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The girl in white was determined to make her plan work. The wind was fierce this December evening in New York City. She looked up, to the top of the grey building in front of her, took a big breath, and went in. "Yes? May I help you?". The security guard was a big man. He was flanked by 4 others. "I would like to see Mr. Brande, please". "I'm very sorry, but Mr. Brande doesn't see anybody without an appointment." This was as she thought, R.J. Brande had a reputation for generosity that attracted many people in need to his offices. Tamara looked at the guard, smiled, and said: "I see. Where can I make an appointment, please?". She knew exactly the answer to that question, the large queue to her left was obvious enough. And she had been here before, visiting with her mother, Countess Winona Wazzo, second in line to the Austrian throne and ambassador of her country at the U.N. That had most certainly NOT been a nice visit. R.J. Brande had seen right through the usual insincere unctuousness of the Austrian heir, and had politely but firmly refused to take part in Winona's political schemes to return Austria to a monarchical system. "The Austro-Hungarian Empire must rise again!". Yada, yada, Tamara had heard this line from her mother throughout her life. She had never been interested in this, Austria was doing quite well as a republic, but her mother's obsessions did cause some problems. For example, R.J. Brande had sworn never to see Countess Winona again. And he would certainly not be inclined to see her daughter, either.
Tamara looked at the guard, smiled politely, and with a gentle bow of her head, turned towards the long queue. When she reached a corner, she turned towards the wall... and disappeared. She knew exactly where R.J. Brande's office was, but it still took her a while to get through the myriad of offices unseen. Fourty-five minutes later, she had made it. Nobody had seen her (she was quite proud to have had the patience to wait until people got out of her way) and she was standing inside R.J. Brande's door. She looked inside, through the darkness. In addition to R. J. Brande, there were six people in the room, two boys and four girls. Three of the girls, triplets, obviously, were sitting on a sofa, holding hands. The fourth girl, a stunning blonde, had her hands at her temples, and was watching the triplets intensely. The men were looking from behind. And suddenly, the triplets... merged into one person! The blonde woman lowered her arms, smiling, but then frowned and looked straight towards the dark office door. "There is someone else here!", she said, and two seconds later, Tamara was surrounded. "The Austrian princess!" R.J. Brande was not pleased. "Hi. I'm Tamara, but you can call me Tina".
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The village of Trom was abuzz with talk of strangers being spotted nearby. Young Jan Arrah was excited. He hoped that he would get a glimpse of the strangers. He had dreamed of exploring the world outside the village, to see the cities from which the village ancestors came from. Occassionally certain villagers were selected to go into the outside world. Jan's father had done so.
According to the stories, centuries ago a group of alchemists in Munich had discovered the secret of changing one metal into another. It was a great discovery. But there were those who wanted the secret for their own personal gain. There had been fights and death in the struggle over the secret. Finally his ancestors had prevailed. They knew the secret was too dangerous for the outside world, so they took their families to this remote area and founded the village of Trom. Hidden from the world, the villagers kept guard of their secret power.
Jan spent the afternoon scouring the countryside, looking for the strangers with no luck. Tired and hungry he returned to the village. What he discovered there shocked him. All the houses were now just charred and smoking ruins. The villagers' bodies, his friends, laid everywhere. Running to his own home, Jan found his father and mother on the floor. Dropping to his knees, he cradled her in him arms, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"cough, cough" She was still alive, but just bearly. "Mother what happened? What should I do?" "Jan? Is that you? It..it was the strangers. They came looking for our secret. But we did not tell them. cough, cough, choke. Jan? You are safe? You must hide. You must get away from here." His mother clutching at him, her fear and desperation evident in her voice. "Run, my son. Save yourself!" With that she collapsed, breathing her last.
Jan looked for any other survivors, but they were all dead. Jan knew he could not stay here, but where could he go? Then he remembered all the stories his father had told him of his time in the outside world. There was one man whom his father had repeatly said was the best of all the outsiders - RJ Brande. Jan would find this RJ Brande and seek his help.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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It was finally happening! The Legion was forming! Nura sat up from her futon, beaming towards her sister Maizah. But of course she knew already, Irma had probably broadcasted her news to all of her 'telepathic' friends simultaneously. Nura stood up, and walked towards a window covered in intricate wooden patterns. She peeked outside, towards the other soaring skyscrapers in the blazing sun. That it had come to this, having to flee from one's own father! It would be nice, though, to finally see that place she had always dreamed about, America!
But first things first, they had to get out of here. And that was not going to be easy. Maizah ("the discerning one", how appropriate!) was already packing, putting a few prescious books she had taken from her father's library into a camel-leather bag. Nura did not have much to put into her bag, but this did not concern her. They were finally leaving! The Legion would be a success, she had foreseen it. She put her burka on and opened the door, Maizah two steps behind her, also covered from head to toe. As the two sisters started walking down the hall, Maizah waved her hands, and all sounds from their walking were muzzled. Maizah had been preparing for this moment for a long time, waiting for their father to leave the house. She was not going to let themselves be caught. The two sisters reached the stone steps, and walked down the fourteen stories of the earthen skyscraper. The heat of the sun welcomed them as they arrived at the bottom. The streets of Shibam were almost completely empty, at this, the hottest hour of the afternoon, but a few people, mostly men, were conversing in the shade. Reaching the market was no problem, but to get to the bus station, and then beyond...!
As the two sisters were trying to board the bus to Aden, a large, surly looking man with a big moustache and a uniform stopped them. "Who are you, and where are you going?", he asked. "I am Nura bint-Mordru bin-Ahmad Al-Nayal, and I am leaving for America!". At the same time, Maizah waved her hands again. The man stopped frowning, put on a beatific smile, and went to his office, ready to follow Maizah's "suggestions". He came back ten minutes later, having written fake permission papers from the two women's non-existing husbands. "Your papers are in order, you can leave the country now". The sisters looked at each other, pleased with their success. They boarded the bus, the first step out of Yemen in their long trip to America. "It will be so nice to finally meet Irma, Jacquie, and the dark English lady!"
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Long ago in Ancient Rome, the warrior Monius Ellysius was the greatest champion of the Roman people. Some said he has decended from the real Hercules, for he possessed the amazing ability over super-strength and invulnerability.
Others said that he was Achilles, who had secretly lived on since the Fall of Troy.
One day, on a trip into Persia, Monius explored the ancient caverns of the Babylonians and stumbled upon a terrible form of led that he inhaled.
Poisoned, Monius was brought by the Persian people to their greatest Zoroastrian Priest. The Priest was able to gain favor with his deities, and a spell was woven so that Monius would not wake up for 2000 years. Hidden in the cave, the Persians left him there and covered the cave, scrawling only these words over it's entrance: "Zone of Phantoms".
This was during the reign of the Emperor Augustus.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Irma Ardeen, sitting in the back bench of one of R.J. Brande's airplanes, had a headache. The past couple of days had been so eventful! After years lived in isolation in the deepest part of the Cadmus Laboratories, life on the outside was proving to be very stressful. Fortunately, she could still count on her telepathic friends to keep her sane. The effects of the chemical treatment inflicted on her by the scientists at STAR labs had been instantaneous (oh, how she wished she had never volonteered for that!), at the blink of an eye she found herself being able to hear and manipulate the thoughts of thousands of people. It took her years of training to learn to silence those voices, but at last she was getting there. There were limits to her power, though. Although she could receive the thoughts of people physically close to her, her abilities diminished with distance. That simple fact had meant that for years she had had to live in the most strict isolation, while learning to cope with her new powers. She found, however, that she was able to communicate with a few people, usually adept in the mystical arts, even if they lived at the other end of the planet. Maizah had been first, Irma didn't know what she would have done without her! Such strength and determination in such a small frame! Quickly afterwards, Maizah had managed to open Nura, her sister, to Irma's telepathic messages. For years the three of them had shared their innermost thoughts as only teenagers can, all of them completely isolated from the outside world. As Irma's powers grew stronger and her control better, she started to "invite" others to her conversations. Tatiana Mallor, the dark lady from England, had become a good friend in a small time, as had Sara, the "empress of Venegar", as she liked to be called. A small girl called Jackie was also receptive to the messages, but she was so shy! Irma didn't like her very much, actually; it was only at Maizah's insistance that she kept her in the group. But over the years she had been able to find out next to nothing about this so-called "friend".
The training period ended when the people from Checkmate arrived to recruit her. How she hated those people! She had been used for one thing, and one thing only: to spy the thoughts of important dignataries. And Irma hated every minute of it. To invade the privacy of these people in such a blatant manner! Because most of them were actually good people, with wives, kids and mundane problems, peering into their minds without their consent was simply revolting! The Checkmate operatives didn't see things in the same way, and so one day she simply had to leave. And leave she did. She went to the basis of operations of Checkmate, read the mind of the head of personal, and proceeded to erase the memory of her existance from every single person related to that program. And then she did the exact same thing to the 250 people at Star Labs that had ever known of her existance. She was free at last! Or so she thought, she hoped she didn't miss anybody...
Garth and Rex had been the first boys Irma had ever met. Of course there had been the STAR scientists, but they were OLD! It had been so exciting, managing to save the life of R.J. Brande! Of course she was willing to join the new Legion, Nura had foreseen that it would be a great instrument for good! She had also enjoyed helping Lorna to get herself back together, perhaps her telepathic powers would be able to do some good, after all! The Austrian girl was nice enough, but Irma found her open, smiley demeanor a bit too much. And then there was Quentin, another child of Star Labs. When he was "delivered" to Mr. Brande, Irma hid, not wanting to meet anybody from Star Labs ever again. But to her surprise, she found that she got along with the green kid well enough (God, she hoped that particular side effect from his genetic manipulation would not appear in her!).
And now, here they were, the new Legion of Super Heroes, off to their first mission. Garth, Rex, Lorna, Tina, Quentin and herself. She hoped things would work out... But why did she have a feeling that there were two other people on the plane? She had checked over and over again, and had found nothing. It must be the headache.
At the very back of the plane, Lyle Norga and Sally Digby looked at each other and smiled. They had just confirmed that Reed Daggly had made it onto the plane, too, disguised as one of the co-pilots. They hoped everything would work according to plan...
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Laura Long was shy & quiet girl who made the most startling of discoveries. Her cute next door neighbor Mick Russell was the hero of her hometown Foreman. Drawing of her lifetime love of entomology she developed a serum to allow her to pupate into a more attractive form. She took drank it & when she woke up in the morning she found she had much longer legs & a butt to rival JLo's. Unfortunatly a few weeks later she would often turn into ferocious Were-Bugs. Thankfully Mick figured out what happened & brought her to STAR labs. The developed a ring that helped her channel her powers in a less violent manner. She was relieved because she didn't want to go all Praying Mantis on her potential boyfriend. Now she was the sultry Insect Queen.
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Brian was loner, he always had been. Growing up in a military had seen to that! His dad was a doctor in the Army and they had moved from base to base. Sometimes it seemed to Brian that they had just gotten settled in a new house when they had to start packing again!
Because of the frequent moves, Brian had never let himself make friends with any of the kids he met on the various bases or at the various schools he attended. What was the point? He would only have to say goodbye in a few months and never see them again!
Without friends to play with, Brian mostly concentrated on physical training and sports, the individual ones...no team sports for him since that would mean teamMATES. He ran constantly, lifted weights, loved to box and wrestle, and was even an excellent gymnast. One good thing (the ONLY good thing, in Brian's opinion!) you could say about the military, they always provided terrific training equipment at the base gymnasiums.
They were back in the States now, in Texas actually but his family had spent the last year stationed on the base at Diego Garcia. It was there that he had gotten stung or bitten by one of the dangerously venomous animals or lizards that infested the island. He was running, alone as usual, when he was stung, and had not seen his attacker. Somehow he had made it back to the base before blacking out.
It was almost a month later before he came out of his venom induced coma. His father and the other doctors had struggled mightily to save his life, trying every antidote, hormone and treatment they could think of to fight the unidentified venom. Something had worked, or maybe some combination of things had worked...no one really knew although they were all releaved.
One good thing had come out of that experience, Brian smiled to himself, as he climbed the sheer cliff face. Whatever combination of drugs they had treated him with had caused an unanticipated side effect, one which he had not shared or spoken about with anyone, even his father.
He was even more agile, you could say super agile! He was also faster, stronger, and had significantly more endurance than he had ever had before! Something had enhanced his physical abilities way beyond the norm!
-------------------- Bring back Condo!
Registered: Aug 2003
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Zoe couldn't believe it. She was flying! Up in the sky! Like a bird! This was WAYYY cooler than being a cheerleader.
It was getting chilly up here. She quickly morphed her green mini into a warmer yet no less chic pair of pants. Her newfound abilities were SO convenient.
She hoped the kids back home would still remember her... The kids who had been her friends before her mom and dad had split and mom had taken her and her stupid baby brother Than looking for artifacts on a wild-goose chase around the world!
Although it hadn't turned out to be a wild-goose chase, had it? That mysterious artifact in the ruins had been charged with some mystical energy, and now she could do all these cool things...
Three days after she had first absorbed that energy, she had first discovered her high scale telekinetic abilities. It hadn't taken long for her to decide to fly back to America on her own and pop up at the prom. She had left her mom a note before she left. She'd be back soon, of course. It's not like she could get into any trouble with these cool powers, could she? She'd be perfectly safe.
She was thinking about which boy would be un-gross wnough to ask to the prom when the plane carrying the Legion flew right above her.
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The two women who stepped out of the plane in Frankfurt could not be more different to the ones who boarded it in Aden. During the flight, the two sisters had removed their burkas and had shyly returned to their seats, under the stare of practically every single male passenger on the plane. But it was in Frankfurt where their full physical beauty was revealed. They had decided to exchange their Arab-style clothing for a more "westerly" attire, in order to attract less attention. The effect of the change was the exact opposite of what they intended. Maizah had chosen white pants and a white silk blouse that contrasted brightly with her fiery red hair. Nura had chosen a pair of tight jeans and a red blouse, and had tied up her platinum hair with an oriental-looking needle. Both were extremely uncomfortable with the amount of attention they were getting.
"We can't linger here too long, father is bound to find us!" The day before their flight from Shibam, when they learned about their father's so-called "business trip", Nura had made sure to take enough money from their father's vault to last them for a lifetime, while Maizah raided the library. They had absolutely no compunctions in using that money, the rightful owners of it would certainly approve of the sister's efforts to oppose their father. Had they been alive, that is.
The plane to New York City was still on the runway. Nura sighed in relief when they finally found their seats, but Maizah was... distant, she thought. She looked at her small sister and smiled. Whatever would she do without her? They had never been apart in all their lives. Maizah looked at her sister with a tremulous smile and kissed her in the cheek. And then she stood up. Ten minutes later she still hadn't returned, and the plane took flight. Nura was frantic. She was just about to go to the cabin to force the plane to fly back, when fluorescent green letters appeared in front of her spelling a message in Arabic. "I am so sorry, Nura", it said, "I have to help Jacquie". "I'll find you in New York."
Nura bint-Mordru Al-Nayal fell back into her seat, tears streaming down her face. How come she had not foreseen this?
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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The secretary general of the United Nations had much more important things to do, in her mind, than entertain the billionaire industrialist who, it seemed to her, had free run of the United Nations building in New York, and easy access to most of the member governments.
If the truth were to be known, she was jealous of Brande and the admiration her international colleagues held for him. Chu had worked her way up the hard way: through the political machinery of her predecessor, Secretary General Thawne. She had seen the shady dealings and power plays of his administration first hand, and had participated in them only to the extent that it was necessary to get ahead. Now that Thawne had been forced to resign in disgrace (a murky issue surrounding the murder of a brother and sister named Allen had surfaced), the power was Chu's.
Some power. As Secretary General, she had no real authority over international affairs, and no way of preventing member nations from acting on their own accord, as recent history showed. But that would all change, she could feel it. Somehow, she would show the world a better way.
"Mr. Brande is here to see you," came the voice of her administrative assistant.
"Send him in," she said, her voice cool and calculating, betraying not the slightest hint of her derision for Brande.
Brande entered the spacious office, bounding with energy, as he always did.
An hour later, he left in an altogether different mood. Unbeknownst to Brande, he had handed Chu exactly what she was looking for. This proposal of his -- this "Legion of Super-Heroes" to be supported and sanctioned by the UN -- would be her instrument in consolidating her power over the unruly member nations.
Brande, of course, didn't see it that way. He intended the Legion to be used for more altruistic purposes. What was the phrase he used? "A symbol to bring people together."
Such naivete from a man of Brande's stature she could hardly believe.
Brande appeared to instantly regret bringing his proposal to her attention, but it was too late. The Legion would have everything the UN could offer: access to other nations, powers of arrest and detention, even a magnificent headquarters to be erected a few blocks away -- where Chu could keep an eye on them.
There was only one aspect of Brande's proposal that she shot down: his choice of Legion leader, a young Minnesotan named Rex Kline (or Cosmic Boy, as Brande preferred). Kline may have been a sports hero in his hometown, but that wouldn't give him enough experience or standing in the international community to lead a UN-sponsored Legion.
No, she had someone altogether different in mind ...
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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Young Jenni Ognats looked out over the calm sea, the sun's light playing gently on the cool blue water. It was so peaceful, so beautiful... It reminded her of her mother.
The beach had been her favorite place, ever since she was a little kid. Mom and Dad would always take her there, teaching her how to swim in the shallow depths, helping her build towering (well, they looked like towers to a three-year old!) sand castles, and just enjoying the peace and quiet.
It had been heaven.
Until suddenly one day her mom had gone. Dad took her to the beach as usual, but instead of getting into the water, he sat her down and told her that mommy had gone far away. Even then he had been trying to hold back the tears. She couldn;t understand why her momma had left there. Not then, not now.
All she knew was that her momma and uncle Don would never have left on their own. Someone must have made them. The same person who chased Aunt Iris and cousin Bart away. The same person who nearly killed her father on the day of her eighth borthday party. And from that day she swore she would find that person when she was old enough.
Five years later, she finally understood it all. Shortly after she had turned thirteen, she had discovered something amazing about herself. She was trying to catch the school bus, hoping she wouldn;t get yet another detention that day, because she so desperately wanted to make it home early so she could surprise her dad on his brithday. While she was running, she closed her eyes and prayed.
When she opened them, she was already by the school gates.
She had shown her father that very night, thinking how happy he would be. But she was wrong. He cried again, just as he did that day momma had gone away. And he had told her the whole story.
Secretary General Thawne had been forced to resign, but Jenni was sure that someone else had helped commit the crime that he had been accused of, and many others that had been hidden away, with no witnesses left to tell the tale. She had almost given up hope, when she heard about the Legion's formation. Maybe now she could gain allies, friends who would help her find out the truth and rid the world of the evil powers manipulating it.
She had made up her mind. Leaving a cloud of sand in her wake, she ran towards New York.
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Reed Daggly sat down at the radio controls and smiled. Nobody had noticed that he wasn't the real co-pilot! The disguise was working perfectly. He took off his sunglasses and reached for the carryon bag he'd brought with him. Unzipping the small accessories pouch he was startled to find his pet chameleon sleeping on his iPod. The lizard's skin blended perfectly with the music player and made him seem almost invisible.
Good Grief, he thought, how did Proteus get in there? He quickly zipped the pouch closed before amiable reptile woke.
-------------------- Yes, but now I'm back! I'm back FROM the future!
Vist Hyperion Ranch! Guided tours of Chateau Crowbar now available!
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"The Eye has awakened!!!" Monius Ellysius' telepathic scream was so loud that, on the plane over the Caribbean Sea, Irma Ardeen jolted in her seat. "What Eye? And was that Latin?" She was very puzzled indeed. "Who thinks in Latin these days?"
"The Eye has awakened!!!" Sara Romanescu, chamber maid at the Royal Palace of Moldavia, stopped washing the laundry in the dark, damp basement of the palace. "At last!"
"The Eye has awakened." Princess Jacqueline Proiectra of Moldavia was looking through the window of the Royal Castle, not at the snowy fields below, but further, much further. "It has finally come to pass." She had been preparing for this since she was a small child, preparing and watching Sara, the last child of the Romanescu clan. This was of course the reason she was given her powers by the Oracles. When Sara made telepathic contact with the American girl, she knew that she had to intervene, to listen, but in an inobtrusive way that would not put Sara on her guard. So she created Jacquie, a small child that listened to most telepathic conversations, but said very little. As far as she could tell, Sara had not realized that Jacquie, the small child in her telepathic conversations, was the Princess in the upper chambers. Why would she? Protocol dictated that the Princess never had any contact with the chamber maids, and the two had not exchanged more than very few words over the years.
But Maizah had not been fooled. Almost immediately after Jacquie had joined the telepathic group, Maizah knew that she was being deceitful. She found a way to bypass Irma's telepathy, and confronted her. Jacqueline of Moldavia, faced with the threat that her spying would be exposed, had no choice but to explain herself to Maizah. She would have found out anyway, she was the daughter of the Archmage Mordru! And so Maizah became her sole confidante, the only person who knew the reasons for her life long dishonorable behaviour. And she swore never to tell anybody. Not even her sister Nura.
"The Eye has awakened!" On the train to Moldavia, Maizah Al-Nayal shuddered. She bent down and continued studying her books, she would soon need all the magic at her disposal. Hopefully she would be able to give Jacquie the time she needed. She just found it regrettable that she had to die so young.
In a cavern in the Austrian Alps, Azura Saunders lay on the floor, unconscious. The Archmage Mordru Al-Nayal was using all the means at his disposal to bring the Emerald Eye of Akron under his control, but he was not being very successful: even after giving part of his Emerald energy to the American girl, the Emerald Eye was more than a match for the mage. After seven hours of relentless battle, Mordru was defeated. The Eye rose from the cavern, seemed to hesitate for an instant (Zoe or Sara?), and then moved eastwards.
From a mountain top over his destroyed village, Jan Arrah watched the Emerald glow. "The Eye has awakened". He turned back and continued his trip. Hopefully R.J. Brande would be able to help.
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At first everything worked as planned. The Legion's plane landed at a secret airstrip in the Putumayo region, on the eastern slope of the Colombian Andes. Three hours later, after an uncomfortable walk through the rainforest, Luthor Corp's facility was in full view.
Rex assumed the leadership role quite naturally. Without saying a word, he directed Tina towards the main gate. She phased through, and opened it from the inside. She had disposed of some of the guards, and the rest were quickly put to sleep by Irma, who at the same time took a mental map of the installations from their minds and transmitted it to all other Legionnaires. Garth and Rex immediately moved towards the right, towards the place where the alkaloids were stored. Quentin remained close to the entrance, and Irma, Tina and Lorna started moving towards the offices.
They did not get very far. Seven large, heavily armed robots were standing in front of them. Irma was the first one to fall, her powers utterly inadequate to deal with this type of menace. Lorna fell shortly afterwards. Rex, Garth and Quentin, who had heard the commotion, rushed to the aid of their teammates and witnessed Tina singlehandedly disabling one of the robots by phasing through its electrical system. Two others were destroyed by Garth and Rex, but they were overpowered by the superior firepower from the four remaining ones. After that, it was just a matter of time before Quentin and Tina were defeated, too. An army of guards appeared with sonic blasters, aimed them at the two remaining Legionnaires, and the battle was over.
The soldiers carrying Lorna Durgo were surprised when she suddenly disappeared into thin air. Her second body had stayed outside of the Lexcorp facility, and by merging with it, she was able to escape her captors. When she arrived at the plane's landing site and saw the unconscious body of the pilot, Lorna realized that things were worse than she thought. And where was the co-pilot? She moved quickly to attempt to revive the pilot, and while doing that, an identification card fell out from his shirt pocket. Luthorcorp, it said. At this point, Lorna Durgo looked up to the sky and saw a green glow. A flying girl??!!!
Thousands of miles away, Jeanne Chu was finishing a phone call. "Yes, Mr. Luthor, I'll keep you informed. Thank you for your support." She hung up the phone, and smiled.
Ramiro Puerta, soldier of the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, was standing immediately behind Reed Daggly when the explosion occurred.
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