This follows on almost immediately from 'Prophets and Heretics'.
In case you've just started reading these stories here is a quick whats-gone-before -
Dream Boy, following a vision, had travelled to Xanthu. He met the Amazers, helped stop the League of Assassins in a battle that saw Insect Queen tragically murdered, started a relationship with James Cullin, one of the Kids Quantum, and decided to hang out at the Amazers Spire rather than return to Earth and the Legion.
After the Life Eradicators had been defeatd without Rol having a single vision to help he had a strong precognitive event that drew him to the sparsley populated East Continent on Xanthu. He travelled by himself for several weeks before learning of a local princess of the Afar People that had been kidnapped. A local witch named him as the Prophet who would reunite the Tribes of Xanthu. Rol, joined by the witches son Tre travelled to the Caves of Orthranax where after battling horse sized gene-spliced rats the two men were captured by the recently awoken 27th century rogue android maker Tariq the Mute.
Rol and Tre escape and, with the help of the Amazers, manage to capture Tariq and put and end to his plans to replace peolpe in postitions of power with his telepathically controlled androids. On returning to Amazers Spire Rol learns that Agnastru the Witch has started a cult around him, naming him as the legendary Prophet of Xanthus Tribesfolk. These cultists are setting up a base at the bottom of the Amazers Spire.
Rol really doesn't want to be anyones Prophet!
[ October 10, 2010, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
It was four days later when things finally came to a head.
Atmos, Psyche, Jasmin Cullin, a stern representative from the High Tribunes office called Anreann Storklin and the chief officer from the Xanthu system Science Police, Nandulor Bartrasz, called Rol before them to discuss the burgeoning camp of the Reunification of the Lost tribes sect.
Three days prior, right after he had taken a surprisingly full class in unarmed combat Rol had flown down to the camp and asked to speak to the leader. The crowds had erupted at his approach and despite his best efforts they had not settled enough to enter into a dialogue. In the 31st century public meetings, even on the supposedly liberal Xanthu were not something one would expect so the news channels broadcast that a riot - something virtually unheard of in living memory- had erupted at the bottom of the Amazers Spire. Although there were no reports of anyone being hurt or any damage to property recorded, the accusation had been enough to warrant the Amazers to send in a group, including Atmos, Rol was rather worried to see, to calm things down. Psyche had tried her best to calm the crowds but even her prodigious psychic skills were hard pressed to affect the excitable crowds.
Ultimately the Amazers had broken up the crowds by simply forcing a large mass of people out of the slum areas into a large park where they were ordered to settle down. The crowds at no time broke into violence or acted in an unlawful manner, in fact other than calling on the Silver Seer to lead the Tribes back to unification and cheering if Rol came into sight, for a mob of over six thousand, they were incredibly law abiding.
Still, news of riots spread fast amongst the United Planets and within hours the Xanthui Transmatter system were jammed with sightseers, news seekers, the odd gaggle of anarchists, the desperate and the unlucky.
The Xanthu High Tribune office declared that the Sect was to disband and it's members were to return to their homes to await further instruction. This is what caused a riot!
A Xanthui day later the township as quiet, the populace quiet and the fires were out. It was the longest day Rol had ever lived.
[ October 10, 2010, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
"Florggin' Naltorian troublemaker! What's to stop us having you sent to Labyrinth as an incitor of riot?" Atmos said this with a savage smile on his face. His elbows on the table as he leaned forward to speak to Rol it was obvious that Atmos was in not in the most liberal of moods.
Rol remianed silent.
"Rol," Jasmin had glanced at Atmos while he had spoken and it was obvious she had other thoughts, "Could you perhaps ask the sect to simply disband, tell them it was a mistake and you are sorry?"
They had heard his report before this meeting so knew he had already tried this approach in vain.
Rol stayed silent, he doubted that the group would actually listen to any answer he gave right now, their descision having been made before he arrived.
Psyche spoke now, her voice quiet and considered.
"The risk assessment predictive analysis we ran after the events of the other day show us that while you remain at the Spire Rol we could potentially face this again. We do understand that you have been forced into this situation but you must understand that this behaviour must be dealt with. Xanthu, as you are fully aware, is not an independent planet, our economy depends entirely on United Planets membership and if we are seen to be allowing the growth of a ... religious sect formed around one of our Planetary Meta-team then it will not be long before sanctions are sought by some of our neighbours. The riots the other day will cast a shadow on our reputation for a long time to come." She had looked uneasy as she said this.
Rol knew what they expected him to do but he had also had predicted his actions and the two were not compatible.
It was time to answer the charges.
[ October 10, 2010, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Once again Rol told them about meeting the witch Anagastru while in East Continent and her prediction of a prophet, the Silver Serr, reuniting the Tribes of Xanthu. He reaffirmed that before this he had never heard of the Silver Seer or the prophesy that supposedly proved that he, Rol Purtha of Naltor, was to lead a planetary religious sect. He reinterated that he had no desire to court such authority nor had ever acted in such a way that could, as far as he was aware, lead anyone to believe he did. His plans were quiet simple: to follow his path here as a loyal honourary Amazer, to continue in his relationship with James cullin and to hold daily training sessions to help trainees and full team members alike to improve their unarmed combat skills.
The sect, as far as he could see, might be useful as a voluntary charitable force. If he could somehow distance himself from them and encourage them to act as beacons of responsibility within their communities then maybe, just maybe, they could justify their existence. If he was being forced to be a Prophet to these people then maybe he could use that unwanted stature to encourage decent behaviour, and it could perhaps be that which was the cause of the reunification of the Tribes. At least it couldn't hurt, surely? But whatever the sect thought of hhim, he was not and could not foresee a time when he would want to be a Prophet and religious leader. he had been educated in one of the strictest scientific systems in the United planets, second only to Colu.
He ended his plea by stressing how important the Amazers had become to him and how vital he saw his work within the group really was.
Anreann Storklin asked him to leave the office and wait outside while they discussed this further and came up with a solution that could benefit them all.
Posted by Harbinger on :
It was Jasmin Cullin who came out to speak to Rol ten minutes later.
Rol had had very little contact with his partners sister since joining the group and felt that they were overdue a decent get together to really get to know each other. This wasn't really the right time for that right now though he thought. He could tell by her body language that the news wasn't going to be too awful though she still looked uncomfortable.
She sat beside him, not quite making eye contact.
"Rol, you know we are all grateful to you for your help against the League of Assassins and helping capture Tariq Muhamad Al-Mossul. My brother has never been happier since meeting you and your training programme is having definite measurable benefits for both the skill and morale of the team, particularly our newer members and the trainees. It is unfortunate though that the first riot recorded within the United Planets for over half a century started, whether you like this or not, because of your involvement in the situation. Personally I agree that that is unfair but that is how the Tribune see the situation... anyway, the point is.... well, With all that in mind we have decided that it may be best to offer you full membership of the Amazers and grant your application to run unarmed combat training sessions as part of the mandatory course work all trainees take."
With this she stood up, turned to face him and held out her hand.
"Welcome, formally, to the Xanthu Amazers Rol, You will be an asset to us." Her grin was infectious. Rol grabbed her hand and they both shook. It was Jasmin who iniated the hug and whispered in his ear as she pulled him close "Look after that brother of mine please."
Posted by Harbinger on :
James was waitng for Rol in one ofthe observation nooks on the upper floors.
Rol snuck inside and placed his hands over the Kid Quantum's eyes. "Guess who?"
"Hmmm.... I'd say it must be our latest full time member and all round good egg Dreamy Boyo!" They laughed and had a quick hug.
"The gang will be here in a few minutes to help us celebrate but before they arrive I've got to tell you if they had gotten rid of you a few of us were going to quit."
"James I would never have allowed you to leave here, your work is too important."
"Bollarx Rol, we can be do-gooders where ever we are, hell we could have applied for Legion membership. Which reminds me, this arrived for you." James handed over a folded sheet of white paper. Rol had a feeling about this that didn't quite tally with the smile on his partners face. Some small part of his Naltorian abilities had warned him that this could lead to some trouble further down the line.
There was a thin red metallic seal on the edges that folded away once he touched it. DNA locked. Whatever it was no-one else would have had the opportunity to read it yet.
"Querl Dox and Nura Nal invite you to share in the wedding day... wow oh wow! They are getting married in two months time, can you believe it?""
James laughs and hugs Rol. "Alya Ranz brought it through the transmatter to give to you herself. She's really excited that she'll be one of the bridesmaids. She apologies that she couldn't stay to catch up and told me to tell you that if you miss this she'll kill you!"
"Hi guys, we interupting anything?" Monstress and Lamprey squeezed into the nook, their arms outstretched to hug Rol. Behind them stood Typhoon, Dragonmage, Captain marvel and Gates. All were pleased to share Rol's news and toast his full membership to the team.They laughed as they shared tales and tittle-tattle from the last few weeks.
Rol felt at relaxed for the first time in a week.
[ October 10, 2010, 09:51 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
When Rol and James got back to their appartment several hours later they were greeted by Psyche waiting for them.
The Amazer's co-leader was neither surprised or judgemental about the partying that had gone on. She was there to tell them about the changes that were to be introduced to the trainee programme. As of the next day the Amazer team would be split into pairs that would have trainees assigned to personally mentor. Kid Quantum and Dream Boy would lead one of these sub-groups. These sub-groups would then be ranked against each other, the idea being that the competition would foster a better work ethic amongst the up-and-coming trainee Amazers.
She activated their Holotube and told them to use this night to get to know as much as possible about their new charges because as of the following morning the two of them would be needed to lead this new sub group.
Rol and James, though very respectful- genuinely respectful it had to be said- towards Psyche, both groaned after she left. They looked at the holo-images and info sheets before them. Five trainees, only one of which Rol knew - Zero, the Trommite who had joined James in his rescue mission into the Caves of Ornathrax.
Posted by Harbinger on :
The other four were all trainees Rol had seen about the Spire but never had any reason to interact with. The datasheet gave him all the information he could ever need, and quite a lot more as well so he skimmed over the sheets while asking him for all the inside information that James could give.
Magnetic Kid - Pol Krinn. Cosmic Boy's kid brother! There was something in this that Rol found uncomfortable though James saw it as a potential media coup. The brother of the legion's first leader choosing to train on Xanthu. There was definitely a story there!
Infectious Lass - Drura Septh -a walking petri-dish is how James described her. Rol made a mental note to look after Drura as only one of three of her race off planet, the other two being her diplomatic parents, she may be vulnerable coming to terms with the United planets way of life.
Laughing Boy - James groaned at this applicant. He was a small blue skinned humanoid with an elf-like face and a long prehensile tail, the end of which gave off pheremones that made people happy. "Anything from grinning to throw up in your boots hysteria..." is how James described it. Rol was intrigued.
and finally, a gorilla that Rol had seen in the canteen in more than one occassion, N'gok the Laser Ape - the sister of Gorilla World's planetary hero Mirror Gorilla. She had laser vision and the natural strength and agility of one of her kind. James had dealt with her before and said she was the most professional of all of them.
The two young men sat up until the wee hours discussing plans and ideas before both finally fell asleep.Through mutual agreement James would focus on Magnetic Kid, Zero and Laser Ape; the three trainees who, according to the files had highest rated scores in the excersizes and training so far. Rol would focus more on the alien Infectious Lass and the undisciplined Laughing Boy.
Both were happy with this decision and before they finally slept had picked names for each other's new trainee group. Rol chose "Squad Quantum" for James' team, while James managed to keep a straight face for nearly seven straight seconds after suggesting Rol's team be called "The Dreamboats."
Posted by Harbinger on :
James was grumpy.
For a man who could slow the progress of time he really didn’t function too well if he didn’t get at least 7 hours solid sleep each night Rol had discovered, in fact the longer that James could lay in bed the better. Rol on the other hand loved the early morning, he had his routine whereby he would spend twenty minutes doing yoga before breakfasting. James would spend an hour not quite sure what he was doing before finally snapping awake and facing the day with a quip and a charismatic smile.
Rol had learned very early in their relationship not to disturb James normally, but this morning when he had seen the groups had been assigned to the Amazer pairs to mentor.
Their friends, the Monstress and Lamprey, had been paired and been given a team that included Gates and Captain Marvel, though Rol was disappointed that Reflecto was also amongst their trainee team.
James’ sister Jazmin was paired with Typhoon. The only trainee Rol knew on their team was the Seperator. Dragonmage was paired with the team’s co-leader Psyche. Particon and Atom’x were the last pair with five trainees under them leaving Atmos with none directly under him but he would be overseeing the training of each group.
James had not shared Rol’s enthusiasm.
Posted by Harbinger on :
They met their team in the main atrium of the Amazer’s spire. The trainees had been placed in their teams prior to the Amazer Team’s arrival.
Rol made a pointed of dragging James around introducing themselves to each trainee in all the groups, where possible Rol shook their hands, or primary appendage if appropriate. Not every trainee would shake his hand though and Rol took note to keep an eye out for those who he didn’t manage to touch.
The Pre-Commando technique he employed allowed his psychic skill to pick up an overview of the trainees probable future. It wasn’t 100% effective all of the time, Rol’s abilities were simply not strong enough but it would help point out any major incidents, and it was a lot easier while in physical contact with the person in question. It was also guaranteed to give him a headache for the next two days, but that was a small price to pay. He had meditated for 40 minutes prior to arriving, while James had showered, grumbled about lack of sleep, tripped up on clothes he’d left lying on the floor the night before, swore repeatedly and generally got himself together enough to face the outside world.
One of the trainees on Typhoons team would break her leg and quit within a day, another would cause trouble by making accusations that were not true, a third would have an accident that would cost them their abilities. Five of them he drew a complete blank on and he had not managed to touch another four of the twenty five trainees. Most were a mix of excitement and adrenaline, highs and lows that he would expect from meta trainees. It was the feeling he had from Zero, the Trommite on his own team that scared him the most. He had to nonchalantly stand behind her and pretend to affectionately rest his hand on her shoulder to double check. His vision froze his blood.
She was a traitor.
Posted by Harbinger on :
After the ceremony, which he hardly took in; he seemed to have been in a daze for most of it - where the teams were formally introduced to their trainers and given their schedules, Rol made an excuse and left James to take the newly named Squad Quantum to their first training exercise.
He didn’t see that he was being followed and by the time he returned to his team he had forgotten why he needed to return so urgently to his quarters in the first place.
Oh well, lots to do, trainees to train and adventures to be had! Yippee!
[ August 05, 2012, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Feeling silly, confused and worried in equal measure Rol walked into the squad room where the new trainees so recently christened Squad Quantum where to meet for their first official de-briefing session. The large circular room, on the 81st floor of the Spire just above the landing pad array, had 360 degree windows that lent it a magnificent view. The force fields that contained the room were slightly polarized so the Xanthui sun’s light wasn’t to onerous for those sat directly in its glare. Rol chose to sit down with his back to it. He may not remember fully what he was away to do or why but that didn’t mean his wits had entirely left him. He wanted to watch his group and get to know their idiosyncratic body language so he could gauge their reactions to the meeting James and he had planned to hold.
All of the trainees had been given their first hour off to familiarize themselves with the Spire. As a result Rol waited for 25 minutes before Laughing Boy and Laser Ape made their way into the room. Both were giggling and had obviously already bonded. They said their hellos and made small talk until the others arrived.
Zero and James were next followed closely by Infectious Lass who looked the most confused. It was several minutes before Pol Krinn, Magnetic Kid strolled nonchalantly into the room and took a seat. James looked cross at his late arrival and Rol thought that the young trainee wasn’t quite as confident as he portrayed. He knew from shaking his hand earlier that they would have to deal with a lot of negative emotions in the coming weeks as Magnetic Kid learned to take responsibility for the choices that brought him here.
[ September 23, 2011, 04:41 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
“We’re going to start with a little exercise to get to know each other. We each give our names, code names and summary of our lives to date. No interrupting while we each take our turn to speak though at the end if there is anything you particularly want to ask we will have a few minutes. Everyone understand?” James had delivered his introduction sternly, still angry at Rol Krinn’s late arrival. The group were to learn over the next days that the Amazer’s were a very hierachical organization.
As Rol listened to each speak he forgot about the pauses, retakes and stutters, the natural beaks in a story that all but the highest skilled orator had in each conversation.he remembered how each participant had been brutally honest and he was relieved that he couldn't perceive any duplicity or major lies. They were going to develop into a magnificent group, he could feel it.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
James started.
The younger of the Cullen twins, his sister and he were born with natural abilities after their mother, a famous astro- xeno archeologist had spent her life working with Llorn technology. The advanced quantum engineering found in this long dead race’s artifacts had affected them and as a result their family was moved to the Xanthu Meta- training facilities. Rol was horrified initially though as James described his childhood it was clear that this was no military compound where the inhabitants were kept apart from everyday life, quite the opposite. The training staff wanted every meta being that went through their institution to leave with a well rounded world view. It was on the compound they met the Monstress, Psyche, Star Boy and others. The Xanthu meta class were not kept isolated from each other. The Cullen twins parents were given clearance to strictly quarantined technology and had led the field in several breakthroughs. Rol thought his mother would have loved to meet James' parents.
James and Jasmin joined the Amazers two years ago and had never looked back.
There was silence when he finished, no questions, just a stunned silence at his honesty.
As he and Rol had discussed the night before they wanted their trainees to have faith in their judgments so honesty was their only option.
[ September 23, 2011, 04:44 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Laughing Boy went next.
His pale elfin face never once stopped smiling as he explained how his race’s names were a mixture of pheromones and sounds above the human standard range so he had been christened “Cheeky Sprokk” by the first official from the UP he had encountered, so he would be more than honoured if the group wanted to call him that. This drew a laugh from everyone, which he obviously enjoyed. There were many more laughs as he told his story, his gesticulations as he explained details were as expansive as his smile.
His race lived in large tree like organisms that covered the continents of their world. They were an arboreal people who believed that crime grew from unhappiness so they created a sub species to police them who had pheromone creating skills that induced happiness. His grin looked about to split his face as he explained this. He had been bred to be a policeman. His grandfather had been the chief of the local police force, his father was in charge of the continent. He would be an inter-planetary representative, showing the galaxy that his people were something to look up to.
The pride glowed in his face as he explained this.
Afterwards Rol asked about Laughing Boys skills, other than pheromone creation. He had mentioned hearing beyond the human norm, were there any more skills? Of course the trainee laughed when he was asked and neatly back flipped from his chair. He was phenomenally acrobatic, had training in a range of policing skills, his senses of smell and hearing were incredibly acute and, in what Rol thought was a tremendous flourish of showmanship, the young trainee proceeded to leap up to the ceiling and stuck there, hanging by only his toes.
The group spontaneously applauded!
[ September 23, 2011, 04:46 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
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Zero was sat next to laughing Boy and self depreciatingly told her story.
Her name was Ella Arrah, cousin of Jan Arrah, Element Lad of the legion of Superheroes. She told the group about the crystal valleys where her people lived, of the daily meditation that they each undertook to control their abilities and how, like her cousin, she believed they could do so much more for the spiritual growth of the human race. She wanted to follow in Element Lads footsteps and so was one of the thousands who camped outside Legion HQ until the geokinetic psychopath Elysion destroyed it. Her cousin tried to persuade her to return to Trom and follow a more spiritual route but after witnessing the horrors inflicted in by a single rogue meta on Earth she made her way to Xanthu to join the Amazers instead.
Pol Krinn had watched her with particular interest after she announced she was the cousin of a Legionnaire and afterwards asked her if she agreed with the Legions ethos or the more structured approach of the Amazers. She only smiled and blandly replied that both groups had their pros and cons.
All through the young Trommite’s story Rol had felt a fuzziness. It must be the start of the headache he knew he was due to have this afternoon he thought. Though normally his headaches didn’t give him any warnings like this.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Infectious lass introduced herself as Drura Sehpt and told her story quickly. Of all the trainees she was the least confident Rol noticed.
She told the group how her planet had only made contact with the UP in the last decade and because of her races natural abilities to house and manipulate bacteria and viruses the UP had moved slowly establishing any diplomatic status. Her parents and herself were the only three of her race that had been allowed out of their small star’s system to date.
She mentioned how her parents, as ambassadors to the UP wanted her to represent their world in a public capacity so had asked that she apply for this post. The clearance process ad taken almost a year and she had used this time to familiarise herself with the "cold" sciences that the UP used.
Although none of the group said it they all looked like they had a shared understanding that Drura was here for duty, not personal desire.
[ September 23, 2011, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
N’Gok the Laser Ape, perched on her chair like a child, went next.
Along with her older brother N’Dahi, she had trained for Gorilla World’s AstroCorp from a young age. She was a gifted astro navigator and engineer. Her race, after leaving Mother Earth in the mid 22nd century had spend almost two hundred years in cryogenic sleep before they arrived at their chosen new home world. The world was the second of a system of five and had a much higher gravity that Earth. Almost twice as high. It had taken another three generations before her people were fully adapted to their new world. In this time their technology had been stifled and it took almost three centuries to relearn the knowledge that their ancestors on Earth would have taken for granted.
By the mid 29th century they had explored and tamed their new home system.
Twenty years ago their leading astro physicist had developed a new warp technology. N’Gok and N’Dahi had been given the honour of become Gorilla World’s first astronauts to fly beyond their star’s system in over 500 years.
Their maiden voyage unfortunately did not go to plan.
Their warp opened as predicted and they excitedly flew into the heart of it.
They returned 17 years later having no memory of the time in-between and strangely altered by their experience. In this time the UP had contacted Gorilla World and their once isolated world was quickly taken into the bosom of their fellow Earth spawned civilization. The intervening years had seen many changes that N’Gok and N’Dahi would never have believed possible. They returned to a home world that could reach their nearest stars in days.
The two astronauts were given the best support that the newly formed alliance to the UP could provide. They learned that the changes they had undergone were permanent alterations on a level that made their DNA truly unique. Her brother found he could manipulate energies, reflecting them back to their source initially but as his control grew he could mold them to his will. She had gained the abilities to perceive the electro-magnetic spectrum and project blasts through her eyes. They were feted as heroes, a role her brother reveled in. She fled. It had taken her over two years to reach Xanthu, two years of learning about this new expansive galaxy that she could now visit and once she arrived she applied to join the Amazers. She felt that amongst this organization she would relearn her place in the universe.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Pol Krinn finally spoke.
He was Cosmic Boy’s kid brother and while he shared his older brother’s morals he hated the Legion for keeping his brother away from Braal while his father slowly died of Kendoo-Detroyski radiation poisoning. His brother had not returned a single call or even appeared at the funeral. That had been two months ago. He decided to leave Braal to become the hero his brother had failed to be.
After he abruptly finished Rol asked gently, “Did no one tell you he was taken into the future? Brainiac 5 found temporal anomalies around the room where he vanished but was unable to replicate the technology to follow him.”
Pol Krinn sat open mouthed, tears building in his eyes. “We never knew, no one contacted us, Garth didn’t say anything…”
The whole group stared at Dream Boy as he tried to placate the young trainee.
“I will contact the Legion after this meeting and we will find out if there is any more news.”
“Thank you, I’m…ummm… I must contact my mother, let her know…you don’t know what this will mean to her.” Pol Krinn’s thin veneer cracked and he sobbed into his hands.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
After the group had settled down Rol began his story. Before he had started he had debated with himself how much to tell. Would the group understand Nalorian politics? Well there was no time like the present to find out.
“My Name is Rol Purtha and I am a Beta One grade precognitive.”
He explained the strange history of Naltor, the grading of precognition including his own specialities of short range and contact induced visions, though with concentration and, he had to admit, a little bit of luck he could see further ahead and have more general visions if needed.
He then started to talk about his past.
His mother was a respected lecturer at NeueX’ erox university. An anthropology professor who had written several ground breaking pieces of work that challenged the perceived barbarity of so called less developed species. His father was an engineer who had left them when Rol was only five. It was here that he paused and he knew from James’ face that he would need to explain.
His father was an experimental engineer. In previous centuries he’d have been an eccentric inventor working alone in his shed at the bottom of the garden. It was his work that led him to join the Technomancer Party. A very small, but very vocal group of experimental scientists who said Naltor had lost it’s way, it had forgotten its reason for being, been blinded as the UP’s cultural and scientific hegemonistic rule sucked the chances of true glory away.
Fifteen years ago the Technomancers were made illegal as it was felt that their organization was beginning to incite unsightly and possibly even rebellious behavior. There had been public meetings and rallies in several cities. Rol’s father vanished, leaving behind only his Naltorian Seers armband, something Rol wore to this day. Three years later Rol was entered into the schooling system to fast track his as a member of Naltor's peace keeping force, the Pre-Commandos.
He had completed his training by two months when he had a strong vision that led him to the Legion and once he had completed the tasks his precognition had led him to do he had come here once more following, quite literally, his dreams.
Rol gave the team a quick overview of his time with the Amazers before asking if there were any questions. Thankfully there were none.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
So, what do you think? Are you enjoying this? All feedback greatly appreciated.
The team are introduced, a mystery has happened and there are 20+ suspects. Coming soon- more, more, more!
CBHx
Posted by Set on :
Laughing Boy, the most original feeling of the characters, is fascinating. He feels like a totally different version of Nightcrawler, the swashbuckling devil-may-care adventurer, but one with an elven appearance, instead of a demonic one, and one who was well-integrated, happy and respected part of his community, instead of an ostracized freak.
I like the call-backs to the Threeboot events, such as the destruction of the Legion plaza by Elysion (where Nura died, an event that might have some significance to Rol, as well), and the disappearance of Cosmic Boy. Building Zero and Pol's stories off of pre-existing continuity ties them in nicely, and also gives them some neat hooks.
Love what you've done with Naltorian backstory and societal stuff, mention of Technomancers, etc. The development of 'Gorilla World' (and passing reference to a second 'gorilla hero') was also very cool. I love that sort of thing.
It spins my head a little that Trom wasn't genocided in the threeboot continuity, but instead, Daxam was, so another potential hero from Trom is completely possible. I like the differences, and even wrote my own fic exploring it, but it plays with my preconceptions. In a good way!
I like the fun little details, like N'Gok perching on the back of her chair.
Drura's in an interesting position. Some of the characters have immediate character issues to deal with (such as Pol), while Drura seems to have a slower-burning longer-term breakout potential, as the team has to come to grips with the nature of her abilities, which could be quite terrifying in practice. (A Somahturan villain named Contagion, Plague, Pandemic or 'Patient Zero' could be quite scary!)
Posted by Emily Sivana on :
I like the team you have created. It has balance, which I feel is lacking in the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Thanks for your kind words Set and Emily. There are big character developments due so keep reading. Thank again
Cx
Posted by Harbinger on :
They were timetabled to start their first unarmed combat training after lunch. That gave Rol and Pol an hour to find out up to date information on Cosmic Boy’s status. Rol decided that the best way would be to transmat directly to Legion Headquarters on Earth.
He was canny enough to realize that this might be frowned upon by the powers that be as there was still a ridiculous one-sided animosity felt towards the Legion from some members and officials in the Spire.
Still, Rol remembered a phrase his mother had used whenever any of her neighbours would try to entertain her with gossip and tittle tattle: what is unsaid often has good reason to stay unseen.
They made their way to the main Transmatter bank on the 13th floor. Pol Krinn obviously picked up on the almost covert nature of their venture as he magnetically closed the doors behind them. No one would see them as they casually stepped through to Mother Earth..
Dream Boy tapped in the coordinates manually and as the Transmatter started to glow with trans-dimensional energy they both gingerly stepped through.
Posted by Harbinger on :
“ROL!” Nura Nal flung herself into Rol’s arms, almost tumbling them into Magnetic Kid.
“It is so good to see you! I saw you arriving last night, I hope this is a social call and you aren’t here to stir up any trouble? ” Her smile shone through her teasing with her natural warmth and positivity. Rol grinned like the proverbial Cheshire cat in return before introducing her to his trainee companion. He could see by her reaction that the news Pol Krinn would hear wasn’t great. Rol didn't think it was appropriate at this point to congratulate Nura on her engagement to Querl Dox. He was sure they would have time later to catch upproperly. Right now they were here to help Pol Krinn.
She urged them through to a side room where the three of them sat down in faux- leather chairs. Nura curled her legs under her, dimmed the ceiling holo display and leant forward as Rol and Pol sat upright and listened.
[ September 23, 2011, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
“You heard about the Life Eradicators? It was their technology that brought me back. Well, while all that was going on we had problems with Projectra. She’s… left the team now sadly, took Brin with her. Well, her leaving was the catalyst. I know this doesn’t make sense yet, you see Rokk, you brother, had traveled to the 41st Century, even Brainy doesn’t know how he did it. While he was there he learned that supposedly Projectra’s great grandson is destined to be a hero of truly Galactic proportions. We didn’t know this of course and were tracking down Projectra when Rock reappeared with some of the future legionnaires. Both teams fought. They wanted to ensure she had the child that would be the grandfather of their future icon. If Querl hadn’t of persuaded the inhabitants of Rokyn to help we would have lost. Rokk returned to the future with his new team afterwards. Imra thinks they might have affected him, some sort of psychic control. We haven’t heard anything since I’m afraid.” Nura looked at Pol with a compassion that could have reignited dying stars.
Pol Krinn thanked her and looked away, staring fixedly upon the walls, anything so she and Rol wouldn’t see the tears that were forming in his eyes.
“You heard that Jan died didn’t you?”
“What? Ah, that’s awful!”
“Does Ella know?” Pol had said it even as the same thought struck Rol.
Rol quickly explained the Amazer trainee program to Nura and the trainee calling herself Zero.
“Rol don’t ask why but you really need to see Imra.”
“I know, I’ve already seen myself talking to her. Is she still in the same quarters?” Nura nods the affirmative, “I’ll go now, can you look after Pol for me? If I’m not back in fifteen minutes can you send him back please?” Rol give Nura a quick hug before reminding the trainee of his obligations to be back at Amazers Spire for the afternoons’ sessions.
As he turned and left he could hear Nura smoothly start to reassure Pol Krinn. His trainee was in safe hands.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
As he flew throughthe familiar corridors of the Legions headquarters Rol activated his flight ring’s communication function and let Saturn Girl know that he had a favour to ask.
Imra Ardeen, the Legion’s telepath and Rols friend while he briefly a member of this team, seemed distracted when Rol reached her quarters. She looked thinner and there seemed to be a weight about her shoulders that Rol hadn’t seen before.
After a brief catch up, where Rol learned of her recent split from Garth Ranzz, Rol explained the confusing episode earlier when he had a gap in his memory and the feeling that it was somehow connected to the Tromite trainee on his and James’ team.
Imra had Rol meditate and slowly walk through his memory of that morning. She leaned in close to him and gently rested her finger tips on his head.
His memory was crystal clear until he had went over to Psyche and Dragonmage’s team. A team as diverse as his own. There had been the winged mystic from Starhaven who had a look of haughty disinterest; a xenomorph telepath with eyes that looked as they were made from petals, four legs like a grasshoppers and a long tail with twelve fingers on the end; a tall, strong looking girl from the Alchemists World; and… and…. There were two others. A girl from Talok and a girl from Titan. Why hadn’t he remembered them? With Imra gazing intently into his eyes it all came back to him. The Talokian was a spy able to access memories and the Titanian was a psychopath! They had affected his memories, carefully editing what he saw as he saw it. The third member of the gang, Zero had been further away so the two psychics had slipped up allowing him to properly scan her with his Pre-Commando trained tactile precognition, their retroactive memory changes had left the niggling sense of doubts that had alerted Rol.
Imra sat back, a tight grin of determination on her face.
“I know what I need to do Imra, I have to let the team know about these three girls.”
Imra calmly disagreed, letting Rol know that it was time the Legion got to know the new Amazers and she would arrange a team to join him back to Xanthu. Anyway, she casually added, it’s about time we met this James who fills your thoughts.
[ September 23, 2011, 04:13 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
In less than five minutes Rol was back at the Transmatter station with Pol Krinn. Imra had joined them with Dream Girl, Shadow Lass and Brainiac Five. Rol was fairly sure there were other Legionnaires present; Atom Girl or Chameleon maybe. Something in the way the legionnaires stood told him they were not alone, as if they had subconciously made room for another.
“None of us would be too threatening to your new team mates surely?” Nura’s smile was less than convincing. They may not be the physically most powerful members of the Legion but everyone of them had fearsome reputations for good reasons.
The transmatter started to hum with power and they stepped through.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Standing on the other side of the Transmatter door was Atmos. Alongside him were the Monstress, Lamprey and their team, the Leviathons.
“Well, well, well…”
“Atmos, please this isn’t the time for…”
“Shut up you Legion traitor and take your ….”
“Marak, please, give us two minutes to explain.” Saturn Girls cool telepathic message silenced the Amazers co-leader.
“Go on Imra, you I trust,” Atmos scowled towards Rol, “but make it quick, there’s been a major earthquake through the Ghandi Gorge, there are hundreds of people trapped there.”
“There’s no easy way to break this to you I’m sorry. You have a group of traitors amongst your trainees.” The room seemed to freeze, “Rol had his memories tampered with and a post hypnotic suggestion implanted into his mind. He was lucky he saw me when he did. We know who the traitors are but we need to be quick.”
As she broadcast this information to the room the Monstress strolled over to Rol and casually placed her hand on his shoulder. The huge green woman’s eyes conveyed more compassion than words ever could. Rol could see out of the corner of his eye that Brainiac was tapping a virtual screen in his hands, accessing information from Xanthu’s planetary datasphere.
“You may be too late, there has been….”
“It’s an organized attack, four major events, the probability of this happening naturally is just too remote to consider realistic. Where are your teams Atmos?”
Rol had forgotten about Querl Dox’s attitude, how the Coluan genius lack of social skills were almost as legendary as his intellect.
“All the teams except Rol and James’ and this group have been sent through to help already.”
“We must assume they are compromised until Imra gives them the all clear.” The brutal truth was delivered without emotion or apology.
“James!” Rol spoke into the Spire’s comlink, “Bring the gang up to the transmatter room on level 13, we have a problem babes.”
Posted by Harbinger on :
While Squad Quantum made their way to the transmitter room Brainiac 5 set out his plan to Atmos.
Imra , Monstress and Lamprey would tackle Zero. The traitorous trainee would be dealt with as soon as she appeared.
It was under two minutes from when Rol spoke to James to when he turned up with the trainee Squad.
At his side Laser Ape and Laughing Boy both said ‘Hi’ to Pol and Rol simultaneously. Zero was behind them, apparently oblivious to what was away to happen.
Atmos turned to the group and pointed at Zero, the rest of the team moved away from her, suspicion writ across their faces. Monstress and Lamprey flanked her. Before Zero could respond to the situation Saturn Girl announced “I have her, she will go to sleep now.” Zero slumped to the floor, her breathing turning into gentle snores.
“Rol what the florg is happening?” James looked furious, Laser Ape and Laughing Boy went to the side of their fellow trainee in obvious concern. A couple of members of Team Leviathon moved over to the sleeping traitor, joining their fellow trainees. As Rol looked around the room he saw that Dream Girl was talking quietly with Reflecto. It wasn’t the time to ask but Rol really wanted to know what was being said between the Legionnaire and the Amazer trainee that had caused so many problems on Legion Plaza in her name. Whatever it was that she said Reflecto straightened his shoulders and lifted his head, nodding in agreement.
Saturn Girl’s telepathic voice let everyone present know what was happening.
“Her mind is full of twists and turns, this one has never been a hero. There’s a price on all of your heads. She is part of a group that has been sent here to undermine the Amazers. All the disasters that Xanthu is currently facing have been manufactured to split the team up so you will be vulnerable to attack.”
The volume rose as almost everyone in the room started talking at once. Imra coolly carried on, her thoughts cutting through the chatter.
“There’s a competition of sorts going on. She thinks there will be dozens of meta criminals out there, some will have formed alliances, other working solo, they’ve all been told if they kill any one of your team they would automatically gain membership to the League of Assassins. You’ve upset the Dark Man’s plans for this sector of space and he is not happy.”
[ September 23, 2011, 04:57 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
More coming next week -sorry I've had less time than I expected to write this week.
Hope you are enjoying the story so far. All comments appreciated so if you have taken the time to read this please let me know what you think so far.
Cx
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Rol and Pol! That's hilarious!
I think you've gotten the characters down pat, too. Haven't read through it all yet, still on Page 1, but... it looks great so far
More, more, more!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Thanks IB, I agree that Rol + Pol are a fun pairing. Sadly my laptop is not very well and I have to get it fixed so am having to use my phone to post right now (funnily enough its a Wildfire!) so until my laptop is back I wont be able to continue this. Keep your fingers crossed I get it back soon. Cx
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Fingers and toes crossed Harbi, hope to see you back here soon!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Finally have my computer fixed and internet access back up and running - hoorah!
More coming soon from our favourite son of Naltor and the Xanthu Amazers Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
HURRAY! Glad to have you back, Harbinger Posted by Harbinger on :
Brainiac 5, of course, took swift command of the situation.
“They will be expecting you to arrive in your training groups and will, if they have any intelligence, be ready to deal with them. “
Even Atmos, Rol noticed was giving the Coluan Legionnaire his full attention.“There are five problems to deal with; the collapse of Ghandi Gorge...”
Nura interrupted here, gently placing her hand on her fiancé’s arm as she did, “I’ve already foreseen that I will deal with Elysion there darling. It will be my pleasure.” Rol is chilled by the lack of emotion in Nura’s voice as she says she will deal with the psychopathic geomorph who had murdered her in Legion Plaza.
“Of course.” Brainiac 5 pauses for a second before carrying on, “Our immediate concern is removing the crowds from below the Spire, the Legion learned that lesson already.”
Atmos grins and steps towards the Legionnaire genius as he says “It would be my pleasure.” He almost gazes at Rol as he finishes saying it but doesn’t quite make eye contact. Without another word the Amazers’ leader flies out of the door and off to deal with the religious movement he had so vehemently opposed.
“He’ll have to deal with Sun Emperor and a couple of Durlans, but that shouldn’t take him too long.” Nura’s expression tells Rol that she has slipped out of the Now into the Next, monitoring Atmos’ activities.
As several of the trainees start to talk amongst themselves and even the Monstress looks anxious Brainiac announces “If no one else wants to run off without a plan let me tell you what we are going to do next.”
Posted by Harbinger on :
The Great Eye, Xanthu’s first astronomic satellite was renowned for the images and data it had gathered from distant galaxies over the last three centuries. At the time of its construction it was one of the largest and most sophisticated pieces of engineering ever built. These days it was a famous tourist destination and galaxy renowned centre for education.
All contact had been lost just over an hour ago.
Jasmin Cullen’s team, the Star Stormers, had been sent to investigate. With her were Typhoon, the young trainee Separator and the other four members of the team. Brainiac 5 asked for information on them and quickly the trainees present told the Coluan all they knew.
“How many of you can travel and survive unaided in space?” Brainiac 5’s abrupt manner was still grating Rol realised, as the Amazers and their trainees answered. Only Captain Marvel and another member of the trainee team the Leviathans, a powerful looking Tamaran who called herself Andromeda could.
“Well, we can even the odds a bit, Shadow Lass it’s time you suited up Drake
Posted by Harbinger on :
Tasmia Mallor smiled as she reached into a pocket in her cloak.
“Brainy has fitted us all with these inter dimensional storage access Tesseract Pockets; they make carrying things so much easier.” As she said this she pulled out an armoured suit the size of a fully grown man and helmet with a glass face plate. “Meet one of our newest members, Wildfire.”
The suit uncrumpled itself, as it filled up with the invisible anti-energy body of the onetime blackmailed political saboteur known as Drake Burroughs.
The Monstress turned to Lamprey and said sweetly “We really need to get those pockets fitted, just think of the accessories we could take with us.”
“Time to get going, eh?” The voice from the newly filled suit sounded so normal, so human that Rol found it almost the most difficult thing to comprehend.
“Drake, take these ladies up to the Great Eye and sort out any problems you find. “
James Cullen stepped forward and said, “Hang on a minute you can’t let two trainees and your new guy deal with this themselves. You don’t know what’s waiting for them up there.”
“Actually I’ve been monitoring all planetary news feeds as we’ve been talking,” Brainiac 5 turns his right palm towards the watching group showing a small holographic display, “and according to the latest surveillance there are a team of four villains and apart from the user of one of the Emerald Eyes of Ekron they aren’t really much of a challenge.”
“My sister is up there mister ...”
Nura interrupted James, “She’ll be fine, you’ll be with her in a couple of hours but we have bigger battles to fight before we get there darling.” James scowled and crossed his arms, but remained quiet.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
As the trio step through the transmatter towards the Great Eye Brainiac 5 turns to the remaining group.
“There’s trouble in the heart of East Continent, the villagers near to the caves have reported explosions...”
The group turns to Rol and after his recent adventure there looks in expectation. “That’s where Particon and Atom’x led their group, any stats Brainy?”
The Coluan Legionnaire looks at his palm display again. “It looks like this team is achieving its goal, they have caught two villains already though if a couple of you want to go help?”
Lamprey stepped forward, “I’ll go, I can’t stand around anymore.”
Pol Krinn also came forward, “Me too, let’s go” “Be careful sweetie”
The Monstress looked both disappointed with her co-leader leaving and proud of her for stepping forward.
Posted by Harbinger on :
“It’s time I went to Ghandi Gorge and sorted out Elysion once and for all, I need you James and that girl too.” Nura pointed to the trainee from the Leviathans with red skin and a tiger motif costume. “Maybe Salu too, are you around Atom Girl? Come out to play now please.”
A mote that quickly grew into a young woman flew off of Shadow Lasses cape and stood before Nura, hands resting anxiously on the handles of her guns.
“I’m staying here to look after Brainy.” Her defiant reply. Still, Rol could see that for all her bluster she was not entirely confident.
Brainiac 5 replied, “Salu, help Nura, I’ll be fine here I promise.”
Atom Girl’s chin went up and she didn’t look at her fellow Legionnaire as she strode up to the Transmatter.
As Nura joined her she casually tossed over her shoulder, “Rol, take care.”
Posted by Harbinger on :
South Continent’s last remaining silver mine, under a 26th century nu-baroque designed geodome, often referred to as Xanthu’s Architectural Gem, had gone off line at almost exactly the same time as the Great Eye.
“The Persuader leads a team here, and this is where Psyche took her team including the two psi traitors.” Brainiac 5 positions the palm held holo out and with a wave of his left hand increases its size for all to see.
Science Police vehicles above the geodome were realtiming images of the scene.
A muscular man holding a huge axe with the traitorous Esper Lass and Lady Memory and an unknown woman with a silver cloak on beside him. On the floor before them in what looked like pools of blood lay Psyche, Dragon Mage, the xenomorph with eyes like petals and the mystic from Starhaven.
Struggling between two brown clad muscle men was the remaining member of their trainee team, the girl from the Alchemist World who called herself Nemesis Girl.
“Life stats?” Rol asked before he consciously thought. The Monstress had moved to a consol and was reading off the figures.
“Not good, Psyche is bleeding out. Early Light from Starhaven has lost a limb, he isn’t going to make it unless we act quickly. Contact from W’naddi Tooheeni is comatose. We need to get there already!”
The remaining Amazers, Legionnaires and trainees all moved towards the transmatter.
“Wait a moment, I’d like you to stay with me, just in case...” Brainiac 5 was pointing to Infectious Lass, who looked shocked at being singled out.
Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Laser Ape, Laughing Boy, Gates, the Monstress and Reflecto all followed Rol through the transmatter.
Posted by Harbinger on :
More coming soon and it'll be guaranteed action after all this chitter chatter scene setting stuff
Hope you enjoy!
Posted by razsolo on :
This stuff is great, Harbinger! I love everyone's characterizations...the scenes introducing the trainees was a really good snapshot for each of them. I also am really enjoying the way they interact in general, you can see obvious respect and affection with a lot of them. It's pretty cool seeing the non-Legion parts of the 3boot universe explored, I dont think we really get a lot of that in the comic until Shooter came along.
With Element Lad's death, are they talking about the Superboy-Prime story, or is this something different?
Looking forward to seeing the confrontation with the bad guys! Posted by Harbinger on :
For all of Atmos’ reputation for rushing in without thinking he could be a canny tactician. The nuclear powered hero knew that if he got involved in a battle with any Meta beings in the crowds below the Amazer’s Spire there could be non-combatant or collateral damage. He knew that since the... the accidental death of the Insect Queen his star was on the wane so he would have to box clever to deliver a result.
As he flew down to the lower decks he asked the Spire’s AI system to show him holos of the cult’s leaders and to pin point them if they were within the crowds. Two were: the witch Anagastru and her son, Tre. The advisor to the Afar Queen and her son, the so-called first Disciple. Well, he thought, they would do just nicely. Next he asked the AI to identify any in the crowd who didn’t have Xanthu DNA or any registered potential Meta ability. There were 18. He wasn’t surprised that Anagastru was on both lists. Well well well!
Stepping out of a previously invisible hatch at the bottom of the Spire the few cultists standing nearby parted before him as if wary of him, like he was a dangerous animal. Their conversations stopped around him as he walked through them. Atmos could play the politician as well as the warrior so he smiled and nodded his head in faux recognition. Twenty Mets in front of him he saw the group he was looking for huddled together like gossips. “Have you come to move us on again Atmos?” The Witch Anagastru had seen his approach through the parting crowds and called him out. “He needs your help Anagastru, that’s why I am here.” “Really?” She snorts in derision and turns away, her snub all the worse for the laughter that starts to break out around him.
“Please Anagastru, could I speak to you alone for a minute?” Standing over the old woman Atmos could see how physically frail she looked, but something in her eyes told him not to underestimate her intelligence or will. For all her strength of will, when Atmos put his own will to a task there were very few people who could argue for long, all he needed was two minutes and his scientifically enhanced charisma would have the old lady eating out of his hands.
Atmos smiled his most gracious smile.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Anagastru’s curiosity got the better of her and she allowed Atmos to gently pick her up and lift her into the clear sky above.
“Be honest nuclear man, what do you want from me? Do you think I’m so feeble that I’ll be impressed by you defying gravity with me?”
Atmos was impressed by her steely nature, he knew that he was physically imposing and had a reputation to match, still, a little old lady from a rural community on the Lo-Tec East Continent wasn’t going to stop him now.
“We have intelligence that your cult has a couple of... shall we say less than savoury members.”
She snorted again but before she could say anything Atmos told her of the Dark Man’s plans and how thinly spread the Amazers were. He was scared that civilians would get hurt, or worse, if they were caught between the rival sides in this super powered grudge match.
“I’ll help you identify them nuclear man. There are two nearby to where we are camped that have been raising my hackles all night....”
“Describe them, and then leave the rest to me.”
Both smiled. Atmos because he had influenced the old woman into giving him help so easily, Anagastru because her subtle magicks were making the co-leader of the Amazers tell her the whole truth and information was, as everyone knew, true power.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Anagastru’s two hackle raising strangers were, according to the Spire’s AI information, of Durlan origin. Easy enough, thought Atmos. An easy start, but still there were 15 other beings that had registered in the AI as potential Metas. How many of them would he need to fight before the day was over?
They landed with a great whumph of dust next to the old lady’s son and friends.
“Where are they?”
“Those two fat men in brown there.” The witch pointed to the two interlopers with her cane.
One of the men saw them and must have realised what was happening as his form shifted and within a second he was a Jovian Raptorilla, a purple horn as long as a man’s arm and ragged claws, sabre like teeth and raw pulsing muscle. The crowd roared as it ran.
“Damn it, if you want to fight then why not try taking it to me rather than trying to scare these people?”
Atmos flew towards the monster, easily avoiding a desperate blow and grabbed it by its ferociously toothed bottom jaw before flinging it into the air. As it spiraled to its apogee the Durlan began to reform its shape, growing large black wings were it once had arms and a wicked looking curved beak. Atmos released a burst of energy that lit up the sky like a fireworks show. The smoking burnt and unconscious Durlan plummeted to the ground and crash landed with a crack. By that time Atmos had turned his attention to finding the other would-be assassin.
Posted by Harbinger on :
“Come out to play sneaky Durlan,” Atmos called out to fast dispersing crowd, “You don’t want the Dark Man to think you are a coward do you? Don’t you know he hates cowards more than he hates failures.”
Anagastru, stood not thirty mets away called to the Amazer’s co-Leader, “It’s here Atmos. Please, don’t let it escape.” Her cane’s pizo-electric tip glowing green as it pointed towards a man trying desperately to hide behind a cart that had obviously been turned over as the crowd ran away from the battle.
As Atmos flew past her, apparently on his way towards the man she had pointed out, he scooped the old lady up and flew straight up into the sky increasing his velocity as he went.
“You don’t fool me shape-changer, so here’s the deal, you have until we reach the outer atmosphere to give it your best shot before I blast you towards the moon. And just so you know, Anagastru is ruder than an angry hippo and would never, ever say ‘please’!”
[ August 05, 2012, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Even as he spoke the old woman in his grasp began to change: first into a snake of colossal proportions that wound itself around him in a vain attempt to constrict the air from his lungs, then into a small bird, no bigger than Atmos’ thumbnail in an equally vain attempt to flee, before finally turning into a mirror version of Atmos himself in a futile attempt to startle the Amazer into releasing his captive. But even then it wasn’t finished. As they approached the upper atmosphere its form became hard and full of tiny spikes, letting the pressure of their speed in the rapidly thinning atmosphere push them into Atmos’ side and arm.
Atmos could feel the spikes start to break his skin but didn’t stop. Being able to survive in the hard vacuum of space was not a skill that he believed the Durlans had mastered. As he flew higher he simply radiated more raw heat until the Durlan finally passed out and resumed its natural form.
Posted by Harbinger on :
As he landed Atmos casually dumped the unconscious Durlan onto the ground.
“You are bleeding Atmos.” Anagastru, the real one this time, approached the Amazer holding out a small pouch. “I’m a healer of sorts so let me see if I can help you.”
She reached out with a cloth that smelled oddly of herbs and clay and gently rubbed it over Atmos’ shoulder. The cloth began to smouldered and she dropped it in surprise.
“I heal quickly, don’t worry. Now who have we left....”
As he looked around Atmos could feel that the fight wasn’t over yet. The Durlans may have been amateur but he knew there would be others here looking for an Amazer scalp to get them membership into the Dark Man’s Assassins that wouldn’t be so easy to defeat. Bring it on!
He was too busy scanning the crowds around them to notice Anagastru reach down to pick up the smouldering blood stained cloth, and even if he did Atmos had no understanding of the power of blood magicks so would not have worried.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Captain Marvel took point as they flew towards the Great Eye Observatory.
She had arrived with the Tamaran called Andromeda and Wildfire the Legionnaire through a Science Police Transmatter Station in orbit, 120 klicks from their target.
The Science Police gave them what intelligence they had gathered – there were at least four meta beings on board who had taken a party of nearly 70 tourists as hostage. The intel on the villains they were to face was sketchy - a woman with green hair who commanded one of the legendary Eyes of Ekron, a man who appeared to be there then wasn’t, and two lycanthropes that had already killed three of the command crew and threatened to kill the rest and fly the observatory towards the planet if their demands weren’t met.
Their demands were very simple – they wanted an Amazer each to kill.
The young Science Police Officer cadet who walked them towards the airlock was professional enough not to vocalise her worries though she looked terrified.
“We’ll be back soon, thanks for all your help.” Captain Marvel said, more to reassure the cadet.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Their plan was simple – hit the villains fast and hard.
All three had enhanced speed and strength, the Observatory had an automatic onboard protective force field that would seal over any rupture they created as they burst in, and hopefully they had surprise on their side.
They had been given the positions of their enemies by the SP as they left so they knew where they had to strike. With a great WHOOOSH! The out skin of the observatory flew off in front of them as they crashed through into the main docking bay. Great sheets of buckled metal crashed into the array of family transporters and mid range shuttles parked in neat rows. The alarm screeched to life and a red warning light started to spin in the air as the auto-field sprand a net of energy over the gaping hole holding in the atmosphere and detritus against the vacuum outside.
The three heroes were already out of the docking bay and on their way to their confrontation. The tourists were being held on the central mezzanine podium. Usual practice would be to go up three levels in the grav shafts and walk another 500 mets to the archaic twisting stairs that led up to this viewing point.
Captain Marvel and Wildfire crashed through all of this and flew at speed straight towards the woman in green who stood over the hostages. They had agreed that Andromeda would tackle the lycanthropes on the command deck while they tackled the Emerald Empress and freed the hostages.
Posted by Harbinger on :
As they reached her a wall of green energy sprung into the air between them, Wildfire rebounded in to a support strut and crashed onto the podium while Captain Marvel was bounced back straight through a wall.
Wildfire rose into the air and released a stunning bolt of anti-energy towards the gigantic floating Eye which it parried with a stream of emerald flame. Wildfire knew better than to release too much energy, he didn’t want to destroy this observatory, but he had to keep the Eye interested in him until at least Captain Marvel rejoined them. “Damn, where is she?” He muttered as he dodged a flaming attack and returned a blast of his own.
The Eye’s mistress laughed as the Legionnaire and her Eye fought and casually walked towards the nearest cowering hostage. A young woman who had curled herself around her child.
“Stop this nonsense Legionnaire or this woman and her mewling brat will not survive our meeting.” As she said this she drew a curved blade from her belt and leaned over the hostage.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Andromeda had crashed through the command decks floor directly underneath the two lycanthropes flinging both of them aside. The surviving command crew were at their respective posts and flinched as the floor uprooted itself and the Tamaran warrior appeared.
She didn’t stop to think, remembering her training under the Okaaran Triumvulate and turned towards the nearest of the wolf men. In the split second as it started to jump, claws like scythes reaching out to tear her flesh, she saw it was wearing a Star Fleet captain's uniform. She casually batted it aside as if the 250 pounds of clawed animal was an annoying insect and turned towards the other.
“Stop this before I have to hurt you, your claws will never get through my skin.”
Out of the corner of her eye she could see the lycanthrope that she had struck was unconscious and reverting to a human form on the floor near one of the empty command posts.
The remaining lycanthrope, smiled as it reached into a pouch on it’s belt and withdrew a small palm laser and through gruesome teeth snarled, “are you fast enough to avoid this though?”
She shut her eyes instinctively and dove towards him but he was fast, bounding out of her way towards the command deck staff, she crashed into the floor were he had stood less than half a second before.
Even as she regained her feet she grabbed at a piece of metal that had been ripped from the floor when she had crashed through it and flung it with incredible accuracy towards her foe. It spun through the air for an eternal second before slicing through the arm he had reached out to grab a member of the crew. Blood and screams seemed to fill the room. The lycanthrope roared in pain as he tried to halt the blood flow with his other hand. Andromeda floated over and gently landed just behind him and almost graciously swatted at the back of his head sending him flying across the room to land bleeding and unconscious beside his brother were wolf.
Andromeda looked around the room, seeing clearly for the first time the fear and horror on the crews faces and asked,“Do you have a Med Pack, I suppose we better stop that blood before he dies on us.”
The crew that had stood stunned as Andromeda and the lycanthropes had fought suddenly came to life. One of the crew, wearing a standard Star Fleet Medics uniform rushed over to the two unconscious villains and scanned them with a metallic blue tube he had pulled from his belt before reaching into a pouch.
“I prescribe Tourniquet gel, that’ll stop him from bleeding out then a strong analgaesic to keep them both out of mischief until the Science Police arrive.” He explained as he administered the grey salve to the bloody stump.
Even while the medic saw to the two captors the crew gathered around Andromeda, some trying to tell her what had happened, one crying as he told of watching his friend being beheaded, all of them coming to their senses after their awful ordeal.
“Who is in charge?” She asked, cutting through their conversation.
The crew seemed stunned and pointed towards the two unconscious men, “they were, Captains Morgann from the Winath Fleet.”
“One of you needs to release the lock on the Transmatter gate and contact the Science Police, tell them you need medics.” Several of the crew scurried to their posts as she spoke as her requests overrode the shock and fear that had been keeping them quiet,
“Right, time to help my team mates, if they need it.” And without acknowledging the crew she coolly floated into the air and disappeared down the hole in the floor she had created.
[ July 26, 2012, 06:38 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
quote:Originally posted by razsolo: This stuff is great, Harbinger! I love everyone's characterizations...the scenes introducing the trainees was a really good snapshot for each of them. I also am really enjoying the way they interact in general, you can see obvious respect and affection with a lot of them. It's pretty cool seeing the non-Legion parts of the 3boot universe explored, I dont think we really get a lot of that in the comic until Shooter came along.
With Element Lad's death, are they talking about the Superboy-Prime story, or is this something different?
Looking forward to seeing the confrontation with the bad guys!
Thanks for your kind words Raz, they mean a lot.
I took Jan's death from the script that Shooter had originally planned for the series, totally forgot about S-Boy Prime, oh well
Hope you are still enjoying this, more coming soon
Posted by Harbinger on :
As the Emerald Empress bent over her intended victim she smiled.She hadn’t stopped looking at the Legionnaire Wildfire, his pitiful attempts to get past her Eye as it spat great gouts of green flame towards him had pushed him further and further away from the hostages he so desperately wanted to save.
She could see out of the corner of her eyes the terrified woman wrapping herself around her small child as it cried. The woman was making small inarticulate noises in her throat, primal, fearful, and desperate. The Empress started to laugh. It was all too easy besting these dreadful ‘heroes’ she thought, they were bound by such limiting and boring morals.
She gently placed the sharp edge of her blade against the woman’s neck and was just away to call out to Legionnaire that he would lose this fight when Captain Marvel launched her attack. Speeding through the hole in the wall where she had been ejected the young woman who currently carried the mantle of the Shazam legacy grabbed the Empress and sped off back through the Observatory, heading towards the initial hole that the group had made when they had burst in. The Empress was already in the air by the time she realised that it had happened. She tried to push against the young hero but was no match against her strength.
Back on the Mezzanine floor the Emerald Eye stopped lashing out at wildfire and turned and sped after its mistress.
Captain Marvel flew at subsonic speed through the wreckage towards the hole in the docking bay where she had crashed through only a few minutes earlier. The Empress was unconscious, the air having been ripped from her lungs as Captain Marvel s speed had increased. If all the legends about the terrible Eye and its poor slave were true, thought the young hero, then it would be racing behind them right now, away from the hostages.
She reached the breach in the docking bay wall and barged through the protective force field and flung the still unconscious Empress away from the Observatory. Realising that the Empress had less than a minute to survive in the hard vacuum of space Captain Marvel hoped her plan was working. She turned a raced back the way she had come.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
As Andromeda flew through the observatory towards her team mates she could hear Wildfire before she saw him. Or more correctly, she could hear the whoosh and bang as his energy discharges created havoc for the fleeing Eye. She almost turned the corner into the docking bay but saw what was coming and decided to wait instead just out of sight.
Wildfire and the Eye of Ekron were flying erratically down the corridor, both blasting at the other while dodging each other’s energies. The corridor behind them was wreckage!
As the Eye turned into the docking bay Andromeda kicked out with a powerful blow which, as it was unprepared, sent the Eye crashing against a far wall. Even as it flew up towards them she sped towards it and punched it with both knuckles sending it into a madly chaotic spin. Wildfire took the opportunity to blast the Eye just before Andromeda got another punch in, sending it back towards the corridor it had just come out from. “We’ve got it on the run Goldie, keep hitting it!” Wildfire shouted exuberantly as he unleashed another crackling bolt of energy. Andromeda used the Eyes disorientation from the Legionnaires attack to strike at it again.
[ August 05, 2012, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
The Eye of Ekron was retreating from their combined attacks. Andromeda thought that its energy blasts did not seem as focussed as before, she was sure they were en route to disabling the foul creation. “Stop!” Captain Marvel’s voice rang out. Both Andromeda and Wildfire turned around as the young caped hero flew in towards them.
“The Empress is outside”, she pointed to the damaged wall of the docking bay, and “I’m trying to take the fight away from here so no more damage is done!”
As she spoke the Eye zoomed past them all and blasted through the already weakened force field.
“After it!”
Wildfire charged with the two Amazer trainees close behind him.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Although the Sun Emperor had studied up on the heroes of Xanthu he was not entirely sure of Atmos’ power set so rather than a direct attack he chose to strike when he thought the Amazer’s co-leader would be most vulnerable. If he had studied a little harder the solar powered villain would have realised that Atmos was possibly the least likely of any of the Amazer’s to succumb to his abilities.
Still, life is nothing if it isn’t a learning curve.
Atmos had been stood with a ragtag group of natives, persuading them to leave the area until they were given the all clear. The Sun Emperor chose this moment to strike, thinking that if he had attacked while there were civilians the so-called Nuclear Man would be unable to strike back.
Atmos had sensed the Sun Emperor’s approach; the solar powered villain’s energy signature loomed largely on his senses.
He had just finished saying to Anagastru and her son and friends that they’d better duck when the villain released a blistering flare! Atmos knew that his strength and nuclear abilities were well known, but he had also discouraged other aspects of his abilities to be so well reported. For instance, his ability to manipulate radiation, in this case mainly infra red, and plasma, The Sun Emperor took a couple of seconds to realise that the wall of flame that erupted aroung his intended victims before him was not as a direct result of the heat he projected lighting up the environment.
By that time it was too late for him as Atmos dove through the flaming mass and squarely punched the villain 15 feet into the air and four hours of unconsciousness. The villain’s broken jaw and nose were re-set by the Science Police medic before he woke up.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Even as they flew towards the Empress and the Eye they could see it had contained her unconscious and damaged body in it’s emerald energies. As they got closer they all swore later they had heard a voice say:
“You have made an enemy this day, Eye will not forget.”
And with that the Empress and the Eye vanished, as if they were never there.
Captain Marvel was first at the point were they had last seen the Emerald Empress and was not suprised, though disappointed, that she could find no trace of their adversary. After several seconds she turned and flew back towards the Observatory. Both Andromeda and Wildfire stayed behind, more hopeful of finding some clue to the Empresses whereabouts. She was more concerned that they had seen any sign of the Amazer team led by Jasmin Cullen that had been on the Observatory before them. And, wasn’t there a fourth villain? The Science Police had said there was someone who was there then wasn’t..
With that thought she sped up and rushed back to the Observatory.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Lamprey and Magnetic Kid stepped through a transmatter gate into a towns square.
The morning sun was just rising, casting long cool violet shadows over the grey granite cobbled yard. Lamprey was certain they were at the same castle where Rol had had that infamous adventure recently; this was where it was foretold he would become a Prophet. Her own people carried ancient stories of ancestor spirits and the Dreamtime with them to their new world in the 25th century but she had never been much of a theologian so didn’t take much stock of those sort of proclamations. There were far more practical issues to be dealt with. She was glad though that the SP had set up this temporary transmatter facility while they were exploring the nearby caves for any further signs of the villainous Tariq the Mute’s android manufacturing. Taylaskott was sure that, for all their arguing about their right to live a Lo-Tec life, the natives would be happy to finally be connected so easily with the rest of the United Planets.
A practical issue arose almost immediately in front of them; a group of terrified locals running through the square away from the distinctive sound of energy blasts. Both Lamprey and Magnetic Kid took to the air and flew as fast as their Amazer Flight Belts could take them over the nearby buildings towards the sounds of their colleague’s fight.
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From above they could see Radion blasting a large blue skinned man who seemed unhurt as he strode towards the energy casting Amazer.
“He’s mine!” and with that Lamprey dove down towards the villain and, under cover of Radions energy flares, grabbed the huge man from behind and began to absorb his life energy. After less than a second she was violently shrugged off his back and crashed into a building before slumping to the ground,
“Hey Pol, be a hero like your brother used to be and slow down this brute will you!” Radion’s call for help annoyed Magnetic Kid but he concentrated on the task at hand. The nearby buildings were made from timber and stone and the only metal he could sense was... it was in the attacking villain himself. He was an android!
Rol smiled as he realised that Radion would have to eat humble pie after this.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Two of the Spectrum, Radion and Atom’x team of trainees, flew around the corner just as Pol lifted the blue skinned android magnetically into the air. One of them, a young girl in green and gold, cheered as she saw Magnetic Kid, her fellow trainee, pull the arms and legs from the torso and wrap them magnetically around the villains body with a dramatic gesture.
Lamprey had got up from the ground and walked over to Radion and casually said, just loud enough for everyone present to hear, “I think Pol Krinn is a hero in his own right, wouldn’t you agree?”
As Rol floated down to join them, still keeping the defeated villain spinning gently in the air above them, the trainee in green and gold pulled him into a hug. “That was the last one in the town, Atom’x and the rest of the gang were chasing the rest of their motley crew while we waited for the SPs to take the ones we caught already away.”
Lamprey didn’t join in the celebrations, she was on the holofeed to the Spire.
“So where are the rest of the team, give me directions and distance.”
The image of Brainiac Five’s head nodded as it spoke, “Your team are about three klicks north north west of you. From the stats that we have received you will find them in a ravine battling three others. “ And with that he broke off their link.
The Science Police had arrived and Lamprey took charge; she would take Rol around and attack the villains from their rear while Radion took the Spectrum trainees and charged into the fight.
[ August 18, 2012, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Captain Marvel could knew there was something wrong when she flew into the mezzanine level on the Observatory. All of the hostages were still on the floor. No-one had tried to escape after the Emerald Empress been taken care of.
“Okay, get up and get out folks, the transmatter will be up and running now so look sharp!”
The hostages didn’t move but out the corner of her eye she could see something unusual. Turning quickly she caught sight of one of them apparanetly growing... she flew over to the young man in green and lifted him gently to his feet.
Before she could speak she knew by his body language that there was something usual happening, he didn’t seem afraid like the others, in fact he seemed happy.
“I’ve planted micro-explosives inside every one of your people Amazer and if you don’t give up now I’ll sacrifice the lot of them!”
“No, you won’t. I won’t let you, if need be I’ll stop you myself, you know that don’t you?” She spoke calmly, the note of resignation at the obvious violence tat would follow was a strange counterpoint to his calculated arrogance. “My people have been slaves to your scum for long enough, it’s time you knew what is was like to face our retribution!” He snarled and in front of her eyes shrunk down to nothing.
“What in..?” She looked around but there was no sign of the young man.
“He does that,” A young woman was moving towards Captain Marvel, looking around as she spoke, “He said something about how his people were ignorant slaves for our scientists and he would make a name for himself as their liberator.”
“He’s an Imskian, but the only contact they’ve had with this level of reality is with Brainiac 5.” The Captain mused to herself. “Okay Imskian rebel, I know what you are now and I know what you want. You can come out of your sub atomic hiding place and I swear by the Rock of Eternity that I’ll do everything I can to help your people. You don’t need threats or violence now.”
“What do you know?” He grew so quickly in front of the young Amazer trainee that she recoiled. “Do you know what it’s like to be so tiny that...”
Captain Marvel reached over and swatted him aside, he flew across the room and landed unconscious against a wall. “Idiot. I’ll help his people alright but he’s going to jail.” She flew over and searched his body, if the threats were true he must have a control for the explosives. In a pouch on his belt she found what she was looking for.
Using the Amazer holofeed to the Spire she called for Brainiac 5.
“Brainiac 5, I’ve ran into an Imskian freedom fighter, he says he has planted micro explosives on all of the hostages. I found this on his belt, what do you advise?” The holo of the Coluan Legionnaire’s head floated before her and was silent for a couple of seconds before he replied. “Ah, that’s where he went to, Salu has been looking for him everywhere. The explosives will be easy enough to remove, transmat the hostages to the Science Police headquarters on Central continent and I’ll forewarn them what to scan for. Keep him unconscious Captain, he will be difficult to contain if he wakes up again.” “Is he telling the truth about the conditions his people are being kept in?” But even as she asked the holofeed was cut off.
“Well, that was telling. I’ll deal with that later, right now I need to find the Jazmin and her crew.” The hostages were beginning to stand up and move around. Although they all looked scared none seemed physically hurt. Several approached Captain Marvel and a few checked on the unconscious Imskian, making sure he couldn’t do anything else to them.
A holo sprung up in the air in the middle of the space of the commander from Xanthu Science Police. “This is the Science Police. Please form an orderly queue and proceed to the in-station transmatter station on level 4”
One of the hostages pointed down a corridor where they had last seen the Amazer team led by Jazmin Cullens before the terrified woman hurried up to the transmatter and their escape from their ordeal.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Wildfire and Andromeda could be heard bickering before they reached the mezzanine floor. Captain Marvel called them over and they all flew down the corridor where their Amazer team mates were last seen.
Just around the corner they found the first of the trainees. A young woman with startling green eyes and an outlandish blue costume. The blood from her wounds where she had obviously been mauled by one of the werewolves was beginning to dry and her heart beat was so faint that even with her enhanced senses Captain Marvel had grave concerns. She called on the Spire AI and asked it to contact the Science Police Medic Team telling them to hurry.
“I’ll go on ahead...”
“Wildfire, wait, we don’t know what’s ahead.” Captain Marvel’s cool sensible tone stopped the Legionnaire from rushing headlong into who-knew-what.
Captain Marvel had the standard Amazer Medic kit in a pouch on her belt and quickly administered a gel to ease the pain and speed up the natural healing process. After putting the unconscious trainee in a recovery position Andromeda said in an ominous low tone, “Another reason I should have snapped those animals necks.”
They all accepted that they couldn’t do anything else for their comrade so sped down the corridor, all worrying that the next team mate they found wouldn’t be alive.
[ August 18, 2012, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
At the Amazer Spire Atmos had returned to the command deck and joined Brainiac 5 and Infectious Lass.
“Right Dox, where do you want me next?”
“Right here Atmos, do you really believe that the founder of the Assassin’s League would leave the Spire alone while randon psychopaths attacked Xanthu? No, we must be vigilant as I am certain we have not seen the last of them yet.”
“Umm... excuse me but is there anything you would like me to do?” Drura Sehpt’s nervous inquiry seemed to soften Brainiac 5’s demeanor.
“Of course, you can access, host and control to a certain extent, microbes and bacteria can’t you?”
“... yes?”
“Good, in my digestive tract there are Coluan bacteria that are some of the fiercest devourers of organic material in the universe. Only Coluans have ever adapted to be able to withstand their ferocious acidity. Are you able to summon some from me and host and grow them? I have a feeling we will be needing their unique properties soon.” “Dox!” Atmos interrupted the Legionnaire, “What is going on?”
“Your Spire has been compromised and despite my reservations towards your team I’m trying to protect it Atmos, what did you think is going on?”
Posted by Harbinger on :
Atom’x and the trainees were outmatched by the villains they faced. It hadn’t been apparent to start with as the villains had pretended to run away, but in fact they were luring the Amazers to an area that suited the villains abilities better.
One of the trainees had gotten too close the the giant from Big City and been swatted so hard she had smashed into the ground breaking a leg and several ribs. Another had been badly burned by the electricity another vilaain was casually throwing around. Atom’x and the last trainee were struggling to keep their ground against the third villain, a four armed woman with obvious magical skills that deflected and transformed their attacks.
Radion and the two trainees that had stayed behind in the Afar town to help search for other potential malcontents flew into the battle with a vigor that took the villains aback. Radion and the young girl who had hugged Rol, attacked the giant before he could attack their team mates. Radion directed burst after burst at the huge villain's face, distracting him, as the trainee, Chlorophyll Lass encouraged the plants around the giants feet to grow and constrict around his ankles. In seconds the giant was brought to his knees as he struggled to fight the Amazers on both sides. His enormous blows causing the ground to shake as he thrashed in anger.
The other trainee, Spyker, overcome by the excitement of the battle, extended his body grown thorns and projected them towards the electricity wielding villain. He didn’t feel a thing thankfully as the retuning blast of electricity killed him before he realised how hopelessly outmatched he was by his opponent.
[ August 18, 2012, 08:06 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Captain Marvel, Andromeda and Wildfire had found all of the Amazer team alive apart from Typhoon who they were having trouble locating. Jazmin seemed the least damaged and was regaining her feet and even put her hands out to defend herself as the trio had turned the corridor towards her. She was startled, and obviously relieved, to see them. The Science Police Medic Team wasn’t too far behind them now and they told her gently that the hostages were alright and the villains captured or had escaped. Jazmin explained how they had chased after a werewolf but lost it in the maze of service corridors and the in-ship AI wasn’t responding to their Amazer override queries. Captain Marvel explained how the Observatory had been infiltrated by two twin werewolves who had taken over the identity of the Winathian captains so they had probably taken control of the AI. One by one the group had been picked off, either by the werewolves or by green flame that seemed to erupt out of nowhere. Though as her memories returned she said that one of her team had just collapsed with no warning, as if attacked by an invisible intruder, it was probably the Imskian terrorist Captain Marvel explained.
The last Jazmin had seen of Typhoon he had been standing over her fighting off the two lycanthropes.
Wildfire had threatened to blast every wall down until they found their comrade, but thankfully that wasn’t necessary as Andromeda had called up the Command Deck and asked them to scan the Observatory and re-run and security footage to find their missing comrade.
The holo that hazed into sight before them was not what they wanted to see. The prince from a family that could trace it’s history back to Old Earth’s dynasties had apparently turned a corner and flown straight into a great blast of emerald energy leaving no trace of his existence behind.
By this point the Science Police Medic had arrived and started to examine Jazmin. She stood upright, her head held high as he ran a blue light over her body, her tears never detracting from the determination on her face
Posted by Harbinger on :
more later, any feedback greatly appreciated.
Posted by Harbinger on :
The transmatter station at the Ghandi Gorge was strategically placed at the bottom of a small dip in a small centre offering information on the amazing geological feature that the visitors were away to experience. Normally visitors would have to climb the incline to appreciate the view.
Dream Girl, James Cullen the Kid Quantum, Red Tyger and Atom Girl were faced with a devastated building, boulders the size of vehicles strewn around and a couple of terrified locals who seemed angry as much as shocked by what had happened to their normally sleepy little outpost overlooking this natural wonder on a usually overlooked continent.
Nura Nal took the lead, pointing where she wanted Atom Girl and the Amazer trainee, Red Tyger to go and explaining to them that they would face a couple of villains who they could easily take down and once they were dealt with to look for survivors amongst the rubble. Atom Girl looked haughty and rebelious as she was given her orders but flew off in the direction pointed without a word afterwards.
“James, you must promise me something, no matter what happens you must stick to dealing with your own problems okay sweetheart? Don’t get distracted or we will not have a happy outcome here.”
“Of course I will Nura, what are you trying to say?” Jame’s discomfort at having his professionalism questioned put him on the defensive. If he was honest with himself he found Nura Nal’s self confidence and highly trained precognition made him uncomfortable. She showed none of the humility that made Rol so attractive.
“James, when Querl rebuilt my body using the Life Eradicators technology he increased... well he boosted my neurological processing capacity so now my mind is literally caught between here and what’s to come. I know you are very very capable, I’m not doubting that sweetheart but you must be careful and not let anything you think you see happening distract you, okay? Leave Elysion to me, you have to deal with the man with the hand.”
“You precogs can be so annoying, you know that?”
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Estimated to be formed over the last 23 million years by erosion from the River Ghandi through the Camfrom and Delilah regions on Xanthu’s East Continent, this canyon is almost 400 klicks long, 2 klicks deep and up to 4 klicks across. It is known for its overwhelming size, intricate coloration and unique ecosystems.
Tourists are welcomed at the only transmatter station on the far northern rim where views to the distant Exelsus mountains have been recorded. The upper Camfron Zone has one of the last remaining native forests of Xanthu. These indigenous species were mistaken for natural crystalline structures be early explorers were incredibly sensitive to the electrto-magnetic fields that their transport and communication devices using. It is estimated that over 95% were wiped out within a decade of Xanthu’s settlement. Due the the sensitivity of these unique beings the rescue services are limited to using petro-chemically fueled vehicles so all tourists must sign a life waiver before being allowed to use the many trails and tacks that zig-zag through this amazing geological structure.
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Red Tyger assumed her alter-form and bounded down the gorges steep sides with total confidence. Her heightened senses alerted to the two women before either had realised she was there. One of the women appeared to be on fire, her hair forming a fiery corona around her heart shaped face. The other wore a green costume with a web motif and had long red hair that appeared to move independently.
Red Tyger was wary of fire, her species did not need heat as much as the Terrans so had never needed to tame it. They had culturally avoided it and in their past had even seen it as the presence of an evil spirit. Well, she thought, my ancestors were right, there was definitely an evil spirit here today.
The air stunk of burning and ashes and Red Tyger took a few seconds to return to her more humanoid form. Activating the comms channel via her Amazer buckle she whispered “Atom Girl, I have eyes on two of the villains. Mark my co-ordinates. I’m going in.”
While both villains stood and discussed the carnage they had caused here in this most beautiful of places Red Tyger snuck up towards them. She was within 10 mets of them when she leapt, her alter-forms great strength and speed hurtling her towards the green clad villain with the amazing red hair.
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Spider Girl heard the attacking Amazer trainee too late and had only just started to turn when the alien saber toothed feline form of Red Tyger smashed her into her fiery comrade. Both fell in a heap, spider letting out a yelp of pain as her hair smouldered and took light. Blaze pushed her companion away and got onto one knee and turned to face their attacker. Red Tyger had landed 15 mets away and was bounding towards the two villains with a great roar. Blaze blasted a great bolt of plasma in the direction of her attacker and started to stand up.
Red Tyger had anticipated Blaze’s reaction and leapt into the air to avoid the energy discharge, the fur on her hind legs and belly caught some of the heat and she could feel it start to singe though. Red Tyger landed virtually on top of Spider Girl, knocking the already struggling villains back onto the ground, her hair snaking around the Amazer trainee trying to crush the air out of her. Red Tyger swatted at Spider Girl’s head with one massive paw and knocked her unconscious. Her hair still entangled Red Tyger and she struggled to get out of this trap,
“I quite liked Sussa but I’m here for myself ultimately. If you try to attack me again you’ll regret it kitty kitty. Actually you’ll regret it anyway as I’m going to be one of Dark Man’s Assassins whatever you do. “
Blaze strode up to the struggling trainee with a delighted smile on her face. This woman had no concerns that she may kill her comrade in the process, she wanted something and it really didn’t matter to her who got in her way. With Red Tyger’s heightened senses she was acutely aware of the infra red portion of the spectrum so her sight was full of the glow of the incredible rise in temperature. Quickly she transformed back to her humanoid form, Spider Girl’s hair fell off her, and she rolled aside as fast as she could.
Even as Red Tyger took evasive action Atom Girl arrived and coming up behind the fiery villain she took a blaster from her holster on her left hip and casually changed the setting. Just as Blaze was away to release a tremendous burst of heat towards Red Tyger Atom Girl strode up to her and pointed her gun at the villains right templer.
“Do that and I’ll fry your synapses so badly you’ll need someone to wipe your ass from here on.”
Blaze turned to her new opponent in anger, taking her eyes off Red Tyger, which gave the trainee the perfect excuse to try out the martial arts kick she had been shown just that morning in her teams first meeting. In her humanoid form she was several times stronger than the average human so her blow knocked her fiery opponent into a cliff face.
“bitch, I hate fire!” Red Tyger regretted the words as son as she said them, Amazers were not supposed to show such emotions. Atom Girl only laughed.
“I think she got the point. Now let’s anaesthi-cuff these two and see if there’s anyone trapped under these fallen boulders.”
[ August 19, 2012, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Harbinger, I find it really awesome how you can juggle so many characters and still give each of them a chance to shine AND give them their individual voices. It looks like you're setting Infectious Lass up to save the day later; and Red Tyger is a dark horse.
I'm also especially liking Captain Marvel, but all of your characters are great.
Finally, I love how your writing style manages to get a lot said without rambling on and on and on! Very efficient!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Wow, thanks for your praise IB, glad to hear you are enjoying this! It is a bit hard sometimes remembering who is where in this chapter but the next one will be easier as Rol meets someone from his past, working title is Tempus Fugitive so that'll give you a clue to what's planned.
Captain Marvel is a favourite of mine so it was fun to write her piece, and Drura has a few scrapes to get through herself before this story is finished. As do a few others
Thanks again
C x
[ August 19, 2012, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Below them James could see the geomorph called Elysion. The psychopath had caused so much damage on Earth that James was concerned that he could be free to create similar damage to one of the greatest geological features in this solar system.
“He’s mine James.” The determination on Dream Girl’s face turned it hard and, James thought, quite a bit scarier than he could have imagined. She dove out of the sky towards her opponent leaving James behind.
A flash of light alerted him to the energy bolt that the other villain below, perhaps a klick down the ravine from his killer comrade had slung in his direction. James dodged and dived towards the source: A slight man with a glass helmet that contained a dark gas that obscured his feature. James Cullin knew who this villain was as well. The rogue mutant called Mano!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Elysion saw them above and when he recognised who was diving towards him he started to cheer.
“I killed you once Legionnaire and am looking forward to killing you again!”
Rocks the size of small houses dislodged themselves from the wall of the canyon, unleashing terrifying landslides to crash down to the bottom of the ravine and the silvery stream below. Nura dodged and ducked and kept flying towards her opponent.
At one point James had looked over and thought he had seen Nura get smashed by a flying boulder but half a second later he saw her appear, she must have swerved around it just in the nick of time! James concentrated on the battle he was away to engage in, as Nura had said, he had to keep his mind on the job at hand.
Mano was standing on top of a boulder releasing bolt after bolt of destructive energy. James was dodging and releasing small spheres of quantum energy, filling the area between them with bubbles of energy. Mano was still too far away for James’ quantum energy to effectively reach so he hoped this field of sparkling energy bubbles would distract the villain long enough for James to get in close enough to put a stop to him.
He glanced over again and couldn’t see Nura anymore. The air was erupting for 500 mets around the psychopath Elysion with sand and stones and rocks and boulders.
“Nura!” James started to turn towards where he had last seen the Legionnaire when a blast of energy zapped past him, missing his head by a centimet! His eyes watered as the energy went past and he remembered Nura’s warning. He had to focus. But, damn, how could he return to the Spire and report that Dream Girl had been killed again and hadn’t tried to save her?
Posted by Harbinger on :
In the Spire it had been several minutes since Brainiac 5 had made his announcement and Infectious Lass was tentatively rubbing her hands across the Coluans torso. His face has screwed up in discomfort a few times but he had allowed the Amazer trainee to continue.
Atmos has rushed off to the security vault intent on dealing with any intruders.
“um, Mr Dox, um, sir, I think I have them. I’ve never felt anything like them before as they are quite voracious.” Infectious Lass was rubbing her hands together as she spoke, her eyes were distant.
“I assume you’ve been taking samples from other members of your team while you’ve been here as well?” He was looking at the holo feed from his palm unit as he spoke.
“Yeah, I’ve been trying, but after the incident on Webers World’s Medicus when my family and I first arrived it’s been kind of difficult to...”
“Good good, not on Level 38 where the docking bay for personal transport is stored I’ve been monitoring dust movement in non-chaotic patterns. There’s something up there that doesn’t want to be found. I haven’t tried an intrusive scan yet as it would be better if we didn’t alert it. Do you think you could go up there and spread a little Coluan stomach bug? If I’ve calculated correctly the shock should ensure your success. “ He turned to her and could read her nervousness, “Atmos can join you if you don’t think you are up to it.”
“No I’ll go. Level 38 you said? Okay, wish me luck.”
Brainiac 5 smiled to himself as she left. These Amazers were incredibly easy to control and so stupid to leave him alone to access their AI system unsupervised.
Posted by Harbinger on :
That's definitely it for today - housework calls
Hope you are enjoying this and please feel free to post your views, thanks!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Magnetic Kid and the Lamprey flew over the bluff just in time to see the Amazer trainee known as Spyker be killed by the lightning wielding villain. The villain was too busy shouting about how he would join the Dark Man’s Assassins to see Pol and the the Lamprey. Pol reached out with his magno-sense to locate nearby metals. The most accessible he could find was on the entangled giants: eye-lets for the huge boot laces.
“Chlorophyll lass”, Pol shouted to the trainee whose manipulated plants were currently holding the wriggling giant from re-joining the fight,”Keep the giant wrapped up, I’m going to try something.” His fellow trainee nodded and continued concentrating on growing the vines which held their opponent captive. Pol reached out and ripped the metal hoops from the giants boots and threw them towards the gloating electric villain.
While Pol was doing that the Lamprey flew towards the four armed woman who was giving Radion and the fire breathing trainee such difficulty. She could hear the words that the woman was saying but they sounded unlike any language she had heard before. Taylaskott was experienced enough in the use of her abilities to know that she needed to touch flesh to initiate the absorption of energy, but as her opponents cloak and hood obscured her view. She would have to take a chance and reach around and hope the villain wasn’t entirely covered up.
Posted by Harbinger on :
James kept scattering bubbles of quantum energy in front of himself as he dove towards Mano. He knew that he would have to try something dangerous to get a chance of getting close enough to the villain to have a chance of capturing him.
When Jazmin and James had first been inducted into the Amazer program their abilities had generated a lot of interest in the scientific community on Xanthu. Being able to create selective pockets that actively defied understanding of the space-time continuum spawned a branch of science that still clashed with the more conventional beliefs held by the wider United Planets community. A young Querl Dox had even visited them and hypothesized various uses they could put their abilities towards. One of those suggestions now came to mind as James desperately tried to work out how to get close to the villain.
Querl Dox had suggested that if the Kids Quantum could control their energies enough to internalize their effects they could effectively place themselves outside of the normal flow of time. James had tried a few times, with various results, but this time he had to succeed if he had a chance. Taking a deep breath he concentrated and focused his energies on himself.
Posted by Harbinger on :
The sky appeared violet, the rocky cliff faces, previously a mixture of reds and ochers had a blue green tinge and below him, James could see the villain known as Mano seemed to be frozen in place. In the distance James could see a flock of Green Parakeets flying away from the fighting in the Gorge.Transposed to Xanthu when it had first been settled these resourceful birds had spread and multiplied, become one of the most common wildlife sights. Their wings seemed frozen.
James had succeeded in placing himself outside of the time stream!
Swooping below the quantum bubbles he had scattered to distract the destructive villain below he zoomed towards his opponent. Even as he approached James perception began to subtly change, the greens and blues that had been spreading across the cliff faces like watercolours began to solidify, the violet hues above in the sky appeared more red, becoming a darker tone with every passing instant. James knew he could not keep this level of exertion up for long, his heart beat pounded like a drum and sweat broke on his brow. Landing behind Mano he quickly took the anaesthicuffs from a pouch on his belt and placing the villains arms behind his back James wrapped the 'cuffs around Mano’s arms.
As he did there was a terrific boom, as if the skies above had ripped open hurling James to the ground.
As he clambered to his feet James was immediately aware that the cliffs and skis above had returned to their correct colours. His internalized quantum energies had ended. His heartbeat had returned to normal.
Looking around he saw Mano collapse unconscious, the SP provided anaesthicuffs having done their job. James sat down on the ground next to the unconscious villain and took a deep breath and looked up towards the sky. He felt as if he had just ran a marathon! Taking a few deep breaths James touched the Amazer Buckle on his belt to activate the holofeed.
A holo of Querl Dox, Brainiac 5 of the Legion, appeared before him.
“Querl, I’ve got one of them here, but I’m not sure what’s happened to Nura. I’m away to investigate.”
“Nura has already reported in James, you will find her two thirds of a klick to the west of your current position.” And with that the holofeed was cut.
[ September 09, 2012, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Wow, Harbi, I'm amazed once more at your ability to juggle so many characters and make them relatable and fun! And I love how you make it so even someone without much knowledge of the Legion can follow your story.
Plus, you manage to push them all to their limits. Having James be able to step out of the timestream, Lamprey be able to absorb energy, and setting Drura up to have a major scene is great! And having Brainy be a strategic intelligence is a great way to have a noncombatant character still play such a major role in the story.
Posted by Set on :
I'm also fond of both the time-manipulation from James and the energy absorbtion from Lamprey, as it's cool to see James stepping into his own (having been, in the comics, somewhat overshadowed by his sister's accomplishments after his death) and Lamprey has rarely been shown using this aspect of her abilities (which fit nicely with her choice of code-name).
Loving the focus on less-used characters, as always, Harby!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Thanks guys, greatly appreciate your continued support.
James and Jazmin's abilities were woefully under explored (to start with anyway, then Jaz became a Panel Hog of Imra-like proportions and seemed to do anything she wanted with a wave of her hand)so I'm going to examine a few more ideas I have with them before this story is through. Glad to hear you like what's been done so far.
More coming soon, thanks again
Posted by Harbinger on :
Radion and Fire Lad were at their limits, their opponent had neutralized their attempts to incapacitate her with a wave of her hands and a gutterel chant. Even Fire Lad’s attempt to fuse the rock beneath her feet had failed. The Amazer was profoundly aware that one of the trainee team had died already and two more were badly injured. There was no way Radion would allow anymore to suffer today.
“Cover me”, Radion said it quietly to the exhausted flame breathing trainee. He nodded as he took a huge breath and released a huge burst of fire and smoke towards the advancing villain. Radion took the opportunity to fly up above the fight and release a blast from on top of the cloaked witch.
Even as the energy bolt ripped into the four armed woman, momentarily making her stumble the Lamprey jumped onto her back, wrapping her legs around the villain. Taylaskott ripped through the cloak and grabbed a hold of her opponent and initiated her energy absorption abilities. The resulting explosion threw her twenty feet into the air and if it had not been for her races adapted physique that allowed them to survive terrific pressures underwater she would have been far more seriously hurt than she was. She was dazed for several seconds before her eyes cleared enough to see.
The trainee Amazer Fire Lad was stumbling to his feet, Radion landing beside him reaching out to check if he was alright. There was no sign of the villain, only a smoking crater several feet deep and some ragged remains of a cloak.
“That was impressive, want to try that on me?” The Lamprey turned around to find herself facing the electric wielding villain who had killed the trainee known as Spyker. As an Amazer she had been briefed on all the current meta-villains that the Science Police and Legion encountered. She immediately recognized Mekt Ranzz. Lightning lord of the Wanderers, wanted for multiple murders on several worlds.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Even as Mekt Ranzz summoned up a huge electric charge Pol Krinn struck. Using the metal hoops that had been the eye-lets on the now trapped giant villain’s boots to wrap around Lightning Lord, twisting the bands to hold him tightly Pol pulled the villain onto his back and pushed the ends of the metal into the sand and rock below to temporarily ground the electricity Lightning Lord had been generating.
The Lamprey walked up to the trapped Lightning Lord and bent over to slapped him across the face, knocking him unconscious.
“That felt good.” She stood up and turned to Radion. “How are you two?” Radion offered a thumbs up as Fire Lad continued to stumble around dazed with the Amazer holding him up.
Pol joined her, standing over Mekt Ranzz’s fallen body. “I’ve called the Science Police, hopefully they’ll get their medics here fast.”
The Lamprey reached up with a hand and gently pulled Pol to her and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. He started to pull away and stammer a sentence when she said, “You are just as much a hero as your brother ever was Pol, don’t forget that okay? I couldn’t have taken down Mekt Ranzz without you. Thank you.”
Pol could feel the blush burn his face but he smiled back to the green skinned Amazer, “Thanks, ummm, I’m fairy sure you could have dealt with him but I’m glad to help.”
“Right, let’s get our friends some help.” And with that she walked away, professionalism and training kicking in. Pol smiled and gently rubbed his cheek where he just been kissed.
[ September 09, 2012, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
James had squeezed the green mush from the emergency rations packet into his mouth and swallowed with a face twisted in disgust. This stuff may be developed to provide him with all the nutrients, proteins, calories and carbohydrates he would need for the next twenty hours but did it have to taste like he imagined Atmos’ socks would after a space battle? Almost immediately though he could feel the benefits as his muscles stopped aching and he knew he would be ready to face whatever came next.
He smiled as he thought that, he had grown used to Rol telling him what would happen next and, were he to be entirely honest, James actually enjoyed the prospect of not knowing until it, whatever it was, actually happened.
Taking to the sky James signaled on his Amazer Buckle for the SP to come and collect his fallen opponent and went in search of Dream Girl. Despite Querl Dox’s unemotional assessment of her condition James was nervous about what he would about to face.
From the air he could see the Legionnaire, sat on top of an unconscious man apparently filing her nails! Rol had told James months ago that Nura Nal was the most surprising person he had ever met and James realized that Rol had not been exaggerating.
Landing beside her he said, “You okay Nura? I thought you were lost for a second back there.”
“You are a sweetheart James, I can see why Rol is so smitten by you.” Her smile was radiant as she looked up to him, never stopping filing as she spoke. “Now if only these nails of mine were so reliable.”
“Eh, how exactly did you manage to defeat him Nura? I saw you engulfed by stones and rocks. You may be a damn fine pre-cog but how did you get past that?”
“I’ll let you into a little secret James that I think Rol already knows but he may not have told you yet. You see when my darling Querl rebuilt me using the Life Eradicators technology he wanted to make sure that no-one could ever hurt me again so he made me kind of super strong and invulnerable. Elysian didn’t know that so I simply pushed my way through all the rubble he threw at me and then dropped him on his head a few times. Silly boy could have given up but he simply kept screaming ’why don’t you just die’ at me instead. Some people simply won’t learn”
James sat beside Nura, careful not to actually sit on top of the geomorph who had caused such destruction, and laughed to himself. “You knew I’d see that attack on you didn’t you?”
“Of course sweetheart and I really wouldn’t have wanted you to get distracted, that’s why I asked you to not help me. Oh James,” She had turned towards him, her face suddenly showing concern and reached out to run her fingers through his hair, “When did you start going gray?”
[ September 09, 2012, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Dream Boy and Shadow Lass stepped through the transmatter simultaneously. On the other side was a woman with long blue dreadlocks who sprung at them. Shadow Lass kicked out at their attacked, knocking her to the floor with a crash. Before the villain could get to her feet Rol had placed the SP anaesthicuffs on her and she was asleep before the rest of the team had joined them.
They were on the first floor of the silver mine. Rol was surprised to see how spacious and homely the inside of the building was, not at all industrial as he had imagined. Even as he looked around he could see the Monstress gently lift the villain that had attacked him and Shadow Lass and place her onto a large sofa against a wall.
“Wouldn’t want to trip over her.” the large green Amazer said to no-one in particular.
Saturn Girl telepathically linked their minds together and they all acknowledged the need for stealth.
Laser Ape and Gates would grab the injured Amazers and trainees and get them back to the Spire for urgent medical treatment while Monstress would take on the Persuader. Gates and Laser Ape would need to combat the two large men they had seen dragging their fellow trainee Nemesis Girl. N’Gok gave a huge grin at the thought of showing off her prowess. Shadow Lass insisted the Lady Memory would be ‘her pleasure’ to capture. No-one argued with the Talokian warrior, her passion and determination burning through the telepathic link. Saturn Girl would tackle Esper Lass, leaving Rol and Reflecto to deal with the final threat – the mysterious woman in the silver cloak. They had made their way down to the exit where they could hear the Persuader talking outside to the woman in the silver cloak.
“Umm... what about me?” Laughing Boy blushed as he asked. Rol felt a stab of embarrassment at having forgotten about one of his own team.
“I’m glad you asked,” Saturn Girl’s cool telepathic voice eased Rol’s embarrassment, “We need you to help with our strategy by helping whoever needs it, we need you to be our wildcard!” Shadow Lass covered the beginnings of a smile by agreeing vocally.
“Umm, thanks, I think.”
“Right, let’s do this.”
Even as Gates teleported himself and Laser Ape and the rest of them stormed out the door, none of them had noticed that the talking outside had stopped.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Gates judged the distance perfectly.
Laser Ape jumped out of the warp and landed on the back of one of the two muscle bound men wearing orange and beige jump suits who were dragging their fellow Amazer trainee, Nemesis Girl towards the other villains. As they fell forward N’Gok turned towards the other, eyes meeting. Twin bursts of laser beams struck the surprised villain, immediately blinding him. He let go of the badly beaten Amazer trainee and covered his eyes. Even as N’Gok crashed onto the ground, pushing the falling villains head firmly into the tundra below as they landed Gates had reached for Psyche and the alien known as Ambassador Contact and teleported them away.
N’Gok turned and jumped at the blinded thug, slamming her considerable bulk into his upper torso shoving him backwards. She looked down at his feet as they struggled and once again blasted with her laser vision, his boots bursting into flames. The brutish villain let out a howl of pain and tried to pull his feet away from the fire, tripping himself up in the process. N’Gok let fly a mighty blow punching the villain so hard in the face that his nose burst spectacularly and teeth flew from his mouth. He was unconscious half a second later as he crashed unceremoniously to the ground.
[ September 09, 2012, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
I think Laser Ape is now one of my favorite characters EVER.
Great characterization for ALL your characters in just one post - Shadow Lass' regal fierceness, Saturn Girl's cool reassurance of Laughing Boy, Dream Boy's concern for his teammates, and Monstress' compassionate nature. Two thumbs up!
Posted by Set on :
Woo, Laser Ape!
My love for Laser Ape is unseemly, and illegal in most jurisdictions!
Posted by razsolo on :
Yay, I have just caught up! This is great, Harbinger...you have a gift for being really succinct without the plot or characterisations suffering at all.
Also, I kind of love Red Tyger a lot...am I right in thinking she is based on that chick that was at the Legion tryout when Polar Boy, Quislet et al joined?
And more Laser Ape is always an awesome thing Posted by Harbinger on :
Outside of the mining complex the Persuader had heard Shadow Lass. Signalling his comrades to be quiet he turned towards the large doorway and prepared to swing his Atomic Axe at anyone who came out.
Esper Lass concentrated but could only sense a gap, a blindspot that signaled to anyone with sufficient psychic ability that there was a telepathic screen in place. Although she was unaware that it was Saturn Girl who was within she knew that there was a telepath of some skill inside. She telepathically told her comrades of this and concentrated her own considerable mental skills readying herself for what was to come. Lady Memory walked up towards the Persuader, an eager grin on her face. She knew that a battle was coming so she drew the sacrificial blades from her belt and tensed herself.
None of the villains present were ready for Shadow Lasses darkfield. The Persuaders Axe cut through the air with a screech but didn’t strike anything until he hit, and cleaved into the ground beneath his feet. The streak of light it allowed in filled up with an uneasy liquid blackness within a second of his attempt to strike at his opponents.
Esper Lass threw a potent psionic bolt towards the door blindly. It struck Saturn Girl’s screen and dissipated as the Titanian Legionnaire flew out the door towards her. At that point the villains all heard the commotion behind them as Gates and Laser Ape appeared and fought the Bedlam Brothers to rescue their injured comrades. The Persuader stood his ground with his Axe pointed towards the doorway. Although he could not see anything before him he was experienced enough not to feel totally disorientated.
Lady Memory shouted out behind him: “Mallor! You can try your cowardly sight stealing tricks on my companions but you will never be a match for the Memory Clan.”
[ September 11, 2012, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Saturn Girl had linked their minds so everyone could see what Shadow Lass saw.
The Monstress was amazed at the subtle hues and tones that she experienced within the otherwise impenetrable blackness. As she charged towards the Persuader he must have somehow sensed her and moved his Atomic Axe before him. Had she not had the advantage of being able to see him move and stop just in time she had no doubts that it would have sliced her in half. In that fateful second Laughing boy darted silently past her and ducked under the Persuader’s solid frame. He extended his tail until the pheromone releasing end was inches from the armed thug’s helmet and waited. The Monstress flew up behind him preparing herself to punch the villain in the face. The darkness and muffled sounds of the fights happening around them made this frozen tableau surreal in their minds. The Persuader’s hands started to twitch then he started to giggle, then laugh and within seconds was doubled over sobbing and cackling with an alarming glee. Within ten seconds it sounded as if the Persuader had started to vomit and choke inside his mask. At this point he tore off his helmet and between gasps bellowed out in a futile mixture of rage and pheromone induced hysteria. His body was convulsing spasmodically as if in the grip of a seizure as he started to stand up and blindly swing his axe in desperation. At this point the Monstress let loose her blow and he literally flew 30 feet into the air before crash landing in the tundra.
“Thanks Laughing Boy, you managed to disable him magnificently there. What an asset that tail of yours is!”
Laughing Boy, although smiling was obviously not as happy as the Monstress expected. She realised that the elven Amazer Trainee had wanted to deal with the Persuader by himself, his need to prove himself amongst his peers writ large across his face. Even as she smiled at the trainee the Monstress knew she would have to let James and Rol, as his squad mentors, know about this.
Without another word to the trainee the Monstress flew over to the villain, who despite everything that had just happened was still not unconscious and slapped on anaesthicuffs. She noticed that even soundly under the influence of the ‘cuffs chemically induced coma his hand never let go of the Atomic Axe.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Saturn Girl knew that she would have to deal with Esper Lass quickly. The Titanian Legionnaire’s mental shields were buckling under the repeated psychic assaults her opponent was projecting. The strain of keeping up the telepathic network between all the Amazers and Legionnaires present so they could benefit from Shadow Lasses night vision and provide them with protection from psychic attacks was tremendous. Taking a second to draw in a deep breath Saturn Girl launched herself at her telepathic foe and as it appeared that she was away to fly right past her she folded her hand in towards her shoulder and landed a crashing elbow strike on the bridge of Esper Lasses nose. Esper Lass folded onto the ground without a sound.
In the darkness no-one saw the look of relief come over Saturn Girl as she wiped her brow and dropped her formidable yet battered psychic defenses.
Posted by Harbinger on :
While Dream Boy and Reflecto made their way around Shadow Lasses sphere of darkness towards their mysterious silver cloak wearing opponent Shadow Lass decided it was time, once and for all, to deal with Lady Memory.
Lady Memory, while not exactly telepathic had awareness of sapient beings perceptions around her. It allowed her to sense the approach of her hereditary foe and prepare herself for the fight. Her two knives hummed with energy as she crouched low readying herself. In her mind she ran through the ancestral memory of her clan: ever meeting between the two, the fighting techniques used, the surprise attacks, the drawn out duels, all of them flashed across her thoughts as she waited.
When the attack came Shadow Lass was surprised and excited by the savagery her opponent showed as they both struck out against the other. Ultimately, despite being able to perceive her opponents memories the Talokian villain was too focused with keeping herself from being pummeled into the tundra to manipulate Shadow Lasses mind. Despite the centuries worth of memories of Clan fighting techniques and a feral will to survive Tasmia Mallor finally managed to land the knock out blow, a right hand punch under Lady Memory’s jaw. As her opponent fell to the ground Shadow Lass dropped the darkness that had enveloped the majority of the battle.
She hadn’t even noticed the two cuts she had received to her torso until she felt the seeping blood on her side. By then both Saturn Girl and Laughing Boy were at her side offering assistance. Shadow Lass had no memory of collapsing in their arms.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Thanks for your very kind words guys, they are greatly appreciated!
Laser Ape is definitely cool, though I am kind of standing on the shoulders of giants there as Reboot originally came up with the idea of a gorilla with laser vision and Set gave her an identity. She's great fun to write though so glad you liked her earlier appearance.
Raz, Red Tyger is indeed that girl from the try out issue - that is perhaps my favourite single issue of the Legion so it's nice to include her.
More coming soon, we're nearly at the end now so hold on Posted by Harbinger on :
Drura stepped through the door into the docking bay of level 38. While on the Grav-lift she had asked the Spire AI to run a full scan of the bay. Damn Dox for being right, but once again he was. There was something in there of mainly organic composition that scattered the scans in such a way that the AI was unable to provide much more information. Drura had thought about it for the thirty or so seconds it took to reach the docking bay and asked one more favour of the AI before she stepped through.
The darkness inside was total, apart from the small slice of light that came through the door as Drura entered. Well, she reasoned, if she couldn’t see the creature here then it wouldn’t be able to see her. Not that optical senses were her only way of identifying life. Her race has a singularly unique ability to manipulate bacterium and viruses and a part of this was being able to sense exactly where these minute creatures were. And inside a sterile building like the Spire the largest concentration were inside the bodies of the large sapient beings that dwelt here. She was a little afraid though knew her body language wouldn’t give her away, she was an ambassadors daughter and as such would not bring shame to her family.
“I can sense you there...”, a blast of energy shot out towards her, causing the lithe Trainee to dart for cover beside a saucer shaped personal carrier. Right, she thought, I’ve tried to give them the option to parley but if they don’t want to act in a civilized manner, well, they’ll learn.
She concentrated on the surrounding carriers, walls and air. Despite the so-called sterile state of the Spire the inhabitants were not regularly disinfected like the building, so carried their various germs with them as they moved around, depositing them as they went. A larger amount than they probably ever realized.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Before she had chosen to accept the invitation to become an Amazer’s Trainee her parents had treated her to a four standard month tour of the major world’s in the United Planets, not purely for sight seeing and to culturally educate her but also to arm her with a wide range of germs to use in her upcoming role on the team. Her favourite place had been Medicus Prime, a satellite of Weber’s World. She had spent over three weeks there. The head Consultant of the surprisingly large Genito- Urinary Meards was particularly keen to spend time with her.
Her opponent was in for a shock.
She could sense the writing mass of minutiae that inhabited her opponent move around the saucer. There were occasional noises that also gave away the intruders position if Drura needed it, but as she slowly moved away from the invisible villain she smiled to herself. As they moved she had instructed all bacterium and viruses nearby to attack the invisible intruders system. It wouldn’t be enough, she knew, to disable an opponent enough for her to avoid dealing with them directly but still she enjoyed knowing that whatever the outcome her opponent would have a bad dose of Venusian Shingles, Venturian Mouth Clap and a few variations upon Xanthuan common colds to fight off in the coming weeks as a reminder of their stupidity to try to breach the Amazer’s Spire.
Angtuian Rectal Syphilis was known galaxy wide as one of the most disgusting and painful diseases that a being could catch. Although normally the symptoms would take up to ten years to surface Drura knew she could give the little bacterium she had carried with her to mature far faster and reach it’s ultimate goal within, say, 30 seconds. She knew she would have to be careful not to murder her opponent but that was something to consider after they had been infected.
Normally the first symptom wouldn’t show itself for several months after infection but with a little push the bacterium she had been leaving floating in the air behind her attacked her opponent and within seconds they developed a cranche, a small sore, on her opponents face. This was followed seconds later by a rash that spread all over their body and the beginnings of a headache. Several seconds later Drura heard a crash as the invisible intruder crashed onto the ground – muscle spasms had started to set in. She knew it wouldn’t be long until they were blinded and delirious, ten seconds maximum. All the while they would feel as if their skin was infested by small burrowing insects as the disease damaged epidermis nerve endings, and the poor opponents bowels and bladder would void in painful spasms as they lost muscle control.
“AI, can we have some light please.” Her gentle request brought the docking bay lights back on allowing Drura to peer under the saucer she had been creeping around to see if her opponent was incapacitated enough for her to approach.
On the ground not twenty feet around the edge of the saucer carrier lay a Khund warrior, with artificial legs and a cybernetic arm extension that was obviously a blaster, curled in a ball slowly rocking in agony. The rash had spread over all his organic body, looking purple and angry.
Drura reached down to him and slipped her anaesthicuffs onto one of his wrists and began to recall the bacterium that had defeated him. The rash faded and he began to gently snore as he fell into the ‘cuffs chemically induced sleep.
“Dox, sir, I have a Khund here who may need a little medical attention. We will need a cleaner droid too.”
[ September 13, 2012, 12:59 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Jasmin Cullen and Captain Marvel were the last two Amazers on the Great Eye Observatory station. Some of the team were returning to Xanthu to give support to their colleagues, some needed medical attention and so were transmatted to a Medicus station. Wildfire and Andromeda had decided to fly into space around the station to look for anything they had overlooked. Jasmin knew that they both secretly hoped the Emerald Empress would reappear and they would have their chance to capture her. The Science Police had drafted in people from as far afield as the Winath system to deal with the current situation on Xanthu and they were doing a great job of helping and assuring the tourists and staff who until thirty minutes ago had been hostages here.
Jasmin knew heir commanding officer wanted to have a full debrief with her but she was focused on what happened to Typhoon. The AI info-grid had shown them a security cam’s view of Typhoon flying into a wall of green flame then vanishing. The implication was that the weather manipulating Amazer was dead. Jasmin refused to believe it. She hadn’t been partnered to Typhoon as trainers for long but she knew that he was intelligent and wouldn’t have dealt with this in such a suicidal way. She was missing something and she would not leave until she knew what it was.
Captain Marvel, as well as in Jasmin’s eyes being the most sensible and astute Amazer trainee, was also Typhoon’s friend. They were part of the group the hung around with James and Rol. Jasmin had meant to get to know them all better but with the pressures of late and her own need to continually strive to be better, Jasmin had not managed once to spend even one night with them. As she thought about this she realised that she had created a professional attitude to the Amazers that distanced her from an aspect of the group. She had forgotten that as well as being the premier meta-force this side of the Galaxy, they were friends and in some cases each others family.
She stood on the spot where the security feed had said their missing team mate had vanished. Damn it! Why couldn’t she just see what the florgg it was that had drawn Typhoon into that fire!
Posted by Harbinger on :
Brainiac 5 heard Infectious Lass ask for medical attention for the Khund in the Spire’s docking level.
“Drura, wait, my readings show that only the organics are...” Even as he said it he knew that the Amazer Trainee was in deep trouble. Her life signs had suddenly taken a dip, and he extrapolated they would fade entirely if something wasn’t done immediately.
“Atmos, you must get back here and up to Level 38 now. Now man, get going!”
Posted by Harbinger on :
Drura had heard a click and hum behind her and turned to see the unconscious Khund’s cybernetic arm raise itself and point towards her. Even as she dove for cover she knew she was too late. The blast of energy ripped through her hip sending the deep blue ichors that her race had as blood splattering across the wall behind her. As she landed roughly she couldn’t help but cry out in pain. Brainiac 5’s voice came across the aether, alerting her three seconds too late to the danger she still faced.
Even as she concentrated on her wound, manipulating specific bacterium within her to heal her there were small dark uncomfortable stars spinning before her eyes.
Drura Setph was an ambassador’s daughter. From an early age she knew that her family were special. Their role didn’t involve them digging in the great Grratan Fens for sustenance. They didn’t need to beg for the touch of a healing phlegm on the warren like tunnels under the three great cities. There was no likelihood of the Sentinel Phage altering their RNA. They had achieved what very few had managed and lived a life with some comforts and privileges. She would not die like a Zygotan dog in his docking bay. As the darkness on the edges of her vision started to close in she reacted with an instinctive rage releasing the Coluan bacterium she had absorbed from Brainiac 5 earlier.
[ September 22, 2012, 07:21 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Atmos simply dissolved the door as he approached it, flying through straight into the zombie like Khund cyborg. While the cybernetics legs and arm had survived Drura’s attack the organics... the Khund himself, was another story. The flesh that remained was hanging from the remains of the interloper’s iron rich bones. One quick blast of nuclear energy and the cybernetic remains were rubble on the floor.
Atmos looked around and quickly found the young trainee. Even as he approached Atmos could see the savage would on her hip, blue ichor and pale pink flesh. As he approached he could see a strange off white liquid seep from her body into the wound. Atmos knew very little about Infectious Lasses people, they were only recently introduced to the United Planets. He hoped that what he was witnessing was her own body’s healing process.
Kneeling down over her the Amazer used the com-system to contact Brainiac 5.
“Dox, am I safe to move her?”
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Jasmin had been staring at the same spot for several minutes now and Captain Marvel was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to interrupt her.
Jasmin and James’ abilities were difficult to quantify. They effectively created pockets where the regular flow of time was interrupted. Time dilation in itself was not a strange event, either gravity or velocity could create it and this had been known for over a thousand years. What the twins could do was more than that though. They didn’t need mass or speed to create their effects. They could do it at will and over controlled areas. Since their earliest days at the Amaze – R Institute, where the Amazer Program had been started, when they were both coming into their teens they had attracted attention. To be able to consciously manipulate the many layers in spacetime was something that even in the 31st Century was not seen outside of the most outrageous laboratory.
Both Jasmin and her brother had an awareness of the so called Theisz-Bordmann dimensions, the 10 higher planes that created what more primitive cultures called Dark Energy and Dark Matter. They had tried to explain to the many scientists who asked them that these higher dimensions interacted with our own perceived reality as the sea does to a fish. They were so entangled with our reality that the average person would not see them. It was these dimensions that the Cullen siblings drew their abilities from. And it was on these strange planes that she now concentrated.
She stood exactly where the Observatory’s AI had told her that Typhoon had vanished.
Blocking out distractions she concentrated. She visualised her colleague, her bother’s friend, Typhoon as he sped around the corner and approached this point.
What had drawn him in?
Captain Marvel stood back as around Jasmin a glow slowly appeared. Purple and lilac dots of translucent energy seemed to wink in and out of the air. Jasmin Cullen’s hair, short by Xanthu fashion standards seemed lined with light, her skin began to glow and then, as if it had never happened, it stopped.
“I know what happened!”
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“I know what happened!”
Jasmin Cullen turned to Captain Marvel as she said it, a weary smile on her face.
“What is it? What happened to you?”
“I had a look into the timestream. Wow! I never knew we could do that but had to try something.”
“Psychometry?
“Umm, not exactly. Typhoon saw the flame, but it was a doorway, it was the Emerald Empress’s teleport signature and through it he saw a silhouette. He saw the Dark Man, I think. The stupid man thought he could confront him directly so dove through.”
“Do you know where he went? Did you see anything that could help us pinpoint his location?”
“No, not really, just the feeling of a lesser gravity and a blue light. That doesn’t help does it. Grife I hope the Spire can trace him!”
“Jasmin, you look exhausted, let’s get back to the Spire and we can go through this in more comfort.” Though Captain Marvel had spoken softly Jasmin could hear the concern in her comrade’s voice. She thought to herself that if she looked half as tired as she felt then there would be good reason to be concerned.
“Let’s go. You were incredible today by the way. I’ve thought for a while now that you deserve to be a full Amazer.” Even as she finished her sentence Jasmin’s vision closed in on her and she passed out from exhaustion. Captain Marvel caught her as she fell and gently cradled her as they went to the Transmatter deck.
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Would love to see Jasmin and Captain Marvel lead a team to rescue Typhoon! Those two are great.
And poor Drura! She kicked ass, hope she'll be okay.
Posted by Harbinger on :
Dream Boy and Reflecto knew that the last remaining member of the assassins squad could prove difficult to defeat. The unknown were usually the hardest to overcome. Rol hadn’t mentioned it but as a Naltorian pre-cog he was used to living his life drifting casually between the Now and Next but ever since Esper Lass and Lady Memory had messed with his precognition earlier that day he had a buzzing background headache and no sense at all of what was to come.
They had established that their opponent was behind a small out building. The building echoed the rococo design of the mining complex, its deft curves and decorative flourished disguising its utilitarian purpose.
He swung his hand, releasing the extendable baton he had carried since his pre-commando training days, and signalled with his other hand for Reflecto to move around the building from the other direction. As Reflecto stepped around the corner Rol focused his will on his flight ring and graceful floated up over the swirling dome on top of the structure.
He might not know what to expect but Rol could still make sure it wasn’t too easy for their opponent.
As he drifted silently across the rooftop he could see the Amazer trainee step around the corner and break into a run towards the villain. The villain was stood staring to the distant cold horizon, apparently unaware of her surroundings. Her cloak flapped around her in the cold wind. Reflecto knew it would be better to snap a pair of the anaesthicuffs on her and have a easy victory. Not that he didn’t want her to put up a bit of a fight so he could show his worth by taking out a super villain on his own. Still, Amazer training always emphasized the easiest way to winning a conflict was to ‘cuff an opponent.
That would have been easy. It may even have worked against most foes had they really been unaware of the presence of the Amazer trainee running towards them. It definitely would have ended the need for the violence and almost certainly stopped the heartache that followed.
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After returning to the Amazer Spire Nura Nal had flown straight into Querl Dox’s arms and given her Coluan fiance a kiss that brought an inappropriately vulnerable blush up from his neck to his hairline.
While the Legionnaires were getting re-aquainted James Cullen had asked the Spire’s AI where Dream Boy was. The reply sent James running back towards the transmatter gate. Behind him the Amazer trainee called Red Tyger grabbed Atom Girl by the arm and they followed, both eager for another chance to battle the army of villains who had arrived on Xanthu.
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Reflecto froze and started to shake: his arms and legs snapped together as if bound, his teeth chattered with calcium cracking ferocity, his shoulders shook, his eyes were wild.
“You’re green skinned friend may have disrupted my doppelganger’s matrix but you will never get near enough my young hero.” The voice cut through Rol even as he pounced, It was an old woman’s, sharp and rich in wily confidence. He swooped with all his might into the back of the silver cloaked woman but instead of slamming her into the ground as he expected he flew right through and crashed awkwardly. He felt his collar bone snap and adrenaline pushed blood pulsed from the gash on his face.
Even as he stood Rol knew he was too late, the woman in the silver cloak’s laugh drifted over from a spot 5 mets away. By the time Rol was back on his feet the apparition that he had dove through had vanished and his foe had appeared. She was older than Rol imagined, this woman appeared to be in her hundreds. Her skin fell from her face in large wrinkled folds and her eyes were as dark as the deepest gravity well and just as disconcerting to look into, her hands looked as if sticks had been pulled through a liver spotted parchment sheet, her knuckles and nails petruding against the frail lines of her fingers.
“You may wear a Technomancer’s arm band, “ she said, pointing to Rol’s fathers band on his arm, “but you are not one of those tedious so-called Nu-Mages if you were fooled by that simple illusion.” She startet to laugh to herself, her eyes never leaving Rol’s face. Rol never broke eye contact with the hag before him but he could hear Reflecto’s violent thrashing and chattering teeth just behind him.
“I don’t know much about the Technomancers, my father left this behind for me when he vanished.”
“I’m not away to tell you boy, you are going to go to your grave never knowing what a magnificent gift he left you.” She pointed with her right hand, index finger aimed straight between Rol’s eyes.
Rol had enough self control to resist the urge to flinch.
Time seemed to freeze. Rol’s mind felt as if all the energy had been sucked out of it, his thoughts were sluggish and confused. His body had come to a total stop. For an eternal moment he remained in that state of stasis.
[ October 24, 2012, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
James had arrived right in the nick of time. His quantum field froze Rol, the magical hag he was facing and, mercifully, the painfully inflicted Reflecto within a purple bubble of solidified entropy. Signalling Atom Girl and Red Tyger to get ready he started to drop the quantum bubble.
First Reflecto was released. The Amazer trainee dropped to the floor. His muscles had stopped shaking and he could finally move his limbs as he spat blood from his mouth as he mewled im bodywide agony. Instinctively he curled into a fetal position, the pain overcoming his control.
Red Tyger dropped to his side and with a little clumsiness she administered some anesthetic gel from her standard ration medi-kit on her belt to his face. The blue skinned trainee smiled, blood on his chipped teeth from his ragged tongue, but tears still streamed down his cheeks.
Even as Red Tyger struggled with the conflicting emotions of seeing her peer in such a state James Cullen dropped the quantum field from Rol.
“James? James! Thank Cassandra you are here... was that your hoodoo that froze me?” The relief and happiness on Rol’s face was mirrored back as James quickly embraced him.
“We have the hag now, don’t worry Rol, she won’t get away now. How are you babes? That gash on your face looks serious.”
“She said something about one of us disrupting her doppelganger...?” Rol was on an adrenaline rush and knew that if he stopped to make sure he was alright then the rush would crash. He had to deal with the other problems at hand before it would be okay to stop.
“Maybe one of the other teams has ...”
“OUT THE WAY!” Atom Girl barged into the two young men, her guns out and drawn. As they fell both Rol and James saw that the hag had somehow started to move within the time stopping field that James had spun around her and had turned to face them. Atom Gil’s reflexes, and accurate shooting had felled the ancient mystic even as the two men stumbled to the ground themselves.
[ October 24, 2012, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
“Oh my stars, I have never seen anyone do that before!” James’ eyes were wide in shock.
“Hey, you just leave it to the Legionnaires and you will be fine”, Atom Girl’s cheeky retort brought a humourless smile to Rol’s face. This aged woman had known about the cult that his father had been part of, she had sensed the nature of the Seers’ armband he wore and Rol was certain she could tell him a whole lot more. As James concentrated on manifesting a more coherent quantum bubble around their fallen foe Rol and Atom Girl walked up to her. Standing on the edge of the purple sphere James was creating Rol looked in towards the hag. There was strangely something familiar about her, as if in another life they had played together. Almost as if...
“Nura!” Rol spoke into the Legion flight ring he still wore.
“Nura, I need you here, there someone here you need to see.”
“Rol sweetheart, can’t this wait?” Nura’s husky tones held a note of exasperation.
“Nura, go, We can do this later.” Querl Dox sounded relieved.
“You always say that Querl.”
“Umm”, Rol said, “Sorry to interrupt but I’s really appreciate you here right now Nura.”
As the conversation with the distant Legionnaires finished Red Tyger asked for some help. Atom Girl was stood with a gun in one hand eyes firmly focused on their fallen opponent so Rol turned and willed the Legion flight ring to carry him over to the two trainees. Reflecto was in a sorry state. He was obviously in shock, Red Tyger looked scared, she was from her races warrior caste Rol remembered. She may know a bit of field medicine for her own species but Reflecto was a one of a kind being and she was obviously feeling out of her depth.
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“Rol, this is difficult, she is fighting me. Don’t ask how but I won’t be able to hold her for much longer.” James had sweat pouring down his face as the exertion took its toll. Rol noticed white hairs at James temple, something that Nura had commented on after they had fought Mano at the Ghandi Gorge. It wasn’t the time to say anything but Rol wanted James to have a full medical check out when they got back to the Spire.
Saturn Girl’s cool telepathic voice was in their heads before they could say anything else.
“The Science Police are here now.”
“Imra!”, Rol spoke into his flight ring, “Can you help us, Reflecto needs urgent attention and there’s something strange here.”
Within seconds both Saturn Girl and the Monstress flew down to join them. Rol could feel discreet telepathic probing as the Titanian Legionnaire landed softly on the tundra. The Monstress had landed next to Red Tyger and was examining the fallen trainee.
Dream Boy and Saturn Girl looked down at the captured villain. “Are you sure you know this woman Rol?” No-one else heard the telepathic question. Rol replied with a sharp nod. Thinking clearly for Imra to hear he explained how he was certain he had met his woman before, both as a child and again sometime within the last year or so.
“I can’t sense anymore barriers within your memories Rol, I freed you from them earlier.”
“But what if it wasn’t telepathic? She is a magic user, can you sense mystical manipulation?”
“Now I know what to look for I can sense its effects and you are right, this is a mystery.”
“Earlier, when I met with you at the Legion Headquarters you said you broke through the barriers and swept away the tangled manipulations that Lady Memory and Esper Lass had put in my mind. What if there were others that we didn’t know where already there? ”
Even as he thought this several things happened at once. James grunted in pain and fell to his knees. Atom Girl started to point her guns at the hag on the ground and was blown backwards. The villain sat up and pointed to Rol. Out of the corner of his eye Rol could see the Monstress rush over to Atom Girl, checking that she hadn’t been too badly hurt when she had crashed into the ground.
“You are getting close to the truth young Naltor boy but be careful what you wish for as some things are needed to stop a greater sin from happening.”
“Tell me, how do I know you?”
“Maybe you need to ask your family. Goodbye Rol, you’ve grown into such a handsome man.”
Even as she finished the sentence her form blurred and in its place a cloud of brightly coloured butterflies erupted into the air.
Posted by Harbinger on :
The Science Police medic had placed Reflecto into an anti-grav stretcher and the trainee had been whisked through the transmatter gate.
Dream Boy, Saturn Girl, James Cullen and the Monstress were the last to leave. They had been relieved to hear that as far as the Science Police could determine this had been the last group of potential Assassins on Xanthu. There had been some fierce fighting by the various groups and a couple of fatalities had occurred.
James was exhausted and Rol ‘s arm was around his back.
“From what Brainy has said we captured over a dozen of the most wanted meta-criminals in the United Planets today. That must be seen as a victory of sorts. We have to give our losses a meaning.” Imra’s gentle telepathic voice gave the impression of hope, resolution and acceptance. They all acknowledged that it was a victory of sorts but they also knew that things would never be the same after this. Their planet had become a battleground and the teams’ innocence had been lost.
“We need to capture the Dark Man, find out what this was all about. It was more than just killing Amazers, he’s been assassinating our people for two years now.” The Monstress was rarely so blunt but they all agreed with her assessment.
Nura stepped through the transmatter gate. “Rol! I’m so sorry but I got held up helping the medics, what’s happened?”
Rol smiled and gave his fellow Naltorian a quick hug, “There was someone here that I’ve met before, I’m afraid she vanished but we can sort it out later. Tell me Nura, what do you remember about my father?”
“He looked like you Rol, only with that great big handlebar mustache” she smiled as she thought back to their childhood, “do you remember how we snuck into his study that time? You were playing in some anti-grav chute with that mentallo-enhancing helmet your father was working on while we... and... Rol, who else was there? Do you remember?”
“I think it was the hag Nura, I think we used to know her. I also think we met her when the Legion and the Wanderers fought.”
Imra interrupted here, “Polar Boy, Plant Lad and Amazon all left that group and joined our reservist scheme, and we can ask them who was there?”
[ October 24, 2012, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Back at the Amazer’s Spire there was a sense of shock hanging in the air. The team had faced their biggest battle to date and not all of them had made it through alive and several members were in intensive care.
Brainiac Five and Psyche were talking quietly together. Their body language was enough to deter anyone from interrupting. Laser Ape, Andromeda, Wildfire, the Seperator and Red Tyger were swapping stories. Laughing Boy and Chlorophyll Lass seemed to be approaching hysteria as they jostled together. Magnetic Kid was speaking to Atom Girl, their conversation didn’t appear to be a particularly comfortable one as Pol Krinn was openly crying. Several trainees and Amazers were milling between the groups. There were at least two dozen Science Police officers of various ranks and at least two representatives of the Xanthu Tribune’s office. The strangest sight Rol had was of Atmos and the Witch Anagastru. The Amazer leader and the East Continent witch who had first called Rol the Silver Seer appeared to be talking in a respectful manner to each other. Roll had to look over several times to check he wasn’t hallucinating.
They had been back for nearly ten minutes when Atmos called the meeting together.
He thanked their Legionnaire friends for their timely assistance and spoke about what had happened that day. He confirmed that the Amazers had lost three members, all trainees, who would be given posthumous full membership. He told the group that only four villains had escaped. He finished off by thanking the Legionnaires once again and informed the Amazers present that their activities and training would resume at 0800 hours the next day.
The groups started to break up and within fifteen minutes only a couple of the Science Police officers, Atmos, Psyche, Jasmin Cullen, Dream Girl and Rol remained with Brainiac Five.
Almost casually Atmos said “So, do we know why the Dark Man chose today to try to kill us all? I don’t believe it was pure chance.”
Querl Dox replied, just as casually, “Let me show you.” And with a wave of the hand the Spire’s holo newsfeed was activated.
[ October 24, 2012, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
There on the Holo in front of them stood Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy, Gazelle, Ultra Boy, a couple of Triplicate Girl’s selves, Sun Boy, Light Lass, Phantom Girl, Turtle and Star Boy, alongside several Star Fleet officers, all smiling.
The news presenter was relaying how the Legionnaires had figured out that the recent spate of assassinations in the Outer Rim UP and affiliated systems had been a cover to draw attention away from an invasion from the species known as the Gil’Dishpan in towards the Central core systems. They had been moving their Battle Spheres for a couple of years subtly into place. With the apparent bedlam on Xanthu they had launched their attack assuming that the Science Police and majority of meta heroes would be focusing their attention out towards the edges of the Milky Way.
“It was a simple plan to discern.” Brainiac Five’s arctic cold logic cut through the room.
Thankfully Psyche was on hand, recovered from the attack she had suffered, to get between Atmos and the Coluan Legionnaire.
There was an uncomfortable silence as the truth set in. Brainiac five had allowed the Amazers and a few of his own team to be bait for the Dark Man’s plotting while he had ensured that the rest of the Legion was on hand to be in place to stop the invasion and take the credit for potentially saving the United Planets.
Jasmin Cullen was, surprisingly, the person who spoke up first once the initial hullabaloo died down.
“Very good Dox, but did you capture the Dark Man? His plotting got us to this point. And if you have, where is Typhoon?”
All eyes turned towards the Coluan Legionnaire. “That is something I’m still working on.” His voice had lost its arrogance as he delivered this cold truth.
“Well you better get working harder then, hadn’t you?”
[ October 24, 2012, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
Epilogue.
Several days later Rol stood beside the Transmatter Gate with James. Rol's collar bone had been fixed though still ached a little. Given how seriously some of the others had been hurt he was aware just how lucky he had been.
“I’ll be three days at most James so stop this fretting will you. I haven’t had any bad visions lately so you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Last time you went off on your little wandertags we had to rescue you from killer telepathic androids and giant rats remember?” James smiled and they both laughed.
“Why don’t you join me then?” They had been through this a few times already, and given the new structure within the Amazers it was difficult for them both to leave off planet at the same time.
“....okay Dreamy Boyo, you go off and play with your family and I’ll message you every day.”
“I won’t be long and you never know, we may get some clues to who that witch was and how she knew Nura and me. If there is a connection to my family I really need to know babes.” Rol knew that his unsaid apology that he was leaving James again so soon after the recent battles was enough, James understood.
“Well, get going then,. Some f us still have work to do you know.” James’ cheeky grin was the last thing Rol saw before he stepped through the event horizon of the Transmatter.
He should have set foot upon the Grand Mall concourse in Neuex’ Erox but instead Rol found himself in a surrealists nightmare interpretation of reality. He tried to step back but instead of stepping through a transmatter he stumbled into a collection of yellow and ochre blocks, perched precariously on three spindly legs.
“Rol, it’s about time we spoke.”
Turning quickly Dream Boy could see a man in a large hat sat on a throne, surrounded by a circle jagged stones laced with micro-circuitry.The bright orange and yellow flecked sky behind the seated man kept his face in shadow.
“Father....?
[ October 24, 2012, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: Harbinger ]
Posted by Harbinger on :
quote:Originally posted by Invisible Brainiac: Would love to see Jasmin and Captain Marvel lead a team to rescue Typhoon! Those two are great.
And poor Drura! She kicked ass, hope she'll be okay.
Jasmin hasn't forgotten about Typhoon and we will definitely be seeing more of Captain marvel soon. Thanks again for your support IB, it's been greatly appreciated.
Well, this is (finally) the end of this chapter - sorry it's taken me so long to get here but I sincerely hope you have enjoyed this tale. Please let me know if you have read this and any views you have, thanks,
Next chapter - Tempus Fugitive - reunites Rol with his mysterious technomancer father and answers a few important questions - like what exactly is precognition? Who was that mysterious hag? How does Rol manage to be so infuriating calm and composed all the time? and... how much of a history does our favourite Dream Boy really have?
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