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A ONEVISION Originally written in November 2000 on the old LEGIONNAIRES board, now revised and expanded for LEGION WORLD!
It was a time like no other before or since. A time of acid-tripping and guitar-riffing, of free love and cheap polyester, of long hair and wearing no underwear.
And, oh yes, a time for... evil.
But whenever evil floats to the surface like a bloated corpse, the LMB EXPERIENCE is there, man!
Harken then, to these times of yore and the adventures of a band of friends who sought to keep the peace through acts of war.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE LMB EXPERIENCE
ACID LAD--- Able to disorient any foe with his psychedelic illusions!
SUNDOWN--- You better take care, or this girl will smother you in darkness!
BOY 54--- When his mojo is on, you're his, body & soul!
RHINESTONE COWBOY--- He knows what evil lurks on the dirty streets of Broadway!
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Acid Lad dropped another hit. He stared around his dilapidated apartment with disgust, supressing a shudder of revulsion. He waited for the LSD to kick in, knowing full well it wouldn't. He continued writing in his journal.
You would think a hero deserves better than this. No one remembers ANYTHING we do. It's all a joke to the press, to the people. DAMN IT!!
It's all falling apart. Sundown keeps slipping closer and closer to the dark side. She won't say it, but I know she's seeing someone else. And why not? She deserves better than the loser she has now.
Boy 54 never has gotten over Platform King's leaving. The stupid kid is worse than ever. He's out whoring every night now. It used to be just when Platform King was on a mission.
Rhinestone Cowboy has just about gone over the edge since the breakup with Roller Queen. Every time some 2-bit hood is reported dead, I know it's him. He's obsessed.
Queenie, at least, is having a blast in the roller derby, though. She's really lightened up since they split.
So, we're all that's left of the LMBE. Or are we even that? No mission in weeks, Sundown won't see me and I'm depressed as all hell.
Going to see Dr. "boots not butts" Butz today... got a lot to get off my mind.
Acid Lad dropped another hit, knowing, like the hundreds before, that it would have no effect. He set his journal aside and prepared to visit his shrink.
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Sundown's thoughts were an incoherent stream that raged into a flood as she plunged the needle into her vein.
No longer able to hide her track marks from Acid Lad, she had unofficially stopped seeing him.
He couldn't feel what she felt, couldn't know this was a power like no other, a love like no other, he couldn't see her like this, not like this, he couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't, he wouldn't, he...
Sundown fell back against the wall and felt no pain when her head smacked the floor.
"So numb... and dark..."
As sweet unconsciousness beckoned, she knew that she had to see him. She needed help. She could no longer fight the darkness alone.
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All eyes were on the boy. Not one person in the smoke-filled room could turn away. He held them all in his power as he danced to the pulsating disco beat. your body, my body
If he wanted, he knew he could have any of them. ALL of them. But he had had no one since the King.
The dance floor was no longer a mating room. Only a dining room.
A kind of vampire, that's what he is. 54 years old but not a day over 17. Would Platform King have understood? "SHOULD I HAVE TOLD HIM?" he screamed to no one yet everyone.
He continued to dance. let's all chant
He could have used his power to keep the King with him. He could have fed on the King.
He wanted the King to stay with him because he loved him, not because he was made to.
"I should have told him the truth." he said to himself as he continued to feed on the enthralled crowd.
The boy exited the dance floor and then the bar, satiated. As he began the long, lonely walk home, the entrancement of the disco patrons lifted. They would remember only the most stunning boy they had ever seen. Unable to describe him, they would call him Boy 54.
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He'd been walking these streets so long that he knew every crackhead on the dirty streets, every hooker on the corners. Hustle was the name of their game, and he let them be. The whores were the only thing that took his mind off... Queenie.
But the prostitutes only gave him temporary solace. His thoughts were of her at all other times. EXCEPT...
He felt the jab in his back, heard the desperation in the voice... "Gimme yer money, Tex-- NOW!!"
Rhinestone Cowboy instinctively activated his power-suit. The mugger was blinded by the brilliance emitted, and the gun was quickly removed from his hand.
The Cowboy drug the obviously recent arrival to town down a dark alleyway. The street people ignored the mugger's pleas for help They knew to stay out of his way.
Eventually the punk's cries ceased. Rhinestone Cowboy emerged from the alley splattered in blood not his own.
And again his thoughts turned to her. He ambled on down the sidewalk, wiping blood from his face, praying for the next respite from her memory.
2-Fisted Frieda went down hard. One more opponent out of the way.
A well-timed body smash into Skatin' Sally sent her tumbling into the path of Wanda Wheels. Both girls crashed on the alley floor.
The cheers from the audience were better than any drug she'd ever tried. They called her name in unison, worshipping her as if she were actual royalty. And she was roller derby royalty. She was the Roller Queen and they all knew it!
Her thoughts raced, fueled by adreneline.
Even the LMBE's worthwhile accomplishments had been belittled and made to look ridiculous by the press. But here-- here, she had RESPECT. Here, she was a celebrity at last! Here, she was free of the obsessive desire of the Cowboy.
She hadn't answered a signal from them in weeks, and they had finally stopped signalling. But she couldn't help but hope they were all okay... even the Cowboy.
"QUEENIE QUEENIE QUEENIE QUEENIE" The chant of the audience snapped her back to reality. The derby was over, and once again she had led her team to victory.
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From the Obituary of a Phoenix, Arizona Newspaper
BELLE ROTH, 26
Found murdered in her home Monday morning. Police have no leads or suspects at present. Ms. Roth was once known as Belle Bottom, a short-term member of the maligned LMB Experience, the group sanctioned in 1967 by the Justice Society Message Board. The JSMB would later cut ties with the LMBE in 1971...
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Acid Lad focused on the smooth, comforting tone of Dr. Butz' voice.
"So you feel that Sundown has taken up with another gentleman friend?"
"Heh. Yeah, that's... one way of putting it." He placed another tablet beneath his tongue.
"You do understand why you are immune to drugs, don't you? And alcohol too, I'd wager."
"No. I just know it started happening a few years ago, right before my powers kicked in."
"That is because your body metabolizes the drugs and turns them into your illusion powers. You will never feel the effects of anything with mind-altering properties."
Acid Lad's eyes grew wide. "Are you saying..."
"The more drugs you take, the more powerful you become. If you discontinue their use, your power will atrophy."
Acid Lad seemed to relax, his body sinking further into the chair. "Well. That explains... a lot, actually."
Dr. Butz continued. "Tell me more about the LMB Experience themselves. We have focused on Sundown, but you have spoken of Roller Queen, Boy 54 and Rhinestone Cowboy only in passing. I am curious to learn more of your feelings for them."
Acid Lad took a deep breath. "Well, Doc, let me tell ya..."
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Sundown's trembling hand reached for the phone on her nightstand. Just a few inches more...
She fell back on the floor without the strength to try again.
Her thoughts bounced to and fro and kept returning to the dealer she had bought this heroin from. She had never seen him before. She knew better than to do that, but she was desperate at the time...
Too well-dressed. He had been too well-dressed. What dealer had she ever seen dressed like that?
And he had called her by name.
Sundown. Even the press would get her name wrong... Sunflower, Sun Girl, Nightfall...
She would have laughed if she had the strength.
But HE had called her Sundown.
GOD! He had been TOO well-dessed and he knew her name and he had been TOO well-dressed and clean and shaven and he knew her name!
In desperation, she again attempted to lift herself from the floor, to reach for the phone. She wanted to call Acid Lad... one last time.
But again she fell back. As darkness closed in, her ocean of thoughts dried to a simple stream... "I'm dying... I'm a junkie... I'm dying a junkie I'm dying a junkie I'm dying a junkie I'm dying..."
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Boy 54 entered his tiny apartment. It only seemed smaller with the King gone.
He should have been honest. He knew some of the others thought the worst when he went out "clubbing"-- what else could they think?-- and the rumours had finally forced the King to leave him.
Boy 54 exhaled a weary sigh of realization. "King, I'm a vampire that feeds not on blood but on lust." There. He had said it. Far, far too late, of course.
He threw himself upon his mattress and stared at the neon shining through his window, waiting for its unearthly glow to lull him to sleep.
The ring of his telephone sent jolts of shock, excitement and fear through him... was it the King? He picked up and said "Hello?" hesitantly.
"Boy."
It was Rhinestone Cowboy. He hadn't seen or heard from him in days. Boy 54 had always felt uneasy around the Cowboy. Most people, both male and female, fed him a constant stream of low-level lust, even when his power was "turned off". Not the Cowboy, not even once.
The sound of his voice on the phone made Boy 54 very afraid for reasons he couldn't comprehend. This man had been a trusted teammate of his for years.
"Rhinestone? What... what's wrong?"
The Cowboy breathed heavily on the other end, then said, "I'm going to kill Roller Queen."
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Boy 54 was taken aback, unsure of how to reply to that. "You don't mean it."
"I've killed every night for 2 weeks straight. Don't tell me I don't mean it."
Silence for a moment, and then the Cowboy continued, "Do you know what she left me with, Boy? A subway token and a dollar stuck inside my shoe. I can't stop thinking about her!"
"I miss Platform King too, Cowboy. But I wish him well, not dead."
"I'm... lonely, Boy. She's made me crazy..." his voice cracked with tears and for the first time ever, Boy 54 could identify with Rhinestone Cowboy.
"Where are you?"
"The pay phone down the street from her pad."
Boy's heart suddenly raced. "For God's sake, just stay there. Right there! I'm on my way. We'll... I dunno, go get some coffee or something."
"I'm waiting."
Boy 54 slammed down the phone and raced out the door, fearful for both the Cowboy and Queenie. He ran down the sidewalk as if his inner demons had been thrust suddenly outside, chasing him.
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Roller Queen skated home as if gliding on air, her equipment bag draped over her shoulder swaying left then right.
Still feeling euphoric from tonight's victory, she gasped when she spied the white stetson and glittering ruby suit almost a block ahead.
"R.C!" she whispered. She stopped dead in her tracks. He hadn't seen her.
"What the hell is he doing, anyway? Spying on me? He isn't close enough to see in my window..."
The blonde, skinny frame of Boy 54 trotted up to the Cowboy, and a look of realization came over Queenie. "Well, well, well. How sweet. They're checking up on me." She smiled despite herself.
"I'll show 'em I'm doing just fine without the LMB Experience!"
Roller Queen began skating toward her oblivious former teammates confidently.
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Boy 54 stiffened as he saw Roller Queen in the distance, advancing quickly. Awww, Christ! he thought. What do we do now?
Rhinestone Cowboy noticed his change in body language instantly. "What? What is it?" And then he thought he heard... skating. "She's behind me, isn't sh--"
>>>BASH!<<<
The Cowboy and Boy 54 sprawled together on the pavement as Roller Queen laughed hysterically.
"You two wouldn't last 10 seconds in the derby Hahaha...! The looks on your faces... HAhaha!!"
Boy 54, about to panic, felt a rush of sweet relief as the Cowboy's face melted from fury to a smile. Queenie's laughter was infectious.
"So", Roller Queen stated matter-of-factly, "Who does a girl have to f#ck around here to get some dinner?"
As Rhinestone Cowboy helped Boy 54 off the sidewalk, he said, "My treat."
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From the Obituary of a Chicago, Illinois Newspaper
ANTHONY OWENS, 28
...found murdered in his home Thursday night. Owens was known in his community as a hard-line civil rights activist and was rumoured to be the one-time LMB Experience member known as Peace-Taker...
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Acid Lad actually enjoyed the walk home. The night breeze blowing through his long brown hair was divine. He always felt better after talking with Dr. Butz, but this time had been a revelation in every sense of the word.
It had really helped to talk about the LMBE. Dr. Butz helped him understand that it wasn't his fault the group was falling apart.
The group had been shaky from the start anyway. And then the resignations started piling up... Belle Bottom, Peace-Taker, The Living Afro, Bong Boy, Frisbee Frank... all quit and ended up who knows where.
What the LMBE had been reduced to was a group of couples, and that began to crack with the resignation of Platform King. And then RC and Queenie split up, and Sundown began... distancing herself. Sundown...
Damn it, I don't care who she's screwing. I wanna know if she's in the LMBE, or out.
Acid Lad placed a pill on his tongue and changed directions, heading toward Sundown's apartment.
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