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

Hey Raz, sorry I've fallen behind but it's been the usual end of term madness lately. I'm hoping to gave a spate hour or so on Wednesday so will review then.

Hey Raz, I'm going to try to R+R your latest posts today - fingers crossed I have enough time.

Your Fraterne Electre are pretty hardcore, aren't they? "The storm rolls in our favour" - nice little phrase! And there's nothing quite like a suicide mission to tell you you're following the wrong leader, I feel...

I'm loving that Grava and Ral are visiting Ivy. It would be easy just to focus on the day to day heroics and adventures, but these more intimate moments are golden - even though I know that there's going to be trouble from the Fraterne Electre, it's sweet that they are going to visit their girl.Though you got to love Grava's lack of social understanding sometime - yeah, Darvan tell us how excited you are to be seeing your psychopathic sister that you lmost killed, bet you're really looking forward to that And bless him for feeling responsible for that episode. Ayla's frustration at Mekt is understandable, and as much as she denies it Darvan is riht - if she didn't care she wouldn't be there. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

You've captured the students personalities really well in the scene before Lightning Lad arrives - Thumb War! Haha, I used to play tat with my brothers, and more often than not lose. And the gossip was great too - why can't Enigma Lass say "Dragonwing" or "Variable Lad"? Is it the #v/w# sound? I'm sticking with my idea that she's actually a vampire with a bad mock Transylvanian accent and her fangs will cut her lips if she says those vowels Just think of Checkov in the Star Trek reboot - "Wictor Wictor..." and she would know where Medicus One is so know Dr Gym'll as there are bound to be lots of exotic blood banks there But seriously, I'm really looking forward to finding out what her secret is, I'm sure you'll have something great planned.

And I'm out of time for now I'll try to pop by later for more, more, more

hahahaha what's a cult without a good suicide pact every now and then?

Bless her heart but she'll never be morale officer

Thanks for taking the time Harbi!

The next couple of instalments will be Enigma Lass heavy and as I think I have mentioned before, it will lead to some changes in the dynamics of the Academy generally....and then BAM full steam ahead with the Sisterhood of Sin and their search for the Demon Father!

Hey Raz, fingers crossed I have enough time to finish off reviewing your posts now. I still have IBs to get to as well, so better crack on! Lots of fun waiting for me

Ral's thoughts on getting his seeds taken away and how effective a Cargggite wouldbe where Ivy to go rogue again are very valid. Of course Grava just pounces on Ivy, bless her she's never been one for discretion. And nice show of Trip Boy's differing personalities. Ivy can't read - of course, Glorith wouldn't see the point of teaching her, that was a great bit of detail to include Raz. I'm so used to thinking of Gear as my fanfic version that I always have to re-read yours and IB's versions to get them straight in my mind. Magno ripping a panel off the wall to ride would make a great visual in a comic.

Ayla has always had a ...ahem, stormier realationship wit Mekt than Garth, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you have them interact. And you don't disappoint - loving Ayla's unwillingness to be drawn into, or sympatise with Mekt's dillusions. The Mekt is being held, spreadeagled and tied up to machinary doesn't come across as compassionate incareration tbh, and I do remember one panel with him on TG all strapped into some machine while being psych-evaluated in canon, but I'm still a bit uncomfortable with it - and fully understand that he's a walking talking electric bolt hurling psychopath so needs to be kept from causing too much damage. "You can talk?" Haha! Nicdd of Twine to take the edge off Mekt, she ain't all bad. I'm glad you didn't drag out the fight between Ayla and Mekt, as really it's their different perspectives and personalities are the real battle and you had then covered really well with their conversation. Magno wrapping him up in half a ton of metal - yeah, that'll keep him from causing too much trouble

I always enjoy the team downtime sections and you've done a good job showing so many of your team in the gym doing their thing. Nice game between Iris and Slug, something fun that would benefit them both. "eye house" - haha, why would a slug have a word for face? Wildfire is understandably cross that Blok tld Iris, but he is a bit fiercer than usual. Hopefully he'll think about what DD just told him, how she has been isolated too, and stop being so angry. Though somehow, I'm unsure if that's going to happen...

Love Voids "Don't know, hope not and don't care." response, pragmatic and accurate. I love that Lightning Lady has kept her cape while being incarcerated. And of course, a villain has to gloat! I do love this trope, it's somehow makes it more satisfying when they are inevitably caught again. Poor Grava, she's going to ache wen she gets up from that! Clever of Light Lad to pre-plan where to trap his sister like that. And with Dr Shakespeare to look after him as he recovers it's worked out rather well for him

Gym Bunny Tel needs to look after himself better! And what a great cliffhanger! I do love a good cliffhanger "...and the answer lies with the Khunds." well, that doesn't bode well for the team. Looking forward to whatever you have next for us Raz. More! More! More!

Welcome back for more, Harbi!

I am glad you pointed out that it's uncomfortable seeing Mekt all trussed up like that, that was definitely the feeling I was going for. For all that Takron-Galtos might be a good experience for characters like Sizzle or Ivy who have really been more misdirected than anything else, I wanted to show that it is still a prison as well and that sometimes they err more on the side of incarceration than rehabilitation. It's the kind of thing that Ayla would see as being a necessary precaution, but Darvan would likely have complained if he'd gotten to his sister's cell soon enough to see her in the same state.

Tel does need to look after himself! He's not going to start anytime soon, but he should

And Dreamy is going to be taking some very decisive action to follow up her vision just as soon as I write out the next instalment!

JAQUAA
Brr'nez Ravine, 27th Tier

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
Enigma Lass: ?
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock or barrier
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: co-head; telepathy
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

The staff and students of the Legion Academy had been on Jaquaa for 19 standard hours now, and they had found Variable Lad's homeworld to be a place full of consistently weird wonders. Much of the surface of the nation of Phipa was wildly overgrown swampland and jungle areas, and much of that was strictly off limits to off-worlders without a Science Police escort. Most Jaquaans lived beneath the untamed wilderness, in houses which had been carved into the walls of deep gorges, ravines and other fissures which slashed their way miles down into the planet's crust. Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad had booked them five rooms in a hotel which took up one whole side of L'mo Gorge several miles from here, where Lightning Lad was right now struggling to get his children Graym and Garridan to sample the local cuisine.

Saturn Girl meanwhile was chaperoning her students to Variable Lad's family residence for a dinner that Oaa's mother had insisted on making them as soon as she'd heard the whole class was accompanying her son back home. Local public transport had flown them here beneath the enormous waxy moon that filled a full fifth of the night sky, and they'd taken a huge plexiglass-walled elevator 27 stories down into Brr'nez Ravine to the rock-hewn street where Oaa Tseldor had grown up before he joined the Academy. Plexiglass barriers also lined the street's edge to avoid anyone accidentally falling into the artificially lit ravine, a needful precaution as there were more than 200 more levels below them.

"Variable Lad, does Jaquaa have any buildings above ground or is the whole planet like this?" Key Kid asked as he pressed his face up against the transparent safety barrier to peer into the dizzying depths below.

"Back in the old days it was safer to live underground," Variable Lad explained, stepping aside to let two younger children on a tandem hoverbike pass them by. "What with all the razortooth panthers and megacrocs and such...nowadays we are fortunate to have technology which protects us from our more dangerous wildlife, but I suppose my people just became accustomed to the lifestyle by then. I assure you that you will be grateful for it once the sun rises, the heat on the surface is unbearable!"

Oaa stopped at a door set into the cool rock wall and leaned into a small enclosed panel which breeped politely as it scanned his retina.

The door slid into its recess, and revealed a scene of utter mayhem:

Something crashed noisily in an interior room, and two screeching Jaquaan children half Oaa's size bolted through the entry hallway into another room where more crashing was heard.

A young woman's voice rang out in a frustrated caterwaul. "You brats, I am on the comms!!"

A more ragged woman's voice rang out even louder. "If you boys have broken another bed, I swear to Zihet--"

A sleepy-eyed boy a few years older than Oaa appeared in the hallway nursing a bowl of grey mush covered liberally in hot sauce as he slumped his way through the house. "Oh," he muttered without inflection when he saw Variable Lad standing there expectantly. "Hey, superkid. Nice to see--"

Another shriek filled the air, this one so ear-piercing that it caused some of the students to flinch. A girl in a pink dress pushed past the elder brother who'd just spoken, almost making him upend his food all over the floor. She hurled herself at Oaa, hugging him tight. "Oaa, I'm so glad you're home! You have to come see my superhero archive I'm making of you, come now!"

She started dragging Variable Lad down the hall, and Oaa turned back toward his schoolmates with a little embarassment as he stumbled along. "Uhh..."

Saturn Girl's lips creased into a small smile. She was the only one here who'd met Variable Lad's family already and she'd been prepared for precisely this level of pandemonium. "Go ahead, Oaa...I'm sure your sister and you have a lot to catch up on." Imra turned to address the older brother who'd been standing in the hall this whole time watching everything transpire with a kind of detached amusement. "Ege, would you be a dear and let your mother know we're here?"

There was yet another tremendous crashing noise from somewhere within the house with yet more screaming, and Chemical Kid leaned across to Dragonwing as subtly as he could manage. "I don't think I've ever been so glad to be an only child in my life..."

Wide-eyed, Marya Pai simply nodded.

**********

KHUND SPACE
Near the United Planets border

On the bridge of a run-down old ore transport vehicle named the Fatal Victory, an equally ragged crew of Khundish men settled into the new course that had just been barked at them by their cantankerous ship captain. Captain Kh'ardd had just settled into his seat of command on a tier above the rest of his crew when he smelled something oddly feminine on the air and heard murmurs of surprise from the men around him. Standing up and turning around toward the rear of the bridge, he saw a pall of lavender smoke part to reveal three women standing before him. Two of them were very clearly not Khunds, with their sickly pale flesh; one of them was fit, but too old to serve any purpose in his pleasure cages, and he noticed an odd metallic ring inset into her forehead. The other was much more suitable for use, young and shapely with blond hair and attractive features despite being an alien. But it was the last of the three women who drew Captain Kh'ardd's attention and that of all his crew. The fugitive named Veilmist was infamous throughout the Khund Empire, and every bit as stunning as her holos depicted.

All of the non-essential crew on the bridge immediately prepared for combat, cybernetic weapons humming to life and hands rushing to blades and firearms. They knew better than to overstep Kh'ardd's authority however, and waited tensely for him to give a command.

Stepping down from his throne-like chair, Kh'ardd regarded the women with brazen curiosity. "With this batwitch here I don't need to ask how you all came aboard my vessel, but what insanity leads any of you to think you'll leave alive?"

He'd addressed them in Interlac, assuming that two out of three of them likely wouldn't be able to understand his native tongue. The older woman's eye gleamed wickedly and she answered without hesitation. "Oh, we're not going anywhere, Captain. My name is Vista, my companion is called Nimbus and obviously Veilmist's reputation precedes her. We are the Sisterhood of Sin, and we're here to commandeer your vessel. You see, we have somewhere to be and we don't want Veilmist exhausting herself by teleporting us halfway across your empire to get us there."

Captain Kh'ardd roared with laughter and his crewmates followed suit. "Vista, is it..? You're not as comely as these other two, but I like your fire. Maybe I've got something you can commandeer after all...but first I think we need to teach you your place. Men; non-lethal measures only. And don't ruin the pretty ones' faces."

The crew let loose with whatever weapons they could claim that would jeopardise neither the women's lives nor the bridge's integrity, and all of them were surprised when a translucent blue field extended from the one called Nimbus to form a protective wall of energy around the Sisterhood. Equally as surprising, there was a pink flash of light from the ring in Vista's forehead and three more peculiar women appeared alongside the first trio.

"Star-Bear?" Vista asked smugly, "Remember how I promised you'd get a chance to indulge your love of violence if you joined the Sisterhood..?"

The stocky Russian woman gave a sneering smile and began to say "finally!" although she'd completed her transformation into a bear made of starstuff by the final syllable and it became a monstrous roar.

...and the ore transport vessel drifted along on its way with no external sign at all of the slaughter happening within.

**********

JAQUAA
Brr'nez Ravine, the Tseldor family home

Variable Lad's childhood home was necessarily big to accommodate his enormous family, but even with that in mind it was truly impressive how the family matriarch Neeja Tseldor somehow managed to fit herself, seven children, a son-in-law and a grandson, Saturn Girl and the rest of Oaa's classmates into her dining room. It was a snug fit with all of them at two dinner tables that had been pushed together, but not necessarily an uncomfortable fit. The two tables had been laden with more food than even this many people could possibly eat, and while some of it was a little too daunting for many of the students to risk there had been a wide enough variety of vegetables, sauces and breads to satisfy everybody. As Jaquaans all had a third arm growing out of their back, they used stools and long benches rather than more conventional chairs. It was on this backless furniture that everyone drifted off into their own conversations now that they were stuffed with food.

"Okay, let me see if I remember everyone," Lullabye Lad called Variable Lad's attention, content that there was enough noise that most of the gathering wouldn't hear if he forgot someone's name and embarassed himself. "Your mom obviously..." Waiane next squinted at the heavily pregnant young woman beside Neeja Tseldor and snapped his fingers. "...and your sister Irv! She's the oldest, right? And that's her husband Zev next to her? And I can't believe they've got another kid as well...Zevvie?"

Oaa smiled encouragingly. "You were very close, Waiane! My baby nephew is Zebbu." While Zebbu was too far away in his little floating bassinet to hear his name mentioned, he saw Oaa and Waiane looking at him and cackled as if they were the funniest sight in the galaxy.

"Okay, okay, don't tell me anymore!" Waiane shook his head, laughing himself at the delighted baby. "So then there's your other big sister Niik, your big brother Ege, the little terror twins Uu and Le, and--"

"Me, me, don't forget me!" Oaa's little sister who'd dragged him off earlier and been attached to him like a limpet all evening bounced up and down in her seat.

"I don't think I ever could," Lullabye Lad teased her. "And your little sister Caa...did I get everyone right?"

"Yay!" Caa clapped her hands in approval.

"You did very well," Oaa complimented Waiane. "Although Irv isn't actually our eldest sister, that would be Quaa...unfortunately she couldn't get away from work to join us all."

"S'jn, you haven't eaten!" Oaa's mother hollered across the tables to Sojurn sitting on the far side. Her voice, well accustomed to dealing with a gaggle of rowdy children, cut through the din like a foghorn. "Do you not eat this type of food? I'm sorry luv, I can make you something else if you like!"

"Neeja Tseldor, please do not trouble yourself," Sojurn answered politely, the orange lights on their voice modulator pulsing along as they spoke. "The type of sustenance that I require is beyond your abilities to provide, I fear. I am not in need of nutrition currently however and am content to socialise with my fellow students, our teacher and your family."

"Sojurn, what do you eat?" Key Kid asked more bluntly than intended. "Do you even have a mouth??"

"Miqui!" Amp scolded her fellow Lalloran. "Don't be so rude!"

"Key Kid's curiosity has not offended me," Sojurn replied calmly. "My diet consists of psioplankton; there is not the population here that I was accustomed to in my home dimension, but fortunately I can access dimensional planes where they are bountiful."

While Sojurn discussed the finer points of their anatomy and nutritional needs with Key Kid and Amp, Dragonwing meanwhile had been half-flirting with Oaa's older brother Ege. She was visibly annoyed when Chemical Kid punched her thigh under the table, and she spun on Hadru. "What?" she hissed. "What do you want??"

"Look!" he whispered, facing Marya but flicking his gaze across to Enigma Lass where she sat quietly between Variable Lad and Lullabye Lad. "She waited till we'd all finished so nobody would notice her eating!"

"Well, she's not really eating so much as slurping a bowl of plurplant sauce," Marya screwed up her face. "Which is kinda gross. But so what?" Indeed, Enigma Lass had her hooded face bowed down so close to the table that it wasn't glaringly obvious, but a straw disappeared beneath her hood and it didn't seem that she'd touched any of the solid food on her plate all throughout dinner.

"So there's gotta be a reason she's eating through a straw, right?" Chemical Kid pushed on. "Like maybe she can't eat solid food--?"

Dragonwing abruptly gasped and leaped to her feet, throwing her stool back behind her.

Before Saturn Girl could reprimand her, Dragonwing loudly cleared her throat. "Enigma Lass! Don't panic, but duck under the table! There's a huge spider right behind you, my acid venom will take care of it!"

The others saw it now too, a hairy grey spider with pink markings and eight bright red eyes that crawled up the wall just behind Enigma Lass's head. Its legspan was at least twelve inches across, and most of the students reacted explosively while Oaa's family seemed more baffled than anything else.

"No!!" Variable Lad's little sister Caa screamed as she leaped protectively at the huge creature. "Don't hurt Fluffy!!"

"Dragonwing, don't!" Variable Lad stood as well now, placing himself between his sister and his teammate while the gigantic spider scurried into Caa's arms. "Fluffy is our pet!"

Enigma Lass turned now to see what all the fuss was about, and she cooed appreciatively. "Oh, Fluffy is so beautiful! May I..?"

While Enigma Lass, Variable Lad and his sister doted on the giant spider, Saturn Girl flashed Dragonwing a stern glare which left absolutely no doubt there was going to be a lecture later.

"Mrs Tseldor," Imra spoke up, "You and your family have been wonderfully hospitable but I think it might be time for us to return back to our hotel. I do wish you'd let us help with cleaning up though."

"Don't be stupid!" Variable Lad's mother laughed, an abrupt braying sound. "You've done more than enough teachin' my little Oaa to save the galaxy one day! Isn't that right, my baby Legion boy?"

"Motherrrr..." Variable Lad averted his eyes from his bemused friends.

"Well, it's been an absolutely lovely evening," Saturn Girl continued.

"Oaa, we'll see you with the rest of your family at Dr Gym'll's award presentation later."

**********

IN ORBIT AROUND MARS
The Legion of Superheroes mobile base

ROLL CALL
Blok: team leader; magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Chameleon Boy aka Reep Daggle: Durlan shapeshifter
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Cosmic Boy aka Rokk Krinn: magnetism
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar tracking
Diamond Damsel aka Iris Jacobs: living diamond
Dogstar aka Rufus Remulus: Daxamite-level flight, strength, speed, durability, stamina, senses; solar vision
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation
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
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Night Girl aka Lydda Jath Krinn: photosensitive super-strength
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation
Sheranee Shah: enhanced physical characteristics, night vision, solar-fuelled starbolts, tactile language absorption, animal empathy
Shrinking Violet aka Salu Digby: shrinking
Sizzle aka Teela Spuunvll: energy conversion
Slug aka Kes Mtsto: inertron form and projectiles
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute to living stone
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: invulnerability
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength and super-agility
Transposition Lad aka Kappa Snarrk: teleportational transposition
Truth Girl aka Oliv Hollowai: truth sense, wields the Golden Perfect
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: deputy leader; ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

When Evolvo Lad had designed the Legion's newest headquarters, he'd made an improvement to their main meeting room which bore immediate results and would continue to serve the team well as it grew even larger in the future. Rather than having the Legionnaires crowd around a table, he instead installed retractable modular seating which emerged from the walls in as many tiers as necessary. Right now, most of the team members present could fit into the lowest tier, and King Canary perched on a higher second tier along with some of the longtime Legion couples; Cosmic Boy and Night Girl, Mon-El and Shadow Lass, and Dream Girl and Star Boy. Each seat had its own console, almost giving the meeting room the appearance of a university lecture hall. The consoles allowed each Legionnaire present to see the status of their absent teammates whether they might be helping with relief efforts on Mardru and Earth, on their way back from Takron-Galtos, assisting authorities on various solo missions or on leave.

In the centre of the room, Blok sat in a floating pod originally constructed by Brainiac 5 when he'd been a part of the active roster. Highly advanced predictive software allowed the pod to anticipate likely activity in the room and silently guided the team's leader to that area of the room as necessary. Right now, that meant the stone giant was hovering between Dream Girl and a large holosceen dividing the centre of the room which displayed Marte Allon's larger than life features.

"What do you mean, the Khunds won't allow us into their space?" Dream Girl asked the team's Manager of Diplomacy. Nura wasn't making any effort at all to hide the annoyance in her voice. "Did you tell them I had a vision that something horrible is going to happen on one of their worlds?"

"I assure you I tried my best, Dream Girl." Marte's tone was business-like; she'd spent enough years managing difficult students in her years as an educator that Dream Girl's temper didn't faze her in the slightest. "And the Khund Ambassador has assured me that their own team the Demon's Claw will investigate--"

"The Demon's Claw??" Dream Girl scoffed. "Oh well, that's just wonderful...there's no way that collection of misfits and psychopaths is going to make things any worse!"

"Dream Girl, please try to see this from the Khunds' perspective. All we can tell them is that a completely undefined nightmare is going to take place on some lifeless hunk of rock named H'crides...it's not realistic to expect that they would allow a couple dozen United Planets superheroes carte blanche to pursue a mysterious threat within their territory based solely on that. Frankly, I had a fight on my hands just to get them to commit to having the Demon's Claw investigate at all. Perhaps if you could give me anything more to take to them--"

"I can't!" Nura exploded, standing up and leaning on her console. "Don't you think I would if I could, Marte? But you know my power, you know my record as a Legionnaire--"

"Thank you, Marte." Blok swivelled the pod up and around so that his huge frame obscured Dream Girl from Marte's view entirely. "As ever, the Legion of Superheroes appreciate your good efforts and we thank you for the update regarding Dream Girl's request. We will not take any more of your time."

Marte gave a brief goodbye and her image blinked out.

Sitting almost directly across the room from Dream Girl, Elastic Lad stretched his neck to whisper into Chameleon Boy's ear. "Gosh, Dream Girl sure seems sore!" Jams-Ols 5 exclaimed, not realising that even if nobody else could hear him it couldn't have been more visibly obvious that he was talking to Cham.

"Dream Girl's lucky that Colossal Boy wasn't here to hear her talk to his mother like that," Cham muttered back. "We'd be having shouting matches on both sides of the room by now."

"Nura, why don't you sit down?" Star Boy touched his lover's arm gently.

"I absolutely will not!" Dream Girl pulled away from him. "Blok, I don't care if she's not going to do her job! We need to send a team, do you understand me?"

In the opposite corner of the large space, Supergirl rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "Honestly she's always been like this," Laurel confided to Truth Girl on her left hand side. "She thinks her power entitles her to just do whatever she wants whenever she wants, it's ridiculous."

"I don't know, Supergirl..." Truth Girl wore a look of concern. "Dream Girl certainly considers that what she's saying is the truth, maybe we should look into this? I mean it couldn't hurt just to look into it, could it..?"

"Forgive my interrupting," Dogstar leaned across Truth Girl's other side to join the conversation. "I couldn't help but overhearing...it isn't simply a matter of whether Dream Girl is right or wrong unfortunately. I have been reading our mission logs, and Dream Girl's confidence in her abilities certainly seems very well-earned. Diplomacy is a battle we can't win with powers however. If the Khunds don't want us operating within their borders, we could ruin the fragile relationship that we already have with them if we cross into their space. It took my own homeworld many years of hard work before there was enough mutual trust for us to join the United Planets, I very much understand the Khunds' desire to deal with the matter internally."

Ultra Boy was pleasantly surprised as he watched Blok and Dream Girl going back and forth. While Jo had no real desire to run the team, he'd secretly been happy to have been voted the deputy leader so that he could be ready to jump in and help when Blok inevitably flailed. As much as Tinya had convinced Jo that Blok could be a capable leader, Ultra Boy still struggled not to see him as the well-intentioned but dull-witted oaf he'd been for so long. Right now though, Blok was managing his first incident of team friction as well as anyone possibly could.

"Dream Girl, I do understand your position," Blok stated firmly. "And I do not doubt your abilities. I have known you long enough now to know that your power has never failed us. In this instance however, your power is not the deciding factor in what action we may take. If we were to enter Khund space when we have explicitly been told not to do so, we could spark an interstellar war. I trust that Marte did everything in her power to achieve the result we wanted; that she did not succeed is not a reflection on her commitment to her duties."

"Blok--"

"I would also like to remind you that Marte Allon is a valued member of our support staff, and she deserves the same respect as any other member of this team. Marte may not fight alongside us physically, but she does fight for us and she does so with skill and passion." Blok locked eyes with Dream Girl as he spoke...when he finished, Nura opened her mouth to protest before she thought better of it and sat back in her seat fuming.

Dream Girl took a deep breath, and when she released it she found herself much calmer. "So we can't go barging in across their borders...what if I were to accompany Chameleon Boy and the rest of the Espionage Squad on a secret mission then? The Khunds don't even need to know we're there, but I'm telling you, Blok...we need to go. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I know it's bad. It's unspeakably bad."

"You can't be serious!" Chameleon Boy shot back, the rest of the older Legionnaires wearing expressions somewhere between amusement and disbelief at Dream Girl's suggestion. "I commanded a mission to the Khund Empire once, do you remember how that panned out? I'm not in a hurry to spend more time on Takron-Galtos, Dream Girl."

"This is different!" Dream Girl persisted. "Cham, please just think about it--"

Sheranee raised a hand, her bangles tinkling together gently as they slipped down her forearm. "Umm, everyone? Sorry, I know I haven't been in the Legion very long but...my mom's a UP Ambassador and even just with what I've picked up from her by osmosis....I really don't think it would be a good idea to pursue this, even covertly."

"Especially covertly," Shrinking Violet added brusquely. "We're the Legion of Superheroes, not the Oversight Watch. We can't just decide we're above the law when it suits us."

"Not that I think we should make a habit of it," Diamond Damsel volunteered, "But since you brought them up, Violet....what if we passed this one on to the Oversight Watch? If we really don't trust the Khunds to be able to deal with whatever Dream Girl saw, the Oversight Watch are much more suited to sneaking in and doing the kind of stuff that we can't be seen doing."

"I don't trust them anymore than I trust the Demon's Claw!" Dream Girl retorted. "No, it has to be us, we're the only ones who have the combined power and experience to deal with the galaxy-class threat I know this is!"

Dragonmage cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Blok..? For what it's worth, I was present when Dream Girl had her premonition and...there was an aura of incredibly dark and powerful magic around her. I didn't recognise it as being any of the sorcerors I've faced in my time with the Legion but I can easily believe that this really is a Legion-class threat..."

Cosmic Boy stood up to respond to Dragonmage, and though nobody could really pinpoint the exact way it came about, soon the whole room was full of people talking over one another. There was one very conspicuous exception; Dawnstar couldn't help but worry as Wildfire simply sat next to her quietly with his arms folded like he'd been doing the whole meeting. It was so unlike Drake Burroughs not to be front and centre at one of the Legion's infamous opinionated intra-team debates, but he'd been so uncommunicative with her lately that Dawnstar didn't even know how to broach the subject with him.

She was still brooding about it when a tremendous boom sounded. Everybody in the room was struck silent, their attention focused on Blok's surprisingly loud clap.

"Thank you," Blok stated simply. "Dream Girl, we have our Manager of Diplomacy's assurance that the Demon's Claw will journey to H'crides in our stead. They are an efficient team, and one who have proven a challenge to us even with their smaller roster. I have confidence that they are equal to the task, and if they are not equal to the task then that may be just what the Khunds need to reconsider their position and call on us for help. But this discussion is over; the Legion of Superheroes have been told to stay out of Khund space, and we will obey. I am afraid that I must insist this is not a topic for debate."

Dream Girl glared at Blok, her eyes filling with angry tears. "Fine."

She twisted at the golden band on her finger, and Star Boy's stomach dropped. "Nura, what are you--"

"Then effective immediately, I resign from the Legion of Superheroes."

Nura Nal removed her flight ring and placed it on her console, then without another word she stormed out of the room.

**********

JAQUAA
Gevaa Ing'zl Memorial Centre
Named after a pioneering Jaquaan oncologist from the 29th Century, the Gevaa Ing'zl Memorial Centre was the administrative centre of Jaquaa's World Medical Council and the place where most of its conferences and other public-facing activities were held. Like Variable Lad's family home and most other Jaquaan buildings it had been constructed within one of the many deep gorges that were a product of tectonic activity millions of years ago; unlike Variable Lad's large but humble home, the Gevaa Ing'zl Centre was an architectural marvel. It was full of enormous open spaces, and it was easy to forget that it was actually nearly a hundred feet underground once one was inside its walls. The most beautiful art hung on the walls, and giant chandeliers reflected splashes of light across the faux-marble surfaces everywhere. The actual auditorium where the presentation was taking place had one whole wall made of reinforced glass, a diverted underground river outside giving the impression that they were actually under the sea.

The award ceremony had been a perfect excuse for Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl to dress up for a change, and they both looked stunning. Garth wore a tailored dusky blue suit with a white cravat and exposed cuffs, and Imra was breathtaking in a long form-fitting mahogany red velvet dress. She wore a pearl choker necklance and matching earrings, and her hair was pulled back into a fishtail bun. The students had rarely ever seen their teachers out of costume at all, and they were all thoroughly impressed. Imra and Garth had also decided that tonight's ceremony could be an educational experience for their children, and Graym and Garridan looked adorable in their own little suits that matched their father's (though in a much lighter shade of blue).

Most of the students all came dressed up as well; Sojurn of course never wore anything aside from their voice modulator, and Enigma Lass seemingly possessed no clothing other than her costume. Dragonwing, Amp, Variable Lad and Key Kid all looked quite smart though, and Chemical Kid and Lullabye Lad particularly had taken the opportunity to step out in style; Hadru and Waiane were both wearing suits which wouldn't have looked out of place on a catwalk at Athram Fashion Week.

Just before the presentation began they'd all had a chance to catch up with Variable Lad and his family, minus the twins Uu and Le who had far too much energy between them to sit still through the whole ceremony and had stayed home with their pregnant sister Irv, her partner Zev and little Zebbu. The Academy also met Oaa's eccentric aunt Talo; a woman in her 60s who smelled pleasantly of cinnamon and Avalonian cyrlewood, and wore a vibrant flowing dress with multiple long-beaded necklaces...and finally they met the guest of honour himself, Dr Gym'll. Imra and Garth couldn't help but be amused at the open affection Gym'll showed for his sisters and Oaa when he'd always been such a cranky old snapdragon in his dealings with the Legion. Talo fell in love with Graym and Garridan immediately, and though Dr Gym'll grumbled about how difficult it had been to assist with Graym's birth it was clear that the old man was happy to see both of Garth and Imra's children happy and healthy.

Though they'd come here in the first place because of Enigma Lass's excitement, now that she was face to face with the great Dr Odeli Gym'll she was far too shy to actually talk to him. She spent the whole time making herself as small as possible behind Sojurn's floating form, and Imra resolved to have a chat to her about it later and maybe try to organise a one on one meeting where she could feel more confident expressing herself to the good doctor.

Then the ceremony got underway, and they'd all filed into their bench seats in the spacious auditorium. Graym and Garridan really had tried to be on their best behaviour, but inevitably they got bored and their boredom turned to frustration; Garth spent most of his time watching them with an eagle eye and hissing at them to behave themselves occasionally when they started to annoy one another too obviously. Imra actually found Gym'll's research quite fascinating, and she and Enigma Lass watched the night unfold with rapt attention. Sojurn of course was as inscrutable as ever, and the rest of the students honestly didn't last all that much longer than the Ranzz twins before they started growing visibly restless.

45 minutes later, they'd finally come around to calling Dr Gym'll up on stage. After a polite applause, Gym'll spoke gruffly but eloquently about how D'nlos syndrome had been a scourge on Jaquaa since it had been identified and named 313 years ago. He described how it manifested in early childhood, stopped its sufferers from being able to process food into energy, and left a horrifyingly large proportion of Jaquaans emaciated and dead before they'd even reached their teens. Early on in his medical career, Gym'll had specialised in genetic therapies, and he'd taken on D'nlos syndrome with all the fire and passion of youth. His professional life had taken him in other directions and eventually he wound up on Medicus One. Gym'll had always remembered D'nlos syndrome though, and in his spare time he had worked tirelessly toward finding a treatment for it that could at least prolong lives if not save them. Gym'll described how an unrelated case at Medicus One brought with it an epiphany that could be applied to his work on D'nlos syndrome, and after two local years of testing, he'd been equally proud and relieved to be able to announce that he'd found a cure.

The audience clapped again, and a representative from the World Medical Council approached the lectern to give Gym'll his award. While he was still crossing the stage however, a Jaquaan man stood up and walked down to the front of the room. He at first drew stares and puzzled mutterings, but when a security droid approached him and the man pressed a button on a handheld device which shut the droid down the room was filled with shocked gasps.

"Gym'll!" the man bellowed, tearing open his overcoat to reveal chemical explosives strapped to his chest. "Do you remember me, murderer?"

The man who'd spent the past several years of his career giving attitude to actual superheroes wasn't going to be cowed by a man with a bomb. "As a matter of fact I don't remember you," Gym'll shot back. "What is this murderer nonsense? I have devoted my life to healing people!"

Meanwhile, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl had moved into action. "Kids," Saturn Girl turned to Graym and Garridan. "Listen to me very carefully. Mommy and Daddy will make sure everything turns out okay, but if it starts getting rough in here I want you to do what Sojurn says. Do you understand me?"

"But Mom--" Graym began.

"Tell me you understand," Imra interrupted. They both knew that tone she'd taken and knew there was no point arguing; the twins nodded in defeat. Saturn Girl had already telepathically told Sojurn to get her boys out of here if trouble started, and while she'd been talking to her sons Garth had instructed the students that this wasn't a time for them to be playing hero.

"You freeze his mind for a moment, I'l go down and disarm him," Lightning Lad proposed as he and Saturn Girl made their way down toward him as quietly as possible.

"Garth, this whole room's on the verge of panic," Imra responded. "If they try to rush the exits people could get seriously hurt. I'm dampening down their fear responses, but I can't do that and use my power on him at the same time."

"And I can't zap him," Garth frowned. "I'll likely just set that bomb off myself."

"Um, Saturn Girl? Lightning Lad?" Lullabye Lad had left his seat to follow his teachers. "I know you told us all to stay put, but come on...my power is perfect for ending this without any casualties."

Garth and Imra exhanged an intense glance, communicating something between them without the need for words. "Very well," Saturn Girl agreed. "But don't grandstand, Waiane. These people can't afford any errors on our part." The teenager nodded, and after Garth gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder he tiptoed his way down the stairs toward the front stage with Garth and Imra right behind him.

At the front of the auditorium, Gym'll and the man who'd now named himself Miio Ch'ndri were still in conversation. "Maybe you don't remember me," Miio ranted, "But I bet you'll remember my daughter Brii."

"Brii..." Gym'll cast his mind back. "Brii Ch'ndri...oh, Brii Ch'ndri! That poor girl! Miio, I know what this is now and--"

"No! Shut up!" Miio's finger hovered over the detonator. "You don't get to talk! My little baby had D'nlos and you could have saved her but you let her die! And now you're up here getting an award?? You should be in prison!"

"Mr Ch'ndri, I am deeply sorry for your loss," Dr Gym'll spoke more compassionately now, "But you must believe me, I did everything in my power to help that poor child. When she passed I promised myself I would lose no more innocents to this awful condition, and I redoubled my efforts. I wish I could have saved your child, Mr Ch'ndri, I truly do...but I just did not know then what I know now."

"I don't care!" Miio raged. "I don't care anymore if you're telling the truth or not...my baby's gone and nothing is going to bring her back but I can make you hurt like I do! I can...I can..." He wavered on his feet for a second, then his eyes rolled back in his head and Miio Ch'ndri slumped on the floor.

Lullabye Lad stood behind the sleeping man, eyes on the detonator that had bounced harmlessly across the floor. "Oh..oh wow, that was intense."

Before Dr Gym'll could respond, the room was suddenly wracked with explosions. The chaos was too much, and Saturn Girl lost control of the crowd. People started screaming and racing toward the exits, only to find that they were all locked from the outside. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl activated the electrostatic charges that switched them into their costumes, and the students all followed suit.

"It wasn't my fault, I swear!" Lullabye Lad blurted out. "He didn't press the detonator, really!"

"The boy is correct," Gym'll joined them. "I don't believe that sad man planned on leaving here tonight, I suspect he set these explosives up in advance in case he didn't get a chance to complete the job himself."

"I think you're right," Saturn Girl looked around the room. "But right now that doesn't matter. We need to get these people out of here before this whole place comes down."

An orange flash of light exploded from where Sojurn had been moments ago, and the Ranzzes were quietly glad that their children would at least be safe. But parts of the ceiling had collapsed and buried people, fires had broken out in multiple places and the room was filling with smoke...and on top of that, from the way people were pounding on the exit doors, it seemed that their would-be suicide bomber had also planned on nobody getting out of here alive. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, a long diagonal crack extended from one side of the window separating them from freezing tons of water outside.

"Variable Lad, do you have a form that can put out these fires or get people out of here?" Lightning Lad asked.

"I can do that!" Chemical Kid jumped in. "The fires, I mean! Combustion is just a chemical reaction, right? If I prevent that..."

"And I can get those doors open," Key Kid added. "I umm...might need some help getting through those people though."

"Come with me, Miqui." Saturn Girl reached for Key Kid's hand. "I can't use my power against the whole crowd when they're this worked up, but I'm sure I can make a path to the door for you easily enough."

"My sisters! My nephew Ege and my nieces!" Dr Gym'll exclaimed anxiously. "Lightning Lad, I can't see them anywhere!"

"Sojurn took them to safety with Graym and Garridan," Dragonwing explained. "But Lightning Lad, what do the rest of us do? I hate this, my powers are no good for this kind of situation!"

"I hear you, Marya." Garth replied. "Lightning's not much use here either, and I'm pretty sure that window is getting more cracks as we speak." A second flash of orange light appeared, and they all saw that Sojurn had returned. Garth snapped his fingers. "Amp! Go work with Sojurn, boost their power so you can get as many people out of here as quickly as possible. Everyone else, do what you can to help people. Maybe our powers can't help people, that doesn't mean that we can't. Dr Gym'll, could you please find me something I can use to restrain this gentleman? I'm going to remove his bomb but I'm sure he'll wake up soon enough with all this ruckus going on." Gym'll's instinct was to bark back something about not being a superhero, but he realised this wasn't the time for that and started searching.

As everyone else split up to assist where they could, Enigma Lass heard a crumbling sound and saw another section of the roof collapse. She wasn't scared of dying, but if she died down here...how long would it take them to recover her body? She shuddered, and pushed the thought out of her mind. Her own comfort was the last thing she should be worrying about right now. Cracks were extending across the ceiling in the same area the roof had just fallen in, and Enigma Lass resolved to steer clear of there; that whole section would be likely to come down soon. As soon as she'd had that thought, a piercing scream from the collapsed rubble caught her attention. Forgetting everything else, Enigma Lass ran over there and saw a young Jaquaan woman struggling to clamber free from beneath the caved in roof. "Please!" the woman cried. "You have to help me, I don't want to die!"

"And you will not," Enigma Lass tried to assure her. "But you will need to comply with me to be safe again. Can you do that?"

Under different circumstances the small faceless hooded creature might have terrified the young woman, but she was already terrified quite enough. She nodded furiously. "Yes, yes! Anything, just please help!"

"Let me think..." Enigma Lass stepped back and examined the scene, her hand on her chin. Another crack sounded above and a rain of dust fell upon them. "I need you to help me lift this plate that is upon you, when I say." Enigma Lass squatted down by the woman, getting a good grip on the underside of the plasteel panel that obscured one of the woman's legs. The way it had fallen upon her, it looked like it had crushed her left leg from just below the knee. Hopefully there was no permanent damage, but even if there was Enigma Lass took solace knowing that it could have been much worse. "One...two...th -- go! Now!" The Jaquaan woman had sat up as best she could, bracing herself against the ground with her third arm. At Enigma Lass's command, she used her other two arms to lift the plate. Enigma Lass herself put all of the strength into it that her little body could muster, and together they managed to lift it just enough that the woman could shuffle her way out. Still, she was too slow and Enigma Lass wasn't going to be able to hold this for long.

More dust rained down upon them. "Go!" Enigma Lass cried out. "Please make haste!"

The woman began crying again. "I can't, I can't--"

Suddenly, two arms were under the Jaquan woman's own, and Variable Lad dragged her away from there as quickly as he could. "I apologise for the rough handling, Miss! Enigma Lass, you can release the plate! She is fr--" The rest of Oaa Tseldor's exclamation was lost beneath the sound of several tons of roof finally crumbling, and Enigma Lass was instantly buried.

"No!" Variable Lad screamed, his voice breaking. "Enigma Lass!!"

Oaa's distress bought Dragonwing, Lullabye Lad and Lightning Lad over to his side and they saw that he was almost hysterical with anguish. "Enigma Lass!!" he screamed at the rubble. "Enigma Lass, can you hear me?!"

"Oaa...buddy..." Dragonwing placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's...that's like half a mountain worth of rock, there's no way she could be..." Unable to finish, she choked on her words and looked across to a teary Lullabye Lad.

"Kids..." Lightning Lad said awkwardly, "She...look, she's gonna be okay. I promised not to break her trust so I can't tell you more, but her power will get her through this. Trust me. Right now, there are other people who need us."

"No!" Variable Lad shrugged Dragonwing off violently. "We lost Fire Lass, we're not going to lose her too!" Taken aback by Oaa's uncharacteristic outburst, the others could only watch as the normally placid boy's frame extended. They heard bones snap and muscle shift. His limbs seemed to atrophy, growing smaller and weaker until they were subsumed within the mass of his body which now resembled an earthworm some twelve feet long. His face too was lost in the reformation of his body, and most shocking of all, each individual segment possessed a number of small drooling mouths, rows of teeth visible inside. "An eartheater!" the dozens of mouths of Oaa Tseldor spoke in unison. "An eartheater will help here!"

He writhed upon the rubble, and every one of his mouths started consuming as much material as they could. The display was viscerally unsettling, but they couldn't deny that it was effective. Within only a minute, Variable Lad had eaten his way down through the rubble to reveal the broken form of Enigma Lass beneath. She was laying face down, neither moving nor breathing. Her limbs were pierced by rods of steel and broken glass, her costume was in tatters, and both the costume and Enigma Lass's exposed skin were covered in a thick layer of dust and weirdly greenish coagulated blood.

Variable Lad resumed his normal form. "Enigma Lass! Enigma Lass, please talk to us!"

"Oaa," Dragonwing spoke up again, more assertively this time. "Come on pal, it's too late. Look at her."

They were looking at her, and they all saw something completely unexpected. Enigma Lass's costume was spontaneously knitting itself back together again. It was not a fast process, but it was happening...and then Lullabye Lad gasped in shock as he saw her leg pop itself back into its correct position and her arm slowly pushing out the glass and metal that had penetrated her flesh. Her wounds closed over right before their eyes, and soon enough they heard a low growling moan come forth from what had seconds ago unmistakably been a corpse.

"She's alive!" Oaa cried out. "Did you hear her, she's alive!" He reached down to touch her shoulder and began turning her round to face them.

"No!" a throaty rasp screamed in place of Enigma Lass's normally light girlish voice. "Don't look at me!"

"Oaa, stop!" Lightning Lad cautioned, but Variable Lad was so caught up in his relief that he didn't even hear his teacher.

"You see, Marya?" Variable Lad grinned, turning Enigma Lass all the way around to face them. "You were wrong, she's still--"

Variable Lad's words caught in his throat.

Lullabye Lad's hands flew to cover his mouth in horror and he unwittingly stumbled back a step.

Lightning Lad simply gave an apologetic look to Enigma Lass and a deflated sigh.

Dragonwing was the only one of them to find her voice. "Hoooly....."

Marya stared down at their newest classmate, Enigma Lass's costume still repairing itself and her exposed skin now revealing itself to be a garish yellow color. While her hood was still mostly intact, Enigma Lass's mask had been shredded...and Dragonwing announced the thing they all could see.

"Enigma Lass is a Dominator!!"

**********

yay, more good stuff raz!!

LOL at Garth and Imra bringing their kids on the excursion!! Childcare is a reality!!

aw at Variable Lad's mom insisting on making dinner for the whole class!

wow, you really thought well about the planet. hot surface, dangerous wildlife, living underground. all fascinating!

LOL at V-Lad's siblings! so realistic, esp. the aloof older bro (heh, superkid) and the very eager sis!

heh, oh those Khunds, and their under-estimation of women. very ominous last sentence there...

wow, I am super impressed indeed at V-Lad's mom!

LOL at Dragonwing flirting with big bro Ege!

OMG! that giant spider! good of Dragonwing to notice though, but whew!

whew, I can understand Nura's temper, and I appreciate Marte keeping calm and Blok keeping the peace!

loving the little bits of gossip and the different opinions --- great characterization there, raz! and also Jo's surprise and under-estimation of Blok, which indeed, the Blok of old (before being Shazam-empowered) would not have been my choice for leader at all...

and good of Blok, the way he defended Marte and got Nura to calm down was epic!

Love the discussion that came after, with so many pitching in. and again, great characterization re HOW they did it!

oh WOW! I did not expect Nura to resign like that! but I get it - her vision must have been terrifying. and we all know how true they are! is she going to take matters into her own hands?


heh at Dr. Gym'll and his attitude. Good choice of Garth and Imra to let the twins listen to Sojurn - with his teleportation, Sojurn is agreat choice to watch over them

Loving how the clothes can transform into costumes!

oooog. what a twist, the bombs were pre-set to blow...

good of Lullabye Lad to volunteer, by the way

hah! I called it! Enimga Lass is a Dominator! and is she the Dominator child on that ship that Duplicate Boy II attacked? so her power is to regenerate and resurrect somehow???

I knew I should have put something in there about Garth and Imra bringing the kids as an educational experience, I promise they're not being helicopter parents hahaha

I wrote up this crazy family tree for Variable Lad with little character notes for everyone and some stuff about Jaquaan society and naming conventions that was really WAY more work than necessary considering how quick this adventure was

...but I am thinking I might actually do a little separate mini-story at some stage to explore it more, because it was fun to invent!

I am glad the meeting discussion landed well...with so much happening with the Academy and Sisterhood of Sin at the moment I didn't wanna crowd the Legion out of their own fanfic so I figured it would be a good way to still give them some focus (plus it's always fun writing some spirited team discussion!)

Dream Girl is definitely going to take things into her own hands, and if you thought watching her quit the team was a surprise, wait till you see what she does next!

Good work picking up on Enigma Lass being that Dominator kid! And if you're wondering how much longer you will need to wait to find out more, I will just say that the next instalment is gonna be called Who Is Enigma Lass?

Raz, hi,

I'm loving your Jaquaa! The surface being left wild while the Jaquaans live comfortably beneath is a great idea. Parents struggling to get their kids to eat different foods is a real struggle! I sympathise with Garth. And Oaa's mother wanting to cook a meal for her son and his friends is relatable too The chaos in the family home was really sweet, Oaa's older brother cool hello and his younger sisters enthusiasm - well written! "I don't think I've ever been so glad to be an only child in my life..." - Hadru isn't stupid

Yay, it's Sisterhood time! Interesting, and appalling that Captain Kh'ardd's first thoughts are what use the women would be in his pleasure cages, yech! Throne-like chair, yeah I can see that, even from your brief description this fits. Stealing the ore-carrier rather than tire out Veilmist - good idea. Vista carrying her teammates within her astral plane thingie is clever - why tax Veilmist teleporting the whole team when she doesn't want to. Star Bear getting the chance to fulfil her desire for violence - yikes!

Oaa's mother cramming everyone together for the meal - yup, been there, totally relate, and making far too much food - it's me an any family gathering, it's a natural thing to do. I like that Sojourn has specific dietary needs - of course not all species will eat the same thing. Though, do they ave a mouth? Haha, I thought the same thing as Key Kid. Enigma Lass using a straw to slurp soup - it's because she's a vampire, isn't it? She doesn't want her fellow students to see her ferociously rip the food apart Fluffy the foot wide spider - hmmmmm okay, cute for Jaquaans but I share the students revulsion. "my baby Legion boy" it's also within a mother's contract to embarrass her children publicly

My memory is failing me - where's your Brainiac 5? Nice use of Evolvo to redisgn the meeting area, and it would make a great visual. I agree with Nura, relying on the Demon's Claw is not really much of a plan. And really nice to see Marte Allon pop up, I love your diplomatic arm of the team. Blok dealt with Dreamy's insubordination well, he's definitely having a tough term though. Mind you, who ever has an easy time of it? Nothing like potentially starting a war with the Khunds to make a person regret accepting the leadership role, eh? Loved Laurel's response to Nura, haha. Jo's thoughts on Blok area bit rich... pot and kettle. Dreamy doesn't give up does she? I totally dif how Blok dealt with her, and lover her coming back with another option straight off the bat. And, funny that Vi mentions the Oversight watch as that was exactly what I was thinking too. I enjoy how you have the team discuss this matter, and despite Blok already making the decision, it's interesting to hear their opinions. Nice mention that Wildfire is out-of-sorts. Wow! I didn't expect Nura to quit, this will be interesting!

You've obviously put a fair bit of thought into Jaquaa, I liked the naming of the memorial centre and your description of the opulent insides is great! Also sweet that the twin boys are there, though that may be a problem as we all know how small kids are easily distracted... Got to love the eccentric aunts Bless Enigma Lass for getting all shy around Gym'll. There's always got to be someone who comes along to ruin a party, hasn't there? Clever thinking of Imra to get the boys to stay close to Sojurn, as if a quick getaway is needed that's who you want to be next to. Lullabye Lad really is the perfect student for he job, let's hope he doesn't mess it up Dr Gym'll a murderer? Only of Legionnaires if he had his way The desperate father, ouch, I kind of understand where he's coming from, though wouldn't ever advocate a suicide bomb as a solution. Oh, was their a deadman's switch on the detonator? Time for the students to get into action! And poor Gym'll having his night ruined like that. The chaos that followed the bombs, and the locked doors in a rom filling with smoke and the glass panel cracking - you like toturring your heroes, don't you Raz Enigma Lass isn't scared of dying because she's a vampire I tell you, A VAMPIRE!! You now I'm not serious about that, don't you? Though if it turns out she is then I'm taking full credit! Good to see her being careful as she helps out though. Oh, that crumbling roof has ended her career before it even really began then I do like the descriptions of the forms Oaa takes, the worm with multiple mouths is particularly disgusting. Enigma Lass and her costume are actually Immorto? And she is the Dominator girl, okay, but is she a vampire Dominator? Fab, fab, fab - am looking forward to her back story!

This was great fun and you covered a lot in a relatively short piece, from Oaa's family and living on (in?) Jaquaa, the Sisterhood getting closer to their goals, Nura quitting (still shocked at that!), and of course your students in ation leading to your Enigma Lass reveal. What a ride! As you'd expect, with all those plots I'm sat here eager for more, more, more!

raz, I would def love to read more of Jaquaa - let's not let your copious notes go to waste!

ooh color me excited for Dream Girl coming up, and for more on Enigma Lass!

Great detail on Jaquaa, and also intrigued by the secret of Enigma Girl. Ha, she had to eat through a straw because of those teeth!

She seems much less terrifying than the 'Dominator Heroes' I came up with, in the Heroes of Other Worlds thread.

Hi all, thanks for reading (and commenting)!

I have been brewing some Jaquaa ideas, we haven't even met their local superhero team yet!

Harbi, sorry to put a dampener on your Enigma Lass vampire dreams, but Immorto isn't too far off tbh!

Brainy left the team all the way back in 2019(!) to go and find himself an existence outside the Legion for a bit after he realised he was falling back into the kind of loopy behaviour that gives us Computos and Omegas....I do have a plan to check in on him at some stage actually but I doubt I will get round to it till next year!

Poor Blok is indeed off to a rocky (heh) start with leading the team, and it is not gonna be getting any easier for a while!

And coming up with gross forms for Variable Lad is my favourite part of writing him.....for such a nice polite kid he really does have a disgusting power

Enigma Lass is definitely much less terrifying than those other Dominators, and people might have a few feelings coming out about her after the next instalment!

I am also super excited for everyone to see Dream Girl's next move...it's a doozy!

IN ORBIT AROUND MARS
The Legion of Superheroes mobile base, team leader's office

ROLL CALL
Blok: team leader; magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Blok's office was an empty shell of a room; while the existing fittings had all been cleared out, the room hadn't been redecorated to suit his needs yet. Still, he had wanted some privacy to deal with Dream Girl's sudden resignation and it didn't seem right to discuss such a serious matter in his quarters.

Even the wisdom of Solomon couldn't have prepared Blok for what came next however...Blok looked at the five flight rings sitting in the palm of his giant stone hand and then turned to the five heroes before him. "All of you are leaving the Legion of Superheroes??"

Standing beside Dream Girl, Star Boy squeezed her hand tight. "I don't want to leave the Legion, Blok...but if it's a choice between this team and the woman I love..."

"And they're gonna need backup," Wildfire added. "We're superheroes, Blok. We're gonna go be superheroes, we don't need your permission."

"I asked Mon-El to scan this planet H'crides with his telescopic vision and he found nothing of interest," Blok explained patiently. "Dawnstar has found that none of the mystical threats of which we are aware can be tracked to that world, and Tellus was not able to discern any further detail from Dream Girl's subconscious than that she has already told us. Legionnaires, please listen to reason. I believe in Dream Girl's vision, I believe that there is a great evil to be met, but the Legion of Superheroes are not the only heroes that can do so. The risk to our relations with the Khunds is far disproportionate to any benefit we might get from travelling to a lifeless world just to see what happens when we get there!"

"I disagree," Dream Girl looked up defiantly into Blok's eyes. "And I'm glad that at least some of my friends support me. Unless you're going to make us fight all of our other friends, we're leaving."

"Of course we're not going to fight you, Dream Girl--"

"Good. Then let's go, people." Nura Nal turned on her heel and stepped out the door, almost colliding with Neon rushing in.

"Xao!" Zoe Saugin rushed to Dragonmage, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I just got back from Earth, what's this I hear about you quitting the team??"

"I'm sorry, Zoe." Xao Jin had trouble meeting her concerned gaze. "But you were with us when Dream Girl had that vision, you saw the effect it had upon her...and I would never ask you to choose between our friendship and the Legion of Superheroes, but I cannot let her face that darkness again alone."

"No, Xao!" Zoe refused to let him go. "This is nuts! You don't see how nuts this is? You can't just go invading the sprocking Khund Empire on the strength of what..? A bad dream??"

"You don't have to come with us, kid." Wildfire took Neon's attention away, her angry face reflected in his visor. "But you're not stoppin' us either. Come on, Dragonmage."

"Drake, please!" Dawnstar had been waiting out in the corridor alongside Mon-El, Shadow Lass and Shrinking Violet, and she now came forward as well. "Why are you doing this??"

Wildfire cast a glance back at Blok. "I'm going where I'm needed, Dawny....and I don't think that's the Legion right now."

"But, Drake...what about us? You didn't even discuss this with me!"

"Drake's a name for a human being," Wildfire spoke with barely contained anger. "And you've made it crystal clear that's not what I am. Now if you'll excuse me, someone needs the power of Wildfire." He stormed off after Dream Girl and Star Boy, while a stunned Dawnstar was choked silent with emotion.

"Classy, Wildfire." Shrinking Violet glared after him as she approached Dawnstar to comfort her, but the anti-energy hero didn't pause for a moment.

"I...Zoe, Blok...everyone, I really am so sorry." Dragonmage was clearly torn. "But this is something I must do." He jogged on after the other departing heroes.

"Mysa, wait." Blok spoke before Mysa Nal could follow the others out of his office. She had used the magic word to transform back into her unpowered form before announcing her resignation, and in a modest white sundress the petite redhead seemed out of place now among the other heroes.

"I may hold a sliver of the powers of Shazam thanks to you," Blok continued, "But you have almost all of that power at your command. Is Solomon's wisdom really telling you that this is the best course of action?"

"...Quite the opposite actually." Mysa gave her friend a sad smile. "In fact, I had to change forms to evict that nagging voice from my head that kept telling me Nura's making a huge mistake. But she's my sister, Blok....if it is a mistake, I can't leave her to face the consequences of that on her own."

"Then convince her to stay!" Shadow Lass threw her hands up in frustration. "Neon is right, Mysa...this is madness!"

"This isn't the way, Mysa," Mon-El added more gently. "Work with the Legion and we can find another solution."

"I wish we could." Mysa bowed her head and used both hands to fold Blok's enormous fingers over the flight rings in his palm. "But my sister says time is of the essence...As Xao said, I am sorry that it had to be this way. Goodbye, my friends."

Then Mysa Nal turned and walked away from the Legion of Superheroes.

**********

JAQUAA
L'mo Gorge, Embassy Suites

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
Enigma Lass: auto-resurrection
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock or barrier
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: co-head; electricity generation and manipulation
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: co-head; telepathy
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Despite Miio Ch'ndri's best efforts, everyone had been evacuated safely from Dr Gym'll's ill-fated award ceremony at the Gevaa Ing'zl Memorial Centre. It came out after all the chaos that the would-be suicide bomber had assumed Gym'll would be likely to have some of his celebrity patients from the Legion of Superheroes at the ceremony, and Ch'ndri had placed several bombs on timers just in case any interfering heroes prevented him from blowing himself up.

Enigma Lass's costume had weirdly regrown itself before anybody outside of her classmates had seen her Dominator features, and while conventional authorities made sure the injured were hospitalised and Ch'ndri was taken into custody, Variable Lad's mother kindly offered to babysit Graym and Garridan so that Garth and Imra could defuse the powderkeg that had been lit when Enigma Lass's fellow students saw who she truly was.

The Academy students were all now gathered alongside their teachers in the Ranzz family suite in the luxury hotel where they were staying here on Jaquaa. Picture windows looked out onto a waterfall that plummeted into a swimming pool at the bottom of the gorge outside but nobody was looking at that right now...all eyes were focused on the young Dominator in their midst. Hidden within her costume, Enigma Lass sat cross-legged on a plush armchair which dwarfed her small frame. Saturn Girl perched on one of the chair's arms, and Lightning Lad was in a second chair nearby. On the other side of the room, the other students all sat on or around a four-seater couch with Sojurn hovering behind them.

"All things considered," Amp spoke up not particularly kindly, "I think you owe us an explanation." It was unclear whether she was talking to Enigma Lass, their teachers, or all three of them.

"Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad...did you two know about this?" Key Kid added uneasily.

"I know this must be difficult to process," Saturn Girl soothed, "Especially for you two, Amp and Key Kid...we know about your history back on Lallor. But Enigma Lass doesn't owe us anything of herself that she doesn't want to give."

"At least tell us how you survived back there!" Lullabye Lad blurted. "I mean we all saw you, you were...well, you were dead!"

"I didn't want to tell you all," Enigma Lass spoke up quietly, her voice barely more than a rasping whisper. "I just...I just wanted to be...to live like you all do, without being what I am."

"And what are you anyway?" Dragonwing asked. "I mean a Dominator obviously...but Lullabye Lad's right, you were dead back there!"

"Enigma Lass, you listen to Saturn Girl," Garth Ranzz spoke up firmly. "You don't have to tell anyone anything until you're ready."

"Thank you, genuinely..." The young girl looked up at Lightning Lad, pulled her hood back and removed her featureless mask revealing the needle-toothed yellow face beneath. "But I suppose inside I knew this was inevitable." She looked down at her hands in her lap and spoke haltingly. "I was not...borrn..." Her brow knit in distaste as she heard herself drag out the word in her distinctive Dominator way, but Enigma Lass continued. "...Not in the way that I imagine all of you know. The womb in which I developed was a gene-vat on a Dominion biovessel. I was a subject in the Dominion's schemes to make metasoldierrs forr Dominion expansion...and endless tests on that biovessel was the only existence that I knew."

"So you just decided to train up a Dominion supersoldier??" Key Kid sniped accusingly at Garth and Imra.

"I am of the Dominion, but I am not a...I am not what you said," Enigma Lass answered Miqui. "I was...I was just a lab specimen to him. Subject 58. The scientist who made me spent such a long time attempting to activate synthetic metagenes within us. I saw so many of my labmates die, eitherr instantly orr afterr long and awful tests...some of them neverr got special abilities...the unlucky ones did. The unlucky ones werre made in the image of herroes like Sun Boy orr Lightning Lad, and they...I watched them burrn. I watched my fellow labmates...failed experriments...die by theirr own powerr and be shovelled into a...a biorrrecyclerrr...like so much leftoverr nutrrient paste..."

She wiped a tear from her eye and the others all fell silent. Enigma Lass couldn't bring herself to look up at the students as she kept talking. "I apologise...I thought...I thought this wouldn't hurrr...hurrt anymore, but it does."

Saturn Girl stroked Enigma Lass's yellow scalp tenderly and the girl took a deep breath. "I think....sometimes I think my labmates, they werre lucky though. Luckierr than me. You see, my ability did not manifest forr the longest time...I thought at least the indignities that I had to face werre less than those whose powerrs killed them orrr....orr verry nearrly killed them, the ones who werre dissected, everry parrt of them taken aparrt and analysed...but those of us whose metagene didn't activate; the scientist eventually gave up on us and just gave us a lethal injection...and dying quickly and quietly was much betterr than the alterrnative."

"How...how long were you in that lab..?" Chemical Kid asked, unusually somber.

"I do not know rreally, the nice United Planets lady who looked afterr me beforre I came to the Academy though..she did some tests and she thinks I am between thirrteen to fourrteen standarrd yearrs old...so maybe eleven orr twelve of those yearrs I lived on the biovessel?" Enigma Lass was still unable to actually look at the others. "You don't underrstand...we werre...we werre nothing but experriments. We neverr saw the outside of that ship, I neverr thought I would...we werre neverr taught to tell the passage of time orr to rread orr...orr to talk prroperrly, orr..." A choked sob came out and Enigma Lass hid her face in her hands and shuddered visibly.

"Hey, maybe we don't need to do this right now, huh?" Dragonwing asked, her own normal acerbic nature much more subdued as well. "I mean we've all had a long day--"

"Thank you, Drragonwing," Enigma Lass wiped her eyes with her fists again. "But Amp was rr...rright. You all should know what you have taken among you."

The young Dominator took another moment to steady herself and continued. "One day...one day the scientist combined severral trreatments...at firrst they had no morre effect than anything else he had done...but then I felt my hearrt pounding fasterr and fasterr...my blood was on firre...and I thought....I thought, this must be it. This must be nearrly all overr. And I was so happy." Enigma Lass's tears flowed freely now, and Saturn Girl beside her had a grim set to her own features as she couldn't help but pick up on Enigma Lass's trauma.

"...I died." Enigma Lass's voice was flat, abruptly devoid of emotion. The others wondered if she even knew she was crying as she spoke. "I died and therre was....forr I don't know how long therre was a quiet darrkness. Therre was peace. I had no worrd forr peace, but I felt it...and then I woke up.

...My synthetic metagene had activated. And forr the firrst time I discoverred...I cannot die. Not perrmanently. Morre tests werre done. Tests morre painful and invasive than anything I had everr known. I found thrrough much trrial and errorr that therre is no forrce that can keep me dead. Oxygen deprrivation, dismemberrment, decapitation, rremoval of orrgans, poisoning, burrning, frreezing, rradiation, toxins...therre werre...therre werre so many tests. And I passed everry one of them."

While tears flowed down her cheeks, Enigma Lass ceased making any sound other than her breathing (which always sounded labored without her voice modulator).

Nobody in the room spoke, and the room was thick with emotional tension. This went on for time enough to be noticed by everyone, and then Enigma Lass took a deep breath and completed her story. "This would have been my existence likely forreverr...dying so many times that the only way it made me feel was to wish the next time would be the last time...but then one day a powerrful hunterr of Dominatorrs found my biovessel and he killed everryone on boarrd. He gave merrcy to so many of my labmates...and when I woke up frrom death as I always do, the hunterr did not rrecognise me forr what I am. The United Planets herroes and the Legion of Superrherroes who'd come to stop him didn't know who I was. They thought that against all odds I had just surrvived in a morre conventional sense...and Makkia Vei...the nice United Planets lady who took me in....she found out what I do and she taught me what I needed to trry and make an existence forr myself in yourr United Planets.

I wanted to join Makkia Vei and herr team, but she said it was no place forr a little girrl who'd been thrrough what I had been thrrough...and she told me about the Legion Academy. And forr a while I...I fooled myself into thinking I could be with you all herre, but I should have known...I should have known the trruth about me would come out eventually. And now that you all know what I am I suppose I'll have to leave." She buried her face in her hands again, hearing murmurs from the others in the room but too upset to listen to what those murmurs might be.

"Enigma Lass!" one voice finally spoke up above the others. She looked up with her tear-stained face to see Variable Lad standing in front of her.

"What you are," Oaa said firmly, "Is brave and clever and strong and...and I don't think it's right that anyone should have ever made you feel like you're less than what you are. Enigma Lass, you're really great!"

Enigma Lass forced herself to keep eye contact with Variable Lad, and she saw compassion on his face. It was an expression repeated almost everywhere else she looked in the room. She couldn't read any particular reaction from Sojurn of course, but she somehow felt a pulse of empathy from them nonetheless. In fact there was only one person in the room who didn't share that sentiment.

"I don't believe this!" Key Kid jumped to his feet. "She feeds us some sob story and we're supposed to just feel sorry for this...this sprockin' monster?!"

"Miqui Ver!!" Amp gasped Key Kid's real name in appalled shock.

"No!" The furious young redhead persisted. "You might all buy this, but I don't trust any scummy diskhead for a nano!!" He turned on his heel and stormed out the room before anyone could stop him.

"I'm so sorry!" Amp stood up and headed toward the door herself. "I'll go talk to him!" Then she jogged out the door behind Miqui.

Full of shame, Enigma Lass looked back down at her lap. She replaced her mask and hood and turned her featureless gaze up to Saturn Girl. "...May I go back to my rr...rroom now please?"

Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad exchanged a sad glance, and Imra stood up. "It has been a long day. Come on. I'll walk with you."

Enigma Lass was stoic until she and Saturn Girl left the room, but then the others couldn't help but hear the little Dominator's heartbreaking sobs as she walked further away from them.

**********

ELSEWHERE

ROLL CALL

Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Without his flight ring, Star Boy was dependant on Wildfire to carry him across the many towering spires of their destination city. It was an odd sensation, to say the least.

Dream Girl of course had already planned their next move by the time the five heroes had resigned from the Legion of Superheroes. Blok had allowed the odd quintet to take a Legion ship down to the surface of Mars, and the reality of their actions had set in as they watched the ship fly back to its home base on autopilot. Dream Girl had told her fellow ex-Legionnaires that they would need as much support as they could get from here on out; she'd taken her sister and Dragonmage with her to pursue two leads for possible recruits, and given Star Boy and Wildfire two more.

So it was that Wildfire now carried Star Boy to one particular apartment complex rooftop in Titanopolis long after most sentients were fast asleep. As they landed atop the building, the young man they'd come to meet stepped out of the shadows of a fire escape alcove to greet them. In his white cape trimmed with gold, the time-displaced hero called the Infinite Boy was almost luminescent in Saturn's reflected light.

"Hello, gentlemen. I appreciate you meeting me up here, I don't like to risk running into my younger self if I can avoid it. I suppose we'd best get going then?"

"We haven't even told you why we called you yet!" Wildfire retorted.

"Dream Girl's not the only Naltorian in the galaxy," the Infinite Boy replied dryly. "Even without my...unique...relationship with the timestream, my natural precognitive ability was kind enough to leave me waking up covered in dried blood a couple of days ago after I tried to scratch gashes into my skull in my sleep. Luckily even with my powers as wonky as they are these days, I still had it in me to summon a flesh-shaper from the Chameleon Wars to fix me back up!" The platinum haired youth touched his forehead tenderly, though there was no visible sign of any injury.

"Chameleon Wars--?" Star Boy began to question. "It doesn't matter, forget it. Look, we don't know each other very well but tell me...what do you know about the threat we're recruiting you to face?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." The Infinite Boy shrugged helplessly. "Just that he's called the Demon Father and he's terrifying. I faced a lot of threats in my own time as a Legionnaire, but there were maybe only one or two who scared me as much as that vision did."

"The Demon Father?" Star Boy recognised the name. "That's what Nura kept saying when she was having her vision! Something about a demon father coming to ravage..? When she woke up though, she had no recollection of that part of it at all!"

"Well, that's two pieces of the puzzle we've put together," Wildfire added. "Vague pieces, but still...let's go meet this Demon Father then, huh?"

**********

THE KHUND EMPIRE
H'crides, the Demon's Gate

ROLL CALL

The Sisterhood of Sin
Nimbus: personal forcefield, flight
Scorn: Khund blood witch
Star-Bear aka Ursula Yenova: cosmic ursinthrope
Veilmist: teleportation
Vista: contains a pocket astral environment in her mind
White Bat: aerial assassin

The Sisterhood of Sin had changed vessels four times to get close to the barren world of H'crides, and then just to be extra cautious they'd had Veilmist teleport them there and left their last stolen vessel floating with its lifeless crew just inside the star system's largest asteroid belt.

So it was that the six women appeared now in lavender scented smoke on a rocky plain that stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky was moonless and filled with a thick blanket of stars, and a chill wind blew all about them.

"Are you sure you took us to the right world, pretty girl?" Ursula Yenova asked Veilmist. "There seems nothing here worthy of our attention."

"Of course I am sure!" Veilmist snapped back petulantly. "I may not be able to shred a ship's crew to pieces with my disgusting claws, but I know how to use my power!"

The Russian woman released a long whistle. "Very well, keep the panties on...I was just asking!"

"Turn around," Scorn instructed the woman named Star-Bear with uncommon reverence in her voice. The Khund witch was standing in front of Ursula, and looking at something high up behind her.

Ursula Yenova turned, and craned her own neck in imitation of Scorn. A thin tower of rock jutted out from the ground before the women, stretching up into the dark sky high above. Visibility was limited in this darkness, but Ursula could see a hint of the naturally formed rocky halo above that had been illustrated in the thousand year old journal which led them here. "This is your Demon's Gate?" she asked in her blunt way.

"It is," Scorn gathered her hooded cloak about her. "And somehow I know...we need to ascend the Demon's Gate to fulfil our goal."

"Okay, well first things first," Vista held a hand up to stop Scorn from taking point. "We're in unfamiliar territory and while this place seems as dead as any graveyard, I'd prefer to know that for sure. White Bat, we need reconnaissance."

The mute killer had just spread her arms and activated her hardlight wings when the Sisterhood heard an ancient voice approaching. "That won't be necessary," a wizened old man stepped toward them slowly from the towering rock.

"We have travelled many light years to pursue our destiny here, old one." Scorn drew her blood dagger. "It would be unwise for you to stand in our way now."

The old man was close enough now that the women could all see that he bore the pink skin of a Khund, but he was barely skin and bones...and surprisingly for a Khund, he had no evidence of cybernetic parts at all. He laughed at Scorn's comment, a laugh that turned into a hacking cough. After an uncomfortable period of time, he eventually got his breath back and continued. "Stand in your way? Why, not at all...I've been waiting for you for a long long time, Scorn." He attempted a bow, but found the movement too difficult and arched his back in pain. "You will forgive your loyal servant, I hope? I have endured much for you, but time is an enemy that no amount of devotion can fend off forever."

"How do you know my name? Why do you call yourself my servant?" Scorn demanded. "I have never seen you or been to this hellhole of a world in my life!"

The old man merely chuckled this time, and though he began to cough again he soon had it under control. "It seems you have much to learn, exalted Scorn. Why don't you and your sisters come with me and I will do my best to catch you up..."

He turned around and started limping back painstakingly slowly toward the Demon's Gate that loomed over them all.

Scorn exchanged glances with the rest of the Sisterhood, landing last on Nimbus by chance. "Don't look at me," Nimbus hissed at the sorceress. "He's your servant, exalted Scorn!"

Making her decision, the blood witch Scorn marched purposefully after the nameless old man.

The rest of the Sisterhood followed suit, though some of them were beginning to wonder for the first time if maybe they should have anticipated that a search for someone called the Demon Father might become as unsettling as this all felt right now....

**********

ELSEWHERE

ROLL CALL

Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage

"...and so that's my story," Nura Nal finished. "Now you've heard everything....my vision, as little of it as I recall...the Legion's refusal to act...we need your help desperately, and I know the stakes are so much higher for you than anyone else we could possibly ask. But I'm begging you...Bouncing Boy and Una are on a mission with the Cavalry, and Shadow Lad is dealing with insurrection on his homeworld. Star Boy and Wildfire have been partially successful, but we could really use your power and your experience. Will you join us?"

Dream Girl, Dragonmage and a still unpowered Mysa Nal stood with their hands clasped before the final woman they'd considered might help them in their insane venture into Khund space.

The woman declined to answer Dream Girl and turned her icy blue eyes upon Mysa instead. "You are no longer the Black Witch."

"N-no," Mysa answered, uncommonly cowed by the woman's imperious presence. "I have been cleansed of Mordru's corruption, I can now summon--"

"Yes, I'm well aware...I just wanted to see how you perceived that change yourself." The woman gazed out of a stained glass window into the sunlit grounds beyond, her face painted in vertical red stripes from the light streaming through the window.

After a moment of introspection, she turned back toward the three heroes. "Xao Jin, I barely know you but in the time I have known you I have been impressed with your honor, your bravery, and your mastery of dragon magicks. Nura and Mysa Nal, our relationship goes back so much further...and I trust that neither of you would take this course of action had you not both deemed it utterly necessary. I understand the risks, but I know that you would not have approached me were your need not real. I shall give you what you ask."

Queen Projectra Armorr stepped forward from her throne, and before the heroes' eyes her white tightly curled hair straightened and became blonde...then her deep purple gown shifted into the red, gold and white costume she'd once worn as a Legionnaire.

"Sensor Girl stands by your side."

**********

NEXT: The Secret Origin of Scorn!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Speaking of secret origins, Enigma Lass is talking about this adventure when she mentions having been rescued from the Dominion biovessel

ooh yes more, what a treat!

wow! 5 resignations all at once! well, did not expect that! at a glance though, the 5 make sense - Thom cause he loves Nura, Wildfire is probably looking to cut loss, and our two magical members.

nice smatterings of drama and callbacks to relationships, with Xao/Zoe and Dawny/Drake. I would have loved to see Nura's retort to Zoe re "a bad dream?" like Zoe, I love you, but you should know how Nura's power works by now!

ooh, that bit with Dawny and Drake was rough. poor Dawny...

props to Vi for supporting Dawny.

Xao being torn up was very well done.

Wow! Mysa admitting that Solomon's wisdom thought it was a bad idea...very well done, and makes it very ominous... kudos to Blok for thinking of asking that too!

I feel Tasmia and Mon, I want to say the same thing.

oooh, Enigma Lass. her trauma is palpable, the poor dear, I want to give her a hug. (PS very well done, in her intro scene there was no indication that poor Enigma Lass was, well...)

kudos to Imra and Garth for supporting poor Enigma Lass.

oy, at the lethal injection and the quick death bit...

good of Dragonwing to show some compassion, in her very Marya way

oh my gosh! poor Enigma Lass has been through a lot

ah, so Makkia Vei educated her! and now I wonder what Makkia's true motives are...! ah yes, I re-read your original post and indeed, she spells it out

aw, Variable Lad

yeah, I'm not surprised Key Kid still has some lingering trauma... at least Amp doesn't seem to! I wonder if Key Kid will pull a Brittle. I can't imagine he can hate Enigma Lass for the crimes of her race

very eager to see the team Nura is building!

lol at Infinite Boy casually talking about things from the future! hah! he's def. a good recruit to have along!

great scene of the Sisterhood arriving... now I'm curious about this old man, is he from the future or something?

ok, so Lu and Chuck and Grev were all thought of, but not available...

ooh! Jeckie!!!

this is shaping up to be quite a team heading over to confront the Sisterhood!

great installment as always raz, and I'm super eager for more!

Raz, sorry, I only have20 minutes before I have to rush off so this will be a quick review.

Loving the team that are supporting Nura heading off to Khundian space - all good choices, and the interaction between them and Blok, and their other teammates rings true - Mysa admitting that Solomon's wisdom was telling her not to stay was a great point - she adores her big sister, beyond logic! Wildfire to Dawny - ouch! He's in a really bad place isn't he? I'm a bit worried what he'll do.
/
Enigma Lass - wow, that was bleak! Not a happy childhood at all. Makkia Vai as a nice woman? Since when? I do kinda wonder if l'il Enigma Lass might have some pre-programming from the Oversight Watch. And loved her teammates reactions, even Key Kid not accepting a Dominator as one of his crew was spot on. I'm a little surprised that Amp took it so well. Saturn Girl's mama bear side was obvious here, and god to see.

Infinite Boy! Yay! I loved him before and I'm sure I'm going to love him again That's an ininspired choice. And, three Naltorans on the team - is that a record?

Still loving Star Bear, there's no nuances in her, is there? Ah, so it seems Scorn has a disciple that she didn't know about. Is he from the future? Am sure you've got something planned for the old man that was waiting for them. This story line is great!

And, Sensor Girl! Wow, I didn't expect her at all so that's a good surprise. "her face painted in vertical red stripes from the light streaming through the window." haha, thanks for that image, if I hadn't been rushing through that part it might have given her identity away.

Got to run, though this was one of your best Raz, really good stuff!

More, more, more!

Wow, y'all are quick!


Zoe will never know how lucky she was that Nura was too distracted to hear that

The bit with Mysa and the wisdom of Solomon only really occurred to me while I was writing that instalment up tbh - but I remember having read bits with Billy Batson where he says he had to change forms because the wisdom of Solomon wouldn't let him do something manifestly stupid and I thought it was kind of a fun disadvantage to have on what is generally a very plot-convenient power

Wildfire IS in a bad place, and that is something that will get touched on a bit more as this Demon Father story plays out....

When I originally plotted all this out I had Amp be the one to flip out about Enigma Lass actually, but I kinda felt like Key Kid could do with a bit more character development so I changed things up a bit...everyone's reaction to Enigma Lass will be getting some more focus over the next few instalments as well. Enigma Lass really does have a pretty dark background, but now that the students know her story I am looking forward to writing their interactions moving forward!


I think it might be, you know!



I don't think nuance and Star-Bear have ever even been in the same room as one another

I'm glad Jeckie was a good surprise! I had a look back through my notes and we haven't seen her in my series since 2014!!

We will find out who the mysterious old geezer was next up, and this whole Demon Father business is really about to hit the fan!

ew Amp vs. Key Kid, I do think Amp has shown herself to be the more level-headed and mature of the two, so I can think having her keep relatively calm made sense! Doesn't mean she doesn't have any trauma, she just knows not to take it out on Enigma Lass in a big outburst

Like, if Nura ever realized what Zoe said I bet Zoe would get a verbal beatdown lol!

yeah I think it does make more sense that Amp would have a more mature reaction than Key Kid...as much as I intended Amp on being angry and bitter all the time when she and Key Kid first came to the Academy, this is one of those cases where the character writes themself in a different direction and she has shown herself to be pretty level-headed all things considered!

And I agree about Zoe and Nura....Nura would throw a tantrum at Darkseid himself if he dissed her power

It would make sense that Amp Girl might be a bit more even-keeled than her age would suggest, simply as a result of her powers tendency to cause swing-y reactions (since, and this might be my own fanon, I've always thought her powers would give a 'rush' that could seem similar to a stimulant or shot of adrenaline, which could result in manic behavior, or a 'downer' feeling if she could use them to suppress people the same way she normally enhances them).

I never really thought of it like that, but now you got me wondering what it would be like if she amplified someone's adrenal production (or other chemically things!)

Who needs drugs when you have an Amp?

food for thought, Set! food for thought...

I have a built -in limit for my Amp, by having her power be draining if used for too long... same excuse I use with my Condo, else they could do so much. have to give it a thought though, lots of creative power potential here!

IN ORBIT AROUND MARS
The Legion of Superheroes mobile base, team leader's office

ROLL CALL
Blok: team leader; magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar tracking
Shrinking Violet aka Salu Digby: shrinking

The privacy field around Blok's office was not engaged, and through the open doorway Shrinking Violet and Dawnstar could see their team leader engrossed in a series of holo-screens which floated above his recently installed desk console. The furniture had been replaced to accommodate Blok's immense size, and a handful of small droids were currently hanging plants and lining up more standard furniture around the room for the more human-sized guests who'd be likely to join Blok in here.

"I'm sorry if you're busy," Vi said bluntly by way of greeting. "But we need to talk."

"My review can wait." Blok turned away from the handful of screens floating before him and gestured toward two of the comfortable seats with a hovering coffee table between them. "How may I be of service?"

Recognition flickered in Dawnstar's deep brown eyes as her gaze passed across familiar faces on the holo-screens. "...Review?" She perched rigidly on one of the seats. "You're reviewing the current Academy students..?"

"Yes," Blok acknowledged. "With...recent events...I thought it prudent to revisit some of our students' readiness to join the Legion, either as interns or on a more permanent basis."

"Wildfire and the others haven't even been gone a full day!" Dawnstar protested.

"Wildfire and the others are actually who we came to talk to you about," Shrinking Violet added quickly, hoping to defuse any potential antagonism early.

"I wish that we could have dealt with that situation in a way that benefited all of us," Blok responded. "But the five of them are entitled to make their own decisions, and at the same time...our hands are tied. I wish Dream Girl and her allies every success, but you both must understand why the Legion cannot be involved."

"We're not asking you to invade the Khund Empire, Blok!" Dawnstar snapped. "But as much as I find Dream Girl infuriating, you said yourself that her visions always come true! They're countless light years away...if they do need help, how can we do that from here? We must be ready to assist them when the Khunds inevitably break down and ask for our assistance!"

"I agree with Dawnstar," Violet was more calm, but equally firm. "Blok, we don't need to break any laws, but...we live in a giant spaceship, there's no reason we can't at least hang around closer to the Khund border than we are right now. Just in case."

Blok considered the matter for a moment. "Dawnstar, I will let our Communications Officer know that you are en route to the Brainstem. We will incur suspicion if we travel to the border for no reason, but I am certain that you and Trava can find somebody near our territorial border who needs the kind of assistance that only the Legion can provide."

Dawnstar stood and left the room without another word, and Violet rose to follow her before she turned back to the Legion's newest team leader. "Blok...thank you."

"We all serve the same team, Violet," Blok replied, "And I am not above listening to my teammates. Now if you will excuse me..? I'd best locate Evolvo Lad. Once we have determined a destination, I am certain that he will be able to program our hyperdrive coordinates with far more skill than myself."

As Shrinking Violet left the room, Blok reflected on the course of action he was taking. It made perfect sense for the Legion of Superheroes to make themselves more readily available should Dream Girl prove correct in her belief that the Legion would be needed. He just hoped if it got to the point where the Legion was needed, the Khunds would swallow their pride and ask for help.

Despite his insistence that they needed to follow the rules of diplomacy, Blok didn't know if he or anybody else in the Legion of Superheroes had it in them to stand back and do nothing if trouble was right on their proverbial doorstep...

**********

JAQUAA
L'mo Gorge, Embassy Suites

ROLL CALL

Legion Academy
Amp aka Ming Sul: amplification of any power or characteristic
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock or barrier

Miqui Ver was laying on his hotel bed playing Hyperspace Invaders on his omnicom when he heard the delicate chime of the room's intercom. Presuming it was a housekeeping droid, he called out, "Do not disturb!"

"Miqui, it's me!" Key Kid recognised his fellow Lalloran classmate Amp's voice. "It's Ming, let me in!"

"Oh, sorry!" He paused the game and dropped the omnicom on the bed, then sat up straight and faced the door. "Grant entry."

The door slid into its recess, and Amp came in and pushed her red visor up onto her forehead as she sat on the bed next to the younger boy. "Hey, bumpkus." she shoved his shoulder affectionately. "You okay?"

"About that diskhead, you mean?" He scowled, an ugly expression on the normally cheerful redhead. "No, Ming...I'm not okay and you shouldn't be either! How could they have just hidden her in with us like she was a normal person? I thought Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad were meant to be heroes!"

"Miqui, don't be like that...look, I'm uncomfortable too. I get that. But that's something that you and I have to deal with, we can't take that out on Enigma Lass."

"Why not??" Key Kid shot back.

"Because she's not the Dominator who hurt us, Miqui!" Amp heaved a sigh. "This is really not like you--"

"How would you know?!" Key Kid exploded. He jumped to his feet and paced to the window and back. "How would I know?! We don't even know our real names, Ming! Those creeps took everything away from us! They just used us and--and--"

"One Dominator took everything away from us, Miqui." Amp walked over and placed her hands on his shoulders, stopping him in his tracks as she met his angry glare. "Just like a Dominator took everything away from Enigma Lass. She's not the bad guy here, she's been hurt just like we have."

"When we first came here," Miqui Ver's hazel eyes narrowed, "The very first day we started at this Academy, you told me you didn't want to be a victim anymore...do you remember that? And now you're just letting one of them mess with you all over again!"

"This is me not being a victim, Miqui." Amp removed her hands from him and took a step back. "I'm not letting my past define me. I'm being the best person I can be, and the best person I can be isn't somebody who makes some poor little girl's life more terrible than it's already been just because I've been hurt too. Now come on, why don't you--"

"Just go," Key Kid said sourly. "You're not my sister, Ming. We're not family. We're just kids who both had our lives ruined by these diskhead creeps, and if you want to go kissing up to every diskhead you meet I'm not letting you drag me down with you when they sink those disgusting teeth right into your neck."

"Miqui!" Amp was taken aback by his venom.

"I said go!" he nearly shouted. "Would you get the sprock out of my room and leave me alone please?!"

"I--I--" Ming Sul fought back tears as she replaced her visor. "Okay, Miqui...if that's what you want."

Then she walked out the room and left Miqui Ver all alone.

**********

Elsewhere in the same hotel Dragonwing, Chemical Kid and Variable Lad were sitting on the floor outside Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl's suite. Their teachers had been on the other side of the door for the past half hour with Enigma Lass, and the three students were burning to know what was being said in there.

Lullabye Lad came down the corridor and handed bottled beverages to everyone. "The autobev didn't have that fancy sparkling water you like, Chem...you'll have to slum it with us poors I guess."

Chemical Kid took the drink with a disgusted grunt as Lullabye Lad continued talking. "Where's Sojurn? They're not hanging round to see if Iron-Butt Imra and Lightning Lad are gonna convince Enigma Lass to stay?"

"I'm never really sure if Sojurn even understands what's going on to be honest," Dragonwing shrugged. "They're from a whole other dimension, I doubt they're up to date on the racial politics of the UP."

"I do hope our teachers can show Enigma Lass that she is valued here," Variable Lad said glumly. "I understand that Amp and Key Kid have had awful experiences themselves before coming to the school but Key Kid still shouldn't have taken his anger out on Enigma Lass like that."

"Key Kid's not really a bad guy." Chemical Kid swallowed his drink and placed the can on the carpet. "Don't worry, Oaa...Amp will lecture him till he comes to his senses or dies of boredom. I'll give you some advice though, buddy...I know you wanna make Enigma Lass feel welcome but you've been coming on kinda strong with her. You should watch yourself, if she thinks you really like her you're just gonna end up hurting her feelings when she finds out you were only being nice."

Variable Lad frowned, and for a few moments was silent. When he did speak, his voice had an edge to it that his fellow students had never heard from him before. "Hadru, I do like her."

"As a teammate, sure." Chemical Kid's tone was glib, he'd clearly missed what Dragonwing and Lullabye Lad had both picked up. "We like her too, pal. But she's still a Dominator, you don't want her to think you like her like her."

Lullabye Lad's eyes were bulging and he was shaking his head at Chemical Kid in a desperate bid to make him shut up. It was too little, too late.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might actually like her like her, Hadru?" Variable Lad stood up and looked down at Chemical Kid with clear anger. "I'm a Jaquaan. Am I supposed to be attracted to...to some pink soft skinned human with a tiny baby head? And all that hair?? You really should be more open-minded!" Having had his say, Oaa turned on his heel and marched off down the corridor toward his own room.

"Is that what it looks like when Oaa Tseldor loses his temper?" Chemical Kid stared after him, mouth gaping wide open.

"You...kinda deserved it, pal." Lullabye Lad screwed up his face awkwardly.

Dragonwing considered added something, then abruptly gulped down her drink and tossed the empty can aside. Without a word of warning, she turned around and spit acid at the security panel outside Garth and Imra's door. Waiane and Hadru scrambled to their feet in a panic as the panel corroded and dramatically shorted out, and Marya stormed inside.

Enigma Lass was still seated in the same chair, and had obviously been crying more. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl had their backs to the door as they spoke to the young Dominator, but all three of them now gave their attention to Dragonwing marching in.

"Tell me you did not just break in here, Marya Pai!" Lightning Lad growled.

"Dragonwing, this isn't the time--" Saturn Girl began.

"You two can ground me for life later," Marya interrupted as Hadru and Waiane watched in awe from the doorway. "But there's something I need to say."

Marya squatted by Enigma Lass's seat so they were eye to eye. "You're a weirdo, but I've got news for ya kiddo...we all are. Chemical Kid got his powers from a dead Legionnaire, Lullabye Lad's people turn to stone, Amp and Key Kid are from sprockin' Lallor and Sojurn's an octopus from another dimension. I don't have time to tell you what a mess I am...and Variable Lad? Variable Lad's a polite little guy who turns into nightmare monsters. He's also the nicest kid I've ever met and he thinks you should stay, so that means I think you should stay. And I always get what I want."

"You...you want me to stay?" Enigma Lass sniffed. "But I'm a...a Dominatorr! And Key Kid said--"

"Sprock Key Kid," Dragonwing snapped. "There's only one bully on this team and that's me! He'll get over himself if he knows what's good for him. And sprock being a Dominator. It doesn't matter where you come from, it matters what you do. You helped us bring that jerk Jamik back to school--"

"You know I'm right here, right?" an annoyed Chemical Kid spoke up.

"--and you saved someone's life tonight," Marya finished. "You deserve to be here as much as any of us do, kid."

"Thank you, D-Drragonwing!" Enigma Lass threw her arms around Marya's neck and hugged her, sobbing gratefully.

"Oh, okay -- we're doing this." Marya patted Enigma Lass stiffly on the back, looking across at her teachers for a rescue.

Thank you, Saturn Girl mouthed silently.

"...You're still paying for that door panel," Lightning Lad grumbled.

**********

ELSEWHERE

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Sensor Girl aka Projectra Armorr: illusion-casting, super-enhanced perceptions
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Though they obviously couldn't use a Legion cruiser for their unsanctioned excursion into Khund space, the daughters of Naltor's former High Seer were not without their own resources. Dream Girl easily purchased a spaceworthy vessel, and it was in this vessel that seven heroes now shot silently through the star-filled void. Nura popped her head into the cramped cockpit where the Infinite Boy and Sensor Girl took their shift piloting the craft.

"How are you two managing in here?" Dream Girl asked.

"This is like ancient technology compared to what I'm used to," the Infinite Boy joked, "But I'm figuring it out!"

"My main contribution thus far has been masking our craft from detection," Sensor Girl added, "Which is not at all a difficult application of my abilities."

"I want to thank you both again," Dream Girl smiled gratefully. "Kando, you're not even a Legionnaire in this era...and Jeckie, I am absolutely aware of the risk you're taking in helping us. I hope you both know how much I appreciate you coming to our aid like this."

"Us Naltorians gotta stick together," Kando Vyr winked. "I'm not worried anyway, it's not like the UP can deport me if we get caught!"

"As I stated when you approached me on Orando," Sensor Girl replied, "I trust in your power and your judgement, Nura Nal. I know that you would not have turned to me were your need not very real. My primary duty is to my subjects, yes...but sometimes to protect my subjects, I must face enemies which threaten not just my little world but the universe beyond."

"Well, still...I'm thankful. I owe you both big time." Leaving them to their tasks, Dream Girl ventured back into the almost equally small passenger compartment behind the shuttle's cockpit. Her sister Mysa had laid her seat back and was napping serenely. Not for the first time, Nura wondered what it must be like for her future-blind sister to dream. Dragonmage sat beside Mysa, and for a moment Nura thought he too was asleep...she could see his lips moving softly though, and realised that the young sorceror was simply deep in meditation. Star Boy and Wildfire sat together at the back of the compartment, and Dream Girl took a seat beside her lover and entwined her fingers in his.

"Hello, beautiful." Thom kissed her on the lips. "Anything exploded yet?"

"Don't you dare jinx us, Thom Kallor!" Nura slapped his thigh playfully before turning to Drake Burroughs with a more subdued tone. "Wildfire...do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot, Dreamy."

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, and I'm certainly not complaining, but...what made you decide to leave the Legion and come along with us? It makes sense that Thom and Mysa would support me...Dragonmage was there when I had that awful vision and he felt the magical power behind it for himself...Kando was driven to accompany us because of his own precognitive vision, and Jeckie and I have always had kind of a bond. But you and I have never really seen eye to eye on a lot of things. I'm not surprised very often, but I will admit that I was surprised you came with us."

"Aww Dreamy...I may give you a lot of grief but ya know I respect you, right?" Wildfire was keeping it light, but it felt almost like he were deflecting. "If your power says something bad's gonna happen, then something bad's gonna happen. And no offence to any of you but aside from Mysa you're not exactly a powerhouse of a team. I just figured you could use a bag of anti-energy more than the Legion need me right now is all."

"I won't lie," Dream Girl replied, "I am happy that we've got your power...but I hope you know that's not the only reason I'm glad you're here. We've all sacrificed a lot to do this, you included. I just hope you know how much I deeply appreciate your support and your faith in me."

"Yeah..." Wildfire trailed off. "...Hey, I'm gonna go see if Sensor Girl or Infinite Boy want a break."

Dream Girl watched him leave with an inscrutable expression masking her pretty features.

"Hey." Star Boy squeezed her hand. "That's the face of a woman with Deep Thoughts...anything you want to talk about?"

"No, I'm just...I'm probably being silly, but I just have this niggling doubt I guess," Dream Girl admitted.

"Like a premonition?" Thom asked.

"Even Naltorians just have bad feelings sometimes, lover." She nestled against his shoulder and hugged his arm with her free hand. "But like I said....I'm sure I'm just being silly."

**********

THE KHUND EMPIRE
H'crides, the Demon's Gate

ROLL CALL

The Sisterhood of Sin
Nimbus: personal forcefield, flight
Scorn: Khund blood witch
Star-Bear aka Ursula Yenova: cosmic ursinthrope
Veilmist: teleportation
Vista: contains a pocket astral environment in her mind
White Bat: aerial assassin

The elderly Khund man who'd greeted the Sisterhood of Sin upon their arrival to this barren world had introduced himself as Jh'ein, and he now led them up a claustrophobically narrow spiralling stairway which had been carved into the interior of the Demon's Gate. Bioluminescent lichen grew along the walls of the winding passage, providing just enough light for everyone to safely proceed.

"You still have not told me how you know my name," Scorn sneered. "And my patience is far from eternal, old man."

"Oh, I know more than your name, exalted Scorn." The old man gave a hoarse chuckle which he managed to prevent turning into another coughing fit. "And you will not need to wait much longer, I assure you. Tell me, what do you know of your birthright?"

"My birthright?" Scorn now laughed herself, a bitter sound. "I have far surpassed the destiny that was meant for me when I was born, Servant Jh'ein...my mother was a formidable woman, but not a fortunate one. I was born into poverty, her stubborn nature sustaining us more than she ever could materially. She taught me to defy the expectation our society holds for women. She taught me to die before I should ever consider myself the property of some man. But she also taught me to accept our place as desperate scavengers without ever wanting anything more, and that...that I could never do."

"And your father..?" Jh'ein probed.

"I have no father," Scorn spat. "I have a genetic donor who was of such minor importance to my mother's life that she never once spoke of him to me. I have answered your questions, Jh'ein...now I want you to answer mine!"

"Of course," the frail old man answered. "And we have come to the part of our ascent now where I can do just that."

Of all the Sisterhood, White Bat's eyesight was the best. She nudged Nimbus and used their unique radiotelepathic link to tell her to look at the wall.

"What are these..?" Nimbus asked, projecting her glowing blue field a little closer to the wall to better illuminate what seemed to be some kind of primitive mural. "Cave paintings..?"

"Consider it...a secret history," the old man spoke. He stopped leading them up the stairs and took a moment to catch his breath. "Once upon a time, I was not the only inhabitant of this cursed place. There were many of us...a hidden cult devoted to the mysteries of blood and magick." As he spoke, the women all looked over a painted image of a group of cultists garbed in red robes kneeling in genuflection before a larger figure shrouded in mists.

"We worshipped the Demon Father," Jh'ein continued, slowly taking steps upward once more. "We worshipped the Demon Father on this world, just as his followers have worshipped him on other worlds throughout all of recorded history." As the Sisterhood followed their decrepit narrator, they saw the same scene repeated with minor variations; in one version, the worshippers were blue-skinned Talokkians...in another, they were Durlans. There were still more where the cultists had the pale pink pigmentation of so many races in the United Planets.

"So there really is a Demon Father??" Scorn asked, her eyes popping. "I had faith that our search would amount to something, but we have always been taught that the Demon Mother birthed the Khund race without male influence! It was her insanity and her mockery of the natural order of things which led to the different Khund races and our lust for violence!"

"There is indeed a Demon Father," Jh'ein explained, "But Scorn...he is not the father of all Khunds. He is your father." He stopped again, and the Sisterhood of Sin saw a painting of a pink Khundish woman holding a red-skinned babe swaddled in her arms. Towering behind them stood the Demon Father himself, an almost naked muscular man with the same red skin as the infant...the same red skin as Scorn herself. The Demon Father had four eyes which even in this drawing seemed to blaze with golden light, stringy hair the color of straw and a pair of small antlers jutting from his scalp. "Your mother was one of us...she gave herself freely to the Demon Father, and as a reward for her devotion the Demon Father gave her a child.

Your mother did not want to give you over to him once she held you however...she fled H'crides, and she took you with her. We were never able to locate her, but we knew that you would find your own way back to us some day. We remained here in this rock, we waited for you and one by one we died off. I am the last blood cultist remaining, but I never gave up my faith...I always knew that you would find your way home, exalted Scorn."

"You're saying...the blood witch is a demon's child?" Veilmist exclaimed.

"She is her father's daughter," Jh'ein responded. "And it is my honor to be able to reunite her with him."

They had finally reached the top of the stairwell, and Jh'ein walked out into the moonless sky. They were easily a hundred feet above the ground, and cold winds ravaged them all up here as they came out into the open.

With the stairwell being so narrow, Star-Bear had been forced to assume her human form this whole time. She leaned close to Vista now and whispered in her ear. "I do not find much unsettling, Vista. But the idea that this has all been preordained, this fills me with a sense of foreboding."

"You're thinking about it the wrong way," Vista whispered back. "We know now that this Demon Father is real...and Scorn is his literal daughter. Surely he'll give his daughter and her friends what they want, Star-Bear."

"Assuming that all you have told us is true," Scorn addressed the old man, "How am I to be reunited with my sire here in this lifeless place, Servant Jh'ein?"

"The Demon's Gate is not just a sensational name," Jh'ein explained, "It is an accurate descriptor. Once blood is spilled within the ring of the gate and a life is traded, the Demon Father will be summoned."

"So we just need to find someone to kill?" Vista spoke up.

"I have waited decades for this sacred day," Jh'ein replied as he slowly and painstakingly got down on his knees close to the edge of the halo-shaped rocky outcrop. "You do not need to find anybody, sister." He raised his head, baring his throat to Scorn. Understanding the old man's intent, she drew her blood dagger and advanced.

As Scorn held the sharp edge of the blade to Jh'ein's throat, a new man's voice sounded from above and behind the assemblage. "Well, well, well...if it isn't my unfaithful slattern wife! I should thank the Legion of Superheroes for giving this gift to me today!"

Jh'ein and the women turned to look up and saw the Demon's Claw standing on a hover platform, both of Firefist's weapon-laded arms extended toward the Sisterhood of Sin. "My wife must be captured alive," Firefist commanded his team. "As for the rest...

...Slaughter them all."

NEXT: THINGS GET WAY WORSE!

yay! another installment! *rubs hands eagerly*

heh at Blok' reviewing the current students, and Dawny being all aghast

and Dawny/Vi give a great suggestion - I'm glad you addressed this openly, I was thinking the same thing - Nura's visions always come true (of course, the question is whether she interpreted them correctly).Glad Blok listened, and kudos to him for putting things in motion for a quick response... and also plausible deniability

Also, am digging your continuing focus on the Vi/Dawny... I don't know if I would call them friends just yet, but Vi is making a concerted effort. I like it! they do have their kinda-sorta-loner status in common!

ooph, I knew it wouldn't be so easy with Key Kid. Amp made a great try, though! I'm really liking her even more now. And as for Key Kid, I hope he comes around sooner rather than later

hahaha at Hadru being all dense, and Variable Lad just slamming into him. and duh, of course different species/races would have diff. beauty standards!

and wow at Dragonwing! I'm liking her WAY more now, she gave such an awesome speech to Enigma Lass!
heck, she even got Imra impressed!

nice group of seven, and of course a nice point that Nura and Mysa would have some resources from their mom. also a nice call-back to Nura and Drake not every really getting along or being close (I remember his skepticism in canon, when Nura became leader). ah Nura, listen to your intuition!

ach, I also like your commentary on Khundian society's view of women. Frankly, I like the Reboot Khundia better, where women are respected (well ok, we only ever saw Amilia Crugg, but still!)

Wait a minute, is the Demon Father... is he Trigon???? birthing children, four eyes, blood cults, OMG OMG OMG!

whoo boy! here comes Firefist, just in time - but yeah, somehow I think they're gonna make things worse!

wow, raz, another great installment - looking forward to more, more, more!

Good stuff, raz! I'm intrigued by the connection between Trigon and the Khunds. You manage to give great voices to both established characters like Dreamy, Drake and Dawny, newer ones like Dragonwing and Variable Lad, and original characters like Amp Girl and Key Kid, which is very cool.

Raz, hey, I'm really looking forward to this!

Blok's conversation with Dawny and Vi was well done. Just as well your team are no longer on Husband Hill or they'd be a bit stuffed, eh And I'm loving how you are slowly developing the Dawny Vi friendship. Interesting language that Blok uses btw - "we all SERVE the same team", shows his views on the Legion, he isn't just one of a crowd, they are there under some higher purpose.

Nice scene between Key Kid and Amp Girl, her rationale was surprisingly mature, and also spot on, and his moodiness was typical teenager stuff. I keep forgetting the Lallorians still don't know who they are - I can see why that could unbalance Key Kid. It reads like you're going to have him go rogue? It would be interesting to see what the team did if he decided to go off and create havoc, I mean how would they hold him after they caught him? And speaking of Enigma Lass, as your characters were, I have a question - is her ability purely reincarnation, or is it rejuvination too, what I mean is, say she had an arm chopped off in a fight against the Persuader, would it regrow when she reincarnated?

The other students sitting outside of their tutor's suite trying to hear what's going on - haha that image made me smile, it really highlights how young they are. Hadru having to slum it and drink ordinary water, ha, he is such a snob! "Amp will lecture him till he comes to his senses or dies of boredom." this made me laugh as it sounds like what my son would say to me, about me Hadru's lack of social skills not picking up that Oaa actually does like like Enigma Lass was great too. "Am I supposed to be attracted to...to some pink soft skinned human with a tiny baby head? And all that hair?" you tell him Oaa! Well done with that, as it's a bit cringy that all aliens seem to lust after human women. Marya deciding to act is very in character, and her approach to Enigma Lass was to the point and well done, absolutely without tact or filter, but well done

Nice call back to the Nal's having a privileged background, a space ship is not going to be cheap. I'm really happy to see Sensor Girl in your story, she's such a great character though tricky to write convincingly as her abilities are kinda all over the place, so I'm loving her inclusion in this. The conversation between Nura and Drake was well handled too, though you are really ratcheting up the unease with Wildfire - I wonder if there's a slither of Mordru lurking within him that might show itself at an inopprtune moment.

And, finally, the Sisterhood of sin - yay! I am really loving your bad girl team Raz! And we're picking up right were youleft them. Scorn's birthright? That sounds ominous... confirmation that there is a Demon Father on ancient cave paintings - its getting creepier there! It is Trigon! Wow, he's pretty hardcore so this is not going to be easy. And Scorn is his daughter! Oh wow! That's an unexpected twist, that the Demon Father is HER father! Nice Raz, very nice. You've been building towards that for quite some time. And Jh'ein being a willing sacrifice - it really is sinister! Oh, the Demon's Claw! Oh, that's another twist, and there is bound to be blood spilled now! What are Nura and her team away to walk into?

Great cliffhanger Raz, and masterful storytelling in the way you've had these plots running for so long and managed to bring them all together so well. Bravo!

You've left me really eager for more, more, more!!!