Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legion Worlds 5 (completed 26 June 2018)

Wildfire blasted the soldiers backwards.

At the rear of the four attackers that had just received the Legionnaire's blast one of the synthezoid’s armour deflected some of the anti-energy. As the Legionnaire and students went past the attacker lifted his blaster and aimed it at Drake Burrough's back. The soldier knew that damaging the Legionnaire's suit would eliminate the former Legionnaire from the immediate conflict. Polar Girl saw that the soldier start to move and quickly reached out with her cyrokinesis to freeze him on the spot. The Synthezoid was wrapped in spikey snake-like lines of ice that bound it against the wall. Part of its face was left uncovered so the student could see the anger and fear in the eye that stared out at her.

“Good shot Mel.” Solar Gorilla said as the simian student rushed past.

“Thanks...” the young Tharrite walked up to the frozen soldier and smashed her fist against the outstretched blaster, fracturing it into a dozen pieces. Regardless now if this attacker broke out of their freezing entanglement, that would be one less gun to point at a Legionnaire.

Polar Girl took a look behind her, her fellow students had all rushed past as they tried to keep up with their anti-energy tutor.

She wondered if in their eagerness to show off to the Legionnaire they might be leaving their backs exposed. As they all knew their way around the satellite now any of her fellow students would be able to find their way back to the hangar deck without coming along this main corridor, so in the hope that it might inconvenience any soldier that they had not found yet she concentrated her abilities into the air before her and blocked the corridor off with a large wall of ice. That would slow down any more sneak attack.

Once it was completed Polar Girl glanced down at the soldier she had already trapped to make sure he was not likely to escape any time soon before rushing after her colleagues and friends. She may have been acting sensibly and thinking of the team first, but that didn't mean she didn't want Wildfire to notice...

Like a Biblical plague of locust Starkling's swarm components tore into the command deck.

It had tracked the minds of its teammates to this place yet worryingly it had then felt them ...change. As it had no prior experience it could not tell exactly what had happened but it knew with a primal understanding that they were in need of its help. The concept of mind control was not one that this alien swarm would ever fully understand.

The ball bearing sized components that made up the collective being erupted into the Dreadnought's control room like a bistering sand storm and set about tearing around the technicians and command staff. With incredible control, masses the size of large fists collected together and smashed into those that had not ducked for cover quickly enough knocking them senseless. Meanwhile streams of the indestructible particles tore through computer banks and control panels. Within three seconds the pandemonium the Legionnaire had created almost stopped Psyche's plan once and for all. Ultimately it was only that it had avoided targeting its fellow Legionnaires, Mon El and Lexikon, that stopped it from ending the empath's reign of terror with this single attack.

The empathic manipulator had dived onto the floor as soon as Starkling had arrived and started screaming at her thralls to kill it! She could sense it but when she tried to reach out her abilities could find nothing to grab hold of. The bizarre Legionnaire's mind was just too alien for her to ever take control.

Several of the telepaths that Psyche had enslaved on Naltor had cowered beneath their work stations to avoid the swarming Legionnaire’s attack but as their mistress screamed her orders they reached out with their minds and struck at Starkling's psychic gestalt. Their combined attack dazed the Legionnaire, momentarily freezing it.

Mon El tore off his cloak and used his speed and strength to catch every single part of the composite being. Stuffing them all together into his cloak the Daxamite tied the edges into a knot before landed beside his mistress and offered a hand to help her regain her feet. She shrugged his offer of assistance away and quickly scrambled back up. The Control Room was in tatters. Almost half of her staff were unconscious while a few more were in obvious pain. There were sparks and smoke issuing from several of the control panels while the walls and ceiling were tattered with pock marks and ripped paneling.

"Kill it." She stared into the Daxamite's eyes. His inherent morality and goodness, the bloody fool, would make such a command difficult but she pressed into his mind to reinforce this order. "Kill it now."

"Of course." The Daxamite hovered into the air and vanished in a blur of speed.

Psyche turned around to the remaining staff and shouted at them to tidy up.

After several seconds of staring at them, her anger pouring into their souls like lava destroying everything else it contacted, Psyche stormed out of the the control room intent on grabbing the Brainiac herself. It was time the Legion knew what it was dealing with and she had such happy memories of corrupting that Coluan in her home reality she was looking forward to destroying him in this one...

Babbage and Ferro appeared pleased with the plan.

Saturn Girl turned to Sister Eclipse and smiled at the reptilian new Legionnaire.

“Sister, my apologies but I’m unsure of your abilities... you can physically possess a person, is that right?”

“The One Who Comes Next has blessed me with that gift, indeed...” Sister Eclipse bowed her head respectfully as she mentioned her deity.

“Could you show me? Possess me?” As Imra asked she focussed on her mental shields to test the new legionnaire’s abilities. She blinked... or at least Imra thought she had blinked... and found herself lying on the floor with Sister Eclipse stood over, offering her hand to help the telepath back onto her feet.

“I... uhhh... that was amazing, I don’t remember a thing... wow... Tell me, are you able to enter a person but leave them full control? Like, ah, like you're a hitchhiker?”

“That is so.” Sister Eclipse said formally.

“Good, and am I right to assume that your psychic defenses would enhance those of whomever you possess?"

The reptilian Legionnaire smiled and nodded.

"Good, then I want you with Ferro... in him. Is that okay Doug?” The Titanian’s tone didn’t leave much choice.

“Uhh... okay, I guess... though why me?”

“Because whoever is behind this seems to be manipulating their opponents ids... altering and twisting their base emotions until they do what they’re told to do. You have some degree of natural immunity but I'm worried about something else. I believe our adversary is a hyper empath.” She turned to face the steel skinned Legionnaire before finishing her sentence, “Given the rise in anti-Legion sentiment, and from what I've read from your file I believe we’re facing the Psyche from that dimension you went to. I'm certain that as you escaped from her before she'll want to capture you this time and Sister Eclipse will be your ace in the hole in case she does...”

"Okay... okay, so when do we do this?" Ferro rubbed a fist into the palm of his other hand as he asked.

"Before you leave... it appears that the interference created by the Braalians has stopped, we can assume our colleagues have dealt with them " Gear said to the team. "... and now I can be of some use..."The Linsnarian smiled as he said this.

"I have been in contact with Danielle to find out if any flight ring is being used over on the dreadnought." Before the Legionnaires a holo appeared showing several red lines highlighted against a gray representation of the huge battle ship that hung in space outside their headquarters.

"She has traced several and here are their positions. It seems that this area..." The Linsnarian pointed to a central area where several lines converged, "...is where we estimate the control centre may likely be found. Perhaps, this information could assist you?" The nannite being that acted as the team's Maître D smiled as he showed the holo.

"That's brilliant! Thank you Gear." Imra Ardeen smiled broadly. She knew that if this assessment was correct then it was likely they could deal with this problem quickly... surgically - it gave them an much greater opportunity to cut out the cancer at the site of the cause.

Henry opened a warp into the Dreadnought allowing Saturn Girl to lead Dr Kabbo, Tellus, Ferro carrying Sister Eclipse inside him, Babbage, Thunder and Harmonia to step into the area that the newly released Gear had identified as the most probable site of their opponents primary command deck.

Thanks for the student roll call, Harbi! that’s more than enough, and I appreciate you wanting to omit the roll calls for Legionnaires. it does help with the pacing

That’s a wonderful team you have for the final showdown!

continuing to love the little battles. Polar Girl has been tactically impressive, hope she keeps her ambitions in check. I think she would make a great Legionnaire if she does

Lydda’s outing showed that many students aren’t quite ready. Thankfully, nobody was killed

Sorry Harbi, I thought I commented on this when I read it the other day! I also like the student roll call and I agree it's probably not necessary for the Legion as we either know them all from the comics or they get a lot more exposure than the students even when they're homegrown anyway.

I really liked Lydda's team....while it's been good to see the students kicking nass, I like that they're not all of the same skill level either. Really looking forward to seeing how this all pans out, that Psyche is a nasty piece of work!

Yeah, I forgot to comment on the Psyche bit - I loved the subtle foreshadowing you sprinkled in about that, with Doug's flashbacks and all. So the reveal that it was Psyche still came as a surprise, but not a completely unexpected one. Excellent plotting there!

And also agree re no roll call needed for the Legion - your original characters are so well-written, I can recall their powers and personalities in a snap (Tigerram, Lexikon, Sister Eclipse, Atom Girl, Starkling...)

I have so much to comment on and say. I've been reading along and I'm so enthralled in this battle. but I'm just like ahhh too much great stuff!.
I'll agree with everyone else that the roll calls for the students makes sense. But i understand and appreciate what you were doing with leaving them out and trying to have that frantic pacing.

1. Andromeda's battle with the cruiser on Nordhem was nice. i love watching her stretch her skills.
2. Reto and Magnus was well done. Retro understands its all about trust. Also gives insight into the world of Nordhem even more and how much superstition they believe it.
3.Poor Magnus for losing Lord Astra that way. but it goes with the territory of prosthetic visions.
4. "The White Beast" - terrifying and never would have seen it coming that it was a White Martian.
5.I like that Magnus went with the team. Although i half expected one of the Valkyrie to be joining.
6. that vision/illusion Magnus was well done as i read i just could sense the attack coming and when he yelled that it was beginning as he spoke was so eerily well done.
7. the way you described how the enemy infiltrated the Legion by keeping all the psychics away with suggestions that were already part of their minds was great. that's a really good tactic. Also glad SG recognizes its not Aven behind this.
8.Gorn Eno, Prescience to the rescue! i liked that he saw this and went into action to help his fellow students. Most important lesson anyone can learn: "it was that he didn't need every single fact to influence an outcome in his favour. The knowledge he had been gifted with would be enough to handle the situation." precog or not.
9.loved the countdown to the all out attack.
10.You Go SG! i'm glad she was able to clear everyone and that everyone was brought on the same page. i love how you keep telling us how narrowly they escaped a full invasion unaware.
11. Henry's moment was well done. i liked that he's not defenseless and that he moved the console! his future knowlege is always so intriging to me. I want a Henry series that just documents the history of the team. lol
12. Protect the Q-drive engines was well done. I liked how Tinya took out her foe and that was a close one for Thirteen.
13. Zoe's moment about one of their own being turned was so good but also so sad. especially for what it forshadows.
14.Thirteen risking it all to save the drive, which exhausted his powers was well done and i agree i was surprised that he changes his appearance.
15. The white beast has been in the UP's employment for how long? A Centruy? hmmm. there's a story there. it sure likes the hunt and the kill.
16.The death of Metallix was so sad. she never wanted to be a hero and the White beast projecting its thoughts into her while she died...uggg.
17. Wish they could have gotten there sooner. Ballistix and Kid Dynamo did some really good work and Bouncing Boy II to the rescue. one of my favorite OC's of your academy group.
18. On no that's as far as Prescience's vision went??
19. Andromeda is impressive!
20. the Warithcat is another unique creation and i love that it can subdue the White beast with its telepathy and that the white beast ins't impervious to psychic attack.
21. for all her verbrado Ballistix sure gets taken out a lot.
22. Aagain. shocked its a white martian!
23. Southern Lights's spells are working well and Non's phasing was a cool idea.
24. XS' moment was fun. i liked how easily she took them out and I'm curious about that power mimiker. maybe we'll see him again.
25. Sun Boy and Dragonmage make the perfect dragon. that's all i could think while they were working together.
26.I hope he makes it and the injury wasn't too bad. Kid Q acted quickly so hopefully it helps. Comet King and Queen make a really good team.
27. The teachers are coming!
28.I'm glad Jaqcues was able to get Danielle to help and i hope they can work through there issues when this is over.
29. Tyroc's team is so efficient. Good job all around.
30.Cosmic Kid is pretty powerful. this was possibly the best display of his powers and the way he took out the Daxamite soldier was a good idea.
31. Wildfire's concern was well done and those kids did a great job. hopefully Magno Lass will be ok.
32. NOOO! Not Kara.
33. Poor Imra i hope she doesn't wear herself out before the big battle. Agreed good team you've got there.
34. i liked Tinya's waste of time giving Brin orders line. it was funny and so true.
35. M'Onel too!
36. Glad Harmina and Lu were helping Death Boy and kind of glad he's not on base at the moment...
37. it was good to see Yera's thoughts on the academy students even in this bad time. gives a good idea of where they are all at and who could really handle this life style.
38. No not Kara again!
39. Hethuk Bran Drommsi to the rescue! i really wish Henry could say something sometimes. lol
40. Sun Boy's team also affective. Although i might have used Kid Q with a wall instead of a bubble.
41. Glad Brainy saw that Kara wasn't herself.
42.Rokk's team was good and that sounds like we might get another team coming....
43. and there goes the Spear of Artimis...
44. Monica Slade and KK are doing a bang up job. love how well those without defensive powers do in your stories.
45. Aww Spook is down. Lydda will be beside herself. i can see it now.
46. Good moment for Dragonwing and more friends turned enemy? whose next?
47. Do you want me to carry you? i can just see this part of the scene and Dragonwing laughing as XS runs her into battle.
48.Its Psyche. this is so bad but i kept getting her confused with Esper lass until i looked her up.
49. I like that the Spear of Artimis can't be controlled. might give them a fighting chance.
50. That's kind of cool that Reto automaticall can undo Psyche's influence.
51. Agreed Polar girls determination could be really usefule but could cause just as many problems. i like that she thought to cover their backs.
52. Starkling! so happy to see him show up to save them. But sadly it didn't work out that way.
53. Don't do it M'Onel!
54. Ooooo sneaky that Sister Eclipse would be inside Ferro. Nice touch!

This is turning into an epic battle and always i can't wait for more and hopefully i'll get to comment more often on newer posts!
Can't wait for more to go with my popcorn!

Guys, thank you for all your kind words as they are really appreciated.

Glad to hear that it's okay not putting a roll call for each post *phew*

Omni, you're list is incredible, thank you!

The students are all at different stages of development and readiness so some will progress and some won't.

This arc is coming to a close soon, I reckon ten or twelve more posts and then we'll be done. After this there will be a wedding and a tryout with new Legionnaires joining up and a changing of the ranks.

Once that's done I'm planning on posting my character notes for all the new members we've been introduced to since the first story.

Thanks again all.

Oh! Omni just reminded me, Starkling coming to the (attempted) rescue was brilliant! Really showcased how formidable he can be, and I love the part about him just not being able to get the concept of mind control

After rushing away from the Q-Drive Tinya had requested an immediate evacuation of Legion World Two.

Luornu had taken charge, countermanded the order. Danielle and Gear could assist Thirteen in the Q-Drive if needed. Glorith was needed in the Mission Monitor Room to help safeguard Danielle. Duplicate Girl requested Phantom Girl, Babbage and Kinetix go to the Southern end of their satellite base to assist. Tyroc's team were holding ground against the swarming force that had initially attacked the southern docking bay but several had managed to infiltrate the base and Lu wanted Tinya and her team to assist with repelling those invaders.

Babbage had then almost immediately left in one of Henry's warps leaving Kinetix and Phantom Girl to deal with whatever they discovered.

That had been several long minutes ago. Zoe and Tinya had taken down a Braalian and two synthetic soldiers on the level above and had just encountered another group of invaders.

Kinetix had trapped two synthetic soldiers within a strip of wall, but as she turned around Zoe had been shot in the stomach as three more soldiers appeared. Phantom Girl flew at the soldiers and in one move punched one of them into another while phasing the rest of her body so the blaster fire from the one that had fallen went through her to catch one of his fellow soldiers in the face. Tinya Wazzo had enough years experience that she knew how to efficiently deal with this group and seconds later she left them in a heap in the corridor to check on Zoe.

The red headed telekinetic was curled in a ball, blood seeping from her wounds, moaning in an almost animalistic way as the pain from her gutshot override any conscious thought.

"Henry! Get Zoe to the medi-bay!" Phantom Girl barked into her flight ring.

A second later a warp appeared underneath Kinetix and she dropped through it.

"Dr Shakespeare is there to look after her Tinya." The holo-man's spectral voice said.

The Bgztler took a deep breath then thanked Henry before requesting support from Luornu.

"Sorry Tinya, right now you're on your own, though XS will get to you as soon as she can." Lu replied through the flight ring commlink.

Tinya swore under her breath before replying with her affirmative.

Glorith floated in the air before Danielle, both were crossed legged and silent.

The mystic had been asked to help protect the Mission Monitor Board Room after she had left the Q-Drve by Duplicate Girl. Currently, the only light in this half of the room came from the young sorceresses facial markings which glowed ominously. The spell she had cast around the room they were in meant that anyone with an attackers intent would be unable to approach them and any objects or energy that the potential attacker would use to try to breach the shield with would be rebounded backwards. So far only two synthetic soldiers had approached the small room and had both been blasted unconscious by the reflected rays of their own weapons.

Danielle had submerged her conscious mind into the AI streams that criss-crossed the planetoid, directing doors to close unexpectedly blocking access and egress to those that she deemed unwelcome, activating fire suppressant systems to explosively open onto passing soldiers, initiating holos to abruptly appear and disappear startling their opponents and manipulating the planetoids artificial gravity system to swing wildly between zero to 500% in selected areas.

Although she could only focus directly on one part at a time the AI's quickly learned what to watch out for and pointed her towards areas that they calculated needed her attention. Although Danielle had not been keeping count she knew that so far, as well as shutting down the weapons on the attacking dreadnought, she had trapped, rendered unconscious and otherwise inconvenienced thirty six soldiers. She had also helped Atom Girl take out three Braalians and one of the synthetic soldiers. If she were in any way one to gloat Danielle would have felt immensely proud of her actions at that point instead she simply continued searching the AI mainframes for signs of intruders in their home.

Three of Luornu Durgo-Taine's selves stood against a far wall monitoring a bank of hard light screens as they directed Dragonwing, XS, Atom Girl, Gravity Kid, Power Boy, Backlash, Kinetix and Phantom Girl towards potential meta-opponents. The three selves had each virtually taken back control of their respective areas as XS reported that the latest two opponents she had been sent to deal with were all held by incapacity cuffs. It upset each Luornu that several of the attackers they had faced today had previously been her students at the Academy when it was based at Montauk Point.

Whoever was behind this atrocious act was playing with them, Lu could feel it. They wanted the Legion to battle against their own... Luornu thought, for perhaps the twentieth time, that whoever was responsible deserved to be firmly punched in the face for what they had made her kids do; She really hoped she would have the opportunity!

Gravity Kid slammed two synthetics into the ceiling of the corridor on level 20 before smashing them into the floor.

Bcklash pounced upon the soldiers, ensuring they were unconscious. The tigerram sniffed the fallen soldiers before announcing that their opponents would not be getting up soon. Tel and Jed flew across and snapped incapacity cuffs on the soldiers.

"There seems to be a lull in the attack... perhaps we've routed the last of them?" Jed said to his colleagues.

"Nah... we've got to keep our focus up. C'mon guys, let's get..." Before Tel Vole could finish his sentence a soldier appeared to erupt out of the air with her guns blasting towards the Legionnaires. The Imskian soldier had not expected the tigerram to jump into the blaster fire and could not shrink back to a microscopic size quickly enough as a huge paw cuffed her solidy across the head, smacking her to the floor.

"That was satisfying... don't you agree?" The great feline legionnaire said in his deep rumbling voice.

"Sneaky.... like you said, we gotta keep our focus." Jed said with a glance across to his husband who smiled and nodded in response.

A holo of Duplicate Girl appeared befor the three and reported that Danielle needed assistance taking down a group of metas on Level 18. There were two Braalians and another that had exibited great strength... Henry's warp spun into existence before them. Lu informed her teammates that they could expect to encounter the soldiers around the next corner.

"On it Lu!"
"On our way."
"It'll be a pleasure"

The three legionnaires dived through the warp to their next skirmish.

Sun Boy took a blast to the lower back and the pain rendered him unconscious.

Gazelle was close by and smashed her teammates attacker in the face with her fist. The Khund warrior knew she was running low on energy, so quickly checked there were no immediate threats close by before reaching for a protein pouch from her belt. She gulped the contents and straight away felt the benefit as her hyper metabolism started to speed up.

There were still, she estimated, thirty opponents, though Dragon Mage and Kid Quantum appeared to be out of the fight, Ferro had been kidnapped by Henry and now Dirk was down. That left her and the Comets to clean this up once and for all.

Gazelle smiled fiercely as she propelled herself into a small group of blue skinned synthetic troops that were flying her way, dodging their blaster fire as she sped towards them.

This was Gazelle's idea of the perfect date so she felt slightly disappointed that Doug wasn't there to enjoy it with her. Hopefully, she thought as she spun across the back of one of their attackers before hurling him into his comrades faces, Ferro would be back before the end so he could reap the rewards...

The fierce Khund warrior smiled even broader as she launched herself into another group of opponents.

Twenty five left and counting...

Academy staff based on Legion World One:
Cosmic Boy – Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields

Students:
Ultra Girl - Li-Fahn Qiong of Xanthu - immense strength, speed, indestructibility, spaceflight and projection of force blasts, effectively limited to one at a time
Atomsmasher - Ergus Wraithcat of Betelgeuse - spaceflight, invulnerability, hyper senses, telepathy, EM radiation manipulation
Southern Lights of starhaven - spaceflight, magic user
Non - negative energy being - spaceflight, alter own dimensions and density, explosive touch, telepathic



Cosmic Boy had used his flight ring check where the rest of the team currently were.

The hard light screen it displayed had each full team member and student shown by their monitor board symbol. Most of the senior team were either at the poles of Legion World Two or on the dreadnought. As he watched, Mon El's symbol flew away from the large battle spaceship and he estimated it would roughly converge with their position in a few seconds.

Rokk didn't like the feel of the situation so warned the students to be on their guard as the Legion's mightiest member was fast approaching...

<Students. Mon El will be here any second, we need to assist him in wha...> Rokk stopped his message as a blur sped past the group and the Daxamite was gone.

<Okay... that was wrong. Can any of you catch up with him? Don't engage if you think there's a problem though>

<Affirmation of request> Atomsmasher sent, and the Wraithcat from Betelgeuse was gone. Without a message Non disappeared in a streak of black energy.

<I can carry you again if you would like?> Southern Lights sent.

<Okay... like before> Rokk squeezed his eyes closed and felt the young mystic from Starhaven's hands upon his shoulders again.

He opened his eyes to see the Wraithcat before him with its three tails wrapped around Mon El's throat while the Legionnaire tried to repulse the Negative Energy being they had taken to call Non with blasts of laser vision. Oddly the Daxamite clutched onto his cloak - tied up at the edges like a sack that was holding a clutter of cats eager to escape - which limited the action he could take against the students. Ultra Girl floated behind Mon El extending her Red Energy in brilliant swirls to try to hold the senior Legionnaire in place but as much as the mysterious energy she controlled tried to limit his major body actions it was not stopping his head from moving as he tracked Non with his laser blasts.

<Can you put him to sleep like you did the Martian?> Rokk sent to the mystic student, desperate to end this stand off.

<Third time in a day for that spell... I'll try though won't be able to use it again for a while.> Even as Southern Lights replied he closed his eyes and started to invoke the magical manna that fueled his spell. As the young mystic from Starhaven's magic took effect he groaned and twitched.

<You alright there son?> Rokk sent to Southern Lights. The Braalian had never understood magic, and truth be told had never had any urge to either, but he knew that there were costs to spellcasting that went way beyond the ordinary or expected.

<I shall persevere...> The winged young man was obviously in some discomfort but much like his planetmate Dawnstar had a personality that could be hard and unforgiving of any perceived flaws within their own character. It was a character flaw that could easily be seen as something akin to martyrdom... Rokk nodded and kept his opinions to himself. The culture of Starhaven was so different from Braal that he knew better than to judge, he'd just have to hope the student had sense enough to ask for assistance if he really needed it.

As they watched, Mon El fell forward, fast asleep. His cloak erupted open and Starkling swarmed out, immediately surrounding and pressing onto the unconscious Daxamite's head.

<Starkling! What's going on here?> Cosmic Boy immediately took charge.

<We believe that Lar Gand is acting out of the ordinary... it is most unusual, so we shall examine him further to find a remedy to this> The swarm being replied.

Rokk felt uncomfortable as he watched but was hopeful that whoever had manipulated Mon El was not still in active control and that Starkling could fix it. If Mon El could be controlled... well it didn't bode well for the rest of the team.

Rokk hoped Lydda was okay.

Oh my! I'm glad Rokk and company caught on to Mon-El before things could get worse. In a team this large, someone was bound to notice.

The stakes are getting higher and higher; my poor Zoe! But it was great from a writing standpoint, having Zoe and Dirk, among others, taken out so graphically. Again, it was bound to happen considering the numbers they are facing. You've got me on the edge of my seat!

Brainiac 5 was fully certain that his force field could contain Kara while also keeping him physically safe.

"You disgusting alien scum... I'm gonna make you beg and crawl!" Kara shouted at him as she continued to batter uselessly against his force field.

Querl ignored her.

The Coluan had discerned that his mind, usually his greatest asset, would be at greatest risk in the current situation so had taken a small piece of technology from his laboratory that would be his ultimate defence in the event that the psychics on board attacked him.

He also calculated that Jacques and Magnus had at best an 8.555% chance of affecting the outcome of this battle in a meaningful way... that was not odds he would usually be confident with but given how desperate the situation was becoming it was the best he could hope for.

There were several armed guards standing close by; initially they had tried to shoot at him but after their blaster fire had ricocheted back towards them they quickly stopped and used their comms to call for help.

The lights flickered along the corridor as footsteps could be heard approaching the junction where Querl desperately tried to draw attention of the armed guards that patrolled this dreadnought, and so give his colleague and the young man that had just joined them from Nordhelm a fighting chance to end this battle. The small group of synthetic guards all looked at the approaching figure and bowed in unison. The Legionnaire saw how referential the armed guards had become and took a deep breath as he focused his thoughts into the shields Imra had taught him to create...

Querl knew if his calculations were correct he would only have at very best several minutes at most before a psychic attack would end this charade and his teammates would be tracked down. He hoped that he had given them enough of a head start.

Several guards wearing black uniforms turned into the corridor and behind them Querl could see a hooded silhouette... Querl quickly tapped a sequence onto the palm of his robotic hand and then placed the small grey box he had taken from his laboratory into it.

"Ah, there you are Querl..." the woman's voice was almost familiar, "I've been waiting to meet you again."


Several hundred metres away Invisible Kid and the young illusion caster Magnus Laviksen heard the Coluan scream out in primal agony. Neither looked back, instead they both hurried along the route Jacques had memorized to the central control deck. Invisible Kid kept a tight grip on the young man from Nordhelm's arm so his invisibility field would keep them both unseen by any soldiers they encountered.

Thunder and Babbage tore through the warp into the command room where only three minutes before Starkling had caused mayhem and two minutes ago Psyche had left to find Brainiac 5.

Before she had left the rogue empathic would-be-dictator had ordered the room to be cleaned up and new security detail to be posted for her return.

Immediately as they had surfaced from the warp the two Legionnaires had been grabbed by three Daxamite officers who tore them through the wide corridors of the dreadnought into a loading bay and out into the vacuum of space. For all their strength and speed and fighting prowess the Legionnaires were caught unawares and dealt with at speed too quickly to react against in any meaningful manner.

Saturn Girl, Tellus and Harmonia Li were next and as they stepped through a telepathic barrage from the half dozen Titanian staff left functioning after Starkling's attack began. Imra felt tired already but her mental shields helped keep the Legionnaires from being immediately overcome. Harmonia whipped up a hurricane-like wind that tore around the room while Tellus used his telekinesis to steady himself and his comrades.

This may have been enough to deal with the telepath's threat had it not been for several synthetic soldiers who ran into the control room and blasted at the Legionnaires. One of them managed to strike Harmonia on the side of her head rendering her unconscious while another burned Imra's back causing her to lose focus for a split second and give access to the telepathic barrage that stung at all of their minds.

Dr Kabbo had arrived by then and his training as one of the preeminent psi-therapists in Sol System allowed him to share his mental shields with his teammates to repel the telepathic assault.

With the wind dropping Tellus reached out with his telekinesis to throw the synthetic soldiers against a wall, but even as he did more soldiers arrived and began blasting at the Legionnaires.

Ferro stepped through the warp and flew at these soldiers, their weapon fire bouncing off his iron skin. As he slammed them down he could hear more approaching so threw the soldiers up to crash into the ceiling. Before they had crashed unconscious to the floor Ferro was flying down the corridor towards the approaching soldiers.

Behind him he heard Imra Arden scream out in pain. Douglas Nolan froze, desperate to return to his colleagues... even as this thought crossed his mind he heard Tellus and Dr Kabbo cry out. Ferro looked both ways along the corridor and made up his mind. He willed his flight ring to lift him up, he pried open a ceiling panel and slid through into a cramped maintenance shaft, pulling the panel shut behind him.

He hoped his teammates would forgive him but the animal urge that had ultimately kept him alive in that other damaged reality where their opponent had come from had taken over.

Douglas Nolan fled.

Ummm... hang on tight there IB!

Yikes! I posted too soon. Nice dual cliffhangers here, Harbi.

Brainy calmly facing the odds is nice, he would be smart enough to know that fear or panic wouldn't help.

You're certainly not giving your team an easy time - and that ties in with the build-up of your threat! Looks like we are in for a long, tough ride.

I like how you left ambiguous whether Douglas was merely being a coward, or whether he was being smart. After all, this behavior had kept him alive...

I'm with Ib on this one. i'm on my seat and i really don't know what going to happen or how the team is going to come out of this one intact in anyway!

Is there a way to get a check list of whose still free of Psyche's thrall?

Can't wait for more!

Ferro crept through the dark and damaged corridor.

Sparks flew and smoke still swept along in waves making it impossible to see clearly but the steel skinned Legionnaire knew what he needed to do. Douglas Nolan had realized that given his teammates behaviour he should have guessed long before Saturn Girl had told him why he had felt so scared lately. It was something from his nightmares, reliving his worst memories and even worse... witnessing the corruption and death of the Legion dream twice over!

Ferro had seen this all before, lived through the hell of the Legion turning against its principles and being taken over by fear and hatred. The team he had ran from in that dark alter-dimension had become nothing more than the playthings of the emotional manipulator Psyche, and he knew now that his mind had picked up on the same evil psychic influences and that's why he had been feeling so anxious of late. If only he had listened to his gut... when Nasir had manipulated him... when Jan started to get so angry... when all the little things that didn't quite fit had started to add up. He had consciously denied the thought any room to grow in his mind. His denial of the facts had led to the current situation...

In a strange way he felt relived to know that there was a bona fide reason for his sleepless night and panic attacks.

When the Douglas Nolan of this reality had merged with the Ferro of that distant reality they had somehow kept both their consciousness separate, while each empowered the other, meaning that Psyche's influence had never taken hold. At best she could delay him, confuse him for a moment or two. Given how many of his teammates were under her control now that would be all she needed for him to be overpowered so Douglas knew he needed to stay hidden for as long as possible, until he had a clear shot.

The Psyche that had led a reign of terror in that distant and dark universe was somehow here. After living through the horrors that she had inflicted in the dark reality Douglas Nolan planned on ending her reign of terror once and for all even if it meant doing something abhorrent to the Legion's code.

If he found her Ferro would try his hardest to murder the bitch in cold blood.

Backlash cowered.

Duplicate Girl had informed the tigerram, Gravity Kid and Power Boy that there were three meta beings on Level 6 that they would need to tackle. In fact there were four - the first two were Braalians that Jed had easily taken care of by phasing through the floor behind them and sanapping incapacity cuffs on their arms while Tel dealt with their muscular accomplice by floating him up to the ceiling then snapping cuffs onto him. The Tigerram warned his colleagues that he could smell a fourth.

"Hello boys..." The voice was soft, amused.

And then the world appeared to twist and tumble as their senses erupted and fractured.

Power Boy sunk to the floor, sobbing into his meaty purple hands. Gravity Kid tried to escape but flew straight into the ceiling above and fell crashing into the floor.

Backlash was scared! The floor had melted into a soft carpet of green jelly like warriors, no taller than a tooth, yet each yelled for his death, while the walls started to peel open like spaghetti and the ceiling became a giant pointed face of a H'rroota bird - a fearsome Simballi predator that even his ferocious people were wary of.

Mrruaw M’Nau of Simballi cowered against a wall, his tail, usually held proudly upwards, curled underneath his mighty torso. While every sense screamed that this horror show was happening right there around him, he knew, underneath his immediate fear, that this could not be happening. Usually, the world was a place where a tigerram's accurate senses left little room for doubt but he knew this was some illusion...

"You boys just stay right there..." This time the amusement was clearly obvious.

The voice had come from somewhere to his left, back along the corridor. His eyes told him that the corridor was a knotted forest of spaghettified metals and angry green tiny jelly warriors... his mind told his eyes to close and he charged towards direction of the voice...

There was a bone breaking thud and the madness slowly dissipated.

Underneath the feline Legionnaire lay a young woman in a Science Police uniform that Backlash recognized from somewhere... he was still trying to clear his head when Jed stomped over towards them.

"Tori?" Jed sounded confused for a second before he rushed forward and pushed Backlash off the unconscious woman. Power Boy scooped her up in his arm. It was obvious that one of her arms was badly broken and there was blood pooling from a gash across her stomach.

"What have you done to her? It's Tori... Mandala... she's a friend! What the hell have you done you stupid animal!"

The tigerram once again backed away, unsure why his teammate had shouted at him - if she was such a friend why had they just had their mids interfered with? Before the great cat could reply Jed shouted into his flight ring for a warp to the medi-bay. It spun into the air before him and he stepped through.

Gravity Kid floated silently over towards Backlash.

"What did I do wrong Tel?" Mrruaw asked softly.

"She was a friend of Jed's. Don't worry, he's scared and tired... it'll be okay" The gravity manipulator went to put a hand on the tigerram's head but the great beast jerked away and silently padded away from his teammate in search of any other intruders that had snuck onto their planetoid home.

Sister Eclipse rested within the body of Ferro.

Her ability most often gave her full control over the body of those she possessed while dampening down that person's mind effectively sending them into a deep dreamless sleep. As her hosts mind were shut down during a possession she could only access their most immediate memories and thoughts while gaining full control over their physical motor functions and abilities. In the current situation Ferro was fully awake so Sister Eclipse shared her hosts mind's every thought and passion; it was not an experience that the Sister was particularly enjoying.

Her home world of Rhoohanisett iii had been virtually wiped out four centuries ago by a highly radioactive comet strike, the aftermath had virtually wiped out all life though the surviving indigenous people had united to rebuild their once thriving civilisation. Part of the new culture involved a respect for all life. The Rhoohani became a caretaker people, they worked tirelessly amongst the ashes and ruin to encourage every surviving species on their world often at the expense of their own comfort. The Rhoohani built small settlements that spread out amongst large swathes of newly tilled agricultural plots. Even with their good intentions the planet’s biosphere was crippled and the once vibrant world remained damaged.

the Sisterhood of Ensuing Enlightenment had travelled to Rhoohanisett ii and established several temples. The religious order provided aid and succour to the populace, rarely preaching but instead spending their waking hours amongst the weary and wounded, the ill and insane, gently supporting those that needed aid. As a young child Sister Eclipse had lived with her extended family in desperate and cramped conditions and they often sought support from the Sisterhood. It was no surprise when she announced as a child that one day she too would wear a habit and seek out those in need of her help. That had been many, many cycles ago. She had joined the Sisterhood and took to their mission with great ease - her natural empathy for those less fortunate than herself and strong desire to follow her moral compass had empowered her to rise quickly through the ranks. Her determination and wholehearted belief in the work of the Sisterhood was unshakeable. Her abilities were rarely used as they were not seen as particularly useful to the Sisterhood, though they all knew she had meta-potential. It neither encouraged or scared her fellow acolytes. It was merely one more gift from their deity to be appreciated.

She had gained full Sister status only two standard years before being sent to an outlying colony that had been ravaged by an unknown plague. In fact the plague was the result of dark magicks created by the Shadowmancer. The Arch Sorcerer had inflicted his dark will upon the remote world in the hope of forcing any meta beings to reveal their abilities - he wished to feed! Sister Eclipse and the team of forty nine fellow missionaries knew none of this but within days of landing on the world their numbers had almost been wiped out as the Shadowmancer's pet assassin, the ephemeral assassin he called Miasma, struck them down. There would be no aid allowed while the Shadowmancer looked for more sustenance. sister eclipse had used her abilities against the smokey ninja but could not hold onto full control as the mystic being discorporated. She had been quickly captured after that and hung in one of the Shadowmancers feeding cages.

She had remained there for more days than she could count, it felt as much as a thousand of her days... despite the slow and painful process of the Dark Mage feeding on her unique energies she still offered prayers and what support she could to her fellow inmates and never once doubted that she was in this situation because it could somehow feed into the greater plans her god had for her. When the Legion arrived and rescued the Shadowmancer's captives she knew what that reason was. And so, with the same quiet determination and belief that had sustained her through the dreadful days of her captivity, she set about becoming a Legionnaire. Surely there could be no higher calling than to be one of these mighty heroes that challenged the grossly unequal status quo with their belief in unity and charity?

Sister Eclipse had not expected the team to be as singular in purpose as her own religious order but was still surprised at just how diverse the Legion's membership was. The single purpose that she had expected them to all follow had been quickly shown to be a fallacy - some did indeed share her desire to help others, while several more were motivated by personal tragedy, a few of the rest were on the look out for adventures and thrills while, disappointingly, there were a few who craved the attention and glory of being a Legionnaire...

Ferro was a strange mix of all of these as he dealt with his brother's untimely death and recovered from the malignancy he had encountered in that other reality with a burning desire to never see it happen again, still he craved for the excitement of action and enjoyed the attention being one of the group brought him...

But right now, Sister Eclipse was painfully aware that what Doug Nolan wanted most was revenge; Sheer bloody minded revenge...

The reptilian Legionnaire swore to herself that as much as Ferro would hate her for it, she would never allow him to take another life.

Psyche laughed as she stode back onto her tattered command deck.

The stupid Legionnaires had acted just as had been foretold by the High Seer and his Council earlier that day. She had just captured the team that was most likely to cause her the most damage. The Coluan had fallen as he had tried to activate some device. The Braalian guard she had with her had exploded it in Dox's hand and she had amplified the pain he felt a thousandfold. Even in this suddenly altered timeline, different from her original plan because of the warning given by the Seer of Nordhelm, the Legion's pet Coluan had acted as predicted, his immense intelligence made him so predictable. Brainiac 5 may be the most academically qualified being in the known galaxy but that didn't necessary make him canny when dealing with every opponent. Certainly not canny enough to deal with an opponent that had manipulated the entire High Council of Naltor to provide her with predictions of this battle.

The Naltorian High Seer had given her one ominous warning that she knew would need to be dealt with soon, but until then she would revel in this moment. Imra Ardeen was finally in front of her wearing a psi dampener... What fun could she have playing with the legendary matriarch of the Legion? In Psyche's own reality Saturn Girl had died saving Lighting Lad, which gave Psyche the opportunity her former masters in the Dark Circle had been waiting for, to slip a sleeper agent into that superhero team's ranks. She had always wanted to pit her psychic skills against the legendary telepathic Legion founder and here in this distant dimension from her own she had it.

Aven had been easy to manipulate, as tired as he was and already harbouring serious doubts about the legion's worth after the destruction of Titan and the team taking Harmonia Li, the person he felt was responsible, into their ranks. Saturn Girl would be an entirely different matter as her belief in the team was as ironclad as her pragmatism. Psyche intended to find out if Imra Ardeen really was as good as the legends said.

Still, the warning rankled at Psyche's confidence, the damned Nordhelm Seer had stopped her for gaining her definitive victory and with one sly warning had given the Legion this slight opportunity... she had been warned that in this new future there was one who had the potential to upset her plans but Psyche had laughed when they had told her who... The One who is Two.

She knew who that was and she thought that he could wait a few minutes. She would capture the cowardly Douglas Nolan soon enough and remind him personally why he should fear her. It would make her victory all the sweeter when she had her pet Titanians pry open his mind for her. She had a special gift in mind just for Ferro...

There was so much to thank him for after all, without his dual consciousness she would never have known of this alternate universe and gotten free from the Dark Circle, so to have this reality all for herself. Yes, she had plans for Douglas Nolan, her pet telepaths would split the two minds apart and she would set them against each other so he could spend the rest of his days in utter turmoil as his own minds tore themselves apart. Psyche rather looked forward to meeting Ferro, it would be a rare delight.

"Kara, my pet..." Psyche said to the Kryptoonian, newly freed from Brainiac 5's force field, "Can you go get Douglas Nolan for me. Don't damage him too much please."

Andromeda smiled in reply, eager to please her misstrees before zooming off to hunt her former teammate.

Psyche was looking forward to dealing with Ferro... But right now she had the mind of Imra Ardeen to explore. She would have the Legionnaire's mind to feast on in the days ahead but right now she couldn't resist having a little taste...