Astoria Greengrass, disguised in Muggle attire along with a black wig, green eye contacts, and eye glasses, exited Gringotts. She carried a briefcase, magically lightened, that contained her new riches. She allowed herself a small smile. The goblins looked about ready to rebel any day now, but obviously the fees she incurred distracted them from their anger towards humans. Astoria still had more than enough money to live the high life for the next few decades, or more.
"Well, you're a long way from Hogwarts, aren't you Miss Greengrass?"
Astoria turned her head, to face Yaxley. The man stood calm in Diagon Alley. Astoria regarded the Ministry official and Death Eater calmly and coolly.
"Yeah, I should have figured some Ministry drone would want tribute," said Astoria in a crisp voice. "Name your price, but hurry because I've got a plane to catch out of this deathtrap of a country."
Yaxley remained quiet for an instant, as Astoria surveyed him. Her wand was in her hand, and her eyes never left his face.
"I just wished to thank you for your noble efforts," said Yaxley, and Astoria looked at him like he had grown two heads. "I knew for some time the previous assassin Dolores and I hired for our plans had gone missing. However, I allowed Madam Umbridge to think that she was just merely canceling the contract, and thus reneging on the agreement. The entire Wizarding World is virtually crippled. Many of the next generation of purebloods are dead, and the same old hands at the Ministry are not getting any younger."
"So, I guess your master is pleased," said Astoria, as she leaned back and yawned.
Yaxley paused for a moment, but he responded in his usual monotone.
"No, he has nothing to do with my objective," droned Yaxley, as he looked at Astoria. "I suppose you covered your trail to ensure you would not be implicated in any of the murders."
"Very good, perhaps the inbreeding has not killed all of your brain cells," said Astoria. Standing in front of Yaxley, she held her briefcase, as if it was a beloved child.
"I will allow you to go on your way, you have no idea the part you've played in what is to come," said Yaxley, and Astoria just turned; before she walked off before anyone else would meet her.
Around this time, the Hogwarts teachers would be finding her corpse, along with the evidence pointing them to Draco Malfoy. She smiled at this. The goblins would have been a problem, with her pulling a great deal of gold from her vault, but given a little surprise she planted in Gringotts, every single person inside the bank would be dead within the next few hours. In fact, there would be no Gringotts to speak of.
Astoria slipped outside of Diagon Alley, figuring that there would be some people caught in the crossfire as well. Ignorance of Muggle technology would end up getting the Wizarding World killed, especially their explosive devices. With a few charms, they could be deadly weapons, and bring entire Muggle countries to their knees.
After all, if wizards caused havoc when they enchanted toaster ovens and coffee makers, something more dangerous would allow them to have more.
Astoria figured she had not been the only one with the foresight to pull her money. Those pureblood nobles who assumed that Gringotts would always be there and thus their gold was safe would have a nasty shock by the end of the day.
She got on a plane, and head as far away from the crime scene as possible. Astoria Greengrass had succeeded in pulling off the perfect crime. She laughed at the deaths that were likely to follow. They all had it coming because they were too stupid to leave that world behind.
Purebloods always stabbed each other in the back over the quest for gold. She just decided to take that tradition a few steps beyond that.
Winds blew through Egypt, as four figures walked towards a museum.
"The little deposit of Kryptonite has been taken care of, thankfully," said Harry, as Kara nodded beside him.
They both agreed that despite the Kryptonite vulnerability being taken care of with both Clark and Kara, it still would be prudent to get rid of as much of the stuff as they could. Given the long term effects as experienced by Lex Luthor, there was a chance that any people near a deposit of Kryptonite could be infected by the same cancer. Harry just hoped that it did not taint the drinking water, but thankfully some scanning charms indicated that there was nothing but the usual filth in the water. Harry wore a black bandanna, sunglasses, a red and gold tank top, and black leather pants, with black boots.
"So, we can get down to business," said Kara as she leaned against the stone walls. A pair of sunglasses covered her eyes, her blonde hair hung loosely down her back. A tight black tank top stretched over her chest, showing a decent amount of cleavage and exposing her tanned midriff area. She also wore tight jean shorts that hugged her hips, and showed off her legs. The top of her feet was visible in white sandals.
"Yeah, according to these directions the shop that sold the rune stones was around here somewhere," said Hermione, dressed in a more modest black t-shirt, loose black shorts, and black sandals, wearing silver bracelets, with her long dark hair tied back in a ponytail.
"The natives don't look too friendly," said Barbara, as she peered into the shop window. She was dressed in a black tank top, tight black leather pants, and black boots. She wore sunglasses and her red hair was tied back in a ponytail.
"Do the natives ever look friendly?" asked Kara, as she held onto Harry. "Just let's get in here, then we can see the sights a little bit, maybe."
"That'd be a good idea," agreed Harry, and Barbara and Hermione both nodded that they thought so as well. Harry approached the counter with the three girls. Kara hung on his arm, while the other two girls lurked in the background. "Excuse me?"
Harry concluded his question by looking over the counter, to see a very surly looking shopkeeper. He peered down at Harry, and looked at him. "Yes, what do you want?"
"What do you know about these stones?" asked Harry, as he put it on the counter. The shopkeeper remained cold and indifferent as he looked at the stone.
"Yeah, we stopped selling those things to customers seven years ago," said the shopkeeper. "The cost of making them was too expensive, and our supplier decided that he would like to up the prices."
"Yet, there was a killer over in Britain who was using them," pressed Harry, but the shopkeeper just looked stoic and unconcerned. "Who supplied you with them?"
"Forget it, I'm not going to talk," said the shopkeeper, but Hermione approached him from the other side, with a golden lasso.
"Harry, he's not going to talk willingly," said Hermione, as she held the rope. "So we're going to have to persuade him."
"Yeah tie me up, I still won't talk," said the shopkeeper, but Hermione threw the lasso around him.
"Okay, who was your supplier?" asked Harry.
"Lucius Malfoy, I think he had the stones made for cheap, Muggleborn slave labor in shops," said the shopkeeper, eyes glazed over.
"He's telling the truth," said Hermione, but Kara eyed the lasso.
"Hermione is that…" started Kara.
"I borrowed it from Diana," said Hermione, in a dismissive voice.
"Borrowed?" asked Barbara, with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I didn't technically ask, but I will return it before it was missed," said Hermione, with a smug expression on her face.
"Yeah she borrowed it, just like the time you borrowed the Batmobile," said Kara to Barbara, and Barbara turned away.
"Yeah, well that was an emergency," said Barbara, as she shifted, embarrassed at the memory.
"Dare I ask?" asked Harry.
"Never mind, just keep asking him questions," said Barbara, waving her hand.
"Okay, who's the last person you sold the stones too," said Harry, as Hermione tightened the lasso. "I'm not sure if that was necessary."
"Um, I didn't see get a name," said the shopkeeper. "I do remember this was the ugliest woman that ever lived. She looked like a toad. She said she was picking up the stones for a client. She had a nasty coughing habit."
At that point, Harry tensed up. Kara grabbed his hand, to prevent him from causing too much a scene or destroying anything in the shop that was too expensive. Harry relaxed, and peered at the shopkeeper.
"Did she say anything else?" asked Harry, as he looked at the shopkeeper, cool as a cucumber.
"She just thanked me for finally giving them the chance to put those filthy Mudbloods in their place," said the shopkeeper. "That's all I know, I swear."
The rope was relaxed from around the shopkeeper, and a stunning spell knocked him out.
"As far as he knows, it was just a really bad hallucination that he had from too much heat," said Harry, as Hermione put the lasso away.
"So, I'm guessing from the looks on all of your faces, you know who his buyer is," said Barbara, and Kara, Hermione, and Harry all nodded.
"All too well," said Harry, as he knew that woman still being alive would eventually be a problem. "Her name is Dolores Umbridge. She's one of the foulest women I have ever had the misfortune of meeting and that's really all you need to know."
Barbara felt she got plenty from Harry's tone when he talked about the woman.
"I don't understand though, why would Umbridge sacrifice a good chunk of purebloods just to demonize Muggleborns?" asked Hermione, who could not follow the logic, but then it struck her. "The first few attacks were not fatal…it wasn't until Halloween that things got serious."
"Do you think Umbridge tried to double cross her paid assassin?" asked Kara.
"It does make sense," said Hermione as she nodded her head. "And with the Muggleborn Protection Act, it would be a perfect way for her to add more provisions. Muggleborns should all be monitored more closely, and be under the care of a respected Pureblood family, all that nonsense."
"Even the term Muggleborns does seem to be a bit like they are classifying you as second class citizens," said Barbara thoughtfully. "I don't know much about that world, but from what Bruce has said, those in power think of non-magic users as something akin to zoo animals."
"Well if they had their way, everyone who went against them would be locked in cages," concluded Harry darkly. "I think first generation magic users would be a better term, but it just simply doesn't roll off the tongue all that well."
"Now we know Umbridge is behind this, do you have any idea what to do next?" asked Kara, as she looked at Harry. Harry just smiled.
"Inform Percy, and see if he can dig up anything," said Harry, as he looked around. "I do hope he can, but I'd imagine Umbridge destroyed all records and covered her tracks. And then she's under high security, while everyone else burns. Really does show you what the purebloods think of each other in the end."
The entire group nodded. Harry and Hermione both felt bad about accusing Neville of potentially being the killer. Yet, Neville's own shaky mental stability made him a likely threat.
"Never mind, we got the business out of the way," said Kara, and everyone smiled as they got onto more pleasurable leisure activities.
There were a few museums that they could check out, and some tombs, as they found out when they researched the area.
Around this time, a headless spectral figure glided into the scene. He was pale white, with a white top hat and a monocle floating where his head should have been. He was dressed like something out of Victorian Era London.
"For over a century I have searched for the descendants of the man who sent me to the gallows," narrated the ghost. "The crime was perfect, until Constable Radcliffe managed to hunt me down, and then bring me in for trial. I was put it stocks and made a spectacle of, as I hung for what I did."
The ghost turned, to peer at the approaching party that moved towards the museum, and then the tombs in the background.
"I sense the last remaining descendent of Constable Radcliffe approaching, and once I put him into the ground, my curse will be reversed," said the ghost, as he made preparations, as a walking stick with a miniature skull on the top. "He will regret having the misfortune of being related to the man who sent Gentleman Jim Craddock to the gallows."
Gentleman Jim Craddock, or now he was known as the Gentleman Ghost moved from his vantage point. Formerly a notorious highway man, who had killed man women, Craddock had hung in the nineteenth century. For decades he watched as the entire line descending from Constable Radcliffe die out one at a time. Two more members perished over the holidays, but once he sensed the final descendent approach, he must ensure a speedy demise.
The Gentleman Ghost followed quietly, careful not to alert them of his presence, at least not yet.
The quartet made their way into the museum, to gaze at the exhibits. The artifacts looked beautiful in their restored glory, but Harry did wonder how many of them were the originals and how many of them were carefully replicated duplicates.
"This is pretty interesting," said Hermione as she looked at the exhibits. "A lot of these exhibits were put together and found by Professor William Omaha McElroy."
"Hey that name sounds familiar," said Barbara.
"It should, he was that famed Professor of Egyptology," said Kara. "He got clonked on the head, got amnesia, and thought he was the reincarnation of King Tut."
"Yeah we watched some of his missions in the archive, he did have a flair the dramatics," said Harry, with a smile. "He tried to make Gotham City into Thebes."
"Yeah, but it seems like he got better over time, he hasn't made a peep in years," agreed Kara.
"What happened to him anyway?" asked Hermione.
"Well he actually was cured of his double personality, he's on medication, and he returned to Yale," said Barbara. "At least that's what Bruce said when I asked about him. Bruce tends to be a bit tight lipped about those missions from about the first five years of his existence. "
"Well Batman wouldn't be the Batman of today, if he didn't go on the missions of the Batman of yesterday," said Kara, but she shook her head. "That statement was a lot less repetitive in my head."
"I thought it made perfect sense," said Harry, with a smile, an arm draped around her waist. "Let's see what these tombs out back look like. I did have to pay a fair sum, but given Patronus Incorporated is having its second profitable quarter, I feel it will barely dent our coffers."
"Plus it's just smart for tax reasons," contributed Kara, which caused everyone to laugh.
The laughter died down after a moment.
"Well you're starting to think like business people, a bit eerie if you ask me," said Barbara, as the quartet moved down the steps into the tombs. Things were eerily quiet, as a pair of uniformed guards allowed them entry when the credentials were shown.
The group moved through the tombs in awe, seeing the burial ground.
"Now be careful don't touch anything other than the floor," said Hermione.
"Yeah there's some rather dangerous magic down here, curses to prevent tomb robbers," said Harry, as he pointed over to a skeleton that had two heads. "Case in point."
Barbara gasped, as Kara looked at it, shivered a bit.
"Yeah, the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs were rather protective of their treasures, even after they passed away," said Hermione. "I think some of the curses on this tomb are mild. There were others that had a thrall to compel people to touch the treasures. Then be robbers were turned into insects, before giant spiders ate them."
"Yeah, I get it, don't touch anything," said Barbara with a shudder, but a loud creek could be heard in the distance. "Dare I ask what that might be?"
Footsteps could be heard from inside the tomb, coming from a direction with no entrance or exit. Harry tensed up, as did Kara, Hermione, and Barbara. They waited for another noise, but things got quiet, a bit too quiet.
"Everyone on their toes, this could get messy if there's something in here with us," said Harry, as he stood with Kara. "Everyone watch each other's back. We don't want anything sneaking up on us."
Kara, Harry, Barbara, and Hermione all stood back to back in a square. The group moved slowly through the tombs, but a bright flash indicated they were far from alone.
To their credit no one screamed, which only proved to show how much their experiences with the strange and the bizarre had hardened them. For several rotting mummified corpses stalked them, arms outstretched. They gave low, inhumane moans. Immediately, Kara sent a blast of heat vision at them. The impact blew them up in an explosion of dust and worms.
"Lovely," said Hermione in a dry voice, as Harry waved his hand. Several spikes shot out from the ground, to prevent their attackers from moving forward.
"We need to get out of here," said Barbara, but from the other side, they saw another group of mummified Inferi walk towards them. "And of course they'd block the exit."
"There's more than one way out of these tombs," said Harry, as he waved his wand. A wall of fire shot up, and caused the undead army to back up. "Kara, scan the blocks, find a weak spot."
"On it," said Kara as she did as she was asked. Her X-Ray vision scanned the blocks one at a time. After a few seconds, she had struck pay dirt. "Weak one, right here."
"I'll get it, make sure those zombies or whatever don't get there," said Barbara, as she pulled a small explosive charge out of her bag. She moved over, as Harry levitated several rocks to form a shield to protect them.
The side chamber exploded, and lead to a set of stairs, where another group of mummified Inferi stalked them.
"Okay, you've got to be kidding me!" snapped Kara, as she fried two of the zombies with her heat vision. "I just wanted one day off. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?"
Kara blasted the steps with heat vision, causing them to blow up, and the Inferi to stumbled down. Kara grabbed Hermione, and Harry grabbed Barbara, as they flew their friends out, with Harry sending fire back down the steps, and Kara sending one more blast of heat vision.
Harry shielded them, as Kara smashed through, and caused the stones to cave in, leading to the Inferi to be sealed in the pyramid.
"A vacation, that's all I ever wanted," said Harry as he looked up, to see the army of the undead stalk them in the desert.
"Someone seems to want to prevent that," said Barbara, as she pulled out explosive pellets and tossed them, blowing the sand. Kara heated up the ground, causing the Inferi to burst into flames.
"And they have swords and spears too, that just makes it so much better," said Hermione, as she ripped one of the offending zombies in half with a blast of purple light. She grabbed the sword out of his rotting hand. Then with a swing, Hermione decapitated two of the Inferi.
They bent down to pick up their severed heads, and Kara let them have it with a blast of heat vision. Harry used a handy spell to widen the scope of her heat vision, flash flying twenty zombies in one shot. The worms promptly dried out and died in the middle of the desert.
Barbara held a Baterang in her hand, and threw it into the air. It stuck to the side of the pyramid. With a press of a button, she caused an explosion, and several stones fell to crush the zombies.
They continued to fight, as Harry wondered if whoever was behind this had raised every single person who died in Ancient Egypt. Yet the endless army of the undead continued to fight them, as the quartet baked under the hot Egypt sun.
"The intense heat doesn't seem to be bothering them," said Hermione, as she ripped through one of the attackers with a sword.
"That just means someone fixed that weakness," said Harry, as he held a sword, and lit it on fire. He swung the flaming sword, and the Inferi burst into ashes.
"Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious," said Hermione dryly, as she deflected the attacks. She followed that up by sending blue flames at them.
"A plan would help greatly now," said Barbara through gritted teeth. "Or some help because we are grossly outnumbered."
"Yeah, well either isn't happening," said Kara, as cut up more of the Inferi with her heat vision.
At that point, a masked woman with wings, dressed in a yellow top with black and red pants swooped down. Red hair flowed from underneath her mask. She hovered above them, to survey the situation below her.
"Stand back!" she yelled and sure enough, a large mace swung down, to knock the entire army of the undead back with an explosion. They retreated, as if some kind of weakness had been triggered. "You better get out of here, to a safe place."
"Good idea," said Barbara, as it would give them time to regroup. Harry grabbed one of the stones, and activated turned it into a Portkey, but not before he placed a tracking spell on their mysterious friend.
"Everyone touch a finger on it, we're leaving," said Harry, as they were transported back to the hotel complex that they were staying out.
"So, would anyone clue us in on who that was?" asked Hermione after she broke the silence, as they took some ice water and drank it, rehydrating from fighting in the scorching desert.
"Well, the wings, the outfit, and the attack first, ask questions never attitude, I'd say a Thanagarian," said Kara, as she leaned back, deep in thought. "The real question is what is a Thanagarian doing on Earth? Thanagar is way out the way. Further even than Krypton and Argo was."
None of them had any idea, but Barbara slid into her bag, and pulled out her laptop. She was able to interface with the Bat Computer, to see if she could find any information on their mysterious winged ally.
"She's a mysterious heroine, goes by the name of Hawkgirl," said Barbara. "She showed up, about three or four months ago, mysteriously."
"So, let me get this straight, she's mysterious right?" asked Kara, and Barbara just gave her a dirty look. Kara just responded with a grin.
"Hawkgirl, never would have guessed," said Harry dryly. "So anything else about her, Barbara?"
"Just the usual stop a few criminals, and leave them battered for the police," said Barbara as she read the file. "She has that mace; I don't know what it's made of."
"Nth metal," said Kara without missing a beat. "It's a rare substance, has magical properties. The biggest deposit of it was found on Thanagar. It can be a powerful tool for defense or destruction."
"So we're dealing with a mysterious winged vigilante, and have very little information to go on," said Harry, as everyone nodded. "I'm more concerned about who sent the army of the undead Egyptians at us."
"Someone dangerous," summarized Hermione. "Of course, there are any number of people who have it for Harry."
"I can't see why," said Harry in a dry voice, but at that point, he held his hand out. "Well we can wait about the mystery of the living dead. Hawkgirl on the other hand, she'll be easy to track down."
"You put some kind of tracking spell on here, didn't you?" asked Kara, and Harry nodded.
"If Bruce was here, he'd tell you that you're learning," said Barbara, as the group got up, refreshed from their rest. "Let's see what we can find out."
Everyone had questions they wanted answered, and set off, as Harry lead them to the location of this Hawkgirl.
In a set of catacombs, Shayera Hol, better known as Hawkgirl, walked. She held her mace tightly. For the past couple of weeks, she had chased this mysterious criminal known as the Gentleman Ghost, but he had eluded her at her every turn. Until she finally tracked him to Egypt, and just in time, as he had set a small army of the undead on four tourists. Of course, the tourists did seem rather capable, but this dangerous criminal would have turned them into worm food eventually.
She looked at the writings on the wall, translating them carefully. It appeared the Gentleman Ghost had found some way to alter the writings to raise the army of an ancient Pharoah. Of course, the spell was incomplete; there was still one more set of writings he had to alter. The mystic artifact he stole caused him to remain one step ahead of her.
Shayera remained calm, as she had footsteps. Four heroes walked up to her. She stood her ground.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, clutching her mace tightly.
"I'm sure we could ask you the same question, Hawkgirl," said Kara, as she was dressed in her Supergirl costume now.
"So you've done your homework," said Hawkgirl, as she adopted a neutral expression, but remained in a battle stance.
"Yeah, we do tend to do that before we go chasing after mysterious hawk people into ancient catacombs," said Hermione, as she stood dressed in a black pants with stars, and a black tank top, with a head band and bracelets.
"So Supergirl, Batgirl, Wonder Girl, and Spanner isn't it?" asked Hawkgirl.
"Arcane," corrected Harry through gritted teeth.
"Sorry, I must be a bit behind on the official super hero name changes," said Hawkgirl, as she continued to stare down the group.
"You're a long way from Thanagar, you know," said Kara, as she looked at them.
"Ah, Kryptonian, that figures with the powers under the yellow sun," said Hawkgirl with a nod. "We didn't have much to do with your race, but our relations were cordial enough. Of course Krypton was isolated, and didn't really trust anyone. About the only story I could remember was my father telling me he got into a bar fight with someone…Zor-El I think his name was. Ever meet him?"
"Um, yeah, he was my father," said Kara, and Hawkgirl looked rather amused by the situation.
"Well for what it's worth, I think that fight was a draw," said Hawkgirl. "Of course, in many ways, we both lost everything. Thanagar is a long way from my mind, I doubt I could find my way back, providing it is still there. Which given all of the wars, there is a chance it might be long gone."
"Sorry to hear that," said Harry, as he tried to see if there was any deception to these statements. Of course, she was hard to read, and Harry could pick up nothing that concerned him. At least nothing right away, but he felt the need to delve a bit deeper later.
"Yeah, it's a really bad situation to lose an entire world like that," said Kara in a knowing voice.
"Well, there are still colonies and outposts, for what it's worth," said Hawkgirl, as her voice remained even.
Barbara spoke up at that moment. "Yeah, that's interesting and sorry about what happened to your people, but what were you doing here?"
"I was tracking someone called the Gentleman Ghost," said Hawkgirl after a long pause. She allowed that to sink in, before she continued to talk to them. "He took a mystical artifact, and I've been chasing him night and day for the past two weeks."
"So just for my curiosity, this little mystical artifact would have the ability to raise the living dead, would it?" asked Harry, and Hawkgirl nodded slowly. "Yeah, I thought so. They seemed to be after me in particular. Of course, I'm so used to people being after me, that I just automatically assume these things."
Kara cleared her throat, and she heard groans. "Something's out there, something that shouldn't be."
The side windows cracked open, and the army of the undead spilled into the catacombs. Hawkgirl raised her mace, and smashed them, but there seemed to be even more of them then ever before.
"Whatever you do, don't split up!" yelled Hermione, having seen enough horror movies that she knew splitting up always ended badly. She grabbed the sword she borrowed earlier, and began to stab it into the Inferi. They moved forward, and Barbara threw several ice pellets. The zombies froze, and then shattered to pieces on the ground. Harry and Kara double punched through the army, while sending combination heat vision and flame spells at them.
Kara grimaced as dirt and worms covered her hands, but suddenly, the dismembered body parts of the Inferi reconstructed themselves.
Hawkgirl swung her mace, and backed off the patch work creatures made from the dismembered body parts.
"Okay, this is getting really bad!"
The yells echoed, as the entire army poured in through the busted windows.
"Everyone hang on, I still got one more trick up my sleeve," said Harry, as he held back the invading army with fire, but even that could not delay them for much longer. The army continued to scratch, and reach for living human flesh.
"Yeah, just figure something out," said Barbara, as she collapsed to the ground. Blue flames shot from Hermione's wand and burned several of the Inferi up.
"He must have completed the spell," grunted Hawkgirl, as she motioned for them to float above the ground. She slammed her mace down on dirt floor. A charge managed to blow several of the Inferi back. Harry waved his hand, and vanished all of the body parts before they could merge together into patchwork creatures again.
"Just how big was this guy's army?" asked Harry.
This was a question that no one seemed to want to answer. The creatures continued to bust their way inside, and fire just held them back.
"We need an escape route," managed Hermione, as she dropped to the ground.
Kara felt herself pushed back. The stress of today was beginning to get to her, and she felt her hands warm up.
"Get away from him!" yelled Kara, as she saw them close in on Harry, who fought them off.
A blast of mystical energy shot from her hands, and banished the Inferi back. The attacks were raw and controlled, but they served the purpose. Not to mention, said attacks caught the Kryptonian girl completely off guard.
Kara looked at her hands in shock, as the entire group got up to a standing position. Time seemed to stand still, as Kara whispered one surprised thought as she found her voice.
"I can do magic?"