Chapter Seventy Five: Faith Lost.

Some meetings were much harder than others, and some things were harder to let go than others. Those thoughts moved through the minds of Kara and Harry, after the pair spent the last couple of days on the Island. They wanted to be away from everything, although they did make a point to stop in to see the Kents for a quick visit.

Clark already left on his journey to Kandor. Laura and Conner were into the full swing of things at Smallville High School and Galatea decided to split her time between working on the Kent Farm and working at Patronus. Given that they had some factories in Smallville now, she could keep an eye on those things as well as keeping an eye on Jonathan Kent.

All and all, there was much time that was given for reflection and also much time given for the fact that everyone settled back into what was a normal routine. Or rather what passed for a normal routine in the insane world of super heroes. In fact, Harry and Kara often wondered what truly was normal, they did would know about this. Or at least they never lived what was a normal life, the two of them walking forward with tired expressions on their faces.

They headed their way to the new makeshift structure, it wasn't quite the Watchtower, after all of the trouble that it caused and all of the controversy, it was essential that the Watchtower would get decommissioned. Not that there was much of the Watchtower that they could salvage, Zod and his troops made sure of it.

Harry and Kara smiled, even if it was one of those smiles of two people who had been a lot and felt the ravages of it. Through all the trials and all of the tribulations, the two of them stood together and there was really nothing else.

Karen popped up when she looked at two of her spouses. To be honest she was a bit concerned about the way that they were acting. She busied herself with the expansion efforts at Patronus, but there were times where Harry and Kara locked down the bond link and became solitary. Karen did not think about that all too much before now and now was the time to confront them about the situation.

"Hi, Karen," Harry responded, being her husband, he could sense that there was something in her mind, perhaps some annoyance in the back of head.

Karen looked at Harry when she grabbed his hands. "Harry, we both know that there's something that you've been grieving about."

Kara piped in with an answer. "After everything that happened with Zod, do you….do you think that we'll be okay? We can't pretend that what happened, did not happen. The people turned on us and accepted Zod. Sometimes saying that you're sorry doesn't cut it, especially if they keep making the same mistake."

Karen thought about it and had to agree with her double's words. It was hard to argue with something like that and she felt the pain Kara suffered. The blonde's face swam with sorrow.

"So….The Justice League?"

Harry waved his hand dismissively. "They can do what they want to do. It's not my business."

That was the most dismissive statement that anyone could ever make, or at least that's what Karen figured. Harry and Kara submerged in a funk and there was really nothing to bring them out of it, at least any time soon. Karen felt herself brought down with their overall mood.

"So where is Linda?" Kara asked to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Present."

Linda Danvers popped up, a smile on her face when she showed up and she shook her head. She could tell that the heads of their family, both of them, they were not in good spirits. The blonde smiled, when the four of them walked down the hallway and then they turned up the steps to the tower. The four walked in silence, Galatea might be swinging by to soon after she finished helping around the Kent Farm.

The blonde walked by the side of them, as they moved up to the tower, they were at the highest point in Metropolis, where they could see any point in the city from their vantage point. Sitting next to a computer console, was Hermione. She was in deep thought but she turned around to greet Harry.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hermione," Harry stated when he moved over to hug her. "It's good to see that you came back off of the Island, after you had a chance to cool off."

Hermione shook her head, when she smiled. "I figured that the League needs all of the back up that they can get after everything that's happened. The League….well there's going to be some changes. J'onn and Wally are the only two original League members that are going to be in for the time being. I figure I can watch over the city with all of this and give the League all of the help that they can get."

Hermione looked at the state of the art computer equipment around her, millions of dollars worth of equipment and she used the Patronus Incorporated Satellite Equipment to monitor everyone on the planet. Every phone conversation, every e-mail, she could listen in on all of it. Even some supposed secure channels she could tap into. The satellites configured themselves so not even the government could figure it out, any government for that matter. It was foolproof. This would be the wet dream of the United States Government and any other government to get their hands on this equipment which was why she was limiting the people who had control of it.

"Hermione, this kind of power it could…"

"I'm only using it to protect the world," Hermione answered briskly when she looked forward, she figured that she could use the computers to gather information. Information was a far greater weapon than any super powers.

"So Wonder Girl, master of information?" Karen asked.

Hermione shook her head, a smile crossing her face before she looked over her shoulder. "Wonder Girl….cute name, but that was something that's outlived its usefulness. I think I'll go by a different name now."

The witch paused which gave Harry the opening to ask the question.

"And what name will that be?"

Hermione paused before she answered the question.

"Oracle."

Harry, Kara, Karen, and Linda all locked eyes at this point, mulling it over in their mind and nodded, it was sure a name that was fitting for Hermione. They hoped that she would find some kind of purpose with what she was doing in the world. The wizard and his group of blondes stood around each other. The entire group nodded as they locked their eyes on the newest arrivals.

The first was a tall red haired girl in her early twenties, with blue eyes. A white shirt stretched over the top of her body along with a tight pair of black red pants. Barbara Gordon or Batgirl as she was known showed up, ready for action.

The second woman was a tall blonde woman, dressed in a black t-shirt with blue jeans, which covered her normally fishnet clad legs. She dressed wore black high heeled boots as always and her blonde hair wrapped around her face with golden tresses. Dinah Lance or Black Canary smiled, rather curiously wondering why she was called here.

The third member of the group a women dressed in red, with sunglasses on and her dark hair tied back in a ponytail. Helena Bertinelli or the Huntress popped up, also curious about what the purpose of this meeting was.

The fourth was a medium sized red haired girl with green eyes and freckles, dressed in a green t-shirt and a red skirt that wrapped around her hips, with her legs stretching on for a little bit. She had a dazzling smile on her face but her innocent demeanor should not figure out the fact that she was formidable enough. Megan Morse or Miss Martian shook her head, smiling.

Barbara broke the silence by asking the obvious question.

"So what is this all about?"

Harry was the one that spoke up. "I'm just trying to figure out where everyone stands regarding the Justice League and Hermione has a project for this group, considering you worked so well together in Gotham."

M'gann turned to Harry, confused. "And why am I here?"

Kara answered this time. "We figure that your skills are good for this little side group."

M'Gann nodded, feeling that she wanted to become of use. Her people invading the Earth when they did, even if she was considered a reject, she felt baf about it. Therefore, she wanted to really be the best that she could be.

"Sorry that I'm late."

Another party showed up which caused Barbara to stiffen a little bit but she relaxed at a warning look from Kara and Harry. The other heroines in the room also looked at the newest party who walked in the room. She walked in the room, with pale skin, green eyes, and red hair, dressed in a miniature green dress as always, before she walked in, her green high heeled boots on the ground when she walked in the rooms. Pamela Isley, or Poison Ivy turned around.

Barbara tried not to frame her next question in an accusing manner. "Why…."

Pamela cut her off with a waving of the hand. "Harry gave me another opportunity and it sure beats going back to Arkham. I've done some thinking and I believe that there can be other ways that I can save the world and all of its plants. Not to mention, I think that I give a certain perspective about how the other side thinks, wouldn't you agree?"

Huntress spoke up. "I would have to agree."

To be honest, Poison Ivy really was someone who could give that perspective.

"I know that this group might be a bit beyond what you do in the League and I hope that you're ready to bend a few rules in the name of protecting the world," Hermione answered as she turned to them all, some looking more willing to commit than others.

Barbara thought this other in her mind, to be blunt, she was in this, because Hermione had a discussion with her and this was to ease some of the load on Kara and Harry. Kara was her best friend and she'd do anything for her if she was asked. They shared some really close moments together when their friendship was growing, perhaps it could have turned into something more at times, perhaps not. And Harry was great in her book, she'd do anything for him as well, anything that they asked of her.

Dinah only met Harry and Kara a handful of times but she thought that despite what a few members of the League thought, they had the best intentions in mind. As much as she hated to admit it, things weren't always that nice out there and there were many instances where morality had to go out the window. If one remained moral, they would become rather mortal, at least that's what Wildcat thought her.

Helena was on board with this as well, she smiled and nodded, she thought that this group, whatever it was, would serve the world well. The dark haired woman smiled and nodded, she was ready for it all no matter what.

M'gann felt a great deal of debt to Harry and Kara for reasons that they might not even realize, they defeated the White Martians and in a way set her free. Granted, that caused her to spend a great deal of time in the custody of Cadmus but she found her way out. Now she was getting her life back together and hoped that she could be something more than some genetic misfit on both sides of the Martian world.

Pamela Isley thought about everything that she been through, perhaps her methods could be considered a little extreme in the past. Even though there were instances where humans foolishly disregarded the gifts of the Earth and became notoriously short sighted. Still she knew that going back to Arkham for the hundredth or so time was not good and Harry offered her a chance when she did so.

Another late comer showed up.

"Are you in as well?"

"Yeah, I'm in."

Volcana smiled, her government training should be put to some good use other than stealing items for people who would likely screw her out of her rightful earned money. The time for a revolution was beginning.

"Birds of Prey, we're online," Hermione or, Oracle rather, stated.

Kara, Karen, Linda, and Harry exchanged smiles, this would have to work.

'It will work,' Galatea agreed through to the bond link before she paused. 'And Laura says that she's confident that this will work. She wants to come home and stay with us this weekend, there's a three day weekend. It should be the perfect time to add her to the collective. And then we only need one more and we can expand.'

Harry smiled a little bit but did not say anything beyond that.

Standing before the United States Congress always tended to be a challenge for the best of them and Amanda Waller stood before the men and women. All of the charges against her were dropped but at the same time, she would never get the same amount of power that she had previously. There was a black mark next to her name that would not be rubbing off for a while. That suited her just fine. She hoped to bridge the relations between the Justice League and other likewise heroes around the world and the United States Government. Unfortunately, Cadmus did their job a bit too well in discrediting them.

"I'm warning you now that this won't do anything more than harm the already shaky relations we have," Waller stated, she would say that she was pleading but Amanda Waller never pled with anyone. She stood out tall and proud. "Mark my words, you do this and you risk the safety of the people even more. You are going to split them at the very least and then we'll be in the middle of some super powered civil war."

Congress heard these words but at the same time, Congress did not listen to these words. All Waller could do was say her piece and hope that these brain surgeons would understand what she was saying. The woman turned her head a little bit and shook it, hoping that they would get the message, loud and clear. The woman waited as Congress talked to each other, mulling over the problem from every single angle.

There was a few moments before the silence was broken and Waller almost wished it was not broken. For the silence that happened prior to that moment was golden. Yet Congress spoke and she hated that she had to listen.

"We have talked about your belief of what might happen."

Waller sensed a but in the air. Sure enough she was going to be proven right.

"However, we feel that any dangers will not outweigh the fact that there is a lot of collateral damage being given to these so called heroes. Tell us, are we a lot safer with them out there doing their so called heroic deeds. Or are we in more danger than ever before? One might understand that the danger if anything is far greater."

Waller shook her head but they were not done spewing bullshit.

"We considered all options and we feel that effective February 9th, Congress will begin talks about a super hero registration act that will police these heroes. All super heroes will be forced to make their identities a public record or they will be sentenced as war criminals. And you can consider your request to be a government liaison denied."

Waller was about to ask who could be a better job but then she had her answer.

She saw one walk inside, dressed in a three piece suit with grey hair and an eye patch but there was no mistaken who this person was. He was a former enemy of the Teen Titans and one of the greatest mercenaries in the world.

"Ms. Waller," he stated in a crisp voice, a slight smile crossing his face, taunting, tormenting, and directed towards her.

"Slade," Waller responded with distaste.

"Actually, I prefer the term Director Wilson myself," Slade responded as he looked at Congress and then at Waller with a gloating expression in his eyes. "It's much more, shall we say, official with the job that I have."

Waller knew that she was fighting a losing battle but being a persistent woman, she refused to back down from a fight when one presented itself.

"Putting this….individual in charge of this, that's not going to…."

"Trust me when I say this, Ms. Waller, I have nothing but the best intentions of the world in mind," Slade answered with a sinister glint through his one eye. "I don't want to have people suffer at the hands of these reckless vigilantes, in fact as a father, I'm insulted that these super powered hooligans are allowed to go on a power trip as often as they do."

Waller very much wished to rip Slade's other eye out and stomp on it, he was someone purposely screwed with a group of teenagers and arranged for many of them to die. Vigilantes as they may be, that was something that twisted the woman's stomach. And now he was playing the heroic savior card and Congress ate up his BS like it was ice cream. She seriously wondered why she eve bothered.

And the one person who might be able to help her match Congress was MIA. She tried to get in touch with Harry Potter but he denied several requests for a meeting that she offered. Something along the lines of how he did not feel up to bashing his head against a brick wall today which was something that Waller could not blame him for. She knew about the exercise of frustration that she was going through now.

Slade on the other hand, soaked up the victory; he had power to move forth the next step of his plan. He made a deal with a very powerful individual, in exchange for a favor that he would cash in on the future. While Godfrey weakened the minds of the people and made them distrust the heroes, Slade would make it extremely difficult for the do-gooders to rescue even a kitten from a tree without their intentions being questioned.

He did look forward to one more round with his own apprentice Robin or was it Nightwing now? Actually Slade knew he was playing dress up as Batman now, given that the real Batman was laid out with some kind of injury.

Slade Wilson loved it when a plan came together.

Shayera Hol wondered why she stuck around even for a few minutes after the Zod invasion cleared up. As much as the rest of the Justice League got raked over the coals after everything that happened, she was getting it the worst of all. Godfrey had a field day trashing into her and she could not even be bothered to be indignant about it because there was a lot of it that she agreed with on some level.

She was called a harbinger of an alien invasion but she was also run through the mud due to her actions causing the death of her fellow Thanagarians. Shayera shook her head, the League got tarred by the same brush when she thought about it, they all were considered to be accessories to the crime. That was not fair, given that she tried to delay the invasion as long as she could and hindsight being what it was, Shayera wished that she could delay it forever. The winged warrior woman mulled over everything in her mind, no matter what happened, she would have to live with herself and everything that happened.

Her people were gone and now her teammates refused to look her in the eye.

Shayera decided that she would save them the trouble and knocked on the door.

Flash answered it and he looked at her, with a smile on his face. "Shayera, come in, we were just speaking about you."

"Yeah, Wally, I know," Shayera responded as she looked at Flash, and the other members of the Justice League. Batman sat there, even though Shayera was ignorant that he was not the original. Martian Manhunter was present, Zatanna, Black Canary, Hal Jordan, Huntess, The Question, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and Plastic Man, all of them discussing her future or what would be her future.

Shayera paused but she knew what she had to do.

"Just….saving you the trouble, I'm leaving the Justice League and I don't even know if I'll be back. At first I came here to….gather advanced intelligence for my people but then I guess in some ways I became one of you. But in other ways, it's a lie and I can never atone with what I did for my people. And that's….and that's….I don't know where I'm going to be honest with you but at least you won't have this traitor around."

"Shayera that's….."

Wally could not finish his statement for she already moved her way down the hallway and past the League. If she allowed him five more seconds to answer, he would have said that she was allowed in but put on probation for the next year. Granted it was not the worst sentence in the world but it was one that could be a bit demoralizing for someone who helped found the League. The Fastest Man Alive might have been fast on his feet but not so much with his words, at least not this time.

Shayera walked down the hall, likely away from the League and likely away from Earth as well.

"Does this have to be goodbye?"

She spotted Harry, Kara, Karen, Linda, and Galatea standing at the end of the hallway to face her. This was the particular group that she was most nervous about confronting when she left. Given the steps that they took to protect the Earth with their satellites and how Shayera tried for months to find a hole in them, she gathered that they would not be too pleased. Tension filled the air, it could be cut with a knife.

"It….it's goodbye for a while, I think," Shayera responded when she focused on Harry.

Shayera stood for a little bit when she swayed a little bit back and forth, trying to figure out where his head was. Harry Potter tended to be one that did not lay all of his cards out on the table. Nearly two years ago, he might have, at least that's what she figured out. A lot can change in two years time and now Shayera was witness to that. The green eyes that stared back at her could say so much but there was so much that could be said in them that could be woefully misinterpreted.

She could tell why Kara fell for him, and why the others fell for them. If she had been in their spot, she would have fallen for him as well, he was the type of person that made you think that one could trust him with anything. And that's what she thought, when she let her guard down next to him but only slightly. She wondered if he wore a mask of his own to hide what he went through from the rest of the world.

It was funny about masks; one could wear it for so long before they could become it. Shayera felt she was living proof of that, she became the mask she wore on her face. She became the spy, the super heroine known as Hawkgirl. The woman let out her breath when she spoke.

"You know, if you ever needed a place to stay, we do have many extra rooms," Harry offered her.

Kara nodded in agreement. "That's true, there's no burden for you, Shayera, none at all."

"I can't see why you would want a traitor like me in your house," Shayera answered but Harry's eyes fixed upon her with a stern expression and she stepped back a little bit. His eyes bored into her, and she felt like he stared into her very soul.

"Shayera, you made a huge misstep, an error of judgment."

Galatea decided to chime in with her own two cents. "I'm sure that I can speak better than any of them when I say that I know what it's like to be used as a pawn by someone. And you were used as a pawn. Nothing that you did is your fault. Yet you're going to have to live with the guilt for the rest of your life."

"So think about it," Karen responded.

"The offer we gave you, both of them is still open," Harry answered as he looked at the woman.

"So think about it, it's not leaving the table any time soon," Kara answered as she looked at Shayera.

"No one who matters will hold what happened against you," Galatea added, speaking from experience and words that Harry said to her. She had a bit of baggage from the Cadmus insanity and the way she was used by them. She rose about her adversity much stronger than ever before.

Shayera did not know what to say but really there was nothing that she could really say. She stood before the entire group and nodded, before she hugged them all goodbye, lingering a bit on Harry, before she pulled away.

"I'll….keep that in mind, but I need some time to think," Shayera answered but the Potters smiled at her.

"Take all the time you need."

Superman sped up his flight of his ship; it was kind of hard to find a bottled city where he didn't have many leads. And to be honest, the few leads that he had was hearsay at best from a group of people who spent the better part of the past thirty years in the Phantom Zone. Although Kara did mention that Kandor went down when she was around seven or eight years old, so they could know something about it, the math added up right. The question was what did they know, that was what flicked through the mind of the Man of Steel.

He gained even more momentum, thinking about what happened back on Earth and wondered if he would even be welcomed back with opened arms. He was raised by his parents to do the right thing and sent here by his birth parents for a greater purpose. A purpose he even questioned sometimes but when the chips were down, the Man of Steel wondered sometimes, as he traveled towards his destination. The Man of Tomorrow thought about everything that happened over the past few weeks.

Was Kandor really out there or was it a false hope that was stuck under his nose?

The Man of Steel did not know, he barely understood what was on the line but he continued to make his way towards the first probable destination where the bottled city could be. Superman put his head forward on his hands and turned his head when he rocked and rolled through the asteroids. His ship was built to sustain some of the greatest attacks in the world and a pelting of asteroids would not slow it down. In fact, it was the same ship in many ways that brought him from Krypton and then Harry and Kara helped him further modify it to withstand even more attacks.

Although he did not doubt that there was some kind of failsafe in place in case of him becoming a threat.

Superman turned his head a little bit and let out the breath that he was holding, the danger passed but there would be more to come. He placed his hands on the console and steered the ship when he continued to propel himself forward. The ship would be his vessel to bring him towards the bottled city of Kandor. The Man of Steel kept his eyes firmly focused forward, and his ears opened, he could expect anything.

The last time he traveled out into space on his own was when Darkseid's minions grabbed him and that was not an incident that Superman wished to repeat in the future. The Man of Steel steered his ship and he saw a swirling purple vortex. He did not need the ship's equipment to tell him this was a dangerous place that he did not need to be near for a while. He turned the ship around and felt a rattling from it.

A fleet of ships followed Superman from behind. He waited for a moment, before he turned his head around and his heart beat against his chest. Was….were they friendly ships or they were going to attack him? Superman waited and held his breath in, his heart beating against his chest when he turned his head towards the side and heard a weapon arm itself with a solid click in the ship.

The shields were put up to block the incoming impact.

That question was answered and Superman engaged the warp drive on his ship but he saw a barrier on the other side. The Man of Steel's eyes narrowed when everything rattled around him and he engaged the weapons. The ship had them but he hoped to never have to use them. It was a pain to have to fight someone every time that he went out.

An explosion echoed and Superman turned around, to return fire, at whoever these people were, they were dangerous. He did not recognize these ships, they were not from any alien race that he recognized from previous experiences. He engaged the sonic attacks on the ship and pointed them, before an electric field shot out. The Man of Steel fired an attack before the field propelled towards him and the ships knocked backwards. Superman put his hands on his head before he waited to see if the attack would succeed or fail.

The ships came back, not a dent back in them, when he backed off the attack, before the Man of Steel spun around. Superman flew off with the ship but a force field appeared around the ship of the Man of Steel. He smashed his hands against the ship and tried to contact back to Earth.

"Hello, Hello!"

Superman got no response, the field blocked his ship's radio and a field pulled him in. The magnetic pull wrapped around ship, holding it through the mother ship. The Man of Steel tried to push him out of the ship.

The pilot on the ship had this intergalactic fugitive, after he led Darkseid's minions to attacking his planets, the survivors of it chomped on the bit to gain some revenge. This Superman was not a hero to them, the blood of the men, women, and children he spilled proved that. All that blood stained the hands of this so called hero. And the people of Earth harbored him. Hundreds of planets signed a petition to get Earth sanctioned and put under intergalactic rule for their actions of harboring this war criminal, this fugitive, and there was nothing that the people of Earth could do about it. Any who resisted would be considered to be dangerous.

"So, Supergirl and Arcane, they're dead for a while or just you're taking a break or what exactly?"

Laura asked this question with her usual wide eyed idealism when the group of Harry and his blondes sat around at the homestead at the Potter House. Harry's phone stopped ringing, all calls went through to Lana, who earned her salary and then some due to fielding the many death threats that came through about Patronus and its Board of Directors. Despite a very vocal minority thinking that Harry was going to instigate some kind of alien invasion, the fact of the matter was he had to keep doing what he did, no matter what. Harry refused to give up, even though things appeared hopeless.

Kara came through with an answer.

"Right now, we're benching ourselves as the go to people for the rest of the world. I don't think that any of us can keep up the pace that we were doing before. It's most likely we're having a long overdue vacation."

It was hard not to jump up and save the day when it was beaten in the back of her head to jump when everyone screamed for help. And she would lie if it was not a good feeling to get the just rewards of saving the day. It did kind of make her smile but at the same time what happened around her made her frustrated. The blonde sat and contemplated her thoughts deeply, closing her eyes and letting everything simmer in her mind. A part of her felt guilt about deciding to step back from the hero thing, to put Supergirl on the bench but another part of her felt more free then ever before.

Harry thought about many of the same things, he wasn't out for the glory of being a hero or really something he enjoyed, it was something that he was good at. That made all of the difference in the world and he put his hand to his chin to ponder, closing his eyes. There was so much doubt that he was doing the right thing, although it was hard to tell what the right thing was any more and what the wrong thing was. Or even if there was a right thing anymore, a lot changed.

"This new super hero registration…."

"I don't want to even discuss it right now," Harry stated when he cut off Karen's question and she nodded, her jaw set. They all knew what Harry thought about the government sticking their nose in where it did not belong.

Kara feared that the planet would go the same way of Krypton, making decision after decision on ignorance. She was half a step away from suggesting that they all pack up and find some deserted world, while using the alien technology that they had to build themselves a new planet, a new Krypton, free of the flaws of both the old one and that of Earth. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that she had friends and she would miss many of them. Those friends had friends and family and well it was like a domino effect from there.

That was the only thing that even caused her pause and Kara turned her head.

A pop could be heard and that brought her out of her thoughts. A fence appeared in front of the line of sight of the Potters, all of them, and Laura, who was not quite a Potter yet due to not being bonded by Harry yet. A pair of eyes poked out from behind the fence with a brown hat on and a pair of eyes peered from behind it, fixed on the entire group before he let out a booming declaration.

"HIDEY HO NEIGHBOR!"

"Mxy," Kara stated in a flat voice.

The fence disappeared when Mister Mxyzptlk appeared in the flesh, in all of his purple suit wearing, floating derby glory when he looked at the entire group before them.

"Do I have a concussion or am I seeing in fives?" Mxy asked before he caught a look at Power Girl and her impressive cleavage. He acted like he was having heart palpitations. "Hello nurse!"

Karen dealt with Mxy before in her dimension and he was an obnoxious perverted troll there. Linda dealt with him too and she had more of the same experiences but this was the first time that Laura and Galatea had the pleasure of dealing with him. Laura looked curious while Galatea's eyes flashed with a tone of deepest loathing. She could tell that she was not going to get along with this thing whatever he was.

"Ah, Mxy, I was wondering where you ran off to," Harry answered, of course he thought that the imp got lost or finally the powers that be smacked him down to prevent him from returning back to the third dimension.

Mxy shrugged his shoulders and offered an explanation as only he can. "You see, things came up, you know how it goes. The wife, she's being an utter pill, just because I put off several household chores for a few million years. Sheesh, can you believe that, I mean it's not like she has better things to do with her time. But no, she has to throw me under the bus and make me do everything, without powers. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?"

Kara, Karen, Linda, Galatea, Laura, and Harry locked eyes; all of them knowing the best thing was to remain silent and play along with his game.

"You know, Mxy, we'd love to talk to you but we're heading out this concert tonight," Kara remarked as she looked at the imp and the others caught on to what she was saying.

"It's for this hot new band, all in the rage today," Linda stated.

"Yeah, it's rocking the charts, here's the CD," Karen responded when she handed the cover that Harry conjured to the imp.

Mxy put on his reading glasses to take a gander at the CD label.

"Kltpzyxm? What kind of stupid band name is….."

He realized what happened.

"Ah nuts."

Mxy vanished as soon as it appeared.

"So, it's a nice night, isn't it?" Galatea asked, acting like the little imp did not show up.

"Yeah nice night," Linda agreed but a knock rattled the door.

Harry detangled himself from his wives on the floor before he walked towards the door, wondering who could be calling him at this time of the night. He hoped that whoever was there, they were not lecturing him about the choices that he made. Because to be honest, they were fighting a losing battle, and Harry refused to even cave in. The young mage turned the door knob and clicked the door open.

The door opened and Sirius stood on the other side, with an oddly serious expression on his face. Harry's expression brightened but he wondered what brought Sirius all the way to his doorstep. There was something about the look in his eyes that indicated that he did not turn up for a casual visit.

"Sirius," Harry stated when he looked at his godfather, inviting him inside when he backed up to allow him inside.

"Hey, Harry," Sirius answered with a smile on his face before he turned to the side, and saw the group inside. "Kara, Karen, Linda, Laura, Tea…..I think that's everyone in your little group, isn't it?"

Harry offered a smile. "For now."

Sirius admired his godson's optimism and also his ambitions but he could admire that later, right now he decided to share with his godson what he was doing. He stood on the balls of his feet, a smile on his face. "You'd never guess what I've been doing?"

Kara felt apprehension dawn upon her and she looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow before she spoke. "I really hope that it doesn't involve something that might land you in a court date or something along those lines."

Sirius shook his head, with a mock pout on his face, as the other girls laughed at the situation. Kara, Karen, Linda, Laura, and Galatea all turned their attention to Sirius had to say.

"Anyway, I went looting at Malfoy Manor….no don't worry, anyone didn't see me, I was more careful than that. But I managed to come across something that you might find interesting. It's a ring like yours, perhaps not completely like yours, because there was a few difference. I'd reckon it packs a pretty powerful punch."

Sirius held out the ring for Harry to look upon and his wives, along with Laura, and their eyes bugged out when they saw it. Shock did not even begin to cover what the group saw, and their hearts sped up a little bit when they saw the ring. It had a stone like there's, only black, as opposed to the white of Harry and Kara's ring or the blue of the rings that Karen, Linda, and Galatea now presently wore.

'I think I know what this is,' Linda thought to them before she gazed at the ring. 'It was the same ring that he was wearing….Lord Potter, he used that ring….I wouldn't put it on ever if I was you. It damaged his mind.'

Harry had no intention in putting on the ring but his ring acted a bit funny before he saw the markings on the side of the ring. They were microscopic but his enhanced vision picked them up. The similarities between the two were amazing but these markings were the same markings that were on the walls in the temples and also they were the same markings that were on the ships in the cave.

They knew one thing, they found the second key to the ship.

Where was the third one?

That was the ten million Galleon question.

And That's the End of Emerald Flight Book Two. See you on October 18th 2013 for Book Three.