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

Hey Raz, as Omni says above this is another great section.

I found it funny that Light Lad and Wolf were paired up by Chuck - if there's one Legionnaire you aren't going to get much from it's Brin and throw into the mix the dysfunctional relationship the two guys have over their friendship/romance of Alya and you know it would never be an easy task. I quite liked their literal meeting of minds though, that was well written.

Lu's sneaky use of the Glorith to try to find out more info was well done, those Espionage Squad kids are smart!

Also the team on Lallor are a great mix - good to see Gim in there, I kind of miss him. Vi is right, Dup may be stupid but he's tough, I don't believe for a second any of them are dead. And that wasn't a challenge so don't feel you need to kill anyone now please Looking forward to where that arc leads.

More, more, more!

Thanks peeps!

Saturn Queen being Titanian royalty was (I believe) something that came up the first time in 5YL, so I just ran with it. I kind of dig the idea of there being twelve houses named after the signs of the Zodiac, and maybe they are just a quaint relic of another time now but there may have been a time in the past when the Royal Family of Titan actually held a lot of power...maybe will touch on that some more later down the track.

re: the Heroes of Lallor and their untimely demise or lack of same.....read on!

Sev Tcheru’s head felt like it had been stuffed with eukra wool.

The Hero of Lallor also known as Evolvo Lad opened his eyes and realised instantly that he wasn’t in his bed. He was lying on a bench which was an off-putting yellowish color and slightly moist. The air was filled with the smell of...mildew? Whatever the odor was, it was becoming quite clear to him that something was very amiss. He sat up and took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in some kind of cell. The room was small, barely larger than the bench upon which he’d woken. It was empty of any other furnishings, and there were no windows. Every surface of the room seemed to have an almost organic texture, like fruit rind.

He wasn’t bound, nor did he seem to be injured. Evolvo Lad suspected that he’d been drugged and transported in his sleep. He was still wearing the pyjamas in which he’d gone to bed. Might as well try the door, he thought. Not that I expect it to do much good. He found he was correct, the door didn’t budge. He was about to use his power to devolve into a physically stronger form and rip the door away when he heard a strange hissing noise coming through the other side. Wary, Evolvo Lad made his way to the far side of the cell and waited to see what would happen. Seconds later, the door heated up and burned away seemingly of its own volition. The hero didn’t need his hyper-intelligent form to guess the cause of the damage. True to his suspicions, an opaque gas soon formed where the door had once stood. The gas condensed into vaguely humanoid proportions and solidified into a woman wearing a black bodysuit with pink and white highlights. Swirling gases drifted around her hairless scalp as she gazed upon Evolvo Lad with a mixture of relief and anxiety.

“Gas Girl!” he exclaimed. “What’s going on? Where are we? Where are Duplicate Boy and Life Lass?”

“I can’t tell you where we are,” his teammate explained, “But you and Duplicate Boy were abducted through some strange portal, I followed as a cloud of oxygen. I tried to wake you both, but I think one of their men had some power to keep you asleep. Evolvo Lad, I’m worried about Life Lass...they blew up your quarters as we left. I’m sure they think I was dispersed in the explosion, but I don’t know if she’d entered the room yet!”

“We can’t help her from here so let’s concentrate on what we can do,” Evolvo Lad said pragmatically. “Do you know who took us?”

“They kind of looked like Dominators,” Gas Girl replied. “But different...mutated maybe. What would the Dominion want with the Heroes of Lallor?”

“I don’t know,” Evolvo Lad replied. “Let’s track down Duplicate Boy and find out!” He accompanied Gas Girl outside to a large corridor. Two hairless yellow-skinned aliens lay dozing at the entrance to his cell. They seemed too short and squat to be Dominators but each one bore a small red square on their foreheads, similar to the markings used by the Dominion as an indicator of social standing. Before he could devote too much analysis to the situation, a troupe of the thuggish yellow aliens came stampeding around a corner.

“Are you feeling up to this?” Gas Girl asked her friend as she dissipated once more into a vaporous cloud.

“Frankly, I could do with the stress release.” Evolvo Lad took on an aggressive stance. His brow became more prominent and his slight form grew so musclebound that he ripped his garments at their seams. Coarse brown hair covered his body as he completed his devolution into a Cro-Magnon man. With a mindless roar, he barrelled into the oncoming aliens like a juggernaut. Between his bludgeoning might and Gas Girl’s less violent asphyxiation, their enemies were easily dispatched.

“I don’t know where they’ve taken Duplicate Boy,” Gas Girl announced as she traversed down the corridor in mist form, “But I passed some kind of computer interface when I followed them taking you to your cell. Maybe your super-evolved form can figure out how to use it!”

Before they had gone far, the duo came across another squad of aliens. This group had energy weapons, and Gas Girl was careful to make sure she took on no flammable forms during the fracas. Evolvo Lad launched himself at the squad, taking out three of the small aliens in one tackle. An energy discharge struck a glancing blow across his left shoulder, and the primitive Lallorian bellowed in pain. Losing his temper, he swung one giant arm at his assailant. There was the crack of bones breaking as his massive fist smashed into the alien’s head, and the yellow creature flew backwards where he hit the wall with a tremendous impact. The creature slumped to the ground with the rest of his comrades, and a growling Evolvo Lad advanced on him menacingly.

“Whoa there, big guy.” Gas Girl changed her composition to nitrous oxide and encased the raging caveman’s head. He fought back at first, swinging fruitlessly at the air, but after a few moments he’d calmed down sufficiently that Gas Girl could trust him not to tear his unconscious foe limb from limb. His enraged growls became a consistent low rumble, and Gas Girl backed away. Evolvo Lad’s Cro-Magnon form was a beast in combat, but he had much less impulse control. Over the years, the other Heroes of Lallor had learned to keep an eye on him and Gas Girl had long since discovered the optimum level of sedation needed to bring him out of his unreasoning fury. Fortunately he was also more resistant to injury in this form, and a blast that might have severed his arm normally had only left a nasty burn. It would require medical attention, but it could wait.

The two continued moving, and after another couple of altercations they had found the console Gas Girl had seen earlier. She couldn’t help but notice that the groups were getting larger, and they were more armed each time. She doubted they had anything which could harm her, but it was only a matter of time till they wore Evolvo Lad down. They needed to find Duplicate Boy and get out of here now. Gas Girl reverted to her normal Lallorian form and grabbed her teammate’s uninjured arm with both hands. “Evolvo Lad,” she pleaded, looking directly into the single-minded creature’s eyes, “I know you’re hurt, and I know it’s hard for you to think in this form, but I need you to use your power again. Can you do that for me? Your mind is what’s going to help us now, not your strength.”

Evolvo Lad grunted, then some sign of intelligence gleamed in his beady black eyes and Gas Girl felt him relax. His arm shrunk in her grip until he was once more his normal self, a half-naked brown-haired Lallorian youth. No longer protected by the increased pain tolerance of a Cro-Magnon man, he grimaced as he pushed his power in the opposite direction. His skin grew a couple of shades paler and his build much leaner. Most dramatically, he lost all of his body hair and his cranium elongated to several times its usual size to contain the advanced brain now within. The expression of barely contained agony on his face was instantly gone, and Evolvo Lad breathed a sigh of relief.

“Your wound doesn’t hurt anymore?” Gas Girl asked.

“I have suppressed my pain receptors,” Evolvo Lad explained. “One of the benefits that a million years of evolution provides. But my injury must now take second place to ensuring Duplicate Boy’s safety. Could I ask you to guard me while I examine this equipment, Gas Girl?”

"Of course." She faded into a cloud of colourless odourless gas and kept watch from the ceiling. She would see any of the aliens before they came close enough to hurt her friend, and she'd have the element of surprise on her side.

Evolvo Lad devoted a significant portion of his enhanced intellect to the console before him. At this stage he was almost entirely sure that the Dominion were behind this abduction. The organic technology, the almost mindless drones which while similar to Dominators, were clearly inferior in many ways...of greater concern to him, he was convinced that they were no longer anywhere on Lallor. At his current state of evolution, his senses and mind were both capable of insight denied him normally. The atmospheric pressure, the chemical makeup of the air, even the mildly lower gravity were not of his homeworld. First things first though. His fingers dashed across the touchscreen of the ridged console. Alien characters and diagrams swept past him in a flurry.

“Can you really read that?” Gas Girl asked from her invisible vantage point.

“Not entirely,” Evolvo Lad answered, sounding somewhat distracted. “I can make out enough for our purposes however. Duplicate Boy has been taken to...to be harvested? That makes no sense, it must be an error of translation - oh. Oh no.” He stood bolt upright, his eyes wide with terrified understanding.

“Evolvo Lad?” Gas Girl took on a more visible form to better communicate with him. “What is it? Is he in danger?”

Evolvo Lad turned to face her. “The Dominion have taken Duplicate Boy to a laboratory to harvest his DNA...I was to be next. Gas Girl, they plan to combine our abilities to create an entity who can duplicate the powers of any hero in the galaxy and then evolve those powers to their ultimate extent.”

“Very clever, Lallorian. Your reputation is not unearned.”

Standing before the two heroes was a Dominator in a mauve robe which reached the ground. A giant red disc was emblazoned on his bare yellow forehead and long razor-sharp teeth filled a smiling mouth.

Standing before the Dominator were the beings whom Gas Girl had seen take Evolvo Lad and Duplicate Boy from Homebase. There was a morbidly obese creature with four useless stubs of arms jutting out from beneath his rolls of flesh. His feet were covered in overhanging tubes of body fat, and a cheesy odor emanated from him. The creature was so fat that even his eyes were little more than slits in a rounded head. There was another who looked more like a standard Dominator, though his arms were longer and thinner. As he unfurled them from his side, the heroes saw that they were actually tentacles at least three times longer than his body length. The third in their party was similar to the other creatures they had come across earlier. He was short and squat, but the palms of his webbed hands contained numerous drooling mouths which opened and closed independently of one another. All three of them conspicuously had no markings on their foreheads at all. The being with the webbed hands held them up toward Evolvo Boy and uttered something unintelligible.

“No need to destroy them, Hypercharger,” the Dominator answered his servant. “We need the male creature alive and the female will make for a hostage should we need it. Sleeptank can dispatch them more peacefully.”

“Not if I dispatch him first!” Gas Girl retorted, floating toward the fat one. She recognised him as the one who’d kept her friends asleep during their abduction. She found herself unreasonably woozy however, and couldn’t focus on maintaining her gaseous form. She shifted back to her normal self, and along with Evolvo Lad she succumbed to an irresistible slumber.

“Tendril, collect them.” The Dominator turned and walked away as his tentacled minion ensnared the unconscious heroes and dragged them behind him. Sleeptank and Hypercharger followed close.

Unseen by any of the party of villains, a lone light flashed on the console behind them as a makeshift beacon sent its desperate cry for help out into the ether...

Wow! That was a long post, it kept ratcheting up the tension as it went.

Loved how Gas Girl had managed to accompany Evolvo and Dup, she is potentially a very versatile character but we've never really seen that explored.

There are so many good touches to this story that I'm almost at a loss where to begin - the descriptions of the Dominator tech, the smells, Evolvo losing control and his teammates learning how to deal with it, the Dominions planned use of the two mens DNA, the creepy Dominator metas, the way that Gas Girl and Evolvo were captured so easily (that doesn't bode well!) and the sneaky ending with the beacon being sent off.

Phew!

Splendid stuff Raz. I only ask for, no, I demand more, more, more!

DEEP SPACE

Life Lass watched stars streak past the window of the Legion cruiser as the ship raced towards Dominion territory. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the approach of Lightning Lass until the Legionnaire was standing behind her, her face reflected in the glass. “Is there anything we can do for you, Life Lass?” Ayla asked.

“The Legion have done more than enough already,” Life Lass replied, turning toward the heroine, but too shy to actually meet her concerned gaze. “I’m just worried about Duplicate Boy and the others. I hope the Dominators haven’t hurt them.”

“The other Heroes of Lallor were able to send a distress signal, that’s a positive sign.” Bouncing Boy interjected, coming from the bridge of the vessel. “After the Dominators attacked Panoptes, and now with the rest of your team abducted to Dominion space, the UP are only too happy for us to take a trip to their corner of the galaxy and find out what’s stirred up that hornet’s nest.”

“How are we going to find them?” Life Lass asked. “The distress signal was cut off before we could confirm its point of origin!”

“We’ve got something a little more reliable than a juryrigged beacon,” Bouncing Boy smiled. “And there she is now.” He pointed out the window as the winged Legionnaire Dawnstar effortlessly overtook the ship, a second Legion cruiser bringing up her rear.

“Don’t worry,” Ayla gave Life Lass’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll get your friends back in no time.”

**********

In the second cruiser, Tyroc turned away from the navcomp to the other Legionnaires on board. Brainiac 5 was deep in concentration, half a dozen different holoscreens floating before him. Shadow Lad meditated quietly, preparing himself mentally for the battle to come. Elastic Lad was enthusiastically teaching Supergirl how to play 4D Battlecruisers. Tyroc was confident that his contingent of heroes added to Life Lass and the seven Legionnaires on Bouncing Boy's ship would be enough to face any threat, but he also knew the Dominators wouldn't make it easy on them.

After some time, Dawnstar rejoined Tyroc's ship and Bouncing Boy opened a holo-channel between the two groups. Tyroc's crew saw Bouncing Boy, Lightning Lass, Shrinking Violet, Invisible Kid, Infectious Lass, Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy and Life Lass virtually sharing their bridge just as Bouncing Boy's crew saw them. "If I could have everyone's attention?" Chuck asked. "I don't know what we're about to face. Dawnstar tells me the other Heroes of Lallor are on the Dominator homeworld Elia...a place that very few United Planets citizens have ever seen for themselves, let alone set foot on. Our priority has to be the safe return of our friends, but we also want to find out why the Dominators kidnapped them to begin with. Above all else, I’m urging you all to be cautious and take this seriously. The Dominators are not a threat to be taken lightly, are we all clear on that?"

Though Bouncing Boy was addressing the team as a whole, Supergirl felt herself blush. She knew her flippant attitude on recent missions had been cause for concern for some of the Legionnaires. She also knew that with Mon-El visiting Shadow Lass on Talok VIII and Superboy not chosen for this mission due to his inexperience, she was the Legion's powerhouse today. She would not disappoint her friends again. She murmured assent along with the rest of the team.

“We’re going to stay in cloaked orbit while Dawnstar and Supergirl head planetside and find the other three Heroes of Lallor,” Bouncing Boy continued. “Brainy, Shadow Lad and Elastic Lad; you can come join the rest of us on board our ship when we follow them down. There’s no point putting two cruisers at risk. We have to assume the Dominators will try to blow us out of the sky as soon as they spot us so I want Tyroc, Ayla and Jo outside the ship running interference. Invisible Kid, Vi, Brainy; once we get down there, I want you three focused on finding out what the Dominators are up to while the rest of us engage them. Any questions?” Nobody spoke, so Bouncing Boy wished Dawnstar and Supergirl luck and sent them on their way.

*********

As fast as Dawnstar and Supergirl moved, they were a couple dozen miles above Elia’s surface within seconds. Dawnstar’s nose crinkled in disgust as she looked down over viscous oil-slicked seas and land masses covered in pod-like structures. “This world is vile,” she muttered. “There’s not an ounce of space left untainted by the Dominators’ touch!”

“You’re telling me,” Kara responded. “You don’t want to know some of the things my x-ray vision is picking up. No sign of our three heroes yet though, how about you?”

“My tracking power is best suited to the void of space,” Dawnstar replied, “But I have an unusual advantage here in that there are very few non-indigenous lifeforms on this planet. The Heroes of Lallor should stand out like - ha!” She changed direction with one sweep of her enormous white wings, and Supergirl followed as Dawnstar led them to a large cluster of pea green pod-structures on an island on Elia’s northern hemisphere. “They are somewhere down there,” Dawnstar explained. “I can locate them more precisely, but it will take time.”

“Never mind,” Kara answered, peering at the city below them. “I should start earning my keep anyway. Besides, you’re going to be a little preoccupied to track anyone soon.”

“Hmm?” Dawnstar seemed confused at first until she saw the sun glinting off of two military vessels speeding towards them. She evaded their strafing beams with utter ease, while Supergirl didn’t even seem to notice the bombardment.

“I was wondering when they’d notice us,” Kara remarked casually as smart missiles now exploded against her invulnerable form. “Can you keep them busy for a sec while I find your friends?”

“Indeed,” Dawnstar answered. “Perhaps I can even teach them the folly of attacking the Legion of Superheroes.” She spread her wings wide, presenting an easy target for the Dominators’ missiles. Once they had locked onto her bio-signature, she circled around and flew straight at one of the planes with a determined expression. She came close enough to the unmanned craft to brush her fingers against its hull, and then the graceful heroine veered straight up. By the time the missiles blew the vessel to shrapnel, she was half a mile away. Dawnstar heard a second explosion behind her, and suddenly Supergirl was once again beside her.

“I found them,” Supergirl announced. “Let’s call in the others!”

**********

Tyroc, Lightning Lass and Ultra Boy flanked the Legion cruiser as it descended through Elia’s atmosphere. The cruiser was substantially slower than Dawnstar or Supergirl, and a much easier target. Before too long the heroes had a whole squadron of planes in pursuit. While Lightning Lass destroyed missiles with crackling electrical bursts, Tyroc’s screams disabled the planes. Ultra Boy used his speed and invulnerability with precision timing to protect the cruiser from energy weapons. “I thought the diskheads would give us more of a challenge!” Ultra Boy laughed. “I’ve had tougher games of moopsball than this!” As if on cue, the Rimborian hero was instantly consumed in a roaring plasma stream metres wide.

“Ultra Boy!” Lightning Lass was aghast. She could feel the heat of the sudden attack even from the other side of the cruiser.

The plasma dissipated, leaving a smoking Ultra Boy in its wake. His costume was in tatters and his hair was a mess, but he seemed unharmed. Ayla and Tyroc shared a sigh of relief. “Lucky I was still using my ultra-energy for invulnerability,” Jo remarked, “But what the sprock was that?”

“Some kind of ground-based weapon,” Tyroc answered, pointing to an enormous cannon below them which was even now slowly moving into position for another shot. “And I’d guess they were actually aiming at the ship. Let’s not give them a second chance.” He drew breath and screamed, the sound cutting off abruptly when he teleported away. Moments later, Ayla and Jo saw the complex below them racked with explosions.

Once the Legionnaires reached the buildings where Supergirl and Dawnstar had found the other Heroes of Lallor, Brainiac 5 remained onboard the cruiser to hack the Dominion’s data networks. With his force-field belt projected around the hovering vessel, he was untouchable and he’d be ready to extract the team at a moment’s notice. The rest of the Legion entered the complex, where Invisible Kid and Shrinking Violet separated from the others.

“Should we be worried that Supergirl and Dawnstar haven’t checked in since we arrived?” Shadow Lad asked, enveloping Dominion security sensors in darkness.

“Gosh, nothing can hurt Supergirl!” Elastic Lad answered cheerily. His rubbery form weaved between oncoming minions, scattering them. “I’m sure they’re both having as much fun as we are!”

Bouncing Boy hoped Elastic Lad was right. Chuck was a little wary that the girls hadn’t made contact with them, but Supergirl really was invulnerable and Dawnstar was an experienced hero herself. As he ricocheted from one foe to another, he told himself that they were probably just preoccupied with fighting. If nothing else, at least Kara had left them a trail of destruction a blind man could follow.

“Elastic Lad, you’ve got a very strange idea of fun,” Infectious Lass remarked. She allowed two of the Dominators’ thuggish servant caste to lay hands on her, then infested their respiratory systems with so many different infections that they collapsed helplessly in coughing heaps.

“You don’t think this is fun?” Colossal Boy joked. Inside the confines of this complex he couldn’t grow taller than sixteen feet, but that still left him strong enough to rip a chunk of the wall away and use it as a shield against the plasma rifles coming up a side corridor. He charged the gunmen, easily laying them low.

“Uh-oh,” Ultra Boy frowned. He switched his ultra-energy from penetra-vision to flash vision, incinerating the final two walls separating them all from Supergirl and Dawnstar so the other Legionnaires could see what he’d just seen.

A robed Dominator stood calmly before them, three mutated servants at his side. One of them had long tentacles in place of arms, and these were now wrapped around the unconscious forms of Supergirl and Dawnstar. The Dominator held a small metallic flask in each hand, his long bony fingers wrapped tight around the cylinders.

“Welcome to Elia,” the sinister villain grinned. “The Kryptonian will produce excellent genestock, but I assure you we have no interest in the continued survival of either your winged female or the gaseous one I hold in these vacuum tubes. So unless you want them to die, I would recommend your immediate surrender.”

The heroes all turned to Bouncing Boy, who wore an absurd expression of shock in his inflated form. He hated the very idea of surrender, but he couldn’t allow Dawnstar or Gas Girl to come to harm.

“No...no, don’t hurt them.” The leader of the Legion of Superheroes deflated to his normal proportions, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

“We give up.”

TO BE CONTINUED..!

More exciting stories! Love how you can juggle such large groups of Legionnaires and not let anyone get lost in each scene. Have to say this is Levitz-style plotting at its best, so many subplots being woven but none lying dormant completely!

Love Life Lass' relative shyness. Gas Girl stood out, love Nightwind rocking on Venus (but also letting Nura, Thom and Tenzil shine). Good use of Lamprey and Turtle too!

Thanks IB, I am glad you dug Gas Girl as I had a lot of fun writing her and Evolvo Lad's powers! Hopefully the next couple of installments should give the other Heroes of Lallor an equal chance to shine!

Hey Raz, another great installment, love how you have used this team, from Kara and Dawny being pathfinders and Alya, Jo and Troy running interfere,brainy remaining safe on the ship and vi and Jacques sneaking about. Some lovely characterisation too from life lass being shy to Kara's embarrasment, Dawny's confidence, Alya's concern for life lass, though the biggest surprise was Chuck apparently giving up at the end! I really didn't expect that!

You consistently write well plotted prices that are a pleasure to read, thank you!

More, more.... Oh you know the drill by now

Another great instalment as always. i feel like i'm running out of ways to compliment you. But i just get so excited to read these and really enjoy them.

agreed your juggling of characters is great.

I don't know the Heroes of Lallor very well but so far I'm liking them pretty well. Life lass seems really meek. but endearing.

Chuck giving up like that?
I think its a ploy to get in closer. I just don't think Dawnstar and Supergirl would be that easily defeated. But good ending.


also /I want to see more of the Academy kids. and Diamond Damsel. we haven't seen her in a bit.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

To be honest, I only barely remember reading a couple of cameos from the Heroes of Lallor when I was much younger and maybe once or twice during the 5YL era as well, so I have pretty much been making them up as I go along while trying to use stuff I have found online as a reference (eg: Life Lass being shy, Duplicate Boy's rep for being an idiot)...the only real concrete memory I have of any of them is Duplicate Boy's role in the Vi/Yera story...so I'm glad people are liking them!

After the Dominators story I am gonna do my own version of...well I won't say what it is because I don't wanna spoil it, but it will be a pretty epic story and will involve all 30+ Legionnaires on my active roster with the Subs, the Academy kids and a lot of other surprising individuals involved as well. It is more daunting than I thought plotting it all out, so I hope it doesn't crash and burn, hahaha...but if y'all are enjoying the series so far it is about to kick into overdrive!

THE DOMINION HOMEWORLD, ELIA
Military Bioscience Complex 361
Standing on a catwalk raised high above their inferiors milling about below them, two Dominators examined various experiments in progress.

“It is a shame our studies of the Daxamite genome on Panoptes were cut short,” one of the yellow-skinned beings intoned.

“Indeed,” his companion nodded. “Though perhaps it is for the best. My predecessor did not anticipate the intervention of the Interstellar Counter-Intelligence Corps and its pet Kryptonian. I have profited from his failure, and I have learned. Researching the metahumans of the United Planets has not provided us with insight into many of the Kryptonian’s allies, but they did bring to light these so-called Heroes of Lallor. With the powers of the Lallorian males at our command, the Dominion will brook no opposition. Our rise to galactic power will be swift and terrible.”

“And how goes the harvest?” the first Dominator asked.

“Our prototype weapon should be almost ready to awaken,” the second Dominator answered as the two men walked through a heavily guarded door to a corridor outside. “We shall test its efficiency against the Lallorian female before sending it to destroy Lallor itself. From there, the United Planets will be ours. Praised be the Dominion.”

“Praised be the Dominion.” The two men nodded at one another and parted ways.

Once the corridor was empty, a tiny woman’s voice silently spoke with her teammate via telepathic earplugs. Invisible Kid, did you catch all that?

Oui, Ma’amselle. As per his codename, Jacques Foccart hovered invisibly in the corridor. His teammate Shrinking Violet was perched on his shoulder, small enough that he could easily include her in his power’s effect. What do we do now?

Let’s find somewhere more secluded and call Brainiac 5 on our flight rings, she responded. If the Dominators are using Evolvo Lad and Duplicate Boy to power their weapons somehow, he’ll know how to stop it.

**********
Elsewhere in the same complex, Bouncing Boy faced his team in the aftermath of his surrender to the Dominators. Lightning Lass, Tyroc, Shadow Lad, Elastic Lad, Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy, Infectious Lass and Life Lass gaped in shock until Ultra Boy finally broke the silence. “Chuck, you can’t be serious!” the Rimborian hero exclaimed.

“Ultra Boy’s right!” Twice the height of the others, Colossal Boy’s voice was booming. “We can’t just surrender!”

“Bouncing Boy wouldn’t do this if there were another way,” Shadow Lad spoke up, defending the man who’d been his teacher for so long.

Bouncing Boy gestured toward the smug Dominator agents. Supergirl and Dawnstar seemed visibly unharmed, but were totally unconscious within the tentacles of one of the Dominion mutates, and their enemy’s leader held Gas Girl helpless in two metallic cannisters. “What do you suggest we do?” Bouncing Boy barked. He looked back at his teammates, making sure to lock eyes with Infectious Lass longer than the others. “It makes me sick to have to lay down our arms like this, but we can’t risk the girls’ safety with a direct assault!”

“The fat one is correct,” the Dominators’ leader spoke, enjoying every moment of this. “I encourage you to...to...why do I feel so weak..?” He dropped the vacuum tubes he’d been carrying and leaned against a wall for support. His minions teetered on their feet, Tendril loosening his grip on his own captives.

“Spondiasa Disease,” Infectious Lass replied, sounding very satisfied with herself. “A bacterial infection that only affects certain races, Dominators being one of them. Don’t worry, at the rate it’s burning through your systems you should be fine in a few hours.”

“Don’t take any chances!” Bouncing Boy shouted. “Get the girls and let’s keep moving!”

“I think...not,” the nameless Dominator leader protested, now on his hands and knees. “Hypercharger...the hostages...” He finally passed out, falling in a heap on the floor.

The mutates were made of stronger stuff than their leader, and while still affected by Infectious Lass’ power they had not yet succumbed entirely. The one called Hypercharger reached for both of the fallen cannisters, revealing many drooling mouths on his open palms. A strange iridescent goop vomited forth from the mouths, engulfing the cannisters and causing them to glow brighter and brighter, vibrating as though they were about to explode any second.

With quiet determination Life Lass immediately took action. Using her power to animate objects, she sprung open the cannisters holding Gas Girl. Her friend coalesced into a visible cloud of mist while Ultra Boy threw his invulnerable body over the empty vacuum tubes and took the brunt of their explosion. The obese Dominion mutate known as Sleeptank turned his own power on Ultra Boy, and Jo Nah joined Supergirl and Dawnstar in deep sleep.

“I guess we know now how they managed to take down Supergirl!” Bouncing Boy reasoned, inflating once more and slamming into Sleeptank. He ricocheted from Sleeptank to Hypercharger before Tendril released Dawnstar and grabbed Bouncing Boy out of mid-air. The mutate was too weakened to actually hurt him, but Chuck was rendered immobile.

“Get Dawnstar clear!” Lightning Lass commanded. “I’ve got this one!”

Colossal Boy obeyed immediately, lifting Dawnstar easily in both arms and facing the wall to shield her. Ayla let loose with a lightning blast, electrocuting Tendril. Bouncing Boy and Supergirl were both protected by their powers, as Ayla knew they would be. Finally falling victim to Spondiasa Disease, Hypercharger and Sleeptank also joined their fellows in unconsciousness.

“Life Lass, you brought the Legion of Superheroes!” Gas Girl cheered. “Brilliant! One good turn deserves another, I always say!” She changed her composition to ammonium carbonate and revived Ultra Boy and Dawnstar while Bouncing Boy extricated himself and Supergirl from Tendril’s grip. When it came time to wake Supergirl though, the Lallorian heroine was stymied. “I don’t get it!” Gas Girl complained. “Do you think they did anything else to keep her under?”

“They wouldn’t have had time,” Tyroc replied. “A Supergirl probably just needs a super wake-up call is all.” He kneeled down by Kara’s side and bellowed her name into her ear. Everyone present felt the bass tremble through them, and Supergirl’s eyes snapped open instantly.

“Lana! I’m coming! Oh...” She realised where she was and cleared her throat, gathering her composure. “Heh, sorry guys.”

“You’ve got nothing to apologise for, Supergirl.” Tyroc offered his hand and helped Kara to her feet.

“He’s right,” Gas Girl agreed. “That disgusting Sleeptank even got me when I was in gas form! The important thing is we’re all together now.”

“Not all of us,” Bouncing Boy cut in. “We still need to find the other half of your team.”

“Duplicate Boy is in a cell on this floor,” Supergirl volunteered. “Dawnstar and I were on our way there when those creeps ambushed us.”

“My penetra-vision has spotted Evolvo Lad too, another level down,” Ultra Boy added, before continuing more sheepishly. “And Chuck, I’m sorry about before...we should have trusted you.”

“Jo’s right,” Colossal Boy agreed. “Sorry, pal.”

“No harm done,” Bouncing Boy brushed them off amicably. “Let’s split into two groups. Dawnstar, Gas Girl, Lightning Lass, Ultra Boy, Elastic Lad and Tyroc can free Evolvo Lad. Everyone else is with me, we’ll rescue Duplicate Boy. Let’s go, Legion!”

Bouncing Boy’s team had to fight their way to Duplicate Boy’s cell, but the six of them were more than a match for ordinary Dominion guards. When they finally reached the cell, Bouncing Boy's flight ring buzzed. “It’s Brainy,” he advised the others. “I’d better take it. Don’t wait for me, bust Duplicate Boy out of there.”

“Everyone stand back,” Supergirl warned the team. “I’ll break down the -- huh?” The door to the cell opened seemingly of its own volition.

“Sorry,” Life Lass blushed crimson. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you, Supergirl!”

“Hey, whatever works, right?” Supergirl smiled and led the team into Duplicate Boy’s cell, though there was only room enough for herself, Life Lass and Shadow Lad to enter. Lying on a bench almost too small for him, they saw Duplicate Boy wearing a sensory-deprivation helmet, his hands bound together in power suppression cuffs. He was shirtless and his body was covered in small bruises.

Life Lass glared at her teammate's restraints with rarely expressed anger. “I'm getting those things off of him right now.” She gestured and the restrictive devices unlocked, bouncing to a corner of the room. She crouched down by her friend’s side and brushed her hand against his cheek. “Ord,” she whispered. “Wake up, please, you have to wake up.”

Duplicate Boy came to with a start. "Wha...Life Lass...Dominators! The Dominators!" He gripped her arm urgently.

"We know," Life Lass soothed. "The Legion of Superheroes are here to help us. We're going to get you home."

"We need to move, people." Bouncing Boy poked his head inside the cell. "Brainiac 5 found out what the Dominators have been plotting, and it's not pleasant. I just lost contact though, I don't know if they've blocked our comms or--"

Supergirl cocked her head to one side and then stared up at the ceiling. Wide-eyed, she turned back to the others. "Duplicate Boy! Copy my powers! Now!" She inhaled, and with a tremendous gust of super-breath sent Bouncing Boy, Infectious Lass and even Colossal Boy tumbling back down the corridor head over heels, along with the guards they'd already knocked out..

In his inflated form, Bouncing Boy recovered instantly. He started bouncing back towards the cell with a question on his lips but before the first word had left his mouth, the ceiling collapsed on the cell and half the corridor. Colossal Boy approached the wreckage in awe. "If Supergirl hadn't acted..."

"We'd be under there right now," Chuck finished grimly.

"She saved our lives," Infectious Lass added. "But what about them?"

Several metres away and behind a mountain of wreckage, twin powerhouses acted in tandem to shrug off the hundreds of tons of debris which had rained down upon them. Duplicate Boy and Supergirl helped Shadow Lad and Life Lass stand up. "Is everybody in one piece?" Supergirl asked.

"We're fine," Shadow Lad answered. "Thanks to you and Duplicate Boy shielding us."

"That was amazing!" Duplicate Boy laughed. "How did you know that was going to happen?"

Kara tapped her ear. "Super-hearing. We're not home free yet though." She looked up, and the others followed her gaze. What they saw chilled them to the bone.

Descending toward them was a musclebound white-skinned Dominator with eyes that glowed like burning embers. In place of a red disk, he bore a sphere representing Elia on his forehead. This was complimented with a stylised aerial map of the Dominion homeworld running down his torso. The map was outlined in a thick black border, which continued into stripes along his arms and legs to join with black gloves and boots. A voluminous blue cape framed his powerful form, and in his right hand he carried Brainiac 5 by the scruff of his collar.

"Brainy!" Supergirl flew at them, aghast.

"Take the Coluan," the Dominator spat, hurling him at Supergirl.

Brainiac 5 was battered, bruised and barely conscious. Supergirl cradled him gently in mid-air. "Oh Brainy, what did they do to you..?"

"Not they," the grinning monster corrected the Kryptonian teen. "I did this on my own, girl. And now B.I.O.N. will be the death of you all."

TO BE CONCLUDED..!

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! Amazing! I have no doubt you will be able to handle your epic story with much success, based on your track record

B.I.O.N! Fantastic! Great stuff Raz, looking forward to the finale.Once again, you have so much going on in your stories that manages to include everyone but still create stories that are fun to read.

More, more, more!

Thanks everyone! Last chapter of the Dominator story should be up this weekend hopefully! (it is trying to stretch its way into two chapters though so we'll see how we go)

...and then I can start on my version of LEGION LOST which is probably gonna keep me and the Legion busy for the rest of the year and have about a gazillion guest stars!! Excitement!!

This story just gets better and better.

I'd make a list of stuff I like, but it would take an hour to type. You are a *master* of cool detail, and yet not so much that it remains flavorful and doesn't turn into a science lesson or future history lesson!

Very cool uses of the Heroes of Lallor and Academy students like Mandalla, Nightwind, Laurel Kent and Power Boy. While I'm a big fan to the others, I've never known much about Mandalla, so it's intriguing to see her here. And the hyper-competent '89' is just awesome. Great to see that long-forgotten character get a callback!

I love all the awesome 31st century details, like the night club with the starfield lights letting other people know what music you are listening to, or the translator exceptions.

Wolfbat, Crescent and Sliver totally need to get write-ups in Heroes of Other Worlds, too!

Just amazing!

Thanks Set! Mandalla is another one I've kind of made up as I've gone along, I haven't really seen anything with her in it outside of Who's Who....anyway, on with the final chapter! This is a long one, but hopefully worth it!
**********

THE DOMINION HOMEWORLD, ELIA
Military Bioscience Complex 361
Dawnstar, Gas Girl, Lightning Lass, Ultra Boy, Elastic Lad and Evolvo Lad gaped in awe as Tyroc’s power kept a forcefield in place above their heads. He’d reacted as soon as the heroes had heard the building crashing down upon them, and his cry was now the only thing keeping them alive.

Lightning Lass shouted something, but nobody could even begin to hear her over the din of Tyroc’s scream. They all understood her intent though; Tyroc had dropped to one knee, a vein was throbbing in his neck and he’d broken out into a quivering sweat. He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for much longer.

Evolvo Lad peered back at the mass of wreckage which had been his cell until the Legion had liberated him only moments ago. The enhanced intellect of his hyper-evolved form made him acutely aware of how close he had come to death, and how close they all still were. Analysing the structural integrity of the remaining building, Evolvo Lad tapped Ultra Boy on the shoulder, pointed at Jo’s brown eyes and then at a specific point on the floor. Following the Lallorian hero’s lead, Ultra Boy emitted a wide arc of flash vision, incinerating the floor below them. Tyroc’s voice finally gave out, and there was a flurry of motion as the heroes made a quick escape from the crumbling edifice above and behind them.

Once they were all at a safe distance, the heroes took a moment for their ears to stop ringing and to regain their composure. Predictably, Elastic Lad was the first to recover his power of speech. “Gosh, Tyroc! That was swell! I can’t believe you were so quick, if you’d been even a nano slower we’d all be flat as pancakes by now! Well except for Gas Girl, obviously...and Ultra Boy’s invulnerability would protect him if he had a chance to use it...and you know, now that I think about it a falling building might trap me but it wouldn’t really hurt me much with my elastic body. What do you all think happened? It didn’t feel like seismic activity, do you think it was an attack? Gee, I wonder who would have the power to smash up a whole building like that? Hey, is that a piece of our cruiser??”

Interrupting Elastic Lad’s rambling, a twenty-five foot tall Duplicate Boy tumbled through the rubble, exposing the sky beyond. Hovering there was a white-skinned muscular Dominator in a blue cape. With one powerful strike the Dominator slammed Bouncing Boy away, while Supergirl’s heat vision seemed to have no effect on the villain’s hairless scalp at all.

“Oh my gawf, Duplicate Boy!” Gas Girl formed herself into a cloud of ammonium carbonate for the second time today.

Duplicate Boy inhaled sharply as alertness hit him, and reduced his size until he was the same height as the others. “Colossal Boy’s power didn’t do much against that creep, let’s try Superboy!” He moved to take off again before Evolvo Lad grabbed him.

“Duplicate Boy, wait.” Evolvo Lad peered up at the Dominator in the sky. He was easily trading blows with Supergirl now. An enormous Colossal Boy approached from the north, and the Dominator’s body language showed he was aware but completely undisturbed by this. “Is that what they created with our DNA?” Evolvo Lad asked.

Duplicate Boy nodded, wiping blood from his lip. “His name’s B.I.O.N. I’m glad you’re okay, but I can’t stop and chat...he’s gonna wipe the floor with Supergirl unless I get back up there!” He zipped off into battle again before Evolvo Lad could get another word out.

“He’s got a point,” Ultra Boy noted. “We can figure out how this happened later, right now we have to stop this guy from killing us all!” Jo took off in Duplicate Boy’s wake, and the rest of the Legionnaires followed suit.

Gas Girl made herself visible, floating beside Evolvo Lad as she watched B.I.O.N. effortlessly shake off the Legionnaires’ combined assault. “Evolvo Lad...we’re not going to beat this guy just by hitting him, are we?”

“No,” a new voice answered. “We are not.” A very battered Brainiac 5 floated over the wreckage to join them, an arm and leg both in makeshift casts thanks to Life Lass’s power. With no flight ring to propel Life Lass, she scrambled over the wreckage to join them. “They will learn that for themselves though,” Brainiac 5 continued, hovering in place so as to avoid undue stress on his injured leg. “We need to rendezvous with Shrinking Violet and Invisible Kid and assist them in their task while our teammates deal with B.I.O.N.”

“Their task?” Gas Girl asked. “What could they be doing that’s more important than this?!”

“Gas Girl,” Brainiac explained, “B.I.O.N. is only a prototype. There will be many more superior to him, unless we do something about it.”

“Brainiac 5 is correct,” Evolvo Lad agreed. “We cannot allow the Dominators to mass-produce this creature, Gas Girl. The United Planets would crumple.” The four heroes moved further into the complex, leaving Duplicate Boy and the other Legionnaires to deal with B.I.O.N. alone.

**********
In the sky, B.I.O.N.’s head vanished inside a sphere of absolute darkness. “This isn’t exactly sporting,” Shadow Lad admitted, “but then it’s not really a game. Pile on, everyone!”

“I disagree,” B.I.O.N.’s voice came from inside the darkness. “I think this is great sport!” He rocketed straight at the blue-skinned hero, intercepted at the last instant by Supergirl.

“Nice try, Grev!” Supergirl shouted as she drove B.I.O.N. into the wreckage. “But he’s got evolved versions of all of our powers, that probably includes your ability to see in the dark!”

“Shadow Lad got one thing right though,” Ultra Boy joined Supergirl’s assault, pounding at the villain with ultra-strength. “Don’t give this guy a chance to hit back! Let's keep him down!” Jo’s knuckles were beginning to bleed from continually punching his invulnerable foe, but he ignored the pain and kept going. Soon Duplicate Boy was there as well, the three heroes striking B.I.O.N. with such impact that they caused more of the building to crumble. Digging his hand into a chunk of wall, B.I.O.N. swung it at his assailants. It smashed into fragments against Duplicate Boy’s indestructible hide, but a stray piece concussed Ultra Boy before he could switch his ultra-energy to invulnerability once more. Elastic Lad snagged Jo as he flew backwards, using his own pliable form to cushion the Rimborian hero.

Elastic Lad gently lowered Ultra Boy to a stable part of the complex and stretched his neck toward Dawnstar and Infectious Lass yards away. “Gosh, Infectious Lass! We’re really taking a licking, do you have some kind of disease that might save the day?”

“I’ve already tried,” Infectious Lass bit her thumbnail as she watched the battle nervously. “His immune system is hardier than anything I’ve come across before. Nothing affects him!”

“We’d better find something that affects him!” Dawnstar observed as Supergirl and Duplicate Boy careened overhead and knocked Colossal Boy over. “Otherwise none of us are leaving here alive!”

**********
Six levels underground, the complex still rumbled from the epic battle above. Brainiac 5 referred to blueprints he’d downloaded to his omnicom as he and the rest of the Heroes of Lallor exited a maglift. “The laboratory we’re looking for should be on this level,” he advised the others. “Let’s just hope the others leave enough of a building standing for us to leave when we’re done.”

“You won’t be leaving,” a sinister voice contested. The four heroes saw two Dominator scientists standing before a locked doorway. Obviously having recovered faster than Infectious Lass had counted on, the Dominator mutates Sleeptank, Tendril and Hypercharger stood beside the two scientists.

Evolvo Lad supposed they’d been conditioned to accept orders from any Dominator, because these Dominators had much smaller discs than the one who’d commanded the mutates earlier. Having experienced Sleeptank’s power firsthand, Evolvo Lad devolved into his Cro-Magnon form and launched himself at the obese creature. He grabbed hold of Sleeptank’s head in both hands and smashed a knee into his foe’s face. Before Evolvo Lad could move to his next target, Tendril had already wrapped him in one of his inhuman appendages. Tendril squeezed, crushing the Lallorian in his constrictive grip for a moment before the villain joined Sleeptank on the floor thanks to Gas Girl’s power. The last of the mutates moved towards the still entwined Evolvo Lad, but was stopped in his tracks when Shrinking Violet grew up underneath Hypercharger and delivered an uppercut which knocked him off of his feet.

The two scientists looked at one another and turned to run in the opposite direction when some unseen force smashed their skulls together. They fell at the feet of Invisible Kid as he faded into view. “Mon dieu!” Jacques exclaimed. “Brainiac 5, what happened to you?”

“B.I.O.N. happened,” Brainiac answered, hovering toward the lab the mutates had been guarding. “That’s the least of our problems right now though. He held up his omnicom to scan the holographic sign which labelled the lab. “Biologically Integrated Organic Network Gestation Chamber,” he read the translated text. “This is where we need to be. Life Lass, the door please?”

Life Lass opened the door for them while Evolvo Lad, Gas Girl and Shrinking Violet incapacitated the Dominators they found within. Once they entered the spacious room, the door closed behind them again and a huge console ripped itself from the wall and teetered seemingly of its own volition to block the doorway. “That should give us a little privacy until we’re ready to leave,” Life Lass explained.

“Excellent,” Brainiac 5 noted, preoccupied with his omnicom. “Now we just need to find the gestation matrix, it will look like -- oh. I see.” He raised his head to view what the others had already found for themselves. Standing before them was a tree-like structure some three stories high. It had roots growing from every branch into the walls and ceiling around it and larger roots which stemmed from its trunk and dug into the floor at their feet. Hanging upon nine of the major branches, glistening amber pseudo-pods bubbled out. Each pod was large enough to hold a person easily, and each one held embryos in various states of development.

Invisible Kid approached one of the pods and cupped his eyes as he peered at the organism growing within. “How do we save these unfortunates?” he asked.

“We’re not here to save them,” Brainiac 5 answered as he moved toward a console at the foot of the trunk. “This is where they created that B.I.O.N. creature. We’re here to stop them making any more. I can create a virus that will destroy their research, but you all need to exterminate these things before they hatch.”

Invisible Kid’s eyes grew wide. “But...but they are living creatures!”

“They’re programmed sacks of meat,” Brainiac argued calmly. “They mimic life, but they are not alive in the sense that we are, Jacques.”

Shrinking Violet grabbed a firearm from one of the Dominators she’d knocked out. “If these creatures do have any spark of sentience,” she noted coldly, “Being a biological weapon is no kind of life for them. We’re doing them a mercy.” She took aim and fired at the nearest pod, watching emotionlessly as amniotic fluid poured out over the floor. Evolvo Lad followed suit, ripping into the pods with bestial strength.

“I - I know we’re doing the right thing,” Life Lass trembled, her eyes filled with tears. “But I can’t...I just can’t! I’m sorry!”

Gas Girl reverted to her Lallorian form and hugged her friend. “Somi, it’s okay. Just...just don’t look, okay?”

There was a thunderous impact above, followed by several more which increased in intensity each time. “He knows,” Brainiac 5 uttered with a note of fear in his voice.

The ceiling tore apart above them and B.I.O.N. crashed through, Duplicate Boy and Supergirl clinging on to him. Tyroc and Lightning Lass followed close behind, attacking him from a safe distance. “I have enjoyed toying with you all,” B.I.O.N. announced, “But perhaps I have underestimated you. No matter, I can end this now.” He grabbed Duplicate Boy by the throat and hurled him away. Duplicate Boy hurtled through the tree itself, collapsing the entire section of wall upon which it grew on top of most of the heroes.

“Brainy!” Supergirl glared at B.I.O.N., thankful that she could still hear Brainiac 5’s heartbeat. One of Kara’s eyes was almost swollen shut, her lower lip was bleeding and it hurt to breathe. She was exhausted, and B.I.O.N. wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Seeing Brainiac 5 injured again however gave Kara the rage she needed to keep going. Too angry and hurt for banter, she boxed B.I.O.N.’s ears with fists powerful enough to shatter planetoids. He cried out in shock at the sensation, and while he was still reeling she fired full intensity heat vision blasts directly into his eyes. The creature bellowed in pain, the first time he had done so since this fight had begun.

“I will end this now!” B.I.O.N. slapped Supergirl’s hands away from his head, and before her eyes his very form changed into glowing green crystalline rock. Kryptonite. Supergirl collapsed to the floor below, B.I.O.N. descending after her. “I have Duplicate Boy’s powers evolved a million years,” he explained. “That means I can mimic the powers of any of you so-called heroes, including the one called Element Lad...and with a million years to evolve it seems that his power of transmutation will even extend to his own form. How unfortunate for you, Kryptonian.”

“In a million years he’ll still need to breathe!” Gas Girl surrounded the villain’s head in a cloud of deadly chlorine gas.

“Go away.” B.I.O.N. dissipated Gas Girl to all corners of the room with a touch of Nightwind’s power.

In the rubble, Duplicate Boy stirred. He had never felt pain like this before. His vision was swimming, his leg felt as though it were broken. He couldn’t hear out of one ear. His other ear did hear something nagging at him, some reedy voice dragging him to consciousness. “Nhh...Violet..?”

Seven inches high, she was standing on his chest as he lay in the rubble. “Damn it, Ord. Get up! I’m not going to let my friends die because of your stupidity!”

“What do you want me to do?” he rasped. “I’ve tried everything! Even Mon-El’s strength means nothing to that thing!” Lightning Lass slammed into the wall to their left and slumped to the ground in a heap.

“You’re duplicating the wrong person!” she yelled. “Grife, use your brain for once!”

He got up one elbow, spitting out a bloody tooth fragment. “What hero is stronger than Mon-El?!” he yelled at her in return. There were two Violets wavering back and forth before him now and Duplicate Boy couldn’t tell which one was real.

Violet grabbed hold of Duplicate Boy’s jaw with two tiny hands and turned his head toward B.I.O.N. charging a screaming Tyroc. “That monster is killing all of us! He’s killing Supergirl! To the Dominators, he’s a hero!!”

Duplicate Boy was dumbfounded for a couple of seconds before his eyes widened in stunned comprehension.

B.I.O.N. tossed Tyroc to one side and looked around the room now bathed in his emerald glow. It seemed that only one of them remained.

He gave Life Lass his most menacing leer and advanced on her. To her credit, she stood her ground despite the fact that she was clearly terrified. Every loose object in the room launched itself at him, but B.I.O.N. simply transmuted the makeshift projectiles into inert gases. He grabbed the Lallorian heroine by the throat and raised her in the air. “I am tempted to leave you alive so that you can tell the United Planets what to expect,” he sneered. “But your corpses shall serve as warning enough.” He began to squeeze and Life Lass gasped for air, struggling fruitlessly against his grip. Inexplicably, his hand suddenly passed straight through her as though she were a phantom. Life Lass dropped to the floor, revealing Duplicate Boy standing behind her.

“Did you know Phantom Girl’s power will evolve one day to be able to phase other people as easily as she phases herself?” Duplicate Boy grinned.

B.I.O.N. gaped open-mouthed. “What...how..?”

“To be fair, that’s not the kind of thing I could have figured out on my own,” Duplicate Boy continued. “So I should thank you for the intellect boost.” Before B.I.O.N. could respond, Duplicate Boy delivered a two-fisted punch that sent his foe flying through six subterranean levels and out of the building itself. Duplicate Boy used Tellus' hyper-evolved telepathy to wake everyone up, and his telekinesis to restore them physically. “Get out of here," he ordered. "I’ll take care of him if I have to bring this whole planet crashing down around him to do it.” He turned to follow B.I.O.N. only to meet the creature's power dive face first. The room trembled and began falling apart as B.I.O.N.'s assault took the two deeper underground.

Duplicate Boy called on Timber Wolf’s agility to flip B.I.O.N. as they drilled through thousands of miles of rock with unimaginable strength and speed. Keeping their momentum going, he pushed even harder. The whole time, the two combatants were attacking and counter-attacking with a myriad of exotic powers faster than anybody else would be able to follow.

“Do you intend on tunneling through Elia itself?” B.I.O.N. asked. “You cannot possibly believe this will hurt me, fool.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” Duplicate Boy responded. “Because it’s not hurting me either. Some power you’ve got here, B.I.O.N. You must feel invincible.” Duplicate Boy put all of his strength into one mighty blow that sent B.I.O.N. flying eight hundred miles into the outer core of the planet itself. B.I.O.N. yelped in pain as he was consumed by radioactive liquid ore, but Duplicate Boy steeled himself for the agony and kept moving forward to meet his foe.

Duplicate Boy charged into B.I.O.N. once more. The villain was visibly damaged, but already healing. B.I.O.N. roared telepathically into Duplicate Boy’s brain as he assaulted him physically, with enough psionic force that sentients across Elia developed spontaneous migraines.

The men were both fighting in superheated molten currents now and it was searing them almost as fast as they could heal. You’re definitely powerful, Duplicate Boy responded, but invincible? I don’t think so. Without warning, the Lallorian hero launched himself at B.I.O.N. and tore a hole through his skull with evolved Bismollian teeth.

B.I.O.N. screamed in Duplicate Boy’s mind, a horrific sensation that Ord Quelu was glad he would not have to remember for much longer. He wished there was another way, but the villain was already healing. It was now or never. Duplicate Boy placed the palm of his hand into B.I.O.N.’s open skull wound, said a silent goodbye to his friends, and converted the two of them into raging anti-energy.

**********
With B.I.O.N. having destroyed the cruiser the Legion brought planetside, Dawnstar, Supergirl and Ultra Boy had been forced to shepherd their friends at super-speed to their second cruiser still in orbit. It wasn’t until all of them were safely aboard the vessel that the two teams looked at one another as if coming out of a dream. “Why are we here..?” Bouncing Boy asked, groggy. “Shouldn’t we be down there helping Duplicate Boy?”

“It felt like a compulsion,” Evolvo Lad replied. “Ord told us to leave and it felt right to obey...but now-” He never completed his statement. Everyone on board felt a bittersweet sensation of gratitude and love encompass them, Violet and the Heroes of Lallor most of all. As quickly as it came, it was gone.

And then the planet exploded.

Brainiac 5 took to the shuttle’s controls without question. He knew that his computer mind would give them the best chance of getting away from here unscathed. The shockwave hit them before anything else, and they were thrown about the ship violently before Brainiac got it under control. He flew at full speed until he was satisfied that they were at a safe distance, then slowed down to conserve power.

The Legionnaires were all in shock. Shrinking Violet stared silently at the destruction behind them, one lone tear cascading down her cheek. Lightning Lass tried to think of something to say, but in the end settled for placing a hand on Vi’s shoulder. Violet didn’t say anything, but squeezed Ayla’s hand tight.

Life Lass was inconsolable. She cried into Gas Girl’s embrace, tremendous sobs that broke everyone’s heart.

In his normal form, Evolvo Lad sat beside his teammates and hugged them both. “Ord did what he had to do, Somi. B.I.O.N. was too powerful, there was no other way.” He desperately wanted to change to the less emotional form of his hyper-evolved self, but now was not the time for that. He needed to be here for his family. “I know it hurts, but it’ll pass. We’ll go home and we’ll tell everyone he sacrificed himself to save Lallor and to save the United Planets, and he’ll become a legend and the pain will pass.”

Gas Girl peered into Evolvo Lad’s face. They both had tears streaming down their cheeks. They clasped hands and Gas Girl sniffled gently into Life Lass’s hair. I can’t go back there, Gas Girl thought numbly. I can’t live with reminders of him everywhere.

...I don’t ever want to go back to Lallor again.

Fab stuff Raz, particularly liked Violet telling Dupes what to do to beat BION. Your characters were spot on again and I'm running out of ways to praise your plots and pacing though suffice to say I'd really like to see more, more, more!

SHANGHALLA
Duplicate Boy's Memorial
Shrinking Violet watched the small group of mourners from where she stood alone. Duplicate Boy's service had been a simple one, with only a few representatives from Lallorgov and the UP, the remaining three Heroes of Lallor and a small contingent from the Legion of Superheroes in attendance. Despite the best efforts of the Legion of Superheroes and the Heroes of Lallor, the UP had clamped down on them releasing any news related to the destruction of Elia for now. Violet couldn't help but feel that was unfair. Ord Quelu had died for the United Planets, and barely anybody knew.

"Vi?" Lightning Lass approached her teammate. "Chuck's ready to leave whenever you are. Do you need more time?"

"No, I'm fine." Vi took one last look at the rocket-shaped memorial and sighed. "It's so stupid, Lightning Lass. My relationship with Ord was barely a relationship at all, and even then he let me down as much as anybody ever could. I shouldn't care that he's dead, and yet..."

"...And yet you do care." Ayla gave Violet's arm a comforting squeeze. "You give someone a piece of your heart and they keep it, Vi. When Timber Wolf was nearly killed, I visited him every day until I knew he was going to recover. Doesn't make him any less of a jerk and it doesn't mean I have any intention of getting back together with him, but I still care about that idiotic nass-head on some level. Just don't ever tell him that."

"I guess you're right." Vi gave her a half-smile. "Come on, let's go home."

Bouncing Boy was talking with the other Heroes of Lallor when the two heroines found him. "Thanks again for your kind words," Evolvo Lad said to the Legion of Superheroes' leader before turning to Gas Girl. "Tal, are you certain you don't want to come back to Lallor with us?"

"I'm sorry, you guys." Gas girl looked down at her feet. "I just...I don't want to be surrounded by constant reminders of him, you know? It's not forever, but I...I just need some time." She looked up at her longtime friends with pleading eyes. "Don't be mad?"

"Mad?" Life Lass hugged her, tears running down her face. "How could we be mad? We'll miss you terribly though! Please take care!"

Evolvo Lad joined the embrace and all three of them became teary. "I love you guys," Gas Girl sniffed. "You know I'll be back when I can." She dragged herself away from them, wiped her eyes and turned to the Legionnaires. "I'm ready now, Bouncing Boy. Thanks again for letting me come to Earth with you. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get there but I suppose that'll work itself out."

"About that, I might have an idea." Bouncing Boy led her to their shuttle. "But we can talk about that on the way..."

**********
EARTH
Metropolis
In the Legion of Superheroes' mission monitor room, Duplicate Damsel leaned on a console and met the holographic image of the personal assistant of Earthgov's President with a steely glare. "As I told you the last two times you called, my husband will contact you as soon as he returns from paying his respects to one of the Legion's oldest allies...and no, I don't know what time that will be. Now if there's nothing else, I have Legion business to attend to."

She cut off the comms link before the bald man could reply. On monitor duty, Comet Queen let out a long whistle. "Maximal nova burn! What's the Q-emission, Ms Durgo?"

Years of teaching Comet Queen had given Luornu a better ability than most to cut through the golden girl's indecipherable slang. "I'm not entirely sure what he wants," she admitted. "But when the President of Earthgov is this intent on personally meeting with the leader of the Legion of Superheroes, it's never good news for the Legion. Chuck can worry about that when he gets back from Shanghalla though. Right now we need to find Superboy and Supergirl. Can you tell me where they are?"

Comet Queen scanned the monitor board before answering in a sing-song voice. "Wellll, Supergirlll is in the gym with Grev...aaaand Superboy is....whoa. You're not going to liiike thiiiis..."

Luornu looked at the board herself. "I don't understand, what am I not going to - oh. I see."

**********
Mon-El joined Superboy on what appeared to be the roof of a Kansas barn. "You know you shouldn't be here, Kal."

Crops stretched out for miles around them and the wind carried farm scents that seemed almost natural. In the yard below them, a school group learned about the history of Terran agriculture. Some of the children had seen Superboy and Mon-El, and pointed up at them. Glum, Superboy hadn't even noticed the attention.

Superboy sent the weather vane spinning with a gust of super-breath. "I'm sorry, Mon. I know the Superman Museum is off limits to me and Kara, and I know we shouldn't risk finding out anything about our adult lives...but I wasn't trying to do that, honest! I just miss home is all. I miss Ma and Pa. I flew out to the real Kansas, but it's nothing like where I grew up. I thought it might be better preserved here at the museum, even that was a stupid idea though. This might look like my Smallville to people who had to recreate it from thousand year old records, but I can tell it's not the same. Greatest superhero in the world, ha! Greatest relic, more like it!"

Mon-El gave the young teen a rueful smile. "You know, I do have some idea what it's like to be a man out of your own time, Kal."

Superboy blushed furiously. "Oh sprock! I must sound so whiny...at least I didn't have to spend a thousand years in the Phantom Zone to get here...sorry, Mon!"

"No harm done." Mon-El levitated casually, moving around to face Superboy. "It's not something you'll need to concern yourself with much longer anyway...Brainiac 5 says today's the big day!"

Superboy's face immediately brightened. "You mean..?"

Superboy's joy was infectious and Mon-El couldn't help but grin. "That's right, Kal. If all goes well, you should be home safe and sound in half an hour!"

The teen of steel whooped and joined Mon-El in the air. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" There was a blur of motion and he left the Smallville wing of the Superman Museum behind him as he zoomed through the massive building toward the exit.

Superboy flew so fast that he was gone before any of the other museum patrons even registered his presence, but Mon-El caught up to him easily. "Out of curiosity," the Daxamite hero asked, "Who taught you to say sprock anyway?"

"It's just something I picked up," Superboy replied innocently. "It's like saying gosh, isn't it?"

Mon-El chuckled and tousled the hair of the boy he'd come to regard as a little brother. "Something else else like that. Come on, I'll race you back to headquarters."

**********
Shadow Lad offered Supergirl a round green fruit as the two left the Legion of Superheroes' gym. "Care for a desert apple?"

"A what now?" Kara took the fruit and eyed it over.

"Talokkian desert apple," Grev explained. "It's from my homeworld. Replenishes your energy supplies, though I guess working out with a mere mortal isn't much strain on a legendary Kryptonian." He bit into the crisp apple with a smirk.

"Don't put yourself down." She followed Grev's example and chewed a mouthful. "You might not have as many powers as me, but you've got moves. Nothing mere about you, Shady." Grev laughed at this and Kara looked confused. "What did I say?"

"Nothing bad," he answered. "It's just...Shady is my cousin's nickname. It feels weird hearing someone call me that. Not wrong weird, just weird." He swallowed and paused before taking another chomp. "So, Brainiac 5 thinks you'll be going home today...you must be excited!"

"I guess," Kara shrugged.

Shadow Lad raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very excited..."

"It's Brainy," Supergirl sighed. "Every other time I've visited the Legion, he's been closer to my age. It's been years in your time since I've been here, but for me only a few months have passed. There's always been this...attraction, I suppose you'd call it...between Brainy and me, but this time around with the age difference and all, I guess I just came to terms with the fact that attraction wasn't there anymore." She took another bite of the sweet fruit in her hand. "This is really good, by the way!" she mumbled through a mouthful of food. "Thanks!"

"Glad you like it." Grev wiped juice from his lower lip. "I'm not seeing the problem though..? Next time you see us will probably be in our past...which is kind of difficult to get my head around, but anyway...aren't you looking forward to seeing him again the way you remember him?"

"I was," she replied, "But when I saw how badly B.I.O.N. hurt him, it really affected me...it made me realise that I do still care for him and I guess now I'm not gonna get a chance to see where that could lead." She rolled her eyes in disgust. "Ugh, listen to me. I sound like a lovestruck teenager, it's sickening. Sorry, Shady."

The portal to Brainiac 5's multi-lab identified the duo and allowed them entry. "If it's any consolation," Shadow Lad noted, "Some of us are going to really miss you too, Supergirl. I never would have thought I'd get to meet one of history's greatest heroes, let alone that we'd become friends!"

"Well said!" a female voice joined in. Supergirl and Shadow Lad looked to see the lab was crowded with people. Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy and Chameleon Girl, Duplicate Damsel, Comet Queen, Sun Boy and a dozen other Legionnaires greeted them. Suspended in a huge gyroscopic device above them all, Tyroc allowed Brainiac 5 to finish strapping him in.

"Wow!" Supergirl stopped in her tracks. "I wasn't expecting such a turnout!"

"Are you kidding?" Phantom Girl laughed. "None of us would miss this for the world! You and Superboy mean so much to us, Supergirl...everybody wants to be here to say goodbye before you go!"

"Phantom Girl's right," Duplicate Damsel added. "The rest of the Legion will be here soon. Even Star Boy is on the way!"

The portal to the lab opened once more as Luornu finished. "It's plain old Thom Kallor now," the former Star Boy corrected her as he entered arm in arm with Dream Girl. "But Legionnaire or not, I still wanted the chance to say farewell."

"You do all realise I have to test the time machine before it can be used?" Brainiac 5 announced. "By all means don't feel that we might need any peace and quiet for that."

"But we can't annoy you if we're not in the room!" Kara teased. Brainiac 5 shook his head and returned to work while Tyroc snickered.

Minutes later, the room was filled with Tyroc's high-pitched wail. Sound baffling equipment dampened as much of Tyroc's scream as possible, but the noise was still uncomfortably loud. A multi-pronged array of forks jutted out of Tyroc's spherical containment, all of them spinning at different speeds. As his cry increased in intensity, the forks vibrated and began to glow. They fired a rainbow beam of light at a small raised platform bearing a tiny inertron cube, and soon the entire platform was glowing.

Sun Boy squinted. The chronal energies at play made it slightly uncomfortable even for him to gaze directly upon the lightshow. "What is that..? In the centre of the platform! Supergirl, you see that?"

"Hey, yeah!" Supergirl turned toward Brainiac 5 at his control panel. "Brainy, is that meant to be happening? It looks almost like the outline of a person!"

Brainiac 5's brow furrowed. "That's not something I'd anticipated. Tyroc, cease output please. I want to analyse this further."

Tyroc stopped his screaming, but the platform was still engulfed in a rainbow aura. Everybody could now see the man-shaped silhouette in the centre of the platform as it gained definition before their eyes. "Brainiac, what is that?" Tyroc asked.

"Not what," the Coluan answered. He recognised the figure's distinctive head-dress now and his heart sank. "Who."

The light exploded outwards, and when the Legionnaires regained their vision they saw a man whose body seemed to be formed of the stuff of the universe itself. Parts of his starfield skin were covered by a purple bodysuit, a golden infinity symbol emblazoned across his chest. "I have waited an eternal moment for my revenge!" the villain boomed. "You have summoned the Infinite Man for the final time, Legion! Now you pay the ultimate price!" He gave a grand gesture, and the lab suddenly filled with creatures, warriors and weapons from a patchwork of eras.

"Damn it, Brainiac!" Duplicate Damsel split into six separate bodies to take on a pair of Neanderthals. "What have you done this time?"

Brainiac 5 activated his forcefield belt to cover himself and the time machine control panel as a Sabretooth tiger clawed fruitlessly at it. "To circumvent the Flashpoint barrier, I had to make use of Rond Vidar's circular time theories," he explained hurriedly. "We couldn't penetrate the barrier so I thought we could loop around...in hindsight, I should have considered the possibility that this might attract the Infinite Man's presence."

Wildfire blasted a swarm of tiny robotic attack drones to ash. "Grife Brainy, you think? Isn't circular time the Infinite Man's whole schtick?!"

A highly armoured mini-tank fired on a small group of Legionnaires with an anti-energy beam as destructive as Wildfire's own. Phantom Girl's intangibility saved her, while Diamond Damsel, Blok and Ultra Boy used their invulnerable hides to shield those standing behind them. The beam shredded a wing of the lab though, including part of an external wall. While the mini-tank was recharging for another strike, Phantom Girl passed through its armour. The war machine shut down with an anti-climactic hum, and Phantom Girl emerged once more.

"A few damaged relays takes care of that thing," Tinya announced. "But look! The fight's spilling outside!" Even as she spoke, a rampaging dinosaur snapped at Comet Queen and chased her into the daylight.

Supergirl launched herself at the Infinite Man, not even noticing a medieval archer's arrows breaking against her skin. "As usual, I have little to no idea what's going on here but let's see if an old-fashioned punch to the nose won't fix it!" She took a swing, then found herself disoriented as her fist connected with a completely different target. Supergirl stared in a daze at the remains of the statue she'd just shattered. "Wha...I'm outside in Weisinger Plaza? That son of a--"

"Uh, Supergirl..? Why did you just smash that statue of Lightning Lad?" Kara turned to find Cosmic Boy and Night Girl behind her.

"Some creep called the Infinite Man teleported me out here!" she told them as she took to flight. "Come on, he's in Brainy's lab!"

"The Infinite Man?!" Rokk and Lydda exclaimed in unison. They followed Supergirl without another word, but before the three heroes had travelled more than a couple of yards, they saw another of their headquarters' walls explode outwards. The Infinite Man was now twenty feet tall, and he tumbled out of the building wrestling with Colossal Boy.

"Off of me, cur!" He blasted the giant Legionnaire square in the face with a focused beam of chronal energy and Gim gave a pained exclamation as he fell backwards into the plaza. An enraged Chameleon Girl shifted into a 12' tall Jovian Bear and threw herself at the Infinite Man, but she was intercepted by an actual Jovian Bear plucked from somewhere in time and space.

Almost the full active roster had arrived by now, and they were all struggling with the temporal chaos in their own ways. As a reluctant Thom Kallor crushed a group of droids under their own weight, Dream Girl approached Dragonmage. "My sister once defeated the Infinite Man by dispersing his essence into the timestream...can you do that?"

"I wouldn't know how to begin!" the young sorceror admitted, the blood rushing to his face. "I'm sorry, Dream Girl...I only wish I had half the mastery of magic as the White Witch!" Indeed, with so much happening around him it was all Xao could do to create a dragon illusion to distract a group of knights from assaulting terrified bystanders in the plaza.

Back inside the multi-lab, Tyroc had extricated himself from the time machine apparatus with Elastic Lad's help. "Who is this jerk, Brainiac?" Tyroc demanded. "How do we stop him?"

"The Infinite Man is an old adversary of ours, though you've never encountered him." Brainiac 5 was clearly very frazzled, a sign that didn't fill the other heroes with any confidence. "He embodies the concept of an infinitely looping spacetime continuum, and he's hated the Legion since his creation. All of these enemies are drawn from different points in space and time, but ultimately they're just an annoyance. The Infinite Man is the real threat. He is also all but immune from conventional harm...if we can get him back to the staging platform though, I think I can disperse his energies once more!"

"He thinks he can disperse his energies..." Tyroc muttered under his breath as he elbowed a time-displaced soldier in the face. "Why does this guy hate the Legion anyway? What did we ever do to him?"

Elastic Lad finished disarming the rest of the soldier's squad while his neck extended so he could talk to Tyroc face-to-face. "Gosh, that's easy to answer!" the perennially chipper redhead volunteered. "The Legion of Superheroes have been there every time the Infinite Man has appeared! The team was there when he was created, Brainiac 5 used him as a weapon against the Time Trapper one time, there was--"

Tyroc held up his hand. "Okay, okay, enough. I get it. Let's just focus on stopping him." Tyroc flew through the remains of the multi-lab and outside, Elastic Lad close behind him. The Infinite Man wasn't at all difficult to find as he towered over the rest of the Legion. Before Tyroc could plan his next course of action however, he saw Bouncing Boy's shuttle approaching the headquarters' hangar. The rest of the Legion were engaged with their own foes, and only Tyroc and Elastic Lad saw the futuristic skyship which came out of nowhere and blew their leader's shuttle to bits as the Infinite Man watched smugly. Elastic Lad's jaw almost literally hit the ground. Tyroc roared in outrage, charging the Infinite Man. His scream was as intense a sound as anybody had ever heard, and everyone on the battlefield stopped what they were doing momentarily to gape. Tyroc's scream caused a visible distortion in the air, and when it struck the Infinite Man the vilain's own body rippled as though a stone had been dropped in water.

Mon-El and Superboy landed by Elastic Lad's side, Bouncing Boy and Lightning Lass in their arms. Shrinking Violet leaped from one of the golden disks holding Mon-El's cape to his chest and regained her normal size, and Gas Girl coalesced by the heroes. "It's lucky we were returning to headquarters the same time as your shuttle!" Superboy exclaimed. "We got you out of there at super-speed just in time!"

"And believe me, we're grateful." Bouncing Boy tried to take in the insanity around them. "But what's happening here? Elastic Lad, is that the Infinite Man?"

"Gee whiz, Bouncing Boy! I sure am glad you're all safe! That was such a close call--"

"Elastic Lad!"

The excitable hero cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry...Brainiac 5 accidentally summoned the Infinite Man. If we can get him back into the multi-lab, we should be able to fix it but so far Tyroc is the only person who's had any effect at all on him!"

Bouncing Boy thought silently for a moment before drawing his flight ring to his lips. "Right. Everybody, listen up: Dragonmage, Tellus, help Tyroc repel the Infinite Man. Superboy, Mon-El, Supergirl, I want you three to cover them. Dawnstar, Comet Queen, Ultra Boy and Lu, you four need to clear any bystanders out of the plaza and once that's done I want Polar Boy to put up a perimeter to keep them out. We're not letting anyone else get hurt because we screwed up."

"What do you want the rest of us to do?" Gas Girl asked.

Bouncing Boy placed a hand on the Lallorian heroine's shoulder. "Gas Girl, I'm so sorry to bring you into this--"

"Don't be silly, Bouncing Boy." She took on mist form and floated before him. "If I can help, I'm happy to...if nothing else, it'll take my mind off of Duplicate Boy."

"In that case," Bouncing Boy inflated his body and bounced on the spot, "I'd say there's plenty to keep the rest of us occupied. Pick a target and good luck!"

Jumping to their leader's command, the Kryptonian teens cleared a path for Dragonmage and Tellus while Mon-El intercepted chronal energy blasts from the Infinite Man which had been meant for Tyroc.

His psyche is so fragmented yet his will is indomitable, Tellus explained telepathically. I cannot usurp control but I can try at least to persuade him to return to the laboratory.

"Just do your best, Tellus!" Mon-El punched a lunging T-Rex, knocking teeth out of its mouth as it collapsed. "How are you doing, Dragonmage?"

"I haven't prepared anything which will affect the Infinite Man directly," Dragonmage replied, "But I believe I have a dragonform which will assist Tyroc!" As he spoke, a pulsating dragon coiled around the path of Tyroc's scream, focusing and intensifying it even further as it struck its target.

I sense apprehension! Tellus exclaimed. I believe it is working, Legionnaires!

The Infinite Man took a faltering step backwards against Tyroc's onslaught. A niggling feeling in the back of his mind told him to retreat, though he knew retreat would only lead to the Legion's victory. It was their telepath!

"No!" The Infinite Man curled his lip in an angry snarl and threw his hands wide. "You will not have victory yet again!" Chronal energies erupted forth in an omni-directional flare. In one dramatic surge of power, every combatant in the plaza and inside Brainiac 5's multi-lab blinked out of existence.

The Infinite Man surveyed the now empty plaza. After so many false attempts, he had finally won.

The Legion of Superheroes were truly lost.

Hi folks, sorry I have been so absent! This post begins my take on a Legion Lost storyline, there will be a lot of chapters so I might just shut up and get stuck into it! ;p

**********
Peter Joseph Ross giggled as he chased his reddish-brown dachshund between the tall wheat stalks of Old Man Rascomb's farm. "Hot Dog, come back!" the young blond boy laughed. "Rascomb's gonna kick our butts if he catches us out here again!" Every now and then Pete would catch a glimpse of his beloved pet's tiny little tail wagging excitedly, but it was only Hot Dog's constant yapping that gave Pete any real idea where he was. In this forest of wheat, the dog was all but invisible.

Finally, they came to a row between the plants where Hot Dog jumped up and down on the spot barking at the air. Seizing the opportunity, Pete pounced on him. "You little creep!" The boy rolled onto his back and held Hot Dog up above him, shaking him playfully. "You wanna get us in trouble? Do ya?" This only made the little dog even more excited, and he yapped louder. He wriggled free of Pete's grip and licked his master's freckled face all over. "Gross!" Pete protested between fits of laughter. "Quit it, Hot Dog! Quit it!"

Suddenly a weird stillness surrounded them. The air pressure seemed to change, and a strobe burst of rainbow light exploded from the east. Pete stopped laughing and sat up. What was that?

"Hot Dog, hush!" he whispered hoarsely. The dog barked once more and Pete glowered at him. "Hush!" he commanded more sternly. Hot Dog whimpered and turned away.

Pete felt a pang of guilt. He hated having to scold his pet, but something in his gut told him that they had more to worry about right now than a cranky old farmer. He stood and brushed the dirt off of his clothes, then picked Hot Dog up and held him close. The dog's little heart was pounding like it wanted to break free; whatever this weird charge in the air was, Hot Dog could feel it too. "It's okay, boy." Pete cradled him protectively as he cautiously edged toward where the light had flashed. He had to push his way through nearly a hundred feet of wheat stalks before he could hear voices ahead.

Hot Dog whined softly. "Don't worry, boy." Pete hugged him tighter. "I won't let anything happen to..." The young boy's words trailed into non-existence and his blue eyes grew wide with awe.

They couldn't see him crouching among the stalks of wheat, but not fifteen feet away two men stood looking over some kind of unearthly machine and talking among themselves. One of the men was green-skinned with blond hair. The other had azure skin, pointed ears and a high crest of jet black hair. The green man wore a purple jumpsuit with some kind of elaborate belt around his waist, while the blue man was dressed like he'd stepped straight out of one of those old fantasy stories Lana was always reading. This meant only one thing.

Aliens!

He turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

**********
Shadow Lad pored over the last ten minutes in his mind once again. Along with the rest of the Legion, he'd been fighting the Infinite Man and his time-displaced soldiers in Weisinger Plaza. Brainiac 5 had been trying to calibrate his time machine to send their foes back into the timestream. There had been a rainbow flare of light, a swift lurching sensation, and suddenly Shadow Lad had found himself along with Brainiac 5, Supergirl and Superboy standing in the middle of some kind of croplands.

With the Kryptonian teens' enhanced senses, the quartet had soon confirmed that they'd been separated from their teammates and their enemies alike. They had also been able to confirm that the Infinite Man had hurled them a millennium into Earth's past. When Superboy had realised that they were back in Kansas and back in his own time, he had done a somersault in mid-air. It was only Brainiac's reminder that nobody knew about Kal's powers in this era which had reined in the boy of steel's exuberance. Superboy had left to check on his foster parents, and Supergirl had gone with him. This left Shadow Lad alone with the Legion's resident super-genius.

"Brainiac?" Grev asked. "Is there much damage to the time machine?"

"It is too early to say at this juncture," the Coluan replied. He bent down and examined a pair of relays, eyes narrowed. "Without access to any of my regular tools, I can only make an educated guess."

"Well, if I had to trust anyone's education..." Grev said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Hmmm." Brainiac 5 barely acknowledged his young teammate and returned to the machine.

Grev studied him quietly. Before Mon-El had earned Tasmia Mallor's love, Grev remembered his cousin speaking of her attraction to Brainiac 5. It was a fleeting crush, but Grev wondered what she'd ever seen in him at all. Grev respected Querl Dox's legendary intellect; he would be a fool not to. But Talokkians were attracted to strength more than anything, and Brainiac's strength was all in his mind. Grev didn't understand what it was about the man that had made him the object of affection for both a Shadow Champion of Talok VIII and the legendary Supergirl.

Nor could he understand how Brainiac could be so unreceptive to Supergirl's attention. Kara Zor-El was beautiful, smart, compassionate, powerful beyond belief, and a more competent fighter than Grev would have expected. As mighty as Mon-El and Superboy were, neither of them were particularly talented fighters. In close combat they both relied on their speed and raw power over skill. Back at the Legion Academy, even Laurel Kent had suffered from an over-reliance on her invulnerability. Grev supposed it must be difficult to see the benefit in combat training when you couldn't be hurt by much of anything. Supergirl was different though...Grev had seen her against the vampire hordes of Kathoon and the Dominators' creature B.I.O.N. and she had fought with power and skill equally. If she flirted with him the way she flirted with Brainiac...Shadow Lad frowned. This train of thought was inappropriate. He looked up at the endless blue skies above. Somewhere not far from here, Superboy was being reunited with his foster parents right now. Brainiac 5 would fix the time machine, they would return Kara to her own era and then Brainiac 5 and Shadow Lad would rejoin their teammates and stop the Infinite Man.

Then Supergirl would once more be ancient history.

**********
Martha Kent hummed along to the radio on her kitchen counter, oblivious to anything else around her as she put the finishing touches on the cake she was preparing for the church fete tomorrow.

"Ma..?"

She turned to find her adopted son in the kitchen doorway. Before she could stop him, Clark rushed to her and hugged her close.

"Clark, I'm covered in flour!" she protested gently. "Lord, you'd think you hadn't seen me for months!"

"Sorry, Ma." The bespectacled teenager stepped away, mildly embarrassed at his own display of affection. "It's just good to see you, that's all."

"We'll it's good to see you too." She kissed him on the forehead and turned back to her cake. "I better get this finished though...Dottie McAvoy's going to have some competition this year, let me tell you!"

"Sure, Ma." Clark grinned stupidly as he headed outside. "I'll see you at dinner!"

"Clark, Clark!" Pete Ross jumped off his bicycle at the end of the Kent family's long driveway and ran full pelt the rest of the way. Hot Dog ran barking alongside him, while a young red-haired girl stopped her own bike a lot less rambunctiously and followed the boy and his dog.

"Hi Pete, hi Lana. What's up?" He already knew the answer to that question, having heard Pete blurting out his story of aliens and their crazy machines to an incredulous Lana on their way here. He spared a quick glance skyward and saw Supergirl rushing back to where they'd left Brainy and Shadow Lad. As long as he could buy her a few minutes, Kara should be able to move them somewhere more private. Clark hated having to hide the truth from his best friends, but how could they possibly understand?

Pete had stopped talking now, and looked like he was fit to burst as he waited for Clark to respond.

"You don't really believe any of this, do you?" Lana asked, arms folded across her chest.

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation," Clark adjusted his glasses with practiced awkwardness. "There's only one way to find out what that is though...why don't we go check it out?"

"Get your bike!" Pete beamed. Lana rolled her eyes.

As the three of them cycled past dirt roads leading to farms on the outskirts of Smallville, Hot Dog yapping at their heels, Clark realised they were turning off the main road too soon. "I thought you said we were going to Mr Rascomb's place?" he asked.

"That's where I saw the aliens," Pete explained breathlessly. "But it's not where I saw their ship!"

Ship? Clark wished he'd paid more attention to Pete's rambling story now.

"I saw it on my way to Lana's," Pete continued. "I was taking a shortcut across the farms and it's in the Ruthven property....they haven't found a buyer for that creepy old place since they packed up and moved to Topeka when we were little kids! You could probably land a whole Death Star there and nobody would know!"

The three rode up to the property's dilapidated old house and got off their bikes. Clark didnt feel comfortable snooping around someone's private property, even if it had been empty almost as long as he could remember. Still, if Pete thought he saw a spaceship maybe that meant some of the other Legionnaires were here! They pushed through long yellowed grasses for several minutes until they finally emerged upon a dust-coated saucer which flickered in and out of full visibility. Clark wondered how long it had been out here...if it weren't for what seemed to be a malfunctioning cloaking device it might never have been found. It definitely wasn't a Legion vessel, and there was enough lead in its composition that Clark's x-ray vision wasn't of much use. Whomever was responsible, this ship had been here an awfully long time.

"Pete, what are you doing?" Lana hissed as the boy edged closer to the vessel.

"There's a hole in the wall," Pete answered. "Maybe they crashed!"

"I think we should leave," the young girl continued. "I don't like this whatever it is."

With his enhanced hearing, Clark was certain nobody on board was alive. "Don't be such a scaredy-cat," he teased Lana. "Don't you want to see if there's any cool alien stuff on board?" In truth, he'd have been much happier to send Pete and Lana home and wait for Brainy and the others to get here. There was no way he could make them leave him there alone without arousing suspicion however. He figured he would just need to protect them himself if it came to that. At least the longer they stayed here, the more he was convinced this thing had been here for years. Smallville had suffered a particularly bad tornado last May, he wondered if that had been responsible for the damage it had suffered. What had happened to its crew though? Did they die on arrival? Were they even now living secretly in Smallville? What if this ship was from Krypton?? Clark's heart pounded excitedly as he followed Pete into the vessel.

"You guys, I really think we should tell our dads about this thing," Lana complained, though she still followed them into the vessel. Once they were inside, the stuttering cloaking field no longer affected them and they could see its interior normally. "Or the police...or you know, anyone else at all?"

"You can leave anytime you want, Lana!" Pete called over his shoulder. "Darn it, I knew I shouldn't have brought a girl...whoa. Check this out!"

Clark and Lana hurried to their friend's location and peered over his shoulder. Judging by the wreckage inside the ship and the scorch marks on the walls and ceiling, there had obviously been some kind of battle here. That wasn't what had grabbed Pete's attention though.

Lana's green eyes grew wide. "Oh my god," she uttered at the thing on the floor before them. "Is that..?"

"A skeleton," Pete answered reverently.

Clark's face drained of blood. That wasn't just a skeleton. Though it was burned and decayed with age, Clark Kent would recognise that purple and orange mini-skirt anywhere.

...This was Duplicate Damsel's skeleton.

TO BE CONTINUED..!

Loving your work Raz, welcome back!

Really like Shadow Lads assessment of (and possible crush on) Super Girl - and why not? Pete Ross and Lana Lang were never really my favourites as they have imo opinion really dated badly so I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with them. Already you've shown a fair bit of Pete's character. I expected Lana to get the Bio Ring from something within the crashed ship - DD's remains were a shocker though. Oh I do love a good cliff hanger!

Looking forward to seeing where everyone else ended up.

I don't have to say it do I? Oh, just in case, more, more, more!

Shadow Lad dissipated the plane of darkness which had hidden himself, Brainiac 5 and Supergirl from view as the three Legionnaires descended from the Kansas skies into a ramshackle barn far from the nearest population centre.

"You know, Brainy," Supergirl pointed out, "If you don't want anyone to see us in this time period, maybe flying around behind a big black disc in the middle of the day isn't the best way to do that…just saying." Using super-breath, she blew away the straw gathered on the barnyard floor and gently lowered the time machine which she'd been carrying.

"I don't particularly care if anybody sees us," Brainiac answered. "I don't want anybody to see enough of us to be able to describe us or record our features. We should have done this the moment we arrived here, it was foolish of me not to suggest it. It's only our good fortune that it was merely Superboy's friend who saw us and that we had enough notice to flee the scene before he came back with others. Are you certain we're alone now?"

"Unless you're worried about rats and spiders," Kara replied as she scanned the area once more with enhanced vision. "The closest actual person is at least ten or twelve miles away. Even the nearest major road is a mile and a half away. If anyone does come looking for us we'll know it soon enough."

"Good," Brainiac said simply. "That may be the only good news we're going to have today."

Shadow Lad and Supergirl exchanged a glance. "What do you mean?" Shadow Lad asked. "You can't repair the time machine?"

"I believe the battery stored enough power before our expulsion from our home era for one more journey. However, the navigation system was damaged in transit. To fix it I require components which are not going to exist on this planet for at least another 350 years. To compound our problem, chronal energy is not something which can be stored indefinitely. Even if we were to risk damage to the timestream by calling on the Green Lantern Corps or the Amazons of Themyscira as Kara is about to suggest, it is likely that our battery would deplete before we could make use of that assistance…assuming they would be willing to help us to begin with."

Supergirl sat open-mouthed for a second and then pouted. "You're really annoying sometimes, you know?"

"You'll have plenty more opportunity to tell me that," Brainiac retorted, "Because barring a miracle, I see no way we're returning home for some time yet."

"But we will return, right? The Legion of Superheroes always find a way, right? That's what Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel always told us at the Academy!" Shadow Lad's mind drifted to his cousin, and Dream Girl's prophecy that he would bring the Legion to avenge Tasmia Mallor's fall. What would happen to Tas if they couldn't get home?

Before the conversation could continue, all three of their flight rings emitted a tone they instantly recognised as a distress signal. "Perfect," Brainiac muttered. "Because we didn't have enough to concern ourselves with until the most powerful boy in this galactic sector found himself with trouble he couldn't handle alone."

**********
"You guys, I really think we should leave." Lana Lang bit her nail nervously, standing back from the skeleton before them as if she was scared it would attack them any second.

"I'm with Lana," Clark added, his voice shakier than hers. The remains of Duplicate Damsel's corpse in this alien vessel unnerved him greatly, but he hoped his friends would mistake that for fear of the ship itself. At least neither of them seemed to have noticed him twisting the flight ring on his finger. "This isn't fun any more."

"Aw don't be such a pair of babies," Pete mocked them. "It's just an alien, you guys. And look, it's been here for ages! Those other aliens I saw before probably killed it and ran off…I bet they were some kind of alien prisoners and this one was their warden!"

"Shut up, Pete!" Lana hollered at him.

Clark's hypersensitive ears pricked up and he realised there was no more time to waste. "Both of you stop fighting!" he ordered sternly. "We're getting out of here, we're gonna go tell our folks, and--"

It was too late.

Pete and Lana heard them too now, heavy clanking footfalls. All three of them watched in horror as three armor-plated droids came down the hallway straight at them. They were of humanoid proportions, but almost seven feet tall and wide as linebackers. Without making a sound, the lead droid's visor flashed to life and a pale yellow beam shot forth at the three youths. Lana dived to the left with a comical yelp, but Pete's reactions were not as swift. Clark threw himself over his friend, taking the blast for him. The attack tingled, but did no real damage. In their panic, neither Pete nor Lana noticed that Clark had taken the full brunt of the beam and assumed that he'd evaded it along with them.

The three youths clambered along the floor trying to get to their feet and escape as the droids approached methodically. Clark could feel his heart pounding. He knew he could take all of these automatons without breaking a sweat, but how to do it without exposing his secret? Kara or Mon-El would know how…think, Clark, think!

This time the droids' visors flashed into life simultaneously. All three of them fired, and Clark threw himself forward desperately to shield Pete and Lana. His secret was nothing compared to the safety of his friends, he would deal with the fallout later. It surprised him as much as it did Pete and Lana when he bounced off something in mid-air and fell back to the ground. The beams did the same, ricocheting off a barely visible barrier in the middle of the corridor. Clark recognised it instantly. He looked back toward the way they'd entered the ship and saw that the entire corridor behind them was filled with an inky blackness. He started to break out into a wide grin until Lana's squeal reminded him that he too should appear afraid.

Trapped between a lightless void and killer robots, Lana and Pete screamed in obvious terror. Clark felt bad taking advantage of their distress but as frightened as they were, they were paying no attention to him at all. He was never going to have a chance like this again. He trained his heat vision on the closest wall and blasted at full intensity for the merest fraction of a second, the way he had seen Ultra Boy do so many times. Power conduits in the path of his assault fried and combusted, giving the impression that a series of small explosions had blown another hole in the hull of the ship. It would never stand up to close scrutiny, but Clark didn't think that was something he had to worry about. "Look!" he shouted. "A way out!"

"What are we waiting for?! Come on!" Pete and Lana pulled Clark to his feet, practically dragging him out of the ship as the three of them ran.

Inside the ship, Shadow Lad allowed his darkness to disperse. "Lucky we have your forcefield belt," he said to his Coluan teammate standing at his side. "And luckier still that you projected it at the right place without being able to see through my darkness! How do we stop these things though? They look a little outside our weight class."

"Please." Brainiac 5 sounded almost insulted. "Luck has nothing to do with it. My forcefield belt never leaves my side in my duties as a Legionnaire, and the rest was a simple matter of calculating spatial dimensions. As for these devices…" He walked right up to the edge of his forcefield with his hands behind his back and watched impassively as they pounded and blasted ineffectively against the field. An instant later, they were collected in a blue and red blur which clattered noisily through the hull and several internal walls. Brainiac 5 deactivated the forcefield.

Supergirl appeared a moment later, dusting debris from herself. "That was what Kal called us for?" she asked. "They were a walk in the park!" She glanced down and gasped. "Rao! Is that--"

For the first time, the three heroes saw the skeleton which had so mortified Superboy earlier. Shadow Lad dropped to one knee by the corpse's side but stopped short of touching the bones or the faded clothing. "Duplicate Damsel..?" His voice broke to see his old teacher in this state.

Brainiac 5 stood over Shadow Lad and Duplicate Damsel, scanning her with a customised omnicom. "It is unquestionably her," he recited without emotion. "More, she has been here for many years. Fascinating."

"Fascinating?!" Shadow Lad leaped to his feet, fists shaking at his sides and his eyes filling with tears. "Damn it, don't you have a soul at all?!"

Supergirl placed a hand on Shadow Lad's shoulder while she gave Brainiac 5 a look of pure sadness. She knew Brainy cared, she knew this was just the way he was, but at times like this she pitied him for it. "Grev," she soothed. "Shady, come on…Brainy will figure out what happened here. You know he will." She led him away gently, her gaze never leaving Brainiac 5. Only the Coluan's tormented eyes betrayed his humanity, the rest of his face might as well be a mask.

As Brainiac scanned the aged corpse of his longtime teammate, Superboy reappeared through the hole he'd made. He had changed into his familiar costume once more and landed by Brainiac's side. "I'm so sorry, I would have told you but there was no time--"

"You did the right thing," Brainiac 5 responded as he examined his readings. "History is very clear that you were not known to exist in this time period, Superboy. Maintaining your identity as Clark Kent is of paramount importance."

"Where are Lana and Pete Ross?" Supergirl asked before blinking in unexpected shock. "Oh wow. Oh wow, that was Lana….she's so young!"

"They've gone home to tell their folks about the alien prison ship," Superboy answered weakly. "That's why they think I ran off on my own, to go find Pa. I know it probably wasn't the smartest idea, but…hey, wait a minute!" He looked up at Kara with wide blue eyes. "You know Lana when I'm grown up? Does that mean…are she and I…"

Brainiac interrupted before the cousins could continue. "Superboy, could you please remove this panelling right here? If I'm not mistaken, I should be able to access the ship's memory banks directly through here."

"Sure, Brainy." He forgot about future relationships and effortlessly dug his fingers into the ship to tear out a metal plate as though it were rice paper.

"I thought you said you needed tools from back home," Shadow Lad said in an almost accusatory tone.

"To repair the time machine, yes. It is a highly advanced and sensitive system. But this ship is from my homeworld Colu, and more than a thousand years old by our standards. This should be simple." He lay his palm on circuit boards which were now exposed, and the ship started to gently hum.

Supergirl raised an eyebrow. "Um, Brainy? What are you doing..?"

He closed his eyes and frowned for several long minutes, then removed his hand. "I may not be as efficient as Kid Computo, but I can interface directly with computer banks when necessary. What I've learned however, I find extremely disconcerting."

"More than what we've learned already?" Shadow Lad sniped.

"This ship's mainframe has been almost entirely completely wiped. Almost completely. Whomever was responsible for the act underestimated the self-repair capacity of this era's Coluan technology, self-repair of course being a characteristic shared by the original Brainiac. There was just enough of those protocols left undamaged that the ship has slowly been putting itself back together again. If the cloaking device was a high priority, I imagine that's why this vessel has remained undiscovered until now."

One word stood out to Supergirl, and it sent a chill down her spine. "This…this is Brainiac's ship?"

"Not at all," Brainiac 5 allayed her concerns. "The reason I invoked his name is that after my ancestor's rise to galactic villainy, many restrictions were enforced upon Coluan technology. This vessel appears to be without any of those restrictions. That combined with poor Luornu's state of decay tells me that this ship is at least a century old. Perhaps older."

"What does any of this matter?!" Shadow Lad finally exploded. "What does it matter what happened to the stupid ship or how old it is? None of it is going to bring Duplicate Damsel back to life or help us get home, is it?"

Brainiac 5 fixed him with a steely glare that took the Talokkian warrior aback. "Isn't it obvious?" the Coluan hypergenius asked coldly. "This vessel must have been spaceworthy to leave Colu in the first place and to arrive on Earth. There are no signs that it crashed here, instead there seems to have been some kind of a battle after it safely landed. And then its memory banks were wiped, after it safely landed. Computers barely exist here in this time, for all intents and purposes they were unheard of on Earth a hundred years ago. As resourceful as we all know Duplicate Damsel to be, does anybody here really think she has the capacity to put a hole through this ship's hull, to fight the droids we just saw or to wipe its computer systems almost entirely?"

The other Legionnaires considered his words silently. None of them wanted to voice what he was implying, though Supergirl finally did. "Brainy…are you saying there were other Legionnaires here a hundred years ago with Luornu? Maybe even more than a hundred years ago?"

"Kid Computo almost undeniably. Given the damage to the hull, I could suggest a number of other possibilities as well."

Again, they fell silent. How many of their friends had been here? How many of them had died here in this sterile mausoleum?

"Brainy..?" Superboy's voice was that of a timid child, and the others were reminded of the great age difference between he and they. "If the Legion were here…why do you think they were fighting whoever was on board?"

The vessel had softly been humming away ever since Brainiac 5 had made contact with it, and the four heroes had ceased to notice the constant low vibration. Now though the internal lights flared and then faded in a swift power surge, and the humming grew noticeably louder. The ship's vibrations subtly gained intensity. The thrumming which filled the air was punctuated with a high-pitched whine, and capped with the unmistakable pulse of a high intensity energy emission.

"Kal, I'm afraid I can't answer that question," Brainiac 5 said. "But I have a feeling we should make it our business to find out." He ran deeper into the ship, followed closely by the others. As he passed Luornu Durgo Taine's bones, the man named Querl Dox was reminded of an old Earth adage which seemed darkly appropriate.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire…

TO BE CONTINUED..!

Really interesting to see you just focus on the one group Raz. The temptation must have been to go all over the place with multiple groups and a few solos exploring their new surroundings, it would have been for me anyway

Good to see Brainy figure out that must have been others on that ship as well as DD in the past, nicely deduced and a great mystery to keep us hooked. I also really like how immature Kal is (though nice how he got rid of Lana and Pete) and how confident Kara is, and I especially like the respect you are showing Grev - his snapping at Brainy matches how Talokeans, in particular Shady, have been shown to be emotionally impulsive - he's a totally underused and unexplored character ripe for your development. Am looking forward to where you take this.

More, more, more!

It was very tempting to have a whole bunch of stories running concurrently actually! I think maybe if I were working with a smaller team I would have done that....there are going to be about 8 teams or thereabouts with 37+ lost Legionnaires and pals, so I thought it might be too confusing to have all of those plots running at the same time along with all the individual character's subplots that will get raised, moved forward or resolved in the process. Once I'm finished with these four guys and we move on to the next squad, I am gonna start keeping a scorecard so readers can see who's remaining and where we left other characters. It has been heaps of fun plotting this out but I think I'd go crazy trying to cut back and forth between them all in the same chapter.

I am glad you like what I'm doing with Grev! Shadow Lad was my first comic book crush once upon a time, it has been fun giving him a bit of development!

Brainiac 5, Shadow Lad, Supergirl and Superboy ran through the Coluan vessel they'd come across in a Smallville farmer's field. The ship was now shaking with alarming violence, and Shadow Lad was the first to take to the air with his flight ring. "This thing is going to rattle itself apart!" he cried out.

"Highly doubtful," Brainiac 5 answered with the slight hint of condescension which coloured so much of his speech. "It's extremely unlikely that anybody from my homeworld would build a vessel so structurally unsound. I do submit that this is rather annoying however." He was drowned out by a second high-pitched energy pulse, and this time the ship visibly jolted. "Of course," Brainiac 5 continued in response to the shudder, "Loath as I am to admit it, I have been wrong on occasion so perhaps we should make haste. Kara, could you please assist? Coluan engineering standards would dictate that we need to be approximately twelve to fourteen feet closer to the left and I know how you like to punch things."

Supergirl laughed. "You say the sweetest things, Querl Dox." She pummelled through the alien metal as if it were tissue paper, and incinerated the following wall with a burst of heat vision. The four Legionnaires found a larger and more open space dotted with consoles. Flickering holographic readouts strobed alien characters and diagrams at them spastically. Brainiac 5 looked completely unfazed, but the other three were somewhat taken aback by their surrounds.

"What is all this, Brainy?" Superboy was in awe of the technology. Seeing something this advanced in the Legion's future was one thing but he never expected to come across it in his own time, let alone in Smallville!

"This is the ship's bridge," their resident Coluan replied. "My people are renown for their insular nature, but it doesn't mean they can't make a more efficient starship if they put their minds to it. What I'm looking for is something generating a column of energy pulsing down through the ship. Can you find that for me?"

"Sure!" Superboy took to the challenge cheerfully, and Kara smiled behind her palm at how eager her cousin was at this age. He was such an iconic figure as Superman that she never saw this side of him as an adult. She loved having these rare reminders of the joyful child he had been once upon a time. Superboy flinched as he stopped scanning the room, and with her own x-ray vision Supergirl saw what had caused the reaction as he alerted the others. "Brainy! There's another skeleton over there!" Superboy exclaimed. "Behind that big flashing thing!"

The four heroes made their way across the room and all were inwardly relieved to find that it wasn't another Legionnaire, at least not judging by the unfamiliar uniform in which it was garbed. Ignoring the ship for a moment, Brainiac drew his omnicom and crouched by the dead being's side. "Coluan male," he mumbled, bracing himself against one of the sturdier consoles to better keep his balance. "And he's been deceased as long as Luornu. I think we've found out whose ship this is. Look at this," he pointed to a hole in the skull. "Projectile weapon. Something else else I'd far more expect given the time period he met his demise. Though how he came to be killed by a bullet on the bridge of his own ship is another matter altogether."

Shadow Lad glared with disdain at a firearm by the dead Coluan's side. "Do you think he's the one who killed Duplicate Damsel?"

"Given the sparse evidence, it would be premature to assume." Brainiac 5 stood up once more and levitated a few inches from the floor. "I certainly would not be surprised however. The fatal injury she sustained would be difficult to explain otherwise."

"I still don't understand how you can be so casual about it," Grev replied, an edge to his voice. "You've known her for longer than any of the rest of us, doesn't it bother you at all that she's gone?"

"I will mourn appropriately if and when I determine that she really is gone," Brainiac replied with infuriating calm. "By my reckoning, there were six copies of Luornu present during our battle with the Infinite Man. I was rather distracted admittedly, there may have been more. We have located one body and until we locate five more I choose to believe that woman found a way to survive."

"But we don't know that!" Shadow Lad shouted.

"We don't know that she is dead!" Brainiac raised his own voice, his passionless veneer beginning to slip. "Until proven otherwise I choose to believe that one of my most respected colleagues is still alive, Shadow Lad! I have been responsible for too much of her--" The rest of Brainiac 5's discourse was dramatically interrupted when yet another high-pitched pulse sounded. This time there was a rumble which came from outside as much as inside the vessel, and the whole ship suddenly lurched and fell sideways. Tons of equipment came loose from the walls around them and clattered into the four heroes. All of them were buried beneath the dizzying onslaught.

Kara and Kal-El picked themselves up, shrugging off half a room full of equipment. The ship had come to rest, and with their enhanced senses they could both see that they now lie a couple dozen feet down a fissure in the earth, jarred tight into an inexplicable crevice. The ship was quaking even more violently than before, to the point it was shaking loose fixtures which had till now been joined to the infrastructure of the ship. The pulse had become a keening constant thing, rising in pitch with each second that passed.

"What was that?" Superboy blurted. "What just happened?"

"The ship must have…I don't know, shot the ground out beneath us?" Supergirl guessed. "Brainy, what do you…Rao! Brainy!! Grev!!" She looked around the room, furiously trying to find any sign of them. Curling wisps of inky blackness beneath what was once some kind of navigation pod caught her attention and she found Shadow Lad pinned beneath a mass of damaged equipment. "Shady, are you okay? Wait a second, I'll get you out of there!"

"Heh." Grev gave her a weak chuckle. "Shady."

Kara began to lift the largest of the debris from him when a pained cry made her freeze in her tracks.

"Don't move it!" Brainiac's voice cried out from even further beneath the jumble of metal. "I didn't have a chance to activate my forcefield belt…Kara, if you shift this pile the wrong way you'll crush one or the other of us!"

"I can't see him!" Superboy shouted over the din. "I can't see Brainy under there! Kara, there's too much lead in that junk, I don't know what to do!"

Supergirl could feel her heart pounding in her throat. She looked at Shadow Lad's face. His head kept lolling and she could see that at least some of the bones in his arms were broken. She couldn't see Brainiac 5 at all though, her x-ray vision was as useless as her cousin's in this mess. And this stupid ship just kept shaking and screaming at them, she couldn't focus for two seconds through the chaos to make a decision.

"Kara…Kara, Kal, both of you. Listen to me." Brainiac's voice couldn't overcome the shrill backdrop of volume all around them but both the Kryptonians could hear him perfectly. "This ship…I don't know why it came here or what happened and we may never find out. But that noise evidently belongs to some kind of weapon which has been building to release the entire time we've been here, and the next time it goes it may destroy the ship. The self-repair systems have been too corrupted for them to function correctly."

"What do we do?" Superboy asked. "How do we stop it?" He looked desperately at the remains of the ship's controls as if his very desperation would bring the knowledge to him.

"There's no time to stop it," Brainiac answered. "All we can do is remove the threat. The two of you, listen to me…if this ship explodes…it may well take half of Smallville with it. You have to get the ship as far away from here as possible, we don't have the luxury of arguing about this."

"What…what's he saying..?" Shadow Lad held onto consciousness through sheer power of will. "Can't hear over that noise…"

Supergirl instinctively looked at her cousin for guidance. No. He wasn't Superman in this time and place, he was Superboy. She had to take charge. She turned to Shadow Lad and hoped she could sound more confident than she felt. "He says…he says we have to get the ship as far away from people as we can."

"Then what…are y'waiting for?" Grev asked. "Don't worry about us, get this thing into space or somethin…" His voice trailed off as he finally succumbed to the pain and passed out.

"Grev?" Kara asked anxiously. She listened for his heartbeat and was immensely relieved to hear it loud and clear. She knew Brainy was right, they needed to get this thing away from people. But she couldn't live with the idea of Brainiac 5 in danger, and she was also a little shocked to realise how equally she hated the idea of placing Grev in danger. Then it came to her. "Kal!" she shouted. "Get outside! Shadow Lad's right, take us into space as fast as you can! Wait, not as fast as you can, we need to make sure we don't hurt Brainy and Shadow Lad any more than they have been….but don't waste any time either."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Superboy looked uncertainly at her.

"Trust me, I've got this!" she smiled. "Kal. Trust me."

He returned her smile with genuine affection. "I do trust you." He left the room in a blur, and an instant later the ship was moving. Kara watched and listened for both men's vital signs nervously as the ship gained altitude. She had thought of leaving her cousin on board while she flew the ship out of the atmosphere; she didn't want the drastic acceleration to add to their injuries, but her role ultimately would require more finesse than Kal's. He had trusted her when she'd asked him to, she had to give him the same respect. Before too long, she could see the blue marble of the Earth fall away behind them and she called out to her cousin to stop. With x-ray vision, she saw him obey. The teenage boy hovered in place, his curiosity mounting. The vessel gained distance from him swiftly, then he saw it slow as if by its own accord. In truth, he knew that Supergirl was using her own powers of strength and flight to safely reduce its speed from inside, though he still didn't know what she was planning.

The Coluan vessel had finally come to an almost complete stop nearly two hundred miles outside of the Earth's atmosphere when it lit up the blackness of space with a soundless fireball. Superboy's eyes widened in horror, then returned to their normal size as he saw his cousin flying back with Shadow Lad in her arms. Brainiac 5 flew alongside her, visibly injured but not as badly as they'd feared. Supergirl beamed at Superboy and nodded towards the North American continent they'd just left, and all four of them returned happily to Smallville.

**********
When Grev Mallor opened his eyes, he saw his teammates through a sedated haze. "Wha…?"

Supergirl rushed to his side, leaving Superboy to watch Brainiac 5 working on the time machine on the other side of the barn they'd made their temporary home here. "Shady! How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been drugged," he slurred. He tried to sit up then hissed and gave up the effort.

"Umm..you kind of have been," Supergirl blushed. "You were pretty banged up when that weird ship's big death ray went off and blew the ground out from underneath us. Brainy told us what we needed to get and Kal and I did a little emergency medical run. Don't worry, we mined some gold to reimburse the hospital pharmacy. And we took it from Metropolis, we figured they'd be able to replace what we took more easily than the local hospital. You're full of painkillers, but I wouldn't try to move too quickly."

"How long was I out?" Shadow Lad asked. He only now realised one of his arms was in a cast and he was half-wrapped in bandages. "What happened? The last thing I remember is…the ship falling to pieces..?"

"You passed out," Kara explained. "You've been unconscious nearly 18 hours! We didn't have much time to get you and Brainy out of there before the ship blew, so the only thing I could think of was to do what you suggested and take us into Zero-G where I didn't have to worry about the risk of crushing either of you to death when I pulled the debris away. It was still a close call though, I only just managed to save you before it went up like an atom bomb. Lucky I freed Brainy enough that he could use his forcefield belt, he cruised through the whole thing!"

"Brainiac…" Shadow Lad squinted to see their other teammates standing across the way, but his vision was swimming. "What…what's he doing now..?"

"Right now," Brainiac 5 answered for himself, "I am making some extremely threadbare and temporary repairs to our time machine." He took a step backwards and wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "And I do believe those repairs are now complete!"

"I don't get it," Grev queried. "Thought you said….parts not available…for centuries yet..?"

"Most certainly not on this planet," Brainiac replied. "The benefit of being buried beneath the bridge of a Coluan vessel however is having access to components far in advance of what passes for technology here. I scavenged what I could whilst you and I were trapped. I assure you these repairs are horrifically jury-rigged and Circadia Senius would have apoplexy if he could see my handiwork. I'm confident that we can make at least one trip through time safely, though I fully expect the entire apparatus to be useless at the other end."

"So we wait for Shadow Lad to heal and then go back to the future?" Superboy asked.

"Not quite," Brainiac explained. "As I've mentioned previously, chronal energy is not something which can be stored indefinitely. Frankly, I don't trust the battery to hold enough of a charge to meet our requirements if we delay leaving any longer than necessary. I do apologise, Shadow Lad, but now that you're conscious I'd like to leave now if we're all agreed."

"Works for me," Grev smiled wearily.

"Okay, great!" Superboy clapped his hands together. "Let me just go tell Ma and Pa I might be gone for a while, and--"

"I'm afraid not, Superboy." Brainiac placed a hand on the teen of steel's shoulder. "We all greatly appreciate your company these past months, but this whole debacle began with an attempt to return you to your home. If nothing else, at least I know I've accomplished that."

A crestfallen Superboy looked from one Legionnaire to the other. "But…but the Infinite Man..? You still need me!"

Brainiac crouched down to meet the boy's eye level. "Your family here need you, Superboy. Your friends here need you. This world needs you, and will need you far more in days to come. I think you're smart enough to know that."

Superboy impulsively threw his arms around Brainiac 5's neck, for once taking the genius utterly by surprise. "I'll miss you Brainy! Say goodbye to everyone for me!"

Brainiac relaxed and hugged his strange friend from centuries past. "And I'll miss you, Kal-El. We all will."

The young hero next turned to Supergirl. "I'll miss you too, Kara. I'll never forget you!"

The blonde heroine held both his hands in hers. "Of course you will," she laughed at the surreal range of emotions they were both experiencing. She sniffed tears back as she kissed him on the forehead. "Time travel sucks like that…but I love you and I can't wait to meet you again for the first time. Now go hug your ma and pa for me."

He pulled away and waved to Shadow Lad. "Bye Shady! It was great to meet you! You're a swell Legionnaire!"

"The honour is all mine," Shadow Lad smiled with genuine respect. The three Legionnaires watched as the boy who was their shared inspiration left their lives.

Supergirl sighed and wiped her eyes. "Okay. Let's go back and kick this guy's ass."

"What?" Brainiac flinched. "Kara. We're not going back to our time, we're taking you home to yours!"

"Brainy, that's crazy!" Supergirl complained. "You said yourself you're only going to have enough steam in this thing for one trip!"

"And that one trip is to complete the mission we started," he said stubbornly. "We have returned your cousin to his rightful place in history and now we will do the same for you!"

"What about your place in history?" Supergirl argued. "Brainy, use that brain you're always so proud of! You're the Legion's best hope of getting back to the 31st century in one piece! If you don't go back, who's going to find them? Who's going to fight the Infinite Man?"

Shadow Lad immediately thought of his own cousin, and Dream Girl's prophecy. If they didn't go back, who would save Tasmia? "She's got…a point," he mumbled. "Back at Academy…we would have been told to put….needs of the many…first."

"Brainy," Kara gave him a pleading look, "I understand why we had to leave Kal here. I know what he grows up to be as much as any of you do. But I'm not an idiot. I don't pry, but I can't help overhearing conversations about me and Kal, and you know what I hear? I hear people talk about the great deeds of Superman, how the whole universe owes Superman so much that a thousand years after he lived people practically worship him. I don't ever hear anything about Superwoman. What if this is my destiny? What if I'm meant to come back with you now and never return? This isn't my world like it's always been Kal's, it's nothing for me to give this up but I love-- I love your world! You're always talking about the sanctity of the timestream, what if this was always meant to happen? Please don't sacrifice your world on the off-chance that I'm meant to fade into obscurity a couple of decades from now while you and Grev live the rest of your lives not even knowing what you left behind. Please."

Brainiac 5's breath caught in his throat. His head was spinning. How could he tell her that the reason Supergirl never became Superwoman was because Kara would die long before that could ever happen? How could he knowingly send the girl he loved to her death? "Fine, Kara. Maybe you're right. Let's go home."

Unable to look her in the eye, Brainiac hurried back to the time machine before his reason could conquer his emotion. Supergirl picked up Shadow Lad, who had already fallen asleep once more, and carried him across to where Brainiac 5 made final adjustments to the time machine's delicate instruments to return them to the Legion's time.

The three Legionnaires vanished in a multi-coloured flare of light, and Brainiac 5 wondered if he had just doomed them all...

NEXT: WEIRD WEIRD WEST!