Chapter 50

Harry sat up and soaked in the atmosphere of the island. He was almost sad to go, but vacations had to end sometime. Harry walks further into the scene and notices the same person who trailed him last night.

Saida woman noticed Harry as well and decided to walk closer towards him. No time at all really passed before she finally spoke up.

"Men aren't normally allowed on this island."

Harry came eye to eye with Faora to stare her down. Finally, Harry broke the silence when speaking.

"The Queen trusts me."

Faora eyed the young man for a second and nods. She could tell just as much from the interactions between Harry and the Queen of the Amazons. It did not seem any less weird through for something like that to happen.

"And then, then I trust the Queen. And I'm more grateful to be allowed on this island than the traitor ever was."

Harry read between the lines and realized Faora had been referring to Aresia. The moment Harry stepped onto this island, he and the rest of the team had an unspoken agreement not to bring it up. Diana and Donna, every time she got brought up, Harry could see just how much they had been racked by guilt and to be honest, Harry understood perfectly just how much they would be so.

"So, I was looking for a sparring partner," Faora said. "Do you think you could join me? If you think you're man enough to fight a woman."

"Oh. most of my sparring partners are women," Harry said before he amended that particular statement. "All of my sparring partners are women. It would not hurt to add another one to the list."

Faora just smiled and looked over her shoulder. Not too many people up. A few, but not too many. The feast last night stretched late into the evening. Even some of the most brilliant, beautiful, and powerful women in the world needed their rest.

The two move to a battle arena, circling each other. The minute Faora made the first move, Harry avoided it. Faora pulled back her punch and went for another attack. Harry blocked her arm and turned it around, sending Faora down onto her knees, with an extended armbar.

Faora grumbled and pushed out of the attack. A sweep and Harry performed a roll before landing on his feet.

The two went face to face, trading punches with each other. Faora deflected Harry's punches and Harry did the same to her. The next thing Faora knew, Harry swept her off of the ground with a sliding leg trip. Faora's momentum caused the woman to fall down to the ground.

Something extremely interesting with her, given the strength of her punches. And the fact she pulled them somewhat in battle, although had some strikes which would drop some of the strongest men in battle. Harry filed that particular thought away for interesting.

Faora pulled herself off of the ground, deciding there was no reason to go easy on him. With a swift strike, Faora came through.

Dodge, and dodge again, and Harry grabbed Faora's arm. Faora rolled out, flipping over onto her feet. She went for a kick and Harry evaded that one. The two of them went hand to hand with each other and Harry grabbed her by the arm.

"I don't think you're going to yield, are you?" Harry asked.

"No."

Faora flipped out of the arm hold, landing directly down onto her feet with sudden grace. She fired off more shots, and Harry deflected them with somewhat ease.

"Merely just a warm up. I want to see what you really have to offer."

Harry just smiled and beckoned for Faora to go forward. The backhand punch came close to clipping Harry across the job. A duck, and evade, and Harry came back around. No wasted movement. Faora caught him with a glancing punch to the side of the head.

A moment of indecision on Faora's part caused Harry to tie her out in a triangle hold. Faora broke out of the move, although her shoulder and neck felt a bit sore. But, yet, Faora smiled.

She always liked a challenge.

Hipployta smiled when her daughter and friends made their way to the island. She had been sad to see them leave, but good things came to an end eventually. She would have to let them go. Partings were always bitter sweet at best.

"Each and every one of you have been a joy to be on this island. I know your trip was short, over the past couple of days. But, I do hope that any of you come back to visit. I would extend the hope to get to know you even better than this short time on the island allowed."

The speech finished, with Hippolyta's eyes falling upon Harry. A fact which did get get missed by certain members of the team as they walked off into the other direction. The moment they got out of the earshot of the Amazons, and their Queen, Whitney leaned over, going a bit closer to Harry in the process.

"So, are you going to complete the set?" Whitney asked.

Whitney's statement caused Artemis to lean over to her. For a second, Whitney thought Artemis might let her have it for that foot in mouth style statement. However, Artemis smiled from ear to ear.

"Have to catch them all."

The rest of the members of the team laughed before making through the gateway and back to the basement of Karen's penthouse.The moment they dropped down, Harry turned to Megan, who had been in a lot better spirits.

"So?"

"A change of scenery did some good," Megan said. "It's wonderful."

"It is," Donna said.

"I wish I would have had more of a chance to train with the Amazons," Sara said. "But, I was just too busy enjoying myself touring the island that I...really didn't."

"I know, it can cause you to get tied up in its beauty," Helena agreed.

"There will be other chances," Donna said. "You heard my mother."

Harry had a couple of other people he would visit. Tonight, he had to get ready for a very important date.

Harry decided he would take a trip to the Daily Planet headquarters. The added spring to his step showed just how much Harry cleared his head with a nice little trip to the island. Mary Jane greeted him with a sunny wave and a big smile.

"Hey, Harry," Mary Jane said. "So, how have you been?"

"I'm fine," Harry said. "How about you?"

"Oh, you know me, running all around town, getting pictures," Mary Jane said. "I didn't get too many good shots….well one of Superwoman saving a runaway train the other day. Someone might have cut the brakes on that one, but the MCU declined to comment. Which you know, Lois just loved."

A chuckle emitted from Harry. He knew Lois, and knew she was not the type of woman who would often take no for an answer, or really, take no for an answer at all.

"Where is Lois?" Harry asked.

"Oh, she just got back talking to one of her sources," Mary Jane said. "She said she was onto something hot."

Off to the side, Harry heard Lois and Claire in the midst of a loud conversation. Harry could not help and hear them, despite trying to remain focused on Mary Jane and the conversation they had. Of course, it was extremely hard not to overhear this particular conversation.

"I know you can take care of yourself. I just think you're biting off more than you can chew here. Going after someone like Edge."

"Oh, you don't think I can handle Morgan Edge? That's where you're wrong Smallville. I'm going to expose him for the entire world to see what kind of bastard he is. I'm not going to back down from this."

"Just be careful. If he has the connections that you think he has, he could make you disappear."

"Always careful, but he needs to be taken down a peg. We're one of the few independent media sources in Metropolis, and if Edge gets his hooks into the Planet…."

"Perry won't allow it."

"Perry won't be around forever. And money talks a lot more than you think. I'm just getting in front of this train and hope that people learn the type of people Edge is in bed in bed with. There's really no smoking gun yet, but I'll find one."

"Let me guess, they're talking about the Morgan Edge thing," Mary Jane said.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Lois has been on that one straight for a week," Mary Jane said. "So far nothing too damning, although she thinks that Edge is working with mobsters."

"Okay, fine, you do what you have to do."

"Oh, believe me, Smallville, I will."

Harry hoped Claire would know that once Lois was like a dog like a bone for a story, there was no discouraging her. The argument tapered off in the room for a second. Harry joined Mary Jane in getting a cup of coffee and the two of them acted as if they had just not been listening in to Lois and Claire's conversation

The door opened, and Lois moved over to say hello to Harry.

"Didn't know you were stopping by," Lois said. "Sorry, I can't chat….but I'm running around...well, I know that if you have super hearing, you would have heard all about what I was doing."

"I don't have the slightest idea what you could be talking about."

Mary Jane disguised her laugh with a cough. Lois just smiled and winked, before going over to fix herself a cup of coffee. Her drug of choice when working on a story of this magnitude.

After the two exchanged pleasantries, Claire moved in to get some time with her son.

"Time in Paradise was good for you, wasn't it?" Claire asked.

"Fine," Harry said. "Good for the girls as well. I was more worried for them."

"I should have put my foot down," Claire said. "You weren't ready, none of you were ready. Anything that happened in that simulation...well it won't happen again."

Harry hoped Claire was not going to forever apologize for the training simulation. They all made some choices. Some of those choices were not really for the better. In time, Harry did hope they could move on, although mental scars took a long time, and despite people being better day to day, people did not simply move on.

"I'm fine," Harry said.

The guilt in Claire's eyes matched what Harry felt internally in the days afterwards.

"I'm just keeping busy," Harry said. "I've got a date with Kara tonight."

That switch caused Claire to frown.

"Yes, my cousin," Claire said. "And your cousin as well."

"Oh, don't mind her, you would think she would be a bit more open minded about things like this," Lois said. "You know being from Kansas and all."

Claire just gave Lois one of those side long glares and Lois shrugged, grinning big time. There were some times where Lois thought she got a bit too deep under her skin.

"I need to get ready to meet her," Harry said. "I'll talk to you all later."

Harry moved in to hug Claire, and then Lois, and also Mary Jane, who took the opportunity to feel Harry up. Lois just winked at her, before Harry made his way to the elevator.

The minute Harry left, he could not help and hear what Lois said afterwards. He almost regretted not being in the room, to see Claire's face in the aftermath.

"Let's face it, the only reason why you're upset, is you haven't had any Harry time to yourself. You haven't been able to figure out that your feelings to him are more than maternal."

"That's...what are you talking about?"

"I'm able to see these things, Smallville."

The explosion pretty much saved Claire from having an uncomfortable conversation with Lois. Harry saw the blur that was Superwoman hurling fast towards the scene of trouble from the Daily Planet parking deck.

Harry stopped in front of the Kent Farm house after a nice trip to Smallville. Saturday night arrived, and so far, smooth sailing, not Harry was going to hold his breath for anything other than that. He knocked on the door.

The door swung open and a smiling Martha Kent greeted him.

"Harry, it's good to see you come in….Kara's upstairs waiting. Why don't you come in and have a quick bite to eat for a minute?"

It would be rude for Harry not to accept Martha's invitation to come in for a little minute. Harry stepped inside, noticing that he was not the only visitor Martha had this evening. Lana sat at the table, and rose up.

"Nice to see you again," Lana said with a long look over him. "You clean up nice."

Lana smiled and wrapped Harry into an embrace before Harry sat down at the kitchen table. The two of them had a cup of coffee.

"So, I got back from the Daily Planet, and Lois seems to have something up her ass about Morgan Edge," Harry told Lana.

"Oh, yeah, he's a right bastard," Lana commented. "He's ate up pretty much all independent media in Kansas, and if it wasn't for the Daily Planet, he would have a monopoly on it. So, given how pro free speech Lois is, you can see how much that bothers her."

"I can tell," Harry said. "But, she seems to think he's in bed with mobsters."

"Not really surprising," Lana said as she took a drink of milk. "And here comes your lovely date right now."

Down the stairs came Kara. She looked completely gorgeous in a very nice red dress, with a very eloquent amount of sequins. Lana did a good job at designing it. Harry smiled.

"You look beautiful," Harry said. "Even more so than usual."

Kara smiled at Harry's compliment and accepted the flowers. The closed quarters gave Kara a chance to look over Harry.

"You clean up so nicely," Kara said.

"Are you using your X-Ray vision?" Harry asked.

"Can't hurt to have a preview," Kara whispered in his ear. "Although, I really can't say you have anything to be ashamed about."

"You two should have a great time," Lana said. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Martha just gave Lana one of those looks. Still, she knew that Harry was an adult and Kara practically was as well, even more so when you take into the account the time she spent in stasis.

"I trust your judgment," Martha said. "And I talked to Claire. She agreed not to interrupt you, unless it was world shattering. And even then, only if everything else had failed."

Harry was thankful, although Lois would not let Claire meddle. The two of them made their way outside.

"Lana made the dress," Kara said.

"Oh, you did a great job on that," Harry said.

"Well, how nice the dress looks is more of a credit to the lovely woman wearing it," Lana commented. "But, you two have a good time."

Lana moved in and wrapped Harry into a hug. Kara cleared her throat.

"We'll be back later," Kara said.

"Oh, is that a promise?" Lana asked. "Sure, you won't get sidetracked?"

With that out of the way, Kara and Harry went outside. Tonight was a nice night for a date.

She did not want to address the problem without Harry bringing it up. Kara heard of the Team's training simulation fiasco and she had been furious as everyone else.

"So, everything okay?" Kara asked.

"Claire mentioned about what I had been through," Harry said. "I'm fine, really I am. It's just that Claire tends to worry a bit too much."

"I know," Kara said.

Kara squeezed Harry's hand underneath the table. The moment their hands touched together, electricity sparking through them the second they touched.

They enjoyed a good, hearty meal, with Kara digging into what had been offered.

The steak was delicious. Kara was particularly ravenous with what she was eating.

"Pretty good steak," Kara said.

"I heard the chicken is pretty good as well," Harry said. "But, I was more in a steak mood."

"More expensive too," Kara said. "So, breasts or thighs?"

"Either would be fine," Harry said.

A nice vintage bottle of wine had been brought to the table. Harry poured it with the hand which had not been on Kara's thigh. He stroked her a little bit, just a little bit of a tease, while pouring a glass of wine for them both.

"Oh, Claire would get a case of the vapors if she knew what we were during," Kara said. "Maybe you can get your mother to lighten up someday."

"Easier said than done," Harry commented. "But, I'm sure she would have words with me if I'm treating her innocent cousin to wine."

"Innocent, hardly," Kara said. "And she forgets that I'm technically an adult."

"Oh, it's hard for me to forget that you're all women," Harry said as he pulled away from Kara's thigh underneath the table.

Harry and Kara laughed. To be fair, the wine did not even given them a buzz. But, it was more of the fact they were having it. It made things rather excited.

After finishing dinner, Harry intended to take Kara out for dancing and then a movie. And after then, there were no limits of the adventures they could go on. Of course, what happened at the end, Harry could see Kara's intentions just flashing through her eyes.

"So, having a nice time?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, really thanks for this," Kara said. "I'm going to thank you nice and hard later...but for now…"

The beautiful blonde wrapped her arm around Harry and pulled him in tight. The two smiled, closing in on each other.

Kara finally relished at the opportunity to let her hair down after being on a farm for almost a year. And after her peak at Harry earlier, she relished doing a lot more than letting her hair down. Kara's smile grew even wider when she saw the sky as the limit.

Tonight had been a really good night, almost perfect. Kara and Harry were in good spirits and prepared to head back to the Penthouse. After a few hours in each other's company, they hoped to see what else night would bring.

Something else caught Harry's attention, namely an extremely peculiar sight. Sphere rolled out into the middle of the street and started to blink madly. She made a hell of a racket to the point where people started to notice. While Metropolis had some strange events, this took the cake.

"Has she ever acted like this?" Kara asked.

"No, she hasn't," Harry confirmed. "I really wish I could understand why you're doing this. I thought Karen had you locked on her lab."

Sphere had been acting in strange ways before, but nothing like this. Then again, it had opened a portal right to the location where the Injustice League had the team. Harry just frowned, giving Sphere a good and long look, but nothing, nothing so far.

Suddenly, Sphere's bright light almost submerged the entire street. She created a beam downwards, pointing to an underground tunnel. Kara just frowned, locking her hand onto Harry's.

"I think she's trying to show you something," Kara commented.

Harry frowned, thinking Kara might be onto something. He followed the progress of the beam of light down of light.

In the direction Sphere's light goes, an explosion echoes across the street. Harry almost jumped up. Kara did as well and Sphere blipped. Someone had been blowing up the underground tunnels.

This looked like a job for Superman and Supergirl as well. Kara and Harry made a quick dodge around, to get changed into their uniforms, and it was off to the races for them.

Supergirl and Superman moved down the tunnel to follow Sphere. What they come across raises a whole lot of questions, and realizes that this rabbit hole ran way deeper than normal.

The duo of two of Intergangs most prominent members, Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim and Whisper D'Adaire, stood at the front. Whisper was a beautiful red haired woman who currently wore a serious expression. And Mannheim, well the name ugly was extremely appropriate. They were manning a drill of some sort.

"Talk about Beauty and the Beast," Kara murmured.

Harry did not argue with Kara's assessment on the two Intergang leaders. Curious to what Intergang was after, the super powered duo moved a little bit closer to hear. There was something, and they had broken open an underground vault.

"Dig into the vault, and then we did down into the subway where we unload the gold," Mannheim said. "This partnership's paying off, isn't it, Whisper?"

"Mmm, yes," Whisper said. "But, all of the noise is going to attract Superwoman if we're not careful."

"Oh, you don't worry your pretty little head off about that, toots," Mannheim said. "We've got an equalizer down here. Besides, she's not been right since coming back from the dead."

The Intergang punks manning the drill took it into position. Supergirl and Superman exchanged a smile and figured out they could take out that drill nice and easily, if they moved in.

The two heroes swooped down, attacking the drill with everything they could. Mannheim stepped back, with a surprise.

"You!" Mannheim yelled. "I thought you were fake news!"

"No, I'm very real," Superman said. "And I'm shutting your little operation down."

Mannheim picked up a large weapon and fired. The Intergang punks fired the weapon shots at Superman. They were designed to take down Superwoman. Superman stretched his arms out and blocked the gunfire, causing the bolts of energy to just bounce off of a shield.

"Well, this is fun," Superman commented.

Supergirl took out some of the weapons until a figure swooped in.

A punch sent Supergirl hurling backwards into a tunnel wall. Supergirl shook her head. Another punch barely caught Supergirl in the side of the head.

"Who are you?" Supergirl groaned.

"Call me Knockout because it's lights out."

A tall redhead woman dressed in a green, with a very lovely figure swooped down for Supergirl. Those punches packed a lot and Supergirl dodged them, kicking Knockout back a few feet.

"And you should meet my partner."

The name is appropriate, although the words "partner" struck Harry suddenly. Right before a second figure came down from the heavens and nailed Harry in the ribs with a glancing kick. She caught him off guard and Harry turned around.

The dark-haired woman, with a black covering on her face, brandished a whip along with a knife. The whip wrapped around Harry's arm. He blocked the knife with a sweeping move, and sent te woman back, sending an electrified jolt through the whip.

The restraints held Superman only for a second before he broke through. The woman hurled a grenade and a bright light hit Superman's enhanced eyesight, blinding him and opening him up with a huge punch from Knockout.

"Sorry, I'd like to get down and dirty with you, but we're on a time table," Knockout said.

"We've got the gold, blow the tunnel, and bury these Kryptonian pretenders," Mannheim said. "Oh, and here you go...nice little present."

Mannheim hurled a briefcase onto the ground which broke open, revealing Kryptonite inside. Kara shielded herself with her cape, but the radiation almost overwhelmed her. Harry wrapped his arms around Kara and pulled her back.

"Scandal, let's go!" Knockout yelled.

"Another time, Kryptonian," the woman known as Scandal said.

The tunneler smashed through the wall, just as the explosives have been set off.

The rocks of the tunnel collapsed on Mannheim's word. Harry spread his arms and blocked the rocks, causing them to smash onto the Kryptonite, burying it deep inside of the city.

"Kara?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine...but Intergang got away," she said.

The two Kryptonians break through the chaos of the tunnel. They flew until reaching the city streets.

Unfortunately, Intergang vanished into the night, and they could be anywhere.

Good thing they left a little trail. A small amount of residue renewed hope they could pick it up..

Mannheim would have been a lot happier with how that went, if the super duo did not get involved. Sure, they had the gold, but there were other problems. Still, maybe, just maybe he was going to get a little bit of respect.

"Mr. Edge was right. We needed further protection to pull this one off. Thankfully Scandal and Knockout delivered in spades."

The two ladies who had been loaned to his operation only just nodded. They had no idea of the secret third party Mannheim had been speaking to. They assumed it was Morgan Edge, but it was an odd way to refer to Edge if this was the case.

"There was a problem, we had to blow the tunnel."

"I'm coming now."

Business as usual and speaking of business as usual, Mannheim's partner showed up right on time. A robed figure with creepy eyes and a slumped figure showed up. Knockout's eyes glared at him.

"Desaad."

"In all my glory," Desaad commented. "Granny Goodness sends her love."

"You can tell Granny to eat Parademon waste," Knockout said.

Scandal reached up to grab Knockout's elbow, not being tall enough to grab her on the shoulder.

Desaad chuckled at her statement. Amused, he was.

"Such an angry child," Desaad said.

"Intergang's ready for the next part of our plan," Mannheim said. "You just say the word and Whisper and I will be ready to follow through."

"As, interesting as your proposal is, they're coming," Desaad said.

"Superbitch and Superbrat?" Mannheim asked. "Nah, I buried him deeper than Hoffa."

"No, not them," Desaad said.

"Then who, who...tell me?"

Mannheim wanted answers and wanted them now. Desaad preferred to keep him in the dark for as long as possible.

After digging themselves out of the tunnel, Supergirl and Superwoman hit the streets, in the places where Intergang was known to hang out. Nothing, not even one lead. The trail went cold.

Sphere rolled into the street in front of them, causing Kara to jump with a start. Harry put a hand onto it.

"Did you find them?" Harry asked.

Something caused Sphere to enter distress mode. Harry had a clear idea of what she was saying. Something was coming.

"Kara, get ready," Harry said.

"For what?" Kara asked.

"For that!" Harry yelled.

Another portal opened up. Harry's eyes flashed through the portal. His mind flashed back to the incident in Biyala, and the portal technology used there. Superman and Supergirl stood together, with Sphere's red light shining on the portal.

Three figures jumped through the portal. They had been submerged in shadow, faces invisible.

"We're here for the technology you stole from us."