McCauley sat in his chair in the early morning light, reading Enrapture's report on the incident at the arms factory the previous day. Clearly the right choice had been made, and there was nothing worth worrying about. He leaned back in his chair. Apart from the annoying matter of the "statue" in his garden having vanished the previous week, presumed stolen - which while very annoying after the trouble he'd gone to to get hold of it, wasn't a major problem of the order the insect could have caused, and he expected that it would be retrieved shortly - everything was going smoothly... ______________________________
Endgame, T-4 hours
"I'll ****ing kill him!"
For even Trinity-Purple to use such language was rare. For Trinity-Orange it was absolutely unprecedented.
But while Leviathan's giant hand was holding the three Trinities down until they'd calmed enough to function, their anger wasn't directed at him. And one glance and the countermances of the others looking on showed that, even if they weren't ranting, they shared their teammate's anger at her violation.
Someone would pay. ________________
Earlier, Lorna had finally broken down and asked for help from Irma, after a month since her return from her mysterious disappearance.
For Tela, finding something big hadn't been unexpected. But what she found was. She wondered how to break it to Trinity, but as she was in Trinity's mind, her unease - though not the specific cause - was communicated to Lorna herself.
"What is it?" Lorna asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.
Irma choked. She had to tell her. "Remember how I said everyone has psi-shields to some extent, and I said yours were especially strong and we worked on making them stronger still?"
Trinity nodded.
"Well, since we did that, someone's put a...," she struggled to find the word, "a 'door' in your shield. Any telepath who knew about it could get into your mind without any effort and..." again she paused, this time simply to collect herself. This was disgusting... "alter your mind without effort in any way they wanted to. They could make you do anything, forget anything, make fake memories, alter your personality.... To whoever did this you wouldn't be a person, just a..."
She stopped, overwhelmed by the mix of fear, panic and rage coming from Trinity, who split trying to make sense of it all. Purple asked who, Neutral asked if whatever damage had been done could be undone. Orange said nothing.
"I don't know yet. Once you remerge, I'm going to put you to sleep and see what I can do - I should be able to undo the damage." I hope, she didn't add aloud. ______________________________
Endgame, T-2 hours
Tikhik was the first to emerge from his own portal, naturally enough, but Tom, Nori, Sul and Igor weren't far behind, and they stood for a minute, looking over the famed Metropolis skyline from the southern slope of Mount McCauley, of all places (formerly Mt. Apricot). Tikhik knew he was almost there now, and they went down into the city to kill a few hours while they planned. ______________________________
Endgame, T-30 minutes
Andromeda lay in bed after a sleepless night. She hadn't changed her clothes, and so still wore the bloodstained costume from the previous day when she heard a crackling at the door, and saw a white flash melting her weld from the previous day. She lay back as the weld was broken and Spark opened the door.
"Laurel?"
Andromeda didn't show any sign she'd heard.
"Earth to Andromeda..." Spark looked very worried at seeing her lying back, eyes open, Andromeda thought. Pity she was wasting concern on her.
Ella paused for a moment, then looked Andromeda straight in the eyes. She wasn't breathing, but she knew that didn't mean anything with Laurel, given how long she could hold her breath for.
"LAUREL!" She yelled straight in Andromeda's ear, while letting off a huge flash right in front of Andromeda's face. Even Andromeda couldn't remain impassive at that combination, and yelped, rolling off the bed away from Spark.
"Laurel, are you okay?"
"If we say I'm not, hypothetically, would you say a bright flash in front of my face and someone shouting in my ear when I've got super-sensitive sight & hearing would help?"
"You scared me."
"Maybe I scare myself... look!" she thrust her bloodstained gloves at Spark.
Spark paused, trying to think for a moment on how to react to Andromeda's hyperemotional state. "Laurel, it's done. For better or worse, it's done," she said firmly, "If you can't deal with it, maybe you should try and get help, or ask if you can take a break. C'mon, I'm here to take you down anyway, since Paul's just got back and McCauley wants to see us all, so you can ask him there. Go and get a fresh uniform and I'll wait while you get washed."
Laurel allowed herself to be steered towards the shower at that, while Spark called McCauley to explain the delay. ________________
"WHAT!?" McCauley sounded utterly shocked at the concept of an unscheduled request for time off - and immediate time-off at that - with the added audacity of him being interrupted having already been delayed by the requestee, "Out of the question, I have clients expecting you specifically for the next fortnight. Now, if I may continue.."
"Please, I can't continue like this for now. I need a break," Andromeda's voice was becoming uncharacteristically raised.
McCauley didn't read the signs. "No."
"Please,..." She was outright pleading now.
"No."
Laurel swallowed. Hard. "I need to do this. I'd rather go with your permission, but if I must, I'll go without and quit."
"You can't. You signed a contract saying you would obey my orders for its' duration, and I'm ordering you to land and to remain within this building until I say otherwise."
Andromeda floated down, straining against herself. But she was not about to drop it. "Let me go!"
"No."
"Let me GO!" she shrieked
"Drop it Laurel," Spark muttered too quietly for anyone else to hear. She was regretting having brought up the idea now, and was worried about what was going to happen to Andromeda if this kept up.
"No."
"LET ME GO!"
"No."
"LET ME GO!"
"No. Now obey me and be quie..." McCauley stopped suddenly. Andromeda had fallen forward, her head, elbows and knees on the ground, screaming.
quote:Laurel Gander had been flying for hours. She didn't want to go through officialdom to get to the Legion - that would be begging for a rejection and for someone to try and send her back to the orphanage (heh, like they could), but she didn't know where they were, and even with her speed and sight, she needed some idea of where to look to find them. The announcement hadn't said where their first mission was, only that they were "setting out." She had time though - at this height and speed, no-one could see her, and it wasn't as if she actually needed food anyway.
*ugh*
She'd been so focused on scanning the horizon, she hadn't noticed the van beneath, and she'd been hit. Disorientated, she'd fallen halfway to the ground before she recovered and levelled off. Eyes glowing red, she looked around for what had hit her, when another ruby pulse from the laser cannon hit her. She barely managed to recover from that one, but as she did and saw the van, a third pulse hit her skull, and she fell, already unconscious by the time she landed with a "thump."
quote:Laurel woke up and felt the bonds around her wrist and ankles. When she tried to break free, her strength felt gone, then moments later one of the old doctors turned round, saw she was awake, and nudged the other. They took a new set of electrodes from a plastic bag, plugged them into a machine behind her head she couldn't see, then smeared electrolyte jelly on her temples before placing the electrodes on top of this surface and taping them in place. The large, overly-dramatic switch was pulled. She screamed.
quote:"How did I get here?"
"Don't you remember? You signed up for the Workforce, and there was an accident in your first training session. I think you took a nasty blow from the Chinese kid, and it ended up with you all concussed. Not to worry - you should feel right as reign in a day or so."
quote:«Leader?! How did I end up in this mess?»
She remembered leaving the orphanage in an attempt to find & join the Legion . After hours of flying around, trying to find the team, she'd talked herself out of it. Obviously they'd never accept someone who just... flew in and said "Hi, can I join your team?" It was hopeless.
Then she'd spotted the McCauley recruitment poster, and when she reached the building it mentioned on it, she'd been admitted to a meeting with Mr McCauley himself! Awed, of course she'd joined up straight away. And apart from that one strange incident where they all K.O.ed each other, she'd not had any real cause to regret her choice. Who'd have thought that Laurel Gand, an orphan with no living relatives and no money could make good so quickly?
quote:Andromeda was nervous as she stepped out of the black limousine. That feeling came more and more often to her nowadays, even if she was still good at not showing it, since she seemed to be expected to take a higher and higher profile. Still, this was verging on outright scary, and she stepped off the ground in case her walk was affected by the threat of her knees trembling.
The actual photo shoot had been arranged over a month before, but she had only found out about it a few days ago. The prospect, to her, wasn't thrilling.
quote:Andromeda sat in her dressing room and looked at the excuses-for-clothing she was meant to be pictured in. It wasn't that she was ashamed of how she looked - far from it - it just felt... wrong to pose like this.
quote:Andromeda finally got back into her own clothes at the end of a long, long day. Refusing the chauffeured lift back, she flew high and fast before anyone could object.
«Haven't been up here in a while,» she thought as she soared into the clear night sky. Ever since she'd joined McCauley, in fact. And after a day like that, the little voice at the back of her head that sometimes niggled "Why" got louder. It was something she hadn't wanted to do, and yet she'd done. And the flight over a desert road, only a van travelling the empty road in any direction within five miles of her, rang a faint bell somewhere in her head.
«Why?» she wondered as she touched down at the Workforce compound.
quote:"I heard the Legion had invited us, but no-one told me You-Know-Who had said we could go."
Andromeda bit back an automatic remark about calling McCauley that and wondered why she'd had to
quote:"I think whoever thought 'comic book superheroes' was a good theme for us was being far too cute... just look at some of these costumes."
"Says the girl who spent Thursday having her picture taken in a hundred bikinis or less," smirked Spark as she moved in to look at the screen. Admittedly, a few of the costumes WERE a bit... extreme, but most weren't anywhere near as bad as the now beet-red Laurel had suggested, especially when they went around in practically painted-on blue and black suits as a matter of course. "Why'd you do it anyway?" she asked in a more serious tone after seeing Andromeda's discomfort.
"I... don't know," Laurel muttered in a small voice.
Andromeda stood slowly, then silently hovered in the air, eyes glowing red.
McCauley gaped at her as it dawned on him what had just happened. He'd pushed her too far. Her programming was gone, her memory restored.
The chained princess had cast off her shackles.
She was become Death.
His Death.
Endgame: Ignition
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
Andromeda hovered there, unspeaking for a few moments, her only movement a slight trembling in her limbs. McCauley took advantage of that to press a button on his watch, and a lilac-skinned elven girl appeared.
"Send her somewhere - anywhere away from me and my property!" McCauley screamed at the girl. At that, Andromeda began to tear towards him, eyes still glowing, but not faster than the blink of an eye. She was gone.
"Now, send me you-know-where. And you -" he gestured at the other Workforcers, "- you, protect this place. Except you -" he pointed at Enrapture "- you come with me."
This time the elven girl raised two spears and threw them at McCauley and Enrapture, who both vanished. Then, for the first time since she'd been forced to ignore Trinity's pleas for help, the girl known as Blink smiled. McCauley screaming to send the leader of his Workforce away "anywhere away from him and his property" could mean only one thing. And she'd taken the command literally - and taken her first chance to do something to stop her "master." ____________________
Earlier:
Cosmic Boy's helicopter landed atop the skyscraper which contained Legion HQ. Unaware of what had happened shortly after his plane had left Polarity at Workforce HQ, he tore toward and down the stairs, the lift too slow for him at that moment. The only time he paused at all was to collect himself outside Trinity's room, and then only for a moment.
"How is she? Who did this?" he walked in, imbuing his voice with all the authority he could command after a trying three days, between his gran's stroke and the... horrible... news about Lorna.
"She's... well... she's angry." Tela, now sitting alone at Trinity's bedside, sounded exhausted as she spoke, "I've put everything back into place as best I can for now, and I treble-checked all the 'back doors' are shut and nailed locked, but her levels of emotion are making it difficult."
Cos remembered when the call came in from Garth six hours before at the hotel where he'd been staying, filling him in on how Trinity had finally come to ask for help, and the shocking results of her initial scan - how Trinity had been made to forget the fortnight, through a "back door" inserted into her mind, making her like "a puppet on a string." Cos had rushed back immediately, and guessed that Tela had been working constantly to undo the damage since Garth's phone call. He asked a couple more questions, got answers, then said, "You can't do anything more for her just now then?"
"I'm keeping her in REM sleep, trying to let her work out her anger without Gene having to pin her to the floor again."
"If she wakes up, I'll handle her. Go to bed. You look like you need to sleep yourself pretty desperately."
"But,..."
"GO! That's an order."
Normally, Irma would have argued, but after a busy day and a night of psychic surgery, working to undo the injury which had been done to Trinity, she was exhausted and her resources were low. She simply didn't have the strength to argue, and so trundled off to bed and hoped that Cos knew what he was letting himself in for.
Cos was left alone by Trinity's bedside, and while she still slept, dialled a number he kept in his head on her bedside phone.
"Brande." The gruff voice always answered the phone curtly, so much so it seemed almost out of character to those who knew him well, but Cos detected an even quicker edge to it than usual.
"Mr Brande, it's Rex. I'm at her bedside now, and I just sent Irma to bed. She was exhausted."
"By damn, how IS she?"
"Irma says she's stablised, but she was very angry..."
"Understandably so, I'd say!"
"I agree, but it means she can't quite get a bead on whether she's done or not. Most of the damage, at least, is fixed though and all the back doors are - quote - 'shut and nailed locked' - unquote. No-one's using her as a puppet again."
"Who was it?"
"Apparently, Leonard McCauley."
On Cos' answer, Brande went silent. That was very bad. Cos had come to know the old man well since he'd helped to save his life, and his anger was usually accompanied by a verbal explosion. He'd only seen him go silent once in anger, when his face twisted in a snarl, his fists balled up so tight that the skin almost split at the knuckles, and following pronouncements were in a low growl composed of pure hatred, leading Cos to fear he might have a stroke or heart attack.
Trying to move Brande's thoughts away from McCauley and back to Lorna, Cos asked when he was due in.
"An hour," Brande said in the low voice he'd expected and feared, "Damn weather's cost me at least two hours, and I won't land at JFK for at least forty-five minutes. I'll be straight up when I get there - keep an eye on her Rex, please."
"You don't have to ask, sir..." Cos' eyes turned to Lorna's sleeping form and hung there for a long moment. "Cosmic Boy out." Placing the phone on the reciever, he took Irma's seat by the bedside, and held Lorna's hand in his own while he waited for her to wake. ______________________
"Look up there in the sky!"
"Is it a bird?"
"Is it a plane?"
Tikhik looked at his comrades, an expression somewhere between annoyance and amusement on his face.
"Come on, we're in Metropolis! The place Superman's set," Sul grinned. "You have to say it!"
"Not on your life,..." Tik said, adding, "American capitalistic figleaf symbol..." under his breath.
"Hey, look up there for real!" Tom called, as they saw a red-clad figure blast across the sky, leaving a fiery trail behind.
They ran to see where the trail landed, unfortunately missing the "BREAKING NEWS" on the TVs in a nearby shop window saying "Trouble at McCauley Industries Workforce?" in the process. ______________________
Cos felt Trinity stir a moment before she groaned. "Hi. How do you feel?"
"Drained," Lorna leaned forward and rubbed her face, "Like someone got inside and sucked all the life out of me..."
"Irma said you took it pretty hard..."
"There's another way to take it? Did she tell you what it turned out to be?"
"Yeah. She also said Gene was making some calls to get a green-light."
"'Calls.' 'Green light'. Didn't need a green light for..."
"Shhhh..." Cos gently took her in his arms and held her until she stopped shaking.
"It's not just me either - what I saw - I think Paul and Garth's sister got similar treatment. When I figured that out, I decided it didn't matter what happened to me and went for the nearest phone when I should have kept doing what I had been, looking for a way out. I should have... I DID realise what would happen, and I did it anyway. Stupid..."
"Lu, listen to me - It is not your fault. Okay? It's the fault of whoever did this to you - McCauley and the people he employed to do it. Not you."
"But..."
"What's Purple saying just now? Is she saying 'But...' or 'Kick butt'?"
Trinity smiled weakly as confirmation.
"Well, sometimes, just sometimes, it's Purple you should listen to."
"Speaking of listening; listen Cos, I... I..." she stuttered for a moment, then moved closer, lips pursing.
"No...," Cos gently pushed her back, "You have no idea how much I'd like to... but not when you're barely hanging together like this."
"Cos... I..."
"I'd feel like I was taking advantage. Please..."
Before they could continue, however, there was a loud crash, and both instinctively rushed out to see the cause. As they reached the lobby, they and the other Legionnaires who had dashed to the source of the noise saw it - a hole in the ceiling, and a dent in the floor occupied by Andromeda.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
As Andromeda groggily raised herself to her hands and knees, wondering what had happened, she felt a muscle twitch in her back as what seemed like a giant rubber ball hit it, but didn't think much of it.
(Rebound, on the other hand, thought much of it as he was penalised for his hasty attack by being sent through the hole in the ceiling, then rattled around helplessly in the room above until Kinetix caught him while preparing to mend the ceiling some moments later.)
She wondered what had happened - she'd been accelerating toward McCauley, then suddenly he wasn't there and the ground was another floor height away, and she'd been so surprised she'd gone straight through one floor and almost the next one too.
Her eyes snapped open, still staring at the ground - of course, she'd been teleported. Which meant she could be anywhere. Which meant she'd have some explaining to do about the floor at best.
She contemplated making a run for it, until a male voice "coughed" and she pushed herself up to see almost the whole Legion of Super-Heroes standing around her. In their own lobby, she recognised. Crap. _______________
Cos wasn't sure how to react. After all the news the past eight hours had brought about McCauley, and what he'd done to Trinity, and presumably to the Workforce, suddenly the leader of the Workforce was standing... well, floating... in the middle of a bunch of debris caused by her crashing into the building. Without punching a hole in the outside. And she looked at least as surprised as anyone else there at what had just happened. He subconsciously moved in front of Trinity while taking a moment to decide on his course of action, especially with the team reportedly and visibly keyed up by the news.
"Legion, a..."
"Stand down." Cos cut Leviathan off before he could finish giving the attack order. Given Andromeda's confusion, the fact that she'd not attacked anyone despite her speed (Chuck didn't count, since she hadn't even seemed to notice him), her overall power level, and their location all combined to make fighting a bad idea. "Andromeda, what's going on?" he asked her over the murmurs, hoping Irma would be awake enough if needed.
"I-I-I..." she stuttered, trying to stall for a moment, before deciding, "I need to speak to you, privately. And Live Wire as well."
"All right," he said quickly, before adding, "provided Trinity can come as well. If this is what I think it is, it concerns her too."
Andromeda looked puzzled, but agreed. Before they left the lobby, however, Leviathan waylaid him to demand he be included in the talks too.
"Gene, firstly she's non-hostile. If she wasn't, she could have knocked most of us out before we even had our bearings. Secondly, you were about to give the order to attack her; she's hardly likely to trust you. Thirdly, get Irma up, we might need her. Fourthly, I need you to keep pushing for a green light more than ever at this point. Okay?"
"Fine," Leviathan said, with a tone that said the opposite. Under the cirumstances, however, Cos didn't have time for military 'intelligence', and walked over to the right-hand door, indicating that the others should follow.
"Wait a minute Cos..." The four looked around, to see Zoë floating down from fixing the ceiling, "I just wondered if Andromeda would like her costume fixed first"
Laurel looked down at her badly ripped costume, and asked Kinetix if she would do it - and to the surprise of those there, could she give her an actual change, not just a fixed-up costume. Zoë thought for a moment, thought about the Andromeda star-galaxy, and with a wave of her hand changed Laurel's ripped blue costume into a suit with black sparkly legs, collar and shoulders, a large four-pointed star to match her hair colour in the middle of her chest, and white covering the rest of her torso and arms, with her sleeves ending in gold chains around the wrists.
Laurel liked it for the most part, but asked for the chains on the wrists to be changed, to which Zoë reluctantly obliged, making her wrists match the material on her shoulder and legs. When she got the chance to design for someone else, she liked to keep the whole look as she envisaged. _________________
Once they were ensconced in a spare bedroom, Andromeda proceeded to spill her guts about what had happened to her, and Cos, realising that she needed to let it out, just let her talk for the most part, taking mental notes on how it compared to Trinity's experience, Garth sat and looked edgy, and T-Purple marched around the room while her other selves sat very still.
Once Andromeda had finished, Cos looked at Trinity-Neutral, and she asked him to tell it, which he did as briefly as possible. Afterward, they sat in silence for some moments, interrupted for Cos by a flash from Tela to let him know she was there and had been waiting for a quiet moment. Feeling her exhaustion, he confined himself to one question - could she be trusted?
«She's telling the truth, if that's what you mean. She's in an even worse state than Lorna was though - she only broke the programming and blocks because she was already teetering, and McCauley literally pushed her over the edge, and she's transferring a load of self-hatred from... something... she did recently - I can't see what, it's too raw - onto him over and above everything else. If you take her when you go to confront him, she'll probably kill him and then herself.»
«Right... thanks,» Cos closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, «One more thing before you go back to bed - can you make her really, really tired, the sort of tired where she can't keep her eyes open and needs at least eight hours sleep desperately?»
«Now more than ever, wh...» then it hit Irma. She blamed her own tiredness for making her ask the question, «s'okay, got it. It should hit her within the next couple of minutes.»
«Thanks Irma - go and get a few hours yourself. We'll need you again before long.»
He felt her go, like a buzzing he hadn't noticed until it stopped, and looked around. ________
Laurel was sitting, trying to make small talk with one of the Trinities when she felt the wave of tiredness suddenly wash over her. Trinity-Orange noticed her head slump and grabbed her shoulder in case her head hit the table, but Laurel waved her away, forcing her head up straight.
"You alright?" T-Orange asked.
"Fine, I think everything just caught up with me."
"If you want some rest," Cos broke in, "you can use this room - it's a spare."
While Trinity-Purple gave Cos an odd glance at the way he said it, Laurel was in no position to say no, and they filed out the room to give her a shot at sleep. Cos pointed out the standard dressing gown and towels as they left the room, but Laurel didn't hear - she just fell into the bed, costume and all, and was asleep within moments.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Garth took half a step back, clenched his fist so tightly it hurt and closed his eyes before they started sparking at the idiot. Irma noticed the gesture and put her arm around him quietly while Cos tried to convince the bureaucrat what they needed to do. In the meantime, Lorna was staring daggers at Gene, who was making no audible effort to back Cos up despite what they'd agreed and looked like he wished he hadn't. Cos himself, meanwhile, seemed to be the calmest in the room - true, there was a slight strain at the edge of his voice, but he had himself well under control, despite being baulked by a person at least three levels too junior to authorise anything, but who refused to allow them to access the higher-ups.
The Legion's command structure wasn't suited to initiative.
"Let me explain. Again." Mr. Bureaucrat cut Cos off - again. "Mr Leonard McCauley is a well-known and respected businessman. He has connections to both the current and incoming Presidents. His company is an employer of thousands of Americans. If you even consider this... this...," he couldn't find a word and carried on, "have you any IDEA of what damage this will cause to the United Nations?"
"Any idea if there's anyone in this building with balls?" The words spat from the back, Garth beginning to lose whatever semblance of restraint he had and earning a sharp glance from Cos for his trouble.
"I understand, sir," Cos continued, "but..."
"But you really have no idea what it's like not to be in control of your own mind, do you?" Irma broke in.
"N-now, see here Tela, you..."
"Oh, I wouldn't control you. Make you a puppet on a string, make you wear a dress and sing 'On the good ship lollipop', make you go against your beliefs, destroy your confidence. I *COULD*" and there Irma let it hang for a moment, ignoring the looks Cos and - especially - Leviathan were giving her, as the functionary looked terrified, " but that's not the sort of thing I would do. But McCauley would - McCauley HAS. Would you like to see what Trinity experienced after McCauley took her captive?"
The bureaucrat stuttered and subconsciously retreated from behind his desk closer to the corner where the two windowed walls intersected, stuttering that, no, it wasn't needed.
"But you don't REALLY believe me, do you? You're just saying that because you're scared - you think I'm making it up, exaggerating it, don't you? You're practically screaming it at me. But..."
"Tela!" Cos had finally had enough - Irma was pushing this too far.
"Look," the grey-suit-and-tie-man still looked scared, but was clearly making an effort to pull himself together, "let's say you did push past me - what then? You do the same with everyone until you finally bully someone into saying 'Yes'? If you want to do this thing you need evidence - HARD evidence, irrefutable evidence - that what you're saying is true. Until then,..."
"I understand, sir, thank you." Lorna looked on, aghast, as Cos turned and started herding the group out of the room at that point, not moving until she felt his gentle but firm hand on her shoulder spinning her round, and didn't speak to him as they went down in the lift, as they climbed into the front taxi with Leviathan while Garth and Irma took the rear, or for the whole taxi ride back to HQ. Which, she saw, Leviathan spent with a "told you so" look on his face until she finally couldn't look at him and Cos any more and turned to stare out of the window.
When they arrived back at HQ, however, and she opened the door to get out, Cos stopped her with a hand on her shoulder - "Wait Lu - I've arranged it with Gene, we're just here to let him off before we go jet-skiing."
"I d...," she started to protest, but Cos gave her a hard stare as Leviathan got out the taxi, "Fine....," she sighed and slumped back into the seat once more.
She was so P.O.ed at the situation that she almost didn't hear where Cos told the driver to take them. On hearing it, her eyes snapped open and she turned to stare at Cos.
Cos broke out in a smile, "What - you really bought it?", which led to him getting a punch in the arm. "Hey - I could hardly say 'We're off to rescue Paul and Ella and shut McCauley's brainwashing operation down' in front of Gene, could I? R.J. set the wheels in motion just before he had to leave HQ, and Lyle & Reed were setting the details up while we were over at the UN. Sorry I didn't mention it, but, you know, you looking happy in the same taxi as Gene after that..."
"Wait, so you're saying that you knew that was pointless and it was just... what... a sham to keep Gene quiet?"
"Of course not - we had to try it. If it had come off, we could have had the whole team - minus the AWOL four - rather than just me, you, Garth, Irma and the sneaky pair. Come on Lu - I need your head in the game here - there's only six of us, and we're going to need to stick together. Andromeda would have been a big help, and we had to leave her behind because she was on the ragged edge. If you're not up to it, please, tell me now."
"Don't worry - I'm up for it. No-one's catching me out ever again."
Cos heard, but ignored the minor change in wording, and hoped everything would go alright as he leaned back and shut his eyes. He was - they were - committed now, and if this went wrong... ______________
Half an hour later, they arrived at the small, private airport where Brande kept his private jet on NY trips. And there he got a surprise - where he expected two Legionnaires to greet them, there were four.
"Nura?"
"Hi Irma," Dreamer let a corner of her mouth twist into a smile on seeing her friend's shock, matched by several of the others as she stood there, her silvery hair and costume making a sharp contrast with her chocolate-milk skin, then turned to the team leader, "Cos".
"Should I even bother asking?" Cos sighed.
"I saw you were short handed, and I thought that, since you stopped Leviathan from kicking me off the team the other day..." As she said this, Trinity gave Cos a 'her too' glance and wondered how many others Gene had tried to boot off.
«Besides, I thought you might need a friend,» Irma felt her psi-link with Nura spark into life.
«Nura, I'm sorry that...»
«Don't worry about it - I know how you've been rushed off your feet. 'Sides, what you don't know, Gene can't try to sack you for,» Nura grinned and Irma felt a phantom hand clasp her own and squeeze, and she smiled back.
"And Quislet?" Cos gestured at the small silver ship hovering around Nura.
"He's been following me around for the past two days and I can't shift him - you know what he's like."
Unconsciously, every other team member present nodded simultaneously in agreement. _______________
Ella sat in a darkened corner of the Workforce HQ, trying to get everything to add up. Laurel had snapped. And McCauley had seemed prepared - shocked and scared, but prepared. Meta had always been his "pet" - in case something like this happened? That meant...
Suddenly, she was hit by a blinding migraine before she could continue down the direction her thoughts were going. "That... means..." she muttered out loud, trying to keep her mind on-track, but it was no good. She let her mind go blank, shut her eyes and leaned back, taking deep breaths as the migraine passed.
When it eventually did, she tried to pick up her train of thought - but it was no good, it was gone.
She tried to retrace her steps, thinking about what she'd been thinking about, but even as she was struggling to do that, Polarity found her. "Ella, we're wanted down at the rec room."
"Great..." she muttered, following Paul down with a sense of unease, made worse by it being so vague. _______________
The phone on his desk buzzed. "Sir, there's a plane approaching. What should...?"
"Let it land - there's no profit in shooting it down. It may be nothing - and even if it is connected to Andromeda's betrayal, she would survive it and others may too; and we would damn ourselves either way.
And, if it must be done, let it be done surely..." _______________
"Lyle says we're safe to move," Irma announced. The plane trip to the McCauley facility which incorporated the Workforce's HQ had been tense - with Cos and Garth nervous over their siblings who they hoped to find there, Trinity very quiet over what had happened to her and was to come, and Irma herself nervous for her friends and what would be expected of her, it could hardly be otherwise. Dreamer, Lyle and Shifter - less personally involved - had done what they could during the flight, and Quislet had buzzed around as usual, but, all the same - tense.
Once Lyle had "told" Irma it was safe for them to leave the plane, therefore, they wasted no time in moving out, meeting up with him at a side entrance to the Workforce HQ.
"I only did a quick scout," he explained, "but there's something downstairs I think you should see - something which certainly falls under 'hard evidence' in my book."
Cos said, "Lead the way," and they filed in turn down a corridor into an open area that Trinity, at the back of the group, presumed to be one of the Workforce's training rooms - a gymnasium, by the looks of the various pieces of equipment scattered about, she thought, rather than the more... active... room Polarity had described to Cos on their last visit. As she was looking around to see this, however, she happened to glance up as a reflection caught her eye. A reflection which came off a piece of glass - which appeared to have Leonard McCauley at a desk behind it. She looked at the rest of the group, carrying on ahead of her, and wrestled with herself for a moment - what was he doing there, surely he'd be a million miles away from trouble; she'd said to Cos - at the very least she should point it out to him; this was personal... the strain made her split.
T-Purple took one second to look each of her other selves in the eye, and ran for a door below the glass, at the opposite end from where the other Legionnaires were going. T-Neutral looked at T-Orange, thoughts bouncing between the two without words, until, after what seemed like forever but was less than a minute, they followed their more impulsive self. If they waited until Cos and co were ready, McCauley might escape - he had a teleporter, after all - and she would, could, never let him escape to do to anyone else what he'd done to her.
They caught up with T-Purple after a couple of minutes, where she was waiting for them expectantly at the foot of some stairs, the link between the three letting her know they'd followed and telling them where to go. Merging into one once more, she ascended the stairs, but was stopped at the top by someone she recognised, the sight of her sparking her anger still further.
"I'm sorry, Mr. McCauley isn't available just now. But if you'd like to leave a message, we can finish what we started at Hallowe'en," Enrapture smirked at her. _______________
Meanwhile, the other Legionnaires had continued out of the gymnasium down an open corridor. Caught up in their own thoughts, they only noticed Lorna's disappearance when Cos, immediately behind Lyle at the head of the group, glanced back as they turned a corner.
"I told her," he muttered to himself as he stopped the group.
"Cos," Lyle broke in upon seeing his face and realising the situation, "we can't go back - if she's been captured she could be anywhere, and if she's gone off herself she knows the risk - and could still be anywhere. We need to press on, get some pictures, then see if we can find the Workforce and Trinity."
Cos bit back the response he had been about to make and saw the logic in what Lyle had said. "Okay, but we need to move faster here. Hurry up."
Lyle took the hint and started running, but as they descended a flight of stairs, they had to stop again, as Dreamer gasped aloud and they spun to look at her.
"There's something big coming," Dreamer said as Tela took her shoulder, "Something bad..." _______________
Unaware of what was happening not far from his office between Enrapture and Trinity, McCauley stared at the screen on his desk, currently showing CCTV of the statis level, and saw the seven Legionnaires approaching the area that held the actual statis tubes.
This was worse than he'd expected - he'd thought they would have gone straight to the recreation room where the bulk of the Workforce was waiting for them, or perhaps even attempted to go after him, personally, with the glimpse of himself he'd given them, driving them into Enrapture's hands with the rest of the WF able to be called after them if necessary. However, he couldn't send the Workforce down to the statis level...
Tapping his pen on the desk, he came to a decision and picked up the phone, pressed four buttons and spoke. "The Legion are coming. Open pod H-07."
In his ear, he heard buttons clicking as the person on the other end checked what was in the pod in question. "But...," the voice said in the tone of one trying very hard to stay composed and doing so poorly, "But... but... he's uncontrollable!"
"As with the fire girl and the orphanage, uncontrollable can be helpful in the right circumstances. Open the pod." _______________
He woke up, entombed in a small tube.
"Hello," said a canned female voice, "You have just spent nine months in suspended animation..."
He felt himself getting angry.
"...as a direct result of the beings trying to prevent this pod from being opened, which it will do in thirty-four seconds. In the meantime..."
A roaring sound was heard, and the Legionnaires turned toward the pod in time to see it rent asunder by what was within.
"Free? Now... finally..."
The Legionnaires subconsciously began to back away slowly as they saw what was emerging from remnants of the pod...
"...HULK WILL SMASH!"
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
Sul was the first to reach the figure they'd been tracking - Nori might have been outright faster, but she didn't have the strength and natural climbing ability Sul did, and so had to wait at the base of the twelve-story building with the others while Sul checked that "laughing boy" was still there, with Tik saving his strength.
Sul enjoyed the chance to really stretch herself in the climb, hand over hand in the small crevices allowed her in the building's design, and reached the top in a surprisingly short time to see the red-clad figure hovering there - no flame like the trail he'd left along the sky; nor, indeed, any sign of any movement on his part at all. Leaning over the edge, she waved to Tik to bring the rest up; then started edging cautiously towards the floating figure, trying not to startle him.
A point which became academic when the glowing portal opened directly in front of him, leading her to curse loudly in Cantonese. _________________
"Hulk..."
Yes, we know. Learn what a personal pronoun is... Lyle thought as this "Hulk" crashed through the ceiling like it was tissue paper, before coming straight back through, nearly landing on Tela in the process. "We need to get this away from those pods!" he shouted, "if this thing lands on any of them..."
Cosmic Boy took the hint and directed most of the others towards the stairs while he and Garth unloaded at it, cutting loose with their powers for the first time ever. Initially, they made progress as the Hulk fell backwards, struggling as its' skin charring under their combined onslaught. However, just as they had it pinned, and the last of their five comrades made it to the stairs, the blackened area impossibly began to heal even as they continued blasting, and it picked itself up and started walking straight through the barrage towards them.
"Puny humans - they think they can stop Hulk and trap him again. Idiots - you can't stop Hulk. Hulk is..."
They cut the power and ran for the stairs, while the Hulk suddenly flew forward, barely missing Garth, into a wall. The whole building seemed to shake as he impacted. _________________
Trinity and Enrapture circled around each other, sizing the other up.
"What - no witty remarks, no 'You won't get away with this!'es before I make you bark like a dog, amongst other things?"
"I don't have anything to say to you. You're a puppet who likes the strings since you can get off on your sick urges and get away with it. And, d'you know what else?"
"No, and why should I care?"
Trinity, psi-sensitive as she was, felt the tingle a split second before the psi-bolt was launched, and that was enough for her to split just as the bolt reached her, tangling it and pulling at Enrapture's mind in her self-psi-link. Enrapture screamed in pain for a moment, then collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Because I was going to tell you your door was shut. But you've guessed that now, right?" T-Purple spat. As Purple and Neutral walked down the corridor, Trinity-Orange checked for a pulse. After she was sure she'd found one, she left Enrapture to join her other selves at the big door.
There, they looked at each other.
«Please Lord, let us get through this,» Orange thought «Let us get the answers we need,» Neutral continued, «Give us answers or give us death!» Purple finished, ignoring the stares of the other two. They remerged, and Trinity opened the door slowly.
The first thing she saw was the elven girl, facing away from the door, who'd looked for all the world like she'd wanted to help her that night, and couldn't. Moving quickly, she hit her hard on the back of her head with the edge of her hand, and she crumpled to the floor. After taking a second to make sure she was out cold but otherwise okay, she turned to face McCauley and spoke... _________________
Garth, from behind the Hulk, zapped the floorboards out from under him momentarily. The Hulk hadn't even been fazed by his impact with the wall, apparently. As he and Cos had chased after the others, he'd crashed through the floor behind them, and collapsing the floor was, at best, a delaying tactic.
«Straight ahead, right, left.» Irma's telepathic "voice" rattled through his head, and a glance at Cos showed he'd heard it too. With the Hulk barely behind them and catching, the sharp right turn made them skid slightly, but his size and weight meant that his foot actually wore through the floor, giving them the time they needed to make it into the gym - not the one they'd entered through, this one appeared to be empty of both people and objects, until they looked and saw Dreamer, Quislet and Tela in one corner. They rushed to join them.
"Where's...?" Cos had been about to ask for Lyle and Reed, but didn't get the chance as the Hulk bounded in - only to find Shifter's body wrapping its' way around them. Irma took her cue to launch a psychic assault on the huge man-like creature, only to find her attack bounce off its' tremendous psi-shields. A moment later, and it ripped Reed off and threw him away. _________________
Tears flowed freely from Spark's eyes - even without thinking deeply, she could see that they were in a no-win situation.
When the word of a battle between a huge, green "Hulk" and the Legion in their own HQ had started, the Workforce had been called in for "containment" - meaning, the team were under orders to assault - and assassinate if possible - any Legionnaires who escaped the big green brute; Except her brother, but that was only a small mercy. She wanted to help, to swoop in and save them - or at least help them. Instead, she sat there watching them on a monitor, ready to go and, and...
Paul, his own eyes bloodshot, put his arm around her and leaned against her. Her mind frantically looked for a loophole, as it seemed like, whatever happened, her and Paul would lose as the beast marched slowly toward the Legionnaires with the menace in its' moves... _________________
"...and into it, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all other life."
Trinity cocked her head. "Sauron in Lord of the Rings. But it describes you too. All of this -" she gestured with her hand at the sounds of the fight raging elsewhere, "It's you. Your cruelty. Your malice. Your will to dominate. If only we could just chuck a ring into a volcano and be done with you.
What I don't get is what's my part in your sorry scheme. I don't know what Enrapture took out my head at Hallowe'en, but it can't have been worth this risk. And when we found out about it, obviously this was going to happen, Andromeda or no Andromeda."
She looked at him, straight in the eye. "So what else did you do to me?"
At that, McCauley just threw his head back and laughed. Trinity split into three, and T-Purple advanced on him, and without the slightest objection from the other two, punched him square in the face.
"Who ever said..." "...it was about what we would do TO YOU?"
The Trinities gasped in shock. Two Leonard McCauleys now stood in front of them.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Laurel galloped along on horseback, just her and Swiftwind to enjoy the setting sun. She adjusted her hat and pulled him up just as they reached the brook so he could have a drink and she could take it in more fully. She pushed her long braid back over her shoulder and sighed in contentment.
Then, though, a pair of clouds appeared from nowhere to cover the sun. Then the oddly-round clouds got bigger, and bigger. She tried to pull Swifty away, but he vanished and she landed on the ground with a thud. Blue-and-black clad hands reached out, pulling her to the ground as the pair of horn-rimmed glasses the clouds had become decended, from the sky growing bigger and bigger, falling on her, crushing her. She gasped out for help, but none came, and as the last of her breath was forced from her... she opened her eyes. _________________
Interlude 2:
quote:Sul was the first to reach the figure they'd been tracking - Nori might have been outright faster, but she didn't have the strength and natural climbing ability Sul did, and so had to wait at the base of the twelve-story building with the others while Sul checked that "laughing boy" was still there, with Tik saving his strength.
Sul enjoyed the chance to really stretch herself in the climb, hand over hand in the small crevices allowed her in the building's design, and reached the top in a surprisingly short time to see the red-clad figure hovering there - no flame like the trail he'd left along the sky; nor, indeed, any sign of any movement on his part at all. Leaning over the edge, she waved to Tik to bring the rest up, then started edging cautiously towards the floating figure, trying not to startle him.
A point which became academic when the glowing portal opened directly in front of him, leading her to curse loudly in Cantonese.
"You really couldn't have waited a minute, or teleported behind him?" Sul sighed loudly.
"Ptui," Tik spat as Nori ran up to the red figure, who was still hovering there immobile, and clicked her fingers - letting off a bright flash and a loud crack in front of his face. That got his attention, and he seemed to stir as if waking from a deep sleep.
He seemed to be dressed like a racing driver, in what looked like fireproof overalls and crash helmet - but there was something odd about the way the suit was filled out, Sul thought.
"Wha..."
"It's okay," Tom hastily put in, "we're not going to hurt you or anything. We were just being,... well.. nosy about what you were doing flashing along the sky like that then hovering up here."
"Was watching TV. That a problem?" The voice, they noticed now, had a distractingly metallic edge - and sounded oddly deep despite that, with the metallic fizz taking the edge off it. Also, the intonation on one or two of the syllables were out-of-place.
"No, it's nothing - we were just killing time. Besides, it's not as if there are many others who can fly."
A noise almost, but not quite, like a sigh came from the stranger. "Sorry, w-- I get like that sometimes. I'm Drake. So, what are you up to, seriously?"
Tom instictively turned to Tik, who explained briefly.
"McCauley?", and he chortled, You should see this. It's what I was just watching."
With that, "Drake" turned to face the wall, and started projecting what looked like a news report onto it.
A large 'BREAKING NEWS' caption was at the bottom of the screen, and as the report flashed around various pictures, text appeared to go with the caption. It read "EXPLOSION AT HQ OF MCCAULEY INDUSTRIES WORKFORCE. MORE DETAILS TO COME..."
A green portal opened in front of them, and Tikhik started walking towards it, no sound, no turning round. The others followed quickly in case he shut the portal on them - including the curious Drake. _________________
Interlude 3
Andromeda woke up groggily. "Wha...?" Pushing the dream out of her mind, she thought back - she'd sat down for a few moments because she'd felt... tired? She didn't get tired - certainly not THAT tired. Then she remembered where she was and she sat up, blinking, and turned the TV in her room on.
A news channel came on with the TV, and she listened to it as she went to rinse her face, "...at his inauguration ceremony tomorrow. *jingle* There's been an explosion at Workforce Headquarters. Details are sketchy at present, but there are no reports of fatalities as of..."
It took a second for that item to sink into Andromeda's head, and a further second for her to realise the likely cause.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" she exclaimed as she burst out of the building at super-speed. It was her life that had been toyed with for months. They weren't going to deal with him without her.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
These events take place around the time of the Halloween Party.
The story: Legionnaires Flash and Kid Quantum have headed to Norway to confront Jeane Chu, whom they believe responsible for ordering the scientific experiments that claimed the lives of Flash's mother and uncle and Kid Q's brother.
Following them are Legionnaires Live Wire, Kinetix, Rebound and Blizzard. Following THEM is Berta Herrera, who calls herself Nightwind and wants to join the Legion.
************************************************
Kinetix marveled at the clearness of the cool crisp air, and how clearly she could see her two teammates. She'd been tailing them for nearly an hour, but just a few mintues ago Flash had kicked up a cloud of dust to hide herself and Kid Quantum from prying eyes. She knew they couldn't have gotten far, since Jenni wouldn't leave the slower Jazmin behind, but the only way she could have seen them would be to telekinetically sweep the dust away - and that would have given her presence away.
She'd been about to give up and wait for Garth and the others, but suddenly wind had cleared the dustclouds away. What luck! And now she could see exactly where they were heading.
"Garth, you guys need to hurry up. I know exactly where they're going and we have to stop them right now!"
************************************************
"I've scouted the area. I don't see any guards outside, but I'm sure there's some surveillance. You'll have to take care of that." Jenni said.
"Fine," Jazmin's eyes glowed as she prepared herself. "I'm ready."
************************************************
"Took you long enough."
"Sorry, Ma'am. Not everyone is capable of flight, you know. You're just lucky Irma's had enough power left to link us up to here. Now we're on our own until she can get some rest. Now where-"
"You are not hurt?" Brock jumped in, not even noticing that he'd interrupted Garth.
"Brock, I--"
"That's sweet of you, but no. All I did was fly, Brock. But let's focus on helping Jenni and Jaz, okay?" Zoe turned to face Garth again.
"They're over there, on the other side of that building. Jenni must have scouted the entrance, and-" Chuck cut her off with a gesture.
"There's someone following us." He whispered. "Listen."
They all stopped, and heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps.
Brock raised a quizical eyebrow, and Garth nodded.
They all heard the loud gasp as a flurry of snow descended in the direction of the footsteps.
posted
"Who are you?" Garth demanded to the figured bured neck-deep in snow.
"My name is Berta Herrera, but you may call me Nightwind. You are Legionnaires, right?"
The four Legionnaires exchanged looks at the calmness of the reply. Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "No sense in lying, she's pretty sure of herself. You okay?"
"Yes. I apologize for following you, but I was hoping you could help me. I want to join the Legion."
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that. You were the one who cleared the dust away for Kinetix? And I suppose you were responsible for the wind that helped push me along while I was bouncing?"
Chuck barely waited for her nod before turning to his three still-surprised teammates. He shrugged again. "I was a quiet kid. I'm used to observing the environment. She'd good, though; it took me a while to notice that the wind seemed to be concentrated in one area. Should we take her along with us? I think she'd be an asset. She's definitely Legion material."
Barely waiting for their nods, Chuck turned towards Berta. "Welcome aboard, Berta. Good work following us. Lucky for you, the UN's still squabbling over the Legion membership protocols. Most of the others wouldn't turn down a new member either. Now, let's get that snow off you."
"Thank you!" Though her voice was controlled, Berta's grin spoke volumes. "I can blow it away."
As they watched Berta do just that, Brock whispered. "That IS Chuck, right?"
Zoe frowned. "He mentioned being class president in high school, but I never thought he was like that."
"Just goes to show you-"
Garth's next words were drowned out in a sudden explosion.
McCauley exhaled as he landed on his chaise - he didn't have long. The machine and potion worked on a combination of science and magic, but only rudimentary tests had been completed - enough to know it wouldn't kill him, but he couldn't be sure of the results, and it would normally have been some time before he used it on himself as he had planned.
With Andromeda free, however - and looking to kill him on the face of it - time was exactly what he did not have. He needed power and he needed it immediately, whatever the risk.
He sat in the chair and directed Enrapture to press the button... ________________
"Now..." the two McCauleys' voices each echoed the other. They stamped their feet, and suddenly four McCauleys stood before the three Trinities, eyes beginning to glow. "...where were we?"
The Trinities stood their ground, stern-faced and determined not to let him win. ______________
As the Hulk had almost reached the team, Cos and Garth setting their chins for another attempt at blasting him away, he felt something on the back of his neck. As he reached round to rip it away, however, it suddenly let out a deafening high-pitched squeal, while Lyle materialised briefly behind him and gestured for them to move. They were barely out of its' way when he pulled it off and crushed it in his hand, but then Shifter, not bothering with subtlety now and bulked up into a huge, lumpy, orange form grabbed the Hulk from behind and managed to toss him across the room away from the team.
Dreamer took that moment to tell Cos, Garth and Irma that help was coming, and if they wanted to save their siblings, now would be a good time to take the door behind them. "Don't worry about us," she forced a smile, "we should be getting help any moment now..." ______________
Tikhik stepped into the building he'd barely escaped from, on the verge of being brainwashed, for the first time since and shivered.
"Be strong, Tik," Tom muttered behind him as they walked along the corridor, then louder as they entered the first gym, "Nori, Sul, stay close. We don't know what's going to..."
"McCauley..." Even from such a great distance, Tikhik saw a Leonard McCauley through the same window Trinity had earlier, and vanished.
"Good luck Tik," Tom thought, then said aloud, "Come on, he can't have gone far, let's see..."
For the second time in as many sentences, he was interrupted as Shifter came flying through the wall toward them, shrinking to normal size as he went.
"I've got him!" Sul shouted, and jumped high and forward, gauging her momentum so that she wasn't forced backward when Shifter flew into her arms.
"Who...?" Shifter said, slightly weakly, as they landed.
"We're friends," Tom said, recognising the Legionnaire, "and let me guess," spotting the Hulk through the huge hole now blasted through the wall, "he's the bad guy?"
"Looks that way, doesn't it?" Shifter coughed and stood, focusing on healing his bruises as Nura stood directly in front of the Hulk, staring him down, "Normally I wouldn't ask, but most of my teammates are down or elsewhere, and any help you can provide..." ______________
Three of those teammates, the three founders of the Legion of Super-Heroes, were walking down a corridor at that moment.
Cosmic Boy was tense, but was pushing it down, taking care to play the leader, trying not to think about his brother. If only he hadn't dropped him off here, at Workforce HQ, that very morning...
Tela was thinking hard about the "surgery" she'd done on Trinity to remove her programming, and thinking how to replicate it quickly, or whether she should just try and keep them out cold and do it later. She also had a mental link with Dreamer, and the picture of the Hulk's face wasn't helping.
Live Wire was in chaos. The last time he'd seen his sister had been at Hallowe'en, where she'd blown him off. The previous time nearly had them blowing each other up. Now, with the knowledge that she'd been brainwashed, he didn't know what to think.
His sister - Ella Raines, Spark - herself was lying in wait ahead with the other four remaining members of the Workforce. When the three Legion founders had broken off from the fight against the Hulk, they'd been ordered into the ambush position. She wasn't happy.
She looked across at Polarity, who was equally unhappy. Neither of them wanted to fight.
They heard them coming, and Dragonmage, hovering above, signalled. Inferno's hand started to glow, and Reflecto drew his swords. Spark and Polarity also powered up, more reluctantly.
"GO!" They leapt out.
Ella, on point, took a moment to think which one she would do least damage to with an attack, and started to zap Cos, expecting the same result as an assault on Polarity - namely his powers going momentarily haywire but no great damage. However, Cos was better-trained than his brother and managed to deflect the beam so it hit the floor, scorching it but causing little damage.
Garth then grabbed her arms, "Ella, what the hell are you d..."
She cut him off, "Garth, knock me out."
"Wha...?"
"You're the only one I've been told not to attack. I can't stop myself. KNOCK ME OUT."
"Why... why...?"
"He pushed Laurel too far, she broke free. I think that was the reason. Now please... think of all the times I've been a witch at you over the past few months... whatever. Just do it. I'd rather wake up with a bad headache than kill someone."
They heard a thump to their side and turned to see Cos lowering Polarity's body gently to the ground as Tela fought to keep Reflecto and Inferno at bay. "Do it Garth. That's an order."
Meanwhile, Dragonmage hovered above the battleground, looking on silently... ______________
There were no words now, only action. Trinity was young, fit, an expert hand-to-hand fighter and used to co-ordinating three bodies to work better as a team than three individual fighters. McCauley was none of these things, but every blow rained on him meant another McCauley appeared. There were already six of him, and with no obvious limit his numbers were threatening to overwhelm her, even as she thought hard for ways to incapacitate them that wouldn't spawn more. She twisted, turned, merged and demerged expertly to dodge without striking him, but still four became six, seven, eight, and their eyes glowed with energy if they tired of a physical fight. But just as Orange tripped from the increasingly frantic pace demanded of her, their enemies' eyes were suddenly elsewhere.
"Hello McCauley." Tikhik's voice dripped with ice as he exited the portal, seemingly unsurprised to see ten Leonard McCauleys turn their eyes toward him.
Things happened quickly then.
Twenty white-hot beams of energy lanced towards Tik, as Trinity took the moments' respite to remerge behind the McCauleys.
The energy beams hit not black exoskeleton, but green portal.
Trinity demerged again and swept three McCauleys from their feet.
Their eyebeams met the others returning through a portal from the ceiling.
Beams from above and in front met two of the McCauleys and sliced each in half. ______________
"Ten, nine..." Dreamer counted internally while she stood under the Hulk as it looked uncertainly at her, internal conflict raging through its dull brain as it decided what to do with this girl who was staring him straight in the eye. "Eight, seven, six..." As it began to lower its fists, however, it lurched as if in pain and roared, "Hulk SMASH," looking at her as if responsible for it, "Five, four, three," it raised its' fist, "Two, one,..." it began to bring it down, almost as if in slow motion... "Zer-Ouph..."
The "Ouph" she let out wasn't because of the Hulk's fist, but because of Nori slamming into her, winding her as she stole her away from imminent death.
"You were a second late," she panted as Nori set her down beside the others. Nori just raised an eyebrow at that. ______________
"I-- I--" Live Wire looked into his sister's eyes, when, suddenly, they rolled back in her head and she collapsed into his arms. After checking she was breathing, he looked around at Tela, sweat pouring off her head. «Thanks.»
«Don't thank me - HELP ME!» Tela 'yelled.' Cos had taken over fighting Inferno now, but Reflecto was obviously giving her trouble, and she couldn't just zap him into unconsciousness. It was taking everything she had to hold him back, but with a level of willpower possessed only by the truly innocent or the truly ignorant, he was getting closer, one slow, painful step at a time.
Unthinkingly, holding Spark against himself with his right arm, Garth let off a blast with his left in Reflecto's direction without thinking what Reflecto's power was.
However, unlike the normal "reflective," results of his power, which would have sent the bolt straight back at Live Wire, the mental-lightning combination created an explosion of sorts, knocking all three to the ground.
At that moment, a singing voice rang out, "# Here I come to save the day! #". And, on hearing Quislet's voice, Reflecto pulled himself up. "You..." ______________
The rest of the McCauleys doubled over in seeming pain, and Tikhik and Trinity-Orange took the chance to inspect the two fallen ones.
Much to their surprise, they found no blood. On closer inspection, they were solid all the way through - like flesh-coloured rubber.
While they were digesting this, however, T-Orange was hit on the head by another McCauley, and T-Neutral and T-Purple winced in sympathy pain. Another McCauley looked to take advantage of their momentary weakness, but instead found himself knocked across the room by a combination-punch from the both of them, splitting into two on landing.
"THIS ISN'T GETTING US ANYWHERE!" T-Purple yelled aloud. "I DON'T THINK ANY OF THESE ARE THE REAL ONE!"
At that, something caught T-Neutral's eye. An ill-fitted wall panel behind the desk... ______________
Cos stood his ground behind a magnetic shield and thought. Inferno was either untrained or poorly-trained, and was resorting to brute-force attacks, seeking to simply burn him severely. On the other hand, while he could keep the flame out, he was sweating badly under the heat - and even if she wasn't going to beat him without a big change of tactics or a few hours to wear him down, she was keeping him pinned. And with Tela and Live Wire - not to mention Polarity and Spark - out cold; Quislet less than reliable; and Dragonmage hovering there, threatening to intervene at any moment, he needed to get this over with.
As for Quislet, every time he entered something, he found it immediately ripped, slashed or smashed by Reflecto and it was beginning to hurt. "Hey, friend, why..."
He was interrupted by Reflecto grabbing his ship, bouncing it like a basketball and throwing it into the corner of the room. He dropped, out cold.
Reflecto then looked around with the pest finally silenced. Something had shifted in his head with the telepathic explosion, and he no longer felt the need to hang around.
"Later" he shouted at Cos & walked out.
Cos was barely cognisant of this though, as he concentrated on pushing Inferno's flame back magnetically. He didn't have the time to "play" with her any more, and he noted her shock at the fact that he COULD force her back.
"Come on, give in..." he muttered, hoping that the shock would make her drop the flame. When she finally did, he was almost on top of her and he almost ran straight by her as the heat holding him back suddenly dissipated. The surface hadn't been burning, just the pure jet of flame, and he just managed to catch her and knock her out in one move rather than present an unprotected back to her.
He sighed as he lowered her down and looked up, expecting Dragonmage to promptly turn him into a hamster. But, instead, he was gone; and one of his dragons floated down, vanishing as he touched it. ______________
The fight had been raging for over an hour now. Initially, Tom had held the Hulk off the ground to keep him from hitting anyone, but as he got angrier, he'd seemed to get heavier, and the strain had got too much.
After that, Nori and Drake had kept him busy by speeding past and catching him with a blast from an angle, annoying him and stopping him from actually hitting them, while Shifter and Sul had climbed over him to much the same effect. None of them could seemingly make a dent, however, and as they tired and the Hulk got angrier, their position got ever worse, while Lyle, Igor and, after his earlier exertions, Tom, felt useless. Only Dreamer seemed to remain calm, possessed of a manic certainty that something would come along just in time. ______________
T-Neutral made it over to the wall and pulled the panel open - a small escape chute was there. She signalled to her sisters and they remerged at her location rather than fight their way over through the ever-increasing mass of bodies. Before she could make it down the chute, however, Tikhik beat her too it, teleporting to the entrance and straight down. She followed a moment later.
As soon as she hit the bottom and saw the McCauley standing there, she knew it was the real one.
"Fragments. Useful, but not quite as I intended. Ah well..." she saw his eyes start to glow, and began to move, but too slow, just too slow... "...no matter," he said as he knocked her out.
"Now, you..."
"One step and I cut your hand off." Tikhik said, his eyes piercing in their blankness.
"Why, my dear insect, you forget, I know what you are capable of." McCauley took a measured step forward. "You were tested and retested psychologically. You really caused me no end of worry, escaping as you did, and I studied those reports. You're not capable of such a thing. I know it, and you know it."
Suddenly, he applied a burst of speed Tikhik hadn't known he possessed and had his hand around Tikhik's throat."
"No teleporting now. No worrying over who you might tell. It's done. YOU are done."
Then, there was an explosion of rubble.
And Andromeda stood there, silent as death, eyes glowing through the rubble.
McCauley panicked, dropped Tikhik and let loose his eyebeams. When they had no effect, he stamped and more "fragments" were created, adding their force to his. More and more and still no effect as she walked, at normal speed toward him and grabbed his throat the way he had held Tikhik only moments before.
Tikhik coughed and looked up. McCauley - his torturer, the man who had almost killed him seconds before - was himself seconds away from dying even as tears and energy streaked from his executioner's eyes. All he had to do was stand by and let it happen. Trinity was unconscious, no-one else was there, all he had to was... All he had to... stand by and let... tears. Tears and death. No...
"Stop."
Andromeda, caught off-guard by the presence of another, looked around; "Why should I?" she yelled at him, keeping a tight grip on McCauley's throat even as her tears flowed yet more freely. "He played with my head, treated me like a toy, made me do... things I didn't want to do. I even KILLED because of him. Because of him I'm a murderer. Why shouldn't I add one to my total, when he deserves it?"
"Because," Gates said, "you sound as if you can barely live with yourself after killing once, and then to save your teammate. How will you live with yourself tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, if you killed like this, in vengeance? I've been there - I wished I was dead when I awoke like this, with everyone I knew dead, and for a long time only the thought of exposing him kept me going, then a good friend pulled me back from the edge. You don't want to feel like you have nothing to live for."
He didn't know what he was talking about, she thought as she raised her fist. How could he know. What was one little insect? One punch and that would be it. Just like the guy before. Just like... so much blood... so much blood.... He deserved to die...
Her fist connected with McCauley's head. ______________
It was done, Cos reflected. He should go after Reflecto, he knew, but with three teammates and the same number of Workforce members out cold, he couldn't leave them. What if Paul woke up and killed Garth under his programming? No, he couldn't risk a death on either side. For the sake of both sides. ______________
From the diary of Laurel Gander:
I couldn't do it.
I had him there, nothing and no-one could have stopped me if I'd hit him hard enough to kill him. If I hadn't been teleported out the day before I would have. But Gates was right, and I knew it. If I had, I'd probably have ended up killing myself. Even after I found out the full extent of what McCauley had done.
So, I pulled my punch, and he dropped, and his "fragments" disappeared as he did. I didn't know what to do. Probably a good thing that, as my focus slipped, my super-hearing kicked in and I heard what I did though... ______________
It had had to happen eventually, as they tired and the Hulk did not. While Drake and Nori lined up for another pass, they were too slow just that once, and the Hulk's hands met over his head, generating a devastating shockwave that knocked everyone else off their feet.
As Drake began to pick himself up, the Hulk stood on him, to no apparent harm, but keeping him pinned face-down. He then raised his foot to stomp on Nori. "Stupid blue girl. Kept running past Hulk, stinging Hulk, annoying Hulk. Now Hulk will sting blue girl. Hulk will smash blue girl..."
Before he could make good on his threat though, a streak came through the floor and hit the Hulk, who crashed through the ceiling and on for miles.
Nori, still winded, then looked up and saw Andromeda sitting on the edge of the crater, head in her hands. Picking herself up and checking to see that everyone else was doing the same, she put her hand around Laurel's shoulder and squeezed.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
Laurel sat in a chair in front of the mirror in her room straightening her hair.
So that was it. Over. Bad guy beaten, the place on the Legion she'd been aiming for when the whole mess started was open for her, the good guys won, All Was Right With The World.
Except, of course, it wasn't. __________
He knocked on the door.
"Ella, you there?"
Spark gave a loud grunt.
Live Wire took that as a yes, opened the door, and walked in to find her on the floor, in T-shirt and shorts, doing push-ups. She looked absolutely spent.
"How long?"
"Push-ups-or-over-all?" she asked, pronouncing each syllable as she reached the top of a push.
"Both."
"’Bout fifteen minutes for the push-ups, three hours total," she said, in the same gasping voice.
"You’re exhausted."
"You asking or saying?"
"Saying. Look at yourself." He put his hand on her back and pushed her to the floor to stop her. Annoyed, she turned around and sat up, sweat dripping from her forehead. "You need a rest - you need sleep."
Instead of replying straight away, Ella stood up and walked over to a punching bag in the corner. Garth preferred to just blame Kinetix for all the exercise equipment scattered around the room rather than asking where she got it all.
Ella started giving the ’bag huge whacks. "Do you know what I see when I stop?"
Garth had a treble-sized suspicion. "No."
"I see me, trying to kill people I counted as friends, while begging them to stop me. I see months of my life I spent mind-controlled, I..." at that moment, Ella punched the bag so hard, she split the skin over her knuckle. Blood and electricity spurting from the cut, she finally collapsed in a heap.
Garth walked over and sat on the floor beside her, close enough for him to hug his twin sister if she wanted, far enough that he wasn’t impinging if she didn’t. "Ella, it wasn’t your fault. Whatever happens, remember that."
"No, it’s yours."
Garth winced. He’d expected this at first, but let his guard down after the way the conversation started.
"I know it’s not my fault Garth", she said, sounding tired but no longer gasping for breath, "If I’m honest it’s probably not yours either. But if you’d taken me with you, I wouldn’t have been there to get caught the way I did. It doesn’t matter now though. It just leaves me feeling so..." the cut on her knuckle stopped sparking, "so drained."
Garth took her hand and started feeding her power. He forced a smile. "Puts you in the better half so far. One guy went insane when Irma woke him up once she was done - started spinning like mad and destroying everything in sight. Real devil. Then there’s this purple girl..."
"Clarice."
"Huh?"
"Her name’s Clarice. Elf ears, pink marks on her face, blank eyes, Scottish accent?"
"Yeah."
"I met her a couple of times - not often, just, y’know, she was a teleporter and when we needed to be somewhere really quick she got called, and I never got much of a chance to talk. She was nice. Really shy though."
"She’s worse now. According to Irma she’d figured out about the mind-control when she was teleporting Lorna around, and she couldn’t let her go even when Lorna begged her. Knowing about it but not being able to break free’s been tearing her up ever since, and she’s practically shut down."
"I should probably go and see her... How’s Paul and Laurel?"
"Paul’s... adjusting. Apparently, Laurel’s not sticking around."
Spark looked up at him. "Huh - why not?"
"I don’t know, I just overheard someone on the way up here."
Spark tried to stand up. Garth stopped her "Not until you’ve had some..."
"Garth, cut the overprotective brother crap - that’s what got me into the mess in the first place. She’s three rooms down the corridor, not a million miles by land sea and air, which she probably will be by tomorrow if she’s going." ____________
Blink. The Taj Mahal.
Blink. The Eiffel Tower.
Blink. The Statue of Liberty.
Blink. A tiny island in the middle of the ocean.
Blink, blink, blink. Clarice could go anywhere. Via a spear, a portal, even a simple blink.
And yet she lay there, in bed, unmoving.
"They won't let me, and unless I'm told to…". The words lancing through her mind made her sit up, hugging her legs for something to do with her arms.
'Only following orders' was no excuse, and she knew it. If you realise you've been brainwashed, she reasoned, you should be able to break free. Andromeda had. Why couldn't she? And the screams she'd heard Trinity give later... she couldn't face her. She wanted to say sorry, but it was such a small word for so much pain... all the pain she'd caused... ____________
"Come in." Spark heard Andromeda call - before she'd knocked. She shrugged and entered.
"You look... different." were the first words she said on entering.
"I'm not done yet - I need to look different, and changing colour's out of the question."
"You can straighten but not dye?"
"They work differently." Laurel shrugged. "Can you plait hair?"
"I think so - haven't done it for years. I'll give it a shot if you want."
"Please."
"Kay."
Ella pulled up a chair behind Laurel's at the mirror, and started to bunch her hair up.
"Garth said he heard you're leaving. Is it true?"
"Early tomorrow."
"Where to?"
"Away. Just... away. Possibly up."
"Space?!"
"I don't know if I can do it, but I don't need to eat, or breathe much, since I just... soak up light. I want to.. I don't want to be around people for a while, after... that."
"I know the feeling."
"What are you doing? Are you going to stay here?"
"Yeah and no. I've kind of taken up their membership offer."
"Now in English, please."
"Long-term, I'll probably be here. Garth's not leaving any time soon, and I want to feel like a twin again. Right now, I need to see my mum and dad - I haven't spoken to them since I was... uh... taken, and I don't want to know what they think of me vanishing."
"And between 'right now' and 'long-term'?"
"Remember me moaning about Mark?"
"It's not as if I could forget."
"Garth left me behind in the first place, while I was still weak, to go looking for him. Then he ended up here, and I got stuffed in a glass tube and brainwashed into signing a long-term contract - which, at least, they've realised it would be a waste of time and more bad PR to go to court over. SO nice of them... anyway, he doesn't know it yet, but we're going to finish the job."
Laurel just raised an eyebrow in the mirror.
"Yeah, I know. He's still guilty about the whole mess though - and so he should be. So, now I'm free - literally - and it couldn't wait a week six months ago - and he DID have a point about Mark, I never trusted him either, that's how we ended up as the electric twins, because we followed him so the three of us got zapped - we're going to finish the job the way we should have started it," Ella said just as she finished the last twist, securing it with a band. She stood back, and Laurel shook her head to make sure it was in firmly.
"Well," she turned round to face Spark, Good luck."
"You too," then the two hugged.
"One thing if you're going to be out," Laurel said.
"Yeah?"
"Have they mentioned about the big green monster they were fighting."
"The 'Hulk'? Yeah, just in passing though, why.
"After Gates talked me out of killing you-know-who, I heard the fight, and just let loose, knocking him what must have been miles - but once things were vaguely under control there, someone went out and found where he landed. And he wasn't there."
"Weird. Still, big country."
"True, but I still wouldn't like a proper fight with him if he could get up and walk away after that hit I gave him, so just be careful if it's just you and Garth, especially if he knows Garth, okay?"
"Since when am I ever careful?" Ella actually managed a smile, a real smile, at that, before walking out. ____________
One week earlier:
"Wha... huh?"
The man found himself in ripped trousers, lying in a lopsided crater in the hardbaked soil, and briefly wondered how he'd got there. Then he realised what the rumbling that had woken him up was and stood up, waving.
Fortunately, the truck driver hadn't yet passed, and even more fortunately, he stopped.
"Geez man, what the hell is up with you."
"Please, I was stopped, mugged - and they stole my car. Could you give me a lift to the nearest town."
The truck driver's slow, amphetamine-stacked brain rolled around for a few minutes, then said, "Sure, what the hell."
He climbed up and into the cab, wincing at the smell.
"What's yer name anyway, boy?"
"Uh... Banner, Bruce Banner."
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
In the pink light of early morning, Andromeda lifted off, leaving Legions, Workforces... and perhaps Earth for a while... behind. She didn't regret it, and didn't expect to.
More fighting was the last thing she wanted or needed now, or ever again. ____________
Paul reached the roof of the Legion skyscraper to take in the mid-morning view of NYC. He'd never been there before - save Hallowe'en night, and it had been dark before they arrived then. As he pushed the door open at the top of the stairs though, he got a surprise - Ella was standing at the edge, in an uncharacteristic, flowing white dress.
He stood there frozen for a moment, then felt an urge to turn back before he looked at her any longer. But she chose that moment to turn around, see him, and wave, whereupon he found himself instead walking over towards her.
"Hi", she greeted him.
"Uh, hi," was his awkward reply, followed by "nice dress."
"Oh - this? Zoë set me up with it, since most of my clothes are still tied up in that mess. And I mean 'set me up' - I didn't know what I was getting until she was already flying away, giggling."
"You look... great."
"Paul,..."
"I know, I know, you..."
"No, wait. You've been mostly avoiding me since Hallowe'en, apart from that fight about Meta and you crying about your gran's illness - until Meta turned up - and I don't want to leave while things are like that between us, and you're here..."
"Leave?"
"I'm going home for a while, then me and Garth have a family thing to take care of. I'll tell you later if you want, but that's not the point right now. Just stand and listen for a moment, I'll keep it short - I miss having you as a friend. Up until Hallowe'en, you were my best friend, and I wasn't trying to hurt you, I was being honest - if I'd lied, it would have been worse, you know it would have. I *do* love you - but AS a friend. And when I said you were nuts to see Meta, I said it because I was worried about you. I knew her, and I thought you did, and after seeing what she did to José, I didn't want her within a million miles of any friend of mine, especially you." She took a deep breath. "You can talk now."
He opened his mouth to say something, nothing came out, and he shut it again. As far as he could tell, she hadn't said anything new. But he didn't want to leave things on bad terms any more than she did. He wanted her as a friend, but... But she...
He sighed, accepting - as best he could, at any rate - that friendship was all he could ever have with her, putting his arms around her, and giving her the same type of platonic hug she'd given him on Hallowe'en. She gratefully replied in kind - but couldn't see the single tear running out of his right eye. ______________
Tom had just sat down to lunch in the Legion's cafeteria when a familiar green portal opened beside him.
"Hi Tik."
Tikhik's beak was twisted in annoyance, however. "I've been called 'Gates' by at least five different people in the past hour. Do you know anything about this?"
"Sure," Tom shrugged and swallowed his bite of sausage, "everybody and their dog's got a codename around here, and if you're going to be sticking around..."
"I'm not."
At that, Tom nearly choked on his orange juice. Once he'd finished coughing, he spluttered "Wha... weren't you offered a shot with the Legion? Me and Igor are taking ours up, I don't know about the girls yet - I haven't seen them, and I think Nori's got some tests about her powers so she might not have been, but I'm sure Sul'll have an invite. Why not?"
"Yes, Nori's to see the [English-Russian: scientists] at three pm. But as for me, Tom, I've told you I don't know how many times, I'm not interested in fighting others so the streets run red. I stopped Laurel from killing McCauley, and you know how I feel about him. I couldn't even stand by, let alone physically injure him - any of him - myself."
"But... its' not as if they just go round beating people up. Besides, if you don't, what are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure. I won't leave immediately, and there's talk of a school linked to this, dedicated to teaching safety of powers rather than fighting. I may see if I can become involved with that. I can't... you know what, though."
"Well, I guess... I mean, I'm going to miss you."
"I doubt I'll be so far away. But, "Tom. Good luck with the Legion - I mean it."
"Yeah - same to you." ____________
Irma pulled her white coat back on after lunch and let out a huge sigh before rubbing her eyes. As the only telepath for a hundred miles, and quite literally the only officially-sanctioned telepath in the world as far as she knew, she was the one who had to deep-scan somewhere just south of a hundred brains - that they knew of at that moment - and attempt to unpick any brainwashing-damage she found.
It was absolutely exhausting. After being holed up in the McCauley building which incorporated the now-former Workforce HQ for a week, she'd found she could do the 'virus scan' in about an hour, but if she found anything, then she could write off at least half a day. Then again, after doing Spark (with Live Wire watching closely the whole time) for the whole first day, and Polarity (with Cos looking on) the second, half a day was still an improvement, she reflected as she walked down the makeshift ward.
The afternoon's batch of stasis pods were coming out of the elevator as she reached the far end of the ward. She'd only started on them late the previous day, but at least most of them so far seemed 'clean' - which was a good sign, since it meant she might be able to get through them in a week or so if it meant all of them hadn't been through it yet. They hadn't opened the pods en masse, since, even 'clean', it might have caused a mad panic, and if they hadn't been,... it didn't bear thinking about.
She sat at the bedside of the first girl of the afternoon - around 14-15, with glowing yellow wings, dark hair, a black tattoo over her right eye and skin a similar colour to Nura's, she took in quickly - put her hands on her head - not strictly necessary, but it helped the connection a bit - and began scanning... ____________
Nori's nose was twitching, Igor noted. Not a good sign.
Then again, she WAS strung up, spread-eagled, in what bore a distinct resemblance to a fairground ride-in gyroscope, so her being annoyed wasn't surprising.
He'd been brought in for questioning, since it was his tech-collar that had allowed him to function, but now they seemed to have turned him out. He asked Dox what that was about and received a mumbled answer in which he could just about make out the words "sphere" "equidistant" and "electric field". Gave him some idea of what was going on, at least, he thought, as he decided he'd rather be somewhere else, and went to find out where that was... ____________
For Nori, however, that was just the start of a long day of testing. Once they'd finished with scanning her standing, or being held, still; they moved on to testing her ability to deliver controlled charges, and her ultimate speed in various tests of dexterity, bringing in Live Wire and Flash to provide baselines.
Several hours later, having run the last of the scheduled tests and collated the data, Dox declared "Essentially, we have to agree with Igor's earlier diagnosis - there are no fundamental problems with the way Noriko's power works, so the only factor which can be at play is inexperience."
"So you've had me strung up, spun around, poked and prodded for four hours so you could tell me something I already knew. Great." She picked at her collar, "This thing's use-by date is a month away, and when it gives out thinking straight won't be an option. So what you're saying is I've got a month to learn or live in a cave for the rest of my life?"
"Well... yes and no," Invisible Kid said.
"Meaning?"
Lyle sighed and continued, "We might be able to create something to slow the rate you "drink" electricity, so you'd be able to discharge and stay at a safe level of charge, and also not knock out power systems..."
"You asked for a big discharge...." Nori mumbled under her breath.
"...but if we could, they'd probably be heavy and uncomfortable - even if Igor didn't think it might cause too much scarring, we don't have the technology to link to your brain the way his collar does. If you can, your best bet is to learn before it gives out, enough to hold back the absorption anyway."
Nori muttered "Great" in Japanese and walked out. _____________
"How'd it go?" Sul looked up from the book she was reading as Nori walked into their shared room an hour and a half later.
"Perfect - they say there's nothing they can do, except give me big and heavy versions of this." Nori picked at her collar again.
"Ah," Sul sighed, and before she could say anything more, she saw Nori was on the move and shut her eyes as she zipped to the fridge, got a glass of milk, got changed into the pink T-shirt and boxers she wore at night, brushed her teeth and ruffled her hands through her hair before refilling her glass of milk and slumping onto her bed. Watching her move that fast was... disorientating.
"What are you reading?" Nori said, more of idle curiosity than anything else as she sipped at the second glass of milk.
Sul held up the book, entitled 'Complete Mathematics IV'.
"Light reading, huh?"
"Didn't you hear President Luthor's announcement this afternoon?"
"Four and a half hours getting poked, prodded and generally being treated like a lab rat, remember?"
"I still thought you might have heard, no need to bite my head off. Basically, they're setting up an Academy linked to the Legion, mostly to deal with all the unclaimed kids in the tubes, and I'm enrolling."
"I heard the rumours, none of the Legion-people seem too happy about it - and how come you're enrolling anyway? You're as in-control as anyone on the Legion."
"Ta, but it's not about that. When my parents died, I had to get a job quick if I didn't want to end up on the streets or worse, and that didn't leave any time for school. They're doing normal classes too, and I want to finish school while I've got the chance."
Nori lay back and thought for a few moments. She HAD lived on the streets - for years, in an electric stupor. And if she didn't want to end up back in that stupor, she apparently needed heavy training. And, of course, that hadn't left any time for school for her either...
She sighed and asked Sul what she knew about signing up.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
Leviathan fumed quietly across the desk from Cos. He'd opened his mouth to speak at least three times now and bitten it off every time.
It was tough on him, Cos reflected. If there had been nothing, Cos and his team would have been in a level of super-powered doo-doo unheard of in the history of doo-doo. But with the sheer evidence of well over fifty falsely imprisoned metahumans - mostly teens, some really quite young - even if Tela's testimony was ruled inadmissible in the end there was little possibility of anything worse than an admonishment for them. And that bit, especially since they'd dropped Gene off on the way there.
So Cos sat and enjoyed the unintentional comedy show that the weekly "strategy meeting" Gene had implemented between the co-leaders had become. Heaven knew, between Lorna and Paul in particular and the whole mess in general - not to mention the still-recent problems of his and Paul's gran - he needed something to help him relax. ____________
At that moment, Trinity was lying silently, split into three, on her king-size bed in her room - but this didn't last long, before she picked herselves up and looked at each other. Something had been preying on her mind for days now, and she had to confront it sometime. T-Orange was the first to break the silence.
"We promised Cos we would stick together."
T-Purple was the one who responded; "We didn't - we said no-one would ever catch us out again. And are you saying we weren't up to it? And what if Enrapture had gone down and picked someone off from a distance while the Hulk was about to cave their heads in?"
"But we didn't know that, and that wasn't why you ran away. We saw him and you ran after him without thinking. As usual."
"As if she couldn't have grabbed us back if you two were that strongly opposed. You wanted to do the same thing - you are me. It's not as if I say black and you say white. You want to say black, I'm just the one who actually does it."
"Why...."
T-Neutral broke in. "Just... just shut up for a minute." She was getting a headache and feeling the headaches the other two were developing on top of that.
«Look, » T-Purple started 'talking' through their link rather than aloud; «Let's break this down:
One - Yeah, we pushed our luck. But if we hadn't, besides the Enrapture thing, would Gates have cottoned onto the fact that they weren't the real McCauleys on his own, and found the way down? No. So Andromeda would have just massacred McCauley and probably lopped her own head off or something. And can you imagine what would have happened if that had happened while we were on the premises, against orders?
Two - "betraying" Cos. Maybe, but I don't think we did and that means neither do you. And you know how he feels about us, and we know how we feel about him. He won't hold it against us, and obsessing and avoiding him worrying how he'll take it will just make all of us lose sleep, him included.
Three - We need a break. Even if we don't get suspended - and I don't think Gene can since it wasn't an official mission and he's not suspending all of us since it was a success - we need out of here for a while or we'll spend months trying to avoid dealing with all this crap. Again. Disagree?»
T-Orange and T-Neutral just looked at each other. ____________
Cos was sitting in his office when the door was knocked. He called to whoever it was to come in, leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Hi Cos."
Cos opened his eyes with a start on hearing Trinity's voice. She kept on standing, and he almost swore he saw her purple eye flash orange for a moment. His bewilderment only lasted seconds, however, before he calmed himself, said "Hi Lu" and gestured for her to sit down.
"Listen Cos - about running off..." her voice tailed off as she realised she wasn't quite sure what to say.
"It hurt Lu. When I turned round and saw you weren't there, I wasn't sure if you'd gone off or been captured again, and I nearly turned the whole group around to look for you, until Lyle talked me down. And I know we weren't 'official', so I couldn't exactly order you about, but you said..."
"I know what I said..." Trinity said in a quiet voice, "but I only had a split second. If I'd left him, he might have teleported at any minute. If I'd stopped to tell you, either we'd have had a debate and he might have got away, or you'd have said no, and he would have got away, and either way what Lyle had found was important as well." She spoke up a bit more, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but if I'd known then what I know now about Enrapture, Andromeda, Hulk, etcetera, I'd have done exactly the same thing."
At that, Cos broke out in a broad grin, catching Lorna off-guard, which showed on her face and led to a "Wha...?" of confusion on her part.
"Nothing - no, that's not true. I'm just glad that you're starting to sound more like yourself again. Lying in bed all day, scared to face the world - that wasn't you, that was McCauley and Enrapture."
Lorna raised a "you know?" eyebrow at the second part, but before he could reply in any sense, Cos' watch started bleeping an alarm. "What is it?" she asked as he hit a button on it to stop the bleeping.
"Something Brainy rigged up for me - If the team's in the news during the day, I get a signal telling me to tune in. " he looked at the watch again, "and it looks like we're on all the news channels. I'll try CNN..." He pressed another button on his watch, and the screensaver on his computer was replaced by a picture of President Luthor speaking in front of the UN, with General Secretary Chu and various other world leaders around him. The scrolling text at the bottom read "...NOUNCES PLAN FOR SUPER-POWERS ACADEMY TIED TO LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN NEW YORK STATE..."
Trinity looked a 'did you know' question at Cos and got a shake of the head and a frown in return. Luthor was clearly nearing the end of his speech, and was talking about the need for 'all moderate peoples' to 'welcome the chance for all super-powered children everywhere to have a place where they can learn safety and control."
"Bet it ends up being 90% American," Trinity snorted, and in response to Cos' look said, "what - it's not as if THIS team isn't!"
Cos just sighed and rubbed his eyes, then said, "I knew Luthor was going to be trouble - I know he 'exonerated' himself of the Putumayo thing, but that's worth as much as a pair of dingo's kidneys and we know it. Keeping us out of the loop when they stick our name on something though... even if we're not tied up in it directly. This is going to be stressful..."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Irma can wangle some sort of veto on the teachers by hook or by crook. Hell, all those kids she's driving herself nuts scanning now are probably intended to be the pupil. And they'll want to make sure the teachers and pupils are all 'part of the solution, not the problem' in the whole 'War on Terror' crap, and there's the hook. Like I say, it'll work out."
"Hope you're right. I'm going to have to go and check on all this fershenlugger crap with Gene now though."
"Before you got then, I had something else I wanted to ask you about - I'm feeling better, but I'm still not really fit for duty if I'm going to be honest, and I should have taken your advice about a break ages back. So I was going to take a break now, if that's okay with you and I don't have to admit what I just said to Mr Big Man."
"You're not still... I mean, I know what I said, but..."
"Irma's scanned me at least three times now. I'm clean."
"Promise?"
"Don't worry Cos - we... sorry, I just need some time alone after everything. The surgery went well, but I need some proper post-op recovery," she smiled, albeit slightly hollowly, "I'll be back in a month or so."
"Where will you go?"
"My gran's old house - technically, I own it, since R.J. paid off the mortgage for me, and someone's looked in on it every now and then to make sure it's intact, etc."
"You'll be okay?"
"Don't worry about us Cos -" she split and T-Purple finished the sentence, "- we're tougher than we look right now," as the three of them put their arms around their shoulders.
"Well... take care, alright. I'll clear it with Gene for you."
"We will," and with that, T-Purple grabbed him and planted a huge kiss on his lips, while T-Neutral whispered in his ear, "Just don't forget us while we're gone" with a smile.
After the kiss was broken, T-Purple maintained eye contact for a moment, before vanishing. Trinity then took his hand to walk out the door, where they kissed again, more tenderly, before heading in opposite directions.
An hour later, she threw her bag over her shoulder, put a pair of sunglasses on, waved to Cos and got in the elevator. As soon as the doors closed though, she slumped against the back of the lift, suddenly tired at leaving, even if only for a few weeks, after holding herself there so long through everything. __________________
Half an hour in the helicopter was all it took from Legion HQ to her home town of Carrigan, so less than two hours after leaving Cos Lorna was walking down her old street, nearly four years to the day since she'd left, crying and panicking on hearing of her gran's death. The young woman walking down the street was very different from the girl who'd left, but while the reasons changed, the past three months had taken a huge toll on her - after the three months before that had been the happiest of her life.
She noted as she went how nothing had seemingly changed, the same peeling paintwork on the town hall, the same charity appeals stuck in the same places. No-one noticed her as she walked - while her identity was not strictly secret, the Legion's promotional material tended to only use their codenames, and in any event, out of costume and with her differently-coloured eyes concealed behind shades, she didn't draw much attention with her brown pageboy's hair and casual clothes.
Finally, she reached 12 Vermont Street and took a moment to look. The garden was the sort of overgrown that you could just about get away with - the grass was scruffy, and there were a few weeds, but it clearly hadn't gone completely unattended the past few years - presumably, R.J. had arranged for this to be done while people checked the house and stayed in it for a few days every now and then to make it clear it hadn't been completely abandoned. The door was different too - the dark blue paint had given way to bare wood and varnish, presumably as something else requiring less maintenance. The same key fitted the lock, however, and she went inside.
As soon as she was out of sight, before she could even take notice of the surroundings, she split with a sigh of relief. When she was tense, keeping integrated was tricky, and "tense" was the least of what she felt right then. Three pairs of eyes looked around the dusty, musty front room. It wasn't precisely as she'd left it that day, but it wasn't far off. T-Orange pulled off her sunglasses and began to cry at the thought of her gran dying without her there, and as T-Neutral tried to comfort herself, she started crying too, while T-Purple tried to hold back the tears and succeeded only in giving herself another headache.
They knew they had to deal with their issues, including the one they'd run away from four years earlier, but it still hurt.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
Trinity sighed as she sat with her mug of hot cocoa.
It was a few hours after her arrival. Since then - after she'd got over the shock of arrival - she'd dusted the place, unpacked her clothes, ordered pizza (chicken and pineapple) and picked up bread, milk, jam and cocoa powder.
Often it was the little things that having three of you helped with. With one of her, she'd have been lucky to get the pizza in the way she'd been feeling when she got in - a tripartite personality meant a sort of self-competition that had often got her going in the past, until McCauley's tampering had knocked the three of her into a funk. Maybe Cos was right, she thought. Maybe she was getting better after all the help she'd got from Irma, especially, but also Cos and R.J. And getting so confront McCauley.
Maybe, she smiled. ___________
You could have fought. You certainly could have won. But now you realise, too late Jin Xiong ao, that indenturing yourself and your undoubted talents - regardless of whether you leave yourself an "exit" or not as you did against the technological attempt to control you - is pointless.
You did not require the aid you claimed as recompense for the indenturation - and if you wished to learn the minds of such as McCauley, they are not complicated.
So now you fly, "lesson learned", towards the home you can never be permitted to re-enter. You were told this as you begged to be allowed to be allowed to leave on the grounds you were not required to continue the Line. Ever after convincing us of your redundancy, however, you counted on our clemency if you ever wished to return.
You chose... poorly. Even if we had the desire to repeal your exile, to the south and to the west, the Dark Lord Mordru, quiet for Ages, rises at the rejection of his daughters, and we dare not open ourselves to him, for even a moment.
And so you arrive to the appearance that we are not and never have been here, and we watch your frustration from behind our cloak. Yet there is nothing to be done, and what you do from now until the day you die is no concern of ours.
Goodbye "Dragonmage. " ___________
"And how much is the BIG gun?"
"Excuse me buddy, but you still haven't answered whether you have a licence or not."
Reflecto punched him straight in the kisser. Not that he would be doing any kissing for a while.
"Self-service. Huh? Cool." ___________
Mano wanted to punch the air with joy at McCauley's fall, as his teammates watched the TV with barely-disguised shock. However, practical considerations stayed his hand. Firstly and foremostly, his programming was still in place, so he couldn't; and secondly, he had three dangerous fellow-victims in the room with him.
So, instead of punching the air he thought, hard, about what he was going to do. Rescuing McCauley was out of the question, and fortunately, he could see a way to justify that within his programming - he and his team had been ordered to avoid public association with McCauley or McCauley Industries of any sort "at all costs". He could simply take that literally.
Unfortunately, that didn't leave many other options. Towards the goal of secrecy "at all costs", they would move safehouses that night, and they would thus "disappear" for some time. They were well-funded through many accounts with no direct connection with McCauley Industries, as they had each been started by a subordinate under false identities with several suitcases of cash - who Mano had himself killed under orders, leaving no body.
Still, while the prospect of being holed up until a way out appeared didn't appeal to Mano, anything was better than serving the fallen tyrant... ___________
"And there we are. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Perhaps sir, Mr Reflecto, but just one minor point."
"Yes?"
"If you wish to become a mercenary, perhaps losing the mirrored suit might be an idea, hmmm?"
"...I'll think about it." ___________
"So, let me get this straight. We. Do. Nothing?"
"You have a better idea, Micro?"
"We bust into prison, get the Big Boss out and..."
"And then what?" Mano sighed. "We would have broken Rule One - don't publically associate ourselves with McCauley or his company - and Rule Two - don't go public unless ordered to. Wrong?"
"No..." Micro muttered, "but..."
"Wolf, Tellus - wrong?" Wolf shook his head nervously, Tellus merely shrugged. "So we move, as this safehouse may be compromised, and wait for further instructions."
"And if they never come?"
"We deal with that wh...if it comes up. Now come."
"Something stinks about this," Micro muttered as he followed behind... ___________
Leonard McCauley sat in his gaol cell, lined with McCauley Industries-brand power inhibitors. His lawyers had warned him that it would be along and costly fight for his freedom with little chance of success.
He had promptly fired them and hired some competent lawyers.
Still, the outlook was bleak.
Suddenly, a ghostly image of his father appeared before him.
"Father." He acknowledged the apparition without a hint of surprise.
"Leonard" His father, tight-lipped, returned the greeting.
"How did you get to Heather before the police?"
"There are ways. You used to know them."
"Perhaps." He sat back on the thin mattress of the bed.
"You know why I'm here."
"To complain of my 'utter shambles', I suppose?"
"More than that. You have disgraced the family name, the family business and your trial threatens further disgrace."
Leonard sat up straight, but didn't protest. He knew it would be useless.
"Goodbye Leonard." The apparition faded, and the screaming began...
posted
There was a knock at the door. On hearing it, Dr Ryker sat up and looked at the clock, which showed it was a couple of minutes past the hour. She glanced at her appointment book before walking over and opening the door to reveal a young woman with short red hair in a white T-shirt and blue jeans.
"Hi... Eileen, isn't it?"
"No, Ella. Or Spark, I guess."
"Ella it is, then." Dr Ryker smiled at her, then added, "Come over and sit down," and led her over to two armchairs by the window, with a small table off to the side of them with a box of tissues on it.
They sat there for a minute, time enough for Ryker to note her contradictory body language, which didn't seem sure about whether she wanted to open up or shut down.
"So, why did you come here today then, Ella?"
"I... they insisted on it - the Legion. If I want to join after the stuff that happened, I apparently 'need to get some therapy', and this seemed like the least-bad option. I take it you know what happened?"
"I know the basic outline, but I'd like to hear it from your perspective. One question first though - if I'm the 'least-bad option'," the Doctor smiled, "what were the others?"
"Well, it was really this or see if Tela could help me, telepathically, I guess?"
"I see. So why don't you want to do that?"
She shrugged. "I spent months brainwashed just there, and I still don't know what I did in those months that was 'me' and what was 'it'. Someone poking around in my head, even if they mean well,... it's something it'll take me a while to say 'yes' to, if I ever do."
"But she's already spent time 'poking around in your head', hasn't she - it was her that unpicked the brainwashing program, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but... that wasn't really something I said 'yes' to, it was something they went ahead and did. And it needed done, I'm glad they did it... but I wasn't in any condition to answer that question. 'It' would probably have stopped me saying yes, whatever I'd have felt about it at the time. And, yeah, I've gone for a couple of checkups, but they're quick and I sit there the whole time thinking 'please be over'. Which apparently makes them last longer, but..."
"But it's not something you enjoy, I understand. So you'd rather just talk about it?"
Ella gave a tight nod, but added "Not right now - not that bit anyway - it's just... just... other stuff sure, but the playing with my head is... it's hard to even think about. I don't think I can talk any more about it just yet, if you understand?"
"It's all right. We can come back to it when you're ready."
Ella sat back in her seat, then rocked forward and put her hands on the back of her head. She stayed there for a moment, then sighed, sat up, rubbed her face and looked at Dr Ryker.
"So," Dr Ryker asked, "what do you want to do with the time we've got today then?"
Ella shrugged.
"What about your parents? Have you seen them since it happened?"
"Yeah..."
"...but?"
"They'd seen the news obviously, and Garth had gone ahead to spell out what really happened when I disappeared to them, but... it was hard. They'd gotten over what they'd thought had happened, but just sitting there, trying to act normal... I wanted to just jump up and run away."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Are you sure? Try this - just sit there for a minute, close your eyes, and just let your mind drift back to what you were feeling at the time..."
Ella sighed, but she followed the instructions. After a minute, she brought her hands up to rub her face, and that continued for a minute or so more.
"I was...I don't know, I'd put them through hell - and part of the way, I'd meant it. I was going to leave, even if I was kidnapped before I made it. And there I was, trying to sit there and pretend none of it had happened, that I'm the same person I was before we all got zapped! It was revolting - I felt embarrassed out of my skin.... every time they looked at me, I felt like Mark."
"Mark?"
"My other brother, the older one. The one that caused this in the first place," Ella answered, holding up her hand, sparks dancing between the fingers.
"If you don't mind, how did that happen? You said something about 'getting zapped'?"
Ella sighed, and stayed quiet for a minute before answering, "Sure, might as well - Garth's probably said before anyway."
"We were on holiday on Nevis last year. It had been a good harvest, and mom & dad had got enough money for a holiday for the first time in years, so they booked a holiday for the start of the year. Anyway, me and Garth were going along. I'm can't remember why Mark came, actually - it might have been that my dad didn't trust him, none of us really trusted him; or it might have just been him pushing."
"You say you didn't trust him. What do you mean by that?"
"He's... I don't know if I should say..."
"Ella, none of the details you give me are going to leave this room without your permission if I can help it."
"You're 'assessing' me, aren't you?"
"Yes, but the report I write is based on the conclusions I reach from what you tell me, and the more you tell me the better I know you, and the more accurate the report I write will be. That doesn't mean I'll be telling secrets - you'll see a copy of the report I send before I send it."
Ella sat back in the chair, leaned her head back and exhaled deeply, before running both hands through her hair and scratching her head. After a moment, she clasped her hands behind her head and pulled it forward and gave the doctor a once-over with her eyes. Then sighed again.
"Mark's a f..." she bit her lower lip and started again, "he's a, oh, bad apple, black sheep, troublemaker, choose your own euphemism. What it means is that he's a thief but no-one's ever proved it."
"Who did he steal from?"
"Oh, me, Garth and dad for a start. Beyond that, I don't know and don't know that I ever wanted to know. You should have heard some of the fights him and dad had, while me and Garth weren't meant to be hearing but couldn't help it. Mark barely even hid it - oh, he covered his tracks well enough most of the time; we never caught him in the act anyway and I'm pretty sure no-one else did; but..."
"But what?"
"But he always had money he couldn't explain - he didn't have a job outside the farm and dad cut his allowance off when money started disappearing. If he was stealing from us, it wasn't as much as he had. And we never dared think what else... anyway, if we didn't trust him, he gave us plenty of reason not to and not much reason TO trust him."
At that, Dr Ryker smiled for a moment.
"What's the smile for?"
"It was your accent. Just for a moment there, it came out. Normally, you don't sound like you're from Kansas - not so you'd notice anyway. Neither does Garth, from the little I've heard of his voice, come to think of it. What's going on there?"
Ella blushed at that.
"Are you embarrassed, is that it?"
She ran her right hand through her hair. "A bit. Maybe." She switched hands, "Then again, my mum's not from Kansas and you can certainly tell to listen to her, so it was never really that strong, and it got weaker when I was in the Workforce and no-one else there was talking in an accent like it. I'm not one of those people, like my mom, who holds an accent no matter where I go, and neither's Garth."
"Anyway, you were saying about Nevis..."
"Yeah - where was I?"
"You were just about to leave, and saying why you didn't know why Mark was going."
"Got it. Well, we made it there okay, and spent a couple of days doing touristy stuff, you know. Then, when mom and dad were off on their own for a while, me & Garth found out Mark had hired a speedboat, and we insisted on going 'cause we didn't trust him to go off on his own."
"He was okay with that?"
"Heh - no way. He was shocked enough at us demanding something from him that he was too flustered to stop us though."
"So what happened?"
"Long story short, he went out further than he had fuel for and we ended up rowing to a tiny island near to where we ended up. Actually, we weren't panicking funnily enough. I don't think I even realised we were stranded for real - it was too big to just "get" in one go. Anyway, we ended up on this island - it was, oh, about the size of two, maybe three blocks here in New York, next step up from a lump of sand and a palm tree - which nearly the whole thing seemed covered in, and we dragged the boat up to the treeline. And when we did that, we noticed these weird shapes in the trees. We looked in, and then it all goes black."
"Do you know anything about what happened after that?"
"Not personally. Apparently, our boat was found with me and Garth lying in it back at Nevis, no sign of Mark. The next day, we were airlifted back to the US, and it was a month and a half later before Garth batted an eyelid. No-one knows anything about what happened with Mark."
"What about you?"
"I was out a week longer than Garth was. By the time I woke up, he'd found out about this," for a second, her eyes flashed white, sparking with electricity, "and he'd at least got the idea of how it worked. When I first saw him afterward, he asked if I could do it too. I tried, but I'd been in a coma for two months until about two hours earlier! All I could manage was this -" she held her right hand up, and a few faint sparks jumped, "- enough to say 'yes', but I was weak. I couldn't even stand up yet..."
"You sound bitter..."
"He laughed. Not a loud, ha-ha-ha noise, just a shudder and a smirk, but I knew him. That REALLY hurt. Not quite as much as what I found when I got home a couple of days later though, when I found out he'd packed his bags. Apparently, he'd decided to go off half-cocked after Mark himself, having decided that he 'obviously' had electrical powers too, and it was too dangerous for weak little me..."
"What happened?"
"He went. Somehow, he talked me into not going straight to mum & dad. I don't know how he got anywhere near as far as Metropolis - I think I'd convinced myself he'd get as far as the station and have to turn back."
"And then?"
"Well, it's fairly public what happened then, isn't it? He got lucky with being in the right place at the right time for Brande, and it all fell into place for him..."
"No, I mean you."
"...oh. Well, I worked on building my strength back up. It was really quiet though with those two gone, and I felt different with this -" she waved her arm, with hand flashing white "- running through me. Eventually, I just about cracked and was halfway to trying to follow Garth when, when..."
"Go on..."
"You know what happened."
"I'd like to hear you tell it all the same."
"I got gassed, caged, thrown on ice for, I don't know, a month or two, painfully reprogrammed - and, believe me, you can't even imagine how much that hurt. Apparently, it fires every nerve ending in your body, and I can believe that - and can't this get left for another day? I know this isn't my only session, and I've been sitting in this chair nearly two hours now."
Dr Ryker looked up at the clock. She was right.
Ella smirked at the look of surprise on her face. "And here I thought the first duty of a therapist was to the clock." She paused as she stood. "Thanks though, I think this did help a bit."
"You're welcome. Take care of yourself, okay, and I'll see you next time."
"Bye".
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
There was a knock at the door of Shifter's quarters.
"Come in."
"Reed?" Starboy's head poked around the corner of the door.
"I said 'come in' Tom!"
"Just letting you know, we've got to leave in an hour or so. On a mission, I mean, to some place called 'Cathingham'."
"Who's going?" Reed's head flicked up from the book he was leafing through.
"Me, you, Lyle and Igor. Lyle said he was busy 'prepping' and wanted me to let you know."
"Ah. Thanks." Reed went back to flicking through his book.
"What at you looking at, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Not at all. It's just some old photos of mine from before, you know. Back when I was a kid."
"Mind if I look?"
"By all means" Reed held the book out.
Tom looked at a couple, before landing on a group shot. "Who's this?" Reed stretched his head up to look.
"My eleventh birthday party, just me and a few close friends - cousin Ron, Leandra, Lydia, Hugh, Stephen, René, Ralph and Peter."
"What are they all doing now?"
"I don't know much - Ron's the only one I'm still in contact with. I've heard bits and bobs, of course - René joined an advertising agency, Pete was trying to become a vet, Ralph wanted to be a botanist, Lydia's running a charity to do with her skin condition, and there was something else-"
"Skin condition? Did it happen after this was taken?"
"No, all her life - see how pale she is? She couldn't go out in the sun at all - if she did, she got huge blisters all over the exposed area."
"Poor kid...."
"The day that picture was taken, it was the hottest day of the year, and she turned up in a huge coat, gloves, a balaclava and big, black sunglasses..."
"Sheesh..." Tom paused for a moment. "What about the others?"
"Hugh and Stephen I haven't the slightest idea, and Lee - believe it or not - went into the army."
"I know you were kids, but she's TINY. How...?"
"As I said, I really don't know any more. This is all third-hand or worse." He glanced at the clock. "You said an hour?"
Tom looked at his watch "More like three-quarters now."
"I had better get ready then. Excuse me..." _________
"So, what's wrong then?"
"Huh?" Lyle almost jumped in his seat at Shifter's question. They'd been in the air for an hour, and Lyle had spent most of that time brooding.
"You're worried, but you haven't moved a muscle to brief us on what we're facing. The new bugs at the back won't know that's a problem, but I do. What's wrong?"
Lyle craned his head back to face the ceiling, but didn't deny what Reed had said. Finally, he twisted his headband around and told him, "Intel. We don't have any."
"Wait..." Shifter's eyes boggled, "...you're saying that you know nothing about what we're facing."
"Bits and pieces, very little of it reliable beyond the fact that there's at least one vigilante in black armour in Cathingham going round knocking apparent criminals or would-be criminals out and possibly causing trouble for a gang - that's why I sent Starboy up to let you know about this rather than coming myself, I was desperately searching for more. I was given a few blurred CCTV shots, a couple of interviews with people saved or attacked by him - none of which contain any useful info as their contact with him was *very* short, and the idea that this is political rather than anything to do with our mandate of 'preventing, containing or solving a serious and immediate risk to life'."
"So then, you-"
"I'm saying that, although there might be a problem, legally we shouldn't be involved, and it sets a precedent that makes me livid."
"And Gene had nothing to say about this?"
"Gene said, and I quote, 'Get to it'. None of us have been happy with him - hell, we practically mutinied to get Cos reinstalled as de facto leader, even if Gene has to be the de jure leader - but, with Cos taking his Christmas leave early so he doesn't miss Lorna getting back, it's far too clear that Gene doesn't have a clue. He's a chain-of-command guy, who gets orders and passes them on unquestioned. If Cos had been in charge when that came down - or Irma, or me, or even sprocking Chuck - an order like that, coupled with an almost complete absence of info, would have been bounced right back quoting the bits of our charter that let us say no when it goes against the charter itself. Instead, all I could do was ask Gene for it in writing, let him know exactly why he did the wrong thing, tell him I was going to file a formal complaint, and CC him the e-mail informing them that I was going to do just that."
"Another time, I would have done. It'll be at least two months before a standard complaint gets anywhere, if it ever does."
"Then why didn't y... oh."
"What?"
"Condo. You're going through the system because of Condo, aren't you?"
Lyle blinked, then stared at him "What led you to that conclusion? Of course I'm worried about him, since he's been gone a month and I'm human, but I knew they'd probably be a while."
"We didn't even get informal warnings after the Workforce thing. You say we're allowed to say 'no' under the charter. Either you're not the Invisible Kid I know, or you're getting worried about what'll happen when the team you and Nura 'unofficially' sent out get back."
Lyle shot him a look.
"Oh, she sees the future, not the past. I don't think it even occurred to her you wouldn't have told me. She tells Irma everything - well, except for recently, with the work she's had scanning McCauley's victims for programming and everything's had Irma stuck over at WHQ, and the on the verge of exhaustion when she makes it back. Not that I'm not surprised you didn't tell me..."
Lyle sighed, "The less you know, the less you can be fingered for something you didn't have a part in."
"I know what you're like - that's why this seems wrong. And the only conclusion I can come to is that you don't want them angry enough that they start making examples of people. Starting with the group who've been absent without leave for the last month and counting..."
"You choose your fights, Reed." Lyle looked at him, hard. "With no Cos and Gene on the wrong side, this wasn't a fight I could win there and then; and in this situation, a fight delayed is a fight lost. Instead, you hang back, build your strength, build a dossier of wrongdoing & log the egregious examples, make sure everybody you can count on is there. Then - when you have your cards - then you strike."
"And hang on for dear life in the meantime?"
"If you have to." _________
Afternoon:
Gisbert Vasey, the Mayor of Cathingham, was a short, balding, lightly bearded man on the one hand, and a tough operator who spent two hours every day in the gym, had lost a tooth in a boxing match, had no sign of paunch or age-related withering and had ruled his city for twenty-seven of his fifty-nine years and was by far the favourite win the mayoral election and extend his term to a record-breaking thirty-two years early the following year.
It wasn't any of the above which made the Legionnaires take an instant dislike to him, however. It was his manner, and the arrogance thereof. He barely said a word to them during the photo op they hadn't had mentioned to them in advance, which led to Lyle fading out his hand during the pictures of him hakeing the Mayor's hand. And that was before the speech he gave to them in the police commissioner's office...
"So, you're the Legionnaires, hmm? Well, we have a problem - a disease - in our city, that's been called 'the Nightwatchman'.
Some misguided fools call him a hero!
What I say, is that we have laws in this country. This 'Nightwatchman' thinks he is above the law. This 'Nightwatchman' has no respect for the law. This 'Nightwatchman' flouts the law.
Well, I say that he is not above the law! That he is breaking the law - the codes by which our society abides in order to function. If we were to allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to break the law, where would we be, hmm?
He would have us all be criminals, murdering, and stealing. While wearing masks to hide behind. Only the guilty have something to hide.
Which is why, thanks to my friend, Lex, I have brought you here today. We have a lawbreaker. I expect you to rectify that, and to give me your full co-operation to. that. End."
(beat)
"Oh, and do have a lovely time in Cathingham, thank you"
After which, he left without waiting for a reply. They looked at each other mutely in astonishment, with an additional "I told you so" look from Lyle to Reed. _________
Night:
Gear's tendrils snaked into the sockets, reshaping themselves to fit. "Gimme a moment... there. Up and running."
"You can see everything?" Shifter asked.
"Everything there is here - CCTV, police radios, the kit, the caboodle..."
"...and commlinks" Gear's voice suddenly came from Shifter's shoulder rather than his mouth, making him jump. The others laughed.
"Right, Shifter, Starboy, let's get going." Invisible Kid pressed. "Gear, you know what to do."
"Tell me about it," Igor muttered as he worked to multitask through the data from 24 CCTV cameras, 104 police radio channels and assorted miscellany simultaneously... __________
Two-and-a-half hours later, Lyle's "get going" seemed wildly optimistic as they sat in police car playing cards and waiting for some word.
"He heard we were coming, didn't he," Tom moaned. His first official mission as a Legionnaire was turning into a waste of time.
"Could be," Lyle serenely placed another card. "You just have to learn some pat-ie-en..."
"Got a hit!" Gear's voice echoed through the vehicle as their commlinks sparked to life. "Saw him heading north at the crossing of Watson Street and Trefoil Road."
As Lyle, who had already made his way into the front, sparked the engine into life, he smirked at Tom for a fraction of a second.
When they were stopped at a busy junction, Shifter snaked through the grill separating the front seats of the car from the rear. "I caught that smirk. You're feeling more confident then?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Eh?"
"Rule of leadership: don't let the newbies see how nervous you are." He pulled out into a gap in the traffic, turning left. ___________
Reed was alone. Lyle & Tom had both fallen quickly - Lyle to a blow to the head, delivered by the Nightwatchman in what seemed like complete ignorance of Tom trying to pin him gravitationally, and Tom himself to a tranquiliser dart fired from his wrist. One had hit Reed too, but a small area around where it hit had liquified and fallen out with the dart, taking the drug with it.
He'd just managed to heal the resulting wound when a kick to the chest had knocked him on his behind, showing the fight was on.
He hadn't done very well.
His unique physiology stopped his much stronger opponent from knocking him out, but whatever the training he'd received from Valor & Trinity, he simply hadn't been able to make an impression through his opponent's armour. It had almost come as a relief when the Nightwatchman had bolted on hearing sirens, and had very nearly just given into the pan and gone to his 'natural', gelatinous, form to heal.
Nearly.
As a result, he was trying to do so in solid form, while chasing the NWM. The concentration needed nearly led him to miss the NWM dropping down a manhole cover, and then he almost lost him in the gloom of the sewer passageways.
Almost.
Now, the NWM was turning to fight once more, seemingly giving up on losing him. Focusing on this and healing rather than watching his step, Shifter tripped over a loose brick and fell.
With his opponent looming over him, and the knowledge that he couldn't beat him in a straight fight, he made a decision, and jumped onto his helmet, clamping to it limpet-style and bracing against his opponent's shoulders, trying to forcibly remove it.
If he couldn't beat him, at least he could see his face, find out his identity-
The blows started to rain down upon him, the NWM desperate to be rid of him. He held on, and with the blows failing to prise him off, he grabbed at him.
He clung on to the rim of the helmet for dear life, pulling at it and trying to brace.
Something had to give.
He wouldn't.
The NWM wouldn't.
The helmet did.
As it came off, Shifter fell forwards, still stuck to his trophy, trying to stay focused on staring at his opponent's face. The NWM had audibly winced as it happened and was now rubbing the back of their head as... long hair fell down from a topknot? He engorged his eyes more until they took up fully half his face, peering through the dark.
His surprise at registering the "Nightwatchman's" unmistakably female face was as nothing compared to the shock when he recognised her.
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