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

Love that idea, Set!

Thanks y'all....B4BB4G3 was a last minute addition tbh, I just thought it would be cute lol

I am super into both the idea of the Legion keeping tabs on the Khunds and the Roboticans stripping their worlds bare without any malicious intent at all! I need to clone a couple of me so I can do some spinoff adventures with all these characters who pop up every few years I think

Also, I thought that as there's been a such a long gap in my writing and now that this storyline is finished, it might help to have a little refresher....here's the full team roster and where they're located at the moment:

In non-UP space helping the Dalman hero Dogstar track down his enemy Dr Cerberus after the not so good doctor mind-controlled Dogstar into fighting the Legion
BLOK
DRAGONMAGE
ELEMENT LAD
MWINDAJI
SUN BOY
WILDFIRE

Covertly investigating the Heroes of Lallor's newest recruits
CHAMELEON BOY
DAWNSTAR
GAS GIRL
SHRINKING VIOLET

Only just returned from a brief involuntary exile to his home dimension Teall
QUISLET

Everyone else
CHLOROPHYLL KID
COLOR KID
COLOSSAL BOY
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
CRYSTAL KID
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DREAM GIRL
ELASTIC LAD
FIRECREST
GRAVITY KID
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
KID COMPUTO
KING CANARY
LIGHT LAD
LIGHTNING LASS
MATTER-EATER LAD
MON-EL
NEON
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND (deputy leader)
PHANTOM GIRL (leader)
POLAR BOY
SHADOW LASS
STAR BOY
STONE BOY
STRUT
SUPERGIRL II
TELLUS
TIMBER WOLF
ULTRA BOY

Thanks for the list Raz,sometimes between all the ongoing seies we all ahve going on here it can get a bit confusing keeping who's who straight.


Looking forward to seeing what's going on with the Lallorian team, especially Brittle - the rest are great too but he's one of your very best creations! And Dog Star was such a faun character that it'll be a pleasure to have him appear again soon. And Quislet! Yay. always fun and games when that little pest is around.

Would love to see Fundamental reappear too, as I wonder how Gravity Kid would cope?

*A bit late for Halloween but here's a cute little done-in-one in the spirit of the day*

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
ROLL CALL
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
King Canary aka K'rk T'wiiu III: sonic generation
Strut: electrochemical perceptions, insectoid physiology

In the Legion of Superheroes' expansive multilab, the Legionnaire named Invisible Kid felt uncommonly visible. "Dream Girl," he asked, "Is it absolutely necessary that I complete your tests in this state? Brainiac 5 never subjected me to such...inconveniences."

"I guarantee you Brainy was ogling our cerebral cortexes every time he took a brain scan," Nura Nal teased suggestively. She attached one last sticky pad to Invisible Kid's upper thigh, then she took a step back and looked Jacques over from head to toe. Aside from a pair of black briefs and 16 carefully placed sensor pads, Invisible Kid was completely naked. "You're such a baby, Jacques," Dream Girl chastised him lightly. "Strut and King Canary don't wear clothes at all and I don't hear them complaining."

Standing off to one side, the insectoid Strut's mandibles made a clicking sound. "Oh, don't rub it in darling. I'd give my middle left limb to be able to switch up my carapace every now and again. It's just too bad Mantodeans have such a primitive view on aesthetics. I mean if it isn't enough that I wanted a life outside of raising some uncouth woman's spawn, can you imagine if I wore clothing? The scandal!"

"Personally, I dunno how you mammals can stand to keep yaselves wrapped up in synthetics all day," King Canary opined from the console where he'd perched. "This harness itches like all sprock!" With his beak, he scratched at where the modified harness the Legion had given him in place of a flight ring rubbed against his chest.

"We don't all have a lovely layer of feathers to keep us warm, Your Highness," Dream Girl answered mischievously. She moved to the console where he was resting, and Nura Nal's perfectly manicured fingers danced across a patchwork of buttons and touchpads. "Okay, Jacques. We're ready for you, turn invisible if you'd be so kind."

Jacques complied only too happily. He'd come to Dream Girl for help in understanding his expanded powers, and had already gone through a round of testing a few days ago with Mon-El acting as the stunning Naltorian's assistant. Neither the multilab's technology nor Mon-El's Daxamite senses had discerned even the slightest hint of Invisible Kid once he'd activated his power, a feat which impressed Jacques as much as anybody else. It had been Mon-El's suggestion to make use of the more exotic senses of their new recruits, and Jacques now waited to see what conclusions Strut and King Canary would draw.

King Canary let forth a brief but sharp twittering sound. "Weird," he remarked. "I don't get how turning invisible stops echolocation, but he's doin' it!"

"But you hear me speak, non?" Invisible Kid's disembodied voice sounded a couple of metres away from where he'd been standing earlier.

"We do," Dream Girl replied without diverting her attention from the sensor readouts. "King Canary is right, that is strange! I recalibrated the instruments after our initial testing the other day and these readings are definitely correct. But you'd think that if King Canary can't hear you moving around and his echolocation doesn't register your presence, we shouldn't be able to hear you talking either! Strut, has Invisible Kid's electrochemical signature changed as far as you can tell?"

"Changed?" Strut exclaimed. "Darling, it's like he's not not even here! I can sense his trail, but then klak! Nothing at all to tell me he's standing in this room right now!"

Dream Girl saved the test results, then tapped her cheek while she pondered the situation. "Brainy did say that he thought there might be some psionic element to the Luqiti's invisibility...it would certainly help explain how you've gone from bending visible light to evading pretty much any physical method of detection! Jacques, if you're interested we can ask Tellus what he thinks but I can safely say that you can now turn invisible to just about anything you can imagine! By the way, we're done now. You can turn your power off anytime you like."

"Merci, Dream Girl," Invisible Kid replied dryly. "However, I think I shall do so after I retrieve the rest of my clothing if it's all the same to you!"

Nura Nal allowed herself a girlish giggle. "Spoilsport!"

**********

OUTSIDE UNITED PLANETS SPACE
Brgh, ninth planet in the Dodi system
ROLL CALL
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: elemental transmutation
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

With their new Dalman ally Dogstar beside them, six Legionnaires stood at the threshold of an enormous castle hewn from the same black rock from which most of this tiny planet was composed. The castle was all spires and carved gargoyles, imposing to the point of parody.

"Is this guy for real?" Wildfire scoffed. "This place looks like the villain's headquarters from about six different holotoons I watched when I was a kid!"

"Dr Cerberus' brand of evil has never been particularly subtle," Dogstar explained, his golden fur providing a radiant glow in this eternally night sky. "Then again, I suppose that's to be expected from someone who takes his name from the guardian of the underworld itself."

"Sir?" Dragonmage looked up at the humanoid canine. "I have been curious about that...at first I thought perhaps our universal translators had just misinterpreted your language, but how did this Dr Cerberus come to bear the name of an ancient Terran supernatural entity? I mean Dalma only recently even came into contact with the United Planets, have any of your people been to Earth in the past?"

"That's interesting," Dogstar cocked his head. "I'm afraid I can't answer that question though, Dragonmage; magic is not really my strong suit."

"There's something else here that's very interesting," Element Lad pondered. "How does this planet sustain an atmosphere...and gravity for that matter? It's only the size of a small moon!"

"Didn't you hear Krypto over here?" Wildfire cocked a thumb in Dogstar's direction. "It's magic." Drake Burroughs' artificially synthesized voice did not convey sarcasm well, but Dogstar sensed it nonetheless and his upper lip curled unconsciously in distaste.

"Don't mind Wildfire," Sun Boy spoke quickly to defuse any tension before it was born. "Usually our teammate Dawnstar's here to distract him from being such a nasshead to everyone else." Dirk Morgna looked the castle up and down. Windows were bricked up and the only visible door was almost twenty feet tall and definitely closed. "How do we get into this place anyway? I assume we can't just ask him to let us in, right?"

As if in answer to Sun Boy's query there was a sepulchral creak. The massive door lowered toward the heroes, and finally fell with a dull thud to the lifeless ground beneath their feet. It resembled a giant maw inviting them into some horrific darkness.

"There are no light sources inside as far as I can see," the newest Legionnaire Mwindaji ventured. "I believe this may be a trap."

"It is undoubtedly a trap," Dogstar concurred. "I will take point; I am all but indestructible, and my aura may help those of you who don't have senses adapted to a dark environment." With an unnoticeable act of will, Dogstar's golden glow grew a little brighter as he stepped across the threshold of the castle.

"Blok, take up our rear," Element Lad commanded easily. "Sun Boy, can you please give us a hand with the lighting? Everyone else, stay on your toes."

"Happy to help!" Dirk Morgna radiated a warm glow around himself, one many times brighter than that of Dogstar. Even so, the Legion could see nothing beyond a couple of feet all around them. "Jan, this isn't just the absence of light," Sun Boy reported, "It's more like Shady's power. I might be able to dispel it, but I think I'd likely blind most of you in the process."

"Just...stick together, Legionnaires." Element Lad felt that it was a weak command as soon as he'd uttered it, but he could feel embarrassed later; right now he had to keep his mind on the mission. Jan barely knew Dogstar, but it was clear that the Dalman hero had become much more tense since he entered the building...and Dragonmage's creased brow betrayed the young sorcerer's own concerns, no doubt triggered by the presence of black magic.

"Hey kid!" Wildfire raised his voice to Mwindaji, who stood at the very periphery of the area illuminated by Sun Boy's power. "Didn't you hear Element Lad? Don't wander off!"

The reserved young man was peering into the darkness, following something with his dark brown eyes. "Those born on my homeworld Kirinyaga are blessed with acute night vision," Mwindaji explained as his neck slowly craned upward. "Here, where the light is dimmest, my eyes have already begun to adjust to the darkness. We are in an empty stone room, Legionnaires, but it seems oddly....segmented..?"

As soon as the words had escaped his lips, the room shook as though the castle were falling down around them and their voices were drowned out by the sound of tons of stone smashing together. Mwindaji spun around just in time to see the shock on his teammates' faces...

...and then the darkness claimed them all.

**********
MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

Rather than her normal yellow skin tone, Nightwind's face was a pale green color thanks to the emerald glow of the hardlight maze surrounding her on all sides. Berta was intently absorbed in concentration, her flight path becoming more and more wobbly with each turn down the slowly shrinking corridors until finally she barged shoulder first into one of the walls and bounced with an undignified grunt onto the floor. While Zoe Saugin ran to help Berta stand, Phantom Girl ascended through the Legion Headquarters' roof to see the makeshift green labyrinth which had been constructed on top of the building fade away into nothing. "How did I go that time?" Nightwind asked Neon as she accepted the hand that had been offered.

"Same as the last few times," Zoe shrugged. "You know, maybe you've just reached your power's limit."

"What are you two up to out here?" Tinya spoke as she approached the girls.

Nightwind frowned self-consciously. "My power has been useless too many times recently," she confessed, "like when those Khunds broke into our base, and most of the time we were out in space looking for you and the new recruits...I asked Neon to set up a construct for me so I can practice using my wind powers in more confined spaces, but I keep hitting a wall." Beside her, Zoe chuckled at the unintentional pun.

"It's admirable that you're trying to improve yourself," Tinya supported Berta, "But don't beat yourself up over it, Nightwind. It's easy to forget when you're on the same team as Mon-El or a living Green Lantern ring, but we all have our limitations. That's why we're a team, so one of our teammates can help us when we face something that exceeds our own individual ability." Phantom Girl knew that none of this was a revelation to Nightwind; it was just something that Berta would need to come to terms with in her own way. "Anyway, I'm glad you brought that up because it's the reason why I've been looking for you. I just wanted to say thank you for doing such an exemplary job leading that rescue mission under far less than ideal circumstances, Nightwind. A large part of our success on Robotica was because of the way you took the team's reins!"

"Our success?" Nightwind threw the word back at Phantom Girl. "Do you really consider what happened out there a success? The Roboticans were evicted from their own worlds, Veilmist vanished without a trace, we never did find Karth Arn?"

"The Roboticans left nothing behind but razed planets," Tinya countered. "The Khunds have gained territory, but that's all they've gained. From what Lydda tells me, Veilmist disappearing out into the universe is probably the best decision she could have made..and we may not have captured Karth Arn, but the rest of the Fatal Five are rotting in a Khund prison somewhere until the UP can fix some kind of deal to have them brought to Takron-Galtos. There's also the minor fact that we liberated an entire civilisation from Mano and his creeps; on top of all that, I'm quite grateful and I'm sure our four new recruits are equally grateful to be alive right now thanks to you bringing in the cavalry. Not every win is gonna be flawless, Berta - you have to be able to recognise when we do get a win though." Phantom Girl's omnicom breeped at her, and she rolled her eyes comically. "Leader's work is never done...I'll catch you two later!" She waved goodbye and floated back down through the roof, leaving the two younger heroines to consider Tinya Wazzo's words.

**********

BRGH
Ninth planet in the Dodi system

"Sun Boy?" Wildfire's voice rang out in the dark. "Morgna! Give us some light here, will ya? Ah sprock it, I'll do it myself." He raised one fist high and allowed a nimbus of crackling anti-energy to surround it. The light that Wildfire provided was far more stark than that of Sun Boy or Dogstar, but it allowed him to see that only Mwindaji remained by his side. The other Legionnaires along with Dogstar were nowhere to be seen. "They must be behind this wall," Drake Burroughs noted, running his other hand along a black stone barrier which hadn't been there a moment ago. "Looks like it's just you and me, kid!"

"Unfortunately, it is very much not just you and me," Mwindaji corrected him hastily. "Wildfire, look out!" The athletic tracker leaped to one side as a stocky beast the size of a small aircar pounced at the space where he had been. Another of the creatures barrelled straight at Wildfire, knocking him off guard against the wall. The monsters were almost as black as the darkness itself, but they had a deep red tinge to their velvety coats which could only be seen when they were firmly within the radius of light provided by Wildfire. Their eyes blazed a hot red, they each bore two tiny horns atop their skulls and when they opened their maws to reveal rows of jagged fangs, their breath was like a hot blast of sulphur. All in all, they resembled some kind of hellish incarnation of a Bull Terrier from Earth's past.

His chest pinned to the wall, Wildfire couldn't get any leverage to turn on the creature at his back. He could feel its fangs deforming his containment suit, and Drake knew that he had to act swiftly. "Okay Fido," Drake Burroughs growled, "Playtime's over." Using his flight ring to keep his position, Wildfire bent his knees and hit the hellhound behind him with both boot jets. The enormous canine growled with displeasure as it was blasted back several feet but when Wildfire turned to actually face it, he was disheartened to see that the creature was more annoyed than hurt.

Wildfire heard a bellow of outrage and quickly turned his head to see Mwindaji recoil from the other hellhound, blood pouring down the neophyte Legionnaire's arm. "Hang in there, kid!" Wildfire shouted as he turned both fists on his own foe and poured another destructive blast of anti-energy upon it. "I'll be with you as soon as I get this guy out of the way!"

"My thanks," Mwindaji replied, his voice strained from the pain of his wound. "I misjudged the foul creature. I will not make that mistake again." As he spoke, the telltale white glow of Mwindaji's healing power enveloped his body and the gash in his forearm sealed itself back up. Mwindaji thought he'd noticed something else when he healed himself though; the creature fighting him had flinched at the sight of the White Lantern energy. The pragmatic young tracker knew that he was no match for the hellhound physically, he might as well put this theory to the test. He activated his power once more, this time turning it on the hellhound itself. Bathed in white light, the hellhound emitted an anguished howl of pain that chilled Mwindaji to the core. The creature combusted into foul-smelling flames, then a second later was gone.

Wildfire sent his own foe reeling with another anti-energy blast and turned on Mwindaji in shock. "Mwindaji, did you kill that thing?! I know they're just dumb animals, but you can't do that!"

"I do not believe the creature to be dead," Mwindaji replied thoughtfully as he crouched down and examined the ground where it had stood. "I can sense no trace of the creature and there are no physical remains to be found. Wildfire, I believe the demon fled this realm rather than be subjected to the light of the White Lantern."

"Makes as much sense as anything," Wildfire admitted. "Doesn't look like they're fazed by anything else, you want to give me a hand maybe?" The remaining hellhound had attacked once more while Wildfire had been talking to Mwindaji, and Drake now held its mighty jaws pried open as it tried to rip him apart.

"Of course, my friend." Mwindaji turned his power on the remaining hellhound and just like its sibling it burned away with a roar of pain. "What do we do now, Wildfire?"

"Now?" Wildfire punched his open palm. "Now we find our buddies and teach this Dr Cerberus jerk what he gets for messing with the Legion!"

**********

"Comms are down," Sun Boy reported to Dragonmage, the two of them having been isolated from their friends in a walled-off corridor of their own. "I don't suppose you've got a telepathy dragon up your sleeve, Dragonmage?"

"Yes, I believe I can do that," the young sorcerer replied politely. He closed his eyes to concentrate, his fingers weaving intricate patterns in the air. As soon as he'd started however, the Legionnaires heard low growling noises to their left. The two heroes shot a startled look at one another, then Sun Boy stepped in front of his shorter teammate and stretched one arm out toward the noise. A fireball came to life in his palm, growing until it was almost a foot in diameter. By its light they saw two pairs of baleful red eyes approaching, and attached to those eyes two enormous hellhounds that seemed to melt forth from the darkness itself.

"Woah there, fellas." Sun Boy raised his other arm, two fireballs now hovering in mid-air. "Easy now..."

The hellhounds bounded into action, veering off-target as Sun Boy's fireballs exploded in their faces. They collided into one another and tumbled forwards, rolling into a standing position while Dirk and Xao used their flight rings to escape down the corridor. The hellhounds shook their heads violently from side to side, then growling menacingly they bounded after their prey once more.

"I don't think that really hurt them at all," Sun Boy acknowledged as he was forced to stop at a dead end.

Xao had already begun preparing a more elaborate dragonform, letting his flight ring synch up with Sun Boy's so he wouldn't have to divert any more focus than necessary from his sorcery. "If I may say so, I'm not terribly surprised. Unless I am mistaken, these creatures are native to one of the infernal realms; fire is the last thing that will injure them, Sun Boy."

"Well, that's just perfect," Dirk grumbled. "But I can't let my face get chewed off, it'd be a disservice to sentients around the galaxy; let's see what else is in my bag of tricks." Still in the air, Sun Boy pointed his arms toward the hellhounds once more. This time though, he fired a constant stream of flame at the ground before them. He had to increase his temperature output much higher than he'd first imagined, but the black stone soon grew red hot and then began to melt into a viscous magma. The hellhounds were so massive that they sank deeper into the makeshift lava pit, but they were also strong enough that they could wade through it with only minimal effort. "Xao, I don't want to rush you," Sun Boy prodded the young sorceror, "But that wading pool's only gonna buy us another minute and if I cause too much damage to this creepy place I might just bring it down around our heads."

"I understand," Dragonmage acknowledged Dirk's concern. "Thank you for buying me the time I needed, Sun Boy. Let me repay you from my bag of tricks." Xao raised his arms overhead, his fingers completing their final fluid movements before he stretched both palms wide open and made what seemed to be an overhand throwing gesture. Twin dragonforms soared over both Dragonmage and Sun Boy, their serpentine bodies lined with metallic black scales and crimson highlights. They were as massive as the hounds themselves, and they tore into them with fang and claw while their bodies stretched out seemingly endlessly into the darkness from which they'd been conjured. The hellhounds forgot about Dirk and Xao immediately, losing themselves in savage combat with these new threats.

As soon as the heroes had gained a safe distance, Sun Boy flashed Dragonmage a cheeky smirk. "Don't think I didn't notice you picking up on that cheesy bag of tricks line I threw out there, pal.

Tenzil's gonna be so proud when he hears you've been spouting lousy one-liners in battle!"

**********

Upon finding themselves separated from their comrades, Element Lad had crafted long narrow ribbons of magnesium through the walls on either side and Dogstar had set the magnesium ablaze with what he called his solar vision, laser-precise golden eyebeams. The magnesium burned intensely, but Jan had created only enough to function as a kind of strip lighting...unless he stared directly into the white flame, it was no more damaging to his eyes than any other light source.

"I wish we could contact the others," Element Lad fussed as he and Dogstar walked down the long lonely corridor. "I know they can all look after themselves, but I'd still feel better if I could hear their voices."

"If it sets your mind at ease," Dogstar volunteered, "I can hear all of their voices. Cerberus's magic prevents me from being able to hone in on where they are exactly, but everybody is accounted for."

The Dalman hero was a good couple of inches taller than Element Lad, and Jan looked up now at his canine features. He was covered in a layer of short pale golden fur while a roughly oval shaped patch over his eye and his floppy ears were a more vibrant hue. "The Post-Atomic Knights weren't exaggerating when they described you as Dalma's own Mon-El, were they?" Jan mused. "Heat - sorry, solar vision, flight, vastly enhanced strength, durability and senses...how did you come across your powers, Dogstar? I assume they're not normal for your world."

"You assume correctly," Dogstar replied. As limited as Dogstar's facial expressions were, Element Lad couldn't help but feel a warmth and charisma emanate from him, which now that he thought about it reminded Jan less of Mon-El and more of Superman. "It is an interesting tale," Dogstar continued, "But one for another time perhaps. Suffice it to say, it is the good fortune of myself and my world that our Creator has taken a more direct interest in His children than is the norm for many other worlds I have encountered -- hold!" He stepped before Jan Arrah protectively and his ears pricked up slightly as he sniffed the air. "Dr Cerberus's minions, allow me."

The magnesium lighting along with Dogstar's natural glow gave the two heroes more time to prepare than their comrades had encountered. They saw the pair of hellhounds stalking them long before one of the beasts pounced. Dogstar easily threw his foe off into a wall, opening himself up for the second creature's assault. The second hellhound knocked Dogstar to the ground, its snarling jaws snapping at his exposed throat. "Away!" Dogstar barked, his solar vision searing the soft roof of the creature's mouth and forcing the hellhound to back off a few steps. Dogstar had encountered these creatures before; they might be immune to ordinary heat, but he knew that the light gifted him by Solas could hurt them.

Even so, they didn't surrender easily. Maddened, the hellhound rushed Dogstar and tried to rip his guts out with its rows of sharpened teeth. Dogstar delivered a mighty blow to the creature's head, but in doing so he gave it the opening it needed to clamp its jaws down on the gleaming bracer covering his forearm. Slamming his trapped arm and the hellhound along with it into the bricks lining the corridor, Dogstar used his free fist to deliver punch after brutal punch to the hellhound until it finally lay insensate at his feet. The golden hero gave himself only the briefest moment to catch his breath before turning to help Element Lad. He hadn't heard Jan Arrah scream so he reasoned that he must still be alive, but he couldn't possibly be having an easy time with one of these brutes.

In fact, Dogstar found Jan Arrah standing casually to one side while the second hellhound growled and snapped impotently at him, its head poking out of a giant lump of inertron. "You Legionnaires continue to impress," Dogstar complimented his ally.

"I do my best," Element Lad returned with uncommon levity. "We should try and find--" Before he could complete his statement, Jan saw Dogstar's head snap to one side. A moment later there was a thunderous boom, followed by a second and much closer crashing sound. Element Lad and Dogstar prepared for whatever it was coming their way, and were grateful when the wall exploded inwards some twenty feet away to see a very distinctive lightning bolt pattern shining from the cloud of dust which had gathered at the scene of destruction. "Blok!" Element Lad cried out in welcome. "How did you find us? Did the wisdom of Solomon help you?"

"What are the rest of us?" Wildfire griped as he followed the path of destruction Blok had created. "Elvabird liver?" Mwindaji and Sun Boy came through with Wildfire, and surprisingly, a hellhound accompanied all of them.

As soon as he saw Dogstar's eyes blaze with power, Blok raised a mighty stone arm to protect the hellhound. "This creature brought me to you all, but I can credit the wisdom of Solomon with one thing. It occurred to me that as Dr Cerberus had mind-controlled Dogstar into operating on his behalf in his first encounter with our team, perhaps it might be prudent to question the loyalty of any of his minions. Once I promised this creature that we could help him find a way free of his indentured servitude to return to his underworld home, he was only too happy to bring me to the villain. Thank you again, my friend." Blok ruffled the hellhound's fur affectionately and in return it gave his hand a wet lick with a tongue half the size of Blok's torso. Sun Boy stifled a snigger at the sight while Wildfire shook his head in disbelief and swore under his breath.

"Excellent work, Blok!" Element Lad jogged forward and patted his comrade's gold-flecked shoulder. "Now we should -- oh!"

Jan hadn't noticed from his earlier position, but bringing up the rear of the small group was Dragonmage...and floating just before Dragonmage was a long thin jade green dragonform. The dragon twisted its snake-like body in a spiral pattern, and suspended within its translucent coils was a short seething cloaked man with flat pug-like features and bulging angry eyes. "Dr Cerberus I presume?" Element Lad raised one eyebrow.

"Indeed it is," Dogstar recognised the diminutive sorcerer immediately. "As I said to Element Lad earlier, you Legionnaires continue to impress! I have never had such an easy time against this evil little man as I have had today, I thank you all most sincerely!"

"Being in a team makes things easier," Element Lad beamed. "Hopefully we'll have more opportunities to work together and you can find that out for yourself!"

"No doubt I shall," Dogstar nodded. The pacified hellhound whined and licked Blok again, and the heroes all turned toward the strangely puppy-like creature. "For now though, I suppose we should focus on getting these boys home!"

The hellhound barked excitedly, and the cold black stone walls of the castle echoed with laughter.

**********

haha what a nice done-in-one! splitting the team up into pairs was fun.

I love how the Hellhounds proved tougher than Dr. Cerberus...

or perhaps teamwork.

Dogstar being compared to Superman.. and what is says about Mon-El not being quite the same as Superman... was nice.

Also Nightwind wanting to improve her power, and Tinya focusing instead on her leadership.

Also, wow, Jacques has powered up. nice. I like how organically you are doing all of these. or at least, it doesn't feel contrived that you have had Blok, Staq, Ral and now Jacques all recently powered up.

Nice to see Nura being scientifically excellent *and* a flirt at the same time, you've written her character really well, also Jacques insecurities played off neatly against her teasing. Using Strut and King Canary made sense and it was great to see them again.

I really like Dogstar and the cartoon like world he's from, the castle description was excellent. Sun Boy's snark at Wildfire was well put.

Nice pairings of teammates, and MWindaji being able to affect the hell's hounds was a relief - I did wonder if you were going to have the beasts kill him and have the white Lantern light bring him back. Element Lads comparison of Dogstar to Super Man made sense too, he isn't as weighed down with his history as Mon El.

Blok coming to the rescue was a bit quick, but not unexpected- with his Shazam abilities he's a match for just about anything short of Mordru.

It would be great to see Dogstar pop up soon, he's a great character!

Tinya and Berta's scene was well done too, sometimes we all probably need to remember that we can't do everything ourselves.

A fun set of posts Raz, really enjoyed them and am looking forward to more, more, more!

I am glad y'all like Dogstar, I am confident he will pop up again sooner or later!

The next few adventures are gonna be similarly self-contained and focus on smaller groups of Legionnaires, but I've also got the Heroes of Lallor and Alek Arcane both waiting in the wings...and those storylines are both gonna bring some surprising shake-ups along with them, I can't wait to get stuck into them!

Hey Raz,
Its been a while since I've gotten to read and review and I have to say I'm really enjoying what's going on. Loved the ending to this story. The Legion saves the day sort of. The view the Robotican's have of the planets and that they have no problem leaving them for the Khunds is really interesting and I hope you get to follow up on it. I agree with everyone that it would be amazing to see if they did take everything and left the planets barren. But I wonder how far could they really travel to get away from organic beings.

Gravity Kid, as trans and using profem is a really cool development. Outside of Officer Erin, idk of any other characters like that in the Legion-verse. But I wonder if this affects how his active duty would work as it could make him a liability to the team. But he did show just how much he can and will fight even without it. So maybe it won't be an issue.

Loved King Canary's reentrance. I knew he hadn't perished! The phantom zone to the rescue for once. lol.
Crystal Kid's battle with Mano was well done and Mano is way more powerful than i thought. I would have thought that Crystal Kid's power would have froze him for sure.
Computo being able to help turn the tide of battle was well done and i liked how you slowly had the Roboticans respond. That it took them seeing the team change tactics to know that they weren't the bad guys.
Mordica + Lightening Lass in ever reality. lol <3

Flebberwebber and Elastic Lad are a great buddy comedy. But they need a third foil to their group. Someone to rain both of them in. Maybe Duo Damsael?
Tinya is a very capable leader throughout all of this and its so great to see.

Loved IKII and Dream Girl's lab moment. Her cheeky flirting and saying Brainy was basically drooling over their mind scans was cute and funny. I like the expansion of IKII's abilities.
The mission with Dogstar and Dr. Cerbus was interesting. I liked the commentary about the name sharing even thought the two cultures/species are interacting for the first time.
Tinya and Nightwind's moment was nice. I hope Nightwind doesn't push herself too hard. Tinya's speech about knowing when you have a win and when to accept it was really good too. Its so easy to forget that.
Blok the voice of reason again and using the minions of Dr Ceberus to help fight him, makes sense. I like when character's are smart even when they aren't the "super brains" of the group. I'm glad this was a quick mission but at the same time I would have loved to see Dr Ceberus and Dragonmage go at it for a bit. maybe next time.

Can't wait for more!

Thanks Omni! I don't see Gravity Kid being any more of a liability than Tellus with his helmet or Wildfire or Quislet with their containment issues...and the Shvaughn/Sean Erin story was problematic for me in the sense that it all revolved around their relationship with Jan, so I wanted to have a trans character where their expression of that is something that's actually normal and healthy. It's not something that I overtly throw in a lot because I don't want to come across as preachy but I do think that the Legion's future is optimistic enough that expressions of different gender and sexuality should be way more normalised than they are in our time

re Dragonmage, don't worry too much about him....he is gonna get more than one opportunity to flex his magic skills soon, maybe more than he ever bargained for...

MARS
Marsopolis, Nine Planets Ice-Creamery

ROLL CALL
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Fire Lass aka Arqiia: Legion Academy student, fire-breathing

The gaunt grey-skinned woman named Arqiia looked unimpressed at the bowl of melted confectionary on the bench before her.

The flames atop her head crackled as she turned to the young blond man next to her, and everyone else in the brightly lit eatery stared at the two of them with some combination of amusement and curiosity. "I do not understand the appeal of this...ice cream?" she admitted to Staq Mavlen, poking her spoon into the ruined dessert.

"Uh yeah, sorry...of all people, I probably should have realised it was a stupid idea taking someone with flame breath to an ice-cream shop," Staq apologised. He was suddenly conscious of a table of teenagers giggling at them from behind their hands in the corner. "Do you wanna try something else? Maybe we can just go for a walk by the water?"

"As you wish." Arqiia stood up from the bar stool where she'd been perched and made her way to the door.

Swallowing one last scoop of his own Mercury Sundae, Staq pushed his bowl aside and quickly ran to open the door for Arqiia. She walked out without acknowledging the gesture before remembering her socialisation training and turning back. "Chivalry!" she prompted herself. "Thank you, Firecrest!"

"No big deal," Staq gave her a weak smile. "Also, you know you can call me Staq when we're just doing normal stuff, right? We only need to be Firecrest and Fire Lass when we're on superhero business."

"Now I must apologise," the taller woman replied. "I have been told this before, more than once. Is social etiquette so convoluted everywhere in the United Planets, Fire-- Staq?"

"It's not really that convoluted, but give yourself some time." The two crossed one of Marsopolis's busy pedestrian walkways, a magtrain beneath their feet bringing sentients from all over Mars to its capital's famous nightlife district. "You've got some unique obstacles to overcome, Arqiia."

"Unique obstacles bring unique experiences," Arqiia reasoned. "I have been told that experiences are desirable."

Staq mumbled something in assent, and the two fell into a mutual silence. Hands in the pockets of his yellow hooded garment, Staq Mavlen's shoulders slumped. He wondered when things were going to change between the two of them; when Arqiia had first appeared, he'd been deeply infatuated with her but that had primarily been driven by biology. He still felt that attraction in his weredragon form, but it wasn't as intoxicating as it had initially been. The problem was, he didn't know now if he felt anything at all for this woman outside of the remnants of that obession and his sense of duty. Staq had never really had a romantic partner before and he wasn't sure how it was meant to feel or if indeed he was feeling anything that wasn't artificially induced. If Arqiia had been able to direct him it would help, but she was even more clueless than he when it came to whatever this relationship was between them. He wasn't entirely sure if Arqiia even had innate desires other than those the Heavensent had programmed into her. So the two of them had been going on very chaste dates here and there, trying to figure out how to define what they were to one another now that the choice belonged to them.

"I enjoy this place," Arqiia stated simply. They'd reached a quieter part of the city, one where lovers wandered down past the bustling nightclubs and performance venues to more placid parklands and the Schiaparelli Canal which separated this part of the city from its business district on the north side. The waterway was almost 200 feet wide, and muted sounds of laughter and music could be heard from the boats which ferried tourists along it. Scheduled cloud cover obscured the twin moons of Mars above them, but enough of the sky was still visible that a sea of stars could be seen beyond. Leaning against the safety barrier which overlooked the water, Arqiia raised her eyes to the night. "I find socialisation...taxing. Space, silence, these things I appreciate."

They always skirted around discussion of their relationship but it seemed to Staq that Arqiia was really making an effort to open up to him tonight. As awkward as this whole thing was, maybe he just had to suck it up and accept that awkward was how it was destined to be. "Do you...do you appreciate me?" he asked her with a meekness which surprised him.

"Of course." Her almost non-existent lips curled upwards in something approximating a thin smile. "You saved me from the Heavensent, you championed me when your teammates in the Legion did not. I know that it cannot be easy to befriend one such as myself, but you are the only one who tries. I do appreciate you, Staq Firecrest."

Staq's heart pounded like a drum. The breeze carried some kind of soft perfume, a string quartet could be heard from upstream; he was never going to get a more perfect moment than this. "Arqiia, can I...that is...would you like to...to kiss me..?"

She tilted her head down in response, placed bony fingers on each side of Staq Mavlen's face, and there under the Martian night sky two pairs of lips touched for the first time.

"Wow." Staq drew his head back. "That was--"

"That was not desirable at all," Arqiia blurted bluntly.

"--awful," he agreed. "Just awful." He burst into laughter, and even Arqiia tittered awkwardly, covering her mouth with her fist.

"I suppose that answers that question," Staq admitted through fits of giggling. "It's so weird you know, I had this whole thing built up in my head all this time and now it feels like--"

"--like a burden has been lifted?" Arqiia questioned.

"Yeah," he stood up straight and cleared his throat. "Yeah, exactly like that. Friends?" He offered his open hand.

"Staq Firecrest," Arqiia shook his hand firmly, "That was never in question."

The two of them walked along the canal, along an unexpected but more welcome path.


**********

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: gravity negation
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference

To any bystanders, the three young men standing off to themselves in the Legion's gym would have seemed an odd sight. Thom Kallor was on the left, wearing a pair of purple shorts and a black singlet with the Legion's gold logo in one corner. One hirsute arm was reaching forward in a casual pointing motion, the dark nimbus of his power reaching out to encompass a 5lb dumbbell.

On the far right, Darvan Locke was taller than Thom and far less hairy. He too was clothed in a singlet and gym shorts though his were white with blue stripes, a coincidental inversion of Light Lad's costume colors. Like Thom, Darvan had one arm outstretched and the pale blue glow of his power levitated a second dumbbell.

Though Gravity Kid was the only one in costume, he had more exposed flesh than the other two combined. He was also more tensely focused, using his own power to counteract both of his teammates simultaneously. The two dumbbells floated three feet above the ground for several moments before Tel emitted an involuntary grunt and staggered back a step, his power abruptly shutting off. One of the weights dropped to the reinforced floor with a calamitous thud, and the second was flung almost thirty feet into the air before Light Lad could reduce the effect of his power to spare the ceiling any damage.

Gravity Kid checked the holographic timepiece implanted in the sleeve of his costume. "3.26 seconds that time!" he beamed. "It's slow progress, but that's nearly a whole second more than when we started doing these exercises last week!"

"Glad I could help," Darvan slapped a hand on Tel's shoulder. "I'm afraid I have to run though, I've got a date with a doctor on Medicus One...and yes, I do realise how that sounds now that I've said it out loud." The trio shared a laugh, and Darvan jogged off.

"I have to say," Thom remarked as he and Tel made their own way out of the gym, "I'm impressed with your dedication, Kid. I wish I put as much work into perfecting my powers when I first joined the Legion...might have avoided some things, that's for sure."

"Thanks, Star Boy." Gravity Kid replied. "I've devoted everything to joining the Legion of Superheroes, I want to make sure I'm worthy of it."

"You're doing fine," Thom reassured him. "Now if you'll excuse me, Light Lad's not the only one with someone waiting for him and Naltorians do not like to be kept waiting. I'll see you for our next training session!" He turned off down a side corridor and left Tel alone.

Tel was absorbed in his own thoughts as he waited for a turbolift to arrive, so when Crystal Kid and Nightwind walked out in mid-conversation he was mildly startled. "Oh hey!" Bobb grinned. "Berta and I are meeting Laurel in the gym for some magno-ball, you want to come with? We can make it doubles!"

"I just came from the gym actually," a weary Gravity Kid replied. "Thanks for the invite though, maybe some other time."

"Hey!" Laurel Kent's voice rang out down the corridor. "You chumps coming to get slaughtered or what?"

"You're lucky you're indestructible because I'm gonna make you eat those words, girl!" Nightwind called back playfully.

"Berta?" Crystal Kid spoke up. "Why don't you two go get started, I'll be along in a nano."

"Sure, but don't take too long," Berta replied with mock smugness. "It's only gonna take a nano for me to get through with her!" She jogged down the corridor and soon they could hear the girls' laughter receding through the building.

"So...how have you been?" Bobb asked Tel as soon as Nightwind was out of sight. "I haven't really had much of a chance to see you since we got back from Robotica."

"Fine," Tel shrugged. "Just you know...training, rescuing trillies from trees, that kind of thing. I don't wanna be rude, but I really am pooped...I've been working with Star Boy and Light Lad on power stuff for the past hour, I'm kinda looking forward to my bed right now to be honest." He stepped past Bobb and into the waiting turbolift.

"Oh sure, yeah, of course," Crystal Kid stumbled over his words. "Hey, um...do you wanna maybe hang out some time, like...like just the two of us?"

"You mean go on a date?" Tel looked taken aback. "Oh, no offence Crystal Kid...I'm flattered, but I really just want to concentrate on being a Legionnaire at the moment, you know? I don't think there's really space in my life for that kind of complication right now."

"Oh," Bobb flushed with embarassment. "Oh yeah, sure. No, yeah, that makes sense. Well...well, bye I guess." He flashed Tel a weak smile and stood there defeated as the door closed between them.

**********

EARTH
Metropolis, the Allon penthouse

ROLL CALL
Colossal Boy aka Gim Allon: growth powers
Yera Allon: ex-Legionnaire, Durlan shapeshifting [/i]

At an expensive round table covered in various dishes of food, Wynn and Marte Allon were eating dinner with their son and daughter-in-law. "Gim tells us you're thinking about working with Ambassador Grb to help Durlan expatriates?" Marte asked Yera. While the undertone escaped Gim completely, Yera noticed that Wynn Allon shot Marte a brief glance which signified there was more to this question than it seemed.

"I'm not thinking about it," Yera replied with cheerful civility, "I've been working with him for a while now actually."

"I think it's a great thing you're doing," Wynn said with genuine warmth. "Lord knows from some of the stories Reep's told us over the years, our society doesn't make it very easy for Durlans to succeed. It's sad that in the 31st century we still need to concern ourselves with things like xenophobia."

"Mom, these knishes are great!" Gim muttered through chomps of food, oblivious to the conversation going on around him.

"Your father found a new recipe for the autochef," Marte Allon touched Wynn's arm affectionately. "And don't talk with your mouth full, Gim." She turned the conversation back to Yera. "I've heard nothing but good things about Ambassador Grb...this kind of work takes a lot of commitment though, dear. I do hope you find it satisfying."

"Immensely," Yera gave her a tight smile.

"It's just..." Marte clearly was not ready to let this go. "...you've been an actress, you've played at being a superhero...a lot of people will be relying on you in this role. You won't be able to just cut your losses and run when things get difficult, I'd hate for you to overextend yourself."

Yera gave a laugh that was perhaps a little too sharp. "I'd never have bet on you forgetting your son married a shapeshifter, Marte...but trust me, Durlans have no problem stretching as far as we need to get what we want."

The two women fixed one another with frozen smiles while Wynn Allon decided this was not a battleground he wanted to enter and turned his attention to his plate.

"Seriously, you guys!" Gim enthused as he reached across the table for more of the doughy treats. "You gotta give us that recipe to take back to Mars!"

**********

90 minutes later, Gim was carrying a container of food in one arm and stealing morsels with his free hand as he and his wife walked toward their own Metropolis residence. Though they rarely used it these days, they'd still decided to retain a place in this city so they had somewhere to stay when they visited Gim's homeworld.

"Gim Allon, where are you finding room for all of that?" Yera snapped. "You haven't stopped eating since dinner!"

"Come on," Gim groaned comically. "They're so good. Man, I can't believe my parents finally learned how to cook! I'm glad we don't live in Metropolis anymore, I'd end up looking like Bouncing Boy!"

"Well I'm glad you had a good time," Yera folded her arms crossly. "Your mother was at me all night, I thought we got over all of this years ago!"

"Wait, what?" Gim gulped down a chunk of food. "Honey, what are you talking about? My mom loves you!"

"Oh, Gim!" Yera fumed. "Did you seriously not listen to a word she said tonight? She hates that you married a Durlan and she can no longer hide it!"

"Yera." Gim Allon stepped in front of his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders. "That's ridiculous, we've been over this before. Cham is practically family, she doesn't hate Durlans. My mom was put out when we eloped, but come on...what mom wouldn't be mad that her only son got married without telling her? She's never hated you though, you know that."

"All that snide talk about how I can't commit to anything, how I run away at the first sign of trouble...that woman has no idea what I've been through!" Yera retaliated.

Gim blinked dumbly. "I mean...you did leave me in the middle of the night, honey."

Gim immediately knew he'd said the wrong thing. Yera's eyes welled with angry tears and she took a breath to snap back at her husband, but instead wordlessly changed shape to mimic a Lallorian sparrowhawk and flew off before he could stop her.

Gim Allon watched his wife ascend and slapped his forehead. "...Sprock."

Yera was still in avian form half a minute later when she saw two enormous hands clasp shut around her. She had more than enough room to avoid injury, but she was nowhere near strong enough to break free in this form. Frustrated, she turned back to her normal self and beat her fists against one of the oversized palms. "Let me go, Gim!"

"Not unless you promise to stay and hash this out!" her husband's voice boomed.

"Fine!" Yera spat. "Whatever!"

She felt a rustling movement and when Colossal Boy's hands opened up again, Yera found herself deposited on a rooftop of one of the higher buildings in Metropolis. Gim was using his flight ring to float alongside the building but he hadn't reduced his size, and his head poking over the rooftop's edge was at least fifteen feet tall.

"Before you say anything," his voice at this size resounded in her bones, "I'm sorry. That was a colossally insensitive thing to say, so I guess I've got the right codename. But hear me out. Yera, you said it yourself. Mom doesn't know what you've been through. She doesn't know why you left me. What do you expect her to think? My folks love you, you dope! Did you expect them not to feel hurt when you just disappeared one night without any explanation?"

"But I'm back now!" she protested.

"Yera, honey..." Gim shrank back to his normal proportions and touched down on the rooftop to approach his wife. "Life isn't that simple. I mean I know now why you did what you did, but I'm not gonna pretend it didn't hurt."

"What's wrong with me?" she burst into tears and hid her face in her hands, turning away from her husband. "Every time I think I'm doing the right thing, all I do is hurt good people! You're better off without me, Gim!"

"I think we've seen what happens when I have to try and live without you." Gim hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head. "You just left me for like 15 seconds and I already gave up the best knishes I've ever had in my life. I can't be trusted on my own, Yera."

Her sobbing turned into laughter and she turned to embrace her husband back. "You big idiot. Maybe...maybe I need help, Gim. Maybe I need to talk to someone."

"Then we'll get you someone to talk to. Whatever it takes, honey." He gently raised her chin and the two kissed beneath the silver moon.

**********

VAVALLA
Powder Plains Resort

ROLL CALL
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: chlorokinesis
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Ivy Arcane: baby; Avatar of the Green
Lamprey aka Tayla Skott: Legion ally; amphibious, electricity generation
Turtle aka Bogdan Tarka: former substitute supervillain; amphibious, invulnerable

"Parse me to the C-span! It's nova bright here, starshine!" Comet Queen sat splay-legged in wet sand at the edge of the ocean. She held Ivy Arcane close to her, watching as the chubby infant girl splashed gleefully at the water lapping at the shore.

Laying on kelp rafts of Chlorophyll Kid's creation further out in the open water, Turtle turned to Lamprey beside him and removed his sunglasses. "Does she ever speak Interlac, gorgeous?" Turtle asked in a hushed tone.

"Don't be mean!" The green-skinned woman sent a pulse of bio-electricity through his shoulder, knowing that it wouldn't actually hurt him.

"Grava takes some getting used to," Chloropyll Kid added. "But it's worth the effort." He too was wearing sunglasses, and nothing else but a dark green pair of boardshorts. The rafts were moored with thick ropes of kelp so the three of them didn't float out to sea, and more sturdy oversized wooden coasters floated alongside bearing drinks for all of them. Ral let his head roll lazily to the left so he could look at Lamprey and Turtle beside him. "I'll admit, I wasn't too wild about the idea of bringing Ivy to an ocean world...especially one with you on it, Turtle. The last time we met, you didn't exactly strike me as a stand-up kind of guy. But this vacation has been pure relaxation. Thanks for inviting us here, Tayla!"

"Bogdan's another one that takes some getting used to," Lamprey poked Turtle in the ribs. "The jury's still out on whether it's worth the effort. But honestly, when Comet Queen told me she had an actual real life boyfriend who wasn't a Bouncing Boy body pillow I just had to meet you properly."

"Hey!" Grava called out. "Just cuz you can't see my ears doesn't mean I can't receive your signal, Electric Eel Lass!" All four of them laughed, and that set Ivy into fits of giggles as well.

"I'm just glad we broke the curse." Turtle replaced his sunglasses, took a long sip of his purple drink through a curly straw and lay back once again.

"Curse?" Ral queried. "What curse?"

"Ignore him," Lamprey waved dismissively. "He's just paranoid because the last two times Legionnaires came here we ended up fighting for our lives. But nothing like that's gonna happen this time--"

Lamprey never got to finish her sentence, as all five of them vanished in flashbursts of light.

TO BE CONTINUED!

OOh some nice scenes with relatively newer, non-Adventure Era characters, that you've really made your own.

Hey, interest is not always requited - and Gravity Kid is like SUPER ambitious. Poor Bobb, hope he won't take it personally.

Gim/Yera, nice to see that bit of fallout revisited. I like how Gim (despite being an oblivious lunkhead) managed to explain it all to Yera. The frostiness from Marte was well done. As was Yera misinterpreting WHY.

Also nice re Staq and Arqiia becoming friends. realistic.

And Lamprey and Turtle, oooo. Are we gonna see flight rings in the future? Not your first outing with Lamprey. Nice to see Lamprey/ Grava academy days revisited, I do remember they weren't the very best of friends then but they were there together so... and heh at the reference to Grava's mega crush on Chuck

Thanks IB! I wish Marte was still president so I had more of an excuse to use her, she's probably my favourite of the Legion's support cast along with Shvaughn

I will remain enigmatic on Lamprey and Turtle's futures but I WILL say that two Legionnaires are gonna be leaving soon and two new recruits will be joining...

Staq and Aquilla was done well. I loved the ending with both of them unimpressed/disgusted by the kiss. I definitely chuckled a bit.

The scene with Yera and Gim's family was interesting. I loved Gim's obliviousness. The argument without it being an argument was well done. I felt Yera's anger and guilt. But I wonder if they can or will ever tell Gim's family the reasons for her leaving. It might give her and Marte a chance to bond if Yera could confide in her.

Lamprey and Turtle are back and relaxing...and I knew it was too good to be true. But that was a cute moment. Grava is such a good mom and I agree its nice to see that connectivity from the former cadets. I hope who or whatever took them they are safe.

Thanks Omni! For once you won't have to wait six months for one of my plots to come around, I am gonna be revealing exactly what happened with Lamprey and the others in my next instalment!

Hey Raz, sorry I'm late to the party.

I really liked the scene with Staq and Arquila. It's rare people realise they're not attracted to each other and can laugh it off like that. Hopefully it'll only increase their friendship.

Marte the cat! Typical Gim keeping his head in the sand and not acknowledging his mother's digs, though poor Yera having to tough it out without her husband to stick up for her. Though nice save in the end there by Gim - hopefully the pair will get the help they need.

Love that 'the curse' strikes again, and an interesting group you've got there. Looking forward to finding out where their story goes next.

Glad to hear it won't be six months until we find out whats8going on as I demand more, more, more!

Hi Harbi, the party is just starting to gear up so you're right on time!

I'm glad everyone liked the resolution to Staq and Arqiia's Soulmate Problem....usually in comics they ignore the skeeviness factor and just have that kind of thing end up as a traditional romance so I was kinda curious to explore what happens when two people who are attracted to one another for external reasons realise it's artificial and just decide to be friends.

Chlorophyll Kid, Comet Queen and Ivy are all gonna go to some interesting places in the next 3 or 4 instalments as well!

Everything is gonna be a hopefully exciting dumpster fire soon, keep reading!

ZWEN
Gifton Mountain Range, Pear Peak Resort

ROLL CALL
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Quislet: energy being, temporary animation of matter
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute into living stone

"Wooh!" Quislet exclaimed gleefully. "Mountain house fall down, go boom!"

In his stone form, Dag Wentim shot the sleek little microship an annoyed glance but he knew better than to expect decorum from the Legionnaire inside.

On any other world, the scene before these four Legionnaires would be horrifying. Pear Peak was one of Zwen's most prestigous ski resorts, situated at the top of a mountain which was covered in snow most of the year. Normally, the sloping slant of the roof made it seem as though the resort were growing from the mountain itself and all four stories of the resort's accommodation area looked out over an awe-inspiring chasm thanks to an entire wall of windows that were level with the cliff face. There had been an unexpected earthquake in this area two weeks ago though, and now the resort lay in ruins all up and down the mountain. The resort, and the people in it.

Fortunately for the hedonistic elite of Stone Boy's homeworld, it had been night time on Zwen for almost the past six UP standard months. This meant that for all that time, every native of Zwen had existed in a petrified state of hibernation. They'd still need to be found and rescued, but the stone men and women of Zwen were highly durable and the death toll here would be far far less than if this had happened on many other worlds. Still, the heroes floating above this carnage were certainly going to have their work cut out for them. It was only thanks to emergency lighting provided by Science Police droids that they could even see anything out here.

"Phantom Girl should have sent Blok or Mon-El," a dejected Crystal Kid sighed. "How are we meant to deal with something on this scale?"

"We're actually lucky this happened when it did," Stone Boy answered. "A month later, this place would be packed with people...flesh and blood people. And if it had happened much earlier, the weather up here would have made it impossible for anyone outside of Dawnstar or Mwindaji to find survivors and we probably would need Mon-El or Blok to get them out. I mean it's still too cold and blustery for the Science Police to risk sending officers out here, but I'm as protected as any other Zwennite and Quislet's fine in his ship. Crystal Kid, Gravity Kid; are your transuits holding up okay?"

Both young men began to answer simultaneously, then looked at one another with embarassment and half-mumbled apologies.

Stone Boy arched an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a yes..? Quislet, how big an area can you animate? We need to get through all this fresh snow before we can worry about anything else."

"Quislet can only enter one thing at a time!" the Teallian hero explained as he flew circles round the boys. "Lots and lots of snowflakes on this mountain, Stone Boy! No way Quislet can bring all of them to life at same time!"

"...That's just perception though, right?" Gravity Kid stroked his fuzz-coated chin. "I mean a pulse rifle is made up of a bunch of individual components, but I've seen you animate one of those! Don't think of this as millions of individual snowflakes, just think of it as one big carpet of snow!"

"No can do!" Quislet changed his flightpath and started doing vertical loops. "Rules is rules, sorry Gravity Kid!"

"Okay, but Tel--" Crystal Kid cleared his throat self-consciously, "--Gravity Kid is right. It is all perception."

"What Quislet tell you?" Quislet shot back, annoyed. "You boys think you know better than Quislet? Hoo boy, Brainiac 5 you not!"

"I wasn't talking about your perception," Bobb pouted. "Oh, just...just watch." Avoiding Gravity Kid, he flew round behind Stone Boy and touched down gently on the crisp white snow. Protected from dampness thanks to his transuit, he got down on one knee and placed both palms on the snow. An instant later, crystalline patterns grew out from his hands to coat the snow for a hundred feet in all directions. "Now it's just one big crystal mass," Bobb explained. "Can you work with that?"

"Wow!" Quislet exclaimed, zipping down to Bobb's side. "Crystal Kid might not be Brainiac 5, but he Brainiac 3 at least! Now Quislet can save the day!"

Stone Boy shook his head at Quislet's unparalleled level of self-absorption and turned away. "We'll leave you two to it here then, something tells me that Gravity Kid and I will be more useful evacuating what's left of the building sites." As Dag and Tel landed just north of Crystal Kid's handiwork and near the most intact part of the resort still standing, Stone Boy turned to face Gravity Kid directly. "If there's something going on with you two that might affect a mission, you probably should have let me know before we left Mars."

Gravity Kid was taken aback. "Us two? Us two who?"

"Come on, Tel." Stone Boy hefted an enormous beam up with both arms and hurled it to one side. "Move that pile there, please. You and Crystal Kid have been walking on eggshells around each other since we got on board the cruiser. I'm your squad leader, is there anything I need to be aware of?"

Gravity Kid gestured, and a ton of loose rubble suddenly became light enough to be whisked away on the cold mountain winds. Once it was far enough to not put anyone at risk, Tel gently lowered it all to the ground. "It's personal," he answered, tight-lipped.

Stone Boy moved in on the area they'd just uncovered, carefully looking for any of his countrymen. Their stone forms protected them from the elements, but they also made it almost impossible for them to be picked up on conventional bio-scanners. The Legionnaires were going to have to locate them the old-fashioned way.

Gravity Kid sighed. "...Bobb asked me out last night. I told him no, of course. I mean you know what it's like, right? You're not dating anyone either, there's no room for that kind of thing when you're a superhero. But I guess we're gonna be a little awkward around one another until he gets over it. We're both professionals though, Stone Boy. We wouldn't let it impact our work."

"Found some resort staff." Stone Boy raised up a petrified man and woman, and Gravity Kid carefully floated them to a safe distance while Dag carried two more beside him. "Gravity Kid, look. This is none of my business, and sprock knows I've got no interest in helping your love life after the way you dumped my brother for the sake of your own ambition. I never thought of you as an idiot though, and what you just said is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. I don't have a partner because the right one hasn't come along. But Lydda has Cos, Infectious Lass has Invisible Kid....for grife's sake, Phantom Girl's been dating Ultra Boy since forever and she's our team leader. You don't need to sacrifice your own happiness to be in the Legion of Superheroes, and doing that is eventually going to make you resent the fact you ever wanted to join." The two heard Crystal Kid cry out Quislet's name in exasperation, and Stone Boy rolled his eyes in response. "Keep going here," he ordered Gravity Kid. "I'm going to see what fresh new high school drama we've got to deal with now."

Tel watched him leave, a little surprised that Lullabye Lad's unassuming big brother had that kind of bluntness in him.

But maybe...maybe he wasn't wrong, either...

**********

TITAN
Titanopolis, Titanian Institute of the Mind

ROLL CALL
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: intangibility
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis

Phantom Girl, Tellus and Mwindaji drew attention from students and staff alike as they descended over the spacious campus of the Titanian Institute of the Mind using their flight rings. It was a sunny afternoon on Titan, and many had taken to the green spaces outside their place of learning to enjoy lunch, study or just relax with their peers.

"I'm so annoyed that Quislet and Comet Queen just let that poor girl run off," Phantom Girl complained, "This is our chance to make it up to her. Mwin, can you take us to her from here?"

"Easily," the young tracker nodded. Taking the lead, he landed on the rooftop of one of the buildings scattered around the campus and walked toward a door only to find that it was locked.

"Phantom Girl?" Tellus queried. "Shall I use my telekinesis to grant us entry?"

"Thanks for the offer but don't put yourself out," Tinya replied. "Not when I can just..." Half her hand disappeared into the locking mechanism, and Tinya screwed up her face in concentration. "...Ah, there we go!" The others heard a click, and Phantom Girl withdrew her hand and opened the door.

The three had come looking for Bina Nawoti, a young Terran woman who had wanted to join the Legion of Superheroes using the codename Otaki. When Otaki had tried to demonstrate her mindsense to Comet Queen and Chloropyll Kid, she'd unwittingly set off the mighty powers of Chlorophyll Kid's infant ward Ivy, and the Legion and their many applicants alike had all had to face an onslaught of animated plant life. Something about that experience had prematurely aged Otaki, and the Legion had been keeping an eye on her in their multilab with the intention of following up once she'd recovered sufficiently. As it so happened however, the first Legionnaire Otaki had come across when she woke was Quislet and that meeting had not gone well at all. Otaki had fled the base in a panic, and Phantom Girl hoped she could undo some of the damage that had been done that day. As promised, Mwindaji had led them to Otaki's dorm room and Phantom Girl now rapped on the girl's door.

They heard some shuffling around inside, and a couple of seconds later the door slid into its recess. Most of the effects of the premature aging had faded and the three Legionnaires now looked upon a healthy if exhausted young woman of Asian descent, her jet black hair lined with streaks of grey. The woman took one look at them, screamed "No!!" and pressed a button which closed the door in their faces.

"She was quite distressed to see us," Tellus observed. "Perhaps she has never seen a Hykraian before? My appearance can be unnerving to some humanoids."

"I doubt that's it." Phantom Girl thought it through. "This is the highest place of learning for psi-talents in the UP and Hykraians are one of the few known UP races with native psi-talents. Even if it were just from academic text, she'd have to know what your people look like...and you're more famous than you think, Tellus. I'd be very surprised if someone came to the first Legion Try-Out in years not being able to recognise you on sight. No, I think this is something else." Tinya knocked at the door again. "Otaki? Bina..? Listen, don't be scared - I'm coming in on my own, okay?"

Tinya phased through the door, her palms open to show she meant no harm. The first thing she noticed was that the room had been stripped of all personal effects and a packed suitcase was open on the bed. The young woman she'd come here to see was on the far side of the windowless room, sitting in a chair with her face in her hands. "Bina..?" Tinya asked cautiously.

"Get out of here!" Otaki railed. "What is wrong with you people?!"

"I...I don't understand. Bina, we only came to see if you were okay after what happened on Mars...and to let you know that given the circumstances, the Legion would be happy to let you try out for membership. I don't think--"

"Are you insane?" Otaki exploded. "I have spent so much time working on my mindsense...do you know I'm only the sixth Terran to be admitted here in all of Titan's history?? And all of that work, everything I gave up, I did it because I wanted to be in the Legion of Superheroes! And the very first time I meet you people, I get...I get possessed or something, then before I can recover from that a whole different thing invades my mind, and then one of your Legionnaires assaults me! Why do you think I want anything to do with you people?? I'm leaving here and going back to Earth and I'm going to pray that maybe eventually I'll be able to get through a whole night of sleep without waking up screaming!"

"Bina, listen to me." Tinya sat on the edge of the girl's bed. "I'm sorry that happened to you...but we don't really know what happened, and as traumatising as it's obviously been I think we need to know. With your permission I'd like Tellus to scan your mind, just to--"

"No!" Bina almost screamed at her. "Why are you still here?? Get out of my room, Phantom Girl!"

Phantom Girl stood and regarded the hysterical girl carefully. "Okay," Tinya eventually surrendered. "I'll leave, Bina. But please know that the Legion are here for you. If there's anything you need from us, please don't hesitate to reach out." Tinya considered making another attempt to persuade the haunted young woman before her, but realised it would be pointless...besides, surely the staff here would have noticed if there were anything more sinister behind Bina's state of mind than simple trauma. She was however going to let the Institute's faculty know what had happened, and suggest that they ask Bina's emergency contacts to look out for her.

As she walked back through the door, Phantom Girl's flight ring breeped at her. "Phantom Girl, Quislet got news!"

Tinya recognized the Teallian Legionnaire's distinctive voice instantly, and though she didn't particularly want to talk to him at the moment she pushed that aside. "What is it, Quislet?" she sighed.

"Quislet got bad news! The worst!

...Quislet has to leave the Legion of Superheroes!"

**********

ELSEWHERE

ROLL CALL
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: chlorokinesis
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Ivy Arcane baby; Avatar of the Green
Lamprey aka Tayla Skott: Legion ally; amphibious, electricity generation
Turtle aka Bogdan Tarka: former substitute supervillain; amphibious, invulnerable

"Let's go over this again," Chlorophyll Kid almost leaned against the sky blue wall, but then thought better of it. The room in which they'd found themselves was composed of something which felt far too much like flesh for Ral to be comfortable touching any more than necessary...even knowing it was there inches under the sand beneath his bare feet made his skin crawl. The room was spacious enough for all five of them to inhabit comfortably and there was even a small pool full of saltwater inset into the floor, but there was no furniture and no visible exit. The room didn't have conventional walls so much as it was one seamless curved area, but one massive section was a transparent membrane through which they could see that they were in fact in some kind of enclosed space underwater. Occasionally, eyeless yellow and blue cephalopods would float past them or stop momentarily before passing along their way.

"What's to go over?" Turtle snapped. "One nano we're relaxing on the beach, the next we're teleported into this weird sprocking cell with weird octopus jailers that don't look like any species I recognise. Your flight rings don't work so we can't call for help, and we can't risk trying to bust out of here because as soon as that membrane breaks you three will drown. That about cover it?"

"There's no need to get snippy," Lamprey gave him a disapproving look. "We're all in this together, Turtle."

"You're right, gorgeous," Turtle was shame-faced. "Sorry, I just don't like feeling useless. Invulnerability don't mean florg-all in a jam like this."

"Don't let your orbit decay, starshine!" Comet Queen spoke in a stage whisper so as not to wake Ivy who'd finally fallen asleep in her arms. "None of our powers are useful right now, but it's like Durgo always used to say...we're more than just our powers!" She gave Turtle a hopeful smile, then turned to Chlorophyll Kid. "Chlory, I was just thinking...maybe my transuit would cover Ivy as well? She's only a little sprout, if I hug her tight--"

"We don't even know if our transuits are working, Grava." Chlorophyll Kid sighed. "I can't fly, we can't radio for help...and even if the life support function does work, it's too great a risk to assume it'll cover another person. I suppose we should just count our blessings that she's sleeping through this whole thing, the last thing we need right now is another one of her outbursts to deal with. Speaking of Ivy, do you want me to hold her for a while? Your arms must be awfully tired."

"I wasn't gonna flare up or anything but thanks, starshine!" Grava handed the sleeping infant to Ral and pecked him on the cheek.

"Wait, that's right!" Lamprey snapped her fingers. "Her plant powers are way stronger than yours, right? I remember Grava saying she can even create plants out of nowhere! Can't we use that?"

"She's not even twelve months old," Ral shook his head. "She only does it when she's scared, and we can't begin to control it. She'd just as likely kill all of us as do anything remotely helpful."

"But you're Chlorophyll Kid," Lamprey persisted. "Your whole thing is controlling plants, isn't it?"

"Sure, if she doesn't accidentally spear me through first with a Q'onian thorn tree or fill the room with suicide plants. I can control the plants that she's created, but I can't tell her what to create...she's a baby, Lamprey; not a magic seed pouch."

"And you said she only does it when she's scared, right?" Turtle added. "I was a supervillain for five minutes and even I couldn't bring myself to terrorise a little kid!"

"Ugh, fine." Lamprey threw her hands up in defeat. "Sorry for trying to get us out of this stupid prison."

"You know..." Comet Queen's face was pushed right up against the room's transparent membrane. "...I don't think this is a prison, you guys! Not a prison for people, anyway!"

"What are you talking about?" Lamprey asked, annoyed. "Of course it's a prison, if they were evil scientists they'd have tried to dissect us by now!"

"If it's not a prison..." Chlorophyll Kid asked slowly, "...what do you think it is, Grava..?" Ral knew that Comet Queen could be nigh incomprehensible, but she wasn't stupid; sometimes the fact that she saw the world differently to everyone else also meant she saw things that other people missed.

"Come on, my bright little stars!" she flashed a dazzling smile at her friends. "Haven't any of you ever been to a zoo before?"

Chlorophyll Kid's eyes widened as he put it all together. Of course! This room wasn't exactly a replica of the beach they'd been taken from, but it was what an alien race might put together if they thought a beach was some animal's native habitat! The side of the room with the membrane was also where the pool had been placed, so Ral and the others could be viewed both above and below the pool's surface. Those octopus creatures hadn't once tried to respond to any attempts at communication or explain why they'd been abducted, because why would anyone bother trying to talk to an animal in an exhibit? And as Ral now joined Grava near the membrane, he noticed something else. "Children..." he murmured. "I think...I think most of those creatures out there are children!"

"Oh my god," Lamprey was slack-jawed. "You're right! I thought it was maybe a military or social dominance thing, but...they're all parents and their kids, right?"

All four of them saw it so clearly now. Most of the creatures were between four to six feet tall, but for every few of those there was one cephalopod almost double their height, and they travelled together in specific units. Now that the four abductees were standing at the membrane they could also see other rooms lining the large corridor of liquid through which the aliens floated, and though they could only partially see the interior of two of those rooms it was obvious that both of them held distinctly separate species.

"If I was a zookeeper," Chlorophyll Kid reasoned, "And I found one world with sentient species as diverse as the five of us must seem, how could I pass it up? No wonder they kidnapped us!"

"Okay, so we're in a zoo," Turtle shrugged. "We're still stuck here! We've all tried talking to them, none of them respond at all!"

"You're right," Chlorophyll Kid agreed, "Like I said, they think we're animals. I mean, look at them...they don't have visible mouths to speak with, we haven't heard anything from them the whole time we've been here...they probably don't get that speech is our primary means of communication, they might not even have an auditory sense. They're most likely telepathic, right? Like Hykraians?"

"Sure," Lamprey agreed. "Except Tellus told us once at the Academy that most Hykraians only use telepathy for short-range communications, the color-changing pods on their backs are more useful across any kind of distance. If these guys have any kind of really developed telepathic abilities, surely they would have picked up that we're intelligent by now!"

"So you think there's something else?" Comet Queen joined in. "Like what, starshine? None of them have shifted wavelength the whole time we've been here!"

"Not any visible wavelength, no." Lamprey placed her open palms on the membrane. "But there's another facet to my abilities, you guys...I never really talk about it because it's so weak that it's generally useless, but one of the genemods my dad gave me is a super primitive bioelectric perception. All of these aliens have a noticeable burst of bioelectric activity occasionally. I think...I think it might be their language. I'm going to try something." Pressing just hard enough that the elastic membrane began to deform around the outline of her fingers, Lamprey released a tiny burst of energy. It wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to do any damage, but she counted two seconds then dutifully released a second pulse...then a third and a fourth.

"Clever," Ral commended her. "Maybe they don't recognise our speech, but they'd have to have developed pattern recognition if they're intelligent!"

Lamprey continued emitting pulses of bio-electricity, counting the seconds between each one to ensure they remained consistently spaced. After five more bursts, one of the smaller creatures paused while its group continued along their way. Like all of its people, its flesh was bright yellow. Blue diamond-shaped patches covered its body, fading away as they came closer to its eight tentacles. Though the creature had no visible sensory organs, the motley crew of abductees somehow had the distinct impression that it had noticed them.

The creature rewarded their suspicion by changing its path through the water and approaching their room. It stopped right before the membrane, then slowly raised two tentacles to meet position with Lamprey's palms. The creature sent out a pulse of its own to match Lamprey's, then became surrounded by an orange glow which grew brighter for a second before it flashed intensely...and then the creature was gone.

Comet Queen's high-pitched scream meant the alien's destination was not a mystery for long...it had teleported into their room! Grava's scream woke Ivy up with a start, and the infant started crying while Turtle launched himself at the cephalopod and punched it straight into the pool.

<You all are sapient!> The creature's voice was in their minds, and it sounded genuinely surprised.

"You bet your creepy suckers we are!" Both Turtle's hands were balled into fists as he approached the cephalopod, Lamprey soon joining him. Comet Queen immediately leaped in between Chlorophyll Kid and the others, and Chlorophyll Kid tried his best to calm Ivy. Ral realised with a sinking heart that it was already too late though, vines and long blades of grass were beginning to poke through the sand. All he could do was focus on keeping the encroaching plants away from himself and his allies and hope that in her fear Ivy didn't bring forth anything more dangerous than this.

<I apologise and I am deeply ashamed> the alien continued. <We have always been told that our subjects were of minimal intellect...but clearly that is not the case!> It rolled one tentacle up to point toward Lamprey. <The bright green one has enough power to temporarily break the electropsionic haze which the m'ngr naturally creates. I felt all of your thoughtpaths each time that one reached out>

"What the sprock is a...munger?" Lamprey asked, her mouth struggling to duplicate the name her mind had heard.

<We are within the m'ngr> the creature replied. <It is a creature that works in service to us, and subsists on your excess electropsionic emissions. I now sense that you have appellations; Turtle, Lamprey, Comet Queen, Chlorophyll Kid, Ivy. My own is S'jn. I also sense that the rest of you are concerned for Ivy's safety and concerned that Ivy may hurt us. I can stop that from happening>

S'jn began to make its way out of the pool, and Lamprey and Turtle immediately blocked its path. "You're not getting anywhere near her," Lamprey said flatly.

"My girl's right," Turtle backed her up, "And just so you know, I'm invulnerable. There's nothing you can do that will stop me from kicking your nass."

Comet Queen stepped forward. "How?" she asked simply. The others all looked at her, clearly confused. "How are you gonna stop our little sprout?" Grava clarified.

<I sense your affection for this child> One of S'jn's tentacles gestured toward Comet Queen. <Know that I will not hurt the child, but I can remove panic>

"I don't know about this..." Ral unconsciously changed position so that his own body was a barrier between S'jn and Ivy. He also noticed that more of S'jn's people had stopped to see this spectacle; a group was gathering on the other side of the transparent membrane.

Comet Queen strode right on up to the yellow and blue cephalopod and offered her open hand. "Show me what you mean," she challenged them.

One of S'jn's tentacles rose and wrapped itself tenderly around Grava's outstretched hand. Some kind of communication passed between them, and a moment later Grava turned to Ral. "Chlory, I think our rogue planet here really can help."

Chlorophyll Kid had just had to prevent the petals of a deathmercy flower from opening up in the corner of their room, but with that under control he made his decision. Trying to appear as stoic as he could in nothing but a pair of boardshorts, he turned to face S'jn and held Ivy toward them. He tried to think of something suitably heroic to say. In the end, he could only face Comet Queen and declare, "I trust you, Grava."

S'jn reached one tentacle forward, and rather than wrap around the frightened child in Ral Benem's arms it instead brushed lightly against her cheek. In the space of a couple of seconds, Ivy stopped crying and gazed at S'jn in wonderment while her fat little hand grasped at S'jn's tentacle. The plants already in the room remained, but the swiftly growing verdant ground covering ceased to grow any further.

S'jn's body language suddenly changed as they visibly stiffened. <It is not right that we treat you this way> the alien spoke in all of their minds again, <Please come closer to me and I will make amends>

While Comet Queen rushed to Chlorophyll Kid and Ivy's side, Turtle turned to Lamprey. She shrugged and stepped forward, and when Turtle followed suit S'jn extended a tentacle to touch each of the abductees. They were all enveloped in the same orange glow, and then flashbulbs went off and they found themselves standing on the beach from which they'd been abducted so many hours ago.

Comet Queen hugged S'jn without reservation. "Oh, thank you Starshine! I knew you were a good little rogue planet!"

<I am pleased to make amends> S'jn replied. <However-> The young cephalopodic alien stopped mid-thought and froze for almost a full minute while the others tried to get S'jn's attention. Eventually, S'jn snapped out of their seeming trance. <I have been exiled> they explained dispassionately. <For my crime of assisting those whom my people have always called lesser beings, I have been sentenced to live among lesser beings>

"Sprock them," Lamprey piped up. "What kind of nassheads would abandon a kid because they developed a conscience? We have an organisation called the Science Police on this world, S'jn. I'll make sure they look after you for the way you helped us today."

"Better offer than I ever got," Turtle taunted Lamprey.

"Rescue us from something you didn't endanger us with to begin with and then we'll talk," Lamprey poked her tongue out. "Come on, S'jn. Let's get you settled among the lesser beings...maybe we can even see if there's some way we can help the other sentients on board whatever that ship was." Lamprey and Turtle walked away, S'jn floating behind them as easily as they'd floated through water earlier.

Comet Queen followed, but Chlorophyll Kid called out to her before she got too far. He'd salvaged one tiny sapling from Ivy's outburst earlier and he shaped it now within his fist to the form he wanted. "Grava, I want to say something."

"Cosmic coolness, Chlory!" Comet Queen beamed. "What's the static on your spectrum?"

Holding Ivy in the crook of his right arm, Ral's left hand was closed into a relaxed fist. "Grava, I want you to know...your optimism and your faith in people to do the right thing...every day it amazes me. Back there in whatever that crazy situation was, you were the only one to give S'jn the benefit of the doubt when they wanted to help us and that's arguably why we're safe now. You were with me when I took on my role as protector of the Avatar of the Green, and you have unwaveringly stood beside me ever since. You've shown me nothing but love, and you've taken on looking after Ivy as if she were your own daughter. You humble me, and I've never met anybody like you who teaches me every single day what it's like to take joy in just being alive. I guess what I'm saying is..." Ral got down on one one knee and held out the ring he'd forged from Ivy's sapling in his palm.

"...Grava, will you marry me?"

**********

Like, wow!

Good talking-to from Stone Boy to Gravity Kid, nice use of Crystal Kid's power. Quislet leaving Legion, hrmph. Quis is annoying, but meant to be...

I like how Tinya tried to make amends. Poor, poor Otaki, the girl is just broken...

Nice use of Lamprey's powers and Comet Queen's Grava-ness...

AND A MARRIAGE! WOWZERS!

Also, poor S'jn, is S'jn not just a child???? goodness!

Oh, it's just gonna get worse from here...*insane Dr Mayavale-stylez laughing for hours*


Thanks, and yes Grava-ness probably should go down on CQ's list of powers hahahaha

*more Dr Mayavale laughing for no particular reason.....*

S'jn is indeed just a child. S'jn's people are....not super nice

Gasp! poor poor Otaki, really waiting to see the end game

and now you have got me curious about the wedding!

And also S'jn's fate, I'm sure you have something planned for it

More fun Raz, really loving your work.

I am totally envious of your skill at taking the weaker characters and showing why they are deserving of their flight ring- Stone Boy has never really been a favourite of mine but you've given him a solid personality and some grit (so to speak) as well. Gravity Kid needed that wake up call, so well done. Also, it's always great to see the team simply helping people in a difficult spot, not fighting some villain or another... again!

Your Tinya wears her compassionate on her (wizard) sleeves, which is nice. Looking forward to seeing how Otaki is going to fit in to the Alek Arcane storyline. And you've got a good grip on Tellus, a character I really struggle writing.

The zoo was fun and I hope you're team will be revisiting it and helping liberate the other sapients in there. S'jn is an interesting character, is s/he unique in his culture or will there be others that agree? And, telepathy, levitatation and teleportation - potential new member?

The one minor complaint I have was there was only a few examples of Gravas' stellarific c-speed blasting red shifting event horizon diving swirly galactitious speech patterns . I appreciate they're exhausting to come up with though

And a wedding, fabbo! Looking forward to it.

Splendid stuff Raz, more, more, more!

Also, really meant to say, if Quislet is leaving I hope it's because you're going to write a separate solo Adventures of Quislet fan-fic! No other excuse (that I can think of anyway) will be accepted:)

haha you know, I actually went back after I finished writing it and had to throw a couple extra Gravaisms in there because she sounded too normal....I guess even CQ can have an off day

As to some other things you raised I won't go into too much spoilery detail, but plans are afoot for Otaki and S'jn...and we will be looking in on Alek Arcane again next up!

ELSEWHERE

In a small darkened room where the air was stale, the prematurely gnarled hand of a middle-aged man approached the first of three pairs of corpses. He'd gone to no small effort to procure these beauties, and he had faith that they would serve him well.

The ashy-skinned sorceror had completed the rituals which bound to him these husks which had once been people. Once upon a time, they had possessed their own desires and fears, their own motivations to exist in the world. Now they existed only to serve Alek Arcane, and as he dipped two fingers into carefully prepared white ointment, they would soon know exactly how to serve him best.

With painstaking precision, Alek Arcane completed the necessary painting of the sigil into the first corpse's elongated skull. He murmured a binding spell beneath his breath, and the sigil blazed brightly before it seemed to sink into the ancient bone and be consumed by it.

Satisfied that he'd given the first of his necromantic assassins their chosen target, Arcane turned to his second sleeping servant to mark the symbol of the White Lantern once more...

**********

VOGN
Trihelix Agricultural Development Facility

ROLL CALL
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: chlorokinesis
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis

Vogn was a world with seven moons, and the largest of them loomed so large in the sky right now that even though it were the middle of the night here it may as well be dusk. This made it easy for the trio of Legionnaires flying overheard to spot the army of twelve foot tall agitated vegetables escaping the fields from which they had been borne.

"I still can't believe these scientists thought it would be a good idea to splice animal DNA into their vegetable crops," Chlorophyll Kid mused. "I mean, what did they think would happen when you give your food source motive ability and half a brain? It's just lucky they didn't cause any real damage before we got here!" It was a simple matter for Chlorophyll Kid's power to hold a group of the oversized plants frozen in place, and once he'd done so it was just as easy for Polar Boy to enclose the rampaging plant life in a more literally frozen dome of ice.

"Never mind that," Polar Boy said as he added a layer of thickness to the dome. "Can we talk about this crazy wedding proposal of yours? I mean you and Comet Queen get kidnapped by some alien octopii and suddenly you wanna marry her? Comet Queen??"

"There's nothing sudden about it," Ral replied. "I think we're good, Ulu...can you give it the neon treatment so Lydda and the others can find them for retrieval? I like Grava being a part of my life, Brek. More importantly, she loves Ivy and she's a great caregiver for her. She has depth that the rest of the Legion don't see because none of you can get past the way she talks."

"Is that what this is about?" Polar Boy rushed forward to face Chlorophyll Kid head on. "Ral, you're not the fat kid with a stutter anymore; I get that you probably relate to her being a bit of a weirdo, but you're a Legionnaire now--"

"Grife, Brek!" Color Kid cut in. "Could you be any more of a jerk?" Ulu's power painted the ice dome an impossible to miss garish yellow, and now one more group of rampaging plants was ready for Firecrest, Night Girl and Stone Boy to safely take into more permanent captivity. Color Kid's tone softened as he faced Chlorophyll Kid. "Ignore him, Chlor...still, it's not like the two of you have been dating long. We just don't want you to get hurt, buddy."

"I know," Ral nodded. "And I appreciate it, I know you all have my back. But I don't think you guys understand; I have different priorities now. Being in the Legion of Superheroes has been a dream come true, but now I've got a role that's so much more important. Ivy is the avatar of a whole species of life, and I can't be her protector and be running off to random worlds to corral killer tomatoes or stop Black Mace from robbing banks or whatever. Grava has been nothing but supportive with the new responsibility I have now, and I don't want to lose that. She helps me be a better me, and isn't that what a marriage is all about?"

"Yeah," Ulu agreed. "I suppose it is. I'm not sure it's the move that I'd make but as long as you're happy then I'm happy for you, Ral."

"I suppose it's not the end of the world," Polar Boy gave them an optimistic smile. "I mean, at least you don't have to leave the Legion when you get married anymore, right? They realised that was a stupid rule way back when Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl got hitched!"

"Brek, haven't you been listening to a word I've said?" Chlorophyll Kid asked, mildly annoyed.

"As soon as Grava and I are married, I'm leaving the Legion of Superheroes!"

**********

ELSEWHERE

A silver hourglass sigil had just melted its way into the skulls of Alek Arcane's second pair of corpses. The dark mage finished wiping his hands clean and stood before the last of the three bowls of pigment he'd prepared here today. Taking a moment to centre his thoughts, he dabbed two fingers into a small receptacle filled with a viscous green paste. Pulverized jade fragments refracted what little light penetrated this dimly lit space, and he meditated once more on the forward planning which would after all this time finally reward him with possession of his granddaughter Ivy Arcane.

Besides the Avatar of the Green's chosen protector, there were only three associated with the Legion of Superheroes who would merit special attention when Alek openly pursued his granddaughter. He'd already taken precautions today against the one with the power of the White Lantern and the time witch, only this final sorceror remained. Finishing his fine art upon the skeleton before him, Alek Arcane watched a jade dragon burn its way into his servant's form.

One more of the six corpses left, and then his preparations were almost done...

**********

DAMONT SOLAR SYSTEM
Corbeau Solar Research Orbital Observatorium

ROLL CALL
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: deputy leader, wind control
Quislet: energy being, temporary animation of matter
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: invulnerability

"Thank you <klik> once again for your assistance," Circadia Gravitia clicked in gratitude, presenting the Legionnaires with a tray of refreshments. "I am <klik> certain the <klik> Science Police could have assisted with evacuation of the Observatorium, but to lose <klik> such a rare and invaluable resource as the satellite itself..." The head researcher on board this mobile scientific research station was one of the insectoid Circadians; their most famous member being Circadia Senius, Chronarch of the Time Institute on Titan. Like Circadia Senius, Gravitia resembled a humanoid adult with a chitinous exo-skeleton and a large bug-like cranium complete with antennae, mandibles that clicked when she spoke, and two enormous shining black eyes.

"Thanks for the offer," Crystal Kid declined with what he hoped was a polite expression. "We're still technically on duty so I'll refrain." In truth, Bobb just wasn't sure if he wanted to know what a giant bug thought was appropriate food for a Terran such as himself.

"Refrain yourself, starshine!" Comet Queen zipped forward, her three fingers happily groping at the offered treats. "I've never burnt up Circadian goodies on entry before, yum! Diamond disk shiny!"

While not as ecstatic as Comet Queen, Nightwind thought she'd best not risk offending their host. "Thank you, Circadia!" Berta smiled as she picked up something resembling a small quiche. "You didn't have to do this! Oh wow, this is actually delicious!"

"You expected <klik> mealworm or brush crickets perhaps?" the Circadian asked cheekily. "You forget, Legionnaires; <klik> many United Planets species work in mutual cooperation on board this vessel <klik>...I have some idea what you do and do not find appealing."

"Quislet don't find any of this appealing!" the Teallian Legionnaire complained, performing a flawless backwards loop. "Supergirl do all the work and now Legion just eat! Eating the most boring thing that humans do!"

At Quislet's mention, the others all looked across to a viewscreen which showed the new girl of steel outside the observatorium. Laurel Kent was beaming like it was her birthday; the Legion had been called here when the observatorium's thrusters had failed and the giant disc-shaped satellite had begun a degrading orbit into the very sun it was studying. That sun was a blue sun however, and under its azure light Laurel had found herself gifted with powers almost equal to that of her namesake Kara Zor-El. Chunks of misshapen crystal were dotted here and there throughout the hull where her new strength had surprised her and Bobb had needed to enact some quick repairs, but now that Laurel had become accustomed to the blue star's radiation she was pushing the observatorium to a safe distance without assistance from anyone or anything else. Supergirl looked at an unremarkable bit of plating and waved at the camera. "I can see you guys with my x-ray vision!" her voice rang out over their flight rings. "X-ray vision!! Isn't that the best?!"

"Best for Supergirl maybe!" Quislet piped up once more. "Quislet picked the worst last mission to go on, poop!"

"Be void quiet, my shiny little shuttle!" Comet Queen half-hugged, half-tackled the microship and the two rolled in mid-air. "We all know you came out here just to have one last nova burst of fun with your favourite Grava!" She peppered the tiny shuttle with little kisses. "I'll miss you like a rogue planet misses its home star, you cross-dimensional chaos particle!"

"Kisses gross!" Quislet gave a token effort at struggling to get free of Comet Queen's embrace. "Yuk!" Grava giggled as the two continued their play-wrestling.

"I think those two have worn me down," Nightwind confided to Crystal Kid. "Normally I'd be telling them to behave themselves in front of civilians--"

"--It is kind of cute though, isn't it?" Bobb interjected. "You know, in their own kooky way. I still can't believe Teall is forcing Quislet to quit the Legion and become their full-time ambassador to the United Planets! I mean sure, he's had more experience with the UP than any of the rest of his people, but....it's Quislet!"

"Yeah," Nightwind gave her friend a wry smile. "I give it six months till they declare war on Bismoll or something because Quislet had to sit through one too many diplomatic functions." The two shared a conspiratory chuckle.

Berta and Bobb suddenly became aware that Grava was addressing them all. "--anyway, I'm glad all my closest moons are here cuz I've got some nova-bright news and it's been killing me keeping it in! I didn't wanna steal your shooting star, my shiny little shuttle, but I got a shooting star of my own to fly all flash sparkle through your exospheres!"

"What is she talking about?" Supergirl asked over the flight rings.

"What are you talking about, Grava?" Nightwind spared a glance to make sure none of the observatorium staff were within earshot. She didn't mind the crew seeing Comet Queen and Quislet fooling around a little, but she could tell Grava was leading up to something big and that might be just too much for the average sentient to have to witness.

"This!" Grava thrust her hand forward, and for the first time the others noticed a simple wooden ring on the finger beside her flight ring. She started to exclaim "I'm getting married!" but by the time she got to the final syllable her excitement had overcome her and the word became a shrill scream.

"Grava, quiet!" Nightwind scolded her. "We're on a mission, for crying out loud!"

"What do you mean you're getting married?" Crystal Kid looked utterly confused. "To who?!"

"My Chlory proposed, it was soooo hyper-pulsar sweet, you guys! Romantic like the Valentine Nebula! Poor Tayla can't come 'cuz she has to look after S'jn now but I've already invited Bouncy and Duplicate Damsel and all our old friends from Academy days, Grev and Jed and Mandalla and that cosmic cutie Urk and--" Unable to restrain herself, she placed both hands over her mouth and squealed again while jumping up and down on the spot.

"Chlory..." Nightwind thought it through. "Wait, Chlorophyll Kid?? Grava, you're barely even a couple!"

"Weddings fun!" Quislet enthused as he leaped out of his microship to inhabit an exposed beam. The beam took on the form of a tuxedoed gentleman in a top hat and he danced a little jig with Comet Queen. "Quislet hope we fight vampire again!" Both of them were so wrapped up in their own glee that they completely ignored Berta's increasingly more embarassed pleas to get them to rein it in. The crew of the observatorium watched with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

"Berta, give it up." Even over the flight rings, they could tell that Laurel was barely keeping the laughter out of her voice. "You know what those two are like, I'm just impressed she managed to hold it in for as long as she did. Chlorophyll Kid really must be a good influence on her!"

"Man, I hope Comet Queen knows what she's getting herself into," Crystal Kid remarked as an aside to Nightwind.

"Oh, believe me," Nightwind deadpanned. "Comet Queen's not the one I'm worried about..."

Somewhere deep in space, Comet Queen's piercing shrieks of joy rang out again and again.

**********

ELSEWHERE

The last of his preparations complete, Alek Arcane walked among the many graves that would form the greatest part of his plan in a few days' time. In a place like this cemetery, surrounded by so much dead, he couldn't feel anything but optimism for his chances of victory when it came time to confront the Protector of the Avatar of the Green and his allies. Carrion insects buzzed about his greying hair like some sick halo, and the skeletons of his tiny animal attendants rushed to catch up with each one of his footsteps.

A startled yelp caught Arcane's attention, and the sorceror looked to his right to see a pair of teenagers canoodling on a gravestone. "I told you we'd get in trouble!" one of them hissed, punching her partner in the arm.

"Trouble?" Alek smiled a predator's smile. "Not at all, children. The allure of the veil calls to us all, does it not? Still, this sacred site is no place for the vulgar displays of vitality you no doubt had planned for this evening." He approached the two girls and leaned down toward them. Stroking one of the girls' cheeks with the back of his hand, he stood back upright once more. "Much better."

"What...what..?" the girl he'd touched seemed unaware of what was happening, but only for a moment. Where Alek Arcane had touched her cheek, it turned black and rotted away, exposing the teeth inside. The girls wailed in horror as this unnatural decomposition soon crawled over them both. Within a matter of seconds, two corpses slumped to the gravestone where living girls had once been, meat still decaying upon their frames.

"That's so much more respectful," Alek's eyes gleamed with cruel joy. "A gesture of respect I will be all too happy to teach the Green."

While a millipede crawled hungrily through one of the girls' eye sockets, Alek Arcane turned his back on them and strode confidently out of the cemetery.

Whew! Way to up the ante, you're really turning Alek Arcane into a scary villain... what he did so casually to the two girls... yikes!

Heh, love the realistic reactions of the others to the sudden Chlor/Grava wedding. And Brek, that clumsy man... yeesh.

Also, definitely a plus being able to pick mission teams like that. Most of the former Subs, and most of the former Academy students.

Cultural misunderstandings in the 30th century... classic!