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Originally posted by He Who Wanders:
Interesting exercise, Eryk. I'll do the first part.

Let's start out with the Ranzz origin. Since it's unlikely for them to have landed on the planet Korbal, I postulate that twins Garth and Eileen Raines and their older brother Mark were vacationing on a boat when they came upon an island somewhere in the Carribbean. It was a secret outpost for a clandestine government and was populated by mechanical "lightning beasts" that protected its secret lair. Garth (or Eileen, take your pick) got the idea to use the beasts to recharge the boat's motor, but the move backfired and, well, you know the rest of the story.

Mark Raines, realizing the enormous power he now possessed, left their farm home near Winthrop, Kansas. Garth took a plane to the the city of Metropolis to search for him. And that's where he ran into ...

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quote:

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Originally posted by Suddenly Seymour:
(Edited to fix duplicate name -- sorry, FC, I didn't look back on the first page)

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quote:

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Originally posted by Juan:

quote:

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Originally posted by Suddenly Seymour:
(Edited to fix duplicate name -- sorry, FC, I didn't look back on the first page)

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Oops! I gave Apparition a "nickname", Tina, trying to fix this. Oh, well.

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I thought that might have been why, but I figured I'd take care of it at the source.
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
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...
 

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Posted by ActorLad on :
 
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.

[ March 22, 2004, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: ActorLad ]
 

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Posted by Condo on :
 
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!
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
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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Posted by Juan on :
 
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?
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Zoe had been deeply lost in thought when the plane had almost hit her.

She dove sharply just in the nick of time.

She shook her head slowly. She would have to be more careful! Having to spend the prom in the hospital would be so not fun.

Suddenly, she realized that she had forgotten something important. She didn't have a clue where in the United States of America she was!

She quickly turned around and followed the plane. Maybe she wouuld find herself a date in the process.
 

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Posted by He Who Wanders on :
 
Jeanne Chu despised R.J. Brande.

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 ...
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
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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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
{interlude}

Love how the story's shaping up so far, folks! Just want to clarify a couple of things, though.

1) So is this story is set on an alternate 21st century Earth? Or is it set in the mainstream 21st century DCU?

2) I think we'd better get a roll call of the Legionnaires we've introduced so far, just so we can avoid confusion, and so people won't come up with multiple versions of a character. So far we have:

Rex Kline (Cosmic Boy)
Irma Ardeen (Saturn Girl)
Garth Raines (Live Wire)
Lorna Durgo (Triad)
Tamara "Tina" Wazzo (Apparition)
Quentin Docks (Brainiac 5)

as official Legionnaires, with

Reed Daggly (Chameleon)
Sally Digby (Shrinking Violet)
Lyle Norga (Invisible Kid)

also on the Legionnaires' plane, and

Zoe Saunders (Kinetix) actually following the plane. (No way I would leave Zoe out of this story! )

In addition, the following Legionnaires have been introduced:

Eileen Raines (Spark)- apparently still in Kansas
Paul Kline (Magnetic Kid) - apparently still in MN
Jose Rimbaud (Ultra Boy) - being examined by Navy doctors on a Navy vessel
Tom Kallor (Star Boy) - somewhere in New South Wales
Tatiana and Greg Mallor (Umbra and Shadow Kid) - somewhere in England
Jan Arrah (Element Lad) - looking for RJ Brande
Nura bint-Mordru bin-Ahmad Al-Nayal (Dream Girl) -en route to New York
Maizah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal (White Witch) - gone to help "Jacquie"
Monius Ellysius (Mon-el) - still asleep in the Zone of Phantoms
Laura Long (Insect Queen) - in STAR labs?
Brian (Timber Wolf)- in a military base in Texas
Jenni Ognats (XS) - en route to New York
Princess Jacqueline Projectra - in Moldovia

plus an "offshoot of the Ute tribe that lived downwind of the U.S. government's Nevada Atomic Test Site, and got more than a normal dose of radiation", who now have wings on their backs. One family in particular has been described as having "psychic powers" - so I guess this means Dawnstar will be making a comeback too.

In addition, the following characters have also been introduced:

Mark Raines (Lightning Lord)- whereabouts unknown
RJ Brande
Jeanne Chu
Sara Romanescu, the "Empress of Venegar" - one of the friends Irma has made through her telepathy
Mordru - Nura and Maizah's father
The Emerald Eye
"Godzilla"

Hope I didn't miss anyone...

Hopefully this will help give everyone a clearer picture of the thread, since there are a LOT of characters! But I'm really enjoying everything!
I'd say we make a great team!

(end interlude)

[ March 08, 2004, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

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Posted by He Who Wanders on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Invisible Brainiac:
{interlude}

1) So is this story is set on an alternate 21st century Earth? Or is it set in the mainstream 21st century DCU?

(end interlude)

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I think we're sort of creating a hybrid. I'm much more familiar with what's going on in the real world than the DCU, at present, so that's where my chapters are set. I love the references to Checkmate, et. al., though.

Thanks for the roll call. It is indeed helpful.

[ March 08, 2004, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: He Who Wanders ]
 

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Posted by Proty II on :
 
I'm not sure if Godzilla has ever made an appearance in the DCU but I'm not sure it's really Godzilla that swalloed Jose. It looked a bit like Godzilla though, and it's still alive, so I guess you could say that's another character. I couldn't remember if DC had any Monster Island characters (outside of Planetary), but if they do, I imagine this pseudo-Godzilla could be a part of that

When last we saw him, Jo (pronounced Ho) was still on a navy vessel. If nobody else does anything with him, I may move him later. With his mixed name I wanted to suggest that he's a product of very mixed ancestry, a typical Californian, with a bit of everything in him.

Ken
 

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Posted by Proty II on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
"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.

[ March 08, 2004, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

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Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
 
I'm loving this guys! Keep it coming!
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
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.

[ March 10, 2004, 06:58 AM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

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Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
 
From deep within the Earth's core magma shifted around. "The Eye has awakened!" It must be fought as it had been when it had first arrived on the planet and many times since. Slowly oozing upward and upward the thought rose. "The Eye has been awakened and must be fought!" Up through the Core, to the Outer Core, to the Lower Mantle, to the Upper Mantle. "The Eye has been awakened and must be fought!" As the thought neared the crust of the planet, a shape in the magma began to emerge. Humanoid with great mass. The shape reached the crust and began to cool, hardening into solid stone, but stone that moved. "The Eye had awakened and must be fought!" The stone figure began to punch up through the crust of the Earth.

Departing from the Moldavian train station, Miazah Al-Nayal settled back into the car that had been sent for her by Princess Jacqueline Projectra. She took a break from her studies to view the green fields that flew past the window. She wondered if this would be one of the war zones in the coming struggle. Suddenly a section of the field swelled up and erupted. Clods of Earth and stone rained down everywhere. The driver skidded and swerved to avoid the debris and finally crashed into a fence post.

Miazah dug herself out of the piles of books that had fallen on her. She checked the driver. He seemed fine, but unconscious.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

Someone or something was approaching, Miazah turn to see a giant person - no more like a giant block in the shape of a person.

"The Eye has awakened and must be fought!" croaked from the Block.

[ March 09, 2004, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: Quislet, Esq ]
 

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Posted by Suddenly Seymour on :
 
Dirk Morgna stood proudly at his father's side. Sure, the cameras were all there for his father, but it was fun for the 11-year-old to imagine he was the center of their attention.

His father was the Czech scientist in charge of overseeing the construction of the world's first solar/nuclear power plant. Funded mostly by Wayne Enterprises, the plant had been built in a remote part of the Czech Republic, where scrutiny would be light and fallout from an accident would cause minimum damage. Now his father was ready to throw the switch, and the world's press was there to cover it.

But Dirk was getting bored with his father's long speech and nature was calling. He slipped quietly away and headed to the restroom. As he was leaving the stall, something heavy hit his head. As he slipped into unconsciousness, he looked up and saw his attacker, Dr. Regulus -- the Luthor Corp. spy Dirk had caught when he overheard a telephone conversation.

When Dirk woke up, everything was dark, and he wasn't even sure he had awakened. But then the space around him burst with light, and he felt an enormous surge of power and heat rip through his body.

The light lasted only for a second, but it was enough to knock him out again. He came to and felt his way around, looking for a door or something that would give him a clue where he was. With no luck, he finally slumped against a wall and started to cry. But then he felt himself falling backwards through the wall. He turned and discovered it was melting where he was leaning against it. He touched the spot and could feel his hand radiating a tremondous amount of heat, enough to continue moving through the wall.

He stood up and pressed his entire body against the wall, concentrating and feeling himself move through it as the wall melted away. It was extremely thick, and when he reached the other side, he could tell he had been in the reactor!

The first thing he saw was his father crying. Then he saw Regulus stare at him in awe while being held by two security guards. Then the cameras started flashing -- all for him.

Three years later, "Sun Boy," as the glowing child had been called by press at the scene, was on a photoshoot in Moldavia. Bruce Wayne had been extremely generous in making sure Dirk received the best care after his accident. He quickly learned to keep a handle on his powers, and Gigi, a nice woman in Wayne's media relations department, had then spun his them into a lucrative modeling career -- just up Dirk's alley. The cameras were always for him. Dirk was a good boy at heart, but the handsome young teen did enjoy the constant attention.

As the flashbulbs were going off in the Moldavian countryside, Dirk had another flash: "The Eye has awakened and must be fought!" He looked around for the voice but then heard it again in his head.

The photographer stopped shooting. "DId you just hear sometihng?" she asked.

But then Dirk felt the ground rumble. Everyone started looking around, and that's when he saw the ground erupt several hundred yards away, near the road. He saw a car hit a fence post, and something moving.

He started running.
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jenni Ognats was running, this time not for her life, but for the lives of six kids whom she had never met before.

Just a little over an hour earlier, she had been in New York, looking for clues as to why Secretary General Thawne had kidnapped her mother and her uncle all those years ago. She was sure it hadn't been just a grudge or something as petty as that. There had been rumors of genetic experimentation at around that time too. She had been heading for the files in the embassy when she had picked up the phone call about the assassination attempts on the newly-formed Legion.

She couldn't let that happen.

She didn't know who the voice belonged to... She hadn't been listening closely enough to tll, and she doubted she had heard it before, anyway... But now, more than ever, she was sure there was a dangerous plot formulating in the upper levels of the government. And she couldn't let those kids (as well as the only possible allies she might have in her fight) fall now.

It would take her about half an hour more to get to Colombia. She prayed she would get there in time.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Azura Saunders woke up with a splitting headache. She tried to stand, and managed it, barely. She was glad that she could still walk, and she was thankful that she was still alive. The man who had appeared earlier had ruthlessly slammed her into the cave wall with just a flick of his wrist! And she suspected that he was capable of much more than that.

The last thing she remembered was him uttering something about "Emerald Power".

"Now what could that mean? Maybe- Oh my gosh!"

Her mind went back to the events of the past week. She remembered finding Zoe on the floor, surrounded by a glowing,green aura... The rocks around her were being morphed into crude shapes by that same aura. She had bundled Zoe into bed not soon after, and had made her promise not to leave until she could arrange for transport to the nearest hospital. That had been only a few hours ago.

She hoped that Zoe had disobeyed her this time, or else she knew she wouldn't like what she would find back at camp.

************************************************

Zoe dove out of the clouds, hoping that she hadn't lost the plane. After surveying the land below, she almost wished she had.

"OOooH! I knew I shouldn't have flown too high!"

Maybe she could hitch a ride on the plane when it returned to America. She quickly cast her eyes around for it, and soon spotted the landing site, and the brown-haired girl who seemed to be waving to her.

"All right! Now I have someone to show my new outfit off to!" she thought as she headed for the plane.
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"Himyname'sJenniOgnats.Quickthey'reinbigtroubleandtheydon'tknowityou'vegot..."

"Slow down, slow down. What?"

"There's a bomb on board and I can't get in, and no one's coming out. Quick - you've got to help me."

Zoe decided to trust the frantic girl and flew over to the plane, opening a hole in it's side. The strong smell of gas that emerged told her that the girl (whose name she hadn't caught in her rapid verbage) was right to be concerned. Putting masks over her's and the girl's faces, they headed in.

As she saw the Legionnaires sprawled around the plane, for once she was glad she'd been dragged around on those digs - she'd been taught basic first aid, and she found pulses on the first three sprawled bodies. Looking into the cabin, she found the pilots, and a red haired boy, all still alive as well.

The dark haired girl ran in - "I'vefoundit." Quickly as she could, Zoe followed the speeding girl to the cargo hold, and, opening another hole in the side of the plane, telekinetically "threw" the bomb as far as she could throw it.... as the man with the monacle laughs at the two heroines' "rescue..."

--------------------

Meanwhile, on a farmstead in Kansas, Eileen "Ella" Raines made plans to follow her twin...

[ March 10, 2004, 07:07 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[INTERLUDE]

Anyone else not too fond of some of the real names given here? I mean, Tazmin would have been better for Shady/Umbra, and some names like Rex & Eileen are nowhere near the "real" names. And anyone called "Daggly" would get a name change

Boy's names, Girl's names (check the last one on the page)

[/INTERLUDE]

[ March 10, 2004, 06:17 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sanity or Madness?:
"Himyname'sJenniOgnats.Quickthey'reinbigtroubleandtheydon'tknowityou'vegot..."

"Slow down, slow down. What?"

"There's a bomb on board and I can't get in, and no one's coming out. Quick - you've got to help me."

Zoe decided to trust the frantic girl and flew over to the plane, opening a hole in it's side. The strong smell of gas that emerged told her that the girl (whose name she hadn't caught in her rapid verbage) was right to be concerned. Putting masks over her's and the girl's faces, they headed in.

As she saw the Legionnaires sprawled around the plane, for once she was glad she'd been dragged around on those digs - she'd been taught basic first aid, and she found pulses on the first three sprawled bodies. Looking into the cabin, she found the pilots, and a red haired boy (luckily for them all, Garth's electrical aura had reduced the amount of the gas reaching his lungs, giving him the chance to get the plane to a relatively safe, if rough landing), all still alive as well.

The dark haired girl ran in - "I'vefoundit." Quickly as she could, Zoe followed the speeding girl to the cargo hold, and, opening another hole in the side of the plane, telekinetically "threw" the bomb as far as she could throw it.

--------------------

Meanwhile, on a farmstead in Kansas, Eileen "Ella" Raines made plans to follow her twin...

---

<<INTERLUDE>>

Er...I thought most Legionnaires were captive inside the Lexcorp Factory (Garth certainly is), only Lorna, the Lexcorp pilot and Zoe are close to the plane! (Jenni could have arrived, too).
And they had perfect landing when they arrived, why would any Legionnaires be 'sprawled around the plane?'
Would you be very offended if we considered this last episode 'apocryphal', SoM?

<<END OF INTERLUDE>>
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
Emmm... whoops! (must pay more attention)

*goes to edit original post*

Right, should be okay now. No-one's used Universo yet, right?

[ March 10, 2004, 07:08 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
Quentin Docks's shackles seemed to open from their own volition. He didn't have much time to express his surprise, the next second a tiny dark-haired woman in a purple outfit was jumping out of them. "Quick, your forcefield, activate it!". He wouldn't have necessarily obeyed a woman that he didn't know, but then he heard Irma's voice in his head. "It's OK, you can trust her".

The fire alarm in the complex was going off. "ALL PERSONEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY" was the message being broadcasted through the loudspeakers. Lyle Norga, invisible, was running in the opposite direction to all the personel in the facility, towards the vault with the alkaloids and the chemicals to process them. Reed's diversion was working! He arrived at the vault, placed the bomb, and started running towards the exit.

Everything was going well. Reed Daggly had managed to disable the plane's pilot, and had arrived at Luthor Corp's complex shortly after the Legion. While the Legionnaires were fighting the robots, Reed had managed to disable one of the guards and had replaced him. He had then sounded off the alarm, to make sure that all personnel had left the complex before the explosion that was to come.

But he couldn't escape. As he attempted to leave the building, he was intercepted by four armed men in military uniforms. "You are not from here!" one of them said in Spanish. "What were you doing in there?". Reed Daggly had no time to answer, they were too close! And then it happened. The Lexcorp Complex blew up in a great ball of fire. Reed Daggly, his pet chameleon, and Ramiro Puerta, one of the guerrilla fighters behind him, were first showered in a cloud of noxious chemicals, and then received the full blast of the explosion. Nothing was left of Reed, except for an orange puddle. A few meters behind him, Ramiro's body was completely charred, deformed, reminiscent of an insect. The other three persons were dead.

[ March 10, 2004, 08:21 AM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

---

Posted by He Who Wanders on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sanity or Madness?:
[INTERLUDE]

Anyone else not too fond of some of the real names given here? I mean, Tazmin would have been better for Shady/Umbra, and some names like Rex & Eileen are nowhere near the "real" names. And anyone called "Daggly" would get a name change

Boy's names, Girl's names (check the last one on the page)

[/INTERLUDE]

---

As the person who named Rex and Eileen, I just want to say I was trying to be a little different and not so obvious. "Rick" (for Rokk), for one, had been done before.

(I guess you really won't like what I've got in mind for Gim Allon. )
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Charles Tan was moping in the jungle. He knew his parents wouldn't be happy about him going out there alone, but he had weightier problems on his mind.

While the Philippines was his home, he was now in Colombia because his parents were big-shot ambassadorial types. It had been over a month since he had last seen his classmates from back home... Not that he minded; he was away from home so often that he never had any real friends.

Because of this, he often spent time studying, reading books and writing stories, poetries and essays. Even though English wasn't his native language, he had become quite adept at it, making him trilingual. His parents were quite proud of that fact, as well as all the scholastic awards that he had won. Honor and achievement were important things in Chinese culture.

But all that would soon be for naught, if his secret would be discovered. He But it was all that kooky government scientist's fault; he had offered Charles (or Chuck, as he preferred to be called) a bottle of "soda" which had turned out to be one of the bottles the new plastic formula the scientist had been working on!

As if the horrible taste hadn't been bad enough, Chuck's already rather pudgy body had swollen up, and he had gained the ability to infalte himself and bounce like a large rubber ball!

"At least I was able to figure out how to deflate myself," Chuck sighed, "but this is one horrible power! Why, oh why, couldn't it had been something flashy, exciting, and something which didn't... deform me? And to add insult to injury, that scientist almost caged me so he could experiment me! I'm sure he would have, too, if I had't used dad's position as an ambassador... Oh, drat! What will mom and dad think?"

Chuck buried his face in his hands, and hurried farther away into the jungle.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Lorna was afraid that the two girls floating above her were drug addicts or something. They had both appeared out of nowhere, scrambled into the plane, all the time yelling some unintelligible (at least to her ears) words, and now they were both just hovering there with blank looks on their faces. She wished she could fly, so she could crack their heads together and get them to wake up!

Just then, she spotted a somewhat chubby boy walking along the path with his face buried in his hands. At last, some help! She quickly hurried over to him and introduced herself, explaining the situation.

"...and so, do you think you can help me?"

"Well, it appears they may be suffering some sort of halucination... but maybe we can shock them out of it."

"Oh, yes! That sounds like a great idea! So, how do we go about it? My sisters and I can't exactly reach them from here."

"Um... sisters?"

"Oh, sorry! Here, I'll show you."

Lorna stepped back and triplicated, then quickly reintegrated again. Her two other bodies weren;t fully healed yet... She wobbled over until the boy steadied her.

"You- you're Lorna Durgo, aren't you? The Legionnaire?"

"Yeah... And I could really use those two girls' help. My friends are in danger... Are there any other metahumans around here who could help me?"

"I- Well- There's- Um, well, there's me. Um, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Charles Tan, but please call me Chuck. I- can do this." Chuck quickly inflated, then deflated again, blushing a deep crimson red as he did so.

Lorna's eyes widened. "That is so cool! You should join the Legion!"

Chuck brightened at the thought. "Really? Do you think I'd be accepted?"

"Sure! In that form, it looks like you can't be hurt, and I'm sure anybody would get knocked out if you bounced into them! Why don't you wake those two up from their little daydream, and then we can go find the others? I'm sure all three of you will be inducted after all the help you're going to be on this mission."

"If that's the case..." Chuck quickly inflated again, and, aiming carefully, bounced up and gently knocked Zoe and Jenni out of the sky. Just hard enough to bring them to their senses, of course.

"Huh? What?"
"Whoa, what's going on here?"

Lorna spoke up. "Hi, I'm Lorna and this is Chuck. Listen, I don't know what's been going on, but we need your help..."
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
On a cold mountain in Norway, Brock Bannen trudged slowly down an icy path. He hoped he wouldn't get lost on the way to the only airport in a five mile radius. Not that he would know if he had; he was the first of his people since the now-legendary Princess Tora to venture out of their hidden mountain kingdom. The chances that he would make it to the airport at all were minimal. But he didn;t really care. He knew his destiny lay in America, with the Legion. Gritting his teeth, he trudged forward through the icy snow.

***********************************************
Back in Colombia, Lorna had explained the situation to Zoe, Jenni and Chuck, and the four of them were now flying (courtesy of Zoe) back to the Lexcorp Building. Lorna strained her eyes, trying to see if she could find any sign of her friends.

[ March 11, 2004, 12:14 AM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

---

Posted by Suddenly Seymour on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sanity or Madness?:
[INTERLUDE]

Anyone else not too fond of some of the real names given here? I mean, Tazmin would have been better for Shady/Umbra, and some names like Rex & Eileen are nowhere near the "real" names. And anyone called "Daggly" would get a name change

Boy's names, Girl's names (check the last one on the page)

[/INTERLUDE]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Varalent:
Conan Doyle Arlington hated his name

---

 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by He Who Wanders:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Varalent:
Conan Doyle Arlington hated his name

---

---

Glad you liked it!
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Zoe was really excited now. This was just like in the movies! Beside her, Chuck coughed nervously into his handkerchief, and gave the girls an apologetic smile. Zoe smiled back, and Chuck blushed a deep crimson red. She flashed a grin at Jenni, who grinned back. Boys could be so silly!

Luornu gave an excited gasp, and quickly motioned for Zoe to land beside a group of teenagers who were standing outside the compound. Once they touched down, Luornu ran and gave a brunette dressed in white a big hug.

"You guys! I'm glad you're all right!"
"Good to see that you are, too!"
"That was some escape, Lorna!"

"Yeah, and I brought some new friends. But it looks like you didn't need reinforcements, after all, huh?
"We already found some of our own," said Irma. "I'd like you to meet Lyle and Sally."

Zoe stepped back in surprise as a boy and a girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The boy grinned at their discomfiture.

Ignoring the questions that popped into her head, Lorna quickly introduced Zoe, Jenni and Chuck, then asked the others for a rundown of the situation.

"It seems that Lex Luthor has been up to some illegal experiments over here," Rex said. "Lyle and Sally here have shut down the operation, and..."

"And we were just about to find Luthor and give him a solid ass-kicking!" Garth said.

"Um... I think we should go find our friend Reed first." Sally spoke up. "He really should have been back here by now."

"Agreed. I'd really like to meet one of our saviors, as well as the twelfth member of our little Legion." Imra said. "Assuming, of course, that all five of you want in?"

She didn't even have to use telepathy to guess what their answers would be.

"Great!" said Tina. "Now we just have to find Reed. Imra, have you-"

"Already done. He's alive, but he's definitely not himself right now..."
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
The pile of orange goo on the floor thought about it's predicament. Which was odd, because piles of goo weren't meant to think, it told itself. They were just meant to sit quietly in a corner and wait to be cleared away. It tried to think of how it came to be in this situation, but to it, it's present situation seemed like how it had always been. Suddenly, it felt itself being moved into a container. That was rude, it thought, and resolved to do something about it. It lifted it's arm up, and before realising that piles of goo weren't meant to have arms, pulled itself from the container...

[ March 12, 2004, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Suddenly Seymour on :
 
... and sneezed -- "Goo-goo-achoo!"

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. )
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
(interlude)
Here's an update on the characters in the story right now:

Rex Kline (Cosmic Boy)
Irma Ardeen (Saturn Girl)
Garth Raines (Live Wire)
Lorna Durgo (Triad)
Tamara "Tina" Wazzo (Apparition)
Quentin Docks (Brainiac 5)

as official Legionnaires, with

Reed Daggly (Chameleon)- as a pile of orange goo
Sally Digby (Shrinking Violet)
Lyle Norga (Invisible Kid)
Zoe Saunders (Kinetix)
Jenni Ognats (XS)
Charles "Chuck" Tan (Bouncing Boy)

about to be inducted, and

Eileen Raines (Spark)- apparently still in Kansas, but making plans to follow Garth
Paul Kline (Magnetic Kid) - apparently still in MN
Jose Rimbaud (Ultra Boy) - being examined by Navy doctors on a Navy vessel
Tom Kallor (Star Boy) - somewhere in New South Wales
Tatiana and Greg Mallor (Umbra and Shadow Kid) - somewhere in England
Jan Arrah (Element Lad) - looking for RJ Brande
Nura bint-Mordru bin-Ahmad Al-Nayal (Dream Girl) -en route to New York to join the Legion
Monius Ellysius (Mon-el) - recently awakened in the Zone of the Phantoms
Laura Long (Insect Queen) - in STAR labs?
Brian (Timber Wolf)- in a military base in Texas
Maizah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal (White Witch) - en route to meeting the Princess in Moldovia
Princess Jacqueline Projectra - in Moldovia, waiting for Maizah
a Block (Blok) - emerged from the ground in Moldovia to fight the Eye
Dirk Morgna (Sun Boy) - near the area where Blok emerged in Moldovia
Brock Bannen (Polar Boy) - en route to New York to join the Legion
Conan Doyle Arlington, "Condo" (Chemical King) - headed for the Lexcorp Compound where the Legionnaires are
Ten Zil Kim - in a military installation outside of Seoul

plus an "offshoot of the Ute tribe that lived downwind of the U.S. government's Nevada Atomic Test Site, and got more than a normal dose of radiation", who now have wings on their backs. One family in particular has been described as having "psychic powers" - so I guess this means Dawnstar will be making a comeback too.


Other Characters
Mark Raines (Lightning Lord)- whereabouts unknown
RJ Brande
Jeanne Chu
Sara Romanescu, the "Empress of Venegar" - a servant in the Royal Palace of Moldovia who is waiting for the Eye
Mordru - Nura and Maizah's father
The Emerald Eye - apparently looking for Sara
"Godzilla"
Universo - imprisoned and sedated, but able to break free for short periods
Ambassador Winema Wazzo
Azura Saunders - Zoe's mom, headed to New York to warn the Legion about Mordru
Ramiro Puerta - a Colombian guerilla who was caught in the same explosion that Reed was caught in, and whose body was "completely charred, deformed, reminiscent of an insect"

(interlude)

[ March 13, 2004, 06:07 AM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
In a secret underground chamber, a scientist checked on the Very Important Prisoner being held in maximum security. The prisoner was kept virtually unrestrained, except for a pair of handcuffs. This may seem odd, but then it was the prisoner's mind, not his body, that was considered the most dangerous.

A warning light flashed on the panel above the "coffin". The scientist's eyes widened, and he held his breath, hoping that the light ould go out again. His hands hovered above the control panel, just in case. But he knew it probably wouldn't do him any good.

Eight seconds later, it did.

The scientist heaved a sigh of relief, then quickly went to increase the amount of sedatives being pumped into the prisoner's bloodstream. Thank the lord he didn't wake up completely! As it is, eight seconds would have been enough time for him to have temporarily taken control of a person's mind, and the effect of that control would have left them in a trance state for at least a few minutes after. He was too dangerous to be allowed to go free. He wondered if maybe they should just kill him and be done with it all.

The shrill cry of the phone interrupted his thoughts. He grabbed the receiver.

"Hello? Madame Chu? Yes, yes, the prisoner is secure. No, no, we haven't found a way to control him yet. But we're working on it. What? Two months? I can't promise anything, madame... Yes, yes, I know. We'll keep working on it. We know what the price of failure is... Don't worry, madame, Project Universo won't fail you."
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
(interlude)

What do you guys think about the character's code names? I suggest that each poster gets to name the characters he or she introduced. What do you guys think?

(end interlude)
 

---

Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
 
At an army installation outside of Seoul, Ten Zil Kim awoke hungry. He was the child of a Korean army officer and an American nurse. His father worked in a top secret biological warfare lab funded by the Americans. Little did Ten's father know that weaknesses in the safety procedures of the lab had exposed him to a dangerous strain of microbes that was currently destroying his digestive system, and was having an even more unexpected impact on the metabolism and digestive systems of his two teenage sons...
 

---

Posted by M'onel on :
 
At a group home in Timmins, Ontario; Laurel Gander was watching the younger children play. She resented being orphaned and knowing that couples only wanted younger children. What she resented even more was the man that killed her mom and friend, and their fellow scientists and soldiers.

She hailed from a Canadian/US military outpost called 'Rock Reef Point' in the desolate Canadian shield where there were potential deposits of an ore that could produce an indestructable alloy dubbed 'Interon'. This attracted the attention of Zander Roxxas and his terrorist organization White Triangle, who stormed the compound and stole the samples of Interon. None of the occupants save for Laurel who activated the self-destruct of the base destroying the Interon samples and half of Roxxas' raiding party.

The shock of seeing her parents killed activated Laurel's latent meta-gene that gave her powers comparable to Superman himself. Her only living relative Elton had her placed in the orphanage for her own safety. Since then Laurel has been training in her powers bringing us to today...

She sighed and went back inside where a disgarded newspaper caught her eye. The announcement of the Legion of Super-Heroes by the billionaire R.J. Brande. Tired of staying put in this boring group home. Laurel packed up her belonged and snuck out of the orphanage, to seek out R.J. Brande and the Legion of Superheroes.

[ March 13, 2004, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: M'onel ]
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
Tikhik Miraz waited with ever-increasing patience. The young Russian had been captured months ago, transported to he-didn't-know-where and experimented upon with a large group of others in an attempt to create some sort of corporate super-army. Most had died, but a few, himself included, had manifested powers. Now they were being kept in solitary, power-draining confinement. But, however inhuman he had become, his desire to be free had never wavered, and he had kept his teleportation "gates" had kept well beneath what he could feel he could achieve in their insidious tests. He could feel it now - he was ready. And in tommorrow's test, he knew he could get far beyond their reach. And then he'd arrange for the capitalistic bastards to get what was coming to them...
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
<<INTERLUDE>>

This is just too funny. Obviously I'm being too cryptic with my characters. Ramiro Puerta was supposed to be Gates (Puerta means door in Spanish, he has 'a charred, deformed body, reminiscent of an insect', and he is a socialist guerilla). It's OK, though, I'll think about what to do with him. And here I thought we were about to get the first Colombian super-hero...

You guys keep throwing me for a loop!!!

<<END OF INTERLUDE>>

[ March 13, 2004, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

---

Posted by The Big Bad on :
 
OT:But Juan, wouldn't "Porton" work better, then?
Or is it too silly?

Suicide Slum, Metropolis

Len Snart couldn't believe it. He'd planned for every contingency: Intergang, the SCU, even those new superheroes that were starting to pop up. There was nothing that could stand up to his Ice Gun. And nothing did. With ease that surprised even him, he made off with two million dollars of Intergang Money. Now all that was left was the getaway. He checked to see if he was being followed, and headed to his apartment.

“Going somewhere?” said a voice behind him. Len turned around and saw that it belonged to some punk kid in a leather jacket, who was accompanied by two identical looking rejects from an Alexandre Dumas novel wearing hoodies. “Hey, is that Intergang money in the bag?” continued the punk.

Len Snart reached for gun in its holster. Those punks didn't stand a chance, he thought. But, before he could shoot, or even fully draw his gun, he was knocked out by the kid in the jacket, who had somehow managed to get behind him in seconds.

The kid kneeled down beside the unconscious Snart. “Well, now, lesee, what you were trying to shoot us with,” he said, as he picked up the fallen man’s ice gun. “Whoa, will you look at this. Doug, Andy, have you ever seen a gun like this?” He exclaimed, as he threw the gun to one of his companions, the one called Doug.

“Hey, Kon, check the money,” Said Andy to the teen in the jacket. “How much does he have in there?”

Kon opened the bag, and saw that it was filled with packets of dollars, mostly twenties and hundreds. “Quite a bit, actually. I’d say half a million, easy. Maybe more.”

“Take $30,000 and leave the rest. We don't want him tracking us down later,” said Doug. He dropped the gun at Len’s feet. “That’s some cool hardware you got there, pal. See you around, and thanks.”

OoT:By the way, nobody touch Clark, okay? There's something I want to do with him first.

[ March 14, 2004, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: The Big Bad ]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Juan:
<<INTERLUDE>>

This is just too funny. Obviously I'm being too cryptic with my characters. Ramiro Puerta was supposed to be Gates (Puerta means door in Spanish, he has 'a charred, deformed body, reminiscent of an insect', and he is a socialist guerilla). It's OK, though, I'll think about what to do with him. And here I thought we were about to get the first Colombian super-hero...

You guys keep throwing me for a loop!!!

<<END OF INTERLUDE>>

---

[Interlude]

Juan, I knew where you were going with Ramiro, having recognized the use of "Puerta". Would have made sense too! Here's an idea for you to play with though, Shikari also resembles an insect that creates openings....and she's a warrioir. So who's to say Shikari is a "she" instead of a "he"?

[End of Interlude]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
"Did I hear you say you were here to give Luthor an ass kicking?" Condo asked as he made his way over to the group of youngsters he had spotted when he picked himself up off of the ground after the blast. "If so, then I want in. I owe him big time for what he did to me!"

"And just who the hell are you?" Garth asked as Condo joined the group.

Condo quickly introduced himself and told them what he knew (very little) about the secret facility and the project.

"What about your parents?" Lorna asked. "Shouldn't you see if they're okay?"

"No," was Condo's reply. "I'd just as soon not know. Let them think I died in the explosion, they haven't cared about me since the day I was born so it will be a relief for them if I'm no longer around anyway!"

Rex looked a Irma questioningly and she quickly and discreetly scanned Condo's mind. "It's true. Actually it's even worse than he's letting on. It would be best for all of them this way. Why do people have children if they're going to treat them so horribly!"

"Okay, then Condo, welcome to the group!" Rex said, silencing the debate that had been going on among the Legionnaires. "Now lets finish this."

It took Condo a moment to realize that he had just been accepted into the group. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the kid who appeared to be able to disappear. "Lyle, I think his name is. Why am I so drawn to him?" Condo couldn't help but notice that Lyle kept glancing at him as well and then looking away hurriedly.
 

---

Posted by The Big Bad on :
 
Actually, I wasn't going to use Clark; he's just mentioned as part of Kon's origin, and I wanted to have dibs on him for that purpose. And no, you can't use Kon, at least not yet. There's a story I want to do with him, and then you can use him, 'k? Or you could just PM me your plans and see if we can work something out. And didn't somebody start using Ayla (or whatever her counterpart's name is)already? Or was that you?
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
The instant the Eye touched her, Sara Romanescu knew. She knew about the history of her family and their mystical connection to the Emerald power. And she knew about the Moldavian royal family and their role in keeping the Romanescus as servants over centuries.

The reaction was furious. With a single blast, the Emerald Empress (because that is what she was now) blew up the Royal Castle of Moldavia. She was not giving any quarters. She then proceeded to systematically annihilate anybody and everybody from the castle that had survived the blast. And then she found what she was looking for: the king of Moldavia, Voxv the Fifth, and his daughter, Proiectra.

The battle was fierce, Voxv and Proiectra had trained for this moment all of their lives. Voxv's powers were offensive in nature, he shot out blasts designed to hurt the Eye. And they did, in the beginning. Proiectra was one of very few sentients who could actually confuse the Eye, she worked incessantly in hiding herself and her father from it. She also concentrated on Sara, hoping to somehow be able to sever the symbiotic relationship between her and the Eye. But while Proiectra fought rationally, Sara fought visciously, consumed in an all-encompassing fury. And that made all the difference. When the Eye finally hit her father, Proiectra knew that everything was lost.

A mile away, Dirk Morgna was flying through the air, propelled by the woman in white at his side. A green glow filled the horizon at the place where the Moldavian Royal Palace should have been. "We're too late." Maizah Al-Nayal was frowning.

Below, a stony figure seemed to melt down, back into the Earth.
 

---

Posted by The Big Bad on :
 
“Thank you again for the help, Andy. Dios lo guarde,” said the shopkeeper in that thick Puertorrican accent she had not managed to get rid of, even after twenty years in the states.

“No problem, mami. See you tomorrow!” Andrew said, as he exited the store. True, Angela Pérez wasn’t his mother, but he wouldn’t call her any other way, nor would she accept any other name. She was one of the very few people he knew in Suicide Slum who wasn’t uncomfortable at the sight of his deformed face, and she eagerly gave him a job when he asked for one. As far as Andy was concerned, he had no mother but her.

Andy walked home, as always trying not to draw much attention to himself, and after twenty minutes arrive at the apartment building he shared with Conal (or Kon, the nickname he gave himself for some reason unknown to Andy) and Douglas. Before he entered, he noticed a black sports car, which no one in the apartment could possibly afford, parked in the lot. With a watchful eye out for everything out of the ordinary, he began climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, where their apartment was located. As he did so, his body began to change. His skin began to change, turning a dullish gray. His steps became heavier, and were now impossibly (for human feet, anyway) loud. Once at his apartment door, he began hearing unknown voices emanating from the other side. Expecting the worst, Andrew entered. Inside, he found his two roommates, along with two men in black carrying guns and a black woman.

“Hello, Andrew”, said the short female, who could only be described as heavy. “We’ve been expecting you. Amanda Waller, Department of Extranormal Operations.”

[ March 16, 2004, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: The Big Bad ]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
On the table in front of him sat the morning newspaper, open to an article recounting the story of RJ Brande's new group of teenage wonderkids and another, more ominous in nature, on the same page; a ceremonial tea set with the tea slowly chilling; a writing tablet and pen; and an old faded photograph.

The old man was purposefully writing a long letter of introduction to an old, dear friend for his young charge. As soon as he was done and he had made the final arrangements, he would send for the young man. But first he had to finish his letter and await confirmation from the agency that all the travel arrangements were completed.

He hated that this had to be so abrupt but he knew in his heart that this had to be done today. He could not risk the Evil One discovering the boy's existence. The fortuitous pairing of the two articles on the same page in the Times of Tokyo morning edition was an omen.

The one about the emergence of the Black Dragon as preeminent in the recent crimelord wars that had rocked Japan's society portended evil coming Sensei's way. This new Black Dragon would seek to exact revenge for the damage Sensei had caused him and his organization in the past.

The other article, the one abut RJ's newest endeavor, provided the counterpoint that always existed in this world. The rise of evil in power was always balanced by the rise of good to combat it. This is Ying and Yang. This was the bedrock of Sensei's lifelong beliefs.

It had been many years since he last contacted RJ but he knew that his friend would provide whatever help was in his power to give. RJ was altruistic to a fault and he would not turn away from the needs of a young orphan.

The phone rang and moments later the endgame had begun.

"Have young Vance come to me immediately," he instructed one of his servants. "Say nothing to him other than that I require his presence immediately. While I am speaking with him you are to have his belongings packed and brought out to the car. He will be going to the airport to catch a plane as soon as I am finished speaking with him."

"Yes, Sensei," the servant replied and hurried off to do the old man's bidding.

Two hours later, Vance was on a plane to Metropolis in the United States, country of birth of his long dead mother. "Not Vance," the boy reminded himself as he struggled to fight down the tears, the fear, and the confusion as he remembered the end of the conversation. "You are Vance Armstrong no longer. From this moment forward I give you a new name. You are now Val Armor, derived from Valiant One, for this is what I have trained you and taught you to be all these years, valiant armor in defense of mankind. You go now because it is time. Time for you to join with other valiant youth in the battle against evil. Make me proud, my son! He called me 'son' SON He never called me that before! I promise Sensei, I will make you proud!"

[ March 18, 2004, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: Varalent ]
 

---

Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
 
When the eye finally hit her, Projectra knew that everything was lost. She closed her eyes, and her final thoughts were that she'd be with her parents soon anyway...

...and suddenly, she opened them and realized that she was being carried through the air. She looked up and saw the young man holding her, and wondered how he could be flying and be able to hold her so lightly in one arm. "Ugh..." was all she was able to whisper, and when she asked who he was, he did not seem to understand.

"Monius Elysius," he said, with a nod, seemingly able to tell that the language barrier was too great and that his name would suffice.

Minutes earlier, Monius awakened after a pain in his head that was so intense that it seemed to fry his brain. The pain caused him to ignite two beams of fire from his eyes, destroying the cave entrance that trapped him. He had no idea how long he was asleep, only remembering that he was in Persia and had contracted a fatal lead disease some time ago.

But the Emerald Eye had awakened him, that much he knew, and he sensed it. He remembered it well, and the legends of it from hallowed antiquity. Able to sense it in his head still, he quickly flew at top-speed across the mountain scape through ancient Antioch into the rugged country-side only to see this young girl about to be destroyed by the Eye and the girl it had possessed.

Deciding to grab her and spare her life, he flew in the other direction, only to see two other figures approaching, one woman in white and a man with very feminine features that seemed to be glowing.

Monius was tired, confused and covered only in his Roman armor and red cape. His hair was short, in the traditional Roman style of the Warrior's Crop. In all the confusion, he had forgotten to grab his spear, his gladium and his shield. And suddenly, he remembered that he was dying from lead poisoning. Perhaps the Eye had succeeded in killing him, since he was dying the minute he awoke and left the tomb.

He flew to the other two and looked at the young beautiful princess. He wished he could find someone that spoke Latin...
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
Proiectra and Maizah recognized each other instantly, even though they had never seen each other in their lives. They were both puzzled about the man in the Roman garb, but they were not going to argue with him, he had just saved Proiectra's life. Monius Ellysius knew that Proiectra was a friend, because she was fighting the Eye when he found her. And the other two, the woman in white and the effeminate boy with the golden hair, seemed to be friends of her.

"Quickly, we must go back, my father is going to get killed!" In her heart, Proiectra knew that it was probably already too late, but she was not ready to give up hope. And with Maizah at her side, there was actually hope that they might defeat the Eye. Monius looked puzzled, he didn't understand Proiectra's Moldavian. Explanations were quickly given in the form of life-like illusions, and the four turned towards the castle.

Surprisingly, the green glow of the Eye could still be seen, the Empress hadn't left.

"Father?"

Proiectra's heart sank the moment she saw her father, he had indeed been killed by the blast that she had witnessed before. But why was the Empress still here? The answer came when she came into view: the Eye was fully occupied fighting what seemed to be an entity made out of rock who appeared to have control over the Earth itself.

[ March 15, 2004, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

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Posted by LoneWolfLondo on :
 
Hasim Diyarbakir, son of the Turkish ambassador to Greece, was not one given to obeying orders. He excelled at virtually everything he had ever tried to do. He was an accomplished athlete, a brilliant student, spoke ten languages, and could hack into virtually any computer system anywhere.
He was amazing, and he knew it.

Hasim saw absolutely no reason to listen to his father's order not to wander off on the tour they had taken. He was bored and anything was better than listening to that stupid guide drone on about ancient history. His father had dragged him on more and more of these trips since his mother had died two years ago. He found this to be especially strange since mother had died in an accident travelling to see her relatives in Turkey.
The cave didn't look particularly deep when he first stumbled upon it, but it was cool and dark and far away from the rest of the tour. He sat for a minute, eyes quickly adjusting to the gloom. rising from the rock on which he'd rested, he ventured further into the cave.
After fifteen minutes he was hopelessly lost and completely unwilling to concede this point. Stubbornly he pushed on, feeling his way along the cave walls. At this point only the light from his cell phone display allowed him to see at all.
So it was quite a suprise when he rounded a corner and found her. Leathery wings draped around her scaly body, blood running from her mouth and her hungry yellow eyes.
"Boy", she hissed, "What have you brought me?"
"I..I don't...what do you want?" he stammered.
"Respect. Fear. A new DVD player ", she snapped, "but blood will do".
She sniffed the air around him, her coppery, foul breath so powerful it felt like snakes sliding across his face. "Mmm, yessss", she hissed, "there it issss."
"Boy", she whispered softly, "Did you know your father had your mother killed? She knew too much about his dealings and he knew she'd tell her family. Did you know that boy?"
"No", Hasim answered quietly, "No I didn't know."
"Would you like to avenge her boy? It's kind of a specialty of mine".
"How?" he asked. "I'll give you whatever you need" she replied, "as long as you kill him. Wealth, power, name it. You want to fly? It's done. Bend steel? Done. Just as long as his blood is spilled."
Hasim thought for just a moment before answering.
"I want to be able to do whatever those Legion kids I saw on the news can do, but better. I want to be able to beat each and every one. Can you do that?", he asked coldly.
She glared at him. "Can I borrow your cell phone?" she asked. He stared, uncertain why the horror would ask this.
"Come on kid, hand it over!", she snapped and he did. Dialing deftly with gore spattered claws she placed a call.
"Hey, hi", she said rather cheerfully to the other party, "It's Tisiphone. Yeah, I know, ages. Listen, that favor you owe me? Yeah, well, got a kid here needs your mojo."
Tisiphone paused, and handed Hasim the phone. "She needs to talk to you", she said.
Hesitantly he picked up the bloody phone and put it to his ear.
From the other end a soft voice whispered, "Nemesis", and Hasim began to shake.
Tisiphone took the phone back and made plans for a lunch date. Then she turned to him and said, "There you have it kid. Power from the goddess even Zeus was afraid of. Match and beat any opponent you come across, one at a time. Kill your dad and the deal is sealed. Stiff me and I have you for lunch".
Hasim, already feeling his body begin to mirror her power, just smiled. "Not a problem. First dad, and then those stupid holier than thou Legion kids. Oh yeah, we got a deal."
"Good", replied Tisiphone, last of the Furies as she extended a claw to shake his hand. "Do this right and everyone will know your name".
Hasim turned to leave and then stopped. "Name", he said. "What was that name again?"
"Nemesis, kid" she replied, "Her name is Nemesis".
Hasim nodded silently, walking in what he now knew was the direction of the exit. He couldn't wait to rejoin the tour now.

He had so much to show them.
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"You're sure?"

"Again, of COURSE it's gonna work. YOU wanna suggest to the boss he makes sub-standard stuff or somethin'?"

The other man shut up.

He checked the screen again. Their target was still flying at a phenomenal rate, faster than he'd have believed possible. But the computer was designed to allow for that in it's aiming, so he'd been told. In less than 30 seconds, it'd be in range.

"You're..."

"SHUT UP!"

Sick of his partner's incessant whining, the other man concentrated. The aim may be automatic, but the firing was manual, and at the rate it was moving, he had ten seconds at best to push the button. He counted down silently

4... 3... 2... 1...

He fired.

----------------

Laurel had been flying for hours. She didn't want to go through officialdom to get to the team - 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."

---------

The two men hurried to pick her up.

"Sheesh, it's a lot heavier than it..."

"What did I tell you about shutting up?"

They bundled her into the van, and into the last unoccupied statis tube, closing and activating it quickly as she joined the several others who suffered a similar fate in the tubes beside.

The second man pushed a button, to make the obligatory report to his control freak of a boss - "Sir - we got the flier. It's a female."

"Excellent. Get them to the programming centre quickly."

As the man in the van signed off, Leonard McCauley sat back in his chair, adjusted his glasses and thought that if Brande thought he was going to have a monopoly on little pet freaks to do his bidding, he had another thing coming.

[ March 16, 2004, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

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Posted by Varalent on :
 
Brian Landon couldn't believe what he had just seen! There had been someone flying above his perch on the side of the sheer cliff. Flying! He could barely believe his eyes! But then some type of light ray had burst from a van on the road below and hit the flying man. Not once, or twice, but three times before he was knocked out of the sky!

As Brian rushed to descend from the heights, he kept watch and saw two men exit the van, collect the body of the flyer and carry it into the van.

He had to get down there to help whoever that was!

In his reckless rush, he almost lost his grip a few times but managed to save himself each time by sheer strength of will. Unfortunately the slips cost him time. Just as he reached the ground and prepared to spring at the van, it took off.

Heedless of the danger he tried running after it but even his enhanced speed wasn't enough and Brian soon fell far enough behind that he knew he would be unable to catch up. He had, however, gotten a good look at the van and had memorized the license tag number. MC244.

Of course, the side of the van also read McCauley Industries so he had a pretty good idea of who was responsible. There was a McCauley Industries facility about 20 miles from the Army base on which Brian currently lived. Since the van was headed in that direction, it was a good bet that facility was its destination.

20 miles was a bit longer than his normal daily run but what the hell. He had nothing better to do!
 

---

Posted by The Big Bad on :
 
“We were just talking about you, your friends and I,” said the woman named Amanda Waller.

“What do you want?” asked Andy, barely keeping his sudden anger in check.

“They boys upstairs need help. Superhuman help. We need you to provide it.”

“Superhuman?” asked Douglas. “You mean like superpowers? What makes you think we have them?”

Without warning, one of the men in black took out a handgun and shot Kon three times. The shots were perfectly aimed, but while Kon’s t-shirt had three new holes in it, he himself was intact. He opened the fist he had made, and out fell three disfigured bullets.

“Tactile Telekinesis,” Amanda said. “The closest thing the people at Cadmus came to replicating the alien’s powers.” She looked at Kon and the eyes. “You’re the spitting image of him, you know. You’re not his clone, but the resemblance is incredible."

“Waitwaitwait,” said Kon. “I’m a clone?”

“Yes,” answered Amanda. “ Starting about a year ago, Cadmus has been trying to create supersoldiers, based on the genetic template of an alien that arrived on Earth about 17 years ago. Unfortunately, Cadmus couldn’t crack the genetic code, and every attempt to clone him resulted in subhuman bizarre aliens. Later on, after twelve attempts, they decided on another approach; instead of cloning the alien, they would clone a human, but with the genetic code altered to resemble the alien’s as much as possible. This procedure met with more success, and you were born. Had everything gone normally, you would have been artificially grown to adulthood, and your mind would have been programmed, with slavery protocols, making you nothing more than a puppet. Fortunately for you, though, Douglas here, who was at the time escaping from the Project, freed you before either of those things could happen."


Kon attempted to remain calm while he absorbed all that new information. While he didn’t have any memories of a life before Cadmus, he had always assumed that he was some kind of experiment in genetic manipulation. He didn’t think he’d actually been born last year, at age fifteen, and that all his memories of a time before that were fake.
“Fine, so we have powers. But what if we don’t want to help you?” asked Kon.

“Oh, you’ll want to. You see, we know all about your criminal activities since you were all freed, and it would be the easiest thing in the world to send you to prison, or worse, all the way back to Cadmus. We know you don’t want that.”

“You’re bluffing,” said Douglas, as he lit up a cigarette and started smoking through his helmet. “You don’t have the power to take us down. If you did, you wouldn’t need us at all.”

“Touché,” said Amanda, still confident despite this apparent flaw on her plan.

“And what if we do agree?” asked Kon.

“Well, if you agree to being drafted, we’ll forget all of your past indiscretions. Plus, we’ll erase all of your records from your captors’ databases, and we’ll give you the standard hundred thousand dollars per mission. Oh, and you’ll also have access to our state of the art medical facilities, should you ever need them.” She looked at Andrew and Douglas as she said that last part.

“Would you give us a minute?” Kon asked. “We need to talk about this.”

“Of course.”

“So, what do you think?” asked Kon, once the three were all settled in Andrew’s room. “Think she’s for real?”

“I don’t know,” said Andrew. “I’ve heard of the D.E.O, but nothing about any Amanda Waller. Could go either way, really.”

“I agree. I think we should do it, though. Potential high reward for little potential risk.”

“Yeah, I agree. Wish we knew if they’re telling the truth. What do you think, Doug?”

“I think,” Douglas said, with some hesitation. “I think I may have a plan.”

It had been ten minutes since the three teens had disappeared to discuss their plans, and Amanda was getting impatient. She was just about to go check on them when they returned.

“Okay, Waller, here’s the deal,” started Kon, with an air of authority in his voice. “Me and Douglas are interested. Andrew, not so much, so he’ll be staying here. You have a problem with that?”

“None at all,” responded Amanda, not at all surprised at their demands. “I expected that much.” She then sat up and began to leave. “Well, boys, I’ll come by and pick you up tomorrow for your briefing. Do not even think of moving someplace else, because I will find you, and, make no mistake, there will be consequences. Oh, and welcome to the Suicide Squad.”

<<Interlude:Wee, decompressed fanfiction! You can't escape!>>

[ March 16, 2004, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: The Big Bad ]
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
As Brian ran, the metahuman detector in the van went wild.

"You IDIOT!"

The second man inside the van saw the blip on the screen, moving faster than any human could, making a beeline straight for the McCauley Ind. complex. Then noticed that the "Hide identifiers" switch had not been activated. Activating it with an angry growl, he looked at his crewmate.

"If that guy gets in, it's both our heads. Literally - remember what happened to Rick and Bruce last year?"

The first man shuddered uncomfortably at the memory, and turned the van off-road, heading straight for the blip on the monitor, which though still far from the complex, was easily moving at 30 mph, as the second man moved to prime the laser cannon.

---------

Brian was making good time now, having covered at least 10 miles in 20 mins. He marvelled at just how fast he could move since that venom. Suddenly, he felt the ground beneath him crumble. He jumped, flipped and looked back at what had happened.

The same van which had shot the guy outta the sky earlier was now shooting at HIM!

He jumped, hopped, skipped and flipped, trying to avoid the laser cannon. But it was relentless, and he wasn't as tough as Laurel - eventually it hit him, and one blast was enough.

----------

The men argued for a few moments over what to do. The first man argued that they had no free statis pods, they should just kill him and be done with it, but eventually the second man prevailed. Taking a pair of tranq guns, they went out and, before approaching him, shot at least three darts into him to ensure he wasn't feigning unconciousness. Then two more to make sure he stayed out until they could get him back to base. They bundled him into the back of the van, and the second man reported back the reason for the delay, and to have an extra statis pod ready. Then they drove off, unobserved, leaving no trace but for a few already-vanishing marks in the dust...
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
Tikhik looked around, at the monsterous creature on his left with shrunken legs and a large, heavy tail, to the man who never moved from his spot in his silver cell, jet black skin showing through the only window in his silver suit, at the front of his helmet - both seemingly needed helmets to breathe. Another means of control - he supposed he should be thankful that, however misshapen his own body had become, he could still breathe normal air. In his cell block of four, only the girl who periodically set off jets of flame (useless against their bare cells and heat-proof walls and bars) could still pass as normal to even a cursory inspection. He swore yet again that he would let the world know what had been going on here...

Meanwhile, several floors above, the van had entered the complex through a hidden entrance, Brian was bundled into a statis tube, and all six of the tubes were moved to join a bank of as many as twenty pre-existing metahumans in a "statis bank" who had been "recruited" already. Making their own had proved problematic, with too low a success rate, and too many severely mutated examples to use as part of the PR team. Not that that was the only one planned, of course...
_________________

The Legion, new members in tow, flew back from their partially sucessful first mission. They had routed the complex, but had found no trace of Luthor's direct involvement, frustrating though it was. As Docks examined the protoplasmic orange lifeform that Reed had become, Imra aided by testing for how much of Reed's mind remained, but suddenly she became distracted by a familiar telepathic call...

[ April 22, 2004, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
[INTERLUDE}

I'm loving this!

IB, I think it's time for a cast summary!

[END INTERLUDE]
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jenni drummed her fingers impatiently as the plane made its way back to New York. Since they couldn't find any evidence of Luthor's involvement, they had decided to lookfor the source of the phone call she had heard earlier. If they could find the man she had heard talking... She was sure she and her newfound allies would see justice done.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Five minutes ago, Nura had been asleep, tired out from the multiple delays which had set her plans back nearly 24 hours.

Three minutes ago, she had started to dream of hazy images, tantalizing hints of the future. A red-haired woman desperately tying to reach out to a young girl, before a green orb and a powerful gigantic demon came. A jolly old man, trying to catch thirteen seeds before they fell into a deep hole. There was a boy, trying to find a path in a raging blizzard. And there was a small canister sitting on a plane, ticking ever so slowly...

One minute ago, Nura had woken up with a start. Her dream had confirmed many of her earlier visions and had filled in the blanks in her mind. Azura Saunders was coming to warn her daughter Zoe about Mordru and the mysterious Eye. The young Brock Bannon was coming to join the Legion. And they would arrive at the same time as she, all at the airport which Brande Industries had turned into the "forerunner of the future". Except that the future would never come if the bomb, which had been planted on her plane by the same people who had tried to kill the thirteen young Legionnaires, went off.

Thirty seconds ago, Nura had started desperately trying to make contact with Irma while she had started looking for the bomb.

Five seconds ago, she found the bomb right where she had seen it in her dream.

One second ago, she had succeeded in making contact with Irma.

Thirty minuites in the future, her plane, as well as Azura's plane and Brock's plane, would all reach the airport where Brande was now waiting expectantly for the Legion to arrive. And then, if the Legionnaires didn't arrive in time, they would all die.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Rex closed his eyes for a second, trying to get a minute's rest. He also tried to keep track of everything he had just learned about his new teammates. Zoe's power was telekinesis, Jenni wanted to avenge her mother's murder, Lyle had invented three new ice cream flavors, Sally could contact the Atom if she wanted... Plenty of seemingly useless information along with the useful, but Rex knew that a good leader shpuld know all his teammates. He was glad that Garth, Lorna and company had followed his lead and had started to get to know their new friends. True unity would be the only way they would last as a team.

He was planning a little trip for the twelve of them, thirteen if Reed felt up to it, to take as a way to bond when he heard Irma's voice. "Rex, we have a problem..."

Rex listened to her explanation, and his blood froze. Mr. Brande was in trouble, and so were two future Legionnaires, assuming this "Nura" really had foretelling abilities. But he couldn't take the chance. He had to decide fast; but things were risky. They were still too far away. There was a way they could reach New York in time, but if things didn't work right only their ashes would get there. Great. Just his first week as a leader and already he had to gamble the lives of the whole team.

"Irma, brief the others telepathically. Be careful not to alarm them, especially the new guys. I'll go convince the pilot to use Mr. Brande's new star-drive to get us to..."

"But isn't it still in the experimental stage? We didn't even use it on the way to Colombia!"

"We have no choice. We just have to pray that we make it. Besides, if this Nura says she's our newest Legionnaire, then the rest of us have to be around to accept her, right?"

Imra smiled at him, and got to work. Rex smiled back, then steeled himself. He headed for the cockpit, hoping that the pilot would have enough faith in them to risk his own life.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
interlude)
Here's an update on the characters in the story right now:

Rex Kline (Cosmic Boy)
Irma Ardeen (Saturn Girl)
Garth Raines (Live Wire)
Lorna Durgo (Triad)
Tamara "Tina" Wazzo (Apparition)
Quentin Docks (Brainiac 5)
Reed Daggly (Chameleon)- as a pile of orange goo
Sally Digby (Shrinking Violet)
Lyle Norga (Invisible Kid)
Zoe Saunders (Kinetix)
Jenni Ognats (XS)
Charles "Chuck" Tan (Bouncing Boy)
Conan Doyle Arlington, "Condo" (Chemical King)

headed for New York to save Nura and RJ Brande from the bombs planted in the airport by certain enemies of theirs...

Nura bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal (Dreamer) - just found the bomb on her plane]
Borck Bannon (Polar Boy) - en route to the aforementioned airport

Also, in Moldovia, about to battle the Emerald Empress plus Eye...

Maizah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal (White Witch)
Princess Jacqueline Projectra -
a Block (Blok)
Dirk Morgna (Sun Boy)
Monius Ellysius (Mon-el) - still suffering from lead poisoning

Captured by Leonard McCauley...

Tikhik Miraz (Gates)
Laurel Gander (Andromeda)
Brian Landon (Timber Wolf)
Tellus
Mano
Inferno (female)

The following are being used by Big Bad for the duration:

Andrew and Douglas Nolan
Kon-el
Clark Kent

Other Legionnaires...
Eileen "Ella" Raines (Spark)- apparently still in Kansas, but making plans to follow Garth
Paul Kline (Magnetic Kid) - apparently still in MN
Jose Rimbaud (Ultra Boy) - being examined by Navy doctors on a Navy vessel
Tom Kallor (Star Boy) - somewhere in New South Wales
Tatiana and Greg Mallor (Umbra and Shadow Kid) - somewhere in England
Jan Arrah (Element Lad) - looking for RJ Brande
Laura Long (Insect Queen) - in STAR labs?
Ten Zil Kim - in a militray installation outside of Seoul
Val Armor, real name Vance Armstrong (Karate Kid) - en route to New York

plus an "offshoot of the Ute tribe that lived downwind of the U.S. government's Nevada Atomic Test Site, and got more than a normal dose of radiation", who now have wings on their backs. One family in particular has been described as having "psychic powers" - so I guess this means Dawnstar will be making a comeback too.


Other Characters
Mark Raines (Lightning Lord)- whereabouts unknown
RJ Brande
Jeanne Chu
Sara Romanescu, the "Empress of Venegar"
Mordru - Nura and Maizah's father
The Emerald Eye - finally bonded to Sara
"Godzilla"
Universo - imprisoned and sedated, but able to break free for short periods
Ambassador Winema Wazzo
Azura Saunders - Zoe's mom, headed to New York to warn the Legion about Mordru
Ramiro Puerta - a Colombian guerilla who was caught in the same explosion that Reed was caught in, and whose body was "completely charred, deformed, reminiscent of an insect" - could possibly be used as Shikari
Hasim Diyarbakir - the new Nemesis Kid, in Greece
Sensei
Black Dragon

(interlude)

[ March 19, 2004, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Invisible Brainiac:
Captured by Leonard McCauley...

Tikhik Miraz (Gates)
Laurel Gander (Andromeda)
Brian Landon (Timber Wolf)

---

Also Tellus, Mono and (the female) Inferno. Plus plenty of (unnamed) others [most of which are almost certainly going to stay extras, but I'm planning for a few more of them to be familiar characters (both heroes & villains - McCauley wouldn't be choosy), including at least one other already on the list]
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
And Karate Kid is on his way from Japan, isn't he?
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
(interlude)

Thanks, SoM and Juan. I've updated the list.

{end interlude)

[ March 18, 2004, 05:09 AM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

---

Posted by M'onel on :
 
<INTERLUDE>

Thank you SoM for using 'Andromeda'. I lost my internet access and it's nice to see she wasn't forgotten.

</INTERLUDE>
 

---

Posted by Suddenly Seymour on :
 
This is turing out to be lots of fun. I like doing origins most, but I'll have to see if I can come up with something to advance the story soon.

Has He Who Wonders been back with his Gim Allon story? It doesn't look like it, and Gim is one of the last originals we need to get in here (unless I'm missing something else).
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
Kid Quantum...
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
<INTERLUDE>

quote:

---

Originally posted by M'onel:
Thank you SoM for using 'Andromeda'. I lost my internet access and it's nice to see she wasn't forgotten.

---

YW Right now, I'm trying to tie a few characters into my subplot here because they're at risk of getting "lost." Like I said, I'm planning for at least one more here, and maybe more if I can figure out how to get them into McCauley's clutches

</INTERLUDE>
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Suddenly Seymour:
This is turing out to be lots of fun. I like doing origins most, but I'll have to see if I can come up with something to advance the story soon.

Has He Who Wonders been back with his Gim Allon story? It doesn't look like it, and Gim is one of the last originals we need to get in here (unless I'm missing something else).

---

[INTERLUDE]
Yeah, I've been waiting for Gim also. I'll PM HWW and remind him. If not, I may take a crack at him myself.

[END INTERLUDE]
 

---

Posted by He Who Wanders on :
 
Rex Kline couldn't believe his ears. He was being replaced as Legion leader?

"It's true, lad," R.J. Brande explained once the team had landed in New York. "It comes directly from the UN Secretary General." Brande's voice could barely contain his anger.

Rex was almost speechless. All he could manage to say was "By who?"

"By me," a booming voice sounded. Rex turned to face a belt buckle. That's silly, he thought. Was it something he'd had to eat on the flight? But no, it was a real belt buckle. Then he looked up.

"First Lieutenant Gene Allen, United States Marine Corps, reporting for duty!" came the booming voice again. Rex could barely see the man's face as he was standing right in front of the sun. Rex guessed that this was the man's way of introducing himself, since, so far as he knew, he hadn't been renamed as well as removed as leader.

"He's big!" said Lyle's from a few feet away. Rex grimaced. Leave it to Lyle to state the obvious.

But then, as soon as he spoke, the giant did something no one expected. He got smaller. In an instant, he was just a foot or so taller than the Legionnaires. Only then did the Rex see that the man was barely older than they were. His brown hair was cut in a Marine buzzcut. He looked strong and rigid, but there was also something kind, almost boyish in his eyes.

"That's very impressive," Imra said. "How do you do that?"

"That's classified," Gene responded, curtly.

"You can tell them, lad," Brande said. "I've cleared it with Secretary General Chu."

Gene looked suspiciously at Brande for a moment, as if he wasn't about to trust just anyone. Then he must have realized who he was talking to, Rex thought, for he said, "I apologize, sir. I just flew all the way from Tikrit. It must be jetlag."

"Tikrit?" Garth said, incredulous. "You were in Iraq?"

"I was one of the first people in Saddam's stronghold," was the reply. "We were looking for WMDs. We found a bunker. It was booby-trapped."

"Oh no!" Imra said.

"It was some kind of strange gas," Gene continued. "It nearly killed everyone around me, but me ... it changed me, somehow. Now I can do this." An instant later, Gene stood 20 feet tall. "I was given a battlefield commission and made Lt. Colonel Zendack's personal assistant. Then I get orders to come here and take charge of this wet-behind-the-ears outfit."

"Now just a minute," Garth said. "We've already got a leader -- Rex." There were echoes of agreement from the other Legionnaires.

"Look, I don't have time to argue," Gene said. "I've even been given a codename -- Leviathan."

"Mr. Brande, isn't there anything you can do?" Lorna said.

"I'm sorry," Brande replied. "My hands are tied."

"Well, mine aren't!" Garth said, clenching his fist into an electric battery. "If Big Boy here wants to take over, he's going to have to go through us to do it, right, Rex?"

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

Rex lowered his head and swallowed, then looked up. "It makes perfect sense. The Secretary General wants someone with experience in charge ... more experience than a high school sports champ has." He stepped toward the giant. Then, with his new teammates looking on in disbelief, Rex offered his hand.

"Gene Allen, Leviathan, welcome to the Legion."
 

---

Posted by He Who Wanders on :
 
INTERLUDE ...

Sorry for the delay, guys.

... END INTERLUDE
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Flashback: three hours ago

Nura clutched the canister to her chest as she sat in the plane's lavatory. She tried to ignore the irate man's fist pounding on the door, which she had locked. Better for him to wet his pants than for him to start a panic on the plane. She mentally cut off her telepathic conversation with Irma. She was far too upset to talk right now, anyway. She had no intentions of escaping from her father, only to die when the bomb she had found exploded. But what else could she do, besides trust in the Legionnaires? She closed her eyes and waited, as the tears fell from her eyes.

************************************************

Brock Bannon shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun as he stepped down from the plane. He had never imagined that it could be so bright and so clear; but then again, he had never imagined that any place could be so warm and so...colorful. Sure, he had seen them on television before, when technology had finally come to his home,(that was how he had learned about the Legion), but the limited dimensions of the screen never prepared him for the vivid variety of shapes and colors. The green leaves swaying on the tall trees; the red flowers that were being waved around by those people at the stall near the entrance; they were a far cry from the cold, frozen kingdom hidden in the mountains.

Using the limited knowledge of English he had learned from Princess Tora, he made his way to the gates. He had to find the office of RJ Brande. He had to join the Legion, as he had been told to do.

His mind went back to the night last week, when he had been summoned to the Royal Family's palace. The Queen had taken his hand as he knelt down, and had pulled him up. That action wasn't unusual; after the failed coup orchestrated by Prince Oswald four years ago, the Royal Family had lost much of its power and had become ceremonial. Nobles and commoners ruled the kingdom side by side, and the Royals had opened their doors to the people.

"Sit, my boy." the King had said as he offered him a chair. His bown eyes had twinkled as he had looked Brock up and down. "It looks like we have chosen well, my dear."

"Yes, husband." The Queen had replied. "Young Brock here will be a worthy guardian of our dear daughter Tora."

"Brock, do you know why you have been called here? Has the Princess told you all about it?" The Queen asked him gently.

"Yes, your Majesty." He had replied. "I am to be our kingdom's representative in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and act as an ambassador of goodwill in preparation for the Princess' mission to petition for membership in the United Nations."

"Indeed. Our kingdom has long been isolated, and only recently have we made contact with our neighboring kingdoms. But we have learned that magic alone is no longer enough to sustain us; especially now that much of it has been lost due to the actions of Prince Oswald. And for that he has been exiled." The King shook his head; whether in dippointment or disgust, Borck did not know. "We need outside aid if our people are to adapt and survive."

"We give you our blessings, young Brock. And we know you will not fail us. Now, go and rest. You leave early tomorrow. But do not fear. You will not be alone for long."

Back at his room, Brock lay on his bed, looking at his parents' picture. They had been killed during Prince Oswald's coup; he still remembered the fear on their faces as they ran from the soldiers. And the more he remembered the love they had shown when they had shielded him from the arrows. He carefully packed the picture away, vowing that he would do them proud.

Brock fingered the necklace around his neck as he remembered what had happened next. He had opened the door to find the Princess waiting outside. Her youth failed to hide the wisdom in her features; she had the wits of a snow fox, the calm strength of a wolf, the crystal serenity of a frozen pond and the beauty of a blooming alpine flower in the middle of the spring. And she was his friend and mentor. Although she was only a year older than him, she had rescued him from the burning deathtrap his house had become, and she had nursed him back to health. She had helped train him in the use of his ice powers, and she had lent him a willing ear and a comforting shoulder when his heart felt like cracking from the sorrow. That had been three years ago, and now both of them had grown.

"I am glad that you will finally get the chance to make all of us proud," she had said, her voice like chimes in the breeze. "Not that you have to prove anything; you are already one of the best student the ice mages have ever seen."

"Not better than you, I'm sure."

She had laughed at that; not a laugh of scorn but one of amusement. "Perhaps. We shall see." She had leaned closer to him then. "You are also the best friend I have ever had, Brock. Promise me you will be careful. Here, take this."

He watched as she placed the necklace in his open hand. It was silver, and worked with a pattern of snowflakes. Inside was a picture of the both of them, their faces somewhat grave as that had been the first time either of them had seen a camera. He chuckled. "Remember how we almost froze the cameraman when the flash went off?"

She laughed hard at that memory. "Oh, yes! He was really angry because his beard cracked and fell off!" She shook her head. "Be careful out there, Brock. I don't think everything out there is as harmful as the camera." He had promised, and then she had left. That was the last time he had seen her before he left.

Brock snapped back to the present, and, clutching the necklace in his hand, he headed for the airport's main office. Above him, a large hole of blue energy appeared in the sky as an airplane flew out of it and came hurtling toward the ground.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Rex tried to gather his wits together as the plane carrying him and his twelve teammates fell out of the sky. Hoping that he didn't toss his cookies, he quickly mind-linked with Irma.

"Irma, tell Garth and Lyle to grab the pilot! Then tell Zoe to head for the plane's door! We're going to create an opening. Make sure everyone is ready with the "flight rings" Quentin made!"

Rex used his magnetic powers to steady himself as he made his way to the plane door. He reflected on how lucky they were to have met all those new members in Colombia; without Jenni, they never would have known about the shady machinations in the government; without Condo and his chemical powers, Lyle and Quentin wouldn't have been able to trigger the right reaction to create their new flight metal; and without Zoe, he doubted he would be able to rip a hole open in time.

Bracing himself, he caught Zoe's eye and nodded. As soon as she nodded back, he turned his magnetic powers on at full force, and Zoe did the same with her telekinetic abilities. He watched as the side of the plane slowly bent outward. Slowly... slowly...

He was so focused on his task that he wasn't able to react in time when the plane suddenly shuddered. Losing his balance, he hit his head against the side of the plane and found himself sinking into unconsciousness...
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
"Rex!" Irma screamed as she watched him slump to the floor of the plane. Jenni sped over to him. "He's fine, he just has a little bump on the head."

"That's great news, but what about us? We still have to get off this plane, ya know." Condo said with a bit of a sneer.

"Zoe, do you think you can get us out of here in time?" Irma asked the struggling girl.

"I-I don't know! These powers are still new to me... I don't think I can do it in time!"

"Stand back! I'll blast our way out!" Garth said.

"This plane is made of metal. You will end up killing us all." Quentin pointed out.

"Damn! I knew we shouldn't have used that star-gate thingie!" Garth yelled. "Now we won;t even be able to save Mr. Brande!"

"I have an idea." Chuck spoke up. "If I bounce aganist the door while Zoe aims a blast at it, the combined force of our powers might be enough to open it."

"Go for it." Irma said. "The rest of you, get ready to use your flight rings. Quentin, use your forcefield to protect Rex and the pilot, and get them medical attention as soon as you reach the ground. Zoe, Condo, I need you to stand by to make sure the plane doesn't crash into anything once we're outside. Tina, Sally, as soon as we're clear look for Nura and the bomb. Lorna, you look for Mr. Brande and make sure he's safe. The rest of you, stay with me. We're going after the guys who planted the bomb on Nura's plane and tried to kill us in Colombia."

"Are you sure these things will work?" Lorna asked, pointing nervously at her flight ring. "You guys just finished them on the way here!"

"They should be." Lyle said. "Condo's powers were able to accelerate the reaction Quentin and I hypothesized would occur if ordinary iron were xposed to certain forces. And we tested it already. It should hold up."

"Then that's settled." Irma said, before anyone else could complain. "Everyone, gather at the door and be careful. We;re going out."
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Irma watched nervously as Chuck and Zoe got ready. Reed has shifted to the form of an ape and was holding Rex and the pilot steady while Quentin, or Brainy, as they preferred to call him, encased the four of them in his forcefield. She hoped everything would be okay...

"I'm sure we'll be okay. You're doing a great job." Garth said behind her. She gave a start. It was almost as if he had read her mind.

"I... thanks." She smiled at him. He smiled back. "I guess you're more mature than I thought you were," she said. He just shrugged his shoulders. "My sister says that a lot, too."

"I hope I can meet her someday, after we get out of this." she replied, before putting her business manner on again. "But right now, we need to get out of here and do our job. Everybody ready?" Eleven heads nodded. "Good. Let's do it.

She watched as Chuck inflated himself, then jumped and bounced off the far wall. He hit the door right where the lock was. At the same time, Zoe used the full limits of her power to "push" against it. The door wavered for a while, and, as they all held their breath, it swung open. Irma closed her eyes as she felt herself being sucked out of the plane.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Brock watched in horror as the plane plummeted out of the sky. Suddenly, a grren glow appeared near the door, and what looked like a large ball bounced out of the door, followed by a bunch of teenagers. The Legion! It must be them! He watched as they gathered their bearings and flew to different parts of the airport. One of them, a girl dressed in green, flew after the plane. He watched as a green aura surrounded the plane, and it's descent started to slow. But it wasn't enough; the girl ppeared tired and the plane was far too large for her. He quickly made his way to the runway, and using his powers, created a large pile of snow. He hoped it would be enough.

*************************************************

Zoe closed her eyes as she strained her powers to their limit. She hoped she could do this; she hoped she would be strong enough. This was finally her chance to shine, to beat those girls who had snubbed her because she didn't have any pretty dresses to wear or any nice toys to play with. She concentrated, focusing on the staisfaction she would feel if they could see her now. She felt the plane slow down as she put all her powers into it. And then she felt it hit something. She opened her eyes, but not in time to stop herself from being buried in... snow?

She felt a hand pull her up. "Hi. My name is Brock. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, even though my clothes aren't. Let me clean myself up first." She quickly used her powers to wring the wetness from her outfit. "Hi, my name is Zoe, and I'm a Legionnaire. Did you do this-"

Brock practically jumped at that. "You're a Legionnaire? Praise the North Wind! I want to join you!"

"Whoa, easy there, Brock. No need to get so excited. Besides, if you're as cool as your power is, then I don't think you have to worry about it. Come on, let's go find the others."
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Nura wiped the tears from her eyes as she tried to compose herself. It had been almost an hour since she had last "talked" to Irma; the Legionnaires must be on their way by now. She closed her eyes again and tried to find Irma.

"Nura? Is that you?"

"Irma? Your voice sounds different. Where are you?"

"I'm not Irma. My name is Tina. And you can open your eyes now."

Nura did, and nearly screamed at the sight of the brunette in white who was standing in front of her. "How... how did you...?"

"Easy. My name is Tina Wazzo, code name Apparition. Pardon me for just walking in." Tina said, demonstrating her ability to phase through objects by walking through the sink. "That must be the bomb you told Irma about. Come on, lets get out of here. Take my hand."

Tina quickly phased Nura, herself and the bomb out of the plane, and they flew down to where Irma and the others were waiting.

As Tina set the bomb down gently, Sally shrunk down and unscrewed the bombs outer casing. She then grew again and and made way for Lyle, who studied the bomb'b interior. Then he beckoned for Condo to come over. Oddly enough, Condo blushed before taking his place beside Lyle. Tina shook her head. Boys sure could be weird, sometimes.

Beside her, Nura and Irma were having a heartfelt reunion.

"Nura! It's great to finally meet you face-to-face!" Irma said as the two girls hugged. "Where's Maizah? She isn't back yet?"

"No, but she... Oh!" Nura said as she felt a vision coming. She held her head between her hands; it was so vivid!

"Is she okay?" Jenni asked. "Should I bring her to the clinic where Rex and the pilot are?"

"No, she'll be fine. She's just having a vision." Irma said. "It happens all the time."

"Looks like we've found our fourteenth member." Sally said, coming up to them.

"Sally? I thought you guys were going to defuse the bomb?" Chuck asked, the surprise evident in his voice.

"Oh, Condo and Lyle are taking care of that. Lyle said they didn't need me anymore, anyway."

"So, is that it? What do the rest of us do?" Garth said.

"I suggest you keep the crowd from panicking." Irma said. "Take Chuck with you; I'm sure he'll be able to think of something to say. I'll see to Nura."

"Fine. Come on, Chuck."

"Nura? You okay, honey?" Irma asked as Nura gathered herself.

"Irma! There's another bomb over in Brande's office! It's set to go off in fifteen minutes!"

"Not again..." Irma sighed. "Lyle? Are you done over there?"

"Not yet!" Lyle replied. "It'll take us at least seven more minutes."

"We don;t have enough time for that!" Irma said. "Jenni, take Reed and Sally with you. I'll contact Lorna and transmit the location to you." Jenni nodded, and sped off with a shrunken Sally and a transformed Reed in tow. Irma just shook her head. "This just gets better and better..."
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Lorna tried to keep calm as she punched in the security code to Mr. Brande's office. She hoped everything would be all right outside. She hadn't even bothered to look and see if the others were okay; as soon as she had gotten clear of the plane she had made her way to the main offices. It wasn't that she didn't care for her new friends; it was that she cared for her adoptive father even more. He had rescued her all those years ago, and she was eternally grateful for that.

As she opened the door, she felt a gun press against the back of her head. Raising her arms, she turned around slowly, to find a masked gunman.

"I know you, girlie. You're one of them Legionnaires! Well, I can't let ya warn him about the bomb right now. Sorry, girlie, but you're not gonna get a bullet from me."

Lorna's impatience to get to Mr. Brande almost made her forget to be careful. Thinking quickly, she said, "Well, if you know so much about us, then I'm sure you already know about my invisible friend behind you."

"What? Where?" the gunman turned around. Fatal mistake. Lorna quickly triplicated, and using her jujitsu skills, had one of her "selves" grab the gun while another tripped him and the third gave him a sock to the jaw.

"Oh... Damn that invisible brat..." he said as he slumped down.

"Geez, what an idiot." Her "purple" self said as she hit him one last time to make sure.

"But what was that he said about the bomb?" her "orange" self asked. "What can we do?"

"If what that idiot said is true, then we'll have to call the others." Her "neutral" self said. "You two go get Mr. Brande out of here while I call Irma. Hurry!" She watched as her two selves ran down the hall. "Come on, Irma, come on..."

************************************************

Jan Arrah looked around the office in awe. He knew that this RJ Brande was rich, but the office was simple, though with high quality furnishings. Not at all gaudy, like some others would be. He was so fascinated by the pictures of the Legionnaires on the walls that he didn't bother listening to the exchange going on in front of him.

"Mr. Brande, I need you to find my daughter!" Azura said, encouraged by the kindly interest Brande showed. She had only had to wait a few minutes before being shown into his office, and he had been very hospitable. "Please, I know your Legionnaires can find her! She's a redhead, and she has these telekinetic powers..."

"Telekinetic powers, you say? Her name wouldn;t be Zoe, by any chance, would it?"

"Oh, yes! How did you know?"

"Why, I've just gotten word that young Zoe is one of our newest Legionnaires! She just joined the team over in their mission in Colombia!"

"Colombia? How did she... Well, I'm just glad she's safe for now! But she and the rest of the Legion may be in terrible danger! Young Jan here can explain it better than I can. I met him over in Europe, and he's been through a terrible ordeal." She turned to him. "Jan?" She said gently. "Jan, are you ready to tell Mr. Brande all about the Eye?"

Jan jerked out of his reverie. "Oh, yes, ma'am. The Emerald Eye is a mystical artifact that my people were supposed to protect. But when they were all slaughtered..."

Jan recounted his story as both RJ and Azura looked on, Azura's face grim, RJ's becoming grimmer as the full horror of Jan's story dawned on him.

"By damn!" he said, when Jan had finished. "You're a brave young man indeed, Jan. Not many could deal with that ordeal as well as you could have! As soon as the Legionnaires return, I'll tell them about your story. Then we'll..."

He was cut off as the door opened and Lorna rushed in... Or at least, two-thirds of her did.
"Lorna!"

"Dad! We have to get out of here! There's a bomb!"

"What?" RJ said. "What are you talking about? Who could've..."

"I don't know, but I'm sure it's the same one who planted the bomb on the plane. Come on, let's get out of here!"

Just then, Jenni ran in with Reed, Sally and Lorna's third body. Jenni quickly headed for the corner of Brande's office, where the air vent was. Reed hopped off and, transforming into an ape, ripped off the vent. Sally then shrank down and tried to defuse it. Lorna quickly gathered RJ, Azura and Jan and tried to lead them out of the office.

"What's the matter?" Jenni asked as Sally grew. "Have you defused it already?"

"This bomb is slightly different from the other one. I can't defuse it!"

"What do we do now?" Reed asked. "Should we get Lyle to come over here?"

"There's no time!" Jenni said. "I'll just run out to the coast and drop the bomb in the ocean."

"But can you make it in time?" Sally said. "Even if you do get out of the city, you'll be killed!"

"I... I..." Jenni's resolve wavered. She had to avenge her mother. But then... she couldn't let them all die... She...

"Maybe I can help." Jan said, saving Jenni from a difficult choice. "I can use my powers to encase the bomb in titanium." Without waiting for an answer, he concentrated. Everyone else in the room just stared as a glow emanated from the bomb. "It's done. I regret that I can't change the bomb itself into something harmless, but I don't want to risk it going off." He turned to Jenni. "The extra weight might slow you down, but at least it will give us a better chance of survival in case the bomb does go off."

"Thanks. All right, wish me luck!" Jenni said as she sped off.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jenni found herself running for her life once more. Amazing, she reflected. She had first used her superspeed only a couple of months ago, and now it had become such a major part of her life. It had brought her into the Legion, and she could tell that they were special people who would make great friends. And she finally had a chance to find the true reason for her mother's death. She just hoped that she would survive this mission...

"Snap out of it, girl!" She told herself. "This isn't the time to let my mind wander..."

She quickly sped through the streets of New York, glancing at the bomb. Seven minutes left... six minutes... She pushed herself to go faster. Faster than ever before. She had reached her limit, and she was starting to tire. She dodged cars and people, who were moving so slowly that it looked like they were standing still. She was so close now...

"Jenni?" Hearing Irma's voice in her head nearly made her lose her balance. "Jenni, are you all right? You can stop now, honey."

"Whatareyoutalking aboutIrma?" she thought back. "I'm not far away enough yet! I have to go faster!"

"Jenni, listen to me! Rex is awake, and he can deal with the bomb safely!"

"There's no way he can get here in time!"

"Yes, there is! He-"

"I'm sorry, Irma. Please... if I don't come back, make sure you get whoever did this. Make sure my mother can rest in peace." Severing the link, Jenni ran like the wind, faster than ever before, not knowing where she would go next.

************************************************

"She won't listen, Rex." Irma said, feeling the telepathic link being broken. "She's running too fast now."

"Then I'm going after her. Show me where she last was." Rex steeled himself as he "saw" the images Jenni did, courtesy of Irma's telepathy. Then he closed his eyes, and dove through the "stargate" RJ Brande had in the airport. Last time, it had nearly killed the whole team. This time, it might just kill him again. But this time, he felt lucky.

************************************************
Rex swooped down out of the sky, probing magnetically for Jenni and the bomb. He only had five minutes left before it went off. As he felt the tendrils of magnetic pull sweep the ground, he concentrated hard on anything that was shaped like a small cylindrical object... or a tiny ring.

"Come on, come on...There!" Rex quickly but gently pulled Jenni's unconscious form up to him. "Poor kid... she must have tired herself out. Well, time to finish what she started."

Rex hurled the bomb out over the sea, where he watched it explode harmlessly over the waves, the explosion too contained and the debris too small to harm anyone. Rex heaved a sigh as he headed back. Maybe now he could sleep as peacefully as Jenni was sleeping right now.

[ March 20, 2004, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Invisible Brainiac ]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
Val had watched in stunned disbelief at all the incredible activity that had taken place on the runway at the airport. Those had to be some of the members of the Legion that Sensei had told him about, of that he was sure, he told himself. What other teenagers could there be that demonstrated such incredible abilities!

Not knowing what exactly was going on, Val had watched from a distance but when Mr. Brande had arrived with another group of youths, a woman and a giant kid, he had decided to try to reach him. They had all gathered in one group and seemed to be having some kind of excited exchange out on the runway.

As he tried to find a way to get out there from the terminal, Val kept an eye on the group, even noticing when one of those in the newspaper picture, Cosmic Boy they called him, appeared out of nowhere with a young girl next to him. RJ had pulled Cosmic Boy aside and began speaking to him in private while the other milled around and talked amongst themselves.

Just as Cosmic Boy turned to the giant kid and extended his hand, Val spotted someone hiding behind some of the runway equipment raise what appeared to be a rifle of some sort and aim it at the group.

Wasting no more time, Val kicked open one of the emergency access doors to the runway and launched himself out the door and down to the tarmac. As the security alarm began shreiking, he landed, rolled to his feet and bounded towards the marksman, shouting a warning.

"Look out! He's going to shoot!"

With that he jumped at the shooter and quickly seperated him from the gun with a well placed kick. Then with just a minor flip of his wrist, Val rendered the gunman unconcious, catching him by his collar as he slumped to the ground.

As he looked up, he saw the others running towards him...
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jeanne Chu looked at the television screen angrily. Despite her plans, RJ Brande and the girl who could foresee the future had both survived! That girl was a major threat to her plans, one which she didn't intend to ignore.

Still, it was far from a total loss. She had been able to gauge the abilities of the Legionnaires, and she had set the seeds for Luthor's downfall. Using the talents of Universo, she had been able to plant damning evidence in the minds if the hired thugs who had been caught by the Legion. Chu smiled. With Luthor out of the way, things would go so much easier.

She turned on the computer and accessed the files she kept hidden away amidst all the codes. Aside from Universo, she could contact the hitman known only as the Persuader and the exiled Prince Oswald. Her agents were now working on gathering information on the mysterious "Emerald Eye", and her scientists had given the go-signal on the cyborg Tharok and promised that the creature Validus would be ready within the month. Plus more reports of metahumans were coming in every day, metahumans whom she could trick, pressure or force into joining her army. Originally, she had planned on using only the first five; she had even thought of a name for them, the Fatal Five; but after today's events she decided that she would need many more. No, she needed a Legion of her own. A Legion of Super-Villains. And with this Legion, she could manipulate the whole world into accepting her as their leader, without question. Jeanne Chu, empress of the world! She quite liked the sound of that. Oh, yes, soon, very soon, it would all come true. And she would have the pleasure of destroying Brande and manipulating those brats of his as her own.
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
As Val Looked up, he saw the others running towards him and he was soon surrounded.

"Who are you?"
"Great job! I've never seen anyone fight so well!"
"Irma, can you get anything from this guy's mind when he's out cold?"
"Thank you son."

That last came from RJ Brande who had just been able to reach the others in the group.

"That's twice in just a few days that a youngster has saved my life at this airport. I don't know who is trying to kill me, but they sure are persistent! Now, who might you be so I can thank you properly?"

"Sir, my name is Va..Val, Val Armor. Sensei said I should find you and give you this letter."

"Sensei! My dear friend sent you?" RJ gasped "By damn, it's been years since I heard from him!"

"Here you are sir," Val said as he extended the envelope. RJ took it, opened it, and pulled out the letter. He recognized Sensei's beautiful handwriting immediately and he quickly read through the missive. Folding it up, he slipped it into his coat pocket and looked back at Val.

"Sensei writes that he has trained you in all manner of combat and requested that I let you become a part of my Legion. Having seen your skill and courage with my own eyes, I would have made the offer myself. But Sensei asks for something more. He asks that I treat you as if you were my own child. That is a great request he has made of me. One that few would dare. Yet Sensei knows that were he to ask me for my life I would gladly give it to him. So he knows what my answer to this request would be."

"Welcome Val Armor, welcome to the Legion," RJ said as he clasped Val's shoulder. "And welcome, my son. Welcome to my family and your new home!"

"Sir, we should get you inside and out of the line of fire, now!" Leviathan offered. "No need to give anyone another shot at you."

"Yes, I sup-..." Brande started to say but Val interupted him.

"But it wasn't Mr. Brande the gunman was aiming at!"

"It wasn't?" RJ said at the same moment as Leviathan and Cos.

"No, he was aiming at her," Val said as he indicated someone else in their group. Everyone slowly turned to see that he was pointing at...

...Lorna!
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
McCauley looked down the table. None of the men sitting there had his respect. They were there only because it wasn't possible for him to run everything himself. He cursed his limits, that he had to endure these shams of board meetings.

He asked for an update on the Workforce project. Specifically, the public team.

The first of his subordinates spoke up. "Well, we have, between experimentation and *ahem* recruitment, 32 metahumans at present in our possession, none of which have yet been programmed. There are 8 surviving experiments, held in the cells in the basement of the complex. Of these only two - the fire girl and the boy who "reflects" attacks - still appear completely human. Another two are humanoid, and four are misshapen to various degrees. The recruits are kept in stasis tubes in the main laboratory, and presently number 24. All your instructions so far have been followed faithfully sir.

He sighed. It was going to be a long meeting.

"What thoughts have been given to publicity?"

His PR man spoke up. "We were thinking that the tall, blonde female - the one with the Superman-style powers - would make for an ideal front person. You know - have her open buildings, be the one at the front of the publicity shots, pose for a magazine, like FHM or Maxim..."

The lawyer interjected. "Pose for a shoot in a magazine like that? The girl's a minor!"

The tediousness of it. One of his underlings actually had the germ of a good idea for once and another attempted to shoot it down...

"I am to understand that this girl appears to be somewhat older than she is."
"Yes sir" (the PR man passed him a picture) - "I doubt anyone who saw her would realise her actual age unless they knew it already. It appears that her powers caused her to physically mature more quickly."
"And who does know?"
"From the information we have, she ran away from an orphanage, and hasn't had contact outside there in at least five years."
"Right, well arrange to have the fire girl adopted by the same orphanage. And have some people there to pick off any survivors and retrieve her. As for this 'Supergirl'..."

The lawyer at the table spoke up - "Ummm... sir... all the names that start with "Super" are trademarked. We can't use them."

"Have the PR people draw up a shortlist of names then, then empty your desk for interrupting me. As I was saying, as for this 'Supergirl', this magazine shot idea is expected to attract considerable attention to the Workforce project, correct? Put out some feelers to be ready to close a deal as soon as the Workforce team goes public. And play up the 'Supergirl' angle even if we can't call her that - it should attract more attention that way. Arrange new documentation for her with a slightly different name and an age of 19, and adjust her memory of her age with the rest of the programming if need be."

"Sir?" - yet another underling interrupted, holding his hand up like a frightened schoolboy.
"Yes?"
"Y-Y-you do realise that the more changes are made, the less likely they all are to hold up? A-and we're already making some fairly significant..."
"I was given to understand that provided the basic personality was left intact, then the mind could accept such things as a change of loyalties."
"I-it's not that sir, i-it's the way you've included a requirement for a subservience to y-you in all the programming. In most of the cases, t-that's s-s-signific-cant enough to significantly increase the risk of r-reject..."
"From point-1 of one percent to one percent, correct? That's low enough. If I may continue? Are there any other potential female candidates that would get significant publicity from a similar stunt? Either in support or separately?"
"Perhaps the winged girl? The controversy alone would keep the Workforce in the headlines for weeks."
"Possibly, but I'm given to understand that she doesn't quite fit the classical mould. And that she isn't even a Christian, which would lessen the impact enough that I'd rather hold her in reserve for a Phase 2, rather than put her in the initial lineup. If we find a girl to conform to the template more in the meantime, we'll go with her instead. Any others?"
"Most are fairly young unfortunately - the metagene appears to be a recent enough development that there are very few active holders above the age of 18. The vast majority of them look good & have potential, but they're too obviously young to add them to the list with this 'Supergirl.'"
"At present then, who do we have? I am given to understand that we have an inventory of 32 at present, and I asked for a shortlist of twelve for a team of 6-8."

He was handed a dossier containing twelve sheets of double-sided A4 paper, each with pictures, proposed costumes, power information, a brief biography and short personality analyses of each of the subjects. He read them leisurely, ignoring the men around the table. He'd already discounted the winged girl for now and confirmed the girl with the Superman-type powers. To them he added the boy with the more limited version of the same powers, the electro-girl and magneto boy (having the siblings of a pair of Legionnaires on the team could give a helpful psychological advantage if the teams ever came to blows), the insect (the team needed a mascot, and a teleporter could prove handy - it's political views would be no object once it's voicebox had been removed), the boy who could reverse attacks, the female telepath, and the magic-user. He directed that they should be taken for programming as soon as the meeting was over. Before adjourning, he made one final stipulation:

"And, once the Workforce is public, I want a concerted effort to recruit the Legionnaire who can split into three. By persuasion if possible, given her high profile, by force if you must."

He envied Lorna's ability to be in more than one place at one time. And he would have it.


[For iB's list, the initial Workforce lineup is Andromeda, Ultra Boy, Spark, Magnetic Kid, Gates, Reflecto, Esper Lass and Dragonmage, although they won't all keep those codenames. And could someone please get round to giving the Legionnaires codenames as well? I had to change "Triad" ro "Lorna" there. Leviathan's entry provides the perfect chance.]

[ March 22, 2004, 07:12 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
[INTERLUDE]

I'll put together a section that formally names each of them with their codenames. If you're the "creator" of one of the Legionnaires please PM me with your codename of choice for your Legionnaire. If you introduced more than one, please give me a codename for each of your creations. I'm going to try to get this "chapter" done by this time tomorrow so we can start refering to them by codenames so I may prompt you with a PM asking for your input in the meantime. Thanks!

[END INTERLUDE]
 

---

Posted by M'onel on :
 
At Metropolis University university students Randal Burroughs and John Drake-Nagale were putting the finishing touches on their experiment to recieve their degrees in Quantum Physics. Together they built a machine that was supposed to cheaply create antimatter and with the help of their supervisor Professor Vartan where able complete the machine and tonight were able to go test it.

"...and if this machine works there. Energy shortages will be a thing of the past. Is the machine ready?" Randal asked

John was performing the last minute checks, checking the shielding on the antimatter tank, "As ready as it'll ever be. Shall we start now?"

"The sooner we have some results, the better John."

"All righty then," John said flipping the switch that started the conversion that reverses the subatomic charge of the hyrodgen atoms turning them into anti-hydrogen, "All is going well matter/antimatter conversion at 1%... 5%... 10%"

"Yes! It's working, it's actually working."

"Matter/antimatter conversion at 15%"

The machine seemed to work perfectly until conversion was hovering aroun 18%. John saw this on the readouts.

"Randal, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"We're losing matter/antimatter containment." John reported.

"Do something. Try the back up measures!" Randal told him.

"I am they seem to be failing, I told you we should've ran a simulation first."

Then the screen started to read "DANGER" as the power for containment failed. What what backups they had were going to going to fail in one minute maybe less. Thankfully for experiments as dangerous as this the walls were reinforced with interon.

"Secturity Systems Error..." the computer chirped

"We have to get out of here!" John told his partner getting up from his seat and running for the exits with Randal following him. As soon as they reached the door the blast door slammed down and the two where trapped in the lab.

"Backup containment fields failing. Matter/antimatter reaction immenient."

In approximately 15 seconds the machine lost containment and it exploded seemingly taking the lives of Randal Burroughs and John Drake-Nagale.
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[Interlude] If you go through with it, you DO realise someone's going to kill you for using the post-boot Wildfire origin, right? [/Interlude]

Ella awoke to find herself strapped down tightly to a metal table in the middle of a brightly-lit room, the brightest of these lights shining directly down on her. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was finishing her packing, and going out for one last look around the farm. Her parents had tried to discourage her, but she was firm - twins were meant to stick together, and she had to join up with Garth. And then... she remembered it felt like something had hit her, then darkness. Until now.

She tried to blast her way out of the straps, but couldn't generate any voltage. Worried, she twisted her head and saw two old guys in white coats talking to each other, while looking at a woman who looked a few years older than her and a boy a year or two younger, both of whom were standing like statues. Straining, she tried to hear what they were saying.

"...not meant to be zombies surely."
"No, the process is very traumatic to the mind, as you can imagine. It enters a sort of state of shock for a time, while assimilating the new data. One of the big mistakes in the early days was to try it on unconscious subjects - the idea being that it would lessen the trauma. Complete failures, every one - the subject needs to be conscious, or at best it won't stick, but more often than not their minds shut down completely, leaving them effictively brain-dead. No, they need to be kept conscious during the alterations, and they stay in this sort of trance-state while they recover, then their minds absorb the changes and they reemerge as their old selves, barring the intentional changes obviously. It's quite subtle you see..."

The guy who was talking took a step forward, to just out of earshot. This was bad, very bad. She looked around and saw dark-suited guards at every exit, with about four "spare" guards all looking directly at her. There was also a group of eight plastic armchairs, four of which held an unconscious person, and one a giant insect. She couldn't see any way out of this, and from what she'd overheard, this was a brainwashing clinic or something. She needed to find a way out of this, somehow. She knew the chances were near-zero, but still a «Garth, I know you can't hear me, but I hope you're on your way to help your sister» somehow ran through her head.

It wasn't to be though. One of the old doctors turned round and finally noticed she was awake. Ignoring her pleas for mercy, 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. One last "no" escaped her lips before the large, overly-dramatic switch was pulled.

She screamed.

-----------

Tikhik awoke to find himself in what looked like a large operating theatre. A red haired girl was lying, strapped to the table, with electrodes attached to the side of her head, screaming in agony. Beyond, he saw a blond woman and a dark haired boy, standing, staring straight ahead, oddly passive. Several others were arranged beside him, unconscious.

So this was it - they'd started lobotomising them into perfect little soldiers. Well, he wasn't going to be part of it - he'd rather die first. Dampening field or no, he had to go - now.

He strained for several minutes - long enough that it would have been noticed that he was awake, but for Ella's protesting screams at the painful violation of her mind. He strained & he strained, but refused to give up hope - otherwise he was lost, doomed to suffer her fate. Then, a small green disk began to glow beneath him. This caused him to finally be noticed, but it was too late. Tikhik wasn't sure he could hold it long enough to make it through, but better death than that he thought, and twisted his short black body into the glowing gate, the tip of his tail barely making it through before it spluttered out. The guards looked at each other, oblivious to the diminishing sobs of the girl on the table. They were in big trouble.

----------

Ella Raines wasn't thinking of very much at all now. As she was led to join Laurel and Paul, the unconscious Jose was laid where she had been, about to recieve the same soul-shredding treatment as soon as he was stimulated into wakefulness.
 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
Qwyzlyt was bored. The little imp was tired of everything the fifth dimension had to offer. He was also more than a little upset that he was so much smaller than all the rest of the kids his age there, measuring in at 2 inches in height! Not that any of them were much taller. Kids his age (roughly 16 in human terms) were normally only about three to four inches tall. When, oh when was his growth spurt going to finally kick in?

Because he was so small, all the guys made fun of him and said he would never amount to anything cool! Well he would show them! But how?

************

At dinner that night his parents were talking about mom's wayward brother, Mxyzptkl. Uncle Mxyz was always in the news because of his adventures in the human dimension. Of course, he was able to do that because he could use magic!

God, how Qwyzlyt wished he had been born with Uncle Mxyz's magic talent, but no! All he had gotten was his dad's talent...to a lesser degree of course...to be able to "jump" into other objects and animate or "drive" them as he liked to call it.

It was fun, no question, but compared to some of the magical skills some of his friends had developed he was starting to fear that he WOULD never amount to anything cool!

The only thing he was really good at was building things that worked. But what good was that when you could walk into just about any Magician's store and have him create whatever you wanted on the spot!

***************

"That's it!" he thought so loud that he woke himself up at 3:00 in the morning. He knew exactly what he was going to do! "What fun!" he thought as he snuggled back into his bed to dream sweet dreams about the adventures he was going to have. Let them make fun of him then!

****************

The little metal ship popped out of the dimesional vortex right above the city of Metropolis. It look something like a minature, comic book version of the Beatle's "Yellow Submarine" only it was a bright, shiny silver color. On it's side was written in tiny bright red letters "QUISLET" (which, of course, stood for "Quintuple Universal Interfacing Sentinent Long-Range Environmental Transporter")

Qwyzlyt had arrived!

What fun!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Lieutenant Shvaughn Erin looked with interest at the young blonde telepath beside her. She had seen these Legionnaires many times before on the news, but she never dreamed that she would be working closely with them! But she and her friend Gigi Cusimano had been drafted by the powers on high to be the Legion's security advisers, or something like that. She couldn't remember the exact title, but she had never cared much for all that official-sounding nonsense, anyway.

"So, what do you think about this appointment?" she asked Gigi.

"Well, my partner Ron thought it was "totally cool!"," Gigi replied with a grin, "but then he's still young. I don't think he suspects what I do, and what you probably do too."

"That this appointment is just a fancy and none too subtle way of keeping us away from our little campaign?"

"Exactly. But this move has just made us even more certain than ever that something is up, and now it looks like we'll finally get some answers. I'm sure our dear president would feel like ripping all his hair out when he realizes this. If he still had hair, anyway."

Shvaughn and Gigi shared a hearty laugh at that, before the enormity of the idea sobered them both up. It had been a long struggle, finding others who had been willing to help them piece the puzzle together. Someone had helped ex-UN Secretary Thawne abduct those metahumans all those years back. The Allen twins, the Cullen boy... She was sure there had been others, but those three were the only ones whose bodies had been found.

The UN connection had been severed by Thawne's arrest, but nobody had ever found the mole in the American government, though they had suspected then-Senator Lex Luthor. There had been some shady evidence, but nothing concrete.

But now, by working with the Legionnaires, they had finally gathered enough evidence to at least have Luthor removed from office and have an official investigation started. For the past week, the Legion's "espionage squad" had worked quietly, gathering evidence in the White House. Jenni Ognats had led a small team back to Colombia, and their efforts had been successful. The thug Lorna had caught had confessed to being hired by Luthor, as had his accomplices who had been rounded up at the airport. They had even tracked down the sister of the Cullen boy, Jazmin, who had sworn that the last time James had been seen was on a tour to the White House! While few of the pieces of evidence they had were conclusive, togther they formed a chain linking Luthor to not only the abductions of the past, but also the attempted murders of RJ Brande and the girl Nura. Nobody could connect him to the attempt on Lorna's life, but it must have been linked to the other crimes.

"I'm just glad that it's finally over. Once we arrest Luthor, that is."

"Yeah... but I just hope America can handle the shock."

Shvaughn had to agree to that. Such a scandal hadn't been seen in years. But better a scandal than to have such an obviously corrupt figure in power.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jeanne Chu smiled to herself as she watched Luthor's trial unfold. The normally calm, smug man had lost a lot of his reserve when presented with the carefully doctored video clips, the telepathically induced testimony of various expendable underlings and all the rest of it. The best part was that she had been behind everything that Luthor was now being blamed for! And she had her hooks deeply into the man who was poised to take Luthor's position as president. All of this easily made her forget about Brande's failed assassination.

She returned to the television screen as she drank in every detail of Luthor's trial. Some of her favorite moments had been when Jenni Ognats had appeared on the stand, followed by Jazmin Cullen and the boy who insisted on being called Condo. The international community had been greatly impressed by their honesty.

Jeanne Chu couldn't help but congratulate herself for conjuring up such a win-win situation. With a little more work, she could have RJ Brande and the more dangerous Legionnaires assassinated by the agents she would soon form into the Legion of Super Villains, and even agents whom she could plant as Legionnaires themselves. She had already drawn up a list. The telepath and the dreamer would both have to go, as she couldn't risk them finding out about her plans and exposing her. She had added the girl Lorna to the list because of her connections to Brande.

Considering carefully, she had also drawn up a second list of Legionnaires who could be possible threats. The boy genius, the invisible boy, the shrinking girl and the shapeshifter had all proved very dangerous. The Ognats girl too, and the Cullen girl. The charismatic "Cosmic Boy" and the rebellious Condo were possibly dangerous as well, but she could safely ignore the rest. Although she would have to find a way to put Tina Wazzo under her control, since the girl would give her a clear path to manipulating most of Western Europe.

She turned her attention to her agents. The Persuader, Validus and Tharok would definitely go into her team of villains, as would Prince Oswald, who still insisted that he was the rightful ruler of his little kingdom. His chosen codename, "Ice King", was indicative of that. Which reminded her that she would soon have to deal with his sister, the Princess Tora. She was a shrewd ruler, that one, and her emergence could alter the balance of power in Europe. She would have to find a way to keep her under control.

Returning to her underlings' reports, she decided to keep Universo's presence hidden for now. He was so much more of an asset to her that way. She made plans to approach the woman in Moldovia, the one calling herself the Emerald Empress. News about the chaos in the royal palace of Moldovia had been hushed up, but she was sure the Legion would be called in soon. No matter; she would have an easier time recruiting the Empress if she was incarcerated. Doctor Regulus and the master of disguise known as the Chameleon Chief would make fine additions as well.

Finally, there was Validus' and Tharok's fellow experiment, still sleeping peacefully in a test tube. The genetic material had been kept for nearly three years now, but it was still as fresh as it had been then. Her scientists would grow it to adulthood, thus removing any possible awkward questions. And the world would never know that this was James Cullen II. She smiled. Poor Jazmin Cullen would not be happy at all.
 

---

Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Jazmin was not happy. "But I want to join the Legion!" She had said for the eighth time. And for the eighth time, that big jerk had rebuffed her.

"Calm down, girlie, and listen carefully. This is the Legion of Super Heroes. "Super" means that you have to have SUPER powers. The ability to slow someone down is NOT super enough for the Legion! Heck, bouncing boob and the triple girl over there are barely powerful enough as it is, but Mr. Brande won't let me thin the ranks. Still, at least I can prevent any other weaklings fro joining up."

"And I've told you, my power is way stronger than my brother's was! I can do things he never could do!"

"Yeah, right. Look, why don't you go on home and work on your powers first? Then when you can accomplish something better, you can-"

Leviathan stopped. Had he heard something cracking? Could it be the floor they were standing on? "What was tha- aaah!"

Gene yelled as the floor beneath him collapsed and he fell through into the storage area below. It was a pretty long fall, and he quickly grew- enough to minimize the chances of a serious injury but not enough to wreck the place. Suddenly, though, he felt his descent slow down. And then he saw an angry Jazmin hover in front of him, her hands glowing.

"Not strong enough, huh? How do you like this?"

Gene watched as the glow disappeared from her hands, and his fall speeded up once more. Then, at the last possible second, the glow reappeared and he slowed down yet again, falling gently to the ground like a feather. He scrambled up and turned to face her.

"So... I guess that was your doing?"

"Yeah, big man. As you can see, I can slow time down, like how I stopped your fall, speed it up, like how I aged the floor to make it collapse, and almost stop it entirely. Now what were you saying about my not being strong enough?"

"All right, all right... Repair that hole you made and I'll let you join."

He watched as Jazmin's expression quickly turned into one of worry. "Um... Can't we just get Zoe to do it?"

Gene sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. I owe you for not believing you. You're certainly stronger than your brother was. And I know you want to join in his honor... Jazmin Cullen, welcome to the Legion."
 

---

Posted by Juan on :
 
The storm was raging outside of Tatiana Mallor's house in northern England. Three women and one red-haired man were drinking tea in the living room, while a second man lied heavily injured upstairs. Outside, braving the storm, a humanoid being made out of rock stood looking towards the ocean, watching.

Monius Ellysius had been impressed by the 'golden boy', he certainly could put up a fight. But the sheer power of the two women fighting beside him had stunned him, he would have never thought that there could be women warriors this strong. The witch in white was particularly impressive, she was surely one of the most powerful sorcerers the world had ever seen. And the other woman, the princess, had actually managed to confuse the Eye! He hadn't thought that that was possible.

He himself had done very poorly. The Eye's awakening had forced him to leave the Zone of Phantoms in Iran, but he had not been cured, and although the long years of dormancy had allowed him to function for a little while, the effects of the lead poisoning had soon reappeared. He had been easily defeated by the Eye, and soon laid heavily injured on the floor, merely a spectator to the events unfolding.

The rocky entity had fallen soon after their arrival, it had been fighting on its own for quite some time. And so the princess, the white witch and the golden boy had had to deal with the Eye on their own. That they had managed to fight it to a draw was a statement to their power. After hours of incessant fighting (Monius Ellysius had lost consciousness by then), the Emerald Empress just stopped, saying that she had better things to do, and simply left. The other three, unable to stop her, could only stare in disbelief, amazed that they had actually managed to survive.

Events unfolded quickly afterwards. Proiectra buried her father and turned her back on her throne. Moldavians were ready for a republican government, she said, and since the only purpose of the Moldavian monarchy had been to contain the Romanescu clan, now that that mission had failed there was no purpose for the monarchy itself. Maizah tried to help Monius Ellysius, but not understanding what ailed him, she was not able to do much more than stabilize his condition. She had an even tougher time with the rocky entity, she understood nothing of his physiology (was it magical in origin? she didn't think so, it certainly seemed to have a consciousness of its own...). But the 'Blok', as they were now calling it, seemed to get better on its own. It still talked very little, though.

The 'golden boy' had decided to follow them; life as a model was boring, and he was ready for new experiences. Having witnessed his power, and aware that the fight against the Eye had just begun, Proiectra and Maizah were not adverse to letting him join them.

And then they left for England. The choice was obvious, Tatiana Mallor was the fourth member of Irma Ardeen's circle of telepathic friends, and bot Maizah and Proiectra had known her for years. Maizah had been concerned about having to transport Blok, but he said that he didn't need to fly, and then simply merged with the ground and reappeared in England.
 

---

Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]

iB - cast listing really needed here

[/interlude]

[ March 23, 2004, 07:35 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

---

Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
 
[interlude]

Maybe also a recap/summary of the story

[/interlude]
 

---

Posted by minesurfer on :
 
(Interlude)
I hope you guys and gals don't mind if I play in your nice little sandbox here. I've not done much creative writing, but I thought I would take a stab at a character not yet reintroduced in this thread (as much as I have read so far at least). I hope I can write upto the standards that have come before me.
(End Interlude)

He had done stupid things before. “Tagging” walls and assault and battery had landed him in juvy three times before his 13th birthday. He didn’t know why he did those things, and they certainly weren’t venting his rage like the “juvy” therapist had suggested. “Rage venting…” he chuckled to himself as he lay in the hospital bed. T-Rock knew better than to trust the words of a prison therapist, and a white one at that. Besides he felt just as angry after he did those things as he did before they happened. For it to have been “rage venting” the rage would have had to have left his body, he thought.

He picked up the remote and pointed it at the TV… (click) the set lit up the dark room. He immediately searched for the volume as the TV whined it’s “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” sound. “Damn sign-off screen”, he thought to himself. His eyes adjusted to the bright, static colors that illuminated the tv screen as well as his room. A quick glance at the hands of the clock showed that it was about a quarter ‘til four. (click) “…and that’s not all you get.” (click) He quickly changed the channel. After ten straight channels of informercials he could feel his anger starting to work on him.

(Click) He shut the TV off. Realizing that his legs were feeling very stiff, he sat up in his bed. “How long have I been here? I don’t remember being in the hospital.” He thought to himself. He could see light shining through the crack the door made with the floor. Just beyond he could see shadows rustling. “Nurse?” T-Rock shouted. His lips formed the word and his mind said it, but his ears heard nothing. He tried again, only louder and more determined. “Nurse!” Again his ears did not register the sound. Now he was not only angry, but this was down right confusing. He had heard the TV’s sound?

Rotating his body 90 degrees, he let his legs hang over the side of his bed. The floor was cold and smooth. T-Rock stood up and immediately wished that he hadn’t. The room started spinning without mercy. He hit the floor face first.

(more to come...)

[ March 23, 2004, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: minesurfer ]
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Quislet, Esq:
Maybe also a recap/summary of the story

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Is there really one story here? Right now, I see at least three and a half distinct threads - the Legion (team) thread, the Chu/LSV thread (these two blur - I'm not 100% sure whether to count them as seperate or not), the Eye thread and my Workforce thread. Not counting the origin posts, which are generally standalone.

[/interlude]

[ March 23, 2004, 07:53 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

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Posted by Varalent on :
 
[Interlude]

Ahhh, the joys of tagteam threads!

For what it's worth I'll be posting a cast list later today, once I get a response from all the character "creators" (AHEM...SoM!!!!)

[End Interlude]
 

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Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
 
Maria Gambi put the last stitch in the pink and white costume. It had taken a bit of time, but all the costumes Brande Industries had ordered were now complete. Most had been easily made using a spandex blend. Others were simple cotton. But this last one was a special order. It seemed the young lady was allergic to almost all types of fabrics.

Maria folded the costume and put it in the shipping box. With a twinkle in her eye, she grabbed the marker and addressed the box "To: Irma Ardeen, the Satin Girl"
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Quislet, Esq:
Maria folded the costume and put it in the shipping box. With a twinkle in her eye, she grabbed the marker and addressed the box "To: Irma Ardeen, the Satin Girl"

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Yes.

Can we have a minute of groaning now please? [/interlude]
 

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Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
 
[interlude]

Sorry I couldn't resist.

Sanity or Madness, does the groaning mean you like it or not?
[/interlude]
 

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Posted by Varalent on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Quislet, Esq:
Maria folded the costume and put it in the shipping box. With a twinkle in her eye, she grabbed the marker and addressed the box "To: Irma Ardeen, the Satin Girl"

---

 

---

Posted by Varalent on :
 
Gene Allen had just left RJ Brande’s office and he wasn’t in the best of moods. He had always heard what a tough man Brande was but he had only seen him as a cheery optimist…until now. And yet it was Brande’s cheery optimism that had caused him to experience the most effective, first class dressing down in his entire military career. There wasn’t a DI out there that could do it better than RJ without raising his voice, of that he was now convinced!

Well, if codenames is what RJ wanted for this wet behind the ears kids brigade, then codenames he would get! Gene still felt that name & rank should be sufficient in any paramilitary organization, but this was certainly like no military command he had ever served in. How had he ever let Zendack talk him into accepting this posting?

Settling down in his assigned office, Gene started listing each of the current members of the Legion. Then he tried to figure out some cute name for each of them. 45 minutes later he still had a column full of names with not one single codename listed after it…well there was one…Leviathan (his own!) Wasn’t that poetic justice!

Wandering out of the office in search of something to drink he spotted Lorna and Rex laughing about something across the open waiting area. His initial reaction was to call them to attention but he stopped himself. “Guess I have some attitude adjusting to do myself.” Instead he walked over to them and nodded to say hello.

“Hi Mr. Allen,” Lorna offered while Rex just nodded in response. “Guess I would be a little miffed if I had just had my outfit taken away from me also.”

“I was wondering if I could get the two of you to give me a hand with a little project Mr. Brande gave me. I’m having a hell of a time with it.”

Ten minutes later they were all seated around a conference table adjacent to Lorna’s office. Spread out on the table top were the files on each of the new Legionnaires. “Wow, Lorna, you’ve got most of it done already!” Gene commented as he began looking through them.

“I’ve been with RJ a long time now and I know how he thinks and what he wants. I figured he would be asking for this sooner or later so I’ve been putting it together from the start of his new “project” she explained.

“But, he must have known that you would do this. Why ask me for it?” Gene asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Because you’re in charge of this group now,” Rex said. “It’s probably a good way for you to get to know everybody since you haven’t had the chance to work with any of us yet.”

“Rex, I believe I owe you a bit of an apology. You obviously are pretty sharp based on that observation and likely more than qualified to lead this group. I don’t think I showed you enough respect when we first met today. I’m sorry for that and I hope we can work together with no hard feelings.”

“That’s fine with me,” Rex replied. “I don’t begrudge you the position of leader. I know it wasn’t your decision any more than it was mine. And it does make sense. If we’re going to be an arm of the UN, we need to have a leader they can accept. Anyway, that’s over with, what do you say we get this job taken care of?”

Working together, the three of them began discussing the team members and their powers. Little by little the list started to come together until they finally had the formal list of codenames drawn up and ready to be posted. Some of the discussion had been light hearted and funny. Some of it serious. Each offered something and in the end they were all satisfied with the result, or as satisfied as a group can be with the results of a joint effort.

“You realize that Tela just won’t last as a codename for Irma, don’t you?” Lorna giggled. “As soon as the uniforms arrived and everyone saw what was written on her box, they all started calling her that!”

“Yeah, I know,” Gene grinned back at her. “But I can’t very well hand Mr. Brande a list of codenames that shows her as 'Satin Girl!' I'm sure the same thing will happen with some of the others…”

“Yep, some of the guys are already calling Quentin “Egghead,” or “Brainey,” Rex laughed. “But I guess “Doc” sounds a little better.

“Do me a favor Lorna, read through the list one more time. I want to be sure we didn’t miss anyone before we wrap this up,” Leviathan asked.

“Sure, Gene,” Lorna said. “Here goes…
~~~~~
Name ~ Codename
Rex Kline ~ Cosmic Boy
Garth Raines ~ Live Wire
Irma Ardeen ~ Tela (soon to be Satin Girl ~giggle!)
Lorna Durgo ~ Trinity
Tamara “Tina” Wazzo ~ Spirit
Quentin Docks ~ Doc
Reed Daggly ~ Shifter
Sally Digby ~ Shrinking Violet
Lyle Norga ~ Invisible Kid
Zoe Sanders ~ Kinetix
Jenni Ognats ~ Flash
Charles “Chuck” Tan ~ Rebound
Conan Doyle “Condo” Arlington ~ Catalyst
Nura bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal ~ Dreamer
Brock Bannon ~ Blizzard
Val Armor ~ Valor (Val-iant Arm-or)
Jan Arrah ~ Element Lad
Gene Allen ~ Leviathan
Jazmin Cullen ~ Kid Quantum

“Okay, I think that does it,” Gene said.

HEY, YOU FORGOT ONE!

“Who said that?” Gene asked, looking around, first at Rex and Lorna, and then around the room to see if someone else had come in.

ME!!!! YOU FORGOT ME!!!! I WANT TO BE A LEGIONNAIRE TOO!!!


By now the three young people could see the little silver ship hovering up near the ceiling of the conference room. There was some sort of shimmering field barely visible behind it. Suddenly, a bright ray of light flashed down to the pen laying on the table and engulfed it in brilliant white light. As the light faded the pen stood up, walked to the paper and, in large flowing script, added something to the bottom of the list.

“Look! It wrote what looks like Q-W-Y-Z-L-Y-T’ under name and ‘Quislet’ under codename,” Rex gasped.

Gene buried his head in his arms on the table and sob “Oh god! Why me? This is just too much!” as Rex and Lorna laughed and Quislet (in the pen) did a passable imitation of a jig on the paper, adding a huge florish to the bottom of the paper.

WHAT FUN!!! the newest Legionnaire laughed.

[ March 23, 2004, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Varalent ]
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]

Not bad (although someone's going to have to have "Quentin" insist on getting called Brainiac [5]. Vociferously - it just wouldn't stand to have B5 accept a nickname someone else gave him )

The only one that really gets me is Lu. "Trinity" doesn't look quite right for some reason.

quote:

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Originally posted by Quislet, Esq:
Sanity or Madness, does the groaning mean you like it or not?

---

As a one-off, it's amusing. Beyond that, it starts to get cringeworthy...

[/interlude]

[ March 23, 2004, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
"Excuse me, are you very busy right now?" Nura Al-Nayal was standing on the doorway. "I need to talk to you."

Gene and Rex stood up, staring at the platinum blonde at the doorway.

"Wow, you look stunning!" Lorna Durgo was smiling. "Did you choose this uniform yourself?" Nura certainly did not fit her stereotype of an Arab woman.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but can I talk to you all? It's quite urgent."

"Certainly!" Rex and Gene motioned to one of the chairs.

"I've just received a phone call from my sister. She says that she just survived a fight with the Emerald Eye of Akron. She's on her way to New York, together with four allies, one of which seems to be heavily injured. Do we have medical facilities to handle an invulnerable man from the past?"

"Oh, and by the way, you might just as well add all their names to that list you're doing. They all WILL join the Legion, you know."

[ March 25, 2004, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: Juan ]
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
[interlude]

I don't think it'll be easy summarizing the whole of this thread, but I'll give it a shot. I think it's doable, anyway. Give me until the weekend, since I have some school-related work to do.

(end interlude)
 

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Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
 
Tatiana watched as the mysterious man from the past lay in his bed, growing sicker by the minute. He could barely speak anymore, and although his body looked chisseled and impressive, he was too weak to use the limbs he once labored so hard to strengthen. "Monius...Elysius..." he had whispered to her earlier, and she understood that it was his name. She and Maziah had taken to calling him "Mon-El" for short, since neither was sure if they were pronouncing it right.

Outside, Maziah talked to Projectra, as they tried to figure out what was going on. Jackie was terribly upset about the death of her father, but wasn't letting it show--she was being strong for the rest of them, while Maziah was trying to comfort her. The two women had their own reasons for being upset, but both showed a sublte and powerful inner-strength by focusing on the problems at hand. The Emerald Empress, as she now called herself, would have to be dealt with, although they had enough trouble of their own now.

They wondered about 'Blok', who stood outside with the model who possibly controlled the power of the sun itself, and what this creature was and was doing here. It had helped them though, and like the warrior who lay dying, deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Tatiana watched the young man and found herself strangely attracted to him. "Mon-El...it will be alright, we are trying to reach help..." she whispered, as she looked at his garb and wondered if it was truly Roman as they had guessed earlier. She was unsure what anything truly was right now...
 

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Posted by Juan on :
 
"You do know who he is, don't you?"

Tatiana Mallor, sitting on her house's porch, was startled by the deep, creaky voice. Jacquie and Dirk were upstairs, sleeping, and Maizah was taking care of the injured man. His condition was deteriorating rapidly, they wouldn't be able to move him to New York, after all.

"You talk?" The rocky creature was standing beside her.

"Yes. I have been listening to the words of humans for a long time."

"You mean Mon-El? You know who he is?"

"Yes. I thought you did, too. You are the heir of the shadow wielders, aren't you?"

Tatiana Mallor looked at him, now completely perplexed. How did he know?

"Maybe you should call the Princess, this concerns her, too."
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"You LOST the insect?!"

McCauley was beyond apoplectic. His face had turned a very unhealthy-looking shade of reddish-purple behind his large, thin-rimmed glasses, and the seven heavily-built guards cowered slightly at the rage of a man any of them could have killed on the spot. If he didn't drop dead of a heart attack first.

"NEED I remind you that this project is TOP SECRET? And that any revelation of the means of recruitment and control could FINISH ME?"

One of the braver guards spoke up, trying to say it wasn't their fault, that someone had underestimated the anaestetic needed for a body like Miraz's, but McCauley was having none of it. Glancing at some of the other guards around the room, he directed they take the disgraced guards to the experimentation chambers. IF they survived, they might prove useful again. Ignoring for a moment the heavy blow this would be if the insect talked - and was believed. He tried to calm himself for a second.

-------------

Earlier, Tikhik had tumbled roughly out of a portal, still within sight of the McCauley complex. Spent at the effort it had taken to override the dampening field, he had barely enough energy to crawl under a large rock and collapse.

Now, he was waking up, somewhat refreshed. Thinking things over, he realised that his first priority still had to be escape. He was too close to be assured that McCauley's thugs couldn't just grab him, he had to get as far away as possible. First though, he had to make sure of something. He tried to open a portal to within the large rock above him - and saw the exit portal appear just outside. He tried again and the same thing happened. Good, so he couldn't end up inside something solid. He opened another portal, to go as far as he could, and stepped into it.

Now, Gates had no real idea of how far he could teleport. It was fortunate for him therefore that he couldn't teleport outside of the gravity well he was in, as he would have ended up well into outer space had the teleport been purely line-of-sight. As it was, he teleported as far as he possibly could on the Earth and ended up homing in on something heavier than it should have been, given the mass it had...

--------------

Tom Kallor, bored again, kicked around the Sydney suburb he felt chained to. Because of something stupid that happened when he was a baby, he felt like he'd been wrapped in cotton wool his whole life - he broke curfew by 60 seconds, his parents were practically on the verge of calling the police. Doing anything actually exciting was out of the question.

And he was perfectly healthy - better than healthy. No-one could do the stuff he did, as he made himself heavier to shake the ground for the sake of it, scaring the birds in the process.

Just then, a little green hole opened in mid-air in front of him, and a giant black insect fell out. It just managed to mutter "Help, Помощь..." before collapsing into unconsciousness.

"What the hell...?"
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
The flames licked higher and higher. Whatever the firefighters did, the inferno only seemed to get worse. The orphanage was long lost.

In the conflagration's midst a few cries for help could still be heard. When the young girl thought she saw a fireman coming towards her, she managed to yell and wave. He came over, though the flames, and pointed the fire extinguisher in her general direction. She thought she was saved. The jet of flame which came from the "extinguisher" ended her hopes a few seconds before her lives.

Ten minutes later, only one survivor remained. As the naked blond girl - her clothes burned away - crouched in the inferno's heart, the flames licked at her skin without effect, as if it recognised it's mistress. She sobbed, cursing her lack of control over her fire, but the tears themselves were of fire rather than water. She didn't even notice the jet of flame from the "fireman" as it washed over her. Realising who it was, he radioed in.

"Sir, I've found the fire girl. She's naked and traumatised, but not physically damaged."
"Not unexpected. Tranq her and bring her back in."

He injected the tranquiliser into her skin, to almost no discernable effect on the already catatonic girl, then tossed the syringe away, watching as it quickly melted in the heat, then hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her to the statis pod in the nearby van, ready for transport straight back to the McCauley complex.

-------------

"Sir, we have news on the orphanage."
"Orphanage"
"Remember - the one you sent the fire girl to."
"Oh yes - did she do as expected?"
"Eliminated the whole building sir, and our 'firemen' picked off the few survivors. And picked her up again, ready for transport."
"Excellent,..." He smiled - a thin unpleasant grin - sometimes even subjects with little control had their uses "...and there is no-one left to associate the 'Supergirl' with her previous identity now?"
"We turned up one relative in the scan while the girl was having her memory altered yesterday - an 'Eltron Gander' - and we have a drive-by team on standby, awaiting your command."
"See to it." «Excellent,» he thought. By the time the Workforce was announced, there would be no-one left to associate the 19-year old Laurel Gand, as her documents now read, with her former (16-year old) Gander ID. Which meant that she would be able to be freely used in the planned publicity, without the restrictions a minor would have.
"And is there any news on whether the Workforce have accepted the mind-grafts?!
"I'm told they are beginning to come out of their trances now sir, but they'll need a good night's sleep before we can tell whether the alterations are going to stick or not."
"And the codename and symbol focus groups?"
"Due to finish up later today for a report tommorrow."
"Very well, keep me posted."

As his underling left the room, McCauley sat back in his chair and took his glasses off to clean them. Almost everything was going to plan. Damn that insect. And damn those guards for letting that insect escape. As things stood, that was the only cloud on the horizon, but it was a large and angry thundercloud. It had to be found. Fast.
 

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Posted by Varalent on :
 
He was so furious he could feel the veins on his head and at his temples pounding. His employees took one look at him and went scurrying out of the way, hoping to avoid his attention and its attendant ire. With most it worked.

"YOU! In my office now!"

"Get Sanders here right away! I don't care if he's dead I want him in my office in less than a minute!"

"Get Arlington on the phone!"

~~~~~~~~

The flurry of activity lasted well into the night. By ten o'clock, everyone was gone but everything he wanted done had been handled. Those who still had jobs (for the moment) went home breathing a huge sigh of relief, but one flavored with trepidation and uncertainty.

He sat in his penthouse apartment overlooking Metropolis through the wall to wall security glass windows, reams of paper and facsimile pages scattered on his desk and the surronding floor. Minutes passed and then hours as he contemplated his next move. Finally, around two in the morning, the first faint hint of a smile appeared on his lips.

"Yes, that's it," he thought to himself. "They didn't realize who they were going up against. Chu, Brande, McCauley, all of them will soon find out what happens when they decide to take on Lex Luthor!"

[ March 26, 2004, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: Varalent ]
 

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Posted by LoneWolfLondo on :
 
Circling his opponent, Hasim finally locked on the other man's fighting style. His "Nemesis" power kicked in, and he felt himself grow that much stronger, that much faster, that much better at anticipating moves. The other man was bigger, but that was no longer an asset.
Easily ducking a punch that would have connected moments ago, he moved in and hit the man square in the stomach. Doubled over, the man grunted in suprise; the kid hadn't seemed so tough before. A sharp blow to the nose brought the man's hands up again. Another hit to the stomach finished him.

The crowd roared their approval.

Maybe it was only a street fight in a back alley of Rome, but every fight gave Hasim more experience at using his nemesis power. He had fought his way across eastern Europe without losing a match. The crowd quickly dispersed as they always did, but the arranger stayed to pay Hasim his cut of the bets. He didn't need the money; father's insurance settlement had paid off well. And if he closed his eyes, he could still see the look on father's face as he...
But never mind, back to the task at hand.
Each fight helped him master his talents, and brought him that much closer to his goal.
They were a Legion, he an army of one.
He would perfect the powers granted him by Tisiphone and Nemesis, prove to the Legion what a valuable asset he could be, and join them.
United, he had no power against them, but one by one, eliminated from within...Hasim just smiled his dark, cruel smile and savored the thought.
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"Ohhh... did anyone get the number of that lightning beast..."

Ella could only remember one other time she'd had a headache like this - when she came out of the fortnight-long coma the accident that turned out to have given her her powers had caused ("they'll recharge the batteries for us" - what the frell had she been thinking?). And that hadn't been so nice for other reasons - waking to find Mark had never been in a coma, had dropped her and Garth off at a hospital, then skiddadled off to who-knew-where, and Garth had been up & about for a couple of days - and on the verge of leaving too, to go after Mark. While she'd been stuck, she recalled bitterly.

She thought hard for something that may have caused this headache - her recent memories seemed blurry, and the last thing she could clearly remember was preparing to leave home, to follow Garth. But that felt like days ago, and time hadn't seemed to pass last time she was in a coma.

She opened her eyes - she was in bed, dressed in plain white cotton pyjamas that certainly weren't hers. She always wore an oversized T-shirt to bed. The room itself was nondescript - light poured in through the open window, edged with frilly white curtains, onto the cream-painted walls. Other than the bed, there was a plain wooden chest of drawers, with a vase of flowers on top of it, a chair, and a glass-topped bedside table. A digital clock, with red glowing numbers that read 06:46, and portable TV sat on top of this last item.

She didn't remember seeing this room before either, which didn't exactly help her feeling of unease.

Just then, the door opened, and a nurse, dark-haired in her early 30s, looked in. "Ah good - you're awake." She took out a small black object from her shirt pocket, pressed a button on it, said "Doctor, Ms. Raines is awake," into it and waited for the reply of "Acknowledged," which came in a male voice.

She backed into the room, pulling a trolley behind her. Coming over to the beside, she began to measure Ella's blood pressure.

"Excuse me - but why am I here? What is this place? What's going on?"

The nurse looked scandalised - "Don't you remember? These are your quarters. You joined the Workforce, remember? Dear me, that accident must have affected you worse than I thought."
"Huh? Accident?"
The nurse stopped taking her blood pressure and stood up. "Maybe you should get a more thorough examination from the Doctor. You might have a concussion."
"Really, I feel fine. What IS going on? WHAT accident?" Her eyes began to glow electric blue, leading the nurse to take a step back and reach for her pocket radio. Ella pointed one sparking finger at her - "Don't, not until you've answered my question. What IS going on?"
The nurse began to question her career choices, swallowed hard, and said, "I don't have all the details, all I know is there was a training accident and a few of the hospital wing staff were sent to the Workforce's quarters. That's all I know - honest!"
Ella powered down. The nurse sounded like she was telling the truth, and she supposed her splitting headache could have been caused by a training accident. The fact that she was supposed to have signed up for some "workforce" when she couldn't remember doing it didn't exactly help her confidence though. She looked at the nurse, who looked torn between finishing what she was meant to do, and ripping the door open and bolting for the hills. She held out her arm, which still bore the inflatable armband from the pressure-tester. "Go ahead," she sighed.

The nurse finished taking her blood pressure, temperature and a few other things as fast as was humanly possible, then hurried out the door, the instruments on her trolley jangling unhappily in the rush, leaving her alone again. For a few minutes, until the door opened again and a black doctor walked into the room. Ella thought for a moment of trying the intimidation routine again, but, oddly, she couldn't generate any current. The doctor noticed the look of puzclement on her face - "Inhibitor field," he smiled. "Nurse Choi mentioned your little routine, and I felt it best to take precautions. So what's wrong with you then - feeling disoriented? Dizzy? Headaches? Last few days not quite registering?" Ella nodded. "Not to worry - sounds like you may have a mild concussion." He sat on the edge of the bed, and took out a small optician's torch. "Which is to be expected, after the knock you all apparently took," he shined the little light into her right eye. "Yes, a bit of a delay there..." he did the same with her other eye "...and there. Nothing serious, and that a couple of days of bedrest shouldn't solve. What day is this - Wednesday? The team's not due to launch until Monday, so everything should be fine. Be sure to come to the hospital wing if you're not feeling better by Friday, 'kay?" He stood up, put the torch in the breast pocket of his labcoat and prepared to leave.

"Ummm... doctor?"
He turned around as he was walking out the door - "Yes."
Something made her change her mind, "Nothing."
He walked out and closed the door behind him.

She got unsteadily to her feet and walked over to the window. The desert sand that stretched into the distance whipped at her senses, and she looked down and to her sides, where a three-storey drop led down to what looked like the edge of some sort of complex of buildings, with a 10ft tall perimeter fence, topped with spikes and barbed wire, about five metres forward from her window.

Walking round, she looked in the chest of drawers, with four drawers labelled "Underwear, civilian tops, civilian pants/skirts, Uniforms" in vertical turn. The last was empty. The other three contained a mix of her own stuff, that she remembered packing, and brand new stuff she didn't recognise. She swapped the brand-new clothes she was wearing for familiar underwear and one of her favourite nightshirts, trying to see if it made her feel more comfortable, before collapsing back on the bed.

It was starting to come back to her now - she hadn't had the cash to follow Garth directly, and who knew if the Legion would accept her? - so when the Workforce men had come round offering her a place, she'd jumped at the chance. But even then, something didn't feel right about it, however right it seemed. And she couldn't think why...
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"The results from the focus groups are in, sir." Crugg handed him a folder, containing seven sections, each with a detailed breakdown of the results of the codename groups. While he would never permit a decision on such a matter to be made without giving him results from similar excercises, he only occasionally actually read them. If he disagreed with the results, the breakdown didn't matter - another study would simply be commissioned to give the desired results. He sat the folder on his desk in front of him."

"Talk me through the preferred results then."

"The codename that came out best for the blond girl was 'Andromeda' - most people seemed to associate the name with stars, which is a helpful connotation to have. A few thought of the TV show, and, helpfully, very few knew of the mythological Andromeda."

"Ah yes, the chained princess..." McCauley smiled at the mild irony of the favoured name. "Any other names that did notably well?"

"Ultragirl also tested well, following on from your thoughts on the unavailable 'Supergirl' trademark, but the only name that tested consistantely well for the boy with similar powers was "Ultraboy," and it was felt that having both an "Ultragirl," and an "Ultraboy," was a bad idea for three reasons - it diminishes the possibility of trademarking, there was considered to be a risk of confusion amongst the general public, and you wanted this Laurel to be the "star" of the group (which testing has actually borne out as a wise move),"

"You sound surprised, Crugg."

"*ahem*... yes sir. Emmm.. continuing what I was saying - even these days, the automatic assumption of much of the public if you have such equivalent male and female names is to automatically assume that the male is in the lead. Which, again, works contrary to the planned strategy, which has the girl as the most prominent member of the group."

"Fine - so "Andromeda" and "Ultraboy" it is. Now what of the others?"

"Well, pictures of the redheaded girl was associated in tests with words like 'bright' and "spunky," so taking that stuff on board, together with the girl's electrical powers, we tried "Spark" among others, which tested far better for the girl than 'Lightning' and 'Thunder'. More in keeping with her apparent character."

She paused, waiting for a reaction from McCauley. When one wasn't forthcoming, she continued. "The mystic's spells are always accompanied by a dragon holographic display, so we thought to combine "Dragon" with some word meaning "magic user". We tried "Dragonwarlock," "Dragonwizard," "Dragonmagus," "Dragonmage" and a few others. It was considered by the panel that the four-syllable names were too clunky, so in the end, they settled on "Dragonmage."

Again no response. Crugg was beginning to get nervous. "Ummm.. for the telepath, we ran through many, many names, as there was considerable indecision on what may be a good name for her. "Esper" was discounted as she does more than mind-reading, and ESP is considered to be an outdated term anyway. "Tela" is the official codename of the Legion's telepath, although for some odd reason she's become more commonly known as 'Satin Girl'. She has no obvious markings or power signatures to use as a guide for a codename. Eventually, given her aggressive personality profile, we came up with "Enrapture," which tested well enough for use."

Again, silence. Her voice began to noticeably speed up. "For the magnetic kid, Polarity tested best, and for the boy who can make attacks rebound, a Legionnaire was already using Rebound, but "Reflecto," was a strong second. Anythingelsesir?"

He leaned forward, elbows on his desk, with the tip of each finger meeting it's counterpart on the other hand, speaking slowly and deliberately. "Andromeda, Spark, Enrapture, Polarity, Reflecto, Ultraboy and Dragonmage, correct?"

"Yessir." Crugg had annoyed him, it was blatant. She felt rooted to the spot, wanting nothing more than to run out screaming, but felt unable to move.

McCauley shut his eyes, deliberately prolonging her agony. He had already decided to accept the names, but while she was a capable enough P.A. that he didn't want to terminate her, he couldn't allow her to feel safe after that slip.

"Yes," he finally spoke after a delay of several minutes. "Those will do. And the symbols?"

She handed him another folder, also containing seven sections. Rather than asking her to talk her through them this time, he flicked to the summary pages, containing seven symbols, white on black to go with the dark blue with thick black neck to ankle vertical stripe uniforms the workforce would be wearing. He flicked through them slowly, occasionally making minor alterations to the symbols with a black or white ink pen. When he reached Ultraboy's unusual symbol, he stopped and read the sidebar. Apparently it had been something the youth himself had daubed on his surfboard and clothing after gaining his power, and had been included in the survey after no prior use anywhere could be found. It had no obvious meaning, however. He thought long and hard over allowing the use of such a symbol, but finally decided that, as long as McCauley Industries could trademark it, there was nothing particularly wrong with allowing it's use. And no-one of any ethnic origin on the panels had raised an actual objection, which was unprecedented... He waved it through, and handed the folder back to Crugg.

"Have the uniforms fabricated immediately, allowing for my alterations to the symbols."
"Yes sir." She lingered a moment too long.
"What are you waiting for? I'm not paying you to lounge around. MOVE!"

She almost ran from the room, but retained enough self-control to think better of it.
____________________________

The symbols BTW [codenames in brackets are the codenames from the comics, which won't be used here]:

Andromeda:


Dragonmage:


Enrapture [Esper Lass]:


Polarity [Magnetic Kid]:


Reflecto:


Spark:


Ultraboy:

 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]
Anyone else still reading this thread?
[/interlude]
 

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Posted by M'onel on :
 
[interlude]
I am, but I'm going to wait till tomorrow to add something. I'm too tired creatively right now. X_x
[/interlude]
 

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Posted by M'onel on :
 
Professor Vartan having witnessed the blast, found that the explosion transformed Randal Burroughs and John Drake-Hagale into a singular (and disembodied) energy being. Managing to create a somewhat crude containment suit for "Drake Burroughs".

Several weeks later Drake landed on the roof with Professor Vartan making some notes.

"It looks like the suit's thruster system works perfectly now."

"That's great," Drake replied, "Then we can work on getting me a body."

Vartan's face changed to a somber one, "We've been over this time and again Drake, with cutbacks at the university that'll be impossible. (Not that it wasn't already.) We'll have you turn somewhere else."

"You're the professor. You tell me where to go."

Vartan though for a moment, "You know RJ Brande's project? The Legion of Super-Heroes isn't it?"

Drake nodded, "Yeah."

"I'll make a call to Mr. Brande and see if he's interested in bringing you into the Legion. Besides if anyone can help you, it'll be the legion."
 

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Posted by Varalent on :
 
Eh? Pero, que paso? Donde estoy?...

When the young man came to, he was completely bewildered. He had no recollection of where he was or how he had gotten here. The last thing he remembered was that terrible explosion and the searing pain...excruciating pain! Surely he had died!

Dios mio!

No, he hadn't died, although he should have! He still remembered the feel of his skin bursting into flames as he was engulfed in a ball of fire from the explosion. It was horrible!

An yet, the more he thought about it the more he realized that it wasn't so much horrible as it was strange...fascinating, actually. Somehow, during the slow motion horror of the moment, it had felt right, as if a door had opened in his mind and he had finally achieved his destiny.

Lifting his head slightly and looking around, he realized that he was still lying in the jungle's underbrush at the perimeter of the LuthorCorp complex in Columbia. His charred remains had been ignored or overlooked by everyone in the mayhem following the explosion.

As his glance fell on his hand, he was shocked to see a patch of perfectly smooth skin at the base of what should have been his right thumb on his charred hand. As he moved his arm closer to take a look, his hand began flaking. Pieces of...charred cloth? or something began falling away, revealing his own unmarked skin underneath!

Que? Pero...como?

How could this be? He wasn't burned at all! It's as if his military fatigues had protected him from the flames! His gloves, shirt, pants, boots, even his facemask and helmet were burnt to a crisp! But he was fine! He was in pain, but the kind of pain one would expect from being hit by the force of a massive explosion but he was fine!

Gingerly climbing to his feet, Ramiro finished brushing the ashes and cinders off of his body. All that remained on him were his tee shirt and boxerbriefs. For some reason, those articles that fit snuggly against his skin had received the same protection as his body.

He needed to find some clothes and then he would be back to make these people pay! They were responsible for a great deal of suffering and damage in the area.

As his anger at the LuthorCorp facility workers burst forth, he was shocked to see a glowing aura instantly form around his hands. Suddenly the aura seemed to come into focus and......

Fuego!

Flames! He was shooting flames from his hands! The shock of this discovery ontop of everything else was just too much. As Ramiro keeled over in a faint, the flames went out of their own accord. His last conscious thought was that he was now like one of those idealistic cartoon characters he had so admired in the comic books he had read as a child: Superman, Batman, Astro Lad. He was now like them...he was Fire Lad!

No! No "FireLad"...."Fuego!"

[ April 10, 2004, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: Varalent ]
 

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Posted by The Big Bad on :
 
Metropolis Mall, two weeks later. Kon and Douglas sat at a table in the food court, along two of his new Suicide Squad teammates, Jacques Foccart, his sister, Danielle Foccart, and Anne "Kono" Schlar. It was the day of their first mission, and they were all reviewing their parts before curtain call.

"Okay, team," asked Jacques, a strong, built man in his forties. "Everybody remember their part?"

"Yeah, yeah, we remember," said Anne, as she played with her light blue hair. Ah get you, Doug, and your sister inside Legion HQ, and she disables/hacks into the computer system while we search for useful info. Doug acts as security for Dani, and Kon is backup for when this whole thing blows up in our faces."

"Right, thank you, Anne. Any questions?" When nobody answered, he continued. "Code names?"

Kon: "Tetsuo"
Doug: "Ferro"
Anne: "Kono, like always."
Danielle: "Oracle."

"And I'm 'Fantomas' mission leader," finished Jacques. "Remember to always use them during the mission. We cannot afford to be caught." He paused for a second, and then continued. "Okay, people, the mission starts in two hours, so I suggest you get some rest and prepare yourselves. You're dismissed."
 

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Posted by EmeraldEmpress on :
 
Princess Jessy Of Orando come to earth in regal ambassador cargo.
She's kinapped for The Fatal Five.
The legionnaires come to rescue her.
A young chinese boy named Val Alieng, master od martial arts saved the day.
The beautiful Fatal Five's boss, Serinyah Of Venegar escapes with a powerful emerald eye.
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
[interlude]

BB - Tetsuo? LOL. Even "Fantomas" doesn't sound quite as pretensious next to that

EE - Ummm... I think you've kinda missed the point here.

1) Everyone's from Earth (well, Quislet aside, but he's extra-dimensional )
2) It's an ongoing story
3) Sara Romanescu, the "Empress of Venegar" [who already has the Eye, and isn't working with a "Fatal Five"], Princess Jacqueline Projectra of Moldavia, Valor [Karate Kid], Mano (who's in no position to go anywhere right now...) and others have all been introduced and are in various other positions.

Read through the rest of this thread and the Roll Call thread to get an idea of where everyone is and what's going on. As it is, your post is really out-of-continuity.

[/interlude]

[ April 14, 2004, 08:00 PM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"Hey, Polarity!" It was the first training session since the "mass knockout," and the first one since they got their codenames, so it took him a few seconds to realise he was the one being called. "What is it Ella, emm, Spark?"

"Spark when in costume, remember." She smiled from her position of shelter in the irregularly shaped, multi-level training room. "Need a hand from mag-boy to get my target here."

He'd been told that the session was a "mixed" session - a mix of target-hitting and free-for-all. "What do you need?"

"If I go line-of-sight, it fires at me - but to blast it, I need to get line-of-sight. I thought you could redirect my blast for me, since electricity and magnets work together."

"Umm... sure."

"'Kay - it only fires at me, so get where you can see it and get ready." She moved back so that she was as close to seeing it as she could be without actually risking being fired at, and he, glancing repeatedly at where she stood, tried to take up position somewhere close by, at a good angle to pull the redirect.

"Ready?" He nodded in response to Spark's question. "Go!"

She let loose a blast, and a second or two later he activated his mag-field, intending to "push" the bright line in the right direction. Unfortunately, he got his charging the wrong way round and ended up "sucking" the blast in. While he didn't suffer any direct injury from the blast, since his system could process the electricity, it supercharged his field for the second or two it took Spark to power down, and several small metal objects hit him, one on the side of his head, knocking him to his knees.

Spark hesistated, her natural instinct to help him warring with the knowledge that going over to him would just get them fired at while he couldn't dodge. "Paul - you okay?"

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear the ringing in his ears, he called "yeah," then winced as he made his way gingerly to his feet. He looked over to her and tried to smile - "Hard head."

"It's okay - I'll find another way to get this."
"No - I'm okay," he said as there was a loud bang at the other end of the training room.
"Really? You should probably--"
"I'm fine. I know what I did wrong. Let's do this."

They took up position again. She glanced over to him, looking slightly concerned. He looked back, gave a slightly over-wide smile and nodded his head in the direction of the target. This time, the maneouver worked, and he pushed the crackling bolt of lightning onto the target, deactivating the weapons. She jogged over to him.

"Thanks - ow." He'd turned his head, and she saw the other side of it, black hair matted with red blood. "You should get that checked out."
"There's only 15 mins left - not worth the Wrath of McCauley..."
"Paul!" She spoke before realising she didn't really know why she'd objected.
"Sorry - I don't know why I said it like that."
"It's okay," in a tone that showed she meant it.
"Anyway - the bleeding's stopped, it's scabbed over, and it's not worth missing the last quarter of an hour. You'd better get the rest of your targets."
"Thanks - I owe you one." She smiled at him one last time, then moved on to get her next target as he watched her go. But his gaze hung on her a second or two too long, and he winced as Ultraboy used his inattention to slam into his back. Only the training-field that limited the force of the blow saved him from serious injury. As it was, he could still feel the bruise forming. "HEY - watch it!"

"Sorry m'man, but you know we're not s'pposed to hold back."

Muttering silently, Polarity began to pick himself up, when everything started glowing green, and he sank into the floor, which had suddenly become a sticky, molasses-like mass. Looking up, he saw a quick flash of red in the green. He was in one of 'Mage's dragon-shaped spell fields. What was this - "Kick Polarity Day"? He "felt" the steel beneath the goo, and, in repelling it, managed to push himself up and out of the spell-field. Unfortunately, annoyed as he was, he misjudged the force needed and was on course for another painful collision, this time with the wall. Luckily for him, Andromeda took pity on him and caught him before he connected.

"Ummm... thanks."
"Just watch yourself, and don't do that again," she said firmly, while aiming a blast of heat vision at Dragonmage, who conjured up a shield to deflect it.

She set him down, but within seconds he was on his ass again. Oddly though, it felt kinda good, and he couldn't quite muster the concentration to repel the attack. Enrapture smiled - actual telepaths aside, next to no-one guarded their pleasure centres. Give those a quick tap, and just about everyone's psi-shields vanished. And the fact that the good feeling made them less likely to defend in future, like a dog trained to do something unnatural for them by giving them treats, didn't hurt. She enjoyed making him quack like a duck for a minute, then got him to blast over her left shoulder, where she felt someone sneaking up. Unfortunately for her, she realised it was Reflecto after she'd had Paul let off the blast, and the attack bounced straight off him, knocking her to her knees and causing her to let Polarity go.

He smirked at the picture.

"Hey girlie, you want to bow down before me, you're facing the wrong way. Not that we couldn't get into something this way round, but..."

Angered at the indignity of her position more than the sexist remark, she mind-blasted him, knocking him on his ass - his powers only protected him from physical attacks. She would have kicked him for the remark, but remembered how his field was always on, whatever his mental state, in time. The "time up" hooter went a second later.

Andromeda helped Ultraboy up from the blow she'd delievered just before the time-up, and Spark went to help Polarity up - who was still recovering from the nightmare end to the session he'd had. Dragonmage spent a few moments in mediation, to recover his mental strength after a full hour of spell casting. And Enrapture headed straight for the exit, leaving Reflecto lying on his back to try and recover from the whammy she'd just hit him with.
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
"Right... thank you."

The last of the team had signed. The lawyer was surprised at quite how eager they all were - not one of them would have so much as glanced at the contracts had he not insisted they did - so HIS back was covered at least.

Did they really want to be part of this team so much that they were prepared to sign away five years of their lives to that weasel? It wasn't as if the contracts were especially generous - indeed, in what they demanded and permitted, they were über-restrictive - hell, it was the closest thing to them signing a piece of paper saying "my wish is your command" he'd ever seen.

«Ah well - they signed up of their own free will, let them take the hits,» he thought.
________________

He entered the room.

"It's done?" McCauley's face was almost impassive, but for the faintest glimmer of impatience in his eyes.

"It's done sir, but as I ment..."

"Your concerns are not mine. My copies please?"

The lawyer handed him half the stack of paper he carried, then as McCauley signalled him to go, he left the room, muttering "You bastard" under his breath.
_______________

The petty concerns of a dead man walking made no difference to McCauley. Now he had the Workforce legally as well as psychologically bound to him, and the launch event set up and ready for two days time, he only had one real concern in the whole project. Unfortunately, it was a huge, black, gaping hole. The insect...

Search parties and even stolen satellite survellence had failed to find him, but testing suggested that his maximum range would leave him in the USA. To believe he had died in his escape attempt - perhaps by overextending himself - was tempting, but given that he was the only other person outside the complex who knew the about the experiments - and possibly even the Workforce's brainwashing - and was able to betray that knowledge could prove fatal. As he left the room, his temper betraying him, he wondered yet again where the hell it could be. He could only hope it was dead.
_______________

Gates wondered for a second if he was dead, before deciding he hurt too much. Looking down in the half-light, he saw his claws and jumped. He still wasn't used to this ridiculous body McCauley's experiments had left him with. The fact that he could still breathe properly suggested he still had lungs & hence wasn't completely insectosoid - an insect his size would suffocate. He wondered how much of the real him was left.... Shutting his eyes, he let his mind wander to think how he ended up in this enclosed space. Had McCauley...? No.

He remembered that girl being tortured, and how he'd just managed to fight their dampeners enough to teleport out of the complex. Then how he'd teleported as far as he possibly could, farther than he'd thought possible, and collapsed at someone's feet. Someone wearing trainers. Then he'd passed out. He had no idea how he'd got from there to here, or where he'd been taken to. Some kind of militaristic complex? It would be typical to go from corporate torture to torture by some corrupt government, perhaps with designs on ruling the world. Well, this teleporter wasn't going to stand for it!

He tried to open a gate out, but only got as far as a pencil-sized opening before the pain he was already in got so intense that he winced and the portal collapsed. What was it? Some method of restraint? Or had he overtaxed himself in the teleport so much that... no.... "нет.... nyet....!!
________________

Tom hoped the insect-guy would shut up until his mum went out in five minutes. He didn't want to have to explain to her why he had a talking insect in his old toybox.
________________

McCauley needed to relax, so he went down to the sub-basement and stood before one specific cell he'd visited before. To know he had him chained and insensiate always reassured him. Although that was about to change....

"Hello again," he said, malice evident in his voice. "Thought I'd better let you know you're getting out tommorrow. And just so you know there's no hard feelings, I'll even give you a job, happy about that?" The sedated man made no response to the feeble taunting.

"And I'm sure you'll love working for me, it's what you've always wanted, isn't it?... Mano."

[ April 22, 2004, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
 

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Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
 
Zoe couldn't contain hern excitement as she checked her reflection in the mirror. Sure, she had missed her prom, but joining the Legion more than made up for that! All the girls back home would be green with envy, and all the boys would be dying to ask her out! She could just imagine it now, when the prom king himself would walk up to her, tapping her on the shoulder, and then, when she turned around, he would stare into her emerald green eyes and say, "Excuse-"

"me, Zoe, but could you help me with my costume?"

"Zoe whirled around to find Sally, her closest new friend, in the doorway, wearing her new costume. "The legs are too short; I was wondering if you could lengthen them?"

"But why? They show off your legs perfectly! I'd love to have an outfit like that! Although," she said, twirling her hair," this one is just perfect!"

"I'd rather not become such a center of attraction... I don't really care about clothes that much."

Zoe giggled. "I have a friend just like you back home! Her name was Sabrina, and she always had neat but kind of old-fashioned clothes. So did I, and the cheerleaders never let us forget it." She stopped giggling as the painful memories came flashing back. But only for a moment, then she brightened up again. "But at least now I can have all the beautiful clothes I want. And I'll make sure they know it."

"You still worry about what they think?" Sally asked, still in that same even, quiet tone of voice. "You're already beautiful, even without pretty clothes."

"But... beauty, intelligence, talent... none of them are really important unless the popular, powerful people like you, Sally." Zoe shook her head for emphasis. "I've learned that the hard way. Why, don't you want to be loved and accepted by everybody?"

"No..." Sally hung her head. "I've learned long ago not to care what others think."

"Yeah... well, I learned long ago that a little cheer can chase all your problems away. Come on, let's go and explore our new little clubhouse. Jenni told me that we have a virtual reality room! And our very own chef! Wana go grab some ice cream?"

"Sure! Think they have strawberry?" Sally said as they stood up, costume alterations all but forgotten.
 

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Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
 
Mano hated what he'd become.

Three years before, he'd attempted to assasinate Leonard McCauley as part of a campaign against the corporate greedmongers who practically ran society these days, of which McCauley was one of the worst examples - even in that rotten set. Ever since, he'd been paying the price for his failure.

At first, McCauley was content simply to have him tortured. But then another option had opened - his fledgling program to create and control metahumans. He'd begun experimentation, but subjects with activatable metagenes were few & far between. Most of the victims simply died slowly and painfully in agony, and many of those with actual metagenes ended up heavily deformed or even killed by their own "power." McCauley didn't hesitate to throw Mano in.

To his shock and horror however, not only did Mano prove metagene-positive, he became the most sucessful subject to date!

He produced small organelles all over his body, which generated a disruption field which surrounded his body. This field absorbed all light, making him appear to crackle with jet-black energy, but it's primary function was to steal energy directly from the atoms of the air, most of which were merely slowed, but some had electrons ripped from their orbits, converted to pure energy which was absorbed by the field, and molecules were broken into their component atoms by the disruption.

As a side-effect of this process, he no longer needed to eat or breathe - the energy provided by the organelles being sufficient to sustain him. Indeed, as his breathing reflex was intact, normal air was moderately dangerous to him, as the oxygen levels improved the efficiency of the organelles' energy uptake enough that the surplus of energy left him in a state resembling drunkenness.

What had given him his current name though, was that the highest concenrations of organelles were in his hands. For an animal or human to touch most of Mano's body left them weak and dizzy. If his left hand, which had a tenfold concentration of the organelles, touched them briefly, it left them unconcsious for hours, with prolonged contact leading to a coma. But his right hand... his right hand had a hundred-fold concentration of the organells. His right hand was Death, disintegrating all it touched bar Inertron, the strongest, most durable substance known.

On seeing these results, McCauley, in his panic, had him sealed in an intertron-lined suit in an intertron-lined cell, with bars of interton, with hyperoxygenated air pumped into the suit to keep him sedated. Lying barely-conscious but never unconscious, always looking at the same section of silver-coloured wall for almost three years. Three long years. Only his thoughts of vengence on McCauley had kept him anywhere near sane. And now, now he knew he could never act upon them.

He looked around his new, opulent cell. At the thin silver, interton-fortified gloves that had replaced the suit through the oxygen-filtered helmet he now wore. At the endless luxuries scattered about the room. Luxuries he swore he would never use. Which was probably why they were there.

He remembered the pain of the brainwashing, the surprise of the techs that he realised he had been brainwashed... and the commands he could no longer disobey.

In despair, the first time he'd been alone he'd attempted to remove the gloves and destroy himself, leaving nothing of himself to be mocked, only to find that he couldn't remove the gloves. He couldn't even make the attempt. Other attempts at suicide failed the same way, and he'd heard McCauley's laughter. He'd watched Mano's whole performance.

Now, he was supposed to be the leader of McCauley's death-squad. His own, true name forgotten at McCauley's command, forever to be known solely by the Spanish word for hand. McCauley's final little revenge on his new pet.

Mano hated what he'd become.
 

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