Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legion Worlds Eight (end 19 Dec 22)

Below the cages, Grachdashg and Narankachg, the twin Khunds both looked up at the dark ceiling above.

With their cybernetic enhancements they could easily see the lone Legionnaire though neither made a move to capture him. They knew that if a Legionnaire could find them then their time here was coming to an end. Their lives had taught them when it was time to cut and run...

Twins were virtually unheard of within the Khundian Empire. Not only was the rate of naturally occurring conception of twins about one in every three million births, but it was something that was seen as a sign of immense bad luck within the Empire. The Twin Gods F'ratshatchakk and K'karaschakk, Lords of Blood Letting and Combat with Blades, were renowned as being jealous gods that did not wish to share this status with mortals. As a result, twin births, if they were to happen within the Empire, usually resulted in the murder of the children and parents and severe reparation paid to the city state where they were born from the extended family as punishment for offending the divine twin gods.

Understandably, there were very, very few twins born within the Khund Empire.

When their mother found she was carrying the two children within her she did not resort to the removal of one of the foetus' as would be expected, instead she fled to a world on the fringe of the Empire and Dominion space where it was said the few Khunds that had already settled there did not follow the old ways. Trechna was not regarded as a particularly safe world under the best of circumstances, and that was especially true for a single woman and her newborn children. As far as their mother was concerned though it was as near to safety as she could afford and at least both of her children would have a chance to survive.

Even out on the edge of so-called civilisation the twin Khunds were shunned. As a result, the two boys grew up with strong anti-social tendencies and a reputation of being savage fighters. At nine years old they were sold to a Baron, under some duress it must be said, to become members of his staff. They did not last long in the kitchens where they were initially placed, but the Chief of Security who captained the Baron's private army saw something in them and took them in. In the next five years the two young Khunds earned a fierce reputation.

As they approached their fifteenth year, the Khund Emperor decided that the rebellious little world on the edge of his Empire needed reminding that it was a vassal state and so sent one of his most feared Warlords to deal with it.

Warlord Dauuchara was renowned for his intelligence as well as owning a successful stable of warriors that fought in the Challenge Courts. His troops captured the twins and the Warlord saw an opportunity that he did not want to squander. The two teenage boys would be killed as soon as they were returned to the Empire so before they returned, he planned on using them as Guinea pigs for prototype cyborg technology he was working on for his current batch of Champions. The boys spent six agonising days under the scalpel of one of the Empire's most eminent surgeons, losing their limbs, part of their brains, spines and eyes as cybernetics were crudely fitted onto them. These were not the full powered additional implants that the Warlord wanted his fighters to use, he was not stupid enough to fully empower his captives, but it was still enough that they made their escape as it turned out that the invisibility circuitry worked better than expected.

Grashashk and Narankacht were not stupid either so they stole the plans for the fully enhanced cybernetics before blowing up the laboratory and a full third of the battle cruiser they had been held captive upon. Warlord Dauuchara only lasted a further twelve days in position after this until he was found hanging in his apartment.

The twins escaped and in the decade that followed they had the full spectrum of enhancements made to the specifications they had stolen and became highly sought-after mercenaries. They operated on the fringes of the United Planets mainly and for over three decades they had been amassing a decent bank balance and reputation until they had taken a job on Ventura protecting a paranoid Lord and went on the run after he threatened to share the technology that had created them. While trying to get the data the Lord had taken off them from a bank vault they had been caught by the Legion. It was the first time they had been caught since the Khund Warlord.

The year or so they had spent on Takron-Galtos had not been pleasant but at least they were treated with some respect from their fellow inmates. And, when Miasma had broken them out from the shuttle craft, they had happily joined the other escaping villains to this place where the Shadowmancer lurked.

Like most Khunds, they had an inherent distrust of magic so found working for the Shadowmancer to be at best uncomfortable. While the dark sorcerer had promised them whatever they desired it had not yet delivered and the twin Khunds were beginning to wonder if it ever would... certainly, when it had helped the War-Wolf, the Shadowmancer had benefited more from that as it had kept the mystical spear that the wolf mage craved for itself, and Lightning Lord was clearly unimpressed that they had taken his nephew and put the young boy into one of the dark mages feeding cages. It appeared that the promises that the one who had freed them from Takron-Galtos made came at a steep price.

And here they were, in the cavern where it appeared that a Legionnaire was above them in the shadows, hidden by several dozen enchanted cages full of captives that the twins had helped to bring here. They exchanged a glance and they both knew they understood the other perfectly. The unreliable promise that maybe, eventually they would get to fulfil their dreams was not enough to keep them here if the Legion were about to attack. They had enough squirreled away in various vaults and banks, and were owed more than enough favours from a wide selection of people in positions of some authority to help them that they didn't need to rely on the words of a dark magic-user to get where they wanted to be. They had helped it capture many of the captives in the cages above so felt that they had repaid any debt they owed it for breaking them out.

Given that several of the Shadowmancers team where away catching more unique beings for their master, if the Legion were to arrive in force the situation would be unlikely to go the twins way. So, at the first hint of an opportunity, the twin Khund cyborgs would be getting as far away from here as they could; they would never allow themselves to be taken as prisoners again.

First Base:, Senior Team briefing room:

Phantom Girl - Team Leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension - intangibility
Thunder - Deputy Leader, Cecelia Becks of 21st Century Earth, immense strength, speed, indestructibility, space flight, wisdom
Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla - shape changer
Lightning Lass - Senior Team member, Ayla Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation
Duplicate Girl - Senior Team member, Luornu Durgo of Carggg - creation of multiple identical duplicates
Mon El - Senior Team member, Lar Gand of Daxam - incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):

Solar Gorilla - D'Nadka Endarooga of Dmansca - generate and project extreme heat and light (Lightning Lass)
Strobe - Denal Lort of Dryad - assume electro-magnetic energy form (Chameleon Boy)

From Home Base:
Cosmic Boy - Rokk Krinn of Braal - manipulation of magnetic fields

Retired:
Saturn Girl - Imra Ardeen of Titan - Alpha level telepathy
Lightning Lad - Garth Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation


Thunder and Mon El stood before the warp as it spun open, ready to face whatever was coming through.

It was clearly a Gil'Dishpan creation as it took several seconds to materialise fully, unlike Henry's instantaneous warps. Saturn Girl walked through with a small tight smile on her face. Her expression didn't give much away, which was a concern for Tinya and Rokk as they knew their friend well enough to know there had been something that happened to trouble her.

Behind her, the student pH Zero floated into the meeting room, slowly uncurling from the ball it had scrunched into as a sign of submission before the rulers of the Gil'dishpan Expanse. Behind the student floated two other Gil'Dishpan, both slightly smaller than the student though with red markings across their bodies.

"See you brought company back with you Imra." Rokk said with obvious relief.

"Yes, though you need to know what I've agreed to to gt them here..." Imra started to reply.

"It'll be alright, we'll get to it later. We're just relieved you're back with us." Tinya said as she phased through Mon El to give her friend a hug.

Imra explained to the gathered senior team that the warpsmiths would alert them to any warp their clansman working for the Shadowmancer opened up and they would open corresponding warps of their own at the co-ordinates, so the team would be able to hopefully capture the mystic shade and his new Devil's Dozen in one swoop.

While the others discussed who should be on their next mission Rokk contacted Garth to let him know Imra had returned. Garth thanked Rokk before giving a knowing smile and saying he was on his way up there at that moment, stating that Gear had volunteered to nanny the children. Rokk realised that Imra must have telepathically told Garth she had returned as she walked through the warp onto First Base.

Thunder, Phantom Girl and Mon El were discussing the teams they would need as a holo of Thirteen from the Second Base Monitor Board interrupted them.

"Tinya... everyone, Xao has vanished from the grav-lift and Henry says he can't open a warp to where he is as it's being blocked by magic. Here are the co-ordinates..." The holo of the Naltoran flicked his hand and the senior team members flight rings breeped as they received the data.

<Can you create warps to these co-ordinates?> Saturn Girl asked the two Gil'Disgpan.

<Unlikely it is, though try we will. No Z-lemma Matrix co-ordinates given>

"Hold on Imra," Tinya said, clearly reading the body language between the telepath and the warpsmiths, "We need to get a team ready before we leave as the Shadowmancer is powerful and he's not alone."

"Neither is she..." Garth Ranzz said as he strode into the meeting room. There was a tightness to his expression that warned Tinya that the former Legion founder meant business, and whoever got in his way would regret it.

"Thunder," Phantom Girl said to her deputy, "What's the estimate on how long until teams are ready to go?"

"I'm in the process of getting teams together and ready in Henry's warp control room on both First and Second Base. Two or three minutes and we'll be ready."

"Excellent! Right, everyone..." Tinya announced through the comms system for all Legionnaires to hear: "We have a bunch of heavyweight nasties who escaped T-G to deal with and if that's not enough the Shadowmancer is involved too. If it's anything like the last time we faced him there's going to be innocents to protect and rescue as well. I'm sending through the information on the escaped villains and the Shadowmancer so take the time to go through it please. As soon as we know where we're going, we'll be going in hard and I expect you to be ready."

Between Imra's telepathy and the student pH Zero's comprehending the spatial co-ordinates as understood to human perceptions they had managed to clarify to the two Gil'Dishpan exactly where they wanted to go to.

While Saturn Girl and the student communicated with the Warpsmiths, Tinya, Cece and Lar had quickly discussed their plan on how they would tackle the escaped villains and the Shadowmancer - each team member would be given their jobs to do, and the team leaders knew they would be needed to release any captives they discovered as well... none of the senior team thought this would be an easy win. After they had finished their conversation, Thunder had quickly gone to Henry's warp room to ensure her team would be ready and Mon El had warped across to Second Base with Duplicate Girl to prepare the team he had chosen - none of whom were unique beings which, the team leaders hoped, would ensure the Shadowmancer couldn't feed on them. Lu was to stay behind on the base, as the team were worried that her unique abilities would prove a massive boon to the Shadowmancer if she was captured, and though she agreed she was not happy with this decision.

Tinya remained with the founders, Ayla and Reep. She also called for Southern Lights, now stationed on Hope World, to join them; she knew that having a mystic on their team would be a definite advantage. While she had been doing that, Ayla and Reep called for the new Legionnaires that they mentored, requesting they join them in the Senior team briefing room. They would be joining Tinya's team when the time came. Rokk and Garth studied the hard light screen in front of them as it showed all the information that the team had gathered about the Shadowmancer after their last encounter. It was not comfortable reading.

"He's a nasty piece this one, isn't he Garth." Rokk muttered to his old friend.

"Yup, though really he's no nastier than Mordru or a dozen others we took down... and he's got my son, so we don't have much of a choice Rokk; we're taking him in along with the rest of the cronies he's got around him, and Mekt... Mekt needs serious help, I can't allow him to run around like this."

"You and Ayla aren't responsible for his instability. I know you know this..."

"Yeah, still, it's really embarrassing watching him cause all this trouble, especially when we should be able to do something about it." Both men had been studying the screen before them, not looking at each other as they spoke. The depth of understanding between them meant they didn't have to say much to know exactly how he other felt.

Henry had warped Southern Lights over to First Base. The winged mystic bowed his head respectfully to Tinya as he stepped through the spinning disc - which drew a side glance and smile from Imra, before plucking hairs from his head. He asked the team leader to hold out her hand and he quickly tied a hair around her right index finger while muttering an enchantment to give her some protection from any magical attack. This was a spell that Glorith had taught him so he was eager to put it to use.

Chameleon Boy stepped up, shook the young mystics hand and asked if he too could be given this magical protection before they went into the shadowmancers lair. Reep knew that Imra and Garth and perhaps even Rokk probably had no idea what Southern Lights was doing so to save any embarrassment Reep had stepped forward and made it clear what the winged mystic was doing.

<Legionnaires!> Imra's voice seemed to echo uncomfortably through the telepathic matrix. Unknown to everyone else, immediately after this message was sent Tinya used a private bandwidth to tell her friend that she shouldn't use her natural telepathy along with the flight ring TP field as it caused that weird echo. The two women shared a glance and Imra gave a nod and grateful smile towards the team leader as she continued - using the flight ring generated telepathic matrix only.

<The Warpsmith's are confident that they now understand and can use the co-ordinates we gave them. I hope you're all ready as we will be leaving momentarily>

very much looking forward to what happens next!

love t he backstories you give to even the villains - the Khund twins, for example.

Nice bit with Imra and the echo in the flight ring matrix. shows that the Legion has grown and evolved with time.

You're not imagining it. The chess game is in Superboy and the LSH 217, Charge of the Doomed Legionnaires. It's Mike Grell art that ends with an explosion from a Legion Cruiser spelling out "Holy cow! Dig the fireworks!"

Brin kicks over the chessboard, but he's playing against Superboy. You can see the panel here: https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/2021/07/17/superboy-217/ (the exploding Legion Cruiser panel also is uploaded to this page).

nice, thanks for the link, reckless!

Reckless, hi, many thanks for that link it's greatly appreciated. I'm glad my memory wasn't failing too badly Comics archeology is a great resource too so thanks for introducing me to it.

I really liked the aside with the Khund twins, that is some nice world-building stuff as well as characterisation!

I am really looking forward to seeing Garth and Imra in action with the rest of the team too! Garth and Rokk's chat was really well done, I like how Rokk knows that Garth and Ayla don't need to be told they're not responsible for Mekt but he's also known them long enough to know how Garth feels. That really showed how close the founders are.

There were a couple little scenes which highlighted how different the team has become since Garth and Imra stopped being an active part of it...the telepathic echo with Imra and Southern Lights using Glorith's spell - I like that it wasn't anything really dramatic but it does subtly show that as legendary as Garth and Imra might be they are actually a bit out of the loop when it comes to the current Legion. Hopefully that won't bite them at a bad time!

Looking forward to seeing what happens next!!

First Base:

Phantom Girl - Team Leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension - intangibility
Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla - shape changer
Lightning Lass - Senior Team member, Ayla Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation
Southern Lights of Starhaven - spaceflight, magic user

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):

Solar Gorilla - D'Nadka Endarooga of Dmansca - generate and project extreme heat and light (Lightning Lass)
Strobe - Denal Lort of Dryad - assume electro-magnetic energy form (Chameleon Boy)

Cosmic Boy - Founder and Headmaster at Home Base Academy, Rokk Krinn of Braal - manipulation of magnetic fields
Saturn Girl - Founder and former member, Imra Ardeen of Titan, alpha-level telepathy
Lightning Lad - Founder and former member, Garth Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation


As the warp spun into existence Ayla and Tinya took point.

Close behind, Reep, Rokk, Garth and Imra jumped after them. The three newest Legionnaires followed. They all knew that they had ten or twelve seconds until the next Gil'Dishpan warp would open carrying Thunder and the rest of the team from First Base through so they intended to use this time to disrupt what the Shadowmancer and his team of villains were up to.

Ahead of them was a dark cavern, with a high ceiling that had cages hanging from it - they had expected this after the last time the Legion had encountered the Shadowmancer. It is the ironic law of the universe that sudden heroic appearances often lead to their own defeat, and this was certainly true in this case as the warp that the Gil'Dishpan had opened up had taken the Legionnaires into the centre of the Shadowmancer's cavern. Directly behind where the warp opened up, and so out of sight for the Legionnaires were the mystics called the War-Wolf and Mr Chimes.

As Mr Chimes worked on a spell that would confuse the Legionnaires the War-Wolf released half a dozen of his lycanthrope avatars.

Imra resisted the temptation to focus entirely on Garridan, as they expected he was in one of the cages above, instead she sent out a wide ranging telepathic scan to locate any living beings close by. Too late, she recognised one of the minds present as belonging to Meta Ulnoor, the psychic villain called Esper Lass! Imra felt stupid momentarily as Tinya had shared information on the meta-villains that had escaped from Takron-Galtos, and so she should have been prepared as Meta was an accomplished telepath with an Alpha rating in Pushing - the psychic skill of forcing ones own thoughts onto another mind. Before Imra could fully erect a mental shield the psychic villain struck with a savage attack, tearing into Imra's mind like a tiger.

Garth and Ayla had both taken to the air to throw lightning bolts towards the three beings before them - Esper Lass was the only one they recognised from their run-ins with her before, though the Shadowmancer was recognisable from the description from the hard light files they had read before leaving on this mission. The other was a being in a dark hooded cloak wearing a large mask that appeared to give it a hooked beak that stuck out almost two feet from their face. The Shadowmancer had used the Spear of Light, stolen from the Monastery that had guarded this sacred artifact for a millennia, to create a barrier in front of the Legionnaires which deflected their electric blasts.

The air around the Legionnaires seemed to pulse before everything went dark for a long second. When light returned they found themselves in a very different place - their teammates were gone and everywhere they looked there were snarling werewolves! Garth and Ayla started to blast at the wolves as they pounced. As the werewolves appeared to attack out of nowhere Tinya dived into the floor - she had estimated where their opponents were standing and she planned on giving them a surprise!

Chameleon Boy had changed into a three-headed Gurdanuon Rhino and charged at the lycanthropes before him but they spun out of his way. At his side had been Solar Gorilla but she had vanished though he could still feel the heat she generated. Having worked alongside Princess Projectra for many years Reep was certain that the attacking pack were not what they seemed...

<It's a trick, we're facing illusions. Garth and Ayla, can you keep blasting where you saw the Shadowmancer? Ignore the werewolves they're not there> The Durlan sent across the telepathic matrix.

<You sure bud?> Garth responded.

<Oh shut up and do it already Garth> Ayla replied, her message thick with sibling teasing.

Unfortunately, amongst the illusionary wolves there were some that the War-Wolf had created, and as the Legionnaires ignored what their senses told them was happening around them the creatures crept closer getting ready to pounce.

Southern Lights had taken to the air alongside Cosmic Boy - they role on their mission was to release the prisoners while their teammates distracted and hopefully overcame their opponents.

The winged mystic from Starhaven had prepared a chant that would ease the nausea of those they released as well as a defensive spell in case they were attacked while they did their job here. The magnetic hero from Braal was focused on snapping the chains and lowering the cages to the ground. He was quite sure that the team below would keep the Shadowmancer and his gang of thugs busy. They were getting close to the cages when Mr Chimes' illusion spell reached them - the air darkened and then all hell broke loose!

Around the two swarmed flying horrors that dived and charged at them.

Southern Lights was momentarily affected but his years of studying the Higher Pathways of the Spirit Guides gave him an immunity of sorts to falsehood, however it manifested itself, and so could see through the illusion. He quickly flew to Cosmic Boy's side and used the telepathic matrix to reassure the Braalian that this attack was not what it seemed.

<You sure? Okay... can you guide me to the chains so I can snap them and lower them to the ground> The Braalian hero flinched several times as they approached the nearest chain, obviously reacting to whatever image had been implanted onto his senses. Southern Lights gently took Rokk's arm and placed his hand on the chain.

As Cosmic Boy reached out with his magnokinesis to snap the chain they heard a hiss approaching them. In the darkness above the cages something moved towards them... Southern Lights prepared the phrase needed to activate his defensive spell as Cosmic Boy focused on lowering the cage he had just released from the ceiling down to the ground. From out of the corner of his eye Southern Lights saw a sudden movement but he was not fast enough to speak the charm before something struck him, sending him spinning. As the winged mystic regained control and flew up to help Cosmic Boy who was suddenly without a guide to get him through the illusions he heard a familiar voice shout across the top of the cages:

"Szenlong! Stop, they're our friends."

Chameleon Boy had given Strobe the task of getting behind the villains and reporting what he found.

Reep had made it very clear to Denal that he was not to engage unless absolutely necessary - his role was purely reconnaissance. The team needed the information he could get and that would help them win the day. So, in the same second that they stepped through the warp the young man from Dryad assumed the form of microwave radiation and flew across the cavern. His senses were stunned by the Shadowmancer - where Denal would usually have an awareness of mass and the vibrations that denoted texture and colour, where the Shadowmancer stood was a void, an absolute absence of anything at all!

Even deep space wasn't that empty to his altered senses... The young man from the long dead world was shaken. To add to the confusion the spear in the dark mage's hand appeared to be the opposite - it shone with a density of energy that Strobe had only seen before in Q-Drive engines on space faring crafts. Whatever the spear was it was obviously immensely powerful!

And as he watched the spear seemed to pulse and the air around them became something like a solid. His senses informed him of a weave of energy that descended upon them though he had difficulty focusing on exactly what it was. Strobe realised that the Shadowmancer must be using the spear to cast some sort of spell as magic played havoc with his senses when he was in energy form. Knowing that he should report back to Chameleon Boy, Denal tried to fly back to his teammates but the mystic barrier that the dark mage had erected to protect itself from Ayla and Garth's lightning attacks repelled him. The young man in the microwave energy form bounced between opposite sides of the shield until he realised that he couldn't really move away from this immediate area.

<Reep, I'm stuck inside the Shadowmancer's shield... what do you want me to do?> The message echoed in his mind. Denal was fairly certain that meant the message was bouncing off the dark mage's shields.

If he had been in his corporeal form Strobe would have taken a deep breath to calm his nerves... As far as he could see, he was trapped inside a magical dome with one of the deadliest mystics known to the Legion.

Try as he might, at that moment, the young man from Dryad realised they had only been here for seconds and he couldn't remember what his training had taught him. He was so used to the freedom that his abilities gave him that the sudden entrapment badly shook his confidence and he was desperately doing everything he could think off to stop from outright panicking!

As he looked about he saw Phantom Girl phase through the floor, and despite this Denal felt too scared to move as she tackled the villains below.

Phantom Girl slowly phased the top of her head through the floor.

She could see she was only a feet away from the person in the dark cloak with the beaked mask, and ten feet away from Esper Lass. Thankfully neither noticed her as she surreptitiously spied on them. Esper Lass was one of the few villains that could negatively affect Tinya in her phantom form so the team leader knew she needed to be dealt with quickly and firmly. The other person could be dealt with after Meta Ulnoor was safely cuffed...

Tinya slipped back into the ground beneath the villains and estimated where Esper Lass was standing. Tinya flew up out of the ground. She couldn't have picked a better spot as she phased through the psychic villain, snapping her concentration. As Tinya held cuffs in both hands she swiped them towards Esper Lass, catching the psychic as she fell backwards. And before she could hit the ground Phantom Girl turned on the hooded being that stood close by. As she flew towards him she felt dizzy and her vision started to fade.

"Bgztl Flu can be deadly to your kind Tinya Wazzo." A man's voice spoke out from behind the mask, before he started to laugh. The Legion leader was unable from stopping herself from throwing up as she tried to stand up from her knees. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she struggled, her muscles suddenly weak.

"They call me the Plague Doctor miss Wazzo, and I've been so looking forward to meeting you and your team." He reached out to touch her face and as he did Tinya caught a glance of his alabaster white skin between his black gloves and sleeve. She knew that this had given her some clue about him but at that moment her attention was fully on violently vomiting.

"I'm going to enjoy spending time with you." The Plague Doctor said happily as he stroked her hair.

"Enough!" The Shadowmancer said, its voice echoed around the hall as it stood up from its throne.

Ooh nice battle Harbi, the best kind - everyone had a role to play based on their unique talents and abilities, some good fight scenes, and upped the ante. really excited to see more.

And a Somahturan villain, about time!

I'm with IB, this is great so far! I like how Cham was smart enough to figure out there was an illusion but the bad guys in turn were smart enough not to rely on the illusion completely! Also enjoyed Cos flinching; I figure it's like getting a jump scare watching a movie, even though you know it's fake you still instinctively respond like it was a real threat.

Strobe having a bit of a freak out makes sense as well, as I imagine he would probably have come across very little if anything that could affect him in energy form before!

Plague masks are creepy/awesome as hell, and putting a Somahturian in one is such a brilliant idea! I'm jealous I never thought of it first!

I gotta say, Southern Lights grows on me more every time you use him....I really appreciate the effort you have made to have his sorcery feel distinct and not at all generic

Thanks guys, appreciate your kind words.

Yeah, we're well overdue a Somahturian bad guy, so thought it was about time I added one.

Raz, I have some plans for Strobe, bless him for all his power he hasn't had enough on the field experience yet to feel confident against something like the Shadowmancer. And I've sort of kind of worked out the differences in the magical abilities of the various mystics on the team, and will be introducing something else that's entirely new in the next arc when the team go after Sa Lok and the Dominion.

Thanks again, more next week as Thunders team arrive, the twin Khunds make their move and things get chaotic.

Even before the Legionnaires stepped through their warp, Grachdashg and Narankachg, the twin Khund cyborgs had activated their invisibility and were making their move.

With the announcement that a Legionnaire was above on the cages then the appearance of those dragons that chased the War-Wolf's lycanthropes around the cavern it was obvious that they would soon have to deal with a single damned hero! The twins were motivated by money, pure and simple, not revenge or psychopathic impulses like the majority of their team appeared to be. And if there was no chance at securing a decent payout then they didn't want to be a part of this. knew it was time to make a hasty exit.

Shwarashawak, the Dishpan that had been transporting them on missions for the Shadowmancer, was at the other side of the hall, floating beside the dark mage. Without a word the two cyborgs were making their way towards the warpsmith. They would try to persuade it to open a warp to somewhere that the twins knew the lay of the land by saying they were on an urgent mission for their dark master. If that didn't work, they had enough weaponry amongst their cybernetics that they could persuade it in other ways, of that they were certain.

The Legion's warp opened in the middle of the cavern and chaos erupted around the twins.

Electricity arced through the cavern and fiery blasts of plasma followed throwing the whole room into stroboscopic relief.

The twins ran as fast as they could towards the warpsmith. They had just made it to the side of the Gil'Dishpan when the Shadowmancer threw a magical barrier between the Legionnaires and itself.

First Base:

Thunder - Deputy Leader, Cecelia Becks of 21st Century Earth, immense strength, speed, indestructibility, space flight, wisdom
MWindaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga - super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magic
Kid Quantum - Jazmin Cullen of Xanthu - creation of temporal quantum bubbles, flight
Polar Girl - Mel Lassar of Tharr - cryokinesis
Spoiler ii - Gord Eno of Naltor - precognition, specialising in short range visions for combat situations

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):
Triple Nova - Elthur Mundo of Carggg - split into three separate bodies, each with either enhanced strength and durability, increased speed and reflexes, or laser vision (Thunder)

Support staff:
Henry - Anti Lad - Spatial warp controller


Henry gave a knowing smile.

The holo-man of the 75th century was renowned for being inscrutable, and over the last year and a half there had been calls questioning his loyalty to the team but Tinya had very firmly put an end to those conversations. And still, when he smiled and there was someone present to wonder what he found amusing it often led to rumours and speculation... currently, the holo-avatar stood in both First and Second Bases alongside the teams that Mon El and Thunder had called together. Henry didn't inform the teams present that the Legion's agreement with the Gil'Dishpan Warpsmiths would lead to an increased understanding of the strange technology that these unique methane breathing aliens used over the next century and would ultimately lead to the creation of the warp technology he used.

And Henry certainly didn't mention that he could easily have opened his own warps into the Shadowmancer's lair - history had to be followed after all, even if it did inconvenience the team from time to time. There would be ten or twelve seconds between the warps as the Gil'Dishpan used their abilities to fold space... more than enough time for history to be writ.

Henry's small smile did not go unnoticed.

Triple Nova had heard stories about the holo-man even before joining the Academy on Home Base, and like many of the team he was intrigued. Rumour had it that Henry was here to help lead the fight in some temporal war that the Senior Team knew was coming and that's why they had been building up a bigger team in the last year and a half... Whatever the truth was, Elthur would be telling the other newly promoted teammates when they got together about the expression on the spatial warp controllers face, as any news about Henry, no matter how slight or tenuous, was always a great conversation piece.

"Ethur, you're up front with me." Thunder said to the young man from Carggg, breaking his reverie. The Gil'Dishpan warp began to open up before them, taking a few seconds to completely form.

It felt as if they were being squeezed through the hole in space/time, Triple Nova thought - not nearly as comfortable as Henry's instantaneous transportation's.

As they stepped out they found themselves in a massive poorly lit cavern...

Thunder tore through the warp ahead of the team and immediately saw that the group that had preceded them were not managing the situation well. Lightning Lass and Lightning Lad were blasting almost randomly in front of them roughly towards where there was a magical barrier - she assumed the Shadowmancer was behind it. Meanwhile, Chameleon Boy was struggling against several werewolves and Solar Gorilla was firing off bursts of energy in every direction. Most worrying of all, Saturn Girl appeared to be semi-conscious on the floor amongst them. Around the group were a dozen or so werewolves that were being held at bay by the ambient electricity and heat though the team seemed oblivious to the threat they possessed.

From Thunder's side Triple Nova unleashed a volley of laser vision blasts at the far walls.

<Elthur! What are you doing?>

<The Wolves! There are so many of them...>

<No, it's an illusion. I'll deal with it, stop blasting and save your energy> and with that Thunder was gone in a blur.

In the next few seconds, as her teammates made their way through the warp, Cece blurred as she flew around grabbing the werewolves she could see and aggressively threw them towards the far wall where they crashed into a heap.

M'Windaji was next through the warp, with Kid Quantum flying above his head and Spoiler at his side; Polar Girl brought up the rear.

It appeared to them that they had walked into a werewolves den, as dozens of the creatures ran at them. Jazmin threw up a wall of quantum energy before them but the werewolves ran through it unfazed by her barrier. Polar girl stepped forward and slung a sheet of dark ice across the floor but the wolves toenails were sharp enough to dig in and keep them upright.

Spoiler and M'Windaji stepped forward, both with raised fists, ready for their attackers...

Gord Eno spoke softly, "This isn't what it appears..." He put his hands down and stepped forward as a werewolf pounced. it passed through him before it turned towards Polar Girl and growled, showing huge curved teeth as it did.

"It's an illusion... Gahaji can you use your tracking skill to see if there are actually any here?" Spoiler realised that he was technically the most junior Legionnaire present, but knew that M'Windaji was the one member of this team that would be able to work through the illusions around them.

"There's... oh, none nearby, not one. I can sense some over there..." He pointed to a far wall, unaware that Thunder had just slammed a dozen into it as she eliminated the threat.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Polar Girl asked as she nervously looked around - her senses were telling her that they were surrounded but she knew intellectually that there was nothing there.

"Gahaji, where is the other team? Take us to them. There's strength in numbers, guys..." Jazmin said as she looked around the cavern while floating above the group. To her eyes they were in a pretty desolate cavern with dozens, if not hundreds, of werewolves running around them.

The four Legionnaires tentatively made their way towards the team that had arrived before them - all the while resisting the urge to tackle the werewolves that their senses told them were swarming around them.

Phantom Girl - Team Leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension - intangibility

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):
Strobe - Denal Lort of Dryad - assume electro-magnetic energy form (Chameleon Boy)



Titania stomped her feet.

"I demand you let me out there to claim my kills!" She yelled.

The Shadowmancer considered the muscular assassin's words and nodded. The magical barrier that the dark mage had erected around them split and a route out appeared. She started towards it without another word, her concentration now fully on the Legionnaires that had appeared in their cavern and who she was planning on targeting first.

Strobe saw this happen from above and knew it was time to act. The new Legionnaire was terrified but his training kicked in and he zapped down to the struggling Phantom Girl. The Plague Doctor had backed off from her and was standing with his back to the sick team leader as he surveyed the Legionnaires on the other side of the barrier. Denal changed from microwave energy to raw electricity and struck at him, knocking him to the floor, the Somahturian's black robes burst into flames from the strike. Strobe assumed his corporeal form and dashed to Tinya's side.

"Hold on!" Strobe hissed as he put his arms around her torso and willed his flight ring to carry them out of the opening that had appeared in the barrier as fast as it could carry them. He heard a yell behind them but didn't stop to look back. They tore through the crack in the barrier as it closed and landed with a crash on the floor just on the other side of it.

As Denal looked up from the floor the assassin called Titania glared down at the still sick Tinya and him.

"Well, well, well... I don't know who you are boy but am grateful you brought that bitch to me. If the Plague Doctor won't finish the job then I claim her as my kill. And you as well..."

The powerfully built assassin gave a wicked laugh as she reached down towards the Legionnaires.

More good stuff Harbi! you write some great fight scenes, love seeing Legionnaires being competent, creative and intelligent.

Also good villain characterization, with the twins being out for money and smart...

and nice tidbit re the Gildishpan warps being the future basis for Henry's. Plus his mysteriousness.

Oh, will Strobe accidentally kill the Plague Doctor by setting his robes on fire (not on purpose of course)? I can imagine one of the senior team telling him t be more careful...

I love the Gil'Dishpan warps being the forerunner of Henry's portals and how he set that up so neatly! I also really dig the aura of mystique around him and the newbies gossiping about why he's there...to be honest he's the one character I always half-expect you to pull out a secret "I was manipulating you the whole time" card myself so it makes sense to me that there would be rumours going round about him

Nice work by Strobe, and I like that he's going up against one of the Super-Assassins! I don't really see Titania being a threat to him but let's see how he reacts!

The Gil'Dishpan warp opened in front of the twin Khunds.

They knew it took several seconds for the warpsmith to fold space so the two points, many light years apart, connected. Their frustration would have showed clearly on their faces had they been visible.

Lightning Lord and the Silver Slasher had gone on a mission to Rimbor to collect another victim for the Shadowmancer to feed upon. They were expecting the mission to take a while as the person the dark mage had asked for was in hiding after recent Legion activity on that world. Instead, 15 minutes after they had left they had been contacted and told to return to their underground cavern where the Shadowmancer fed.

The telepathic message from Esper Lass included an image of Legionnaires invading the Shadowmancer's lair - including Mekt's damned brother Garth.

Mekt Ranzz crackled with electricity as he strode through the warp, eager to bring his brother down. If he could take care of his damned sister in law as well... behind him, the Slasher had not even left the warp tunnel when she felt something brush past her. She was becoming used to how uncomfortable the Gil'Dishpan's warp were so she did not investigate. She just wanted to kill some Legionnaires. She may not have caught the being the dark mage was after, but that didn't mean today would be a write-off... she clicked her clawed fingers together in anticipation, she knew this was the opportunity she had been waiting for: it was the time to make her name as an assassin of note as she dug her claws into as many Legionnaires as were stupid enough to face her.

As the warp spun around them the Silver Slasher wasn't aware that two of her new teammates had taken the opportunity to run away from a confrontation with the Legion. She would have been disappointed at their cowardice but felt happy that it meant statistically she was now likely to kill more of her hated enemies.

The twins didn't care, as they stepped through the narrowing end of the Gil'Dishpan warp onto Rimborian soil, they knew they had escaped and were now free to build a team that matched their own needs.

Thunder flew around the cavern smashing any werewolves she could see into the walls, before turning around and taking a few split seconds to gaze across the whole cavern.

"Got you!" she muttered to herself as she flew towards the War Wolf and Mr Chime. The two mystics were stood thirty yards behind the first group of Legionnaires. The War Wolf saw her coming and was in the process of erecting a magical barrier as she punched him on the chest, hurling the rogue magic-user across the cavern. Mr Chime, concentrating on the glamours that had so many Legionnaires at a disadvantage, looked aghast as Cece slipped a set of incapacity cuffs onto his wrist. The illusion caster fell face first onto the floor. Thunder didn't try to catch him, instead she took flight again and headed towards the War Wolf.

The mystic assassin was struggling to get to his feet, clearly dazed but resilient enough that he was still conscious after her blow and with enough awareness to know that if he stood any chance of coming out on top in this situation he needed to get up. Thunder flew straight towards him and at the last second, she swung a hand down, gouging her fingertips into the rocky floor of the cavern to send a spray of small stones and sand into the War Wolf's face. Cece was wise enough to know that magic users needed to concentrate to cast their spells. She wasn't going to allow the mystic assassin the opportunity to create any more of his lycanthrope avatars, or anything else for that matter.

As she expected, War Wolf flinched and took a stumbling step backwards as the small stones stung his face and neck. As he did Thunder snapped cuffs on his arm and left him to fall unconscious onto the floor.

"Right," she said to herself, "...enough with the staff, time to deal with the master of this place."

And with that Thunder turned around and flew as fast as she could towards the Shadowmancer. She rebounded off the barrier the dark mage had erected around himself and the team of villains he had assembled. After striking it for several seconds Cece took a second to consider her options.

"Shazam!" She whispered the word that transformed her from a mere mortal into a god-infused being and dived out of the way of the magical lightning bolt that carried her power. It crashed against the Shadowmancer's protective screen with an enormous flash of light and a deafening boom!

Thunder was violently thrown across the cavern and crashed into the wall at the other side.

Dragonmage - Xao Jin of Earth - dragon magics
Southern Lights of Starhaven - spaceflight, magic user
Cosmic Boy - Founder and Headmaster at Home Base Academy, Rokk Krinn of Braal - manipulation of magnetic fields

Xao approached Rokk and Southern Lights from across the top of the cages.

The smile on Dragonmage's face was clearly a mixture of genuine happiness and relief. A small blue dragon danced in the air around him, its sinuous body undulated and spun.

"Guys... hi, this is Szenlong, he brought me here. I'm really glad to see you. Watch out for the cages, they drain your strength..." As Xao pointed to the cages that hung below them Cosmic Boy instinctively swatted at an illusionary attacker. The thin blue dragon swan in the air around the Braalian's head, mewling softly as it did.

<Rokk, Szenlong will help, you need to relax though> Xao sent across the telepathic matrix, unsure if the founder could hear them if they spoke.

<Okay... whoah!> The small dragon wrapped itself around Rokk Krinn's head and purred happily as it's long face peered down into his face.

"Ah... oh hello Szenlong, thank you... umm, well this is weird." Cosmic Boy looked around at the cavern as the illusions faded. He reached up with one hand and gently stroked the dragon's head, it purred louder in response.

"He likes you Rokk." Xao said with a smile.

"Nice dragon... Right, let's get these folk's free." Cosmic Boy gave a small smile as he spoke, his face though was serious - he was clearly a man on a mission! "Southern Lights, you said you can help them when we release them, Xao can you assist him while I lower the cages down?"

As the Braalian used his abilities to snap individual chains above the cavern and pry open open the cages as he lowered them to the floor below, the two magic users swooped down to free the captives within. Xao summoned several dragons that prowled around them, keeping them safe from any attackers, while Southern Lights used the charm he had prepared to ease the captives out of the sickness that being confined had induced.

The first captive released was an older man. After Southern Lights had whispered his enchantment the man's eyes started to glow and he stretched his arms out. He thanked the Legionnaires, but before they could respond the second cage reached the floor and they helped an obese woman with long hair and pale green skin out of it. She was wearing rags and her face was tear stained. Again, Southern Light's enchantment helped. The third cage had just landed beside them when there was a blinding flash and a loud boom from the far side of the cavern...

Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla - shape changerLightning Lass - Senior Team member, Ayla Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation
Kid Quantum - Jazmin Cullen of Xanthu - creation of temporal quantum bubbles, flight
Polar Girl - Mel Lassar of Tharr - cryokinesis

Newly promoted from Academy student to full membership (Mentor in brackets):
Triple Nova - Elthur Mundo of Carggg - split into three separate bodies, each with either enhanced strength and durability, increased speed and reflexes, or laser vision (Thunder)
Solar Gorilla - D'Nadka Endarooga of Dmansca - generate and project extreme heat and light (Lightning Lass)

Lightning Lad - Founder and former member, Garth Ranzz of Winath - electrical generation and manipulation



Solar Gorilla was scared... not that stopped her, but she was very aware that she could hear her own pulse, her heart was beating so fast!

The wolves that circled around them felt so real, and yet she had been told to ignore them. While she trusted Chameleon Boy's judgement that they were illusions, it was not as easy as she would hope to focus her plasma bursts towards the shadowmancer. Still, just in case there were a few real ones in the mix, she made sure she was radiating just enough heat to discourage anything - especially if furry - from getting too close without risk of catching fire. D'Nadka reckoned the Legionnaire's flight rings eco-protect function would help keep the team from harm of combusting.

She tried to keep an eye of the wolves at her side while resisting the urge to blast the fanged critters...

And suddenly they were gone! <Everyone okay? The illusions are down, let's get the Shadowmancer and his cut-throats> Ayla sent through the telepathic matrix as she flew towards the dark mage - she lit up the cavern with her electric blasts.

"Imra?" Garth had spotted his wife curled on the floor and broken off his attack to check on her. As he landed next to her there was a loud bang and flash of light from the other side of the cavern. Garth Ranzz cradled his wife in his arm to protect her.

<Watch out!> Chameleon Boy sent across the telepathic matrix. As his alter-form had slightly different senses to humans he had witnessed the two beings emerge from the barrier and knew it meant trouble: The Silver Slasher was tearing across the floor towards the momentarily stunned Legionnaires, while Lightning Lord strode behind her, his hands glowing with thunderbolts he was readying to throw.

Triple Nova took that opportunity to swoop down and try to land a blow on the Slasher, but her preternatural reflexes were too fast. She dodged and started to swipe at his exposed stomach with her deadly claws. Instead of disemboweling the young Legionnaire as she hoped a stasis field bubbled into existence around her. Kid Quantum had reacted quickly enough to save her colleague.

<that's a cocktail you're owe me Elthur!> Jazmin sent with a laugh.

<Thanks Jaz> His relief was clear in his reply. The young Cargggite was aware how close he had just come to a life-altering injury.

As Kid Quantum stepped into the quantum bubble to slap incapacity cuffs on the Slasher above them Lightning Lass had flown towards her brother, Triple Nova flew in formation at her side .

"Mekt, just give up. You know you're going to lose, so why get hurt too?"

"Oh be quiet little sister, you were always so preachy and dreary." As Mekt Ranzz replied an electric arc flashed from his hand and smashed Triple Nova out of the air to crash painfully onto the rough cavern floor.

"You'll regret that..." She said with a cold smile.

<Mel, D'Nadka, Reep, you all ready? On my mark... go!>

As Lightning Lass let loose a blast of blinding electricity towards her older brother the two newer Legionnaires used their abilities as well. Lightning Lord expected Ayla's attack but never saw the spike of extreme cold that struck him from the left or the burning plasma that struck from the right. At that moment, Chameleon Boy, in the form of an Ortarean Crystal Shrike, a many winged beast with an incredibly dense molecular structure and mass, flew over Lightning Lass to slam into Lightning Lord knocking him unconscious.

<So> Ayla sent across the telepathic grid as she flew down to her siblings side to slap cuffs on his arm, <is there anyone else to deal with?> Her tone made it clear she was in no mood for any nonsense.