posted
I didn't realise my actual fanfic series had been engrossed with the ONE STORYLINE for like an actual year now, so as much as I wanted to jump in and write more Legion stuff, I felt like I needed to break it up a bit.
I present to you a done-in-one featuring everyone's favorites, the Legion of Substitute Heroes!
(Oh, and also credit goes to Set for coming up with the idea of Rainbow Girl just randomly having a new power every time she appears with nobody noticing)
TRITON Cryogeyser City, Office of the Assistant Governor “So let me see if I understand this correctly,” Assistant Governor Manpul addressed the six oddly dressed off-worlders standing before him, “The Legion of Superheroes sent you here because one of you overheard terrorists broadcasting a Tritonian takeover.” Like all natives of Neptune’s largest moon, the Assistant Governor was a pale blue-grey color. His skin was somewhat scaly, his eyes bulbous and black. He was slightly reptillian in appearance, nothing like any of the various races of his visitors. Still, every one of his visitors could sense the complete disinterest in his tone of voice and his body language.
“Not quite...” a chubby young man in green replied awkwardly. “We’re the Legion of Substitute Heroes, Sir. I’m Chlorophyll Kid, these are my teammates Fire Lad, Stone Boy, Rainbow Girl, Polecat, and our Auxiliary member Antennae Lad. Antennae Lad has the power to receive broadcasts from any time or place, and he alerted us when he picked up transmissions between members of the Legion of Substitute Villains indicating that they were ready to mount their assault on your city.”
“The Legion of Substitute Heroes,” the reedy politician repeated.
“That’s right,” Chlorophyll Kid nodded, his leafy cowl fins rustling.
“The Legion of Substitute Villains,” Assistant Governor Manpul continued, sounding even more unimpressed if that were possible.
“Well yes Sir, we’ve never heard of them either...”
“...and why is it that these substitute villains have been kind enough to announce their assault and then wait for you to make your way from the other side of the solar system before actually engaging in any of their substitute evil, Chlorophyll Kid?”
“It hasn’t happened yet!” Antennae Lad cried out in exasperation. “Obviously it was a transmission from the future! We may not have long to prepare though, why are we wasting time having this ridiculous conversation?”
“That may be the only sensible thing I’ve heard from any of you people since you arrived,” the Tritonian replied. “Why indeed? I have work to do, young sentients, and no time for this nonsense. I’ll thank you to find your own way out.” Without another word, he turned and shuffled away, leaving the Subs alone in the spartan office.
Chlorophyll Kid sighed and buried his hands in the pockets of his loose-fitting jumpsuit. “Sorry Polecat, this hasn’t been the best first mission we could have given you.”
“That’s okay,” Dafe Meron replied, looking over Triton’s famous ski slopes outside the office window. “Reminds me of Antarctica back on Earth...except, you know, with people. Maybe before we go, we can get in some--”
The Substitute Heroes’ newest recruit was interrupted by sharp feedback and the sound of a man’s voice blasting forth from Antennae Lad’s oversized ears. “I took out the Science Police on duty, Substitute Legion! Come on in!”
“Sorry,” Antennae Lad apologised sheepishly, “I’ve been honing my power, but sometimes it still picks up transmissions when my concentration lapses.”
“Never mind that!” Fire Lad interjected, “Did you hear what he said? It must be that Legion of Substitute Villains!”
“Sprock!” Antennae Lad exclaimed. He screwed up his face in concentration for a moment as he picked up random signals from entertainment and news channels and broadcast them to the room, each sound accompanied by piercing squeals. “I’ll see if I can find him again!” the large-eared Grxyorian shouted over the din of his own power. “I think that one was only a few minutes off!”
“Forget it!” Stone Boy bellowed as he grabbed Antennae Lad by the shoulder. “Let’s get to the local Science Police HQ, we might be able to stop them in their tracks!”
Moments later, the Subs found themselves at the entry portal to the Triton Science Police headquarters. A small limbless welcome droid floated out with a quiet hum to meet the group as soon as they entered the lobby. Nothing seemed to be amiss here; aside from a few droids going about their business the building was empty.
*breep*state the nature of your need, citizens*breep* the welcome droid’s artificial voice monotoned.
“We need to see the officer in charge,” Stone Boy stated politely.
*breep*state the nature of your need, the droid repeated.
“I...wait, I just did,” Stone Boy frowned.
A sizzling sound distracted the Subs, and they turned to see a section of the headquarters’ outer wall melting into a bubbling liquified pool which ate into the floor where it touched. On the other side of the large hole in the wall, the heroes saw the man responsible for this damage wiping corrosive vomit from his mouth with the back of his hand. He was surrounded by the rest of his team, most of them looking slightly nauseous; a morbidly obese green man in a deep blue bodysuit, a more attractive blue man with a slighter build and gills in his neck, and two women. One of the women had red skin and fashionably styled short black hair. Irridescent tribal tattoos ran down the length of both of her bare arms. The final member of their group seemed to be the only one of them who was a native Tritonian. Where every other Tritonian had pale blue-grey skin though, hers bore a slight reddish hue. She had a shock of red hair and a skintight red bodysuit with a yellow animal head motif across the torso.
The two teams faced one another in mutual shock. “Who the florg are you?” the Tritonian woman snarled.
“Did that man just vomit a hole in the wall?” Rainbow Girl asked in horror. “That’s disgusting!”
“We’re the Legion of Subsitute Heroes!” Fire Lad crowed, taking point. “I assume you’re the Legion of Substitute Villains we came here to stop?”
“How did they know?” the fat villain cried out.
“We’ll figure that out later!” the Tritonian snapped. “The worms in this ice pit have been keeping me down ever since I was a kid, and these losers are sure as florg not gonna stop me from getting my revenge now! Thrash ‘em!” Her body temperature spiked until everyone present could almost see the heat coming off of her in waves. She leaped across the threshold, clearing almost twenty feet in one effortless motion. She landed in the midst of the Substitute Heroes, scattering them all.
“Might be easier said than done, sweetie,” Rainbow Girl smiled, glowing a warm red color. “You’re fast, but it won’t do you much good when I can control anything the same color as my aura.” Rainbow Girl flicked her hand for effect, and her foe flew across the room smashing a droid into pieces.
“Gazelle!” the fat man gasped. “That wasn’t nice, lady!” He reached out with both arms and a thick oozing slime coated Rainbow Girl and the floor around her. She squealed as she slipped over and fell on her backside.
“Nice one, Sludge!” the Substitute Villains’ other female member stepped in front of him, using herself as a human shield. “Now it’s time to show them what Sizzle can do!” By this point, the science police droids had begun to react. One of them fired upon Sizzle, only for her to convert its taser to flame and melt her attacker to slag.
*breep*cease and desist, one of the other droids sounded as it shot at Fire Lad.
“We’re on your side, you stupid bag of bolts!” He dodged its beam and exhaled a stream of fire which destroyed it as easily as Sizzle had done.
“Grife, Staq!” Chlorophyll Kid hurled a handful of seeds into the air, creating an instant wall of dense foliage between the combatants and the oncoming droids. “Don’t destroy them, not when I can keep them away with an instant jungle!” He grabbed another handful of seeds and threw them at the villains, but before his power could take effect the seeds were disintegrated in a spurt of acid vomit.
“I recognise you,” Stone Boy called out to the offending villain. “Bile, right? From the last Legion tryouts?”
“That’s my name,” Bile answered, “Those high and mighty Legionnaires think they’re too good for me, well I’ll show them...I’ll show you all!” He inhaled a lungful of air and turned towards Stone Boy, then promptly dropped to his knees as his nose and mouth were filled with the most foul-smelling stench he could imagine. He threw up once more, but without direction it simply ate away at the ground beneath his feet and Bile fell through to the level below.
Happy with himself, Polecat grinned smugly. “There are more productive ways to react to rejection...I felt the same pain, but I chose to perfect my power of odor generation and to try my best to be a hero anyway.” As he spoke, he continued to emit fetid vapors from the two small horns on his forehead, filling the room and causing Sizzle and Sludge to drop to their knees and begin retching. Behind Polecat, Chlorophyll Kid hurriedly grew handfuls of fresh Winathian Morning Mint and threw the sweetly perfumed herb around to his team.
The one member of the supervillains still standing rushed Polecat and knocked him out with a solid punch to the jaw. “And I thought Bile was gross,” the blue-skinned man mumbled to himself. “Lucky we Vavallans don’t have too much of a sense of smell outside of water,thank Leilanus...even so though, that was grody to the extreme!”
With Antennae Lad’s help, Rainbow Girl had managed to wipe off most of Sludge’s slime and regain her footing. She glowed now with a blue aura, and reached out towards the Vavallan. “If you ask me,” she muttered, “This whole mission has been one episode of disgust after another. Let’s end this before it gets any worse.” With the power of her aura, she lifted the supervillain high into the air and slammed him into the floor with great force. He bounced twice before coming to an undignified rest at Stone Boy’s feet.
“Ha!” he laughed, getting to his feet unharmed. “Nice try, lady! Nothing gets through this shell though, that’s why they call me Turtle. Not even your Sun Boy wannabe over there can hurt me! I’m the one member of our team that’s unbeatable!” He rapped a knuckle on his own shoulder to prove his point.
“Have you got enhanced strength?” Stone Boy asked.
Turtle gave him a confused look. “That’s a weird question, why would I have enhanced strength? I’m not called Ultra-Turtle!”
“Just checking,” the Zwennite hero grinned. Before Turtle could react, Stone Boy grabbed him in a full nelson and then activated his own power, turning into a living statue. Turtle struggled, but to no avail. He was trapped. “Oh, come on!” the would-be villain whined.
“What about you two?” Fire Lad addressed Sludge and Sizzle, tiny jets of flame shooting out of his nostrils. “Any fight left in you?”
Still recovering from Polecat’s power, Sizzle just shook her head as she wiped sick from her mouth.
“No,” Sludge answered glumly. “Man, my dad’s gonna kill me.”
“What’s taking you guys so long?” a new voice called out cheerily from within the wall of vegetation barring the combatants from the rest of the Science Police HQ. “Where did all these vines come from? You know they only have two sentients on duty here? They never even saw me coming, I knocked ‘em out and put ‘em in a storage closet....so what are our demands gonna be when we call the UP? What are we -- oh.” A paper-thin man finally squeezed his way through the greenery to see the aftermath of the brief battle.
“Ron-Karr, right?” Fire Lad asked. “Your friends have already surrendered, pal...you might as well do the same.”
The Neptunian shrugged with a sad little pout. “I really thought this time would be different...” he sighed, before sniffing the air and screwing his nose up. “Ugh, what is that stink?!”
“It is the stink of victory!” a groggy Polecat countered, nursing his swollen jaw.
Chlorophyll Kid beamed. “Spoken like a true Sub!”
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
You picked some fun characters, with le Polecat and Antennae Lad perhaps making their first ever fanfic appearances here on Legion World!
Sizzle and Turtle were also a pleasant surprise, even if I prefer them as heroes.
By picking some less than common characters, you got to play around with their characterization a bit, which is cool. Le Polecat's line about how he chose to deal with rejection was great.
Antennae Lad's power would rock, if he ever learned to control it, allowing him to hang with Legionnaires and pick up Flight Ring transmissions from the future, so that they could be prepared for future events!
Love the new power you gave Rainbow Girl. Very, very Silver Age-y!
Registered: Aug 2006
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I must shamefully admit that my only exposure to Polecat and Antennae Lad has been Who's Who and random comic book panels from the internet, so I have no idea what their personalities are like...I think they are awesomely kooky character concepts though, and like you said they are obscure enough that there's a lot of leeway to interpret them...
re Sizzle and Turtle (and some of their teammates), I didn't expect that I would like them as much as I did until I wrote them, I really only picked them because I thought they'd fit the team concept...I wouldn't be surprised if they end up on the side of the angels, their whole schtick is more Giffen-era Injustice League than the actual Legion of Supervillains...
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted
This is great fun, kooky characters showing that you don't need to have the greatest ability to be a hero. The Polecat and Antenna Boy are ridiculous and endearing while stone Boy taking out Turtle Boy was the most original use of hos abilities I've read. Rainbow Girls new powers were Fab too. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind reading more, more, more adventures of you Sub team.
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
From: here, more often than not | Registered: Sep 2003
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I will probably trot some Subs stories out every now and then when I want a change of tone from the rest of the series...I do have one idea for a LSH/Subs story that will centre on the Subs big-time, I will post a link when it is done
-------------------- Read the alternate adventures of the Legion after Legion of Three Worlds! postlo3w
Registered: Nov 2009
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![[Rainbow Girl]](graemlins/RainbowGirl.gif)
![[Stone Boy]](graemlins/StoneBoy.gif)
![[Chlorophyll Kid]](graemlins/ChlorophyllKid.gif)
![[The Polecat]](graemlins/Polecat.gif)
![[Antennae Boy]](graemlins/AntennaeBoy.gif)
![[Fire Lad]](graemlins/FireLad.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
