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

Enigma Lass is a little ways off being a Legionnaire just yet, but she is bound to pop up often enough in the meantime!

It has taken me way longer than I thought it would to get back into writing mode after my holiday, but the next chapter of the Demon Father story should be up tonight wooh!

Oh you tease Raz, I saw you'd posted and dived in for your next section and now my nails are going to have to take the strain for a bit longer

Good to have you back and hope you had a good break.

KURSZGE IV
A shopping mall in the city of Marez

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Flederweb: gliding, wall-crawling, claws
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream
Lilith Clay: Teen Titan from the past with ESP and undefined psychic abilities
Veilmist: teleportation
Vista: contains a pocket astral environment in her mind

"So your name is Lilith Clay," Dream Girl repeated what the attractive newcomer had just told them all. "That doesn't actually tell us anything about you, where are you from? What do you know about this Trigon creature?"

The young woman looked around the futuristic mall in almost a state of sensory overload before her expressive green eyes landed on the person who'd brought her here, the Infinite Boy. "I sense that I am...a long long way from where I belong. And I fear that you brought me here just to accompany you all as you die. Trigon is the greatest evil I have ever known."

"Gloomy," Flederweb remarked dryly. "I like this one."

"I don't," Vista shot back. "Veilmist, get me out of here...I don't care where, as long as we're out of the reach of Scorn and Trigon. We should never have embarked on this fool quest in the first place, I see that now."

"You're not going anywhere!" Dream Girl raged at Vista. "This is all your fault!!"

"It doesn't matter anyway," Lilith interjected. "There's nowhere you can flee from Trigon the Terrible...he will subjugate this entire universe, and once he's done that he will destroy this universe to recreate his own."

"Lilith, please..." The Infinite Boy removed his hood from his head so she could see the genuine plea in his expression. "I brought you here because I needed somebody who could help us defeat Trigon and Scorn. My power wouldn't have summoned you if you couldn't help us."

"Ms Clay?" Dragonmage joined the conversation. "I perceive that there is more to you than meets the eye. If you wish, we can return you to your home time; the Infinite Boy has that power and this is not your battle. But please...I myself am a sorceror, but the humble skill I possess is in one specific area of magic. Any knowledge you possess about this demon would be greatly appreciated."

Lilith seemed to consider the matter for a moment. "Very well," she decided. "There is power in all of you and in some of you, great heroism. I think you're going to fight regardless of anything I say, you deserve to at least know what you're going up against...and I suppose I wouldn't be much of a Teen Titan if I didn't at least try to help."

"Teen Titan?" Veilmist parroted. "Are we supposed to know what this means?"

"Perhaps not yet," Lilith replied, "But you will, for the Teen Titans are the only heroes who have ever defeated Trigon...

...and it almost cost them their immortal souls."


Lilith Clay and the odd assemblage of metahumans she'd found herself with had convened in a private booth in the shopping mall's food court. For the past several minutes she'd been giving them as brief a rundown as she could about the Teen Titans, a 21st Century team composed mostly of superhero sidekicks with whom she'd been assocated infrequently for the last few years.

"--that leads us to Raven," Lilith spoke. "We knew her as a good person; enigmatic and haunted by something in her past, but a good person. I wasn't with the Titans when they found out Raven was the daughter of a demon named Trigon, but I was there when Trigon corrupted her and turned her against her friends and her world."

"Then...Scorn is not his only daughter?" Veilmist asked.

"We thought we'd eradicated Trigon's threat for good," Lilith answered the Khund woman. "I suppose we should have known better. Who knows how many worlds he's sired children upon between my time and yours in the hopes that one of them would bring him here to wreak havoc some day?"

"That's a valid question," Dream Girl agreed, "But not the most important one right now. You said you thought you'd eradicated him in your own time, Lilith. How did you do that?"

"We only defeated Trigon...we only survived him...with the aid of the people of Azarath."

"So go to this Azarath!" Vista snapped. "Why do you need us?"

"The people of Azarath sacrificed themselves to stop Trigon's threat," Lilith explained sadly, remembering events that for her had happened only weeks ago. "They sacrificed their home and their existence so that our dimension could live."

Lilith paused for a moment to centre herself. Being yanked to this era had been a shock to her extrasensory perceptions; she supposed her friends Nightwing or Cyborg might have some logical explanation as to how temporal displacement could interfere with her abilities, but the longer she spent in this weird time and place the more she felt like herself again...and she was starting to wonder if maybe they weren't so doomed after all.

"Forgive me, I don't remember your name?" Lilith asked Vista. Vista answered the question brusquely, and Lilith looked her over with an expression that nobody else at the table could read but which somehow seemed significant.

"Vista...I am sensing that perhaps we do have some slim chance against Trigon after all...

...and I sense that you might be pivotal to that."


On Kurszge IV, Vista laughed in Lilith's face. "Me? Pivotal to defeating that gigantic demon..? I think not, girl. I'm not one of these superheroes, I'm smart enough to know my power is no match for someone like that!"

"Again," Dream Girl spoke through gritted teeth, "All of this is your fault, Vista. You and that Sisterhood. You're going to help us make this right, and you're going to help us get our teammates back safely."

"And if I elect to simply trap you all within my mindscape?" Vista retorted coolly. "You seem to have misplaced your Sensor Girl, who's to stop me..?"

Dragonmage raised a tentative hand. "Uh, if I may..? You tried that with me once already, do you recall? I'd rather not harm you if I can avoid it, Vista."**

"And whatever your mindscape is," the Infinite Boy added, "I doubt you want me summoning whoever I need to from the timestream to bring it crashing down around your ears. Probably best if you work with us on this one, lady."

"I will work with you on this one," Veilmist sat up straight in her seat, ignoring Vista's disgusted glance. "Vista, this is larger than us...you must know that. We chased the Demon Father for personal gain and from what this pitiful girl from Earth's past now tells us, we have unleashed a power which could destroy all that exists. If there is a way that we can end this, we must. You know that I will run as far as need be to save myself, but I do not think that this is something we can run from."

"That's...surprisingly brave actually," Dream Girl complimented the stunning Khund woman.

"I simply do not wish to die," Veilmist responded bluntly.

"All well and good," Flederweb spoke up, "But something tells me we need more than vague hunches and newfound heroism to face these demons."

"The Khund is right," the Infinite Boy agreed.

"...I'm not a frakking Khund..." Flederweb grumbled under his breath, unnoticed by any of them.

"First things first," Dream Girl took charge. "We go back and we rescue everyone we left behind. Then we get all the extra help we can. So, Lilith...you need to tell us what we can expect when we go back to face Trigon and Scorn. Because we've already wasted enough time and I'm not leaving any of our teammates or theirs behind a nano longer than we need to."


"Excuse me, Ms Clay," Dragonmage asked, "You're saying that everyone we left on H'crides is definitely still alive?"

"I can't say for certain, but it's likely so," Lilith Clay answered the polite young sorceror. "But they'll be corrupted by now...Trigon will have confronted them with the darkest parts of themselves and pushed them and pushed them until they surrendered to the worst parts of themselves. Nightwing and Wonder Girl are two of the strongest willed heroes I know, and even they couldn't resist Trigon's influence. Your friends have no chance."

"Maybe we forget your friends and skip straight to the part where we get backup?" Flederweb asked, turning pointedly to Dream Girl.

"We forget nobody," Dream Girl shot back firmly. "Lilith, how did Trigon corrupt your friends? If we know what we're up against, Infinite Boy might have a better chance of finding someone in the timestream who can oppose it."

"If I'm going to summon someone else to help us, I'll need to send Lilith back to her own time," the Infinite Boy pointed out. "We'd be losing the only person who knows anything about this Trigon character at all."

"I'm aware of that," Dream Girl retorted, "But knowledge is the greatest thing she's given us so far and that can only help us so much. Kando, between you and I we already have precognitition covered. We really need someone with more than vaguely defined psychic abilities who stands a chance against Trigon and Scorn; no offence, Lilith."

Lilith looked down at the table around which they sat. "I understand," she spoke. "I didn't ask to be here, and I'm not who you need for this confrontation. I have some telepathic ability, but I'm hardly the Martian Manhunter. I can't overcome Trigon's illusions--"

"Illusions?" Nura interrupted her. "What do you mean, illusions?"

"That's how Trigon corrupted the Teen Titans," Lilith elaborated. "He faced them with their own illusory duplicates, manipulated them into succumbing to their own worst impulses. When they murdered their duplicates, their souls became his."

Dream Girl smiled, a winning gleam in her eye.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking..?" The Infinite Boy asked his fellow Naltorian.

"If Trigon expects to defeat Sensor Girl with the power of illusion," Dream Girl replied, "Then he's already lost.

Veilmist...take us back to H'crides."


...for Trigon and Scorn must pay for what they have done."

Sensor Girl realised she'd rejoined the real world, but she didn't immediately recognise that she was still on H'crides. The world was as barren as it had been upon their arrival, but all the color had been drained from their surroundings and the planet around them seemed composed of calcified rock. Far more disturbing, a twisted column arched up and over her, bending back down into the world from which it had sprung forth. That column was made of the elongated forms of Star Boy, Mysa Marvel, Wildfire, Nimbus, White Bat, Star-Bear, Echo, Bloodclaw and Strongarm, all of them frozen in mid-scream and somehow shifting in place as each of them laboured against Trigon's private nightmares.

"Welcome to paradise," Flederweb greeted Sensor Girl dryly.

"Is that....was I as tortured as they all seem?" Sensor Girl brushed her fingers against Mysa Marvel's horrifying cheek.

"You were," Dream Girl answered. "But I knew your power would see through it, you just needed a little help from Lilith and I. Now we need you to help the others, Jeckie."

Sensor Girl looked around at those who were still free of Trigon's horrific torment columns. Aside from herself, Dream Girl and Lilith, there was also Dragonmage, Infinite Boy, Vista and Flederweb. "I take it this is Lilith," she gestured at the unfamiliar young woman, "How is she involved in all of this? And where is Veilmist? Did she abandon us?"

"We sent Veilmist to fetch reinforcements," Dream Girl answered, "And Lilith is--"

"--Dream Girl, we do not have time for this," Lilith cut in. "Trigon is aware that we've freed your friend, we will not have long before he decides to take his revenge."

"About that," Dragonmage raised a hand. "Ms Clay, you said earlier that Vista was going to be pivotal to our efforts...I believe I know how she may fulfill that destiny."

"I told you already," Vista scowled, "I'm not a hero like you people."

"I am not asking you to be a hero," Dragonmage assured her. "Tell us, Vista...how many souls can you transport into your mindscape at once?"

"Three people is my limit," Vista answered suspiciously. "Why are you asking..?"

"Ms Clay tells us we don't have much time to act," Dragonmage explained. "I am certain that is true assuming we try to help one person at a time...but we may be able to do more than that."

"Dragonmage, what are you thinking?" Dream Girl asked the young sorceror.

"I am thinking that my magic may help Ms Clay and Sensor Girl reach more than one person simultaneously...but I will need Vista's cooperation, and it is vital that I have everyone's trust."

Nobody noticed Lilith staring intently at Vista, and so nobody questioned just how much the mysterious young psychic from the past had to do with Vista's sudden change of heart. "Whatever gets this finished quicker," Vista snarled at Dragonmage. "Tell me what I need to do."

"Take Mysa Marvel, Wildfire and Star Boy into your mindscape," Dragonmage instructed. "Ms Clay, Sensor Girl, I will need to--"

"Whatever you're about to do, I feel like we can dispense with formalities," Lilith spoke to Dragonmage, "Call me Lilith, Dragonmage."

"Very well," Xao Jin nodded as he started weaving a dragonform into the air. "Lilith, Sensor Girl...prepare for a touch of the occult."

Vista did as she'd been asked, and with a flash of pink light from her Third Eye implant the twisted forms of Wildfire, Mysa Marvel and Star Boy vanished. At the same time, a translucent pink dragon slithered forth from the space between Dragonmage's outstretched palms. Its long snakelike body caught what little light there was on this hellworld and it looped once, twice, then flew straight as an arrow through Lilith's forehead. Once it emerged harmlessly from the back of her skull, it flew through Sensor Girl's head as well. The two women gasped upon contact, but neither of them were actually injured...then, its long tail connecting the two of them together, it dived right into the centre of the cybernetic implant in Vista's forehead.

"It's not...quite a mind link, but I feel as though we are connected in some way," Lilith marvelled. "But Trigon's grip tightens around them all."

"Then we need to hurry," Sensor Girl took charge. "Let us do what must be done."

Analysing the mechanics of it was a task too great for Lilith, Sensor Girl or Vista, but somehow the dragonform connected Lilith's psychic ability to Projectra's mastery of illusion and in turn connected the both of them to all three minds contained within Vista's pocket astral plane.




Dragonmage cried out in discomfort as his dragonform shredded itself into nothingness.

Lilith and Sensor Girl both followed suit, nearly collapsing.

Before any of the others could process this fully, Vista gave a yelp of pain and threw her head back. With a flash of intense pink light, Wildfire, Mysa Marvel and Star Boy stood before them all.

"No good deed goes unpunished, eh witch boy?" Flederweb's tone was acerbic, but Xao nonetheless sensed concern from the morbid assassin.

"Are you okay?" the Infinite Boy asked Lilith while Dream Girl rushed to check on Mysa and Thom.

"Our plan was sound," Lilith leaned upon Kando Vyr, "But it was no walk in the park...we may need a few moments to rest before we try that stunt again."

"It was not a so-called walk in the park because Wildfire fought us till the end," Sensor Girl decreed. With her facemask replaced, she seemed more imperious than ever.

"Damn right I fought you!" Wildfire stood over Sensor Girl. "All of you only ever want me around when you need someone zapped or punched...when do I get what's mine, lady??"

"We just saved you from demonic corruption, Burroughs." Vista rubbed her throbbing temples. "You're welcome by the way."

"Hey, screw you!" Wildfire jabbed a finger toward Vista. "Since when does one of Earth-Man's goons get to judge--"

"Wildfire!" Dream Girl scolded him. "Stop it immediately!"

Lilith suddenly cried out once more and collapsed into the Infinite Boy's arms.

"We're too late," Lilith breathed, aghast. "Trigon has claimed his first victims...Trigon has claimed his first souls."

Thunder ripped the sky apart and a tremendous flash of lightning momentarily blinded them all. When their vision cleared, they saw Nimbus, White Bat, Star-Bear, Echo, Bloodclaw and Strongarm standing before them...they were no longer twisted pained mockeries of themselves, but instead each of them stood transformed in a palette of black and blood red.

Beneath a backdrop of red-hewn skies punctuated by the occasional lightning bolt, Scorn and her army of blood wraiths hovered over the corrupted Demon's Claw and Sisterhood members...and above her, the Demon Father Trigon himself loomed.

"You have proven versatile little gnats," the unmistakably active Trigon the Terrible intoned, "But none oppose Trigon for long. Prepare for suffering, insects...

...and prepare for your death."


TO BE CONCLUDED!!!


EDITOR'S NOTES:

*In Geoff Johns's 2008 JSA series, it was revealed that Thom Kallor had spent time in the Kingdom Come timeline as their version of Starman before getting accidentally diverted to the 21st Century where he voluntarily lived in a sanitarium because he had scizophrenia. On a side note, Geoff Johns seems to think schizophrenia is a zany kind of quirk where its sufferers just rattle off fun random non sequiturs to showcase how many Golden Age comics their writer has read.

The JSA for some incomprehensible reason decided that because this obviously psychologically unstable stranger was called Starman, they should immediately induct him onto the team as a legacy member. Geoff Johns, y'all!

**Dragonmage is referring to the time that he and Mysa faced the Sisterhood of Sin back in this story and he had to use his magic to escape Vista's mindscape (inadvertantly hurting her in the process).

Yay more! Been eagerly awaiting the next instalment, raz

Typing on my phone, pardon typos

Leave it to Nura to be skeptical of Lilith

Flederweb, I just love the personality you’ve given him

Yes Dreamy, tell Vista off!

Heh at “there is goodness in SOME of you”

Ah yes, you’re invoking the titans / Trigon story really well! Oh, I see, you’re having Atmos be sort of innocent in the whole Nura affair - a good way to rehabilitate him

Really good scene with Thom here!

Vista being pivotal, perhaps her mind scape can hold Trigon?

Ooh Maya’s turn. She’s been through a lot of changes… I wonder if Mysa will react differently to how Thom will, later. She at least seems more sure of herself

Also, nice using the quote boxes to frame the vignettes

Go Veilmist! I do like her honesty and practicality

Woof, Drake and Dawny as some kind of reality TV show type couple lol

Ooph what a throwback to Wildfire’s joining the Legion. Yeah, he had the Miracle Machine didn’t he?

Nice nod to Dick and Donna being the “strongest” of the Titans

Ah, Infinite Boy has a one person at a time limit I see

Hah love Nura’s insight. And of course, Jeckie can see through illusions!

Also, great step having Nura and Lilith shake Jeckie from the illusion, giving them a role, and making it not too easy - if Jeckie had thought to use her power herself, it would have diminished Trigon’a threat I think


Yikes, okay, good to know that everyone is still alive at least

Huh, interesting, is Lilith somehow nudging Vista?

I like how you differentiated Wildfire’s reaction from Mysa’s and Thom’s. Does not bode well for poor Drake though

Why am I not surprised that the others succumbed… though Thom, Mysa and Wildfire would have to.

Good call of Jeckie to tel everyone that Drake isn’t quite in a good frame of mind either

Nice cliffhanger raz! Eager to see how you wrap it up

And yeah, thanks for calling out the portrayal of schizophrenia by Johns. It’s a lot more complex than that…

Thanks for the R&R, IB!

It's fun having Flederweb around, he's such a curmudgeonly little glider-man!


Thanks! That Trigon the Terrible story is one of my favourite comic book arcs, I really wanted to do an obvious homage without just rehashing the same story again


Yeah, that storyline just never sat well with me and it definitely hasn't aged any better over time...I'm fine with Atmos being an arrogant unlikeable jerk but making him a literal rapist is just gross, especially when the only consequence to any of that was Nura leaving him when she figured it out. It feels like Levitz just pulled the mental manipulation thing out of his ass to cut that subplot short anyway, and it doesn't really gel at all with any of Atmos's other powers which are all very physical. I don't think it stretches credibility too much to say he didn't even realise he was doing it until Dreamy figured it out, and it's not something he would choose to do consciously. He might be a jerk, but he should still be a hero underneath it.

With the characters who faced their dark sides - in my original story outline I had the good guys fully corrupted as well, but we had something similar not that long ago with the Seven Sins so I thought it'd be better to have the Legionnaires all beat the corruption this time around. Plus, it probably makes sense that the Demon's Claw and Sisterhood members wouldn't have put up as much of a fight against their dark sides anyway really.

It was an interesting creative exercise coming up with how the Legionnaires' insecurities would manifest with their doppelgangers anyway though! Wildfire was the only one I really had fully planned out when I started!

re: Infinite Boy's limit - he can summon more than one person at a time but it's more taxing, and once he's summoned a person/group from the timestream he needs to send them back home before he can summon a different person/group.

re: Lilith nudging Vista....that is an interesting question, let's see if the final instalment of this story helps to answer that...

NEXT: The final chapter! Somebody unexpected is going to do something very decisive! At least one character will be changed forever! All this and Sheranee's Shwarrian Fire Kitten!

Hey Raz, I read this through yesterday and was thoroughly impressed! There are so many delicious moments.

Nura's exasperation with poor Lilith at the start read perfectly, and Lilith's confusion and fear are understandable. Flederweb is a delight, you write him very well. Nura snapping at Vista and Xao talking Lilith into helping were nice moments. "There is power in all of you and in some of you, great heroism" haha.

I'm loving the use of the quote boxes - have never seen that here before, so well done for coming up with an innovative way to present your story.

I'm a Star Boy fan so the vignette where he faces his doubts is tough! And, very well done Raz for tying all those storylines from his past together to feed into his dopplegangers manipulation. The sad thing is, they're all kinda true. Poor Thom, he's such a good egg really, just not imaginative. And showing him Nura getting her rocks off with Atmos was just cruel.

Lilith giving the team the information she has to help... ummm "The people of Azarath sacrificed themselves to stop Trigon's threat," whoops! Well, that ended a positive streak of hope. Haha, you wrote that really well. And what does she sense about Vista? Surely Trigon wouldn't be held within her mindscape? Am sure you have a more clever idea for how she's used.

Mysa's encounter was another great slice of darkness - suggesting it would have been preferable if she remained as Mordru's proverbial punchbag was savage! I kinda thought that he wisdom of Solomon might kick in, but Trigon is a league beyond that.

Love the fiesty Nura/Vista exchange, and Xao being all polite as he reminded Vista that he could whup her was a delight. Veilmist's sudden courage is interesting... though "this pitful girl from Earth", haha love how the Khunds see Lilith. "I simply do not wish to die," - understandable really. I do love your Nura, she takes charge and deals with issues without really getting a concesus. It's how I write my Saturn Girl - we all love a pragmatic badass!

Wildfire - ah, perhaps the most messed up Legionnaire, who incidentally is already pretty messed up from Mordru - I wonder which button will be pushed, this should be incenduary! Dawnstars quarters always being neat and tidy - well, she's never lose or misplace anything so that makes sense Ouch, how to kick a dismemberd blob of anti-energy when they are down! He is going to be extra-pissed when he gets out.

"Your friends have no chance" - ah, that Lilith, she just can't help but piss on everyone's chips, can she? "We forget nobody" I love your Nura! And, of course, illusions are Jeckies thing so let's see how she fares...

Nice scene with Jeckie seeing what may have happened had she not left, sort of, and commited all those othe faux pas - " you disgraced your royal position by laying with a commoner who wasn't even from Orando," though given how inbred they are this might not have been such a bad thing really. And, well times visit by Nura there, and a she's back. I do like Jeckie as Sensor Girl. Nice moment to describe just how awful H'Crides has become btw, very bleak! I really like your Xao, he's smart, respectful and still kick-ass! Nice use of a group of them to liberate the three trapped Legionnaires.

Mysa of course is the easy one to free, though I don't expect the other two to be so easy... poor Thom, he really is a sweetheart. Drake isn't, haha. Yeah, he's an angry soul right now, isn't he? It'll be interesting to see how much of his anger he takes with him back to reality.

Wildfire isn't happy at all. You've been building this up fr a while now Raz, so I wonder what the ultimate pay-off will be, it doesn't look happy right now. Ah, the rest of the Sisterhood and the Demons Claw aren't freed... this will be epic!

Raz, that was tremendous - especially loved your characterisation of Lilith - as depresing as she is -, Xao, Nura and Flederweb throughout, they were really clear. Fingers are crossed that your team all survive their encounter with Trigon!

More, more, more!

And meant to say, it was worth waiting a month for this, but my nails really can't keep me hanging on that long for the finale

Thanks for reading, Harbi!

re the quote boxes - I was trying to think of a good way to replicate that visual they used in the old Titans comics where you could tell straight away that it was an illusory world, I am glad it worked!

Lilith's little premonition about Vista will come to fruition before all of this is over, I will be interested to see what kind of reaction that gets actually!

Nura and Imra are pretty comparable in that respect actually now you mention it! I find a lot of the time you can write whole scenes with them where their power doesn't really even come into play because they're carried by their force of personality!

Wildfire's story has been building up for a while now, and something suitably dramatic is going to happen with that soon too!

Hopefully your nails won't have to wait too long for the last chapter, I have already started writing away!

IN ORBIT ABOVE THE BORDERWORLD KURSZGE III
The Legion of Superheroes mobile base, rec level

From outside, the Legion of Superheroes mobile base resembled their original yellow and red rocket ship headquarters. While their original headquarters so many years ago had seemed to be buried nose-first in the centre of Metropolis however, their current base floated free in the void of space. This meant that the rocket ship had a visibly transparent nose, one which doubled as the best view on the base. Beneath this enormous cone-shaped ceiling stood a selection of eating establishments, a recreation and gaming area, and a small park.

A Vornian live oak tree dominated the small but lush parkland, its enormous limbs reaching almost 70 feet in height and broad enough to sit in. Right now in the highest branches of that impressive tree, the Legionnaire named Sheranee Shah played hide and seek with a tiny black and red kitten. Sheranee was draped from head to toe in golden jewellery which normally tinkled delicately as she moved, but she was also so deft of movement that when she really wanted to she could stalk in almost eerie silence. So it was that the young woman with an impish grin came close enough to her oblivious pet that she could have reached out and touched the back of his head if she'd wished. The Shwarrian Fire Cat sniffed the air and flicked his tail lazily from one side to the other, his nose beginning to pick up what had eluded his ears so far.

"Hello little Nyabby," Sheranee whispered playfully. The black and red kitten was startled, but the empathic bond was so strong between himself and his mistress that Sheranee knew he wouldn't be frightened. He turned around toward her, admonishing her with a quick meow before he pushed his furry little head against her forearm as a clear sign that he wanted pats. Sheranee obliged, giving the unique red marking on his forehead a little scratch before she ran her hand down the matte black fur of his back and tail.

"Attention all Legionnaires on base," Kid Computo's voice abruptly sounded over Sheranee's flight ring, "We have an intruder on the rec level, please respond immediately." A small hologram of a scantily clad pink woman projected forth from the flight ring, and scrolling Interlac text instructed Sheranee that this woman was a Khund teleporter named Veilmist and a member of the Sisterhood of Sin that some of her fellow Legionnaires had recently encountered.

Whatever Veilmist was doing here, she wasn't making a secret of her presence; Sheranee could see her down in the park below, already in heated conversation with Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass.

"Stay here, my love." She picked Nyabby up and kissed him between his little peaked ears. "Superhero business calls." Trusting their empathic connection to make her intent clearer than her words ever could, she leaped down from one branch to the next until she'd landed gracefully on the grass below. Several other Legionnaires had been either eating or indulging in one many games in the recreation area, and soon there were ten heroes surrounding the Khund teleporter on all sides.

"Maybe I should turn her to crystal so she can't spring any surprises on us," Crystal Kid said discreetly to Firecrest in human form at his side. Bobb Kohan remembered only too well the trouble Veilmist had caused last time she'd teleported into the Legion's home.

"I am not here to fight any of you!" Veilmist protested almost as though she'd heard Bobb. "Your Legionnaires need your help!"

"Gosh, really?" Elastic Lad's neck extended up and over the other heroes so he could see Veilmist more clearly. "Which Legionnaires, Veilmist? Did Blok send you? Maybe we should contact Blok, what do you think Colossal Boy? You've got seniority among all of us, I guess we should defer to your judgement really!"

"No, there is no time!" Veilmist complained, obviously annoyed. "This many passengers will push me to my limits anyway, you people best appreciate what I am doing here!"

Lavender-scented mists hid them all from sight, and a moment later Dawnstar rushed into the room to see the smoke fading on the air. She sighed in frustration and held her flight ring to her mouth. "Kid Computo..?

...Veilmist has done it again."

**********

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

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Flederweb: gliding, wall-crawling, claws
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream
Lilith Clay: Teen Titan from the past with ESP and undefined psychic abilities
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Sensor Girl aka Projectra Armorr: illusion-casting, super-enhanced perceptions
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Vista: contains a pocket astral environment in her mind
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

vs

Bloodclaw: super-strength, vibro-claws
Echo aka Myke-4 Astor: sonic mimicry and amplification
Nimbus: personal forcefield, flight
Scorn: Khund blood witch with a legion of blood wraiths
Star-Bear aka Ursula Yenova: cosmic ursinthrope
Strongarm: four-armed super-strong cyborg
Trigon the Terrible: Demon Father
White Bat: aerial assassin

On the cursed world H'crides, chaos reigned.

In the sulphurous skies above, stray lightning bolts illuminating their forms, White Bat and Flederweb parried and slashed at one another in a deadly aerial ballet. Between her sharper than razor hardlight wings and the foot-long talons extending from each forearm, White Bat was the more dangerous of the two. Flederweb was an agile opponent though, and it saved him from strikes that would surely have gutted a lesser opponent. Still, they were too evenly matched for him to get any real distance from her where his firearm might have made a difference. Flederweb was at least grateful that he wouldn't have to listen to any battle repartee from the silent assassin...he was far more offended by poor wit than he ever could be by attempted murder.

On the ground below, Scorn's blood wraiths had swarmed the motley crew that opposed her before any of the other corrupted Demon's Claw or Sisterhood of Sin members could launch their own assaults. Even though they weren't Legionnaires anymore though, Wildfire and Mysa Marvel had worked with many of their allies long enough to automatically fall into familiar patterns of teamwork. In this case, that meant covering Dragonmage long enough for him to weave a spell to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Wildfire released some very real angry tension by blasting several of the wraiths into a red mist, and Mysa Marvel punched a few of them into formless splatters. Scorn's enchantment was constantly reforming the blood wraiths who were capable of being reformed, but Mysa and Wildfire saw another problem; Bloodclaw now came hurtling toward Dragonmage, his vibro-claws tearing Xao's dragonform to shreds before it had even finished being shaped.

The enormous Khund warrior raised an arm to rip into Dragonmage himself next, but Mysa Marvel was faster. "I realise that Trigon has brought out your worst self," Mysa remarked as she grabbed a handful of Bloodclaw's striped bodysuit, "But I'm not going to just let you kill my friends." With an overarm swing, she hurled him far across the barren plains until he dwindled from view.

"KILL."

Echo used Mysa's own voice as a weapon against them all, enhancing her speech into a wave of sonic force that slammed everyone except Wildfire and Mysa herself back a couple of yards. Even Mysa Marvel and Wildfire were momentarily staggered, and it gave the blood wraiths the opening they needed to renew their attack. Scorn hovered above them, her face the very picture of smug satisfaction as her blood wraiths overwhelmed most of her enemies. Trigon himself looked down upon the violence with approval; his daughter was making him more proud than any of his other children had done in his countless millenia of existence.

At that precise moment, the scent of lavender momentarily filled the air and plumes of purplish smoke appeared and parted to reveal Veilmist and ten Legionnaires; Crystal Kid, Firecrest, Infectious Lass, Invisible Kid, Elastic Lad, Colossal Boy, Sizzle, Sheranee, Sun Boy and Timber Wolf.

"Oh, come on!" Crystal Kid threw his arms up in protest. "Veilmist, have you never heard of consent??"

"I believe this may not be the best time for recriminations, mon ami." Jacques Foccart began fading from view as he spoke. "Wildfire, Mysa...what transpires here?"

"Anyone with four eyes, that weird solarised effect or who looks like a demon made of blood is a bad guy!" Wildfire retorted even while he blasted the returning form of Bloodclaw back across the lifeless planet's surface. "Everyone else is on our side for now!"

"Gee whiz, Wildfire!" Elastic Lad wrapped himself around Star-Bear just as she was about to take a swing at the anti-energy hero. "You shouldn't just say anyone who looks like that is a bad guy, that's an awful stereotype! I know you don't mean it that way and I'm sure you were just caught up in the moment but there's a whole universe of diverse lifeforms out there and some of them have one eye, four eyes, eight eyes - and that's not even getting into skin tones! Why, did you know the dominant species of Kirrinia change colour according to their mood? It's super fascinating!" Star-Bear tried to roar her displeasure, but Elastic Lad's body had already muzzled her and she was restricted to angry but futile attempts to tear his elongated form apart.

Of Dream Girl's original group of allies, Star Boy was one of the few who had any real offence against the blood wraiths, and he'd been working overtime to drop them from the sky before they could hurt himself or Nura. "Unbelievable," he mused as another pair of the demon-like creatures sunk to the rocky surface and crawled ineffectively toward him. "Even a demon apocalypse can't shut that boy up...not that I'm complaining about the last-minute save!"

"Veilmist, you did great work!" Dream Girl's own power allowed her to sidestep the slashing claws of another wraith as she complimented the Khund teleporter, but it also warned her of a secondary danger. "Look out!" Nura's eyes widened in fear. "Veilmist, above you!!"

Veilmist looked up to see one of the wraiths diving straight at her, its sickly red talons extended. After transporting so many people such a long distance in one jump though, she was too tired to use her power again so quickly. A thick crystal shell suddenly grew to life over her, and she flinched as she heard the blood wraith slam into the other side of it.

Veilmist looked across toward Crystal Kid. "You're welcome," Bobb Kohan muttered sarcastically, "But you're still not off the hook, lady."

Sensor Girl's power was ineffective against the wraiths themselves and she could see that Mysa and Wildfire were moving to confront Scorn and Trigon directly, a task more suited for that pair of powerhouses than most others here. The Queen of Orando was far from helpless however, and with a cleverly cast illusion she soon had Nimbus unwittingly protecting Sensor Girl, Infinite Boy and Lilith from more of the blood wraiths. "Legionnaires!" Sensor Girl shouted while concentrating on her power, "These blood wraiths are not alive, there is no reason to hold back against them!"

"That's all we needed to hear, Ssenssor Girl!" Staq Mavlen's voice took on a sibilant growl as he transformed into his weredragon form and mighty wings lifted him into the air. Drawn by his greater size, four of the blood wraiths turned toward Firecrest and were incinerated by his fire breath for it. Another group of the creatures swarmed him from behind, and Firecrest writhed in mid-air to free himself.

Meanwhile, Echo saw that Mysa Marvel had tackled Scorn to the ground and one of Strongarm's four limbs had snatched Wildfire out of the air. Everyone else here was too distracted with the rest of the chaos to concern themselves with him, and it left them wide open for a second sonic barrage. Strongarm had just delivered a double-handed uppercut to Wildfire which was accompanied by a very satisfying crack; that cracking sound would surely break the bones of half the people here once Echo amplified it. Certainly, his own allies would be hurt as well, but Trigon's corruption had bypassed any fragile loyalties Echo may have had for anyone on this world. Before he could do more than consider the attack though, an unseen force clobbered him across the head and Echo dropped like a sack of vegetables.

"I have been the victim of your strange power before, Monsieur." Still invisible, Jacques Foccart ascended quickly above the battlefield before a stray strike from either side of the fight could accidentally take him out. "I would not wish anyone else to suffer such a fate. Still....I fear the level of power here might be too great for my meager contribution." Jacques saw that Dream Girl and Inifinite Boy had now fallen, Firecrest was struggling beneath greater numbers, and Star-Bear had finally managed to overcome Elastic Lad's best efforts and thrown the youth into the grip of waiting blood wraiths. The enormous demon with antlers overseeing all of this was clearly more than Invisible Kid could take on, and then Jacques saw Flederweb and White Bat slashing at one another a few metres away. His next step decided, Invisible Kid took flight.

Sun Boy had surrounded himself with a flaming sheath, a successful deterrent to the blood wraiths; still, there were plenty of other Legionnaires here who could fight those unliving monstrosities. Sun Boy was certain his talents could be applied more efficiently against another foe. Looking around the battlefield, he saw a twenty foot tall Colossal Boy being swarmed by the seemingly endless supply of wraiths that Dirk had dealt with so easily. Colossal Boy saw his blazing comrade floating nearby and called out. "Sun Boy! A little help here, huh? Burn these things off me!"

Dirk Morgna faltered. Not so long ago, he would have complied without a second thought...now though, the memory of Mordru turning Dirk against Supergirl and Shadow Lass was too fresh; he couldn't bear the thought of hurting any more of his friends, even unintentionally. "I - I don't want to burn you!" Sun Boy replied weakly.

"Then don't!" a brassy woman's voice sounded. One of the Legion's newest recruits joined Sun Boy, the red-skinned Abaddonian woman named Sizzle. She extended her hand out toward the fiery hero. "Some good vibrations will rattle those things apart without putting Colossal Boy in any danger, but I need something to work with...what do you say, Sun Boy?"

Grateful that the responsibility had been taken from him, Sun Boy reached for Sizzle's open palm and the two clasped hands. Converting some of the energy from Sun Boy's fire sheath into vibratory waves, Sizzle did exactly what she said she was going to do and shook the creatures into gross splatters.

Colossal Boy grew dramatically larger without the claws of the blood wraiths embedded in his flesh, becoming as tall as Trigon himself. "That kind of tickled and I am refusing to acknowledge how disgusting those things are, but thanks Sizzle! What do you two say we take this to the big guy?"

"Not you," Sun Boy cautioned Sizzle. "I heard Dragonmage call him a demon before one of those blood things clobbered him, you should leave this to more experienced Legionnaires."

"Sun Boy, some upstart demon doesn't bother me," Sizzle laughed. "Whoever that loincloth wearing squaj is, he doesn't hold a candle to the dark lord Asmothe. Let's go put him in his place."

The two were still holding hands, Sizzle releasing the energy she absorbed from Sun Boy as ambient light. Intrigued by the fearlessness of this attractive young woman, Sun Boy allowed himself to be taken along to confront Trigon alongside Colossal Boy.

Then they saw Trigon flatten Colossal Boy with one swing of his staff, and Sun Boy began to wonder if they'd bitten off more than they could chew...

**********

Several of the heroes were beginning to take damage from the seemingly endlessly regenerating horde of blood wraiths and the others that Trigon had corrupted. Vista transported three more of the wraiths into her mindscape and Nimbus was still unwittingly acting as Sensor Girl's bodyguard, but it wasn't enough. For some strange reason, Crystal Kid's power wouldn't work on Star-Bear directly, and when Sheranee hit her with a starbolt it had just made the time-displaced Russian villainess larger and stronger.

"This one absorbs energy," Timber Wolf suddenly appeared by Sheranee's side. "Leave her to me, go help the others take on that big guy."

Sheranee wasn't overly comfortable with leaving Brin Londo alone with...whatever Star-Bear was...but he'd been doing this a lot longer than Sheranee and she had to trust that he could look after himself. If nothing else, the giant half-naked red man definitely presented an easier target. While Timber Wolf taunted Star-Bear into lunging at him and burying her enormous paw into the rocky ground, Sheranee saved Sun Boy and Sizzle from a swipe of Trigon's staff with a well-placed starbolt.

Hiding behind a thick crystalline wall, a bleeding Crystal Kid turned to Sensor Girl. "I could turn all these blood things into crystal, but then I wouldn't be able to focus on keeping these walls up...Sensor Girl, can't you get Star-Bear and Nimbus to fight each other?"

"My illusion has made Nimbus the only thing saving us from being completely overwhelmed by those blood things, Crystal Kid." Sensor Girl replied. "I cannot take the risk."

Infectious Lass overheard this, saw the pile of blood wraiths that had dragged Firecrest and Elastic Lad down to the ground not far away, and Drura Sehpt made a decision. "Crystal Kid..?" she approached Bobb. "I don't think this is going to put you all in danger, but just to be on the safe side...maybe you should put an airtight dome around our wounded."

"What's not going to put us in danger?" Crystal Kid asked. He saw Infectious Lass fly around the edges of his barrier and called out after her. "Infectious Lass, are you space crazy? Those things will tear you to pieces!"

"Just do as I said," Infectious Lass instructed him as she hovered before the oncoming wraiths. "These creatures are bloodborne...and no Somahturian is afraid of bloodborne life."

Infectious Lass spread her arms wide, mucus-like fabric dangling from her sleeves. Of all that were gathered here, only Sensor Girl was able to see the wave of hemophilic viruses that Drura unleashed, and the Orandan monarch was disturbed but also awestruck by the biological carnage she was witnessing. It was Scorn's magic that had created these wraiths, but the wraiths still relied on the clotting properties of blood to maintain their forms. Drura Sehpt's microscopic army now devoured the proteins holding them together, and every blood wraith on the battlefield collapsed into sickly puddles which seeped into the rocky ground.

Scorn was losing a fistfight with Mysa Marvel when she sensed this, and it was the final indignity she was prepared to endure. Mysa had disarmed Scorn of her blood dagger, but not before Scorn had managed to cut a gash across the otherwise indestructible woman's forearm. Scorn's four eyes blazed to life now, and she used the power her father had given her to set Mysa's blood boiling. She spread the effect out across the battlefield, and while the others didn't feel it to the extent that Mysa did, it was still debilitating for Scorn's pawns and enemies alike.

While Mysa shuddered in wordless agony at Scorn's feet, Trigon's daughter floated above them all and hot winds whipped around her. She spared a glance for her father, who had already defeated Sun Boy, Sizzle and Sheranee as easily as he had Colossal Boy. Scorn knew that Trigon was proud of her, but she also knew that he was ready for this entertaining diversion to be over.

"We have a universe to subjugate," Scorn announced imperiously, her voice now as demonic as her father's. "It is time for you worms to meet the only end that was ever ordained for you." She looked down cruelly at Mysa Marvel now, and the horrific scream that escaped Mysa's throat as she cried hot tears of blood was a sound that would forever be burned into the memories of anyone still conscious to hear it.

Strongarm had been holding Wildfire in a four-armed bear hug when Scorn launched her assault on everyone, and she'd inadvertantly weakened Strongarm enough that Wildfire could finally make his move. Bringing his own arms up to his side, Drake Burroughs blasted two of Strongarm's cybernetic limbs into scrap metal and the feedback overwhelmed the already struggling cyborg. As Strongarm slumped to the ground, Wildfire's bootjets roared to life.

"You've crossed so many lines, woman!" Wildfire ranted at Scorn as he approached her. A look of apprehension crossed her face as she realised there was no way she could possibly hurt him. "You made us face the darkest parts of ourselves!" A blast from his right hand sent her flying back. "You've murdered people!" A matching blast from his left hand slammed her into the ground. "You're a sprocking monster! But there's something you forgot...you're not the only monster here!"

Wildfire's visor began to open, and Scorn's apprehension turned to fear. She gazed up at Trigon, feeling his disappointment like a sinking weight upon her. "Father..?"

Then Wildfire's visor fully opened, and Scorn was consumed in an expulsion of anti-energy that blasted a crater two stories deep into the cursed world of H'crides.

Only a handful of people were still in any state to react to the explosion of violence, and they were all stunned into speechlessness...

...all bar Trigon the Terrible.

"She failed me as all my children have failed me," Trigon decreed. "But she was still my daughter...and it is not your place to presume to judge the spawn of Trigon, creature." Wildfire's containment suit had just finished returning to its normal proportions as his energy form filled it, when the death stare of Trigon shredded it to ribbons with a blinding flash.

On her hands and knees among a field of bloody crystal, Lilith wailed.

"Do not despair, Ma'amselle." Invisible Kid had returned with Flederweb and an unconsious White Bat only in time to see Trigon's attack and was oblivious to anything that had come before it. "Wildfire's natural state is that of incorporeal energy, he will pull himself together soon enough. But we must--"

"No, you don't understand!" Lilith protested, crying. "I felt it! I felt his thoughts cease! Trigon has killed your friend!"

Above them all, Trigon coldly turned his gaze down toward them as his eyes once again began to glow.

"Jacques..." Sensor Girl's facemask hid any form of facial expression, but the distress in her voice was unmistakable. "I...I cannot see him, Jacques.

...I cannot sense Wildfire at all."

"And your powers are less than nothing to me," Trigon spoke directly to Sensor Girl, in response to her attempt to shield the rest of them from him. "But for daring the attempt, you have made yourself Trigon's next victim."

Sensor Girl looked around frantically; aside from herself, only Invisible Kid, Flederweb, Vista and Lilith were not utterly defeated and most of them weren't in any position to fight an infant at this point. "Do your worst, demon." Sensor Girl stood defiantly against the Ravager of Universes.

Anything else Sensor Girl might have had to say was lost before the sound of Mysa Marvel's furious bellow. Scorn had come closer to murdering Mysa than Mysa believed could be possible since she'd taken on these powers, and she had no doubt that Trigon himself would be magnitudes more dangerous...still, she possessed the stamina of Atlas, the courage of Achilles, and her own innate heroism. She had recovered enough to keep fighting, and she wasn't going to stop fighting until she took her final breath.

Mysa slammed double-fisted into Trigon's jaw with enough force to smash through a small planet. The shockwave itself knocked everyone off their feet, but to Trigon the Terrible it was nothing more than the bite of an insect. He swung his monstrous fist at Mysa, and she evaded him easily. Mysa landed a flurry of super-speed punches, with power enough behind each one of them that no other foe could possibly have remained standing.

Trigon the Terrible remained standing however, and while his fists weren't fast enough to hit his opponent, his death stare soon fell upon her. Mysa screamed as she felt pain that made Scorn's earlier attack seem like a hot bath. Her cape was torn to nothing, the rest of her costume hanging together in tatters. She did not die though, and when her charred form fell from the sky she raised herself on trembling limbs ready for another round.

"Few creatures have survived the death stare of Trigon the Terrible," the Demon Father mused. "Congratulations, gnat. You have earned yourself a reprieve as my plaything until I tire of you. You will have the honour of watching me destroy everyone and everything you have ever loved...however, it seems you must learn to be more complacent." Trigon raised his mighty boot and stomped down on the struggling woman once, then again, until her battered and burned form finally lay insensate in the demon's footprint.

While Mysa had been fighting for everyone's lives, the remaining few combatants had no choice but to watch and hope for the best.

"Perhaps...perhaps I can extend my power...hide all of us until the Legion can be summoned," Invisible Kid mumbled desperately, though he didn't really believe it.

"We both know the limitations of your power, Jacques," Sensor Girl said stoically. "No, I think our fate is clear. You can still leave though, someone must warn the Legion of Superheroes of what has happened here this day and Trigon may not notice that you've departed."

"I am not leaving you here to die!" Jacques Foccart blew up. "And what would I tell the Legion? I know nothing of what has occurred here, I do not even know where here is! Veilmist told us nothing when she teleported--"

"Teleportation!" The normally quiet Flederweb shouted his epiphany. White Bat had hurt him severely, and he'd had to tear off strips of his own costume to use as makeshift dressings for some of his worse wounds. He pointed an accusing finger at Vista. "You! You've been teleporting these blood wraiths out of here the whole time...and the Earth girl said you would be pivotal to Trigon's defeat! Can't you just zap him out of here?"

"Are you insane??" Vista snapped. "Look at him, he's the size of a building! It would kill me!!"

The thunderous stomps of Trigon's feet caught their attention, and they all saw that Mysa Marvel lay defeated. There was no more time to plan, no more time to argue, they had to do something...and Lilith Clay's heart sank as she realised what that something was.

The Infinite Boy had told Lilith that his power summoned her here because she could help them face Trigon, and she realised now that it wasn't only her power that was going to achieve that. Making a decision that she knew was going to haunt her, she nudged Vista's mind for the second time today. Then Lilith Clay wiped her eyes, stood up, and approached the Demon Father with weary dignity.

"Trigon. You know me."

Lilith's voice was calm and controlled, but somehow it still caught the Demon Father's attention. "You presume too much," he laughed to spite her. "All who live know fear of Trigon, but you are all just nameless bones to grind beneath my heel."

"You know me, Trigon. Though the last time we met, I was empowered by the souls of Azarath...but you will lose today just like you lost then."

Trigon paused. He hadn't thought about Azarath for centuries, there was no way anybody of this era could know of Azar and her people...and then he realised, this frail meat before him was not of this era. She'd faced him once, so long ago that he'd forgotten her features. She'd known another who was the daughter of Trigon, the one named Raven; and indeed, Lilith Clay's flesh had been home to the souls of Azarath and Lilith Clay had been a part of Trigon the Terrible's first ever defeat.

"I do not know how you have come to be here," Trigon growled, "But I sense you do not bear the protection of Azar any longer...and that will be a fatal mistake, girl." The Demon Father seemed to burst into flame for a few seconds, and when the occult flames vanished he was of more human proportions. He was still more than a head taller than Lilith, and his meaty red hands gripped both sides of her head so fiercely she thought her skull would crack open.

"In all my long history of violence and depravity, Trigon the Terrible never tasted the bitter fruit of loss until you. I will ravage the rest of your universe as a god wipes out vermin but you, girl...your death will require a more intimate touch."

Lilith could feel her mind burning at Trigon's touch, even as her blood started to boil. She'd gambled that Trigon wouldn't be able to resist making this personal once he knew who she was, and she had hoped that meant him literally reducing himself to her level...but everything from this point on was no gamble, she'd already seen these dark events play out and she wept a single tear knowing what she'd set in motion.

Invisible Kid and Sensor Girl tried a physical assault, but Lilith already knew how useless that was going to be; Trigon was so intent on torturing Lilith that he didn't even react to their blows.

The woman named Vista was mildly surprised at her own bravery, but somehow she knew that this was her chance to end this once and for all. As soon as the Demon Father killed that girl he was going to become a giant again, and that would be the death of the rest of them. Vista didn't care about anyone else on this world or anyone else in this universe for that matter, but she was going to do anything she needed to survive. Vista stepped forward, the pink glow of her cybernetic implant signalling her power. "Hey, creep. Try your unstoppable demon nass in a universe that I control."

Just like that Trigon was gone, and Invisible Kid and Sensor Girl rushed to help Lilith to her feet. Above them, the cloud cover dissipated almost instantly, and the air immediately felt easier to breathe.

"Hmm." Flederweb looked up from where he was sitting exhausted on the ground. "...That was anticlimactic."

Startling everyone, Vista arched her back and emitted a wordless shriek. Bloody slits appeared in her forehead, two extra eyes appearing there. Her scalp split and tore as the bloody nubs of antlers began to poke through, and the skin of her face peeled back to reveal a fresh red layer underneath.

"God save us..." Invisible Kid whispered in terror. "Le diable...he...he--"

"He's possessing her..." Sensor Girl added fearfully. "Transforming her..."

Then the man named Flederweb drew his energy pistol and fired it at Vista's head.

Finally spent, Flederweb collapsed.

Sensor Girl and Invisible Kid stared in horror at Vista's headless corpse, and as the survivors around them one by one regained consciousness, Lilith Clay cried silently and found voice for only two words.

"...It's over."

Wow, that was insane! More detailed reaction later, but wow!!! Great and imaginative use of these characters!

yay, more! *eagerly rubs hands*

Loving the new and improved Legion HQ! Great visual description!

also love Sheranee's physical agility and nimbleness and her playing with her kitty!

also loving the flight ring's scrolling text re: so, this is the "bad guy"...

heh re Dawnstar being just too late... liking the cavalry so far. Gim, E-Lad, Sheranee, Crystal Kid, Staq...

Trigon: Demon Father. enough said!

hah! I am so with Flederweb, I also hate poor wit!

well, go Scorn, I said grudgingly. make Papa proud, ugh

LOL at Bobb's consent crack!

also loved Wildfire's description of the situation

impressed at how E-Lad can prattle on, even while disabling an opponent! (I'm with Thom, wow!)

yeah, go Jeckie! Leave it to her, to find a great use for her power!

you really write Jacques well - his dialogue is just how I remember from when Levitz was writing him!

ooh, nice way to work in Dirk's lingering trauma from Mordru's torture! and good of Sizzle to come up with a solution! loving Dirk's protectiveness, and Sizzle's "ah come on!" attitude! hmm, are you going somewhere with Dirk and Sizzle?

Leave it to Brin to figure out Star-Bear's powers!

oh yeah! brilliant use of Drura! of course!! of course Drura would have some microbes up her sleeve that would make the blood wraiths fall apart!

oy, counter stroke from Scorn...!

oh gosh, that does not sound good for Mysa

yikes! I expected Drake to snap sooner or later... didn't expect it to be Scorn. And Trigon is, of course, very cold about it

oh, oh crap. did not expect Lilith and Jeckie to say that

nice try, Jeckie, nice try... you go girl, you tell him. Regal, like the queen she is

oh sprock, Mysa although at least she impressed Trigon enough... I guess.

yeah, leave it to Flederweb to pick up on Vista, and Lilith's thinking that she would be the key to defeating Trigon!

wow. go Lilith. nice hook there, having her play a pivotal role by playing on Trigon's pride...

WOW! just... WOW. wow, wow, wow. Vista dies, pushed by Liltih - no wonder Lilith is crying. I would, do. She made a tough choice...

that was amazing, Raz. epic. even with your foreshadowing, I did not quite anticipate all of this. You did an amazing job of keeping the suspense going. great pacing all throughout.

I am super stoked to see the aftermath!

well done, extremely well done!

Hi y'all, thanks for reading!

Set, I am looking forward to more of your take on things!

IB, I had to do a lot of rewrites to try and give everyone even just a line or two while not getting distracted from the main storyline, I am glad lots of the little character bits worked!

I was initially gonna not have reinforcements turn up at all, but I kind of felt like the majority of the Legion was being kept in the background a lot for this storyline, and it is meant to be their series

Once I decided to have backup arrive though, that scene with Infectious Lass was the first thing I thought of!

I am glad you liked the pacing as well, I was a bit unsure about that with how abruptly everything came to a head at the end and that got a few rewrites as well!

The next couple of instalments will be primarily focusing on the aftermath of these tragic events, but I can also say there will be an unexpected bad guy pop up from the Legion's past and a VERY unexpected hero!

EDIT: oh I forgot to mention Sun Boy and Sizzle! I actually wasn't intending on doing anything with the two of them, but they seem to have given themselves some chemistry so let's see where it goes!

I was impressed with how well you juggled such a large group. The scale of the threat, and the 'area effects' were handy for not having to resolve twenty little combats, which could have been a nightmare and a bit exhausting to even read, let alone write (and detracted from the movement of the scene, IMO. Too much fine detail bogs a scene down.).

I like the use of Vista's power. I like the promise of upcoming drama over Flederweb's decisive and very un-Legion-like action at the end. Not just a good scene in and of itself, but it leaves some anticipation, and not just of the happy conclusion, but some difficult decisions to come. Is Wildfire going to sit back and let Flederweb take the heat, or will he, or someone else point out that Flederweb was not the first person to 'go there' and pull out the lethal force?

Infectious Lass was badass, and I loved it!

Crystal Kid is just 'that guy' who complains about everything, isn't he? In any group, there's got to be a curmudgeon, and if Gates isn't around, it's nice to have someone be the grouch! Despite that, he pulls out the crystal shields when they're needed, so he's got the back of even someone he's complained about a minute before. That's cool. Not all heroes are always 100% nice people, and sometimes some obnoxious traits, within reason, can be fun, for the reader, if not the people who have to work with the guy.

I like that Invisible Jacques is competent, and yet also aware of his limitations, analyzing where he can do the most good and getting to it. Very cool. I tend to disregard him due to my own lukewarm feelings on his powers (and some of his past attitudes), but he's got great potential and has come a long way from the early days of feeling out of his depth when things get messy. You've done a good job of advancing him from the 80's portrayal I've left him stuck in in my head.

I don't think I have given Drura a good scene-stealing moment for a hot minute, she was due!

Poor Crystal Kid doesn't have the best association with Veilmist, that's the second time she's gone and kidnapped him right out from the Legion's house into some insane chaos lol

re Invisible Jacques: I agree he was always kinda meh in the 80s, he levelled up a bit in the retroboot though and was shown not constantly stumbling over his own incompetence...it doesn't hurt that Francis Portela made him much hotter as well, I am a shallow man

...and we will not have to wait long to see everyone's reaction to Wildfire and Flederweb's actions, there might be one or two interesting differences of opinion when it comes to all of that as well!

hahaha re Portela drawing a hotter Jacques! that sleeveless uniform really helped I'm shallow too, TBH a lot of my initial interest in Tel and Jed was how much skin they showed...

I do agree that early Levitz Jacques was painfully self-questioning! he definitely levelled up 5YL


looking forward to more, raz!

Phil Jiminez was pretty obviously inspired by my favourite *ahem* adult entertainer Francois Sagat for Gravity Kid's look, I am very much there for it!



And Jed has always been an unrecognised hottie!

well dang! Thanks for the reco, I'll have to check out his *ahem* body of work later. When I'm home.

If I existed in the Legion's universe, I'd be double-dating with Jed and Tel alllll the time!

Relatable!!

Raz, hi, this is great stuff!

The opening act with Seranee playing with her kitten was cute. Veilmist going to the Legionnaires for help and ending up kidnappinng them as they wouldn't listen rings true - why should they trust her?

"On the cursed world H'crides, chaos reigned." Well, that certainly sets the scene pretty succinctly! Flederweb being happy that at least he didn't have to listen to poor banter is hilarious, I share his pain Scorn's blood wraiths sound disgusting, just need to put that out there, disgusting! They would make a great visual though. Wildfire and Mysa would not be a pretty sight in amongst them. Again, a great - if disturbing - visual. Mysa's efficient dealing of Bloodclaw was fun, yeah, go away you bully "Trigon himself looked down upon the violence with approval; his daughter was making him more proud than any of his other children had done in his countless millenia of existence." which nicely highlights that he has yet to join in the fun yet the team are still struggling... Veilmist can't get there quick enough! Haha, very next line, they arrive. I should read on before I start quoting and commenting. And while there are quite a few Legionnaires, most are not top-tier physical fighters... Love Crystal Kids complaint and Wildfire's short and sweet response to being asked what's going on. In case I haven't told youthis enough, but I love your Elastic Lad, and having hid fight Star Bear seems like a plot point worthy of an entire story arc in itself Nice of Bbob to save Veilmist, in spite of his protests.

Clever use of Jeckie, fooling Nimbus into fighting the blood wraiths for them. I do love it when writers remember how useful she really is! And, I always seem to forget yout Fire Lad/Firecrest upgrade - he's pretty hardcore isn't he? You've done well by all the Subs. Jacques taking out Echo was very satisfying, firstly as Echo is a nasty bit of work, and secondly as it's always satisfying seeing him do stuff that actually helps Dirk's fear of hurting his teammates was a good reminder of the damage he suffered under Mordru, though teaming him with Sizzle was great! She's an asset to the team when used properly. isn't she? Are you planning on having their flirtation go any further? Will Dirk actually get into a serious relationship? I'm kinda stunned at the prospect tbh. And Dirk's sudden chivalry/misogny at her helping take on Trigon was nicely put in it's place by her. Will you be divin into her back story to explain who the dark lord Asmothe is to her? Ouch, poor Gim, he is just a walking target!

Timber Wolf's experience comes through as he takes on Star Bear and sends Sheranee to help the others - he may not have an education but he knows his stuff when it comes to fighting bad guys. And nice that she got to help Dirk and Sizzle. The next part with Drura is my favourite part - it is such a good use of her power set! And it's a totally disgusting image too of the blood wraith unclotting and going sploosh around them Oh shit, and angry Scorn can hurt Mysa! That's a worry! Of course, Wldfire won't be affected by Scorn's bllod magic. I'm scared what he might do as Drake ain't been too steady lately... eek! Trigon's disappointment at his daughter, rather than any fatherly concern as Wildfire flattens her perfectly sums him up. Lillith and Jeckie's inability to sense Drake is a worry - I'm hoping you're taking him on a journey back to the Dream Dimension to live out his existence with his imaginary harem - as gross as that is, it's better than his death really. Mysa's determination to keep fighting is impressive. Jacques refusing to run away was heroic but perhaps not clever... "The frail meat before him" - fantastic expression, perfect. Poor Lillith, she never really struck me as the heroic type really but she's always put in these horrid situations. Go Vista! "...That was anticlimactic." Ahh... maybe not!

Flederweb has the money shot! Wow, that was intense Raz, and with the flick of a trigger - and the explosion of Vista's head - it's over.

I bet you had immense satisfaction writing this as it was a delight to read. Looking forward to seeing what you have coming up fr the team as they recover from this, and whether or not Drake's sacrifice is really the end for him. I assume Infinite Boy will return Lillith pretty quickly to her right time, though will he hang around?

This was great Raz, and a fitting conclusion to a storyline you started back in about 1879 I'm in awe of your story building and patience to get us here.

It really goes without saying, but I want more, more, more!

PS - I think I've mighta kinda met the guy you mention above - if it's who i think then he's Alison Moyet's cousin and a husband of a friend of a friend used to be in her band and we saw her in Paris and this guy was at the after show do. Hahaha, I only remember him as there was lots of gossip about him being an adult entertainer, though he was with her and her family and we were at the other side of the room scoffing free wine tbh so I could be totally wrong, but the guy who was there had a hair tattoo like the guy in the picture - it's not that common is it?

Thanks for the R&R, Harbi!

The blood wraiths really are disgusting, I would love to see a really good horror artist draw some of those fight scenes!

Speaking of drawing, I probably should sit down and draw Firecrest in his weredragon form some day...he's another one who hasn't had much of a chance to strut his stuff for a while so even though he didn't really make much of a dent in the wraiths I wanted to show how tough he is these days.

re Sun Boy and Sizzle - that kinda came out of nowhere to be honest, but they do seem to have some chemistry so I will definitely give them a bit of airtime again soon and see what happens with it! And there will also be some expanding on her background soon as well to shed some more light on that dark lord Asmothe comment!

I am glad everyone liked the Drura scene - this seemed like a really natural enemy for her to be able to take on in a badass way

I actually spent so long rewriting this last chapter! I initially wasn't going to have any backup arrive at all, then when I added them I wanted to make sure they all got at least a line or two so they didn't get lost in the background....and you're not far off about this whole thing starting in 1879! I went back through my archive and the other gals recruited Veilmist for the Sisterhood of Sin way back in May last year! So it has been a big buildup!

On another note - you are right, Francois IS Alison Moyet's cousin!! I never knew that before, I googled it after you mentioned it! What a small world hahaha

DEEP SPACE
The Legion of Superheroes mobile base, the former quarters of Star Boy and Dream Girl

In the room that she'd considered her own until her dramatic resignation from the Legion of Superheroes a standard week ago, Nura Nal sat in front of a massive window and looked out into the void beyond to see a depressingly familiar beacon flash by her like some spaceborne lighthouse. While obedient technology applied a pre-programmed layer of make-up upon the stunning Naltorian's face, she allowed her mind to wander back to 48 hours ago...

**********

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

ROLL CALL
Demon's Claw
Bloodclaw: super-strength, vibro-claws
Echo aka Myke-4 Astor: sonic mimicry and amplification
Flederweb: gliding, wall-crawling, claws
Strongarm: four-armed super-strong cyborg

Legion of Superheroes
Colossal Boy aka Gim Allon: growth powers
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
Sheranee Shah: enhanced physical characteristics, night vision, solar-fuelled starbolts, tactile language absorption, animal empathy
Sizzle aka Teela Spuunvll: energy conversion
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength and super-agility

Sisterhood of Sin
Nimbus: personal forcefield, flight
Star-Bear aka Ursula Yenova: cosmic ursinthrope
White Bat: aerial assassin

Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: former Legionnaire; dragon magic
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: former Legionnaire; Naltorian precognition
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future; ability to summon beings from the timestream
Lilith Clay: Teen Titan from the past with ESP and undefined psychic abilities
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: former Legionnaire; magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Sensor Girl aka Projectra Armorr: former Legionnaire; illusion-casting, super-enhanced perceptions
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: former Legionnaire; celestial mass-transference

...On the blood-soaked world H'crides, the Infinite Boy approached Lilith Clay with hesitation; she'd been disconsolate and isolated from everyone else since Kando Vyr had regained consciousness. Kando hurt all over and he wanted nothing more than to get out of this disgusting biohazard of a costume and soak for an hour in a hot tub but he knew somehow that Lilith had been as involved in Trigon's defeat as Flederweb, and that her sacrifice had been almost as great as Vista's.

"Lilith..?" An open wound in Kando's thigh flared with pain as he lowered himself to the ground at her feet. "Do you want to talk about it..?"

"...With you?" Lilith's vivid green eyes flashed with unexpected ire. "The person who dragged me into all of this? No, Infinite Boy...no, I don't think I do."

"I--I--" the Infinite Boy struggled. "Look, I didn't know I was going to be getting you when I reached out for someone to help us. My power isn't that reliable, I just wanted--"

"You wanted a tool to help you against the most horrifying entity I have ever known or will ever know," she finished his statement for him. "Yes. I'm aware. Well, I've done your dirty work for you...your sorceror friend said earlier that you have the power to return me home, I think you should do that if you can."

"I can," Kando acknowledged. He bowed his head for a moment before looking back up at her. "Lilith...if it helps...when I return you to your home era, you won't have any memory of anything that occurred while you were in our time. Time travel has a way of erasing memories--"

"I may not remember the exact events," she cut him off again, "But I will always know, Infinite Boy. Somewhere, no matter how deeply it may lay buried within me, I will forevermore know the future not as something to hope and strive for, but as an omen to be feared. That's what you've given me. Now please...send me home."

Kando Vyr grimaced again with pain as he stood up, then he brought his power to bear and Lilith Clay was gone. Glumly, he rejoined the remaining beaten and battered survivors of Trigon and Scorn's brief reign of terror.

"Veilmist!" Bloodclaw roared. "Where is that traitorous--"

"We told you," Dream Girl approached the enormous Khund without fear. "She teleported away before most of us even woke up, Bloodclaw. She could be anywhere by now."

"I'm more concerned about these four," Sheranee volunteered, crouching by the still unconscious Colossal Boy, Mysa Marvel, Flederweb and White Bat. "Mysa and Flederweb in particular look like they could really use some medical attention."

"Believe me," Nura remarked, "The only reason I'm not worried about my sister is because I've already seen she'll be able to heal herself once she wakes up. But you're right about Flederweb. We should--"

"You should do nothing, woman." Strongarm spoke up. Two of the cyborg's four arms had been shredded by Wildfire earlier, and they hung from Strongarm's torso in ragged strips. "You are all fortunate that your presence here today hasn't provoked a war between our peoples! You have told us that Flederweb destroyed the Demon Father, he will be given the finest combat upgrades that Khund science can offer. As for the rest of you, my recommendation is that you leave here as discreetly as possible."

"But Flederweb killed a woman!" Sun Boy protested. "He needs to face justice!"

"It was your teammate who destroyed the blood witch, was it not?" Strongarm challenged Dirk Morgna. "Do you pick and choose which murder is righteous based on your friendships, Legionnaire?"

"Well gosh, Sir! That's not really very fair if you don't mind me saying so!" Elastic Lad piped up. "If circumstances were different, Wildfire would definitely have to answer for what he did, but--"

"But Wildfire is dead," Sensor Girl interrupted coldly. "...And as for Flederweb's actions, it is not for us to pass judgement. We are in Khund space, Sun Boy. It is not our place to tell the Demon's Claw how to conduct their affairs within their own territory."

"We're the Legion of Ssuperheroess!" Firecrest hissed, in his weredragon form. "It doessn't matter where we are, murder is murder! Flederweb'ss actionss can't go unpunisshed!"

Finally recovered enough to act, Nimbus stormed toward Flederweb's prone body. "I don't give a damn about justice. He killed one of my only friends...even in this backward time you must know the saying an eye for an eye."

Ursula Yenova began to take on her Star-Bear form to back Nimbus up, but before either of them could take any definitive action the word justice echoed at an insane volume and knocked them over like a battering ram. Stunned, the two women saw Echo, Bloodclaw and Strongarm ready to take them on.

"We can fight to the death now," Strongarm stood over the recovering women, "Or you come back with us to face trial in the Challenge Courts. The choice is yours."

A growl formed in Ursula Yenova's throat, but Nimbus was suddenly standing before her. "No, Star-Bear. You and I might win this fight, but White Bat won't...I'm not going to lose the only other person I have in this world now that Vista's gone. Wait till all three of us are ready to face them and we'll kill every one of these squajes just like we killed their stupid leader."

The Russian woman considered Nimbus's words for a moment...she honestly had no great love for either Nimbus or White Bat, but she wasn't exactly in peak form herself either. "It is fine by me," Star-Bear eventually decided. "These Challenge Courts of yours sound like they might be fun anyway, Khund."

"Are we really okay with this?" Crystal Kid hissed at Star Boy and Dream Girl standing by his side. "I mean I know the Sisterhood of Sin were the bad guys here, but are we really gonna leave them in Khund hands??"

Timber Wolf overheard him, and gave a response before Thom or Nura could speak up. "Like Sensor Girl said, kid...we haven't got much of a choice. This is their world, their show; we aren't even meant to be here."

"I don't like it," Sun Boy folded his arms across his chest. "This whole thing stinks."

"I get why you're upset, Sun Boy," Sizzle gave Dirk Morgna a sympathetic shrug. "But sometimes we need a reminder that the universe doesn't care how we feel. Only we do."

Before Sun Boy could do more than give her a slightly baffled look, Sizzle continued. "I've got another question though, how are we meant to leave this depressing place? Wasn't Veilmist our ride home?"

"The cruiser we used to get here won't carry us all but I can summon a long-range teleporter from the timestream easily enough," Kando Vyr replied. "That is, if we're leaving..?"

"The Demon's Claw have no quarrel with the Legion of Superheroes or the United Planets," Strongarm snarled, "Not today at any rate. In case I was not clear before, leave this cursed place and never return."

"...And leave quickly," Bloodclaw added with a tone of derision. "Military support is on the way, and I doubt our comrades will be as accommodating as we are."

Infectious Lass and Invisible Kid had been collecting the pitifully few remnants of Wildfire's containment suit while all of this was going on, and they returned now crestfallen.

"Dragonmage..?" Jacques Foccart asked their young sorceror. "Forgive me...I know that Sensor Girl and Lilith have already provided their confirmation, but I thought perhaps...your sorcery..?"

"I'm sorry, Invisible Kid." Xao Jin met his teammate's eyes sadly while Drura hugged Jacques. "But Wildfire...Wildfire is truly gone."

Dream Girl hadn't had the heart to say anything, but she had already looked into their future and all she saw when she focused on Wildfire was the depressingly familiar beacon of the cemetery planet Shanghalla flash by like some spaceborne lighthouse...

**********

Staring at Shanghalla's beacon from the sterile space that had once been her bedroom, Nura Nal gradually realised she was hearing her name called. She saw Star Boy's face and white gloves reflected in the windowpane, his starry bodysuit invisible against the real stars outside the window.

"Nura..? Are you okay?" Thom asked, clearly concerned.

"Sorry, lover." She stood up and kissed him on the lips. "I was just lost in thought...it's all so sad, you know?"

"Are you having second thoughts?" Thom held her hands in his.

"About leaving the Legion?" Dream Girl replied. "No...no, I know it's not my fault that Wildfire died; he was the most stubborn man I've ever met, I know he wouldn't have come with us if he hadn't wanted to. But still...I was so certain that we were going to save the day, I put so many people at risk, and in the end...in the end, we weren't even necessary. Lilith, Vista and Flederweb stopped Trigon and Scorn. My sister could have died, Thom. We could have started a war...and I never once stopped to consider that maybe my confidence in my abilities was really just arrogance. I think it'll be good for me to have some time away from the Legion to process everything." She looked eyes with him. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Thom thought back to what his doppelganger had said to him back on H'crides, about how he followed Nura around like a dog because it was easier than ever making a decision for himself. His brow furrowed, Star Boy squeezed Dream Girl's hands. "No. No, I'm choosing this. I choose you, my love. And that's not something I could ever second guess. We'd really better go though, the shuttles will be leaving soon."

"Of course." Releasing one of Thom's hands, Nura accompanied him out of the room for what she knew would be the last time for a long time. As the two of them started down the corridor they saw Dawnstar emerge from her own quarters, her eyes puffy from crying. Dawnstar tensed and purposefully turned away from them, and Nura released a deflated sigh.

"...Let's get this over with."

**********

The memorial ceremony on Shanghalla was appropriately somber, and there were more tears from many of the Legionnaires by the time some of them shared a remembrance of their time with Drake Burroughs. As there was no body to be interred, a gleaming urn engraved with Wildfire's distinctive winged star emblem towered over the Legionnaires instead.

Wildfire had touched so many lives in his time as a Legionnaire, there couldn't possibly be room on Shanghalla for everyone who wanted to attend his funeral. Only the active roster of the Legion was present, along with their partners, Infinite Boy and the former Legionnaires who had witnessed Wildfire's last moments on H'crides. For everyone else, inconspicuous holocams projected the funeral proceedings out to a vast number of United Planets worlds.

Bouncing Boy, Una and the rest of the Cavalry hosted a public memorial service on Wildfire's homeworld Earth with crowds that filled Weisinger Plaza and beyond.

In her private office on Mars, Science Police Chief Gigi Cusimano's attention flickered from the funeral holocast to a number of restricted channels. With the entire Legion of Superheroes on Shangalla, Science Police across the galaxy were on high alert for the predictable increase in criminal activity. Still, as Gigi's gaze fell across Colossal Boy and Chameleon Girl among the crowd of heroes, she took the time to dictate a note to herself to reach out to Gim and Yera later.

Elsewhere on Mars, Chemical Kid, Dragonwing and Lullabye Lad were far from their usual boisterous selves as they gathered in Hadru Jamik's quarters to watch the funeral. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl had given all of the students the day to mourn, though some of the more perceptive teens realised that was more for Garth and Imra's benefit than any of them.

Even on the far off ocean world of Vavalla, Lamprey nestled against her indestructible boyfriend Turtle and cried openly while he held her and stroked her hair. Lamprey had hero worshipped Wildfire since her school days, and Wildfire had once risked his own soul to save Turtle from demonic possession; they both had reason to mourn the passing of Drake Burroughs.

Back on Shanghalla, Blok finally dismissed the gathering of heroes and stepped away from the podium to rejoin his friends.

"Dawnstar didn't want to say anything?" Diamond Damsel asked Blok as she slipped her arm in his. The winged woman had been withdrawn from everyone all day, and had kept to the fringes of the group the whole time they'd been here.

"Ever since I first met the Legion of Superheroes, Wildfire and Dawnstar were entwined in a tumultuous relationship," Blok explained. "Today must be very difficult for her...perhaps I should--"

"Oh, Blok!" This was Comet Queen, who launched herself at the stone man with such force that Blok was almost concerned she might hurt herself. "That was...that was hypergleaming, starshine! Really!" Bawling, she allowed Chlorophyll Kid to gently pull her back into his embrace and give Blok some breathing room. "I just know Wildfire's looking down from that big ol' nebula totally supernova shiny right now!"

"Thank you, Comet Queen," Blok replied. "I must admit, I am somewhat surprised that Quislet did not attend today. His role as Teall's Ambassador to the United Planets must keep him quite occupied, but still I thought that he was closer to Wildfire than with many of his other teammates in the Legion. Have you heard from him at all?"

Comet Queen suddenly seemed a little shame-faced. "Oh! Uh...well this is kinda not hypergleaming, but...I don't think my shiny little shuttle actually scans that Wildfire's gone gone. He said he didn't have time for sillies when I asked him to pop-POOP-pop round today."

"Sillies??" Shadow Lass and Mon-El had been nearby, and Tasmia Mallor couldn't help but overhear. "Why, that disrespectful little--"

"Easy, love." Mon-El soothed. "It's entirely possible that Quislet may not even entirely grasp the concept of death. Teallians are functionally immortal as far as any of us know."

A short distance away, Neon was paying her respects at the permanent hardlight sculpture she'd placed here when her fellow Green Lantern Corps had been tragically murdered. Hearing Shadow Lass's outburst, Zoe Saugin turned to Dragonmage at her side. "What do you think that was all about?" Zoe asked.

"I couldn't guess," Xao replied. "The sudden loss of a friend can lead to high emotions I suppose." As he spoke, the young sorceror couldn't help but notice Supergirl comforting a teary Nightwind at the base of Wildfire's urn.

Zoe followed Xao's gaze and sucked in air between her teeth before she released it in a long exhalation. "Yeah, I think unfortunately we all know that first hand. I'm glad you're back anyway...the Legion wouldn't feel the same without my best friend here."

"I am glad that the Legion voted to allow Mysa and myself back onto the team," Dragonmage countered with a humble smile.

"Of course the Legion voted to let you back on the team! Do you think I would have let them do anything different?" Despite the circumstances, Zoe allowed herself a cheeky smirk. "I'm surprised the others are still leaving though...they know nobody blames any of you for what happened, right?"

"I don't know if that's entirely true," Xao skirted the issue tactfully. "After all, the vote wasn't unanimous...but regardless, Sensor Girl was only staying for the ceremony before returning to Orando, and Infinite Boy doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself in case his younger self is one of the people who start paying attention. As for Star Boy and Dream Girl, I am not certain why they have chosen not to return to the team but I'm sure they have their reasons."

"I guess." Zoe's eyes passed again over the mourning crowd, to land once more on Wildfire's engraved emblem above them all. "I didn't really know Wildfire much at all, but...it's sad how things turned out for him."

"That it is," Dragonmage added, gazing thoughtfully at the stars around them. "I hope wherever he is now, he has found the peace that eluded him in life."

**********

Truth Girl had allowed Sheranee to talk her into inviting her girlfriend Bobbi to Wildfire's funeral, even though neither Truth Girl nor Bobbi Stiles were completely comfortable with it. While Truth Girl was grateful that everybody was making them feel welcome, she didn't feel like she'd been a member of the Legion nearly long enough to be including her civilian partner in such an intimate event; in fact, Oliv Hollowai barely felt like she belonged here herself. As soon as Wildfire's ceremony had ended, Oliv and Bobbi had disappeared among the memorials of Shanghalla to allow the more tenured Legionnaires to share their grief with one another more privately.

"Thanks for coming, my love." Truth Girl gave her fair-skinned girlfriend a peck on the lips. "I know this is kind of a weird way to get to meet my coworkers."

"It's not ideal," Bobbi agreed, "But it is what it is, Oliv baby...and I know it's not like you and Wildfire were close but I still want to be here for you. Anyway, as sad as our reason for being here is, we're still on Shanghalla! You can't tell me someone who loves history as much as you do doesn't appreciate that!"

"You know me too well," Oliv looked uncommonly sheepish. "Being among some of these fallen heroes...it's really fascinating, you know? I've only ever known Mog Yagoor or Hate Face from holos before. To be here at their final resting places..."

"Who's this one?" Bobbi pointed at a sleek but dully colored monument ship. "It says he was a Legionnaire...Kid Psycho..?"

"How odd, I've never heard of a Kid Psycho!" The Kenyan heroine saw two of her fellow recruits at Ferro Lad's memorial and waved them over. "Slug, Transposition Lad! Could you two please come over here a moment if you're free?"

The two friends joined Oliv and Bobbi, and Truth Girl gestured at Kid Psycho's monument. "You two know more about Legion history than just about anyone outside of Cosmic Boy...have either of you heard of Kid Psycho?"

"Sorry, TG! It's news to me!" Transposition Lad shrugged his large green shoulders. "Sluggo?"

"Slug doesn't know any Kid Psycho either!" the metallic gastropod seemed surprised. "But Slug knows all of the Legionnaires!"

"Slug might just be surprised," a new voice joined the conversation. Element Lad approached, alongside the muscular Dogstar. "The Legion has a lot of secrets if you know where to look."

"Would you mind telling us of this Kid Psycho, Element Lad?" Dogstar asked. "I understand that we are here to remember Wildfire, so if it is not the right time..."

"No, no, it's fine." Jan Arrah was unbothered. "In fact, I think I know just the right story..."

**********

YEARS AGO
Deep space

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar tracking
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: team leader; elemental transmutation
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

While Dawnstar and Wildfire flew through the vacuum of space under their own power, their three comrades followed in a Legion cruiser.

"It's strange to get a distress call from Kid Psycho after all this time," Element Lad made conversation with the others. "I honestly doubted that we'd ever see him again."

"That makes two of us," Ultra Boy agreed. "Wildfire and Dawnstar didn't even know who he was! I had to explain how he tried out for the Legion way back when and we had to reject him after we found out his powers were killing him. I know we told Kid Psycho we made him our secret weapon, but with everything the Legion have faced over the years without us ever calling on him he must have realised by now we were just trying not to hurt his feelings."

Brainiac 5 stood before the large curved viewscreen dominating the bridge, hands clasped behind his back. "I am certain Kid Psycho has had long enough to see the practicality of our decision, Ultra Boy. I am more concerned about where Dawnstar may be leading us than Kid Psycho's wounded pride."

"And here I thought Dream Girl was the only Legionnaire who could see the future," Jo retorted, looking up from the ship's nagivation console. "If we stay on our current bearing we'll be in Dark Circle territory in seven standard minutes."

"Precognition is not one of my gifts, Ultra Boy." Brainiac 5 didn't turn away from the starscape as he spoke. "I simply remember these constellations from when Supergirl, Sun Boy and I were involved in that business with Ontiir recently."*

"You remember constellations you saw once flying at super-speed three weeks ago??" Ultra Boy raised an eyebrow.

This time Brainiac 5 turned away from the screen just enough for the others to see a small smile curling his lip. "A 12th level intellect may not be the flashiest power, Ultra Boy...but it does have its uses."

Outside the cruiser, Wildfire overtook Dawnstar slightly and turned around to face her. "I gotta say, Dawny...super-tracking may not be the flashiest power, but it's got its uses! Pretty impressive that you can find this guy when you've never even met him!"

Only a very mild tensing of her face muscles betrayed Dawnstar's annoyance at being outpaced; she and Wildfire both knew he could only do this because she had to maintain a speed low enough not to leave the others behind, and Drake Burroughs was taking full advantage of the opportunity.

"Thank you for the high praise, Wildfire," Dawnstar replied icily. "However, it would be much easier if you did not insist on distracting--" She paused mid-sentence, wearing an expression of utter confusion.

"Dawny..?" Wildfire asked.

"Drake, hush!" Dawnstar scolded him. "Let me concentrate!"

After a moment she once again wore the purposeful expression that Wildfire was so accustomed to seeing when she was on the hunt, and she increased her speed. "I know the others will lag behind but I think we'd best hurry, Wildfire. Kid Psycho's trail just seemed to cut off entirely for a moment. I have recaptured it now, but if that happens again we can't assume that I'll be so lucky a second time."

She easily raced past him this time, and Wildfire's heart soared. When Dawnstar was driven like this, expressing herself through her power like nobody else could...how could he help but love her?

**********

Less than twenty minutes later, the Legionnaires had come across a small white planet about a quarter the size of Earth. It was on the very outermost limits of its solar system, and the sun around which it orbited was just one more cold distant star in a sky full of them. The little world's closest moon was almost half its size and gravitationally locked, so the Legionnaires landed their shuttle on the far side of the lifeless moon confident that it would avoid detection there. They paired their flight rings to Dawnstar's to make use of her greater speed, and she flew them closer to the planet that Wildfire had sarcastically named Pluto II.

"I've lost Kid Psycho's trail again," Dawnstar admitted, "But there is only one region of this world which harbours life at all...I suggest we continue our search there."

"I agree," Brainiac 5 replied. "And good work, Dawnstar."

"Do you think this is the Dark Circle, Brainy?" Ultra Boy asked as they zoomed over the surface of the world. "It's gotta be, right? Who else would be causing trouble all the way out here in the borderworlds?"

"I don't have enough data to confirm that hypothesis, Ultra Boy...though admittedly the probability is quite high."

"I think we're about to find out." Element Lad pointed at the only man-made feature they'd seen on this planet, a massive metallic tunnel which penetrated deep below the ice-covered crust. "I assume that's some kind of hangar entrance...Ultra Boy, can you see if there are any hidden defence systems or traps?"

Jo's eyes flashed with ultra-energy as he scanned the area with his penetra-vision. "They won't be hidden for much longer...heads up, Legion! We've got trouble incoming!"

Soon enough two spheres zoomed out of the tunnel, their surface lined with various round ports. Confirming the Legionnaires' suspicions, each droid was marked with the iconic black ring of the Dark Circle. One of the droids oriented itself toward Dawnstar, and a port irised open to reveal some kind of particle beam. It fired upon the winged woman, but she dodged the assault with a graceful loop.

"Big mistake, you murderous piece of junk!" Wildfire closed on the offending droid, but before he could fire upon it four more ports opened up and segmented metallic tentacles emerged to wrap around each of Wildfire's limbs.

The second droid had already grabbed Ultra Boy, and with his ultra-energy switched into invulnerability Jo had no way to fight back. "Uh, guys..? A little help?"

While Brainiac 5's forcefield protected himself, Element Lad and Dawnstar from more of the beam attacks, Element Lad gestured toward Ultra Boy's assailant. "Don't worry, Ultra Boy...I suspect your robotic friend will be much less trouble when it's a cloud of free-floating nitrogen." True to Jan's words, the metal of the droid evaporated away until it was gone completely.

"Thanks, E-Lad! Let me see if I can pay it forward!" Before the droid holding Wildfire could retarget its range weapons, Jo switched to flash vision and seared its limbs from its body.

"I appreciate the help," Wildfire remarked as he shook the now dormant tendrils away, "But the day I can't handle an overgrown Neptunian Quadroped on my own is the day I quit the Legion!" Training both gauntlets on the remaining droid, Wildire's anti-energy blew it into shrapnel. Wildfire didn't wait for further instruction, but zoomed straight ahead down the artificial tunnel.

"Wildfire!" Element Lad called after him, knowing it was pointless even as he opened his mouth. "We need to be cautious, they know we're here now--"

"Exactly!" Wildfire shot back. "So let's say hi!" Wildfire pulled up before the giant hangar doors at the end of the tunnel and blasted them inwards. As soon as he did so, Wildfire wondered if maybe he should have listened to the leader of the Legion...the Dark Circle were not only aware they had company, it seemed they were prepared for it. Some unseen technology prevented decompression, and a variety of killer robots waited to greet them alongside the Dark Circle's ubiquitous cloned foot soldiers.

The battle was sensationally violent, but despite the Dark Circle's overwhelming advantage of numbers it was never really in doubt that the Legionnaires would come out on top. While Brainiac 5's forcefield and Dawnstar's speed served them well against more than a dozen men with guns, Wildfire and Ultra Boy easily tore through the array of automatons that poured forth to fight them. Element Lad played the field, helping out whenever any of his other teammates were in a spot. Once they were down to the last and toughest of the Dark Circle's droids, Element Lad instructed Brainiac 5 to access the Dark Circle's systems and find Kid Psycho while he helped Ultra Boy and Wildfire finish off the murder machine.

Brainiac 5 stood with his back to the action, all of his focus on a control panel that he'd hacked on the wall by the jagged hole that had once been the hangar entrance. There had been two small vessels in here earlier, but Ultra Boy had quite effectively used one as a battering ram and the other had inevitably been blown to pieces by Wildfire. Brainy had erected his forcefield around himself and Dawnstar while he worked, and with that protection the tracker from Starhaven felt comfortable diverting her attention from the fight for a moment to check on her Coluan teammate's progress. She was surprised, but only mildly so, that in the brief moments he'd been working at this task he'd already bypassed the Dark Circle's security protocols.

Brainiac turned to Dawnstar. "Perhaps if I had more time I'd be able to decipher whatever language this software has been encoded in, but I have at least been able to pull up a map of the base. Now...I know your powers are not as effective on a planet's surface, Dawnstar; but can you give me some idea where Kid Psycho or his captors might be? Perhaps working together we may achieve more than either of us could alone."

Dawnstar closed her eyes, tried to block out the sight and sound of anti-energy blasts, explosions and rending metal. After a moment she opened her eyes again and she pointed at a twelve foot tall doorway leading into a darkened space. "I...I think down that way, Brainiac...but I can't say for certain."

"It's as good a place to start as any." Brainiac 5 deactivated his forcefield, seeing that their friends were returning victorious. "If I'm not mistaken, that corridor leads to a more secure area of the building...it could very well be where the Dark Circle are imprisoning Kid Psycho."

Ultra Boy, Wildfire and Element Lad were all within easy talking range again, and Brainiac 5 caught Jo's attention. "Ultra Boy, we believe Kid Psycho may be down that corridor. We need you to--"

"Say no more, Brainy! With my ultra-speed I can investigate in no time!"

He was gone in a red and green blur before Brainiac 5 could respond, and the Coluan sighed in frustration. "...I was going to ask him to use his penetra-vision..."

"Let's go, Legion!" Element Lad commanded, taking to the air. "And be ready for anything!"

Before any of them had even begun to follow Ultra Boy's path, they heard a tremendously loud THOOM!!! and Jo came flying back the way he'd come and through the thick outer wall of the base and deep into the icy crust of the dwarf planet. While the Legionnaires were recovering from that shock, another one greeted them; a muscular yellow humanoid with blazing red eyes and licks of flame coming off of his huge frame. He almost scraped the doorframe as he walked into the hangar, and the heroes gazed upon him in horror.

"Element Lad..." Dawnstar was wide-eyed with fear. "That looks like...like..."

"...Omega."** Brainiac 5's voice was cold with disgust. "It isn't Omega though, it can't be. For one thing, this creature has five fingers and toes compared to Omega's three. For another, Omega was utterly destroyed along with the Miracle Machine. Whatever this is however, it is certainly in extremely poor taste."

"We can worry about what it is after we take it down, Brainy!" Element Lad barked, his tone perhaps more accusatory than he'd intended. "Wildfire, come on!"

Without even approaching the heroes, this new Omega threw its arms wide and a grid-like plane of psychic force slammed the four remaining heroes across the room.

"Great Spirit!" Dawnstar struggled to drag herself up to a seated position, wondering if she'd broken ribs in the tumble. "What was that?!"

"That was Kid Psycho's power." Brainiac wiped blood from his lip. He was so dazed that he neglected to even activate his own forefield again.

"What?" Element Lad buried the Omega lookalike under twenty tons of inertron to buy them some recovery time. "Brainy, that makes no sense at all! Why would Omega have Kid Psycho's powers?!"

Before Brainiac 5 could answer his leader's question, the inerton block suddenly exploded outwards and showered them all with indestructible chunks of metal. This time Brainy did generate a forcefield, fast enough to protect both himself and Element Lad. While Wildfire couldn't destroy the metal, his anti-energy blasts could at least deflect it. Dawnstar was clipped while trying to evade the hail of death though, and she fell hard.

"If you've hurt her--!" Wildfire gave Omega a double-fisted blast of anti-energy, but the same psychic screen surrounded the flaming creature to protect him.

Element Lad twisted his flight ring, activating the distress beacon. "I've called for backup, but even Mon-El won't get here in time to stop that thing from wiping us all out! Brainiac, I swear on Trom if you've got anything to do with this--"

"Don't be ridiculous, Element Lad." Brainiac 5 stroked his chin while he quite passively watched Wildfire and Omega fight. "I told you, that is not Omega. Haven't you noticed his attacks and defence rely almost exclusively on Kid Psycho's power? In fact...somehow, I think that is Kid Psycho."

"How right you are, Legionnaire!" A holographic hooded face loomed large over the heroes, the figure's features completely hidden as was typical for the Dark Circle's leaders. "The original Omega was perhaps your finest creation, Brainiac! To our regret, even with the Dark Circle's considerable resources we were not able to reproduce your efforts precisely...your reputation as a genius is well-deserved!"

"I suppose I should be flattered," Brainiac retorted. "And perhaps I would be, were Omega not a product of my genius when I was at my most unwell...instead, I am filled with disgust. What does Gnill Opral have to do with any of that, you monster?"

"We could not harness the darkest urges of the universe as you did, Brainiac, but we could harness the darkest urges of one child...Gnill Opral, the one who called himself Kid Psycho."

"Kid Psycho's a hero!" Element Lad shouted angrily. "He would never have agreed to become this!"

"Hey!!" This was Wildfire, digging himself out of a pile of debris that Omega had buried him beneath. "I'm glad you two are getting the scintillating backstory, but do you think you could maybe lend a hand? He might not be as tough as the real Omega, but he's not that far behind!"

"Brainy, check on Dawnstar and Ultra Boy!" Element Lad ordered. "I'll see if I can help Wildfire keep us alive a little longer!"

Element Lad surrounded Omega's head in a chunk of magnesium that exploded instantly into a white hot flame, temporarily blinding him. Taking advantage, Wildfire blasted him back through a wall. Meanwhile, Brainiac rushed to check on a stirring Dawnstar. Above them all, the Dark Circle mastermind gave a deep throaty laugh at the chaos.

"Dawnstar, don't move until I've finished my bio-scan," Brainiac 5 instructed as he passed a device over her body. He turned his face up toward the hologram. "So you've harnessed Kid Psycho's negative emotions...using them to amplify his already considerable power. I assume that's about the size of it?"

"You assume correctly," the holographic villain answered smugly. "The destruction of his planet, the death of his family, the Legion's rejection of him...even the toll his mighty powers take on him....that boy has a lot of despair, hatred and rage to amplify, and the Dark Circle are only too happy to do so. I don't mind telling you all this because my henchmen were kind enough to buy me time for my own escape from this facility, and you'll all be dead before you have a chance to do anything with anything you've learned here this day. Goodbye, Brainiac 5, and thank you again for your inspiring work."

The hologram blinked out of existence, and Dawnstar emitted a pained gasp as she tried to sit up. "Dawnstar, don't move," Brainiac 5 repeated almost absent-mindedly. Before she could respond, he ran across to Element Lad's side and once again extended his forcefield to cover the two of them. "I don't think brute force is going to win this fight for us, Element Lad. You're going to need to talk him back to his senses."

Wildfire bounced off of Brainiac 5's forcefield and looped back around to confront the flaming creature responsible for the collision. Behind the forcefield, Jan Arrah flinched, then turned his attention back to Brainy. "What? Me?? Brainiac, obviously I'll do anything I can to help but I don't know Kid Psycho any better than you do and you're the 12th level intellect....wouldn't you be better at this kind of thing?"

"You have a unique perspective on Kid Psycho's situation," Brainiac 5 explained. "He's lost his world, his entire people. Element Lad...it doesn't matter how intelligent I am, I can't understand what that feels like. You, on the other hand..."

Element Lad sighed in resignation. "...I get it. Okay, let's do this."

The two men waited for Omega to finish clobbering Wildfire through yet another wall, giving them a chance to get their foe's attention. Element Lad wasn't sure if Kid Psycho could even comprehend anything that was happening in his current state; he'd not said a single word the whole time he'd been fighting them, only emitting a guttural growl occasionally. Still, he had to try. "Kid Psycho...Gnill, please listen to me! We don't want to hurt you!"

Omega turned upon the two Legionnaires and his psycho-force assault caused Brainiac 5's forcefield to visibly quiver. While Querl Dox normally devoted only the smallest portion of his impressive intellect to maintaining his forcefield's integrity in combat situations, against even a second-rate Omega he was focused solely on making sure his forcefield belt didn't fail them. Element Lad was truly on his own.

Omega reduced himself to pounding on the forcefield with his giant smoldering fists, hollering inarticulately at them.

"I know how it feels, Kid Psycho!" Element Lad kept trying to reach him, not entirely succeeding in keeping his voice calm or controlled. "I lost my world too...my family...everyone I ever knew and loved! That pain...nothing takes away that pain, and I understand needing to lash out, but death...death isn't the end! It's just a change, a new state of being, and once you accept that you'll find peace! This rage and hatred...it'll just eat you up in time if you don't let it go!"

Omega paused. For a fraction of a moment Jan fancied that he saw indecision cross those inhuman features, but then he lashed out again with his psycho-force.

Meanwhile, Wildfire had now returned to the fracas. "No offence," the anti-energy hero said as he blasted Omega in the face, "But that's a load of crap, Jan."

"Wha--" Element Lad was dumbfounded.

"There's nothin' wrong with being angry, and there's nothin' wrong with needing to smash something every now and then." Drake Burroughs struggled to resist as Omega's psycho-screen pushed him into the floor with increasing pressure. "But you gotta smash the right thing! We didn't do this to you, Kid...the Dark Circle are the ones you should be mad at, they're the ones who dredged up all this stuff you don't wanna think about! Smash them!"

Again, Omega hesitated. This time however, he released a bone-chilling roar of anguish and started lashing out at the base itself. With all the collateral damage it had taken already, a mountain of debris separated Omega from the Legionnaires before long.

They could still hear his outpour of fury even though they couldn't see him anymore, and Element Lad turned to Brainiac 5 beside him. "I don't know how Wildfire knew exactly the right thing to say, but I don't think we should look a gifting Equissian in the mouth."

"Agreed," Brainy gave a quick nod. "With the power he's shown, I am confident that Omega will survive the destruction of this building; most of us won't be so fortunate. If you'd be so kind as to extricate Ultra Boy from his current predicament, I'll gather everyone else together in a forcefield and we can leave. Dawnstar can help us track Omega down again when she's recovered and we can work on a cure for this sick transformation that the Dark Circle have imposed upon Kid Psycho."

Several minutes later, the Legionnaires and their captive Dark Circle foot soldiers were watching from a safe distance as multiple explosions rocked the evil lair. The world's atmosphere was so thin as to be non-existent, and as a result the destruction was surreally muted. Ultra Boy scanned the carnage with his penetra-vision just to be sure they weren't leaving anyone else down in that mess, and with a muttered "Back soon!" he zipped off only to return a second later with an unconscious but much more familiar looking Kid Psycho in his arms. Element Lad created a makeshift transuit with enough oxygen trapped within to keep Kid Psycho alive in space, and Ultra Boy rushed him back to their cruiser ahead of the others.

**********

Back on Shanghalla, Element Lad finished narrating his story. "...So it turned out that the machine the Dark Circle used to transform Kid Psycho also had to constantly maintain that form's existence. When Kid Psycho destroyed that base, he also destroyed the machine that was keeping him in his Omega state."

"I'm surprised we've never heard of him before now!" Transposition Lad exclaimed. "Someone powerful enough to take on five Legionnaires that easily..!"

"Unfortunately," Element Lad explained, "It wasn't long after that adventure that we really did call on Kid Psycho as our secret weapon for the first time and he paid the ultimate price. Kid Psycho sacrificed his life to save others; that's who he was, right to the end. A brave, tragic soul who never got the destiny that he deserved." Jan's attention shifted to Wildfire's memorial urn and he continued sadly, "And now, it's Wildfire's turn. Drake and I were never particularly close friends, and he could be infuriating at times, but Drake Burroughs was a hero through and through and I truly believe that they're both in a better place now."

"Well spoken, my friend." Dogstar clapped a warmly glowing hand on Element Lad's shoulder. "Now, shall we rejoin the others?"

The handful of heroes gathered to hear Jan Arrah's tale gave Wildfire's urn one final lingering glance, and then they all followed their teammates away from this place of death.

**********

THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES MOBILE BASE
Team leader's office

ROLL CALL
Blok: team leader; magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage

The stone man named Blok commanded his computer terminal to enter sleep mode and then he sat at his desk in contemplative silence, his head in his hands. Even with the stamina of Atlas bolstering Blok's already impressive physiology, today had been long and draining. The Legion were truly fortunate that the Demon's Claw had elected not to use this whole debacle with Trigon and Scorn to forment trouble with the UP, but to be safe Blok had still sent a preliminary report to Marte Allon. If the Khunds did decide to turn this into a diplomatic incident, it only made sense for the Legion's Manager of Diplomacy to have all the facts she needed at hand. The Legion's records had been successfully updated to note that Dragonmage and Mysa Marvel had returned to the active roster, and that Dream Girl and Star Boy had not. And as for Wildfire...

...Blok would miss Wildfire.

Drake Burroughs, for all his bluster, had accepted Blok immediately as a peer when he'd first joined the Legion of Superheroes. It had taken some of the Legionnaires time to come around to a former member of the League of Super-Assassins joining the Legion's ranks, and Blok didn't blame them for that, but with Wildfire there had never been the detached politeness or even disdain that Blok encountered from some of the others. Not for the first time today, Blok wondered if he should have done more; maybe things would have turned out differently if he had allowed the Espionage Squad or even the Legion proper to investigate Dream Girl's concerns. Maybe--

"Blok?" Dawnstar stood at his open door, uncommonly subdued. "I appreciate that you must be busy...I was hoping we could speak though..?"

"Yes, please come in," Blok waved her inside. "Dawnstar, before you say anything...I want you to know, I am truly sorry for your loss. I have been wondering if I could have done more--"

"Of course you could have done more!" she spat back venomously. She took a breath, steadied herself, and continued more calmly. "But it makes no difference now, and an emotional outburst will help nobody. Blok, I came to ask...to tell you...I need to take an indefinite leave of absence from the Legion of Superheroes. I can't be of use to you in my current state anyway. I will be back, but right now my path is taking me away from this team."

"Dawnstar, please...take as much time as you require." Blok hoped his gravelly voice projected the sympathy he felt for the young woman. "I cannot imagine how you must feel. Do whatever it is that you must to work through your grief, and please know that the Legion of Superheroes is here for you whenever you need us."

"Thank you, Blok." Her large brown eyes became wet with tears. "If the Great Spirit is willing, I pray our paths meet again in better circumstances."

Dawnstar turned and walked back through the base to the nearest turbolift. As exhausted as the day had left everyone, the Legion's home was cold and empty right now and she was grateful for it. She didn't know if she'd have the will to go through with what she needed to do right now if literally anybody at all tried to talk her out of it...because, as her vast white wings carried her away from the Legion's home and she finally allowed her tears to flow freely, Dawnstar knew that this path was insane but it was also the path she needed to take. Dawnstar wasn't leaving the Legion to mourn Wildfire...

...she was going to find him.


**********


EDITOR'S NOTES:
* Brainy is of course talking about the trial of Ontiir, which sets this story just after Tales of the Legion of Superheroes #315 all the way back in 1984!

** Omega was "the living embodiment of all the hate that ever has existed", which is a fine thing to put on your resume when you're a bad guy! Brainy created him when he had a breakdown, using the Miracle Machine back in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Hereoes #250.

With the recent cast shuffling about, I thought y'all might also appreciate an updated roster so here goes!

BLOK (leader)
CHAMELEON BOY
CHLOROPHYLL KID
COLOR KID
COLOSSAL BOY
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
CRYSTAL KID
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DOGSTAR
DRAGONMAGE
ELASTIC LAD
ELEMENT LAD
EVOLVO LAD
FIRECREST
GAS GIRL
GRAVITY KID
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
KID COMPUTO
KING CANARY
LIFE LASS
LIGHT LAD
LIGHTNING LASS
MATTER-EATER LAD
MON-EL
MWINDAJI
MYSA MARVEL
NEON
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND
PHANTOM GIRL
POLAR BOY
SHADOW LASS
SHERANEE
SHRINKING VIOLET
SIZZLE
SLUG
STONE BOY
STRUT
SUN BOY
SUPERGIRL II
TELLUS
TIMBER WOLF
TRANSPOSITION LAD
TRUTH GIRL
ULTRA BOY (deputy leader)

yay, more!

nice bit of foreboding, with Nura flashing back to 48 hours ago. and "former quarters". yikes! I was hoping they'd rejoin right after, but I can imagine it won't be so easy...

I had a bit of a heart attack when I saw Veilmist's name missing from the roll call of the Sisterhood of Sin! ah, so that's what happened, she just fled... huh. though Kando's memories of her show a possible brighter future for her, anyway. and makes sense she'd run away from the surviving Khunds... Bloodclaw's reaction reminded me she's still a wanted woman

whew, did not expect Lilith to be so angry. though I can imagine: Vista died, after all; and Trigon is terrifying . Poor Kando, as well.

now that I think about it, didn't one of the other Sisterhood members come from a time where Scorn was still alive (and was lovers with Veilmist)? does that timeline still exist, I wonder?

Heh, love it re Nura knowing that Mysa will be fine.

nice discussion and debate here, with some of the more "traditional" Legionnaires demanding justice for Flederweb, while the more pragmatic planetary leader Jeckie recognizes they have no jurisdiction in Khund space. and of course, for the Khunds, Flederweb is a hero

Nimbus really sees White Bat, and saw Vista, as friends eh? things don't look good for the surviving Sisterhood members... I'm with Crystal Kid and Sun Boy, I don't like it.

Sizzle's comment had me a tad confused too. is it related to her upbringing?

well, glad that the Demon's Claw chose less violence, and will let the Legionnaires and company leave...

oh, wow. with everyone saying Wildfire is really gone... really drives it home. but is he?

love the imagery of Star Boy's bodysuit blending in with space!

ah, so that's why Nura's staying away. Good reasoning, a lot did happen. I guess it's also a bit of thinking for Nura, could she have foreseen more details?

also nice bit of growth for Thom, him affirming that he's choosing to be with Nura. I hope this won't haunt him.

poor Dawny...

nice bits here, raz, showing how folks around the galaxy are remembering Wildfire. nice callouts to some relationships that Drake had formed too, like Lamprey.

nice callout, mentioning Quislet too. and hah, it's just like Tasmia to be all indignant!

nice nod to Nightwind, and her time at the Academy under Wildfire's wing (like Lamprey) as well

so Xao and Mysa are back on the team, at least! (not surprised the vote was not unanimous!)

yay! nice seeing Bobbi again, I already love her. I totally get it; being so new, Truth Girl still doesn't know the rest so well. you wrote this all really well, raz; even Zoe is a bit newer, so wasn't that close to Wildfire either.

huh, slightly surprised that Slug and T-Lad don't know Kid Psycho! although, I know he was the Legion's secret weapon for a bit, but I thought his death would have been more publicized. nice segue, transitioning into a flashback! (also nice to see some absent Legionnaires included, like Brainy and Drake!)

heh, LOL at the "we just didn't want to hurt his feelings" bit!

also LOL at Brainy's crack about his 12th level intellect and his eidetic memory.

classic Drake and Dawny as well, with Drake trying to compliment Dawny, and her just getting annoyed lol



and more classic Wildfire, just zooming ahead and taking the fight to the enemy - he does have a point, they've lost the element of surprise...

also another LOL at Jo just zooming off, whereas Brainy thought penetra-vision would be more pragmatic

ouch, Kid Psycho's power packs a wallop!

interesting that Jan is still suspicious of Brainy, though I guess Brainy's earned it with creating Omega and COMPUTO and all that...

love how Brainy is the one who comes up with the plan. and love how Drake just tells Kid Psycho to redirect his anger properly - Drake would know about anger!

great flashback raz, and like how it highlights both Kid Psycho (gosh, I forgot how sad his own backstory was!) and Wildfire.

poor Dawny... makes sense she'd need to step away too...

ah! oh wow. good old Dawny, such a fighter she is. and yeah, I still think Drake is out there somewhere. maybe Trigon zapped him somewhere, who knows...

looking forward to more, more, more, raz!

Thanks for the R&R, IB!


Yep! I need to update their profiles at some stage, but Nimbus, White Bat and Vista all came from the same time - in the future they came from, a much older (and coupled up) Scorn and Veilmist recruited them for the Sisterhood of Sin. Which also leads into the point of Nimbus considering White Bat and Vista her friends...I like to think it's not so much that they were all particularly close (although Nimbus is the only one who can communicate with White Bat properly), but they all came from the same era, had their lives saved by Earth-Man, and were dumped in the Legion's time to figure things out...more that Nimbus didn't want to risk losing her last link to what she considers her normal life than them actually being friends in reality.

Sizzle's comment was meant to be confusing, so don't worry - you aren't missing anything! Hopefully things should be a bit clearer after the next instalment

I stole the idea of Star Boy's costume blending into the starscape from one of my favourite Legion covers...Keith Giffen was very good when he was good <3



re: Slug and T-Lad not knowing Kid Psycho...after Kid Psycho died in COIE, there was a quick scene in one of the Legion issues where Element Lad, Shady and (I think) Mon-El were talking about his sacrifice and couldn't remember how he died. I figured if the Crisis stole the memory of his sacrifice from the people he was working with, random citizens wouldn't have any reason to know who he was either.

It was fun writing Brainy again, and I thought this was a nice send-off for Wildfire while getting to explore some untouched Legion history.

re: Jan being suspicious of Brainy, for the timeframe I think it fits - it really wasn't that long ago for these Legionnaires that Brainy flipped his lid!

It will be a while before we see where Dawny's path is leading her, but she will definitely pop up again when she's least expected!

Next up: some romantical chemistry has been brewing in the ol' Legion HQ, let's give it a kick start!

yeah I get you, Nimbus calls it "friendship" but, it's a friendship in her own interpretation!

Star Boy's starfield costume is awesome, and one of the top superhero costumes ever!

ah makes sense that COIE would kind of skew folks' memories, nice callback!

and good point re how recent Omega was!



oooh! Sun Boy and Sizzle, maybe??

Hey Raz, glad to see you posting more for us!

"the former quarters..." Start off with aimmediate mystery - former quarters? Oh dear! Nice framing technique there, as Nura prepares for whatever she's away to do and thinks back to her recent advenure... Lillith's anger is understandable, bless her being taken withouther consent to fight against Trigon, I'd be pissed too. Strongarm speaking up was a nice touch, he's usually the dumb strong guy, but he makes sense - it's not the Legion's place to question Flederweb, and they are lucky that the Legion didn't instigate a war. And Jeckie taking charge is well in character. Her repeating that Drake is dead is a worry as I kinda hoped you would have some clever escape clause that meant he survived Trigon's assault. Nimbus and Star Bear starting to get feisty, nicely put down by Echo. Nimbus talking about Vista as being her friend - the Sisterhood never struck me as particularly friendly, but as they had gone through so much together I suppose that builds bonds. Star Bear in the Challenge Courts - sounds about right " sometimes we need a reminder that the universe doesn't care how we feel. Only we do." well said Sizzle! Xao and Nura confirm Drake is gone - but where? Back to his imaginary harem perhaps? He would be happy there and he deserves a bit of fun...

The scenes on Shanghalla were written so well:

- the first scene with Nura's realisation that she is part responsible for losing Wildfire and Thom's choosing to follow her was very poignant. Dawny turning away was particularly sad.
- Chuck and Lu leading a memorial ceremony on Earth that attracted big crowds, great to see the locals turn out to remember their boy.
- Gigi being professional enough to keep an eye out for potential trouble, while being sensitive enough to realise her friends might need her support later was sweet.
- The students being respectful and some of them realising Garth and Imra need space too,
- Nice that you remembered Lamprey and Turtle
- Blok being thoughtful and considering speaking to Dawny was sweet, he's a good egg! Grava was perfect Grava, bless her she's such a sweetheart, and the conversation about Quislet's reactions - hah, the sillies! Does he know something the rest don't, or does he just not understand death?
- I like the friendship you have built around Zoe and Xao, they are such different characters that it's always fun to read what they have to say to each other. Her enthusiasm tempered by his pragmatism is a good mix. And, I wonder who didn't vote for Xao and Mysa?

The scene with Truth Girl and her girlfriend was also quite poignant. Nicely noted that she has been in the team for long and it was a bit much for them - especially as that was Bobbi's first time meeting most of the team - definitely not the happiest of introductions. And, why should the newest team members know of Kid Psycho when the team couldn't remember how he died after Crisis?

Aaagh, ran out of time as am covering for a colleague, will be back later on or tomorrow to finish this!

Great stuff Raz, really nicely written farewells.