Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business A Shift in the Tide on Legion World...

The tide had turned. Though no one quite realized it yet. The brief respite from darkness had reached its end. Following the fall of the Dark Lord there had been a Pax Legionnaira. Soon the peace would be broken.

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Elle

As she walked through the lobby, past the hostess who could scarcely stop her, her confidence exuded an animalistic quality. It was hard for strangers to pinpoint why that was; clearly she walked with a purpose but what could it be? Those who knew her, however, knew she was walking so confidently because she was angry. She had been angry for a long, long time. And now—at last—it was reaching its boiling point.

“Elle, what are you--?” asked one of the waitresses.

“Where is he?” she demanded.

“Elle…” she stammered, trying to reason with her old friend.

“WHERE IS HE?!” she raised her voice.

“At the back booth, like always,” said the waitress, at last relenting.

Elle wore a beat up old leather jacket which complimented her beat up old denim jeans. She had on boots up to her knees and a t-shirt underneath the jacket. Her blonde hair was cut short and spiky. She looked like a punk rocker from a different century but it fit her attitude perfectly. Once, she too was a waitress at Cobie’s Midnight Lounge, one of the classiest restaurants and bars in all of Legionnopolis. She was young and trying to find her way in life then. Right up until the point that she met a man who changed her world.

Dev Em. The famous hero was now spoken of in solemn tones followed by knowing looks but even before he made the ultimate sacrifice he was widely regarded as one of the most heroic of the Legionnaires. She knew him briefly: only a few days in fact. Her romance with him was little more of a dalliance; one night of love-making and a few more days of romantic interludes. Then he was off to war and sadly to his death. While they were together he joked that as a beautiful young woman she would quickly grow bored of him anyway but it did his ego good.

But she wouldn’t have grown bored, she told herself. He made a real impact on her life.

Now she walked with that swagger that boomed confidence and purpose and all her former co-workers simply stared. Up ahead, she saw her former boss sitting at his table, cool as a cucumber in that smarmy way of his that she once found charming and only now found infuriating. He sat there sipping a glass of scotch going over various documents and figures; likely something as mundane as the daily receivables but by the way he acted as he read them you’d think it was vital documents pertaining to the security of all of existence. She knew Cobalt Kid knew she was coming and it made her angrier that he didn’t raise his head even once.

“Cobie!” she said loudly as she approached. “I’d like a word.”

Slowly, he reacted, and she knew it was purposely done to show her was not easily pushed around. First he drained his scotch glass and then he looked up. In the faux-candelight he looked devilishly handsome; but Elle was more concerned about the devil part. “Then you can have it, Elle. How have you been? I understand you’ve been traveling?”

“Oh, I have,” she said, though with too much anger in her voice. She tried to calm down her emotions. “I’ve been all over the UP. I’ve been to Weber’s World. I’ve been to Daroon”.

Cobalt’s eyes lit up at the mention of Daroon, and not in a good way. He sat back. “Why would you go to a place like that?” he asked.

“You know why,” she said bitterly. “I was looking for him.”

Cobalt’s expression changed and she could see he was trying to show empathy. It made her angrier. It was not a look that suited him well. He was faking it, she thought at first. Then, instead, she simply thought he was showing her pity. “Dev Em is dead, Elle,” he said. “And it still hurts, every day. But we can’t change that now.”

“I bet it hurts you,” she said now with venom in every word. “It hurts because yes, Dev Em is dead. And you’re the son of a bitch that killed him.”

Now Cobalt’s face turned to stone and he simply stared at her with his piercing blue eyes.

“And I’m going to make sure you pay for it.”

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

The Red Pirate

Renly Fox had only been on Legion World for a short time. But in that time he was quickly known to be “a man who could procure things”. He used that reputation to great effect. Often he’d be in a position to impress and charm, and to surprise his wary clients by proving them wrong and delivering whatever item they had a need for. This was the greatest thrill—to leave such meetings feeling as if yet another citizen of Legion World would forever be curious and interested in him.

Of course, they would all whisper on how he procured such items. Most of them knew, even if they had absolutely no shred of proof, that he was once the infamous Red Pirate who plagued the United Planets for over ten years. Yet even with that knowledge they dismissed any feelings of apprehension once he provided his unique services. He fought in the war, they said. He was pardoned by the Prime Minister herself. He was allowed to come here to Legion World to settle down. And he’s so charming! Those old pirates days were probably bad but it’s given him such great connections.

The items he procured were of all different sorts. Many were old antiques and trinkets from worlds ordinary citizens had a hard time getting to. Many were missing family heirlooms that were lost a decade earlier during the Time of Troubles. Now that clients had found peace and security on Legion World, they longed for those missing belongings.

Many of the items were of an illegal nature. That was, after all, his specialty. He could be at the same time a spice merchant and a dealer of all manner of substance.

But if they could see him in his private moments, they would be surprised to find he was not always dashing. He was not always quick with a clever response or eager to compliment a lovely woman. Rather, when he was alone, he was full of a deep, aching sadness. And when he could find the ability to push that away, he was full of despair instead. Despair because while he could find any item in the universe someone wanted, there was one thing he simply could not find.

One item, that he would do anything for.

One thing, which most could think quite minor, that to him was the most important thing in the world. He would do anything to get it. Anything.

Unknown to him, after all these many years of searching for it, he would indeed find it. But it wasn’t so much where the item was. It was who had it.

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

The Shrinking Violet

The Legion Academy was full of all sorts of students. There were the ones who performed as superstars from the very start; there were the ones who required a great deal of coaxing, but would in the end, prove they had what it took; there were the troublemakers and rabble-rousers who spent much of their time thinking about other things than the real purpose for being at the Academy; and there were plenty of others who simply had no idea why they were there and what ultimately would come of their stay.

There was one, though, who knew exactly why she was there. Salu Digby, of the planet Imsk, never once doubted her purpose when she was at the Legion Academy.

From the planet Imsk, which most of the rest of the UP considered to be full of traitors and enemies, Salu was forced to have thick skin. Others looked at her with suspicion and outright anger. This was fine with her. Because she embraced it. There were plenty of words to describe her but the best is simple: Salu was tough. Someone shot their mouth off? Salu kicked their ass. Someone tried to push her around? Salu humiliated them in front of their peers.

She was small in size when she used her powers. But no one ever forgot she was there.

When she eventually starting winning most of their respect—though never quite their friendship—they began to call her “Shrinking Violet” in a twist of irony. She didn’t like it…but she didn’t hate it either. It stuck, and she didn’t care. It was only later, when she and another student named Ayla Ranzz started to spend time together that she liked the name. Ayla would call her “Vi” for short, and Salu liked that quite a bit. Salu liked everything Ayla said to her.

In fact, on those cold nights at the Academy where Headmaster Paladin was especially hard on them and when the feeling of being so far away from everything else was at its greatest, Salu would forget about that great purpose of hers. Because on those nights, all she would care about was Ayla. Fiery yet soft; unreasonable yet compassionate; quick to laugh and quicker to grow angry. She was soft and beautiful and kissing her was the greatest thing in the entire world. When they snuggled up together in their warm bed, bodies pressed together tightly and Ayla’s red hair near her face, Salu only cared about one thing only, and that was Ayla.

But as always, the greater purpose remained. Sometimes Salu regretted that she had her mission. But usually she could push those things away. The mission was what mattered most. Even if more than one person had to die for it. Even if it meant chaos and horror on Legion World.

Which, if she was being honest with herself, probably was exactly what it meant.

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

Harmonia Li

Harmonia was a lot like Rond Vidar, yet so very different. Both were incredible smart and in their own way, somewhat eccentric. Both presented themselves as straight-forward, what you see is what you get type people who were focused on one thing above all else: science.

Yet, Harmonia could never truly remove the air of mystery that surrounded her. There was something about her that led anyone who spent time with her to think “there is far more to this person than meets the eye.”

Perhaps it was the way she carried herself. It wasn’t just confidence; there was a underlying coldness to it. She had seen a lot in her lifetime. Too much. She had grown accustomed to change. To things not lasting. To death. It could make a person cold—stone cold.

Rond Vidar was clumsy and nerdy and the people loved him for it. But they never quite warmed up to Harmonia in the same way.

Which, to be totally honest, was just fine with her. All those people were going to die anyway at some point. They would have little impact on her life.

Rond himself, however, was a different story. She wanted to be sure he warmed up to her. She had plans for him after all. Big plans.

Rond's boots crunched as he walked into Power Boy's bed chamber. The glow from the fires that enveloped Power Boy's floating sleeping form hurt his eyes, even with all the other lights off. The light surrounding his horizontal gravity defying figure filled the room. Power Boy seemed unharmed, jut frozen in the air … timeless.

"tsk!" Rond clicked. He still couldn't figure out what these flames were. He hated that … that he couldn't figure something out … he could figure anything out, usually, with time.

Were these flames some sort of regenerative slumber? A regular part of Power Boy's New God physiology?

Or a prison? Made by someone else.


Rond had worked round the clock to examine the fires at first, also shy about interfering with them lest it harm Power Boy. But now, he merely checked in a couple times a week. Power Boy didn't seem to be getting worse, nothing changed, nothing was different in fact.

"Funny" He thought, the weeks really did roll by quite rapidly while Power Boy was asleep.

Had our leader left us of his own volition? Things were quiet now on Legion World and in the galaxy as well but, that still didn't sound quite right. Not concerning our leader and protector, our "Peebs".

Or hotcakes as some liked to call him. Rond blushed, even though he was alone.

So far, Rond had worked out that these flames were of Power Boy's energy signature.
That they were of his making or not was the question.

If Power Boy didn't wake up, there may come a time where Rond would have to wake him up.


If he could.