Legion Worlds 5 (completed 26 June 2018)

Legion World

Hi all.

This is part five of my Legion Worlds fan-fics based on the retro-boot and taking place after issue 15 or so - let's forget the Fatal Five nonsense.

If this is your first time reading any of these stories then you have a lot to catch up on. I'm not away to spoil it all for you but to get you briefly up to speed the Legion have had the seven members who were lost in the 21st century returned to them and added more members - see list below - as well as moved their base out to an asteroid they call Legion World. They have recently defeated a tribe of Tyr's people called the Forge Chosen and have taken over their planetoid base with the plan of using it as a mobile headquarters for the main team, while leaving the Academy in their current planetoid base as the original Montauk Point academy had been destroyed by Black Adam's daughters. Recently Brainiac 5 was alerted to evidence that pointed towards a militaristic build up against them from within the United Planets and that someone on Legion World One is possibly a spy. Currently only the senior team - Element Lad, Cosmic Boy, Duplicate Girl, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Mon El, Chameleon Boy, Tyroc and Harmonia - along with Retro and Andromeda, are aware of this situation. In a bid to discredit the team, Harmonia's laboratory assistant Loutrahim Mango was tricked into using his 'death touch' on her and this was broadcast by the media across the galaxy unknowingly to the team

The current line up for this arc is-

Active Legionnaires based on Legion World Two:

Element Lad – Team Leader, Jan Arrah of Trom, elemental transmutation
Duplicate Girl - Deputy Leader, Luornu Durgo of Carggg, creation of multiple identical duplicates of herself
Sun Boy – Deputy Leader, Dirk Morgna of Earth, generation of intense light and heat
Brainiac 5 – Legion World manager, Professor Querl Dox of Colu, 12th level intelligence
Chameleon Boy – Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Mon El – Senior Team member, Lar Gand of Daxam, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
Tyroc – Senior Team member, Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Harmonia – Senior Team member, Professor Harmonia Li of Earth, manipulation of the natural environment
Lightning Lass, Ayla Ranzz of Winath, electrical generation and manipulation
Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zuun, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Dawnstar - of Starhaven, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Invisible Kid - Jacques Foccart of Earth, invisibility
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Comet Queen - Grava of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
Chemical Kid - Hadru Jamik of Phlon, catalyzes chemical reactions
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid
Glorith - of Xerox, manipulation of magical energies
XS - Jenni Ognats of an alternate dimension Aarok, phenomenal speed
Monica Sade - of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Otaki - Bina Nawoti of Earth, mindsense
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Lexikon - Princess Daheenisha of Tamaran iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Titan - Nasir N’Cube of Titan, telepathy
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms
Kid Quantum - Jazmin Cullen of Xanthu, creation of temporal quantum bubbles, flight
Andromeda - Kara Zor-El of Krypton, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
The Spear of Artemis - Amynta of Nostos ii, incredible strength, speed, invulnerability, space flight, carries magical weapons.
Thunder - Cecelia Becks of 21st Century Earth, immense strength, speed, indestructibility, space flight, wisdom
Retro - Deen Toro of Ventura, limited reversal of personal timeline
Karate Kid – Mithindrivithis Ngandraffa of Lythyl, strength, heightened reflexes, mimetic motor learning giving incredible martial skills
Thirteen – Dann Hortra of Naltor, line of sight probability manipulation
Starkling – Unknown, telepathic swarm-being composed of indestructible ball bearing sized components
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.
Sister Eclipse - of Rhoohanisett iii, durability, heightened senses, physical possession of any living being.
Atom Girl -Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink herself to microscopic size.
Comet King - Drinchnar Lamment of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion

Seconded members currently based on Legion World:

Gazelle - J’izl Dtutuu from the Khundian Battle Brigade, of Khundia Prime, enhanced strength, speed, agility and metabolic control
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring
Gravity Kid - Science Police Officer Tel Vole of Earth, manipulation of personal or nearby gravity
Power Boy - Science Police Officer Jedidiah Rikane of Earth, personal density control
Cosmic Kid - Po Miman, Justice Legionnaire of alternate dimension Mars, energy manipulation and flight

Support Staff:

Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare -Impulse – Chief medical officer - enhanced strength, speed, durability, stamina
I.Z.O.R. -Gear iii – infrastructure manager - nannite collective being, technomorph
Dr Noah Kabbo - Spy – Legion World Counsellor – Heightened awareness and limited telepathy
Danielle Foccart –Kid Computo – Technical support - technopathic communication and control over advanced technology
Drura Sehpt - Infectious Lass – medical officer - containment and control over bacteria and viruses
Henry – Anti Lad – Spatial warp controller
Hethuk Bran Drommsi - Smith from the Green Rift Forge of Talok viii, laboratory assistant
Ming Sul - Amp Girl - investigative officer, hyper-enhancement of her own sensory capacities
Loutrahim Mango - ‘Death Boy’ - Professor Li’s laboratory assistant, exemplary bio-chemist, sweat activated neuro-toxic palm secretions

Legionnaire on secondment to the Khund Battle Brigade:

Gates, Ti’Julk Mr’Asz of an alternate dimension Vyrga, creation of spatial warps

Academy Student currently within the Khundian Empire:

Inferno, Sandy Anderson of Earth, fire generation and manipulation

Academy staff based on Legion World One (Academy) in Sol system:

Cosmic Boy – Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields
Triplicate Girl - Luornu Durgo of Carggg, able to split into three identical duplicates (part of Duplicate Girl)
Colossal Boy - Gim Allon of Earth, increase personal size and mass at will
Wildfire - Drake Burroughs of Earth, composed of sapient anti-energy, extreme strength, speed, durability, space flight, anti-energy blasts
Night Girl - Lydda Jath of Kathoon, incredible strength and durability out of direct sunlight
Chameleon Girl - Yera Allon of Durla, shape changer

Support staff on Legion World One (Academy):

M’Rissey - super efficient business management skills
I.Z.O.R. -Gear ii – infrastructure manager - nannite collective being, technomorph

On long term leave:

Star Boy (Parental leave), Thomas Kallor of Xanthu, induce mass
Dream Girl (Parental leave), Nura Nal of Naltor, precognition
Matter-Eater Lad, Senator Tenzil Kem of Bismoll, mega-omnivorous consumption
Shadow Lass, Tasmia Mallor of Talok viii, summons and manipulates the Darkfield, access to ancestral knowledge
Polar Boy, Brek Banin of Tharr, cold control
Shield - Laurel Kent of Earth, physical invulnerability, tactile psychometry

Weber’s World affiliated team:

Quislet, . of Teall dimension, able to animate inorganic matter though this then causes the matter's destruction
Gear i, Chief Maitre D', nannite collective being, technomorph
Oodoo Shanair of Lallor, empath
Sentinel of the Khund Battle Brigade, strength, durability, manipulation of magnetic fields
Princess Shooradel of Tamaran iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
Proty iii, shape changer, telepath

Four days later

Marzal team - investigation of probable trouble in the intra-dimensional island state

Tyroc – Senior Team member, Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Dawnstar of Starhaven, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Monica Sade of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Titan - Nasir N’Cube of Titan, telepathy
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.

Encyclopaedia Galactica - Marzal City. The existence of Marzal was unproven until 2999 when it unexpectedly rematerialised into our dimension. The island sits upon an inter dimensional rift flaw that shifts the island every few decades in and out of our reality. The resident population had used technology that they had developed while in the intra-dimensional voids to camouflage the island on previous visits to our Earth, though in the 2999 visit this technology proved ineffectual and the resident Science Police investigated, calling for a strict quarantine before any of the natives were allowed to leave their shores. This initial strict authoritarian action caused serious problems between the Terran Council and the greater Marzal population. As Marzal was originally populated by escaped slaves their culture was one that would not allow people to be treated as property, unfortunately the refusal of permit to travel was seen as proof that the warnings their ancestors had left stating that they would never be free on Earth was true. Amongst the population was a young Troy Stewart who had somehow absorbed the trans-dimensional energy of the islands shifts between realities and could focus these strange energies via screams to alter the reality before him. As Tyroc, a Marzal word referring to devilish screams, Stewart joined the Legion. It is thought that by using his abilities Stewart somehow weakened the dimensional barriers and Marzal left this reality again. Several years later Tyroc reappeared, his abilities curtailed to sonic manipulation, without the island itself reappearing. Its current loci is unknown though it is estimated to be somewhere within the Bgztl buffer zone.

The team had had Henry warp them to Brande Tech headquarters on Earth.

Tyroc was so happy to be off Legion World, after spending the last five days under the medical observation of Dr Shakespeare he was almost drooling. Monica found it amusing that her heroic Legionnaire partner who threw himself into danger without a care, fought against galactic tyrants and the fiercest meta-villains, had been through time and back as well as probably saving thousands of lives by his own actions and selflessness could be so happy just to be allowed out to play. He was such a big kid at heart!

Tyroc greeted the white coated woman who met them in the expansive reception foyer with a warm smile and a hug. She smiled back and asked the Legionnaires to follow her to a nearby laboratory while she got the Dimensional Disc out of storage. Sade had a fixed grin on her face as she asked Troy about his previous encounters with the doctor he had casually hugged.

"Who, Marjia? She dated my school friend Teeja for a while back inna day, it didn't last though as he's a bit of a dawg... But we kept in touch from time to time anyways as she's aspecialist of sorts in the intradimensions - all way above my head really. RJ gave her a job as an assistant years back and when Brande Tech were working on stabilising some parts o' the Island... Well, she knew her way around after being with Teeja so RJ promoted her. She always said she got the job 'cause o' knowin' me but she got it on her own merits... While she's helpin' us here best not say that though, eh?" He smiled easily aws he replied.

He knew Monica was fishing for some information about a potential previous relationship but there was nothing more to say. His friend had dated Marjia when Marzal had first reappeared on earth and Troy had kept in casual contact with her since he's returned to Earth, and that was all. Monica Sade considered his answer and with a "humph!", she nodded before turning to Dragonmage to discuss the wall art of the corridor they were being shown down.

Two Brande Techs walked into the room pushing an antigrav trolley with a concertinaed disc on top. Marjia was behind them checking a hard light screen. The Techs offloaded the disc before the Legionnaires and motioned them to step back. As they did the disc expanded out and with a loud clunk grew to four times its original size.

Marjia popped a small control into Tyrocs hand, explaining that when he wanted to return he should just press the button and a warp would appear. She then announced to the group the interface between the two realities should be stable but just in case there were any problems she suggested perhaps they should hold hands so as not to be separated. Dawnstar rolled her eyes while the others all held their hands to the side.

Troy Stewart had the happiest grin on his face as he announced: "Right y'all, the place we're goin' to ain't nothin' like here so get ready for the wildest ride." With that he nodded to the Brande Tech and the warp was activated and the Legionnaires vanished from reality.

Kid Quantum was tired.

She had spent six hours across on Legion World Two earlier helping Gear and Thirteen to make their final adjustments to the Q-drive before a two hour workout in the main gym on Legion World One; previously it would have been quiet at this hour but in the last few days, with the new intake of Academy students hogging the day shift the rest of the team had drawn up a rota system so everyone had a chance to exercise. Otaki, Dragonmage, two students and Sun Boy had all been there as well when she had arrived. Karate Kid and the Spear of Artemis had turned up half an hour before she left and started a sparring match in the central dojo space which had drawn a small crowd, but Jazmin was too determined to finish her circuit to watch.

She had set her earplugs to a Saturnian broadcast music channel and tried to avoid bumping into anyone as she completed each circuit. Jazmin had found it amusing how much Xao, usually not a great fan of visiting the gym, was trying to impress Dirk. The deputy leader only smiled encouragingly as the young Mage struggled with the weights. Otaki had quietly told Jaz to stop laughing at him as they passed by a piece of equipment. The young psychic had smiled as she said it but Jaz knew she was right, he was trying his best.

Ninety minutes later and she was rubbing her head with a towel as she stepped into the corridor, musing how they would be leaving Sol space either the next day or day after and not watching where she was going. She didn't see who the footsteps she heard belonged to and wasn't really paying attention when a voice she would much rather not have heard interrupted her reverie.

"Jazmin... Do you mind if I ...Ummm we... have a word?"

Hadru Jamik was stood in front of her, his shoulders back and chin up in a classically confident pose, though she could see the edge of doubt in his expression.

"yeah... I suppose...." she said somewhat nonchalantly.

"Thanks... Well I was thinking as I was looking through the recent mission logs..."

"Really? Monitor board duty was quiet, eh?"

"yeah... It was," he gave a quick grin, which without thinking she mirrored back, "so I read how cool you were on Ventura and Kardavatia and... well, thought since we're going to be possibly working together at some point we should maybe... Y'know... Shake hands and ...well maybe not be best friends or anything..."

"Uh huh, that ain't gonna happen Hadru, not anytime ever, but perhaps you're right that we ought to be more professional." she held her hand out and Chemical Kid took it in a surprisingly firm grip.

"So... Umm, thanks, I guess I'll see you around then, thanks Jaz."

As Chemical Kid walked into the gym for his slot on the rota Kid Quantum stood watching him and wondered just what the hell he was up to? The handshake may have been meant well but he still have her the creeps. There was something about the Phlonite that made her skin crawl.

Jasmin Cullen didn't have time to ponder as she went to her apartment to get changed and ready for her night ahead - she had monitor duty in an hour. Ah, the glamorous life of a Legionnaire!

Legion World Two, private quarters of Professor Harmonia Li.

Harmonia Li felt exhausted.

She had been released from the medi-bay only the day before and already fifteen of her colleagues had either holo-ed her or came to her quarters to check on her. The professor of temporal physics had welcomed each with a smile and tried her best to converse in a meaningful way but after the last call, from the Comets, she had switched her status to Do Not Disturb and laid down on her day bed. It was half an hour later that her door chimes awoke her.

She groaned as she sat up.

"Who is it?" her tone did not disguise her exasperation.

A holo popped up: Loutrahim Mango, her former assistant and the person responsible for her current condition, stood at her door with a potted plant in one hand and his other across his eyes as if wiping tears. He was shaking as he swiped his hand across the chime button again. Nervously, he glanced over his shoulder.

Harmonia took a deep breath, wiped her hair off her face and stood up.

"Loutrahim, please enter."

Her apartment door irised open and the Venusian biochemist stood at the threshold not moving. He visibly flinched as he glanced towards the Legionnaire. Harmonia took another deep breath.

"Loutrahim... My dear friend, please come in. I have much to explain to you, and apologise for."

The skinny young man's head jerked up to stare at her, his eyes wide.

"Professor Li... I... I almost murdered you and you.... No, I'm the one who has to apologise."

"Perhaps we can start be recognising each other as equals. Please call me Harmonia, there is no need titles when amongst peers."

Loutrahim looked even more confused as he made his way into her apartment. As Harmonia reached out to put her hand out towards him he broke down in a flood of tears before her.

As much as she wished she could stop them, her own tears started almost immediately as she hugged the young man.

Legion World One, Central Gymnasium

Karate Kid dodged the blow and elegantly kicked a leg out to knock her opponent off their feet.

Amynta of Nostos ii landed on the mat whith a whump! The Amazonian warrior was back on her feet within a second with a huge grin on her face. The two women looked at each other for a long second before Karate Kid bowed, signalling the end of their training bout. They had used their allocated hour in the central gymnasium and now it was time to let the Academy students, who had been cheering them on from the edges of the dojo area, have their time to train.

"You are surprisingly swift..." the Spear of Artemis said as they walked across to their changing area.

"Thank you. Though I do not recognise your fighting style Amynta, would you show me more of it?" The young Lythylian said.

"You wish to fight like an Amazon? That's understandable... though it takes many years to perfect for most who attempt to learn them."

"I can mirror your movement pathways... if you show me how it's done I will be able to copy it. It does not take me long to learn these things." Karate Kid gave an elf-like grin before she continued, "Amongst my father's people this was how war craft was learned... and they were all created to fight in the endless battle of Lythyl... I struggle with more... ah, sophisticated matters. Amynta would you be able to teach me how to master the computo-chef?" The small martial artist looked up at the tall Amazon warrior with hopeful expectation.

"Ah... to be frank, my people farmed their lands to create the food we needed. I also find some of the United Planet's so-called intuitive technology to be somewhat badly named."

Karate Kid laughed. "After my family relocated to Steeple I drew the water we drank from a well..."

"My grandmother has a spectacular orchard and herb garden. And a bee hive..."

The two women smiled at each other.

"Thank the Eternal for Harmonia's fruit groves and vegetable patches!" Karate Kid laughed again as she said this and the Spear of Artemis joined in.

"I believe that the Academy includes a course for those students from worlds that do not use UP tech to introduce them to it. Shall I enquire with Luornu Durgo-Taine about reserving us a place for us on it Mithindrivithis? We would both benefit from attending it."

"Yes... yes that would be most helpful. Thank you Amynta. I... uh... I have another question for you, if you won't mind... you are one of very few here that ever use my given name. Is there some translation problem that causes others to be embarrassed when they talk to me?" The young martial artist looked embarrassed as she asked.

Amynta smiled again. "I believe it is considered somewhat overly long for United Planets standard, that is all. Our colleagues maybe feel embarrassed that they will mispronounce it and upset you."

"Ah... so when Comet Queen called me 'Mith-light-year-long-name-Lass' yesterday in training it was due to her social ignorance, not mine?"

"Where that one is concerned I would say that is most likely always the case."

Marzal team - investigation of probable trouble in the intra-dimensional island state

Tyroc – Senior Team member, Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Dawnstar of Starhaven, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Monica Sade of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Titan - Nasir N’Cube of Titan, telepathy
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.

They materialised in a plaza, surrounded by tall buildings covered with luxurious wall gardens.

The sky above them was a kaleidoscope of colour, swirling and changing second by second. Dragonmage glanced up and decided it would be better if he kept his head down after that. Dawnstar unfurled her wings and took to the air, hovering thirty feet above the rest of the team, apparently unflustered by either the interdimensional crossing or the strange universe that surrounded the island of Marzal. Monica Sade, Babbage and Titan looked business-like as they scanned the buildings around them. Xao felt slightly ashamed of his disorientation as he shook his head, took and deep breath and held his chin up - he'd be okay.... or at least could fake it until he didn't need to anymore anyway.

"Rightie-ho! Welcome to Central Plaza... let's see if we can find people." Tyroc took to the air and gently floated across towards the tallest building.

<Look out!> Titan's telepathic warning saved the team leaders skin as a large wiry being with bat-like wings and green leathery skin appeared from out of the bountiful plant growth halfway up a nearby tower and dived towards Tyroc. Troy twisted around to see the demonic creature - He had seen this sort of being before, it was the first recorded attack by one of these that had made him scream and activate his abilities all those years before, the locals called them the Ty. They were demon like beasts that lived amongst this strange universe's ever-changing skies and fed on the unwary or unprepared. Before he could unleash a scream to deflect the beast Sade had taken aim and fired with both her guns blasting the creature unconscious.

"Good shot!" Troy said proudly as he turned to her with a grin.

"There are more around us, be careful." Dawnstar cautioned. The Starhavenite tracker looked around the spires that dominated the skyline.

"I can sense more... eight of them... watch out, they're coming!" Titan pointed upwards towards the tops of the buildings where more of the demonic creature appeared screaming, before diving at the Legionnaires. Dawnstar swerved several and flew above them, taking point 100 metres above from where she could easily locate and dive on the beasts from behind if her colleagues needed her assistance.

Tyroc unleashed a howl that defied physical laws, causing all his teammates on the ground to cower. The demons vanished as space warped colourfully around them.

"Yeah! Thought I'd get my full powers back with bein' here an' all." Tyroc floated back down to the ground. As Dawnstar was the only Legionnaire present who had witnessed the reality warping abilities of their teammate before the rest of his colleagues looked surprised - it was one thing reading about his former powers in the team's history banks and quite another experiencing them firsthand!

"Hey, easy guys... my abilities come from this place an' when I'm aligned prop'ly to it I c'n do all sorts of stuff Thirteen'd be jealous o'." His smile this time was huge. The junior team members all still looked shocked but none questioned him any further.

"So where are the people? If those demons are roosting up there...?" Monica Sade said, looking around the empty plaza. Her teammates all stopped looking at Tyroc and turned their attention to the bountiful looking buildings.

"Titan... d'you find anything?" Tyroc said.

"I can feel quite a few of the Islander's minds... none are that close by. Several hundred are below us in bunkers... children mainly. More are within the city. Shall I contact them?" The tall telepath looked towards his team leader as he asked.

"Nah... you'd best let me. They'll know me and if there's been a Ty-incursion they'll have a 'shoot first ask questions later' mind set. Those beasties can be real troublesome."

"Ty?" Dragonmage asked, "As in Ty--Roc?"

"Yup, those beasts fairly howl when they got prey caught, are real raucous like. My came from that. Ty, as in those demon-like beasts... Raucous, or in Island slang it's just 'roc'. So... Ty - Roc, the Demon Scream. It's not that flattering really but that's m' name." He smiled blandly as he explained.

"Did you never think to change it?" The young mystic asked without thinking.

Troy Stewart only replied with a tight smile as Sade tried to hide her laughter.

Awesome recap and first set of posts, Harbi! LW5 promises to be as exciting as ever!

One suggestion that might help with totally new readers, is to explain more in your recap about how Senior Team members are chosen. It's obviously not based on tenure (Ayla first joined before many others, and Harmonia is quite new), but others might be curious as to what criteria exactly are used to select them.

Your recap of Tyroc's past was excellently done. Short and to the point! Sade's fishing was cute as was Ty's sheer joy at being let out.

I appreciate Jazmin's suspicion of Hadru. Even if he were totally sincere, I would probably be cautious as well if I were in her shoes. It was a nice scene though and I like to think Hadru was being a grown-up about it.

Harmonia and Loutrahim was an excellent scene. It was great of you to show us that poor Loutrahim also went through a lot, what with the telepathic manipulation of his actions!

Karate Kid and Amynta made me chuckle out loud! That comment about Comet Queen really hit the nail on the head, Grava is such a dear. Bonding over their difficulty with technology was well done.

Great Marzal post as well - Tyroc's full powers returning AND his joy at them, Dragonmage's innocent question, and especially the origin of Tyroc's code name!

As usual, I love it!

IB, thank you again for your speedy and positive review.

The senior team were put in place during Harmonia's brief tenure of leadership back in LW2 to support her after Phantom Girl left temporarily and Element Lad carried the idea on to support him in his term as leader as the team grew much bigger - all the people on it are either in leadership roles or are the most involved in the day to day running of the team.

Hadru, sincere? Since when?

More on Marzal coming soon as well as several interpersonal moments and the start of an explosive trip to Trom that will lead to a lot of trouble further down the line.

Thanks again IB.

C

No doubt I will have more to say later, but I just read Karate Kid's exchange with Amynta about her name and I wanted to say the mention of Comet Queen's social ineptitude made me LOL

I am also super intrigued about what Harmonia has to say to Loutrahim...I have probably said this before, but I like your Harmonia way more than I ever liked the one in the comic!

Also: good work incorporating Marzal and Tyroc's adjusted powers into your continuity!

Okay, back to reading

EDIT: So it turns out I was nearly at the end anyway lol

I am a big fan of Tyroc's original weird powerset so I love the idea he has full power back on Marzal, and also your explanation as to why his powers suddenly switched between his first run with the Legion and now

Harbinger i'm super excited for this next adventure.

Marzel sounds really interesting and those beasts are super scary. how did you choose the team for this mission?
Dragonmage getting sick was an interesting character moment. I liked his push to work through it.
Dawnstar - doesn't have any trouble here? i would think she'd have some. inter dimensional interference of some sort.
Will Tyroc leave this adventure with his powers back to their incredible power or will the sonic scream be kept outside of his home dimension?
Sade's jealousy was cute. Tyroc is just so mellow it seems. like i imagine so many of his lines where he's smiling ending with a shrug.
Liked the team work use for this mission.

Harmonia and Loutrahim's scene was well done and my heart broke a little reading it. I hope they both heal and find out who did it.

Amynta and KK was really well done. I agree with everyone that the comments about Comet Queen are just too funny. " Mith-light-year-long-name-Lass' lol. just the name alone.
I like the friendship these two are building. its always interesting to see who is more familiar with what in regards to the technology of these worlds. it really gives your world a realness about it that i like.

Jazmin and Hardu was well done and i liked the professionalism. but Hardo is up to something. i can't feel it and that hand shake that was to hard...idk i'd like to have the benefit of the doubt but somethings just not sitting right for me with him.

Can't wait for more!

Raz, Omni, thank you again for your kind reviews.

Raz, I had to address Tyroc's ability change as it annoyed me too much in canon to ignore.

Omni, I had no real rhyme or reason for the choice of team other than Ty, Sade and Dawnstar as she had been there before which could explain why she wasn't so phased by the transition. Though Titan was overdue a mission as team telepath, Xao needed to do something and I wanted to use Babbage, that's it really.

More coming tomorrow evening as we learn a bit more about Troy's history with Marzal, Kara does a nice thing and we get a look into Starkling's past.

Thanks again guys, really do appreciate your continued support

C

Kara had been helping Sister Eclipse set up a Chapel of Non-Denomination worship on level five on Legion World Two.

The time-spun Kryptonian doubted there would be much use for it amongst the team as, despite the various cultures and races the team represented the majority of them were secular, not following any particular faith with any real devotion. Still, it had been a nice job to do and Kara had to admit the finished result was really well done. Initially the room had been just another large abandoned space, most likely a storage hangar when the Tyrrazians had run this planetoid. Sister Eclipse had told Kara that she had seen a chapel something like her design on one of the Fringe worlds several years before and wanted to emulate the feeling of peace she had felt while there.

Judicious use of super strength, speed and eagerness to help had meant it had taken under an hour for the two to finish. Kara had to admit that she had been a little bit sceptical initially but was really now really impressed with the sense of space and tranquillity that the clean white plastered walls and gently arching ceilings brought, especially with the cleverly hidden low lighting and abstract designed stained glass feature on one of the walls adding an elegance to the room. Sister Eclipse had arranged the simple furniture, made from a darkly stained wood, around the central space which all added somehow to the cohesion of the design.

Sister Eclipse had started to burn incense and chant hymns as she blew the burning sticks smoke into the corners of the room as Andromeda decided it was time to leave. Sister Eclipse had thanked her and offered to cook a meal at some time in the future in return for all of Kara's help. Kara agreed and flew off down the corridor towards the northern docking bay. Ever since Querl had dropped the bombshell on her a few days ago about what he knew the team would be getting into soon she was eager to have a distraction so planned on zipping around Saturn for an hour or so.

Mon El had taken Starkling, Wildfire and several of his training squad from the Academy outside of Legion World Two for a training exercise involving what looked like an impromptu game of Tag. Kara asked if she could join in and immediately one of the students shot a streak of red energy at her that exploded against her invulnerable face.

<Tag! You are it... Is that correct Mon El> The student sent across the TP comms.

<Kara, rules are simple, no speed, no vision powers, no powers at all really just will power fuelling the flight rings and none of us are to go further than half a klick from base... And Ultra Girl, no more zaps please... Funny as that was>

Kara could hear Lar's enjoyment as he broadcast his message and pretended to frown though quickly broke into a broad smile.

On her left-hand side Starkling swarmed ominously so with a brief thought that this was the perfect way to stop thinking about a potential traitor on the team she spun and dived at the collective being.

Marzal team - investigation of probable trouble in the intra-dimensional island state

Tyroc – Senior Team member, Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Dawnstar of Starhaven, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Monica Sade of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Titan - Nasir N’Cube of Titan, telepathy
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.

Troy Stewart had once been the undisputed hero of this miraculous island.

The home-grown boy with the outrageous super power and snappy fashionable dress sense had been idolised by a generation of the Islanders. He had then joined the Legion of Super Heroes on Earth and promoted an understanding between the natives of Marzal and their kin from their home planet. For a couple of years that had worked out well until Marzal began to sink back into the intra dimensions. Troy had chosen to stay with his people, leaving the Legion and his life on Earth behind. Again he was the people's hero, respected and revered, popular with the ladies and given a spacious penthouse apartment that overlooked the Islands spires and streets and gardens. All that changed several years ago; Troy had hit a slump and had been unmotivated for about eight months, retreating more and more from his public duties, and rarely being seen amongst the general population when a huge horde of the Ty demons that prowled these strange spaces attacked the Island.

Over four hundred of the green skinned demons appeared from the swirling skies and terrorised the city. Tyroc fought with a renewed passion that had been eluding him for months, spinning reality around the intradimensional beasts. The majority of populace managed to hide in their bunkers other than the small Home Defence Team that took up arms to fight for their Island.

It took three long and bloody hours to put an end to the Ty's attack and several Marzallians were killed defending their home.

In the end the King Demon was captured and his horde immediately dispersed, as if suddenly terrified. The Island Chiefs wanted to kill the unconscious demon but Tyroc tried to calm the heated emotion. The former Legionnaire understood how angry and hurt the Islanders were feeling. They had good reason to want vengeance but Troy also knew that in the long term his people would regret being responsible for this death.

His arguments fell on deaf ears.

It took another three hours of abusive back and fore discussion before Troy Stewart admitted to himself that he had lost the argument and so with the largest howl he had ever managed, the Island shuddered and the Marzal populace once again ran for their shelters.

When he had finished Troy collapsed on his knees and cried. The force field he had spun into being around the Island would keep it safe. With a heavy heart Troy Stewart made his was to the city vault where he knew Brande Tech had fitted an experimental machine that could hopefully return him to Earth. Without saying goodbye to any of his friends he fired up the machine and strode through the warp.

He was surprised as he walked in a daze through the streets of Metropolis when Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, Cosmic Boy and Timber Wolf had swooped down to join him. His flight ring had registered on the teams Monitor Board and they had come to investigate. After being returned to their headquarters Brainiac 5 had insisted he ran a barrage of tests and they discovered that his reality warping abilities had been severely curtailed, he could no longer alter his environment with a sound instead his abilities ran to sonic manipulation only. it was enough, thankfully, to make him still eligible fpr full membership of the team.

After a one week refresher course at the Academy in Montauk Point he was deemed fit to rejoin the team for active duty.

Until five days ago he believed that he would never return to Marzal again so he had thrown himself into his life as a Legionnaire. But when he had started to scream in his sleepp he knew that his place was back with his people... If only to find a way to stop the involuntary screams and giving Monica Sade good reason to shoot him again.

When they had arrive moments before he had immediately seen what the problem was that had upset the equilibrium of Marzal and so was most likely the reason for his abilities playing up - the force field he had spun into existence around his island home was now gone!

Less than ten minutes after they had arrived on Marzal the Legionnaires were stood in front of the Island's Chiefs Council in a palatial penthouse room overlooking the central square.

The eleven elders of Marzal had been incredible happy to see Troy Stewart and his colleagues, and as word spread they could hear cheering and chanting from outside the building as the crowds gathered. The Chiefs explained that Troy's protective bubble around the Island had been flickering for days until just five days before it had popped. They had immediately issued a warning to the population to get prepared incase of an incursions by the Ty.

The attack had come only 30 hours ago. Once it had began the population were well drilled so fled to their shelters and bunkers. The Home Defense had been busy since trying to keep their island safe until the demons left or another solution arrived.

"Guess your 'nother solution just arrived then..." Tyroc said with a big grin indicating his teammates.

"There is another problem..." A particularly stern faced Chief added, "Our Brande Tech has malfunctioned and we no longer have a way to return to Earth in case of the direst emergency. The generator they gave us failed. We... after your shiled popped we tried to create a new force field but it... it didn't work and we may have damaged some parts of the generator in the process."

"After mine popped, yeah? Okay... We have the tech here..." Tyroc held out his hand to show the chiefs the control he'd been given by Marjia. He grinned at the council before him.

"Troy, I'm sorry to say this but without the generator to boost the power signal the stepping-warp that your remote signals will be worthless. May we suggest that you rest and we discuss this..."

"Tyroc! Sorry to interrupt but I can feel I them again. There are more demons coming. Hundreds of them..." Titan's warning stopped the conversation with the Chiefs immediately as the Legionnaires all turned to the team. Dawnstar took to the air and looked upwards, her senses stretching out around her.

"I can confirm, probably a thousand or so, the closest are less than 4 klicks away and approaching fast. I estimate we have 3 minutes until they arrive." She faced the Chiefs as she spoke, though it was obvious she was distracted as she used her incredible spatial awareness to search the intra-dimensional void around the Island.

Troy looked at his team and weighed up their options.

"Okay, Monica, Dawny and Dragonmage are with me. We'll go head those green devils off. Titan, I want you to stay by the Chiefs and help them coordinate things here... make sure the Islanders're protected. Babbage, you're our best bet at fixing the Brande Tech... so we can go home afterwards, you up to it?"

The Robotican was silent for a second before nodding his affirmation. Tyroc looked at the team he was away to take out to face the Demon swarm; Sade was eager, as he expected. Dawnstar looked distracted as she allowed her awesome senses to reach out into the ether around them and concentrated on the job at hand. Dragonmage rubbed his arms - the mystic had been in the gym when the call for this mission had been broadcast so he was probably still aching from the exercise though Troy was sure the young mystic wouldn't mind stretching his muscles a bit more. Tyroc smiled.

"Wotcha all waiting for then? We got our jobs Legionnaires, let's do this!" And with that Tyroc jumped across to the large window behind the now scared looking chiefs, opened it and flew out to take up the fight against the approaching demonic army.

Starkling rattled along the otherwise empty corridor on level 87B of Legion World 2, ten levels above where the majority of the team had their living quarters.

Its component parts clicking when they touched each other as it flew to the small Zen garden alcove Harmonia had built for especially for it. This was far enough away from the other Legionnaires that it could retreat here and have relative peace from the constant psychic chatter it felt being around so many unguarded minds.

Even after being amongst the Legion for over six months - first as a student then a full member - Starkling still found the strange actions and desires of the single bodied beings that inhabited Legion World to be almost incomprehensible. They generally disapproved of it reading their thoughts and randomly sharing its own perceptions, though to its own point of view, being composed of thousands of individual parts that made up the collective whole, the constant sharing of information was the only way to have any rational functionality. But then, there were moments when suddenly they did want it to read their thoughts and share its views. The single bodied beings that made up the majority of the Legion were a mystery sometimes, though in its long life it had learned that all things were cyclic so it rationalised that perhaps matters may improve as the cycles turned.

Before humankind had entered the Extaba Minor system the collective now known as Starkling had enjoyed a unique perspective of the galaxy. Its senses could detect the pulsing fluctuation of the star's magnetic fields and it would dance amongst the erupting flares. It could perceive the far away rhythms of distant suns as their radiation reached it and it would turn its many parts around to bathe in these far flung rays. The gravity wakes of each of the planets and asteroids that circled its home star were its slides and shoots to slip along with an innocents' joy. It had a contentment that was singular in its monumental ignorance. This was all it had known for the length of its existence.

It had never conceived that there were other things with conscious minds, somehow believing that all things shared its.

When Mankind had entered its home system almost four decades prior the collective had been enchanted by them - confused, happy, curious... excited to encounter such wondrously odd beings with minds so alike to its own while being so radically different. The initial colonists had been wary of the strange swarm as it projected its perceptions into their thoughts and left them exhausted as it rifled through their memories though they noted it caused no physical damage. Its curiosity and eagerness to share were, to use the vernacular, freaking the terraformers right out! The terraforming company that had sent them out there assigned a Titanian to try to resolve the rumour of the mental marbles - as the terraformers called it. Tomasz Resta Stark, the telepath quickly established that the being they would go on to call Starkling was of no threat and over the course of several months they established boundaries that the composite being had endeavoured to keep ever since - no random acts of telepathy being the prime consideration - thought it found this difficult as the human mind rarely shielded its thoughts, they simply issued them into the psychic ether like a plant would release its spores to the air. The Titanian took time to teach Starkling how to shield its own thoughts as well as stopping others from intruding into its perceptions.

The constant psychic sharing of perception was something that it did amongst its component parts so, of course, it continued to randomly read minds as much as it knew these strange individuals may not want it to. To refrain from doing such a thing around other minds that offered up their thoughts like flowers to be picked was a ridiculous idea. It had quickly grown more subtle about it when amongst the terraformers - skills it still practiced to this day, only reading that which was unguarded and on the immediate surface and rarely sharing its own thoughts unless asked for or as part of a conversation amongst the single bodied beings.

Over the next three and a half decades (time was a concept it struggled with though realised these individual beings appeared to need it so it had endeavoured to pay it some heed, having previously only thought of the cyclic seasons of its home star's magneto-sphere as anything similar) the composite being the colonists had taken to call Starkling had become almost something of a celebrity to the terraformers and their children. They had quickly accepted it and marvelled at and benefited from its understanding of the rhythms of the star that their newly claimed world circled. When it had finally grasped the idea behind the United Planets and other great Galactic Empires it realised that it needed to meet with and share the perceptions of a wider range of beings and from what it could understand the Legion were a most diverse set of the individual beings. It had asked the colonists if they could guide it towards the Legion and, although many did not want it to leave, they did so. On its travels through space towards the terraformers original home world of Earth it encountered several other groupings of individual beings in crafts and on satellites, and in each it had been perceived as strange, frightening and unwelcome. These were the sensations it had felt from its initial contact with the terraformers, until Tomasz Resta Stark had realised it's sentience and open nature.

Was it the norm amongst these strange short-lived single beings to fear that which was made of more? Certainly, from its limited understanding the search for a collective was something they instinctively strived for - family, community, government... were not these clear signs that they wanted to become more like it? For all their talk of independence and free will did they not fight to be part of a greater purpose, a better state of being, a collective?

The swarm being settled onto the curved walls of the small garden and considered what it had learned earlier that day. It was confused - it had studied the history of the team while at the academy and knew that such things as a 'traitor' were to be considered as non-advantageous and perhaps even dangerous to the team, in fact, to a collective being like itself the idea of such a thing was anathema! So why had it overheard of the existence of such a treacherous being in the thoughts of Andromeda earlier yet not felt a corresponding great urge from her to immediately tackle this situation. Surely that would be the only acceptable reaction if she knew of a traitor amongst their team? It had not wanted to probe further, alerting her to its psychic intrusion and the thought had been fleeting but still... It considered to itself if perhaps Kara Zor-El may be the traitor herself? It would need to contemplate this further before taking any action though Starkling knew it would definitely need to act soon.

Starkling's small diamond hard pieces clicked as they rotated across the walls of the Zen garden alcove it now called home as it meditated in psychic silence on the disturbing thoughts it had picked up that day.

If only its colleague, Yera Allon, had not left to join the Academy it might have canvassed her opinion on the matter.

Legion World Two, private quarters of Element Lad:

"And all I'm saying is if you want to have a breakdown keep going... you'll push me away too. Your choice Jan."

"Bloody Grife Kent! You don't make it easy do you?" The Legion leader's voice was harsh as he replied to the team's doctor.

Kent Shakespeare remained silent. Jan Arrah turned away and stomped across to the bed they shared and threw himself down onto it.

"So... what were your suggestions again? I'll listen but I'm not promising anything, okay?" Jan said brusquely.

The tall doctor stayed where he was, standing beside the holo display unit close to the door of the apartment. He crossed his arms and stared. His Trommite partner was becoming irrational with increasingly noticeable mood swings. It was obvious to Kent that Jan was stressed and had been pushing himself beyond a healthy limit. Jan bowed his head, his posture changing from aggressive to submissive with that action. The unsaid apology hung in the air for a couple of seconds.

"You have deputy leaders and the senior team. Draw up a rota which will indicate who leads on whatever comes up with on call support in case of multiple alerts. You can all share the immediate workload... Like any other team would... don't just rely on whoever's manning the Monitor Board to punch everything through to you. Then you can give your attention to all the other stuff that's been distracting you and stopping you from sleeping. Listen Jan, we had a similar system on Medicus One with the lead consultants on at the busiest times of day with overlapping shifts so Registrars and juniors have the opportunity to learn from the experienced doctor while having time to put these lessons into practice themselves and build resilience and faith in their own skills..."

"Enough, please... I submit. You win Kent. There's a senior team meeting due tomorrow afternoon to go though some serious matters that have come up and I need to prepare my announcement to the UP High Council that we're leaving Sol in under a week ...so I'll discuss it with Querl first and get him working on the rota system, okay?"

"That's fair enough. Though one caveat... If you don't start a system whereby you aren't automatically included in every decision and you end up having a breakdown I'll ensure the entire senior team get medically restrained and it wont be pleasant for any of them. Okay?"

Jan Arrah gave a barking laugh. "It'll be worth it just to see you try." he continued to laugh as the large doctor walked over to the bed and sat down next to the Trommite.

"Is there anything else Jan? Joking aside, you're stressed and if I can help let me know... Please."

Element Lad shook his head, though if Dr Shakespeare could read his partners mind at that point he would know the news Brainiac 5 had presented earlier in the week and Kent would have been stressed as well. The Legion Leader had been told of the prediction Retro had shared along with supporting evidence the Coluan genius has gathered together. They had just six weeks to prepare themselves before a suspected faction of the United Planets would attack and they would likely lose their standing within the Galactic community. To make matters worse there was a traitor on board Legion World so any actions they took needed to be subtle so their opponents would be kept unaware. Stressed? The doctor had no idea!

It was three hours later, when Kent had been asleep for some time yet Jan still struggled when an alert came through which had the team leader darting out of his bed.

"Jan!" Luornu's voice said clearly, "We've got an alert coming in from Trom's security satellites... someone's on the rampage destroying the crystal monuments. I'm assembling a strike team in Henry's warp control room."

Jan Arrah was flying towards his apartments door she finished.

"Wait up, I'm coming too Jan." Kent Shakespeare dove out of bed, rubbing his eyes as he stumbled towards the door.

"No... no you're not Kent, your place is in the medi-bay." Jan snapped before flying out of the door.

As the door closed the doctor muttered, "Oh-kay... We are definitely taking a decent vacation when you get back mister... One way or another."

Marzal team - investigation of probable trouble in the intra-dimensional island state

Titan - Nasir N’Cube of Titan, telepathy
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.

Babbage had been shown to a basement room by three Marzallian engineers where the remains of the Brande Tech generator was stored.

The Robotican Legionnaire scanned the room and calculated the most efficient way to repair the machine. The technology was not especially exotic, which had surprised it, though from what the scans revealed the generator would need parts that Babbage could not immediately locate for it to resume it's function. In the space of three seconds it had calculated what it would require and it started to ask the three Marzallians that had accompanied the Legionnaire down here if they could find the missing parts, listing them off by both their standard name and technical specifications. They had each looked momentarily stunned but ran to find the parts as requested.

As the engineers search for the missing parts Babbage started to rearrange the mass of mechanics and casings that were before it. The standard human design meant that the Robotican would be too tall and broad to comfortably operate the machine in situ so it tipped the thickly shielded casing onto its back and knelt down beside it. Scans indicated that there were eleven essential components required before the small power crystal that powered the generator would be able to be connected. Even if Babbage cannibalised its own internal mechanics they would not be able to power the generator so as it worked the Robotican computed how best to remake the missing pieces in case they needed to. It knew that that there was only a slim chance of finding a couple of the rare element material to match the missing parts in a standard suburban setting like the city. It also knew that if it was lucky then it would not fail in its first test as a legionnaire.

Moving with surprising dexterity and nimbleness for one so big Babbage had rearranged the wires and conduits so they were laid out next to their appropriate sections. As a Marzallian engineer returned with two of the requested parts the Robotican remembered to use it's Polite Social Interaction Protocols so took the time to thank him before assembling the pieces the engineer had handed over.

Titan heard Tyroc's orders and silently wished his teammates well.

The attacking demon swarm pressurised his senses with their rampant malignance, they were hunger and eager to feed on the hums that occupies the Island. Their thoughts were overrun by an instinctive appetite and drawn here by the calls of the demons that had attacked earlier. With each one screaming as it fell onto the Island from the twisting psychedelic sky they called more and more of their hideous brethren to this place.

In amongst the almost overpowering psychic miasma of greed, near the back of the incoming swarm, Nasir could sense something different... something hard and calculating. At this distance Titan could sense little more than it's core being, whatever it was, but that worried him as it incredibly strong, very angry and obviously psychic!

The Council had mentioned earlier about their capturing and killing a King of these demons, could this be another one? The Chief's had said that when they had captured one previously the other demons stopped and immediately fled. Titan could understand why as the mind he now sensed had far more intelligence and drive than the entire swarm around it. If the Legion could somehow draw it away from the Island and take it's demon swarm with it then they could hopefully halt the waves of invasion they had been dealing with.

Titan knew he had to make sure his teammates were aware of this as it would help save time and effort if they could come up with a successful plan to disable the King Demon.

Legion World One, Brainiac 5's laboratory

Henry has asked for Professor Dox's assistance.

The holo-man from the future was not known to interact often with Legionnaires in any way other than as the controller of the spatial warp technology he had brought back from the 75th century so the Coluan immediately stopped working on hid Farrento principle transport link to Two so he could go to the warp control room. In the last week he had heard that the mushroom shaped control that housef Henry's personality matrix and the space warping technology had changed but Querl had no idea what to expect.

The warp control room had one entrance, with a large engraved wooden door over it. The workmanship was beautiful, Querl always thought as he passed it, showing a detailed fresco of Terran's early space flights and their expanded knowledge of the universe. Querl pushed the door open and walked into the dark room. Pews ran along three walls but other than them the only other object was Henry's console. He immediately understood what was happening.

The controls were in a four foot tall mushroom shaped configuration, with a thin stem and various symbols and light patterns around the edges of of the umbrella-like top section. The stem was no longer slim, in fact it would not be far from the truth to say it looked pregnant.

"Professor Dox, thank you for coming so quickly. I have need of your force-fields to contain the Egg..." The holo of the being they all called Henry appeared at the Legionnaire's side and nodded towards the distended stem.

"Should I call Dr Shakespeare as well? He will have midwifery training..." Querl said.

"I will not require anaesthesia or to take deep breathes Professor Dox..." the holo smiled, "I merely need you to catch the Egg and take it over into Two. There is already a room set aside for it."

"Am I right to assume the Egg you are away to... produce... will act as your proxy for the team on our new headquarters?"

"The Egg will grow within 72 hours to be a duplicate of the current housing I inhabit. It will be fully functional by the time we take Legion World Two out of Sol system. It will provide you with direct access to my support wherever you take Two in the future."

"Are you telling me we will be operating missions outside of the Quark Relay's range to contact this base Henry? Is this another of your potential paradox creating cryptic warnings?"

"Possibly... or not. I would prefer to say it is pragmatism as, since the Time Institute re-started the Time Beacon, I can no longer access such detailed records to know where you will go with much degree of certainty."

Querl nodded his reply all the while staring intently at the bulge of the stem of Henry's console. It moved and wriggled looking somewhat like a domestic pet under a synthetic rug.

"If you could please get ready to catch the Egg I would be grateful..." The holo said as he pointed to one particular spot on the bulging stem.

Querl Dox extended a force field underneath where Henry had indicated. The skin of the stem started to twist and bunch until it ripped open and an egg-shaped bundle of future technology poured out and landed softly on the force field. The Coluan Legionnaire resisted the urge to run a diagnostic test on what he was seeing though was mindful enough to activate his flight ring's scanning function - he would review its findings later on at his leisure. Technology that could mimic living processes was hardly rare or unexpected but this appeared to be a self-propagating, mindful technology... something beyond the synthetic life and complex AI's that his race had mastered many centuries before, this appeared to be an entirely unique organism. For fear of creating a temporal paradox himself, the Coluan had resisted getting too involved with Henry but the natural urge to investigate the amazing sight before him was proving difficult to resist.

A warp opened up beside the Legionnaire, spinning honey and violet, which he walked through. His force field surrounded the Egg and it followed. As the warp closed the holo known as Henry smiled. Despite his claim otherwise, he knew enough about the probabilities of the future awaiting the team that this one act of creation would save many Legionnaire's lives in the days and months to come.

Mission: Alert from Trom, suspected meta-criminals.

Element Lad – Team Leader, Jan Arrah of Trom, elemental transmutation
Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Lightning Lass, Ayla Ranzz of Winath, electrical generation and manipulation
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form
Gazelle - J’izl Dtutuu from the Khundian Battle Brigade, of Khundia Prime, enhanced strength, speed, agility and metabolic control

Encyclopaedia Galactica - Trom: Renowned as one of the most inhospitable planets ever inhabited by mankind, it was settled by 1,342 refugees from the Second Alchemy Wars on Myar in 2804. The inhabitants managed to safely settle in a strip of land roughly 120 by 90 klicks within a valley at the equator using their alchemistic skills to terraform this strip of land to support their community. They later bolstered their environmental alterations with traded technology from the United Planets. The people who fled to this world renounced the violence of the society they had left and embraced a pacafistic philosophical outlook similar to the ancient Terran teachings of the Buddha. In the last two decades on Earth and the Inner System Worlds there has been a growing interest in the so-called Trom-Buddhist movement though its actual validity has never been verified. The Trommites exhibited an innate ability to transform natural elements at will and so were highly regarded on the rare occasions they left their home world. Sixteen years ago the mad pirate Roxxas the Butcher exterminated the majority of the population after they refused to serve him. Jan Arrah, the Legionnaire known as Element Lad, is the only known survivor of this massacre.

Duplicate Girl had been very vocal in her insistence that Jan wait for a full team before Henry warped him to Trom. The monitoring satellite system had reported a small group of obviously enhanced beings on the planets surface and Lu made it very clear to the team leader that she would not allow him to walk into a trap.

Phantom Girl, Kinetix, Ferro, Gazelle and Lightning Lass all arrived in Henry's warp room with two minutes of being called for the mission, by which time Jan was rapidly flexing his fingers from a fist to full stretch and back again. Lu watched him but never spoke; she understood the Trommite's anger and knew right at that moment he didn't need a concerned friend, right now Jan needed to protect his home world and possibly stamp on a few kidneys in the process.

"Right... Someone's vandalising my home and I'm not in the mood to be nice here. We go in there and get a tight grip on this situation, understand?"

Before his team could ask any questions a honey and violet warp roared into existence and Element Lad stepped through. Without a word Gazelle and Ferro dove right after him, with lightning Lass, Kinetix and Phantom Girl right behind.

"Good luck." Duplicate Girl said quietly to her colleagues as the warp closed.

The warp opened onto a desolate plateau, a dozen klicks away a dark peak rose into the night sky. Dozens of crystal monoliths stood pointing up towards the cold constellations above.

"Tinya, take Ayla and J'izl, the old township is that way..." Jan pointed to the left side of the distant peak. "Zoe, Doug... Follow me and get ready... I think I know what the vandals are probably after. The old training fields are this way." the team leader turned in the opposite direction.

Phantom Girl nodded towards Lightning Lass and Gazelle before leading them towards the ruins of the small town where Element Lad's people had been murdered all those years before. Tinya had been here before and knew how appalling the ruins were to visit, and how important they were to Jan. As they approached the destroyed town Gazelle spotted movement.

"Let's get them ladies... Let's do this for Jan."

As they flew towards the town dozens of the large crystal monuments appeared smashed. And there, on the edge of the town two figures darted into the nearest building.

"Looks like a trap Tinya." Said Ayla.

"Yup, I'll draw the intruders out, you two cuff 'em." With that said, Phantom Girl sped up and phased through the walls before them.

Lightning Lass signalled Gazelle that she would go up, providing air support, while the Khundian warrior worked her way around the building to catch anyone who tried the leave. Gazelle gave her electric teammate a thumbs up and cartwheeled over a tumbled down wall before leaping ahead.

As Ferro and Kinetix followed Element Lad he explained that at the southern edges of the hundred klick long valley where the majority of Trommite's lived there was a large field where children were trained to use their abilities; it held vast deposits of raw materials; gold, platinum.... Virtually every solid element a crook would ever want. As the three legionnaires approached they could see there were dozens of smashed crystal monoliths.

Jan Arrah clenched his jaws tight. Each of the crystals were placed where one of his people had fallen when Roxxas had attacked and massacred them. Jan knew who each of the smashed crystals represented; his friends and neighbours... His family. And here, at the training ground several of the adults had tried to protect the children. All were slaughtered by the mad pirate Roxxas and his mercenary accomplices.

"Jan... Look out!" before he could react Kinetix telekinetically threw him sideways, just in time to avoid a blast of energy as it ripped through the air.

In front of the three legionnaires four figures rose up from the field. In the twilight they were little more than awkward silhouettes. At the front of the vandals stood a tall figure with a large ragged mane of hair and huge boasters in each hand.

"Legionnaires... Finally! We'll take all this gold and a reputation as your killers. This is gonna be a great day! Silver Machines... Attack!"

Mission: Alert from Trom, suspected meta-criminals.

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Lightning Lass, Ayla Ranzz of Winath, electrical generation and manipulation
Gazelle - J’izl Dtutuu from the Khundian Battle Brigade, of Khundia Prime, enhanced strength, speed, agility and metabolic control

Phantom Girl had phased through the walls into the ruined house.

As she had half expected it was rigged with explosives and a sensor to set them off automatically. Rather than risk destroying the derelict home Tinya let her teammates know through the flight ring telepathic comm that they shouldn't disturb this house and to be careful in case there were other booby traps waiting for them. After Ayla and J'izl had responded Tinya had second thoughts and turned back to the mechanism taped to the wall. Using her flight ring flash light she examined the mechanics of the bomb - it didn't seem too advanced. Obviously setting it up and placing it here had been rushed, she wasn't even convinced it was connected correctly as only three small lights blipped on one of the control boxes while the other two control boxes remained dark - which led her to one conclusion, their opponents hadn't been expecting them!

Outside, Gazelle raced around a large wall and came face to face with a ten foot tall battle-bot. As it spun its torso around towards her and two of its arms flicked across into her path the Khundian dived low and slammed into its legs, knocking it off balance.

<Ayla, you wanna deal with this robot while I track the other we saw?> As Gazelle cartwheeled away from the toppling robot a blast of neon bright lightning tore through the air and disintegrated the battle-bot's head and upper body leaving a sparking husk behind. It's arms twitched for several seconds as the smoking decapitated remains of the robot lay on the ground before finally it fell silent.

<That wasn't so tough... oh well> Ayla's enthusiasm and happiness shone through the telepathed message.

<Did you see where the other went?> Gazelle asked.

<Your seven o'clock, dashed between two buildings... am ready with aerial support but if you want to deal with them on your own I'll go help Tinya> Lightning Lass replied.

Phantom Girl interrupted her colleagues conversation with her own message. <Ladies, this booby trap is a rushed amateur job. Have fun dealing with the perps, I'm going to dispose of this bomb then I'll get right back...>

The explosion blew the walls out and flung debris several hundred metres away across the already dilapidated township.

"Phantom Girl!"

Gazelle yelled as she doubled back towards the explosion. Tinya was one of the Khundian's few friends and if she had been hurt...

<Sorry Gazelle, just singed my finger tips... bastards booby trapped their booby trap>

<Thank the Blooded Sword!> Gazelle swore.

<Hey, don't let the perp away, remember we're on a mission. I can see them, quarter klick to your seven o'clock, I'm coming to assist, we want this one alive enough to speak> Ayla Ranzz sent across the telepathic comm as she flew over the Khundian's head.

<You ladies have fun> Tinya's reply.

Gazelle gave a fierce grin before turning back towards the fleeing villain. She had thought a friend of hers had been hurt and that had annoyed her! Whoever it was that had set that bomb was away to find out why she had earned the honour of being amongst the chosen for the Khundian Battle Brigade... She would enjoy the pleasure of this capture.

With ferocious grace she dived over buildings and sped along the uneven pathways. Ahead was a large building, mostly intact. She could see it was roughly at the centre of the township so she estimated it was some municipal building that the people from this desolate world had shared. It was also, she knew as she bounded across the smashed plaza before it, an obvious trap.

An explosion almost caught her but her preternatural reflexes saved her. As she dove aside she saw a flash of electricity strike one of the higher windows. Lightning Lass had spotted the attacker. A blast of energy tore out of the building and Ayla had to retreat from its heat. This was enough of a distraction to allow J'izl Dtutuu the opportunity she needed to leap into a ground floor window out of the attackers blaster sight.

The room was dark but as a Khundian that was didn't slow her down, the twilit atmospherics from outside that leaked into this room were more than bright enough to provide an ambience that was sufficient for her to operate in. She could hear small explosions above as Lightning Lass kept their prey occupied with long range attacks. Gazelle would have the pleasure of taking them down face to face. She smiled to herself as she thought this.

The central stairwell had collapsed but her flight ring allowed her to silently rise up towards the upper levels. Ahead of her she could see a humanoid figure in a dark cloak standing in front of a broken window blasting out towards the night sky, lit up by angry flashes of lightning as Ayla kept his attention firmly upon her.

Gazelle floated across to the floor directly behind the hooded figure and lightly touched down onto the floor. He hadn't heard her over the thunderous booms of her comrades energy attacks and the charged hum of his blaster. She smiled a particularly vicious smile as she considered her options. The easy way to deal with this would be to simply snap an incapacity cuff on the man and watch him fall over. If she were particularly generous she could even catch him as he fell.

That was not the way of an honourable Khund Warrior of the Battle Courts though, and, she thought, it didn't really sound like fun. Instead Gazelle amped up her metabolism until the air around her sizzled in her ambient heat. She could only hold these sort of temperatures for a couple of minutes at most but she was fairly certain that this situation would be dealt with long before then.

The attacker turned around, his dark eyes were wide in shock at her unexpected appearance. She could see he had cybernetic attachments to both arms and legs now he had turned so realised she would need to deal with this quicker than she had hoped just in case he had an unexpected weapon hidden within his technological prosthesis. With blinding speed the Khund swiped her burning hand across the blaster he held and it folded in the heat. As he looked down towards it she kicked him hard on his chest, burning a smoking footprint onto his armour. The cyborg flew backwards, crashing out of the window and as he did a lightning bolt ripped through the air and blasted him into the ground below.

<He's down Gazelle, thanks for that>

<Ah, Ayla, you took my fun... next time I'll need to hit them more often in private before sharing> J'izl slowed her metabolism to a more sustainable rate and took a protein pouch from her belt to refresh and recharge herself with.

Both women laughed as they flew down to snap incapacity cuffs on their fallen opponent.

Mission: Alert from Trom, suspected meta-criminals.

Element Lad – Team Leader, Jan Arrah of Trom, elemental transmutation
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form

Before the attacker could take another shot Ferro had cannonballed into the ground at his feet.

The small explosion as the iron-clad mutant ripped through the ground threw the attacker off his feet. Behind him three more of the Silver Machines came into view: all were heavily mechanised; cyborgs built for aggression. The closest had three wheels jutting out of their lower torso rather than legs, with a large gun attachment instead of a right forearm. A blast of heat screamed through the air which Doug barely managed to avoid as he flew out of the crater his attack had created. Diving down towards the fallen vandal Ferro grabbed him by the lapels and flew upwards, spinning around before letting the cyborg out of his grasp to career into the wheeled attacker.

Kinetix deflected several dozen small pointed projectiles, but as they turned in their flight path away from her they exploded throwing her rudely to the ground. The telekinetic redhead swore as she got back to her feet and took to the air again.

Element Lad hung in the air before the final cyborg, his hands sparkling as his awesome ability took hold. His opponent, a young man with cybernetic attachments to his face, shoulders and arms started to scream as the metallic parts of his enhancements turned into a sulphurous gas.

"Stay down..." The team leader said flatly as he left that opponent curled up in the dark earth.

The two cyborgs that Ferro had been fighting had regained their composure and were firing blast after blast at their opponent. Doug barely managed to cartwheel out of the way before diving behind a large mound of dirt for shelter. Element Lad once again reached out with his abilities and again the cyborgs found their enhancements were turned into gasses. They screamed in agony as they collapsed onto the ground.

Kinetix had telekinetically immobilised the fourth by simply telekinetically fusing the attackers metal arms onto their armoured torso and then the inside seams of their trouser legs together. She shut their cybernetic eyes for good measure ensuring he would not be able to see them. He wouldn't trouble them again. She turned around as she heard the screaming and flew across to where Element Lad floated above the two he had just defeated.

"Jan... stop it Jan. You'll kill them if you go any further." Zoe's voice was small, timid. She didn't know how to handle this situation. Jan Arrahs abilities were legendary even within the Legion. Even though his expression showed his rage Element Lad took a deep breath and released his hold on the two cyborgs below.

"You'd better check they're okay." Element Lad muttered to Kinetix before flying on towards the training fields he had just told his teammates about.

Marzal team - investigation of probable trouble in the intra-dimensional island state

Tyroc – Senior Team member, Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Dawnstar of Starhaven, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Monica Sade of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms

Monica Sade grinned ferociously.

She had witnessed the fiery raging vortex that Tyroc's scream had created sweep the approaching demon horde into a tighter bundle as it smashed them together. Her partner had then flown in towards the struggling knot of green skinned fangs and wings and ordered his teammates to follow. Dragonmage had been surrounded by sparkling light at this point though seconds later a large silver and jade dragon erupted from where he had been floating and dived into the demon swarm. Dawnstar had vanished in a blur as she dealt with the demons that had managed to avoid Tyroc's vortex. Sade smiled as she 'ported across to the demons and blasted at them before 'porting to repeat the process again and again and again. She could hear the strange harmonics of Tyroc's howls as she blasted and teleported her way through the swarm.

Dragonmage tore through the swarm. In this form he was too swift and agile for the demons to touch and his fiery breath easily repulsed the attackers. The slinky motion of his dragon form swept aside the stunned demons, knocking them further into small knots behind him. He clawed at any that remained before him after his fire had swept through their ranks and easily flung them into their demonic swarm-mates. His long crenelated tail whipped across rows of the stunned demons behind him knocking them aside and into even more disorientated packs that struggled to keep the momentum of their attack going. He tore through the swarm with a passion and eagerness that surprised his colleagues. And himself.

Dawnstar swept around the outside of the swarm. The demons, for all they looked ferocious were surprisingly clumsy and didn't have the reflexes to defend themselves against her swift assaults. She barge through small straggling groups knocking them flying like pins. Her senses led her to the next group and the next... Her speed was unmatched in this ever-changing psychedelic expanse and she planned on capitalising on this advantage.

Tyroc screams altered the basic physical laws of his environment creating a blast of small ball bearings that stuck to the demons skins like glue and then spread, immobilised them as it leaked across their bodies. Flying past them his next scream caused the demons within range to spin around like tops, throwing them out of their already erratic formation into their swarm mates at their side. He knew he would need to keep screaming to keep them from getting close; he had encountered these beings before and was well aware that their claws and fangs were deadly. Another scream sent a group of demons backwards as if they were debris in a storm wind, smashing into even more of their kind. Another scream and ice formed around a dozen of the swarm immobilising them.

<Troy...> Nasir N'Cube's telepathic voice <There is a King demon towards the back of the back. From what the Chiefs have told me if we capture that one the rest will not fight. Here are his co-ordinates> The team leader's mind filled with a mental picture of their current position and where the King Demon was in relation to them. Troy Stewart reckoned he were a klick or so away, with perhaps five hundred demons directly in the way. Well, he thought, what's life without a challenge...

<Thanks Titan. Team! Listen up, a night on the town for whichever of you captures the king beastie... Titan, send through the co-ordinates to us all please>

<Game on!> Monica Sade replied.

As Dawnstar swooped into the swarm she could sense the King Demon. She estimated it was twice as large as its swarm and she knew it would be much smarter than the rest. As she darted through the crowded space, shoving and knocking demons aside, she considered if rather than each of the team individually struggling against it if they worked together it would make the capture easier.

<Xao, I can sense you approaching the King, it is massive so I shall assist in one moment> Dragonmage didn't respond to her telepathed message but her heightened awareness told her that his dragon form had twisted at an angle to dive below the King where his dragon form's fiery breath disrupted the mass of demons.

<Sade, if you continue on your approach path you will be in sight of the King in seconds, both Xao and I are in position to assist in its capture> Dawnstar was unsure of Monica Sade's teamwork ethic as the Rimborian teleporter was renowned for her strength of will and determination to complete a task - perhaps a throwback to her previous role as a Repo on Rimbor. There was something about her though that made Dawnstar hypersensitive and overly cautious, as if in another life they had been anything but friends...

<No problem Dawny, that'll mean that Troy can take us all out...> Dawnstar could hear her colleagues humour in the reply and smiled to herself. Perhaps she had misjudged Sade after all.

The winged Legionnaire continued her descent towards the King Demon and as she got close Dawnstar could see it within a tight group of its swarm.

<Xao and Sade, get ready to deal with the guards around it...>

The twenty or so huddled demons were blasted away from around their king by a combination of Sade's rapid blaster fire and Dragonmage's alter-form's eldritch breath.

Dawnstar swooped in to slap incapacity cuffs on the giant beast before it could react. With the Demon King slipping into unconsciousness the swarm around him started to twitch and shudder. As he became fully unconscious the swarm turned and fled. Around them the Legionnaires could seen the mass of demons dissipate as they fled back into the swirling skies without a backwards look. The three colleagues all floated, stunned by the sudden ending to the confrontation. With a slap of cuffs they had averted a potential massacre on Marzal.

<Okay... who am I buying drinks for at the Golden Star?> Tyroc's telepathed voice sounded tired but jubilant.

<All of us> Dawnstar replied.

<Yeah, what she said... tight wad> Sade added with a wicked chuckle.

Fifteen minutes later, back on Marzal Island in a bunker underneath the Chief's building Titan shared the good news. The Chief's Council cheered and hugged the Legionnaire. They had never seen a swarm as large as the one the team had just defeated and all of them had secretly doubted the Legionnaires on this mission would be able to protect their Island home completely. The news that the demons had been repulsed and their king captured so quickly was incredible! They made an announcement to the Island, letting the population know that it was now safe to leave their homes and shelters before taking an elevator from their bunmker back up to the penthouse where they had met the team earlier. It was several minutes later that Dawnstar knocked on a window and asked to join them.

It wasn't until after Tyroc had been congratulated and his teammates been applauded by the Chiefs that they asked if the Robotican Legionnaire had succeeded in it's mission.

Troy's heart sank. he had been so focussed on repulsing the Demon horde that he had forgotten they still didn't have a clear way home. A quick report from Babbage confirmed that the generator was not fully functional and in Babbage's estimation it would take days to rebuild the missing parts and fine tune so they could use the Brande tech to return to their dimension.

"We can't really afford to take that much time..." Tyroc muttered to himself.

"You have done this before Troy. You helped Tasmia and I return to Earth when we were stranded here with you."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same, only it's a tough cry to make and if I don't get it right..." The statement hung in the air for a moment before Sade spoke.

"So don't get it wrong. C'mon Troy, where's your adventurers spirit now, eh?" She half-teased he team leader.

"Okay... though can I grab a drink first, my throat kinda hurts from sortin' out that demon horde... or had y' forgotten all that screaming'?" he smiled in return as he answered.

"What about the king?" Xao pointed to the large unconscious demon that they had carried into the Chief's penthouse.

"We know how to deal with. It'll not terrorise us again after we dissect it."

"That didn't work last time... we should try to be a bit smarter." The Chief's started to talk over the young mystic but Tyroc silenced them allowing Dragonmage the opportunity to speak. "We know the swarm follow them if he's awake but as soon as he was knocked out they fled, as terrified as they had been hungry... Nasir, is there any way you can..."

"Already doing it Xao." The tall telepath answered.

"What you doin'?" Asked Sade. The room was silent for several long seconds until Titan broke into a large smile.

"Go it... His mind is quite primitive though for all that these Kings are clever beasties with a rudimentary telepathic ability. I've had a good look around its memories and know what we can do. We can use it's powers against it... The Demon Kings weave a psychic net that forces others of their kind, the smaller ones, to share in their needs. A sort of mind control, and the bigger they are the more powerful their control. And the more they control the stronger the urges become. Its like there's a feedback loop as king and its subjects egg each other on... Only thing is, it also means it shares and amplifies their weakness. These creatures don't sleep, not as we know it, the unconscious state is unnatural to them. His mind is in terror right now at not having the sensory information it needs... So once the king is unconscious this sensation gets broadcast across the Demon's psi-wavelength link and the demons that were following it run away because if they remain then they too'll fall asleep. If you want to keep Marzal safe you'll have to keep this King Demon safe and sound and fast asleep. It'll broadcast a repulsive message to its own kind and they'll stay away."

Tyroc smiled broadly as Titan announced this. Years before he had left his home Island after they had decided to murder their captives, he now felt vindicated in that decision.

"How do we keep it asleep though? ...will your cuffs work long term?"

Tyroc used his flight ring's hard light display to correlate the anaesthic the incapacity cuffs had produced to knock the demon unconscious. There was much scrabbling to take notes and understand the information the Legionnaire shared. Outside the building they could hear shouts and cheers as the population crowded around the Chief's building, eager to applaud the Legionnaires that had saved them. Dragonmage and Sade stood at the window and waved.

Tyroc asked Babbage to leave his work on the generator and return to the Chief's penthouse. After the Robotican had signaled his affirmation Troy Stewart turned to the twelve elders of the Island he had grown up on and gave them a sad smile.

"We gotta go. Tell the people that I'm still linked to this place so if anything bad happen's again I'll come a-running back with the team. But 'til then you guys look after them all, okay? And don't go killin' the King neither, he's gonna keep the rest o' the demons away from you'se all."

After Babbage had rejoined the team Tyroc led them out of the Chief's penthouse and they flew a quick circuit of the Island to wave to the crowds below. After this Troy asked the team to land on an empty roof top.

"Okay.... this ain't easy but stay close to Dawny, she'll lead the way and I'll take up the rear."

His team all nodded.

With a reality bending roar Tyroc screamed again and the air around the Legionnaires started to spin and sparkle. They were going home.

Kid Quantum and Duplicate Girl had completed their four hour Monitor Board duty shift and one hour and twenty five minutes after he had taken over from them Timber Wolf was already wishing he could be anywhere else.

Other than Tyroc appearing in the middle of the gymnasium with the rest of his mission team rather unexpectedly all Brin had to do was watch screens and read mission logs until something interesting happened. Even then he wouldn't get to join in unless it was a real serious emergency, which given the size of the team these days was unlikely. It was so dull it made his teeth ache. It didn't help that he was paired up with Thirteen.

Not that Brin had anything personal against the lad from Naltor, he appeared to be handy on a mission according to the logs and hadn't used his looks to take advantage of all the young women on the base, but generally Brin had never really felt entirely settled around him. Something else else felt off but the Zuunian couldn't quite figure out what it was. It was like a small itch on his shoulder blade that he couldn't quite get to, just that half a centimetre short of reaching...

Thirteen had almost single handedly checked out the Q-drive relay on Legion World Two when they had first taken it over from the Forge Chosen. Querl had reputedly said he'd done a really good job - which had blown most of their minds, Querl complimenting someone other than Kara was a very rare beast. Thirteen must've done a great job if Brainy even deigned to acknowledge it.

Kinetix swooned after the Naltorian but he hadn't touched her, not according to the grapevine in Shakes... He hadn't made a move on any of the other girls or any of the guys either. Still... Brin didn't like his discomfort around the young man as he had only heard good things about him, Dann apparently really was just a decent guy, but the Zuunian couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right no matter how much positivity and praise he heard. Timber wolf wasn't going to deny to himself that his gut told him there was something very false about Thirteen that irked his senses, something that he couldn't put his finger on right at that moment but he knew he would eventually. He always did.

Ach, Brin thought, maybe I'm thinking too much when I know that should be left for other people on the team that are better suited to it.

"Brin..." Thirteen said, "Do you have a minute, I'd really appreciate your opinion on something."

"Yeah, what's up Dann?" Brin didn't turn around to face the junior team member, instead he stayed slouched with one leg over the arm of the chair staring at the monitor screen in front of him.

"Thanks... umm..." Thirteen took a deep breath, "Everyone says you're the most honest Legionnaire, you don't fluff things to make 'em seem better than they are y'know..."

"What is it?" Brin swivelled his chair around. He leant forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

"Well, ...here goes... Has the this team always been so cliquey? I mean, like when Harmonia and Loutrahim were in the medi-bay, some folks were more conspicuous by their absence than others. Also, there's a lot of hierarchy that seems to be a bit.... ah... not quite direct, kind of more to do with if your face fits...."

"You mean it's who you know not what you know? Yeah, that's about right, welcome to the real world kid. This's how groups always work. Yeah, we should be 'professional' but really we ain't always gonna get along. Think about it, we're here with fifty odd meta-powered high achievers on a rock flying through space looking for a fight so you gotta expect some tensions. My advice is try to do yer best without taking it personal."

"Is that how you get through it?"

"What do you mean 'get through it', eh?" Brins tone went flat.

Dann smiled apologetically to ease the sudden tension in the room, "I mean... Is that what helps you deal with it? ...Deal with the stupid politics?"

"We're here to do a job kid, the rest is just toffee on top." With that Timber Wolf turned back to the monitor screen and said nothing more.

Timber Wolf scowled as he pretended to read the monitor data flow, he was finding it hard to concentrate as the Naltorian pretty boy had really irritated him!

Mission: Alert from Trom, suspected meta-criminals.

Element Lad – Team Leader, Jan Arrah of Trom, elemental transmutation
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form

Ferro held one of the cyborgs in his arms, or what was left of the vandal anyway.

The vandal who had been part of the horrible destruction the Legionnaires could see around them had laboured breathing and his one organic eye twitched. Blood ran from his nose. He had lost his legs and right arm along with plating from across his chest. Doug had seen war wounded while on the alternate Earth ruled by the Dark Circle and this was just as awful as any battlefield sight he had experienced there. The iron skinned Legionnaire had already used his supply of antiseptic anaesthetic spray that he'd carried in his belt medi-pouch on the cyborg's wounds and worried that it wouldn't be enough. Kinetix was taking care of the other two that Jan had dealt with. This was really bad thought Doug, the press will crucify us if these guys die no matter what they had done!

"We w'ren't expecting youse bloody heroes to turn up... Media all say youse h've lost yer mojo an' we heard the spy satellites were down... We only wanted the gold... Why'd he do this to us?"

<Zoe... Zoe! This guy is slipping in and out of delirium. What do I do?>

<Hold on Doug, I'm... I dun0i, I'm gonna have to get Dr Shakespeare to help. He'll know how to fix this>

<Yeah, and he can help us stop his boyfriend if Jan decides to finish the job murdering these guys too>

Jan Arrah heard the exchange between the two junior team members but didn't turn back as he floated over the field of broken Tsarin crystals. He didn't really care, right now his primary care was ensuring the Tsarin crystals were put back in place... especially here at the training field.

The junior Legionnaires could think of him what they wanted, Jan Arrah, the sole known survivor of the Trommite race didn't care. Not here... not right now.

This dark ground on the southernmost edge of the long valley were his people had lived was were the last stand took place, where the adults had rallied to protect the children, where his family had died. His father had held up his hands as the Butchers ray blasted him into free floating atoms. His mother had been frozen in horror as she was murdered. His cousins Wir and Bedn and chubby little Donni who wasn't even two standard, and his...His sisters Simonee and l'il Adi... she had celebrated her third Name Day only two weeks before ...they had all been here.

His family had all been murdered in cold blood right here while he had escaped.

It was almost an hour later, after Element Lad had replaced the broken Tsarin crystal monuments and was sat on a rocky outcrop staring into the distance that the Legion leader saw Kent Shakespeare fly into view. It took the Trommite a second to realise who it was; he'd heard how awkwardly his partner flew but this was the first time he'd seen it and Jan's mouth moved into a small smile. He stood up as the doctor made a clumsy landing. Kent's face expressed his concern, his confusion and most of all it showed his empathy.

"Zoe requested my assistance..." Before he could say anything else Jan Arrah turned away. Silently Doctor Shakespeare held his ground for a few seconds before he stepped forward and put his arms around Element Lad. For a few seconds the Trommite resisted before taking a deep breath and turning around to gently place his face onto his partners shoulder.

A couple of seconds later the Legion's leader put his arms around the doctor and hugged him tightly as for the first time in over sixteen long years Jan Arrah cried for everything he had lost.

She smiled broadly as she watched the news broadcast.

She was still unused to this face even having worn it for the last year so it felt strange to do this but she continued to smile anyway. The original owner of this face had grinned like an ape often, but she had never found it had felt comfortable to stretch this face in such an uncomfortable manner. The idiot who had once had this body was long gone now so she had tried to remember some of their mannerisms to replicate when others were around that were not under her control but that was less and less necessary.

But there were moments when a smile was a natural response, like now.

When she had started on this plan she never realised how many of the fawning media actually hated the brightly clad Legionnaires; they had made her work so much easier. Raymond Luxury-Yacht and the toadies at that children's station were hers after their first meeting, the rest of the media soon capitulated afterwards with only a little push from her as they followed the trend Hotzone had started. The whispers of discontent that were rarely said were now in the mainstream and soon those voices would start to shout... The reports that were coming through from the Media were exactly what she had desired; tittle-tattle trivialising the enemy's achievements while their senior members were opened up to a barrage of abuse. The senior team would be gotten rid of soon enough then she would keep the rest of the Legion as her personal army.

Experience had taught her that she needed to get the smarter ones out of the way before she really started to visibly exercise her right of control. Well, that was in progress. Several of the one's she would have feared had left in the last year without her needing to manipulate the circumstances but a few remained to be dealt with. Harmonia have survived her first direct attack, which was a pity, but she knew the elemental was damaged after the attack. That meddling Legionnaire would be easier to deal with next time. Element Lad, Brainiac 5 and Mon El would be gotten rid of soon enough - she had set plans in motion that would unsettle them before their fall, she liked to play with her food after all... though that ugly Durlan would by next - she would personally see to that! She had already planted the crumbs in a trail that would lead him to his personal destruction, she needed only to be patient now and wait. Daggle would be the next one to fall as she could not have the teams detective around when things really started to happen, his curiosity and damned morals might be too much of a threat.

Yes, she thought, she was very happy with the way things were going. She had access to their Senior Team meetings so knew what they planned and how they believed their secret plotting could deceive her. She started to laugh. The fools didn't know that she had eyes and ears in the heart of their operations.

Another three months and she would have the Legion broken and on the run, another few after that and they would eating out of her palm again and then she would use their new base as her palace and take everything else that she needed from this universe...

So, that brings us up to the end of the opening arc of part 5 - coming up the team leave Sol, Chameleon Boy and the Espionage Squad make a fateful decision, Yera makes a discovery, there's trouble in paradise and Brin goes home... oh, and there is a traitor somewhere that is causing mischief.

Any comments and feedback is welcome.

Thanks,

C

Things are heating up! I love how quickly and professionally the Marzal team dealt with their Ty problem...and nice callout to Bounty with Dawnstar's reaction to Sade!

Feeling really sorry for Jan...I like the contrast between Tinya's concern for him and the new kids' concern that he came so close to murdering those guys...It makes sense that the new Legionnaires might not get how deeply being on Trom would affect Jan.

Speaking of Bounty...I thought at first she might be the traitor after reading your last post....I'm not so sure of it now as our mystery narrator seems to be a lot more calculating than I'd expect Bounty to be. My second guess is somehow one of Lu's bodies has gained independence and gone bad...I look forward to finding out more!

Oh my! Some amazing moments again! This is becoming quite a ride.

Great resolution to the Marzal arc. Babbage thinking of politeness protocols was cute. Dawny kicked butt, her allusion to Sade in another reality was well done. Liked Sade's cooperative attitude surprising Dawny, Dragonmage not being used to the gym. Will Troy retain his full reality warping powers? excellent resolution keeping the King Demon alive but asleep.

Trom. Your writing of Jan was well done, also Kent supporting him so well. There will be hell to pay I am sure... Great scenes with the rest too. Zoe and Doug frantically saving the cyborgs that Jan took down was well done.

Brin's interaction with Dann was great. As in any big group. there are some we just won't get along with, and it might not always be logical. I wonder how much in the mark Brin is with Dann's secret?

and your infiltrator is chilling! I am scared yet eager to see how it unfolds

Harbinger this first arc was really well done and i enjoyed it alot!

Sister Eclipse and Kara making the chapel was nice. I never thought about that aspect of the Legion's world much and how each of them have different philosophies when it comes to religion. Kara says most of them are "secular, not following any particular faith with any real devotion." i find that interesting because in their line of work and how hopeful they need to be in certain circumstances i wonder how many of them actually do have some sort of faith they call on they just don't say anything.
It sounds like a very nice place they've built. ( i hope Sister Eclipse isn't the traitor that's on Kara's mind.

a game of tag! i like that. Kara getting shot in the face was funny and i really liked how Mon'el is having a good time with this and laughing. I feel like he's a character we don't ever really get to see the light side of in any continuity. I loved Kara jumping Starkling! Ha!

I have to agree that the Mazarl mission was handled really well. I also liked that it didn't escalate much further and the team work they displayed really was well done.
Sade and Dawnstar have a connection?
So that's how Tyroc came back to the Legion. really well done and he clearly took the Legion not to kill seriously. it's heart breaking i bet to see the people you care for not take the higher road and listen to you when you know something is wrong. his lone howl back to the legion. such good imagery.
Babbage trying to fix the Brande Tec was entertaining. him being nimble was a funny image.
Dragonmage bulking up is a good idea and now the jade dragon gives him a physical form to fight? that's amazing! I like that alot and i can't wait to see what this jade dragon can do and has in store for Xao.
That was inventive with the Demon King and Titan realizing its telepathic nature to command its fellow flying demon's. Tyroc knew there was another solution and i'm glad the Legion were able to show that to his people and allow Tyroc to regain faith in his people.
Sade is fun and i like her quips to throughout.
I'm glad Titan is getting into this mission and not letting his power down grade keep him down.

Starkling's origin was great! So it's a sentient force of nature or just an immortal being? is it the only one of its kind? I like that it is named after the person who was first able to communicate with it. Although does it have a name that it went by before Starkling? It not understanding the concept of privacy in relation to personal thoughts and not understanding its humanoid teammates makes sense. I like that all it wishes to do is share its experience and that was what brought it in contact with the U.P in the first place. Starkling's life pre-man sounds very relaxing. alot like those painting gifs that just keep changing as it moves inward on itself.
"human mind rarely shielded its thoughts, they simply issued them into the psychic ether like a plant would release its spores to the air. " - love this line. Humans not only do this with their thoughts but their emotions. heck everything these days is just put out there into the ether without much regard for the consequences and it just kind of spoke to me. (if you can't tell i really like Starkling)
subtle mind reading...so Starkling is always on surveillance. makes sense as a telepathic creature that it can't shut out everything. But its curiosity could end up being a problem especially if it picks up the wrong thoughts or not the full thought and only the stray one like with Kara and the traitor situation i could see that complicating things. I like how the colonist came to love it. it shows how good naturered Starkling is.
Starkling makes an interesting observation and its true we do strive for a "hive" or collective of sorts with many of our social systems.
Awww it misses Year!
I'm glad Starkling wants to help, i just hope its help doesn't tip off the actual traitor.

Kent and Jan are good together and their mini fight felt real. I like that Kent stands up to Jan about his possible break down and the rotation idea for the senior team and the deputy makes a lot of sense. how was this not thought of by Brainy already!

The rotation idea would also help with getting members of the team who don't work together normally or who may not be the best of friends to help work on that and like Kent says help beef up the skills, and faith in the junior members.

You know i love Henry and the mysteries surrounding him and how much he still knows from his time and before the baecon was put in place and as usual you give me a great moment where i just don't know if i trust him. The egg/biological nature of his technology is really interesting.
Brainy must be really distracted to not think more of Henry's warning...

Element Lad's team on Trom was interesting to see his world after so long. I was half expecting their to be Trommite survivors but I'm glad they weren't and it gave real weight to Jan's plight about his people's finale resting place being disturbed. You make a valid point that the junior/ new members wouldn't understand. This brings it back it the team being very fractured and ties in with Brin and Thirteen's conversation. There are so many faces to this debate about the team what needs to be done to make them cohesive again.
I never realized Trom was a colonized world and I'm curious about those Alchemy War.
Gazelle and Ayla's team was well done and good for them to see a trap and then to see that it was a rush job. "You took my fun!" liked that line!
I'm wondering if these guys were sent here to provoke a specific reaction not only from Jan but maybe the other Legionnaires as well... where is the camera that's going to expose Jan???
Jan was brutal for sure. but i understand it. .. i felt like i was getting glimpses of the Progenitor with the lack of remorse until Kent showed up that is. I think that's the big difference between postboot and every other boot. Jan has someone to ground him and keep him among the living and human.

Brin and Thirteen's monitor moment is a little like Tinya and Lydda's; two people who have no real issues but there is no trust built between the two, Brin not being able to shake that feeling could be telling but could also be another red herring. But it is odd that Querl would compliment him and not have anything negative to say,,, Something else else false...could it be his powers or could it be 13's powers playing with Brin's gut as 13 alters probability, making him a living embodiment of the unknown?
Brin makes agood point that is how a lot of groups function.

Some really good stuff here and can't wait for more!

It had all started with a comment from one of the students at the Academy.

All full time Legionnaires were asked to give one day a month to the Academy, taking classes to give the full time tutors a chance to catch up on their paperwork and also to allow the students to meet and interact with potential future teammates. Brin Londo had left his monitor duty to take his monthly class. He had always been a popular tutor amongst the more physical students so had taken the Colossal Crew to the asteroid belt for some zero gravity combat lessons. Colossal Boy joined them, enjoying getting off Legion World One for the duration of the class, especially as the students in his crew had spent the morning being interviewed by Noah Kabbo over the suspected poisoning of a fellow student. Gim seriously doubted one of his kids was involved but had to admit he was happy once he was given their all clear. And so to much more pleasant ways to spend a day... Zero gravity combat class the Brin Londo.

Ballistix, the Zuunian synthetic capable of extreme strength and speed, was as comfortable in space as she had been in a planetary gravity so had excelled. She got top marks followed by Prescience.

Brin noted that Kid Dynamo, Yeti Boy and Dragon Lass all looked disappointed by the scores they'd been assigned, but the Zuunian Legionnaire wasn't away to pander to them as they had failed the exercise he'd set them.

Afterwards, as they took a shuttle craft back to the Academy Brin had been discussing with each student how they had done that day, especially as three of them had never been in open space before when the comment that would alter the Legions understanding of their teammate Timber Wolf was made.

"Balistix, you're on your way to be the second Zuunian Legionnaire if you continue like this. You pick up things quickly, don't you?" Timber Wolf smiled as he spoke to the synthetic student.

"I believe I would be the first true Zuunian Legionnaire. You were one of many failed experiments in the Homo Deus programme. Only a laboratory experiment subject..."

After that things kicked off with a frightening ferocity. It took Bouncing Boy squeezing between Timber Wolf and Ballistix and activating his Sphere Field to separate the Legionnaire from the synthetic student. If Prescience hadn't of pushed his student squad mate between them Bouncing Boy may never have gotten there in time to stop the Legionnaire from permanently damaging the synthetic student.

"Bloody Nass Brin, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Gim Allon quickly got in between the Legionnaire and the student. The rest of her tutor group were wide eyed and shocked by the sudden explosion of violence.

"You'd never get it Allon, not all've us grew up 'mongst the Metropolis elite." Brin said with a huff.

"Damn it Brin... We're friends, what's going on?" the tutor hissed.

"I gotta go..." Timber Wolf pushed Gim's hand off of him and turned away from the students to walk up the galley towards the control deck. "Henry, can you warp me to Zuun... Central Continent, Sector 41..." He said into his flight ring as he stomped up the walkway.

A honey and violet warp appeared before the Legionnaire and he strode through it without looking back.

Gim Allon swore under his breath. After making sure his student class were sat down and quiet he followed his former colleague up the galley way and closed the door of the control deck behind him.

"Jan... Jan we got a problem." Gim said into his flight ring. To his surprise Phantom Girl's holo popped up instead of the team leader.

"Jan's not around Gim, Kent took him off to Naltor... He needed some help. The last mission was to Trom and he's real upset, he's gone to talk to the Titan Institute's medi-paths. What's going on with you?" she smiled as she asked though only her mouth moved, her eyes still looked hard.

"Brin flipping' Londo just tried to dismantle a student then got Henry to warp him to Zuun. He's gone all Lone Wolf again."

"Okay... Okay, I'll get a team to follow him, any other info you can give?"

"I'll send you the security holo of the incident, thanks Tinya. And I hope Jan's okay..."

"Thanks Gim. I'll let you know what's going' on when we find out, 'bye." her holo vanished before he could reply. Even if Gim had not seen how tense Tinya looked the abrupt end of their conversation would have told him that his friend was not having the best of days. If Jan needed to be at the Titanian Institute on Naltor to get help then things couldn't be good for the team right now... Gim just hoped that there were only a few of the senior team that knew where Jan was as it could damage the support he would get from the junior team if they did not have faith in his capabilities as a leader.

In the Monitor Board room Phantom Girl phased through the wall and surprised Thunder and Karate Kid who currently manned the monitoring control system.

"I need a team to go to Zuun including a telepath and a tracker... We need to go now so who's available?"

Three minutes later Tinya stood in the warp control room with Backlash, Tellus, Dragonwing, M'Windaji and the Green Lantern. She shared the holo footage from the student's shuttle and asked if there were any questions.

"Brin's gone rogue... Joy." Gahaji said to no one in particular. Tinya turned towards him and glared. There was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds before she spoke.

"No, he's off investigating his past. He had a tough time when he gained his abilities, his memories were tampered with and that student's flippant disregard has set him off. We're going to help him get to the bottom of this. Brin needs our help to find out the truth."

For all of her supportive words, at that precise moment Tinya Wazzo was contemplating what disciplinary measures the team could take to sort out Brin Londo's awful moodiness once and for all. As far as she was concerned he could be a bloody liability!

Zuun

Encyclopaedia Galactica - Following a relatively stable orbit between three stars Zuun is seen as an adventurers planet, often being referred to as a 31st century Wild West. There are no governing bodies as such though the Zuun Amegtranian Conglomerate are in full control of two of the six continents where they have established major mining refineries for the many rare elements that are found on this Rim Edge world and have the largest android making factory known within the UP. The small human population, estimated to be no more than 20,000 in total, are by necessity self-sufficient and independent, and often avoid each others company. The four other continental landmasses are covered in Fungus Forest; native organism that resemble Terrran mushrooms though on a far grander scale, often reaching 8 metres in height. Within the northern edge systems of the UP, the Ebony Mountain Range is seen as one of the top ten ranges to challenge experienced climbers wanting to test their skills against rugged terrain. The largest continent, called Smithfield by the local populace, was the site of an experimental recombinant RNA cloning and re-building programme that has resulted in herds of clone grown dinosaurs roaming the central plateau. There is a small tourist trade where both hunters and environmentalists wish to track these herds, though obviously for very different reasons. Zuun is also a planet where the majority of the hard labour is completed by humanoid androids and blue skinned synthetic drones, something that has fallen out of fashion amongst the majority of the United Planets in the last few centuries. The Legionnaire Brin Londo, known as Timber wolf, was originally from Zuun though it has been noted that he has not returned since leaving to join the Legion Academy.

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zunn, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

The Legionnaires stepped out of a warp into a long deserted corridor.

"Well... This is a lot more industrial than our mission logs ever reported." Tinya said to herself. "Right, M'Windaji, take point, Backlash you're with him. Lantern, can you join them please. I want you three to go get Brin. Give him whatever support he needs but don't allow him to smash the place up too much."

The Tigerram gave Phanton Girl a flat look that showed his disappointment at being partnered with M'Windaji though bounded along the hall behind the tracker. Tinya hadn't heard there was any problem between the two though was glad Backlash was professional enough to not allow the problem to disrupt their mission. There were quite a few team members lately that Tinya didn't think were as loyal as the Tigerram...

"The student mentioned something called the Homo Deus programme, let's see if we can find anything out about that to help Brin. If his childhood memories are fake it kind of makes me think of children being sold by someone to get them here... so, let's see what we can dig up, okay?"

Dragonwing looked slightly angry, which Tinya thought was quite good - if there was a child slavery ring feeding into rogue experimentation then they had every right to get angry. Anger would keep them focussed as they made their way through this strange place.

"Tellus... is there anyone nearby? We need to start asking some questions." Tinya floated on the air before the telepathic Legionnaire as she asked.

<There are a few... though only one human. I believe there are several synthetics approaching, their minds are difficult to read... Hazy.>

"They'll do..." Dragonwing said, a curl of emerald flames leaked from the edge of her mouth.

Danielle Foccart sat quietly, listening to the light speed voices of the planetoid they now called Legion World Two.

The running of the station was a smooth and structured thing, something she enjoyed being aware of. There were no temperaments or impulsive reactions pr illogical emotions to ruffle the organised intelligences, only logic and clearly defined processes to guide and direct whatever actions were required.

She had not spoken to a living being all day and did not miss the human interaction. Her associate Glorith had visited her the day before with Dragonmage but no one had contacted her since. The two young women and the young man had not spoken too much while they were together. Glorith had magicked a meal for them that had tasted of chicken and home grown vegetable, much like one that Danielle's mother may have made for her family years before. They ate in silence and afterwards Glorith had dissipated the remains with a wave of her hands. Their meal was followed by a long comfortable silence until Glorith finally spoke.

"Have you spoken with your brother yet, dear Danielle?" she had said it quietly, her tone that of an apology.

"We will speak soon, I am sure. Next week perhaps..."

"You must make room in your heart for him again... There... There are paths of destiny that entwine us all, but the two of you share something even beyond that, there is a glorious thread that should not be strained so... Please my friend. Promise me you will endeavour to hear him out." Glorith said.

'He is a brave man but his heart breaks at the thought of your being at risk. Is not that love a forgivable thing?" Dragonmage had added.

Danielle had been silent, only part listening to her friends as she asked the monitoring system where Jacques was at that moment. In her mind the data flowed and she saw that he by himself in his apartment, pacing the floor... she assumed he looked unhappy though she had never been entirely sure of those social cues to emotional states that other people seemed to know so effortlesly.

... But Jacques had to realise that she could not return to Earth, the AIs here were her friends...

On Earth the voices were disparate and chaotic with so many systems and conflicting priorities and contrasting processes and poorly engaged operating matrix and there were the ongoing stupid input and flaws created by so many ignorant people...

Here brother had embarrassed her at the last full team meeting and Danielle understood why but could not quite bring herself to forgive him.

She knew the only logical route for her was to remain here on the Legion's base where she felt safe and comfortable, where no one questioned her usefulness or challenged her behaviour. Jacques may apologise but until he understood that she would not leave her home on this planetoid they would not be close again.

He may be her brother in flesh but he did not understand her like the AI community she had around her did, in fact she doubted he ever really could understand her.

Legion world One, main refectory.

Kinetix, Dragonmage, Kid Quantum, Gravity Kid, Comet Queen, Monica Sade and Chameleon Girl sat around a large table enjoying a meal.

They had been reminiscing about the old Academy on Earth for half an hour, each trying to outdo the others with their anecdotes and tall tales. Tel and Grava had just finished telling about their first adventure together fighting the Taurus Gang on Phlon, which had drawn a few laughs as they explained about Hadru stealing the cruiser to get there.

"Guys..." Zoe began, "I miss the old Academy, it was so much fun. In between Lydda's drills anyway." More laughs.

"May I ask," Yera began, "If there was one lesson that you wish you had had, but didn't, what was it?"

"How poorly paid being a Legionnaire is!" Sade said with a wicked laugh.

"That the training never stops." Kinetix said, "like... never..."

"like... how the goodtimes are stellaroptic C-speed delights but the bad ones real event horizon drag-downs!" Comet Queen said.

"The truth about the interpersonal dynamics of the team... I mean....How annoying some of your team mates *coff*...Chemical Kid...*coff* might be!" Kid Quantum said with a grin.

"Hadru's alright Jaz... well, he can be anyway." Tel Vole said gently, not wanting to cause any argument but aware that Jazmin had a personal beef with their colleague that would slant her opinion negatively. "He's calmed down since joining the big team. He was a real dick when we were at the academy, always arguing with Lu and trying to throw his wealth around like any of us cared. I think Element lad supporting him when he joined the Legion proper helped."

"Yeah, I'd calm down around Jan too." Sade muttered.

"What do you mean?" Jazmin said quickly.

"Well ...he's super cool and cute in pink but there's an angry man underneath, surely you can feel that? Hey, don't look at me like that. I like the guy and all... but y'know there's something there that my instincts says to tread carefully 'round."

"Yeah... " Zoe said quietly, "...he kinda lost it when he saw those Tsarin crystals smashed on Trom last week." Kinetix lowered her eyes as she added "... he was so upset, the poor guy."

"Like starshine, the poor bleep lost like all his stellarific family and friends there, wotchu expect?" Comet Queen stood up as she spoke to the whole group.

"All those news stories recently painting him as psycho, they're really out of order..." Kid Quantum said indignantly, "When he was my mentor, sure he was tough but he was always fair. I think Jan is a really good guy, one of the best."

Yera noticed that Dragonmage, Kinetix, Gravity Kid and Sade all glanced away, indicating their disagreement. Human body language was so easy to read for a Durlan. She would speak to Gim later on about this as it appeared there may be some dissention amongst the junior team members towards their leader. That would not bode well for the future if it wasn't dealt with soon. Especially, Yera thought, as she had heard from Lu that Element Lad had big plans for the team in the near future.

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zunn, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

The older woman in the green scrub uniform did not appear surprised to be faced by three Legionnaires.

There were five men with her though Tinya would have known they were drones just by their subservient body language, even if their skin wasn't blue and eye sockets empty.

"Are you here to retrieve your destructive comrade. I believe you will find him in the Zoo... Level Nine."

"Actually... No, we're here to investigate potential child exploitation. You know what this means?" Tinya held up her hand to show her flight ring.

"I know what you are. Whilst you do have policing rights on this world may I remind you child you do not have any rights to our data."

"My fiery ass we don't..."

"Marya, language please. Ma'am we are here to investigate apparent illegal experimentation on children that have been brought here in breach of quite a few galactic laws. Even the Khunds don't allow that sort of treatment of their young, so we can argue for a bit then my colleagues will get very angry with you and there may be a fair bit of destruction of your premises and physical bodily harm inflicted before we go any further, or you can comply." Phantom Girls tone made it obvious that she was not going to be patient.

The five drones started forward but as they assumed a protective circle around the woman in the green scrubs Phantom Girl phased through them and hovered in front of the older woman's face.

"Don't try anything stupid. I want you to take us to a data bank or we will punch every bloody face that gets in our way before we reach one ourselves." Trinya's expression was thunderous.

"Hardcore PeeGee..." Dragonwing said with a smile.

The scientist gulped visibly before nodding her head and turning around to lead them back down the corridor she came come from.

<She is planning on tricking us Phantom Girl> Tellus sent.

<Thanks Tellus, keep monitoring her and as soon as you know what she's in mind let us know>

<Of course, she is currently planning on entering the wrong security codes, though I have access to her mind so she will not be able to do so>

Phantom Girl laughed out loud, sometimes she simply loved her teammates.

M'Windaji led his teammates down half a dozen levels.

They had not encountered a soul though were aware that they must have tripped alarms as they tore through closed doors. All of them had seen that quite a few of the walls they passed were damaged, as if torn by hand - a sure sign that they were following Brin Londo's trail. After several minutes M'Windaji turned a corridor and pointed towards a tall metal door.

"I can smell Brin clearly... He is close by." Backlash said, the Tigerram's bassy voice rumbled along the corridor.

"There are seventeen sapients within the room beyond." the Green Lantern shone a light onto the door.

"Okay, so Brin's about twelve metres through there... You guys want to get the door?"

"It will be my pleasure." The Green Lantern said in her reedy voice.

The green light formed into several hands that gripped the doors before pinching them, crumpling the metal into shards with a loud crunch. Alarms erupted and lights started to flash red.

"I guess they'll know we're coming in there now..." Gahaji said as, from behind the crumpled doors a chorus of howls erupted, "...though I wonder why the alarms only sounded now?"

"Perhaps the alarm is because whomever resides within is seen as dangerous and it is to alert us about them... it will be interesting to find out, no?" Backlash replied before jumping forward into the dim lit space beyond the now crumpled doors.

interesting, looks like there is more than just dissensions in the ranks. Tigerram's reaction to Gahaji - was this because of the truth of his marriage? or something else?

I wonder what the team will do about the Jan issue. and the Bein issue. interpersonal dynamics among the team indeed

I love how Tinya is so supportive of her teammates, yet at the same time objective enough to recognize the potential problems and that they must be dealt with. you are giving us a good view into the leadership that could have been during the Retroboot!

as always, more more more!

I thought I'd commented before now on these past couple of posts, sorry Harbinger! I really liked the Academy graduates musing on how their training could have been improved, and I like the dissenting opinions on Jan and even Hadru...it makes them feel more real when they don't have cookie cutter responses to everything. I agree with IB too, i like seeing this side of Tinya and it's a shame Paul Levitz couldn't give it to us when he had the chance.

Thanks again for your kind words.

I'm re-writing my Zunn story a bit as it was just too much talking and not enough punching in the face, and as you know guys Brin should always punch things in the face - there's a rule out there that definitely says that (there is now!), so there will be a delay, sorry

Legion World Two, private quarters of Thunder.

"Breaking news:

Unnamed sources within the Science Police have confirmed that the Legion of Super Heroes have announced this morning that they will be moving their new base out of Sol System at some point tomorrow evening. An announcement made by their current resident Coluan Querl Dox is said to have alledgedly included his announcing that his team will no longer answer to our, the good people of the United Planets, governing bodies. Hthe green skinned, computer brained Legionnaire's speech is also alleged to have included that the Legion was above the laws of the non-powered populace. The Trommite Legion leader, long suspected to have mental health issues after his people were wiped out in battle with Roxxas, did not deign to appear today which raises the question why he did not think the UP Council which has supported his rogue team for years deserved to hear about their cowardly move directly from him.. Klick!"

"Someone at Hot Zone clearly dislikes us." Thunder said mildly as she switched the holo off.

The time displaced daughter of Black Adam understood perfectly what was happening.

Jan needed a break after the teams recent mission on Trom but the media turned that against him. This was the third report she had seen in as many days that discredited the team leader directly, and by saying that the Trommites were wiped out in battle with Roxxs... Ridiculous! By the time Querl's speech to the United Planets was publically disclosed the damage would have been done. Hot Zone was primarily targeted at the youths of the 31st century, the part of the population that traditionally supported the Legion. By fragmenting that support base the team would find it increasingly difficult to find overall support within the general populace.

The bad news stories had spread beyond Hot Zone, though it was by far the most anti-Legion mediastream that she had seen. Three days ago there had been a report of families that had lost loved ones when the Legion had visited their home world. It hadn't once mentioned any meta-villains that were present, not once, though the report had repeatedly shown Sun Boy smiling salatiously, Brainiac 5 concentrating while working at hard light screens, Invisible Kid mysteriously vanishing and Mon El smashing through walls. There was even a report that commented on Mon El's recent mission to the outer rim where they had stopped pirates from plaguing the natives of Alpha Gendarosso-Malkoviz that didn't once mention the lives they had saved and instead referred to Dawnstar, Green Lantern and her as the Daxamite's harem... And yesterday there was a report that news had reached Hotzone saying the Legion had recently created trouble on Trom, inferring the damage done to the crystal monuments was all Element Lad's fault! After the hellish experience Jan had experienced there with his family's Tsarin crystals and home being targeted this was the final straw for Cece, it was such an obvious stitch up it had majorly irritated her. She spent the night checking media feeds and had correlated any 'evidence' they had presented with official Legion logs.

Thunder could feel her concerns increase hour by hour until she realised that there was only one thing that she could think of to resolve the situation:

It was time the Espionage Squad investigated what was really going on in the boardrooms of galactic media...

She checked on her flight ring for the whereabouts of Chameleon Boy. She had not really interacted with her Durlan colleague but knew it was past time for her to get to know him and his covert operations team to get into action. Cece took a deep breath and flew out of her quarters.

Reep Daggle was on the second from top level of Legion World Two in the bases' largest garden. At almost nineteen acres across it had been set out in zones by Harmonia as she arranged this delightful space for maximum benefit of both those who wished to relax here and the cultivating crops to benefit anyone who wished organic, freshly grown food. Cece's flight ring brought her to a long grass meadow where she found him sat on a chequered blanket with the young psychic called Otaki.

For the briefest of moments Cece worried that she was interrupting a romantic interlude.

"I'm sorry to barge in," she offered with a smile, "but could I join you Reep?"

The Durlan Legionnaire smiled coolly and nodded. She could easily read that Otaki's body language showed the young psychic felt troubled. Her Durlan teammate was impossible to read though unless he wanted it she had found; either it was because Durlans had no approximation to human unconscious body language or it was due to his iron willed control over his form. Either way, Bina Nawoti looked upset and angry while Reep Daggle appeared calm and unflustered.

"What's happened?" Cecelia Becks asked.

"What can we do to help you Cece?" Chameleon Boy replied softly.

"Reep... Bina, I'm concerned about the media's portrayal of our organisation..."

"We all are, though it's something that I believe is cyclic so perhaps..."

"Reep, historically we've only been attacked like this when there's someone behind it. Universo is still on Tarkon Galtos, the Dominators are...for once... Staying on their side of their Empires boundaries, Earth Man and his lackeys are either dead or incarcerated... There's someone out there that is gunning for us. And even if Bina's body language didn't give it away that she agrees with me I'd still know I'm right. So, my question to you is how can I help the Espionage Squad deal with this because if I'm not mistaken, until we identify and neutralise this threat things will only get worse."

Chameleon Boy smiled gently. A silence hung in the room for five long seconds before he spoke.

"Who says we haven't done anything?"

"Okay... So how can I help?"

"You can wait with us Cece... If you want? Sister Eclipse and Atom Girl are inside Media Star HQ right now, and we're waiting for them to contact us so we can get Henry to warp them out of there."

Bina gave an explosive breath out in relief as Reep spoke to their team mate. The young psychic was clearly worried by the situation and grateful they had someone to share their news with.

Zuun:

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid

Dragonwing stood in front of the green clad scientist as Phantom Girl affixed a data vampire onto the control panel before them. Tellus floated in the air just behind his fire breathing colleague. Under the Hykraian's telepathic prompting they had been led straight to this office without any trouble.

"So..." Marya Pai said, curls of enchanted flames seeped from her mouth as she spoke, "What did you mean when you said Timber Wolf was 'in the Zoo'?" The older woman looked away for a second before replying.

"Why don't you just have your psychic monster rip it from my mind?" She replied archly.

"Tha's a good idea... but why donchu tell us? If I'm happy with your answer I might ask him to be relatively gentle when he digs into your corrupt child stealing brain to check you ain't lying." Dragonwing said harshly.

The scientist looked thoroughly dejected as she stood alone before the Legionnaires; her drones had been locked into a side room leaving her unguarded.

"The Zoo... it's the holding pen for the ongoing experiments. We let some of them breed, monitoring for mutations... any that have potential we take to the laboratories to check if they match the necessary criteria for further enhancements, they are necessary for..."

"You're experimenting on kids then breeding them like lab rats? ...you're a sick l'il bitch aren't you?"

"Language please Marya... I've already told you once... There's no need to potty mouth when holding interrogations." Phantom Girl said lightly. She smiled pleasantly at Dragonwing as they exchanged a glance, no malice in her words.

<Tinya, Marya... there are twelve people approaching... I believe they are a security contingent> Tellus' psychic words again smoothly sank into their minds.

<Good, I'm in the perfect mood to kick someone's head> Dragonwing replied along the telepathic comm.

<Wait please... the data vampire is almost done and then we can see what it has for us. I'd rather not get into an unnecessary fight unless we really need to.> Tinya sent to her colleagues.

<Their commanding officer plans to ambush us... they are releasing an anaesthetic gas through the vents> Tellus' telepathic voice was silky smooth as he informed his teammates what he sensed was happening outside the control room.

<Our rings eco-protect function will stop any gas from affecting us, so let's wait a few seconds before we go talk to them... let 'em think they have this round.> Phantom girl sent to her colleagues. Her tone was calm, unruffled by the prospect of dealing with a security detail.

<You're quite sneaky aren't you Tinya? I like that.> Dragonwing broadcast as she smiled at her colleague.

The old woman crashed to the floor as the gas overcame her.

<Whoopsie, I should have caught her... oh well, I hope she didn't hurt herself when she fell...> Dragonwing broadcast with more than a hint of fake concern.

<The guards are away to force the door> Tellus sent.

"Get ready team, we don't need to fight our way out of this unless they give us a reason to." Phantom Girl said as she removed the data vampire from the central command console, "I'd like to talk to them and maybe get a few straight answers. That's our priority now. you hear me Marya, no punching unless they start it first."

"Killjoy." Dragonwing muttered with a smile.

The guards were not there to talk to the Legionnaires.

The door irised open and three of the corporation security team stood with their weapons raised, poised to fire. Tellus had already read their thoughts and as soon as the psychic Legionnaire saw them he telekinetically froze their weapons pressure triggers. This momentarily startled the three man long enough for Dragonwing to step forward and erupt with a blast of emerald fire which threw them backwards into their comrades. As they fell she leapt forward, head-butting a guard, smashing his nose in the process, that had got in her way. In the corridor on her left there were four more all with their guns pointed at her. Once again Tellus reached out with his prodigious mental abilities and froze their weapon's triggers. The all looked shocked. Marya Pai grinned ferociously before leaping feet first at the nearest. She wrapped her thighs around his head before twisting abruptly and throwing him into the two nearest before she cart wheeled over their prone figures to grab the last of them by the throat and slam him onto the floor.

"Stay down boys or I'll get pissed. okay?" She leant over them as she spoke, her fires leaking from her mouth as she spoke. They didn't argue.

To the right of the door four more guards had been waiting for their chance to capture the Legionnaires that they assumed would be asleep in the office. Phantom Girl passed through the wall and stood amongst them. As they reacted she punched one in the face while another tried to blast her but the energy went through her immaterial form to knock out his colleague instead. The fourth started to back away but didn't get far as Tinya quickly knocked out his two colleagues by slamming their heads together before flying down the corridor, phasing through the fleeing guard as she did. He stopped suddenly, his face a mask of terror.

The senior Legionnaire turned and floated before the shaking guard.

"You will tell us everything you know about what's going on here or you'll find out what a kidney punch feels like ...from the inside." She flung her hand out towards him and phased it into his torso, leaving it hanging there for a couple of seconds while he looked first at her face then down at his stomach where her arm went into his body and back to her face again. The guard started bubbling in fear. For a split second Tinya wondered what she was doing, terrifying this man to get her own way, before she remembered that they had potentially stumbled upon a child smuggling operation that ran experiments on their victims. With that thought her resolve hardened.

<Hey Tinya, you okay? Tellus and I've subdued this bunch... I think we may have left a couple conscious too... you need a hand?>

<No, thanks anyway... bring the scientist and leave the rest. I'm about 200 metres back up the corridor with a friendly guard, we'll get to the bottom of this place now. Thanks Marya.>

<Sure thing, we're on our way... That was fun, wasn't it?>

Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zunn, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

"Come in Legionnaires" the voice was strong, confident, that of a man used to being in charge.

Backlash led the way, the Tigerram's tail was upright as he confidently strode into the dimly lit space, M'Windaji followed closely by while the Green Lantern floated gently just behind her teammates.

The space they entered felt huge but was dimly lit. A wall to their right had several doors on it though was hung with ivy. Ahead of them were what looked like a forest glade; rich jungle like trees hanging with vines amongst tall grasses and flowering bushes. The air was warm and humid, smelling of new life and growth. It almost felt as if the Legionnaires had stepped onto another world.

He stood before them, a Caucasian man wearing a blue vest and white trousers, his dark hair cur short. "I assume you are here for Brin, don't worry he's fine... He is meeting with the Anubai though will be with you shortly. He is fine." the man gave a salesman's smile.

"We'll decide if our friend is fine, Mr Android." Backlash's deep voice rumbled.

M'Windaji did a double-take: the android was convincingly human.

"What... Who are you?" Gahaji asked, his tone showing his disbelief at the person before them being artificial.

"My apologies for not introducing myself.... I'm here to facilitate assistance for those that have transitioned to their Deus form, I'm Karth Arn. May I ask, who are you?"

Before the Legionnaires could answer there was a roar from the darkness within the trees and TimberWolf bounded out towards them.

"What are you doing here? I didn't invite you..."

"We're your friends Brin..." Gahaji began to spek but Brin interrupted him.

"With friends like you boy..."The Zunnian Legionnaire glowered at the tracker, "I didn't ask for you to come, this isn't your business."

"We are not alone." the Green Lantern said softly, nodding her finned head towards the dark trees.

Within the twilit scrub the Legionnaires could see figures, crouched and carefully making their way towards them, consciously remaining silent as they approached. It appeared as if they were being stalked.

There were growls from within the nearest copse of trees.

"Don't startle them... Let them come to us." Brin said quietly.

As his teammates watched a dozen hunched humanoid figures crept out from the dark glade. It was obvious, even in the twilit space that these were not fully human, despite having the very basic forms - two legs, two arms, torso and head... they all walked with curved spines, their fingers almost touching the ground, while their legs looked like the back legs dogs, as thgey walkred on the balls of their feet. What was most striking was that every one of them had a head with a long muzzle, small dark eyes and large pointed ears much like that of a Doberman Pinscher.

"These are the Anubai..."

"They were named after the Egyptian god Anubis." Karth Arn interrupted.

Timber Wolf ignored the android as he carried on, "They had their genetic profiles altered to resemble the flawed data my father left behind from the experiments he ran on me... In a weird way, these are my... my siblings..." Although Brin had spoken very unemotionally Gahaji was worried that his friend was really upset. Brin was exhibiting that forced stoicism that the tracker had seen on people right before they snapped.

"How do you know this?" The Green Lantern asked.

"I told him." Karth Arn answered, "You see, my role has always been to protect the Homo Deus and Brin London is the most successful of..."

"Shut up Karth, just shut up!" The Legionnaire snapped at the android. "You don't protect, you're the friggin' jailer."

Legion world Two

Starkling roamed the corridors.

The composite being had no idea what it was really searching for but after considering the stray thought it had picked up from Andromeda's mind regarding a potential traitor it knew it could not remain idle. So, it had reverted to the swirling ball swarm form that it had always assumed before Yera Allon had taught it otherwise and it floated along the corridors for the last few hours allowing itself to listen into the thoughts of the many beings that it shared the planetoid with.

So far it had telepthically scanned twelve of its colleagues, mostly while conversing with them to disguise its psychic presence within their minds, though apart from Dr Kabbo who had impressive psi-shielding, so far it had found no resonance that had led it to believe there was any traitorous intentions in those it had encountered. Ahead of it Sun Boy and Lexikon were heading towards the central gymnasium. The composite being rattled down the corridor towards its teammates.

<Sun Boy, may we converse?>

"Starkling... Hey. I didn't realise you use the gym," he laughed warmly as he spoke. The Tamaranean at his side smiled broadly, "...so, how can I help you?"

<We were considering joining you into the gymnasium... While at the Academy there were exercises our tutors....>

"Why are you scanning me Starkling?" Lexikon interrupted the telepathic swarm being. "What are you searching for?" She ran a hand through her wealth of hair as she asked, her body language tensing as if preparing to fight, "I can feel you in my thoughts... get out of there, you are not welcome."

<Our apologies, we were hoping to find a solution to our current question. Since Yera left to join the Academy we have not had...>

"You can't lie to me Starkling, get out of my mind." Lexikon took a step towards the swarm, her fists clenching.

Sun Boy stepped in front of the golden skinned princess. "Uh... Lexi, perhaps you should go on ahead to the gymnasium, I'll deal with this." Dirk smiled but but it was clear he did not expect her to argue. She glanced towards him and shrugged before turning and striding off without a second glance.

After she had turned a corner and gone out of sight he turned back towards the swarm. "You mind telling me what the bloody hell you're doing?"

<It is not our intention to...>

"I don't care what your intentions are not Starkling, what are you doing?"

<Sun Boy... May we scan your mind? Once we have verified that which we seek we will...>

"Oh just do it already Starkie, get it over with..." he folded his arms in front of him and closed his eyes. Starkling entered the senior team members mind and quickly searched for any thoughts regarding a potential traitor and only found the same information as it had briefly felt from Andromeda.

<Sun Boy... We know of the traitor and wish to find them.> Starkling broadcast finally, <You know of their existence... We can see your memories>

"Ah... yup, and the senior team are looking into it. Your kack handed approach will alert them so stop this, please." Sun Boy gave a weak smile. "...though, how do you know? Who let slip?"

<All humans thoughts are obvious to us, those without shielding or psychic skill are immediately apparent when we are close> a silence hung between them as Sun Boy considered what he had been told.

"Okay... I'll smooth things over with Lexi. You stop this now though, if you alert them that we know and then we'll lose the chance we have. You understand?"

<Thank you Sun Boy, if we can assist please allow us to>

"Go on, get out of here Starkie, and keep this to yourself... Selves."

Sun Boy turned his back on the swirling swarm and strode towards the gym. Behind him the composite being called Starkling hung in the air and considered what it had learned from Sun Boy. Though what it wondered most was how the Tamaranean princess had been so aware of its psychic probes and why she was so angered by its actions. Even though it had been told to not get involved in the search for the potential traitor to the team Starkling knew that Lexikon was hiding something and it wanted to know what that secret was.

whew! so much has happened in such a few posts.

The return of Karth Arn!

Starkling's tactic was interesting, and fitting for its alien-ness.

Love how we have new members like Thunder and Starkling taking initiative, only for the senior team to already be working on it and handling it on a need to know basis

Heh, your Dragonwing is so likable. I love how passionate she is.

I'm really loving this arch and i'm super excited to finally find out whose behind discrediting the Legion.

I have to agree with IB, I love that the new kids are trying to figure this out too. Even though the Senior Team is on it, i'm starting to feel like things need to expand to an all hands on deck/ its just time to weed out the traitor. I also be happy to have them help some how. i love that you had two ways for them doing it. Thunder's deduction and then Starkling's invasive tracking down. i also wonder who Lexicon knew he was there and no one else but Dr. Kaboo was able to. i hope its not Lexicon as the traitor!

Timber Wolf and co on Zunn is really interesting because its a topic I've never really seen covered in Legion before. I know you've covered super human slaves and nannited slaves but child experiments and slavery/trade is an extension of that and i'm glad its being handled.
I never realized how much of a chip TW really does have and when Ballistix said what she said i was like wow. if she makes the main team she is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way....

Tinya is so much more formidable in your version that is most, especially the last series. love it and glad she's not backing down to these people.
Brin's family is interesting and i wonder if they will be able to free them from Karth Arn....

the deciension in the ranks is interesting. All the junior members i think are going to have a hard time come what may and also its interesting that they take issue with Elad and what happened but no issues with some of the questionable actions of Brainy. who lets face it isn't always on the up and up about his plans and has gone crazy. I wonder why you don't have them take issue with him but with Jan? Is it because Brainy is the brains and so they see his faults coming from a place of logic and so trust it more?

Jan's reaction to those people and his home was so well done and i'm looking forward to him coming back from Naltor better.
Can't wait for more.

Earth, Media Star infiltration by Legion Espionage Squad:

Five hours prior, Chameleon Boy had led the small team to the technicians apartment.

He had easily fooled the internal security system and gained them access. Sister Eclipse had said she was uncomfortable with this action but had entered the apartment anyway. Otaki had kept quiet as they followed the senior team member into the young woman's living space. Atom Girl was six inches tall and had sat on her psychic teammate's shoulder, the Imskian had smiled as they looked around.

"I slipped an anaesthetic into her caff earlier, she'll not give us any problems... Otaki, are you ready? Once she wakes up we need all the information you can get. Sister you need to remember this... Once you're inside Media Star House you'll need to act like her, fool everyone, until you can get us the information we need. Okay, ladies, if you are ready...?"

Chameleon Boy pressed a disc against the sleeping woman's neck and she slowly resumed consciousness.

For the next three hours Otaki used her abilities to make the young technician more pliable to their questions. They asked about her day to day routine, her workmates, her likes and dislikes... Every aspect of her working life that might help the Legionnaires as they infiltrated the galactic media to search for information.

Otaki had wondered how Chameleon Boy had found and selected the young woman they were using to get through the media centre's tight security but knew now was not the time to ask. The Espionage Squad leader kept his secrets to himself and didn't like to be divulge information unless absolutely necessary.

After the questioning had finished Sister Eclipse had possessed the technician.

After she had slipped inside the young woman's body Atom Girl had flown into her ear and shrunk even further until embedding herself into the molecules of the technician's Tympanic membrane.

<you hear me okay Sister?>

<of course... Though Reep suggested we only use the telepathic grid in an emergency>



The possessed technician's face broke into a smile.

Legion World Two

Tel Vole wanted to break something.

Actually, not something, more someone...and right now, specifically, that someone was Terran Science Police Resource Deputy Manager Madam Jikasi Mlann. He knew that when Jed got back from his stint on monitor duty and read the message that had just come through he would be heart broken. In short the two Science Police Officer's secondments had been revoked. They had twelve hours to say their goodbyes before they were expected to report for duty on Mars, Mons Olympos Special Forces Division, for reassignment. The Science Police were cancelling their Legion membership.

Gravity Kid knew he would have to tell his husband himself... Or at least be there when Jed found out. Being a Legionnaire had been Jed's dream since how was about ten years old and they had been living it for over half a year now and Tel had to admit they both had grown for the better because of it... Tel aknowledged that he certainly had...

Their apartment was on a lower level of Two close to the main Q-Drive array so Tel flew towards one of the grav-lifts and headed towards the mission monitor board room on level Three, at the top of their new base... their home.

Jed was on monitor duty with Monica Sade. Tel didn't really know much about her, despite being on the same team for the last nine months or so as she tended to keep herself to herself... apart from when she teased her partner Tyroc. Perhaps her pragmatism would be a benefit to them... certainly, he thought, anything that could help would be welcome, this wasn't a conversation he wanted to ever have.

It took several minutes to reach the mission monitor board control room and Tel was grateful that he hadn't bumped into anyone on the way as he was sure his face would have given away his emotional state and he wasn't in the mood to explain himself. As he approached the door Gravity Kid took a deep breath and held his head up.

Jedidiah Rikane was slouched over a desk examining hard light read-outs and didn't see his husband walk into the monitor board room. Sade looked up from her desk and smiled. Tel put a finger to his mouth and she noodeds, she un derstood and would keep quiet. He put a hand across his husbands shoulder and covered his eyes, saying: "Guess who?"

"Dirk? Is that you again? I told you I only have eyes for one man..." Power Boy was laughing as he finished speaking and he turned around, stood up and hugged his husband.

"I'll give you guys a moment... goin' to powder my nose." Sade smiled at them as she left them in peace.

"What's up Tel, you look... what is it?"

"This." without any preamble he extended his hand and gave the mental order to his flight ring to show the message that had arrived twenty minutes prior. Jed read it twice before looking back at his husband.

"No.... no, I'm not going to let them do this. This is political horse shit tel." there were tears visible in both of his eyes and he looked away to wipe them.

"We can resign our commissions, though I think we have to give three standard months notice... but will the team be able to keep us for that time? I'll do whatever you want darlin', this is our home now and I don't want to go back to that dump on Mars... or anywhere else."

"Have you told anyone else?" Power Boy asked.

"Nope... didn't think it was their business until we'd decided what to do." Gravity kid replied.

"What do you want to do Tel, what's the best path do you reckon?"

"Stay here, both of us should stay here... Whatever it takes."

"Okay... then that's what we'll do."

"So... Who do we need to speak to first?"

Zuun:

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid

They made their way to one of the upper levels. At first the security guard had been chatting to hide his nerves and Dragonwing had been asking him about his job and any interesting things that he'd done. If Phantom Girl had not known her flame breathing colleague better she'd have assumed that Marya was making friends, but the squad leader knew that Dragonwing was getting as much information as she could. Tinya had tried to do the same with the scientist but the older woman had blanked her.

They were halfway to the upper levels when the scientist had quietened the guard by reminded him that the Legion were there for their own agenda and he should remember who paid his wages each quarter.

There were several more stray security men encountered while they were en route but they were quickly dispatched. The security guard and the scientist were both increasingly nervous as they wound their way around a long white corridor towards the CEO's office.

"Is it me or is this really quiet?" Marya Pai said her thoughts out loud.

"You're Terran, yes? Ha, I don't know how you all can live crammed in on top of yourselves like that... on Zunn we make enough room for our people." The scientist said sharply with an obvious rush of pride.

"And you conduct disgusting experiments on children... you know which place I prefer?" Dragonwing shot back. Behind them Phantom Girl smiled.

Ahead, a wide pair of double doors opened and an elderly man in a sharp steel grey suit stood waiting for the Legionnaires.

"You've illegally attacked my facility and abused my staff Legionnaires. I want you to leave now. I have contacted the Science Police and our Senator at the United Planets council directly. You will leave now or I shall personally see you in chain on a shuttle to Tarkon-Galtos." His voice was surprisingly strong.

<He's a synthezoid Tinya>

"We'll talk to the person in charge, not his synth." Phjantom Girl said dismissively.

"I am the 'person' in charge young woman, Selvon Arn Grande, Chief Executive Officer here, so keep your synthphobic comments to yourself. Unless you want to add hate-crime to your charges."

"Sir..." began the scientist, "These people... they..." The green clad scientist said.

"We know Elnor, don't worry it's all been recorded." The CEO didn't break eye contact with Phantom Girl as he replied.

"And what about your illegal experimenting? Is that all recorded?" Tinya asked.

"Any information you stole with your device won't stand up in a court. You do know that don't you?"

<Tellus, can you get anything from his thoughts?> Phantom Girl asked the teams psychic.

<No, I'm sorry... He has a psi-filter. I will keep trying though> Tellus' reply.

Dragonwing approached the man in the doorway, her strut was confident and proud.

 Dragonwing sent.

<If you're sure then on you go Marya, we've got your back> Phantom Girl responded.

"Your guard and I talked when we were escorting him up here and he mentioned that he's usually stationed with the tourists on smithfield... that's the big continent with the dino clones running about on it, isn't it?" Dragonwing asked though was obviously well aware of the answer. "See, my thoughts are there's no reason for your corporation to go over there. You don't officially own any land there do you and all you do is build synths and they ain't allowed there are they?" again, the man in the door gave no answer and from Marya's tone she didn't need one.

"And I wondered what tourists do there...there are a few ecologists who monitor the great herds... I saw a holo-doc on them years ago. Interesting stuff, it told a lot about that continent. But funny thing was, an' stop me of you've heard this one before, your security guy didn't call them tourists, not as such, no... he called them hunters, that's right, isn't it?"

This time the synthetic CEO gave a non-commital "Yes... Well, we sometimes supply security details to protect off world visitors... it's an alternate funding stream." as a reply.

"And from what I understand from other holo-docs... I used to be a big holo-doc buff back in the day... Well, big game hunters don't really wanna hunt the same thing every time do they? They want variety and the thrill of killing something new, isn't that right? So, my real question is this, those kids you're playing god with downstairs... are you manipulating their genetics to be the hunters next exotic prey?"

There was a long awkward silence as Phantom Girl floated along the corridor to her colleagues side.

"She asked you a question and is an authorised law enforcement operative... you can choose to answer it here or we will transport you to a science police station... of our chosing... to face questioning there. Please don't consider flight as you are officially under arrest as of this moment, and we'd hate to add resisting arrest to your charge sheet." the Bgztlr said.

"Gotcha!" Dragonwing added for good measure.

Whoa!

Good job with Dragonwing, you really made me like her. I love how she's so professional despite having such a casual and rough demeanor. You've made me a fan, something the Retroboot never succeeded in!

Happy to see this heinous operaiton on Zuun being taken down.

Quite a bombshell there, is Brin really responsible for all this? Or were his memories messed with?

Nice touch having Backlash recognizing what Brin was doing re taking charge of the pack.

Poor Jed and Tel! But it was bound to happen sooner or later. Glad they are not going down without a fight.

Thanks IB, greatly appreciated your kind feedback.

When I started the LW series back in the day I really wanted to work on the newer characters, like Marya, but since that first story on Talok I've kind of forgotten about her so wanted to make up for it with this storyline. Really glad to hear you enjoyed it.

Yup, poor Jed and Tel, aww bless them. Maybe something will come up to shake the status quo, you never know

Thanks again, coming soon, the end to the Zuun story, the Espionage Squad get some information that will rock the team, Dr Kabbo does something that will pay dividends and there's a trip to talk to a certain seer.

C

I really like your take on Dragonwing, she is still feisty but much more likeable than she was in comics

I was reading a big chunk of this story and got so engrossed that I forgot to make notes as I went along - but no sorrow in going back to reread it!

Not the first time the Legion has suffered a smear campaign, but they're taking effective means to stop it. Cham strikes me as very calm, cool and collected; confident in his Espionage Squad.

Marya has a bit of the teenage brat in her, or maybe it's just a bit of trickster, but I agree she's more likeable than in the comics. She seemed to lose a lot of her feistiness after she joined the Legion in the comic, but not here.

TInya's experience and confidence are really evident. I have to wonder what it feels like for a person when she phases through them. Pretty terrifying to see her hand reaching into your chest - let alone what she does with your heart!

Still fascinated by Starkling and wondering how Lexikon knew she was being mind-scanned. And all throughout the story, looking for clues of who the traitor might be.

That was a sweet moment between Tel and Jed before the bad news is announced.

Wow! The child experiments look like they're even worse than originally thought. Heavy stuff!

Mwindaji and Backlash sure don't seem to get along to well huh? i wonder what the real problem really is?
Backlash makes a good point though. Brin did the right thing by not shedding any blood to show dominance.

I hope the Anubai get their freedom...maybe that could be a legion mission. helping them to resettle.
How is Brin responsible????

Ooo i like how your showing what the Espionage Squad's been up to. Sister Eclipse and Atom Girl are in for the long haul. I like how they took out the reporter and Otkia got to really use her gifts.

WHAT!!??? NO! Jed and Tel have to stick around Tel was really starting to be a better person and Jed is just always getting the short end of the stick.

Dragonwing isn't one i like much she did really well with her quipps and arrest. Her research was well done.
. I'm glad they were able to really shut down the slave ring. Exotic big game hunting of the Anubai and others is just horrible. But what happens now to their creations?

Can't wait for more.

Zuun:

Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zunn, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

Before Timber Wolf could say anything else the Legionnaire's flight rings pinged indicating that a holo-comm channel had been opened.

"What is it?" Brin said gruffly, holding out his hand to share the holo of Phantom girl as it grew in air before him.

"This a good time? We've arrested the CEO... Marya figured it out, why they need the kids."

"To run their sick experiments on, you mean?" The Zuunian replied tensely.

"Nope... well, that's part of it but the main reason is for sport. They breed them for the tourists to hunt and kill over on continent Smithfield..." Her expression showed she was not joking.

Before she could say anything else Brin spung across to the Karth Arn android and punched him so hard that his fist went through the android's body. He then flung the spluttering artificial man against a wall.

"Bastards! Everyone of them..." He jumped across towards his victim but before he could continue destroying the android an emerald bubble surrounded him.

"Brin, that will not help anyone. You will strop this now." The green Lantern's voice was reedy and slightly higher than a humans but still carried the authority of one chosen to bear an Oan power ring.

"For grife's sake fish-head, let me outta here!" Brin slammed his fists into the energy sphere but it did not budge.

The Anubai had retreated to the forest glade, whimpering and snapping in their confusion and fear. Backlash casually followed them, his striped tail held high as he walked into the dimly lit environment. Within the glade two of the pack hunched down, their faces turned away in fear. The tigerram strolled up to them and gently placed his face next to theirs. Nothing was said but the Anubai understood he was there for them and reached out to gently stroke his broad feline face. He sat down and nudged them affectionately with his cheek which brought a hooting laugh from one. Several more of the pack cautiously approached, clearly unsure of the great horned tiger that sat with their packmates.

"Tinya... We're with a group of them. They appear to be all almost adult, so how long have they been held here?" Gahaji asked his colleagues holo.

"From what I've found on the data vampire feed it's likely to've been at least ten years." Her expression was hard but her eyes were sad.

"It's my fault!" Brin shouted as he slammed his arms uselessly against the energy sphere.

"What are you talking about?" Tinya said angrily, "You didn't know this was going on, how could you?"

Timber Wolf sat at the bottom the the Lantern's energy bubble and put his head in his hands.

"When I was a kid... My mother died and my dad kinda lost hope. He was a gene-tech on Smithfield but lost his job. We moved to the Ebony Mountains... lots o' land there for next t'nothing. He had a basic android farm and we mined some rare elements and stuff but nothin' major, just enough to get by. I was the one who discovered the properties of Zuunium, or some o' them anyway. I was the smart one." He didn't need to look up from his hands to know Tinya would be smiling.

"What do you mean Brin?" Tinya's tone of voice was steady as she asked.

"I know you think it's a lie but I was, not Lyle Norg class smarts but better'n most and my dad needed help and I did what I had to. It was me that approached the Corporation to get funding. They thought it was a prob'ly a joke but sent a Karth Arn android to monitor just in case. That's that whole android line's role... monitor and then control if there's any trouble. Cover up if anything goes wrong so the Corporation doesn't get any trouble back at its door. We built the Zuunium powered machine an' then used it on me... We thought it'd be a medical breakthrough or something... my mem'ries get fuzzy and I reckon in was Arn's doing so the Corporation could get the patent. Only thing was, between whatever Arn did to me and the side effects of the Zuunium my... my IQ dropped a bit... I kinda recall something about been told I'd lost near 70 points. Bloody Corporation then saw what Zuunium could do so Arn used it's resources to try to stop me... that's were the Legion came in. I was a mess and Arn was trying to get my data. They should never have gotten it all though... I don't r'member what I did to safeguard it exactly... But they must've gotten enough info to get experimenting on these poor kids. When that student said I was just another failed experiment I realised the Corporation must've gotten hold of my data somehow..."

"Brin... no. Whatever you think, no... Just stop. You are not responsible for this. Stop the damn martyr nonsense and listen up. The technology they're using is standard chimera class gene-mod treatments, they don't use Zuunium just common-or-garden frankenstein science. Now the SPs are coming the science staff are telling everything..." Phantom Girl's tone signalled how exasperated she felt, even though her holo portrayed a disarming smile on her face.

Timber Wolf sat up and pulled his hands from his face. "Wha'? You sure Tinya?"

"Absolutely, Marya's going through the files with them right now so we have them ready for the police. I'm going to personally see to it that this place is shut down. No more kids will get damaged by this bunch of reprobates."

"What about the packs that're already here... we're with one but there are dozens o' pens down here. Reckon there must be hundreds of kids they've done this to."

"Well... I maybe getting ahead of mysef but I reckon they'd thrive okay over on Smithfield if there weren't any hunters after them, what do you think?" She smiled at her colleague and for the first time in what felt like too long he smiled back.

"Oh... one more bit of good news. The data vampire has just given us a list of everyone who has hunted on that continent in over a decade so we can track them down too." Tinya Wazzo gave a weary smile as she delivered this news. They couldn't stop the horrors that had happened bu they could make some of those responsible pay for what they were involved in.

Legion World One, central gymnasium.

Titan ran.

The tall telepath pounded out laps around the mezzanine level track, pushing himself as hard as he could. The sweat running from his head was an obvious sign of his exertion but still he ran, pushing himself up to his absolute physical limits. He had been here for over four hours and didn't plan to stop until he had totally exhausted himself. Yesterday, after returning from Marzal, it had taken him almost six solid hours of exercise before he could sleep.

The gymnasium AI monitored all attendance and effort that the attendees exhibited while there and sent daily reports to the medical team for assessment. It was expected that a few of the team may skip their mandated time in the gym, but not that one would over exert themselves to this degree.

Dr Noah Kabbo had read the report from the day before then checked the gymnasium log for that day. Nasir N'Cube had shown signs of classic distraction techniques, running and exercising to avoid thinking or dealing with a problem - the recent loss of his Shazam abilities and Wonder Woman returning to her home dimension were the most likely issues - though Dr Kabbo knew that things were rarely that simple and so the counsellor understood it was time he had a talk with the teams resident telepath.

Dr Kabbo had wanted to do this earlier but dealing with the poisoning of Booster in the Academy and his subsequent meetings with the students to figure out if any of them knew anything about it had dragged him off base instead. After three hours of meeting with the students and staff at the Academy he had pinpointed one potential candidate and met with Duplicate Girl to discuss his findings. Luornu, and returned to Two. The Academy headmistress had asked to deal with the problem herself and Dr Kabbo could sense her determination so agreed before returning to the medi-bay on Two.

Noah took a deep breath before standing up from his desk. Nasir N'Cube was an alpha grade telepath so would be difficult to persuade to open up, but the counsellor that the team had taken to call Spy knew he would need to deal with this issue before it led to injury or a breakdown.

Time to deal with this, Dr Kabbo thought as he walked down the corridor to the grav-lift. One way or another, the team depended on the counsellor to find a solution to these kind of issues before they got out of hand.

Lu took the news to Harmonia.

Professor Li was in her apartment resting. Despite a solid week of treatment the ancient elemental was still not up to her full strength and tired easily. Luorno could see though that the exhaustion lines had gone from Harmonia's face and she held herself upright with an ease that was beginning to border on her former grace. Another week, Duplicate Girl estimated, and Harmonia would be back to her usual indomitable self.

"Are you sure? This will greatly upset Loutrahim and he is still very vulnerable." the ancient elemental said after hearing her Cargggite colleagues news.

"Definitely, there's no doubt it was Morlo Mantis's corpse that was found. A week dead and left to rot... I wonder if he had genuinely planned to contact his son and then... Well, whoever it is that set us up on Venus got involved and... Well, this is a mess. Loutrahim is technically his next of kin so has the right to be informed. I was going to call Dr Kabbo..."

"No, Luornu, that will not be necessary. I will tell Loutrahim as it is only fitting he hears this distressing news from me." Harmonia said, looking her colleague straight in the eye. The ancient elemental's expression hadn't changed but Lu could see the strength of will on her colleagues face.

Duplicate Girl understood at that moment that Professor Li knew full well that this would not be an easy conversation but would not flinch in her duty to do her absolute best for her assistant. Luornu had never warmed entirely to Harmonia but at that moment she understood why this mysterious woman could fit so well with the team, her strength of character and drive to do the right thing even when it could be easier to let someone else do it together with her absolute loyalty to those around her was simply incredible.

"At least let me come with you Harmonia, I understand what grieving feels like..."

Zuun:

Phantom Girl – Senior Team member, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zunn, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes Dragon fire and acid
Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magicks
Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

It took four hours for the Science Police to finish examining the evidence before them and take the CEO and staff from this section of the Corporation's main plant in for further questioning. They found sixty four children with various levels of minor, so therefore reversible, gene modifications along with three hundred and eighty one others that had been changed too much for too long to ever return to the way they were.

In those hours the Corporation had its Communications and Publicity teams at work, spinning that it was a rogue division within the organisation responsible for the tragic situation but they could still be relied upopn for androids, energy crystals and other technology essential for Rim World survival...

The Science police Chief of the sector along with several senior officers from nearby systems were involved by now. Their joint holo stated firmly that all hunter permits would be revoked for the foreseeable future and the Anubai and the other changelings would be taken to Smithfield were a settlement would be set up for them. The Green Lantern spun an ark from emerald energies and the Legionnaires joined her as she flew these poor twisted beings to their new home. It was while they were en route that M'Windaji had an idea.

"Tinya, if these hunters are paying top credit to go kill things here they must have stayed somewhere? Surely that'll be a nice hotel or homes or the like? Why don't the Anubai stay there instead of having them being empty... ."

Phantom Girl beamed a glorious smile at him as Timber Wolf patted the tracker on his shoulder in appreciation of the idea.

"I like the Anubai." Backlash said in his deep resonant voice, to no-one in particular, "...for canines they are quite decent."

Dragonwing smiled as she stroked behind the tigerram's ears, adding, "And here's a thought, the ecologists who track the dino herds would surely love a chance to study these packs too so there'd be decent people around to help them be safe until they established their own place in the ecosystem."

M'Windaji and Dragonwing used their flight rings to access the local comm-streams, locating two parties of off-world ecologists currently studying the unique flora and fauna on Zuun's largest continent. After they had introduced themselves they asked for directions to the hotels the hunters usually stayed in. The ecologists weren't exactly kind about how they described those visitors to Zuun but gave the coordinates the Legionnaires wanted. Marya Pai asked them if they knew of any groups currently on Smithfield. The ecologists said that they were generally kept away from wherever the game hunters were but there were at least two parties following a large herd of Stegosaurs... Dragonwing smiled and said that they may get a nice surprise soon and she'd be in touch shortly, before breaking off the comm link.

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?" Phantom Girl said.

"Yeah, times like this make all of Lu's then Tasmia's training almost worthwhile." Both woman laughed.

"Guys," Brin began, "Thank you... I'm an ass for going off like I did..."

"Yes. Yes you are an ass Brin, though it's nice that you finally realised it." Tinya said with a smile. He smiled sheepishly as the rest of the group broke into laughter.

Harbinger you answered my questions and then some.

Always knew Brin was smarter than he let on. But its interesting that its due to his transformation. i wonder if it could be reversed after all this time?
I liked his and Tinya's exchanges and how she told him and the others everything. I'm glad that she wouldn't even listen to Brin's self hatred and i'm so glad that it turned out that he wasn't responsible. idk if Brin could have really handled being held responsible for all the gene-modified people.

The ideas they all came up with were great for the Anubia on Smithfeild.
Dragonwing has really grown. She's still not one of my fave's but i really do like her so much better under your guidence.
Backlash nuzzling with the Anubia was a sweet moment.
Green Lantern comes through. i'd love to see more with her.

Harmoina and Lu's scene was well done and I agree with Lu. I've warmed to her being in the Legion and she has the essences about her. Poor Death Boy! But now who is the murderer?

Poor Titan i hope Dr. Kaboo can help.

Brin having lost some intelligence due to the zuunium is a really interesting idea, and kind of ties in with how dumb he was through a lot of Levitz Legion back in the day (also brings to mind Furball from 5YL)....I wonder if now that it's out in the open if some of the others might treat him differently?

Senior Team Eyes Only: Espionage squad mission to infiltrate Media Star Corporation Headquarters to discover source of previous mission information.

Chameleon Boy – Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Otaki - Bina Nawoti of Earth, mindsense
Sister Eclipse - of Rhoohanisett iii, durability, heightened senses, physical possession of any living being.
Atom Girl -Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink herself to microscopic size.

The technician, Terassi M'Kai, worked in the Intelligence Infrastructure Unit, based in one of the lower levels of Media Star Headquarters.

In the three hours that the technician had spoken with the Legionnaires Sister Eclipse had taken the time to memorise her mannerisms: the way she started each sentence with a "Yeah..." or "Nah...", the motion of her hands that showed when she was trying to think through something, her shy upward glances at the eyes of those she was with... Sister Eclipse had been in the Outer Rim for several years involved with charity work arranged by her religious order and she had become well renowned for her skills at reading people - Terassi M'Kai was shy and lacked confidence that one with her ferocious intellect would be assumed to exhibit. The technician had described the people she worked with and, under Otaki's influence, had truthfully told the Legionnaires about her reactions to each of them.

Sister Eclipse had memorised all this information paying particular attention to the technician's daily routine as she knew that if she was not to alert anyone she would need to stick to it as far as possible.

The possessed technician had walked through the side entrance a full half hour early for her daily shift, presented her security pass and strolled nonchalantly into the scanning centre - patiently waiting as the on-site security team follwed protocol and ensured she was bug free before allowing her to pass with a cheery wave. Sister Eclipse knew that if the technician were to deviate from her routine immediately after entering the media conglomerates headquarters it could send up a red flag to the security team so she made her way to the office space were she would usually work. She nooded her brief hellos to her colleagues and stood at her work station. The tricky part was just away to start.

As was expected she slid her fingers into slots on the side of the console before her. The machine had been engineered on Titan to operate through mental control and was fine tuned to this technicians mind. Chameleon Boy had assured Sister Eclipse that from the results of the tests the Legionnaire had completed from her time at the Academy there shouldn't be any problems. Still the reptillian Legionnaire was wary. Her eyes were closed but her field of vision was filled with a virtual reality 3-D grid. This was were the Artificial Intelligences that effectively ran the media conglomerate were to be found.

If the Espionage Squad were to find anything then it would be in here.

After spending almost a full standard day on Naltor Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare was fully certain that he deserved a decent break...

It was not that Naltor wasn't beautiful or modern or comfortable or that he and Jan hadn't been made anything other fully welcome... It was just he had a massive trust issue when it came to precognitives. Which given that they had spent the majority of their time in the Titanian Survivors Enclave surrounded by telepaths all the more ironic. Kent had never been worried by mind readers after all he had nothing really to hide but the idea that someone might know what he would do next just didn't sit right with the large doctors world view.

Hell, he thought, his partner could move elements up and down the periodic table with a glance and that was okay... But that feeling he got around people who could second guess him before he'd even figured out what the question was ...it just felt creepy!

And despite Jan appreciating his visit and the intense medi-path treatment he had received from Profesor Aven's team Kent had simply wanted to get back to Legion World and the relative security of being around the exotic and weird and wonderful people of the Legion. The oddness of thinking that this lifestyle was in anyway remotely linked to normality wasn't lost on Kent either. But still, it didn't make his teeth itch half being here dealing with any manner of exotic and meta-folk as much as being in a room with half a dozen people who may already knew what the next few minutes could bring...

His relief at being back at their base was short lived as he checked his personal holo-stream for messages on their return journey and found out that one of the students from the Academy was currently being held in a stasis pod due to suspected poisoning. Drura and Noah had yet to figure out what had caused it but that hadn't stopped the poor lad's condition from deteriorating.

So, a potentially deliberately poisoned student... And it looked as if it must have been someone at the Academy that was responsible. Kent hoped the lad would make a quick recovery and that the media didn't get hold of this information as they would soon twist it into something truly monstrous.

When was the teams run on poor luck ever going to end?

Nice ending to the mission on Zuun! The Legionnaires came up with an elegant solution that was the best that could happen, considering some things are not reversible. Nice explanation for Brin's loss of intelligence.

Love seeing Sister Eclipse and Atom Girl in the spotlight. I'm also eager to see how you will deal with Terassi - what will she think after she's been released?

Asa psych major, I appreciate very much Dr. Kabbo's role on the team! Love seeing him.

Interesting bit with Kent, and how he is more uncomfy of precogs than of telepaths!

Senior Team Eyes Only: Espionage squad mission to infiltrate Media Star Corporation Headquarters to discover source of previous mission information.

Sister Eclipse - of Rhoohanisett iii, durability, heightened senses, physical possession of any living being.
Atom Girl -Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink herself to microscopic size.

"Terassi... watchu doin' here really?"

Sister Eclipse had been told about him, his name was Rudi Alvarath and he was one of the Infrastructure Controllers that her host often had to deal with. He was the one she felt most intimidated by, he leered at her and often touched her; nothing inappropriate enough for her to get him fired but enough that she was always left feeling vulnerable. He had told her once that in Rio Dejaneriopolis his behaviour was acceptable and she should be grateful that he paid attention to her. Terassi had felt creeped out by him and here they were in the lower sections of the building alone... Rudi Alvarath was not tall but he had an intimidating physique. His shoulders and torso were broad and solid, his arms and legs obviously well muscled, and his eyes were those of a raptor searching for his next strike. The Legionnaire understood why her host felt scared of him.

Rudi the Creep was circling her like she was easy prey all the while unaware that she was possessed by a Legionnaire with unarmed combat training. Sister Eclipse felt a moments happiness as she realised that she had an opportunity to do a favour for the woman whose body she currently inhabited.

<Atom girl, how long until you are ready to leave?> Sister Eclipse asked her colleague.

<Seconds now... gimme thirty?>

<Perfect!>

"So, what you doin' here? You tech's only slum it when there's an 'mergency." The muscular man asked through a predatory grin. He took a step towards her and put an arm out as if to stop her walking past him. Sistter Eclipse knew he needed to be taught a life lesson and silently gave thanks to the One Who Is Next that she was to be her deity's instrument in giving it.

"Ah... yeah, well... ummm..." Sister Eclipse muttered.

"What was that?" He moved in closer, both arms now outstretched, one either side of the apparently scared young technician.

The technician kept her head down, her dark hair falling across her face in the perfect picture of uncomfortable subjugation. Behind the falling hair her eyes darted to either side, precisely noting here his hands were. A if terrified she stumbled to her left and Rudi the Creep's hand brushed against her breast. She screamed and grabbed his hand, apparently to push it away, though in reality she pulled it towards her side as if he were trying to grab her. Rudi stumbled forward, thrown off balance by this sudden move. Sister Eclipse took this opportunity to give a sharp kick to his shins causing him to yelp in surprise. As he did she slapped him on the side of his head ensuring she cupped her hand as she struck his ear. She had learned a long time ago that human ears could be sensitive that this sort of blow could damage his ear drum giving him pain for days to come.

"Security! Help, he's attacking me!" She screamed, before kicking his other shin.

"You bitch! You feck..." Her knee caught him spectacularly in the groin before he could complete his sentence and he groaned as he crumpled in on himself.

She artfully pretended to stumble as she walked past him so her hand could touch the central control desk.

<You got me, let's go> Atom Girl sent.

<One minute and we shall. I just need to finish something>

"Security! This is Terassi M'Kai. I demand footage of the last ten minutes from my current location is sent directly to my personal stream-account."

With that she walked out of the control room, just as three security guards rushed in. One stopped beside her while the other two ran to the man curled on the floor.

"R..R..Rudi attacked me... he touched me..." With her hair still over her face and some judicious acting portraying a frightened victim the guards could not doubt her.

"Ms M'Kai, let me take you to the Med-centre." One guard said gently.

"No.. no.. I want to go home now... I just... need to go home."

Sister Eclipse was impressed that with very little effort she had made the technician cry, adding to her already dishevelled appearance.

"Of course ma'am, I'll order an aircar now for you."

Within minutes Sister Eclipse and Atom Girl were back at the technicians apartment. After they had double checked they were alone Atom Girl resumed her full size and pulled an anaesthetic patch from one of the pouches on her belt.

"Whenever you're ready Sister." The Imskian said.

"Three... two... one..." Atom Girl placed the anaesthetic on the technician hand as her teammate stepped out from her body.

"Want to tell me what that was about with the security guards? You coulda broken his legs without any of that drama."

"The security footage will show an appalling man trying to take advantage of a vulnerable girl, and her knocking him flat. By requesting the security footage I guarantee that several of the guards will watch it and then word will get about that poor little shy Terass isn't to be messed with anymore. And perhaps that ugly man will be reprimanded by management. Even if he isn't though his reputation amongst his peers will be ruined and Terassi's will only grow. She won't remember any of this but when she watches the footage back... I hope, perhaps her confidence will grow as well."

Atom Girl grinned widely but the holo-man Henry materialised before them before anything more could be said. Atom Girl said 'hi' before removing the patch from the sleeping technician. She would stay unconscious for several more hours, and a retro-virus that Reep had asked Querl to install into the patch would mimic a flu -like virus for the next 24 hours meaning she would think she slept so long because she had been ill. Hopefully that would give her some excuse for not remembering her morning.

Sister Eclipse gently pulled a throw around the sleeping woman before stepping through the warp back to her teammates on Legion World Two.

Legion World Two, private quarters of Retro:

Deen Toro waited in his quarters

He had thrown himself into working on Two since returning last week from the aborted good will tour of the Rim Colonies. He knew what was coming, the Nordhelm soothsayer had been explicit enough that Deen knew the team were not going to find it easy when the UP came for them. So he had decided to make sure all their defences were in place. He had called upon Hethuk, the Talokian Weapon Smith that Marya was living with to offered his services. Hethuk had been really happy with the offer and they had spend the last four days working closely together.

Retro had pushed himself, surviving off minimal sleep as he focussed on ensuring the teams new base had all it's weapons, sensors and shields intact. Hethuk had asked a couple of times why Deen was suddenly so proactive but he had not given a full answer, merely saying that he wanted to feel safe when they left Sol. The Talokian smith hadn't pushed for answers, being too grateful that he had an assistant that could rewind his timeline if a mistake was made so that they never lost a moment.

Retro was driven.

Even after the announcement to the team that they were leaving the Sol System Deen had been set to return to the lower decks to continue working on the Strato-burners. That was, until Brainiac 5 had contacted Deen to ask if they could meet to discuss a temporal issue the Coluan was looking into. Instantly Deen had said yes and returned to his quarters. That was almost forty minutes ago. The Coluan genius thanked Deen for his patience as he strode into the new Legionnaire's apartment.

"I believe you have been assisting Hethuk. Thank you for that though we can put you to better use. I have a suggested mission... If you are willing? I would like you to return to Nordhelm and interview the Seer."

"Yeah... That's a good idea. Of course!"

"If you are not busy currently perhaps we could start now?"

"Uh... yeah, of course, so, are you joining me?" the new Legionnaire was surprised that his Coluan team mate would leave their base.

"Evidently. I need clarification of the data you received to be able to formulate a plan of action."

"Ummm... maybe we can take Lexikon? She was held in high regard."

"Did you tell her about the warning you were given?"

"No... of course not!"

"Good, we won't require her then." Querl Dox looked around the apartment before lifting his hand up to his mouth and speaking into his flight ring, "Henry, warp please."

"No... You're mistaken Querl, we will probably need Lexi. It's a warrior culture on Nordhelm and they held her in high regard. We're not going on an official mission nor are we invited so she will be able to help if there's any ...issues turn up. Sorry, but you weren't there, you don't know what it's like."

The Coluan glanced across at his colleague. Although Retro looked to be a typical athletic eighteen year old human, Querl was well aware Deen Toro had lived for at least a century and in that time had shown great academic dedication. Retro's judgement was unlikely to be clouded by teenage sentimentality, hormones or social needs, so Brainiac 5 nodded his agreement.

"Princess Daheenisha cannot be lied to, her language abilities make that an impossibility so I will explain to her why we are going... or at least partially explain. We only have four hours until I will be needed in the Command Control so we had better begin."

Several minutes later the Tamaranean princess stood before them, smiling as Brainiac 5 explained they wished to further examine some evidence that Retro had discovered on Nordhelm and they believed she would be an asset to their mission. Although he did not ask her directly if she wanted to join them his tone let her know this was not an official order but it was still expected she would leave with them anyway.

"I would be glad to join you, if only to visit the Sisters of the Sword again. It is rare that humans understand the true value of combat..."

As Brainiac 5 gave warp co-ordinates Henry the holo-man appeared before them and smiled tightly before replying.

"Mission protocols state you need a team of six Professor Dox, who else will be joining you?"

Brainiac 5 looked momentarily surprised that his order had been challenged before giving a small unhappy smile and requesting Andromeda, Invisible Kid and Starkling to join them.

"Of course... I shall alert them to your request." The holo-man gazed into space until the three Legionnaires arrived. Lexikon used the time to contact the Valkyri, the Sisterhood that protected the Nordhelm royal family, to let them know to expect the Legionnaires.

As soon as the their teammates arrived Querl bluntly told the three of them that he and Retro were going to Nordhelm to retrieve some evidence, but they could use the trip as a break while he did his work, so long as they didn't interrupt or ask questions about the investigation. None looked too impressed as the warp spun before them and they stepped through.

Henry smiled as the warp closed behind the team.

Professor Harmonia Li, Lournu Durgo-Taine and Loutrahim Mango walked through Henry's warp from Legion World Two straight into the Venusian morgue in Seven Dome City.

Harmonia led the way and introduced them to the two attendants that she had called only moments earlier. Both were slightly shaken by the Legionnaire's arrival but respectfully led the way to a separate room were the lights were slightly dimmed and the walls had been painted a deep aubergine, a stark contrast to the white walls outside. Luornu walked beside Loutrahim. The young bio-chemist started to shake as he walked into the room where his father's body was resting.

"He... ah, he had been badly treated prior to dying but we've done what we can... I'm terribly sorry for your loss." The attendant said quietly before leaving the Legionnaires quietly.

"I don't remember him... he left me and my mother before I was even two standard, but... this is not how I wanted to meet him y'know... I never thought about meeting him really, not in a good way." Loutrahim Mango said as he looked down at the body in the coffin before him.

"Loutrahim, we estimate he was killed by whomever it is that's responsible for setting that trap on Venus. It's reasonable to think he... your father had genuinely wanted to contact you but..." Duplicate Girl spoke quietly.

"It's okay Lu, you don't have to say anything." The laboratory assistant replied.

"Loutrahim, please liosten now as what Luornu says is true. Querl extrapolated from the data flows we have that your father initiated contact with you. We are unable to discern exactly when our unknown opponent intervened, but we do know that your father had been taken from you at least six hours before we arrived." Harmonia's voice gave away no emotional subtext in her tone though Loutrahim could see in her eyes that the ancient elemental felt sad to tell him this news. The implication that his father may be alive if Loutrahim was not associated with the Legion was clear. "He was murdered after he had reached out."

"It's okay, honestly. Ah... I never knew him and never really wanted to. Y'know, I used to be so angry at him for leaving me behind but now... I just feel sad for him, y'understand?" tears ran down the young man's cheeks in contrast to the fragile smile on his face.

Luornu was surprised as Harmonia stepped forward to put her arms around her assistant, giving him a tight hug. After a few seconds she could hear him openly sob for everything he'd lost.

The plot thickens!

Love the team with Brainy. Kara and Retro are both bright enough to know what to do. And Starkling's knowledge will be put to good use. Quite a cliffhanger!

Loved Atom Girl and Sister Eclipse! The Sister is rapidly becoming a favorite, and it's great how she dealt with that man. I wonder if any of the Legionnaires privy to this mission have mixed feelings about using Terassi? They gave her no harm and possibly even helped her, but it;s an interesting dilemma.

Just spotted a little typo in the first entry - instead of "eyes" you have "yes". The description of Rudi.

Thanks IB, typo sorted

I intentionally made the Espionage Squads mission morally ambiguous, as I think that it's in their remit to have a bit more latitude than the average mission.

Sister Eclipse was fun to write, so I'm glad you liked her. The newer members of the team all need a little bit more attention so expect to read more about her soon.

Brainy's little side mission will have repercussions.

Thanks again IB, coming up soon the plot indeed thickens, Dr Kabbo makes an alarming discovery, Jan shares his plans with the Senior team and something wicked this way comes...

Harbinger you've done it again. i'm on the edge and can't wait to find out more.

like IB Sister Eclipse is becoming a fast favorite and can't wait to hear more about her.
I like that she did a little extra to try and help out Terassi in her everyday life. That little touch made me like her even more.

This mission was well done and hopefully effective. i wonder what they will find on the data they took.

When you had Sister send the security vids to Terassi's personal stream i thought it was to get rid of evidence of some sort. But i hope it has the affect on Terassi that the Sister hopes it does.

Ok....Henery is up to something i can feel it. He knows something and i wish that beacon wasn't there so we could find out what else he knows.

Retro helping and doing everything he can to make LW2 safe is great. its the practical side we don't see often. I wonder when a certain Seer will come back into the fold to help now that Lord Asta of The Fallen Castle is dead.

oooo someone saw them talk and now its caused his death! I'm surprised whoever is targeting the Legion aren't going out of their way to take out all percogs/seers or at least keep them from the Legion.

Harmonia and Death boy's scene was heartbreaking. That poor boy. i hope this doesn't cause him to turn on the Legion for real.

Can't wait for more Harbinger!!!!

I love that Sister Eclipse actually put some good thought into how Terassi would need to live with whatever she did in her body and it wasn't just a kneejerk reaction to that guy being a creep! That was really well done

I am a bit worried about Henry as well...and Harmonia being there for Loutrahim after what he did to her gives her more character depth once again than anything that she ever did in the comics!

Originally Posted by Harbinger

I intentionally made the Espionage Squads mission morally ambiguous, as I think that it's in their remit to have a bit more latitude than the average mission.

Thanks Harbi, I was sure you had done so. And this is probably why these missions are on a need to know basis. I think there’s a great opportunity here for some spirited debate. as I’m sure some Legionnaires would have qualms (maybe Titan? Jacques? Zoe?) though i’m sure the senior team has a system for deciding which Legionnaires would be able to handle the shades of gray... and perhaps some senior team members aren’t quite privy to all the Squad does either! ooh, this is all so interesting.

Omni and Raz, thanks again for your support.

Sister Eclipse will have an interesting moment soon as we reach the finale of the traitor storyline.

Henry definitely has his own agenda, whether it matches the teams is up for debate though.

Harmonia and Loutrahim have places to go still though I don't know if it's what you expect.

Thanks again guys, very grateful for your kind words.

C

Dr Noah Kabbo sat opposite one of Luornu's selves in her office on Legion World One.

"Are you certain?"

"Without doubt, Kid Pulsar intentionally poisoned Booster. He planned on murdering another of your students too. I've left him sedated in his quarters."

"Glory came to me an hour ago, said she felt awful but his aura terrified her... Why would Neel do that? He is a decent kid! This is ... it's awful Noah, he's the cream of the senior training squad."

"I believe beyond doubt that he's been compromised. There's a psychic shield there, it's pretty heavy stuff Lu, and whoever did this has twisted the kid's natural morality and turned him into something really nasty. He wasnt trying to hide how much pleasure he took from his actions. Do you want me to get onto Professor Aven and his team on Naltor? I'm not anywhere near powerful enough to help him now. It won't be an overnight fix..."

Duplicate Girl didn't meet the counsellor's eyes as he asked. She gazed to her right towards a holo-screen that showed the Colossal Crew in training, though it was obvious her focus was elsewhere.

"You've spoken to all the students now? It's definitely Neel?"

"I'm afraid so. As far as I could tell the incident on Earth last week wasn't a simple bar room brawl as he said, it was an intentional ambush and that's when it happened."

"Shit! We should have seen that happening..." There was several seconds of silence between them before she carried on. "How did you manage to sedate him?"

"After I'd put him in a trance and persuaded him into telling the truth I slipped a request to go into a deep sleep and then put an anaesthetic patch onto his hand. It was simple really... it'll wear off in three hours, maybe a little less actually, he's a big guy."

"He is... and as strong as Jo was, tough too. We'd better check he's still asleep before we go any further."

Dr Kabbo could sense the Academy headmistresses pragmatism mixed in with her upset and anger. This had shaken her confidence and would likely take time to work its way through her system.

"Are you okay Lu, I know how close you are to your students."

"I'll be fine once we get Neel properly confined.He's too powerful to just leave asleep in his quarters, we need to put some incapacity cuffs on him... I never thought I'd have to cuff one of my students, and if you'd asked I'd never have thought it would be him. It's just a surprise... we all thought he was a shoo-in for the main team, and now he's likely to spend several months getting medi-pathic treatment and who knows if he'll get through it okay. I hate when people take advantage of my kids. Y'know, I'm going to personally punch whoever's responsible on the face so hard for this they're going to be taking their meals through a straw..."

Douglas Nolan was scared.

He had felt this way before, when he had been in that dark alter-reality watching that version of the Legion start to implode. Over there it had been the subtle manipulation of the rogue empath Psyche that had distorted the Legions message of hope. She had been invited into the naive team after their Saturn Girl had died repulsing a pirates attack. Without realising it that Legion had accepted an operative of the Dark Circle into their ranks. The Legion of that Earth had not even heard of the Dark Circle and without a telepath to scan her they had no idea about her true motives, and no chance after she had neutralised any overt doubts while influencing politicians and the media to her perspective.

Because he was a composite of the Douglas Nolan from that world and the Douglas Nolan of this the rogue empath's mind games had washed over him. Somehow the two consciousnesses had given him immunity to being mind controlled. He had left the team and joined an underground faction that had included several of the Substitute Legion and a couple of students from their Academy.

They had been ruthlessly hunted and killed on sight by former team mates and friends. In the end, six months after leaving the team, only Ral Benem, Grev Mallor and him had managed to get out of The inner systems of the United Planets and relative safety of the outer systems. Thom Kallor and Reep Daggle had lost their lives creating the distraction that allowed them to steal the FTL cruiser.

The outer system worlds were not necessarily in agreement about everything but on the whole they did not want the Dark Circle in their space but the Legion alongside the fleet of the United Planets made daily explosive incursions into the free worlds.

The three freedom fighters were initially keen to help the resistance fighters that the encountered. They trained them, shared what intel they had, fought alongside them. It couldn't be disputed that they helped delay the rise of the Dark Circle but after a further three and a half years they had to admit defeat as the Legion finally stormed the resistance control centre on Avalon.

Doug and Ral stowed away on a freighter and found themselves back in Sol space. They had managed to find lodgings on a mining platform that skimmed the asteroid belt, and so six very scared months they hid out. Ral became increasingly stressed until eventually he boarded a shuttle to Europa. The Atlantean settlement there had been burned out six years before and several new cities had been built on the icy moon, shipping the rich water from below to settlements throughout the solar system. Ral Benem had heard that the township of Nu-Norak Kunville had huge green houses were they cultivated a range of exotic plants. Ral wanted to place his fingers into some real dirt and breath in plant produced oxygen! He had been caught in a market place after he stopped to examine some rare seeds a trader had on display.

Ferro knew then he had to run, as far and as fast as he could!

In a universe of very limited opportunities fate threw Douglas Nolan chance that if he had not been in such a desperate situation he would have never believed... An opening to his home dimension! The defeated Starburst Bandits that the Dark Circle had summoned from this twisted reality were being sent back and as space erupted before him the ancient ship he had stolen to flee was smashed. Praying that his ancient flight ring - something he had resisted using out of principle for years - still had an Eco-protect function, and he dove through the burning mass of flaming steeds and red skinned alien warriors to return back to his original home reality.

He had been back here for a year now and for nine months he had felt relief at escaping the Machiavellian manipulations that had destroyed the Legion dream in that distant realm. But lately... He was reminded about the team he had left behind... How the media had started to challenge them, then the increase in negative reports. That had only been the start of their problems, as the infighting and political interference had crippled them before Psyche had taken full control and warped them beyond recognition. If history were to repeat itself here then they had a year at most before the team would effectively over.

Douglas Nolan vowed that he would do everything he could to ensure that this team would never suffer as the one he had left behind had.

Otaki, Sister Eclipse and Atom Girl had not wanted to go but Chameleon Boy had assured them that it would take many hours, perhaps days to sift through the information they had snatched from the Media Star Corporation so twenty minutes before they had left to grab something to eat.

"You're a good liar Reep, you almost fooled me as well." Thunder said quietly as their three colleagues left the meadow.

Chameleon Boy gave a smile and shoulder shrug as a reply. Thunder laughted.

With Thunders speed and intelligence it did not take long to find the information they wanted from the surveilance flow that spewed out from the data vampire. Reep Daggle watched his colleague with growing respect as she whizzed through the holo-screens. Every few seconds she would flick a specific points of data and push them aside into a separate stack.

"I think this information is relevant Reep, from what it tells us we have a serious breach. This..." Thunder flicked up a holo-screen, "..appears to be a link directly to our Mission Monitor Board."

"That is alarming..."

"But I believe that this..." she flicked a second screen towards him, "I believe shows messages that Media Star have received from a member of this team sent only yesterday evening."

"Who is it?" Reep's voice was neutral, though his shoulders tensed and he raised his chin as if in challenge.

"You're not going to like this... Media Star were informed that Jan is planning on announcing we will be increasing the amount of planetoid bases we control so the Legion can take a more proactive stance. According to this, Kent Shakespeare leaked information to discredit us."

Reep took a deep breath before saying "I'd better tell Jan."

"Wait... According to this..." Thunder flicked another holo-screen towards her Durlan teammate, "Lu told the Media Star that Harmonia was leading a team to Venus, gave the the address of Loutrahim's old laboratory."

"This is wrong. I didn't think Kent would betray us, but Lu...? Never!"

"And... It seems Gazelle told them about our trip out to...."

"No, we've been made, these records must be doctored. J'izl would sooner eat her own flesh than betray the team to Media Star."

"There's also a record of Tinya reporting our going's on... don't you agree it's strange but according to the timestamps these leaks started happening immediately after Jenni, Amynta and Dkyun Mu returned to us..."

"Surely none of them... And I don't believe Po would either, as non-committal as he is."

"No, I share your scepticism Reep. None of our colleagues would ever sell us out to a scandal sheet..." As she spoke she saw Chameleon Boy smile at her archaic insult.

"There must be something we're overlooking."Reep rubbed his chin as he spoke. The Durlan knew he had to go back over this evidence as the clues would be there if only he looked at them from the right angle.

Dr Noah Kabbo sat across from Nasir N'Cube.

Today had been a day of worrisome incidents - discovering that one of the students on Legion World One was a potential poisoner was bad enough. Lu had thanked the counsellor as he gave his report. He knew who had done the terrible act and worse still he could find no sense of remorse or empathy from them while he gently questioned them... There was no getting away from it if he was correct - and he had no reason to doubt himself - the student body appeared to have a psychopath in their midst.

It had then taken Dr Kabbo another six hours to track down the Legionnaire he now sat opposite. Nasir N'Cube had left the gym to train outside the airlock in zero gravity. Noah had left him to it as his natural fear of the dangers involving the vacuum of space over-rid his confidence in the flight ring's eco-protect function. The six hours were long enough for the counsellor to write up his notes from the mornings interviews with the students and prepare himself for this meeting.

Noah had put the worrying thoughts from his encounter with the students earlier in the day behind him as he faced the main teams most powerful telepath. The task here would not be nearly so easy, though at least he estimated whatever the outcome it wouldn't be nearly so bleak...

The team's counsellor kept his eyes shut as Nasir N'Cube meditated.

Standard Titantian psychotherapy would involve both patient and counsellor opening their thoughts out and lightly merging their higher awareness as they discussed whatever problems needed addressing. Most patients subconscious would reveal the source of their pain to the counsellor. From there, the two telepaths shared experience could help facilitate an honest resolution of any underlying problem.

Dr Kabbo did not believe that in this case this approach would work -Titan was simply too powerful a telepath to allow any trauma to become easily visible for examination. As one of the few Alpha Grade telepaths born on Titan of his generation Nasir N'Cube had been taught from a very early age how to manifest psionic shielding that prevented his mind from streaming the thoughts around him like a bank of holo-decks, or from stamping his own personality upon any sapient mind that he encountered. The techniques Nasir had learned to shield himself throughout his life were too well ingrained to give a relatively minor psi-talent like Noah Kabbo's any chance of breaking through. Instead Dr Kabbo had suggested Nasir simply meditate and allow his conscious mind to relax.

Noah had expected Nasir to be somewhat resistant to the idea of this session but instead the telepathic Legionnaire seemed somewhat releaved. There was clearly something troubling the young man and Dr Kabbo was grateful that the Legionnaire had the self awareness so as not to be resistant to a one-to-one meeting.

It also somewhat worried the team's counsellor that a telepath of this calibre could have something seriously troubling them...

Legion World Two, Senior team operations suite.

Element Lad, Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy, Duplicate Girl, Tyroc, Phantom Girl and Mon El all sat around a table.

With Harmonia visiting Venus with Loutrahim, Chameleon Boy requesting a pass so he could check data from a recent mission and Brainiac 5 off base investigating a murder on Nordhelm, these were the Senior Team currently available.

Jan had just returned after spending the last twenty two hours on Naltor at the Titanian Institute of Mental Health with Dr Shakespeare; the cover story they had used was Kent had applied for some training and Jan was joining him to take a well needed break. The Legion leader had received medi-pathic sessions to relieve the recent traumatic experience he'd had on Trom. It hadn't taken Kent much to persuade Jan to attend, in fact the Trommite had appeared grateful for the suggestion. Professor Aven's team had ensured complete discretion so there had been no media leaks. Originally they had planned to be there for two whole standard days but the Legion Leader had proven to be receptive to the treatment s they left early. In part, Jan thought, this was due to Kent's irrational behaviour around the natives - the muscular doctor could wrestle a sauropod to the ground but was somehow freaked out by pre-cogs. Jan didn't understand it personally but respected Kent enough to not create a fuss. And once Doctor Aven himself had given the Legion leader the all-clear they made their excuses and got back in their cruiser to come beck to the teams base.

All of the senior team recognised that their leader appeared to be more relaxed than they had seen him since he had won the last leadership election.

"I have an announcement." Jan said without any welcoming preamble.

"Don't quit Jan" Tinya said.

"Ha, if only..." The Trommite smiled at her, "As you know we gave formal notice to the UP Council this morning that we're leaving Sol in twenty eight hours. Well... I have a couple of proposals for you... Firstly, after Lar's little side mission recently..." everyone at the table apart from Element Lad turned to look at the Daxamite who smiled and shrugged, "I'd like to look at the team structure... Obviously, as Querl reminded me the other day when we spoke about this, while we may not all be well rounded people..." several of the team laughed, "We need well rounded teams... But Lar's strike team could act as an advance guard, if and when they're necessary."

Tyroc spoke, "Hey, we'd all like some action and adventure in this group, don't get me wrong it'd be easier if Lar did all the heavy lifting' but y'know we gotta consider this a bit more. We ain't called Mon El and the Legion of Super Heroes..."

Mon El laughed, "Believe me Troy, I don't want that any more than you do."

The senior team appeared to agree though Jan noticed Luornu hadn't commented. He knew his Cargggite colleague well enough to know she would consider this further before sharing her thoughts.

"Okay, so we can shelve that one for now, though before I get on with some plans... Rokk, Lu, any news on the student that was poisoned?" Element Lad turned to the academy staff.

"Not as yet. It was fifteen hours ago that he presented at the medi-bay... Dr Kabbo interviewed the other students all morning. I suggested he take Titan with him as well but Noah said he knewwhat he's doing." Lu spoke matter-of-factly though her body language showed how upset she was.

"Okay... Noah is the right person to get to the bottom of this so let's wait and see what he brings back. So, moving on... Lu, Rokk. I know we said we'd hold a snap try out for the students next week, well with the way things are going, if Dr Kabbo either clears them all or finds out who is responsible I'd like to hold it tomorrow before we leave Sol."

"At you serious?" Rokk exclaimed.

"Yup, I want the team at full strength before we leave Sol and this Planetoid can accommodate five hundred legionnaires easily, so let's do it." Jan gave a small smile as he replied. Rokk shrugged in response.

"D'you want us to mentor the kids, like the last two lots?" Tyroc said, more as an attempt to diffuse the tension between Jan and Rokk.

"I think that's vital to get them up to speed, as the Academy will have taught them a lot of vital skills but... well, we're not an easy bunch so a mentor would be a good idea. Lu, you have drafted a list of possible candidates, but I'd like to give all of the students the benefit of the doubt. I do trust your opinion but worry that if we are seen to cherry pick the tutors favourites it may disillusion the rest of them."

Luornu agreed with his assessment though didn't look particularly impressed by the short notice she had been given.

Dirk and mon El discussed between them the students that they thought would fit in with the team as Tyroc asked Rokk and Lu if they needed a hand with organising the students to get ready for the impromptu try out. Element Lad smiled to himself a the senior team discussed his idea.

"And, I have one more suggestion I'd like you all to seriously consider for our first mission though it may be controversial."

"You sure? Y'know the media are hounding us so we gotta be purer than the purest, surely? ...The reports the media are spillin' aren't coincidences." Tyroc said.

"We can't sit back and wait for the next attack... if we're out there already we're more likely to be able to respond quickly if it's Daxam or Braal or Colu or wherever that gets it next." Duplicate Girl said.

"That'll be why we'll warp out in stealth mode... the media'll never know where we are. Whoever is targeting us ...well, we'll just be more up to speed on running this base if we're already operational. When we took over this planetoid from the Forge Chosen we saved what data we could from their records. We know of twelve other such planetoids that their disgusting species currently use to terrorise worlds right across the Milky way. I propose our first mission is to take as many of them for ourselves as we can."

"Jan... are you certain about this? You're talking about going to war with the Tyrazzians! We know that there are a lot of people right now that could do with our help out there. Even we don't have the capability to take on a dozen Forge Chosen battle worlds, do we?" Sun Boy asked.

"Oh yes, I know that Dirk, don't worry as we won't be taking them all on at once. Querl and I have developed a plan and in fact have already begun to take action."

"Let's hear it then." Said Mon El as he leant forward.

Jan Arrah smiled broadly but before he could continue they were interrupted. Chameleon boy and Thunder rushed into the command suite.

Before any of the senior team could say anything Chameleon Boy said "We know who the traitor is."

"You're not going to like this..." Added Thunder.

"Cece figured it out from the information we took from Media Star. We've been played... they made us do their dirty work for them. We believe the person who's sold us out is Titan!"

Brainiac 5 – Legion World manager, Professor Querl Dox of Colu, 12th level intelligence
Invisible Kid - Jacques Foccart of Earth, invisibility
Lexikon - Princess Daheenisha of Tamara iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
Andromeda - Kara Zor-El of Krypton, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
Retro - Deen Toro of Ventura, limited reversal of personal timeline
Starkling – telepathic swarm-being composed of indestructible ball bearing sized components

Brainiac 5 nodded before asking the Nordhelm Queen if she would object to his investigating the Seer's death.

Queen Throoth smiled at the Legionnaire as she replied. "My Valkyri will give you safe passage and guard you while you investigate this most foul action."

"Thank you, your Majesty, but I believe my colleagues will..."

"Professor Dox, my Valkyri will accompany you to Seer Astor's abode..." the queens tone was strict, before she smiled again, "...otherwise, how will you find it?"

Querl gave a small smile, "Of course, our thanks. May we leave now?" the queen laughed as she waved him towards the door.

"Thank you Legionnaires, may the Elder Gods guide your steps." She said as they left her quarters.

Five minutes later the Legionnaires were all onboard a slick cruiser flying at several times the speed of sound following the rugged coastline to the east of the queens palace. Two of the Vakyri had joined them though only Astrild spoke to the Legionnaires. She explained that the deceased lord had a holding that overlooked a small fjord, with a retinue of about sixty staff almost half way around the great continent that sat astride this worlds north pole. Since his murder two barons had been openly taking control over his farmland, fishing rights and former staff.

As they skirted along the coast Brainiac 5 contacted Legion World to inform Element Lad that he doubted his mission may delay him from attending the meeting that had been called for that evening.Retro and Invisible Kid stood next to a clear screen admiring the view, both commenting on the rugged coast with steep sided fjords cutting majestically into the abrupt cliffs and steep hills.

"Our home is unique, in beauty and bounty. The Elder Gods blessed our ancestors when they brought them here." Neither Legionnaire had heard the Valkyri approach.

"Oui, they were indeed blessed. You 'ave a beautiful home world Nethrus." Jacques smiled at the armoured warrior as he replied. She gave a small grin in return and spent the rest of the hour long flight stood between the two Legionnaires pointing out places of historic importance or natural beauty as their shuttle flew over them. Both Jacques and Deen asked questions and showed their gratitude for her giving them this rare guided tour of this distant ruggedly beautiful world.

The Fallen Castle Upon The Cliff lived up to its name. Half of the once majestic building lay in rubble at the foot of a sixty foot cliff, while he rest of the building appeared structurally unsound and weather beaten. Down the hill from the front of the castle there was a small town of surprisingly white buildings where the lord's staff would have lived.

"The lord's quarters were underground... I have an access code. He valued his privacy but gave our queen access for when she needed his advice." Astrild said as she guided the shuttle down to a grassy meadow at the side of the ruined castle. As the team left the craft they could see that the castle was not as ram-shackled as it appeared from the air, with strips of motion sensitive lights festooned below ramparts and several obvious touch pads being obvious clues to modernity.

The Legionnaires floated across the dew kissed grass as the Valkyri stomped across it to a dark archway. Astrild held up her hand, flashing an ID chip towards a hidden sensor and the doorway sprung open revealing an unlit corridor that vanished into darkness.

"Andromeda, I'd like you to take a look around outside... see if you can find any evidence regarding whomever was here before us." Brainiac 5 said, adding along the telepathic comms <And make sure we are not disturbed please, it's guaranteed we are being monitored> Kara gave Querl a salute before flying up into the air above the castle.

"Lord Asta was a friend to the Crown, how can we assist?" The Valkyri called Nethrus asked.

"Are there any other security measures we should be aware of?" Retro asked in response.

"None that we know of." She replied, her sister Valkyri's agreed with her.

"Splendid. Let's try to solve this murder then, shall we?" Brainiac 5 motioned Starkling to take the lead. Astrild walked beside the Coluan as he followed the swarm Legionnaire into the dark corridor.

Astrild guided the Legionnaires along a corridor, past several bare ante-chambers and through two huge wooden doors into a central hall.

The stone walls were covered in banners and tapestries that showed the history of this people, from leaving Earth during the 25th century, spending a generation on a Bubble Arc before reaching this distant planet, spending a further two generations seeding the world they now called home with life from their frozen genome banks, to stripping materials from the thick Oort cloud that spun around the edges of their new solar system of the raw materials they would need to furnish their world with factories to produce the technology needed to give them a level of comfort to not just survive but thrive on this cold planet. By the mid 27th century the royal family had been established and their way of life based on their ancient ancestors culture had been established in their laws and customs.

Although there were no signs of any struggle happening Brainiac 5 was immediately aware that the great hall was virtually bare other than a long table, easily ten metres long, and a few chairs were all that remained. This hall would have been the centre of life at the estate, if he understood correctly - which he was quite certain he did - then staff and families would have met here regularly so he expected more furniture and signs of previous activities. Someone had cleared it out in the week since the seer's murder.

At one end there were two large doors while smaller doors ran off both sides of the hall.

"Lord Asta's private quarters were down there. That's were his body was found by his personal valet."

"Is that valet still available to question?" Retro asked the Valkyri.

"Once the lord's murder had been announced Baron Greynail and his bastard sons came here in arms and took everything they could lay their hands on. That included staff of any worth. It is not our custom to act so aggressively at a time of mourning but sadly it is not unheard of along these rough shores so far from the Queen's reach."

"Shall we visit this Baron Querl?" Jacques asked, "per'aps he 'as information we need?"

"No, I believe everything we need will be here." Brainiac 5 was examining a hard light screen as he answered.

"My sisters and I would gladly speak with the Baron..." Nethrus the Valkyri said, rubbing a fist into a palm.

"It would be natural justice." One of her sister Valkyri added.

"And it would split the team and take us away from the purpose we are here for. If we do not find any information here, which I strongly suspect will not be the case, then we can reconsider though until then we need to examine what we have before us."

As the Coluan spoke the swarming mass of Starkling cascaded down from the vaulted ceiling above. <We are not alone, there is another mind present and it is not happy that we are here>

"Yes, I rather thought that might be the case..." As Querl finished speaking the room erupted into madness around them.

The flagstone floor appeared to be covered in hundreds of snakes, writhing and squirming, twisting and rattling their tails. Insects appeared from nowhere to swarm through the air, their pointed stinging tails red and yellow to warn of poisonous stings.

The Valkyri immediately started swinging swords and stamping their feet onto the snakes as each legionnaire took into the air.

"It's an illusion." Brainiac 5 said casually as he looked back to his hard light screen. "Starkling, can you find whoever it is that's responsible for this inconvenience?"

The snakes and insects faded into little clouds before dissipating entirely.

"How did you know?" Astrild asked, her face flushed.

Before the Coluan Legionnaire could answer the lights went out and they were engulfed in darkness. Retro and Invisible Kid attempted to activate the flashlights on their belt buckles but nothing happened.

"Another illusion... our opponent is resourceful, but not very clever. Not clever at all."

A chair smashed against him and had his force field not been activated it would have hurt. Brainiac 5 smiled before he spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the great hall.

"Stop this charade... you are Lord Asta's staff, I appreciate you are trying to protect this establishment but we are here to discover whoever is responsible for his untimely death. Your illusions may delay us but we will get to the truth."

 Starkling sent to its comrades before they heard a muffled cry and the darkness faded.

In the corner of the room Starkling's ball bearing sized components wrapped around a figure.

"Let them go Starkling, we need answers."

"I will get answers." Astrild said before raising her sword and stomping down the hall towards the figure Starkling had captured. Lexikon flew after her and landed in front of the Valkyri.

"No sister... if this person is the source of those foul visions and they cause us any more problems we will allow you to teach them the errors of their ways, but for now let our Coluan friend try. he has ways about him to get to the truth. And we will get the truth."

<Thank you Lexikon, I'd rather not have bloodshed> Querl sent along the legionnaires private telepathic comm link.

Starkling slowly released its hold on the person revealing a young man, tired looking, wearing a deep blue vest top and leggings with a short sword hung low on his belt. The swarm being hung in the air around the young man blocking any route of escape.

"The Baron took everything... so what do you want from my lord's keep?" He looked at the Valkyri's with anger and resentment.

"We are here to discover what has happened to him. We are not some coarse burglars." Astrild said.

"Hey kid, we're the Legion, you heard of us, yes? We're the good guys." Retro said.

"No! Lord Asta said it was you that would be the death of him... he said that he would need to talk to one of you, a time spinner and..."

"That was me, your lord spoke to me..." As Retro gently said this the young man grabbed at his sword and with an angry howl he sprung towards the Legionnaire. Starkling was fast enough to stop him by once again engulfing the young man within its swarm only this time the Legionnaire slammed him rudely to the floor.

The Valkyri Nethrus strode across and pointed her sword at the young mans face, the only part of him the swarm hadn't covered tightly.

"We have no wish to hurt you but will do so if you try our patience again."

"Hey... c'mon, give the guy a break, okay?" Retro approached him and the young man tried to wriggle free. "What's your name there bud? I'm Deen."

"Magnus.. Magnus Laviksen." He grudgingly admitted.

"Okay Magnus, we're gonna release you and then we'll speak. If you don't like what you hear then you can challenge me and the Valkyri here are my witness I'll face you in combat. And you Nordhelmers are pretty bloody tough so you know you'll rip me up. So, how's about we talk first and if you're not happy after that you can kick my ass... okay?"

<Retro! Are you insane?> Jacques sent.

<Nope, Lexi taught me this last time we were here. Trust me>

 Brainiac 5 added.

Lexikon smiled at her teammates as they telepathically discussed the matter.

Legion World Two - the office of Dr Noah Kabbo.

In his mind Noah could clearly visualise a great static tidal wave towering over him, expanding in all directions towards infinity, created by the powerful psi-mutation that gave the Titanians their mental gifts. This was Nasir N'Cube's mindscape; his mental shielding.

It sparkled like sunlight upon ripples in water and seemed to shimmer when he did not focus upon a definite point. The undulating light appeared to construct a complicate lattice pattern with layers upon layers of differing width and length. In a way, Noah thought, it was incredibly beautiful.

And even as that thought passed across the surface of his mind Noah Kabbo had a sudden chill. Underneath the surface of the glittering edifice of mental screening that protected Nasir and those around him from the Legionnaires prodigious mental abilities there appeared to be a hint of something else - like bruise breaking through to the surface of skin, there was a shifting darkness... a behemoth in the dim reaches, a shark circling around its prey within the pristine depths. There was only one reason for his being able to sense such a thing, Nasir's subconscious was finally showing the councellor what was going on behind the colossal psi-walls it had erected to protect itself.

And Noah Kabbo knew in that instant Nasir N'Cube, the alpha-grade telepath the Legion called Titan had been compromised! With that thought the psi-wall began to crack and the darkness behind it coalesced into an enormous face...

While still maintaining a calm appearance upon the astral plane they both shared Noah Kabbo reached into his belt pouch of his physical body to withdraw an anaesthetic patch and quickly slipped it onto the young telepaths hand immediately rendering him unconscious.

As Titan slumped onto the floor Dr Noah Kabbo let out an explosive breath! It took him a few seconds to re-orientate himself back into the corporeal plane. He knew that half a second longer in that mental state and the odds were his mind would have been totally destroyed in the psionic assault, and, he thought, if it had not been for Nasir's own subconscious alerting him to the other presence he would not have had those split seconds of opportunity to slip an anaesthetic onto the young telepath's hand.

Perhaps what was most worrying was the face that had been revealed.

If the form that the counsellor had witnessed in the Legionnaire's mind was truly a representation of their opponent that had compromised Titan then the team were in for a hard battle. This opponent had access to the senior team as well as virtually every meta-being in the UP. Noah Kabbo had known this face for all of his life, this opponent had been involved with his family, had even taught his mother to become a medi-path.

The face of his attacker had clearly been that of the well established Psi-Surgeon who had almost single handedly set up the Titanian medi-path facilities, had a seat on the High Council of Titan and often represented and spoke for the Titanian Survivors at the United Planets Senate, had personally helped train both Saturn Girl and Titan...

Nasir had been used as a proxy by his most esteemed mentor. The Legion had been betrayed by one of their most trusted advisors and also perhaps the highest ranking telepath in the galaxy...

Noah Kabbo checked that Titan was fully unconscious before leaving his office. The door irised closed behind him and he slumped against a wall and slid down to sit on the floor. The Legion's counsellor felt physically sick! He took three deep breaths then slid onto his hands and knees before pushing himself up onto his feet. He knew he had to tell the senior team but before he could get his hand up to his face to speak into his flight ring Mon El and Thunder appeared in a flurry.

"Noah? Are you...?" Before Thunder could finish her question he answered.

"I'm fine, thanks, but Nasir..."

"We know, he's a traitor. That's why we're here." Mon El said bleakly holding up a pair of incapacity cuffs while Thunder showed the neural neutralising circuit she held, a standard issue Takron-Galtos device used to stop telepaths from accessing their psionics.

"No, you're wrong. He's been used. The real traitor is on Naltor in the Titanian Institute. We've been betrayed by Professor Aven."

Harbinger Things are heating up and i'm excited for whats to come.

Kabbo is a treat and a great spy. he got to all the students and figured out it was Kid Pulsar just in the nick of time.

Poor Lu she really cares for her students. She's a great teacher and i hope she gets to kid Pulsar before he wakes up as i doubt his mistress will keep him out of the game for long.

Speaking of his Mistress...Titan is revealed as the traitor sort of as he's being controlled by Aven? Something else else tells me we've got someone else to go after and that Aven is a pawn as well. unless that was just a mistyping and it should have read master?

Poor Doug. he has some serious PTSD going on and i hope he's right and able to stop what's coming. I wonder if he's shared any of his history with the Senior Team? they might find it useful.
Noah noted it started with the XS, GL, and WW return...could something have slipped through?

Kaboo did a great job subduing Titan and I'm glad his own mind helped to alert Kaboo.
Titan's mind sounds very pretty.

The investigation on Nordhem might hold some clues to this as well. hopefully Retro doesn't regret that challenge. But glad Brainy has his back.
I wonder if the Queen knows more than she's saying....
Starkling is a joy to watch in action thinking of the swarm and how it works.

Can't wait for more.

I'm with Omni, Starkling is one of my favourite character concepts in all the fanfics here...it's such a great alien visual and power effect

You did an excellent job ratcheting up the tension in the past few posts! I'm glad Titan's not actually a bad guy, and Aven is an inspired choice for a villain; totally out of left field but it's someone we know so it still feels like a development that makes sense. Can't wait to see where they go next with this knowledge!

Another vote for Starkling! He's really mastering his power at this point.

Interesting visuals when Kabbo probed Nasir's mind.

Aven as the traitor - didn't see that coming and, like Omni, I have to wonder if there isn't somebody controlling him - which is a scary thought, given Aven's level of mind power.

When Jan said "this planetoid can accommodate five hundred legionnaires" I thought, Harbi's going to go wild with this one - and I'm along for the ride!

Legion World Two. The private quarters of Tellus.

Tellus swam.

The Hykraian Legionnaire knew he had still had a way to go before returning to his full health, though the light duties he had been issued with in the year since returning to the 31st century alongside the fantastic space Dr Shakespeare had created for him filled with methane sea from Mother Ocean all helped.

The golem called Mordecai had also, in an unexpected way, assisted as well. Its surprisingly gentle childlike mind purred with contentment as it went about its way within the methane filled chamber and this background psychic chatter made the immense space feel somehow more like home. Tellus knew that several of his team mates could not see why he tolerated the golem in his home space, but they were so blind to the benefits of its presence that the bulky telepathic Legionnaire pitied their lack of understanding.

Ganglios had felt increasingly tense of late, he could feel the pressures that the senior team were under and the recent footage on various once-friendly media-streams had made several of his teammates anxious. For several weeks now he could attest that there had definitely been an undercurrent of displeasure and disquiet ripple through Legion World Two.

As he languished in a gentle swoop a psychic bolt struck him, knocking the Hykraian off balance to collide awkwardly with one of the mezzanine levels. Tellus flipped himself over, onto the broad level and hunkered down.

He had lived amongst the humans for almost a decade now, spending two of those years a thousand years in the past, and still had never felt such a thing - it was as if a great psychic whirlpool that he had somehow been unaware of had suddenly stopped its torment and the currents slapped together in the space it once held.

Whatever it was, it was obvious someone with vast mental powers had been affected and the psionic plane had been wiped clear of their influence. Tellus slowed his pulse and began to meditate, letting his thoughts come and go with an easy ebb and flow, as he slowly expanded his psychic senses trying to find whatever it was that had caused such and sensation.

It did not take him long to locate the cause: Nasir N'Cube was unconscious in Dr Kabbo's office. The Titanian's mind was blank as if erased! The pods on Tellus' back began to pulsate with an deep red as he tensed up. There must be some trouble on Legion World Two for a telepath of that calibre to suddenly lose all of his mental facilities in such a dramatic fashion.

Mordecai mewled, the gentle golem sensing the change in mood of its comrade.

<Stay here my friend, I will return soon, I promise> the Legionnaire sent before dashing towards the airlock of his quarters.

"Did you feel that as well?" Bina Nawoti's voice called out after the Hykraian. The young psychic from Lunar Colony One was racing along the corridor, obviously alerted by the same sensations that had driven Tellus from his quarters.

<Otaki, we need to assist our friend>

"Right there with you Tellus." She said as she raced along the corridor behind him. They needed to investigate what had happened to their telepathic team mate.

Legion World Two, outside of the Counselling suite.

"C'mon Cece, we can be on Naltor in an hour and sort this out once and for all."

Mon El turned away and started to stride down the corridor.

"Lar, you need to stop. We can probably find and catch Aven but how many others has he affected? Let's be serious here, it'll include the Titanian Council and the Naltor High Seer undoubtedly... And if we storm in there we'll effectively be invading and killing any support for the Legion. We'll be hunted down by every world government and won't get any support. Even the Khunds would shun us for that..."

"Yeah, Lar... If Aven can control someone as powerful as Nasir we really need to be careful." Dr Kabbo added, sounding a little scared as the realisation hit him about how serious the problems were that they faced.

Mon El swore loudly. Thunder arched an eyebrow in reply, while Dr Kabbo muttered "...yup, that sums up my thoughts too." Mon El gave a apologetic shrug.

"So what do you suggest Cece?" The Daxamite asked.

"We need to box clever here as we know Aven... Or whoever is ultimately behind this, will have influenced more than our friend Nasir, the media troubles prove that... so let's get the senior team together and start our counter offensive."

"You're right... Noah, look after our boy..." Mon El pointed back towards the counsellor's office and the unconscious Legionnaire, "We'll get onto this." and with that Mon El zoomed away along the corridor.

"Noah, is there anything else you'd want the senior team to know?" Thunder asked the team's counsellor.

"Ahh... Yes, Titan has been fighting the control command, that's why he was exercising so much, distraction techniques... His subconscious alerted me. Aven isn't in total control, at least not with A Grade mind like Nasir's...."

"Okay... So you think whoevers behind this isn't taking full control... Or at least can't keep control. That may be why Aven kept coming back rather than just sending one of his medi-path team.... Hmmmm, interesting. Okay, thank you Noah. I'm sure Jan will want to talk to you some more. If you need anything just yell and I can be back here in a flash." Cece could see that Noah looked exhausted and a little bit scared so added, "Don't worry, we'll get through this, you wait and see. The Legion are onto Aven now and we both know that when this team sets its aim on someone nothing will stop us from getting it."

She smiled warmly before giving the counsellor the neural neutraliser. Nothing was said but they both understood Dr Kabbo would need to attach in to their teammate. With a sad smile and a salute Thunder vanished in a blur as she raced after Mon El.

Thunder flew through the door to the Senior Team's operation suite and came to an immediate halt.

In front of her was a holo showing Naltor with the High Seer's palace and the newly built Titanian refugees citadel. Element Lad, Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy, Duplicate Girl, Tyroc, Phantom Girl and Mon El were all on the other side of the holo in the midst of a heated conversation. She felt a chill run across her neck at the thought of the Legion being stupid enough to blatantly attack these two areas. From the raised voices she heard she knew this was not a simple discussion happening... she had interrupted what sounded like the beginning of a full on argument.

"... and you could be out again in minutes!" Jan Arrah's voice was stern.

"Jan... stop, think about...." Tyroc started to argue.

"As leader I believe this is the best way forward... Okay then..." Jan Arrah said.

"Wait a second, you gotta be kidding, right? You're away to commit an act of war? You want us to invade Naltor?" Sun Boy sounded incredulous.

"If I may speak..." Thunder said as she walked around the holo display, "When Reep and I were examining the evidence we noted issues that could be matched with internal scans from here."

"Go on Cece." Chameleon Boy said.

"Tinya ran with Titan and one day later send a coded message to Media Star... we know that, we have evidence. Sorry Tinya. Lu... you ran with Titan and in contact with Media Star almost immediately afterwards. Jan, sorry but you're just back from spending a whole day with Aven's medi-path team... and there's more. Do you really believe that the team will follow you if they knew any of this? You are all potentially compromised and talking about breaking galactic law to potentially start a war because of what could easily be perceived as a vendetta. You must reconsider your actions. I would suggest we enlist a telepath we can trust... Imra Ardeen..." Cece Becks had spoken softly but her body language was that of someone supremely sure of their facts.

"We have Tellus and Dr Kabbo here, between them they can sort this out. How do we know you are not affected?" Element Lad said, dismissively turning away from Thunder as he finished.

Thunder smiled blandly and spoke softly. "Titan's own corruption began once he had lost the additional mystic abilities that he had shared with my sisters and I. One of these is the impossibility of ever being controlled by a mortal... my father could only influence us with the full support of his dark Pantheon... I know I am free of this corruption so am not speaking out of turn, merely genuine desire to help."

"Rubbish... you're probably working for your father... get her out of here, she isn't Senior Team! Throw her out!" Jan bellowed as he gave the final order.

All of the other Senior Team members present seemed stunned, both Tyroc and Phantom Girl actually stepped backwards in shock.

"Jan..." Tinya began, "Maybe she has a point, so perhaps..."

"No... I've had enough of this. You're all going to listen to me now. We'll deal with Aven directly. We dont need Imra. We'll tear his empire down around him. We'll show the galaxy who's really in charge! The Legion will take the fight to..." That was as far as Element Lad got before Chameleon Boy, having walked up beside the teams leader as he ranted, casually slipped a set of incapacity cuffs onto his wrist immediately knocking him unconscious.

"We are in a serious mess." Reep said, looking from eye to eye with everyone in the room. "You can bawl me out later but that... that was not Jan Arrah speaking so we have to assume that he, and perhaps quite a few more of us are compromised as Cece just said. So, what do we do now?"

"We need Imra." Sun Boy said, "Imra's the only telepath we know we can trust."

"What about Tellus?" Lu said abruptly.

Chameleon Boy and Duplicate Girl exchanged a look that said more than words ever could.

"Oh goddamn it.... I don't know why but I'm so angry at the thought of Imra being here... he's gotten to me too hasn't he?." Duplicate Girl shook with anger as she spoke. Sun Boy put a hand gently on her shoulder in sympathy.

"So, it's decided then... I'll go get Imra and we can figure how many of us have been influenced." Reep looked at the Legionnaires present and none spoke. The Durlan lifted his hand to his mouth and spoke into his flight ring.

"Henry, could you open a warp to the Lightning Ring Estate on Winath please. I'll take Cece and we'll bring Saturn Girl back with us." Chameleon Boy said.

Within a matter of seconds both the Durlan Legionnaire and the daughter of Black Adam were stood on a deep porch of a large house overlooking acre after acre of corn fields. The dark sky above showed strange constellations that neither recognised.

"We'll get this fixed Reep." Cece said quietly.

"I hope so, if not I really think we'll be too discredited to effectively continue, once the media hear about Jan and Nasir... if they don't know already, the Legion will be finished for good..."

It was eighteen minutes later when the warp opened back into the senior team's operation suite and Reep Daggle and Cecelia Beck led a tired looking Imra Ardeen onto Legion World Two.

Rokk Krinn gave his old friend a hug and offered her a nearby seat. The Titanian former Legionnaire smiled and declined saying she had the girls to nurse in two hours so they needed to get on with the job in hand. she had taken information on the current situation from Reep Daggle's memories but wanted to double check by reading the other members of the senior team, if they didn't mind.

All of them knew that Imra had the highest level of ethics when using her abilities around her friends and teammates so anything she read that was not pertinent to the investigation would never be divulged. Rokk volunteered to go first. Saturn Girl placed her hands on the sides of his head and leant in towards him.

"You're clear Rokk..." she said with a relieved grin, and sent him a personal telepathic message <though you need to work on those mental defenses a bit Rokk, you've forgotten some of my training>

The Braalian gave an embarrassed grin in response and stood back to allow Tyroc up to face the telepathic probe.

"Oh, you're clear Troy, that's a relief, eh?" Imra Ardeen smiled warmly. After Tyroc had stepped back Imra turned around and sat down in the chair Rokk had offered her moments before, wiping her hand across her brow as she did.

"So... Lar, do you want to go next?" The question was asked with a smile, though everyone knew that as the teams most physically powerful member Mon El would be a coup for the enemy to control. Mon El pulled up another chair and sat opposite his former teammate.

"Aah... you definitely need some assistance here Lar..." For almost a full minute Saturn Girl sat face to face with the Daxamite. Both had their eyes closed. Eventually Mon El took a long deep breath and smiled before opening his eyes.

"I felt that Imra, you're losing your touch..." he smiled as he said it and she echoed his grin back.

"This is very worrying... Lar, I'm so sorry... You had a strong suggestion implanted to publicly execute the High Seer of Naltor and his court if you ever met them. Whoever did this is really sinister. They want you to go after them... I'll need to meet with the entire team and all the support staff. Who's off base right now? Can you recall them?" Imra Ardeen stood up off her chair and looked at her former teammates, her expression made it very apparent that she was not going to wait for a discussion.

As Imra spoke Reep and Troy shared a knowing smile. Saturn Girl was one of the founders of the team and also had been one of their first leaders. She may have retired several years before but she could still have them to jump into action with just a few words.

Luornu spoke up, "Imra, before you go any further can you check that I'm okay? I've a horrible feeling that I can't shake and I know it's not right... Jan was the same only worse... We took him to the medi-bay and placed an anaesthetic on him so he'll be fast asleep for hours. He really worried us earlier..." Luornu Durgo-Taine had always been incredibly focussed and strong willed. When she had initially applied for membership both Rokk and Garth had made lewd jokes about how useful she would be to the team. Imra had seen just how much of an asset someone with the Cargggites strength of mind could be so had insisted the boys agree to her joining them in their new club and treating her respectfully. That same indomitable Cargggite now appeared to be anything but focussed and controlled - whatever the impulse was that had been planted in her psyche it was affecting her core believes to such a degree that Duplicate Girl looked terrified.

Luornu had approached the seat opposite Imra but at the last second had turned and started to flee. Mon El gently caught her and kept her still. The Cargggite started to cry... something that they had not seen even when Chuck had been murdered.

"Lu... relax sweetie, this won't hurt you... ah! There!" Saturn girl placed her hand lightly on the back of Luornu's head and gritted her teeth.

"Whomever our opponent is they are one nasty bit of work." Imra muttered as she focused her psychic might into her friends mind.

Duplicate Girl started to whimper then suddenly stood up straight and quickly turned around to hug Saturn Girl.

"Thank you Imra... Thank you." The Cargggite hugged her Titanian friend tightly.

"You had a couple of really nasty suggestions planted in your head there Lu. They're gone now, don't worry." Imra took Lu's hands in her own. "You're fine Lu, though now any murderous impulses you have are all your own." They both smiled at each other and Dirk, who was stood next in line, laughed out loud.

"Now," Imra said, looking around the room, "Before we go any further I'm going to contact Garth and let him know I'm staying here until we've dealt with this once and for all. He can look after the girls tonight without me..."

Harbi, I really love the focus on Tellus and the respect given to Imra - also how quickly Imra got down to brass tacks

Great stuff, Harbi! I like the scary intelligent strategy of implanting suggestions into the Legionnaires' minds... I loved the scene where Reep and Cece hit on bringing Imra in and convincing everyone to submit because who knows who is compromised.

I liked how Mon and Lu submitted. Lu's strength of mind and Imra's determination were great.

Good installment Harbinger.

I liked the spotlight on Tellus as well. It was good to check in on him before things go crazy as its clear from Tellus and Otkia's psychic "maelstrom" they felt.

Mordecai is still a bit of a mystery and i hope we see more of him.

Titan's power and his corruption by "Aven" are super strong and the psychic backlash is just the beginning. i still think someone is controlling Aven.

Thunder's cool head is greatly appreciated. i feel like if it wasn't for her things would have gone in such a different direction. You lay it out so clearly that if the Legion just charges in they will start a war and be on the run.
It makes sense now how the team sent messages to the media. They were psychically "hijacked". good intrigue.

Wow Jan! Wow! glad they were able to knock him out.

Imra! back and agreed with everyone that her being back doesn't discredit the psychics they have. but she is the best and I understand why they can trust her. It also makes logical sense since they don't know who has and has not been compromised on the team.

Imra clearing out all of the psychic influences from the senior team was well done and i liked how you gave examples of that conditioning. Mon-el's was the scariest i think. but now i wonder who else has been tainted?

can't wait for more!

Nordhelm, above Lord Asta's Estate:

Andromeda - Kara Zor-El of Krypton, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability

Andromeda could see the armoured air craft approaching from miles away and slowly flew towards it.

Her X-ray vision had alerted her that inside there were sixteen heavy armed men on board, while the craft itself was armed with twenty four kinetic missiles in tubes ready to be fired at one side and three laser cannons on the other.

Well, she thought, so much for this being a friendly visit...

Holding her flight ring out to scan the ship she quickly flicked through the hard light readout it produced. Once she had found the right wavelength she activated the flight ring function to override their crafts internal comms system.

"Hey guys, as I'm sure you are aware this is Andromeda of the Legion. I'd be really grateful if you were to land now and we have a little talk..."

Even as she finished speaking the laser cannons aimed and took fire. The three bolts of energy ripped through the air and blasted against her, exploding harmlessly.

"Now come on guys, you know that wasn't going to work, so before you do something that annoys me how's about you just land down there...." four kinetic missiles fired in her direction. At super speed the young Kryptonian grabbed them and zoomed up to the edge of the planetary atmosphere and hurled them out into space, before she flew back down towards the air craft.

"Guys, you're gonna irritate me if you continue these games." Even as she said this in a low tone to be broadcast over thewir internal comm system underneath her mask of star field cloth that hid her identity from the general population of the 31st century Kara smiled. The warriors of this distant world didn't stand a chance... and it was always fun to prove that to them, as bullies like these needed to be taught lessons.

"Legionnaire, you are trespassing in Lord Greynail's airspace. You will leave now!" the voice was heavily distorted but the message was clear as it boomed out of the aircraft. "You have ten seconds before we..."

"Guys, stop this stupidity. I'm here as a guest of Queen Throoth..." four more missiles fired along with another round of laser cannons. This time she remained still and allowed them all to harmlessly explode against her.

"Legion scum, get off our planet, you're not wanted here..."

Kara Zor El had heard enough.

She focussed her gaze on the ground below and blasted a pit with her heat vision. Once she was sure it was deep enough she gave a blast of super cold breath to put out the fires. As she did more missiles exploded harmlessly against her.

"You guys need a serious lesson in how to treat guests..." And with that she flew at super speed towards the attacking craft. The laser cannons tried to track her but she was far too fast, ripping them clear from their moorings as she passed them, then reaching up she smashed through the hull of the craft and crushed several parts of the engine. As it erupted in smoke she withdrew her hand and flew up to the side of the damaged craft and ripped the door off. At super speed she raced inside and grabbed several of the warriors and threw them outside. She moved so fast it appeared that they had vanished in the blink of an eye to their comrades. In under a second the whole squad were mid air. Still moving at phenomenal speed she plucked the falling warriors from the air and placed them in the pit she had just blasted into the hillside. After all sixteen warriors were in it Andromeda swooped up to the air craft and stripped it of weapons and engines in seconds before carrying the now empty husk of the craft and lowering it over the pit, trapping the warriors underneath. With a flourish of speed she took the weapons up to the upper reaches of the atmosphere and threw them into space, behind the missiles she had flung there a minute before.

Second later she landed at the side of the pit and casually reached down to lift a corner of the aircraft to peer underneath

"I did warn you, so unless you need urgent medical attention you're all going to have to wait here until we're finished."

Several of the soldiers cursed and swore though she could tell they were grateful she had only decided to trap them. Under the laws of this cold world they were all aware that she would have been within her rights as a guest of the Queen to have dealt with them in a far harsher manner.

After checking none of the warriors needed urgent assistance Kara returned to the sky above the castle to continue her surveillance.

She would make sure Querl had every opportunity to find out whatever it was he needed without being disturbed by such rude thugs...

Nordhelm, within the former banqueting hall of the Fallen Castle Upon The Cliff

Brainiac 5 – Legion World manager, Professor Querl Dox of Colu, 12th level intelligence
Invisible Kid - Jacques Foccart of Earth, invisibility
Lexikon - Princess Daheenisha of Tamara iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
Retro - Deen Toro of Ventura, limited reversal of personal timeline
Starkling – telepathic swarm-being composed of indestructible ball bearing sized components

After the brief telepathic discussion Starkling released the young man and Retro pulled up two chairs, indicating the young man should sit opposite him.

The Legionnaires and Valkyri, at Retro's insistence, moved away from them towards the far end of the hall.

"Magnus, what happened to Lord Asta? I only met him once and never got the chance to thank him..."

The young man glared at the Legionnaire sullenly but didn't speak.

"C'mon Magnus... If we're to speak then you need to say something too or it'll get boring real fast." Retro gave a small grin.

The young man shrugged his broad shoulders and turned his face away. Retro sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Magnus, I'm trying to help, would you prefer if I did some talking first, tell you about myself?" The young man glanced up at the Legionnaires face and nodded. Retro took a deep breath and told his story, about waking up on Ventura with no memories and the ability to reverse time. He showed the young man his skill by asking him to draw his sword. After the Legionnaire had reversed that action the young man stared for long seconds with his mouth open. Retro smiled and asked the boy how he had ended up in this castle.

His voice was quiet, broken with emotion as slowly he began.

"Lord Asta... He brought me here after my... After the spirit pictures started. My village is a hundred leagues inland and they drove me away, said I brought Loki upon them... He said it wasn't a curse but like his second sight it could be used to serve the Crown... He helped me learn. He... He was always kind, even when he needed to reprimand me he never struck me, or any of the staff, not once..." Magnus Laviksen wiped at his eyes before the tears that sat in them fell.

"He did seem like a kind man, when I met him..."

"He knew he'd die if he told you. He said it would get him..."

"What would get him?" asked Retro as he leant forward towards the young man.

"He called it the White Beast... Said it was trailing you Legionnaires, tracking you from world to world and making sure the tour failed. He said if he told you what was coming it would stay behind and get him..." the tears began to fall and this time the young man didn't wipe them away. "He said he needed to do it and I had to be brave and listen to him... I wish he'd never warned you, he'd still be here if he didn't go to the Queens palace that night."

"What else did he tell you Magnus? What did he ask you to listen to?"

"He told me you'd return and I had to tell you... " the boy looked nervous, "He was scared when he got back that night, said he'd changed the future... I didn't understand some of it... quantum fluff and temporal anomm.... Anomom...Something else else...."

"Anomaly?" the Legionnaire suggested softly.

The boy nodded before continuing. "Lord Asta said that he'd given you a chance, but that your enemy would know he'd told you her plans so she would change them. Said the future paths were shortening..."

"What do you mean? He warned me that we had fifty days." Retro felt a sudden chill. The warning that the Queen's Seer had given him had been shared with the Senior Team and they were planning on being ready for that deadline.

"He said... The evil eye the gods put upon me wasn't to be scared of... I'll never live up to him..."

"Magnus.... Listen to me. Lord Asta was a kind man and a hero. He gave you support when you needed it and by doing this you are repaying him for that kindness. Your talent, those spirit pictures you call them? You cast these images into the minds of people don't you?"

"Yes... the gods gave me the evil eye... cursed me..."

"No, the gods gave you a gift, a tremendous gift and if you don't have family here then perhaps you should join ours... We need brave people like you."

"I have no sponsor to allow me to leave the estates."

"There's two of Queen Throoth's personal Valkyri over there... And Lexikon is an honorary Sister of the Sword so somehow I reckon we can get the permission you need."

"Legionnaires," Brainiac 5 said loudly, "...we need to leave now."

"Magnus is coming with us Querl." Retro said. The Coluan glanced towards the boy before nodding his agreement.

"Yes, it would be unsafe to leave him here..."

"No, I mean he needs the Academy. He's an untrained illusion caster and has no family or allegiance..." Retro glanced at the Valkyri before adding, "Other than to the Queen. If she allows it I'd like to sponsor him as one of our Academy students."

Astrild turned to the boy and asked if he would like to join the Legionnaires, to serve them as a representative of both the Queen and as heir of the Asta Estate. He looked dumbfounded at the offer until she said that she would personally petition the queen on his behalf if he wanted her too.

Magnus Laviksen smiled through his tears as spoke:

"Lord Asta told me you would say this and asked me to give you a message from him once you had..."

The air darkened and formed into an image of the deceased Lord Asta.

"Legionnaire... My humblest apologies but the warning I gave you has altered the path from the present into the future." the aged lord appeared to rub his forehead before continuing.

"There is a beast... An ancient white beast that has followed you to this world and it will be here within an hour to murder me for warning you of its mistresses plans. You must look after Magnus as he will be left orphaned and without land. The pathway may have changed but no all of its stops need be dark..." the illusion smiled.

"The enemy you face will be alerted to the warning I gave you earlier... She will change her plans and your wondrous headquarters will be attacked sooner than she had planned. This gives you an opportunity... A slim opportunity. You must leave here and use that man made of light from the future to transport you directly four thousand and six hundred leagues due galactic north and west of your satellites most northerly point..." the image smiled as he recited the spatial distances before continuing, "...Be ready as you will need to fight to survive but at least you now have a chance. In the end you can overcome this foul attack on your home as they have not had time to prepare as they wanted but the cost will be high if you don't take this opportunity."

The image remained as it appeared Lord Asta brushed dust from the front seam of his jerkin. There was silence for a couple of seconds as the Legionnaires and Valkyri stared in disbelief.

"Legionnaire..." the image spoke again, "You need to leave now! The attack is beginning even as you listen to these words. Go!" the Lord said with some urgency as he appeared to flick his hands out as if dismissing staff. With that the image popped out of existence and the hall went dark again.

Brainiac Five quickly used the telepathic link to ask Andromeda to join them as he lifted his flight ring to his mouth to bark an order to Henry. Having worked out the distance and directions from the deceased lords archaic measurements carefully Brainiac 5 relaying the coordinates. As Andromeda swooped into the hall a honey and violet warp ripped open in front of them.

"What's going on Brainy?" Andromeda asked as she flew over her teammates.

"It appears Legion World Two is under attack, we have the opportunity to stop it from happening." The Coluan smiled quickly as he answered.

"Cool... I'm in the mood to punch things..." and with that Kara Zor El dived through the warp, closely followed by the Legionnaires, the two Valkyri and the young illusion caster Magnus Laviksen.

Hey Guys, thanks again for your support above.

As there have been a lot of talking-head scenes lately I promise very soon things will get a bit more exciting.

C

I love the scene with Kara taking the missiles...I feel like she enjoys having powers more than her cousin does

Wow, things are coming to a head (no pun intended) faster than I thought! Cool beans!

Legion World Two, the central medi-bay

Imra Ardeen Ranzz stood at the foot of the bed.

Element Lad's mind had been twisted so cruelly. The anger and fear of his childhood after Roxxas had exterminated his people that he had strived so hard to come to terms with had been unleashed and focussed back in on himself. Dr Shakespeare had told Imra that Jan had been getting more anxious but the muscle bound physician had never thought it could have been anything as serious as this, he had assumed it was the pressure of the job leading the team that was behind it.

Imra nodded and gently took the big man's hand. His mind had been compromised too; suicidal impulses alongside and burning desire to push Jan... Kent Shakespeare had been set up to lead his lover astray. Whomever was behind this has cleverly calculated how much they could manipulate each member of the team to create the perfect storm of fear, anger and self destruction that had they been forced to fight they would have been slaughtered.

Imra felt sick but took a deep breath before reassuring Kent that she would personally see to it that Jan got better.

Tellus, Otaki and Dr Kabbo, the psychics on board Legion World Two each had small traces of suggestions too. Tellus was to retreat to his quarters and avoid contact with others, Otaki was to find solace in meditation and stay away from any tense situation between her teammates while the team's counsellor had a simple command to always believe in the positive when it came to the senior team - no matter what they said or did Noah was to give his full support. Each of these impulses were simply amplifications of their own feelings, not anything too far from what they had felt in their core anyway as all psychics did when surrounded by so many unguarded minds, so Imra could see how bit by bit these needs could be fed into to isolate the only beings here that could possibly understand the situation clearly. It was a clever strategy...

It was what she found in Nasir N'Cube's mind that upset the former legionnaire the most. He had joined the team after the destruction of titan as he understood that the Legion were the best bet of combatting serious threats to the galaxy. But it was the feelings he had about the moon of Saturn's destruction that had given their opponent a way in. Like all Titanian's he knew that Harmonia Li and the Time Institute had somehow been linked with their home's destruction, and of course on some level he was angry and upset. This anger had been fuelled, along with the distrust and need for some form of payback... a visceral need for revenge. This had been slowly amplified and twisted by Aven with each meeting. Nasir had fought these feelings, his natural compassion and intelligence had blocked the impulse for a while, but that drip-drip-drip of psychic poison had eventually taken its toll. And even asleep as he was the young telepath's mind ached with grief and fury. Imra knew she would need to support him if he was to fully recover from the mental invasion he had sustained. Their enemy had twisted the young man's natural emotions into something horrific that in turn were eating him up like a psychic cancer that eroded the tight mental defences allowing the toxic thoughts to leak out around him. Without even being fully aware of this his presence would trigger anger and recklessness in those around him, not a lot at first but over time he would tear the team apart.

Imra wiped her eyes, there would be time to rest and reflect afterwards, as right now she needed to get this information to Dirk and Lu and Reep. Her head ached like nothing she had felt before but she had no time to stop as the senior team needed to know that Saturn Girl had just figured out who could be behind this, and she was certain it wasn't Professor Aven.

Legion World One - the Academy

The Naltorian student Gord Eno, known as Prescience, had dreamt of this moment during the night and so when he awoke - twenty four minutes before the assault began - he had urged as many of his fellow students as possible to assist. He had foreseen several key moments of the up-coming event and from these had extrapolated a narrative of how their fight would progress, and ultimately how they could win it.

He woke up many of his fellow students as he had seen actively involved in the upcoming skirmish in his dreams... they would defeat the invading beast. He hoped... his vision hadn't been exactly clear on the outcome but if there was one thing he had learned while here at the academy - mostly from researching Nura Nal's many adventures - it was that he didn't need every single fact to influence an outcome in his favour. The knowledge he had been gifted with would be enough to handle the situation.

There were two matters that his gift had not informed him of: Firstly, that one of his fellow students would be brutally murdered before the squad he had called could react. Secondly, he would not be aware until the very end of the skirmish if any other of his friends and colleagues at the Academy would survive...

And as much as he chided himself afterwards for not being able to do more, Gord Eno would be responsible for saving many lives this night.

She was angry!

Her emotions were contagious, sweeping across the meta beings and troops she had gathered for the attack. The Legion had been warned of her plans, the damned precog on that cold planet had been outside of her reach and had told them... damn him, she hoped the white beast had made him suffer! She would make an example of the dingy world once she had eliminated the threat the Legion posed. She would enjoy using the Queen's own Valkyri to rip apart every petty lord and ugly peasant that scraped a living from the icy continent on which they lived, she may even keep the Sisters of the Sword as her own afterwards.

But right now she had to deal with the Legion.

This wasn't the same team she had met before... this team were older, wiser and far more powerful. This time she wasn't going to take her time bending them to her will, oh no, this time she would feel them die and revel in their fear and pain as they took their final breaths. Such a gathering of freaks would not be tolerated in her new galactic empire.

Ten armoured shuttles, each with a mix of Braalians, meta troops and synthetic soldiers were stealthily trailing Legion World Two awaiting the signal to release their deadly cargo into the Legionnaire's new base. They were fully aware that the planetoids orbit was taking it directly towards a cloaked Star Crusher Class Battle Dreadnought fitted with an array of weapons that could quite literally extinguish an entire world in moments if called upon to do so. Once the Legion had been engaged there would be a small fleet of combat drones released into Legion World Two's corridors and the metas and synthetics would wait for their all-clear before completing their search and destroy mission. A large Braalian contingent were stationed ready to keep the techno-morph known as Gear from turning the very satellite against the attacking force. A couple of Gil'Dishpan warpsmiths had been persuaded to assist and would deliver a squad of meta assassins inside of Legion World Two. This force was only half of what she had planned to attack with originally but it would do... she would get the results she needed!

The result the troops were expected to deliver was nothing less that the death of every known Legionnaire, and their support staff member and finally the complete destruction of their planetoid headquarters.

The Academy were to be dealt with as well - the orders were to leave no one alive. The current and next generations of metas were to be dealt a crushing blow that would leave their mistress in command of a large military and meta powered contingent, too strong to be resisted by any of the rag tag meta groups and planetary militia that would remain. She would not make the same mistakes as yesteryear, this time she would speedily extinguish any opportunity potential rebels had to rally around survivors, this time she wanted them all dead before she took over the galaxy. The great white beast would be backed up by a couple of shuttles full of synthetic soldiers ready to swarm in and finish off any student left alive after the initial attack.

The countdown was on.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Go! Go! Go!

IB and Raz, thanks again for your feedback. Next up... *ulp* all hell breaks loose!

Gasp! This promises to be an epic battle with higher stakes than almost any you have had before, Harbi!

Legion World Two

Had the attack happened only two hours earlier there's a fair chance it might have achieved its aim and destroyed the Legion and their base.

Thankfully for the Legion they were on high alert after Saturn Girl's probing of the team's minds had discovered several different scenarios that a large number of them shared suggestions about. One of the most common psychic commands was to run towards any armed intruder on Legion World Two offering no resistance. After hearing that information both Lu and Dirk, who had taken over temporary command, gave the order to be on full alert.

After making everyone present on their new base meet up to be scanned by Saturn Girl there was no hiding that there was something very serious going on.

At first the senior team avoided directly answering questions but as more and more of their teammates were found to have telepathic implanted compulsions that were detrimental to the team it became very apparent that they needed to make an announcement to stave off the growing resentment, fear and confusion that their teammates felt. Initially there was disbelief and shock though this quickly became a resolute determination to deal with the situation they had found themselves in.

It was Gear's announcement that kick started the team into action. The Linsnarian literally grew out of the floor before the senior team and before anyone could move said that the cloud of nannites that he had currently surrounding Legion world two had encountered several large crafts with sophisticated cloaking systems. He could also feel an increasing in magnetic energy fields along the outside of Legion World two that pointed towards serious technological activity close by, yet the standard sensor arrays could not find anything within 30,000 klicks. He finished by saying he believed that given the current situation he could only assume they were away to be invaded by stealth.

Sun Boy immediately separated the team into groups and barked orders.

Tyroc had Sade, Chemical Kid, Lightning Lass, the Spear of Artemis and Karate Kid join with him to the southern docking bay. Sun Boy took Gazelle, Ferro, Kid Quantum, Dragonmage and the two Comets with to the northern. Any attempts to board the station through conventional means would be stymied by Legionnaires waiting to pounce while also providing coverage at the two ends of the planetoid.

Duplicate Girl took charge of the remaining Legionnaires and set them each with tasks.

Legion World One - the Academy

The Gil'Dishpan's warp opened before the carved wooden doors.

Two soldiers strolled out and without a backwards look kicked the doors to henry's control room open. The holo-man from the 75th century stood beside the large mushroom like structure that contained the essence of his personality and the technology that allowed him to create the spatial warps that allowed the Legion free access to the galaxy.

"Gentlemen, I would prefer not to have to hurt you so please leave at once." Henry smiled as he spoke.

The two soldiers stretched out their hands to channel their native Braalian magno-kinesis and within seconds the mushroom like structure was ripped apart and scattered across the room like litter after a storm.

"Idiots. I moved my core essence to a safe location a while back, that was simply theatre..." The holo broke into a wide grin as a warp opened under the soldiers and they vanished.

"I may not be all I was but I can still protect myself..."

Another honey and violet warp opened and three Gil'Dishpan fell onto the floor before the holo-man with a painful sounding whack!

"I don't like uninvited guests disturbing me. You will not send any more soldiers into my home." The three methane breathers fell into another honey and violet warp before they could reply, just as Henry knew they would.

This part of the team's history had been very well documented even in the far distant future when he was originally from, and in fact in under a year one of those Gil'Dishpan he had just sent to a distant world would aid the legionnaires against the resurgent Devil's Dozen... Henry waited, aware that he could not directly interfere with what must happen today any more than he already had. The legion would need to tackle this situation on their own, regardless of what it cost them.

Phantom Girl led Timber Wolf, Kinetix, Thirteen, Glorith and Babbage to protect the mammoth Q-Drive engines that powered their satellite headquarters. This group all thought that despite Saturn Girl picking up imprinted suggestions to leave the Q-Drive unprotected they had been assigned a non combat role and were disappointed by their posting.

They were the first to see action.

They had been here for under two minutes when within the huge space that housed the immense generators two large warps opened up in the air before them. The swirling circular pattern of the special warps clearly identified them as Gil'Dishpan Warpsmith creations. The team sprung in action, almost more relieved that their sentry duty would see action than worried about what was coming.

"The one on the left is mine" Thirteen yelled as his eyes started to glow.

Several dark figures appeared inside the tubular trans-dimensional construct, but even as they got close to the edge of the warp and the Legion's base the circular walls of the warp started to buckle and the beings seemed to be stretched away. As the warp became more unstable the figures all but vanished though one reached forward and flung an object towards the Naltorian as he concentrated on altering the probabilities that governed the warp. Thirteen was unaware how close he had come to having a Talokian hunters knife in his throat until he heard a clang as it rebounded off one of Glorith's mystic shields.

The quiet sorceress nodded to her teammate as he looked up with surprise. He had been lost in the moment as he focused upon removing the immediate threat. The warp started to stabilize as his concentration was broken and the three figures advanced unsteadily towards the legionnaires.

"Oh no you don't..." Thirteen said as he resumed dealing with the threat. This time his eyes shone brightly and the warp started to spin as it buckled. Seconds later it vanished with a loud pop!

While Dann and Glorith had been dealing with one warp the rest of his teammates had to deal with uninvited guests that had leapt from the second.

Four figures had jumped from that warp. Three of them had immediately been hurled into the floor by Zoe Saugin's telekinesis, her abilities not affecting the fourth as he floated across the floor towards the Legionnaires. Babbage fired a small barrage of mini-missiles from his forearm that exploded on top of these three fallen invaders. Two of these got up immediately, the third remained unconscious.

Phantom Girl approached the invader that had been unaffected by Zoe's telekinesis. She knew the man in the dark combat armour was from her home dimension, she could feel the vibrations of distant Bgztl radiating from him.

"Tinya Wazzo... the girl who will never go home." His face creased into a grin as he spoke. Phantom Girl could see he was reaching for a weapon on his belt. Tinya flew as fast as she could towards the invader. If he was also from Bgztl then his weapon would be likely to affect her and she didn't want to take that chance. As she swung a fist at him he ducked and rabbit punched her in the ribs. Phantom Girl phased back into solidity as his other fist approached her face, allowing it to pass through her. Without waiting for him to act she took an incapacity cuff in each hand and swung them both towards him. The one in her left hand caught his upper arm and curled around his muscles releasing an anesthetic to knock the invader out.

The senior team member had a lot more experience at phasing than the soldier - one of her hands had been solid while the other was phantom... Tinya made certain he was going down no matter how he reacted.

Kinetix approached the fallen invader. She recognized Tayla Skott and was appalled that one of the former academy students would be turned against the Legion. Zoe was smart enough not to touch her fallen opponent, as Lamprey could discharge potentially lethal electric bolts and Kinetix had no urge to get fried today. Using her telekinesis Zoe Saugin levitated a set of incapacity cuffs onto her former fellow student's wrist. If Zoe hadn't have been upset by the teams current situation before she certainly was now! Tayla had been one of there own.

Timber Wolf punched his opponent fully on the face snapping their head around. Still, the large invader came towards the Zuunian Legionnaire. Brin Londo flipped himself over the large man's head before kicking out at the invaders back. with this the invader stumbled and clumsily tried to regain his balance. As incredibly strong and tough as he was the invader was much slower than his Legionnaire opponent and Timber wolf took the second or two of imbalance to flip over the big man again and kick him in the throat, sending him flying into a nearby wall. As the invader shook his head and started to stand Brin slapped a set of incapacity cuffs on him, rendering him almost immediately unconscious.

Babbage struggled with the final opponent. Just as the Robotican had approached the last invader the Legionnaire had been slammed backwards by a powerful magno-kinetic blast. Babbage did not have time to recover as the wall he had crashed into was magnetically torn down upon him. As the Robotican ripped the barrier that had been put in his way apart he heard creaking and cracking alerting him to the immense wall of engineering that was part of the immense Q-Drive functions were being damaged by his Braalian opponent.

There were several loud crashing sounds and then silence... Babbage's senses had been blocked by the thick sheet of cladding that the invader had covered the Legionnaire with.

"He really shouldn't have thrown you around like that Babbage, so I gave him a taste of his own medicine." Zoe Saugin said. She had telekinetically thrown the invader against a wall then into the floor before upwards to smash into the ceiling and finally back onto the floor. She stood over the unconscious attacker and forcefully slapped a set of incapacity cuffs on his wrists.

"Legionnaires..." Babbage said loudly, "I believe we are in peril as my sensors indicate a breach forming in the anti-matter unit above." The Robotican Legionnaire pointed up towards where the Braalian had damaged the sensitive engineering works.

Thirteen looked up at the damage wall and swore before announcing to his teammates "Guys... if this goes up we'll do a lot of damage, Legion world'll be like a new star for several seconds. The chain reaction might set off Saturn... certainly irradiate the moons for a millennia. You need to evacuate... Go, get out of here. I'm going to try something..."

"What you gonna do Dann?" Brin said.

"Save you ass, if you get going now... please, this will take all my concentration to fix...."

As the Legionnaires picked up the captured invaders and flew out of the cavernous engineering deck the Natorian's eyes glowed with a fierce light as he re-wrote the very reality around hm.

Legion World One - the Academy

The great white beast had been sent to eliminate the staff and students at the Academy.

There was a small cruiser with forty heavily armed synthetic guards hidden within folds of EM and TP shielding four klicks from the northern docking bay ready to lend a hand if needed, though as the beast had served successfully on many black-op missions for the UP over the last century no-one really expected that it would need assistance.

The beast had a 100% successful kill rate.

If it weren't for the quick reactions of one of the student the great white beast may very well have succeeded on this mission as well.

The great white beast floated through the outer skin of the planetoid sensing one of its prey directly ahead of it and within its brutal mind it fantasized about the smell of its opponents blood and the taste of their fear. It had been disappointed on its last mission - the Seer on Nordhelm had remained unruffled as the great beast tore him limb from limb. The old precognitives strength of will had been too much even for this deadly creature to crack.

It intended to make sure that every one of the puny creatures it had been sent to kill this time were suitably terrified as they took their final breaths. As it would be sent back to its holding pen after this mission for an indeterminately long period of time - until the next mission - it wanted to have the memories of the victims agonising deaths to savour.

The Dryadian student called Metallix couldn't sleep. It was 0548 standard and she knew she would never get any rest so had gotten out of her bed and was making her way towards a refectory for breakfast, She had struggled with being a student at the Academy for the last month and in the last few days had found herself doubting more and more why she ever came to this place. This feeling of discontent had built up until she had argued with her friends and fellow students the night before in the refectory over a minor point that would usually have been ignored. After shouting down Kid Nimbus and Solar Gorilla - both of whom she usually rather liked - she had stormed out to go to her apartment. She hadn't replied to any of the notifications on her personal holo-comm and had shut off the door chime. It was seven hours later that she ventured out and now found herself walking the dark empty halls with her doubts and fears for company.

One of Dru Della's biggest fears was that if she were to ever become a full Legionnaire she could be brutally murdered in the line of duty. Sadly, that fear was away to come to pass before she even had the opportunity to graduate.

The beast reached out at the student as she passed it by. Its formidable psychic powers had kept it hidden from her, though she had thought she had heard a breath... her mind was focused on her own woes so she ignored it as she might a passing breeze. The beasts clawed fingers tore into her metallic torso and slowly ripped her upper torso clean free of her lower body. As it did so it telepathically projected what it was experiencing into its victim's dying mind so she too would experience her murderer's happiness at her horrific bloody death. It was a hideously long ten seconds before it was over as her nascent scream faded and her hot blood had sprayed out for metres across the walls of the corridor. The beast revelled in the sensation. It had been a long time since it had been ordered to cause such obvious carnage and the beast planned on enjoying every second of this opportunity before the UP Black-Op Security Forces took it back to its dark cell. On the periphery of its awareness the beast knew that there were more students approaching and it started to turn, eager to murder more of the potential Legionnaires.

Before the murderous beast could fully turn Ballistix flew into it, smashing against its muscular torso and painfully ramming it against a rough wall. Behind her the Naltorian called Prescience took charge as he commanded his fellow students into action, as dictated by his sleeping prophecy.

The beast swung a mighty arm and the blow threw the Zuunian synthezoid down the corridor. As it did Kid Dynamo jumped forward and punched the white horror as hard as he could muster on the jaw and followed that blow up with powerful uppercut to the sternum. The punches sounded like thunder as they landed along the confines of the planetoid's corridors, the walls shaking with the force of each blow. The beasts stumbled. Before the student could land a third punch the beast head butted him and its form twisted and bulked up as it grew two more arms to grab around the muscular youth, pinning him arms.

From along the corridor another student raced towards the beast. Bouncing Boy ii had not felt fully awake as he followed Prescience down the corridors to reach here but as soon as he had seen the blood and remains of his fellow student Metallix the young man from Pasnic's adrenaline had kicked in and he was ready for action. The beast reached out with it's telepathic might, trying to stop the young hero in his tracks, but Stoor Chamble's spherical force field dispersed the psychic assault. As Bouncing Boy reached the beast Kid Dynamo grabbed its arms and bent his knees, pushing himself backwards with all his might to throw the beast off balance and in towards the other students diamond hard and fast moving force shield.

The new Bouncing Boy rebounded unharmed down the corridor after colliding heavily with the beast though without a seconds let up Ultra Girl activated her Red Energy and tore into the beast, smashing it through the planetoids walls and out into open space outside. Ballistix had picked herself up and flew out of the gap even as a protective force field generated by the planetoid grew over the hole stopping the rest of the students from being sucked out into space after their battling comrades.

"Go Ultra Girl ... Non and Atomsmasher will be waiting for you." Prescience said to himself. "Right... " he turned around to the wall comm unit and pressed the alert code. An alarm would sound throughout the Academy and any other invaders would find that the students and staff were ready for them.

Or so Gord Eno hoped... his vision hadn't really extended that far.

Wow, Harbi! Truly chilling story here, layers of deception and frightening how widespread and deep the mental manipulation has been. Thank the stars for Imra and (it appears) that the manipulator didn't reach far enough to mess with her mind. If they could get to Aven, could Imra resist?

That 10 second countdown to the death of Metallix was also highly effective. I counted out loud and thought about what it would be like to take that long to die in agony. Brrr! (I hope I go quick!)

Also very moving is the limitation of Prescience, to know only so far how things will turn out, and of Henry, knowing, but unable to interfere.

The Star Crusher Class Battle Dreadnought initiated the program that would lead to it firing up its main weapon.

This was potentially the riskiest moment in the plan for the invading force as it needed to drop out of warp and would give the Legionnaires a twelve second window to act. The military advisors and their mistress had all agreed that it was a chance they would take as the PKB - the acronym for the main energy particle beam weapon, The Planet Killer Beam - would blow a massive hole right through the Legion's planetoid base with one blast if it had a clear shot.

In the cavernous deck that housed the delicate machinery that focused and controlled the PKB weaponry Henry's honey and violet warp spun open and Andromeda flew through, quickly followed by her teammates from the Nordhelm mission. The technical crew that witnessed the Legionnaires arrival all immediately turned on the team and attacked.

<Guys, they're all synths... I'll deal with them if you want to find other things to break> By the time Andromeda had completed sending her telepathic message she had corralled all of the attacking staff against a wall and ripped a strip of metal from the walls to construct a fence of sorts to keep them there.

"She is... ah, very impressive!" Nethrus the Valkyri said to Lexikon.

The Tamaranean smiled as she replied, "Yes. Andromeda is definitely that."

Brainiac 5 examined the engineering before him for several seconds, his eyes darting across the 100 metre long stretch of intricate wiring and plates held within a maze of energy fields - he could see the tremendous skill that had went into creating this energy amplification machinery as it spun its fields within fields...

"This needs dismantling." He pointed to a point about half way along a wall of small square circuit boards, suspended in an anti-grav environment. Before he could turn around he was slammed into the floor by a super fast opponent. Querl Dox was rarely caught of guard and was usually prepared for most eventualities. His attacker realized too late that the Coluan had activated his personal force field to automatically protect him when any fast moving object approached. While the semi-conscious Brainiac 5 bounced across the metal floor his attacker - a young wiry built man wearing a sleek armour of black and deep violet - rebounded off the Legionnaire's force field and crashed into a desk and set of chairs sending them flying.

An alarm raged in the distance. The Legionnaires knew this would not be an easy fight.

Legion World One - the Academy

Out in space Ultra Girl pushed the beast for a klick into the darkness in well under a second.

Kid Dynamo still clung on to it and silently gave thanks that the student flight ring he wore included an eco-protect function saving him from a potentially painful death in the harsh vacuum of space. He desperately tried to hurt the attacking beast by using the inch-punch technique Gim had shown the students two weeks before as its claws dug into his upper arms. Ultra Girl let go of the beast and redirected the Red Energy that coursed through her into concussive force blasts. The beast was distracted by the two students physical assaults but was not stopped as it swiped at Kid Dynamo, knocking him almost unconscious. It then turned towards Ultra Girl and slowly made its way towards her through her Red Energy blasts, its shape become more hideous as it got closer as deadly looking spikes grew out of its shoulders and skull and its claws extended...

Ballistix sped past Ultra Girl and delivered a mighty blow at the beast's face before it smashed an arm into her midriff and sent the synthezoid spinning away. From out of the darkness Atomsmasher, Southern Lights and Non arrived just as Prescience had predicted. The Wraithcat's three long whip like tails wrapped around the beasts neck and it curled itself over, its slick alien body forming the shape of a comma with its dark almost featureless head just centimeters from the beast's face as it forcefully extended its own telepathy into the beasts mind. Ergus Atomsmasher projected a full barrage of its hyper senses awareness of their surroundings into its opponents thoughts, overwriting the beasts own awareness with its own alien abstraction and logic, senses without name screeching the unknowable at maximum volume through every corner of the murderous beast's mind.

As this happened the Negative Energy being called Non phased its radioactive body into the creature to occupy the same space and activated its explosive touch on the beasts innards.

Southern Lights floated twenty five metres away, avoiding the riccochetting of Ultra Girl's Red Energy force blasts he closed his eyes to summon a spirit to guide him towards the knowledge that would help them defeat their dread opponent. In his minds eye he could see that the beast was centuries old, its race all but wiped out millennia before... the beasts homeworld was a barren red waste... its canals had long ran dry...

Mars!

It was a White Martian!

A race of beings that the Guardians of Oa, in fear of the staggering meta-potential of the Martians, had influenced many thousands of years before to include one critical weakness...

<Fire! We need fire... it's a Martian. Atomsmasher, can you project the feelings of fire into its thoughts? It is terrified of flames...> The student from Starhaven sent to his non-human teammate.

Although the Wraithcat did not respond directly, the already struggling beast started to writhe and flail in abject desperation. The Wraithcat had seen solar flares from the bloated star Betelgeuse that extended many hundred of thousands of klicks into space and a season ago had danced amongst these truly stellar displays of cosmic fire. It threw these sizzling memories in every exquisite incendiary detail into the beasts thoughts. Southern Lights hovered for another few seconds casting a second spell, one that could influence the creature to sleep. The winged student from Starhaven closed his eyes again and uttered words from a language so ancient it had no name.

It took several more tense seconds until the beast fell but the fight against the ancient beast was effectively over as the spell was cast.

Gord Eno smiled but as his colleagues cheered a series of visions flashed across his senses alerting him to a deadly fact: The students fight was far from over.

As that happened, even as the students involved in this desperate fight started to celebrate their victory, the shuttle with the synthetic troops that had been held in reserve docked at the planetoids northern bay and the deadly cargo stepped out, the soldiers activating their chameleon cloth camouflage as they charged out of their craft and into the Academy to search for students to murder.

And Gord now knew that two of his friends were unknowingly running straight towards them like eager sacrifices.

Legion World Two

XS barrelled down the corridor towards where Duplicate Girl had told her there had been a breach.

At the speed she travelled the world around her seemed to freeze. Jenni reached the area were she had been sent in under a second, the cargo bay on the 'western' side of the planetoid used mostly for storage. Ahead of her were five figures wearing SP uniforms and behind them the bay doors stood slightly open. This was a small team obviously sent for infiltration and stealth, no doubt hoping to surprise the team with their attack.

The first opponent had green skin with a large omnicrom in her hand - a Coluan! Jenni shouldered the invader aside, sending her flying across the barn like room.

The second was a young man with pale curly hair and an SP officer uniform - Jenni guessed he was a Naltorian though didn't stop to ask as she held her arm out as she passed and swept him off his feet with a thunderous blow.

The third had a wiry frame and a small dorsal fin ran along her head - she had no idea what planet this one was from but that didn't stop the Legionnaire from shoving her aside like she had the first, aware that at the speed she was moving the speed the kinetic energy would throw her opponent across the room.

The fourth made her hair start to stand on end as she approached - they were generating either electricity or magnetic fields. XS assumed they were from Braal and that was how this team had managed to open the bay door. He was also struck and would be crashing into the wall in a second.

The fifth turned towards her as she approached and smiled.

Jenni crashed to a halt, shocked by his reaction!

"A speedster, what a delicious ability to have..." The muscular pale blue skinned man sounded Talokean to XS but she wasn't sure... if he had just somehow duplicated her abilities then they were in for a tough time as someone with her speed could cause serious trouble!

He started to race off with the Legionnaire in hot pursuit. Jenni caught his heel with her toe, just enough to throw the mimic off balance and send him crashing into a stack of crates. He may have copied her ability but didn't have the experience needed to navigate the pitfalls of super-speed collisions. Before he could recover Jenni slapped incapacity cuffs on his wrist. Quickly glancing around she realised that the other four invaders had all crashed into various parts of the bay. Checking the pouches on her belt, she made sure she had enough cuffs before zipping around the large room and slapping them onto the fallen foes.

*Phew!* that was close!

She wiped her brow and hoped Po was having more luck wherever it was that Mon El had taken him...

Legion World Two - Sun Boy, Gazelle, Ferro, Kid Quantum, Dragonmage, Comet Queen, Comet King

Jazmin froze the drones as they flew into the docking bay. There were twelve in total and she thought they looked like nightmarish metal jellyfish.

Without a word she then took Dirk's hand and led him into her stasis bubbles. Once inside the senior team member put his free hand on top of the drones and blasted them into streams of melting sludge on the floor. Kid quantum had sweat pouring from her forehead and looked faint as she finally dropped her quantum field.

"Sorry Jaz, I tried to control the heat but it took a lot to get through their shielding." He took the young Xanthuian by the arm and led her to a seat. She gratefully sat down, wiped the sweat off her forehead with her hand and took several deep breaths.

"INCOMING!" Comet King shouted from above. As Sun Boy and Kid Quantum had disposed of the attacking war-drones the former soldier had flown up to the edge of the docking bay to check for any further attacks.

They all felt the electric hum of huge magnetic fields ripple across their skin. The Braalians on board the shuttles had activated their native abilities to limit the movement of the planetoid's structure.

Sun Boy used his flight ring to rise up to the lip of the docking bay, his teammates taking the cue to follow him. Against the dark sky they could see the shuttle crafts disgorge their crew. Comet Queen and Comet King flashed past him as they flew up to engage with the attacking force.

<Comets.... move out the way!> Sun Boys urgent command momentarily startled Grava but Drinchnar swept her aside protectively.

Dirk concentrated for a second before pointing his hands in the general direction and unleashing blasts of plasma. The attacking force lost formation as they scrambled out of the way of the blasts. One of the bolts of stellar energy tore through a shuttle craft causing it to erupt in explosive flames. At Sun Boy's side Dragonmage closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening his hands outwards. Small twinkling points of light issued from his palms that streaked towards the invaders. The sparkling lights grew and assumed slinky dragon forms as they reached their goals. The soldier were all armed and fired their weapons towards the glowing green dragons but their discharge passed harmless through them, unfortunately for the soldiers the dragons were not so ephemeral when they cam into contact with them. The spell summoned a small army of mystical beasts that tore their way through a large section of the advancing force, tearing armour and paraphernalia off the synthetics body before lunging their teeth and claws into the soldiers bodies.

Dragonmage fell backwards as an energy bolt tore violently through his shoulder spraying his blood and chips of shattered bone behind him. His flight ring's auto-medical app immediately pumped his body full of pain killers, effectively knocking the young mystic unconscious, in a bid to stop the intense pain. As he fell his dragons faded. The dragons had disabled almost a third of the attacking force before disappearing.

Kid Quantum flew across to the injured Dragonmage and grabbed for the medi-pouch on her belt. She had taken basic battle field first aid courses and thought she would be confident in these situations but seeing the bloody damage before her made her feel nauseated. She willed a bubble of stasis around the injury as she removed the tourniquet gel from her pouch. It was designed to be a short term solution to major injuries as it would seal any wound and release a mild anaesthetic. She liberally poured it onto Xao's blasted shoulder and checked his pulse at his throat. He appeared to be breathing fine so she turned her face up to the attacking force and flew out to stop them. They had hurt her friend so now she wanted to stop them with an added vigour!

Ferro and Gazelle pushed their flight rings to hurl them at great speed towards the invading force and within a second were engaged in hectic hand to hand fighting. Comet Queen and King returned to the fray, her speed and agility keeping the attackers from getting close while she blinded them with noxious fume, his aggression and military training gave him an edge of precision as he slammed his way through a column of attacking soldiers. Sun Boy knew it would be up to him to disable the shuttle crafts that were popping into sight with well aimed bolts of fiery plasma.

The Legionnaires fought for their lives as the sheer volume of synthetic soldiers swept towards their headquarters.

Legion World One - the Academy

Jadee Whittakka - Friction of the Senior training squad, and Josi Rista - Magno Lass from Team Cosmic, were already up and running laps around the upper corridors when the alarm screamed its warning.

The two potential Legionnaires had struck up an uneasy friendship. Both were quite focused on their reasons for being here - they wanted to be Legionnaires more than anything else - but neither had quite managed to see that having such a singular drive did not mean they had to be so competitive with their fellow students and as a result both had been marked down for their lack of initiative for team working. Both girls were disappointed but two nights ago they had gotten talking in one of the refectories and decided to meet regularly to discuss their training and what they had achieved. They had agreed to support each other as they worked towards their goals - surely the tutors would give them additional credits for that?

This morning Josi had pinged Jadee to ask if she wanted to join her on an super-early morning run. Both had early classes so they wouldn't be getting a long lie in anyway... And, thirty four minutes later here they were, approaching the Northern Docking bay... the alarm sounded and both quickly looked around but as they couldn't see anything unusual they kept on jogging.

Gord Eno screamed into his flight ring "Jadee, Josi, look out! Get ready, we're under attack! You need to get under cover!"

His vision having shown him that his fellow students would be close to the main attacking force. The Naltorian didn't bother listening for their reply as he quickly contacted other students that he knew had suites nearby. On that level it was mainly the Cosmic Crew's quarters. After waking Hardal of Granite Falls - the student called Tectonik, and D'Nadka Endarooga - Solar Gorilla, the Naltorian checked a hard light read out from his flight ring to see if any more of his fellow students were close by to assist his peers repulse the attacking force.

As their precognitive colleague focused on getting help to them many levels below Friction pushed Magno Lass into a side room.

"We need to catch our breaths if we wanna take these gits by surprise." she hissed into the Braalians ear. "I'm gonna stick the floor, they won't get too far. You get ready to pull the walls in on them, okay?"

Outside of the Northern Docking Bay the former Legionnaires Wildfireand Colossal Boy flew into action. They had been warned by the senior team to expect trouble, and after Kid Pulsar had announced that they would all be dead within a few days Duplicate Girl had been hawkishly watching the monitor board, alert for any potential trouble. When Ultra Girl had smashed the beast out of the Academy into space and Prescience had activated the general alarm the tutors all leapt into action eager to ensure none of their students were harmed in any confrontation.

Comic Boy, Night Girl and Chameleon Girl flew to support the students already in combat, each painfully aware that they were not going to be in time to save anyone that may have already fallen and determined to do their best for the students that remained.

The Star Crusher Class Battle Dreadnought

More guards streamed through the doors at one end of the large room, their blasters firing potentially lethal doses of high temperature plasma. Andromeda swooped into action again and removed and smashed each weapon at hyper velocity. The disturbed air wake from her moving so fast created a wall of air that swept the first half a dozen guards backwards to crash into the comrades that followed them.

Lexikon, Starkling and the two Valkyri - Nethrus and Astrild - ran to assist their Kryptonian colleague. Retro approached the speedster that had attacked Brainiac 5, using his chronal reversing skill to keep the attacker on the floor. After slapping a set of incapacity cuffs on him Retro checked to make sure if his colleagues needed any assistance. Invisible Kid and Magnus Laviksen rushed to help Brainiac 5 who lay groaning in a semi-foetal position on the floor.

"Can you look after 'im magnus? Per'aps you can 'ide Querl and keep 'im safe until he iz fully conscious?" Jacques Foccart asked. The young man nodded, though his expression was one of confusion and terror. Invisible Kid immediately recognized how the young man from far away Nordhelm felt - this was far, far bigger than anything he would have encountered before.

"I recall my first mission, I was 'appy to be invisible so no-one could see my teeth chatter I was so afraid! Please, mon ami, use an illusion as I need to get to work..." Jacques patted Magnus once on the shoulder in solidarity before turning and vanishing from view. Once fully invisible Jacques glanced over his shoulder and saw that the young man and Brainiac 5 had both vanished as well, the illusion was working!

As his teammates fought the security teams and automated defences that this immense battle cruiser had installed Jacques Foccart went back to where Querl Dox had been standing. What had the Coluan seen that he had tried to get his teammates to destroy? Jacques knew he would never understand this technology without assistance. He lifted his hand to his mouth and spoke into the comm on his flight ring, hoping that the only person he could think of would help.

"Danielle... ma Cherie, we urgently need your 'elp." Jacques quickly described the situation they had found themselves in all the while hoping that his sister was both listening and had calmed down enough after he had upset her to help them. After finishing talking he willed into action the scanning function of his flight ring and waved his hand in front of the bank of machinery before him.

A second later a holo of the Legionnaire's sister appeared before him, she kept her eyes low and did not acknowledge him.

After a tense couple of seconds where Jacques was suddenly very aware that his colleagues had left the bay they had transported into as they wrecked havoc on the craft, Danielle nodded and gave a very rare smile.

"It will stop now Jacques." She said in a quiet voice as her holo faded out of view.

There was a loud crunching noise before the lights flickered and the banks of energy fields that held the exotic engineering faded and fizzled out.

The Star Crusher Battle Cruiser's main weapon had failed and with it Legion World Two's chances of survival had risen exponentially.

Oh my Harbi, you do write these epic battles so well! Good job building such a diverse army, this allows you to think of such epic scenes without having to bring in established villains.

Lamprey! Is she here due to mind-control? I'm sure you will cover that soon. Nice touch showing Zoe's consternation.

Nice trick too with Jazmin pulling Dirk into her stasis bubbles. It makes sense that time would pass at the same rate for anyone IN them.

A White Martian! Good job, having the students take it down in such a convincing way, though not before it had claimed a casualty...

You certainly know how to keep the stakes high.

I also like how you use Henry, like it has a role to play in the "present", but it cannot change the history that it knows.

Eagerly awaiting more!

I'm with IB, this is really epic Harbi! There's a definite sense of it continually escalating high stakes and a great sense of tension!

Love the White Martian!! Those things are scary, I like how it was taken down and how it came across as not being something that was easy to do. I am normally not a fan of someone being slaughtered straight up by the bad guy without even being able to put up a fight, but in this case I think it really sells how dangerous he is....these guys have taken on the Justice League, they really should be as deadly as this one is shown here.

I am really liking Thirteen's ongoing competence without making him over the top...like it's obvious he has a lot to learn but also that he's very much on the way to being a really solid member of the team.

I also really liked Jacques and Danielle's scene...I like the way you write her, she's pretty unique among all the various versions of the Legion we have floating around here

Legion World Two - Tyroc, Monica Sade, Chemical Kid, Lightning Lass, the Spear of Artemis and Karate Kid

The drones flew into the southern docking bay, scanning the area for signs of life as they followed their orders to search and exterminate.

The team had had only ten seconds notice as the drones were all but invisible to traditional scanning methods. Tyroc signalled his team to wait, the distorters they each wore on their belts had been activated to mask them from any technological search and locating systems and he knew that once the team took action their element of surprise would be lost. The drones looked like techno-organic jellyfish with a dark dome on top of dozens of trailing arms that flickered with small lights and buzzed with power - these were the apex of current stealth warfare - a dozen could easily clear out a city within an hour as they tracked and ruthlessly destroyed living beings for klicks around them. Sade stood beside him, her guns already in her hands waiting for the opportunity to blast these intruders.

Hadru was at one side of the entrance way into the docking bay where he could sense the chemical reactions that were flickering like neurons within the small domed tops of the drones and he subtly activated his abilities to slow them down; once Troy had given the command the young Chemical kid intended to stop them from firing altogether. Lightning Lass was at his side, holding back her electrical energies so as not to give their position away. Amynta stood in the centre of the docking bay with her enchanted spear in her hands waiting for the opportunity to smash as many of the invaders as she could, while beside her the elf-like Karate Kid was motionless other than her dark eyes that tracked the movement of the approaching machines of war.

Ten drones were inside the docking bay, their scanners flicking fans of light across each surface. There didn't appear to be any more coming in so Tyroc thought it was time for the team to act.

<On Three... 1... 2... 3!>

Simultaneously Chemical Kid reached out and froze all chemical reaction that were taking place within the drones while Lightning Lass focussed on her electrical manipulation ability to disrupt the internal circuitry. Amynta threw her enchanted spear which then flew in an improbable curve as it explosively skewered drone after drone. Tyroc screamed at a frequency that shattered the metal of the drones while Sade blasted them with bolt after bolt of concussive blasts from her twin pistols. As the carnage came to an end Karate Kid jumped into the fray to smash any of the remaining drones with precisely positioned blows from her elbow spikes while the Spear of Artemis crushed several in her hands into powder.

The drones which were renowned to be some of the deadliest creations of war known to the UP had been destroyed in under thirty seconds

The team didn't have time to celebrate as blaster fire tore into the southern docking bay followed closely by dozens of synthetic troops looking for Legion blood.

The Spear of Artemis didn't wait for orders as she launched herself at hyper speed towards their attackers using her incredible strength to smash her way through the ranks of advancing troopers.

"I love that girl!" Monica Sade said before disappearing only to reappear not far from a column of the attackers with her guns blazing.

<Guys... you know what to do. Stop 'em!> Tyroc sent across the artificial telepathic link.

The team flew straight into action as wave after wave of heavily armoured opponents tried to invade the Legionnaires headquarters.

Mon El, Thunder, the Green Lantern and Cosmic Kid left the airlock and flew out to meet the Dreadnought Cruiser that had just dropped out from its cloaked hiding place.

Mon El and Thunder took the lead while the Green Lantern spun an emerald bubble around their new team mate from another dimension. As fast as Dkyun flew she was left behind as the Daxamite and daughter of Black Adam flung themselves at hyper velocities towards the dreadnought. Cosmic Kid watched carefully for any weapons fire, getting ready to manipulate the energy to suit his own purposes. Although Mon El and Thunder were too far away within seconds to see clearly Po Miman could clearly make out the damage they caused as they ripped weapons off the sides of the huge space vessel.

Several small explosions ripped the bottom of the Dreadnought and Po Miman reached out with his mind to capture the energy and funnel it back in towards the immense vessel of war setting off further explosions which he tried to push back into the attacking craft. By now they were less than 200 meters from the underside of the Dreadnought and it's armoury started to automatically fire on the Legionnaires. Po was perfectly safe from within the emerald bubble the green Lantern had spun so used these energy bolts and x-laser beams to destroy the large stack of sensor arrays that ran down the central spine of the craft. While Cosmic Kid dealt with the weapons the green Lantern focussed her will and prised into a big hole an explosion had gouged into the dark underside of the dreadnought.

Two beings flew out of the hole, one a winged Science Police officer with long dark hair that looked very similar to the Legionnaire's teammate Dawnstar and the other a tall man wearing a Daxamite military outfit. The Legionnaires realised that the Dreadnought had its own meta-team!

Dkyun Mu reached out with tendrils of emerald energy and caught the man in the Daxamite uniform but the winged opponent swerved and avoided the trap. In a blur the Starhavenite had flown at the Green Lantern and barrelled into her throwing the Legionnaire off balance. While the Green Lantern and her winged opponent tussled the Daxamite ripped through the strands of emerald energy and flew towards Cosmic Kid.

Po Miman had fought a Daxamite once before in his home dimension when the Squids of Infinity had invaded their galaxy. He had barely survived that encounter but had at least learned a valuable lesson. Daxamites were walking talking power cells that could absorb solar energy to charge their super-dense muscles. without light energy they were pretty much powerless so the young Legionnaire from the far away reality reached out again and this time focussed on removing the photonic energy from within the Daxamite and redistributing it into a blinding flash in front of his attackers eyes.

<Well done Cosmic Kid. I'll take care of him from here> Dkyun Mu's reedy voice said across the artificial telepathic grid that linked the Legionnaires. An emerald energy bubble expanded around the weakened Daxamite as the Green Lantern contained the two meta's that had threatened the Legionnaires.

<Thanks GL. That was exciting... so, what now? You ready to get busy again?> Cosmic Kid's exuberance shone through his reply.

Colossal Boy smashed into the shuttle craft while Wildfire chased after the soldiers that had already disembarked.

Drake Burroughs swore that if any of his team of students were hurt he would burn whoever was responsible down to ashes! As he flew into the corridor the anti-energy Legionnaire was stopped in his tracks by the sight awaiting him.

The corridor had a slight violet glow that he knew indicated the student called Friction was maximizing the effects of the interactive force she took her code name from. There were walls of flames burning brightly though both sides of the corridor walls had been ripped up. Within the flaming walls were twenty or so rocky looking cocoons...

"What the devil...?"

"Wildfire! Over here..." Solar Gorilla stood at the far end of the corridor waving her long arms at the anti-energy Legionnaire.

"D'Nadka... what are you doing?"

"We caught them all Drake but Josi... Magno Lass got shot."

Wildfire sped through the surreal corridor, aware that his suit was sparking from the sudden hike in air friction, not that that would stop him, he had a student to tend to.

Solar Gorilla, Friction and Tektonik were stood watching the strange cocoons while the Legionnaire dived down to the other students stood around a figure on the floor. The Silver Shaman, the bio-kinetic from Avalon, was knelt over the unconscious Magno Lass. The tall youth's hand were on her stomach where a lot of blood appeared to have been spilled. Wildfire rudely pushed past Kid Nimbus, Flipside and Strobe in his eagerness to check on the injured student.

"How's she doin'?"

"She will be okay now sir, her stomach and liver were perforated and there was much burning of her flesh but I believe it has been resolved..." The young healer looked up at the Legionnaire and gave a warm smile.

"Okay... good job Shardwurd. Now, can one of you tell me what's goin' on here?" He pointed to the strange rocky pods that filled the corridor.

"Oh that... we kicked their asses is what's going on!" Strobe said with his usual exuberance.

"Wildfire..." Friction began, taking charge of the conversation,"Josi and I were warned by Gord... Prescience... so we hid around the corridor. I set up slippy friction on the floor once the soldiers came in, and then Josi collapsed the walls in on them then wrapped the steel around them, then Hadral and D'Naka came along... they finished it by encasing them in rock and put up fire pens to make sure they didn't escape. One of them got a lucky shot off and wounded Josi so I maxxed out air friction to help keep them trapped... will there be any more? Do we need to get get reay for another attack..." The student spoke quickly as her adrenaline still pumped fast in the excitement.

"You did real good kids, you should be proud. This is... well, this is excellent work. Gim's out there now disabling the shuttle they came in and the rest of the tutors are helping the others..."

"What about the others? we only got here when we heard an alarm... Gord sent us here." Kid Nimbus said, suddenly anxious for his fellow students.

"We all came to help..." Strobe said, eager to join in the conversation. Slingshot and Shadowsurfer both agreed.

"And you've done a great job, though we need to secure the whole base, not just this bay." Wildfire pointed along the corridor towards the shuttle craft that had just landed these troops. "Strobe, Shadowsurfer, go help Gim disable the shuttle. Shardwurd, Flipside and Friction stay here to look after Josi and keep an eye on those guys for now. Call me if there's the slightest problem from them, okay? The rest of you are with me. We're gonna check that there's no-one else creepin' around looking to take the Academy from us. You with me?"

The students all cheered at the Legionnaire's rallying call.

Andromeda fought toe to toe against a woman in an SP officers outfit.

Kara recognised her from the Legion's files as one of the Takron-Galtos meta-team that had helped against the Emerald Empress several months before. The SP officer may have shared the same power set as Kara but she wasn't as experienced in using it so Kara quickly took charge and smashed her through an outer wall of the dreadnought into open space beyond. The Legionnaire zoomed after her opponent to continue the fight outside the main body of the ship.

The two Valkyri followed closely behind Lexikon who had taken the lead to charge down the corridor causing havoc as she went. Starkling buzzed alongside the three women, telepathically warning the two warriors if they were being approached by any attacker from out of their immediate view. Retro flew behind them, amazed at how physically powerful they each were and grateful that he wasn't having to face them in these circumstances.

The Daxamite spun and twisted out of Kara's reach and tore back into the body of the dreadnought. The Legionnaire flew right after her, determined to stop her once and for all. The Daxamite had the slight advantage as she knew the lay out of the c raft and after several seconds, in which they had zipped along several dozen klicks of corridors, she led Kara to a round door. It was spiralling open just as the Legionnaire caught up with her quarry.

The Daxamite smiled viciously at the Legionnaire as she stepped over the threshold into the room beyond. Andromeda didn't stop to consider what she may be entering into as she tore after her opponent.

Inside the room sat a dozen men and women, each with intricate head sets on. Around the edges of the room satood a couple of dozen beings in military uniforms, each working on a hard light screen. The Daxamite stood in the middle of them. Kara flew in but as she did the energy seemed to seep out of her and she lost her momentum, coming to a halt about six feet from the woman she had been chasing.

"Kara Zor-El... I've only met you once before, or at least your counterpart anyway. She wasn't nearly as angry as you. I can just tell we are going to be great friends." The woman who spoke had been stood against one wall, and stepped forward to address the Legionnaire. She appeared to be middle aged, wearing an indigo robe with long white hair and bright violet eyes.

"Oh, you can't talk right now can you? Don't worry dearie. My Titanian friends here are stopping your mind from allowing those powerful Kryptonian muscles of yours from working... I'll let you out to play soon, but first of all I think it's time we got acquainted, don't you?"

Kara had met her before... or her doppleganger at least. This woman looked exactly like Psyche, the empathic member of the Wanderers, though without being told Kara was aware that the woman that stood before her was not a friend to the Legion.

Kara Zor-El, the Legionnaire now know as Andromeda in the 31st Century did not remember much conscious thought after that as the Titanians that sat around the room dug into her mind, opening the way for their empathic mistress to take control and set about using the Kryptonian as a personal slave.

Hi IB and Raz, thanks again for your kind words. Hopefully I'm keeping the excitement up.

The part with the White Martian was originally written over a year ago when I was thinking of posting the Academy story but as the rest of the LW stories were behind it's been languishing in a word folder. Glad you liked it, and that it was realistic how tough it was for the kids to deal with a beast like that. There's still a few more Academy sections to go so hope you like them.

IB, the SP meta-team that Lamprey left Montauk Point Academy to join appear to have been compromised as the officers from Daxam and Starhaven have shown up, who knows who will be next

Also, there's a bit more of Henry coming up soon, glad you picked up on the distinction between taking action himself to resolve the problem and following history.

Raz, Thirteen is away to get a huge character development as something I planned before he joined (and foreshadowed a bit) will happen very soon. It should be a nice curve ball for you all.

More soon, hope this is okay for now.

Thanks guys

C

Gasp!

Love the action scenes - the Starhaveniteespecially was a nice touch, good work showcasing how dangerous they can be

Happy Magno Lass will be okay. you do a good job with all your created students, they shine as individuals

Oh no, an enslaved Kara...i'm very scared!

Loved the scene with Tyroc's team, that was very cinematic...I could really see them standing there while the jellyfish moved in all around them! Great tension!

I liked Wildfire's interaction with the students too, it's cool how he's such an advocate for the Academy kids

Echoing IB....Kara enslaved sounds like it's gonna be trouble! Can't wait!

Imra Ardeen, Tellus and Otaki stood beside Dr's Kent Shakespeare and Noah Kabbo in the medi-Bay

Element Lad and Titan were both unconscious on beds in a small side room. Imra had quickly examined them but the damage that she found within their psyche's was way beyond what she could hope to deal with right now so instead she reinforced the urge to sleep within both and left them alone. She stood with her hand on Jan Arrah's head for several seconds, not using her psychic gifts, merely catching her breath before she returned to her colleagues in the medi-bay office next door.

"Titan is seriously compromised. I think he must have had months of telepathic invasion leading up to this. He won't be fit for action for a while. Sadly, Jan may be the same, he's had his core belief's shredded... it's appalling. So, we need to protect them and also get ready as I believe that our opponent won't stay away for long, they must know that Nasir's unconscious and will probably guess why..."

"You're the only alpha level TP we have Imra, and you look exhausted..." Dr Kabbo said, his tone level though his eyes gave away the worry he felt.

"No, I'm fine, thanks Noah. This is nothing really... Just getting warmed up!" Imra Ardeen smiled at the counsellor as she replied, trying to release some of the tension in the room.

"I can look after Jan and Nasir if you want to go face whoever's responsible... I think my physical strength isn't going to win this fight anyway so perhap's it's best if I stay here." Kent Shakespeare said as he glanced into the side room.

"We can deal with this, can't we?" Bina Nawoti sounded brave, but like Dr Kabbo before her they could all read her doubts on her face.

"No... I think we're facing someone strong enough to manipulate Aven and through him possible the Titanian Senate. If that's the case then they've definitely also affected High Seer Beren and the Naltori High Council. We need to be careful and get some support. I doubt our psi-skills will be enough in themselves." Imra had a smile on her face as she spoke but it was obvious she was not happy about the situation they had found themselves in. "Which of the current team are unlikely to be affected by psionics? We need to get them around us..."

"Ferro, Babbage... Harmonia... umm... Sister Eclipse. All of them have some degree of natural protection." Dr Kabbo said.

<Thunder is immune to unwanted telepathics as well> Tellus added.

"Okay..." Imra looked at Dr Shakespeare, "We need to get them together with us, and you need to protect yourself Kent. Whomever is behind this will definitely come looking for Nasir and Jan."

"Perhapzzzs I can aszzzist..." The voice came from behind Imra and she spun around, ready for action.

In the air it appeared as if large dust motes appeared to be forming into a shape, which quickly became recognisable as that of the Linsnarian called Gear, the nannite collective techno-morph that had taken on the role of major domo. As he formed before them he gave a small bow.

"There are Braalianzzz creating intenzzze magnetic barrierzzz outzzzide zzzthat are limiting aczzztionzzz I can take againzzzt them but they cannot stop me ...zzz... entirely... from acting within our headquarterzzz. I've located those you've juzzzt mentioned..."

The figure held up a hand and a small hard light screen appeared above it showing the Legionnaires the team counselor had named.

"Right... that's great, thanks. Can you find Thunder too?" The Linsnarian had not heard Tellus' telepathic comment, though nodded and a fifth holo popped up, to which Imra continued "That's great. Right we need to get get them here. Any ideas?" Imra asked, looking at each of the team around her.

"Henry? Can you hear us Henry?" Kent said into the air.

"Of course Dr Shakespeare, how may I be of assistance?" The holo-man appeared before the team, his smile one of genuine happiness to help.

Timber Wolf had thrown the bodies of their unconscious opponents into a small escape shuttle and turned to face Phantom Girl.

"I don't care what the kid said, I'm going back to make sure he's okay..."

Phantom Girl shook her head before shrugging her shoulders.

"You do that Brin, it's a waste of time giving you sensible orders anyway..."

"Whatever," he spat with intentional venom, "I ain't gonna leave one of us behind..." He bounded out of the bay and back along the corridor they had just flown down, eager to check that Thirteen was okay.

Tinya Wazzo had never been his biggest fan, Brin was well aware of that, but ever since Jo Nah had been murdered he'd felt she had become increasingly antagonistic towards him... and right at the present moment he really didn't care. The Naltorian kid that had irritated him really bad was in need of a bit of support and he planned on giving it.

Which was more than miss high-and-mighty Wazzo was doing!

With that thought still in his mind he bounded around the corner into the Q-Drive engineering bay.

It took a split second for Timber Wolf to realize that the unknown figure that was stood in the engineering bay was wearing Thirteen's vest waist coat and boot cut trousers, so had to be the Naltorian... but the bloated stranger was not what Timber Wolf had expected. Brin Londo bounded over beside him and sniffed - the scent was right though the appearance was anything but!

"Whatcha lookin' at Brin?" The grossly obese man said lightly, "Ain't you ever seen someone who used there powers to alter the way they look before?" He gave a croaking laugh before his eyes started glowing even brighter and the remaining damaged panel before them started to warp itself back into shape.

"Thirteen...? Whoah... this is a dif'rent look for you man."

The Legionnaire known as Thirteen nodded and gave a lopsided smile as reply even as he concentrated his probability altering abilities on the damaged power conduit before him.

Brin couldn't help but stare. Instead of highly muscled young man with broad shoulders, slim hips and curled silver hair that his team mates would have recognized and, Brin knew, half of whom lusted after, the Naltorian mutant now looked to be shorter and far, far fatter, to the extent that his stomach extended over the top of his trousers and hung downwards, with stubby arms and legs and a wild mop of dirty looking straw-like hair.

"I'll answer your questions in a moment Brin, just gotta fix this once an' for all." Thirteen said through clenched teeth as he concentrated.

"No rush Dann... let me know if I can do anything to help, eh?"

It was several minutes later that Thirteen finished with the task at hand and turned towards Timber Wolf. In that time Brin had quickly scouted around the bay to check there hadn't been any other invaders that had managed to sneak past him earlier in the melee. After satisfying himself that there were only the two Legionnaires present Brin had returned the Dann's side.

"I've been pushing my powers lately and closing the warp earlier was much harder than I expected..." Dann Hortra sighed as he spoke, sounding exhausted.

"...you use your powers on yerself normally? And now you've used them up? Zoe'll be shocked, eh?" Brin gave a small snorting laugh which Thirteen joined in with.

"Yeah... it took me weeks to manipulate my own body to look like that before... as you can see there was a lot to change, ha... and keeping it up takes concentration." The Naltorian gave a small laugh again.

"Well, you don't need to go back to how you was, y'know the team will accept you however you look... they accept me..." Brin spoke quietly, sincerely.

"I want to change back Brin, I really couldn't care what anyone else thinks."

"So, you can do it again?" Timber Wolf sounded genuinely concerned. The Zuunian had gone through an identity crisis of sorts several years ago where he had altered his own appearance to better represent how he felt within himself at that time. It had been a confusing time for everyone.

"Oh yes, and it won't take so long this time as it's already happened before... the probabilities won't be so huge to alter again. Give me an hour to catch my breath..."

"You deserve it f'r sorting out the Q-Drive mess but you may not get it. So... Nobody needs to know if you don't want then to. Funny thing is, since you joined my senses told me there was somethin' not quite right about you. Now I know why."

"ha, only 'something' that wasn't right? Ha, now that is funny!" Thirteen gave a barking laugh and slapped Timber Wolf on the shoulder.

Mon El and Thunder had encountered a group of about two dozen meta-troops adapted to the harsh vacuum of space.

The two Legionnaires fought back to back against the mob that rushed them and slowly pushed the attacking force back. Both Legionnaires exhausted their supply of incapacity cuffs early on and were resorting to physical strength and judicious punching to the heads of their opponents to knock them out of action. Still, there were five that swarmed around the pair. These remaining attackers wore Daxamite soldiers uniforms and traded powerful blows at hyper speed with the Legionnaires.

A bright emerald strand of energy blasted the attackers from the Legionnaires and bubbles appeared around them, separating the attackers from their colleagues and neutralizing their threat. The unconscious opponents were swept up into a glowing green box.

<Green Lantern... thank you> Thunder grinned widely as she sent her thanks across the telepathic grid.

 The Xudarian replied pragmatically.

Cosmic Kid floated close to the bubbles that held the Daxamites, they each pounded on the walls of the energy bubbles that held them.

<I'll drain them a little so they don't give you so much of a problem> He sent to the Green Lantern.

<Thank you Po, that would be appreciated, they are all incredibly powerful... it would probably give me quite a headache were I to hold them for too long> She replied.

As the alternate dimension Legion moved towards the nearest energy bubble to drain the solar radiation from the enraged Daxaite a holo materialized of Henry in front of the group. He bowed his head before communicating.

<Thunder, I would be grateful if you were to join me, we believe there may a solution at hand that you can assist with> As he broadcast his message a honey and violet spinning warp materialized beside him.

<Of course> After giving a quick glance to Mon El who nodded and smiled Thunder dived through the warp with a parting message to her colleagues <Good luck>

<Good luck to you too Cece> Mon El sent after her. Henry vanished with a bow and the Daxamite turned to his colleagues. Before he could communicate with them another voice interrupted them on the Legion's telepathic grid.

<Lar! Thank Rao I've found you... you've got to come and help me> Andromeda zoomed into view, looking agitated <Quick, I've found the source of our problems> and with that she flew away at hyper speed towards the front of the vessel.

<You gotta go, have fun Lar!> Cosmic Kid sent even as the Daxamite zoomed off after their Kryptonian colleague.

Thanks again guys, here's a little bit more to whet your appetite.

Kara cause trouble? Never....

Thirteen can alter probabilities enough to alter his own appearance??? whoaa!! I want in on that! I'm not sure how I feel about it, I mean, if I could I would do the same! You certainly gave me a lot to think about, Harbi!

Oh no... Kara is luring Mon away... this is bad!

all I'm going to say for now until I've got a chance to give a more in depth review is I'm here with my popcorn reading away and loving it!

IB - RE: 13 changing his looks - wouldn't we all?

Omni - best review ever! Thanks

More soon as things heat up!

C

Originally Posted by Harbinger

IB - RE: 13 changing his looks - wouldn't we all?

I could not agree more! And I admitted it in my earlier post - I would do the same. It's just that I've found myself so envious of his extreme sexiness, and now I'm even more envious but also find myself relating... all I know is I would like to be his best friend, and get him to alter MY appearance too! hahaha in fact, I would probably invite him into bed despite knowing how he "really" looks without his powers, just because now I feel I can relate to him even more, you know?

Now I have to go sit in a corner and think! Kudos, for making me think so much!

Harmonia and Lournu had insisted that they help Loutrahim as he dealt with the grinding bureaucracy that was required to release the laboratory assisstant's father body from the Venusian morgue.

Currently, after four hours of identification checks, form filling and processing, various administrators and managers stamping and double checking forms and endless queries regarding matters that none present actually believed had any real connection to the matters at hand, all three were in a small office alongside an elderly administrator that looked slightly cowed to be dealing with Legionnaires. They had just finished filing the requests needed to formally bury Mantis Morlo on Venus, as per a decades old copy of his last will and testament that had been found in his old laboratory by the Science Police years before during a raid. It was the only official document that there was on record that could tell the Legionnaires and his estranged son of any wishes Morlo had in life about what to do with his body once he was dead. Loutrahim had commented that he would have expected something less prosaic from his father than a traditional burial...

Lournu felt strangely saddened by the process the Venusian authorities had dictated they follow, and she was grateful that Earth Gov hadn't been so stringent with her after Chuck had died. Grieving was difficult enough without endless red tape to battle through. Harmonia remained politely inscrutable as she spoke with the administrator and completed the seemingly endless paper work. She was here to support Loutrahim and she used her considerable intelligence and resilience to ensure the laborious process was dealt with as quickly as possible.

Both Legionnaires wondered to themselves if the officials were actually waiting for a bribe.

The holo-man Henry faded into view beside the Legionnaires as the clerical assistant gave a squeal of fright, putting her hands over her face instinctively.

"Harmonia Li, we need your assistance on Legion World Two, can you join me please?" Although Henry's words were calmly delivered there was something about his mannerisms that alerted the Legionnaires to the gravity of the situation.

"Of course Henry, I believe we are now finished here so we can all return with you." The ancient elemental replied. She turned to the administrator and nodded her head before thanking her for her kind assistance.

Henry smiled warmly as a spinning warp opened up beside him and the two Legionnaires and the laboratory assistant stepped through. As it faded the holo man turned to the woman sat behind the desk and apologized for the inconvenience before popping out of sight.

Academy staff based on Legion World One in Sol space:
Chameleon Girl - Yera Allon of Durla, shape changer

Students:
Yeti Boy - Shik Al Sarju from the Boismarshi Colony of the Aldanankrian Oort Cloud mining settlements - can assume hyper-tough yeti-like form
Prescience - Gord Eno of Naltor - precognition, specialising in short range visions for combat situations
Bouncing Boy ii - Stoor Chamble of Pasnic - creation of personal spherical force field
Kid Crush - Gooshi Dreffergoff from the Science Asteroid - creation of hyper-dense gravity bubbles
Slingshot - Prince Alfon Gundrix Maunheesta of the Grindlaw Colonies of System Mondarsh - hyper-charge kinetic potential of objects by touch

Cosmic Boy took charge.

The planetoids automated systems worked on cleaning up Metallix' corpse, taking the dead student's remains to the medi-bay. Rokk didn't want the students to be hanging around while that happened... He ordered the students into groups and sent them to patrol close by. Chameleon Girl and Night Girl took a team of students each while Rokk flew out to join the space borne students.

Yera looked at Prescience and gave him a wink, it was as close to her thanking him for his actions as she would get right now though he gave a small smile and nod in acknowledgement. Chameleon Girl was sure that the student from Naltor would be a shoo-in at the next try-out.

"Have you foreseen anything else?" She asked.

"No... but I know we're not out of the woods yet... I've a feeling we're away to meet some trouble. Will let you know as soon as I know anything." He nodded and walked in front of the tutor, as if taking charge. The former Pre-Commando from Naltor took a baton from his belt and with a flick of his wrist extended it, ready for any potential combat. Yera smiled, Gord Eno's ego had been fairly well battered while at the Academy, as the tutors had planned yet he was showing the resilience and determination that would be needed to make the main team. Yera felt rather proud of him, even though he had been on her husband's team not her's.

Bouncing Boy ii was at the tutor's side. The usually laid back student had a focus to his actions that Yera had never really seen in the training sessions... "Cometh the hour, cometh the man," she thought to herself. All the tutors liked Stoor Chamble as a person but until now Yera had always had doubts about his commitment. She was glad to be proven wrong.

Slingshot, Kid Crush and Yeti Boy trailed behind, all of them were unhappy that they had missed the action but grateful too as they had seen what had happened to Metallix... Kid Crush looked especially terrified and Yeti Boy kept jerking his head around to look behind them.

"DUCK!" Prescience shouted as he dived towards the floor.

Bouncing Boy stepped forward, his personal force field activated before him as blaster fire ripped through the air from a dark corner. A soldier in chameleon cloth virtually unseen had snuck aboard to ambush the students. The student's shield scattered the blast so it missed his teammates. Slingshot took a ball bearing from a pouch on his belt and flung it towards the soldier. It left a burning streak in the air as it smashed into its target. There was a grunt and a crash and an unconscious soldier with a bloody shoulder came into view as he slumped down to the floor.

"Good shot bud!" Said Bouncing Boy to his fellow student as he slapped a pair of incapacity cuffs on the invader.

Yera thought Slingshot's reaction had been clumsy, panicked. If his energised ball bearing had been inches to the side it could have beheaded the soldier...

"All of you, well done... but listen up, there may be more. Flight rings out, go to scan mode, got it? I'm going to slip into something more helpful." The students as one held their hands out where the wore their flight rings and willed the scanning function. Yera smiled at them as she assumed the form of a Venusian Wolfhound, renowned for both their sense of smell and their ferocious bites... If there were more soldiers skulking around trying to ambush the students they would find and deal with them, the Durlan tutor had no doubts.

Lexikon and the two Valkyri's fought an increasing number of synthetic troops.

Retro tried to help where he could but the sheer number of opponents meant he would spin time back a few seconds to dodge one attack only to face another from a different direction. Deen Toro was a keen martial artist so was usually handy in a one-to-one hand fight though his opponents seemed oblivious to the physical punishment he tried to dish out.

He could see ahead of him that Lexikon was smashing her way through an advancing group, her body being stung with multiple pulses of blaster fire as she swooped in to the approaching group, though her sheer strength of will getting her through the obvious pain to combat the attacking group. The Tamaranean was a force of nature as she swung her fists and feet around her battering her opponents against the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor.

Nethus and Astrild had ripped a section of the wall clean off the side of the corridor and were using that to push another group back. The two Valkyri looked to be enjoying themselves as they fought against the seemingly endless forces that were throwing themselves at the group. Both women had bloodied swords in their hands and cheered each other on and jeered their opponents with each attack.

Starkling used its multiple components to blind and trip their opponents as it swarmed through the attacking horde. As not all the attacking force were synthetic soldiers - some were meta troops from the UP forces - the telepathic composite being identified these by sensing their thoughts and ferociously targeted these opponents. The less unexpected metas the team faced the better their chances of completing this mission.

For all the team's efforts though the armed guards they fought were keeping them from getting much further and with every second there was an increased risk that a Legionnaire or Valkyri would get hurt, or worse.

"We need Kara back with us..." Retro said to no-one in particular as he held his hand up to his mouth and spoke into the flight ring on his middle finger, asking Andromeda if she could hear them.

"Retro, where are you? Are the team okay?" Came Kara's immediate reply. After Retro had given their Kryptonian teammate a rough idea of their location she asked them to hang on as she would be right with them.

Seconds later there was a whoosh of air and Lexikon vanished, two seconds later the Valkyri disappeared. Retro was struggling under the sheer weight of the attackers when he was grabbed roughly and carried away at a hyper velocity so brutal that it rendered him unconscious before he could react.

Oh no, Kara...

Love seeing the tutors’ thoughts on the students.

I wonder, was Slingshot’s reaction really clumsy, or is Yera underestimating his aim? it’s hard to tell in the heat of battle

Prescience certainly took charge and made the most of his visions. but can he get in with Nura already on the team?

Oh yes, Kara...

Yera was probably worried that Slingshot could easily have killed the soldier.

As there are more than one Legionnaire with telepathy, the Kryptonian power set, etc. why not have another pre-cog? Nura is kind of out of the picture for a while anyway. I kind of blew the old 'have a unique ability' rule out during the try out in LW1 and haven't looked back since. And who says Prescience will make it? I do have plans for him, but not what you're expecting as it's going to be a very different team after this arc so don't get too comfortable with the current status quo, it's going to change and not everyone's going to be around on the team for too much longer (including some big names).

Thanks again IB, always appreciate your feedback.

C

To say Hethuk Bran Drommsi was tired and feeling rather irritable would be an understatement.

As the Smith from the Green Rift Forge of Talok viii one of the tasks he had been given on Legion World Two was to create a defensive perimeter to help protect the base in exactly these sort of situations.. well, obviously not exactly this sort of situation or he would have built more shielding from extreme magnetic interference... the young weapon maker felt frustrated and angry in a way he had never thought possible. His eyes were starting to go red and he saw small spots of light in his peripheral vision. He knew that he was fast approaching a berserker point and needed to breathe, calm himself down. Talokean instinctive physiological responses were not suited to such cerebral problems...

The damned Braalians outside of Legion World Two were magnetically interfering with the systems he had painstakingly laid around the skin of the planetoid effectively stopping any of his weapons from working and neutralising Gear from manipulating the satellite's shape.

He had cursed and sworn more in the last ten minutes then he had in the last five years!

The magnetic interference was ruining the power relays he'd set up across the planetoid, disrupting any commands he tried to issue and warped the power conduits that should have fed energy to his weapons.

Dragonwing, his beloved Marya that he had followed here from Talok viii, had been summoned by Duplicate Girl to help repulse invaders, leaving the young weapon maker to figure out a solution by himself. As much as he loved the team, they had after all been very welcoming and supportive to him... actually, that was a good point!

If he couldn't get the missiles he'd designed off legion World to stop the attackers then he would simply ask for help, that's what teams are for after all.

"Henry! Henry you shoddy hologram of a man, I need your help!"

He waited a couple of seconds and just as he was away to shout again the holo-man from the 75th century appeared before him.

"Hethuk, how may I assist you?" Henry gave a wide and warm smile as he spoke.

"We need to stop the Braalians... If I get co-ordinates can you warp over an EM pulse generator into their craft? That should stop them disrupting all our systems... I'll just go grab the EMP bomb and co-ordinates..."

"Of course, I'm happy to help." Henry replied with an easy smile as the Talokean weapon smith rushed around his office getting the appropriate information and materials together for the Legion's warp controller.

Within a minute the Weapon Smith from Talok VIII had found several prototypes of the warhead he had designed and used telemetry off the hard light screens to calculate the places to deliver his packages to the Braalian troops that were causing havoc. Hethuk intended to return the favour...

Henry grinned the whole time. He was fully aware the Hethuk’s actions would free Gear from the Braalians magnetic hold and so ultimately save Legion World Two from the total destruction their opponent had planned.

Sun Boy was impressed by Comet King.

Dirk was focussing his plasma fire on the long distance targets - with help from a hard light screen produced by his Flight Ring's scanner he could find the shuttles that flew several hundred clicks off their base. So far he had directly hit four of them and managed to chase another two further away. In his peripheral vision Sun Boy could see his teammates as they fought against the dozens and dozens of invaders that had been disgorged from the shuttles.

As Dirk watched, Drinchnar Lamment, the former soldier that had endangered himself rather stupidly to impress Grava, had proven himself in Dirk’s eyes with the efficient way he dealt with the attacking force. As Dragomage’s mystic creations had faded the team were faced with easily a hundred opponents still conscious and ready to fight. Comet King had dealt with almost a quarter of those single handedly. His speed and agility, along with his combat training meant he wrecked havoc as he deftly flew amongst the swarming soldiers and the corrosive clouds he left behind slowed down many more.

Kid Quantum had initially proven to be very effective as a large quantum bubble stopped a sizable group in their tracks. Several more crashed into her stasis field though several more saw what was happening and avoided it. These soldiers swerved around their comrades and targeted the Xanthuan Legionnaire with their blaster fire. Comet Queen had barged in those attackers and blasted them with a burst of corrosive gasses but the damage was done and Jazmin’s concentration had been broken meaning the soldiers she had frozen were released. Grava dived into the group as they regained their momentum and released a huge burst of gasses to blind them. Using all her speed she avoided being blasted as Comet Queen scrappily fought her way through them.

Gazelle spun and flipped and twisted and darted and punched and kicked and head butted her way through a stream of soldiers. She smiled ferociously as her first smashed into the back of a soldiers head that she had just flipped over, as he spun away from her his blaster continued to fire for a couple of seconds accidentally shooting one of his comrades in the stomach. She could see Doug nearby throwing himself into the fray and wished she'd taken a bet with him over who could incapacitate the most of the attacking force. She must be slipping, she thought to herself, a Khund rarely missed the opportunity to have a wager.

Ferro had grabbed an unconscious soldier by the head, spun around and threw his into several of the attacking force. Doug rather liked the idea of using his opponents against themselves in such a brutal fashion so for several minutes after that he would punch an opponent unconscious then fling him into any other attacker nearby. As Gazelle acrobatically fought close by Doug chose to draw fire by attacking the forces head on, his invulnerable iron form unaffected by blaster fire.

As he swung one newly unconscious soldier like a bat into another Henry materialised by his side.

<Ferro, you are requested to join me...>

<Nah, needed here right now and having too much fun... maybe later, eh?> As he sent the message Doug Nolan kicked another attacker in the face.

A spinning warp materialised ten feet out from Ferro and flew towards him, scooping him up and transporting him away.

<Thank you for your co-operation> Henry sent, dryly as he faded out of view.

Magnus Laviksen felt oddly excited.

The young man from the distant planet of Nordhelm knew that by rights he should be terrified. He was skulking down a corridor in the middle of a Dreadnought class space craft with two Legionnaires - and not two particularly powerful Legionnaires at that - while trying to avoid the strange blue skinned soldiers that Invisible kid called "Synthetics".

Brainiac 5 led the way as the three of them made their way surreptitiously towards the control deck. Between the Coluan's force field, the distorters that the Legionnaires wore on their belts and Magnus' own abilities to spin illusions they had so far avoided any real contact with their opponents since leaving the cargo bay.

Querl held a dimmed hard light screen up, projected from his flight ring. On it was a small map showing where they were and a highlighted route to follow to get them where the Coluan genius wanted them to be. Invisible Kid stood to the left, looking over Brainiac 5's shoulder, trying to memorise the route. It didn't look as if there was far to go, Jacques estimated, only three more corridors to safely navigate.

"Querl... once we get to ze command deck... what do you estimate will be awaiting uz?" Jacques spoke softly, his voice measured so that only the two with him would hear it.

"I anticipate that I will draw fire while you both dismantle the command structure. Whether that is by knocking out whomever is responsible, or damaging their technical capacity to control this dreadnought any longer I will leave to you to decide."

"Zat iz not much of a plan mon ami..."

"Correct." Brainiac 5 replied curtly.

"Hey guys! I'm glad I found you... wanna lift?" In the air before them Kara Zor-El floated. She smiled widely and both Legionnaires could see that there was something off about her body language... she looked almost as if she had drank a bucket full of stims, Invisible Kid thought, her eyes were wide and her smile appeared too broad...

"Kara, where 'ave you been?" Jacques asked the time-lost Kryptonian.

"Oh... y'know... here and there. Anyways, enough chit chat..." Her invulnerable body rebounded off of one of Brainiac 5's force fields.

"My apologies Kara but you are clearly not in control of yourself." Querl Dox said with little emotion, as if discussing the weather.

The Kryptonian screamed her rage and battered the force field at super speed.

Brainiac 5 turned to Invisible Kid and rested a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"You had best take Magnus and run Jacques. It will not be long before her furore draws attention. You memorised the map, didn't you? Go... take care, my friend."

With that the Coluan pushed his colleague in the direction the Legionnaire needed to go. Initially Jacques wanted to resist but as Kara continued to batter relentlessly upon the force field, creating a thunderous din, he knew that Querl was correct. There was no chance that they could get away from here without either taking Kara with them or releasing her... and neither option would end well.

Jacques and Magnus ran as they heard the thump of many approaching boots echo along the corridors coming closer and closer towards them. Neither looked back.

Academy staff based on Legion World One:
Cosmic Boy – Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields

Students:
Kid Dynamo - Ja Vlo of Dryad - incredible strength, invulnerability and stamina
Ultra Girl - Li-Fahn Qiong of Xanthu - immense strength, speed, indestructibility, spaceflight and projection of force blasts, effectively limited to one at a time
Atomsmasher - Ergus Wraithcat of Betelguese - spaceflight, invulnerability, hyper senses, telepathy, EM radiation manipulation
Southern Lights of starhaven - spaceflight, magic user
Non - negative energy being - spaceflight, alter own dimensions and density, explosive touch, telepathic

The students had snapped six incapacity cuffs on the unconscious White Martian as it floated in space outside of the satellite.

Rokk smiled to himself when he noticed this but didn't question their motives, as in all honesty he'd have probably done the same.

Kid Dynamo floated awkwardly with Ultra Girl under one of his muscular arms as she tried to support her injured fellow student. She told the Legion Founder that Ballistix had raced up to the northern docking bay after an alert had shared that Magno Lass had been shot. Rokk hoped that the situation there had already been dealt with by Wildfire and Colossal Boy as the Zuunian synthezoid had a way of causing more trouble than good despite her best intentions.

Non, Atomsmasher and Southern Lights floated nearby.

<Hidden vessel of opponent> Atomsmasher's telepathic message was, as usual, accompanied by sensory impressions that defined the message in a far more complete manner than words ever could. Rokk and the students were being shown the attackers vessel that hid behind EM cloaks.

<Well spotted Ergus, right guys... Uhmm how far away are they?> Rokk sent out to the group.

<Half one ten hundredth perihelion radius under...> Ergus began to reply.

<They are several thousand klicks galactic west, sir> Southern Lights interrupted 

<Okay... Let's do this. Ergus, can you shield us from their sensors? Merge our silhouettes with background radiation?>

<Affirmation of request> the Wraithcat responded.

<Great... Ultra Girl, I'm sure Kid Dynamo can get back on his own, so you're with us Li-Fahn> Cosmic Boy sent.

<I'm fit for combat, I want to join...> Kid Dynamo sent, desperate not to miss the opportunity to prove himself to the tutor.

<Mr Vlo, you just went toe to toe with a White Martian. I can see how hurt you are from here. Find Silver Shaman and get fixed up, that's an order. The rest of you are with me>

The magic user from Starhaven put his hands on the back of the tutor's shoulders and asked him to take a deep breath... Rokk was unaware of any movement but abruptly found himself in a different place much further out from the Academy. The Wraithcat had curled one of it's long whip like tails around both Cosmic Boy and Southern Lights, while another snaked around Ultra Girl's left arm. Atomsmasher influence the ambient EM radiation around the group so they would not show on an scanner that used any of those wavelengths. Non floated behind the group, it's radiation form almost invisible against the background field of stars without the other student's help.

<Opponents ahead> Atomsmasher sent to the group.

<Hold on... I'll get their shields down> Cosmic Boy concentrated on pushing his natural magnetic field out until he became aware of the small leakage of magnetics from the electronic equipment from within the hidden craft. He was able to mentally follow this back into the craft and its command and control station. With a grunt of exertion Rokk ripped the crafts electronics apart. Within two seconds the attackers vessel had faded into view.

<I'll stop the blasters> Ultra Girl send as she dived towards the vessel.

<Those inside shall feel my touch> Non echoed rather ominously. As Ultra Girl dived towards the de-cloaked attack craft, Non closely followed her. While she used her Red Energy to smash the weapons that bristled on the opponents shuttle the negative energy being phased through the space craft's outer hull to confront their attackers from within.

Cosmic Boy used his magnetic abilities to twist the craft in jerking movements - whoever was aboard was unlikely to be able to focus their attention enough to give his students much trouble. Behind the Braalian the mystic student from Starhaven concentrated before sending out a message to the rest of the group to get away from the shuttle as he spun his spell. After Ultra Girl and Non had flown back to join them Southern Lights opened his hands to unleash another sleep inducing enchantment. Those inside this command craft would be unconscious in seconds.

<Well done... that was exemplary work there. I'm immensely proud of you all. Well done!> Rokk Krinn smiled broadly as he sent his message, aware that these few students had just worked as a tight unit with minimal direction from him to defeat their opponents in well under a minute. The students had just acted exactly as a functioning team should.

If the Legion didn't see the merit in each of these students Rokk was almost half tempted to start his own group with them.

More good scenes! I love your Academy students showing their stuff.

Magnus joined in just in time too!

One little request - I've been looking at your Academy thread from time to time to refresh myself on your students, as there are so many. Would you consider adding a short power description, at least, for each whenever you post, like a little roll call?

what IB said! The students are doing great, and I wonder if Cosmic Boy's throwaway thought about forming a team with some of them might end up being not quite so throwaway?

Tyroc's team struggled against the sheer number of attackers they faced.

Karate Kid cut a swathe through the synthetic troops. Her fighting prowess shone as she ducked and weaved and dodged and punched and struck and kicked and rolled and dismantled and threw and twisted and generally made short work of the amassed forces that were in front of her. Within a couple of minutes she had disabled upwards of thirty of their opponents. Currently there were easily another hundred to deal with. In a momentary gap between opponents she assessed the situation and saw that Monica Sade was close by creating havoc. Karate Kid smiled an impish smile and flew towards her next opponent.

Chemical Kid floated close to the entrance of the docking bay. There had been a telekinetic meta that had given him some problems initially but after closing down her adrenaline production and heightening her pain receptors he had kicked her in the head and the meta-attacker had floated away into space unconscious.

Monica Sade fought like a hell cat! She was not going to allow her new home, her friends, be violated by these aggressors so she popped in to groups of them blasting any that were unlucky enough to get close and then teleported out before they could return fire. She had followed Karate Kid as the young fighter from Lythyl had dived into the massing wave of opponents. After blasting and bashing the fringes of this mass she teleported into the cockpits and shooting the pilots of two shuttle crafts that had dived into the fray to blast the Legionnaires.

Lightning Lass focused her attention on the shuttle crafts that scuttled at the edges of the conflict. These would potentially house more opponents and have command level staff. Her electrical generating abilities were sufficient to blast them hard enough to damage the mechanics though it was through concentrating on her ability to manipulate electricity that she closed down the control and communications within each of the shuttles she could see leaving them blind and immobile to float like small inert satellites around the Legion's planetoid base. Ayla felt a little dizzy afterwards - she been training in using this facet of her abilities since returning to the team, but it still tired her out. She retreated to the relative safety beside the docking bay and began throwing lightning bolts out against the soldiers that had managed to get close.

Tyroc stood as the last line of defense within the docking bay itself. His sonic abilities were useless in the harsh vacuum outside so he positioned himself near a communication console which monitored his team and that alerted him to any stray opponent that managed to get close to gaining access to their base. So far he was both incredibly proud of his teammates and disappointed that only seven of the synthetic soldiers had made it this far for him to deal with.

The Spear of Artemis struggled as she battled two Daxamites. Her strength was easily a match, boosted as it was by the enchanted arm bands she wore, though the Daxamites both had military level combat training so it was not an easy scrap. Their fight happened in a blur of speedy action that took them several hundred thousand klicks away from Legion World Two within seconds.

Mon El appeared as if out of nowhere and slipped an incapacity cuff on one of the attacking Daxamites at hyper velocity and battered the second with a flying kick to the back even as Amynta punched that attacker with a resounding blow on the side of his head. After slipping cuffs onto this opponent Mon El gave a quick salute towards his teammate.

<Amynta, I'm glad I found you, come on... I think we've got a solution. Follow me> And with that Lar Gand tore away towards the Dreadnought. The Spear of Artemis didn't think twice as she followed closely behind her Daxamite colleague.

Legion World One - the Academy

Night Girl - Lydda Jath of Kathoon, incredible strength and durability out of direct sunlight

Students:
Dragon Lass - Mari Baertling of Rimbor - enhanced strength, durability, senses, echo-location and flight, has bat-like wings
pH Zero - Shawyryn of the Gil'Dishpan Colony #2997B - levitation, durability, acid secretion, social empathy
Spook - Wendl Honnessen of Winath - assume astral-like form allowing him to become both invisible and intangible
Shifter - Josha Honnessen of Winath - manipulate density of solid or liquid matter
Imp Master - Senior Student Team member - Dorrolo Capicca Redsail of Zerox - strength, speed and senses, minor mystic, can summon and control imps

Spook had assumed his astral-like form and ranged unseen ahead of the small team that Night Girl led.

With the Kathoonian heroine were the students Shifter, Dragon Lass, Imp Master and pH Zero. Several held their flight rings out to scan their way. The lights were flickering in this section of the Academy and some corridors were entirely dark.

pH Zero and Night Girl were at the front. The Gil'Dishpan's skin sizzled as it exuded a burning acid. Lydda was happy to see that it was no longer dripping its secretions as it had when first joining the Academy. Imp Master followed up close behind them surrounded by a dozen of the small creatures he took his name from. Trying not to trip over the small mystical creatures, Shifter, walked just behind the senior student team member. The Winathian knew his matter altering abilities were best as a long range weapon so let the more physical members of the group ahead of him. Dragon Lass flew just above Shifter, the Rimborian used her sonar to check out any darkened corridors they passed.

<Second left corridor, there are three of them... two soldiers with blue skin and a third... dunno what she is... they'll be with you in about ten seconds, they're almost at the corner> Spook's warning blurted across the telepathic grid.

<Thank you... right, Shifter, collapse the ceiling on them, I'll sort them out once you've done that...> Lydda said as she started along the corridor.

As she flew towards the corner where they were expecting the three soldiers to appear she heard an ominous creaking noise a split second before the walls ruptured and flew to wrap around her. With her strength it was easy to rip her way out of the metal sheets but the delay only caused confusion.

In the panic that followed Lydda later reported she was grateful none of the kids had been killed.

pH Zero flew forward and collided with one of the synthetic soldiers as they barreled around the corner. As they banged together Shifter had started manipulating the solidity of the ceiling so it dropped like a wave onto them. PH Zero's acid burned through it and with a powerful blow the Gil'Dishpan knocked the synthetic soldier into a wall. As the soldier started to get up Shifter solidified the material from the ceiling, effectively pinning the invader to the floor. Their blaster fired impotently into the floor but did not gain them any purchase.

The other synthetic reached the corner and started firing their blaster. Thankfully most blasts struck Lydda, though wrapped in shadows as she was due to the app Brainiac 5 had added to her flight ring, the blasts ricocheted harmlessly off her super tough torso. Dragon Lass flew past Lydda and walloped the synthetic soldier with her fists sending him rolling back down the corridor. The Rimborian student then turned into the corner but as she did her wings clipped against the edges of the wall knocking her off balance for a second. A large metal panel spun off the wall to smack into her face blasting her backwards into her oncoming fellow students. This was followed by a shower of small sharp metal flakes ripped from the satellite's walls, floor and ceiling that drove the students backwards like a sudden blizzard.

<It's a Braalian we're fighting> Lydda sent to the students <Imp Master you can stop them with your imps> she coolly added.

The Zeroxian Elf had his arms covering his face as he ducked behind his tutor to avoid the shrapnel tearing down the corridor though peeked through his hands and ordered his mystical constructs to attack. PH Zero, unaffected by the flying metal attack as the metal fragments melted as they got close to the levitating student, also swerved into the corridor where their Braalian attacker hid. As it did the floor rippled underneath the floating Gil'Dishpan and the swarming imps were thrown against its highly acidic skin, disintegrating them as they struck. Imp Master cried out as he felt each of his constructs demise.

<Oh, for Heaven's sake!> Lydda's exasperation came out as she strode around the corner, getting ready to punch through any defense the magnetic manipulator could throw at her.

Instead she found Spook stood over a slumped body.

"Hey teach... I saw she was distracted with you guys so went solid and bashed her head against the wall... Great, eh?" The young Winathian had several jagged points of metal sticking out from his body and several more bloody cuts where the Braalian had obviously lashed out in her final second of consciousness but in his current euphoric state after having stopped this attacker Spook had yet to notice.

"Go ghost again, and leave those behind..." Lydda pointed at the sharp edges as she spoke.

"Oh... oh... that hurts... quite a bit..." Spook looked surprised as his eyes went down. He looked back up at the Kathoonian tutor in alarm before falling over unconscious.

Dragonwing ran around the corner as she desperately tried to reach the incursion point that Lu had located.

There was someone... perhaps several someones... here that shouldn't be. Duplicate Girl had told her fire breathing colleague that XS would join her as soon as she was finished elsewhere but until then Marya had to do what she could to stop or delay the intruder.

Marya Pai rather enjoyed the idea of her dealing with a bunch of crooked Star Fleet officers, they were all so stuck up in her experience.

As she swung around the corner a hurricane blast of air tore her off her feet and threw her heavily into a wall. Even as she tried to get onto her feet another blast sent her tumbling backwards.

"You're so gonna regret that..." she muttered as she focused on her flight ring to help her keep balance as she stood up again.

Twenty five feet along the corridor stood two women in Science Police uniforms. Marya recognized one as a former student at the Academy that had graduated not long after she had joined - it was Berta Skye-Harris, the Nightwind. The woman beside her looked broad and powerfully built, clearly the more physical of the two. Marya knew if she could goad the stocky one to approach her it would limit the use of Nightwind's powers and the Legionnaire would get a chance to be close enough to use her Dragon given fires.

Focusing her will on flight ring to bolster her against the powerful blast of air she took a step towards her opponents. The Legionnaire's cloak was torn off her back and flew away behind her. Hunkering down she edged closer, her hair flew wildly behind her and her cheeks rippled against the howling blasts. She had made it to perhaps the half way point when suddenly the wind stopped and she tumbled forward. as the Legionnaire fell the second intruder jumped forward to grab her but Marya Pai had expected this so flipped herself upwards and tried to spin herself over the shoulders of the powerful woman as she bent down to try to grab the Legionnaire. Her many hours of combat training paid off as Dragonwing spun off her attackers back, roughly pushing the larger opponent onto her face in the process and landed a few feet away from Nightwind.

There was a moments shocked silence as the former Academy student turned intruder blinked in surprise. That was all the time she got though as the Legionnaire unleashed a blast of green flames towards her which made Berta Skye-Harris recoil. As she did the Legionnaire kicked out and struck the former Academy student clinically on the cheek throwing her backwards into the corridor wall.

While this was happening the powerfully built woman had got back onto her feet and turned towards the Legionnaire. With each step she took her size and mass appeared to increase. Marya Pai gulped, her mind raced as she considered the best way to stop the approaching intruder.

"My mistress won't be happy you did that to Berta, Legion scum. You gonna regret that." Her voice was low and full of menace but before the muscle bound invader could say anything else there was a blur of activity behind her and XS arrived, slapping a pair of incapacity cuffs on the powerfully built intruder's wrist.

"Sorry I was late, but just dealt with three Braalians and a couple of synths... whoah, is that Berta?" Jenni Ognats sped across to the former student who lay sprawled against a wall and placed a set of cuffs on her wrist, rendering her unconscious.

"Thanks. Yup, looks like every meta including our old friends are unhappy with us. Still, what's life without a little challenge now and again, eh?" Maya Pai put her hands to her hair and ruffled her dreadlocks back into place as she spoke.

"Ladies, we have another breach, three levels down from you..." The voice of Luornu Durgo-Taine interrupted the conversation as it barked out of both their flight rings.

"On it." XS replied.

"What she said." Added Dragonwing.

"Do you want me to carry you Marya, you'd get their a lot faster..."

"Sure..." Even as the word left her mouth XS grabbed her colleague and sped along the corridor to the nearest stairwell. Dragonwing yelled in excitement the whole way.

The battle was not going as she planned and her anger crept into and infected those around her.

Psyche acknowledged that this reality's team were more mature and had several new member that she did not have experience of manipulating and also she was without the support of her Dark Circle in this reality... but still, why wouldn't the damned Legionnaires not just fall at her feet so she could get on with taking over this reeking reality? Psyche had hoped this would be over by now and she could see on her hard light screens that the battle so far had been fairly evenly fought. she was losing a massive amount of synthetics and her Braalian contingent had just went off line after explosions had ripped through their shuttles but she was slowly taking control of the strongest members of the team... it was slipping into a battle of attrition and what she really wanted was to just cast a decisive blow.

Mon El brought the Amazonian powerhouse they called the Spear of Artemis into the command deck and before Amynta realized who it was before her the Daxamite grabbed her arms firmly to pin her into place. The twelve telepaths that sat around their mistress all reached out to invade the Amazon's mind but they found it more difficult that they imagined. What none of them were aware of was that magical God-given bracelets that enhanced Amynta's strength and speed also increased the Amazon warrior's resistance to the psychic's attacks. Lexikon flew over and joined in with restraining her former teammate and as the opportunity arose she slapped a pair of enhanced incapacity cuffs onto Amynta's arm. After that the fight was over within seconds.

"Mistress, we cannot control this one." One of the telepaths said, his tone showing how scared he was to admit this.

"Keep her... we may use her as sport after." Psyche said without turning around.

The two Vakyri and Lexikon had proven easy to manipulate, their emotions were so close to the surface of their minds that Psyche had merely looked into their eyes to gain control. Mon El was a little bit more tricky but she played on his fears and pains until he too had submitted. Her favourite so far though had been Andromeda - the former Super Girl was so full of conflicting emotions and pent up anger and grief that Psyche had thoroughly enjoyed rifling through her mind.

So far Retro and now this brutish warrior woman from a planet that never existed in the reality Psyche had come from had proven resistant to her empathic abilities. Retro appeared to automatically re-set himself to a point before she had affected him whenever she stopped concentrating on twisting his perceptions so she had him taken to a holding pen and now this savage warrior... uggh! She would find a use for them later, either as sport for her victorious army or perhaps as a bargaining chip if things did not go as she wanted. This pragmatic thought increased her anger...

Why wouldn't the Legionnaires just do what she wanted? What was wrong with these damnable heroes that they had to interfere with her plans?

The Coluan and that new Invisible Kid were close to being captured alongside a potential student that the Valkyri had said could project illusions. Psyche wanted all three of them as, so far, she had only collected the physically strong and capable fighters, though she understood that now it was time to get some of the smarter and more subtle Legionnaires on her side. She smiled as she remembered the subtle manipulation she had used to corrupt the Querl Dox of her home reality and how once she had him under her control he had quickly tipped the balance in her favour...

It was at that moment that Starkling arrived.

Hey guys, here's a few more posts for you.

IB, I've added a roll call to the acdemy posts, but as I want this to read as chaotic I'll not do it for any posts that include the main team, hope that's okay.

Hope you enjoy, thanks again guys.

C

Imra Ardeen looked at the group stood before her.

Otaki, Tellus and Dr Kabbo each had psychic skills that they would need if they had a chance of stopping their opponent. Imra doubted that they would have enough power between them without a distraction so was thankful for the other teammates that she hoped would have the physical abilities necessary to keep their opponent occupied.

Sister Eclipse and Harmonia had never met the founder before and both were impressed by the determination and compassion Imra exuded as she explained the situation. Babbage asked if they could expect support, which was the only point where Imra paused, before explaining that if their opponent was who she believed it was there was little chance that their teammates would be on the same side any more, let alone support them.

Imra believed that Cece Becks would be the teams best bet to deliver their potential knock out blow. She handed the daughter of Black Adam the Neural Neutraliser that she had earlier planned on using on their teammate Titan. Thunder gave a small mirthless smile and said it would be her pleasure to whack it on the head of whomever was behind their current misfortune.

Otaki was to remain with Dr Shakespeare in the medi-bay. Bina's mind sense abilities had an incredible range but was too blunt a weapon against the scalpel-like precision that their opponent had shown. Imra tasked her with keeping a strategic eye on the group's situation. If Otaki picked up anything that they needed to know about as they dealt with whatever they found on the Dreadnought she would be perfectly placed to warn the group. The young Legionnaire could also use her skills to assist Dr Shakespeare with Jan and Nasir if needed. It was obvious that Bina Nawoti was disappointed with her assignment by the way she wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her eyes, but Imra knew that she would be useful in the role she's been given.

The rest of the group were to join Saturn Girl and Dr Kabbo as they hunted down their opponent and dealt with the current situation.

Wildfire blasted the soldiers backwards.

At the rear of the four attackers that had just received the Legionnaire's blast one of the synthezoid’s armour deflected some of the anti-energy. As the Legionnaire and students went past the attacker lifted his blaster and aimed it at Drake Burrough's back. The soldier knew that damaging the Legionnaire's suit would eliminate the former Legionnaire from the immediate conflict. Polar Girl saw that the soldier start to move and quickly reached out with her cyrokinesis to freeze him on the spot. The Synthezoid was wrapped in spikey snake-like lines of ice that bound it against the wall. Part of its face was left uncovered so the student could see the anger and fear in the eye that stared out at her.

“Good shot Mel.” Solar Gorilla said as the simian student rushed past.

“Thanks...” the young Tharrite walked up to the frozen soldier and smashed her fist against the outstretched blaster, fracturing it into a dozen pieces. Regardless now if this attacker broke out of their freezing entanglement, that would be one less gun to point at a Legionnaire.

Polar Girl took a look behind her, her fellow students had all rushed past as they tried to keep up with their anti-energy tutor.

She wondered if in their eagerness to show off to the Legionnaire they might be leaving their backs exposed. As they all knew their way around the satellite now any of her fellow students would be able to find their way back to the hangar deck without coming along this main corridor, so in the hope that it might inconvenience any soldier that they had not found yet she concentrated her abilities into the air before her and blocked the corridor off with a large wall of ice. That would slow down any more sneak attack.

Once it was completed Polar Girl glanced down at the soldier she had already trapped to make sure he was not likely to escape any time soon before rushing after her colleagues and friends. She may have been acting sensibly and thinking of the team first, but that didn't mean she didn't want Wildfire to notice...

Like a Biblical plague of locust Starkling's swarm components tore into the command deck.

It had tracked the minds of its teammates to this place yet worryingly it had then felt them ...change. As it had no prior experience it could not tell exactly what had happened but it knew with a primal understanding that they were in need of its help. The concept of mind control was not one that this alien swarm would ever fully understand.

The ball bearing sized components that made up the collective being erupted into the Dreadnought's control room like a bistering sand storm and set about tearing around the technicians and command staff. With incredible control, masses the size of large fists collected together and smashed into those that had not ducked for cover quickly enough knocking them senseless. Meanwhile streams of the indestructible particles tore through computer banks and control panels. Within three seconds the pandemonium the Legionnaire had created almost stopped Psyche's plan once and for all. Ultimately it was only that it had avoided targeting its fellow Legionnaires, Mon El and Lexikon, that stopped it from ending the empath's reign of terror with this single attack.

The empathic manipulator had dived onto the floor as soon as Starkling had arrived and started screaming at her thralls to kill it! She could sense it but when she tried to reach out her abilities could find nothing to grab hold of. The bizarre Legionnaire's mind was just too alien for her to ever take control.

Several of the telepaths that Psyche had enslaved on Naltor had cowered beneath their work stations to avoid the swarming Legionnaire’s attack but as their mistress screamed her orders they reached out with their minds and struck at Starkling's psychic gestalt. Their combined attack dazed the Legionnaire, momentarily freezing it.

Mon El tore off his cloak and used his speed and strength to catch every single part of the composite being. Stuffing them all together into his cloak the Daxamite tied the edges into a knot before landed beside his mistress and offered a hand to help her regain her feet. She shrugged his offer of assistance away and quickly scrambled back up. The Control Room was in tatters. Almost half of her staff were unconscious while a few more were in obvious pain. There were sparks and smoke issuing from several of the control panels while the walls and ceiling were tattered with pock marks and ripped paneling.

"Kill it." She stared into the Daxamite's eyes. His inherent morality and goodness, the bloody fool, would make such a command difficult but she pressed into his mind to reinforce this order. "Kill it now."

"Of course." The Daxamite hovered into the air and vanished in a blur of speed.

Psyche turned around to the remaining staff and shouted at them to tidy up.

After several seconds of staring at them, her anger pouring into their souls like lava destroying everything else it contacted, Psyche stormed out of the the control room intent on grabbing the Brainiac herself. It was time the Legion knew what it was dealing with and she had such happy memories of corrupting that Coluan in her home reality she was looking forward to destroying him in this one...

Babbage and Ferro appeared pleased with the plan.

Saturn Girl turned to Sister Eclipse and smiled at the reptilian new Legionnaire.

“Sister, my apologies but I’m unsure of your abilities... you can physically possess a person, is that right?”

“The One Who Comes Next has blessed me with that gift, indeed...” Sister Eclipse bowed her head respectfully as she mentioned her deity.

“Could you show me? Possess me?” As Imra asked she focussed on her mental shields to test the new legionnaire’s abilities. She blinked... or at least Imra thought she had blinked... and found herself lying on the floor with Sister Eclipse stood over, offering her hand to help the telepath back onto her feet.

“I... uhhh... that was amazing, I don’t remember a thing... wow... Tell me, are you able to enter a person but leave them full control? Like, ah, like you're a hitchhiker?”

“That is so.” Sister Eclipse said formally.

“Good, and am I right to assume that your psychic defenses would enhance those of whomever you possess?"

The reptilian Legionnaire smiled and nodded.

"Good, then I want you with Ferro... in him. Is that okay Doug?” The Titanian’s tone didn’t leave much choice.

“Uhh... okay, I guess... though why me?”

“Because whoever is behind this seems to be manipulating their opponents ids... altering and twisting their base emotions until they do what they’re told to do. You have some degree of natural immunity but I'm worried about something else. I believe our adversary is a hyper empath.” She turned to face the steel skinned Legionnaire before finishing her sentence, “Given the rise in anti-Legion sentiment, and from what I've read from your file I believe we’re facing the Psyche from that dimension you went to. I'm certain that as you escaped from her before she'll want to capture you this time and Sister Eclipse will be your ace in the hole in case she does...”

"Okay... okay, so when do we do this?" Ferro rubbed a fist into the palm of his other hand as he asked.

"Before you leave... it appears that the interference created by the Braalians has stopped, we can assume our colleagues have dealt with them " Gear said to the team. "... and now I can be of some use..."The Linsnarian smiled as he said this.

"I have been in contact with Danielle to find out if any flight ring is being used over on the dreadnought." Before the Legionnaires a holo appeared showing several red lines highlighted against a gray representation of the huge battle ship that hung in space outside their headquarters.

"She has traced several and here are their positions. It seems that this area..." The Linsnarian pointed to a central area where several lines converged, "...is where we estimate the control centre may likely be found. Perhaps, this information could assist you?" The nannite being that acted as the team's Maître D smiled as he showed the holo.

"That's brilliant! Thank you Gear." Imra Ardeen smiled broadly. She knew that if this assessment was correct then it was likely they could deal with this problem quickly... surgically - it gave them an much greater opportunity to cut out the cancer at the site of the cause.

Henry opened a warp into the Dreadnought allowing Saturn Girl to lead Dr Kabbo, Tellus, Ferro carrying Sister Eclipse inside him, Babbage, Thunder and Harmonia to step into the area that the newly released Gear had identified as the most probable site of their opponents primary command deck.

Originally Posted by Harbinger

Thanks for the student roll call, Harbi! that’s more than enough, and I appreciate you wanting to omit the roll calls for Legionnaires. it does help with the pacing

That’s a wonderful team you have for the final showdown!

continuing to love the little battles. Polar Girl has been tactically impressive, hope she keeps her ambitions in check. I think she would make a great Legionnaire if she does

Lydda’s outing showed that many students aren’t quite ready. Thankfully, nobody was killed

Sorry Harbi, I thought I commented on this when I read it the other day! I also like the student roll call and I agree it's probably not necessary for the Legion as we either know them all from the comics or they get a lot more exposure than the students even when they're homegrown anyway.

I really liked Lydda's team....while it's been good to see the students kicking nass, I like that they're not all of the same skill level either. Really looking forward to seeing how this all pans out, that Psyche is a nasty piece of work!

Yeah, I forgot to comment on the Psyche bit - I loved the subtle foreshadowing you sprinkled in about that, with Doug's flashbacks and all. So the reveal that it was Psyche still came as a surprise, but not a completely unexpected one. Excellent plotting there!

And also agree re no roll call needed for the Legion - your original characters are so well-written, I can recall their powers and personalities in a snap (Tigerram, Lexikon, Sister Eclipse, Atom Girl, Starkling...)

I have so much to comment on and say. I've been reading along and I'm so enthralled in this battle. but I'm just like ahhh too much great stuff!.
I'll agree with everyone else that the roll calls for the students makes sense. But i understand and appreciate what you were doing with leaving them out and trying to have that frantic pacing.

1. Andromeda's battle with the cruiser on Nordhem was nice. i love watching her stretch her skills.
2. Reto and Magnus was well done. Retro understands its all about trust. Also gives insight into the world of Nordhem even more and how much superstition they believe it.
3.Poor Magnus for losing Lord Astra that way. but it goes with the territory of prosthetic visions.
4. "The White Beast" - terrifying and never would have seen it coming that it was a White Martian.
5.I like that Magnus went with the team. Although i half expected one of the Valkyrie to be joining.
6. that vision/illusion Magnus was well done as i read i just could sense the attack coming and when he yelled that it was beginning as he spoke was so eerily well done.
7. the way you described how the enemy infiltrated the Legion by keeping all the psychics away with suggestions that were already part of their minds was great. that's a really good tactic. Also glad SG recognizes its not Aven behind this.
8.Gorn Eno, Prescience to the rescue! i liked that he saw this and went into action to help his fellow students. Most important lesson anyone can learn: "it was that he didn't need every single fact to influence an outcome in his favour. The knowledge he had been gifted with would be enough to handle the situation." precog or not.
9.loved the countdown to the all out attack.
10.You Go SG! i'm glad she was able to clear everyone and that everyone was brought on the same page. i love how you keep telling us how narrowly they escaped a full invasion unaware.
11. Henry's moment was well done. i liked that he's not defenseless and that he moved the console! his future knowlege is always so intriging to me. I want a Henry series that just documents the history of the team. lol
12. Protect the Q-drive engines was well done. I liked how Tinya took out her foe and that was a close one for Thirteen.
13. Zoe's moment about one of their own being turned was so good but also so sad. especially for what it forshadows.
14.Thirteen risking it all to save the drive, which exhausted his powers was well done and i agree i was surprised that he changes his appearance.
15. The white beast has been in the UP's employment for how long? A Centruy? hmmm. there's a story there. it sure likes the hunt and the kill.
16.The death of Metallix was so sad. she never wanted to be a hero and the White beast projecting its thoughts into her while she died...uggg.

17. Wish they could have gotten there sooner. Ballistix and Kid Dynamo did some really good work and Bouncing Boy II to the rescue. one of my favorite OC's of your academy group.
18. On no that's as far as Prescience's vision went??
19. Andromeda is impressive!
20. the Warithcat is another unique creation and i love that it can subdue the White beast with its telepathy and that the white beast ins't impervious to psychic attack.
21. for all her verbrado Ballistix sure gets taken out a lot.
22. Aagain. shocked its a white martian!
23. Southern Lights's spells are working well and Non's phasing was a cool idea.
24. XS' moment was fun. i liked how easily she took them out and I'm curious about that power mimiker. maybe we'll see him again.
25. Sun Boy and Dragonmage make the perfect dragon. that's all i could think while they were working together.
26.I hope he makes it and the injury wasn't too bad. Kid Q acted quickly so hopefully it helps. Comet King and Queen make a really good team.
27. The teachers are coming!
28.I'm glad Jaqcues was able to get Danielle to help and i hope they can work through there issues when this is over.
29. Tyroc's team is so efficient. Good job all around.
30.Cosmic Kid is pretty powerful. this was possibly the best display of his powers and the way he took out the Daxamite soldier was a good idea.
31. Wildfire's concern was well done and those kids did a great job. hopefully Magno Lass will be ok.
32. NOOO! Not Kara.
33. Poor Imra i hope she doesn't wear herself out before the big battle. Agreed good team you've got there.
34. i liked Tinya's waste of time giving Brin orders line. it was funny and so true.
35. M'Onel too!
36. Glad Harmina and Lu were helping Death Boy and kind of glad he's not on base at the moment...
37. it was good to see Yera's thoughts on the academy students even in this bad time. gives a good idea of where they are all at and who could really handle this life style.
38. No not Kara again!
39. Hethuk Bran Drommsi to the rescue! i really wish Henry could say something sometimes. lol
40. Sun Boy's team also affective. Although i might have used Kid Q with a wall instead of a bubble.
41. Glad Brainy saw that Kara wasn't herself.
42.Rokk's team was good and that sounds like we might get another team coming....
43. and there goes the Spear of Artimis...

44. Monica Slade and KK are doing a bang up job. love how well those without defensive powers do in your stories.
45. Aww Spook is down. Lydda will be beside herself. i can see it now.
46. Good moment for Dragonwing and more friends turned enemy? whose next?
47. Do you want me to carry you? i can just see this part of the scene and Dragonwing laughing as XS runs her into battle.
48.Its Psyche. this is so bad but i kept getting her confused with Esper lass until i looked her up.
49. I like that the Spear of Artimis can't be controlled. might give them a fighting chance.
50. That's kind of cool that Reto automaticall can undo Psyche's influence.
51. Agreed Polar girls determination could be really usefule but could cause just as many problems. i like that she thought to cover their backs.
52. Starkling! so happy to see him show up to save them. But sadly it didn't work out that way.
53. Don't do it M'Onel!
54. Ooooo sneaky that Sister Eclipse would be inside Ferro. Nice touch!

This is turning into an epic battle and always i can't wait for more and hopefully i'll get to comment more often on newer posts!
Can't wait for more to go with my popcorn!

Guys, thank you for all your kind words as they are really appreciated.

Glad to hear that it's okay not putting a roll call for each post *phew*

Omni, you're list is incredible, thank you!

The students are all at different stages of development and readiness so some will progress and some won't.

This arc is coming to a close soon, I reckon ten or twelve more posts and then we'll be done. After this there will be a wedding and a tryout with new Legionnaires joining up and a changing of the ranks.

Once that's done I'm planning on posting my character notes for all the new members we've been introduced to since the first story.

Thanks again all.

Oh! Omni just reminded me, Starkling coming to the (attempted) rescue was brilliant! Really showcased how formidable he can be, and I love the part about him just not being able to get the concept of mind control

After rushing away from the Q-Drive Tinya had requested an immediate evacuation of Legion World Two.

Luornu had taken charge, countermanded the order. Danielle and Gear could assist Thirteen in the Q-Drive if needed. Glorith was needed in the Mission Monitor Room to help safeguard Danielle. Duplicate Girl requested Phantom Girl, Babbage and Kinetix go to the Southern end of their satellite base to assist. Tyroc's team were holding ground against the swarming force that had initially attacked the southern docking bay but several had managed to infiltrate the base and Lu wanted Tinya and her team to assist with repelling those invaders.

Babbage had then almost immediately left in one of Henry's warps leaving Kinetix and Phantom Girl to deal with whatever they discovered.

That had been several long minutes ago. Zoe and Tinya had taken down a Braalian and two synthetic soldiers on the level above and had just encountered another group of invaders.

Kinetix had trapped two synthetic soldiers within a strip of wall, but as she turned around Zoe had been shot in the stomach as three more soldiers appeared. Phantom Girl flew at the soldiers and in one move punched one of them into another while phasing the rest of her body so the blaster fire from the one that had fallen went through her to catch one of his fellow soldiers in the face. Tinya Wazzo had enough years experience that she knew how to efficiently deal with this group and seconds later she left them in a heap in the corridor to check on Zoe.

The red headed telekinetic was curled in a ball, blood seeping from her wounds, moaning in an almost animalistic way as the pain from her gutshot override any conscious thought.

"Henry! Get Zoe to the medi-bay!" Phantom Girl barked into her flight ring.

A second later a warp appeared underneath Kinetix and she dropped through it.

"Dr Shakespeare is there to look after her Tinya." The holo-man's spectral voice said.

The Bgztler took a deep breath then thanked Henry before requesting support from Luornu.

"Sorry Tinya, right now you're on your own, though XS will get to you as soon as she can." Lu replied through the flight ring commlink.

Tinya swore under her breath before replying with her affirmative.

Glorith floated in the air before Danielle, both were crossed legged and silent.

The mystic had been asked to help protect the Mission Monitor Board Room after she had left the Q-Drve by Duplicate Girl. Currently, the only light in this half of the room came from the young sorceresses facial markings which glowed ominously. The spell she had cast around the room they were in meant that anyone with an attackers intent would be unable to approach them and any objects or energy that the potential attacker would use to try to breach the shield with would be rebounded backwards. So far only two synthetic soldiers had approached the small room and had both been blasted unconscious by the reflected rays of their own weapons.

Danielle had submerged her conscious mind into the AI streams that criss-crossed the planetoid, directing doors to close unexpectedly blocking access and egress to those that she deemed unwelcome, activating fire suppressant systems to explosively open onto passing soldiers, initiating holos to abruptly appear and disappear startling their opponents and manipulating the planetoids artificial gravity system to swing wildly between zero to 500% in selected areas.

Although she could only focus directly on one part at a time the AI's quickly learned what to watch out for and pointed her towards areas that they calculated needed her attention. Although Danielle had not been keeping count she knew that so far, as well as shutting down the weapons on the attacking dreadnought, she had trapped, rendered unconscious and otherwise inconvenienced thirty six soldiers. She had also helped Atom Girl take out three Braalians and one of the synthetic soldiers. If she were in any way one to gloat Danielle would have felt immensely proud of her actions at that point instead she simply continued searching the AI mainframes for signs of intruders in their home.

Three of Luornu Durgo-Taine's selves stood against a far wall monitoring a bank of hard light screens as they directed Dragonwing, XS, Atom Girl, Gravity Kid, Power Boy, Backlash, Kinetix and Phantom Girl towards potential meta-opponents. The three selves had each virtually taken back control of their respective areas as XS reported that the latest two opponents she had been sent to deal with were all held by incapacity cuffs. It upset each Luornu that several of the attackers they had faced today had previously been her students at the Academy when it was based at Montauk Point.

Whoever was behind this atrocious act was playing with them, Lu could feel it. They wanted the Legion to battle against their own... Luornu thought, for perhaps the twentieth time, that whoever was responsible deserved to be firmly punched in the face for what they had made her kids do; She really hoped she would have the opportunity!

Gravity Kid slammed two synthetics into the ceiling of the corridor on level 20 before smashing them into the floor.

Bcklash pounced upon the soldiers, ensuring they were unconscious. The tigerram sniffed the fallen soldiers before announcing that their opponents would not be getting up soon. Tel and Jed flew across and snapped incapacity cuffs on the soldiers.

"There seems to be a lull in the attack... perhaps we've routed the last of them?" Jed said to his colleagues.

"Nah... we've got to keep our focus up. C'mon guys, let's get..." Before Tel Vole could finish his sentence a soldier appeared to erupt out of the air with her guns blasting towards the Legionnaires. The Imskian soldier had not expected the tigerram to jump into the blaster fire and could not shrink back to a microscopic size quickly enough as a huge paw cuffed her solidy across the head, smacking her to the floor.

"That was satisfying... don't you agree?" The great feline legionnaire said in his deep rumbling voice.

"Sneaky.... like you said, we gotta keep our focus." Jed said with a glance across to his husband who smiled and nodded in response.

A holo of Duplicate Girl appeared befor the three and reported that Danielle needed assistance taking down a group of metas on Level 18. There were two Braalians and another that had exibited great strength... Henry's warp spun into existence before them. Lu informed her teammates that they could expect to encounter the soldiers around the next corner.

"On it Lu!"
"On our way."
"It'll be a pleasure"

The three legionnaires dived through the warp to their next skirmish.

Sun Boy took a blast to the lower back and the pain rendered him unconscious.

Gazelle was close by and smashed her teammates attacker in the face with her fist. The Khund warrior knew she was running low on energy, so quickly checked there were no immediate threats close by before reaching for a protein pouch from her belt. She gulped the contents and straight away felt the benefit as her hyper metabolism started to speed up.

There were still, she estimated, thirty opponents, though Dragon Mage and Kid Quantum appeared to be out of the fight, Ferro had been kidnapped by Henry and now Dirk was down. That left her and the Comets to clean this up once and for all.

Gazelle smiled fiercely as she propelled herself into a small group of blue skinned synthetic troops that were flying her way, dodging their blaster fire as she sped towards them.

This was Gazelle's idea of the perfect date so she felt slightly disappointed that Doug wasn't there to enjoy it with her. Hopefully, she thought as she spun across the back of one of their attackers before hurling him into his comrades faces, Ferro would be back before the end so he could reap the rewards...

The fierce Khund warrior smiled even broader as she launched herself into another group of opponents.

Twenty five left and counting...

Academy staff based on Legion World One:
Cosmic Boy – Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields

Students:
Ultra Girl - Li-Fahn Qiong of Xanthu - immense strength, speed, indestructibility, spaceflight and projection of force blasts, effectively limited to one at a time
Atomsmasher - Ergus Wraithcat of Betelgeuse - spaceflight, invulnerability, hyper senses, telepathy, EM radiation manipulation
Southern Lights of starhaven - spaceflight, magic user
Non - negative energy being - spaceflight, alter own dimensions and density, explosive touch, telepathic

Cosmic Boy had used his flight ring check where the rest of the team currently were.

The hard light screen it displayed had each full team member and student shown by their monitor board symbol. Most of the senior team were either at the poles of Legion World Two or on the dreadnought. As he watched, Mon El's symbol flew away from the large battle spaceship and he estimated it would roughly converge with their position in a few seconds.

Rokk didn't like the feel of the situation so warned the students to be on their guard as the Legion's mightiest member was fast approaching...

<Students. Mon El will be here any second, we need to assist him in wha...> Rokk stopped his message as a blur sped past the group and the Daxamite was gone.

<Okay... that was wrong. Can any of you catch up with him? Don't engage if you think there's a problem though>

<Affirmation of request> Atomsmasher sent, and the Wraithcat from Betelgeuse was gone. Without a message Non disappeared in a streak of black energy.

 Southern Lights sent.

<Okay... like before> Rokk squeezed his eyes closed and felt the young mystic from Starhaven's hands upon his shoulders again.

He opened his eyes to see the Wraithcat before him with its three tails wrapped around Mon El's throat while the Legionnaire tried to repulse the Negative Energy being they had taken to call Non with blasts of laser vision. Oddly the Daxamite clutched onto his cloak - tied up at the edges like a sack that was holding a clutter of cats eager to escape - which limited the action he could take against the students. Ultra Girl floated behind Mon El extending her Red Energy in brilliant swirls to try to hold the senior Legionnaire in place but as much as the mysterious energy she controlled tried to limit his major body actions it was not stopping his head from moving as he tracked Non with his laser blasts.

<Can you put him to sleep like you did the Martian?> Rokk sent to the mystic student, desperate to end this stand off.

<Third time in a day for that spell... I'll try though won't be able to use it again for a while.> Even as Southern Lights replied he closed his eyes and started to invoke the magical manna that fueled his spell. As the young mystic from Starhaven's magic took effect he groaned and twitched.

<You alright there son?> Rokk sent to Southern Lights. The Braalian had never understood magic, and truth be told had never had any urge to either, but he knew that there were costs to spellcasting that went way beyond the ordinary or expected.

 The winged young man was obviously in some discomfort but much like his planetmate Dawnstar had a personality that could be hard and unforgiving of any perceived flaws within their own character. It was a character flaw that could easily be seen as something akin to martyrdom... Rokk nodded and kept his opinions to himself. The culture of Starhaven was so different from Braal that he knew better than to judge, he'd just have to hope the student had sense enough to ask for assistance if he really needed it.

As they watched, Mon El fell forward, fast asleep. His cloak erupted open and Starkling swarmed out, immediately surrounding and pressing onto the unconscious Daxamite's head.

<Starkling! What's going on here?> Cosmic Boy immediately took charge.

<We believe that Lar Gand is acting out of the ordinary... it is most unusual, so we shall examine him further to find a remedy to this> The swarm being replied.

Rokk felt uncomfortable as he watched but was hopeful that whoever had manipulated Mon El was not still in active control and that Starkling could fix it. If Mon El could be controlled... well it didn't bode well for the rest of the team.

Rokk hoped Lydda was okay.

Oh my! I'm glad Rokk and company caught on to Mon-El before things could get worse. In a team this large, someone was bound to notice.

The stakes are getting higher and higher; my poor Zoe! But it was great from a writing standpoint, having Zoe and Dirk, among others, taken out so graphically. Again, it was bound to happen considering the numbers they are facing. You've got me on the edge of my seat!

Brainiac 5 was fully certain that his force field could contain Kara while also keeping him physically safe.

"You disgusting alien scum... I'm gonna make you beg and crawl!" Kara shouted at him as she continued to batter uselessly against his force field.

Querl ignored her.

The Coluan had discerned that his mind, usually his greatest asset, would be at greatest risk in the current situation so had taken a small piece of technology from his laboratory that would be his ultimate defence in the event that the psychics on board attacked him.

He also calculated that Jacques and Magnus had at best an 8.555% chance of affecting the outcome of this battle in a meaningful way... that was not odds he would usually be confident with but given how desperate the situation was becoming it was the best he could hope for.

There were several armed guards standing close by; initially they had tried to shoot at him but after their blaster fire had ricocheted back towards them they quickly stopped and used their comms to call for help.

The lights flickered along the corridor as footsteps could be heard approaching the junction where Querl desperately tried to draw attention of the armed guards that patrolled this dreadnought, and so give his colleague and the young man that had just joined them from Nordhelm a fighting chance to end this battle. The small group of synthetic guards all looked at the approaching figure and bowed in unison. The Legionnaire saw how referential the armed guards had become and took a deep breath as he focused his thoughts into the shields Imra had taught him to create...

Querl knew if his calculations were correct he would only have at very best several minutes at most before a psychic attack would end this charade and his teammates would be tracked down. He hoped that he had given them enough of a head start.

Several guards wearing black uniforms turned into the corridor and behind them Querl could see a hooded silhouette... Querl quickly tapped a sequence onto the palm of his robotic hand and then placed the small grey box he had taken from his laboratory into it.

"Ah, there you are Querl..." the woman's voice was almost familiar, "I've been waiting to meet you again."

Several hundred metres away Invisible Kid and the young illusion caster Magnus Laviksen heard the Coluan scream out in primal agony. Neither looked back, instead they both hurried along the route Jacques had memorized to the central control deck. Invisible Kid kept a tight grip on the young man from Nordhelm's arm so his invisibility field would keep them both unseen by any soldiers they encountered.

Thunder and Babbage tore through the warp into the command room where only three minutes before Starkling had caused mayhem and two minutes ago Psyche had left to find Brainiac 5.

Before she had left the rogue empathic would-be-dictator had ordered the room to be cleaned up and new security detail to be posted for her return.

Immediately as they had surfaced from the warp the two Legionnaires had been grabbed by three Daxamite officers who tore them through the wide corridors of the dreadnought into a loading bay and out into the vacuum of space. For all their strength and speed and fighting prowess the Legionnaires were caught unawares and dealt with at speed too quickly to react against in any meaningful manner.

Saturn Girl, Tellus and Harmonia Li were next and as they stepped through a telepathic barrage from the half dozen Titanian staff left functioning after Starkling's attack began. Imra felt tired already but her mental shields helped keep the Legionnaires from being immediately overcome. Harmonia whipped up a hurricane-like wind that tore around the room while Tellus used his telekinesis to steady himself and his comrades.

This may have been enough to deal with the telepath's threat had it not been for several synthetic soldiers who ran into the control room and blasted at the Legionnaires. One of them managed to strike Harmonia on the side of her head rendering her unconscious while another burned Imra's back causing her to lose focus for a split second and give access to the telepathic barrage that stung at all of their minds.

Dr Kabbo had arrived by then and his training as one of the preeminent psi-therapists in Sol System allowed him to share his mental shields with his teammates to repel the telepathic assault.

With the wind dropping Tellus reached out with his telekinesis to throw the synthetic soldiers against a wall, but even as he did more soldiers arrived and began blasting at the Legionnaires.

Ferro stepped through the warp and flew at these soldiers, their weapon fire bouncing off his iron skin. As he slammed them down he could hear more approaching so threw the soldiers up to crash into the ceiling. Before they had crashed unconscious to the floor Ferro was flying down the corridor towards the approaching soldiers.

Behind him he heard Imra Arden scream out in pain. Douglas Nolan froze, desperate to return to his colleagues... even as this thought crossed his mind he heard Tellus and Dr Kabbo cry out. Ferro looked both ways along the corridor and made up his mind. He willed his flight ring to lift him up, he pried open a ceiling panel and slid through into a cramped maintenance shaft, pulling the panel shut behind him.

He hoped his teammates would forgive him but the animal urge that had ultimately kept him alive in that other damaged reality where their opponent had come from had taken over.

Douglas Nolan fled.

Originally Posted by Invisible Brainiac

Ummm... hang on tight there IB!

Yikes! I posted too soon. Nice dual cliffhangers here, Harbi.

Brainy calmly facing the odds is nice, he would be smart enough to know that fear or panic wouldn't help.

You're certainly not giving your team an easy time - and that ties in with the build-up of your threat! Looks like we are in for a long, tough ride.

I like how you left ambiguous whether Douglas was merely being a coward, or whether he was being smart. After all, this behavior had kept him alive...

I'm with Ib on this one. i'm on my seat and i really don't know what going to happen or how the team is going to come out of this one intact in anyway!

Is there a way to get a check list of whose still free of Psyche's thrall?

Can't wait for more!

Ferro crept through the dark and damaged corridor.

Sparks flew and smoke still swept along in waves making it impossible to see clearly but the steel skinned Legionnaire knew what he needed to do. Douglas Nolan had realized that given his teammates behaviour he should have guessed long before Saturn Girl had told him why he had felt so scared lately. It was something from his nightmares, reliving his worst memories and even worse... witnessing the corruption and death of the Legion dream twice over!

Ferro had seen this all before, lived through the hell of the Legion turning against its principles and being taken over by fear and hatred. The team he had ran from in that dark alter-dimension had become nothing more than the playthings of the emotional manipulator Psyche, and he knew now that his mind had picked up on the same evil psychic influences and that's why he had been feeling so anxious of late. If only he had listened to his gut... when Nasir had manipulated him... when Jan started to get so angry... when all the little things that didn't quite fit had started to add up. He had consciously denied the thought any room to grow in his mind. His denial of the facts had led to the current situation...

In a strange way he felt relived to know that there was a bona fide reason for his sleepless night and panic attacks.

When the Douglas Nolan of this reality had merged with the Ferro of that distant reality they had somehow kept both their consciousness separate, while each empowered the other, meaning that Psyche's influence had never taken hold. At best she could delay him, confuse him for a moment or two. Given how many of his teammates were under her control now that would be all she needed for him to be overpowered so Douglas knew he needed to stay hidden for as long as possible, until he had a clear shot.

The Psyche that had led a reign of terror in that distant and dark universe was somehow here. After living through the horrors that she had inflicted in the dark reality Douglas Nolan planned on ending her reign of terror once and for all even if it meant doing something abhorrent to the Legion's code.

If he found her Ferro would try his hardest to murder the bitch in cold blood.

Backlash cowered.

Duplicate Girl had informed the tigerram, Gravity Kid and Power Boy that there were three meta beings on Level 6 that they would need to tackle. In fact there were four - the first two were Braalians that Jed had easily taken care of by phasing through the floor behind them and sanapping incapacity cuffs on their arms while Tel dealt with their muscular accomplice by floating him up to the ceiling then snapping cuffs onto him. The Tigerram warned his colleagues that he could smell a fourth.

"Hello boys..." The voice was soft, amused.

And then the world appeared to twist and tumble as their senses erupted and fractured.

Power Boy sunk to the floor, sobbing into his meaty purple hands. Gravity Kid tried to escape but flew straight into the ceiling above and fell crashing into the floor.

Backlash was scared! The floor had melted into a soft carpet of green jelly like warriors, no taller than a tooth, yet each yelled for his death, while the walls started to peel open like spaghetti and the ceiling became a giant pointed face of a H'rroota bird - a fearsome Simballi predator that even his ferocious people were wary of.

Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi cowered against a wall, his tail, usually held proudly upwards, curled underneath his mighty torso. While every sense screamed that this horror show was happening right there around him, he knew, underneath his immediate fear, that this could not be happening. Usually, the world was a place where a tigerram's accurate senses left little room for doubt but he knew this was some illusion...

"You boys just stay right there..." This time the amusement was clearly obvious.

The voice had come from somewhere to his left, back along the corridor. His eyes told him that the corridor was a knotted forest of spaghettified metals and angry green tiny jelly warriors... his mind told his eyes to close and he charged towards direction of the voice...

There was a bone breaking thud and the madness slowly dissipated.

Underneath the feline Legionnaire lay a young woman in a Science Police uniform that Backlash recognized from somewhere... he was still trying to clear his head when Jed stomped over towards them.

"Tori?" Jed sounded confused for a second before he rushed forward and pushed Backlash off the unconscious woman. Power Boy scooped her up in his arm. It was obvious that one of her arms was badly broken and there was blood pooling from a gash across her stomach.

"What have you done to her? It's Tori... Mandala... she's a friend! What the hell have you done you stupid animal!"

The tigerram once again backed away, unsure why his teammate had shouted at him - if she was such a friend why had they just had their mids interfered with? Before the great cat could reply Jed shouted into his flight ring for a warp to the medi-bay. It spun into the air before him and he stepped through.

Gravity Kid floated silently over towards Backlash.

"What did I do wrong Tel?" Mrruaw asked softly.

"She was a friend of Jed's. Don't worry, he's scared and tired... it'll be okay" The gravity manipulator went to put a hand on the tigerram's head but the great beast jerked away and silently padded away from his teammate in search of any other intruders that had snuck onto their planetoid home.

Sister Eclipse rested within the body of Ferro.

Her ability most often gave her full control over the body of those she possessed while dampening down that person's mind effectively sending them into a deep dreamless sleep. As her hosts mind were shut down during a possession she could only access their most immediate memories and thoughts while gaining full control over their physical motor functions and abilities. In the current situation Ferro was fully awake so Sister Eclipse shared her hosts mind's every thought and passion; it was not an experience that the Sister was particularly enjoying.

Her home world of Rhoohanisett iii had been virtually wiped out four centuries ago by a highly radioactive comet strike, the aftermath had virtually wiped out all life though the surviving indigenous people had united to rebuild their once thriving civilisation. Part of the new culture involved a respect for all life. The Rhoohani became a caretaker people, they worked tirelessly amongst the ashes and ruin to encourage every surviving species on their world often at the expense of their own comfort. The Rhoohani built small settlements that spread out amongst large swathes of newly tilled agricultural plots. Even with their good intentions the planet’s biosphere was crippled and the once vibrant world remained damaged.

the Sisterhood of Ensuing Enlightenment had travelled to Rhoohanisett ii and established several temples. The religious order provided aid and succour to the populace, rarely preaching but instead spending their waking hours amongst the weary and wounded, the ill and insane, gently supporting those that needed aid. As a young child Sister Eclipse had lived with her extended family in desperate and cramped conditions and they often sought support from the Sisterhood. It was no surprise when she announced as a child that one day she too would wear a habit and seek out those in need of her help. That had been many, many cycles ago. She had joined the Sisterhood and took to their mission with great ease - her natural empathy for those less fortunate than herself and strong desire to follow her moral compass had empowered her to rise quickly through the ranks. Her determination and wholehearted belief in the work of the Sisterhood was unshakeable. Her abilities were rarely used as they were not seen as particularly useful to the Sisterhood, though they all knew she had meta-potential. It neither encouraged or scared her fellow acolytes. It was merely one more gift from their deity to be appreciated.

She had gained full Sister status only two standard years before being sent to an outlying colony that had been ravaged by an unknown plague. In fact the plague was the result of dark magicks created by the Shadowmancer. The Arch Sorcerer had inflicted his dark will upon the remote world in the hope of forcing any meta beings to reveal their abilities - he wished to feed! Sister Eclipse and the team of forty nine fellow missionaries knew none of this but within days of landing on the world their numbers had almost been wiped out as the Shadowmancer's pet assassin, the ephemeral assassin he called Miasma, struck them down. There would be no aid allowed while the Shadowmancer looked for more sustenance. sister eclipse had used her abilities against the smokey ninja but could not hold onto full control as the mystic being discorporated. She had been quickly captured after that and hung in one of the Shadowmancers feeding cages.

She had remained there for more days than she could count, it felt as much as a thousand of her days... despite the slow and painful process of the Dark Mage feeding on her unique energies she still offered prayers and what support she could to her fellow inmates and never once doubted that she was in this situation because it could somehow feed into the greater plans her god had for her. When the Legion arrived and rescued the Shadowmancer's captives she knew what that reason was. And so, with the same quiet determination and belief that had sustained her through the dreadful days of her captivity, she set about becoming a Legionnaire. Surely there could be no higher calling than to be one of these mighty heroes that challenged the grossly unequal status quo with their belief in unity and charity?

Sister Eclipse had not expected the team to be as singular in purpose as her own religious order but was still surprised at just how diverse the Legion's membership was. The single purpose that she had expected them to all follow had been quickly shown to be a fallacy - some did indeed share her desire to help others, while several more were motivated by personal tragedy, a few of the rest were on the look out for adventures and thrills while, disappointingly, there were a few who craved the attention and glory of being a Legionnaire...

Ferro was a strange mix of all of these as he dealt with his brother's untimely death and recovered from the malignancy he had encountered in that other reality with a burning desire to never see it happen again, still he craved for the excitement of action and enjoyed the attention being one of the group brought him...

But right now, Sister Eclipse was painfully aware that what Doug Nolan wanted most was revenge; Sheer bloody minded revenge...

The reptilian Legionnaire swore to herself that as much as Ferro would hate her for it, she would never allow him to take another life.

Psyche laughed as she stode back onto her tattered command deck.

The stupid Legionnaires had acted just as had been foretold by the High Seer and his Council earlier that day. She had just captured the team that was most likely to cause her the most damage. The Coluan had fallen as he had tried to activate some device. The Braalian guard she had with her had exploded it in Dox's hand and she had amplified the pain he felt a thousandfold. Even in this suddenly altered timeline, different from her original plan because of the warning given by the Seer of Nordhelm, the Legion's pet Coluan had acted as predicted, his immense intelligence made him so predictable. Brainiac 5 may be the most academically qualified being in the known galaxy but that didn't necessary make him canny when dealing with every opponent. Certainly not canny enough to deal with an opponent that had manipulated the entire High Council of Naltor to provide her with predictions of this battle.

The Naltorian High Seer had given her one ominous warning that she knew would need to be dealt with soon, but until then she would revel in this moment. Imra Ardeen was finally in front of her wearing a psi dampener... What fun could she have playing with the legendary matriarch of the Legion? In Psyche's own reality Saturn Girl had died saving Lighting Lad, which gave Psyche the opportunity her former masters in the Dark Circle had been waiting for, to slip a sleeper agent into that superhero team's ranks. She had always wanted to pit her psychic skills against the legendary telepathic Legion founder and here in this distant dimension from her own she had it.

Aven had been easy to manipulate, as tired as he was and already harbouring serious doubts about the legion's worth after the destruction of Titan and the team taking Harmonia Li, the person he felt was responsible, into their ranks. Saturn Girl would be an entirely different matter as her belief in the team was as ironclad as her pragmatism. Psyche intended to find out if Imra Ardeen really was as good as the legends said.

Still, the warning rankled at Psyche's confidence, the damned Nordhelm Seer had stopped her for gaining her definitive victory and with one sly warning had given the Legion this slight opportunity... she had been warned that in this new future there was one who had the potential to upset her plans but Psyche had laughed when they had told her who... The One who is Two.

She knew who that was and she thought that he could wait a few minutes. She would capture the cowardly Douglas Nolan soon enough and remind him personally why he should fear her. It would make her victory all the sweeter when she had her pet Titanians pry open his mind for her. She had a special gift in mind just for Ferro...

There was so much to thank him for after all, without his dual consciousness she would never have known of this alternate universe and gotten free from the Dark Circle, so to have this reality all for herself. Yes, she had plans for Douglas Nolan, her pet telepaths would split the two minds apart and she would set them against each other so he could spend the rest of his days in utter turmoil as his own minds tore themselves apart. Psyche rather looked forward to meeting Ferro, it would be a rare delight.

"Kara, my pet..." Psyche said to the Kryptoonian, newly freed from Brainiac 5's force field, "Can you go get Douglas Nolan for me. Don't damage him too much please."

Andromeda smiled in reply, eager to please her misstrees before zooming off to hunt her former teammate.

Psyche was looking forward to dealing with Ferro... But right now she had the mind of Imra Ardeen to explore. She would have the Legionnaire's mind to feast on in the days ahead but right now she couldn't resist having a little taste...

Phew! The scene with Mandalla really drove home the extent of Psyche’s manipulations. It’s definitely not easy for the team to fight old friends.

All the ingredients for a big showdown are here - love the looks into the conflicting motivations for Doug and Sister Eclipse, she is such a dear and one of my favorites among your original characters

nice illustration of Mandalla’s powers, better than anything I imagined

Your Psyche is quite frightening and sadistic, well done setting her up

as always, looking forward to more!

Thanks again B, 6 or 8 or so posts to go until this story comes to it's conclusion, then we'll get a new leader, new members and a wedding before the end of LW5.

Interesting times ahead...

Thanks again, always love reading your feedback.

C

My pleasure Harbi, I so enjoy reading your work.

Oh, how exciting. I'm sure some of your more promising students will get promoted, but I'm also sure you will have some great surprises for us! Looking forward to seeing the next leader, and for the lovely wedding scene.

Andromeda burst through the wall before Ferro.

The time spun Kryptonian Legionnaire smiled coyly as she hovered towards him.

“Hey Doug... you know I kinda liked you? I’d rather not have to break anything but you’re coming with me now, okay?”

“Kara, don’t do this. Psyche is twisting your mind, you can fight it... please.” He backed away, his hands held up in front of him.

“Maybe... but whatever’s she’s doing to me I feel better... freer that I ever have. You’re gonna love it, trust me honey, you’ll have a blast.”

“Kara... please, you have to listen. She’ll have you committing atrocities in her name, I've seen it happen already. Please...” If Ferro's tearducts had been flesh at that point he would have cried.

“Douglas, I’m gonna count to five and if you haven’t stepped forward I’m gonna have to hurt you. One... two...”

<Douglas> Sister Eclipse said within the steel skinned mutants mind <If you get close to her I will transfer to Kara, perhaps we....> her sentence was cut off as Andromeda swooped and slapped a pair of incapacity cuffs onto his wrist rendering him unconscious.

Andromeda caught his ankle and dragged him behind her as she flew through the dreadnought towards her mistress.

Babbage had lost an arm in the scuffle.

This proved to ultimately assist the Legionnaires as they fought against their Daxamite opponents as it continued to fire dart missiles from a housing in the forearm and so distract two of their opponents enough for Thunder to slap incapacity cuffs on them before she over powered the third. The Robotican retrieved the arm before it could float away and as it pushed the damage limb against the ripped shoulder the ragged edge of the arm seemed to grow wires to interlock with the stump it had been torn off of.

<It will take a day or so to fully reconnect but will suffice for now>

<Good to know> Thunder replied, without really looking <We need help here Babbage... I don't believe our colleagues would have succeeded so where stealth failed perhaps it's time for a more direct approach. Follow me.> The daughter of the 21st century despot called Black Adam flew away from the dreadnought into space.

Very quickly she located Cosmic Kid and the Green Lantern. Dkyun Mu held over a dozen captives within spheres of emerald energy, the construct the Xudarian had made looked somewhat like a child's model of the molecular make up of a compound - spheres connected by supporting struts.

Thunder had fifteen incapacity cuffs in a pouch on her belt. She gave these to the Green Lantern and asked if they could be slipped onto the captives so to free up the concentration needed to help with a frontal assault on their opponent's dreadnought. As the cuffs were being placed onto the struggling captives several of the students flew into sight... Ultra Girl and Non swooped in on the Legionnaires reporting that they had been helping Cosmic Boy, who would be along shortly as Southern Lights carried him to them.

<So, what's the plan Thunder> Cosmic Kid asked while they waited for the Legion founder and the student from Starhaven.

<If no-one else has any ideas I'd suggest we hit fast and hard, don't give our opponents time to rally> She replied along the telepathic comm relay.

 Cosmic Boy had joined them, and with his approval of the idea they set about planning what to do, where to hit and who would do what.

Even unconscious and under a neural neutralizer Imra Ardeen proved to have incredibly tough mental barriers.

Psyche smiled tightly; she had thought this might happen. As Saturn Girl she was the matriarch of this realities Legion and for her to be anything less than formidable was not unexpected. Around the edges of the mental shield that protected the core of Imra's being their leaked a warmth and love that Psyche knew was being used to fuel this extraordinary mental feat. She smiled broadly.

Let Saturn Girl think her shields were holding, but once the Legion was defeated Psyche planned on dropping in on any stray Legionnaire and converting them to her cause. She had learned the hard way that those no longer active could still prove a threat. Perhaps if she had this realities Garth Ranzz murder his children slowly, one by one, in front of Imra Ardeen then the empath would get the opening she needed to infect Saturn Girl with all the fear and anger that was needed to assume control of her opponent... it was certainly an idea to consider.

Without the Dark Circle to censor her in this reality Psyche was planning on having so much fun.

Invisible Kid and the young illusion caster Magnus Laviksen had crept into the command deck.

It had looked as if a hurricane had blasted through it with debris and damaged paneling littering the large room. A large amount of the control desks were damaged and there were several unconscious bodies on the floor. There was an air of nervous panic as technicians and command staff rushed around trying to take back control of the dreadnought.

Jacques had kept his hand on the young man from Nordhelm, encasing him in the invisibility field that kept the Legionnaire out of sight. As there was so much activity going on around them the Legionnaire risked whispering a message.

"We need to find our colleaguez, free th'm and regroup... we must be tres careful now mon ami... c'mon. "

With that Jacques pulled Magnus behind him as they crept through the command deck towards the exit on the other side.

Douglas Nolan had no concept of how long he had been unconscious.

It was Sister Eclipse's voice that woke him up as she whispered to him in his sleep. Her voice echoed and reverberated, as if she were talking through a thin metal tube... what finally woke him up was the muffled sound of his own voice replying to her!

<It must be the telepaths under Psyche's control... pulling our consciousnesses apart from each other.>

Doug realized that his eyes were open already though he could not focus properly so the world around him looked as if he were staring through the waters of a pool... there were people around him, standing over him though the light was dim so he could not make out features clearly.

<He is awake now> the other Doug voice said.

<Man, this is... weird. What's goin' on?> Despite his best efforts to rub a hand across his brow he found he could not move.

<Doug...> said the voice that was the other Douglas Nolan that he had merged with years ago. <Andromeda is holding us... We gotta get out of here> A wave of cold fear washed over him as he remembered how they had gotten here: Andromeda had caught them and must have brought them to this place. Psyche had them!

"I can feel that you are both finally fully awake Mr Nolan... I do hope you're comfortable." Psyche's voice interrupted. "By now I'm sure you must realize what's about to happen. Your two minds are being separated from each other, though don't worry you'll both still be in the one body. I just hope you two will get along... somehow I doubt it though." And with that the evil empath started to laugh.

<Get her closer...> Sister Eclipse hissed. It was the first time that Doug, either of them, had heard her voice sound anything other than calm and content. There was an edge of desperation. <...you need to get your hands on her>

The alternate Doug had control over their body and started to writhe and move spasmodically as if entering a fit. It was a ploy to attract the evil empathy towards them, but after ten seconds of this frantic action and Psyche still remaining away from the young steel skinned mutant Sister Eclipse decided that she would need to deal with the situation. Psyche was obviously monitoring them with her prodigious abilities but appeared to be unaware that the reptilian Legionnaire was also involved. <Apologies Douglas but I fear I don't have a choice...> and with that she took full possession of her hosts body, immediately rendering the two mutant's minds inert.

I'm on the edge of my seat, Harbi!

Sister Eclipse taking control, this will be great to watch!

Two Dougs in one body... oh dear... now that the two are being separated, what consequences will that hold?

Rather scary to think that the Dark Circle was, in fact, tempering Psyche's atrocities... You've really created a very scary villain!

I laughed at Babbage's detached arm still being operational

Nice touch! Thunder, Cos and company to the rescue, I love these big cavalry scenes.

I'm so excited to see what happens next, and you are an expert at ratcheting up the tension across multiple fronts/scenes, while still having a very clear flow of the overall situation. I feel like I can follow everything happening without getting lost!

As always, more, more, more!

Some really good post here Harbinger.

I'm praying and hoping that Sister Eclipse has taken over in time and can stop Psyche.

Saturn Girl is a rock and I know she will pull through.

Kara...Kara...

Jaques and the illusion caster are so close.

I understand Jed's anger but at the same point I'm also like this is war and their will be causalities.

Babbaage's arm was a cool trick. The A.I. community have so much to offer in battles.

Cos and Thunder's team looks to be pretty strong. Just gotta bring all these stray teams in! I'm looking forward to that battle for sure!

Can't wait for more.

Man, Psyche is a super nasty piece of work! She makes a great villain!

The tension is great, I can't wait to see what happens next! It's not often the whole team is involved and it still comes down this close to the wire, excellent work Harbi!

Thunder, Cosmic Boy, Cosmic Kid and the student Ultra Girl led the attack.

Behind them, Babbage and the students Southern Lights and Non provided rear support. This was standard Legion protocol - a Strike and a Shield team, as they were usually designated. Strike went in first while Shield kept up just behind the attacking force, checking for anyone who may need assistance and to protect the Strike teams rear.

Cosmic Boy reached out with his magnokinesis and tore two loading doors apart. Thunder and Ultra Girl dived through, determined to clear the immediate area of any potential trouble. The Legionnaires would give themselves a beach head from which to attack their opponent on their own turf. Once Cece had given the all clear Rokk quickly flew into the cavernous loading bay.

"Ship sensors say there's a cluster of the team around there... Ferro, Andromeda, Brainiac 5, Sister Eclipse, Dr Kabbo, Harmonia, Invisible Kid... The Spear of Artemis and Retro are down on a lower deck." Li-Fahn Qiong, Ultra Girl, said. The young woman from Xanthu stood at a holo screen pointing towards an area above and Galactic West of their current position. "Here's the locations of everyone that's in our way...." Red dots appeared on the screen, there were several dozen of them

"Li-Fahn, can you plot a course that's efficient but doesn't involve us encountering too many of those in the way?" Thunder asked as she landed beside the student. The Shazam empowered Legionnaire had spend several seconds dismantling the dozen shuttle crafts that currently stood in the bay.

"Ah.... yup, here." A blue line appeared on the holo before them.

"Good work." Rokk Krinn said over the two women's shoulders. There was definitely a sense of pride in his words. Without looking around at him Ultra Girl gave a small smile.

"Okay... so here's what we'll do..."

The Green Lantern had retreated a little from the two groups in space and concentrated. After the Legionnaires had all made their way into the dreadnought she focused her will on creating an emerald skin around the great ship. Once that was complete she reinforced it ensuring the no-one inside would be able to get outside. Her role was to contain the fight and while she knew it was necessary to ensure that no-one escaped she secretly missed the thrill of engaging in the battle directly.

Dkyun Mu chittered to herself as this thought flew across her mind. A year ago when she had first been asked to join the Legion she had only been a Green Lantern for a few weeks and was still unsure of herself in the role. Now, after a year with the Terran adventurers she felt ready to take on any of the problems the universe could throw at her... Perhaps Soddam Yat had been right to give her the Oan power ring after all.

The synthetic intruders made their way through the airlock into the giant methane sea filled chamber where Tellus resided. The Hykaian Legion was not there and the soldiers were not expecting any other living being to be inside so after a quick scan they turned to leave.

As they did the Mordecai struck. The golem had been stood not far from the spiralling airlock when it opened and watched as the two soldiers made their way into the alien environment. It knew they were not Legionnaire's or students though initially had no reason to attack them. It wasn't until they had started to retreat out that the golem noticed their weapons... A memory of its life in the sewers of Rimbor before the Emerald Empress had captured it triggered it's reaction. It remembered being hunted... These soldiers would pay for the crude assaults it had endured in its life before Tellus had liberated it and allowed it to live peacefully here.

After smashing the soldiers unconscious it slung them over its shoulders and made its way out into the corridor. If there were soldiers here then the Mordecai would protect the Legionnaire Tellus and their new home from them.

By taking control Sister Eclipse became fully aware of the physical sensation that Douglas Nolan was feeling - Andromeda's hand holding his arms back as she floated in the air before the alternate dimension tyrant... Sister Eclipse flexed with all the considerable might Ferro's body could muster against the restraining hands of their Kryptonian colleagues but couldn't budge them.

"What? What is this?" Psyche sounded shocked. Her prodigious psychic skills had alerted her that her captive no longer appeared to be possessing two separate minds. Somehow a third, far less volatile mind had taken over dominance... one that her empathic abilities slid off.

The three telepaths that had joined their mistress in to deal with the steel skinned mutant all stepped away: the very texture of the minds before them had changed... something that none of them would have imagined possible.

"What's going on?" Kara asked her mistress, aware of her distress.

"There's another mind..." Psyche replied, her tone angry and shocked.

"Hey... Sister Eclipse maybe? I haven't seen her anywhere." The Kryptonian tightened her grip on Ferro's arms and began to slowly pull them apart while forcing her knee between the steel skinned mutant's shoulder blades. "Get your guns ready, I'll make her pop out of him..."

Psyche smiled as she called for guards. She would make sure that the Legionnaire that was inhabiting her prize would pay for this interference.

Invisible Kid and Magnus Laviksen had followed Kara after she flew overhead carrying the obviously unconscious Ferro. They followed as quickly as they could.

At the end of the corridor there were voices, one of which Jacques recognised as Kara's. The other voice had just called for guards.

The Legionnaire pulled the young man from Nordhelm to the side and whispered urgently into his ear, hoping that a miracle may stop Andromeda from overhearing what he needed to say.

"Listen... You stay 'ere. If any guards approach you must delay them, cast an image to confuse them... Oui?"

"I can help you Legionnaire." The young man bit back sharply.

"Non, Mon Ami, you must protect my back while I try to 'elp our friends. Please, take these..." Jacques pressed a pouch from his belt into the young man's hands that contained half a dozen incapacity cuffs. "You will help me greatly if you do... you are ze only one who can. Wha'ever happens, do not come in zere until I call you, okay?"

For a long second they stared at each other before Magnus grudgingly nodded.

"Remember to 'ide yourself..." And with those whispered words Invisible Kid let go of the young man and stealthily approached the room at the end of the corridor.

Behind him Magnus Laviksen quickly glanced around, he could only spin illusions of things he had seen or heard for himself so he surrounded himself in the image of the fixtures and fittings that were close by. As he did he could hear voices and footfall from the direction he had just come from.

Magnus smiled.

As the four guards ran around the corner towards him he reached out with his mind and replayed onto their senses his journey through the Dreadnought up to this point - in reverse and at speed.

The guards all stumbled and cried out as they struggled against what their senses suddenly told them was happening. Within seconds they were a crumpled moaning heap on the floor as the young illusionist kept up the pressure of his projection. Carefully, he approached the fallen guards. Taking out cuffs from the pouch the Legionnaire had just given him the young man happily snapped them onto the guards wrists rendering them unconscious. He picked up two of their blasters and wrapped the now unconscious guardsmen in an illusion so they would be invisible to any more that approached the room that Jacques Foccart had just slunk into.

If nothing else, these fallen opponents would provide a trip barrier to any other guards that tried to interfere and the young man from distant Nordhelm would be more able to defend the space with his evil-eye illusions and the blasters he'd taken from the guards.

As Jacques floated into the room he could see the back of a cloaked figure and Ferro spread-eagled out in the air before her, being held by Andromeda.

Ferro was shouting and wriggling though Andromeda held him in a tight grip, not allowing the steel skinned mutant the purchase to get a chance of being free.

Without stopping to think Invisible Kid flew at the back of the figure before him, intent on taking her down hard. With an all-mighty thump he crashed into her, sending her spinning towards Ferro and Andromeda with a scream. Jacques held on, willing his flight ring to push them hard into the steel and invulnerable bodies of his teammates in the hope that the blow would strike her unconscious. The crashed into Ferro then flew onto the floor.

"Jacques.... It is me, Sister Eclipse." The woman in the cloak said. She sat up and smiled.

Andromeda flung Ferro against a wall and started to fly down towards Jacques and the now possessed Psyche.

Sister Eclipse had full control over the rogue empath Psyche and now could understand the allure of emotions... before her each person glowed with their own unique ambience and within that there appeared emotional colours, bubbling into psychic blossoms of feeling before dying down with organic beauty. She could also sense where Psyche had altered the natural flow of the people before her, where there were sudden sharp edges and harsh twists that redirected the emotional energy inside those she had manipulated.

"Kara... you helped me build the chapel on our home satellite. You have such passions in your mighty heart but they have been twisted in such a destructive way..." As she spoke Andromeda clutched at her head before suddenly straightening out and blinking, as if just waking from a deep sleep. Sister Eclipse had cleansed Andromeda's mind of the empathic pollution.

Psyche, possessed by the gentle Legionnaire known only as Sister Eclipse, reached out with the prodigious empathic abilities again and soothed the three telepaths that were cowering in the corner. Using Psyche's own perceptions the Legionnaire could sense where their own minds had been so badly damaged.

As the Titanians had been under Psyche's corruptive influence for longer it took several long seconds before they too were freed. Sister Eclipse used an ancient teaching that her religious order used to inform her choices, a simple verse that her Sisterhood taught those that joined their ranks. It was their wish for the many races of the galaxy: “fear turns to hope, anger becomes acceptance, hate can be love...” she focussed the empathic abilities of the being she possessed to encourage these qualities to changes within the souls of the Titanians.

As the telepaths regained control over their emotions Sister Eclipse began to understand.

The person she possessed had an incredible gift at emotional manipulation but the level of hate and anger that were on display against the Legion was something else. It was far more sophisticated... it had been finessed. The reptilian Legionnaire realised it must have been through the use of the Titanians who could alter another beings thoughts as well. Psyche must have influenced a powerful telepath and between them they had twisted and manipulated the rank and file amongst their people. It must have taken place surreptitously over some time as sudden changes in behaviour would raise alarm...

“Sister... Sister, what’s going on?” Andromeda floated in the air before her. Just behind the Kryptonian she could see Invisible Kid was helping Ferro to his feet.

“Kara... there is so much to do. Can you ensure we are undisturbed?”

“Sister,” Jacques interrupted, “Magnus iz outside keeping watch. We can assist...”

“Thank you.” She nodded and smiled.

As Ferro, Andromeda and Invisible Kid left the room Sister Eclipse turned towards the three telepaths.

“There is so much we have to do. Are you ready?”

The Titanians closed their eyes as they reached out to amplify and broadcast Sister Eclipse’s psychic message to the many beings around them that were acting on the vile orders Psyche had enforced upon them.

Thunder tore through the wall.

The student Ultra Girl flew behind using her Red Energy to swat the larger chucks of debris aside. They had made it to the area that the earlier holo had said where Invisible Kid, Ferro, Andromeda and Sister Eclipse could be found. They had liberated Brainiac 5, the Spear of Artemis, Retro, Harmonia and Saturn Girl from holding cells three levels below.

While there they had encountered Lexikon and the two Valkyri from Nordhelm. The Tamaranean Legionnaire and the two warriors from Nordhelm had robustly attempted to stop the Legion from freeing their teammates. Thunder and Ultra Girl had held them off while Cosmic Boy used his magnokinesis to hurl incapacity cuffs onto their arms rendering them unconscious.

After releasing their incarcerated teammates from their cells Brainiac 5 had quickly brought the liberating squad up to speed. After hearing that Andromeda and perhaps others were under Psyche’s control Cosmic Boy had encouraged a more direct course to find her and free their colleagues.

Rokk carried Imra, who was barely conscious and kept muttering her husband and children’s names. The Braalian had a buzzing headache that was quickly becoming a solid pain in his skull. He was certain it was Imra's telepathy that was causing it though he would not let go of her, not while she was vulnerable.

“Hello...” Thunder said to the apparently empty corridor before them.

Ultra Girl started to fly past but Cece held out an arm to stop her.

“What is it?” The student asked.

“An illusion... and our teammates.”

Jacques Foccart phased into view before them.

“Mon ami, you are free.” Even as he asked the question behind him Andromeda, Ferro and the young man Magnus Laviksen, stood beside a pile of unconscious soldiers, all appeared.

“We,re here to end this. Psyche is close by.” Brainiac 5 said as he examined a hard light holo screen from his flight ring.

Kara swooped across to the Coluan and approached him with some obvious trepidation.

“Querl, I’m so sorry...”

Cosmic Boy, Ultra Girl and Cosmic Kid stepped between her and the Coluan genius, still worried that she may be under Psyches influence.

He gave her a smile, “Psyche is very dangerous Kara, I am grateful that you’re back in control of yourself and appear okay.”

“Sister Eclipse has taken control of her, she’s trying to undo the ...hurt.”

Imra Ardeen spoke, surprising Rokk who still held onto her.

“I can feel it... it’s quite beautiful.”

“She can’t do this alone, can she?” Rokk asked.

“She’s not alone... the Titanians with her are broadcasting it. The more of my people they affect the bigger the psychic web is and the faster it’ll spread... I’m going to lend a hand.” Imra Ardeen smiled beatifically as she added her own telepathic strength to the growing psychic gestalt that spread out from the room at the end of the corridor.

Within only minutes the Titanians telepathic had broadcast Sister Eclipse’s emotional message of hope throughout the attacking force. The synthetic soldiers had been ordered back into their barrack section of the dreadnought. The many meta soldiers who had been telepathically manipulated were released from the psychic hold that had turned them on the Legion.

Within an hour Sister Eclipse, along with a dozen Legionnaires and thirty telepaths from the Dreadnought, warped to Naltor to spread their freeing psychic message to the wider public within the Titania refugees and Naltorian High Council.

Within six hours the United Planets council chambers were visited by Sister Eclipse within Psyche’s body, several of the Titanian Senator’s staff along with a dozen other Titanians and the High Seer of Naltors personal assistant. They stayed for forty minutes and afterwards it was heard that many of the diverse senators and representatives of the many, many worlds and races present had a peaceful night.

As the clean up progressed there was one find that Imra Ardeen found particularly upsetting. Professor Avens body was discovered in his quarters. The Legion founders mentor had apparently taken his own life. Aven left a memory stone DNA locked for Imra on which he explained it was his own distrust of the Legion that had given Psyche the opportunity to take control. Over a year ago when the manipulated Legionnaires from that distant dark dimension had arrived in this reality during the Dark Circle civil war Psyche had taken control of him after his own hubris had allowed her out of her neural neutraliser... he was so certain his telepathic shields would protect him. Instead, within minutes he was her slave and had sent one of his own medi-path team through Henry,s warp in Psyche’s place allowing the empath free reign in this reality. Between the two of them they had slowly taken control of the Titanians refugees on Naltor.

Aven confessed to Imra that he had always resented the Legion for taking her, his favourite student, away from him. This had been exacerbated by the destruction of Titan and Harmonia Li’s subsequent acceptance into the organisation. Psyche had found these feelings and twisted and corrupted them to the point where he had no choice but to act alongside her.

As Sister Eclipse’s gentle influence had spread out, shared by the increasing numbers of freed Titanians, Aven knew that he would quite rightly be held to account and couldn’t face the heartbreak of the legacy of his lifetime of helping meta beings and higher functioning psychics prior to Psyches arrival being destroyed when the truth came out. He wanted Imra to know that he always cared for her and because of that he had ensured she remained free of Psyche’s manipulation. He hoped she would find it in her heart to forgive him...

Three days later

The Senior Team had decided that with Jan out of action for the foreseeable future and Dirk saying he did not have any desire to remain as the deputy leader for much longer that they needed to call an urgent vote.

All Legionnaires, tutors at the Academy and support staff were informed by holo that the next day they would hold an open vote. Anyone interested in running should announce their intentions and share with the group before the voting started at 8am the next day. Everyone was busy rebuilding their base and while there was a lot of gossip about who would stand there appeared to be little appetite for it.

8am came and went without a single person announcing their interest in becoming the team leader.

"Oh, for Rao's sake! I'll damn well do it if needed..." Mon El cursed to himself. He had hoped that Tinya or Dirk would have put themselves forward. Even Querl would have been better than no one.

"No Lar, we need a leader that wants to lead not one who is resigned to the role." Duplicate Girl said. The Daxamite harrumphed his reply.

“Remember Lar, no voting for yourself... play fair.” Luornu said to her Daxamite colleague as he walked over to the voting wall where he would press his hand against the person wished to be his leader for the next year.

Lar Gand walked along the line of eligible Legionnaires, those that were full time members with at least a years experience. He had been thinking about this since Imra had told the senior team that Jan would be returning to Winath with her so she could personally monitor the Trommites recovery. He had three options, and as it happened, the one that he had the most respect for was beside him as he reached the far end of the line. Without any second thought Mon El pressed Phantom Girl’s insignia to register his vote for her to be the next team leader.

Sun Boy joined Kid Quantum and Kinetix in the refectory.

“Hey, ladies, who’s Gazelle putting odds on this time?”

“I heard Lu and Brainy.” Zoe said with a small shrug, before adding “I didn’t vote for either, who do you think’ll get it Dirk?”

“There are a few good candidates, Lu would be great, or Reep or Querl or Lar or Tinya again perhaps. Pity Nasir's on medical leave as he'd have been interesting...” He replied nonchalantly.

“Yeah, they're all really committed to the team aren’t they?” Jazmin Cullen said, "...though it's a pity you're not running again Dirk..."

"Uh uh, no way Jaz. I've had enough time trying to be serious and it's time to get back to enjoying being a Legionnaire."

They sat in the refectory for three hours and in that time around a third of those eligible to vote had popped in. Dragonwing and Hethuk had joined them shortly after and before long there were ten of them sat around a couple tables, including Gazelle who tried desperately to get her fellow Legionnaires to join her on betting who would take the leadership without much success.

Dirk was secretly pleased when the Khund had mentioned his odds were up to 7 to 2.

“So,” Zoe began, “ We reckon Lu and Brainy are neck and neck, though there’s talk of...”

“Enough already...” Dirk said with a grin, “I know you’ve all been lying and I’m going to smash it!” He laughed loudly and most joined in.

“I didn’t vote for either of them.” Monica Sade said quietly.

“Me neither.” Tyroc said.

“Me either... I voted for new blood.” Dragonwing said to them conspiratorially.

"Me too." Said Zoe across the table, "Thought I'd be good to shake things up a bit so went for the brightest of the newly eligible..."

“We’ll find out soon enough. I might as well get back to the repairs...” Hethuk said pragmatically beginning to stand up from his chair.

“We’ve been rebuilding this place forever now Heth. It can wait until later y'know. You’re no fun...” Marya said before sticking her tongue out to the Talokean.

Dragonwing didn’t follow Hethuk out. Once the Talokean Smith had left she turned to Chemical Kid and asked who he voted for. Hadru smiled teasingly but didn’t reply.

"S'pose Heth's right, I'd best go do some work, can't laze around all day expecting support staff to do it all..." Dirk smiled to his gathered teammates as he walked out.

"I think he secretly wants to be voted in again. Be funny if he was as I don't think he enjoyed the responsibility at all." Jazmin said.

"Too late... We already voted, or I might've done just that for the laugh of seeing his face when he realized he'd have to be sensible for another year." Ming Sul said.

After spending the last three days on Winath being probed and tested by Imra Ardeen and a growing number of telepathic helpers arriving almost hourly from Naltor, Douglas Nolan was given the all clear to return to Legion World Two. There was a strict condition that he attended weekly counseling sessions for the next couple of months but as his two consciousnesses had remolded back into a similar matrix to what he had before Psyche had tampered with it there was no real reason to make him stay away.

To say he was grateful was an understatement.

Gazelle pounced on him as he strode through the door to their shared apartment.

"Douglas Nolan you are owe me services!"

He threw his carry all into a corner and picked the Khundian warrior up in his arms. she gave a squeal of delight as she peeled the mask from his face and kissed him passionately.

"Have you voted yet Douglas?" she asked between kisses.

"Uh uh... not yet hon, I'm kind of thinking about other things rigt now..."

"Vote now, for sun Boy, it will level the field for the others..." She had obviously set up a betting syndicate and was worried that her odds would not make her much of a profit ones the chits were counted.

"Nope..."

"No?" Gazelle pulled away from him, "what do you mean, no?"

"I'm voting for Thunder, time for some new blood in that senior team and she's the best chance we new kids have."

"Hmmm... that would work, I suppose..." Gazelle considered the betting field as it currently stood. No-one had put money on Thunder so the chance of a surprise win by her would only increase any potential profit. "Okay... though once you have voted we must return to the serious business at hand."

With that Gazelle placed a hand firmly onto a particularly personal place of his so Ferro would be fully aware what serious business she had meant.

Doug Nolan voted remotely through his flight ring. It took him all of nineteen seconds.

The entire time Gazelle tutted and moaned in complaint.

Brainiac 5 and Harmonia were in his laboratory when the holo popped up.

Professor Li had set up an alert in the cornfield she had planted on level three after finding it had a large flattened patch in the middle of it the day before. The holo showed Mrruaw M’Nau, the tigerram from Simballi, creep through the long stalks towards the flattened corn.

“Perhaps it’s best if you dealt with that.. we only have limited room for agriculture after all.” The Coluan nodded towards the holo.

The ancient elemental smiled thinly as she left.

Almost five minutes later Harmonia Li stepped into the agri-level. she knew it would be impossible to sneak up on Backlash, the tigerram's senses were far too acute, so instead she trod on the stones and gravel along the side of the field, each step producing a small crunching sound.

"Mrruah... I know you are in there. May I join you?" Harmonia called out from the edge of the field of tall corn stalks,

There was no reply for several second before the deep voice of Backlash responded, "Of course, please do."

Harmon hovered above the corn and floated across towards the tigerram. As she gently touched down upon a mat of crushed stalks Backlash raised his broad head from his crossed paws. She could see that the great beast was feeling unhappy as it did not greet her with its usual wide smile.

"Mrruah..."

"You dislike me using your vegetables as a bed... I am sorry Harmonia, truly. I meant no disrespect."

"I'm more concerned that you are not happy." She sat down next to him, "... can you tell me what is the matter and can I help?"

The tigerram turned his broad head towards her and smiled though she did not believe it was genuine happiness that had prompted it.

"Harmonia... living amongst the Legion has not been as I expected. My people were bred to be loyal and supportive of each other, it is hardwired into our DNA. The discord that plagued us of late has upset me greatly. The recent problems we encountered have... they scared me Harmonia, as I do not understand what we can do to make things right if they happen again. Humans do not have a loyalty gene... perhaps I should have joined Sister Eclipse when she left to go on retreat. Take some time to think and consider my place...” Mrruah M'Nau held her gaze for several seconds before laying his head back down upon his paws.

"It has been a terrible time for us all. I wish I could offer you some words of wisdom that could ease your pain but I cannot. What I can offer is hope that from our terrible encounter we re-establish bonds with our teammates and the wider galaxy and grow closer as a result. That hope, and my friendship... they are not in doubt."

She placed a hand gently upon the great beast's shoulder and he gave a low rumbling purr in response.

They sat in a comfortable silence for ten minutes before Harmonia said "Does that light not bother you while you rest here Mrruah?" The ancient elemental looked up at the bright strip light that hung down across the corn, ten or twelve feet from them.

"If I lay with my head facing away from it... it is bearable."

Harmonia smiled and nodded. As she did the ground underneath them rumbled gently and a thin arch of the proto-planet's rocky firmament pushed upwards providing shade for the feline Legionnaire.

This time when the tigerram looked up his smile was filled with genuine warmth and affection.

"You are a good friend Harmonia Li, thank you."

Where previous leadership elections had evoked a celebratory feel to the team this time the atmosphere was decidedly more subdued. Many of the team only took a break from their duties rebuilding their base to quickly vote before resuming the tasks that they had been engaged in.

By 2000 hours everyone who was eligible, other than Gear who refused to take part, had voted and an announcement was made over the flight ring holo- comm system by Sun Boy.

The former deputy leader smiled his galaxy famous smile before looking to his left and nodding once towards someone out of sight.

"Hey, all. Sorry to interrupt those of you still busy fixing up our lovely home but with the final tally being counted I can confirm that our new leader is... drum roll please... Phantom Girl!" Sun Boy paused to clap his hand at Tinya's victory.

"So, y'all want to hear who's lucky enough to almost be as popular as Tinya so’ll be her deputies this year? It'll be no surprise to many that Tyroc has been voted in. Well done Troy, I'm certain you'll be excellent." Dirk applauded again.

"So, bet you're wondering who else?" He glanced to the side again and his expression faltered for a split second before he carried on with a smile, "Our well deserved second deputy leader will be ...Thunder. Cece, you know you deserve this! Well done." He again paused to clap his hands in a show of support.

"Congratulations Tinya, Troy and Cece. Let's hope this year is a successful and stress free one for you all. Now, if anyone wants to join me into Shakes to help celebrate my newly achieved freedom from responsibility I'll see you down there in a couple of minutes..." Again Dirk glanced off camera as he asked "We have rebuilt Shakes already haven't we?"

That night virtually every Legionnaire and member of the support staff made their way to Shakes.

Phantom Girl, Tyroc and Thunder were heartily congratulated by the majority and jokingly commiserated by the others.

Everyone, even those that had not voted for the three winners, were generally happy with the outcome. Gazelle was overheard telling Ferro that she had 'made a mint.'

Rokk had asked Lydda to marry him and she had coyly asked for some time to think about it before bursting out laughing and exclaiming an emphatic ~yes!"

They decided that the less fuss there was around their wedding the better it would be for all.

They booked the service at the very exclusive resort of Starshine on the secluded world of Stratus and told only Garth, Imra and Querl in advance. Their respective families were asked to keep the day free as the two of them might pay a visit and were thinking of going out for a meal so, they added, would be grateful if anyone who wanted to join them dressed smart. Their families knew there was something going on that their request required this caveat though the couple had just replied to their questions that due to their recent adventures there would no doubt be paparazzi around.

And only seven standard days after Rokk Krinn had asked Lydda Jath to be his wife their big day had arrived.

Garth Ranzz stood beside the groom in his suite.

“You okay bud? It doesn’t hurt y’know? Not after the first three or so years anyway...” Garth teased his oldest friend as Rokk struggled with the archaic bow tie that Lydia had insisted he wear.

"Yeah? Only three years? Garth, buddy, Imra's still got you hog tied and running to her whistle so don't say it's otherwise." Rokk gave a quick grin.

"Yeah... you're right but it only took three years for me to figure that out myself that she usually knows best... so... as I just said, it doesn't hurt any more. And, c'mon... it's Imra, of course I'm gonna run when she whistles. You don't need to be her husband for that, all the Legionnaires do ...even the new crowd who only just met her do."

Rokk laughed out loud before agreeing with his friend.

"Lydda's the same, y'know? That smart pragmatic selflessness... they're very similar woman we got."

"Yeah, but mine's prettier..." Garth started to say but stopped and laughed as Rokk gave his oldest friend a mock reproaching look.

"Not by much admittedly, but... y'know..." Garth said as way of an apology.

"Never really went for blondes..." Rokk mused as he struggled with the bow tie. "On Braal there aren't many in the indigenous folks and they're stereotyped as a bit dim and weak... Never believed it myself but I guess it's always been there at the back of my mind.... didn't I ever tell you about that? "

"Don't think so, though I'll let you be the one to tell Imra." Garth replied with a smile.

"Y'know what, I think I'll leave it to you as her husband an' all." They both gave a knowing laugh.

"Hey... tell you what Rokk, I won't tell Imra if you don't tell Lydda what I said, how does that sound to you?"

"Fair enough. There's some things that they don't need to know."

"Knowing our ladies though they probably do already... you do realize that, don't you?" Garth said in mock despondency.

"Yeah, probably..." Rokk agreed as he finally completed the knot correctly to keep the bow in place. There was a silence between them for several seconds.

"Lydda's a lucky girl, you're the most decent person I've ever met Rokk. You'll make a great father one day as well." Garth looked away and tried to surreptitiously wipe at the corners of his eyes. Rokk glanced across at his friend and smiled to himself. The wild tearaway teenager from the agri-world of Winath had mellowed considerably as he had settled into adulthood and being a father. Rokk felt immensely proud of Garth at the moment.

"I'm the one who's lucky Garth, never mind I'm away to marry the prettiest girl in the galaxy - sorry Imra - but just look at the friends I've got at my side as finally say 'I do'. I never would have believed it if you'd told me back in the day this would be my life." Rokk Krinn looked at his oldest friend's face and the years and struggles and adventures and battles all fell away for an instant. The two men knew that for whatever reason, somehow fate had put them together at each others sides through thick and thin and for that they were both very grateful.

They hugged briefly before Garth pulled back and looked at his friend closely.

"Yeah, we're both pretty lucky aren't we? Now... You ready to do this Mister Krinn? You ready to finally make an honest woman of Lydda?"

"Totally... c'mon we'd better get down there before the ladies or we'll never live it down."

"True, we'd better get going."

Both men laughed as they left the suite and made their way towards the chapel.

Imra held Lydda's hands between her own.

"No doubts?" The Titanian said. Lydda thought her friend looked tired, which given what she had just lived through was no surprise, though despite this there was a genuine joy and happiness that shone through Imra's face.

"Duh, no! I'm away to marry the man I've followed across galaxies and the centuries for half my life. If anything it's almost anticlimactic..."

Imra smiled but didn't meet Lydda's eyes. "Rokk is such a solid man Lydda. If he's willing to do this you know it's because every single cell in his body wants to."

"Hey, I know. He's a decent man and it's only taken me fifteen years of badgering to break him down into agreeing to this."

"I thought he asked you?" Imra asked without stopping to think. Lydda arched an eyebrow and gave a knowing smile which made Imra smile in response.

"Took a while for him to get the hint..." The Kathooni heroine said through her smile.

"Yeah, Rokk does have quite some focus to the exclusion of all else when he puts his mind to a task, doesn't he?" Imra gave a small smile as she said this, "You must be really persuasive given you got him to arrive here as quickly as you have." Imra broke into a warm smile.

"Stubborn as a Kathooni Yak... that's what my dad used to say about me, and y'know, he was a smart man was my old dad." Despite her grin Imra could see that there was something else showing on Night Girl's flawless alabaster face, a momentary flicker as if something had bothered Lydda. The Titanian stepped back half a pace and looked straight at her friend. Her mental abilities were still exhausted after the recent battle against Psyche but Imra didn't need telepathy right now.

"You must miss your father. Rokk told me he was quite a character... said he was really smart and funny too." Imra said softly.

"Yeah, he was, my dad was definitely that. He liked Rokk, said he thought he was an A-One Chap! That was his exact words... an A-One Chap, and that was high praise coming from Professor Jath. Told me to treat Rokk with more respect, not bully him into submission liked I used to do to all the other boys." Lydda gave a small laugh as she reminisced. "He told Rokk that there was still time to go find a simpler girl who would listen to him and do what he asked." At this Lydda started to laugh in earnest as she remembered the mild confusion mixed with foreboding panic that had crossed Rokk's face as her father had given his warning. That was over ten years ago, a couple of years before Lydda's father had passed away. That had been the second last time that she had seen her father and the last time they had spoken face-to-face...

"Uh huh, I was the same. My mother warned Garth off, do you know that? Told him not to let me get my own way every time... she actually said I needed to be shouted down when.... when, not if... I got too bossy." Imra pretended to look indignant. "Thankfully Garth never took that particular piece of advice on board." She said this with another warm smile, this time her pride in her husband was very clear.

"Our poor, poor men." Lydda said in mock empathy as she chuckled to herself.

" No Lydda... They're our lucky, lucky men!" Imra said in a defiant tone with a fist held up as if at a rally and a huge grin on her face as she burst into laughter.

"Yeah... yeah you're right Imra. Our lucky, lucky men!" Lydda said back raising her fist in solidarity. The two woman laughed together.

"We'd better go soon." Lydda said as she glanced at the chronometer on the wall.

"Ah... No... no, I don't think so. Let's keep them waiting a little bit longer. We can't let them think we'll come running just because they want us to now, can we?"

"That's true isn't it? After all I don't want to give Rokk any false impressions of how things are going be once we exchange vows, do I?" They both laughed out loud again, sat back down and reached for their respective flutes of champagne.

Imra was unused to alcohol and would normally avoid it but today, among their dear friends and after the horrors they had just survived she enjoyed the relaxing warmth it brought her and she found the urge to laugh was quite cathartic.

Imra had told her husband that it may take their girls until their early teens to have fully functioning psychic shields that would protect them against the mental noise that large events full of excited people generated. So, she had arranged for the girls would be with a nanny for the duration of the day. D'arcy and Dorritt both had nascent telepathic gifts that meant they struggled with crowds right now. After they had been introduced to the Legion and the alternate dimension Justice Legion a couple of months back both girls had suffered from night terrors for weeks afterwards as their infant minds processed the range of experiences and emotions they had encountered.

The boys, Graym and Garridan, on the other hand loved being in the thick of any crowds, the louder and rowdier the better - and Garth and Imra knew exactly who was the right person to keep them from causing too much mischief...

Garth had called his sister that morning and asked her to get herself dressed up and get ready for nephew sitting duty, though when she asked why he had said he was sworn to secrecy.

Ayla had not balked at the offer, it meant that she could spend time with her beloved nephews. They adored her and she was truly smitten by them so it was an arrangement that worked well for everyone. All three loved having their little adventures together and, after taking the three of them through one of Henry's warps to the chapel and informing Ayla what was really going on, Garth reminded his twin not to let the boys play in the garden and mess their suits up or eat too much food before the service.

The two boys loved their aunt so unconditionally that they let her straighten their hair and pull their sleeves to get rid of wrinkles in their small suit's arms.

Ayla didn't recognize the place, with it's reasonably Earth like gravity and pale aqua green skies, the air temperature was warm but nowhere near uncomfortable. Outside of the chapel it looked like they were surrounded by thousands of acres of pastoral paradise. So far she had not met a living member of staff, only AI controlled waiters and cleaners.

Ayla was a little bit surprised that there didn't appear to be anyone else around.

The chapel building itself was really stunning - the white roof swept over the main floor space in an organic shape reminiscent of that of a manta ray. At the far end of the chapel where the bride and groom would stand to give their vows before it flowed upwards in a delicate spike before widening out to cover the assembled guests. Around the edges, between the finger thin struts that held the roof in place, transparent force fields kept the elements from intruding though showed off the sweeping views of manicured hills, a truly magnificent rose garden and copses of brightly leafed trees. These shields were programmed to disperse in door sized holes if anyone wished to leave the building to stroll through the picturesque grounds.

The sun shone brightly directly above the building - the seated crowd would be kept cool in the shade as the dazzling flowers outside drank in the glorious light.

Ayla realized that if she continued in her life as she was living it then she would never have a day like this to enjoy for herself. She missed Salu as much on this day as she had the day her lover had been murdered. And Salu, for all her tough front, would have hated to see Ayla feel this sad. She would have grabbed Ayla's lapels and told her to stop moaning about it and deal with it, do something to change her situation... and Ayla knew that, as painful as it was to contemplate her life without Salu Digby in it, this advice would have been absolutely right.

Ayla left the boys fidgeting in their new suits to walk across to a robo-waiter to take a flute of champagne from the tray it was holding. Without thinking she said her thanks. The robo-waiter did not respond.

She looked into the pale bubbling liquid for a couple of seconds before holding it before her and smiling.

"Salu Digby, you're still in my heart and there'll always be a space there reserved just for you but it's time I found someone else to hold onto in the here and now. I know you understand. So, here's to love, wherever it may be found." And with that quiet and heartfelt toast Ayla threw her head back to gulp the fizzy drink in one large mouthful.

Being unused to drinking as she was, the fizz hit the back of Ayla's throat and bubbled up only to then erupt through her nostrils and spray out in front of her, narrowly missing her dress as it fell.

She snorted abruptly then burst out into laughter so loudly that her nephews came running across to see what was so funny.

"It was nothing really," she explained, "...Just auntie Vi playing one final joke on me." She then laughed and held out her arms wide inviting them to her.

The boys hugged their electric aunt in unison and laughed along with her.

At a predetermined time Querl contacted the team and told them what was away to happen and that they had one hour to get ready if they wished to attend.

Gear would keep watch of the monitor boards of both Legion World Two and the Academy, as all current team members, support staff, tutors and students were invited to attend the wedding of Cosmic Boy and Night Girl.

Pandemonium erupted as a large swathe of those invited made desperate shopping trips to find an outfit to wear or gift to bring. Henry happily opened up warps for them and then collected them immediately when requested.

Zoe Saugin had been running laps with Jazmin Cullen and Deen Toro in the central gym when the announcement was made .

"Oh. My. Stars!" Kinetix came to an abrupt stop. The young telekinetic redhead stamped one of her feet dramatically. "I don't have anything to wear!" She wailed to the uncaring universe.

Kid Quantum and Retro had initially kept running but returned to their friend as she made this announcement and both put an arm around her as they laughed.

"We'll take a flying visit to that mall you like in Metropolis and see what we can find, okay?" Although Jazmin said it seriously there was a twinkle of humour in her eyes.

"But we only have an hour... One hour! Tell me how am I supposed to find an outfit in that little time?" Kinetix' anguished reply. Retro ruffed his friend's red hair as he and Kid Quantum both laughed.

At the same time that Brainiac 5 had announced the impending wedding on Legion World's One and Two, the holo-man Henry appeared before Oodoo Shanair on Weber's World, the Dead Brain on Khundia, Shadow Lass on Talok viii, Atmos on Xanthu, Evolvo on Lallor, the Substitute Legion headquarters on Earth, Soddam Yat on Oa, the Sisters of Lightning on Earth, Thom Kallor and Nura Nal in the Xanthui system, and finally the holo-man from the 75th century appeared before Brek Bannin on Tharr to share the invitation to the diverse teams and former Legionnaires.

All were very happy to be invited and agreed to attend.

Henry said he would return to collect the guests in roughly three quarters of an hour before vanishing.

Thirty minutes later:

Danielle Foccart glanced towards her door.

Glorith and Dragonmage rang the buzzer and the door irised open.

"Danielle, will you join us to the wedding ceremony please?" Xao asked in his quiet voice. The young technopath had grown ...accustomed to him visiting her. He had a courtesy and respect that so few of her teammates shared with their rough questions and pushy body language. He stood just inside the doorway, already in a collarless teal green suit with a glossy black shirt that appeared to be made of scales, his right arm in a sling while his shoulder healed.

Danielle took as second as the symphonic light speed voices of the planetoids AI swept across her consciousness like a wave of a violin concerto. She smiled. The security measures that Querl had arranged for the weeding involved several AI's running a sensor array and comm unit. Alongside Babbage and Glorith there would be enough to keep her mind occupied for a short while at least.

She really did not understand the needs of people when it came to the socialising and the loud ...chaotic behaviour that this sort of celebration would generate. The lack of decorum, order... well, she would endeavour to attend. Perhaps the event would be held somewhere with enough AI technology that she would be fully entertained as well, in her own rather unique way.

She nodded and said "Yes Xao, thank you for thinking of me."

"I'm grateful you are coming too Danielle. There may be some nice desserts we can share." Glorith gave a surprisingly girlish grin as she spoke. Danielle's eyes flickered up to her mystic friend's face and for a second the two young women shared a mischievous smile.

Comet King was disappointed that he could no longer fit into his dress uniform.

The former soldier's body had went through a radical transformation when he gained his comet abilities but Grava came to the rescue as she programmed their apartments AI to scan Drinchnars now lean frame. She then fed this information and the former soldier's uniform into a replicator slot so the planetoids machinery could adjust the outfit to fit. They were not the only Legionnaires that were using this service and the two Comets had to wait nearly ten minutes before the alterations were complete.

"Like ...ohh... novaburst and nebulae, you are so shiny handsome Drinchnar, like breath stealing dark vacuum and ... Sunshine and... oh everything!" Comet Queen had both hands up to her face and tears fell from her wide eyes as she admired her dapper boyfriend.

"No one ever thought that before you Grava, you stellarific being. I'm so grateful you's my galaxtitious girl, so pretty and solar sweet." He smiled lopsidedly as he gave her a tight hug before twirling her in the air.

After they had let go of each other and stepped back onto the dark wooden floor she stood before him and patted his sleeves and the breast of his jacket to straighten out creases.

Comet Queen, in her almost indecently short starfield patterned strapless dress with intricate swirling henna tattoos snaking up both arms, and Comet King, in his crisp white army dress uniform, made a very attractive couple that afternoon. Not that they needed to hear the compliments they received as they saw them reflected in each others eyes.

Many of the guests would comment that the Comets would be the next two Legionnaires to get married as they barely took their eyes of each other for the whole day and danced the evening away in each others arms.

Sun Boy, Chameleon Boy, Thunder and Otaki were the first to step through a warp to the immaculate grounds where the ceremony was to be held.

Dirk held an arm out for Cece to hold. They made a stunning couple; Dirk was resplendent in his flamboyant blood red suit and gold shirt and Cece in her red high necked, sleeveless dress with a golden lace shawl across her shoulders. It would fan the flames of gossip but both enjoyed each others company socially so were happy to be seen together, despite there being no romantic inclination felt by either for the other. Reep and Bina were right behind. The Durlan had assumed a dark charcoal gray suit with coat tails and a foppish white shirt while his psychic teammate wore an elegant dusty aqua blue summer dress, her hair held back into an ornate pony tail with an ornamental fascinator depicting a lilac and white lily flower.

Garth and Rokk met them as they stepped through the warp and handed out flutes of champagne to each guest before showing them to the seating area. Dirk offered his deepest condolences to the groom for a having to now ensure a lifetime of monogamy with a teasing smile that had them all laughing along.

"You're a wicked man Dirk Morgna." Cece said softly as they sat down.

"Gosh, I certainly hope so Cece. I hate to think I go to all this effort and no-one appreciates it." He replied smoothly.

"Cece..." Reep said in a mock tone of regret, "It's a waste of time trying to change him, Tinya's been trying for over a decade now..."

"Change me? Really? Drat! I thought it was just Bgzlters are really bad at flirting... Anyways, what are we doing sitting down when there's a free bar over there?" Dirk said with a huge grin before breaking into a contagious laugh.

Meanwhile, on Earth:

It was while rushing around the sixth shop that they had been into that Jazmin Cullin started to regret saying she would help Zoe Saugin find her ideal outfit... Kid Quantum had already bought her dress (and was wearing it) while Kinetix flapped and squabbled and drove herself crazy in her over excitement and desire to look an unreachable goal of perfection. Five minutes before, Retro had rather cleverly announced that he needed to look into a mans clothing store to find his own outfit, before wishing the two young women luck and vanishing into the crowds.

Forty Minutes later:

The Spear of Artemis stood beside Karate Kid.

The two women were waiting for an anti grav lift to take them to the level where the warp control was housed.

The Amazonian warrior wore a simple slip, pale blue highlighted by bright red ribbon on the seams with a thin black sash tied around her waist and a black silk cloak with golden lining flowed off her shoulders. Her long wavy dark hair, usually tied back in a practical fashion, hung luxuriously down her back and spilled across her shoulders and over her breasts. In her hand Amynta of Nostos ii held a small package. She could see her companion glancing at it.

"It's traditional amongst my people that when a couple announce their commitment to each other that we give them a present that we hope will strengthen their bonds."

Mithindrivithis Ngandraffa of Lythyl smiled and nodded. The small elflike martial artists wore a simple teal green and sky blue jump suit, tight to her androgynous figure, with a broad white belt tied into an ornate brass buckle in such a way that the material resembled a flower. As usual she wore neither gloves nor shoes.

"What have you brought them Amynta?" Karate Kid asked politely.

"Honey from my grandmother's hives. It's sweet and strong with some medicinal uses... it's delightful to eat. I have been keeping this for a special occasion and today seems appropriate."

"You're people are kind. On Lythyl, on a wedding day, we would have offered the couple our sincerest prayers that neither would be slain before they had a child to replace them. I believe your world's traditions are more fitting for this occasion."

Amynta placed a hand compassionately on her fellow legionnaire's shoulder.

Tinya wore a white pant suit with pale blue blouse underneath and a red rose in a button hole on her lapel. She felt out of place but as Rokk was one of her oldest friends she intended to wear her biggest smile and attempt to enjoy the day. She promised herself that regardless what was said or done she would appear to enjoy herself at every step, even though she wanted nothing more than to take a warp home and soak in a hot bath. She knew why she felt like this, as much as she pushed it away... she missed Jo Nah. He would have teased Rokk mercilessly and then Jo would have made sure he had more than his share of the food and drink on offer. It was as she thought this that an unexpected guest stepped through a warp... Phantom Girl felt surprisingly happy to see Soddam Yat.

The ancient Green Lantern had helped the team in the past and she felt that they should make more effort to strengthen the connections between the Legion and the Lanterns. The Bgztler waved the Daxamite over and spent the majority of the day chatting to him and introducing him to her colleagues. They shared their news and stories and had a surprisingly enjoyable time together. There was a little gentle flirting though nothing that anyone would constitute as racy or overly suggestive. Underneath their polite facade's they both understood that something had started this day, something that neither had been looking for or expected...

When he left several hours later Soddam promised that he would be in contact with Tinya soon. Tinya assured him he would be made more than welcome. For the first time in a year, since Jo Nah had been murdered by the possessed daughters of Black Adam, Tinya Wazzo looked forward to seeing a man again for something potentially other than purely Legionnaire business.

A large group of students warped in from the Academy and immediately fell upon the buffet like a biblical plague of locusts.

Wildfire took the students Atomsmasher and Non out into space above the planet. The two students had no real idea why they were here or the importance of marriage betweens humans. Drake wasn't sure if he was the right person to explain but as they spun around the greens and blues of the unspoiled world below he told them as best as he could about how important these events were to their colleagues and the cultures they had come from.

Mon El saw her step from the warp.

Shadow Lass! the Daxamite Legionnaire had not seen or spoken to his former partner in almost a year and it was fair to say that, despite their hurtful split, he missed her.

The Talokean Planetary Champion looked regal in her dark ochre dress with its intricate pleats and folds along the shoulder line and in the small ruff around her neck that trailed down her back. Her hair was worn loose and flowed over her left shoulder in a style that Lar Gand found particularly attractive. Her cousin Grev and his fiance, Kahnya Nahtanie, Lady Memory of the Desert People, were at her side though Lar Gand paid little attention to them.

"Tasmia... I'm very pleased to see you here today."

"Lydda is a good friend Lar... as is Rokk. Why should I not attend their wedding?" Even as she said it Tasmia Mallor realised that her direct answer was not what she really wanted to say. Talokean custom meant that there was little room for subtlety or social nicety that the humans practiced. In truth, her cultural norms had more in common with the Khunds than any of the United Planets main races.

Lar Gand had had many years getting to know the Talokean and understood that her rely was merely a factual assertion, not meant in the aggressive way that many would interpret it.

"Indeed... I agree. Still, I am happy to see you here." He gave a smile and bowed his head respectfully.

Tasmia Mallor gave an unexpected laugh at this strangely formal action and reached out to gently lay her hand on his arm.

"Would you care to join me to the buffet table Lar... it smells divine, even over here."

As the two walked away Grev broke into a big grin and turned to Kahnya and said "Well... those two getting back together is way overdue. Let's keep our fingers crossed Tasmia doesn't act like an ass again this time. Lar deserves someone who will appreciate everything he has to offer, not fritter it away on stupid indiscretions."

Lady Memory gave a subdued smile but didn't reply directly. She knew that Grev Mallor and his cousin Tasmia had a complicated relationship, more defined by perceived planetary duty than any familial bond of love. She had once shared the Daxamite's memories and knew that his own mental state was far more precarious than anything the Mallors would comprehend. He kept a millennia's worth of emotion suppressed behind his cool and aloof façade. Kahnya's thoughts were with Tasmia on this matter as it was Lar Gand's potential actions that scared her far more than any indiscretions Shadow Lass may be tempted into.

Meanwhile, on Earth:

"Oh Zoe, now this hat is perfect!" Jazmin smiled encouragingly.

"I'm not sure... what about the one we saw in..." Zoe took the hat off and began to turn away from the holo-screen.

"No, this one is perfect ...the other was only 'nearly' perfect. Trust me honey you want this hat!" Jazmin smiled but her eyes showed a very different feeling to what she hoped her upturned mouth implied.

Fifty Minutes later:

Somi Gan, also known as Life Lass, and Tal Nahii, Gas Girl, from the Heroes of Lallor had a bet on between them.

They knew that historically their home world was seen as a little bit backwards. It had a pacifistic culture and was mostly renowned for its farming of quality coffee, organic cotton and grapes for wine making. The population was stable and was statistically low on crime. Their world really didn't need the team of meta-beings it had, not compared to say Ventura or Mars or Khundia... so the two heroes were competing to find out which of them would get the most offers to join from other teams present here today.

Both had initially approached Atmos but the Xanthuan Amazer's team leader was simply too interested in recounting his own achievements in a rather vain bid to impress them. Neither had been particularly taken with the idea of being on a team led by such a monumental ego...

Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid had spoken with the Lallorians next and while both Legionnaires were light years more polite and interested in the two mutants recent activities there were no offers forthcoming.

"I think we need to get some alcohol down their necks..." Somi whispered to her friend Tal.

"Down ours too, this is a crazy experience!" Was the giggling reply.

"Ladies!" Sun Boy approached them with his arms held out wide, "Wow! What a pleasure to see you both again." He flashed a wide and perfect grin, before adding quietly, "... especially as you aren't mind controlled and trying to spy on us anymore." He pulled them both towards him for a brief hug. "How are you both? Imra said she didn't have any problems snapping you out of Aven's programming."

Life Lass prodded Dirk gently in the ribs forcing him to instinctively dance away from her.

"Great to see you too, Jerk... I mean Dirk." She said with an equally wide smile though none of the humour or warmth that the Legionnaire exuded.

"Yeah, we're sorry about that... anyway, ummm... wow, we really need to get some champagne now... umm... over there." Gas Girl pointed randomly away from the Legionnaire, her smile leaving her face to be replaced by an expression that hovered somewhere around pity though touched upon both disappointment and mild distaste.

"Hey, sorry, wait please..." Dirk sounded genuinely sorry, "I didn't mean to... y'know... weddings make me nervous, okay? That and drinking three large glasses of that very fine blue fizz from Eschazban in twenty minutes, so I'm probably thinking even less than usual before opening my big stupid mouth. Let me make it up to you, let me uh... introduce you to some of our newer members." The solar powered Legionnaire indicated a group stood by the long buffet table that included half a dozen Legionnaires that had joined the team in the last eighteen months.

"Sure..." "Okay then..." Neither Lallorian sounded entirely convinced though Sun Boy put an arm gently around each woman's waist as he guided them over to meet his colleagues. They were all laughing together by the time they had walked the ten metres to the table and introductions were made between the two Lallorians and the new Legionnaires.

Lexikon and her sister, Princess Shooradel who was currently stationed on Weber's World as part of the Diplomatic party of Nu-Vega, stood slightly apart from the gathering Legionnaires and their friends.

The two Tamaraneans spoke in the unique Tahil dialect of the women of their ruling House on their home world.

"Your teammates appear happy. It must be a light load being amongst them." Shooradel, as the older was first to speak.

"They are more complicated than they appear, though the majority are honourable. Are your colleagues proving to be of much service?"

"They are pleasant... though the one called Quislet is confusing." Shooradel gave a small laugh before continuing, "You are achieving great things. Our aunts have informed me that you bring great honour to our House."

Lexikon smiled. To hear that her family had complimented her to a sibling was a rare treat. "Are you happy sister?" She said in reply.

Princess Shooradel smiled and gave a brief nod. "Like you, I am learning to appreciate those that I have found myself with. They have ...opened my mind to the greater universe's gifts. Being on Weber's World has taught me many wonderful lessons beyond even what the Okaaran's gave us."

"That is good to hear. My time among the Legionnaires has also taught me more than we could ever have expected. Though there is still so much for us to learn." Princess Daheenisha said with a small smile.

The sisters nodded to each other and gave a smile before separating and spending the rest of the afternoon floating amongst the assembled guests, neither quite getting involved with any group for too long before moving on to the next with a polished grace that charmed everyone present.

The Dead Brain was joined by Pressure Point and Deathstorm from his Battle Brigade as well as Gates and Inferno.

Brainiac 5 and the Dead Brain immediately fell into a conversation that left the majority of the guests behind. Whatever it was, it involved a few smiles, a lot of agreement and a surprising amount of laughter. The two geniuses from very different sides of the galaxy were overheard to be discussing the Thanagar Legal Accords, Maravinci's Principles of Stellar Propulsion, the political stability within the Outer Rim being threatened by the recent regicide on M'tran Major, the many uses of a Rigellian widget, the potential opportunities they had to train their teams together, the overuse of trans-fats in human cooking, the workings of the cybernetic arm the Dead Brain had built for Brainiac 5, the Gralx-lichtenstein Conundrum when time traveling, and their respective teams recent adventures. And laugh; both were heard to genuinely laugh.

Ayla stood by the next warp to open with her nephews at her side to welcome guests as they arrived.

Backlash, the Tigerram from Simballi, strode through with Sade, Tyroc, Babbage and Atom Girl close behind.

Ayla threw her arms around the great horned cat's neck in welcome and nuzzled her face into the broad side of his face. She had been the tigerram's mentor when he first joined the team and the two had a strong friendship ever since.

"Whoah!" "Ohmigad!" Her nephews said in obvious awe as the large cat lifted his broad face up to snuggle back against the lighting wielding Winathian. Graym and Garridan were used to Legionnaires but the sight of the powerful horned tiger was a genuine surprise for them. The Legionnaires shared the briefest of telepathic conversations where Ayla asked for a huge favour... Ayla winked at Mrruaw M’Nau and the great cat nodded in return, agreeing to what she had planned for her nephews.

"Right you two," Lightning Lass turned to her nephews who had stepped back from Backlash, "I'm gonna give you an experience that I've never had... not even once."

"What? You've done ev'rything!" Graym said in shock.
"Yeah, you've done ev'rything like twice!" Garridan added.

"Uh huh, perhaps, but not this..." She wrapped her arms around the two boys and picked them up, both squealing in delight, before she plonked them onto Backlash's broad back. The boy fell immediately silent and stared at their aunt in terror for almost a whole second before yelling in their excitement.

"Junior gentlebeings... you are welcome to ride upon my back for as long as you do not scream. I have most sensitive hearing." The Tigerram's deep voice held a warm note of humour. He turned his head around to glance over his shoulder to them before breaking into a grin. "Now... where would you suggest we go first? Ahh... there are some delicious smells of freshly prepared food over in this direction..." With his tail proudly pointing skywards the Tigerram sauntered over towards the long tables draped in white silk that held a wide range of food stuffs.

Garridan and Graym yelled in excitement before being shooshed by their aunt who strolled along beside them. Backlash laughed in a deep, reverberating tone that tickled the boys as they clung on.

The Ranzz boy's eyes were wide and their grins huge as the giggled and plotted and played and laughed their way through the afternoon on the back of their most impressive horned tiger steed.

Fire Lad and Colour Kid wore matching black tuxedos, though Ulu's frilled shirt flickered with changing colours. As co-leaders of the Substitute team they were first to arrive from their organisation, quickly followed by Rainbow Girl, Gorilla Girl and Chlorophyll Kid. Comet Queen saw them arrive and flew at her former teammates to wrap them in hugs. Comet King stood behind the group and gave both Staq and Ral severely stern looks while he chatted with Hyper Boy as the rest of the Subs arrived.

Stone Boy, Vacuum Lass, Flat Lass and Beetle Boy all made their way to the buffet table and were soon joining in with a happy conversation where members of various organisations shared outrageous and amusing anecdotes about their adventures.

Crystal Kid stood back a little from the group. He felt that his leaving the role of a trainer at the academy to join the Subs may have lessened the respect that he might otherwise have been given. Tellus lumbered up beside the young hero and asked if he too found the hubbub of crowds to be sometimes overwhelming. Bbob Kohan smiled as he replied. The Legionnaire had shown no hostility or unease around him... maybe it was as his therapist suggested and the feelings of being unworthy he suffered from were entirely in his own head. Bbob certainly hoped so!

Meanwhile, on Earth:

“Zoe... trust me, you don’t want to wear heels like that for too long.” Jazmin stated in horror at the seven inch heels on the shoes Zoe was admiring.

“But these are...”

“Unsuitable honey, they are unsuitable so let’s go back to the fourth pair we looked at...”

“I’m not sure Jaz, what if...” Zoe started to whine.

“Trust me please...” a note of exasperation snuck into Jasmin Cullen’s voice. “Please sweetie, we don’t have too much longer...”

“What about perfume, I need to smell my best,” Zoe looked around distracted again as this thought came out.

Jasmin Cullen groaned.

Fifty five minutes later:

Chemical Kid put his arms out to give Polar Boy a hug, but instead of reciprocating Brek shoved a hand out in front of himself for his former colleague to shake.

"Brek, buddy... You okay? We missed you..."

"Yeah... Cool, you?" Before Hadru could answer Brek pointed across his shoulder and said, "Hey! Free bar, you still do your catalytic alcohol neutralising magic schmagic on a bod?"

Hadru paused for a long second before replying, "No... ah... Not really. Ummm... Y'know, I promised Marya I'd help her out with something so can't hang about. Laters bud, be kind to yourself, eh?"

Chemical Kid spent most of the ceremony beside Dragonwing, Hethuk and the visiting shadow champions from Talok VIII.

Polar Boy was warped home three and a half hours later after he fell asleep under a table.

The delegates from Khundia had been at the reception for ten minutes before XS arrived. She immediately rushed up to Gates and quickly asked him what he had been doing for the last six months. Before he could get more than twenty words out Jenni excitedly started telling him about her fiancé, the other dimensions Cosmic Kid. Gates sighed as Sandy Anderson laughed, made her excuses and left them to catch up with each others news.

Meanwhile, Cosmic Kid thoroughly enjoyed the buffet.

Glorith and Dragonmage, with Danielle Foccart just behind, approached Pressure Point, the Khundian mystic that specialised in gravity manipulating magic.

The pink haired Khundian mystic bowed her head towards the Legionnaires; a rare sign of subservience from one of her people. Glorith mirrored the move while Dragonmage smiled and waved a hand as acknowledgement. The three mystics spent much of the day together while Danielle happily stayed in the side lines. Glorith and her shared half a dozen desserts which both thoroughly enjoyed. Pressue Point discovered the delights of white rum and coconut water while Dragonmage introduced her to his fellow Legionnaires and the wide range of guests. They were spotted hugging later on though afterwards no one could say whether or not the Legionnaire and the Khund had left together.

Power Boy and Gravity Kid shared their own wedding story to the group around them.

They had both been students at the Academy and initially had not gotten on very well. Jed thought Tel was a snob while Tel had found Jed to be slovenly and rude... they both said together "Nothing's changed!" which raised a few laughs. Not long after their initial meeting they had been sent on a training mission alongside several of their fellow students to Luna prison to help assist in what should have been fairly basic transfers when a prisoner had tried to escape. Despite not really knowing each other they had worked well together to capture the runaway convict. Afterwards Jed had invited Tel to a small restaurant he knew about in Maine, the same one they had taken Jenni and Po a couple of months ago, to apologise for his initial behaviour. As the night progressed it became obvious to both that they were going to be friends and very probably more...

It took them eight months to decide to get married and once they had agreed a date they booked a small chapel in Parisopolis, "the most romantic place we could think of..." Jed added with a small smile. Night Girl and Duplicate Girl had given the boys away while the students and tutors at the Academy had been their guests. It had been a small ceremony with little fuss; they had all went for a meal on a boat floating on the Seine afterwards.

The newly married students had been given a week off before they were due to return. On the day after they returned from their honeymoon Jed had been sent to Zerox with Lydda to pick up Glorith while Tel remained in Montauk Point studying with his peers.

Dragonwing told the two young men that it had been the first wedding she had ever been to and until then she had never thought that, as a freak, she would have the opportunity to do the same but seeing them plan their lives toether while going through everything they were at the Academy gave her hope. Hethuk pulled Marya into an embrace and kissed her on the lips which raised a few cheers from the group.

M'Windaji remained very quiet and tried to avoid eye contact with his colleagues while this conversation took place.

Dr Shakespeare stepped through a warp. He only planned on staying until after the service as he wanted to use the time to look in on Element Lad, Titan and Kid Pulsar on Winath. Actually, that wasn't true, he only really wanted to see Jan... Kent spotted Drura, Jacques, Kara and Querl stood at the edge of a long buffet table and wandered over to chat with them before the main event took place.

The Dead Brain, Gazelle and Ferro stood to one side.

"If you feel that it would benefit us all I would be happy to request authorisation from the Most Dread Emperor for another year on secondment to the Legion." The dwarven warlord from Khund Prime gave a wide grin as he said this, mischief twinkled in his dark eyes.

"You w're always gonna let her stay, weren't you? Why the games?" Douglas Nolan said shortly.

"No... no, I was not." The Dead Brain turned to look at the Legionnaire, all trace of warmth gone, "...but if J'izl truly believes it is for the best then I respect her opinions enough to consider them. The seconding of members between the empire's Battle Brigade and your Legion has been successful in educating both of our respective governments that cooperation is possible between our peoples despite the wounds and scars of our shared history, but that does not mean that this cooperation is always appreciated. I am as much a political shield for my organisation as your own senior team are for yours, but even our determination and good wishes must bend sometimes in the face of our master's whims. And those whims can change in a heartbeat." There was an edge of challenge in the reply. The leader of the Khundian Battle Brigade had not liked the Legionnaires attitude and made it obvious that he did not need to acquiesce to Gazelle's request to stay with the Legionnaires, or that Ferro join her if she needed to return.

"Still..." The Dead Brain continued, "surely today is about celebrating the positives so let's focus on those..." With that he walked away and approached Brainiac 5 and Phantom Girl at a side table.

"Doug..." Gazelle began.

"This is rubbish J'izl, you know that. They're playing games with us." Ferro said quietly.

"You are not a Khund Doug, I do not need you to fight this for me so stop this petulance. It is unworthy of a hero ...or even a grown man. The Warlord did not need to hear my request, let alone grant it. We are warriors of our respective states and as such should be prepared to be sent wherever they deem fit. Now, get me some of that white rum and we can make out in the gardens." She ended with a smile, it was ferociously suggestive, loaded with promise.

"I love how direct you Khunds are... petulance well and truly stopped and one large white rum coming up ma'am." Ferro smiled broadly and laughed as he skipped across to the bar. Gazelle was unlike any woman he had ever met in any reality and he intended to spend as much time as he possibly could with her - political gamesmanship aside - while they had the opportunity. He may even apologise to the Dead Brain later and thank him for agreeing to consider allowing J'izl to stay with the team. But right now Douglas Nolan had free alcohol and making out to think of... if there was one thing he had learned in his adventurous life it was he should make more effort to enjoy the rare perfect moments when they came up and let everything else wait.

Thunder and her sister Olympia wandered around the groups of guests arm-in-arm.

Olympia, the oldest of Black Adam daughters, wore her standard outfit though had strategically added a few large flowers into her hair.

Neither had been close in the past when they were part of the 21st century loose knit organisation called the Sisterhood of Lightning though mostly due to circumstances rather than any personal reason. For one thing, Thunder had been based on Earth while Olympia was part of a space based group. Olympia, as the oldest of the sisters had been automatically placed in a leadership position, but amongst a group that shared the wisdom of Solomon there was only rare cases when she had to pull rank. Still, this position meant Olympia was often distant emotionally from her sisters. As Thunder had been one of the last of the sisterhood to discover her mystical heritage they had never had much opportunity to get to know each other to any real degree.

The two powerful women shared news and staryed to gossip about their respective teams and each laughed loudly as they learned that they had for more in common than they had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, on Earth:

“Seriously Zoe, I am not going back to the mall... no way, not at all, nil, zip and never! And neither are you!”

“Just for two minutes... please,”

“No, you have one minute to finish getting ready. One. Minute. Only! Got it?”

Fifty nine minutes and fifty five seconds later:

Almost exactly an hour after the announcement of the wedding had been made to the Legionnaires Zoe Saugin and Jazmin Cullen stepped through a warp.

They were the last two to arrive and Retro and Thirteen stood waiting in similar dark tuxedoes with flutes of champagne for the two women. Otaki, Comet Queen and Ming Sul clapped and cheered while Kinetix gave a twirl to show off the outfit she wore. On her head Zoe had a wide brimmed ivory silk sheer sun hat with an elegant emerald ribbon artfully tied in a bow to one side, over her shoulder she had flung a short golden cloak embroidered with the outlines of green and lavender sunflowers while her dress was in the same deep emerald as her hat's bow with a simple repeating pattern of glorious sunflowers that slowly rotated against the intelligent cloth. She wore gold coloured Roman sandals with the laces criss-crossing up her calf to be tied under her knees. On her left wrist there were several dozen thin bracelets, mainly in gold though a few echoed the colours from her dress and tinkled gently like small bells playing the Wedding March by Mendelssohn as she moved. She smelled like Spring.

Through the crowd a tall, overly muscular woman with green skin wearing a white puff ball dress with intricate diamante ptterns and huge shoulder pads covered in swirls of delicate snow white chiffon cut to resemble feathers as well as a tall hat, also in white, with delicate wire snowdrop flowers draping over the top, strode towards the group. The so-called Monstress from the Amazers awkwardly made her way towards Zoe and gasped, putting her slab like hands over her mouth as she did.

"Sweetie, that is the most perfect outfit. Please tell me who your designer is, oh please... I beg you!" Her feminine voice surprised Zoe. The Legionnaire knew of the Amazers but had never imagined that the one that looked most likely to fight space dragons to a standstill would appreciate such fine things as high fashion!

"I designed it myself." Zoe said proudly.

"Darlin'... oh my darlin' legionnaire, you know I believe this is the start of a truly beautiful friendship." Candi Pyponte-Le Pac ii purred.

Jazmin Cullen wore a simple summer dress of dusty aqua blue and as she noticed the incredible similarity of Bina Nawoti's outfit the young woman from Xanthu felt a momentary flash of embarrassment. The young psychic smiled broadly at the Xanthuan and they had a brief hug followed by much laughter and humorous compliments on the originality and quality of each others outfit. The two young women spent much of the afternoon hanging out together and made jokes to anyone who spoke with them that now the secret was out they could officially tell everyone that they were actually long lost twins. Not all of their fellow guests understood their humour.

The service started several long minutes later than expected as Lydda arrived late.

The smile on Imra's face and the relief on Rokk's was enough to stop anyone from questioning the bride to be's timekeeping skills.

Lydda looked elegant in her figure hugging full length ivory white silk dress. She had a small fascinator shaped as a crescent moon in her hair that held her veil in place. Her long opera gloves were of the same material as her dress with pearl bracelets on each wrist. She walked slowly down the aisle towards her husband-to-be to appreciative comments and nods from the assembled heroes and family. Her hair was held up off her shoulders in a roll of braids that made it appear to be as a crashing wave were rising over the top of her head.

Imra Ardeen followed in an equally simple - and stunning - sky blue silk dress with a belt that appeared to be made of bone carved to look like the sequence of the moon. The Titanian did not wear gloves or a veil, though her hair was held up in a similar fashion to Lydda's.

Behind them, four of Lournu Durgo-Taines selves followed, each wearing long pale lavender dresses with intricate white flower motifs and orange sashes around their waists.

Querl Dox surprised everyone present as he stood up to carry out the service. The Coluan wore a dark charcoal grey suit with a flamboyantly cuffed white shirt. A red rose was attached to his jacket's button hole in his left lapel. Kara, in a short bright blue summer dress with a cream lace shawl ornately detailed around the seams across her shoulders, had made sure to firmly brush his hair before they had warped here.

The vows were exchanged quickly with both parties giving a brief statement of their love for each other as they held hands and gazed intently into each other's faces.

"Lydda... you have been the one constant source of light in my life for the last fifteen years. We have travelled to distant worlds, other times and alternate realities. We have worked together and been too far apart. You're honesty and devotion are as inspirational to me now as they were when we first met and I will always love you. By agreeing to marry me you have made me the happiest man alive today... here or on any planet. I love you Lydda Jath and swear to fight to sustain that love through whatever the universe might throw at us in our days and years together.”

Rokk Krinn wiped a small tear gently from Lydda's eye and smiled proudly.

"Rokk... I only tried to become a hero because of you and it has only through your faith and support that I have reached that potential. I always knew I wanted you in my life but I never guessed that you would become my life. I need you to know that your asking me to marry you has made me feel complete, after years of thinking my life could not get any better you have helped me achieve that. I love you Rokk Krinn with each breath and beat of my heart and look forward to the adventures we have together after today, wherever ...or whenever they take us."

Immediately after Querl Dox had pronounced them husband and wife there was an unnervingly loud honking noise from the rear of the assembled guests as the Monstress blew her nose in a vain attempt to stop her tears.

The whole congregation laughed in shared surprise and relief.

Lightning Lad's Best Man speech had been funny, sweet and mocking in equal measure and several of the newer Legionnaires and students were surprised at the stories he told as they painted a very different picture to what they assumed the rather stern Founder had been like - for one thing, he seemed to have laughed a lot back in the day! Imra gave a short and sweet story as her Maid of Honour speech, slightly teasing but ultimately encouraging of her Kathooni friend. The two women hugged after it was finished to a spontaneous applause.

Rokk and Lydda had sat through these public displays of humiliation and affection with grins on their faces and gave laughs and nods of agreement as various, not always flattering, points were raised. When it came to their speeches no-one was surprised as the newly weds thanked their many wondrous friends and family and announced that they were taking a month's leave to go on a travelling honeymoon, out beyond the Rim worlds. Both stressed that they would be beyond the reach of flight ring comms so not to bother disturbing them. They ended by thanking their new spouses and asking their guests to stay and enjoy the rest of the evening.

After Rokk and Lydda had taken a slow dance together the music changed to a well known up-tempo number and the dance floor very quickly became swamped.

Power Boy jumped up to the dance floor though several seconds after beginning a rather suggestive grinding groove he collided with Amp Girl and they both ended up in a heap on the floor. Everyone laughed, including the two of them, as Gravity Kid floated his husband and the poor girl he had landed on top of over to a nearby couch where Thirteen and Retro were already pouring tall flutes of champagne for the embarrassed Legionnaire and Investigative Officer. There were no hard feelings and Jed and Ming spontaneously got into a rather comedic dance-off which had their friends in fit of laughter as it got more and more outrageous and suggestive. Tel Vole blushed several times though laughed just as hard as anyone else.

Dream Girl and Star Boy left the party quite quickly. Their daughter, Matti, was furiously tired and was fearless in announcing it as only a baby could, so the decision was made to take her back home to save her, them and everyone else from unnecessary stress as the baby's howls got louder and more frequent. Nura gave Rokk a small parcel from her sister with a mischievous smile saying to keep it until he knew they'd have privacy for at least eight hours. Lydda laughter behind a hand as Rokk blushed and said his thanks. Both former Legionnaires made a point of inviting many of the guests to visit them on their satellite home before stepping through their warp home.

For the majority of the evening Ayla dominated the dance floor. The electric woman from Winath showed her teammates old and new that she could move! Thirteen danced with her but even the gorgeous man from Naltor couldn't keep up with her stylish moves for long. From classics of the last fifty years through to modern jagged-dance, she stomped and pirouetted and strutted and swung and swayed and shook and struck poses and tapped and wiggled and shimmied and shook and twisted and turned the night away with the biggest grin imaginable on her face.

The whole while, her nephews attempted to imitate their aunts display in between stealthy raids on the buffet and playing various ad-hoc games that they had invented that invariable involved climbing, running, hiding and jumping from one plush arrangement of furniture onto another.

The great feline Legionnaire Backlash showed incredible patience and good natured humour as he joined in with the twin boy's food theft and rowdy playfulness. At times it may even have seemed as if the feline Legionnaire positively encouraged their mischievous behaviour...

Dawnstar had enjoyed the wedding ceremony but found the loud music and flashing lights that had started afterwards to be unpleasant rather than entertaining. She stepped outside and stood there, under the darkening evening sky for a couple of seconds. She knew her personality was not one that sparkled at these sort of social events and that as much as her teammates thought of her as a worthy comrade and even as a friend they would not miss her where she to leave now. The winged Legionnaire took a final glance inside and as she did caught the eye of the student from Starhaven called Southern Lights. They both gave small smiles and a nod of acknowledgement. For a brief moment she felt an urge to return to the party and talk to him - while he was from a southern tribe that practiced mysticism that her own did not follow he at least would understand her, probably better than most of her teammates due to their shared cultural heritage. He was also very handsome... though still so young... With that thought Dawnstar of Starhaven shook her head before looking up towards the sky above. She flapped her wings and sped up into the outer atmosphere and within seconds was hundreds of klicks away from the party below. Being out of the planets gravity well and with her own hyper awareness kicking in she felt at peace again. While her colleagues would be asking Henry for warps back home all night she decided to make her own way back under her own power, alone.

Kara took Querl up to the dance floor where, after initially seeming shy, he surprised everyone by busting quite a few rather stunning moves. They left not long afterwards. Kara winked at Cecelia Becks just before they stepped through their warp home. Cece turned to her older sister and smiled before explaining that the Kryptonian had been feeling awful that Psyche had taken control over her so needed a night of fun to help her get over the trauma.

Olympia surprised Cece by saying she wouldn't mind a night of fun with a cute man as well, before casually asking if there were any present that Cece could recommend. They both pretended to be shocked by the question for a couple of seconds before cracking up laughing.

Deathstorm of the Khundian Battle Brigade and the imperious (some might even say arrogant) Academy student called Starstorm were spotted standing together.

The student was wearing a spectacularly low cut dress which the Khund warrior was blatantly staring down. He hadn't noticed the subtle pleat work, puffed sleeves or short cloak with small crown and star insignias in amongst the asymmetric pattern as it was only the absence, not the presence, of the student's dress that interested him. She laughed and flicked her hair back while pushing her ample bosom further forward towards him. He smiled predatorily and flexed his extremely large upper arm and chest muscles. She artfully glanced down at his feet before slowly looking at every muscle and pronounced part of his body as her eyes made their way up his legs and torso to meet his dark eyes. He smiled at her, a confidently victorious smile. She flicked her hair back again before smiling demurely in return.

They left together only minutes later.

Atom Girl initially sat beside Slingshot but as the evening progressed they had drifted apart to speak with the respective friends. Sylva was stood at one of the bars with Ming Sul, Jazmin Cullen, Deen Toro and Dann Hortra when she realised that she really just wanted to spend the evening speaking with Prince Alfon Gundrix Maunheesta of the Grindlaw Colonies rather than the people she effectively worked with. The Imskian Legionnaire excused herself and went looking for her student lover. The prince from the Outer Rim Worlds was with several of his fellow trainees from the Academy, all huddled together talking intently amongst themselves.

It wasn't until afterwards that Sylva thought they looked like they had been plotting, but as they had all cheered when she interrupted them and Prince Alfron immediately hugged her and said they must dance she put it to the back of her mind as instead she focused on the fun to be had there and then.

Danielle Foccart was tired. It was rare that her physical body would affect her so, though she admitted to herself that the day had been beautiful, in a strangely chaotic and loud manner. The food she had shared with Glorith had been delightful and the local AI's present had been pleasant, if slightly primitive, company when her sorceress friend was otherwise engaged. The young Technopath settled onto a wide padded seat, next to where the Robotican Babbage was standing and drifted into a light and comfortable sleep. Half an hour later she was not aware of being carried through a warp by Babbage and gently placed into her own bed.

Timber Wolf stood at the bar, his tuxedo felt too tight and his shirt collar made his neck itch, as a slightly drunken Duplicate Boy walked over and began to chat. Brin had never spent time with the Lallorian and wasn't really in the mood to make polite chit chat but the conversation quickly got around to Ord Quelu's mistaking Yera's impersonating Salu Digby as some Legion espionage squad thing and how if he could take time back he'd go back after her and not wait for her to find love in someone else's arms...

The two men both looked at Ayla strutting across the dance floor after that for several long seconds before the Zuunian Legionnaire turned to the Lallorian hero and said, "Thank you Ord, you just helped me make up my mind..." Duplicate Boy smiled in reply but didn't really understand what his new friend from the Legion was on about.

Saturn Girl sat with her head rested on her husband's shoulder.

"You alright there Imra?" Garth Ranzz asked his wife.

"Today has been perfect... I'm so happy for Rokk and Lydda." She replied.

"Ah hah... But?" Lighting Lad knew his wife well enough to know when she was avoiding a question.

"But... I was wondering why we never had a decent party like this?"

"Time travel shenanigans, remember? And most of the team were too young to legally drink anywhere except possibly Rimbor or the Outer Rim. Certainly, nowhere civilised..."

"That wouldn't have stopped them." She replied a little belligerently.

"No, but it would have stopped Brande from paying for it... "

"Ah... that's very true. You're a very canny man Garth Ranzz." She reached up and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

"That's why I chose to marry you Imra, that's why I chose you." He replied with a wide grin.

"Whoah... correct response Mister Ranzz. Damn, but you're good." She smiled as she gently kissed the tip of his nose before slipping her head down to rest on his chest. Garth laughed, it was rare Imra drank alcohol but he always appreciated how openly affectionate she became when she did. He really was a very lucky man...

Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass sat together in a quiet nook, both spoke softly as they shared stories, laughter and an oversized carafe of Jandoovian Pale Chardonnay. No-one saw them leave together.

Gim and Yera Allon danced for a while before retiring to one of the plush booths at the side of the dance floor. As they sat down the swarm being called Starkling flew in and formed a vaguely humanoid form.

<There are thoughts of great contentment and shared joy at this event> It sent telepathically as way of greeting <Was your joining ceremony as positively affirming to the team?>

Yera laughed as Gim awkwardly replied "ah... that's a long story buddy, perhaps we could save it for another day."

Several of the students had gotten into a serious drinking competition before Sun Boy casually intimated that he may drop by the Academy the next morning to spring a 0500 hours combat drill. The students quickly started calling for warps back to the Academy and their apartments.

As they did, Life Lass whispered her question to the Legionnaire; was he seriously going to do that? Dirk laughed out loud, almost spilling the drink in his hand as he did. No flippin' way, he replied, he planned on be tucked up with a seriously pretty brunette he knew... The Lallorian smiled and told him that that was alright then, though, she asked, where did he plan on finding a pretty brunette that would want to spend the night with him?

Dirk smiled his galaxy famous smile at her before he whispered his reply into her ear. Life Lass blinked her eyes in surprise before breaking out into a Cheshire Cat wide smile and putting her arm around his waist possessively. Dirk smiled and put an arm around her in return.

Poop-da-doop-da-poop... Quizlet flew by. The intra-dimensional being had been performing aerial gymnastic loops and spins and dives and rolls to the music, apparently oblivious to the rest of the dance floors occupants as it wove its wave through the dance floor occupants to its own crazy beat.

No one minded. At least it wasn't causing mischief.

M'windaji was just away to leave when he bumped into Kinetix. They had not spoken since he had returned from Kiringyaga and there was an awkward second as neither quite new what to say. Before he could start Zoe smiled, patted Gahaji on the arm and turned away in a flourish before skipping across to join Jazmin, Ming and Candi. The three women had watched the silent exchanged and cheered their friend as she joined them. Gahaji called for a warp back to Legion World Two and headed to his quarters, alone.

Gas Girl and Retro had been getting closer and closer all evening; initially talking, then dancing, then a little flirting, then a small amount of playful kissing, then more kissing alongside a bit of hugging until they finally made an excuse of wanting to check out the architecture on Legion World Two before skedaddling through a warp in fits of giggles. They didn't fool anyone. Several of their colleagues cheered.

Ayla continued to dance while her two nephews lay on a plush rug on the floor near the back of the chapel, their heads rested on the great tigerram's furry stomach as Mrrauw lay beside them watching the festivities around them. The boy's gave out little snores as they finally drifted off to sleep. Backlash purred.

Tyroc had danced with Monica Sade for quite a while before walking off the dance floor to grab a drink. The Rimborian teleporter appeared before her boyfriend with a pop! His silver Zoot suit shone in the lights while the intricate diamonte sequins on the lapels of her deep mauve pant suit reflected the light like a glitter ball.

"Where do you think you're going mister?" Sade asked with a teasing grin.

"Just takin' a breather..." Tyroc said as he sipped his tall drink. "Y' do want me t' have some energy left... y'know, f'r afterwards?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Sade took a few seconds to consider his words before giving a small shrug and smile, "When you put it that way, I suppose I'd best get a drink too."

"Tha's my girl." Troy Stewart said with a mischievous grin.

As the night wound down the music tempo slowed and more and more guests left. Cosmic Boy and Night Girl had left three hours earlier. Lightning Lad had put an arm under his wife's and she leaned on him as they went to collect their boys. Backlash had insisted that the two boys were put on his back and he join them through the warp to Winath. The tigerram from Simballi made sure his young charges got home safe and sound, right to their beds.

Mon El and Shadow Lass left together. They tried not to make a scene but just as the warp spun into the air before them several of the more junior team members were walking past. As the warp closed the two Legionnaires could hear giggling.

Sun Boy laughed uproariously as Life Lass animated his shirt and trousers with her abilities. Quite a few of their fellow guests shared an understanding smile at what was obviously happening between the Legionnaire and the Lallorian hero. Dirk continued to live up to his legend...

Ayla danced to her own standards as the Monstress and Insect Queen tried to teach several others the latest dance craze from Xanthu. Both heroes from the distant astronomers world were possibly more than slightly inebriated and ended up in fits of laughter as they forgot and disagreed over the steps and resorted to obviously making it up, much to the amusement of their fellow guests.

Thirteen strode through the warp straight into his own quarters. Kinetix had casually tried to invite herself along but he had easily brushed her off without being rude. Dann Hortra was beginning to feel a little drunk. In the mirror he could see his chin expand out before snapping back to its altered form. It reminded him of a bull frog in mating season. Dann knew he shouldn't get drunk as his control would easily slip but the evening had been so happy that he had just run with it. Brin was right, he was aware that his teammates wouldn't judge his true form but simply preferred the one he currently wore so if that meant avoiding alcohol then that was an easy choice to make. He had never really let his hair down on Naltor as the High Seers Court was a dangerous place to be so unguarded, so nights like this one were very special to the young man. Dann Hortra smiled contentedly as he lay down on his bed and slipped off into sleep.

Evolvo and Amp Girl slow danced. They were both on the drunken side of easy equilibrium and happy in the warm bubble of enjoyment that the day had brought to them. Neither had planned for anything like this, or even hoped for this to happen, but they knew with the drunken certainty that successful wedding celebrations give to couples who had only just met that day that they would be seeing a lot more of each other after this night.

They both hoped so anyway.

Ayla called for a warp home and as it spun into existence before her shouted her thanks to the remaining guests for being part of the best night she could remember in a year. Several people cheered her as she stepped through. Everyone present was in awe of her skill on the dance floor and her seemingly limitless stamina. None of them saw the tears she cried when she returned to her dark apartment.

Gravity Kid gently floated Power Boy out through a warp. For all his muscle mass the large purple skinned young man had a seriously low tolerance to alcohol so his husband knew that the sooner he got him back to their apartment, showered and into bed, the better it would be for both of them in the morning.

It was Chemical Kid who rounded up the remaining guests and suggested they continue partying in Shakes Bar on Legion World Two. Surprising herself, Kid Quantum loudly agreed with the Phlonite and was the first to follow him through the warp with a rousing cheer. Virtually everyone else who was left cheered as they followed them through the warp. The Khund known as Sentinel who was part of Brainiac 5's unofficial team based on Weber's World grabbed three bottles of champagne and two of white rum before he followed the rest of the guests through Henry's warp. He had learned how to make himself popular...

Comet Queen and her dapper ex-soldier King had been slowly rotating as they hung in the air above the rest of the guests holding tightly onto each other, their faces interlocked at their lips.

They were the last two to leave.

Two days after the wedding:

Phantom Girl, as the newly re-elected leader of the Legion, along with Brainiac 5 and Lexikon, stood on a raised dais under harsh lighting. The Bgztler held herself upright and still, never taking her eyes of the many beings assembled before her. Her stance was one that exuded complete confidence and casual command of the situation; It was not at all what she felt inside.

Before the Legionnaires, sat in rows of raised pods and tables, were the assembled United Planets Senate. Also present were representatives from three of the major Media broadcasters, the UP Armed Forces, Star Fleet and the Science Police. Three days before, the Legion had given each the evidence that Brainiac 5, Danielle Foccart and Imra Arden had collected on the influence Psyche had exhibited on their respective organisations. The Legion had also requested politely that they hold this meeting behind closed doors as soon as possible. None had refuted the evidence or refused the invitation.

The Legionnaires had been here for almost two hours and while initially it had appeared that the meeting would go smoothly in the last half hour tempers on both sides had begun to fray as they discussed the consequences of the recent manipulation by the rogue extra-dimensional empath called Psyche.

Tinya was glad that she had the Coluan and Tamaranean with her as both had far more finesse when dealing with the matters at hand than she would ever hope to. So far Querl had brokered a deal whereby representatives from Colu would be given access to the Naltorian High Council and the Titanian Refugees settlement to assist with recovery from Psyche's malign influence. There was a brief conversation about the Titan-Net system coming out of mothballs but the Legionnaire had quickly parked that distraction and moved on. The matter in hand at that point had been the potential security flaws that had been exposed by Psyche's manipulation of those two influential psionic peoples. Lexikon had reminded the assembled dignitaries and senators that had the evil empath not been so focussed on destroying the Legion she may have kept control for years before being discovered. Of course, everyone present understood this before she had mentioned it but by spelling it out the Legionnaire hoped to force their recognition that galactic security could be undermined without their knowing and that the Legion had been the ones who had stopped it.

The conversation moved on to one that Tinya was particularly interested in: the Legion had offered to host the meta-training facilities for both Star Fleet and the Science Police in the Academy on Legion World One. The Academy could comfortably accommodate up to seven hundred potential students at a time and would hold courses to introduce them to the basics of law enforcement, people management, combat situations tailored to the students particular abilities as well as introducing the students to a wider range of beings and career options that they would ever usually get at their respective training. It would also, Querl pointed out, help build bridges between future Legionnaires and the various law enforcement agencies in this section of the Milky way.

The argument had dragged on and bounced back and forward for too long, Tinya thought, though she knew better than to interrupt Querl. Currently, the Legion were offering four month long semester slots with the option to remain on at the Academy afterwards if the student's grades were deemed sufficient to impress the Legion.

"So you want us to hand over training our staff and then you goddamn well cherry pick the best of them afterwards?" The question from the Xanthui representative was not unexpected.

"No senator, my sincerest apologies if you have misunderstood" Querl Dox said softly, as speaking to a child "...We expect you to support us as we introduce a program that ensures your meta-agents are never turned so easily against your own planetary best interests again by a rogue element and thereby avoid further embarrassment for this esteemed hegemony."

Tinya lowered her face and smiled to herself.

It took another two hours, by which time Phantom Girl felt as if she was in serious need of weekend spa to clean the political scum off of her skin... the deals had been done though and she knew that in future any attempt to undermine the galactic law enforcement agencies would be far more difficult to achieve. The Legion would accept a small team of the Science Police's meta staff to join their ranks as well as a representative from the UP Armed Forces who would also sit in with the Senior Team at all briefings. They had expected as much and were open to the idea.

Tinya and the Senior Team would have an open line to all top brass senior staff within both the senate and the respective law enforcement agencies. The Galactic Media had been firmly censured and all opinion pieces on the Legion's activity were to be curtailed for the foreseeable future. Finally, and to Tinya's mind most importantly, the Academy would host meta-students from each area of the United Planets security and law enforcement regimes for a minimum of one semester as part of their training. She knew that in doing so they would have a greater role in ensuring that meta-beings from throughout the galaxy would be exposed to and perhaps follow the Legion's ethos of inclusive law enforcement.

Phantom Girl also had every intention of goddamn well cherry picking the best of the students for her team.

"Everyone... Come on we need to discuss these students seriously, so if you've finished chatting I'd appreciate your attention. Look, Tinya asked me to chair this today while she's off dealing with the UP... I'd rather be off recovering from Rokk and Lydda's party much like the rest of you but we need to do this, so, get yourself comfortable as this might be a long morning. The students don't know yet that we're springing this surprise try-out on them so when they get here in an hour we need to be ready. We want to have any new members settled in before the Science Police arrive with their team in a couple of days..." Sun Boy announced.

There were several groans and complaints about the incoming Science Police team but Dirk ignored them. The Legion needed official support right now while recovering from recent troubles. The battle with Psyche had left the team, the Science Police and the UP armed forces in a weakened state as they scrabbled to resume order. In a spirit of understanding the senior team had agreed to allow some of the SP's meta team on board both Legion World Two and the Academy while they all rebuilt their reputation and good standing in the eyes of the watching galaxy. The closer ties between the organisations that the sharing of staff brought would make any future manipulation easier to root out... at least, that was the thinking behind this new endeavor. Dirk wasn't so sure...

The Legion hadn't been told yet who they would be sent to replace Jed and Tel as they would be leaving later that day but, regardless, Dirk wanted to show the team at its very best when the SP's representatives arrived.

A hologram of the Colossal Crew materialised in the air above the assembled Legionnaires.

"So... First up is... Ballistix."

Several of the assembled team said "No!" simultaneously causing the room to erupt in laughter.

"No? Why do you say that?" Sun Boy said in a mock innocent tone before breaking into one of his galaxy-wide famous smiles and laughing. "Okay, I think we're all in agreement about that one..." Dirk shrugged and smiled again. "Next up... Bouncing Boy Two..."

The Legionnaires spent an hour debating the various merits of each candidate and ended up with a list of fifteen Academy students that had majority approval due to their maturity and potential abilities. This didn't mean they were accepted, not yet, only that they would be put forward for further consideration.

The only student to receive the teams unanimous support was the Silver Shaman for a place in the support staff - The young healer from the lo-tech world of Avalon would be offered a training position on Dr Shakespeare's staff in the infirmary without any further interviews, tests or trials. Kent smiled broadly and slung a muscular arm around Drura Sehpt's shoulder and gave her a kiss on the top of her head as the vote was passed. He had been worried that the young student might somehow slip through the net and end up working as a surgical lackey to Gym'll on Medicus One where he would be unsupported intellectually and worked ruthlessly. Kent knew with Drura and Shardwurd on staff he would be able to offer personal medical support on more missions and so lessen the risk to any populations the Legion were involved with and to the team itself... And the kid's biokinesis was utterly amazing! Kent know it would be a privilege to train him into a fully qualified doctor.

The team took a comfort break before the student body were to be invited in and Sun Boy asked his fellow Legionnaires to consider their choices carefully as they would meet again in half an hour to hold the actual try-out.

"They're all really special, aren't they? The students are all exceptional." Ayla Ranzz said as she approached Dirk.

"That's the problem though isn't it? We don't have capacity to mentor them all safely and yet we need new blood if we are to be a functioning unit and expand."

"How many new 'uns do you think will be the limit?"

"Well, we have a few folks that'll probably be moving on... so..."

"What? Who? Jan and Nasir are on medical leave for the time being but who's actually going?"Ayla interrupted.

"It isn't common knowledge yet... I was going to announce this at the meeting after we'd voted as I don't want it to influence us."

"Spill Morgna, who's going?" Ayla stood in front of her colleague with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.

"Harmonia is taking Loutrahim to Utopia... The kid needs s chance to heal. Though I get the feeling that time works differently there so we may not see them again." Lightning Lass wasn't terribly upset about that news as she hadn't really warmed to the elemental or her laboratory assistant.

"Is that all Dirk?"

"Nope... Jacques has volunteered to stay at the Academy as a tutor. With Rokk and Lydda taking an overdue break to go on honeymoon they're short staffed too so he’s talking to Danielle about it right now, that's why they're not here for this meeting. I'm fairly certain that's not going to be an easy conversation."

"Aww, bless him. I'll really miss Jacques, he's so decent isn't he?"

"Just like Harmonia..." Dirk said slyly. Ayla smiled in acknowledgement of the little barb. She didn't think Dirk had noticed her nonchalance at his telling her that Harmonia was planning to leave.

"Also Gazelle's time with us is probably coming to an end as her secondment is over in five days time. Doug's said he's going to leave with her if she gets recalled, though we don't know yet exactly what's going to happen as the Dead Brain has told us he agrees with the secondment continuing in principle but is unaware what his Emperor has decided yet. She's told them she'd prefer to stay but we're not sure how much weight that'll carry with the Khundian authorities. We'll need to wait and see, I'm afraid..."

"Oh, that's not good, they're both super fun! I hope they stay... Is Gates coming back here then if they do go?" Dirk Morgna didn't answer Ayla Ranzz's question.

"Gravity Kid and Power Boy have been recalled to SP Mars... neither want to go but I've arranged for them to stay here until this try out is finished."

"That's dirty... it's really poor, we both know the Science Police're only doing this because of all that recent media rubbish, it's nothing to do with the guys, it was Psyche and her pawns doing. Oh, they'll be so upset! Poor Jed, he's tried so hard to fit in with everyone."

"Absolutely, though if we want the Science Police to continue to support us we need to give them this one. I'm not happy about it either Ayla and there've been a couple of tense holo-comms flying back and forward but ultimately we have to let them go and accept whoever it is that's send out to join us instead. And finally... Brin wants to go find Laurel, wherever she is. Gahaji has said he'll help him. They're both planning on slipping away when we leave Sol, it won't be a big announcement but they're off before tomorrow."

"Oh! I never expected that, I thought..." She blushed at her surprise. Timber Wolf was going to leave the team to look for his ex-girlfriend. It had been many years since Lightning Lass and Timber Wolf had been a couple but she still felt a momentary pang of regret. "Wow! Umm... well... I just hope she takes him back, I guess."

"I hope whatever the outcome they return quickly and don't decide to join the Wanderers on an adventure off to stars only know where..." Dirk replied, "We're going to need them soon enough." he muttered darkly to himself.

It was five very long hours later that the Legion finally announced who they were accepting into their ranks as full members of the team.

Phantom Girl, Brainiac 5 and L:exikon had returned from their meeting with the UP council in time to vote with their colleagues. The try out had given each student the opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities and, for the most part, the Legionnaires had been impressed by what they had been presented with. A couple of the students had excelled and everyone knew they would be offered a place on the full team, a couple more had disappointing experiences and knew before the results that they would be back in the Academy the next day. The majority though fell somewhere in between leaving the Legionnaires the difficult job of deciding if they were fit to join them.

The Academy students were all sat before the assembled Legionnaires, their faces showing the excitement, fears, anticipation, disappointment and resolve that they shared. As Dirk looked out across at them his heart sank a little as he knew they were away to break a lot of the kid's hearts. Still, Dirk thought to himself, as his father had once said after announcing the lay off of a fifth of his workforce, let's focus on the positive today!

"All of you have achieved so much while you have been with us at the Academy. If we had the capacity right now we would accept each and every one of you into our little club. Whatever the outcome, whether or not you join us today - or in six months time, you should feel proud of yourselves. You have all earned our respect." Dirk started to clap his hands and his teammates quickly joined in to applaud the student body.

"Unfortunately, as I just mentioned, the teams capacity to properly support and mentor new members is curtailed though we still have seven slots available. One of them will be working under Dr Shakespeare in the medical bays and that position goes to the Silver Shaman." There was a ripple of applause from the students, more out of politeness that genuine warmth as they each focused their will onto hoping their name would be called out next as a member of the main team.

Shardwurd Gandussen of the Ten Peaks of Avalon, the student they called the Silver Shaman due to his long silver hair and unshakeable belief that his mutant bio-kinetic abilities were some sort of natural magic, stepped forward. The young man from the distant lo-tec world was tall and slim and obviously self conscious as he walked across to Dr Shakespeare. Kent and Drura both walked forward to congratulate him and welcome him to their small and rather unusual sub-team of the Legion's support staff. The Legionnaires waited until the medical staff had briefly spoken to the young man before coming forward to shake his hand and congratulate him. They all thought he looked incredulous.

"Next up..." Dirk said, as the applause was starting to die down, "From the Senior Student Squad, and who will have me as a mentor - the lucky thing, we'd like to welcome ...Friction!" This time the cheers and clapping were louder as Jadee Wittakka of Xanthu jumped forward and, using her abilities, negated friction underneath her feet to slide across towards the Legionnaires. Sun Boy shook the young woman's hand. Quite a few people noticed that he floated close to, but not actually on the ground as he approached her, obviously not wanting to accidentally be affected by her abilities and potentially fall over. A couple of minutes later, after Friction had taken her place with the senior team and the welcomes had died down Dirk faced the students again.

"Okay... Wildfire will probably never let us forget this, but from the Trailblazer crew we have three new members. Come forward Atomsmasher, Southern Lights and Ultra Girl, and welcome to the Legion!"

There were cheers and clapping as the Wraithcat from Betelgeuse, the winged mystic from Starhaven and the powerful young woman from Xanthu all left their fellow students to take their place amongst the senior team. After the applause and shaking of hands had finished Dirk said, "Ergus, you have Mon El as a mentor. Southern Lights will have Dawnstar and Li-Fahn... you have Thunder. Okay guys? You're mentors will be your best friends in the coming months so hope you like them." Dirk smiled broadly.

"So..." Dirk continued, effectively stopping the conversations that had started around the conference suite. "From Team Cosmic we would like to offer a spot to Polar Girl."

Mel Lassar of Tharr, one of the shorter students, had been at the back of the group so it took a few seconds as she fought her way through her fellow students as they gathered around her to share their congratulations to stand in front of the Legion.

"Your mentor will be Lightning Lass, so get acquainted if you don't know her already and welcome to the team." Dirk's smile never left his face as he spoke. the Legionnaires crowded around the Tharrite to congratulate her while the students she had just left clapped politely.

"And finally... we only have one more place available and this person will be mentored by Tyroc... step forward Bouncing Boy!" This brought a few gasps from the students as they realized that their name hadn't been called out. Stoor Chamble of Pasnic clapped politely, unaware that he had just been called. Solar Gorilla and Shadowsurfer pushed him forward as the realization struck him.

"I...I... no way!" He stuttered as he walked towards the smiling Legionnaires who were still stood around Polar Girl.

"The rest of you, please realize that due to our current situation we have to limit the amount we can accept this time. That doesn't mean that you'll never be accepted as there were quite a few very close calls... please keep working hard as it could be your name that is called out next time."

Even before he had finished speaking a couple of the students were leaving the conference room. Their disappointment was clear from their body language. Dirk felt sorry for them, as it had been close for quite a few of the others but ultimately these six had the backing of the entire team and the tutors.

"Legionnaires... excuse me but I have something to say." Kid Dynamo said loudly. Virtually everyone stopped talking and turned towards him.

"I'm very grateful for the training you've given and the support I've had. I even understand why I may have been refused membership, but this isn't going to stop me. A few of us have been speaking and we agreed that if you didn't vote us in we're going to form our own team... so..."

"Ja, don't do this..." The student called Strobe said.

"Sorry... We're leaving to do our own thing. Gonna hand in our flight rings and get out there to start being the heroes we've been taught to be."

"Son, who's this 'we' you're talking about? What do you mean?" Sun Boy said, his face suddenly serious.

"I'm joining him." said Kid Nimbus.
"Me too, I'm going too." Magno Lass added.
"I'm also joining Kid Dynamo, thank you for everything you've shown us." Flipside said.
"I too will join this new team." Ballistix chimed in. Obviously she had not been part of the conversation prior with the other students as they all looked at the synthezoid in surprise.
"And me too... I think it's time I moved on as well." Slingshot said. As he spoke he looked towards Atom Girl and gave her a mock salute.

Brainiac 5 stepped towards the small group.

"You're fight rings are currently on Student Mode. It would be churlish to expect you to return them after investing so much in training you in their uses so instead let me alter their modifications." The Coluan held out a hard light screen and tapped onto it for a few seconds. "There... now you will have flight, communications amongst your ring network, eco-protect, search light and scan, loud hailer, alarm and locator beacon functions. We won't be monitoring you any more and unless you use the alarm we will be unable to receive your transmissions ...and vice versa. Good luck with your endeavours." He held his hand out for the students to shake. A group of Legionnaires gathered around the Coluan to wish the leaving group every success.

Atom Girl pulled Slingshot aside and hissed her question at him; why he was leaving her? The prince from the distant colony smiled, lightly kissed her cheek and said, "You don't need a student hanging around you, and I need to become a grown man. We'll meet again, I'm sure of this Sylva, it's not over yet." They held onto each other for a few seconds before saying their goodbye.

"So, hey... Kid Dynamo and Crew, what we gonna call your team then?" Timber Wolf shouted across the group.

"It's obvious-oh! We'll be the Kid Dynamo and the League of Super Heroes, of course." The muscle bound lad from Dryad smiled broadly as he said it.

Several of his new teammates groaned.

It was late into the night and Gord Eno couldn't sleep.

He had foresaw that he would be wearing a Legion flight ring tomorrow - not the students version with monitoring apps watching his every move like he currently did. He had known he would make it and become a full Legionnaire - his vision had been clear, his euphoria at wearing the ring mixed with a more serious feeling as he accepted his first mission... he had seen it!

...and in spite of the vision he did not believe it was simply due to arrogance that he was shocked at not being offered membership of the full team. In the last few weeks he had gotten over the initial surprises of being here at the Academy and pulled himself together, worked damn hard and achieved great results both personally and for his team. He had learned lessons after studying the records of Nura Nal's time on the team and knew that he had developed skills in leaps and bounds. He was also a fully qualified Pre-Commando so was well aware of the laws that governed the UP, had actual real ife experience of crowd control and managing intense situations were emotions ran high... he had the bread-and-butter experience and knowledge that he bet most new Legionnaires struggled with.

He was trying to be reflective... trying to gauge his behaviours and attitudes of late to find out if he had somehow let himself down. Trying to figure out where his vision may have been mistaken... it had shown him a date, a time, a flight ring on his finger... what had he not understood?

And... damn the Legionnaires, he was upset too as he knew he deserved a place on the big team.

There was a 'ping' as his apartment door monitor was tripped. Gord asked the resident AI to show a holo of whatever was outside his door. A swirling holo fog materialized before the Naltorian student that quickly formed into a cohesive image - standing outside of his apartment door was Chameleon Boy.

"Door open." The student said and his entranced irised open to allow the Durlan into his apartment.

"Gord, how nice to see you. I hope I didn't wake you." Reep Daggle said as he strolled in.

"No problem Reep, what can I do for you?" The Naltorian student only glanced at the Legionnaire, he didn't get up from his seat or offer his hand to shake.

"I won't waste your time. You must be disappointed that you weren't offered membership today... I'm sorry but that was due entirely to me. I vetoed it when everyone else wanted you in. I thought you might like to hear why and also hear what I wish to offer you instead. You are absolutely free to refuse if you want. If you do turn me down I will see to it that you are offered full membership alongside your fellow students immediately... but please hear me out fully and then the choice is yours."

The precognitive nodded, unsure of what to say. He had not had any visions relating to this meeting or the outcome from this moment on so was curious as to what Chameleon Boy could be about to offer... Reep Daggle smiled. The young pre-cog was efficient and decent by nature, strong and capable, but Reep thought he had a poor poker face. The Legionnaire would need to give the student some lessons on effective lying and misdirection if he were to survive the mission that the Durlan wished to take him on.

While the rest of the team were away to leave Sol for adventures in the outer galaxy Reep planned on something a little bit more covert... the military leaders that had followed Psyche with minimal effort from her would all need to be kept an eye on, and one in particular - Sa Lok of Rimbor, the newly former Under Secretary to the United Planets Security Council had worked on Meta-agent programs as well as weapons procurement within the UP for over a decade. From the telepathic impressions picked up from the White Martian that had killed the student Metallix it appeared that Sa Lok had been intimately involved with meta-crimes and black ops for the majority of his time in post.

Dr Kabbo had already agreed to join Reep and with Gord Eno along as well the Legionnaire planned on taking this small discrete team to investigate the former Under Secretaries' life now he had been dismissed from his post and would no longer officially be attached to the United Planets Militia or Council.

The Legionnaire and the student spoke for over a hour before shaking hands and agreeing to meet in the morning to go over the plan with Dr Kabbo before they left.

After the Legionnaire had left Gord Eno slept surprisingly well that night.

Legion World Two:

It had been fourteen days since the Legionnaire's had defeated Psyche and nine since Phantom Girl had resumed her role as team leader. With five words Tinya Wazzo would change galactic history:

"Okay Querl, hit the switch!"

Many of the assembled Legionnaires cheered as Tinya had said this, especially among the junior members.

Querl Dox smiled as he rubbed his left hand over the control nodule. He had carefully calibrated the extent of the stealth settings in case anyone watching Legion World Two's exit from the solar system was trying to take a reading. Actually, he was certain many would be doing exactly that. The current stealth setting was only on for basic EM scans - effectively the Legion's new planetoid base was invisible to sight, but would still register on any mass or X-ray or gravity-wake sensors. Their warp drive setting was standard Q-drive technology, easily traced if desired. They would switch to the Forge Chosen's own warp system once they were underway - the Coluan had determined it was far more elusive to trace. He had decided that it would be prudent for the team to keep those particular tricks up their sleeves, so to speak. The rest of the senior team had all agreed wholeheartedly when it had been suggested.

The senior team had agreed to wait until they had left Sol system before sharing their planned first mission with the rest of the team. As she took to the platform to speak to her teammates Tinya Wazzo's mouth ran dry. She had thought about this moment from the first day Jan had mentioned it, just after they had taken this planetoid from the Forge Chosen and now, three months later, she was away to share his vision with the team.

Tinya had spoken to Imra earlier that morning. Element Lad, Titan and the student called Kid Pulsar were all responding well to their treatment. Imra estimated that the former student would be returned to them within a week - Tinya planned on pushing for Kid Pulsar to be made a full member once his rehabilitation was complete he he had been sent back to them. Jan and Nasir were more complicated cases. Imra's best estimate was it would take a further month or two for Jan to fully heal and possibly a further two for Nasir. Kent Shakespeare was visiting every chance he had and was helping out as well.

Tinya had thanked her old friend for the update and after breaking the holo-comm link had sat in silence for a few minutes while she got her thoughts together. The team needed a big win to help heal after the recent encounter with Psyche and Tinya knew that there was one thing they could do that would allow the team to blow off some steam and potentially increase their effectiveness.

Phantom Girl shook her head to release these memories of this morning. Her mind was made up and now all she had to do was set out the plan to her teammates and get going. Tinya quickly took a sip of water before clapping her hands together to get the team's attention.

"Everyone... thanks for waiting. I'm sure you all agree that this is the start of a new era for our organisation, so I want to thank Brainiac 5, Gear, Hethuk, Babbage, Danielle and Thirteen as well as all the rest of you who have worked so hard in readying this planetoid for today..." there was a smattering of applause, though not as much as Tinya had hoped for.

"As you are all aware by now, the senior team meet regularly to discuss organisational issues that arise and try to resolve any problems before they get out of hand. Well, with the Science Police sharing resources to train Meta's at the Academy and Naltorian High Council providing additional funding means potentially there could be upwards of five hundred students joining that program next semester. For those that haven't heard yet, Jacques will be leaving us after this meeting to join the tutors at the Academy." She smiled down from her podium to her fellow Espionage Squad member.

There were quite a few raised voices as people wished the Invisible Kid all the best with his career change. After the hubhub had calmed down Tinya continued.

"Some good news, the Dead Brain has agreed to extend Gazelle's secondment with us for another year which is great, though it also means Gates and Inferno will remain in Khundian space for the time being." Tinya shrugged and smiled as several of the team congratulated their Khundian ally.

"Also the Science Police have again agreed to kindly second several members to us... we have five so far for the full team and one on our auxiliary staff too. There'll be a few more in the next couple of days. So, let me start by saying welcome home Jed and Tel, we're all glad to have you back here with us guys... welcome also to both Captain Shir of Daxam and Doctor Falkner of Titan, Officer Magz from Braal and from Talok we’re joined by Officer Tarev Jusool as well. Hope you’re settling in well." She gave a small wave to the Daxamite Captain and his telepathic wife from the Science Police Meta-Team. Captain Shir nodded while Dr Falkner smiled broadly and said "Thanks, Tinya.” The blonde Braalian smiled broadly while the Talokean was engrossed in a conversation with XS, the Legionnaire that had stopped him while under Psyches influence, so didn’t respond in time to catch Phantom Girls acknowledgement.

"We've also been reassured that the United Planets are organising a root and branch clear out of those opposed to our mission statement from all of their law enforcement and armed forces agencies in light of Psyche's recent attack. For all that, we are left with an issue that stands out like a Filoxxan beacon... I have to tell you we have a problem, a big one."

She stopped for an unintentional dramatic pause as she took another sip of water.

"...y'see, we captured this base from the Forge Chosen and took it for our own use after the opportunity presented itself. We were lucky, but there are many, many planets out there that do not share our good fortune. There are twelve other planetoids that we know of that the bloodthirsty Tyrrazians currently use to pirate their way across this galaxy and it's my suggestion that the team's first mission in our newly repaired base is that we go take the battle worlds away from the Forge Chosen and put them to better use... our use. Let's take these pirate planetoids and remake them as a dozen new Legion Worlds to house the heroes of this galaxy."

The room erupted as a dozen questions were asked simultaneously of the team leader while loud conversations broke out between the team. Tinya ignored them for the moment as she let the initial shock and excitement die down.

"Our current trajectory will take us to System B12772HGR- 46 Alpha Epsilon.... is that right Querl?"

"Yes, that is correct." Brainiac 5 nodded as he replied. Kara stood at his side with a small proud smile on her face.

"We know there is a planetary incursion happening there right now by the Tyrrazians. We believe they are currently raiding this world to take their indigenous population's technology and resources for themselves. We need to stop it and if we can gain control over their base in the process it will be all the better. Here is our plan..."

A holo sprung into life above the team showing a binary star system with eighteen planets and two defined asteroid fields in orbit. The sixth world out was highlighted in red and a read out appeared giving the known statistics of the indigenous species.

"Sixty hours ago Henry warped some of Gear's nannites across into what we believed was their central engine room. I have to tell you that the schematics we have received for the other planetoids show that the tribes of Forge Chosen have raided different worlds and so each of their planetoids have dramatically different lay-outs and technology available to them. We cannot assume that we can just storm in there and take their bases away from them without a serious fight... we were lucky with this planetoid but I don't want to risk being cocky and failing."

The holo zoomed in to an image of a satellite perhaps a fifth the size of the planet it orbited that the majority of the team had thought was a moon. It became apparent that instead it was the attacking Tyrrazian's battle world.

"Through the Quark Relay we've had some information sent back by Gear's nannites that are now over there but due to the stealth element of their mission very little could be transmitted. What we do know is Gear has corrupted the majority of their central engines. We now have some control of the life support, weapons controls and AI's mainframe. Effectively, we have sabotaged the control of their world..." There were a few cheers at this.

"So, as of 2100 standard hours - in about ten hours time, Sun Boy and Tyroc will lead strike teams to the planet's surface to battle the Tyrazzians that are there. These teams will consist of Dirk leading Jazmin, Doug, Gazelle, Amynta, Karate Kid, Dann and our new Ultra Girl, Li-Fahn. We believe this team will be going into the primary incursion site which is where we expect they have established their command centre, and while that's going on Troy will take Ayla, Mrruaw, Babbage, Kent..." she nodded towards the doctor, not usually included in such missions, "...Jenni, Tel and Southern Lights to secondary sites to be established as we approach the planet. Your job will be to stop the massacre that we project is taking place and save civilian lives. Any Tyrazzians you happen to whup in the process is an added bonus." She smiled at the team as she added the last comment.

"While these teams are down on the planet surface Thunder will lead Mon El, Captain Shir, Dawnstar, Dkyun, and Atomsmasher in an open attack against the Tyrrazian planetoid. Their job is to do whatever damage they can to any defensive ships that surround it while distracting the inhabitants enough that the rest of us can warp over there and take control from the inside. Any questions?"

There were quite a few, though afterwards the one that stuck in her mind had been asked by the Robitican combat-droid Babbage; "It appears you are planning on using the mission to increase the number of Legion Worlds for our team to be based upon. Is this the start of a major galactic expansion for the Legion organisation?"

Tinya had answered truthfully, with a wide grin "Oh.... why yes Babbage, yes I believe that about sums it up perfectly."

In another room within the planetoid the holo-man the team called Henry smiled to himself. Tinya Wazzo was away to lead the Legionnaires out into the wider universe in a move that would ultimately lead to the organisation currently known as the Legion of Super Heroes having many planetoid bases scattered throughout the vast reaches of this galaxy. To Henry's eyes, after the risk that ECHO had posed and the dangerous wrinkles in the timeline afterwards, the Legion's future was now proceeding as it was supposed to.

And what a future it was going to be; the holo-man from the 75th century that the team had taken to call Henry knew their future would be truly legendary!

So, I've been sitting on a lot of these posts for quite a while - originally Rokk and Lydda were to be married at the end of LW3 but for some reason I held of, which I think worked out for the best, and I wrote the try out scene (more or less) 18 months ago when I had worked on the Academy series.

Anyway, I'm relieved to finally finish the Psyche/traitor storyline so used the opportunity to post everything else that was written up to the end of the arc.

LW6 will have this as a team set-up when it starts:

Legion World TWO

Phantom Girl – Team leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Thunder - Deputy leader - Cecelia Becks of 21st Century Earth, immense strength, speed, indestructibility, space flight, wisdom
Sun Boy – Senior Team member, Dirk Morgna of Earth, generation of intense light and heat
Duplicate Girl - Senior Team member, Luornu Durgo of Carggg, creation of multiple identical duplicates of herself
Brainiac 5 – Senior Team member, Professor Querl Dox of Colu, 12th level intelligence
Lightning Lass - Senior Team member, Ayla Ranzz of Winath, electrical generation and manipulation
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
XS - Jenni Ognats of an alternate dimension Aarok, phenomenal speed
Kid Quantum - Jazmin Cullen of Xanthu, creation of temporal quantum bubbles, flight
Chemical Kid - Hadru Jamik of Phlon, catalyzes chemical reactions
Comet Queen - Grava of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form
Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth, manipulation of magical energies using dragon forms
+ Backlash - Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
Andromeda - Kara Zor-El of Krypton, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
+ Comet King - Drinchnar Lamment of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
+ Atom Girl - Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink herself to microscopic size
Retro - Deen Toro of Ventura, limited reversal of personal timeline

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):

* Ultra Girl - Li-Fahn Qiong of Xanthu - incredible strength, speed, indestructibility, spaceflight, and projection of force blasts, effectively limited to one at a time (Thunder)
* Polar Girl - Mel Lassar of Tharr - cryokinesis (Lightning Lass)
* Friction - Jadee Whittakka of Xanthu - manipulation of friction (Sun Boy)
* Kid Pulsar - Neel Koduah of Earth - incredible strength, invulnerability, project explosive blasts (Duplicate Girl)

Seconded members currently based on Legion World Two:
Gazelle - J’izl Dtutuu from the Khundian Battle Brigade, of Khundia Prime, enhanced strength, speed, agility and metabolic control
+ Cosmic Kid - Po Miman, Justice Legionnaire of alternate dimension Mars, energy manipulation and flight

Science Police meta-squad seconded to Legion World Two:
> Captain Tuk Shir of the Science Police from Daxam, Senior Team liaison, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
> Replicator - Science Police Officer Tarev Jusool of Talok viii, can mimic meta-abilities for limited periods of time
Gravity Kid - Science Police Officer Tel Vole of Earth, manipulation of personal or nearby gravity
Power Boy - Science Police Officer Jedidiah Rikane of Earth, personal density control

Support Staff on LW Two:
Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare -Impulse – Chief medical officer - enhanced strength, speed, durability, stamina
I.Z.O.R. - Gear iii – infrastructure manager - nannite collective being, technomorph
Danielle Foccart –Kid Computo – Technical support - technopathic communication and control over advanced technology
Drura Sehpt - Infectious Lass – medical officer - containment and control over bacteria and viruses
Henry – Anti Lad – Spatial warp controller
Ming Sul - Amp Girl - investigative officer, hyper-enhancement of her own sensory capacities
* Silver Shaman - Shardwurd Gandussen of the Ten Peaks from Avalon - biokinetic healing
> Science Police Psychiatrist - Doctor Anje Falkner, alpha-level telepath

Legion World THREE

Tyroc – Deputy leader - Troy Stewart of Marzal city pocket dimension, sonic control
Duplicate Girl - Senior Team member, Luornu Durgo of Carggg, creation of multiple identical duplicates of herself
Mon El – Senior Team member, Lar Gand of Daxam, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
Dawnstar of Starhaven - space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Dragonwing - Marya Pai of Earth, breathes dragon fire and acid
Glorith of Zerox, manipulation of magical energies
Monica Sade of Rimbor, strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
+ Lexikon - Princess Daheenisha of Tamaran iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Otaki - Bina Nawoti of Earth, mindsense
+ The Spear of Artemis - Amynta of Nostos ii, incredible strength, speed, invulnerability, space flight, carries magical weapons
+ Karate Kid – Mithindrivithis Ngandraffa of Lythyl, strength, reflexes, mimetic motor learning giving incredible combat skills
+ Thirteen – Dann Hortra of Naltor, line of sight probability manipulation
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.
+ Sister Eclipse - of Rhoohanisett iii, durability, heightened senses, physical possession of any living being.
+ Starkling – telepathic swarm-being composed of indestructible ball bearing sized components

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):
* Bouncing Boy ii - Stoor Chamble of Pasnic - creation of personal spherical force field (Tyroc)
* Southern Lights of Starhaven - spaceflight, magic user (Mon El)
* Atomsmasher - Ergus Wraithcat of Betelgeuse - spaceflight, invulnerability, hyper senses, telepathy, radiation manipulation (Dawnstar)

Seconded members currently based on Legion World Three:
+ Green Lantern - Dkyun Mu of Xudar, wearer of a Green Lantern power ring

Science Police meta-squad seconded to Legion World Three
+ Officer Nel Duwi of the Science Police from Daxam, Senior Team liaison, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
> Captain Phantom - Science Police Captain Gryal Vrizza of Bgztl Dimension, intangibility
> Magno - Science Police Officer Dyrk Magz of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields
> Changer - Science Police Investigative Officer Urill Yagthal of Durla, shape changer

Support Staff on LW Three:
I.Z.O.R. - Gear iii – infrastructure manager - nannite collective being, technomorph
Henry – Anti Lad – Spatial warp controller
+ Hethuk Bran Drommsi - Smith from the Green Rift Forge of Talok viii, weapon maker and engineer
> Dr Shoodixi Singh - Science police medical officer, empathic

Legionnaire on secondment to the Khund Battle Brigade:
Gates, Ti’Julk Mr’Asz of an alternate dimension Vyrga, creation of spatial warps

Academy Student currently within the Khundian Empire:
Inferno, Sandy Anderson of Earth, fire generation and manipulation

Academy staff based on Legion World ONE in Sol space:

Triplicate Girl - Luornu Durgo of Carggg, able to split into three identical duplicates (part of Duplicate Girl)
Colossal Boy - Gim Allon of Earth, increase personal size and mass at will
Wildfire - Drake Burroughs of Earth, composed of sapient anti-energy, extreme strength, speed, durability, space flight, anti-energy blasts
Invisible Kid - Jacques Foccart of Earth, invisibility
Chameleon Girl - Yera Allon of Durla, shape changer
> Jumping Jack - Science Police Officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd of Earth, hyper awareness and agility
> Ms Big - Science Police Officer Erikka Chowdrey of Venus, increase her own muscle mass at will
> 'Brain Girl' - Science Police Officer Ella Drottmi of Titan, telepathy and telekinesis
+ Dream Boy - Naltorian Pre-Commando Rol Purtha of Naltor, precognition

Support Staff on LW One (Academy):
I.Z.O.R. - Gear ii – infrastructure manager - nannite collective being, technomorph
Henry – Anti Lad – Spatial warp controller
'Numbers Guy' - M’Rissey of Earth, super efficient business management skills
> Dr Boom - United Planets envoy, Danii Schwartz-Geltt of Myar, physician and alchemist

On long term leave:
Star Boy (Parental leave), Thomas Kallor of Xanthu, induce mass
Dream Girl (Parental leave), Nura Nal of Naltor, precognition
Matter-Eater Lad (Medical leave), Senator Tenzil Kem of Bismoll, mega-omnivorous consumption
Shadow Lass (Personal leave), Tasmia Mallor of Talok viii, summons and manipulates the Darkfield, access to ancestral knowledge
Polar Boy (Personal leave), Brek Banin of Tharr, cold control
Element Lad (Medical leave), Jan Arrah of Trom, elemental transmutation
Harmonia (Personal leave), Professor Harmonia Li of Earth, manipulation of the natural environment
+ Titan (Medical leave), Nasir N’Cube of Titan, alpha-level telepathy
+ Loutrahim Mango (Personal leave), ‘Death Boy’ - Professor Li’s laboratory assistant, exemplary bio-chemist, sweat activated neuro-toxic palm secretions

On honeymoon:
Cosmic Boy – Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields
Night Girl - Lydda Jath of Kathoon, incredible strength and durability out of direct sunlight

Weber’s World affiliated team:
Quislet, . of Teall dimension, able to animate inorganic matter though this then causes the matter's destruction
Gear i, Chief Maitre D', nannite collective being, technomorph
+ Oodoo Shanair of Lallor, empath
+ Sentinel of the Khund Battle Brigade, strength, durability, manipulation of magnetic fields
+ Princess Shooradel of Tamaran iv, enhanced speed, strength, durability, flight, omni-linguist
+ Proty iii, shape changer, telepath

Unknown location, assumed to be with the Wanderers:
Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zuun, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Shield - Laurel Kent of Earth, physical invulnerability, tactile psychometry
M’Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magic

Officially missing (Espionage Squad mission)
Chameleon Boy – Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Dr Noah Kabbo - Spy – Heightened awareness and limited telepathy
* Prescience - Gord Eno of Naltor - precognition, specialising in short range visions for combat situations

The League of Super Heroes

* Kid Dynamo - Ja Vlo of Dryad - incredible strength and invulnerability
* Ballistix - Crishtrakrek 714 of Zuun - synthezoid with great strength, speed, durability, stamina and spaceflight
* Magno Lass - Josi Rista of Braal - Magnokinesis
* Kid Nimbus - Kendall Mekensy-Wolff the Fifth of Dryad - assume gaseous form
* Flipside - Drannananna Otticolli of Grathvarth V - fast, agile, manipulate personal gravity orientation
* Slingshot - Prince Alfon Gundrix Maunheesta of the Grindlaw Colonies of System Mondarsh - hyper-charge kinetic potential of objects by touch

'+' = Original character introduced in previous arcs
'*' = Original character - new within Legion Worlds 5 and Academy stories
'>' = cameo in LW5 or entirely new - still to be fully introduced

Harbi, what a lovely surprise to wake up to - the ending to your LW 5 epic!

Strike and Shield protocol! Once more, I love the thought you put into how your team operates, which has inspired me to do the same for mine. I love how succinctly you describe this, with it fitting perfectly into the flow of the action.

Getting into the mind of Mordecai is awesome! It is in fact quite intelligent and peaceful. I like it! Future Legionnaire-in-training perhaps?

The limitation on Magnus' power is interesting, being only able to cast illusions of things he has himself perceived. If he has seen them in a holo, would that count? I do like it, as it gives room to grow! And I like how he can "replay" his journey at speed. Wow! Illusions in fast-forward, a very clever application!

Sister Eclipse and Jacques for the win! Love how Jacques' interference helped the Sister take control! “fear turns to hope, anger becomes acceptance, hate can be love...”, I am loving Sister more and more, she is one of my favorites among your many wonderful original characters. And I especially love how her religious and spiritual beliefs are inclined to acceptance and love, we see so many "religious" bigots today.

Thunder seeing through Magnus' illusion was an inspired application of her powers.

I love how swift you are at wrapping things up while keeping up the momentum! With such a powerful squad, of course Brainy and company would be freed easily.

Oh my, Aven... An understandable though stll sad consequence.

Jan out of action, oh dear... the psychic damage to him must have been a lot.

Eligibility for leader: I like it. At least a year's experience, it's not easy running a team. And having been a reluctant leader myself before, I strongly agree with Lu - they need a leader who wants the job.

Interesting how many didn't want to vote for Lu and Brainy!

Laughing at Dirk. Yes, his ego makes him want to be voted, even though he knows he doesn't want the responsibility. He just wants the esteem of his colleagues. We all know people like that...

I find it cool that staff get a vote to. Of course! In reality they are reporting to the leader.

Gazelle manipulating the voting odds was so funny! So that's why Dirk's odds went up...

You perfectly captured the emotion of this bittersweet time. The Legion did score a victory, but the distrust and manipulation sharpened already existent emotions and discord. You dealt with it quite well in the aftermath!

Gear refused to vote, interesting.

Tinya, Troy and Cece! What a lovely combination of leaders! Very interesting and well-deserved.

Shakes brought a smile to my face

Reality being folded into fiction.

I find it interesting that Querl was included among Rokk and Lydda's core guests. Not even Brek (whom Lydda worked closely with as a Sub), or the senior Legionnaires who joined around the time Querl did.

The Garth/Rokk banter was amazingly realistic. Real-life male best friends can certainly get away with all that! Same with Imra and Lydda I imagine. I love how Lydda has clearly been accepted into the circle of the three founders, though of course they still have something special just on their own.

Ayla finally coming to terms with Vi's death was lovely.

Desperate shopping trips in one hour, I can just imagine. I'm sure Zoe had lots of "customers" that day for some psychokinetic adjustments!

Loved the invitation list, very thoughtful indeed.

I lik ehow you described Xao's non-confrontational and respectful body language. It comes at the right time, as I myself was just rejected from a post for being TOO non-confrontational. Ah well, there's a place for me and there's a place for Xao despite that.

Ah, Talokian culture. I love how you show the cultural differences so well, as even today it is quite an important consideration!

Interesting takes that Grev and Lady Memory have on Tasmia and Lar...

Zoe's quest to find the perfect outfit was funny and so in character! I loved how Jazmin got more and more frustrated, until she finally put her foot down! Silly Zoe... if she had used simply used her powers to conjure up her own outfit though, she would probably NEVER have finished. Loved Retro scampering away too.

Dirk and the two Lallorians. Dirk really is quite clever and self-aware, despite his ego and the facade he puts up. I laughed at the bet between Somi and Tal!

Once more you show your versatility, both the action scenes and the quieter wedding scenes shone!

Poor Bobb, but happy he is getting the help he needs from a therapist!

Hadru showed a lot of maturity dealing with Brek, and declining to help further his alcoholism. Ah, poor Brek... Hope he gets the help HE needs!

XS and Gates! Nice nod to them coming from the same reality.

Tel and Jed not liking each other at first was cute! Ah Paris, what a nice touch there

MONSTRESS!! Oh my goodness, Monstress! That was such a nice touch, and especially her budding friendship with Zoe! I have a soft spot for Candi, so I'm really happy to see her.

Ah, Querl carried out the service! Is that why he was one of those told early on?

So lovely that your Kara and Querl are enjoying their hard-earned happy ending!

Another nice moment with Tinya and Sodam. Like with Ayla, you showed the grieving process very realistically.

The students plotting? Hmm...

Zoe was all class with Mwindaji, how lovely. And Monstress is now part of her friend group, and that makes a nice tie in with Jazmin too!

Tyroc in a Zoot suit, hahahaha! I love it!

Lots of promising new relationships budding, though I'm sure some won't turn out to be serious.

Thirteen is interesting, many physically attractive people would jump at the chance to bed someone. But Dann has shown quite a bit of discipline, and I find that extremely interesting and admirable. Ethical code perhaps, as he feels that these people aren't seeing the real him?

As someone who is into Human Resources, including Talent Acquisition, I love what you have done with the Academy and training. Opening links to Law Enforcement and Armed Forces is BRILLIANT!

Aw, Jed and Tel are leaving... I almost forgot they were both still SPs.

BRIN AND LAUREL getting a second chance? Well, why not? I like how Ord's rambling helped Brin make up his mind! You know, you really got me there, I thought at first Brin was going to pursue AYLA! Excellent job! And Mwindaji is going along... an interesting subplot set up!

A very realistic tryout there. Polar Girl is one to watch,she certainly showed her smarts in battle though I look forward to see where you go with her attitude. Bouncing Boy is so sweet, clapping without realizing he had been called! Silver Shaman gives you a potent healer, and I agree being on the medical crew makes more sense than being full out in battle! Southern Lights, Atomsmasher, Friction, Ultra Girl all sound like great choices too!

The students HAVE been plotting! Oh my! What a surprise... Slingshot is leaving? Not surprised about many of the others, as you characterized them quite well beforehand.

I like how Brainy showed such class in modifying their flight rings!

Ugh, Kid Dynamo. I hope his ego dies down...

Oooh, Prescience! I like how Reep was so forthcoming. A very exciting place for him, and if he makes it through I won't be surprised if he gets full membership as well!

Kid Pulsar and full membership? He did well, but I';m sure some of the team will oppose him as not being quite ready. Should be interesting.

Oh, Jed and Tel get to stay! So wonderful! You had me worried for a moment there. and Officer Magz! Dyrk Magz??? I love Magno, happy you're using him!

Gasp! Capturing battle worlds! What an AMAZING new mission, I love it! Plenty of opportunities for everyone to shine!

Major galactic expansion for the Legion!

Thank you for the roll call, I love these things.

Oh, Ayla's been bumped up to Senior Team status!

I notice you do a lot of members with strength, invulnerability and some kind of energy casting. Not a criticism as this is a useful power set, and I look forward to you differentiating them more in personality - you are so good at that. Same for the telepaths, but again, a useful power set.

Lu is on both bases! A useful application of her power.

Good mix of species/races you've chosen for the Science Police officers seconded.

I forgot what caused Tenzil to go on medical leave. Could you remind me?

Again, am loving your work, and looking forward to MORE, MORE, MORE!

ooh and one more thought that came to mind: were any of the 7 successful students also among those who planned for the League of Super-Heroes? Would be interesting if so!

WOW Harbi, that ending was way happier than I thought it would be and I feel like you've really upped the ante for the rest of us now with the Legion expanding to take on a whole bunch of marauding warworlds! What an awesome development!!

Loved Rokk and Lydda's wedding, and all of the various reactions it brought out in people...I too thought Brin was gonna go after Ayla, I am glad you threw us a swerve ball there! I think the two of them aren't really great for each other long term. Speaking of Ayla, I'm glad she's made peace with Vi passing and she's ready to actively pursue being happy again. Starkling asking about Gim and Yera's own wedding was a good chuckle too

I'm glad Tinya's getting to lead, and pairing her up with Sodam Yat is an interesting choice...I only know him as a massive whiner with very little in the way of redeeming qualities so I will be interested to see where you go with those two! I am also gonna quietly hope that Mon and Shady are inching their way together again as I really like those two as a couple!

The cut scenes with Zoe shopping while Jasmin got more and more frustrated were perfect - I could see that working in a comic so easily...and I was stoked to see Candi and Zoe interact

Really good character work in those last sections, and I am super looking forward to seeing where your Legion goes from here!

Harbinger...wow what a great ride that was to the end and I agree with Raz that this ending is much happier than I ever expected. I totally thought we were going to lose half the team and those left were going to have a lot of rebuilding to do. But you went the opposite and expanded this team to what so many of us have talked out in the forums. That this team's name is the LEGION of Super-Heroes. They should be a legion and not limited to 25 members. You really have upped the ante here. My review's going to be an as I read so might change as I go and may be all over the place. Sorry in advance.

- a strike and shield tactic. I like it. Never really thought about it as how they did that. I know your a fan of the DNA area and I remember them doing that during Legion Lost vol.1 with always having a natural flyer.

-Cos and Thunder's team is great and I'm happy they were able to free those Psyche couldn't turn or had issues with. it was also nice to see that there more of them than I thought. ( Minus Kara of course.)

-Glad to hear a bit more about the Green Lantern. I'm not a huge GL reader but since we haven't spent much time with her I'm looking forward to seeing more and how she gets along with this team as compared to the Justice Legion she spent a year with.

-Mordecai !Mordecai! Mordecai! Loved this and was great to see him help protect their home.

-Oh no Sister Eclipse is discovered! Kara Stop!! I never thought of the possession ability as being totally resistant to other forms of telepathy, although her's is a physical possession so it makes sense it would have different rules maybe.. and they way you described it was done well with the telepath's shrinking back from the task.

-Magnu's limitations is really creative and differentiates him from many other illusion casters. Trapping them in a loop was funny but got scary quick with the pressure he put on the illusion. i like it. take these guys down and using them as a barrier was a really good idea.

-OK, so i have a question. Did Sister Eclipse posses Psyche before Jaquces tackled her into Ferro or was it once he tackled Psyche and she touched Ferro that Sister Eclipse jumped bodies?
-This was a good moment of seeing her reach out with the power and its so interesting how Sister Eclipse can see so clearly what Psyche has done. She does so well at wielding Psyche's powers to undo the damage and it makes sense that you can't bring out what isn't already there. All she did was amplify and twist/distort it.

-YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-you broke my heart with Aven. I'm so sad to see him go and even thought those feels of distrust were there I'm sure everyone would have seen him as being manipulated as well and would have forgiven him. But i guess ones own guilt about the part they play can weigh a lot on someone.

Ahhh and so the rebuilding begins.

_Lu makes a great point and I'm glad that she talked M'Onel out running. IDK how I feel he'd do as leader right now.

-PG for the Win!

-I like the refectory scene and Gazzell taking bets. Dirk's the fun guy I agree. it was nice while it lasted thought. R.I.P. Responsible Dirk.
-its funny how Lu and Brainy always seen like obvious choices but no ones down for it this time around.

-I agree Thunder is a good choice and she's demonstrated herself well and make a good point that she is one of the new guard.

-Gazzell and Doug's relationship is fun and I'm glad that the Khudian Empire is letting her stay. She is so much fun and rouwdy. I'd imagine their quarters have many holes in the wall.

-Harmonia and Mrruh's moment was really sweet and touching. Its easy to forget how some of the more alien teammates may deal with being in this team environment. He is so gentle. Harminia's advice is so true that all they can do is learn and grow (which they have. lol)

Yah! Phantom Girl! Tyroc! and Thunder! they all i think will make fine leaders and i can't wait to see the challenges you have for them.

And so beings the wedding that has been in the wings for way to long. Congratulations Rokk and Lydda! There was so much fun and joy in these passages Habinger and you gave us so many good character moments.
-Showing the Garth/Rokk and Imra/Lydda conversations were well done. You showed their long history well through how they talk to and relate to each other.
Agreed I think Rokk could be a great dad.
Loving the sprinking in of Lydda's history with her father.
that's right ladies keep them waiting lol.

Aww. Auntie time!
Not only great for a weeding it sounds great just for a vacation.
Ayla poor Ayla. i hope she can find the right way to move on. it seems like she might be on the right path and with the later segment of her dancing so hard and then crying on her warp home its clear how hard that day was for her. But I'm glad she made it through.
beautiful toast to herself and i like that just one final joke.

So the crazy begins. the Zoe and Jazmin shopping scenes were perfect and the fact that it litterally went down to the minuet was hilarious and so Zoe. Jazmin is way more patient than i am.
Wow, everyone is coming to this weeding and i mean everyone!

i like Glorith and Dannielle's frienship its really cute and adding Dragonmage makes sense. I'm with them bring on the deserts!
Comet Queen and King are adorable throughout this whole wedding! i agree and could be the next ones! lets get them hitched!
Lol Dirk thinks everyones flirting with him.
loving all the fashion choices for the atteneddes. they show so much of these characters personalities
Lythl sounds horrible.
Tinya and Sodam Yat?? hmmm idk but lets see where that goes.

I like that Wildfire is explaining to the students why its important to support each other not just on the battle field. and after everthing that has happened this is more important than ever it seems.
Lady Memory ...what do you know?maybe its time to explore some of the things M'Onel saw while he was trapped.
Lol Life Las and Gas Girl fishing for membership was funny. love to see what they could do on this team. i loved watching them tease Dirk and runnaway from him. but of course he's able to charm them.
Lexicon and her sister was really interesting. Tammerans are so...less emotional than us and they are ever the ambassadors. I love how open they are with wanting to learn more from everyone around them.
Dead Brain and Brainy together the only word that comes to mind is frightening.
Awww that was super cute of Alya to get Murra to let the twins ride him.
Now if only Berk would get help. So glad Hardu didn't help him. I'm glad Crystal Kid is getting help to work on his confidence.
Gates and XS i want to see the two of them together again!
Cosmic Kid stuffing his face lol of course.
loved seeing Jed and Tel's wedding story. of course they fought when they met! lol.
Kent's a good bf and so is Doug. loved his trying to stand up for Gazzell even if that wasn't the moment. I like that she told him to get over it but that it didn't cause a huge issue.
I didn't realize Thunder was the youngest of the Sisters.
Zoe and Candi together at last!

Those vows. Lydda's omg.
I'm with ya Candi! here's a tissue!
So much happens and so many hookups. story beats and relationships to deleve into i can't wait to see where all of them go.
Dawnstar may have found a friend.

The New Legion!
Tinya having Brainy and Lexicon was a good idea aand i loved Lexicon's point about Psyche could have been at this for years had it not been for the Legion.

The Legion training all meta's in the Science Police and Star fleet is a good way to create relationships. something that's always been an issue.
Wow Brainy Wow.
So we get a small team of SP's on top of Jed and Tel or they just included in that?
Glad the senior team will all be connected and to top ranking officals.

Idk about the media part though. freedom of the press and all and being a lot to critzie the Legion aren't bad things as it may help make them better. idk it's just a little to authoritarian for me.
Damn right Tinya. get the best of the best.
Only one semester of training with the Legion? how long gion? how long is a semester for the academy?
I'm with Drik good in theory but we will see.

ooo lets see who makes it.
Glad Silver Shawman is with Ken and Durha in the med staff.
Harmonia and Death boy leaving is sad but understandable and he does need to heal. I'm glad she's going to help him.
Jaques s a teacher works.
Aww Jed and Tel

glad that Brin won't be going alone to find Laurel. and that Gahaji is going couldn't have anything to do with Zoe could it?
Friction, Atomsmasher, Southern lights!all ones i like and I'm glad we got Polar girl and ultra girl too!!
Lots of members from Xanthu huh? they are the new Earth i guess.
Bouncing Boy II i'm so happy he made it.

I don't know how i feel about the group of cadets going out on their own. But I'm glad the team supports them and upgradded their rings to help them. although i'd say get a logo of your own. lol.
They've got a pretty powerful team though and of course Ballstix left. she thought she would make the team day one.
aww Slingshot!

I'm glad Prescience was admitted for a top secret mission with Cham and Dr. Kaboo. i totally understand being upset. at first especially if you have a vision of wearing the real thing. can't wait to see this team and how they work.
Yeah Jed and Tel! But that way moe SP's than i thought would be there.

OOO more Legion Worlds to come!
Ilove how you use Gear.
what an amazing ride. can't wait for more.!

Thanks for your very kind words everyone, they are really appreciated. I've been away for a few weeks so just catching up with everything here so will review other pieces in the next few days.

A couple of notes - I made a mistake with the Psyche storyline as initially I had planned for Aven to have swapped her consciousness out of her body and into one of his medipaths. That struck me as too extreme so dropped the idea but by then I'd posted a part where it said she was still getting used to her new body. Any confusion was due to me forgetting what was already posted. Sorry, that was entirely my mistake.

Also, I have a part from the wedding in my drafts folder where Rokks dad speaks to him on his wedding day and also Projecta declines an invite saying she'll watch it from Orando. I don't know why I didn't post it, sorry that was another mistake on my behalf.

A few comments on your comments guys - strike and shield protocol was introduced properly in LW2 when the team went to rescue Mysa under the mountain. I'd mentioned it in the Dream Boy series as well in passing. I don't think I've ever seen it written explicitly before anywhere else though may have forgotten if I had.

We will be seeing more of Candi and her new girl friends in LW6. There's a fun little outing for four of them that's going to end in tears, though not what you think.

Glad I fooled you with the Brin and Ord conversation, I wasn't sure if it would work. We'll get onto his adventures soon enough and find out more about the Wanderers in this version of reality.

Cham and Prescience will feature too as we'll find out what mischievous they've been up to.

Also coming, an introduction to Tharok and a mystery on Talk VIII will shake things up when an ancient secret gets unearthed.

Thanks again, more more more for you coming soon