Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legion Worlds Three (Completed 4 October 15)

Starkling

Science police record:
Real name and home planet: Unknown, discovered adrift in space thirty eight years ago by a Terraforming detail near to the Fringe World colony of Extaba Minor.
Status: Unknown, we are unable to get any verifiable readings on this applicant.

Abilities: Being composed of thousands of semi-independent ball bearing sized diamond hard components, limited telepathy.

Information: Very little is known of this entity. It has been part of the Academy programme for three months now and exhibits some truly unique characteristics: it is obviously intelligent with each segment of it’s being linked by a telepathic field yet able to act independently of the main body – the exact range is as yet unknown, it has not shown the need for sleep or fuel, it’s segments are composed of a diamond hard material that is resistant to all scans available. It has shown an interest in all subjects shared with it though is not at the top of the class for any. It does not appear to need to socialise and spends ‘down time’ in the Zen Garden on Level 22 by itself. The personality profile test showed it does have an inherent morality that somewhat matches with the team’s ethos though little else was able to be clearly discerned. We still know very little about its past or true motivations.

Recommendations: ??? Too weird for me but if you guys like it then accept.

Most of the team were beginning to get tired by the time the last applicant appeared.

They had all encountered it on Legion World but just like the previous applicant they didn’t really know too much about it.

“Starkling, welcome.”

<Thank you Element Lad, we appreciate your time this day>

“Thank you.... so why do you think you should be a Legionnaire?”

<We are unique and so are you>

“Ah...” For a second Jan remembered the Shadowmancer... maybe he wasn’t so unique after all, before realising that the composite being before them was speaking about the organisation, not about anyone in particular. On the floor before them a swirling mass of small dark objects continued to slowly rotate as the being known as Starkling waited patiently.

“So let’s see what yo can do...” Wildfire dived off the desk, his boots exploding with flames as he flew straight towards the swirling dark mass before them.

Several of his teammates applauded while others complained. The anti-energy Legionnaire blasted at the applicant. The swirling form shifted around the attack with only very few of the small sections bouncing to the back of the atrium after being caught in the blast. Wildfire shot off another explosive burst that was avoided again before issuing a challenge.

“C’mon Stalkling, you’re job’s to stop me getting to the crowd outside. If you don’t then I’m gonna massacre them...” With that he zoomed into the air and dived towards the force field that kept the crowd outside of the immediate area. The dark shape spun and elongated, extending a line of its small components towards Wildfire. It whipped a line around the Legionnaire's leg and drew the Legionnaire towards the swirling mass. Wildfire blasted again, though this time Starkling was ready and the mass was blown back a little but not away. As Drake continued to blast more strands of the being called Starkling snapped around his frame until he was covered by the small dark pieces of the applicant. With a juddering crash the dark form collapsed into itself before dissipating to reveal Wildfire’s containment suit in shreds.

<Wildfire is now incapacitated> It announced as it resumed its previous swirling form on thefloor.

There were a lot of wide eyes from the Legionnaires as they realised just how easily Wildfire had been stopped.

“Umm... perhaps that was a bit literal Starkling, but well done...”

Vote: accepted to round two.

Duplicate Girl stood up before the team.

Luornu had been planning this since she had returned from the Controllers patchwork planet several weeks before but now it was time to speak to her teammates and friends she oddly felt a little bit nervous. Taking a deep breath the Cargggite Legionnaire began.

“I have a suggestion... we all know that the team, even with the influx of new blood we’ve introduced this year is already feeling a little stretched and I wonder if perhaps it’s because of the bureaucracy we’ve become embroiled within. Certainly, when I joined the team it seemed we were far freer to act. So, with that in mind I propose we accept the following candidate. He graduated top of his class for business management and has been fast tracked through the Ambassadorial Academy on Weber’s World where his family are stationed. He has a sharp mind and we are in need of that backing us up as we take the Legion forward. I believe he would offer tremendous support to Querl, helping free up some of our resident genius’ time and energy away from the hum drum everyday organisational issues that we all know he so loves dealing with...”

Several Legionnaires laughed and glanced round at Brainy who sat quietly, nodding as he listened to Luornu speak.

“So, I’d like to introduce to you M’Rissey, and hope you will all agree it’s time the Legion had a business manager to help run our new base more efficiently.”

Several people clapped as the young man with long hair straggling over his face walked out into the atrium.

“Hi... uh, hopefully I’ll be able to help you out. I’ve created this presentation...” He clicked a button on the small remote in his hand and a large hard light screen appeared showing a range of graphs and charts. Brainiac 5, Harmonia, Mon El, Phantom Girl and Cosmic Boy all sat forward to watch more closely. Several of the more junior members, along with Wildfire and Timber Wolf sat back.

Vote: Accept as probationary Business manager.

I'm working after today for seven days straight so it'll be next weekend probably before I can post any more. Hope you are enjoying this so far.

Another wonderful batch Harbi!

I am loving Shvaughn's thorough research and comments. Her personality shines through and the detail she has come up with is very helpful.

Another batch of intriguing personalities and powers. Atom Girl is already very likable, Brin's sudden question was well done and just the right thing to test her.

I quite like Starkling already.

You have certainly taken Retro and done him justice, I still remember his power displays from before.

Sister Eclipse is well written, pious without being grating. And her powers have such amazing applications. Always good to see another non-humanoid alien too.

My heart goes out to the girl with web hands but nice to see the supportive crowd. I am sure her description of how she was treated was exaggeration.

And Kinetix helping Academy students with their costumes is a nice touch!

I like Shvaughn's notes too! Sister Eclipse is my favourite so far of the lot of them I think...Atom Girl would make for some interesting interactions with the others, and I really liked Starkling although found it quite creepy. It would be one of the more alien Legionnaires, that's for sure!

Still catching up on the try-outs, but started reading with Monica & Troy on vacation. You really write wonderful dialogue, I can imagine the different accents and it truly adds to the development of personalities. I'd love to have a full cast audio version of this!

What an amazing history of Rimbor, it fills in the gaps of what we learned through the comic and sets the stage for this part of the story. Now I absolutely have to read the whole tale, you've hooked me for sure.

It was great to see all the magic characters (despite the bad circumstances), both pre-existing and ones you created.

As a fine writer around these parts likes to post, More! More! More!

Harbi
I'm in love with some of these potential Legionnaires. Starkling is very interesting and visually reminds me of the diamond creatures from Green lantern back in the 90's.

But very interesting.

I agree Brin's legacy will be a really interesting story line. I also liked his willingness to be the ginupig for these tryouts.

i'm glad you included M’Rissey, he was a good idea in the threeboot that had some potential and it makes sense that your team would have someone like this. They really do need the help.

A new Atom Girl! its a bitter sweet moment. But think this is something we needed to see. I think she'll make a great addition.

Also loving Shauvngs's commentary. At this point in her career with them i think she has some great insights into what it takes to make it into the Legion.

Sister Eclipse is an interesting character but idk there's something i just don't trust about her...its a feeling. but still intrigued

KK and Colosal Girl will be good additions.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for all your kind feedback everyone, I'm really glad that my potential new members of the team are going down so well. There will be some new members but not all will make the grade, place your bets now

I've just got back from two days visiting my son and have two solid weeks working to go so, sorry, it may be a few weeks now until this is finished.

No worries Harbi, take your time am sure your son enjoyed your visit.

The eight applicants accepted through to the second round were split into two teams:

Babbage, Karate Kid, Starkling and Atom Girl were to join Sun Boy, Duplicate Girl, and Harmonia to southern Chile to help with the resettlement of a village living in the shadow of a volcano that was due to erupt. The information available told the team they had a maximum of three hours until it was expected there would be one of the biggest eruptions in a century and still had thirty two residents that didn’t want to leave their homes or were unreported to deal with... The four chosen applicants were all more than able to deal with any physical threats they were likely to encounter if they were accepted to become full Legionnaires, so this task would put their diplomacy and initiative to the test.

Thirteen, Retro , Sister Eclipse and Colossal Girl where to accompany Cosmic Boy, Night Girl and Chameleon Boy to a bank raid taking place right at that moment on the Lloyds Bin Abdul Chen Interstellar Corporation banking satellite that currently orbited Ventura, apparently by three meta-humans. Element Lad wanted to lead the team himself but knew that he would be better placed to monitor the group and with Henry’s warping capabilities he could easily lead a team there in seconds if it became needed.


Before they stepped up to Henry’s warp Brainiac 5 gave each of them a flight ring, saying it had basic flight, TP comm, navigation, eco protect, search and locate, flashlight and loudhailer functions. Starkling allowed the ring to be squeezed over one of his component parts while Babbage opened a small section of his chest where the ring fitted snugly.

“Lydda, if I may...” Brainiac 5 produced a silver circle, no thicker than his finger and about eight inches wide. “Can you place your hand through here please, I’m going to update your eco-protect function.”

Night Girl looked puzzled though put her right hand into the gadget. There was a small spark that jumped between the flight ring and the circular tool. Brainiac 5 smiled.

“That was Hethuk’s idea actually though I had the write the algorithm...”

“Brainy, do you need me to...?“ Rokk started to ask, but as he did he saw what was happening to his fiancé. Around Night Girl a layer of darkness spread from her legion flight ring. It was only millimetres thick but covered her from head to toe leaving the Kathooni heroine looking like a three dimensional silhouette.

“It cuts out any light that may hinder your abilities. As I said, it was Hethuk’s idea...”

“Wow! Oh wow Brainy...!” Lydda Jath sounded incredulous. At her side Rokk Krinn gave a huge grin and slapped Querl Dox solidly on the shoulder to express his thanks. The Coluan rubbed his shoulder all the way back to his seat, muttering about unwanted tactile expressions amongst the less enlightened...

Babbage, Karate Kid, Starkling and Atom Girl followed Sun Boy, Duplicate Girl, and Harmonia through the first warp. They were not given any information prior to leaving the try out. They would need to prove they could think on their feet... so to speak, if they wanted to be Legionnaires.

As they stepped out of the warp it was obvious that the area they were in was in danger. Dominating the vista before them a large thunderstorm roared and cracked above a tower of steam and ash that was shooting out of a lopsided mountain. The village before them looked to be a child’s model against the terrifyingly awesome sight that seemed to fill the huge sky around them.

Calbuco had erupted many times in the last four centuries, after being dormant for almost five hundred years prior. The volcano even had a small geo-therm power plant inserted into its lopsided flanks though the current level of activity was predicted to prove too much for the nearby town of Ensenada’s defences to deal with. Not far away, the city of Puerto Montt had begun its evacuation protocols.

“Right, we have an evacuation to assist with, I want you to split into pairs and help out. Understand?” Luornu Durgo shouted over the roaring wind.

Atom Girl slapped her palm against Babbage’s forearm, “I’ll be your partner if that’s okay?”

“That is acceptable... Legionnaires, my scanners are detecting five of this people’s young are in the scrub land out there.” The Robotican applicant pointed towards the volcano. “Perhaps Atom Girl and I should investigate?”

“Go, good luck.” Lu had triplicated and one of her selves flew just behind the two applicants as Babbage led the way.

“C’mon Starkling, we better go check if there’s anyone hiding in the village.” Karate Kid leapt into flight and sped towards the far corner of the small settlement. The composite being called Starkling swarmed behind her, followed by another of Duplicate Girl’s selves.

“Lu, will you be okay if Harmonia and I go investigate the volcano?” Sun Boy’s question was answered by a stony stare. He laughed to himself as he took to the air.

Thirteen, Retro , Sister Eclipse and Colossal Girl followed Cosmic Boy, Night Girl and Chameleon Boy through the spinning violet and honey hued warp.

The Lloyds Bin Abdul Chen Interstellar Corporation banking satellite that currently orbited Ventura was a disc shaped structure with the main building at on side while the majority of the flat surface was given over to docking stations. The security vault on this small satellite were supposed to be Alpha-Omage rated, making it supposedly impossible to access the storage Tesseract without the appropriate identification codes. Given the chaos that greeted the team it was obvious that someone had tried...

“Thirteen, Colossal Girl, you’re with Lydda and me. Sister Eclipse and Retro you’re with Cham, we want sit reps in three. Go!” Cosmic Boy dove into the air with the shadow clad Night Girl immediately afterwards. Colossal Girl immediately followed though Thirteen looked momentarily confused before willing his flight ring to lift him into the air behind the senior Legionnaire. The flew straight in the front door of the bank.

Chameleon Boy pointed to the debris around them, broken remains of air crafts and small family cruisers, dotted across the wide disc. There were several obviously dead bank customers amongst the chaos.

“Let’s see if there’s anyone here that needs our help.”

And with that the Durlan changed his form into that of a Venusian Hunger Wolf and sniffed the air loudly. Retro held up his flight ring and willed the scanning function, rotating his fist around until the ring breeped loudly.

“Go investigate... Sister join him please...” Retro was momentarily spooked as Chameleon Boy’s voice sounded the same as it always did, suave and low, despite coming from the Hounds mouth. As the two applicants followed the breeping of Retro’s flight ring Chameleon Boy’s form slipped into that of a small winged reptile and he took off after them; the Venusian Hunter Hounds extraordinary sense of smell had alerted him that there were two being living beings in the direction the applicants had headed in. It was too much of a coincidence, he felt, that the smell of death reeked across the satellite appart from one area that seemed to be blocked by wreckage. He knew without having any more information that the applicantswere flying into a trap.

Whew! Quite exciting. Looking forward to what comes next. Some applicants are starting to stand out...

Enhancements to Lydda's ring, finally!

It didn’t take long for Babbage and Atom Girl to locate the children.

There were five of them, the oldest was perhaps twelve; a tough looking girl with shorthair and violet eyes; the youngest was no more than seven and he stared at the Legion applicants as if they were the gods themselves!

“Attention Children, you must evacuate this place!” Babbage’s announcement thundered across them. Two turned and fled!

“Idiot robot, you scared them. I’ll get them, you bring the others back.” With that Atom Girl flew after the fleeing children. She quickly scooped up one, a girl of about nine with her hair in a light blue ponytail.

“Hey there little one, we’re Legionnaires, just relax.” The girl carried on squirming in the Imskian applicants arms but stopped screaming. “Now... where did your little friend run off to...?”

Behind her Babbage landed before the three children who had remained transfixed when he had ordered them to leave.

“Hey robot man, we gotta find Gorgie’s red hat, he lost it out here yesterday, ‘fore the mountain started to rumble, can you help us?”

The Robotican applicant processed the child’s request and realised that it may be best to let them believe he was here to help them locate a missing hat. Bending his knees he held his arms out and asked them to climb onto him where they could look for the hat from above. With a little trepidation the children did as they were told. As soon as they were wrapped in his arms Babbage rocketed into the sky and flew towards the rescue party behind the village. The children were too scared to even cry out though later they all said it was the most fun they would ever have in their lives!


Back at the village Karate Kid led the way into an old single story stone building, her flight ring having notified her that there were two people inside.

“Stay right there freaklin’ we’re armed and yous aint welcome.” The voice of an old man spoke from the shadows. With her infra red vision Karate Kid could easily see him; sat in a wooden chair in the corner, a rifle of some make on his lap. At his side a woman stood with her hands on his shoulder.

“My apologies sir but we are here with the Legionnaires to expedite your evacuation. If you would please...”

“We ain’t gonna go nowhere with ya, we’ve been ‘ere for eighty and some years an’ we’re staying for as long as that old firepit let’s us so run along li’l girlie...”

Starkling swarmed around his fellow applicants shoulders and entered the room. Duplicate Girl stood outside, listening to the applicants while also looking across the rundown buildings around her to see if there were any obvious townsfolk that she could help evacuate.

<We are assured you will survive if you allow us to aid you> The mysterious composite being’s telepathic voice was as smooth as silk and yet as alien as the most distant star.

The woman in the shadows screamed!


“Harmonia, you’re not telling me you can totally stop this volcano are you?” Sun Boy sounded amazed. The current deputy leader and the former leader stood in the air several hundred metres above the village as they discussed what they needed to do to maximise protection of the surrounding hom,esteads and farms.

“Of course not Dirk though perhaps I can persuade it to flow in a slightly different direction and so protect this village for a little longer. Even as the two Legionnaires spoke there was an all mighty roar and a huge blast of smoke and burning ash erupted out of the top of volcano before them. As they watched enormous gouts of burning pumice and ash started to stream down the side, obliterating everything in its path.

Harmonia dived down towards the pyroclastic flow and extended her arms out before her.

Night Girl led the way through the deserted forecourt.

Behind her Cosmic Boy extended his magnetic field, searching for some clue to what had happened. Colossal Girl had extended her height to 15 feet as she strode behind the two legionnaires. Thirteen took the rear and nervously looked around. The bank was deserted... no, not quite, there were a couple of bodies of dead patrons flung against a far corner, their blood only just starting to congeal as it slowly slimed down the wall. They had been murdered very recently.

Cosmic Boy spoke across the telepathic relay <Be careful now, let Lydda and I deal with the immediate threat here, okay?>

After a few seconds Night Girl added <He expects an answer, a Legionnaire leader needs to know his team understand the mission needs>

As the two applicants began to stumble their answers and apologies Rokk Krinn shouted; “You! Wait! You are under arrest....” A bolt of energy sizzled through the air almost searing the Legionnaire. As he rolled through the air to avoid the blast Night Girl sprung forward to grab hold of their attacker. She was blown backwards by a powerful explosive blast, flying through the air back towards the team she had just sprang from.

The woman that Cosmic Boy had shouted quickly spoke into her wrist comm unit before turning back to the Legionnaires.

“Don’t make me hurt you... we’re only gonna take what’s rightfully ours and leave, if you wanna keep breathin’ then stay back...” As she spoke several large metal sheets ripped off the bank's walls under Cosmic Boy's control and flew straight at her. She incinerated them with bolts of energy, but while she did Colossal Girl ran forward and kicked her heavily in the stomach, sending the bank robber crashing into a wall. As she clutched her midrift and tried to regain her feet Jeffari Assarn reached down and slapped incapacity cuffs on her arms. The Legion’s attacker was anaesthetised and slumped back onto the ground.

“One down.... and bitch, don’t hurt my friends again, okay?” Colossal Girl had muttered the last part to herself so Cosmic Boy and Night Girl wouldn’t hear all the while unaware her flight ring monitor shared it all with the team still on Earth watching the two applicant teams on huge holo-relays.

“She needs a bit of polish.” Mon El announced. Several of the team still in their old headquarters agreed though a few muttered how she had the right attitude.

Thanks IB, appreciate your feedback. Yup, a couple of the applicants will stand out and not all will make it through thisround as full team members.

Lydda is well overdue this upgrade, so I thought it was time to do something about it, glad you liked it.

Thanks again. More soon.

Rokk and Lydda make such a great team in battle.

I do agree that Jeffari has the right attitude. I don't mind her lack of polish so much.

Thirteen seems a bit timid. Atom Girl has the makings of a great Legionnaire though.

Oh, there are always stubborn people who do not want to follow the rules in evac!

I am hooked as usual, cannot wait for more!

I am a sucker for stories where the Legion do stuff with their powers that isn't just fighting bad guys

I am enjoying Babbage's thought processes and I dig how alien Starkling is!

Harbi,

These adventures are a great way to test these cadets and a good idea to send them to the opposite of what their power set would be to truly test them.

Starkling is a fav of mine! I just love the descriptions of how he's used. plus i have a soft spot for the more non-humanoid characters.

Colossal Girl is unpolished and its fine by me.

Night Girl's ring modification was way over do! thank you for finally fixing that.

Can't wait to see how these turn out and who gets accepted.

Harmonia stretched her awareness out and fought with all her might to blunt to force of the pyroclastic flow as it approached them, but thousands of tons of superheated rocks and air moving at close to 600 kilometres an hour were never going to be easy to control even to one as accomplished as her. The forecast had said that they would have at least about an hour before the lava started spewing but she knew that it was this sort of material, the initial matter spewed out as the volcano cleared its throat, so to speak, before it really started to sing that had covered Pompeii and destroyed NuMexico in past centuries. Pyroclastic flow had caused more collateral damage to human kind than lava yet it was almost forgotten about when the average person thought about the destructive potential of these most violent of nature’s unwelcome terrors.

The huge tidal wave of burning matter seemed to strike an invisible barrier half a klick wide and rose up into the air before the two Legionnaires to form a wall of flaming rocks. The dust cloud and smaller particles continued to fly upwards into the clouds above looking for all the world like a dirty waterfall raging in reverse. Harmonia groaned as she extended her elemental powers to redirected the tons of incoming fast moving super heated rock.

Sun Boy knew better than to say anything. His mouth was so dry he doubted he could anyway.

In the scrubland only four klicks from this display of elemental power Atom Girl stopped and looked up in amazement as the earth shook and it appeared that the sudden eruption was building a wall before them, darkening the already murky sky. She stared for several seconds, forgetting what she was doing. In all her wildest imaginings she had never thought she would see something so truly frightening! The child in her arms struggled free and stood beside her; both showed the same expression, disbelieving awe!

“ATOM GIRL!” Duplicate Girl shouted in the applicant’s ear. The Imskian was startled momentarily before Luornu used the flight ring generated TP field to speak with her.

<We need to get away from here now! Pick up the girl... NOW! Now applicant, right now...> Duplicate Girl pulled on Atom Girl’s free arm as she bent to pick up the scared child and pulled them into the air and flew as fast as her flight ring could carry them away from the halted pyroclastic flow.

As they darted towards the relative safety of the Science Police cruiser they saw Babbage several hundred metres away hovering over a large briar patch. The Robotican had obviously offloaded the three children he had picked up moments ago and returned to this area. Neither saw as his left forearm split open and as a cable shot out with a small grasping claw at the end. They didn’t hear the hiding child cry out as the claw grabbed his arm, nor did they see Babbage recall the cable pulling the terrified child in towards his chest, though they were there when Babbage landed with the crying child and rudely dumped him on the upper landing deck of the Science Police’s cruiser.

“Babbage! Gently please...” Luornu sounded exasperated as she duplicated and bent down to hug the terrified child. There was blood on his shoulder where the Robotican’s claw had caught hold of him. Duplicate Girl glared up at the applicant though he did not appear to notice as he wiped the scared child’s urine off of his chest plate. Luornu Durgo gave a small smile to herself as she administered first aid.

Retro and Sister Eclipse were in trouble, they only didn’t realise it yet.

As they searched amongst the debris they came across a young man with ruffled blonde hair wearing an armoured vest. He appeared dazed and reached out his hand to implore their aid. Instinctively Sister Eclipse reached out to take his hand but just before she did a blast of dark energy erupted out of the young man throwing her backwards. Without even thinking Retro used his abilities to rewind the seconds and shouted out a warning as his fellow applicant reached out again. This time Sister Eclipse lunged and made contact with the attacker a split second before he blasted them. This time she vanished!

The young man stood up and grinned towards Retro.

“We seem to have neutralised this threat. He is very angry though, it is all I can feel from inside of him... so much anger! His poor soul is so tormented...”

“Sister, you may have the spookiest ability of the lot of us but right now I could kiss you... well maybe not while you’re within him, but you know what I mean...” As the two applicants expressed their relief they were unaware as a second attacker sprung invisibly at them.

Retro was smashed across the shoulders, knocking him several metres across the Lloyds Bin Abdul Chen Interstellar Corporation banking satellite’s docking bay. As he crashed into the ground a figure, obviously Khund, started to appear before Sister Eclipse as she possessed the young man who had tried to attack them only seconds before. The Khund hovered in the air, staring down at her.

“Who are you? You are not Mahandrac Choi... iohC cardnahaM tonera uoY ?uoy era ohW” The Khund started to dematerialise as time was reversed around him but just as his form became fully transparent Retro restarted time and struck him with a large metal cylinder he’d plucked off the ground. The Khund fell forward towards the man Sister Eclipse was in possession of. Without thinking she reacted by stepping out of the way, resulting in the semi transparent cyborg falling face first onto the ferro-concrete without his possessed colleague to catch him. Retro bent down quickly and wrapped an incapacity cuff around the Khund’s arm rendering him unconscious.

“I’ll do the same to that body if you like and you can step out of it...” Deen Toro took another cuff from a pouch on his jacket and held it out. The young man turned his back on the time spinning applicant and held his arms behind him.

“3... 2... 1...” As Retro placed the cuffs over the wrists before him Sister Eclipse appeared at his side. The villain collapsed on the floor before them.

Impulsively Sister Eclipse gave Retro a quick hug; he smiled as he returned the exuberant sentiment.

“Very good applicants... well done.” They turned to see Chameleon boy sat on top of an upturned air cruiser with a big grin on his face. “So... I can’t find anyone else alive up here so let’s call Henry to warp these two to a holding cell and go help Rokk and Lydda, okay?”

Karate Kid had led Starkling out of the old couples home; if they didn't want the Legion applicant's assistance then there was nothing else they could do... officially.

After they had left the building, before Duplicate Girl could ask what was going on, Karate Kid turned to her composite colleague and asked if it could monitor the couple. If so that would help ease their minds... Six or eight small component parts stuck together in a ball and floated back into the house. Once she knew that Starkling would be keeping a watch on the old couple Karate Kid got back to business and within five minutes had helped move fourteen villagers as they struggled with their belongings and livestock. She didn't need to use her fighting skills but instead relied upon her smile and strength to carry stubborn cattle and an oversized travelling bag.

Starkling drifted amongst the buildings searching for anyone they might have overlooked. It's silent form startled quite a few of the villagers it came across but the majority were too scared of the imminent eruption to do more than give a yelp or curse it in their shock.

The ground shook and parts of the buildings started to fall. Karate Kid looked up towards the distant volcano and gasped as she saw the pyroclastic flow stream down the sides. She estimated that the speed it was flowing at would mean the village would be buried very quickly. Desperately she looked around to see if there were any last second rescues she could accomplish, but as she contemplated this she saw Harmonia fly down before the raging tide of superheated rocks and dust and it rise up before the ancient Elemental in a sudden wall of burning stone. Karate Kid looked on in awe as the dust and smaller particles continued to shoot up into the clouds above.

The Lythylian knew that this was at best temporary; they had heard that a major lava flow was predicted within the hour. Harmonia was giving them some extra time but probably not more than a few minutes. Using her flight ring Karate Kid scanned the village again... apart from the old couple who refused to leave their home there was no one else around who immediately looked as if they would need her assistance. The science Police and several of Luornu Durgos duplicates were at hand to assist the few people who remained.

Karate Kid called to Starkling and asked her fellow applicant if it would like to join her in returning to the old couple who expressed a longing to remain in their home to try one final time to persuade them to join the Legionnaires to safety.


Harmonia Li knew she would not be able to control the mass of burning rocks before her for too long - there was simply too much moving too fast for her to focus on for any extended period of time. So far she had held back several thousand tons of ash, rock and pumice that burned at over 1,000 degrees for several minutes though even her prodigious strength was reaching its limit. Her flight ring's automatic eco-protect function had kept her cool as the air temperature jumped but still she sweated as she strained against the Volcanoes spewing's.

They heard the Khund's voice before they encountered him.

"The comm unit shows my brother is unconscious. It must be your feeble Science Police. We must avenge this assault!" The earthy accent and deep tones made it immediately obvious which race it was speaking. Rokk and Lydda had lived amongst the Khunds for three months recently while on a secondment to the Battle Brigade. Both could spot the common Yargotha twang at a Klick away.

"Cool your jets 'lready Harchrak, we'll get out ah here once I've cleared out this tesseract..." This speakers accent was a bit more general though Rokk had an inkling that it might be a Cargggite. Well, one or three, Cosmic Boy was certain they would be able to deal with her.

The team had just flown down a wide stairwell towards the vaults of the bank, passing a large ornate water feature as they turned the corner. Night Girl used the flight ring generated telepathic relay <So, let's remain here for just a sec as we decide what we should do>

The two Legionnaires and the two applicants floated at the bottom of a stairwell close to a T junction.

<there are two of them, four of us... we know they are through the next door, we can hear them from here so we should be able to deal with this quite quickly. The doors will come off easily then I will swing at them and Lydda can follow me up.> Colossal Girl eagerly responded.

<And if one were Validus? We don't know much about our opponents yet so I'd suggest that perhaps Cosmic Boy and I interrupt them at long range, we can estimate their capacities from their response then you and Lydda go kick their asses, how does that sound to you Jeffari?> The Naltorian had remained at the back during the confrontation outside so he used this opportunity to put himself forward.

<'fair 'nuff, I guess...> The Talokean replied, not sounding quite as certain as she had moments before.

Lydda tried to exchange a knowing glance with Rokk but her current flight ring setting covered her in deepest shadows so he did not see her expression to reply as she anticipated.

<Okay? So....> Lydda held up her right fist and a small holo illuminated the air above her flight ring. <The scanner gives us two opponents along the corridor and through the doors. There are twenty three other beings in a room further beyond them, though according to this reading they are all bound together... hostages, ah... so guys, once we go in we go in hard and don't allow these two a chance to get to those in the next room. Anyone got any questions?>

<...nope>
<No, that sounds fine>

<Okay, let's do this... Rokk do you want to get the doors ...Thirteen, get ready to do your probability thing for us...> Lydda smiled to herself, surprised how happy she felt to be out in the field with junior teammates again. Before she could continue though an invisible fist slammed against Cosmic Boy's head knocking him unconscious.

<Invisible intruder! Be careful...>

Thirteen looked desperately around the stairwell, their opponent could be anywhere and the Naltorian applicant’s abilities only worked if he could see the object he wanted to influence. There was a fountain on the mezzanine level of the stairwell they had just floated down and the young man from Naltor hoped he would have enough time to do what he needed to do.

Jeffari Assarn called out as something had struck her hard on the lower back, pushed her gigantic frame into a wall, cracking her head loudly as she fell. The Talokean swung around wildly in the hope of striking their opponent. The all heard a chuckle as the invisible attacker laughed at the applicant's attempts. Lydda Jath cradled the fallen Rokk Krinn in her arms as she shouted for the applicants to think before they acted.

Thirteen decided he needed to make a dash for the fountain and as he did he heard Colossal Girl call out behind him as she received another unexpected blow.

Well, enough was enough. As he landed beside the fountain Dann Hortra focussed on the probability that the water would be struck by a strong breeze and blown down the stairwell. In the artificial atmosphere of the Bank there were usually little opportunities of such a breeze occurring... but with a little concentration Thirteen made it happen. With a loud Whoosh! The water that had peacefully cascaded down from a rising feature shaped like a mythical horse blew away from the round pond below towards the Legionnaires on the stairwell.

As it did the wet shape of a burly figure came into sight stealthily climbing the stairs towards the applicant.

"Busted!" Thirteen said. His eyes glowed once more and his Khund attacker fell unconscious without making another step. After pulling a set of incapacity cuffs from his belt and carefully attaching them to the still invisible attacker Thirteen flew down to see if his teammates needed more assistance.

Cosmic Boy was coming to and Colossal Girl had a hand on her lower back rubbing at the ache, but both appeared to be okay.

<Right...> began Night Girl, <I think we all agree it’s time to end this>

Thanksagain for your kind words, I'll wrap this up and we'll find out who has made thegrade next week.

So, we have Atom Girl, Colossal Girl, Babbage, Sister Eclipse, Retro, Starkling, Karate Kid and Thirteen as potential candidates - who do you think will get through?

A set of interesting scenes, Harbi!

I like how you have given nearly all the applicants their good AND bad moments, making it hard to guess...

Though among the ones we've seen, I think Retro has shown the most promising overall performance. Sister Eclipse and Karate Kid have done pretty well too; Karate Kid has been very professional.

Thirteen made up for his lack of, um, initiative for lack of a better term, earlier.

Colossal Girl is eager, but her lack of polish is hurting her this time sad to say

Atom Girl has a decent showing, I hope her awe at Harmonia's power display does not hurt her chances.

Sadly, Babbage and Starkling are rather lacking in empathy and diplomatic skills. Babbage especially had a very poor showing. Unless the Legion programs it to act better?