Story so far: http://reboot.freehostia.com/21CL/ ( v1 thread )
Chat thread: https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=94247

The Story So Far (part 1):

Founding

Magnetic basketball champion Rex Kline (Cosmic Boy, or "Cos"), telepathic Checkmate escapee Irma Ardeen (Tela) and electric runaway Garth Raines (Livewire) saved transport billionaire Raymond John "R.J." Brande from an assassination attempt. He proceeded to forge them, together with intangible Austrian heiress Tamara "Tina" Wazzo (Spirit), Brande's triplicating adoptive daughter Lorna Durgo (Trinity) and green-skinned brainiac Quentin Docks (Dox) into the UN-backed Legion of Super-Heroes.

On their first mission, to the Colombian Andes, they were unknowingly joined by a group of stowaways - master of disguise Reed Daggly, shy size-changer Sally Digby and invisible kid Lyle Norga - and followed by magical telekinetic Zoë Saunders and the super-fast Jenni Ognats. There, the Legionnaires were soon overpowered and captured, with only Lorna escaping, but were freed by the stowaways, although Reed was reduced to a pile of orange goo by a chemical explosion in the process.

Elsewhere, things were going similarly - Jenni and Zoë had been distracted by telepathic illusions, victims of the long-distance control of the subject of Project: Universo, but Lorna was able to shock them out of it with the aid of bouncing boy Charles "Chuck" Tan after the project had regained control of their subject. Rejoining their teammates and discovering that Reed was somehow still alive, they searched the facility for evidence of who was behind it with the aid of chemical-manipulating local resident Conan Doyle "Condo" Arlington , but were soon forced to return to New York with their helpers in tow, who would soon join the Legion in their own right as Shifter (Reed), Shrinking Violet (Sally), Invisible Kid (Lyle), Flash (Jenni), Kinetix (Zoë), Rebound (Chuck) and Catalyst (Condo). Others followed swiftly, including the massive Marine Gene Allen (Leviathan), who was parachuted in as their official leader, although most continued to defer to Cosmic Boy in practice.

Workforce

Darker forces were at work elsewhere, however, as industrialist Leonard McCauley worked on building up his own superpowered Workforce. Initially, this was done by collecting random subjects for experimentation - from which few survived, most of whom were horribly mutated, including Russian exchange students Tikhik Julijovitch Miraz & Gennadij Ryurikovich Harius, and terrorist "Mano". Once super-powered subjects began to appear in the general population, he expanded this program to include them. Of these, he selected a few - teleporter Tikhik, Supergirl-like White Triangle survivor Laurel Gander (Andromeda), Legionnaire siblings Eileen "Ella" Raines (Spark) & Paul Kline (Polarity), multi-powered José Rimbaud (Ultra Boy), telepath Meta Ure (Enrapture), powerful magic user Jin Xiongao (Dragonmage) and the invulnerable Steve Arnold (Reflecto) to be his super-powered promotional team, the "Workforce". He proceeded to arrange their brainwashing to ensure complete loyalty on their part, but Tikhik managed to escape this, travelling all the way to Australia and almost burning out his power in the process. There, he met gravity-manipulating teen Tom Kallor, who helped him through depression.

The escape of "the insect" sent McCauley into a state of paranoia, during which he had one of his experimental subjects, uncontrolled pyrokinetic Sandy Anderson, placed in Laurel's former orphanage to destroy it - with devastating consequences for Sandy's mental wellbeing - and formed a secret version of the Workforce to act as his personal hit squad, consisting of Mano, the vicious Micro, lupine Brian Landon (Wolf), mutated telepath Gennadij (Tellus) and shy teleporter Clarice Ferguson (Blink), the last of of whom also aided in the public Workforce's movements without joining. One of this covert Workforce's missions would involve the abduction of the Legionnaire Trinity to study her power for later use, and this abduction, along with her near-escape and and brainwashing to forget the fortnight-long episode before being returned to the Legion would have devastating effects on her mental well-being.

On the public Workforce team, Andromeda was highly discomfited by some of the things she was asked to do in the name of PR, while Spark had grown steadily bitter about her "abandonment" by her twin brother - this latter point would be exposed during a visit from a small group of Legionnaires, including Livewire and Cosmic Boy, which left Garth devastated. This was only compounded during a reciprocal visit of the whole Workforce to Legion HQ, during which Spark would form a tentative friendship with Legionnaire Dox, but push her brother further away while reeling from Polarity's confession of love for her, which she was forced to admit she didn't share. The blow was softened for Livewire that same night, however, as he and Tela admitted to each other their forming relationship. The same night had further ill-effects for Trinity, though, as although she and Cos were growing closer in spite of her deepening depression, Enrapture took advantage of her while searching her mind for information on McCauley's behalf.

Meanwhile, in Australia, with Tikhik's power finally healing from his over-strain, he and Tom began to plot to travel to the USA to expose McCauley once and for all, with a trip that would involve steps across multiple continents to avoid injuring Tikhik again. On their way, they would pick up the restless Ming Sul in Hong Kong, before running into Noriko "Nori" Ashida in Japan. Nori's near-disablement from her electrical powers began to make Tikhik think of life beyond McCauley, where he could help others with their power-related problems, a line of thought which continued even after they managed to gain the help of Igor Kuria in Canada to temporarily resolve Nori's problems.

Fall of the Workforce

By the time the group arrived in the USA, however, the Workforce had began to fall apart. It began in a small way, as Polarity's confession of love for Spark had driven a wedge between the two, which Enrapture ruthlessly exploited. It accelerated with the shooting of Ultraboy by an animal-rights activist (from a group which would soon be visited by Mano's team), leading to his replacement with a hastily-patched up Sandy (Inferno). And it became irreversible when, on a routine mission with Enrapture to scan an arms depot for spies and their devices, Andromeda had encountered a pendant-wearing member of the White Triangle, the terrorist group led by Zander Roxxas which had orphaned her, and had instinctively killed him. The trauma this caused, combined with McCauley refusing to grant her leave to recover, led to her breaking through her brainwashing. As soon as McCauley realised this, he had Blink send her away - to which Blink, guilty at her unwilling part in what had happened to Trinity, sent her to Legion HQ.

There, the day before, Trinity had finally accepted that she needed help for her problems, and gone to Tela. Irma had thus discovered her brainwashing, and managed to repair most of the direct damage, though not the indirect effects such as her depression. With this known about, Andromeda's crash-landing into their lobby caused some disconcertion, with Leviathan almost ordering an attack before Cosmic Boy, seeing Laurel's confusion at her change of surroundings, stopped him. After Laurel told them what had happened from her perspective, Tela warned Cosmic Boy that while Andromeda was telling the truth, she was so angry that she would probably "kill McCauley and then herself", and Cos thus had Tela put Laurel to sleep for a while.

Despite being denied authorisation for an official mission, Cosmic Boy put together an unofficial team of Tela, Livewire, Trinity, Invisible Kid and Shifter to save Spark, Polarity and any others they could. Joined unexpectedly by a pair of later members - the precognitive Dreamer and the fifth-dimensional Quislet - they travelled to Workforce HQ, where Trinity soon headed off after McCauley by herself. Confronted by Enrapture, she disposed of her by splitting as Meta attempted to invade her mind, but soon found to her shock that McCauley had copied her power, letting him replicate himself freely, along with the power to fire beams of energy from his eyes. The other Legionnaires, meanwhile, had gone to the basement and found dozens of stasis tubes filled with McCauley's subjects, one of which opened to release a large, angry green monster called the Hulk.

At this stage, the fact of an incident at McCauley's facility became public knowledge, and Tikhik's group - following an energy being, formed from the minds of two students, called "Drake Burroughs" - discovered it while Tik recovered from their previous jump. Immediately, he opened a gate to Workforce HQ and the group headed through, with Drake tagging along; while at Legion HQ, Andromeda awoke and started heading for Workforce HQ at high speed.

As the Legionnaires fought the Hulk, Dreamer sent the founding Legionnaires after Cos & Livewire's siblings, knowing that Tikhik's group were about to arrive on the scene to aid them, while Tikhik himself went after McCauley personally. His arrival came at a fortuitous time for Trinity, who was struggling against an increasing number of McCauleys, and the distraction caused two McCauleys to be shorn in half by the others, revealing them to be mere animated dummies. At the same time, the founding Legionnaires confronted the Workforce, to be met only token resistance from their siblings, while Dragonmage remained outside the fray, but Inferno and Reflecto fought hard, knocking out Tela and Live Wire, and Dragonmage & Reflecto ultimately escaped.

Trinity and Tikhik managed to discover the real McCauley, but he quickly knocked out Trinity and was on the verge of killing Tikhik when Andromeda arrived, picking McCauley up by the neck. Tikhik in turn, however, talked her out of killing McCauley. After knocking him out, she heard the ongoing fight with the Hulk just as the battle began to turn against the Legionnaires and their allies, and proceeded to take her frustration out on the monster, knocking him for miles with a full-strength blow, before bursting into tears in the wreckage of the fight.

Workforce Aftermath

After being unbrainwashed by Tela, Andromeda chose to leave Earth for some time; while Spark and Polarity chose to apply for Legion membership, but were forced to attend mandatory counselling to ensure they were fully recovered. Tom Kallor and Igor Kuria also joined more immediately as Starboy and Gear, while "Drake" asked for time to consider whether he wanted to join or not. Trinity took a leave of absence as she also attempted to decide what to do.

Of the other Workforce members, Enrapture was left in a coma, Reflecto set himself up as a mercenary, Dragonmage tried to return home - only to find himself permanently exiled - and Blink was returned to her parents as she tried to cope with what she'd been through, while the rest of the covert team remained together as Mano tried to find a way around their orders to remain secret whatever happened.

Tikhik Miraz opted to become a teacher in the use of powers at the "Legion Academy" set up to deal with many of McCauley's former captives. Ming Sul, Noriko Ashida and Inferno enrolled there as students.

Cathingham

Some time later, a group of Legionnaires consisting of Invisible Kid, Shifter, Starboy and Gear were reluctantly sent to the town of Cathingham, near the US/Canada border, to deal with a vigilante dubbed "the Nightwatchman" by the local media. Gear, plugged into the local CCTV and police radio bands, directed the others to the vigilante after nightfall, but Invisible Kid and Starboy quickly fell, and Shifter struggled to hold his own against his super-strong, armoured opponent. In desperation, as he followed them into the sewers, he prised off their helmet... only to recognise the figure underneath as Lydia Grath, a childhood friend of his with a skin condition that prevented her from going out in daylight. After talking with her in one of her boltholes, and being told about the corruption in the local authorities, he agreed to keep her identity secret, and departed with the Legionnaires the following day.

Shortly afterward, she recruited Andromeda as an assistant in her civilian identity, with the ultimate aim of recruiting her in their superheroic identities as well.

The Story So Far (part 2):

Ancient History

Thousands of centuries ago at the dawn of man, a great civilization called Ekron dominated the landscape of Earth. With long forgotten knowledge and incredible insight, the Ekronians brought an Age of Enlightenment to the world. However, one of their number was not content with the exploration of world and self; consumed with a desire to bring order to the world, Mordru turned against the other Ekronians and sought to subjugate all the world. Ekron was destroyed in the vast civil war, though Mordru survived to plague mankind throughout its development as a great Dark Lord and enemy throughout history.

Following the destruction of Ekron, the planet Earth was razed and suffered greatly as continents were shattered and life came close to extinction. The planet recognized the longstanding danger and sent its own son, birthed from the essence of Earth itself, to defend it. This creature has been called many things, most recently ‘Blok’.

Mordru’s enemies were vast and varied over the centuries though the Dark Lord always remained triumphant. They included an ancient line of shadow-weavers, the Mallors, which stretched back to the birth of human civilization in the gardens of Eden and the House of Proiectra, who learned to utilize powers of illusion in order to battle Mordru’s line of concubines, the Emerald Empresses of Venegar. Another enemy of Mordru to suffer defeat was the ancient Roman hero Monius Elysius whose strength, fortitude and valor were renowned in the ancient world, though that could not stop the betrayal of his friend Devious Emius, who worked on Mordru’s behalf to put him in a comatose sleep where he remained for two thousand years.

Millennia ago, Mordru put a spell over humanity to block any further evolution on their part, ensuring they could never muster enough power to thwart him. Yet, somewhere around twenty-five years ago Mordru’s spell was broken; subsequently, modern day teenagers have found themselves with extraordinary abilities! More telling, something else occurred for the first time in history: Mordru has offspring in the form of two very powerful daughters.

The Telepathic Circle

Across the vast distances of Earth, six young girls with extraordinary backgrounds and abilities came to know one another, unaware their destinies were forever intertwined. While under quarantine deep in a Cadmus sub-basement, the young teenage Irma Ardeen reached out telepathically to like-minded girls across the world: Tatiana Mallor, of the ancient shadow-casting Mallor family in England; Princess Jacqueline Proiectra of Moldavia and her chamberlain Sara Romanescu, who also was unknowingly of an ancient royal line; and the daughters of Mordru, Nura and Maziah. Each was faced with immense responsibilities and danger, and came to rely on one another.

As Irma grew up to help co-found the Legion, the daughters of Mordru were inspired to at long last escape from their father’s watchful eye, finally realizing the evil of the Dark Lord. Nura journeyed to New York City to join the Legion as Dreamer, while Maziah turned towards Europe where another gathering occurred.

The Sentinels of Magic

The magical world reached a turning point when Sara Romanescu learned of her family’s ancient origins as royalty of the once great empire of Venegar, as well as the role the Proiectra family played in its demise. She awakened the Emerald Eye of Ekron, one of two thought long lost, and with that power murdered Jacquie’s father. The resurgence of the Emerald Eye caused Mordru’s daughter and magic-user Maziah, Tatiana Mallor and Blok to search out the Emerald Eye; the Eye also awoke the super-powered great warrior Monius Elysius after two thousand years of slumber. Caught up in the chaos was fashion model turned wannabe adventurer, Dirk Morgna, the “Sun Boy”, who had gained sun-based powers following an industrial accident at his father’s factory. Soon the group of teenagers banded together to battle the Emerald Eye and then stayed together following the battle as Blok cured Monius of his lead poisoning.

An international journey then followed as the Sentinels followed the Emerald Empress, first to Rome and then Turkey, where they gained a new ally, the hot-tempered alchemist and fighter Hasim Diyarbikar. Next, they journeyed to Viet Nam for another battle with the Empress, where this time the fight was joined by international hit man the Persuader on the Empress’s side, and on the Sentinels side Ten Zil Kem, a boy with the ability to eat matter in all forms whose father was recently murdered by the Persuader. Though the Sentinels were victorious, the Empress and Persuader escaped. The Sentinels stuck together to find a way home, being told by Blok their banding together was destiny considering how closely the ancient histories of Tatiana, Maziah, Princess Jacquie, Monius Elysius and Blok were tied together. The group grew closer and accepted it was their duty to combat Maziah’s father Mordru, who they learned was on the cusp of once more attacking the world.

Their journey continued through Japan, where they were being pursued by the clandestine secret society the Dark Circle and India, where they met the ten-year old Kid Psycho, who could create telekinetic shields. In India they also met businessman and philanthropist Marla Latham who took a major interest in the group. It was there they were betrayed with several of them captured by the Dark Circle in placed in a gulag under the warden, Nardo, while the others battled Mordru’s vampire agent, Lord Vykros. After they were victorious, Maziah, Mon-El and Blok found unlikely allies joining them in liberating their friends.

Following Dreamer’s joining of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a small group of four Legionnaires set out to find the Sentinels: Spirit, Valor, Shrinking Violet and Catalyst. They did so and helped free the captives from Nardo, and then journeyed to Spirit’s home in Vienna, Austria afterwards. Recognizing the danger of Mordru for what it was, Spirit and Valor elected to stay with the group, as the Sentinels gained more clarity in their purpose. Blok began training Maziah for the coming battle, while the others became immersed in the United Nations politics going on at Castle Wazzo, most notably by the Countess Winema Wazzo and Ambassador Anton Relnic. Marla Latham also resurfaced and a side trip to Berlin introduced the Sentinels to the religious teleporting ‘blue demon’ Nightcrawler.

In Vienna, Mordru’s agents struck: a mercenary called Orion the Hunter and the hellish demon known as Etrigan. The Sentinels again were captured though Marla Latham pre-empted the attack by kidnapping Maziah himself. Marla revealed he was a long time member of the Dark Circle, who had their own interest in Mordru and his enemies. However, this was revealed to be a ruse, as Marla was a double-agent, and he was proactively protecting Maziah from being kidnapped by her father. His cover now blown, Marla rescued many stolen treasures from the Dark Circle, including a statue of Corporal James Barnes, the World War II veteran Bucky, thought long lost. As Maziah restored Bucky, they were joined by Dawnstar, who had traveled half way across the world in search of her missing tribe member (unknowingly kidnapped by Leonard McCauley and sold to the Dark Circle). As Maziah and Dawnstar returned to find their friends, Marla Latham journeyed back to the United States with Bucky, revealing he worked with RJ Brande, financier of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Meanwhile, the Sentinels came face to face with Mordru for the first time, where they learned that Mon-El’s agent enemy Dev Em remained alive as one of Mordru’s greatest servants. The Sentinels escaped when Etrigan the Demon was again unleashed and Mordru was called away by trickery on the part of his most ancient, nemesis who remained unrevealed somewhere in the United States. The Sentinels then escaped to Khundia, which they learned was a military dictatorship in service to Mordru that would serve as his attack point to the rest of the world. In Khundia, they encountered the nation’s own Legionnaire program which included Firefist, Blood Claw, Veilmist and Flederweb.

The Sentinels escaped Khundia to the Greek Isles where they regrouped, gaining an ally in the ghostly Black Pirate. There they decided once and for all to assume codenames, becoming known as Sensor, Valor, Nemesis, Spirit, Flare, Matter-Eater Lad, Mon-El, Umbra and Blok. With the threat of Mordru now something they had seen first hand, Sensor realized in order to defeat him they would need the full power of the Legion and therefore she would have to muster their strength. Sensor, Valor and Nemesis decided to break off from the rest of the group to journey to the United States in hopes of bringing together all of the worlds heroes to battle the Dark Lord.

The Suicide Squad

In the ghettos of Suicide Slum, Metropolis, three boys relied on nothing other than each other: two brothers, deformed and outcasts, Doug & Andy Nolan, and their best friend, Conal. Years earlier, the two brothers had rescued him from the labs of the Cadmus Project and they had been off the radar ever since until the day Amanda Waller of the Government Agency Task Force X entered their lives. Somehow she knew of the boy’s ability to become solid steel and of Conal’s tactile telekinetic powers. She made them an offer which Doug and Conal negotiated, agreeing to a deal on all of their behalf where Andy could be left behind while the two boys volunteered for her mission.

Thus, the two boys took the names Ferro (Doug) and Tetsuo (Conal) and joined the Suicide Squad. They were joined by Kono, Ann Schlar, an American Southern girl with the ability to phase and Oracle, Danielle Focquart, a Tunisian girl with mastery of technology. Their squad leader was Fantomas, Danielle’s brother Jacques, who despite his young age in his early twenties was already a master at espionage with the power of invisibility.

After some initial missions, the five were now poised to act on Waller’s behalf, whatever that agenda may be.

Elsewhere

Following injuries sustained by his gunshot wound to the face, Ultra Boy underwent reconstructive surgery and emerged looking completely different. He also gained some perspective, realizing his time with the Workforce had brought out his worst qualities and he had lost sight of where he came from and who he was. Resolving to move on, he went off in search of the biggest loose end in his life: the dragon Godzilla monster that gave him his powers.

As conservative sensationalist newscaster Jack Ryder, with assistant Marella Tao, look for new ways to use the Legion of Super-Heroes to gain ratings, he hires private investigator Celeste Rockfish to begin researching both the Legion of Super-Heroes and their financier RJ Brande.

Elsewhere, numerous other teenagers begin finding themselves with extraordinary abilities as mankind’s next phase of evolution begins.

Academy L: Prelude

"Hello again old man", Dani whispered under her breath, as the mansion which was to become the official Legion Academy came into view.

"Sorry ma'am, did you say something?" The driver who had been sent to take her from the airport interrupted as he stopped at the gate.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just talking to ghosts." A nervous look came over him, and she had to hold back her laughter, "No, not literally. Just thinking out loud about the last time I was here."

"Ma'am? They told me..."

"Oh, it was years ago. Just before the old man's heart finally gave out." She looked up at the building again. "He'd have approved."

"I'm sure ma'am." The gate opened, and less than a minute later the car pulled up at the entrance. The driver got out, preparing to open the door for her, but she beat him to it.

A man was standing a short distance away, and once she'd pulled her overnight bag from the car, he walked over to meet her with his hand outstretched.

He was oddly nondescript. Dani found it difficult to place his age, or pick out any features on a face that had been designed for anonymity. In this world at least, noting his white skin and sandy hair as she took his hand.

"Ms. Moonstar? John Jones, headmaster," he said in a voice that held no readily discernible accent.

"Danielle Moonstar, head of... 'Special Training', is it still? It's changed enough times I'm not sure whether I missed one."

"For now at least," he smiled.

"Two weeks until opening and they still don't have it locked?"

"Three weeks. Some of the conversion work won't be ready in time, I was told earlier today."

She sighed indignantly.

He looked apologetic, "I'm sorry. It's out of my hands."

She sighed again, more out of resignation this time, "I know. That doesn't make it any less annoying. Private tutoring's a lot less... frustrating."

"I'm sure it is. Before I introduce you to your team, have you been shown pictures of them?"

"No, why?"

"Ahhh... try not to stare."

"?!"
____________

It was good advice, Dani reflected. She was used to the occasional stare herself, so she knew how rude it would have been, but a grey woman with green hair and a human-sized bug naturally... caught the eye.

"Moonstar, I take it?"

She jumped. She knew she shouldn't have, but she jumped when the bug talked.

He sighed impatiently and repeated "Danielle Moonstar?"

Pulling herself together she held out her hand and confirmed it, "And you must be Tikhik Miraz."

"Yes." He didn't raise his claw. She switched to the other figure rather than make an issue of it. "Shikari Lonestar?"

"Yes, Danielle teacher" Her accent was bizarre, like nothing Dani had ever heard before, and the yellow eyes below the short green hair said something. She felt like she was being seen right through. She shook off the feeling and settled down to start discussing the practicalities of her department with them.
________________

"Hi Sul." Ming Sul jumped as Noriko Ashida suddenly appeared behind her.

"Nori, I don't know how many times I've asked you not to do that when I'm studyi-" she finally turned round to face her and stopped dead. "What is that you're wearing?"

Nori, instead of her usual crop-top and baggy pants, was wearing something vaguely resembling a gown, with tight cuffs at the wrists and ankles.

"The latest hare-brained idea to come from Mr "Twelve times smarter than You" - it's got a layer of copper in it to 'electrically screen' me. The cage is arriving for my bed later."

"CAGE?!"

"I only wish I was joking. It's a box of thin copper mesh - same idea as these clothes, to keep the electricity out, not me in."

"Umm... is it doing any good?"

"Not sure yet. One thing I am sure about though is that it's hot and heavy in a bad way. By the way, I'm getting a single room out of it."

"Maybe my next roommate'll know how to clean the shower after using it..."

"Hey, water and electricity! I'm only meant to stay in for-" she adopted a bad Dox impression, "'the bare minimum of time', remember?"

"Explains why you smell too then, huh?"

Nori stood there a moment too long.

"Whatever you say'll just dig you deeper. Just admit defeat." Sul smirked, Nori just made a face in reply. "Seriously, you'll be fine."

"Without your snoring? I might get some sleep. What makes you so sure you won't get this place to yourself?"

"Numbers. According to Tik, they've got double what they expected at this point - they counted on McCauley's prisoners plus a few, and they got McCauley's prisoners plus a lot. Many more and they'll have to build an extension just to house them, never mind the teacher shortage - the 'normal' subjects are just about covered, but they can't fill the practical powers posts for love nor money. Right now, they've got Tik, some winged woman they found teaching some kindergarten in Scotland, and a 'Danielle Moonsar' who's the only one with experience on the subject."

"Ah." Nori unconsciously played with her collar. "He was asking you to switch sides again?"

"Yup. If - hypothetically I ended up teaching though, I would never get the chance to finish school. If that didn't bother me, I probably wouldn't have turned the Legion down to start with."

"Still no chance then?"

"Legion or teaching?"

"Both, I guess."

"Legion... see if they ask me again in a year. Teaching... if they keep bugging me, I might help out when I can, but classes & homework come first."
____________

The meeting was done, finally. Shikari lost no time in heading out, but Tikhik hung about for a few moments. Dani decided to take the opportunity to ask him something.

"Just wondering - do you know any of the female students?"

"A couple - Ming Sul & Noriko Ashida. I had to teleport from Australia to the USA by the scenic route and we ended up picking them up along the way. Why?"

"I'm a bit worried about Sofia, my - well, I sort of adopted her, after her mother died and she had a big... Umm... fall-out with her dad. She's sixteen, and powered so she'll be coming here too, and she can be a bit... open.... at times. And I don't want her rooming with anyone who'd take advantage of that or anything of the sort. Would either of them...?"

"I think Nori's being moved to her own room because of her power problems. Sul, Sul should be teaching with us as far as her power control stands, but she's more concerned about other subjects. She may do it, but you should ask her."
____________

Sul sat up from her book. She felt like she was going cross-eyed from staring at equations, formulae and proofs for hours, and she was beginning to get hungry. Nori had gone down to the canteen almost an hour before, and looking at the clock she realised she was leaving it late if she wanted to eat anything at all. Stretching, she stood up when there was a knock at the door. She walked over and opened it.

"Hi Tik."

"This is Danielle Moonstar, the head of my department. She wanted to ask a favour from you, and I promised I'd take her up so that she didn't get lost."

"Not sticking around?" She noticed the portal, off to the side and still glowing.

"I'm starving, and it's not a favour for me." He stepped through the portal and was gone, to Dani's surprise. Sul was relaxed.

"He's like that - a good guy, but snippy sometimes. You get used to it. Come in." She opened the door wider and Dani walked into the room.

Directing Dani to the seat she'd been in, she perched on her bed. "So, what was it you wanted Ms Moonstar? Sorry if I'm being snippy now, but I haven't eaten either and I need to get down there in the next twenty minutes if I want to."

"It's 'Dani' if you're not in one of my classes - and according to Tikhik, you might as well be teaching one."

"Only if I dumped all my other classes. I'll help out if you want, but..." She shrugged. "Anyway..."

"One thing." Dani proceeded to give her the same basic explanation she gave Tikhik, ending with, "so, could you keep an eye on her for me?"

"Sure, my roommate's being moved to a single room and I wasn't expecting to get this to myself anyway. What's her power?"

"She's an aerokinetic."

"Say what?"

Dani smiled. "Sorry, I slip into using technical terms sometimes. She can move air around, to create winds and suchlike."

"Ah."

"So you'd be alright with that then?"

"Sure."

"Thanks. I'll let you get down and eat then."

"You've eaten?"

"I promised an old friend I'd have dinner with them tonight before I realised how far we were from New York City. I'd better get moving."
___________

Sul just got the last of the pasta bake, and found Tik halfway through his own dinner in the nearly empty canteen. "Nori say to you about what they're putting her through?"

"I spoke to her, and then the Legion scientists, before I had to meet Moonstar. If it helps her retain control after Igor's collar fails, it's a good thing. I'm sure you remember how she was back in Japan and Canada."

"I remember. I'm just worried."

"I am too, but as long as she can control her power, she can take care of herself."

"Yeah, but that's 'as long as' - remember how sick she got in Canada after being discharged for a while? What if the collar fails during the night?"

"She might incinerate the whole room."

"That's not likely though, is it?"

"If she has the presence of mind to discharge, it might be. And if she doesn't, there's a heavily shielded warning system wired into the cage that triggers if a circuit is drained. She's at risk Sul, but you might be too if you shared a room with her when it happened."

"Fine. I get the point. By the way, was it just me, or do you not like Dani?

"Right now? I've no strong feelings towards her in either direction. Ask me again after I've had to work with her."
___________

Dani collapsed into bed as soon as she could when she finally made it back to the Academy building. It wasn't her old room - that had been in one of the now-student wings - but it felt familiar all the same. She wondered how it would be when she was living here day in, day out for a few minutes, before turning out the light. She was asleep in minutes.

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 1

A low level illusion made them appear as young men and a young woman in their 20’s, which wasn’t too difficult to maintain. Connecting in Italy, they changed flights and now journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean towards the United States.

The three of them sat in a row together, Hasim looking out the window, Jacquie in between them and Val on the isle side, all quietly keeping to themselves. Val felt the smallest levels of anxiety about seeing his friends in the Legion again and what their reaction would be to his long disappearance now, but pushed those thoughts away. He would deal with it as it happened. Obviously, there would be some who were angry with him, but he felt there would be others who would forgive him when they realized why he had been gone for so long. He’d gained the trust of many of them when he trained them all. Rather than think of this, he looked towards Jacquie and tried to quietly lend her his strength, knowing she felt the tremendous pressure of the task set out before her. It was a task all of them shared, but she felt it more than they. Val wanted her to know he had made it his own too. Because after these last few weeks with her, he knew in his heart that he loved her, and there was nothing he could do about it. She was beautiful, and regal. But more—she was cunningly smart, and she was strong. She had conviction and she was prepared to take on the weight of the world to help that world, even though it had been so unkind to her. He would let no harm come to her and if there ever came a day when he needed to, he’d give his life for her as well.

A flight attendant came by and offered them all something to drink and Jacquie accepted a ginger ale. She hoped it would calm her stomach a little, which was a pit of nerves and stress at this point. Neither Val nor Hasim knew how scared or nervous she was. Afterall, she was the mistress of illusion. But she was frightened. Frightened she would get there and no one would believe her, or give her a chance. That it would be a wasted trip and there would be no one to help them in the battle against Mordru. Here she was, preparing to convince these people, and through them, a much larger array of governments and the world that she should stand ready to battle a being that could very well destroy them. She laughed to herself. That was if they even believed Mordru existed, which was what she had to convince them of first.

Yet despite being scared and being nervous, mostly what she felt was sadness. She was leaving her friends behind to do this, and she suddenly felt very alone. Because these friends had become her family ever since that day. That day when Sara Romanescu murdered her father and destroyed her family and her kingdom. She had been able to put it out of her mind for so long now, because she had them to think about. But now…now she was leaving her friends behind…and she couldn’t help but feel she was leaving her father behind too.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she hated herself for letting it. She’d held herself together for weeks now—she couldn’t afford to lose it right here on a plane.

“Its alright Jacqueline,” said Val to her softly. Apparently she couldn’t hold up the illusion too well. Or perhaps Val had just seen through it.

She sniffed to herself. She nodded at Val, the tears still in her eyes. “I’m okay,” she said softly.

Hasim looked over at them, annoyed. He had not noticed anything until they spoke.

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

Jacquie allowed herself to drift to sleep for awhile, and her head leaned towards Val’s shoulder. Soon, Val fell asleep also. Hasim fumed silently in his seat. It was obvious what was happening here. The two of them had no use for him. He wanted to kill Val Armor, and he thought he could. Didn’t she see? Didn’t she see she belonged with him?

The plane suddenly dropped sharply, as turbulence hit hard. Val’s eyes opened up, and he immediately was alarmed. Everyone was quiet. Then, nothing happened. A few seconds later, the flight attendant announced the captain had turned on the ‘fasten seat belts’ sign and to stay seated. Some people giggled a little, to quiet their nerves.

Some more turbulence hit, and the plane again felt like it was dropping. Then nothing again. A little more giggling by some passengers, as others held their seats tightly, now scared. Jacquie was awake now too, also aware of what was happening. Hasim looked out the window, but realized there was nothing he could do. Turbulence was part of flying.

Suddenly the turbulence rocked the plane so hard that a person not wearing their seat belt flew up into the air, banging into the luggage compartments above. The oxygen masks dropped, triggered by the change in pressure, and the plane rocked back and forth, as the passengers felt it dropped. Val suddenly realized how powerless he was up here in the air, as did Hasim.

Then, in a moment of pure horror none of the three of them would ever forget, the entire tail end of the plane was ripped off from the fuselage, as bodies were pulled out into the sky, where they would fall below to their deaths. People were screaming and crying but they could not make enough noise to be heard over the wind rushing into the cabin. The plane began to descend. It was going to crash. Jacquie would never get to perform her mission, because the plane was going to crash…

A green glow could be seen in the corner of their eyes, and the three of them realized something was happening in back of them. More bodies were flying, as the front of the plane suddenly broke off too, and more people fell to their deaths. Going at a speed they couldn’t begin to register, they fell towards the land below, but the green glow grew brighter. It suddenly wrapped around their bodies, ripping the seats out of the plane, as the remnants of the plane, and all of the people on board, descended to their deaths below.

They shouldn’t have been able to hear anything over the wind and the noise, but they heard the words clearly: “Greetings Princess Jacqueline! I’ve missed you.” It was her oldest friend and greatest enemy. Sara Romanescu. The Emerald Empress.

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 2

Brazil, South America

“Sara…” said Jacquie, the full realization of what was happening hitting her. All of those people…falling to their deaths…

“So glad you didn’t forget about, Princess” she added oozing hate and sarcasm, as she suddenly pulled the three of them to the ground with her, moving at full speed. The Emerald Eye’s magic abilities were now fully under control, and Jacquie realized that perhaps these last months since they last met had been spent putting the Eye under full control by Sara. “One day perhaps you’d be able to fly, but until then, I’ll gladly do it for you.” With that comment, they reached a distance of roughly forty yards above the ground, where the Emerald Empress allowed the three to drop down below.

Valor and Nemesis used their abilities to tumble to the ground, both hitting it roughly but managing to survive the fall, landing amidst a series of trees, in what looked to be a jungle area. They had no idea where they were.

Jacquie landed into a large river below, falling further underwater, but regaining her composure and swimming to the top. She immediately swam to shore, as the Emerald Empress flew down slowly to her. “Your friends can’t help you now,” she said smiling. “MY FRIENDS can’t help you now. You turned them against me! Maziah and Tatiana! They were my friends, and you made them betray me for you!” Sara was furious, now using the Eye to blast Jacquie backwards to the ground. “I hate you!” she screamed in rage.

Jacquie fells backwards, trying desperately to remember how they were able to beat the Empress last time. She recalled something…Tatiana using her shadows to block out the Eye’s vision. Jacquie stood up again, looking at her rival eye to eye, both with fury in their eyes. Two sixteen year old girls of ancient lineage, spanning back sixty generations. Fifteen hundred years of rivalry now shared between these two girls.

Jacquie unleashed her power of illusion at Sara, surprising her, but then doing little, as Sara knew what to expect. But Jacquie’s plan was to distract Sara for a brief moment, so she could concentrate on the true power here—the Emerald Eye. Using her power of illusion, she covered the Eye with the image of the jungle ahead of it, hiding out the images of Jacquie and Sara. For an instant, the Eye was unsure where it’s mistress was.

“You hate me”? said Jacquie now in pure rage. “You hate me? You killed my father!” she screamed. “My father was nothing but nice to you your entire life! We took care of you! You killed him!” she screamed, running at Sara, who now stumbled backwards upon seeing Jacquie’s rage. “I hate you!” she screamed, leaping at her childhood friend and scratching at her face. She was acting on pure fury now, trying to hurt Sara however she could. Sara pushed her back, slapping her back, and Jacquie regained her composure and remembered what Val taught her, and delivered a hard blow into Sara’s abdomen, and then another into her face. “You killed all those people Sara,” she said. “What was it? One hundred people? More? You killed them all! Sent them to their deaths, just so you could get to me!”.

Sara recovered, and by now, the Emerald Eye, in all of its power, pierced through Jacquie’s illusions, and fired at her, once more nailing her backwards. Sara wiped away the blood running from her mouth. “I know that hurts,” she said cruelly, “and I’m going to make it hurt a lot more, before I kill you at last.”

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

Not far away, the man known as the Persuader waited with keen interest to see if his ally, the Emerald Empress, would accomplish her goals, and kill the children. He hoped she would and had no doubt she had the mean streak to do it. They had stayed together since first meeting months ago, and become partners, helping each other in getting whatever means they wanted to survive and to flourish. She had her own goals, while his were less grand. He knew she was certifiably insane, going on about an ancient empire named Venegar that would rise again but he allowed her to think he would help her in accomplishing this. And hell, he probably would if it was a real possibility. His goals were more direct. He had international contacts, and he used them now. He’d be the highest paid killer in the entire world, with this atomic axe. He’d made his mark in Korea and his name had spread among the back channels of the global underbelly.

Now the Empress insisted on this plan, after keeping tabs on her rival for so long. She’d used the Eye to influence the plane’s flight plan so that it would move towards Brazil rather than the United States. And to the Persuader’s delight, he saw how bloodthirsty the Empress could be, by killing all those people and bringing her enemy here in Brazil. For some reason she’d been drawn here not long before, in this odd part of the Amazon. Now he welcomed their new guests.

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

Valor rushed through the jungle trying to listen for Sensor’s voice, or even the voice of the Empress, to find her. No luck. He had no clue where he was. At full speed, he picked a direction and ran towards it.

“Just make sure you know what you’re running towards,” said a voice. It was Nemesis. He caught up with Valor. “I met this girl before,” he called their last encounter with the Emerald Empress. “She doesn’t fool around. We’re out of our league here, and this time with no Mon-El or White Witch to bail us out.”

“I’m not worried,” said Valor matter-of-factly. “Where do you think she is?”

“No clue.”

Both ran after her now.

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

The Emerald Eye rained down a fury of pain in the form of green light, though to Jacquie it felt like a thousand needles piercing her skin and pulling her apart. Jacquie promised herself she would not scream, as sweat dripped down her face and she squeezed her eyes tight.

“You bitch,” said the Emerald Empress. “How dare you lay a hand on me,” she continued, still shocked Jacquie could punch her so hard in the face.

“Just let me up, Sara,” said Jacquie throw gritting teeth, “I’ll surprise you again.” She concentrated now on her power, once more trying to block out the Eye. She needed an image. An image it would recognize and perhaps would startle it. She knew the Eye was somehow sentient through magic and that it was a very old item. Blok had revealed many things about it too her. She had to appeal to its long history and trick it. At last an image came to her.

And suddenly the Eye grew terribly afraid. Before it, the Eye believed, stood the Dark Lord Mordru.

Once more, Jacquie was free. She kicked out Sara’s legs, knocking her down. The two grabbed at each other, the battle beginning once more.

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

“Up ahead,” said Nemesis, running forward.

“What is it? That large mountainside? There’s no way they’re up there. We didn’t fall down any hills.”

“I know,” said Hasim, reaching a mountainside covered in trees, bushes and shrubbery. “But something is odd here. Something else else caught my eye. Something else else…metallic. I thought perhaps it was the Empress. Or her partner back in Seoul.”

“Partner? You didn’t mention she had a partner.”

“The Persuader. He’s a real pleasure too. You’ll get along just fine with him. But no. This is nothing. We’re still going in the wrong direction.”

“Wait,” said Val now, looking more closely. “Something else else is here.” He moved the shrubbery out of the way, at last deciding to just rip it right out of the mountainside. It was easier than he thought, because behind it all was a metallic door, built right into the mountain. There was some sort of bunker or building inside the mountain itself, covered over time by overgrown shrubbery.

“What is it?” said Nemesis, anxious to get back to Jacquie.

“Don’t you recognize the symbol?” asked Val. “I do. And I find it extremely odd that of all the places in the world, we end up here, after being two of the few people in the world to recognize this symbol.”

Nemesis looked closer. He couldn’t place it—then at last it came to him. From Spirit’s file. The one she stole from the Dark Circle. This was the symbol of the Dominion. And now it was on the metallic door before them, leading into the mountain.

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 3

Valor and Nemesis stared at the metallic doors in shock. Val was absolutely right. There was no way this could be coincidence.

Not long ago, their ally, Spirit had found a file containing information about a secret alliance (25) years ago between the Dark Circle, the global secret society with sinister intentions toward the daughters of Mordru, and the Dominion, a secret scientific group they knew almost nothing about.

Now here, in the middle of Brazil, where they crash-landed, was the Dominion symbol upon a door leading into a mountain. What was in there, they had no idea. Neither was sure they wanted to know.

“The Empress,” said Nemesis. “There has to be a reason she choose here to cause the crash. She must have been waiting here, maybe even drawing us closer to her with the Eye. Who knows what power it has?”

Valor, who was fully aware that both he and Nemesis were quite the opposite of friends or allies, was surprised by Hasim’s comment in that he had to be right. “Yes,” he replied. “She must have been the one who caused this. But what is her connection with this Dominion? Jacquie has known her all her life. She would have known if Sara had a connection to such a group.”

“Maybe,” said Hasim. “Maybe not. Or maybe this link between them is new, in the last few months. There’s certainly a lot we don’t know about this Empress now. Starting with this Persuader I told you about. Maybe its him who had the link.”

“Or maybe…,” said Val as a thought suddenly occurred to him, “…it’s the Eye.”

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

Jacquie and Sara broke apart, now both bruised and bloody, their rage dying down and turning into fierce determination. The physical aspect of this battle had lasted far longer than either thought it would. Jacquie continued to concentrate on her illusion over the Eye, though she knew it would not last long. Sooner or later, it would realize Mordru wasn’t there.

“Sara,” she said at last. “There is far more going on than you realize. That thing you have is evil. It was created by an evil man, and he’ll want it back. He’s going to come for you. I know it. You don’t have to do this.”

“I do have to,” she replied venomously. “Because you lied to me all those years. You were supposed to be my friend, but you were denying me my destiny. I’m supposed to be an Empress!” she yelled. “But you didn’t let me.”

“Sara, you know that’s not true and doesn’t make sense. But this is bigger than you and I now. This man, Mordru, is the enemy of the entire world. All of us need to stand against him: Tatiana, Maziah, Nura, Irma…all of us. This Eye will pit you against us all. You should be with us.”

“Ha!” yelled Sara. “What sort of trick is this? You just told me you hated me. After all, I did kill your father. You’ll never forgive me for that. I’m not stupid. I don’t know about any Mordru, and I don’t care. But you and I are not friends. And we never were, because you lied. You lied the entire time.”

Both breathed heavily and both prepared for the fight to continue. But it would be to no avail. The Emerald Eye, sensing at last that this could not be the Dark Lord Mordru, at last realized this was an illusion. Using its power without the orders or help of its mistress, it cleared forth any such illusions in its vicinity, and scanned the entire miles long radius around it to know exactly where it was, and what was near it.

And it was then, that for the first time in over one hundred thousand years, it became aware of its counterpart.

Instantly, the connection between Sara Romanescu and the Eye allowed her to understand what was happening. Seconds later, Jacquie’s powers over illusions and truths allowed her to gain insight, in the form of emotions and hazy thoughts, began to realize as well…

For weeks now, Sara began to feel something pulling at her…something across the ocean calling to her, though only on a subconscious level. All of her ancestors felt this same call, though never did they think they’d be able to travel across the world and answer it. It was simply something they grew used to, and in doing so, believed it was something more religious or magical reaching out to them. But Sara Romanescu, in these modern times was fully aware of what was across the ocean—entire continents and countries, entire landscapes and people. And subconsciously, she knew she could answer that call, the first in her line to ever do so.

So she came to South America, in the country of Brazil, deep into the Amazon, past where civilization ends and where a mountainous region, largely uninhabited by human beings, begins. She felt its calling…the Emerald Eye felt its calling.

The calling of its counterpart. The calling of the other Emerald Eye, long lost countless millennia ago, one hundred millennia ago. As she grew closer, the Eye at last began to sense what was occurring, while Sara still could not fathom the enormity of what was happening. Until now. Until the Eye at last felt contact so close it was actually blinded by it.

At long last, the two Emerald Eyes could gaze upon one another through a short distance, and they both recalled the existence of the other from so long ago.

Sara fell to the ground, to one knee, weakened by the knowledge, and out of breath from the inexplicable emotions cast out by the Eye itself. She vomited into the ground and choked on it, trying to cough away the confliction.

Jacquie’s insight allowed her to see but every so blurrily. She understood the existence of the other Eye, but could not register the reaction of the first one. Was it anger? Delight? Despair? Confusion? The Eye seemed to be causing wave after wave of Emerald energy, and now Jacquie fell to the ground and got sick, her rival merely ten feet away, though neither had the energy to stand on their own.

The Eye’s light became stronger, though now the emerald became a sickly color of aqua-green forcing both Sara and Jacquie to close their eyes. Sara once more tried to exert her control over the Eye, but now for the first time it resisted her. Now, for the first time, it recalled life before the Empresses acted as its mistress. It recalled life when it was only it, its counterpart and Mordru.

“S-Sara…” said Jacquie, “y-you…have to reign it in…”

Sara coughed. “I don’t need your help…” she said, trying her hardest. She focused with all her might.

Light streamed everywhere, a plethora of greens, forty shades in all, dazzling the jungle side. Far off, the Persuader grew very nervous, while closer, Nemesis and Valor ran at full speed towards it, hoping Sensor was alright.

The light imploded back to the source, back to the Eye. Sara reasserted control, though now exhausted. Sweat ran down her entire body and blood trickled from her mouth from her fight with Jacquie mere minutes earlier, though it felt like longer than that. She stood.

Jacquie also stood, equally exhausted. Hers was a power she had been mastery since childhood, but in the presence of such forces, she could scarcely control it, and it caused her to see, though she could no fully understand, all that was occurring.

“Sara…” she said, but could not finish the sentence. This girl had murdered her own father, and for that Jacquie should only feel revenge. But part of her still felt pity for Sara.

“…we will meet again, Princess,” said Sara, too exhausted to stay any longer. The exhaustion caused her to doubt even her own anger for the briefest of moments, before she pushed that doubt away and using the Eye, flew off above the trees, and soon, beyond Jacquie’s sight.

Jacquie fell to the ground to one knee again, catching her breath, still trying to comprehend all of it in terms she could understand. From the trees not far from the clearing she was in, came Valor and Nemesis running, having abandoned the mystery of the door in hope of helping or saving Sensor. “Jacq!” said Valor, getting there just a moment quicker, and falling to his knees to make sure she was okay. “Where is she? Are you alright?”

Nemesis said nothing but turned toward the trees, then looked upwards at the sky, scanning for the Empress. Things had grown quiet again. They had moved farther away from the jungle part of where they were to a more forested area.

“I’m okay…” said Jacquie catching her breath, “…and Sara is gone.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “All those people…Sara killed all those people on that plane…”

“We’d better get out of here,” said Nemesis suddenly. “People will come looking after that crash. They’ll blame us.”

Valor was put-off by this sudden expression of self-preservation. “Hasim—“

“She might come back, and this time with the Persuader. Or perhaps that Dominion door contains an even worse secret? We need to leave here,” he repeated. “This is not what are mission entailed. We need to get to the United States.” He looked agitated, and nervous. Val though maybe Hasim wasn’t as thick-skinned as he pretended.

“Sara won’t be coming back,” said Jacquie, “not for awhile. She’s going to need to recover. But yes…we need to get out of here.” Jacquie could still feel the power of the Emerald Eye close by, and it unnerved her. Or perhaps it was the second Emerald Eye she was feeling? Either way, this was a dark place to be, and she could feel they were in danger. They needed to leave. “You can tell me about this ‘Dominion door’ on the way. We’ll come back here. We must—for Sara. But we have a long way to go now. A very long way.”

Faith

“What if this is a mistake?” said Tenz to Dirk, quietly and with some trepidation.

Dirk didn’t reply and they both sat there in silence, sitting in the backyard of their room feeling the morning sun. “Then we’re screwed,” he said finally.

“Gee, thanks Dirk for making me feel better,” said Tenz, who was looking for reassurance.

Dirk sarcastically laughed. “What, Jacquie, Val and Hasim all leave for the United States and you want me to make you feel good about it? You know I think it was a mistake too. We’ve split up when we probably should have stayed together more than ever. Maziah is lost to us, at God knows where. Now Jacquie leaves us. Blok is as mysterious as ever, Mon and Tatiana are all off on their own falling in love and probably starting a family so they’ll be leaving us too, and we hardly know Tina. Who knows what we’ll do next?” Tenz had no reply and they sat there in silence now, which was in stark contrast to Dirk’s last few words which grew in volume with each syllable.

“You can start to get to know me,” said a female voice in the doorway, as they turned to see Tina. Her face was somber and serious, but she wouldn’t let on any trace of hurt or sadness. “Its been a few weeks now, Dirk. You still feel like you don’t know me? Well, what do you want to know?”

Dirk sighed. “I’m sorry Tina, its just…well, what do we do next?”

“I thought we were going back to Austria,” she replied. “To see Relnic.” Tina felt bad even bringing it up. Austria was her home, after all, and she felt guilty that it was to her home they were heading.

“How?” said Tenz.

Suddenly Tina felt a wave of nausea and the smell of salt water and worn, musky clothes. She knew what it was. She stumbled a little but caught her footing. As the others began to ask ‘what is it?’ a smile came to her face. She knew exactly what it was. It was the Black Pirate.

She immediately ran towards the fence and looked through one the cracks between boards. As Dirk and Tenz looked at each other, they followed her, and then she ran towards the gate separating the fence from the little secluded side street they were on, and ran outside of it. Dirk and Tenz followed quickly, running out the gate, Dirk running right into Tina, but then catching himself by putting his hands on her arms to stop his momentum—but then feeling Tenz crash into him so all three fell.

Tina fell forward and used her hands to brace for the fall. She looked up and standing before them once more was Jon Valor, the Black Pirate.

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

“Tina, it makes no sense,” said Dirk, “none at all.”

“Of course it doesn’t, Dirk,” she replied sharply. “Its magic. After all that you’ve seen, after looking at the Dark Lord Mordru himself, you still don’t believe in magic?”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “Well, you got me there.”

“Tatiana, Jacq and I met him two days ago here.”

“Well darlin’,” said the Black Pirate to Spirit, “you’re friends are having trouble seeing me, so I guess I’m your own personal ghost now. Suits me just fine,” he added, raising his eyebrows to signify he found Tina very attractive.

“Gross,” said Tina to herself.

“What?” asked Tenz.

“I was just hit on by a dead pirate ghost. Gross,” she repeated.

“Dude I know your really hot, but you don’t have to rub it in.”

“Aw Tenz, you think I’m hot?” she turned to him with a big smile.

Dirk, still sitting in the dirt, put his head between his legs. “I’m in hell. I know it. I’m still stuck in Mordru’s prison and I’m in hell.”

“Stop whining,” said Tatiana, suddenly walking outside as well. She was in a short black skirt and a black and yellow tank top. She was smiling at Dirk.

“Oh yeah, Shady,” he said sarcastically, using Tenz’s name for her to annoy her. “Glad to see you join us. Mon-El’s lips must be chaffed or something right now,” he added with a devlish grin.

She kicked him lightly while he was sitting. “Get up, Dirk,” she said. “Its rude, and our guest is waiting.”

“Oh, you see him too,” said Dirk rolling his eyes. “Of course you do.”

“Perhaps,” said the Black Pirate, “only beautiful young maidens can see me, then?”

“Lucky us,” said Tatiana. “Mon is talking to Blok about what we’re doing next,” she said to the others. “So I have not been spending all day with him, but was rather enjoying being able to listen to an ipod again.”

“Well, Black Pirate,” said Tenz somewhat half-heartedly. “I’m Matter-Eater Lad.”

“Excellent moniker,” said the Black Pirate with a half-grin. Tina gave him a dirty look.

“The reason you two can’t see him is because you don’t have any magic abilities,” she said. “But you could see him, if you wanted to.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Dirk, “I just don’t want to see another ghost or goblin. Really can’t blame me, can you?”

“Dirk,” said Tina in a serious and annoyed voice, “you can’t see him, because you don’t believe in him. Magic is funny like that. There are rules. You have to show some level of commitment to use it or to even glimpse at it. You need to believe in it for it to have an effect on you. Sometimes fear lets you do that. Sometimes though, you need to have a little faith.”

“Faith?” said Tenz. “Faith in a divine being, maybe. But faith in magic? Seems…well, hypocritical.”

“They are not mutually exclusive,” said Tatiana, “but you can hardly expect Tina or me to explain it to you. Maziah is the one who can school in the rules of magic.”

“Well, considering we’ll probably never see her again…” said Dirk.

Now Tenz kicked him. “Cut it out, Dirk,” he said. His voice let on the fact that he didn’t like the comment, because he believed in it.

“Dirk, you need to have some faith. Faith in what could exist in this world even though every sense in your body tells you it could not. If you believe in the magic, it could work for you. You’ll be able to see the Black Pirate.”

Dirk was quiet for a minute, and looked back at Tina and Tatiana. He looked at Tenz, who was equally skeptical.

“He doesn’t believe,” said Jon Valor to the girls. “He never will.”

“Dirk…” said Tatiana more softly. “After all you’ve seen…Blok, my shadows, Jacquie, Tina, Maziah…the Demon! Mordru. You know it exists. You can trust in it. Have faith.”

“Faith…” said Dirk with a smile but then stopped. His smile was not a happy one. It was a sad one. One that spoke volumes about what his life had been like. Thoughts of his father, Regulus, his life before all this flashed in his mind. “Faith isn’t something I have a lot of.” He looked away now. Tenz put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Why is it so hard, Dirk?” said Tina.

“Why is it so easy for you?” he snapped back.

“It’s never been easy!” she snapped back at him. “Never,” she said softer. “And it never will get easy. But you have to believe in something. Otherwise, what will you do?”

Dirk nodded a little, trying to comprehend it and looked to the dirt. He stared at it, still unwilling to allow an image of the Black Pirate enter his mind. Accepting it…it felt like he was accepting what Mordru could do, like he was giving up. But he knew in his heart it was too late to turn away from magic now. He looked up. And briefly, just briefly, he caught a glimpse of Jon Valor. He believed…and he saw the Black Pirate. “So,” he said out loud, and the other three looked at him quizzically. “I suppose you’re just here for shits and giggles?” he added to the Black Pirate.

“Sorry mate,” said the Pirate, “but you’re not that important for me to haunt you.” Jon Valor smiled widely, and stroked his moustache and dashing chin hair. “But I’ll tell ya what. For having such faith in me, I’ll give a ride to where you need to go.”

“Oh?” said Dirk, as now Tenz tried his best to see the pirate too. “And how will you do that? Fly me across the sea?”

“No lad,” said the Pirate now with a strong sense of humor in his voice. “I’ll take you there on my boat.”

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

“Magnificent,” said Mon-El, as the six of them and the Black Pirate looked out into the harbor. “I haven’t seen one like it since I woke up in this era,” he added. Before them was a massive pirate ship, originally built in the 17th Century, now as ghastly as the Black Pirate itself.

“She died with me,” he said. “And somehow, she’s managed to stay with me ever since. I guess if I’m to be haunting the entire Mediterranean, I’ll need a way to get around.”

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”We will gladly except your charity Jon Valor,”</font f> said Blok. <font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”Know that it will help you have your vengeance on Mordru for your death.”</font f>

“So you know my story, ancient one? Aye, I figured you must. I know yours after all my years. I’ll gladly offer my services if they can help ye.”

“Of course Blok and Mon-El have no trouble seeing him,” says Tenz to Dirk. Tenz was still having trouble seeing Jon Valor himself, and certainly couldn’t see the ship. Dirk begrudgingly could see both, but was almost annoyed at himself for doing so.

“All good and well,” said Dirk. “Our Greek Island vacation has ended and now its on board the pirate ship to grand ol’ Vienna. Meanwhile, Maziah is probably in some hidden lair of the Dark Circle in the Congo or Madagascar or Bangladesh or something.”

“Mordru has wronged many over the centuries,” said Mon to the Black Pirate, “I’m glad there are others such as I that will be able to pay him back in kind when the time comes.” The Black Pirate nodded. Mon continued. “Just because you are a ghost though, I won’t have you harassing my girlfriend,” he added with a smile.

The Black Pirate laughed and Tatiana smiled widely. “Looks like I’m all yours,” said the Pirate to Tina.

“Great,” said Tina sarcastically. “How flattering.”

“Between you and Dirk there’s some funky flirting going on in this group,” said Tenz to Tina. “Good thing me and ol’ tall and ugly keep to ourselves,” he added towards Blok.

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”Let us leave at sunset then. Jacquie has already gone off on her path, and we shall do the same. The mustering of our forces begins now.”</font f>

“Faith, Tenz,” said Dirk sarcastically to Tenz. “If you want to step on that boat, you better have faith.” He looked at Tina to make sure she heard him teasing her.

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

The sailed through the Mediterranean and because of the magic of the Black Pirate’s ship, by morning they were approaching Vienna via the Danube River. Blok decided to sail with them, as did Mon-El, even though both could have moved on ahead of the rest whenever they wished. All stood on the deck, and looked out at the river and the city in the distance, as the earliest bits of sunrise could be seen far off.

Dirk looked at the cell phone in his hands and put it away. He looked over at Tina who was also looking at hers. “I keep telling myself its because I don’t want to use technology on a ghost ship,” he said. “But to be honest, I just don’t want to call.”

Tina nodded. “Yeah,” she replied and it spoke volumes.

“I’m sorry if that was mean before,” he said to her. “Sometimes this is all so hard to take in, you know?”

“I know,” she said with a smile. “I’m sorry I snapped at you too. We’re all in this together.”

He nodded. “I am glad I’ve got to know you, Tina. We all are. If I believe in anything, its this group.”

“Ever watch a sunrise from sea, mate?” said Black Pirate to Tenz, Mon and Tatiana.

“Er, no,” said Tenz.

“I have,” said Mon and Tatiana was surprised by the longing she heard in his voice. “Its like the world goes on forever with no end in sight.”

“Aye,” replied the Black Pirate.

The watched as the sun began to rise in the distance and the ship crept ever closer to Vienna at its magic speed.

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”At last,”</font f> said Blok. <font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”At last we can begin anew.”</font f>

“What are you getting on about?” asked Tatiana to Blok.

“You mean that giant hawk in distance, Blok?” said Tenz quizzically. “What the hell does that have to do with us?”

Mon-El suddenly began to laugh. “That’s no hawk,” he said. He was smiling widely.

“What is it then?” asked Tenz thinking Mon had lost it.

“Who is it, you mean,”

The six of them watched in the distance as the winged shape grew larger and they could see it was no hawk at all but a human being, with wings, moving at an incredible speed. A young female, exactly, and even more, she was carrying another female.

And so the Sentinels met Dawnstar, and at long last, Maziah, the White Witch, was reunited with her friends.

As they flew down, Tina put a hand on Dirk’s forearm, as he looked up and quietly breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Maziah safe. “You see Dirk,” she said. “You need to believe in something.”

Dirk smiled and nodded.

Previously, in "Welcome Back?":

And now, the conclusion...

Welcome Back?
Level 3 - Reborn?

Trinity sat, closed her eyes, and tried to focus her mental reserves rather than end up with another painful split.

Cos had vanished.

She couldn't split, on pain of... well, pain. Severe, head-shredding pain.

She was alone in a seemingly endless barren landscape with no expectation of retrieval.

Her feet were numb, and none of her bodily functions - hunger, thirst, tiredness, toilet - seemed to be active. It was as if she was shutting down, piece-by-piece.

"I've had better days," she said, aloud, as much to hear something as for the words themselves.

She opened her eyes for another look around. And then it finally struck her - she could see. Not far, but a few metres of Something else else was more than the absolute blackness that had surrounded her and Cos since they'd appeared... wherever it was.

"Wha-" she stared down at her hands. As she brought them closer to her face, they grew brighter, and as she moved them away, the reverse happened. Her eyes were glowing.

She sat down again to try and make some sense of it all. She couldn't generate light. Her absent-minded wish, taken oh-so-literally by the djinn hidden in her lamp, had been clear - to be three people at once. Generating electromagnetic radiation of any sort was-

"ElectroMAGNETIC?" It hit her. She reached out her hand, and felt a sweep of power run through it and out through her palm. Somehow, she had Cos' powers. Her subconscious or something must have taken her fear of the dark and found a way to use the power to make light. Just because Cos hadn't didn't mean it couldn't be done - just that he hadn't had the same reason, found the same trigger.

"How?" But she already knew. Cos had vanished after she'd remerged the way she did. He'd had her hand on one of her shoulders, didn't he? It didn't make sense - she'd remerged in proximity to others, even while touching others before without anything happening. But then, she'd split hundreds of times without the sort of pain she suffered here. And her sudden... assurance... she'd been in a state of near-panic, which caused the split in the first place. So why had she sat down and calmly worked all this out? Answer: Cos.

She looked around for one last time... and noticed an oddly ruler-straight crack in the ground. And another, and another, at right angles to the first. She'd looked over in that direction a few moments before and not seen any cracks at all. She kneeled at the area, touched her hands to the ground, and "pulled". She felt something shift immediately, and pulled harder. A moment later, she was standing with a thick slab of dust-covered iron in, or rather on, her hands.

And there was a ladder there, and a light at the bottom. Thinking that it might be safer trying to resplit somewhere she could see, she climbed down, and found herself in a brightly lit white... box, was the only way to describe it. Clinical in the extreme, with no obvious doors out.

Nonetheless, it was somewhere she could - relatively - safely try and split. She sat cross-legged on the ground, and steeled herself to focus, to try and split, and hopefully get Cos back. Even with his strength, the prospect of the pain scared her.

Nonetheless, she had to do it. With a scream, she did it.

The three of her gritted their teeth and hoped. Tears flowed from Orange's eyes, but none of the three dared open their eyes, scared they would pass out from the pain.

Finally, her purple eyes opened and she saw him, lying just behind the other two, apparently unconscious. Fighting instinct on two levels, they pushed away from him, each movement in each body a strain, until she could push no longer.

Looking at each other with bloodshot eyes, they merged.

The combined Trinity fell forward onto her hands and knees, but fought against the blackness that threatened to take her for a third time. After a minute, she dared push her head up.

Cosmic Boy was still lying there, unconscious but apparently solid as life.

She pushed herself to her feet and walked, unsteadily, the few steps needed to reach him; before dropping to her knees again to try to feel for a pulse.

She couldn't find one.

On the verge of panic, she was so absurdly grateful when she saw him start to move she nearly vomited.

"Lu?"

"I'm here..."

"What... happened?"

"I'm not sure. Take it easy..."

"I'm alright."

She hugged him, tightly.

Hugging her back, he asked in her ear, "Are you okay?"

On release she said, "Year", wiping a tear from her eye. I'm sorry, it's just been a stressfu-"

"Lu? LU?!"

All the air had gone from her chest. She wanted to say she was alright, but she couldn't speak, and her legs seemed to give way. As he caught her, her hearing began to fade, and she saw rather than heard Cos screaming more as black roses raced across her vision...
__________________

Suddenly, she found herself alone, in another black void. Looking down, however, she saw herself clearly, as in full light - although her clothes were suddenly all white.

Behind her, she heard someone clearing his throat. Spinning around to see the source, her eyes bulged, then narrowed in hatred at a man, in a white suit, with white horn-rimmed glasses.

"Welcome to the afterlife. I'm Leonard McCauley, and I will be your host. Forever.

-------

"You're..."

"Quite. And you just expired in your boyfriend's arms, or don't you remember? The best laid plans continue forever-"

She lunged at him. He didn't dodge, or retaliate, but just stood there as she careered right through him.

"Remember that little group which captured you? They arranged for the teleporter to land in Cosmic Boy's hands. You were bound to touch it eventually. Taking him with you was an added bonus."

She opened her mouth to shout at him, but no words came out.

"Please. I'm in charge here," McCauley sneered. "I wonder what he's doing now. Trying manfully to stop a corpse bleeding? Attacking an assassin who's long gone? Or perhaps he's screaming tearfully with your body in his arms...?"

She turned to go. If she couldn't hit him, and couldn't drown him out, she would just leave. But as soon as she began walking, he was in front of her once more.

"Didn't I tell you? I wonder what will happen to him now? Perhaps that insect will suddenly pick up his trail, and dear Raymond will be able to have a funeral for his daughter? Or perhaps he'll just sit there, broken, not noticing hunger or thirst - a nice touch, don't you agree? - until he dies and he comes down to join us here..."

She tried to turn away again, but she could no longer move. She could only sit directly where she was, watching the man she hated most boast how he'd killed her from beyond the grave, and how Cos would die alone.

"Come now, sit on my lap. I have so many things for you to do. Especially once your boyfriend arrives."

Suddenly, against her will, she began stepping towards him. She wanted to fight it, but her white-clad... body?... wouldn't respond to her. When she reached him, he was suddenly sitting in a white chair. Her leg swung over him, and she sat on his lap, suddenly able to touch him, but utterly unable to strike him.

She looked into his eyes, an expression on her face that conveyed exactly the opposite of what she felt. She wanted to close her eyes, but even that gesture of defiance was no longer hers to make.

After a long moment, his face left her field of view, and she felt his breath on her ear. "See? Your will IS irrelevant. You're mine."

She broke. It was all too much. It didn't register that her knees hit linoleum, or that McCauley was no longer there, or even that there were suddenly three of her, none clad in white.

All three just knelt there, sobbing.

«LORNA!!!!»

A voice in her heads suddenly cut through her moment of perfect despair. Purple and Neutral found the energy to look up. Neutral's hand was still attached to the 'stress ball'. As was Cos'. Along with the rest of him, as his red face stared blankly at Neutral.

To one side, Neutral saw a semi-transparent green wall cutting through Purple, and through that stood Tela and several other Legionnaires.

«Lorna, I need you to hang on - you need to let me in so I can free Cos, and you need to stay conscious for that. Let me through and hang on.»

On the verge of passing out, she clenched her pairs of teeth, and then felt Irma's presence dart through Purple's head, bypassing Orange, through Neutral's and beyond. A moment later, life came into Cos' face, and he looked mutely at her. Then, a few seconds after that, the green wall disappeared. Finally, just as she couldn't hold on any longer, she felt Irma withdraw, and gave into unconsciousness...
_____________

Trinity woke up in stages - first, a vague sort of awareness came to her; then, once she was awake enough to realise it, she forced her eyes open and pushed herself to sit up. She felt completely exhausted, her head hurt, her mouth was dry, her leg muscles were cramped, and she felt an unpleasant tingling in her arms and legs.

Looking around, she realised she was in the Legion's small medical room. Cos was out cold on the bed beside her, with a drip being fed into his right arm. She tried to stand up, to go and look at him, but she felt a tug on her own right arm as a wave of dizziness hit her, forcing her to lie back down and shut her eyes. After a few moments, she looked across, and saw a glass of water on her bedside table. She took a few sips to try and ease her dry mouth, then closed her eyes again.

A couple of minutes later, she heard footsteps, and pushed her eyes open once more to see Tela coming over toward her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like a military academy - bits of me keep passing out."

"I see you read the book I lent you," smiled Irma.

"What happened?"

"You managed to find some sort of booby-trap. In a stress ball of all things."

"We kind of guessed that part. What happened?"

Irma sighed quietly. "The thing psi-linked you and Cos. It then sealed you off with a forcefield, and the rest was just prompts to create a world inside the link based on your fears."

"So, it wasn't...?"

"I don't know. After I pulled Cos out through the gap you opened, I only got a few seconds to look 'under the hood' before it shut down - but, from what I saw, whatever happened to you in there was based entirely on what you and Cos are scared of."

"So, seeing McCauley say it was him..."

"Was exactly what you didn't want to hear. So you heard it. However it felt, however it seemed, it wasn't real Lorna. It wasn't the real McCauley."

Trinity shut her eyes for a minute, digesting this, and trying not to wonder about the reality of the 'real world'... "What's this for?" She pointed at the drip with her left hand.

"Just saline - water, basically. After we got you out, you were both really, really dehydrated. Dr Llewellyn said you'd been sweating as if you were in a rainforest. For hours."

"So..."

"Eventually, yes. But you got out before the real danger point was hit. You did, Lorna, not me."

Trinity shut her eyes again.

"Some 'Welcome Back', huh?" Irma said to her.

"I was looking for something more like an early night."

"On that note, I knocked Cos out for the night a while back, and I promised Dr Llewellyn I'd not keep you up too long, then I'd send you off for eight hours. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Lorna sort of nodded, and felt herself fall into a dreamless sleep.

Manhattan, New York City, NY

“Look at this,” said Condo, picking up the morning edition of the New York Times. “I swear, lately this city seems to be getting more and more dangerous.” The headline read: Silver Slasher Strikes Again!.

“That’s the fifth in less than a month,” said Shrinking Violet. “That’s an odd amount for even a serial killer,” she added.

Catalyst raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know whether I should be worried or impressed by that Vi,” he smiled.

“We should get back, or we’ll get in even more trouble,” said Vi. The two of them now stood in the lobby of the huge skyscraper at 247 Weisenger Street, on the small side street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in Midtown. The lobby was jam-packed with businessman and woman, security guards and visitors for the businesses that encompassed the first 58 floors of the building. After all, the building was still packed with other people despite the Legion controlling all (5) of the top floors. Still they stood out like a sore thumb and Condo basked in the attention. He wasn’t sure what was better: the amazed stares at people realizing there were actual Legionnaires here in the lobby, or knowing how angry that would make Gene later when he found out Condo and Vi decided to head to the lobby for no reason at all.

Well, for a reason he wouldn’t like actually. They were in serious trouble still, barely escaping being thrown off the team completely, saved only by RJ Brande putting in a good word with them, and Cos deciding to give them a second chance. He wasn’t sure how Val or Tina would do since they hadn’t come home in the weeks to follow, stretching out their absence even longer. Condo knew he’d made an enemy out of Gene for life for this, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t exactly Gene’s biggest fan. Still, he knew there were some higher-ups in the confusing bureaucracy of the legion’s structure that were angry about this disappearance, but they were faceless and he still wasn’t sure even who they were. What mattered most was the media hadn’t seemed to catch on to the disappearance of any of the Legionnaires yet and that was good. They would eventually, though if only in the gossip sections.

So they were hiding out in the lobby and checking out a discarded New York Times. It wasn’t just this Silver Slasher serial killer that had been a plague on New York in the last month. It was other things too. An odd explosion downtown near Wall Street two weeks ago (blamed on a gasline). A shoot-out at Grand Central Station. These things might seem common to the everyday Midwestern American who thought the big apple was a crime-infested city, but in all honesty, things like that didn’t happen that often in Manhattan. It was like a mixture between a crime wave and a disaster wave were hitting.

Or maybe it was because he was in such an annoyed mood these days that he noticed them more. Could be that—considering he and Vi were on what Lyle had named “cleaning the Headquarters with your toothbrushes duty”. The closest Condo had come to a mission of any sort lately was when he volunteered to pick up some hotdogs around the corner for him and Lyle yesterday.

“Condo?” said Vi shyly, but then smiling. “Are we just going to stay down here all day? You realize people are past staring at us now and simply gawking, right? Within five minutes we’ll be signing autographs.”

“Oh?” he said, snapping out of his distraction. “You’re right, Vi, we better go…”

“Condo! Vi” said a voice suddenly. At first they feared it would be Gene, but they quickly realized it was the soft female voice with a Middle East accent that for some reason sounded like the huskiest, sexiest voice either had ever heard. Both often wondered what effect it had on the everyday girl-loving male. They turned to see Dreamer striding over to them, her slender legs moving fully as she moved in a short skirt and high heels.

Every male eye in the room watched her every stride, while many females were amazed at the audacity of the teenager to be stressed so—well, so sexy. Vi felt super-shy suddenly, almost embarrassed for Nura’s show of skin, while Condo loved every second of it. Nura’s outfit, complete with a white blouse and diamond necklace that showed on her neck, was sexy but still very fashionable. She still maintained the element of class, despite being so risqué. Fashionista, indeed.

“Hey Nura,” Condo smiled.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she smiled. “Every time we start having a conversation about what went on over there, Captain Broomstick busts in on us, hoping to glean some additional information out of you,” she smiled. Condo was amazed at how beautiful she was even now after knowing her all these months. He was smiling back at her, though more for her use of the nickname Lyle had given Gene: Captain Broomstick, as in the ‘giant broomstick lodged up his ass’.

“Well, we’re already drawing too much attention as it is, Nura,” said Condo, as now people began to hesitantly approach. Nura might have been dressed in attire appropriate for the hottest clubs in the Meat-Packing District, but Condo and Vi were in their Legionnaire costumes. “Let’s take it upstairs.”

“Ok,” she said in agreement. “Mr. Brande said I could use his board room office in case of an emergency, so we’ll go there…”

“How did you swing that?” asked Condo incredulously.

“Well, I helped him out not too longer ago,” she smiled back, obviously not going to reveal how. RJ Brande owned this building after all, and his boardroom was on the top floor, not a part of the Legion’s section of that floor, and usually cut off to them.

“Excuse, me, Legionnaires?!” said a voice from the crowd, as Vi sighed, feeling they waited too long.

“Sorry ma’am,” said Nura smiling, “Legion emergency!” as the three Legionnaires raced to the elevator.

“Ma’am?!” said a voice indignantly. Celeste Rockfish was shocked at the use of the term. “Ma’am?” she repeated again, as the people next to her looked at her. She was 28 years old and still looked quite young, and for this 16 year old exotic looking sexpot to call her Ma’am? She shook her head, and wrote something on her pad. She tried to walk forward.

“I’m sorry M—“ began a security guard, but she cut him off.

“Please don’t even think of calling me Ma’am.”

“I wouldn’t think of it, Ms. Rockfish,” said the guard with a smile. “But Mr. Brande has asked us not to let you through, and well, Mr. Brande is the boss.” He looked away now, back out into the streets, and Celeste knew that was all she was getting from him. She’d already tried to set up a meeting with Mr. Brande but it didn’t work. She’d hoped she could avoid all the cloak and dagger, but Brande was notoriously secretive about his past. The story, as it had been told over a thousand times in the Wall St. Journal and elsewhere, was that Brande was an incredibly smart investor from Omaha, Nebraska that made a fortune out of nothing and became one of the world’s richest men, with ownership in over three dozen gigantic fortune 500 companies and who knew how many other private companies and funds. But that story hardly ever checked out when investigated more fully, and no one really knew anything about him. Now it was her job to find, well, something.

So far, no luck.

“How long have you been working here…Mike, is it?” she said with a wide smile, putting a hand on his arm and using every ounce of her feminity as possible.

He smiled back at her. “The boss said you’d try that,” he replied.

Her smile turned to an annoyed frown. “You’re killing me, Mike,” she said under her breath and decided to exit the building. Catching a Legionnaire off-guard seemed like a good idea, but now it felt like a pipedream.

“Hola, pretty lady!” said a weird voice suddenly, and she turned looking for it. At first she couldn’t see at all where it was coming from. “Over here, babe!” it said again, and she turned to look at it, and saw the strangest thing she’d ever seen in her life. A large face and arms were coming out of the security guard’s desk at her, and were speaking to her. She suddenly felt both frightened and sick to her stomach.

She knew weird things happened in this building, but…

“Cut it out Quislet,” said the security guard, “and go back up to the Legion floors. You know Mr. Brande won’t like this.”

Celeste tried to regain her composure, feeling like she would faint. “Wha--?” was all she could get out, and suddenly felt embarrassed at that.

Quislet returned to ship and floated between the guard and Celeste. “Lady Reporter wants to come join the Legion upstairs! Sounds like a fun idea to Quislet!” it said.

“Not a reporter,” said Celeste, at last regaining her composure and realizing who this was in front of her. One of the Legionnaires. “Just someone really interested in you Legionnaires…Quislet is it? I’d love to talk to you.”

“So talk!” replied Quislet. “What do you want to know? How sub-atomic beings use light as a food source?”

“Uh…not really. How is life as a Legionnaire? Everyone getting along nicely? Are Tela and Livewire really dating? What about Leviathan, is he really as heroic as they say?”

“Quislet loves being a Legionnaire!” was his response and Celeste was not exactly enthusiastic by the lack of description.

“What’s RJ Brande like?” she said now getting to her point. “He seems to be interested in you Legionnaires. You’re his new pet-project.”

“That’s enough Quis,” said the security guard again.

“RJ Brande is great!” said Quislet ignoring him. “Always has a kind word for Quislet when everyone else is so moody and depressed! RJ is lots of fun! Says Legion will be very important in future of—“

“Quislet,” said the security guard, “I’m calling up to Leviathan now,” he added, putting his walkie talkie to his lips. “Ms. Rockfish is a private investigator and she does not have the Legion’s best interests at heart. Sorry Quis,” he added, “gotta do it.”

“Uh-oh, I’m in trouble again!” said Quislet with a laugh and flew off, adding something about ‘fun’ as he was going.

“Bye Quis!” she yelled after him, using the nickname. Turning to the security guard, she added “looks like I have a new friend, Mike,” she said smiling and walked back out of the building. “See you soon!” she yelled back to him.

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

“So really Nura, you now know everything we know,” said Condo, as Nura sat back in her chair, and thought about Maziah, Tatiana, Jacquie and the rest of this group they were with.

“It really sounds like they’ve had a terrible time,” said Nura at last. She looked very concerned for her sister.

“Well,” said Vi, “its not all bad. They seem to be safe with one another, and have really formed a tight group. I think Maziah is safe with her friends.”

Nura smiled. “I miss her,” she said at last. “She’s my baby sister, after all.” Condo and Vi nodded. Nura quickly added “She may be more powerful than the entire Legion, but still, she’s my baby sister…”

“You’ll see her soon, Nura,” said Condo. “Tina and Val staying behind has kind of created a bridge between their group and ours. Its only a matter of time before you see her. Besides, Vi made out with the Dirk kid, you know the model one, and well, she’ll have to have a follow-up.”

“Condo!” screamed Vi, turning a dark shade of crimson.

“Sally!” said Nura in pure delight, “you little minx!”

“Cooooondoooooooo,” said Vi again, “you promised….”

They were all laughing and giggling now. Finally it began to subside. Nura got up, and brushed off her skirt and blouse, then wiped the hair out of her eyes. At last she turned to them, and they could see some relief in her posture, but also a rare moment of vulnerability. “I just hope when I see her next its not because of my father.”

“Parents just don’t understand”
Part 1

Vienna, Austria

The Black Pirate's ship began the docking process at Vienna, as the entire dock remained oblivious to the approaching ship’s presence. The Pirate’s magic continued to cloak their presence so long as they remained on board.

Dirk hugged Maziah tightly once more. “We were worried about you, witchy,” he said softly. “Real worried.”

“I know,” she said a little embarrassed. “I was worried about all of you too,” she smiled. They’d been with her now for almost an entire day and still felt the strong sense of relief at knowing she was uninjured. After all they’d been through in the past few weeks—months, really—they had formed a kind of bond that only veterans of wars or times of great strife could understand. She was the youngest of their group, at (16) years old, while the rest were 17-18, with Mon-El a much older (to them) 20 and Blok being, well, just Blok. Dirk couldn’t describe in words the relief he felt, like at last something happened that felt right.

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">"Dirk speaks for all of us, Maziah,”</font f> said Blok, <font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"> “especially for me. You and I have much to discuss, and know that we will in the coming days. But I have waited long enough and I can wait a brief time longer."</font f>

“Thank you Blok,” she replied warmly. “I missed you,” she added, and it was true. She had missed Blok. His presence provided her a comfort she had been missing her entire life, and never realized she needed it until she had it. She turned to Dawnstar, who had joined them with her. “Please stay with us longer Dawnstar,” she said. “You have been traveling for quite some time now, and you deserve a chance to rest. And to be among friends. I believe we shall be here for some time now.”

Dawnstar was silent for a moment, considering it. “I think I will, for a little while. My search has grown cold anyway…and I have to admit its been nice to be with someone else lately,” she added smiling to Maziah. Although they had traveled in relative silence for some time, the two had a subtle, unspoken friendship now from their recent journey.

“Alright!” said Tenz to Mon and Dirk. “We can always use another gorgeous girl!” Dirk nodded in agreement and Mon simply shook his head and laughed.

“Speaking of which,” he said, “where are our other gorgeous girls?” he asked.

Ten feet away, and off to the side, Spirit overlooked the approaching city with some trepidation. They had been dragged away from her Mother’s estate the last time they were here with no explanation, note or word to her. It wasn’t there fault—but she’d never see it that way. She’d assume Tina had run off (again!), and she’d be more than annoyed—she’d be angry. Tina, of course, had not taken the chance to call and make things alright since they’d been gone. She’d put it off as long as possible and now would have to face the Countess Winema Wazzo in person.

“Try not to look like your dreading it too much,” smiled Tatiana, who came over to her side.

“Is it that obvious?”

“I’m not quite sure it could be anymore so. I’d like to tell you it won’t be that bad, but well, I’ve met your mother,” she smiled.

Tina smiled back. “Yeah. She’ll be thrilled I’ve brought my friends back with me too.”

“Glad we can be of service to you,” said Tatiana. Neither of the girls were sure when it had happened, but they had begun to grow closer as friends. Perhaps it was because Jacquie had gone and left a vacuum in the group, or perhaps a mutual animosity towards one another had grown into a friendship as sometimes oddly happened among teenage girls.

“You can always stay aboard,” said the ghost of the Black Pirate who was hovering behind them. “I certainly wouldn’t mind,” he added. He was devilishly handsome and very charming, the combination of his being twice their age and one of the deceased continued to creep out both girls.

“I’d rather face wrath of the Countess,” said Tatiana and the two girls giggled.

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

They arrived at Castle Wazzo shortly thereafter, Blok using his means to disappear into the Earth and reappear within the grounds. Further introductions were a part he would not play, it appeared. Mon instantly wished he could do the same, but figured he owed it to the rest of them to endure the likely twenty or thirty minute scolding Countess Wazzo would give them.

In truth, Mon had no use for authority of any sort in this age. By 20 years old in his time, there were very few you still had to answer to, and he didn’t care if some of these elders were parents of his friends, dignitaries or financiers of their war. Authority held no meaning to him when it was someone else’s. But for Tatiana, who he knew was only enduring this as a show of friendship for Tina, he’d stay anyway.

They entered, as they did once before, and at once, they could feel the atmosphere of tension and awkwardness. Dawnstar looked at Tenz with a quizzical eyebrow raised. “Why the formalities?” she asked.

His reply was to the point: “Stick by me, babe, and I’ll take care of you.” She rolled her eyes.

“Tina,” said a familiar icey voice that gave them all the image of icewater running through the Countess’ veins like blood. “How good of you to come back, stopping by whenever it’s convenient for you.” Tina closed her eyes tightly almost hoping when they reopened the Countess would be gone. “And you’ve brought your little friends. How utterly exciting.”

“She doesn’t sound too excited…” whispered Tenz to Dirk. Once more Dirk marveled at the luxurious castle that Tina was raised in. He was by no means poor growing up (quite the opposite) but even he marveled at the life of leisure Tina, Jacquie and Tatiana had known their whole lives. He could only imagine how Tenz felt.

Tatiana stood by Tina’s side, hoping to lend her some support. Tina opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. “I apologize for not having any guests you can interrupt this time, though you’ll find some of them are still around. They’ll rejoice to be able to see me embarrassed not once, but two times, by my daughter, the Legionnaire.”

“Mother, we haven’t just been gallivanting around Europe, we’ve—“

“Yes, where have you been?” said a male voice, and now they all turned.

Tatiana, who had stood by Tina to lend some support, suddenly felt her heart drop. Her eyes went wide and she realized she couldn’t control the shock no her face.

“I dare say, Tatiana, you’ve given me quite the scare. Where have you been?” All of them turned to Tatiana, as she stared straight at this man in front of them. He was roughly 6’1’’, good looking and clean-cut, dressed in an expensive business suit and had the look of a traditional conservative British businessman, lacking in any good humor.

“Hello Daddy,” she said.

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

Mon watched on with great interest, as Tatiana walked over to her father and opened her arms out to give him a hug. She looked both relieved and on the verge of tears (happy ones?) but also very scared—to the point where she was trembling in fact. Was this the same girl who held off the Khundian army and Mordru’s forces no more than two weeks earlier?

“What happened to your skin?” he asked, accepting her hug with a half-hearted hug of his own, his face in shock at her blue-skinned appearance. Mon was trying to feel him out.

“You see Tina,” began the Countess again. “Mr. Mallor here, like myself has been extremely worried about his daughter too. You might not care about how I feel, but you should consider your friends as well when you go trouncing off for another night on the town.”

“Mother, I—“

“And may I also present, Mr. George Bratianu of Moldavia,” the Countess added, pointing towards another man in a business suit, this one with a very distinct Eastern European look. “He would like to speak with your Princess Jacqueline, who eloquently introduced herself into worldly affairs on your last visit.” Apparently, Jacquie’s interest in politics had angered the Countess somewhat. “She is, after all, a surviving Princess like yourself Tina, and her country and people would very much like to ensure she is alright. Just because she isn’t’ running the country doesn’t mean she isn’t important to its welfare.”

“That’s not good,” said Dirk to Tenz since Jacquie was nowhere insight and was probably reaching New York City by now.

“Jacquie’s not with us anymore, mother,” said Tina in a voice so icey that it stunned the others. Apparently she could give the Countess a taste of her own medicine. “My apologies, sir,” she said to Mr. Bratainu, bowing as she did so in a way extremely graceful but sarcastic enough in its formality to enrage her mother. “When I speak to her next, I shall inform her of your arrival here.” She turned to her mother and they were locked eye to eye, silently. They could here Mr. Mallor say another comment about Tatiana’s skin off to the side, and Tenz could be heard whispering to Dirk and Dirk elbowing him in the ribs to shut him up. “If that is all,” said Tina firmly, and then she began to walk out of the entrance way towards her quarters.

“You and I will speak privately dear,” said the Countess a moment later and the others took that cue to get out of the Countess’ way immediately.

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

Entering Tina’s huge bedroom, with its private room off the side that could seat a dozen people, they all sighed relief. Tatiana had stayed behind with her father, and Mon considered walking back out and joining her. He certainly wasn’t going to ask permission.

“That should be a pleasant talk with you mom,” said Dirk to Tina to give a little levity and her look said in no uncertain terms “I hate it here”.

“At least they have parents to come here…” said Tenz suddenly gloomily. Dirk and Tina felt bad about that, remembering Tenz’ father had died not too long ago, murdered by the Persuader.

“Tenz, forgive me!” said Maziah suddenly and loudly, surprising them all, as it was uncharacteristic for her to make such an outburst.

“You didn’t tell him?” said Dawnstar with a smile, sensing this would be a nice moment.

“Tell me what?”

“Your mother, Tenz,” said Maziah smiling. “Dawnstar and I met her. She’s with Marla Latham now. So is your brother. She’s okay.”

Tenz was quiet for a moment, taking it all in, and soon his eyes began to water. “R-really…?”

“Yes,” said Maziah walking closer to him and hugging him. “She’s doing alright. She’s healthy and rested, and she’s beautiful. You don’t need to worry about her any longer. She’s with Marla Latham now.”

Tenz hugged her back fiercely, trying to hide his tears from Dirk and the others. Dirk and Mon took it as a cue and left the room silently, as Tina followed to go see her mother. Dawnstar smiled and watched them.

Maziah and Dawnstar told Ten Zil all about his mother, and seeing Baksheesh, the boy called Kid Psycho, and even the blue-firred German boy named Nightcrawler all with Marla Latham. Tenz said little for once in his life, taking it all in, feeling the pangs of relief setting in. Maybe Dirk was right and things were looking up.

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

Dirk walked with Mon and Tina silently for a minute and Tina turned to go see her mother, waving without a word with a slight frown on her face. Mon nodded and Dirk waved back.

“Parent issues, eh?” said Dirk to Mon.

Mon not being much of a talker, shrugged. “Everyone has them,” he said. “I miss my father greatly,” he added. “He was a good man. I miss my mother too” That was all he said on the subject. They walked some more. “I’m going to see if Tatiana is okay,” he said at last, turning away from Dirk.

“Mon.” Mon turned to Dirk who called to him quickly. “Don’t get too involved in it,” he said. “Trust me—never come between a girl and her father. Ever.”

Mon smiled. “I know good advice when I hear it,” he nodded.

Dirk walked alone now trying to smile to himself. He couldn’t. Tina’s mother was brutal, he knew that, and Tatiana probably was having an awkward conversation with her father, but at least they were both here. Did his father even know he was missing? Did he even care? Deep down, he suspected he did not on both accounts. His father had stopped caring the day of the accident.

He walked along the hallways some more, feeling sorry for himself and hating himself for feeling that way.

“Dirk?” he heard his name being called, at first not sure if he had imagined it. He almost thought it might have been his Dad, but quickly processed through is brain it was female. “Dirk?” he heard again, and realized it wasn’t any of the girls in his group. He turned.

“Gigi?” he said, and saw at once it was Gigi Cusimano, who he knew very well. Gigi worked for Bruce Wayne, who essentially took care of him these days. She was only (20) years old, but was really the one who took care of him. He hadn’t seen her in ages only really talking to her by phone or email. “Gigi!” he said again, smiling.

“Dirk, where the hell have you been?” she said, but she was laughing somewhat. She was an intern at Wayne Enterprises and her real job was to be in charge of Dirk. She walked over and hugged him tightly.

Dirk blushed a little, having a crush on her since he was about fourteen years old when he first met her, and she was a seventeen year old intern. She was very attractive and very smart too, which was why she had been interning at Wayne Enterprises since late high school and still was in college. “Well, you know, adventuring around…” he replied, trying to sound dashing.

“Dirk,” said another voice, this one deeper, definitely a man’s. His Dad? No. But who…?

“Dirk,” said Gigi in a whisper and her tone was suddenly serious. “Bruce is here. He flew to Austria to see you…”

Dirk’s eyes went wide. Standing before him, in a crisp business suit was the young man in control of Wayne Enterprises at the age of 24. Before him was Bruce Wayne.

“Parents just don’t understand”
Part 2

“So now they’re back in Vienna?” said Interpol Chief Zendack over the phone.

“Yes, they’ve just arrived back here. I’m going to try to make contact shortly.”

“Good. Proceed, but with caution, Agent Ontirr. Do not forget that among their number are princesses and celebrities and I cannot exaggerate what my anger would be if I see your face on the evening news.”

“You won’t.”

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


“Bruce?”

“Hello Dirk,” he smiled and it was both warm and intimidating at the same time.

“Bruce—what…what are you doing here…?” was all Dirk could get out and he immediately regretted it. He was so sure it would be his father. He couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“A trifle awkward, Master Bruce,” said a voice from behind Bruce Wayne, which Dirk immediately knew was Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler officially, but much more than that realistically. Dirk knew this because at one time in his life, Bruce Wayne was very close to him.

“Dirk, Bruce came all the way to Austria to see you. He’s worried about you,” said Gigi. Dirk turned to look at her, and he could see it was she that was worried about him. “You’ve been out of touch for awhile.”

Dirk knew these people cared about him, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that he was being ganged up on. Bruce caught that immediately. “The Countess contacted me, Dirk,” said Bruce, now walking over to Dirk so he’d be right next to him. “She contacted your father and he contacted me. You’ve basically been impossible to find in the last few months. You’re a teenager traveling in foreign countries, which is worrisome enough, and now the Countess is telling me all kinds of things which seem completely outrageous.” As Bruce Wayne was saying this, Dirk felt as if the calmness in his voice made it seem that Bruce didn’t exactly think these things the Countess was telling him really were all that outrageous. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Dirk looked at Bruce who was in front of him now, and realized it had been at least two, if not more, years since he had last seen him. Bruce had to be about twenty-four now, possibly twenty-five, although being in his presence you felt like he was thirty. He was extremely handsome, but had a very conservative, reserved air about him in person (which you would never know by his portrayal in the media as a billionaire playboy). He dressed in the finest business suits, and they were usually darker colors. Dirk believed this was because Bruce was still in morning and always would be. Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed when hew as just a boy.

It had made him a very hard man sometimes, and Dirk couldn’t help but feel Bruce was always calculating his thoughts as they came in. But Dirk did know that Bruce Wayne intervened when no one else would—when his father had all but stopped caring, and made sure he could provide Dirk with some semblance of a normal and fulfilling childhood. As Dirk looked back at Bruce Wayne, who knew all about Dirk’s accident and abilities, he honestly believed he was looking at a friend.

“I’m okay,” he said at last, and a smile came onto his face. “I…I kinda thought my dad would show up.” Gigi sighed to his side, but then tried to cover it up before Dirk could hear her (to no avail). “I’ve been traveling…” he began and Bruce cocked an eyebrow up. “The Countess has probably told you some crazy stories…”

“Indeed,” said Alfred Pennyworth, who although remained placid, appeared to be smiling on the inside.

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

“Daddy,” said Tatiana softly, “please stop looking at me like that.”

Michael Mallor couldn’t help but stare at his only daughter. Like most teenagers, she had grown noticeably since he last saw her, although usually most fathers saw their daughters much more than he ever did his own. But in this case, his daughter Tatiana had the oddest change he’d ever heard of: her skin had turned pale blue.

A tear came down her cheek. After thinking she’d gotten over this change weeks ago, every ounce of embarrassment and self-consciousness over this change came flooding back to her.

“I’m sorry Tati,” he said at last. “It will take some getting used to, no doubt.” He forced a smile, and when she immediately could tell he was forcing it, a real smile came at last.

Michael Mallor was not a bad person. It was that he was just a bad father. His family had been a prominent family in Bristol for centuries, and he was born into a life of privilege. Early in life, he had decided to forego all of the odd mysticism and eccentricities of his family line and become successful and famous for more appropriate reasons. Thus, he had become one of England’s major businessmen, running a Hedge Fund in Bristol that required non-stop work hours and travel, but which also made him a multi-billionaire. As the stress of such large deals increased over time, business had become his life. When his wife passed away ten years ago, his family life as a whole pretty much did.

But he still loved his daughter. “Your gran was a trifle eccentric,” he said about his own mother. “She’d have a real interest in this.”

Tatiana smiled back at last. She, of course, had spoken to her gran many times through the shadows she controlled, but figured now would not be the best time to tell her father that. “Daddy, I’m quite alright,” she said. “I’ve got this wonderful group of friends and we’ve been—“

“Tatiana,” said her father incredulously. “You don’t honestly think you’re going to continue on as you’ve been? You can’t drop your life in the middle of a school year and just go off trouncing around Europe, and if the Countess is correct, Asia. You’re a teenage girl.”

Tatiana felt the fury that served her so well in Khundia and Siberia boiling back up into her throat. “How good of you to notice,” she said crisply.

Her words stung her father. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming down the hall, and both turned. Walking toward them was Monius Elysius. Tatiana suddenly inhaled deeply. The last thing she needed right now was for Mon to meet her father.

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

“How is your education coming along, dear?” said Winema to Tina Wazzo, with just enough dripping iciness to make her daughter want to throw a tantrum.

“Oh mother, its coming along quite well,” she replied. “Just the other week, I learned a great deal on the subtle art of using your wealth and luxurious lifestyle to influence politicians to vote in your favor.” The implication was obvious.

“I see,” said Winema, turning to the servants. “Be sure Relnic, Maya and Gil’ Deshi are kept far away from my daughter. I can only imagine what insult she’d hurl at them, and they work hard enough without a teenager telling them how crude they are in their work ethic.”

“The Ambassadors are still here?” asked Tina.

“Of course,” said Winema. “Not all of them, but some have stayed a trifle longer to discuss other matters. Why should you care Tina,” she followed up, “you’ve never shown an interest in worldly affairs in your life.”

Tina said little, but couldn’t help but return to thoughts that had been going on in her brain for the last few weeks. There was a spy in the United Nations working directly for Mordru. Most likely encouraging Mordru’s plans. Part of her, as guilty as it made her feel, couldn’t help but suspect her own mother. The magic connection was too strong to be coincidental. But could her mother, as awful as she could be sometimes, ever truly do such a thing?

“Fine Tina,” said her mother at last, wrongly taking Tina’s thoughtful silence for something colder. “You can see the delegates if you like. I admit that I am glad you’re taking an interest in them.”

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

“Daddy,” said Tatiana, gulping as if to take a deep breath before a plunge into the ocean, “This is Monius Elysius, but we simply call him Mon. He’s…” she looked at Mon, whose face remained as unreadable as ever, “…a very good friend of mine.”

“Oh?” replied Michael Mallor, sizing up Mon, obviously trying to read his body language to see if this boy—man rather, as he was obviously a few years older than Tatiana—had more than just friendship in mind with his daughter. “Monius Elysius? Are your parents historians?” he said, making a joke to himself.

“No,” said Mon-El, extending his hand, “they were…farmers,” he added, thinking of the correct word to convey what his parents really were. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Mon-El, purposely not using the word ‘Sir’.

“Well Mon,” said Mr. Mallor, who suddenly stopped being Michael Mallor the father and was now Michael Mallor the businessman, “perhaps you can shed some light on what you all have been doing these last few months. Tatiana oddly keeps avoiding the subject, but the Countess made it clear you’ve been to Asia, across Europe, even Russia at some point.” As he spoke, he shook Mon’s hand and tried to add more pressure than usual in his grip—and failed utterly, considering whose hand he was shaking.

“We’ve traveled a good deal,” said Mon, “and there’s still plenty more of this world to see. I’m looking forward to it.” Mon immediately regretted coming here. Obviously Dirk was right—this wasn’t any of his business. Shady was beyond uncomfortable and the father obviously didn’t care for him.

“The world’s always changing,” said Michael Mallor, “but it will still be there when you’re all a bit older. I’m not sure its appropriate for a group of unsupervised teenagers to be traveling across the globe.”

Mon smiled coolly. “The world changes and we must change with it,” he said, as if a private joke to himself. “I apologize for the interruption. I’ll leave you both alone.” With that, he turned around and began to walk out.

Tatiana was thankful Mon was leaving but immediately felt horrible. This little meeting wasn’t fair to her father or Mon.

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

“So your modeling career is on hold?” said Bruce to Dirk, as they sat down and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee. Dirk was aware that Bruce hardly ever drank alcohol, which was yet another bit of media misinformation.

“More like over completely,” said Dirk, which surprised Gigi but didn’t seem to phase Bruce. “It seemed fun when I was fourteen. But…it seems a bit unimportant to me now.”

“What do you plan to do next then, Dirk?” asked Gigi surprised.

Bruce just looked at Dirk, as if seeing right through him and reading him completely.

Dirk turned to Gigi, who looked at pretty as ever, with short auburn hair. She was dressed in a woman’s business suit with a long skirt. But her body language suggested she cared for Dirk. Perhaps more than just friendly affection? “I’ve…got some other things on my plate…” he said.

“Gigi,” said Bruce suddenly. “Could you give Dirk and I a few minutes?” She looked surprised. “We need to talk about…well, guy stuff.”

“Okay…” she said, and got up and left. Alfred also left the room.

“Dirk,” said Bruce, looking at him directly in the eyes. “I know everything. And I want you to retell it to me from your point of view. Including what comes next.”

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

Outside, in the courtyard where the Demon Etrigan once ambushed him, Blok stood feeling the cold breeze and enjoying it. Maziah was with him once again, and Dawnstar, her new friend, was also with them. Maziah sat in silence, meditating and concentrating on her spells, until at last she stood up.

“We begin anew,” he said to her. “You are immensely powerful, and you know this, but now the time has come for you to begin learning how to use that power wisely and efficiently. I can only teach you so much, as magic has never been one of my tools. But I can teach you this: you must learn to act rather than react, and learn to be a cause rather than just an effect.”

Dawnstar said nothing, just looking on curiously.

Maziah smiled to him. “Have you missed my singing Blok?” she said with a smile. “Have you thought of it at all?” Her face had a touch of sadness to it. “Or have you thought solely about my father in our time apart.”

Blok was silent. “I missed your singing greatly, Maziah. I would be honored to hear it again, when we complete this exercise.”

“Then we have a deal,” she smiled. “What is it you need me to do?”

Blok said nothing. Maziah tilted her head, quizzically, looking at him. Blok looked back, humorless, still saying nothing. The silence pierced the courtyard suddenly, as Maziah turned to Dawnstar looking for some answer.

“Neither she or I can tell you what to do next Maziah. You must act.”

Maziah suddenly felt uncomfortable. As she often felt in her youth, she felt infinitesimally small. And more—she felt her father—looming larger than life over her. She began to concentrate, looking for some sort of answer through her magic, but had no idea what question she was supposed to be asking.

Frustrated, she suddenly felt annoyed at Blok. Why did he speak in riddles—what did he mean? She knew where her father was—in Zerox, the Secret City. And she was here, in Austria, not far away at all, but unsure of what steps needed to be taken to help them in the battle that now seemed to be inevitable.

She felt her white magic flow through her, and as it grew, she floated effortlessly into the air, pushing it in the direction of her father, as if to sense his presence and make sure he was still there. His magical aura was immense and she could feel him there, though this was due to her immense power as well. She was her father’s daughter, there was no doubt. Using her ability to detect magic across such a distance gave her access to others in her vicinity, and at once she saw Tina talking to her mother Winema; saw the Black Pirate Jon Valor docked in his ship at the harbor, and saw Tatiana uncomfortably talking to her father. More, she could sense other magic from here to Zerox—could feel the various others within the secret city, including Mordru’s most trusted agents. Yet, she could also feel the presence of another, somewhere in between, another who was immensely strong, who became aware of her ability to touch him. Occult was what he was called. The Doctor of the Occult. He would be aware of her now.

And then yet another. Another presence, whose magic power was immense. But there was something else. This other was enormous and enormously ferocious. She could feel its seething anger and hatred. She could feel its…inclination for destruction. At last an image began to form in her mind. She could see it for what it really was. Not a man, or a woman, or a person at all.

She could see a Dragon. The Dragon. Somewhere from Vienna to Zerox, she could feel it, and had no doubt it could feel her. Mordru’s Dragon.

Here there be Dragons

Names he’d had many. Legends he’d had more.

In his long lifespan, he’d seen the rise and fall of civilizations, sometimes participating, but always in the latter.

At the edge of every map, references were made to where he might still be: here, there could be danger, and here could be your end.

Glaurung was older than most any other that still existed, save for the Lord he worshipped as his personal deity, if such a concept could be applied to dragons. If he was the first, no one could prove or disprove it. But he was the oldest living dragon and had been so since before historical record and indeed, in living memory or legend. Because of this, Glaurung was known as the “Father of all Dragons”.

His enormous girth was impossible to comprehend, and beyond measure or analysis; for each person saw Glaurung differently, and each person’s mind could only translate a part of him, never the whole. After countless centuries of perfectly his glamour, he now effortlessly used it on all who might gaze at him, whether he returned their gaze or not.

His skin leathery and slimy, but by now had become coated in a fleece made of gold, silver, bronze and diamond, after spending numerous long slumbers sitting on the large hordes he’d accumulated from each fallen civilization. He cared for two things in this world, and the most burning of these two desires was for the accumulation of treasure. When legends of such items reached the stature of legends about him, he would hear of them—and then seek out such treasure. Chalices, spears, swords, gold. Scripture, skeletons, crowns and his favorite—rings.

One thousand years ago, the men of the North Lands called him Fafnir. Most feared him, some gave him worship. He gave them misery and despair. For this was his second greatest desire: to meddle in the affairs of men and to bring them terror and loathing. To bring them utter despair.

Eight hundred years ago, he spent many years in the East, terrorizing both farmer and Lord. Sometimes he’d use his fiery breath to cleanse man with fire. Sometimes he’d simply use riddles and charms to make man cleanse himself.

Sometimes he’d use his massive frame. For his claws were sharp as razors and as large as children, and his teeth were sharper and dripped poison. His tail was devastating and left no ship unsunk, and to hear him roar was to ensure one’s remaining nights would never be spent asleep for long periods of time without remembering that fury.

Glaurung, father of the Dragons, was known by many names by all civilizations. In olden days, when Mordru was plainly at war with the world, he would indulge himself in building these legends, for he was vain creature indeed. In recent centuries, as Mordru choose to work in secret, Glaurung was forced to do the same—but even then, he could not appease his own vanity and desire for gold, and still would venture into the world to cause havoc and suffering.

For such was the power of Glaurung that not even the Dark Lord Mordru could exert total control on him.

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

Maziah saw the Dragon with her spell of magical detection and knew of its importance immediately. Here was one with power enough itself to destroy her. Here was one who could turn the tide of battle.

Like a vacuum, the beast’s magic drew her to it. Drew her to look further, to discover the beauty of the dragon, to love it, to worship it.

She denied it, but at once realized that Mordru allowed it to be loose on the world—surely a sign that times were coming to either an end, or a change.

She would have to confront it. She would have to do so now.

She began to rise up into the air, letting her magical spell evolve into another, to take her to it.

“Blok?” said Dawnstar, watching on.

“This will not be easy on her,” said Blok, sinking into the Earth, using his own means.

“Shit,” said Dawnstar, flying into the air, to follow Maziah.

Suddenly Mon-El was by her side. “I’m coming with you,” he said, apparently preferring not to say in Vienna.

“I’m not sure where we’re going…” replied Dawnstar, unaware of the danger she was heading towards.

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

Parma, Sicily

Flying over the countryside, Glaurung allowed himself to be seen by those below, causing fear and doubts of sanity below. He flew up into the sky, turned in a loop and came back below to unleash fire on the people below, before he continued on to Zerox, the Secret City, in hopes of gaining a real target he could at last pick apart.

As fire purged the Earth, the figure known as Blok grew forth from the blackened soil below, looking up at the Ancient Dragon, which he had seen on multiple occasions before. Not far off, The White Witch, Mon-El and Dawnstar approached at speeds most human beings could never believe a single person could travel at, let alone fly through the air.

Blok caught Glaurung’s eye, and the large Dragon grinned widely, immediately turning, and flying back towards the freshly blackened soil of Parma’s outlying countryside. With a glamour, Glaurung decreased his size by at least half, to make it easier to converse with his enemy below.

“Hile brotherless one!” it said in a voice that would give normal human beings agony. It was enjoying the sudden appearance by its ages old enemy. “To what do I owe such an honor after these many long years?”

“The end game is coming Serpent Grandfather,” replied Blok, “you would do well to prepare yourself for it.”

Glaurung laughed out loud, using his fiery breath to spray Blok with fire, knowing it would do little harm to Blok, but would be insulting. “At last! Mayhap I see you on the battle field, rather than working in shadows like you and your ally have always done. Otherwise I’ll be forced to kill more of your knights and servants.”

“This time, Fafnir,” replied Blok, “you may be surprised yet.”

It was at this moment that Glaurung sensed her for the first time, as centuries of magic use had given him instincts in all things magic. He turned to see the White Witch approaching with her two allies. And for the briefest of moments, the Father of the Dragons knew terror himself.

“I care not whether she is his daughter,” he said at last, “I’d feast on her and suffer the consequences myself!” he finished, using his tail to smash Blok’s frame completely, though by now Blok realized his peril and had discarded his shell, which soon became little more than dust. Glaurung flew up to meet them.

“Oh my God,” said Dawnstar as she at once saw the massive dragon approaching them. “Maziah! Maziah, you don’t realize the danger!” she screamed, suddenly letting her instincts take over, as she immediately picked up her speed to move to the left, hoping to be out of the creature’s path. Pure, utter fear took over.

Maziah had snapped out of her trance and realized the creature was approaching and she too felt the fear, and began to tremble. Why in the world had she come here? What was she thinking?

“Move Maziah!” yelled Mon-El, who pushed her aside and did not appear to be trembling. Instead, he continued on his path, flying strait at the dragon, who now came at them with immense speed, its wingspan fully spread and its mouth open, exposing its razor sharp nest of teeth.

Mon flew at Glaurung who unleashed a cascade of fire-breath at him, burning away his shirt and singing his hair and burning his body, then preparing to slam its jaw shut when it grew ever closer. But Mon was not afraid of the creature. Mon-El, first and foremost, knew courage. He waited until the last minute, diving downwards and arcing up in a loop, so that he could cock his fist and hit Glaurung square in its underbelly.

Glaurung felt the blow sting him, and for the first time in centuries he felt pain. Mon-El rarely had the chance to hit something without holding back, and now he did so with full abandon. Glaurung roared deeply—enough in fact, to shake off Dawnstar and Maziah’s inability to move. With its roar, designed to stun its enemy, which it did in Mon’s case, it unleashed its large tail, which snapped at Mon-El like a massive whip, and knocked him in the chest immediately, sending him flying far off the coast of Sicily and into the Mediterranean Sea.

Mon-El felt all of the air knocked out of his lungs and for a moment believed this might be his end—only to land in the arms of another.

“I’ve got you,” said the voice, and Mon-El realized this was a man—no, a boy—who was flying and now had him in his arms. He was strong, at least enough to hold on to him. “I can’t use my strength while I’m flying, so you need to get your bearings,” said the voice.

Mon breathed in, trying to regain his composure. “…who…?” he wheezed out.

“Just hold on,” he continued. “The fact that you’re not dead means you’ve got some tough skin friend,” he added, “kind of reminds me of a girl I once knew.”

Mon looked up, to see a handsome brown-haired teenager. “I’m…alright…” he said.

“You’re far from alright, but it looks like you can stand up to pretty much anything. Still, your two lady friends are up there with Godzilla there.”

“Who are you?” said Mon, getting his breath back, and then pushing himself out of the boy’s arms so he could fly on his own. He was dazed, but recovering quickly.

“My name’s Joe,” he said, “and I’ve been following this thing for days, finally catching up to it. If I told you how I know about it, you’d never believe me—but that thing once swallowed me whole.” He looked up to see Maziah firing some ball of lightning at the dragon, while Dawnstar flew around it at amazing speed, her wings plain to see from where they were. “Just when I thought I was done with super-heroes forever…” he smiled.

“Thanks for the save Joe,” said Mon, turning to fly back after the dragon. Joe followed him.

“I guess if we’re going to be friends, you better call me Ultraboy.”

The Boy with Ultra Powers

Dawnstar flew around the Dragon with her speed at the highest it could go, becoming a blur to Maziah and even to the dragon itself, whose eyesight was far superior to that of a normal everyday human. Glaurung swung a claw at her, and missed, and Dawnstar never realized that if contact had been made, it would have been her end.

The White Witch, now with her composure regained, hovered before it, still floating magically, as the Dragon decreased the speed at which it traveled at. “Dragon Lord, you know who I am!” she yelled. “I command you to heal!”

The dragon laughed loudly. “No,” he said in its deep throaty voice, as it suddenly grabbed Maziah with a hand, and pulled it close. “You have made a dreadful error, daughter of Mordru,” it said to her, “for I heal to no one.”

Suddenly Mon-El and Ultraboy smashed into Glaurung from the side, Ultraboy changing from flight to super-strength at the last moment, revealing a strength level that could rival Mon-El’s. The combined power knocked the dragon forward ten feet, and caused it to release Maziah, whom Dawnstar picked up immediately.

“Not bad,” said Mon to Ultraboy, “so you are strong.”

“Not as strong as you Superman,” replied Joe, switching back to flight to stop from falling. “But I need to concentrate. Because if that thing hits me, I’m dead unless I go invulnerable…”

Glaurung swung around, now outraged. “What could you hope to accomplish, young witch?” it yelled in outrage, and its voice caused Dawny, Joe and Mon to feel an immediate dizziness.

Maziah did not feel it. “To deliver a message,” she said at last, and for the first time this battle, she felt her confidence renewing. She held her arms out, locking her hands together and thought of the many spells her father had taught her in her youth, when she first showed an apt for magic. “My father kidnapped my friends, and assaulted us with his many agents! He has vampires, and warriors, and human beings too. But you are his strongest agent, and I am here to deliver a message,” she continued.

Glaurung once more unleashed fire on them all, showering them and by all rights killing them, but the fire bounced off a white magical shield Maziah had erected before them.

“My father,” she said at last, “does not have me. And that will be enough.” With that, she unleashed a bolt of white light, white enough to have the absence of any color, blasting Glaurung. Except it did not blast him as an aggressive projectile, but instead, split in two and wrapped around him, first horizontally and once more when both ends appeared to touch, splitting again vertically, as if to bind the dragon. “Go now, back to Zerox, and know that your journey there is done via the White Witch,” she said. “I announce myself to my father at last. I, Maziah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal, will be what they called me in my youth—the White Witch of Zerox. And I now reveal my opposition to my father in his coming war, and I shall see him on the battlefield.

The binding white beams around Glaurung began to expand at these words and Glaurung looked at her eyes. “I shall have vengeance on you for this insult,” he said, “but I know Mordru will be forced to take that vengeance himself for this formal proclamation. You have started an avalanche child. It pleases me to know you will suffer…”

With that, the white beams exploded into light, and Maziah’s spell was completed, as the massive dragon was banished back to Zerox.

Maziah fell immediately, only to be caught by Joe, as she soon faded into unconsciousness. The spell was immense, and took more out of her than she would have guessed. She began to shake in her sleep and Joe grew worried, until Mon-El flew next to him and told him it was alright.

Mon understand, while Joe and Dawny did not. Maziah formally proclaimed her stance against her father. Mordru may have declared war on humanity, but Maziah just declared war back on Mordru. Such proclamations held immense power, and to do so against the Father of the Dragons only made it more so.

It wouldn’t be long now.

“What’s their status?”

“Radio silence as ordered ma’am. But our tracking sensors show they made contact thirty minutes ago. No alarm signals back to us. Looks like all is according to plan.”

“Good. Get Faraday on the line.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied the soldier. He knew full well Amanda Waller was not to be trifled with.

Amanda Waller, dressed in a full business suit, as usual, looked into the various computer screens on the walls in front of her, with satellite images available. They could only get the most difficult of images to capture in Khundia, and it enraged her. Goddamn Russians were intercepting and blocking their signals—again. She had minimal staff in front of her, which was how she liked it. The less people who knew about Task Force X, the better. Especially this mission, which was highly illegal and broke all kinds of international law. Should the United Nations ever know about it, President Luthor made it very clear he’d be forced to hang Amanda out to dry.

“Faraday,” said a voice. It was King Faraday. King Faraday, a handsome middle-aged man in his 50’s that was still in excellent physical condition. He was the United State’s most important spy, though hardly decorated. As he liked it. He didn’t run Checkmate officially—but all the most important Checkmate missions went through him. IN reality, he very much ran Checkmate. The official top ranking officers were there simply to do take dinner requests and to take the fall when things went wrong. And having Faraday’s support in missions like these was essential.

“King, its Waller,” she said.

“I know Amanda. Go on,” he said curtly. She heard noise in the background. He was on a helicopter somewhere.

“We’ve made contact. We should be out in 30 minutes. You don’t know anything about the Suicide Squad’s mission to Checkmate. But…”

“…but Haverstrom does,” he said. King Faraday purposely had made sure a high-ranking Checkmate official knew about this mission. If the Squad was discovered or the mission went wrong, it would be Haverstrom’s ass—not Waller’s. Faraday scratched Waller’s back from time to time, and she did the same. It was the only way to make it in the spy game.

“Good,” she replied. “I wish we had added Checkmate support…” she said.

“Never gonna happen,” he added. “But I’m keeping an eye on things, don’t worry.” She could almost hear him smiling. She couldn’t help but feel that Checkmate had a man in Khundia somewhere on their payroll.

“Okay,” she finished. “Waller out.”

He hung up without replying. She covered her ass, one last time. She inhaled a deep breath. Now it was up to Foccart and the rest of the Suicide Squad. Hopefully they wouldn’t end up dead—or worse, caught.

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

Jacques Foccart, the young man known as Fantomas, moved quietly through the streets of Khundia and slipped into his target building. He was invisible, using his ability to bend light around him. Older than the rest, he was the leader of the Suicide Squad, since it mainly consisted of a bunch of teenagers and him. Which was funny, since he was eighteen years old, and still just a teenager himself. A tremendous amount of responsibility had been dropped into his lap, and he felt the weight tremendously. The fact that he was from the neighboring country of Algeria, a product of French and African ancestory, further gave him a sense that it was his responsibility to make sure this mission went right.

Not far behind him, Kono followed, using her ability to change her density and mass so she became immaterial and phased through the walls. They quietly moved along, looking for the main room.

Khundia was a problem and the United States knew it. Luthor wanted the U.S. prepared well in advance for any possible conflict, and had given the order to Amanda Waller to send in the Suicide Squad. Khundia was infamously militarized, and Jacques and Kono could see that first hand now—there were indeed soldiers everywhere, here in the capital city.

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

Outside, in an abandoned warehouse not far from the main stretch of buildings, three teenagers anxiously waited for orders on what to do next. They were: Tetsuo, Ferro and Oracle, the other three remaining members of the Squad, and they were impatient and nervous. They’d been on some minor missions before hand, but nothing has serious or dangerous as this.

“They think we’ll screw it up,” said Douglas Nolan, who had taken the name Ferro.

“Nah,” said Conal, “they’re used to sending in teenagers to do their dirty work. That’s all the government has always done.”

Oracle said nothing, using her powers to scan for any active computer console or other electronic devices. “Nothing…” she said, “…though obviously, this place looks lived in.”

“Probably even Khundia has homeless,” said Conal with a smile to Douglas, and they both were reminded of their days on the street with Douglas’s brother Andy, who had decided he would have no part in this. None of the three had any realization that weeks earlier, a group of super-powered teenagers and the mysterious Blok had spent their time hiding in this exact location. Which would prove to be their undoing.

The three sat there in silence now, still waiting. Waller intentionally kept them all in the dark except Jacques, who was the brother of Danielle Foccart, Oracle.

“Do you hear that?” asked Conal suddenly. He never before exhibited signs of having above normal hearing but his senses could suddenly pick up something else was there with them.

“No…” said Douglas, trying to find what Conal was talking about.

“Too bad for you,” said a voice, as Firefist, the leader of the Khundian Legion, yelled from above them. Moments earlier, Veilmist had teleported the entire Khundian Legion into the room. Firefist suddenly called forth all of the flames he could into his right hand, pulled it back and sent it flying below, spraying and covering Douglas Nolan, before he could use his power to turn to a metallic form. He fell back, horribly burned.

“Doug!” yelled Conal, suddenly in a rage. He used his telekineis, flying up as fast as he could, to nail Firefist with his fists, only to quickly realize he was flying head-first into a trap. The winged oddity known as Flederweb was ready, covering him in webbing complexly, and entrapping him so that he was helpless. Quickly, Conal tried to use his tactile telekinesis to break free, but it was to no avail—the one known as Blood Claw was upon him, hammering blow after blow so that the webbing shook free and they fell to the ground below. He continued to hammer on Conal’s face.

Oracle suddenly felt panic rush over her, and Conal fell down and she was the only one left standing, she turned to her left, deciding then and there that she would run and try to get away—and turned directly into Veilmist, who had teleported down next to her. Veilmist took no pleasure in her duty, but did it anyway—landing a hard punch into Danielle’s face, knocking her backwards. Danielle fell, and prepared to get back up as fast and possible and fight this girl, when the cruel hands of Firefist suddenly wrapped themselves around her throat.

“Don’t you dare think of it,” he said firmly, “or I will burn you to death right here.”

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

Conal and Danielle had been caught, that Douglas Nolan knew, and he had been badly burned. Horribly burned actually, and the pain was overwhelming. It was bad, and he didn’t dare look at his reflection in any of the glass windows in the streets. They must have thought him dead, because he had somehow gotten away. He could feel the boils forming on his skin. He paused, took of his mask, and vomited. He tossed the mask aside. It was useless to him now.

He stumbled forward some more, only to see soldiers rounding the corner. This was it, he was done. Turning metallic, he rushed forward, and bullets fired off of him, spraying in other directions. He grabbed the first soldier and snapped his neck, killing him instantly. They were screaming now, firing blindly.

He thought about going back to his flesh and letting them kill him.

Suddenly the soldiers all became super-dense, unable to hold up their body weight, and fell to the ground. Kono appeared, though she was bleeding from her upper-lip. “K-Kono…?”

“No time,” she said, “either we’re not very good, or we’ve been set-up. Let’s go…”

“OK…” said Doug, but then passed out, falling to the ground.

Going back to his flesh form naturally, he landed in the arms of Jacques Foccart, who had fresh bruises forming on his face. Jacques was pale white, which looked on his black skin. The decision was now his: stay in Khundia and try another suicide mission to rescue his sister, or make it back to Waller and warn her about what happened? It was an easy decision for Jacques, the man. But he had been turned into the leader of the Suicide Squad and an expert spy.

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

Holding the dying Douglas Nolan, Jacques Foccart started his raft across the Mediterranean Sea, hoping the ship King Faraday told him would be there would be. He couldn’t trust Amanda Waller anymore, because the Squad obviously had been betrayed. But King Faraday had promised him Checkmate would support him if anything happened. He would have to hold King to that promise.

Kono had gone off on her own, like he always knew she would. How she expected to survive in Northern Africa, when she was just a fourteen year old girl, no matter how tough she was, was beyond him.

Douglas coughed, and blood was in his spit. He wasn’t going to make it. Jacques said a silent prayer, and made his way through the water. Jacques expected neither would live.

Manhattan, New York City, NY

“Anything?” asked Lyle into his cell phone, to which there was no answer.

Finally: “no. Nothing…”

“Damn,” said Lyle. “Looks like this Silver Slasher has gotten away with murder—again.”

“I think you’re right, Lyle,” replied Condo. “We better get back before someone notices we’re gone.” With that, Catalyst, Shifter and Shrinking Violet began to return to Legion HQ, and would indeed return before anyone realized they were gone. Once more they had left the premises without authorization, once more quietly protesting any structure of having to sign in or out of Legion HQ.

The Silver Slasher had struck again, and the body had only been found less than two hours earlier in Central Park. They hoped they could arrive in time to find a clue, or trail, or something. No luck at all.

“I still say it’s a woman,” said Shifter over his cell phone.

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

The Bowery, Manhattan

“’Ello, Jenn,” said the old man whom she saw every day in the hallway, and she greeted him in kind, adding a smile of her own. Her obvious happiness was more transparent than she even though. “Good day then, eh?” he added.

“Yes,” she said, blushing. She was so excited she couldn’t contain herself.

“Must be a man, I suppose,” he added again, as she moved up the stairs to her studio apartment. “Yer practically glowing,” he said at last, as she reached her door and let herself in.

She was practically glowing. Excitement consumed every part of her body and she felt a fire in her heart. Her hair, pulled up in a conservative pony-tail, she let loose instantly, hurling the ribbon holding it up to the ground. She took of her glasses in excitement and removed her demure and fashionable winter coat as well. Her heart was pounding. Immediately, she began to remove her blouse and her dress pants, pulling off her stiletto heels first and throwing them aside, not caring where they landed.

Quietly, she noticed her blinds were open and quickly shut them. Soon she was completely naked, the fiery passion consuming her outright. She wanted to pleasure herself so badly, but had to wait.

The kill was still fresh and she could smell the blood on her hands still even though she’d washed it off.

Jenn Carpenter, formerly of Laromie, Wisconsin, insurance agent, 29 years old and described by her friends as ‘intellectual’ and ‘sweet’ but a bit boring, was shaking with excitement. Jenn Carpenter was the Silver Slasher, and she had just killed her 8th victim since arriving in Manhattan. Since feeling the call to come to Manhattan.

Now she prayed to her Deity, the one who assuredly summoned her here.

She prayed to Mordru first and foremost and then would celebrate afterwards by enjoying her pleasures. And then in a few days, she would do it again.

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

“Who are the Legion really?” said Jack Ryder on his Fox New Show. “A bunch of kids with enormous power, immediately given unlimited money and celebrity? Does my even saying that aloud not cause alarm by how dangerous this potentially is?” Jack had been on a roll now for three minutes, and because he was having such a good time, had extended his bit by over thirty seconds with no end in sight.

“We have a former marine, American hero at the helm, and that gives us some comfort. But he’s just a young man too, and now he isn’t answering to the United States military any longer, but rather than United Nations…and we all know how effective that is,” he added sarcastically. “Who does that leave as the big decision maker? RJ Brande? The billionaire, corporate tycoon? Sure Brande has done a great deal for the world—maybe even too much, as his enormous billion dollar donations to third world countries seem to have produced little change or result. Brande is an obviously gifted investor and businessman. But do we really want him in control of twenty super-powered teenagers? Do we really want someone who shorted the mortgage lender stocks to be managing atomic powered emo kids?” He was doing his best now not to smile but to feign outrage.

“We know Brande has stated he supports the U.N. and the spirit of debate within the U.N. I’ve been on record for years saying if it was up to Brande, there’d be no U.N. The man practically hates political unity. He’s always encouraging ‘more dialogue’,” he continued with more sarcasm, “when it seems all this debate he’s encouraging accomplishes nothing. I don’t know…it feels like a private army that Brande is creating. And that’s tonight’s ‘bottom line’.”

Fade to commercial. As the camera came off Ryder, he turned to his assistant. “Ha! I liked that bit! Okay, I’ll need a Gatorade—the purple one or the orange one, but nothing else, and I need it in thirty seconds before we get back…”

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

Marella Tao couldn’t help but cringe. “I don’t think people will like this,” she said at last. “People love Brande, both conservatives and liberals alike. He’s the ultimate investor to admire and the ultimate philanthropist.”

“I tried Marella,” said Celeste Rockfish, who was beside her. “I couldn’t find anything. And its impossible to interview one of these Legionnaires. Impossible.”

“How does someone keep their past so mysterious in this age?” said Marella. “If you go online, you basically have everything you ever wanted to know about…well, Jack Ryder, for one thing. Brande is even higher profile than Jack, and yet there’s almost nothing on him before his first big deals in the 1950’s. He’s fascinating.”

“Well, I’m going to keep looking,” said Celeste. “Because my interest is piqued. Call it professional curiosity.”

“I’m not sure Jack will want to keep paying you…” said Marella, feeling bad.

“I’m not sure Jack hired me for that reason anymore, really,” replied Celeste with an eyebrow raised. “You never know what’s really on his mind…”

Marella laughed. “No, you never do.” They both watched as Jack Ryder again went live and moved on to the next topic of his show. “Actually, now I’m interested in interviewing one of these Legionnaires. That could be a great story.”

“Let me know and I’ll try to arrange it,” said Celeste. “We’d have to go through their publicists.”

“That’s what I don’t want,” said Marella, “no more Leviathan is an American hero, or three romantic things Rex Kline does on a date articles. I want something juicy. Some dirt maybe. Or something heart-breaking. Something else else with a bit more depth. They can’t all be as clean as a whistle,” she smiled.

The Lost One

Arnett, Texas

Andy Nolan walked the long road leading into Arnett slow and steady, feeling the hot heat on his back and the steam coming off the pavement on his legs. Like always, he had his hoodie up so that his face was covered. Though he caused a sweltering sensation, it also kept his face from directly touching the sun. Upon Andy walking past a nice suburban home on the way into town, a man getting his morning paper noticed Andy and thought he looked like an apparition, or some grudge version of death himself, strolling into town so mysteriously at this hour in the morning.

For Andy, the stretch of the legs felt good, and the pain in his legs kept his mind off other things. Like where he was going to go to next. He really didn’t have anywhere to go, but well, he didn’t have anywhere to go before and somehow he ended up here in Arnett, Texas, a hell of a long way from Metropolis.

He saw a soda machine and walked over to it, getting himself a Dr. Pepper. Both Doug and Conal were big water drinkers, always telling him soda was bad for him, that it was all made of sugar and other garbage. Naturally, Andy made sure to drink soda at every chance, even as his breakfast drink.

It’d been a long while since he talked to just about anyone, let alone Conal and Doug. “Why didn’t you let me come along?” he said out loud to himself, the sound of his own voice scaring him a little. “Because you were protecting me. Both of you. Like you always did.” He kept walking, not seeing anywhere he thought he could stop. They certainly weren’t protecting him anymore. Not when those kids in Alabama gave him the beating of his life because of the way his face looked. They sure stopped kicking him when he became metallic though. One of those kids broke his ankle kicking him in the ribs and Andy was glad for it. Kicking solid iron that hard can permanently damage an ankle. Too bad he was too scared to turn to his dullish gray form before they had gotten their first licks in. But hey, that was life when you were Andy Nolan. He was used to it by now.

He guzzled his soda and fished in his pockets to see how much money he had. Not much. Not really enough to get breakfast that was for sure. Maybe Arnett was his last stop after all. He was sure Texans, given their stereotypical reputation, would string him up by the neck because of his features, but he was surprised at how kind most the people were when they met him. Maybe he was destined to come here after all. Not like he had much of anything to go to now, since Doug and Conal were gone.

“Well Goddam,” he heard a gas station attendant say as he walked by. “There goes another one of those kids. More coming in here everyday…all kinds of oriental kinds and now one of them Cal-if-orna rockstar types,” the attendant continued. Andy obviously knew he was talking about his hoodie, which he wore over his face still, despite that hot morning sun. Andy looked at the man, who was actually just a teenager like him, but made sure his face wasn’t visible throw the hoodie.

“What’cha lookin’ at boy?” said the gas station attendant, whose name tag revealed him to be ‘Ned’.

“Shut up Ned and leave ‘em alone,” said an older man, perhaps the owner of the gas station. “Do your work ‘en that’s it.”

Andy kept on going, walking at a steady pace. His legs were really killing him now.

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

He didn’t realize he was in a fight until he was already falling towards the ground, the blood running down both sides of his head, an echo from the bottle breaking still ringing in his ears. Andy knew the gas station attendant named Ned would be gunning for him. He could see it in his eyes—because he’d seen it a dozen times before. Some people just don’t like you, because you’re different, and so they want to hurt you.

Falling to the ground, he knew he had to change to his iron, metallic form before Ned kicked him in the face or ribs, or otherwise, he’d really be in trouble. Fighting the dazed feeling of the blow to the head, he tried to concentrate on turning to his form, but could not. He waited for the kick to follow. It didn’t.

“That’s enough,” he heard a voice say.

“Aw, okay Jap, you want to make this your fight—“

Ned’s voice was cut off with the sound of one very hard blow, and then the sound of Ned’s body hitting the ground next to Andy. Still dazed, Andy at last turned to his dullish gray iron form, and lifted himself up.

A hand was extended to help him up, though the eyes widened at this sudden display of powers. “You could have used that ten seconds earlier,” said the voice. “Whatever that may be.”

Andy coughed, turning back and putting a finger to the blood on his head and looking at it. “Story of my life,” he said. “Thanks,” he began, then stumbled a little.

The teenage Japanese boy (Ned had been right after all) grabbed him instantly, steadying him. “Whoa. I have you. That was a serious blow to the head.”

“You’re telling me,” said Andy with a half-laugh. Then putting a hand against the brick wall nearby, held himself up. “At least it was just one this time…”

The teenager eyed Andy for a moment. “Is it iron? That form you take? It looked like iron.” He had a distinct accent and wasn’t American.

“I think so,” he said, now turning to look him in the eye. “Was that kung-fu or something?”

“Or something. Val Armor. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

Andy smiled at last, realizing his hoodie had been knocked off for over a minute now and Val hadn’t flinched once upon seeing his hideous face. “You’ve got a strong stomach then Val,” he said bemusingly. “Andy Nolan. And now I owe you one.”

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

“You people really picked an odd place to hang low for a few days,” said Andy, as he sipped another soda Val bought for him. Val drank iced tea. “Arnett, Texas doesn’t seem like the place to get many visitors. Where’d you come from, the West Coast?”

Val smiled. “The South.”

Andy looked puzzled. “Mexico?”

“More south than that,” said Hasim, who appeared annoyed by Andy’s presence. “I should have known it was too good to be true,” he said to Val. “We made great progress all the way from Brazil. The minute we get to the United States, you’re already picking up strays.”

“Don’t mind him,” said Val to Andy. “He’s always like this. Always.”

Andy laughed. “That’s okay,” said Andy, more to Hasim. “Is it my face that’s bothering you?” he said, putting his hoodie back up so it covered his face.

“You don’t have to do that,” said Jacquie, suddenly entering the room. Andy looked up and his jaw dropped at how stunning she looked. Her regality and beauty shined through immediately, though she had on no make-up, looked tired and hot, and wore simply a tank-top shirt, a pair of jeans and sneakers. They had been on the road for some time. “Scars come in many forms,” she continued, “and there isn’t one of us here in the room without them,” she walked over, sat next to Val and Andy, and put her hand on Andy’s. “You don’t have to hide your face from us.”

Hasim snickered in the corner, got up, and walked out of the room.

“Thanks,” said Andy shyly but with a smile.

Jacquie looked at Val, who smiled at her, impressed with Jacquie just being Jacquie. She smiled back sheepishly then looked away.

“I’ve got to say, you are people are some of the oddest I’ve ever met,” said Andy, “and I’ve met some odd people and seen some odd things lately. Coming from Brazil? On foot?”

“We had a car for most of the time,” replied Val.

“Where are you going now?” he asked, looking from Val to Jacquie, then pausing at Jacquie. “You’re really beautiful, you know that?”

She blushed a little and looked down. “Thank you,”

“She is,” said Val firmly, “and we’re going to New York, eventually, to answer your question. We’re hoping things get easier now that we are in the United States.”

“Good luck with that,” said Andy, his words summarizing his entire travels since the last day he saw Doug and Conal.

“If you knew where we had come from and what we’ve seen,” said Val, “I think you might think otherwise.”

“Try me,” said Andy.

So Val did.

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

“There’s no way in hell we should be bringing him with us,” said Hasim. “He’s some freak in Texas with a face that could scare Mordru himself. Obviously he’s messed up in the head.”

“Hasim…” started Jacquie, but Val cut her off.

“Kettle and pot, Hasim,” he said sternly. “He needs us, that’s obvious, and I’ve seen what he can do. He’s like the rest of us. He has abilities. It can’t be any coincidence we met him here of all places.”

“So now you believe in fate, Valor?” replied Hasim. “I think maybe you have this image of the perfect family in your head, with your loving wife,” he continued nodding at Jacquie, “you being dear old dad, and here comes along a stray puppy you can adopt.”

“Be careful Hasim,” said Val as his usual calm demeanor began to change slightly, “you’re revealing how little you actually know about family and friendship.”

“Val, that’s enough,” said Jacquie, sternly. “Hasim, you’re being completely unreasonable. We’ve been traveling for months. We met you in Rome of all places, Tenz in Seoul, the Legionnaires in Siberia. All along the way, these things have helped us. Allies and friends arriving whenever we began to feel lost or alone. I think Andy is a good person. He’s scared, he’s been kicked around, and he’s pessimistic, but despite all that, he’s a good person. That’s what we need more than anything now in our mission. What we’ll need against Mordru.”

“Ha,” said Hasim to Jacquie, and for the first time, his normal ‘go to hell’ attitude which he reserved for everyone except the Princess, was being used on her. “I’m sure he’ll be extremely useful in the fight against Mordru.”

“What happened to you?” she said at last to him, feeling both hurt and angry. Hasim looked at her, and she stared back in his eyes. It was like Val suddenly wasn’t in the room. He could feel her fury, and he suddenly wondered if she was using her power on him to try and see into his past if that was possible. “What happened to you in your life to make you this way?”

He looked away finally, hating himself for breaking eye contact before she did. “Forget it,” he said, walking towards the door. “You want the little freak to come with us, so be it.” He left the room.

As he left, Jacquie’s shoulders slumped slightly and Val could see Hasim’s words stung her and she felt the exhaustion of being on the road hit her all at once. He walked over to her. “You’ve given him a chance every possible time,” he said softly. “What more can you do?” She looked up at Val now, as he was less than a foot away from her. Suddenly, both of them could feel the heat between them. Not the afternoon heat of the hot Arnett sun, but a different kind of heat. One you feel in your body when your breath speeds up. “Its his fault, Jacqueline, not yours.”

He felt her breath on his chest, as she became even closer to him. “All this time,” she whispered, “I’ve been trying to focus on the mission at hand, trying to push these feelings out of my mind,” she said. He began to speak, but she put her finger to his lips softly to stop him. “Because I didn’t want to upset him. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I thought it could really hurt our mission to lose him.” They were now inches away. “When all I really wanted was something else,” she said at last.

“What?” said Val softly, uncharacteristically letting his guard down completely.

“You.”

Their kiss began with the fury of young passion, feeling like time might suddenly slip away from them and they should put all of their passion into one furious moment now. Her hands went around his neck and the back of his head, as he put his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly. At last it began to slow and grow softer, and both of them felt each other’s face smiling as they continued.

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

Andy Nolan bid farewell to Arnett, Texas without feeling any remorse. Over the course of the rest of his life, he’d often look back on his stay there much more fondly with rose-colored hindsight blurring his memories. It was here, after all, that he first met Valor, Sensor and Nemesis and completed the quadrangle.

The four of them walked to a bus station, Jacquie and Val in the front, an obvious mutual affection emanating between the two of them like a furnace gives off heat. He smiled at that, and when Val looked back at him, he gave Val a thumbs-up. There was something about Val he admired. He didn’t realize who Val reminded him of. He also didn’t realize he was exactly what Val needed, and from this day forward, Val would look out for him more—even more than any of the others.

Andy realized Hasim resented him—maybe even hated him as much as he hated Val. Hasim became more distant and quiet, and hardly ever spoke to Andy, not even giving his normal insults over time. Andy didn’t care. As he told them many times, he was used to it.

He’d need a codename, and well, he wasn’t feeling all too imaginative, so he took the same one his brother had used. Ferro. When he ran across Doug the next time, he’d ask Doug for some other ideas. Valor, Sensor, Nemesis and Ferro. Four new Legionnaires. Well, Val was already a Legionnaire, but well, you get the picture, he thought. Should be an interesting introduction when they met the Legion.

A Moment of Reflection

Fourth of July

"Hey, corn-for-brains! You're going to miss the start!"

Lorna Durgo, in civvies like her friends and compatriots Rex, Irma and Tina, yelled back at the fifth member of their group, Garth Raines, who was seemingly taking forever to return from a trip to get hotdogs. Their fledgling Legion had just gained a flurry of new members in the wake of their first mission, but the five of them were still a tight-knit group, and it was as a group they had secured prime places for the fireworks display.

"You know, I could have done that without drawing attention," Irma said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but a bit of embarrassment's good for the farmboy's soul, no?" Lorna smiled broadly, "Besides, don't you get a headache teeping in crowds?"

"It's getting better the more time I spend around people," Irma replied, as Garth finally arrived, out of breath, as the first explosion showered the sky in a sea of red, white and blue sparks.

"You remembered 'no mustard' on mine, right?" Rex said as he took one.

"And extra ketchup on mine?" Lorna added.

"And some extra onions for my hot dog?" Tina smiled.

"I... got it... all..." Garth panted.

"You sure did," smirked Lorna.

After that, they stood in relative silence for a few minutes, eating and watching the display in the skies above them in anonymity, until Tina broke in.

"I love fireworks."

"Really...?" one of the others said almost absent-mindedly.

"I have always done, since my third birthday, when my mother had a display for me. I believed the sparks were made of magic."

"This would be the same mother you're always complaining about?" Lorna asked.

"I was young. And my nannies spent most time with me, so she did not have the chance to find faults in me yet."

"Ahhh..."

"When is the next firework display after this?"

The four Americans looked at each other for a moment. None of them were from New York.

"Don't know." Rex said finally. "New Year?"

"If there is one here, then, we should go again - together, just the five of us."

The others concurred happily as the fireworks continued to shower sparks above them.
_______________

Thirty-First of December, nearing midnight EST
Atop Legion Tower

"Fireworks..." Lorna muttered to herself at the memory. As it turned out, fireworks were at best peripheral in NYC at New Year. It seemed apt in light of what had happened since.

She ticked a few of the bigger things off on her hands:

Tina was gone, off on a private crusade.
What McCauley had done to her.
Cos getting hit from the feedback of that over her & Paul.
Garth's problems with his sister, including that same 'feedback'.
Irma having to unpick the damage to umpteen minds from that, for weeks.
Cos' battles with Gene and the higher-ups.
The stressball thing just as she got back.

"Ha." She loudly pronounced the syllable into the canyon below her-. Growing up, she'd been shy. Back in July, she'd felt like she was getting over that. Now she couldn't face the party with her friends downstairs. It brought up memories of how Hallowe'en had ended.

So she stood atop Legion Tower, hands braced on the railing, the white overcoat from her new costume her only protection from the chill wind. Since the other three coats, with the trim for her 'shards', hadn't arrived yet she didn't dare split and risk freezing to death.

"Lu?" She heard the familiar voice and spun to face her boyfriend, exiting the stairwell. "What are you doing up here? It's freezing."

"Thinking. Remember Fourth of July?"

"The fireworks?"

"Yeah. Remember how happy we were? Before Gene, before McCauley, all that?"

"Before I had to spend half my time arguing we don't pose a threat to the UN's integrity, fighting you-know-who off over you, over Nura & Lyle, over Tina & co.? And the rest sitting around because they're not trusting us with anything? Yeah..."

They sighed together, and stood in silence for a few moments, leaning, facing the abyss between the buildings.

Eventually Lorna broke the silence, "We still haven't talked about what happened my first day back."

Cos turned to face her. As he said, "What's there to say?", a look of pain crept across his face.

"Cos, I'm not the strongest I've ever been but I'm not made of gossamer. We can't just ignore it."

Cos had collected his face, but if you know where to look you would have seen his lip tremble, just a little. Trinity knew where to look. "I felt you die in my arms. I don't remember much else, just your skin going cold and white, the blood gushing over my hand, your eyes rolling back. It-it terrifies me to think about it. But you're here, you're alive. So I don't have to."

Lorna pulled her woollen glove off and held his cheek in her hand. Wordlessly, they stared into each others' eyes for a moment, until...

"Hey monkey-brain?" Garth's voice rang up the stairs. "Cos up there with you?"

They sighed again. "Yeah," she yelled back, dropping her hand and putting the glove back on. A few moments afterward, Garth and Irma emerged onto the rooftop. Like the other two, they were wearing their costumes - and Irma's satin costume, a concession to her allergies, was ill-suited to the cold and often needed a matching coat to supplement it on missions. Shivering, she said "It's five to midnight. What are you guys doing up here?"

"Yeah, the party's going and you're going to miss the gong!" Garth added.

"We were just thinking about..." Cos paused, "...wait, what gong?"

"Zoë made it, with a bit of help from Jan. It's HUGE, and we're going to set it off at midnight!"

"What were you thinking about?" Notably, Irma looked straight at Lorna as she said this.

"Stuff... remember what Tina said on the Fourth, and we all agreed to?"

Irma's face dropped a bit. "Tina's not here, and there's no fireworks. Come on, don't wallow. This is the first year we've had friends to actually be around at the turn of the year, and I want to be with as many as possible. Look ahead to the New Year, not at the bad bits of the one just gone."

Lorna served Irma her 'It's not as easy as all that' stare in reply

Irma returned with a 'If you want it to be hard, it'll be hard' raised eyebrow

Lorna volleyed back a 'It's not what I want, it's what is' sigh.

Irma let her have a 'Suuuure' pout,

Lorna just lobbed a 'Some telepath' roll of her eyes back at her.

Before Irma could smash in another reply, however, the boys were left on the sidelines, not understanding the nature of the argument. As a result, Garth butted in with "Could you stop teeping and start talking?" at them, followed by "Are you two coming down or not?" at Trinity & Cos.

The two looked at each other a moment, and a tiny shake of the head from Trinity was confirmation from Cos of what he already expected. Turning to face the other two, he simply said, "No, we'll stick here."

"Suit yourselves," muttered Garth, while Irma asked "You're sure" for final confirmation.

Lorna inhaled deeply, and let a "Yeah" go as she exhaled.

"Okaay..." Irma headed for the stairs - and the warm party room below - with Garth.

By the time they reached the party, however, Lorna was back at the edge, looking out for a moment, then letting her head fall to look at the canyon below.

Cos looked at her, unsure. "Do you want me to go back down too?"

Without looking up, she began to say, "No, I-" before thinking better of explaining and repeating the "No."

He walked over to join her, and put his arm over her shoulder. She reciprocated, and they pulled each other tight, staring down into the abyss.

The sound of a gong filtered up from below.

The Batman: Part 1

Vienna, Austria

“So can I meet him?” said Tina to Dirk, who was distracted, looking out the window.

“Hm?”

“Bruce Wayne! Could we meet him? You may not realize this, but I don’t know all celebrities and rich people around the world…”

Shady sighed. “Be glad you don’t know rich people.” She was still annoyed at her father’s arrival. Even more, all four of them were extremely annoyed at the fact that Maziah and Mon took off somewhere with Blok and Dawnstar, leaving them all behind. “I just want to know why he’s talking to my father,” she followed up.

“I don’t know,” said Dirk. He looked up at them gravely. “I told him everything.”

They looked back at him surprised. Finally Tina spoke. “Told him…everything?”

“Yes,” said Dirk, but then put his hands up to stop any questions. “I know he’s not my dad, but well…he’s always kind of been like an…old brother to me. I trust him. And you know what? He didn’t call me crazy or start asking a million questions. He just kind of…accepted it.”

“That is crazy,” said Tatiana. “I hope he’s not trying to explain it all to my father,” she said suddenly worried.

“No,” said Dirk. “I don’t think he is. I think he’s going to help us.”

“Why?” asked Tenz.

“Because…because Bruce is different. He’s really different. I’m not sure what it is, but he just knows about things. He just seems to get stuff sometimes. Or at least he makes me think he does. He’s here in Austria for another reason too, but he didn’t tell me what it was.”

“So?” said Tenz.

“So,” said Dirk smiling, “I want to find out what it is. You in? We did get left behind for some reason. Don’t you feel like doing something?”

“Hell yes,” said Tatiana in her posh accent which made them smile.

“I can’t,” said Tina, thinking of her mother and her worries about her mother’s loyalty. “I’ve…got to be somewhere…”

“Everything alright, Tina?” asked Shady, suddenly worried about her friend.

“Yes,” said Tina, “nothing I can’t handle. You three have fun doing…what are you planning to do?”

“Follow Bruce Wayne,” smiled Dirk, “and find out why he doesn’t think I’m crazy for telling him the truth about Blok, Maziah and the upcoming war.”

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

Later that night, Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth left Castle Wazzo quietly but not altogether secretively, and Dirk noticed it odd that Gigi remained in her room and did not go to him. The part of Dirk that thought about girls one hundred percent of the time quickly had him consider ditching this idea and going to Gigi’s room, as he did Veilmist in Khundia. He quickly forgot the idea.

He, Tenz and Tatiana moved into the main hallway, considering following him.

“Tatiana,” they heard a voice suddenly. They turned to see Michael Mallor walking over to them, and instantly Dirk and Tenz wanted to get out of there. “A word please,” he added.

Tatiana went over to her father and spoke to him privately, as Dirk and Tenz pretended not to watch, though they wondered what he had to say after talking to Bruce Wayne for a time. They appeared to be in a deep discussion, until at last, they saw Shady embrace her father in a hug, and a tear go down his cheek. He kissed her lightly on the forehead, and soon it looked like they were saying goodbye.

At last, they parted ways. Shady returned to Dirk and Tenz.

“What was that all about?”

“He’s leaving,” said Tatiana in disbelief. “And he’s not making me go with him. He’s letting me stay. I…I can’t believe it.” What she didn’t say out loud was that she couldn’t believe the tenderness he had just shown her—and in front of her two friends too. Usually he seemed so indifferent to her in public. Usually he only cared she did what was proper, and then didn’t seem to care much about what she did at all.

“He’s letting you stay?” said Tenz, very relieved. Both he and Dirk had become very close with Tatiana these last few months. “But why?”

“I…I don’t know,” she said at last. “But I’ll tell you what. Now I want to find Bruce Wayne. Because whatever he said my father was enough for him to let me be.”

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

Dawnstar flew down into the courtyard, noticing the people on the streets of Vienna looking up at her as she did. She barely knew Tina Wazzo, the Legionnaire known as Spirit, but she couldn’t help but feel Tina would find it amusing that people were taking further notice of strange teenagers arriving at her mother’s castle—yet again. Behind them, she noticed Mon-El and this other newcomer (in addition to herself), ‘Joe’ talking to one another, as Maziah slept in Mon-El’s arms.

They had talked to the whole way back, and from what Maziah had told her, Mon was usually a very quiet person. Odd, she thought, how some people seem to find friends when they least expect it and are able to open up.

Below, waiting for them was Blok, who had reappeared. “How is she?” he asked, and he truly did sound concerned.

“She’s okay,” said Dawnstar, “but you took a big risk having her do that,” she added, showing her concern for her friend. “Did you know it would lead us to the dragon? Because I honestly didn’t think we were going to make it.” Dawny was angry, she realized, angry because of how unprepared they had been.

“I knew she would make it, and I knew it was time for her to stand revealed to Mordru.” Apparently, this was all Dawny was getting. Mon and Joe flew down next, Mon carrying Mazziah, who was waking as they landed. “I will take her,” said Blok, and although Dawnstar was hesitant to let Blok take her, Mon-El had a firm trust in Blok, so gladly handed her over.

Mon seemed to notice. “You’ll learn to trust him,” said Mon to her.

Jo smiled. “Trust’s a hard thing to earn,” he added, speaking plainly to Mon-El, who he clearly felt comfortable with after their long conversation.

“Yet without it, your solidarity leaves you vulnerable too.” Mon smiled at him. “I know that better than anyone,” he added, thinking of Dev-Em.

As Blok carried Maziah away, Dawny looked to see Tina coming outside to join them. She was in a beautiful white dress with a black sequence and a high black belt. Dawny admired her fashion sense if not her ability to annoy her mother by dressing as if all these guests meant it was a party. “You left us!” she said, feigning annoyance. Then seeing Maziah, she suddenly looked concerned. “Maziah? Is she--?”

“She alright, Tina,” said Mon, “just tired. Where are Tatiana and the boys?”

“Annoyed with you all,” Tina smiled slyly, “for ditching us like that to no doubt have some grand adventure.” She turned to Dawny. “We expect that from Blok, Mon and Maziah, but you need to be on our side,” she added, an extension of the private joke they all shared about how mysterious Mon, Blok and Maziah could all still be after all this time. It was also an effort to make Dawnstar feel like one of the group.

Dawnstar, ever the loner, did not read it that way. “I go where I’m needed,” she replied nice enough, but not in the way Tina would have wished.

Tina turned to Joe at last, who looked at her plainly, hiding what he was thinking. One of Joe’s mantra’s rang in his head: “Never let them know what you’re thinking.” He made that mistake with Tina before. To Joe, Tina looked absolutely beautiful. Stunning enough, to make him stand there idly with his jaw dropped. But Joe would not let on even a hint of this—instead, standing there, leaning against a tree, a rebel without a cause, even if this raven-haired regal beauty had his heart racing.

She didn’t recognize him at first. They’d met before, at the Legion’s Headquarters during the combined Hallowe’en Party between the Legion (when Tina was still a member) and the Work Force (when Joe was still a member). Joe had a different face then, and a different outlook. He’d lost his way, and acted like a fool in front of her, and when she thought he had insulted Violet, her friend, she threw it back in his face. After rethinking much of his life lately, he realized he had been a jerk on many occasions, but had completely forgotten about that little exchange. Now he had yet one more regret to add to the list. After the briefest silence, he spoke: “Hello, Spirit,” he said, addressing her by her Legion codename. “I’m Joe,” he added.

“Hello,” she said hesitantly, wondering why he called her Spirit. There was no getting around that basically anyone ages 9-25 knew who she was throughout the entire world, let alone just about anyone any age, since she was one of the original five Legionnaires. “Do we know each other…?”

“Joe helped us out back there,” said Mon, either missing this exchange completely or choosing to simply not care about it. “He basically saved me from a long swim in the Mediterranean. I told him he could come back with us, as he really has no other place to go.”

“I hope that’s alright,” Joe said to Tina.

“I—“ Tina began, then realizing that Jacquie usually had the final say on these matters, but wasn’t with them any longer. “Of course,” she said at last. There was something about him. Not that she recognized him somehow (which she did), but something else. He had a confidence about him that Mon had, but something different. She thought he seemed to be nice enough, but he was…dangerous. Not life-threatening dangerous, but dangerous nonetheless. His rebel posture, whether intentional or not, gave that off immediately.

“Thanks,” he smiled, still amused she didn’t recognize him.

She smiled back shyly, before realizing she never acted shy.

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

Flare, Matter-Eater Lad and Umbra moved through the streets of Vienna, hoping to catch up to Bruce Wayne, now that Tatiana’s father had delayed them more than a few minutes. They were having zero luck.

“He must have been picked up by a towncar or limo,” said Dirk, feeling beaten.

The three of them began to slow down. Suddenly Tenz yelled out: “Look!” and pointed down the street where a man was walking into a park. It was Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler.

“Should I use my shadows…?” asked Shady as all three moved down the street after him.

“You’re right,” said Dirk, as they stopped near the entrance of the park. “We need to be a little more sneaky as we do this.” The three began to walk into the park, sticking to the shadows, Umbra using her powers to increase the shadows let on by the various trees and bushes within the park. Up ahead, they saw Alfred Pennyworth wandering through the park slowly.

“It looks like he’s looking for someone,” said Tenz. “Like he’s meeting someone here. He doesn’t realize we’re following him.”

“Why are you following him? they heard a strong voice suddenly say. The voice sounded like that of a man, but it was booming and loud. They looked up immediately, and suddenly felt a metal wire wrapping around them, hitting them in the stomach so they lost their wind and were forced back to back with one another, the three of them caught in this metal rope. It began to pull them upwards, and they could see they were going up the side of a medium sized building.

Dirk looked up and couldn’t believe his eyes. Up ahead was a man in the shadows, looming over them. Only it wasn’t really a man. It was…some kind of bat?

The Batman: Part 2

Tenz gulped loudly, as Shady struggled to get free, to no avail. Dirk looked stunned for a minute, before realizing the three of them should be able to get free with their powers. Still, they were hanging at least five stories up—they’d just fall back to the ground.

Above them, the Bat had an arm outstretched, seeming to hold the weight of all three of them up with his metal wire. “Why are you following him, I repeat,” it said in a voice that was like a growl.

“Th-that’s…that’s Alfred Pennyworth,” said Dirk, “I know him!”

“You normally follow people you know?”

“We’re looking for Bruce Wayne,” said Tatiana suddenly, deciding to simply tell the truth. “We need to talk to him.”

The Bat quickly moved backwards out of their view, so they could only see the edge of the rooftop. Suddenly they felt the metal wire pulling them upwards even further, until at last they came on the top of the roof.

Before them stood not a Bat after all, but a man, as their first instincts led them to believe. More like a man-bat, or bat-man? It was a man in a cape and cowl, dressed in all black except for where his chin came out. He looked like the devil himself on top of this building and all three felt very nervous. “Why?” he asked them. None of the three answered. “WHY?!” he yelled.

“Because…because…” said Dirk, struggling with his words, then at last: “…Bruce…?”

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

“I’m going to dine with my mother and the other Ambassadors,” said Tina to Mon, Joe and Dawnstar, “and you’re all welcome to join me.”

Mon looked at her oddly. “That doesn’t sound like something you’d want to do,” he said.

“No,” said Tina, “but Jacquie would have. We need to know what’s going on here.”

Mon nodded. “You’re right. I think Jacquie was on to something too. But I’d be no help to you,” he added. “I can hardly stand all their posturing when I’m around them. I’ll have to pass.”

“Me too,” said Dawnstar, not preferring any new company of adults and important dignitaries.

She looked at Joe, unsure if she should even ask him. He smiled slightly. “I’ll go,” he said. “I have only the faintest idea what any of this is about,” he continued, “but I could use the hot meal.”

“Uh, thanks,” said Tina, rolling her eyes slightly when she didn’t think he was looking.

He, of course, had already been told by Mon a great deal of what this was all about.

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

The Batman released the metal wire holding the three of them and they began breathing easier again. Suddenly Umbra stepped forward aggressively, angry. “What do you think—“

Before she could finish, he was on top of her, spinning her around, so her back was to his chest. “Be careful on this rooftop Tatiana Mallor,” he said sharply, “one false move and someone could get hurt.” He let go.

They were all quiet. “Only Alfred is privy to my identity,” he said to Dirk, for reasons I’m sure you can understand.”

Suddenly it hit Dirk all at once. “Wait a minute!” he said. “Those rumors about a ‘Batman’ in Gotham City? Those are you? They’re more than just rumors?”

The Batman smiled. “No doubt you’ve been wondering why I didn’t think you were fit for a strait jacket when you told me your story. Now you know. I’m more apt to accept things in your world after some of the things I’ve seen.”

“Holy shit,” said Dirk at last. Shady and Tenz just looked on.

“Can you be trusted?” he asked the three. Unknown to them, he already knew they could be, or otherwise would never have allowed this meeting to take place. He intended for this—but wanted it to be on his terms.

“Yes,” said Tenz in response.

“I need you to promise not to tell anyone else,” added Batman. “Not even your other friends. If you promise me this, we can talk.”

They were quiet for a moment. At last Dirk said, “sure.”

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

“Tina,” said Maya, the Ambassador from Sri Lanka,” how nice to see you again. Tina greeted her in kind, as Maya was perhaps the only nice one of the entire bunch.

“This is my friend Joe,” she continued. “He’s an American.” She had provided Joe with black dress pants, a red dress shirt and a tie, but Joe opted not to wear the tie, and wore his top button open. He seemed at ease among all these people.

Tina couldn’t help but smile at that. Obviously, he wasn’t used to this type of fancy society dinner, but he really did seem comfortable among the various people. There was something charming about that.

“Ambassador Relnic,” said Tina, bowing to him, and he kissed her hand.

“My dear,” said Relnic, distracted and obviously thinking of more important matters. He hardly took any notice of Joe at all.

“You brought a friend,” said Winema Wazzo in a voice slightly louder than normal, “how cute,” she added.

Joe took her hand and kissed it. “The pleasure’s all mine,” he said, but he did not smile at all, and his words had a definite sarcastic twinge. Joe read the situation immediately between Winema and Tina, and couldn’t help but find it amusing. He also knew Winema was destined to hate him. So why not give her some of her own medicine? The Countess immediately had a scowl, but then quickly made sure to not let on her annoyance for more than the briefest of moments. Tina caught it too, and couldn’t help but find it highly amusing.

“This is going to be torture,” she whispered to Joe.

“I’ll find someway to deal with it,” he replied, noting how nice Tina smelled when she leaned into whisper to him.

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

“The Legion of Super-Heroes is a new concept and one that is changing everything,” said the Batman. “Its also dangerous, and especially dangerous if being used by the wrong people. The current President, Lex Luthor, is one of those wrong people. Do not think for one moment that control of the Legion is not a major topic of debate in all factions of the government and beyond.”

“Okay…” said Shady, not sure where this was going.

“I’ve already learned as much as I need to on this Legion. Now I wanted to turn my attention towards your group.”

“But, how could you know about our group?” said Dirk, unsure of how anyone other than Countess Wazzo really knew about them.

“I have connections, and you’re not as secret as you think,” he said. “Marla Latham. The Dark Circle. Countess Wazzo. Relnic. There are many others, and some with looser tongues. I know because I’ve made it a point to know. That means others do too.”

“Great…” said Tenz.

“I’ve come to Austria because I’ve been chasing a man called the Spook. He sees himself as a new style criminal in this age in response to the Legion. What he really is, is a rogue CIA agent with enormous information on various deep secrets, like Cadmus, Checkmate and yes, the Legion. Some of that information on the Legion concerns you all—or mainly, your friend Maziah. I’ve been tracking him from Gotham, as I learned he planned to sell some information to another person or agency here in Vienna.”

“Here?” asked Dirk. “But that couldn’t be—“

“Coincidence? Of course not,” said Batman. “Whoever is buying this information is buying it to use it for purposes involving your group. I’ve disposed of the Spook., and am returning him to the United States. But his meeting was supposed to be tonight, so Alfred is going in his place.”

“But shouldn’t you be watching Alfred,” said Tatiana suddenly. “He’s out there alone-“

“I’m watching.”

“You really like to cut people off when they’re talking,” said Tenz.

The Batman looked at him coldly. “In Gotham I’m a myth. No one believes there really is a Batman other than a select few cops and perhaps even more criminals. I risked quite a lot to meet you in person, and even more—make plain who I am. That is because the danger being presented here is immense. The war set out before you—the war inevitably coming, is going to be major, and will effect the entire world. You need to be prepared for it and that includes being aware of your enemies.”

“We know,” said Tenz.

“Do you?” asked Batman. “A rogue agent is in Vienna learning everything he can about you for some reason. And at this point in time, he’s not showing up for his meeting. Which means he knows the Spook is taken care of. There’s more,” he continued cutting them off again. “Where do you think there are other agents of your enemy?”

“Well,” said Tatiana, “we think…” she continued, almost embarrassed to say it, “… maybe one of the ambassadors in the United Nations.”

“Then you think right,” said Batman, “because I think so too. You’ll need to figure that out and do it immediately. I’m sure there is an agent of your enemy at the Legion’s headquarters as well. And I’m sure Luthor has his own agents everywhere. These are things you need to figure out as soon as possible.”

“Will you help us?” asked Dirk. “Bruce?”

Batman did not smile. “No,” he said. “I have to go back to Gotham City. Believe me or not, but Gotham has its own problems that cross over to yours. Most of the world does. You are the ones on the front lines, and you’ve placed yourselves there. I’m helping you now, because you need it.”

“What did you say to my father?” said Tatiana at last.

“I told him you were needed by Wayne Industries. That we were offering a scholarship to travel across the world as part of this program. I told him we needed you. In that regard, I did not lie to him.”

“Bruce, my father,” said Dirk.

“You can’t call me Bruce, Dirk,” said Batman, “and I’m sorry about your father. I truly am. But I cannot lie for him, not to you. I only wish you the best, and you can always come to me when you need me most. Know that when things really explode into war, I’ll be doing what I can where I’m needed most.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, as Batman listened in on some transmitter in his cowl. “I’ll be there in a second Alfred,” he said into it. “Look to the snakes in our midst,” he said to them. They all nodded quietly.

Down on the street they heard honking and a loud noise and turned to see what it was. When they turned back, the Batman was gone.

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

Not far off, Agent Ontirr of Interpol watched as Dirk Morgna, Tatiana Mallor and Ten Zil Kem had run up the street after someone, though he couldn’t see who.

How in the world did they know about his meeting with the Spook? It didn’t matter. The meeting was cancelled as far as he was concerned.

“Thank you for that,” said Tina, as she and Joe walked away from dinner. “I know it could not have been that fun for you.” They had dined with Countess Winema Wazzo, Ambassador Anton Relnic, Maya Dahanayake the UN Ambassador from Sri Lanka and Gil’ Deshi, another ambassador. Winema and Gil’ Deshi were strictly anti-Legion, while Maya was not, Tina recalled, while Deshi and Maya both were pro-war in regards to Khundia, when her mother was not. So they were all spilt on various topics.

“That wasn’t so bad,” said Joe with a smile. “You needed some back-up, and I figured what the hell. Mon-El was nice enough to invite me over and since this is well, your home, I figured I’d owed you one.” He was rolling the cuffs of his shirt up now, to get comfortable.

“Mother hates you, of course,” said Tina, “but don’t feel too bad. I’m quite sure she hates all of the friends I’ve brought home recently,” she finished with a smile.

“She’s a doll,” said Joe semi-sarcastically and they both laughed.

Suddenly, it clicked. Tina stopped laughing as she at last realized who Joe was. She stopped, held out an arm and put her hand on Joe’s chest as if to push him away softly. “You’re…you’re that boy from the Work Force,” she said, as realization came to her face. “We’ve met before,” she continued, and she recalled their meeting at the Hallowe’en Dance a few months earlier, when Joe pushed Violet to the side to dance with Tina and Tina became annoyed enough to push him away herself. She remembered thinking he was a huge jerk because of it.

The color drained out of Joe’s face for a moment, but he soon regained his composure. “You remember that, eh?” he said obviously embarrassed by it, and meaning to keep walking.

Tina wasn’t having it. She looked annoyed, recalling Violet’s hurt, which made her miss her friend even more. “You’re Ultraboy,”

“That’s what they called me.”

“Weren’t you shot in the face or something?” she said annoyed at him.

“Or something. Is this going to be a problem, Princess?” he added, now annoyed himself.

“Well maybe,” she said. “Are you going to be a jerk to anymore of my friends while you’re staying with us? Or do you think because you and Mon-El got along so well that you can give the rest of us attitude too?” Tina was growing red in the face, and realized maybe she was being unfair, but thinking of Violet like that made her suddenly miss her friends a lot.

Joe, however, hid his anger well. “I’m you want me to go, I’ll just go,” he said. “I had no idea I was heading to your fancy castle here. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have come. As it is, you haven’t even given me the slightest idea why we were having dinner with, oh, the United Nations, so if you want me to be fair with you, perhaps you should be fair with me?”

“I’m not sure what that has to do with anything—“

“Well, I’m not sure what that dance has to do with anything either,” he said, “and if you want the truth, I wish I’d never even been to that dance or heard of the Work Force or Legion in the first place. Glad to know I can’t escape it. But don’t think you can sit on your high horse and preach to me when you bring me to some sort of information gathering espionage dinner and don’t tell me what information we’re gathering.”

“Well, since we just met you, you can’t expect us to trust you right away, can you?”

“No, I guess not,” said Joe, turning. “Looks like this little friendship we were on the verge of just ain’t gonna happen,” he added, starting to walk away.

“I guess not,” she said, suddenly feeling a little guilty.

“Oh, one more thing,” said Joe. “I know you think your mother is the traitor to Mordru,” he added and her face went wide at how he knew that information. “But guess what? I’m almost positive she’s not.”

“How could you--?”

“So you can either feel justified in your teenage anger at her, or you can feel relief. Either way, I don’t care.”

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

That night they all slept well, Dirk, Tenz and Shady joining them much later than the rest. Most were spread out in Tina’s quarters, some on her couches, some on the floor and Maziah on her bed. If her mother had known they were sleeping this way, she’d have burst into a rage. Blok did not sleep with them, but remained in his own places outside, standing guard. Maziah slept on the bed, as she had since the afternoon.

The other three at last snuck in, and Tatiana crawled in beside Mon, putting her arms around him. He smiled and she knew he was awake, waiting for them.

Dirk and Tenz lay down, noticing Dawnstar’s outstretched wings on the floor and making sure not to hit them. Tenz nodded towards Joe, who was also awake, wondering who it was. Dirk shook his head and they both lay down. Joe was also wide awake, watching to see who it was.

“Cut it out Shady,” said Tenz, causing Dirk to start laughing, as they heard Tatiana kissing Mon.

Soon they all fell asleep.

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

The next morning, Dirk rushed downstairs to have breakfast with the still present Gigi Cusimano, and explain why Bruce Wayne was no longer with them, and Tenz and Dawnstar joined him. Maziah continued to sleep, and Tatiana looked down at her.

“I worry about her,” she said at last.

“I know,” said Mon. “We all do. But she once more proved her strength against the Dragon. Come on now, let’s break our fast.”

Shady smiled at this old way of saying ‘let’s eat breakfast’. She began to walk out the door. Mon turned to once more, and then added, “I’ll be right down.” He walked back in to the room, to see Joe in one of the adjoining rooms still in Tina’s quarters, packing his things, which were not numerous.

“Are you leaving us?” he asked, after using his vision to see into the room.

Joe smiled, as both he and Mon had discussed their similar abilities the day before, with the one big difference that Joe could only use one at a time. “’Think so,” replied Joe. “Thanks for the invite back here,” he added, “but I think I’m going to move on.”

Mon nodded his head. Mon wasn’t big on heart to hearts. “Good luck, then. You won’t need to chase that dragon down now,” he added.

Joe laughed. “I’m not really sure why I was doing that…guess I just wanted to tie up a loose end. Now that I saw it for what it was, I think I’m satisfied. Good luck, Mon.”

“You too, Joe.” Mon left the room, to rejoin Shady and the others downstairs.

Joe finished packing his stuff up, when Tina suddenly phased into the room with powers. She must have overheard them, Joe thought. “Come to say goodbye,” he said, semi-sarcastically, but in a tone that said he had no desire for them to continue their argument.

“You don’t have to leave,” she replied. “That was not my intention.”

“I know it wasn’t,” said Joe in a forgiving voice. “But sometimes you just need a fresh start, and I’m not sure I have one here.”

She walked over to him now, not using her phasing power as she came closer, Joe stopped packing his stuff. He could feel her right there, as if his senses were on end. “I…I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Why not?” he said, with an eyebrow raised.

She half-smiled at him, seeming to catch what he was implying. Choosing to ignore it, she added “because I need your help. You say my mother isn’t the mole in the UN. How do you know? Obviously, its important to me.” Before Joe could add anything, she continued “and then I need you to help me found out which one of them it is, and if its one of the Ambassadors here.”

They were quiet for a moment. Joe considered it, and realized half of him was screaming at him to leave and the other half was screaming at him to stay. These were teenagers just like him, most with nowhere to go, and there was no denying he was becoming quick friends with Mon-El, who apparently didn’t have many friends quick or even slow. And then there was her. She was now inches away from his face, and though he was at least six inches taller than her, she looked him right in the eyes. She still smelled really good.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll help you. I’ll stick around for a bit.” He threw down his bag of belongings.

Tina smiled widely. “I’m glad,” she said, feeling relieved of her guilty conscious.

“But no more shirts or ties,” he said with a smile. “I’m a jeans and t-shirt guy.”

“Deal,” she said. “Let me introduce you to everyone over breakfast.”

“Fair enough,” he smiled again, and they began walking to the door.

“I don’t get this rebel without a cause thing,” she said at last. “What are you rebelling against?”

“What have you got?

Ella flopped onto the chair in her room, let out a loud sigh and ran her hands backward through her short red hair before clasping them behind her head, pulling her head to look upward. A few moments later, she sighed again, got up and walked over to the window; before leaning against it, staring down at the ground below. She then turned and fired a blast at the target set up to let her do so safely. Then she punched the window and flopped down on the chair again, staring at the ceiling.

Seven weeks since she'd been offered a Legion place (albeit including the holidays). No sign of that translating into reality any time soon. She'd seen Dr Ryker's provisional report, discussed it with her, and it hadn't included anything to say she wasn't suitable, Workforce thing or no.

She bet no-one in authority had even glanced at it.

Paul was in the same boat, she knew, so it wasn't a personal slight, but she was practically climbing the walls by now. Training to no end got really old, really fast - and it was the weekend, so she didn't even have that to let off steam.

She let out a sigh/scream that almost sounded like a growl and violently grabbed her jacket off the hook; deciding that getting some polluted, stinky air was better than sitting around like a caged animal.

Laurel yawned loudly, untangled herself from the sheets and lowered her feet to the floor. She couldn't wait for her new bed to arrive - "lying down" floating was one thing, but sleeping in mid-air didn't let you wake up feeling fully refreshed. After checking Toni was still asleep, as expected, she glanced at the clock and headed for the shower. She didn't want to end up flying to work.
________

While she'd had to run faster than she'd wanted to make the bus, she reached her destination on time and by essentially human means. Fussing with her braid again, she knocked on the door of her employer's private office, and entered when she heard a response.

Even in the slight dullness of the room, Lydia Grath's paleness stood out - but Laurel reflected that that was bound to happen to someone who couldn't go out in the sun, and shrugged it to the back of her mind. "Ms Grath?"

"I told you at the interview - call me Lydia, please. Did you have any trouble with public transport?" She raised an eyebrow, as if to check whether she had actually used it, and directed her to a seat.

"No, I made the bus on time," Laurel replied, before adding as an afterthought, "I didn't fly." She had fully explained about her time as "Andromeda" in the interview, and how she was aiming for a far less... public... job. "So... what do you want me to do?"

"Well, as I explained at the interview, the title of your job is Personal Assistant - but what I really need a personal batwoman."

Deadpan, Laurel asked "Batwoman?"

Lydia smiled. "I mean that you're employed by me - personally, rather than through my company or any of my charities - to undertake any reasonable request I might make. And, yes, much of it will be boring, tedious or both.

Given that leaving my house in the daytime is a major undertaking for me, and that I am frequently busy with various matters at the same time, at least some of that will involve you attending events where I have a lesser interest - doing things such as making notes, or even recording situations on my behalf. I've provisionally made arrangements for you to train with cameras and audio equipment next week to that end.

At the other end of the scale, however; if I decide that what I want most of all is to have my bedroom rearranged, then considering that you could easily lift a forklifts, I think moving my bed from one end of the room to the other would also be reasonable. Agreed?"

Laurel's eyes had briefly bulged at the camera course, but settled down at the latter part. "Fine. We talked at the interview how my main priority is avoiding the sort of stunts I had to pull with the Workforce. I can handle moving furniture around. I was just confused for a moment about the 'Batwoman' thing." She forced a smile.

"Excellent. First, I need you to..."
________

A long day later, Laurel pushed her key into the lock of her apartment and turned, sighing loudly as she walked into the hall.

In response, Toni's voice echoed from the front room. "Hi. How went your first day?"

Walking in, she saw Toni lying in one of her energy hammocks in a cropped T-shirt and shorts, watching some tripe on TV. She positioned herself where she couldn't see the screen before she lay back onto the air and answered.

"It went, I didn't make any major mistakes, I got everything done, I feel like I didn't wake up properly all day."

"That boring?"

"It wasn't that bad. I still haven't been sleeping right without a bed."

"You COULD have picked it up yourself, if you know what I mean..."

"Yes, because I want to see everyone in the building - if not the whole street - watching me fly down carrying a bed."

"Point. I'm sure you could have worked something out though-" she let out a huge yawn and continued "-if you'd really tried. Blending's overrated."

"Well, you WOULD say that."

"I know, I know - I mostly get booked because of the skin, not despite it...," Toni said, stretching out arms that - like the rest of her skin - were chalk-white, contrasting harshly with her black hair, "-hey, did I tell you I got booked for two days time?"

"Where?"

"Your very own employer, funnily enough - or one of her charities, anyway. If it goes well, I might get a whole ad campaign out of it."

"Good for you. Isn't two days kind of quick though?"

"Well, three - I forgot to mention it yesterday. But it happens, and you take the work when you get it." She yawned again. "So, did you call today?"

"Toni..."

"If you're ever planning on doing it, you have to face it sometime."

"Toni..."

"And you were talking about it the day you moved in. That was three weeks ago."

"Toni..."

"And I've not really seen any movement..."

"Toni, it's easier to say than do."

"Pick up phone, dial number. You have the number. Doesn't seem hard."

"Yeah, but what do I say? 'Hi, I'm your long-lost half-sister?' She'll either crack up laughing or run away screaming."

Toni snorted. "Or neither. And never-try, never-gain."

Academy L
Opening Day, part 1

"Olympic archery champion Charlotte King-Jones today announced she was moving to the controversial 'nation state' of Providence. King-Jones, who recently secured a high-profile 'divorce' from her mother, claimed that she could 'no longer bear to live in a country ruled by a man like Lex Luthor.' Providence, led by-"

"Sofia, did you see where the timetable for today went? I keep forgetting to look at it."

"It is over there, beside the window, I think."

"Thanks." As Sul walked over to grab it, she continued, "You know, I'm fairly sure there's at least one Spanish-language news channel on that thing. I wouldn't mind - I'm not listening to it."

"No, I need to keep practising my English. It is not your or Noriko's own language, yet you are far more fluent than I."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. We learned it as kids. You were practically 16 before you had to learn a word of it, and you've picked it up a lot quicker than I did."

"Perhaps. I still need to improve."

Sul picked up the timetable, ran her eyes over it and groaned when she saw fifteen names on the sheet. "I take it you've seen this, by the way?"

"Yes. Having all those world leaders come to speak to us is exciting, do you not think?"

"You won't be saying that if you need the toilet halfway through. According to Tik, they'll have more guns trained on us than there are at a gun convention."

"Did he say that?"

"Not in those exact words, but they're panicking in case someone flies up and incinerates President Luthor, Secretary-General Chu, or anyone else people out there have heard of, since they can't exactly search us for weapons. So we're going to be stuck in our seats for at least four hours straight, as if it wasn't going to be boring enough to start with. And since most of them are policitans, they'll talk beyond the time they're given, and we'll be meant to clap every time they pause."

"You are too cynical." As she spoke, Sofia stood up, turned the television off and stetched.

"Wait and see. I've heard some of them speak before - you should hear what Leviathan, the Legion leader, sounds like in person. At least if it was Cosmic Boy doing the Legion's speech, that one might be listenable."

"Regardless, do we not have to hurry up? We are supposed to be in the auditorium in fifteen minutes."

Sul glanced at her wrist. "Yeah. Give me a minute and we'll head down to meet Nori."

She headed for the bathroom.
______________

They found Nori in the canteen, picking over a bowl of soggy cornflakes.

Sofia broke into her obvious reverie, "Are you not looking forward to the speeches either?" she said, a slightly incredulous tone in her voice.

Nori glanced up at her as if she'd gone mad, "Why would I be? Four hours of sitting still in a rubber suit - when I'll be charged fit to burst by the end and won't be able to get rid of it - isn't exactly my idea of fun."

Sul added glumly, "I'd bet that it'll be more like five hours before we can move, with speech overruns and all those camera crews. They won't have allowed enough time.

Didn't you try and get exempted because of your power problems?"

"Ha! Tik took it to Moonstar, and she tried. I think she even took it to the head - but apparently I'm the only Japanese student here, and someone made a special request that I be in the crowd."

"I am sure it will not be as bad as either of you expect." Sofia added firmly. "And we should go now, before we are late."
______________

Extract from the diary of Ming Sul:

By the time we got to the hall, there weren't many seats left. We managed to get three in a row, but all of them had problems - the left-hand one, furthest from the aisle, had the holographic wing of a girl called Akasha through it, and it thus went through Sofia when she sat down there. She was kinda apologetic about it, but apparently couldn't turn it off.

Probably worse though was the girl in front of me and Nori, with a pointy orange head that kept spitting out crackly orange bubbles non-stop like a demented bowl of Rice Krispies. And when we asked - politely - if she could turn it down, we were told to sod off (not her exact words), and she then spent the next ten minutes complaining about us to the green girl in the next seat, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed by her friend. I didn't bother asking for either of their names.

It didn't take long for Nori to start looking uncomfortable, as she'd expected. With the help of Igor's collar, she's got used to the electrical field being within a certain level - but with all the TV lights, cameras, broadcasting units and so on, in addition to all the usual stuff, she was beginning to struggle to focus even with the screened suit. I don't think the way the suit makes her sweat was helping any.

What resolved that for the duration - and helped shut up the orange witch in front of us as an added bonus - was a sudden appearance of Tik, in a portal right over TOB's head. Her look when, as she started to object, he just leaned down and told her to shut up was priceless! Anyway, he was trailing a length of cable that had been grounded outside, which Nori could discharge into, and he left the portal open a crack when he went to keep it available for her.

Not long after that, the speeches started. It was as tedious as I expected, with lots of bigwigs talking at the cameras rather than us. Near the end, Leviathan got up to speak, which was just cruel. To him AND us. (Note: Ask Tom or Igor why it HAD to be him next time I talk to them - I'm sure Cos could have made it a bit less... wrist-slitting...). Then a few words from the headmaster that were actually, in an original concept, directed at us - telling us to be back in an hour, since the schedule had overrun so badly that we should technically have been back before we left - before the VIPs filed out. Once they were gone we got finally got sent off so the newscrews could pack up.

Sofia spent the last half-hour with her legs crossed, desperate for the toilet. I warned her...

Academy L
Opening Day, part 2

Just over an hour later, the students filed back into the auditorium, where the TV crews and equipment had gone with the VIPs.

As Dani stepped up to the podium, she felt a brief - easily-suppressed - stab of nerves at the size of the crowd. She was too much of a pragmatist to get really nervous at that sort of thing.

She took a moment to glance around the crowd, looking for Sofia - most of the students (her students, she reminded herself) hadn't even noticed that she'd stood up yet and were busily engaged in talking to the person or people beside them - and found her beside Sul, talking animatedly.

She smiled briefly, then hurried through the other checks - the laptop had the right presentation loaded and had been connected up, Shikari and Tikhik were present in the right seats, the lighting panel appeared to be working, but testing it would be too much of a distraction - as with the roll-up whiteboard and, by extension, the projector. She gathered up her backup cards, flicked a switch, and coughed pointedly into the microphone.

The crowd noise died away.

"Hi, I'm Danielle Moonstar, and I'm the head of the Metahuman Training department here at Legion Academy. These are the other two members of my department - Tikhik Miraz, and Shikari Lonestar." There were some murmurs in the crowd as a result of this announcement, but they stopped as she continued, "Obviously, you're all here because you have at least one power, ability or talent which is beyond human, and this department is here to help you master that ability safely."

She continued, outlining not only the need for safety and the dangers of overconfidence, but also the penalties of misuse. In particular, she pointed out that the US had just passed a law specifically banning the use of telepathy or any other means to alter the mind of a subject, or to force them to act against their will - and that other countries were passing similar laws, or were planning to do so - with anyone convicted of doing so without authorisation facing years in prison; as an example of how people were afraid of what they could do.

"The world is changing. 'Super-powers' are out in the open now, and people are scared. We have to show them there's no reason for them to be. If we don't, the consequences could be terrible, for all of us." She glanced at the clock. "Okay, time for a quick break. Be back here in fifteen minutes."
______________

In the room behind the stage, Dani pulled one of the wooden chairs out from the table, turned it around, and leaned heavily on the back. She felt exhausted, and had one question for her colleagues. "Did I go too far?"

"No." Tik answered first. "It had to be said. Some of them will not believe you, but they would not have believed you even if you had been less severe."

Shikari concurred, "I agree. This world is not used to post-humans, and it will take time for the path to become clear. It would take very little for it to go wrong."

"Thanks, I think." Dani looked at the cards for the second half of the speech. Grading, passes, analysis. She got up to make herself a strong cup of coffee.
______________

"...and the first thing to point out, is that Legion membership is not, and will not, be compulsory - and nor is it a right. They want to expand, and if you want to join, you have every chance - but you must obtain an 'A' from this department, which I'll get into in a moment, and not have any major blemishes on your record.

Otherwise, to be eligible for graduation, you must get at least a 'C' from this department, which means you've been rated as safe to be around other people, basically. I don't want anyone here to be held here for another year of training.

In all other ways, graduation will be much like any other graduation from high school. You'll get the qualifications you've earned, and the teachers from the other departments will no doubt explain their own courses to you when you see them. Here..." she went on to explain how they would be placed in small groups with like-powers for training, and where the training rooms were.

"For 'standard' and 'advanced' power levels, an 'A' grade means you've achieved the limit of your current power levels. A 'B' means you've done very well, but we feel there are areas that need work. A 'C' means you've passed, and we feel that we won't hear about you on the news because you accidentally lost control and injured or killed people. Anything less than that is a fail, and you'll be held back here until you can achieve at least a 'C'. Technological help, if it exists and you can prove that it is reliable, can be used to help you raise your grade to a 'C', but to get an 'A' or a 'B', you need to be able to demonstrate your power without external aid. For 'basic' power levels, different criteria apply, and I'll speak to those students separately."

While she didn't think that humiliating the students in public would be helpful, she'd argued about admitting students with 'basic' power levels - students whose powers neither impinged on their quality of life, nor were powerful enough to cause danger to the people around them - on the basis that they'd take up places that might be needed for those who did need the training. She'd been overruled mostly for PR reasons; since the powers that be had decreed that it would be helpful to show that not everyone with a "power" was capable of causing massive damage.

They had the germ of a point, she'd admitted in the end, but she doubted it would make any serious difference. She glanced round at Shikari - who took the signal, picked up a folder & bag, and flew down toward the crowd.

"Finally, starting tomorrow, we'll be giving you all individual Entry Assessments in Training Room 1. This will last around twenty minutes, and we'll talk with everyone about what you feel your capabilities are, and ask most of you for a demonstration - there will probably be a few cases where we will need additional equipment or more preparation to have a safe demonstration. This is so we know what level everyone is starting from and thus what sort of training will apply." She glanced at the clock. Nearly done.

"To help, I'd like everyone to fill out the questionnaire that Ms. Lonestar is distributing right now, and leave it on the table at the exit when you leave." The student record was mostly complete, but with one rather shocking omission - powers. Not a single student had their powers filled in, because whoever had filled out the database had used a standard template which, of course, didn't have a field for metahuman abilities. She'd added such a field, but had only managed to fill ten out of slightly more than a hundred records from her and Tikhik's knowledge of a few students. The questionnaire - which simply asked for the students' names, a few more identifying details, their own description of their powers and how they would rate themselves on the scale Dani had described - was an attempt to get that crucial information quickly and simply without having to go into the assessments blind.

She took in air sharply, then let it out more slowly. "That's all. Any questions?" She knew this could go either way - no kid liked asking the first question in front of all their peers, but once the ice was broken questions could keep coming and coming. She waited sixty seconds, and when no hands went up, she tried to keep her sigh of relief as inconspicuous as possible. "Right. The assessments timetable will be posted on the intranet later tonight and - since we know not all of the computers have been installed yet - we'll also post a hard copy on the noticeboard in the canteen. Once you've filled out the questionnaire, you can go. Remember to leave it with Ms. Lonestar at the door"
______________

This time, she went straight for the coffee machine. Then she went to the sink and splashed some cold water in her face, before picking up the just-filled cup and leaning against the counter, blinking heavily to try and make her eyes focus.

"Long day, huh?" Recognising the voice, she looked up with a start at the figure of John Jones, who she hadn't heard enter the room. She had to be even more tired than she thought. "Must have been your first speech to a crowd."

She nodded with a low chuckle. "I've run marathons that left me less tired than this. Literally."

"Different sort of energy. Bet you weren't nervous beforehand."

She shrugged and took a sip of coffee, "Not really, no."

"Then you're the sort it hits hardest the first few times - go in wound too tight, and just the effort of keeping a lid on it all tires you out too quick. Like any other sort of training though, you learn how to balance it all out, build up your stamina."

"I'll keep that in mind." She took another sip of coffee and smiled. "Today, I'll settle for not boring the kids to death."

"Bit of boredom's good for the soul, really. Have to tell myself that after this afternoon, any rate. Holding court for a bunch of 'Vips' isn't much fun."

"I take it none of them are going to shut us down?"

"Not today, any rate." He grinned. "Anyhow, you should get some rest."

"I can't just yet - remember the missing data I mentioned? We handed out some questionnaires at the end there so we'd know what we were dealing with. Shikari and Tik should be on their way to the department to enter that right now. I'll probably need to help with that, then we need to schedule the assessments that start tomorrow."

"Okay. Just don't push yourself too hard. It's only Day One." He looked her in the eye, and she seemed to feel her tiredness lift.

"I'll be fine - I think the caffeine is starting to kick in, anyway. I should get moving." She downed the rest of the coffee, and dropped the polystyrene cup in the bin.

Spark's Day
A Lords & Masters prelude

I'm floating in the air, in the middle of a room. I try and grab for something, anything to pull myself down... but every time I touch anything it turns to gossamer and floats away. Nothing's got any weight, and the frustration gets to me and I scream and I...

...wake up. Ye olde nightmare again, I realise as I look at the clock. 04:20. My head lands heavily on the pillow as I shake it, trying to clear the dream. Every part of me is screaming to shut my eyes - but if I do, I realise I'll go straight back to That Dream again.

Sighing, I turn the light on and head to the bathroom for a drink of water.

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

07:30 - Wake-up call

The alarm goes off punctually at half-seven, as usual, and I stretch over to punch it into silence. Nothing wants to work - I never got back to sleep, my head hurts and everything feels like it's made of lead.

I have a silent argument with myself for eight minutes, telling myself that nothing was going to happen (Washington could be levelled and they'd still leave me behind as it stood) and that no-one would notice if I spent the day in bed (only half-true).

At the nine-minute mark, the snooze on the alarm expires and I just let it run. I tell myself I won't turn it off until I'm at least sitting up, as I try to move limbs that don't want to obey.

Ninety seconds later, though, I finally make it to my feet, and stretch to see if it'll help. It doesn't. I hope the shower will.

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

13:20 - Lunch

I might be last to the cafeteria, after Leviathan decides to bawl me out for ten minutes for "not trying" (bowdlerized) in the training session, without so much as a trace of irony - everyone except me and Paul are working on teamwork, and we're shunted to the side because we're not part of the team (yet), doing stuff I could do in my sleep. What's to try?

After I get the plate of stodgy macaroni, I flop down on the nearest seat, at an empty table. The place is half-empty - most of the team have eaten & ran, and everyone else is bound up in conversation anyway. Garth tries to catch my eye for a minute when he sees me eating alone, but I'm not much in the mood for chatting - and anyway, it's a pity-offer. He'd rather I didn't interrupt him and Irma.

I'm not alone the whole lunch, though - Quentin, being Quentin, rushes in at the last possible moment, just as the room is emptying. He crashes down at my table, across from me, and asks if I'm still going to be there at the Pier (his private workshop) at three-thirty. I've got bad news: "I probably won't make it before five. Leviathan was a complete Gene, and followed up sticking me in the corner at training with giving me phone PD after therapy for 'insubordination'.

"What did you call him...?"

"Nothing, really." I try to sound sincere... "He was just in one of his better moods."

"I'm sure." I think I see the ghost of a smile, just a little curl at the edge of his mouth, just before he throws the last of his food down. It's gone by the time he swallows. "I'll see you at half-past five then."

"I said five."

"I'm allowing for the fact you're always late."

I've already started to object by the point I realise he's winding me up. Great...

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

14:15 - Therapy

"...I mean, it's getting to the point that I'm wondering - when is it that I actually count as 'well'?" I realise my voice has raised itself and dial it back a notch. "It's getting me down - correction, it's got me down. I'm having nightmares where everything I try to hold onto floats away..." I continue into a description of my day that turns into a bit of a tirade, while Dr Ryker just sits and listens the whole time, taking the occasional note, until I finish off by complaining about the idiots who think a cape is a superpower who want to be Legionnaires and form most of the Legion's telephone traffic, which I'll have to deal with after I leave, and my lungs finally, implosively get to take a breath.

She just sits there thoughtfully for a minute, as if considering how to react. "You called yourself and Paul 'pariahs' there when you were talking about the training session. Did you mean it?"

I purse my mouth and sigh deeply. That word was a slip. "Kind of, I suppose..." I pause, trying to find the words, "Everyone's polite enough, but they've all been together for months and bunched up into little cliques, and they ain't looking for new members. Plus, they all seem to want to see me as 'the She-Garth' and I'm not. I'm really not. And it's like they don't want to deal with the complication."

"And Paul?"

"He..." something hit me. "--wait, you're his therapist too. Wouldn't me talking about him be some sort of conflict of interest for you?"

"Only if you want it to be. Nothing you say about him gets back to him, the same way nothing else you say is disclosed without you seeing it first. And I'm spoken to him enough that whatever you say isn't likely to change my report on him."

I still hesitate. Paul was something else I hadn't meant to bring up. Over the weeks, I'd got used to talking to Dr Ryker, but I'd deliberately avoided talking about Paul, because I didn't want to mess anything up for him, even if we're not as close as we once were - but now that I'd slipped and left the door open, surely avoiding the subject would be as bad or worse... After all, she might decide I was hiding something big, which I'm not.

"He... you know how I said I didn't want to be seen as a 'She-Garth'? It's like he's happy here just to be seen as a 'mini-Cos'."

"And that makes you feel... angry?"

"Yeah. He just hangs around with Cos as much as he can, and plays at being Cos when he's can't. And yet, he fits in better than me because of it."

"So, not being seen as a 'She-Garth' is really important to you?"

"It's not--" I feel myself getting annoyed again, and stop for a moment. "You make it sound like it's an act. Like I really AM some sort of 'She-Garth', nothing more to see here. I'm not, plain and simple. We're twins, not clones."

"And yet, you've said before about how close you and Garth once were, and how you wanted to be 'a twin again'."

I opened my mouth to speak, but a bubble of emotion inside me had been popped by that, and I only got an "I..." out before my voice choked off. I closed my eyes for a minute, trying to sort it all out.

"It's not as if I've ever been just a female him. We're not even identical twins - when we were kids, we were like two different Tetris bits that fitted together, not the same bit twice. After the Workforce, and the brainwashing, and the deprogramming and all of that... I was groping for some sort of sense of 'me' and I grabbed for that. But we're not the kids we were. He's got a girlfriend, is a core part of the Legion, while I'm..."

"You're...?" The doctor had a concerned look on her face - I wondered if she expected some grand revelation I didn't have. I'd stopped because I'd had absolutely no idea how to put it, and still nothing specific came to me.

"...different. Just different, that's all. And I should never have pretended otherwise with that stupid matching costume." That one hurt to admit, since it was one of my stupider ideas - in my search for 'twinness', I'd copied the layout of Garth's costume for all of five minutes. Being honest, even though I used slightly different colours, it probably had a lot to do with the 'She-Garth' thing. Fortunately, it was three o'clock and she had another appointment, so couldn't follow up just then. Saved by the bell.

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

16:25 - Walking

First off, the telephone session was every bit as enraging as I'd expected. If I'd had to deal with those brain-donors in person, I would have fried at least one of them. I'm amazed I never zapped the phone itself. Fortunately, the walk out to 'the Pier', Q's private workshop - basically just a warehouse on the riverfront, but I never argued the name - gave me a chance to work some of it off non-lethally. (Say what you will about New Yorkers - at least they don't tell people to "cheer up, it's a wonderful day" like back home. Always hated that.)

As I approach the Pier, anyway, I notice a loud buzzing noise, and look up to see an unmistakably humanoid shape taking flight through one of the back windows, a pair of insect-wings strobing almost faster than my eyes could follow providing the sound effects. I know I've seen her before, but not where - I resolve to ask Q about her when I see him.

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

16:35 - The Pier

After typing the entry code and heading in, I quickly discover he's not on the main level. Surprising, considering that's where he's always been before when I walk in. Since one of the windows near the roof was open, unusually; I have a moment where I wonder if the flier grabbed him and I missed it, before dismissing the idea - I got a better look than *that*. Obviously, me being here twenty-five minutes earlier than I said never occurred him. With, I admit, a smirk on my face at Mr Brainiac being thrown by something so simple, I head towards the spiral basement stairs and shout "Q, you down here?" as I descend.

There's a quiet crash as I come round the final stair and get a first look at his basement workshop. Now, there's a running joke amongst certain Legionnairesses (who shall remain nameless), that all Q does in his spare time is blow stuff up in some private lab. And while I know him better than that by now, I still wasn't quite ready for seeing him in a pair of shorts, having fallen off a bench press machine while attempting to pretend he hadn't been using it.

I pull my eyes away from his clear embarrassment, and take a look around. Every part of the walls, surfaces and floors not taken up by equipment is filled with papers and other objects. Just how much stuff can he be interested in? How long does he need to spend learning this stuff?

"Fifteen hours."

I turn back to face him. He'd pulled on a robe, and had obviously taken the minute or two I'd given him to pull himself together, although his cheeks still have a trace of the darker green he blushes.

"That's the most it takes me for any given subject to degree level - given a decent set of texts, of course. I haven't had to recreate any fields from scratch, yet."

"Show off."

"Basic learning's the easy pa--"

"No, I mean the 'guessing what I was thinking' routine."

"Oh," he flicks his hand in an 'idle' gesture, "that's not hard. Mostly. People tend to be pretty transparent. I was right then?"

"Close enough. You seemed pretty surprised when I got here, though."

"Hey, it's the first time you've ever been early. You won't catch me so off-guard next time." He gave a little smirk that said that was a challenge.

"We'll see. Who was it that was flying out when I was walking up? They left a window open."

"Oh, just one of the Academy instructors asking for a hand with something. Could you give me five minutes to get sorted, then I'll come up and get started?"

"Sure..." I headed up.
________

16:45 - Mechatopia

I'm staring at it when I finally hear him make it back upstairs (One to complain about being late, he is!). "Looks like you've done some more work on it," I yell in his direction as he grabs his "input device" and laptop and carts them across the room.

"Not much, just some final checks before Lonestar turned up. Since there wasn't anything more to do before you got here, I just headed downstairs for a while."

"So it's ready for me to have a go?" I grin widely.

"Yes and no. Powering and controlling it are two different things, and I'd like to know you can keep the supply steady enough for the regulators to hold before we start debugging the onboard control systems."

'It' was an eight-feet tall battlesuit, scaffolding joined by universal joints and moved by hydraulic rams, made mostly from scrap. Weeks before, not long after I'd started my 'provisional membership', Q had had the idea for it, explaining that he'd wanted to try it for years - but inventing a power source to fit it would breach his 'parole conditions', as he'd put it, that put strict limits on what he was allowed to invent. If I was the power source, then it'd be useless to anyone but me & Garth - so he could work on everything else without too much fear. I'd leapt at the chance.

Now, with it standing before me, basically finished and ready to climb in, I'm excited and more than a bit nervous. Rather than asking if it's safe, though, I just jump up and in. After the day I've had, I hardly mind if the whole thing explodes as long as it takes my mind off what's been going on.

________

17:25 - Mecha Mania

Of course, it's not quite "get in and go". Besides getting strapped in, there were a lot of wires to get stuck to me - both for power, and for the control systems that wouldn't be used at first. Frustrating, but the hope I'd drive the thing before the day was done kept me going in a way that hadn't worked earlier.

Finally now, we're ready for the first test run, Q using his all-purpose "input device" - a pair of theramins, which I've long got over sniggering at, especially after he showed me how quick he could "type" with them - to do the control. I hear him ask if I'm ready. I nod, and start to feed the thing power. Lights come on, but for now, I'm meant to focus on one particular light - a large white one right in front of me - and keep it at a constant brightness.

Then, of course, the whole thing just collapses around me. I'm plummeting down, face heading toward the floor, and I'm too busy screaming to figure out whether to cut the power or not.

Then everything stops moving. It takes a moment for my brain to wake up and realise I haven't hit anything.

And Quentin's laughing.

"You absolute--" I verbally let loose for a minute before it even hits me what I'm saying. Once I stop, my position shifts, pulling me forward and up a bit - I'm still lying down, but now I'm facing forward through a clear gap, and Q's kneeling right in front of me, still with a smile on his face.

"Like the party piece?"

"What the hell just happened? You're lucky I didn't fry this stupid thing!"

"Watch." He stands up and moves out of sight. It's not as if I can do much BUT watch - either I see what he'd planned, or cut the power and wait for him to help me out.

Then it rolls forward, and I clock the wheels at each corner in front of me for the first time. "You built a ^&^&ing TRANSFORMER?"

"Yup." It stopped moving, and started shifting about, getting back into the mode where I'd first seen it.

"Whew." My relief alone could have powered a small village for a month. "Don't EVER, EVER pull a stunt like that without warning me ever again!"

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it," he said, a mock-innocent look on his face. It *had* been a rush, I admit to myself, but not to him. "Besides, there was a point - if you didn't blow all the electrics in the middle of that, chances are you're going to keep it together wherever you use it."

"So now I can drive?"

"So now we can test your control systems, anyway."

I breathe for a minute, put visions of crushing him out of my head, then nod. Still going to be fun.

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

22:00 - Bedtime

The test went well, thank grife. The thing is fiddly to operate, but another few goes and I'll be practically ready for the ballet.

Now, I'm tired, sore, but there's still a bit of satisfaction at the progress we made on the battlesuit.

As long as I don't think about Gene, I can almost call it a good day.

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

07:30 - Wake-up call

The alarm goes off punctually at half-seven, as usual, and I stretch over to punch it into silence. For once, I slept through the night, and it only takes a couple of minutes to wrestle my body into moving. It's not until I've been for a shower, though, that I've woken up enough to see that someone's been in my room during the night. Things have been moved around, almost deliberately, and nothing seems like it's in the right place. And to top that off, there's a note pinned to my wardrobe door:



Oh ####.

Academy L: Emerging
A Lords & Masters prelude

"Nori, come in." In a break from the norm, it was Tikhik Miraz who appeared at the door to invite Noriko Ashida into the training room for her emergent assessment.

"You running the test, Tik?" she asked her bug-like friend and teacher.

"No, Moonstar does that. She just thought it'd help if I 'got you settled' first."

"Tch." Air rushed through Nori's clenched teeth. As usual, she didn't bother to hide her annoyance if something wasn't right, and the couple of times she'd met Danielle Moonstar had left her with the impression of someone who put on a good 'face' for the students without showing what she was really thinking - a cardinal sin in Nori's book. She fiddled with the baggy robe that was meant to help control her power, but which just seemed to make her sweat - only the collar Gear had given her helped, and that had a limited lifespan. "I take it I have to wear this?"

"I don't know - she might want you to test both with and without the robe. Do you want me to run down the tests, or would you rather she did?"

"If she's doing the test, might as well let her do it."

"Okay. Good luck..." Tik smiled as best as his beak was able, and went through the other door, which creaked as it opened and shut.

While waiting for Dani, Nori took a look at the room she was to be assessed in. It was a large hall, fairly bare except for a desk and blackboard at one end, and a larger table, holding an old-fashioned pair of meters attached to a couple of metal handles, off to the side. The door creaked again, and Nori turned to see Moonstar entering with a smile.

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

Dox was doing some fiddling with the mechasuit - with Spark delayed, it was worthwhile to give it a final checkover and improve what he could - when he heard a loud buzzing above, which got louder until it suddenly stopped. When this was followed by the sound of a window opening at ceiling level, he began to get nervous and looked around for anything he could use if the flying intruder proved hostile. There was nothing bar a few spanners which could make serviceable clubs, and he cursed his carelessness - wielding a club, when you had only human strength, against a superhuman intruder was like expecting a feather to be a useful weapon. He picked the largest one up anyway for want of a better option, but continued with the fiddling since a confrontation wasn't likely to go well. He heard them drop to the floor.

"Smart Legion... Dox?"

The thoughts ran instantly through Quentin's head: Female voice. Sounded inquisitive rather than threatening - a good sign, especially since they weren't trying to sneak up. Unfamiliar, but the buzzing flight combined with a female voice... there were only... three insect-winged fliers in the records, and one of those was male. And addressing a Legionnaire as "* Legion" before correcting herself narrowed it down to one. And since that one worked for the Legion Academy, that practically confirmed the 'no threat'. He put down the spanner, stood up and walked out, careful to wipe his hand on a rag for show as if her turning up was the most natural thing in the world.

"Ms. Lonestar, isn't it? What can I do for you?"

"I need to ask you about interdimensional travel."

Dox's eyebrows almost hit his hairline.

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

For Nori, the test part of the assessment was simple and boring - Dani explained that they'd already got most of the data they needed on her from the tests the Legion had already done. So she just had to run around in a circle for a bit to let Moonstar gauge her super-speed, and show how precisely she could hit marks both physically at speed and electrically with the meters. None of which was especially hard.

Then came the interview part of the assessment...

"I understand you had no control over your powers until you got that collar, is that right?"

"Right, I'm stupid." Nori wanted to pull the words back as soon as they made their way out, but instead she just sat back and folded her arms.

"It doesn't make you stupid. You had a bad emergence, didn't get the help you needed, and that stuck you in a vicious circle where you couldn't even communicate properly. Blaming yourself for what happened is like blaming someone with epilepsy for having fits."

"Yeah, like you'd know." Stupid stupid stupid. She's going to make your life hell for this... Nori screamed at herself internally, while staying still externally.

Dani stopped for a moment and sat back. Clearly Nori wasn't going to co-operate like this, and she had to take a different angle if she wanted Nori to open up. Sometimes opening up herself had helped with difficult pupils, and Tikhik had warned her that Nori prized openness - perhaps because of her closed upbringing and what it lead her to. "I know that I could easily have ended up like you, but for a piece of luck. My emergence went badly - and I was only the... I think third... one we have record of happening in the world, so almost no-one had ever seen anything like it, ever. The luck was that a friend of my grandfather was visiting, somehow realised what was going on, and managed to pull me out of the fantasy world I'd zapped myself into. If he hadn't been there, I'd probably have ended up locked away from the real world."

Nori's set face cracked a bit, betraying some curiosity, but she found herself saying "But you got this help just in time, and then you were okay."

"Oh no, it gets better. I moved here so he could help me more - I'm being literal, this was his house - and just as I was beginning to get a hang of things, my powers changed completely on me. For no apparent reason. It took me three years to get a power set to stick AND learn how to control it, and they still wax and wane somewhat. The guy was a saint to put up with it all. It's what set me on the path to doing this for a living - I was a private tutor for a few years until this place came along."

"So what happened to him?"

"He died, about eight months ago. He left this building to be used to help kids like you and me, but no-one bit until the Workforce fiasco finally got the attention of the right people."

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

While Dox hadn't had any expectations as such on what Shikari would say, somehow the idea that someone would just fly in and ask him about interdimensional travel had never occurred to him.

Quickly, he ran through what little he knew about her. Physically, she was an insect/human hybrid, but biased toward the human in form - with short green hair on her head, grey human features and shape (including breasts) and yellow eyes that showed no sign of facets. The insect side supplied colours, and her retractable dragonfly-esque wings and exoskeleton. Odd hybrid, but less so than some of McCauley's subjects. She also had a superhuman tracking ability. He knew nothing of her background or prior history, though, which meant she could... hmm... "You're from another dimension?"

"Yes." Quickly, she laid out her history to him - coming from an alien people called the Kwai, she'd met a future version of himself and others, and ended up joining their Legion of Super-Heroes before being lost in the timestream, ultimately coming to this world and their Legion Academy - along with her powers.

"Fascinating." Dox murmured when she was done. "And your tracking power works or doesn't work in that situation?"

"I can pathfind even in the timestream, yes, but I cannot move in the direction I aim at. And here, I have no way to leave this dimension at all."

"Here's my guess - when you 'pathfind' for a moment you 'see' all the possibilities available to you from your situation, and collapse it down to the best one. Ergo, you turn left and find the bomb, not right and get delayed so it goes off, and so on. Quantum mechanics, skewed in your favour."

"That's similar to what the other Smart Le- sorry, an old habit - Brainiacs have said. So, then why cannot I just find a way home, or at least from this dimension?"

"It's that word - possibilities. You can only use the knowledge and tools you have available or can obtain with what you have available, rather than an infinite nest. Anyone could happen down the right corridor and find the bomb, you just get all the benefits of that sort of trial and error without having to actually having to go through the trial and error. Given a gun, you could have pinpoint accuracy, even at ridiculous odds... as long as the bullet is capable of reaching the target under the conditions which exist and you can't alter. Or, for another example - you can know the train you're due to catch won't reach the station in time, but if there isn't an earlier train you can't create one."

"So--" she started to speak, but he wasn't finished and cut her off.

"So in other words, an exit ultimately needs to exist for you to find it. And making a time machine, or one of the interdimensional "Threshold" doorways you were telling me about - that's not only beyond what you personally know, it's beyond the collective knowledge of everyone on this planet. There'll be parts you need which not only haven't been invented yet, the processes to make the machines to make the parts to make the machine to make the parts you need won't have been invented yet."

Shikari's head went down. It was what she'd guessed, but hearing him say it made it all the more real. "So you are saying I may be trapped here? For the rest of my life?"

"Not necessarily. You say you were drawn to the Academy. Someone there, or who will go there, could well have the power to send you either home, or to somewhere or somewhen that will have the means to get you closer to home. Perhaps you became a teacher because you'll be instrumental in them developing their power to the point they could do it."

"A point."

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

"So, what, we're all sweetness and light, and no-one ever does anything wrong as long as they've been trained?"

"Obviously not. Some people are born bad, some achieve badness, and some need a shock to the system to knock the badness out of them."

"Like?"

Dani nearly rolled her eyes at this point - on the one hand, Nori was getting very nosy. On the other, she needed to get her trust if she was going to get anywhere with her... "Remember the speech I gave at the opening? About telepaths?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, someone wasn't listening or didn't care, because when I had a room full of telepaths in here earlier on, one of them tried to make me strip."

"Seriously? What happened?"

"Oh, I let him get a couple of buttons on my blouse just so I could show he tried - the CCTV cameras all around the school aren't just visible light, there's also secondary cameras that pick up the wavelengths telepathy works in for just that sort of event - before I stunned him, but I can deal with that sort of thing. What makes me worried is if he tried it on someone who COULDN'T, who didn't have the right sort of powerset or training to override it. Right now he's down in the cell cooling his heels while I decide whether to press charges."

"There's a prison?"

"Obviously. Power dampers are big, bulky and expensive - so we've only got the one, and the room it's installed in has been turned into a makeshift cell - which is another reason for you to master your powers enough that you don't need one to live..."

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

Her question answered as best he could, Shikari thanked Dox for his time, and flew back through the window, on a loose bearing for the Academy - she wanted to fly for a while, rather than take the most direct route. It seemed appropriate. She sighed.

Two years, eight months, thirty days, five hours, eighteen minutes and twenty-two seconds.

That wasn't quite the way Shikari naturally broke down time, but she knew the exact time in her own units since she'd been cast adrift into the Void, the space between universes. Soon, she'd fallen randomly out of that Void into an unfamiliar universe, and when she'd managed to find a way out of that within days, getting home had seemed easy for someone who could always identify the path to success.

As this universe's counterpart of Brainiac 5 had observed though, that assumed there WAS a path to success. Getting back into the Void had been easy. Not being swept away on the intertemporal currents therein hadn't - even as she'd wanted to go one way, she'd been pushed another, into another random universe. An occurrence which had repeated all-to-often-since. This universe was the thirty-ninth she'd landed in - by various means, and with varying attempts to beat the currents and steer a course, all to no avail - but the first primitive enough to actively stymie her attempts to at least move on to somewhen better-equipped.

Over time, some clear patterns had emerged in her direction of travel - firstly, and without fail, whether she landed in the twenty-first or ninety-ninth centuries or anywhere in-between, there was ALWAYS a Legion of Super-Heroes of some sort, some recognisable, some bearing no resemblance to the one she knew. Secondly, her temporal arc of travel was getting wider - the previous earliest stop she'd made was in a twenty-third century. And thirdly, she would never find any record of a counterpart to herself; even in a universe like this, where seemingly all the Legionnaires she'd known in her own timeline were native to one planet. This last point had begun to disturb her - she'd met or heard tell of thirty-three Cosmic Boys (whether they called themselves that or not), thirty-one Brainiac 5s... even six Gears and four Infectious Lasses; but not one other Shikari. Was she so alone in the omniverse?

Her sense of hopelessness and loneliness had combined, after a month of fruitless searching for a way to move on, to take her to the point that she even missed the quietness of the township she'd once been so desperate to leave. She'd stopped scrabbling, and become a nursery assistant in a quiet corner of Europe, tired of fighting and losing, tired of meeting false versions of her true friends. Then, suddenly, a path had lit, a way onward, giving her hope. It had taken her to the new Legion Academy of this world, only for her to find there... nothing. And so she'd visited this world's Brainiac 5 on one last errand of desperation, hoping for some new insight she'd missed. To little avail.

Shikari hoped her senses weren't failing her now as everything else had. A lost pathfinder was tragic. One blind to the path before her was unforgivable.

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

With the power dampers answer, Dani had managed to turn Nori's interview back to the latter's history, and it had progressed without further incident. Now it was time to sum up.

"So, right now you're a C with the assistive-collar, and a fail without - but that's no news to you, I expect."

"Obviously not."

"I'll give some more thought to a specific program for you then, and in the meantime..." Dani's cellphone went off. "Sorry, text, give me a second." She sighed on reading it. "In the meantime, I want you to keep your charge level low insofar as you can, okay?"

"Fine." Nori was still surly, but less so, Dani thought.

"I'll see you for classes on Monday then," Dani eased her pupil towards the door. "Bye."

Once the door was closed, she took another look at her phone screen. "Check requested on young schoolchild in outer NYC area. Details sent to your email." Nori had been her last student of the day, and at quarter to five it was too late to visit a school. It would need to be done early the following day - not to mention that she'd probably need to bring Shikari - which would screw up the assessment timetable for the day even if, as was likely, there was nothing to it... "Great", she muttered, and headed off to get coffee.

Thirteen Months Ago:

At a nondescript student party at New York's Empire State University, a redhead suddenly clutched her temple in surprise. She looked around for the source of the surprise, and aimed at a man sitting in a corner, nursing a drink. He looked surprised himself to have been picked out. They talk for a minute, and then leave the room to discuss matters further.

Unseen by her, though, as they walked away, black goo began to ooze over his hand...

Lords & Masters
Part 1: Master-Bound

It wasn't even light yet as Dani pulled the minibus out of the Academy grounds. With blacked-out windows to prevent prying eyes staring at any kids who looked "inhuman", it was meant mostly for the occasional trip out; but they had to use it for "scouting missions" within a five-hour drive so that the Academy got value for money.

She didn't much like it, but she liked less losing at least the whole morning from her & Shikari's timetables (two hour drive there, two hours back, plus the time at their destination school meant there was no chance of getting back before noon) to what was virtually certain to be a wild-goose chase. Especially not when there were a load of kids whose emergent assessments really had to get done before Monday - they were running late enough as it was.

Not for the first time, nor the last, she wished she'd stayed a private tutor. Much, much simpler life.
___________

In a school not far from New York City, a six-year old girl wakes up and stretches her arms. Her name is Gemma. She enjoys hopscotch and colouring-in. She goes to boarding school, and never sees her parents, but she doesn't let it get her down - she's a smart girl, and she knows she'll go far.

Meanwhile, all Rachel wants is for Gemma to go away - she gets on her nerves all the time, but she can't escape her. Not even for a second.

Because "Gemma" isn't real.

She's a shell personality forced over Rachel's own, and all Rachel can do is watch as her powers keep up the illusion of being a six-year old girl, when all she wants to do is be herself - go back to college and live her twenty-one year old life as she should be doing....

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

Spark, of course, was already awake, and looked at the note in her hand with shock. "M." "Sis." The handwriting. Obviously, her elder brother Mark had been the one to pay her the visit in the night. That made the odds on the missing "him" twenty-to-one that it was Garth, still moreso with the specific warning against telling Irma.

First things first - was Garth actually missing? And if he was, what did everyone else think had happened to him? And how had Mark got in, abducted Garth and left a threatening message in her room in the first place?!

She threw on her costume quickly, and headed to the canteen for breakfast. Most of the team would be there, and any info on what was perceived to have happened (if anything) wouldn't be hard to come by.

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

"Oh, thank heavens you've come! You see, I've always been sure there's something... odd... about the boy, but now..."

"It's all right Mrs. Hargreaves. Could you show us the class in question? We should be able to sort this out quickly one way or the other."

"Of course, this way please..."
_____

"Good morning class."

"Good morn-ing Miss-es Har-Greaves"

"Now, this is Miss Moonstar..." Dani entered the room, "...and Miss Lonestar..." Shikari's entrance produced minor rumbles and a few "Cool!"s from the children on seeing her grey skin and short blue-green hair. "They are looking for a few specific children for something special and they think there may be one of them in this room. They should only be a moment, so continue with your work," she finished before going to speak to the class teacher.

When most of the children had at least mostly settled down, Dani prompted, "Well 'Kari?"

"One moment," Shikari said before armouring-up, a light-effect appearing from a red spot in the middle of her forehead. "None of the boys are metahuman, but there is something very odd..."
_____

Rachel felt something odd and looked up from "Gemma's" colouring-in. For the first time in months, she had hope, as she thought she felt something one of the two women did prick the illusion she was forced to maintain. She wanted to jump up and wave her hands - her real hands - in the hope that one of them might see them.
_____

"There," Shikari whispered to Dani, "she is far older than the others in the room. An illusion makes her look of the same age, but I see the true woman beneath."

"Woman?" Dani whispered back with a raised eyebrow. "All right, lead the way..."
_____

Rachel wished she could explode with joy as Shikari took "Gemma's" hand to lead her out of the room, while Dani stopped to have a word with the teachers to explain that they were taking her, if not exactly why. Mrs. Hargreaves looked very disappointed that they were taking a "quiet, shy" girl rather than the "little monster" she'd hoped for.

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

Info wasn't hard to come by for Ella, but nor was it helpful - everyone seemed to think Garth had gone home for a visit. He'd even supposedly cleared it with Gene and Cos. And no-one was volunteering anything about a break-in, which - given the Legion propensity for gossip - meant no-one thought there had been one.

A phone call to her parents more or less confirmed that the "home" story was bunk - she hadn't mentioned Garth once, not to set them on edge, but they indubitably would have mentioned his visit or anticipated visit if there was one. She knew her parents, and they wouldn't pass up a chance to pressure her into a visit home.

Okay, she reflected, so the letter seemed real. Garth had vanished, and somehow Mark had snuck in... how? There were all sorts of security precautions against someone just... walking in. Teleporter? Intangible?

The note had promised a follow-up if she didn't say anything. She hadn't yet, so it was worth going back and checking for another one before she decided what to do next.

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

Back on the minibus, Dani and Shikari sat and looked at their subject.

"You can drop the illusion now - we know you're not really a young girl," Dani said.

While her 'Gemma' avatar looked down at her feet, Rachel tried to scream, to explain what had happened, but Dani couldn't hear or see a word of the whisper that actually made it out.

"Dani, I believe she is saying she cannot."

At that, Dani thought for a moment, before realising what the most fervent desire of someone trapped as a six-year old would probably be, kicking herself for not thinking of it straight away.

At that, Rachel's world dissolved and appeared to reform atop a lighthouse, with her sitting on a deckchair in a bikini - as herself, no 'Gemma' in sight.

Before she could celebrate, however, she looked up and saw Danielle and Shikari standing there. "It's just an illusion," Dani explained, "so could you explain what's going on, Gemma?"

"Rachel. My real name's Rachel. And makes sense that an illusion's more real than reality for me right now," murmured Rachel. "You must be in my head to do this, can't you just find out directly?"

"I'm not a full telepath. I can make illusions like this - of desires, like this, or fears - and go into them, or make telepathic weapons, but I can't read human minds. I need you to explain."

"I don't remember much about it - there are gaps in my memory, big ones, where I think I've been mindwiped on top of everything else.

What I do remember is that a year ago I met someone... or maybe even something, I can't remember anything about who did this to me... at a party at college. I could feel that it was another telepath - the first one I'd met, ever. I left the party with them... and then it's mostly a blank until three days later. I woke up, and I was meant to be 'Gemma,' a five-year old enrolled at this school, and I was projecting an image of her without trying, and couldn't stop it, or go away, and no-one could see me, only 'Gemma,' and I was trapped into playing the role and couldn't break free..." she began to cry, and Dani put her hand on her shoulder.

"You remember nothing of that person or those three days?" Shikari asked.

Rachel shook her head in response, and forced out "No." She forced herself to stop for a moment, and added "One other thing - there's a red skinsuit-thing sealed all over my real body from the neck down. I can't take it off..." her voice broke, and she started sobbing again, louder than before.

When Rachel had calmed down a bit, Dani excused herself and Shikari, and took them out of Rachel's illusion.

"We're going to need to bring the Legion in on this," Dani said as soon as she and Shikari were back in reality, looking at the sleeping 'Gemma.' "Rachel must be powerful to be able to keep this illusion up 24/7 for a year, voluntarily or not, and that means anyone powerful enough to play with her mind like this is scary. Can you call Tikhik to pick us up? I don't want to waste time with driving."

"Of course."
_____

"So you expect me to drop everything and jump off to teleport after you, correct?"

Shikari counted down from eight. This Gates could be as... testing... as her own at times. "Small Le... Tikhik..., we believed we were going to find a young child for recruitment. We found a woman forced to act as a child for a year, who needs Fair L... Tela's help. Given your known feelings of brainwashing..."

"Fine, fine..." Tikhik tried to keep the façade up, but shuddered inwardly. Even with McCauley down, there would have to be others... "How do you expect me to find you? Unlike you, I can't blink and know where you are."

"There is a..." Shikari struggled momentarily to find the word. Even after months of practice, guided by her power, her use of English was not perfect... "a tracer in this vehicle. Use the screen to find us."

"The screen? Oh, perfect..." Tikhik had a stressful relationship with computers, given his claw "hands". He swore inwardly as he tried to find their location, and use it to calculate the distance and direction he needed for the gate...
_____

Meanwhile, Dani had just finished explaining their plan, such as it was, to Rachel.

"And you think 'Tela' will be able to help?"

"Well, she managed to deprogram quite a few people - including some of my students - after they'd been brainwashed a few months ago, so she has experience."

"That's not an answer."

"I think she has the best chance outside of whoever originally did this to you, alright."

"Sorry, I'm just..."

"...tense, I know. That's understandable."

"You said you could make 'telepathic weapons' - couldn't you just...?"

"No! No - not, at any rate, unless there were no other options. They're fairly crude - I don't have the fine control for it."

Rachel noticed an odd edge to Dani's voice when she said this, conveyed even in the illusory setting, and Dani in turn caught her reaction. "My powers have waxed and waned quite a bit over the piece," she said with a wry grin on her face. "It drives me nuts sometimes."

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

Spark saw the next note as soon as she entered her room. All it gave, though, was a location and a few directions to get there - not even any more taunting. Another warehouse on the docks, quite a long way away from Q's.

She sat on the edge of her bed, thinking. If she told anyone, Mark might follow through on his threat to kill Garth - if he, or someone working with him, could get in with impunity, they could be watching her right now. Not to mention that she would play no role in any rescue attempt.

On the other hand, it was an obvious trap. If they captured Garth, they logically had a way to capture her. But if it was such a trap, why not grab her when they left the notes? Either they couldn't, or Mark wanted her there conscious and free to discuss something.

She looked up at the clock. Nearly ten am. She had to decide what to do, and quickly.

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

The receptionist tried not to jump when she saw a green hole appear in mid-air and a giant bug, a grey-skinned woman with dragonfly wings, a Native American woman and a six-year old girl stepped from it. And failed.

Even working for the Legion didn't mean you were inured to anything and everything.

"Hi, is Tela around?" Dani asked, flashing her Legion Associate card. Shikari could have found her instantly and guided Tikhik directly to her, of course, but there was something to be said for politeness. Sometimes.

The receptionist inwardly counted to ten and looked, firstly to see if the Legion were out on a mission, and, after finding they were not, asked for details before she would contact Tela via "personal communicator" (i.e. cellphone) to arrange for them to see her.

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

Meanwhile, Spark had taken advantage of the commotion created by the Academy group teleporting into the foyer to slip out quietly, civilian clothes over her costume. It was her brother's life at stake, and her other brother to deal with. She couldn't leave that to just anyone, trap or no trap...

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

Five minutes after the group's arrival, there was no sign of anyone paying attention to them. Tikhik spotted Starboy through a window to the Legion's rec room and headed off to talk to him. Meanwhile, Dani & co got more and more frustrated.

Fifteen minutes after that, Dani, Shikari and Rachel were still waiting when Tela, bored, ignorant of what was going on and wondering if Garth would call, entered the foyer on her way to the roof for some air. After a brief explanation, she eagerly agreed to help, and the four of them headed to the Legion's medical room to set things up, with Dani making a few notes of what to say once she found the receptionist's bosses...
_____

Irma concentrated slightly, establishing a superficial mental link with Rachel - more so she could talk directly to the real person behind the child than anything else - and immediately felt an inrush of combined fear, anticipation and relief wash over her.

«Hi»

«Hi...,» she could hear the nerves in Rachel's "voice", which was only to be expected

«One stupid thing before we start - could you sign this?»

«What is it?» Rachel asked as she looked it over.

«Legal stuff,» Irma grimaced.

«If I was of "sound mind", I wouldn't need this,» Rachel protested.

«It's not my choice; if I do this these days without going through this farce first, I get taken off active duty. Use that line as a loophole if you need to.»

Rachel reluctantly signed after feeling Irma's genuine disgust for the "farce." She needed what had been done to her reversed, and she couldn't do it herself.

«Okay, have you ever met another telepath before?»

«Only once...»

«Right...» Dani had repeated in full what Rachel had told her, so she didn't need details. «Have you ever gone deep into someone else's mind under your own power?»

«No, why?»

«It's just that I'm going to have to go pretty deep to see about this, and it would help if you'd known what it was like. Physicians may not be able to heal themselves, but it sometimes helps them if they need surgery to know what's going on», she smiled.

«What's it like?»

«Well, every person's mindscape is different, so it's hard to describe, and I've never tried entering another telepath's mind to start with. Have you been able to use your power this past year or so?»

«Yes and no», Rachel grimaced, «It's been on constantly to keep up the "Gemma" illusion, but I've not been able to consciously use it.»

«Okay. First I'm going to put you into a light sleep, but I need your mind fairly active though to do this, so you'll probably have some odd dreams while this is going on - images of what I'm doing, memories I trigger - some accidentally, but some I might need to look at to try and reverse the damage - or just plain weird stuff if I hit the wrong synapses.»

«Right...»

«Ready?»

«I guess...»

Irma's own eyes shut as she fully entered Rachel's mind, laying a black curtain over it as she went.

At first "glance," there was nothing particularly special about it to Irma's view. All minds were unique - different metaphors for the underlying mental processes, different priorities - although there were some commonalities to latch onto. This first chamber was represented as a mine cavern, with what looked like electric blue jelly babies taking data from Rachel's senses - telepathy included - in the form of small red blobs and tipping them down a mineshaft to processing. The time dilation deep in a mind, where a minute could last anything from a second to an hour, always threw her initially and she stopped to get her bearings.

Looking around, the only inherent difference she could see was that Rachel's mind seemed slightly busier than normal, as her subconscious processed data from other minds to maintain "Gemma". Clearly, the first task was to shut down the telepathy "line" in case it interfered with her own when she reached the next level. She set to work...

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

The place had been easy enough for Spark to find from the note. It seemed, to her at least, to show every sign of having been abandoned for a long time, with the high-up windows broken and plants growing in the gutters, although some of the other warehouses around looked busy enough. Most of their workers didn't give her a second glance though - "if some girl is dumb enough to come wandering down there, let her, we've got work to do", she guessed.

The note said to go round the back, where there'd be a basement door "lying open". She found it, in the narrow gap between the back and a large metal fence, and jumped down with no hesitation, landing lightly in the dark. As she prepared to create a flare, the lights suddenly came on, revealing a huge solid concrete structure built within the crumbling warehouse.

"Ella." The voice echoed in the huge space.

She turned, very deliberately to show no weakness, to face the source of the sound. "Mark".

His hair, once similar to Garth, had been allowed to grow to his shoulders, and there was a prominent white patch in the centre. Other than that, he looked well kempt, dressed mostly in black leather.

"How did you get into my room?"

"What, no proper greeting? Not even a 'Where's Garth'? Touché. Since you ask, a couple of friends helped me out. They're not here, though. Just Mark, Ella and..." he tugged at a thin black cord Spark hadn't noticed, "...Garth. Together again."

Spark set her jaw as the black drape fluttered to the ground, revealing Garth. He was hanging in the air, but via a body harness rather than by his neck, at least. Her relief was short-lived, though, as she saw that he was unmoving, his eyes open and glassy. "You've killed him, haven't you?" Small sparks began to fly from her clenched fists."

"Oh no, I promise he's alive for now. I just wanted him to be here when I made you the offer, and, well, he started complaining - you know what he's like. He's basically asleep."

"Wake him up then."

"If you'll hear me out."

She gritted her teeth for a moment, and forced herself to relax. "What offer?"

"Simple - join me and my friends. I know the LSH hasn't been treating you right. Lots of potato peeling, yes? Join us and show them what you're made of."

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

Subjectively, it took just over an hour before Irma found the first direct line to the cause of it all - a black wire, standing out from the flesh-like surroundings, which was thin and turned to goo as she tried to touch it. She quickly followed it through four levels, trying not to damage anything as she went, as it got thicker and other lines branched out from it, until it itself joined a larger trunk. Then she saw it.

To her mind's eye, it looked like a plasma ball in the negative, black bolts reaching out, then firming into huge trunklines, carrying signals to and from every part of Rachel's mind, forcing her to act against her will. A cancer that had to be cut out.

Irma formed "armour" around herself, and reached out with a sword of light, aiming to cut one of the trunk lines near the source and isolate the core, when a black bolt suddenly reached out and enveloped her. She wrestled with it, trying to hurt it, trying to break free; but it grew over her, enclosing her, isolating her...

As it closed in, her armour evaporated just before the blackness became total, she heard four words whisper in her head: "I am your Master."

Then all was silence.

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

"Join you?" Just one rope holding Garth up "Who's this 'us'?" Could zap it, but he'd fall and I couldn't carry him out "And what do you do?" Fifty-fifty at best in a straight fight with Mark, don't know what he's been up to, or what he's done to Garth.

"See, I'm not allowed to tell you most of that just now, not with twinny here. I got permission to make the offer, just to you, 'cause we know you don't like the Legion much. You got used to the nicer things while with the Workforce, didnya. You can have whatever you want, and no posing for the cameras to wreck it all."

Ella thought she heard something move in the background, but didn't dare take her eyes off Mark. Is he serious? He really thinks I'd run off with him like this? "And what happens to Garth?"

"Oh, he gets mailed back to the Legion, fully intact and breathing, to tell him you said bye-bye."

"And if I said no?" He really IS serious, isn't he? What the hell's happened to him - he was never quite right, but not like this.

"Dunno. Why, is that the sort of thing you're likely to say?"

Spark looked into her older brother's eyes. Her older brother's increasingly deranged eyes. I say yes, I can't trust him to return Garth safely and I drop myself in a world of crap. I say no, I have to fight my way out of here, with Garth. I gave the latter fifty-fifty, I don't give the former odds THAT good. I'm an idiot to come without backup. "Probably."

"Oh well." He turned to face Garth. Showing his back to her.

What the..., she wondered, until she felt something touch the back of her neck, putting a huge jolt of electricity through her. Enough to overload even her nervous system.

She fell forward, flat on her face. That was less worrying for her, though, than the fact that she couldn't move. She could feel the ground where she'd landed, she could see the floor underneath her, could hear footsteps and her lungs kept sucking air - but as for conscious movement, she couldn't even blink.

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

Groggily, Irma's eyes opened and she blinked at the light. Suddenly, she blinked even more as a small, bright light was shone in each eye in turn.

"Quickly, what's your name?"

"Irma Ardeen. Tela."

"Who's president?"

"Lex Luthor."

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Pink."

"She seems fine for now. I'll tell Dr. Llewellyn she's awake." The nurse walked off.

"How do you feel?" Trinity's voice came over and she saw her (one of her) and Nura standing to the right of her bed, looking worried.

"Dizzy. How long since I went in?"

"Less than five minutes, and you've been out for most of that."

"That all? It felt like..." She shook her head, and realised something. "My head feels really quiet."

"My fault." She turned her head and saw Moonstar standing at the foot of the bed with Shikari. "Dreamer came rushing in screaming about the link going wrong a few seconds before I felt the feedback, and I stunned you both with a couple of arrows before it got any worse. Your powers should come back in a few hours."

"There's something else too. My shoulder feels itchy."

Irma pulled her costume down over her right shoulder. Dani gasped as she realised what it meant, while the others looked on in shock.

A pink skinsuit was growing over the shoulder.

Yesterday:

"Back in our first session, you were talking about Mark, your older brother, calling him a 'bad apple', a 'black sheep' and nearly something stronger. What makes him that way to you - is it personal, the fact that he stole from you? That he caused problems in your family? Shame on your family?"

Ella frowned and leaned back. "All of them, I suppose. I think the thing that comes to mind the most is how... self-centred he was. He didn't care what he did, or who he hurt, as long as it helped him." She sighed, then came back in a strong voice, "The only person Mark could ever care about... is Mark."

Lords & Masters
Part 2: Lightning Lords

Now:

Spark was wheeled through the ER on a trolley, having been dumped outside in a bag by Mark and his accomplice, medical people barking things above her and asking her questions she couldn't respond to. Fully conscious, she couldn't make even the slightest movement - not the blink of an eye, nor the twitch of a finger.

She wanted to panic, but her heart rate wouldn't co-operate and speed up.

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

On seeing her shoulder, Irma began to panic, and Dreamer and Trinity rushed forward to comfort her. Dani and Shikari, meanwhile, looked at each other, then backed away to let Tela's friends calm her.

"What now?" Shikari asked, once they were out of sight.

Dani thought for a moment. "There's nothing we can do for Tela right now. The doctor should be finished with Rachel, so let's check on her."

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

Spark had lain on a trolley, left mostly alone in a side-room bar a heart monitor and the occasional check on her vital signs, for an hour. She wondered if anyone would even notice she was alive - meaning conscious - or would they just think she was a vegetable and leave her to rot. Also, how long bed sores took to form.

Eventually, raised voices came through the corridor toward her, one of which she recognised even before the door opened and she could discern the words...

"...and she should hear this anyway," Quentin's voice said loud and clear.

"How can you know she's even able to hear you at all?" A female voice, deep but fairly young. "She didn't respond even to simple things like the pupil dilation test at her observations. That means she's--"

"I know what you're going to say Dr. Reyes, and no it doesn't. Her medical records for the past five years are very spotty, yes? It's because her biology is highly classified."

"Why the HELL would they classify someone's medical records?! That makes no sense - she's a human being, she deserves the right to medical treatment!"

"Two reasons - the first of which would get me locked in a small room for a very long time for mentioning. The other is that while she's a human being, she's very arguably not human. Her nervous system is almost entirely different from a standard human nervous system to carry on functioning despite the huge electrical loads her body carries. And it's been sent into an infinite feedback loop, which is why she's paralysed like this."

"Wait, why--"

"Again, I'm not allowed to go into details, but suffice to say her biology is more different from the average human being than that average human's is from a chimpanzee. Her whole body is now built around generating and directing electricity, and the upshot is that Ella Raines is no more a 'normal' human than me. Or you."

To that, the doctor said something very low and angry-sounding that Ella couldn't catch.

"I've seen a list of every identified metahuman in the USA, and I have an excellent memory. You're on it."

"So you're intending to blackmail me then."

He sighed, loudly, "No, I have no intention of blackmailing you in ANY sense of the word. We're on the clock, I need your help, and I felt it would save a lot of tedious denials - I don't know exactly how long she's been in this state, but she has just short of 19 hours from when this started until her biology breaks down and she either turns into a bomb or quietly twitches and expires, and lesser damage may happen before that point."

"But--"

"If it helps, I swear that whatever happens, I won't breathe a word about your forcefield to any of your colleagues. And unless I've been fed complete nonsense, there won't be any danger to you..."

Ella began to tune out as the doctor replied again, and it went back and forth. Even hearing that what Dox had planned was going to burn her and hurt more didn't stop her wanting to yell "I DON'T CARE, JUST DO IT ALREADY". And then Dox tacked on to the end of one reply...

"...and Ella, I'm ready to do this whenever the doctor here is - I need her approval for this, not to mention her active help."

"And *I* need to be sure this won't kill her first. Why are you addressing her all of a sudden?"

"I told you, she can hear every word we say. And, knowing her, she hit the 'I don't care, just do it already' stage within the last minute."

B'stard, Ella thought.

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

As it turned out, Dr. Llewellyn wasn't quite finished with Rachel when Moonstar & Shikari reached the small examination room, so they had to wait several minutes before he emerged.

"Well?", Dani demanded.

"Physically, she's in perfect health as far as I can tell. I'm not equipped to examine the 'psychic' side of things."

"What about the 'skinsuit' she mentioned?"

"It doesn't seem to impede her in any way - it's even porous to sweat. One odd thing though, when I tried to cut through it--"

"You couldn't?"

"No, the scalpel went through it easily enough, for all the difference it made - it was like trying to cut water; I couldn't even prise it open enough for a proper look underneath, let alone take a sample."

"Can we see her?"

"Only if you promise not to make mental contact. After this business with Ardeen, a strict 'psychic' quarantine seems to be called for, and I'll enforce a physical quarantine if need be."

Shikari cut in - "But once her power returns from Danielle's arrow, she will not be able to--"

"Regardless, I don't need any more patients! Has Ardeen manifested any signs of this girl's illness?"

Reluctantly, they admitted it was so.

"Then the order stands, and after I see Ardeen, I may decide a physical quarantine is called for after all. For now, I'll allow you to see her for a short time."

"Fine." Dani said. "Then if you'll excuse us..." she squeezed past the doctor pointedly, and he quickly stepped out of the way as Shikari followed.

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

"Look," Dox, visibly annoyed, pulled a pair of the most ridiculous-looking glasses either Ella or the Doctor had ever seen out of his bag. With bits bolted on at random all over the place, they looked like a bad B-movie prop. He held them up to his face for a moment to glance at Ella, as if to check something, then turned around to Dr Reyes, beginning to pull them off - only to suddenly clasp them back up as he caught sight of the doctor through them. "Wow." He mused quietly, then said something that sounded like "Iceilahcoyaimtix hlissesobaqatmsuo Rcadprilsapeitd bterdsoee. Iueacmltlrdcospecoehoabl Imgtbalto-"

"Uh..." Dr. Reyes was beginning to get uncomfortable with being stared at.

Quentin shook his head and took the glasses away from his eyes. "Sorry, got distracted. Your forcefield is-- anyway, take a look at Spark through these."

Dr Reyes, visibly sceptical, put them on her face and immediately went "woah".

"Don't get distracted by your forcefield - and yes, I know it's easy - look past it onto Spark. All that white should be a dull blue when she's just lying down, and her electrocore shouldn't be anywhere near that obvious. In simple terms, she's overloading, and we need to deliver a short, sharp shock to break her out of it."

"Uh..." the doctor pulled the glasses from her face, "why didn't you just show me that to start with?"

"Technically, they don't exist," he took them from her hand and stowed them back in his bag. "It's a long story,"

"Let me guess, classified?"

"Not exactl- anyway, no more distractions. We need to move her to a bare room - preferably in a basement or sub-basement."

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

Dreamer came back in and shoved a cup of soup into Irma's hands. "You have to keep your strength up if you want to beat this."

Although Tela had calmed down somewhat - compared to when she had first seen her shoulder, at least - eating was still the last thing she wanted to do. Rather than offend her best friend though, who as a precognitive might even Have Meant Something else else by it, she sipped reluctantly at the lentil broth while Nura, frowning, sat down beside Trinity once more.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, both staring at Irma on her sickbay bed as she continued to half-heartedly take some soup, while the pink kept slowly spreading down onto her hand.

"Come on Irma--" Trinity said, plaintively "--at least finish the soup. You have to keep fighting."

In response, Tela boggled at Lorna and unconsciously put the soup down.

"You can't give into despair."

Irma kept boggling at Lorna, and found her voice "I've been inside your head, remember? You're not really one to talk about 'not despairing'."

Trinity blushed and split into three, but T-Purple kept up the attack, "So? When'd you ever give up? Did you give up after that thing with Brainy?"

"SISTER!" T-Orange's volume was just that bit too loud and everyone in the room looked at them for a moment, before resuming their business.

Dreamer was intrigued, "What thing with Dox?"

"I don't know if I want to tell..."

"You tell her or I will," T-Purple folded her arms and looked Tela square in the eye. Even without access to her powers, Irma realised she wasn't bluffing.

"There's not much to tell... honestly..."

Dreamer cocked an eyebrow. "Spill."

Tela looked at her friends. T-Purple was looking at her with a determined expression, Dreamer with a curious look, and T-Neutral had taken her orange self out of the room after she shouted at Purple, depriving her of any allies. She was cornered. "I got stuck in Quentin's head for a few hours one day, that's all."

"That's all? I didn't even know it was possible."

Irma started going red, "I got lost. He wanted me to look for any booby-traps STAR might have left behind, but his brain is... different. Before I knew what was happening, I didn't know where to turn, and eventually he had to push me out. And that really. Is. All."

"You must surely have seen something interesting in there?"

"It's big - I was in an empty bit..." Irma decided to change the subject quickly, "Where IS he anyway?" She shivered - unconsciously scratching at the skinsuited area, which had finished with her left arm and was now encroaching onto her torso, and was speeding up in the process. "Surely if there's anyone here who can do anything..."

Trinity-Purple scoffed. "I don't know. My sisters just checked a few minutes ago - he went out a couple of hours ago, saying something about an emergency. Didn't leave a message saying what or where he'd be, and his phone's switched off. Typical Brainy, putting his experiments over people."

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

With Dr. Reyes finally on-side, things moved relatively quickly in the hospital, and an old, small storeroom, with a concrete floor and metal door, was found and cleared in the basement relatively quickly, and the electrical sockets covered up at Dox's insistence.

"What now?" Ella heard Dr. Reyes' voice ask as her trolley was wheeled in.

"We need to get her onto the floor - the trolley has to go too. Give me a hand." Ella didn't care about anything except moving again any more - she'd have quite happy been laid over hot coals if it meant she could jump up from it.

"And now? How do you plan to give her this 'short, sharp shock'? Plug her into the mains?"

"Obviously not - 110 volts isn't nearly enough p.d., and the current would be too high. This should basically do the trick, though." He pulled a taser out of his bag.

"Seriously?"

"Absolutely - it isn't quite ideal, but there wasn't any time to build something, so I grabbed this. Anyway, once you ac-"

"Wait, you want ME to-"

"Of course. I said I needed your help. Why do you think I requested a junior doctor I'd never met by name? There's a good chance this could get dangerous - not to Ella, anything that gets near her won't get to touch her before its vaporised - but to anything else in the room. That's why I wanted a room that could be cleared."

"And if I'm holding that thing, won't it be INSIDE my forcefield if it explodes?"

"Chances are the wires will melt-" he cut off her objections "-before it gets to that point, but just in case, use these to press the button." He pulled a pair of long tongs, the handles wrapped crudely but completely in electrical insulating tape, from his bag and held them out to her.

"Now I know you're taking the piss." She sighed and muttered something under her breath before taking the tongs and taser. "Fine, let's do this before I see sense. What, do I just fire it at her? Using these?"

"No, the wires need to be placed fairly precisely. I'll take care of that." Ella felt him poke a wire through her costume near her right collarbone, and the other near her right hipbone. "Now good luck." He vanished from Ella's site, and the door closed seconds later.

Doctor Reyes sighed, placed the taser on the floor, and clamped the trigger with the tongs. She whispered, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen." and squeezed tight.

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

A nurse was taking notes on a sheet at the foot of the trolley Rachel was lying on as they entered, but backed off into a corner upon seeing them, without leaving the room.

"How are you?" Dani asked as Rachel listlessly rolled her head in their direction.

"Weak. And the doctor didn't tell me anything - obviously you can see the real me, but my powers don't seem to be working for OR against me right now, so that doesn't tell me much. What happened?"

They quickly explained what had happened.

"Great. So not only am I going back to school tomorrow, I'm going to have a new classmate in the person I thought could help me. Any good news?"

"No other news at all. Which is why we need you to tell us anything while you still can - the thing must be dormant as long as your powers are out, does that let you remember anything?"

Rachel almost protested, but instead just sighed and shut her eyes, trying to think back to that blasted night a year before. What had happened? She'd been at that part, when... what, she'd seen or heard something...? "Fire..."

"What about fire?"

"I got a really strong telepathic flash of a fire, or of fire, or something like that. It distracted me, and I just knew I couldn't do anything else until I knew what it was."

"And it was...?"

She screwed her eyes tighter. "I don't know - I remember the flash so clearly now, but it was just images. Fire, and plummeting towards water, and coming up for air. But it wasn't the flash itself that pulled me, it was the thought that there was someone else like me out there, someone SENDING this, and I knew I was the only one anywhere close to me receiving it. So I had to find out..."

"Then?"

Rachel was silent for nearly a full minute. "Nothing new. I found the guy who'd sent the flash. I can't remember anything about him though, and I can't remember anything at all beyond leaving the party with him. I must have been mindwiped."

Dani looked at Shikari, who spoke, "Do you remember where the party was where you felt this... flash?"

"Just the ESU Student Union. Can you find it?"

Shikari smiled, "I can find any path."

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

Even through the metal door, the flash was blinding. Dox, fearful he'd miscalculated, rushed in - but gave a sigh of relief when there were no charred corpses there. Dr. Reyes looked dazed, true, and Spark was still lying down, but they were both breathing.

He knelt down beside Spark and grabbed her hand. "Ella, can you hear me?" Dox asked loudly. ("I'm fine, thanks for asking", the doctor muttered in the background)

"...Mark..." she whispered. He breathed another sigh of relief at her movement, however slight.

"No, not Mark, Quentin, do y--"

Her voice got a bit louder "...no, not that... Mark did this... has Garth same way... threatened to kill him if I didn't come alone..."

"Tell me where, and I'll get help to save Livewire. You're going to be too weak to do anything for a while after that."

Ella's eyes flashed open with a start, and she struggled to get up. Dox backed off, but Dr. Reyes came over and held her down. "You heard him. You're going to need to stay in medical care at least overnight for observation."

Ella tried to push herself up one more time, but gave up and relaxed. Her eyes shut for a moment, then opened again. "Fine, fine," she said in a low but clear voice. "I'd better transfer to the Legion's medical bay then."

Dr. Reyes put on a 'bedside manner' smile and stood up. "Understandable. I'll go and arrange the paperwork, and get you back on a trolley in the meantime." She left the room, and moments later two orderlies came in with a trolley-bed and lifted her back up onto it. As it was wheeled out of the room, she stared very hard at Dox, who looked away. He knew exactly what she was thinking. And that there was no way in hell he would agree to it.

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

After they left Rachel's room, Dani & Shikari checked on Tela and found she'd been sedated. Going outside, things seemed to be in some disarray - besides the troubles they'd brought with them, there was talk about a couple of Legionnaires disappearing. Deciding they weren't going to get anywhere talking to anyone on the team, they headed to the rec room to find Tikhik.

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

"How the hell did you talk me into agreeing to this..." Dox muttered as his & Ella's cab pulled up outside "The Pier". He paid, and helped her out - she could walk, but was still unsteady on her feet.

"Because you know I'm right. Send cops in, and they'll be probably be dead in minutes, and Garth won't get saved. And Garth would be dead by the time the Legion gets the okay, if they even do."

"And there's almost a two-in-five chance that trying to use the barely tested suit in your condition will kill YOU. You should be in bed, resting."

"You agreed to let me, so stop trying to welch out now Q."

"I was already breaking ranks by intercepting the call that you were in hospital to start with." He punched in the eight-digit door code to the door.

"And the last thing you like to do is follow orders, so quit complaining!"

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

"Why?"

Dani shifted slightly uncomfortably in her seat at Tikhik's blunt question, so it was Shikari who replied, "Because if we don't, Rachel and Tela will never live normally. There has to be someone to work to free them."

"And there's a whole Legion here to do the job. Shouldn't we be getting back and doing OUR job, to teach the emergents NOT to be brainwashing monsters?"

Dani found her voice, "Rachel's technically an emergent, and it's in our job description to locate and, if necessary, free emergents when it comes down to it. The Legion's mandate is a lot more limited--"

"And in the meantime, what about our existing students? Weren't you complaining about all of this this morning being a distraction that'll mean the initial assessments have to run on beyond Monday?"

"I thought it'd be a waste of time--"

"And now it's fun? A Legionnaire and a technical emergent in trouble, and only you to save them?"

Dani didn't like the way this conversation was heading, and decided to cut him off, "Look, if you don't want to do this, I won't try to force you. Indeed, you can complain to Mr. Jones if you think we're so far outside our remit." Shikari stifled a giggle at this point, but, staring each other down, neither of the other two noticed. "But me & Shikari are going to at least locate the source of the problem, and with all the time you apparently spent trying to rehabilitate Nori, even taking time away from your big Mission of Vengeance, I'd think you wouldn't want something like this going on. But while, ultimately, it would speed things up to teleport around, we can manage if you won't help." She started walking away, and Shikari followed.

Tikhik gritted his beak for a minute. This was ridiculous. Of course he didn't like this sort of thing going on, but if he wanted to jump into quixotic "missions" he'd have joined the Legion. If his fellow teachers wanted to be Legionnaire-wannabes, he couldn't stop them. And it's not as if he'd try anyway - what had apparently been done was disgusting. Forcing people to live out lives they never wanted, in the appearance of forms they hated...

He looked down at himself.

He muttered a word in Russian.

He looked over his shoulder. Moonstar & Lonestar were both still walking, but still in sight.

He muttered another word in Russian.

"Fine," he yelled. "Wait a minute." He opened a gate to catch up.

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

Ella relaxed into the harness as Quentin wired her up again. Her powers were working fine - barring maybe some very fine control issues she wouldn't have admitted to - but moving around was a strain. The suit took care of that - all the control functions were based on small twitches and a basic EEG, and she'd already proven she could work that.

"Weak"? Hah - she'd show Mark, Dox, Garth and anyone else who called her 'weak'.

Quentin climbed down, pulled the ladder away and nodded reluctantly. She threw a mental switch in return, and the bulb in front of her started to glow...

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

Dani, Shikari and Tikhik looked through a skylight at their target, apparently calmly living in a penthouse. Between Kari and Tik's powers, finding their quarry hadn't taken long.

"Danielle, there are spores coming off of him." Shikari observed.

"Those are what he's using to control people?"

"I think so, in part. We must not allow them to flow toward us. We need control of the air."

"No."

"I had not expla--"

"You were going to suggest getting Sofia. No. I'm not putting her at risk for this."

"What then?"

"We just have to stay well away. You pick a spot upwind that gives me a clear shot, Tikhik drops me there, and I put an arrow in his head. He shuts down, we get him."

"Wait," Tikhik objected, "Are you planning to take him on by yourself?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

This time, Dani didn't even blink at the blunt question. "If he gets me, you're free to go and bring every Legionnaire you can cajole, coerce and conscript down on him." She paused for effect. "IF. He won't. I'm ready for him."

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

THIS time, Ella got more than the odd sideways glance on approaching the warehouse. Driving up in a skeletal sledge-car-thing will do that, she supposed, as she transformed it to robot mode. Despite staring, no-one approached.

"Q, can you hear me?" she whispered into the battlesuit's radio.

"Just about - there's a lot of interference. I'm in position." He still sounds scared. Spark knew that he was worried about her, not himself - he'd given her a 38% chance of outright death for trying to use the suit in anger in her "weakened condition", after all. She wasn't worried. She'd just experienced something that HAD to be worse than dying, after all, and her twin brother was still presumably in that same "locked-in" state. Mark was going to have to pay.

First, though, she had to get in. With the suit, she couldn't fit through the hole she originally entered by.

Shortest distance between two points is a straight line. With that thought, she walked up to the main door, rusted and rotted as it was, and tore it down to reveal the concrete inner structure.

The door of which was open.

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

Really, for all the trouble the bastard had caused, defeating him could hardly have been simpler in the end. As Moonstar had planned, Shikari and Tikhik guided & moved her so that he had his back to her, and from there only one psi-arrow to his head knocked him stone cold. Game over for him.

As he fell from Dani's arrow, however, suddenly a pile of black goo rose from his body and launched itself straight at her.

That was the last thing Dani saw before it engulfed her.

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

Very carefully, Spark moved forward, looking out for any ambush as she walked the suit slowly down the corridor, until she reached the room where Mark sat, watching the immobile Garth, a smirk on his face.

She coughed.

"Ella?" His face was suddenly a mask of shock.

"Why so surprised - you left the door open. Didn't you want visitors?"

"Wha--? I didn't..."

"I did." Behind her.

She spun around to see another Mark, with a colder, more controlled expression on his face. His hair was white with a red streak rather than the other way around, but in every other way he was the twin of the man standing near Garth.

Her mouth must have been hanging open, and a cold grin came onto his face. "I saw you coming. I always thought we were making a big mistake trying to recruit you, let alone sending you to the hospital when you said 'no', but I gave in. This time, we play by MY rules."

[This part is Academy L-only for length reasons. Part 3.2, below, contains the Spark-centred half of Part 3]

Sofia Mantega was sitting in the cafeteria, quietly talking to her roommate Ming Sul, when a loud female voice came rumbling in, followed by the sound of popping.

"...and it's ridiculous. I was sat there for THREE HOURS waiting for Moonstar, only to get told she was off gallivanting on some excuse for a day off. Of all the stupid..."

"Sofia, don't." Sofia had begun to leap up at the insult to her adoptive mother, but Sul's grip on her arm was too tight for her to wiggle out of, and she reluctantly fell back into her chair.

"Why should I just let her speak of Dani that way? She--"

"We know. Just ignore her - most people do anyway outside her little clique. Calling attention to her won't stop her making an idiot of herself. Look - even her pals realise it." A green girl was, indeed, plaintively asking 'Serena' to calm down a bit to little effect.

"Why does Tanya spend time with her?"

"Who knows? It isn't any of our business. Where is Dani, anyway?"

"She was meant to be investigating a possible student earlier today. Since she was meant to be back by this afternoon, I'm a little worried." There was a crash in the background, followed by a shriek and the popping sound escalating to sound like a parade of drummers. Sul looked around to see that the self-styled 'Comet Queen's' drink had spilled all over her. Sofia didn't even try to suppress her broad grin as the cleanup started, but turned back to Sul after a minute as her face began to lengthen, her air-manipulating powers damping the sound. "After all, she was complaining that it would be a waste of time and effort."

"Don't worry; I'm sure she'll be fine. Dani can handle herself."

Lords & Masters
Part 3.1: Symbiotically Assured Destruction

Danielle Moonstar woke up, and wasn't sure she had. She couldn't feel anything - not like she was floating, but like she wasn't anything, just consciousness without a shell. Astral plane, she realised, before wondering what the black stuff was, and how it knocked her out her body.

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

Back in the physical world, Shikari and Tikhik Miraz rushed to her side after she had been enveloped by the ink-like... gloop... that had come out of the man she zapped (he still lay unmoving and unmoved, but neither was especially concerned about him at that moment). The ink itself had vanished as it touched her, but as Shikari reached out to check her breathing, Tik stopped her with an outstretched claw. "Don't touch her - that's probably got everything to do with the 'skinsuits' on Rachel and Ardeen. You won't help her by ending up like them."

"Then what do you propos-" Shikari wasn't cut off, voice just became unimportant as every sense and instinct she had suddenly screamed at her to MOVE. Instead, she had armoured, grabbed Tikhik and taken off in the space of one fluid, infinite second.

"I hate to say 'I told you so'..."

"Not true. And that was not what you warned of."

"That" was a... limb..., of darkest black, which had outstretched from Dani's body and nearly crushed the two insectoid Academy instructors, and now retreated to cover her body in a sheath, momentarily tight-fitting but growing every second. Within moments, the shape of Dani's body was lost completely. A few moments later, and it didn't even resemble a human.

A few more moments later, and it began to attack.

Shikari dove and weaved to avoid the possessed Dani, cursing the time she'd spent living 'quietly' that meant her wing muscles were starting to burn from the sudden exertion. She'd already had to drop Tikhik to stay ahead, knowing he could teleport to safety, but even at that the thing was closing in. She focused herself, looking for the way to a solution, when one suddenly occurred to her. She took a moment to stare at Tikhik and made several gestures, trying to convey the need for some specific teleporting.

====

Meanwhile, as it exerted, Dani was beginning to get glimpses of the real world again...

-------

"Hold fast, small legion" Shikari shouted, diving toward Tikhik. Tik looked at her like she was nuts, but tried to follow the advice.

====

Dani's thoughts raced - Puppeteering my body, but can't control my thoughts. Trying to keep me dormant, or at least cut off as a result. Struggling. Not talking to me. Did the other guy manage to hold it back, control it? How?

-------

"NOW," Shikari yelled. Tikhik opened a portal, but Shikari swooped away from it at the last moment, and it fell though the portal... and then fell through it again, and again, and again - a matching portal had opened immediately above the first, and it was now falling through what might as well have been infinity, accelerating to terminal velocity, trapped.

"What now?" Tikhik asked. "Won't this kill Moonstar as well?"

The red dot flared brightly on Shikari's armoured mask. "Wait."

====

'Inside,' Dani was closed off to what was happening in the real world once again, but her mind was still racing. Telepathy. He sent some sort of warning, which Rachel received but misinterpreted. So he was a telepath. I'm not, but my brain generates similar energies to make my arrows. If I can just access my powers for a moment...

-------

One word passed Shikari's lips - "Now."

Tikhik shut the portal. There was a huge squelching noise, mixed with the wood from the floor splintering as the "ink" hit hard, taking the blow, but revealing Dani inside briefly.

====

Dani didn't know what caused it, but the blackness around her receded with its' shock and injury, and she could suddenly 'reach' her powers. Not asking why, she started to form an arrow before realising there was nowhere to aim it. Okay, not an arrow, Bomb, think bomb.

"Outside," the "ink" started to recover from the impact, to reenvelop Dani...

"Inside," a glowing sphere was growing "in front of" Dani, even as she felt the thing's grip tighten around her again. Maximum effect... got to build power, wait until the last second...

Shikari saw Dani's increasingly-hidden body start to glow dully, and began to walk over to her, when a "limb" suddenly shot out at her - but just as it curled around Shikari's waist, suddenly Dani's eyes flashed bright purple, and all the black goo retracted back into her body, leaving her lying there on the ground, herself again.

"Danielle?"

"Yeah, it's me. I think I knocked it out for now." She sat for a moment, then looked up. "Where'd you put the guy?"

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

Dani gritted her teeth slightly as she walked over to the man on the floor, still lying where he was felled by her arrow. "Wake him", she said, her eyes flicking slightly toward Tikhik as she spoke.

For once Tik didn't retort, and the man fell through a green portal which swiftly appeared beneath him; only to return a moment later through a separate portal from waist height, soaking wet and accompanied by a torrent of water. As the portals vanished, he sat up and coughed.

"How did you control it?" Moonstar's voice cut low and sharp, with urgency behind it.

Still dazed, he looked at her a moment, then felt around himself, as if checking that his pockets hadn't been picked. "It's gone," he whispered, before crying out loudly in joy, "IT'S GONE!!!!"

A scowl came across Dani's face, and she reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, lifting him clean off the ground one-handed without even realising the strength needed to do so. "How. Did You. Control. It?" Her companions shot worried glances at each other, knowing she shouldn't be so strong, but decided not to intervene yet.

The man stared into her eyes, a crazed look about him still. "You don't." His voice was low, but gasping and hollow rather than sharp and urgent. "The symbiote will take you over, and it will destroy you." He made a visible effort to pull himself together, staring with new purpose down Danielle's arm. "And You Will Put Me Down."

This just made Dani laugh - a deep, mirthless, gurgling sound from the back of her throat - and she lifted him slightly higher as her eyes began to glow. "I turned your power off. That isn't going to work. Now TELL ME." At that, she shook him slightly, droplets of water flying from him in all directions.

Any sense of purpose was gone from his eyes as he answered in a choking voice. "You don't. I meant what I said."

Shikari came over, and put light pressure on Moonstar's arm. "Danielle, he tells the truth."

The glow in Dani's eyes faded, and she roughly slung the man back to the ground. "Fine." She shook her head for a moment before looking up. "Tikhik, can you make it to Ryker's and back? They've got the nearest super-cells I can think of."

"I can, but shouldn't--"

"There aren't any police stations with power dampers. Ryker's have a few cops on duty just in case someone needs dropped off."

"Won't they need a statement, at least?"

"Tell them quickly what happened, that it's a code L101 - again, Ell-One-Oh-One - and that I'll be along later to give my statement." Unconsciously, she put her hand to the right side of her head. "And hurry back."

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

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave her for now."

The nurse's voice cut into Trinity-Purple and Dreamer's thoughts as they looked at Tela, the pink suit covering ever more of her body as she visibly struggled to stay awake. T-Purple opened her mouth to object, but the nurse cut her off - "No arguments, she needs her rest."

"But if she falls asleep--"

"She's not going to be any better staying awake right now. Come on, leave her be."

T-Purple was going to argue, but Dreamer tugged her sleeve to avoid a loud scene at Irma's bedside, and she sighed. "All right, just give me a moment then."

The nurse stepped back a bit, but stayed watching to make sure they went. T-Purple wanted to say something about how things were reversed from when she'd needed Irma's help, but she couldn't do anything - but her other selves were calling in her head to let Irma rest, and she just sighed and vanished, merging with them elsewhere.

As Dreamer quietly left as well, Irma's thoughts were turned inward; trying to fight off a "foe" that wasn't sentient, that she couldn't get a grip of; while any stray thoughts ran to Garth, wishing he could be there...

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

As soon as Tikhik vanished with the symbiote's former host, Dani collapsed to the floor, clutching her head.

"Danielle?" Shikari crouched down beside her, a worried look on her face.

Again, Dani's eyes flashed, and she sat down to face Shikari, breathless, her head downcast. "I keep pushing it back - but every time it comes back stronger, and it takes more effort to quieten it back down again." She paused for a moment and looked up, "I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep it contained when I slept - at this rate, I won't make it THAT long."

"What can you do?"

"I don't know... maybe if I put everything I have into one burst, I could drive it out like I did with the guy - but then it'd just grab someone use someone else as a host. If I was going to try that, I'd need someone who could contain it properly."

The red spot appeared over Shikari's face, glowing brightly for a moment. Then she powered down again, and thought for a moment. "Telepathy."

Dani made a querying noise.

"The symbiote is vulnerable to telepathic energies - that's why you can 'quieten it down' with your bursts of power, but not truly prevent it from taking control, correct?"

"Yes, but being full telepaths didn't stop Rachel or Irma being overtaken..."

"Rachel said she did not realise what she was dealing with. And neither Irma nor she currently has a full symbiote, do they?"

"Well, no, but..."

"And could you shut down a computer with one of your arrows?"

"No..."

"Well, their skinsuits are more like one of your computers than a living mind."

"That's a lot of assumptions, Kari."

"For you. I just know we have to go to the Legion's sickbay immediately, and knowing the rest of what we know, I expect to see The Path leading straight to one or the other."

Dani stayed quiet a moment, until a bolt of pain shot through her head. Another burst of power managed to force the symbiote back into retreat once more, but she knew she was losing the war for control.

With the first signs of a green portal appeared in mid-air, she made her decision. "Fine, if you're sure. When you are, I haven't known you to be wrong yet. But don't tell Tikhik. And don't make this the first time."

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

Tikhik landed them in the corridor outside the Legion's sickbay. "Are you going to need me to jump around again in the near future, or can I take a break? It's too late for us to any sort of assessments done today now."

Shikari and Dani glanced at each other, their real job almost forgotten in the stress of the day which had seemed so pointless at first. It was Kari who replied "Stay on-site, please. If we need you, we'll call."

He ground his beak for a moment, muttered "fine, I'll be in the rec room" and headed through a portal, while the other two walked into the small ward.

"Well?" Dani asked, beginning to grow pale.

Shikari powered up and looked at Irma shivering on her bed, then in the other direction. "Rachel."

"You're sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Yes."

Dani looked at Kari, then at Irma; who seemed entirely oblivious to their presence as the pink spread further and further across her body, her friends sent away to give her some rest. "Just... just keep everyone out the room, okay?"

"All right," was Shikari's gentle reply, as Dani walked, slowly for the first three steps before forcing herself into a purposeful stride towards Rachel's room.

When she entered, there was someone else in there. She tried to keep her voice steady as she told the nurse to close the door and seal it up as best she could." The nurse didn't move fast enough, and a bolt of pain through Dani's head reminded her of the urgency of matters. "NOW!" she yelled.

Nervously, the nurse backed out and shut the door, followed by the sound of a key turning in the lock.

As soon as the door was sealed, Dani clutched at her head. The symbiote was rising up and trying to take control once more, more powerfully than ever. She'd hoped to try and explain things to Rachel, but now there was no time - if she waited another round, she didn't know if she'd have enough strength to drive it out.

She muttered "I'm sorry" in the direction of the child she saw on the bed, and turned her power inward. Her eyes immediately started glowing again, and soon her skin began to glow as she generated as much telepathic energy as she could, suffusing her whole body with it, mustering more in one go than she ever had. The symbiote felt the increasing power, and - as Dani had hoped - fled from it in fear of it's life, leaving Danielle's body and heading toward the only other potential host in the room. "Gemma."

Dani stopped glowing and dropped to the floor, exhausted. She hoped she'd done the right thing as she forced her head up to look at Rachel, her "Gemma" avatar dissolving as she was enveloped by the blackness. It was all up to her now...

===============

Rachel fought back the urge to panic as a horribly... familiar...? sensation enveloped her. Dimly, she felt the red skinsuit dissolve, overtaken by the blackness; but just as she registered that her power was hers again, she felt something try to close it off once more and "shoved" to stop that happening.

There was a wince of pain in her head, but not from her, and suddenly her memory block broke, and she remembered the symbiote. Remembered how it had tried to destroy her when it felt a threat from her, and settled ultimately for incapacitating her after a long struggle. Thirteen months of rage boiled up in her soul, and she lashed out at it. In return, it screamed in pain at her, realising how it had been tricked, and wrapped its astral self around hers like a boa constrictor, squeezing tightly. Rachel knew this wasn't like the skinsuit - where the skinsuit had been simple, intractable; this had a mind, a sense of self. Something else else for her to push against.

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

"Outside," in the real world, nothing was visible, as not only had the symbiote wrapped itself around Rachel, but Rachel had wrapped a telepathic cocoon around it - locking the two into a deadly, and perhaps fatal embrace - while all the exhausted Dani could do was slump into the seat beside Rachel's bed, praying for the best...

===============

On the astral plane, Rachel and the symbiote screamed and twisted around one another; Rachel matching the symbiote's snake like-form, squeezing it as it was squashing her, determined not to let it beat her a second time.

It responded by turning into a dragonfly and escaping, before turning as a hornet, sting pointed toward her.

She became a turtle in return - the sting breaking on her shell - then went on the offensive as a hunter, firing missiles at it.

Dodging, it dove "underground", popping up beneath her and trying to bite her "legs" off with raptor's teeth.

As a response, Rachel took to the air as a falcon, and dove at it, claws outstretched.

The symbiote replied by becoming a simple spike, which she was forced up to dodge, and then changed to a giant salamander, grabbing her with a long sticky tongue and pulling her toward its' waiting "mouth."

A huge boulder was what it landed, far larger than its mouth, but Rachel's victory was short-lived as it became a giant sheet of paper, trying to envelope her once again, and she was forced to cut her way out as scissors.

And so it continued until Rachel, now in the astral form of a flea, bit at the symbiote's nanny goat and realised they weren't getting anywhere. Neither was landing any meaningful blows (as the symbiote became a fly-swatter and she a razor blade), because they weren't making any meaningful attacks. Astral combat wasn't an equivalent to physical combat, shapeshifting or otherwise (now she was a robot battling a dinosaur), unless one party was hopelessly weaker than the other. It was about undermining the opponent's confidence, weakening their will, and this pseudo-fight (tarantula/pterodactyl) wasn't getting anywhere in that.

Think, she told herself, as her sabre-toothed jaw bit at a triceratops which suddenly became a kangaroo and jumped over her. What would make this thing wince?

And then she remembered the telepathic 'flash' which had stirred her curiosity and started her in this whole mess. "Fire, and plummeting towards water, and coming up for air." was how she'd described it. Now why would that have been sent, she wondered as she formed a giant boot to jump over a shell hurtling toward her. Something else else by the host, trying to get out?

The thought lodged in her mind through the next series of changes, until it became a lion and she managed to grab it from above as a grizzly bear. In the split second she had while its paws and mouth uselessly pointed away from her, before it became something else, she changed not herself but the scenery, pushing them down a sudden deep, dark tunnel.

It wriggled in her arms, becoming spiked and trying to get out, but she hardened herself and sped their journey. Soon, they were on fire, and the Earth suddenly appeared beneath them, the sea approaching fast.

She felt the waves of panic radiating from the thing, and knew she had her opening. As they sped, it... withered, the flame increasing. She no longer bothered to hold an unusual form, becoming herself again, the flames growing around her causing her no pain. The symbiote, on the other hand, shrank further and further even as it lost any semblance of shape and became merely a pile of dried goo in her hand.

Rachel looked at it, raised her hand to her mouth, and swallowed it whole just before they "hit the water".

Four Months Ago:

"You realise that once this starts it cannot be stopped, or undone?"

"Yes."

"You still want to proceed, knowing the risks?"

"Yes."

"Step in here, please, then."

The room was stark, and almost entirely white. Without hesitating, the red-haired man jumped into a white plastic bubble in the centre, and it sealed behind him. As soon as this happened, machines leaped into action, while the three figures standing behind it began chanting.

"Risks?" A dark-haired man with a goatee had slipped into the room without the bald man noticing, so focused on the output from the machine was he.

"He's the first human subject we've tried, and we're at least a month earlier than I wanted to run such a trial. Of course there's risks, but you were the one who insisted on the accelerated schedule."

"He was beginning to grow restless. At least this way we'll get some more use out of him..." his voice trailed off. "Still, I expect it to work." He marched back out of the room.

The first man wiped his forehead and looked at the readouts in front of him again, but he hardly needed to - the bubble was straining to break into two, and whatever the result, it was clearly imminent.

The bubble sheared in two.

"Is the cloning done?" came an echoey voice from where it had been.

The bald man's eyebrows raised, and he smiled. "Not the word "clone". Please. I doubled you. I...twinned you. Equal and original..."

Mark opened his eyes, and saw himself.

They laughed.

Lords & Masters
Part 3.2: Bleeding Red, Glowing White

Now:

Mark Raines stood, in duplicate, on either side of his sister Ella, covering her - and her super-strong articulated mechanical suit - from both sides. One had white hair with a red streak, the other the reverse. Beside the one with mostly red hair hung their brother, Garth, his powers turned back on him, leaving him paralysed and in ever-increasing danger of death.

Ella, Spark, gritted her teeth. She'd been in the same position as Garth not more than two hours before, hence why she needed the suit. Two Marks wasn't something she'd bet on. She turned from side to side, arms raised and pointing each way, not sure which direction to turn in case one of the Marks tried to take her by surprise. "This explains how you got me from behind, huh?" How...? Doesn't matter. First priority, get them away from Garth.

"If you like."

The white-haired Mark sounded so smug, she thought. He also seemed to be the smarter of the two if his look of concentration was any indication - the red-haired one looked bamboozled at what was going on, and had sounded... unbalanced... earlier. White's in control, but Red's next to Garth. If I just zap Garth, will... no. Q said it had to be fairly precise AND, even if it worked, he'd still not be able to move worth a damn for a while.

"Come on Ella, Garth can't have more than half an hour left. We can wait. Can you?" White taunted, his arm sparking.

She couldn't - even besides the problem of Garth, a thin sheen of sweat was covering her forehead. She was pushing herself too hard, too fast, just as Q had warned.

She transformed the suit to vehicle mode and drove straight at the white-haired Mark.

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

White jumped aside and aimed a blast at her tyres, which to avoid Spark had to return the suit to its humanoid mode.

Upside: Now both Marks were in front of her, rather than surrounding her.
Downside: Now both Marks were between her and Garth.

A white bolt flared from the nearer Mark towards her. This time, with the metal feet planted, she stood her ground and absorbed it without incident, smiling and taunting them to hide her immediate worry - the suit had taken THAT hit, but Q had warned her that it could only take so much power - even from her trying to drive it rather than them trying to destroy it.

Suddenly, she spotted a flash of green in the far background and knew what to do. Smiling brightly, if falsely, she called "Catch me if you can!" in a sing-song voice and drove away as fast as she dared in the suit's vehicle mode.

Q may have kept his promise, but he'd need the Marks out of the road if he was going to get close to Garth.

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

"Well?"

"They're running around like headless chickens."

The man strummed his fingers on the table irritably. "They asked for a day for their 'personal thing'. They have two hours left - at the end of it, get Sidestep to pull them back whether they like it or not."

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

Ella found a dark spot in the corridor, and parked there for a minute, cutting off the flow of power to the suit. The Marks, fortunately, ran on by, giving her the time she needed. A raw fear was building inside her - it was one thing to laugh off the possibility of death as long as it was "later", but as the strain built, Dox's "38% chance" from using the suit while as weakened as she was starting to seem terrifyingly real. She cursed her stupid pride, as her eyes grew heavy...

"SPARK!" She jumped, hitting her head off the frame as she did so. She shook her head to try and clear the pain, muttering indistinctly as she did so. This prompted her earpiece to flare into life again. "Ah good, you're conscious."

"Yeah, thanks for that Dox," she muttered quietly into her radio as the pain in her head faded to a dull ache. "What does a concussion do to the percentages? More likely to fry myself to death or less?"

"You're not concussed. And that percentage was never just about the suit. I was including the whole madness of throwing yourself up against your homicidal brother in your state. Incidentally, there being two of them doesn't increase your chances."

"If it's such madness, why are you aiding and abetting?"

"Because if I didn't, you'd try it anyway by yourself and *would* get yourself killed."

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

Cosmic Boy walked into the Legion foyer, and was almost knocked straight back out by the rush of air as Flash stopped just in front of him.

"Cos,thankgoodnessyou'reback,things..."

"Jenni, slow down. Now, what is it?"

"Things have been a real mess - the Raineses and Brainy are missing, Irma's sick and there's a bunch of other stuff going on. Where were you?"

"Visiting my gran's grave." Cos gripped the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and rubbed, "Gene's not been handling things well?"

Jenni just looked at him with a 'you have to ask?' expression on her face.

"...right. We'll go to my office, I'll take my coat off, and you can tell me everything that's happened."

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

Garth could feel his power building, even as he couldn't control it. Like ants crawling under his skin. Meanwhile, Brainy's voice was going. Who was he talking to?

"I'm working on him now. It might be an idea, yes."

He felt leads being poked under his costume.

"Depends, I am pretty vulnerable here, never mind your brother."

Ella?

"Look, if you didn't want to take chances, we wouldn't be here right this moment, so kindly get yourself back here and cover me in case they come back. No, that wouldn't..."

Crap.

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

"I told you, I'm on my way." Ella closed the commlink and belted it down the way she'd come as fast as the suit would allow. As she neared the entrance to the main hall, though, a white-haired figure stepped out in front of her and she skidded to a halt.

"Red! I've got her!" The Mark between her and the door yelled, and in response she could just see the other one step out into the main room from another hallway.

"You know, I really didn't want to kill you." A huge bolt lashed out from "White's" hand and Ella felt the suit's left arm collapse, systems melted from the heat. "But, by this point, I..."

She used the suit's good arm to shove him out the way and resumed her belting. "Red" had seen what had happened with his "twin", however, and turned from covering Garth and Dox to unleash a full-strength bolt straight at her. This time, the suit couldn't take any more, and collapsed, skidding to a halt with him still between her and her brother & best friend.

(That) Mark smirked at her. With her suit's limbs trashed and her own still barely functional, she couldn't even move her arms to direct a shot. Slowly, with infinite patience, he raised his arm and pointed at... Garth. He couldn't even lift his head in response.

"Tell me, was it worth it?" Mark smirked, and his hand began to glow, building to a point she knew would kill Garth. The thought kicked her brain back into working gear. Can't lift suit's limbs. Can't climb out. Can't transf-- Hang on. She glanced from left to right, and one last desperate plan entered her head.

"Goodbye Garth." Mark began to zap, and Garth screamed in pain for a brief moment,... Before Ella, the suit's wheels spinning haphazardly and only occasionally in contact with the ground, skidded into him with an almighty *CRACK*

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

"One's down"

"Withdraw the other one."

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

White-haired Mark ran at her, yelling, but a yellow portal appeared in the floor, and he fell through it and vanished.

That was the last thing Spark remembered seeing before blacking out.

NB: This picks up from both parts 3.1 (Academy L) and 3.2 (Spark) above!

When Spark woke up, she was lying on the ground beside Garth and the remaining Mark, Dox standing over her, peering into her eye with a flashlight. She pushed his hand away and tried to lift herself up, but didn't have the strength and collapsed back down.

"Will you rest now?" Quentin raised an eyebrow.

"I think I might consider it." Spark returned the gesture by grinning weakly. "How's Garth?"

"Unconscious. He was under for a lot longer than you, and it put a severe strain on his system. From my preliminary once-over, he'll recover fully, but it'll take some time even if I didn't miss anything."

"You? Miss something?" She snorted.

He allowed himself a moment's grin, then the mask he presented for the team as a whole slammed back into place. "I'll call for pickup. Excuse me."

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

Leviathan was fuming in his office. A day that shouldn't have presented any problems had resulted in both Raineses and the green kid going AWOL, Ardeen putting herself in the sickbay with some sort of telepathic flu, and the Academy instructors running through the Legion's HQ and taking up sickbay resources like they owned the place.

He was going to bust some heads later, he thought, when his phone rang.

"Leviathan."

"Dox. I--"

"Now listen here a minute, what the hell--"

"As I was about to say, I need medical pickup for two members and a hostile to-" he gave the address. "Immediately." He hung up.

First Lieutenant Gene Allen, formerly United States Marine Corps, went that special shade of red he always ended up after talking to 'the green kid'. Rather than indulging him directly, and showing weakness, he decided to dump it all in the lap of his nominal subordinate, Cosmic Boy...

Lords & Masters
Part 4: Ronin

Rachel woke up, fully for what seemed like the first time in over a year and stretched out on the bed before realising that the skinsuit was gone, and she was naked. Her eyes darted around quickly - the only other person in the room was Dani, who had slumped into a bedside chair, and who she quickly verified was asleep from exhaustion. She decided to let her sleep.

With that check done, she rubbed herself for a moment, just to be sure it wasn't a dream - that she really was herself again and the skinsuit was really gone. Then she thought about wrapping the sheet around herself to get some clothes, before the symbiote occurred to her.

What had happened to it when she won?

She closed her eyes, and "felt" its' presence there, realising she was keeping it "asleep" with her telepathy. With that thought, she wondered if she could use it, and concentrated. Black goo flowed from her pores, and formed into a minidress and shoes at her mental command (I can cover up more later, she thought, I've spent a year covered up), before she tried her telekinesis and lifted herself lightly into the air - albeit with slightly more strain than she expected. Obviously, keeping the symbiote subdued was blunting her powers a bit, but that was a price worth paying to--

Then she thought of Irma, and without another thought telekinetically opened the door and sped from the room, almost knocking Shikari over in her wake...

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

Cos sat back in his chair and breathed out in relief at Garth apparently being found alive.

He wallowed for all of fifteen seconds before reasoning that if Brainy of all people was calling in for help, it was probably serious. He wondered if the Academy teachers were still around - if Gates could be persuaded to help out, it would simplify matters enormously. Since he wasn't particularly inclined to help with anything Official, Cos decided to try the indirect route, and buzzed one of his own team, who answered quickly.

"Tom? Cos. Is Tikhik still around? If he is, could you ask him..."

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

"What was that about?" Tikhik was characteristically blunt as he tried to pick his cards up from where they lay on the table.

Starboy, who was well-accustomed to dealing with his best friend's manners, gave a straight answer. "A teammate who doesn't exaggerate just called in saying he needed emergency medical transport for 'two members and a hostile'."

"And, rather than ask for my help directly, they chickened out and told you to 'request' my help?"

"Yup."

Yet again, Tikhik Miraz found himself reverting to his native language to express a particular sentiment, then sighed. "I really am just a... bus... to these people, aren't I?"

"What're you going to do?"

"I was hoping for at most one more jump today..." he sighed. "Where? Before I change my mind."

===============

As Rachel approached her bed, Irma was muttering loudly, "No, I won't, I won't..." her eyes screwed tightly shut, her knees up to her chest and her hands clasped behind her head. The skinsuit clearly covered the whole of her body from the neck down now, and - in spite of her protestations - the image of a young blonde girl with pigtails was beginning to flicker in front of her, and her real self was beginning to fade.

Rachel marched straight up to the bed, a pained expression on her face, and her right hand turned black as the goo coated it. She touched Irma's bare shoulder with it, and appeared to absorb the skinsuit straight into her new symbiote. As she did, Irma came clearly into focus again, and - now clad once more only in the hospital gown - collapsed to the bed, exhausted.

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

Ella opened her eyes again to look at Quentin. It had been five minutes since he'd hung up on Gene - a point she'd enjoyed - and he'd been getting progressively more annoyed with each passing second, just as she'd been growing ever-more tired.

"Right, where's these people I was supposed to pick up?" She pushed her head over to the side and saw a big bug (Tikhek? Tikhik?) standing beside a large green portal which had suddenly appeared.

Dox checked his wrist, "About time. Did you get lost?"

"Look, I didn't have to do this. Do you want the help or not?"

"All I'm asking for is a little consideration. There are injuries here and,..."

Ella sighed, tried to stand up and settled for pushing herself into a sitting position. "Hey, any chance we could get moving today? Please?"

Tikhik and Quentin both turned to look at her.

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

Rachel took her hand off Irma's forehead and sighed.

"How is she?" Shikari's voice carried from the corner of the room.

"Fine, I think," Rachel didn't turn around, but kept looking at Irma for a minute. "Just exhausted - I know how fighting those things takes it out you. Dani the same way?"

"Essentially." Shikari, who had been carrying Dani in from Rachel's room, lay her down on the bed across from Irma. "And you?"

"My head's clear for the first time in ages. Keeping this thing dormant is... I can almost feel myself having to hold it back, but it isn't hard. I think I can keep it quiet as long as I need to."

"They'll want to test that, of course."

"I know, but it's a small price--"

Suddenly, the door burst open, and guerneys holding three Raines burst in, pushed by Dox, Dr. Llewellyn and the nurse, Cosmic Boy and several other Legionnaires following behind, with Tikhik bringing up the rear. However, on seeing Dani lying on a bed, he slipped out quietly rather than come all the way in, only to reappear shortly afterward with Sofia, who immediately ran over to check on her adoptive mother.

The ensuing kerfuffle, as explanations were exchanged as to what was going on and all six patients were examined, lasted quite some time.

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

EPILOGUE 1: Council

Sidestep's portal closed behind the Mark who remained free. The room was austere, with harsh white lighting and a pure white table at the centre. A black-haired man with a goatee sat in the centre of the table, flanked by a dark-haired woman and a man with a helmet, his face deep in shadow.

"Why is there only one of you?" asked the man in the centre.

"They... uh... t-they got the o-other me." Mark stammered.

"Who did?"

"Ella a-and another Legionnaire. A green one."

The woman looked at him, and blinked for a second, before pronouncing "Dox."

The man in the centre looked at her a moment, then turned his gaze back at Mark. "Leave us."

Mark opened his mouth to reply, thought better of it, and scurried off.

The woman sighed loudly. "We should never have given him permission to go after his siblings."

"You're new to the council, Meta," the man in the centre replied, "They had served us well until now."

"Still Levar," Enrapture replied, "you can't deny this was a %^&%ing disaster."

'Levar' sighed, "No, I can't. I suppose I can trust that..."

"The captured one will have no information on us to give away, don't worry - all his memories of us will have self-destructed by now."

"Small mercies. We can't afford discovery just yet..."

===========================

EPILOGUE 2: Moving On...

One Week Later:

Dani forcibly emptied her lungs at the computer screen. Budgeting, timetabling and planning seemed to take up more time than actually teaching - certainly, they were more onerous.

«Got a minute?»

The telepathic voice in her head was familiar. «Sure», she thought back, and reached for the door.

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

Spark walked through the weapons scanner, and felt the impact of the power-dampers immediately. She shrugged off the unfamiliar sensation, and after one final check, was given directions to the prison hospital ward.

Mark - the Mark with white-streaked red hair, at least - was lying in bed, an armed guard to his right, both legs in plaster.

She thought about sitting, and decided not to. She only had one question anyway. "Why?"

Mark looked at her for one moment, then turned his head away and lay in silence.

She thought about asking again, but instead just shook her head and walked away. He wasn't worth the trouble.

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

"They just gave me the all-clear, and I had to drop in and thank you for everything..."

Dani had been joined by Shikari as Rachel fluttered down, a pair of large black wings retracting from under her arms as she did so.

"It's what we're meant to do," Dani smiled. "You've got it pinned down, then?"

"Yeah - funnily enough, in a bizarre way, it trained me to keep it in line - it made me keep the Gemma projection up even when I was sleeping. So I can lock my powers to keep it subdued whatever happens."

"What are you planning to do now?"

"I've already been in contact with my college. It looks like I should be able to pick up basically where I left off, and until they get back round to that point on the course I can sit in on classes to get back up to speed."

"Please, keep in touch." Shikari asked.

"I will. And thank Tikhik for me, since he hasn't turned up, huh?"

"Sure." Dani said, and watched as Rachel flew off, her nightmare over...

Cos and Gene looked across the table at Irma. Between them lay two pictures of potential Legionnaires.

"Are you sure, Irma?" Gene asked. "Out of all our choices, you pick these?"

"Chu wanted us to add some new members, and I think these two are the best choices. Trust me, Gene - these two will make valuable allies. We could use their strength later on."

"Are you referring to that again, Irma?" Cos asked. "We're not yet being called upon to help out in Europe."

Irma gave Cos a look. He knew that look - even without Irma's telepathy, it screamed "Trust me on this one I know what I'm talking about."

He sighed, then turned to Gene. "Drake helped out against the Hulk, and by all accounts he was extraordinarily effective."

"I don't have an issue with that, but what about the girl?"

Cos paused. They'd have to compromise on this one. It was tough - the UN was continuously calling for new members, and it was only because of their squabbling that the Legion even had as much choice as they did now. For them not to agree on new members would ruin what little say they did have. It was best if all the team's leadership agreed. "She's working with some of the others at the hospital now. Why don't we pay them a visit?"

Gene's expression remained skeptical.

"Zoe's there," Cos added.

"Oh... what are we waiting for, then?"

"Honey, are you alright?"

Drura opened her eyes, woken from her nap by the girl with the floating red hair.

There was activity all around her. A large orange girl, Amazon, and a speedy Indian girl, Flash, were carrying supplies into the room. Over to the left, a brownish girl - Amihan, from the Philippines - was cooing softly to a toddler as she bandaged its arm.

Drura instantly felt guilty at falling asleep. She hastened to stand up, but found herself pushed down.

"Whoa there, kid. You're exhausted. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm... alright. There are a lot of people left to help."

Drura didn't speak of it much, but she was grateful to the United States for taking her in, despite her powers. She'd been shunned from her home in far-off Cambodia... but the US had allowed her to migrate, and she had been introduced to the Legion of Superheroes.

Chances like that did not come very often.

Kinetix bent over here with some concern. "You won't be able to help them if you're tired. Rest a bit - there's nobody in dire danger right now."

Drura paused. There was wisdom in Kinetix's words. And genuine concern, as well. She hadn't heard that often.

She smiled. "Thank you."

Just then, the door opened and three more figures entered. Drura recognized them all from the news.

So did Kinetix; she seemed to brighten at seeing the big one - Leviathan. And despite his military demeanor, he couldn't help giving her a smile, too.

After exchanging greetings, he strode right up to Drura. "Drura Sept?" he asked.

She stood up, giving a slight bow of greeting. "That is me."

He stood with his arms crossed, eyeing her up and down. Drura blushed slightly, but said nothing.

"What's going on, Gene?" asked Kinetix. "She's pretty tired. She's been working hard all day."

"Irma here says she's Legion material. We'll have to see about that."

Drura's eyes brightened. To serve would be an honor.

"I would like to show you what I can do."

"Go ahead," said the one called Tela. "Gene here can be your test subject."

"Darned right I can." Leviathan retorted. "Best way to see the full effects of your power."

Behind him, Kinetix and Tela both smirked. They knew how effective Drura could be.

She closed her eyes. What microbe would be effective? Ah... a tropical disease.

Gene suddenly began to sweat. "What...?"

"Dengue fever." Drura replied. "Don't worry, it's just a small dose. You should be alright in ten minutes."

"Ugh... So you gave me a small dose, huh? And if I grow?" His height began to increase - though with much difficulty.

"I can increase the dosage by commanding more microbes to enter your bloodstream," Drura said. "Enough to make it last for the same amount of time.

"Impressive," Gene said, grudgingly. "Alright, you can turn it off now..."

"Wait, she already said she'd give you a ten minute dose," Cosmic Boy said. "Can you decrease the time, Drura?"

"With some effort, yes. It doesn't work on all diseases, but with dengue, I know of a microbe that attacks it. If I infect you with a small dose of that, it can kill off the virus causing the dengue." She waved her hand - not that she really needed to, but it helped her concentrate.

In two minutes, Gene was back on his feet. Sweat still stained his costume, but he was otherwise fine.

"Well," Tela asked him. "Are you convinced yet?"

"Yes," Gene said. "Drura, we'll have to put your membership up to UN approval, but if it were up to me... welcome to the team."

Drura smiled as Zoe hugged her. What an honor.

"So, what are you going to call yourself?" Drake asked Drura as they exited the meeting room.

They'd just been to their very first official Legion of Superheroes meeting. Drake had been so excited that he hadn't really cared that a lot of it had involved a lot of boring jabber.

"I thought of using Malady, but I do not want to be known just for that," Drura replied. "I want something to reflect that I can heal as well as hurt. And what about you?"

"I've been thinking too. Hotshot? Firestorm? Inferno? The first one makes me sound like a fast food item, and the last two just sound too common, you know?"

Drura paused, tapping her lip. "I can't really think of anything better than that. So, you have flame powers?"

"Not... exactly. I can do this, though," Drake said, letting loose a small blast of energy. Drura stepped back, impressed.

Drake grinned in satisfaction. As he was about to open his mouth again, a hand slapped him on the back. "Nice going, buddy!" It was Tom, Starboy. "You should have seen everyone's faces when we were talking about you versus the Hulk. We gave a blow by blow account, and the room went WILD!"

"Like we were on fire, dear!" Amazon said, smiling. "You really impressed."

Drake couldn't help the feelings of satisfaction welling in him. It was nice to feel... approval? No, not just that. He felt wanted.

"Wildfire. Why not go with Wildfire?" Drura said.

"Huh... you know what, I like that."

"Whoa, that was fast!" Flash said as she ran up. "When I joined, it took me forever to decide on my codename!"

"And what abut yours, Drura?" Amihan said as she walked up, too. "Have you thought of a codename yet?"

Man, the Legionnaires really are close, like Tom said, Drake thought. Just standing here, I feel so welcome.

"I wanted a name that could reflect both my abilities to hurt and to heal," Drura answered. "I don't want to go with something like Pandemic or Malady - sounds too much like a villain."

"How about Pajau Yan, then?" Rebound said. "Vietnamese goddess of health."

"But she's not Vietnamese, Chuck." Amihan pointed out. "She's Cambodian. And as a Southeast Asian myself, I can tell you that each of our nations has a distinct culture."

"I don't mind, though." Drura said thoughtfully. "It's just a little long and unwieldy..."

"If you want goddesses, then, how about Hygeia? Greek goddess of Health." Nura smiled.

"That sounds wonderful - you should totally pick that!" Jenni said enthusiastically.

"And our very own Dreamer suggested it too," Jazmin said with a bit of a smirk. "Bet that was a vision, wasn't it?"

"Now, what would that say about my creativity if I relied on my visions alone?" Nura said with a smile.

By then, nearly half the team had gathered around them. "Are you guys always so welcoming when someone new joins up?" Drake asked.

"You should have seen when Berta and I joined," Amazon said. "The dears threw such a big party!"

"Which, by the way, is our signal..." Amihan smiled.

"Surprise!" Each Legionnaire quickly pulled out party poppers as the rest of the team entered the door with cakes. Gene had a big smile on his face , which wasn't often.

Cheers and welcomes rang out all around. Drake couldn't believe it. It had been a long, long while since he'd felt like this. With a smile at Drura, both of them went forward to enjoy big cake in the center of the table, amid their new friends.

Relativity
Part 1: Now

Laurel shifted nervously in her seat, adjusting her skirt to have something to fidget with. She'd spoken only very briefly to Catherine on the phone when they arranged to meet, but enough to know the older girl was skeptical about it - maybe she hadn't known she was adopted? Or maybe, Laurel shuddered, she'd lost track and this wasn't her sister at all.

Another thought suddenly hit her - had she overdressed? Wanting to make a good impression, she was wearing a smart white skirt-suit and black blouse, bought for the formal occasions she'd have to follow Lydia to as part of her job (along with sunglasses to let her scan the crowed discreetly). Would something more casual, like a T-shirt and jeans, have been better?

Before her mind could jump tracks again, however, the sound of a female voice asking where table 16 blasted away her second-guessing. Straining against over-tensed neck muscles, she turned her head to look at the source of the voice, who was manoevering through the crowded room toward her. A tall woman, just over 6' in her casual shoes - nearly as tall as Laurel herself, though slimmer/less muscled - with long, straight strawberry-blonde hair. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Laurel noted with dismay, before taking her sunglasses off to make eye contact.

"Hi, Catherine? I'm--" Laurel began to say, but stopped as Catherine met her eyes. Followed by Catherine's jaw dropping and a squeal coming out that sounded a bit like 'Andromeda'.

Wincing at the eyes suddenly directed at them, Laurel's eyes flicked downward... where, after a couple of moments, something caught her attention. Catherine's feet were hovering a good couple of inches off the floor. Trying not to wince again, she asked "Uh... do you want to go for a walk? I think we've attracted enough attention as it is here", while trying to gesture downward.

In response, Catherine blushed and landed with a quiet thump. "Sure..."

As quickly as she felt reasonable, Laurel left a some money on the table to cover her drink and started steering Catherine toward the exit.

"Oh, wait." Catherine stopped for a minute and gestured at a guy at a nearby table. "Sorry, I just had to let Doug know it was okay."

As they left, Laurel asked "Doug's your boyfriend?"

"My roomate. He agreed to cover me for the 'in a public place' thing."

"You could just have flown away, as far as you knew."

"I'm not very good at it. Not nearly as good as you." She blushed again. "I saw you once. At one of the Workforce demos, I mean. You made it all look so easy!"

"It's mostly practice," Laurel replied, trying to be modest. This wasn't how she'd expected things to go at all.

"Could, uh, could we go for a fly? A flight, I mean. Together. We can talk in the air, right?"

After thinking for a minute, Laurel said, "Okay, if we get out of the city so we don't get shot at, I don't see why not. But I need to go home and get changed first - I'm not going flying in a skirt!"
_________

"Toni?" Laurel shouted as she opened the door. After a moment with no reply, she said to Catherine "She must be out. Try and find a spot, I won't be a minute." Kicking into super-speed, she zipped into her room and found the costume Kinetix had made for her, with star-effect on the leggings & shoulders and a large yellow star crossing between the top starfield and the white chest. While it wasn't something she particularly liked to wear any more, it was the only thing she had that would reliably stand up to super-speed flight. Plus, she still wanted to impress her sister, and it seemed like the thing most likely to. So having donned it, she headed back into the living room before covering it up with civvies.

Catherine was suitably impressed. "Oh, wow". Then a thought visibly hit her. "Hang on..." She screwed up her face in a look of intense concentration, and her clothes started to shift, becoming tighter and blacker, then a red stripe appeared down the torso and arms, before a star logo similar to Laurel's own finally popped onto the chest.

Laurel's eyebrows jumped. "I'd just assumed you had the same powers as me, but I can't do that. What else can you do?"

The blush Laurel was beginning to think of as Catherine's defining characteristic appeared again. "Lots of stuff, none of it very well. I can fly a bit; I can move stuff around from a way away as long as you don't need it in one piece; I can fade out, but not really be invisible; and I can shift myself around like you just saw, only it hurts and I can't really match the same thing twice so you wouldn't notice the change."

"Wait, if it hurts to shift your clothes around, and you didn't bring anything else to wear, why did you do that NOW?"

Catherine opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out, then she sheepishly blushed once more.
_________

"You're not nearly anywhere as bad as you said."

Laurel and Catherine had been flying for an hour, in costume at speed, and were now straight and level over western New York State.

"Flying flat's the easy part. All the acrobatics and stuff you did that time? No way I could manage those!"

Laurel smiled, but didn't take the bait to show off.

A couple of minutes later, Catherine spoke again, "I just realised, I haven't asked you yet - I mean, I meant to, but everything kinda knocked it out my head - why DO you think I'm your sister? I only even found out I was adopted last year. Did you know our parents?"

Laurel sighed, and rolled over so she was flying on her back, braid flapping in the wind. "I wasn't adopted - that w..." She stopped and started again. "Yes, I knew our mother."

"Only our mother?"

"Strictly, we're only half-sisters - mum apparently gave you up for adoption before she met my dad. I don't know who your dad was, to be honest."

"What happened to her?"

Her eyes screwed tight shut, trusting that she would hear any air traffic coming, Laurel started to explain about the White Triangle attack that had taken both her parents' lives, but stopped after she got to being placed in the orphanage. The memories were too painful. Catherine realised this, and didn't press for some minutes, during which they flew on in silence.

Eventually, she thought it was safe to ask another question "So, I saw the whole mess the Workforce ended with. What happened to you after that? You just seemed to disappear."

Laurel flipped back over to her front, and started to climb slowly, unconsciously. Catherine followed to listen. "After I was done with the Workforce, I was a mess. I turned down the Legion and tried going into space for a couple of days, pulverising a few asteroids. Didn't help that much, and eventually I needed some air anyway, so I came back to Earth..."

The Legion Outpost
Part 1

Three days after they left Arnett, Texas, Jacquie awoke one morning full of energy, barely remembering the pleasant dream she had just finished, but knowing it left her energized.

She announced to the rest of them that the way to the Legion was not east, to New York. Rather, it was west. To San Francisco.

Hasim scoffed, Val waited until they were alone to question her, and Andy told her that well, sometimes you just knew what direction you were supposed to be going in, so he figured she was probably right.

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

That same morning RJ Brande was in such a good mood that he cooked some of the Legionnaires breakfast. When they found it amazing that he knew how to cook, he scolded them about underestimating people, and told them in good humor that when you were as old as he was, the act of creating something to eat was probably the greatest single thing anyone could possibly do.

Element Lad seemed to take this to heart and immediately began learning how to cook.

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

Two weeks later

San Francisco, California

“There’s more pan-handlers here than I thought there’d be. More homeless too,” said Hasim, unimpressed with the city.

“You just got here, Hasim,” said Andy smiling, “in order to really get a feel for anywhere, you have to stick around awhile and visit the local places.” He turned to Val and Jacquie. “I assume we’re going to the infamous intersection of Haight and Ashbury? Because I honestly can’t think of any other reason to be here…”

Jacquie over looked the city and did not see the same city Hasim saw. She saw beauty, and she instantly loved it here. Val watched her and knew her powers were working now, as they did in their odd way. Jacquie’s magic allowed her to see things sometimes in all forms of illusion. “Sure Andy,” she said at last, “we can go to Haight-Ashbury.”

“Right on,” he said with a smile, and Val laughed to himself while Hasim rolled his eyes.

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

As they approached the infamous intersection, the three boys could not see anything out of the ordinary. People walked by, and restaurants and bars lined the streets, as well as clothing stores, record stores and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop. A man sat with his back against front wall of a restaurant, with a cowboy hat resting low against the bridge of his nose, so that he looked like he was sleeping.

“Very bohemian,” said Andy.

“Yes, very,” said Hasim sarcastically, nodding at the sleeping man, thinking he was a bum.

“It looks as expensive as Manhattan,” said Val in his practical way, meaning ‘I don’t see the big deal’.

“Depends on what you’re buying my friend,” said a voice, “and what you’re looking for.” It was the man they thought was sleeping with the cowboy hat. They could see he had on an old leather jacket that was too big for him, with an old worn out pair of jeans and dusty cowboy boots. His curly blonde hair showed on the sides of his hat, and Andy recognized a great afro when he saw one. The man was pale white.

“Don’t let him bother you,” said Val to the man, “he doesn’t like people.”

“I take no offense,” said the voice as it exhaled smoke, and they now saw he was smoking a cigarette of some kind. “After all, people don’t much like him I surmise.”

Hasim at first wasn’t sure to be offended or not, but then decided he was, and he grew angry. Val and Andy both smiled widely and held back their laughter, and Jacquie now turned her attention to the man. “We won’t bother you anymore,” she said, diplomatically trying to get them to move on.

“I appreciate it, miss,” he replied, exhaling his smoke again. Andy smelt it and immediately recognized it from his days on the streets of Suicide Slum in Metropolis. That sure wasn’t tobacco the man was smoking. “You always were fair and diplomatic, Princess,” he added, and they all suddenly stopped cold. Jacquie turned to him, trying to look at him more deeply, using her illusion powers. Hasim turned to Val and mouthed ‘Princess?’. “Though there was that time,” said the man, “where I served in your royal court in another lifetime, and when I attempted to explain the history of magic to your faithful servants maids, you had me banished from the kingdom, where I was then killed in a tragic horse-riding accident.”

“I think perhaps we should move on,” said Val, but Jacquie continued to look at the man.

Andy was laughing, however. “Ah,” he said, “we didn’t realize you had been reincarnated,” he said sarcastically but in good humor. “A former advisor to the Royal Family? A shame then…your occupation is not quite what it was in pass ages.”

Now the man lifted up his cowboy hat so they could see his face. He was smiling, and above his mouth was a thick gray moustache. But his smile was not one who was simply happy. It was a strangely scary smile. Menacing almost, as if the man knew quite a lot more that he was letting on, and was enjoying the fact that no one knew what that information was. His eyes had the same strange happiness. Almost insane. “Nonsense Andy,” he said now. “I’m a doctor. Mayavale is my name, and doctoring is my game.” He took the joint he was smoking and held it out. “Wheezing mists?”

“Andy—“ began Val, but then Jacquie held her hand up to his chest to cut him off.

“Dr. Mayavale,” she said, “why are you here?”

“Waiting for you of course,” he smiled. “You’ve come a long way, after all, and I thought you should at least get some sort of reception.” He stood up now and walked towards them, and they could see how odd he was.

“But…” began Jacquie, “…we don’t even know why we’re here.”

“You’re hear to see Marla Latham,” he said bemusingly. “Aren’t you?”

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

Dr. Mayavale, if he was a real doctor thought Val, walked them through the streets of San Francisco for some time until at last bringing them to a suburb of the city, where a series of beautiful houses lined the side streets and more secluded areas nearby. Soon they came upon a street, still walking, with no houses on it, and followed that for a time. After some time, Val began to see this long street had the shoreline to the left, and on the right was a large plot of land fenced in—and this land was all one large estate. No cars had traveled upon this road the entire time they were there.

At last they came to an entrance and entered the very large estate, to see a long driveway and beautiful grounds on the front of a very large mansion farther inwards. Past the mansion, they could see the grounds extended much farther backwards.

The warm sea breeze came in over the trees. Yet, other than that, the feeling of seclusion was immense.

*BAMF* Suddenly a puff of smoke appeared in front of them and they all smelled the intense smell of brimstone and sulfur. They saw some blurriness within the smoke, when at last Kurt Wagner, known as Nightcrawler, emerged. Jacquie, Val and Hasim had heard Mon, Tatiana and Tina speak of him, and they recognized him immediately. “Velcome,” he began in English, “to the Legion Outpost,” he said, bowing slightly and extending his arm backwards to officially invite them in. “I take it the doctor provided you some lunch?” he added.

“No, not really,” said Andy, looking at Mayavale with eyebrows raised.

“Not all of us have one thousand lifetimes, beezlebub,” he said to Nightcrawler, “so there was no time to spare,” he finished with a smile.

Now they all approached curiously, as Marla Latham could be seen walking down the front steps to greet them officially. With him was Baksheesh, the boy known as Kid Psycho, in India. He ran out to meet them. Marla spoke loudly. “You have a great many questions, and I will answer them all,” he said. “But welcome. You are safe here. This will be your last stop before you at last meet the Legion of Super-Heroes.”

The Legion Outpost
Part 2

San Francisco: the Legion Outpost

“There is obviously a great deal about you that we don’t know,” Jacquie half-smiled, “and probably never will. Certainly, you haven’t been completely honest with us, Mr. Latham.” She stood next to Marla Latham as they overlooked the large grounds of what he called the ‘Legion Outpost’, which felt more like a college campus, though with only a few current inhabitants.

“No, I suppose I haven’t,” he grinned, and it was a handsome and pleasant grin that one couldn’t help but feel some semblance of trust for. “For that, Princess Jacqueline, I apologize. But understand, I had no real clue who you or your friends were when I met you, and I knew you were being pursued not only by the Dark Circle, but by Mordru himself. I did what I thought was the best option to do.”

She nodded, and smiled again, as if to say fair enough, but I’m not sure it really was your best option. Then she added: “knowing Maziah is alright, as you told me, is a relief. Its no understatement that its been on my mind just about everyday since we left the others. And this has not been an easy journey to get here.”

“I know it hasn’t,” replied Marla Latham. “Which is why I want to make this part easy. You can stay here and rest, get cleaned up and have some decent meals. And I will bring you to Manhattan myself aboard my private jet, and I’ll arrange a special meeting with RJ Brande. You can meet the Legion through us, without any of the red tape that comes with meeting the organization.”

“Brande could do that?”

“Indeed,” he said, grinning still. “RJ and I are more than just business partners; we’ve become extremely close friends. And I can tell you with no lack of confidence that if RJ wants you to meet the Legion, then as he would say, by damn, you’ll do it.”

They looked around now, to see Renkil Kem, Tenz’s little brother, playing with Baksheesh, who Jacquie and the others once knew as Kid Psycho. The two seemed to be good friends already, but most likely this was because there weren’t that many other kids there age around.

“What is this place, Mr. Latham?”

“Its Marla,” he replied. “No ‘mister’ for me. As to this place, its something else RJ and I have been thinking about for some time. You are not aware of just how complicated the Legion’s bureaucracy is, and unfortunately, that will soon change. But I can tell you there are some real problems in the Legion maintaining full control of…well, their destiny. There’s also about to be, if not already in place, a Legion Academy, for others your age that display similar powers. You must realize by now there are a lot of you around the world?”

“Yes,” she said, “and we basically know the reason why too. Science and magic helped kick-start evolution…or to be more precise, put it back on track.”

“Yes, and now there are quite a lot of teenagers with special abilities. Very few, like yourself, would have developed these powers anyway. Spirit, Tatiana Mallor, Maziah and Nura…”

“Those of us with magic backgrounds.”

“Indeed. But now there are many who do not understand these new powers at all, and they’ll need to be trained in how to use them. If they like, they’ll one day get the chance to become Legionnaires. But honestly, I have no role in the Academy, so I have no authority to pitch it. What we have here, in this Outpost, is a place for the younger ones,” he now added, pointing towards Renkil and Baksheesh. “They can be no older than ten or eleven. They certainly don’t deserve to be immersed in a world with a Dark Lord looking to unleash his hordes, and with politicians battling for control of their powers. Not to be mention the growing number of dangerous people who are showing similar abilities, like your old friend Sarya of Venegar.”

At this, Jacquie said nothing, and Marla continued.

“So this is for the young. These too and Ivy, who you haven’t really met, are the first to be here. Nightcrawler has chosen to stay here, rather than join the Academy or search out the Legion, and I can’t blame him. Most of his life he’s only known humanity to be unkind and unforgiving to his appearance.”

“And the other boy? Bucky?”

Marla smiled but it was a sad smile. “He’s not ready yet to rejoin the world.” That seemed to be his only words on the matter.

“Well, Marla,” she said now also smiling, “I’ve come to rely on my instincts when it comes to truth and honesty, and I believe you. And I think I can trust you. I’m ready for this journey to be over and for my real work to begin.”

“We all are,” he smiled.

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

Hasim sat near a basketball court, though made no move to pick up one of the basketballs on the side of the court. He was bored and had no real intention of interacting with any of these people. The air was warm and breezy, and he considered taking a nap or getting something to eat. He might as well enjoy some downtime now, because he knew he’d soon be meeting at least a dozen Legionnaires, and more likely than not, he wouldn’t get along with at least half.

All at once, he felt a presence near him. He jumped up and turned, preparing for full-on battle.

It was a little girl, no older than ten. She was very small, with rich black skin. She didn’t smile or make any facial change, and appeared emotionless. Hasim, who had battled demons and Dark Lords, suddenly felt ill at ease. “What do you want?” he asked rudely.

“You travel with them,” she spoke, “but you are not one of them.” She spoke English, but with a strong accent. She was from somewhere in Africa. This was Ivy, the little girl who could control plant-life and vegetation.

“You don’t know anything about me,” he said with a snicker and turned as if to ignore her.

“No,” she replied, “but he does. He says you near a crossroads Hasim. You must choose wisely.” With that, she turned, and began to walk away.

Hasim snickered again and said nothing. What the hell did she know anyway?

What he did not consider was: Ivy could speak to her plants; Ivy could speak to Blok.

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

In a large gymnasium, Valor quickly climbed up a rope, using all of his skills of agility and dexterity then leapt across the air to two rings hanging from the ceiling, grabbing hold of them and somersaulting to the ground. He landed perfectly, and now looked around to see what else he could do to get a work out in.

He heard clapping and turned to see another boy standing there. The boy was his age, though something about him made him feel much older. It was his eyes: they had seen quite a lot. This was the kid they called Bucky. “Pretty good,” he said with only the faintest traces of a smile. “Care to show me what you can really do?”

Ten minutes later, both reflected on what was probably the best workout either had in years. Out of breath, and now feeling that pleasant feeling of soreness when you know you’ve really tested your muscles, they were also smiling widely and both enjoying a light laugh.

“I’ve never meant someone else that wanted to spare twenty feet up in the sky, suspended from the ropes,” said Bucky. “I can say this is a real pleasure.”

“Likewise,” said Val. “You’re abilities are impressive.”

“Yours too. Hell, I know you’re leaving soon, but if you ever want to stop by for another workout like that, let me know.”

Val grinned. “I will. In my line of work, which I’ll be returning to shortly, I get workouts like that more than you’d think.” He was referring, Bucky knew, to being a Legionnaire. “You should come with us. Not only could we use you,” he added, “but I know at least one Legionnaire who would fall over if he met you in person.” He was referring, of course, to Leviathan.

“No thanks,” said Bucky. That was his final word on the subject.

Valor, never one to mince words if there was no reason, made no attempt to persuade him otherwise.

“Hungry?” asked Bucky, now walking towards the door.

“Oh yes,” said Val, and they joined Nightcrawler for lunch.

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

Andy Nolan, like Hasim, sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather, though he sat close enough to Renkil and Baksheesh so he could enjoy their laughter. He had found a library, and decided to borrow a book: it was Stephen King’s “The Stand”. He had always liked reading, even though Doug and Kon made fun of him for it a lot when they were younger (there weren’t exactly many scholars emerging from Suicide Slum), and now figured he had some downtown so he should keep his mind occupied. Besides, he liked Stephen King’s books—they showed people in the same light he always saw them.

He felt someone walking over to him and turned expecting to see Sun Kem bringing him another glass of water or juice, only to see that crazy guy who found them, Dr. Mayavale, walking over to him.

“Care for some company, friend?” asked Mayavale.

Andy didn’t want to be rude, even if he didn’t care for Mayavale’s company, so he was only able to get out an ‘I guess’.

“Good, good,” he said, “these feet of mine have walked far in my lifetimes and they get tired a lot easier now.”

Andy rolled his eyes at this and once more took in Mayavale’s appearance, with his old, beat-up cowboy look (complete with hat), and white fu-manchu moustache and afro sticking out from under his hat. Mayavale also smelled like a combination of old books and marijuana. “You remind me of an old friend of mine, Jo. Or was it Joe? Hard to recall, yes it is.”

Andy wasn’t exactly sure if he talking to him or just talking to himself. “Er, how’s that?” he replied.

“You’re lost, that’s why,” said Mayavale. “You’ve been lost for sometime now.”

Andy raised an eyebrow, and looked at Jacquie, who was talking to Marla, before looking back at Mayavale. “I think I’ve been found, or close enough,” he said matter-of-factly, “but thanks for the observation.”

“Nope, definitely not found yet,” said Mayavale equally matter-of-factly. “Its never quite that easy.”

“Ah, I see,” said Andy sarcastically. “And you are an expert on people ‘being found’, as you say?”

“Indeed I am,” replied Mayavale with a wide smile that didn’t really have the effect of spreading to Andy. “Yes indeedy. You like these people,” he said, motioning towards Jacquie, “and you like that Val boy, ‘cuz he reminds of you having a brother. But you already think you’ve got nothing to add to their quest. Doesn’t seem fair you should be allowed to go on if you’ve got nothing to add.”

“Oh, and I suppose I should stay here with you and the children then?” he said, now completely annoyed. “Listen Doc,” he started again, sarcastically saying Doc, since there was no way this guy was a real doctor of any sort, “I’ve got plenty to contribute and I’ll be doing so when I leave with them.”

“Hm,” said Mayavale and then was silent. “Strong words, and good ones, but well, words are just words unless have back ‘em up with some real conviction. No, my friend, if you really want to contribute anything of any real worth, you’re going to have to start thinking you have some real worth to begin with.”

“You’re one helluva a loony, you know that?” said Andy still annoyed.

“Stop seeing yourself as a worthless little thing that deserves being kicked around. That’s your first step. That’s the road to the finding.”

Andy said nothing. “Why did you come over here?” he said at last.

“Because if you really want to make a difference here, Andy, you need to start believing you actually can make one. Because being kicked around is a part of life, but kicking back is a choice. Good luck, son, in making yours.”

With that, Mayavale stood up and walked away. Andy didn’t feel much like reading anymore.

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

The next day, Marla Latham took them on his private plane to see RJ Brande. Andy slept soundly, and eventually Val decided it would be best to get some rest before he saw his friends again. Jacquie couldn’t sleep and thought about the things she would say, before she admitted to herself that it’d be best not to have anything already prepared. Hasim didn’t sleep at all.

The United Nations of Mordru
Part 1

Maziah slept all day once more, while outside Blok looked out silently into the winds, standing guard by her without tiring. Maziah's dreams were of the desert and of fire, and she could be heard muttering in her sleep, but no one dared to wake her. Mostly, she dreamed of her father and his wrath.

Blok explained to Dirk and Tenz, who inquired about it, that Maziah's proclamation carried great power in terms of magic; in terms of the Ekronian way. She had been working against her father, yes, but she was still his daughter and all could still be forgiven. But now she had made a proclamation that she was his enemy. That his enemies were her friends and her brethren.

She pitted herself against him and foreswore him.

And thus, Mordru was her enemy as well. Though a father, he was still the Dark Lord, and his anger and wrath far outweighed any hint of love or compassion.

For the second time, he’d been forced to act. To react.

For thousands of years, Mordru had no children. Less than twenty years ago, he had two. Now one stood against him, completely altering the playing field that had existed in living memory. Completely upsetting the balance.

Blok knew now was the crucial moment. Now everything led to the endgame.

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

Dirk walked with Gigi Cusimano on the streets of Vienna, enjoying the rich history of the city. She was amazed at how much he had grown since she’d last seen him, when he was still a boy who could hardly control his powers over sunlight and fire. Now he was older, handsome and had a casual confidence about him.

He made jokes and she laughed and Dirk enjoyed the company. She was four years older than him, but still, he had hopes.

Not far followed Agent Ontirr, continuing to search for information.

Not far behind Ontirr was Dawnstar, flying high in the sky, but able to see their trails with ease. The trap had been set, and Ontirr walked into it blindly.

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

“Mother,” asked Tina, making a conscious decision not to disguise her voice because she knew it would be easily seen through, “why are you so adamant not to invade Khundia?”

The Countess stared at her in disbelief. There was silence. A servant, cleaning nearby, got up and walked out of the room. “Tina, you have never once in your life asked me anything about politics. Why do you ask me now?”

Tina looked at her mother, and weighed the decision on what her words should be. “Because…because now I think its important. Incredibly important to what’s going to happen in the world.”

The Countess took some satisfaction in this perceived compliment. “Because it will accomplish nothing other than giving the Khundians what they want. And it could start a world war. Things are far more explosive now than people believed.” She was quiet for a time. “And because…”

“Because of the magic,” said Tina, referring to their shared powers. The two had not spoken about these abilities in years.

Winema Wazzo looked at her daughter with piercing, intelligent eyes. Realization began to set on the Countess. “Dear God, child,” she said at last, “you not only know about him,” she said, looking into her daughters eyes, “but…but you’ve seen him?”

For the first time, Tina and Winema Wazzo openly discussed their abilities and their beliefs in magic. More importantly, Winema acknowledged to Tina she knew of Mordru’s existence. And finally, Tina felt she could trust her mother again, even if only in this matter.

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

Ontirr turned an abrupt corner, suddenly realizing that he may have actually lost the Morgna boy and quickly picked up his pace—and there stood the magnificent winged figure of Dawnstar. Hands on her hips, with wings outstretched, she looked both fierce and radiantly beautiful at once.

She was not smiling. “Whoever you are,” said, “know that you cannot lie to us.” She hoped he might believe this. “Why are you following us, and what do you want?”

He looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. “My mistake…” he began to utter, to turn around, but behind him stood Flare and Matter-Eater Lad, with Gigi off to the side.

“Yes, it certainly is,” said Dirk, lighting his hand on fire and holding up toward Ontirr’s face. “Who are you?” he added, grabbing him with his other hand.

Ontirr smacked Dirk’s hands away in anger. He pushed Dirk forward. “Okay, enough of this,” he said, and pulled out a badge. Dirk didn’t recognize it right away, but it was obviously credentials.

“I work for Interpol,” said Ontirr, now looking smug. “And yes, I’ve been following you. I’ve been asked to, since obviously you’re all dangerous.” Dirk prepared to respond angrily, but Ontirr held up a hand. “So whatever you’re thinking right now, you can forget it.”

Ontirr looked at them smugly, and Dirk, Ten Zil and Dawnstar said nothing. Gigi Cusimano stayed out of view around the corner, nervously waiting to see what was happening. At last, Dirk smiled a equal-sized grin. After all, Batman had recently given them all the information they would need. “Of course,” said Dirk finally, “but we had to know who was following us.”

“I understand,” said Ontirr. “Look, I don’t have any problems with you kids. I understand the world is changing and that people like you are…developing all over the world. But I can help you, if you’ll let me.”

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

Twenty minutes later, Dirk walked with Gigi, while Ten Zil was carried by Dawnstar back to Castle Wazzo. “I don’t trust that man at all,” said Dawnstar.

“None of us do, Dawny,” he said, christening Dawnstar with her new nickname and enjoying the idea that she was holding him up. “But he’s not working for Mordru,” he added.

“How can you possibly tell?” replied Dawnstar.

“He didn’t seem to know much about Mordru at all. No…I definitely think he’s working for someone other than Interpol. I think,” he said, lowering his voice even though they were in the air, “…well, let me tell you about the Dark Circle.”

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

“I guess this will be goodbye now,” said Gigi to Dirk. “I’m worried about you Dirk. You all are mixed up in some crazy things. I know the girl Tina is a Legionnaire (and a pretty one at that)” she added, giving Dirk an inquisitive eye, which he brushed aside, “but still, you’re too young to be involved in this stuff. And that man—“

“We’ll be able to handle that man,” said Dirk. “We’ll want to see what his organization plans to do in the upcoming…well…” he wanted to say war, but didn’t think Gigi would find the word as a way to not be worried.

“Organization? You mean Interpol?”

“Well, something like that,” he said with a smile, then immediately changing subjects, “and what do you mean I’m too young. I’m practically the same age as you!”

“Dirk, 20 and 17 is a big difference,” she smiled, “though dammit…you are cute,” she said. “But you can stop right now. I’m not going to kiss you goodbye.”

“Sure you are,” said Dirk, with a smile, and leaned forward and kissed her anyway, pleased to soon realize she was kissing him back.

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

“Ambassador Relnic,” said Countess Wazzo, in a voice no one in the room had ever heard from her. Nervousness. Everyone in the room looked up: Relnic, Maya, Gil’Deshi, the boy Joe, and Tatiana Mallor, whose blue skin they all found fascinating. “Can you come here a moment?” she finished.

The Countess stood there with her daughter, who also looked slightly nervous, and they all found it odd how close the two of them were standing next to each other, since usually they went at great lengths to put a distance between them.

“Certainly Winema,” he said, and rose up to join them. Maya and Gil’Deshi eyed each other inquisitively.

“Tell me again,” said Joe casually, “I just find it so complicated. The U.N. has the power to invade Khundia, but because the U.N. does not fully agree on the usage of the Legion of Super-Heroes, it is essentially blocked in using them in the invasion of Khundia?”

“Correct, my friend,” said Gil’Deshi, evidently pleased with himself like a pompous college professor giving a lesson. “Which is partially the reason for the mixed support of the Legion. I, personally, do not think the organization has any merit. Putting together an army of super-powered individuals could potentially be the most catastrophic idea I’ve heard in my lifetime.”

“But you do support the Khundian invasion?”

“Yes,” said the ambassador firmly. “Some might say I’m cow-towing to political pressure, and many in your generation will think so,” he said holding up his hands although Joe offered no sign of outrage. “But in all honesty, I believe it is the right thing to do. It is not an easy decision.” Deshi was an older man, but here, for the first time since she met him, Tatiana realized he was a tired man. She did not agree with him on most things, but she did not think he was a bad man.

Joe nodded, taking it all in. Tatiana at once realized what Joe’s game was. He was playing the naïve kid role—why, she had no idea. He almost dumbing himself down for this, even though these were complicated concepts and anyone their age would have trouble understanding it all. She decided to remain quiet and watch.

Joe turned to Maya. “You’ve been a big supporter of the Legion since its inception, right Maya?”

“Of course,” she smiled widely. Maya was perhaps the most likeable of them all, and had been so since they first meant the Ambassadors weeks ago. She was also younger than most of them. The Ambassador to the U.N. from Sri Lanka, she was every bit the epitome of an idealistic politician that Tatiana and her friends could get behind. “I think it could be so much more than ‘an army’, as my fellow Ambassador puts it. The Legion could be a symbol of hope. It could stand for so much.”

Joe was smiling.

“See,” she said, “you believe that too.”

Joe nodded his head. “And you also support the Khund invasion,” he added.

“Yes. On that, I agree with my colleague here.”

Tatiana could see the wheels turning in Joe’s head. “You’re very charismatic,” he said to Maya. She nodded her thanks. “And young, and attractive, which is always important. Both Ambassadors suddenly seemed taken aback by such a comment. “You are an excellent speaker, and from Tina told me, you’ve spoken at length in support of the Legion. You speak about what you just said to me: the Legion being a symbol, of standing for so much more than war.” She was watching him closely. “But you don’t believe that,” he added.

“Young man,” said Gil’Deshi, but Maya cut him off.

“How dare you!” she said, outraged. “You are just a boy! You have no idea what I—“

“Ambassador,” said Joe, “he wants to start World War III. A war over the entire Earth—basically an Earth War. He has Khundia situated to attack; he has North Korea involved; he’s encouraged violence between Pakistan and India. We think he may have something in South America going on. The big unknown for him, is the Legion. There wasn’t supposed to be a Legion. But here it is, so he wants to send it somewhere he knows where it’ll be, and perhaps use it himself. Perhaps make it his Legion. Who knows what he intends to do? What we can know for sure, given what I’ve been told about him, is that he intends to control it. Because that’s what he does.”

“Who is he you are talking about?” asked Ambassador Gil’Deshi, shouting now. He had no idea what was going on.

Maya was silent.

“He is her Master,” said Joe, now defiantly standing tall, so for the first time, the power that he had could almost be felt across the room. Tatiana couldn’t believe what was happening. “Tell me, Maya? How can a person sell their soul and possibly destroy the human race? How can someone with so much to offer choose the path you’ve chosen? How could you possibly serve Mordru?”

Maya stared back at him, as Tatiana’s jaw dropped. Joe had figured out the U.N traitor for Mordru, and it was Maya Dahanayake.

The United Nations of Mordru
Part 2

Again, Maziah tossed and turned, the nightmares growing worse. Always, always, they would involve Nura being tormented by her father’s minions, and always with fire and other perverse means. Jacquie too would be there, and she would fare no better.

And then her father would be waiting for her.

The terror was very real, yet she still knew somehow that it was only a dream. Blok was with her, and it was only a dream.

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

Outside, Blok stood waiting for Maziah to wake up, the day now becoming night.

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

Gil’Deshi did not know what to do or what to say.

Maya, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka, who moments ago appeared to be the charismatic supporter of the Legion within the United Nations, looked back at Joe, and her face appeared to contort in front of them. Where it was beautiful moments earlier, it now looked fierce and cruel. Her brown eyes stared back at them, now shrinking and her brow creased. “Disgusting little street urchin,” she said quietly, “you are not fit to speak Mordru’s name.” Now she smiled widely.

Umbra gasped so loudly she dropped the drink she was holding.

Joe said nothing, just looking back at her.

“It pleases me that you know,” she said at last, though Joe and Tatiana doubted that. “At last, I can drop this charade.”

Now Joe smiled. “More like you’re useless to him now.”

She suddenly moved at him with stunning quickness to slap him across the face. Months—no, years—of anger built up over time unleashed itself on Joe. Joe used his ultra-speed to grab her hand before it connected with her face, and then switching to ultra-strength, he threw her backwards, onto a couch. “Its too late,” she smiled. “Your hand has already been dealt. All of you. War is coming and you have no chance.”

“Maya?” said Gil’Deshi, shocked. “Maya, what’s going on here? This isn’t you—this isn’t like you at all? Why are you so upset?”

Joe saw the rage in her and knew it wasn’t normal. There was something more going on here—Mordru was here, in this room, even if only through his agent. Mordru was giving her this aggression, and Mordu must have blackened her soul over a long period of time.

“I am a servant of a higher power,” she said to her fellow Ambassador, as the door clicked open on the other side of the room. Relnic, Winema Wazzo and Spirit were coming back. “And I have served him well.” She was grinning so widely now that Tatiana thought the sides of her mouth might slit open like cuts. Even her teeth seemed sharp and menacing. “The endgame comes now. Once more, the Dark Lord shall reign.”

“Dear God,” said Relnic, alerting them to his presence. “She looks like a woman possessed.”

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

Immediately, Maziah woke up screaming.

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

Outside, Blok felt the darkness approaching. Mordru was here, in the house once more. Instead of Etrigan the Demon, this time he had another vessel.

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

Maya turned to Relnic and screamed, the surprise of it, staggering them all in the room, and she picked up a knife—a knife where they had been eating cheese and crackers moments before—and hurled it at the Ambassador and the two Wazzo’s.

Using his speed, Joe immediately was across the room, beating the knife, and grabbed one, then two, and then yes, even three, moving them out of the way.

Before Tatiana could react, Maya turned and with her fingernails, clawed at Gil’Deshi’s throat, as if to rip it out. He staggered backwards, finally realizing the danger he was in, when Tatiana at last gained her composure and leapt on Maya’s back, trying to choke her.

But this was no longer Maya—she seemed to have strength aplenty.

“Believe me now, Anton?” said Winema to Relnic, the two evidently discussing Mordru moments earlier in the separate room.

Phasing, Spirit moved across the room, hoping to intervene with an opportune punch into Maya’s face, as Umbra, creating a ‘shadow-spear’ with her shadows, used it to hold Maya in place while she stood behind her. Ultraboy too moved across the room, switching to super-strength, hoping one punch would be enough to end this.

”You turned my own daughter against me and you will suffer for it,” said Maya, and at once they knew Maya was not alone in there.

Spirit hammered an unphased punch, knocking some sense into her, as Joe spoke “allow me,” and then adding his own. Maya fell to the ground, on the verge of unconsciousness.

“Whew,” said Umbra with a sigh, all of them in shock. “Joe just was…talking…and she started going crazy…she’s obviously the traitor…”

Maya, eyes now in the back of her head, looked up at them. She was grinning at them and laughing. She was sweating horribly, and then an odd smell started to rise. Like burning flesh.

“Is that steam?” said Winema, as the suddenly saw steam rising from Maya’s body.

And all at once, the body of Maya Dahanayake began to melt.

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

Zerox, the Secret City

With pure anger, Mordru made Maya’s body burn in front of them, grinding his hand into a fist as he did so, hoping they would feel terror beyond imagination.

His own daughter had proclaimed herself his enemy.

Across the world, his other daughter was now under the protection of his most hated and ancient enemy.

This time, his foes had gone too far. This time, they had pushed the Dark Lord too far after countless millennia. There would be a reckoning and there would be deaths.

Let some of his pieces fall then. Let war begin. The time for posturing and planning was over. The time of blood had begun.

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

Maziah didn’t realize she was crying until it stopped. She then wiped away the tears, and immediately her magic senses kicked into gear. Her father had been here—not quite, but yes, there were faint traces of it, but his presence was fading.

She could sense Blok immediately and went to join him. Opening the window, she floated down to him with a low level spell of levitation.

His presence eased her mind and she smiled to him.

“The war has begun,” he replied, and her smile drifted away.

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

“Dear God, Winema,” said Relnic, thirty minutes later, and still in shock. “What about Deshi? Is he—?”

“He’ll be alright Anton,” said an already exhausted Countess Winema Wazzo, who was at last beginning to understand some of what her daughter had been living with for weeks. “The doctors are taking care of him right now. But do you see?”

Anton turned away from the Countess, and now looked at Spirit, who was with Umbra and Ultraboy. Scrutinizing her every move, he watched her. “Yes, I think I do. I don’t know how on Earth we’re going to do anything about it, but we’re going to have to try.”

“I’ll find out where Chu is,” said Winema.

“Wait. Before you do…you’re going to have to explain this all to me again. And then again perhaps. Because if I’m going to fight this with you…I’m going to need to believe it.”

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

Later…

“Well, that takes care of convincing your mother and Anton Relnic,” said Umbra to Spirit. They were all still a little in shock.

“I told you it wasn’t your mom,” said Joe with a matter-of-fact smile.

Spirit looked at him as if to combat his cockiness, but then changed to a smile. “Yeah, you did. Thank you Joe, for your help.”

He nodded. “So I guess its on them to convince the UN and General-Secretary Chu? I wouldn’t want that job.”

“Its on Jacquie too,” said Tatiana. “I hope she’s having some luck.”

“I think it won’t matter soon,” said Tina in a voice that surprised them. “Mordru is lashing out. You saw it. I think he’s going to attack soon.”

Relativity
Part 2: Then

Meteorites are bright because they burn up in the atmosphere - most don't make it to the ground at all, and all lose a big chunk of their mass on the way down. Consquently a meteorite that didn't burn up at all would, at most, glow dully.

Which is why, when Laurel crashed to the ground, no-one noticed until the impact itself - and even that impact was muted, as she regained enough awareness to slow her descent at the last second. Ultimately, no-one batted an eyelid outside a few seismologists.

Well, almost no-one.

* * *

"So, you landed back on Earth safely, where did you go after that?" Catherine asked.

"Well, soon after I made planetfall," Laurel continued, "I ran into this guy..."

* * *

"Hello?"

Covered in soot and bits of smashed stone, Laurel looked up from the crater and saw a man in a brown overcoat staring down at her.

* * *

"Cute?"

"Honestly, I wasn't of a mind to notice at the time."

* * *

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Laurel flew up, eyes blazing red.

"Whoa, woah, hang on. I'm not going to do anything, just stay calm, okay." There was a buzzing noise as he waved something in front of her. "Obviously, you're incredibly strong and tough, and I'm... not so much... but that crash landing has taken it out of you. Just float down and calm down before you..."

The glow in Laurel's eyes suddenly petered out, followed by the rest of her as she collapsed on the edge of the crater. Straining to lift herself, she instead collapsed into complete unconsciousness. As she did, she heard one last word.

"...faint."

* * *

"Did you even notice anything about him then?"

"Mostly? The fact that he didn't shut up!"

* * *

"Finally! I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up!"

Laurel struggled to sit up. "What'd you do?"

"Me? Not a thing. Weelll, I cleaned you up a bit and did a couple of scans, but that was it. Aches, pains and strains? You've done all that to yourself. Uncontrolled crash landing through an atmosphere unprotected - not many things that would be intact let alone functional after that. You should count yourself lucky."

"I don't feel lucky. Somehow."

"Let me guess, the glass is always half-empty for you?"

* * *

"But still," she added, "he helped me feel that bit better."

* * *

"So, you said you wanted out? There's the door."

Picking herself up, Laurel saw the blue double door being pointed at. She didn't feel up to flying, so she started limping in its direction. Eventually, she reached it, and saw the crater she'd made with her crash - a huge ugly gash on the Earth. And, instead of leaving, slumped down against a pillar near the door."

The man walked over toward her and crouched down across from her. "What's wrong? Is it the pain?"

"No, not that. I just-- I just got out of a bad situation, and I'm trying to think where I can go."

He sighed and rubbed his cheekbones with his right hand. In that light, he suddenly looked almost gaunt, someone trying to put a brave face on tragedies in his past. Then, abruptly, he picked himself up, and asked in a bright voice, "Do you want to come with me?"

"Where?"

"'Where', 'when'... where'd you like to go?"

* * *

"And I went travelling with him for a while..."

* * *

"Can I just get a reality check for a minute - those are pixies outside. Real, magic pixies."

"Yep."

"And they've formed an alliance with short things from outer space, who may or may not be verde, but who certainly aren't from Mars - though just because Martians aren't short, not because there aren't Martians or they aren't green - to try and take over Alexander the Great's empire?"

"Yep."

"And we're supposed to stop them?"

"Yep."

"And you do this sort of thing all the time?"

He grinned very wide. "Yep."

"Just checking."

* * *

"Does that have anything to do with you thinking I'm your sister?"

"Yeah. Near the end, he helped me look up stuff I didn't know about my parents..."

* * *

"...FOUR Atlantises?" Laurel exclaimed as they left the ship.

"Well, they don't all CALL themselves Atlantis - in fact, there's big parts of history when none of them do - but--"

Laurel cut him off, "Wait...". She looked around again to confirm what she thought she'd seen. "I know this place. I lived here when I was a young kid, before we moved to Rock Reef Point." She stared at her travelling companion. "What's going on? Why here?"

Her friend's face was suddenly sombre, "Look over there." He nodded his head toward a figure inside a grocery shop.

Laurel used her telescopic vision to look closely at the person he indicated. She did look familiar, but-- Then it hit her, and she cursed herself for not recognising her straight away. Young, yes, but unmistakable.

"Mum..."

She tensed, as if to run after her, but her friend put his hand on her shoulder. "Wait. Not like that - this is years before you were born, let alone grown up. She'd think you were looney."

Turning in anger toward him, she hissed "Then why? Why bring me here if I can't even talk to her?"

"Oh, you can talk to her, and you will. [i]Without any 'I'm your super-powered daughter from the future' information."

"Then WHAT am I supposed to say?"

He looked at her, straight in the eyes, and said "Goodbye."

She slapped him - not hard enough to remove his head from his shoulders or break his jaw, just enough to knock him over - and stormed away in the direction of her youthful mother. In turn, he simply picked himself up and leaned against his ship to watch as...

...she walked straight into her mother as she left the shop. "I'm sorry," she reflexively said, surreptuously switching to X-ray vision to make sure she'd done no serious damage and being shocked back to normal vision by what she saw.

"It's okay, no harm done," her youthful mother smiled. "Are you okay? You look a bit pale."

"No, I'm fine." Laurel said in a daze. "Sorry to cause trouble."

"It's no problem. Bye."

"Goodbye..." Suddenly, Laurel realised she'd said exactly what her friend had told her to say - but while she winced briefly, her brain was occupied more firmly with the piece of information that had come from her X-ray scan.

She stormed back to the ship, pushing straight in rather than stopping to talk outside. Once they were in, she had something she needed to know.

"I thought you said this was years before I was born!"

"It is!" He pulled down the monitor. "Five years, three months and six days before."

"SO HOW CAN SHE BE PREGNANT?! You must have got your dates wrong again."

Visibly startled, all he said was "No, look." He pointed at the screen.

"But... but, I saw my foetus!"

He shook his head. "You saw *A* foetus. She could have miscarried, or..."

"Or I could have a older brother or sister out there?"

He swallowed. "Yeah."[/i]

* * *

"...and that alerted me to the fact you existed! Before that, I never even knew I *had* a sister. After that, we spent ages tracking down what had happened - finding out that she did carry you to term, that you were given up for adoption, that - unlike me after they died - you WERE adopted. Then the trail nearly ran cold where you moved from Canada to the US. I only found you were here about a month ago. Then we had to say our goodbyes..."

* * *

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"You know what."

"Do I know what?"

"Of course you know what."

"In what course do I know what?"

"You know fine well wha--" Suddenly, while she was still talking, he couldn't keep a straight face any longer and broke into peals of laughter. Moments later, she joined in.

Once the giggles had subsided, they sat at the door of the ship, facing the red setting sun.

"Seriously, thanks for helping me get my head together. I feel so much better."

"You'd just made a crater ten feet deep. Feeling better than that isn't much of a compliment!"

She play-punched his arm, and picked herself up. "I'd better get going before we spend all night at this."

"Again."

"Yes, again." She smiled. "Thanks Doctor, for everything." Then she stepped back and waved. He grinned one last time, nodded back and shut the door. Moments later, in a wheezing, groaning noise, the ship vanished into nothingness, and she picked up her bag, and walked past the "WELCOME TO CATHINGHAM" sign.

* * *

"...after that, I got lucky, and managed to find an apartment & a job. It took me a while to pluck up the courage to actually call you though."

"Well, you called me now." Catherine looked up to the sky, and Laurel suddenly had one last moment of panic she wouldn't believe her. She'd held back the details, time-travelling, meeting her mother and so forth, to make it ever so slightly more plausible - but had she lost her? Then Catherine said "We better get back - I've got work in the morning." Then she grinned widely - "Race you?"

Suddenly, a knot in Laurel's stomach that she hadn't even realised was there vanished. Trying not to sigh with relief, she replied, "I thought you admitted I could outfly you?"

"Only on the turns. I bet I could outdo you in a straight line."

Laurel's better judgement flashed a 'WARNING, WARNING'. She ignored it. "Back to where we took off?"

"Ready... steady..."

"GO!"

The Mustering of the Legion

Manhattan, New York City, NY
247 Weisenger Street, a small side street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in Midtown. Home of the Legion of Super-Heroes

Cosmic Boy was in his office, not sitting, but standing up, looking at some of the various files and papers scattered along a shelf near his main desk. He was thinking on his feet, while Gene sat in the chair opposite his desk.

The two of them were enjoying a rare meeting together where they were not completely differing on opinion and Cos certainly did not want to break the. The main topic was who would go on which mission, now that the team would almost all be back in one place (two long-missing Legionnaires notwithstanding), Kinetix, Blizzard and the rest of their squad had returned.

It was at this moment that the intercom function on Cosmic Boy’s phone beeped and the voice of RJ Brande’s administrative assistant came through. “Cosmic Boy, I’ve got RJ on the line. Can I put him through?”

“Go ahead Caitlin,” replied Cos almost automatically, although he immediately wondered why RJ Brande would be interrupting him. He was very close with RJ, as all the founders were, but RJ typically didn’t bother Cos in the middle of the day over the phone and simply stopped by his office to see how he was doing (visits that Cos welcomed). As soon as RJ came on, Cos immediately said “Mr. Brande, I’ve got Leviathan in my office with me,” to cut off any possible embarrassing slips the tycoon might make, and though Gene would never believe it, to prevent Gene from feeling embarrassed too. Gene simply had a suspicious twinge in his gut over this.

“Good, good,” said RJ’s voice over the speaker. He had a familiar sound in his voice which indicated he had multitudes of things going on at once, and was handling each one efficiently at the same time. “He was who I was going to call next anyway,” he added, and now Gene sat-up and took notice. Gene was by no means close with RJ Brande, so that meant this was Legion-related. Gene loathed the fact that RJ Brande still had such a firm grasp on power in the current Legion bureaucratic structure. “I hate to bother you lad, but would it be possible to come on up to my office?”

Cos didn’t miss a beat though now he was curious too: “No problem RJ, would it be alright if I came up after this meeting? We’re just about finished…”

“Actually lad, if you came up now that would be best. Might as well get to this as soon as possible. If Gene came up with you that would be great.”

Gene eyed Cos as if to ask him why so urgent?, but Cos gave him a look as if to say obviously I know as little as you do. “Sure,” he began again, “any hints as to what this is all about? It certainly feels mysterious,” he added with a smile, in a half-joking voice.

“All will be revealed,” laughed RJ, and then deadly serious, “you might as well have Tela come with you, and Dreamer as well. Anyone else is entirely up to you.”

Gene began to speak but Cos held out a hand. “Will do,” he said and hung up. Now they both were beyond curious. Gene began to voice his annoyance at Cos hanging up the phone when Cos simply said “well, might as well stop wasting time over the speaker and get on up there, right? I know you’ve got to be as curious as I am.”

That was enough to satisfy Gene and they began to move. Tela, Gene could understand, since he couldn’t deny Tela was definitely a leader on this Legion team, and the others all looked at her that way. But Dreamer? Ugh. He knew RJ Brande had an interest in her—everyone knew that by now, but he could hardly understand why.

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

In RJ Brande’s large conference room, he sat smiling in his chair at the head of the table, while Marla Latham sat in the chair to his right, also smiling. These two obviously old friends were enjoying each other’s company, though Jacquie secretly wondered if the oncoming immense awkwardness was heightening their good mood.

Sensor, Valor, Nemesis and Ferro stood up farther along the right, semi-behind Marla, none of them sipping their sodas or waters. Jacquie could tell they were all nervous; except Val, who should be the most nervous of them all. After all, the Legionnaires would most definitely not be happy with him simply returning like this after all this time.

Jacquie didn’t like the way they arrived. Marla Latham brought them to New York and then RJ Brande had a limousine pick them up and bring them directly here. Rather than have them announce themselves to the Legion proper, she felt like RJ was ambushing the Legionnaires this way by having them already in their building.

Ferro shifted his weight and Nemesis pretended to look at the paintings on the wall. Val smiled at her.

The door opened, and Cosmic Boy stepped in, looking up and then his eyes going wide, as he saw the others in the room, with his eyes at last focusing on Val. Before anyone could speak, Gene entered next and spoke for them: “NOT A CHANCE--!” he began.

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

Gene started to yell without a single word of introduction and immediately Cosmic Boy turned to shut him up. Jacquie could hear giggling—yes, giggling!!!—from Marla Latham and RJ Brande, who were trying to hide their amusement.

“Uh, nice to meet you too…?” said Ferro half-jokingly.

Nemesis was immediately enraged and Jacquie could see that. Val simply kept looking at Gene, taking the tongue lashing.

Another person stepped into the room and all at once, she recognized Jacquie. Jacquie recognized her. Irma.

Irma, who she had known all her life—across oceans, via their telepathic bond. Irma, who she never had met face to face.

Irma’s surprise turned to a big smile and she walked forward. “Jacquie?” she said, and walking forward she extended her arms and gave her a hug.

“Hello, Irma,” said the Princess, and hugged her back. At one point in life, Irma was sure she didn’t like Jacquie very much because she thought Jacquie was hiding something. It was an odd feeling that never went away. Suddenly, that feeling seemed to melt away.

All at once both girls felt a second pair of arms around them, and Jacquie looked up to see Dreamer hugging them too. “I told you she was coming,” said Nura, who was smiling widely. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this Jacquie,” Nura added, as Jacquie felt tears running down her cheeks. Both Nura and Irma were misty-eyed too.

“I’ve come a long way,” said Jacquie in an exhausted voice. They knew it already—Nura had dreamt it and told Irma. The three just stood there, all -eyed and smiling, as the room stayed quiet. Even Gene watched in disbelief, and a crowd of other Legionnaires stood in the doorway looking in: Livewire, Catalyst, Shrinking Violet, Element Lad and Invisible Kid.

“By damn,” said RJ in almost a whisper, in awe of this years old telepathic circle of friends.

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

“Now before we begin introductions,” said RJ, speaking up loudly “I owe you Legionnaires an apology for springing this on you. But allow an old man, albeit one who owns this building, to use some of the tricks up his sleeve,” he smiled.

Cos, seeing the genuine happiness on Irma’s face, felt he could allow Mr. Brande that much.

“Hello everyone,” said Val with a smile, with Lyle and Nura smiling back widely, as if to say thank you in reference to the anger Gene was obviously feeling. “Its good to be home,” Val added.

“Home?” said Gene, almost rising.

“Oh Gene, cut it out,” said Garth finally, now that all the other Legionnaires had entered the room. Livewire was still healing from his recent kidnapping by his brothers Mekt, and his temper was getting more and more of a hair-trigger.

Gene turned to argue with Garth, but Cos spoke up before it could go any further. “Val, you do owe us a huge explanation. Do you realize how much trouble you’re in? How much trouble you got us in?”

“I thought you’d be able to handle it, Cos,” he said honestly and without smiling. “Because I think when I stayed behind it was the right decision. And you’ll have your explanation shortly. Only it won’t come from me,” he added, looking at Jacquie.

They all turned to look at Jacquie and take her in. She was regal, and it showed now more than ever, even to Hasim who had known her longest. She was tall and beautiful, but there was that sense of stature and regality about her that not even Tina had. She had a presence.

“First, however, let me make some introductions,” said Val. “This is Ferro, and Nemesis,” he said, opening his hand to present his two companions. “And this is Sensor, Princess Jacqueline Proiectra of Moldavia.”

“You have codenames too?” said Lyle surprised.

“I told you!” said Catalyst smiling, “I bet they all have them now.”

“Shh,” said Violet to Condo with a smile. She knew it was Condo’s idea to encourage Ten Zil to come up with codenames for them.

“I can’t help it if I’m awesome…” he whispered back.

“And these are the Legionnaires,” he said to Ferro, Nemesis and Sensor, and then presented them each: “Tela and Dreamer, Jacquie knows; this is also Leviathan, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Catalyst and Shrinking Violet, whom Hasim and Jacquie met; here is Livewire and this is Cosmic Boy, our Legion leader,” he finished, and the fact that he mentioned Cos as the leader rather than both he and Gene was plain: he offered no apology to Gene at all for what he’d done, and would lay it completely at Cos’ feet to proscribe his punishment.

“Well,” said Cos, and they all turned to him immediately, and RJ Brande secretly felt a burst of pride at how Cos’s mere presence in the room designated him as the leader, “its obvious that the Princess knows some of our members, and I have to say, that all makes more sense now,” he added, realizing how even though Irma had explained this to him before he didn’t quite grasp the extent of that friendship. “Even though there’s been some communication between the Legion and you all, exactly who you all are is still a bit of a mystery to us,” he said.

“That I can explain, and will,” said Jacquie, now speaking. “Through a series of unique circumstances, a group of us, in Europe, Asia and Africa have been brought together. The tale is a long one, with many parts, and most of my friends are not with me.”

“And Tina?” asked Garth.

“She is not with me either, but is still in Europe with those same friends.” There was a sense of being let down at that comment, but Jacquie continued on nonetheless. “Two others were with me throughout this time, who Nura and Irma know very well. Tatiana Mallor,” she said, and both Irma and Nura smiled at her name, “and Nura’s sister, Maziah, whom I feel so much will depend when the war finally comes.” Jacquie emphasized the use of the word war harshly to make them notice it, and they all did.

“War?” said Element Lad, surprised, and looking around at the others.

“Yes, war. For the war is coming, and now its coming far sooner than anyone thought.”

“Who is this war going to be with?” asked Gene not believing it.

“With Nura’s father,” she said, looking at her friend. They all grew silent. “Which is why I’ve come to you now, even though not that long ago we parted ways with Sally and Condo. The war is coming, and we’re going to need the Legion’s help.”

Tela turned to look at Cosmic Boy, wondering what he was thinking, and now all of the Legionnaires began to turn, as well as Jacquie and the others. Finally, Gene turned to Cos unsure of what to say. Cosmic Boy nodded: “You better start at the beginning.”

And Jacquie eloquently told their tale.

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

The tale was the long version, and Jacquie left nothing out. Eventually, they all would sit in the open chairs available. RJ Brande and Marla would be the ones to actually get up and get refreshments and drinks for them.

Ferro pulled the hood down from his sweatshirt farther over his face, conscious they would see it and be disgusted. Condo smiled at him, warmly, aware of what Ferro was doing as if to tell him they would not be.

Nemesis grew bored after awhile. Val noted he seemed unable to stop posturing slightly, as if to let them know he was dangerous.

Cosmic Boy listened intently and most of them did the same. Valor remained by Jacquie’s side providing occasional comments and mainly lending her strength. Lyle, ever the detective, immediately realized there was more going on there than that. “Val returned with a Princess girlfriend,” he later whisper to Condo.

Hearing the tale was a tremendous relief for Nura and Irma, who at last gained the entire full story about what had happened to their circle of friends. In the early parts of it, Jacquie offered the same apology she once offered to Tatiana, apologizing for her deception and for what happened to Sara. Both forgave her, and Irma felt even more relief for her old feelings of doubt, though all three reflected that something would have to be done in regards to Sara. Livewire added with disgust “yeah, she killed the entire flight of Oceanic 823,” which really put it into perspective.

Cosmic Boy listened intently and though it was far-fetched, he knew that Irma believed, and that helped him believe it too. Violet and Condo felt somewhat vindicated by his apparent belief of the tale, though they wondered if that would be enough for Cos to let Val off the hook (if it was even up to him). In truth, Cos realized trying to convince anyone of this story, especially the United Nations and Secretary-General Chu, would be close to impossible. But he didn’t interrupt with these comments, letting Jacquie finish her tale.

Jacquie began to feel a tremendous weight being lifted off her as she finished the tale, explaining their confrontation with Mordru and the horror he put them through. When it came time, she purposely ended her tale by highlighting the fact that Spirit, Nura’s sister Maziah, and their other friends, were still in a very real danger, on the front lines of this secret war with Mordru that at last threatened to become a full-on World War III.

When she was finished, she exhaled deeply and had a glass of water, and Val put his hand on her own. Hasim looked away at this, and Lyle, again ever the detective, took notice.

They were all quiet, actually exhausted by hearing it all, and RJ was smiling to Marla, the two largely forgotten among them.

Gene spoke up. “I’m really not sure what we could possibly do about a…Dark Lord in the Middle East…the UN would probably think we’re crazy…”

“I believe you,” said Element Lad to Jacquie suddenly, and most of them turned to him, because it was an odd comment to make. He repeated himself: “I believe you Princess. You should know that,” he smiled.

She smiled back, because it was what she most desperately wanted to hear, whether she knew it or not.

“You’ll need a place to stay,” said Cos, “which will be a bureaucratic nightmare, but before anyone could even get around to objecting it would probably be a non-issue,” he added. “You can stay here for a time, then.”

Condo and Vi smiled at each other, while Gene appeared to begin to object but held his tongue for the moment.

“I’m not sure how to proceed from here,” said Jacquie at last returning to her most pressing concern.

“We’ll figure that out, Jacquie,” said Nura to her assuringly. “I don’t think any of us knows.”

“And we’ll have to talk later, Val,” said Cos, knowing no hard and fast decisions could be made on his membership.

“If you guys don’t want Val as a member of your Legion,” said Ferro, speaking for the first time, “then you’re all crazy.” Val nodded at him with a gesture of thanks.

All of the Legionnaires—each one of them trained by Valor in martial combat—realized that was probably true. After all, Val had been intimate with just about all of them in that regard.

“Where’s the rest of your team?” asked Hasim, suddenly, he too speaking for the first time. “I thought there were close to twenty of you.”

“There are,” said Livewire, “and you’ll probably meet them by the end of the night when they hear Val is back. You’ll regret meeting at least one of them…” he said and if on cue, a robot ship suddenly flew into the room.

“Weeee! The karate kid is back!!! With friends!!! What fun!!” Quislet joined them, officially putting to end the first meeting between Val’s first team and his second. “You should all join the Legion!!” he added, and that comment was heard by all.

RJ Brande walked over to Cos. “It’s a lot to think about, lad,” he said. “And you have time.” Now he looked into his eyes. “But you don’t have that much time.”

“You believe it all Mr. Brande?” he asked.

“Oh yes.”

“And it’s up to us to do something about it?”

“I’m afraid so, lad. And it will be difficult.”

The Horn

Vienna, Austria: Castle Wazzo

In the courtyards of Castle Wazzo, where the young sentinels of magic began to think in terms of ‘Blok’s place’, the creature known as Blok once more stood, patiently thinking to himself and waiting for the next phase of the road towards the showdown with Mordru. The winter air was brisk, as usual, but in Blok’s presence, the harshness of it seemed to die down.

By his side was Maziah, who looked up at him with wide, brilliantly hazel eyes. She had proclaimed herself against Mordru, and in doing so, had crossed a magic line that there was no going back from. She was his enemy now, and that could not be reversed, and she knew it pained her father greatly. But she felt no remorse in giving him that pain, knowing for many years now the cruelty that was inherent in her father. The proclamation also brought a power to Maziah. Words held tremendous power in the world of magic where she had both feet firmly planted since her earliest memories. Magically, she had also crossed a line; and the magic as much a part of her as the blood flowing in her veins had grown and become something different. She had become less like her father, Mordru, and grown more into something new. Herself. One could not see Blok smile usually, but inside he truly was, for Maziah continued to be less Mordru’s daughter, and more the White Witch.

She looked at him and despite all of this—despite knowing that war was on the horizon and would come calling soon, bringing with it tremendous sacrifice and sadness—despite all of this, she smiled. Because in her heart she loved Blok. She loved him as a mentor, and she loved him in a way she was unable to define. Because in the farthest recesses of her heart and mind, she loved him like a father.

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”You are smiling Maziah, though I fear there will be little to smile about in the days ahead”</font f>

“I have always smiled at the most inopportune times,” she replied, “and my sister Nura once thought it odd how little I smile when she thought it was more appropriate. But I smile now, Blok, because I’m reminded that I owe you a song. I promised I would sing for you again, and mayhap the time has at last been presented to us when I can.”

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”I regret Maziah, that this is not the time,”</font f> he said and there was real sadness in his voice. Had this creature, who had existed for over one hundred thousand years, ever known another bond like this? He had friendships over the years, and allies. Almost all long gone, save one. But never this bond, as he did now. Though he never considered himself to be classified among the other living things, he considered the fact that he felt something entirely new after all this time. He believed that like many other signs in recent memory, this was another reason to think that perhaps this time, this war, could be different in the eons old struggle with Mordru.

Now they heard footsteps and turned, to see two figures approaching. It was Spirit, and with her walking in unison was her mother, the Countess Winema Wazzo. It was odd to see them walking together so calmly and so naturally by each other’s side, but Maziah knew that when it felt like all the world was against you, it was then that you realized who you could truly count on. And despite all the major differences of mind between Winema Wazzo and her daughter, Tina could count on her when it mattered. They joined them.

“I should have known there was more to both of you when you first entered my home,” the Countess said to Maziah and Blok. “But perhaps I simply chose not to see it. Certainly, I did not want to see it.”

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”What matters is that you see it now, Queen.”</font f> said Blok, and with that last word, Blok brought a smile to Winema’s face that was gradual and genuine, and deep within her heart, Winema felt his warmth too.

“I have not been a great teacher to my daughter,” she continued, “and though she wields the magic, same as I do, I have never given her the proper rituals or lessons. Most of what she knows, she has learned completely on her own.” She said this with some regret, though there was also a sense of pride in her voice.

Tina suddenly felt a hot sensation on her cheek and realized it was a single tear running out of her eyes. She had never once in her life felt like her mother was proud of her until now.

“Tina is strong,” said Maziah, and although Maziah was younger than Tina by two years, this mattered. Because though she was young, Maziah was much older than almost all magic-users in all the world in a way that mattered most now—in the way of magic. “Like Jacquie and Tatiana, she has great magic ability, but with limitations placed on that magic. I have no doubt all three will one day reach the full depth of ability allotted to them.”

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”Maziah has had many trials and has taken many steps on her path. To look far into the future, you can see she will have many more steps to one day take.”</font f>

Winema looked tired but with that tiredness there was an odd honesty and frankness in her words. “I can feel it in her. She will be the greatest of all of us. All of us who live…perhaps all of us who ever live.” Tina looked at Maziah as if in a new light. She always understood her power, but perhaps never its scope.

<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">”Yet the very one who gave her life would never allow that. For even the things he loved most in this world he never allowed to be his equal. In order for Maziah to travel down this path, she must first destroy the obstacle blocking it. And in doing so, she must correct a major wrong that has been done to this world. Magic, as you call the indefinable, was corrupted long ago, polluted by Mordru. Maziah may one day restore it to what it once was. She may make it white again.”</font f>

Maziah said nothing, but Tina spoke at last. “But first we have to destroy Mordru,” she said, completing the train of thought, though it was unnecessary.

“The magic community is very small,” said Winema, “and most users hardly ever meet another in their lifetimes. It is fractured and split, and mainly because of Mordru, many fear to even immerse themselves in the possibility of learning more about others. But there are some who travel between circles, who make it their business to know the players.”

“I have met some,” said Maziah, recalling her various meetings with people both before and after the fateful day she met Jacquie, Dirk, Blok and Mon-El.

“<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">Now you must meet some more. For they are aware of what lies ahead of you and they are aware of the lack of time. If there were many years, there would be training and there would be lessons. There would be wisdom they could part on you. There would be gifts, and they would teach you new spells. They would teach you old tricks. They would give you names, and events, and they would try to help you. But in that time you would be taught fear. Anxiety. Anger. You would cry for vengeance for violations long since prosecuted. You would weep for heroes long since departed, whom you are now completely unaware. And all of that would stain you. No. That would be the wrong way. That would be the old way, and that would be the wrong way. You must always be who you are and travel your own path now. You have the capability to defeat Mordru already. Now you must simply believe. So you will meet only one more before you go on your path, and the three of us will be here to provide you strength.”</font f>

Maziah was nervous, but she nodded. She was ready. Because she had to be.

They grew quiet now, and Tina looked at Maziah and her eyes offered the White Witch empathy and support. Maziah sensed it and silently was thankful. The Countess offered her the strength of the stranger, something oddly refreshing when given. And Blok offered her his love, and the love of the planet, and it was divine.

And at once, it began to grow dark, and then darker still. And soon Maziah could no longer feel either of the three, and could only see the darkness for as far as the eye could see, even when she looked at her feet. Now the nervousness went away, and she stood strait, preparing for what lied ahead.

Not far off she saw a streetlight. It was an old-fashioned kind, out of an old black and white movie. Leaning against it with his back was a man, in an old trenchcoat, and on his hat was a fedora. She walked over and he looked up and his face was a shadow, until at last it began to reveal itself, and she saw a face smiling at her. “Hile, White Witch,” he said. “I am called Dr. Occult, and I am no teacher, no mentor nor any guardian. But I can be a friend, if you’ll have me. I can certainly be an ally.”

Maziah looked back and nodded, even bowing before him in her white robes and dress. “I will accept friendship and offer it in kind.”

He nodded. “I accept as well.” He walked forward now. “There is much you know, of your father, of magic and of the great histories of the world. All of this you can know more and you shall one day. But I will not help you uncover those mysteries. What I shall tell you is this: in magic all things come at a price, and in magic, that price must always be paid, often with interest.”

“This I hear well, Dr. Occult. This I have always known.”

“In your body and soul Maziah, you have tremendous power. You have always known this?”

She was silent for awhile, almost embarrassed. At last she answered: “I have.”

“Like your father, you possess the true power of Ekron. Do you understand the full extent of his power. The Order he would exert on the world?”

“I do”

“You recognize his power and you recognize your own. Together, what power would that be?”

“It would…” she began to say and faltered. “It would be…little.”

“Yes,” said Dr. Occult, “because from your earliest days, all in your father’s court recognized you for what you were. Pure. You had the old power of Ekron, you had the white. But your father would have corrupted it. His influence would have diluted the way, and you would only be gray. You would only be a fraction of what you could be, and ultimately, you would fade away, absent of any color at all, instead of all colors, like the white.”

“I believe I have always known this. They called me the White Witch in my youth. I always thought I didn’t know why, but I think I always knew.”

“You recognize his power and you recognize your own,” he repeated. “Now you have proclaimed your allegiance against him, and in magic, such words hold true meaning. You have proclaimed your allegiance to the white, while he remains black, devoid of all color, an umbrella of order shielding the world from the rains of life and love.”

“I am my father’s enemy,” she said, both with sadness and a sense of liberation.

“And do you believe your power is greater than his?”

“I..”

“Do you believe, Maziah?”

“I believe it could be—“

“No! You must believe! Maziah, you must believe in your own power.”

“In my heart, I know my power is greater. But he has had millennia. He is the Dark Lord. I am still his daughter, young and untested…”

Dr. Occult’s voice grew softer. “You are still pure and untainted. And he has had millennia. Millennia of doubts and fears, millennia of miscalculations and mistakes. Your power is greater, but only if you believe it to be.”

“I do believe, I do,” she said, and in her heart, she did. “But he—“

“The price, Maziah,” said Dr. Occult, “the price is belief. Willpower. Your belief must be strong and you must be willing to pay it, and to collect it.”

“I will be,” she said, “and so will he.”

“Yes, he will,” said Dr. Occult, “but you give him too much credit. He is not a man; he is an Ekronian, but they too were consumed with the same desires and fears of humans. They too delighted in belief and suffered in doubt. His entire long life, void of any children, secure in his place as the apex-predator of this world. Then behold, a change! Your sister came into this world and everything changed. Everything in the world changed!! Humanity once more kick-started its evolution, once more strong, and Mordru’s hold over it weakened. And then came you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Humanity once more evolved. As did magic.”

“Magic?”

“Your coming yielded the change. Your sister broke more than one spell the day she was born. Mordru had no children for over one hundred thousand years and the first changed the world. The second changed magic, and changed Mordru. In his heart, Mordru knows this. Magic changed and he was no longer its supreme master. Now he suffers in doubt and fear, and its been so long since he felt these feelings he hardly realizes they are there. But they are.”

“But he is Mordru,” she said, almost trying to convince him.

“He is,” said Dr. Occult. “And you must believe in your supremacy over him, and must remind him of that too. And if he falters, and you stay strong, and then all can be won.”

Maziah now felt the tremendous weight of the world upon her shoulders, moreso than ever before. And in her heart for the first time, she realized what she must do.

“I will be there with you child, in the end. As would some friends, if you’ll allow us.”

“I would like that,” she said.

All was quiet, and then Dr. Occult turned and another figure walked out into the light of the street lamp. Maziah had not meant him before, but recognized him from her friend’s description. It was Jason Blood.

“The Demon and I have reached an agreement,” said Blood. “And have straitened out the terms. We shall work together, for once, to destroy Mordru. Therefore, we can come to you now, White Witch, and pledge our allegiance in this endeavor, promising there will be no betrayal or ill intentions towards you or your allies, as there once was before. All that matters to both of us is that Mordru should fall. For Etrigan has revenge in his heart and it is a lie to say I feel differently.”

Maziah was hesitant towards Jason Blood, whom she did not trust at all. But she understood the rules of magic and knew that with this pledge, neither Blood nor Etrigan could break it if they fought in the upcoming war. “I’ll accept,” she said, recalling Dr. Occult’s words well and knowing he would offer no guidance on this matter.

Dr. Occult nodded. “When it matters, we will be there. Until then, I offer you this token of allegiance,” he said, and handed her a bundle wrapped in cloth. “With it comes no binding of obligation or payment.”

She took it and unwrapped it. It was a beautifully crafted horn, made of ivory with gold embroidery and a gold tip where the mouth was.

“It is an ancient item and its own history has many chapters, where many heroes wielded it. Mordru has corrupted many great cities and lands, and his evil influence will forever be a stain on this Earth even after his downfall. It shall be stain of corruption on magic itself. Know that with this horn, which was first blown in Ekron long ago, and once used by both Charlemagne and then Thor, it can blast away that evil, and clean the land and clean the magic of Mordru’s influence. Should Mordru ever be defeated, use this horn with both hope and love in your heart, and your pure influence will be able to wipe away Mordru’s memory.” Dr. Occult now smiled. “Should the day come when I hear that horn—when we, all of us, hear that horn, many of us can at last smile once more, and perhaps some of us can at last rest.”

Maziah took the horn as her own, accepting it. She understood in her heart all that had been told to her, and now stepped backwards, this meeting at an end. “Hile Dr. Occult and Jason Blood,” she said in a loud voice. “When next we meet, it shall be in prelude to the final battle.”

“Fare thee well,” said Occult and at once the darkness began to clear.

Shortly the world came back into focus, and Countess Winema Wazzo, Spirit and Blok were still around in her in a circle/triangle, with her in the center, all of them holding hands. In her hands was the horn.

Maziah looked at them all and smiled subtly, but said nothing. She felt neither anxiety nor nervousness, but suddenly a longing that all of this should finally come to pass and she could at last be free of this battle. But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and promised herself to be patient, for the battle was now very close.

The Validus Project
Part 1

“I’m not sure it’s the best idea, and I know Gene will immediately hate it; if for no other reason than he always take an immediate dislike to any new faces around here,” said Cos, whose tone of voice made Irma think he was asking her to convince him.

She smiled, and was immediately glad that Gene, and no one for that matter, was with them. “Okay,” she said, “first, there were over 100 people who died when Oceanic Flight 823 crashed in Brazil, and we’ve just had it confirmed for us that those were not accidental deaths—they were murder. You have to agree with me, Cos, that justice is deserved here and this is a Legion mission. We need to follow-up on this Emerald Empress, and Val made it clear it seemed like she had some sort of home base going on there.”

Cos tilted his head to the side in agreement. He smiled. “That’s the argument I’m going to give Gene and our ever-inquiring United Nation’s bureaucrat when you finally convince. But keep going.”

“Well,” said Irma now smiling more widely and remembering once more why she considered Cos to be the only real candidate for Legion leader, “Nura and I have known Jacquie for a long time, but we’ve never met her. This will give us a chance to finally spend some time with her, and accomplish something at the same time. She obviously feels responsible for Sara, and it’ll help her and help us. You might not understand this…but we have a real connection, the three of us…and some others. Its important to me.”

Cos put his hand on Tela’s shoulder. “That is an argument I can’t use,” he said softly, “but one I understand. RJ seems to think this little connection you all share is immensely important too, by the way,” he added. “But I can’t just have you take all of these people we hardly know with you…”

“I know. I’ll just take Jacquie. Although maybe it’ll be better to take more than one of them and see how they are in the field…”

“Val can’t go, that’s for sure. Gene and I will have to meet with him.”

“What are you going to decide Cos?”

“I’m not sure its going to be much of my decision. Our UN bureaucrat friend, Metternich, will probably have to weigh in, and then who knows who he has to go through.” Cosmic Boy referred to the confusing United Nations bureaucracy the Legion was answerable to, that still was difficult to navigate all these months later.

“But you know if you can push for Val, you could help.”

“Irma—“

“I’m not saying I want you to. We both know Condo, Vi and Lyle do, but I’m with you on this. I’m not thrilled Tina and Val just took off, leaving us behind. But now that he’s come back with Jacquie and the others, and with this huge problem, well…”

“Yeah,” replied Cos, “I kind of see his point too. We’ll see.”

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

Three hours later, though they still barely comprehended the enormity of the Legion of Super-Heroes and had even met all of its members, Sensor and Ferro found themselves part of their first Legion mission, even though they weren’t members of the Legion yet. And therefore would be in their first bit of trouble when word got up the bureaucratic chain that they had tagged along.

With them were Tela and Dreamer, Sensor’s two longtime friends, who enjoyed instant camaraderie with her and once more traded stories about the last year of their lives. Soon, they started to talk about things other than “work”, including their current fashion sense (Jacquie, like Irma, being completely shocked at Nura’s bold and sexy attire) and eventually boys—specifically Garth and Irma and now Val and Jacquie.

Element Lad, happy to be out on a mission after often feeling generally left out, was also with them, and Ferro noted his generally quiet and observant personality. There was something calm about him, and at ease. Ferro thought it might be because of his immense powers, which apparently were so incredible that he barely could understand how they worked.

Last with them was Invisible Kid, whom Ferro liked immediately. Smart, witty and obviously someone always ten steps ahead of everyone else, he seemed welcoming immediately. He also seemed to have gotten the entire story of their stay in San Francisco out of Andy, when Andy was normally pretty quiet.

Perhaps Andy’s sudden talkativeness was due to the fact that he now had on a thin metal mask covering face. After spending the last day with his hood up, his deformed features became increasingly a beacon of anxiety to the point where he really just wanted to leave the Legion’s home. All throughout their trip, Jacquie and Val tried to make him feel at ease about his face, and he felt they actually didn’t care. But there was always Hasim with an unkind word or insult. Now with so many new people, he felt like he did in Suicide Slum growing up—on the verge of being the butt of some joke. Val must have mentioned it to Lyle, who tried to tell him not to worry, until at last Andy had convinced Lyle the only way stop worrying was if he covered his face up. Not long after, Lyle, with the help of some Legionnaire he’d yet to meet named ‘Brainy’, had fastened him with this thin metal mask that actually went along nicely with his powers. Lyle appeared to feel guilty when he presented it to Ferro, but Andy was honestly so delighted and thankful that it seemed to mitigate it.

The best part, though, was that Andy was able to use a spare uniform—colorless though it was, with a standard white and blue color-scheme (the Legionnaires had much more diverse ‘costumes’), he still felt great using it. With that and the mask, he couldn’t resist an opportunity to play super-hero this one time. That, combined with the fact that he couldn’t deny wanting to get away from so many people for a bit, led to him insisting he come with Jacquie on this mission.

Jacquie had a similar costume, though obviously fit for a girl, with a top similar to Nura’s halter top, it also had her long flowing cape, which she still managed to have on her after all the travel they had done. She also had on gloves that went up to her mid-arm.

Element Lad looked around at all of them, and spoke out loud, as if to himself. “Its changing…all of it,” he said.

“What’s changing, Jan?” asked Lyle curiously.

“The Legion. The world, really.”

Up ahead of them, Jacquie basked in the presence of her two friends. “It’s what I’m most concerned about really. That no one will believe me.”

“I believe you Jacqie,” said Irma, “and when it comes down to it, I can convince Cos if you haven’t already. Then it’ll really be up to him.”

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

“Valor,” began Leviathan in his most formal voice, “you abandoned your post, went on a mission into foreign countries without authorization and then refused to return to headquarters for weeks. Not only did you not have clearance, but you were clearly seen throughout the world’s media and did not once mention that you were not on formal Legion business, which incidentally implies that you are. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Next to him was Cosmic Boy, who said nothing. Valor chose to stand in front of them, leaving Cos to wonder if this was a show of endurance against Gene’s questioning.

In the corner was RJ Brande, who had somehow convinced the UN and SHIELD that he should be there. Next to him was Basil Metternich, the half-English, half-German employee of the United Nations, whom had somehow gradually become the UN bureaucrat increasingly in charge of all things Legion. Cos suspected he had set that up himself, as he seemed to be one of Secretary-General Chu’s favorites. Still, Cos was glad that there was one person emerging as the ‘go-to person’ for these matters, rather than the typical hodge-podge of three to five various people they had to go to, each one not sure who they were reporting to or who should be reporting to them.

Mr. Brande seemed annoyed with Gene’s line of questioning, but then again, he seemed to find the entire process annoying. Metternich seemed equally annoyed, but it was obvious that it was Gene’s phrasing of the question that was annoying. Cos figured Metternich, who Cos knew was extremely well-spoken and able to choose his words with precision, thought Gene was botching the entire process with his questioning. Cos figured Metternich was right then, because Gene certainly had never served in this administrative capacity before and it was showing.

“I say,” said Val at last, “that it was for the good of the Legion, and the good of the United Nations, and in the long run, it will serve us well that I choose to stay behind for so long. I’ve gathered a large amount of information and found some key allies to help us battle Mordru—who believe me, does exist. During the period where Tina, Vi, Condo and I left, there was some confusion for how a mission could be authorized. There was some confusion as to who was the Legion leader,” he added, his words crisp, and Cos knew bringing that topic up enraged Gene. “And it was certainly impossible to tell who the Legion leader even answered to,” he said, now turning to Metternich.

Metternich shrugged as if to say fair point.

“More importantly, you find this hearing necessary, but I do not. If you do not want me as part of the Legion anymore, I’ll adhere to your decision, even though I strongly desire to remain a part of it. I certainly plan on helping in the coming war, which is coming far sooner than you seem to be realizing.”

“Here, here,” said RJ Brande loudly, and smiling to himself because of it.

Cos resisted the urge to smile back. He was slightly mad at Val, he realized, and thought it probably wasn’t fair if it was clouding his judgment. Now that Val returned, though, he saw Val’s point. Gene began to speak again, but Cos cut in before he could. “Val,” he began, “you realize if you had returned with no great crisis at hand, that this would be an entirely different conversation?”

“Yes,” said Val.

“We’re public figures now, whether we like it or not. I can’t turn on the television and see an image of Spirit flying into Austria, when I’m not aware of where she is. It’s not fair to the Legion. By joining this team, you’re giving yourself an obligation to put the Legion in charge of you while you’re a member. If there’s this gray area, it could lead to some real complications.”

“I realize that, Cos,” said Val at last. “And for that, I’m sorry.” It was genuine, without any mushiness to it, and that was enough for Cos.

“I believe you did what you thought was the right thing,” he said at last, and Gene looked at him with a sneer, obviously not liking where this was going. “And I think you actually did the right thing. You should have come home with Vi and Condo, just like Tina should have come home with you. But you’re home now, and there are more pressing matters. I say the question of whether you should be re-admitted to the Legion is rendered moot, as you never left the active roster and are still currently a member.”

“Cosmic Boy,” said Leviathan, “I disagree. Valor has not been on duty for at least eight weeks, or hell, it’s longer by now I think,”

“Well the active roster hasn’t changed,” said Cos, and Gene suddenly realized he had no idea how to even change the active roster. In that regard, Cosmic Boy was already way ahead of him in running this team. “Mr. Metternich? Do you have some thoughts on the matter?”

“I do,” he said, then standing up. “Most importantly, I want a discussion on this Mordru, this coming war, and all this other very vague and ominous talk meant to scare us all. Let’s schedule that immediately after.”

“Alright,” said Cos, “but it might be better to wait for Tela to return with…her away team.” Metternich raised his eyebrows, preparing to ask why that was necessary, and Cos responded quickly with “she’s much more familiar with the details than I.” He was shocked Leviathan didn’t blab out because she has two non-Legionnaires with her on a mission, but saw Gene had no intention of it.

“Very well,” said Metternich. “But either its utter nonsense,” he said, looking at Val with an eyebrow raised, meaning that was his current position, “or it’s the end of the world,” he added very dead-pan, causing RJ to laugh despite himself. “I hate both of those things,” he added again. “Now,” he said, “on the matter of Valor’s membership to the Legion. I can agree to these things: one, I will allow Valor to remain a member of the Legion on the grounds that he was never removed from the active roster. Two, from this point forward, all new members admitted to the active roster shall be reported through my office. All members leaving the active roster must be reported to me immediately. I would prefer they contact me before they actually leave the team, but well, you are all teenagers,” he said added, though without any hint of humor. “Third, this last Legionnaire that hasn’t returned yet, Spirit, is off the active roster, as she is not here any more. She’s no longer a member of this team. Effective immediately.”

Both Cos and Val, and RJ for that matter, suddenly moved to object, while Leviathan was shocked by this matter-of-fact statement, but no one said anything finally. Metternich was giving them a lot here, and there wasn’t any real justification to arguing against him.

He turned to Val. “Welcome back,” he said firmly, “and from this point onwards,” he said to all of them, “the active roster shall be controlled through my office. Please keep me informed of any developments.” He nodded, pleased with himself. “I look forward to our little chat about the Dark Lord,” he said again, very dead-pan but Cos noticed the sarcasm. Metternich exited.

“Welcome back Val,” said Cos with a half-smile. It occurred to him that Metternich had just effectively assumed control of the active roster of the Legion, no doubt making him even more essential in the UN bureaucracy (if there was anyone left to contend with him). Metternich had truly become the bridge between the Legion and UN Secretary-General Chu.

“Its an old trick,” said RJ to Cos, knowing what he was thinking. “The only way to gain the power is to deny its use, therefore affirming you have it in the first place, and then afterwards immediately using it.” He shook his head in disgust. “The world is never too short on politicians of the unelected variety…”

“I feel bad for Tina,” said Val.

“Don’t feel too bad,” said Gene. “From what I understand, Metternich is a close friend of the Austrian Ambassador to the UN, which is her mother.”

“Ah,” said Val, realizing Tina’s mother probably would be pleased her daughter was no longer on the team. May have even arranged it, actually.

The Validus Project
Part 2

Brazil

The six super-powered teenagers landed in Brazil, believing they were close to where they should be per Sensor’s instructions. Four of them Legionnaires, two allies. It was a remote section of Brazil near the Amazon River but far away from civilization.

“I guess there’s really no hope for Sara, then,” said Nura shaking her head. “She’s a mass-murderer now.”

“Part of me keeps hoping there some part of her…that knows what she’s become,” said Jacquie as they quietly looked around. “But no. I’m not sure there is much hope.”

“Well, you said you thought the Emerald Empress and this Persuader guy had some sort of home base around here,” said Lyle, having scouted around now for a bit, “but I’m not sure they’re still around. They probably took off after your fight with her.”

“That’s likely,” said Tela. “I’m going to scan around and see if I can feel anyone’s thoughts. We’re in a remote area, so I don’t expect I’d find many…”

As she concentrated, Jacquie watched her with special interest, seeing for the first time what it was like when Irma used her powers. Nura watched Jacquie in turn, taking in the presence of her friend.

Lyle noticed all of this with a smile. Nura had become a close friend of his, and some might even say ‘partner in crime’, and it was nice to see her finally relaxed about her ‘missing friends over seas’ as Condo liked to put it.

Element Lad took in the beauty of the place and Ferro stayed by him. With his mask on he felt comfortable (or really, as close to comfortable as he usually got). Everything was happening very fast now, and Andy couldn’t help but feel he was just along for the ride. He was no hero, and he knew that. No matter what that cooky doctor in San Francisco had said.

“That’s odd,” said Tela at last.

“What is it?” asked Lyle curiously.

“No luck finding Sara,” she replied, adding “and I know what her thoughts are like from experience. But I’m picking up on a whole series of thoughts not far from here. What’s more…I think they felt me in their heads. Something else else odd…all I could pick out of their minds was a few words: ‘Dominion’. ‘Validus’.”

“Dominion…” said Jacquie suddenly, “…of course! I completely forgot!” They all looked at her waiting for her to continue. “Val and Hasim found something really odd near here. A door. Some weird door into a mountain or something.”

“Well, color me intrigued,” smiled Lyle, “we most definitely need to investigate that.”

They all followed Lyle, but Irma couldn’t help but feel a sense of something not being right. There was another series of thoughts. Not even real thoughts even, as if she picked up on the mind of an infant, but the infant seemed to be screaming extremely loud. It felt…well, powerful. She realized she suddenly felt a little scared about it.

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

Hasim walked around the second of the Legion’s five floors, taking in how large their headquarters was on all of these levels. And, more than anything, avoiding that little ship they called Quislet, which seemed to pop out of the walls at the most inopportune times. He knew there was a whole series of girls around, and had caught glimpses of them in the past day and a half (the one called Kinetix being especially beautiful, though they were all knock-outs), but now couldn’t find any.

“Hey,” said a voice, and Hasim turned, caught a little off-guard. It was Livewire, and ‘hey’ was meant as ‘hello’. “Taking the tour?” he said casually, and Hasim thought Livewire was trying to be friendly. Livewire had a normally pleasant disposition, but Hasim already saw he had a temper, as evidenced in their introductory meeting.

“There are a lot of you,” said Hasim in response. “But its big enough where its hard to tell where everyone is.”

Garth laughed. “Well, usually it seems like Jenni is everywhere at once, so don’t be surprised if she zips by here. I think Val’s with most of the team now, catching up. I’m on my way over if you want to join us,” he said, breezily, genuinely offering the invitation.

“Thanks but no thanks,” Hasim replied crudely, and for the first time, Livewire noticed Hasim was actually pretty rude. And he certainly didn’t like Val. “I can do without anymore time with Val.”

“Suit yourself,” said Garth, with just enough edge to his voice so Hasim knew he better keep that rudeness to himself. “What a jerk…” he thought, continuing down the hall.

He saw Polarity and Star Boy up ahead, talking with Quislet. “Hey Quis, why don’t you go see how the new kid’s doing?” he said, and Quislet zipped off yelling for Nemesis.

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

“Well, I see the mountain,” said Ferro, stating the obvious as they approached the mountain Lyle was leading them through. “Its huge though. How would we find a door?”

“Its there,” said Jacquie, looking forward and pointing to an area filled with brush. Her abilities once more allowed her to see through the illusion of the mountain and see what it really was.

“Nice call,” said Lyle, not missing a beat and walking towards it. As he walked, he began to turn invisible.

“Are you alright, Irma?” asked Dreamer, seeing her friend.

“Just a weird headache,” she said. “I’m worried about it having something to do with what’s inside there.”

Element Lad and Sensor approached where Jacquie had pointed and they could see the brush being moved away by the invisible form of Invisible Kid. “This is the symbol?” asked Element Lad. “For the Dominion?”

“Yes,” said Jacquie, “who, according to the Dark Circle’s files, were involved in a combined effort of science and magic to break Mordru’s spell about 25 years ago or less. The Dominion is apparently the science part. That’s about all we know about them.”

“Sounds like about all anyone knew about Cadmus,” said Tela with some disgust.

“Its solid about a foot thick,” said Lyle. “I’m not sure we can move it.”

“We can,” said Element Lad, suddenly turning it into tin. “We’ll just have to rip it off.”

Again, Tela suddenly felt a telepathic back-lash from the child within. She stumbled a little and now Jacquie and Nura caught her together. “What is it?” asked Nura, worried.

“Definitely not a child…” she said to herself out loud. “It felt like…well, it felt like when Garth accidentally shocks me with a little jolt of electricity.”

Dreamer smiled widely. “You know you’re going to have to tell me about these little jolts,” she said jokingly.

“Ooh, and you better tell me,” said Lyle, somewhere invisible.

Irma smiled. “That’s not exactly what I meant…” she said, trying to change the subject.

“Not exactly?” smiled Nura.

Suddenly they heard a large smashing sound, as Ferro busted the door in. They all turned suddenly. “Sorry,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “But we can go in now.”

They began to walk down a hallways which was completely steel, albeit old and rusty steel. A loud humming sound could be heard up ahead, and it was loud enough to make it hard to hear each other. They had no idea where Lyle was, so in front Ferro moved towards the end of the hallway, when Element Lad put his hand on his shoulder. “There’s voices ahead,” he said, meaning, slow down and be careful.

The end of the tunnel-hallway became a right angle with a similar tunnel/hallway about a quarter mile into the mountain. “Go right,” Jacquie said from behind them. They did. Walking down, they began to see it opened up into a massive room.

Suddenly Lyle appeared in front of them, holding his finger to his mouth to ‘shh’ them. “There’s people up ahead,” he said, and they walked forward slowly now, with Lyle turning back invisible.

Up ahead, they could see a group of men moving around with yellow suits that looked like HAZMAT suits, except with nothing covering their faces. There seemed to be a least a dozen of them—perhaps more. They were working on various projects it seemed, each one doing their own thing.

Lyle moved closer than the others to see what they were doing, and saw a large turbine engine on the wall that was obviously making all that noise. It was constantly sucking all the air out of the room, while fresh oxygen was pumped in from somewhere else. In the air being sucked out, Lyle could see various colored gasses. Some of these experiments, it seemed, where chemical and possibly toxic. Lyle wondered what kind of screwed up underground laboratory this was.

Then he saw one of their faces. He almost screamed in horror, but held himself. It was ghastly—an ugly oozy yellow-ish color, with small slit eyes. He looked again to see some of their faces were less so, some not even that bad. But some of them…some of them had that yellowish face, and he saw that on these, their heads were an abnormal shape. Lyle at once credited to radiation—which they were obviously working on here. Some of them even had oddly shaped teeth. Like fangs.

Oddest of all of it, was that each one had a large red circle painted on their foreheads.

Lyle turned to see what they were working on, and various things caught his eye. Immediately, he saw a large device he had only seen on television before: a nuclear warhead. He knew what it was immediately. That’s where some of the radiation was from. This Dominion was creating nuclear missiles, among other little experiments. Who were these people?

He suddenly heard a large growl, and turned in time to see Project: Validus. Standing there, no less than 15 feet tall, was the massive, bulkly figure which could only be described as a monster. It had no face, and instead of a head, on top of it was a large brain, protected in a globe. It was the most horrifying thing he’d ever seen.

And somehow, he knew it saw him. Lightning flashed around its brain, and it looked right at him.

The Validus Project
Part 3

It would be much later, when Nura had thought to grab as many random papers as possible, that she and Invisible Kid could piece together some information on the Dominion. What they were was obvious enough to surmise: a free-lancing group of scientist with no qualms about doing the most horrific and dangerous experiments in the world. The fact that they created nuclear warheads made it obvious they were not above selling their inventions to make money for themselves—no doubt to finance their more expensive experiments that were being done specifically for themselves. What their larger goal might be, they had no real idea for now, only knowing that they were extremely advanced in electromagnetic experiments, parapsychology, chemical enhancements on animal and human physiology and a variety of other experiments. The most hard to fathom, although not the most dangerous, being the Validus Experiment.

They were based in South America, but had somehow begun as former Nazi scientists escaping after World War II and making their way to fascist countries in South America. Some scientists went to work for the US or Russia and then made their way to the Dominion. Some were founding members of the Dominion, deciding then they would have no part in another world struggle, but would pursue their own objectives.

Some of them had experimented on themselves over the years. For some, that meant death; others, long life. For even more others, that meant they turned themselves into monsters.

This laboratory was only one, and the only one in Brazil, although it was the most remote and hardest to find, given its geographic location. Until the day the Legionnaires came.

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

Validus stared down at Lyle, and Lyle felt a tingle on his back. He read once that you could feel it when lightning was about to strike you, and that was what he was feeling.

Suddenly Jacquie leapt into view of them all, jumping into Lyle (and revealing that she could actually see him in invisible form), and knocking him to the ground.

Validus unleashed a ‘mental lightning bolt’ and roared at the top of his lungs, as it blasted where Lyle was just standing. All of the scientists turned and saw her, and their cover was blown.

“We’ve been breached!” one of the Dominion screamed, and all at once they all began moving in various directions, swarming all over.

Lyle and Jacquie scrambled to their feet, as Ferro, Element Lad and Dreamer ran in to join them, Element Lad holding up his hands to deflect anything that could be fired at them. The Dominion continued to swarm in a confusing way, and they all braced for an attack.

“No,” said Tela, at last joining them, “they’re not going to attack! They’re running away!”

The Legionnaires all looked around to see they were indeed abandoning their lab, with experiments only half-done and still in the process of being done, and evacuating in various places. None of them missed the notion of how dangerous that could be.

“Oh my God,” said Tela suddenly. “They’re going to unleash it!” she screamed, turning towards Validus, and they all followed suit. “They’re going to unleash it on us!”

And a member of the Dominion did just that, unleashing Validus so that he’d be free of his shackles and take care of this problem for them. The Dominion all escaped through various tunnels, some stopping for their notes, others leaving them. No one bothered to touch the nuclear warheads, a point which Lyle continued to focus on.

Validus emerged from his shackles and moved towards them.

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

Validus was enormous, and every part of his body was ripped with muscle. He stepped forward with his massive leg and instantly smashed both fists to the ground at Jacquie and Lyle, ready to smash them.

“This feels so familiar,” said Nura, thinking of her last big battle, which was with the Hulk. She and the other Legionnaires ran for cover. “Should we try to follow some of those Dominion people?” she asked Tela, who was concentrating on Validus, who moved among them, trying to smash them all.

“No!” said Invisible Kid, as both he and Sensor moved out of the way to her side. “Over there! There’s a nuclear warhead!”

“Oh my God…” said Dreamer, realizing the danger they were in. “We need to get this creature out of here—“

“—as soon as possible!” yelled Invisible Kid finishing her sentence. “Irma?”

She suddenly cringed as if she had a major headache. “Its no use…” she said. “He’s essentially mindless, or at least comparable to a two year old. All this anger…and some sort of electrical feed on his thoughts. Its so odd.”

“I’m having trouble too,” said Sensor. “He should be seeing rainbows and fuzzy little creatures, but he’s not responding.” She looked over, realizing between her, Tela, Dreamer and Invisible Kid, there was little they could do in terms of force.

“I guess that means its time for me to step up…” said Ferro suddenly, and quite nervously. Up until now, he’d largely been in the background since entering the chamber.

Validus raged louder, and now blasted mental-lightning again at all of them. Ferro turned into his metallic form, and rushed forward, and using as much strength as possible, punched hard into Validus’ calf. The beast screamed in rage and back-handed Ferro as hard as he could, knocking him off to the side.

“Ow!” yelled Ferro, hitting a wall. “Not exactly what I hoped would happen…”

Validus moved towards Ferro to focus his rage on him.

“Great job Andy!” yelled Lyle, “we need to get him out of here and we’ll try to secure this warhead!”

“Er, okay,” said Andy, as Validus came at him.

“How do you ‘secure a warhead’, Lyle,” asked Dreamer with an eyebrow raised.

“Well, we at least move it into one of these side rooms…” he said, realizing he had no idea what to do.

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

Validus rushed at Ferro, and Andy suddenly felt a tremendous amount of fear. He’d been pushed around all his life, so if anyone knew how to take a beating, it was him. But never before had he thought he’d be killed by one.

“I’m with you,” said a voice, and it was Element Lad, who had rushed to his side. Element Lad seemed cool and calm, and even though the creature was seconds away from smashing into them, he still seemed aloof. “Let’s get him out of this place,” he added, and turned and pointed his hands at the steel walls, instantly turning them into helium, so they rose up into the air and evaporated. “We’re still not that far into the mountain, so if I can just make large enough holes in the steel we might be able to get him there. Just have to be careful not to change any of the actual structure of the mountain…” he added, talking to himself, and Ferro realized he had stopped paying attention to the incoming beast.

“Jan, watch out!” yelled Ferro again, this time jumping forward to get between Validus and Element Lad, as mental lightning was unleashed. It blasted into Ferro, now in metallic form, and he remembered something about ‘metal being a conductor of electricity’ or something, but was glad when he didn’t feel a sting. Suddenly Validus once more smashed his fist into Andy, but this time the electricity was still very much alive within Andy, and it blasted back into Validus’fist. Validus had just given himself a little jolt—and it hurt. A LOT. Once more Validus screamed, this time holding his fist in pain, as Ferro could see the flesh on his knuckles were burnt.

“Great job, Andy,” said Element Lad casually as if Ferro planned it, and Ferro turned to see Element Lad did indeed make a passage way to outside. “Let’s get him out now.”

The two of them ran towards outside. Madder than ever, Validus followed.

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

“Is this a regular occurrence?” asked Sensor as she and Tela moved a fully armed nuclear warhead into a side room. “Because I’ve got to say Irma, everytime I’ve ever read about one of these things, it always has radiation leaking out…”

“You can expect both of us to undergo quarantine for at least two days,” said Irma already dreading that. “And I can confirm that most of the Dominion scientists are already escaping. We won’t get anything from them. Unless Nura and Lyle find something in all those files.” They kept moving it. Then she whispered a ‘damn!’ to herself.

“What is it?”

“Now we’ll have to make official reports on where we were. Metternich or some other UN person will be all over us on this…”

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

Through his metal mask, Ferro could still taste the fresh taste of clean air as once more he emerged into the jungle from the Dominion hideaway, with Validus closely following him.

Element Lad was by his side. “We can try to subdue it, but I’m not sure if we can.”

“Why don’t you use your power on it and turn it into gold or something?” asked Ferro.

Element Lad almost stopped running there and then, apparently appalled. “It’s a living creature, Andy,” he said. “I won’t kill a living creature…” Ferro didn’t feel like arguing the point.

Both suddenly turned a corner, and ran farther into a thick bustle of trees. They waited for Validus to approach. Waited.

And Waited.

And waited. And it did not come.

“How do you lose a twenty foot giant with a large brain for a head?” said Ferro suddenly, as they both realized it wasn’t near them anymore. Andy looked around. “Unless its sneakier than I thought…”

“No, its long gone,” said Jan, also as surprised. “It must have run off into the jungle….”

They looked in the area around them for some time, looking to find Validus, with no luck. They found his path—obvious, since trees were knocked down and flora crushed beneath his massive feet. But oddly enough—it suddenly stopped.

The Validus Project
Part 4

Within the Amazon rain forest, one area had always been extremely odd. Large mountains came out of nowhere, singular with no apparent other mountains connecting to them, and ran far up into the sky. Some were even volcanoes. In this part of the jungle, snakes sometimes grew to forty, even fifty feet long. Certain spiders had poisons so powerful that once bitten, you’d be dead before you could run to get help.

This was because part of this jungle was from an ancient time long lost to human memory. Part of this jungle was a remnant from over 100,000 years ago—perhaps double or triple that amount of time. Part of this jungle was from Ekron, and it had been largely undisturbed in all the time since.

And this was because far up on the highest mountain—not the false-mountain created by the Dominion, but an actual living volcano high up into the clouds—was the second Emerald Eye of Ekron, long since unused by human beings and long dormant. The Eye caused these things, and it was the Eye that drew the Dominion to this place, to try and harness the magical properties (which they believed were scientific) to enhance their experiments.

It was the Eye that drew the Emerald Empress and the Persuader here as well.

And now the Eye helped bring Validus into contact with his new allies and family, and for the moment hold off the predestined battle between he and the Legionnaires.

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

The six super-powered teenagers sat on a United Nations military plane, while their own method of transportation was taken home separately. All six of them, not just Tela and Sensor, were put through a quarantine process, though Tela was taken away from the five just in time to be reamed out by first Leviathan (via phone) and then Metternich (via phone).

Do you realize how much trouble you can get yourself into? he asked her, when he really met how much trouble you can get me into? Having Sensor and Ferro with them seemed to be a good idea at the time, but it had become much more once nuclear warheads were involved. Still, this was the first concrete information on the Dominion that SHIELD, Interpol or any other agency had been able to accumulate, so Tela knew that was at least one major trump card she could use if it came down to it.

But it would not come to that. Metternich’s rise to power in the UN umbrella over the Legion of Super-Heroes was already moving fast and furious and he wouldn’t risk it slowing down. He simply allowed Cosmic Boy and Tela, despite Gene’s protests, to induct Sensor, Nemesis and Ferro into the Legion of Super-Heroes. In fact, he requested it, and problem solved. Ipso facto, there were no unauthorized Legionnaires on the mission, as the induction was done retroactively.

He then took credit for a recon mission on the Dominion, as they were officially placed on the UN’s watch-list of terrorist organizations around the globe. The fact that the Legion was there looking for the Emerald Empress and any mention of the creature Validus were left firmly out of the report. And Metternich once more saw this as the Legion squarely ‘owing him one’.

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

Valor, though hardly one of the more social Legionnaires, delighted in being back with his teammates, and let them fully make his ‘unofficial return to the active roster’ a cause for a small celebration. Kinetiz and XS organized a little party that even though took place while many Legionnaires were away or busy, still included Livewire, Shifter, Catalyst, Shrinking Violet, Blizzard, Rebound, Kid Quantum and of course, Quislet. He also was able to meet for the first time Polarity and Star Boy.

He told them about the people he had recently met, and they were especially interested in Tina, whom they all missed and Dirk, because he was an international celebrity already. Some of them, Polarity especially, were interested in Mon-El too, mainly because his power-level seemed so strong, on par with only Andromeda from McCauley’s old Work Force.

“Well, now that you’re back Val,” said Vi, “maybe you can help us out with a little side mission Condo, Lyle and I have been working on.”

Val couldn’t help but cringe and she saw it. “I’m sorry Sally,” he said quickly, “its just that I’ve barely gotten out of trouble for the last little side mission I did with you three.” He couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Its nothing like that,” she replied quickly. “We’re investigating the Silver Slasher killings.”

“Silver Slasher?” asked Val.

“Vi, he’s only been back in New York for like two days. He has no idea who the Silver Slasher is,” said Condo, now turning to Val. “It’s a serial killer,” he said, “whose been terrorizing New York. Lyle thinks if we can bring her in, it’d be a major plus to show Gene how important the more subtle Legionnaires can be. Plus, it’d make Manhattan safer.”

“Even more,” said Vi to him in almost a whisper. “Lyle thinks it might actually be a woman serial-killer.”

“I’ll…think about it,” said Val with a smile, thinking he’d rather wait a day at least before he jumped into any other major missions. Instead, he enjoyed the laughter among them all, as Kinetix made new costumes for everyone, discarding most of them by party’s end after growing bored, and as Jenni ran around from person to person, fully immersed in the gossip of the day for each one.

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

The following morning the Silver Slasher’s latest victim was found again, this time in an ally only two blocks from Wall Street. The city was no reaching a panic.

And in her Bowery apartment, Jenn Carpenter once more praised her Lord Mordru with the blood of her kill.

The Validus Project
Epilogue

Three weeks earlier…

Sara Romanescu felt drawn to Brazil for reasons she could hardly explain, with only glimpses given to her from the Eye. The Persuader argued little for or against their journey there, realizing that his life was changing and it was a change he was welcoming. The world was much bigger than his life in Seoul, and in the darkest recesses of his heart, all he wanted in life was to be a player on a much broader stage—and he would be, as the world’s deadliest assassin.

Sara was conflicted. Conflicted because she felt a pull in another direction, back towards the east. Not just Europe, but farther. She felt the pull towards the Middle East.

And then the dreams began. She’d dream she was a Princess—no, not just a Princess, but a Queen. Queen of the Middle Age Kingdom of Venegar, with her empire under her heel, ready to serve her every whim. And she felt at ease and happy in these dreams.

Then he would enter her bed, and she would welcome him there. She enjoyed lustfully each seductive touch and felt the power flowing from him into her each time. Soon, she was calling his name in her sleep, and the Persuader could make it out clearly: “Mordru”.

Thoughts of Mordru began to occupy her every waking moment and the Eye once more began to reveal bits of its history to her, and she now began to crave the power that those who once wielded the Eye had in long ago times. She began to understand the coming war, for like Jacquie, the Eye allowed her to see the signs of what was coming to pass.

Finally, Mordru’s familiar arrived. The black cat, Asmodeous came to her and she heard its voice in her mind. Would she be by her Lord Mordru’s side when the war came to fruit? Would she stand against those who had betrayed her, those whom she hated above all others—her former friends? Would she take vengeance on her bitterest rival, Princess Jacqueline of Moldavia, and reclaim her throne and Empire, and rule Venegar once more as a Queen? Would she be Queen of the world under Lord Mordru?

She trembled at such thoughts, at such a proposition. For she was still so young, and so unsure. But the Eye had seduced her, finishing what longtime delusions of grandeur had begun in her earliest teenage years. And now Mordru made the seduction complete.

The Emerald Empress would serve Mordru in this war, as the Emerald Empresses of ancient times served him. She would fight and kill his enemies, and if that meant her former circle of friends, then so be it.

The Road to Earth War

Vienna, Austria: Castle Wazzo

Things moved fast now, and each one of them was caught in a whirlwind preparing for what must inevitably come. Though much preparation was to be done mentally, each one found there was still something they could hope to accomplish before there was no longer any time.

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

“Secretary General Chu,” said Countess Winema Wazzo with such delight that Tina thought it might almost be genuine. Arriving moments earlier, the General-Secretary of the United Nations, Jeannie Chu, arrived at Castle Wazzo, coming here on the insistence that it was the utmost emergency. She was annoyed by the trip, but the fact that Anton Relnic was here meant it must be deadly serious.

Spirit watched silently from her hiding spot, having phased into the room, to pick up on this greeting. Anton Relnic was with her mother, as Chu dismissed her aides, making it just the three of them, as Gil’Deshi was in the hospital and Maya now dead. “Winema,” began Chu, “I hope to God this is a serious matter. To say I’m extremely busy is an understatement.”

“Secretary-General,” replied Relnic, “it is now beyond serious. What I’m about to tell you will seem impossible, perhaps even hysterically so. I would never believe it unless I had seen with my own eyes real evidence. But the fact remains that it is real. And we have a genuine World War at our doorstep.”

Tina inhaled deeply, knowing this was the moment of truth. Relnic began the story, using his masterful skills at oratory to be sure to hit all the right notes and skip any of the unnecessary details. He provided Chu with the precise information she would need to determine where to go next. The Countess was largely silent, though she intervened to add specific details, times, dates and locations, knowing it would keep the reality of it all firmly in focus. It took forty-five minutes for them to finish, but to Tina, it felt like mere moments.

Chu inhaled herself now and sat down, and they all did so. “You’re indeed right,” she said to Relnic, “…it does seem impossible.” Relnic and Winema looked at each other, worried that they had not done a good enough job at convincing Chu of the importantance of the matter. “But so many things that have seemed impossible have become possible in recent times,” she said at once.

“Indeed,” said Relnic, still marveling at when he first me the super-powered teenagers.

“Did you know I recently had an adventure with the Legion?” Chu said, referring to her recent role in the Legion mission with Kinetix, Flash, Kid Quantum, Blizzard and Rebound. “It was not my first time meeting the Legionnaires, not by a long shot. I’ve been involved in the creation of the Legion from day one. Yet, even there, I was amazed at how different the world has become. How much more…possible things are. And if this is all true,” she said, now talking out loud, almost to herself, “then the entire world has an enemy that is going to require us all to fight. No matter what differences we have.”

The Countess nodded, thinking in terms politically, unaware of Chu’s possible ‘other plans and differences’.

“I can assure you, Secretary-General,” said Relnic. “This is all very true.”

She looked up at him. “I believe you,” she said at once, knowing Relnic’s integrity was enough proof as would be needed for her. Now it was time to act—otherwise, all she’d worked for her whole life would be tossed aside by this Mordru. “I’ll call upon the General Assembly, though it will be ludicrous to explain this to them. We’ll have to work behind the scenes, all three of us, to make sure by the time this is explained publicly the entire UN is ready to act.”

“I believe it would be wise to alert SHIELD,” said the Countess.

“Agreed. The UN isn’t truly equipped for a major military showdown, but we can call upon our members, including the our five permanent members of the Security Council, though that will be the trickiest part.”

“It all won’t matter eventually,” said Relnic. “Once Khundia and Mordru, attack, they’ll be forced to make a decision. So we need to move along now without any hindrances, starting with SHIELD. I think its time to mobilize.”

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

Dirk sat at a table, sipping his rich coffee, as he saw his guest arriving. In the shadows, covered in an even darker shadowy spell, was Umbra and Matter-Eater Lad. High up in the air, almost looking like a hawk in the sky, was Dawnstar. They were waiting, and they were ready for anything. Because they not only distrusted Agent Ontirr, they hated him. They hated all of the Dark Circle for all they had put them through.

Ontirr walked over and sat down across from Dirk. “By all means, sit down,” said Dirk sarcastically. He decided there and then to skip playing coy. He could feel the pressure—they all could—and knew the war with Mordru was upon them. They were running out of time for these asides. Dirk sipped his coffee, feeling the cold breeze up his back through his peacoat.

“You should be glad I’m agreeing to talk to you,” said Ontirr, though it was he who originally proposed this arrangement. “The other Dark Circle would never agree to these kinds of meetings.”

“Lucky me.”

Ontirr smiled and it had nastiness to it. “Not so lucky for long. You won’t see me for quite awhile Mr. Morgna. I’m sure you’ll be comforted to know you won’t see any of us.”

“And why is that?” Now Dirk was shocked. Because there were times the Dark Circle was all they’d seen, and for months now. They followed them across the world.

“Because we wanted to get to you before he did. And its too late now. They won’t risk it, and we’re all going underground.” Ontirr was smiling but Dirk could see something else in his features. Fear.

“Mordru? You follow us around, torture us, kidnaps us, and now you’re leaving because of Mordru? I thought he was your buddy or something.”

“Mordru is no friend of the Dark Circle,” said Ontirr, and he was deadly serious. “He’s as much our enemy as he is yours. But we’re not so foolish as to tempt him and then stand against him.”

Dirk was silent. Now he pushed his coffee back. “You cowards.”

“Don’t try and goad me, boy. I don’t care what you think. Your war with Mordru is coming and coming soon. When the pieces fall, we’ll come to collect.”

“You should join us then,” said Dirk, and although it left a filthy taste in his mouth to even think it, it made sense. They knew next to nothing about the Dark Circle, but...if they hated Mordru too…

“You haven’t been listening,” said Ontirr. “We’re all going underground. We’ll let you all battle Mordru, and either you’ll all die, much to our chagrin, but we’ll be safe, or you’ll succeed, and then…well, then we can still get what we need from you all without worrying about his retribution for it.” He was smiling widely now. “I’d offer you good luck, but well…I am a realist.” And with that, as Dirk was about to speak again, Ontirr got up and walked away, right back into the street, leaving Dirk feeling unfinished with the meeting and stuck with the bill for Ontirr’s coffee.

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

High above the tips of the buildings lining the streets of Vienna, as far up as even the clouds, Mon-El soared at striking velocity, pushing himself to the point of breaking a sweat. So often he was forced to hold back, and not unleash his powers as much as he yearned to do so, and now he practiced full bore, flying out of Austria and down all the way to the Mediterranean and then back.

All of the others were busy, and he was feeling the rare sense of anxiety which he normally did not feel at all. Everything since the moment he woke up, he felt, was building now to its finale. And in that regard, he was satisfied.

He still felt, above all else, as a man out of time. That he somehow did not truly belong, and that it would all be pulled away. A bad dream or a brief second chance and this world would continue without him, as it probably always should have. So he enjoyed his new friendships and camaraderie, enjoyed the release of using his immense abilities, and above all else, enjoyed his moments with Tatiana. If he should perish in the fight against Mordru, then so be it. But he’d at least been a part of the battle he’d been waiting for his entire life—both the twenty years of living, and the two thousand extra of sleeping.

As he considered these thoughts, and with a rueful acknowledgement of their flare for the dramatic, his senses at once picked up another approaching.

Not a bird…not a plane…not Dawnstar or any other that he knew of. Possibly Joe? He strained, looking for the figure, knowing it had to be a person, feeling with his senses that anything larger or smaller would not cause the turbulence in the wind the way it did here. At last he saw the figure: not Joe, after all. It was Devious Emorious, his old ally from Ancient Rome. The one who betrayed him to Mordru.

Dev-Em.

Dev flew equally as fast, and spotting Mon-El, stopped short of him twenty yards away, both hovering in the air.

Mon looked at him, not surprised, since he secretly suspected this might happen, and yes, even possibly hoped in the darkest corners of his heart.

Dev grinned a familiar grin. Not the grin of a blood-enemy, but the grin of an old friend. “We are well met, indeed, among the clouds here.”

“Do not grow so cocky, Dev,” replied Mon, “now I know at least one other that can do as we do. Not as well as we do, but close. We are not so unusual in this millennia, it seems.”

Dev smiled widely now. “We never were, Monius. But you do not know the story yet, and I’ve forgotten. Surely you’ve always wanted to know why the Gods gifted you with your abilities? Surely you must have always wondered. I saw the shock and disappointment in your face when you first learned I had them too.” Dev paused, but Mon-El remained silent, so Dev-Em continued. “I do know these things. Mordru told me our story, the long history of the Daxamites, and believe me, it’s fascinating. You’ll see once the story is told to you.”

“And you believe that Prince of Lies?” said Mon-El in disgust.

“Yes,” said Dev firmly. “Because I know it is the truth. You and I have a glorious lineage, and you should celebrate it with me!” he sounded elated, almost jovial. “I have not come here as an enemy Monius, surely you can see that. We have both been misguided to think of ourselves as enemies. The world is changing…I’d rather see it change with you as my friend.”

Dev-Em seemed as if he could barely contain those words. That getting them out were a relief. Mon could see he truly believed them. Mon looked back at him, unsmiling. “Tell me, friend. I once looked at the world changing with you by my side, and ended up with poison in my water and a dagger in my back. You were forced to celebrate without me.”

Dev-Em’s smile went away now. “Things have changed, Monius. Mordru has a place for you in this new world. He’s sure this will be it. The final battle after so many millennia. His two greatest enemies will stand revealed and at last the war will be fought with both sides intended for it to finish. You and I could be the Captains of his army! We could have so much at war’s end. It would be a peaceful time, and all of this fighting and bitterness would be at an end.”

Mon-El smiled now. “You can go home, Dev,” he said simply. “Twenty centuries may have passed for you and your Dark Lord, but I remember those days like they were yesterday. I have not forgotten, and I have not forgiven either of you.” Dev-Em moved to speak, but held up his hand to cut him off. “If you think I decline simply out of vengeance or spite, then you can stop right there. Mordru is a ruthless old man bent on crushing beneath his heals anything that would speak out against his image of the world. He is a tyrant, and his one goal in life is that no one else has their own goals. He would violate and rape everything free, subjugating it to himself, even if he allowed these things to think they were free. I stand against him completely, and I will gladly give my life to prove it.”

Dev-Em was silent now, and the bitterness towards Mon-El that he had harbored for all these long centuries once more occupied his heart, as if it had never truly left.

Mon-El continued. “And you, Dev-Em, are friendless. A captain of a brotherless army without honor. For your own glory, lust and greed you threw away everything that was wonderful about you though you never saw any value in those things. Loyalty. Valor. Brotherhood. All gone. Do not speak to me of renewing our friendship when I know in your heart you could never allow anyone to stand by your side as an equal—save one. Your Master.”

“Very well, Monius,” replied Dev-Em. I shall see you on the battlefield. I will come for you, and your friends.”

“And I will be waiting. When we meet next, I intend for it to be our last meeting, one way or another. Farewell, old friend.”

The Road to Earth War

Previously in 21st Century Legion…

Manhattan, New York City, USA

The dark skies served as a reminder that in addition to the freezing cold breeze, the winter also brought night much earlier in the Northeastern United States. In Manhattan, the street lights, buildings and flashing signs meant that there was always enough light to see where you were going, but by the late months of winter, the constant darkness could get repetitive and yes, a little depressing.

Jenn Carpenter, 29 year old insurance agent from of Laromie, Wisconsin, walked to the subway station in Manhattan’s Bowery section. She was wearing a heavy pea coat and a thick scarf, looking very fashionable, but conservative—perfect for the infamous Wall Street district. She was excited, and tried to hide it the best she could…but her state of arousal was all consuming.

She was going to kill again, and she could feel the release building within her. Tonight, the Silver Slasher would strike again, and she would pay homage to her Lord Mordru.

She would leave the body on the steps of some super-rich publicly traded company. A reminder that no matter how powerful they thought they were, real power was not far away at all. And it was coming.

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

As the Silver Slasher made her way towards Wall St, four members of the Legion of Super-Heroes also journeyed across the enormous landscape of Manhattan, via taxi, subway and for Val, even walking. They all headed downtown as well, because at long last, Invisible Kid began to see a pattern with the murders. Tonight, they believed she would strike again—something to do with the moon’s alignment—and they hoped they could catch her.

Valor, Invisible Kid, Catalyst and Shrinking Violet were not authorized for this mission, but it felt good to know they were doing something. The Silver Slasher murders were beginning to weigh heavily on the public, and the businessmen of Wall Street were beginning to loathe coming to work in the morning. And that was bad for everyone.

Invisible Kid had surmised she was a woman, and had found she had a specific pattern to where she killed and when. The city was too big to find one lone killer. But if they were right, and she could be limited to one district, then they had a chance.

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

Legion Headquarters, 247 Weisenger Street, Midtown Manhattan

The Legion’s conference room, the official one and not RJ Brande’s personal conference room, was furnished as a top of the line corporate conference room with all of the technological extras that the Director SHIELD or even RJ Brande himself could ever hope for. It was magnificent and it was huge, seating at least forty people. In front there was a podium and dais for speakers, with a semi-circular dias behind it. Basil Metternich sat up on the dais, waiting for the others to arrive, taking in the impressiveness of the room, and considering that filling up the Legion’s roster was not as unimaginable as his superiors originally thought. They were already quite a large team of teenage super-heroes. And more and more, they were directly his responsibility.

Little by little, the Legionnaires began to enter, first Cosmic Boy and Leviathan, then Tela and Livewire and then some others. Not all of them were coming, it seemed, as the one he’d recently let back on the team, Valor, was nowhere to be found. RJ Brande entered as well, and Metternich found it odd, but raised no objection. With him was Marla Latham, another very prominent businessman, but the two had some large part in the story concerning this supposed ‘Dark Lord in the Middle East’ and the possibility of World War III. Metternich wasn’t convinced yet, but he understood that if Brande took it this seriously, something must be up.

At last they were assembled: Cosmic Boy, Leviathan, Tela, Livewire, Shifter, Element Lad, Quislet, Kinetix, Blizzard, Rebound, Kid Quantum, Flash, Spark, Trinity, Amihan, Amazon, Wildfire, Polarity, Star Boy, Hygeia, Gear, Dox (who he was surprised actually left his lab), and the three new members: Sensor, Ferro and Nemesis.

“Very well,” he began, “lets get started. You all obviously have a lot to say, and have caught each other up on the dire straits we are in, but I, unfortunately, know nothing about a potential grave enemy about to unleash war on us. Brande? Would you like to start?”

“Perhaps Cosmic Boy should, Basil,” said RJ, motioning to Cos.

Cos stood up. “Thank you Mr. Brande. What Princess Jacqueline has to say, Mr. Metternich, is a lot to take in, and I’ll admit that at first I was a little skeptical, until a few people were able to confirm a lot of it for me. But I think it best that you keep an open mind here, to comprehend the very real danger we’re in.” All of the Legionnaires watched him as he spoke, each one at full attention, even Dox, who was now learning all this news for the first time as well.

Metternich turned and nodded towards Sensor, who also stood up now. “Go ahead,” he said.

Sensor, recently added to the Legion roster by Metternich himself, now spoke. “For many millennia the world has had one great enemy, though most have been ignorant of him. The Dark Lord Mordu whose power exceeds every individual in this room combined, has plotted and planned for centuries…and he is now on the verge of acting.

And so Jacquie began her story, and told it once more in full.

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

“I’ve told everyone to back off and let us handle this,” said King Faraday, moving quickly but with no hint of anxiety, through the crowds outside of 247 Weisenger Street. “Once we get in, we’ll bring in the other one of your Squad.”

“Its not my Squad anymore,” said Jacques Focquart. “Most of them are all dead, I bet. Just like poor Doug. But I’m ready King. We’ll be invisible from here on out. But what makes you think that will be enough not to be detected?”

“I don’t,” replied Faraday, “but by the time we’re detected, we’ll have arrived at our destination. And then its do or die time for us all.”

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

“That’s quite a story,” said Basil Metternich, after several minutes of digesting what Sensor had told him. Cosmic Boy and Tela had also spoken at length.

“Every word of it true, Basil,” said RJ Brande now. Marla Latham smiled.

“Indeed? Tell me, Brande, how do you possibly know that?”

“I have many contacts around the world,” he smiled, “more so than probably the United Nations itself. And I’ll tell you by damn, not only do we need you to skip the part where we have to convince you its true, we need you to be our representative to Chu and the rest of the UN, so we can move on the Khundian front.”

Basil nearly spit out a glass of water he was drinking. “Invade Khundia? Dear God, I can only imagine what they’d say to that.”

“Imagine if Khundia invades Europe first,” said Cosmic Boy, “and with Mordru, succeeds.” Even Leviathan turned to look at Cos in awe of such a bold comment.

“If what you say is true,” said Dox now speaking up, “there’s a very likely chance we’ve already lost. Certainly, we’ll need to act immediately.”

“Exactly, Brainy,” said Tela with a smile.

“Are these things always so boring?” whispered Ferro to Star Boy, as they sat towards the back of the group.

“Yeah,” whispered Star Boy back. Neither planned to play any role in the ‘convincing’ aspect of this assemblage, considering how new they both were.

Suddenly, Metternich’s comm-link went off. “Mr. Metternich? Are you with the Legionnaires? We have an emergency.”

Metternich was alarmed. He had given them strict orders not to bother him. “What’s the problem?” he said, with some annoyance.

“We…we uh, have a security breach?”

“What? Here? What kind of idiot…?”

“Sir, they’ve made it way past where they should have. They’re on your floor.”

“WHAT?!” said multiple Legionnaires as suddenly everyone was on their feet. Leviathan began to grow another four feet, as Brande moved forward and Metternich told them all to quiet down.

“If they’re approaching us now,” said Leviathan, “we’ll cut them off before they get to us.”

“Stand down Legionnaires!” they heard a voice yelling from the hallway. “Stand down and come out! I need to talk to you immediately, and we don’t have much time!”

Cosmic Boy, Leviathan, Tela, Brande and Metternich ran into the hallway, as the others tried to squeeze through. “Who the hell are you?” asked Leviathan.

“King Faraday,” said the man, “Checkmate. This here is Jacques Focquart.” Suddenly, a place where before there was no one, had a young man appear before them. He was slightly older than the Legionnaires, African, and dressed in some sort of yellow military uniform. “And we only have moments before President Luthor and Amanda Waller are all over us, so let’s skip the pleasantries.”

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

Once more, the Legionnaires assembled in the conference room, though this time they were all on their feet. King Faraday and Jacques Focquart stood before them now, and Sensor could see that Metternich was completely unsure of what to do.

“You know I’m Checkmate, and you’re probably wondering why I’m here. Well, my own President will be wondering the same thing. But I’m not stupid enough to put the ball in Luthor’s court, and let him and Waller make the decisions that could affect the entire world. So I’ve come here, to you Legionnaires, in hopes that we can figure out these things together.”

“What things?” asked Metternich and Leviathan almost simultaneously.

“Khundia is on the verge of invading Sicily and France as we speak, and Mordru is sending an army of vampires up through Mexico to invade the United States. And all of this is going to happen tonight.”

The Road to Earth War

“You better be prepared to back that comment up,” said Cosmic Boy to King Faraday, and Faraday now looked him square in the eye and sized him up. Cos thought he was looking at him with anger, but in truth, Faraday was relieved he found the real leader of this group.

“I can, and I will. Checkmate is an American organization though, answerable to the President. Once I’m found out, and I assuredly will be, I’ll be in serious trouble.”

“You’ll be fired,” said Leviathan.

Faraday laughed. “Hardly. I have enough dirt on Waller and Luthor to bring down this entire government.” Half of the Legionnaires were appalled, the other half smiled. “And I will, if it means saving my own ass. But that’s beside the point. Fantomas here is recently back from a mission in Khundia that went FUBAR. But he was able to get some serious intel for us, and I’ve convinced him to jump ship from the Suicide Squad to Checkmate.”

“They have my sister…” Jacques began to say, when he at last saw Ferro. “Doug?” he said out loud, then shook his head. “No, nevermind.”

“Wait. What did you just say?” asked Ferro.

“I thought you were someone else…” replied Jacques.

“Did you say Doug? As in Doug Nolan?” By the look in Jacque’s eyes, Andy knew it to be true. “Where is my brother?”

Now both Faraday and Focquart were silent and they looked at each other, their eyes saddened. King Faraday raised his hand to his mouth and spoke into his cufflink. “Better bring in the Nolan boy,” he said, then looking at Metternich, “If you’ll open up security to us.”

“Hardly,” replied Metternich, “I’m not letting anymore Checkmate into this building. “Tell us where he is and I’ll have some of our staff retrieve him.”

“Fine,” said Faraday, “but you better have a staff doctor with them. Sorry son,” said King Faraday matter-of-factly, and moved on past the subject.

Ferro looked very shook up. Sensor put a hand on his shoulder as if to lend him some strength to this uncertainly.

“Well, your timing is impeccable Faraday,” said Marla Latham suddenly. “We were just discussing Khundia, and more importantly, Khundia’s backer.”

“Backer?” asked Faraday. “I’d heard rumors, but until now, we only thought of them as such.”

“Well, you’ve obviously been out of the loop,” said Metternich sarcastically. “Khundia’s backer is the most dire threat to humanity though most are ignorant of his existence.” Tela smiled at Nura as Metternich said this. “His name is Mordru.”

They were all quiet now.

“You better give us the intel you learned,” said Cosmic Boy at last. “Knowing who are enemies are is good, but how are they planning to attack?”

Dreamer turned to Sensor now. “Looks like things are starting to move now…”

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

The Silver Slasher walked through the busy streets of the Financial District, letting her instinct guide her to her next victim.

Two blocks away, Invisible Kid and Catalyst weaved in and out of the crowd, trying to find anything out of the ordinary in this maze of a city.

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

“So the main strikes then are through Khundia, into Europe via France and Sicily, and then another attack on the United States?” said RJ Brande.

“Yes,” said Faraday, “and as crazy as it sounds, the attack on the US will not be a normal army. It’ll be some sort of army of vampires. And monsters. This we’re sure of.”

“Through Mexico?” asked Dox. “And Asia looks to be a hotbed of activity during this conflict—we’ll need Legionnaires there too.”

“Yes.”

“Unbelievable,” said Metternich, “to think an African country…and a Muslim one at that…attacking Europe. It could lead to all-out war! The entire world.”

“Yes,” said Sensor now and they turned to her. “That is what Mordru is hoping for. An all-out Earth War. And at the end, he’ll claim his place as the victor and emerge as the leader of the entire Earth.”

“Then we need to make our move against them,” said Blizzard suddenly. Rebound looked at him in agreement and Bilzzard continued. “If Mordru is really that ready to unleash his forces, we need to get there now!”

“Not so fast junior,” said Faraday. “You need to clear that with the U.N. And for the United States portion of the war, you’ll have to be sure Luthor is on board. What needs to happen now is everyone needs to muster our forces. And this group…this crazy teenage group of international super-heroes, can be the rallying point.”

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

Element Lad walked with Ferro as they joined Dr. Llewelyn and the other staff members outside to retrieve Doug Nolan from the Checkmate forces. Up ahead, they saw a simple black van and instantly Element Lad knew that was it.

Ferro began to run towards it and Element Lad’s heart broke for him. Obviously the brothers had a strong bond, and now Ferro suspected the worst.

Ferro ran at top speed, getting there ahead of all the others. He was yelling Doug’s name at the top of his lungs, and passer-bys were now anxiously looking on, thinking something dramatic was about to occur. The Checkmate operatives opened the door, and Ferro saw it was like the back of a highly sophisticated hospital ambulance. Evidently, Faraday and Focquart got here very quick.

“Doug?” said Ferro, coming in, as the Checkmate operatives backed away. Unknown to Ferro, Jacques Focquart insisted Andy be allowed to be with his brother now. Because his brother was at his end.

Doug Nolan looked up, and doing so caused him tremendous pain. He had held on now for some time, all the while dreaming that he could see Andy one more time, never really thinking he could. He smiled. “Scr-screwed…up…should have never…left…suicide slum…” he said.

Andy looked around at the Checkmate operatives, wanting some sort of clarification on how bad Doug really was. “Don’t talk Doug,” he said. “I’m here now. Its okay.”

“…Kon…never made…it…”

Ferro swallowed a big lump in his throat. Their other best friend, Kon-El, now appeared to be dead. A tear rolled down one cheek and soon many tears rolled down both. “I’m here…” he whispered, as Element Lad hopped in the van with them, and closed the doors to the public.

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

When the Silver Slasher made her move, it was obvious they would never have caught her if not for being in the right place at the right time. It was Shrinking Violet who noticed the woman suddenly cross the street in a hurry, running down a side street with construction high on both sides, so that it formed a bit of an underpass. Vi followed, just to do a quick extra look, thinking she would just move on, when she looked down to see the woman following a man, some rich broker or some similar type. Up ahead, it looked like a deserted back alley.

For some reason, Vi suddenly remembered Nardo and how terrified he made her. As if a sixth sense, she understood something was terribly wrong.

She followed, calling Valor, Invisible Kid and Catalyst to alert them.

When she began to catch up, as quietly as possible, she shrunk down, and once more she was lucky as the Slasher turned behind her to double check no one was following her, but missed Vi’s tiny form completely. It was then Vi saw the young woman pull out a very large hunting knife from her thick pea coat, and begin to pick up her pace.

The Silver Slasher was mad with bloodlust and thoughts of carving the man up more violently and more gruesomely than any of her others. She was getting sloppy. All she could think about was pleasing her lord Mordru.

Vi was faster. She knew she had to be, so she grew back to normal size and ran at a full sprint, knowing full well that if the Slasher turned and used that knife on her, even if she did it accidentally, it could cut Vi to pieces and that would be the end of her.

“Stop!” she screamed, and as the Slasher turned, Vi leapt into the air strait at her, shrinking as she did so, so that her tiny fist landed square in the woman’s face, hurting and confusing her at the same time.

Again, she grew back to normal size, as the Silver Slasher regained her composure. If Vi kept shrinking and growing like that, she’d give herself a heart attack. She had to fight her hand to hand.

The Slasher swung the knife at her, and Vi stepped back, desperately looking for something to pick up and use against her. The Silver Slasher descended into a bezerker rage, set on killing Vi as her next victim instead.

Vi stepped back once more, and began to stumble, and suddenly the Slasher was upon her. Vi used the backwards fall to her advantage, narrowly dodging the knife, and fell backwards, pulling the Slasher forward in flip, so she landed on her back.

It worked. The knife slid down the alley and both Vi and the Slasher huffed to catch their breaths.

“That’s enough,” said a voice. “We’re here, Vi.” Valor had arrived.

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

“Its coming together now,” said Marla to RJ in a near whisper, but Polarity, Nemesis and Gear could overhear him.

“I plan to go with them,” said RJ equally as quiet.

“Mr. Metternich,” said another staff member, suddenly busting in.

“What now?” asked Metternich, more annoyed than ever.

“We’ve got the Legionnaires on the line.”

“Which Legionnaires? I have most of them with me in here.”

“Invisible Kid, sir. He says its really urgent.”

“Oh he does, does he?” replied Metternich, as Jacques mouthed “Invisible Kid?” to himself.

“Put me on speaker sir,” said Lyle to Metternich in the most respectful voice possible. “Its important.”

Metternich hesitated. Given the recent hour and a half, he thought why not? “You’re on.”

“Legionnaires,” said Lyle, “we’ve just caught the Silver Slasher, New York’s latest seriel killer who has been terrorizing the city.”

The Legion all broke out into applause.

“Lyle, that’s great!” said Cos.

“She says she is serving the will of her Lord Mordru,” he suddenly added as the noise died down.

Suddenly it got very quiet.

Metternich spoke now. “Perhaps its time I had General-Secretary Chu on the phone.”

The Road to Earth War
Roster Trouble

Previously:

Twenty minutes from now:

"Metternich." Cosmic Boy kept his voice dry and level as he spoke the official's name.

"Yes?"

"The active roster has Trinity on it. Why?"

"As you and Brande have been so keen to impress, this is a very serious matter, and every Legionnaire is needed."

"She's not ready." A statement, not a question.

Until this point, Metternich had seemed distracted. Now, he turned and fixed Cos directly in his sights, "This is why you shouldn't sleep with your subordinates, Mr. Kline. I asked her directly. She was willing to take part - you'll notice the active roster now also includes Eileen Raines and your brother for the same reason."

"Ella and Paul have their heads screwed on. Lorna's not--" As Cos' voice began to raise, intending to protest that Trinity had barely started therapy after her traumas, Metternich cut him off.

"You see? Are you making decisions based on provable fact, or just infantalising your girlfriend to 'keep her safe'? In addition, despite your... clear influence... over this team as individuals, may I remind you that you have no formal position to object to any changes to the active roster." He turned back to the document he'd been examining, indicating that the discussion was at an end.

Seething, Cos suddenly realised something, and looked down at his hand:

He'd picked off one of the loose scales for "throwing" from the base of his armoured shirt, and it was hovering at his hand ready to go. Quickly, he reattached it, hoping no-one had noticed.

Was it true? Was he trying to keep Lorna safe beyond reason? No, he told himself, he'd seen her mental state clearly. If he was "infantalising" her, he'd be doing the same with Paul, surely.

Yes, that was it.

He shook his head and aimed to find her in the crowd. If he couldn't keep her out of it, he had to at least keep her with him...

The Road to Earth War

“There’s nothing we can do for him,” said Dr. Llewellyn with a frown. “I’m surprised he’s lasted as long as he has, to be honest. I hope you’ve given him the best care—“ he began to say but was cut off as Jacques Focquart held his hand up.

“We did everything we could, Doctor. Thank you for trying,” he added with some finality. He knew it was not his place to explain how this young man wound up with enough wounds to kill him. He died for his country; and suddenly, Jacques wondered if anyone would ever know.

Dr. Llewellyn huffed for a minute and walked away angry. He did not like losing patients, especially young ones. Having this young man brought here instead of a hospital was criminal, in his mind, but he knew when it came to things Legion-related it would always be a little off. Something else else about the way this Jacques character—and boss, King Faraday—carried themselves scared him. These were not Legionnaires or heroes. These were spies. He hoped they’d be leaving soon.

As Dr. Llewellyn walked out for a minute, the others hardly noticed. Andy Nolan sat by his brother’s side, tears streaming down his face. He’d removed the helmet made for him only days before so his brother could see his face. On the hospital bed, coming in and out of consciousness was his brother Doug. Both knew now that their time together was coming to an end.

In addition to Jacques, the Legionnaire Element Lad also remained in the room. He’d stayed with Andy throughout the chaos of getting Doug inside and now tried to lend him some strength. In Jan’s mind, death was not solely a sad thing. A celebration of life was also warranted. But he kept those thoughts to himself now, just putting his hand on Andy’s shoulder.

“A-Andy…” said Doug, regaining conscious once more. “…S-so sorry bro…should have never left you…tr-trying to protect you…”

“It’s okay, Doug,” said Andy, “try to rest.”

But in these last moments, Doug knew deep in his heart he’d better say goodbye. “Andy,” he said with some renewed strength, “I can’t protect you anymore…neither can Kon…we’re leaving you all alone…”

“Not alone, Doug,” said Andy. His tone of voice was strong. “I’ve got friends. They’ll take care of me. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

This seemed to make Doug relieved. “I’m glad…you were always…the best of us…I love you, Andy…”

“I love you too, Doug…” he said.

A tear ran down Element Lad’s cheek as he watched the two brothers.

Jacques Focquart couldn’t take anymore of this and had to leave the room. This is my fault, he thought.

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

Legion headquarters was buzzing with energy. Support staff moved in every direction, getting in each other’s way and losing their patience. In the top levels, all of the Legionnaires were now assembling, growing more and more aware that something truly staggering was happening. There was a genuine sense of alarm.

“Any word from our good liaison, friend?” said RJ Brande to Polarity and he just shook her head. “Hopefully he finally reached the Secretary-General…”

By RJ’s side was Marla Latham and beyond them was a room full of Legionnaires. Maps were sprawled out on the boardroom table while several of them were on the phone. But too many of them were standing around, letting their nervousness build up. Cosmic Boy realized it immediately. “We’ll need to train them better to spring into action,” he thought. He turned to Leviathan, Dox, Tela, Livewire and Sensor. They were huddled up front with him, as was King Faraday the mysterious Checkmate spy who found his way right in the midst of Legion Headquarters. “I can’t see anyway around splitting the team up.”

“Nor I,” said Dox. “It will have to be three squads. One in Europe, one in Asia and one in the United States. If this data King Faraday has supplied us with is correct,” he added.

“It is. The world’s military powers will be mobilizing soon enough but with the kind of firepower we’re facing, we need to make sure you Legionnaires are ready to go first,” replied the master-spy.

“That’s a big presumption, isn’t it?” said Leviathan. “How do we know the Legion will be mobilized for this?” There was an angry tone in his voice. He clearly believed he was losing any control of leadership and needed to assert himself. As always, it was at the worst time possible.

“We don’t,” said Invisible Kid before the others could reply. “That’s why we’re going to assert ourselves on our own.” RJ Brande smiled at the comment.

“Guys, you better come quick,” said Flash suddenly, as she ran up from the back of the room.

“Hold on, Jenni,” said Livewire, turning back to them. “How do we know Asia is going to be involved?” he asked.

“Guys…” said Jenni.

“It’s in the plans, isn’t it?” said King Faraday.

“Guys!” yelled Jenni.

“Asia is a pretty big place, Faraday,” said Lyle.

“GUYS!” she screamed.

They all turned. “What?!” yelled Leviathan back at her.

But by now she just stared beyond them. Slowly, they realized the entire room had gone silent. They turned slowly to see.

They recognized him immediately. All at once their jaws opened up in shock to see him standing there before them.

It was the President of the United States, Lex Luthor.

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

Even RJ Brande was slightly flabbergasted for a moment, before he regained his footing. Before any of the Legionnaires could say anything, he spoke up first. “Mr. President,” he began, “it’s an honor. You are most welcome here!”

The others took the cue. Cosmic Boy followed. “Mr. Luthor, it’s an honor, sir.”

Lex Luthor didn’t smile or frown but just took them all in. By his side was Metternich, who did not seem too happy to have the President of the United States there. After all, Metternich reported to the UN, not the USA. There was also an overweight black woman who looked incredibly angry. And then over a dozen secret service who were almost indistinguishable from the rest.

“Let’s assume I’ve been briefed on everything that’s transpired so far,” he began. “Tell me clearly. Is the United States in danger?”

There was silence for a moment and then Leviathan spoke up loudly. “Yes sir!”

Luthor turned to him. “And the Legion of Super-Heroes is here to defend our boarders, correct?”

Cosmic Boy cut Gene off before he could reply again. He could see what was coming. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Here and the rest of the world.”

Luthor raised an eyebrow. “Really? And how do you plan to do so?”

“That’s what we’re figuring out right now,” said RJ Brande. “We’ve got some information on the oncoming assault. Not a lot of information but some.”

“And where did you get this information?” said Luthor.

“I gave it to them,” said King Faraday, stepping forward. “Hello, sir,” he said calmly. “Hello Amanda.”

“King, give me one reason why you shouldn’t be charged with treason,” said Amanda Waller. She was furious. “This information should have come to me first,” she almost screamed.

“It’s on its way,” he said, “but I had to make a stop. You were going to let your Squad die in Khundia. By all rights, you’d given them up for dead and lost this data. I decided maybe they all didn’t need to die nameless in a shallow grave where no one would ever find them. And so, I got a little something extra for Checkmate.”

“Checkmate still answers to the President of the United States,” said Luthor. He had a calmness in his voice as well but there was something very terrifying about it.

“Indeed, sir,” he said. “What Checkmate is doing is saving the United States. And the whole world,” he added, just like Cosmic Boy had done earlier.

Basil Metternich spoke up now. “Mr. President, we’re thrilled you are visiting Legion headquarters. Despite not having any clue that you were coming. Naturally, we’ve extended every courtesy to let you in and see our operations. Would you like to take a seat? I’ve got the United Nations Secretary-General calling in within the next five minutes and the call should involve you as well.”

“I’d be glad to,” he said. “Amanda, where is your agent?”

Waller was looking around the room. “Where’s Focquart?” she said. Her voice was not pleasant.

“He’s a member of Checkmate now,” said Faraday. He looked directly at Luthor as he said it. His tone was very measured. “I trust you endorse that decision, sir,” he said. “Focquart is an asset I must have on my team.”

The Legionnaires knew in that moment, Jacques fate was being decided—literally. Luthor seemed to be considering his decision. If he denied Faraday’s request, who knew what Waller would do to him.

“I see no problem with it,” he said at last. “Clearly Mr. Faraday, you’ll have to remember this later on.”

“Clearly” said King.

“We suspect the majority of the fighting will take place around the Mediterranean,” said Cosmic Boy. None of the others felt like speaking up to the President. “So at least some of the team will be allocated there. Legion Leader Leviathan will coordinate our efforts here though, so the US will be in good hands—“

“Leviathan will lead the European mission,” said Luthor. “A former marine will be good to have out in front to the national community, don’t you agree?” he added, turning to Leviathan. Leviathan suddenly seemed to be bursting with pride.

“Yes sir!” he said loudly. Invisible Kid let out a light groan.

“Now see here, Luthor,” said RJ Brande, “you have no authority.”

“President Luthor, RJ,” he said. “You’re still a US citizen, aren’t you? Consider this the price for Jacques Focquart.”

“We hardly know him,” said Flash suddenly, but she put her hands over her mouth before continuing. She realized she might have misspoke and suddenly panic set in.

Jenni just gave Jacques a death sentence… thought Catalyst. But it was true. They just met him an hour earlier. All they knew was he tried to bring Doug Nolan back to his brother before he died. But they hardly even knew Doug or his brother either.

“That will be fine, sir” said Basil Metternich suddenly. They all looked at him shock. “Leviathan can oversee the European operations. This is all semantics anyway. Will you be staying?”

“I will,” he said.

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

“What the hell was that?” said Cosmic Boy to Metternich outside in the hallway thirty minutes later. They both finally had a chance to slip out.

“Listen to me,” said Metternich to him. Clearly he was feeling as much anxiety as Cosmic Boy. “Know when to pick your battles. Let Luthor get that ‘win’ for himself. Its basically meaningless. More importantly, he’s raising no objections to try to force the Legion to stay within the US and defend it.”

“But he couldn’t. He doesn’t have the authority,” said Cos.

“He doesn’t need it,” said Metternich. “He’s the President of the United States of America. He can be the worst enemy we’ve ever dreamt of if we allow it. He can impede us in anyway he wants—and more, he’s got not only the political clout but the physical strength to do it too. Trust me, he’s an enemy we can’t afford to have.”

“So, what? We humor him? Let him sit in on this meeting?”

“Cosmic Boy,” said Metternich. “Things are happening now on levels we can only imagine. Political players you and I have never even heard of are weighing in. But here’s what’s important: the Legion of Super-Heroes is in the game. You all will have your chance to be involved and by having this window of opportunity available to you to make your own plans, you’ll have at least a small say in how it goes down.”

Cos understood. “They’d have called us in eventually,” he nodded. “But at least now with this small amount of time, we can at least present our own game plan to them.”

“Exactly,” said Metternich. “They’d be more willing to approve something than come up with it on their own.”

“So what does it mean? Are we going to be in this war?” said Invisible Kid, suddenly turning un-invisible. Cos shook his head with a smile but Metternich was annoyed.

“The telepath is probably listening in too,” he said under his breath. “It means, you all have your chance to be involved in this war. Don’t be too excited though. War brings only death and worse. You have my apologies if I don’t rush off to join you.”

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

Valor, Shrinking Violet, Invisible Kid and Catalyst had arrived back in time to see more people in the lobby than they’d ever seen before. It took a minute to figure out what was happening but one word made it clear: “Luthor”. The other seems bothered by it and rushed to get upstairs (which they had to do the sneaky way). But while the other three ran off to the Boardroom, Valor went elsewhere.

He’d been alerted to what was happening throughout their dalliance with the Silver Slasher. They’d kept them updated on their phones and he was surprised most of all about Andy’s brother. He’d just met Andy a few weeks ago, but already he felt a connection with him. He knew his friend was in a lot of pain and hoped he’d make it before his brother passed.

He rushed over to the sickbay and saw the person who must be Jacques Focquart out in the hallway. Everything was silent. “Is he…?” asked Valor.

“He’s gone,” said Jacques.

Valor opened the door to the room to see Andy Nolan still sitting there, holding his brother’s hand. His brother was silent now; lifeless. Andy was quiet, though tears ran down his cheeks. Element Lad looked up from where he was standing, his hand on Andy’s shoulder. Valor, who feared no battle, suddenly felt fear. The fear of not being able to say the right thing. Of not being able to provide any level of comfort.

“Andy?” he said at last. “Are you…” but before he could say anything further, Andy looked up. For the briefest moment, a look of relief was on his face.

Andy walked over to him. “V-Val…” he began but he just stopped. He put his arms around his friend and pushed his head into his chest. And he began to cry, harder and harder until he was sobbing.

His brother was dead, and likely his other best friend. In a way, he thought now he was all alone in the world.

Except maybe…maybe he had the Legion.

Val just hugged him tightly and gave him comfort, as Andy sobbed.

The Road to Earth War

Vienna, Austria
Castle Wazzo

Ten Zil Kem held an acoustic guitar in his arms, sitting down as if to position it perfectly. He put his left hand up at the neck and strummed the strings with his right hand.

“You know how to play, Tenz?” said Tatiana quizzically. She sat across from them in one of the luxurious rooms in Castle Wazzo. This one had all manner of musical instruments, including a beautiful piano.

“Me? No, not at all. I used to see them on television but where I grew up, you didn’t have any of these types of guitars. I always wanted to learn how to play, though. Probably never get the chance before the world ends…” he said glumly.

His words hung out there but no one said anything. The immense weight of what lied ahead of them was now bearing down hard. Everyone was visibly stressed.

Dirk got up, walked over and took it out of Tenz’s hands. “Okay, enough. After we win this thing, I’ll teach you. Now c’mon,” he said, walking out the door.

Tatiana looked at Dirk leave with an eyebrow raised.

“Of course he knows how to play guitar,” said Tenz sarcastically.

Both followed.

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

Castle Wazzo was abuzz with more than just the Legionnaires: United Nations administrative personnel were everywhere, as the continued presence of some of its highest ranking members, including the Secretary-General, kept them busy. The staff at Castle Wazzo were more than happy to accommodate so many, feeling a sense of excitement they hadn’t felt since the birth of Tina.

Throughout it all, Countess Winema Wazzo oversaw the daily upkeep of the Castle during this hectic time with grace and good humor. The vigor she showed was as if she’d grown ten years younger. “She was born for this,” said Ultra Boy to Spirit as they watched her give orders to her cooking staff on what the lunch menu would look like this afternoon.

“She was,” said Spirit with a half-smile. Of all the craziness she’d seen in the last year, finally bonding with her mother was the last thing she’d expect with the world on the verge of Armageddon. But for it happened, and now she was feeling a strange sense of pride.

“Mother, can we help?” said Tina.

The Countess looked up. “I expect not, dear,” she replied, though with a sense of delight for the offer. “I know you Legionnaires have your own worries right now. Madame General Secretary was up all last night with President Lex Luthor negotiating the next steps.”

“And?” said Joe, very anxious to hear the outcome.

“And the United States is putting their full support behind what the UN intends to do. She had to agree to give them full authority to do what they feel necessary in North America, but this is still a huge boon. She’s working on China now but given what might happen if China does not agree, I think we’re going to be okay to get a real resolution passed.” There was real pride in Winema’s voice.

Ultra Boy smiled. And they say the United Nations can’t get anything done, he thought.

Spirit, however, was focused on something else she said. “You said you know we Legionnaires have our own worries,” she said. Her voice had gotten a littler quieter, which made both Jo and the Countess turn to look at her. “You are… all right with it then? With my being a Legionnaire?”

The Countress was visibly exhausted and so her defenses were down, Joe surmised. She sighed a little and smiled and then sat down in a chair. Tina walked closer to her as the Countress looked up. “Of course not, Tina. The last think I want is my daughter out there were she might be hurt or worse. I am terrified of what might happen to you. But Tina,” she said, looking at her eye to eye, “I am so proud of you right now.”

Joe smiled widely as Tina hugged her mother tightly, both of them with tears running down their cheeks.

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

“Let’s go, Centurion!” yelled Tatiana to Mon-El as they walked into the courtyard.

Mon, who was in the middle of a conversation with Dawnstar about flying, turned around with an eyebrow raised. “What makes you think I was a centurion?” he said confused.

“Dude, no one even know what that means,” said Tenz with a laugh.

Tatiana laughed too. “Dirk is calling a meeting I think,” she said.

The others followed. Up ahead, they saw Ultra Boy and Spirit joining them.

“What’s this about?” asked Joe.

“Dirk has called a meeting,” said Dawnstar with a shrug.

Flare was at the head of the column and up ahead he saw Blok and Maziah. As he approached, he slowed down. He stopped and they all stopped too. Neither Blok nor Maziah seemed to notice them.

“What’s the noise?” said Tenz in a whisper.

“It’s Maziah,” said Dawnstar. “She’s singing. For Blok.”

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

Blok stood in the gardens as the White Witch stood in front of him, only half his size. Garbed in her usual all-white, she looked small and petite. But her voice, which was soft and sweet, had a strength to it. A raw power that hinted at multiple layers within its texture. It was silky and smooth, and it draw you in.

She sang a song from her home in Xerox, something she’d heard once when she was a child and loved. She did so with her eyes closed, having no idea who may be listening.

And Blok watched her in his stoney, massive form. Though his eyes could produce no tears, he felt true emotion. His had been a journey for longer than any might imagine. It had been hard and it often it had been cruel. Anyone he’d ever come to care about was long dead. But he’d never cared about anyone as much as Maziah.

She finished. She opened her eyes and looked at Blok and though an outsider would never knew, she knew he was smiling. “I owed you a song, Blok. Consider the debt paid,” she smiled. Her smile was sweet and genuine.

“I’ve waited long to hear it,” he said in his gravel voice. “But it was worth the wait. I’m sure your friends agree.”

Maziah turned suddenly, embarrassed. All the rest of them were standing there smiling. Some were even in awe at the beauty of her voice.

“That was beautiful, Maziah,” said Mon-El. The endorsement of Monius Elysius was a strong one as he did not give out his praise easily.

She smiled and nodded with a bow to say thanks.

“Does something trouble you, my friends?” asked Blok. He had always been able to know what they were feeling.

They all turned to Dirk, who spoke without hesitation. “Blok,” he said, “we’ve all come a long way together. Some of us more recently than the rest but still a well traveled road. I’ve come to love all of you, like you’re I never had. I would do anything for you. And I trust you all.”

They all nodded, waiting to see where this was going.

“Blok, I know you’ll be honest with us. You have been from the start. The scope of what we have overcome is almost too incredible to comprehend but you’ve never once lied to us about it. I thank you for that.”

Blok nodded. “This most difficult of choices to fight Mordru must always be made with clarity.”

“This is supposed to make us feel better?” said Tenz to Tatiana, though he suddenly felt bad, realizing it was too loud.

Dirk turned to him with a half-grin. “Blok, you’ve said this to us before, but tell us again. You’ve fought Mordru a thousand times, in a thousand different eras. You’ve fought him with the odds stacked against you, but also with the odds stacked in your favor. You’ve done it openly and in secret. And you’ve always failed.”

Blok nodded.

”What makes this time so different?” said Dirk.

Blok was silent for a moment and every one of them stared at him with full attention. But once again, Maziah could see him smiling.

“This time,” he began, “Mordru faces a new concept.”

“His daughter,” said Dawnstar. She was among the newest of their group and was still comprehending the complexity of what they faced. “Maziah.”

“That is true,” said Blok. “Mordru has never had offspring. He’s never faced someone with the potential that he has. There is no doubt Maziah and her sister will be deciding factors in the war against him. That I am betting everything on.”

Tenz looked at Dirk to say that’s it?.

Dirk smiled as Blok continued. “But there is more than that. There is all of you. Winged warrior maidens and magical princesses. Those who were born to fight, and those from the humblest beginnings who learned how to do it on their own. Whatever you call yourselves—Sentinels or Super-Heroes—it is all of you that is different.”

Maziah spoke up, as she had an understanding that none of them did. “When the spell broke and mankind began to evolve again, this new generation developed with an arsenal of powers to combat him. But its more than just powers. It’s people.”

Mon-El nodded and he smiled too. “There is something unique about this world,” he said in agreement. “So many of you, unwilling to bend to authority. Questioning every order and every decision. It’s frustrating beyond belief and it’s chaos. But it shows a hunger…a hunger for freedom.”

“Yes,” said Blok. “This time we will succeed because of all of you. You in front of me. Those in New York City. The rest spread out all over the world. Mordru wages war like he always has done to crush politicians and warriors and men who crave what he has. But never against you. And you are Legion.”

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

TO BE CONTINUED IN EARTH WAR

Over 200,000 years ago, before great civilizations within living memory and long forgotten, Earth experienced a Golden Age. It was the high point of history and though it has been long forgotten, the remnants of the era once more play a heavy role in mankind’s future. This was the Age of Ekron, where the great civilization of old was more than human, but rather deity like beings with incredible knowledge and abilities.

Among the Ekronians there were three whose insight set them apart from the others. And the greatest of the three was Mordru who loved Earth and its inhabitants so much that he felt he must take a hand in fostering its future—ensuring its survival by instilling his will on progress. Mordru believed in total order; he believed in control. The other Ekronians became alarmed by this intrusion, feeling it was a violation of their purpose on the Earth. For Ekron believed in expanding thoughts and arts and sciences; they believed in chaos—beautiful chaos—so creativity can be free and rampant.

It was not long before Ekron fell into Civil War. The planet Earth was shattered and much of the great knowledge of the Ancient World were lost forever. All the Ekronians were lost forever save three, dying with great sadness in their hearts that Earth would never reach its creative potential. For they realized with their dying breaths that Mordru had won. And that over time, his great love for the inhabitants of Earth would turn cold and his insatiable need for order and control would be all-consuming. Their fears were justified, for soon after Mordru became the Great Enemy of mankind and has remained so for its history.

Time went on, as it always does, and knowledge of the Dark Lord came and went. The cycle repeated itself many times. Oftentimes he would wage his private wars in secret; sometimes he would wage them openly against all of mankind. And always he was victorious.

Yet there were those who stood against him. Mordru’s wars and goals were anathema to the Earth. And so, fearing the calamity of what would undoubtedly befall the planet, Earth itself birthed its only living son to confront and battle the Dark Lord. Called many names over the millennia, the brotherless one has stood against Mordru; today, his allies call him Blok.

Blok was joined by many throughout history: the shadow-caster clan that began in Eden, lived in Persia and founded an ancestral home in England. The ancient Roman warrior who was betrayed but has risen again. The royal house of illusions which was created as a warden against Mordru’s Emerald Empresses. And foremost among them all, Mordru’s greatest enemy whose existence remains a secret to all but Blok and the Dark Lord himself. This secret benefactor of the forces of humanity remains steadfast in his war against Mordru and bides his time to reveal himself once more.

For the enemies of Mordru now have something they never had before throughout the thousands of years they’ve battled the Dark Lord. A new coalition with a purity of spirt. A new alliance whose mission maintains a clarity in their souls. A new concept. A Legion of Super-Heroes.

If ever Earth had a chance for victory, it is now. Mordru knows this…and now he resolves to destroy his enemies before they destroy him.

Vienna, Austria

When it happened, it still came as a total shock to them. Tina Wazzo, the Legionnaire known as Spirit, awoke from her bedroom and felt an instant twinge of guilt as she saw all of her friends were already awake and had gone downstairs for breakfast. She was usually an early riser, but last night had stayed awake extra late to sit in with her mother and the other United Nations delegates. When did I actually start finding the UN interesting? she thought, smiling to herself. Most of her life she avoided the topic of her mother’s occupation like the plague.

She looked to see if Joe was still sleeping but no luck. Joe, like the rest of the boys in their group, slept in the attached room adjacent to her bedroom, while the girls stayed with her. He had remained with her late into the night, also silently observing. Joe had a funny way about him; at first glance you’d think he was just a good-looking jock. But eventually you came to see this was an act—he was in fact quite intelligent and he seemed to enjoy observing people. It’s nice spending time with him… she started to think but pushed the thought out of her head. Now is not the time for that, Tina.

Once she went downstairs, however, she felt more guilty than ever. The news was in every room, and everyone in Castle Wazzo was glued to the televisions, even the staff. She found the others huddled around a television set in a room dedicated to lounging.

Most of them were still in the clothes they slept in, as if they hadn’t stopped looking at te television for an instant. No one looked up at her at first, but then Mon-El noticed she’d entered. “Khundia has invaded Italy,” he said firmly.

“What?” she replied shocked.

Tatiana looked up, her eyes in a bit of a daze. “It’s begun, Tina,” she said. “The War. Khundia has invaded Sicily and already has captured Palermo. People are dying even now.”

Blok spoke up from behind them and Tina realized she hadn’t noticed he was in the room. Oftentimes, he would not enter in doors. “Mordru has began. He is aware a final confrontation looms and so he has pushed up his timetable. He is hoping to destroy us before we have a chance to gather anymore strength. I’m afraid children,” he said as they noticed his grainy voice had a small inkling of sadness, “that are time for preperations is over.”

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

Tina rushed off to find her mother, the Countess Winema Wazzo. Her mother was not only an United Nations Ambassador, but she was probably with the UN General-Secretary, Jeannie Chu and Ambassador Anton Relnic who were visiting them right now. Joe and Tatiana got up and followed her out.

“Tina, wait up,” said Joe. His codename among them was Ultra Boy, though he hardly used it.

Tina ignored Joe and ran faster. “Tina, are you okay?” said Tatiana, concerned.

Tina turned around surprised. “Am I okay? Of course not Tati,” she said, as two tears ran down her cheeks. “The world is going to be at war. W-we…we need to do something.”

Tatiana walked over to her and hugged her. They had started with some small animosity between them yet after all these weeks, the two of them had grown into great friends. “We will. We need to act, and soon. But first, we need to figure out how.”

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

By the time they could see the Countess, their patience had worn thin. Instead of minutes it had been hours. In the meantime, they did everything they could to prepare: they ate, they rested, they packed up any supplies they might need.

Dirk suggested that it was time to put on their costumes—something he couldn’t believe he was saying.

“So we get to be super-heroes,” said Tenz with a big smile.

“I guess so,” said Dirk. “Maybe it will actually inspire some people…” he said, a little unsure. In one of those rare instances, he was embarrassed.

“I think it will,” said Mon-El, which surprised them. “The news is only reporting on the Khundish army right now. But we know Mordru has agents in his employ who will crush the morale of regular people. Dragons. Monsters. Dev Em.” Saying the name of his arch enemy gave Mon-El a harshness to his voice. “They’ll need everything they can to inspire them.”

Tina was glad to put her Legion costume back on; once more she felt like Spirit, a founder of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Now looked at the others, and saw some of them were still a little uncomfortable. Assembled they were Flare, Dawnstar, Ultra Boy, Matter-Eater Lad (reveling in his chosen moniker), Umbra and maintaining their own nicknames, Blok & Mon-El.

Last among them was the White Witch, who remained silent so far. How she must be feeling… thought Tina. She looked so petite in her white robes. She’ll be facing her own father. She’s stronger than perhaps anyone I ever met before, but I know she must be so scared.. None of them wanted to bother her right now, though Blok stayed by her side throughout, quietly lending her strength.

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

“I’ve alerted the Legion of Super-Heroes, and even now they are on their way here,” said Secretary-General Chu.

“All of them?” asked Spirit, unable to help herself.

“No,” replied Chu. “Unfortunately, the news here is focusing on Sicily, but the fighting has begun elsewhere too. An army has invaded Iran out of Saudia Arabia. And something seems to be happening on the US-Mexican border. If the intel we have is accurate, and we think it is, then this ‘Mordru’s’ attacks are going exactly as planned.”

“The reason Madame Secretary-General is speaking with you,” said Ambassador Relnic, “is because she is aware you are going to enter this chaos anyway.” He decided to get right to the point. “We would love to tell you not to do it, but frankly, at this point we feel like we need you.”

“Before you go, children,” said Countess Wazzo, “you need to know what you’re up against.” Countess Wazzo looked visibly shaken. Her skin was more pale than usual and she was very tense. Tina knew it was because her daughter was heading off into a war zone.

Secretary-General Chu used a digital remote to change the screen. “Here are videos taken in Sicily in the last (24) hours by phones and other recording devices. They have not appeared on the internet yet but they will shortly. The images are horrifying.”

The Sentinels looked at the videos and indeed, they were horrifying, but it did not surprise them. They were steadfast in watching every second, and Relnic raised an eyebrow—these children had stronger stomachs than he thought. Beyond the Khundish army, there were other, more supernatural elements to the assault. Some of the attackers looked like decayed corpses that could walk. “Zombies,” said Matter-Eater Lad out loud, as if taking a mental note of what they face.

“Yes, and other undead type creatures,” said the White Witch, taking a cue from Tenz. Talking about it out loud seemed to help.

“And the Khundish Legionnaires are there,” said Matter-Eater Lad. “There’s Firefist. Man, I hoped I’d never see that kid again.”

“What about Veilmist?” asked Dirk, taking a closer look.

“Jeez Dirk, keep it in your—“ began Tenz but Dirk turned quickly towards him and shot him a look that plainly said not now.

“Slow it down for a moment,” said Mon-El. At first Secretary-General Chu looked at him in surprise, not used to being addressed so by someone who was barely an adult, but she took it in stride and did what he asked.

“That’s Dev Em,” he said at last. On the video they could see a purple blur rip apart two police officers. They recognized the costume at once.

“And look, there’s another,” said Dawnstar. They could see another figure moving with a blur but couldn’t make out who it was. “Mon, can your eyes pick anything up?”

“It’s hard with this video machine,” he said. Tatiana was too tense to smile at his lack of knowledge of 21st century technology. “But its another young man like Dev Em. Different though. There is some sort of mark on his chest. An ‘S’ perhaps.”

“Who knows how many monsters Mordru has held in stock that we don’t know about,” said Flare, pointing out the obvious. “Is the dragon there?”

Relnic looked at Dirk as if he had two heads. “Dragon?”

Dirk, unlike Tatiana, could force a smile. “Oh, you don’t know about that yet?” he said. “All these zombies and things? That’s nothing. It’s going to get a lot worse. So the sooner we get out there, the better.”

All the Legionnaires were in agreement, though the three adults were still not thrilled with the concept of sending these children into battle.

“Wait,” said Umbra, suddenly sitting up straight. “Look who else is there. Dear God, I had hoped she wouldn’t have anything to do with this…”

“You know her?” said Secretary-General Chu, turning at the screen. On screen was a young girl, the age of the Sentinels, with flowing green hair and a green/white costume. Floating around her was a large orb that upon closer inspection was a glowing lidless eye. “Who is she?” said Chu.

“That’s Sara,” said Tatiana, her voice almost a whisper.

“The Emerald Empress,” said Matter-Eater Lad. “We’re not exactly pals with her…”

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

Not long after, they began preparing to leave Austria. As the day lengthened, their attitudes began to change; a somber mood began to overtake him. It’s the waiting… thought Tina. It’s awful.

“The Khunds just invaded South France,” said Dawnstar re-entering the room. “They’re wasting no time.”

The news hit them like a punch in the face. “This is going much faster than I thought,” said Flare.

“We’ve got to get out there,” said Mon-El, his words echoing all their thoughts.

“Tina,” said a voice from the door entrance and they turned to see the Countess there. “Can I see you a moment?”

Spirit walked over to her mother without hesitation as the others turned away, trying to give them some privacy. Just recently they had started to connect after a lifetime of being at odds. The Countess had told Tina how proud of her she was.

This time, Winema Wazzo didn’t have the words. She grabbed her daughter and held her tight. As tight as she could, as tears ran down her cheeks. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too, Mom,” said Tina.

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

Maziah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal stood outside in the courtyard where the Sentinels had gathered so many times before. It felt much colder out there now; colder than it had throughout their many months together. To others, he 16 years on the Earth might seem short but to her it felt very long; these last months, though, had been the greatest of her life. She considered that and smiled, but thoughts of the coming battle encroached upon her mind again and she once more felt fear.

“Maziah,” said Blok, appearing from the Earth before her.

“When I was a child, Blok,” she said, speaking as if he’d been there the whole time. “They used to call me the White Witch. They said one day my power might surpass even my father’s. I used to think about the name and becoming a brave sorceress. I’d wear it the moniker proudly and be full of courage. It’s a name I wear proudly now. But all I feel is fear.”

Blok extended his giant arm and rested his dirty palm upon her white clothed shoulder. The dirt did not stain or even blemish the fabric. “It is good that you feel fear, child,” he said. “To overcome it, you will find that great courage you always dreamed about.”

“When I announced myself to Glaurung, the Dragon, I did something of great importance in the magical world. I proclaimed my stance against my father. Is this Earth War a reaction to that? Did I cause this war?”

Blok could see that though Maziah had come so far in her growth, now in the eleventh hour, she felt great doubt. He knew that after so many centuries, this moment was critical to his purpose on Earth. “No, Maziah,” he said firmly. “Mordru has made war on humanity for thousands of years. He would have done so again. What you’ve done is something none could do for a long time. You’ve made him feel fear.”

Maziah turned now to look at him, considering his words.

“He now feels as you do, and he cannot remember the last time he did so. You’ve caused him to show his hand too early. And in that mistake, we will catch him with his guard down.”

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

In the end, the Sentinels left Austria in secret. Tina had already said her goodbyes with her mother. They were afraid they’d be held back by Chu and the others, or forced to work within some game plan that did not understand the nature of Mordru.

Awaiting them in the harbor was the Black Pirate and his ghost ship. He smiled as he saw them but said nothing. He knows, thought Tina. His connection to magic is telling him what Mordru is doing.

“Where do we sail to, my beauty?” he asked Spirit with a devilish grin.

She was too tense to respond with any scorn as she usually did. “Sicily,” she said.

He smiled again and looked out into the water as the sun set. “To war then.”

Manhattan, New York City,
The United States

In the lobby of 247 Weisenger Plaza in midtown Manhattan the usual hustle and bustle of New York City life had come to abrupt halt that morning. Businessmen were not having meetings and the coffee shop was not selling coffees. Building security just stared at the flat screen televisions mounted on the walls and watched the news unfold as the world grew ever closer to war.

Up on the top floor of the skyscraper a room full of exhausted teenagers and their support staff felt the return of a familiar feeling: anxiety. Having worked through the bureaucratic necessities and the strategic planning sessions, the Legion of Super-Heroes was now fully assembled and ready to embark on its biggest mission yet.

At the head of the room was R.J. Brande, Marla Latham and Basil Metternich. Metternich turned to his administrative assistant, Cindy, and spoke: “Cindy, that will be all. Please have the staff all leave the room now. They are dismissed for the morning to catch up on some sleep. We’ll need everyone back here by this afternoon.”

“Yes, Mr. Metternich,” she said, turning to walk out but not before smiling at Cosmic Boy. Cos didn’t notice but some of the others did, causing a few giggles and some scowls. Cosmic Boy realized that with the support staff being dismissed the time for talking was coming to an end.

Metternich turned to face the Legionnaires and addressed them directly. “Right. Well, I believe this brings us to the War. I believe I should wish you good luck…”

“Basil, please,” said RJ Brande cutting him off. “Sentimentality is not your strong suit,” he said to a few laughs among the Legionnaires. “We all know what we have to face today,” he said to them. “It will be dangerous and the stakes will be high. But let me tell you something kids: this is what you were made for. I know its scary but you’ve trained for this and you’ve worked hard for this. You joined the Legion of Super-Heroes to make a difference and today, that’s what you’ll do!”

An eruption of cheers and applause broke out. Marla Latham, next to RJ smiled. RJ had insisted that he would be going along to Europe with that segment of the team, leaving Marla behind in charge of Brande Industries and Metternich to manage the Legion bureaucracy. They suspected it was so RJ could lend them some moral support.

As the applause died down, the Legionnaires turned towards each other, expecting one of their own to now take the floor. A few of the newer members like Hygeia and Ferro turned to Leviathan, who for the first time in awhile seemed dumbstruck, unsure of what to say. But soon it became clear that the others were looking towards Cosmic Boy. Even Leviathan for a moment looked relieved.

Cosmic Boy watched as all their heads faced him and without thinking, he knew what to do and what to say. “When we’re out there I want you all to remember something,” he started. “You’re not alone.” Some of them nodded, some others were confused. “Look around you,” he said. “There are 29 of us, if you can believe that. 29 Legionnaires. When we’re out there and everything is overwhelming or scary, and at times might seem hopeless, keep in mind how many of us there are. We are Legion,” he said with a clear emphasis. “As long as we’ve got each other, we can overcome anything.”

Some of them cheered and others smiled. When Cos said it, they believed it.

“It’s time to call the roll,” he said now. “It’s clear on the Asian front that Mordru will be taking a multi-pronged approach. Rebound and Shifter will lead a group supplemented by SHIELD agents and that includes Element Lad, Quislet, Amihan, Amazon, Wildfire and Hygeia.”

The eight Legionnaires nodded and began to move together to one side of the room.

“I’ll take another squadron to the west coast of the US and coming with me will be Dox, Spark, Trinity, Kid Quantum, Polarity, Star Boy, Gear, Kinetix, Flash and Blizzard.”

Those Legionnaires also nodded and then began separating themselves. For the briefest of moments, Cosmic Boy considered his conversation with Metternich before and his motives in purposely keeping Trinity and his brother by his side.

“And Leviathan will lead another team to Europe to hopefully join Spirit and the others. King Faraday and Fantomas will accompany them as well. This will include Tela, Livewire, Dreamer, Shrinking Violet, Catalyst, Invisible Kid, Sensor, Valor, Nemesis and Ferro.”

In the background, King Faraday and Fantomas nodded at one another. They were outsiders here and so said nothing. King Farday’s thoughts were elsewhere but Jacques could not help but be impressed by these teenagers. He could feel something; what was happening now meant something.

Leviathan said nothing but felt some pride in being the face of the Legion on the European front. President Luthor had insisted and they acquiesced; he knew it would make the other Legionnaires angry but in his heart he knew he could prove to them it was the right call.

“Everyone stay safe and do exactly as you were trained. The world needs us right now and we’re going to show them exactly why the Legion of Super-Heroes exists! Are you with me?”

“YES!!!”

“LONG LIVE THE LEGION!” they all shouted.

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

Palermo, Sicily

Throughout its history, the island of Sicily has been an epicenter of warfare and invasion. Situated among the great empires of the world for centuries, Sicily has been a battleground that has seen innumerable horrors and chaos.

Once again, Sicily descended into chaos.

The Khundish army marched across the island, taking it over with lightning speed and already making preparations to invade the European mainland shortly thereafter, in a two-pronged strike into France and Italy’s mainland. Though Sicily put up some defense, the Khundish army easily overpowered it and soon the Khundish soldiers set about razing the cities and plundering the countryside.

The Khunds were outfitted with the best technology available and the most highly trained soldiers in the world. They also had something else on their side: whenever the Khunds began to approach, the target would lose all of its technology beforehand. Power would shut down; phone lines went dead; the internet was lost. Unknown to the United Nations and SHIELD, the Dark Lord’s forces had kidnapped the teenage girl known as ‘Oracle’ during the recent Suicide Squad assault on Khundia; Danielle Focquart’s power was now used in full force to cause confusion and cut off the targets from having any potential communication with help.

The Khundish army had a special division that was firmly placed at the front of the assault: Khundia’s very own Legion of Super-Heroes. Bloodclaw, Firefist, Veilmist and Flederweb led the charge into the towns and countryside, destroying all in their path and killing any who stood in their way.

Supplementing their forces were the agents of Mordru who now revealed themselves in the light of day: the Emerald Empress and Dev Em. Both of their power unleashed was terrifying to behold and they moved through the sacking of Palermo with unnerving ease.

In addition to the great agents of the Dark Lord, there was one more: a young boy of seventeen from the obscure neighborhood of Suicide Slum. Conal Kent, codenamed Tutsuo while a part o the Suicide Squad, was also taken by the Dark Lord’s forces and now was being unleashed as weapon as well. He flew next to Dev Em and the two used their incalculable strength and speed to destroy all in their paths.

Even without showing himself yet, the Dark Lord’s forces seemed unstoppable.

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

Sara Romanescu, the Emerald Empress, floated regally in the air overseeing the destruction. The Emerald Eye urged her onwards to take part of the continued pillage and plunder but she held herself in check. Yes, Sara felt the continued anger and fury that consumed her constantly, and yes, she felt an urge to re-engage. But seeing all this wanton destruction and defilement had given her pause. It was almost too much.

She was wanted revenge upon the world for the crimes perpetrated against her and her family. She knew the Dark Lord could help her get it. But this…was she such a monster as to do this?

“We should have known you would be here,” said a voice. It was sharp and full of its own anger, and she knew it immediately. Turning, she saw two of her oldest friends—and now deadliest enemies: Tatiana Mallor, who styled herself “Umbra” and Maziah, the White Witch.

The fury began to return to Sara immediately. “Looking a little blue in the face, Tatiana?” she said cruelly, referencing the fact that Tatiana’s appearance was now a deep blue color, something she must surely hate. “You both have a lot of courage to show yourselves here. And stupidity. I only wish Jacquie was with you…but her time will come soon enough…”

“You have fallen very far, Sara,” said Maziah. Her voice was firm but soft and it carried a great sadness. “You were born for more noble things and I wish I did not have to see you so corrupted.”

“Please, Maziah,” said Sara in biting anger, “save me your pity! You pretend to be so soft and delicate, but its clear you want to supplant your father! Well, I’m afraid you both are in for a surprise!” she screamed. And suddenly, the Emerald Eye unleashed its power upon them, firing a concentrated beam of hard-light in their direction.

Umbra dived to her side, tumbling out of the way as Valor taught her, and then at once fired her darkness at the Emerald Eye. Ever since their first battle, Tatiana, Jacquie and Maziah had come up with several strategies to beat Sara if they battled her again. Covering the Emerald Eye with darkness was something they knew would succeed.

Maziah also moved but barely was able to escape the beam; instead, she magically created a shield to parry the blow but instantly regretted wasting a spell. Patience, Maziah, she thought, this war won’t be fought in one day. She looked up and matched the Emerald Empress’ gaze and the two locked on one another, preparing to assault each other magically with all their might.

But Umbra’s darkness was doing the trick. The Eye was blinded temporarily and panicked—its emotions sent a shockwave through Sara and she felt herself losing control. She screeched as loud as she could and sent forth a belligerent blast in all directions in an attempt to push away her attackers.

Umbra and the White Witch fell back and regrouped before they renewed the attack. “Nothing about this is going to be easy, is it?” said Umbra to Maziah.

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

Ultra Boy and Mon-El flew at top speed into the chaos and then through it. Down below they could see the travesties being perpetrated by the Khundish soldiers and it was gruesome to behold. Joe, despite his traditional ability to hide his emotions, was overwhelmed with outrage and despair; Mon-El, who had seen true war throughout his whole life, had expected to see exactly this type of plunder. But they knew they had to move past it and get to the real threat at hand, which lay up ahead.

While all of the Dark Lord’s agents caused tremendous harm, the worst offenders were those with the most powerful abilities. Mon-El could see them: Dev Em and a black-haired boy the same age as the Sentinels; they moved with speed only Joe and Mon could match, and their blows destroyed buildings—or in Dev’s case, people—at their whim.

“Take the other one,” said Mon-El to Ultra Boy. “Dev Em is mine.”

Joe didn’t argue. He had heard all about Dev Em since he’d joined up with the Sentinels. Like the others, he fared the ancient warrior, but he was ready to help Mon-El when the time came. But with this new mysterious player, that was not going to be now. Who is this super boy? he thought. Another ‘Daxamite’, whatever the hell that is? Or someone like me?

At speeds beyond the human eye, the two Sentinels descended upon them. Dev Em’s super-hearing picked up on their approach and reacted immediately but the other ‘super boy’ did not. Ultra Boy rammed into him at top speed, tackling him into the ground below. Dev Em ducked out of the way of Mon-El’s blow and the two flew into the air, battling one another throughout the skies.

Their battle soon took them beyond Sicily and into the Mediterranean, beyond sight. Yet every so often a tremendous boom could be heard, as the two landed blows on each other.

On Sicily, Ultra Boy battled the ‘super boy’, who now regained his composure and fought back in full force. “What’s your deal, kid?” he said in anger, unable to read his opponent, who was just as strong as him, if not stronger, and just as ferocious. “Not much of a talker, are you?”

The boy said nothing and battled back. Ultra Boy momentarily tried to switch to his flash vision power but the boy was too quick—for an instant, he left himself exposed and almost paid the ultimate price. He’s too fast to get cute with the powers, Joe thought. He doesn’t seem to have my problem, though. His powers are similar to Mon’s and mine, though a little different. Perhaps they’re telekinetic in nature? He doesn’t seem to have any vision powers. Maybe that bastard McCauley had something to do with it? The thought of McCauley made him fight much harder.

The super boy lunged forward but Joe had purposely exposed himself as bait to lure him. He jumped backwards and pulled the boy to the ground, so he could then try to kick his ribs as a different tactic. The boy took it in pain but said nothing. No one would take that with no reaction. This kid must be mind-controlled!

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

While the personal battles were waged on the fringes, the Khundish army continued its assault upon Sicily with the Khundish Legionnaires in tow. Veilmist and Flederweb stayed back, horrified of the sacking of Palermo but concerned for their own safety as well. Bloodclaw and Firefist reveled in the chaos, believing they were achieving a glory that would go down in history.

Of the two of them, Firefist was clearly the leader. He unleashed his flames upon a series of houses, and then charged forward, looking for his next victim.

Bloodclaw followed, screaming and yelling. “All those who die by our hands,” he said to his friend, “will be our slaves in the afterlife. I know this old custom to be true!” he laughed. The two entered a ruined villa.

“Throughout my many years among you,” said a voice behind them, as they turned to see a massive frame. “It never fails to dishearten me to find those who embrace such violence.” Blok spoke with his usual stoic demeanor but now moved with a purpose. He reached forward, smashing his fist into Bloodclaw and sending him backwards. The young Khund was very big, but Blok’s massive rock form was bigger.

“You’ll pay for that, monster,” said Firefirst, who turned to fire at him.

“It is outlandish that you have the right to call anyone ‘monster’ other than yourself!” said another voice that could not hide its anger, as Dawnstar descended from the sky and lifted Firefirst up high, using the propulsion of her wings to lend her some momentum needed to pick up the teenager. She flew several feet into the air and dropped him to the ground before he could fire his flames at her.

“You will pay for that witch,” said Firefist. “Over and over,” he growled, getting to his feet at Bloodclaw also regrouped to battle Blok once more.

“Maybe,” said Spirit, suddenly rising from a nearby pile of rubble, “maybe not,” she added, running by them in an effort to draw their attention. The ploy worked and Firefist followed her, hoping to blast her with his flames and leaving Bloodclaw alone to battle Blok.

Outside the fallen villa in the fields were dozens of Khundish soldiers and the other two Khundish Legionnaires, Veilmist and Flederweb. “We should join our fellow Legionnaires,” said Flederweb. His voice was fearful, as he knew there would be punishment if he did not conduct himself in a way the Khunds saw fit.

“Yes,” said Veilmist sadly, “otherwise we’ll be next.”

“I’d hoped that by now you’d be long gone,” said Flare, as the two turned to see the Legionnaire emerging from another pile of rubble near the fallen villa. “You know in your heart that this is wrong Alimah,” he finished. Had it been only a few weeks ago, he thought, since we shared that intimate evening and she told me her real name? It feels like a lifetime ago.

“Veilmist, attack at once!” shouted Flederweb as he leapt to the side of them to crawl up the leaning villa wall and try to flank Flare. He turned expecting his partner to be joining him in the assault but saw she did not move and just looked at Flare.

“I have no choice…” she said to Dirk in almost a whisper.

He stared back and her and said nothing.

Flederweb continued to move closer to Flare when suddenly the Villa wall crashed backwards into the Villa itself and Flederweb leapt off of it to the ground, rolling with the momentum. He looked up to see another Sentinel there, holding a piece of wood and eating it. It was Matter-Eater Lad.

“There is always a choice,” said Dirk to Veilmist. “And you’ve made yours.”

And all at once, as the Khundish soldiers began to descend on them, the battle resumed.