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

Raz as always your love for these Characters shows through and you do such a great job.

I like how Kara compares the man she knows to the boy he used to be and it really is great to see.

it definitely seems interesting the possible love? triangle you have going with Brainy, Kara and Grev.

and i also like how you slowly let Brainy's emotions seep out about DD.
Great job!

Great stuff Raz, as usual!

As Omni says above the potential love triangle is fun, Superboys naivety was well written as are Brainys worries about Karas future.

Fab stuff, more, more, more

Hey all! Given the number of characters I'm dealing with, thought it might be worth creating a scorecard to help everyone keep track of where/when their favourite Legionnaires have ended up! I will be updating after each squad's story till we get through all 39 of them!

BRAINIAC 5: Early 21st century Smallville
SHADOW LAD: Early 21st century Smallville
SUPERBOY: Early 21st century Smallville, remained behind
SUPERGIRL: Early 21st century Smallville

BLOK
BOUNCING BOY (leader)
CHAMELEON BOY
CHAMELEON GIRL
COLOSSAL BOY
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
DAWNSTAR
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DRAGONMAGE
DREAM GIRL
DUPLICATE DAMSEL (deputy leader)
ELASTIC LAD
ELEMENT LAD
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
KID COMPUTO
LIGHT LAD
LIGHTNING LASS
MATTER-EATER LAD
MON-EL
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND
PHANTOM GIRL
POLAR BOY
QUISLET
SHRINKING VIOLET
SUN BOY
TELLUS
TIMBER WOLF
TYROC
ULTRA BOY
WILDFIRE
GAS GIRL (Legion ally)
THOM KALLOR (Ex-Legionnaire Star Boy)

wait where are Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad?

Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad are reservists now, training the new batch of Academy kids full time

Dawnstar doubled over, groaning.

She had just finished flying two young Terran children to a safe distance, and had returned to Weisinger Plaza to rescue more innocents from the chaos the Infinite Man had unleashed. There had been a stomach-churning sensation as though reality were turned inside out, and now she was...some place else.

"Dawny!" Wildfire rushed to her side. "Are you hurt?"

Dawnstar looked into Wildfire's visor and saw her own anxious face reflected back at her. "Drake, I'm not injured, I just need a moment. Please." She pushed through the nausea to focus on her surroundings. They were in a desert and it was night time. The temperature was substantially cooler and the air was much much cleaner than that of Metropolis. There was nothing around them for miles but rolling dunes and occasional pockets of vegetation. The Infinite Man's unique nature baffled Dawnstar's tracking ability anyway, but she could no longer sense any trace of the beings he had summoned from the timestream either. Then her heart skipped a beat. Her deep brown eyes wide with concern, she gripped Wildfire's arm and looked around. Besides herself and the man she loved, there were four other Legionnaires here with them.

There were only four other Legionnaires here with them.

"Wildfire!" she cried out, "Where are we? Where's the rest of the team?!"

Matter-Eater Lad, Kid Computo, Element Lad and Duplicate Damsel came closer. "I imagine the Infinite Man transported us elsewhere," Element Lad suggested calmly. "As long as we have our flight rings, we can contact the others and--"

"There are no others," Kid Computo confirmed Dawnstar's fears. "I don't want to scare anybody, but I'm not picking up any other flight rings within my range...for that matter, I'm not picking up any functional technology at all outside of what we're carrying on us."

"Fantastic." Duplicate Damsel pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, at least we're all together," Matter-Eater Lad consoled. "Things can always get worse, right?" There came the distant roll of thunder and the Legionnaires felt a light spatter of rain. Tenzil uttered a sarcastic refrain, but he was drowned out by another sharp cracking sound.

"That wasn't thunder," Element Lad noted.

"No," Dawnstar agreed. "It was some kind of ballistic weapon. And it came from this way. Follow me, Legion!"

"Dawnstar, wait!" Duplicate Damsel called after her, but she had already spread her wings and taken flight. "Damn it," Luornu cursed. "We can't afford to be separated, let's go."

While the others used their flight rings, anti-energy flared from Wildfire's boots and he rocketed ahead to catch up to Dawnstar. "Dawny, I know you're just wanting to help but Duplicate Damsel's right. Until we know where we are we have to stay together."

"Wildfire, shush." She held a finger to her lips and landed atop a large hill covered in shrubs and small gnarled trees. "Look. Down there."

He followed her gaze and saw a group of men on horseback directly below them illuminated by gas lanterns. One of the group was struggling, and Wildfire struggled to see what they were doing to him beneath the cover of a tree as the rain picked up.

The other Legionnaires landed by Wildfire and Dawnstar. "What's going on down there?" Duplicate Damsel asked, brushing wet hair from her eyes.

"I don't know," Wildfire answered, "But six against one isn't my kind of odds."

Dawnstar had seen many things in her time as a Legionnaire, and even more in her previous life as a bounty hunter. She knew exactly what this was. "That's a lynch mob," she said coldly. "They're going to hang that man." She burst into flight, her wings stirring up the wet sand with her teammates directly behind her. The roar of Wildfire's anti-energy attracted the mob's attention, and they turned towards the racket. A flash of lightning lit up the night sky, and when it illuminated six costumed men and women coming straight at them the gunmen panicked and started shooting. The horse bearing their would-be victim also panicked at the sudden din and bolted. The man on the horse's back fell, the noose still around his neck.

"Wildfire!" Dawnstar shouted, zipping between bullets toward the man falling to his death.

Wildfire drew fire for the rest of the team, simply ignoring the barrage of lead bouncing off of his containment suit. Less than two dozen feet from the hanging man, Wildfire clasped his hands and pointed with both index fingers. A pinpoint beam of anti-energy shot forth from his outstretched fingers and severed the rope just as it began to draw taut. In one fluid motion, Dawnstar swooped in and collected the bound man in both arms. She fled the scene just as quickly, leaving the lynch mob to her teammates.

"What in the damn hell's goin' on here?" one of the mob bellowed, turning his weapon on Element Lad when he realised it was having no effect on Wildfire.

"Nobody's dying today, I can tell you that much." Element Lad converted the man's gun to oxygen. "Beyond that, we're as much in the dark as you are."

Kid Computo desperately flew this way and that to avoid being shot. "I hate this!" she yelped. "I can't do anything against these cavemen!"

"If you're going to be useless, stay out of our way!" Duplicate Damsel snapped. "We'll handle this!"

"Don't make the mistake of thinkin' ol' Zeke's too much of a gentleman to shoot at a lady, ma'am!" A dark haired rider with a thick moustache fired upon Luornu, and almost dropped his weapon in shock when she split into two bodies to evade the gunfire. Taking advantage of his surprise, one of the Duplicate Damsels punched him in the jaw while the second Luornu disarmed him.

"They ain't people!" another of the men cried out. "They're some kinda witches or spirits or somethin'! Let's scram!"

The horsemen rode off into the darkness, Wildfire aiming to give chase until Duplicate Damsel stopped him. "Let them go," she instructed. "I've got a feeling we have bigger problems on our plate."

"I believe you may be right," Now that she could return her charge safely, Dawnstar descended from the night sky. She let him find his footing in the sand and released the bound man. "This man's clothes, his mannerisms, they are nothing like I am accustomed to."

"Maybe we oughtta be better accustomed then, angel." The blonde stranger gave Dawnstar a cheeky wink. "That is, once I get myself outta these ropes..."

"Here, let me help you with that." Matter-Eater Lad bent down and ripped at the rope bindings with his teeth. "I could do with a snack anyway."

The man raised one bemused eyebrow at Tenzil. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but who are you folks? Somethin' tells me you ain't from around these parts..?"

"Where are these parts exactly, Mister..?" Luornu prompted him for a name as her second self vanished into thin air.

"Bartholomew Alouysius Lash at your service, ma'am...though only my mama ever called me that, lord rest her soul. My friends call me Bat Lash...and you're liable to catch your death in that get-up! Here, allow me." He shucked off a heavy jacket and placed it around Luornu's bare shoulders despite her protests. "To answer your question, we are a couple of miles away from a place named Smallville...small by name, small by nature. Zeke Abner and his boys didn't take too well to me showin' a kindness to his Josie. I dare say you nice folk saved my life tonight!"

"I'll bet he showed her a kindness," Wildfire grumbled, taking a protective stance at Dawnstar's side. While Dawnstar eyed Wildfire disapprovingly, the other Legionnaires exchanged glances.

"...Smallville?" Duplicate Damsel repeated cautiously. "Bat Lash, this may sound strange but...what year is this?"

"Shoot ma'am, that ain't the strangest thing I've seen or heard tonight by a longshot...why, it's 1871!"

The Legionnaires were stunned speechless. Matter-Eater Lad finally released a long whistle and threw up his hands in mock surrender.

"Well, how about that?" Tenzil remarked. "Things really can always get worse!"

TO BE CONTINUED..!

Beneath a makeshift shelter erected by Element Lad's power, six Legionnaires and the man named Bat Lash warmed themselves around a raging fire.

"So let me see if I got this right," Bat Lash addressed the heroes while rain hammered down outside. "Y'all can't tell me where you come from or how you can do the things you do, but you say you're heroes?"

Dawnstar stiffened. "I would think we have proved our altruism at least tonight, Mr Lash."

"And I'm right grateful for that, ma'am." Bat Lash flashed her a dazzling grin. "But like I said earlier, my friends call me Bat...and I sure hope we're friends."

Wildfire bristled, but before he could express his annoyance Matter-Eater Lad interrupted. "You're handling this awfully well if you don't mind me saying so, cowboy. I imagine you wouldn't get a lot of people like us around here...well, not for another hundred years or so anyway."

"Tenzil." Duplicate Damsel cast him a stern glance. She turned to Bat Lash. "Mr Lash...Bat...you said we're near Smallville? We probably should try and find out as much information as we can about where we are to see if we can find a route home. Is there somebody in town who could assist with that?"

"Sheriff Kent's a good man, I'm certain as he'd be able to help you out ma'am...it'll be too late now but I'd be happy to take you to see him come the dawn." Bat Lash spread out on the floor of the shelter next to the fire, resting his head on one arm. "As for how well I may or may not be takin' all of this...well it sure ain't every night I meet a real honest angel and her friends, but there's a great many things on this Earth I think I'll never understand so I don't let that bother me none. Nope, ol' Bat Lash takes every little thing as it comes...and some things just come in prettier packages is all." He winked at Luornu. "G'night, folks."

Before too long, most of the group were asleep. Wildfire stroked Dawnstar's hair softly as he listened to the rain lightening up outside.

"At least it should be dry by morning," Luornu noted.

"I thought you'd be asleep like the others," Wildfire responded.

"A couple of me are." She sat up, revealing two identical woman slumbering peacefully together on her left. "Sleeping next to myself is poor comfort when I'm used to having Chuck by my side, but at least it's some comfort. I know you won't be sleeping at all though, I thought you could use the company."

For some time, only the crackle of the fire and the soft patter of the rain filled the shelter. Wildfire finally voiced what they were both thinking. "We're screwed, aren't we?"

Luornu hugged herself and gazed into the fire. "I'm not worried about the others being in danger...the Infinite Man sent us into the timestream, I'm sure he hasn't done anything more than that to them. And I know Chuck, he won't stop searching for us until we're found. But...we're stranded in a time without superheroes, without developed technology, without any known method of finding our friends and family again. So yes...I'd have to say your assessment is crude but accurate, Wildfire."

Again there was silence, and again Wildfire broke that silence. "On the plus side...Sheriff Kent from Smallville? Looks like we're gonna meet Superboy's great great great grand-daddy! Sort of."

Luornu offered him a wry smile. "And everyone calls Chuck the Legion's morale officer."

**********
The next morning saw them gathered together beneath the freshly risen sun. The air was crisp, but much warmer than it had been when they'd arrived. Element Lad converted the shelter to oxygen and allowed its molecules to drift away on the desert breeze. "Probably best if we leave as little trace of ourselves as possible," he explained.

"Agreed," Duplicate Damsel nodded. "Bat Lash, if you're ready we can leave anytime."

"I hope there's somewhere in town we can eat." Kid Computo looked down at her stomach. "I'm starving!"

"You want to share?" Matter-Eater Lad asked, offering her a thorny branch from a shrub. Danielle giggled.

Bat Lash scratched his head and looked the group up and down. "Folks, I don't know how to say this but, well...you know the way those fellas reacted to y'all last night? Some of you try waltzin' into town in broad daylight and you're gonna get a lot more of that."

"He's right." Luornu stood with her hands on her hips. "Judging by what we've seen so far, none of us are really dressed appropriately for this era...area...but Wildfire and Dawnstar, you two can't come into town; you'll cause a panic. The rest of us will go with Bat Lash, we'll contact you when we know what our next move is going to be."

"Good idea," Wildfire nodded. "We'll just wait for your call then."

As the others flew off, Dawnstar turned to Wildfire. "You don't mind sitting on the sidelines, Drake?"

"You kidding, Dawny?" Wildfire laughed. "I'm just happy to get you away from that cowboy Casanova for five minutes!"

**********
In his small sparsely furnished office, Sheriff Nathaniel Kent looked over the five people standing before him. With gold from Element Lad, Bat Lash had procured period clothing for the four Legionnaires so they would fit in with the townspeople more easily. Still, Sheriff Kent had been in Smallville long enough to recognise outsiders when he saw them, and none of these strangers were native to Smallville. On its own, that didn't surprise him. This town was younger than Sheriff Kent himself; only some of the children of Smallville could truly call themselves natives. There was something else about this group though, something he couldn't put his finger on. With the exception of Bat Lash, they all seemed so out of place here. They all deferred to the woman named Luornu, the men were more soft-spoken than most men Kent had known, and they all treated the coloured girl with a lot more respect than the sheriff had generally observed from his countrymen. "So you say you're lawmen yourselves?" Kent addressed Tenzil and Jan. He wanted to see how they would react if he didn't give the woman with the purple and amber eyes an opportunity to lead.

The two men glanced across at Luornu and waited for her nearly imperceptible nod before answering. "That's right," Jan replied. "We're from somewhere very far away, and we just need to find out what we can about this region so we can plot our best route home. Do you have any records we can read? Is there a library in town, or--"

Kent gave a hearty laugh. "A library! This ain't the state capital! Why don't you boys tell me where you're from? I'm sure we can send a telegraph out for you!"

Jan seemed lost for words. "We...well, that is..."

"This is ridiculous even by my standards," Tenzil cut in. "I know we're meant to be safeguarding the timestream, but these people barely have written language; I don't think we need to worry about history recording anything it shouldn't...Sheriff, believe it or not, we're from the future. From a long way in the future. We all have powers beyond normal humans and we're looking for other people like us who might be able to help us get home. Do you know of anyone like that?"

The sheriff folded his arms across his barrel chest. "Now look here, fella--"

"I know it sounds right crazy," Bat Lash interrupted, "But I got reason to believe they're tellin' the truth. Why don't you folks show the sheriff what y'all can do?"

Luornu glared at Matter-Eater Lad. "We had to reveal ourselves last night to save Bat's life, but you know better than this, Tenzil."

"Can't hear you." Tenzil removed his hat and took a bite out of it. "Too busy chewing."

With an exasperated sigh, Luornu split into two. One of her fetched Sheriff Kent's chair while her twin gently led the stunned man to sit. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "This must come as a great shock to you, Sir. As Bat Lash said, my colleague is telling the truth--"

"--though he really shouldn't be!" the other Luornu added.

"--and it's imperative that we find a way home," the first Luornu finished smoothly.

"We left our city at the mercy of a very dangerous man and we need to stop him before he hurts anybody."

Pale, the sheriff gaped at one Legionnaire after another. "And you - you can all do this? Eat anything, split into separate bodies..?"

"We each have a unique ability," Element Lad explained. To illustrate his point, he created a black lump of graphite in the palm of his hand. "Where we're from, we use our gifts to protect and serve just as you do."

"And you?" Kent stared at Kid Computo. "What is it you do, little lady?"

Danielle fidgeted with the lace in her corset. "Well, my power is a little harder to explain...I can't really show you....oh!" Her large brown eyes suddenly grew larger.

Element Lad and Matter-Eater Lad looked at her with concern. "Danielle?"

"There's something at the periphery of my range," she explained. "Something else else really advanced and really powerful! We were too far away for me to notice it before, but when I was thinking about using my power just then I guess I must have instinctively reached out...we're still too far for me to make full contact, but I'd recognise this type of technology anywhere! It's Coluan tech, you guys!"

Bat Lash and Sheriff Kent watched dumbfounded as the others grew visibly excited.

"Coluan?!"

"You think Brainy's here?"

"He might be but his flight ring isn't," Danielle responded to her teammates' queries. "I'm still not picking up anyone other than us, Dawnstar and Wildfire. This technology though...whatever it is, it's big. I think we should check it out."

"Fine," Luornu replied coldly. Her other self spoke to the men they'd met here with more warmth. "Sheriff, Bat, we'll leave you to it...thanks for your time and help."

"I won't say I know what's goin' on here," Sheriff Kent replied, "But this sounds like somethin' Smallville's sheriff should keep an interest in, ma'am. I'm coming with you."

"That may not be wise," Luornu tried to dissuade him. "We're investigating something you have no experience with--"

"Now I know you fancy future folk probably all think we're primitives," Bat Lash interrupted, "But you gotta admit, it makes sense havin' people along who know the lay of the land and can tell you what to expect 'round here."

Element Lad looked across at Duplicate Damsel with his piercing blue eyes. "He's got a point, Luornu. They both do."

"We may not have time to argue about this," the Carggite heroine answered. "Jan, Tenzil, carry them. I just hope we don't regret this."

"Carry us?" the Sheriff raised an eyebrow. "What does she mean, carry--" Slack-jawed, he stopped mid-sentence as Luornu opened the building's back door and took to the sky, followed closely by her other self and the younger colored girl.

"Where are we going?" Luornu demanded of the cyberempathic girl at her side.

"It's about a dozen kliks this way," Danielle pointed. She screwed her nose up. "Grife, these old-time clothes sure are uncomfortable, huh? Especially in this gross heat!" Luornu mumbled something unintelligible in reply and Danielle waited a moment before she continued. "Duplicate Damsel...have I done something to offend you? I don't think we've ever said two words to one another before yesterday, but I get the impression you really don't like me."

"Why would you ever think that, Kid Computo?" She spat Danielle's codename like it was an insult. "All you've done is taken my murderer's legacy and worn it as a badge of honor."

"I don't understand," Danielle frowned. "Your murderer..?"

Luornu looked across at the girl with blazing intensity. "Computo killed my third self, back when I was Triplicate Girl. Everybody knows, but none of you know what it means. None of you are Carggites. A lot of Legionnaires come from worlds where everyone shares their power, but if Matter-Eater Lad woke up tomorrow not being able to eat rocks it wouldn't change anything about his fundamental sense of self. My people though...we aren't meant to survive the loss of a body. The power I have now is different, but back then I shouldn't have survived. Part of me didn't. I still wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats because of that monster. You throw him in my face just by existing, and nobody else on the team has the slightest problem with it." She turned away, her voice filled with bitter emotion.

"I do too," Danielle said softly.

"You do what?" Luornu snapped.

"I wake up with cold sweats. Sometimes crying, and it takes me a few minutes to understand why. I was conscious when he used my body to fight the Legion...I was conscious the whole time. I fought as hard as I could, but I was just a little girl. So I had to watch him try to kill my brother, try to kill the greatest team of heroes in the galaxy...I had to feel his hatred burning through me, like a physical force. He was physically burning me out during my possession. Boiling my blood. I could have died. And after that horrible day, I still feel his shrill whispering voice in my head when I'm trying to sleep, or in my dreams." She wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sometimes I feel him. Only sometimes. Brainiac 5 made sure my family got the best psychoanalysts they could, so it's a lot better now than it was. And I know it's just the memory of his voice that lives in in my brain forever, it's not actually him...but still, the memory's enough."

For the first time, Luornu's tone softened towards Danielle. "Then...why..?"

"Why did I name myself after the monster that terrifies me more than anything else in the universe? Because that's how I show that ghost in my head that I know he's only a ghost. His name has no power over me, and using his name to help the people he hates is the best way I know to beat him." She slowed down until they were hovering motionless. "We're here."

The others caught up and looked around. They were above a field of wild grasses that stretched for miles all round, but there was no sign of technology, Coluan or otherwise.

"I still can't believe you can all fly!" Sheriff Kent exclaimed. "And so fast! I felt like a speeding bullet!"

"Some of our friends can fly faster than a speeding bullet," Tenzil smirked. "I can think of one in particular you'd probably like to meet..."

"Are you sure this is the place?" Luornu interrupted. "I don't see anything out of the ordinary?"

"Oh, duh." Danielle slapped her forehead. "I forgot you wouldn't be able to sense it...hologram." With minimal effort, she disabled the hologram emitters she detected. The six of them saw something large, metallic and oval-shaped in the field below.

"What in tarnation is that?" Bat Lash asked.

"That is something which shouldn't be there," Luornu scowled. "Everyone, follow me." She landed on a hill overlooking the gleaming spaceship and the others joined her. "Danielle, access that ship's crew manifest, see if you can find out who's on board and what they're doing here. There's no way they don't know we're here after you switched off their cloak, so let's just go knock on the font door as it were."

Sheriff Kent drew his gun and the second Duplicate Damsel barred his way. "I don't think that's a good idea," she suggested. "You've never encountered alien life before. Let us make first contact and then we'll introduce you and Bat Lash." Luornu knew this wasn't entirely true; of the Legionnaires gathered here, only Danielle was an Earth native but she figured they'd dropped enough bombshells on these men already.

"I don't like it but I'll give you your chance," Sheriff Kent replied, though he didn't holster his firearm. "We're ready when you need us." Luornu, the sheriff and Bat Lash watched as the other Luornu led Jan, Tenzil and Danielle up to the vessel.

"There's only one man on board," Kid Computo advised the others. "His name is Sato Lao and he's here following some kind of mission to bring peace to the galaxy judging by his ship's files. He - oh sprock, he's going to destroy the Earth!"

Duplicate Damsel took charge instantly. "Element Lad, give us an entrance. Danielle, whatever he's doing in there, shut it down. Shut it all down. Let's go, Legion!"
Danielle opened her mouth to speak while Jan transmuted part of the hull to oxygen. Before she could get the first word out though, a pale yellow beam shot out from a hidden port and enveloped the four heroes. They fell without a sound, and large droids emerged from the ship to collect their unconscious forms.

From their vantage point on the hill, the other three saw it all. "We gotta save them!" Sheriff Kent cried out.

"No!" Duplicate Damsel formed two extra bodies and the three women held the riled up lawman in place. "If we go down there we'll face the same fate! And none of us can dent those robots!"

"But your friends--" Bat Lash interjected.

"They're not our only friends," Luornu answered him. She held her flight ring to her lips and spoke into it. "Dawnstar? Wildfire? Trace our location and get here without a second to spare.

We've got a rescue to complete."

TO BE CONCLUDED!

Matter-Eater Lad stirred, rolling his head to the left until it met cold hard resistance. He opened his eyes and saw featureless metal panelling; a wall met by a low ceiling made of the same material. He rolled to his right side and leaned on one elbow. He was in a cell along with Element Lad, Kid Computo and Duplicate Damsel. An amber force barrier replaced one of the room's four walls, and on the other side a security droid watched them passively.

"Come on," Tenzil jostled the others gently. "Rise and shine, up and at 'em...first nibble beats the Gluttony Patrol..."

Danielle Foccart batted his hand away, grumpy. "Lemme alone...what's a Gluttony Patrol anyway..?"

"Bismollian thing, never mind." Tenzil clambered to his feet and stretched. "Seeing as technically none of us have been born yet I'm gonna guess we haven't had our powers cut off...how about you do your thing and get us outta here when everyone wakes up, Kid C?"

"We're awake," Duplicate Damsel joined the conversation as she too climbed to her feet. "Do you still have access to your cyberempathy, Danielle? I wouldn't have thought that stun beam would have taken you of all people by surprise..."

"Even thousand year old Coluan technology is advanced compared to what I normally come across," Danielle explained. "This ship's systems are all fairly independently controlled so while I was scanning its data library the security systems got past me. Now that I'm up close and personal though it should be a lot easier." She frowned ever so slightly and the forcefield holding them prisoner shut down. The security droid shuddered once and then stopped. "I can hide us from being monitored or I can find the ship's captain but I don't think I can do both and protect us from the ship's security protocols at the same time," she continued. "What should I do, Duplicate Damsel?"

A door whooshed open and a wrinkled green man walked in, firearm in hand. "I'll save you the trouble of looking for the ship's captain," the white-haired Coluan addressed them. "Sato Lao, at your service."

**********
A herd of bison stampeded in fear as Wildfire rocketed loudly overhead. By contrast, Dawnstar's flight was almost silent. "Aren't your people from around this area, Dawny?" Wildfire asked the raven-haired beauty beside him.

"Starhaven was settled many centuries before even this time," she replied, her attention unwavering from the path before them. "In truth, Drake, any people we may happen upon here are far more likely to be your ancestors than mine."

"Huh. How about that." Wildfire spared a glance for the town of Smallville as they zoomed by its outskirts. He had become so accustomed to thinking of himself as no longer human it had never occurred to him that somewhere on this vast landmass right now lived the man and woman whose bloodline would produce Drake Burroughs. He wondered how they would feel to know the eventual product of their union would be nothing more than a mass of energy inhabiting a garish costume. He just as quickly put the thought out of his head. With their great speed, Dawnstar and Wildfire had already reached the others and there were more important things to take his attention now.

The two landed on a hilltop where Duplicate Damsel, Bat Lash and a wide-eyed man they assumed to be Sheriff Nathaniel Kent awaited them. Luornu introduced Wildfire and Dawnstar to the sheriff.

"Just when I think I've seen it all, you folks keep piling on the surprises," the square-jawed Kent shook his head in disbelief. "You're a...an angel, Ms Dawnstar? An Indian angel??"

"I'm afraid I'm nothing so exalted, Sheriff Kent." Dawnstar brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Gorgeous and humble," Bat Lash complimented.

"Where are the others now?" Wildfire asked abruptly, his hand moving to Dawnstar's waist.

"You can't see it now that the cloaking field has been reactivated," Luornu explained, "But there's a ship down there. The others went to investigate and were taken captive."

"They are still there," Dawnstar had a faraway look in her eye as she gazed downhill. "Shall we make our move, Duplicate Damsel?"

"Go," Luornu bade them.

"She can see 'em even now?" Bat Lash asked incredulously as Wildfire and Dawnstar took to the air once more. "Who'd have thought womenfolk get even more amazing in the future?"

"Dawnstar's power is tracking," Luornu answered. "She can find anything or anyone once she puts her mind to it, that's how she located us so quickly. So no, she can't see them any more than we can. But she can sense them...and if she can sense them that means they're still alive."

Directed by Dawnstar, Wildfire fired upon the invisible ship. Bat Lash and the sheriff both flinched when a small explosion filled the placid Kansas air. The cloaking field stuttered and then one part of the ship's hull became visible, flames and smoke hemorrhaging from it. With one of its holo-emitters down, a shimmering fringe delineated the rest of the vessel.

Luornu silently appraised the locals standing by her side. She knew the men shouldn't be here, but it was too late for that now. She also knew that neither of them would be content to stand by while unarmed women rushed into danger, so she might as well direct them as best she could. "I'm going to draw fire," she advised as she split into multiple bodies. "Your guns won't make a dent on the ship or its droids but when you see a weapons port open, take the shot. The firing mechanism may be more fragile than the ship itself."

Sheriff Kent gripped Luornu's shoulder. "Ma'am, if you think I'm gonna let you ladies run on in there and get captured a second time--"

"You can waste time arguing with a dozen of me while a dozen more storm the ship, or you can help out. What'll it be, Sheriff?" Even as she spoke, copies of herself ran en masse towards the vessel while Wildfire took on the security droids which had now responded to his initial assault.

"Don't rightly know how amazing it is, but women sure do get more bossy in the future," Sheriff Kent grumbled. He took aim at one of the ship's weapon ports as he'd been directed and fired, shattering the delicate lens of the blaster before it could fire.

One of Duplicate Damsel's bodies snuck on board the vessel while everyone else engaged in chaotic battle with the ship's defences. There wasn't enough room in the small ship's corridors for Dawnstar to manoeuvre safely, from here Luornu would need to find her captured teammates herself. The ship's ventilation shafts were dark and cramped, but she could bypass any resistance traveling through them. Fortunately she wasn't targeted by the ship's automatic defences, which led her to assume that Danielle at least remained uninjured. Using the beacon built into all Legion flight rings, she found the others after a less than comfortable journey through the ship. The whole time she could hear Wildfire's power blasting away at the ship and its robotic defenders, and occasionally one of the shots would be powerful enough that the shaft she was crouched in shuddered as if it would implode. She heard her own voice from the room directly below her and strained to listen over the anti-energy barrage outside as she peered through a small grate at a green man holding her friends at gunpoint.

"What are you doing here?" the other Duplicate Damsel asked Sato Lao. "On Earth, I mean? My teammate told us you're planning to destroy the planet, you must know we won't let you do that."

"I've stopped your little death ray in its tracks now that I know what it is," Kid Computo added. "The only reason I haven't wiped your ship's data banks altogether is that we're gonna send you back home once we're done here. According to your ship, you're not very popular back on Colu. Pretty sure they won't be too supportive of your plans for genocide."

"They are all so narrow-minded!" the elderly Coluan exploded. "Nobody sees that I am bringing peace to the universe! Please, let me explain...I designed a threat analysis and forecast program, I've spent the past three decades refining it to perfection. I asked of it which planet will cause the most potential danger to the universe, and its answer was this primitive ball of mud! I do not know what factors will come into play, but there is no doubt in my mind that the planet you call Earth is destined to produce the greatest menaces reality will ever know! Think of the lives that will be saved with the destruction of this one small world!"

The Legionnaires stared at Sato Lao and one another in disbelief and horror. "Buddy, was that your best try?" Matter-Eater Lad asked. "Because I gotta tell ya, you're not engendering a lot of sympathy."

Duplicate Damsel gave Sato Lao a cold glare. "Shut it down, Danielle. Shut down anything resembling a weapon. Element Lad, could you restrain this madman please?"

"No!" the Coluan cried. He raised his gun at Duplicate Damsel and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

"Nice plasma gun," Danielle smirked. "Doesn't work very well when its motherboard doesn't know how to interpret the signal your trigger sends though."

As Element Lad raised a hand to ensnare their enemy in iron, the wall behind them exploded inward. Element Lad and Kid Computo tumbled across the ship's hall, slamming into the opposite wall hard enough to stun them both. Wildfire, Dawnstar, Sheriff Kent and Bat Lash stood on the other side of the damage with a couple more of Duplicate Damsel's bodies. "Grife!" Wildfire exclaimed. "Sorry, you two! I had no idea you were so close to the wall!"

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by Wildfire's dramatic entrance, Sato pointed his gun at a dazed Kid Computo. She was the one controlling his ship and this might be his only chance to be rid of her. The others were all too far away to do anything but watch her die. As he pulled the trigger, yet another version of the brunette kicked aside a ventilation panel and leaped down with a defiant yell. She took the blast which was meant for Kid Computo directly to her skull and dropped like a sack of rocks, instantly dead. Kid Computo screamed her name in anguish and rushed to the corpse of the woman who'd saved her.

"It - it doesn't matter!" The surviving Duplicate Damsels were obviously rattled, but Luornu knew she had to focus on leading her team through this. "Stop him! He's getting away!"

Indeed, Sato Lao was already vanishing behind a sliding door. He was much older and slower than the rest of them, but he had the advantage of knowing this ship like the back of his hand...and now that their cyberempath was too shaken to use her power, the ship's automatic security fields and offensive systems would kick in once more. He could hear them now, keeping these odd men and women occupied until he could complete his task.

His heart racing, Sato Lao finally made it to the bridge. He dashed to the console of his extinction beam and feverishly tapped in the necessary command. A low thrum filled the room, and he finally allowed himself to take a breath and relax. When Element Lad dissolved the final door keeping the heroes from him, Sato Lao greeted them with a smug grin. "I knew you couldn't be driven off for long," he pontificated, "But it no longer matters, don't you see? In under a minute, a beam of tightly focused sonic waves will penetrate this planet to the core and set off a reaction that will destroy the world in--"

Sato Lao saw Sheriff Kent's handgun flash, but he never heard the gunshot. An instant later the ancient Coluan lay lifeless and bleeding on his own bridge.

Element Lad stared at the Sheriff numbly. "You killed him..!"

"I avenged your lady friend is what I did," Sheriff Kent replied grimly. "And while I got precious little idea what's goin' on round here, I think I just killed the bastard was threatenin' ta end my world. I'd say I got a right to do that."

"You think you just killed..." Dawnstar mimicked. "You're not even certain! You murdered a man in cold blood without even fully trusting your own justification!"

"Now look here!" the Sheriff growled. "I don't know how y'all do things where you come from, but here we put monsters in the grave! Where they belong!"

"Ain't many times I've agreed with a lawman just pulled a gun on someone," Bat Lash joined in, "But this here's one of them times. I don't see we had much choice, angel."

"Hey!" Matter-Eater Lad bellowed. "Can we argue about this after we've stopped the planetary no-chance machine? I don't know how long we've got because someone went and killed our only expert, but anyone notice that high-pitched noise getting louder?"

"Tenzil's right," one of the five remaining Duplicate Damsels took charge. "Danielle, can you stop this device?"

"I'm trying," she frowned. "But it really doesn't want to stop." Everyone in the room was deathly still as the young girl gave the extinction beam her full attention. Five seconds passed, then ten, the whining increasing in pitch the whole time. Finally, it subsided and the bridge was filled with an anticlimactic silence.

"No big boom?" Tenzil asked eventually, cringing.

"No big boom," Danielle smiled wearily.

Bat Lash whooped as he picked her up and spun her around. "Little lady, if you were a couple years older I'd lay such a smooch on you right now!"

"I know you must be exhausted," Luornu said as Bat Lash lowered the embarrassed girl, "But there's one more thing, Danielle. Remember when you threatened to wipe his data banks? I need you to do that now. Then I want Matter-Eater Lad and Element Lad to dispose of anything dangerous, and Wildfire's going to take whatever's left somewhere far from here and atomise it."

Element Lad's brow furrowed. "Are you sure that's wise, Luornu?"

"Yeah, we can use this ship!" Wildfire protested. "Once Kid C reprograms this baby, we must be able to find someone who can help us get home!"

"And away from these barbarians," Dawnstar added icily.

"We're not keeping anything which carries a weapon capable of destroying a world, Wildfire." Luornu's duplicates vanished one by one as she stared the hotheaded Legionnaire down. "I'm not budging on this."

Sheriff Kent saw by the concentration on Danielle's face that she'd already started following Luornu's command. He was mystified by what that command meant, but something about it rubbed him the wrong way. "Ma'am, all due respect, this isn't really your decision. I'm the Sheriff here and--lord!" He recoiled as all of the Legionnaires were suddenly enveloped in a rainbow glow and disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" Bat Lash asked.

"Beats me," the Sheriff shrugged. "Let's check outside."

The two men left the eery silver tomb which had once been a vessel of destruction and called for the Legionnaires, but no answer came.

"Sheriff, look!" Bat Lash pointed, eyes wide. The Sheriff followed his astounded gaze and saw the ship behind them once more shimmer and fade away. "It's gone!" Bat Lash gaped."What do we do now?"

"I'll tell you what we do," Kent answered with grim resolve, "We walk back into town and we wait for those weird friends of yours to come back. And if they don't...we are never breathin' a word of this to another soul, you hear me? I don't know what happened out here today, but I didn't like any of it one little bit. And if I have my way, ain't nobody ever gonna come out to this damn field again."

"Suits me, Sheriff." Bat Lash crouched down and picked a wildflower from the ground. He placed it in the brim of his hat as the two men walked off beneath the Kansas sun.

"Suits me just fine."

NEXT: Another Girl, Another Planet...

2 teams down, let's see who's left!

BRAINIAC 5: Early 21st century Smallville
DAWNSTAR: Smallville, 1871
DUPLICATE DAMSEL (deputy leader): Smallville, 1871
ELEMENT LAD: Smallville, 1871
KID COMPUTO: Smallville, 1871
MATTER-EATER LAD: Smallville, 1871
SHADOW LAD: Early 21st century Smallville
SUPERBOY: Early 21st century Smallville, remained behind
SUPERGIRL: Early 21st century Smallville
WILDFIRE: Smallville, 1871

BLOK
BOUNCING BOY (leader)
CHAMELEON BOY
CHAMELEON GIRL
COLOSSAL BOY
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DRAGONMAGE
DREAM GIRL
ELASTIC LAD
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
LIGHT LAD
LIGHTNING LASS
MON-EL
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND
PHANTOM GIRL
POLAR BOY
QUISLET
SHRINKING VIOLET
SUN BOY
TELLUS
TIMBER WOLF
TYROC
ULTRA BOY
GAS GIRL (Legion ally)
THOM KALLOR (Ex-Legionnaire Star Boy)

Splendid stuff Raz, really enjoying your journey through the eras. I don't know who Bat Lash is - was he inspired by our own fantastic Lash? Nathaniel Kent's morality may be questionable to the Legionnaires but totally understandable in the context. Dawnstar's iciness afterwards was well played. Tenzil's irreverence, Danielle's youth, Wildfires protectiveness (of Dawny anyway) and Lu's determination were all well written.

And let's be realistic, Sato Lao had a point, given the history of the DC universe, Earth is a nasty place that has spawned a fair few monsters...

Looking forward to where you take us next, more, more, more!

Ha! I would like to say Lash was the inspiration for Bat Lash, but he's actually one of DC's western heroes...was a toss-up between using him or Jonah Hex, but Hex has already had a couple of shots at interacting with people from the future so I thought I'd give Bat a turn.

Glad you're enjoying it, I was a bit worried how these two teams would work because their stories are kinda connected so I didn't want one to seem like a retread of the other. I think the next team should offer up something different altogether...

Cowboys vs. Aliens, Legion style! Very cool!

Nice bit of interplay between Lu and Danielle over the Kid Computo name, and Lu's later choice to leap into the line of fire to save Danielle quietly resolved the disagreement, without the necessity for a big reconciliation scene. Subtle and effective, I like that, showing, not telling. Very strong writing choice.

Reacting instinctively, Salu Digby shrunk down to a height of barely two inches as Duplicate Damsel's golden boot kicked out at where the tiny woman's head had been a moment ago. The heroine appropriately named Shrinking Violet took a moment to orient herself before she returned to normal size. "Where are we?" she asked. "This isn't Weisinger Plaza."

"And you're not the pirate I was fighting a moment ago," Duplicate Damsel added. "Sorry about the near assault, Violet."

"You're forgiven," Shrinking Violet answered in a distracted tone. "But that flash of light…where has he sent us..?"

The two women turned around slowly, taking in their surrounds. Light Lad hovered nearby, Colossal Boy towering over him. A dozen feet to the east, Lightning Lass smacked aside Timber Wolf's hand as he tried to help her stand from a crouching position. No other Legionnaires were within visual range and between the rainbow-smeared skies and the utterly arid landscape around them, they were all starting to realise that they were no longer on Earth.

Light Lad visibly flinched. "Whoa…did anybody else's transuit just activate?"

"The Infinite Man must have transported us to a hostile environment hoping it would kill us for him," Lightning Lass replied. "Lucky for us, our transuits are programmed to activate automatically upon exposure to dangerous atmospheres."

"This place seems familiar," Shrinking Violet narrowed her eyes. "I feel like I've been here before…"

"Yera!" Colossal Boy suddenly bellowed. "Where's Yera? Where's my wife?? She's not answering her flight ring!"

"Try to stay calm," Light Lad suggested. "I'm sure she--"

"Stay calm?!" Colossal Boy stamped one enormous foot down, scattering the girls like bowling pins. Only Timber Wolf's incredible dexterity kept him standing, while Light Lad remained safely floating above ground. "That bastard has sent us sprock knows where, I have no idea what he's done to my wife, and you're telling me to stay calm?!"

Duplicate Damsel created a copy of herself which flew right up to the raging giant's face. "Gim Allon, that is exactly what you need to do!" she snapped, pointing one angry finger at him. "Chuck isn't answering his flight ring either, but childish tantrums won't help him or Yera! Now would you please stop acting like an overzealous boyfriend and start acting like a Legionnaire?"

"Sorry," Gim answered sheepishly. He bowed his head in shame, feeling a rush of blood to his face. "Is everyone okay?"

"Don't beat yourself up, big guy. We know you're just worried." Ayla ascended to join Luornu before Colossal Boy's huge brown eyes. "We really do need to figure out where we are and how to get home though. I can't pick up anybody on my flight ring at all…I even tried calling Garth at the Academy!"

"If there's a lot of background radiation that could be interfering with our communications," one of the Duplicate Damsels suggested. The second Luornu continued without missing a beat. "Do you remember when we faced the Triumvirate of Terror on my homeworld, Violet?"

"Solar activity from Cargg's three suns made communications practically impossible," Vi nodded. "Of course I thought Brainiac 5 had fixed that problem a long time ago, but it makes as much sense as anything."

"We can't reach anyone, we're in the middle of some kind of alien desert…what do we do now, boss lady?" Timber Wolf looked to Duplicate Damsel for direction.

Luornu was momentarily taken aback. She wasn't accustomed to more powerful Legionnaires turning to her for leadership, but she reminded herself that she was their deputy leader. It was time to prove she was worth that vote of confidence. "There are some hills off in the distance," she noted. "It shouldn't take us long to reach them with our flight rings and with any luck that's where we'll find civilisation. Unless anybody has any better ideas..?"

"Sounds good to me," Ayla patted her on the shoulder. "Boss lady."

"Let's not waste any more time then," Luornu replied with more confidence. "Colossal Boy, it might be an idea to return to human size…we should try not to draw too much attention to ourselves until we have a better idea where we are."

"Duplicate Damsel has a point," Shrinking Violet chimed in while Gim shrank down. "Maybe I should stay out of sight for now as well." She too reduced her size until once more she was only a couple of inches tall. Even at such small proportions her flight ring enabled her to keep pace with the others effortlessly, and the group of heroes soared towards this flat landscape's one remarkable feature.

Once they were all on their way, Timber Wolf came up alongside Lightning Lass and Light Lad. "Ayla?" Brin asked with uncommon timidity. "Can I please say something..?" Light Lad discretely sped up to give the two some privacy.

"Darvan, you don't need to--" Ayla began to protest, but the lanky Winathian had already joined Colossal Boy ahead. Ayla sighed in frustration and turned back to Brin Londo. "Timber Wolf, how many times do I need to tell you--"

"No no, it's not like that!" Timber Wolf shook his head vigorously. "I just wanted to-- grife, I'm bad at this. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Ayla. I've been a jerk -- I've been a monumental jerk, and I know I betrayed you and that was wrong. It was wrong and dumb. I know I've given up any chance I ever had of being with you again, but…I don't want you to hate me, that's all. What you gave me was more happiness than I ever deserved, and I know that's over, but I hope you don't hate me and I hope one day we can at least be friends again. That's all." He bowed his head, defeated by the effort of expressing himself like this.

Ayla felt a surge of anger rise but she caught Darvan looking back at them and there was something in his gaze…sympathy? Empathy? She swallowed her temper and really looked at Timber Wolf. He seemed genuinely regretful. He was definitely miserable. Ayla sighed again. "Friends might be pushing it," she said sardonically, "But I don't hate you, Brin. That's all I can do for now, you'll have to take it or leave it."

Timber Wolf gave her a pained but sincere smile. "That's all I can ask, Ayla. Thanks. I mean it." Before any awkwardness could set in, Timber Wolf too increased speed to join the others ahead.

"What was that all about?" a minuscule voice asked in Ayla's ear.

The strawberry blonde turned her head to find Shrinking Violet flying alongside her right cheek. "I don't exactly know," Ayla answered, "But I've got a sneaking suspicion Light Lad has got something to do with this. Those two hated each other up until Bouncing Boy made us all do that getting to know you exercise…I wouldn't exactly say they're best pals now, but something's happened between them. I don't care to be honest, if Darvan can get Timber Wolf to grow up then more power to him…grife knows I've spent long enough trying and failing."

"I don't know if I'd say that's your failing," Violet laughed. "More likely men are just emotionally stunted."

Ayla smirked. "Some of them, definitely. Maybe you and Calorie Queen have got the right idea! How are things going with her, anyway? You seem a lot happier lately, if you don't mind me saying."

"Cal's good for me," Vi replied. "We don't have anything serious going on, but she makes me smile…that's all I need right now. And in the future, who knows..? I'm just content to take it one day at a time for now."

"Did anybody else hear that?" Light Lad asked the group. They had already reached the hills Luornu had pointed out, and as they came closer they saw those hills become a modest mountain range covered in exotic flowering plants and trees. As the heroes left the desolate plains of this strange place behind for more verdant terrain, they heard the faraway cry of alien creatures.

"They're just wild animals," Colossal Boy volunteered. "Though if this place is hostile enough to activate our transuits, I'm surprised there's any kind of native wildlife to be honest."

Timber Wolf guffawed. "You want to see hardy wildlife, you should spend some time on Zuun."

"It wasn't an animal," Light Lad insisted. "It sounded like someone yelling -- there it is again!"

"I heard it that time," one of the Duplicate Damsels remarked. "Let's go, Legion!" Her twin had already veered off from the group and was diving down toward a steep ravine.

Light Lad joined her, the others close behind. They all heard cries for help now but the noise echoed throughout the mountainous terrain, making it impossible to pinpoint its location.

"Let's split up," Luornu suggested as she literally did just that. Within a second, a dozen Duplicate Damsels floated where there had been only two. "We'll cover more ground this way." The Legionnaires paired off and flew in different directions, all straining to hear the panicked voice they now recognised as that of a young girl.

"Down here!" one of the Duplicate Damsels soon shouted. She flew toward a teenager with shoulder-length honey coloured hair. The girl had obviously been trying to scale the ravine's rocky face and slipped. She clung desperately to a ledge with trembling fingers but before Luornu could reach her, the girl lost her grip and fell into the yawning pit of the ravine. The terrified girl screamed, then gasped in shock as she stopped falling and slowly floated up towards the top of the ravine.

Luornu helped the girl regain her footing on stable ground, supporting her as her normal weight returned. "You saved my life!" the girl panted, gripping Luornu's bare arm. She looked about 12 or 13, with hazel eyes which complimented her hair. "How can I ever thank you?!"

"We're just glad we were able to help," Luornu soothed the girl as Light Lad descended to join the two. "We're the Legion of Superheroes. I'm Duplicate Damsel and this is Light Lad. He's the one you should really be thanking, it was his power that rescued you."

"I - I'm sorry, I don't recognise your names," the girl apologised. "But thank you so much! I'm Uma…Uma Garan."

"You don't recognise the Legion of Superheroes?" Light Lad asked incredulously. By now the others were joining them, summoned by Duplicate Damsel.

"Oh no, everyone knows the Legion of Superheroes!" Uma blurted. "It just takes us a while to get the latest newsfeeds all the way out here, I'm not completely up to date on your membership I guess."

"What are you doing out here on your own anyway?" Luornu asked. "Mountaineering with no safety equipment is awfully dangerous, Uma!"

"I need to study white calendulas for my school science project," she explained. "They only grow out here at the edge of the Habitable Zone."

"The Habitable Zone?" Light Lad asked. He'd only just now noticed the girl wore no transuit at all. "Uma…where are we exactly?"

"You don't know..?" The young girl looked uneasily from one Legionnaire to the other. "How can you not know where you are..? Wait, how are you flying without your flight belts..?"

Along with the others, Colossal Boy pondered Uma's confusion. Until now Gim had been so consumed with worry for his wife that he hadn't spared a moment's thought for anything else. How was it though that this girl had heard of the Legion of Superheroes but she didn't recognise individual Legionnaires? Why on Earth would she expect them to be using flight belts? Flight rings had been a standard part of the Legion's equipment for years now. The uncomfortable realisation dawned on him that the Infinite Man could just as easily have displaced them all in time as well as space…and now that he really took in his surroundings for the first time, he felt as Vi did that there was a nagging familiarity about this world. Gim heard a sharp inhalation from Shrinking Violet and glanced across to see the small woman's hands fly to her mouth. Violet's recognition sparked his own. He knew exactly where they were now, and his blood ran cold as Vi spoke what they were both thinking.

"Trom," Violet breathed.

"The Infinite Man has sent us to Trom."

TO BE CONTINUED..!

The gleaming spires of Trom's capital city were a stunning sight as the sun set to the west. Impressive as Trom's pristine architecture was, its skies at this time of day were even moreso. The atmosphere, normally splashed in color, fairly blazed with intense hues. From one side of the globe to the other, vibrant greens changed to blues, then reds, oranges and countless other shades which had no name. The sheer beauty of it all was breathtaking.

Standing on one of the mountains which ringed the valley wherein the vast majority of life on Trom thrived, six Legionnaires felt their hearts in their throats.

"It's so overwhelming..." Shrinking Violet mumbled, her voice quivering. She had resumed normal size to easier interact with the others, and all the Legionnaires now saw the tears welling in her eyes.

"Vi?" Lightning Lass touched her friend's shoulder, obviously concerned. "You okay?"

"You don't understand," Violet continued, almost in shock. "None of you were here with us last time…it's just…it's a lot to take in." She looked up at Colossal Boy, his own face pale and taut.

"You've been here before?" their teenaged guide asked. As a native to this world, young Uma Garan took the splendour around them utterly for granted. "You Legionnaires sure are weird, first you don't know where you are and now you say you've been here before? Make up your minds!"

"Uma," Shrinking Violet asked with a quiet intensity, "Do you know what the UP standard date is today?"

The young girl began to answer, but Duplicate Damsel took her aside before she could get more than a word out. Luornu shot Vi a stern glare then leaned toward Uma with a far more friendly demeanour. "Why don't I take you back to your parents?" Luornu offered. "It's getting close to nightfall, they must be concerned about you by now."

"Oh no, as long as I'm home for dinner they won't mind…I know how to scare critters away!" To demonstrate her point, Uma gestured at a nearby stream. Using the same power the Legionnaires had seen from Element Lad countless times before, Uma transmuted a tiny part of the stream's surface to potassium. The silvery metal sparked dramatically, birthing a flame which burned itself out in moments.

"Be that as it may, I think it's for the best," Luornu continued. "And let's keep it between us that you met the Legion of Superheroes today, hmm? We need to keep our presence here a secret for…for classified reasons. Can you keep a secret?"

A conspiratory gleam shone in Uma's eye. "Oh boy! Sure I can, Duplicate Damsel! Cross my heart!"

"Good girl, I knew we could depend on you. Come on, let's go. I'll rejoin the others later." While one Duplicate Damsel walked away with the young girl, another remained behind with the rest of her team.

Failing to recognise the tension that hung over the heroes, Uma waved goodbye. "It was nice to meet you, Legion! Thanks for your help, I won't tell anyone! Honest!"

Once she was out of earshot, Shrinking Violet turned on Luornu. "What is wrong with you?! We've got a chance we'll never have again, we can save these people!"

"You know we can't alter the timestream, Violet." Duplicate Damsel didn't raise her voice, but her tone said she would brook no argument.

Light Lad raised his hand gingerly. "I feel like I'm missing something…can someone please explain what's going on for the new kid?"

"The fact that there's anybody alive on this planet means we've been sent back in time," Shrinking Violet bitterly explained. "It means Roxxas the Butcher hasn't committed the genocide which led to Element Lad joining the Legion of Superheroes." Glaring at Duplicate Damsel, she almost spat her next words. "It means we can save a race from extinction."

Duplicate Damsel stared Violet straight in the eye. "Don't you think I want to save them? Don't you think this decision is going to weigh on me every day for the rest of my life? We can't interfere with the past, Violet! You know that! The consequences could be catastrophic!"

"Where has all this concern about consequences been every time we've invited Superboy or Supergirl to come hang out with us??" Violet was almost shouting now, her face flushed with emotion.

A pall of silence fell over the group before Duplicate Damsel found the words to break it. "What do you want me to say?" she asked, her voice tightly controlled. "Is it right that we invited Superboy and Supergirl to join the Legion of Superheroes in the first place? Of course it isn't. We were young and stupid. We were blinded by our ideals and our adoration, and if we'd ever taken a nano to think about the terrible risk we were taking every time we jumped in a time bubble to visit them we would never have made the first trip. There's a reason we stopped calling on them unless it was a matter of life or death, Violet. Are we to be forever held to the judgements we made when we were children?"

Vi laughed but there was no humour to it. "It's funny how we can mess with the timestream as much as we like when it's a matter of our life or death. I guess nobody else is that important." She spun on her heel and stormed away.

"Where are you going?" Duplicate Damsel called after her. "We should stick together!"

"Bite me," Vi snapped without looking back.

"I'll go keep an eye on her," Lightning Lass suggested. "She just needs some time, Lu. That's all." She jogged after Vi, leaving Duplicate Damsel with Colossal Boy, Light Lad and Timber Wolf.

"Does anybody else want to make me feel more horrible about this than I already do?" Luornu snapped at the three men.

"I never liked time travel," Timber Wolf growled. "Thinking about it makes my head hurt."

"I don't know what I think," Light Lad added, crestfallen. "How do you decide to just let a whole world of people die? But if we tell them…if we change history…what if we open the door for something worse? How do we know?"

Colossal Boy spoke without ever taking his eyes from the proud city standing below them. "I came to Trom with Vi and Yera and Cham and some of the others not all that long ago. Well, in the future, I guess. You all know what I mean. But Jan was there too. All of these buildings, they were in ruins. There was no vegetation, no animal life…I don't remember even seeing any insects. I did see the monuments that Jan made for his people, they were everywhere. He called them tsarins. There was a crystal marker for every man, woman and child Roxxas killed that day and Jan made every single one himself. One day he'll make one for that little girl. And we're going to have to tell our friend, whom some of us have known almost since the very day he lost his people, that we could have saved them and we chose not to. We're going to have to tell him we chose the devil we know over one we don't."

Duplicate Damsel began to frame an objection, but Colossal Boy continued before she could start. "Don't get me wrong," Gim looked down at her, "I understand what you're saying…and you're our leader here, DD. If you tell us this is what we're doing, then we'll do it. But don't pretend that what we're doing is right." He too turned and walked away, following the same path Vi and Ayla had taken.

**********
Behind a thicket of trees, Shrinking Violet threw a rounded stone off the edge of the mountain and watched it until it disappeared far below.

"Hey you." Lightning Lass joined her. "Mind some company?"

"Depends. Are you here to sell me genocide too?"

"Hey. Vi. Look at me." Ayla stood before the Imskian woman and held her shoulders with a gentle but firm grip. "This isn't easy, not for any of us. It wasn't that long ago we were in Metropolis fighting the same kind of ridiculous over the top battle we fight all the time. We're used to that, we can do that. This? Being separated from the rest of our friends and families, from our home? Being forced to make this kind of decision? That's not easy for anyone. Lu's just trying to do the best she can."

"She doesn't have to be such a cold-hearted bitch about it," Vi said icily.

Ayla released Vi and pondered her next words carefully. She took a few steps away and watched Violet throw two more stones over the edge before she spoke again. "You know, we haven't been able to use the time bubbles recently because of this Flashpoint barrier Brainy keeps talking about."

Vi shrugged and threw another stone. "So?"

"So those time bubbles were available to us for years before we ever heard of that stupid Flashpoint barrier. Why do you think Jan never came back in time himself to save his own people? Why didn't Superboy or Supergirl ever try to save Krypton, or Blok try to save Dryad?"

Violet scowled at her. "Because…" She knew the answer as well as Ayla, but stubbornness prevented her from speaking it.

"Because they know it would be wrong," Ayla answered for her. "We all do. Sweetie, the past needs to stay in the past. We all know that on some level. Those worlds died, and that's a tragic loss that no words can make right, but if those tragedies hadn't happened….who's to say Jan would ever have left here? Think of all the times he's come to the rescue as Element Lad. Think of all the countless lives he's saved. We can rescue the people of Trom here and now, but how many other people would we be sentencing to die? Everything happens for a reason, Vi."

Vi fixed her with a steely gaze. "I don't believe in predetermination," she said. "But if you do, then ask yourself this; if everything happens for a reason, what's the reason we're here now?"

"You don't believe in predetermination? That's a funny thing to say considering how long we've known Dream Girl." Gim Allon joined the two women, looking out over the mountain.

"What do you want, Colossal Boy?" Violet asked bitterly.

"I want to go home," he pouted. "I want to know that my wife and my friends are safe, and I want to wallop the Infinite Man for putting us in this situation to begin with."

"I guess we should find out how far back we've travelled," Ayla suggested. "We know the Legion exist in this time, so at least that's something…maybe we can contact the Time Institute or…oh, grife."

"What is it?" Colossal Boy asked.

Ayla exhaled glumly. "I just realised Rond will still be alive…this gets more depressing by the minute."

Duplicate Damsel's voice interrupted, coming through on all their flight rings. "Legion, I've just left Uma at her family's home. You all need to come meet me at the spaceport now, there's no time to spare. We're stealing a shuttle and getting off this planet."

The three heroes traded concerned looks. "We're stealing a shuttle?" Colossal Boy asked. "Is that really necessary, DD?"

"Colossal Boy, I checked the date…today is the day Roxxas comes to Trom. I don't know how much time we've got, but by the end of the day this world is going to be a mass grave. I'm sorry, I truly am, but we need to be gone as fast and as far from here as possible." Duplicate Damsel ended the communication before any of them could debate the point.

"Maybe you can let this happen and still live with yourselves," Shrinking Violet announced. "But I can't." Before Lightning Lass or Colossal Boy could stop her, she shrunk down to microscopic size and was gone.

"Vi!" Ayla shouted. "Damn it!"

"What do we do now?" Gim asked.

"We need to find her," Ayla replied, running back towards the others. Gim couldn't help but notice Ayla hadn't said they needed to stop her.

He thought about the devastation to come and hoped that they would have the luxury of being able to make that choice before Roxxas stole it from them forever…

TO BE CONTINUED..!

So much good stuff happening here Raz - from the moral dilemma of knowing the atrocity that is away to happen to Timber Wolf and Light Lad's character growth as a result from their little adventure a while back. Particularly liked Ayla talking to Vi and Vi's stubbornness to do something about Roxxas.

More, more, more please!

Lightning Lass and Colossal Boy landed on the outskirts of Trom's capital city. They'd convinced Duplicate Damsel to let the two of them fetch Shrinking Violet and meet up with the others at the spaceport, and the beacon in Vi's flight ring had led them here.

"I wish we had disguises or something," Ayla frowned. "I know we're all wearing different costumes now than we did in this time originally, but I still don't like the idea of being seen here in our Legion gear."

"From what Element Lad tells me", Gim replied, "Trom was always very isolated from the rest of the UP. I don't think it matters much how we're dressed, everyone will know we're outsiders anyway."

"Let's get this over with then," Ayla marched into the city. "Vi's not far from here, the sooner we find her the sooner we can get out of here."

Colossal Boy's assessment was quickly proven right. Everywhere they walked people peered curiously, whispered in hushed tones about the strangers in their midst. Ayla hated the attention, but she wondered if what she really hated was the guilt that built up inside her with each new set of eyes that looked upon her. It was one thing to lecture Violet about fate when the destruction of Trom was little more than an abstract concept. It was quite another to try and justify it when she could see these living breathing people all around her, when she could hear their children laughing, smell local dishes cooking in open kitchen windows, and when she knew it was all soon to be ash. She silently thanked the universe that a young Jan Arrah had been off-planet when his homeworld was destroyed. Seeing Jan here innocent and untouched by tragedy would break her, she thought. Ayla looked across at Colossal Boy. His own face was drained of colour, his hands tight trembling fists. She remembered something else she'd told Vi earlier; this wasn't easy on any of them. She squeezed Gim's hand gently and swallowed hard as she gave her old friend the most cheerful smile she could summon under the circumstances.

"Lightning Lass? Colossal Boy?" Shrinking Violet's voice voice shook them from their maudlin pondering. She was full-size, leading Uma with an older man and woman they presumed were her parents. "Duplicate Damsel sent you to stop me? Unbelievable. It's too late now anyway, I've told the Garans and we're going to find the authorities now and gather everyone at the town square. If it's destiny that Roxxas the Butcher attack Trom today, maybe it's destiny that we give them the knowledge they need to fight back."

"Vi…" Ayla began to debate the point, but she saw the open fear and confusion in the faces of the Garans and she couldn't continue. Ashamed, she bowed her head. Confronted with the reality of telling these people they were supposed to die, she found that she just couldn't do it.

Gim took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Violet, we need to go. History tells us what's going to happen here today, you know we're not going to be able to stop it."

"We can try!" she countered ferociously.

"I don't understand any of this," Uma's father spoke up. "How can you be so sure that we're going to be attacked today? Trom has no enemies, we've always kept to ourselves."

"Mr Garan," Violet began.

Lightning Lass interrupted her, peering into the vibrant skies above. "Hey, you guys hear that?"

Duplicate Damsel's voice spoke over their flight rings, but they only had time to discern the overwrought tone of her voice before there was a deafening boom and their world turned black.

*********
Shrinking Violet groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head was spinning and when she placed her hand to her temple to steady herself, her glove came away coated in blood. Disoriented, she examined her surroundings as best she could through blurred vision. It was a safe bet that she was concussed, but aside from that and a few minor aches and pains she seemed uninjured. The lighting was extremely dim, and the air filled with clouds of dust. She soon realised why this was so. She was sitting in a pile of rubble, surrounded by the ruins of what had once been the Garans' home. Light from outside penetrated the odd crack in her precarious ceiling of debris, and several feet away a holo of Uma and her family flickered a few times before it finally went out. She could hear screaming and wailing from outside, explosive detonations and the faraway sound of Lightning Lass' voice. "Buried under a building on Trom again," she muttered darkly to herself. "This is getting to be a habit." A pile of shattered ferrocrete to her right shifted before finally giving way to the heaving form of Colossal Boy as he grew his way out from beneath it. Violet rolled her eyes and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, you've gotta be sprockin' kidding me."

Eight feet tall, Colossal Boy was just shy of brushing against the debris above them. He too was covered in grazes and small cuts, but seemed not to be suffering from any major injuries. He looked down at Vi and coughed into his hand a few times before speaking. "Glad to see you too," he deadpanned. "Where's Ayla?" The distinctive zap of her lightning bolts sounded out, followed by another explosion. "Never mind," he coughed.

"You want to grow us out of here?" Violet demanded brusquely. "It might not be too late to save these people."

"Can't risk it," Gim rasped before surrendering to a coughing fit which lasted half a minute. "Damn, so much dust in the air." He gingerly touched the roof above them, probing to get a sense of how likely it was to collapse. "I know you can shrink down small enough not to get crushed, but don't know who's on the other side…or if there are other people trapped--" He was cut off mid-sentence with another series of heaving coughs.

"Turn your sprocking transuit back on!" Violet snapped. "Grife!"

Gim showed her his right hand, the golden band of his flight ring slightly deformed. "Can't," he finally explained once this round of coughing ended. "Explosion busted it. Spare one won't do me much good, it'll just trap dust particles in with me when I put it on." More coughing.

"Then shrink back to normal size!" she retorted with evident frustration. "All you're doing is breathing in larger amounts of the stuff and taking up more oxygen!"

"Oh yeah," he blushed. "Good thinking." He returned to normal size, and except for his coughing the two sat in an uncomfortable silence. Finally he looked across at Violet. "Umm…you want to try calling the others? My comms are shot on top of everything else. Hey, you're bleeding!"

"Already tried," Violet answered. "Something else else's interfering with the signal, which doesn't surprise me at all. There are elemental compounds on this planet that exist nowhere else in the galaxy, who knows what effect that might have on our flight rings? Don't worry about my head either, it's just a surface wound. I'd be more worried about whatever you're breathing in, not to mention the levels of radiation you must be absorbing right now." Another explosion sounded, this one close enough to rattle their prison and bring small rocks clattering to the ground around them. "Of course," Violet continued, "We might all get blown to Shanghalla before that ever becomes an issue. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess."

"Lightning Lass knows we're here, and there's no way the others would leave us behind. Light Lad will get us out of here like that!" He snapped his fingers for effect and punctuated it with several more coughs.

"I suppose." Sitting in the dirt, Vi wrapped her arms around her knees and looked away from her teammate.

Gim scowled and opened his mouth, then thought better of it. He could only restrain himself for a moment before it came out anyway though. "Why are you so dour all the time anyway?" he blurted. "Ever since--"

"Ever since when exactly, Colossal Boy?" Violet asked venomously. Her head whipped back around and she glared at him with utter contempt. "Ever since when?"

"Forget it," he coughed. One hand covering his mouth, he held the other hand before him in a gesture of surrender. His wedding ring glinted in a beam of light piercing the veil of dust around them. "Forget I said anything."

"No, let's do this!" She stood up and paced across to him, pointing a finger into his chest. "You know, Yera and I had this out when we were stuck here together on this godforsaken planet and that didn't go at all like I thought it would. Because I expected her to be a manipulative unapologetic sneak, and she was anything but. She was stupid--"

"Hey!" Colossal Boy defended his absent wife.

"She was stupid enough not to have any idea that what she did was wrong when she was doing it," Violet continued unabated, "But she's been beating herself up for it ever since. She's punished herself more than I ever could have, and we're never going to be friends but I know she didn't act out of malice and I can live with that. But you..!"

"Me what?" Gim threw his hands up. "What the hell did I ever do? Fall in love? Since when is that a crime?!"

Violet stared at him dumbfounded for a second before she screamed through gritted teeth in complete frustration. "You're such…you're such a boy!" she raged. "You invented this stupid idealised version of your perfect demure girl and you projected that onto me, and that's what you fell in love with! And then she came along and she was only too eager to mold herself into that to make you happy, and you let her! You encouraged her! And you forgot that I even existed!"

"Why do you even care?!" By now, both of them were yelling at one another. "It's not like you ever loved me back!"

Violet's tone suddenly shifted, became eerily quiet and controlled. "Did it ever occur to you, you gigantic self-absorbed twit, that I did?"

Gim was stunned. The two faced one another in a tense stand-off. "Then…what…"

She turned her back on him and stalked across the small space as far away from him as she could, then turned to face him again. "I thought I did," she clarified in a low voice. "For years, I let you protect me. I thought you were my knight in shining armour, like someone from a sprocking fairytale. Even when I was with Duplicate Boy, I would fantasise about what it would be like to be your girl, for you to keep me safe from the rest of the world. It's not like he was ever there for me when I needed him. And then Micro Lad came along. I lost a year of my life, and after a long and painful recovery, I found that my knight in shining armour hadn't even noticed I was gone. And that when he did notice, he married the woman who put me through all of that."

"Violet," Gim tried to cut in while wracked with coughs.

"Shut up," she said bitterly. "I've earned this." She took a breath to centre herself and continued. "That was when I realised…that was when I realised that I'd never been in love with you. I'd been in love with the fantasy of you. And I grew past that, and it was horrible, but I'm glad I did. Because I want more in my life than fantasy. But you," she laughed contemptuously, "You married your fantasy. You're a stupid little boy living a stupid little boy's fantasy, and the reason I'm so sprocking dour all the time is because that's the price I paid to grow up, Colossal Boy."

Gim stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her. "You're crazy," he finally started. Before either of them could continue, they both felt their feet leave the ground below them. They floated upwards, the rubble around them following suit.

A blur of movement zigzagged through the airborne field of what was once a building, and Colossal Boy had the wind knocked out of him when Timber Wolf's muscular arm gripped him around his waist. The super-agile hero ricocheted from one chunk of wall to the next, grabbing Violet under his other arm before exiting the peculiar obstacle course. "Clear!" Timber Wolf bellowed. Vi and Gim felt a surge of pressure as they succumbed once more to the pull of gravity in Timber Wolf's grip, and saw their former prison crash back down to Trom's surface.

"We're fine! Timber Wolf, we're fine! You don't need to carry us!" Violet shrunk down out of his grip and flew alongside him as Colossal Boy grew to free himself.

"Might not want to do that, big guy." Lightning Lass came up alongside Gim carrying a clearly terrified Uma while Light Lad carried Uma's parents. "You're just making yourself a bigger target."

Colossal Boy looked at the devastation around them. Buildings lay toppled around them, the citizens of Trom mutilated and dead in the streets of their capital city while more able-bodied survivors ran in terror. He saw one of Roxxas' ships a few blocks north blow up yet another building. Overcome with fury, Colossal Boy grew exponentially larger and sped towards the vessel. By the time he reached it he was over 80 feet tall, and the crewmen had already evacuated rather than face his wrath. With an inarticulate roar Colossal Boy smashed the ship to smithereens.

"Hey!" Timber Wolf punched his teammate in the jaw, snapping Gim's head to one side. Though Brin was tiny at this scale, his strength more than made up for it. "We don't have time for this!"

Colossal Boy rubbed his jaw, looking down at his diminutive comrade. "No," Gim said in a trembling voice, having completely forgotten about his conversation with Vi when confronted with the warzone around them. "Violet was right. We can't let this happen. Look around you!"

"Colossal Boy!" Timber Wolf hit him again. "We don't have time for this. We intercepted one of Roxxas' ships blowing up the spaceport. Before he realised the Legion of Superheroes was here, Roxxas was only gonna do enough damage to the Trommites to intimidate them into working for him but now he knows we're here and he's running scared. Colossal Boy, we heard the order ourselves. He's going to nuke Trom to take us out. We have to go!"

Gim reeled. He looked again at the destruction below them, the full horror of Timber Wolf's statement dawning on him. "He…he's going to destroy Trom…because of us..?"

"Yes!" Brin snarled. "Duplicate Damsel was right, we should never have gotten sprocking involved! Now come on!"

Wordlessly, the giant shrank down and flew alongside Timber Wolf to join up once more with the others. When they reached the spaceport, he saw that it was in ruins. It looked as though there had only been three vehicles docked there anyway, but all three were damaged beyond repair thanks to Roxxas' aerial assault. "How are we meant to leave now?" Uma's petrified mother asked.

"We took one of their ships," Light Lad explained gently. "We figured that…that they would shoot down anyone they didn't recognise as their own. This way we'll have a chance."

"But everyone else!" Uma wailed. "What about everyone else?"

Lightning Lass had been fighting the pirate fleet off while waiting for Gim and Vi's rescuers, but even if she hadn't seen the ships for herself she saw the answer to Uma's plea in Light Lad's tormented eyes. "Uma…sweetie…their ships, we're not gonna be able to fit anyone else on board. I'm so sorry." Ayla began crying now herself.

One of Roxxas' gleaming red vessels soared in from the distance and hovered above them. A hatch opened in the side and the Legionnaires flew up towards it. The whole time, Uma flailed at Ayla. Her mother sobbed behind her hands and Uma's father gazed tearfully at his distraught daughter. Once the group had come aboard, the hatch closed behind them and the ship veered upwards violently. "Sorry for the bumpy ride," Luornu's voice called from the cockpit where she was both pilot and co-pilot, "But I don't know how much time we have to get out of here!"

Uma noticed three men tied and gagged in the back of the small shuttle. It dawned on her that these were some of the men responsible for all of this. "Why are they here?" she screamed. "Why are they here while my grandma has to--" She never completed her protest. There was an explosion behind them which made the worst of any other explosion today sound like a firecracker. The ship shuddered and various alarms sung out at them all. The city was behind and below them, but they saw the flash of light even through the front windscreen of the shuttle.

In the pilot's seat, Luornu ignored the tears streaming down her face. They had evaded the nuclear blast, but not the shockwave. She was struggling against numerous system failures and they were beginning to lose altitude. Luornu wondered if they were destined to die here today after all, and just as the name of her husband escaped her lips in a scared whisper her world disappeared in a spectrum of lights.

"What's happening?" Uma screamed from the back of the ship, watching the same rainbow flare envelop all the Legionnaires and steal them away. "Where are they going?!"

But no answer came, and the ground rushed up faster and faster…

**********

Forgot to say, thanks for the comments Harbinger! Hope the last chapter of this story was not too much of a horrible downer for everyone! There may be a little more doom & gloom before we finish, but there should be some more good times as well to balance it out

BRAINIAC 5: Early 21st century Smallville
COLOSSAL BOY: Trom, doomsday
DAWNSTAR: Smallville, 1871
DUPLICATE DAMSEL (deputy leader): Smallville, 1871 / Trom, doomsday
ELEMENT LAD: Smallville, 1871
KID COMPUTO: Smallville, 1871
LIGHT LAD: Trom, doomsday
LIGHTNING LASS: Trom, doomsday
MATTER-EATER LAD: Smallville, 1871
SHADOW LAD: Early 21st century Smallville
SHRINKING VIOLET: Trom, doomsday
SUPERBOY: Early 21st century Smallville, remained behind
SUPERGIRL: Early 21st century Smallville
TIMBER WOLF: Trom, doomsday
WILDFIRE: Smallville, 1871

BLOK
BOUNCING BOY (leader)
CHAMELEON BOY
CHAMELEON GIRL
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DRAGONMAGE
DREAM GIRL
ELASTIC LAD
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
MON-EL
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND
PHANTOM GIRL
POLAR BOY
QUISLET
SUN BOY
TELLUS
TYROC
ULTRA BOY
GAS GIRL (Legion ally)
THOM KALLOR (Ex-Legionnaire Star Boy)

There is so much awesome here, raz, I'm just bowing at your feet. Amazing how you can take all these characters and keep making them interesting! Your encyclopedic knowledge of history lends itself well - the continuing drama between Brin/Ayla and Vi/Gim, Drake being the one to tell Dawny to calm down, the awesome time loop between Smallville 21st century and Smallville in the Wild West... wow, just wow.

And the Legionnaires being indirectly responsible for Trom's destruction... that's going to have a lot of repercussions.

Can't wait to see what you have in mind for the rest!

And I'm stoked you have Gas Girl and Thom along for this crazy ride. Do I see a flight ring in Gas Girl's future?

Interesting that you chose to have Luornu be in two teams, and for her corpse to make an appearance in the third. She's acted fairly consistently in both the Smallville and Trom scenarios, though with her ability now to make an unlimited number of duplicates I agree it's best to keep her with one personality.

Thanks IB! Might be some flight rings in a few people's futures before we're done (might be losing a couple more too!)

Glad the multiple Luornus are not coming across as repetitive (well I guess they ARE literally repetitive, but yanno what I mean) and you might see her pop up a few more places before we're done too..!

CENTRAL CITY, 2038
Iris West zipped from one side of the street to the next, shattering each one of Mirror Master's twisted reflections with a superspeed punch before moving on to the next. There were dozens of copies of the legacy villain, but she knew they wouldn't keep her busy for very long. Still, while she was wasting time out here with this distraction the rest of the Rogues were cleaning out Centrabank's vaults. She needed a faster way to wrap this up. Wrap it up! A light bulb went off in the young woman's head. That's it! Iris left the scene of the robbery in a red blur, reappearing almost before Mirror Master could register that she'd even left. She circled the army of identical villains and a second later, they were bound together with a hose she'd borrowed from the fire station six blocks away.

"Good work, Flash!" the villain congratulated her, standing on a levitating mirror near the gigantic hole in the wall which used to be the bank's entrance. Iris turned towards the bank to see Mirror Master's comrades emerge; Colonel Cold, Boomerang, Tank, Rainbow Raider and the Topsy-Turvy Man. Tank, a naturally armour-plated juggernaut almost 12 feet tall, carried sacks of money in a pouch compartment attached to his back. "We only needed to keep you busy long enough to get our booty though, and now we'll bid you a fond farewell!"

The young heroine ignored Mirror Master for the moment, facing the hooded Colonel Cold instead. "Jeez Larry, we went to school together!" she complained. "Now you're hanging with losers who say booty? What happened to you?"

"You're not the only one with a legacy to uphold!" Colonel Cold shouted indignantly. "My dad was someone too, yanno!" He raised his hand and shot a blue-white beam of pure cold from his palm, but the woman known as the Flash was already on the move. Still, he wasn't aiming for her but rather the ground at her feet. She had half-anticipated Larry would try this and only slipped for the barest fraction of a second before finding her footing again. Before she could make her next move, the Flash ran into a multi-colored haze of air. She had time only to wonder if the Rainbow Raider was somehow behind this before she slammed into a raven-haired man in a loose-fitting red tunic and bounced back. The wind well and truly knocked out of her, Iris slid across the ice and rolled painfully across the asphalt of the street beyond it. She came to a stop only a dozen feet away from the barricade which the Central City police had erected around the area. The Flash looked at the newcomer and his associates in a daze. They numbered six and and she didn't recognise a single one of them, but if they were in league with the Rogues she might have her work cut out for her. "Who..?" she breathed.

Mon-El stared dumbly, his mind in a fog. An instant ago he'd been struggling against the Infinite Man. Now he was somewhere else, somewhere only vaguely familiar. Infectious Lass, Invisible Kid, Dragonmage, Nightwind and Tyroc were here with him and all of them looked as stunned as he felt. He recognised the woman on the floor with the red ponytail coming out the back of a cowl that was a more vivid red. She was wearing the costume of the Flash! Had the Infinite Man summoned heroes from the past to fight them now? That made no sense! Then, seeing the costumed group outside this ancient bank and hearing sounds from all over the city it dawned on him that the Infinite Man was no longer inflicting the past upon them…he was inflicting the Legion of Superheroes on the past! "Legionnaires!" Mon-El barked. "She's a friend! These gentlemen on the other hand are not so fortunate!" He gave the Flash a salute so fast that only she saw it, and mouthed an apology to her before flying across to land in front of the Rogues. "I'm giving you a chance to surrender," Mon-El offered, his blue cape drifting in the breeze behind him. "You don't have the advantage of numbers anymore."

"Is this guy for real?" Colonel Cold laughed. "You don't know who you're talkin' to, buddy." The villain used his power once more, encasing Mon-El in a large misshapen chunk of ice. "Come on boys, let's get outta here."

"Ey, Larry?" Boomerang drawled in a strong Australian accent. "I don't like the looks of that, mate…" From within the ice, the villains saw Mon-El's eyes flare red. The ice enclosing his head melted instantly, and Mon-El smashed the rest of it with the merest flex of his mighty arms.

"Can't say I didn't make the offer," Mon-El smiled. "Legionnaires, let's go!"

"I don't really have any idea who any of you people are," Nightwind shrugged, "But if Mon-El says you're not our friends, that's good enough for me! Allez-oop!" With a gesture a gust of wind came out of nowhere to flip Mirror Master's transport over. The villain uttered a comical yelp as he crashed to the ground.

"I really despair to see a friend in pain," Rainbow Raider quipped. "And now, so will you." A blue beam flashed forth from the colourful villain's visor, striking Nightwind head on. She staggered back for a moment, then collapsed into tears.

"Monstre!" Invisible Kid leaped forward in Nightwind's defence. Rainbow Raider turned his visor on Jacques next, this time a yellow beam flashing forward. At the first sign of attack however Jacques turned invisible and the ray of light passed harmlessly through him. He closed on Rainbow Raider and delivered a two-handed uppercut, knocking him out cold. Jacques turned visible once more, only to find himself in the shadow of the advancing Tank. "Oh.." he mumbled ineffectually.

"Don't worry, Kid. I've got this one." Mon-El stood before his helpless teammate and decked the colossus with one punch.

Meanwhile, Colonel Cold had realised his power was useless against Mon-El and decided to take on the others. "This is cheating, Iris!" he whined to the Flash while encasing Infectious Lass and Tyroc in ice. "We're the Flash's Rogues, not the Flash and pals' Rogues!"

"These people are so strange," Dragonmage mumbled to himself as he summoned a dragonform whose flame breath melted the ice around Drura and Tyroc without burning either of them. "Are you two harmed?" he asked his teammates. He saw one of the other Rogues throw some curved stick towards them, but it missed by a wide margin.

"Just cold," Infectious Lass hugged herself. "I hate being cold! Let's see how he likes it!" She glared at Colonel Cold and he instantly collapsed, teeth chattering as he succumbed to a virus that wouldn't be catalogued by Earth medicine for centuries yet.

"As for you," Tyroc stared down at one of the two remaining criminals. "You think I don't know what a boomerang is? Moron." He spun around and unleashed a devastating cry at the weapon which had already curved back around towards them. The boomerang burst into flames and incinerated in mid-air.

Boomerang gulped. The only one they'd managed to bother at all was the robed girl with the wind powers, and she was already collecting her wits about her. "T-Man?" He gave an anxious side glance to the last of the Rogues who was still standing. "Help a bloke out?"

The Topsy-Turvy Man sighed in exasperation. He was the eldest of them all, a lean silver-haired man wearing a black bodysuit covered in silver concentric rings. "Surrounded by fools," he muttered under his breath. "Fools and incompetents." The Topsy-Turvy Man raised both his arms above his head, and all of the Legionnaires were overcome with the worst bout of vertigo they'd ever experienced. Some clutched at their heads, others crumbling to the floor in a helpless heap. "Oh for the days when I got to square off against Wally West," the aged supervillain reminisced fondly. "Now there was a challenge."

"I may not be the hero my dad was," Iris West noted, "But I hope I'll do in a pinch - oh, he's asleep. Must be nap time at the old folk's home." By the time Boomerang had even noticed that she'd started moving, the Flash had knocked the Topsy-Turvy Man out and was now standing before Boomerang himself with an impish grin. With the Legionnaires quickly recovering behind her, there was a blur of motion and the scarlet speedster held two handfuls of Boomerang's weapons out before her theatrically. "Ta-daah! Can we cut the punching part and go straight to the being in jail part? You're embarrassing me in front of my new friends."

Boomerang patted himself down. She'd removed some of his arsenal. Of course, some of his arsenal wasn't all of his arsenal, and a few of the boomerangs she did have could be remotely detonated…he looked around at the rest of his team. Mirror Master and Rainbow Raider were groaning as they slowly clambered to their feet, Colonel Cold was shivering in a puddle of drool, Tank and the Topsy-Turvy Man were unconscious…what would his mentor Captain Boomerang do in this situation?

"No shame in cowardice!" Boomerang beamed and held his hands out to be cuffed. "Till next time, eh luv?"

As the Central City police took the criminals into custody, the Flash approached the six Legionnaires. "Thanks for your help today," she smiled warmly. "So, another dimension or the far-flung future?"

The other Legionnaires traded confused glances with one another while Mon-El took charge. "Apologies for cramping your style, Ms Flash." He offered his hand and she shook it. "I'm Mon-El and these are some of my teammates from the Legion of Superheroes. We are from the future as it turns out, though I must admit I'm a little surprised that you've already figured that out?"

"Pfft, I'm part of the Flash family," she waved dismissively. "It wouldn't be Wednesday if someone wasn't visiting from the future to try and kill me or to try and stop someone else from killing me. Admittedly your dramatic entrance threw me at first, but the energy signature that accompanied you is pretty much a dead giveaway. Oh, and it's just Flash by the way…Ms Flash makes me sound like I should be delivering war bonds or something. Whatevs they are."

Mon-El mentally chastised himself. His memories from his 1000 year exile in the Phantom Zone were jumbled at best. Ms Flash wouldn't be a heroine in Central City for another 60 or 70 years yet, he needed to be more careful about things like that so as not to inadvertently reveal future events.

Having long since fully recovered from the Rainbow Raider's emotional assault, Nightwind cleared her throat. "Ummm, the future? We're from the future? Mon-El, are we in the past?"

Infectious Lass groaned and slapped her forehead. "Oh grife, not again." Invisible Kid placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"What year is this?" Dragonmage asked.

"2038," Flash announced. "Forgive me for saying so, but this doesn't seem terribly like a planned vacation…how far back have you all come anyway? I've got some friends in the Justice League who might be able to help you get home if that's what you'd like to do."

"I think that's a great idea," Mon-El replied. "We need to get back to the 31st century, the sooner the better. That's where we're all from, and we need to stop a very powerful and very unbalanced man from doing any more damage than he's already done."

The others continued to chat, but Tyroc didn't hear a word of it. Only one thought looped through his mind, over and over again. Not all the Legionnaires were from the 31st century. It had been a warm Summer day in 2030 the last time Troy Stewart had seen his parents. He wondered if they were still heroes. He wondered if they were still alive.

He aimed to find out.

TO BE CONTINUED..!

Well, Trom Lu and Wild West Lu both played the same role (more or less) in their away teams, but you gave their teammates enough focus that it didn't seem repetitive

And the plot thickens! Looking forward to where you'll take the Central City 2038 group. Love the lineup too, really looking forward to reading more Nightwind, Drura, Dragonmage and Tyroc.

The Flash was little more than a scarlet blur as she ran across the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Mon-El flew close behind, and some ways back from them propelled by their flight rings came Dragonmage, Nightwind, Infectious Lass, Invisible Kid and Tyroc. A light gleamed on the horizon, swiftly revealing itself to be an artificial island floating serenely on the ocean's waters. Curry Island was the size of a city block and featured a spacious tree-lined plaza with twin aircraft standing out in the open. By the Legion's standards the vehicles looked childishly engineered, but they supposed they must be quite advanced for this era given that they belonged to the legendary Justice League. Beyond the planes a great half-dome rose out of the island, the sun reflecting off of a wall of glass five stories high. The Flash slowed her pace, and had just began splashing beneath the surface of the water when she reached dry ground. As she approached the entrance to the building, six other costumed men and women emerged to join her.

"Legion of Superheroes," the Flash presented the two teams to one another, "Allow me to introduce you to the Justice League!"

A red android approached Mon-El, his chest adorned with a golden T in a circle. "It has been quite some time," Red Tornado greeted the Daxamite with a monotone which still somehow managed to be subtly pleasant. "You and your team may consider yourselves guests at the Hall of Justice for as long as is necessary, Mon-El."

"Should have figured you'd already met Reddy," the Flash smirked. "Sometimes I think he's worked with every superhuman past, present or future and this pretty much clinches it!"

"I don't know that you've met these particular Legionnaires," Mon-El returned the Tornado's welcome. "Tyroc, Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass have been with us for some time now. Nightwind and Dragonmage are a little more new to the team, but they've more than proven themselves."

"Still got that new car smell, huh?" a female archer in a red and yellow bodysuit teased Dragonmage and Nightwind. She wore a yellow hooded waist-length cape, and pulled back the hood now to reveal a head of blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. "Don't worry, it wears off the second or third time you save the world from a giant space starfish. I'm Red Arrow, pleased to meet ya!"

Dragonmage smiled politely, but he silently wondered if their translators had been damaged. He had no idea what a giant space starfish was, and had even less idea what it had to do with the smell of a passenger vehicle. Before he could ponder it too deeply, Nightwind leaned across to whisper discretely in his ear. "The ancients were sure fond of red, huh? I feel like we're meeting the Olympus Mons Welcoming Committee..!"

"Aquaman and Aquawoman," the Flash continued. A dark-skinned man with a blonde buzzcut introduced himself, his bare arms covered in what seemed to be some kind of tribal tattoos. As if to prove Nightwind's point, his tank top was also bright red. Beside him, an attractive Hispanic woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair said hello. She wore a blue-scaled bodysuit with chrome highlights which glinted in the sun.

The final male member of the League stared at Mon-El in awe. He was taller than any of the others, barrel-chested and broad shouldered. He wore a blue bodysuit with golden gloves and boots, and a distinctive golden chest plate. His cape and the helmet which covered half his head were also golden, and it was only by the exposed lower half of his face that the Legionnaires could guess he was of African descent. "Amazing," he muttered almost to himself. "You look exactly like she said you would…"

"I'm sorry?" Mon-El raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have me at a disadvantage..?"

"Valorous," the muscular Justice Leaguer answered abruptly, almost seeming to have snapped out of some spell. The two men shook hands and Mon-El was mildly surprised to find that he actually felt the pressure of his grip.

"And last but not least," the Flash moved on to an Asian woman with waist-length black hair. She was decked out in black leather with a matching overcoat and carried a knotted wooden staff. "This is Dr Thirteen, but we all call her--"

Infectious Lass' jaw dropped. "Traci?" Drura gasped. "Is that you??"

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to recognise me," Traci Thirteen winked. "I take it you got home okay then?"

Infectious Lass squealed with joy and the two women embraced one another to the complete mystification of all around them.

"It seems I am not the only member of the Justice League to have worked with surprising allies," Red Tornado noted dryly. "Shall we continue this over refreshments inside?"

**********
Once Mon-El had relayed the story of their brief battle with the Infinite Man to the rest of the Justice League, the two teams concocted a plan between them. The Flash told the Legionnaires of the cosmic treadmill, an artifact which had belonged to one of her predecessors and which possessed the power to breach dimensional and even temporal barriers. It had been many years since the timestream had been stable enough for her to trust its use, but Dr Thirteen was confident that she could work with Dragonmage and Tyroc to help boost its power and direct the displaced heroes to their own time. The plan seemed a good one, so Iris left at once to retrieve its components so that it could be assembled at the Hall of Justice. After she left, the two teams mingled easily.

As Mon-El struggled to share memories of his brief stint in the Justice League with some of the Leaguers, he noticed Valorous leave the room. "It's so weird!" Red Arrow gushed. "I remember Donna Troy talking about you years ago! And now here you are, hardly a day older than you were then!"

"Starfire as well," Aquawoman chimed in. "She always had good things to say about you, even if you didn't work together very long!"

"I'm sorry ladies," Mon-El fumbled awkwardly, "I really hope this doesn't come across as rude, but the Phantom Zone has a way of clouding my recollections…I have to admit, I barely remember many of my experiences here. I'll never forget the honour of being a part of your League, but unfortunately the details are a little blurry. There was a…gorilla..?"

"Changeling was a member of the Justice League?" Aquaman frowned.

"No, he means Congorilla!" Red Arrow beamed. "Right?"

Mon-El stared at them all blankly. "Uhhh…."

"I don't want to interrupt," Valorous' deep voice boomed as he did exactly that. "But can I see Mon-El in private please?"

"Certainly!" Mon-El smiled and excused himself from the others. "Just quietly, thanks for the save!" he whispered to the massive Leaguer as they left the Hall of Justice. "Your teammates mean well, but I haven't thought about this era in a long time, it's a little confronting honestly."

"I'll bet you haven't," Valorous answered without looking at the Daxamite. Mon-El wondered if he imagined the slightest snark in his tone. Valorous led Mon-El to the water's edge before turning around to finally face him. "What you said back there," he asked abruptly, "About not remembering any of your experiences here…is that the truth?"

"Yes, of course!" Mon-El was somewhat taken aback. "Why are you asking?"

Valorous looked out over the waves once more. "There's someone you need to see while you're here," he answered in a voice that was surprisingly lacking in confidence given his massive frame. "Come with me?"

Mon-El looked back at the building.

"It's time travel," Valorous countered Mon-El's objection before it could be raised. "It doesn't matter when we send you home, you'll still go back to just after you left…besides, if it makes you feel better it's going to take even the Flash an hour or so to assemble that equipment, it's fairly delicate from what little I know. So we've got some time to kill, pardon the pun."

Mon-El regarded the Leaguer with curiosity. He wished he could discern what it was about this stranger that drew his attention, and why Valorous was so interested in him specifically. "You're right," Mon-El eventually assented. "We do have some time to spare, so why not use it? Who did you want me to see? Another member of the Justice League?"

"Not quite." Valorous rose into the air under his own power. "Follow me." Mon-El obeyed, and soon two primary-colored streaks vanished across the horizon.

**********
Inside the great Hall of Justice, Infectious Lass watched Mon-El and Valorous speed away with her hands on her hips. "You know," she grumbled, "If I'd known that we could blab everything to the first superhero we came across in this era, I wouldn't have been stuck here for months the last time I was here. Whatever happened to the sanctity of the timestream and all that other rubbish Brainiac 5's always drumming into our heads?"

"These are not just any heroes," Jacques Foccart countered gently. "The Justice League are legendary in their own time and in ours. If the secrets of the timestream can be trusted with anybody, surely it is they."

"Legends, huh?" Traci Thirteen offered the two of them a cup of herbal tea each. "I kind of like the sound of that, wait till I tell Jaime."

Infectious Lass sipped at the hot beverage. "Jaime?"

"Otherwise known as the Blue Beetle," Traci grinned as she flashed a small diamond ring. "Otherwise known as my fiancé. He's on a deep space mission with Superman and Wonder Woman and some of the others. Shame too, it would have been nice if you could meet him! Speaking of romantic entanglements though…I guess I can see why you were so eager to get home last time we met!" She gave Jacques a cheeky wink. "How much time has passed for you anyway? You don't look a day older than you were when I was a teenager with horrid dress sense!"

"Obviously much less time for me than you," Drura answered before she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh grife, that sounded so incredibly rude! I didn't mean--"

Traci roared with laughter. "It's okay, I get it. Really." She hugged Infectious Lass again and held her white-skinned hand affectionately. "I really am glad you got home okay. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together when you were trapped here, but I often thought about you. We had some crazy adventures, didn't we?" She released Drura's hand and looked across to see Nightwind in conversation with the Red Tornado, the other heroes milling about them. "Hey Legion magic people! Let's get some preparation happening for when Iris gets back with her funky treadmill, huh?"

"Sure thing," Tyroc clapped a friendly hand on Dragonmage's shoulder. "There's only one magic person in our team though, that's Xao here. I'm happy to help everyone return, but my power isn't magic-based."

Traci looked at him confused. "Huh..? No, I meant Dragonmage and her." She pointed straight at Nightwind.

"This again?" Berta shook her head vigorously. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Dragonmage, my power's a genetic mutation. All the women in my family have some ability to control the air. I never even believed in magic until I met the White Wit--" She stopped talking and looked down at her feet. "Umm, why is the ground wet?"

Red Tornado suddenly took to the air, the lower half of his body replaced by a swirling crimson whirlwind. "My internal gyroscope detects that the island is tilting! Prepare yourselves!" The last of the android's warning was drowned out by the immense thunder of millions of gallons of water crashing against the artificial island. The heroes lost their footing as one whole side of the island was slammed underwater by a colossal tidal wave. The planes outside slid into the deep to sink like stones, and the combined Legionnaires and Justice Leaguers were saved from a painful collision with the reinforced windows of the Hall of Justice only because they faced a far more painful collision with a semi-solid wall of muddy seawater which crashed through the windows and rolled over them all with relentless fury.

Nightwind watched in horror as Tyroc drew breath to scream only to be consumed by the tsunami before his power could be released. She saw a flash of blue dart toward him and hoped that it was Aquawoman going to his rescue. The neophyte Legionnaire's own power failed her utterly. Inside the confines of a hall which was rapidly filling with sediment and water, she had run out of air to manipulate. Instinctively, she held her breath as the wall of water came at her but that breath was smashed out of her with almost enough force to take her consciousness with it. She flailed desperately, becoming ensnared in her cloak as she tumbled over and over in painful somersaults. When she finally tore her way free from the costume which was smothering her, she realised she had no idea which way was up. The water was so filthy that she could barely see her own hand in front of her face, and she didn't even know if she was still in the Hall or if she'd been washed clear. Transuit! she cursed silently. I should have activated my damn transuit! The wave had hit so suddenly that it hadn't had time to activate automatically, and it was too late now. She had no way of ejecting any of the water that would be trapped inside the environmental seal with her. Her chest was on fire and she began to panic. Her powers were useless here. She could still fly thanks to her flight ring, but she didn't know which way to go. What if she inadvertantly dived deeper down? What if she died here? Something else else charged at her with torpedo force, gripping her around the waist. Almost hysterical already, Nightwind released the last bit of air she had left in her in a terrified scream. Blackness fell over her, but before she succumbed to it she was suddenly in the light!

Air! Eyes wide, Nightwind gulped mouthfuls of air. It was a couple of seconds later that she registered someone was talking to her, and a second more before she realised that person was holding her around the waist and treading water for both of them. "Aquaman!" she gasped. "You saved my life!"

"That might be a little premature," the hero with the icy blue eyes answered grimly. "Look."

Towering almost a hundred feet high before them was a woman composed of water, rocks and dirt. She grew forth from the sea itself, and she hadn't yet seemed to notice that Nightwind and Aquaman were floating nearby.

Red Tornado's trademark cyclonic trail circled around from the other side of the immense elemental woman and he hovered before her rage-filled face. At first Nightwind thought he must be crazy to take her on single-handed, but then she saw that the woman held Dragonmage, Dr Thirteen and Red Arrow in one hand with Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass in the other. The way Dr Thirteen lolled in the monster's grip, Nightwind hoped she was only unconscious but the others struggled valiantly. "Aspect, release these heroes!" Tornado commanded. "This will be your only warning!"

Nightwind ignored the villain named Aspect for a moment. She could see the island several dozen metres to the right slowly sinking. The force of that woman's assault must have really knocked them for a loop for them to have surfaced all the way over here. It could be worse, Berta thought to herself. Hopefully Dr Thirteen's okay, and the rest of us are all accounted for -- Tyroc! Where's Tyroc?? She turned to Aquaman to ask the question when something Aspect said tore her focus from her missing comrade. What did she just say??

"I told you!" Aspect roared at the Red Tornado, holding her captives tight. "I'll give you your little friends back when you give me what I want! Hand her over, robot! I know she's here somewhere! Give me the daughter of the night wind!!"

Nightwind felt her heart leap into her throat. "Yep," Berta breathed without tearing her eyes from the monstrous creature. "Definitely a little premature."

TO BE CONTINUED..!

As always, I love your writing Raz,

You give each Legionnaire enough attention ht it doesn't seem as if anyone is being left out, you have great skill at writing prose that seems natural and I am a little bit jealous

From Mon's take charge attitude and admitting he can't remember everything and the mystery around Valorous, Druras fear at being stuck in the past again and her realisation that there are people she could have asked for help, to Bertas ongoing mysterious magical origin. Ms Flash is great too, you particularly shined writing her. You've chosen an interesting group of future Leaguers to work with as well, and liked he nod to Aquaman - Curry Island.

I'm looking forward to seeing more, more, more!

Thanks for the kind words as usual!

About to post the final chapter to this particular installment which I had a fair bit of trouble condensing down to one chapter so I'm interested to hear if peeps think it worked! I have been wanting to stick with a standard 3 chapter format for all the teams, this is the first one I think I could have happily dragged out twice that long though

The hero named Valorous descended over Metropolis, landing on the rooftop of a towering apartment complex. Mon-El recognised the city only vaguely. Iconic landmarks such as the Daily Planet's distinctive golden globe or Lex Luthor's L-shaped skyscraper sparked immediate memories, but as a whole the ironically named City of Tomorrow was unfamiliar to him. He may have had a short career here as a hero, but that was a lifetime ago. Metropolis of the 31st century was his home now, and it had changed so much over a thousand years that it might as well be a different planet altogether.

"Can you wait here?" Valorous pulled the grate from one of the building's large air conditioning ducts and removed a bag of clothes which had been fastened to the inside. At super-speed he removed his helmet, his boots, gloves and cape. An instant later, the imposing Justice Leaguer was replaced by a smooth-skinned black man in a grey hooded sweater and tracksuit pants. The clothing was loose enough to hide his impressive physique, and when he pulled a nondescript pair of glasses from the pocket of his sweater he completed his transformation into a tall but otherwise average young African-American. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Valorous gathered his costume's accessories and placed them in the backpack his civilian clothes had been stuffed in moments ago, then put the bag back in its hiding place.

"Not a problem," Mon-El assented. He watched as Valorous used a keypass to open the door leading into the apartment complex and stepped inside, closing it behind himself. Mon-El wondered what this was all about. He trusted this stranger; it was more than his status as a member of the Justice League, Mon-El felt some kind of intangible connection to him which only grew stronger the more time they spent together. That made no sense though. Valorous looked to be only a couple of years younger than himself, he may not even have been born when Mon-El had briefly lived here. Valorous was a man of few words, and half the time when he did speak Mon couldn't tell whether he was taking a jab or seeking the Daxamite's approval. He'd also noticed that Valorous had removed neither his golden chestplate nor the blue bodysuit beneath when he'd changed clothes. That was peculiar. Mon-El didn't believe it was modesty at play, Valorous could have changed in private any number of places between the Hall of Justice and here if he'd wanted to. He banished the thought from his mind. Maybe it was just easier to change into his superheroic identity if he was already half-costumed. Everything didn't have to be a mystery to be solved. He walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked out over the cityscape. As small and dirty as Metropolis was in this era, there was something undeniably special about it…something inspiring in the way its people reached for the future. He could see it in their architecture, in their sense of design--

"Hello, Mon-El."

A woman's voice interrupted his train of thought, and the Legionnaire turned around to see Valorous standing at the entrance to the stairwell, fumbling nervously. Before him was a woman who seemed to be in her 40's, possibly her early 50's. She looked to be around 5'7", maybe 5'8", though she was tiny before Valorous. She was dark-skinned like him and her black hair was tied back in a loose bun. With his enhanced hearing, Mon-El could hear her heart racing. She approached him with a wistful smile, tears welling in her eyes. "My god, you look…wow." She stopped a couple of feet away from him and looked up into his chiselled features. "Wow."

Mon-El looked from the woman to Valorous and then back to her. "I don't want to hurt your feelings," he said gently, "But I really don't…" His voice trailed off and his jaw dropped. Mon-El met her eyes, really looked into them for the first time, and it all came rushing back.

"…Billie..?"

She made a noise that was as much a sob as it was a laugh and threw her arms around his neck. "If you'd forgotten about me, I swear to God I would have thrown you off of this roof." Mon-El laughed back and minutes later, all three of them were sitting on the edge of the roof watching the world move by below.

"…So that's my story," Billie smiled. "After you left Metropolis all those years ago, when you went back into the Phantom Zone to save yourself from lead poisoning, I left the city. I left the police force for a while and travelled around, found my feet again and eventually came back. Now Detective Jamie Billie Harper is Deputy Commissioner Jamie Billie Harper. Everyone's expecting me to go for Commissioner next year but I'm looking at early retirement. My boy makes more of a difference in the world than I could ever hope to," she gave Valorous' hand an affectionate squeeze, "And I think I'm more than ready to spend the rest of my days watching lousy daytime TV and maybe just come in as a special advisor on cases every now and then."

Mon-El gazed soulfully into the face of one of the only women he'd ever loved. It was so surreal seeing her now, she was at least twenty years older than him physically and he could hear in her voice that she'd faced trials over the years which had made her a different person than she'd been so long ago. He'd grown too though. Maybe not so much physically thanks to his ageless exile in the Phantom Zone, but that same exile had aged him psychologically far more than he could ever expect anyone else to understand. And he had Shady now. Still, being here with Billie, knowing that there was some spark of that magic still alive in them both…it was something he was grateful for. "Your mother's an amazing woman," he said to Valorous. "I can't thank you enough for bringing me here, Valorous…wait, what's your first name? I feel silly calling you Valorous, you're practically long-lost family."

Valorous and his mother traded surprised glances. "You mean…you still haven't figured it out?" Billie asked the Daxamite.

"Figured what out?" Mon-El asked, genuinely confused.

"Mom named me Lar," Valorous answered shyly.

"…After my dad."

**********
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the enormous villainess named Aspect held Legionnaires and Justice Leaguers helpless in fists made equally of water and earth. "I'm tired of this stalling!" she raged at the Red Tornado flying before her. "Maybe I need to boil a couple of your friends to show I mean business, robot!" In her right hand, Infectious Lass and Invisible Kid felt the temperature of their semi-solid prison rapidly rise.

"Jacques, I've been trying to take her down this whole time!" Drura cried out. "She doesn't have a flesh and blood body for me to infect!"

"I think not, Aspect." Red Tornado gestured at the woman's forearm with both fists closed. Twin vortexes tore into her and sprayed muddy water everywhere as he tried to sever her hand, but with the ocean to draw from she could replenish herself too readily.

"Good idea!" another man's voice joined in. "But looks like you might need some help, Tornado!" Carrying Aquawoman,Tyroc flew up from behind Aspect. He swooped down by Aspect's face and released his load, Aquawoman slamming into the villainess like a missile. With Aspect distracted, Tyroc joined the Red Tornado's attack with one of his reality-bending cries. Her fist came away from her just as the water began to bubble, and it lost all cohesion the instant it was no longer joined to her.

Drura and Jacques flew clear but Dragonmage, Red Arrow and Dr Thirteen were still held tight in Aspect's other hand. "Glad your friends are out of hot water," Red Arrow quipped, "Just means we're gonna earn her undivided attention as soon as she gets Aquawoman out of her face though. Traci's not in any shape to get us out of this one. You got any ideas, kid?"

Dragonmage closed his eyes and centred himself. Traci Thirteen was unconscious and there wasn't a single trick arrow in Red Arrow's quiver that would do much to help them now. Even if she did have a weapon that could get them out of this, one of Red Arrow's arms was stuck in the sludge holding them. He felt like one big bruise but if he didn't focus past the pain to cast a spell, the three of them were literally cooked. The water around them began to heat up and while normally he'd summon a dragonform whose flame breath could boil the water to steam he doubted that would be effective here. His eyes opened with a start and he grinned. If heat wouldn't help them, maybe an absence of heat would! The young sorcerer called his power to bear, and a vivid blue dragon coiled in the air before them. The construct turned on Aspect's wrist and breathed a gust of air so cold that it froze her entire wrist solid. She still held the heroes in a tight grip, but the temperature dropped almost immediately to a comfortable level again. "I thought that would give us our freedom for sure," Dragonmage said, crestfallen. "I'm sorry Red Arrow, I've failed us. By the time I can summon a different dragonform she will have melted through that ice."

"You didn't fail anyone," Red Arrow retorted. "You just need a little help to finish her off is all." With the one hand she had free of Aspect's superhuman grip, the blonde archer reached behind her and groped at her quiver. She found the arrow she was looking for and pulled it out. "Can't get to my bow," she continued, "But the day I need a bow to aim at something fifteen feet away is the day I hand it in. Close your eyes, kid." Dragonmage did as he was instructed, and she flung the arrow. It hit its target with perfect aim, and when the explosive arrow detonated it shattered the ice into tiny fragments. Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass collected Red Arrow and Traci Thirteen before they fell more than a metre or so toward the waiting sea.

"Can one of you wake Dr Thirteen?" Dragonmage asked Infectious Lass and Red Arrow. "I have a feeling we're going to need her." Even as he spoke, Aspect flung Aquawoman into the distance and turned on Tyroc and the Red Tornado with alternating bursts of water and flame. They dodged at first, but it wasn't long before Tyroc was clipped with a jet of water. Crying out in pain, he was knocked back a respectable distance away.

"Stop it!" An almost naked bald woman flew up into the thick of battle, her skin a pale yellow colour. Even her own teammates had never seen Nightwind outside of her drab robes, and it took them a moment to recognise her. She hovered before Aspect, making sure she was shielding Tyroc while he recovered. "It's me you want, isn't it?" she demanded of the elemental monster. "What do you want with me? How did you even know I was here?"

"I have tracked the daughters of the night flame and the night stone and taken their power as my own, what makes you think I wouldn't find you?" Aspect snarled. "It might have taken some time but you must have known you couldn't escape me forever!" She reached for Nightwind, but the young heroine's Academy training kept her free. Red Tornado came back around to fire a powerful burst of air at Aspect, but she swatted him away as though he were little more than an insect.

Aspect spewed a fireball at Nightwind, who quickly summoned ferocious crosswinds to tear it apart before it came anywhere near her. "You're crazy!" Nightwind shouted. "You've got me confused for someone else, I'm not even from this time! We've come here from the 31st century, you couldn't possibly be after my power!"

"The 31st century..?" Aspect was momentarily taken aback. "Your bloodline survives that long? A shame that such longevity ends with you dying a millennium before your birth then, sister." The ocean around them exploded with flaming waterspouts, seemingly at random. Dragonmage had created a dragon for himself, Infectious Lass, Red Arrow and the recovering Dr Thirteen to ride and they now added Aquaman to their group. The dragon weaved with preternatural agility between the spouts, protecting its passengers from Aspect's wrath. Aquawoman had already returned, though she was now forced to watch from a safe distance along with Tyroc and Red Tornado. The firespouts made it too dangerous for them to get any closer, it seemed Nightwind was truly alone.

"What do you want with me?" Nightwind repeated, creating a counter-vortex which tore one of the nearby spouts apart. "At least tell me that much before you kill me!" Berta knew she didn't have the power to come anywhere near equalling this elemental juggernaut, but while she could keep Aspect focused on herself it left her teammates free to plan. She just hoped she could stay alive long enough to take advantage of that tactic.

"I was born the daughter of the night tide as you were the daughter of the night wind," Aspect explained. "Though once I absorb your energies into mine, I will be the only daughter left. I have wanted this ever since my mother first told me of our legacy, sister. You don't know what I have sacrificed for this might."

"This doesn't make sense!" Nightwind complained, keeping her distance and using her winds to deflect a barrage of muddy rocks. "This era is crawling with metahumans, you're telling me there's not a single other aerokinetic alive in this time that you could stalk? You had to wait for me to get shunted into the past?"

"Another aerokinetic would not suffice," Aspect replied. She reached for Nightwind and almost nabbed her. "You really have no idea, do you? Centuries past, a coven of warlocks pooled their sorcerous talents in an entreaty to Gaea. They gave the Earth Mother a portion of themselves to father four daughters who could protect their people from any threat which faced them. Those daughters were born on the midnight hour, the four daughters of the night watchtowers!"

"What has that got to do with me?" Nightwind snapped. "My power is a genetic mutation! It passes down the bloodline of every woman of my family, my mother had this power, my grandmother and her mother before her! It's got nothing to do with some ridiculous hocus pocus from a bazillion years ago, you maniac!"

"Foolish sister." Aspect grabbed again and this time succeeded in snatching her out of the sky. "Where do you think this 'mutation' started? We are the heirs to Gaea, albeit many generations removed. There are no villages to protect anymore, but there are countries to conquer. I tracked down and slaughtered the daughters of fire and earth, and now finally I shall do the same to you. You should find solace in this, you'll protect your ancestor from a painful demise with your own sacrifice."

Meanwhile, the other heroes had gathered together on Dragonmage's construct outside the range of battle to recover and were ready to rejoin the fight. "This makes no sense," Jacques Foccart remarked. "Surely these daughters would be of equal power, non? Nightwind is mighty, but this Aspect seems to be of a different scale of threat altogether!"

"Invisible Kid is right," Dragonmage pondered. "Berta has an aura of magical origin about her, but Aspect radiates so much more raw power…and Nightwind certainly can't transform into air the way this woman's become one with the elements she controls."

"It's the amulets…" a groggy Traci Thirteen pointed out. "She's amplified her power a hundredfold with the Amulets of Gaea. We've faced Aspect before, she's constantly looking for artefacts to increase her power. This is the first I've heard of this story about being a descendant of Gaea, but it does explain why the amulets have always given her so much more power than they have any other mage. If we can get those off of her…"

"You mean she's wearing them?" Infectious Lass was aghast. "They're somewhere inside that huge water body? That's like finding a needle in a pile of grass!"

"Needle in a haystack," Dragonmage corrected her. "And I think I can find that needle, but someone else is going to have to do the heavy lifting. I'm about ready to drop, I'm afraid one more spell is really going to tax me to my limits."

"I can handle that," Tyroc stepped up to the challenge. "If there's one thing I'm good for, it's a display of raw power. Let's make this quick though, she's just grabbed Berta."

Dragonmage nodded and closed his eyes. His hands moved in an intricate gesture and soon a slithering silver-blue dragon writhed to life from the palm of his right hand. The dragon was only four or five inches in circumference but its snakelike body extended for seemingly endless metres. It flew ahead of the Legionnaires on wings too tiny to reasonably carry it according to any laws of physics, and the dragon weaved gracefully around Aspect's colossal form without her even noticing. Now that she was solely focused on the valiantly struggling Nightwind, the hellish waterspouts which had menaced the heroes dispelled back into the ocean. The heroes surrounding Dragonmage watched as the iridescent dragonform circled Aspect three times before plunging inside her. The dragon was as insubstantial as Phantom Girl and the villainess never even noticed its presence. The Legionnaires and the Justice League noticed though, they noticed its glowing elongated body forming a perfectly visible path to the three amulets which floated at the heart of Aspect. The dragon looped around the amulets in almost a possessive manner, and Dragonmage opened his eyes a crack. Quivering and soaked in a sheen of sweat, he looked up at Tyroc. No words needed to be exchanged.

Tyroc leaped into the air and followed the tiny dragon's illuminated path. Once he was within range of the giantess, he drew breath and unleashed the full force of his cry upon her. The sound added almost a tangible layer of pressure to the air, as though the very atmosphere were going to crush them all. Slowly at first Aspect's body began to distend but soon he was parting her waters, shearing a path straight through her to the magical items at her centre.

"What are you doing?" Aspect yelled in a panic. "No! I'll kill you, little man!" A column of water rose beneath Tyroc but before it could engulf him, ferocious sheets of wind smashed it into a fine mist.

"You leave him alone!" Nightwind railed at her captor. Though she knew it left her utterly vulnerable, she continued using her power to keep Tyroc safe from Aspect. The villainess still had enough in her to keep the two of them at a stalemate though, and her stamina was endless. Tyroc and Nightwind both knew they would succumb before she did.

"You have assaulted our guests in our home, Aspect." Red Tornado joined Tyroc before her. "We would be remiss if we did not offer them all the assistance we can." The synthetic hero fired twin tunnels of red-tinged air which merged to become one. Together with Tyroc's scream, they pounded against her ferociously. Soon enough, their combined assault tore straight through her body altogether, ripping the amulets out of her and sending them flying into the Atlantic. Aspect roared one last screech of outrage, then with the amulets no longer amplifying her power she resumed human form. The countless gallons of water which had made up her form crashed into the ocean. Nightwind quickly used her flight ring to protect herself from a nasty fall, but Aspect herself disappeared beneath the water's surface.

"Crap!" Red Arrow cursed. "Even without her jewellery she's still got a decent amount of water control. We'll never find her now!"

Right on cue, Aquaman and Aquawoman's heads bobbed up out of the water. They held a bedraggled long-haired woman between them, Aspect in her very defeated human form. Aquawoman smirked at her old friend. "Oh ye of little faith."

"We had an island around here somewhere, right?" a new voice boomed. The combined heroes turned to see Valorous and Mon-El hovering before them all. "Someone want to tell us what's going on..?"

"Oh, so now they decide to make an appearance!" Red Arrow rolled her eyes.

"You boys want to make yourselves useful and go fetch our house out of the drink?" Dr Thirteen asked the newcomers, waving her hand in its general direction. "I think it's over there somewhere."

Everybody else laughed as Mon-El and Valorous stared at their teammates completely perplexed.

**********
Once the teams' powerhouses retrieved Curry Island and its vehicles, it was an easy matter for Dr Thirteen to cast a spell of restoration which left it all as good as new. While Tyroc helped Red Tornado escort Aspect to the Justice League's brig in preparation for a prison transfer, the Flash returned with the cosmic treadmill. The rest of the two teams finally had a chance to relax once more, taking advantage of the Hall of Justice's recreational area as the Flash put the finishing touches on the treadmill.

"I guess you were right," Nightwind admitted to Dragonmage. Along with Aspect's power-enhancing amulets, Berta's robe had been lost somewhere in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. She now wore Traci Thirteen's long leather overcoat in sharp contrast to her pale skin. "So strange to think that my power comes from some kind of spell though! I guess if that was centuries ago even now, it makes sense that story wouldn't survive through to our time!"

"True," Dragonmage nodded thoughtfully. "Do you think any of the other daughters of the night watchtowers survived into the 31st century? You could have sisters…in a manner of speaking."

"Sisters like that nut I can do without," Berta laughed. "Might be something to look into when we get home though!"

Mon-El stood apart from the others, examining the faces of Justice Leaguers from the past in photos lining the walls. He remembered so little of his life here, in a way he'd be glad to return home so that he wasn't constantly surrounded by reminders of just how much the Phantom Zone had cost him. Friendships and relationships that were once so important were now barely footnotes in his mind. He couldn't deny that it hurt. He came across a portrait of the current team and his gaze lingered upon Valorous. He wondered if he'd forget him too, if the haze of time travel would steal his son from him so soon after finding him.

"I'm glad we met," Valorous spoke from beside him. Mon-El looked up at the taller man as Valorous continued. "I wasn't sure what kind of person you'd be…Mom never had a bad thing to say about you, but I always wondered…I was always protective of her, you know? It's always been me and her against the world. So there was a part of me that always wondered if…if you abandoned her and she was just fooling herself all these years." He was holding his helmet in the crook of his arm and when Valorous looked down at him, Mon-El could see Billie in his eyes. "But now that I've met you…now that I've seen how much you care for each other…I'm really glad we met." There was a moment of silent awkwardness before the two men hugged one another.

"Lar, for what it's worth I am sorry." Mon-El pulled back away. "If there were any way I could have stayed here, I honestly would have. I think if I'd known Billie was pregnant back then, I would have said damn the consequences and stayed anyway. I loved your mother. If things were different now I'd stay in a heartbeat. But I've moved on, and I know she's moved on too. Our time is in the past…but I'm glad we met too. And I'm proud that you bear my name." He considered carefully whether he should continue, but knew he would always wonder what would have been if he didn't go through with this. "There's something else. That bodysuit, you told me you have to wear it at all times because it filters lead from your system. That you'll die without it. Your allergy to lead is something you've inherited from me, the same as your powers. But I have a teammate who can give you a life outside of that suit if you want it, Lar. There's an anti-lead serum he could customise for you."

"And I'd just have to leave my life here behind forever." Valorous looked around the room at the two teams sharing jokes and stories together. "I'd have to leave Mom." He faced Mon-El once more and gave him a bittersweet smile. "No. Thanks for the offer, but that's not for me. This is where I belong, and if I have to live in some dopey blue body stocking for the rest of my life it's worth it for everything else in my life." The smile then became a broad grin. "I'm friends with Superman, what's ever going to beat that?"

Mon-El gave a hearty laugh. "I know how you feel. Say hello to him for me when you see him next."

"If everyone's ready?" Dr Thirteen called out to the assembled heroes. "Flash, Dragonmage and Tyroc have discussed how this is going to work with me. We'll need the Flash's speed to break into the timestream. Tyroc's power will create a portal that with a little boost from yours truly should open up exactly when you left. Dragonmage's Speed Force dragon can then take you all the rest of the way home."

"Ca alors!" Invisible Kid exclaimed. "You can tap into the Speed Force? Is there anything your magic is not capable of?"

Xao blushed at the attention. "I could never do it alone, I'll just be mirroring the Flash. My dragonform will get us home, but it'll fade very quickly once it's fulfilled its task."

"Let's go then, Legion." Mon-El stood by the treadmill with his team while the Flash warmed the treadmill up. "Thanks for your hospitality, Justice League!"

"Oh, I'm going to miss you!" Infectious Lass hugged Traci Thirteen. "I really thought I'd never see you again!"

"The universe is full of many strange gifts, Drura Sehpt." Traci returned her hug with warm affection. "You're definitely one of the better ones."

A few more goodbyes were traded, and the Legionnaires took their place by the treadmill. All but one of them.

"Tyroc," Dragonmage instructed, "We should really stick together when I summon my dragonform. If any of us are separated in the timestream we could land anywhen."

"I've been putting this off," Tyroc fidgeted with his flight ring. "But I'm not coming back." The Legionnaires uttered stunned proclamations in response.

"I'm sorry," he continued, "I should have said something sooner. Honestly though, I wasn't sure I was going to do this until just now. I'm still not sure, but…it's something I need to do. Some of you know that I was originally born in this time. Tyroc of Marzal was never anything but a lie. I asked Red Tornado earlier and my parents are still alive as far as anyone knows. If I don't take this opportunity to try and find them, I may never have the chance again. I hope you all understand." He took his flight ring off and held it out to Mon-El.

"But…the Infinite Man!" Nightwind protested weakly.

"We can deal with the Infinite Man," Mon-El countered. "Tyroc…Troy. Go with our blessing." Mon-El locked eyes with Valorous for a heartfelt moment before continuing. "We give everything we have to the Legion. It's rare that we get to have a family, a happy ending." He turned his attention to Tyroc once more, took the flight ring and placed it back in his palm. "Keep this," Mon smiled. He folded Tyroc's fingers around the ring. "Tyroc of Marzal may have been a lie, Tyroc the Legionnaire is anything but. You'll always have a place with us, and if today's taught us anything it's that goodbyes are never forever."

"Thanks," Tyroc replied, choked with emotion. He cleared his throat and stepped back. "Give my regards to Tasmia and Dawnstar, and Jan…heck, and everyone else. Legion, it's been an honour. Xao…take 'em home."

Dragonmage wiped at his eyes with the back of his gloved hand and cleared his throat. He nodded and then somewhat self-consciously began his spellcasting.

The Flash ran faster and faster, until the treadmill visibly crackled and the air came alive with static charge. The golden arcs of pure kinetic energy danced around Iris West, around the treadmill and around the Legionnaires. They swirled into cohesion at Dragonmage's will, crafting an immaterial electric dragon which surrounded the Legionnaires. "Tyroc, Traci, you two are up!" Iris West shouted over the din. Tyroc screamed, allowing Traci Thirteen's magics to guide his voice. The sound filled the Hall of Justice, until the air itself seemed to become rubbery and Troy Stewart's power tore a hole through the fabric of reality. Dragonmage had time to give Tyroc one last look of gratitude before the dragon and the Legionnaires together seemed to dissipate into the warp with a dramatic thunderclap which drowned out even Tyroc's wail.

Tyroc stopped his screaming and the Flash slowed down until she came to a stop. Out of breath, she sat on the edge of the treadmill. "Big decision you made there," she panted. "Any regrets?"

Troy Stewart looked down at the ring gleaming in his palm.

"No," he replied, full of hope.

"Not a one."