up in an innocent matter and her mouth hung open. Harry placed his arm around her and the blonde rested her head on his shoulder. "Seriously though Harry, I'm really interested to see where this is going to go."

"Yes, I'm interested as well," Lois commented, again her reporting instincts were tingling but she wanted to see what happened.

Harry enjoyed building up the anticipation in the minds of the females. He looked at both of them and Lois and Chloe shrugged at each other. It was Harry who decided to have the fun that was necessary and Iris was grinning at what he was trying to do to wind both of them up. She found it kind of arousing to be honest.

"Well it all started a couple of days ago when word reached the Stronghold of something, something potentially dangerous," Harry told both of the cousins and they nodded, anticipation shining through their eyes. "Zatanna….well we've been looking for some of the texts her father left behind because they are dangerous when left in the wrong hands."

"Yes, we recall," Lois stated, remembering the last time that magic entered the fray, it had not ended well for them all. In fact, that seemed to be the problem with magic. When crazy people tried to use it, crazy things happened.

"Zatanna and I went to Vegas to check out on the book, there was no hint that no one found out about it, although I was ready to call in for some back up in a moment's notice…..do you want me to tell them the full story?" Harry asked Iris and the redhead raised an eyebrow. "After all that happened, it's up to you."

"Really, tell them everything because I'm sure that both of them would put two and two together before too long, we're going to just help speed up the process," Iris stated as she leaned towards Harry and planted an encouraging kiss on his lips. That caused Harry's passions to spike as he ran his hand over the top of her head.

Lois and Chloe raised their eyebrows but they were sure that they were going to get the entire story in a moment and Harry cleared his throat. The two of them would prove to be very attentive listeners as Harry jumped into his tale.

"It's really important that we grab this book," Zatanna commented as she nervously bit down on her lip and Harry jumped down with her. "It should be around her somewhere…."

Zatanna was stressed out because the last time a book of her father's fell into someone's hands, well it was a hell of a fire to put out. The dark haired magical user felt a bit more at ease with Harry's arms wrapped around her.

"Why did it have to be Vegas?" she asked and Harry looked at her with a raised eyebrow before he gave her the most honest answer.

"Your guess is honestly as good as mine," Harry commented as he opened his hand and closed it as he tried to establish some kind of link based off of the type of magic that he remembered from the last time.

He turned around and saw a woman standing there and she was stunning. She had flowing red hair that blew in the desert breeze. She had deep blue eyes. She was dressed in a tight red blouse that strained against her rather firm breasts and also a purple jacket that slid onto her shoulders. She was wearing a purple skirt as well that went down to her knees and showed stocking clad legs.

"Iris fancy seeing you in Vegas," Harry told her and Iris West turned around, with a smile on her face.

"Harry, it's really good see you but….what are you doing here in Vegas?" Iris wondered as she watched him and Harry raised an eyebrow before he looked at her.

"I could ask you the same thing, Miss West," Harry told her and Iris looked back at Harry, a grin crossing her face.

"Well you see….I was sent her on an assignment because a lot of shady characters have been showing up lately," Iris stated and Harry was intrigued.

"What do you mean shady characters?" Harry asked her, although he had a pretty good idea what she meant and he had an even better idea how much he was not going to like it. There was a second where the emerald eyed wizard watched her and she spun on her heel for a moment as she locked eyes on him.

"Some of New York's most armed and dangerous have hit the town and I doubt it's to gamble," Iris whispered to him. "Whiplash, the Living Laser, and Paste Pot Pete at the very least."

"Well there's a regular who's who," Harry commented, maybe Tony's rogue gallery was having an "I Hate Iron Man" convention.

"There's more but those are the names that keep popping up," Iris stated as she looked at Zatanna and Harry caught the questioning look in her eyes.

"Oh, Iris, this is Zatanna Zatara, Zatanna, this is Iris," Harry told the girls and they looked at each other with Iris reaching forward and shaking her hand. "I'm helping her look for….a family heirloom that belonged to her father."

Perhaps it was just the fact she was a reporter but Iris thought that there was something more about this family heirloom that met the eye at first. The redhaired reporter did not really want to jump to any conclusions for obvious reasons but that was just the thing that she was thinking about. Never the less, her heart was drumming against her chest faster than it was before and Harry looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I hope that you find it because all of the super villains that are here…."

"I know Iris," Harry told her with a grin on his face and the redhead nodded, her head looking like an overgrown bobblehead which was pretty comical all things considered. "But….you know I'll be careful."

"Yeah, yeah, right," Iris stated calming down. Ever since the incident, she had spoken faster than she intended to so she had to reign herself in and slow down although Harry looked kind of amused by what she was saying, so she was just going to let it go. "I'm just….well it's hard for me…..well it's hard for me to think straight but you know that there will be someone, anyone out there who would want to make a name for yourself."

Harry wondered if Iris had put two and two together. She was bound to figure it out but he decided to play coy for now. "So, what are you talking about?"

"Well you're a rather public figure, with millions of dollars…."

"Billions of dollars, millionaire was last year," Harry corrected her and Iris nodded her head up and down as she waved her hands around to the point where it really amused Zatanna and it did so to Harry as well.

"Right, right, my mistake, my mistake," Iris commented in her usual hyperactive manner. She was nodding her head up and down and Harry would normally be a bit more amused about this than he was. However, he had to focus.

"So these unsavory people are here in Vegas, I wonder why," Harry stated.

"Well I've seen….Lex Luthor was in town, you know how Lois mentioned that he was making all of those calls," Iris stated and Harry nodded. The younger Luthor was taking his unfortunate baldness a bit too hard for Harry's liking. In fact, one could say that he was pretty damn bitter about the entire thing which was a shame.

"We need to find the book before anyone else does," Zatanna stated and Harry offered her a smile. There was something about his smile that offered a great deal of reassurance to her.

"We'll see what I can do, Zee," Harry offered her as he placed his arm in hers and she took it, surprised at his forward motion, but not disappointed at all.

Where would they begin?

Well one could expect that the beginning would be the perfect place to begin but that might be just a shot in the dark to end all shots in the dark.

"I hope this meeting ends soon, I want to get to the "I Hate Tony Stark" convention at six," the Living Laser stated as he leaned back in the chair. There were a few more people there, the Parasite, who had tangled with the Star Child at least once before. The Trapster, who should not be called Paste Pot Pete, under any circumstances was there.

A swamp zombie by the name of Solomon Grundy stood there. He had been raised by a LuthorCorp expedition recently but the Luthors had convinced him not to go on a rampage. He was still someone who was willing to go the distance to get done what needed to be done. In another life, he was a crime boss and one of the fiercest members of the criminal underworld. His eyes blazed forward as he gave a feral grunt.

"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday," he growled as he looked at them.

"Yes, you said it," Living Laser said as he gulped.

"So, what is this meeting about, and are we going to get something to drink, maybe some show girls, we are in Vegas?" Shocker asked as he craned his neck forward.

"Looks to be a sausage fest here," Electro stated as he cracked his knuckles and he turned over to Rhino.

"This better be good, I'm missing my stories for this shit," Rhino grunted as he busted the seat that he sat on. Angrily he got back to his feet and he shook his head.

Whiplash said nothing, all he had been promised was a lot of money. He saw Firefly standing there, causing sparks to fly from his hand. A hooded individual known as Copperhead stood in the background. The golden hood covered the face of the person with an unidentifiable gender and snake fangs stuck out on the other side.

Sabretooth was there, mostly because he enjoyed a good scrap and given the person that he was after, well he wanted some good old fashioned payback. He cracked his knuckles and prepared for war.

"Gentlemen, I'm glad that you could all make it tonight, and lady as well."

"Lady, where?" Shocker asked but she turned to Magpie and Mysterio who had turned up. There were a few more. "Oh right, it's her."

"I like your gauntlets, they're so….shiny," she commented but she was distracted by the glowing disco ball.

"Well, Lex Luthor, the plot thins," The Living Laser commented in a casual voice and there was more nodding of everyone as they walked in.

"I've called you all here for a reason to gain revenge on…."

"Wait a minute, this isn't the Golden Girl Slash Fan Fiction community convention. I knew I shouldn't have gotten directions from a bum."

The one, the only, the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool showed up and he stepped forward looking around.

"So, knitting circle or something?" Deadpool asked and he turned to Sabretooth. "Oh, how are you doing Vic?"

Sabretooth just growled at him, wanting to rip Deadpool's tendons out and floss with them. Yet he managed to keep himself in check, even though it was next to impossible to do so when he was greeted with the possibility of Deadpool.

"So you all know why we're here, don't you?" Lex asked.

"You just saved a bunch of money on your car insurance by switching to Geico?" Deadpool asked and that caused Lex to turn towards him with a murderous gaze. "Yeah, I'll be quiet now."

"We're here for revenge," Lex commented as he was just going to pretend that Deadpool was not in the room. "All of you….each and every one of you, have been victimized by the Star Child at one point or another, haven't you?"

"Actually, I never met the guy, I'm here for the free beer," Living Laser stated but there was a moment where he got a few glares. "But hey, one less do gooder in the world, I'm game."

'Imbeciles,' Lex thought to himself, wondering what he got himself into. He tried to remain completely and utterly calm despite the fact that he was surrounded by idiots.

"On your own or even in some half assed team up, none of you have been able to defeat Arcane or any of his….female companions," Lex commented, his cool fools dripping with even colder malice. "However, together, we will be able to crush him."

"Yes, there is something to be said about a co-op effort," Mysterio commented. Arcane had foiled his plans to take over the world of pop music and that was not something that he forgave lightly.

"Yes," Copperhead hissed. One time, Arcane's trip to Gotham City had helped Batwoman foil a bank robbery.

"I say we crush him like a bug," Shocker commented, still angry about the one time that Arcane made fun of his costume. Maybe that was Spider-Man come to think about it but he still hated Arcane because he teamed up with Spider-Man.

"Smash!" Rhino growled as he smashed his feet on the ground.

"Whoa easy big guy, you don't want to get put up on charges of trademark infringement do you," Deadpool commented. "I mean, Arcane has done something to all of us. You know what he did to me. I'll tell you what he did to me. He was an utter douchebag to me, stole the woman that I was stalking, and once gave me a wedgie in public."

Deadpool paused.

"Actually that last one was Squirrel Girl, who I will warn none of you to ever go up against, because squirrels are the personification of evil and preparing to take over the world and you heard it here first," Deadpool commented to him. "Squirrel related power outages are on the rise so you know that they mean business."

"Yes, but the one thing none of you have is a plan," Lex stated to them. "My Legion of Doom….."

"Oh what a rush," Deadpool commented and Lex gave him a strange look. "Sorry inside joke."

Deadpool turned to Grundy.

"So what do you want big guy, a pair of pants?" Deadpool asked and there was a brief moment where several villains were contemplating forgetting Arcane, maiming Deadpool, and going out for a keg later.

"Let's just focus on this," Lex commented, he already regretted this team up. "As I was, it's a three prong attack but I shall explain it to you clearly and concisely, and by the end of the day."

Lex Luthor would be the one who would take down Arcane and he would be basking in the glory. He had a plan. His uncle Norman had been talking to him, saying that this would be the best way to get his father's approval and the fact that he would get revenge on Arcane for making him lose his hair, that was so much better.

"What are you doing?" Lex asked Deadpool even though his better instincts said he should leave the man alone.

"Checking my hair," Deadpool commented but he paused. "What, too soon?"

Deadpool cleared his throat. "MEANWHILE BACK AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE."

Harry had no idea why they would name a Strip Club "The Hall of Justice" but this was the place and he walked with Zatanna. The dark haired magic user joined him and Iris had slipped off apparently to check out a lead on the story.

"Why would my book be here?" Zatanna asked him and Harry looked over his shoulder at her.

"You tell me, Zee, and we'll both know," Harry commented after a couple of moments and she placed her hand on the side of her chin and rolled her head back, with a really prominent "yeah right" type of look on her face. She put one foot in front of the other and craned her neck forward just a tiny little bit.

Harry turned around and saw the Trapster who was causing people to run in horror.

"Well well well, if it isn't Paste Pot Pete!" Harry called and Trapster turned around to face him, glue gun in hand.

"HEY DIDN'T YOU GET THE MEMO, THE NAME'S TRAPSTER!" he yelled as he tried to nail him with a shot of hot glue.

Zatanna decided to field this one, mostly to show how far she came to her favorite teacher. "Erifkcab!"

The glue gun gummed up and then it exploded, covering Trapster in hot sticky fluid.

"Mind out of the gutter, people, he means the glue," Deadpool commented as he lazily leaned against the pole.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he looked at Deadpool and the Merc with a Mouth smirked at him. Granted it could not be seen because of the mask but the thought was in fact there.

The Merc shrugged his shoulders. "Oh you know me, cashing necks, breaking checks, or is it the other way around? The point of the matter is being that you stole something from me. You are a bad man Har-Rell and it's time for you to get a spanking."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Not in that way, although the slash fan girls would approve of that one," Deadpool commented but he paused. "You know, I'm pretty sure they've all checked out by now because there's no way that people could be straight. I mean, that's really unrealistic that someone would like the opposite sex."

'Great, now we're going to be called homophobic,' one of the voices in Deadpool's head commented.

"Anyway, I'm not going to kick your ass….he's going to kick your ass, and him and him, and that guy, to, and him."

Grundy popped up, followed by Sabretooth. Firefly lit buildings on fire as he showed up. Whiplash cracked his whips which caused sparks to fly and the Living Laser turned up. Magpie and Mysterio popped up and Shocker blasted some rubble out of the way. Electro and Rhino showed up. It was a regular villain jamboree.

"Seriously?" Harry asked as he looked at them.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to an hour of exciting prizes and revenge laden ass kickings," Deadpool commented in an announcer's voice as Metallo, Parasite, and Copperhead came from the shadows as well. "Arcane come on down, you're the next contestant on the Price is Wade!"

'Bob Barker is a pimp,' one of the Deadpool voices commented.

'Yes he is, and he always knew the value of keeping your bitches fixed,' another one commented as the group of villains rushed forward.

Zatanna and Harry looked at each other. They had no idea what was going to happen.

"Well, you've made all kinds of friends over the years, haven't you?" Zatanna asked him and Harry just nodded, as he prepared himself for what might be a rough battle.

"And let's see what's behind door number two, come on, come on, big money ,no whammies, no whammies," Deadpool commented as a wooden door burst open and the Juggernaut rushed out to run Harry Potter over. "Oh, and there he is the secret weapon. It's the Juggernaut bitch, so Har-Rell, tell me, what's your bid on this fabulous prize?"

"My bid is I'm going to staple your mouth shut when this is over," Harry stated as he dodged the Juggernaut. The big punch nearly took his head off but he crouched down to dodge it.

"I'm sorry, you didn't phrase that in the form of a question," Deadpool commented as he shook his head. "So tell me, would you like to buy a vowel or solve?"

Deadpool struck a pose as he watched the battle, all

Harry had to avoid Sabretooth taking his head completely off and he blocked another attack. Whiplash rushed in but Zatanna rolled in and fired three bolts of light. Two of them stuck his whips to the ground and another stuck his head.

"Oh, tasty," Parasite stated as he raised his hand. He had to have a taste of her but a crimson blur blasted at him and knocked him out with one punch.

Harry blocked the Juggernaut's punch.

"Let go of me you…."

"Sorry, here, take five," Harry commented as he hurled Juggernaut halfway across Las Vegas with a judo throw. The big man was sending sailing as Zatanna managed to cause Shocker to knock himself out with his own gauntlets. Electro still came at her.

"So, we meet again do we?" Metallo asked as he went towards Harry but the blur shot in and pulled the Kryptonite out of him.

"Yoink," she stated as she zoomed off.

"Man, that's a weaksauce weakness," Deadpool commented but he cleared his throat. "So anyways….anyway, I think we're about ready for an entirely perverted description of a female body, so let's go to that right now!"

Harry caught a look at his blur friend. She was wearing a red mask that covered her face. She was wearing a skin tight red top that molded to her upper body, but allowed her quick movements. Her red and yellow pants were skin tight and Harry caught a nice look at her amazing ass. He only had one thing to mentally state.

'Nice costume, Iris,' Harry thought, figuring it out immediately.

Lex watched battle from afar as his mysterious friend stood in the shadows. "So, we're about ready for the second phase of the plan."

He nodded briskly as he floated next to Lex.

"Well your plan's going on perfectly, eh, Baldie?" Deadpool asked and Lex turned towards him, a pretty murderous gaze directed at him. The Merc with a Mouth smiled at him. "What, still too soon?"

"I should sew your mouth shut," Lex told him coldly.

Deadpool did not take the possibility of him being shut up all that well. "Man what is with you people and trying to keep me from talking, You, Arcane, the producers of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, all of you, are jealous of my great wit. I am a cult hero of four hundred pound virgins everywhere and you have a creepy stalkeresque obsession with Not Yet Superman over there. Which is creepy, I hate creepy stalkers, who are creepy, I mean creepy stalking is creepy and stuff and really creepy too."

'Hi, I'm Mr. Pot, what's up, Mr. Kettle, you're black,' one of the voices in Deadpool's head commented and the Merc would have glared at his voices, had they had physical bodies to glare at and they weren't shattered remnants of his personality.

"Everything is going according to plan," Lex commented as he watched the last of the Legion of Doom fall like a set of dominoes.

"You know, say that often enough, and someone might be stupid enough to believe it," Deadpool commented and once again he got the death glare of death from Lex Luthor. "I'm just saying, that's all."

"No one invited you, you know," Lex commented to him and Deadpool gave him an incredulous look.

"I am here by popular fan demand," Deadpool told him and Lex turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and there was only one statement that came through his mouth.

"What are you blathering about?" Lex asked him and Deadpool looked over his shoulder and smiled at him.

"There are hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand people watching us right there, and some of them aren't wearing pants, including that guy right there and that one, and that one, and him as well and believe me he really needs pants."

"Will you just shut up already?" Lex asked.

"You know, I don't need to take this abuse, I'm not Otis," Deadpool commented as he looked over. "Oh Arcane against the Juggernaut, this should be delightful, I wonder if we should actually show some of the really big fight scene that's going on."

'Well people might want some action and not you yapping,' one of the voices said and Deadpool pointed out to the battle.

The Juggernaut returned for round two with Harry and he jumped into the air to avoid the punch that impacted the ground. He jumped on the Juggernaut's back.

"Get off of me," The Juggernaut growled as he tried to swat Harry away but Harry flipped over the top of his head, dodged a falling axe handle. The large imposing figure swung around and stepped forward but Harry grabbed his legs and tripped him up.

The Juggernaut wondered what he was going to do and Harry held him by the legs and spun around with the Juggernaut held by the legs in one huge Giant Swing like motion. He must have gotten about eleven or twelve rotations before he sent the Juggernaut flying into one of the lighted boards.

Juggernaut slid to the ground and Harry nearly collapsed from making himself dizzy from that own move but held on against the wall. Iris ran over and ripped off the Juggernaut's helmet and Zatanna nailed him with a mental spell that put him to sleep.

"Well, that was fun," Iris commented as she helped Harry up. "You took quite a beating, are you…."

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry told her as the two of them looked eye to eye as the sunset on Vegas and were inches apart from each other.

"Save the moment, that Deadpool guy got away," Zatanna told them and the three turned around to face him.

"Great, they're coming over here," Deadpool commented but Lex smiled, he had stepped out of sight for a moment. "What is your big master plan anyway?"

"Observe, observe," Lex commented as he had a remote control device in his hand and pressed down on a big red button.

Two of the casinos off to the side were abandoned and had been purchased by LuthorCorp. That was because Lex was about ready to unleash them.

"Oh, Sentinals, oh snap!" Deadpool commented as he bounced up and down like a three year old on a sugar high.

"Wait, so what happened next, you can't leave us hanging here," Lois commented as Harry paused to get a drink.

"All good things come to those who wait, Lois," Harry told her.