Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Postlo3w stories *LATEST UPDATE 7 APRIL*

Thanks IB! Fingers crossed I think I went through the last of it this weekend....I spent the whole 2 days not really being able to stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time but I woke up yesterday and felt more like my normal self than I have since before NYE so that's good!

I was gonna name the missing 18 Legionnaires, but I thought it'd be more fun to leave you guys guessing and have it come out in dribs and drabs...I can say that it doesn't count any reservists though!

I have been having a bit of trouble giving Tinya leadership moments where she can shine tbh because I see her as being so laid back and so comfortable trusting everyone to do their job that she doesn't generally throw orders around and she'll defer to other team members where they're better equipped than she is to deal with something...and I think that actually IS the sign of a good leader, but it doesn't really make for dramatic writing. I was happy with this scene because I don't think there are many Legionnaires who could be that blunt with Mon-El and have him respond so well; it's a chance to show how Tinya's ability to get along with everyone without her ego getting in the way lets her work with her team in a way someone like Cosmic Boy or Dream Girl wouldn't be able to.

I am pretty sure I stole stimbevs from somewhere, I just can't remember if it was a comic or a fic here somewhere....if it was one of the writers here, thanks!

As to the rest....some interesting guesswork! We'll see how right you were soon!

nice, glad you're also getting better!

ooh so I'm gonna try listing the 18 that we know so far

18 missing -- I have 14 here

Shadow Lass (mentioned)
Gas Girl (escaped from Mordru so far)
Lightning Lass (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Life Lass (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Polar Boy (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Gravity Kid (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Crystal Kid (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Matter-Eater Lad (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Firecrest (enchanted into a fight)
Wildfire (enchanted into a fight)
Dream Girl (escaped to Avalon)
Elastic Lad (being tortured)
Diamond Damsel (assumes Tinya's group doesn't know what happened to her)
Blok (assumes Tinya's group doesn't know what happened to him)

NOT missing

Chameleon Boy
Colossal Boy
Dawnstar
Infectious Lass
King Canary
Light Lad
Mon-El
Shrinking Violet
Tellus
Ultra Boy
Star Boy
Mwindaji
Dragonmage
Evolvo Lad
Kid Computo
Nightwind
Phantom Girl
Comet Queen (was with Tinya)

Other Active Legionnaires who might be missing, might be with Tinya's group

Color Kid
Cosmic Boy
Element Lad
Invisible Kid II
Neon
Night Girl
Stone Boy
Strut
Sun Boy
Supergirl II (Laurel Kent)
Timber Wolf

Reservists

Lightning Lad (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Saturn Girl (presumably captured by Mordru)
Chlorophyll Kid (with Dream Girl on Avalon)
Chameleon Girl (with Phantom Girl's group)


re Tinya, totally agree, she's a good leader because she knows when to defer! sets her apart from many other past leaders

You are pretty much right on the money, IB! Good work!

yay! glad my ferreting out and cobbling together worked, thanks for confirming raz

Hey Raz,

Hope you're feeling better!

Here are my thoughts on your last two posts:

You've given us a nice start with the two Lallorians chatting but being professional when Tinya called - we've all been there And Grava's lack of social skills are always a delight to read!

I really like how much attention you've given to Ral, he's a decent enough charcter in canon but he really shines when you write him.

Mordru! Fantastic! He always brings real trouble with him so I'm really looking forward to where you take this. And let's be honest, his three servants are trouble enough with him as well. And as he was trapped in the Rock of Eternity does that mean your Seven Deadly Sins are free as well?

Wow! Diamond Damsel.... you are usually not too bllood thirsty in your stories Raz so that totally took me by surprise! Blok too! Ouch! I really like your Iris and Blok so hope this is reversible.

Dreamy is right - get out!

And finally Otaki and Nightstone realise what they've signed up to. That's a pretty awful reality shock for them, wonder if either will do anything about it?

Nice to see the students again though I am kind of worries they'll do something stupid... I like Key Kid, even if he does have one of the most Silver Age abiities Fire Lass to the rescue, and nice validation from Imra - sweet moment in among the horror! And speaking of horror, BO killing Fire Lass like that was brutal. Marya in a rage is quite a daunting thought, she's pretty feral isn't she?

Jo's character analysis of Mordru to calm down Mon El was spot on, he'd definitely be bragging, Nice moment that.

And, as said elsewhere, Dragonwing doing a Wolverine at the Hellfire C;ub is great!

Eighteen missing, okay, that's split the team nicely and with neither side knowing what the other is up to it could lead to some pretty wild scenarios.

Great moment with Vi - not wanting to spend time with Gim and Yera, and then nailing Dawny with a sentence "beating yourself up for having normal human failings is your real super-power".

Ah, human Drake vs full dragon-form Firecrest? Ouch, barbequed human anyone?

Mordru pitting Drake and Staq against each other n a no-win situation is about right - he's a nasty old man! Glad to see Nightstone's conscience is bothering her. Elastic Lad - ouch! Good of Otaki to try to help.

Nice use of Hadru's powers - did you research that? I always find chemistry (and the sciences generally) to be beyond me so love it when I read something wonderfully scientific. I hope that's Variable Lad that's just chomped them!

Jazmin looking after Glorith was sweet, nice to see that side of her. "You can take the socerer out of Khundia", indeed, nice line. Great explanation of how the comms are down, of course Dreamy doesn't know what's happened to their HQ, and good plotting (and plot) to tie that in. Unexpected, though obvious in hindsight like all the best ideas (quoting Edward De Bono) that Ral opts out of fighting to look after Ivy. And, of course, Mordru's onto them before they can do very much - you don't give your team a break do you?

So Marya isn't alone then, that's good as hopefully the others will calm her homicidal urges! Who's Miqui? Is that Key Kid? Servants of sin? The 7 deadly sins possessing Legionnaires? I hope Tenzil is Gluttony, haha, the potential damage that boy could do...

Great cliffhanger Raz, and one hell of a ride too. We're only on part two so I imagine it'll get pretty wild from here (like t hasn't been crazy enough!).

Looking forward to where you take us next, and can't wait for more, more, more!

Thanks Harbi, I feel pretty much back to normal now! 10 points for vaccinations!

- Chlorophyll Kid is gonna get a lot more attention soon, but he might not be all that happy about it...

- I have been DYING to do this Mordru story...there are gonna be some status quo changes after this for sure! After this I think the only big classic Legion villains I have to get around to are Pulsar Stargrave and the Time Trapper, and I have plans for one of those already!

- you can be rest assured that the students will do something stupid, the best part of writing the Academy students is having them do the least sensible thing at any given time

- re Hadru's power: I googled stress recovery/responses before I wrote that scene so I'm not sure how well it stands up to scrutiny, but it sounds appropriately sciencey and it was a good opportunity to show him doing something that is fairly unique to his powerset so I'm happy with that

- Miqui is indeed Key Kid, sorry about that! I should have done an editor's note for that one, he hasn't really been around long enough for everyone to be on a first name basis with him yet!

- it is definitely gonna get wilder from here on out...I am just writing the final scene for part 3 now and I think there are gonna be some reactions!!!

re Hadru's power, I'm no scientist but I did study psychology, and it seems legit - after all, emotions, stress responses etc. are often caused by hormones and the like!

yay! looking forward to the next bit raz!!!

More great stuff, raz!!

The scene with Mon-El was spot on - he goes right to the negative, or at least ends on it.

Rolling her eyes at Gim and Yera - classic Vi! Also, liked her armchair psychoanalysis!

I liked the Wildfire scene, and for a minute thought he was in that dimension where he met the fake Lyle. Mordru is nasty! Also, the doubling down of Otaki and Nightstone on their regrets is a great move. Be careful what you wish for....

The ending with Dragonwing and Amp was good with them butting heads - but that cliffhanger! Amazing!

This is a really epic story, raz! Thoroughly enjoying this!

Validation! Thanks IB!

That was very much in my mind when I was writing that scene, I'm glad you had the same thought GL!

I have a feeling the next cliffhanger is gonna be a whole other level, I am looking forward to seeing what y'all think....hopefully I will get to post the next chapter tonight!

VAVALLA
Tertiary Global Medicentre, Surface Ward 2

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy
Chemical Kid aka Hadru Jamik: control of chemical reactions
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Chemical Kid."

Hadru Jamik blinked drowsily as he sat up in bed. He was wearing pastel blue pyjamas that scratched more than anything that he would ever voluntarily spend his father's credits on, and this mattress was more unforgiving than the one he'd had to replace when he first started attending Legion Academy. If the subpar sleeping arrangements didn't give away that he was in a hospital, the three other beds in the room made that apparent.

Lullabye Lad, Key Kid and Variable Lad each sat on one of the beds in costume while Sojurn hovered near a green-skinned Science Police officer who was sitting on a chair by Hadru's bed. It was the SP who'd spoken, and Hadru narrowed his gaze as he tried to figure out why she looked so familiar. "Thanks, Officer..."

"Just call me Tayla," she said cheerily. "Or Lamprey, whatever you're more comfortable with...we Academy kids gotta stick together, right? How are you feeling?"

"That's how I recognise you!" Hadru snapped his fingers. "I...actually, I feel great! Not that I'm complaining, but shouldn't I be...you know...dead?" He cast Sojurn a withering glare. "The last thing I remember is drowning, because apparently somebody decided to save us from being murdered by dumping us in the middle of the ocean to die instead...what the sprock, Sojurn?!"

<I sense your disapproval> the blue-patterned octopus responded dispassionately. <Allow me to elaborate on the circumstances of your peril, fellow student Chemical King. When fellow student Dragonwing disassociated herself from my teleportation equation, I did not have the opportunity to recalibrate my calculations and our exit locus appeared 3.5 standard miles from where I had initially perceived>

Chemical Kid scowled with frustration. "Okay, I don't have any idea what any of that means except that it's Marya's fault. Good, at least I know who to punch in the nose now." The blood suddenly drained from Hadru's face and he leaned toward Lamprey. "Oh, sprock! Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad's kids!! Garridan and Graym--"

"They're safe," Lamprey soothed. "It was touch and go with Garridan for a little while, but the doctors here are fantastic...they're sleeping it off now, but you guys did the right thing getting them off Mars. I don't want to frighten you, but we haven't been able to make contact with Legion Headquarters at all. I did reach Phantom Girl though, she's sending Nightwind to pick you all up as we speak. She'll be here in an hour or so, why don't I leave you all to catch up while I go check on the twins?" She stood to leave and pulled up at the door. "Oh! I nearly forgot - we synthesized a new costume for you, Chemical Kid. It's in that vacpac on the other side of your bed."

"Thanks for everything, Lamprey!" As soon as Tayla had left the room, Chemical Kid jumped out of bed, took his replacement costume from its vacuum sealed bag and activated the polarised field around his bed so he could get changed. "Okay, you guys - spill!" he called out through the modesty field. "Where the sprock even are we and how did we get here? Are you all okay?"

"We're on Vavalla," Lullabye Lad took the initiative to answer for everyone. "You know the resort world? This is where Lamprey is stationed, Sojurn brought us here because they're besties...and yeah, we're all fine now. It was scary as sprock though, I thought I was gonna have to turn to stone so I wouldn't drown and then I was scared I'd end up just sinking to the bottom of the ocean forever. Creepy!"

<Excuse me, fellow student Lullabye Lad?> Sojurn asked. <What is the meaning of the term 'besties'?>

"Sojurn, really!" Chemical Kid exclaimed. "You gotta stop with this fellow student stuff, just call us by our names for grife's sake...and 'besties' just means you're really good friends." He switched off the polarised field and stood before them all in a reasonable facsimile of his costume, albeit one which didn't include his holospecs. "Vavalla, huh? Wow, I've never actually been to a medicentre here...the resorts are ultra classier than this dump. So I guess you saved us in the end after all, huh Sojurn?"

<After my teleportation from Mars went awry, I was successful in relocating fellow -- Key Kid and Graym Ranzz> Sojurn telepathically explained, <Variable Lad acted swiftly to rescue yourself, Lullabye Lad and Garridan Ranzz>

"Oaa!" Chemical Kid walked across the room and gave the younger Jaquaan a high five. "You quiet little achiever! Thanks, buddy! Hey, wait a nano...just before I passed out I thought I saw some giant whale with legs or something...was that..?"

"I became a diver mammal," Variable Lad replied with a small self-conscious smile. "That way I could retain enough air capacity within my oral cavity to keep you all alive till I got to the surface, then Sojurn brought us all to Lamprey and she had you admitted here."

Lullabye Lad scrunched up his face. "Oaa, please never tell another living sentient you kept us alive in your oral cavity. Ew."

"Guys..?" Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Key Kid had been silent till now and everyone realised for the first time that he was far more subdued than normal. "Officer Lamprey said they can't contact anyone at headquarters, do you think...do you think everyone's safe?"

"Aw, Miqui!" Lullabye Lad hopped off his own bed to go sit next to Key Kid and put an arm around his shoulder. "It's cute you're worried but I'm sure they're fine, don't worry too much. Legion HQ's always getting invaded or torn down, you get used to it after a while!"

"We're gonna find out anyway," Chemical Kid added nonchalantly. "Sojurn, can you teleport us to Dragonwing, Amp and Fire Lass?"

<Of course> Sojurn affirmed.

"But...Saturn Girl told us to look after her sons?" Key Kid asked, confused.

"And we did that," Hadru answered. "They're out of danger now, they don't need all of us to babysit them. We should probably leave someone here just in case anything comes up though. Key Kid, no offence but your powers aren't much use in combat...you stay here to keep an eye on them and the rest of us will go help the girls."

"Chemical Kid," Variable Lad asked, "Are you certain that this is the best idea? I don't want to get in trouble with our teachers..."

"Come on Oaa," Hadru argued, "You saw how tough that guy was, the Legion need us. If nothing else, I bet they're all too busy fighting him to make sure our classmates are okay and we don't even know where Glorith and Jazmin were when all that went down...you want to help our classmates, don't you?"

"Y-yes..." Variable Lad replied uncertainly as he rubbed his anterior hands together anxiously. "Yes, I...of course I want to help them, Hadru."

"It's settled then!" Hadru clapped. "Key Kid, do us a favour and tell Lamprey where we went when she comes back? Thanks buddy! Let's go, guys! Academy boys to the rescue! And Sojurn."

Chemical Kid, Lullabye Lad and Variable Lad each touched one of Sojurn's tentacles and the four neophyte heroes vanished in a flash of light.

When stars stopped dancing across their field of vision, the boys looked upon a scene that made no sense. They were outside a castle under a moonless sky, and as their eyes adjusted to the darkness they realised that none of the girls they'd ostensibly come here to save were anywhere in the general vicinity. "Sojurn, this teleportation power of yours..." Chemical Kid sucked air between his teeth, "I don't want to be rude or anything but you're not scoring any points for navigation, pal."

<I suspect that Dragonwing, Amp and Fire Lass are situated in separate locations> Sojurn replied. <When my p'rrao has attempted to lock onto multiple targets in the past I have found myself at a locus equidistant to them all>

"...Grife, we need to get them a sprocking translator," Hadru muttered under his breath. "...Never have any clue what they're talking about..." He tapped Variable Lad's head lightly. "Oaa, you got any weird tracker beasts in there somewhere?"

The familiar zap of an electrical blast sounded in the night and the boys all saw a flash of light from somewhere around the perimeter of the imposing castle. "That's gotta be Lightning Lad!" Lullabye Lad perked up. "Come on, let's go!" He broke into a run, the others following close behind. When they arrived, they saw what looked like their teacher alongside six Legionnaires facing off against Dragonwing, Amp and a vaguely humanoid cloud they realised must be Gas Girl.

"Marya?!" Chemical King cried out. "What's going on??"

Dragonwing and Amp turned to face the newcomers but before either of them could reply, Gas Girl spread herself thin between the students and the Legionnaires and then became an impenetrable fog. "Mind control, explain later!" Gas Girl hollered. "Kids, make a run for it! I'll cover for you and catch up--"

The smokescreen that had been Gas Girl became so much grey slush and splattered rudely on the grass before she could complete her sentence. "I'm not letting you little trophies go anywhere," Polar Boy advanced on the students with an unhinged gleam in his eye. "Why be content with three of them when we can have seven?"

Each of the remaining Legionnaires chose a target and as a furious Lightning Lad zoomed straight for Chemical Kid, Hadru wondered if maybe just this once he should have actually listened to Saturn Girl...

**********

MEANWHILE
Inside Mordru's castle...

Black Osiris marched through a large open archway and into the torture chamber Mordru referred to as his playroom.

A scowl crossed the muscular villain's features as he powered on through the enormous space. Black Osiris relished the violent capabilities this form provided him, and in fact he had spent the past few hours exterminating every native sentient he could find across this continent's east coast as though they were so much vermin...but he had little taste for prolonged torture like the kind that went on in this room.

The room was at least three stories high, with massive open windows so far up the wall that the Legionnaires imprisoned here had no hope of reaching them even if they were in any state to try and rescue themselves. Bluestone partitions divided the room into something resembling primitive cells, though it was really Mordru's sorcery that kept each hero confined to their own space.

The open design throughout this castle, the ridiculously oversized windows everywhere, Mordru's insistence on keeping that geomancer girl under his thumb at all times...there were so many signs that had almost instantly revealed to Osiris's supernatural wisdom that Mordru was deeply claustrophobic, but honestly he was surprised those stupid girls hadn't figured it out for themselves by now. If Mordru didn't have them living in terror so effectively, Nightstone could have taken him down anytime she wanted. Black Osiris had long since filed that little fact away for when he decided it was time to stop acting like this old fool's errand boy and start pursuing his own goals, but for now...for now, as much as he might loath it the wisdom of Zehuti also told him that acting like Mordru's errand boy was the best way to move forward.

Many of the cells were empty, in anticipation of future prisoners. Some of them were populated though, and a part of Black Osiris was tempted to bring a swift end to their occupants just to put them out of their misery. He saw the bug-man Strut in a large glass enclosure against the wall, staked through the torso with an oversized pin like some entomologist's trophy. Mordru's magic kept Strut alive, but his agony had him in convulsions and his mandibles clicked and clacked helplessly. Next, Black Osiris walked through a broad beam of intense red light. Shielding his eyes from the brilliance, he couldn't look directly at its source; suspended in the air Sun Boy blazed like his namesake, his tears evaporating before they could fall. Dirk Morgna's voice had long since been screamed raw, but Black Osiris could still hear Supergirl sobbing on the ground below Morgna. Shadow Lass by her side remained stoic for now, but both girls were being slowly burned alive by their teammate's red solar rays.

More empty cells, and then Black Osiris passed the second to last cell. Saturn Girl lay fetal on the cold stone floor, staring wide-eyed and catatonic from the amplified psychic pain of not just her fellow Legionnaires in this castle but every single person Black Osiris had maimed and killed today. Finally Black Osiris found Mordru, Otaki and Nightstone bathed in emerald light at the last cell. The girls traded anxious glances while Mordru gazed upon a six foot tall green lantern with sinister satisfaction. "Mordru," Black Osiris announced himself. "This one wasn't here when I left...you've trapped the Green Lantern girl inside an actual green lantern?"

"Welcome back!" Mordru greeted Black Osiris. "I struggled for inspiration with this one, so many new children in this Legion of Superheroes nowadays...but then it came to me; she is not trapped inside the green lantern, she has been transformed into a green lantern." He chuckled indulgently. "I admit it is facile wordplay, but simple pleasures can still be worthy pleasures...and her lifeforce powers the enchantments that are keeping her allies all safely locked away. When that charge has been used up and her light shines no more, I may hollow her corpse to hold a torch for my trophy room." He looked over what had once been Zoe Saugin like an artist admiring his work, and then turned away. "Come," he beckoned Osiris, Otaki and Nightstone. "I have dispatched the Seven Sins to deal with any heroic stragglers they find upon the grounds, let us view their progress. Black Osiris, you may tell me of your successes along our way."

Everyone followed Mordru's lead, but Otaki followed last. Mordru had forced the girls to pause for an awful amount of time at each cell bearing prisoners, and thanks to Otaki's enhanced mindsense, every single one of them was a repugnant burden. She'd almost broken down when they reached Saturn Girl, but she'd somehow managed to find the resilience to keep going. There had been something vaguely off with Neon though...something she hadn't experienced with any of the other prisoners.

Otaki didn't yet know what that meant, but as she tore herself away from the immobile lantern she realised it was the closest she'd come to hoping things might get better since she and Nightstone had freed Mordru from that cursed rock in the first place...

**********

AVALON
Former Skull Peak base camp

ROLL CALL

Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: hyper-stimulated plant growth, reserve member
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Glorith: time sorceress, Legion Academy student
Harlack: Khund sorceror, Legion ally
Ivy Arcane: Avatar of the Green
Kid Quantum aka Jazmin Cullen: quantum field manipulation, Legion Academy student
Mysa Nal: former sorceress and ex-Legionnaire

Ral Benem looked up anxiously at the person-shaped silhouettes darting around above them here at what was left of the devastated site which had once been a mountain called Skull Peak. "What...what are they?" the former Legionnaire asked. "I know you called them Shadow Demons, but what does that actually mean? Are you sure they're connected to Mordru?"

"Before you joined the Legion," Dream Girl explained to the mostly retired Chlorophyll Kid, "Superboy-Prime brought together a new Legion of Super-Villains...Mordru was among them and he summoned these things to destroy us. They disintegrate people on contact and practically nothing stops them...they almost killed Blok! This soon after Mordru's been freed they must be associated with him, but..."

"...But what?" Mysa Nal asked her sister. "What are you seeing that we're not, Nura?"

"Only one way to make sure I'm right." Dream Girl cast a somber glare toward the unliving shadows passing overhead. "Wish me luck, everyone. Chlorophyll Kid, if I don't come back you're in charge."

"What do you mean--" Ral began to ask, but Dream Girl had already shot straight up into the air with her flight ring.

The Naltorian heroine had planned her ascent; she'd been watching the trajectory of these Shadow Demons, and she was confident that none of them would be crossing overhead when she made her move. Of course, that wouldn't matter if the hunch which had led her up here was wrong. After all, she had no defence against these things and no way to hurt them. Nura journeyed high above the remains of the camp, and as she'd suspected not one of the Shadow Demons followed her. More relevant, she could plot their movements from a better vantage point now and she realised that her initial observation had been correct.
The Shadow Demons weren't flying wildly, they were carrying out a preconceived search pattern. They weren't attacking any of the panicked citizens of Avalon on the ground below, and they hadn't targetted Nura herself even though she was completely exposed to them up here. That meant they were after something or someone else...and though it made her heart sink, Nura realised exactly who their target likely was.

Down below, Dream Girl's allies were making their own observations. "These abominations are nearing, have you all noticed?" Harlack asked the others.

"That's what I thought," Kid Quantum responded. "We learned this in Aerial Warfare on Xanthu...I think they're combing the area and closing in on a central point, but Dream Girl is an obvious target up there; if they're not looking for Legionnaires--"

"It's me," Mysa stepped back inside the tent, her hand over her mouth. "Sweet spirits, I'm his target."

"We don't know that--" Ral began.

"I do," Mysa interrupted him. "Chlorophyll Kid, you don't know how he hates me...it surpasses anything he might feel for the Legion of Superheroes. You all need to leave me and seek safety. The Shadow Demons...they might not slay me, but they will slay anybody else who gets in their way."

"They might not slay you, but they may well lead you to horrors beyond death." Harlack stepped up to Mysa and gripped her shoulders. "Do you think I have not paid attention all the time you were my mistress in the sorcerous arts? I have some idea of the fate that awaits you if that baskurr gets his claws on you, Mysa. I am not going to let that happen."

"Harlack, please..." Mysa's eyes were wet as she returned his stoic stare. "You're not strong enough to resist them on your own..."

"No, I am not." He released Mysa and approached Glorith who still sat on the cot recovering. "But you have taught me what I could never have learned as part of the Khund Empire, Mysa; I am never alone when I am surrounded by those who let love guide their deeds."

Harlack ripped open his shirt, exposing his hairless pink chest. "Glorith," he spoke with surprising gentleness. "What I intend will hurt you momentarily, but it will restore unto you the vitality to help me defend our lady Mysa. Will you allow me to do what I must?"

Glorith met his intense gaze; both of them had known one another for so long in their apprenticeships when Mysa had been the Black Witch...but for all that, she and Harlack had barely ever interacted on a personal level. If there was something the young sorceress trusted implicitly though, it was that Harlack loved Mysa as much as Glorith herself did. The teen sorceress nodded her approval.

Harlack drew a large dagger from a sheath at his side and carved a sigil over his heart. Drawing a smaller but equally sharp blade from a sealed pocket on his boot, he found his mark just above where Glorith's costume left her chest bare and carved the opposite of that symbol into her own flesh. Reciting ancient Khundian incantations, Harlack stood over the young girl and allowed his own wound to bleed into hers. Both of them shuddered for a moment, Glorith's facial markings glowed a deep red instead of their usual silver, and then the two mages shook themselves to their senses while Glorith accustomed herself to the lifeforce that Harlack had shared with her.

As it happened, Dream Girl returned at that exact moment. "Mysa," she began to explain, "I don't want to frighten you more than necessary, but--"

"--I know," Mysa cut her sister off. "If Mordru were chasing any of you, he would have been able to follow Glorith's transmigration trail far more precisely than we're seeing. He has come for me. It always comes down to that monster and me, doesn't it?"

Before anybody could say anything more, one of the Shadow Demons passed intangibly through the roof of Mysa's tent. Invigorated by Harlack's sharing of strength, Glorith gestured toward the unholy creature. A shimmering field appeared before it, and the Shadow Demon pushed itself through incredibly slowly but with eerily silent determination.

Dream Girl shouted Kid Quantum's name, and to her credit the young girl acted immediately. She cast a stasis field around the Shadow Demon and it paused in its tracks. "This thing...I don't know what it is, but it's resisting me!" Jazmin cried out. "Hardly anything can resist my power!"

"It's okay," Dream Girl tried to calm the students down. "We'll get out of here...Chlor, do you have a decoy up your sleeve? These things are single-minded, once we've gone they won't hurt anybody else. We just need to buy Glorith time to cast a spell to get us out of here."

"Maybe," Ral replied. "I'm not really combat ready all the time these days, let me see what I have." He started emptying out his pockets, and as he did so a second Shadow Demon began to descend through the canvas ceiling of the tent.

"Mysa!" Harlack bellowed. "Beware!!" He flung himself at her just as the second demon shot forward, and everyone watched in horror as it passed through the young Khund and disintegrated him entirely.

Mysa screamed in grief and dropped to her knees, but not even ashes were left of the brave sorceror. Meanwhile, the Shadow Demon had passed straight through Harlack and disappeared into the ground. As it started to emerge once more, Ral finally grabbed hold of something useful nestled in a hidden pouch in his belt.

"This is gonna be rough!" Ral warned while he clutched his murmuring child close to him. A Bizicran Redwood shot up beneath them, its roots digging deep beneath the surface as Ral Benem caused its branches to curl protectively around the group. Seconds later, the group was nestled safely among the enormous tree's leaves hundreds of feet up but the Shadow Demons had seen where they were now and were flying up to meet them.

"Glorith!" Dream Girl commanded. "We need to leave! Get us out of here to anywhere!"

The young girl paused, fixated on Mysa whose face was buried in her hands as she mourned the death of her longtime friend and companion. Ivy Arcane had now awoken fully and begun crying in response to the hysteria going on around her, which only added to the overall atmosphere of anxiety.

"Glorith!!" Dream Girl screeched more urgently. "We need to go!!"

The teenager stared in wide-eyed fear at the approaching monsters, but Nura Nal's shrill fear was enough to shock at least Mysa out of her despair. Mysa looked at the horde of Shadow Monsters gaining on them, and with tears streaming down her cheeks she launched herself at Glorith.

"I'm sorry, Glorith...I'm so sorry!" Mysa sobbed.

Glorith began to come around from the trauma of seeing Harlack killed. "What...what do you mean, Mistress?"

While Kid Quantum and Chlorophyll Kid both pushed themselves to slow the Shadow Demons with entwined branches and quantum fields, Mysa grabbed Glorith's head and stared into her eyes. "I pray you won't hate me for this, but....Glorith of Baaldur return...Glorith of Baaldur return...Glorith of Baaldur return!!"

There was a stunning strobe burst of multi-hued light, and where once had cowered a meek dark-skinned teenager with facial tattoos now sauntered a bronzed amazon with a thick head of hair almost the same platinum tone as Dream Girl. This woman was clearly an adult and far more self-assured than the girl she'd replaced, with oversized white spiked shoulder pads carrying a white cape which billowed out dramatically around her calves. She had similarly white opera gloves and thigh high boots, along with a metallic purple strapless leotard. "I'm back!" the woman announced victoriously. "I can't believe I'm finally back! Tell me, any of you...where is the Black Witch that she might earn my wrath?"

"Ask us later!" Dream Girl pointed at the approaching Shadow Demons, thinking quickly. "Right now, if you don't take care of Mordru's servants then none of us will be around long enough to help you find her!" Nura had no idea what Mysa had done here, but she had to trust that her sister had summoned this woman because she had the power to help them. She wasn't disappointed when this new blonde bombshell cast an intricate gesture and every single approaching Shadow Demon vanished in a rainbow flash.

"I have helped you," the stranger decreed imperiously, "Now I think it's time you told me exactly what is going on here before I turn you all into so much protoplasm and find out myself."

"Where is Glorith?" Kid Quantum demanded. "What have you done with Glorith?!"

"Darling child," the blonde woman stroked Jazmin's chin. "I am Glorith. None of this answers my question though...if none of you are going to explain what has happened or how I am back where I belong--"

"I'll explain everything." Mysa manoeuvered herself between this new Glorith and Kid Quantum. "But first...but first I need you to give us your word that you'll help us defeat Mordru."

"That old fool??" The new Glorith threw her head back and laughed. "I'd be happy to, dear. But these Shadow Demons...if they're the quality of fodder he sends after pathetic wretches such as yourselves then he obviously has power to spare. I'll need some high-powered reinforcements and to be brutally honest, I doubt any of you are up to the task."

"We're plenty powerful!" Jazmin protested. "Powerful enough to find out what you did to my friend!"

"Are you, little sweetheart?" Glorith gave her a patronising look. "Let's just find out, shall we?" Her eyes glowed with occult power as she looked the group over. She paused with obvious curiosity when she came to Ral and Ivy, and a wicked smile crossed her face. "Well, what do you know...from the very mouths of babes." A nimbus of light surrounded her with increasing intensity, and when the glow faded both this new Glorith and Ivy had vanished.

"No!!" Ral yelled. "What has she done?? Mysa, who was that? Make her come back! Make her bring Ivy back!!"

As quickly as they'd vanished, a flash of light heralded their return. This time though, the mysterious new Glorith was not accompanied by an infant...she was accompanied by a fully grown young woman, her athletic build clothed in different shades of green. In place of hair, her scalp was covered with small closely packed green leaves. The dark skinned woman stared down her nose at the astonished heroes surrounding her.

"I know everything, Mysa." Glorith smiled savagely. "I know you were the Black Witch and I know you were responsible for my exile. I want you to know that you will experience untold agonies before I take my final revenge upon you, but right now..?

...Right now, let's kill Mordru."

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

yay! next bit up!

LOL at Hadru being the spoiled rich kid even while waking up...

yay! Lamprey!! I love your Tayla, so happy to see her any time. Also love that she still considers herself an Academy kid.

also lol at Hadru still being annoyed at nearly drowning... credits to him for thinking of the Ranzz kids...

smart move of Sojurn to bring them to Vavalla, and I like the small limitation on his power re needing to calculate WHERE he ends up...

practical bit with Lullabye Lad, yeah, when in stone form he could end up anywhere...

yay called it, it WAS Variable Lad who was the giant swallowing thingie!

Smart of Variable Lad to think of oxygen...

Love how Hadru just vacillates between congratulating people and snarking in disgust... I know people like that in real life, always keep me on my toes... (so I also hang out with them less, you know lol)

sigh, not surprised Hadru just goes charging off into battle... and Sojurn and company listened. Come on kids, Lamprey literally just said Nightwind was on the way to pick you up...

ouch, Gas Girl! nice work of her giving cover, but...

called it again! Seven Deadly Sins, with Polar Boy possessed by Greed!

oy, six students vs. seven possessed Active/Reserve Legionnaires

ugh, I hate Black Osiris more and more. I guess the only saving grace is it seems he killed his victims fast, but... why? Looking forward to his comeuppance later

nice bit re Osiris' wisdom coming through, and analyzing Mordru's claustrophobia, Nightstone's terror... also, good job upping the ante, as this adds another angle...

ahh grife, these tortures are awful and those are the last of our missing Legionnaires...

ooopph. Zoe as a real lantern... though less painful, I hope... hmm, I wonder where the "off" thing Otaki sensed is leading... maybe Mordru doesn't understand Zoe's lantern energy as well as he thinks eh?

or... or... are you going to boomeranrg back to Legion of 3 Worlds (this came to me when I read Dream Girl's explanation re the plot!) and do something with the magics Mordru absorbed from the Reboot reality Zoe???

Love seeing Nura's smarts in action! and love Jazmin and Mysa being smart enough to keep up

nice quick bit re the relationship between Glorith, Harlak and Mysa as teacher/student

ah frack. Harlak's death... that hurt

AHHHHH another brilliant twist, raz, linking our Glorith to THE 5YL Glorith! whooo! even though they shared the same name, this was unexpected!

Love seeing more of Nura's smarts, getting Glorith to deal with the immediate danger...

also interesting to see Glorith gauge Mordru's strength, based on the power of the shadow demons

oy, what dod Glorith do to Ivy...

and Mysa is not out of the woods yet.

wow, this was amazing raz, amazing, nice way to tie and progress various threads (Ivy, Glorith, Otaki, Nightstone...)


this is epic genius!

and update on the roll call:

18 missing -- all identified

Shadow Lass (being tortured)
Gas Girl (fighting the deadly sins, maybe )
Lightning Lass (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Life Lass (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Polar Boy (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Gravity Kid (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Crystal Kid (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Matter-Eater Lad (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Firecrest (enchanted into a fight)
Wildfire (enchanted into a fight)
Dream Girl (escaped to Avalon)
Elastic Lad (being tortured)
Diamond Damsel (assumes Tinya's group doesn't know what happened to her)
Blok (assumes Tinya's group doesn't know what happened to him)
Neon (being tortured)
Supergirl II, Laurel Kent (being tortured)
Strut (being tortured)
Sun Boy (being tortured)

NOT missing - either mentioned, or due to process of elimination

Chameleon Boy
Colossal Boy
Dawnstar
Infectious Lass
King Canary
Light Lad
Mon-El
Shrinking Violet
Tellus
Ultra Boy
Star Boy
Mwindaji
Dragonmage
Evolvo Lad
Kid Computo
Nightwind
Phantom Girl
Comet Queen (was with Tinya)
Color Kid
Cosmic Boy
Element Lad
Invisible Kid II
Night Girl
Stone Boy
Timber Wolf

Reservists

Lightning Lad (possessed by 7 deadly sins, maybe )
Saturn Girl (being tortured)
Chlorophyll Kid (with Dream Girl on Avalon)
Chameleon Girl (with Phantom Girl's group)

Thanks for the feedback IB!

Hadru would honestly be the most infuriating little snot in real life, but he's fun to write sometimes lol...although he may actually face a consequence this time for constantly just doing whatever he wants!

You and Harbinger were indeed right about Variable Lad, good job!

And right on the money again about the Seven Deadly Sins! I have got a couple fun encounters with them coming up now that all the players are in the right position!

I think Zoe's little mystery is gonna lead to a good resolution at some point and that's all I am gonna say about that!

I had to convince myself to go through with some of the tortures and deaths in this story, but I think Mordru really needs a big stakes story like this - the Legion comics Mordru finds himself in don't really sell how big a threat he's meant to be a lot of the time.

Mysa is DEFINITELY not out of the woods yet, and Glorith is gonna steal some more spotlight before all this is over!

NEXT UP: TIME FOR SOME BIG FIGHTS Y'ALL!!!

oh I nearly forgot! Very good detective work on the team breakup, you got them all!

yes! consequences for Hadru, please! a little timely lesson

yay! that's the fun (and tricky) thing about characters like Variable Lad, who can throw quite a curveball with their powers... it did take me a moment or two to remember he was along, so good job too for how you wrote it!

yay! looking forward to more Deadly Sins!

also yay re Zoe's little mystery! still my favorite across any boot!

yeah I totally get it, it's tough to hurt or kill darlings, but a villain like Mordru.... I gotta say, I also need to do better re actually being willing to hurt or kill MY characters you're better than I am at that haha

re team breakup yay! though you gave all the clues, it was a matter of getting your full roll call and crossing out identified names

Hey Raz,

Really happy to see there's a new intallment and here are my thoughts as I read through/:


Haha, Hadru's thoughts on his bed! That ve me a laugh, he's such a princess feeling every pea.

Nice to see Lamprey again, and referencing her friendship with Sojurn. Interesting that Sojurn needs to calculate the teleportation - makes for a nice limitation.

"Okay, I don't have any idea what any of that means except that it's Marya's fault. Good, at least I know who to punch in the nose now." hhaha good line. Nice also that Hadru followed this up be asking about the boys - he's not a total jerk.

"It's cute you're worried but I'm sure they're fine, don't worry too much. Legion HQ's always getting invaded or torn down, you get used to it after a while!" another nice line.

Of course it's Hadru that talks the students into doing something reckless! And Gas Girl being frozen - and turned into slush! - was unexpected as she's the one Legionnaire on your team I expect to get away scott-free. It's good to have my preconceptions challenged. The students are in for trouble, and I hope they all survive!

Black Osiris is really savage, killing all the indigenies, though it's a good nuance to his character that he doesn't like torture. And they are some pretty brutal tortures!

I do wnder sometimes if Nura is really brave or just reacting because her visions says so. still, flying into a sky of shadow demons is pretty suicidal either way. Mordru targetting Mysa makes sense, she'll be the one he most wants revenge on, and she's powerless!

Nice little fight scene with Kid Q and Gllorith slowing the demons down giving Ral the opportunity to act. As I read Harlack restoring Glorith I thought to myself "he's being a great supporting character, if he was mine I'd probably kill him off". Now I feel sad as you've done it!


Glorith of Baaldur!

I'm stunned, actually stunned that you brought her back. She's such a crazy character, really everything about female villains from the 1990's - all shoulder pads, sass and thighs Aging Ivy and learning that Mysa was the Black Witch - she'll cause tears before this is all over.


Raz, you've thrown several great curveballs at this story and I'm waiting for more, more, more!

Thanks Harbi!

haha that bit with Chemical Kid was definitely channelling the princess and the pea, wasn't it?

I will expand on Sojurn's powers eventually, I thought it'd be a nice quirk to customise their teleportation a bit

I was a little unsure how writing the Academy boys on their own would work out, as Marya and Hadru generally drive the group dynamic...it gave me a chance to think about what kind of friends and classmates they'd be when I can't just have Marya blowing her fuse about something every couple of minutes to drive interactions though!

This is a good observation! After all there have been plenty of times when classic Nura has been weirdly 'damsel in distress' so it does kind of make you wonder about what's driving the times where she's cool under pressure!

Poor Harlack, even though I've only ever used him like 9 or 10 times I did quite like him! #RIPinpeace little buddy!

There's definitely gonna be an interesting revelation about Ivy next instalment, and hopefully Glorith as well if I can fit it in there - she's got 40 other characters to compete against for the spotlight, but like you said she's all shoulder pads, sass and thighs so I like her chances!

DEEP SPACE
On board a Legion cruiser

ROLL CALL
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Cosmic Boy aka Rokk Krinn: magnetism
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Night Girl aka Lydda Jath Krinn: photosensitive super-strength
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: leader; intangibility
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength and super-agility

Phantom Girl paced the bridge of her cruiser with her arms folded, one finger tapping against her bicep anxiously. "Brin, anything from Dawnstar yet?"

Sitting at the comms console, Timber Wolf stifled a low growl. "...No," he forced himself to be more civil than he'd have liked. "Just like the last four times you asked, Phantom Girl."

"Ugh! Guys, I'm sorry." Phantom Girl leaned against a console, her shoulders slumped. "I know I'm probably driving you all space crazy. I'm just worried, you know? The longer it takes us to find Mordru..."

The only other two Legionnaires on the bridge were Night Girl and Cosmic Boy, and Lydda now cast a pointed look at her husband which very clearly told him to help his friend. "Phantom Girl," Rokk stood up and awkwardly pat her shoulder. "Tinya...it's okay. We all understand, we're worried too. And believe me, I know how much more stressful it is when you're the leader and you feel like you have to have everything under control at all times but--"

"Uh, Phantom Girl?" Timber Wolf turned in his chair. "We've got an incoming transmission from...the Science Police on Vavalla..?"

Tinya took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I swear, Hadru...this is not the time for you to get in trouble partying again." She straightened her posture and cleared her throat. "Thanks, Timber Wolf - screen up please." A flat holographic panel took over the bridge's viewscreen, displaying a very annoyed Nightwind and Lamprey. "Hi girls," Phantom Girl greeted the two with the little enthusiasm she could muster. "Please tell me those boys haven't done something stupid."

"You bet they have!" Nightwind shot back. "That idiot Chemical Kid convinced Sojurn to take them back so they can play hero and rescue the other students!"

Tinya took a moment to let it sink in. "Okay...okay, wait. This might not be so bad - if they've just teleported back home, there's nothing more dangerous there than a big hole in the ground."

"You don't understand," Lamprey corrected her, "They left Key Kid behind and he told us everything...they haven't gone back to your base, they've gone to wherever Dragonwing is."

"Sojurn's a tracker??" Phantom Girl fired up. "Why isn't this in their file?!"

"They're not really a tracker," Lamprey elaborated, "They have a...look, I don't know how to explain it, but they have a different perception of space than we do. They've got a whole extra sense that allows them to lock in on any target as long as it's a familiar one, even if they don't consciously know where that place or person or whatever is. S'jn calls it a parrayo or p'rro or something like that. But the point is - I believe Sojurn definitely has it in them to teleport directly to wherever Dragonwing is. Which means--"

"Which means they're most likely wherever Mordru is," Phantom Girl finished the sentence, deflated. "Sprock..."

"Phantom Girl, there's something else." Nightwind's tone carried the serious nature of what she was about to say. "Key Kid had no idea about Mordru at all. They were running from Black Osiris. Xao told me how much trouble he caused on Avalon, if he and Mordru are working together..."

The four Legionnaires on the bridge of the cruiser were speechless for a moment. All of them had either read the mission logs or spoken to friends who'd been on that mission. Phantom Girl knew it was more important than ever that they get to their teammates, but if Dawnstar couldn't find them -- Tinya's eyes widened as she realised Chemical Kid might have just unintentionally saved the day. "Nightwind, hold that thought!" Phantom Girl raised a finger. "Brin! Get Dawnstar online!"

"Phantom Girl," the tracker from Starhaven began as soon as her hologram shimmered into view. Her crestfallen expression betrayed exactly what she was about to say. "I regret that--"

"--you can't find them," Phantom Girl cut her off, something approaching excitement in her voice. "I know, you would have told me by now if you had. Forget the Legion, Dawny. Forget Mordru."

"Phantom Girl..?" Forgetting her team leader's rudeness, Dawnstar raised an eyebrow. "Are you...well?"

"I'll explain everything on the way but we might not have much time so you need to do this right now - find Chemical Kid. Find that irritating little squaj Hadru Jamik, and Lullabye Lad and Variable Lad and Sojurn. If Mordru and Black Osiris haven't killed them yet, I'm going to personally wring their necks myself but then they're all getting posthumous medals if this works."

"Black Osiris?? I...never mind." Everyone saw the expression on Dawnstar's face change from utter confusion to cold resolve. "I will ask Mon-El to call you back for your explanation," she said with the almost condescending level of confidence her teammates expected from her. "...I have a trail to follow." The transmission switched off, and Timber Wolf whooped loud enough that it sounded throughout the whole ship.

In the galley, Dragonmage and Mwindaji had been spending this entire time trying to console Comet Queen. Grava had put up a brave face as long as she could, but her fear for her family and friends had become too overwhelming and she'd spent the past few minutes bawling inconsolably down here where none of the senior Legionnaires would see her.

Though they had good intentions, Xao Jin and Mwindaji were both so keenly self-disciplined that neither of them had the first clue how to relate to this kind of emotional distress. Xao had been just about to give up and go ask Cosmic Boy or Night Girl for help when they all heard Timber Wolf's exuberant cheer. "What...what was that..?" Grava sniffed.

"I do not know," Mwindaji replied with a reassuring smile, "But it sounds very much like our fortunes have reversed, does it not?"

"You think...you think we'll be stellariffic after all, starshines..?" Comet Queen gazed imploringly at the two boys.

"Why don't you take a moment to collect yourself and we'll all go find out together, Comet Queen?" Dragonwing replied. Taking a chance, the young sorceror beckoned Mwindaji and Grava closer and continued in a secretive whisper. "I must say though...have you ever heard Timber Wolf sound this happy about something? Things must be looking up!"

Comet Queen's tears immediately transformed to a childish giggle, and though it was an enigma to the two boys how one person could contain such extremes they all walked back toward the bridge with a newfound optimism.

...things were surely going to get better from here.

**********

ELSEWHERE

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy
Amp aka Ming Sul: amplification of any power or characteristic
Chemical Kid aka Hadru Jamik: control of chemical reactions
Dragonwing aka Marya Pai: acid venom, fire breath
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Legion of Superheroes
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Life Lass aka Somi Gan: matter animation
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: reserve Legionnaire, Legion Academy co-head; electricity generation and manipulation
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis

Hadru Jamik's whole world exploded in a strobe burst of pain as he was struck full in the chest with a lightning bolt from his teacher.

Lightning Lad had blasted Chemical Kid with extremely low doses of electricity before in training exercises, and a few times the voltage had been high enough to take the teenager's breath away for a second or two. This...this was a whole different level. As Chemical Kid lay motionless in the damp grass outside Mordru's castle, he stared wide-eyed into the starry sky above and wondered if this was the second near-death experience he'd have today. Suddenly Hadru was acutely aware of his blood pounding in his ears, and he pushed himself up on his elbows to...to do what exactly he wasn't quite sure, but he couldn't just lie here and wait for his brainwashed mentor to murder him.

Hadru saw Lightning Lad's boot coming at him and rolled aside in a panic, but the kick still caught his jaw and Chemical Kid's world exploded again. Chemical Kid struggled to ask why this was happening but he couldn't talk properly and his ears were ringing so loudly he could barely hear himself anyway. Garth yanked him by the back of the coat and threw him onto his back on the ground then kneeled on his arms, pinning him down.

"Do you know how long you've been asking for this?" Garth Ranzz snarled almost incoherently. "You come here from Phlon with your daddy's credits, you think you can usurp the legacy of a real hero--" Lightning Lad was stronger than he should be, and Chemical Kid could feel a low charge circulating through his whole body. As Garth's first punch rained down on Hadru's face, Chemical Kid realised Lightning Lad must be using his electrical energy to galvanise his musculature. "Chemical King sacrificed himself to save a whole damn planet that wasn't even his homeworld--" another fist slammed into Hadru's face "--and your only legacy is going to be that you got yourself and your stupid little friends killed because you couldn't--" CRACK "--obey--" KKRUNCHH "--a sprocking--" SLAM "--instruction!!"

"Teacher! Teacher, please!" Variable Lad's voice broke with emotion as he ran to stop Lightning Lad from killing his friend. An oblong-shaped stone larger than Oaa's fist suddenly struck him square in the back, barely avoiding his third arm. The young Jaquaan tumbled over out of breath, and Variable Lad scanned the battlefield in a confused daze to see who was responsible. He settled on the one Legionnaire who hadn't actively engaged anyone yet, Life Lass lounging on a sofa she'd constructed from stones taken from the wall of the castle. "Please, Life Lass, I - I don't want to hurt you, I can't always control my transformations that well--"

"You adorable little purple cherub, thank you!" The raven-haired heroine gave him an unnaturally sweet smile. "Because honestly, I'm so comfortable here and I'd really rather not have to exert myself anymore than necessary." She flicked two fingers lazily toward Variable Lad and two more stones dislodged themselves to come flying at him.

Dragonwing could see Lightning Lad and Life Lass pummelling Hadru and Oaa, but she was too distracted countering every one of Polar Boy's attempted attacks to do anything about it. The problem was that with Gas Girl out of the picture the mind-controlled Legionnaires had the advantage of experience and numbers.

"Dragonwing, this is so silly," Polar Boy taunted her as he created a misshapen chunk of ice around her feet to immobilise her. "You must know I could just freeze every drop of moisture in your body, and fire breath won't help with that. Why are you bothering to fight?"

"Why don't you do it then, nasshead?" Marya spat a wide spray of corrosive venom at him. As expected, Polar Boy erected an ice wall to protect himself but it took him a few seconds to get around the remains of the melted barrier to face her again. In that time, Marya used her flame breath to escape her own trap.

"I don't want to damage you materially too much," Polar Boy gladly explained. "There has to be some deviant who'll buy you kids once we've humbled you and it wouldn't do to have you all brittle and shattery now, would it? Bad enough that Lightning Lad's probably going to leave Chemical Kid unrecognisable, that's really going to lower his value." He propelled solid balls of ice the size of moopsballs at her and Dragonwing managed to dodge one while melting a second, but the third smashed into her hip and knocked her off-balance.

Falling over with a clumsy yelp, Marya realised this had to be more than just mind-control. Lightning Lad was so full of rage, and although Marya was only barely familiar with Polar Boy she couldn't imagine this kind of creepiness was something that Brek Bannin carried around inside himself normally. They're gonna slaughter us, Marya thought, And they know we can't fight back properly because we don't want to hurt them. She knew what she needed to do...this was going to leave her wide open, but they needed a Legionnaire to fight Legionnaires. Ignoring Polar Boy, Dragonwing turned her flame breath on the pile of slush that had been Gas Girl moments ago. The slush evaporated beneath Marya's mystic fire, and the instant Dragonwing stopped to take a breath her head was encased in ice and Marya Pai fell.

Lullabye Lad meanwhile was completely unaware of anything going on with his classmates, because the second the fight had begun Crystal Kid had created a perimeter of crystal separating Waiane from the others. "You think you're so special, don't you?" Bobb spat as he used his flight ring to descend from above. "You got into the Academy because your brother's a Legionnaire, you got yourself a hot boyfriend...your life might be better than mine but you're not better than me! You know that, right?"

Lullabye Lad shook his head vigorously, perplexed. "Crystal Kid, what are you talking about? My ex-boyfriend dumped me for you and you're in the Legion! How is my life better than yours?!"

"Because none of this was easy for me!" Crystal Kid sounded exactly like a petulant child. "None of this just fell into my lap! Tel and I fell to pieces before we even began and...and you know what? It doesn't matter anyway, I'm going to turn you to crystal and then every day for the rest of my life I'll know that I got the life that I deserve while you'll just be gathering dust in a hall somewhere forever."

Bobb gestured at the wide-eyed youth and Waiane's body transformed into lifeless crystal with an eerie tinkling noise, but then something very odd happened. Almost immediately the crystal fractured and fell into powdered shards, and Crystal Kid saw Lullabye Lad standing before him as dull grey stone.

"You petrified yourself?" Crystal Kid whined. "You think showing off your extra power is going to help you because I'm stuck with just one? Turning to stone is a stupid power, I can still turn you to crystal just as easy! I'm better than you and I'll--"

The color abruptly returned to Lullabye Lad's skin and hair as he changed once more to human form, and while Crystal Kid was still startled Waiane walloped him in the gut. "I can't believe that worked," Lullabye Lad babbled gleefully while the doubled over Crystal Kid recovered. "I thought if I could turn myself to stone the same time you tried to turn me to crystal then my transformation would override your transformation and then if I could time it right like Dag does then -- oh! I probably should pat myself on the back later, huh? Go to sleep now, ya big baby."

Crystal Kid's retort became a drawn-out monotone as he slumped to the ground and started snoring. As Lullabye Lad was pondering how he was going to overcome this huge wall of crystal to help the others, he suddenly felt an all too familiar upwards lurching and noticed that he was surrounded in a thin sheath of blue energy. Moments later, Gravity Kid's power had propelled him two hundred feet straight up and Tel Vole floated just above Waiane beaming smugly.

Gravity Kid descended slightly, still making sure to maintain the higher position between the two of them. "I can't believe Bobb just debased himself like that, all that incessant mewling about how bad he's got it...pathetic. Anyway, look at your widdle face thinking hard...you can't figure out how to beat me, can you? Put me to sleep and it's a big drop, Waiane."

"You know I can turn to stone, right?" Lullabye Lad tried to hide his nervousness behind a disinterested tone. "My brother's survived worse falls than this, I don't see why I wouldn't."

"But what about me?" Tel mocked him. "I disabled my flight ring's auto-hover function, you knock me out and I drop like a...heh, like a stone I guess. Are you really gonna smash all this to pieces?" He looked himself up and down, clearly appreciating what he saw. "You won't do it Lullabye Lad, you don't have what it takes to just outright murder me...you're never going to measure up to me in any way and I just wanted a nano to gloat about that before I put you out of your misery."

"I think there's something weird going on with those Legionnaires down there." Waiane tried to change position to look down at everyone below, but all he could do was pitch gracelessly while Tel's power was in effect. "There's no way Crystal Kid is actually jealous of me, and nobody else is acting like themselves either...so how come whatever it is didn't change you? You're still the same narcissistic batjerk you've always been!"

Gravity Kid seethed silently for a moment before his eyes narrowed and Lullabye Lad rolled over with a pained cry. "Congratulations, you got a last jab in...you're still gonna know while I crush your organs that the truth is I'm just too good for you, Waiane."

The pain was so unbearable that Lullabye Lad couldn't have focused enough to put Gravity Kid to sleep even if he had been willing to risk Tel's life like that. Lullabye Lad heard something crack inside himself and uttered another sharp scream. Turning back to stone at this point was more of a reflex action than anything else and so Waiane missed out on seeing what came next as his body changed to unmoving stone once more.

Gravity Kid was pondering whether to continue crushing his ex-boyfriend or simply launch him out of the atmosphere when the smell of something vaguely sweet entered his nostrils. A second later he passed out, but before he could fall too far Gas Girl congealed from the night air and wrapped a hand around his waist. "I can't believe you actually switched your flight ring off," the bald heroine muttered under her breath. "They say pride goes before a fall so that's another one of you creeps identified..."

Gas Girl winced as she heard the thunk of Lullabye Lad's petrified form hit the ground below; she'd floated up here as quickly as she could, but propelling herself in gas form was nowhere near as fast as a flight ring. Still, she'd seen Stone Boy take a lot of damage...she just hoped his little brother was equally durable.

She could check on Lullabye Lad after she'd checked on the other kids, but before any of that she had to complete what she'd started with Polar Boy, Lightning Lad, poor Somi and Gravity Kid here and take the two last possessed Legionnaires off the battlefield...

Matter-Eater Lad dodged another blow from the student named Amp and Tenzil's eyebrows raised as he watched her fist take a chunk out of the castle wall instead. Tenzil Kem shovelled a handful of rubble into his mouth and mumbled something to Amp as he crunched down on the shattered fragments of bluestone.

"What...what are you even doing?" Amp stood back, mildly repulsed.

In response, Tenzil spat a finely pulverized spray of stone and dust into Amp's face. "I said I was giving myself an advantage," he gulped down the remainder of his weird snack. "Not all of us can just increase our strength whenever we want." He strode up to Amp while she was blinking dust from her eyes and bent her wounded arm backwards.

Ming Sul collapsed against the wall with a pained screech, refusing to allow shock to take over. "That's it..." she grimaced. "Gloves are...off..."

"You're a feisty one," Matter-Eater Lad smirked. "I can't wait to see how feisty tastes."

He hadn't moved another inch towards her when Matter-Eater Lad suddenly felt a burning cramp tear through his abdomen. He fell to his knees clutching his stomach and glared at Ming Sul. "What did you...what did you do to me?!"

"Don't ask me, it's your stomach acid..." Amp had hoped to sound nonchalant but her voice betrayed how weak she felt right now. "I just gave it a little boost. And now--"

Electricity suddenly coursed through Amp's body and she collapsed to the grass. Lightning Lass sauntered over and straddled her from behind, then teasingly ran a finger over Amp's body as she intermittently pumped enough voltage in to the girl to make her convulse slightly again and again. Amp's eyes rolled back in her head...she was dimly aware that Lightning Lass seemed to be taking some perverse pleasure in her discomfort, and she registered Matter-Eater Lad saying something about being hungry, but the cascades of sensation were too overpowering for her to really process any of it.

"I would have been here sooner," Lightning Lass beckoned Matter-Eater Lad to approach with one crooked finger, "But I had to make sure none of these other babies were gonna wake up anytime soon. That octopus kid, all those tentacles...but now I am here, why don't the three of us have some fun? You must be dying to put that mouth to work, Gluttony. Besides, we need to finish up here and go find that Gas Girl...I'm pretty sure she KO'd the rest of us."

With Amp's power no longer in effect, Matter-Eater Lad slowly regained his composure as he watched Ayla Ranzz toy with the Lalloran student. "Lust, you've had your fun but you're right....I'm so hungry, let me have the girl. I know you like to watch almost as much as you like to play."

"Got me there, honey." Lightning Lass took her time climbing off of Amp's shuddering body, and made herself comfortable sitting against the wall. Matter-Eater Lad lifted Amp's hand closer, but before he could so much as open his mouth he saw Ayla cast a seductive glance at someone behind him.

Gas Girl was standing nearby, helping a weakened Dragonwing stand. "Were you going to eat her?" Marya's lip curled in disgust. "What the sprock is wrong with you?!"

"It's not Matter-Eater Lad," Gas Girl explained. "You're the Seven Deadly Sins, aren't you? I heard Mordru talking about you all when I was looking for the rest of the Legion earlier."

"I thought you said you took care of those kids!" Matter-Eater Lad barked at Lightning Lass.

"This one was still fighting her way out of Greed's little snowball," Ayla replied as she leered at Dragonwing. "She's more of a tiger than I thought."

"Dragon," Marya corrected her, "And I'll be happy to show you just how much of a dragon I am, you--"

"Dragonwing, stop!" Gas Girl snapped. "They've got Amp's life in their hands, we have to be careful."

"That's right," Lightning Lass stood up before Matter-Eater Lad and Amp. "That means you keep that sexy body right there where I can see it, Gas Girl...you discorporate and so does this little latex-covered cutie."

"I don't care!" Matter-Eater Lad snapped. "I'm so damn hungry! At least let me have some of the girl's fingers!!"

Gas Girl and Dragonwing both began running toward Matter-Eater Lad as they saw him bite down on one of Amp's knuckles but before anybody could do anything a red and blue blur came in out of nowhere and swept Matter-Eater Lad and Lightning Lass both off their feet. A moment later, Mon-El was floating a few inches above the ground with the two Legionnaires dangling limply by his side. "Hello, girls," he greeted Gas Girl, Dragonmage and a slowly recuperating Amp. "You're safe now."

"Mon-El, I could kiss you!" Gas Girl beamed with excitement.

"Don't let Shadow Lass hear you say that," Jo Nah's voice joked from behind them. Gas Girl and Dragonwing turned to see Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy, Dawnstar, King Canary, Shrinking Violet and Chameleon Girl descending from the night sky.

"The whole Legion's here?" Dragonwing asked hopefully.

"Those of us who could make ourselves small enough for Dawnstar, Mon-El or Ultra Boy to carry," Chameleon Boy pointed out. "But the others are on their way.

Now...tell us what you know."

**********

The inhabitants of Mordru's castle remained mostly ignorant of what was transpiring outside. Mordru had grown tired of watching the Seven Deadly Sins decimate the Legion Academy students via his crystal orb and had sent Black Osiris back out to continue his slaughter of this world's native populace while the dark sorceror kept himself busy redecorating his playroom. "I need female input," Mordru spoke to Otaki and Nightstone in a relaxed tone that still somehow seemed to be equally intimidating as when he was flaunting his power. "Do you think I should place the man of stone opposite Sun Boy's cell or the Green Lantern's? I am not sure whether his features are better enhanced by crimson or emerald lighting."

"What does it matter--" Nightstone began to ask, increasingly disturbed that she was being forced to take part in this macabre pantomime.

"The Green Lantern!" Otaki quickly cut her off. "My mentor...look at how...how haunted Blok seems when he's lit up by that creepy green glow."

"I believe you're absolutely right, young Otaki." Mordru smiled down at her like a kindly grandfather. "Emerald lighting it is."

While Mordru was distracted using magic to levitate Blok's unmoving form into the space opposite the shining green lantern that was once Zoe Saugin, Nightstone stared daggers at Otaki. Otaki ignored both of them and focused as much of her mindsense as she could onto that iconic emerald construct as she could without drawing Mordru's attention. The results were as deeply frustrating as they were unsatisfying; Neon's consciousness was swiftly degrading, there was barely enough of a mind there to even divine...and what Otaki could sense told her nothing more than she already knew. Something was drawing the remnants of Zoe Saugin's prodigious willpower to focus on Mordru, but Otaki was no closer to knowing what it was or why. Suddenly Otaki sensed something else which made her gasp out loud.

"The Legion!"

She covered her mouth as soon as she realised what she'd said but it was too late. Mordru dropped Blok with an undignified crash and spun on Otaki. He'd spent so long using his sorcerous might to enhance her mindsense that he bore an intimate connection with her now. Otaki reflexively attempted to shield herself from his mystic probe which she knew from experience was painful, but intellectually she knew that it was a pointless struggle. A moment later, Mordru was as aware as Otaki herself that a group of Legionnaires had arrived outside. The dark mage released his grip on Otaki, and the young woman fell to the floor clutching her head and praying that he hadn't picked up on anything else she'd been thinking.

Nightstone ran to Otaki's side and helped her stand. "What's going on?!" she demanded. She was just as scared of Mordru as ever, but she was not naturally a person inclined to subservience and spending this long playing his indentured sidekick was beginning to grate on her.

"Some friends have arrived," Mordru explained. His tone was benevolent, but the evil in his gaze reminded Nightstone that she needed to play it much more cautiously with him than she had been. "They're earlier than expected, but never mind...what kind of a host would I be if I didn't greet them? Otaki. Call Black Osiris back as well, would you? I'm sure he's ready to put his power to a much greater use than I've been demanding of him till now."

With Nightstone and herself now in physical contact, Otaki could read her intentions without even trying. Otaki could sense just how badly Nightstone wanted her to ignore Mordru's command, but Otaki also knew that Mordru would instantly know if she failed him...it was a chance she couldn't take. While she called out to Black Osiris thousands of miles away, both girls watched Mordru utter dark incantations and weave patterns in the air. The light in the room seemed to dim momentarily, and neither of the girls could help releasing a surprised yelp as a horde of creatures composed of pure darkness emerged from every shadow in the room and darted straight past them and outside the many huge windows along the walls.

"Do not fear, girls." Mordru stared down at them both with a predatory fire that told them they should be very much afraid. "My Shadow Demons are here for the Legion of Superheroes...and they have not even been summoned at full strength. I want the Legion humbled, not slain. That pleasure belongs to me personally."

A flash of light exploded noiselessly, and Otaki instantly sensed that even Mordru was taken by surprise. At first she hoped that this too was the Legion of Superheroes and she did in fact recognise Dream Girl and Chlorophyll Kid standing among the group that appeared now in Mordru's torture chamber, but the evil radiating from one of the other women among them rivalled that of Mordru himself.

Dream Girl, Chlorophyll Kid and Kid Quantum were momentarily stunned to find themselves no longer on Avalon and in the direct presence of Mordru. Mysa Nal was clearly terrified, and could bring herself to do nothing more than cover her face with her hands as her head shook involuntarily and she mumbled barely audible protests.

Mordru ignored these four for now, though he did cast a simmering gaze over Mysa that told her she was right to feel the way she did. Instead, he turned to the only two women in the group who seemed unsurprised to be here, and the two whom Mordru's senses told him were more powerful than perhaps anybody else here besides himself. One of the women was younger, with ebony skin and a scalp which grew small green leaves like a tight head of hair. The other carried herself regally, her long white cloak and brazen blonde hair framing a woman accustomed to commanding power.

"Woman." Unconsciously, Mordru increased in size as he approached the blonde bombshell standing before him unfazed until he was almost seven feet tall by the time he spoke. "The only reason you yet live is that you have brought this one--" he pointed at Mysa "--unto Mordru the Merciless. If you want to enjoy continued existence, you had best reveal your name to me and swear your allegiance right now."

"My name," she twirled Mordru's beard playfully around one finger, "is Glorith of Baaldur."

"Glorith, no!" The color drained from Dream Girl's face as she suddenly saw what was coming.

"And I have come not to praise the king," Glorith continued unabated, "but to bury him."

A moment later, a blinding burst of mystical energy exploded its way through Mordru's playroom.

TO BE CONCLUDED!!!

yay! more goodness!

Love how Tinya knew it was Hadru causing the call...

Sojurn has just become possibly the most powerful teleporter we know of, re locking on to the target. And tracker, too!

Ah, classic Dawny, you write her so well. I like how she just stops asking questions, goes off to do her job, and will figure it out later. And awesome of Tinya to figure out whom to track!

heh, that crack about Brin being happy...

ok, so Life Lass is Sloth, Garth is Wrath, Brek is Greed, Bobb is Envy, Tel is Pride, and of COURSE Tenzil is Gluttony! leaving Lust for Ayla... a lot of these are quite apt

Smart of Waiane, both using his power well, figuring out something was up (well, Marya did too, and was tactically smart!!); and heh at his verbal takedown of Tel...

and of course, Tal was smart enough to realize the 7 deadly sins were involved!

oooh! Amp boosting Tenzil's stomach acid, clever!

whew, Lust and Gluttony are creepy...

oh yes, here's the cavalry!!! yes!!

Awesome battle scene, great to see Gas Girl and the students take down so many before the cavalry came in! (also smart re whom the advance guard could carry)

I like Otaki carefully trying to resist while playing along...

so Mordru doesn't know Glorith... or at least, not in this form...

oh my. what an ending...

as always, a great installment and can't wait for the finale!!!

Thanks for reading, IB!

Sojurn's teleportation range really is pretty off the charts, though I'm hoping the couple of disadvantages I've given them help to balance it out a bit.

Admittedly some of the sins are hard trying to match up to characters, but when they do match it writes itself - I originally had a messed up encounter planned for Ayla and Brin that unfortunately I had to chop when I realised I didn't really leave him a way to get to her in time...but Ayla and Tenzil were the most fun (and the creepiest!) to write this time around!

I didn't really pre-plan any of the student encounters with the Seven Sins beyond wanting to keep Marya conscious at the end, so I was happy with how Lullabye Lad, Dragonwing and Amp all had their own moments of cleverness

I also didn't really get to give Glorith and Ivy's whole story as much attention as I wanted to this time around, but that will be rectified before we finish!

Also: a very dramatic change is coming for some other poor sucker in this cast, and at least one more death before we finish!

my pleasure raz, and thanks for writing

sometimes good battle scenes write themselves as you go through em eh? why having Marya conscious at the end, by the way?ooh! is this a hint as to the finale?

oh I'm sure Glorith and Ivy will be all explained... and well done for creating and wrapping up so many threads in the preceding year or so. Ivy was a separate thread, and Otaki, and Nightstone, and Black Osiris, and they are now coming all togerther... also the Mysa thread, and Seven Deadly Sins, and Shazam Blok... marvelous plotting work!

with the way you've upped the stakes so far, I am not at all surprised that at least one more death is coming!

really looking forward to the grand finale!!

Raz, hi there, you're really moving things forwad here and showing how capable they are even when separated from each other and in desperate situations.

Tinya fretting and Brin reprimanding her was great, I would be the same as Tinya in that situation and know it would irritate everyone else, haha. Nice getting Dawnstar to change her target, clever move.

Poor Grava, hope things are okay at the end of this arc for her and Ral.

Oh, the students versus the Seven Deadly Sins, I've been looking forward to this!

Garth as Anger is scary! Poor Hadru (not someting that's said often) but he's lucky that Garth didn't leave him as a Hadru shaped pile of smoldering dust. Life Lass as Sloth was funny, making herself comfortable as she fights Oaa. Again, I'd do the same if I could.

Bbob as Envy is kind of acurate as I see him anyway, never quite A+List. Smart move changing to stone like that, disrupting the crystalisation. And the cheerful gloating is right for a scared teen, and luckily he does have that secons power to take care of the Legionnaire!

"You're still the same narcissistic batjerk you've always been!" haha, nice line!

Amp versus MEL was great, nice way to highlight how versatile her abilities are. And, spitting dust at her was pretty gross Tenzil so you deserved it. Ayla as Lust is great - enjoying watching nearly as much as watching - creepy! Marya correcting her that she wasn't a tiger but a dragon was another good line. Your characterisation of the students is really well done.

Interesting team to turn up, and good explantion that only those small enough to be carried could come in this vanguard.

I'm liking how you write Mordru's subtle torturing of Otaki and Nightstone.He really is the ultimate bad guy isn't he? And referring to the Legion as "some friends..." yup, he's refined and cultured, but still ruthless and sadistic. And before he can do anything Nura, et al, arrive.

Well, you've got everyone in place now, and am realy looking forward to seeing how you unravel this, as Mordru versus Glorith, while team try to protect themselves, get the Sins out of their colleagues and rescue those in the castle, AND deal with Black Osiris. And then what abour Otaki and Nightstone? You've a lot of spinning plates Raz though I've no doubts you'll get us there magnificently!

One more death? Nightstone or Otaki are the obvious frontrunners I think, though I hope not as it would be nice to see their journeys afterwards.

Can't wait for more, more, more!

Hi Harbi, glad you liked it!
He really is! Although I doubt he'll feel that way when he wakes up...

Creepy Tenzil and Ayla were the most fun to write, I don't know what that says about me lol

I'm glad the students' characterisation is working...I like getting to write them as a major part of stuff occasionally so I can actually work on them individually a bit more than I usually get to do.

Definitely a lot of spinning plates and some of them will definitely come crashing down but hopefully in a way that's fun to watch!

ON AN UNCHARTED ISLAND

ROLL CALL
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Drake Burroughs peered helplessly into the open maw of death before him.

He'd led the transformed Staq Mavlen on as wild a chase as he could around this uninhabited island; he'd tried running, hiding, bargaining, reasoning, even throwing rocks at the fire-breathing dragon. None of it had accomplished a single thing, and the irony was not lost on Drake Burroughs that he'd finally been granted his wish to be human only to now wish he could be Wildfire just one final time to save himself.

"I hope you don't remember this when they find a way to bring you back to normal, buddy..." Drake murmured to the dragon breathing furnace-like heat at him. "...At least I hope you remember this isn't your fault."

The dragon that had once been Firecrest bellowed a deafening roar, sucked in an enormous intake of air...and then promptly yelped in surprise as Dawnstar torpedoed down feet first from high above to land on his snout. His jaw snapped shut from the impact and simultaneously slammed into the rocky ground, then the no longer threatening creature rolled almost comically to one side.

"Dawny! Man, are you a sight for sore eyes!" Wildfire rushed to embrace the woman he loved.

"Wildfire, I'm so relieved Mordru didn't hurt you!" she returned his embrace for a heartfelt moment, then stood back. "I hope you don't mind me stepping in like that, I appreciate that you must not have wanted to hurt Firecrest. We don't have time to find a more compassionate solution right now though...the Legion could spare me to come find you, but they really need your power right now!"

"My power?" Wildfire laughed, as innapropriate as that seemed right now. "Look at me! I'm human, Dawny! Mordru must have thought this was a punishment, but he's given me what I've wanted ever since I got stuck in this stupid suit!"

"Human? What??...Oh, Drake." Dawnstar's face dropped as she realised what must have happened here...Mordru had hurt Wildfire, in the cruelest way possible.

"We can be together now, Dawny! Really together!" Wildfire grabbed her by the shoulders in his excitement.

"Drake--"

"I mean I get that I can't be in the Legion anymore but you and I can be together! We can have babies!"

"Drake, this is an illusion--"

"My folks always said if I had a kid brother they would have called him Squire, what do you think Dawny? Squire Burroughs...has a nice ring to it, huh?"

"Drake, please listen to me--" Dawnstar's eyes began to well with tears.

"I mean I don't know what we'd call a girl, I don't really know any girl's names...maybe Ofelia? That was my grandma's name, do you like it? We can get an apartment and I can go back to school, and--"

"I didn't track a human being here, Wildfire!" Dawnstar shook herself free of his grip, her face flushed with emotion.

There was silence between them for a few seconds before Wildfire spoke up once more. "Dawny...I don't get what you're saying. I mean, you can see that I'm human again, right?" He touched his visor as though he were feeling cheekbones. "Oh grife...maybe Mordru put a spell on you, an enchantment or something--whoa!!"

"We don't have time for this!" Dawnstar gripped one of his arms and flew straight up, covering half a mile in as much time as it took her wings to flap once. She wiped tears away from her eyes with her free hand.

Wildfire looked down nervously. "Dawny, don't take this the wrong way but you're kind of scaring me. Can we--"

Dawnstar knew she wouldn't be able to go through with this if she let herself talk to him. Without so much as a glance, she released her grip on Drake Burroughs and flew toward the blazing orange sunset. Fighting every urge she had to turn back and save the screaming Legionnaire plummeting to the ground below, Dawnstar stayed true to the path she'd chosen...and when she heard the telltale roar of Wildfire's bootjets flaring to life she silently thanked the spirits that he hadn't had to hit the ground before coming to his senses.

A second later, Wildfire was by her side. "Drake," Dawnstar began, "I'm so sorry--"

"Forget it, Dawny." His posture was rigid, his fists pumped out ahead of him. "You got the power of Wildfire. That's what you wanted, right?" He turned to look at her, but Dawnstar saw only her own tortured face reflected in his visor.

Turning away from the man she loved, Dawnstar focused on the path that her duty forged across the skies.

**********

OUTSIDE MORDRU'S CASTLE

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy
Amp aka Ming Sul: amplification of any power or characteristic
Chemical Kid aka Hadru Jamik: control of chemical reactions
Dragonwing aka Marya Pai: acid venom, fire breath
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Legion of Superheroes
Chameleon Boy aka Reep Daggle: Durlan shapeshifter
Chameleon Girl aka Yera Allon: reserve Legionnaire; Durlan shapeshifter
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
King Canary aka K'rk T'wiiu III: sonic generation
Life Lass aka Somi Gan: matter animation
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: reserve Legionnaire, Legion Academy co-head; electricity generation and manipulation
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis
Shrinking Violet aka Salu Digby: shrinking
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time

Only moments after Mon-El had saved Amp from the clutches of a possessed Matter-Eater Lad and Lightning Lass, a swarm of Shadow Demons had emerged from the darkness and launched an all-out assault on the gathered heroes. Before the Legionnaires had even begun to come to terms with that, an explosion had rocked the upper levels of the castle and now on top of everything else the grounds were crawling with vegetation seemingly intent on squeezing the life out of anyone and everyone here.

When Dawnstar told Mon-El she'd picked up Wildfire's trail somewhere halfway around the planet, Mon-El had gladly allowed her to leave the battle to bring him back; the long-lived Daxamite was astute enough to realise that Dawnstar would be too distracted worrying about Wildfire to operate at full efficiency until they were reunited, and Wildfire's anti-energy was much more useful in the midst of this chaos than Dawnstar's gifts anyway.

At Mon-El's command, they'd gathered close together as a group with the castle at their rear. Mon-El had used his heat vision to turn much of the vegetation into a raging bonfire, which had the added effect of allowing them all to actually see more of the Shadow Demons in this moonless night. It wasn't enough though; for every Shadow Demon or vine that Mon-El's heat vision or Ultra Boy's flash vision dispatched, two more took their place. Dragonwing's fire breath kept her wounded classmates safe from the creepers and thorny vines for now and Chameleon Boy had become a flasher beast, a tactic quickly reproduced by his fellow Durlan Chameleon Girl. They couldn't project light anywhere near as bright as the creatures they were mimicking, but it helped to keep some of the Shadow Demons at bay. Surprisingly, King Canary's mastery of sonics served him well in slowing individual Shadow Demons if not stopping them altogether but at least it kept him alive for now. Gas Girl was kept busy making sure the possessed Legionnaires remained sedated, and Amp was conscious but not yet in any state to fight anyone or anything. The rest of the students couldn't even say that much for themselves; of them all, only Variable Lad was even beginning to stir.

With all that was going on, only one Legionnaire was really in a position to be able to step back and see how badly overwhelmed they all were. Barely an inch tall, Shrinking Violet hovered close to the bonfire. The heat was intense at this small size, but the flames and light kept her safe from plants and Shadow Demons alike. There was no way that Vi had to help in this fight, the least she could do was spare any of her teammates from having to look out for her while they were struggling to stay alive themselves. Vi saw vines begin creeping up the legs of Cham and Yera in their transformed states and she could tell that Dragonwing was reaching the point of exhaustion...everyone here was fighting bravely and they were fighting well, but something had to change or their defeat was inevitable. Mon-El was the mightiest of them all, but even he had no special defence against magic...it was only a matter of time until the Shadow Demons took him down as surely as they would everybody else.

Knowing she couldn't contribute here, Vi turned her sights elsewhere. After the initial explosion of mystical energy, the upper levels of the castle had been regularly lighting up and shaking with the din of battle...Mordru was obviously fighting someone in there, and Vi doubted she'd be any more useful in that conflict than she was down here. But for the first time she realised that through one huge crack in the castle wall, a steady red glow was radiating. It never wavered and it didn't flicker like the light of this fire, it just glowed steady and constant.

"Mon-El, I'm following a hunch." Vi spoke as though the Daxamite darting about overhead were right next to her. "I'll let you know how it pans out."

Mon-El paused in mid-air just long enough to stare directly at the miniscule Legionnaire dozens of feet away dwarfed by the bonfire, and his eyes flared a bright red momentarily to let Vi know he'd received her message loud and clear. He went back to evading Shadow Demons as he blasted them to smithereens, and Vi took off toward the castle.

**********

INSIDE MORDRU'S CASTLE

ROLL CALL
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: reserve Legionnaire; hyper-stimulated plant growth
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Kid Quantum aka Jazmin Cullen: Legion Academy student; quantum field manipulation
Mysa Nal: former Legionnaire

Dream Girl's last-minute vision had given Chlorophyll Kid just enough warning to grow defensive barriers of wood in front of them all when Glorith released her explosive assault against Mordru. The wood had still shattered against her power, and though Ral's armour gave him an extra level of defence the girls were punctured all over with rough splinters. Still, Ral realised as he saw the damage that had been wrought to the stone structure of the castle itself that it could have been a lot worse if he'd not acted in time.

"I can pull those splinters out," Chlorophyll Kid advised as they retreated from the duelling magicians, "But it's going to hurt."

"It already hurts," Dream Girl grimaced. "Just do it, Ral."

"Okay, just...just hold still." He was glad for the thick bark covering his face, it meant that none of them saw him wince as he commanded the dozens of wooden fragments embedded in their flesh to pull themselves right back out again. Nura, Mysa and Jazmin all released short gasps or grunted as they felt their numerous tiny wounds opened up again.

"At least...at least we have a moment to recover while those two maniacs are busy trying to murder one another," Dream Girl sat against a wall watching Mordru and Glorith flinging raw magical energy at one another. "They might bring this whole place down around us the way they're going though...Jazmin, can you put them in a stasis field?"

"I've been trying," Kid Quantum frowned. "I think all the magic's disrupting my power. They're not both maniacs though, or at least Glorith wasn't until whatever your sister did to her...if that's even her." The young girl turned on Mysa. "What did you do to my friend? Is that Glorith??"

Before Mysa could frame an answer, vines suddenly began crawling across the floor toward them. "Chlorophyll Kid??" Mysa pulled her foot back from a grabby green tendril.

"It's not me," Ral replied. "It must be..." He peered across at the dark-skinned young woman Glorith had brought forth. She'd been standing as close to Glorith as any of them but she'd been completely unharmed by the sorceress's initial attack and she'd now made a retreat from the warring mages herself. Chlorophyll Kid commanded the encroaching plant life to leave Dream Girl, Kid Quantum and Mysa alone and he stomped over to the plant-haired stranger. "Hey! Who are you? What have you done with Ivy and why do you have her powers?"

"What have I done with..." The woman repeated, mocking him. "Who do you think I am, you fool?"

"I know you're not my daughter!" Ral returned angrily.

"Your daughter?" The young woman raised an eyebrow. "Seven Hells...no, I'm not your daughter. You took care of that when you sent me into the timestream, Chlorophyll Kid." While her hastily created plant life crawled through the castle, the girl gestured at Chlorophyll Kid and a giant carnivorous blossom attempted to swallow him whole.

"What are you talking about?" Ral grew a multitude of spearing points out of a thick winding branch like some botanical morningstar and thrust it into the attacking plant's wide open receptacle to jam it open. "I've never met you before in my life!"

"Oh please...you stole me from my mother, you had Saturn Girl brainwash me to care for you, and then when I was still a baby you discarded me like I was so much trash!" The girl had thorny vines suspend Chlorophyll Kid above the floor until he manifested blades from his armour to shred them to ribbons. "If my mistress Glorith hadn't taken me under her wing, I'd have died before my second birthday!"

"What the sprock are you talking about?!" Chlorophyll Kid repeated, co-opting some of the stronger vines growing beneath the girl to bind her firmly. "I don't even know who your mistress is! The only Glorith I know is a shy kid at Legion Academy, and that woman over there took her place and then she stole my daughter!!"

Focused as she was on Ral, the young woman couldn't spare the concentration to target Nura and the others directly but her plants were still roaming wildly of their own volition throughout the castle and beyond. She locked eyes with Ral now through the slits in his faceplate and with no effort at all she transformed all of the vines holding her into long-stemmed dandelions which exploded into a cloud of white puff as she pulled herself free of them.

She stepped closer to Ral, using her own mastery of plant life to render his armour completely immobile. "Glorith told me you'd try to sway me with your lies, Chlorophyll Kid...but I am the child you abducted from our homeworld, the same child that you and Comet Queen decided to use to create some perverse family. My mistress told me how you cast me into the timestream because you were scared of my power, but she wasn't afraid of me. She nurtured me, she strengthened my link with the Green, she was there for me through all the horrors of that wasteland you abandoned me to. I'm not your daughter because you were never a father to me, Ral Benem!"

They were only inches apart now, and without being able to move his head Ral had no choice but to examine the deep brown eyes narrowed in rage before him. The way her brows came together in her anger, so much like he'd seen in his own child when she was in the throes of some tantrum or overwhelmed with fear...and this younger woman was more powerful than him, undeniably so. He was putting everything he had into breaking her hold on his armour but it was accomplishing nothing. She'd called plant life from nowhere, transformed it as easily as imagining it. For the first time since he'd been baptised the Protector of the Avatar of the Green, Ral Benem stuttered.

"I-Ivy..?"

"You don't get to call me that," the young woman retorted viciously. "That name is reserved for the woman who raised me. My enemies call me Verdant."

Then she placed a hand against his armour, and the last thing Ral Benem felt before his breath left him in an agonised cry was a violent piercing pain in his chest.

**********

A few floors down, Nightstone's power had turned a slab of the castle's bluestone into a makeshift elevator. She and Otaki were rapidly descending, Nightstone opening and sealing up each floor as they passed through. "Last stop, don't forget to leave us a Social Star rating!" the young geokinetic joked nervously as they found the castle's lowest level. "Give me a second to rest and I'll open us a tunnel to get us the sprock away from this nightmare."

"Away..? No! We can't leave, Nightstone!" Otaki protested. "When that blonde woman appeared, Mordru finally let his guard down! I got into his mind! There are only three things he's really frightened of, and two of them are already up there! I came down here with you so we could fetch the third! Surely with all three together--"

"Are you insane?!" Nightstone verbally attacked her. "There's no version of this story where we're the heroes, Otaki! We released that psychopath from the prison the Legion put him in, we broke that Black Osiris guy out of jail, and now Mordru's torturing half the Legion of Superheroes and Black Osiris is killing everybody else on this planet!"

"But we can--" Otaki began.

"Don't you think we've done enough??" Nightstone exploded. "I saw my chance to run as soon as that woman and Mordru faced off and I took it! That's how you survive, Otaki! I wasn't gonna leave you up there to get yourself killed but I'm not a hero! You're not a hero! We're just two stupid kids who did probably the stupidest thing any kids have ever done, and we just keep digging ourselves deeper into this mess with every step! The Legion of Superheroes didn't want either of us and they're here now, let them deal with it! I'm getting out of here before that creep turns me into a rock garden or something, are you coming or not?"

"You...you're right." Otaki hugged herself, unable to meet Nightstone's judgemental glare. "We..I...have let my fear ruin my choices and all it's brought is suffering, but I don't want to do that anymore. I...I need to make amends for what I've done, Nightstone." She looked at her now, her soft features imploring. "I'm sorry, I can't leave."

"Yeah." Nightstone shook her head in disbelief, turned away and tore a hole into the earth at their feet. "I'm sorry too." And then she was gone.

**********

Back upstairs, Violet had just entered the gap in the wall she'd spotted earlier and when she saw the source of the red glow her heart dropped. Growing to a height of just over five inches, she hovered before Sun Boy's incandescent face. "Grife, Dirk...what's he done to you?"

"..uh..?" Dazed from exhaustion, Dirk Morgna couldn't even lift his head. His eyes instead rolled wearily until he saw Shrinking Violet floating there. "Vi..? Vi, wha'you doing? You gotta get outta here. Mordru..."

"I'm here to rescue you from Mordru, you dope!" Vi hissed. A long time ago she'd had a very brief fling with Sun Boy, and neither of them regretted that it had come to an end but she still had enough affection for him that it was heartbreaking to see him like this. "Let me see how you're strung up here."

Whoever was fighting Mordru was clearly just beyond Sun Boy's cell, and with all the ruckus they were making Violet wasn't all that confident she'd have long to act before the whole building collapsed. She backed away from Sun Boy, already drenched in sweat from the amount of heat he was generating. Even when she wasn't looking directly at him, the crimson light was almost blinding but she eventually made out the ropes tied to his wrists and his ankles, suspending him spread-eagled from hooks in the walls.

The sounds of Mordru fighting had masked any other noise till now, but Violet suddenly realised there was another woman in here with Dirk from her pained moans. Curious, the tiny Legionnaire got enough distance from Sun Boy that she could see beyond him and was horrified to see Shadow Lass and Supergirl huddled in separate corners of the cell. Laurel wasn't moving at all, and Tasmia was only barely hanging on as far as Vi could see. Both women looked as though they'd been subjected to days of baking heat.

"Dirk...Dirk, just hang in there," Vi whispered. "Mordru's trapped Laurel and Shadow Lass in here with you, your red solar radiation is killing them both. I need to--"

"...Violet?" Shadow Lass croaked, barely able to form words. "Is..is that you?"

"It is." Vi zipped across the cell to meet Shadow Lass face to face. Reasoning that Mordru was clearly too busy to even notice she was here, Vi grew to full size so she could at least provide some shade against Sun Boy's radiance. "Mon-El's here too, Shadow Lass. Don't be scared, we'll get you out of here."

"No..." With supreme effort, Tasmia Mallor lolled her head forward. "No," she repeated more firmly. "Free...free Sun Boy first..."

"Shadow Lass, I'm only worn out!" Sun Boy found the strength to protest. "You and Laurel are dying...I'm killing you both..." He trailed off into a traumatised whimper.

"Sun Boy...Violet..listen to me." Though each syllable was a struggle, it was delivered with a steely resolve that the Legionnaires weren't accustomed to hearing from Shadow Lass. "There are...there are Shadow Demons out there. I can sense them...those beasts nearly murdered Blok once, none of you...none of you--" Too parched to continue, she had a coughing fit which lasted a few seconds then fell silent once more.

Shrinking Violet had heard enough. Shady would last here long enough for Vi to come back for her, but she had no idea how close to death Laurel was. She turned back to see how big the crack was that she'd entered through, and whether it was large enough for her to carry Supergirl and Shadow Lass back out again. Sun Boy was blazing so insanely brightly though that Vi couldn't even see the wall beyond him.

"...Salu, you sprocking moron..." she chastised herself as she finally understood what Shadow Lass had been trying to tell them. Vi picked up a jagged rock from the debris on the floor and hoped that Sun Boy's bonds were no stronger than ordinary rope aside from their obvious enchantment against heat. "Dirk! I'm cutting you free," Vi warned him. "Use your flight ring so you don't crack your head open on the floor!"

"No...no, Vi..."

She'd never heard Sun Boy sound so weak, it was unnerving. "Dirk, just shut up and listen to me. I know you're killing Shadow Lass and Supergirl, they both know it. I'm guessing Mordru stuck you on high beam specifically to take advantage of their vulnerabilities against light. But Dirk...there are sprock knows how many Shadow Demons out there slaughtering more of our friends, and what's more vulnerable to bright light than a shadow?"

Sun Boy fell silent for a moment, then when he spoke again there was finally some hint of the Dirk Morgna that Violet recognised.

"...Cut me free."

It was taking too long for Vi to cut the ropes at her normal size, so she shrank down to better be able to rend each individual fibre until the entire rope was shredded. When she finally cut through the final restraint, she grew back to her full 5'6" just in time to see Sun Boy propel himself roaring through the hole in the outer wall that Vi had used herself. It wasn't quite big enough for Sun Boy, but he'd already surrounded himself in a highly contained plasma sheath which burned hot enough to melt the stone as he passed within centimetres of it.

Astonished, Vi watched along with every hero fighting for their lives outside on the castle grounds as Sun Boy flew above the castle like a human fireball. Releasing all of the physical, psychological and emotional anguish that Mordru had subjected him to in one animalistic cry, he turned the night sky into red-hued day and every Shadow Demon in sight evaporated like so much ash on the breeze. Exhausted by his herculean effort Sun Boy passed out at last. Though he was no longer illuminating the whole area, he still possessed a lava glow.

Sun Boy's flight ring had finally malfunctioned from the extreme prolonged heat but Ultra Boy flew upwards to catch Dirk before he could fall too far. "I've got you, pal! Can't have you breaking your neck just after you saved all our nasses!"

A limp figure fell past them, and Ultra Boy swore as he realised Mon-El must have been taken out by the red sunburst as well. Of course Mon-El wouldn't have enabled his ring's auto-hover function, the Daxamite probably didn't even know how to. Jo couldn't risk bringing Sun Boy too close to his best friend while Dirk was still glowing like this...Ultra Boy had needed to switch to invulnerability to catch Dirk anyway, he wasn't sure if he was even strong enough right now to safely lower both men to the ground. Against all odds though, Mon-El's descent slowed and stopped. Only just now waking up, he bobbed about in the air as though he were a balloon.

"I can't believe I just saved Mon-El!" The Legionnaires saw Light Lad descend from above. "This one's going in my journal for sure!" The sudden explosion of light paired with a return to darkness had played havoc with the heroes' vision, but now that their eyes were adjusting they saw Star Boy, Infectious Lass, Tellus and Colossal Boy just behind Darvan.

"Tellus!" Gas Girl cried out. "Am I glad to see you...we need your help!"

Tellus descended, immediately sensing the presence of the Seven Deadly Sins inside his teammates. He also noticed that Chameleon Girl had already fallen to the combined assault of the Shadow Demons and Verdant's plants, and Chameleon Boy and Dragonwing weren't far behind them. "Dark entities have poisoned our friends' minds," his voice modulator amplified his explanation for everyone present. "It will take me time and focus to wash them out, however I fear that this unnatural vegetation may hamper my efforts. I can hold the plants back with my telekinesis, but--"

"But it's still a distraction, right?" Infectious Lass accompanied Tellus to the ground. "Don't stretch yourself thin, Tellus. I'll stand guard...after all, plants are as susceptible to infection as any other living being." Drura Sehpt stood before Tellus and the other exhausted Legionnaires and allowed the first tendrils of greenery to make contact with her. They swiftly grew brown and dessicated, and the rot travelled along the vines. Drura's viruses killed them at their source and spread out to every other coiling appendage which branched off from there.

Though Mon-El was still powerless, he was fully alert once more. "Thanks for the assist, Light Lad. I think I can take it from here, but maybe you could take Sun Boy off of Jo's hands? We can't lay Dirk on the ground, he'll start an inferno with the rest of these plants still whipping about everywhere."

"The plants won't be a problem for much longer." Colossal Boy grew almost as tall as the castle itself, scooped up two handfuls of writhing vines and dumped them in the bonfire. "And the sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can--"

A tremendous boom filled the night sky, overpowering even the noise of Mordru and Glorith smashing parts of the castle apart. While most of the Legionnaires were still processing that, a black and gold blur suddenly shot across the light of the bonfire and cracked into Colossal Boy's jaw. Gim tumbled, his fall sending a mild tremor through the earth.

Black Osiris hovered overhead, lording it over everyone below. "Fascinating that you didn't see or hear me coming until it was too late, Daxamite." He cast a glance toward Sun Boy floating alongside Darvan. "I wonder if that might have anything to do with your comrade's cozy red glow?"

Ultra Boy charged Black Osiris without a second thought. There wasn't even a moon in the sky to reflect this world's sunlight so Mon-El was going to be out of commission for the rest of the night; Jo wasn't going to stand by and watch his best friend reduced to a bloody smear.

Super-speed brought Jo within striking distance of Black Osiris, and a quick switch to super-strength sent the villain hurtling through the castle wall. Jo threw a great punch, but it was the only punch that he got to throw. As soon as he'd switched his ultra-energy into invulnerability again, Black Osiris smashed his way back out of the castle and pulled back his fist to strike. Ultra Boy prepared for the punch and as a consequence was totally unprepared when Black Osiris instead gripped Jo's forearm, spun in place, and used his momentum to threw the Legionnaire across the horizon. He turned his sights on Mon-El but before he could launch his assault, the sky lit up once more as Black Osiris was bathed in anti-energy.

"Dawny told me all about you," Wildfire challenged the villain, his bootjets and gauntlets both bleeding energy into the air while Dawnstar descended a few feet behind. "She says you were tough enough to take on Blok. Good. I'm in a foul mood and I need someone to take it out on."

In the middle of the small pit that Wildfire had blasted into the castle grounds, Black Osiris launched himself back up toward Wildfire. "I know who you are too," he sneered. "And once I rupture that containment suit of yours it'll kill everyone here in one fell swoop."

Wildfire directed a double-fisted blast of destructive energy at Black Osiris but it barely even disrupted his flight path. Before Black Osiris had covered half the distance between them though, he bizarrely veered off course and smashed through the the same wall he'd gone through earlier. A significant portion of the castle fell in on top of him, destabilising the rest of the structure even further than Mordru and Glorith had done so far.

"That won't keep him down," King Canary announced as he darted around his colleagues. While they hadn't heard the high-pitched chirps that had affected Black Osiris over the din of everything else, it was clear now to all of them that King Canary's power must have played havoc with the villain's balance.

"Let's see if I can help with that." Star Boy stepped forward and increased the mass of the rubble burying Black Osiris until the entire mass sunk a few feet into the ground.

"You can't," King Canary retorted gruffly. "No offence pal, but that guy's a monster. We need to make him say his magic words before he wipes us all out, it'll make him change back to his whiny unpowered self and then we can go deal with that party upstairs!"

The ground started quaking beneath the feet of the heroes, and a literal whirlwind of movement drilled out of the dirt a few dozen feet back from them all. Black Osiris had tunnelled underneath them and come back out carrying hundreds of tons of loose earth and stone with him in a super-speed vortex. He released his burden over the Legion, and it was like being buried under a spontaneous avalanche. Light Lad and Tellus stopped anyone from being killed, but the bonfire was smothered and most of them were trapped beneath a couple of feet of soil.

Tellus had managed to erect a protective dome around himself, Gas Girl, the students in their midst and the Legionnaires who'd been possessed by the Seven Deadly Sins; Light Lad was hastily trying to excavate everyone else but that left Wildfire and Dawnstar to face Black Osiris alone and nobody was under any illusion how that fight would end.

"Maybe I can sneak over there--" Gas Girl began.

"There's no way you're gonna match his speed moving like a cloud," Dragonwing cut her off. "I've got a better idea but I saw this creep go one on one with Saturn Girl so Tellus is gonna need your help, Amp. You better be up for it!"

"...Up for what?" Ming Sul questioned wearily.

Dragonwing didn't respond but instead bolted forward and exhaled a stream of green flame to intercept Black Osiris. "Hey! Nasshead! You and me have got unfinished business!"

Black Osiris turned to look at the bedraggled teenage girl and chortled. "Are you that eager to join your flame-headed friend, girl? Very well!"

"Is she insane?" Even in cloud form, Gas Girl's horror was plain to see.

Wildfire blasted Black Osiris again but the villain flew straight through the cascade of energy, and Dawnstar moved to scoop Marya to safety. In these close quarters she wasn't certain she could outpace Black Osiris but she was certain Dragonwing would die if she did nothing.

"Do it, Tellus!" Dragonwing screamed. "Make him say it!"

"She is sprocking insane," Amp muttered. The injured girl limped forth and placed a hand on one of Tellus's back pods. Amp was so weak she wasn't sure if this would work without flesh contact, and Tellus instantly felt his mind link with every person on the field as his telepathic power increased dramatically.

For a more insular psyche the sudden influx of thoughts and feelings might prove overwhelming, but in truth Tellus had missed this level of communion with those around him since he'd left Hykraius behind to join the Legion of Superheroes. The initial jolt was jarring, but he acclimatised instantly...and now that he could see the dark undercurrents of Black Osiris's mind as easily as waves at high tide, Tellus knew exactly what he had to do.

Black Osiris kicked up the dirt at Dragonwing's feet as he landed before her. He grabbed the girl by the throat and crushed just hard enough that she couldn't bring her power to bear. Lifting Dragonwing as though she were a child's toy, he met her defiant gaze and opened his mouth to compliment her on her bravery...and for just the merest fraction of a second, Marya revelled in the utter bewilderment she saw cross the villain's face as he heard the words come out of his own mouth.

"Black Adam."

Dawnstar tackled Dragonwing as magic lightning tore the night asunder. As Black Osiris transformed, the girls caught the tail end of the blast and rolled painfully across the grounds. While they clambered groaning to their feet, Khem Fawecki tugged at the tent-like outfit now hanging off his bony body. "Why can't I remember the words?" he demanded. "Why can't I remember the magic words?!"

<I would be loathe to manipulate a sentient mind like this normally,> Tellus effortlessly spoke inside the heroes' heads, <But I have seen the depravities he has already committed and the ones of which he dreams...this man cannot be allowed to wield such power, my friends.>

"You won't get an argument out of me," Wildfire replied out loud, "But let's have a little extra insurance." He socked the middle-aged man with maybe slightly more force than was necessary to drop him, then looked up at what was still remaining of the castle. "Time for round two." Without waiting for the others or even sparing a moment to ensure they were all still in one piece, Wildfire flew up toward the ruckus.

With his increased level of power, Tellus completed the liberation of his mind-controlled allies easily. Amp had finally reached her limit though, and nearly collapsed on the spot as Tellus finished his task. Gas Girl turned solid and helped the younger Lalloran stay on her feet. "Amp, you've done more than your share today. Dragonwing, I want you to watch out for your classmates and everyone else here who needs it. I think Wildfire is going to need backup from those of us who can still fight." Marya was too tired for even a token argument, she simply nodded her head and helped Amp sit on the grass. As she looked out over the man who'd killed her classmate, Dragonwing understood exactly how easy it would be to kill him now and she pondered why that no longer seemed so righteous. As she examined her doubt, she was surprised to feel Tellus's voice in her head once more.

<Black Osiris was not the only mind whose darkness I touched.>

Marya instantly flashed him a startled look, but then she noticed that nobody else was even aware this was happening as they regrouped.

<I felt your intentions, Dragonwing,> Tellus stated plainly. <You wanted Black Osiris powerless because you saw in that path your chance to slay him.> She cast the Hykraian a vindictive glare but before she could frame a response, Tellus continued. <I know your impulse is to overpower any attack before it can manifest but this is not an attack, Marya...because I also know how you see him now. You know that there would be no justice in killing him as he lies helpless before you and you wonder if you betray Fire Lass's memory by feeling this way. When my mind touched all of yours, I saw so clearly what happened back on Mars...in the moments before her death Fire Lass acted not from a desire to harm Black Osiris, but because she wanted to protect Saturn Girl. You have not betrayed her, Marya...the truth is that you honour your friend's sacrifice by choosing compassion over hatred.>

Marya was for once silenced. Normally she'd feel compelled to say something snarky, to deflect...but it was hard to justify that when Tellus had literally swum in her thoughtstream.

<I will keep this between us, Marya.> Some of the other Legionnaires had already taken to the air to confront Mordru, and Tellus now turned to join them.

<But I hope you believe me when I tell you that the fire within you far outshines any darkness.>

**********

The castle was a shambles. Half collapsed as it was with huge chunks taken out of what remained, Shrinking Violet and Dream Girl couldn't even lead the tortured Legionnaires safely out of Mordru's playroom. They had gathered everyone together and moved to the furthest corner of the room however, the closest to something resembling a safe distance that they could manage. Under Dream Girl's direction, Kid Quantum had placed Chlorophyll Kid into stasis until Mwindaji arrived to help him; nobody knew how badly he was hurt within the armour which had become his sarcophagus, but the massive thorn penetrating his chest-plate was not an encouraging sign. Shadow Lass had not really recovered enough to hide the group behind a wall of shadow, but she pushed herself to do so anyway. Unable to see the wounded Legionnaires to be able to target them actively, Verdant had soon given up and focused on protecting herself from becoming collateral damage in Mordru and Glorith's epic struggle.

For her part, Glorith was beginning to realise that her victory against Mordru wasn't going to be as clear cut as she'd assumed. "Seven Hells! Why won't you fall, old man? The Black Witch never gave me this much trouble when she possessed your power!"

"The Black Witch??" Mordru roared. "Even with my power and influence, poor pitiful Mysa was always too soft to act as she should have! She would never have done this for example, witch!" He advanced through the sheer onslaught of mystical energy Glorith was bathing him in, gesturing with both hands in such a way as to maintain a conjured scarlet shield before him. Mordru dispelled the shield as he came within arm's reach of Glorith and though her assault ripped half of his tunic away and burned his flesh, he backhanded her with such force that she collapsed to the hard stone floor.

Glorith looked up at him with a mixture of disbelief and rage. It had been a long long time since anybody had dared lay hands upon her, and she refused to abide it. From where she was laid out, she reached out one hand and gripped Mordru's calf. "I wanted your power for myself but I'll forego that desire to see you unmade, cretin!"

Chronal and occult energies surged through her and into Mordru. The ancient sorceror at first only seemed to grow younger beneath her rainbow-hued assault, but then it became clear that was exactly what was happening. Lines disappeared from his aged face, his unkempt white beard darkened until it was a deep brown. All of this happened in the space of a couple of seconds, and Mordru's age was reversing at an accelerating pace. Soon he would be a child, and after that..?

"Your reach exceeds your grasp, woman!" Mordru kicked Glorith's hand free, but where an instant ago he'd looked as ancient as he was, he now seemed for all intents and purposes a robust man no older than 40. "Mordru the Merciless was infantilised once, it was an experience I did not enjoy one iota!" He saw now that more Legionnaires were arriving from outside, and his blood ran hot with fury. "Enough of this!! Wavos Destructos!!"

Mordru spread his arms wide, and like the shockwave of some stellar explosion a crest of pure mystical force surged outwards. It reduced what remained of the castle to a pile of rubble, destroyed Wildfire's containment suit while simultaneously dispersing his anti-energy outwards and away from his teammates, and it took out almost everybody else here still standing. Glorith, who'd been at the epicentre of the blast, lay sprawled in the wreckage several metres away. Her nose was clearly broken with blood covering half her face, and she was out cold and breathing shallow.

The young woman named Verdant had tried her best to protect herself with walls of wood, just as Chlorophyll Kid had done earlier. This blast had been far more intense than the prior one though, and she was in agony as she dragged herself to her hands and knees. Ivy Arcane saw Mordru advancing coolly on Glorith and knew she had to act. Realising she couldn't hurt Mordru directly, she grew a handful of massive tree trunks between herself and the sorceror and she made her way over to Glorith's battered form. Mordru reduced the trees to ash just as Verdant knew that he would, but by then she and Glorith had escaped into the night thanks to her animated plant life.

Mordru looked around at the carnage he'd wrought. Almost everybody was down, but he saw movement in one place.

Until now, a field of pure darkness had kept these women from his sight. Tasmia Mallor had finally given in to her injuries though, and when wisps of darkness faded on the night breeze Mordru saw that the young ebon-skinned girl who'd come here with Mysa had projected some kind of golden bubble around herself, Mysa Nal, Dream Girl and Shrinking Violet. It hadn't been enough to protect them from injury, but it had at least kept them conscious. That girl collapsed now after her heroic effort and the other three women watched as a wickedly grinning Mordru approached.

"Mysa Nal." Mordru spoke calmly, with sinister purpose. "You must have known that I was not done with you. I will never be done with you. I am going to flense the skin from your flesh, then I will flense your soul from your body...and then perhaps for further entertainment, I will make you watch as I do the same to your friends and family. I--"

An angry rumbling cut Mordru off, and the rubble of the castle rattled violently. For the slightest moment fear crossed Mordru's face...but then he saw the source of this interruption, and his fear disappeared behind a veneer of superiority once more.

A pile of dirt and rock spewed out from the ground between Mordru and Mysa like some reverse sinkhole. Nightstone and Otaki rose out of the ground, bringing with them an enormous boulder which both Mordru and Mysa recognised as the Rock of Eternity. The teenage girls couldn't help but be awed by the destruction around them, Legionnaires everywhere only now beginning to rise. Otaki gave the de-aged sorceror a curious glance as her mindsense confirmed her suspicions. "You're so much younger but you...you are Mordru," she marvelled. "But...how?"

"It matters not," Mordru decreed. "Why have you children returned here? As much as your abandonment may have incurred my wrath, your return will not appease it. A betrayal is a betrayal, girls."

Nightstone said nothing, instead wondering if maybe she'd been crazy to let her guilty conscience force her to come back to help Otaki.

"We're here..." Otaki gulped, steeling herself. "We're here to make amends...and we're here because we know what frightens you, Mordru. I saw it in your mind earlier, and I see it now."

Hearing this from behind the Rock of Eternity, Mysa's pulse raced. She didn't know where Otaki was going with this, but she knew there was only one place it could end. She moved to protest, but Otaki continued unaware of what was happening behind her.

"There are only three terrors that grip you, and all of them are here in this...this devastation. That Green Lantern woman," Otaki gestured at the oversized lantern peeking out from beneath the ruined castle. "Mysa Nal...and this rock. And now that we're face to face where my power is strongest, I can see exactly why the Rock of Eternity scares you." Otaki moved closer to the floating rock. "Because whoever touches this rock and says the magic word will possess the power of Sha--"

A deep violet stream of flame crackled forth from Mordru's weaving fingers and enveloped Otaki. She dangled above the ground, her hoarse screams changing to a sick gurgle as Mordru's power cooked her inside out and ensured she was conscious for all of it. "You stupid, stupid child." Mordru drew Otaki closer to him, vastly enjoying the spectacle of her slow and agonising death. "Did you truly believe that Mordru the Merciless would enhance your ridiculous mindsense without leaving myself an open path into what passes for your own mind? I sensed your plots against me, child...I smelled them as surely as I smell the meat charring on your bone right now." He turned his attention from Otaki and glared at Nightstone with sinister purpose; the teenager was frozen in abject horror. "And you, little traitress...you will be next."

"Shazam."

The word was whispered, but whispered with purpose...and even as Mordru realised who had whispered it, a magic lightning bolt cleaved the sky in two. Mordru immediately released Otaki's corpse to the floor with an undignified thump to face this new threat.

The woman who stepped out before the Rock of Eternity still had arcs of magic lightning snaking over her transformed body. She wore yellow boots and bracers, a sash of shiny golden material tied at her waist. The belt kept in place a loose white short-sleeved skirt with gold trim, a dazzling lightning bolt insignia just like Blok's emblazoned across her chest. A white hooded cloak with similarly golden trim hung down from her shoulders, kept in place by golden cord draped around her neck. As the woman pulled the hood down and away from her face, Mordru saw red hair and feminine features he recognised only too well.

"Mysa."

"I suppose it's Mysa Marvel now," she responded defiantly. "That girl you murdered just revealed everything I need to know to bring this to an end, you monster." Any fear Mysa had worn on her face up to this point was completely gone. With complete confidence, she closed on Mordru before he could complete his incantation. "This is for that poor girl," Mysa grimaced as she punched Mordru hard enough to send him flying back a couple of metres. With lightning speed, she closed in on him again as he began to form his shield of protection about himself.

"And this is for Harlack." Grabbing Mordru's fingers in both hands while crimson energy was still coming to bear about him, she bent them backwards until they broke.

"And this," she clasped her hands together and delivered an uppercut that broke his jaw, "This one is for me and for everybody else I love to whom you've brought nothing but misery."

Most of the Legionnaires had come around by now, and they all stared at the transformed Mysa in silent awe. For his part, Mordru internalised his own magical energies to heal himself, starting with his shattered jaw. "....Woman..." he growled, "I meant what I said to that witch earlier...you have the strength to turn me into a red paste, but you are too soft to do it...and for that reason, Mordru will always triumph."

"You won't triumph this time, maniac." Mysa stared him down fearlessly. "Because it's not strength that's going to beat you...it's wisdom." She launched herself at him, but instead of hitting him Mysa grabbed him around the waist and kept flying straight forward. The villainous sorceror hadn't noticed in the heat of battle but she'd been driving him exactly where she wanted him. Mysa charged Mordru backwards until they both slammed into the enormous green lantern poking out of the rubble and then she used the strength of Hercules to hold him there.

**********

The young Legionnaire named Neon was strong-willed, perhaps more than almost anybody else on her team.

But she was no sorceress, and her monumental willpower was an imperfect defence against Mordru's magicks. Ever since he'd trapped her in the form of this green lantern, Zoe Saugin had been inexorably losing grip on her consciousness, on her memory and reason, losing grip on her very sense of self. This whole time she'd struggled as hard as she could against this terrifying ego death, and though she didn't know how or why and she wasn't really even able to conceptualise it consciously, there was something about Mordru's presence which paradoxically strengthened her resolve the more time he spent around her.

For it wasn't solely Mordru's power that had forced Neon into this state...once upon a time, Mordru the Merciless had absorbed the power of an extradimensional heroine named Kinetix, and through her the power of the dead universe from which Kinetix had hailed. It was that same power which had haunted Mysa Nal as the Black Witch, and the same power which had now allowed Mordru to come this far in conquering his old enemies. Something Mordru didn't and couldn't possibly know however was that when he absorbed Kinetix in all her entirety, she'd been a Terrorform; a life form native to her own universe which was perfectly and utterly evolved to adapt to any environment in which she was forced to exist. Ever since Mordru thought he'd wiped her from existence, Kinetix had been inside of him trying instinctively to find any way out...she'd only needed something or someone she recognised as safety, something familiar to latch onto...and what could be more familiar to Kinetix than another universe's version of herself?

Mordru fought back against Mysa Marvel savagely, but without savvy. He was lashing out blindly now, because in his heart of hearts he knew this was over. His bellowing suddenly sounded stifled, choked, and his eyes bulged as his cheeks flushed bright red. Impossibly, long tan fingers emerged from both corners of his mouth and stretched it open to an inhuman degree. The assembled heroes watched in horror and disbelief as a naked woman some seven feet tall literally climbed forth from Mordru's mouth. Vivid red hair erupted from her scalp like the mane of some big cat, and her eyes glowed as green as one of Neon's constructs.

Mordru collapsed in a heaving heap and Kinetix stood tall, free for the first time in a long long time.

"How...did you know..?" the Zoe Saugin of a dead universe looked down at Mysa gratefully.

"I didn't," Mysa admitted. "Not without the wisdom of Solomon to guide me anyway...but it makes perfect sense in hindsight. Mordru was never scared of the Rock of Eternity, he was scared of the wisdom it could impart...and he was only scared of Zoe Saugin -- our Zoe Saugin -- because he knew she could lead to your emancipation. And I think...I think maybe he knew I was the person most likely to put all that together, maybe because I held your power within me once as well. Kinetix, I don't know you but I'm so sorry that I never realised you were alive--"

"Don't." Kinetix placed a hand on Mysa's shoulder. "You couldn't possibly have known, I think even he only realised after proximity to your Zoe started waking me up. He's not going to be a threat for a while now anyway."

Ultra Boy approached the two women, sparing a disgusted glance for Mordru cowering at their feet. "You were with that other Legion, right? Kinetix..? I don't really know what happened here, but I'm Ultra Boy and--"

"I know who you are, Jo." The giant woman chuckled. "We have a Mysa too, though she's not much like yours," she smiled at Mysa. "What happened is your Mysa Marvel here just saved me, and you know...I've still got all that power Mordru craved so much, I think maybe I can use it for good for a change."

Kinetix's eyes flared briefly, and an invisible wave of energy coursed over everybody present. In a flash, everyone's injuries were healed and both Blok and Neon were transformed back to their normal forms. "Whoa..." Neon came around to face her much taller counterpart. "You're...you're me, right? This is so weird."

Blok approached Mysa, genuinely surprised at the transformation that had come over her. "I'll explain later," Mysa touched his chest gently.

Mordru had finally begun to climb to his feet, though he fell into a slump rather anticlimactically at Kinetix's casual command. She turned to Neon with a warm smile. "I am you...or a version of you. But something tells me we've gone down very different paths, other Zoe."

"So what are you going to do now?" Neon asked Kinetix before turning to Ultra Boy. "You think the Legion's ready for two of us, Ultra Boy?"

Kinetix chortled loudly. "I don't know if any Legion's big enough for two of us...but you know, maybe it doesn't have to be. Mordru thought my universe was dead, but if I hold its power inside of me, then it's not really gone, right?"

Mysa immediately realised what Kinetix was planning. "Do you really think..?" she began to ask.

"I do," Kinetix answered. "I've got a lot of power, but you know...that's not always been a good look for me. Maybe there's something else that power could be doing. Something it could be recreating." She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, and again a wave of energy passed over everyone assembled. This time though, it didn't feel like Kinetix was changing anything so much as just releasing the power back where it came from.

Nobody really saw a change take place but when they next looked at this other universe's Zoe Saugin, they didn't see a Terrorform; they saw a young red-headed woman who looked identical to their teammate Neon in a costume composed of various green tones. "My universe was inside me....now it's out there somewhere." Kinetix looked out into the moonless night. "And so are my teammates. I'm going to find them and take us home."

Everyone heard the sound of rubble shifting nearby and went on high alert. A moment later, a gleaming woman's arm appeared. Soon after, somebody who could only be Diamond Damsel pulled herself from the wreckage. The Legion's jaws collectively dropped; this woman didn't look like the Diamond Damsel they'd all worked alongside for so long now. While still made of diamond, she was shorter and much less powerfully built; in short, she looked as though the human form of Iris Jacobs had been recast in diamond.

"What's wrong?" Diamond Damsel asked, slightly defensive. "What are you all looking at? Wait, why the sprock are there two Neons?"

"Changes," Ultra Boy answered, bemused. Jo Nah looked Diamond Damsel up and down then gazed over the two Zoes, Mysa Marvel, Nightstone, and the rest of the Legion; some of whom earlier tonight had been close to death.

"Whole lotta changes, DD."

NEXT: CHANGES!

Hey Raz, sorry I don't have time to give you a full review this evening but I will when I have time.

Just wanted so say that this is superb. Love the opening scene with Dawny and Drake, love the teamwork on display, Dragonwing knowing when to stop, ivy's rationale for her following Glorith, Mordrus fears, Otaki and Nightstone returning, two Zoes will have IB cheering, and my fave fave fave is Mysa Marvel. I wonder why DD is now Diamond Iris and hope Ral survived.

Full review next week when I have time but I wouldn't complain if there was more, more and more before then

Great stuff!

Raz, wow, you exceeded all my expectations!

Dawny and Drake was heart-wrenching. From Drake's refusal to listen to Dawny (after all, it's what he always wanted!), to Dawny's realization and actions... and of course, it would have been different if Drake really HAD been human, but it would have been more cruel to let him live in an illusion... just glad Drake broke free from it. but gosh, they will have a tough convo after... still, Dawny tried, oh she tried...

Way to up the ante with the scene: explosion, vegetation, demons.

Yay Vi!

Thank goodness Nura and Ral acted in time...

oh gosh, what happened to Ivy... great way of revealing it. so, Glorith stole her, let her grow and nurtured her, turned her against Ral and Grava, and THEN brought her back to the present! heart-wrenching...

Nightstone, shades of Terra II, I like her. I really do. "I'm not going to leave you to die, but I'm no hero!" and dear Otaki, still trying to stop Mordru. I love them both. Well done for writing them so well.

Vu had a fling with Dirk eh? nice tidbit

Tasmia, so strong, you write her strength so well. I remember Levitz Tasmia crying a lot (remember COMPUTO's attack on Legion HQ?) I like yours way better!

also like Dirk's fighting spirit! and Tasmia's tactical mind, and Vi catching on!

yes! the second wave of the cavalry!

Mon not even knowing how to activate his flight ring's hover feature, sigh. Hopefully this will teach Mon not to be so reliant on his powers.

yay Drura! It's been a while since she's really rocked in battle, so great scene here. And Tellus driving out the 7 Deadly Sins too. ooh, bit by bit the Legion is regaining ground...

nice switching of powers by Jo! I like him more when he uses his powers intelligently!

as Harbi said, EXCELLENT teamwork vs. Black Osiris!

oh yeah! Marya rocks! you've made me love her... and having Amp boost Tellus to control Black Osiris's (i was gonna call him BO, but yeah...) mind...! brilliant!

also Tellus' speech, and a depowered Black Osiris screaming... lovely, just lovely

Drake flying off to battle is awesome

oooh, nice bit here having Tellus understand Marya... and I love the implication that Marya chose not to kill BO...

but this also means Fire Lass really is dead aw. but I get it, this ups the scale of the story... wow... I wish I were brave enough to kill my darlings like you and Harbi and Omni are!

glad that Verdant/IIvy is a bit out of the fight... go Tasmia go! poor Ral...

One thing I agree with Mordru on, he IS more ruthless. I like that the magical duel is turning into fisticuffs too

whoa. Glorith and Ivy/Verdant escaping, I did not expect that!

whew. go Jazmin... oh man. Vi, Mysa and Nura are the only ones standing...

Mordru sprocking talks too much!

Yay Nightstone! And Otaki!!

Ah, so Zoe and Mysa scare Mordru! I like this. I like how Mordru bullies Mysa because she scares him...

no! Otaki is dead too?

Mysa Marvel! oh my gosh!!

I love the willpower bit about Zoe! and indeed she does have willpower... after all, Reboot Zoe turned away from the Anomaly lol

oh wow, I love how Reboot Zoe's terrorform-ness actually kept her alive!

oh I love it! Zoe knowing Jo, Zoe knowing Mysa (and the crack about Reboot Mysa being different)... and of course, Zoe wanting to use her power for good!

Blok is back!!

and yes, Terrorform Zoe healing everyone and restoring them, AWESOME


wait, what is Blok's normal form... only stone, no Marvel empowerment?

YES YES YES! Reboot Zoe has restored her universe AND is gonna find her team... are you gonna write a crossover? are you, huh? OH YEAH! and she did it so easily (more easily than I had it happen anyway lol!)

man I cannot wait for the aftermath!

Diamond Iris, but in diamond. So was this Zoe's doing? Mordru's?

oh man, I hope Mordru is gonna get it. he's still alive...

and Glorith and Ivy are still out there...

and... like Harbi said, I am ELATED by having two Zoes!

also, Reboot Zoe has her original powers right? So Life Lassy like.

Wow, I can't wait for the aftermath... lots of excellent bits here!