Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business 21st Century Legion: Redemption at the North Pole (Finished except for editing))

The base soon crawled with Legionnaires.

Under the supervision of Gene and Chu, the team quickly detained everyone who was in league with Dr. Morlo.

They had found some staff who had tried to stop Morlo locked up in a basement; luckily, they were unharmed.

Candi was found to be the only metahuman locked up, thankfully. It seemed that the lack of official sanctioning had severely limited Morlo's movements, which was probably why he'd kidnapped Chu.

Chu herself had been telepathically cleared by Irma of knowledge of the extent of Morlo's experiments.

All seemed well, and maybe it would be.

"Do you know how much trouble you're in?" Gene yelled.

Jazmin was defiant; Jenni just looked tired.

"Look, big man, I said I was sorry. I was wrong to want revenge; I was wrong to convince Jenni to come here alone. We get it. Can you at least stop yelling?"

Gene called himself down. "I don't know what to do with you, honestly. Garth and the others are off the hook, since they followed you, although I've told them all off about not telling us. But you..."

"I'm sorry, Gene." Jenni said simply. "It's been an emotional rollercoaster for us. We weren't thinking clearly. And I'm just as guilty as Jazmin is."

"No, it was mostly my doing, Gene. I convinced Jenni."

Jenni smiled at that. "Thanks for trying to get me off the hook, Jazmin, but I wanted to come here too."

Gene took a deep breath. "Look, I don't know what to say. I can sort of understand you, but thinking that you were coming here to execute whomever was responsible... What will the UN say?"

"The UN will thank all of you for doing the world a great justice today," Chu said as she strode up. "The matter of their intent is irrelevant - they did not actually do any harm. They stopped themselves from taking revenge." She paused. "It shows they did not really intend to kill him at all. I should know - my orders to continue the gene research did not intend for any of this to happen, either."

She turned to look at Jenni and Jazmin. "Still, there were better ways to do what you did. And as heroes, you must learn to take responsibility. You will get disciplinary action, but only for disobeying orders."

Jenni nodded somberly, though Jazmin opened her mouth to protest.

Chu held up a hand to stop her. "I know. I will also submit myself to inquiry, for I inadvertently set these events in motion." She softened her tone. "Don't worry, I will hold myself to the same standards that I hold all of you. Thank you for rescuing me."

She strode off without a word, leaving three Legionnaires in stunned silence.

"I... I guess that's that, then." Gene stuttered.

*************************************************

"Quentin, Lyle, are you two done?" asked Rex as he walked into the laboratory.

The cleanup was taking a while. He'd expected it - it was going to take a while to sort through everything that had happened here.

He mentally ran through the tasks of each of the 20 current Legionnaires and their two new friends.

Quentin, Invisible Kid and Trinity were cataloging everything in the lab - every shred of technology and every bit of information they could find.

Tela, Rebound and Nura were questioning each of the staff to help determine culpability.

Gene was the liaison between the UN forces and the Legion.

Shrinking Violet, Spirit, Shifter and Flash were searching through the area for any hidden technology and any escapees trying to run.

Valor, Live Wire, Blizzard, and their two new allies - Amihan and Candi - were securing the perimeter.

Catalyst, Element Lad, Kid Quantum, Kinetix and Qwyzlyt were gathering all the tech and equipment they could find into a central pile.

"Almost done, Rex." Lyle poked his head up for a second to answer.

Lorna stepped up to Rex, showing him her list. "Brainy's downloaded all the files from the computers."

"I am not called Brainy!" came the snappy reply, as expected. Quentin hadn't even looked up.


Lorna continued without skipping a beat, though with a mischievous smile that indicated she'd called him Brainy on purpose. "He'll review them later on with the UN guys. We're also recording all the equipment schematics and have filtered out the ones to keep - these are the non-lethal ones with potentially useful applications." She sifted through the list a bit. "We're only wrangling on seven more pieces - we've all agreed on what to do with the rest."

Rex nodded. "Good job, everyone. If in doubt, just chuck the equipment in the rubbish pile. We're capable enough of recreating anything if we deem it useful later. Best to keep these from falling into the wrong hands."

*************************************************

"Are we ready?" Jan asked.

"I think everything is here." Condo replied. Jenni and Rex had just deposited the last of the equipment from the lab. Candi and Gene were carrying the last of the equipment from the fields. Berta was helping as best she could - it looked like she was trying to gain brownie points with Gene.

It had only been a few hours, but everyone already knew how much she wanted to be a Legionnaire. Even Candi was buying into the idea - she and Zoe had already settled on a costume design.

And why not? Those two would make fine Legionnaires, based on what they had done here.

Tina emerged from the ground. "Nothing buried under here; I've checked everything."

Lorna nodded. "Qwyzlyt and Shifter report the same from their areas. It looks like we're done. Guys and girls, begin destruction now."

Hands began to glow as powers were activated. Kinetix and Cosmic Boy levitated the huge pile of equipment in the middle of the pile; Amihan helped by pushing in everything around the edges. They then separated the pile into three smaller ones.

Condo grinned. "Which one of us can finish our pile the fastest, Jazmin, Jan?"

Jan smiled. The usually gentle soul did enjoy some friendly competition too. "Loser buys lunch later?"

To his right, Jazmin also smiled. "That won't be me, then."

All three Legionnaires fired with gusto. It felt good to be helping rid the world of such heinous technology.

Berta and Candi stood quietly outside the Legion's meeting hall.

Berta held her breath; she'd waited so long for this day.

Candi was wearing a pleased smile, too. She kept fingering her new outfit, like she couldn't quite believe she was wearing it.

"Are you nervous too?" Berta asked.

"Nervous? Oh dear, no. Not really. I'm pretty sure we'll get in - I heard Madame Chu talking to Rex, and she said that the UN hadn't placed a ban on new members yet. No, I'm just happy to be among people who accept me as I am." she smiled. "I know how people stare, but at least with the Legion... I know it won't matter."

Berta nodded thoughtfully. "You're right - I can tell the team values us on our contributions. Nobody finds the one called Quislet strange, for example." She paused for a moment. "I just wish I could be as sure as you. I cannot afford to not join the team... It would bring much shame to my family if I were rejected."

"But... after all you did in the Arctic, surely you will get in!"

"I hope so," Berta said, as she stared at the door.

Mr. and Mrs. Herrera smiled as they picked up the issue of Time magazine.

The cover had the caption, "The Teens of Tomorrow" in large red letters.

And on the cover was a group shot - 22 Legionnaires.

Their own daughter, Berta, was one of them. She, along with her new friend Amazon, were the newest additions to the team.

She was planning to visit them back in the Philippines, and some of her friends would be coming along.

It was a proud, proud moment. One they'd treasure forever.