Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business 21st Century Legion (vol. 2)

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

The Story So Far (part 1):

Founding

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

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

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

Workforce

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

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

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

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

Fall of the Workforce

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

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

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

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

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

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

Workforce Aftermath

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

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

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

Cathingham

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

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

The Story So Far (part 2):

Ancient History

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

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

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

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

The Telepathic Circle

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

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

The Sentinels of Magic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Suicide Squad

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

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

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

Elsewhere

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

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

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

Academy L: Prelude

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"For now at least," he smiled.

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

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

She sighed indignantly.

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

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

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

"No, why?"

"Ahhh... try not to stare."

"?!"
____________

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

"Moonstar, I take it?"

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

He sighed impatiently and repeated "Danielle Moonstar?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"CAGE?!"

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

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

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

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

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

"Explains why you smell too then, huh?"

Nori stood there a moment too long.

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

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

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

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

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

"Still no chance then?"

"Legion or teaching?"

"Both, I guess."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hi Tik."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"She's an aerokinetic."

"Say what?"

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

"Ah."

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

"Sure."

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

"You've eaten?"

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

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

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

"I remember. I'm just worried."

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

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

"She might incinerate the whole room."

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

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

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

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

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

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 2

Brazil, South America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No clue.”

Both ran after her now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Up ahead,” said Nemesis, running forward.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Return of the Emerald Empress: Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“How?” said Tenz.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Gross,” said Tina to herself.

“What?” asked Tenz.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why is it so hard, Dirk?” said Tina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Er, no,” said Tenz.

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

“Aye,” replied the Black Pirate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Who is it, you mean,”

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

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

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

Dirk smiled and nodded.

Previously, in "Welcome Back?":

And now, the conclusion...

Welcome Back?
Level 3 - Reborn?

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

Cos had vanished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking at each other with bloodshot eyes, they merged.

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

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

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

She couldn't find one.

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

"Lu?"

"I'm here..."

"What... happened?"

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

"I'm alright."

She hugged him, tightly.

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

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

"Lu? LU?!"

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

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

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

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

-------

"You're..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All three just knelt there, sobbing.

«LORNA!!!!»

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How are you feeling?"

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

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

"What happened?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So..."

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

Trinity shut her eyes again.

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

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

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

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

Manhattan, New York City, NY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey Nura,” Condo smiled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So far, no luck.

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

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

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

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

She knew weird things happened in this building, but…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Parents just don’t understand”
Part 1

Vienna, Austria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Is it that obvious?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hello Daddy,” she said.

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

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

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

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

“Mother, I—“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Tell me what?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Parents just don’t understand”
Part 2

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

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

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

“You won’t.”

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


“Bruce?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The Ambassadors are still here?” asked Tina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dawnstar said nothing, just looking on curiously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here there be Dragons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Blok?” said Dawnstar, watching on.

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

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

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

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

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

Parma, Sicily

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Boy with Ultra Powers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It wouldn’t be long now.

“What’s their status?”

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

“Good. Get Faraday on the line.”

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

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

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

“King, its Waller,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

“Okay,” she finished. “Waller out.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manhattan, New York City, NY

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

Finally: “no. Nothing…”

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

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

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

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

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

The Bowery, Manhattan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lost One

Arnett, Texas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Val smiled. “The South.”

Andy looked puzzled. “Mexico?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Try me,” said Andy.

So Val did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Moment of Reflection

Fourth of July

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And extra ketchup on mine?" Lorna added.

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

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

"You sure did," smirked Lorna.

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

"I love fireworks."

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

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

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

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

"Ahhh..."

"When is the next firework display after this?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Thinking. Remember Fourth of July?"

"The fireworks?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irma let her have a 'Suuuure' pout,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The sound of a gong filtered up from below.

The Batman: Part 1

Vienna, Austria

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

“Hm?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why?” asked Tenz.

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

“So?” said Tenz.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What was that all about?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Batman: Part 2

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

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

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

“You normally follow people you know?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No,” said Tina, “but Jacquie would have. We need to know what’s going on here.”

Mon nodded. “You’re right. I think Jacquie was on to something too. But I’d be no help to you,” he added. “I can hardly stand all their posturing when I’m around them. I’ll have to pass.”

“Me too,” said Dawnstar, not preferring any new company of adults and important dignitaries.

She looked at Joe, unsure if she should even ask him. He smiled slightly. “I’ll go,” he said. “I have only the faintest idea what any of this is about,” he continued, “but I could use the hot meal.”

“Uh, thanks,” said Tina, rolling her eyes slightly when she didn’t think he was looking.

He, of course, had already been told by Mon a great deal of what this was all about.

--------------------

The Batman released the metal wire holding the three of them and they began breathing easier again. Suddenly Umbra stepped forward aggressively, angry. “What do you think—“

Before she could finish, he was on top of her, spinning her around, so her back was to his chest. “Be careful on this rooftop Tatiana Mallor,” he said sharply, “one false move and someone could get hurt.” He let go.

They were all quiet. “Only Alfred is privy to my identity,” he said to Dirk, for reasons I’m sure you can understand.”

Suddenly it hit Dirk all at once. “Wait a minute!” he said. “Those rumors about a ‘Batman’ in Gotham City? Those are you? They’re more than just rumors?”

The Batman smiled. “No doubt you’ve been wondering why I didn’t think you were fit for a strait jacket when you told me your story. Now you know. I’m more apt to accept things in your world after some of the things I’ve seen.”

“Holy shit,” said Dirk at last. Shady and Tenz just looked on.

“Can you be trusted?” he asked the three. Unknown to them, he already knew they could be, or otherwise would never have allowed this meeting to take place. He intended for this—but wanted it to be on his terms.

“Yes,” said Tenz in response.

“I need you to promise not to tell anyone else,” added Batman. “Not even your other friends. If you promise me this, we can talk.”

They were quiet for a moment. At last Dirk said, “sure.”

--------------------------------

“Tina,” said Maya, the Ambassador from Sri Lanka,” how nice to see you again. Tina greeted her in kind, as Maya was perhaps the only nice one of the entire bunch.

“This is my friend Joe,” she continued. “He’s an American.” She had provided Joe with black dress pants, a red dress shirt and a tie, but Joe opted not to wear the tie, and wore his top button open. He seemed at ease among all these people.

Tina couldn’t help but smile at that. Obviously, he wasn’t used to this type of fancy society dinner, but he really did seem comfortable among the various people. There was something charming about that.

“Ambassador Relnic,” said Tina, bowing to him, and he kissed her hand.

“My dear,” said Relnic, distracted and obviously thinking of more important matters. He hardly took any notice of Joe at all.

“You brought a friend,” said Winema Wazzo in a voice slightly louder than normal, “how cute,” she added.

Joe took her hand and kissed it. “The pleasure’s all mine,” he said, but he did not smile at all, and his words had a definite sarcastic twinge. Joe read the situation immediately between Winema and Tina, and couldn’t help but find it amusing. He also knew Winema was destined to hate him. So why not give her some of her own medicine? The Countess immediately had a scowl, but then quickly made sure to not let on her annoyance for more than the briefest of moments. Tina caught it too, and couldn’t help but find it highly amusing.

“This is going to be torture,” she whispered to Joe.

“I’ll find someway to deal with it,” he replied, noting how nice Tina smelled when she leaned into whisper to him.

--------------------------------

“The Legion of Super-Heroes is a new concept and one that is changing everything,” said the Batman. “Its also dangerous, and especially dangerous if being used by the wrong people. The current President, Lex Luthor, is one of those wrong people. Do not think for one moment that control of the Legion is not a major topic of debate in all factions of the government and beyond.”

“Okay…” said Shady, not sure where this was going.

“I’ve already learned as much as I need to on this Legion. Now I wanted to turn my attention towards your group.”

“But, how could you know about our group?” said Dirk, unsure of how anyone other than Countess Wazzo really knew about them.

“I have connections, and you’re not as secret as you think,” he said. “Marla Latham. The Dark Circle. Countess Wazzo. Relnic. There are many others, and some with looser tongues. I know because I’ve made it a point to know. That means others do too.”

“Great…” said Tenz.

“I’ve come to Austria because I’ve been chasing a man called the Spook. He sees himself as a new style criminal in this age in response to the Legion. What he really is, is a rogue CIA agent with enormous information on various deep secrets, like Cadmus, Checkmate and yes, the Legion. Some of that information on the Legion concerns you all—or mainly, your friend Maziah. I’ve been tracking him from Gotham, as I learned he planned to sell some information to another person or agency here in Vienna.”

“Here?” asked Dirk. “But that couldn’t be—“

“Coincidence? Of course not,” said Batman. “Whoever is buying this information is buying it to use it for purposes involving your group. I’ve disposed of the Spook., and am returning him to the United States. But his meeting was supposed to be tonight, so Alfred is going in his place.”

“But shouldn’t you be watching Alfred,” said Tatiana suddenly. “He’s out there alone-“

“I’m watching.”

“You really like to cut people off when they’re talking,” said Tenz.

The Batman looked at him coldly. “In Gotham I’m a myth. No one believes there really is a Batman other than a select few cops and perhaps even more criminals. I risked quite a lot to meet you in person, and even more—make plain who I am. That is because the danger being presented here is immense. The war set out before you—the war inevitably coming, is going to be major, and will effect the entire world. You need to be prepared for it and that includes being aware of your enemies.”

“We know,” said Tenz.

“Do you?” asked Batman. “A rogue agent is in Vienna learning everything he can about you for some reason. And at this point in time, he’s not showing up for his meeting. Which means he knows the Spook is taken care of. There’s more,” he continued cutting them off again. “Where do you think there are other agents of your enemy?”

“Well,” said Tatiana, “we think…” she continued, almost embarrassed to say it, “… maybe one of the ambassadors in the United Nations.”

“Then you think right,” said Batman, “because I think so too. You’ll need to figure that out and do it immediately. I’m sure there is an agent of your enemy at the Legion’s headquarters as well. And I’m sure Luthor has his own agents everywhere. These are things you need to figure out as soon as possible.”

“Will you help us?” asked Dirk. “Bruce?”

Batman did not smile. “No,” he said. “I have to go back to Gotham City. Believe me or not, but Gotham has its own problems that cross over to yours. Most of the world does. You are the ones on the front lines, and you’ve placed yourselves there. I’m helping you now, because you need it.”

“What did you say to my father?” said Tatiana at last.

“I told him you were needed by Wayne Industries. That we were offering a scholarship to travel across the world as part of this program. I told him we needed you. In that regard, I did not lie to him.”

“Bruce, my father,” said Dirk.

“You can’t call me Bruce, Dirk,” said Batman, “and I’m sorry about your father. I truly am. But I cannot lie for him, not to you. I only wish you the best, and you can always come to me when you need me most. Know that when things really explode into war, I’ll be doing what I can where I’m needed most.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, as Batman listened in on some transmitter in his cowl. “I’ll be there in a second Alfred,” he said into it. “Look to the snakes in our midst,” he said to them. They all nodded quietly.

Down on the street they heard honking and a loud noise and turned to see what it was. When they turned back, the Batman was gone.

---------------------

Not far off, Agent Ontirr of Interpol watched as Dirk Morgna, Tatiana Mallor and Ten Zil Kem had run up the street after someone, though he couldn’t see who.

How in the world did they know about his meeting with the Spook? It didn’t matter. The meeting was cancelled as far as he was concerned.

“Thank you for that,” said Tina, as she and Joe walked away from dinner. “I know it could not have been that fun for you.” They had dined with Countess Winema Wazzo, Ambassador Anton Relnic, Maya Dahanayake the UN Ambassador from Sri Lanka and Gil’ Deshi, another ambassador. Winema and Gil’ Deshi were strictly anti-Legion, while Maya was not, Tina recalled, while Deshi and Maya both were pro-war in regards to Khundia, when her mother was not. So they were all spilt on various topics.

“That wasn’t so bad,” said Joe with a smile. “You needed some back-up, and I figured what the hell. Mon-El was nice enough to invite me over and since this is well, your home, I figured I’d owed you one.” He was rolling the cuffs of his shirt up now, to get comfortable.

“Mother hates you, of course,” said Tina, “but don’t feel too bad. I’m quite sure she hates all of the friends I’ve brought home recently,” she finished with a smile.

“She’s a doll,” said Joe semi-sarcastically and they both laughed.

Suddenly, it clicked. Tina stopped laughing as she at last realized who Joe was. She stopped, held out an arm and put her hand on Joe’s chest as if to push him away softly. “You’re…you’re that boy from the Work Force,” she said, as realization came to her face. “We’ve met before,” she continued, and she recalled their meeting at the Hallowe’en Dance a few months earlier, when Joe pushed Violet to the side to dance with Tina and Tina became annoyed enough to push him away herself. She remembered thinking he was a huge jerk because of it.

The color drained out of Joe’s face for a moment, but he soon regained his composure. “You remember that, eh?” he said obviously embarrassed by it, and meaning to keep walking.

Tina wasn’t having it. She looked annoyed, recalling Violet’s hurt, which made her miss her friend even more. “You’re Ultraboy,”

“That’s what they called me.”

“Weren’t you shot in the face or something?” she said annoyed at him.

“Or something. Is this going to be a problem, Princess?” he added, now annoyed himself.

“Well maybe,” she said. “Are you going to be a jerk to anymore of my friends while you’re staying with us? Or do you think because you and Mon-El got along so well that you can give the rest of us attitude too?” Tina was growing red in the face, and realized maybe she was being unfair, but thinking of Violet like that made her suddenly miss her friends a lot.

Joe, however, hid his anger well. “I’m you want me to go, I’ll just go,” he said. “I had no idea I was heading to your fancy castle here. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have come. As it is, you haven’t even given me the slightest idea why we were having dinner with, oh, the United Nations, so if you want me to be fair with you, perhaps you should be fair with me?”

“I’m not sure what that has to do with anything—“

“Well, I’m not sure what that dance has to do with anything either,” he said, “and if you want the truth, I wish I’d never even been to that dance or heard of the Work Force or Legion in the first place. Glad to know I can’t escape it. But don’t think you can sit on your high horse and preach to me when you bring me to some sort of information gathering espionage dinner and don’t tell me what information we’re gathering.”

“Well, since we just met you, you can’t expect us to trust you right away, can you?”

“No, I guess not,” said Joe, turning. “Looks like this little friendship we were on the verge of just ain’t gonna happen,” he added, starting to walk away.

“I guess not,” she said, suddenly feeling a little guilty.

“Oh, one more thing,” said Joe. “I know you think your mother is the traitor to Mordru,” he added and her face went wide at how he knew that information. “But guess what? I’m almost positive she’s not.”

“How could you--?”

“So you can either feel justified in your teenage anger at her, or you can feel relief. Either way, I don’t care.”

-------------------------

That night they all slept well, Dirk, Tenz and Shady joining them much later than the rest. Most were spread out in Tina’s quarters, some on her couches, some on the floor and Maziah on her bed. If her mother had known they were sleeping this way, she’d have burst into a rage. Blok did not sleep with them, but remained in his own places outside, standing guard. Maziah slept on the bed, as she had since the afternoon.

The other three at last snuck in, and Tatiana crawled in beside Mon, putting her arms around him. He smiled and she knew he was awake, waiting for them.

Dirk and Tenz lay down, noticing Dawnstar’s outstretched wings on the floor and making sure not to hit them. Tenz nodded towards Joe, who was also awake, wondering who it was. Dirk shook his head and they both lay down. Joe was also wide awake, watching to see who it was.

“Cut it out Shady,” said Tenz, causing Dirk to start laughing, as they heard Tatiana kissing Mon.

Soon they all fell asleep.

-------------------------

The next morning, Dirk rushed downstairs to have breakfast with the still present Gigi Cusimano, and explain why Bruce Wayne was no longer with them, and Tenz and Dawnstar joined him. Maziah continued to sleep, and Tatiana looked down at her.

“I worry about her,” she said at last.

“I know,” said Mon. “We all do. But she once more proved her strength against the Dragon. Come on now, let’s break our fast.”

Shady smiled at this old way of saying ‘let’s eat breakfast’. She began to walk out the door. Mon turned to once more, and then added, “I’ll be right down.” He walked back in to the room, to see Joe in one of the adjoining rooms still in Tina’s quarters, packing his things, which were not numerous.

“Are you leaving us?” he asked, after using his vision to see into the room.

Joe smiled, as both he and Mon had discussed their similar abilities the day before, with the one big difference that Joe could only use one at a time. “’Think so,” replied Joe. “Thanks for the invite back here,” he added, “but I think I’m going to move on.”

Mon nodded his head. Mon wasn’t big on heart to hearts. “Good luck, then. You won’t need to chase that dragon down now,” he added.

Joe laughed. “I’m not really sure why I was doing that…guess I just wanted to tie up a loose end. Now that I saw it for what it was, I think I’m satisfied. Good luck, Mon.”

“You too, Joe.” Mon left the room, to rejoin Shady and the others downstairs.

Joe finished packing his stuff up, when Tina suddenly phased into the room with powers. She must have overheard them, Joe thought. “Come to say goodbye,” he said, semi-sarcastically, but in a tone that said he had no desire for them to continue their argument.

“You don’t have to leave,” she replied. “That was not my intention.”

“I know it wasn’t,” said Joe in a forgiving voice. “But sometimes you just need a fresh start, and I’m not sure I have one here.”

She walked over to him now, not using her phasing power as she came closer, Joe stopped packing his stuff. He could feel her right there, as if his senses were on end. “I…I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Why not?” he said, with an eyebrow raised.

She half-smiled at him, seeming to catch what he was implying. Choosing to ignore it, she added “because I need your help. You say my mother isn’t the mole in the UN. How do you know? Obviously, its important to me.” Before Joe could add anything, she continued “and then I need you to help me found out which one of them it is, and if its one of the Ambassadors here.”

They were quiet for a moment. Joe considered it, and realized half of him was screaming at him to leave and the other half was screaming at him to stay. These were teenagers just like him, most with nowhere to go, and there was no denying he was becoming quick friends with Mon-El, who apparently didn’t have many friends quick or even slow. And then there was her. She was now inches away from his face, and though he was at least six inches taller than her, she looked him right in the eyes. She still smelled really good.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll help you. I’ll stick around for a bit.” He threw down his bag of belongings.

Tina smiled widely. “I’m glad,” she said, feeling relieved of her guilty conscious.

“But no more shirts or ties,” he said with a smile. “I’m a jeans and t-shirt guy.”

“Deal,” she said. “Let me introduce you to everyone over breakfast.”

“Fair enough,” he smiled again, and they began walking to the door.

“I don’t get this rebel without a cause thing,” she said at last. “What are you rebelling against?”

“What have you got?

Ella flopped onto the chair in her room, let out a loud sigh and ran her hands backward through her short red hair before clasping them behind her head, pulling her head to look upward. A few moments later, she sighed again, got up and walked over to the window; before leaning against it, staring down at the ground below. She then turned and fired a blast at the target set up to let her do so safely. Then she punched the window and flopped down on the chair again, staring at the ceiling.

Seven weeks since she'd been offered a Legion place (albeit including the holidays). No sign of that translating into reality any time soon. She'd seen Dr Ryker's provisional report, discussed it with her, and it hadn't included anything to say she wasn't suitable, Workforce thing or no.

She bet no-one in authority had even glanced at it.

Paul was in the same boat, she knew, so it wasn't a personal slight, but she was practically climbing the walls by now. Training to no end got really old, really fast - and it was the weekend, so she didn't even have that to let off steam.

She let out a sigh/scream that almost sounded like a growl and violently grabbed her jacket off the hook; deciding that getting some polluted, stinky air was better than sitting around like a caged animal.

Laurel yawned loudly, untangled herself from the sheets and lowered her feet to the floor. She couldn't wait for her new bed to arrive - "lying down" floating was one thing, but sleeping in mid-air didn't let you wake up feeling fully refreshed. After checking Toni was still asleep, as expected, she glanced at the clock and headed for the shower. She didn't want to end up flying to work.
________

While she'd had to run faster than she'd wanted to make the bus, she reached her destination on time and by essentially human means. Fussing with her braid again, she knocked on the door of her employer's private office, and entered when she heard a response.

Even in the slight dullness of the room, Lydia Grath's paleness stood out - but Laurel reflected that that was bound to happen to someone who couldn't go out in the sun, and shrugged it to the back of her mind. "Ms Grath?"

"I told you at the interview - call me Lydia, please. Did you have any trouble with public transport?" She raised an eyebrow, as if to check whether she had actually used it, and directed her to a seat.

"No, I made the bus on time," Laurel replied, before adding as an afterthought, "I didn't fly." She had fully explained about her time as "Andromeda" in the interview, and how she was aiming for a far less... public... job. "So... what do you want me to do?"

"Well, as I explained at the interview, the title of your job is Personal Assistant - but what I really need a personal batwoman."

Deadpan, Laurel asked "Batwoman?"

Lydia smiled. "I mean that you're employed by me - personally, rather than through my company or any of my charities - to undertake any reasonable request I might make. And, yes, much of it will be boring, tedious or both.

Given that leaving my house in the daytime is a major undertaking for me, and that I am frequently busy with various matters at the same time, at least some of that will involve you attending events where I have a lesser interest - doing things such as making notes, or even recording situations on my behalf. I've provisionally made arrangements for you to train with cameras and audio equipment next week to that end.

At the other end of the scale, however; if I decide that what I want most of all is to have my bedroom rearranged, then considering that you could easily lift a forklifts, I think moving my bed from one end of the room to the other would also be reasonable. Agreed?"

Laurel's eyes had briefly bulged at the camera course, but settled down at the latter part. "Fine. We talked at the interview how my main priority is avoiding the sort of stunts I had to pull with the Workforce. I can handle moving furniture around. I was just confused for a moment about the 'Batwoman' thing." She forced a smile.

"Excellent. First, I need you to..."
________

A long day later, Laurel pushed her key into the lock of her apartment and turned, sighing loudly as she walked into the hall.

In response, Toni's voice echoed from the front room. "Hi. How went your first day?"

Walking in, she saw Toni lying in one of her energy hammocks in a cropped T-shirt and shorts, watching some tripe on TV. She positioned herself where she couldn't see the screen before she lay back onto the air and answered.

"It went, I didn't make any major mistakes, I got everything done, I feel like I didn't wake up properly all day."

"That boring?"

"It wasn't that bad. I still haven't been sleeping right without a bed."

"You COULD have picked it up yourself, if you know what I mean..."

"Yes, because I want to see everyone in the building - if not the whole street - watching me fly down carrying a bed."

"Point. I'm sure you could have worked something out though-" she let out a huge yawn and continued "-if you'd really tried. Blending's overrated."

"Well, you WOULD say that."

"I know, I know - I mostly get booked because of the skin, not despite it...," Toni said, stretching out arms that - like the rest of her skin - were chalk-white, contrasting harshly with her black hair, "-hey, did I tell you I got booked for two days time?"

"Where?"

"Your very own employer, funnily enough - or one of her charities, anyway. If it goes well, I might get a whole ad campaign out of it."

"Good for you. Isn't two days kind of quick though?"

"Well, three - I forgot to mention it yesterday. But it happens, and you take the work when you get it." She yawned again. "So, did you call today?"

"Toni..."

"If you're ever planning on doing it, you have to face it sometime."

"Toni..."

"And you were talking about it the day you moved in. That was three weeks ago."

"Toni..."

"And I've not really seen any movement..."

"Toni, it's easier to say than do."

"Pick up phone, dial number. You have the number. Doesn't seem hard."

"Yeah, but what do I say? 'Hi, I'm your long-lost half-sister?' She'll either crack up laughing or run away screaming."

Toni snorted. "Or neither. And never-try, never-gain."

Academy L
Opening Day, part 1

"Olympic archery champion Charlotte King-Jones today announced she was moving to the controversial 'nation state' of Providence. King-Jones, who recently secured a high-profile 'divorce' from her mother, claimed that she could 'no longer bear to live in a country ruled by a man like Lex Luthor.' Providence, led by-"

"Sofia, did you see where the timetable for today went? I keep forgetting to look at it."

"It is over there, beside the window, I think."

"Thanks." As Sul walked over to grab it, she continued, "You know, I'm fairly sure there's at least one Spanish-language news channel on that thing. I wouldn't mind - I'm not listening to it."

"No, I need to keep practising my English. It is not your or Noriko's own language, yet you are far more fluent than I."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. We learned it as kids. You were practically 16 before you had to learn a word of it, and you've picked it up a lot quicker than I did."

"Perhaps. I still need to improve."

Sul picked up the timetable, ran her eyes over it and groaned when she saw fifteen names on the sheet. "I take it you've seen this, by the way?"

"Yes. Having all those world leaders come to speak to us is exciting, do you not think?"

"You won't be saying that if you need the toilet halfway through. According to Tik, they'll have more guns trained on us than there are at a gun convention."

"Did he say that?"

"Not in those exact words, but they're panicking in case someone flies up and incinerates President Luthor, Secretary-General Chu, or anyone else people out there have heard of, since they can't exactly search us for weapons. So we're going to be stuck in our seats for at least four hours straight, as if it wasn't going to be boring enough to start with. And since most of them are policitans, they'll talk beyond the time they're given, and we'll be meant to clap every time they pause."

"You are too cynical." As she spoke, Sofia stood up, turned the television off and stetched.

"Wait and see. I've heard some of them speak before - you should hear what Leviathan, the Legion leader, sounds like in person. At least if it was Cosmic Boy doing the Legion's speech, that one might be listenable."

"Regardless, do we not have to hurry up? We are supposed to be in the auditorium in fifteen minutes."

Sul glanced at her wrist. "Yeah. Give me a minute and we'll head down to meet Nori."

She headed for the bathroom.
______________

They found Nori in the canteen, picking over a bowl of soggy cornflakes.

Sofia broke into her obvious reverie, "Are you not looking forward to the speeches either?" she said, a slightly incredulous tone in her voice.

Nori glanced up at her as if she'd gone mad, "Why would I be? Four hours of sitting still in a rubber suit - when I'll be charged fit to burst by the end and won't be able to get rid of it - isn't exactly my idea of fun."

Sul added glumly, "I'd bet that it'll be more like five hours before we can move, with speech overruns and all those camera crews. They won't have allowed enough time.

Didn't you try and get exempted because of your power problems?"

"Ha! Tik took it to Moonstar, and she tried. I think she even took it to the head - but apparently I'm the only Japanese student here, and someone made a special request that I be in the crowd."

"I am sure it will not be as bad as either of you expect." Sofia added firmly. "And we should go now, before we are late."
______________

Extract from the diary of Ming Sul:

By the time we got to the hall, there weren't many seats left. We managed to get three in a row, but all of them had problems - the left-hand one, furthest from the aisle, had the holographic wing of a girl called Akasha through it, and it thus went through Sofia when she sat down there. She was kinda apologetic about it, but apparently couldn't turn it off.

Probably worse though was the girl in front of me and Nori, with a pointy orange head that kept spitting out crackly orange bubbles non-stop like a demented bowl of Rice Krispies. And when we asked - politely - if she could turn it down, we were told to sod off (not her exact words), and she then spent the next ten minutes complaining about us to the green girl in the next seat, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed by her friend. I didn't bother asking for either of their names.

It didn't take long for Nori to start looking uncomfortable, as she'd expected. With the help of Igor's collar, she's got used to the electrical field being within a certain level - but with all the TV lights, cameras, broadcasting units and so on, in addition to all the usual stuff, she was beginning to struggle to focus even with the screened suit. I don't think the way the suit makes her sweat was helping any.

What resolved that for the duration - and helped shut up the orange witch in front of us as an added bonus - was a sudden appearance of Tik, in a portal right over TOB's head. Her look when, as she started to object, he just leaned down and told her to shut up was priceless! Anyway, he was trailing a length of cable that had been grounded outside, which Nori could discharge into, and he left the portal open a crack when he went to keep it available for her.

Not long after that, the speeches started. It was as tedious as I expected, with lots of bigwigs talking at the cameras rather than us. Near the end, Leviathan got up to speak, which was just cruel. To him AND us. (Note: Ask Tom or Igor why it HAD to be him next time I talk to them - I'm sure Cos could have made it a bit less... wrist-slitting...). Then a few words from the headmaster that were actually, in an original concept, directed at us - telling us to be back in an hour, since the schedule had overrun so badly that we should technically have been back before we left - before the VIPs filed out. Once they were gone we got finally got sent off so the newscrews could pack up.

Sofia spent the last half-hour with her legs crossed, desperate for the toilet. I warned her...

Academy L
Opening Day, part 2

Just over an hour later, the students filed back into the auditorium, where the TV crews and equipment had gone with the VIPs.

As Dani stepped up to the podium, she felt a brief - easily-suppressed - stab of nerves at the size of the crowd. She was too much of a pragmatist to get really nervous at that sort of thing.

She took a moment to glance around the crowd, looking for Sofia - most of the students (her students, she reminded herself) hadn't even noticed that she'd stood up yet and were busily engaged in talking to the person or people beside them - and found her beside Sul, talking animatedly.

She smiled briefly, then hurried through the other checks - the laptop had the right presentation loaded and had been connected up, Shikari and Tikhik were present in the right seats, the lighting panel appeared to be working, but testing it would be too much of a distraction - as with the roll-up whiteboard and, by extension, the projector. She gathered up her backup cards, flicked a switch, and coughed pointedly into the microphone.

The crowd noise died away.

"Hi, I'm Danielle Moonstar, and I'm the head of the Metahuman Training department here at Legion Academy. These are the other two members of my department - Tikhik Miraz, and Shikari Lonestar." There were some murmurs in the crowd as a result of this announcement, but they stopped as she continued, "Obviously, you're all here because you have at least one power, ability or talent which is beyond human, and this department is here to help you master that ability safely."

She continued, outlining not only the need for safety and the dangers of overconfidence, but also the penalties of misuse. In particular, she pointed out that the US had just passed a law specifically banning the use of telepathy or any other means to alter the mind of a subject, or to force them to act against their will - and that other countries were passing similar laws, or were planning to do so - with anyone convicted of doing so without authorisation facing years in prison; as an example of how people were afraid of what they could do.

"The world is changing. 'Super-powers' are out in the open now, and people are scared. We have to show them there's no reason for them to be. If we don't, the consequences could be terrible, for all of us." She glanced at the clock. "Okay, time for a quick break. Be back here in fifteen minutes."
______________

In the room behind the stage, Dani pulled one of the wooden chairs out from the table, turned it around, and leaned heavily on the back. She felt exhausted, and had one question for her colleagues. "Did I go too far?"

"No." Tik answered first. "It had to be said. Some of them will not believe you, but they would not have believed you even if you had been less severe."

Shikari concurred, "I agree. This world is not used to post-humans, and it will take time for the path to become clear. It would take very little for it to go wrong."

"Thanks, I think." Dani looked at the cards for the second half of the speech. Grading, passes, analysis. She got up to make herself a strong cup of coffee.
______________

"...and the first thing to point out, is that Legion membership is not, and will not, be compulsory - and nor is it a right. They want to expand, and if you want to join, you have every chance - but you must obtain an 'A' from this department, which I'll get into in a moment, and not have any major blemishes on your record.

Otherwise, to be eligible for graduation, you must get at least a 'C' from this department, which means you've been rated as safe to be around other people, basically. I don't want anyone here to be held here for another year of training.

In all other ways, graduation will be much like any other graduation from high school. You'll get the qualifications you've earned, and the teachers from the other departments will no doubt explain their own courses to you when you see them. Here..." she went on to explain how they would be placed in small groups with like-powers for training, and where the training rooms were.

"For 'standard' and 'advanced' power levels, an 'A' grade means you've achieved the limit of your current power levels. A 'B' means you've done very well, but we feel there are areas that need work. A 'C' means you've passed, and we feel that we won't hear about you on the news because you accidentally lost control and injured or killed people. Anything less than that is a fail, and you'll be held back here until you can achieve at least a 'C'. Technological help, if it exists and you can prove that it is reliable, can be used to help you raise your grade to a 'C', but to get an 'A' or a 'B', you need to be able to demonstrate your power without external aid. For 'basic' power levels, different criteria apply, and I'll speak to those students separately."

While she didn't think that humiliating the students in public would be helpful, she'd argued about admitting students with 'basic' power levels - students whose powers neither impinged on their quality of life, nor were powerful enough to cause danger to the people around them - on the basis that they'd take up places that might be needed for those who did need the training. She'd been overruled mostly for PR reasons; since the powers that be had decreed that it would be helpful to show that not everyone with a "power" was capable of causing massive damage.

They had the germ of a point, she'd admitted in the end, but she doubted it would make any serious difference. She glanced round at Shikari - who took the signal, picked up a folder & bag, and flew down toward the crowd.

"Finally, starting tomorrow, we'll be giving you all individual Entry Assessments in Training Room 1. This will last around twenty minutes, and we'll talk with everyone about what you feel your capabilities are, and ask most of you for a demonstration - there will probably be a few cases where we will need additional equipment or more preparation to have a safe demonstration. This is so we know what level everyone is starting from and thus what sort of training will apply." She glanced at the clock. Nearly done.

"To help, I'd like everyone to fill out the questionnaire that Ms. Lonestar is distributing right now, and leave it on the table at the exit when you leave." The student record was mostly complete, but with one rather shocking omission - powers. Not a single student had their powers filled in, because whoever had filled out the database had used a standard template which, of course, didn't have a field for metahuman abilities. She'd added such a field, but had only managed to fill ten out of slightly more than a hundred records from her and Tikhik's knowledge of a few students. The questionnaire - which simply asked for the students' names, a few more identifying details, their own description of their powers and how they would rate themselves on the scale Dani had described - was an attempt to get that crucial information quickly and simply without having to go into the assessments blind.

She took in air sharply, then let it out more slowly. "That's all. Any questions?" She knew this could go either way - no kid liked asking the first question in front of all their peers, but once the ice was broken questions could keep coming and coming. She waited sixty seconds, and when no hands went up, she tried to keep her sigh of relief as inconspicuous as possible. "Right. The assessments timetable will be posted on the intranet later tonight and - since we know not all of the computers have been installed yet - we'll also post a hard copy on the noticeboard in the canteen. Once you've filled out the questionnaire, you can go. Remember to leave it with Ms. Lonestar at the door"
______________

This time, she went straight for the coffee machine. Then she went to the sink and splashed some cold water in her face, before picking up the just-filled cup and leaning against the counter, blinking heavily to try and make her eyes focus.

"Long day, huh?" Recognising the voice, she looked up with a start at the figure of John Jones, who she hadn't heard enter the room. She had to be even more tired than she thought. "Must have been your first speech to a crowd."

She nodded with a low chuckle. "I've run marathons that left me less tired than this. Literally."

"Different sort of energy. Bet you weren't nervous beforehand."

She shrugged and took a sip of coffee, "Not really, no."

"Then you're the sort it hits hardest the first few times - go in wound too tight, and just the effort of keeping a lid on it all tires you out too quick. Like any other sort of training though, you learn how to balance it all out, build up your stamina."

"I'll keep that in mind." She took another sip of coffee and smiled. "Today, I'll settle for not boring the kids to death."

"Bit of boredom's good for the soul, really. Have to tell myself that after this afternoon, any rate. Holding court for a bunch of 'Vips' isn't much fun."

"I take it none of them are going to shut us down?"

"Not today, any rate." He grinned. "Anyhow, you should get some rest."

"I can't just yet - remember the missing data I mentioned? We handed out some questionnaires at the end there so we'd know what we were dealing with. Shikari and Tik should be on their way to the department to enter that right now. I'll probably need to help with that, then we need to schedule the assessments that start tomorrow."

"Okay. Just don't push yourself too hard. It's only Day One." He looked her in the eye, and she seemed to feel her tiredness lift.

"I'll be fine - I think the caffeine is starting to kick in, anyway. I should get moving." She downed the rest of the coffee, and dropped the polystyrene cup in the bin.